Firstly, an explanation. 'bushwa' stands for bullshit. You can't find it on dictionary.com, and I don't do romantic, goth angst-y.

I wasn't 15 yet. It was a weekday. And the rain was of a proportion I hadn't seen before. Obsessed with books and games, I tried something new: taking a bus direct from school to AMK.

The relentless pounding of the rain on the road drowned out all else. I clutched my puny blue umbrella, and shuffled my soggy white shoes across the road.

A bus hit me.

A glancing blow, it was. Wouldn't be typing this otherwise, would I?

Instantly, time slowed to a crawl. Even as the sudden shock (honestly, one moment I was daydreaming of games, the next I was on the ground) struck me, I was still aware of the bus' wheels running over my feet.

Falling to the ground, I watched as the bus continued by and noticed, out of the corner of my eye, the bus stopping.

My first thoughts were, "Wow this can't be happening to me!" I took a quick inventory, thought my bag strap was broken ("Sigh need new bag.").

And I don't know why, but it struck me with the force of a locomotive the terrifying thought "Shit I'm lying in the middle of the road and the light just turned green!" I grabbed my bag (by its good strap), jumped up and ran to the side of the road. And watched as the oncoming cars pounded my umbrella into the road.

Fantastically, I felt no pain during the entire ordeal. Only as I was sitting on the ground ("Did I fracture my feet? Let me feel. Will I need an operation? How many day's MC will I get? And how am I going to go to school, with TCHS' slopes?") No pain at all. At the side of the road however, everything struck. My feet were SORE. I had scrapes, cuts, abrasians at various places.

They helped me onto the bus, out of the rain. An aunty berated me "Why you run?". I was pissed. It was the bloody green man! I merely said I didn't. Called an ambulance. Lent me a cellphone to call my mom. "Wei2, ma2? Wo3 bei4 ba1 shi4 zhuang4 dao4. (Hello, ma? I got hit by a bus.)" She sounded so so worried, she rushed down. Then my parents came to KK Women and Children's Hospital. Peeing into a bottle, not comfortable. Shivering in the A&E department, not comfortable. Waiting for hours to go home, not comfortable.

The lessons I took away from this were multiple. Firstly, things can, and will happen to you. You can catch AIDS. You can get killed by a drunk a driver. You can be crippled in a riding accident. You can become an unwed father/mother. You can suffer from diabetes and athersclerosis in 20 years. Don't think you can't, so start minimising your risk now.

Secondly, the world does not owe you a living. If you constantly rely on other people's goodwill (e.g. roadhogging), eventually you will pay. Never take even the smallest things for granted. Some day, the debt will be paid.

Thirdly, don't ever entertain thoughts of suicide, because it is the most beepbeep-ing selfish thing you can. Spoilts brats 'loving' their parents when they buy stuff for them, but complaining about how controlling they are, puay! [that's a spitting noise]. Self-indulgent adolescents waxing lyrical about how hopeless the world is and how nobody loves them, huh! Nothing but indolent kids with too much time on their hands. Just look at the concern in your family (or friend or partner)'s eyes when any minor injury occurs to you.

Fourthly, and this inspired me, you can do much more than you expect of yourself. The human mind, and perhaps the human body, is an amazing thing, but possibly the strength of spirit and the will to live are the most amazing.

That is all.

There's a city filled with two-storeyed houses (unknown number) sitting in a circle. On the second floor of each house sits an intelligent man, who does nothing but eat, sleep, pass motion, think and possibly press a button. On the first floor of each house sits a dog, whose life depends on whether or not the man upstairs presses the button (which kills the dog below him). However, the man cannot see his dog. He can, however, see everyone else (dog or otherwise) in the city. Every house is identical.

One day, a man comes into city with some nasty news. A horrid disease that turns dogs purple has infected some dogs, and these dogs have to be culled to stop the disease from spreading. Now the problem is: how many days after the message arrives are the dogs killed, and how many dogs are killed?

I have no idea.

It's probably evident by now that I'm in a pensive mood, penning down my thoughts in tortuous entries filled with angst and schmaltz over a hot cuppa, alone in the dark.

Bushwa, you hear? I just thought it's appropriate to mention a valuable lesson.

It was Secondary One. It was during an enrichment camp (which was fairly common, due to our GEP program) and one of our tasks was to prepare a short skit about none other than the venerable, honourable, respectable Tan Kah Kee. Ah, yes, he statue stands guard over the marvel of modern drainage that is the TCHS field.

The benighted, youthful I took charge. They expressed doubts at my suggestions. 'I know. Trust me. You and I, we'll do it together and we'll do it well.' Tomfoolery. It was a bloody disaster.

I thought it was hysterical, the teachers found it horrible. I thought it was playful, they thought it poor taste. I thought it was amusing, they found it absurd. I thought it was clever, but they knew it was just clichéd. I thought it was droll, but it was just disgusting.

I fancied myself a scriptwriter, but I was nothing more than a flop.

Sound familiar? Seven years later, someone else makes the same mistake on a larger scale. Hah.

Something I've known for a bit is: if there's anything worth doing, it's worth doing well. Why get a half-f... formed team/crew/gang to do some half-f... And that is why it's uncomfortable sharing anything, information, notes, unless it's been gone through and I'm satisfied with it. People shouldn't suffer (having a misconception) because an idiot fancied himself to be clever.

Should you think yourself an intellectual, a leader, a player, a culture vulture, a bon vivant or a connoisseur of fine clothes, you're not. You're nothing but a self-absorbed, egoistical half-wit. That's the sobering lesson I've learnt. School is adjourned.

Yo yo raymond! Congratulations! You win absolutely nothing! Still, it was amusing to note, wasn't it?

It's a terrible dog-eat-dog cafdem world, so after one measly (measles-ey?) day of enjoyment, it's back to work for all those kiasu weirdos out there.

So I now embark on Mission: Microbiology.

I am going to compile the best damn list of microbes in cafdem, starting with viruses and bacteria. Print it out and bind it. And I'm not going to release it until I've gone over it at least thrice. I want perfection. I want to be able to scan it before the exams and pass with flying colours.

It shall be my baby. My precious...

If you've seen my previous virus list I made for the CA, you would have realised it was makeshift, ridden with errors and fraught with pitfalls (if you trusted the information). For example, I accidentally put parvoviruses as part of papovaviridae! The indignity!

Wish me luck.

Pure bliss.

The CAs ended, and jx (THE jx, master memory man) on my right went, "ccb!". It was THAT sort of CA, our General Microbiology & Virology.

I don't give a flying... um... faeces. Once CAs end, whether I got this question that question correct, whether the emphasis was on 'rare' or 'neutropenia' no longer matters. It has ended, and our endless speculation does nothing.

Anyway, I took a ride in jx's car to Orchard where we (jx, mavis, julian, ek & I) tried out this Sunflower restaurant at the top of Far East Plaza. It was pretty good, and consuming all that polyunsaturated fatty acids made me feel good about prevention of cardiovascular disease (Curse you COFM department!).

Played an hour of pool with the guys minus mavis, zy, mandy plus sean, yandao, yik at Lucky Plaza (where I lost miserably to almost everybody. I am pool bait.) before meeting up FINALLY with my main man from primary school: kelvin.

We walked, and we talked, and we ate snacks like pretzels (him) and curry puffs (me) bemoaning our lack of mass (him) and ballooning waistlines (me). We listened at HMV to Classical Meets Cuban, laughed at Gregorian Chants of pop songs and watched MTV's Wade Robson Project.

We wandered into stores and bought comic books (him) and driving test practice books (him). We picked up a balloon (me) and gave it to an angmoh kid, considered eating sushi + ice cream buffet, and listened to Eminem.

We went back to Sunflower Vegetarian, ate more healthy food, and spoke of investments and relationships. We chatted about Prince of Persia, Worms, computer parts, antibiotic resistant bacteria, the lack of vaccines, working and money matters.

Returning home, I checked the street directory and headed off the jan's place to pay our respects. We ended up talking until 2330, the bunch of us comprising of fur, gnet, me, amy, jesse (not from cafdem), zhenhan, fay, and chonghan, in approximate order of appearance. I must say, her grandmother (tragedy it might be), was blessed in that she was long-lived. And to the Chinese (that's us!), longevity (particularly past 80) is already something worthy to be celebrated.

In better news, tis' return to island for an investigation turned out to be nothing more than a paperwork error (morons! [not tis] make people go back to camp!) so it's no big deal. No visits to DB or anything. Heh.

But! Sadly, wl's phone was lost/stolen during the 15min break between Immunology and Microbiology CAs. You might say that today wasn't the best of days.

The sun stayed out all day, refusing to hide his face behind the thunderclouds that have plagued us all week. And that, is cause for celebration.

P.S. If you're the 10000th visitor, leave your name/nickname, won't you? For fun's sake.

In slightly below 44hrs time I'll be celebrating my new found freedom. I shall cast aside the iron shackles of Immunology and Virology (until the end of years).

There will be much frolicking in the sun, much grimacing as sea water splashes my eyes (it burns! it burns!), and staring in a hebetudinous state at inane TV programs like The Champion. My next fitness test is on Tuesday. Oh, joy!

As you might have guessed by the fact that this entry is here, my momentum is slowly down somewhat. I'm getting a bit sick and tired of school, and at times the lassitude makes me want to give up mugging.

But no! It is a mere 43hrs 24min to the end of CA1. I will hang in there!

And George Bush has been re-elected. Forsooth, Kerry probably wouldn't have been a better choice. America's fiscal deficits are still going to sky-rocket. THE USA is still going to occupy Iraq. And America is half a globe away. Who cares?

Anyway, I miss my friends. The ones who've flown away and the ones who're still in army. They might as well be on Pluto for all I've seen/heard from some of them. After CAs, it's going to be catch-up time. Aye.

Back to my General Microbiology and Virology notes.