Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone, and may all your Christmas wishes come true!
Happy birthday to Jesus too! haha..

Macquarie Island

Macquarie is a sub-Antarctic island about 1500 kilometres south of Tasmania and a critical breeding ground for seabirds, including four endangered species of albatross, and delicate plant systems. It also serves as a unique geological snapshot of the world's evolution, a record of life.

Over recent years, the rabbit population has increased massively, and their tunnelling and overgrazing is resulting in poor soil integrity, and consequently, land -and hill- slides that are killing king penguins and destroying albatross nests. The rapidly growing rat and mice population is also consuming penguin and bird eggs, causing a fast decline in their numbers.

The Tasmania environment minister and international World Heritage committee from the World Wildlife Fund is pledging to put resources into training hunting dogs and placing other measures to counter the growing rodent and rabbit problem on the island.

As much as I support the concerns mankind has for the ecosystem, I believe that intervention to preserve endangered species only serve to make them... more endangered. Protecting a species under attack by a predator or hostile environmental condition (the landslides, flash floods etc) distrupts the course of nature, and prevents evolution and natural selection from taking place. Once the rabbits/rats/mice have been taken care of, the birds that develop natural defences against these predators, like having eggs with stronger shells, will not be selected for. These birds will only be able to inhabit that island, and will not survive if they try to move to another habitat.

Evolution is an on-going process. Everything moves forward. Change is inevitable and necessary.

Which is why I believe the quest to become immortal is a futile one because immortality is an irony.

Once man becomes immortal, he will be constant and stagnant. Evolution will progress without him, leaving him susceptible to the wrath of nature.

More of what happened...

Here's more about what's been happening the past few months. In November, the World Youth Day Cross stopped by in Adelaide for a weekend, and was carried around the city during a procession to celebrate it's stop-over, before it travelled on to Melbourne the following week. World Youth Day will be held in Sydney next year, with the pope and youths from all around the world converging for a wonderful week of prayer and activities.




One foggy September morning was so misty, I couldn't see ten meters beyond me! Visibility was so bad, I was like a deaf bat wandering around at night without his echo locator. *beep beep beep bbzzzzzzzzzz*








Actually, bats do have perfect vision, some with the ability to detect UV light, as well as very good sense of smell. Some insects have developed defense mechanisms against the echolocation abilities of bats. The moths Noctuidae have a hearing organ called a tympanum which responds to an incoming bat signal by causing the moth's flight muscles to twitch erratically, sending the moth into random evasive manoeuvres. Tiger moths send out ultrasonic waves that confuse the bats' signals, and to warn them that the moths are poisonous. Pretty cool.



And it's important to remember:

Stealing is a leading cause of all cancers!

Back!!

I'm back! After half a year of fun and adventure in Adelaide, the gradual transition from frosty weather with chilly winds, to warm sunny days that enjoy sunshine till as late as 9pm (main cause of skin basal cell carcinoma) is very much welcomed. Sorry for the long absence! Seeing how I'm pretty free during this summer holidays, I'm going to be writing much more often!

Here's a little summary of what's been going on the past few months...

My birthday in August was celebrated by the Singapore Association committee at a steamboat restaurant along Gouger Street

and look, they bought me a really delicious chocolate cheesecake!

Leighton's birthday was next, and his Raffles house organised a party for him with a plethora of wine, liquer and spirits! (Notice the Tiger T-shirt! - that alcoholic)
It was flags day one afternoon, and Med school organised volunteers to wear scrubs and released them to prowl the streets of Rundle for kind charitable people to donate money towards cancer research for the Hanson institute, and I was one of them! Don't I look so cool in blue scrubs :p


City to Bay run was next, taking place on a nice cool Sunday morning. Tens of thousands of people from all over the city gathered at North Terrace to run/jog/walk to Glenelg beach for a total distance of 12km. I improved by 4 mins compared to last year, but it's still too slow! I'm going to train harder for next year's run!



Just before the September break, Med school international student reps organised an Internation Food Fiesta, featuring stalls that cooked up a feast of delicacies from all over the world! There was a sushi stall (their sashimi was tasty!), italian stall that made pasta, greek stall making yiros, and of course, there's the Singaporean stall, and we made satay and mee goreng. Hans, Eugene and I spent nearly 10 hours in total marinating, cutting, skewering the meat onto satay sticks, (--literally sweat blood food--) but it was all worth it when we became the first stall to sell out! Our satays were so popular, people kept coming back for more!! (*refer to tempting mouth watering pic below)




One of my coursemates, Ruhui, showed me an amazing level in the Schulz Building reserved for music students to practice. It had several rooms, each occupied with a grand or baby grand piano, and sometimes two in a room! The rooms were on the 7th floor, and had a great view over the city, so I took a landscape photo of it!





This is Bee and me.. she looks quite pretty in this photo! and she's wearing that nice shawl I gave her.


Eugene's birthday celebration coincided with our mooncake festival dinner, where we had a BBQ, savoured sausages and lamb chops, and played with lanterns like the little children we used to be. In the end, many of them caught fire (some more purposefully than accidental). I made a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake which was sinfully creamy and absolutely heavenly (wahaha talk about ego).




In October, Eugene, Shaan, Kristin, Myintzu and I went for Josh Groban's one-night-only concert in Adelaide Entertainment centre! It was an amazing night as the baritone charmed the entire audience with his captivating voice and romantic ballads. It was quite expensive, but thoroughly worth it!!

Look it's Josh Groban!!

Below is us when we dressed up for a steamboat dinner at my place, where we treated ourselves to a seafood feast of oysters, sashimi, scallops. We dance, we sang, and we watched the season finale of Dr Who Season 2 -- pure action and suspense! It was a magical night.

On the last day of school before our study week and the subsequent exams, the AMSS (med school's student association) organised a champagne breakfast at the park opposite Uni footbridge, where we gathered to devour bacon and eggs like the hungry med students we were, and skoll champagne like the drunk australians they were! I had a few too, and it was great going to the last PBL session for the year tipsy. If you notice below, I'm sure most of them are drunk (except me of course, the most sober, clear headed looking guy in the pictures)

There's Simran in top R, my PBL mate for this semester. My housemates Eugene and Gau are bottom R.Kudnarto! Bleh I look so stupid in the photo.
Leighton and Tom are in top L, and Sara's top R. She looks really sweet.


There are too many people to name, and this isn't Facebook. I'll try to name as many as I can the next time I post photos.

Exams came and went, with statistics, our most feared topic, running rampant in our MCQ/Short Answer Questions paper, shaking our faith in our ability to obtain that elusive A. Resource was extremely tricky, with me screwing up many questions, just because I couldn't see those *#%@ obscure Teniae Coli, and identified the large intestine as small instead. MEQ had Multiple Myeloma: need I say more.

I'm currently doing a research attachment at the immunology lab in the molecular sciences building, involving rat surgery, magnetic beads, and fluorescing antibodies - Sounds exciting, but no, it's not a James Bond movie.
I'll write more about that next time.

Immunity

Immunity has been relocted to http://immunity2.blogspot.com. It can also be found on the left hand column, just above the Tag Board.

Thanks!

AMSA Convention 2007

Convention was a super fantastic event, with wonderful talks and speeches in the mornings by many really inspirational people, such as Cunxin, one of the top ballet dancers in the world, Tim Cooper, Chief brewer from Cooper's (one of the owners too!), Helen Caldicott, an extremely convincing woman who swayed us to see the banes of nuclear power, Sally Cockburn, a captivating media personality who tries to increase public awareness of medical matters, Duncan Chessel, twice Everest conqueror and avid extreme sports adventurer.

The speakers entertained, captivated and dazzled us with their life-stories and amazing experiences (especially CunXin, who grew up in severe poverty-stricken conditions). Like Helen Caldicott, who is working internationally and trying to pursuade governments such as the US and Australian government regarding the detrimental effects nuclear power has on our environment and health, they inspired and truly moved us with their passion.

They had workshops too, and I went for a suturing one, where I practiced my sewing on a pig's trotter (without the attached pig).

The night events were fascinating and exciting, with 5 costume parties (I went for 3), a day of wondering around Rundle, savouring the tantalising delights of cusine from all over the world, and a gala ball, which was a strictly black tie event.

Themes of the costume parties included a night at the cabaret with Moulin Rouge, a night of can-cans, bohemian styles and french flamboyance.

Dressing up was really fun, and Bee made me a handsome looking bow-tie (I'm still really impressed at how she did it). Everyone wore top-hats, feather boas, lacy skirts, garters and more.

The next night was African Safari, a night of tribal and wildlife splendor, with people dressed up as animals (yes, there were guys with weird giraffe-head plush toys, crocodile headmask, and other weird stuff), tribal warriors, hunters (me:p), and more!

Bee came for this party! She looks really pretty in her leopard outfit and facepaint! And we had fun dancing to the not-so-nice-techno-music-because-techno-is-hard-to-dance-to-and-is-really-annoying-if-they-play-it-for-four-hours-at-a-go-like-how-they-did-at-this-party music.

Magic school Bus was a night of reminiscence, brining us back to our school days of cheer leaders, wild aspirations, and strict teachers. Weirdly enough, I saw a 'Borat' at every event starting from Moulin Rouge - a guy in borat's bright lime green swimsuit, a very daring costume (and indecent too!).

The last night was a Gala Ball, which was circus-themed. We had a gala dinner at the convention centre, with free-flow of white and red wine, champagne, beer, dancing clowns, juggling stiltwalkers, and a funky jazz-band providing live music.

Next year's Convention will be held in Melbourne. Am really interested to go!

IMMUNITY

(Just a note, the Immunity story will be continued somewhere else, just click on the link at the left column above the tag box. Thanks!)

Immunity (3)

Andrew was annoyed. Pissed, you might call it, but say it too loudly and the whole node gets jittery, thinking that Waste management department in the Urinary sector is under attack. Piss! It's called urine! Argh. Why couldn’t they have better names for things around here? Just like their transportation system - he thought subway, or train network would sound more pleasant, but no, they had to call it blood and lymph vessels. It didn’t even sound right.

He now turned his attention to his communication-link. Comm-links were very useful devices, he mused. All you had to do was take it out, wave it around, and it could receive incoming messages by detecting chemicals in the fluid around you. Messages came from different frequencies or channels - the chemokines, lymphokines and cytokines to name a few. The link would list out details about the message, such as it’s origin and what it meant, in an organized and concise manner. That’s what you call technology.

Not the ludicrous new standard issue blaster they issue to macrophages - the NO-2000, that ridiculous piece of junk CAN'T be technology. This latest appendage to leukocyte fashion has an ‘exciting’ function that allows it to induce miniature portals in the walls of the capillary transport network, thus allowing armies of cells to arrive at the war zone more swiftly. Upper management had been boasting about it for weeks but they didn’t bother to tell the macrophages they issued it to! Anyhow, he was confident it was going to end up a disaster.

At present, it’s the source of irritation for him. Two T-cell officers who were traveling in the blood a while ago noticed some of those portals in the vessel wall, and thinking it might be another invasion, decided to return to the node to inform him about it.

‘Yeah, either an invasion, or a dumbass macrophage who misfired his gun,’ Andrew muttered in chargrin.

Being captain of the node, he had to investigate it. If it really was the beginning of an invasion, he needed to know early, so he could plan his attacks and send out code-red alerts on the IL and IFN-G channels, to mobilize the nearby units into action. Andrew was proud of his position as captain, having ascended there after so many battles. He could still recall his lymphoblastic days, when he was still training to become a full-fledged lymphocyte. After basic training in the marrow centres, he chose to enroll himself in the Thymus Advanced Training Course to become a T-cell officer.

Blasts could also choose to become weapon specialists, the B-cell specialists, and learn to operate and fire Antibody Cannons. Those cannons were one heck of an engineering feat, being able to fire so many different kinds of ammunition, like the IgG missile or IgM torpedo. Working with such complex weaponry was fascinating, but commanding appealed more to Andrew. He enjoyed viewing the progression of the battle from a distance, devising new tactics to outsmart the enemy, and watching them bring his troops to victory.

That really pleased him. Having passed out from the Thymus Officer School as a T-H1 officer, he was in charge of macrophages and Tcx cells, giving them orders and making sure they follow them.

Tcx cells passed out from the Thymus Officer School as well, but they were combat officers, unlike him, a commanding officer. They were trained in explosives and other eruptive, fiery weapons such as the Perforin fragmentation grenade which was packed full of granzyme shrapnel, highly toxic and devestating. They had this intriguing device called the FasL detonator, that could blow up virus-infected cells. 'Apoptosis!' they would yell, as they activated their detonators. No one knew how it worked, and no one cared. As long as it worked.

Thus, they were renowned for their swift and decisive capabilities in battle. Officially called T-CytotoXic, but nicknamed themselves ‘T-CommandoX’, a name he wasn’t particularly fond. They were arrogant, believed themselves to be a notch above the rest, and were not exceptionally compliant with orders, oftening opting to take matters into their own hands, blatantly ignoring his commands. If they weren’t so useful at killing those pesky little viruses, he would have had them expelled from his node.

The beeping on his comm-link brought him back to the present. It's time to go have a look at what's happening with that macrophage, he thought. Picking up his comm-link, he called some nearby T-cells on channel IL-2 on his comm-link, and asked them to accompany him on his investigation.

(to be continued..)

Immunity (2)

His foe stood there, silent and unmoving.

It’s now or never, Jack decided, as he took aim with his NO-2000. His Nitric Oxide Blaster was the newest model in the area, a fact he was extremely proud of. An enhanced version of the previous NO-1000, it had many distinct improvements over its predecessor. It fired more quickly, was five times more toxic and potent, oh, if you just gave him the time, he could name all the wonderful specifications of the weapon. It had beaten the HP4 handgun at last week’s Oxide Challenge competition, to clinch the title of best free-radical weapon in the system. The inferior hydrogen peroxide rounds used by the HP4 were powerless to stop the Staph gang in the GI fight that was splashed all over the news some time back. Reports claimed that the gang had developed some new ‘catalase’ shield prototype that was effective against HP4 rounds, another silly rumor which he believed would be dispelled eventually. However, it seemed the System wasn’t taking any chances, so they are now issuing NO Blasters to complement the standard issue HP4 handguns.

Just in case. That’s what everyone says. Just in case. Just in case I screw up, Jack thought nervously.

He was sure he had checked his NOSynthase Battery Cartridge that morning, making sure that the arginine and oxygen levels were full. He flicked the switch and primed his weapon.

And fired.

A flash of light exploded from the barrel as the Nitric Oxide rushed out. The bacteria dodged it easily, as the brilliant flash of atoms and electrons flew wide at the target. He fired again and again, but his enemy seemed to be well aware of where his shots would be, and dodged them easily.

Jack tensed up, and began to fire incessant shots in fervor. Why was this happening? His opponent was round and would make an excellent target, but how was he able to sidestep the shots so effortlessly?

Just then, the round figure in front of him fired. The shot hit Jack squarely in the side, and threw him off balance. Jack didn’t even notice the stranger wielded a weapon, and in that instant, that caught him by surprise. Sprawled on the floor, Jack was startled by the sudden blow.

‘I’m so screwed,’ the thought flashed past in his mind, as he gazed up in horror to face his impending doom.

(to be continued..)

Immunity (1)

The atmosphere was tense, as Jack, the sentry macrophage on duty glared fiercely at the trespasser.

“You can’t do anything to me,” sniggered the bacteria, waving his long pili in defiance.
Jack was new to this job. Just last week, he was still a monocyte undergoing his training course. Sure, he knew how to fire his Nitric Oxide Blaster, but that didn’t mean anything, if he couldn’t defend his area well. When he graduated just this morning, becoming a proud full-fledged macrophage, he didn’t realize that he would see action so soon. He had heard stories of brave leukocytes who fought and died in action, and had hoped to be like them one day, but inexperienced as he was, he was afraid –afraid of messing up.

Messing up would have serious consequences on the System. Depending on who the invader was, it could mean from a code red level 6 fever, to a code yellow security breech, resulting in an area inflammatory response. And it would all be his fault, all because he couldn’t do his job.

He worked for the System, and his whole life would be for the System. The system gave him life, conceived as a tiny monocyte in the Bone Marrow Centre. These Centres controlled the conception of many others like him, preparing them for their destiny in protecting the system. The system sustained him, gave him oxygen, nutrients, and even an occasional fructose treat, that he looked forward to every once in awhile.

He was shivering now, but he couldn’t let it show. He had heard trespassers enjoyed ripping macrophages from the inside if they showed any sign of fear.

He quickly scrutinized the invader, noting it’s chubby round shape and distinct attire. Teichoic acid in its jacket! It had to be from the GPC liberation army. The GPC army was part of the Gram Positive Liberation Cause (GPLC), an organization dedicated to ‘freeing the world’ through their terrorist attacks, that had brought much pain and suffering to the citizens of other tissue and organs in the System. The GPLC had another faction, the GPR Front, which was a much larger military organization. They had a massive arsenal, capable of dealing immense damage to many other regions in the System. Although the GPC was smaller, its recruits were just as powerful and lethal.

Jack took in a deep breath of oxygen to prime his mitochondria, and tried to put on a tough front. He pulled out his Nitric Oxide gun, set it on to free-radical-terminate mode, and aimed it at the insolent enemy.

“Stop now, or I’ll fire,” he commanded, in an ominous, threatening tone.

(to be continued..)

Someone's happy...

Someone looks really happy today...

It's bad when women are...

Exams!

Exams are coming soon, and as you can see...

I'm hard at work, trying to study and make up for all the slacking I've been doing this semester.

I have a hypothesis that my brain is leaking, I fill it up with information, but it drains away insidiously. Silently. Discreetly. Which means, I keep forgetting what I learn, and I can't remember if I've forgotten to remember what I've forgotten, so I can relearn it and not forget it!!

People have a name for it: Goldfish memory. It has been proven that goldfish have poor memory, because when they sit for IQ tests, they are unable to hold pencils to write their answers, and so, often score zero for fish-intelligence tests.

Some fish, have fingers and are able to write and sit for exam papers. However, they're often hunted for their fingers, which end up in supermarkets. Fish fingers.

Talking about fish...

Two months ago, I went for an interesting trip to the Port Adelaide Fish markets with Hans, Eugene and Tah Wee.

It was packed with people (not only fish!), who were there early 9am in the morning, looking around for good deals on seafood. As you an see, humans weren't the only ones there searching for food; the pelicans were eagerly waiting for the fishmongers to throw out unwanted fish parts, like the heads and guts, before snapping them up.

Nope, you wouldn't want to snap this up (unless you want some delicious gastroenteritis :p). This is my agar plate from microbio session a few weeks back, where we cultured E. Coli bacteria on agar with Rifampicin (R) on the yellow side, and Ampicillin (A) on the white side. Can you see the colonies growing (they are small little circles)?

Someone's trying to act cool in her sunglasses :p

Me and Bee :) with her nice hat.

Last month was Leny's birthday, and we had dinner at Scuzi along Rundle Street, where we ate sumptous pasta and sang her a birthday song, together with a delicious strawberry cake and 4 candles! (Yes, the candles were alight... no we didn't eat them)

Dino

This is a tribute to my dog, Dino...

He was a smart and adorable dog, forever trotting around the house featuring his happy smile and joyful demeanor, sharing his cheeriness with everyone around him. His eyes sparkle with excitement every time a stranger walks past the house, and he'll jump into a fluff of pure elation, barking and bouncing around if it is another dog, who (no matter which dog it is) never fails to reply in equally exhilarated barks.

Poor Dino passed away in Feb, a week after I left Singapore.

Sighs. He's been with me since I was in sec2. Home will never be the same, without his barks and furballs.

I hope he's happy now.

Ah wells...Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross says grief has 5 stages. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. People experience loss many times in their lives, but we don't seem to grieve any less each time it happens. I guess it's something we can't develop a tolerance to.

Maybe I'll progress to the sixth stage of grief: attempting to ressurect the dead dog. *mad scientist laughter* I've managed to obtain a sample of Dino's DNA, and will now inject it into some stem cells (no.. not plant-stem cells.. what were you thinking, xylem and phloem??) or a dog egg, and grow a new Dino! Wahaha...

What's new

Been pretty busy every since school started, so not much time to update my blog!! After the previous entry, I've ORDed, had a great week of holiday(running around and shopping for stuff) before flying back to Adelaide!
Went for my venipuncture course, then school started, with nasty 8am days EVERYDAY! (and ending at 5pm for 4 out of 5 days!!) IT"S CRAZY!
8am PBL is really bad, as I'm half awake, and not motivated to talk during lesson time.
It's week 5 now (that's fast!), and next week is Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and that marks the start of a 2 week mid-semester break! Nice!

ORD!

ORD is coming so close, I can almost smell it!! Yay, finally, the end of army. The end of wasting hours and hours in camp! (most of the time doing nothing, but with the occassional work and area cleaning and sweeping and washing) It's taken up so much time from my holidays, that the first time I actually WOKE up on a weekday morning was the recent monday, because I was on leave. I've got 6 more days to go, I can't wait!

But after that, I've got barely a week and a half before I fly back. Sighs. Gotta try to meet as many singapore friends as I can, and buy all the stuff I need. Time will be pretty tight, because Chinese New Year is on the weekend after I finish army. Stressed!

Time time time... need more time...

New Year..

This being the new year, I think it's good I ponder over what I want to spend 2007 doing and what I hope to achieve. Here's a small list of things, and hopefully, I won't have too many undone when I review this list again at the end of this year...

I want to learn to be more patient with the people around me, and offer them the support they need whenever they're having problems. That means having the discipline to put in that extra effort to help people, because most of the time, I have the time and ability to help them, but laziness and procrastination sets in, and I end up messing things up even worse.

I have to spend more time on my studies, because I've pretty much learnt nothing over the past two years. Well... close to nothing. My head seems to be leaky, cos information seems to disappear very quickly after I've learnt it. Vanished.. poof.. gone.. Goldfish memory..

I want to find more ways to be active in church. I've already done so the past year, but I guess I can try harder. I also want to find out more about other religions, especially the main ones like islam, buddhism and hinduism, because I think they're all interconnected, and it's really fascinating to see how religion develops in response to changes in human society.

I want to spend more time with you, and understand you better =) Best thing that happened to me in 2006!

I need to get closer to my singaporean friends in Adelaide... cos no matter what, we're gonna be together for six years (four more!), and I think it's among them that I can find close friends whom I can depend on for help in Adelaide... not saying that the other people in Adelaide don't make good friends!! Haha.. but Singaporeans will always be Singaporeans.

I want to make sure I spend more time with my family. Family is very important, and even though at times, friends may seem to be more fun-loving, I've found that my family is one of the most reliable things in my life. And my parents work and sacrifice so much for me.

I want to learn to live simply, and be happy with what I have. I don't really need a luxurious or lavish lifestyle.

I'll learn to be contented with what life gives me, no matter good or bad. I'll really need it to achieve my dream.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The week before Christmas was packed with stuff, with me having some Unit dinner on Thursday evening at the Specialist and Officer's Mess. The food wasn't that good, but it was amazing to see almost forty log cakes neatly spread out on a huge table, and I got a nice T-shirt for free! The turkey they provided didn't taste too bad either.

On Friday, I had to attend a Formation Cohesion event at Bukit Batok. It was a bowling event, and I got a box of chocolates and a pair of pen and pencil for my amazing bowling skills (note the sarcasm laced in 'amazing', considering I didn't cross the 100 mark, despite bowling two games). Spent a nice afternoon with Bee, and the evening shopping for Yi Qian's birthday present.

Saturday was Yi Qian's birthday! Michael, Alvin, YQ and me met at Suntec, ate lunch at Marche, presented him with a cake and his present (a leather bag!) and lingered around while figuring out what to do. We finally decided to drive around Singapore (with me as the driver... how scary), and had dinner at the famous You Tiao king at Geylang road. We then wandered around the city trying (the keyword being -trying-) to search for some elusive gay pub (or pubs) or rainbow clubs or something like that. Our futile search led us several rounds around Lau Par Sat before we gave up retired for the night.

Sunday-Christmas eve!- was spent having dinner at my uncle's house, and catching up with my cousins, Eka and Dwi. This time, they're only back in Singapore for a week, and they're leaving just after new year, Eka back to UK and Dwi back to the States, so we barely get a chance to see each other once a year(!). It was great fun, and I enjoyed talking to them again.

Merry Christmas! on monday...

And left for India on Tuesday... more stories and photos coming up soon..

Yeah.. I miss you too :) Lots.

Parents

This is some sort of a tribute to my parents, and I guess, to all parents. They love me (us) truly, madly, deeply.

My parents have been under alot of stress from work. I guess this isn't something new, they've been really stressed out from work all this while. But it's the constant reminder that they're working so terribly hard to pay for my and my sister's education and future, that keeps touching my heart. It is us that drives them to endure all these hardships, maintains their bitter desire to wake up at six every morning, just to prepare for work.

It is easy to say all (most???) parents love their children, but it is only as a child, that I can say I've experienced it, and really understand the meaning of a father's and mother's fiercely unselfish and fervently devoted love. It still saddens me to see them stressed after work, sometimes easily irritated and cranky, and arguing about trifle and unimportant matters.

God loved the world so much He gave us His only son. I guess parents love their children just as much, willing to sacrifice anything for them. For us.

Yay for parents. Sighs for the hard work they put in.

Isn't it time you did something special for your mum and dad?

The past week..

Camp was boring the past few days, with me participating in a ridiculous 'Amazing Race' for the commanders of my unit, us being split into groups, each given an EZ-link card, and made to run all over Singapore to visit 7 War Memorial spots in total. Travelling from Choa Chu Kang to Changi chapel takes something like 15 mins walk, 10 mins wait, 25 mins bus ride, 10 mins walk/wait, 55 mins MRT ride from Choa Chu Kang to Tenah Merah, another 10 mins wait and a 15 mins bus ride to the war memorial, giving a grand total of 2 hours and 20 minutes. You can imagine what the rest of my journey was like.

I'm now posted back to workshop, so I get to work on the tanks again. It's really much for fun than staying in the office and reading newspapers. Now you know what clerks do.

Dinner on Thursday at Yoshinoya with Bee was great, eating and talking and walking around, and spending -quiet- time at this small park opposite the Istana, near a cafe.. a Giraffe cafe! How cute..

Stolen...

I opened my chest one day, and saw
my heart, my precious heart, wasn't there anymore.
Vanished, gone without a trace,
I stared inside in a blurry daze.

Who has stolen my heart in the night,
with such speed and stealth, made it take flight?

It must be her eyes (that stole my heart),
look how they dazzle, twinkle and entice.
Stars are born in her every glance,
universes come to existance, fiery cosmic lights dance,
leaving me spellbound, captivated and consumed,
spending eternity in an endless trance.

It must be her touch (that stole my heart),
the soft, cool feel as her skin presses to mine,
like Beauty(Rose)'s petals, as our arms intertwine,
bridging gaps of infinite galaxies in that single connection,
in that brief moment, space and time stand motionless,
and all is lost in an embrace so fine.

As I peer into my chest,
I presently notice all that is left,
are a hundred ways of letting you see,
how beautiful you are to me.

Stupid SAF

Disclaimer: Bitching and more coarse language to follow

Lots more bitching to do: I tried asking my officer in charge if I could stay out, and his reply, to my dismay (dismay??? I'm about to turn murderous, dismay is way underquoting my frustration), was that I had to stay in, in case he needed people at 2am, and I couldn't make it back to camp in time due to a traffic jam. (WHAT KIND OF F***ING RETARDED REASON IS THAT??? BLOODY F***ING IDIOT)

I tried approaching the MO, telling him about my PES status (which was, only sedentary work in bases), and all he could tell me was, I'm sorry but your PES status doesn't mean you can't stay in, and there is no medical reason that you have to stay out. He was terribly unhelpful for an MO, and I think he is just as brainless as the rest of them.

Ok, bottomline is, army people ARE brainless. That's a very fair assumption to make. Ok, I guess as to all things, there are exceptions, and so, MOST SAF personnel are brainless. That includes me, because my brain is degenerating due to lack of usage. My job for the past few days is to hang around at another camp to 'help' them, but basically, I do absolutely nothing but watch things happen around me. It's unbelievably dumb and unproductive, when I can do so much more with my time. I mean, even if I went jogging or did some exercise, it'd be 100x more productive than what I do in that camp, which is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

My holidays are -SO- ruined, thanks to these bastards. And to add to the problem, I dropped my phone into water, and now it's spoilt! Just great.

On the bright side, friday evening was the highlight of my week. Went to PastaMania to eat, then took a nice long stroll down Orchard, chatting and watching the crowds go past, commenting on hot girls and fashion. Really great evening.

Went to Sitex to walk around, and I SO want new speakers (and a DVD writer, and an mp3 player like an iPod Nano or a Creative Zen and lots of other stuff). I saw gleamingly nice speakers!! Ooohhh...
I need a new phone too. Sighs. I want to win 4D.

Super Ultra Bitching session

*Warning: if you do not appreciate bitching, whining or complaining, the following may not be suitable for you.

There's sooo much to whine about these past few days. It begins on Sunday night, when I was abruptly told that I had to report early to camp on Monday morning. After doing so, I was brought to Pasir Laba Camp (PLC) as part of Operation Stingray (an army intelligence-simulated warfare exercise, which was basically testing tactical deployment of troops by various units, and is entirely computer-based, with amazing resemblence to Risk, but takes 100000x more time to play than a normal Risk game. Now tell me who is more efficient, a Risk player or an army personnel???). There I was asked to do all kinds of STUPID POINTLESS TIMEWASTING things, such as wasting a few bottles of thinner trying to erase stupid marker-details on the map, when redrawing it was so much easier (if you really saw what we were doing, you'd understand the real meaning of ULTIMATE BRAINLESS INEFFICIENCY)

In the late afternoon, I had a fever, and felt horrid, so I went to see the camp MO, who was terribly bad at taking a proper history, implied that I was malingering, and had really gay mannerisms. He sent me off with some paracetamol, and a day's MC. On my way back, I had severe abdominal pain, and had problems even standing. In the MRT, it was so bad I had to squat, and finally, sit on the train floor, gripping my stomach whilst grimacing. AND, no one bothered to even ask me if I was ok, or make some space for me, or even offer me a seat. The train was crowded, and I was in so much pain I tried to look around for help, any help I could get, and all I found was a bunch of people avoiding my gaze, pretending to be occupied with their music players, magazines and staring into blank space.

Singaporeans are pathetic. I have no doubt, if I were in Australia (Ok, not only Australia. Maybe practically anywhere else... well.. except for China, and a few other asian countries I can think of), people there would have the decent care and courtesy to at least ask if they could help. I don't expect help from people, and it's definitely not an obligation to help your fellow human being. But it would be comforting to know that the people around you care, even if you are a total stranger to them.

And as I found out last weekend as well, while caught in a traffic jam on the way to sun tec, that Singaporean drivers (ESP. TAXI DRIVERS) are very VERY obnoxiously rude.

As I exited the train at Bishan, I hurried to the makeshift public toilets just outside the station. There were two toilet entrances, and I hurried into the nearest, headed straight to a cubicle where I vomitted my guts out. I got some relief from that, and as I was about to walk out of the toilet, a lady was entering it. She stared at me in shock!
I instinctively said, "oh, the toilets are unisex, see, the other one also like that.", and pointed in the direction of the other entrance.
Two seconds later, I walked out, and saw the pink 'female' sign on the door I just came out from. Embarrassed, I quickly hurried away.

Tomorrow, I might have to continue another day at PLC, with them predicting that there'll be a stayover because the exercise might continue through the night. wonderful. (IHATESAF)

Honey Bee is getting a new hairstyle.. After that she'll look like beautiful Princess Bee, can't wait to see her!!

Start of my hols...

The past week has been really good. Arriving back in Singapore on a monday evening, I barely had 4 free days before I succumbed to the malicious grasp of the Singapore army, confining me to the prison-environment of Kranji camp.

Spent the first few days walking around Singapore, checking out what used to be my favourite haunts, like Orchard, Toa Payoh, Novena, Sun Tec, and seeing what had changed in the past few months.. not much actually. Singapore is its usual, busling and crowded self, with people-hill-people-sea (ren2 san1 ren2 hai3) all around. I felt a little oppressed (think claustraphobic!) by the massive crowds at time, but after awhile, it was really interesting to watch people go past, and make tiny mental notes of how they look, what they were wearing, what they were doing, and who they were talking to.

Met up with a few of my friends, like YiQian, and JC classmates like Mingwei, Yeowie and Weiliang.. it was great catching up with them. I'm still waiting for the uni exams to finish before I can meet up with more people, can't wait!

Had a wonderful dinner on friday, and a beautifully magical evening at the Esplanade water front. (been waiting for you for so long, whose fault?? ahahaha...) Had a really good time :)

That was a nice finish to a horrible day, spent in camp, doing absolutely nothing, feeling my brain degenerate before (or behind rather) my very eyes, AND hearing that my unit is going to become more active in the coming weeks and that I might have to stay late for the next two weeks. HELLO WHAT THE HELL??? In the event of a war, I might be tempted to hunt down the army commanders. *feeling EXTREMELY murderous* And to make things worse, I'm now posted to S3 branch to help the clerks. I rather resume my old job of repairing tank weapons, then sit around and talk crap with them (because doing nothing is more tiring than doing something, and clerks do NOTHING).
[Oops, *disclaimer: does not apply to all clerks. So if you are one and you're reading this and you're getting infuriated and preparing to bash Keith up, it **probably** does not apply to you.]

On the bright side, I got to meet up with some of my old camp mates, and hear about what's been happening in camp lately. Apparently, Mindef unveiled the new Bionix2 a few months ago, and my unit has a few of them. They don't look too impressive though, despite featuring a larger 30mm chaingun than the previous Bionix.

International Food Fiesta and MAF (6th Oct)

On the friday evening of 6th Oct, Haran and a few other guys organised an International Food Fiesta, which showcased a large variety of foods from several different countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, India, Middle-East, and more. There were delectable delights like chocolate fondue, honey-dew mango dessert and Nasi Lemak (from the Singapore stall :p), indian curry, and many others. There were a number of performances as well, with some of them dressing up in their traditional costumes and Saris, parading around in a mini fashion-show, but sadly I missed most of them *bleah*

That night was Mid Autumn festival, so after the food fiesta event, Hans, Kris, Mark, Terrence and David came over to our house to sit on the grassy field just outside our doorstep to (direct translation) appreciate-moon, eat mooncakes and drink chinese tea. David brought a few dessert mooncakes which he carried over from Singapore, and they were absolutely delicious.

We looked like homeless asians camping on the grass, and that was probably what the ang mohs thought when they drove past us, wondering if they should donate some money to help alleviate our accomodation crisis.


(Yup, that's the full moon, don't mistake it for a UFO.)

Paroma's birthday at Cumberland (20th Oct)

About two weeks before the exams, Paroma had her 21st at Cumberland, a pub near Light Square. There was great food (the kebabs were fantastic), a lively atmosphere, superb music, and wonderful lighting! A few of her college-mates like Haran, Alice, Alvin, gave touching speeches about her and the absurb things she did in the past year.


And of course, I got to meet up with alot of med-friends, had interesting conversations, and managed to get to know some of them better. Had great fun :)

Summer Hols...

Exams are over -finally- ! Will write more about my exam period soon. It was really hectic, with half my study week taken up by moving to a new house. At least now, I am rather settled into the new place, and even bought lights and lamps from iKea to furnish it.

Touched down yesterday at Changi airport, and even though I was protected by the cool comfort of the airport airconditioning, the all-too-familiar dampness of the warm humid air outside was threatening to creep in and swamp me with that moist-mucky feeling, one which I don't particularly miss.

The hot, sultry Singapore weather.

Seeing my parents and my sister again was really really great, although I didn't really buy any presents for them. Went home after that and savoured home-cooked food, something I've been missing for months!

(I miss you really really really alot, do come back soon! Alot alot.)

Can't you see

Can't you see, I need you that much?
Longing for your gentle touch
Seeing your smile, and hearing your laugh
To me, it is more than enough
To keep me warm,
Like huddling in fluffy sheepskin on a cold winter day
To keep me safe,
Just listening to the sweet words you say
In my darkest times, to hold me tight,
and tell me, everything's gonna be alright.

Mamak Night

Baked cookies for PBL on Friday, and went to SMSUA's AGM in the afternoon, which proceeded smoothly and quickly, in a world-record-breaking time of 24 minutes and 30 seconds. Talk about speed and efficiency!

In the evening, I went for Mamak night, which was a food night hosted by Paradise church, at the UniSA City West Campus. Eugene was supposed attend the function as well, but he had an upset tummy in the evening, and declined the invitation to the food night (think -pangseh- :p). Had a nice chat with Fang while walking there from Med school.

There were so many people there, with lots of familiar faces popping up every now and then. Many hardworking paradise-church-people were scurrying (hurrying would be a nicer word) around, ensuring everything was being prepared according to plan, setting tables, cooking food, stirring drinks and checking tickets at the registration counter. I met Bruce (aka the bouncer), Yen, Kristin, lots of Aquinas people, Jesse, Bridgette, and some new people like a staff from Women's and Children's, a China guy studying here, an Indonesian woman doing an econs masters. It was an entertaining night, talking to people, watching soccer goals and Yamakazi action, catching up with people I haven't seen in quite awhile.

*Ominous music* Fact or Fiction

While queueing for the food, one of the servers mistook me for another guy in dental school! And this isn't the first time it's happening. During university open day, staff and students manning the dental booth welcomed me initially, saying it's great that I took time off to come down and help out at the booth.. I was like, "nope sorry wrong guy, I'm not from dental school, I'm from next door." Some of my friends like Eugene and You Wen have also seen this mysterious
person in school, and claims he looks exactly like me! Apparently, his name is Peter, and he is a fourth year dental student.

Is this pure myth, or does it have any seams of reality woven in between the fabrics of fiction? Could he just be a future me, coming back in time to visit Adelaide for nostalgic purposes, after time machines have been invented? Or could he be a CIA agent planted here to take over my identity, after they silence me and dispose of my body? Stay tuned to the next episode of Fact or Fiction!

Jokes aside, I'm very interested to meet this guy one day, and find out exactly how much he resembles me.

More updates

On the second week of holidays, I had international week, which was superimposed on a week long of OSCE practice (which was rather minimal thanks to procrastination and laziness, although I would like to think it took up most of my time) International week was a week's worth of activities and lectures organised by medical school, which featured talks by doctors who did attachments overseas in places like Nepal and Ecquador. They showed us beautiful pictures of the colossal snow-capped mountains in all their wonderous glory, simple rural people walking for hours just to seek medical treatment, and much more. It was really enticing to go for such attachments in the future, to travel and see the world whilst doing so.








Eugene's birthday was on Thursday, and we (the singaporeans) ate lunch at La Trottoria on Friday afternoon, and they served really good pasta! We ordered a dish that had salmon, caviar, and vodka, and tasted magnificent. We gave him a monopoly set, with an electronic banking device, so playing monopoly was as easy as swiping your credit card on the card reader! Hassle-free, cashless hours of fun, we're really getting high-tech now...

Tuesday was the OSCEs (objective structured clinical examinations), which basically was our clinical (physical) examination exam. It went quite smoothly, and I tried my best not to forget anything in the physical examinations, but there was this funny bit in the respiratory exam that went...

Me: "Upon depressing the patient's tongue, I see no signs of tonsilar enlargement or redness of the pharynx, which may be indicative of upper airways disease"

Patient:"I don't have tonsils"

~ examiner stares at me ~

*gulp*

Me: "Well, I didn't notice enlarged tonsils because it seems the patient doesn't have tonsils at all."

What a mess, it was really embarrassing in front of the examiner. I finished early, having skipped all the rest stations (by accident!), and so did Kudnarto, so had a nice -and rare- 5 minute chat with her :)

PBL started the next day, and school was back to normal.