Life as a pre-tern is all good for nobody. The above pic is the north block of RPH, where i currently "work". Unfortunately we don't get paid in our final year of the course. I know some countries that do (eg NZ). I guess they are giving us one more year to get our stuff together, practice a bit more, polish up our technique and observe more cases. I am assigned to a respiratory med team. A typical week consists of going on ward rounds in the morning, to see how our patients are faring, see if anything needs to be done or changed, and if they are well enough to go home. Most do, but some patients get worse and die, or need to be transferred to a different team. THe majority of patients under our care are people with cancer, pneumonia, asthma or aggravated chronic airways disease, mostly as a result of smoking. Then we may do a few procedures, such as taking blood, ordering tests, doing discharge summaries. After lunch I usually have 2-3 tutorials from various registrars/consultants. And on some days we have to go to dermatology clinic, an experience which most people agree is worse than being constipated

By the end of the week, this is what I feel like. Saying that, it'll probably happen one day. At this stage in the year, time is dragging by really slowly. Most of my friends are working and getting on with their lives, whilst I'm still stuck in uni, renting with my brother, and on government student welfare. Sometimes I wish I just got good at a sport or music. Then I could be playing in Wimbledon or at a concert in front of thousands, instead of trudging around a dinjey hospital watching people get older and sicker

Thank goodness for the weekend. I also had to attend my parents "graduation" from a marriage course they did. It was rather scary and I managed to escape early. After some scotch whiskey (Glenfieditch) at my friends place, and some quality time with their dog (above) I was feeling much better already. But now its monday. Back to hospital, another day, but no dollar..life as a pre-intern is all good for nobody :oP Can't wait to get back home and fall asleep, where I dream of hitting aces at Wimbledon and signing autographs after massive concerts....

In a world where size matters, when I grad this year I'm going to make sure that every new mother charts her newborn son's penile growth. MEasurements include height, weight, head circ and penis length (stretched, flaccid and erect). That way, by extrapolation, we can determine if her son is going to become either a stallion or a stalker. She can then adjust her parenting to make him more balanced. Or just skip highschool and let him follow his destiny to become a pornstar in Germany. This guy (above photo) may not be hung, but he has twice the stamina, without medical assistance! This entry is probably going to be removed by admin soon lol...

Due to the recent flurry of activity from the dark side, I have begun recruiting new jedi, in order to make a stand against the evil that is so insidiously prevalent in this world today. Training has begun in the ways of the force, but some recruits have such low midichlorion counts in their blood that we have to utilize the pool to kickstart their light sabre skills. Above is a snapshot of one of our new recruits training, Padawan Alfonso, or "Alf", as he is affectionately known. Note he is in full jeans and attire. He will soon qualify for his blue/green lightsabre, when he is able to dodge knives being thrown at him whilst he is blindfolded and standing on a steel pylon ten on the tenth floor. If you would like to join our program, feel free to leave your details and CV in the comments box, and in less than 350 words, why you would like to enlist.

There has been a lot of talk about movies recently amongst my affiliated blogs. In particular Shenn mentioned episode three, return of the sith. Which I saw two nights ago. Today being a low activity day for me, I was thinking about how Anakin fell to the dark side. At first I was a bit annoyed with him, throwing away everything and causing so much death and destruction. But after some thought, I began to see that there may be some moral substance to the film. In Episode two, Anni arrives too late to save his mother, after having a dream about her death. In his anger he then slaughters all the associated campers who were responsible for the capture of his mother. In the current episode, he uses his anger to overpower and execute Darth Maul's master. Then, faced with what he believes to be a choice between Padme's life, and the life of many others, he commences on a path of darkness which result in the not only the death of many innocents, but also the shattering of Padme's heart, she then loses the will to live. If you put yourself in Anni's shoes right from the start, you can understand why he feels angry about the loss of his mother, prior humiliation from Darth Maul's master, and what he thinks will be the inevitable loss of his only love Padme. It is normal to be angry, but from this point on, I believe that he should not take action based on that anger. Yes, those marauding campers should have deserved retribution for capturing his mother, but that should be determined in the spirit of justice, not revenge. Also, the execution of children and women is even more sensitive and most would think of as wrong. This principle can be applied to our own lives. In my case, for that policewoman who badgered me unnecessarily, if I take action based on anger, I could make false complaints about her, find out where she works or what car she drives and try to intimidate her in order to get my message across. But if I react because I want the police force to try and improve their service, I would issue a formal comment about her, negatives and positives, perhaps follow it up, and leave it at that. Some people say that the evil will never prosper. I don't agree with that nor do I think it is as simple. Karma is too much of a dreamer's notion. If you react in anger, justify your criminal actions by saying that such a person deserves it and much more, you will suffer in a different way. It will kill something of you, a part of you that is good. In this way, it robs you of the happiness that results from being an innately upward person. I find that if I go down the path of unjust retribution I feel listless, disenchanted and not at peace with myself. It perpetuates further negative actions and thoughts. But yeah, apart from that it was an entertaining movie :o) Back to work now.....*sigh*

The Misadventures of student Parking. As a poor, government supported student, I don't have the privilege (or money) to pay for parking. But since I live so far away from my university and hospital attachments, I need to drive. And so this dilemna sparked the need for some alternative parking arrangements.
Every tertiary hospital in Perth is busy, and you are either a doctor and have a spot, or you pay through the nose to leave your car somewhere whilst you visit your sick relative/friend, or you take public transport.
What about the students? No one cares for the students. It's a bit like army training, you are meant to be tough.
My previous surgical outpost at a private hospital last month was no exception. On my first day I drove around, scouting out possible parking options. All my friends either payed, or parked miles away and walked.
And then I found the jackpot of parking spots, right across the road from the hospital!! [Top photo]. It was a newly rennovated office suite, for lease. I had found home. No one was occupying the place, so i parked in the underground area at the rear for my whole eight weeks. Not only was I shaded from the harsh australian summer, but it was free. Shit it was so private that i think i got changed there a couple of times lol.

Now I am at the main city public hospital doing general respiratory med. In terms of parking, it is even worse. I parked in the doctors carpark for a week, until they erected a boom gate. Then I parked in the country health carpark until they saw me, and told me where I could go with my cheap, second hand piece of shit of a student car. OK, I added the bit about the car slur :o)
Then I parked at the church for a few days, until I got too guilty. And Now?
I used to work for a huge stationary and office supplies company two years ago. They have a branch just down the street from my hospital, and I have been using their carpark now for the last two weeks. And they are on to me. Yes its on like donkey kong. First, they threatened me with a warning on my windscreen. I ignored it. Two more warnings followed, the third being a threat to tow my car away.
I didn't want my car to be towed. It seemed they were determined to bring me down to china town. Having worked there before, I knew that something like this would be the talk of their lunch breaks, yes they are that sad. They were probably even making bets. So what should do? Find somewhere else? Take the public transport? Consult a transexual soothsayer?
Well, I couldn't find a transexual, homosexual or bisexual soothsayer, so I did the next best thing. Pretending to be the manager of the stationery company, I rang the local parking authorities, police and towing groups. It seems, that no one can do shit to my car, until the company signs an agreement with council parking to patrol their carpark. The rangers would then fine everyone, including staff members. Also, unless the agreement was signed, towing of my car would be considered by law, theft. Yachtzee!!
So I continue to park there...[see photo, mine is the emerald green charade...pretty masculine i know], they've since put other stickers on my windows but after all beens said and done...like love, the free parking vigilante will always find a way!

It was on a home visit round that I ended up at this place. Nice house, in a nice area, overlooking the ocean. The owner was a guy around 35 years old, married, with two kids. Why I'm mentioning this is because he is dying from motor neurone disease, and there is nothing anyone, save God, can do. For me, it was another one of those moments where the fragility of the human body, and the uncertainty of life took centrestage, at least for that day. At the end of the day, no one can escape what these facts, even though its probably not healthy and quite depressing to keep thinking about it. So what to do? Live your life free, know what you want, be fully yourself, and don't hang on too tightly to what you have. Gotta love the door and the balcony.

To protect and to serve

Yesterday, on the way back to my girl's house, I was pulled over by the police for random breath testing. The officer was a young woman in her late twenties, who looked hispanic. And, she had a gun.
But anyway, she checked my licence was still valid, breathalysed me and then noticed that my rego sticker was not current. I explained that although I had paid for a renewal 2 months ago, they hadn't sent it to me yet. So she radioed to the station to verify this. It took about 10 minutes.
My girl was a bit sick, and in some discomfort so I asked the officer how much longer it will be, and explained that my girlfriend was in pain. Another 5 minutes, she said. After receiving radio confirmation about my rego, she then proceeded to lecture me about not having the rego sticker. I said, fine, I'll call them up. Did she stop then?

No, she did not. On and on she went, and then had the nerve to tell me that on Monday, I must give them a call. I reminded her that my girl was in discomfort and thank you, I really must go now. Did she let us go?

No, she did not. Apparently I was giving her attitude, and now she was going to issue me with a fine for not having the current rego sticker on my window. I got pretty mad. I began to go off at her, and then my girlfriend tried to calm me down, and she apologized to the cop. Did she let us go?

No, she did not. I could read between the lines, she wanted an apology from ME, not my gf. I looked at my girl, and realized that she was right, and I wanted to get her home to rest, so I apologized. Man, she eyeballed me for a while. Then just walked off.
For the love of Pete, what was her issue? Aren't police meant to protect and serve us? What's with harrassing good, law-abiding citizens? I was angry for about an hour after that. Had a beer, thought about it. Calmed down a bit. Now what?

Should I go and complain about her? Surely if enough people complained then it would look bad on her record.
Or....it would be easy just to think, hey - she's just a cop, she's nothing. I'm better than you, you're just another unhappy shitkicker, I should pity you.
In the end, although it was really difficult and I needed a beer, I put myself in her shoes. That made the difference. A woman cop, yeah, there must be such pressure on her to be tough, to assert herself, because she probably gets less respect from the common people.
And I realized she was just being thorough and trying to do her job with a lot of (perhaps too much) enthusiasm.

At least she gets a gun.