jo and alex- roadside ways

crazy kids

the 4 musketeers!

good as g-old

this makes carol happy. but first....
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

flying off to yunnan this weekend.. it's going to be lots and lots of :
1. rain
2. mud
3. evil toilets that swallow babies
4. chinese
5. first aid
6. marriage proposals
7. rice

there will be none / very little of the following :
1. ipod
2. comfort
3. air conditioning
4. dry socks

so... in an appeal to all of you reading this now... PRAY FOR ME!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

meanwhile, carol is loving the feeling of familiarity and the underated charm of old things... esp old friends and clothes. but esp the former...

the depth of my superficiality

the first sunrise after a long time...
serious bumming, reading, guitaring, sleeping, photography, sleeping, deep deep conversations.

listening to myself has never been this therapeutic before.. but it's funny that i no longer think in words: "acoustic #3" - goo goo dolls, "kashmir" - led zepellin, "heartbeats" - jose gonzalez
i no longer think for myself: "name" - goo goo dolls
and i no longer think for today.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

on a lighter note, how to enjoy singapore:

is to take a deep breath, dive in, and leave your thoughts on the surface. "don't ask" - julie doiron

juxtaposition

the best medsin.

pedalling extensively

whoever said anything about conflict being bad? for this must be truly what is meant by the apostle paul, when he wrote, "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." - 1 cor 13:12. for what is love? what does it mean to be Christian? every day we struggle... for struggling is all we do in this life. but in this gasping for air, in this mad clamour to get there, in all these desperate extensions of our limited knowledge, experience and strength, there in is the search for truth.. and for now, that will suffice. now i know in part....

Humans are one of the few species who survive past the age of procreation.... Wisdom from elders a divine blessing of age that we fail to see the salience of? the recognition of patterns...

the difference between monkeys and man is that man can stand on another man's shoulders... learning from someone else's mistakes. how else is it exponential?

also, the importance of fellowship in the new covenant.

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
we feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
all are one in thee, for all are thine.

- 'For all the saints' by William How

the itchy and scratchy

oh for the life of me, i can't get to sleep.. i can only think of a two obvious reasons : it's wayy too hot to get to sleep in this atrocious heat and i'm still on GMT 0...

comment #1
how on earth does anyone get anything done in this climate? if i was ever complaining about the capricious glaswegian weather, i take it ALL back... glaswegian weather gave you hope, at least.. u could get up to a fine, fair morning and come home in the sharp brutality of a hailstorm (but at least it gave u a morning, damnnit!)... now, i wake up every morning to the squelching heat and humidity that whacks you the moment you step out of the air conditioning.. a merciless heat wave that strips you of all energy, motivation and life... immediately coercing beads of perspiration from you... and then the afternoon comes and the sun just shuts everyone up indoors and any attempts to go outside will only bring more sweat, fatigue and hopelessness...

comment #2
i hayyyyteeeeee histamine.. i utterly HAAYYYTTEEE YOU! non-infectious conjunctivitis and sinusitis and heat rash!!! oh for the life of me, you are the plague of the atopic peripatetic in this modern globalised world!!!!! ARGHS.... clarinase... you are all i neeed.

comment #3
some singaporeans have the most embarassingly low standards of their use of the english language... i refer especially to a certain singaporean headlines today on a certain newspaper i spotted this morning at a newstand.. it had something along the lines of : 'she used me for my seed in order to fulfill her greed. and after she had fulfilled her need, she left me.' i kid you not, aaron pan of bloomberg, those were the headlines (in more or less words) on a local newspaper on friday, the 7th of july 2006.


so amidst incessant perspiring, rubbing, scratching, sneezing, blowing my nose and trying not to snigger at singlish-english, i have been trying to have a good time back in singapore. but somehow, i miss glasgow for all its inadequacies. (?#$!#$!@#?????) and i miss my pedantic, sub-standard life as a medical student even more. (!#@$!@$#$%@#$!#$#@^&#%^@#?????????)

but then ask me again after my routine of full body massages, facials, shopping sprees, hawker-food frenzies, late nights, 2am suppers, girly-chats, mahjong-sessions (this is a shout-out!) and i might just have a change of heart... ;)

mad rush

eyes awash with pain, feet so ready to flee.

le geneve et francais voyagent.

 

fiona et rob. lac geneve.

lac geneve deux.

 

geneve centre-ville. la petit garcon dans lac geneve. moi hand. lac geneve.

fiona. andrew boris heslar mcniece. jenna, beth, me et sharyl a la charlie's angels. andrew, rob et richard snowy.

 

le french alps tres beau!!
naomi, andrew, sharyl et beth. (top r.)
rob (botrom l.)

jenna (bottom m.)

le alps : andrew, richard, fiona(foreground), judy (middle row), jenna (back), me (foreground), beth (middle), sharyl (back), naomi

 

geneve la nuit (1,2,4). park du' chateau (france). ILO (geneve).le reviere (france). le rouge croix. le reviere deux. le rouge croix deux.

le magnifique neuf :
1. rob (captain)
2. andrew / boris / heslar
3. richard / snowy
4. jenna
5. naomi
6. beth
7. fiona
8. sharyl
9. me.

places visited :
1. ornex, france
where we stayed in the gifford residence - site of bountiful banter and food.
2. geneva, switzerland
(our nearest town)
lake geneva - pedalled, swam, sang.
the red cross museum.
3. annesy, france
annesy city centre
lake
4. chamonix, france
french alps, mer de glace, mont blanc - 2h 10 min trek to top, cable car down.
chamonix city centre - fondue dinner with malcolm and judy.

starring : rob (captain). me. fiona,beth. richard.naomi.naomi, sharyl judy, fiona, rob.rob.andrew.jenna.

FIN.

 

bel etranger

i.can't.stop.smiling.

cardiovascular

'Where do you go with your broken heart in tow?
What do you do with the left over you?
And how do you know, when to let go?
Where does the good go? Where does the good go?

Look me in the eye and tell me you don't find me attractive
Look me in the heart and tell me you won't go
Look me in the eye and promise no love's like our love
Look me in the heart and un break broken, it won't happen'

It's love that leaves that breaks the seal of always thinking you would be
Real happy and healthy, strong and calm
Where does the good go? Where does the good go?

Where do you go when you're in love and the world knows?
How do you live so happily while I am sad and broken down?
What do you say it's up for grabs now that you're on your way down?
Where does the good go? Where does the good go?

- 'where does the good go' by tegan & sara

just sitting in the western infirmary library, waiting for the caffeine to kick in.. i have developed such a high tolerance to caffeine, each cup contains about 4 times the amount of caffeine as it did in my first year in glasgow. and i'm drinking at least 2 cups of the drug a day... and i'm not even in proper term time! cos when that was going on, it was a proper 6 cups. oh... the highs of substance abuse. sinus tachycardia and palpitations and hypertension, the silent killer... oh u bad boys...

my Love

cheers to you, God, for the best weekend in a looong time! and not only just fun, but that chance encounter.. there and then, without me even anticipating.. and then that answer to my prayer.. at the very last hours of my sunday...God, you are the best father of all.. you keep Your promises.. even the ones i forgot You made.. and then.. You totally blow me away.. bringing to light YOUR light, YOUR life-giving, YOUR separation, YOUR distinction, YOUR holiness....from the darkness... your righteousness... '...in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left....' 2 corinthians 6:6-7.

too busy to blog...

no time for words.. only photos.. too much going on in my head to rush it now anywas, not when the music of the next party is beckoning through my window... the WEST END FESTIVAL MARDI GRAS.....

samba party girly night out

samba!

capoeira!

chilling out time - park and pubs

picnic in the kelvingrove

prodigious birth

carol has been having a prodigious whirlwind of a time.. effectively my last 3 weeks in glasgow before i make that epic flight back to sunnier shores. (you mean it can get any sunnier than this???)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1750

Number seventeen, Hanover Square. It is past noon on a late April day. Spring is in the air. And inside the handsome, four-storey house with its big sash windows, five across, Lady St. James is about to take her bath.

Two footmen have appeared - crimson livery, white silk stockings - carrying the metal hip-bath and have set it down in the middle of my lady's chamber. They return three times, bearing huge, steaming ewers of hot water; they fill the bath, then retire. Her ladyship's maid tests the water with a small, plumb finger; indicates that all is well.

And now, my lady comes from the great bed with its richly embroidered coat of arms. She walks across the floor, her nightgown a wonder of blue ribbons and white lace. She hovers by the bath. A dainty white foot appears, an elegant ankle peeps from under the hem of the nightdress. Her foot touches the surface of the water and there is a tiny ripple. Now a little of the lace parts and a slim, bare calf is revealed. Her ladyship's maid stands close, reaches up to take the nightgown. There is a faint rustle, the whisper of satin flesh upon silk; the maid's arms draw back.

And - at last - she has emerged: slim, flawless, delicately scented. Her leg has slipped beneath the still water which now surrounds her high, round breasts, and laps those alabaster shoulders....

She rests in a chair, robed in a long silk gown, sipping a cup of hot chocolate thoughtfully. When she is done, her maid brings her a little silver basin of water and a brush; sprinkles a little powder on the brush. Carefully, but thoroughly, her ladyship brushes her pearl-like teeth. Then she is a handed a small, curved, silver scrapper. Elegantly, making a pout, she sticks out her pink tongue and, while the maid holds a looking glass, she scrapes it to ensure that not a trace of dark chocolate nor of whittish fur disgrace its surface.

- London the novel. by Edward Rutherford.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

though not as prodigiously luxurious or extravagant, my life has been this prodigiously relaxing.. been dipping my feet into all walks, all activities, been soaking my mind in all forms of books, art, film, conversation and thought. so yes, is carol's life rich now? yes it is. is it fun? indeed!

but above all that, people can do lots of fun activities but not receive joy our of them. but blessed am i, because God has blessed me with joyfulness despite everything that i'm going through just now.. 'oh please, how rough a patch can carol be going through?' you might think.. haha.. i kid you not, i have problems so colossal it's surreal. but God has been good.. He has shown me how to... 'stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.' - eph 6:13 and it is so like God to make the one thing that matters so simple to do...

born again. and i can tell you, it is a prodigious birth. (and no, we're not talking about material things)

the answer : look to Christ. because it is only and ultimately in Him that salvation comes.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


so anyhow, i did get my hair cut.. after complaining to ____ about how i can only trust one hairdresser in the world, and after a whole half hour of 'internal conflict' of whether or not i should make the hairdresser's appointment, i turned up, gave her strict instructions, and walked out of the saloon looking almost like what i did when i walked in! which left me in a slightly confused ambivalence, for:
1. paying all that money to look the same.
2. feeling safe for not looking too different.
3. thinking that if it were gill instead who cut my hair, i'd be pleased no matter what the outcome, which led to:
4. am i basing my opinions on a cut on the hairdresser or the cut itself?

meanwhile, over the last 2 days, i've had 3 passers-by and 1 friend calling me beautiful. if i extend this back to the last month, it'd be an additional 2 more friends. i'm not the type to get too big-headed about such things.. i mean, i've heard it so many times, i'm totally inured to it.. but it's just left me thinking.. wow, God, you're truly amazing. i've not come to realise it, but You've shown me what You've done using the mirror in people. (and no, we're not talking about superficial things.)

what can i say

you know how your hair always looks the best the day before you want to get it cut...
or how you know there's something you have to do but just can't bring yourself to do it?

the trend of the universe

when He opens up His heart to you and shows you the darkness of the world, of what grieves His Spirit, will you be able to take it? will you be able to stand firm, despite all this evil in the world? like a thick miasma that swallows everyone, top to toe, outside to inside? and despite all this, to stand firm?

You have put this burden in my heart for months now, more strongly last night and all of this morning.. and then i turn to the news, and this is what i see. death, destruction, nature's evil toil on people, livelihoods, regardless of families, homes, institutions of security, governments, morals...

Jesus said, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, I have sent them into the world." - john 17:15-18

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

and this is only of what can be seen.. what of all the things unseen? like lies, like evil intentions, of scheming, of plotting, of deceit, of hypocrisy, of hatred, of anger, of selfish ambition?? what has brought us from unspoilt, untainted, untouched babies in swaddling clothes to where we are today?

"We have all contributed, directly or indirectly, to this sad state of affairs. We have been to blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied to desire anything better than the poor, average diet with which others appear satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one another's notions, copied one another's lives and made one another's experiences the model for our own. And for a generation the trend has been downward. Now we have reached a low place of sand and burnt wire-grass and, worst of all, we have made the Word of Truth conform to our experience and accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed." - 'The pursuit of God' by A.W. Tozer, pg 50


But there is a way out under it!
For You have come to save.
And may men know the power that is in
Your name.
The name that devils dread.
For your path is a highway
For all who behold and come,
To see the glory that is within.

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance and knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life..." - 2 corinthians 2:14-16

a friend of mine once asked me recently why i like to litter my conversations with verses from the bible.. i told him it's because it is the only Truth that we have in this world. and that, the world cannot take.

heart failure

just reading over my previous angsty post made me realise how angsty a post it is. i think an explanation is needed... a lot of the time the general public think christians are narrow-minded and foolish for believing everything the bible says.. but the fact of the matter is that it's certain non-christians who are narrow minded for not looking at all the overwhelming evidence of the authenticity of the bible, the gaping loopholes of the theory of evolution and the facts that point to the reality that there is a supreme creator of the universe. right, enuff said. whoever wants to find out more will take it up in a conversation with me, cos everything written is potentially misconstrued..

anyhow.. i just rejected an offer of a free all-expenses-paid trip to the big smoke that is london.. oh my goodness... i did what? i think i need to go sit down...

meanwhile, having the time to do as i please in terms of planning my ssm timetable is highly risky... i've been in only 1 full day on tuesday. an hour on wed and an hour on thurs.. although it's looking up cos now i've somehow managed to convince mcniece that we can't be idle and feel like real medics at the same time.. so we've decided to be dilligent and head in for morning wardrounds on friday.. i know.. i'm quite the eager-beaver.

non-maleficience.

"at some point, you have to make a decision. boundaries don't keep other people out, they fence you in. life is messy, that's how we're made...so you can waste your life drawing lines, or you can live your life crossing them... but there are some lines that are way too dangerous to cross... here's what i know. if you're willing to take the chance, the view from the other side.. is spectacular. " - dr. grey from 'Grey's Anatomy'

amy's birthday. mahjong night. bar brel's amazing guitar man.

epon. johhny depp is beautiful. brel man. summer flowers.

so life after exams has been amazing. it's so wonderful to be able to sleep easy again, to be able to read non-medical books and catch up with friends outwith medicine. what have i been up to? sleeping more than i should, reading, warm birthday dinners, bar-banter, gigs, steamboat dinner, late night tesco shopping with pete, 8am ward rounds at stobhill, thinking of how i should start cardiac failure coursework, etc etc...

boom monk ben+dj food+bigg taj at the glasgow school of art

so yes, started my first day at stobhill on tuesday for my cardiac failure ssm, which saw my longest day in med school... up at 6am, ward round at 8am, followed by echos, exercise tolerance tests and reading lots and lots of ecgs, was only home by 5 yesterday.. had dinner and passed out on my bed....more of the same for the next 4 weeks or so... with an essay on the multipharmacy of heart failure at the end of it. can't complain really, this is what it's alllll about! right.. off to stobhill this afternoon for more heart-hunting..

the fact of the matter

i am sick and tired of all this no-such-thing-as-religion shit. it is a non-substantiated argument, something non-evidence based and totally irrational. just because God and the Holy Spirit are invisible does not mean they're not there. and I am so sick of people questioning and being doubtful of a Christian's experience of the Spiritual realm when they know nothing of this dimension. not experiencing is not the same as not being real. what i also abhor is how free thinkers think they're free thinkers... well.. let's face it... a free thinker is never free. even worse are the free thinkers who claim a belief in all religions and teachings and claim they're 'not religious, but spiritual'. well, let me just say that they are not spiritual. their spiritual faculties are not alive. they do not listen to God's voice, they are not led by the promptings of the Holy Spirit, they are not overflowing with the Holy Spirit, they have never uttered a word of prophecy, they have never let their lips be led into tongues, they have never heard the Word spoken into their lives, dividing bone and marrow, body and spirit, they have never healed the sick, they have never discerned spirits, they have never opened their spiritual eyes to all the workings of the body of Christ... they allow the world to shape their beliefs and their morals and they plan their actions based on what mans' opinions, which is as careless as the wind. an atheist is a person who believes there can be no God. i repeat, believe. a Christian, on the other hand, is free to believe that everything in life is according to a divine purpose of God's will in their life. we are truly free to accept adversities and blessings in a graceful manner, to be able to live out God's will, listen to the Holy Spirit and achieve success in whatever areas in life God has decided to bless us with. i repeat. a Christian is truly free.


there is nothing the world can take from me. Christians are the most fearless people in the world.
"The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" -psalm 118:6

the end has just begun

sooo0000.. what do 3rd year glasgow medics do after their exams???

we.......

... pimp each other out...

try to elicit the pupil light reflex in pubs

me.gillian.douglas's hand.
get to know hot nurses...

richard.
humiliate our ourselves and our colleagues publicly...

me.rob.

jack.

me.max.
raise our LFTs...

get to sleep at 4am, shattered from the backlog of sleep from the past few weeks of the S word, wake up at 7am the following morning anyways just cause that's what we're used to, and spend the rest of the following day nursing our battered brains...

17 hours...

carol's neuronal saturation : 100%

72 hours encounting...

i know i'm studying too hard when i dream that i'm a teenage mutant ninja turtle and i've got cancer of the mitral valve and i'm having a duel with remesh (my gp partner) who's a teenage mutant ninja turtle too, who's got cancer of the knee joint...
*groggy*

come here... ....closer

there is this sinking feeling and it won't go away and it won't go away and it won't go away... why am i the only one who feels this? why do you sing hallelujah if it means nothing to ya? why? WHY?? there is not enough time...

convectional

i live for thunderstorms.

on a night like this in singapore, i would be:
sitting in my room with the windows open, looking out into street lamps as the rainwater hits the glass panes. shouting to Chance, who'd probably be hiding under the car in the porch, scared of the thunder, wet, cold and smelly. curled up, in my cotton shirt and shorts, sitting on my pillows, thinking of how beautiful the rain makes things...

but here i am, halfway around the world, in glasgow. in the library, reminiscing of home, of Orchard road, of clementi and yong tao foo and fish noodles and dao huay and being hot and sweaty, wiping the sweat off my brow, of looking forward to air conditioning, of having all my comforting things around me, of my comfy living room with the black leather sofa, of the ceiling fans in the 'upstairs-living room', of when i can get the car out again, when's the best time to go to St. Greg's, who should i ask out on my midnight jog tonight, or whether or not to head over to Ivanna's or Sarah's for the night... of whether i should have 'zhok' in chinatown or roti prata or sliced fish beehoon for supper, of whether or not i should go to zouk with the girls, of whether or not there's bought-breakfast for tomorrow morning, of whether or not weiming would be using the computer, etc etc...

first the thought, then the rain. cows on the field a portent of rain... what then, is rain a portent of??