Of Solitude and Coffee
Sometimes it's just so refreshing to sit alone at a cafe and drink coffee. I am now at University Hall, staring into the artificial landscaped atrium while enjoying a cup of cafe au liat. Life is seriously going too fast now. Everyday involved studying 24/7. I don't know when I burn out, I hope it's not during the CAs or Professional MBBS.
I guess sometimes we've just got to take a break. Like people watch. Even though it's far too hot in Singapore to do the Paris alfresco thingy, I'm sure it's a nice way to spend a day, not buried inside Snell, Wheater's or Guyton. And no matter, my og mates were mugging in the library, but that place is so depressing.
This are just ramblings as I cannot quite compose together a string of coherent thoughts. Perhaps I shall wait for more of the caffeine to saturate my brain, giving it the additional acuity it so requires. Unlike the rest of the university, this site is rather quiet, offering one a sense of calmness and the therapeutic effect of coffee. Too bad I have no good books with me now. However, having my laptop with me will suffice. I will soon appreciate it's weight when Snell takes its toll on my back.
Why. Sigh.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Of Tea and Teapots
I really enjoy a spot of good tea. I usually drink English Breakfast as I am not adventurous enough to try Earl Gray or Darjeeling. Perhaps one of these days, on a good day, I'll venture to other sort of tea. I was tricked into drinking Kenyon Tea sold by Marks and Spencer. Although it is very flavorful, I found it too strong for my liking. Nevertheless, I have tried other sorts, even the non-tea teas, such as camomille, spearmint etc. These flower and herbal teas are very cleansing and are very light on your tastebuds.
Tea is such a classy beverage, good for anytime of the day and complementary with any sort of food. You can drink tea for breakfast, for lunch, for tea break and even for dinner. It is especially comforting when you have some refreshing tea after a heavy dinner full of grease, oil and lard. Sometimes, all it takes to make your day is a nice pot of tea, a nice alfresco position and a great book. Of course, not those dense non-fiction discourses. But all these reading and people watching can get lonesome. It is nice to have a friend at the same table, talking about issues of life, of relationships, of the world at large.
As much as tea can dissolve barriers, it was the cause of one of the most significant divisions in history. Those that can remember your history textbooks will surely recall the Boston Tea Party. The Americans rudely dumped the highly taxed British Ceylon Tea into the harbor, wasting bales of quality tea and by extension, the effort of the workers at the bottom of the food chain. Even today, the Yanks have a penchant for wasting tea by re-enacting this tea party annually.
But with good tea comes exquisite teapots. Just as the clothe maketh the man, the teapot will affect the ambiance and the emotions involved in consuming tea. I always like the fine china tea sets, with delicate and ornate teapots as well as nicely made saucers and cups. Fine teaware will only enhance the experience of consuming tea. Fine tea, good company... c'est la vie.
I really enjoy a spot of good tea. I usually drink English Breakfast as I am not adventurous enough to try Earl Gray or Darjeeling. Perhaps one of these days, on a good day, I'll venture to other sort of tea. I was tricked into drinking Kenyon Tea sold by Marks and Spencer. Although it is very flavorful, I found it too strong for my liking. Nevertheless, I have tried other sorts, even the non-tea teas, such as camomille, spearmint etc. These flower and herbal teas are very cleansing and are very light on your tastebuds.
Tea is such a classy beverage, good for anytime of the day and complementary with any sort of food. You can drink tea for breakfast, for lunch, for tea break and even for dinner. It is especially comforting when you have some refreshing tea after a heavy dinner full of grease, oil and lard. Sometimes, all it takes to make your day is a nice pot of tea, a nice alfresco position and a great book. Of course, not those dense non-fiction discourses. But all these reading and people watching can get lonesome. It is nice to have a friend at the same table, talking about issues of life, of relationships, of the world at large.
As much as tea can dissolve barriers, it was the cause of one of the most significant divisions in history. Those that can remember your history textbooks will surely recall the Boston Tea Party. The Americans rudely dumped the highly taxed British Ceylon Tea into the harbor, wasting bales of quality tea and by extension, the effort of the workers at the bottom of the food chain. Even today, the Yanks have a penchant for wasting tea by re-enacting this tea party annually.
But with good tea comes exquisite teapots. Just as the clothe maketh the man, the teapot will affect the ambiance and the emotions involved in consuming tea. I always like the fine china tea sets, with delicate and ornate teapots as well as nicely made saucers and cups. Fine teaware will only enhance the experience of consuming tea. Fine tea, good company... c'est la vie.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The August Mug Fest
The Bavarians have their Oktoberfest while we, yes humble yllsom-ers (yuck i hate this long and stilted name), have our own Augustusfest! Since day 1, the mood has generally been quite uptight. Even though lectures are easy to understand and are chugging along at a comfortable pace, EVERYONE else seems to be mugging something. I understand that some people are studying upperlimb while some others are doing blood. But honestly., it's only the first week, is there such a need to get ahead of the others? Don't tell me the dash to be specialists have already started? Right here in Year1?
Personally I feel obligated to mug. It's the general attitude of the cohort but I do not feel at all comfortable with what everyone is doing. I mean, this is university. It's more than just mugging! At least, that's the impression I have of foreign premier institutions like the Beloved Cambridge. I do hope that people learn how to relax because I think at such a pace, we're going to burn out even before Sem 1 ends. Then we watch who starts dying.
It's a Darwinian World guys. The rat race has just begun.
The Bavarians have their Oktoberfest while we, yes humble yllsom-ers (yuck i hate this long and stilted name), have our own Augustusfest! Since day 1, the mood has generally been quite uptight. Even though lectures are easy to understand and are chugging along at a comfortable pace, EVERYONE else seems to be mugging something. I understand that some people are studying upperlimb while some others are doing blood. But honestly., it's only the first week, is there such a need to get ahead of the others? Don't tell me the dash to be specialists have already started? Right here in Year1?
Personally I feel obligated to mug. It's the general attitude of the cohort but I do not feel at all comfortable with what everyone is doing. I mean, this is university. It's more than just mugging! At least, that's the impression I have of foreign premier institutions like the Beloved Cambridge. I do hope that people learn how to relax because I think at such a pace, we're going to burn out even before Sem 1 ends. Then we watch who starts dying.
It's a Darwinian World guys. The rat race has just begun.
Monday, August 07, 2006
The Beginning of the End
Today's inauguration ceremony sparked off a torrent of feelings. The emcees and president never ceased to be emphatic on that fact that we are in NUS, as if that requires constant reminding. "Welcome to NUS" "Your long and arduous journey to NUS" etc etc. It became a drag, an aural assault that thundered down our tympanic canals. It was also a painful reminder stabbing at me, telling of the circumstance - I am no longer going to tabsville, as this blog is so named. With all the fancy gowns and the spin the management threw at us, it was clear as day that few, if any, of them actually graduated from NUS. Instead they hail from the many different institutions of higher learning, of which surely would be tabsville.
The president so fervently began his tale of the Atlantic Salmon. He vividly compared NUS to an inland lake, an enclosed and comfortable spawning pool for academic growth and development. He also emphasised the difference between the Pacific and Atlantic subspecies, that being that the former returns to spawn only once whereas the latter does so on numerous occasions. On every coin, there are 2 sides. In this quiet little spawning pool, the grizzly or brown bear awaits patiently, digging its evolutionarily enhanced paws and claws into the clear pristine waters. We are slowly, but surely, being speared and impaled by the merciless bears, of what these bears may represent is up to the readers' own imagination. Out in the open sea, wide as it may be, is fraught with dangers. Being only defenceless Salmons, NUS students have to weave past the Carnivorous mammals (orcas, sperm whales, dolphins and porpoises), the Cartilaginous fishes (sharks & rays) and the large fishing trawlers. We're not a force to be reckoned with. Instead, we just form a link in the global food chain, being feasted on upon by those from tabsville. Perhaps perhaps I would do a BA as a mature student some years down the road, to fulfill my dying dream of having read a degree at tabsville.
I refused to say the pledge. While the others chorused and chimed to the beat set by the less-than-eloquent NUSSU President, I stood my ground and kept my silence. There was neither fist over the heart nor were there any words from my mouth. There was only contempt and disdain breeding and fermenting. I know clearly that the inability to come to terms with my current situation will not bode well, but it is something that cannot be accepted so easily. It's like killing a newborn that you've kept nourished with your own ideals for 9 months. It wasn't easy.
The worst thing that can happen now is to let my hunger and dreams die. In its place complacency and familiarity will occupy. Familiarity will definitely breed contempt. In the entire campus, I am most at ease with myself in the medicinal plants garden. Being surrounded by the faculty's buildings and shielded away from the rest of wilderness, you can't help but feel the sense of calm. Though, the calm may be seen as the calm in the eye of the storm, only for all hell to break loose, and no means of escape. Perhaps, I'll die a poor GP.
Perhaps not.
Welcome to the National University of Singapore.
Today's inauguration ceremony sparked off a torrent of feelings. The emcees and president never ceased to be emphatic on that fact that we are in NUS, as if that requires constant reminding. "Welcome to NUS" "Your long and arduous journey to NUS" etc etc. It became a drag, an aural assault that thundered down our tympanic canals. It was also a painful reminder stabbing at me, telling of the circumstance - I am no longer going to tabsville, as this blog is so named. With all the fancy gowns and the spin the management threw at us, it was clear as day that few, if any, of them actually graduated from NUS. Instead they hail from the many different institutions of higher learning, of which surely would be tabsville.
The president so fervently began his tale of the Atlantic Salmon. He vividly compared NUS to an inland lake, an enclosed and comfortable spawning pool for academic growth and development. He also emphasised the difference between the Pacific and Atlantic subspecies, that being that the former returns to spawn only once whereas the latter does so on numerous occasions. On every coin, there are 2 sides. In this quiet little spawning pool, the grizzly or brown bear awaits patiently, digging its evolutionarily enhanced paws and claws into the clear pristine waters. We are slowly, but surely, being speared and impaled by the merciless bears, of what these bears may represent is up to the readers' own imagination. Out in the open sea, wide as it may be, is fraught with dangers. Being only defenceless Salmons, NUS students have to weave past the Carnivorous mammals (orcas, sperm whales, dolphins and porpoises), the Cartilaginous fishes (sharks & rays) and the large fishing trawlers. We're not a force to be reckoned with. Instead, we just form a link in the global food chain, being feasted on upon by those from tabsville. Perhaps perhaps I would do a BA as a mature student some years down the road, to fulfill my dying dream of having read a degree at tabsville.
I refused to say the pledge. While the others chorused and chimed to the beat set by the less-than-eloquent NUSSU President, I stood my ground and kept my silence. There was neither fist over the heart nor were there any words from my mouth. There was only contempt and disdain breeding and fermenting. I know clearly that the inability to come to terms with my current situation will not bode well, but it is something that cannot be accepted so easily. It's like killing a newborn that you've kept nourished with your own ideals for 9 months. It wasn't easy.
The worst thing that can happen now is to let my hunger and dreams die. In its place complacency and familiarity will occupy. Familiarity will definitely breed contempt. In the entire campus, I am most at ease with myself in the medicinal plants garden. Being surrounded by the faculty's buildings and shielded away from the rest of wilderness, you can't help but feel the sense of calm. Though, the calm may be seen as the calm in the eye of the storm, only for all hell to break loose, and no means of escape. Perhaps, I'll die a poor GP.
Perhaps not.
Welcome to the National University of Singapore.
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