Goodbye 2008

And finally it is that time of reflection again.

What is it about the coming new year that always make us want to look back and be nostalgic for the days that have gone by?

For me, the greater first half of 2008 was an awesome year. It was my last semester in IMU and I wanted to make it count. And despite the difficulties we were made to endure for sem5 and eos5, I'm glad to say - I cherished every single day spent with my friends. :)

We ploughed thru MSK and CNS with dogged determination. Do you still remember that funny phrase by a lecturer? Tom, Dick and Harry! haha.. the other more obscene one I shall leave it for you to remember yourself :P

Do you remember the endless days we spent at the library mugging for the huge exam? Forcefully swallowing those lecture notes. Those days were hard but I think beneath the boredom and frustration, we were happy. really. We cracked lame jokes, talked crap and played silly pranks on each other. (I think we're just trying to stop ourselves from losing our minds :P) But we were just happy to be together.

There were many other good times too, too many to reenumerate here. Memories that suddenly appear in one's mind during those idle moments before sleep comes.

After the exam, we went to many places and we did some crazy things - memories that will last me my entire lifetime. :)

Being the noob I was, apparently I couldn't hold my liquor. I guess I must train up a bit or else I will have a hard time socializing in aussie? But then I wanna have a normal liver wo.. o.O

Then there was the post-exam Redang trip, which I think must be one of the best trips of all the trips we undertook in the past few years. We just concentrated on having fun fun fun!! ^^

The later part of 2008 wasn't too bad either but most of the time I was on break. There were a few unhappy incidences but they were inevitable so yeah. just gotta put it behind me. The best time was the month I spent in Seremban. It was tiring no doubt, but I just felt happy to see my friends and of coz, my dear dear once again. :)

Hey I notice my memory is better when it comes to things that count!

And now, slowly but surely, it is nearing the end of 2008. And with the start of 2009, it will be the dawn of a new chapter in my life.

Starting all over again at a place called Perth. To make new friends and adapt to life in a foreign country and not to forget, adapt to the hectic lifestyle in clinicals. I guess I can safely say I'm one step nearer to graduation.

Inside, I am but a jumble of nerves - of excitement and nervousness. But yes, come what may - I will welcome what 2009 holds for me with open arms.

My wish is that everyone will find happiness no matter where they are and what they are doing. :) Hence, Happy New Year!

Bottle Of Love

While I wait for my illness to bore itself out (apparently it's not bored yet, can you believe it? I'm already bored to tears), here's a short post.

Been meaning to post this up ages ago but I decided to clear the dust out of the older posts first. But no fear, it is finally here.

Here's the gift that Pui Fun and Sue Wen gave me for my 21st birthday! They passed it to me during the gathering in Seremban.

isn't it so lovely and thoughtful?

it's a bottle of messages by all my friends :D

I'm only supposed to read the messages when I'm in aussieland

and the quota is one message a day

Haha, don't worry, considering my curious nature, so far I've been successful in restraining myself from opening it :P

Thank you so much for the gift! ^v^ I love it!

I'll definitely still be able to feel the love of my friends even though I'm far away from all of you.

May our friendship be like wine - the older it gets, the better it is! :)

Merry Christmas

Season greetings! Tis a festive season, isn't it? Anyway, merry christmas to all my readers! ^^

And guess what? Of all my luck, I had to choose today to fall sick -.- I think I probably got the infection from a friend I met a few days ago who had just recovered. Sigh.

Well, am now having a cough which is getting progressively worse, mild fever (?) and severe body aches. Really hate the latter coz I don't feel like doing anything except lying on my bed and relieving myself of the aches. (omg sound like old lady!)

Okay I don't think you guys are really that eager to know the details la haha.

So yeah, just a simple merry christmas from me! I might do the review of 2008/new year resolutions for 2009 post if I feel like it hehe. Till then, cya!

Need to get more rest~ (as thought slept whole day still not yet enough)

Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Here is the whole heartfelt article by a senior doctor about the attitude of the house-officers he has worked with in the past.

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How do you call yourself a doctor when you do not even know how to perform CPR? Most importantly, one must work with a conscience. Yes, they are allowed to make mistakes, but never at the expense of the patient’s life due to their lousy attitude or severe deficiency in knowledge.

To the parents of these young doctors, have you heard the other side of the story before defending your children? Did they tell you why they got scolded at work?

And if you find out that your child caused a patient’s death, simply due to his poor knowledge and lousy working attitude, will you be able to sleep well at night?

To the house officers who complain a lot, if you can’t even handle negative comments from your senior colleagues, how can you survive when you face demanding patients and family members?

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Being a medical student myself, I am a tad disappointed to hear this. I'm not saying that I am very good, far from it actually - but I plan to improve myself in the next few years, hopefully I will be able to meet all the expectations one would have of a houseman by then. Must gambate!

It saddens me when there are people who choose medicine purely just because their parents force them into it or they are just out hunting for the glory - and when they are deep in it, they realise they have no passion for it at all - and yes sometimes they managed to scrap through and pass out as a doctor. But after that what happens?

You get doctors who are not passionate about their line of work, are sloppy and do not care about patients' welfare. In one word, they are dangerous.

I remember what a doctor used to tell us students - his aim is to not to make us into smart Dr. House-like doctors. His aim is to train us into competent SAFE doctors. So simple yet so true.

I can't figure out how these housemen cope with it. Does the fact that they had indirectly cause the death of a patient due to their carelessness or incompetence pains them? Do they wake up in the middle of the night with a guilty conscience? Do they even care that people's lives are in their hands?

Of coz, this is just a generalization and the group in question is probably a minority. There are many good hardworking housemen/doctors out there who are doing their best for their patients - and for that, I applaud them. Keep up the good work! I hope I will be able to emulate in your footsteps...

I will never forget the doctors who scolded (or will be scolding) me harshly in medical school. Coz they are the ones who woke me up to the fact that my knowledge is not up to scratch and I need to buck up more. Coz they are the ones who sincerely want us to be good doctors like them, serving the masses with their best effort.

I hope I will remember these words the next time I'm reprimanded by a senior doctor. Cause when they do, it means they care about us. I hope I will not take their harsh words to heart but instead use them as a motivator for me to gain more knowledge.

I also hope that the next few years will serve me well so that I will be able to become a competent and safe doctor. It's not an easy journey but I will give it my very best!

Another Function For Your Cellphone?

A new MacGyver-esque cellphone hack could bring cheap, on-the-spot disease detection to even the most remote villages on the planet. Using only an LED, plastic light filter and some wires, scientists at UCLA have modded a cellphone into a portable blood tester capable of detecting HIV, malaria and other illnesses.

Click here to see original article.

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I am sure your reaction now would fall somewhere between the range of incredulous-ness and amazement. For me, I am not sure how accurate will the test results be or how feasible the plan is, but so far, it seems like a pretty cool invention.

Just imagine a possibility, in the future, doctors wouldn't need to send blood samples to labs for testing. Just need to wave their cellphones (erm how do they work by the way?) and voila instant results! haha.

Let's see how it will turn out, shall we?

For Myself

Countdown: 29 days left - am wishing that the hands of the clock will go a bit faster..

I've been thinking of what to write here. There are a lot of emotions I would like to pen here, but alas this blog is too public and god knows who is reading.

How often do you find yourself forming perfectly beautiful sentences in your head, revising them again and again to get that perfect effect you wanted - only to realise that actually writing those down would be too much of a giveaway of your true feelings to the whole wide world.

Recently, I had come to realise, there are certain things no matter how hard you try to change the outcome - you won't be able to get what you want. No matter how you try your best to please that person, it will never ever happen. Coz all these are out of our control. The outcome has been determined since birth.

Sometimes when I look at what others have, the simple pleasures they take granted for - and I envy them - for being lucky enough to not know how it feels to not have those.

Being the silly girl I am, I predict that I will probably struggle with these issues again in the not-so-distant-future. But till then, I pray for a reflective serene mindset as I get things going. Maybe by then, I would find it in me to be able to forgive, I am afraid I won't be able to go so far as forgetting though.

The only thing that I am thankful for is that all my hard work till now had not gone to waste. I will be able to use it to weave potential futures.

And the only thing I am sure of is that - this time around - I will be doing it for myself.

IMU Ball: A Sensational Symphony

Yet again this is old news but I am slowly churning out the drafts fermenting in my blogger dashboard haha.

Yup just some ramdom pics from the IMU Ball!! Already photoshopped them so it'd be a pity to let them go to waste right? hehe.

Kee Ping, Alicia, Kee and I were in charge of general decor and backdrop.

So this is what we did for each table.

cute yet romantic at the same time right!

the 3 balloon blobs are balloons filled with water then twisted into that apple shape.

we put glitter and a floating transparency with the words Imu Ball: A Sensational Symphony (hoho painstakingly written by me :P) into those balloons!

dont you love how the light from the candle illuminate the balloons!

I only have pics from here and there coz I don't have a camera la yeah. Cant wait to get one of my own.

This is the corsage my dear dear got for me. <3

It's so sweet of him but 3 roses bundled together to place on my wrist is a bit too bulky la haha.

And omg I love my hair! Li Shan, that hairdresser's curling power is too geng ade!

the curls super duper nice right?

come on admit it! :P

I wonder if I should get a permanent curl or just buy a curler to do it myself, oh well probably no time to "pan leng" also la hmm =(

Anyway, here's the extra body art they did for each of us.

on the side of my right calf, nice ka?

I should have asked for one on my shoulder instead - more striking that way

Well I certainly had a nice time at the ball, but I think the ballroom was too packed and everything was a bit disorganized. Too much photo-taking when people shld be sitting down to a nice dinner together. =/ And I wished the dance floor was larger too, didn't get to dance at all sigh.

But on the overall, it was a wonderful night. Thank you to those who made it possible. :) Especially to De Jun, Ball president! Congrats on a great job done!

To end this post, here's the IMU Ball Video that made many of us almost teared.. T_T haha maybe they wanted to sabo the girls' makeup kua :P

Sry for the blurry quality - but it is a great video, especially the front part, very touching.

it is difficult to say goodbye to all the lovely memories

I noticed I am in quite a lot of the pics wo! haha

Anyway, thank you for all the great memories, my friends. :) I am going to miss all of you.

Thirty Three Days

So yeap, there you have it, the countdown has finally begun. But actually I'm quite looking forward to it!

33 days before I fly off to a foreign land, with only 1 friend in tow. (We're going to paint the town red, right Debbi? ^^)

Wait, tat sounded pretty familiar, I think I said something like that before!

Looking back, I realised that I'd changed a lot from the young girl that was eager to start her medical studies 3 years ago.

Ah how naive I was then! There were so many things I had not seen before, so many types of people I have never met before! I was still like a pupa in my little cocoon, waiting to become a butterfly so that I can explore beyond the leaves I spent my childhood munching on.

Okayyy, that analogy sounds a bit weird.. haha.

I still remember the day when my dad left me at vista on my own, and I hardly knew anybody there. I was left to my own devices for a few days before orientation started. Those days were spent drifting aimlessly, and eating at FoodAve for a few lonesome meals.

Then I got to know a few people from orientation esp frm my group (Ballbusters! :P) but things aren't always that easy.

I made it my goal to get to know more people during sem 1, but I think if truth were to be told, I only felt like I had a place to belong to during sem 2. Through coincidence, fate or whatever you call it, I'd found my close clique of friends. :) Friends that really matter.

And now the cycle starts again. How many times have we gone through this uncertainty? Primary sch, high sch, college, uni and... now?

I realised that this twinning program is a cruel way of yanking friends away from each other and then forcing one to start over again from scratch.

Of coz I know that the twinning program is a good one, letting some of us seek different opportunities abroad. I guess I should be excited and all - to study in a foreign land (and I AM excited!) - it's just that saying goodbye to friends that have proven themselves true is never easy.

Yes there's always the saying tat true friends will not be affected by distance and time. True of coz, but there are times you wish they were there physically with you - to experiences the same things as you do, to hold your hand when you're down, to lend you a ear to listen to your woes and that you may do the same for them.

But as I'd always given this advice to others: "look at the bright side of things", so today I'll take my own advice.

*raised eyebrow but starts self-psychotherapy anyway*

I'm going to start on another amazing journey - new places to explore, new sights to see, new people to meet, new things to learn! - so I am gonna enjoy it in all its entirety. Work hard, play hard!!

There might be times where there will be obstacles (I think I can imagine like a few hundred possibilities after my experiences in vista) but hey, what is life if not made up of ups and downs eh?

Okie gogogo!

The Road Not Taken

I rarely blog about this stuff, often preferring instead to keep it away from prying eyes, and store it in a safe corner of my heart, for me to examine at leisure, for me to relive it in my head alone.

But recent events have given me a glimpse of the other fork in the crossroads. Of where it might lead if one is not careful. Trying hard to peer at what lead down the road not taken, so that there will be no misstep that might result in one ending up there.

There are just too many factors to examine, to analyse, too many questions to ask. And there are some variables that are just too intangible. A fluke maybe?

Are some things fated from the start? Or can we mere human beings do something to change the outcome?

I've always believed in that "we can't change the cards we are dealt with, but we can change how we play our hand."

The cards that we are dealt with are not easy ones - there are many distractions, many temptations, many instances where patience is sorely tested.

But the core is strong yes, so I will still continue to have faith in us. :)

Kelantan Trip

This post will be abt my family trip to Kelantan a few weeks back. Just a brief one, so will be mostly pictures k!

All of the pictures below were taken by my bro coz he is the one with the camera.

After an excruciating 6 hours drive of being squished in a car, Uncle Chew (my dad knew him when he worked in Kelantan as a HO long ago) welcomed us warmly and took us for a late lunch at this kopitiam, at first glance it doesn't look much, but the food was certainly yummy!

fried chicken that tasted absolutely different!

probably because it was 'ayam kampung' so the meat was really lean & crispy!

delicious mutton that is oh-so-tender

And there some other dishes too but dont want to make you guys salivate too much over your keyboard la haha.

After that, we went to this place that sells batik/sarong and the women start ooh-aahing over them while the rest just hung about. Personally, the batik isn't too bad looking (have some nice patterns too) but I'd prefer them in a more unconventional design! [think those normal fancy gowns you see outside but made with batik]

We then went back to the hotel to refresh ourselves. We stayed at the Grand Riverview Hotel and for its reasonable price, the room and decor was really nice and comfy. I didn't have any 'initial insomnia' problems that I'd normally have while sleeping in a new place. Btw it was really beside a river! Luckily it didn't overflow!

After that, Uncle Chew brought us to have a sumptuous dinner with his whole extended family too!

look at all the clean plates! was that a 10 course meal or what? oh my!

and I think my bro only rmbed to take photos after everything was cleared haha

There was a lot of seafood (which is not my fav btw) but most of it tasted nice. Personally loved how they fried the kangkung till it tasted so crispy! A good way to bluff vege-haters to get some vege into their system! :P

Well, we then went to KB Mall, which is the largest mall in Kota Bahru.

eh not bad, this mall lives up to expectations!

Oh ya, the only way this mall is different from a normal one is that it doesn't have a cinema!

Yes, apparently cinemas are not allowed in Kelantan unless all lights are on (yaloh can do hanky panky in the dark hor) - which defeats the purpose of going to a cinema in the first place, right? That's why all the cinemas close shop after that rule was set out. *shrugs*

Okay la better go to Day 2 or you all will be bored to death ade. For the second day, we went to visit some touristy sites.

And believe this or not, despite Kelantan being an islamic state under PAS, they have two huge-ass Buddha figurines here and it's really peaceful actually.

enormous Sleeping Buddha

smaller Buddhas, and they have all the zodiac animals too

you can see the snake one here

We then went off for lunch. Banana Leaf Rice!! One of my favs after I was introduced to it in that mamak shop in Sri Petaling.

and can you believe how long a history this shop has?

coz my dad enjoyed the very same dish years ago! haha

And guess who has the same discerning taste buds? :P

our very (in)famous Dr. Chua Soi Lek!

Nah, this picture as proof if you don't believe me hehe

Then the next site we went on to visit another huge Buddha. The Sitting Buddha!

see how large the buddha is compared to us!

And the last place we went to is this famous beach in Kelantan called Pantai Cahaya Bulan (Moonlight Beach). If you still remember your history, this was the first place the Japanese troops landed in Malaya in 1941.

And no, I didn't remember my history. That nugget of infomation was provided by dad.

blue skies, palm trees, a sandy beach

And here's another interesting trivia. It wasn't always Moonlight Beach before this.

Its old name was Pantai Cinta Berahi (the Beach of Passionate Love!!) and no prizes for guessing why they changed it to its current name haha.

Maybe it gave people ideas, huh? *wink wink*

see how strong the waves were! coz it was near to the monsoon season

Anyway that was it for Day 2, well the interesting parts anyway. No more photos so I dunno what else to elaborate from my shrinking brain.

Nothing special for the last day, we just said our goodbyes and went on our way.

Thank you for your kind hospitality, Auntie and Uncle Chew! :) We certainly enjoyed ourselves!

My New Laptop

Alright! My new baby is finally here! My new latop, that is. :D

After much thought and discussion with frenz, in the end, I settled for this - Dell's Studio 15.

from the front - oozing sexiness

I got this from a retailer from PC Fair as there was a good promotion!

Here are the specs:

• Processor: Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology - Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz)
• Memory: 3GB DDR-2 SDRAM
• Monitor: 15.4" WXGA WLED Display with TrueLife™
• Hard Drive: 320GB Hard Drive
• Graphic Card: ATI Mobility Radeon
• Warranty: 1 Year

All for the price of RM3299!!

And throw in a free external hard disc drive of 160GB (which is just great coz I needed one too!), a 2GB thumbdrive I wheedled out of the salesperson (I think I must have didn't lay on the charm enough haha, coz he was reluctant to gimme the 4GB wan -_-) and a great hamper of stuff ranging from optical mouse, coolant, keyboard protector etc.

I got the purple maroon one - nice onot?

So far, I'm pretty satisfied with it - just one tiny fact that it's a bit bulky for me, as the screen is 15.4 inches.

But other than that, all seems ok so far, with a few hitches which were mostly due to my own silliness haha.

Let's hope all goes well for this!! *cross fingers*

PS: But it's weird, I kinda miss my old lappie too... ='( Maybe because I had already gotten so used to it... Anyway, it's now in my younger sister's hands ade. So that next time when go aussie, I can webcam with my family ade! hehe..

PPS: And yeah, typing this 1st post on my new laptop feels different also.. hence this boring straightforward post lo. Lack of inspiration... :P

Fragments

Check out this site for some quick revision of ECG! It's pretty useful I think.

yalah, I felt regretful when I realised I couldn't interpret properly the ECG spotter question given by Darren in this post. =(

Looks like I better brush up the areas which I'm weak in soon! Must motivate myself to STUDY!! even though it's holidays!

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And yeah, I just found out the my laptop won't be arriving tomorrow. Why? Because the people at the shop just called me saying that they can't courier the laptop to my house if I didn't pay it in full.

They definitely said the opposite when I paid the deposit on saturday. Now the lady tells me that was because the person who told me that it could be done was a part-timer.

Okay fine, but then why must the full-timers wait till so many days before contacting me? Then I could have just bank in the money earlier ma...

The thing better arrive in the best condition...!!

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Went to the Education Fair today with my cousin and our dads. Just thought will drop by for fun, and to see the opportunities available. And I notice that there were many booths there that offer medicine.

And I wonder to myself.. why do so many people want to do medicine? Why do I even want to do medicine?

I know! TO SAVE THE WORLD!!

What?!

Of coz I was just kidding. -_- hahaha..

That's my answer for those that think the normal altruistic answer of "I want to help people" is just not good enough for them when they ask the inevitable question of "why do you want to be a doctor?"

So there.

PS: Just thought I'll whip up a quick rambly post for once! I realised some of my recent ones are a tad too structured for effect. *blink blink*

Fudge Brownie

sinfully sweet dessert!! :)

Here is the really simple recipe:

(no oven baking required! only baking weighing scales and measurement spoon needed)

FUDGE SLICE:

• 1 egg
• 80g of butter
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of sultanas (raisins)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 225g plain biscuits crushed (I used Digestive biscuits coz it's healthier)

METHOD:

• Crush the biscuits into tiny crumbs. The finer the better.
• Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat it till its colour lightens.
• In a medium saucepan, add the butter and sugar.
• Heat and stir till the butter and sugar dissolves and bubbles.
• Remove it from heat, add the vanilla essence and beaten egg. Mix it well.
• Then stir in the crushed biscuits and sultanas, mixing it thoroughly. (I added some white choc chips in here too!)
• Press the mixture well and flat in a container and while still warm, cover the top with the icing. (will be mentioned how to make below)
• As you can see, I'd added some chocolate chips right onto the icing! I love choc chips!
• Then chill it in the fridge for a few hours. (It's up to you how long actually, coz I did mine overnight.)

ICING:

• 1 tablespoon of water
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 50g of choc pieces (the type for baking sort)

METHOD:

• In another saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter and water.
• Stir over low heat until it is dissolved.
• Bring to a boil.
• Then take off the heat and add the choc pieces stirring until they are dissolved and let it cool for 5 mins or until good spreading consistency.
• OR you can do it this way. For me, I added the choc pieces in straight after, but to prevent the chocolate from being burnt, heat it using the double boiler method.
• After that, spread the icing evenly onto the biscuits mixture which you had press evenly into a container just now.

SERVE:

• After taking it out of the fridge, cut it into small bite sized pieces.
• You can eat this on its own or add it to vanilla ice cream, it tastes absolutely heavenly!
• Serve and enjoy the sweet goodness! ^v^

To make the fudge brownie in the picture above, I had doubled everything in this recipe as I wanted a thicker slice. Especially more icing haha!

Btw, I'd made some modification to the original recipe, hope you don't mind, Michelle! (I minus out some of the sugar and butter as the first attempt was a bit too sweet/oily, and since I'd added some choc chips too!)

Original recipe can be found here.

Isn't it so simple? This dessert is definitely a favourite of mine. :D Yes, I have a sweet tooth! haha.. Anyway, hope you guys will like it too! Lemme know how it turns out.

The Gathering

Finally it is time to blog abt the gathering! Yeah this post is backdated by a few weeks, but better late than never right! haha.

On friday night, we went to meet those arriving from other states and we had dinner in this posh place called Kensington. To celebrate Jane and David Lee's birthday too. :) The atmosphere there was rather romantic and the food delicious! My carbonara-sort of pasta was yummy but it was too cheesy that I couldn't finish it in the end.

That night, we went back and some of us (namely the girls, Kee and me of coz!) started work on our Fudge Brownie. Coz it needs sometime to be chilled in the fridge first. I shall post up the recipe later up in this post k? By the time we finished, it was quite late ade. Half dead. x_x

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The next day, we rose early and Khee Chun brought us to this famous curry mee place in Seremban. It was some distance away but it was worth it. Word has it that this place is often packed with visitors so we're lucky that we arrived and ordered just b4 a throng of ppl appeared out of nowhere. haha.

Anyway, the difference btw this curry mee and others is that the gravy/soup is really genuine curry! And they are very generous with their servings too! For me, the best part was their "tau pok" (those spongy bits floating in the soup) coz when you put it in your mouth, it has this fragrant buttery taste and when you bite, all the soup accumulated inside fills your mouth.

I'm salivating just thinking abt it. Hey maybe I have a talent in food reviews after all! Didn't that sounded absolutely yummy? :P

After that, we went to have one of the last karaoke sessions in Greenbox! We started around 11 and finished around 3. It was fun, but seemed to be missing a few of the usual singing kakis! sigh.

Anyway by that time, us girls and Eugene who offered to help were pretty rushed for time coz we still needed to cook so much stuff for the dinner party that night! The rest of the afternoon was spent solely on cooking and catching up!

We had so much fun mashing potatoes, mixing pasta, frying nuggets (alamak had to experiment summore rmb? non-stick wok very hard to use), didnt we? :) The whole process took longer than we expected so we arrived abt half an hour late. But no matter la, due to msian time, some of the guests just arrived in time.

The only two cameras available died pretty early so only got 2 photos of the food. Forgot to take pics of the pasta!! Nvm, I shall make it again next time then show you guys okay? ^^

So this is the mashed potato, following Pui Fun's bro's recipe.

took pretty long to make but turned out very smooth, buttery and yummy!

would be nicer if we're able to make gravy though

Don't have pics of the pasta nevermind, I shall describe it to you. Li Yann and I copied it from the one of the pastas we tasted in Italinianies once hehe. Pretty successful imitation, I must say!

Just imagine pasta mixed with thinly slices pieces of apple, sprinkle in some sweet raisins and with a dressing of mayonaise and served chilled. When you eat the pasta, the perfect cold sweet taste of the apple and raisins lingers on your tongue and blends with the mild saltiness of the dressing. The result? Yummy-licious!

See? Told you I'm good at describing food eating haha! Anyone want me to review their restaurant? *wink wink*

Hopefully I'll be able to upgrade my cooking skills more when I get to aussie. :)

Before I digress more, the other foods available were nuggets (fried by us), kfc bucket, cordial drinks and vanila ice cream (contributed by the guys who didnt cook haha). Sounds delicious, right?

And now time to announce one of the main stars of the night!

*Tada* The lovely Fudge Brownie!

our sinfully sweet dessert

Taste especially good with vanila ice cream :)

I can sense this post is getting a bit too long so the recipe shall be in another post k? sorry! This picture I included as a teaser first k? hehe.

Okay enough abt how yummy the food is. we know. :P

Despite that not-so-little-hitch, I am still glad that some of my close friends were able to gather under one roof that night, enjoy dinner and talk together. (Though I must say, the topic of conversation has much to be desired for a party of coz)

I realised my previous notion of reliving the success of the previous surprise dinner party was naive. The people are slightly different. The activities are different. The feel is different. Even the time is different - 2 years later.

I think all I can do is hold close to my heart the memories of that night of fun and laughter. :) Of coz, who wudnt laugh when you remember the image of the 2 guys playing matrix ping pong? hehehe..

So.. the dinner party passed just like that. After months of planning. I guess age is catching up on us, coz we didn't stay up to play mahjong or chat the night away. Well we had been up and running since morning anyway.

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On sunday morning, Khee Chun brought us to this nice dim sum place. Lemme tell you, the dim sum is CHEAP!! The place was air-conditioned and we ate till our hearts' content (which is saying something as there were quite a lot of hungry guys in our group!) and each of us paid less than rm10! cool.

I like dim sum with yam.. oops too random ade. haha.

So after that very fulfilling brunch, I went back with the girls for some last catching up. Before Li Yann and Pui Fun goes back to KL. And Eugene then went back a few days later.

And thus that concludes our gathering. Hope there will be many more to come in the future! And hopefully more ppl will turn up please!!

Dinner Gang RAWRS!

(Btw can we find a better name please?)

Listen

I realised that what I have always wanted has always been that - an escape.

I know I said that a few months ago, but apparently some things do not change. Some things are IMPOSSIBLE to change.

Why do I even keep making these futile attempts?

It's like I am the child who plays with fire, who still foolishly continue to play with it, even though I know it's hot and will burn me.

Maybe I'm a coward for wanting to runaway. But I finally came to the realisation that sometimes, there are some things in life that can't be changed, no matter how much I try.

It's true the chinese proverb: "it is easier to change the landscape of a land, than to expect a person to change his character".

And the only thing one can do to make oneself happier is to put some distance between the negative thing and oneself.

People often use their own circumstances, their own experiences as a sort of measure - at times without even trying to put themselves in others' shoes.

Sometimes, all I want is someone who can understand and not judge me by what I'm saying. To listen to me with an open mind.

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I wrote that last night but couldn't post it up as something went wrong with the internet halfway.

Anyway, I think I've found someone who will really listen. :) Thank you for the nice FB message! You know who you are.

Now, I think I finally know why people often like to come to me with their problems. Coz I listen with an open heart and an open mind. I try my best to understand their situation and put myself in their shoes, and think "if it was me, how would I feel?"

If you keep judging people whenever others tell you their problems, they would not want to confide in you the next time. Coz what's the point?

It's easy to HEAR but not easy to LISTEN.

V-Day Gifts

Okay this post is like SUPER backdated (I mean it was during february this year ah!), but I was waiting patiently for the last photo ma.

Anyway, as I continue slowly photoshopping other photos and writing posts I long ago promised, here's a post featuring the V-Day gifts the bf and I gave each other! XD

So this is how he presented his gift to me!

sucha nice box, filled with hearts! <3

Guess what was in the box?? It's this!!

omg the lil octopus is just too cute for words! haha..

and you know what, you can use it to record a message!

press the red star to record, and the blue star for playback

Thank you, dear! =)

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Here's my prezzie to him.

what's in the envelope? *suspense suspense*

do you like how I decorated it? :)

Here's the back part.

okay nothing much, just to show off~ :P

Tada! Get ready and check out the gift!

yup it was a handmade puzzle, forgot to take pics when they were still in pieces

and I had so much fun watching him slowly piece them together!

To form the lovely picture below!

nice ah nice ah???

*jumps up and down*

I drew it from scratch leh!! and I coloured it using colours pencils! then cut it into puzzle bits hehe.

As you probably can guess, the picture signifies something that I hope will come true in the future. ^v^

And yah, here's the last picture!

I was waiting for him to get it framed!

Nice right? Can hang at home as a decoration ade leh..

haha maybe I have a talent in this :P

Okla, that's all for now. Thanks dear dear, for your gift and I hope you like yours as well. :)

And guys, maybe from this post, you can get more ideas on what to give to your other half for Valentine's day!

PS: If you are so kaypoh interested, here's how we celebrated V-Day this year.

Old-School Games

Finally got the influx of pics. Will slowly photoshop them before putting them up here k?

Anyway, in this post I wanna share with you guys some of the popular games I played during my childhood days. I'm refering to video games coz I grew up in an urban sort of environment so only had minimal experience of playing those traditional games (eh but I did play 'Iceman' wo? smtg like 'Fire & Ice' I think. and also jumping boxes drawn on the ground wan, what do you call it ah?)

Well, I'm sure those born in the 1980's (Generation Y!!) would probably have at least seen some of these before. It was the era of game consoles before the PlayStation started taking over the market.

And now, comparing them with the current ones, one can clearly see the difference in the advancement of technology. And start reminizing/laughing at how noob the old ones were, but dont play play le, in those days, they were the forefront of technology le!! And provided us kids with hours of endless fun =)

So do you remember this?

lol the way the penguins wobbled abt is so cute!

and this is not easy to play le, the floor alwix very slippery wan =/

How about this?

Road Fighters! omg I rmb getting hooked on this during primary 6

coz someone sneakily installed it in the comp labs :P

this is where I learn my driving skills from (no wonder they are almost nil lol)

Eh this next one not bad too! Needs good hand-eye-brain-coordination!

goal of the game is to manoveur the cat to avoid the mice while picking up the items!

I like bouncing the cat on the trampoline boink boink :P but be careful coz it'll break!

Okay the next one is a favourite of my sis. yah dont be surprised, even Generation Z kids might find these games interesting, even tho they have more high tech ones available now! haha..

I tried playing it too with her insistence, not bad woh.

very funny when u upgrade ur level from normal boxing gloves to a tank!

And this one I clearly rmb playing during my childhood, I quite like it somehow hehe..

Must bomb open all doors with a skull on it to get the keys or rescue a miniature fren.

of coz must avoid the rats and the fat gun-shooting uncles haha!

Okay I think the next one is funny. Still remember it?

first level you are supposed to tame a lion to jump thru all the fire hoops safely.

I think the next level you are supposed to walk on a tight rope and jump over chimps! >.<

For the next one, I don't think I played it before last time but my frenz did. and it was a shame, coz this one is really fun!!

I later only realised apparently can take things to throw at the stupid robot dogs!!

my sis loves this too, before that it was just a hassle having to try to avoid everything! now can throw ade lol

Next one is Battle City! I love the theme song in front!

needs a bit of decisive planning and quick action!

I remember playing this alot during the good ol' days~

And last but not least, the most classic of all old-school games. You at least shld be able to remember this!

one of my favs! Despite how it looks, it is not easy to play also haha..

you guys loved this too, right? Mao Xian Dao rawrs!!

oh no I think I used too many exclamation marks in this post!!! sry must be too excited ade :P

Guess where I got these cool games from? Yup, Zherlin was the one who gave it to me when I was in Seremban, he got it from his cousin, which got from someone else no doubt haha.

Many thanks to the original person who compiled the whole huge list of old games, some also I never see before le..

So now, I will have something to occupy my time during clinicals when I get fed up of studying! ^v^

PS: Anyone who wants it can ask from me, it's a small file only, so shld be quite easy to send to you guys =)

A Lil' Advice

It's hard to describe life here without going into specifics. Dirty laundry rule, rmb?

But really, it's no big wonder why I prefer to be elsewhere. I miss the carefree relaxed feeling of freedom. Without having to deal with unreasonable circumstances. But no worries, it ain't too far away now.

Seriously, with antics like his/hers, who needs enemies anyway?

Age is no measure of maturity.

After what I'd observed all these while, I've given up hope of affecting change. Now, it's up to yourself to change when you head out to face the realities of the outside world.

Don't gimme that crap about not needing friends. When you hvta do everything yourself, only you will know how important true friends are when your family is not around you.

It gets lonely outside if you are on your own.

And remember something, your friends don't owe you anything.

So what sort of ppl you choose to associate with and how you treat them in the long term will be what you get in return. If you treat ppl with cold suspicion and keep them at arm's length, don't be so surprised if they turn on you in the future. Coz what you reap is what you sow.

People who always think they are right are the hardest sort of people to change. Broaden your perspectives a little and start to think - maybe it's partially due to my own fault too? - instead of putting all the blame on others and walking off smugly.

With all that said, it is all up to you now. And since I can't do anything else, I rest my case.

PS: Please don't use your own experience to measure up with mine. It's always differs with individuals' circumstances... you'll never know unless you've been in the person's shoes. Or at least know what shoe size the person is wearing, so to speak.

Get Prepared

Clickety click.

Yup, that's how I spent most of today. (actually most of other days too :P) But at least I can claim that all my clicking today is 'fruitful research' in the name of preparation for life in aussie.

Anyway, thanks to Debbi's recommendation, finally there is a site where I can get answers to some of the burning questions that needed to be answered. I am sure some of my batchmates heading to oz will find this useful too.

Here's the link to the forum where malaysians that are in australia currently give tips to those who are going to study there in the future.

Granted, there is quite alot of crap talking in between the pages, but hey, you always gotta sieve through dirt to hit gold haha. That's like about 90+ pages of sieving and still counting btw. I am @.@ like this now lol.

They have quite some useful information there like phone services, internet service providers, how to approach things financially there (apparently bank drafts are the way to go!), airlines etc.

Though I've yet to see anything abt shipping services. Anyone have any suggestions on which shipping service to go for? I've tried searching those so-called reliable services' websites. And I've no idea how their sites work at all!! How user-unfriendly can it get? bah.

And there's this site that tells me for my parents to send me a 25kg package (my medical books VERY heavy lar!! need to save the luggage space for clothes and others ma) cost rm10000 plus? Wth? It can't be true right, there must be some error on my part while entering the info. I hope. *gulps* Le sigh.

Oh ya, if you guys have any info on studying/living in perth (any info at all!), please share it with me okie? ^v^ That would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

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Besides trawling about in the cyberworld, when I get bored of looking at lines and lines of words, guess what? I started watching cooking videos on YouTube. Well, no harm in being more prepared right?

I'd learnt a few dishes during life in vista, but after reaching aussie, will need to cook almost everyday - so yeah, better to learn more of those simple chinese dishes - so that we can save time/money, have more variety and especially when we start missing the food at home :P

I love cooking. It's just that preparation and washing up really take up a lot of time. aikz.

Anyway, here's one of the videos that's quite nice. Straight to the point, easy and looks yummy. the guy is good.

how to make steamed pork and chinese cabbage

Rest And Relax

Yeap I'm back again in penang. Just got back from Kelantan yesterday.

The family trip was not too bad, it was as much fun as you could have in a place like Kota Bahru. To do it justice tho, I must say, the place was more developed than I imagined. The last time I was there was like 5 or 6 years ago, so a lot of development must have happened in the past few years.

Wei, the place now also have traffic jams le!! dont play play haha.. sry too jakun ade >.<

Uncle Chew and his whole family are a very friendly bunch, easy to talk to. Thank you for belanja-ing us all the nice food there! ^^ And for bringing us around for sightseeing.

I'll blog abt the food/places of interest when I get the pics from my bro. (I seemed to be saying that alot eh? How come I dont get the pics wan..?)

Some of you might be wondering what am I up to now? Hmm let's see. Back to the old holiday lifestyle. Chill and relax, man.

I shall get the rest I need these few days. Seremban has deprived me of some proper rest! Which in all foresight, shall be the case when I start clinicals. If only I could store lots of sleep now then use it later when I'm desperately needing it..!! lol.

But after experiencing life in seremban (especially the exhaustion omg!!) and seeing how the others study so, I really must start mentally and physically prepare myself for life in clinicals.

Am not sure abt the physical part - do push-ups and force myself to tahan heat so I don't get any vasovagal attacks? - okay maybe that is pushing it a bit lol. Mentally, wow I must say, quite a bit of the knowledge that should be there is already gone from me brain, luckily I acquired some new bits and pieces while in Sban, haha.

Well, I probably shld start gaining some momentum in studying again once I had rested enough. Hopefully the procastinator in me won't win again!

Okay time for more beauty sleep! :P nites!

Goodbye Again

As you read these words, I'm already back in penang.

Would have like to do a scheduled post but just couldn't find the time to squeeze it in yesterday. With the clock ticking away, every minute was precious.

Anyway, the realisation that the month-long trip was over hit me hard yesterday morning. I think before that, I was in denial - I chose to focus on what the remaining few days ahead had to offer instead of mulling over the remaning hours.

But yesterday morning, when I forced myself to awaken from slumber (omg hospital hours are so early), I suddenly realised: "I am going home tomorrow."

The thought shook me up. That entire day was tinged with sadness.

Anyway, I just wanna say a big thanks to all the lovely people who made my visit here a wonderful memorable one. It was great to see all of you again. =) And Dear, I feel happy that we created many more memories together. Simple but fun. thank you.

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I realised I am not getting any better at goodbyes. In fact, come to think of it, I think I'm getting suckier at it.

It was so so difficult to say goodbye to my close friends and my dear dear especially. I think the one thing I hate about this trip is that I have to say goodbye all over again. I know there's another one coming up next year when I leave for australia. I wonder if I'll be able to take it then.

But for now - come what may, I must take it in my stride.

My friends tell me to be strong and spend my last holidays with my family fruitfully. I must try not to miss them too much, coz one day I'll be able to see them again.

When there is a will, there is a way, right? =)

For now, let me slowly acclimatized myself to life back home. without friends around me. I know I can do it, coz I did it before - slowly but surely.

G'nite.

PS: Will be on a family trip to kelantan for the next 3 days. Expect more regular updates after that coz I'll be back to my very free holiday state. Cya then.

Recharged

Had finally recharged! It's certainly been a hectic few days.

Let's see. The bf and I went out on a nice date on saturday and guess where we went? Shogun!! Thank you for belanja-ing me, dear =D

We went to try the one in Sunway. Our verdict is that it's not bad. The sushi there were wrapped so beautifully, tempting me to try them! haha.. I tried a little of almost everything. But regret that I didn't eat more tempura. Was sidetracked by other food lol.

Oh ya, the varieties are slightly different that the one in 1-U but then the first and last time I went there was almost 2 years ago, so maybe many things have changed. Don't have the cod fish cheese fusion I was looking forward to!! =(

Luckily they have this soft-shelled cheese mayo soft crab. But only managed to finish 1 coz I need to save more stomach space for others haha!

It was good that this time we didn't overeat. Health is more important! Cannot be too kiamsiap/kiasu anymore :P

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Supposed to meet up with Liyann and Puifun at 1-U on sunday but in the end, only Funfun turned up. Poor Liyann couldnt make it last minute. (I shall not divulge more here - unless she wants to tell more herself? :P)

Anyway, we went to this nice place to have lunch. It was called Cafe 1920 and lemme tell you, their cheesy foods are heavenly!

We shared this chicken lasagna called Tambollini or something like that lol and omg, it's really sinfully delicious! I said sinfully coz there's a lot of oil and cheese in it haha. Imagine soft pieces of chicken in between thin pieces of pancakes, topped with baked cheese. Yum yum.

And their little slices of cakes are really nice too! Different from those by secret recipe, certainly worth a try!

Okay better stop talking abt food. My stomach is grumbling now. haha..

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Yesterday I literally spent the whole day in hospital + library. Clerked some patients again in the morning (wah a lot of cancer cases le..) and then pseudo-studied in the library in the afternoon. I said pseudo study coz it was more like sleeping very uncomfortably (lots of compressed nerves!!) on the hard tables. I didn't want to but I was just so tired..

Then went on-call in the A&E at night. Saw an emergency scope done and omg, the poor lady had massive UGIT bleed! so much that it formed a huge clot..

And a poor premature baby that had vomittus blocking its nose, causing apnea. It looked so tiny and fragile, that my heart couldn't help going out to it. sigh.

And that was it for the whole night - the more interesting cases. I guess ti was an untypically quiet night eh.

I was already feeling like a zombie during the shift. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation setting in. =/ My brain was chugging at a very slow rate.

How do doctors here do 36 hours of work straight??? It's really unhealthy and would you want to get treated by a doctor that has been working for godknowshowmanyhours and probably cant think straight? Something really needs to be done abt this.

I wonder, is the workload in Aus medical schools as heavy as the ones in Msia? If so, I better prepare myself to get addicted to coffee! And acclimatized myself to less sleep and more energy! oh noes..

Sometimes, I wonder what did I get myself into.

But then when you see the patients smilling at you - happy that you spent some time talking to them - all the tiredness just melt away, and you feel happy that you've made their lives a bit better. Just a bit, because I'm a lousy medical student who knows nothing (it's a relative thing actually, not that I really know nothing), but a bit is better than nothing.

And sometimes what medical students can offer are the most precious of all - their time, sympathy and sincere care - things that sometimes doctors can't help but lack in giving.

I'm not blaming them, they are really overworked. When you are at the verge of dying of exhaustion yourself, you find that it gets more difficult and difficult to really care. If you don't believe it, you haven't try it yourself.

Anyway, I still have 3 years to go, since I can't do anything but advance ahead, then I must just do my best to get that degree. But I must not forget why I am doing this while in pursuit of the goal.

This quote summarizes it nicely. Why are we in the healthcare?

To cure sometimes, to relief often, to comfort always.

And yeah, I know, what a lot of hard work, sweat and tears just to get that extra 2 letters in front of your name.

In The Midst

After the previous negative post, let's get back on track. I just noticed that my hits have been suffering dreadfully due to a lack of (interesting) posts in the recent weeks.

What to do, I foresee less time to recollect my thoughts here when I start clinicals in 2 months' time. omg, that's not much time left actually!

When I get back to penang, I must start the arduous process of agonizing over what stuff to pack and what not to. Only 25kg baggage allowed. =( But yay, starting clinicals also means I get to buy some new formal clothes!

Yes coz before this, sadly I only have a handful (yes you actually can count using fingers) of clothes that are deemed passably 'formal'. I wanna buy some of those nice comfy clothes that looked so professional on some of my frenz here!! Yeah can't hide under that white coat anymore coz apparently we are not needed to wear one there!

Oh ya, I probably need to hunt for a pair of super comfy almost flat shoes that are really "meant for walking" haha. And I think I'll probably still get aching feet from all that standing/walking. Really salute to those few who can still wear 3 inch heels to the wards. I saw a few rare specimens, ya know. :P

After much thought, finally bought the Oxford handbook of Clinical Specialities, many thanks to Suewen's mum for getting it for me from Kamal. =) Now still pondering on whether should I buy the Churchill's pocketbook of Surgery. Coz I saw my frenz using it, and borrowed it for some browsing and it seemed pretty useful and best of all, straight to the point. Price is reasonable too.

I think buying the medical books here plus the shipping cost is still cheaper than buying it straight in Aus right?

Okay, enough rambling for now. The library's aircon is certainly a god-sent in this hot weather! lol.

PS: Clerked some patients with my frenz today. Felt kinda sad to see some of the patients' conditions. sigh.

Egoistic Hypocrite

In case you were wondering what happened to me, I am back here again!

Have been really busy for the past few days and didn't go near the computer at all. serious! haha.

So the gathering came and gone. in a flash. I barely was able to catch my breath.

If you ask me how was it, I'd say I'm happy that some of us managed to make it for the gathering and it's nice to able to sit together and enjoy a yummy dinner together... but (it sounded like there was a 'but' coming right?) I must say, I am a tad disappointed with what happened to the post-dinner entertainment slot. I've been looking forward so much to it, and although it looks easy, I really took quite some effort to plan the gathering.

Oh well, I've no one to blame but myself. Who asked me to be soft-hearted. I shall not say more.

Okay maybe just this. I hate negative limelight hoggers who thinks the world revolves around their freaking damn huge egos. And fail to see that the very weaknesses they frequently expound in others are freakingly obvious in their ownselves. Damn hypocrite.

I have always thought my opinion of him/her was a bit biased and tried being nice to him/her, but most of the time, my efforts were met with rude baseless retorts.

What?! I am too lowly for your attention now issit???

After this time, I am not gonna revise my opinion of you anymore. you can keep on living in your own tiny world filled with self-worshiped godly images of yourself. Someone else can have the honour of pricking your bubble. See if I care, hah, so there.

I can go on and on. With vulgarities even. But I think that shall suffice. so glad to keep it off my chest.

And you know what, I don't even CARE if the person in question reads this. (but I can bet he/she wont, coz hey, they can't see past anything besides themselves right?)

Wow, can't believe this turned into a whole-hearted rant. Well, since this is sucha negative post so I shall leave it at that. The whole weekend round-up will be in a separate post and when I get the pictures!

PS: If you still can't guess, yeah I am well again. Of coz lar, can still rant abt people summore woh. What you think? But really thanks to those who wished me well. :)

Self Clerking

I know I haven't been blogging much lately due to a lack of interesting topics. But but! I have a valid reason for the past few days.

I have been sick since monday. =(

The past 3 days were spent mostly in bed. Yes literally. I started with abdominal discomfort (and a bit of nausea) on monday, which was still bearable.

Then I had a really uncomfortable sleep that night due to the emergence of generalized body ache. And it lasted the whole of tuesday, only becoming worse. And don't forget the headache and slight fever that had to add into the fray then. The aches/fever were relieved by panadol but came back after the drug effect wore off. sigh.

And I tot I was slightly better yesterday morning, manatau both the abdominal discomfort AND the body aches came to say hi again yesterday afternoon. And my abdomen felt like super bloated. arggh.

Now it's thursday. Am feeling much better. But am keeping my fingers crossed. Still don't feel like eating much as there's still some residual nausea.

Am desperately hoping that I'll be at 100% full health by tomorrow evening! Coz the gang is coming down to seremban! Have been looking forward to this since like.. forever?

Speaking of the gathering, well I feel kinda sad that quite a few couldn't make it!! Oh no, it doesn't really feel like a reunion now, does it? sigh sigh.

Anyway, hope that does who can make it will enjoy themselves to the max then. =)

PS: yah I know this post isn't up to my usual standard. the wording is incredibly harried and whatever. Spare me pls, this is one ill blogger here.