"Dismal December" comes again ... ...

Pessimistic: December vacation is half gone.
Optimistic: Oh boy, I have ANOTHER MONTH of vacation to go!!

So here is a little reflecting on how I've being spending my holidays ... it was GREAT.
No PW breathing down my neck, no promos after my life, no homework (at least, the obligation to do any), just plain olde slacking away!!

The best part is that I get to read a lot. No, not TIME magazine or NEWSWEEK for G.P, but, rather, reading for pleasure. Heh. The benefits of reading is seriously undermined - I think I have learnt at least fifty new words so far!

Some really useful words I have picked up:

odious - disgusting, hateable. may be used to abate someone whom you do not want to offend(assuming that his/her command of English isn't fantastic ... ...)

interminable - adjective to describe a period of time which is so long it is disgusting. Very appropriately applied to everyday life in the following way -
I survived an interminable lecture on Math today.
This tutorial is very much interminable.
I sat through an interminable wait for bus 66.
How I wish for an interminable nap right now. ( a little too dramatic though)

laconic - I don't understand why they created this word. It just means, "a one-word reply". And when writers do use it, it's usually like this:
"No." He replied laconically.
"Hello", was her laconic greeting to me.
"Woof." The dog barked laconically. (!?!?!)
Isn't it obvious that it is a one-word speech already?? Or maybe it gives a certain aura of taciturn-ness. Oh well, of course it may be used as:
I expected a laconic reply from the saturnite young man.
Too lazy to speak, I gave a not-even-laconic nod to the irritating old man.

Anyway these three words must be Agatha Christie's faves, 'cause she uses them all the time, along with, minxs, brown lean men (usually there is at least one in each novel, and usually they had lived in Africa at some point of their lives), adorable old ladies, odious middle-aged women, lots of Africa action, and the list goes on. Still, I enjoy her books XD

Of course then, there is CIP. Probably the only CIP I've done this year. I'm helping out at SGH!! Sounds cool right?
Probably I get to watch real doctors in action. But of course!
If I have to write a recount on my days in SGH, it would look something like this:

Day 1:

No of Oblulex I packed: 9 cartons
No. of times the phone rang: 23
No. of times the phone was picked up: 4
No. of doctors who came in and ranted: 1
No. of cuts sustained: 1 each on right index, middle and ring fingers
No. of CIP hours clocked up: 5

Day 2:

No of Oblulex I packed: 11 cartons
No. of times the phone rang: 17
No. of times the phone was picked up: 2
No. of doctors who came in and ranted: 3
No. of cuts sustained: 1 near my right index finger's fingernail. ugh.
No. of CIP hours clocked up: 6 and half

Day 3:

No of Oblulex I packed: 5 cartons
No. of Vitamin D I packed: 2 cartons
No. of times the phone rang: 18
No. of times the phone was picked up: 2
No. of doctors who came in and ranted: 2
No. of cuts sustained: one long one that stretched across 3 fingers on my right, 1 on my left ring finger knuckle ( which I still suffer now), another on left thumb, and a sprained back. Reason for extra-grievous injuries that day? I was doing the arranging that day.
No. of CIP hours clocked up: 6

... ... ...

And Day 4 is this Thursday. Of course what is written above is made up, 'cause I certainly don't have photographic memory, but as far as possible, I tried to simulate the real events.
Sigh. In melodramatic prose, the above would be:

On a dark and stormy night .... ...Trapped in a dingy, squarish white-walled room, me and my mates slaved over the cartons and cartons of Oblulex. Our job was very simple-all we have to do, is to openthecarton emptyoutthesmallboxes openthesmallboxes emptyoutthemedicene stackmedicenelikelego tiewithrubberband arrangeincardboardbox repeatstepsuntilcardboardboxisfull opennewcarton repeatstepone.
So anyway, we laboured over the continuous drone of ringing phones that NEVER get picked up, the odious ranting of stressed-up doctors, the naggings of the "pink transporter" ... ...

Of course, in normal writing it would be:

I went to SGH to do CIP and I packed cartons of Oblulex. Sure it was tiring, but we got to enter the "public prohibited" areas! Whee. We also get to eavesdrop listen to real doctors behind-the-scenes. In general, we felt sorry for this female doctor whose patient accidentally fell off a chair ... ... It seems that the patient planned to complain to the management or something, but the doctor was positive the chair was ok. Ah well.

Ok enough ranting OMIGOSH! This is probably the longest post I've written in my entire life. Congrats to you if you are reading this sentence. It means you've survived an otherwise interminable blogpost.

And, the last paragraph is dedicated to Mr Loh. Truthfully I dont know him well, apart from that he is my Monday P.E teacher. What I do remember: Jiani once commented his body looked unproportionate. Heh. And I didn't say this to be politically correct, but he really was a promising sports teacher and sportsman. Everything I knew about basketball, or even sports-related strategies came from him. And he teased Shelvi about her blue contacts!

May he rest in peace ... ...