Eye of the Storm

Life is a mess right now. I'm struggling to keep up with the laundry, social gatherings, reports, and library deadlines. I'm still held back by inertia created by forces propelling my life forward.
Something good is coming up end of June. Really good. I will write about it end of March after all issues are settled. Otherwise I have a clinicopathological conference (CPC) coming up end of April which will be attended by at least half of our hospital physicians (medical students anyway). By June I'd be calling myself an intern - with a pathetic salary of 20,000 NTD (USD 660), 8 to 10 call nights per month, and sleeping and eating whenever I have free time. That's why it's difficult not to gain weight during your intern and resident years.
Anyway, for now I'm living a relatively comfortable life in Family Medicine and subsequently Psychiatry, enjoying the lasts of my student life with weekend pot lucks, soap marathons, and self-declared long-weekend getaways. Predictably I'm currently poverty-stricken, single, and talks in broken sentences with very few sober periods in between. But I'm happy.
So even though I'm in the eye of the storm right now. I think I'm just gonna enjoy it while it lasts and save up the whining when the tough ones start raining.

Hitting the ROAD*

* for Radiology, Ophthalmology, Anesthesia, Dermatology
Thanks to a rigid National Health Insurance and bundled care programs, primary care physicians are getting paid less compared to second-line doctors. A mnemonic of these are presented, but also include Rehabilitation Medicine (Physiotherapy), ENT, Urology, Radiation Oncology etc.
Back when our Dads were medical students (not mine), the 4 primary care specialties were considered the pinnacle of medicine. It was an honor to be accepted into Internal Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics or Obs/Gyn. Now thanks to long working hours and a barrage of lawsuits, we had only one new resident for Internal Medicine last year and none for Obs/Gyn for the last 5 years.
Is medicine a very expensive retail experience or something more? Is the profession of curing the sick and alleviating illness confined to removing freckles, performing laser eye surgery, or botox injections?
Every year thousands of medical students lobby, blackmail, gerrymander, and compete unhealthily to hit the ROADs. Most of them intend to a) open their beauty clinic upon completion of training or b) earn enough for a lifetime and quit this field forever.
Where is the spirit of sacrifice so emphasized in medicine? What happened to all the promises we made on our application essay?
Does the National Health Insurance need to be held responsible for such atrocities in medicine?
And will there be enough Geriatrics, Oncologists, Cardiovascular Surgeons, or Neurologists left in 20 years to serve an aging population?
While ROAD specialties are just as important, money shouldn't be the first goal for medical professionals. We will never beat the hedge fund managers or politicians. We are only timing our own demise by hitting the ROAD with unreasonable passion.

We're All Gay

You see, four straight guys won't drive 3 hours just to go look at cherry blossoms. I'm not affirming nor denying I'm gay, but driving 3 hours just to go look at flowers does not fall into the range of "normal" for most straight guys. We did just that last weekend, out of a whim. Actually it's two guys who wanted to shoot pictures with their DSLR. I just got invited because I'm good-looking enough for the lens.

So the only colonies of cherry blossoms on eastern Taiwan is at Taimali, Taitung, 3 hours away from Hualien.

4 guys (including me), and a girl. All gay.

I can roughly understand why the Japanese feel like sitting under forests of cherry blossoms during spring. It's like being enveloped under a canopy of delicate pink snowflakes during the best time of the year. Too bad if you have hay fever or allergic rhinitis.

This is a typical cherry blossom, I believe.

The plum blossom is the national flower of Taiwan, specially chosen by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and later adopted by China Airlines as logo. I actually recognized the real flowers from my impression of CAL's logo.

Ahem, probably the best picture from the entire trip. I actually prefer European but I guess Japanese or Korean is not too bad.

When Twitter Came to the Rescue

I have a Twitter account for almost 3 years. Apart from some usual musings and rants, it served no profound or ambitious purpose, although I abused it to get an extra 3 days' validity when I found out I won a MAS ticket to Johannesburg. Read here.
What I like about Twitter is the swift response time and open platform. It's a far cry from emails and gone are the days of "Dear sir."
During a recent trip on MAS back to Taipei, I couldn't check-in online. I knew from past experience this might be caused by a date change I made after I cashed my ticket. Knowing it's the peak of Chinese New Year holidays and a very early flight the following day, the stubbornness inside me wouldn't give up. I called MAS but the lady on the other end couldn't do anything but advised me to check-in at the airport.
On a normal day I wouldn't mind choosing my seat at the check-in desk. But in a full aircraft I don't want to end up right next to the lavatory or wedged in a middle seat. While I was composing my goodbyes on Facebook, it occurred to me I could bring this up to the MAS Twitter team.

I got a reply the following working day.
For those unfamiliar, you use a @ tag to communicate directly to your subject in Twitter, regardless if he's the UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) or Ricky Martin (@ricky_martin).

I promptly sent an email of my ticket details to the aforementioned email. And got no reply. That's the problem with emails. It is still easily overwhelmed and your mails lost in a sea of "Dear sirs".

However, the proactive Twitter people asked for my details, which I promptly gave via personal messaging. Then I went out for my last day of Penang this year.

By the time I return, the MAS Twitter people had solved my problem. I did my check-in smoothly, chose a window seat a mile away from the lavatory, and thanked them profusely for the amazing work.

Older people like my Mum and Dad balk at social media - too little privacy, identity theft, too intrusive, too attention-deficit - which I believed is true up to a certain extent. However, the right application of technology do actually make the world a better place for all. Like when I end up sitting beside a gorgeous passenger instead of listening to toilet swooshings throughout the flight.

Take This Wok Back

Time for me to head back to Taiwan. Even though "unpacking" is the opposite of "packing", the latter definitely requires more effort and meticulous planning.
For starters, all the clothes I brought home have to find their way in, because I possibly won't be home for a long time. Add the new clothes for Chinese New Year, which I kept to a bare minimum. Then the pair of sneakers I confidently threw in expecting I'll use them every day, and end up running only thrice for the past 2 weeks. Pineapple tarts, which my parents insist I bring back for friends and colleagues. An entire array of toiletries my aunt insists I try. A Teflon wok Dad bargained his life with during Christmas sale, since I'm cooking myself.
Most if not all of these stuff are purchasable anywhere. But Mum and Dad are always armed with an armanda of excuses to make your luggage overweight - you won't know the difference between good and bad quality, we specially bought this for you, we have a dozen of these, your friends will love it, it will make your life easier etc. It's no use arguing with them.
Hence, my plans to travel light always end up having to beg the check-in agent to please squeeze through another 2 kilograms for Dad's Teflon wok.

However, when you've arrived at your destination and starts unpacking all the oversized wok and porcelain bowls, they start emitting Dad and Mum's touch like never before. As if some part of Dad and Mum gets ingrained into the wok, a Horcrux. You won't let your friends touch those very personal stuff. And you wished it would last till your grandchildren use it and tell them the story of a wok that traveled 3000 kilometers in a carry-on baggage.
Over the years I've hauled a loaf of bread, freshly-made ang ku, a pillow, a 12-inch by 12-inch glass artwork, bottles of French wine, and fermented tofu through continents. It takes a fervent prayer and lots of towels or bubble wraps. But at the end of the day the Horcrux is always worth it.

New Year Yuan

I'm not a resolution person. Firstly I am dead afraid of criticisms upon failing my resolutions; and secondly they almost always fail to materialize, as observed by the following clip from Wong Fu Productions.
However this year, I need a few of God's helping hands in some of my personal pursuits. In Buddhism we make a wish (or bargain) with Buddha called yuan. In return, we promise to do something good like converting vegan for a month or memorizing a certain sutra by heart. It's like striking a deal with God whereby He grants you something good and you reciprocate with something similar. It is quite common among Buddhists and Hindus. Thaipusam is a festival where Hindus make offerings in return to God's goodness for the past year.
First of all, as we'd be starting our intern year come June, I hope to land myself in a rotation that allows me to return home for Chinese New Year celebrations. As many overseas students would agree, being absent from home during Chinese New Year is a sad burden to bear. I understand that my role in future requires me to dedicate duty over friends and family, but seeing my future of reunions bleak, I sincerely hope we'd be able to get together more often, at least for next year.
As such, I made a yuan. I promised to memorize the Heart Sutra if I manage to get my desired rotation. It is important not to hold any grudges against God in case your yuan does not materialize because Buddhism regards its best disciples to have no worldly desires or pursuits. In short, a devout Buddhist does not have to make any yuan because he feels comfortable being in any situation or environment. Making yuans are for needy, shortcut-seeking, half-hearted Buddhists like me.
Secondly, my closest friends will notice I was plagued by some irritatingly stubborn acne that won't go away no matter what I tried. The good thing is the worse of the acne is over now and I am managing it with sufficient sleep, a healthy diet, tea tree oil, and Chinese medications from my all-encompassing sinseh.
So my second yuan with Buddha yesterday is that I would be a vegan on Mondays in exchange for a clear, healthy complexion.
We'll see during the following year if my yuans are to be come true.
Finally, Happy Chinese New Year and may this year bring health, wealth, and happiness to all!

Major Traffic Congestion

It is part of Malaysia, just like the snail-paced internet speed, crazy traffic signage, and selfish drivers. There will always be major road congestions during the festive seasons, and this year it's no exception. As such, I scheduled all my appointments to be 2 days before or after Chinese New Year, and cancel those anticipated to be held under the baking sun with standstill traffic everywhere. It's a great excuse to avoid seeing awkward old friends and going on an unnecessary shopping spree. I'm sorry but everywhere is so congested.
But if we look at the root of the problem, a 5 kilometer crawl is usually caused by a single vehicle or crazy traffic light. For the past week I observed:

• An auntie waiting for her roadside hawker in her car, completely aloof to 5 kilometers of congestion behind
• Uncle taukeh switching lanes every 4 seconds on the expressway, completely aloof to heavy vehicles that would crush his Benz with a failed brake or a moment's lapse of attention
• Parking idiots with half their SUV jutting out from the indicated space, and 5 kilometers of congestion behind trying to avoid his 50,000 dollars bumper
• Young intern late to a meeting, double parking onto my car in a dead-end street
• Parents of a very prominent school (ahem! PCGHS, ahem!) triple parking waiting for their princesses to be dismissed from school

And not forgetting parking idiots occupying 2 spaces with their tiny car, an example below:

It's the festive season and we're all trying to stay sane and afloat with the new clothes and excessive eating. So please do your part by driving and parking responsibly. Remember, you don't want to be showered with bad karma and nagging on the first day of Chinese New Year!