Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 37

Oct 8

1) Today began with me attending the "Let's Talk About Autism" event, held at the Houston Lecture Theatre, RCSI. Three speakers were invited to talk on the topic. The first was a Mr. Adam Harris, a victim of Asperger's, who gave such an inspiring and convincing speech about his life and the challenges he faced, that we would never have guessed he had the disorder if he hadn't told us. The next lady was Dr. Jacqueline Fitzgerald, here to explain to us the biochemistry of how ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) develop. She went into a lot of technical detail, which was a shame because many of us had just started our course in medicine and had little prior knowledge about this.

2) After the second speech, a short Q and A session followed. Then, according to the schedule of events, a "light lunch" was to be served. Calling it that would be to sell it short - it was more of a smorgasboard - rows upon rows of sandwiches, a drinks corner loaded with carbonated drinks, coffee, tea, and even confectioneries. In fact, they over anticipated the number of guests arriving, so there were way more leftovers than they knew what to do with. So being me, I casually took three sandwiches and wrapped them nicely in tissue, before packing them into my bag. That's dinner taken care of, I thought.

3) My stomach full, I felt rejuvenated. Then a friend reminded me that there was badminton session in the afternoon. Although I was rather unwell yesterday, today I felt really good, so I decided to go anyway. After all, some light exercise couldn't hurt, right? Training felt great, with one caveat - during an intense badminton rally, I managed to break the strings of my racquet. So I had no choice but to cut the rest of the strings off, to prevent the tension of the other strings from bending and spoiling the frame of the racquet. On a side note - sorry, dad!

4) Came back after badminton, and chatted for a while with my dad. It is during times like these that I marvel at how far technology has progressed; those days, before the advent of the internet, people relied on letters arriving by post, which could easily take a couple of weeks. But now, at the click of the button, I can send as many messages I want, and can even video call or video chat. And the best part is the transmission is instantaneous. I'm digressing I know.

5) Dinner was those three sandwiches I "smuggled" from RCSI, which tasted just as great as they did before. Now all that is left to do is to study - my card signing is next Friday, followed by our first quiz (Mid-Term Quiz 1) the following Monday. I am trying my best to find a balance between study and play, as I am well aware that an overstressed or unhappy doctor is not a good doctor, no matter how much book knowledge they have. That's my daily blog update, and while a tad longer than usual, hopefully no less entertaining. Thanks for reading, and have a great evening!