Memory: Pain perception

Pain, in any form,  is one of the most common chief complaints presented by patients visiting hospitals.
Specific forms of pain are likely to indicate certain diseases; therefore, description of how the pain feels and how much discomfort it causes are of great importance.

In medical record writing, pain is measured by a scale of 1 to 10, which provides subjective observation by the patient. I have not undergone any major operation or experience any sorts of deep pain, so it's not likely I can relate to how the patients feel.

In his book, Thinking, fast and slow, Daniel Kahneman proposed that, from pp.379-pp.381,
there are two principal rules that affects how patients perceive the pain.

He designed an experiment that two patients undergoing a painful colonoscopy. Because the data was collected in the early 1990s, it was performed without administration of anesthetics. 

Who do you think suffers more ?

Consider two rules:

1. Peak-end rule.

2. Duration neglect.

For 1., both groups have the highest score at 8, but Red ended with 7, Blue ended with 1, thus giving a mean value of  7.5 and 4.5 respectively.

For 2. It's evident that Blue sustains longer duration.

However, the answer is that patients blue feels LESS pain despite undergoing longer duration.
Conclusion is that what matters the most is our memory in the end that affects how we perceive and feel about the event we have been through.
(I'm jumping a little a bit but that's basically what the author expresses..)

Paucity of jejunum!!空腸不夠多!!!

One of my must-have traditional Taiwanese snack is vermicelli with large intestine. 

It's a fairly common noodle soup that can be found across the country in night markets 

or simply any food shop. It comes with misua( Taiwanese vermicelli) and oyster/ large intestine( or both).

I'd like to add some coriander, chopped garlic and chili pepper to improve the flavor.  

So what's about today's topic: paucity of jejunum.
First off, the new word I learned to day is " jeune".

According to Collins Cobuild dictionary,
1. If you describe something or someone as jejune, you are criticizing them for being very simple and unsophisticated. (FORMAL)
2. If you describe something or someone as jejune, you mean they are dull and boring. (OLD-
FASHIONED)

The origin of the word comes from Latin, jejunus, which also gave off the word that's used medically, jejunum.
Jejunum is the middle section of small intestine. The section is frequently found to be void of food following death, due to its intensive peristaltic activity relative to the duodenum and ileum.

And for paucity. It reminds me of the pauci-immune vasculitis....

Drawing newborn. 新生兒速寫

Newborns rendered with crimson and vermillion.
Eyes closed as if capsulated.
His proportion hard to depict.
My English failed to capture the essence of language
as My sketch skills endangered him with aging.

古蹟日之台北賓館參訪Taipei Guest House

       我和台北賓館的連結應是，一次從台大病房往下看到一棟發光的房舍，周造被樹叢包圍，
直到後來開始追蹤台灣日治時期西洋建築，然後屢次從圍牆外向內窺探，但始終沒踏進。

     台北"賓館"，簡而言之是，日治時代的台灣總督官邸，國民政府遷台後，轉為宴請外賓的場所。( 記得國民黨政府有個政策是要把日本/日治時代改為，日"據"時代，今天是目睹了許多解說牌上都被用很醜的貼紙更正...)

        其實，我今天不想討論這棟建築的藝術價值和歷史定位，我相信在網路google官方網站，可以得知哪些各國總統官員曾親臨，翻翻其他遊記部落格，也能快速掃過一些大眾常見的建築語繪。

羅馬式的門框裝飾

最近看完了John Berger的"班托的素描簿"，John Berger是知名的藝術評論家和觀察者，他在這本書提到他一次在博物館速寫的經驗。

大家知道在博物館的角落會有一張椅子，不知情的..太太/旅客，可能會當作休息歇腳的絕佳位置，但事實上這張椅子是給維持展場秩序的志工人員坐的。

John Berger把包包放在椅子上，人站一旁速寫，警衛走過來說: 椅子上的袋子是你的嗎?

J.B: 是，是我的。 警衛: 那不是你的椅子! J.B: 我知道。因為現在沒人坐，所以我把包包擺在那裡。我馬上拿走。 然後J.B就把包包放到地上，然後警衛又說不行，兩人一來一往，J.B.邊回答，然後繼續畫。

美術館和博物館最美的不是，擺在那邊的藝術品，而是人和藝術品之間的互動，生生不習的傳承，所以藝術家或任何人用最自然的方式，並且也沒妨礙到他人，或弄髒環境的前提下，以速寫記錄，是見多美好、精神上多美妙的互動!!

把話題轉回台北賓館。ㄧ進門，有三五個志工作在大廳，有善地發印有台北賓館標志的包裝水給遊客。每間房間也都至少一位身穿綠色背心的阿姨或阿伯。其實在被監視的情況下要速寫，我也會感到不太放鬆，然而她們幾乎都會靠過來跟我聊聊，我很自然的問說應該都有人會來畫畫吧，其中一位說沒有你是第一個(我想她的意思是在室內畫的第一個)

速寫的好處之一是，人們往往會忘記本來的身分，轉而以一種朋友或旅人的方式互相對話。

曾經在一次台灣熱門畫展中，小幅的記錄筆記，但並沒有引起太大的騷動。

在台北賓館，當我把畫好的墨水線條拿到花園露臺上色時，許多民眾靠過來，有些很客氣的詢問是否能拍照，有些人會跟我聊聊。我感覺這樣的互動是很舒適的，並沒有被嚴重打擾，也能分享我的觀點。

台北賓館一個月只開放一天，一般民眾可能連台北賓館是甚麼都沒聽過，更少人會上外交部網站看開放時間了。如此篩選的影響是，來參觀的遊客，或許都是對藝術或歷史有稍微留心的觀賞者，不大不小的空間中能很閒適的晃盪，看看日式花園中悠閒的7隻黑天鵝~~~

Indolent Pomelo 遊手好閒的文旦

八月底走在路上可以看到樹上一顆顆綠色的大型柑橘類水果，文旦，俗稱柚子。
根據維X百科解釋；文旦一詞來自將柚子傳到日本九州的中國船長:謝文旦。

不喜歡吃柚子，因為光是要把皮剝開，理清包裹內餡的纖維素，就可以讓我吞下50顆維他命B吧! 而且一個人抱著柚子吃是尋找孤寂感跟取暖嗎??

所以食用柚子還是適合"聚眾"時享用，吃柚子配話，而且現場最好有低於十歲以下的小孩，如此才能物盡其用。

那跟游手好閒屁事??!!! 遊手好閒是稱呼一個人懶惰時，較浮華的詞藻。而英文中Indolent 這詞根據Merriam-Webster dictionary的定義是 averse to activity, effort, or movement :  habitually "lazy". 因為自己很懶得剝柚子而把這樣莫須有的罪名加在"波蜜囉"身上......

波蜜囉是英文Pomelo的音譯與意譯，波一下就流出密，就時間與效率上來講，CP質比較高，也引人無限遐思....

Indolent事實上還有另外一個意思:
a  : causing little or no pain

b :  slow to develop or heal <indolent tumors> <indolent ulcers> 

直白地說就是不會痛的。所以indolent tumor就是腫瘤長了，沒有發現因為不會痛，沒有症狀。

而Indolent Pomelo，嗯可能兩種定義都符合。

Tumor on right temple with body ulcer.

Lymphocytes infiltration and tissue debris are seen. 

緬甸華新街 Little Burma in Taiwan.

從南勢角4號出門往右手邊一直走，慢速行走約莫15分鐘可達華新街。路口兩側醒目的觀光標示迎接著想要一探異國文化的旅客。
東南亞文化緊貼著食物環繞，從食物可以稍微窺視當地人生活方式，不失為輕鬆的文化體驗。街道兩旁比鄰的小吃店是外來人比較容易接近的管道，點個魚湯麵和印都冰，馬上就得到緬甸氛圍的入場卷。在這裡外地人是醒目的，四周環繞操著緬甸語的中年男子，他們桌上的食物早就吃完了，但是聚在一起還能延續文化與時空在他們身上的印記吧!

緬甸食物不像泰國當地食物又酸又辣(台灣的早就改良)，跟越南食物比起來，似乎和我們腦海中典型的東南亞食物又跟接近。或許有點像東南亞和中國的綜合體，每樣食物看起來都是一團黃黃的麵糰。

近年來泰國和越南食物當道，泰式連鎖餐廳和越南河粉大街小巷都是，惟獨緬甸和馬來西亞兩個國家的食物似乎仍保有"異國色彩"，其中緬甸小吃更是要來到華新街才能品嘗。

看著一圈一圈的緬甸文和聽起來黃澄澄、暖和和的緬文，讓我不禁好奇緬甸的華人文化是身處怎樣的社會位置。馬來西亞的華人族群保有比台灣更獨特、多元的方言，而泰國華人的身分識別: 姓名，都已經完全同化了，或許一次的緬甸形可以解答這樣的問題吧!!


Food has long played an essential part in Asian cultures. And the best and cheapest way  to feel how local people live is to taste everyday food in restaurant of neighborhood.

Along with the retreat of ROC to Taiwan and anti - chinese riots in Burma/Myanmar, a small group of Burmese Chinese came to settle in Zhonghe District(中和區), New Taipei City( Taipei county back then). Restaurants and food shops that line the street華新 nearly give the illusion of being in Southeastern Asia.

It was Saturday evening and mostly middle-aged men gathered around the tables in restaurants. Most of them were not eating but rather chatting in Burmese. So as an outsider, this place is a community with significant difference.

If I put Malaysia and Thailand into a spectrum, then they will be at the total opposite ends, where Chinese in Malaysia are distinct groups whose languages and culture are perfectly preserved and Chinese in Thailand are well assimilated to Thai culture.  

I have yet to travel to Myanmar so I can't make conclusion where Burmese Chinese lies. However, choosing the most comfortable language to speak, which is Burmese, tells me these group of Chinese have absorbed the Burmese culture. As for the taste of food, compared with Thai food, it was not so sour and definitely not spicy at all. ( I guess the food this place offers have not changed so greatly to cater to Taiwanese). Therefore I would place Burmese food between Thai and Vietnamese/ Chinese.