one lazy week off

So I have somehow managed to land myself 3.5 terms of back-to-back shift work. That's something like 37 weeks' worth of random what-day-is-it-again craziness. But working three evening shifts immediately followed by four overnight shifts occasionally has its benefits, so I have had the past seven days off.

After much deliberation and anticipation, I finally decided not to travel. For the following reasons:
1. I am "on call" for the last two of the seven days... which means I'm not really allowed to be outside the state for those days
2. No travel buddies (sad but true- either everybody has their own plans, or doesn't have leave.)
3. Expensive (again, not entirely true... but I am trying to save up for my new year's trip to Japan)
4. It's tiring!

Only a few years ago, I used to spend months on end in Singapore wondering how on earth I was going to pass the time over the Christmas break. Now that days off are so precious, I've been trying to fill them with all this stuff that I can finally afford- musicals, dinners, travel, etc. It's fun, but also quite tiring (think of travelling- booking, packing, flying, unpacking, planning).

This time, however, I just took the time to relax! Leisurely sleeping in, browsing the internet, planning my trip to Japan, shopping, catching up with friends, and putting some slides together for an Emergency Department presentation that I have to give. It's been so good. Even planning the Japan trip with my mother and aunt, which gave me serious flashbacks of my summers in Singapore. Now that she lives down the road from us, we can walk over to discuss plans/have dinner together any time we want, just like when we were in Singapore...

...a reminder that everything has its pros and cons ;)

Western Australian Festivals

Last week, I missed out on the Beaufort Street Festival because of work. I'm currently working in the Emergency Department, and I have managed to fall into this sort of bimodal sleep pattern whenever I'm working night shifts. I go to bed at ~0930ish, sleep for three or four hours, wake up for lunch, then run errands and tire myself out so that I can get another three hours from ~1630hrs before I have to get ready for the next shift.

Earlier this year, I couldn't go to the Mundaring Truffle Festival because of my temporary relocation to Geraldton.

And now, it turns out that there was another festival that I hadn't even heard of, the Gourmet Escape, held in Margaret River.

Is it just me or have there been a lot of new festivals lately? Perhaps I am just noticing these events now that I no longer feel the urge to study every waking moment of the day, and actually have money to spend.

Anyway, I thought perhaps I could look up a list of festivals and their dates, but I wasn't able to locate a completely comprehensive list. Does anyone know of a website? Maybe my googling isn't good enough.

Here is a list of festivals I would like to try and attend next year:

Beaufort Street Festival (November)
Cottesloe Hullabaloo Festival  (November)
Good Food and Wine Show (July)
Truffle Festival (July)
Perth International Arts Festival (February)
William Street Festival (March)
Music festivals - TimeOut guide here (Summer). I've got tickets to Big Day Out, but I'm quite tempted by the idea of a camping festival at Southbound.

Are there any good festivals that I've missed out...?

8/12/12 UPDATE- so despite my recent attempts not to miss out on any future festivals, it turns out that last Saturday was the Leederville Carnival. My sole consolation is that I was working, so I couldn't have gone anyway...

Some reflections on the past term:

I still don't know what I want to do in life.

After three surgical terms and six years of wanting to be a surgeon, I am tempted by physician training (and lots more study). I would often hear other people asking each other what discipline they wanted to specialise in, but here I am unable to even decide between medicine and surgery.

It is important to be passionate about your job.

One of my students said to me "Dr X was very funny... but I don't think I learnt that much from him". Looking back to when I was at his stage in training, I can distinctly recall my then clinical examination tutor, who has since become something of an academic hero for me. It's true that I respected him immensely for his wealth of knowledge and conceptual thinking, but I am not sure that I would rather work for him. As much as I love learning, even more important in the work force is a good role model. Dr X, who teaches as much philosophy as he does medicine, is clearly passionate about his job. And so despite the long, arduous hours, and the workplace bullying, I was very lucky to work for a boss who could always make me laugh, and who was always there to support and encourage me.

It is important to socialise with your colleagues.

Think back to your school days- wouldn't school have been a lot more dull without all of the social events? I can speak from experience, because I was one of the most antisocial students at school. I can probably count the number of times I hung out with friends outside of school hours. The same goes for working life- I hardly ever make it down to our social club for friday night drinks. But the one or two times that we have had end-of-term social events, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. And it is so much nicer working with friends, than with colleagues.

Life is fraught with ethical decisions.

So many times, people have told me stories about ethically tricky situations. For example, what do we do if somebody has cheated the system and is an illegal immigrant so that they may seek medical attention for life threatening diseases? Pretend not to notice and treat them at the cost to society? Report them and boot them out of the country? How do we respond to such situations?

I have written enough ethics essays to remember the four ethical principles. The ethical principle of justice would suggest reporting to the authorities. However, I have also pledged the hippocratic oath, promising to treat all who are in need. As far as I know, the hippocratic oath has no national boundaries. Finally, I remember the teachings of the New Testament. There was once a good samaritan who found an injured man by the roadside. He took him to an inn, paying from his own pocket for the injured man's care and safe recovery.

What would you have done?