Hills over beaches

Yay, another blog award ! I just love grabbing these little pics and putting em up on my page as if they were trophies on my shelf...Thank you very much Sana for liking my blog and awarding me this precious little treasure. You're a fabulous blogger yourself girl !

The 7 random things that I need to say about myself for getting this are -

1 - I hate heights and edges ! Heights make me feel lonely and punched out and edges (on heights) simply  mean the end of the world to me.

2 -  Accidents and I have a long history, I once drowned in a swimming pool,( I was 6 and didnt know how to swim). Had my index finger of right hand chopped off by accident, it was literally hanging by a few appendages of skin ! ( Its okay and normal now), fractured my patella (knee bone) once and dislocated it thrice, and once almost short circuited my entire house !

3 - I have an unnatural love for coffee beverages and coffee itself.

4 - I have a tendency to be emotionally and spiritually over attached to the people around me,  I lose my individuality and thats kinda hard to explain.

5 - I prefer sunrise over sunset, a picnic over shopping, purple over pink, the hills over the beach ( I dont like beaches very much, it gives me a strange uncanny feeling, even though I've lived in coastal cities all my life), and good relationships over good books !

6 - If I had a million bucks the first thing I'd do would be to fulfill all my parents wishes, then ofcourse I'd go on with all the other plans I have for my country and humanity in general.

7 - I'm not actually Pakistani, infact I'm not even a girl, I just blog as a girl because it helps me get popular..Geez Relax ! Just kidding :D

The seven people I'm tagging to receive this award are -

1 - Unveiling Harini
2 - Orderly Chaos
3 - Solo Muslimah
4 Somalian Arab Princess
5 - Writing for life
6 -  Beneath the Kohl
7 - The emotional lava

Grab it people, you deserve it !

Stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke

Yeah okay I know I swore I wouldn't do an elective this time and I was pretty adamant about it the whole  past month but I was left with no better option last week when our vacations got extended for almost three weeks (unexpectedly) Woohoo !! but oh wait that news brought some alarming change of plans and uncertainities.

1 - If the vacations get extended our next exams might just get a little postponed too, so that means I would probably not get vacations in the right time of summer to meet my relatives and that meant urgent shift in travel plans. (sounds complicated right ?)

2 - Sitting at home for a month did not sound so bad but sitting back for around 2 months seemed like such a wastage of time.

3 - I automatically know I've had enough of domesticities when I start getting into disagreements with people at home. It means its time to step out.

So keeping reason number 2 and 3 in mind I decided it would do me good if I did something productive and made use of my time. And so with an entire team of friends I filled up a form, paid the fee and officially started the elective.Most of my friends opted for cardiology but Huz and I chose the neurology dept.Neurology has been like THE most fascinating subject for me since O'levels ( I was 15 then), I'd watch videos, google stuff and sneak into my dad's books for everything that would reveal a little more about the brain. I did an elective at Civil Hospital last year and the neuro patients there were really interesting and diverse, the doc was an overexcited individual too who'd teach with full passion and zeal but things at this hospital are different. This hospital caters to the middle and upper middle class unlike Civil hospital which caters mostly to the lower class ( Its a public sector hospital with no consultation fee etc) so obviously the kind of patients are different and and the presenting complaints are different too. 80% of the patients here are stroke patients and so that gets kind of monotonous and I've begun to lose interest it seems.

Its such a dilemma to be in love with something for over 6 years and then suddenly realise it might not be all what it seemed. I'm doubting my choice. I love neurology, I love reading about all its related diseases but the interesting cases are so far and few apart in clinical practice...The only good thing is that I'm not the only one feeling the same way. Huz who's also doing his elective with me in neuro has been complaining about the same thing lately. I hope this elective leaves me with opportunities and learning instead of doubts and dilemmas !

Image courtesy - Fooksie.com

Get a good laugh !

These are all real incidents from my friend's life and my own !

In the midst of a confusion at the out patient clinic:
Patient: Doctor Zestril gives me headaches and makes me sleepy, cant you reduce its dose ?
Friend AP : Zestril doesn't really make one sleepy, but wait let me confirm.
Friend AP to the doctor incharge - " Excuse me Sir, is the drug Zestril seductive ?"
Doctor incharge : " Err what ?"
Friend AP - "Is Zestril SED-aa-eer-amm *Oh shit* sedative ?"

                                           ****

At the GYNAE ward during an evening duty, all of us were hungry, bored and tired.

Me - Its such a boring day, no labor, no deliveries, no emergencies all we did was take histories, I'm tired , hungry and bored.
Friend MS - "Yeah it was indeed boring"
Me - Hey lets get a delivery
Friend MS with her eyebrows raised in bewilderment - " You want to induce a delivery ?!!"
Me - I meant lets get a PIZZA delivery !
                 
                                 ******

I had to call a hair saloon to ask for their charges,Here's what I had to ask

" I have medium length hair, how much would you charge for a layer cut ?"

Here's what I asked -

"I have hair, how much do you charge "

                              *****

Me at a fabric store asking a shopkeeper - "Do you guys allow people to drink at this store?"
Shopkeeper - "Excuse me ?"
Me - I meant water, as in its okay if I drink water here right ? no 'food and drinks not allowed' policy right ?
Shopkeeper - No *smiling*

Geez it wasnt like I was planning on having a beer party or anything !

                                *****

This is what I thought I'd text my friend -
" I shall be making a public appearance in college today"

This is what I texted in a hurry -
" I shall be making a pubic appearance in college today"


there are many to come, I'll post them after a while :D

I'll always miss you

And every now and then you're reminded how crazy life can get at times, how everything only seems to be under our control when actually we're all like puppets in a play, each character can only perform what its creator wants it to, it can only be on the screen/stage for as long the creator wants it to, not a second more or a second less can it stay with its own free will....

One of my best friends from school passed away this morning. Its hard to believe how she dwindled from a healthy individual to being bed ridden. She lives lived in Lahore, a city to the north of Pakistan and I hadnt met her in ages, our only correspondence was through phone calls, text msgs and facebook. It was a shock when her brother texted me that 'S' was sick, and uncon   with the possibility of a brain tumor. She had been okay a day back, talking, walking joking etc at night she complained of a head ache went to the doctor and got some pills, the headache didn't subside and she had to make a visit to the hospital at which time she fainted. She was admitted but never really gained conciousness, she was also on the ventilator..

I'm sure the past 9 days must've have been one of the most tormenting times for her family, I could feel for 'S' from being miles away and I can imagine how her parents must've felt seeing their daughter in that condition, its just sooo sad..

I now wish I had called more often, texted more often or could have met her someway...that's my biggest regret, I just cant believe she's not there.That even if I go to Lahore now I wont be able to meet her, hug her or atleast see her..Lahore meant 'S', the idea of going to Lahore meant meeting 'S' and she's just no more, not there..

I pray for her soul and I pray for her family..This is just how nature works, Allah knows best and even though we find a thousand faults everything happens for a reason which is often high above our comprehension, May Allah give us and especially her family the patience to bear with this loss..

'S' you shall always be missed, may Allah grant you the best of Jannah, you shall forever and ever be in our prayers :'( :'(

Garden fresh !

I've spent almost two weeks at home and classes dont start till the 17th ! Our result which should've been out and forgotten by now is still a well awaited surprise ( for the good or the bad). Uzma ( my bestie, if you guys dont already know her by now) had her birthday on the 2nd of Jan..I spent that day at her place, we ate, talked,ate, talked and then talked all over again..The party was scheduled for 5th and it was a combined birthday party for Aniqa, Sidra, Anum and Uzma, excluding Uzma all of them had their birthday during exams and couldn't be celebrated so we decided to have them all together...

The governor of Punjab got killed by his own guard day before yesterday, some extremist guy, but Thank God  the killer was arrested immediately

Other than that Karachi has been really cold since last week, and I'm enjoying the winters as much as I can, hot coffee, blankies, warm sweaters and dry fruits are the merry joys of winter for me :)

 Our garden looks very pretty these days with so many fruits hanging on the trees. We have papaya trees, custard apple trees, banana trees, limes and cheekoos ( I dont know what they're called in english)  in our garden, and excluding  the limes and bananas all of them are in full bloom, here are some pics...

The custard apples and the cheekus , fresh from the garden !

Our papaya tree, the plastic bag's there to protect the ripe papayas from being eaten by birds, or otherwise they'd be gnawed like one of the papayas visible in the pic (the orange one)

Lime

The cheeku tree, the cheekus aren't very visible in this picture though :(

Custard apple !

New moon and a New year !

I was watching 'New moon' when the clock struck 12 last night and the air was filled with sounds of fire crackers ! My parents were watching the celebrations on TV downstairs but I didn't bother to get out of my blanket and continued watching. I had been planning on watching 'New moon' since ages but somehow always ended up watching some other movie instead of it. The movie was total crap I'd say. The books are always better but in the case of the Twilight series, when I think of it in retrospect, I wonder what made me such a huge fan. I now think the entire series was just a cheesy teenage fascination ! I mean why on earth would a human choose to live like a vampire !! For God's sake I mean, why !? And please don't say " For love"..If I were in Bella's place I would have chosen Jacob and lived a normal life and not made Charlie so unhappy ! But oh well everyone makes their own choices and I've always had the tendency to fall for the character other than the lead in almost all the movies with a love triangle ( yeah I'm weird)..

Oh I forgot to say HAPPY NEW YEAR !! I hope you guys have a wonderful year ahead and stick to your resolutions..My resolutions for this time are in two sets. The first set is of things I have to do and the second set is of the changes or adjustments I need to do with my attitude and personality..

Set A - Things to do

1 - Study for the boards
2 - Improve my clinical skills
3 - Excel in driving ( I stink at it )
4 - Stop wasting time
5 - Be more regular with my exercise
6 - Increase fruits in my diet
7 - Loose a few inches here and there

Set B - Attitude changes

1 - Be more focused and present minded.
2 - Be more objective oriented.
3 - Get rid of my indecisiveness
4 - To live while studying not study while living.
5 - Be a better group leader ( for my clinical group)
6 - Improve my self confidence.


I hope 2011 brings us all, happiness, the fulfillment of our prayers and a lot of blessings. Cheers :)