Indeed I am alive; if there were any reasons for my existence, then some of it must be littered within the menial tasks that I do everyday in the wards. For I am now in my final year of medical school, already on my way to graduation as I speak, though I believe I am no closer to being ready for the responsibility at hand.

My intern is a rather serious man with an equally healthy sense of humour; I spend all day, every weekday, by his side. It is a fun change from being a clinical student, where the focus now is on management rather than knowledge, and so I stand by my intern as we both run the day-to-day jobs that keep our patients alive in the wards. My team has been generous; I have been showered with offerings of coffee and lunch almost everyday.

My lack of existence in this blog is partly due to my inexhaustible routines in the wards, though it can quite so easily be accounted for by a decision to move out into the suburbs. I’m staying with a good friend who has offered to rent me her large guest room, and though I’ve stayed in the city all my student life, getting into the seams of a typical Australian lifestyle is a refreshing flavour. My father is with me currently; I’m expecting my mother to drop by in a couple of days. I’ve bought a car as well and I’ve successfully roped Jordan in to help fine-tune my parking practices at the local K-Mart.

Everything’s looking good really. I know the year’s just started, but I have an optimistic feeling that it would all turn out well. It should, I reckon, because last year’s nasty events only paves a way for bigger, better and brighter things to come.

Here’s to my final year in Medical School.

Photograph: Jenna Tu

This photo cracks me up. I’m not sure why; maybe it’s the memorable inside jokes, or the overabundant cheesiness that may conspire with me to punch our faces in. Whatever it is, this nauseatingly ‘kawaii’ shot spells good times…and in this most stressful of moments, any fun memory will do.

Oh, and I dedicate this stereotypical Asian photo to my good friend Ted, who frequently pesters me to recharge my camera batteries. I did promise to indulge in photographic egomania someday, old pal! :p

For lack of a more direct title (the dissolution of creativity must be blamed for this), here are the highlights of what has happened so far; in reverse chronological order of course.

#1. BodyPump MasterClass
I love the gym. Like really. It is a fact that I am cursed with chunky genes; no amount of exercise (I have gathered thus far) can make me any less curvaceous. So throw those ‘Oh you’re not skinny’ accusations at me with much passion if you must, but at least I can be proud that I have passed the holy grail of all BodyPump classes - the MasterClass (special class for fitness trainers, open to regular members). The instructor - an award winner and senior trainer - was awesome. Possibly due to his uncanny resemblance to Aaron Eckhart, he was an absolute charmer as he kept encouraging me on (I had challenged myself with heavier weights); publicly coaxing me to smile. When the class ended, he teasingly approached me to ask how I thought the class went. Major endorphin rush for the day, people!

#2. TT’s 21st
Putting aside the unbearable fact that she’ll graduate from Medical School at a young 22, my good friend TT pulled a birthday-drinks-cum-end-of-school bash last Friday night at BarCuba. We had a blast doing silly things like playing ‘daredevil candle-blowing’ (Kianny won). And with much enjoyment, I had a humorous (3 hour-long!) drawn-out debate with Channy on the eternally controversial topic of Males vs Females and Cate Blanchett vs Natalie Portman (a must, everytime). Serena and Jenna pitched in occassionally to inject their much-appreciated feministic views.

#3. The Aunt and Uncle visit
Although it was difficult trying to juggle my numerous presentations and tutorials with the coming of my paternal family members (they had dropped by from a Sydney conference), I had enough luck to shave some evening time off to meet them for dinner at my cousin’s every night. As expected, being overseas makes one yearn to spend as much time possible with fragments of home. Despite my not being as close to the father’s side as I should, I enjoyed listening to my Aunt’s tales of yesteryear. And as my cousin and I propped up our elbows till the wee hours of the morning, I learned humbling things about my late grandparents that I never knew before.