Mocha and Vanilla

My first Halloween Party

2009-11-02T14:31:00.002+10:30

My first Halloween party ever. Many thanks to Jason and Cynthia for organizing this. Seems like as the end of my student life draws nearer, Adelaide becomes more happening.

Due to the lack of funds and utter laziness, I used whatever stuff I had in my wardrobe and goodies from the Royal Adelaide Show to put together a costume. I'm supposed to be a Jedi Angel. Unfortunately my $7 lightsaber died after the party... At least it was put to good use that night. =( All camwhoring photos courtesy of my trusty housemate. :P

Everyone did a fantastic job dressing up for the night. We had a pirate (Jason), kinky nurse (Cynthia), grim reaper (Ming), Mrs. Claus (Hyuun), hobo (Chuen!), ladybird (Jebbrine), Harry Potter (Ken), Joker (Chock), another Joker (Steven. perhaps Joker from the first Batman film?), vampire (Gary), Dead football players and Casino girl.

The winner of best costume was... *drumroll*... Chock's Joker from The Dark Knight!

Simply Sushi

2009-10-05T22:12:00.000+10:30

Dinner with Jenna, Shiau Cern, Su Chuen and her friend Emma in Glenelg. =)

Med Ball 2009 at the Stamford Grand Hotel, Glenelg.

2009-10-04T00:49:00.000+09:30

O-M-G!!!!! Please don't die, blog! commences CPR

2009-10-03T23:54:00.004+09:30

This goes to show what a lazy year it's been. So lazy that I've left my blog to rot yet again. Well, if it makes any difference Dear Readers, The past couple of months have been jam-packed with events! It seems that as I reach the end of my student life, things start to get more vibrant and exciting. So many celebrations, so little time. Things that happened since my last update:

1. Spent an awesome month with Vee Han in Adelaide. Seriously, your visit was the highlight of my year. If only If only I had a less hectic rotation at that time. I'd have ran away from hospital and gladly frolicked around Adelaide with you. More pictures of Vee Han's Adelaide Trip soon.

2. Parties and dinners galore! Since getting a car and the start of my final semester, I've been to so many new places in Adelaide. I think it's the combination of friends saying their farewells before they leave for work interstate/overseas and last-minute attempts to enjoy freedom before we all become slaves to the hospital.

3. Med Ball at the Stamford Grand Hotel in Glenelg. My first and last med ball. The theme was Masquerade, so everyone came with masks. It started off rather unpleasantly: we came late and discovered there were no more tables left! So WTF right. There should have been reserved tables for 6th years. Spent an hour or so wandering around the ballroom finding spare seats. The food was only so-so (teeny tiny portions) but at least the alcohol was free-flow... It turned out to be a fun night in the end, but was a little disappointed considering the ticket was worth AUD112.50.

4. Went to the Royal Adelaide Show for the first time! Absolutely fantastic day. Good company, cool sights and sounds, heaps of fun stuff. I felt like a kid again. More photos to come on that too.

5. I GOT MY INTERNSHIP CONTRACT!!!!!!! Starting January 2010, I will be working in the Lyell McEwin Hospital. Now all I have to do is to get my act together and start filling up all those forms!! Arghhhhhhh so many things to do, so little time!

6. Specials Week a.k.a. The Week Where Everyone Slacks Off and Parties. There were some really good lectures on ENT and Opthalmology, but a big chunk of the other stuff could have been condensed into perhaps....one afternoon? Seriously, things like HAND WASHING and PATIENT LITERACY shouldn't take up the entire day. -_-" Anyhow, spent some quality time with Jebbrine, Su Chuen, Cynthia and Jason that week. Had a picnic by the Torrens River, various dinners and trips to dessert places/bars. Seems that the medical students and some doctors favor this particular lounge/club in the city... the med students seem to be adjourning to that place every other weekend. I'm not complaining though. The music is not bad and there's no entry fee.

7. Went to a Lantern Festival Event in Elder Park with Jebbrine, Cynthia and Jason today. Interesting Chinese Martial Arts performances, and a lantern parade. The lanterns were a tad disappointing.... I mean, there were a few nice ones and some were made by primary school kids but a few of them....I would describe them as "TAK BOLEH PAKAI". You'll understand why when you see the photos.

Damn, so many photos to put up right? I find it so much easier to put them on Facebook, but I don't want my blog to 'feel neglected'. I shall strive to bring you back to life, Blog! You shall flourish like a lotus from the mud!!!

*Hmm.. I think the scented candles must have muddled my brain a little.*

Merdeka? Daulat Tuanku? Jahanam Budaya Barat?

2009-08-09T12:57:00.003+09:30

Information Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim confirmed media reports that the government was considering imposing an Internet filter to block "undesirable" websites.

Watch this video carefully. Is this how leaders are supposed to act? I can't believe that reporter just sat there and took that flak!

OMG Psycho Medical Student!!!

2009-07-27T22:21:00.006+09:30

My mom told me bout this which was published in the Chinese newspaper back home:

'I had an unbelievable view': Female medical student murdered two elderly women so she could study death

By Will Stewart
Last updated at 9:25 AM on 23rd July 2009

A medical student murdered two elderly women so she could study the process of dying for her doctorate.The 24-year-old - named only as Tatyana - killed her victims with an axe before observing their last moments. Russian police say the woman confessed to the killings.

The first victim was her neighbour Olga Stepushenko, 85. 'I took the axe and hit her to the head several times,' said Tatyana.'When she fell down, I sat next to her and waited until she died. I had an unbelievable view.'Four days later she murdered Olga's neighbour, 87-year-old Zoya Karpova, who she struck eight times with the weapon.Tatyana returned to the flat over the next two weeks to study the rotting corpse, making notes about the decomposition of the body. 'I wanted to have more details of the death process to use it in my work,' she said. 'I aimed to see how the worms would decompose Zoya's body.'

She included the observations in her dissertation at a top medical institute.

The student, from Novosibirsk in Siberia, who was close to qualifying as a surgeon, was arrested before she could complete her analysis.

Tea Party at Thanh-Thao's

2009-07-05T10:07:00.000+09:30

Just picked up Vee Han from the airport earlier. Yes, my dear friend will be in Adelaide for one whole month!!! Woo-hoo! He'll be doing his elective in the STD Clinic opposite the Royal Adelaide Hospital. I really hope there'll be enough time to bring him around. The rotation I'm starting on tomorrow (General Medicine in RAH) is super full-on. -_-"

One of the highlights of my otherwise quiet winter holidays. Thanh-Thao, Jenna and Yin Yee came up with this great idea of hosting afternoon tea. Good job everyone on putting together this fabulous assortment of English (and not-so-english) goodies! When a group of girls come together, beautiful things happen. :P The guys helped too.... they helped eat.

Jenna made her specialty dish: sushi rolls!

Yin Yee's mixed berry tartlets.

Cucumber, pecan and chicken sandwiches.

Being lazy as usual, I made banana bread. Just mash everything up and dump it into the oven. :P

Strawberries dipped in chocolate!

TADAHHH!!!! The fruits of our labour!

We had 8 different fragrant teas from T Bar.

Cucumber and alfalfa sprouts sandwiches courtesy of Thanh-Thao.

L-R: Thanh-Thao, me, Jenna, Yin Yee, Christine, Jebbrine.

Christine and Jebbrine made Chocolate souffle using the recipe from the Masterchef Australia website. For those who don't know, Masterchef Australia is this reality show where a bunch of Aussies compete to become a 'chef''. Quite an entertaining series, but it felt really painful watching caucasian contestants butcher simple Asian recipes during their week in Hong Kong. *Sigh*.

Diyana arrived later with cupcakes!

I felt compelled to take multiple shots of the feast. It was too pretty to ignore. :P

....and after the meal all the guys flocked to play Guitar Hero.

The longest post I've made so far...

2009-06-30T23:17:00.026+09:30

Okay, Kakh. This is in response to me not blogging enough. Nah!!!

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!!! Hope you had a good time tonight, and glad you enjoyed the bottle of Merlot. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you.

Despite being more than halfway through my winter holidays in Adelaide, I still can't shake this cloud of laziness around me. I was supposed to blog about heaps of things, but just never got around to doing it. So now allow me to present to you a compendium of significant events in the past couple of months:

1. OMGWTF Hot Water Service Broke on a Saturday Evening!!!

Yup. This happened last month. And Ken had conveniently left for Brisbane. Late in the afternoon, I noticed the pipe coming out from the side of the house, just above the toilet on the top floor was trickling water. Strange..... So I called the plumber. He said it could be either a burst water tank or a broken valve in the hot water service. At first I was reluctant to call him in as weekend plumbing service is super expensive. The plumber said as long as the ceiling or walls aren't leaking, it should hold up till monday. Fair enough. Called and left a message on the real estate agent's phone, but she didn't reply. Then later in the evening, the trickling from the pipe turned into a GUSHING WATERFALL. And water started dripping from the toilet lights! I was like "Ok.... this is not good. I don't think this will hold up another 2 days!" I tried to get a hold of the agent another half dozen times but no reply. I tried to get a plumber in but none would come at that time of the night. The gushing wasn't stopping. The backyard garden had flooded. And to make matters worse, I couldn't bloody find the water main! Wanted to turn off the water supply to avoid wasting water, and to prevent the ceiling from turning to mush.... But no, the water main was so cleverly hidden. Got a neighbour to help me hunt for the elusive water main. We were squatting around in the muddy backyard when I heard sirens and saw huge flashing lights. Apparently another neighbour was concerned over the gushing water and called the FIRE BRIGADE. Not one, but TWO FIRE TRUCKS appeared. I was dressed in my pajamas with my hair all messy and pants rolled up and feet all muddy, squatting in the pitch-black garden with a fucking mini torchlight (you know, those maglites medical students sometimes use for eye examination?), when this horde of firemen descended upon me. They were in full fire-fighting regalia, yellow fire-proof jackets, hats, boots and all. And they shined these mega-huge torchlights onto my face like I was some pendatang haram or something, and said: "Good evening. Did someone report a flooding?" O-M-G. So embarrassing. Anyhow the firemen were really nice and went into the house to look for the source of the leak. Then they got called away to attend to a car crash, and CAME BACK AGAIN! "We decided to come back to see how you're going. Did you manage to get a plumber?" The real estate agent finally called back and was quite understanding of the situation. Apparently this happened to the other units too.... Eventually a plumber turned up and diagnosed the problem: a burst hot water service valve. Climbed into the roof to turn off the hot water. He then came back the following day to replace it. He couldn't find any leak into the ceiling, so I'm still wondering how the water got into the toilet lights. So in the end it turned out alright. Just no hot water for a couple of days. BUT the agent called 2 weeks later and OMG... the plumbing bill amounted to AUD700!!!!! The replacement valve only cost AUD40!!! That is some crazy plumbing bill! Fortunately, my housemate and I didn't have to pay (not our fault anyway). At that point I was thinking, maybe I should have just came here after high school and became a plumber. Why work so hard in medical school anyway? Damn.

2. Celebrated my birthday in Adelaide for the first time.

Winter holidays usually coincide with my birthday, and I'll usually be back home. *Thanks Kakh for the touching, super-cute snail-mail!* The IMU girls took me out for a yummy Italian dinner in Hyde Park that night. Absolutely fantastic. =)

Not the best photo, but the only group photo I've got from that night. :P

3. Lunch at Hahndorf and Glenelg with Jeremy.

The following photos speak for themselves. =)

A Taste of Germany Platter. A monster platterful of Bockwurst, Weisswurst, Cheese Kransky and Vienna sausages, with smoked Pork Kassler Chop and Pork Knuckles. Served with Rhine potato, herb dumpling, sauerkraut, 2 pretzels and assorted German mustard. According to the menu, it's meant for 2 people. They should be more specific and say that it serves either 2 huge Aussie/German blokes, 1 Jee Ken, 4 girls or 3 normal Asian people.

Oysters Tokyo. Deep-fried wanton oysters and oysters with smoked salmon or pickled ginger.

Bloody Mary Oyster Shots! This definitely one of my favourites. The first time, the shots had a generous amount of vodka in it. Second time was more mellow. I preferred the first.

I forgot what this one was called. Alaskan King Crab balls or something like that. Not bad.

4. End of Semester 1 celebration at the Pink Pig, Spatz and Elysium!

Lovely dinner with Jebbrine, Su Chuen and Ken at the Pink Pig in North Adelaide. Then met up with Jason + Cynthia and Chris + Christine at Spatz for dessert. Later headed to Elysium on Hindley Street to join the celebration for the entire 6th year batch, organised by DC. A fantastic, whirlwind night indeed. ^_^

Yes, I had to camwhore before going out. I couldn't help it. Ken's camera skills are improving.

*PHEW!!* Man that feels good to finally blog so much after so long! This is probably one of the the most productive 2 hours of my winter holidays so far. More posts to come. Goodnight!

I wanna cosplay too!

2009-06-03T23:24:00.001+09:30

Was randomly searching through the net one earlier and found some pretty good cosplay photos. Kudos to these dedicated individuals for bringing well-loved anime/manga into flesh! Sorry I didn't reference every single photo...

Thought those cosplayers were good? Well, This one here below is the best!! KAKH IT'S YOUR FAVOURITE MUAHAHAHAHAAA!!! May it haunt you in your sleep! *evil grin*

'Personal Matter'?

2009-06-02T18:25:00.003+09:30

Article from here: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5620461/teen-model-escapes-abusive-malaysian-prince/

Teen model escapes 'abusive' Malaysian prince
AFP June 1, 2009, 6:36 pm

JAKARTA (AFP) - A teenage US-Indonesian model has returned to her family in Indonesia with tales of abuse, rape and torture at the hands of a Malaysian prince, after her dramatic escape with the help of Singapore police.

Manohara Odelia Pinot, 17, told reporters she was treated like a sex slave after her marriage last year to Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry, the prince of Malaysia's Kelantan state.

Her mother, Daisy Fajarina, said she would press charges against the 31-year-old prince, and blamed the Malaysian and Indonesian governments for trying to cover up the alleged abuse.

"The things I've been afraid of were revealed to be true. Manohara has suffered physical abuse. She's got several razor cuts on her chest," Fajarina told AFP on Monday.

"No parent could be silent if their child was treated in such a barbaric way."

The Malaysian government had ignored her pleas for access to her daughter and had blocked her from entering the country, she said, while the Indonesian embassy had said that Manohara was fine with her new husband.

But the young woman -- a well-known socialite in Jakarta -- said her life at the royal palace involved a "daily routine" of rape, abuse, torture and occasional drug injections that made her vomit blood.

She said she was usually held under guard in her bedroom at the palace and was injected with tranquilisers whenever she complained.

"I am still traumatised by all that happened and it has left an impact on me," she told reporters in Jakarta on Sunday, after escaping the royal family during a trip to Singapore over the weekend.

"Sexual abuse and sexual harassment were like a daily routine for me, and he did that every time I did not want to have sexual intercourse," she was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Globe.

"I could never think a normal man could do such things," she said, adding: "Some parts of my body were cut by a razor."

"I've been treated like an animal. I'm like his property and I was in his room and whenever he wants to play with me he just goes into the room and plays with me. I'm like an object."

The teenager -- whose fairy-tale wedding to a prince captured the imagination of Indonesia -- said she would be tortured if she did not appear to be happy when she attended social functions with Fakhry.

She said she secretly called Singaporean police and pleaded for help after the royal family took her to Singapore when they accompanied Fakhry's father, Sultan Ismail Petra Shah II, for medical treatment.

"The police told Fakhry that he would be held in jail if he did not let me go. No one could force me against my will in Singapore and I knew I had a chance to escape," she said.

The model once voted as being among Indonesia's "100 Precious Women" said she escaped her guards by pushing the Singapore hotel elevator's emergency button.

They were reluctant to chase her because they knew the scene would be captured on security cameras.

She blasted the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia, saying: "They made it worse by telling lies, saying that I was fine while I was suffering in Kelantan."

A spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry insisted the embassy had done everything it could to help Manohara and said the government would assist her if she wanted to file charges against her husband.

But Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the government would not investigate the allegations.

"I think this is more of a personal matter. To date we have not been dragged into it, so we want to leave it as it is," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia's royal rulers used to enjoy immunity from criminal and civil charges but the privilege was removed in 1993.

There has been no comment from the Kelantan royal family.

Manohara's lawyer, Yuri Darmas, said she would have a medical examination to back up her allegations of abuse.

"We need one to two days to gather evidence before we file a lawsuit to the Malaysian police," he said, adding that he intended to pursue criminal and civil lawsuits against the prince.

Manohara has already filed for divorce, her mother said.

Welcome to the Racist Side of Australia

2009-05-29T18:33:00.012+09:30

There is racism everywhere in the world. You just have to stay in one spot long enough to experience it.

It was 5.30pm yesterday, I was on East Terrace, just finished watching "Angels and Demons" at Nova Palace Cinema ($6 student tickets for the month of May!). I was contemplating taking my usual route through Rymill Park to get back home. The sun had just gone down. I saw a young Indian couple walking in front of me and they were heading through the park. Figure that it should be safe enough if I walked behind them.... Halfway into the park, I saw this caucasian man standing around on the green. The minute he saw us, he started shouting and cursing God knows what. I could only make out "fucking" and "black". Typical racist stuff. Then he started throwing stuff at us. His paper cup (probably containing alcohol) and rubbish, stones etc.... The Indian couple and I just ignored him and tried to walk faster. To must surprise, the white guy rushed towards us. My panic buttons were going off like crazy already. He went for the Indian guy, grabbed him and started hitting him!!! The poor fella was struggling and his partner and I were just stunned. Seriously I should have screamed or something but I was just stunned. After a while the Indian guy managed to break free and the 3 of us ran out of the park.

Thank goodness he wasn't injured. I called the police when I got back, and was told to go to the station the next day to make a statement. I did exactly that, but lo and behold, when I told my story to the policewoman, I was just dismissed. True, I guess reporting anything must be pretty useless, considering I don't know who was attacker or the victim. Nothing they can do about it right? But I thought I could at least provide a collateral history of sorts should the Indian guy decide to report. No, they didn't even take down anything for records. I felt that they were quite nonchalant about the whole thing. Racial attacks? No worries. That was the vibe I was getting. In this same week, four Indian students in Victoria were brutally assaulted. One of them is in critical condition.. Even if he does survive, he will probably be blind and have brain damage. Check out the article for yourself here and here.

This isn't the first incident I've seen. Saw 2 white old ladies throwing crude remarks at African migrants (calling them animals and whatnot) in the bus. I had a feeling they could be refugees as they travelled in a large group, consisted only of women and children and had a caucasian lady as a 'tour guide' and showing them how to use the bus. Anyway the 2 old ladies didn't stop at jeering, they hollered throughout the entire bus ride bout how "these filthy animals are allowed into our country" and proceeded to fight with the guide and chase them down the street. Old ladies: they still have what it takes to be rabid.

And yes, I've met racist patients too. But then again, as long as there is a majority race, there will be exploitation and undermining of the 'lesser races'. It seems to be the wisdom of the world. Granted, most Aussies are very friendly and open hearted, but the racist minority make such a horrbile, indelible mark. Also, I don't like people giving the excuse that "he's drunk, not racist, he doesn't mean all that!" Come on. Alcohol disinhibits people. It causes people to say and act in ways that they normally wouldn't provided normal social constraints. But surely they must have been thinking it, to actually act on it.

I'm still keen on working in Australia, it's a nice place. For which is worse: being treated as a second-class citizen in a foreign country, or your own?

Through the Years and Far Away - ほしのこえ

2009-05-26T20:05:00.002+09:30

Hello, little star
Are you doing fine?
I'm lonely as everything in birth

Sometimes in the dark
When I close my eyes
I dream of you, the planet Earth

If I could fly across this night
Faster than the speed of light
I would spread these wings of mine

Through the years and far away
Far beyond the milky way
See the shine that never blinks
The shine that never fades

Thousand years and far away
Far beyond the silky way
You're the shine that never blinks
The shine that never dies

Hello, tiny star
Can you hear me call?
I'm so blind as everything at birth

If I could flow against these nights
Straighter than the string of light
I would lay these hands on time

Through the years and far away
Far beyond the milky way
See the shine that never blinks
The shine that never fades

Thousand years and far away
Far beyond the silky way
You're the shine that never blinks
The shine that never dies

Through the years and far away
Far beyond the milky way
You're the shine that never blinks
The shine that never dies

Anzac weekend in the Yorke Peninsula a.k.a. The Little Emu Chronicles

2009-05-17T15:28:00.019+09:30

So finally the story of the Anzac weekend in the Yorke Peninsula with Xian-Nian and my new car, Little Emu. This is also the story of how the naming of Little Emu came to pass. On Saturday, we drove to Innes National Park, which is around 2.5 hours from Maitland (which is another 2.5 hours from the city). The weather that weekend was to put it mildly, cold and windy. Adelaide recieved so much rain that weekend it surpassed the total monthly average. I was nearly blown off a cliff at one point. Seriously. It was that windy. But it was Xian-Nian's only weekend in Maitland so we thought we'd better make the most of it. It turned out to be a really fun and hillarious adventure! Not to mention wet and cold. Stopped by some of the towns along the way to enjoy the scenery.

By the time we reached Innes National Park, it was 4pm and the sun was going down soon. Managed to skim through some of the coastlines and beaches in the park. One of the beaches was called "Little Emu Beach". And throughout our journey in the park there were several emu crossing signs. There was an Emu Street in Wallaroo, where we had lunch the following day. Plus my car was a lovely sky blue shade, similar to the colour of some emu feathers (I think.... Slobby Emu (refer below) does seem to have blue bits). So I asked my beloved, "What do you think if I name my car Little Emu?" Surprse, surprise, my dearly beloved let out a collosal *snort* and replied: "Up to you....."

So there! We got to explore yet another part of beautiful South Australia, Xian-Nian got to experience country living, I got to practice driving, Little Emu got his name! So everybody's happy. Also, Xian-Nian saw his first full rainbow that Saturday in the national park. Not only that, we saw 3 rainbows in succession! So I guess we should be thankful for the rain. ^_^

Slideshow with more photos:

SATURDAY: Minlaton, Yorketown, Warooka, Stenthouse Bay, Marion Bay, Innes National Park.

SUNDAY: Moonta, Wallaroo, Kadina, Ardrossan.

This here is another emu. His name is Slobby Emu, because he's a slob like a *certain someone I know*. Xian-Nian bought him for me from the airport, just before he went into the boarding gate. I was feeling pretty horrbile from a night of vomitting and nausea, further more I had to say goodbye to him (again). So Slobby Emu kept me company for the remainder of my time in Maitland, until I returned to the city. See his blue feathers kinda matches the blue of my car. But then again he's a soft toy and not a real emu per se....

Oh yeah, Darling. Happy 4.5 years. ^_^

Phantom of the Opera

2009-05-16T22:31:00.008+09:30

Went to watch the Phantom of the Opera at the Adelaide Entertainment Center with Ken today. Performance-wise, the entire cast was fantastic! Anthony Warlow played the Phantom beautifully and flawlessly (as expected). Loved it loved it loved it! The costumes and special effects were stunning (with the exception of the chandelier. OMG it looked like the UFO that time forgot. During the scene when it was supposed to come crashing down, it looked more like it was placidly floating towards the stage....). We booked our tickets quite late but still managed to get fairly decent seats for an equally decent price. Although....... in my opnion the venue for the musical SUCKED big time. The entertainment center wasn't designed for musicals! I'm sure the people sitting on the second elevation must have needed binoculars badly. The 2 great big tacky TV screens flanking the stage were useful in certain scenes, but half the time they were a distraction. I wish they held it at the festival theatre like Miss Saigon last year.

Now if only I had a gazillion bucks so that I can also watch Pink, Pussycat Dolls and Lady Gaga live in concert(s) in the next couple of weeks. -_-"

Melbourne Trip + My bf is a quarter century old today

2009-05-11T22:22:00.003+09:30

Happy birthday, Darling. Thanks for keeping me company for the past 3.5 weeks. I know I always cry when you leave, but you've made me very happy indeed.

Where have all the cool cartoons gone?

2009-05-10T21:07:00.006+09:30

This is totally random. Let's break from the photo parade, shall we? I'll continue on with the Melbourne trip and Anzac weekend photos next. :P

Remember the good ol' Saturday morning cartoons from the 80's and 90's? Jem, My Little Pony, He-Man, GI Joe, Denver the Last Dinosaur, Smurfs, Dungeons and Dragons, Thundercats, etc etc etc.... I can probably name a list as long as my arm. I really miss those carefree years. Anyway.... this is probably the most pointless and nonsensical one... Came across it on Youtube. This show was so random it never made any sense, but I still found it heaps funny. Ahhh... sweet nostalgia...

I made a patient cry...

2009-04-23T20:45:00.002+09:30

....and of all places to do it, I did it in this small, little town. Now I'm praying and hoping not to bump into her on the street or while doing my shopping in Foodland (the most happening place in town). And you know the worst part? I can't remember her face!

She came in for a simple follow-up. I was supposed to take her history and the doctor would evaluate me. I introduced myself ("Good morning. I'm Leng, a 6th year medical student. Is it alright if we have a chat?" *big smile*) 2 minutes into the history, she suddenly said "I find this all very uncomfortable. I can't take this anymore!", burst into tears, and ran out of the office. Neither I nor the doctor saw that coming. Suffice to say, it didn't go down well with the clinic staff. They had to call to apologize and calm her down. She said she was very upset and felt that she was being interrogated. She didn't come back for her consult that day.

Looks like my people skills still need heaps of work. Wish I could apologize to her in person. That's the first time I upset a patient, but I guess I should be grateful it happened when I'm still a student.

More photos of this little town:

The main street. Key attractions include the supermarket, post office, bakery, pub and butcher.

The most happening place in town. Seriously.

Aside from the quiet, there's a nice country charm to the place.

For some reason, no matter how small a town is, there's ALWAYS a church. It really echoes of Adelaide a.k.a. The City of Churches.

Anzac Day is coming up this weekend. Sucks that Monday won't be a holiday too.

The simple life

2009-04-20T18:29:00.001+09:30

I survived the drive to Maitland! *phew* I still need a lot of practice on the road, though. Kena hon a couple of times while driving in the city. They were near misses at that too. -_-" Damnit I hate roundabouts! But once we were out of the city, the drive was pretty straightforward. Nice long country roads. The stretch heading towards the town via Arthurton and Kulpara was a bit bumpy.

Some hand-carved soap roses Xian-Nian got for me from his Mt. Kinabalu trip. It's amazing they survived the plane ride to Melbourne and Adelaide. Thanks Darling!

Eggs Benedict at a cafe in Norwood. Fuel for the journey.

Flat and brown all the way through. It's no wonder one friend told me to "be careful, don't fall asleep at the wheel".

Students' Accommodation on Samuel Street, Maitland. A nice cosy, 3-bedroom house with wireless internet. Alone in the middle of nowhere with no internet certainly won't work for me.

Somehow the printer doesn't work. And the bicycle wheels are flat. And the bicycle pump is broken.

A nice spacious backyard with an orange tree! I've always been fascinated by fruit trees (some weird obsession). Unfortunately the oranges aren't ripe. Plucked one and it was so hard and sour. *edit 28/4/2009 - the rain seemed to have plumped them up a bit. Lets hope they'll be ripe and ready to eat soon!*

There's also what looks like a garden shed in the backyard. Upon further investigation, we found remnants of a gruesome past....

Chicken coops!

...and bones!!

This looks like a scene out of an old Western-psycho-murder movie. I'm dreading the week when Xian-Nian won't be here with me.

International Primary Health Care

2009-04-17T22:08:00.004+09:30

Am halfway through my GP SCAP now. It was a good thing I got International Primary Health Care (IPHC) instead of a city GP (for those non-Adelaide Uni ppl, we get to choose the type/location of our GP rotation from a list of things. Some students even opt to create their own). IPHC was unexpectedly fantastic! The first half was basically interactive lectures on medicine in a Third World setting. Things like sanitation, maternal and child health, HIV, TB, mental health and cross-cultural issues. I think it was not just the lecture content, the speakers themselves were so passionate and experienced in what they did. Most of them spent a large part of their careers working and living in areas of need like Nepal, Cambodia, Africa etc. A whole heap of sad things happen as we speak, but the suffering of the unfortunate millions aren't heard by those on greener pastures. Nothing is ever enough to change everything, but what these doctors did made a world of a difference to those they touched. Also, I learnt that it's more important to ensure sustainability of your works rather than playing 'saviour' for a month and flying off, leaving people to sink back into helplessness.

We had to put together a presentation for our own development program at the end of the 3 weeks. Basically had to explain to a panel of donors/judges a.k.a. our examiners what our development program was, and why we deserve xxx amount of cash to fund that project. Our examiners were quite meticulous, so things had to be done up as if it were the real thing. My group chose to build schools and set up an education program in Bhola Island, Bangladesh. It was a bit hard to get things together since we had the Easter weekend in between, but luckily I had awesome groupmates. =)

We also got to visit the Royal Flying Doctors base. Climbed into one of their planes like the little jakuns we were. :P Overall a very productive and fun rotation. It kinda inspired me to spend some time working in international health. I wish I had this rotation early on in 5th year, or maybe 4th year. If I did I would have jumped on the opportunity to follow one of the doctors on their missions overseas. Maybe Nepal.

For the second half of my GP SCAP, I'll be in Maitland, Yorke Peninsula. It'll be like a rural posting 'cos Maitland is 2 hours 45 mins drive from the city. And guess what? I just bought a car and collected it TODAY aaaaand will be driving there! OMGWTF that's scary shite for a hopeless driver like me. Thank God Xian-Nian is here now with me!

Feast your eyes on my brand new Hyundai Getz 5 door hatchback in Sky blue. Automatic transmission of course. Thanks Papa! Please pray for the safety of me and my car. And stay tuned for my next adventure. :P

Family time + yummy food!

2009-03-29T14:45:00.014+10:30

Just finished Specials Week 1 (Dermatology) so am just chilling out in my room for the weekend. Went for lunch in Hahndorf with Jeremy, Joanne and Clara yesterday. The first thing that comes to my mind when I go there is huge-ass platters of sausages and pork. And mustard. And more pork. Anyway.... I've kinda gotten over that initial homesick + depressed phase. I need to look ahead now! I forsee big headaches abound for internship applications and graduation. Also am planning to get a car. But being someone who knows nuts about cars (don't even know how to change oil for God's sake!), that's going to be a challenge.

Planned to put these photos up earlier, but my sister beat me to it. I'm still going to post them anyway. Here are some photos of the good times during my summer holidays. Seafood lunch with my family Greenview Restaurant. Overall it was quite good, the salted egg yolk crab was heavenly! Now if only I could find some live mud crabs in the Central Market...

The way they tie up mud crabs is so cute! It must take some skill and creativity to do this. On a side note, *PLEASE FEED & PLAY WITH MY PET CRAB, KAM HEONG! He's located at the top left column of my blog.*

Papa and Mummy.

My youngest sister, Yi Lynn and I.

My dad's favourite vegetable: sweet potato leaves.

Fried crayfish!

...and the salted egg yolk crab.

Ye olde Crab Mallet.

A few days before my flight back to Adelaide, Papa decided to take us Sango at Crystal Crown Hotel for dinner. Sango is one of the best Japanese Restaurants I've ever been too. I remember the last time we went there, Papa got us a private room and the chef cut out the THICKEST, freshest SLABS of sashimi I've ever seen. Absolutely delicious. This time, we ordered more of the set meals instead. Still good, though. Too bad their famous chicken wings were sold out. My other sister, Kah Men wasn't around for this dinner either! Poor Kakh. But she's now in Japan for a WHOLE YEAR. So I'm sure you're having the time of your life there right, Kakh?

I'd love to try some good sake one day. ^_^

These are Japanese burnt rice balls. I was really surprised 'cos they tasted really good! I wanna try making these sometime soon.

Grilled Shishamo. These were all pregnant fish stuffed full of eggs (hence they'd be called komochi shishamo? Correct me if I'm wrong). They are usually cooked and eaten whole. This is one of my favourites next to Sashimi and Ikura.

Feast your eyes and be hungry.

Robbery in Taman Maluri, Cheras

2009-03-25T20:15:00.003+10:30

Before I put up more emo posts bout missing my family, friends bla bla... I'd like to share with you something my dad sent to my via email just now... This robbery occured in a house....right behind a police station in Cheras. The crime rate in Malaysia has been going from bad to worse. If this isn't proof that The Powers That Be in Malaysia aren't doing squat about our security, I dunno what is.

Fat vs. Fat

2009-03-21T15:23:00.005+10:30

Whilst I plunder through my belongings and make last minute additions to my already exploding luggage, here's a question for you, Dear Reader: Which of these pets is fatter (so jakun right this question)?

Is it: (a) Oscar, the Geriatric Dalmatian? At a ripe old age of 11 years, Oscar enjoys lying at the front porch of Xian-Nian's house, in the same sideways position every day. Hardly moving, he doesn't even bother to get up and chase me anymore. I always wonder if he would eventually get pressure sores. Note the huge belly (this photo doesn't do it justice!) and layer after layer of fat rolls. I have been to Xian-Nian's house countless of times during these past 4+ years, and 9 out of 10 times Oscar is lying there looking at me in this exact same position.

...or is it (b) My Auntie's cat? Sorry, forgot her name already. I think it's Meow Meow or something like that. Anyhow she seems to have gotten fatter since I last saw her during CNY of 2005... And yes that is her favourite position.

So there. Do post your comments here regarding this pointless discussion. I shall be now frantically packing and feeling all emo about leaving everyone I love again.

Grand Theft Auto Board Game

2009-03-08T23:30:00.000+10:30

Wank and ride

2009-03-07T17:18:00.006+10:30

This happened to my mom yesterday afternoon.

My mom went to a friend's house in USJ13 yesterday for potluck lunch. After the lunch, she and her friends walked to their cars outside the house. Mummy was passing some cash to her friend in a car. Then this young Malay man on his motorcycle came riding along. At first she thought the guy was going to rob her or something so she quickly walked back to her car. The guy rode past her and as she reached her car, he made a u-turn and rode towards her again. My mom turned and saw the guy had.....

....one hand on the motorcycle handlebar and one hand clamped around his errected penis. Wanking away at her!

Somehow none of my mom's friends saw that. I told her at least he didn't attack and ride off with her wallet.

Singapore External Elective (part 3)

2009-03-07T17:09:00.003+10:30

Lazy wanna elaborate too much already. The 3rd and final part of the Singapore photos. Xian-Nian came over one Saturday and we spent a night in Novotel Clarke Quay. Had some delicious Japanese food and soaked in the city's nightlife. In my final week, I managed to go to the Night Safari and Zoo. A bit expensive, but it was worth it. =)

Singapore External Elective (part 2)

2009-03-02T21:14:00.006+10:30

This is what happens when you dump me in a vibrant place like Singapore for a month. I'll take a gazillion photos and can't decide which to put up. Part 2 of the Great Photo Upload! Went to Sentosa Island with the other plastics elective students + a few others like Su Chuen (my IMU batchmate in Adelaide) and her boyfriend, Wen Hao. Also Valentin, a German med student on General Surgery. I loved just chilling by the beach with a Pina Colada in hand.... *sigh*. As most places in Singapore, Sentosa is very well maintained with lots of places to go to. The beach, as clean and spotless as it was, didn't quite impress me. I still yearn for Redang and Perhentian.

At one point, the elective students on plastic surgery consisted of 5 ppl: Sangeetha (Imperial College), Shilpa (also Imperial College), Mei (University College London), Felix (from Germany) and me. Head of Dept. will never remember our names as we are just students, so he referred to us as The United Nations. -_-"

At Chuen noticed, I spent A LOT of time in Chinatown. Mainly 'cos it was pre-CNY, and it felt good getting lost in the crowd there while absorbing the festive atmosphere. I've been deprived of CNY for about 2 years now (the full-6-years Aussie students have it worse I'm sure). So even if it meant half-suffocating in the crowd, it was good enough.

After my 2 weeks in plastics was up, I moved on to the Accident & Emergency Department. Was pleasantly surprised to meet Diyana there. Seems that heaps of Adelaide Uni ppl were doing their electives in SGH. Also met a bunch of college guys doing minor attachments there. Hari, Gabriel and... this other guy (I'm so sorry I can't remember your name!). Anyway there were some fun times. One of the ED consultants took us on a little field trip to the ACLS Center in Bukit Merah to sit in on the re-accreditation exams there. In the afternoon, we all hitched a ride at the back of a delivery van (belonging to the consultant's good friend). ^_^

There. I've babbled along enough. To be continued. :P Mouse over the photos to see the captions. Click if you want a larger view.

Singapore External Elective (part 1)

2009-03-01T15:49:00.006+10:30

*Takes a deep breath*

I've been putting off blogging for wayyy too long now. I'd better start at the begining: Dec 2008, post finals. After bumming around for a few weeks and basking in the glory of doing absolutely nothing, I embarked on my journey to the neighboring country of Singapore for a month-long medical elective in Singapore General Hospital. Was attached to the plastics, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery department for 2 weeks and emergency department for another 2. Actually the elective was 50% learning experience and 50% convenient excuse to tour Singapore. It's been nearly 10 years since I've been there! The only thing I remembered from my childhood trip was Haw Par Villa (back then it was a cool place to visit, the new Haw Par Villa is just sad). I stayed at Jeremy's father's church friend (such a mouthful) for the 4 weeks. It was a good thing Jeremy helped me out. If he didn't I would have been forced to rough it out in this backpacker's hostel near Geylang. -_-"

Spending New Year's Eve in Singapore unfortunately wasn't as fun as partying with my Subang friends. Cynthia did invite me to join the party at her place, but there was a bit of a transport issue. So instead I wandered over to Marina Square to catch the fireworks display. Eventually found a place to park my camera and tripod at the fire escape stairs at the top floor food court. It sounds pathetic but it's way better than getting groped in the heaping millions on ground level. Had some nice meals with Jeremy, Jason & Cynthia. Visited one of the newer clubs there and did a lot of random wandering after hospital hours. I managed to cover most of the 'touristy places' in my month there, thank goodness.

The plastic surgery team was generally nice, albeit busy and overworked (like most doctors in Singapore). The department deals with all sorts of things from reconstruction post-cancer resection/trauma to burns and elective/asesthetic surgeries. A bit disappointed that I missed the chance to watch 2 really cool surgeries: one was a female-to-male reassignment surgery and another involved the Singaporean MP who was set on fire. To my surprise, the consultants enjoyed teaching students. It's really amazing how wide the field of plastic surgery is. Like, they can pluck out a piece of meat from somewhere and stick it into a defect, and the patient feels whole again! Well... something like that la. Anyway the most important thing I learnt from my little posting there is There is no such thing as perfection. It's so difficult to balance out function and aesthetics. A lot of it depends on the patient's expectations. Happiness really is a state of mind.

OK.. here's part 1 of my Singapore photos. There's just too many of them, even after serious cropping and editing. Please mouse over/CLICK the photos to get the captions (if any).

Dear Readers (if there are any left)....

2009-02-10T00:42:00.002+10:30

I'm so sorry for my hiatus! Was busy in Singapore last month doing my external elective in Singapore General Hospital, then back home for Chinese New Year. And tomorrow, I'll be starting my 6-week medical posting in Universiti Hospital, Malaysia. I promise, as soon as I get my UH posting stuff sorted out, I'll update more and put up A TON OF PHOTOS! Please stay tuned.

XOXOXO

Vietnam Trip

2008-12-16T23:14:00.002+10:30

YEAH, BITCHES!!!

2008-12-11T18:11:00.002+10:30

That's it. I nearly went insane waiting for my results. People, I'M GOING TO 6TH YEAR!!! Thank God, thank my supportive parents and friends, and thank Kuan Yin (will elaborate more on that later). No more crazy 180-question MCQs, no more OSCEs. No more studying my ass off and pacing around manic with panic attacks etc etc. Well, at least until my specialist training exams. If I specialise la.

I'll post up some pictures of my Vietnam trip with my family. Now it's time to kick back, and enjoy the ecstasy of doing nothing.

Homeward bound

2008-11-30T08:33:00.003+10:30

It's finally over. 5 years of med school, 4 weeks of anxiety and torture and now I taste sweet freedom again. I was hoping to feel more exhilarated. The numbness is wearing off, but I still can't forgive myself. I knew what had to be done, I've been through it before. But at the moment of truth I stumbled, my nerves got the better of me. I know, one shouldn't harp on "I wish" and "if only"s. So I'm going to put it all aside until the 10th of December. In the meantime, I'm going enjoy the company of my friends and family. And I'm going to pray very very hard.

Happy holidays everyone.

And so it begins.

2008-11-24T12:01:00.002+10:30

*LETS OUT BATTLE CRY*

Best of luck to all Uni Adelaide MBBS Year 5 students. Today, we FIGHT!!!

Omigosh this is so true!

2008-11-23T20:22:00.004+10:30

You Are Cheerios

Like other Cheerios eaters, you want to be a responsible adult.

But you can't help but still be a kid at heart!

You try to make good decisions. You're a clean cut, conscientious person.

You're the type of person who would never skip breakfast.

Part of you thinks that breakfast is too important to miss...

But a bigger part of you knows it's too fun to miss!

What Kind of Cereal Are You?

I went through 3 boxes of 750gm Cheerios during the entire Swotvac month. If I collected all the Cheerio boxes from these 2 years, I would be able to make a cardboard car.

Day 1 of the last exam of my medical student life begins tomorrow. Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Uni Life

2008-11-20T09:33:00.000+10:30

Every new semester:

After the 1st week:

After the 2nd week:

Before an end of rotation assessment:

During an end of rotation assessment:

After an end of rotation assessment:

Before the final exams:

Once the examination timetable is released:

7 days before final exams:

6 days before final exams:

5 days before final exams:

4 days before final exams:

3 days before final exams:

2 days before final exams:

1 day before final exams:

The night before final exams:

1 hour before final exams:

During final exams:

Upon walking out of the examination hall:

After the final exams, during the holidays:

That's uni.

http://hellofabest45.hyperphp.com/

2008-11-17T23:28:00.003+10:30

Where The Wild Roses Grow - Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Eliza Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Eliza Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
She stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped at the tears that ran down my face

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Eliza Day
Why they call me that I do not know
For my name was Eliza Day

On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I've seen
I said: "Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?"

On the second day he came with a single red rose
He said: "Give me your loss and your sorrow?"
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
"If I show you the roses will you follow?"

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Eliza Day
Why they call me that I do not know
For my name was Eliza Day

On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
She lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
And I kissed her goodbye, said "All beauty must die"
And I lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Eliza Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Eliza Day

My name was Eliza Day...

For my name was Eliza Day....

How to make your stomach happy on a warm Swotvac afternoon

2008-11-11T12:59:00.005+10:30

Lazy Student Sandwich (preparation time: 5 mins)

Ingredients: 2 slices wholegrain bread, lean leg ham, 1/4 medium avocado, baby spinach & rocket leaves, 1 slice of cheese (stolen from housemate).

Instructions: Toast bread. Pile ingredients on bread to desired height. No need for butter as the avocado slices substitute that. Serve with a cup of hot tea or Boost.

....I'm just crapping lah. Nothing better to do like that. Avocados rock btw. Been having them in my sandwiches for the past few weeks. Can't use too much though as they're really high in fat (albeit monounsaturated, but still).

P.S. - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW & VEE HAN!!! (always the double birthday wish) :P It was so good to have a nice long chat with you after so long, Vee Han. And Andrew we'll be partying like no tomorrow come December. Love from down under. =)

2008-11-06T18:32:00.004+10:30

Was sitting in a cafe eating pizza with Ken when the results of U.S. presidential election results came out on TV. As everyone knows, Barack Obama is now the 44th president of the United States. Looks like it's going to be an interesting time ahead for America. Didn't really follow all the news and campaigning (not a big fan of politics), but I'm really happy Obama won. Now if only something significant could happen back home... and I'm not talking about adding another fiasco to the circus of stupidity and ignorance we already have...

Gail Sorronda

2008-11-05T10:00:00.000+10:30

Love this white dress by Gail Sorronda for Target. This would be closest I'd get to owning any of her creations, considering her clothes are so freakin' expensive!!! AUD500 for a dress? You've got to be kidding me. The Target range was a whole lot cheaper (AUD 19 on sale?) but I found out about it after the clearance sale was over. Oh well. I least managed to get a pinafore and skirt (which I wore to death in hospital) and one of the black dresses. This was wayyy earlier in the year by the way. Don't have much to blog about now (unless you wanna hear more rants about the impending finals) so I shall share my passion for fashion with you.:P Here are a few photos I got off the Gail Sorronda website.

This is from her latest collection of Spring/summer 2009: Seventeen Crushes Crushed into One. Maybe it's the model but it kept giving me a New Orleans/French Quarter feel.

Autumn/winter 2008: White Knight.

Her designs are quite quirky, but so distinctively her. And all her collections (except the Target one of course) comprises of only black and white. Spring/summer 2008: Bird of Prey.

Spring/summer 2007: Riders of the Storm.

Spring/summer 2006: Angel at My Table.

I keep telling myself one sweet day, I'm going to be rich and successful enough to own clothes like these and not feel guilty. Heh. By the time that happens (if it happens), I'm probably going to be too old and out of shape to wear anything but a mumu. -_-"

Check out more of her collections at http://gailsorronda.com/

Dinner at Gusto

2008-11-04T10:04:00.005+10:30

The villagers, Ken and I decided to take one night off to celebrate completing all our hospital rotations for the year. A little bit of relaxation and get-together before the month-long torturous study break which we call Swotvac. This was over a week ago. Now it's halfway though week 2 of swotvac and honestly, a month doesn't seem enough. -_-" Anyways it was good to meet up with them again. Company is always good in the face of adversity.

Gusto is an italian restaurant on the Parade, Norwood. Supposedly famous for their blue swimmer crab pasta. Tried that once. Not bad.

Jenna, Jebbrine and Christine.

Shiau Cern's fiance, Matthew came to visit. =)

Me with Chuen and Jenna.

Christine and Chris a.k.a. (Chris)2

A bowl of olives which Ken and I ordered while waiting... I love olives but this was a bit much.

The toppings for pizza a bit kiam siap. But otherwise good.

Overall the food was not bad... portions were small for Aussie standards and perhaps a little over-priced.

Right then.. This week's goal is to finish reading paediatrics! *Lets out a battle cry* Bring it on 5th year finals! I'm not going down without a fight!!!

Jebbrine's 24th birthday dinner

2008-11-03T09:59:00.000+10:30

Some month-old photos for your enjoyment. Jebbrine graciously invited us for dinner at this Japanese restaurant (forgot the name!) on Grote Street (I think). Haha... see I can't even remember things that happened last month, let alone the stuff I've been reading for exams. *sigh*. Anyway the dinner was great, the sushi boat looked so fabulous. Thanks Jebbs! =)

Mental Health Hotline

2008-10-22T21:18:00.000+10:30

Hello, welcome to the mental health hotline.

If you are obsessive compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are Co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you have Multiple Personalities, press 3, 4, 5, and 6.

If you are Paranoid, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line so we can trace your call.

If you are Delusional, press 7, your call will be transfered to the Mothership.

If you are Schizophrenic, listen carefully, and a small voice will tell you which number to press.

If you are Manic Depressive, it doesn't matter which button you press. No one will answer anyway.

If you are Dyslexic, press 96969696969696.

If you have a Nervous Disorder, please fidget with the Pound Button until a representative comes on the line.

If you have Amnesia, press 8 and state your name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number, and your mother's and grandmother's maiden names.

If you have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, slowly and carefully press 911.

If you have Bi-Polar Disorder, please leave a message after the beep. Or before the beep. Or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.

If you have short-term memory loss, please try your call again later.

If you have low self esteem, please hang up. All our representatives are busy.

The finals is doing this to me.

2008-10-19T10:22:00.000+10:30

Aussie flies are so slow and swattable. Kept thinking of that 1986 movie "The Fly" after smacking this poor bugger. They don't make sci-fi horror movies like that anymore. I'm still so far behind in my studies... Things are difusing out of my head quicker than I can absorb them. Why do I have a feeling I'm going to end up like this fly by the end of November...

47.

2008-10-17T22:15:00.002+10:30

Meredith Brooks - Bitch

I hate the world today
You're so good to me
I know but I can't change
Tried to tell you
But you look at me like maybe
I'm an angel underneath
Innocent and sweet
Yesterday I cried
Must have been relieved to see
The softer side
I can understand how you'd be so confused
I don't envy you
I'm a little bit of everything
All rolled into one

I'm a bitch, I'm a lover
I'm a child, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way

So take me as I am

This may mean
You'll have to be a stronger man
Rest assured that
When I start to make you nervous
And I'm going to extremes
Tomorrow I will change
And today won't mean a thing

I'm a bitch, I'm a lover
I'm a child, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way

Just when you think, you got me figured out
The season's already changing
I think it's cool, you do what you do
And don't try to save me

I'm a bitch, I'm a lover
I'm a child, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way

I'm a bitch, I'm a tease
I'm a goddess on my knees
When you hurt, when you suffer
I'm your angel undercover
I've been numb, I'm revived
Can't say I'm not alive
You know I wouldn't want it any other way

OMGWTF fitness laugh!

2008-10-11T18:04:00.000+10:30

Samsara

2008-10-05T10:46:00.001+10:30

Since my rotation before surg path was GP posting at Disability SA, this kinda fits in. One one hand, I saw babies with chromosomal anomalies and various deformities having their life end before it even begins. And on the other hand, ones that survived past birth and beyond. Both scenarios are so sad. If you knew your child was going to be deformed, disabled and unable to care for himself, would you prefer to have him terminated or would you want him to live? It's so cruel to kill someone before they can open their eyes. And living? What would that bring? What kind of life would that be? A long, painful and wretched life in an institution, confined to a wheelchair maybe? Or so mentally and physically incapable of doing anything besides eating and shitting and lying around until he eventually dies choking on his own secretions? And when you, the one person who will love and dote on him unconditionally eventually pass away, he'll be left all alone to face the the remainder of his miserable and empty life, spread out hopelessly before him. Either way, it's never easy. So be thankful you were born healthy and have people who love you.

My mom said that the reason some doctors go crazy is because they feel too much for their patients. A day will come in every doctor's career where they will make a mistake that costs the patient their life. Or they will meet a patient whose plight cuts them so deeply yet no help can be given. Truly, doctors are not above death and suffering. The world will continue to drown in its own karma. Letting go is never easy but perhaps essential to our sanity.

Of old friends and dead macerated babies...

2008-10-04T11:22:00.015+09:30

Another month flies by. Seng Kiat came to visit last week. The lucky guy has graduated and will be starting his new job soon, so he decided to embark on a month-long tour of Australia: Brisbane, Adelaide and then Melbourne. He stayed in Adelaide for about 10 days, mostly in his cousin's place and a couple of nights at mine. Wish I didn't have my finals looming over my head. Would've been brought him around more. Also wished I had a car. Didn't help either that the rotation I was doing at that time was Surgical Pathology and I was expected to turn up for most of the day, Monday to Friday. Ok, I know, those work hours are like no-duh since I'm a studying medicine and all, but I feel so lazy now. I've lost the drive to hang about the hospital, just wanna go back and rest and read comics and (hopefully) study.

Speaking of which, Surg path was a somewhat novel experience, though I wouldn't want to be doing it for more than 3 weeks. Got to see a side of medicine that usually goes unnoticed: the behind-then-scenes-work that produces those path and autopsy reports we see on the computers. Since I was posted to the Women's and Kid's Hospital, most of the autopsies were on dead babies and miscarriages. Some weren't that gruesome, some were so macerated and hydropic they looked like a pile of liquefied meat held together by bloody membranes. There was one that got decapitated at birth. I couldn't imagine how that would happen until I saw the baby myself. Poor thing was only 21 weeks gestation and so hydropic, wasn't a wonder then the head tore off during the forceps extraction (baby was breech). Aside from the autopsies, there were cut-ups of placentas (which stank like rotten pork) and viewing of histology slides. I'm not fond of microscopes. Somehow it makes me dizzy and nauseous. Autposies I enjoy. The only things I don't like is looking at endless trays of slides and the absolute non-existance of clinical work.

Anyway... this was also the only rotation in which I got to play with Photoshop in the hospital the whole day! My counsultant decided that instead of doing a presentation and literature review, I should do a presentation and poster for the medical museum. "Umbilical Cord Abnormalities" was my topic. Never knew knowing how to use Photoshop could come in handy in med school. ^_^

Okie, here are some pictures from my outings with Seng Kiat (slideshows in this order):

Part 1: Cleland Wildlife Park with SK's cousin, Aki and her bf Troy.

Part 2: Mount Lofty Summit, The Astor and Elephant Walk at Melbourne Street.

Part 3: German food at Hahndorf, ABs at O'connell Street then back to my place. :P

Banana cake heaven...

2008-09-13T15:53:00.004+09:30

Yep. I spent another Saturday morning baking instead of studying. Very happy my banana cake turned out well though. Bananas are such a great fruit (not my no.1 favourite, but definitely one of them)! They're nutritious, tasty and come nicely packaged in neat little "peel me!" bunches. This cake is really easy to make and a great way of getting rid of over-ripe bananas (though mine weren't over ripe, deliberately bought some to make this cake).

Recipe from http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Banana-Cake-L979.html

Time is flying by too quickly. Completed medical oncology and general practice MSAs, now on to surgical pathology at the Women's & Kids' hospital. I feel that I'm falling behind everyone else, becoming more and more suffocated by the things I should know and the expectation to perform come November. Too much, too little, too unfocused, too insecure.

Anyway gotta try harder in the coming months.

On a side note, Seng Kiat is coming to Adelaide next week!!!

...I suck at cutting. One slash short of becoming a pile of crumbs. -_-"

Snake slithers into reporter's pants on live TV

2008-09-08T23:29:00.003+09:30

Just another random video I found while randomly searching through Youtube. I really should be studying more and playing less...

...I'm speechless.

2008-09-01T23:00:00.002+09:30

Man gets nut stuck around penis: report

August 31, 2008, 4:20 pm

A Malaysian welder had to have a nut removed from around his penis after an attempt to lengthen it before he gets engaged next week went embarrassingly wrong.

The nut got stuck on his penis following an erection, the Star newspaper reported, forcing him to seek help at a hospital in southern Johor state.

Staff from the Sultanah Aminah hospital had to drain some blood from the penis and cut away a top layer of skin before the object could be removed, the newspaper said.

It said the fire and rescue department were also involved in trying to remove the nut from the unnamed welder, who is in his 20s and hoped the nut would weigh down his penis to make it longer.

"The patient is now recovering and we hope to discharge him today (Sunday)," hospital director Daud Abdul Rahim told the Star.

On August 25, another young man in Kuala Lumpur had tried to increase his sexual prowess by slipping a steel ring around his penis, forcing the fire department to cut off the ring after doctors were unable to remove it, the newspaper said.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/4978295/man-gets-nut-stuck-penis-report

You gotta be freakin' kidding me! Found this while randomly surfing through Yahoo Australia. Still, this can't beat the recent circus of racism back home. Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail for one. Squatters, are we? If all of us Chinese 'squatters' leave the country in pursuit of greener pastures, I wonder what would happen to your glorious Tanah Melayu. So much for being Bangsa Malaysia. It's more about Bangsa than Malaysia eh?

After reading TRC volume 18, I've become a fully convicted KuroFai fangirl!!!

2008-08-06T22:55:00.002+09:30

Vampire Fai is too hot for words. The best couple in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle isn't Syaoran and Sakura, it's Fai and Kurogane. *Swoons* I was devastated when I heard that there won't be a season 3 of TRC anime. Oh well... the manga is a whole lot better anyway. CLAMP better put in more kinky feeding scenes. :P

Batman: The Dark Knight Spoof!!! ROTFLOL....

2008-08-03T22:07:00.005+09:30

End of another rotation and things I learnt

2008-08-02T22:06:00.011+09:30

ACC 2 is over!!! *Dances with joy* No more reports, no more medication reviews and pain presentations and traveling back and forth to St. Margaret's/nursing home/whatever rehab/geriatric association. Ok... it's not that I hate geriatrics. I've never hated a rotation (with one exception, but that was more of hating a certain RMO from Hell than the rotation itself). Very grateful to have passed, though I wish I gave better answers for my viva. *Sigh* You reap what you sow I guess. Have to study more seriously from now on! Everyone in my batch is so matured and smart and hardworking, I can't get left behind!

Interesting triva: The 'phantom' bus stop

I've always wondered why on earth is there a bus stop in the TQEH Geriatrics courtyard. It's exactly like the bus stops around Adelaide, complete with a stop number. It's surrounded by four walls for goodness sake, right in the middle of the garden. When we visited a nursing home we noticed that the ward for patients with dementia and/or psych issues also had a bus stop AND a post box in their courtyard. The lady in charge of the nursing home explained to us that when the patients with dementia wanna leave the hospital, they'd wanna take a bus right? And instead of restraining them or whatnot, let them go take the bus. Direct them to the 'bus stop' and have them comfortably sit there and wait. 'Cos they're confused and demented anyway they won't notice that the bus stop is in the garden... Eventually they'll get tired of waiting for the bus that will never come and return to their rooms. Or they'll forget what were they trying to do in the first place and go back inside. The person who thought of this trick is a sadistic, sneaky genius. :P

ACC 2 is kind of a mix of geriatrics + ICU + Anesthesia + Acute and Chronic Pain + General Practice. 6 weeks really isn't enough for everything so it's good that the current 4th years will be getting a longer ACC 2 rotation next year. My most memorable part of ACC 2 has to be my GP week. The GP I was posted with was fantastic. He was really friendly and experienced. I got to see him cut out a basal cell carcinoma from an old lady's nose! It's cool also 'cos that's the first time I saw a patient with a BCC. Since he has a special interest in psychiatry, I got to visit a hostel (like a place people with psych issues can stay at) and give them their anti-psychotic depot. Honestly I haven't done many IM injections, so I was glad to get some practice. I dunno why 99% of the psych patients I see are so dirty and smelly. I've come to associate that smell as the 'psych smell'. Not that I have anything against psych patients. Hmm but I guess if I was psychotic I wouldn't be thinking too much bout getting a shower... Like there was this guy whom I wanted to inject his butt, but there was this BLACK STAIN like SHIT on his right butt cheek. The patient (quite a nice guy la actually) adamantly insisted that he showered real well before he saw us. The GP was trying not to laugh also and just said "Well, you missed a spot." Heh. Luckily his left butt cheek was fine...

Some of the patients in the hostel had really interesting forensic histories... The most important thing I learnt from that visit was the importance of being non-judgmental. It's easier said than done, really. Especially when you discover the person you're treating killed his wife/raped his grand-daughter, you subconsciously 'label' that person. It worked well for me to keep my rapport warm but superficial. Don't know how I would fare if I had to treat that patient for the next 20 years.

Anyhow seeing this GP truly caring for his patients and not just treating them for the sake of getting cash was inspiring. Over the years in med school, I've met a few outstanding doctors who actually do love their patients. They listen, empathize and graciously take students under their wing. It felt heart-warming and reminded me of why I chose this profession. I want to be that kind of doctor. The early years of my career will be full of frustration and no doubt corrode my 'armor of idealism'. But I hope I won't forget the important things in medicine: to put your heart into every patient you meet and to listen and learn, for a patient isn't a disease but a person.

Stranglers + My First NGT + Random Updates

2008-07-17T19:48:00.016+09:30

Dunno why but I find it hillarious! Heh.

I finally got to put in a nasogastric tube a few weeks ago. It's all these super simple procedures that keep eluding me. I know, I know, it's an idiot-proof proof thing and even a monkey can do it, but I don't feel satisfied until I've done it hands on. Same goes with assisting with delivering a baby. Didn't feel like I completed my O&G rotation until I did at least one. Anyway I got the scare of my life la with this patient...

She was in ICU with sepsis. Asked the registrar if I could do it for him and he said OK. Slid the thing in, auscultated to check if it was in the stomach, aspirated gastric contents. Registrar was happy. NGT was taped in place, patient sent for chest X-ray to double check. 2 hours later, the consultant was going through the X-rays during the round. She looked at that patients chest X-ray and said: "The course of the tube is very odd. I think the NGT is in the lungs..."

I was like!!!!!! Internally going "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHITTTTTT!!" How could I screw up something so simple? I was pretty darned sure it was in the stomach. So consultant asks nurse to check the NGT aspirate. Looked like gastric contents. pH test scored a 7. Wah that time I even more panic... After a few minutes of debating between the consultant and registrar, it was discovered that the patient was on proton-pump inhibitors. Maybe too much of it. That caused the ridiculous gastric content pH.

....so the conclusion was, the NGT is in the stomach and working fine. Cease PPIs. *PHEW*

Haha handed in my Geriatrics and Rehabilitation Medicine write-ups today! One stone off my back for now. That medication review and management planning for my patient was giving me white hair. My patient was on 16 different medications. My report ended up being 20 pages of crap no thanks to that.

Am finishing up my week with pain presentations tomorrow. Can't wait 'cos the weekend's here!

My Current Obsessions (all the things I can't wear to hospital!!! *SOBB*):
1. Denim dresses
2. Vests
3. Skinny Jeans
4. Tartan

2008-07-14T21:50:00.000+09:30

No Bravery - by James Blunt

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
Tears drying on their face.
He has been here.
Brothers lie in shallow graves.
Fathers lost without a trace.
A nation blind to their disgrace,
Since he's been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

Houses burnt beyond repair.
The smell of death is in the air.
A woman weeping in despair says,
He has been here.
Tracer lighting up the sky.
It's another family's turn to die.
A child afraid to even cry out says,
He has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
But no one asks the question why,
He has been here.
Old men kneel and accept their fate.
Wives and daughters cut and raped.
A generation drenched in hate.
Yes, he has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

Voices of a Distant Star

2008-07-09T16:27:00.008+09:30

...we are far, far, very, very far apart...
but it might be that thoughts can overcome time and distance.

This short film touched my heart in a special way. Maybe it's because I can relate to film's theme: Distance.

Voices of a Distant Star (ほしのこえ, Hoshi no Koe) is a Japanese anime OVA by Makoto Shinkai. It chronicles a long-distance relationship between a teenage couple who communicate by sending emails via their mobile phones across interstellar space.

Hoshi no Koe was written, directed and produced entirely by Makoto on his Macintosh computer. Makoto and his fiancée provided the voice acting for the working dub. Makoto's friend Tenmon, who had worked with Makoto at his video game company, provided the soundtrack. This half hour OVA also represents the "long distance" relationship between Makoto Shinkai and his wife, as Shinkai spent often long hours in the studio and communicated with his wife via text messaging.

A middle-school girl named Mikako Nagamine is drafted to the UN Space Army in a war against a group of aliens called the Tarsians, named after the Martian region (Tharsis) where they were first encountered. As a Special Agent, Mikako pilots a giant bipedal robot or mecha as part of a fighting squadron attached to the spacecraft carrier Lysithea.

When the Lysithea leaves Earth to search for the Tarsians with Mikako on board, Mikako's friend, Noboru Terao, remains behind. The couple continues to communicate across interplanetary, and eventually interstellar space via the e-mail facilities on their mobile phones.

As the Lysithea travels deeper into space, the e-mails take increasingly longer to reach Noboru on Earth, and the time-lag of their correspondence eventually spans years.

(Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voices_of_a_Distant_Star)

Though only 25 minutes long, the film delivered so much bittersweet emotion that I couldn't help but cry. The dialogue was simple and earnest, and that made it even more heartbreaking. The animation is... for lack of a better word: stunning. For Makoto Shinkai to single-handedly create such beauty on a humble laptop is amazing. The music complimented the story perfectly and the song for the final scene was painfully melancholic. I've also watched his most recent film 5 Centimeters per second which also revolves around distance. The animation for 5 cm is like 10 times more breath-taking than Voices. Seriously. I think Hayao Miyazaki is the only person I'd rank above him.

Towards the end, the messages between Mikako and Noboru take 8 years, 224 days and 18 hours to arrive. Imagine waiting that long for just a simple "I am here.", let alone her returning to Earth. Would you have the strength to love and wait for someone who may never return? Would you?

Rejoice in the little things in life...

2008-07-05T21:40:00.003+09:30

...like stir-fried garlic + ginger + spring onion + wine mussels. Made this for dinner and it really made my day.

30 Days of Night Comic Series

2008-07-04T18:37:00.000+09:30

The origin of the movie. The movie was ok la, not terrible but not the best vampire movie ever. Still can't beat Interview with the Vampire which had Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in it (I prefer Brad over Tom anytime, though!). Don't even get me started on bad vampire movies. Remember Queen of the Damned, anyone? Any self-respecting Anne Rice fan would cry bloody tears.

Ok anyway I love love love the art in 30 Days of Night: Eben and Stella. Lots of playing around with shadow and diffuse light. The story was a bit short and action scenes in the last bit were kinda confusing, but oh well. I'm a sucker for vampire romance. :P:P:P

This is some hillarious but depressing shit. Not to mention invariably true...

2008-07-01T17:56:00.002+09:30

From DOCFILES.blogspot.com:

Malaysian Govt Doctors Criteria

Criteria for becoming a Malaysian Govt Doctor. Theres no need for an aptitude test. Students should consider these requirements:

1. No life outside medicine; this includes dating, sports, clubbing, chores for your parents and visiting the toilet

2. Not to live with your parents. Move out ASAP as they will never understand the ludicrous working hours that u go through. Furthermore, chores are not suitable for u as to rule No. 1.

3. Not to be married until completion of all 4 years of Govt Compulsory service as u will be transferred left and right to some of the most remote Govt clinics in Malaysia. Having wife and kids to follow you to your new working area may increase high level of stress on all parties. Furthermore, if your spouse is a Govt Doctor, he/she will also be transferred away from u and no matter what appeal is made, KKM will put up a deaf ear (unless u have big cables or of a certain skin color).

4. If married, no to have children until u finish all 4 years of Govt Compulsory service, as to which u and your spouse will not have much time for your child/children or they end up not recognizing u and refer the Indonesian maid as their mother (change in language patterns commonly follow).

5. To obtain life insurance once your govt service begins as there is not many claims for accidents during work. Don't be fooled, Doctoring in Malaysia is hazardous.

6. Able to withstand 36 hours of non stop work and stress without mistakenly labeling Left for Right or uvula for vulva (or Volvo S40)

7. To buy a car with complete safety features (like I'm doing) which includes multiple airbags, ABS, EBD, side-front-rear-top-parallel and diagonal impact bars and seat belts to ensure survivability if u are involved in an accident because your driving resembled a drunkard maniac after working in the hospital for 40 hrs non stop.

8. Constant supply of coffee

9. Nicotine Patch as u will have the urge to start smoking due to overwhelming stress

10. Interest in watching medical sitcoms such as House MD, Scrubs, ER, Grays Anatomy and Chicago Hope to inspire u to continue your life as a doctor as the exciting things u see on TV does not resemble the real life of a Malaysian govt doctor.

11. Not to have any pets or plants (not even cactuses) as u will have no time to feed or care for them and eventually all will end up in your mortuary.

12. Able to endure the stench of your own sweat as to when 36 hours "on call" does not permit u time to bathe or freshen up.

13. Able to carry on working without food or water over 15 hours. ( I was in OT for 16 hrs without food, water or bathroom breaks). If during fasting month, able to break your fast with “water for injection” as u had no time to buy food.

14. Able to come to work with fever/cough/illness or physical disability (sprained ankle etc) as to which doctors do not deserve MCs. (My MO was on crutches during rounds)

15. Able to stand scolding, destructive criticism, kiss ass behaviors, racial bias, finger pointing, scape goating, and in competency from your superiors.

16. Able to withstand the jealousy when your friends call u up for some fun and ur stuck in the hospital during on call.

Also see Doctor jobs Malaysia - Looking for Doctors.

For the man who loved selflessly, and made us his world...

2008-06-30T00:00:00.001+09:30

Happy Birthday Papa! Hope you're having a good time with the Mama, Kakh and Pork today! Lots of love from your daughter in Adelaide. ^_^

2008-06-22T18:45:00.005+09:30

I'm back in Adelaide again. Arrived this morning after transiting in Singapore and a rather turbulent flight in. Winter isn't as cold as I remembered it to be. Maybe it's because it'll still early in the evening. Or maybe the warmth of home is still lingering around me, protecting me.

I can feel that depressing heaviness seeping through. Thank God for the 3 weeks back home. I doubt I'd be able to function if I spent the holidays here, away from everyone I love.

I miss you Mama and Papa.
I miss you Kakh and Pork.
I miss you Darling. You kept me from crumbling apart all this while.
I miss you my Subang peeps! Have a blast in Bangkok!

Acute and Chronic Care 2 starts at TQEH tomorrow morning. 5 months to the Big Bad Finals. Pleaseeeeeee give me the strength to pull through...

English teachers, cry your hearts out.

2008-06-18T20:36:00.004+09:30

Had a look at a compilation of research abstracts from the National Research and Innovation Competition (NRIC) 2008 which Seng Kiat and Shing Wei attended last month. They did a great job with their research and presentation, but unfortunately didn't win. When I asked Seng Kiat about the competition, he told me it was just a big joke. Didn't understand why till I read the abstracts. There were a few good ones, but sad to say most of them were half-baked and strung together with fragmented English. The winner of the competition didn't look that impressive to me either. In my opinion there were better ones in the list but God knows what other 'criteria' were taken into account when judging. OK la my English is pretty crap also. But if you're a uni student doing a presentation for your research/invention, there has to be some sort of standard right? I mean, you gotta at least be able to string together a complete sentence right? I knew the standard of English in my country is bad (and getting worse as the years go by), but this one is so bad that it's 'good'.

University: *suffice to say, it's a local uni....should I embarrass them by putting the name?*
Category: Social Transformation and Creative Art
Project Title: HIVEGON

The bee hive is used for breed the bee. Today, the honey used in around the world. The honey is a good business. Because the honey very expensive. The honey has more each for health. The bee also gives more benefit for human, because the bee can do the pollination process. So, human take the benefit from the bee process. For the gardener it the big benefit, because the bee can give the pollination process. So, gardener must breeders the bee for take a big profits. The bee hive has a, the name is a HIVEGON. It's because the bee hive has a subject matter from the hexagon or honey comb. The bee hive also solves many problems from the existing product. With the bee hive, breeders can take the honey be easy, because breeders not will go to the jungle and climb the Tualang tree again. Breeders can use the bee hive in their own garden or farm. With that skill, breeders can take 2 benefits in one time.

The Curve & Si Ham

2008-06-09T16:43:00.010+09:30

Since I hardly ever (maybe never?) blog about my dates with Xian-Nian, I guess this is a good time to start. Holidays have been great! It's sooo good to just laze around doing nothing but eat and watch disc after disc of movies and then eat somemore. Thanks Andrew, Seng Kiat, Shing Wei, Meng Lee and Calvin for the beautiful birthday surprise!!! No, seriously I did not expect it! I'm sure the sight of me in my skanky nightgown and dishevelled hair is proof enough. Love you guys lots, as always. Too bad they've been really busy of late with major exams and assignments. Looks like I chose an inconvenient time to come home. And to the Adelaide IMU-ians, thanks so much for the presents! They're beautiful and I'll make sure they're put to good use this winter. =)

Anyway, Xian-Nian and I had a lovely food-filled Sunday. Crossed off quite a few 'food objectives' in the process. We visited The Curve flea market in the afternoon:

Lunch time!! Yes, this was on my list of foods to eat. There're so many new restaurants in The Curve now, but I didn't regret going back to this one. Should try a few of the others in the near future too. :P

Our main dish was (I forgot the name) some Argentinean steak with crepes and passionfruit sauce + peaches + plums. Delicious!

The desert was great too. Some apple fritter + crepe + vanilla ice-cream + fruits thingy. *Swoons*

Painted stone turtles I bought from the flea market. The latest addition to my legion of turtles!

Took a shuttle bus to the Kelana Jaya LRT station. Spotted this fella in the bushes outside the station. Looks so much like the tulan lizard in my garden! Poor tulan lizard was eaten by a cat last year. *Sigh* I miss him...

Threw a berry at him and he displayed some impressive split-second agility.

Xian-Nian's dad bought a bag of boiled peanuts! I am yet to see this in Australia. They really should make these there. These peanuts rock!

To make things better, I found this denim dress in Padini at Ikano Power Center. Quite happy with it 'cos I was looking for a denim dress and got this for a heavily discounted price to boot. =)

But the best part of the day was dinner! I think it had become somewhat a tradition for the both of us now. Si Ham for dinner at the good ol' Chinese hawker stall in SS19. In a way these taste heaps better than oysters and are way cheaper too! Xian-Nian hates si ham, but too bad. His girlfriend is in love with them. Refer to my previous si ham posts.

*Swoons even more* Half the fun is digging them open and plucking out the plump, juicy flesh.

We also had other mouth-watering delicacies such as beef and chicken satay, Hokkien noodles and Cantonese fried (does this sound correct? I suck at Chinese translations).

We finished everything. Every single morsel. Thank you Darling for the wonderful day!!!

2008-05-31T10:28:00.002+09:30

Half a year is over, and I'm finally going home. It won't be long till I'm back in your arms. But I know that happy times go by swiftly, and I will have to leave you again.

And again.

And again.

So I'm going to cherish every moment of it. Time is a thief but also a generous giver. Wait for me, k?

Me & my vampire fetish...

2008-05-26T21:48:00.000+09:30

Bought this pewter bat necklace recently and have fallen in love with it ever since. My fashion sense is kinda all over the place. I love Harajuku/Manga-style, Gothic and Bohemian things with a dash of everything in between. In IMU I used to wear lots of long, flowing skirts. Haven't done that a lot here, though I think I will soon. Brought some over and they're sitting in my cupboard. ^_^

Don't feel like studying anymore. I just wanna go home... T-5 Days!

You've got to be kidding me....

2008-05-23T17:55:00.010+09:30

Was reading Christine's blog bout an article in yesterday's Star Newspaper. Seems there is a Malaysian group (comprised of university students. Yes, university students!), whose vice-president is a woman (yes, a woman!). They claim that government school girls' school uniforms are too sexy and encourage rape, premarital sex, prostitution and bastard children! Now I really think Malaysia is slowly being taken over my religious extremists. This brings back one of my pet peeves about my beloved homeland (read my previous posts regarding this issue) I'm just too horribly disgusted and aghast to say anymore. The following is the newspaper article:

School uniform sexy, says group

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian group condemned the uniform worn by girls at government schools, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex.

“The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction,” National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia vice-president Munirah Bahari said in a statement.

“It becomes a distraction to men, who are drawn to it, whether or not they like looking at it,” she said, calling for a review of uniform policy so that it did not violate Islamic ideals.

In multicultural Malaysia, home to majority-Muslim Malays as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians, female students at government schools have a choice of wearing a white blouse with a knee-length skirt or pinafore.

They may also wear a “baju kurung” and a headscarf is optional for Malay students.

Munirah said that “covering up” according to Islamic precepts was important to fend off social ills, including “rape, sexual harassment and even premarital sex.”

“This leads to babies born out of wedlock and, to an extent, even prostitution,” she said.

“Decent clothes which are not revealing can prevent and protect women from any untoward situations,” she said, suggesting that girls wear a blouse of a different colour or with an undergarment.

However, the girls themselves also came in for criticism, with the association saying that some used the white blouse to lure men.

“This is the source of the problem, where we can see that schoolgirls themselves are capable of using this to attract men to them,” Munirah said.

“This could see them getting molested, having premarital sex and all sorts of things.” – AFP

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/22/nation/21326822&sec=nation

For the benefit of the few non-Malaysian readers of my blog, allow me to give you a clearer idea of the utter stupidity and ignorance of the group's claims:

This is my youngest sister, Yi Lynn. She is wearing a standard secondary school girl's uniform. It consists of a white cotton collared blouse and a light blue pinafore, which is usually knee-length or just above the knees. The other option is the baju kurung, a traditional Malay dress which is white at the top and light blue at the bottom. It's basically long-sleeved, tubular, all the way down to the ankles.

Do tell me Dear Readers, doesn't my sister look 'too sexy for school?' Doesn't she look sinfully seductive? So much so that men who lay eyes on her disgustingly revealing attire can't help but rape her senseless? After all, it is in man's nature to rape, and it is in women's nature to be sinful in all manner of shape and form. Women shouldn't be seen or heard! Lest they tempt males into damnation with their wicked, lustful ways!

Fucktards. Go tell that to the toddlers, frail grandmothers and young women who were clad in tudung, baju kurung, covered their aurat as stated in their Holy Book. They are rape victims too! It saddens me more that it was a woman who made these comments. The ignorance and shallow-mindedness is so deeply entrenched in our society. *Sigh*...

Read also the 2 responses to the article:
Senseless Attack on Uniform
Don't Push Blame on Women's Attire

Pure coincidence?

2008-05-22T17:23:00.000+09:30

Your True Love Is a Taurus

Why you'll love a Taurus:

Romantic and sentimental, a Taurus can provide you with the security you need.

And you both share a fondness for the finest things, from great food to luxury vacations.

Why a Taurus will love you:

You have the honesty and direct approach that down to earth Taurus desires.

And enough elegance to show a Taurus a few new decadent delights!

What Sign Is Your True Love?

The wheel of suffering turns...

2008-05-19T19:15:00.005+09:30

"The earthquake was a natural disaster, but nearly all the deaths were man-made."

So said one of the thousands of grieving parents following the earthquakes in Sichuan recently. Yvonne, my ward partner and I were reading about it in the Aussie newspapers over coffee. Felt like crying in the middle of the hospital cafeteria already (but didn't la. that would have been unprofessional). The number of children that died was.... shocking. Mostly preventable, but did the authorities care? Perhaps they cared more about their bulging wallets than anything else. I couldn't imagine how selfishness, ignorance and apathy could beget so much grief and despair. Why didn't the authorities respond quicker to this disaster? Why wasn't the infrastructure improved? Why were school children put in buildings which were deemed unsafe, which literally caved in before the students could leave their desks? And why were soldiers standing watch with their tanks and gleaming shovels while civilians tore through the wreckage with buckets and their bare hands? Because the order to help wasn't issued yet? Seriously when you have people crushed under slabs of concrete screaming in pain, you don't need someone to order you to help them, do you?

Somemore this happened just after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma. *Sigh*...

There are too many questions. And I have no answers. I am but an ignorant, selfish human being myself. Most of us can never truly understand the plight of these people as we have been blessed with happy, carefree lives. I guess we can only extend our hands and heart, though it will never bring the children back.

Instant rejuvenation

2008-05-18T18:38:00.002+09:30

Am into my 3rd and last internship for paediatrics: orthopedic surgery. Don't feel like going in this week. My OSCEs are in 10 days and I still haven't covered what I need!

Anyway... orthopedics. Lots of fracture clinics. Since starting ortho I feel like a little girl again. On the first day I was watching some surgery with the consultant and registrar. One of the registrars turned to me and asked: "So... what do you want to be when you grow up?" No one has asked me that question in like, 10 years! That's 'cos I'm technically 'grown up' already... Obviously he meant what specialty I'm interested in, but it certainly sounded like something you'd ask the primary school kid to write a karangan about...

Ooo but it doesn't stop there... 2 days later, in fracture clinic sitting in with another registrar:

Mum and 12 year-old daughter come in for review. 1 week post-injury. Salter Harris 2 fracture of distal radius which was treated with closed reduction and cast...
*Registrar does the usual consult stuff, etc etc*

Reg: OK we're done. Come back at this date to remove the cast.
Mum: Thank you, doctor! *she and daughter get up*
LH: *Opens door for Mum & patient* Thank you. =)
Mum: *comes up real close to me, smiles and......

......TICKLES UNDER MY CHIN!!* "SO CUTEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" *GIGGLE*

I was like!!! -_-" but smiled back politely la. In retrospect, I feel very flattered. :P

Wah. After that incident, I instantly felt 20 years younger. Don't need any anti-wrinkle cream/SKII Facial Mask/whatever elixir of youth already.

Possum

2008-05-14T21:37:00.002+09:30

The townhouse I'm staying in is surrounded by greenery (which I oh-so love). Naturally, this attracts lots of wildlife (which I love too). I still don't get tired of watching the flocks of multi-coloured parrots flying about outside my balcony. And sometimes they even eat the fruits off the tree out in the backyard. But! This creature here, as interesting as he is, can be annoying. At first I thought it was a lemur or civet cat-like thingy. Learnt from Jeremy it's actually a possum. Aborigines (and ONLY Aborigines) can catch and eat them! And they're endemic to this area. When I first spotted them last year Ken thought I was seeing things.... Until they started making a ruckus on the roof every other night. They are nocturnal creatures and like walking about on the roof. There's definitely at least two of them 'cos they fight very often. During those fights it feels like the roof may collapse or something. And they hiss and shriek! They really do! So menancing somemore! There were a few times sleeping in the middle of the night, I was abruptly woken by loud thumping and shrieking directly on top of my head. Wah that time I was a bit scared. I was like, "What if the ceiling collapses and the possum lands right on top of my face?" But I guess that's unlikely. They're on the roof anyway, not in between the roof and the ceiling (I hope!). This picture was taken months ago. Saw him climbing a tree branch outside my house so I quickly snapped the bugger.

So there. Yet another weird and wonderful thing about good ol' Adelaide.

Happy Mothers' Day Mummy!

2008-05-11T09:08:00.001+09:30

This is my mom during our 2006 trip to Sabah. And the photo below is from my 1st birthday. So happened to have these photos on my laptop and I think she looks absolutely beautiful in them. Happy Mothers' Day, Mummy, though you don't really read my blog. :P

This is also a special day for Darling too (don't think that I've forgotten about you). Happy 24th birthday Darling! Can't wait for winter holidays, then I can come home and spend time with you both! =)

P.S. - Just saw a Woolies (Aussie version of Giant supermarket) advertisement on TV. They were suggesting buying chrysanthemums for Mothers' Day. Omigosh. If I got chrysanthemums for Mummy she'd slap me. :P:P:P

Destroyed in an instant

2008-05-09T18:10:00.006+09:30

He is a well-known patient on the paediatric neurology ward. The nurses love him and the doctors pity him. When I entered his room, I was overwhelmed by the get-well cards and messages from his loved ones. They covered the walls from top to bottom. His cycling gear hung around his bed like mobiles, trophies of the past and motivators of the present. He was a bright, cheerful 16 year-old. Only son to his aging parents. Well-loved by his schoolmates and family. Not only was he tremendously active in sports, he was good in it too. He frequetly competed in cycling tournaments, triathlons and was an accomplished gymnast and swimmer. His future shone bright with joy and promise.

Until that horrific accident.

He was competing in a cycling tournament. He was sprinting towards the finish line. There was a pile up in front and somehow collided. He was thrown over the protective fence and his head hit a light pole. Many people don't really appreciate what really happens when one experiences an injury like that. It's not just broken bones and months in hospital. Brain injury is very frightening indeed.

He suffered a fractured base of skull, depressed fracture on another side of the skull, fractured face, jaw and leg. Suffice to say he was in critical condition and spent weeks in ICU. Surgeons managed to fix the fractures, but his brain was massively injured from all the bleeding. There is a hole in his brainstem. It's a miracle that he survived. Although his tracheostomy is finally out, his condition is in laymen's terms, a 'vegetable'. There is no voluntary movement of his limbs at all, he can only move his left eye ever so slightly, he can't even open his mouth or utter a word. He is fed via a tube into his stomach (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy - PEG) His muscles have all but atrophied. It's difficult to say whether he's still 'in there'. It has been difficult to establish means of communication. The day I saw him, his father managed to get him to blink once for "yes" for the first time. It will take time before he can really be sure it's for real.

Taking the history from his parents was painful. 2 minutes into the conversation the mum broke down in tears. The father did too soon after. As I glanced again at the wall of cards, I could feel my heart breaking too. I kept my examination brief. Tried to get him to blink. Couldn't really tell if it was a real response. But I had this weird, frightening feeling. As if he was trapped in his own body and screaming to get out.

I'm sorry if I'm biased. I can't feel the same sadness for the 60 year-old bloke who drank and smoked his lungs away. This was someone who didn't deserve this. Why him? Then again, I'm looking at only one. Millions around the world. They suffer needlessly too. Life has never been fair in the first place. But it still hurts to see this happen.

My heart goes out to his parents. They have shown such resilience. As his father said: "It's difficult, but what can we do? We have to continue living." Though nothing will ever quell their pain and sorrow. Makes us feel so helpless as healthcare professionals. Hopefully the small improvements recently will continue to grow. I really do pray he'll recover at least some function eventually.

Guys, rejoice in life and love with all your heart. Be grateful for all that you have. You never know when it will disappear.

Maitland & Yorke Peninsula Trip

2008-05-02T23:57:00.005+09:30

Finally some photos from last month's trip. Chris, Su Chuen, Ken and I visited Christine and Jebbrine who are doing their 3 week rural MSA in Maitland. Chris rented a car and drove down, spent a weekend there. Good company, good fun. =) This weekend will have to be more boring though. Having my observed case for paediatrics next Tuesday and still not done reading yet. I find paeds so hard to study for compared to O&G.

Places we visited during our trip:

Day 1: Wallaroo, Moonta Bay, Port Hughs, Gregory's Winery.
Day 2: White Flint Olive Grove, Minalton, Stansbury, Port Vincent.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

2008-04-29T22:13:00.008+09:30

Revisited this animation from my childhood today. Sad how many people overlook this movie, thinking it's a childish, girly 'little pony' movie. It so isn't! If anything, this is one of my favourite movies of all time. The vivid and sometimes frightening characters still continue to haunt me. This is a 1982 animated film adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's fantasy novel. It's be known to be a very accurate portrayal of the book. The book itself was published 40 years ago and is still his most popular and well-loved novel.

Taken from http://utd500.utdallas.edu/~hairston/lastunicorn.html, cos I'm too lazy to write my own synopsis right now:

The story follows the Unicorn (she is never given a proper name) who leaves her enchanted forest where she has lived forever, only to find there are no other unicorns left in the world. She goes on a quest to find what has happened to them and is joined by an incompetent wizard, Schmendrick the magician, and a middle-aged scullery maid, Molly Grue. Together they travel to the castle of King Haggard having heard that he and his magical creature, the Red Bull, have imprisoned all the other unicorns. Before they arrive, the Red Bull appears and begins to chase the Unicorn. Schmendrick saves her by turning her into a human woman, thwarting the Bull which can only see unicorns. The Unicorn is revolted at having been transformed into a mortal shape, but Schmendrick explains it is the only way they can gain entrance to the castle. He gives her the name Lady Amalthea and the three of them reach the castle. King Haggard recognizes her for what she truly is, but allows them to stay as his new "playthings". The king's adopted son, Prince Lir, falls in love with Amalthea and devotes himself entirely to trying to win her love. The rest of the novel follows Schmendrick and Molly's effort to find the lost unicorns before Amalthea loses her memory of being a unicorn and becomes completely a mortal human being.

Because it is about a unicorn and a quest for magic, most people mistakenly dismiss it as nothing but a children's story (it's amazing how much of the best and deepest of the world's literature gets classified as children's stories, folk tales, and myths so they can be safely ignored).In reality it is a story that can be read on many levels, simply as an adventure story or more deeply as a fantastic exploration of the nature of truth, beauty, reality, immortality, and the purpose of life. Peter S. Beagle himself has written that the book is sort of "a personal I Ching, which gives me no advice, no handy warnings, but slowly tells me things I had forgotten, or hidden from myself."

I remember first watching this when I was around primary 2 or 3 in Leigh Lyn's house (my then neighbour and best friend in USJ 2). Then again on TV3 in which I videotaped. Being still little and all, I found the red bull, and the scene where the harpy devours Mommy Fortuna (oops! spoiler!) particularly frightening. Even now I still watch those scenes with a slight twinge. I love the beautiful, old-school Japanese style animation. Coupled with fantastic screenplay, voice actors (Mia Farrow and Christopher Lee among them) and hauntingly beautiful music, it really set the tone for the story.

Watching The Last Unicorn made me feel strangely melancholic. I Don't know why. It reminded me that the world is cruel and impermanent, yet in it love grows. This is a story of an immortal being, immersed in the world yet detached from it. In a twist of fate, she becomes a fragile mortal who learns to love and regret.

To love is to let go, to sacrifice, and to cherish the memory.

2008-04-25T14:26:00.002+09:30

Eternal Snow
~Full Moon wo Sagashite~

君を好きになって　どれくらい経つのかナ？
気持ち　膨らんでゆくばかりで
君は　この思い気付いているのかナ？
一度も言葉には　してないけど

雪のように　ただ静かに
降り積もり　つづけてゆく

Hold me tight　こんな思いなら
誰かを好きになる気持ち
知りたく　なかったよ
I love you　涙止まらない
こんなんじゃ　君のこと
知らずにいれば　良かったよ

君をいつまで　思っているのかナ？
ため息が窓ガラス　曇らせた

揺れる心　灯すキャンドルで
今　溶かして　ゆけないかナ？

Hold me tight　折れるほど強く
木枯らし　吹雪に出会っても
寒くないようにと
I miss you　君を思うたび
編みかけの　このマフラー
今夜も一人　抱きしめるよ

永遠に降る雪があるなら
君へと続くこの思い　隠せるのかナ？

Hold me tight　こんな思いなら
誰かを好きになる気持ち
知りたく　なかったよ
I love you　胸に込み上げる
冬空に叫びたい
今すぐ君に　会いたいよ

Only in China...

2008-04-20T17:23:00.002+09:30

Yet another good weekend has gone by... Was supposed to post photos from last weekend's trip to Maitland. Guess that'll have to wait. Attended the annual IMU BBQ yesterday night. It was good to see the 4th, 5th, 6th years and our super seniors (interns and RMOs) gathered together for some good fun. More pictures on that soon too. In the meantime, hope you'll like this one: I took it off a group in Facebook called "The Most Bizzare Things I've Ever Seen in Hospital." :P

Downfall of a child prodigy

2008-04-06T16:48:00.000+09:30

I'm sure some of you remember this girl from many years back. She is the child prodigy Sufiah Yusof who at the age of 13, was accept into Oxford University to study mathematics. Everyone thought this bright, young mind had but a beautiful future ahead. She made us Malaysians proud. Sadly, the public never knew of the torture she endured to reach such heights. It's too much for any young person to bear. This is a perfect example of parents who push their kids too far. She's now 23, and you'd expect her to be sailing smoothly through a shinning career, the world at her feet. Instead this child prodigy is selling her body for £130 an hour.

Gotta admit, she's pretty darned hot. She claims that some clients go wild when she recites math equations during sex. Interesting application of knowledge.

"I don't have any regrets. I've never felt more confident about my body and I've had some of the best sex of my life."
-Sufiah Yusof-

I wonder if she'll still feel the same way when she looks back at her life 50 years from now. Now I certainly don't approve prostitution or any other vices, but I find it shallow/pathetic/?strange that a few people are attributing her downfall to black magic and straying from her religion. There are groups out there (bless their souls) who are trying to contact her and provide 'religious rehabilitation' so she'll return to the 'right path'. I mean honestly, the crux of the problem lies with the years of emotional abuse she's endured from her father, not because she 'strayed from her religion'. If anything, shouldn't this issue be tackled from a psychological perspective? Not resorting to bomoh rituals and whatnot. I think some people are focusing too much on the vice itself, and not the reasoning behind it. But who am I to know any better. I'm just a stupid little medical student...

The following are links to some articles about Sufiah. Do read about her sad story. I hope that whatever she does, she'll be happy and finally be at peace with herself and her family.

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/0604_hooker.shtml
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/3003_hooker.shtml
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/31/nation/20798773&sec=nation
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/7/nation/20870201&sec=nation

Memorable quotes from O&G at the Lyell McEwin...

2008-04-03T16:38:00.000+10:30

Received this photo some time ago but didn't realise it. It's a picture of the my rotation group and Prof. Dekker at his house the night before the viva. He invited us over for pizza and to discuss any last minute questions, before he and the other consultants grill us the morning after. Yeah... I guess I'm happy the rotation went well and turned out to be enjoyable at times. Easy for me to say though as it's over already. I certainly don't want to go through it again. Hope I pass the exam... Results will be out sometime next week.

For ppl who back home in Malaysia/my old buddies:
(L-R: Aishah, Melanie, Thanh-Thao, Elizabeth, Prof. Dekker, Laura, Brenton, Rosie, Daniel, me) Jeremy is missing from the picture 'cos he couldn't make it that night...

Let me think of a few 'memorable quotes' I heard over the course of my 9 weeks there. Not much actually, but I'm dead tired now and bored as hell:

"Young women are amazing. Some will lose 6 litres of blood and still not die. It's like you just can't kill them!" - Dr. Alphonse Roex during a lecture on antepartum & postpartum haemorrhage -

"...this goes to show that it takes multiple errors to kill a woman..." - Prof. Dekker on mismanagement of pregnant patients.

"The fetus is greedy. It will cause all these changes in the maternal circulation, to squeeze everything possible out of the woman. Just like us men." - Prof. Dekker -

"You need to be very brave to be a woman." -Prof. Dekker -

and finally:

"Be careful of stepping on people's foot. It may be connected to the ass you need to kiss tomorrow." - Jeremy Seow-

I wonder if there really is such a thing as an empathic sociopath...

2008-04-01T21:05:00.010+10:30

"There's a hole in the world like a great black pit

and it's filled with people who are filled with shit!

And the vermin of the world inhabit it!"

~Sweeney Todd~

Watched the latest adaptation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street yesterday night. Yep, I'm a bit outdated. Being stuck here in Adelaide does that to me. A very impressive performance considering most of the cast are not professional singers. As always, Johnny Depp never ceases to amaze me. He is in every part the malevolent, tortured, vengeful barber who seeks retribution in a world where man devours man. No matter what role he plays, Johnny still exudes that unique charm. Omigosh he's soo hot... And having him play a singing sociopath just makes him hotter! *swoons* The ending was so ironic and sad, yet kinda fitting. Sad to see that in this cruel world, even the kind and virtuous are robbed of happiness, beauty and love. Break them enough, even ordinary people can be driven insane with grief and vengeance. This is my kind of movie. A macabre combination of horror, romance and musical. Artfully woven together to form a brutal, heart-wrenching climax. Yet another Tim Burton masterpiece!

Kyaaa!!! I got tagged!

2008-03-30T22:40:00.005+10:30

Haha.... this is half a month overdue.. Sorry Christine! Hehe.. still tired from a day well spent. Went hiking at Morialta Park with Jenna, Chen and Ken today and visited Glenelg on Saturday (photos in my next post). Felt I deserved some fun after completing O&G (yes folks, it's over!). Actually, despite all my ranting bout how hectic and time-consuming it is to be posted in Lyell McEwin, it turned out to be quite enjoyable and worthwhile experience. Teaching there was really good after the first 3 weeks, thanks to the fantastic O&G team and Prof. So yeah, no regrets and thank God it's my first rotation and not last one at the end of the year. Viva and long case went surprisingly well, whereas I think I kinda killed myself off in a few of the OSCE stations... *Crosses fingers* Hopefully that'll be still enough to pass...

Okie now on to the tag:

The Rules

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of this post and list their names.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

Random Fact 1:
I have lots and lots of moles. And most of my moles come in pairs.

Random Fact 2:
I love drinking soup, especially those clear, oil-free chinese soups my mom makes and miso soup. Been addicted to instant miso soup lately, though they aren't very authentic and do contain MSG.

Random Fact 3:
I'm still quite manja to my mom.

Random Fact 4:
When I was 7, I broke my 2 front teeth by slipping on wet floor at home and landing on my face. That resulted in a small puddle of blood and trip to the dentist. Didn't smile with my mouth open for a long time after that.

Random Fact 5:
Seems like my front teeth are prone to all sorts of accidents. When I got knocked down by a car in 2004, one of my front teeth got chipped. Xian-Nian is still pestering me to fix it.

Random Fact 6:
Oh ya, did I mention I was knocked down by a car? I was unconscious after that and still can't remember what happened clearly. Thank goodness I wasn't seriously hurt as the car was travelling at quite a high speed. And this was right outside IMU on the day my Semester 1 results were released.

Random Fact 7:
The friends I made in high school have a profound impact in my life. They are the ones who stood by my side through thick and thin. They were the first people who rushed to the hospital on the day of the accident (refer Random Fact 5). They are like family. I do believe that there are some people you are destined to meet in life, and thank God I met them. =)

Random Fact 8:
If I were to name any of my vices, it would be shopping. I think it's embedded in a girl's genetic code! Like some of modern adaptation of the hunter-gatherer instinct. And since coming to Adelaide, I've developed a fondness for dresses. As Xian-Nian says, I seriously have too many dresses now...

Tag 8 people? Erm.... anyone who wants to do this is more than welcome to. But for the heck of it I'll name 8 people...
1. Kakh!
2. Christine Ho
3. Calvin Wong
4. Jane Lim
5. Cindy Soon
6. Poh Lynn
7. Iona
8. Sze Yuen! =)

Goodnight everyone! Dead tired and tomorrow I'll be starting Paediatrics at the Womens and Childrens' Hospital.

Northern Lights

2008-03-10T11:31:00.007+10:30

Happily enjoying the long weekend. Sort of. Maybe I'm enjoying it too much.

Went to see the Northern Lights on Friday night. No, it's not those glowy things in the North Pole. :P It's a light display with a twist. They basically project lights onto some buildings along North Terrace according to their shape and architecture. The result? Stunning works of art! For the first time in my life, I saw people sitting on the grass just staring at buildings. The lights change every few minutes, and each pattern is unique.

Had steamboat on Saturday night with the Villagers + IMU 4th years (whom are also Villagers). It was simple but really really fun. Matthew (Shiau Cern's boyfriend) brought his Wii, so that contributed to the fun too. :) Then yesterday night we attended Kian's birthday dinner at The Earl of Leicester Hotel. OMG it was The Attack of the Giant Schnitzels! Jebbrine and I shared a small schnitzel and even that wasn't small. As usual, Ken and his bottomless black hole of a stomach managed to sapu his large shnitzel. Watching Rahul, Kian and the rest of the guys was so painful... why do guys need to show that they're 'man enough' by shoving giant schnitzels down their gullets? But it was good fun anyway. After dinner the ABCs (Australian Born Chinese, though not all of them are Chinese) brought Kian to a skate park by the airport to cut his cake. As for his present, everyone chipped in to get him flying lessons! How cool is that?

Last night I've discovered a couple of new places in Adelaide, at least not so katak di bawah tempurung already. :P

Okie here are some pictures of the Northern Lights. Don't have pictures from the other events. Viva and OSCE is in 2 weeks and the stress in mounting. Oh please oh please let me pass O&G so that I won't need to repeat it next year....

Who wants to be a billionaire?

2008-03-06T21:14:00.001+10:30

Elections 2008...

2008-03-02T20:55:00.002+10:30

Thanks Pak Seong for forwarding this to me. Selamat Berundi!

2008-02-23T21:29:00.003+10:30

The dream was so beautiful, I don't wanna to wake up.

I looked out the bus window. The airport slowly disappeared from view. Clouds overhead seemed to reflect my emotions. It was mostly grey and heavy with impending rain, but there were patches of blue shinning through. It hurts to say goodbye to you again and again, but instead I should be happy that you came.

These 5 weeks have made your absence now so foreign. My room feels too spacious, yet smaller at the same time. Emptier. When I glance upon that vacant spot, there's a rise of suffocating tears.

Opened my balcony door to let the noise of the Clipsal in. Cars zooming. Live bands. Crowds cheering. Fireworks to end the night. And then the return of heart-wrenching silence.

The most precious moments can never be captured on camera. It's your presence, your happiness and most importantly, the unwavering faith that everything will be alright.

I'll heed your advice. I'll continue on with my journey here, and achive my goals in life with no regret. I'll take good care of myself and I know you'll do the same. You said 9 months will pass quickly. I cannot help but believe, you've never given me reason to doubt your promises.

Nice, long rant about my current rotation (have to get this off my chest!)

2008-02-19T17:03:00.008+10:30

Yet another long-delayed post. Sorry peeps, been sucked into a hell-hole in terms of work the past few weeks. Am currently on week 4 of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Of all the hospitals, I got Lyell McEwin (surprise, surprise). Yes dear readers, those of you with bionic memory will recall me mentioning last year that it's roughly 54 bus stops away from the city. It isn't just the distance I'm pissed about though.

The timetable and student expectations are a little ridiculous. Let me explain why:

1. Most days it'll be from 8.00a.m. till 5.00p.m. Each student will take turn attending multiple sessions of clinics (WTF why are there so many: Antenatal, Gynae, Triage, Colposcopy, Complications of Pregnancy, Ultrasound, Midwives clinic). Each clinic session takes up half a day. Sometimes you'll be assigned to midwives clinics which go from 5.00p.m. to 8.00p.m. You also have sessions in the Operating theatre. Oh and don't forget PBL sessions and tutorials on O&G and Neonatology.

2. If doing antenatal & Gynaecology clinics in Lyell Mc isn't enough, you're supposed go to a hospital in Gawler (which is even further than Lyell Mc) for MORE clinics. Then when you're done, you're to come back to Lyell Mc for MORE MORE clinics/PBL/tutorials/Theatre/24-hour call.

3. We have virtually no time on our timetable to do actual ward work. I think none of us have been able to clerk and examine patients in the women's ward so far. And the head of unit expects us to present the patients during the ward round every week. Seriously how on earth are we supposed to do that? We hardly have time to sleep.

4.There are also various teaching sessions outside Lyell McEwin Hospital, such as STD clinics in the city, vaginal examination tutorials in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, family planning sessions in God-knows-where, etc etc etc. And for people who don't have a car like yours truly, it's like they expect me to pull a miraculous teleportation act or something. We're in Adelaide, not Star Trek! How on earth do you expect me to be in Lyell Mc for 24 hours call, and then magically appear in Hindmarsh within the next hour? And then after Hindmarsh, you expect me to teleport myself back to Lyell Mc for a tutorial. That's so impossible if you take the bus! It takes me 1.5 hours to get to Lyell Mc by bus from my house. That's provided that the buses come on time and I don't spend 45 minutes standing like an idiot at the bus stop.

5. We have to do 5 lots of 24-hour shifts in the labour ward. There's a signature sheet midwives have to sign off for every birth you witness/assist. You have to do a minimum of 5 births. Technically you're supposed to be in the labour ward from 8.00a.m. to 8.00a.m. the next day. You'd be lucky if you get more than 4 hours of sleep. My last shift was busy. Only got 1.5 hours. You'll also be lucky if they actually give you a place to sleep. Sometimes you have to shove yourself into a saggy little couch. I don't mind doing 24-hour shifts, seriously. What gets to me is that on most days they don't give you the next day off. Or at least half the day off. No, right after your 24-hour shifts, you are expected in clinic/theatre/ultrasound/Hindmarsh/wherever. And to top it off, there may be a PBL right at the end of the day. How do you expect students to actually learn anything if they've been awake for 36 hours straight??? Good thing most midwives and doctors (except the Prof, who designed this timetable in the first place) are sympathetic. Though there was one midwife who didn't allow one of us to sleep at all throughout his shift. And he had to drive out to this family planning clinic today and spend the whole day in seminars/lectures. Even doctors here don't do 24-hour shifts anymore. The most is 12 hours, and they're getting PAID for it. WTF.

6. The IMU students (4th & 5th years) had a nice Chinese New Year Eve dinner in Chinatown. Guess what I was doing instead? Inserting speculums and performing vaginal exams on a group of pleasant ladies in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Though the timing was not very convenient, it was a really good tutorial on vaginal examination. The simulated patients taught us everything and did a splendid job too ("No, no. You're not in deep enough. Press harder. Yes, that's much better."). It was a little bizzare at first, but very educational. It's good to see more women being more open-minded about their bodies and health.

7. How bout Valentine's Day then? I spent the 14th of February in the labour ward doing my 24-hour shift. Blarrdy.

So there. Not enough sleep, let alone time for study. Horrendously long travel time. No way to get around unless you've got a car/leech off someone else. All in all, it's been going ok. It has its moments. Thank goodness Aishah (a Singaporean girl in my batch) and I manage to get a lift from Jeremy (another Singaporean) on most mornings. And thank goodness some (not all!) of the registrars + Prof. are nice and keen on teaching. Still, I'm still pretty worried bout the end-of-rotation case/viva/OSCE. It's like after putting us through all the pressure and exhaustion, they expect us to magically acquire all the knowlege + skills to manage most O&G cases. At the rate I'm going, that is so not going to happen.

*Breathes deep* 4.5 weeks to go....

Sydney Trip

2008-02-05T10:55:00.000+10:30

Long time no update?

2008-01-28T21:39:00.000+10:30

Dear All,

Sorry for not updating. Been busy with a few things:

1. My family moved house months ago, but there're still a ton of things left over that needed sorting. Not to mention my Mom has been busy with all sorts of errands in addition to driving back and forth from my sisters' school/tuition/the old house/various locations in Subang Jaya. The best I could do was to help with the moving and help clean the new house as we are yet to hire a maid.

2. My grandma fell down again. The first time was earlier in September. I won't elaborate much on this today, perhaps in another post. The most important thing is she wasn't badly injured. She fell on the back of her head and lost quite an amount of blood. We suspect that she had a hypogycaemic attack while spreading out some clothes (which we told her not to). Though, as some of my close friends know, it isn't just her physical well-being I'm concerned about at the moment. I felt even more disheartened when my mom told me a few days ago that the wound got infected (she's diabetic btw). I hope that my grandma gets better soon, as my family could use some rest from all this stress.

3. Went to Sydney with Xian-Nian last week. The trip was lovely, albeit some cold, rainy weather for the first three days. Even so, I loved every minute of it. He'll be here in Adelaide for another 4 weeks for a selective in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital respiratory ward. Sometimes, I feel like this is all a dream. Like maybe I'm actually in a coma and all of this is just an illusionary world within my mind. Well, time to wake up 'cos tomorrow I have to start my first posting for Year 5: Human & Reproductive Health a.k.a. Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Oh no.....I'm so not prepared.... I quote the lovely Miss Nelly Furtado: Why do all good things come to an end?

4. Finally, the final and MOST IRRITATING THING THAT'S BEEN KEEPING ME BUSY. I took lots of pictures of my Sydney trip. And being the neurotic person that I am, I like renaming and grouping photo files. I thought my new Dell laptop, equiped with Windows Vista, would be a welcome change from my crappy Acer. Mana tahu, every time I try to rename multiple photo files and videos, Windows Vista will jumble up their sequence! This is especially for videos. For some stupid reason, it'll mix them up randomly in between my photos and be renamed under different names from the one I entered. The final blow was yesterday. I was trying to rename a huge batch of photos from my last day in Sydney when the jumbling nonsense occured again. So I clicked on "undo rename". Guess what happened? THE BLOODY WINDOWS VISTA DELETED ALL MY PHOTOS EXCEPT FOR 2!! 130+ PHOTOS GONE JUST LIKE THAT! THEY WEREN'T EVEN IN THE RECYCLE BIN! VANISHED INTO OBLIVION! OMGWTF!!! And of all the photos, these were the ones I didn't back up in Xian-Nian's thumb drive. So they were LOST. I have no idea how this happened. Spent the entire day from 8a.m. to 10.30p.m. weeping, moaning, cursing and searching frantically for a way to restore them. Finally found this programe called Recover My Files which managed to fish out half of the photos from from the deepest crevices of my hard drive.

So today I've backed up all my photo files. About 40 or so Sydney photos and 2 videos are still unaccounted for. Most likely I'll never see them again. At least I've gotten back half of the lot. Thank goodness for that. I'll avoid renaming my photos in this laptop from now on, unless Microsoft comes up with a solution to this fuckery.

Lessons learnt?

1. Photos may be lost, but the sweet memories will last a lifetime.

2. Back up everything.

3. Windows Vista sucks big time. Come up with an update for this QUICK!!!!

I'll post up photos of the Sydney trip some other day. Need to sleep early 'cos tomorrow it's gonna be my first day back to the hospital. Year 5 here I come....Zzzzzzz....

Christmas Eve Party 2007

2007-12-28T14:53:00.000+10:30

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

2007-12-14T00:14:00.000+10:30

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...

2007-12-05T23:42:00.000+10:30

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!

2007-12-04T02:12:00.000+10:30

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...

2007-11-20T10:33:00.000+10:30

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.

2007-11-17T16:45:00.000+10:30

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

2007-11-14T14:35:00.000+10:30

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!!!

2007-11-10T18:47:00.000+10:30

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'...

2007-11-06T08:51:00.000+10:30

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...

2007-11-04T14:12:00.000+10:30

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?

2007-10-30T19:36:00.000+10:30

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

Japanese Toilet Training For Kids

2007-10-29T23:15:00.000+10:30

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

2007-10-17T16:30:00.000+09:30

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

2007-10-14T23:26:00.000+09:30

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.