Category Archives: Wellness

Once upon a time, I watched a video of this man who wanted to be a comedian. He wanted it so badly, he hired an agent who told him he was amazing and that his Sean Connery imitation was spot-on (not that any of us watching knew what he was trying to do). He wanted it so badly, he was willing to dress up in a chicken suit every day to pass out fliers to earn money to keep his agent who was sure to bring him success. When asked if he ever thought he might not succeed, he said, “No. No. I’m definitely going to make it.” There was absolutely no doubt in his mind whatsoever.

Ever since then, I’ve always asked myself when someone sounds too sure: What if they’re wrong?

Because if you never, ever see the possibility of being wrong, then you cannot see any potential obstacles that are in your way, and if you can’t see them, how are you supposed to get over them? That wannabe comedian had a bad agent. He wasn’t funny. He’d been trying for so long and had never succeeded. A good agent would’ve told him that he sucked — but he didn’t want to hear that he might be wrong, so he picked an agent who told him he was great and who took his money all the time. Makes them both happy, I guess, but it doesn’t bring the success he’s looking for.

When my anthropology textbook criticised ethnocentrism and said that considering other cultures from their cultural standpoints is the way to go, I asked that question. When politicians, the media, or other people take offence to criticism or say, “You’re either with us or against us,” I ask myself that question.

Because what if you’re wrong? I’m not saying that you definitely are — for example, I’m not really disagreeing with the basic anthropological principles outlined in the book, just with the amount of absolute certainty that is conveyed — but what if you are? Then you never see your mistakes, never fix them and only repeat them.

I dunno. Maybe I’ve got the wrong end of the stick as well. I think everyone should watch that video, though. It really makes you think between all the cringing.

One of my friends told me that she’d never been in a hospital apart from the time she was born. This awed me. I’ve been in and out of hospital randomly for not very serious reasons over the years, so that awed her.

Anyway, today was one of those days so I thought I would share. Having run out of cough syrup, I went down to the Village clinic on Saturday to get more, and the doctor instructed me to get a chest x-ray done if my cough persists over the next few days. Well, I’ve had bronchitis for two weeks now, finished my antibiotics yesterday and am as bad as ever, so I trotted off to the Hospital.

I tried to take a shortcut through the science-y buildings — you know, Woodward, those places — which I figured were close by the Hospital, but that didn’t work out so well. There are disadvantages to being a completely Arts-y Arts student: you don’t know the secret shortcuts in non-Arts areas. I ended up wandering around in a circle back to the main road and found the Hospital that way.

The Hospital is a very nice, quiet place that firmly tells you to switch your phone off before you enter the building. Understandable, as this can be very disruptive. I obeyed, and followed the signs to the Radiology department, introduced myself, gave my requisition form, my Care Card and my photo identification, and was given two hospital gowns in return with instructions to remove all clothes and jewellery that might contain metal.

The gowns were really rather confusing and I had to ask a second time which one was the inner garment and which was the outer. I’m sure Scrubs fans would have got it down pat in the first go. The inner garment was the blue patient gown that you see on TV sometimes, and it’s tied from the back. The outer garment was a regular jacket-like thing worn the normal way around. It was too big for me, of course, which was what caused the confusion, but I eventually dressed properly. Within a few minutes of emerging from the changing room, I was called to do my x-ray.

It was very anti-climatic. I hugged this board, took a deep breath, held it, and then stood profile to the board and repeated the breath-holding. I spent more time changing into my clothes than I did taking the x-ray.

My results will be sent to the clinic in about a week’s time. In the meantime, I’m debating whether to go down to the clinic tomorrow or not. I really, really need to do work on some papers, but I’m also really, really tired of coughing. The problem is that they may not be able to do anything until they get my results (or they would’ve done something else by now), in which case I will waste several hours. On the other hand, I don’t want to get worse.

Does anyone know where I can go to get a good haircut?

I have to make the transition at some point or another, but I’m very jittery about it. I had the same hairdresser in HK ever since I was 3. Although he seemed to move to different salons all the time, I just followed him. (My mother used to do my hair sometimes but I went to my hairdresser exclusively after I was 11.) He still charges me the children’s price even though it’s blatantly obvious that I’m an adult now.

There is The Fringe, of course, but I’m not sure… I’ve seen and heard very mixed reviews of it that leaves me clutching to my Asian hair in nervousness. It’s undeniable — I need someone who is used to Asian hair to cut it.