Reminiscing

I have a memory like a sieve it seems. Today I returned to have a look at my previous, rather juvenile-like entries in retrospect now for the first time in about 2 years. What a lot has happened since! I have moved cities, changed jobs, and discovered a new hobby. Facebook has much to answer for I think. It is the new blog. Much more immediate and far-reaching compared to the humble old-fashioned blog.

Hmm

Hello my blog!

I have not visited or updated you for ages. I'm real sorry!

Indeed, I have not had a chance to post since 20 July, when I returned from London. The last few weeks have been a blur of being on call first during the week, and then the weekend. And I have just come off my first set of nights as an FY2.

I rather sheepishly had to beg for sick leave to see my dentist twice. I had been having an annoying toothache for 2 months, but it wasn't giving me enough pain that it qualified for an emergency appointment. Plus, my rota did not come out in time for me to make a routine appointment with the dentist, and she did not work on Saturdays, which would have been helpful. About 2 weeks, ago, things finally came to a head. My tooth was giving me so much pain that I could not sleep. So the next day, I called my dentist, and she asked me to come in straightaway. As part of the process, she injected my gum with local anaesthetic which I usually shrink away from. This time I actually welcomed it. The instant relief that it brought was unbelievable!

Initially I worried over whether my oral hygiene had been lacking and had been prepared to forswore saccharides in all forms to prevent this happening in the future. But when the dentist reassured me that there was nothing I could have done to prevent this particular incident from happening, my good intentions immediately flew out of the window.

In any case, look after your teeth well as it will save you many a pretty penny in dental fees as well as preserve that attractive smile!

Nocturnality

Is there such a word? I think so.

I am currently on nights - my third to be exact. I think there might be light at the end of the tunnel yet.

Several things were doing my head in on my first night. I had been woken up at 10am the same day, and not managed to return to sleep since. Also, there was the problem of when and how best I should move to Glasgow among several other things. I'd also booked flights to Berlin for next week, but had not been bothered to book accommodation and had been imagining myself wandering homeless around the city.As a result, by the time 10pm rolled around, I had a good-going migraine and was finding it a challenge to function at higher level. I managed to fall asleep sitting down and only woke up with a nurse practically shouting my name. At 9am, as soon as I reached my room, I toppled in bed and was away in snoozeland for 9 and a half hours.

The second night was much better. I'd managed to do some research on accommodation in Berlin and I was feeling less sleepy. I also managed to watch the first and last five minutes of a Mexican movie.

Tonight I feel like I've actually accomplished something of value after not managing to pick up on simple things which made me feel like a first class idiot in front of my SHO.

I booked somewhere to stay for next week and it actually looks nice!! I am looking forward to this. I think I've also managed to formulate a better idea of when I'm going to move. All I have to do now is to pack.

Currently important dates in my diary:

Moving D-day 11 July

Leaving for London 12 July

Berlin 15-18 July

London again 18-20 July

Good Auld Reekie 20 July +/- Glasgow

Monday blues

You have been warned - this is a moaney entry!

This week I finally parted with team Respiratory which I'd been with for 3 months and joined Cardio. For 4 days! I'm slightly regretting switching already. It's always an ominous sign when the ward round lasts beyond noon. Today's finished at 3.30pm. We must have seen about 30 people. Oh well, it's only for 4 days, and then I go onto nights.

The upside of nights is that I generally get a week off afterwards. The downside is I never manage to get leave at the same time as my friends. What's the point of getting leave if there's no one to go away with? Or not knowing until a few weeks in advance at the earliest? This job kinda sucks that way. My ex-flatmate has been trying to get leave in September so that she can be a bridesmaid at her best friend's wedding. She still has no clue if she'll be able to get leave or not. An FY2 at my hospital had wanted to get married in January, but was unable to obtain leave for this. Can you believe it!!

My new landlady in Glasgow called today. Apparently the flat should be ready for moving into sometime this week. If you don't know already, we decided to go with the flat that we'd reserved earlier. I'm looking forward to it! My little pink room in Falkirk will be missed, however. It's been my little place to come home to for the last year.

Last day of idleness

This morning I was woken up at 9.30am by the housekeeper knocking on my door. She hadn't seen me since Monday when I had told her that I was having the runs and needed more loo roll and was understandably concerned about my well-being. Was I alright (which I interpreted as meaning, are you still alive?) and when I replied in the affirmative, asked if I would like a cup of tea, to which I politely declined. When she had gone away, I noticed that she had slipped a note under my door which read: 'Hope you're OK, haven't seen you since Monday.' How sweet! Btw, this is for the benefit of those of you who have to live in crappy hospital accommodation - the accommodation that I stay in has ensuite bathroom facilities, its own TV and a cleaner who leaves fresh towels, sheets and vacuums the room. Boy am I pampered. And no, the housekeeper does not read me bedtime stories. That would be seriously creepy.

What a luxury to have 2 weekdays off when I work according to a rota that has in the past year allocated me to work Christmas Day, New Year and Easter! Chinese New Year too, although I suppose that doesn't really count as a public holiday in this country. My friend in Newcastle, Hui Ping had been trying to get me to go away with her for a long weekend as May 26th would be a bank holiday. My response to that was that I had had no idea such a holiday existed as I do not unfortunately, work in a bank.

So you can probably tell by now that perhaps my recent bout of diarrhoea and vomiting was indeed a blessing in disguise as I have had the time to :

1) do one load of laundry
2) upload 4 photo albums onto Facebook
3) reply to my little sister's extremely long recent email
4) max out my Vodafone minutes
5) start this blog
6) get reacquainted with the features of MSN messenger

The list just goes on. And Shawn, that does not mean that I must have been super bored or that I am boring.

In any case, yesterday I was doodling on my notepad when I received a phonecall from a friend asking if I would like to go out for dinner in Glasgow. What a treat on a weekday! Usually I just cook for myself or subject myself to the whims of the canteen chefs.

There's a new Malaysian restaurant in Glasgow, just opened within the last month I believe. It's named Rumours Kopitiam. I do not have any pictures, unfortunately. It's right smack in the city centre. I went a la carte with two others. We tried the spicy fried soft shell crab, claypot tofu with some seafood and meat, belacan-fried kangkung and stir-fried coffee chicken. The crab was probably the best I think, but the rest were fairly predictable and the coffee chicken was too sweet for me. The portions were also small for the price. The remaining two in our party ordered individual noodle dishes, kind of mamak style. Looking at what they had, I came away with the conclusion that the individual noodle/rice dishes there were probably ok, but I have had better a la carte elsewhere.

We then went to watch a movie. I watched Ironman, which had been recommended to me by Sue Yin. It was action-packed and I was not disappointed! I didn't realise the lead actor was Robert Downey Jr until the closing credits though. I've liked him in all the movies I've ever seen him in, which is why I'm still kicking myself that I didn't recognise him. This is probably why people successfully manage to disguise themselves by having long hair and a beard I suppose. I still remember how I managed to watch Andy Lau act as an obese lovelorn twain in a HK movie for 2 hours without realising it was him until he'd shed all his weight at the end.

Tomorrow I return to work...sigh:(

A new era

Welcome to the birth of my first ever blog! A realisation dawned on me recently that this would be a great way to keep friends and family alike up to date with the chronicles of my life. I get great enjoyment from reading my friends' blogs and learning what shenanigans they have been up to that way. So why not return the favour?
Why the title Meifongpolitan? It took ages to come up with this name. There was the dilemma of whether it would be too narcissistic to have my own name incorporated into it or would something random like 'Miod Malina' or 'Strawberry Cheesecake' or 'Cheese Scone' be better. You might be able to tell by now that I'm slightly obsessed with food. In any case, here it is - politan means to do with a city and if you think about this blog being a virtual city that I'm creating filled with pieces of me, there you have it . Doesn't really make sense, does it? Not to me, anyway, but take it as you like!