Badminton :)

The final farewell match of the badminton legend, Peter Gade of Denmark, against the two-time Olympic champion, Lin Dan of China, ended 2 days ago with Peter being victorious. However, I could see that victory wasn't what this veteran was seeking. The fact that he invited Lin Dan to Copenhagen only meant that he wanted a challenging and exciting game to be his farewell match before he finally walked off the arena for good. Such is the spirit and passion of a 34-year-old veteran, who will be an unforgettable icon in the world of badminton. Being a fan of this humble yet powerful character, I will miss his ever elegant and captivating skills on the television.

The match gave me an inspiration to write something about my experience on the all-time favourite racquet sport of many of countries in the world. It is more so in Malaysia ever since the legendary Lee Chong Wei was crowned the world champion which lasted for 199 consecutive weeks from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. Badminton, which was already a Malaysian sport, has then been further popularised among the younger generation of people who do not recognise the Sidek brothers, Wong Choong Han, and many other previous local badminton stars alike.

I fondly remember the time when my timid hand was first exposed to the handle of a badminton racquet. I was barely taller than the length of the frame. If I recall correctly I was only about 5/6 years old. I was introduced to this sport by my dad who preferred badminton over other sports. In fact, it was the only sport he played for leisure besides jogging.

'Swing it higher to serve the shuttlecock!', he would yell out to me. My short built then would only mean damage to the racquet if I swung it the usual way a taller person would. Sometimes forgetting to flex adequately, I was amazed by the sparks created when I hit the ground. By 'ground' I mean the tar road in front of the single-storey terrace house that my family used to inhabit. Of course, as naive as I was, I could not comprehend the destruction I wreaked onto the poor racquet (luckily it was a cheap one). Nonetheless, after a few years, height was not a problem anymore. I learned to play better and I became more fond of it.

My dad isn't exactly a big fan of badminton. He slowly gave up the sport as I grew older. I played with my elder brother more often, and sometimes with the neighbourhood kids. Back then, there was nothing about strategy. All we did was just hitting the bird back and forth with our opponents. Being able to hit the bird accurately was already a huge achievement to us. My elder brother was good then, and I remember learning some skills from a boy who lived 2 houses away too. Perhaps that was the time I started realising the concepts of lobbing, smashing, and dropping in badminton.

I finally joined a badminton club when I was in Primary 3. Received weekly training under a coach with a small group of students for about half a year. He focused a large part of the training on footwork. I recall having to do at least 100 times of basic footwork drills before we were allowed to swing the racquet at the bird. It was during the period that I improved significantly. However, the number of students grew and the coach decided that a test had to be conducted to handpick a limited number of students to continue the training. Unfortunately, not being able to display what I had learnt on the court, I was not selected. There were many better players, and I was asked to discontinue my training to make way for them. Such was the harsh truth a 9-year-old had to absorb. 'Survival of the fittest', I told my young mind. I was nevertheless grateful to the coach because he helped me lay a good foundation on which I could improve myself.

I did not further my training since then, but some of my friends did. I joined a badminton competition when I was in Primary 4, which was organised by the club from which I was expelled. I was not surprised that I lost terribly to my friend who was so advanced in speed and skills. I was utterly disappointed. 'He's going to make 5 mistakes on purpose', I heard from my other friend that my opponent, who happened to be one of my close friends then, secretly promised himself to give up 5 points to me so that I would not feel too upset. And he really did. 15-5.

My passion dwindled, as I realised that I did not have the talent to go far in badminton. I did not join any club nor training when I was in secondary school. I focused a lot on my studies. Perhaps being brought down from training so much was a blessing in disguise, for I could prioritise what was more important to me in my life. If I had not done well in my studies I would not be what I am today.

Playing badminton has still been my hobby all the while. I never gave it up. I slowly trained myself by observation and practice with some of my friends whom I incidentally found to be interested in the sport too. After a very long period of stagnation, only in Form 4 did I finally  start to have weekly exercise in badminton. Sometimes we would meet new people, some were ex-students who also happened to play weekly in the school hall. Having more experience in the sport, they taught us many basic yet essential strategies to work on. Thanks to them too for without the basics I don't think I would have enjoyed the sport as much as I have been. Even until now, a group of my ex-schoolmates maintain weekly sessions, and I would usually join them when I'm back home for holidays.

The group of friends who have been organising weekly badminton sessions for many years.

While I was furthering my studies in college, I lived in an apartment and there were about 4 outdoor badminton courts there. Many enthusiasts played badminton there every evening. It was simply an amazing feeling to know that when I felt like exercising, I just had to invite some college mates out to have a few rounds downstairs. The only problem was the occasional wind but it was free and available so it was most convenient. It was around that time that I got to meet some really skilled people who were trained as college players. They gave tremendous commitment into their training that it was no wonder they were impressive in their games. I could not be too distracted by the sport as Cambridge A-levels demanded most of my attention.  I remember joining a tournament organised by the college twice in mixed doubles. Of course, on hindsight, losing was absolutely not surprising because of very little sense of strategy back then. Compared to the elites, it was as though we were some dancing jokes to them (literally). Still, the experience (and the freebies) were amazing.

This Yonex racquet, bought for me by my girlfriend and our classmates as a birthday gift, has been my faithful companion on the court since then.

I started going to proper courts for my badminton sessions after entering university. My course mates and I barely knew each other in our first year, hence there was nary a badminton game throughout the year. But in our second year, which was the year in which we ought to expect a lot of stress and anxiety, we needed an outlet. We slowly found out while socialising that there were actually a few of us who enjoyed badminton, hence the regular friends whom I have been playing with since then. My girlfriend has also been a regular player because she is naturally elated to have finally found another girl who could partner well with her.

My fellow ex-groupmates who decided to join the fun.

'Playing with you is too stressful', she would often say to me, apparently because I always looked too serious in casual games.  I am not sure why, but it could be the thoughts that I put into analysing the games while they unfolded themselves that rendered my grin minimal. Although I am always not her favourite partner to tag with, little does she know that her mere glamorous presence made those sessions more enjoyable and happening. I love to see her exercise by my side, and I am truly grateful that she always tries to appreciate my most favourite sport!

My girlfriend and I, with a group of friends in YONEX-SUNRISE Malaysia Open GP Gold 2012, Johor Bahru.

I actually learned a great deal especially from my partner, who helped me to secure my first ever gold medal in the sport. Even though it was just a small tournament in my medical school, it was still challenging and rewarding. He has the astounding ability to win  almost any double/mixed-double game whichever side he is in. I'm glad that I was worth his consideration to pair up with in the tournaments.

School tournament. Men's doubles final. Year 2011. Won silver.

My partner in men's doubles. Year 2012. Won gold.

I fondly recall the time when I could finally call myself a school player because a group of us represented the school to compete in a national inter-varsity sport tournament organised by UPM this year. And it was hell exciting and stressful to witness good players from medical schools all over the country! And who says doctors don't play games? They were good! My team essentially battled with 2 different schools in the qualifying rounds. My partner and I were able to secure 2 points for the team from winning both the matches we played in. It wasn't easy at all to control my nerves and focus on the matches. In the process I made quite a few costly unforced errors. 'Calm down bro, calm down', my partner who knew too well that I was panicking, reassured me while moving both his pronated palms up and down briefly during the match.  Eventually we made it through the matches, both of which involved nerve-wracking rubber games. Alas, the other players were simply too good and my  other teammates could only concede in their games. My team failed to reach the next stage, but we revelled in the fact that we all put in our best efforts.

My fellow passionate teammates in UPM.

Badminton is continuing to impress me with its intricacies. I never got bored of the sport, not when there is a network of badminton enthusiasts that I'm linked to. At the age of 23, I'm still looking forward to many years of agility, strength, and stamina for the sport, until one day I have to give it up. I have witnessed middle to old aged men and women played badminton before. Even though I admired their continuing passion, I could not help worrying about their proneness to injuries. My cousin-in-law who is a coach, once tore his Archilles tendon before at the age of 30+, let alone 'uncles' and 'aunties' who are naturally more fragile if fitness is not properly maintained.

I love badminton, and I have learnt a lot from it. Respect and humility are 2 good examples. There has been so many times when I encountered players who  were conceited and lost miserably in the end. Some were genuinely skilled but they could never earn respect from others even though they won. There ought to be respect for each other across the court, no matter how huge the gap of ability is. That's the spirit of sportsmanship. In addition, keeping calm while thinking on your feet is another example. I learned not to judge the players on the TV because no one off the courts could actually comprehend fully what runs through their heads - nervousness and stress can easily topple any good players off. It's too easy to criticise without an attempt to empathise. I believe these learning points apply in almost any aspect of life as well.

'Don't only practise your art, but force your way into its secrets,
For it and knowledge can raise men to the divine' 

- Ludwig van Beethoven

It is true that when you get to know more about an art, the more joy and pleasure you would discover within. I'm not close to having found the sport's 'secret', but I can be definite that there were lots of experience accrued over the years that made this sport more and more gratifying.

I have recognised long ago that I am a man without talents. Playing badminton is the by far only thing I can consider myself slightly better at, if not considered an actual talent. Therefore, I cherish it, and the folks in British India in mid-18th century who were blessed with superb minds to conceptualise such a sensational sport.

May the future shine bright in badminton and may more people be benefited from playing this addictive sport!

My attempts at Forced Perspective shots

Edited with the famous Instagram!

JYC Concept Stores Malaysia

A highly-anticipated blog-shop has just recently been launched - one that promises fashion at affordable prices!

Visit www.jyc2u.com!

A medal for my favorite sport

Something to remember my university life by.

Monash University Medical Society Malaysia Annual Badminton Tournament 2012

Men's double - Champion :)

My Rappaport & Sprague stethoscope

The best stets, only from the best girlfriend in conjunction with our 5th year anniversary! :)

The most meaningful gift - a gift that is extremely practical, useful, sentimental, and one which will grow old listening to my patients' woes with me.

I shall hereby call it the Quinque! ('Five' in Latin)

Anger & Hatred

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” — The Buddha

I find the quote above meaningful and perhaps the best analogy to describe anger. I have experienced anger myself, and I'm sure everybody has. And I have also been on the receiving end, directly and indirectly, throughout my life.

The effects of anger and grudges are immediately visible, but not all are able to witness them in conscious mind. I am no exception. I am still learning.

The impact, to my experience, of anger can be profound and wide. Unfortunately the person portraying anger may not be in his/her calm mind to see that. The sufferers involved include the person being angry, the person to whom the anger is thrown to, and sometimes, the people around the angry person who unknowingly get caught in the rage.

How many time have I seen people holding grudges against others, ruminating on vengeance and hatred, who in the end suffer from the aftermath of this behaviour? How many people have I seen instead of hurting others they are hurting themselves so much that they didn't realize? And how many times have I seen innocent people getting involved as third persons in such detrimental poison?

Countless - including my personal experience as the different said types of victims.

Anger, can undoubtedly engender complications in one's social, occupational and psychological areas of functioning. My clinical experience confirms that, especially in those who have already lost control of their minds. 

We only need to have the courage to examine it ourselves.

Thoughts on Psychiatry

Personal experience has changed the way I think of people with psychiatric illnesses.
Some background stories are so saddening that I couldn't help but tear inside.

Helplessness was all I felt when I was asked to stop the harrowing voices, the persistent devils, and the omnipresent 'gods' commanding them to jump, to cut themselves, to die.
Where's their peace of mind? Where's their comfort? Where's the mind they truly own?

Some cut themselves for comfort, some don't even know what pleasure is anymore.
Some are so ill that they don't know they are ill, they are left and abandoned by their friends, some even by their very own family members.
All I could do was to comfort, and hope they'll get better.

Appreciate your functional mind, as many are literally dying to want a healthy one.
I pray for their recovery.

Ipad2 for Education

Many people have asked me before, 'Hey, you have an Ipad2! Is it useful?'. The answer has always been a resounding YES. Then I would go on to explain why and encouraged them to buy one.

Its usefulness may not be true for everyone. Some of my tutors have actually only utilized their Ipads to check mails and stock markets, which I think may not be maximizing its potential. I'm not sure about students from other courses, but I personally find Ipad extremely useful when it comes to reading a course like Medicine.

There are so many apps that support learning in & out of classrooms. For example, Evernote and Penultimate are helpful note-taking tools. Dropbox is one outstanding cloud storage that enables syncing across multiple platforms, thus helpful for loading assignments, lecture notes etc anywhere.

GoodReader is an extremely useful multi-purpose app that loads pdf and many other file types, and enable its users to highlight, type notes etc on the pdfs. It allows wireless transfers of files to and from desktops too. If there are .CHM files that I need to read, I can go to my CHMate as well.

There are also many office apps in store and one such app that I'm using is known as Office2HD. However, honestly speaking, editing documents are best done on the desktop.

For medical students, the medical apps are absolutely helpful especially when your learning are always limited by the size of the books that you have to carry to the wards every day. There are Oxford handbook series, CASE Files series, LANGE series, RAPID series etc which are helpful in real-time checking of info and revisions at home. Not to mention the most liked medical FREE app of all time - Medscape.

While I am not going to elaborate further on how to use the apps, it's always worth the time to check them out on the Apple AppStore.

Do you want to be a Doctor? by A/P Wong YO

This is an outstanding article written by my teacher, A/P Wong YO, to share his experience with a potential medical student  his views in the field of Medicine .

For those who have always been thinking about reading Medicine in the future, please take your time to read this lengthy email and not spend the rest of your life regretting your choices.


Do you want to be a Doctor?

Dear Daryl,

Your aunt has asked that I share with you my thoughts on medicine and medical education today.

Let me start by saying that I am most blessed to have trained under your Aunt, Prof Florence Wang, and I recall my time in ward 12A at University hospital under her as a most formative part of my training. Thank you prof!

It has been 3 decades since then and the world has changed. The world of Medicine and medical education has changed beyond even the most imaginative of us all had dared to dream. Some things are good and much detrimental.

I will have to ask you very honestly why you wish to pursue a career in Medicine for this is very important.

Most students simply have very little knowledge of the world of medicine and some very quickly become disillusioned in their clinical years. ALL my students come to me with FULL distinctions or stand at >97 percentile of their cohort; that they are brilliant is without a doubt but sadly many are NOT that motivated to serve humanity. They come into medical school because their results qualify them too, they sing the right well rehearsed song at the interview and because they think it is prestigious, they want to be a medical student!

But the real world of sick humans with all the smell and excrement and drains rapidly reverse all those good feelings, and harsh reality sets in. Osler a great Physician whom your aunt and I both greatly admire said that THE VERY FIRST QUALIFICATION is a Love for Humanity. I believe that that quality is far more important than all the ‘A’s in your result slip.

AS a GOOD doctor, You will be very important. We have plenty of doctors but not many GOOD ones. The future of many lives and families depend on what doctors do and SAY; imagine all the Good or Damage that can be done. But to be a good doctor is NOT easy. I just had a tutorial with my students and told them that the VOLUME of information that they need to read up is so MUCH that any serious student will honestly spent ALL his time doing very little but STUDY. I hope this realisation will help you understand the quality of life you will have as a medical student, or rather the lack of it.

Modern medical education has moved far beyond lecture based learning; here in the Clinical school the word ‘LECTURE’ is OBSCENE and students learn through SDL – Self directed learning. Its philosophy being that the advance of knowledge is so rapid that Students MUST learn to teach themselves rather than being taught formally in a Lecture Hall. This demands very matured and disciplined students for to the lazy student, SDL means Sleeping DeepLy. Are you prepared for years of being a nerd?

Please remember that Doctors are first and foremost Diagnosticians… those training under me MUST not only be skilful in diagnosis and management but also in social skills and leadership. When I was under your aunt, she demanded History taking so detailed and meticulous that ‘War and Peace’ looked like a short story in comparison. Today students speak in SMS like language, and do “Focussed History Taking” instead of Detail History taking. Yes the Art of Clinical diagnosis is dying, and High Touch Medicine being replaced by High Tech Medicine.

In many Once Prestigious Universities which I will not name, Final Year students now teach 3rd year students Clinical Methods!!! Your aunt will tell you that 3 decades ago, only the senior consultants in UM were allowed to teach Clinical Methods as it was considered so very2 important. Osler is certainly turning in his urn!!

In your mind, do you envision yourself as a doctor spending hours talking, feeling, touching, examining the patients…. or a doctor ordering scans and more scans with nary a glance at the nameless poor sick man lying on the bed? Ask yourself that question now.

Yes, the practise of Medicine is in trouble.

Blatant commercialisation, rampant blood tests done without any doctors ordering or supervising, scans and probes of all kinds, are being conducted by laboratories and some doctors misguilded by wants rather than needs. When your aunt was holding the fort at Ward 12A, her ward rounds will start at 8am and the whole entourage of the Professor, Dr HC Ting the lecturer, the Medical Officer, the houseman and the medical students will follow her from bed to bed. The medical student or the houseman will present the LONG DETAIL history and she will then TALK TO EVERY PATIENT WITHOUT EXCEPTION about aspects of the history and personally examine every patient to confirm or correct the juniors’ findings. This of course was a long tedious process and the rounds will stretch till 1pm. But it was the Art of Clinical Diagnosis at its finest. Today, I am sad to report that rounds are spent looking at scans and reports and its a RARE occasion that the Consultant lays his hands on the sick. Sadly I am not exacerating. I wish I am.

Hope lies in every one of us doctors, present and you the future, for the sensible management of patients; YOU remain the hope for untold numbers of patients in the future. Sadly some doctors see patients not as patients but as a disease that needs treatment which provides our source of income. This is nothing new, physicians like Osler had repeatedly cautioned against not forgetting the man behind the disease, and medicine as a calling rather than a business.

“The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head. Often the best part of your work will have nothing to do with potions and powders, but with the exercise of an influence of the strong upon the weak, of the righteous upon the wicked, of the wise upon the foolish”.~ Sir William Osler

Many doctors are unhappy with their work or simply too busy to talk, console or listen. Yes thats life in the 21st century where we sms instead of talk. Many just treat the disease and completely ignore the person who has it. We hear endless tales carried by patients of doctors who grunt instead of talk, who are capable only of monosylable conversation and who zip patients in and out of the consultation room with a speed that will make Superman jealous. I try my very best to teach my students the Art of Clinical Diagnosis but even I fear that its a losing uphill battle. My colleagues and I here are led by Prof Khalid who is a old school clinician, and we refuse to belittle the Clinical Art despite the advancing machinery all around us. Students are amazed and impressed by all the wizardry and sometimes to my frustration fail to practise the Clinical Skills as much as I want them to.

Ask yourself Daryl, what do you want? I do not want you to come to medical school and be disillusioned by what you see in the REAL MEDICAL WORLD as compared to the idealised world that we had projected.
Doctors must never forget why we became doctors in the first place, and the wonder of caring for fellow humans. Some may be a bit burnt out. We had in our careers, seen and taken care of more pain and misery than most people. We saw prostitudes, drug addicts, criminals and the worst of humanity. Yes, this is another point that I must raise to you. AIDS today is the TB of your aunt’s era, its everywhere! Most of my students come from very privileged families or they cannot afford the fees! Hence it is a shock to many when confronted with Vagabonds, homeless, addicts, pimps and Prostitutes. All the glamour flushes away when you realise that such folks are among the many that you will encounter daily unless you are in some Beverly Hills practise.

But of course we also treated decent human beings, doting grandmothers and innocent children. No doubt, the demands on our skills and the medical-legal complexities that accompany our practise would have made even the greatest of our medical ancestors shudder. And for this your training is NOT the 5 years of medical school BUT many2 years beyond. Are you prepared for such a LONG time spend in studies and training?
You had read Dr Pagal’s blog and written to him, while he may be harsh and discouraging, much of what he wrote to you with regards to THE SYSTEM has some truth to it. The system is basically dictated by our political masters, a system undeniably sick, and Dr Pagal has written frankly of much of our woes that only drastic administrative tsunamis can repair.

Yes the system only makes it more painful. Long waits for post graduate training positions is the norm now. Regulations as thick as a medical text. Pharmacies selling controlled medicines like sweets. To change that will require one of us to be the next Prof Virchow, plunging head on into politics to make a difference.

In school we rose above the hoard, we were the cream de la cream, and yes I can testify to that in my students. Some are so brilliant they frighten me. We obtained results the envy of most and we strove with pride to enter medical school. Could the same students have done well in other fields? Of course they will shine too!!

In medical school you will work like ants on a long march. You will stare at slides till you see mitochondria in your dreams and memorised volumes of facts and figures. Some of my students are NOT prepared for this; they thought that it will be a smooth passage and when they hear this old Professor here telling them to read XYZ, they simply turn off and zone away. Are you ready for a student life that has NO LIFE??

I take them for tough postings in Internal Medicine, I am among the strictest examiners, I expect the students to flourish in the drudgery of crowded wards, to work till hypoglycaemic on medicine rounds, to perform every procedure required in the book, and of course to pass their exams reasonably well. I expect them to look at X-rays until their eyes turned red. And do I have such students? Yes, I am blessed that many such students have walked the wards with me. And I am proud of them. And I know they will overcome every obstacle invented by our political masters to excel in their fields because they have the fundamental quality to be a good doctor; their love of Humanity and of the Art of Medicine.

You will finally graduate and become a house officer. Yes the field is as packed as sardines from Malaysia to UK to Australia, Dr Pagal is NOT exaggerating when he says that jobs will be difficult to come by soon. But if you are GOOD, you will be wanted! It’s TOUGH I do not deny that, and TOUGHER as the years pass by, BUT again I emphasize, if you are good, you will be wanted, for the good doctor is a rare specimen.

A few years later, you will pick a specialty, from paediatrics to surgery, family medicine to cardiology, internal medicine to radiology, and shuffled off to more clinics, rounds grand or otherwise, work and studies.

And MORE EXAMs. Girlfriend? Oh what Girlfriend!!!

About 20% of my own class are still SINGLE!

In the 80s, new diseases appeared. I still recall with trepidation managing the very first patient admitted to our hospital with AIDS. We knew very little but feared a lot. As registrar, it was my duty to examine him. But again we survived. And learned. Now at almost every bedside teaching, I see patients with HIV. In your generation, you will see many many more new ones, from Avian flu number something to any new thing that crosses species as humanity ravishes the environment. Ready for that?

Your youthful enthusiasm and dedication will push you through the initial years. As young doctors, weren’t we incredible then, if only because we came back to the wards night after night, day after day for emergencies, calls, rounds or simply a ’tissued’ drip. “Bengkak” the nurse will phone and we leave our dinner to struggle with chemo wrecked veins for IV access.

Did you know that your aunt will reprimand the ladies for coming to the wards in pants? It is NOT acceptable then but now almost all my female students come in pants! OOPs sorry Prof for leaking such old tales!

We as doctors try to hold onto our commitment to heal, that wonderful calling. Then we see another world – the realm of the business of medicine, where every disease is a “case” to be investigated.

A very senior Professor tells me she had seen doctors ordering investigations before even taking a history! Here is also the world of the grunting and monosylable doctor, the superman of 2 minute consultations and management. True, the superb rare genius of a diagnostitian may well have obtained all the data that he needed sub- 2 minutes, but the poor human called ‘the patient’ needed at least 6 minutes of compassionate conversation. (By the way, that is why the OSCE exam is 6 minutes long, or SHORT from your examinee viewpoint… now you know how the patient will feel when the consultation is even shorter than this!). Recall that the only reason the woman in labour remembered the attending medical student is because they held her hand while she screamed.

We are the descendents of Aesclepius, the inheritors of all that is noble in the Hippocratic oath. We may fail to change the ideas of many doctors however we may preach from some elusive high moral ground. But as individuals can YOU NOT lose that ideal? If you can, welcome to the world of medicine and modern medical education. You will thrive no matter what! If not, seriously reconsider another vocation.

If we tell our students that the learning of medicine is through their apprenticeship to us their seniors, then we better be sure that we are good role models. Your aunt was a superb clinician and diagnostician and had inspired many of us.

As a future doctor, you can be the hope of the febrile, the breathless and the pregnant.

Do not let what you see in the misadventures of some doctors discourage you. Instead let them be teachers to you for you now know what you do NOT want to be like.

When a doctor have taken medicine to be a business or trade, he will ask what are his achievements — material success, cars, wealth, etc..

When a doctor has taken medicine to be a calling, he will ask what has he become — his character.

I hope we doctors can discern and reflect on what we have become in the practice of medicine, and teach all our young charges, delivering them safely through the long 5 years of protracted labour into a reasonably sane medical world. Daryl, I hope I have helped you somehow. Your aunt, Prof Florence has taught me much, this is my little tribute in return, my Bunga Emas to her.

Thank you

Associate Professor Wong YO.

Wonder about my future as a doctor

Haven't blogged for such a long time. In fact this is exactly the trend that was seen in my blog activity in the previous years. Admittedly, blogging can be quite a chore when I have so much things to catch up on in my studies. The non-study time is just allocated for recreation to keep me going.

There were actually so so many things to blog about, ranging from my first ipad2, the apps that I'm liking so much, the superb usefulness of it, to the many fond memories that I have been creating with my girlfriend. However times have changed and I don't have as much free time as I used to have when I was younger.

I still see some comments occasionally on a post I wrote long time ago (Reader's Digest Super Radical Promotion, a Scam?). Nice to know that my article is still giving helpful information to the readers.

Today I read a blog that inspired me to just scribble something here. It's a blog written by a doctor who talks about the many issues in the world of medicine, especially in the local setting. It made me worry about the kind of training that I will be getting as a result of oversupply of new doctors every year. There will be too many housemen per consultant, the attention given and the exposure will not be as much as what it used to be in the past. Not to mention the limited spaces available for the masters programs in the future.

What kind of doctor will I turn out to be?