Employed Occupational Therapist

Hi all, just a good news to you - I am now an employed occupational therapist!

I had 2 job offers, 1 acute and 1 community. As someone who like community, I would definately consider community. Furthermore, this place has better prospect than the acute and I feel that the community has better opportunity for me to explore and of course to develop services, which is something that I like, yet it is challenging.

On top of that, it offers a higher starting pay (but no increment after probation) and that it is nearer to home as I can walk to work and I can save on transport! haha... I think by now you should have known where I am working or at least you should have heard from other classmates or coursemates about where we are working.... news spread like wild fire! haha...

But bad news is, since now I am employed as an occupational therapist in an organization, I will have to be careful with what I say now.... haha... =p

Quizzes

The Picto-Personality Test You are a person who likes to have fun all the time. When alone, you appreciate being able to do nothing if you want to, and setting your own pace for things. You are romantic, and when you are with your partner you like to woo them with your imagination. In the future you will be happy and live richly.

Take this Test at Quiz

YOUR REPORT CARD:
Category	Grade
Love	B
Friends and Family	A+
Body	A
Mind	A
Finance / Career	B
Your Life's Average Grade: A
'What is your Life Grade?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Updates

Hi all, as some of you may know, I was away for camp for the past few days... ... I shan't blog about how the camp was... haha... cos there is nothing much to be blogged about...

HAHa... just that I was sunburnt from conducting rafting for 2 days in the afternoon... I am really a red lobster if you see me now... lol...

Other good news
The results of my job interviews are out. I received 2 calls when I was in camp. I had 2 job offers. And actually there was 1 more last week too, don't know if I can consider that a job offer but the therapist told me that there will be a job opening for that center soon and let me know as she thought I might be interested. Haha.... if this is considered, then it will be 3 offers! lol...

Will let you guys know which offer I choose by monday as I promised that I will get back to them by Mionday. =)

Certified Occupational Therapist

Hey all, I am happy to announce that I am now a CERTIFIED OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST!

I just got my results and I passed!!! =)

Not exactly very good as compared with the rest of the class but at least, it is better than what I have expected! Shouldn't compare with others I guess.... we all have our own limitations! hehe..

I got a GPA that was slightly above my expectations... ya... my expectations... hehe.... And a grade that I always wanted for my clinicals! hehe.... I guess it was all worth the effort.... perhaps I should have done better academicaly when I was year 1... but then.. there's no point crying over spilled milk...

Finally, I can call myself an Occupational Therapist Student!

Have a break @ Pitstop Cafe

It has been a long time since I wanted to go to Pitstop Cafe to hang out. It has been indeed a long time. I think it has been close to 5 months since I last visited.

Yesterday was the longest time that I spent playing board game. At least 5 hours I think. We took up their Friday-Students' Noon Package. For that package, we only pay $6 per person for free flow of drinks and free flow of board games from 12 - 6pm! (Food is not included.)

During these few hours, we've played many games, such as:

• Blokus
  
• Hey That's My Fish
• Ugly Dolls
• Ticket to Ride
• Hare and Tortoise
  
• Childhood Fishing Game where the pond will move

Haha... now a bonus question for OTs-to-be:
1) Board games have what therapeutic function/s?

Please post up some answers in the comments under this entry.... =)

Meanwhile, please enjoy some photos that we took!

Penguins fighting for fishes in Hey, That's my Fish!

Stranded Penguins in the middle... ...

Yellow Penguin: Please don't leave me!

Green Penguin: Help me!

The 3 stranded penguins from each team


The last Survivor from each team!

UglyDoll

Uglydoll cards
(Try saying Ugly, ugly, ugly)

Do you guys remember playing this when you were young?

Anyway, I guess we really enjoyed ourselves very much. Laughing our heads off at our own action.... maybe we ourselves need OTs too... lol... imagine the amount of eye-hand coordination we need for the fishing game above. Glad that we were able to keep our cool and not losing our patience... if not, we might have to purchase the game ourselves for breaking the fishing rods.

Uglydoll is also a very exciting game too but it will be more fun playing with "less friendly" people.... haha... cause H2O and I were quite friendly with each other in the game... haha... but it is a good game for eye-hand coordination and categorization. But before you play the game, try saying "ugly, ugly, ugly" =)

Anyway, before I forget, the crews at Pitstop cafe are all very friendly and able to explain the games to us!

Perhaps this can also be a place of our gathering with those who intend to stay in Singapore for the moment... ... A place for us to distress... ... =)

Lisfranc fracture

Have any Occupational Therapists-to-be heard of this term - "Lisfranc fracture"?
If you have good for you! If not, I shall share with you. =P
I just know it too...

If you didn't know, our FM93.3 DJ Ding Zhiyong suffered from Lisfranc fracture.

And Lisfranc fracture is a fracture and dislocation of the joints in the midfoot which forms the arch of the foot. For more information, click here.

Look at his blog for the picture of his x-rays and the pictures of his stitches of his foot after the fixation.

Reflections for my Mental Health Placement

My first and last attachment in mental health setting @ Pelangi Village, just next to Institute of Mental Health.

This place is a residential mental health setting for people with Schizophrenia, most of their symptoms are under control using medication. This place is manage by few Voluntary Welfare Organizations and there are 6 homes under their care. Each home house about 100 over to 200 plus residents. Like what SJ had mentioned in her blog, it is really hard to believe that in such a fast-paced society, such places actually existed in Singapore.

To be frank, I was taken aback when I went to see the homes for the 1st time. Perhaps this was the first time I see people living in an institution. Their everyday is so routinized, with morning exercise, breakfast, TV, Lunch, TV, dinner and sleep. With exception of those who have the ability to work. But often than not, these residents may have the ability to work and want to work but there are just no job opportunities for them.

Talking about meritocracy, shouldn't people with mental illness given the same opportunity if they possess the same capabilities?

But on the other hand, these residents allow me to see another side of them, that may not be able to be seen in people like you and me... ...

Walking along level 2 Activity Hub, it is not surprisingly to see some residents holding on to another resident who had some mental retardation to ensure that they don't move away from the group.

When we went out to Little India, there was this resident who held on to another resident (who was from different home as him) when he wanted to leave the train when we haven't even reached the station.

Sometimes, some residents will offer their help to help us carry things when our hands are full...

From them, I see the genuinelity in them ... ...

The 6 weeks placement here has gave me a better idea of mental health placement. They are sometimes very different from what we see on TV. Really.

Sometimes their wishes can be as simple as going outside for a walk or buy things but then again, there is lack of resources and manpower. Perhaps, volunteering can be done with people with mental illness too.... these are the group of people that are often forgotten, as they are away from the general public.

Perhaps, volunteering should go into mental health too, an area that is often forgotten or neglected due to the stigmatization.

I'm Back

Hi palz,

I'm back from my long disappearance online.... hope you all didn't call the police for my disappearance..... haha....

Well, finally decided to pay the Internet bill with my next 2 weeks pocket money. It was a torture for me not being to come online... haha... the longest time I didn't use the Internet was in 2004 when I went to China for community service for 23 days. =)

Actually, it was not really a torture, it is just that I need to check my mails regarding job applications that I've sent out. And perhaps no internet also means missing out some job openings... haha.... thus, I have no choice but to take out my pocket money

Life has been boring for the past few days.... I did nothing other than sleep, eat and watch TV. I have been moving in and out of my sleep...

I think I'm gonna whip up some dishes if I really feel that I have nothing to do.... I really missed the time when I do meal preparation with my residents...

Shall blogged more about my last attachment soon.

End of 3 year journal

I can't believe that I have gone through 3 years of my OT education. It may seem hectic at times with abundance of assignments and presentations. I still remembered the times where we have to study for Anatomy written and practical exams where we had to remember all the attachments of every muscles and their actions. I can also vividly remembered the faces of all us when we first entered the Anatomy practical room to see our "Dear Cadaver" for the 1st time. And of course some of us had just taken our lunch... ...

Year 1 was a rather "dry" year for all of us.... and well, I admit and is guilty for being one of those students who slept during lectures (esp. Physiology).. haha.... I would say it was a hard time trying to stay awake when the environment was so conducive for sleeping. (I can't imagine if I'm taking student in the future and she/he sees this entry... lol) And I guess I persevered. And I think maybe no one would thought that I could survived that long too... .haha...

Things got much more interesting in year 2..... where we got so much hands on... from mobility to LLD (esp. meal preparation) to Human Occupations to Groups to Leisure .... it was indeed the most enjoyable year.

All the fun and laughters didn't stop when we come to year 3. It is just an increase in other areas, e.g. Stress, more sophicated assignments (e.g. models), more arguements discussions, more time spent in the library, more clinicals, more time spent in frint of the computer... of course more "lameness" in some of us... ...

The mad rush since December was the time that I think we should all deserved that pat on the back.... with FYP, Assignmemts, Exams, Student Conference and lastly Clincials. This mad rush has made many of us fall ill, and that includes yours truly.

Now that everything has ended, and not quite. But it soon will after our results are release. Some of us will depart to continue your student role in Australia while some of us will step into the role of Occupational Therapists. We will no longer include the word "student" in our documentations.

Now, are we ready?

Perhaps this is the time to sort out all our thoughts and feelings. I don't know what path I will take now. I will just take a step at a time now. Maybe the 1st thing I should do now is to clear my room. I have lots of notes lying around. Maybe if I am lucky, I will head to Australia for my Degree Conversion. If not, I will just stay in Singapore for the moment. But now, it seems it is more of the latter.

Whatever it is.... it was a truly enjoyable 3 years... If I were to be given to choose between NTU Enginnering and NYP Occupational Therapy, I think I wll still stick to OT.

Sorry for such a long post..... See you guys soon.....

Internet connection down

Hi all,

If you guys have not been seeing me online, it is because my internet connection is down at the moment (or rather it has been suspended.) My brother hasn't been paying the bill. Guess it will be a little while till you see me appear online again.....

Thus, if you are looking for me or want to ask me out before I start working etc, you can sms or call me.... =p

BTW, I am currently in school cafe.... haha.... =p

Take care till I see you online again soon, hopefully.

Letting go of dreams.....

My horoscope for today:

"Letting go of one dream will help you make room for another, even better one."

The detailed horoscope says:

"Having dreams -- and holding on to them -- is very important; however, it's equally vital that you understand when to let one of them go. But deciding whether to let go of a dream should not be based on how long it has gone unfulfilled. Instead, the decision should be based on how realistic it is. Is backpacking around Europe really a practical goal? And maybe winning an Academy Award isn't in the cards for you. Let go of one dream to make room for another."


Perhaps this horoscope is really quite true..... perhaps I should really let go of things..... last sunday, there was an exhibition at the empty area next to tampines MRT.... they were having some celebration for 40 years of NS.... there were army.... civil defence... police force.... cannot remember if there were navy and air force not..... anyway, I did not really stay long.... though a part of me hope that I had stayed longer....

hmm... perhaps.... it was not so much of passion to join SPF now.... but perhaps it was just a little pity that I decided to give it up after I persevere for so long... it had been my dreams since I was in primary school.... really.... I remembered writing that in my chinese composition too... I was pri 4 then....

And Perhaps.... maybe I should put on hold of my degree conversion overseas too... if I don't hear from NCSS soon.... I should even think carefully if I were to do it locally....

Shall spend more time thinking after clinicals.... now is not really the time to think of such issues now....