In search of the Lions

Despite the David Attenborough-ishness of the title, I'm really not referring to felines but to the more human charitable foundation.
I wasted a good hour in Doma Laukums waiting for this mythical meeting to start, and looking ridiculous in front of the hotel Concierge to boot.
As it turns out, they had changed their meeting time from 3.00pm to 7.00pm
Honestly, you'd think that such an international organisation would have by now understood the importance of updating their information online, wouldn't you?

The whole idea of joining that institution did look very enticing till today. Having just found their Latvian website and browsed through their photographs, I'm not so sure I'd fit into their rather staid clique.
Beautifully coiffed ladies "promenading" in Riga's parks, or cigar smoking men cocooned in their private clubs, just doesn't match my expectation of active leading altruists.

I suppose I should attend at least one meeting and see how it goes, who knows I might not be invited to become a member anyway.

On a completely different note, I nearly lost my patience today after the umpteeth poorly controlled primary arterial hypertensive patient turned up at the polyclinic.
Is it asking too much of Latvian General Practitioners to correctly medicate their patients? They seem to have forgotten that there are a lot more drugs available these days other than your bog-standard 5mg bisoprolol, or is Concord just too easy to remember?
It's really rather simple if 5mg doesn't work, increase the dose or try a different anti-hypertensive group of drugs.
The incompetence of some GPs put the entire clan's reputation at risk, I wish they'd keep it mind. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that so many people join the medical profession for either the money or the status, and so few because they truly wish to be good clinicians.




“There is nothing settled, nothing staid in this universe”
(Virginia Woolf)

A walk on the beach

Twenty nine years ago, a rather young couple got married. They're still living together, pragmatically rather than with absolute-fairy-tale-happiness , which is quite remarkable considering the current situation of the world. So let me raise the proverbial glass in honour of my parents' marital achievement.

Well after a fruitless morning reading up on the basics of the MCCEE and the MCCQE, I have finally understood why various national medical councils offer the option of obtaining their national medical licences to foreign graduates. It's a money making scam!
I don't really know why I'm even contemplating this horrendous task, (since I have absolutely no desire of ever living in Canada) except perhaps just to please dear old Daddy- and mayhap to prove to myself that I didn't just waste five and half years of my life on nothing.

The latter part of the day is by far the best. Katja and I drove all the way to Jurmala for a nice long walk along the Baltic beach. Jurmala is a charming coastal town with quaint little wooden houses and incongruous modern architectural marvels thought up by the Nouveaux-Riches.
It was quite a cloudy-rainy day, but the beach was full of "walkers" enjoying the fresh sea breeze.
There's a certain allure to the Baltic sea in this weather. I don't really know how best to describe it, perhaps one must really experience it rather than read about it. The small waves rhythmically sway back and forth as they rock the small black-headed gulls meditating on the surface of the water. A multitude of shades of grey line the horizon, like many layers of ethereal pearly organza.
Which each step you take on the wet sandy beach filled with patches of drying tangled brown seaweed, you regain a sense of equilibrium.

"The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace."
by Kate Chopin.

Birthday Musings

Another year has flown by, and I can certainly identify this years wrinkles. Perhaps it is time to invest in a good anti-wrinkle cream, but at the same time isn't that admitting that one has aged?

I had a wonderful evening with the girls. Went bowling, played pool and ended up having dinner in a quaintly decorated restaurant. It really was a great evening.
I have to admit I did miss Mum and Dad, but the next best thing is to be either surrounded by good friends, good wine and good food or to for a detox weekend and ignore your birthday altogether if you can't be surrounded by the "good" people.

Funnily enough this must be one of the few birthdays when I haven't had to suffer the whole cake and candle scenario.

The anaesthesiology cycle has also began, quite enjoying it despite the fact the lack of real patients. They're not very keen on letting us try to intubate real patients, they simply keep making us repeat every step on dummies till we tire of them. I appreciate the fact that letting us lose on patient isn't really ideal, however I can't stop wishing they'd let me intubate a real patient.

The new one-a-day Atripla has been approved by the EU. I wonder if many will be switching from their current 3-a-day tablets to the new version.

An Enchanting Chocolate Evening

It's that time of the year again when I feel the need to ramble publicly.
Having spent the day moving dust from one end to the next, I was glad when Edite finally called me from the bus stop.
We had planned to bake a cake for Pete, but since neither of us really wanted to see the old man, we decided to enjoy the fruits of our labour ourselves.

For an easy chocolate cake:
6 medium eggs
200g of Laima "Christmas chocolate" -dark chocolate
250g of butter
250g of sugar
250g of self raising flour- or if like me you're in a country which as yet does not sell self-raising flour- just plain white wheat flour and the necessary amount of baking powder.

Pre-heat the oven 180C
Beat the eggs till they become light and almost fluffy- faster to use food processor
Melt chocolate
Melt butter
Sieve flour into a large mixing bowl.
Add all the other ingredients, and whisk everything into a homogeneous mixture.
Butter a cake tin, pour the mixture into it, and bake for 30-40 min at 180C .
Well somehow, we managed to bake a rather moist chocolate cake.


We saw "Enchanted" , the new Disney film. I am still a little perplexed by the whole experience. Should I be happy that Giselle chose to remain in our imperfect world or appalled at her lack of judgment in refusing the "happily ever after" that all my fellow humans yearn for?
Is this Disney's attempt at making amends for the brain washing of many of my contemporaries?
The acting wasn't particularly notable nor was the plot, but overall an enjoyable fun movie, if you're not looking to stimulate any part of your grey matter.

As I type, I'm listening to the soundtrack from the Kollywood film "Rameshwaram". Somehow I always find the portrayal of Tamil Sri Lankans (TSLs) or any films about TSLs mildly offensive...

I've somehow ended up with an absolute evil, noisy cow of a flatmate this year. Wondering if God has put me on the same list as the wonderfully competent members of DoH ...
I dream of creating a voodoo doll in her image so that I could vent all my pent up anger on it, instead of the actual stupid girl.

Another snow less December week has passed by. The majority of Rigans are quite upset with the weather, and its inability to provide them with the necessary and much awaited precipitations. I on the other hand am enjoying the mild beginning to this year's winter.
Enough rambling for one night, I'm going back to the intricacies of thyroidectomies.




"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"
Matthew 4

The last January Monday

The heavens have finally listened, the grey streets of Riga are slowly but steadily turning a lovely pristine white. Latvians can now happily enjoy their winters. I must say that I missed the snow too, not the cold just the snow.

I was a little sad to see the back end of 2006, it was an interesting year strewn with high emotions, plenty of mistakes and pinches of regrets.
Vaguely hoping that past mistakes can be perhaps not undone but forgiven and set aright in 2007. After all don't we all live in eternal hope of tomorrow.

Having finished my lovely end of year exams, I am now facing the new term as a 5th year medic. I feel as if I have learned nothing these past few years.

Never mind all the silly reminiscing, I'm ill and frankly fed up of being ill!
I've never heard of anyone suffering from the flu for more than 2 weeks, and now find myself voiceless, jobless and bored out of my tiny little mind, wishing I could scream.

till later ...Perhaps who knows my voice may be back sooner :o)

Swinging pendulum

Swing...Swing...Swing...

Life is pretty much like a swinging pendulum. It swings from the height of happiness to the depth of despair so easily that I wonder how the human mind takes it. It becomes so predictable that we even began to impatiently expect the despair.
We wait for it with as much glee as a special package from that great aunt who only remembers us on Deepavalis ...
We then proceed into carefully opening the package with so much care and patience, you'd never think that it's actually the Pandora's box of Despair and not really Lakshmi Aunty's dodol parcel ;o)

What I want to know is why do we spend so much time exploring our sadness, and so little time appreciating the happiness that we feel?
Truly, we are far more often happy than sad, yet the happiness is described as fleeting and despair is felt forever...

Anything could simply set us off into the self-deprecating mood, we actually like to wallow in self-pity, don't we?

Funny though...Most of the time we're better off compared to millions world-wide...


Winter is truly here. There's no escaping it anymore. And we certainly shall see far more SAD cases than during autumn.
I don't really know how other countries deal with the snow, but over here in Riga they have a very dedicated bunch of citizens, mainly very poor and or old ones, whom during winter will shovel the snow off the roads, and at other times just keep them extremely clean.
Despite the poverty and the grime, Rigan streets have always been rather pristine. Something which used to amaze me in the first few years...
Only they forgot to shovel the snow from the roads leading to the Hospital, and it took me 20 minutes to navigate my way on frozen snow, I mean sleety pavements, instead of just 10 mins.

I'm sick of snow and minus temperatures, I wanna go home!!!!!!!!!
Apparently we're going to get a white xmas in London this year too. However this news being from my sister, who is sadistic enough to wish a white xmas every year , it cannot be trusted.

Russel Peters insults the audience at every turn in the name of entertainment yet, they just laugh inanely and take it sitting down. Heck they even paid to get insulted. Hilarious!!
Mind you, some of that guys lines are funny....But certainly not all.

need to sleep....but can't ...so pathetic...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

quote du jour

"Sleep is like the unicorn - it is rumored to exist, but I doubt I will see any"

~annon~


PS: if you know by whom , let me know...

First snow

Wednesday evening as I was walking back from the supermarket, the first flakes of snow floated down the night sky. When I say first snow, I mean first snow in Riga. A beautiful sight, a shame that it all melted away the evening itself. A fresh start, even if it's a wintry one.

Isn't it amazing how nature surprises us constantly?

Tomorrow is the Latvian Independence Day. More than just an excuse to celebrate, the day they finally freed themselves of all occupation is certainly a very special one and should be commemorated accordingly.
Yet I cannot help but observe how Latvian society has degenerated since that "new beginning". The youths are more violent, racism on the increase, yob culture is becoming the norm in this little Baltic state. Latvians are becoming more and more arrogant along with their reserved nature, when will they learn that they are not the cradle of Europe, and they are far too inconsequential to the rest of the world, whatever they do. I mean, the main reason behind the increased tourism isn't for the love or art, music and the truly gorgeous Latvian countryside, but for a far more sinister reason.

Tomorrow is a new day.