I still remember how saturated my heart was with joy and a deep sense of achievement the first time I saw a clubbed finger and pitting edema, palpated an irregularly irregular radial pulse and an enlarged liver, elicited a fluid thrill and auscultated a cardiac murmur. It’s a pleasure to be able to feel the lumps and bumps which I could only visualize or imagine. And to realize what has been learnt is finally being put to use.
Sometimes, you know the theory well enough to impress the physician. But when it comes to doing it, things are messed up. The wheezes, crackles, crepitations and murmurs all sound nothing more than a cacophony of noises to me, when I’m actually putting the diaphragm or bell of my stethoscope on the patient’s chest.
---
I bought the first bottle of cologne in my life before departing the Penang airport. Clinique Happy for Men. It emits a fruity fragrance and is one of the very few perfumes that doesn’t give me a lingering and throbbing headache. I didn’t notice eau de toilette could be so symbolic of homosexuality prior to discovering that all my gay friends actually own at least a bottle of cologne each. Therefore, I purchased one. It did make me feel gay-er a bit.
Olfaction, or smell, as far as I’m concerned, is a magical and interesting thing. It can enhance your liking for someone you adore or accentuate your contempt for someone you dislike. It can make you horny or turn you off. It affects your impression of a person.
Well, it burnt a hole in my wallet. It’d better be a love potion or something equivalent to it. Hopefully, it’ll be a bonus that compensates for the rather unappealing criteria of mine that my potential predator or boyfriend will take into consideration. (Opps….sounds a bit bottom.)
By the way, where am I supposed to apply the cologne? On the chest (William’s suggestion)? Where else? (Honestly, I’m a first-timer.)
