Last 2nd day of Feb!!!

Time flies... It's the end of the month already. I have been in A&E for 3weeks already! Adapting well down there, getting along fine with colleagues, working hard to prove myself. Several friends asked me which centre I would choose to go at the end of the 1 year rotation. Mmm... I have yet to finalise my decision, but I have a sketchy idea of what I want to do. I have to choose between 4 centres, and would have to give up some skills I learnt definitely for different centres focus on different areas of specilities. Sigh. Can I be the special one to request for the change in department only at the end of the year?

It's a 5 day work week in A&E here. Great! I have plenty of time to do my own stuff at home. Which emans I should be blogging more right? But oops no, I am guilty of that, but I am involved with other things at the moment and am trying to squeeze as much time as possible.

I have been working on the past few weekends and the past 2 days were burnt. But I got last Wed, Thurs and yesterday and today off! Am working all the way straight till next Monday after which I will go on night shift next week in A&E. Argh. My trainings gotta be affected again... :p

Due to so much free time on hand, I have been watching much movies. In fact, I just watched 'Munich' a few hours ago at Westmall with my movie buddies, Wanz and MH. We had an animated discussion after that about the movie and all 3 of us walked away after the movie+discussion, with a somewhat clearer picture of what is going on in the world of the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The movie was about how a group of 5 men struggled to seek revenge against a group of terrorists in the aftermath of the killings of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The movie lasted for 2hour 40min but it did not seem that long in the end, for the entire plot was well-structured and organised. It allowed the viewers to follow how the group of men who set out to kill the terrorists slowly degraded to the rank of 'terrorists' themselves, dropping further into a game that they cannot win. They lost their souls and the very thing that makes them human. While 2 survived in the end, the other 3 comrades had to perish in this neverending game of vengeance.

The underlying meaning of the whole story is simple : "Violence begets violence." However, as the 3 of us delved into our dscussions at the end of the movie, we began to talk about how the society and life u grow up in can shape the way u think and act in the end. That's the way with the habitants of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank or the African states. They grow up thinking that they have a cause to fight for in the former, while those in the African states would find that violence was a part of their everyday life.

I talked to a South African couple before when I was travelling in Vietnam. They told me that the children growing up in the periods of apartheid took violence as a part of everyday life. They do not see the brutal face of it and paly with guns like how children in other parts of the world woudl play with LEGO or Barbie dolls. It's the very environment that u grow up in, that can shape the person u would become in the end.

As the 3 of us all had some background in sociology/psychology studies, we could relate events or issues to what we had studied before in class. It was really a good thing to be able to discuss such topics with friends who are interested in the world at large and not just be confined to our own little comfortable 'world' on this island. It got our brain juices thinking and I feel it's such an important thing to keep the desire to understand this world better, increasing our knowledge as we move through Life, so that we can appreciate this world in a greater sense.

'Brokeback Mountain' last Wed, 22nd Feb. I watched it myself after a run at ECP in the late morning. My off day. Agonisingly SLOW. However, it allowed us to really 'feel' for the characters(as quoted by Wanz) and experienced all that they were going through. It was a very sad movie. So sad that I teared at the end. U can really feel the exasperation of the main characters. Unable to live the life they want, due to societal pressures. That's really depressing. (Imagine me unable to travel alone cuz of family and society's objections! ARGH! Kill me!) Ok, that's a different issue. I could feel for the characters nevertheless. Great movie with BEAUTIFUL sceneries. *WHOA*

(However, the love-making scene in the tent put me off. I must admit I felt very squeamish and uncomfortable seeing 2 grown-up men kissing each other. :p

'Syriana' on Tuesday afternoon after work with Wanz and MH. I have been wanting to catch this great movie ever since I watched its trailers on BBC! On the Middle East, on the politics between the ME and USA, of the oil industry, of suicide bombers and of the secret agents... Wonderful movie even though I did not understand everything for there's too many characters and too many scenes! My compatriots and I discussed non-stop after the movie and we sought to read the book, 'See No Evil' in order to get a fuller picture.

Sometimes, people in that part of the world do things for they had no choice as they have been suppressed for so long! The only way to get the world's attention was to do something BIG and DRASTIC.

It's always got to do with the oil. Sigh. US, US.... When will u stop becoming so 'money-faced'? Wealth accumulated. U cannot bring that to the graves with u. Why do Man want so much money for?

I watched a BBC documentary over the past 2 days titled, "The Battle for Islam" (hope I did not get it wrong). How the modern world and Islam could go hand in hand. And of how the Koran has to be applied to and be relevant in this day and time to the rapidly globalising world. Very insightful documentary.

All I can say is that the 'fight for peace' (what an ironic statement) will continue as more and more oppressed groups want their voices heard. We can only get on with our lives while making a change in the world by doing whatever we can. I would love to travel the world and meet people from all over!!!


"Give to every human being every right that you claim for yourself."
~Robert Ingersoll