Cambodia
06 October 2017
Our friend James was doing his first bodybuilding competition in July in Bendigo. We went to watch him win his “Classic” division. In this division there are height and weight ratio rules. Here he is receiving his trophy from Scott Goble who I see as a trainer once a week. We helped him celebrate with tapas afterwards.
Also in July, Sigur Ros played a concert in Melbourne. I knew them only from their albums but had enjoyed their music enough to want to see them live. I was surprised that they produced very much the same sound live as they did in recordings; I imagined there was a lot more multitracking and post-production work in their recordings.
For Jay’s birthday we had dinner at The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. This meant a night away as the drive was three hours. The food was an interesting degustation menu and the following day we had a walk in the Grampians before heading back to Melbourne. For the middle of Winter the weather was quite good. After we returned to Melbourne we watched Dunkirk at the IMAX theatre near home. It was one of the few places showing the film in 70mm IMAX, but the session time which suited us best was 4k laser IMAX which was slightly lower resolution but still on the largest current IMAX screen in the world.
I was less lucky with the weather the following weekend when the St Vincent’s Department of Anaesthesia had their retreat. I had been asked to speak on work-life balance so I attended the whole event in Healesville. The highlight for me was seeing the chin-up challenge between two of the other anaethetists (one a Crossfitter) who had been arguing over how many they could do.
In mid-August I had agreed to help with an aid trip in Cambodia. I was one of two anaesthetists for the first week of the program. Our role was to provide blocks for the six surgeons performing cataract surgery. The group of around 120 people also had dental and general practice teams. As well as surgery for people who otherwise did not have access to care, the team also had a teaching role with local surgeons.
It was the most intense period of performing eye blocks I have experienced. Previously I have done up to twenty in a session on a few occasions. For the three days of operating I did over thirty each day. I learned enough Khmer to ask the patients to keep still and to test the blocks. Being part of such useful work was quite rewarding.
I had a free day at the end of the anaesthesia work before having to leave to return home. I flew to Siem Reap and visited the Angkor Archaeological Park with a guide. It was a truly amazing collection of structures.
The weekend after I returned we helped with the rowing club’s annual Trivia Night fundraiser. This year the host was Wonder Woman. Jay and I appeared in hastily-obtained and ill-fitting costumes as Batman and Superman. The fund raiser was our most successful yet, helping the club to buy a new racing eight a few weeks later. As always our team finished in the top ten, but were not winners.
Jay decided to host a dinner party in September. We had twelve for dinner which is the limit of our dining table. It was an almost all-new menu for us which was a lot of planning. We squeezed in a few cultural events: the Hokusai and Dior exhibits at NGV and the Victorian Opera’s “Black Rider”. The cultural event we missed this year was the AFL Grand Final. Though my team, Richmond, won, we weren’t at the game as we missed out on the ballot for reserved seats for the first time in a few years.
In the coming weeks we are looking forward to both travelling for work and also visiting New Zealand again together. After that we need to make plans for Christmas here in Melbourne.
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Also in July, Sigur Ros played a concert in Melbourne. I knew them only from their albums but had enjoyed their music enough to want to see them live. I was surprised that they produced very much the same sound live as they did in recordings; I imagined there was a lot more multitracking and post-production work in their recordings.
For Jay’s birthday we had dinner at The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. This meant a night away as the drive was three hours. The food was an interesting degustation menu and the following day we had a walk in the Grampians before heading back to Melbourne. For the middle of Winter the weather was quite good. After we returned to Melbourne we watched Dunkirk at the IMAX theatre near home. It was one of the few places showing the film in 70mm IMAX, but the session time which suited us best was 4k laser IMAX which was slightly lower resolution but still on the largest current IMAX screen in the world.
I was less lucky with the weather the following weekend when the St Vincent’s Department of Anaesthesia had their retreat. I had been asked to speak on work-life balance so I attended the whole event in Healesville. The highlight for me was seeing the chin-up challenge between two of the other anaethetists (one a Crossfitter) who had been arguing over how many they could do.
In mid-August I had agreed to help with an aid trip in Cambodia. I was one of two anaesthetists for the first week of the program. Our role was to provide blocks for the six surgeons performing cataract surgery. The group of around 120 people also had dental and general practice teams. As well as surgery for people who otherwise did not have access to care, the team also had a teaching role with local surgeons.
It was the most intense period of performing eye blocks I have experienced. Previously I have done up to twenty in a session on a few occasions. For the three days of operating I did over thirty each day. I learned enough Khmer to ask the patients to keep still and to test the blocks. Being part of such useful work was quite rewarding.
I had a free day at the end of the anaesthesia work before having to leave to return home. I flew to Siem Reap and visited the Angkor Archaeological Park with a guide. It was a truly amazing collection of structures.
The weekend after I returned we helped with the rowing club’s annual Trivia Night fundraiser. This year the host was Wonder Woman. Jay and I appeared in hastily-obtained and ill-fitting costumes as Batman and Superman. The fund raiser was our most successful yet, helping the club to buy a new racing eight a few weeks later. As always our team finished in the top ten, but were not winners.
Jay decided to host a dinner party in September. We had twelve for dinner which is the limit of our dining table. It was an almost all-new menu for us which was a lot of planning. We squeezed in a few cultural events: the Hokusai and Dior exhibits at NGV and the Victorian Opera’s “Black Rider”. The cultural event we missed this year was the AFL Grand Final. Though my team, Richmond, won, we weren’t at the game as we missed out on the ballot for reserved seats for the first time in a few years.
In the coming weeks we are looking forward to both travelling for work and also visiting New Zealand again together. After that we need to make plans for Christmas here in Melbourne.
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