Pass the Vodka

Talking about Morena's success two weeks after the MSFE 2008 is pretty pointless. So I won't go into petty discussions over something that the whole nation was never really hyped about in the first place. However, other successes have happend recently that need recognition and deserve the above title:

• I did pass my theory driving test. Now all I have to do is try sit for the practical, pass the test and get my license.
• Youth Ink January issue is out, and there are quite a humble amount of subscribers.
• The website team has experienced a lot more fuitfulness right now and this is how it is spelt...

www.maranathamalta.com

• And there was the community Lenten Weekend. Absolutely fabulous. Also, last but not least...
• I'm officially on my way to publishing my first booklet (which I was meant to finish last year). It's all part of this big project "In the House" hitting St. Julian's Parish very very soon.

In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out a way how I can study all my medicine (and surgery, and pathology, and pharmacology), get my hands on a few patients to practise my clinical skills and juggle with a never ending list of tutorials.

Simple: I'll just have to cut corners...and my blog will just have to suffer...

And for dessert...Muffin on a Snell

2008 is proving to be very eventful so far, despite the blog draught recently. But, I rarely come home with a writing mood. Plus, when I do, I write for Youth Ink, now that I've committed myself to issue this monthly for a whole year. I made people pay a €6 subscription for this, hence the priority.

But, there are other less "nerdish" things going on. I've no mid yearly exams this year (thank God!); just a few tests at the end of February and a theory driving test coming up this Wednesday. Unfortunately, it's the least I can say for this poor second year (and so many other forth years). He's doing good though, using the Neuroanatomy Snell I used to possess last year as a platform for muffin photo shoots. Exhibit A:

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to spending the weekend of Carnival with friends. It's a Lenten weekend, but there will be some degree of dressing up for the Saturday party. The theme? 60s night! A very similar disco party was organised quite a few years ago by the Bungee youths, back when Tutzi was still in community. I wasn't even part of community at the time. I just watched most of the action on tape the Christmas of 2006. It looked fun! Hopefully, this party would be translated into funness too (at least by Simon). I sense it plucking a few "nostalgia strings" for some people; others will just have to work a bit harder at finding a costume.

Last but not least...I'm off to Austria for a month this summer on SCOPE exchange. And my friends Christine and Malcom are coming with me (hopefully)! Not sure if I should stay there for three weeks or four though. Christine and Malcom have decided on a three week stay, something that I'm a bit reluctant to do. I guess I'll just consult other friends of mine after exams.

And for all of you reading this, if you have exams, I wish you the best of luck!

2007 Review

"There are no uneventful years. Each year leaves a trail of highlights, low lights and head-scratching moments."

Di-ve.com

Inspired by this article here, I thought of typing out the last post of 2007 by writing a "2007 year in review"...of my own life...

January: On the 1st of January, I finished my long essay "Target cells for gene transfer"...or so I thought. You see, some scientists who didn't finish writing their paper by the stroke of midnight, announced their gene therapy research accomplishments on the 9th of January. When I came back from my holidays, my tutor (Dr. Balzan) said I should add this to my essay as it's a very relevant discovery. So, I officially finished my essay on the 13th of January. In the meantime, there was the episcopal consecration of Mgr.Paul Cremona as the new archbishop of Malta.

February: This blog was born, on the 28th of the month, thanks to Martine Cauchi and Matthew Urpani's rants on the Internet. I also had to go to a Behavioural Science seminar in Halland (i.e. Hell Land reigned by creepy crawlies), which added to my list of assignments...

March: There were the Let's Face It! Lenten sermons that made me put to good use my "budding writing skills" (perhaps...). This was also the month I had my first HepB vaccine (1 out of 3). I also had the opportunity to cast my first vote at the local council elections...but I wasn't even bothered. BUT...my interest in politics received a burst of growth hormone.

April: There was a blood donation campaign organised by SCPOH - MMSA. I tried donating blood but *surprise, surprise* I wasn't able to. According to the nurses, I was actually eligible for a blood transfusion! There were also the usual Easter celebrations which I wasn't able to enjoy fully because of exams.

May: I was getting ready for my finals...and technically even Olivia Lewis. But, the song Vertigo didn't manage to get through :( I had my Physiology paper 1 on the 28th and Physiology paper 2 on the 30th.

June: Exams finished with pathology on the 22nd. In the meantime, Mater Dei was abused by Mother Nature, with level -1 looking more like a swimming pool with the heavy rain on Monday 4th June. On that day, the Life Cycle participants had a training session in Sicily. Also, Dun George Preca was declared the first Maltese Saint by Pope Benedict XVI.

July: I started working at McDonald's Bay Street. Also, I got my exam results...I made it to third year. A bit before that, on the 4th and 5th of July, there was the Mater Dei "open weekend", attended by more than 80,000 people (by the way, I was one of them...:), at the MMSA stand in the morning and selling Life Cycle lottery tikets in the evening). There was also the Isle of Man MTV festival were there were "tens of thousands of people" (but I think it was less than 80,000, hence Mater Dei wins, Maroon 5 and Akon lose).

August: I turned 20 on the 15th.

September: I started my clinical years at St. Luke's Hospital on the 15th, and I stopped working for McDonald's on the 30th. Also, the first consignment of Maltese euro coins arrived in Malta to help introduce the European curreny to a very confused nation (my grandma still thinks in terms of "xellini"). The Maltese euro coins feature the Mnajdra temples on the one, two, and five euro cent coins, the Maltese coat of arms on the 10, 20 and 50 euro cent coins and the eight-pointed Maltese cross on the € 1 and € 2 coins i.e. no more crabs, luzzus and Widnet il-Bahar anymore.

October: There was the famous MAM-Gov agreement that will bring about a few changes in working conditions for doctors in the very near future.

November: There was the even more famous Mater Dei migration, which included the transfer of the Medical school. Meanwhile, there was the Youth Weekend If you Dare... Also, Youth Ink (a new Marana Tha community newsletter) came to be.

December: I just had a very merry little Christmas with family and friends, while others were busy closing down the St. Luke's Hospital incinerator.

And to all my faithful readers, I wish you all a happy new year!

Merry Christmas

Kudos to Marija Farrugia for the above image.

"Open Sesame"

A surprising number of people have asked me to update this blog of mine. And so I will, by explaining why I haven't updated for so long. Well, I happened to be working on a little newsletter of my own for the community I form part of (read the "If you Dare" post just to refresh your memories). I christened this newsletter Youth Ink and it basically aims to build the church using Microsoft Word. Somehow, I sense that it's going to pick up rather nicely, even though I might not be using the best of building blocks. It so happens that "Microsoft sucks" appears 14.77 times more than "Apple sucks" using the AltaVista search engine...just for your info (all according to this simple survey here done by people with nothing to do).

It's been almost a month since we've moved to Mater Dei. I won't be going into my experience as a medical student over there. There's my behavioural science assignment for that. All I can say is that, during that month, we students were experiencing some degree of difficulty getting into the wards and theatres. Members of staff were only able to gain access via a programmable card which we did not have and, somehow, some nurses and the security people weren't able to understand that 0.25 of our education is done during wards rounds (with 0.05 done at lectures and the rest being up to you to so your homework at home). Please note also that our practical skills are going to be assessed at the end of this year (i.e. third year) and we're expected by our tutors to roll up our sleeves and start practising.

But, kudos to MMSA and any others involved, we finally managed to get access to wards (we found the magic words..."Open Sesame"). We tested our "staff cards" today and they work practically everywhere. Now, all we have to do is pick a colour that we fancy (red, green, yellow, brown or blue) and get down to some decent history taking I guess...

Announcement! ;)

As from tomorrow at 8am, lectures will be held at Mater Dei.

Kudos to Colin Mizzi for this (unofficial) advert.

If You Dare...

Around this time last week I was getting myself ready for this:

Well, let me announce (fashionably late) that I dared go to this weekend. It was an amazing boost overall; I just wish I can experience this all over again. It surely gives me something to blog about other than boring issues taking place in hospital.

Obviously, the idea of boring differs from one individual to another. I could be getting many eyes rolling on this post. Most probably, people who came to this blog through the MMSA website would have preferred finding an article about the good, the bad and the ugly of World Diabetes Day (WDD). MMSA could have given me something to blog about without all the controversy - a controversy that occasionally helps Ms. Caruana Galizia keep her Daphnicle going twice a week on The Independent (for when she's too bored talking about politics). There was a time when simply saying that I believed in Jesus was a daring thing to do since it guaranteed to stir quite a lot of debate in any conversation. Currently, I rarely find people in the mood to argue about the matter. The majority would be simply nauseated by the fact that "born again Christians" (as we're called, I got to know) could be such a bad advertisement to the very faith they're so dearly devoted to. As much as this fact is, sadly, very true, it is also very true that...

“There are only a handful [of Americans] who hate the Catholic Church, though there are millions who hate what they think the Church is.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Well, on a lighter note, there were two people at that weekend who were a little bit more daring then others (if I'm allowed to stretch things a bit): they allowed be to have a go at performing neurological examinations on them at 7:30 in the morning. A free license to stay hitting people with a tendon hammer...what more can a medical student ask for? Well, I didn't ask for much really but I certainly got much more than what I asked for.

And for any Marana Tha youth out there reading this blog...thank you for such a fantastic weekend.