voiceless

I have gotten my voice back, although not in the literal sense as my laryngitis-induced-voice-loss is still going strong for the 5th day running...
but anyhow, reiterate. I have my voice back. The personality-erosive effects of medical finals is slowly being reversed.

"The unreflective life is a life not worth living." Without offending any non-reflective people (or dull surfaces), I find this saying so close to the truth. And it is so often that God calls upon us to reflect, to think, to ponder, to dwell on our lives, our behaviour, ourselves, to question our actions, behaviours and thoughts and to keep them in check. If to even think evil is a sin, we have much thought-cleansing to do. How did I come to that? I don't know. My pressure of speech is starting to take rein again. Perhaps it is easier on my friends that my voice is gone at the moment..... Break them into me gently, I say...

Anyhoo, also read something very lovely which would be nice to throw into the thought-pool:

"My sole passion is thy love,
In earth beneath or heaven above,
I have no other store.
And though with fervent suite I pray
And importune thee day by day,
I ask Thee nothing more."

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Meanwhile, as usual, my annual / biannual pilgrimage to the motherland has brought me back with more updates from friends, family and others. It is quite comforting to know that despite the differences in location, cultures, and appearances, we are all of the same species, living out our jobs, living out our relationships, living out our religions and practising our beliefs, feeling similar sentiments, having identical needs and desires, in true Maslow-like fashion. A comforting reassurance of our existence as humans. (it never fails to provoke me that Maslow put 'sex' as a physiological need and 'sexual intimacy' as a need for belonging/love...) A reassurance... I suppose the dehumanisation and personality erosion was needing a good kick up the backside.
Anyhow, I ramble too much...

je ne sai pai

well, apart from having an extremely eventful Christmas up in Aberdeen shire, where I perhaps, was a bit impolite in indulging myself in a little English history (much to the chagrin of my doric host)... I have learnt a few interesting facts outside of medicine these past few weeks:

1) the Grampian highlands are home to 10% of the stone circles found in the U.K... such as theseee:
2) a study done on 13,000 nuns in 1952 found none of them to have cervical cancer

3) the Met office is still classifed under Britain's war defence system

4) Elvis Presley origins were from Aberdeenshire.right, ok so i lied... but 3 out of 4 facts that were unrelated to medicine isn't too bad.... meanwhile photos from my trip!

the wind.

was jogging along some dusty roads in seminyak, bali, when i passed by these rice fields. the way the flags caught the wind was just so beautiful i had to run back to get my camera...

oyster

Returning from a long weekend of camping up in Garve and a night at the lovely Barber's residence up in Dingwall, i'm absolutely shattered and ready for bed.

It was massive fun on our wee camping adventure. Pitching tents, lugging sleeping bags and mats, picking firewood, starting a fire, cooking pasta on a gas-stove and sleeping in tents while a relentless rainstorm battered away at our tents was definitely a truly Scottish adventure.
Of note was watching Callum, Gill and Rachel swim in the icy coldness of the waterfall, dolphin watching, camping, sleeping in tents, teamwork banter and meeting Callum's interesting friends from Englandshire.

But all these adventures and all these months left in Glasgow has just left me pining for London even more....
Paris (3 weekends ago!), on the other hand, was definitely somewhere i could see myself live in... Ack, I just love big cities, period.... LOOONNNNDDOOONNNN IN 6 DAYYYSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!! *excitement*

into the ether

so why is it that the _______ are always leaving? coming and going, flitting and flirting, waxing and waning, how moon-like... corticosteroid excess, i do hope not. complex psychoanalytical issues regarding my fears and inner desires aside, it is possibly because the element of their character that drives them to be such peripatetics is what ___ in the first place.
but is this world moving toward one where relatonships are built on fast-chats on skype, bittey-images on web cameras, messages left while we were offline and electronic roses? are man's social interactions going electronic?
mebbe that's the real reason why Britian just can't be bothered with their neighbours anymore... it's rather sad, i reckon. especially when sitting on the tube for an hour entails an hour of silence, head buried in book, or ipod securedly fastened in ear canals... when we are brushing shoulders with a fellow travelling camarade headed in the same direction. nay, we would rather return to our box-apartments, connect to the internet and search for online dating agencies .... where one can be whoever they want to be, say whatever they want to say, reveal as much as they are comfortable with and never have to prove or justify any of their self-proclaimed strengths or watered-down weaknesses... sometimes until it is too late.

frugality, familiarity and formality

The disclarity of cornucopia has since sent its futile firings against a willpower fueled by the love of frugality. The allure of acquisition has long proven its futility on an experienced ex-shopaholic...

Yes, i think my discernment in buying things has sharpened over the years, having the corollary of keeping and using a lot of the things i purchase and not being able to do without them.. I thus stand before the continuously-presenting problem of having to bring them all with me wherever I go.. (note: things here refers especially to shoes, books and clothes)

I do admit, there is a certain obsessiveness about it.. Alas, the problem of being familiar and conditioned to old things presents the problem of not ever wanting anything different... (should the reader feel a lack of understanding in this aspect, feel free to refer to House's persistence on Cuddy returning his old carpet in House episode #3-04)
(picture taken from: http://www.housemd-guide.com/season3/graphics/304house.jpg)

take for example the problem i now face with having to transport 200 satchets of a certain brand of local coffee, half a dozen packets of my favourite local biscuits and foodstuff, 4 medical textbooks i required here on my attachment, my trusty speakers (+subwoofer), my well-worn favourite shoes, faded hospital clothes, etc etc...

anyhow, after the de rigeur packing and sorting and cleaning, i decided to share the highlight of such an organised exit with one and all...*drumroll*.....

the magical experience of cleaning and admiring
my SHOESSSSSSSS.... :)

these green ladies have appeared previously in more luxurious settings.....

my favourites!...

okay, so one may question my take on frugality being more than 8 pairs of shoes i travel with.. but DO NOT JUDGE MOI.. for i did have to pack for 2 seasons, 3 cities and all sorts of occassions this trip...

on that note, this leaving does seem to have a certain unprecedented resoluteness about it. but it's times like these i have to remember my Boss is still the one who has the final say....

thailand!

pardon the paucity of blogging of late, guys! but take heart, i'm baacckkk! my country-hopping adventures have finally ended and i'm now back in the motherland, in the hope of resting my jaded wings from all the flying of late.

well, so the 4 of us returned from bangkok not too long ago, and it was such a blast!! the trip in a sentence: full-on shopping, massages on a daily basis, late nights, sabotage, dangerous liasons and photo-whoring!!

shoppin at chatuchakk!!

this one's fo u, shen!the posers!

doggsss!!sleepyheads!

and... *drumroll* the legendary shots taken by yours truly!!! :

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running shots:

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junice and carol 's suspicious activities at changi airport...birthday celebrations at the bed supper club!
haha... so yes, thailand was great craic! thanks guys for making it such a blast!!

halloween in the hospital

THE DUMFRIES DIARIES....

Dumfries, indolent city by day.the Infirmary. the doctors' residences - a bulwark of respectability, civility and excellence...??????

but come halloweeen......,