Quantum Physics, Killed in Fam Med OSCE, Mozart's Quintet

ETHICAL QUESTIONS THAT KILL

Today had Family Medicine clinical exam. 2 station, 5 minutes each. First station dem easy wan, just examine diabetic foot, dunno wat happen to me, screwed up that station big time, Dr. Y had to keep prompting me at each step, dunno if panic or wat.

Next station lagi killer, surprise ethical question. Pt was a 45 year-old man who works as a kindergarten bus driver, came in wif sputum super-positive (read: +++) for AFB, confimed tuberculosis edi. After I finish explainin to patient his results, mana tau suddenly he hit me with ethical question:

"Erm..so doctor, u no nid to tell my boss ya?" Confidentiality problem here. Must navigate the dangerous water of ethics slowly, sure got caveat wan (caveat is a question that if u answer wrongly, ur marks auto reduced to 30% ie. immediate fail, dis is for fatal mistakes u may commit in ur medical practices).

"No sir, but if ur boss asks me, I will have to ask ur permission first, but I have to report to the government as this is a notifiable disease."

"Aiyoyo, but my boss wont noe la? My partner last week kena fired, cuz he oso got TB." TB dem infectious wan, dats why need to report to government.

I asked if he was married, since I scared he spread to his wife or children.

"I got 5 children. No nid tell my wife wan ya, I take medicine no more infectious right?"

Aiyo, dilemma le. We send u to hospital to get treated la.

"Aikz, den doctor, I no work dat time, how la, my income so small, I have to support 5 children."

Den we ask ur boss for paid leave la.

"Den u have to give him a medical report, wont he know I got TB?"

Waaaaah, wan2 kill me, kill me when im REALLY a doctor dat time, not while im trying to pass my exam so i can BE a doctor.

Dat station quite bad, few people din make it. Crossing my fingers really hard that i passed.

QUEER PHYSICS FOR QUEER PEOPLE

Last Saturday I gave a short lecture on ichinen (state of mind) and how it can affect the environment (esho funi: oneness of life and the environment). I tried (my very best) to simplify the concept by linking basic quantum physics to it. However, I think I made it even more confusing. Quantum physics at its basic level was anything but basic. I was rewarded with a crowd of confused faces.

Later that nite during our recital practice, I made a small joke to Siew Ching about esho funi and she gave me a really blank stare (as per all my other jokes). I asked her whether she had heard of the term esho funi, and she gave a straight "No." Ahh...sums up my whole lecture...

Quantum physics is a very interesting field that one can use to explain the Universe and what makes it tick. Quantum physics is basically where scientists have explored deep into the structure of the atom and found even smaller particles, and at the tiniest-winniest level, they found that particles are highly unstable, constantly changing in nature (thus explaining how light can be a wave this week, but a particle next week) and constantly interacting with each other.

These changes can be summarized into one simple sentence: small actions in this world can have big implications. The way u treat a friend will affect his or her life. The way u use plastic bags will impact the trend of global warming, no matter how big or small. When we realise that we have the potential to affect our environment with whatever actions we take, we can make efforts to take positive actions.

RECITAL COMPETITION

Last Sunday was the recital competition for 2008. We played Mozart's "Wind Quintet: Allegro". My group included me, Siew Ching, Mei Kei, See Hooi and Chun Wei. We had practiced hard for the last few months, comin on Sundays and either comin early on Saturdays or stayin back. Struggled hard to train sum of em who had problems with rhythms and notes, quite a fast (and killer) piece. We were quite in pieces ourselves as we headed for the stagethat afternoon during the novice category. Halfway through the song, sum one miscued an entry, resulting in two of us being 2 bars faster than the other 3. So we ended the phrase twice, made it sound like those polyphonic pieces during the baroque (or was it classical) era.

Much to our pleasant surprise, we won 3rd place for the novice category, and the only Fei Yang group to get a place in the novice category (the other 2 places were taken by the what Mr. Lee calls the cute little girls from the Recorder Band). Me and the rest were laughing our heads off. Oh well, even if we din play well, i think our effort showed through all the bad notes, and that be considered as sincerity.