Latest addition to the family

Everybody, a belated meet Herbert-Sherbet/Rory-Lori/Troll:

{hello, humans!}

The latest addition to our family :). S/he is a rainbow Lorikeet Kaixing rescued from four crows. When dad opened the door to our garden, Kaixing rushed out and chased the crows away. She started sniffing the Lorikeet and followed him as he ran around our entire garden because he could not fly.

You may have noticed that he has no tail feathers- they have been dispersed all over our lawn. Crows are such bullies! We think that they may have been responsible for Maggie's untimely disappearance.

{it took me a few minutes to realise what dad was holding}

Dad put it back in the tree where its parents were, but it wasn't moving very much. So we tried feeding it.

We tried raw minced beef (kaixing's favourite), but it wouldn't eat. We were about to try seeds (maggie's favourite), but some friends told us that Lorikeets eat sweet things. It's true. S/he took honey from my finger until we could purchase some Lorikeet feed from the shop.

{kaixing trying to meet and greet}

Kaixing is completely smitten by the bird. When we let it around the house, it will usually run to some corner and sit there. Then Kaixing will lie down beside it and stare, fascinated.

For some reason, S/he seems to be perpetually occupied with defecating. We've had quite a lot of collateral damage in the form of mum's jeans, and my Leavers' jumper.

I think this will be my last post for a little while. I'll be flying over east tomorrow night. Yay! :D

last day of term

today was the last day of my current rotation. i really love that end-of-term feel, it's a bit sad but i probably enjoy it more than actually being on holidays.

whenever people give me weird looks, i always explain that it's the fun of learning (and being surrounded by friends), without the pressure of exams and achieving.

in school we used to do all sorts of random topics so that it always a little bit quirky. today, there were lots of fun twists:
1. consultant greeted me in the morning with a gift
2. getting quizzed in the biochemistry meeting
3. random clinical thinking lecture in the afternoon

to celebrate, i spent half an hour sitting in the sunshine and reading my new book :)

adam & eve

Genesis 2: 7-9 (NIV)

v7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

v8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

v9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

pink spectacles and pikachu

I have decided that giving my number to my registrar/resident was not such a good idea after all. I had to do it because my consultant is very keen on listening to me present. Consequently this week I have been called numerous times to ask if I'm "around the hospital", once when I was in fact at home, and the other time JUST as I was trying to leave the hospital. Given thursdays are my only opportunity for a half day, I think working from 8-3pm ought to count as a reasonable amount of hours. But no.

So even though I have completed all of my assessments, I am still finding myself at hospital from 8-5pm every day. But I am relieved/relaxed enough to amuse myself, such as when i saw this (excuse my dodgy phone camera and attempt at maintaining confidentiality):

{a pikachu-themed stethoscope!!! i want!}

My team was bent over in concentration over a medication chart, and I had long given up on trying to guess at their thoughts. That was when I spotted the stethoscope, remembered that my phone has a built in camera (in all its 2 megapixel glory), and then had to embarrassedly look away when my phone made an extremely loud capturing noise.

The day that I snuck out of clinic, I went to Broadway to pick out some new spectacles. They are pink (!), and very nerdy looking. My childhood self would have been ecstatic. When I went home to tell my brother about my new purchase, he said "hmm they look a little bit geeky, but they're nice!"
To which my response was, "HuH? I've had this pair since year 10" (I was wearing a majorly old pair of spectacles).
Mum knowingly said "he's a guy, they never notice this kind of thing." LOL. How wise, mother.

bad habits

it's that time of year again- nearly halfway through when i find myself struggling to remember my new year's resolutions. i was relieved to recall i didn't make any this year :P.

of my two boyfriend projects, guitar and i are not working out at all, but jogging and i are doing quite well (yes i'm two-timing).

i have also begun to notice some bad habits creeping into my daily routine, such as:
1. not helping out enough with the household chores
2. not reading bible regularly enough
3. spending way too much time at claremont quarter
4. developing chai latte addiction (courtesy of previous team's coffee break practice..)

speaking of bad habits, there's one that always gets a mention at hospital- not washing hands! thanks to Dr Semmelweis, we now realise the importance of good hand hygiene. while i was doing bad habit #3, i discovered this hand sanitizer. i don't know what its pathogen zapping qualities are, i am quite sure stocking the hospital wards with this would improve hand washing by miles ;). well, at least among the female staff. would probably be detrimental to male hand washing practices, now that i think about it.

wait a minute mr postman

there was a bundle of unopened letters on the table the other day, bound by an elastic band. i rifled through them in a sudden breath of nostalgia, as if a letter from one of my pen pals would be delivered through space and time.

whenever i was expecting something in the post- be it letters, shopping, offers of acceptance, i would listen to Please Mr. Postman to try and ease my excitement.

i did end up getting a letter. it was from my superannuation company. blehh.

Verse of the week* - Isaiah 40:31
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint. (TNIV)

*this is one of my favourites, so you could probably also call it verse of the decade!