Continuum

I’ve always been a firm believer in the concept of musical soulmates; the interpersonal compatibility of people with intrinsically-similar musical tastes. In an my ideal world where everyone gives two shits about music, I can’t see why this won’t work; I consider my iTunes playlist to be a projection of my personality, as do many people I know. Sadly, this is not entirely applicable in reality, mainly due to the following classes of people:

1. Those who blindly follow trends; ie, those who think 'new, ergo good' and faithfully buys every song on the Billboard Top 100, only to never hear of those tracks after 2 weeks.

2. Those who literally listen to every damn genre, from deathcore to bluegrass to punkrock to contemporary jazz to yomama'sfatarse and (if we're talking about dudes) have bigger music libraries than they have porn. No really.

3. Those who religiously support their idols, thinking that they should be awarded best songwriter award for singing the phone book.

4. Those who like Justin Bieber. Really, this is the closest you can humanly get to being soulless. Shame on you.

But for the sake of discussion, let's put these hiccups aside and assume for a moment that people do care about their music. I can already vividly picture musical personalities falling into a continuum of sounds, much like the color spectrum:

Warning: Unpleasant Stereotypes Ahead!

On the violet end of the spectrum, we have the pensive and the nostalgic with all their profound and introverted glory, basking in a sea of classical music, instrumentals, waltzing oldies and incomprehensible jazz. Other propensities in this group include nerdiness, social exclusion and some degree of musical elitism, where other subgenres are considered to be excessively distasteful for their liking. On the other hand, the group in scarlet should be metal junkies and hard rock enthusiasts. Expect some antichrist activity along with in-your-face attitudes, topped off with generous helpings of rebel sauce. Personally, I would consider myself a cyan type of person. Any takers? :D

Stereotype Warning Ends Here.

Anyhow, a post about music isn't really complete without a song recommendation, so here's a nice tune that has been racking up play counts on my iTunes. In My Arms has a catchy, country-ish vibe going on with wonderful retro overtones; I felt like I was taken back to the 60s.

And in case you haven't noticed from the live performance, Teddy Thompson's voice is
pure.
unadulterated.
LEGEND.

Tragic Association.

Knowledge is a terrifying thing, as I have come to discover after just 2 years of medicine. Physiology and anatomy have irreversibly warped my perception of the world; I simply cannot untie medicine from simple, everyday observations. It began with subconscious rumblings along the lines of “Oh, that reminds me of (insert anatomy/physiology here).” No biggie, I thought. Fairly normal and inconspicuous.

But I was wrong… This habit quickly metastasized into some twisted, chronic association complex:

-I have a tendency to cautiously dissect the skin and flesh of my fried chicken drumstick so as to identify the muscle groups, nerves and vessels.

-Crackling of knuckles = Zomg crepitus; osteoarthritis alert.

-A vaguely, M-shaped twig on the pavement will draw my mind to the brachial plexus.

-Tripping carelessly over uneven ground = Shit, cerebellar lesion.

- As my tummy rumbles, I wonder if starvation-induced gluconeogenesis from amino acids has begun. (Maybe that’s why I’m skinny.)

- Thinking about the micturition and defecation reflexes when I… you get the drift.

The point is, I think my brain has been rewired to live and breathe medicine. Then again, who can blame us? The study load is dishevelling and a large bulk of the material is directly applicable to everyday bodily functions. If anything, I believe a medical student (or as a matter of fact, any student) who does not go through this phase at least once in their academic journey should be viewed with unrelenting scepticism and incredulity. Or I might just be the only one who's going crazy. Yea, probably the latter.

This morbid obsession with medicine is not without its perks though; this continual (albeit unwelcomed) reinforcement of concepts does help to drill them snugly in my memory, and with over 4 years of undergraduate learning (and goodness knows how many years of postgraduate training) to go, I’ll need all the help I can get.

One thing bothers me though; my worldview has been markedly de-romanticized by anatomy... because if a hot girl exclaims “I love you with all my heart” right to my face, I can’t help but to hold some reservations about her honesty. Afterall, how can a 4-chambered sac of muscle ‘love’?

…..Nevermind you mind.

Prologue

Ah, the customary prologue to every fresh blog... The changing of something as personal as a blog tends to be a highly symbolic affair; a milestone, much like the shedding of a cocoon. It wasn't easy to conjure the frame of mind required to formally abandon my already dead old blog but nonetheless, it had to be done. I thoroughly enjoy writing (although I profess to be mediocre at it) and silently willed myself to revive 'A Dose of Madness' (ADoM) but an intangible hindrance stopped be from doing so.

ADoM was a pet project conjured with little thought and planning beyond simple peer pressure and the resulting outcome was equally lacklustre. Throughout its 2 years of sporadic activity, there were posts that I was wholly proud of, posts that I reminisce with indifference and posts that I feel ashamed to call my own. That being said, I feel that I cannot continue writing spiritedly with so much old baggage weighing me down and from this train of thought came the unsurprising proposal of starting anew. However, ADoM shall remain in its unadulterated form as a constant reminder of my maturing persona (I would like to think I'm not degenerating into a childish twat) and for the occasional nostalgic reading when I feel up for it.

With that, I shall draw my formalities closer to an end. 'Fabric' will hopefully turn out to be a mellowed reincarnation of my initial foray into the blogosphere, with a little less childish ranting and a little more longevity (Nominal lifespan: 5 years. Projected lifespan: 5 weeks). The blog material will probably be the usual musings, rants, reflections and updates, with a zesty twist of the madness I pride myself with. That being said, I thank thee my non-existent readers, and I shall spring an update soon enough.