Christmas Eve Party 2007

Hehehe... a wonderful night. Minus the little accident after dinner (still trying to locate Ground Zero!). Everyone who came, glad you could make it. Andrew and Erna... wish you were there! Hope the next gathering at Vee Han's place will be just as if not more fun than this.

Yesterday the lustketeers (a term coined by Yoke Sin) + Vee Vern embarked on a KL walkabout. Literally. The monorail was slow due to some sytem malfuntion or some sort, so we had to do some extra walking from one LRT station to another. Spent some time in Petaling Street, Pavillion and met up with Meng Lee for lunch in between. By the time I got home, I was caked with layer upon layer of dried sweat. Ugh. Walking around KL wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the humidity and scary traffic. But it was a day well spent. =)

Nowadays I'm getting lazier and lazier when it comes to blogging about events. So... cue the photos!

All of us. It was a pot luck dinner: Seng Kiat + Shing Wei made mash potato and cheesecake, Ching Ee + Musen brought black pepper chicken, Calvin made bread and dip, Meng Lee + May Eve brought fruits and Barcadi, Vee Han made champagne jelly, Darling brought salad and cendol kuih and yours truly provided the venue + drinks + made some crappy chocolate cookies. :P Put that altogether and what do you get? A fabulous Christmas feast.

Vee Han's champagne jelly shots. Yes, they taste as good as they look. Love Seng Kiat's mash potato and cheesecake too. Being able to cook and clean well boosts a guy's attactiveness by like, 50 points. *Hint hint* Darling...

After dinner, we had a little gift exchange game. It was 90% fun and 10% disaster.

To all my dear readers and friends out there, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the coming year bring you more joy and fulfillment than the last!

*Gasp*

Christine was matched to Mother Theresa after taking this test (very fitting for her if I say so myself). So I decided to give it a go as well. Look who I got...

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I've fallen for another man...

I have a habit of falling for guys who aren't exactly drop-dead gorgeous, but just.... appealing in a twisted sort of way. And OMG I find this guy so hot!

It feels weird cheering for a serial killer, but I can't help it. After watching the first season, I feel like flaying some meat with him. :P There's something sickly seductive about this character as he silently stalks his prey. And yet, he can be so adorable and cute when he tries to act and feel like a normal person. I also love the opening credits. Subtle, unnerving and freakin' creative! I was surprised my mom didn't feel anything odd about the credtis when she saw it. :P Hmm. More often that not, I find myself falling for the character rather than the actor himself. Michael C. Hall did a superb job playing this novel-turned-TV character, but I'm infatuated with Dexter Morgan. :P

I highly recommend this TV series. It's dark, intelligent, sad and yet funny. Watch it and be entranced. :)

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_(TV_series)

Dexter is an American television drama series based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay and adapted for television by Emmy Award-winning screenwriter James Manos, Jr.. The show premiered on the premium cable network Showtime on October 1, 2006 and has since enjoyed wide critical acclaim.

The show stars Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) as the title character Dexter Morgan, a Miami-based serial killer who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst.

The first season finished airing on December 17, 2006. On November 2, 2006, Showtime renewed the series for a second season which began shooting on May 21, 2007 and premiered on September 30, 2007. Showtime President Robert Greenblatt has confirmed a third season is planned.

And.....she's back!

Internet's up. Finally. After more than 3 weeks of chasing and calling those TM ppl... Konon they lost the application for our house phone, then our internet connection was not set up although they claimed they did... etc etc.

A quick photoblog cum bimbo post bout my life so far back in Malaysia. Been more or less occupied with moving stuff from my old house, helping my mom with house chores, unpacking and re-packing stuff, arranging items and gorging down food like there's no tomorrow. Why on earth don't they have mamaks in Adelaide? And why on earth don't they have traditional kaya and pineapple tarts and murukku? Sadness.... Wish they'd have a seafood place like those in Klang. Kam Heong crabs, anyone? :P

I finally got my first taste of KL nightlife last Friday. Seng Kiat, Andrew, Erna, Meng Lee and I attended the Black & Bling Gala 2007 at Maison. It was organised by Malaysian Today and overall it was pretty good. The ticket was only RM30 and was worth it. Meng Lee was with a whole bunch of uni friends and work collegues, most whose names I regretfully don't know. The dress code for the event was black and bling and no one told me about that! (didn't even know what was the event about until I got the ticket from Meng Lee that night. So blur right?). Most people came in black and glitzy dresses while yours truly arrived in lime green. At least I had uh.. a 'bling' of sorts. Good times, good times. One of the many things I've missed while away from home.

K anyway I'll let the pictures do the talking 'cos if I continue any longer I'll only be typing weird nonsense and you wouldn't want that now, would you? Nights...

It's that time of the year.

I must admit, I was more excited before the exams. Couldn't stop thinking about seeing my family and friends again, the things we would do, the bonds we would rekindle etc etc. I'm still excited and happy now, and yes I miss everyone back in Malaysia to bits. But after looking back at my year in Adelaide, the feeling's a litte subdued. It's difficult to explain. Everyone here is nice and friendly to us IMU students. I'm very grateful for that. I'm happy to have made some wonderful friends here and I hope that our friendship shall continue to grow as the years go by. But part of me feels.... empty. Numb. It's not this place, this new country. It has always been like this no matter where I go. A feeling that I don't... belong. It's my fault actually. I still can't put my finger on it.

Flight out's at 3.30p.m. Gonna be AWOL for a bit 'cos my new house still doesn't have internet.

1572480 minutes.

26208 hours.

1092 days.

156 weeks.

36 months.

3 years.

In an ideal world, we would be sitting together under a cherry blossom tree now. With only the wind and gifts of nature to surround us.

2 papers down, 2 more days of OSCE to go... *sigh*

Yesterday's MCQ paper was insane, so horribly sadistic and vague. Calling it difficult is an understatement. Like seriously, half of the questions I wasn't sure about and the other half were about things I never heard about. 180 questions in 3 hours = one big headache. And each question is preceeded by like a paragraph of vague history and a medley of symptoms and lab results. Then they ask you the choose the BEST diagnosis/immediate management/treatment/drug combination + dosage/diagnostic investigation/probability of patient having X abnormalities/etc etc etc. Choose the best answer from a list of answers which are mostly correct. Wtf, a student's worst nightmare.

More on my exams in my next post. This one is about an event that's equally (if not more) sad. While I was drowning in stacks of medical jargon, this was going on in my beloved home country. God bless Malaysia.

Transcript of Malaysia's Information Minister's interview with Al Jazeera News on the Bersih Protest:

Oh no..... one more day to exams!!!

Can't study anymore. Brain slowing down already. I have this weird feeling like caterpillars in my stomach right now. On Monday, those caterpillars will turn into butterflies and they shall emerge a-fluttering.

Thank goodness for that nice juicy mango I bought from the market last Saturday. Sweet, ice-cold mango: the perfect stress reliever. =) Written papers will be on Monday and Tuesday. It's going to be held in this hall somewhere near the Adelaide Showgrounds. According to to Irwan, it's this mega-huge hall that can fit a thousand people inside. And once you're inside, it's so quiet you can hear a pin drop... He says it's going to be a 'very interesting, fun experience'. Fun, my foot. My future as a 5th year med student is on the line! Omigosh and here I am blogging...

Thursday and Friday are the OSCEs, or as I describe to my mom: The "DAATTTTTT" examine patient "DAATTTTTTTTT" examine patient exam. Of all the hospitals they chose to have it in, they chose the Lyell McEwin Hospital! Which is like 54 bus stops from the city. And since yours truly's surname starts with "C", I'll be in the first group on the first day, i.e. at 8.00a.m.

Okie, this will be last post till after my exams (I think). Good luck to everyone (including those ppl having exams back home). See you on the other side. =) Ganbatte!!!

To my 2 'brothers'...

When I first knew you guys, I was taller than you. My my, how you've grown. :P Here's to the two people whom stood by me in times of need and shared countless of joyful moments with. Being the weird social retard that I am, it's a blessing to have met you guys. *God that sounds so corny! Are you pukng yet?* Anyway, happy birthday Vee Han and Andrew. Sorry for the combined post though I can't remember a year where we didn't celebrate your birthdays together. Miss ya lots. =)

While my dear housmate is laughing horrendously loudy and maniacally in his room watching Rowan Atkinson/Xena/Power Rangers/High School Musical...

Came across an interesting post in Kennysia.com (actually most of his posts are interesting). Click here to read it 'cos I'm too lazy to type too much about it. Furthermore it's a week till my end-of-year exams and I still have tons to cover. :P

Anyway Kenny was asking his readers whether the modern woman still needs a man in her life. In this age of feminism and female empowerment, women can pretty much provide for themselves. Women have better education, awareness and are able to support themselves financially. Three cheers for that. :) So what the heck do we need men for anyway?

The comments he got were of course pretty expected. Men need women and women need men. It's all part of the balance of nature/great circle of life/will of the Almightly/sadistic fate we've been dealt with since time immemorial.

Hehe... but I liked some of the comments by the readers. :P



http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2007/11/why_do_men_and.php#c385107
"In my point of view, no matter how independent a woman is, she still needs a man... It's a balance in nature... Women are born fragile and delicate we need the strength and masculinity of a man to nurture and love us. No matter how strong or independent a woman is to the eyes of the public, she may just be a fragile glass in her heart.

Also no matter how advance technology is, nothing can replace the touch of a man, the kiss of a man, the love of a man and of course, without men how are women going to reproduce?

Some feminist may be angry with me for betraying my own sex, but honestly I'm glad men exist in this world and I honestly admit that I very much depend on the love of my man.

Man needs Woman
Woman needs Man...

This is the fact and the balance of life, everyone please stop lying to yourself..."


http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2007/11/why_do_men_and.php#c385108
"Because we have higher level emotional needs. Being the only female in my research group, it is both flattering and frustating. Discounting reproduction (how unromantic)issue, women certainly are becoming increasingly self-sufficient, hence, it is inevitable "we can do whatever you can do". We see it everyday : from female bus driver, engineer, CEO (i.e. woman power in male-dominated industry).

BUT hey! This does not mean the other group of women - who loves to bake cake, plant peace lilies, and who are determined to spend the rest of their lives loving and tending for their family - are no longer out there.

It's just a matter of choice and circumstances. We go into male dominated world for various reasons : love the challenge, love the work, financial independence etc. But deep down we know nothing can beat the joy of raising our kids. Of being there watching their first piano recital and making lunch boxes.

So trust me, as much as we, working women love our job, we are born to be feminine. We need to return home from office and complain about our boss to a patient husband (and you NOT to disagree with us under any circumstance - no matter how unreasonable we are). We love them for changing the bulb though we can do it anytime. We love to leave all plumbing works to them in exchange of making the best dinner. Sure enough we can carry own our shopping bag, but it is lovely to have you carry it for us.

we need to NEED you."


http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2007/11/why_do_men_and.php#c385109
".....There's a hole in a women's heart that only guys can fill in. Ok lar got another hole also lar but that is not i wanna talk here :P. Women need a guy to acompany her, listening to their braging, their happyness and so on. but most guy cant do this for more than 5minutes. for me 30minutes would be nice, after 30minutes it'll get boring coz the same thing will keep repeating untill she feels ok."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So Darling, if you're reading this... thanks for listening intently to all my rantings throughout these years. Even though it's the same thing over and over again, even though you'd rather be playing computer games and even though your ear is getting so red from pressing it against the phone... you steadfastly hung on without a single complaint. Love you lots!!! Just another 16 days and you won't have to listen to me rant on the phone till your ears are red anymore.... I can do it in person. :P:P:P:P:P

Why is my girlfriend mad?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TjfTM90DhAg

Japanese Toilet Training For Kids

This is too funny. For those ppl who are cramming like crazy for end-of-year exams and whatnot... here's something to lighten up your mood. It was featured on the last Friday Night Download (a Aussie TV show). I went hysterical when I saw it. The Japanese really think of everything under the sun! *Wait till you see the next video I'm about to post. Coming soon. :P*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFVoLz88hiU

John Thomas Sign

Lessons in radiology:

Registrar 1: Hey Leng, come here. Have a look at this.
Lhui: ???
Reg 1: *Shows a pelvic X-ray of a male patient* Tell me the 2 abnormalities here.
Lhui: Uh... There's a fractured right neck of femur... and... *squints*
Reg 1: Yup... what else? See this loop of bowel hanging down here? That's an inguinal hernia.
Lhui: Ooo....
Reg 2: And there's a 3rd abnormality!! This here's a negative John Doodle sign!!
Reg 1: *Laughs* Yes, very important... the John Doodle sign!
Lhui: Huh?
Reg 2: See... *points at the penis shadow* His doodle is pointing away from the pathology, so that's a negative John Doodle sign. A positive John Doodle is when it's pointing towards the pathology... *grins* 50% of the time, it will be positive and the other 50% will be negative.
Lhui: *WTF???*
Reg 3: They're not going to ask students that in the exams!! And it's John THOMAS, not John Doodle!
Reg 1: Can't say penis 'cos it's 'rude' , so you gotta say doodle instead.....

Lhui: -_-"

For those of you who are scratching your head now, it's just a radiology joke. But the John Thomas sign really does exist. Though it has no medical significance whatsoever and radiologists probably use it to humour themselves when they're bored. Check it out:
http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/3050.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_sign

(From Wikipedia)

The John Thomas sign, also known as the Throckmorton sign, is the position of a penis as it relates to pathology on an x-ray of a pelvis. When the penis (visible on the x-ray as a shadow) points towards the same side as a unilateral medical condition (such as a broken bone), this is considered a "positive John Thomas sign", and if the shadow points to the other side, it is a negative John Thomas sign. This sign is of no medical significance and is employed as a humorous aside.[citation needed]

Heaven in a half shell

Hmm hmm.. it's been a while.

Completed my first MSA, Nuclear Medicine. It's quite amazing actually, the amount of things you can do with nuclear scans these days. Even though there wasn't a lot to do and some days were spent just sitting around in the reporting room with the registrar, it was a satisfying 3 weeks. Teaching was pretty informal and nuclear medicine touches a bit of most systems in medicine, so it was a good bit of revision. And much to my relief, it was a rather slack rotation. :) I'm really glad I got this as one of my MSAs. Kinda gave me a chance to see another side of medicine that you'd normally won't see in regular rotations. Not to mention getting tons of practice in putting in IV cannulae. I think I put in a couple dozen of them during those 3 weeks. :P Would still like more practice though. I get nervous when I know people are watching me, especially if it's a consultant. -_-" Like, there was one time I accidentally *squirted* saline on a patient. Steph was there, and so where 2 radiology technician students. Needless to say they all burst out laughing. Luckily, the patient was laughing along as well. I'd consider myself good at Jelcos (IV cannulae) when I can put them in as cleanly and quickly as the registrar there. 2 seconds flat I tell you! And not a drop of blood spilt!

Am currently into my second week of my last MSA of the year: Medical Imaging. Hehe.. both my MSAs are imaging electives. I'm not complaining, though. :P Exams are less than a month away, so I don't really have much drive to make full use of this rotation. You get to see some really cool prodecures in radiology (it's not just X-rays and ultrasounds down there). Though it IS more fun if you're actually involved with the procedure and not standing around idly watching people till your eyes rot. Though the doctors do try to explain things whenever you ask, they're generally preoccupied with their work. Guess they don't have much time to waste with students like us. Don't feel like going to the hospital much anymore for that matter. There's just so many things to cover before the end of the year exams but barely enough time! And here I am bloging away on a Sunday night....

Oh yeah I should tell you about my interesting first day at Radiology. There was this guy who came in for a CT-guided lung biopsy of a mass. Pretty routine procedure, only that this guy has really severe emphysema. His lungs were practically just AIR. Doing a lung biopsy on him is like asking for a pneumothorax. The respiratory registrar decided to hang around for the meantime as he was expecting something to happpen. Yep, a few seconds after the biopsy, the patient started getting tachypnoeic and really crook (that's "ill" in Aussie slang) on the CT table. Oxygen saturation droped to 60% within minutes. Another 10 minutes or so, he'd be going into respiratory arrest. Everyone was rushing around trying to stabilise the patient while yours truly could only stand there and witness the ensuing pandemonium. Basically they gave him oxygen, quickly wheeled him to the recovery bay and inserted a chest drain. He made a rapid recovery after that, thank goodness. I really respect those doctors lor. They were so calm through it all (they were kinda expecting this to happen also la, both the consultant and registrar AND the respiratory registrar were there). Felt really useless for not doing anything, though there really wasn't anything I could do at that point. A medical student would only be in the way when you already have so many staff attending to the patient. But it was a memorable experience nonethelss. I'll never forget how tension pneumothorax looks like now.

Update 15/10/2007 - One week after that incident, the poor guy is back again for another biopsy. Good grief. Dunno whether the chest drain was still left in. Didn't stick around to see what happened this time. -_-"

With the upcoming exams and impending stress, I decided to treat myself yesterday. Bought half a dozen raw oysters from the market and had them for lunch. A few dashes of tabasco sauce and some lemon juice did the trick. And they tasted just orgasmic.... I know Darling would bet to differ. :P:P It's a good thing I didn't get ill after eating it, though I did wash them just in case. I've never eaten anything raw from the market before, but the shopkeeper reassured me they're safe to eat...

Raw oysters + tabasco sause + lemon juice = a taste of heaven indeed... ^_^

Another day closer to the exams. Another day closer to home. I fear to long for November to come, as I fear I am far from prepared. Nights ppl... It's midnight already.

Disappointed? Enraged? Saddened? Amused? You tell me...

Really, really *SIGH*.... From Ken's blog.

BBC HardTalk: Sarah Montague with Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

Malaysia Boleh....

To a dear friend....

In case you didn't get my SMS....

HAPPY BIRHTDAY SENG KIAT!!!! May you have a wonderful and exciting year ahead... Looking forward to seeing you in November yea! =)

Baking Spree!!!

Yay!!! It's a long weekend again!! Monday is a holiday 'cos it's Labour Day... And I finally passed up my research proposal! So no more mucking around looking through journals and fretting over statistics and methodology...

To commemorate this fine occasion, I've decided to go on a baking spree. Got this wonderful book of cookie recipes. There's like 500+ recipes so I probably never finish baking them all ever. Both erm.. cookies came out alright, the only thing was one didn't look too appetizing.... Heck, I've only started baking a couple of months back. It's a far improvement from back in Malaysia when I couldn't even bake to save my life. So I guess I'm allowed to stuff up half the time. :P


Part 1: Dog Shit meringues

Yes, as its name denotes, they're brown, spirally globs of cream-like stuff. Would have turned out more normally had I not been so kiam siap. Hehehh.. didn't want to waste money on buying a piping tube for the meringues, so I used a 60ml syringe instead....

Behold! The BD Plastipak 60 ml syringe. :P

The syringe only sucked up a small bit of the meringue at a time, so I had to keep refilling and squirting. And when the stuff came out, it was like little diarrhoea-like curls, so I decided to make the best of it and make tiny little shit mounds on the baking tray...

Had to throw away the first batch 'cos they were burnt. But overall, they tasted like meringues, only wish I could make them 100% crispy, not cripsy on the outside and gooey on the inside.-_-"

Part 2: Vanilla, Honey & Milk Cookies!

Ok la, this is the not so gross part. :P Woke up the next morning itching to bake something proper. There was a recipe for Vanilla and honey cookies in the book, but I decided to modify it a little by adding in milk. Personally, I felt that it turned out pretty okay. Though Ken (dubbed 'The Household Food Critic' by Xian-Nian, of as I prefer to call him, 'The Guinea Pig') thought it was alright, but a little bland. So I sprinkled some caster sugar on the second batch before baking. I prefer my cookies to be not too sweet. :P

Ahh... the aroma of honey.... itadakimasu! :)