At Whim

I'd dreamt of wandering around the city by myself throughout July, but only really fulfilled this at the very end due to an unexpected phone call.

XVIII VII

Snaps from June

& perfect winter days. 

This is the last winter holidays I'll spend as an undergraduate.

Most of these are of the Royal Exhibition Building, I tried to take photos of the interior deco as I walked out after my last exam, but to no avail. 

diminuendo

July is drawing to an end.

Auction Rooms

I only recognised Errol Street when I reached the Court House. Library hunting one and a half years ago had led to the North Melbourne library once.

How close we were from Auction Rooms! 

A mere diagonal distance away, unbeknownst to me back then.

I remembered my distaste for black coffee a little too late, but their latte is the sweetest yet.

Auction Rooms Cafe

103-107 Errol Street

North Melbourne

www.auctionroomscafe.com.au

I'll meet you at the NGV.

That's what I'll say to future visitors of Melbourne.

20 x 15

You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you.

"It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you."

I'm not sure if I am particularly drawn to this statement by Frederic Chopin because I have a partiality towards him or because of the actual words itself - you know what I mean. I tell my pianos the things I used to tell you.

It makes you wonder so much. Not just inclusive of the part about the piano. God, my fingers itch to know exactly what Chopin told him piano. What each iota of the spectrum of his emotions encompassed and possessed him to write such beautiful, passionate, romantic, elegant, moving music.

And now I'm thinking it's both.

The words itself have already sent me into a state of turmoil (in a good way). All the things I could tell my piano if I still had the skills. All the fire, and breathlessness and exhilaration I've ever felt and poured into my pieces (though not very well). Adding on the fact that it was Chopin who made this statement and him being my favourite composer just infuses these three small sentences with such power and attraction.

樹欲靜而風不止、子欲養而親不在。

Never forget that.

At a glance

I've always wanted to make a collage like this.

How could something that seems so simple be so hard for some applications to make?

Lie - CNBLUE

I have a funny relationship with songs. I either love them within the first three seconds, or don't like them at all, or it takes years for me to actually listen to the lyrics and love the song for them.

This falls into the former.

(Everything aside, how good is Jonghyun's voice in this.)

The Paradox

I'd always hoped to build and sustain a ten, twenty-year relationship with my patients if I were ever accepted into medical school and graduate as a doctor. I viciously attacked the direction of modern medicine, the commercialisation and industrialisation of the one field that should never undergo such changes. But in reality, my hopes are already of the past.

Large scale practices where teams of general practitioners work designated shifts are already a norm. How impractical to have to travel lengthy times to from one clinic to another. Please go for an x-ray downstairs. Blood tests next door. Pharmacy in the next building. Nurses, receptionists, patients alike moving in a bustling and at times hectic environment of multiple waiting rooms and spaces.

The article I recently read on the Times, The Paradox of the Doctor Patient Relationship, forced me to rethink my previous notions, and over the course of the weekend, I constantly revisited the thoughts put forth by Laura Fitzpatrick.

Spent the weekend in Anglesea at a Family Camp organised by Diabetes Australia Victoria for children aged 4 - 8 and one of the parent. The weekend involved activities for the children and educational sessions for parents, an opportunity for parent and child alike to meet others in similar situations.

Amongst other thoughts, the foremost: I might never see these people again.

Never see the kid smile so happily into his Weetbix, never play peekaboo after dinner, never hear their belly laughs and giggles, never speak to the mother who just told me of the day her child was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at twenty three months and how they're coping now, never have to force down my tears at their words, never hear the words 'and my world was turned upside down' reiterated by different parents over and over again.

But I was there.

In those moments, I was there.

I would be part of the memory of the parent whose eight-year-old child just bravely performed their first insulin injection. I would be part of the memory of the father of the most adorable child on camp when he thinks back to how they found their cabin the first day on camp. Maybe occasionally, a mother would think back to the moment she saw her daughter lean into my ear, telling me her favourite farm animal was a duckling, then a lamb and finally a rabbit, and how she asked for a photo to note that moment.

Rather than the traditional doctor-patient relationship, the medical world I'm most likely to emerge into will be one of haste - seconds, minutes to deliver the best care, rather than years.

I may never see these people again, but in those moments, I will be there.

Maybe ten years down the track, they'll look at photos from this time and remember.

What happiness, attention and care I could give to them. 

I have and will do my best to give my all.

Country roads

Rolling hills, fluffy clouds and lonely trees.

Pretty sure if I were with someone else, I'd have accumulated hundreds of photos by now.

I'm not the best road trip buddy if you're looking for conversation. The scenery was beautiful and I was content to just sit and look. Having to fill in conversational spaces with words is both tedious and tiresome. Why rummage for and ask questions to answers you've no care for?

Sitting there for almost 2 hours, warmed by the winter sun, at times wondering whether or not to ask questions, occasionally asking questions that actually come into mind, sharing short snippets of memories, humming and drumming to the radio. Wasn't exactly comfortable silence between old friends, yet the word 'awkward' never came into mind.

The problem with dramas...

Amazingly, my brain can now mix Korean and Japanese phrases into my thoughts. Clearly a sign that I should live a few months in these countries to put what I've learnt from dramas to use, hey?

Watching I Hear Your Voice right now, and my insides are all in a muddle.

I get too involved.
Too emotionally invested.

I need happy endings for all the characters.

Colour Gradient

I should've kept my camera by my side during the entire exam period.

exam snaps

One whole month of studying.

Finally over.

Lens is still dirty. I thought to clean it with one of the makeup brushes I don't use often seeing as it's soft, but I somehow don't think it's a good idea...

On the first day of holidays, I ticked off so many to dos.

Woke up early, went on a walk, caught up with W, helped with housework, cleaned my room and made a new bookshelf and desk. Productivity skyrocketed.

In comparison, I feel as though the past two days have gone to waste.

It's time to deviate from movies and dramas and return to reality.

心想事成。

That's what it says on the apple my mum bought from one of the Asian grocery stores in Glen Waverley.
The other apple said: 恭喜發財, but my dad and brother ate it before I could take a photo of it.

Wonder who thought of the idea of delivering well wishes and greetings on an apple.
These apples taste amazing.