Life

It has been a tiring week, especially from Monday-Wednesday. Yesterday was slightly better, but I still worked overtime till 4.50pm before leaving as the theatres started calling up radiographers at 3pm! And of course they could not be finished on time as all of them were spine cases! Those complicated ones!

Anyway, my supervisor, Mr Par, has been satisfied with me for the past week over my performance. He must be relieved that I?m an easy student to teach! :p He is not as strict as I imagined and I could read books or go over to the staff lounge to drink coffee and read newspapers when there were no cases. But this only happened yesterday when my colleague asked me to go over when there was a rare 45minute break in between when the H.P. did not ring! He did not even pop over to call me when the theatre called. This goes to show that he seems to really trust me with my skills and competence. He would complain to me how the surgeons would scold the other radiographers(RGs) and even complained to him about their work ability. He also told me about how the department has allocated so few personnel to work in O.T. it?s usually not enough when so many theatres need the Image Intensiifer(I.I)! What the?!?! And our H.O.Ds only visit the O.T.s when the case are reduced in order to impress some V.I.Ps that they are bringing around. Coincidentally, the times they visit would be the times when they are not busy. Sigh.

Mr Par also shared with me some personal issues on his part such as how he became a radiographer 30years ago, and how life back in Burma was tough then, and how he has come to Singapore and worked here for the past 12 years! And also on where he lived and how anxious he is for his son's 'O' levels Burmese paper today. Hence, he did not turn up for work today as he took a day?s leave to 'support' his son. What a good father. He had been preparing questions for his son over the past week and slept late every night. To my amazement, he wakes up at 4am everyday! WAH!!!! He shared something very interesting with me. He went to a course before and the instructor actually told them that if we should live till the age of 50, 1/3 of our lives have been spent on sleeping and that would amount to 17 years! He was really shocked to gain such an insight and we both agreed that successful people usually get very little sleep. Yeah, true... But I would never trade my precious sleep of about 7 hours each night for anything that would hurt my body or disallow my body system to rejuvenate. Don't u think that it is indeed very difficult to find a successful businessman who's rich and yet in shape and fit at the same time? Very often, they have given so much of their time to work and making the big bucks that their health are neglected.

This brings to mind about an episode of the documentary on Channel Newsasia ''What Men want Really''. It talks about greed and there was something on 'Zen Meditation'. It was interesting as a psychologist actually went on screen to quote a real life example of how his friend who went to make his big bucks could not stop after making his first million. Now 7 years later, he has made tens of millions but he could not enjoy. His health and family has suffered as a result. He?s always flying here and there and he cannot find time for himself. How ironic...

There was another example he quoted about another young man who has to keep on working and making the 'big money' as he has his expensive lifestyle to upkeep! He's certainly not enjoying himself as he's bound by all his assets and liabilities. He has to pay off the monthly instalments and loans he has taken. Another paradox in life...

I believe it's all about striking a balance. One should never let greed overtake oneself as u would own what u naturally deserve in this Life. If u should lead a life of luxury (and waste), it's all pre-destined. Otherwise, work forms such an important part of our life that we should learn to like it and embrace it. It takes up so much of our time that if we do not enjoy what we are doing, we are going to dread it, and indirectly dread the life that we are living. That is such a horrible thing. Dread life. Oh my goodness. Life has so much to offer if one should grab all the opportunities and make the best out of it. No matter how the rough and bumpy the road ahead may look, u still have to walk down with your head high, for that?s what Life is all about!

Maybe I'm simply an optimist, or perhaps because things have been going rather smoothly for me recently, but I have certainly been through quite a lot and am speaking from experience. I have had times that almost crushed me and that was just as recent as July. There are many other moments in the past 4-5 years that have shaken my confidence in Life and myself. Life is definitely unfair, that's the conclusion I have made. However, I have learnt to accept that and make the best out of what I?m given.

My little philosophy of Life...

Back to more on work. Today was finally one free day. I did 2 cases all by myself! As Mr Par was not around, there was another RG who came to take over him and he gave me lots of autonomy, so much so that I wondered if he was skiving. There were 3 of us, me being the trainee this week and am supposed to tag along one of them. That was what I did for the past 4 days, only when it was ultra busy that Mr Par left me alone. It was not busy today, and when I was stuck in that particular O.T. all by myself, the 2 of them merely popped by to see how I'm doing. Their cases were not long and some only required single x-rays, hence it was finished within say 15-20minutes! I went back to the room thrice, and saw them either in the room surfing net, sleeping or in the staff lounge reading newspaper... mmm... I really wonder if I am being bullied around here...

Maybe it could be instructions from the top to let me handle a case all by myself? Besides, the senior who's supposed to 'look' after me did pop by the O.T. a few times to check my progress. He even offered to take over at 1pm and asked me to go for lunch. However, being the professional I believe I am, I declined his offer as the case was going to finish soon. In the end, my lunch was at 1.45pm.

The good news was that there was no case after lunch and I even took a 1-hour lunch! Haha... I only returned at 2.45pm and RG1 was dozing off in the room while my ?supervisor? for the day (RG2) was watching TV in the staff lounge. There was one case that has started earlier and RG1 was in charge of it. I simply surfed net and sat down there for the entire afternoon! This is one rare day man...

Went for a 1 hour 1 min run after work and I was full of energy... the fact that I'm still awake now speaks a lot for myself too! Only my legs were suffering as the joints are painful due to the uncomfortable O.T. shoes that I'm subjected to wear for the past week! Sigh! It was so terrible on Monday and Tuesday. My soles and feet were so sore and it was like walking on heels! Argh. My knee and ankle joints suffered from the 'elevated' height too.

Do u sense that i am actually quite enjoying my work at the moment even though I have been working overtime for the past 4 days? Yeah, that's about making the best out of everything what...

Looking forward to tomorrow. It's half day and I will be meeting MH after work to go down to Little India for a good lunch and to soak in the festivities spirit! ;p


For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work.
~Doug Larson

It's a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up.
~J.K. Rowling, "The Hungarian Horntail," Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000