Couldn't Be Bothered

A lot has happened at work recently. Really could not be bothered anymore. Realised that there are really nosy people who would just poke their noses into places they are not suppose to. Worse, they eavesdrop on conversation between me and their in-charge and start spreading rumors about the contents of our conversation.

Think my colleague thought I was talking behind her back, and decided not to cover my section. I mean, I really could not be bothered to explain to her. If she trusts the rumor-mongers more than me, then I have nothing to say. Not going to waste my energy.

Incompetence

Heard a complaint from a friend working in another hospital. Frustration abounds when staff/ colleagues are incompetent; she had to clean up after their mistakes. We are not trying to run down new staff here, but pls have the correct attitude when it comes to working. We understand that new staff needs time to get into the workflow, but that does not mean you can repeatedly make the same mistake or you do not even bother correcting the mistake expecting others to do it for you.

It is the same problem I have in my hospital. What's more, recently I heard my previous section's assistants and technicians complaining that I was mean to them as I would scold them when there is a packing error and I would push back the whole basket and ask them to repack. Surprisingly I was not upset when I heard this. My actions are justified; I will continue to scold and show my black face if I see packing errors.

In healthcare you do not wait for accidents to happen before taking measures to ensure there is a low error rate. At every step from processing to packing to dispensing there has to be safety nets. It is the wrong attitude to blatantly ignore the safety nets and assume the next safety net is there to sift out the error; by the time the error reaches the patients it would have been too late.

When Google Becomes Goodie and Router Becomes Rooster

Sometimes I really don't know to laugh or to cry. My dad asked me where to download Goodie and I was like ??? I thought it was some obscure program that me/ my bro downloaded in the ancient past. Anyway, to help jog my memory I asked him what the program was for. He then told me it was a search engine and I was like "Oh... Google lah." Had to start explaining to him that he does not need to download a search engine. Just need to open the URL in the browser...

This reminds me of the time when my brother wanted to change his dial-up to broadband and my dad was thinking of how all 3 different computers can share the broadband. Did some reading up and he proudly told us we need to get a rooster. Again it was ??? Tried telling him it was a router not a rooster, but apparently the info only lasted for 1 day. I seriously have no idea how he managed to buy the router from Sim Lim; maybe all the uncles there speak the same lingo as my dad.

It's a Sign?

Been having aches in the right side of my jaw. Thought it may be a tooth decay, but then it's unlikely as it does not hurt all the time. I only get sharp pain at the joint after a day's worth of talking to patients. Sometimes the stiffness and pain doesn't even permit me to chew a sweet.

In addition, I've been experiencing dull aches in my right wrist at the end of each day. Worried that it may be carpal tunnel, as a number of pharmacy staff have this problem and most of them had to undergo surgery to correct the problem. However, when I read up on carpal tunnel, the symptoms do not not tally. Maybe it's just a case of tendinitis. Oh well, I'll just wait and see.

Nevertheless, I wonder if these are signs of my body telling me I can no longer physically cope with this job. Something of a backlash for moving and working so fast. I mean, my senior (in-charge) has severe backaches, my technician has carpal tunnel, now I have aches in my jaw and wrist. Maybe the 3 of us should slow down, or maybe it is time for us to leave; occupational hazards abound in the pharmacy and it is really not worth it when the management does not bother to improve work environment.

Grass is Greener on the Other Side

My UK colleague has been talking about babies ever since she found out she was pregnant. Not that I have anything against it, just that it was really weird when she said she finds Asian babies cuter than Ang Moh babies. She really hopes that her baby will be as cute as the Asian babies and I was like huh? Tough luck here man, both her and her husband are caucasians.

I mean, while asians are thinking ang moh babies look cute with their blond hair and big blue eyes, here is an ang moh who thinks that asian babies look cute! Sighz... humans are hard to satisfy.

おとと (O-toto)

Dedicating this post to my younger brother, "affectionately" called ah-pui (as in ah-fat). Truth be my brother is really skinny; we called him ah-pui in hope that he'll put on more weight. Haha!

When life just started out for him, I found him a real nuisance; he's either messing with my toys or destroying them. Got me so irritated that I decided to take his stuff frog (a birthday present) and make it mine; he still managed somehow to destroy one of the frog's eyes while it was in my possession... Think there's still a picture of the maimed frog somewhere in the house. :D Luckily he's now not a real nuisance but a once-in-a-long-while nuisance; no grouse here as I am sure I am his once-in-a-long-while nuisance too.

Anyway, my main aim is to thank him for making my day a couple of hours back. Thanks to his stupid joke when he asked why NUS does not have a link for the 'overgraduates' versus to the 'undergraduates'. I know it is a stupid joke, but I can't help but laugh (partly laughing at him, partly laughing along with him). To all those who have graduated from uni for a long time, my brother considers us overgraduates.

After that we had a "fight" trying to control each other's fan. My fan is usually set at speed 2, sometimes speed 3, and my brother's at speed 1. He would always complain that I am creating a hurricane in my room while I would complain his room is too warm. So what did two 20+ adults do? I went into my room and picked up the remote control and switched his fan to speed 2 from my bedroom door. When he realised what I did he used his remote control and switched it back to speed 1, which I quickly switch back to 2/3 again. While I was doing that he switched my fan to speed 1 and started oscillating the fan (which I do not like doing as I like my fan has to be blowing in a particular direction before I can fall asleep). This went on for quite while. I know this is not exactly very mature of us, but we were having fun while it lasted. We eventually came to a truce that we both had more important things to do then messing around with fans. :D

Times like this make me glad that I am not the only child.

世界に一つだけの花

A flower unlike any other in the world. This is a very popular song by SMAP. Topped the charts when it first came out, and is still very popular in Japan (even the music boxes have this tune). Tune is catchy, but what really touches me and, I suppose, the Japanese are the lyrics of the song. The song questions why human beings persist in trying so hard to compare with others and to be number one when flowers are each beautiful in its own without having to compete with one another. Are we not like the flowers each and everybody unique and unlike any other in the world?

For more details on the lyrics and it's translation you can click the following link:
http://dustyhawk.com/2005/10/30/sekai-ni-hitotsu-dake-no-hana-smap/

I wonder if the world (as in other human beings) would except me if I do not follow the mainstream. Can I truly be myself, and not be a perceived image...

National Day Rally 2006

I've never bothered with National Day rally, but seeing I was on call I decided to spend my time watching the rally while waiting for anybody to page. As expected, I was bored 30mins into the rally. I saw LKY checking his watch, but whether he's geniunely checking the time or he's bored I've no idea. :D

Although the rally was boring I continued listening, and I must say Lee Hsien Loong has the potential to be a radical leader (if LKY does not interfere). At least his flow of thoughts are going in that direction. Finally somebody worth observing from afar. :D

Totally Forgot!

I forgot I'm moderating my comments. No wonder I've not been seeing any comments posted on my blog. LOL. I've made the appropriate responses to all your comments. Sorry about the delay. (^O^)

Still living in my lala-land somewhere in Hokkaido...

ごめんなさいみんなさん。

Finally Going Off Call

In another hour's time I'll be officially going off call. This on call duty s**** big time. Stupid nurses asking for drug supply despite telling the nurses the on call pharmacist does not stay in the hospital. I'm still tolerant if the page is during my waking hours, but it really irritates me to be paged in the middle of the night for such trivial matter.

On call duty is one thing I would not miss should I eventually resign after my in-charge comes back from his overseas stint. Got to get out of here else I'd really "die in Mordor" as a friend in pharmacy said. I'm too young to be wasting my time doing things that I've no conviction about, and "die" in the process of doing so.

To my pharmacy classmates, really sorry I couldn't join you guys for the gathering yesterday. And Marilyn, so sorry that you actually came to CCK, but I unable to meet you due to unforeseen beeps from the pager just as I was about to step out of the house.

Argh! Can't breathe until I finish the public talk that is coming up next Saturday.

Argh! I Give Up!

Trying to post the rest of the pics from Hokkaido, but I can only post 4 pics. That's not enough! Think I'll give it a miss. Not going to spend like the whole night just posting photos...

When Expats Come and They Think They Know Singapore...

Was reading Notes from an Even Smaller Island by Neil Humphreys yesterday. Although the first few pages were engaging, but as I read further on I realise there were many times he would just make assumptions about certain phenomenon in Singapore.

What is so sad about the older population working in fastfood joints, or as toilet cleaners? Not every elderly working in their old age are working because their children are not providing for them. For some like my mom, she would like to work (she was politely turned away because she cannot speak english) even if the pay is low simply because she is bored at home. With her many years of being a housewife, she's the grandmaster of efficient housekeeping and that leaves her with plenty of time to kill. And toilet cleaning, please ask yourself (the younger generation) if you want to clean toilets and if you even clean the toilets in your own house. Singapore is full of "drunk" people who will just pee anywhere except into the urinals, and I am sure I would be even more frustrated as a toilet cleaner than as a pharmacist.

And come on, propping your legs on the seat facing you when the bus is crowded is being rude and inconsiderate. Even if you are some old auntie who can only speak dialect there is no way to explain out of it. Just come right out to say the aunties are rude and inconsiderate. I'm most certainly not going to practise 愚孝 and give some old sod the respect just because they've eaten more salt than I have eaten rice. Want respect? Earn it. Humphreys gave me the feeling he's just dancing round the topic of rude Singaporeans; it's like he wanted to say Singaporean elderly can be really rude, and yet did not dare do it for fear of incurring the wrath maybe the people living TPY?

I'm Going to Miss Him

No, I'm not love struck with stupid hearts swirling round my head and popping out of my eyes. In-charge is finally going to fly off to US tomorrow, and I realise I will really miss talking to him. I mean where else can you find an in-charge who bitches with you regarding the stupid system in the institution, who fully understands why you lead a decadent life of PS2 games, blogs and internet when you should be upgrading your professional knowledge, who seriously worries that when he returns from his attachment he'll receive your resignation letter, who lets you bully him...

Let's just say we're almost like siblings. At least it reminds me of my relationship with my younger brother; just a bunch of crazy people talking crazy things that few understand...

Embrace Change?

In-charge briefed me and our technician on the progress of going paperless in the pharmacy a couple of days back. Essentially, the doctors prescribe, and the e-prescription will flow to the pharmacy side such that we can start preparing the meds before the patient arrives. Problem: my pharmacy is located within the bowels of the 3 clinics we serve. Patients can wait to pay for consultation at the clinic cashier and wait to collect medicine at the pharmacy simultaneously. This is unlike the main pharmacy which has a buffer time to prepare the medicine as the patients usually make payment for consultation at the clinics first then proceed to collect medicine at the pharmacy.

When my in-charge said there is a chance that paperless would not progress to our pharmacy, me and my technician were relieved, BUT we must have statistical documentation that the process does not benefit us and worsen the current work process. Ain't it easy. All I need to do is to make sure the process does not work, but me and my big mouth (this comes with being close to your in-charge and you think you can say anything and still get away with it) had to verbalise my thoughts.

My in-charge then reminded me that in our annual appraisal embracing change is one area that will be assessed. Can I just ask what sort of change does the institution want me to embrace? You embrace changes that will help you progress; that improves working conditions for staff; that improves the work process? Or you embrace changes because somebody tells you to; because it is the CEO's pet project; because other people are doing it as well?

Maybe I'm just being stubborn, but not without a cause. Will not go into the whole long list of why it would not work for my pharmacy. Spoke to in-charge, he agreed with me and even emailed big boss the list of reasons why we would have difficulty implementing paperless workflow in our pharmacy. So what the h**k does he want me to embrace?!

I wonder if any other organisations assess their employee's ability to embrace changes as part of the annual appraisal? Maybe it's just my institution...

Skiving

Was covering my colleague today and time passed really slowly as the load was not high today. Wanted to skive and post something on the blog, but then decided against it as it'll show up as evidence that I am using work time to do personal things. :D

In the end I settled for reading fanfictions and news. If my boss wants to trace the log in records guess he'll still know that I am skiving, but I know I am just one amongst the many who are doing this and chances are IT will not be flagging the website for investigation. :p

Couldn't focus today. Took really long to check all the finished products due to interrupted sleep last night. Hate being oncall. Worse if people page you and ask stupid questions.

I am a Cynic

When I overheard a doctor said he gave up his practice in private hospital because working in non-private setting gave him more time for his patients I don't know whether to laugh or to snort. Reality of life: private patients can be a real pain in the ass especially those who think they're know-all just because they're rich; anybody who worked in non-private hospitals can tell you that nobody, be it doctors or nurses or other allied health staff, has more time for patients because we are ALWAYS short of manpower. Then again the doctor was on national TV, guess he had to be diplomatically correct.

What can I say, society has made me a cynic. The idealism I had when I was a student has little place in this society. No use saying it is unfair to lie, backstab, threaten, or even resort to verbal abuse. Seasoned players in the society will probably just shrug their shoulders and tell you "that's life".

Vengeance of the Porcupine

Realise I'm easily riled up by small matters nowadays. Things were fine while I was in Japan... I did feel annoyed with my travelling partner at times, but at least I was still able to keep my temper in check. After I came back things quickly went back to the way it was before I left for Japan.

Maybe this has got to do with constant exposure to stupid people in my course of work. No time to unwind and readjust back the emotions and the whole cycle starts again. In the end, I just get irritated at the slightest things. I get especially irritated when family members ask stupid questions or do stupid things. You're my family and you still don't have the EQ to leave me alone when you see me trudging home with a black face after work. If I can't even rest and unwind at home then where can I rest?!

My dad's EQ's the worse. There was once I was busy typing up the meeting's minutes and he kept bugging me with questions about computers, trying to strike up a conversation etc. I AM BUSY! LET ME DO MY WORK IN PEACE! And anyway, I'm not in IT so stop asking me so many questions about computers.

Irritating

Dad asked me how to spell my cousin's name. Problem is I've no idea cos we always call her Eileen, but there's a high chance that it is not spelt that way cos she does not have an English name in the first place. It's probably some ethnic spelling like Ee Lin/ Ee Lynn etc. Anyway, irritating thing is that this is not the first time he asked me how to spell the name, and it is not the first time I told him I don't know how to spell the name. When I told him I don't know how to spell the name he said I'm being selfish. What's so selfish about not knowing how to spell the name?!

S.T.U.P.I.D.

Clamp

Was reading a commentary for "Legal Drug" by Clamp, and had to agree with the commentary that Clamp has long reached a bottle neck in their manga series. Like the commentator, I was inducted into the world of manga by Clamp's earlier series such as RG Veda and Magic Knight Rayearth. The art work was super-detailed and it was the true epitome of bishoujo and bishounen. The art work now pales compared to the earlier manga series, and story lines are not that different. Anyway, I've long deviated from Clamp mangas, and have long given up on completing my X-Clamp series.

Food!


This was our first dinner in Hokkaido. Unfortunately I was half way through my dinner when I realised I took the picture without removing the white cover from the centre bowl; it was sashimi underneath. (^_^!)


Me (left) with my colleague in Japanese yukata.



Vending machines are a common sight in Japan. These are just selling drinks, but I had seen others selling films and disposable cameras; undergarments; cigarettes etc on my previous trip to Japan. I bet anything they can stack into a vending machine the Japanese will just do it. The other is a picture of one of the wine racks at the wine refinery. They've got tonnes of wine there, but unfortunately I can't read much Japanese so I've no idea what was special about each type of wine. By the way, did I mention there was free flow wine at the factory? :D



If you think it is expensive to eat seafood in Singapore, just take a look at the prices of the crabs in Japan. Every single one cost more than S$30. I think the bottom right picture shows the tareba crab; prices starts from S$70+ onwards. (^_^!) As part of the tour package we get to eat half a hairy crab for one of our lunches, and I must say the meat tastes really sweet and fresh. The bottom left picture shows one of the stores in the wet market selling preserved meat. Kind of remind me of the wet markets in Singapore, but less stinko due to lower temperature and humidity.


Most days lunches look like this. There will be a hot pot with a bowl of rice. Hot pot usually has salmon, mushrooms, and probably a fresh scallop. In case you're wondering what are the 3 small plates in the centre, the dark colored blob on the left is marinated vegetable, the reddish blob is fish roe, and yellow-brownish blob is seasoned squid (raw). Basically, every meal there's something to be eaten raw except breakfast. :D


The right shows the picture of the boss and his wife busy cooking ramen for 10+ of us. Unfortunately I didn't get a close up shot at the boss. He was perspiring like mad. The other picture shows the shop front. Friends who know me know I don't like ramen, cos my memory of the first time I ate ramen tells me ramen tastes bad. After this store's ramen, I became a ramen convert. It was just plain old miso ramen, but every bite makes you want more. The soup is rich but does not leave you thirsty. In the end I gobbled up my ramen in record time, threw the spoon away and drink the soup straight from the bowl. :D


This was taken at the chocolate factory. You really got to give it to the Japanese when it comes to going down to the fine details. This piano was made from icing sugar, and it may look big when you click to look at the full size of this pic, but it was actually slightly smaller than palm size.

Okay, that's enough for food. Next post will be on random pictures of sights of Hokkaido. Will probably revisit flowers of Hokkaido in the next post as well.

Back to Work

Wanted to post more pictures tonight, but kind of tired after work so no energy to edit and post pictures. Oh well, keep a look out for more pics from Hokkaido. Next in line should be food/sights of Hokkaido...

北海道の花 - 一章

This is like the don't know how many times I'm attempting to post the pictures... Let's hope it works this time.

You won't believe if I tell you these flowers are found next to a convenience store. They just grew there much like wild flowers...




These are flowers taken from people's backyard. No I didn't go climbing over the fence. There is such a thing called zoom function on cameras...



Talk about fields and fields of flowers. Was tempted to roll in the flower beds, but upon inspection, there were plenty of busy bees harvesting the pollen especially the lavender fields. (^_^!)

On second thoughts, don't think the gardeners and Japanese would appreciate a gaijin ravaging their fields of beautiful flowers. :D

我不愿意

这不是什么突发的想法。在日本时真的很开心。真的有点儿不愿意回国。前天陪妈妈到医院复诊，看到其他病人时就有种莫名其妙的厌恶感。一想到星期四回到工作岗位上得面对那些病人时，血压就自然上升，什么精神都烟消云散。

我想是该换工作的时候了。换汤不换药的做法我不会再做了。我不能再跟这行业藕断丝连，这一次真的该做个了断。。。去过新生活。

Travelling Partner

Haha got a travelling partner to go to Hokkaido next year. Friend's husband not keen on going any parts of Japan as he does not speak the language and does not like the culture there. Oh well, I'm not complaining. Now I can really start planning for my next trip. :D

Hokkaido 北海道

Hokkaido in summer is really full of flowers, and I'm not even talking about Furano and Farm Tomita. Even while we travelled up the mountains, you could see big patches of daisies in bloom. If you pass by any houses, chances are the garden is full of different coloured flowers. Summer up in the Hokkaido mountains is perfect; lush green trees, beautiful flowers in bloom all over the place (even at the road sides), and good weather hovering between 20-25 degree celsius during the day.

I must admit that I do not miss Singapore while I was there. Hokkaido is blessed with good weather in summer and a lack of human population. Almost half of its population is located in Sapporo (札幌) leaving other parts of Hokkaido pretty much unpopulated. If you have a chance to visit Hokkaido you'll understand what I mean. Basically, other than Sapporo and Chitose (千歳), you will not find amenities such as shopping malls, train stations etc. If you stay at onsen (温泉) resorts, you'll most prob be sleeping on the floor... erm I mean on tatami. :D While travelling you see nothing but mountains and mountains full of trees, else it'll be patches and patches of corn, wheat, potato, onion plantations and a few houses that you can count with both hands.

This is basically Hokkaido in a tiny nutshell during summertime. Was already planning to go another time during spring so I get to see both 梅 and 桜 in bloom. Apparently you can only see these 2 flowers in bloom at the same time in Hokkaido. In other parts of Japan you'll see 梅 followed by 桜. So gotta start saving up again. :D