The more we get together

It was the TK 21st birthday bash today and I must say that even though it was a rather small affair with less than half the cohort turning up, I still had a good time. It was a chance for my batch mates and I to catch up with each other's lives, no matter how superficially. I'm sure common questions were "So how are you?" and "What are you doing now?" It really was fantastic seeing people I hadn't met since like forever and for me, the fun part about it was reminiscing about the stupid things we did. Be it relief teachers who stood at the door and taught us from there to teachers who caught us dozing off during lessons or even teachers who were so fed up with their class that they mock-banged their heads against the wall, we definitely had more than a few good laughs over it all. It goes without saying that we also discussed how much people had changed over the five (I can't believe it's been that long) years since we graduated.

Never mind the awkwardness and stupid games, who cares that it was held in a hotel that most have never heard of and it didn't matter that we had to get our own dinner; this party opened my eyes (or heart?) to how much I really missed secondary school life and I realise now that nothing can compare to what I had back then. Being in TK was THE best time of my academic years, it's unparalleled by JC, uni and yes, even hall life. For me, it was a time when I was carefree and could still be excused for doing the occasional dumb thing but most importantly it was when I formed everlasting friendships.

So thank you to the alumni, teachers (Mr Yusri actually remembered my full name!) and the batch mates for organising the first ever birthday bash for the Class of 2003, I'm certain it was much appreciated.

The only gripe the whole thing: people I had hoped to see didn't attend but nonetheless, I'll remember this date cos who knows when's the next time we'll see each other again.

Who's up for another reunion 20 years later?

It's not my time

Edit @ 17/06, 22 17: I spoke to our ADON cum lecturer on Monday and she said the preceptor in the OT who was in charge of us said she liked us and our lecturer said "Sister Bitch NM doesn't really know you. People who don't know you all will have this sort of opinion." Plus my Clinical Instructor also seemed rather sympathetic to our plight, hinting that people might be sour grapes and that all attention is sort of on us right now so our every move is scrutinised. So take that, you stupid woman. I know I sound childish but I can't help it, I feel like we have been done a great injustice and what's even worse is that I don't think anyone has talked to that NM about her behaviour while everyone has chided us on ours.

Q: The thing that gets your goat is...
A: People who are selectively rude. They are nice in front of doctors but rude to my nurses.

Q: What would you say to them?
A: I think that the nurses are doing their best so please be nice to them.

Wouldn't you love to work for a person like that? I know I sure would and nope it's not just a fantasy, there are some doctors who really do care about their staff. Like the one mentioned in this week's Mind Your Body section, unfortunately I forgot his name, I only remember that he's an obstetrician.

He's so different from the surgeon I had the misfortune to encounter in the OT. She actually walked out from the theatre after the nurse handed her the wrong forceps! And dumped her operating gown on the floor for others to pick up! What a snooty attitude and it was most uncalled for because the nurse didn't know the doctor didn't want to use that particular type of forceps anymore. She came back after a while to finish the surgery and apologised to the nurse but still... Biatch, much?

Talking about unpleasant people, the OT staff really have nothing better to do than to tattle on us. A very good example would be one time when all 4 of us wanted to see a neurological operation, we were told to take turns going in two at a time. Kelly and I were left outside the theatre while the other pair went in and we were told to go into another one to see a hand surgery. I wasn't keen on it so I said to Kelly "But I'm not interested in this one, I want to see the other one." Well apparently the nurse in the scrub room thought I was talking to her and reported to the Nurse Manager that us NUS students were not interested. Well yeah I wasn't interested, is that such a problem? The other one was so much more exciting! I readily admitted that I was the one who said I wasn't interested when our lecturer asked us cos I think I didn't do anything wrong.

That's just a mild example. The other incident's even worse. We always wear home clothes to the hospital and didn't know we had to bring our uniforms cos we have no need for them. We always change into scrubs before entering the OT area, see. On Friday someone happened to see two of us wearing shorts, not even FBTs but berms and a nice pair of white shorts suitable for going out. The person commented that we wouldn't have been allowed to wear shorts in the past and someone was asking why and that she doesn't see anything wrong with wearing them. Well in our opinion we were just carrying on the conversation and trying to make them see our point but someone else decided that we were putting staff of a lower rank down and we were not listening to feedback. What did she do? Did she tell us? No of course not, she went to complain to that same bitch of a Nurse Manager. Who later confronted my classmate about the whole situation, saying that she could quote us saying "Then next time we'll wear shorter shorts!" I was totally floored when Tse Lert told me what she had said and it ruined my TGIF mood. I was so hurt, also angry at the fact that being an NM, a rather high rank, she didn't even bother finding out both sides of the story and just accused us of something which was rather serious in my opinion. To add on, she said "I'm very disappointed in your behaviour, especially since you're from NUS. I will definitely inform your school about this." Well guess what? You're not exactly Miss Perfect either. I'm appalled that as an adult with years of experience and a Nurse Manager to boot you didn't even ask us about what we really said, you cut off my friend who's trying to explain what we did. Also, your opinion, I'm sorry to say, doesn't really count for anything cos unlike NYP students, our grade isn't determined by whatever you feedback so be my guest. Complain all you like, our lecturer's already asked us what happened and I'm confident that no one will see us in a bad light *smug smile* especially since you never even spent 5 minutes with any of us in that whole one week so who are you to say what our characters are like?

I hated my experience there for the most part because of sneaks and dumb NMs although most of them are actually rather nice and willing to teach. Don't even get me started on the smell of burnt human, really gross.

I had this impression that some of them hated us before even getting to know us and I think they would have found something or another to complain about, even if the two incidents above didn't happen. Probably about the way we "answer back" to the staff or whatever. I mean, don't you people want to see a change in the way the profession is viewed? We're vocal because we're encouraged to be, in school they welcome any comments and people are more than happy to engage in debate or discussion. Over there, a discussion is viewed negatively and most likely seen as arguing. I understand if the older generation can't accept what the younger generation is like but for the relatively younger ones, shouldn't you be thankful that we're sticking up for ourselves? And not letting others bully us? Then there's a chance that the vicious cycle of submission will cease with us! But if you want to be cocooned in your department at level 3, then fine. I hope that future NUS students won't suffer what we did cos it really turned me off from working there for the time being.

I'm actually looking forward to going back to the ward, believe it!