Good Bye 2015!
While 2014 is a year of change for me, 2015 is pretty much a consolidation.
TCM Physician
Time flies and I am now a physician with two years of practising experience. While the first year was still working as an apprentice to other more senior physicians, this year I have the chance to see patients independently. For the first time, I encountered patients who would return to see you because they trust you and it is a joy to see patients get better as treatment proceeds. Yet as a beginning physician, I am still learning and sometimes still stumped by complicated cases. But I guess this is part of experience gaining and the more experience I gain, the better I become. I want to thank my friends who came to look for me despite my inexperience and thank you for being part of my learning journey. As the year draw to an end, I also started practising as a locum at a clinic at Pasir Ris. I see next year as a year with more learning and consolidation.
Work as a Learning Designer
A lot of friends thought I went to TCM full time, which is not yet the case. I still have a full-time job at a local university as a learning designer. One reason for the misconception is perhaps I don't mention much about my job. I made the switch at the end of last year and this year is really starting many initiatives from scratch. Besides building the learning design and media production teams, we completed a few projects including setting up collaborative learning spaces across the various campuses, engaging lecturers in both face-to-face and online learning projects as well as designing workshops for them to teach more effectively. I also volunteered to be involved in the university's SG50 initiative where I got to interview Mr Lim Hock Chee who is the boss of Sheng Shiong. This March, I also went on a study trip to visit the universities in Brisbane. It was still very much a job filled with challenges and excitement, one year into it.
Vox Camerata
I joined Vox Camerata in April last year but I have decided to call it quits to focus on other things in life. This was after the highlight of having gone with the choir to perform at Brisbane (which I timed my work trip to happen together). This trip brought back memories of having performed with NUS Choir many years ago at Sydney. Friendships were forged with the choir folks during the trip. The first time I perform in a church service was with Vox at St John's Cathedral. The first time I visited a Freemason's lodge is with Vox. It was also a privelege to work with the Australian high school kids at the various schools we visited and rekindling the love I had with singing since my school days. Returning from Brisbane, we had another amazing concert at the Armenian Church for the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. A highlight is a tribute sang for the passing of our founding Father, Lee Kuan Yew. The concert was met with raving review from Chang Tou Liang of the Straits Times, and also an apt ending to my involvement with Vox.
http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/concert-review-sacred-armenian-tunes-heavenly-voices-of-vox-camerata
Action For Aids
Perhaps a little side note about my involvement with AFA. After the orientation, I was doing on-job-training with the Anonymous Testing Service (ATS). Nothing interesting here except that we had to go through counselling, pricking and counter duties before we become full fledged volunteers. For OJT, we would follow a more senior volunteer. And finally later in the year, I become a full fledged volunteer myself. Volunteering at ATS is an experience I would remember for a long time.I see cases of folly become anxiety as the clients get tested and wait for their test results. And I see cases where the world just crumbles before you when you first realise you are positive. But being a volunteer is also about being aware of the support system that enables HIV positive clients to enjoy a quality of life that is equivalent to a normal person. At the same time, it is also a reminder to practice safe sex and be faithful to one's partner.
See The World
While it was my first time visiting Brisbane, it was not my first Australian trip (previously been to Perth and Sydney). Perhaps if not for the Vox choir trip and my work, I wouldn't have gone to Australia. I never really like Australia as a travel destination, but I made full use of it exploring the museum and town hall, watching a musical at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, taking a cruise down the Brisbane river, playing with the kangaroos and looking at other curious marsupials at Lone Pine, visiting the farmer's market at Eumundi and even a day trip to Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast. Later in the year, I visited Seoul. As a first timer in Korea, I was initiated into a world of Kimchi, K-pop and skin care products. There was a lot of shopping, sightseeing and cafe hopping. And most of all, I enjoyed learning to read Korean characters while finding my way around the city. Then there's the usual trips to Bangkok and KL just to wind down and relax.
Talks and Exhibitions
This year brings a lot of opportunities to attend talks and exhibitions. I got acquainted with the Head Foundation, which is an education think tank which organises regular talks on education and leadership. I participated in this year's Heritage Festival where there is the ICOMOS conference and other learning journeys associated with the festival such as the Maritime trail, Queenstown heritage trail and MOE heritage centre open house. I also went for finance talks such as those given by CPF Board, Money Talk and the Wealth Academy. There's also the URA talk on the new Capitol Theatre. Modern Aging was another programme I joined that have talks on entrepreneurship. In terms of exhibitions, there's a host of SG50 exhibitions and also one commemorating the passing of LKY. The most recent is the one entitled "Future of Us" which looks at the future of Singapore as a nation.
2015 also saw the passing of LKY, SG50 celebrations and a Singapore General Election where we saw a swing back to the PAP. Worldwide, we saw same-sex marriage being legalised in the US, the face of terrorism striking Paris, the refugees exodus from Syria and Iraq, historic meeting between the presidents of China and Taiwan and NASA New Horizon Spacecraft flying past Pluto. These are just some events that were significant this year but will be forgotten in the tide of humanity.
What do I look forward in 2016? Personally, it will be a year of learning and expansion. I will taking up another locum at Tanjong Pagar clinic. I want to learn more in the coming year - how to be a good physician and start a business in TCM are just two things in my mind.
TCM Physician
Time flies and I am now a physician with two years of practising experience. While the first year was still working as an apprentice to other more senior physicians, this year I have the chance to see patients independently. For the first time, I encountered patients who would return to see you because they trust you and it is a joy to see patients get better as treatment proceeds. Yet as a beginning physician, I am still learning and sometimes still stumped by complicated cases. But I guess this is part of experience gaining and the more experience I gain, the better I become. I want to thank my friends who came to look for me despite my inexperience and thank you for being part of my learning journey. As the year draw to an end, I also started practising as a locum at a clinic at Pasir Ris. I see next year as a year with more learning and consolidation.
Work as a Learning Designer
A lot of friends thought I went to TCM full time, which is not yet the case. I still have a full-time job at a local university as a learning designer. One reason for the misconception is perhaps I don't mention much about my job. I made the switch at the end of last year and this year is really starting many initiatives from scratch. Besides building the learning design and media production teams, we completed a few projects including setting up collaborative learning spaces across the various campuses, engaging lecturers in both face-to-face and online learning projects as well as designing workshops for them to teach more effectively. I also volunteered to be involved in the university's SG50 initiative where I got to interview Mr Lim Hock Chee who is the boss of Sheng Shiong. This March, I also went on a study trip to visit the universities in Brisbane. It was still very much a job filled with challenges and excitement, one year into it.
Vox Camerata
I joined Vox Camerata in April last year but I have decided to call it quits to focus on other things in life. This was after the highlight of having gone with the choir to perform at Brisbane (which I timed my work trip to happen together). This trip brought back memories of having performed with NUS Choir many years ago at Sydney. Friendships were forged with the choir folks during the trip. The first time I perform in a church service was with Vox at St John's Cathedral. The first time I visited a Freemason's lodge is with Vox. It was also a privelege to work with the Australian high school kids at the various schools we visited and rekindling the love I had with singing since my school days. Returning from Brisbane, we had another amazing concert at the Armenian Church for the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. A highlight is a tribute sang for the passing of our founding Father, Lee Kuan Yew. The concert was met with raving review from Chang Tou Liang of the Straits Times, and also an apt ending to my involvement with Vox.
http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/concert-review-sacred-armenian-tunes-heavenly-voices-of-vox-camerata
Action For Aids
Perhaps a little side note about my involvement with AFA. After the orientation, I was doing on-job-training with the Anonymous Testing Service (ATS). Nothing interesting here except that we had to go through counselling, pricking and counter duties before we become full fledged volunteers. For OJT, we would follow a more senior volunteer. And finally later in the year, I become a full fledged volunteer myself. Volunteering at ATS is an experience I would remember for a long time.I see cases of folly become anxiety as the clients get tested and wait for their test results. And I see cases where the world just crumbles before you when you first realise you are positive. But being a volunteer is also about being aware of the support system that enables HIV positive clients to enjoy a quality of life that is equivalent to a normal person. At the same time, it is also a reminder to practice safe sex and be faithful to one's partner.
See The World
While it was my first time visiting Brisbane, it was not my first Australian trip (previously been to Perth and Sydney). Perhaps if not for the Vox choir trip and my work, I wouldn't have gone to Australia. I never really like Australia as a travel destination, but I made full use of it exploring the museum and town hall, watching a musical at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, taking a cruise down the Brisbane river, playing with the kangaroos and looking at other curious marsupials at Lone Pine, visiting the farmer's market at Eumundi and even a day trip to Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast. Later in the year, I visited Seoul. As a first timer in Korea, I was initiated into a world of Kimchi, K-pop and skin care products. There was a lot of shopping, sightseeing and cafe hopping. And most of all, I enjoyed learning to read Korean characters while finding my way around the city. Then there's the usual trips to Bangkok and KL just to wind down and relax.
Talks and Exhibitions
This year brings a lot of opportunities to attend talks and exhibitions. I got acquainted with the Head Foundation, which is an education think tank which organises regular talks on education and leadership. I participated in this year's Heritage Festival where there is the ICOMOS conference and other learning journeys associated with the festival such as the Maritime trail, Queenstown heritage trail and MOE heritage centre open house. I also went for finance talks such as those given by CPF Board, Money Talk and the Wealth Academy. There's also the URA talk on the new Capitol Theatre. Modern Aging was another programme I joined that have talks on entrepreneurship. In terms of exhibitions, there's a host of SG50 exhibitions and also one commemorating the passing of LKY. The most recent is the one entitled "Future of Us" which looks at the future of Singapore as a nation.
2015 also saw the passing of LKY, SG50 celebrations and a Singapore General Election where we saw a swing back to the PAP. Worldwide, we saw same-sex marriage being legalised in the US, the face of terrorism striking Paris, the refugees exodus from Syria and Iraq, historic meeting between the presidents of China and Taiwan and NASA New Horizon Spacecraft flying past Pluto. These are just some events that were significant this year but will be forgotten in the tide of humanity.
What do I look forward in 2016? Personally, it will be a year of learning and expansion. I will taking up another locum at Tanjong Pagar clinic. I want to learn more in the coming year - how to be a good physician and start a business in TCM are just two things in my mind.