G'day - or more accurately, g'evening. :)
Night shift, waiting for the inevitable tsunami of cases once midnight hits and we're officially down to 3 MOs and one senior manning the whole ER. I'm telling you, there's a conspiracy going on ( picture Mel Gibson looking crazed in "Conspiracy Theory" ). The ?Hokkien / ?Malay term for this is "pakat", as in people in the eastern part of Singapore communicating with one another and telling each other to storm the department at 12:01am. "You know ah, when the doctor is harrassed and tired, s/he is less resistant to issuing MCs." Is it? I tend to become more resistant, actually. "What?! You waited till 3am to come to the hospital?! You want MC for how many days?!" Long pause. Laser stare. I'm kidding. :P

I finally got my hands on the book I mentioned yesterday. It's actually quite well-done, and the Children's Cancer Foundation was very sweet to give me a certificate for my contribution, aww. I met one of the publishing company's staff members this afternoon, a very nice fellow who has his heart in the right place * thumbs up*. He said the company is contemplating a Volume 2 in the near future, and I asked him about a similar effort from the medical aspect. He seemed quite interested in that, but everyone's busy with various things at the moment, so the idea will have to wait.

What do you readers think? Is there a big enough market in Singapore for a collection of stories from local doctors, especially if it's for a good cause and not a profit-making venture? There're already quite a few prominent doctors who are very good writers. I personally think it'll do well, but only if marketed sufficiently, especially in terms of media exposure. Hey, Helmi Yusof is back. Maybe he can help when the time comes. :)

I can't find the results for the American Idol semi-finals as yet, but I must say Fantasia Barrino is by far the best in this set. Coming in a distant second is Katie Webber, the striking blonde who did a sexy rendition of the jazz-flavoured "Orange-Coloured Sky". Katie's good, but Fantasia is so much better. Strutting her stuff on stage, never missing a note, putting everything she had into a classic R&B song, she is one superstar of a 19-year-old! Matthew Metzger, the guy who resembles Michael Vartan from "Alias", is great to look at, but doesn't have that strong a voice. And Erskine, sadly, didn't do very well with "Open Arms" -- he sounded a little too controlled, if you know what I mean. Same thing with Ashley Thomas, who sang "Crazy" in a very constipated manner ( pity, her voice is actually quite nice if you can get past the clenched teeth ).

Did you see the SMSs pouring in during the AI3 telecast though? Lots of mentions of William Hung -- "Where's Hung? We want Hung! Bring Hung back!" And get this, a radio station in San Francisco is doing a story on "The Hung", and Singapore is featured! This is told to me by a lady I got to know through a previous collaboration, and who works at this station. It's hilarious, but also really cute. :D I like Hung a lot! Glad he's now got his own legions of fans!

Also caught "CSI: Season 3", which now screens on cable every Wednesday night at 9 pm. The premiere has the CSI team tracking a serial killer who targets young married couples, luring them with the promise of kinky bedroom activities. Another rehash, you say? Hardly. The first half of this two-parter offers a major twist that is guaranteed to make you tune in to the next episode. And if you don't mind a spoiler, the twist is: the prime suspects became the victims. Major hmmmm...

Right, a fellow Clay fan just told me the results from AI3: Fantasia ( YES! ), Diana ( a 16-year-old who isn't too bad but I still prefer Katie ), and Matthew the good-looker were in the top 3, but Matt didn't make it to the finals in the end ( they like to show you the top 3 then kick one off ). No Katie?? Let's hope she returns for the wild card show then. Clay won that segment last year, and look where he is today. :)

As predicted, the patients are flocking to the ER. Let's see, another 7 hours to go. SOB.