Workshops and Reunions

Dear Diary,

You know... I was seriously hoping that the "Madagascar" cartoon on television was funnier. It did not get me laughing much. In fact, I hardly broke into anything more than a snigger. I guess there are many things on my mind and I tried to sort them out earlier as I jogged in the former Bidadari cemetery. I haven't started packing for my trip to Hanoi, and my laptop just crashed on me last night. After I tried "resurrecting" it with a recovery disk, I only managed to get the internet connection up but all my microsoft office applications are rendered non-functional. Anyway, I have kinda decided to invest on a new notebook computer and replace this ailing 7-year-old one. I will get it when I return from Hanoi. I sure hope Hanoi is no longer having floods there! =)

The last few days had been pretty nice. On Thursday (6 Nov), I was attending a full-day workshop at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel along Havelock Road. Met alot of former colleagues and university classmates. The immense regulatory work looming with the upcoming implementation of the Medical Device Registration act, is already making me exhausted even before I start doing anything! Oh well, we will think about it when the time comes, haha... I indulged in the buffet spread which was at the Pontini and the Riverfront restaurants, and thoroughly enjoyed the food! That was 6th Nov. By 7th Nov (Friday), those rich food no longer seemed that delicious anymore.... Haha... On Thursday evening after the workshop, I met up with some former colleagues for a birthday celebration of one. We ate Japanese ala carte buffet at the Odeon Towers and I thought I would have enjoyed it much more if I was hungrier. Then we adjourned to the small roof-top pub at the same building. The pub is "Loof". Drank a non-alcoholic drink and had a pretty long chat with my friends till about 11.30pm before making my way home.

On Friday (7 Nov), it was more of a pharmacist reunion at the workshop. I met many people and even spoke to the former Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS) president at length. I must say that he is a very friendly man who even called me by name. Talked a little on the dire state of manpower shortage in the retail pharmacies. I still feel for the pharmacy profession despite being pretty much out of it. I like the networking opportunities on that day as they made us wear name tags and it kinda broke the ice a little between strangers too! Some conversations had very "corporate" feel but it was surprisingly refreshing, haha... After the workshop, I met up with a pharmacist friend for dinner. I have spoken to her over the phone and through the internet but never really spoken to her much face-toface. So, it was kinda an "exciting" evening, haha... Other than the bloopers of having to wait so long to collect some stuff from my boss en route and her mistaking that my friend is my girlfriend... errr... the evening was a pretty nice one. Ate dinner at Shokudo (CityLink) for the first time and then chatted over some chocolate beverages and desserts at Max Brenner's (Esplanade). It was just my second time at Max Brenner's. It was really nice chatting with this friend as the evening went on... Yet, it did occur to me that the close friend whom I chatted at Max Brenner's previously during the university days... well... that friendship kinda faded away gradually. Sigh.

On Saturday (8 Nov), I spent most of the day at the Suntec City convention centre. I headed a booth there at the NHG congress. I managed to attend some of those lectures there too. There was a series on gastric cancer and it was interesting to learn how they do preventive screenings, endoscopic resection, laproscopic surgery and then using genetic fingerprinting for potentiating chemotherapy efficacy. One of the 4 lecturers was from the Duke-NUS medical school, and from the way he presented... Suddenly, research seems interesting! ;-) The afternoon went by peacefully at the booth. The buffet spread (now, three consecutive days of buffet...) looked mildly revolting.

Today, Sunday... the preacher on the pulpit spoke on a highly controversial topic. I am going to type an email to him shortly. Frankly, I disagree with some of his points. Maybe he can give me insight on why he felt so confident of his interpretation. We will see.

God Bless,

Andrew