Bangkok

At long last I finally had a chance to go on holiday with one of my sec sch classmates. At least it's a first step in fulfilling the dream that I had in Oct 2006. I dreamed that Craziblues, Yun, Tytianne and I went to Japan for holiday. Haha... I know it is kind of far-fetched considering I'm always having difficulty applying for leave, and Yun can only go during the school holidays.

Getting excited about the trip.

Out-dated Thoughts

Was talking with some colleagues yesterday during lunch. Usual topics hover around work, or if married people are around they will talk about kids' education etc... you know the usual things parents are worried about. I cannot recall what led to my administrator talking about her 2 daughters. Basically one is naturally smart, but lazy so her school results are not that fantastic. The other daughter is not that smart, but is hardworking therefore her results are always better than her sister's.

This other pharmacist (single) started querying another colleague about her daughter, asking if she is doing well in school, whether she is smart etc. The way she talked about those who went to polytechnic is as if there is no hope for them. She almost wanted to say "that's the end" but caught herself just in time. Whatever it is, it showed that she has an elitist attitude. I admit that I do occasionally show some elitist attitude, but I never talk about other people's children's as if I know what is best for them. Imagine how the parents feel knowing there are people in society like my colleague who look down on those who are not so book smart.

Heck! What I really cannot understand is why she talked the way she did given the fact that she's already in her mid 30's, still not attached, and most definitely childless. Childless! She does not even know what it means to be a parent, and she sat there talking as if my other colleagues should make sure their children get a university education. This is just fueling the national obsession on getting good grades in school/national exams.

I am a sucker for the idea that education is not only intended to pass on knowledge, but more importantly its ultimate purpose is to make one a thinking person; not somebody who blindly follow the masses. However, my colleague has proven that one can have all the education and still be unthinking and myopic. That being the case, can somebody pls tell me why exactly are we still providing mass education when people continue to think in a manner as if they are not educated?

When We Don't Know What to Say

Was at my grandma's place today, and we had fish and fried chicken for dinner. Guess the fish is not any of the usual fish that my mom and aunts get from the market. When they asked my grandma what the fish was, she told them the "ba" (meat) is very nice it is called "ba he" (meat fish). I think my mom and aunts all pretended they did not hear her and continued their discussion on the fish. I mean it was like duh, but I guess that is what happens when a person does not know what to say.

Trains and Tracks

This just came to mind in the morning. It is something somebody asked a long time ago and I still think it is meaningful.

There were 2 railway tracks running parallel to each other. One was an old track that was no longer in use, but there is still an intersection linking the 2 tracks together; remnant of the time when the new track was constructed and time was needed to migrate all train routes to the new track. A sign had been put up to warn people not to trespass on the new track.

One day, a group of children decided to play on the railway tracks. One of the boys saw the sign and informed the others, but all they did was to laugh it off and continued playing on the new track. A lone boy decided it was safer playing on the lone track and decided to play there by himself.

Half an hour later, a train traveling at full speed appeared. The train driver did not spot the children playing on the new track until it was too late to brake the train. If you are the train driver, what would you do? Would you run down the group playing on the new track or the lone boy playing on the old track (assuming you can switch the link and go onto the old track)?

There is no right or wrong answer.

What About Those Who Doesn't Know How to Help Themselves?

This is the question asked in Today (13/11/2006). If you're interested in reading the article you can click on this link. Specifically, what I find puzzling are the following 2 paragraphs.

But more fundamentally, that seems inconsistent with the President's vision of an "inclusive society which leaves no one behind". Instead, it is a society that "leaves no one who is willing to help himself or herself behind".
So what happens to those who are unwilling or unable, or who do not know how, to help themselves? Do we simply say that we will not help them, on the basis that it will damage our work ethic in the long run, or that we need to save our reserves for future contingencies instead of addressing present needs?

I mean, I do not see anything wrong with helping only those who are willing to help themselves. Of course, there are certain groups of people who are unable to help themselves such as the elderly, and the young. For such groups, the society and the government need to work together in helping them. They are not just the government's problem; they are part of our society hence they are also our problem that is why we need to support the community groups through donations or volunteer work etc.

If we are talking about the poor, but able-bodied, then I do not see why we need to help them if they do not even bother helping themselves. The day the government starts handing out money to this group of people, you can be very sure to pay much more for the annual income tax. This is a fundamental lesson learned from welfare states such as US and UK. Frankly speaking, I will be peeved to pay for people to just bum around. If those people are unwilling to help themselves and are left behind, then tough luck. Survival of the fittest.

Discussing about this issue is further complicated by the President's words on "an inclusive society that leaves no one behind". I really wonder if the writer is in a thinking state when highlighting the inconsistency of the President's vision and the government's policies. How can there be a perfect solution that can help all the people?! If there is, why are the poor still with us? They existed through the social history from feudalism till now. (BTW, I picked feudalism because I cannot remember what was before feudalism. You must understand I am a science student with no history background other than the time I was made to study in lower secondary.) You would think since feudalism (sometime around the 9th century) some smarty-pants along the timeline would have figured out a social model that does not leave anybody behind as the society progresses. The fact is nobody has found the miracle cure, and maybe, by now, we should have learnt from history there is NO perfect solution. So why harp on what the President said? All in all, I still think no matter how many safety nets are in place to help the poor, there will still be a minority who will slip through. After all, nets are by nature porous.

It's Just じゃん拳ぽん (Jan Ken Pon)

Aka scissors paper stone to us Singaporeans. Was reading yahoo news and I came across this report on a championship held in Toronto for this game. Believe it or not there is also a legit society called World Rock Paper Scissors Society (WRPS Society). Talk about the weird things in this world. Who's to know such a simple game of psychology can gain such international attention that more than 500 people participated in this year's 5th World Championship.

Anyway, I find it puzzling that Toronto has hosted all the championships and all champions are Canadians. Has this something got to do with playing on familiar grounds or Canadians are good at psychological games...

Boredom

I'm bored. Fever started soon after I posted my earlier post today. No choice but to sleep and rest till lunch. No more fever after lunch, but nothing for me to do. Can't go out window shopping, and I've already finished the 2 story books I borrowed from the library last Sunday. Watched TV, but nothing interesting. Played a little piano, and messed around with my neopet. Read online comic for a while and then went back to my room to rest. After dinner, watched TV again. Kept switching channels. I'm really bored. Going back to work tomorrow. Hope my throat stops itching. It's driving me crazy!

Worsening Condition

Had sudden bouts of coughing on Thursday which turned into incessant coughing on Friday. Went to see my GP again and confessed that I had self-medicated on antibiotics and I have not recovered since the last I saw her. She was puzzled that I did not recover even from the antibiotics I took on the sly. Decided to give me another type of antibiotic at high dose and see if it will help clear the infection.

Had incessant runny nose and low-grade fever yesterday. Aches on the cheek bones and forehead confirmed the diagnosis of sinusitis. The fever is gone this morning, but I know I am on the mend because fever is the body's way of telling you the immune system is activated to fight the bug. Argh... hope I get well soon.

Heart to Heart

Have not held a proper conversation with my senior for ages. Finally had the time to sit down and talk as the load was not high today. Basically, it was all about my pent up frustrations. Did not have a means to relieve my frustrations while my senior was away for his overseas attachment because I learned that not everybody can keep their mouth shut.

It was good to unload some of my personal, callous thoughts on some issues in the department. Felt better after talking things out.

Thieves

Just when you think you have about seen all the ugly sides of this society (specifically refering to Singapore's society) you hear more horror stories that makes you wonder if you are the only one still stubbornly hanging on to your teachers' moral teachings.

My cashier was talking about thefts in the pharmacy over lunch describing all the different methods patients would try to cheat or steal from the pharmacy. What I really do not understand is why the police is not brought in to apprehend those thieves. It does not matter that you are taking items less than $10, stealing is stealing. No explanation or excuse will suffice, and we should not be giving them a second chance because these are adults who should know better.

Incident 1
Patient collected medicine from a prescription but requested to buy a box of Clarinase over-the-counter (OTC). Pharmacist gave the Clarinase and wrote on the charge label that an OTC medicine was given to patient so the cashier would remember to charge. Patient secretly pocketed the Clarinase hoping the cashier would miss out and not charge. Unfortunately, the cashier poured out the whole bag of medicine searching for the OTC medicine. When she could not find it, she went back to the pharmacist asking what exactly was sold the patient. Patient followed the cashier and took the box of Clarinase from his pocket claiming he did not know he have to show it to the cashier. Really smart.

Incident 2
Patient's wife came to collect medicine on his behalf, and purposely absconded. At the end of the day, the closing shop pharmacist called up informing the patient that a bill would be sent requesting for payment. Patient was rude and insisted he did not collect the medicine. The pharmacist who dispensed the medicine told him it was dispensed to his wife, but he denied claiming the hospital had dispensed to the wrong patient. Pharmacist became indignant and told him whoever collected for him was able to recite the IC no. and home address. Patient persisted with his lie, insisting whoever collected the medicine must have known him very well. (Yah, if the wife does not know you well, who does? The mistress?) Anyway, when my cashier mentioned that we would check the CCTV to see who collected the medicine, he panicked and said he would look into the matter. Guess what, he came and made payment the next day. Oh, and did I mention, the wife is a staff of the hospital. Does this constitute as stealing from the employer?

Incident 3
Patient stole 2 Futuro knee braces. Thought he could smuggle them out of the pharmacy, but the magnetic strip tagged to the knee braces activated the security alarm. He quickly walked back into the pharmacy and attempted a second time to smuggle the stolen goods out of the pharmacy. Again the security alarm was activated. When the cashier queried if he had any unpaid goods, he denied and said he needed to collect his medicine. The cashier tailed him and saw him putting the knee brace back on the shelves. This turd should be sitting behind bars and serving time.

Incident 4
This is about a patient on Medifund scheme. For the uninitiated this means the patient is too poor to pay for his own medicine and requires the medical social worker's help in applying for financial aid. More specifically, anybody who pays income tax are paying for part of their medicine. The disgusting thing was this patient collected the medicine from the pharmacist and then while he was on his way to the cashier, he pilfered other items from the shelves. Thought he can get away with it by hiding the loot underneath his pile of medicine. Unfortunately, the cashier poured out the bag's contents to check and found the loot. When she queried if he will be paying for the loot, he said he does not need those medicine. Why are my tax dollars going into helping such scums of the society?

Incident 5
Patient queried about scar fading creams. After some recommendations from the cashier, the patient decided to get Mederma. Expensive cream. She claimed that she still wanted to browse the pharmacy so she will make payment later. The cashier saw her putting the cream into her bag on the sly. Luckily she was stupid enough to go back to the same cashier requesting for assistance on the purchase of some plasters. The cashier pointed to the Mederma cream that was peeking from her bag asking if she had made payment for that. The patient became indignant and walked towards the pharmacist in a huff, sticking the cream under pharmacist's nose, asking the pharmacist to contact the doctor to include the cream into the prescription such that she can make claims from the insurance. When the cashier politely told her she should not be putting unpaid merchandise into her own bag, she claimed that her hands are very weak and cannot hold heavy items for long. The last I recall, Mederma's probably about the size of a tube of Mopiko. How heavy can that be.

These are just 5 incidents and I am sure if there was more time my cashier would have related more incidents. I am truly disgusted. If this is something seen day to day, in just one hospital's retail pharmacy (my hospital has 2 retail pharmacies), I cannot imagine the sheer number of thieves we are living with. I think we have a long way to go with regards to theft of intellectual properties if Singaporeans cannot even stop themselves from habitual pilferage of tangible items.

Donations

The joys of working late shift: I do not have to rush through breakfast, and I get to read the newspaper before going to work.

Saw some comments regarding NUS alumni not donating to help needy students in NUS pay their school fees. My first confession: I have not been following the issue, but from what I read between the lines apparently some dork from the alumni must have made the suggestion that the government should dole out monetary help. My second confession: I am one of those alumni who have not made any donation. Although I do not think asking the alumni for donations is a good solution, but to ask the government to step in is worse. It is such a typical Singaporean solution; just past the buck to the government.

Can Singaporeans just face it, if they do not have the money then they do not have the university education? The society does not owe those less fortunate a university education. It is good if there are people willing to donate money to help, but it is ludicrous to blame others if there is no donation. It is so easy to wallow in self-pity and play the blame game instead of thinking of ways to pay for the education. Nobody is saying you have to enter university at 19 years old for females and 21 years old for males. Delay the education, work 2-3 years, save up part of the education fees and consider taking a bank loan for the remainder. Is this not a plausible solution?

I am not about to make any excuses as to why I do not donate money. I do not feel proud of being an NUS alumni and I simply refuse to part with my hard-earned money in this manner. I much rather donate to charitable organizations dealing with care of children. Children do not have the means to work or fend for themselves and they genuinely need generous donations from the society. If you have limited resources to help the needy, consider helping the children.

Creativity?

My bro was online looking for anime and PS2 related items to purchase. Came upon the following at HimeyaShop.com. I thought it was funny until I saw the price. Granted the designs are very interesting, but to pay USD$95 for a thumb drive that has only 256mb space is crazy! Seriously wonder if you would consider this as creativity in making business...

@ Meeting

Had to wake up extra early this morning to attend pharmacist meeting. Was super bored. Basically, my manager was just repeating himself every single meeting. Every meeting we talk about our waiting time. When the waiting time is good, he salutes us. If it is bad, he would say we need to look into work processes to improve the waiting time. Who cares if the waiting time is good or not. It is precisely the stress of wanting to meet the target waiting time when there is not enough manpower that led to medication errors.

Every meeting we talk about implementing clinical services. Yet every meeting the manager failed to address a more crucial problem: manpower shortage. Ours is a perennial problem. It is what led to massive resignation after each bonus. It is a viscious cycle. People leave because they are tired of plugging holes. We get some new pharmacists to come in to replace those who left, but the number that joined us is not enough to plug the holes. So the newbies get tired of plugging holes and leave and we get more newbies. Fun eh. We cannot even support our daily services without causing massive resignation what more implement clinical services?!

Anyway, was feeling bored and sleepy at the meeting. Almost dozed off. Luckily it was my senior who caught me in the act and not my manager. :D

Censorship

Senior chanced upon my m'soft word file on my comments regarding the management. Thought it was funny and interesting and asked why I did not post it on my blog. He was shocked when I told him I had submitted to the management, but laughed that I should have submitted to CEO directly as some of the comments would have been censored by my big boss.

Oh well, what can I say. Some people are delicate and cannot take an honest comment from the ground staff. They are always right and their plans or pet projects are the best. *roll my eyes*

Some Doctors are Stupid

Went to see the staff clinic doctor today. Despite telling him that I have been coughing more than a week due to postnasal drip and my voice is hoarse as a result of coughing, he only gave me 1 day MC. Like a day's rest is really going to help my voice recover compared to the double day rest I had last Sat and Sun (even a double day rest did not help).

Has he any idea what a torture it is to talk with a hoarse voice and trying to project the voice so others can hear me. My laryngeal muscles are significantly tired after talking for the whole day and I can feel the throat aching. At least this week I am not working at the front line counseling patients; I am covering lab, but even answering phone calls cause my voice to be worse at the end of the day. I really cannot imagine next week when I have to talk to patients for the whole day.

Stupid doctor.