Day 7 progress report

Alright everyone... this is me trying to a) avoid loneliness and b) keep motivated

1. Number of blog posts - 2 (needs improvement)
   
   
2. Number of days went on the orbi - 6, number of times collapsed after 2 minutes - 3, time spent on orbi - between 4 -12 minutes a day (hurrah!)
   
   
3. Number of times snacked on fruit - 1 (not v.g.)
   
   
4. Number of times snacked on buttercake - 0 (hurrah!)
   
   
5. Other snacks - fish pastry (1), fish roll (1), biscuits (daily), kavum (2), kokis (7), mung kavum (1), curd and treacle (3) - but surely allowed as family alms-giving?
   
   
6. Number of times fantasized about extra-cheesy pizza, spaghetti carbonara and submarines - 127 (terrible)
   
   
7. Number of times ordered from above places - 0 (exemplary)
   
   
8. Progress on IELTS - ridiculously large sum plonked down as exam fee (not v.g.)
   
   
9. Strain on credit card - almost at limit (impending financial crisis)
   
   
10. Progress on diploma, world peace and lunar excursion - none (not v.g.)
    
    
11. Number of times emailed pics to Darling - 6 (excellent)
    
    
12. Number of emails from Darling - 0 (sad)

Stay tuned for more updates...

And yes, I AM chanelling the spirit of Bridget Jones (v.g.)

Quotable Quotes

Image from here

Liar!

- Angel accusing the weighing scale of unjustifiable bias

How come you still look pregnant?

- Darling, throwing all sense of self preservation to the winds

No abdominal exercises for 4 months

- Gyno, disregarding impassioned plea by Angel

You don't look like you've ever done crunches

- Gyno, adding insult to injury

It was the baby!

- Darling, trying to conceal the true origins of a large burp

You're a thumb-sucking "Choo"-bacca!

- Angel, looking at the 15th wet nappy for the day

Apologize immediately!

- Darling, voicing outrage at the flippancy

To the Bumtrinket, or to Chewie?

- Angel, seeking clarification

You're a very hydrated young lady

- Darling, trying to minimize the emotional fallout

Someone - and I'm not naming any names - has done the poop

- Angel, detecting a certain pungency in the air

Yes, all stinky-poo

- Darling, adding his 2 cents

She's the most gorgeous girl in the world!

- Darling, watching the Bumtrinket smiling toothlessly

Yes she is!

- Angel, relinquishing her title without a moment's regret

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Inspired by The Circus

Tired....

I am so utterly and chronically exhausted that even lifting a finger seems to be too much effort at the moment. This post is being fueled exclusively by my emergency stash of toblerone mini's.

I guess we all go through this sometimes... burnout, maybe... maybe just feeling out of sorts.

I've been wearing the same half a dozen sarees to work for the last month. Why? Because they are made of nylon, i.e. no need to iron, just rinse, drip dry and wear. Unlike the more fashionable Hyderabad cotton sarees that are a PAIN to starch and iron. Speaking of starch, does anyone else use the spray on type available at supermarkets? Darling swears they keep his shirts crispy all day. He doesn't trust me with his shirts because the last time I starched one, it was so stiff, it could have walked off and hung itself in the closet.

I have spent the last 5 days marking MCQs, on paper that has been designed to be marked by a machine and not by humans. Said machine broke sometime ago. After a couple of hours, the coloured dots start to swim in front of your eyes. I hallucinate about them even while at home. Life has become a binary black hole. Adding insult to injury, the payment is like 2 rupees per paper or something.

Not sure this post makes sense... need to sleep.

S&M in the car

So there we were, on the way to work, listening to Rhianna belt it out.

Angel : "Come on, come on...."

Darling : ........ (raised eyebrow)

Angel : "I like it, like it...."

Darling : ".... sweetie, do you know what this song is about?"

Angel : "sure I do - cupcakes!!"

Darling : "er.... you are absolutely right..."

Angel : (happily) "I always am!"

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Of course, a discreet Google search while at office proved me wrong.

Oh well...

And yes, world, this is a sign of life!

Back!!

Yes, fellow bloggers and blogistas... I am back in Paradise Isle!

Maaannn... I never thought I'd be so happy to eat red rice, gotukola and parrippu!

Still a little jet lagged and running around in circles trying to catch up with what I missed during the last 3 weeks, with my friends, work, kottu, friends and friends.

Await loads of sizzling posts!

Morning laughter...

Ok, so I'm back at work after a self imposed long weekend and just checked out one of my favourite webcomics... (giggling madly) this one is priceless!

http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3623

Happy Tuesday y'all!

Commentaries, calories and sex

Okie, this post is to the lovely commenters on this post, because I think it's fa...aarrr too long for a comment in itself.

Gehan, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm so vertically challenged, I look as if I've been stepped on. :) Happily, this meant I never went through the phase that a guy trying to make eye contact would end up instead with an eyeful of my bust. So 50kg is an extremely reasonable target. PR you have a point as usual... us doctors are suckers when it comes to their own health and you're spot on with both the health risks and the genes.

First to the genetics. Obesity runs on both sides of my family. My mum's mum was significantly overweight, and my mum manages to keep to her ideal body weight because she's careful of what she eats. Four of my father's sisters are even more significantly overweight. Family gatherings often have a side conversation of "you're fatter than me" "no Akka, YOU'RE fatter than me". It gets tedious sometimes.

That said, I have been balancing nicely at my ideal body weight (50kg) since I was about 16. It fluctuated between 48 and 52, but was mostly stable. Internship played hell on my diet; because of all the rush I never ate on time and rarely ate healthy. During the latter months of slog, the three of us in the unit would collectively guzzle coke, minute maid and milo and munch on chocolate fingers or biscuits while writing BHTs or discharge tickets. There simply was no time. to eat healthy. At the end of that period of hell, I was so overjoyed with having reasonable hours that I went to town in the kitchen, but my culinary skills did tend towards pasta oozing with cheesy sauces.and salads dripping with mayo. My dear friend C nearly got me addicted to guava juice generously spiked with raspberry flavoured absolut. Two trips to Singapore and one to Malaysia (hey I deserved a break!) didn't help either, especially with me wanting to sample all the street food.

So I ended up gaining about 7 kilos over 2 months and a further 3-4 kilos over the next 3 months.

That said, my usual diet is very healthy. Green gram or chick peas (no coconut) for breakfast on weekdays, milk-rice and bread on weekends. Red rice and 3 vegetables for lunch, plus a green vegetable. Chicken during weekends, eggs once a week. I don't eat fish or more importantly, shrimp, prawns or cuttlefish that are chock full of calories. Rice flour hoppers/string hoppers or thosai for dinner, noodles /pasta once a week. The only fruit I like are bananas, so about 2 of them per day. Two cups of tea per day, one teaspoon of sugar. Coffee on weekends.

Like I said, that is my usual diet. But... I have a weakness for Fab pastries; I attend workshops frequently and eat at hotels (the food isn't always brilliant though); ditto for meetings, which also have generous refreshments. My worst tendency though is that I turn to food for comfort... when I'm sad or lonely or tired or bored or frustrated. The past few months have been particularly painful and angst filled. Misery, thy cure is food.

So I ate... burgers from Burgers King, whole portions of pasta as snacks, pastries and sandwiches galore, french fries, twix, dairy milk, pringle's potato chips, fruit yogurt - and more meat than was good for me or my conscience. My portion sizes grew bigger and bigger because my whole system had rewired itself to consuming more. I reached a point where I easily could (and often did) out eat my husband AND my brother.

My mood of tragedy and woe has lessened somewhat, not because things have improved, but because I've found ways to deal with them. Some ways aren't very wise, but we'll leave that murky kettle of fish for later.

So I have tailed off on the binging, and am back to my nice healthy diet. But I'm stuck with this stubborn weight and flab that is so horrific the mirror cracks every time I stand in front of it. It makes poor financial sense as NONE of the saree jackets that fit last year do so now and existing clothes show off rolls of fat. People think I'm pregnant and offer to send around more food.

CJ, thanks for the supportive comment, but this is just to shed the unnecessary, excess fat. Then I go back to my sensible, everyday diet, which gives plenty of lee way for the odd cafe mocha or pizza when I'm out with friends. if this fails (there is a good chance it might) I shall take you up on your offer.

Hisham, this one is for you.

Calories burned during sex*

* Disclaimer : none of the data in this site has been (ahem) independently verified...

:)

Days of January, evilness and other randoms

Ok... I realize with a shock that this is only my 2nd post for January.

Life sucks...

Life, in fact, is one big suckfest...

I'm doing General Medicine at the moment, am over and done with surgery and being stressed out more than I've ever been in my life. People just come to medical wards and die... they just die like flies and I'm having a hard time getting over it. There have been more deaths in my new ward in 3 weeks than in my old ward in 3 months. It's nothing to do with the ward, admissions to the medical wards are - in a word - buckets (waiting to be kicked). Heart attacks, strokes, alcoholic liver disease and chronic kidney disease. I keep cringing daily at the ominous rattle of the hospital coffins as they carry their cargo towards the mortuary.

I don't finish work until 10 or 11 in the night sometimes. I start my ward round at 5am on some days simply because otherwise there just isn't enough time. After working in a ward with 30 patients, I'm now in one with 65 patients. Ack!

6 months and 3 weeks down... only 5 and a bit to go...

I pray they go fast...

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I have also found a gauge to my evilness....

You Are 34% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Hmmmm.... I suppose 34% is not that bad...

Found this on Scrumpy's blog and couldn't resist!

I guess this is where the pitchfork factors in...

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Have realized that all my petty fights and arguments and rants at Darling have centered around food. How pathetic is that? I yell at him when dinner is not ready or breakfast is not what I wanted or when he falls asleep instead of boiling pasta. Darling now claims that I love him only after being fed and watered. Maslow's hierarchy in practice? Maybe...

Dammit, I can't balance being an intern and being a wife... :(

Poor Darling... :(

__________________________________________________

I'll be hitting yet another birthday soon... in a couple of weeks, actually. Close to thirty, ovaries ticking away...

Did you know that women who have kids after thirty are more at risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer? Is it selfish to want kids partly because it reduces ones risk of a nasty illness?

I want to have a family... but I want the two of us to have a decent married life as a couple first. This year just doesn't count...

__________________________________________________

Anyway, have to go now... am on-call for the next 3 days... won't be home for a good couple of weeks.

Wish me luck folks...

Oh well...

Kala died last week... was too rushed and too bummed about it to blog. The moment she became "bad" her mother ran to the male ward and I had Mahesh watching me and moaning in the background while I administered CPR. Not fun.

_____________________

December 25th Casualty wasn't too bad. The next couple of days were though. However, my best buddy is in SL and I met up with her on Saturday, which was really really good. Let's see how the January 1st Casualty goes... fingers crossed!

_____________________

Happy New Year, all! And remember, if you drink, drive and crash your car, you will end up in my ward and I will not be amused. So beware! Don't get behind the wheel unless you're sober! :)

Cheers!

A

Luck

There was once this guy, a victim of a blast, not too long ago.

As the fatal explosion occurred, shrapnel entered his body, like it did to others around him. Others died.

The biggest piece that entered his body was a bullet casing that went in through his chest, missed the heart and lungs, missed the great vessels carrying his life-blood, missed the gullet and the windpipe and lodged at the back of his throat.

And all the doctors had to do was to make a small slit and remove it from there.

Two ball bearings also hit his face, neatly entering on either side of his right eye and getting stuck in the skull, leaving his eye - and his vision - intact.

Luck? Good karma?

I don't know... do you?

A postscipt to the last...

A patient grabbed my bottom yesterday.

To be fair, at that time, I was grasping his penis (while inserting a urinary catheter).

When I slapped his hand away, he yelled "you dirty bastard" with quite unnecessary vim.

In his defense, he's 83 years old, confused and probably thought he was being molested.

Ah well... c'est la vie! My life, at least...

Tag time, again!

Tagged again, this time by Chaarmax, Pink Mist, Samanalee and Charmed... feeling a deep and comforting sense of belonging in blogosphere (mad grin!). Will not be posting any rules or tagging at the end, because everyone else I know seems to be tagged already!

Okie, here they are.

1. Needles terrify me. Whether I'm on the giving end or the recieving end. Not good, when it comes to my line of work.

2. I love kiddie parties. The stuffed eggs and cheese bouchees, the rainbow sandwiches, baby cutlets and homemade birthday cake. Ok, ok, I just like the food, the kiddies are optional.

3. I used to (and still can) bite my toenails too! And so can my best friend. What is this, a national past time?

4. I'm mostly deaf in my right ear. This makes conversations difficult when the other person is to my right. It also provides an interesting answer when senior doctors bellow "are you deaf???"

5. The first day of my honeymoon was spent shopping... Odel, Romafour, Wildflower etc.

6. I won't say I'm an animal lover but I can't stand to see animals die. This includes fishing ants out of teacups, blowing at mosquitoes (and stopping others from slapping them) and rescuing spiders from the toilet.

7. I read books that I love over and over again, the Anne series, Bridget Jones, books by Terry Prattchet and James Herriot, Pride and Predjudice and Pollyanna. I can quote entire paragraphs at a stretch.

Well... that's it. Not terribly interesting, but hey, it's me!

Tagged!

Wow...I've been tagged! For the first time ever!! By both Chaar and Santhoshi!! I feel absurdly pleased about this! Okie..., in no particular order, here are 10 random things that make me happy...

• Food!! Potato salad, strawberry milkshakes and licking half melted toblerone.
  
• When Darling gives me a foot rub.... sigh.... sheer bliss!
  
• My parents, especially have fun when we sit together at meals and just talk...
  
• Being cuddled, can't get enough of that...
  
• Photographing weddings. I must be having over 4000 photos of various people getting married.
  
• Teaching... maybe the kick comes from telling people what to do! (grin!)
  
• Talking to Brother, few people get to know of his wit and sense of humour.
  
• Drawing. Haven't drawn a picture in years. What happened?
  
• Bubble baths. Lotsa bubbles!
  
• Movies with happy endings! :)
  

Well... that actually took a surprisingly long time. Now if it were ten bad things, I would have had much to say about Thai journal editors who give impossible deadlines.

Hmmm... who to tag?

Nisadas and Agni... you're it!

Hmmmm....

So I'm back...

After weeks...

After being crazy busy at work, and feeling quite exploited about it...

After ignoring good buddies, missing birthdays and feeling like a crappy friend... (still feel bad :( actually)

After forgetting the password that gives me access to this particular typepad...

After running around as if my tail was on fire, looking for the little bit of paper with the password written on it...


Watch out world!

- - - But don't hold your breath!! :)

Random thought...

There's a wierd sort of satisfaction in having made it to the top of the food-chain in campus. We are "super seniors" to almost every other medical student. Memo to self : enjoy the feeling while possible... in a fortnight said self will be at the bottom rung of the professional ladder... with a long, long climb ahead!

Hit counter - Ho!

I did it!! I've added a hit counter to my blog - and this after long phone conversations with more techno-savvy friends and several more long minutes peering at small print.

Cut and pasted the html with minimum difficulty.

Am feeling very pleased with self.

I think with a little practice I can actually get a hang of the whole technology thing... and move a step further from using the computer because I'm too lazy to write.

I didn't start off from zero, because that would be really really sad, but settled for a fairly modest strating point... even though 2657 seemed really tempting. It also goes up a notch everytime I view my own blog - e.g. when I went to see what this marvelous add-on looked like. That should ensure that my hits go up by at least one everyday!

Cheers!!