While my guitar gently weeps

I've tried to avoid giving detailed self absorbed chronicles of my mundane life. However, there are times, some special occasions, when I have no choice but to do so. This entry will save as a virtual time capsule, in case there are times in the future I feel nostalgic and want to look back.

Things I did for the first half of this year:

1. Helped to save lives- intubation, bagging

2. Went for a disaster medicine simulation session

3. Celebrated CNY whole heartedly for the first time in 5 years.

4. Ran an urbanathlon

5. Stayed away from home for more than a month

6. Survived 5 weeks of India without any diarrhea

7. Learnt to eat with my hands

8. Learnt to appreciate cricket and immersed in the World Cup frenzy (though only for a while)

9. Had a multi-national tutorial consisting of 2 Indians, 1 German and 1 Singaporean

10. Saw lots of cows along the street, and touched two of them

11. Sat on crowded Indian buses

12. Ate BEEF at a posh Western Restaurant in India

13. Watched a late night movie in Bangalore and fell asleep at the most important moment

14. Walked down the beaches of Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram. Had relaxing breakfasts in the latter

15. Jogged around an Indian village and got threatened by dogs and saved by villagers

16. Saw the tea hills of Ooty

17. Saw elephants, bison and deer in the Mudumalai Nature Reserve

18. Bought high quality Mysore silk for the family

19. Toured the Mysore Palace

20. Stayed till near 11pm at NCC, way after the consultants

21. Come close to tears on a couple of occasions

22. Submitted research abstracts

23. Got scolded on a Saturday morning during a tutorial during ELECTIVES

24. Went to election rallies and created a photo album

25. Voted

26. Learnt the finer details of patient clerking, working style

27. Became the temporary chief waiter of the lymphoma team. Waiter-ing is an art.

28. Missed a marathon I signed up for

29. Went for a great seminar

30. Climbed a mountain with 80% of my luggage delayed at the airport, and having a corneal ulcer on top of that

31. Endured three very cold nights on the mountain

32. Triple planked on the mountain

33. Drank alcohol to keep warm on the mountain

34. Fell down at a cave

35. Kayaked at Halong bay which had fantastic scenery

36. Ate cricket and silkworm

37. Played lots of Monopoly Deal, Saboteur and Bridge

38. Read many books on my iPod: The Scarlet Letter, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Raven, The Black Cat, The Tell Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, Metamorphosis, Anthem. Incomplete ones include The Emperor of all Maladies, Shantaram and The Last Mughal

39. Revamped my iPod music collection, which used to be very classical music heavy. Now has an increased repertoire of great songs including Beatles, Bob Dylan, Oasis, JJ Lin and many more.

Right. So in M5, a different life awaits me. It'll be spent mostly in the wards and the library, and I'm ready!

Whether we are in Vietnam or India living like kings, or whether we are back home holed up in our little worlds of work and study, all things we do exist for one reason: to find answers.

So, let's go.