SkyligHt

Ximending, Taipei
25^thMay 2005

The Maiden

Medical undergraduate Stubborn, whimsical and perpetually in a state of daydream.

Loves and Desires

The rain, the sea and the cliffs
Shopping for pretty things
Be a good doctor

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Cats
Enclosed areas
Screaming people

Autobiography
Light is a many splendored thing
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Dirty Laundry

2S03M
Alvin
Barry
Chingsian
ChiuWeng
Denyse
Genghis
Gerald
Gwenda
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Huishan
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Jianfu
JingJing
Joanna
Judo girls
KahSuan
KhengChuan
MC
Mr M
Natalie
Qiumei
Raymond
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Shawn
Tie Han
Wang
Wenshan
Wenyang
Xiaoke
Xinyi
Yucai

Mail me

Other Vindications

ART
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OneLittleTwit

Now playing

La Vie En Rose
By Louis Armstrong

Moved.

Danceforme

The maiden spoke at 3:11 AM

Johari Window

http://kevan.org/johari?name=pofun

The maiden spoke at 12:44 AM

Not writing anymore. Go away.

The maiden spoke at 11:50 PM

Tis' hols.

Tis' hols I feel neglected and worned.

Tis' hols, there wasn't a trip anywhere.
I stayed home making christmas cards and cookiemen while waiting for the bf to return from Taiwan.
Tis' hols, Anat group had an ECP outing few bothered to attend.
No longer happy lunch hours bonding over silly jokes.
Tis' hols, I have yet to see the christmas lighting down orchard.
No one thinks they're worth the trip.
Tis' hols, I did not get to watch Narnia.
I got tossed around like an unwanted rag doll.
Tis' hols, the bf's too busy with everything else.
We had few decent dates.
Tis' hols, silly me kept waiting in vain.
I ain't going to do the same again.
Tis' hols, CAs are held first day of school.
Everyone's holed up at home mugging day after day.

And the only redeeming factors..

Tis' hols, someone bothered to ask if my migraine was getting better.
It felt nice and warm to know someone cares.
Tis' hols, I was down at the esplanade new year eve.
Fireworks make happy pretty things.

The maiden spoke at 12:52 PM

And more bicrob.

Spotted these on Jess' blog after a late night mugging session. Here's from Wisconsin-Madison =)

28. Oh my God! While at a weekend dog show in Virginia your prized French Poodle named Curt is found to have several blood-filled ticks on its cute little belly! It gets worse! Next you find several of the same kind of ticks under your own armpits! What disease have you possibly acquired because the ticks fed on your precious body humors (in this case, your blood)? (Choose BEST answer)
A Wauwautosa Walking Pneumonia
B. Milwaukee Mange
C. Pewaukee Piles
D. Reedsburg Rheumatism
E. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

29. After returning from the ill-fated dog show (Curt was disqualified for inappropriate behavior with a Pomeranian), one of your roomrnates is complaining of a dry cough, headaches and low grade fever. She says she has been feeling ill for several weeks. For a week she has taken (stolen) your penicillin from the medicine cabinet. Despite the penicillin, she is not feeling any better. Presuming she has a bacterial infection in her lungs, which one of the following organisms is the MOST likely cause of her symptoms?
A. Pneumocystis carnii
B. Aspergillus fumigatus
C. Streptococcus pyogenes
D. Mycoplasma pneumoniae
E. Cryptococcus neoformans

30. Your other roommate begins the Monday morning breakfast-table conversation with her complaints of having night sweats and a cough with the very unattractive feature of producing a bloody mucus material. She also says she has lost 15 pounds without even trying to lose weight! You continue loudly chewing your Captain Crunch cereal, but with a thoughtful look on your face, you suggest that she go to the health service to have which one of the following materials injected intradermally? (Please note your roommates have different diseases) [choose BEST answer]
A. lepromin
B. estrogen
C. tuberculin
D. mycoplasmin
E. testosterone

31. You also tell this same roommate that there is a possibility that the macrophages in her lungs have become fused together producing giant cells called:
A. Hansen’s cells
B. Welch’s whoppers
C. Favre fusophages
D. Calmette-Guerin cells
E. Langhan’s cells

32. You ask this roommate where she has traveled over the last several months. She says that besides going home to Osceola, Wisconsin (you are sympathetic, but this fact is not really relevant to the disease), she spent summers working in a homeless shelter in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. On hearing this fact, you now break out in a sweat! You realize that if she has passed this pathogen onto you, it will likely cost you lots of money to be treated. It will involve possibly three different antibiotics over a six month period. The reason you will need to be treated with multiple drugs for the suspected pathogen, especially if it was acquired in New York City, is because it may have: (choose BEST answer).
A. numerous plasmid-encoded antibiotic degrading enzymes
B. an impermeable cell wall made up of chitin and cord factor
C. spontaneous mutations leading to multiple antibiotic resistance

33. You are thinking that you are completely surrounded by disease and life has become hopeless. So that night you decide to ask your boyfriend if you can move in with him. He is agreeable however, he quickly changes the subject to ask if you have had any discomfort while urinating or any kind of discharge. Your quick reply is “no, why have you?”. His answer is “uh... yes honey, I have”. Lets presume he does NOT have gonorrhea or a chlamydial infection. Of the organisms listed below, which one of the following is the MOST likely cause of his little problem?
A. Rickettsia prowaseki
B. Ureaplasma urealyticum
C. Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare
D. Rhizopus species
E. Blastomyces dermantidis

34. On second thought, moving in with this guy has suddenly lost all of its appeal. You start looking for a new apartment. Your current landlord says you can rent the old apartment above the garage provided you clean it up. He says that a back window has been broken for a couple of years and that a few pigeons may have been living in the space. You go to examine the rooms. You find a great deal of pigeon droppings on the floors and kitchen counters. You decide this is not worth the trouble because infectious diseases seem to follow you where ever you go. If you were to sweep up or handle the pigeon droppings, which of the following pathogens might you come in contact with?
A. Histoplasma capsulatum
B. Cryptococcus neoformans
C. Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium
D. all of the above
E. none of the above

35. You are now an emotional wreck. You call your parents. They say its fine to quit school, leave that sin-ridden city of Madison and come home to Boscobel (provided they can get their tuition money back). Your Dad says he can get you a job working at your uncle’s garden supply store packaging spagnum moss. That does not appeal to you because besides being a loud and obnoxious guy, your uncle Buster has had these disgusting large open ulcers on his arms for the past several months. It suddenly occurs to you that based on what Dr. Welch has told you subcutaneous mycoses, there is a good chance that Uncle Buster’s ulcers are due to an infection by a species of:
A. Sporothrix
B. Microsporum
C. Epidermaphyton
D. Trichophyton
E. Pneurnocystis

and the one that took the cake...

37. Dr. XXX [the real name of our prof] has had which of the following diseases (it is a bonus question, everybody gets this one right)?
A. streptococcal pharyngitis
B. staphylococcal food poisoning
C. shigellosis
D. athelete’s feet
E. its a trick question, he’s had them all

The maiden spoke at 2:15 AM

The triple filter test.

In ancient Greece, scholar and philosopher Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.

One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about one of your friends?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?" asked the man.

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and wanted to tell it to you." "All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary, it is bad."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really," replied the man, now more than a little embarrassed.

"Well," concluded Socrates, if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, and nor even useful to me, why tell it to me at all?"

The maiden spoke at 12:26 PM

Snow please.

Less than 3 hours more to go. Christmas tree's up again after spending so many years hidden in the storeroom. New ornaments dangling, new lights flickering, my self-made christmas cards and very first batch of cookiemen. Huge stocking's hanging by the window waiting to be filled, the same way I dangled it up each christmas eve so long long time ago.

Oh well, merry christmas.

The maiden spoke at 9:18 PM

I feel awful.

Spent the day in bed drifting in and out of sleep and trying to will the migraine away. Too much fun under the sun I think. Came home from ECP yesterday with fizzy vision (my usual prodromal symptom), and could barely manage my bath and an email to YC before heading for bed. Woke up in the wee hours, quite unable to bear the pain ,and very tempted to reach out for some painkillers. Not good to rely too much on them. Decided to sleep it away instead. Slept, woken up by nightmare, slept, woken up by nightmare, smsed YM to tell her I can't make it for badminton session, slept. And it was 5 pm when I finally got up. Read Robbins for the next hour before scooting out for tuition after dinner.

Everyone's somewhere else. YC's in Taiwan, HT's in Europe, ZY's in Nepal and Mr M's heading for Vietnam. My MSN list looks so empty; these days I don't even bother logging on. Daddy's too busy to obtain leave this month, so not even a short trip to Malaysia. =/ And now I'm sounding like some spoilt little kid.

I'm bored and weary and my head keeps hurting. And I really want a trip abroad because:

1. There is so so much to do in whatever little there is of a lifetime. Different cultures to experience, greater wonders to marvel over, more people to meet and immense knowledge to gain. I don't want to lie on my deathbed regretting not seeing enough of this world. The exact reason I hate being limited by anything other than will.

2. I feel stifled here. Everything's rigid and organised and uncreative and so.. out of a template. I keep getting lost in HDB estates where each building looks the exact replica of another. I miss the beautiful giant adverts shouting out from building walls and buskers lining the streets. In S'pore, vibrance and enthusiasm is somewhat muted. I feel zombiefied. Need a break to somewhere more dynamic to freshen up abit.

=( Everyone's too busy to bother about me. I feel so unloved.

Aiyahh.. but I still can't do anything about it.

The maiden spoke at 10:58 PM