Week 5:

My last week of OJT. Things are going to change this coming week onwards. First we have I am no longer under study and I will have to function as a real duty medic. No mistakes to be made or i will be dealt with accordingly by the book. Second, our new senior medic Staff Patrick will be officially joining us and this means more regimentations and restrictions, stricter rules and guidelines to follow. Thirdly, IQA on tuesday would more or less prove miserably deadly due to the medical ctr's incapability to do function up to standards. As far as I am concern, the storeroom is in a mess; docu dept's dockets not updated, piles of unfiled memos, MCs, FFI forms, etc ; treatment room also in a mess; everywhere in a mess; some seniors gave up hope; and on and on and on. I think we will fail miserably for the coming IQA which means our senior medic will give us more hell.

Anyway I felt quite depress for the past 3 days after i came back from outfield. This feeling was never felt ever since JC days when I encountered some "power struggle" in my CCA. I somehow feel that I am useless in the medical centre as compared to the other 3 new medics (ah fu and the 2 new specs). This is because the other 3 medics are succeeding 3 of the 5 ORDing medics as department ICs - sickbay/ambulance, MOPA & Training. As for me, i am succeeding nobody i guess. I am in no department. At least thats what i felt. Every now and then, i witness the 3 old ICs passing on their knowledge, skills and responsibilities to the 3 new medics such that they are ready to take over the significant "torch". As for me, I only sat in for a few PA sessions with one or two senior MOPAs and thats it. I was not taught as much area of speciality as the other 3 medics. My new role in the medical centre is a permanent MOPA and thats it. Hence as i see the 3 new medics helping up in the IQA while me stranded alone not knowing what to do, it kind of got back to me on what is my purpose and worth in the medical ctr. Furthermore, my rank is the lowest in the medical ctr and that puts me in an even more insignificant spot. Perhaps it is self-paranoia, perhaps it is self-worthless, perhaps it is self-discrimination. Perhaps the rest did not view me as what i viewed myself. I am just trying to act normal as far as i can. Had a short chat with the medical ctr clerk during friday's lunch. I asked him whether it is a blessing not to have any responsibilites or have minimal responsibility in the medical ctr or in the SAF context. The answer given by him was "yes" and that really made me reflect on all my past paranoia experienced. Perhaps it is really a blessing for me not to have any huge responsibilites compared to the 3 new medics.

Another thing, i have to clear my IPPT by mid nov where according to an email sent to the MO, i am due for promotion. I personally feel incapable of clearing my IPPT due to my lack of skills and performances in the SBJ station. I just cannot jump. I guess that will jeopardize my promotion chance for the 1.75 yrs to come. And also, in such a short period of time, i am unable to train till i can pass nor can i book a schedule date to do my IPPT. I guess i am destined to remain a chao private.

Anyway, outfield on monday was terrible. I shd say it was on tuesday. Woke up at 3am just to report on time at 3.30am. Was transported to pasir laba camp where we took a long winding track to some mosquitoes infested area. Basically spent 2 days feeding mosquitoes. No amount of coils can help. Went back shagged. Infact alot of us medics were involved in outfield cover on week 5. But when i saw the condition of returning Jeremy, i felt so lucky. His whole back and thigh was manifested by red mosquitoes bites like small pox or something. Disgusting. I hate outfield covers.

Nonetheless, this coming monday, i am going to function alone as a MOPA. Working together with the MO proves challenging but i am determine to strive hard. I will work hard and learn from experience as fast as i can to upgrade myself in terms of experience and performance to be an outstanding PA in the medical ctr. I do not want to let the MO feel fustrated by my incapability. That is, i guess, the only way to match up with the other 3 new medics in terms of worth in the medical ctr. Haha. Yes, i am determined !!! I shall be a good and useful PA to the MO !!!

I was supposed to go running this morning with QY however i decide to call it off last night due to possibility of overpacked schedule and also personal laziness. I just wanted to wake up late and snuggle in bed. After breakfast at the nearby market with my parents, i went home, bathed and went to meet some of my tekong friends for k lunch session. I arrived at City Hall MRT 10 minutes later than planned. Upon proceeding to marina square kbox, we met the last member of the quad there and hence indulged in 3 hours of maddness in singing. Basically i managed to surpass some of the usual songs i used to sing and instead challenge myself to other songs available. My 2nd attempt for JJ Lin's westside failed miserably again (1st attempt was last month kbox wif shuyi they all) as that song is extremely suicidal. The original key is too high for me to reach and lowering of the key will put me in an extremely awkward singing. After klunch, i bid farewell to my friends and went to meet Jas at J8 to watch the semi-finals of radio 1003's Ti Guan Da Lei Tai. It is a DJ talent search competition held bi-annually to recruit and discover fresh talents. It was a little disappointing that the crowd there wasnt as huge as i've expected. I personally think that the 19 semi-finalists' standards were of mediocre. Only one or two caught my attention. As such, may the best man win. Went home after that. Reached home at approximately 6pm. Had dinner at home. Felt very lerthagic right now because there were no activities at night. Hopefully i get to enjoy the remaining bits of this weekend before i get to suffer another 2 days 1 night for tuesday's outfield cover.

Week 4:

Ouch! I've got an ucler under my tongue. My goodness, it must be an indication of my body being very "heaty". It is very pain. I've forgotten when it developed, perhaps on monday or something. However the pain is tolerable and hence I've yet to consult medical attention regarding it. I've seen somewhat similar cases before when I was PA-ing with the MO and according to him, it is the salivary gland being blocked up or something. Hopefully mine is just an ucler and not anything worse than that. I guess its time i cut down on all the heaty food and drink more liang-teh to cool myself down.

Most of the medics in my medical ctr would have agreed with me that coming to this camp will cause bankruptcy. Reason: the cookhouse food is very condemned. All thank to the cookhouse for serving "outstanding delicacy", we often resort to spending money on canteen food and spec mess food. Imagine spending $3 per meal on average, the total sum of money spent on food alone would be terribly high. Allow me to introduce you the sumptuous gourmet served by our wonderful cookhouse. Firstly, we have the "zup-pish vegetable" (zup = gravy) that is so "zup-pish" that the "zup" would flood our entire plate of whatever is on it. Next we have "bart-teng" aka meat cubes that seemed to come from some expired can-food. In addition, we have chicken wings cooked in all sort of "creative sauces". And please do trust me, the "creative sauces" are indeed very "creative". So creative that it made me wonder if its biochemically hazardous or radioactive. At least it tastes so.

Apart from me and ah fu and the 2 new medic specs, we have another new member to the medical ctr family - xiao3 xue3. No, it is not a beautiful young sexy female medic as the name may suggest. It is Mr Sea-bass' new pet rabbit bought just across the street. I confess that it is very cute. However, it has caused Mr Sea-bass to divert much of his attention on it such that he is, most of the time, not to be seen during free time. Well, Mr Sea-bass is an extreme rabbit lover. I shall say, rabbit-phile or rabbit-philic. He has 2 rabbits at home, xiao xue would be his 3rd.

I've started PA-ing for the MO. Well, i am trained as a MOPA you see. It means Medical Officer Personal Assistant. However, it is under the supervision of my senior lao-jiao PAs - Mr Chiu2Cheng3 (hand gun), Mr Juson and Mr Sea-bass. Well, i didnt give the real names to protect their identity. I get to understand that being a MOPA is not that simple. Because it requires much concentration and patience. Concentration, because I must listen carefully to what the MO says when he examines the patient and hence i will type it down on the computer system. Patience, because the system is freaking slow and it often hangs. Most of the time MOs can see patient faster than normal, it is just that the system is the limiting factor. Haha. There were times when some patients were obviously chao-kenging (aka malingering) thinking that we medics and the MO do not know. Well, i can say our MO is very kind not to fuck them upside down. There were a few that went to the extent of churning out every single excuse he can think of hoping to lets say fail FFI or get MC or down pes or something that it almost cause me, my upper study and the MO to fuck him one time good one. But he is lucky enough to escape unharmed. Imagine this... baby MOPA fuck Mr chao-keng upside down...followed by lao jiao MOPA fuck Mr chao-keng upside down again...followed by MO fuck him upside down yet again. How nice can that be. Haha.

Well, thats only my 4th week here in my new camp. 5 seniors are ORD-ing. It is really very heart-aching to see the ORD-personals indulging in ORD mood. Haha. I dare not count when would it be my turn...

Week 3:

My first outfield turn out to be fine. Just that i got to sit until my butt went numb. The uncles, i mean reservists, of 160 SQN were very nice to me. Keep asking me questions like as though they wanted to introduce their daughters to me. Haha. But still, my first experience of outfield cover alone was rather okay, nothing major happened, thankgoodness.

There were 2 new specs posted into the medical centre. Both are of my age. Although i still remain the lowest rank of all medics around, i am no longer the youngest because there is one new spec whos birthday is 2 days after mine.

I finally started my on job training for MOPA, which is my assigned role. I finally understood that being a MOPA is very mentally tiring because you have to concentrate and listen carefully to what the MO say when he is examining the patients. Furthermore all those relevant data must be key in correctly in the very-confusing system call PACES II. But the good thing is, i will get to learn alot on dignosis, drugs given, common medical conditions, etc. My upper study aka senior named me Level 1 Baby MOPA. Soon, as he'd said, I will level up and evolve into the ultimate Level 70 Papa MOPA. Sounds lame, but i thought the name was kinda cute.

Ever since i was posted to Chong Pang Camp i've yet to exercise much. I guess i need to find the discipline and time to start on my daily exercise regime to maintain my level of fitness.

I guess thats about all for this entry... yawn !!!

One week has passed and my stay in Chong Pang Camp has become more meaningful. I mean, i have a clearer view of how the medical centre runs and the job scope expected of me. I'm glad i am able to help up in some of the things around in the short-handed medical ctr but there is definitely more things to learn. This week seemed to pass rather slower compare to in SMTI. Perhaps it is because the official working time is 8 to 5 (though we have to stay in). Anyway, some of the highlights this week were: evacuating a patient to TTSH, IPPT cover, night deployment cover, etc. Some of which is really interesting but i shall not elaborate due to security reasons. Anyway, I've learnt alot for the past 1 week and the coming week, i am going to put them into good practice. Welcoming me on monday when i report to camp will be a 2 days 1 night outfield cover which i will be doing ALONE. I am feeling rather nervous about it because it is the first time i am covering an activity alone, i can start to feel the heavy responsibilities on my shoulder now. Furthermore, i do not know how to handle potential unreasonable demands that is beyond my jobscope and responsibilities there. But still, wish me all the best. Anyway, there will be 2 new specs joining us on monday which i cannot welcome due to my outfield cover. I am really starting to appreciate my little "family" in the medical ctr bcoz everyone is so good to everyone, well at least for what i can see now.

Anyway, i managed to get myself an airforce dryfit tshirt, shorts and most importantly the airforce beret and crest which i am proud to wear. But still i cannot get my camp pass process due to complicated reasons with regards to who the medical ctr now really belongs to. Some say gombak, some say sembawang some say chongpang. No one wants to take the responsibility to process our pass i feel. As for the medic vocation badge, i still cant manage to find it. Not many places sell those.

I went to book my highway code basic theory test today. Witnessing that all my seniors in the medical centre knows how to drive, i am more determined to get my license earlier. Hence without much hesitating i proceed on with the booking this morning. My test date is on 16th Nov. It is a friday which means i have to take leave on that day. Wish me luck.

Just now went for bunk outing at marina sq. Sadly only 4 pple including me turned out. Had lunch at sweet secret which i feel is a little ex (but the rest feels it is of affordable price). I dont come from a rich family you see. After that we went to play pool where malic n kyn have to leave for personal reasons. That left me and nelson to watch the legendary locally produced movie <<881>>. Although i has been out for near one month, the show still gains great popularity now as the entire theatre was at full capacity. The movie was very nice. I would have easily given it 5 stars out of 5 stars. The wide range of costumes donned on the actresses were very nice and colourful. The setting was so heartland. Most importantly, it made me and my friend (as well as the entire theatre) cry. The final part (where little papaya was hospitalised and dying) was so sad that i just could not control my tears. I was trying to hide them, trying to control and trying to secretly wipe them off but each second as the final part of the show proceeded, more tears just flow out. The songs were song2 (old fashioned in hokkien) but nice. Definitely worth the money. Now i understand why all my friends that watched it gave great comments for it.

Anyway, after the movie when me and nelson walked out, our eyes were freaking red like we have gotten conjuvatities. After that it was 9+ and i went home. So yes, thats basically for this week. Next week...outfield...haiz...hopefully i dont "die somewhere in the wild" as quoted by one of the enciks in my bmt coy.