One Hour And Sixteen Minutes

One hour and sixteen minutes to midnight. I decided to give myself a one-hour-and-sixteen-minutes break. This is the second post in 2 days, inspiration just keep flowing in just when I have 3 chapters of biochemistry to cover.
I've always reminded myself since August to dedicate a post to the sixth form grads this year. Being part of them, and a Chung Ling alumni, I am always proud being a Chung Ling boy. Whenever I am going through rough patches of life I will recall all the lessons learned in CLHS - that those who persevere and truly have substance in them will appear victorious at the finishing line.
I salute our sixth form grads. All of them are top students in Penang (and even Malaysia) who successfully went through a life-changing path in their life. They showed the true Chung Ling spirit by their utmost dedication to whatever they are responsible to, and through them I see qualities many others do not have - problem-solving abilities, being initiative, united as a class and indifferent to losses and gains of life. I always see sixth formers as pilots navigating their own fates, and how determined they are too in sowing the seed for the future. I sincerely believe those who invested much effort will have what they yearned, soon, while those who persevered all the way would be rewarded in one form or another. It's the Chung Ling learning experience that counts. Happy graduation and good luck for STPM.
Have been doing a lot of philosophical thinking recently, as a result of being constantly compressed by assignments and biochem with the added effect of solitude. As you mature you will want to know more about how others think of you - am I the 'oh, Jun Yi!', 'h'm, Jun Yi?' or 'ok, Jun Yi...' I benchmark myself in between 'h'm, Jun Yi?' and 'oh, Jun Yi!', but we can never trust our own judgments. Nevertheless I think a person will never appear perfect in front of everybody. Naturally, there will always be people against you, and that's when what you truly are counts.
Some feedback found myself sequestered in the 'ok, Jun Yi...' part. And in fact I'm lately quite isolated from my classmates as a result of both my wisdom tooth and the amount of work. However, I think my mood ranges from moderately happy to so-so during this period of time (it's hard to be euphoric these days, with news constantly telling you the Earth is self-destructing soon). The reason behind this is because I am being myself. I do not bear the burden of having to mask myself all the time - pretending I'm 'high' during the orientation camp when I actually think the whole thing is completely pointless, pretending to be interested in gossips when I actually don't even know the main character (of the gossip) and pretending to laugh heartily when I've actually heard the joke 4 times.
Nevertheless, there are still little incidences involving people you know that hurt you from time to time. What you could do to minimize the damage is as simple as shrugging it off. Though you still feel your blood boil when you think about how the girl told you 'your photos, all lost' when returning you your camera (and chipped at the corner), and you can't stand your friend's sour comments on how expensive the Stouxinger's CD is, it is useless to be calculative on these little daily issues. You just have to forgive and forget them. Give. Take. Put down. Move forward.
Twenty six more minutes till my break is over.
Was in Taipei last weekend - wonderful city. Taipei makes you forget all your sorrows and problems. Taipei tires you and makes you sleep soundly at night.

Of Medicine and Opportunities

Recently while I was going through documents for our SCOPE outgoings I came across this sentence on my senior's motivation essay. "For medical students, the sun never sets." In a small school especially like TCU, opportunities overflow. With only 50+ students, you get the same privileges like other more prominent universities, which has 150 students to feed. For example, for the SCOPE (Standing Committee on Professional Exchange) outgoing selections this year, Chang Gen Medical University (5th-ranking) shortlisted 8 students out of 22 participants; Taipei Medical University (4th-ranking) has a shortlisting rate of nearly 50%; For TCU, all 3 participants got through, with 3 more places to spare. I was very embarrassed by how unmotivated our school is. But once again, you can always blame it on the student population.
Anyway, back to the point - due to the small student population, you get exclusive individual attention - the lady in the Office of the School of Medicine recognizes you on your second visit there, the Dean smiles and greets you when you walk past him this afternoon, and you get to enjoy benefits much earlier than other medical students (in other schools).
We had a 2-hour session with a dermatologist this afternoon. Her lesson sparked up endless inspiration in my heart (and one of my friend's, as far as I know). Besides clinical work, she is also deeply involved in research and experimenting cures for different skin diseases (including hair loss). Like many of us she started approaching the laboratory when she was in Year 5. Thereafter taking several fellowships and grants to Japan, the US and France, she advanced not only in experimental techniques but also perfected treatment mechanisms and efficiency. Drowning in waves of euphoria I told myself this is what I want to become in 30 years' time - to be a physician, treating the needy, and also a scientist, to get to the bottom of every disease and drug.
I love to dream, dreaming is part of my life, and I'm glad I still have the ability to dream. For me, I can embark on my road to research as early as next summer (and in a foreign country) as I am guaranteed a place for SCORE (Standing Committee on Research Exchange). We had no applicants for SCORE this year (much unlike SCOPE), and I as a loyal customer for exchange programs gladly applied and go through the much hay-ho for SCORE. Nevertheless, I'm still weighing the pros and cons of going on a research exchange this year, or keeping it till next year. In the meantime, I'm looking for professors wanting a research student during the summer (and possibly in Taipei).
The sun never sets for medical students, especially so if you're in a small-and-not-so-prominent school.

Being Foreign

I go through the same procedure -
filling the registration form, collect his ID, buy him dinner,
struggling to find
time for a mountainous pile of homework
as well as handling trivial things
like his pocket money, tag number, and garbage bag.

Each comes and go, leaving much temporary impression but
their faces fade away.
The chocolate cake at Starbucks stays, so as the lavish Chinese course dinner,
but I will fail to recall
their names and cities of residence soon.

I hope
they carry with them
the experience of Hualien and Taiwan with them
all their life.
'Flying' in the typhoon, dancing like mad with the Stouxingers, and showing me
the Jieyang-ish 'cool' sign about Taroko.

I remain professional
but softened by every incoming.
Catering only to their needs, but not more.
I yearn to take off,
but I guess
I saw a universe
in each of them
and every outgoing seniors.

Exchange. It's your turn.

Family. Friendship. Love.

Just because everybody else went to watched 'Lust. Caution' yesterday while 4 of us SCOPE and SCORE (Standing Committee on Professional (Research) Exchange) officers have to manage interviews with Year 4s and 5s for their exchange application, we decided to bang for the first showing of 'December Boys' right after our Friday afternoon electives. Having watched the trailer both in Malaysia and Taiwan, I was eagerly awaiting the release of 'December Boys', which I readily assumed will be released on December. However, we accidentally spotted the little link to the movie on the cinema website, and hence we 5 people were among the 15 patrons for this movie that evening.
The movie was generally about 4 orphans, and best friends, who were picked for a holiday on the beach for the Christmas season. The Australian Christmas falls on summer, and the boys' friendship were about to go through challenges amidst the discovery of love and looking for an adopting family.
Surprises crops up once in a while, and there will be times when friends around you just disappear suddenly to reappear with his / her soul mate. And though theoretically you are still friends, but somehow, if you're not close enough to his / her soul mate you guys just don't seem like before. I'm not drawing conclusions, and I'm glad Soon Khen and Jieyang always manages to find time for all 3 of us, and the fact that I'm the one who's single from end to end among the trio is something beyond language.
'December Boys' portrays what true friends really are - protective of each other and the effort on maintaining the bonds even in times of occupation. There will always be abrasions and bumps, especially involving Sagittariuses ('December' in 'December Boys' depict the month which they're born), it proved once again that friendship stewed over the slow fire of time will never die. It is ultimately standing out for one another and thinking for the greater good that counts for what will be a lasting and fruitful friendship.
(And I realized I haven't elaborated on the 'Family' part yet)
The family package comes in a whole to include frequent arguments, good home-cooked food, the comfort of finding yourself in the house which you lived for 20 years, and Dad not giving you pocket money because the car was dented when you're back yesterday night. Individualism prevails in modern society, but Asians, being born and bred with the instinct of living in a family, will always be attached to the most basic social unit. Family is a must that comes before everything.

Volare, Nella Tua Vita

Translated directly it means 'to fly, in your life' in Italian. I myself like to interpret it as 'take off, with your life'. This inspiring verse is displayed on the welcome page of Alitalia's online booking facility.
As an airplane freak I've always associated working out dreams and ambitions as flying a passenger aircraft. When you aspire to do something great, it's like the airline selling tickets. You have to plan, scheme and work really hard to get the aircraft filled, and the flight profitable. You work tirelessly and you don't really mind all the labor and criticisms that comes with every little flaw along the way. Then comes the scheduled flight time. You have to be accurate and precise in every aspect you planned beforehand to have your flight depart on time (just like taking an exam, it counts ultimately to naught if you overslept the night before because you thought it might do a little more good to review something you revised the n-th time). Finally, fully filled with passengers and cargo, your flight departs and your dreams take off.
Yesterday marks a memorable day in aviation history as the first Singapore Airlines A380 departs on its first commercial flight.
Even though I've been an anti-SQer for most of my life, and I'm not a true supporter of Airbuses, and I personally think the A380 is yet the ugliest aircraft ever produced, I sincerely admire the spirit of adventure that never wanes in personnels of Airbus (for the 18-month delay) and Singapore Airlines (for tolerating the delay, and for romanticizing the A380). The successful flight of the A380 signifies that no matter what challenges lay ahead of us, it is always a virtue to persevere and hang on until the very end. And though the future of the A380 seems bleak (due to the delay, economists estimated that Airbus would have to sell at least 400 A380s to get a break even from the losses they incurred; currently there are only 120+ orders for it), the determination of Airbus is sufficient to cast the mega-jumbo in everyone's mind.
I like planes taking off. It's a symbol of power, control, and soaring dreams. It's the spirit of adventure that fuels it and the challenges of the future that propels it forward. This is life.
Grab your life, take off!

It's Time

For a long, long time I resisted the temptation of setting up another blog space other than my previous one in friendster. The first generation friendster blog has more than 110 posts now and it's always a comfort to review them whenever I feel reminiscent of the old days. The other great (and sometimes annoying) feature about friendster is whenever you update your blog they'll send messages to everyone in your friend list blasting about the update. It's always a pleasure to get noticed.
Nevertheless, the time has come to move forward. I was complaining on how few the comments on friendster had been, and that's when my roommate commented "who'd post comments on your blog? They'll have to sign up for friendster first and wind their way to your blog."
All right, I blog for comments and glory, I'd like to see my blog burst with comments and CNN reports on 'JYSim for Jobless-Yokel Sim' or now 'Randomly JYSim'. I'm an attention-seeker in the virtual world. So, it's time to switch.
Welcome to 'Randomly JYSim'!