> of polyclinic adventures and pensive musings
and 15minutes was all it took for my "medical checkup" to wrap up ... peed in a bottle and had blood sucked out of me ~ that's it. of coz maybe i was expecting maybe somewhat more? ... which shows me for the ignorami that i am lah *PUI*
saundered in at 11-odd, to a polyclinic filled to the brim with peeps (doesn't anybody work around here?) and screaming kids (why do they allow screaming kids in polyclinics? crying kids i understand, but kids running around screaming? fcuking pasar malam like dat!). thinking me being an old hand at this, i nonchalantly awaited my number to be buzzed. and of coz the counter grrrl (cute malay lady) had to be the one who greeted me with a "good morning" last saturday; for which i answered a pseudo-rude; "HUH?", and which of coz put her in a foul mood ... but didn't know if the mood persisted til today, becoz i gave a bright and cheery "good morning" and she with a sullen and pissed demeanour ~ glared back at me. could she have remembered? a chinese man with a beard is hard to forget, i tell myself ... but alas; no smiles for me today .... oh wells ...
sat waiting for my number to be buzzed (again), amongst more screaming kids and other sickly brethrens. one thing i dun understand is the public television they have in the waiting area. perpetually on CNA, but with the audio turned down to a whisper, why bother, right? i doubt if the majority of us heartlanders are lip-readers anyways ~ ya get to watch accidents and wars and presidents of various countries shaking hands with other total strangers and you'd not know what's going on? wouldn't that freak anyone out?
"am i that sick i can't hear what's the teevee going on about? have i really gone deaf?"
... maybe they should consider putting on mr.Bean or sumthing light hearted like dat? for gawdsakes, folks who're there are feeling sick and not well, might as well brighten everyone up with a little laughter, innit? or maybe they scared; "a little laughter a day, keeps the doctors away"? scared no business, izzit? *sigh* ... anyways ...
5-long-minutes later #7289 buzzed scarlet-red on the queue-display and i entered "test room #31". quick cordialities later, a bottle was shoved into my face (literally): "pee into this", without even looking at me ... and off i went, nervous about the result, coz i peed at home before coming and found myself squeezing within an inch of bladder disorder for the precious droplets of myyellowed pee. didn't know if it was enough or not. contemplated drinking sum tap water to further facilitate said bodily liquid byproduct ... but what the heck, try my luck back at the testroom, innit? "enough or not ah?", said i to the busy nurse ... "enough enough! put into the tray behind you!" said she, still not looking at me, but rather at my bottle. and in it went, into an empty bright pink plastic toiletry tray. heh.
shuffled to the next table, a tudung-ed nurse told me not to "act blur" ... huh? WTF? i act blur for fcuk? farnie sial ... like i had blood taken every other day like dat! i didn't even know i was gonna have my arm poked until i sat down at the desk and she held my arm out ... and i stared hard as the needle went in and feel the sharp instantaneous pain. i'd say i wasn't afraid of needles and/or injections, but they DO gimme the shudders when i dun look at them ... but by looking, somehow tho morbid, it seems fascinating ... anways, i was given a bandaid and told to comeback again in 2 week's time, for the result. at the same time trying to explain to me that i had to have my heart/chest x-rayed before seeing/consultating the doctor ... for which i understood sort of, if she wasn't making no sense of the sequence ... or maybe i had "lost too much blood" or am in reality; "blur" ... damn.
paid my fees ($8) amongst screaming kids again at the reception (next time i threaten them with needle/injections just to shut them up) and left the clinical smell of the polyclinic to the familiar and welcoming whiff of nicotine and hot milo. devoured 2 banana walnut toast with butter and im ready to start my day, sort of ...
coupla tips on Surviving Polyclinics (for medical tests or otherwise):
(1) do not pee before going to polyclinics (if ya gonna have a medical test)
(2) dun be blur or nurse might poke you extra hard
(3) be nice to cute malay lady working at counter
(4) bring discman to drownout the din (but remember to look at the queue number display)
the walk back home was pensive tho. a simple outing to the clinic for less than half and hour; left me tired. not enuff sleep perhaps? i wish it were so, but the reality is: i get tired so readily and easily nowsadays ... simple menial work and im exhausted. this is very worrying. how the heck am i gonna survive the rest of my time on this planet? how the heck am i gonna work, especially in my field, where physical "labour" is as much a part of the requirements, as "creativity" (brainwork)?
does this mean a halt, the end of my career? having burnt myself out for the past decade helps not, i assure you ... but now? am i gonna haveta stop at my six feature films and teevee projects? and start to teach? ... something i've been thinking about as of late, as an alternative job-path in response to my declining health ... had always wanted to "teach" (in some way or another) early on in my career and had even completed my "art direction modules" 6-7 years ago! (which i'd foolishly left behind in my last job *PUI*) ... the logic then being: i'd rather develop proper skills and ideology to the "craft" - to aspiring young designers/art directors, than being scared that i'll let young upstarts grab my ricebowl ... why fight when i could mentor? and the beauty of it all is: i would've had peeps with the "proper" job skills to execute what i had wanted to achieve, innit? rather than start all over every single time i start a project, with newbies and spend half the time "teaching on the job" rather than "doing the job" (not that im complaining that much) ~ and somehow it always sorta falls below my personal expectations each and every time ... but i dun wanna giveup what im doing now ... tho secretly i'd admit i had been toying around with that idea and "eventuality" for quite a while now = remembering why it was i quit in the first place ...
tho in the end, it'll be pretty sad and disheartened if i hadda "give up" my dayjob, for an alternative. for i do love what i do ... but maybe i'd not be a position to do what i love; if my health doesn't improve ... and that puts me in a sullen mood for the day ... damn.
saundered in at 11-odd, to a polyclinic filled to the brim with peeps (doesn't anybody work around here?) and screaming kids (why do they allow screaming kids in polyclinics? crying kids i understand, but kids running around screaming? fcuking pasar malam like dat!). thinking me being an old hand at this, i nonchalantly awaited my number to be buzzed. and of coz the counter grrrl (cute malay lady) had to be the one who greeted me with a "good morning" last saturday; for which i answered a pseudo-rude; "HUH?", and which of coz put her in a foul mood ... but didn't know if the mood persisted til today, becoz i gave a bright and cheery "good morning" and she with a sullen and pissed demeanour ~ glared back at me. could she have remembered? a chinese man with a beard is hard to forget, i tell myself ... but alas; no smiles for me today .... oh wells ...
sat waiting for my number to be buzzed (again), amongst more screaming kids and other sickly brethrens. one thing i dun understand is the public television they have in the waiting area. perpetually on CNA, but with the audio turned down to a whisper, why bother, right? i doubt if the majority of us heartlanders are lip-readers anyways ~ ya get to watch accidents and wars and presidents of various countries shaking hands with other total strangers and you'd not know what's going on? wouldn't that freak anyone out?
... maybe they should consider putting on mr.Bean or sumthing light hearted like dat? for gawdsakes, folks who're there are feeling sick and not well, might as well brighten everyone up with a little laughter, innit? or maybe they scared; "a little laughter a day, keeps the doctors away"? scared no business, izzit? *sigh* ... anyways ...
5-long-minutes later #7289 buzzed scarlet-red on the queue-display and i entered "test room #31". quick cordialities later, a bottle was shoved into my face (literally): "pee into this", without even looking at me ... and off i went, nervous about the result, coz i peed at home before coming and found myself squeezing within an inch of bladder disorder for the precious droplets of my
shuffled to the next table, a tudung-ed nurse told me not to "act blur" ... huh? WTF? i act blur for fcuk? farnie sial ... like i had blood taken every other day like dat! i didn't even know i was gonna have my arm poked until i sat down at the desk and she held my arm out ... and i stared hard as the needle went in and feel the sharp instantaneous pain. i'd say i wasn't afraid of needles and/or injections, but they DO gimme the shudders when i dun look at them ... but by looking, somehow tho morbid, it seems fascinating ... anways, i was given a bandaid and told to comeback again in 2 week's time, for the result. at the same time trying to explain to me that i had to have my heart/chest x-rayed before seeing/consultating the doctor ... for which i understood sort of, if she wasn't making no sense of the sequence ... or maybe i had "lost too much blood" or am in reality; "blur" ... damn.
paid my fees ($8) amongst screaming kids again at the reception (next time i threaten them with needle/injections just to shut them up) and left the clinical smell of the polyclinic to the familiar and welcoming whiff of nicotine and hot milo. devoured 2 banana walnut toast with butter and im ready to start my day, sort of ...
coupla tips on Surviving Polyclinics (for medical tests or otherwise):
(1) do not pee before going to polyclinics (if ya gonna have a medical test)
(2) dun be blur or nurse might poke you extra hard
(3) be nice to cute malay lady working at counter
(4) bring discman to drownout the din (but remember to look at the queue number display)
the walk back home was pensive tho. a simple outing to the clinic for less than half and hour; left me tired. not enuff sleep perhaps? i wish it were so, but the reality is: i get tired so readily and easily nowsadays ... simple menial work and im exhausted. this is very worrying. how the heck am i gonna survive the rest of my time on this planet? how the heck am i gonna work, especially in my field, where physical "labour" is as much a part of the requirements, as "creativity" (brainwork)?
does this mean a halt, the end of my career? having burnt myself out for the past decade helps not, i assure you ... but now? am i gonna haveta stop at my six feature films and teevee projects? and start to teach? ... something i've been thinking about as of late, as an alternative job-path in response to my declining health ... had always wanted to "teach" (in some way or another) early on in my career and had even completed my "art direction modules" 6-7 years ago! (which i'd foolishly left behind in my last job *PUI*) ... the logic then being: i'd rather develop proper skills and ideology to the "craft" - to aspiring young designers/art directors, than being scared that i'll let young upstarts grab my ricebowl ... why fight when i could mentor? and the beauty of it all is: i would've had peeps with the "proper" job skills to execute what i had wanted to achieve, innit? rather than start all over every single time i start a project, with newbies and spend half the time "teaching on the job" rather than "doing the job" (not that im complaining that much) ~ and somehow it always sorta falls below my personal expectations each and every time ... but i dun wanna giveup what im doing now ... tho secretly i'd admit i had been toying around with that idea and "eventuality" for quite a while now = remembering why it was i quit in the first place ...
tho in the end, it'll be pretty sad and disheartened if i hadda "give up" my dayjob, for an alternative. for i do love what i do ... but maybe i'd not be a position to do what i love; if my health doesn't improve ... and that puts me in a sullen mood for the day ... damn.
