i hate jabs...

...and the damn doctor at the Siglap clinic.
My sis came over for lunch today, and we were just talking about the latest Gilmore Girls episode when my dad comes along, says hi and oh yeah, you're taking the flu jab tonight for our Shanghai holiday in Christmas.
Whaaatt??
Avid haters of shots, my sis and I convince my dad to let us take the jab next week instead. (Using my speech & drama exam as an excuse for both of us. Gosh what a limp excuse.) My dad agrees, thoroughly amused by the dread in our eyes.
(I can't help it. I have a thing against any sharp object pressing against my body, breaking skin, and drawing blood. Even if it doesn't really hurt, I just have an immense dislike for being poked by a needle.)
Fast forward ten and a half hours later:
My sis calls from her place, sounding extremely aggravated, and informs me that she's coming to pick me up because the damn doctor won't do the jab next week and we have to go tonight.
Whaaatt??
So there we are at the clinic, half-sulking that we've been dragged out to get a damn shot.
We go in together, me, my sis and Joe (my bro-in-law), and as we each proceed to get poked, we ask the doc what's the purpose of the damn jab. (Okay, we left out the damn. We're still relatively polite. Shooting dark looks, but polite.)
The doctor proceeds to tell us that it's to prevent us from getting influenza.
Hang on. Wasn't this supposed to stop us from getting bird flu?
No, no. It's just to rule out the possibility of influenza if you get a flu.
Whaaatt??
So we were dragged to the damn doctor's to get shots for our China vacation, and it doesn't even prevent the damn bird flu?! It was a major WTF moment.
Doc says: This injection is very beneficial! You won't get influenza!
So when we go Shanghai, and we get a flu, it's not influenza.
It's just possibly the bird flu.
Whoopee-dee-doo.
And of course it's beneficial...You're getting 28 bucks out of every naive person (and family member of a very persistant naive person) who goes there for the damn jab.
Good grief.
Needless to say, my sis has decreed that we're never going to see this doctor ever again.
And if I get influenza between now and 21st November 2006, remind me to sue the pants off the damn doctor.