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Thursday, October 30, 2008
Coming up to my 500th post soon... I write a lot. A lot of nonsense. Yes. But well, its MY nonsense so everything's of value to me.
First Aiders in St. John, at least among ourselves who considered ourselves the best of the best, we train and train until we can do all our first aid procedures by instinct. By the time we were sec 4 and went for competiton, everything slide smoothly through our heads, a continuous mantra of "Sir sir, are you ok [as the casualty does not respond... casualty is unconscious], look listen feel, one thousand, two thousand" etc etc.
So much so that when it came to the crunch we were not afraid of approaching a casualty, not one who was sprawled over the steering wheel of his car gasping for breath, nor another who got hit a glancing blow in the head by a shotput during sports day. Neither did this instinct let me down when some nut played a prank on me which involved pretending to have a rather serious medical condition.
Of course, now in Medicine, things are not so clear cut. Our simulated casualties would never present with purpura and necrosis due to Neisseria meningitidis (too difficult to apply makeup, for one thing), nor proctitis due to N. gonorrhoea or however its spelt (unethical to do checkup in the middle of a hall during competition).
My point is, despite having most of our trainings being geared to win competitions, first aid was still branded into our souls, our instincts, reflexes, and until now I still occasionally learn something in medical school which makes me realise why I had to do what I was trained to do in first aid.
Extrapolating that, I wonder whether it is possible to do the same for values. To have your own morals and values seared into your soul so that when the crunch came, you would act instinctively, less out of thinking, but more of an ingrained sense of "this is AUTOMATICALLY wrong". I can't help thinking that the world would be a much happier, and dare I say, honourable, place if we could achieve this level of integrity with ourselves, such that we wouldn't spend time rationalizing our actions but would keep to our values.
By this I don't mean a perfect world, where no mistakes are made. Mistakes are, of course, mistakes. What I would like to avoid are situations which you know would lead you into trouble, but at the very moment that the decision must be made, you're confused utterly by a storm of emotions and cell signals which clogs up your cognitive functions like a immune complex in a renal vessel, brings you down the wrong path and bang, you've given yourself a lot of headache.
I've done it. If you're reading this, you might have done the same too. Sometimes when I can't sleep, and my mind is racing, I think about how I could have had so much happier a life if I hadn't been blinded by an misplaced sense of honour or commitment. Or sheer stupidity.
Sigh.
Anyway, it rained last night.
Silly camera doesn't do justice to the weather actually haha..
The heaviest rain I've had since I came to KE. I was having a fitful sleep, dreaming a rather incongruous dream about my PBL group, when there was a crash and my blinds got blown into my room. I woke up with a bang thinking a swarm of flying creatures had attacked me, and having a mental image at the back of my mind of inverted heart valves.
It was pouring. In almost solid sheets. In fact, G block, which I think I could hit with a water bomb if I chose to in good weather, looked so far away, and PGP was almost obscured. When I headed out to go to the toilet I couldn't see the faint outline of the satillite dish until the lightning lit up the area like one of Kokpun's diabolically bright flashes. The drains outside the E block lounge were solid columns of white water and for the hundredth time I wondered when E block would fall on F block.
But all in all the weather was nice. Even the night scenery. I put on my specs for about 5 min to watch the rain swirling in the wind, and watching the lightning flashes (shades of OCS!). But I had school the next day so couldn't stay up for long. Closed my windows and dropped off back to sleep.
The impending CAs are making me write random stuff... Shall make another attempt to reach Nerdvana before the night is out..
First Aiders in St. John, at least among ourselves who considered ourselves the best of the best, we train and train until we can do all our first aid procedures by instinct. By the time we were sec 4 and went for competiton, everything slide smoothly through our heads, a continuous mantra of "Sir sir, are you ok [as the casualty does not respond... casualty is unconscious], look listen feel, one thousand, two thousand" etc etc.
So much so that when it came to the crunch we were not afraid of approaching a casualty, not one who was sprawled over the steering wheel of his car gasping for breath, nor another who got hit a glancing blow in the head by a shotput during sports day. Neither did this instinct let me down when some nut played a prank on me which involved pretending to have a rather serious medical condition.
Of course, now in Medicine, things are not so clear cut. Our simulated casualties would never present with purpura and necrosis due to Neisseria meningitidis (too difficult to apply makeup, for one thing), nor proctitis due to N. gonorrhoea or however its spelt (unethical to do checkup in the middle of a hall during competition).
My point is, despite having most of our trainings being geared to win competitions, first aid was still branded into our souls, our instincts, reflexes, and until now I still occasionally learn something in medical school which makes me realise why I had to do what I was trained to do in first aid.
Extrapolating that, I wonder whether it is possible to do the same for values. To have your own morals and values seared into your soul so that when the crunch came, you would act instinctively, less out of thinking, but more of an ingrained sense of "this is AUTOMATICALLY wrong". I can't help thinking that the world would be a much happier, and dare I say, honourable, place if we could achieve this level of integrity with ourselves, such that we wouldn't spend time rationalizing our actions but would keep to our values.
By this I don't mean a perfect world, where no mistakes are made. Mistakes are, of course, mistakes. What I would like to avoid are situations which you know would lead you into trouble, but at the very moment that the decision must be made, you're confused utterly by a storm of emotions and cell signals which clogs up your cognitive functions like a immune complex in a renal vessel, brings you down the wrong path and bang, you've given yourself a lot of headache.
I've done it. If you're reading this, you might have done the same too. Sometimes when I can't sleep, and my mind is racing, I think about how I could have had so much happier a life if I hadn't been blinded by an misplaced sense of honour or commitment. Or sheer stupidity.
Sigh.
Anyway, it rained last night.
Silly camera doesn't do justice to the weather actually haha..
The heaviest rain I've had since I came to KE. I was having a fitful sleep, dreaming a rather incongruous dream about my PBL group, when there was a crash and my blinds got blown into my room. I woke up with a bang thinking a swarm of flying creatures had attacked me, and having a mental image at the back of my mind of inverted heart valves.
It was pouring. In almost solid sheets. In fact, G block, which I think I could hit with a water bomb if I chose to in good weather, looked so far away, and PGP was almost obscured. When I headed out to go to the toilet I couldn't see the faint outline of the satillite dish until the lightning lit up the area like one of Kokpun's diabolically bright flashes. The drains outside the E block lounge were solid columns of white water and for the hundredth time I wondered when E block would fall on F block.
But all in all the weather was nice. Even the night scenery. I put on my specs for about 5 min to watch the rain swirling in the wind, and watching the lightning flashes (shades of OCS!). But I had school the next day so couldn't stay up for long. Closed my windows and dropped off back to sleep.
The impending CAs are making me write random stuff... Shall make another attempt to reach Nerdvana before the night is out..
~JcZw~ at 8:34 pm
Monday, October 27, 2008
In the midst of absorbing Herpes, HIV, Dengue and all the other "Nasty little bugs" as Prof Taylor would say, I've also been expelling fluid of different hues and viscosities from my facial orifices. Amidst the rather disturbed sleep (with vivid dreams) that I've been having, I've noticed two things:
1. I've never been sick so often in my life
2. I've never studied for such a sustained period in my life
These two events can't be related can they?
But battling headache and general malaise and coryza (a lot of people seem to be complaining about this coryza thingy... but no fever, thank goodness), I feel burnt out, as though I started studying too early in the year and now my engine's running out of fuel just when I need it most.
Sigh. That's me being whiney.
1. I've never been sick so often in my life
2. I've never studied for such a sustained period in my life
These two events can't be related can they?
But battling headache and general malaise and coryza (a lot of people seem to be complaining about this coryza thingy... but no fever, thank goodness), I feel burnt out, as though I started studying too early in the year and now my engine's running out of fuel just when I need it most.
Sigh. That's me being whiney.
~JcZw~ at 1:38 pm
Friday, October 24, 2008
Took a break of patho and Robbins and looked through last year's Medicamp pictures. I still remember the dates 16th July 2007, probably will for a long time yet.
Never looked through the pictures properly, mainly cos I hardly knew anyone. Only those from my OG. The few army friends I had were scattered too far and wide through the photos for me to make a realistic search for them.
But after one year (and almost an additional half), and getting to know a tremendous amount of people (especially through THIS year's Medicamp), I realised I knew most of the people in the pictures in the end, was able to laugh at this or that person's expression now that I knew him / her better. True, some of them I only know by sight, but better than nothing.
Still, its truly amazing how far we've all come, from various backgrounds and JCs, now all spun and oriented down this focused path on the way to becoming a doctor, an intravasation that was not easy, to be sure, but one that I'm grateful for. Amazing how after one short year, a few bursts of stress and a few more fun, every month, perhaps every week, there are new people whom I can say hi to in the LT.
Well, shall shove off now. After one week of lack of sleep, I can feel a prodrome of sore throat coming on.... NOOO!!! Don't fall sick now!!!
Never looked through the pictures properly, mainly cos I hardly knew anyone. Only those from my OG. The few army friends I had were scattered too far and wide through the photos for me to make a realistic search for them.
But after one year (and almost an additional half), and getting to know a tremendous amount of people (especially through THIS year's Medicamp), I realised I knew most of the people in the pictures in the end, was able to laugh at this or that person's expression now that I knew him / her better. True, some of them I only know by sight, but better than nothing.
Still, its truly amazing how far we've all come, from various backgrounds and JCs, now all spun and oriented down this focused path on the way to becoming a doctor, an intravasation that was not easy, to be sure, but one that I'm grateful for. Amazing how after one short year, a few bursts of stress and a few more fun, every month, perhaps every week, there are new people whom I can say hi to in the LT.
Well, shall shove off now. After one week of lack of sleep, I can feel a prodrome of sore throat coming on.... NOOO!!! Don't fall sick now!!!
~JcZw~ at 12:49 am
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Handball FMS today. It was a much bigger thing than last year's, with each level sending a team.
It was also a terribly hot day. I could feel it when I walked down to SRC from KE, already warming my legs below my tracks.
Our team consisted of a wide variety of players, from the towering Bingyi, to the stocky Keith and the lean mean Ben Ding whom I must say saved our necks more than a few times. We had a good mix of players alright. It was pretty interesting, actually, how we could see how each team had its own style of playing.
M1s: The Young Upstarts. Full of energy, dashing here and there, bouncing off the defenders and off the floor. All spectacular moves and to be sure the Team To Beat. But they started out slowly, hadn't gelled and with our team still being fresh, our defences were strong, almost airtight. Ben duly delievered on the other side, with Keith and Xizhen adding their contributions. M2 5 - M1 2
M3s: The Long Distance Shooters. The M3s didn't penetrate our defence a single time. Not once did they reach the 6 m line. But shooters like HanJie with screaming, swerving balls fired THROUGH the defenders played merry hell with the short M2 goalkeeper (guess who). We finished the second half tied at 3-3 (Ben had applied his own hat trick at the other side of the field on HuiJin, my senior also from KE) and went into sudden death.
It was at this crucial juncture where I made the most vital save in my entire life, though it wasn't the glamest. The M3s did a wave and had a free man on the right flank. If he had taken two steps to the front he wouldn't either have been at point blank range or he could also have been closed down, so predictably, he let fly from about 7 meters out. I was ill positioned to throw myself out of the goal and so ended up throwing myself ACROSS the goal instead,increasing the distance I had to cover.
The ball thumped into my left finger and my third finger took the shock o_0. Lucky the buddy support with the 4th finger worked fine and I JUST turned the shot around the post.
The deadlock was eventually broken when Ben broke and went one-on-one with HuiJin and converted. M2 4 - M3 3
3. M4s. Fast breakers. We were so close, but were denied by the only team who's profile I didn't know so well. The M4s, having just finished THEIR half hour break were in a much fitter state, whereas we had just finished gruelling match with our seniors. It was 11 am, and the sun was blazing hot.
And to make matters worst, they played fast breaks, which suited them far more than it did our battle-weary team. 4 times they broke, 4 times they converted, putting the game away at 4-2, Xizhen pulling back a good goal at the last minute which their keeper didn't even deign to save haha.
For the record, let me say that two crucial refereeing errors went against us. And while true, we were subject to the same referee, I couldn't help feeling that this was a game where fouls were given according to "feel" by the referee rather than cold knowledge of what fouls should be given what penalties.
While we had been plodding along with our tournament though, M1s had beaten M4s in their match. Which meant we had beat our juniors who had beat our seniors who had beat us. But the M1s had the superior goal difference which means they went to the finals, where they didn't disappoint and beat the M5s.
Was pretty irked by the manner of our loss since we were so close to going into the final. But realised while refereeing the latter that actually I was also pretty tired. In fact by the end of the match I just wanted to go somewhere and fall asleep heh. So I did, back in KE.
Well its been a momentous day. And thanks to my classmates, I had quite a lot of fun! We'll go to MUNUS next year and kick some people's backsides =) But for now, neuro anat, with its nucleuses, tracts and columns await.
It was also a terribly hot day. I could feel it when I walked down to SRC from KE, already warming my legs below my tracks.
Our team consisted of a wide variety of players, from the towering Bingyi, to the stocky Keith and the lean mean Ben Ding whom I must say saved our necks more than a few times. We had a good mix of players alright. It was pretty interesting, actually, how we could see how each team had its own style of playing.
M1s: The Young Upstarts. Full of energy, dashing here and there, bouncing off the defenders and off the floor. All spectacular moves and to be sure the Team To Beat. But they started out slowly, hadn't gelled and with our team still being fresh, our defences were strong, almost airtight. Ben duly delievered on the other side, with Keith and Xizhen adding their contributions. M2 5 - M1 2
M3s: The Long Distance Shooters. The M3s didn't penetrate our defence a single time. Not once did they reach the 6 m line. But shooters like HanJie with screaming, swerving balls fired THROUGH the defenders played merry hell with the short M2 goalkeeper (guess who). We finished the second half tied at 3-3 (Ben had applied his own hat trick at the other side of the field on HuiJin, my senior also from KE) and went into sudden death.
It was at this crucial juncture where I made the most vital save in my entire life, though it wasn't the glamest. The M3s did a wave and had a free man on the right flank. If he had taken two steps to the front he wouldn't either have been at point blank range or he could also have been closed down, so predictably, he let fly from about 7 meters out. I was ill positioned to throw myself out of the goal and so ended up throwing myself ACROSS the goal instead,increasing the distance I had to cover.
The ball thumped into my left finger and my third finger took the shock o_0. Lucky the buddy support with the 4th finger worked fine and I JUST turned the shot around the post.
The deadlock was eventually broken when Ben broke and went one-on-one with HuiJin and converted. M2 4 - M3 3
3. M4s. Fast breakers. We were so close, but were denied by the only team who's profile I didn't know so well. The M4s, having just finished THEIR half hour break were in a much fitter state, whereas we had just finished gruelling match with our seniors. It was 11 am, and the sun was blazing hot.
And to make matters worst, they played fast breaks, which suited them far more than it did our battle-weary team. 4 times they broke, 4 times they converted, putting the game away at 4-2, Xizhen pulling back a good goal at the last minute which their keeper didn't even deign to save haha.
For the record, let me say that two crucial refereeing errors went against us. And while true, we were subject to the same referee, I couldn't help feeling that this was a game where fouls were given according to "feel" by the referee rather than cold knowledge of what fouls should be given what penalties.
While we had been plodding along with our tournament though, M1s had beaten M4s in their match. Which meant we had beat our juniors who had beat our seniors who had beat us. But the M1s had the superior goal difference which means they went to the finals, where they didn't disappoint and beat the M5s.
Was pretty irked by the manner of our loss since we were so close to going into the final. But realised while refereeing the latter that actually I was also pretty tired. In fact by the end of the match I just wanted to go somewhere and fall asleep heh. So I did, back in KE.
Well its been a momentous day. And thanks to my classmates, I had quite a lot of fun! We'll go to MUNUS next year and kick some people's backsides =) But for now, neuro anat, with its nucleuses, tracts and columns await.
~JcZw~ at 5:10 pm
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Have missed out a lot of things that have happened in the last few weeks cos have no inspiration to blog... Shall just scribble (metaphorically speaking) down some stuff...
Run for Hope. Ran 10 km, finished in 1 hour 1 minute with 4 mouthfuls of water. Unfitness. Am not suited for running long distances... a full 11 minutes off the 5 min/km mark set in OCS. I think I hadn't sweated so much for a long time. My VJ shorts hadn't been subjected to so much fluid since I got thrown into the sea during VJ orientation hoho... Super high event. At least it was until I finished 7 km... I know 10 km is no kick to my other siblings and many people in medicine, but oh well...
PHS. Got to do the coveted CBG, had to poke 3 people twice and another poor fellow three times. But didn't get scolded. My hand was shaking like free for the first few. Wonder what the aflicted said people thought about me.
The Science Library. Touched it twice for the second and third times in my life this week. Pretty fulfilling. I pushed past what I thought I could endure and overloaded on viruses. But dunno if I can retain (Bad choice of words there I think). There are too many itis-es.
Intra fac games have been occupying a lot of my time this week. M2 lost soccer 3-4 to M1 on Monday. But am satisfied with my performance. Have a lot to improve on especially catching crosses. Jumping is all important - when I shook hands with the M1s after the match, all of them were taller than me except CunZhi. The ironic thing is that the M1s only had one short on target when I was in the goal (which I saved comfortably), but I totally didn't see the goal which I conceded coming.
Had a short training with 5 others at the handball court today for this saturday's game. Keith is a really good keeper, ultra fast with his hands. I would get him to play except the same upper limbs are needed for shots at the opponent's goal and also my footwork's slightly better. If we could merge my lower limbs, his upper limbs and get someone taller to volunteer a torso then we'll be in good shape!
There MUST be a way to cut one second off a dive to the ground or to the upper corners in handball! And I've three months to find that before IHG!
Run for Hope. Ran 10 km, finished in 1 hour 1 minute with 4 mouthfuls of water. Unfitness. Am not suited for running long distances... a full 11 minutes off the 5 min/km mark set in OCS. I think I hadn't sweated so much for a long time. My VJ shorts hadn't been subjected to so much fluid since I got thrown into the sea during VJ orientation hoho... Super high event. At least it was until I finished 7 km... I know 10 km is no kick to my other siblings and many people in medicine, but oh well...
PHS. Got to do the coveted CBG, had to poke 3 people twice and another poor fellow three times. But didn't get scolded. My hand was shaking like free for the first few. Wonder what the aflicted said people thought about me.
The Science Library. Touched it twice for the second and third times in my life this week. Pretty fulfilling. I pushed past what I thought I could endure and overloaded on viruses. But dunno if I can retain (Bad choice of words there I think). There are too many itis-es.
Intra fac games have been occupying a lot of my time this week. M2 lost soccer 3-4 to M1 on Monday. But am satisfied with my performance. Have a lot to improve on especially catching crosses. Jumping is all important - when I shook hands with the M1s after the match, all of them were taller than me except CunZhi. The ironic thing is that the M1s only had one short on target when I was in the goal (which I saved comfortably), but I totally didn't see the goal which I conceded coming.
Had a short training with 5 others at the handball court today for this saturday's game. Keith is a really good keeper, ultra fast with his hands. I would get him to play except the same upper limbs are needed for shots at the opponent's goal and also my footwork's slightly better. If we could merge my lower limbs, his upper limbs and get someone taller to volunteer a torso then we'll be in good shape!
There MUST be a way to cut one second off a dive to the ground or to the upper corners in handball! And I've three months to find that before IHG!
~JcZw~ at 11:29 pm
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Am now typing this using my sister's cool foldble keyboard... when i first saw it in Die Hard 4 I didn't quite believe it... thought it ws all part of the improbable nature of the show. But oh well, it seems to be quite nice to use, also one must get use to the squishiness of the keys.
The last week was busy. By the end of the week I was tired and more irritable than usual. Now that CAs are coming I shall try and sleep earlier though... Was just contemplating how people in this world can be so judgemental and how we ourselves in turn can be the same. People judge you if you come late for CCA / pon CCA / are lousy in your CCA, but then again when you go to the other extreme and sacrifice your sleep going for CCA and end up sleeping in class, people judge you as well. Heh. A bit deeper thinking than I usually do.
At the same time, with training for the intra-fac games going on, I'm wondering why there seems to have been a phase where every guy in the world learnt to play soccer and I didn't. Why I learnt how to play idiosyncratic things like handball and fencing, but not more classically-guy sports like soccer and basketball
This train of thought considerbly blackened my mood throughout the week until Friday, when various interactions with my Anat Group brought me considerably more cheer.
On bus 92 on the way back home yesterday, I was just thinking about my Anat group and that made me realise that actually I do have a lot to be grateful for, not the least the people around me (even though it may comprise of the judgemental parties). Its just that its very hard to remember the encouragement, the kind deeds that people have done for you when you're fatigued, hypersenstitive, and get irritated at the couple getting off the MRT escalator in front of you,PDA-ing so much that they don't clear the escalator fast enough and you have to squeeze around their entwined beings so that you and the rest of the people behind you don't pile up behind them like the start of the 1998 Belgium Grand Prix.
I'm grateful that I'm structurally whole, enough to take a handball hit to the ribs and shrug it off.
That I'm mentally capable, enough to survive a year of medschool.
That my psychomotor skills are intact, enough to learn how to drive.
That I've a whole family and relatives, whose members would send me for a run at 6.30 in the morning, or who would bake biscuits for me to book into OCS with
That I know a whole lot of KEVIIans, enough that I can find people to talk to at 1 am in the morning when I need to
That I have my OG, who would wait 4 hours past their sleeping time just to celebrate my birthday with me
That I have my Anat / PBL Group, a social group whom many would not consider close friends, but who to me are as close as the next
That I have my church friends, who have an uncanny instinct to send encouraging SMSes just when I need them.
And when one thinks back, a whole list of other things come to mind, from living in Singapore to the nasty SJ seniors who hammered me into my present character
There. That's better already. And hopefully I can hang on and remember these more often as we punch our way through intra-fac games, the Hallplay red tape and the impending CAs
The last week was busy. By the end of the week I was tired and more irritable than usual. Now that CAs are coming I shall try and sleep earlier though... Was just contemplating how people in this world can be so judgemental and how we ourselves in turn can be the same. People judge you if you come late for CCA / pon CCA / are lousy in your CCA, but then again when you go to the other extreme and sacrifice your sleep going for CCA and end up sleeping in class, people judge you as well. Heh. A bit deeper thinking than I usually do.
At the same time, with training for the intra-fac games going on, I'm wondering why there seems to have been a phase where every guy in the world learnt to play soccer and I didn't. Why I learnt how to play idiosyncratic things like handball and fencing, but not more classically-guy sports like soccer and basketball
This train of thought considerbly blackened my mood throughout the week until Friday, when various interactions with my Anat Group brought me considerably more cheer.
On bus 92 on the way back home yesterday, I was just thinking about my Anat group and that made me realise that actually I do have a lot to be grateful for, not the least the people around me (even though it may comprise of the judgemental parties). Its just that its very hard to remember the encouragement, the kind deeds that people have done for you when you're fatigued, hypersenstitive, and get irritated at the couple getting off the MRT escalator in front of you,PDA-ing so much that they don't clear the escalator fast enough and you have to squeeze around their entwined beings so that you and the rest of the people behind you don't pile up behind them like the start of the 1998 Belgium Grand Prix.
I'm grateful that I'm structurally whole, enough to take a handball hit to the ribs and shrug it off.
That I'm mentally capable, enough to survive a year of medschool.
That my psychomotor skills are intact, enough to learn how to drive.
That I've a whole family and relatives, whose members would send me for a run at 6.30 in the morning, or who would bake biscuits for me to book into OCS with
That I know a whole lot of KEVIIans, enough that I can find people to talk to at 1 am in the morning when I need to
That I have my OG, who would wait 4 hours past their sleeping time just to celebrate my birthday with me
That I have my Anat / PBL Group, a social group whom many would not consider close friends, but who to me are as close as the next
That I have my church friends, who have an uncanny instinct to send encouraging SMSes just when I need them.
And when one thinks back, a whole list of other things come to mind, from living in Singapore to the nasty SJ seniors who hammered me into my present character
There. That's better already. And hopefully I can hang on and remember these more often as we punch our way through intra-fac games, the Hallplay red tape and the impending CAs
~JcZw~ at 4:54 pm
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Often I've heard people talk about hating the toilets in hall, how they're too hot, too cold, too stinky, too flooded, how people miss to the front, miss to the rear (what the..), don't wash hands when using the handle etc.
Fortunately for the past year and a half, I've had pretty good toilets with pretty good toilet users. All of us are more or less civilised in the use of the commodes and are quite clued up about hygiene. Thankfully, I haven't had any close encounters since I left my company line in BMT, besides once when the F1 toilet released sewage across itself (though AHS had me used to that before). Unfortunately sometimes it's just the hardware that lets us down.
So there I was on Saturday afternon sitting on the toilet contemplating lunch and the upcoming PHS. The particular bowl which I was using wasn't exactly popular, as it had a sticky flush. That is, when depressed, the flush would go down and not come up again, causing a continuous flow of water into the bowl. A noise pollutor and, to any Singaporean, a total waste of water. But as I said, nothing worrying. At the moment there was the sound of water pouring into the cistern, cos somehow the balls (the floats) and springs and levers which control the water level did not provide negative feedback. Pretty much normal for the F2 toilet.
Then suddenly there was a ROAR of released water and fluid sprayed all over my feet. One of the worst things is to get cold fluid on my feet, and if there hadn't been someone in the next [working] cubicle (which was why I was using this slightly not so operable one) I would have screamed blue murder. As it was, my mind was going "WTHeck!" as I launched myself uncerimoniously through the cubicle door and out from the rapidly flooding cubicle. A few sniffs did allow me to ascertain that the fluid was, in fact, water, and not sewage as I had first feared. I could not see the source of the leak, but opening the cistern, I could see it was draining really fast.
With visions of Glen dismantling the toilet in Kyoto, and determined to be equally good with my hands, as well as to save F1 from drowning, I was determined to turn off the flow of water into the cistern, even though I didn't really appreciate having to go back into the thing. Locating the main faucet and turning it just took a little while and a lot of strength.
So ends one of my more significant encounters with the KE toilet. Still, not as bad as FM's one, where one pull of the chain and the cover of the overhead cistern would come crashing down towards your head
Fortunately for the past year and a half, I've had pretty good toilets with pretty good toilet users. All of us are more or less civilised in the use of the commodes and are quite clued up about hygiene. Thankfully, I haven't had any close encounters since I left my company line in BMT, besides once when the F1 toilet released sewage across itself (though AHS had me used to that before). Unfortunately sometimes it's just the hardware that lets us down.
So there I was on Saturday afternon sitting on the toilet contemplating lunch and the upcoming PHS. The particular bowl which I was using wasn't exactly popular, as it had a sticky flush. That is, when depressed, the flush would go down and not come up again, causing a continuous flow of water into the bowl. A noise pollutor and, to any Singaporean, a total waste of water. But as I said, nothing worrying. At the moment there was the sound of water pouring into the cistern, cos somehow the balls (the floats) and springs and levers which control the water level did not provide negative feedback. Pretty much normal for the F2 toilet.
Then suddenly there was a ROAR of released water and fluid sprayed all over my feet. One of the worst things is to get cold fluid on my feet, and if there hadn't been someone in the next [working] cubicle (which was why I was using this slightly not so operable one) I would have screamed blue murder. As it was, my mind was going "WTHeck!" as I launched myself uncerimoniously through the cubicle door and out from the rapidly flooding cubicle. A few sniffs did allow me to ascertain that the fluid was, in fact, water, and not sewage as I had first feared. I could not see the source of the leak, but opening the cistern, I could see it was draining really fast.
With visions of Glen dismantling the toilet in Kyoto, and determined to be equally good with my hands, as well as to save F1 from drowning, I was determined to turn off the flow of water into the cistern, even though I didn't really appreciate having to go back into the thing. Locating the main faucet and turning it just took a little while and a lot of strength.
So ends one of my more significant encounters with the KE toilet. Still, not as bad as FM's one, where one pull of the chain and the cover of the overhead cistern would come crashing down towards your head
~JcZw~ at 6:08 pm