Wednesday, July 28, 2004

let me see the funky doctor...what's that you say?

if anyone told me before this year that doctors, potential or otherwise, are all either tall and lanky with coke bottle glasses or the average plain jane...i would have believed them. as a *hopefully* potential doctor myself, i felt myself to be in the 2nd category: the plain person with just perhaps that little brighter spark towards helping people through the medical profession.

if anyone told me all that now...i'd laugh.

okay, fine, i've known all along that irritatingly smart people are not nerds. most of my friends are irritatingly smart people and they're the most beautiful, happening people in the world.

but whenever anyone asks me about what i envision a doctor to be, the immediate image that pops into my head is my family doctor: a tall, lanky fellow that looks rather like penang's ketua menteri (head of state), tan sri dr. koh tsu koon. yeah, glasses and all.

how degrading to doctors, i know. not to say my family doctor is not a nice guy (he is, though he still thinks i'm 12), but...oh well, you know what i mean.

and despite the reports from my friends about the absolutely stunning and fascinating people they meet during university admission interviews, tests, and whatnots, that picture of my dear doctor remains firmly stuck in my head.

taking the umat (undergraduate medicine and health sciences admission test) this morning was an eye-opener.

there were so many people, first of all. i kinda expected something like 50 singaporeans. i forgot that singapore is the only available test centre in the asean region. something like 100 people were present for the test.

secondly, the variety of people there was so diverse. there were tall lanky people (hah! i was right!), short petite people, bengs in basketball shoes, the coolest indian dudes i've ever seen, one straw-haired australian who looked like he was going for a walk on the beach, absolutely gorgeous girls, and this chilled guy who came in 15mins late with a golf cap, multiple earrings, and a goatee.

right.

in other words, it was all very...to borrow mun's word, "funky". i mean, i found it terribly interesting. i just wanted to forego the test and just people watch the whole time. you learn alot by simply observing people.

i noticed that all of them looked scarily intelligent in their own unique way. rather intimidating, really. for example, the moment the test started, basketball beng (who was really cute, btw), the typical beng with the spiky hair and "wat-you-looking?" attitude, put his glasses on and went head on into his test looking more like einstein than...a basketball beng!

wow. potential doctors. no wonder people say that the medical faculty can be the nerdiest and the coolest faculty in any university. such a variety of personalities, all with the same aim to get into medical school, do good, and contribute to society.

or at least that's what i hope the common aim is. hmm.

anyway, i must sound super shallow, ignorant and naive to write all this. all i can say is, i sure hope i can make it to australia. i know, from this morning's test, that if i do gain admission, it'll be one helluva interesting 6 years down under.

am putting my trust in God and hoping that my scores will do me good. won't say too much in case i jinx it or anything. wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed for me! =)

lishun at 10:11 PM

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