• A friend had recently purchased a Xbox360. I tried it for a little while. I must say the graphics were amazing. The console was hooked up to a HD TV, so we were playing PGR3 at 1080i HD. The graphics were much better than those I’ve seen on the original Xbox and PS2. Anyway, after one night, I went out and got one for myself on Friday. At the moment, I’ve only got one game, PGR3, but I’m planning to get more later. Playing on Live! was great. Playing against the computer was no fun, and I wasn’t able to play with my friends all the time. Live! meant that I was playing against other humans from around the world. Most of those playing on Live! are relatively good, and I’ve found some pretty tough competition. I haven’t been winning much, but I think that’ll improve once I got use to all the different tracks.
• Saturday, we celebrated Harry’s birthday in advance. His family planned a boat trip for him and his friends. We fooled around the boat all afternoon. It was pretty cool. The boat was better than I expected. We took loads of photos, which will be uploaded pretty soon.
• I’ve had quite a few interviews during the last month. I finally got a call I’ve been waiting for. RH called me this morning, and offered me a job. So excited! On July 1st, I’m officially a surgical trainee. It’s going to be a pretty long journey, and probably pretty tough. I’m going to spend at least two years in QMH surgical. I hope it’s not going to be too bad.

Technorati Tags: HDTV, Medicine, moliu, RH, Specialty, Surgeon, Xbox360

I’ve been wearing contact lens for over 10 years now. Back in the old days, the only contact lens you can get were permanent ones (ones which you wear over and over again). I’ve had them for ages, and I decided to get new ones recently. Because I don’t wear them on daily basis, I decided, that I would try the newer disposal contact lens. Last Saturday, I went to the optical shop and tried them on. I must admit these new daily disposal contact lens are very difficult to put on. I’ve never had any problem putting on contact lens until now. Permanent contact lens’ texture is much stronger, they usually just pop right into your eye. These disposal lens are so soft that I always find them deformed when they reach my eye. I have to keep my eyes open so that the lens can slowly regain it’s original shape and stay on my eyes. So far, I’ve never managed to put these contact lens on in one go. They usually pop right back out when I blink my eyes, and that’s pretty damn annoying. Anyway, they do feel pretty nice once they’re on. It’s pretty much like learning how to put contact lens on all over again, only this time it’s much more difficult.

Technorati Tags: Contact Lens, moliu

With only 10 days left before the application deadline, everyone is trying to get as many interviews as they can. Friday afternoon, I was called for an interview at UCH Radiology on Monday. Monday isn’t exactly a very good day because one of my colleagues already has an interview scheduled at around noon. I didn’t manage to see my senior until Monday because Saturday was my holiday. I told my senior about the interview, and she wouldn’t let me go. I was told that I’ve already had a lot of interview (when I’ve only had 3, and I still haven’t got a job yet), and she didn’t like the possibilty of having only 1 intern in the hospital. I was naturally very frustrated. I am frustrated that she wasn’t more supportive. I didn’t see any reason why she would want to keep me here. The thing is there isn’t that much work, and 1 interns would definite be able to cover all the work. Plus the second intern is on her way back, so there would only be 1 intern in the hospital for a short time. Other departments have no problem with having no interns at all. Every year around the same time everyone goes around Hong Kong for interview, and most departments are very accommodating. These interviews will determine the direction of our career and they know it. Why on earth won’t they let an intern go for an interview?

I thought I was off the hook by lunch time Tuesday, but I wasn’t. I got the call I feared on Tuesday evening. Professor Ahuja called me and offered me a position at PWH. I asked how much time I have to decide naturally. Instead of getting the 24 hours as promised, he said I had to reply on the spot. It was a difficult decision, but I guess the fact that I had decide on the spot made it easier. I just wasn’t prepared to work in PWH. I rejected my first job offering. I hope I made the right decision.

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong, Medicine, Radiology, Specialty

So the race began a few weeks ago. Department heads are lining up potential trainees for interview. I’ve had a few interview already, and a few coming up soon. Last weekend, I had an interview with PWH radiology. I was pretty relaxed going into the interview. I didn’t think they would give me an offer anyway, plus PWH was pretty far away. It was so far that I was pretty sure even if they gave me an offer, I wouldn’t have taken it. I basically went to the interview to learn and practice. The interview turned out to be a group interview, and they asked some pretty interesting question. Most interviewers ask pretty standard questions. They asked questions like “do you think the radiology service in Hong Kong is enough to service the society?”. There was a lot of room for great answers. Anyway, I answered the questions being myself. I wasn’t too concerned about what the interviewers thought of me, because I wasn’t expecting a job. Anyway, later that night, they called me again and offered me a 2nd interview. I was surprised, and a little bit nervous. The idea of getting an offer from PWH frightened me a bit. Mainly because they require you to commit within a very short period of time (24 hours). I had to decide what I was going to do if they offered me a job. Am I going to accept the offer or reject them? PWH is a pain to get to. Accepting the offer meant I’m going to be there for at least 6-7 years maybe even more. I would have to move to Statin leaving Hong Kong Island. To be honest, I’m not keen on that. Another problem is I’m not 100% sure I want to do Radiology. I’ve really never been 100% sure about what I want to do. I wasn’t 100% about medicine when I got into medicine. Now, I’m not sure what specialty I’d like to get into. I envy those people who is 100% sure. Some people know they’re going into Surgery or Medicine. I can’t really decided. I’m interested in two or maybe even three specialties, and I can’t really decide on 1. Anyway, I went to the 2nd interview. Because I was a bit nervous, I don’t think I was as fluent as I was during the 1st interview. We had some pretty good discussion about issue about funding and also training opportunities. The interview lasted around 20 minutes. At the end they told me that they will decide right away and let us know immediately. It’s been almost 20 hours since the interview. So I probably didn’t make it. I’ve never been this close. The fact that they didn’t choose me kinda sucks, but looking at it the other way, they didn’t force me to decide. For the moment, I’m off the hook, but I’ll still have to decide eventually, and the decision won’t come easy…

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong, Medicine, Radiology, Specialty, Surgeon