Friday, March 25, 2005
After math
The part that nobody hears about, after the MBBS finals.
(the bit in between was fairly boring, except for one student who was simply exceptional. Both examiners came alive then. It wasn't that she was pretty - she wasn't bad by re-minisce's books, but not a perfect ten... so scratch that theory. It was because she was good.
There are medical students, and medical students. The bulk who passed through were well rehearsed to the point of being robotic. Examining them was frankly - boring. They knew what to do; but they didn't apparently know why they were doing it. It was a bit like our local-made movies and tele-soaps : fair enough, but kinda wooden.
It was evident that this girl had a memory like a sponge, but she was also thinking. And she knew precisely why she was doing whatever she was doing... It was a pleasure just watching her in action.)
Anyway.
the Aftermath saw all the MOs missing lunch, and piling into theatre to assist their registrars and consultants. It was surgery on a massive scale with triple the usual number of theatres running long lists side by side.
We knocked off at eight, and I for one was exhausted. But it was a good day, in a strange, warped way. Especially for the 99.99% of the med students who, as I predicted, passed.
*****
As I suspected, it is possible to die of loneliness. I have proof now.
My brother's been keeping an acquarium full of tropical fish. You know, the skinny, irritating type that dart around and nibble on the walls and each other, and hyperactively do absolutely nothing at all.
He's also been keeping a solitary goldfish in with them. It spent its entire life (a few months) sitting in the corner of the tank, with its belly on the sand looking forlorn (yes, it really did) and not really doing anything at all other than breathe.
I always thought it looked kinda lonely.
Today, it wasn't in the tank anymore.
Barring an uncharacteristically energetic break for freedom, I'd postulate that our lonely hero has passed on to the next great fishtank in the sky.
moving swiftly on...
*****
He said something funny-ish as he ate, not really concentrating on the conversation, his eyes cast downwards on his food. He'd been doing that a lot recently.
She laughed, and there was a fraction of a second's pause as conversation slowed.
He glanced up, and she was smiling, her gaze lingering on his for a second more before wandering away.
Her shoulder-length brown-streaked hair was a bit frizzy at the ends. Her eyes weren't almond-shaped at all - they had a slightly tragic slant at the outer folds, which belied the smile she often wore.
Age hadn't quite caught up with her yet - she still had the flawless skin of a much younger woman, but something in his mind saw it - perhaps just the bias of friendship.
He thought, for just a moment, that she must have been quite a looker when she was younger.
Then he went back to concentrating on waiting for his raw-beef to turn to just the right shade of not-quite-medium. yum.
(the bit in between was fairly boring, except for one student who was simply exceptional. Both examiners came alive then. It wasn't that she was pretty - she wasn't bad by re-minisce's books, but not a perfect ten... so scratch that theory. It was because she was good.
There are medical students, and medical students. The bulk who passed through were well rehearsed to the point of being robotic. Examining them was frankly - boring. They knew what to do; but they didn't apparently know why they were doing it. It was a bit like our local-made movies and tele-soaps : fair enough, but kinda wooden.
It was evident that this girl had a memory like a sponge, but she was also thinking. And she knew precisely why she was doing whatever she was doing... It was a pleasure just watching her in action.)
Anyway.
the Aftermath saw all the MOs missing lunch, and piling into theatre to assist their registrars and consultants. It was surgery on a massive scale with triple the usual number of theatres running long lists side by side.
We knocked off at eight, and I for one was exhausted. But it was a good day, in a strange, warped way. Especially for the 99.99% of the med students who, as I predicted, passed.
*****
As I suspected, it is possible to die of loneliness. I have proof now.
My brother's been keeping an acquarium full of tropical fish. You know, the skinny, irritating type that dart around and nibble on the walls and each other, and hyperactively do absolutely nothing at all.
He's also been keeping a solitary goldfish in with them. It spent its entire life (a few months) sitting in the corner of the tank, with its belly on the sand looking forlorn (yes, it really did) and not really doing anything at all other than breathe.
I always thought it looked kinda lonely.
Today, it wasn't in the tank anymore.
Barring an uncharacteristically energetic break for freedom, I'd postulate that our lonely hero has passed on to the next great fishtank in the sky.
moving swiftly on...
*****
He said something funny-ish as he ate, not really concentrating on the conversation, his eyes cast downwards on his food. He'd been doing that a lot recently.
She laughed, and there was a fraction of a second's pause as conversation slowed.
He glanced up, and she was smiling, her gaze lingering on his for a second more before wandering away.
Her shoulder-length brown-streaked hair was a bit frizzy at the ends. Her eyes weren't almond-shaped at all - they had a slightly tragic slant at the outer folds, which belied the smile she often wore.
Age hadn't quite caught up with her yet - she still had the flawless skin of a much younger woman, but something in his mind saw it - perhaps just the bias of friendship.
He thought, for just a moment, that she must have been quite a looker when she was younger.
Then he went back to concentrating on waiting for his raw-beef to turn to just the right shade of not-quite-medium. yum.
