The true stories of me

The tough life

2008-10-21T20:04:00.004+01:00

And four months into the job...

I feel like throwing my bleep against the wall everytime it goes off.

Especially when you get 3 pages within a span of 4 seconds.

Especially at 5am in the morning when I've only slept an hour.

This was me at some point during the last 2 months
You got that right...

...THREE bleeps!!

Ok i look constipated

Scratch that

And I haven't even begun my most stressful job yet!!

Thnking of using the training grant to buy a new computer next year

Option 1: Toshiba's qosmio f50

Option 2: Fujitsu's Xi 3650
Tough choices...

Graduation

2008-06-25T18:07:00.005+01:00

It all culminates to this...

Five years..no wait...SEVEN! (including Alevels)....and now I can wave my stethoscope around ( OMG I actually had to use the spellcheck to correct how I spelled stethoscope)

To those who were wondering what colour the NUI medicine gowns are...worry no further...cos your suspicions have been confirmed.
The red and green do no justice.
I start work next week after this week's orientations!
Wish me luck!
2nd nite on call! Ahhhh....!

My Malaysian holiday.....

2008-05-29T04:46:00.008+01:00

I'm HOME!

And what have I been doing?

Nothing.

Except visit the fam in Penang.

Eat. Loads.

And getting literary again.And in the spirit of science fiction and being immersed in the lore of dungeons and dragons and all things non-earthly....

That's right...I went on a dragonfruit binge.

That's not all.
Ok, that's me looking a leeettle scary with my durian.

Durian itself is a scary fruit for non-Malaysians, and certainly not for the faint-hearted. Which reminds me, kudos to Elaine Liu for actually swallowing it.

Glad Marianne, Elaine and Charles visited from US. It gave me a chance to actually do touristy things in KL, something which I've never done before..and I'm supposed to be a native KL-lite!

Indian temple within Batu Caves (Rock Caves) with its 250 steps.

Chi and I at the top!

Shah Alam mosque...awesome from afar.

Charles after he tasted durian.

Go figure why they were so fascinated that this kiddy ride was named after Battlestar Galactica.

I finally got my ticket to go up the Petronas twin towers! (Fourth time's the charm..)

I'm surprised they actually cleaned up Petaling Street (Chinatown). It actually looks touristable now...

Will miss you guys now that the craziness and the loooong sit-downs at Coffeebean is over and I'm back in Ireland =(

Spring cleaning

2008-05-15T20:21:00.003+01:00

Ok, yes, the title does not sound fun at all.

But I will try to compensate.

Err...no pics either.

Hopefully the written word would dazzle you people enough to make you forget about the crappy title and no pictures.

*clears throat*

~PRESSURE!!!~

Ok, so I'm leaving for kAY Elle tomorrow.

I almost feel weird that I'm going home.

So I missed last night's class party. Steph gave out to me cause I did. But I was just too tired and was busy packing! I'm amazed how much JUNK I've accumulated throughout the years. I have a whole recycling bag full of paper. I watched Tudors (which is getting kinda boring nowadays) until I just zonked out before 11am. (In that case, good thing I didn't go to the class party...cos alcohol and packing anxiety and tiredness can't have been a good combination)

I hate the bookseller people in the UCC campus. Yesterday, they refused to buy my books because it was "Wednesday, and we only do it on Thursdays". So I had to lug all of it back again today...and...'surprise, surprise'??

They only bought back 2 of em. *curse curse*

Had a yummy dinner with the peeps at cap'n america's upon housie dave's suggestion. Sorry no pics! Hugs to everyone though!

Over the last few days, everyone keeps calling me doctor. Not that I don't like it. I just feel so weird about it. No really, it's not modesty. It just feels unreal. Like, hell, that's not me! That's the person next to me.

Until I realize.

Oh wait, it is me.

Good thing I don't have to officially worry about it til the end of next month. Til then..a month of fun in the smouldering sun.

The plan:

Shopping

Foooooooooood

More shopping

And buying graduation stuff!!

The year as it was

2008-05-14T08:00:00.019+01:00

So how do I summarize the year that it was...???

STRESSful

Little rotations scattered everywhere...with my luck, most were crap..except my last rotation with endocrinology (that was BRILLIANT)

My quaint room in Mallow (which wasn't all thaaaat bad after all)

And the view from the window when it snowed

But overall, there were fun times with classmates (ok, maybe this pic isn't as happy as Steph might make it look cos it was taken right outside the library =(

And just plain stress

Exams!!!

I guess some of us really stayed up late to study =P

But it has now all come to an end!

Believe it or not, I opened (Housie Dave's chinese takeaway) fortune cookie (I love eating em'!)...and this was what it said.

No way right??!

Which are you?

2008-05-13T20:17:00.002+01:00

Click to enlarge

Light at the end of the tunnel

2008-05-13T18:07:00.003+01:00

So I haven't written in almost a year.

Ever get the feeling that you're so consumed into something that you lose all sense of the outside world? To friends and family..much apology is needed. This year has been one heck of a whirlwind. I haven't even wished Shoney congratulations on the engagement yet. (guilt, guilt...)

But dark corners and unhappy tunnels aside, I've reached the end!

(gosh, that's kind of a spooky picture...)

Anyway...Yay! No more exams...no more studying (or at least for a year)....no more people grilling you about random things that isn't even important! I felt like this year was one big interview. Heck of a long one. With oral exams after oral exams.

And not only do you have to talk during exams....you have to talk to patients. Neverending streams of patients filling up hospitals. For the most part, I love talking to patients. It really is what makes the job meaningful (and I'm not just being the jolly eager interviewee telling interviewers that my whole goal of medschool is to help people)...but sometimes, I start wishing that they'll do all the talking and voila...produce a beautiful admission history without me having to lead them in the right direction by my one zillion questions. Oh yea, this should have been one of my points when I was trying to explain to someone what my job entailed.

What do I do for a living?
Talking.
Haha.

But I'm sick of talking. No really.

Just leave me alone and let me do 20 IV cannulations.

More rants about exams soon. (I know it's over but I'm still in denial about it being over)

Bad side of NY

2007-09-20T16:26:00.003+01:00

Maybe it's just not my thing. Too much bright lights

Too much noise.

Too many people

Too many temptations (expensive ones too)...largest Macy's ever. Not enough parking

Food looks good, with a hefty pricetag...but fail in delicacence

This is Harlem. The bane of my month in New York. (Ben's apartment)

Haha. No, not really. Safer than I thought. You just had to put up with more hiphop music, boom boxes, and fried chicken than you would normally get.

Lost in New York

2007-09-20T15:50:00.003+01:00

Lost in New York between Broadway and Wall Street

But still Nuts about it nonetheless

Where quaint art stalls line the street outside the Met- Metropolitan Museum of Art

And in another Museum...I caught some dinos
At another museum- MOMA- Museum of Modern Art , we came upon a mural which was reminiscent of toilet grafitti Jia Yi keeps speaking of
No..I didn't get to see the famous musical:

Instead I saw this:Which turned out to be brilliant!

What trip to NY would be complete without climbing up to the top of Empire State Building?
Catching a glimpse of Lady liberty at sunset

A Saturday afternoon stroll along Central Park

With my long-lost friend Rachel, who has decided to abandon us for the glamour of New York's publishing world

New York, New York

2007-08-17T00:22:00.000+01:00

After 2 Broadway shows, one off-broadway show, a indie movie (both of these 'independent stuff' courtesy of Rachel the arts-reviewer connections), 2 stand-up comedy nights, and a lotttt of shopping....I think I'm ready to head back to Ireland.

Or maybe not.

Firstly, I'd have to start studying again...*bleh*

Secondly, no more nice summer-y weather.

Thirdly, no more nice summer-y weather without rain

No more shopping

No more shops.

No more shoes.

No more weekend markets!

You can obviously now visualise how much I've been shopping can't you?

No more hotdogs.

No more Korean food. Or fancy Italian food. Or Malaysian food (save for cooking some semblance of it). Or Indian food. Or Thai food. Or Vietnamese food. Or soul food. Or KFCs.

Of utmost importance being no hotdogs. With papaya juice.

You can also probably visualise how much weight I've put on.

Yesterday's stand up comedy was at this local comedy club near NYU which wasn't as touristy as Caroline's on Broadway. We got up-front-and-centre seats. Like as in the face as you could get. Which meant we were nearly almost ridiculed upon. Well, not me, but mostly as "Asians". Ben got made fun of cos he ordered a cocktail which was, quote, "Too fuschia for men..."

Of note was comedian Maz Jobrani who stood out from the 6 acts (Some were really bad). This video conveys most of his act last night. Oh! Oh! And at the point of the Asian car joke, he was like Asians! And points to us. (cue: burst out laughing?)

Crippled mass transit system

2007-08-10T16:12:00.000+01:00

(disclaimer:None of these pictures were taken by me, rather from New York Times and NY1)

It was a Wednesday morning, the first morning of the week I didn't have to get to the hospital early..that it happened.

Having to not get up early..I nicely slept in a bit...and by that I mean til 8am..and then bumbled my way through morning to-dos...extremely slowly. It had rained during the night, and I didn't feel like going into the rain.

When I did get out, 10 minutes to 9am, it wasn't raining. Fabulous.

I walk around the corner to where the bus stop where I usually catch my usual bus was...and was greeted by a mob.

Haha, no..not really as bad.

Living in Harlem for the month, where too many people on the street was a rarity (unlike Times Square), it was a little surprising to see more than 20 people waiting at the bus stop.

After eavesdropping on several phone conversations, I realised..there was a reason why there were so many people at the bus stop: The subway trains had shut down due to flooding! (this pic is actually in Brooklyn and I'm in Manhattan)

I thought nothing of it...since..I didn't take the subway to work. Unlike these people.....

What I forgot about was that everyone else did!

Thus, not having any way else to get to work, they packed up the buses. (I was not one of those poor people being squished in the bus but really one of those poor people standing outside the bus looking confused and transport-less)

It was 2 buses filled to the brim who passed us by without stopping before I gave up and started my 45-minute 34 block walk.

Let me tell you, the last 3 blocks were extremely difficult.

I heard worse horror stories, my fellow student/teammate had to walk 30 blocks and take a cab. People's journeys which would normally take 45 minutes took 3 hours. Taxicabs overcharged people who were desperate to get to work. Everyone got started really late. It was a huge huge MESS.

Kinda funny how New York could be squashed like a fly by some rain. It's amazing how dependent everyone is on the mass transit public transportation system. And yet when it slightly malfunctions, a humongous group of people get stuck. What nonsense.

Today it rained overnight again. When I got out, it was still raining. Afraid the same thing would happen twice in a week, I woke up early to make sure I got to where I had to get to on time.

Good thing the New York public transport managed to fight back and run smoothly this time. I still hate rain though.

A panoramic view (someone else) took of 135th Street in harlem..where I'm staying. I can't seem to find Ben's apartment in this picture though.

Awakening of theatre

2007-08-05T05:11:00.000+01:00

For some strange funny reason, the blogger page I'm on is all in Chinese characters.

Anyway, I have arrived in New York.

Yep, the big apple itself.

I haven't been able to upload my Philly and New York pictures yet..so bear patience with me.

Today went to see the new musical- Spring Awakening.
It's based on a German play which was written in 1890 and banned at the time it was shown 15 years later. I can succinctly summarize it by saying that it's a story about all society's taboos inflicted upon a group of teenagers. Everything that you can imagine to be taboo..you name it: sex, homosexuality, abuse, drugs, pregnancy, abortion, suicide...what else am I missing? Oh, not to mention an odd (really unnecessary) scene on S&M.

Simulated sex.

Need I say more?

I think I'm now addicted to musicals. The singing is brilliant (die American idol...people who should be singers already ARE singers) and the acting is amazing. Which is why I love stage acting. The notion is full of romance, love and death. How more romantic can it get?

Wanted to watch Wicked, but it seems to be sold out all the time...so I guess I'll do it in London.

Rachel is bringing me to an off-Broadway show tomorrow cos she's doing reviews...which she doesn't expect to be good...so just as well, my expectations are on the bottom rung. Like I said..I'm addicted. If I had the time (and money!) I'll watch everything.

Had Korean food again today. Think I'm adapting my tastebuds to actually liking it now.

Also found a new performer called Ben Kweller, a New Yorker who plays brit-rock/john mayer-early-days-type songs. His music sounds kinda familiar yet different.Only discovered him a day before his last gig in New York =(

At least I still have Rufus Wainwright.

Met Ben's intern friends yesterday, one of whom is funnily flaming such a queen! Didn't help that he was also drunk at the time. So funny funny funny. Politeness gets you nowhere with drunk gay people (err, no offense?...I swear I be too politically correct). Patience wears thin after hearing (in a Filipino accent) about how he's visited KL and Kl is so fab (!!) but sooo expensive....for the fourth time....

Peds in Mount Sinai, New York is fun! My team is funny. My fellow is a ditz,a fun fun and funny one at that (love her!) and my other two fellow med students are respectively fun and funny. One cracks my type of sarcastic jokes (yay to Tom) and the other shares her peanut/chocolate-chip/peanut-butter-chips mix with me when we're both starving at 4pm (cheers to Liz).

To sleep, to sleep....for I don't have to get up til 10am tomorrow....

July in Philly

2007-07-24T01:33:00.000+01:00

Wanna know something funny and weird?

American Mountain Dew doesn't taste like regular Mountain Dew. It kinda tastes like Sprite.

So I'm nearing the end of my month in Philly..Hospital work has never been so fun and fulfilling...I don't even mind the lOng hours. I think I probably paused to savour the first time my patient note went into the patient's chart.

Its like..omg..I'm taking care of patients. And I'm glad to say each one has gotten better since...Not that I had anything to do with it...But I'd like to think so anyway..

I love my attending! He's the coolest attending ever, not to mention the best doctor I've ever seen..and he's so good to his patients! And our homework every week? (apart fr medical stuff) is to find out stuff from history/tv..last wk was sumthin from star trek n this week is greek mythology.

Anyone know what a cerberus is?

Clue: It also appears in Harry Potter

The Epic Post

2007-07-14T15:16:00.000+01:00

..not that it's of epic storytelling or anything ...but more of epic proportions since in attempting to write this post on my pda *tap tap tap * on my 3 inch Keyboard * tis very challenging

l have previously wrote 3 paragraphs only to accidentally click on the Home icon on the bottom of the screen *delete-wipe-out* ...to be greeted by a blanK screen when I pressed the back button. Something which never happens if I had a proper computer ...but I cant complain because I totally packed light.

The elective rotation in internal medicine -pulmonology has been great so far. the first week I felt totally useless but I finally got my own patients in week two. My own patient to follow up! yay! I must have drove the nurse nuts from checking On him twice a day. My first proper patient presentation sucked and left a lot wanting but Hell, I'm learning right? My most recent followup presentation didn't suck as bad so hopefully the attending sees that I'm totally improving. And I realise that American medicine is just poor at physical examination and physical diagnosis skills...something we are totally better at. the difference is interesting though.

the apartment mates are cool enough -2 guys who are law students. The other girl is also a visiting med student, SWathi, which I hang out with most of the time because we have similar hours. We 're going to do the touristy thing this weekend=]

the apartment itself is pretty fab with a wonderful view from the 17th floor...So much so I could view the 4th of July fireworks from my bed ....I totally want to live in a penthoUse when I grow up.

Airplanes aren't poetry

2007-06-29T22:34:00.000+01:00

Home from the land of Golf in Kilts

For a day..before having to fly off to Philly, home of...erm...M Night Shamalayan (not sure how to spell his name exactly)...and Benjamin Franklin...

Before my flight, I popped an antihistamine, which totally cured my air-sickness, but made me feel like I was either floating on air or going to drop down dead from drowsiness.

But somehow..I always manage to land myself in a seat in front of the screaming wailing cry-at-the-top-of-his/her-lungs infant.

Even the antihistamine couldn't knock me out enough.

Again..reconsidering doing Paediatrics.

You know what I really hate about airports now? The having to think a million times about what you're packing in or out. No liquids here, no gels there. You can't even bring in water for goodness sakes. What if I was dying of thirst from the dehydration of my 8-12 hour flight? Would I have to spend 2 euros (RM10) for a bottle of Evian? No wonder those shops selling wine can let go of their opportunity to make money from liquer, seeing as you can't hand-carry wine bottles much less any bottles, they're making a ton from selling the so-called 'cheap' fizzies to cover their losses!

It's ridiculous. I had to empty out half the bottle of expensive facewash my aunt bought down the sink (she forgot to take it out of her hand-carry luggage)...only to have the lady tell me I had to throw away the whole bottle anyway because the container was more than a 100 mls! And the jerk behind the airline counter refused to check it in for me!

I blame the terrorists.

If it wasn't for them..we'll be having peace on our flights and airport experience. We wouldn't have 2 hour-long queues at security..we wouldn't have extensive body-searches...we wouldn't have to throw away our stuff!

More on Scotland later. Will do a picture-blog-post.When I finally get the pics sorted that is.

Untitled

2007-06-18T04:43:00.000+01:00

It's 5 am.

I'm still awake.

Last night, mum did the huge task of telling me in person that my aunt was murdered 6 months ago. She was my mum's sister, one of my closest. Mum saved telling it to me til now. And I wholeheartedly agree that that was the right thing to do. I don't think I could have handled it being alone.

Saying it out loud just makes it seem so much the more real.

I almost didn't believe it til now.

She was murdered by her cambodian maid of a few days. Unprovoked. Blunt head trauma. Multiple.

Waves of sudden shock followed by anger, anguish and sadness come and go intermittently. They're still coming and going.

Oh and to make matters worse, the maid is still at large. She escaped and the malaysian police are useless. Is there a more scathing synonym for useless?

People told the family they should sue the maid agency, says Mum. I mean, how could they let a total whack job work with people? My other aunt who discovered my 1st aunt also would have been hurt if it were not for circumstances. See, the maid was still around when the other aunt arrived back home. She didn't have an escape route and was yelling at my other aunt in Cambodian. She escaped. Then my other aunt found my 1st aunt. What if she had discovered the tragedy first? She could have been hurt as well. Anyway, long story short, they decided not to sue in the end.

I think in my rage and revenge had I known I would have.

What is the world coming to?

I just have no words at the moment.

None of anything makes sense.

I just kept saying why over and over and over again.

God, I don't even know what date my aunt passed away. There are so many questions yet unanswered. I keep thinking of this email she sent me. It was probably a few days prior to the incident. And the only thing that runs in my mind was that I don't think I answered that email. Of course it doesn't matter now, but I just wished I did answer that email, you know? The other thing that runs in my mind was that the last time I spoke to and saw her was the same time I last spoke to and saw my grandma. I just had no idea I wouldn't get to see both of them again. I'm glad in a way that I gave them all the love I could muster in that fraction of a moment of saying goodbye.

Reading actually helped take my mind off it. Blogging maybe helped more. Crying helped a lot. I'm not quite done yet still.

I think I'm strong enough to get past this. One day at a time.

The iPhone

2007-06-12T21:13:00.000+01:00

For Chi..=P

I can't do math anymore

2007-06-12T20:28:00.000+01:00

My new heroine has to be Tina Fey..she of 30Rock, SNL,Mean Girls fame.

Funniest female alive

Not to mention the top 100 most influential people of 2007 (she has to be the one of the top females)

Sounds cool to crunch numbers and regurgitate them, doesn't it?

Contrary to common belief, I've learnt that medicine is ALL about the numbers. Percentages of prevalence and incidence of a disease, percentages of disease prognosis and treatment success/failure, percentages of success with a certain vaccine, percentages of people who are bound to die by the time they hit 60....and etcetera. Oh! Not to forget the numbers of doses of medications to give! Try trying to come up with a random number..like say 2...or 200...when you're asked in an oral:

What dose of lithium would you give to your patient?

Someone should start telling those oral examiners that There is a reason why they come up with drug formulary books.

So you don't need to come up with those random numbers.

And perhaps kill someone in the process. (I guessed wrong on aforementioned question)

God...how do I somehow manage to twist an innocent situation into a medical one??

Happy?

2007-06-09T23:45:00.000+01:00

I think I'm depressed from all the movie-marathoning.

And the movie that started it was Spiderman III. Have you not come across a more emo superhero flick??

Anyway...it made me miss home and miss everything that was missing in my life. When I'm not knee-deep in books...ie. distracted from reality...am I really happy?

Been watching all this sappy flicks with happy endings..cos that's the way I like it..and it sure beats being scared to look at your own reflection in the mirror from all the horror movies. Don't even get me started on thrillers or dramas. So anyway... sappy movies make for a depressed me.

Cos sappy movies like to preach about, you know..knowing what's important in life...and choosing the right path...and all that formulaic shit that makes one reach for the tissues. And of course it's true. Some parts of it anyway. Not that I know what's good for myself anyway. But I know what it's like to be happy.

And being more than 20000 miles/km (?) away from happiness isn't it.

If only happiness shared a place and time.

Am I on a junction to nowhere?

Randomness is me

2007-06-09T19:26:00.000+01:00

You know when you're grown up? Is when you have to worry about money.
This summer is going to be an expensive summer. I have to pay the rent
for my room in Ireland over the summer AND accommodation for housing
in Philly (I'm staying with my friend in NY...so thankfully...save on
money there).

Not to mention tuition for my attachment (only in NY
though of which I'm fortunate I don't have to pay in Philly cos its a
public school n thus do not extort money from innocent foreign medical
students). Some of my classmates wanna go to Harvard medical school
for their elective..and you know how much Harvard's charging em?? 2000
bucks!! And some other medical schools like Duke are charging 3000!

Anyway visa applications costs a bundle too.

Not to mention flights. Ka-ching!
All in 3 months! Feel guilty for
spending money like there's no tomorrow....

I swear I have such big plans when I start earning the money. Granted
I won't actually have any time as an intern to spend it...but
still...big plans.

Well, actually not really.

Just big plans in having
the money.

Some money at least.

Oh crap...I forgot..I have to pay off
my loans. Well, so much for spending the money that will go to pay off
my loans....

Big plans in making the money maybe?

On my movie marathon. Watched Knocked Up. With Katherine Heigl. The title is pretty self-explanatory. But it was actually surprisingly good. Very real relationship issues. Kinda scary really that everyone could fall into the trap of relationship boringness.

Katherine Heigl should do more movies.

But I still love her on TV.

Although Izzie on Grey's is getting a bit too screwed up.

I think I got so used to downloaded shows not having any ads that when
I actually get to watch tv..I get really annoyed that there are ads.
Some ads are even the topic of discussion sometimes..to which I'm clueless over
and then I start wishing I watch the ads.

But scrap that! I hate ads!

But I love Ugly Betty! I love America Ferrera. Didn't much like her in
Sisterhood of Travelling Pants though. But still. Ugly Betty rocks.
Very Devil wears Prada. Only every week. And more bitchy. And she
doesn't succumb to fashion. Yet.

Fashion bitches are the most bitchy bitches ever! Ever got glared down
cos you were dressed down?

I have!!

And it wasn't even really thaaat
down...so maybe my shoes and pants and jacket didn't match. Or I was
ruining a fab skirt with an awful top (I was cold ok? So i had to put
on the sweater over my tank top!) Which is why I love Malaysia. Cos
the weather would never hinder my fashion sense.

Or maybe I just don't have one.

NO! I do!

I think....

**internal conflict**

Maybe....

****internal conflict****

The 4am day

2007-06-06T23:16:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, I woke up at 4am to catch the 5am train to Dublin. To do the US visa applications. TROUBLESOME

Trains costs 3 times the fare of a bus. But I had to get it cos it was the only thing that would get me there in time for my 10am visa interview appointment. No idea what that interview was about, but I had visions of something like what I usually have for viva/oral exams- sitting in a stuffy office with stuffy people trying to explain your way out of a situation.

So I got to Dublin in good time. Took a LUAS tram thingie, which was really cool. It's like an electric tram much like those you see in movies of San Francisco, but this one was silent and like a speed train..only running on overhead cables, and having to abide by traffic lights and morning traffic.

When I got on, I was sandwiched by some dozens of people who also got on the same stop. If I was in London or something I would be clutching my bag to my ears practically because of pickpockets, but somehow Ireland still manages to stay a safe place. In Rome, I would probably have lost my wallet, phone and sunnies by the time I was un-sandwiched. Which thankfully sandwiching only lasted about 4 stops.

Then came having to take the train to my US embassy place. Which why isn't it in the city centre I wonder? Anyway, the train was uber confusing, and unless you actually lived in Dublin, you wouldn't have known which train to take at all. I just went by instinct and a lot of direction-asking. Or well, in truth, it was more of looking-lost and having people tell you that it's the last stop for this train so you'd better get off and get the next train. Which was what happened. I had to wait for another train at some random stop. Not really knowing if I was heading in the right direction or not. But this African guy in a business suit looking really professional told me it was in the right direction. So safe la.

The train station was icky. Smelled of petrol which made my head spin. Waited for a good 10 minutes before the right train showed up. It was then that I decided I didn't like the train at all. And it was called the DART. Let me tell you....It barely 'darted'...moving at such a slow pace, it actually gave me some sightsee-ing vantage points of outside the city centre.

Anyway, I got to my train destination stop 20 minutes to 10 and got off and followed the directions to the US embassy. While I was walking along that street, I caught a glimpse of a mob at the end of the street. Well, not exactly a mob. Just a lotta people queueing up. I thought they were having some kinda peaceful riot or something. Only to get to the end of the street to discover that I was supposed to join the queue to actually get into the US embassy. It was practically a fort with only one guard station with probably a shatter-proof window where we had to state our purpose. We had to show that we had all the documents needed for our visa application and then was given a pass. It was overall a very surreal experience. Having to queue out in the street with bustling traffic and rumbling buses passing practically inches from where we stood.

For an hour.

.....and the ironic thing was that the US embassy sent us a letter saying to not get there more than 10 minutes prior to our appointment time. PFffft...

So finally we got in and there was more queueing.

And finally then we get our "interview"

Which was just like a conversational question about what I was studying in Ireland with a guy at a counter who was speaking to me through a glass window, making his voice not quite audible..

Righttt....all that for 5 minutes audience with some clerk.

Well, at least he was nice, unlike those Malaysian passportiers who scowl and growl at you for wanting to have your passport renewed.

Anyway...right now I'm passportless.

I then met up with my friend Alison and we went medical book shopping and then had fabulous lunch at an Italian restaurant. Gourmet pizzas and pastas for only 9.50! I was stuffed then! My first real meal of the day too. Refreshed, we then went window-shopping a little. And then it was time for me to head home. Train ride home wasn't as bad as the one in the morning, which didn't allow me rest at all because there was a screaming African infant who cried every other hour. The waiting in the US embassy (the non-street-queueing bit) gave me a headache as well from not only the hunger but there were more screaming and overall very annoying kids. I was panadol-popping by the time that was over.

Hmmmm...I'll have to reconsider doing peds....

Went for a dinner party when i came back. Oh, and I walked like an hour back home from the train station. Cos the buses happened to be erratic that day for some reason.

Tiredness.

Watched an hour of a tvshow and fell asleep during the last 2minutes...only to be awoken by housie who wanted to shut my door for me. I muttered something unintelligible and my door was shut. After drifting in and out of sleep..during one of the out of sleep bits, I suddenly hear something.

Very distinct sex bed-creaking sounds.

Which then made me wake up for real.

I heard it. I'm sure.

Jeez.

Perhaps I should have mentioned before that my two housies are dating.

Each other.

Jeez. My ears do not deceive. Disturbing. And then I couldn't sleep anymore. No matter how hard I tried. You know how it is..you start tossing and turning, willing yourself to sleep and then couldn't think of anything except what woke you up in the first place. And then got grossed out and then tried to sleep again. Vicious cycle. So went online til 4.30am.

Apart from the one hour of sleep I got before being awoken by housie and the random in-and-outs of sleep I got on the train..I had officially been awake for 24 hours.

And was dead beat.

Finally Zzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Travel plans

2007-06-03T21:33:00.000+01:00

Kinda having scary reservations amidst my excitement about traveling New York and Pennsylvania. I don't think I'll make the John Mayer/Ben Folds concert though. Cos I have no idea where Hershey, Pennsylvania is! The place sounds delicious though =P

Somewhat more reserved about Pennsylvania than NY though. Was reading a travel book on NY today and now I wish August was before July.NY sounds soo fun! I'll have friends and lots and lots to do! Which reminds me, Rachel hasn't emailed me back about NY yet...

Pennsylvania is still cool though. I'm subletting from some medical students. Living in some posh apartments. Going to one of the top medical schools in the country and working at one of the top hospitals in the country... (dammit if I was doing Peds it would have been THE top hospital in the country)Anyway, short of it all is..I definitely can't complain...

Although I'm still wondering if I can finish my elective, travel 2 hours to NY, and STILL catch John Mayer/Ben Folds playing in NY....

Dammit.

And I hope my hours end early on the day Rufus Wainwright is playing NY. Or it's a lunch hour concert.

Here's hoping....

Movie marathons and such

2007-06-03T20:25:00.000+01:00

I've been on exam hiatus for awhile...

As well as hadn't anything interesting to write about either...

As of yesterday, I began my movie marathon.

2 Scarlett Johansson movies in 2 days too. That's a lot of Scarlett Johansson. That and I don't even know if I'm spelling her name right. Anyway, one of them was Girl with a Pearl Earring. And don't get me wrong when I say this...but it was boring. And kinda pointless. I mean, I love Vermeer. He's a genius, no denying that. But the movie hinted at his artistic genius somewhat bordering on lewd(ness/ity?)...it just felt a bit weird. And the ending somewhat left one to wonder. With no direction. I think I've decided I don't like that in movies. However, to compensate it more than made up in cinematography. The movie was beautiful. Almost felt like I lived in 15th century Holland for that 2 hours.

Babe, it was snowing in the movie! Better get prepared for the cold when we go there then....

The other movie which I've just finished is Scoop. I'd say it's one of the funniest movies I've watched in awhile. That and Blades of Glory and Big Nothing (more on that one later). Woody Allen is Hee-LA-ReeOus. Genius. And I now see why good ol' Scarlett here is so in demand. She's a brilliant actress. Even in comedy. Which surprises. I dunno, everything about the movie was crafted perfectly. Not one plot hole (Re:Big Nothing). Perfect comedic timing. And not in gross way either (Re: Blades of Glory..although more tactful than others..is STILL a Will Ferrel movie). Almost a nostalgic kind of humour. And by that I mean the 90's...But whatever. It's FUNNY...

Helps too that there are two bits of eye candy: Scarlett and Hugh Jackman.

Abso-bluddy-lutely have to go watch..bring your boyfriend-girlfriend-hell-even-bring-your-
father-mother-sister-brother-grandfather-grandmother-maid to watch because it's such good fun for everyone.

Big nothing is also another surprise hit. With me that is. Although pales in comparison to Scoop. Call it a comedy of criminal errors. Starring Ross Gellar of Friends fame. I mean David Schwimmer.

Wow.

Could have been the movie's tagline.

I should produce movie trailers.

Since even Cameron Diaz can do it in The Holiday.

Enough movie references. Back to the movie.

It's also starring Simon Pegg of Hot Fuzz fame. Who what fame? you ask.

Oh nevermind. I can't really explain. I haven't watched Hot Fuzz. But I'm told it's really funny. And it's British. I think.

It's sort of an oddball of a movie. Cos it has this dark comedy feel to it. Starts out almost like a Zach Braffe movie. Ends like a Zach Braffe movie. Sorta. With lots of David Schwimmer comedy and buddy-comedy-esque in the middle. The point is, got a laugh out loud out of me. (Although I don't laugh at Zach Braffe movies..just feel slightly depressed coming out of them) Anyway..worth a sit-down if you've nothing better to do. I doubt it'll show in cinemas though.

Yesterday was also the time to watch Curse of The Golden Flower. I see what everyone means by the Curse of the Golden Cleavage joke now. Did women in the whatever dynasties have their chest that compressed?? Seriously?

As if their feet being compressed to pulp wasn't enough.

It was really cool to see the processes that went on in the palace though. I remember (vaguely) visiting that palace place.

Yea, that place actually exists. And I've been there.
So yea..cool with the telling of time using the 12 calendar animals. And cool how they heated up the throne instead of what we know today as hot water bottles. And cool how everything was in the hundreds...or thousands even. A tenth of the population of China today probably sprung from that palace itself. Seeing as there were so many scandals going on.

Oh

And wanna know why I thought Curse of the Golden Flower was a comedy ?

Because I watched it in English.

=D

Considering concerts....

2007-05-13T23:01:00.000+01:00

OMG! John mayer is playing a show WITH Ben Folds in Hershey, Pennsylvania in July!! I HAVE to go, don't I?? It's about almost USD50..well worth it! Now to only find someone to drag along with me....

Not only that...

Rufus Wainwright is playing Central Park Summerstage in August!!! Free! OMG OMG OMG!!! He whom is a genius! Only problem is that it's a Thursday. I have work.... Hope it's a night show =)

Other shows I'm considering are:

Tegan & Sara in NY
Camera Obscura in NY
Amos Lee in some Musikfest thingie in some weird place in Philly for USD32
Muse in NY...I'm not a big fan though...

Excited!!

Also just realised Teitur's doing gigs in UK for 5 pounds!

Geek-anonymous Pt 2

2007-05-11T18:11:00.000+01:00

On a Samaire Armstrong run...here's she in a Hanson's video. It's actually a pretty cool song...once you get the vision of Mmmbop out of your mind when I mentioned Hanson...

Wanting to buy a new phone. And I can't decide. As usual.
The contender on your left is the Sony w810 and the contender on your right is the Sony w610. Both have the same specs with the latter being prettier, skinnier and it also needing me a sugar-daddy.

Geek-anonymous Pt 1

2007-05-11T17:23:00.000+01:00

Exam week is here.

Just had my first paper. General Paper. What a rubbish paper. The prof wrote a book, see. Pocketbook of General Practice, if any of anyone's interested. And everything is supposed to come from that book. Not that I bought the book. Because he's annoying. And he even refused to offer our class a discount on mass purchase. I didn't even bother photocopying the book.

Because it's a rubbish fluff paper where you have to rattle off how sharing is caring and doctor-patient rapport is key in this long-term medical relationship.

This is the sort of nonsense he sprouts off and expects us to sprout off.

Good thing I didn't buy the book.

Because none of the fluff stuff came out.

Relief in a way.

Yet what actually came out was so obscure!

None of what would be expected at all: Alcoholic homeless man comes in with a 1 week history of itching?? 10 marks for the differential diagnoses!! (or maybe it was 8)

Anyway, I've been spending studying time in the hospital library. More like a reading room, cos the actual library has 9-5 hours. So I've been in the reading room from noon til midnight for the past week. All the hardcore people studying is somewhat motivating. And it gets so full that people actually reserve their spaces. Some people even sleep there...(see picture later)

It was fun only because I had friends to hang out with as well. Housie David, Luke and Terry made for good company. But hospital food got sickening after a week. It was good value though- 4 euros for a 3 piece meal with unlimited portions. The last meal had 3 pieces of roast lambchops! Irish food however, can get immensely sickening. Could have puked if I had another spoonful of peas (I actually liked them the first time).

There were annoyances. Like this guy. Who sat beside me and would do all sorts of annoying stuff. He's this kiasu Singaporean 2nd med who uses like 2 of the same textbook (one 4th and one 5th edition) at the same time. We reckon he's got a contract with the publisher to spot the differences. And he sleeps. Horizontally. Beside me.

For some reason, just his being there annoys. He brings in like 2 backpacks and one big-ass huge plastic bag and makes a ton of noise with them. The big-ass plastic bag being full of groceries of the frozen-instant-food-and-meats kind which he keeps beside him from when he shopped at tesco in the wee hours of the morning(as in before sunrise) til 3pm in the afternoon in that very warm (probably 30 degrees C) room. Wonder if he has to binge-eat all the defrosted goods when he gets home in the afternoon?

He's the most sad-case friendless study-freak I know. With rituals. He spends like 20 minutes wiping off the already clean table. Some of us reckon he's got Asperger's syndrome or something (a milder form of autism without mental retardation). Dunno la. He's somehow like a scab or something. Harmless really..just annoying.

Enough bitching. Back to studying.

Psychiatry on Monday! Help!

Ever have a Bad Day?

2007-05-04T01:26:00.000+01:00

What about one after another?

Had to post this clip cos I'm a newfound fan of Samaire Armstrong, the guy in the video's pretty cute too, and I so totally do that thing they do in the train where you see couples being all together and wish it was you and then look down pretending you barely glanced at them...

The week of worry

2007-05-02T19:10:00.000+01:00

Omg, can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted!

Insanely busy doesn't even begin to describe my doings. I just had my OSCE exam yesterday. OSCE stands for Objective (I almost typed obstructive) Structured Clinical Examination. It's like an oral/viva exam but in a more practical sense.

We had 15 stations, 5 minutes each. What on earth could be done in 5 minutes??! Apparently it's meant to reflect real-life where doctors don't have time to think. Bullshit if you ask me. Consultants probably just don't have the time to spend testing 15 stations per student!

So we had some written stations, where you were asked side effects of drugs, what kind of investigations you would do if you suspected chicken-pox, and pretty much what is the diagnosis of symptom x,y and z. There was an evil question where there was a picture of an ultrasound scan of a fetus and they wanted to know what trimester the baby was in, what measurements are done in the first, 2nd and 3rd trimesters and so on. This when we barely had 15 lectures in obs and gyne at 7.15am in the morning. (Ok, in Malaysia I know 7.15 doesn't sound so bad, but in Ireland- it's VERY bad. Most classes start at 10am here)

7.15 is ungodly.

Pah.

Anyway, after the rush of the 8 written stations- where everyone had to move in a clockwise rotation, paste your sticker with your name and student number and complete the question in 5 minutes...we were tired.

The 5 minutes 'break' they promised us between the written and manned stations was a 'break' standing outside in the corridor while we had to wait for the examiners to get ready.

First one was a respiratory examination of a patient. I did great on that. Next was a collateral history of a stroked out man with dysphasia. Apparently we all had dysphasia too because we couldn't figure out to say the word 'expressive'. Oh yea, and I probably should explain that dysphasia is like a higher cortical brain disorder where they can't understand or form words.

Then it was a pelvic exam station where I did great. Then a station where we had to explain to a patient about her concerns of taking a drug. I thought it was a very realistic station where you were really put out there to take all your medical knowledge and put them into simple words so patients can understand.

There were a few others which was fine. The last two stations really caught me though. A mother who adopted a child had to be interviewed, and the key question apparently was that the child was adopted from Eastern Europe! Wtf?? Key question??

And then my worst station: We were given 5 minutes, and if that wasn't already insufficient time, I had to wait for the last student to get away, then the examiner took like half my time correcting the last student's performance sheet. Even the mock patient got concerned! So I was reduced to a lot less time!!!! Unfair!!! Couldn't finish asking the important questions. I'm sure I failed that station. =(

Today was an MCQ exam. Couldn't really study yesterday anyway because I was just so exhausted from the OSCE. It was 300 questions in 2 hours and 15 minutes. OMG. But good thing one question could be answered in seconds la if you really knew it. Bad thing was that some of the questions were so ambiguous.

Like ok la, I know that testicular torsions have to be discovered, assessed and operated to repair the twist in the testes within 6 hours or else the testes would have to be removed.....but the question asked if the treatment of choice would be testicular removal for testicular torsion. Well, if it was after 6 hours (very likely most of the time), it would. If it was still within the window of 6 hours, it wouldn't. But there wasn't any mention of the timeframe!!

And then one question totally felt like a general knowledge question. Except I don't have any common general knowledge sense. This was it: A child's head would get to adult size by 10 years old. True or false?

Anyway, overall it was ok la. Just glad this phase of exams is over. 4 subjects in 2 days: Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics and Dermatology. Phew.

Had a lunch outing with friends then. Went to this place called Soho- which had brilliant food. I haven't tasted much good food here til this place. And we spent the lunch hour slamming the exam and the examiners. Had a lamb roast which I was very satisfied with, so much so that I didn't have space for dessert. I bet their tiramisu would have been fab.

Anyway, came home all happy, ready to have some rest then maybe dive into studying some epidemiology and public health (yuck). I opened my email, annoyed that New York hasn't sent me the document I need to go apply for my visa. I decided to check the website again, and saw something that made me panic!! I need to apply myself to the New York State for the document! Write a letter! The uni also write a separate letter! And only with two letters can the NY state give me the document I need! Argh!

Omg, hope they don't take forever if I send the letter tomorrow. Worried. What if I don't get the letter in time for mid june??

So still worried. But my friend tells me that the visa will be issued within 2 days. Setting up the visa interview appointment in the US embassy in Dublin is what takes a long time. Bah. So troublesome.

Anyway, before all the panic started, I found out that I got a spot for the Pennsylvania elective! Excited! Yay! Top 3 medical school! My mistake at first (cos I received the email 2 weeks ago). See, the letter said that they'll tell me what elective I'll be doing in May when I thought they'll only tell me if I'll get the spot or not in May.

I'm so blur.

But it made me less envious about my friend getting a John hopkins 'feeder' hospital surgery elective......

And on the up side, I booked a residence at Philly! Excited! Slightly more expensive than I thought, but it's close to the uni.

Phew, I feel exhausted after all the worrying. Must get down to studying. 6 more exam papers to go and 1 oral exam! =)

Memorable interviews

2007-04-08T11:42:00.000+01:00

This totally made me burst out laughing- Imagine yourself being the interviewer:

Memorable Interviews

Vice Presidents and personnel directors of the one hundred largest corporations were asked to describe their most unusual experience interviewing prospective employees:

A job applicant challenged the interviewer to an arm wrestle.

Interviewee wore a Walkman, explaining that she could listen to the interviewer and the music at the same time.

Candidate fell and broke arm during interview.

Candidate announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer's office.

Candidate explained that her long-term goal was to replace the interviewer.

Candidate said he never finished high school because he was kidnapped and kept in a closet in Mexico.

Balding Candidate excused himself and returned to the office a few minutes later wearing a hairpiece.

Applicant said if he was hired he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.

Applicant interrupted interview to phone her therapist for advice on how to answer specific interview questions.

Candidate brought large dog to interview.

Applicant refused to sit down and insisted on being interviewed standing up.

Candidate dozed off during interview.

The employers were also asked to list the "most unusual" questions that have been asked by job candidates:

"What is it that you people do at this company?"

"What is the company motto?"

"Why aren't you in a more interesting business?"

"What are the zodiac signs of all the board members?"

"Why do you want references?"

"Do I have to dress for the next interview?"

"I know this is off the subject, but will you marry me?"

"Will the company move my rock collection from California to maryland?"

"Will the company pay to relocate my horse?"

"Does your health insurance cover pets?"

"Would it be a problem if I'm angry most of the time?"

"Does your company have a policy regarding concealed weapons?"

"Do you think the company would be willing to lower my pay?"

"Why am I here?"

Also included are a number of unusual statement made by candidates during the interview process:

"I have no difficulty in starting or holding my bowel movement."

"At times I have the strong urge to do something harmful or shocking."

"I feel uneasy indoors."

"Sometimes I feel like smashing things."

"Women should not be allowed to drink in cocktail bars."

"I think that Lincoln was greater than Washington."

"I get excited very easily."

"Once a week, I usually feel hot all over."

"I am fascinated by fire."

"I like tall women."

"Whenever a man is with a woman he is usually thinking about sex."

"People are always watching me."

"If I get too much change in a store, I always give it back."

"Almost everyone is guilty of bad sexual conduct."

"I must admit that I am a pretty fair talker."

"I never get hungry."

"I know who is responsible for most of my troubles."

"If the pay was right, I'd travel with the carnival."

"I would have been more successful if nobody would have snitched on me."

"My legs are really hairy."

Ben Bands

2007-04-01T10:53:00.000+01:00

Wanna go for a concert after exams.

Only problem is, there are no decent concerts. The closest to decent seems to be a gig by Ben Taylor. His name sounds familiar anyway. Anyone know how I know his name??? Maybe it's from too many listens of Ben Folds and Ben Lee.

Checked him out...and I still don't know how I know him. Voice sounds decent though.

Oh well.

Think I'll give it a pass. It's the night before my last paper anyways.

Land of wannabe

2007-03-31T23:28:00.000+01:00

Email from Babe:

Stoopit Gah-ment waste our money! biu tis kine of big big fellis wiu

Babe is so funny

But it's true....WTF man....Now we're London wannabes all of a sudden???

It's not enough being New York wannabes(build tall tall buildings) and Dubai wannabes (manmade coconut tree-shaped island become Putrajaya's manmade lake/swamp thingie) and other wannabes (biggest shopping mall.....biggest Ikea)

OMG what is going to come next.......

I cringe at the thought

ARGHHH!

2007-03-30T20:14:00.000+01:00

I swear the only thing that's keeping me sane right now is waiting for the last 2 entourage episodes to be finished downloading.

Talk about a bad day.

Skype totally broke down. As in, it connects for a total of one minute before being hung up. And for once, its not my connection that's making it totally dead. Chi and I were ringing each other for like at least 20 times in an hour. Funny how Skype works almost perfectly when I chat with parental units.

We were scheduled for a group project get-together this afternoon. As in, it's in the bluddy timetable.

No one showed up.

I glance around the computer lab to see everyone else' group having full numbers.

Apparently I got a bunch of last-minuters. And I'm no last-minuter.

Have I mentioned I hate my group?

My head is so muddled with statistics now it hurts.

I am gonna study this weekend. To hell with SPSS and the project.

The Golden Compass

2007-03-28T21:08:00.000+01:00

Just had chills from The Golden Compass trailer...I've never been so 'chilled' by CGI before..

Disaster in the making

2007-03-28T17:30:00.000+01:00

Dunno why...

But I was sooo tickled during class when I opened my Friendster and read a message my friend Ben sent me which said:

How you know Stanley Teo?

I remembered. He's Ben's friend.
My reply was even tickle-ier:

I don't!! =P
He viewed my page (Friendster). So I viewed his page.
Patricia (the housemate) and I thought he was cute so I added him!

How mortified I am for being caught.....

Not really.

Just amused.

Our evidence-based medicine lecture after lunch was really boring...so I was chatting to Chi. Only he was too busy doing his video so no time to chat. Oh boo. I then busied myself playing bookworm on yahoogames. For some reason the puzzle was harder than usual.

I did manage to find a new bmj website called BMJ evidence based medicine though. Was thoroughly excited for a moment. It was brilliant. Because my search came up with less than 10 hits. No need to sift through tons of nonsense.

We just started on our epidemiology and statistics group project today. I foresee a disaster. They somehow managed to put together 5 people who can't really work together.

Ciara- who's one of the prettiest girls in class, and at the same time, the most disliked by the general population I speak to.
Fiachra- whom I haven't said more than 20 words to since First Year. He grunts to my hellos. I think I spelled his name wrong. Nuff said.
James- whose literature research in the past have been whole theses.
Paddy- who doesn't give a shit, but otherwise the friendliest of the lot.
And Me- who doesn't know what's going on half the time.

Disaster I tell you.

While other groups were all pooled together doing work...we were sitting around talking about...I don't know what we were talking about. Gossip here, bitching about the tutor there.

I foresee a disaster.

Check back with me before Good Friday next week to see how much of a disaster it was.

Nuts about odds

2007-03-27T18:56:00.000+01:00

I have 2 weeks of statistics and epidemiology. The latter of which is a word to make you both confused and yawn at the same time. Which is why I'm obsessed with odds right now.

Just a random statistic: The poor have 16 times the risk of having a mental health disorder than the rich. That's a lotta times.

Speaking of mental health, I was reading about the clinical features of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Yes, I am still stuck on Psychiatry)....

Symptoms of increased arousal (I know what y'all are thinking...)
-Which really means: severe anxiety, irritability, insomnia and poor concentration Avoidance and dissociative symptoms
Persistent intrusions of memories
Depressive symptoms
Maladaptive coping responses

When....

....I had the urge to find new tv episodes to download since my season 3 of entourage is taking so bluddy long. So I went to find out if I was missing any episodes of the regular stuff I watch.

I go to tv.com and find out.

That the latest house episode which airs....NOW...is this

Top Secret
First aired: 3/27/2007

The ex-marine that saved House's life, in a dream he had the day before, is admitted in the hospital with symptoms resembling Gulf War Syndrome. While House is busy dealing with his own health issues, and Chase and Cameron are too busy with each other, the ex-marine gets worse.

Now what are the odds of me attempting to study the same thing that was airing at that exact moment??!

Okok, maybe I'm reading way too much into this whole what are the odds thing....

Because I just realised PTSD and Gulf war syndrome are not exactly the same thing. Minor difference...one has mental symptoms and the other has physical symptoms which are due to a mental disorder. Slight detail....

But still I wanna say.....WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!

Random musing after reading up on Gulf War syndrome: It says there is an increased risk of birth defects. How do war veterans get birth defects??

Did they somehow battle a war while they had a day-job in the womb?

The latest detective tools known to mankind

2007-03-25T16:53:00.000+01:00

The time changed.

I just lost an hour of my life.

Welcome to daylight savings.

Everytime some kind of gossip comes my way, I have to go check Friendster. The source of all information. That should be its company slogan.

It was there that I found out my best friend had a boyfriend.

It was there that I found out another friend broke up with a boyfriend.

Endless second-hand information that I should have been getting first-hand. (But let's just disregard that for now) Still, it's Friendster. It's almost as if it was firsthand. Because it's the same shock and disbelief encountered regardless.

They should have a page that brings you all the gossip at the click of a button. No having to search for it yourself anymore.

That was exactly what I was doing this afternoon when I got the tiny bit of information that led to the use of my detective skills the medschool has been nurturing me to perfect. Only to finding out gossip bits instead of patient-information bits. On Friendster (much less), which could be an advent to the gossip-world much like how MRI is the new it-thing!!!!

Only I gave up on the case less than halfway through the 8 pages of Friends List I was going through.

Cheh.

Not worth my time la.

I'll just wait til the official words come floating into my ears a decade later.

Let's hope I don't give up on my patients quite so easily.

The week as I knew it...

2007-03-23T15:56:00.000Z

Was out-station in a place called TRALEE doing
Otherwise shortened to ENT

Busy. With long days. Not to mention we had to write up a presentation.

But I actually found that I got it. Like, got a knack for it. So even though I don't want to be a surgeon, dunno..ENT might be on the list. It seems a relatively easy job. Surgery isn't all that bloody..considered micro-surgery even. The doctor had like 20 surgeries to do in a month! And I'd bet half of them would be setting broken noses into place!

Anyway, we watched an ear-drum being repaired. And the scrub nurse was so incompetent that the operation took twice as long. She kept handing the surgeon the wrong tool. And it being a microscopic surgery, he wouldn't know she handed him the wrong tool til he put it into the place, sees it in under the microscope, and realises Oops, wrong tool!!

So he had to turn around away from the microscope, pick out the tool he wanted, then go back to the microscope, refocus it, and time wasted.

Not only that, the scrub nurse had her operation mask, the top of which reached up til her bottom lip. The whole entire time.

Not only that.

She sneezed.

About 3 times.

Talk about MRSA man.

The town of Mallow

2007-03-18T21:13:00.000Z

Totally forgot to post about my 2 weeks GP(general practice) rotation in Mallow, Cork.

Mallow is a quaint little town half an hour away from Cork city (if u can even call it a city)

(hands/fingers stiff rite now from washing dishes in freezing cold water so my typing is hardly enthusiastic)

It has one main road in the city centre, of which can be walked in less than 20 minutes from beginning to end. (main street not shown here)

And there I was, stuck there for 2 weeks in a fabulous B&B (bed and breakfast), I felt utterly pampered with all the luxury-like hotel and food. GP even took us out to lunch most days. It was supposed to be a relaxing rotation, and the first week of it was, with our GP not even showing up some days (he was supposed to be off on sick leave for a perforated appendix...what a slacker =P). We kept ourselves busy with finding work for ourselves and enthusiastically giving some 2nd meds on their GP visit-day a brilliant tutorial on diabetes. The 2nd week got decidedly busier, with our GP shipping us off to visit the public health nurse, the pharmacist etc. We were practically burning off the soles of our shoes with our traipsing all over town. And of course, we got our hands on needles and started practicing some blood-taking too (Cos they never ever let us get a chance to do that til our intern year..unfortunately for the poor patients)

Both my friend Steph and I started out the rotation being absolutely against general practice, both consolidating each others' views of how demeaning etc it would be. But we ended our two weeks having pleasantly enjoyed our rotation. I can't say it changed us not wanting to be general practitioners any less, but it wasn't as bad as we had in our minds that it'll be.

My B&B room looked out onto a massive field (I have never felt so 'country' before) with 8 horses grazing now and again in it, and further afield water ran in the form of a river. The simple life, methinks. Almost had a Paris Hilton moment thinking: I need my city-life of lights, noise and computers (doubt she'd be obsessing over internet-access though). Country-life was all smells of freshly-cut grass, a waft of horse manure and nice views. Not exactly what I was used to.

Speaking of nice views, this was a rainbow when rain met sun. Wonder where that leprechaun & pot of gold at the end of a rainbow would be??

And rain. Boy, did it rain.

For two days straight.

This was the result.

We're talking swim-worthy lakes of water here. We saw a gate separating two fields half-submerged in water. It was actually a really pretty sight. Wish i could catch more detail, but unfortunately only had my half-ass camera-phone with me at the time. =( Overall, it was a good 2 weeks. Even counts as travel/sightseeing...all on the medschool's account!!! =)

Shaking up the Shamrocks

2007-03-18T14:13:00.000Z

on St. Patrick's Day.......

It was St. Paddy's Day yesterday, where towns and people in Ireland come out decked in shades of green, with shamrock bushes hanging off their hats/hair and green patches of paint minutely resembling shamrocks (or rather aces of spades in some misfortunates) on their cheeks.

There's the St Patrick's Day parade. Which I've been going steadily for the past 2 years..and have realised (and still went) that the allegedly 2nd-largest city in Ireland that is Cork's parade is direly lacking in festivities.

The most happening bit of the roughtly-hour-long parade is where foreigners like Africans come bounding down the street with their upbeat music, drumming, dances and jumps/somersaults and even more lively costumes.

And note, none of them are remotely connected to being Irish.

There's the bagpipes. By the armed forces/firefighters/policemen-women. With kilts even, sometimes. But hey..waitaminute, isn't that Scottish?
The most Irish thing I have ever seen in a St Patrick's Day parade, and still stays in my mind despite it being 2 years ago, was a Lyons tea segment where Lyons tea cartoon characters came alive in their lifesize costumes (it was some kinda bird-type animal)...think Chicken Run. Only with the Lyons tea logo pasted smack across their bodies. Okok, I admit, most people won't get why that's so Irish. You'd have to live here to know how the Irish are REALLY into their tea. It was cute/hilarious/classic. Just too bad they weren't throwing out teabags at the crowd like how chains of colorful beads get thrown at Mardi Gras. Now THAT would be funny.

Kid on dad's shoulder watching parade:

Mum! Look! Cute lifesize birds!

(side of face where aforementioned green-tatooed-shamrock gets hit with a 'whack' with a Lyons teabag)

And so I snap back to reality from my St Paddy's Day reminiscings.

I spent St Paddy's Day yesterday totally bored and unproductive, playing online games, because no Psychiatry stuff I was reading was even attempting to make the leap into my brain. Those pointless yahoo games-time-wasters. Also watched most of Season 2 of Entourage.

My only slight tribute to St Paddy's Day was an order of a Shamrock Shake from the housies, who actually went for the parade. Hadn't had it before, and there's always a first for everything. Expectations were high I suppose, for the mint-chocolate milkshake that's only served on St Paddy's day.

But who was I kidding?? It was a McDonald's product! And any McDonald's product never fails to leave me swearing never to get anything from McDonald's ever again.

It didn't fail to disappoint.

The first sip, and already I was imagining the bucketfuls of sugar some McDonald's manager dumped into the mixing bin this morning. Did they not watch Supersize me and at least attempt to turn over a new leaf??? Or maybe just pretend to for a couple of years? Maybe try cutting down one bucket of sugar less every year? And people think Coca Cola is chockful of sugar...HaH! Try tasting the Shamrock Shake and see how they compare!

Headache.

It was either the sugar high...or the hours of online games.

I'll just blame it on McDonalds while I can.

Tis my St Patrick's Day.

Ended with a jab at a multi-million dollar conglomerate soul-sucking health-jeopardising company. Cheers (with a green pint) ...and my friend Irene smiling away at the delight of a St Patrick's Day parade.....

Wanted to attach a St Paddy's Day pic I took that appeared in the Star about Irish Universities- but the pic has disappeared from my photo collection =(

Closer by my new favourite

2007-03-14T18:27:00.000Z

Joshua Radin is cool.

He is brilliant.

Updates

2007-03-13T17:08:00.000Z

A ton has changed with my situation here.

I got my favourite pressie of the year: An US(babe and me) CALENDAR!

I've started a new tv series called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. With Matthew Perry in it. I'm a sucker for his sarcasm-humor.

I got my final year project questionnaire draft trashed by the prof. Back to the drawing board.

I'm now into instant microwave meals.

I got a postcard from India from Jiayi. =)

I'm juggling having to study for 10 subjects for my finals.

I had a blast during my GP rotation where I lived in absolute luxury- hoteled, and wined and dined (literally), and driven around, and my own personal favourite- getting the opportunity to stick needles into people

Contemplating organising a futsal/soccer session for the girls again- Irish/Canadian/Malaysian/Norwegian..

My new favourite thing is flicking through travel books. Planning holidays in Amsterdam =) I saw this one book yesterday- titled Umbria..which apparently is in Sicily, Italy. Who knew?? It looked absolutely gorgeous! Something right out of Romeo and Juliet! Tuscany looks fab too. I wanna money to start travelling. NOW!

I have an urge to go climbing. But have to book some training session first- which is so troublesome. I don't have anyone to go with either. Bah. I should go swimming too. Feel fat after all the high-caloried breakfasts and full dinners for lunch in Mallow =P

I came across...

2007-02-18T17:28:00.000Z

An exerpt from a studentBMJ article which I thought was both hilarious and true (!!):

Carl Morris explains why proper communication is so important

Interviewer: "So why do you want to be a doctor?"

Student: Well, I want to be able to help people.

(Actually, it's because I'm good at sciences and I couldn't think of anything else to do/my parents told me to/I wanted to make sure I'd have a job after university.)

Interviewer: "What are the most important qualities for a doctor?"

Student: Communication skills, empathy, diagnostic ability.

(Erm, being good at exams/knowing the right consultants/memory of ER (in my case that would be HOUSE) episodes.)

Glory equals pain

2007-02-12T22:02:00.000Z

I am dosed up on fentanyl. That's right. It's a morphine-lookalike. How did I come by this substance? Some underground methods la. Nuff said.

Lemme start this story from the very beginning.

I went to Dublin to play soccer. In a soccer (futsal) tournament by Malaysians. And we were one of the 6 girls teams. The way I like to think of it, is like some mighty ducks movie where some underdogs got beaten right and left and then cleaned themselves up a bit and then went on to fight against the rivals and beat them at their own game.

That's right.

You're looking at some gold coloured flint there.

Cos we won!

Us 5 girls who never practiced before, some of us whom have never met before that day, got together and kicked some ass. It was bluddy amazing I tell you. Six games we had to play altogether. Most of which were 20 minutes apart from each other. First game, it was tough, but we beat last year's runners-up by a narrow margin. Panting and feeling like we've just ran a ECG stress-test.

Second game, we faced last year's champs. And got beaten like there was no tomorrow. Because there wasn't. Because we got trashed 5-0. Blehhh. Respect la. Cos they were good! And they train! And they've got their act together! (And they were the only ones who didn't bitch at us after the game and called us names...hmm, could be because they were the only ones who won over us..but we'll just let that slide and believe that they're nice)

We then smooshed the other 3 teams by getting our act a bit more together.

And then lo and behold, we came in 2nd! Yay! We were so happy with that already. Enough was enough. We didn't want to play anymore. We could barely walk. We were crumpin cramps all over the place. I had 3 cramps in 3 different muscles in a span of 15 minutes. And I did stretch before!

Anyway, turns out, being 2nd, we had to play in the finals. Bah. How la. We were standing around waiting for our teammates and chitty-chatting while we saw the other team (the no.1 peeps) stretching la, practicing la, last-minute-tips la)

Stress

So imagine my surprise when we started scoring goals against them when we started. I was like a madman. Running all over the place. The boys from UCC called me Roy Keane. I'm not too sure if it's meant to be a compliment or not.

I played goalie too! Daddy is pleased! Cos he used to play goalie too. =)

Anyway, I was midfield-ing in the 2nd half. And my wondrous strikers just bam, bam, bam and suddenly we were tied 3 all. And the whistle blows.

We went to penalty!

Ok, I'm not a fan of watching soccer..so this was all new to me. So were the free-kicks..but whatever.

I played goalie. Cos my penalty shots in the past were total duds. Got some coaching from the boys. Housie Dave's a goalie too, so he gave me pointers =) Saved one. Ref calls it a test-shot. PFFt! The girl then gets psyched out and misses. Wahahaha... The next girl shoots and scores. Pffft!

My teammates all were spot on with their penalties. So then one of the UCC boys said - Save this one and we win

I saved it! And we won!!

Yay!!

And then the next day was sheer pain. Didn't help either that I was elbowed in the stomach twice. Pain. Pain. Pain.

Which explains the opioid derivative stuck onto my skin. These transdermal patches are wondrous. Wish I had it the whole day when I was walking to the hospital. Took me almost an hour! When it takes 10 mins by bike!

Groovy music to groovy hair

2007-02-07T14:46:00.000Z

Totally recommend the Marie Antoinette soundtrack.

It's a good mix of 90's/ 21st century brit-rock-pop. Not too generic, yet not too boring. Totally recommend.

Unfortunately not the movie.

It's reminiscent of some teen movie without much of a story-line. We all know what happens to her head. Funny how that part wasn't mentioned. Sophia Coppola did nice on the cinematography and costumes though.

Things are weird at home. Like, in the house. Nuff said.

And I also have new hair! I now have bangs. Yea bangs. I haven't had bangs since I was ten. Feel very 60's all of a sudden. Feels weird. Blame it on a very bored Saturday afternoon and putting on the movie Devil wears Prada.

And having good experiences in my clinical rotation so far. Still feel like there's so much more to learn though. Will I ever stop feeling that way??

What way?

CLUELESS

Bad medical consultants

2007-01-30T15:16:00.000Z

Clinics are the best learning experiences. I love bedside teaching with consultants (way experienced doctors, all shuffling in groups with our lab-coats and even the drilling questions (or pimping as some call it..go figure why)-though not the embarrassing shame of wrong answers and worse still, sending-aways without anything learned for not knowing an answer to a random question..like some kind of kindergarten-er who couldn't read or sumthin.

As if we don't have enough to handle, some of us females have to deal with sexual harrassment.

Yeah, it happens.

My group-mate and I were reminiscing about our junior-clerkship block (we're just now starting our senior clerkship)..and she said that this one consultant in a particular hospital isn't doing any senior clerkship tutorials because he's retiring. We remembered that he wasn't all that nice. He made you feel stupid to the point of actually saying it outright to your face. OKok.

That isn't the point about him. That wasn't what I remembered about him. What I remembered was having this sort of uncomfortable feeling when this old white-haired grandfather of a consultant complimented me. Not about whether I got the question right or not..but just about if I looked good or not. Weird. Very inappropriate. Was I imagining things? I looked at the 3 other people in my group. They must not have noticed or pretended they didn't.

We all palpated the abdomen. Somehow I had the feeling he favoured me, and I took advantage of that, in that I felt more confident in my examination.

Apparently all of us kind of missed the most important thing.

And then he wanted to show us what we were meant to feel. I forgot if I volunteered or I was picked, but anyway, when I put my hand on the patient's abdomen..suddenly his hand came down over mine! What the.. That hasn't ever happened before. Was it supposed to? I wasn't sure.

I was facing away from my group-mates, so I couldn't see their faces.

Did you feel it? he asked. I quickly said yes so I could pull my hand away.

Another girl wanted to feel. Wah..she must not have noticed. Malay girl summore, I thought as he also placed his hands over hers.

Weird.

Too bad the one guy in our group didn't volunteer. Or else I could have seen the difference. Good thing the consultant's retiring and no more him in our senior clerkship.

And as those memories flashed by, I mentioned it to the Canadian girl I was talking to. About that incident in our not so distant junior clerkship past. And was surprised that she agreed that she also got the 'feeling'. There was something, she said. Something off about him.

Phew.

I wasn't imagining things then.

Fortunately I didn't experience the story she proceeded to tell me. About our other friend Maryanne who had her ass touched (or maybe grabbed?) by a consultant. OMG. That would have been unacceptable! Least nothing really happened to me.

But everyone's scared apparently. Maryanne didn't report it. And probably won't ever. So to not 'make trouble'. Have they not heard that sexual harassment is wrong?

...wonder if it happens in Msia??

Bored on a Sunday afternoon

2007-01-21T13:17:00.000Z

I was searching for this song: Sleep by Azure Ray. And the only video on YouTube...was this....I didn't get it at first. Harry Potter didn't have Azure Ray on its soundtrack....I would have remembered...I think.

Whatever. I didn't get it.

Until I read the comments page. Some brilliant video editing going on here...insinuating a Cedric/Ginny love affair! Wahahahaha!...for two characters not even sharing any on-screen time, someone must have spent a lot of time on this. Or not.

And there are videos on Snape/Hermione & Cedric/Harry.....WTF?!

See, this is the nonsense I do when I should be studying for my Art History exam tomorrow. Yes, I kid you not. I am doing a module in Art History. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and the works. And it's not even an elective (like most of everyone asks me when I tell them about this)

People up there want us to be more intellectual and refined and all that. Who says we weren't before? =/ Doubt having to memorise the year some painting was painted would make the difference between sipping red wine and chugging down beer from a keg.

But I have learnt a thing or two from the course. It's interesting to say the least. I now can step into Musee d'Orsay with some inkling of what I'm supposed to be looking for in an Impressionist painting. And it's a great something to not have to think of medicine for an hour every week. And since I didn't get to learn much of European history in high school...this is the final opportunity I get for some of what humanities has to offer.

I am no art critic. But I can launch into an attempt at sounding posh by comparing Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionist and Modern art.

Try me.

Land of the stupid questions

2007-01-19T17:24:00.000Z

I hate stupid questions.

Asked about filling out forms. Which could be done by a 12 year-old.

And you know what's worse?

It being repeated.

Pretty people

2007-01-19T10:15:00.000Z

The power of beautiful people is uncanny. They can get away with being late, make a whole lecture theatre silent and hooked on their words for an hour, and stay on for a whole 20 minutes longer than they were meant to.

This is describing my obs n gyne lecture yesterday- at 5pm in the evening, when everyone was tired, hungry and dying to go home. But it was worth staying every minute of it. Because it was a great lecture. And I didn't mind one bit that I was hungry, tired and dying to go home. I almost forgot about it even.

I suppose it helped that the consultant could probably win most good-looking consultant of the year award..and it also probably helped that I was mesmerised by her British accent for a whole five minutes before what she was saying actually sunk in.

Or maybe it's just that Brits give brilliant lectures. It was the best lecture of the day. It also helped heaps that her lecture followed an uber boring forensic psychiatry lecture given by a weasly-looking man, who, as brilliant as he looked, and as promising as his lecture could have been (where he was talking about dealing with killers and the sort and how to get them committed by pleading the guilty but insane thing)..he wouldn't have won any awards for looks. And he just seemed uninteresting. I only woke up in the last 5 minutes when he gave an example of a lady who was having auditory hallucinations about the devil telling her to stab her daughter while she was in bed...and did.

So anyway, back to the good-looking obstetrics consultant. It has to be a British thing. Because her husband (who was the John Rhys-Meyer lookalike I mentioned not too long ago) is every bit as British, and interesting and with brilliant lecturing skills!! And of course you pay attention to every vowel and consonant that drops off his mouth..because he's good-looking!!

I want more British lecturers. Alas, I don't.

Obstetrics and gynecolofy seems interesting enough. I witnessed a C-section an hour ago! It only lasted a half hour too. Very quick. Everything went so fast. Especially after all the cuts had been put in the right places, and the purple uterus was exposed. And once the surgeon went pop in the uterus, a wave of amniotic fluid came gushing out..and he rappled around for the baby, and brought it out in the cold bright world...she gave a lil' cough and then started crying her lungs out. It was an amazing sight!

And the placenta is huge! And purply, and gorged with blood vessels, kinda like a blob of some alien-looking material..bloody...

Did I just ruin breakfast/lunch/dinner?

I'm reading..

2007-01-13T13:04:00.000Z

I had the impression that this was just another Harry Potter likeness. Apart from it being written 10 years prior to HP, this trilogy of books (I'm only halfway through the first one) is everything and more. While the beginnings of HP is definitely written for children, with its superficial characters and even more superficial lessons..The Golden Compass seems almost meant for adults, secondarily for children. It should be more rightly compared to the Chronicles of Narnia than to HP.

Its undertones of darkness and subtle (or often not-so-subtle) hints at politics, religion , education, and alien worlds, blend in gray/white/black colours on a palette with magical (yet with decidedly human qualities themselves) creatures in the foreground. It speaks of growing up, and the fears and doubts that go along with it, absolutely identifiable in our quarter-life crises. Disguised in a children's book. Its several morals of the story almost come with each chapter..creeping up on you when you least expect it to.

Besides its strong preteen female protaganist, who almost seems to be a bad example for children at times, this book is anything but childish. More intriguing than chronicles of Narnia, not as bratty as HP....can't wait for the next chapter.

Also can't wait for the movie. Although like all adaptations, surely chunks of important stuff will be left out. Dammit Hollywood.

Slow computers are the bane of my existence

2007-01-12T11:47:00.000Z

I am indeed living in speedy technology. Because now everytime I encounter a slow computer..frustration does not begin to describe my impatience.

I feel like hanging the CPU by it's legs (if it had any) and then dropping it over a 10 storey building everytime it hangs when I ask it to complete a simple task like PRINT.

Just completed my annual course in CPR, phlebotomy (taking bloods), cannulation etc...so I'm feeling very competent at the moment. It's just too bad they don't really let us at the patients yet. Hope I will be getting some action in the GP rotations in March. =)

Thoughts in theme song

2006-12-30T06:26:00.000Z

This song, chorus a lil' disturbing as it is, was in my head all of last night. This and the Peter Gunn theme. Weird.

No news for now

2006-12-29T17:06:00.000Z

..cos I'm busy writing my psychiatry case presentation/dissertation paper

On the bright side, Happy New Year!

Yeah yeah yeah's Gold Lion...tell me you don't want to dance about in flames too..

I am not a Shopaholic. No, really. I'm not.

2006-12-23T13:57:00.000Z

An image of an online ad selling call-time peaked my amusement today. It was some company called Pingo. Must have been out of original names for the time being. Anyway, it had this Asian dude looking, well, non-desirable.And it's tagline was:

Pang in Phuket

Try thinking of it in Hokkien.

wtf?

Went shopping today. The lines at the supermarket were insane with the hoards of last-minute christmas shoppers congregating under one roof. I literally couldn't move without bumping into someone and dodging others. But I got it.

My precious.

Gu.

The best brownies ever. Even the packaging is elegant.

I had a craving. So sue me.

Out of Eva Green movies to watch. Damn. Have moved on to less 'Green' pastures..such as John tucker Must Die (Laugh-out-loud funny with the desperate housewives eye-candy to munch on), The Illusionist (Still love Edward Norton), and Find Me Guilty (Vin Diesel with hair!).

Can't wait til St Stephen's Day post-xmas shopping!

Afterthought

2006-12-20T15:44:00.000Z

Remembering questions and checking answers after exams is a bad idea. And knowing that you knew the answer in the first place. AHHHHhhh!

In the spirit of Christmas

2006-12-20T13:05:00.000Z

Sitting here on a Wednesday afternoon, with my morning coffee..even though I'm only half aware that it's really in the p.m. The Madeleine Peyroux blues song I have in the background is mildly reminiscent of Christmas..with her rich voice, saxaphone belting out the chords and christmas bells as tapestry.

Positively in the spirit.

Came home at midnight yesterday. Managed to catch the last bus back..and the 5 hour journey was a miserable one because I only had plain waffles in the morning, and a total of 1 banana and 2 power bars during the day...hungry, exhausted (only had about 3-4 hours sleep...insomnia)..not to mention reeling joy/tiredness/disbelief/anguish from my 7 hour exam. Words cannot describe the emotions. There was a weight lifted off, and I wanted to scream in the centre of the busy intersection in the busiest part of Dublin.

But I didn't.

Talk about repression.

Anyway, it was a foggy, dim 5 hour bus ride. Visibility was like 100m. Thankfully the bus driver didn't collide into anything. The lady sitting in front of me was telling everyone who had ears that she was meant to get back to Cork the day before but for the fog closing all the airports and grounding all the planes from UK.

The journey was only minutely salvaged (for me) by the passage of the bus into all the smaller towns on the way back.

Picture this: Everything's dark, all shops were closed. Mist/fog everywhere, almost like clouds closer to earth. And brightly lit houses, decorated pine trees and christmas lights skirting the main roads of all the towns/villages. It was very Christmassy indeed. Almost had a 'Home Alone' moment (I absolutely cannot do a post without at least a single movie reference it seems). You know, when he's all alone, in snow outside, and everything's nicely lit, sleigh bells music in the background..for a moment.... serenity.

Laughed at the overly decorated houses charging a zillion watts a minute. Astronauts could probably see it from space. I swear, you needed sunglasses to tell that there was a fake santa with fake reindeer decorations on the roof.

So I got back. Town was deader than if it was 3am. Oh wait, it prolly would have been more alive at 3am due to the purging of clubbers from partying after closing time.

Too tired to walk 45 mins back home.

Buses were off duty.

Dammit.

Cabbed it back home. Wanted to surprise housie Pat. I got Housie Theva to get us some red wine for sangrias for celebration, so he was in on it. Well, he didn't get the wine, so we just used the wine our landlord got us for Xmas. So we had sangrias. Well, one. And I had some instant noodles.

Instant noodles when you've been starving the whole day is like water in the dessert.

And I proceeded to do housekeeping. Like cleaning up my mess of a room. And laundry. And checking emails.

Finally retired into bed..to watch a movie. A French one at that. I'm into all things French right now. Even speaking French sentences from the movie though I have no idea what it means. Which could be dangerous. Anyway, the French movie was actually quite brilliant. Not as simple as Amelie (which is the only other French movie I've seen - I swear I'm not very cultured at all)..but just as fun. Though the French must have a thing for incest or something cos it seemed quite normal in The Dreamers, as well as this. Oh well.

Got to the zzzz at 6.

Went online..only to be greeted/sprung on by dad's wild idea of going home for a week for mum's birthday. (Don't tell her ok?)

First I thought he was kidding.

But he wasn't.

Home.

Like in KL, Malaysia, home.

I couldn't handle the shock. Because I can't handle going home right now. It was too sudden right? I should have jumped at the chance like a normal person...but my sensible side dominated. I wouldn't have been in my right mind if I said yes. The cost versus time spent versus work done wasn't justified. Some people would have begged to differ...but with having to write a paper and tests after xmas, not to mention not having touched any of my 4th year material for precedence over the USMLE preps...I would have literally died if I were to go home now.

What is it about Christmas and surprising people by showing up? Think the season makes people go a little nuttier? But then again, I'm always nutty. Regardless of festivities. Or maybe just slightly fueled by festivities.

So anyways, holiday updates aside, I've actually learnt something this holiday season. Stuff.
#1 I like Dublin and I kinda wished I lived there were it not for the expensive accomodation and
expensive cost-of-living. Bright lights. Abundance of conveniences. Anonymity.
#2 I take lots of shit. I just prefer not to.
#3 People are nicer than I give them credit for.
#4 I was willing to give up a week for family and friends and home for work. I've become some
kinda workaholic. Either that or insanely rational. =P
#5 I have a low threshold for contentment. Yet I try to be a perfectionist. Yep. Me. Queen of
contradictions.
#6 Good music calms me like nothing else. Last sentence of a long babbling post, I swear...oh
yea, first I should explain that I was listening to the Shout Out Louds' Wish I was dead- and
that this is the only video I could get of this song. Enjoy. Or not. And Merry Christmas!

Of movies and history..

2006-12-16T17:40:00.000Z

Haven't really discovered the new features of the new version of blogger yet. Looks the same to me.

I watched Kingdom of Heaven today. Well, I skipped the whole beginning (presumably boring) part, and only got to the middle part. Besides, Chi told me Vesper (I mean, Eva Green) only appears in the latter parts..and I was only watching it for my newfound obsession with watching all the movies she's in. No Orlando Bloom for me. I downloaded the director's cut extended version, so it couldn't have been any longer- thus the skipping. And now that I've watched the (rest of) the movie, I am watching the beginning. Orlando Bloom and all.

I actually liked the whole epicness of it. Even Orlando Bloom. And the historical element of it. So much so I wikipedia-ed the history of the crusades. And found that it couldn't have been any more unlike the movie. Apparently everyone was too nice in the movie. Hollywood likes to make nice people out of not-so-nice ones. And vice versa.

Balain(Orlando Bloom)'s age was closer to Liam Neeson(fatherly figure in movie)'s age. Sybilla (Eva Green) couldn't have been more devoted to her husband (evil in the movie but apparently a pushover in reality) who was actually set up by her brother the Leper King. The priest in the movie actually had a pivotal role in saving the people of Jerusalem. And if I understand correctly, Orlando's character (in reality) was step-father to Sybilla's younger step-sister. Hmm..confusing. Whatever. Point is, it's all wrong!!!!! And from a medical point of view, isn't Leprosy transmitted by a pseudo-bacterial pathogen, and thus, not genetic enough (like it seemed to be in the movie) to be passed onto Sybilla's son as depicted?

No wonder Cassandra (2nd year flatmate), a history major, told me she was so disappointed when she watched it. Accuracy aside, it peaked my interest in history again..and wondered why we never studied such things in our 'whole, lengthy' year studying international history. Could it be that a whole chunk of our time was wasted on a whole 2 bluddy long chapters of Islamic history??

Yea, could be.

But then the crusades involves some Islamic history as well, eh? It's a huge part of it I'd say. And way more interesting and dramatic than trying to learn off that some Mat Joe invented a new way of recording scripts. Yeesh, who cares??

I love the history of the middle ages, ever since I read some novel with it as the setting 6 years ago. Crusades, knights and the whole women-are-not-really-allowed-to-do-anything-yet-were-surprisingly-strong-and-visible-in reign-of-kingdoms and all. It's almost romantic if it weren't for so much blood shed.

Final review before exam.

Feeling sad because Chi won't be home to greet me when i come back on Wednesday. He's off to Bali!

*Jealous*

Klutz and klutzier

2006-12-15T17:40:00.000Z

Funny things always happen to me.

The latest example is tripping the fuse of the light in my home's foyer..and then stumbling around in the darkness up and down the stairs..only to trip over my shoes on the foot of the stairs and almost fall face-first on the 5th step.

What a klutz.

Yesterday's example was during my Opthalmology (eyes) viva test, where I looked through the wrong end of the opthalmoscope (the thingamajig they use to look into your eyes). Lucky the guy was nice enough to correct me.

What a klutz II

4 days to exam

Sleeping at 7am and me do not go together. No wonder so klutzy.

Miss doggies. Saw a dalmation IN the shopping mall today. Think it just randomly wandered in. It was a handsome fella too.

I wish I was going on a vacation. I need a vacation. I just don't know where to go. How sad. I wanna go to the places in that new Bond movie. Montenegro looked amazing. Or maybe somewhere sunny and beachy where I wouldn't need jackets, just sunnies. Now to only start earning all that money to go to all those places. And the most pathetic part is, even when I do start earning the money to go to all those places, I wouldn't have the time to go to all those places. Tis the life of us twenty-somethings. Bet you (and me) wouldn't have figured that life as a twenty-something would be so bloody hard. Or sad. Or depressing. It all seemed so cool and glam and fun when we were teenagers, didn't it? Quarter-life crisis much?

And my hospital partner was saying how he went to the bank to enquire about his loans, and the bank customer service person said that he would start paying his debts in 18 months time.

18 months time? I thought I only pay it back when I graduate.

But you are graduating in 18 months time!

Someone else said that it's further to go back to 2nd year than it is to graduation.

Scary thoughts!

I think I had a point to this post. I just can't think what it was anymore.

An Australian on Malaysians

2006-12-12T20:23:00.000Z

I'm not into my politics, but you guys have to check this article out.

Countdown 1 week to exam. Panic.

Anxiety

2006-12-07T20:18:00.000Z

Dunno what it is about today. Damn Tired. And headachey. Throughout the day. Literally. And having my first proper meal of the day at 6pm. Of maggi mee.

Wish I was home. Comfy. With comfy parents. With meals cooked. With laundry washed.

I've been panicky about exams. Yeah, that sick feeling of impending doom.

Feels like shit.

On the bright side, I did manage to present my part of the assigned case studies in front of the class yesterday. It's some scary shit getting up in front of a huge lecture theatre and speaking to a 100 plus people (everyone in the class actually came cos the tutor/consultant supervising our case studies session resembles the she-devil in Devil wears Prada- oh, and she likes to spring up surprise attendance taking)...not to mention a very scary supervisor, who would undoubtedly ask you a question, which will leave u standing going ..uh...um....

Yea, so that was me,...going uhh...(what was she meaning..??).....is it cos of the different organisms...(knowing at once that what I said was a big WRONG).....she told me (and the rest of everyone else who was watching me being embarrassed) the asnwer, only for me to realise that I've read that at least twice in preparation for the presentation. It just didn't click. Bah. Nothing clicks. I just hope when I'm meant to save peoples' lives, something does click...

I did manage to answer the question posed to my fellow case-study victim presenter, just not my own question. I anticipated her question, NOT MINE. How ironic. Or misfortunate. Bah. Bah. Bah.

I think I have pre-test/presentation anxiety. Cos I swore everyone noticed that I couldn't even form a proper sentence with the proper words in my first 2 sentences.

But then...I must have hid it well...cos today someone actually told me I looked natural presenting yesterday!! Whee!!....

Or maybe it just means I'm naturally just a nervous wreck all the time.

Oh no.

A week and a half to go. Wish me luck. Cos I sure as hell need it.

Gourmet luck

2006-12-02T13:12:00.000Z

Retail therapy. And comfort food. 2 in 1 gourmet chocolate! (Seriously, that's what the supermarket label said ) Apparently they have gourmet everything now. Even gourmet pickled vegetables. And gourmet pastas. And gourmet pasta sauces.

What next? Gourmet breads? Gourmet pet foods? ...oh wait...I think those do exists...

Christmas shopping necessities are fast approaching. And I have no idea what to get for people!!

Have wayyy too much complaints about life in general right now to even bother writing it down. Sometimes I think the beings that sit around all day planning the outcomes of everyone's lives minute by minute (not that I believe they or he or she exists) have something against me. Cos I can practically predict my bad luck now.

Being picked to do a class case studies presentation less than 2 weeks before a major exam isn't exactly the bestest of luck. I calculated the odds! It's 4/12 x 1/10!! That's me! And I guessed weeks before that that would be me! But then you'd like to hope it's not you..and live in denial...but it eventually catches up. I just didn't expect it to catch up quite as quickly. 2 weeks before my exam.

Bah to bad luck. Bah. Bah. Bah.

Wonder if someone could have gourmet luck. I'd have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Doctors (to-be) without borders (ahem inhibitions)

2006-11-27T20:41:00.000Z

Med Ball 2006: Drunken debauchery.

There were fights/ brawls..people drunk everywhere..people drunk and getting up on fancy dinner tables and starting to dance, clad in ball gowns and all...swaying precariously close to candle tea-lights, having their sky blue dresses made of satin singed...Did I mention they were singing? And then they started walking across the table a-la catwalk...and almost broke the table into two...

And then there was making out. Between people who wouldn't even talk to each other if they were sober. Every other second you turn around, there'd be a scandal going on. And so, my conclusion would be:

Drunk people are funny.

Drunk med students are even funnier.

Drunk bunch of 200+ med students make for a disaster.

[Left] Irene and I (Go Norway!) [Right] Barinder n I (erm, go Canada?)

ShiQin, me and Jane

Housies with random people
Jess n I

Richard my classmate, who's 2 heads taller than I!

..and the Asian(!) gang

I swear..no that I've figured out how to put videos up..there'll be videos galore...now to start taking my own videos...
Joydrop's: Sometimes I wanna Die...Did anyone catch MTV's Tommy Lee Goes to College?? Hilarious much?

Want a British Accent...

2006-11-26T17:40:00.000Z

This song is hilarious. For all the ladies out there who've heard it over and over again...Knock 'Em OUt by Lily Allen

Aren't the rejection lines brilliant?! I could use them!!

I have mutant ears

2006-11-22T09:12:00.000Z

Here I am sitting here waiting for my online tests website to come back online. Website maintenance times are annoying. It's like, having an office, where they'll kick you out at certain inconvenient times of the day, just when you've spared a whole big chunk of your time, have tons of work to do, can only do it in your office since all the resources are in your desk drawer..and at the most inconvenient times, period!

Will it come back online in the next hour? Who knows. It usually is back online by now: 9am. But it isn't. The construction workers have decided to expand, extend a whole new wing in the office, I'm presuming. They point to their foreman: "Boss say wan"...who then points to another manager: "Manager say wan"....and so on.

So here I am in my own lil dream....and I remember I'm supposed to be in clinics today. Too late to go now since I woke up late. I've just started my ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) rotation. First day was good, since we had a tutorial reviewing all the head and neck anatomy of the foreyears which we obviously had forgotten. Good for the USMLe too. Then we got cracking examining each other's ears with the auroscope..the thingamajig the ENT surgeon pokes into your ears. My ears are apparently hard to master..cos there my group-mates were poking around in my ear saying..."I can't find it (the eardrum), I can't find it!! Where is it? Is it that grey thing there that's not supposed to be where it's supposed to be??"....Me face getting more worried by the minute by the sounds of them.

It wasn't that grey thing. It took the doctor guy who was tutoring us to grab my ear, lead the right way, and go..see, perfectly normal ears!! Big sigh of relief. No mutant Lyn today.

Although in all fairness, I do have assymetrical ears...(random fact)

Yesterday's tutorial was kinda a bust cos it only lasted 20 minutes. On otitis externas..ie. infection of the outer ears. Exciting... We're given an hour break then before our clinics start. An hour!! That was more than enough time for me to have a full breakfast, tea...and then hang around for lots and lots of talking with my group-mates. It's ridiculous the amount of time wasted there. But at least we've really gotten to know each other better. Someone said it must be like an experiment by the med school to force us to be together more and be friendlier or sumthin. And it's hardly untrue..cos only this year now have I gotten to know my classmates a lot better. Before it was just in lil cliques..and then this year the barriers somehow broke down and everyone's mixing like sangrias. Of course, there'll be the fruity ones who'll still float on the surface turning red by the minute, but still not mixing. Omg, I used an alcoholic analogy!!

Of course, next year I think all the cliques will start forming again as everyone gets all competitive in the final run. But oh well. Might as well bask in the sunshine of friendliness while I can.

Oh yea, and yesterday, in ENT, I saw a big gunk of wax being removed from someone's ear. Bleargh....It is a miracle however how gunk can make the difference between hearing and hearing not so well. And grommets!! As chi said, (wallace and) grommets sound like the cutest things ever! And THEY are the ones that can make the difference between hearing and deafness. The lil miracle workers are put into the eardrum (for treatment of ear infections), and voila! And they're only like 2 millimetres!!

Amazing things..amazing things....The wonders of science...

Now I know why I didn't get into business/finance/accounting, where, I think I wouldn't have had to study so hard and forego so many pleasures in life, graduate earlier, and perhaps earn more money....because I love this. This. This doctor thing. It's too cool to still be in school. Muahahaha.

Query Diagnosis: Big Yellow Spots

2006-11-18T10:34:00.000Z

Rediscovering the brilliance of Rufus Wainwright. His lyrics just put me into awe sometimes. Wonder what happened to him...Also listening to Inara George, Lily Allen and Mindy Smith. So random. But so good. The former two more than the latter.

My former flatmate Cassandra just told me that she's thinking of teaching English for 6 months in either Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh. I leaned more towards Bangkok, but I might be mistaken...don't really know Ho Chi Minh, but glancing at pictures of it, it looks like a smaller, less modernised version of Bangkok. Anyone know better? (Prompting Jia Yi) Jus think it's so cool how she's going to do that...she and her bf Aidan both majored in English, and now they put it to good use! Cool, cool, cool....makes me wanna go for MSF (Medicins sans frontiers) after qualification.

I've been waking up these past two mornings to a disgusting sight. Ok, so I have no problem living with 2 guys. They're brilliant cooks, I get good food, they're both doing medicine so I get my peace sometimes too, they fancy all the stuff I fancy- food, movies and music, and most of all...They're NORMAL!! (Note: very important seeing as to my first year experiences- you'll get the story upon asking..it's too long for this episode)

But then.

These two mornings.

One word. Toilet.

Okok, maybe you don't get it yet. Of course you don't. Silly me. Allow me to elaborate. So we use the toilet right...and good things first, they put up the seat when they take a piss. Fantastic. No really. But every morning I come in, see the seat up, and realise that there are wet yellow spots on the rim (See why it's so fantastic the seat was up?)...all over the rim....(Alltogether now)..EEWWWW!! Big yellow spots at that. Makes me think that if they are all over the rim...they'll be all over the floor too...glancing at the wet puddles on the floor which might or might not have been due to shower-water-splash.

Is it so hard to control flow and direction?? The toilet bowl's pretty big to my calculations...so you'll either have to be blind in both eyes (and trip over yourself only to fall flat into a big yellow puddle of your own piss)...or maybe something got a lil awry in its urinary pathway...or you're sleep-pissing (sleep-walking equivalent)...or well...other possibilities. Could be anyone's guess....(Do you know what I'm talking about?)

And!! Is it not obvious that pee has flown all over the place?? (How come I'm thinking of a Ben Stiller movie all of a sudden?) I know la it's a real rush to get back into bed and warmth..but is it the feat of the universe to wipe up your big yellow spots??

Apparently it is.

Cos the wet spots have become sticky..and they're still yellow. And they're still there. And the worst part? Is when they don't put up the seat! Ahhhh!! Boys!! Girls, a piece of advice: Never go to the toilet in the dark- cos you'll either be sitting on wet spots, or worse yet, be falling into the toilet bowl from the seat being up. And no, those things haven't happened yet to me....or at least as far as I remember...

Monosyllabity...Pictures are Cheating..But I don't care

2006-11-17T08:40:00.000Z

Coffee is my friend.

Not that it helps fatigue.

Wish it kinda did.

It's cold and sunny here. Don't think it'll make up its mind anytime soon. Hope it goes for the latter.

I just watched You, Me and Dupree. Liked it. Kate Hudson's pretty good. Chi says Owen Wilson's annoying. I agree.

Feel monosyllabic. Well, having said monosyllabic, I don't feel it anymore.

Maybe I should put up some pictures to fill the blog space that was meant for writing...that way, I'll look like I'm an avid blogger, when in reality, time is none on my side for blogging...not til December anyway.....

OKok, silly pics of me, myself, and I...oh yea, and some other people too...

The first gathering of the year:

Medicine's so tiring...

Happy R Us

The Devil WearsWhite

Gasp!

Change of location: Tiffanie's birthday party...she's the one on the extreme left...and yea, we woke her up with a pretty birthday cake!

On a happy note, it's my last week of psychiatry!! Yay!
P/S: Monosyllabity...isn't creating-new-words a symptom in psychiatry...

Planting paranoias in my head...

2006-11-02T17:10:00.000Z

I have nil skills of observance. Trouble me. How am I gonna pass my clinical exams when I don't even notice my surroundings. This was proven when I was in the library today. There was a big plant facing me, and I was on a table facing the wall. Thus, the plant was behind the table. Facing me.

Only I've never noticed it before. It was huge, looked tropical, and looked fake.

But it wasn't fake.

Not that I knew before...But now I know.

Because, after a few hours of studying, tired, and hot (cos outside was freezing so I dressed warm..only to have the library turn up its heat)...this Polish-looking guy walks in and starts watering the bluddy plant. I look up from cool pictures of diseases and stare. Quite strange to have someone walk up in front of you with a huge watering can, and water the plant. Almost thought at first, that I was having some kind of hallucination..from being in the psyche ward so much, and studying too much and...yea.

Then in the midst of my pondering my hallucination or no...

This pop-culturally dressed Ppolish girl, pink handbag and all walks up to the plant. This hospital-plant-carer seemed to be holding (wielding?) a green can labelled all over with X's....ie. DANGER!! She starts pumping the can. (wtf??)

I'm thinking, hell, you are not going to spray the plant with that organophosphate-type insecticide...not in a stuffy, non-aerated room, no windows open-and thus no insects attack the plant, which was warm to begin with anyway.

Upon finishing pumping the can, she did just that!

I could practically feel the poisons rushing through my bloodstream, attacking my everywhere. Felt warmer. Stuffier. Can't breathe.

Started thinking that the antidote is atropine. So when I collapse, just before I collaspe, I'll have to tell whoever: Give me atropine!!

I look around. No one seemed affected. No one even seemed to notice. I was the closest. I would be the first to pass out, I reckoned. Wondered for awhile if I should ask the girl behind me if my eyes are constricted etc...

Tak tahan man. Went out for awhile. When I came back in, no one still seemed to notice. Everyone still seemed to be alive.

Must be imagining things. Sitting back down to study, I'm still alive.

Went downstairs 2 hours later to another study room. Only to realise I had sat down again, next to a big huge plant!! Perhaps emitting poisonous toxins! Cos it sure as hell wasn't emitting much oxygen in that stuffy room.

Then I realised, I was just being overly paranoid. I would probably only have gotten poisoned if I came into contact with huge amounts of poisons. No panic. Atropine was not needed. No emergency room admissions for me. Thankfully.

Spending too much time with the loonies methinks

First week in the Loony Bin

2006-10-28T12:59:00.000+01:00

I mean..Psychiatric ward.

Here was anticipating the month of Psychiatry:
1. Changing my earrings to less conspicuous ones (from my blue shiny pearly slightly dangly ones to inconspicuous diamond-y dot hoops that barely hoop my earlobes.....feeling bare without my regular cat's eyes earrings)

2. Telling myself not to balk and gawk at people who say weird things. Calling for having an expressionless face when I talk to people who see/hear things. Know how difficult that is?? Thankfully haven't met any Haley Joel Osment wannabes...yet.

But after a week in, it isn't as bad as I thought it'll be. I didn't completely freak out. I didn't go mad. I only looked minutely surprised the first time I heard someone say that they wanted to kill themselves.

It's still disturbing. Listening to someone say they've picked out an exact spot in the river to throw themselves in. It's depressing. Knowing you can't really do anything (cos, well, we're students) It's mentally draining. Having to keep focused on their problem when your mind starts envisioning what they're saying and thinking 'omg, he's crazy'.

The interesting bit is that, the patients do seem crazy..yet they seem completely normal at the same time! Kinda makes me realise that they ARE normal, they ARE people and they just need help.

Interesting story: A nun came in with schitzophrenia, where she thought the other nuns in the nunnery were trying to kill her. So she wouldn't take milk out of a half-filled mug, or the top bread slice of the loaf, and not even her medications cos of fear of tampering! Weird thing was, she hadn't been taking her schitzophrenia meds (which was why she was terribly schitzophrenic again), yet she was having fulminant signs of its long term side effects (for anyone who knows-tardive dyskinesia....was quite excited when I saw it)

Another interesting story: A guy who was electrocuted 4 years ago seems to be still having pain from his injuries. Only at very weird spots. ie. testicles?? Anyway, cos of that he's depressed and thought of killing himself etc. Thing is, the pain is all in his head (Somatisation disorder)- cos technically the pain wouldn't last that long, and I doubt electricity travelling down the path of least resistance would end up in his balls. Interesting anyway.

1% of the population is schitzophrenic...whaddya know....

A lil' bit of...

2006-10-21T17:42:00.000+01:00

Randomness

Hijacked: Tagboard- don't ask me what happened. Cos I do not know. Somehow tagboard.com has ceased to exist. Now for the boresome task of finding a new tagboard host thingie...

New song of the month: Sleep by Azure Ray

Movie of the month: Devil Wears Prada

Downloading: Accepted- brainless college movie according to review
Heathers- brilliant 80's high school movie (so says review)- an eviler likeness of
Mean Girls

Also just watched Russel Peters latest stand-up. Laughing gets tiring after 30 minutes...

Breaking rule #1: No whining

2006-10-18T08:21:00.000+01:00

Woke up at 5.45am today. I did sleep at 9.30pm last night. My bed was way too comfortable. Feeling extremely blur, sleepy now. This is after my 7.15am lecture...which despite waking early, I was late to. How ironic. 7.15 doesn't sound too bad when you're in Malaysia. But when you're in Ireland, when the rest of civilization wakes at 9.30 for a 10 o'clock start...you mind. Not to mention I have to get to the lecture hall in darkness, lit only by strings of streetlamp. In pouring rain!!

I have the feeling of beginnings of a bad day. Wisdom teeth ache. Gives me migraine. And damn, I left aspirin at home. Why can't I just reach the end of the tunnel that is growing up? Everything's just pain, pain, and more pain.

I hear medical students are dosed up on drugs all the time. Drugs for delaying sleep, drugs for waking up, drugs to sleep, drugs to enhance mental ability....And now I have begun to succumb!! Caffeine in the mornings are a must. Otherwise I'd be zombieing around like I am now. And they have to be topped up during the day.

Some pictures up soon. Gotta get back to the zombieing. I mean, studying.

p/s: I tend to cringe when I happen to wander onto a blog penned by real-life-cringe-worthy ppl...does real life really transcend into reading material?

OMG serious??

2006-10-16T18:16:00.000+01:00

Read this off one of my books:

The Perfect (Surgery) Medical Student

Never whines
Ummm.....

Never complains
Errr......that's impossible

Is never hungry, thirsty or tired
Are they kidding??

Is always enthusiastic
..Hell yeah!!....well.... sometimes....

Loves to do scut work and can never get enough
Sure, for the first 12 hours anyway.....The pager thing is cool, I think (I dunno yet la, but I
expect it's cool....until it goes off when you don't want it to)

Never makes a fellow student look bad
by active effort

Is never late
...am so gonna lose points in this department

Smiles a lot and has a good sense of humor
...am so gonna win points in this department!! =) Dunno abt the sense of humor bit tho =P

Is not a know-it-all
Cos dunno anything

Knows more about her patients than anyone else
If they're nice to me...

Never wants to leave the hospital
Sure la if they provide me with a bed, a desk to study in peace, and good lighting...I might
never want to leave...it'll be nice if they could provide me with a Chi too

Never asks questions he can look up for himself
First the student is a girl, and how it's a guy...dunno why can't the book can't get its
gender straight....But yea...this year I am sticking to this rule....

Is the first one to arrive at clinic and the last one to leave
As long as I get free food....

Never has a chip on her shoulder
....except for those mean mean sarcastic consultants (haha, no...they're nice, most of em
anyway...and even if they're mean, you can't do anything about it, so might as well brush off the chips)

Is honest and always admits faults and errors
I have been admitting errors way too frequently lately....Bad bad...

Gives credit where credit is due
Whom?? I don't mind it happening to me tho...

Has a steel bladder, a cast-iron stomach and a heart of gold
Check
Check
Check.....cheh....kembang.....

Buying time

2006-10-16T08:26:00.000+01:00

Quote a conversation I just had:

I wanna buy time
You can buy time...but you can't afford it

You know how, sometimes, you just lead the ignorant life...life centers around things you do, people you meet, you, you, you (ie. me)....and then something happens to make you stop, and then slap yourself silly for being so ignorant and senseless.

Seems to happen to me on a monthly basis or sumthin....

Grandma passed away.

Not that I didn't know it was coming. I just didn't want to think about it or sumthin. Immerse myself in work. Not thinking about it. And then it happened. And I was made to think about it.
Don't know what to say. Cos there's just too much to say. No one else knew what to say to me too...except the slew of "Were you close? When was the last time you saw her? How long has she been sick?...."

Didn't really tell people. Except my 2 housemates caught me crying after I hung up the phone. Comforted by the fact that there were people to comfort me. Yet I still wanted to be alone to let the tears flow. It's a weird feeling.

I thought I was fine the next day..save for the swollen eyes, and slitty eyes I had somehow acquired in the process. Not even make-up could hide that I wasn't fine.

When I called home again, I expected...I don't know what I expected. Despair. Crying. Sadness.

Instead, I was greeted by my mum, who was the solitude of strength...or sumthin. Started telling me how it was a really good thing that grandma passed, cos she was suffering before, and, she's in a better place now (reincarnation), and that she looks at peace and happy now etc etc....I was just blown away by her words. Simple, yet strong. It made everything seem ok again.

I reminisced. Remembering the last time I said goodbye. How it didn't feel like a goodbye really, cos it was in hospital, and there were nurses around bustling around her, and she was going for some scan or other, and she either was pretending she didn't get that I was trying to say like goodbye for real, or she didn't get it. Saying she would see me when I graduate. OMG, talk about a tear-shedding moment. Buying time would have made it so much easier.

But I realise, that time, was time bought anyway. Cos I'll remember that moment forever. And would have none of somehow letting her slip off my mind in the near future. All those fears I had didn't matter anymore...they seemed like silly preoccupation. Silly preoccupation about time.

I still do wish I had more hours in a day though.

Memoirs for my favourite book

2006-09-21T21:49:00.000+01:00

I don't want my favourite book to be Memoirs of a Geisha anymore...

It all happened one not-so-fine evening when Dave and I was looking thru some stuff he wanted to show me on Friendster. He started showing me his new thing, randomly adding hot girls. These are models from Japan, Taiwan etc etc.

He starts reading their stats, after checking out their almost-soft-porn-worthy pictures. Favourite music (some jap/HK-pop), favourite books (they don't read), favourite movie....wait-a-minute...wait-a-minute...

Memoirs of a Geisha!!

Ok, granted, I didn't particularly fancy the movie...but still...Shit. They like the movie-version of my favourite book.

Damn.

Then I realised why they liked that movie (or the movie that was derived from the book). Because it was about an 'innocent' girl who hors herself(albeit unwillingly, much unlike these girls on Friendster), and ends up rich, and happily-ever-after with a married man. Ok. Not so brilliant when described like that. Especially with Zhang ZiYi playing it. So maybe that's not so much my favourite book no more. Hell if I'm going to subject myself to their sort of female-degradation. To be even on the same page as them. Yelch..

Nevermind that Arthur Golden speaks of Asian culture with such colour and life...

**************************************************

Apparently the Chi-Lyn team appeared in the newspapers (TheStar) not too long ago, unbeknownst to anyone (including ourselves). Bwahahaha...fame...FAME....

Ireland is currently in the midst of a hurricane. It bluddy rains here every single waking, and non-waking moment. And it has for 3 days now and counting...

Am I ever going to see sunlight ever again??

Miserable Monday

2006-09-18T20:34:00.000+01:00

In the spirit of promoting S'kali too...

S'kali!

Chi, ever got the Gubra cd? I miss Malaysian movies.

As predicted, it rained the entire day and thus, I got soaked to the bone...twice while going to and fro to the hospital. I am taking the bus from now on.

Random pics

2006-09-16T21:12:00.000+01:00

Was browsing thru our Camby pics...and this pic seemed to strike me...It was like a very wordy/thoughtful scene where everyone was thinking of something else..

J: If I look miserable enough, maybe people will think I'm a local and give me some money
L: It's so hot out here that I have to show some leg...
C: I ain't gonna join slouchers anonymous (those two)

Pensive: I love the background in this pic. Looks like some kinda red light district....Temple Bar! (not the one in Dublin)

Love the perspective on this one: [photography by Chi]

We found something! Look! It's...it's....You!

My oh my I sigh (IT RHYMES!!)

2006-09-13T19:42:00.000+01:00

I was listening to Teitur's I Was Just Thinking
..........and it was as if he read my mind....cos that was just what I was thinking...(Except he seems way more negative/defeatist than I)

I was just thinking that I have been missing you for way too long
There's something inside this weary head that wants us to love just instead
But I was just thinking, merely thinking

I've got loads of pictures
I've got the one of you in that dancing dress
But man I feel silly in that dim light
Just after doing you by the sight of My Kodak delights
I am sinking, merely sinking

I think about long distance rates instead of kissing you babe
I'm a singer without a song
If I wait for you longer my affection is stronger I,
I was just thinking, merely thinking
This boat is sinking

I'm tired of postcards, especially the ones with cute dogs and cupids
I'm tired of calling you, missing you, dreaming I've slept with you
Don't get me wrong I still desperately love you
Inside this weary head I just want us to love instead
But I was just thinking and thinking, merely thinking
I think about long distance rates instead of kissing you babe
And time is running me still

If I wait for you longer my affection is stronger
I was just thinking - I was just thinking
That I'm tired of calling you once a week
And thinking of long distance rates instead of kissing you
Baby I'm sinking, merely sinking

Ok, fine, maybe ALL that wasn't exactly what I was thinking....just the wistful sadness of it all...

Inspired, I write one of my own:

Close my eyes
Hug Myself
Reminisce
Into my memories
I delve
Wake up
Dreaming?
I can almost
Smell you
Surrounding
Hearing
Hallucinating
Your voice
You sound..just next door
Things I can't
simple ignore
I blink
Look around
Heart sinks
And sigh as
No one be found...

I want to be as versatile with my vocabulary as he!...alas Wishful Thinking once again...

Scholarly update

2006-09-13T08:36:00.000+01:00

Just finished my short short rotation in peds, which was fun!

It's basic tutoring, how to do history and exam, and all about their growth and feeding. It was fun though cos they taught us practical stuff like how to make a bottle feed (which I'm not sure how relevant that is!) and we got to see tiny babies. It's quiet time of the year in peds tho, so it was mostly chronic cases we got to see- all the weird and not so wonderfuls..

Starting to learn Obs and gyne too (which was the subject of the exam this morning- at 7.30am too!...of which I thought was going to be an objective one, but turned out to be a subjective one!!!....yea...so screwed...) O&G is more interesting than I thought it'd be. Helps of course that one of the consultants teaching the course looks like John Rhys Meyer. =P How come it's all men teaching the course though?? Seems all the obstetricians in Ireland happen to be male!

Surgery is however, proving to be quite a bore ...either that or the surgeons teaching the course are?? I dunno if it's just me or wat, but all the minutely-related to surgery courses (Opthalmology, ENT, and yesterday's lecture in Plastic Surgery) just sorta blanches over in my mind...Colour me not interested??

Productive Idleness

2006-09-10T16:56:00.000+01:00

Talk about a productive weekend. I managed to organise/play futsal, clean the whole house before Pat (the housemate) arrives from Msia-vacuum, sweep, mop, clean toilet, wipe all tabletops, cleanstove/sink; get Aidan to clean all his dishes (the ultimate feat), bake choc chip cookies, cook cook cook breakfast-lunch-dinner and do my laundry!! All that when I really should be studying, eh?

Also managed to talk to Chi and Jason. And got John Mayer (Continuum) and Diana Krall(From this moment on)'s new albums!! He sounds different though. Almost Taylor Hicks-esque meets Prince or sumthin. (Frown/Gag) Whatever happened to the brilliance? I can almost fall asleep listening to him now...

Heard S'kali was brilliant at the premier. Congrats Jason! (Just managed to watch the trailer...it just showed sound not picture the last time I watched it =P...long story...)

Check it out:

S'kali

Random things

2006-09-07T20:07:00.000+01:00

I wish there were more hours in a day

...Wishful thinking

On a random note: one of my Obs & Gyne lecturers looks like John-Rhys Meyer

...which, on another random note, my classmate met/saw (while she was on some committee organising film festivals) the real John-Rhys Meyer...Lucky girl!

Might as well be exam time...

2006-08-28T18:49:00.000+01:00

The most stressed 1st day back to school ever: Today

It was an hour and a half introductory lecture...telling (scaring) all of us about fourth year. 45 mins of lunch where everyone freaked out about their schedules and how messy it all is...Followed by our first lecture in ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat/ Surgery)

Only the lecture lasted 3 hours. Straight.
And we will have 3 hours of ENT every day this week. Except privileged Friday. When we will have 5 hours of it. Hurrah. And all this 17 hours this week of ENT will be all we will be getting on ENT. Ever.

Sick, twisted minds of our medical tutors.

Breeds sick(koff, koff, hack, hack), migrainey, stressed medical students.

Back to school blues

2006-08-26T10:04:00.000+01:00

I remember how in primary school I couldn't wait to get back to school after our November/December school holidays. And then in secondary school, I couldn't wait to see my friends again, and well, couldn't wait to get another year of high school done. In A-Levels, the end of holidays meant less study-time and more stuff to study..which means, it was like, Oh No! School's starting again!...that and vacation was only like a week long, which didn't really count as vacation anyway.

But now, in uni, where holidays are 3 months long, followed by no holidays at all for the rest of the nine months, save for a measly 2 weeks during Christmas, and a measly week during easter...holidays are to be appreciated. I enjoyed my holidays..formed a lot of good memories...had a lot of fun with fun people...took lots of good pictures (1) (2) (3)...but now school's starting again!

It's back to me having no fun, plenty of stress, and barely decent self-cooked meals! Oh, and did I mention that this year I have a 10+ hour school schedule?!! Double Oh No!!

**********************************************************************************

Listening to Standfast's Car Crashes

Gasp! Criminal!

2006-08-23T18:42:00.000+01:00

Was watching Friends with Money (seems everything I quote is from some movie or other...but honestly, I forget all my good revelations...so movie revelations are all I get stuck with)...and how Frances McDormand went all ballistic with people cutting her line.

I didn't know 'civilized' countries still had people cutting lines. Ireland actually does not have queue-cutters...or at least I haven't come across them. And I absolutely have to be the queue-cutting magnet or something, cos it always happens to me!

You know what I always end up doing?

Nothing

Cos I usually am not aware of the act actually happening until i turn around, and hey...someone who wasn't there before...is now there. Wait la until I actually catch someone red-handed....kena la dia nanti! She (usually she's!!) will so get it from me...it won't be real.

Yea...it won't be real.

Because they always get away with it.

I don't know how these she's can have the powers of queue-cutting on their side without consequences.

In the movie, they even illustrate how justice is not on our moral side!

Because Frances McD was like

Hey! You just cut my queue!

The couple (couple summore!) replied with a nonchalant,

No we didn't

She started making a big fuss to the cashier, whom...you know what he said to her?!! (almost felt like bitch-slapping his head- he had on a really cute red cap which would probably have protected him, but he deserves it anyway)

I'll just serve these customers first, then I'll serve you..

She started to call the manager...who threw her out of the store!!....But first, she threw down all her bags and walked into a glass door and broke her nose....but that's all besides the point...

My most traumatic queue-cutting experience took place at a Plus Highway Rest Stop toilet. And this is all to expose the new tactics of the immoralists! ....At last I get to write my blog-wide (ie confined to this blog only) expose'!

The criminal?

A 16-year-old-looking Malay girl.

Modus operandi?

She pretended to wash her hands, and thus was not in the queue for use of the TWO toilets...I turn around for one second, or maybe I wasn't paying attention, and SWOOP! I turn around and suddenly she's in front of me!

I turn to look at the other people in the queue. Were they not paying attention as well?!! Hell, I guess, it didn't affect them as much as it did me because two seconds later, someone came out of the cubicle and in the CRIMINAL went! Instead of ME!

I was going to say something, but then I started to doubt myself for a second. And a second was all it took to rule with crime! Think about it, could be the next slogan for Merdeka Day.

Setitik Masa Biarlah MemBela Jenayah! Or something....my direct translation sucks...

When I told mum about it (she was supposed to be the one ahead of me, not Criminal Malay Girl) she was like,

Oh yeah, that's what their mothers teach them from young...Pretend to wash their hands at the basin, thus giving them easier access for queue-cutting!!

She's seen it happening too! And these immoralist criminals who obviously didn't pass Pendidikan Moral (I hear there's a new one called Civil Studies which everyone has to take?)....if they start from young....you see la later.....sure become one of those escort service girls....or kena tangkap for khawat or something....The End is Near for Them!

Pengakhiran Teruk Menjelang!

Argument of definitions

2006-08-22T15:02:00.000+01:00

I look upon my last few posts....they read like I'm advertising stuff...or whatnot....

Then I wonder whatever happened to my writing? Whatever happened to the person who wanted to do journalism if this whole medicine thing didn't work out? Whatever happened to my poem-writing even?? And now I hardly even write letters anymore!

Okok...poem-ing has been on hiatus for the past 2 years...but hopefully it's gonna change cos I have been writing a bit since summer. Well, currently have nothing to poem passionately about...so...yea...excuses, excuses

Letter-writing...I did send out ONE letter this year...so I guess it sorta counts.... yea rite...rolls eyes]

So anyway, I was watching My Super Ex-Girlfriend the other day...and sorry for the spoiler, but I loved how Uma Thurman was so neurotic.

Have vaguely heard of neurotic being mentioned...forgot what it meant. All I knows is, it's funny. Weird in a funny way. Cool. Could be me. Cos I'm weird in a funny way. Or funny in a weird way. or both. Or maybe neither.

Then today I was all stressed about some banking stuff...like I wanted to settle it once and for all right, and I was like, I have to get things done NOW!....Then I thought of all the consequences affecting future events if I didn't get it done asap...which aren't all that serious really...but I was like obsessed about having to do it now, or else.

And then I found out that, no I couldn't get it done now...nor can I in the next few days. I would have to wait. Upset. Worry.

Then I came to the realization that I was just being weird...or maybe... neurotic!

So I look up wikepedia for the word neurotic. And found that I probably should have looked it up in my Psychiatry book instead.

Because the closest it came to defining it...was NEUROSIS. It said:

Neurosis, also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, is a "catch all" term that refers to any mental imbalance that causes distress, but, unlike a psychosis or personality disorder, does not prevent rational thought or an individual's ability to function in daily life.

Dammmnnn....mental imbalance...

Yikes. OKayyy....maybe not so me....or least I don't want to be neurotic anymore.

But then is that what neurotic really meant? According to slang searches, it means easily upset, excitable, fidgety, impatient, irritable, jittery, jumpy, nervy...

Oh yea...Uma Thurman was kinda all those things while also being clingy, jealous, and overall insane.

OkOK...so maybe I'm not so neurotic after all...cos I don't think I fit into any of those categories...unless someone might beg to differ.

But but...from what I thought I knew, Neurotic meant over-analysing situations that probably bore no further meaning other than what was plain to see. (See, how I've over-thought this?) Goodness, all this brain-work, over the word neurotic...Which then means...I am neurotic!!! (insert sound effect: Cheng cheng cheng CHENG!!)

Oh hell, let you'se psychologists out there tell me what it actually means. I don't mind being either, cos I can't really help who I am...At least Uma Thurman sure had a ball making neurotic seem interesting..

It Guy

2006-08-22T11:58:00.000+01:00

Watched a new movie this week. One that was similar to that dance movie Save the Last Dance with Julia Stiles in it. Only the girl wasn't as cool as Julia Stiles. And this guy was wayy hotter than Sean Patrick Thomas (Say who?)....with a typical but awww-shucks storyline. Definitely watchable for the incoming school season with crushes starting to fly all over..

It's none other than Channing Tatum, previously mentioned/seen in She's the Man!! He so WAS the movie

Hot Hot Hot

[See Picture...Need I say more?]

This model guy is so in this season, I'm so going to watch everything he's in...

The Soap Opera

2006-08-20T15:09:00.001+01:00

Today I accidentally threw away Claire's soaps first into a plastic bag and then into the trash.

Why would I do that, u ask....

Ever seen something like mould or some putrefying stuff growing like spores or fungus or something? This looked exactly like it. Didn't help matters that the soap was green. It had bits aka dots on all its surfaces!! Brown dots! On something green! Looked a bit like the brown stuff had merged with the green stuff too.

Which is why I thought it actually was mould or a growth of some kind on our bathroom window sill (it wasn't like the soap was right next to the shower area either...it was practically miles away! Dunno how one (and Claire is shorter than me even) can reach across and grab the soap from across a bathtub AND a toilet!!

The least I figured was it was a green soap which had grown stuff on it now that it had been left sitting idle. And the purple tiny soap looked like it had calcified with disuse.

So into the trash it all went.

How was I supposed to know that she had bought soaps from this natural ingredients shop that sold weird n funny-smelling concoctions that are made into cosmetics/soaps?? How was I supposed to know that she and the rest of Cork, Ireland were crazy about it??

So then.

Claire asked me...and she's quite dramatic at it with her upper class British accent...if I had done anything to her precious soap.

I said,

Oops, I threw it away

....and instantly went rummaging in the trash for that bag I put it in

In all her drama, she was acting shocked...but in her own comical way. She drew up a deep breath (sorta like in a gasp)...and her voice picked up a pitch...

Lyn!! How could you toss my precious soap away!!

I tried not to laugh.

Good thing I put the soap into a bag....

I said, trying to save myself, as I handed her the bag disgusting tear-drop shaped(as she described it) icky soap intact

She gave me a "Oh yes indeed" look. I tried not to laugh again.

Or else I would have been killed

says I

Well, not killed.....says Claire in sympathy....But certainly severely frowned upon...she says with a half smile.

I actually did laugh then.
And so was the adventure of the day...my frowned-upon-soap-throwing-away...
[Don't worry... we're still on speaking terms!!]

Which brings me to my next question...would you still use dirty soap to wash your hands? And would that be considered clean?...In other words, assuming soaps are antibacterial and anti-dirty and stuff, would dirty soap still be usable?

Home (Room) Raiders

2006-08-18T18:33:00.000+01:00

Imagine leaving your humble abode spick span clean...for a few months...and coming back to DISASTER!!

Claire and Cass'(my 2nd year flatmates) boyfriend Aidan have been staying over for the summer (Cass went to Dublin) and have made a HUGE mess!!!

I came back to find the kitchen sink filled up, everything is on the kitchen cabinet table tops, and a bunch of junk on the kitchen table so much so there is not an inch for a person to eat dinner from.

And the floor was just...unclean.

Bits everywhere.

And my room, which had been occupied by Claire up til when I came, was just...'In a Tip' as she would say. After days of cleaning, it is now back to normal.

And the bathroom! Speak not of the Bathroom for heaven's sake!!

Muck and grime and..and...other unmentionables. The sink didn't really look like the blue it was supposed to be (the inside of it la)...

Goodness...

I glance at other people's toothbrush and noticed bits of yellow stuff stuck at the bottom of the bristles.

Bacteria infestation happy zone.

That is why there is existence of water pressure people!!...to pressure those bits to leave!! Hello!!

I dare not take a picture of it even for fear of nightmares...

So...that was me...this morning...

After finally being fed-up with a few days of this...

Yes, that is a supermarket trolley in my dining room. For what reason I know not.

I cleaned.

And cleaned.

Total Bathroom. Dishes. (Like 3 quarters of it cos hands got cold) Threw away a bunch of stuff. Cleared the hallway. Unfortunately kitchen table was uncleanable cos most of the stuff were actually not junk. Just put in a junkety way...

And then later, I hear Aidan washing up the rest of the quarter of dishes I left!! Hurrah!! Saves us all!!

Did not want to clean this. Theva...your football shoes have been spider-fied...note cobwebs...Yes...they are in all your 3 pairs of shoes you conveniently left idle in the hallway...

Definitely did not want to clean Aidan's room..and to think mum always complains about my mess..

On a happier note...fumigated my room with jasmine incense...which turned out not as nice as I thought it would be. Cos I hate smoke. And I would only get the sweet jasmine scent occasionally...so..mostly the smoke was irritatingla.

Wondering why people can tahan..(although I like the sandalwood of joss sticks)... UNTIL I stared at the stick of incense burning happily away...

Whoa!

Cool!

The smoke came out in miniature bellows...and the looked like loops of intestine!....Erm...Yes, that is cool. To me. Might be gross to you...but Ok..I admit it, I'm a nerd, now leave me alone...

And tell me this is cool! (would have looked cooler if i could get the whole picture on a dark background)

It was so pretty!! [Forget I said the thing about intestine loops, can you?]

Camby-Khmer Stories

2006-08-17T23:20:00.000+01:00

What can I say?? Cambodia was fab!! Kat, Jason and Chi were so much fun...the temples were awesome...the food was superbly yummy and the drinks were cheap!!

On the plane! Excited..!!

This was what Kat was reading...Hnorrrrrr

Arrived...where the hotel/villa driver picked us up at the airport. If you can't read what's on the sign...It says Welcome Katherme Gob...Oh well...at least they got the initials right..

Rested a bit. Where we met some SMDU-rians also staying at the same place.

Set off for Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset. I swear those temples are worse than Great Wall of China. Killer steps. Wait til we got to Angkor Wat. Literally, Killer steps. I bet a capital punishment was to get rolled off those steps. But I digress. Back to Phnom Bakheng...Check out the number of people that went with us (below)...Asian chick in blue and Blond chick in green were lesbians according to Jason. Not just your average touchy gal-pal.

The next day, Behold Angkor Wat
Woke up at 4 am to be there, ok?! Of course la with the motive of catching the sunrise. Worth every minute in my opinion.

There were of course...other stuff besides THE Angkor Wat. Among the other Siem Reap interests...

Oh no, forgot its name...start with B..Bayon!! YESSSS!! =P Correct me, Jason/ Kat/ Chi. It's the first temple upon entrance into the Great Temples area, and the oldest I believe. Its unique due to having each North, South, East, West side of the wats carved with a face. Bluddy a lot of stones to carve..

To clarify, check out the painting in the middle...

We climbed all the way to the top of that!! Forgot its name readi also...Kheng something or other....Kat n Jason totally chickened out...

Tomb Raider's Ta Prohm (yay, I am no longer addicted to the game). The most untouched temple, inflicted upon by Mother Nature's graze on its structure, broken through by roots upon roots. Trees that grow inside trees battered its walls and roofs

One of my favourite pics...dunno why [In majestic Angkor Wat at the halfway mark to the pinnacle. Wats everywhere! And pools too. Unfilled ones..but nonetheless...majestic pools

Petrol station. No joke.

Mobile Market on a sampan in the Water Village of the largest river in South East Asia (momentary lack of memory in recalling its name)
Think about it...Cambodian Reil is so worthless that they use American dollars to trade. 2000 reils=1 Ringgit=25 US cents(a quarter)

Scary...

Imagine what they have for lunch...Lung-h?

Our favourite restaurant: The Smiling Sun!! Where everyone is greeted with a smile and a chirpy male "Hello, Everybody!"

The most scandalous moment of the whole trip...This is how it started...=P

...and that is how it ended...

And thus, we bid adeiu to lovely Cambodia. Lovely people. I think I had an Oprah moment when on the way to Angkor Wat early in the morning, we passed by the Children's hospital and there looked like there was going to be some kinda concert there or something cos people, hundreds of people were queueing, waiting to enter. Our driver told us parents bring their children from around the land, far far away, and queue every day to get in.

Makes you thankful of what you have, doesn't it, people?

Sports addict (Un?)limited

2006-08-17T21:46:00.000+01:00

Been so addicted to sports lately what with the badminton, and the futsal and the rock climbing...that I woke up...saw the sun out...and decided to go running!!

This will so not last...

what-date-is-our-anniversary-on-again??

2006-08-17T20:28:00.000+01:00

Dunno...I'm still not sure

We had a fancy shmancy dinner at a fancy restaurant..

This summer I really cam-hor-ing la

Sugar wands for the sweet-toothed sorceress...

See, that's why belly dancers need the tyre fats...them and their neat tricks....wahhhh....I also wanna do!

Birthday pics Aplenty

2006-08-16T21:46:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me...Happy Birthday to..MEeee...Happy Birthday to me....Clapclapclap

Err...I'm 22 already?................Wonder why they have cakes for birthdays?

Kat making her 'poison'...Me happy with my poisons...

Pressie, pressie, and pressie...heeheehee (rub hands in glee)

Freudian Futsal slip

2006-08-16T17:16:00.000+01:00

I miss futsal. And apparently I'm not the only one....

Was chatting to Jamie la.... the one who brought me to play in the 1st place.

J: Need to ask you something.
Me: I miss futsal.
J: Hehe
Me: What did u want to ask?
J: Do u know which brand 'futsal' [she meant laptop] better...?
Me: Which brand futsal..?
J: Eh stop dreaming la..
Me: But you said wan wut...
J: Hehe...sorree

Futsal on the mind...

On another note: Funny picture of a funny dog Chi took at the dogathon:

Spock says woof

Dog-Eat-athon

2006-08-16T08:25:00.000+01:00

Nikki the beagle has and will always be known as the fat beagle who is possibly the greediest beagle in the world. She's lovable anyway.

So here comes the opportunity for Nikki the beagle to prove to her masters...that she does have some purpose in life other than digging the garden up, being greedy, and being the crabby/happy bounding baying beagle that she is: Doggy-Owner eating contest!!

But then we went too late...and entries were closed by the time I actually decided to sign her up for it. Sign her and Chi up for it.

So we just went around enjoying the dogs. So many beagles!

And more beagles..

There was also a owner-dog look-a-like contest...we think he should win...

Lawatan Sambil Belajar Pt 2

2006-08-16T08:19:00.000+01:00

Pics from our weekend in Singapore, where I met up with uni friends.

Us waiting for tai-tai Tiff to cross the road

Starlight star bright, no star in sight...

2006-08-15T18:15:00.000+01:00

Seriously man...cannot see stars in KL. Too mucked up in haze methinks. Only perhaps the north star is visible....sadnya..

We went to watch Date Movie...which totally sucked. Like, worst movie ever. Goodness...so sien already...

During our first starlight movie at the premiere of Click, we got spotted!...ahahaha...by a Star reporter only la...wonder when our mugs will appear in the newspaper talking about Starlight cinema grasshoppers??

New year with the new face

2006-08-15T17:42:00.000+01:00

Ahoy Ahoy The new look of the blog!!

Finally got it rite!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes...and the goodbyes. I love you guys!

Birthday pics from my bday dinner

Birthday pics from the surprise party

Thanks Mei Ping n Jason! Piggy so cute! I love it!

Thanks to Jiayi for the card (You give the best cards la!)...and oh my goodness your accent!!

Thanks to Shoney for the lil pressie! Gorgeous! N I used it for a fancy dinner the other day! ....Tried calling ur cellphone number but couldn't get thru...then started to doubt that I had the right number in the first place. Still confused with the old number that u changed ages ago...=/

My "brilliant plan"

2006-07-24T07:34:00.000+01:00

The other day Chi and I tried changing the blog template. We gave up and went out after not much effort.

Today I tried it again. Only to have everything wiped out except the pictures....One Big Empty white space...with my pictures, and the little comments pencil at random places.

AAccckkk!!

Oh no..what did I do? It can't possibly have gone that wrong...

Except I realised i replaced the important bits.

So I replaced everything back to its original and tried to only replace the outlook bit. Only I couldn't figure out what was important and what wasn't. So the end product after my minute change...is this.

It still looks the bluddy same doesn't it?

Singaporean tales

2006-07-15T13:51:00.000+01:00

After spending 2 weeks in Singapore...I can't wait to get out of the place.

As some might know, I'm doing this 3-week attachment to National University Hospital in Singapore.

Don't get me wrong...I really like the hospital work. I like the hospital. It's huge. Everyone's quite the professional. I even like the patients. And..well, now that I've found a cheap students' cafeteria in the science building...I don't quite mind the food either. It's still quite criminal to put tomato ketchup into everything especially their noodles, in my opinion. I mean...wantan mee and ketchup?? Lor Mee and ketchup?? NOOOO!!!!!...Smack the hand that dashes that ketchup is all I can say!!

Really impressed with the Singapore transport system too. Buses actually run within 5-10 mins max of each other! Gasp!! And most of the places I have to go to have a direct bus that goes there. Granted Singapore is so small...nothing really is all that out of the way...but still...convenience transportation!

OKOk...what I'm really grumbling about is my shithole accomodation. Well, it's as hostel-y as a hostel can get. Less than immaculately clean...skimping on luxury. Hell, I can't complain too much la..it's cheaper than anything I've come across. I suppose I shouldn't have watched 'HOSTEL'...gory....
Besides the room being tiny...it's roasting!!...and when I once fancied double-decker beds as a kid, I no longer do. But well, besides the general feeling dodginess, although Chi would beg to differ...I spose in the end I'll only have to live with it for another week. Hurray.

Back to hospital work...the most challenging thing I've faced is the language barrier. I can only thank goodness I know Malay. Cos I sure as hell can't fluently take a history in Mandarin. I also thank goodness I know Hokkien. Hail me for managing to take a history in Hokkien the other day. =)

Med students aren't all that different in Singapore...they actually work really well as a group. No one seems really competitive with each other. No one actually seems kiasu! And the class doesn't seem divided like mine. Dunno. Feels more comfortable somehow. Oh well.

Have to go back tomorrow. Not looking forward to the 5 hour bus ride...followed by the sight of my hostel room greeting my weary self. =/

The parental units

2006-06-24T06:44:00.000+01:00

Woke up late from last night’s party…...damn...…we really talked and laughed about a lot of shit…....literally....…so woke up la..…blur…...like wanna read some stuff liddat…...My neighbour’s house behind my room is under construction. Saturday also got drilling and noisy people yelling stuff and laughing…even KT Tunstall on cd player couldn’t drown em out. Not that she was intended to drown em out. Just to chill for awhile. So I went downstairs, intending to read my stuff. Get to the study room…where parental units are. I sit down. Seconds later…they start bugging me to do stuff. Aren’t you going to get your visa thing done?? In my mind, as long as I get it done within the year…no worries right?? Besides I haven’t even seen in my mind how it could be done with major bits missing from the application process. But then again…I didn’t know better. I tell them, yeah…but I haven’t even been online for awhile…so how am I supposed to do it if I wasn’t even online. Like I mean, how could you get mad at a dog for not quacking if HELLO…it’s not a duck!! The story of my life I tell you.

So grumbling in my head…I sit at the computer. And I try to figure it out for the next hour and a half. And in the end, I realize that I can’t even get it done. I cannot get it done without the proper paperwork. Which I do not have in the first place. There you go. Almost 2 hours wasted.

Settled down to read a bit. Put on KT on headphones, trying to drown out units jabbering. But in the end...they made KT sound bad. Horrors of all. Gave up. Then I wanted to eat…since I hadn’t eaten. But since it was lunchtime…I ask what we’re gonna have for lunch. No answer. I ask again…no answer. Finela…I’ll just eat whatever then have no appetite for lunch later. I take a bite of some apple crumble cheese (which I totally believe I can make a better apple crumble pie) only to have the maternal unit ask me what I want for lunch. Luckily it wasn’t a few more bites or lunch would have been ruined. Which was my point in the first place.

Then after lunch…I wanted to put up some pics on Friendster la…I’m kinda lazy to put it anywhere else…cos a grand total of only like 3 ppl will view em anyway…I’ll put sum up on here la…soon…soon….

Then I try to steal some pics from Kat’s Friendster site…only to have my maternal unit pounce on me from behind and start questioning me about who’s Kat…cos Kat is the most gorgeous girl she’s ever ever seen. Then I was like…Katherine la…the one whose existence I’ve been telling you of since I dunno when…OK…she can’t get over Kat. I can’t get over my privacy being invaded. And once I got back to the main Friends page where there are abundance of people’s photos…she started demanding to view the names she recognised!!....*Hand slap forehead*

In the end don’t feel like posting pics up readi….

And even typing this post out…Am I using Blogger?? No!! I’m using Microsoft Word!!

Yesterday, Chi’s brother Ken said something like, Parents like you (his mum) would believe horror stories in the newspaper and thus barr their kids from going out. Mine are worse. Trust me.

The Play with Least Owrds uttered by Gavin Yap

2006-06-20T05:05:00.000+01:00

The new KL Performing Arts Center was prr-etty impressive... Starlight Cinema's gonna be held there in July!! Yay! Was there to catch a Gavin Yap play.

But in the end it wasn't really a Gavin Yap play...cos his part was so boring. All he did was brood. It was like a Dorian Gray wannabe. But fell short. Instead Joanna Bessey totally stole the show. I would so watch anything she's in from now on. At least Gavin Yap was topless la...saves him a bit. =P

Penang at its best

2006-06-06T13:22:00.000+01:00

I know I've been on hiatus for quite awhile...too busy enjoying my holiday!! Kinda settled down a bit now and returning to mundane routine activities...thus the creeping in of boredom...which is why I'm here. Writing. Posting up pics.

My Penang trip a few weeks ago was interesting. I learnt how to play Sudoku. Well....I didn't actually play it..I just watched my aunt play. And then I got addicted to a PDA game.

I also learnt how to make Bak Chang (Zhong/ Rice dumplings) from my grandma. Sure, making the ingredients and all is the easy part...until you get to the part where you actually have to fold it into some kinda pyramid-like-looking thing. Bluddy hard ok?? Some of mine turned out like christmas trees and some into 2D triangles. Maybe like ONE turned out right. These are some of the nicer ones...

And then I travelled around Penang eating and eating:

First on the way to Penang, just before the Penang bridge toll, you would find an exit to Bukit Tambun...where you get CHEAP and brilliantly fresh seafood.

We had dinner in town in Penang. But everything was closed!! I think most hawkers close on Monday for some reason. Ended up having sub-standard char kuey teow, which wasn't too bad actually...and some strange fish noodle. Too fishy for me...but ok once you get used to it. The Kopi-Peng in Penang is the best though!!

Then we had breakfast of kuey kak and chee cheong fun (like both at the same sitting) at MacCallister Lane. Highly recommended. Also recommended are the Laksa and Cendol (MUST HAVE) on Penang Road not too far away. An alternative to the laksa is this place on Lorong Selamat which also has pretty good ice kacang..but the place mainly caters for Singaporeans which exorbitantly jack the prices up.

And if you want hor fun and dim sum...the only place to go is Tai Tong Restaurant in town. Um um...I forgot the road name.

And for dessert...as if that wasn't already enough food...a MUST TRY is the apong balik...my favourite is on Burma Lane, but an alternative is at the Island Glades coffeeshop from 10am onwards. Before that he's at the Sungai Ara morning market (where my grandma and aunts live!! =)

I watched a little travel channel segment on Malaysian food while I was in Penang, and made sure I caught the Penang bit. The lady chef person featured Little India's roti jala (which apparently originated from Penang! -little fact i didn't know) and chinatown's nine-gods festival vegetarian food. She didn't like the imitation duck, but my mum says it's bluddy brilliant.

Disappointed that the only hawker food she featured was char kuey teow. But she did pick a good stall to feature cos the hawker not only cooked, he entertained with the 'dance' of cooking. Quite a hilarious sight if you're a foreigner, I'm sure.

What must have kept me from not dying from the over-eating was laughing. At shop names. I have not seen such funny signs, perhaps ever. KL shops are probably too self-conscious for that.
It's not enough to be proud of your pharmacy...you have to be EGO!!

And if you thought the names Ah Kau and Ah Gu were things of myth and jokes...you thought wrong

886 must be his favourite lottery number...but JUST 886 would have been too boring, wouldn't it?? Thus, EIGHT EIGHT SIX!!!...call me lame..but I think it's funny.

Dunno why I took note of this shop...but I just found the sign odd. Motorshops are the main culprits of bad names. Among them: Master Tan Car Sales, Perusahaan Cinta auto shop and Asmara Motor.Second culprits would have to be F&B shops, of note being Kedai Makan Come And Eat.

And my favourite sign of the day goes to:

Sheng Hiang Biscuits 11th Anniversary!!! Bad signage...but they make those Ghee Hiang type biscuits...only 20 times better. Hands down. Wait-la for their 12st anniversary and you might get 50% off.

No joke.

Road Trip Pt 2

2006-05-24T16:38:00.000+01:00

Talk about the road not taken...

There were weird roads

Really small roads

Really curvy roads

And roads with rocks at the sides ready to smash your car in

One thing I learnt about Irish Roads. It's 50 kmph with speed cameras on a nice straight road...and 100kmph when it's a dangerous narrow windy road. I'm starting appreciate the Lebuhraya with 4-5 lanes in Malaysia, in comparison to the max of 2 lanes in the so-called 'developed' country that is Ireland.