lights....camera...action!!!

The end of my exams marked me taking up semi-permanent residence in the cinema. I’ve become this blob of protoplasm that just vegetates in front of the silver screen just because I have a life and couldn’t think of a better way of spending this new found freedom that I have on my hands.
The Kingdom of Heaven was pretty good. Orlando Bloom has successfully salvaged his manhood and redeemed himself with his portrayal of Baillion. …well maybe not entirely but it was definitely better than his Paris alter-ego in Troy. Then of course there were those over-rated …oh so clichéd romantic comedies that I have to sheepishly admit, I thrive on. Monster In-Law….. (seriously could you come up with a more cheesy title for a movie….) was so-so…. And Wedding Date …the male version of Pretty Woman in a nutshell. Speaking of which Monster In-Law is sorta like My Best Friend’s Wedding but instead of the neurotic, territorial best friend you have this ever smothering, ever protective, ever domineering MOTHER!!!!!!
Hmmm and of course I’ve seen the latest Star Wars instalment…and as I am not one of those Star Wars PhD holders, I thought it was pretty good. The only thing that was driving me up the wall was how Natalie Portman so overplayed the damsel in distress role……….. honestly… and this is coming from me who looks for the romance in every movie I watch. YODA ROCKS!!!

Its the best feeling in the world to lose yourself in movies.....the cinema, my sanctuary:)

the sound of silence

I will never fathom the dire need for people to incessantly talk. Its like an obsessive compulsion whereby they just HAVE TO TALK……..say something, anything, never mind even if it’s the most ludicrous statement….never mind that what comes out from that mouth is compleeeetely ……….DUMB….. the verbal catharsis must go on. Why is it that people find silence such a grappling concept to get their heads around? I’m not saying that talking is wrong or anything like.It’s just that when people subject you to conversations about ….you know things like….
‘Why the ketchup seems redder today than it did yesterday’ or they tend to state the OBVIOUS (we’re talking like in your face-Gee you don’t say-kinda obvious).
I mean fine…ONE comment about the hyperaemic tomato sauce is enough but when they launch into a whole discourse about it …..you’re like …what the hell are you on about??? To top it off…they expect input from you….like what do you want me to say????…..All you can do is smile and nod politely in stoic endurance of the matter/cut to the scene inside your head where you’re thinking ‘I’m in the Twilight Zone here.Okayyyy if its redder, its REDDER….so long as it doesn’t taste bad …suck it up and deal with it!!!!’
Its rather fascinating sometimes to watch how twitchy or how nervous some people get at dinner when a wave of silence washes over us. They’re eyes begin to dart all over the place, in hope that someone will say something….anything….fart even… so that may serve as stimuli for the gab to ensue. Eventually someone does piss on the silence and everyone can finally stop holding their breath. And once again mindless chatter drowns out the golden silence.
People always say that silence is awkward…..if you ask me….we are the ones who are the walking maladroits…silence merely amplifies that fact ;)

On War

Since the beginning of time,the human race has always been engaged on some form of war. Wars between families, between countries,within countries, between religions.....we’ve even waged war with Mother Nature.It seems that warfare has become more of a condition rather than an exception.Trigger happy folk who see the gun, the grenade or the machete as the ONLY WAY to resolution.Many psychological theories state that the need for war is innate to human nature. This school of thought says that the act of war is an extension of animal behaviour ie : territoriality and competitiveness. The need to conquer foreign land and to rule sovereign over all else. The need to create superhuman races, even if this means wiping out entire populations of a people with reckless abandon. It all boils down to human pride and arrogance...possibly bordering on insanity. Even 'wars' that have presumably noble intentions end up being lost causes. That very fine line between the good that people fight for and the bad that people fight against gets smudged out in the process and in the end all you have is a tit for tat thing going on between two or more parties.....a vicious cycle that perpetuates throughout the centuries.As pessimistic as this is going to sound, I don't think that there will ever be a day... (I'm not even going for a week)..... I don't think there will be just ONE day where all the nations of the world will be at peace with one another. There'll always be someone causing a revolt for change, someone wanting revenge,someone wanting more......world domination if that were possible. Its the human condition....we covet that we cannot have and the more we have the more we yearn for. Satisfaction and gratitude seems to be concepts that elude the human race. The only way we can hope to heal the world is to heal ourselves first.

As Mahatma Gandhi so eloquently once said “ We have to be the change we wish to see in the world”

Occam's Razor

In its simplest form, Occam's Razor states that one should make no more assumptions than needed. When multiple explanations are available for a particular event, the simplest version is preferred. A charred tree on the ground could be caused by a landing alien ship or a lightning strike. According to Occam's Razor, the lightning strike is the preferred explanation as it requires the fewest assumptions and is the most likely.

When discussing Occam's Razor with regards to the practise of medicine,doctors and philosophers of medicine speak of diagnostic parsimony. Diagnostic parsimony advocates that when diagnosing a given injury, ailment, illness, or disease a doctor should strive to look for the fewest possible causes that will account for all the symptoms.
Here's a sterling example: We have tutorials twice every week. During each session we are faced with problem cases ie:
Mr. W,23 went to see the GP complaining of abdominal cramps, vomitting, diarrhoea and fever. Discuss.

So basically, what we are supposed to do is come up with differential diagnoses as to what could be causing these problems. So here we have ambitious third year students armed with all this knowledge from the first 2 years of our career as medical students, of a whole myriad of diseases....and being the over-zealous idiots that we are ,come up with some of the most ludicrous causes for Mr.W's symptoms.
You have suggestions ranging from a neuroblastoma, to hydrocepahlus to Meniere's syndrome, appendicitis and of course gastritis, gastroenteritis, will eventually be mentioned. At this point the overseeing doctor stops us in our tracks...and says to us with a small smile..........'Remember,common things occur commonly. And if you logically rationalise the history of this patient, the odds are its a simple case of food poisoning.

Occum's Razor has quite a significance in every day life ,more than we think. In science, biology,statistics, crime -solving...why the boyfriend or girlfriend didn't call......it can always be applied...and should be.
Its all a matter of simplicity and logic.

Where Have All The Children Gone?

I was on the bus the other day and in between those lapses of concentration that are usually precipitated by agonizing bus journeys, I caught a glimpse of a newspaper heading. It read
" APPROXIMATELY 1 MILLION 10 YEAROLDS IN THE UK OWN A MOBILE PHONE"

The daylight robbery of a child's ...well ...childhood. Could there be a greater tragedy?I mean how weird is it to see kids who barely come up to your waist strutting around with a handphone. Wait!That's not all.11 year olds ...possibly younger are all caked up with make up, trying desperately to balance in their miniature heels and short skirts. Everything about them is miniature save their minds. The precociousness they display never fails to astound me....honestly. Next to them, I look infantile. What is the world coming to????
Are the future generations going to be populated by 5 year olds masquerading around as 25 year olds? By 15 year olds who think that sex is a hobby and that babies are the latest must have fashion acssesory?

What do we do now?

Impending Doom

Mainlining caffeine.
Sleepless nights.
Hours and hours of endless reading.
Sometimes its like walking up a down escalator...you start at the etiology of Pancreattitis and proceed on to the pathogenesis and how this mother of a disease finally unveils its ugly face etc....and then just when you think you've conquered one out of the gazziliion diseases that are out there in the great unknown.....you're back to wondering - " What the hell were those etiologies of Pancreatitis again????" Now that takes frustration to a whole new level.

My life has always revolved around them.
The stress they inflict is nothing new.
Nevertheless, I patiently wait for that monumental day when we cease to meet.
That sense of sweet liberation will be unlike any feeling I've felt before.
Because of them, I feel like life's in suspended animation, waiting for an absolution that just takes too damn long.
They draw closer and closer and before you know it you're facing off with the four horsemen.
At least that what it feels like most of the time.


So there you go......

FINALS HAVE ARRIVED.....LET THE BATTLES BEGIN!