1 + 1 = 3

Nigganight

Yesterday, two friends and I got buckets of hot wings, a case of beer and spent the whole night drinking, eating fried chicken, and just chatting. All to the backdrop of heavy downpour. Ah the simple pleasures of life.

An unnecessary PSA

Just a random announcement that although my Viscera series (http://jinavie.tumblr.com/tagged/viscera/chrono) is based on the 11 organs of 오장육부 (“the viscera” as defined by traditional Asian medicine), I am switching out some organs because some are more interesting than others….

The original 11 are:

• Heart
• Liver
• Lungs
• Spleen
• Kidneys
• Stomach
• Small intestine
• Large intestine
• Bladder
• Gallbladder
• “Samcho(삼초)” - which is more of a concept rather than an actual anatomical organ

I have removed the last three (not much to write about bladder and gallbladder to be honest…) and decided to add in these three organs:

• Pancreas
• Thyroid
• Brain

I’m hoping that my recent ARK posts have been interesting and informative, rather than overly technical and boring. I’ve been trying to describe the anatomy, function and an interesting pathology fact about each organ in the simplest way possible, but being a medical student sometimes I might go overboard! So I would love some feedback regarding whether the posts are too in-depth or just right :)

Hope you enjoy them!

Hello!

Urgh been so busy I haven’t been able to blog at all! Some general life updates:

• I’ve finished my specialty medicine (cardiology & oncology) rotation and have been on my GP rotation for the past week. I’ll definitely post a little about my oncology run because it was a very special experience for me and there was a lot I learnt and felt.
• Life is generally good, just the usual stay-at-home relaxing and meeting friends to have fun :) 
• I’ve fully gotten back to anime-mode… It all started with watching an awesome series called Sword Art Online which I absolutely adored! Then I watched Accel World which is like the spiritual successor. I’ve began reading the light novel for SAO now too… Watching a series called Angel Beats! which has been hilarious and depressing at the same time haha.
• Also watched some good movies lately. One Day is one of the movies I enjoyed. I liked the way how the story is told on a specific day every year, showing how the relationship between the two evolved over time. Watch it if you feel like a sappy romance movie :)
• I just finished watching The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I thought it was truly beautiful. I felt I enjoyed the movie particularly because the protagonist reminded me of myself many times. Or maybe I was just jealous because Emma Watson. Hm.
• I haven’t written nearly as much ARK posts lately, so I’ve decided to do another series! This time it’s going to be about the various organs of the human body hehe. Finally time to use my medical knowledge! In traditional Korean and Chinese medicine, they talk of 오장육부(五臟六腑) which are the 11 major organs including heart, lung, stomach, spleen etcetera. So I’ll write a short-ish piece on each organ about what they do and hopefully some interesting facts about them! One of the “organs” isn’t really an organ though so I’ll substitute the brain instead (not recognised in the 11). Look forward to it!

And that’s it for now! Gonna go to bed because I’m having a small LAN party with Rod and Dan tomorrow ;D Gonna play sooo much Guild Wars 2 hehehe.

Good night~

It’s My Birthday continued

And that marks the end of my 22nd birthday!!! I have to say, it was more amazing, more awesome, more LEGENDARY than I expected it to be haha. From start to finish, I don’t think there was ever a bad moment. Every moment was pure awesome and I cherished feeling special and loved. So what did I get up to? Let’s take a look.

In the morning I had oncology acutes (kind of like emergency department for cancer patients). I was pretty determined to do a procedure because we’d been encouraged by some docs, since med students don’t get to do many until we’re qualified. So when the registrar asked me what I wanted to do today, I straight up jumped at the chance and asked if I could do the abdominal paracentesis (abdo tap) scheduled for the morning. Brief note: abdo taps are used for patients with ascites (fluid in the abdominal cavity) so that we can drain off all the fluid, which can be over 10L sometimes. 
The reg looked really worried and kept asking things like whether I’ve done one before, if I’m allowed to (we are, luckily) and stuff like that. I had to be very persuasive! I was almost ready to pull the birthday card if I had to haha. After a few minutes, she told me to list exactly how the procedure would go from start to finish, and if I could do that, she’d let me do the tap! Lucky for me, I’d seen a couple of abdo taps, one being last week. I’d also studied up on the procedure a little in case I’d be allowed to do one, so I managed to rattle off EVERY SINGLE STEP in detail haha. She was very impressed and approved :) We then got consent from the patient (who was absolutely lovely - very brave letting a medical student do procedures on them!), and the reg told me to get a written consent from her for practise. 

It’s a little complicated to explain the entire process, but basically it involves using a needle to enter the abdominal cavity, sliding a guidewire into the abdomen through the needle, pulling out the needle then sliding a catheter over the guidewire into the abdomen. This lets us drain litres and litres of fluid, kind of like tapping a keg. I am very proud to say that I did the tap in one go!!! Especially so because the patient’s previous tap was difficult and the doctor had to redo it. I felt much calmer and focussed during the procedure than I expected, which was superb, but I was shaking so bad after I finished and left the bed haha. The reg guided me through everything expertly and I am still so exhilarated by the whole process. All in all, best birthday event ever! XD Yeah, most kids want a bike or a cake or whatever for their birthday, but I wanted a MEDICAL PROCEDURE. And damnit, I got one >D Legendary.

The rest of the day at hospital was great because our teaching got cancelled and we finished at like 1:30pm! So what did I do? Came home, got a nice kiwi-lime slushee from BK on the way back, kicked back and watched the latest How I Met Your Mother. Ahhh so relaxing~ I also watched some Accel World, then played some Guild Wars 2 haha. Many people would look at me funny but it’s one of the most relaxing things in my life~!

After that I met up with a bunch of my close friends (mostly from my med group, also Kyung and Jane) in Parnell at a great pizza shop (Crust Pizza - highly recommended!). It was a lovely dinner where I got to catch up with everyone and get filled up on delicious pizza (with some to spare for breakfast tomorrow). I also got a Star Wars lego gift from my friends which is just so awesome!!! Tip if you’re my friend: whatever age I am turning, Lego is always a welcome gift! :D We then proceeded to chill at Chocolate Boutique cafe. A great evening indeed~

So that was my birthday, filled with nothing but happiness, relaxation and feeling beloved and special :) Someone once told me that your birthday is an excuse to feel special at least once a year, and I think that’s spot on. No matter how happy you are, it’s always nice getting a massive reminder of how many people actually care for you in this world. And with that fluffy cringey thought, I bid you good night!

Here’s to yet another legendary year of life - being happy and awesome ;)

Goodnight and thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!!!

Jin

It’s MY BIRTHDAY!!! :D

Not much time tonight because I have an early start tomorrow, but do you really need to know more? ;) Rejoice people! Will put up an “update on life” post sometime tomorrow. Hopefully haha.

500 ARK Posts WHAT?!

Here’s a belated public announcement: I’ve officially written 500 Encyclopaedia of Absolute and Relative Knowledge posts!!! Rejoice people!

In the fine tradition of writing a long article about something that I’m particularly interested in, I wrote the 500th post on Mirrors. I urge you to check it out, go on!  http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/42210918094/mirror

In case you were interested, here are my other 100th posts:

1. Lucid Dream: http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/4205056055/lucid-dream
2. Lie Detection: http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/9372478885/lie-detection
3. Monkeysphere: http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/14088353010/monkeysphere
4. The Tree Of Possibilities: http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/22277016707/the-tree-of-possibilities

I think it’s also worth mentioning that I have over 200 followers now. I know it’s piddly compared to other blogs, but it still makes me very happy that so many people are interested in what I write. A few days ago, someone wrote a beautiful comment about how much they enjoyed my Encyclopaedia and I’m still giddy about that haha. So thank you everyone for the support! :)

I never thought I’d make it this far with this project, but now it’s like a rolling boulder that I have no intention of stopping. Time to rock on forwards until I get to 1000 posts! :D

I’ll cut the post there coz I go on and on about how proud I am of ARK and how it’s changed my life in so many previous posts: http://jinavie.tumblr.com/tagged/celebrate

Bye for now! :)

An Update on Life

Haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been rather busy. And procrastinating because following my tradition of every 100th post being very detailed, the 500th post will take a lil’ time to write! Anyway, here’s what I’ve been up to.

I’ve been on my cardiology rotation for the past 2 weeks and it’s been very enjoyable. The doctors are all super nice and pro-teaching, so I’m learning a lot while not feeling overworked :) And since we don’t have any assignments for this rotation, I’ve had more time to poke around learning a bit about Infectious Diseases from my friend doing that rotation. Also, much more time for Guild Wars 2 and movies :P

Something else related to uni: I got accepted to a hospital in Korea for a selective in Emergency Medicine this year!!! Selective is a 4-week rotation where we get to choose what we do and where (pretty much a short elective). I’m also waiting to hear back from one other Korean hospital which I’d pick over this one, but either way I’m going to Korea!
Also, today my friend and I sent in our application for our elective next year in…….Malta! I’m so excited, if we get it it’s going to be an aweeeesome holiday. Plus, 8 weeks of ED awww yeah!

Monday was Auckland Anniversary Day so I had the first long weekend of the year. And it was awesome! :D 
Saturday I had a maaaassive sleep-in - till like 1:30pm haha. Totally worth it. Probably would’ve slept another couple hours if my friend Kyung didn’t call me. We ended up going around town looking for a cake, then spontaneously went to play mini golf XD I’ll upload a few photos later.

On Sunday I went to a lovely fondue dinner at Keddie(Kelsy + Eddie)’s flat. It was actually a double fondue dinner coz we had both cheese fondue and chocolate fondue mmmmmm. It was the second time I ever had cheese fondue and oh my god it was sooo good (first time was in Switzerland).

Just when I thought the weekend couldn’t get any more awesome, my friend Dan decided to come up to Auckland for a few days to stay with me :D He came up on Monday morning and we proceeded to rock it out, catching up, getting some (junk) food, watching movies and playing pool! My friend Rod also joined us and it was the Three Musketeers back together again :)
Two highlights from Dan staying over was: a) watching American History X - such a damn good movie!!! - and b) watching a series of disturbing, gory leaked videos from wars and suicides and what not. I mean Jesus, there was one video that showed a person who was caught in an airstrike and ended up…as a head and left arm. Nothing else, just those two attached by a shoulder and what I’m sure was his heart… I probably should stop typing because if I described the other stuff we saw you will just faint from reading. The worst part is… both of us were genuinely fascinated by the videos :X (still disturbing, but medically interesting).

So that’s an update on what I’ve been up to! I’ll upload some photos tomorrow in another post. Expect the 500th ARK post sometime this weekend! :) And be excited…

Ciao!

Blue Skies

A couple weeks back, I was wandering the streets of Newmarket and just looked up. What I saw was a beautiful, cloudless blue sky lit by the bright NZ summer sun (which was a relief given the crappy weather we’ve had this summer). I was in a rather philosophical state of mind and thought to myself: “How cool is it that the sky is blue?”.

I mean think about it. If the sky was a different shade, like red, green or white, would it be as beautiful? Perhaps we only picture blue as a calming, soft colour because it happens to be the colour of the sky, but I don’t think I’d ever get used to a red sky. I’d just feel as if I was living in a post-apocalyptic world… You can see from the use of dark, gloomy skies in pretty much all dystopian/apocalypse movies that a blue sky is almost synonymous with happiness, freedom and beauty in our minds. Thanks to the composition of our atmosphere and the nature of the frequencies of different colours, we’re fortunate enough to enjoy a blue sky instead.

It’s a completely random thought that many might dismissive as superficial or mock (or call me a hipster), but that’s just the kinds of thoughts I ponder usually. Incidentally, here’s an ARK article I wrote explaining why the sky actually is blue, and some interesting history behind the colour: http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/39676218116/blue

Happy New Year!!!

It’s 2013 already??? Hot damn that was quick! Hope you all got to celebrate the final moments of 2012 with your loved ones having lots of fun :) I spent it with my parents at my flat, chilling watching some TV while drinking soju, having our own countdown. It was very relaxing!

Still can’t believe 2012 is over already, that year really flew by! Pat on your back for “surviving the “apocalypse”… and shit like that :P (there was no Mayan prophecy or whatever, read here: http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/38379229311/2012)
I think New Year’s is not only a time to look forward to a brand new year - setting exciting goals to accomplish (realistic ones though!) - but also a time to look back on the year that was to reflect on the good times and learn from the bad. So I thought I’d make a short list of some of the “bests” of 2012 for me personally.

Best moment (life): 2012 was a legendary year in general, full of great moments like my first concert experience, NZMSA conference, meeting new people etc etc, but I’d rate my 21st birthday as the best “moment”. I ended up having no less than four different outings, meeting different groups of family and friends, feeling special at every one. It was a weekend so full of happiness and merriment that it was bursting at the seams! :) And I will cherish that haha.

Best moment (medicine): I had to separate this from the above category because med school is such a large part of my life and there were just too many awesome moments. It was my first clinical year in med school and I got to experience many specialties such as surgery, medicine, anaesthetics, psychiatry, GP etc. In each run, I learnt so so much and reaffirmed my love for medicine. Plus, there were so many cool stories, awesome regs and consultants, amazing patients, opportunities to do procedures and teach others etc etc! But my favourite moment would have to be: my first shift in Emergency Medicine. That was when I instantly knew that this was the path I wanted to take. Here’s a whole article about why I want to be an emergency medicine doctor :) http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/30562428117/i-love-ed

Best movie: Well 2012 was a good year for movies. Some of my favourites that I watched were: The Avengers, Men In Black 3, The Amazing Spiderman, Ted, Looper, The Intouchables, The Hobbit….. So many! But one that rises above all of them has to be… The Dark Knight Rises. Absolutely loved it and I thought it was a great end to the trilogy! Bane was suuuuch a good character. Even better in parodies hehe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkMPZ7WeDck

Best song: Other than the one obvious song (next category), I don’t think I listened to any new songs that gripped me this year. Most of my “favourite songs of the year” were old songs I discovered such as Life Is A Highway, Only You and 80% of the Scrubs OST :P If I had to pick one, I’d probably go for Matchbox 20’s She’s So Mean!

Best video: Surprise, surprise :P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

Best TV show: House MD, hands down. Most beautiful finale to my all-time favourite show! Here’s my homage article: http://jinavie.tumblr.com/post/23531884183/house-m-d Honorary mentions to Scrubs, Modern Family and QI which I’ve marathoned in very short times and absolutely loved!!!

Best video game: If you follow me on Twitter, you know how much I bang on about this game, and how much of my life I’m spending on it right now… ittttt’s Guild Wars 2! Single most awesome MMORPG I’ve ever played :D In fact, I’m gonna play some more when I finish writing this.

You know what, this is kind of getting long so I’ll stop it there. Let’s just say that 2012 was AWESOME and definitely rates in as one the best years of my life! :) (hard to beat 2011 though haha) Let’s end with my best photo of the year:

That’s right, me doing a cardiovascular examination in a suit (well, more like teaching other students how to). Simply LEGEN- wait for it…

-DARY. Legendary. You’re welcome. Happy New Year! ;D