Another mind-numbing shift in the ER. 40 cases in 7 hours. 60 more minutes to go before I call it a day. SIGH...

So I keep hearing good things about the KKH Paediatrics A&E Department. Shorter night shifts ( 9 hrs maximum compared to the usual 11 elsewhere ), usual tally of 20 cases per shift ( OH YEAH ), a common queue ( HALLELUJAH ), sending up to the ward without the need for plugs / bloods in the majority ( YES! ). We even have a 9pm - 6am shift. Wow, if I get home before 7, I'll still have time for a quick swim before breakfast. Woohoo... :D

Anyway, the countdown to the Big Move begins. All systems go. Major packing and unpacking. Did I mention how much I love my new room? Can't wait to stay over for good. :)

More inane stuff ( sorry, am saving my lucid thoughts for the SMA News and another writing collaboration ). :)

The Next Joe Millionaire -- Saturdays 10pm, Channel 5

Yeah, there's a sequel , believe it or not. The first had Evan Marriott playing a bachelor with a fake US $50 million fortune. The girl he picked ( ie. Zora ) agreed to continue dating him even after he revealed the awful truth, then the two of them were presented with a US $1 million cheque for, I guess, giving the story a nice happy ending, and proving that not all human beings are money-faced hypocrites.

This time round, the bachelor in question is David Smith, a true-blue Texan cowboy with a cute accent, and even cuter buns ( think Brad Pitt's physique :)). Blonde, blue-eyed, boyish, a little shy -- seems like a perfectly nice guy. But he's being thrust into a group of European women ( who, as a prequisite for the show, have NEVER heard of the original "Joe Millionaire" ), and all signs indicate he will be eaten alive.

The lie has been inflated -- instead of US $50 million, Smith's estimated "worth" is now $80 million, thanks to an "oil tycoon father". The girls are holed up in his "Italian villa", but show obvious disdain when first informed of his cowboy roots. Stemming from some cultural bias maybe? Odd.

Anyway, this bunch of girls puts the previous batch to shame. American women are a thousand times better than these trashy loudmouths. Or maybe the producers deliberately picked these females for this specific reason. They chain smoke, drink champagne by the bottles, stay up till the wee hours of the morning, get up just before lunch, cuss without shame, and make no effort to conceal their LURVE for money, Money, MONEY.
"I love diamonds and pearls," says one. "He'd be the perfect boyfriend. He can take me shopping and pay for everything ," gushes another. And this is even before they meet the guy.

The only woman that stands out at this point is a softspoken long-haired brunette -- didn't manage to catch her name -- whose past boyfriends include "poor artistic losers", but whom she loved anyway. She reminds me of Zora, who was also the sweetest of the whole bunch, and eventually ended up the victor. We'll see what happens.

Here's a nice blog run by a fellow Clay Aiken fan I got to know through the local fan club. She's due for a med school interview on Tuesday. Good luck! ( And since when did they make it so tough? Psychometric test? Essay? Wow, things were a walk in the park in my day! )

Lianya's Blog

--> by the way, read her April 12 entry, which details a visit by the CAS group to the Autism Association Singapore's Simei Centre. Very informative and inspiring. Keep up the good work, everyone!

Movie quote for the day:

Taken from another Kevin Spacey film, "The Usual Suspects". ( Fantastic movie, this one -- but you've got to be fully awake in order to appreciate it )

Verbal Kint ( one of the roles played by Spacey ): "Keaton once said, "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him." Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze."