musings of a coffee addict: April 2005

About Me

Location: Adelaide, Australia

"'To confuse the issue', she often says, 'not only am I Manila-born, convent-school educated, speak English and Tagalog plus a bit of Chinese and curse fluently in Spanish, I now reside in Australia as well!' Crazy mixed-up kid!" Arlene Chai's book, "The Last Time I Saw Mother"

Friday, April 29, 2005

A weekend off

It is a treasure all interns learn to cherish. The proverbial pot at the end of the rainbow. The impossible dream. That often dreamt-of, never realised fantasy: a weekend off.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's mine.

In a bizarre twist of fate, my patient list of 17 that I had on Wednesday dwindled down to 3 by Friday (no, I did not kill them off, I was merely a discharge machine) my registrar had a generous moment and gave me an entire weekend off.

Sadly, I shall spend it cleaning the house, cleaning the bathroom, doing my laundry, cleaning the garden -- all chores that get woefully neglected in the course of a working week. Even more worrying, I am both writing this post and researching on the value of immunotherapy in asthma (an assignment from my registrar who believes that weekends off have their own price).

But what I treasure this weekend? SLEEP.

So, it is now 11 am, and I've printed my research, and I am now going back to bed.

Next on my fantasy wish list: 2 weeks of annual leave!

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Baker's Delight

I love the bakery. I love the smell of fresh bread. Yum......

When I first came to Australia, though, I was utterly crushed to discover that, among a number of food items, I was no longer able to have cinnamon rolls. No more goooey, sticky, cinnamony, buttery blobs of bread and fat. Sob.

Imagine my joy when I went to the local Baker's Delight (a bread bakery) and saw their new product: sticky cinnamon scrolls. Be still my heart. I shelled out the $1.90 they asked for and filled my car with the smell of gooey cinnamon. Not that I was expecting much, after all, the bread was a bit crusty, BUT STILL!!!

I went home, warmed it up, and enjoyed my cinnamon scroll with a cup of tsokolate (just for that added touch of home). And the verdict? As cinnamon rolls go, it still has some ways to go. The bread wasn't as chewy, and the cinnamon goo wasn't as sticky. But I still licked my fingers with satisfaction, sat back with a book and enjoyed my afternoon off.

But when I get home, I want a chocolate cinnamon roll from Cinnabon.