EPS Apologetics Conference

Hadn't had the chance to write about the EPS Apologetics Conference that we attended in Atlanta back last month. Took a plane to Atlanta GA and met up with F who had flown in from Chicago. Had about a day or so touring the city before starting the conference proper in the evening.

SJ finally met his idol (what a poor choice of words for an apologist ha ha) Dr William L. Craig and half gushed over him at the book signing table :p We shamelessly stuck out our hands when asked who had traveled the farthest for the conference (Singapore ftw!) and took home an ESV bible prize yay! Next closest was Australia, but since they fly over the Pacific, they lost hehe.

Dr WLC and fanboy

Conference was held in the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church which is a beeeauuutiful church! It looks like a mini-mall of some sort, large conference halls and auditoriums, a nice cafe, little reading corners and what seems like facilities for schools. Bible belt indeed!

The pre-conference started off with watching A Theory of Everything on which Dr W later expounded on the theories discussed in the movie by S. Hawking (and Hurtle), a fascinating exposition on physics. What I was more blown away by was Dr W's grasps of a topic on which he is not known for, being a philosopher, and the technicalities that he delved into when discussing the topic of cosmology. Completely brilliant.

Just so I don't forget the wonderful people I met there, Craig Hazen was the hilarious conference chairman who gave out free books, Dr Nabeel Qureshi spoke passionately on his pet topic, Dr Angus Menuge delivered a session on human rights and its origins. Some speakers were less memorable than others. F, SJ and I enjoyed chats over dinner and late night wine, discussing the topics during the day and how they feature in our everyday conversations and lives.

Other than that, we explored Atlanta a little. Visited the CNN headquarters and the Coca Cola Museum, did a small hike and ate at the Cheesecake Factory :D Felt a little woozy and sick on Day 2 of the trip but thankfully that sorted itself out with popping of Panadol/Tylenol.

American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition 2013, New Orleans, Louisiana

So J and I popped over to the US of A earlier this month for the ASH 2013 exposition. This was the result of months of late nights, discussions and funny conversations over whatsapp and a nervous submission to the review panel. Results came back on the same day as MRCP Part 1 and we were all overjoyed! Well, semi-happy, since we knew we were going to have trouble finding $$ and sponsorship to get ourselves 30 hours across the Pacific Ocean. We did what we did, and found ourselves packed up and ready to go on 7th December 2013.

It was certainly an experience, flying a total of SIX Delta flights to get there and back (we didn't know better really), including one of the most horrific plane landings ever from Los Angeles to Narita - thought I might never see daylight again. The best parts of the trip were having an awesome roomie and being able to chill with Dr T over a warm cafe au lait and the famous beignets (which are hum jin pengs essentially) in the chilly 10degree winter. Thankful for the opportunity.

The weather was a boo boo and it was mostly foggy and cold. Brought along a travel handphone fisheye lens that W gave me for a wedding present which was pretty fun to use. Good times overall, minus the jetlagging there and back. Stories of a white Christmas in NY and Boston certainly make the USA a travel destination to be checked off soon!

Best Western Plus Landmark, Metarie

Massive attendance at the conference plenaries

Walking along the Mississippi River

Dedications engraved in brick on the walkway

Americans really do not appreciate good coffee. Best coffee found in Starbucks.

Found the Magic Schoolbus!

Overrated hum jin pengs and kopi at the famous Cafe Du Monde

Touristy photo outside some cathedral on the rare sunny day

Beignet fan

Along the famous Bourbon Street

New Orleans, home of the Jazz and Blues

33 Hours and beyond

✈ Coming soon.

APMEC 2012

KQ and I made both made presentations at this year's APMEC yesterday, joining the ranks of of those nifty people wearing name tags and eating free food amongst gentlemen wearing suits and speaking in foreign accents. While it wasn't anything to rave about, it was a nerve wrecking enough experience, having to speak before an audience who were ready to critique and question your topic of choice. Still, I think the fact that we clearly introduced ourselves as Medical Students gave us some leeway from time to time.

What was interesting about this conference was how impressed both of us were at the amount of passion that all the conference participants demonstrated towards education. We met doctors, educators, academics, researchers and psychologists, all meeting together in the name of educating a future generation. As medical students, all this talk was certainly mindblowing. People were investing tremendous amounts of time and money into developing teaching methods, simulators, analysing past errors and designing new constructs to better teach the junior medical faculty - the entire conference was about us! It was all very inspiring and humbling at the same time. I almost felt embarrassed each time as speakers shared about struggles they faced in the classroom. Oops, that sounds like me!

All my life I've always viewed teaching (in the classic classroom Teacher way) as a very noble calling. I always dreamt of becoming a teacher day, until the day I found how how bitchy students got when talking about their teacher's behind their backs. Taking on the title of an educator is no simple undertaking. Still, I hope to be able to be part of a teaching faculty in the future, but for now, I'll need to learn how to do so.