Labour Of Love: Part IV

And here comes another post abt my new found love of cooking! ^v^ I've included some macroshots as well, coz omg, food never looked this good with it!

Be warned to not read this post on an empty stomach! :P

Let's roll, shall we?

First up is stir fried bean sprouts.

carrots go well with anything, seriously.

told you macroshots make things look better!

Next up is a creamy pasta.

I used the three cheeses sauce from the bottle lah.. yum yum.

another proof that carrots go well with this as well!

I'm going to get hypercarotenemia eh? lol.

Thirdly, malaysian style curry chicken!!

am so in love with this

I'm gonna be able to satisfy all my curry cravings from now on :P

that's right, I just used the packets available - really simple

I will try the other flavours next time!

And next up is something that I decided to try coz I had a tofu craving... yeah I know, been having cravings for food that reminds me of home aikz.

And eating out here in Perth is so expensive that it's ridiculous! And sometimes the asian food is weird as well. Been angmoh-nized lol.

Tofu with mushrooms!

absolutely yummylicious! Recipe can be found here for ppl who are interested.

yeah I adore shitake mushrooms!

And miss eating all the different dishes of tofu back home *salivates* haha

And last but not least!! One of my star dishes currently is...

Sweet and Sour chicken! Yup that's right!

I had a craving the other day and voila, whipped up this according to this recipe (I substituted pork with chicken tho)

And lemme tell you, it tastes exactly like back home! Now I know how they make it back home nyehehe..

Aren't the play of colours just pretty? :D

I'm sure there will be more new dishes to comes when I've more energy and am bored of eating the same old thing again. I'm adventurous like that, can't keep doing the same thing everyday :P

Till then, do enjoy trying out these dishes as well! Hope it gives you guys who are cooking often an idea on what to try next! :)

That Thing Called Exam

I'm back! Did you guys miss me? Probably not! What with my dwindling readership...

What! My life not interesting enough for you now lah har?

haha okok kidding lar. I know all my friends are all very busy busy lo. Gambate to everyone in seremban who are gonna have their major exams soon!!

Speaking of exams, I just finished mine last thursday. Verdict? Different and difficult. They asked abt genes, percentages/statistics and weird obscure stuff. =(

Pathology was quite hard and I don't like how they just splatter out lab results without clinical history at all and expect you to diagnose what's wrong. o.O And other questions they just churn out minor details from the notes (which I forgot the details btw!) which have no relation whatsoever to the stem info and expect you to choose which is right or wrong! A doctor I used to know would say: "No clinical correlation!!" lol.

The silliest bit was the part where they just gave us 10 image based Qs and just expect us to diagnose what is it just like tat. yes macroscopic pics. Which basically means memorizing from the images available, coz tell me lah, how can you diagnose what sort of cancer is it without biopsy or what? -_-

Pharmacology wasn't easy either. So many drug-drug interactions to memorize but then they must put in some which are not in the notes. How to rmb lah, so many interactions in the whole wide world!! aiya zhong ji difficult lar, duwan talk abt it d! (actually is my memory slowly fading abt that lol)

Last one was Infectious Diseases. [yaloh, all my unfavourite topics, man - thanks a bunch] This wasn't so bad. At least I knew where I was going with some of the Qs. And I could answer some antibiotics Qs!! *light shines on me lol* but still hvta guess for some. But can safely say my knowledge abt antibiotics have improved immensely compared to last time. Now just hope that knowledge won't leak out coz I'm gonna need it again end of this year. and yeah maybe rest of my life =/

Anyway, so that's it about the exam. Just want a clear pass for all three! That's all! (wow my expectations certainly have lowered)

We didn't do anything really crazy this time post exam - I think we all old ade lar, just wanted to relax after exam lol. Was so nice to take a break and have a weekend where I didn't need to think or worry abt anything!

We had some great italian food on friday night but I'll post up the pics later coz we exceeded our peak internet quota this month so gotta wait till tonite midnight and the speed will be renewed again! oops.

And yeap, I'm in psych now and I think I shall leave it till there are a bundle of interesting things to write about in my next post.

Tata for now! Gotta read up about mood disorders for pbl tomorrow!

Pre-Exam

Exam tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck!

First time finished studying 1st round the day before. *gape in amazement* But probably because I sailed thru certain parts coz I got annoyed with some of the meticulous details we were supposed to remember?

Anyway, I've forgotten a lot of the stuff I have studied T_T so yeah, I better have a quick run through again. And maybe try to memorise those stoopid details last minute. >.<

Ok lah, update more after the exam! Can't wait! I hope it goes well. A bit nervous coz dunno how their exams here are like. =/ Tata for now!

PS: Good luck to the sban peeps having exams this week as well!

A Lifetime Of Memories

I've been wanting to write this post for a long long time. But somehow, I find it hard to put into words the feelings I want to convey.

And the importune time when those feelings usually arrive make it harder to revisit them when I'm ready to string them into sentences.

Anyway, suffice to know, the memories, the feelings in this post has been sliding in and out of my mind; sometimes eerily taking shape, sometimes in formless substance.

They come at times when the mind is idle. The phrase "the idle mind is the devil's workshop" is no hearsay.

They come when I'm taking the public transport, with nothing to distract my mind with except observing the behaviour of my fellow passengers - which I must report, I have no real interest in - hence how my mind wanders back to the past.

They come at those moments just before the mind shuts down for sleep. Everything is quiet and still. You can hear your own breathing, feel your heart pumping inside your chest. And so your mind strays to the memories of the days long gone.

Till now, I can't believe, it has hardly been a year since we said our goodbyes to each other in that dear ol' place called IMU.

It seems like a lifetime ago.

It wasn't exactly a spectacular place, with the unfortunate connotation as used to being a site of a failed supermarket. Oh but the life we breathed into that place!

Memories come aflashing by.

Do you remember how we pulled off that famous hokkien rendition and almost brought the house down? And a particular lecturer was in raptures. :P

Do you remember all the trips we have together been to? Penang, Langkawi and Redang. The latter was the best of all. The snorkelling, the volleyball and most of all, the people. :)

Do you remember the weekends when we hung out together? Whether it was some high class resturant, or some dingy kopitiam, the best part of it was that we could laugh and enjoy our food together. It was especially the highlight of my day then when the rest of the time all we could do was mug.

Do you remember the library? Cold and chilly as it was, it was one of the places that warmed my heart dearly when we were all forcing ourselves to sit down and study all day. Coz we could always just turn around, and kacau the friend sitting next to us reading his/her notes intently.

Do you remember the numerous surprise birthdays celebrations we pulled off for each other? It was always a cause for celebration. There was the time we had the one by the poolside in vista B. And by the end, almost everyone already had a turn in the pool :P

Do you remember how we were frantically trying to catch up with the superspeed mind and mouth of certain lecturers? Trying to write down as much as we can, then when there is some time, to steal it and ask the one beside you: "Hey did you get what he say about this part ah?"

Do you remember how we managed to pull of cooking that massive amount of spaghetti for some event that I can't even remember the name now? We swore we wouldn't be able to look at spaghetti for weeks! haha.

Do you remember the countless times we sat down at the mamak and the other person could tell what the other wanted to order from the boss. "Maggi goreng tambah telur, dua, abang!" And let's not even go into the content we talked about while we were in the mamak. Suffice to know, it covered everything from medical to downright personal. :P

Do you remember the songs we sang together at one of our favourite places, Greenbox, where there is food and freeflow drinks? We could even tell who was the one tat had chosen the song that was coming up next on the screen.

Do you remember the dinners we suffered thru together? Anticipating good food today from the caterers and complaining together when it was lousy? While some people crowded together in front of the tv to catch the chinese drama that was ongoing, some hung out and started arguing about certain aspects of diseases/drugs or whatnots.

I could go on and on.. while scenes from the past slowly flashed past...

but I really can't believe all this happened just a few years ago.

Cause to me now, it seems like a lifetime away. Out of reach and almost impossible to touch. Like mist. Something that you can see but you can never touch.

It will never be the same again.

All we have will be just memories to last us a lifetime.

Love To Save

I have found another excuse (albeit a noble one, I must say) to blog. *procastinate*

Jokes aside, it is this. Digi is going to donate 5 dollars each if you go to this site Digi - Love To Save, choose a cause (be it Medical, Nature or Social) and enter your email to register.

And voila, with such simple a task, you would have donated 5 dollars to a worthy cause! And you can't even say no money coz it's not even your money! :P

Hope you will take just 5 mins (maybe even less, if you are agile enough :P) of your time to help a worthy cause! :)

Exercise

Guess what? I had been very diligently going jogging once a week for 5 weeks already! I must say, I'm quite proud of myself. As I used to be quite a typical sedentary medical student hahaha..

Of coz, my stamina is not excellent, that's why I hvta slow down and rest between intervals. But I can slowly feel some gradual tiny improvement so that's good. :)

Why am I doing this? Well besides the obvious reasons of health (I need more exercise!!), I was hoping I would be able to keep the fat at bay too lol. I feel perpetually hungry here (not sure whether izzit becoz of the cold) but I scared of getting fat lah!! Cannot be like imu times, just eat and let it grow fat haha.

(omg I miss maggi goreng so much... ajimal's maggi goreng the best!! T_T)

If I would to give one more reason, it would be I'm kinda lonely bored here so I'm treating this like a project. Gives me something to concentrate on. A goal of sorts. So I don't think about other things too much..

Oh and do you know that actually you feel more alert after exercise? Not more tired as most people would think. I hope that would help me in my studies somehow. haha.

Might add in some other exercises as well... to tone up all this flabby fats. =/ Hope I would be able to see through this project of mine.

I think this is one of the stages in my life that I'm having sucha healthy lifestyle. Lots of vege, fruit, less meat and some exercise! wow. *amazed with myself lol*

End Of Gen Surg

Finally! I found the leisure of my mind to sit down and pen a more proper update instead of bombarding you all with humour-saturated sites or love-mushy videos. lol.

Anyway, so today was the third last day of my surgery posting (hmm sounds weird, 3rd last day but you know what I mean, don't you) and cliche as it sounds, I can't believe how fast 8 weeks just whizzed past!!

So far, it's the best posting I had so far, was fortunate to have fabulous teaching from a great team who were encouraging. Oh and my groupmates are the loveliest ppl ever. :) I learnt tons in these 8 weeks! I saw stuff that was just mind-blowing.

I got to know what the roles of different members in a team do. And most importantly, I now know a little more abt what is expected of a junior doctor. Gotta slowly inch towards that goal of being a competent doctor. Coz I really don't want to look like a fool who have to ask what CXR stands for after at least 3 yrs in clinicals. true story apparently. :P

My current record for procedural skills stand at: 2 catheters (M & F), 2 cannulas and 20 bloods! Which I'm quite happy with. I just love the adrenaline buzz of getting something like tat right. lol am hooked on it.

Oh and today was my turn to present the afternoon ward round. I did so much better compared to last time. Although there is room for improvement (ie be more smooth in oral presentation) but at least there's improvement so I'm glad. :)

Did I tell you abt the neurosurgery I saw last week? It was removal of a more aggressive recurrent meningioma. Pretty cool. And I can't believe they use screwdrivers, drills and what-nots in the head!! haha reminds me of carpentry! And drilling a burr hole is really the same, there are small bits that fly off!

I also like the emergency side of things. I like going with the team when they go to review patients in ED. It's interesting to try to figure out the diagnosis. haha might keep in view emergency as an option in the future!

The only regret I have is that I didn't have enough opportunity to take more histories and do more examinations. We're always rushing off to another tutorial, another operation, clinic etc. Endless things to do. Oh well, I'm pretty sure we will get more than enough chances in Gen Med.

Anyway, after this, there is a one week break which they kindly term as "vacation" but is so totally not coz it is essentially a study break as there are exams coming up!! I better start crackin down on them soon coz some are them are really marfan (ie shitty) and I'm really slow when it comes to reading lecture notes. My brain just don't like processing them >.<

After this week break, my next rotation will be... guess what? Psychiatry!!

I learnt a lot in surgery but I think I'm ready to move on to something new. And this will definitely be a whole new ballgame surely. Definitely will be all about taking histories lol.

Okay!! That should suffice as a proper update. Up to you guys punya expectations ka?

EDIT: Decided to add in this picture since it's related.

these are my general surgery teammates - lovely ppl :)

L-R: Evan, Ian, Tom, Emma and Me!

haha yes, don't crack any height difference jokes.

I know I'm vertically challenged (in the lacking department) and they are all on average quite tall. lol.

General surgery is over!! time to stop procastinating and start cracking on those notes T_T

Love Story

Hi guys, I promise a proper update coming up soon, but before that, please watch these two short clips shot by Wong Fu Productions.

A very cute innocent love story. I likey~ :)

HK - Dream Line (prequel)

The Spare (sequel)

PS: I normally don't do monthly anniversaries but since this matches the videos very well, here goes: Happy 29th month anniversary, dear dear! ^v^