Phoenix Fire

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T23:26:00.000+08:00

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

Macquarie Island

2007-12-04T10:26:00.000+08:00

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...

2007-12-03T19:18:00.000+08:00

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!!

2007-11-28T18:23:00.000+08:00

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

2007-07-16T22:33:00.001+08:00

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

2007-07-11T23:40:00.000+08:00

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)

2007-06-20T21:28:00.000+08:00

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)

2007-06-18T00:32:00.000+08:00

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)

2007-06-17T12:58:00.000+08:00

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...

2007-06-12T21:18:00.000+08:00

Someone looks really happy today...

It's bad when women are...

2007-06-12T07:55:00.000+08:00

Exams!

2007-06-11T18:51:00.000+08:00

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

2007-05-16T17:33:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-29T19:59:00.000+08:00

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!

2007-02-03T10:24:00.000+08:00

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..

2007-01-17T21:19:00.000+08:00

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!

2007-01-03T13:28:00.000+08:00

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..

2006-12-16T20:56:00.000+08:00

Yeah.. I miss you too :) Lots.

Parents

2006-12-16T20:36:00.000+08:00

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..

2006-12-10T18:03:00.000+08:00

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...

2006-12-03T21:18:00.000+08:00

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

2006-12-02T21:56:00.001+08:00

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

2006-11-29T21:15:00.000+08:00

*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...

2006-11-26T11:11:00.000+08:00

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)

2006-11-22T10:29:00.000+08:00

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)

2006-11-22T10:19:00.000+08:00

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...

2006-11-21T13:37:00.000+08:00

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

2006-11-11T08:20:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-18T07:52:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-11T20:37:00.000+08:00

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.

Photos...

2006-10-11T20:29:00.000+08:00

Me at the beach with Leny, Kiki, Yao Chai, Ge Hong, Cynthia, Monica, Eugene, Jesse, Yen Yen. The villagers!

My Birthday with the villagers. And our rabbit pizza!

Blur me :p

Updates...

2006-10-04T19:44:00.000+08:00

Just a few updates on what's been happening the past few weeks.

Holidays started on the 18th of September, whoohoo! Had a fun Saturday, and did the City-Bay run on Sunday, 17th Sept. It was a 12km jog from the city (Elder Park, running down King William Street) to Glenelg Beach, via Anzac Highway. It was an amazing experience, with more than 60000 people participating in this huge event. Lots of people were strolling, walking, talking, jogging, and running. There was a wonderful variety of people from all different age groups, ranging from the young disabled children moving themselves in their wheelchairs, to the chatting bunch of housewives who were there for the exercise, to fathers carrying their little daughters on their shoulders, letting them have a bird's eye view of the crowd! Absolutely fantastic.

I tried running continuously, but only managed to do it for about 9km, before I stopped for a cup of water, and tried to run the rest of the distance. It was a really bright and sunny day, great weather for the run, but a little on the scorching-desert side though, so I felt extremely dehydrated especially in the second half of the run. Along the way, there were many groups of people supporting the runners, like school bands playing their instruments, teenage rock bands singing, residents coming out of their houses and cheering for us, spraying us with water from their garden hoses.

It's great that the event is dedicated to charity, and all proceeds will benefit many non-profitable charity organisations.

On the first monday of the holidays, we had a majong-pizza-beer-poker party at our house, and quite alot of people attended! Eugene made delicious chocolate brownies, and I made interesting strawberry cookies. Yum.
It was really entertaining to play poker, though I lost most of my money to Fang. After that, played a drinking game, with us drinking water and seeing who can resist the urge to rush to the toilet for the longest amount of time. We had lots of silly rules for the game, and it was great fun. Luckily, they decided to stop the game after awhile, cos I really really really had to pee.

During the holidays, I went to meet Graham, a 62 year old man who was paralysed waist down due to multiple sclerosis, and had weakness in both arms and a speech inpediment. He was part of my St John's community care program, and I would be visiting him regularly to talk and chat with him. He was a friendly old man, but it was really hard to understand him due to his speech problem.

I visited him a few times over the holidays, and found it really interesting to find out about his life. He smokes like crazy, and regularly smokes marijuana and drinks white wine. At first I tried to ask him to quit, but then I realised that he doesn't really have much to live for, and all these are just means of providing him relief with the pains in his life. Caretakers come and clean him and help him prepare food three times a day, and nurses visit him occassionally to check on his general health.

I guess it's quite sad to see someone in that state, but it just makes me appreciate my life even more, and not take the things I have for granted. Sometimes, when I'm complaining about why I'M the one having all the problems, I just think of him, and it just hits me that my problems are really trivial and minor, compared to alot of other people in the world. So why am I whining so much about my life, when others are trying their hardest to cope with theirs? Why am I complaining that life has treated me unfairly, when all I've had so far is a really comfortable life with great family and friends?

I know I've been blessed with so many things in my life, that I think it's time I spent some time and effort to help those, whom life has -really- been unfair to. Shouldn't you?

How can I help you today?

2006-09-09T08:43:00.000+08:00

"Good morning, how can I help you today?"

"Hmm, you think you're looking a little bluish? Why do you think so?
This morning, you woke up and saw yourself in the mirror and noticed the bluish tinge in your face?
Has anyone else told you that you looked blue? Have you noticed any other symptoms associated with your bluish skin, such as chest pains, shortness of breath on exertion? No?
Well, I understand that you've read about cyanosis on the internet and are concerned by it, but Papa Smurf, I assure you that being blue is normal. Please stop telling the others, because just this morning, Dopey, Baby Smurf and Sneezy came into my surgery complaining of the same problem.

Thank you, and have a good day."

Ramblings...

2006-09-06T22:08:00.000+08:00

Ok, human personality 101: People do things for reasons. Most of the time, reasons to benefit themselves. Humans are selfish by nature.

I like jogging. I don't think I'm benefitting from it physically as much as I am mentally. (ie. still fat) Whenever I jog, it's a journey, to a destination. Never stop, never give up. Like Dory says, just keep swimming. Running. Going... on and on...

Just like a phoenix. Reborned from fire, rather than consumed by it.

You taught me how much I could fight, how much stronger I could become, instead of just succumbing to it like the girl in 2:37. As much as I wish I could, sometimes, I know I can't.

I owe too much.

My life is like a debt, like borrowed time. And I've got to repay it.
My life isn't mine. It belongs to the poor homeless child, the sick old man, the lonely and outcasted teen at school, the blind man struggling to walk, the terminally ill patient who's lost all faith and hope, the sad guy who is going through a rough patch.

There are so many things to do in life, situations to experience, foods to taste, scents to smell, emotions-nice AND nasty-to feel. Day by day, year by year, I'm ticking more and more things off my list. And one day, I'll say, wow look at what I've done with my life, it's really fulfilling.

Pizza Party

2006-09-06T21:51:00.000+08:00

Had a wonderful birthday thing at the village, where I ate delicious pizza (made with lots and lots and lots of toppings like chicken, ham, mushrooms, peppers, pineapples, and coated with a generous layer of tasty cheese!) I dined with Leny and her housemates, Kiki, Jesse, Cynthia, and Yan Yan and her housemates, and chatted and laughed about melting bunnies, chocolate&peanut butter pizzas, and much more! They then gave me a card, a present, and a nice ice-cream cake with candles and a heart-warming birthday song.

Was really touched. Super enjoyed it, felt like being included into a family. Thanks alot =)

On Sunday, was invited to Aya's place to eat dinner, where we feasted on her simply irresistable prata, ate Eugene's chocolatey brownies, and savoured the heavenly roast lamb. Wwow, it was so good. Met alot of people there too, including Aya's friends and some OCF people too. Had a great time, thanks alot Aya.

Pictures are coming up soon!

MOH talk

2006-09-04T08:24:00.000+08:00

Went for the MOH talk last Friday evening, and was 'bribed' into attending the talk with a lavish meal from Cafe Kowloon and BBQ city, comprising of honey chicken, squid, fried chicken, stew pork, char siew, soy sauce chicken and roast duck! The tasty tartlets from Michels served as a delicious dessert, completing our 4-course-MOH-experience!

Representatives from MOH came and talked about our job prospects in Singapore, and how we, as foreign trained students, were very much welcomed back into Singapore because the demand for doctors to make up the three pillars of medical care (Service, Education and Research) is very high. -crap-.

On saturday afternoon, went to the bustling EastEnd Markets, a new flea market that is going to be on every saturday. They are showcasing many delightful trinkets, fasinating fashionwear, paintings, tattoos and more! And today being the opening day, there was a live band performing, and various costume characters, such as batman and wonder woman, parading the street. Very interesting.

Carrickfergus

2006-09-03T12:30:00.000+08:00

I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Where the castle looks out to sea.
I would swim over the deepest ocean
For my love to be with me.

But the sea is wide and I can not swim over
Nor have I the wings to fly
I wish I had a beautiful boatwoman,
To ferry me over, my love and I.

I wish I was in the land of Eire,
Where the mountains reach the sea.
Where flowers blossom as I do remember.
Where my true love came to me.

But the sea is wide and I can not swim over.
Nor have I the wings to fly.
Ahh to be back now in Carrickfergus
To be together .. my love and I.
To be together .. my love and I.

I wish I was in Carrickfergus,
To be together my love and I.

I wish I was back home again.

"Carrickfergus - Charlotte Church"

My new Mitsubishi Evo VIII

2006-09-01T21:41:00.000+08:00

Whee... After missing a clinical assessment of adolescents lecture by shift-eyes-lizard-guy, and an industrial health one by work-cover-guy (due to extreme laziness), I -finally- sat through a respiratory pathophysiology one, and had to answer some questions by the lecturer because the girl he called up at the back of the LT wasn't a medical student! I later found out she was Bianca's good friend, who had some spare time, and decided to crash the lecture.

After the draggy morning, I was pleasantly surprised by Gau and Eugene (and Clyde too, but he's at work) during PBL, because they got me a RC Mitsubishi Evo VIII, which is a 1/16 replica of the original design. It's called driftstars, because it's able (haven't tried it out yet!) to drift really well. Whee, will be extremely fun. Am really grateful to Gau, Eugene and Clyde for being so nice and thoughtful, and am pretty happy. Appreciate it alot alot.

Thanks so much! Vrroommm vrrroommm... time to get back to racing! Haha...

30 August 2006, Birthday!

2006-08-31T18:56:00.000+08:00

The day started with Eugene, Gau and Clyde surprising me at midnight with two mouth-watering and wonderfully chocolate-ty cakes, wishing me a happy birthday. Felt extremely touched, and as Myintzu puts it, very 'xing4 fu2'. Thanks alot!

Clinical skills later that day was quite fun, with us having 7min OSCEs practices, and my PBL mates sang me a birthday song! Whee. Bianca gave me a tantalising chocolate muffin (She's so nice -la-), and I was treated to a delicious strawberry cake (with a song too!) by Kristin, Fang, Gau, Eugene, Lee Ping, Myintzu, Debby, Jamie, YouWen, Tharani, Lam. Thanks lots, guys!

In the evening, went to eat at O'Connel's Cafe Primo (brings back lots of memories...) with Eugene, Gau, Clyde and Myintzu, and ate yummy Garlic Prawns with Italian Rice. The prawns were flamed with brandy, and tossed in a creamy cheesy garlic sauce. Tastes absolutely heavenly. Later on, went to Elephant Walk with Eugene and Myintzu, and had quite a good chat over Chocolate Pudding and the famous Sticky Date Pudding.

And finally, this morning, treated Kristin, Fang, Eugene, LeePing, Myintzu, Debby, Jamie, Bruce, Leny, You Wen, Lam, Moses, Aya and Tah Wee to a satisfying Mei Wei lunch (with probably will fulfill our Mei Wei quota for the year). Also managed to raise some money for Novita Children's Services, which is a charity organisation that supports disabled children in South Australia. Thanks for the support :)

I

really enjoyed my birthday, and it wouldn't have been so much fun without all of you, thanks again!

Psalms...

2006-08-28T21:58:00.000+08:00

Praise the Lord, all the Earth
sing praises unto His name

He watches the sparrows from dawn to dusk
The flowers grow in the palm of His hand
How much more, does He care for us
more than a hundred sparrows, His love for each man

I will walk into dark forests
Into the deserts I will wander
With His word, He fills my hunger
With His love, He satisfies my thirst
I will fear nothing, He is my strength

O Lord, Light of my heart
Ever loving, never changing
Who on Earth is like you?
In my troubled moments
My drooping spirit, you renew

Magnificat:

Magnificat anima mea Dominum
Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.

Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius.
Et misericordia eius a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in bracchio suo, dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.
Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles.
Esurientes implevit bonis et divites dimisit inanes,
Suscepit Israel puerum suum recordatus misericordiæ suæ,
Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini eius in sæcula.

My soul glorifies the Lord
Mr spirit rejoices in God my saviour
He looks on his servant in her nothingness
Henceforth, all generations will call me blessed

The almighty works marvels for me, Holy is His name
His mercy is from age to age on those who fear Him
He stretches out his hand and scatters the proud-hearted
He casts the mighty from their thrones, and raises the lowly
He fills the starving with good things, and sends the rich away empty
He remembers His mercy, the mercy promised Isreal, to Abraham and his children, forever.

BBQ Thursday!

2006-08-28T21:40:00.000+08:00

Organised a BBQ last Thursday with Eugene for our friends, and lots of people came! I had to buy and drag huge amounts of food, like chicken wings, sausages and more, on Tuesday, from Central Market home to prepare for the BBQ, that the bus driver was afraid that the bus would exceed it's weight limit when I boarded it when the foodstuff.

The BBQ was super fun, thanks to everyone who came! Eugene fried beehoon in the morning whilst the group of us had a bible study session. We then rushed downstairs in greedy anticipation of the delicious food that awaited us, barbequed chicken wings, sausages, squid, fried beehoon, chips, and all!

Yum yum...

Went to church as usual on sat, and ate periwinkle shellfish with Hans, Jin Quan and Eugene in the evening. Ingle Farm church was great on Sunday morning, and I enjoyed exchanging jokes with the absolutely adorable Kathleen, who kept bombarding me with Irishmen jokes.
"How do you drive an Irishman crazy? Write P.T.O. on both sides of his pillow, or ask him to sit in the corner in the circle room."
Was extremely entertained. Youth mass at St. Francis Xavier was great in the evening, with beautiful music, lively atmosphere, and great company.

ARGHS, it's so frustrating. It's been so long, but I'm still not getting better. When will it all end? Don't tell me forever. Even mountains don't last forever.

The Way We Were

2006-08-28T20:25:00.000+08:00

Memories,

Like the corners of my mind

Misty water-colored memories

Of the way we were

Scattered pictures,

Of the smiles we left behind

Smiles we gave to one another

For the way we were

Can it be that it was all so simple then?

Or has time re-written every line?

If we had the chance to do it all again

Tell me, would we? could we?

Memories, may be beautiful and yet

Whats too painful to remember

We simply choose to forget

So its the laughter

We will remember

Whenever we remember...

The way we were...

The way we were...

Kristin's Birthday

2006-08-21T18:09:00.000+08:00

Spent the weekend cooking for the University Open Day, with Friday designated as ingredients-shopping day, Saturday for cooking, and Sunday for running the stall at the university. Open day was really fun, with the various faculties setting up booths to provide important information about the different courses, the prerequisites and how to apply fo them. We also recevied many goodie bags, with brochures and items such as toothpaste and toothbrushes from the dental fac.

Apart from cooking, Saturday was Kristin's birthday, and we organised an 'Amazing Race' game for her, in which she had to go to spots located all around the city to get clues, which eventually led her to Kublai Khan, this mongolian BBQ restaurant south of the city. We were treated to a sumptous meal of barbequed meats and vegetables, after which we sang her a birthday song, and ate orange tiramisu cake. Interestingly, 4 other tables also had a birthday girl/guy each, so they were all singing birthday songs at different times of the evening.

On Sunday, I went to Ellen's church, the Brougham Place Uniting Church, which had a great choir, and featured a grand pipe organ in the middle of the large church hall. Ellen played a solo on the violin, wow, so cool! Saw Annie, Sonia and Elenor as well, and got to meet Ellen's family, because they were in town for her cousin's wedding.

... ... ...

"You know, I can't remember the last time we kissed. Cos you never think the last time is the last time, you'd think there'll be more. You think you have forever, but you don't."

"I have a feeling. Yeah? If you wait long enough, it'll pass. Promise?"

"I promise."

-- Grey's Anatomy 2

Sighs...

2006-08-21T18:08:00.000+08:00

...Why am I so pathetic?...

Dark Chocolate

2006-08-18T23:15:00.000+08:00

Dark chocolate,
the beautifully exquisite,
deceptively bittersweet esctasy that explodes in your mouth.

My favourite chocolate, it even has antioxidants, and is extremely healthy (except when consumed in large doses).

Dark and bitter
Feeling like roadside litter
Tossed aside, thrown away
Outlived my usefulness for the day

I was there when you needed me
Cared for you whole-heartedly
Dried your tears when you were sad
Cheered you up when you felt bad

I was there, a true friend
When you were alone in a foreign land
Asking nothing of you
Just that you'd be there for me too

Once again, you are back home
With friends galore, in your comfort zone
"I don't see a point", you said to me
"I don't need you anymore, you see."

You just didn't want
to bother or care
It really hurts, and that's terribly unfair
Holding you back? Am I guilty of that? - Your excuses and lies-You used me-

If I could only turn back time
I would not change any deed of mine
I was loving, I was true
The thing I would do is to not choose you

Happy Birthday Myintzu

2006-08-18T20:50:00.000+08:00

Myintzu's birthday celebrations comprised of a simple but warm birthday song just after PBL on Wednesday, together with a small cake and card, and a delicious dinner at Maya Indian Restaurant on Gouger street, wih sumptuous curry, fragrant rice and a delightful strawberry gateau, carefully adorned with two slender candles, and a bunch of dazzling sparklers! Absolutely fantastic!

After the cake cutting ceremony, we had group feedback (PBL style... bleah, Teddy must be proud of us), with onions, kang kongs, sambal, and even buried animosities, which were quickly resolved over the lighthearted atmosphere of the event.

Happy Birthday, Myintzu! Hope you have fun mountain climbing at the Grampions over the weekend!

DYNAMITE (Dee-Na-Me-Tay)

2006-08-16T21:14:00.000+08:00

Went to watch Hoodwinked yesterday evening, with Eugene, Shaan (correct spelling?), Leny, Phyllicia and Bridgette. Fantastic movie, very funny and engaging! It was loaded with funny jokes, and beautiful songs, including "Red is blue", which had really interesting lyrics.

"Red is blue"

Everything is changing

You’re looking for the cure

And you feel like you’re the loneliest girl in the world

Trouble in your head now

Don’t know what to do

Seems like up is down and red is blue

Red is blue, Red is blue

Remember when we started

Days when all was fun

All that we could make when life was young

Now you’re getting older

Nothing feels the same

You can’t even make sense of your own name

Because red is blue (Doesn’t make much sense)

But red is blue (Messing with your head now)

In your heart there’s a room where you lock up

All the times and the things that she said

And now red is blue

What was near is far now

Red is blue... Like a fallen star... Red is blue...

Very nice song. Anyway, I love the Peugeot 206!

Slick, chic, and stylish! Can't wait to get one, when I actually have enough money to do so.

Anyway, I'm not sure why, but I'm really irritable these days. Like dynamite. Am feeling really really pissed and aggressive, and am trying hard not to yell or be violent. Gonna explode soon. Uh oh.

Recent events...

2006-08-14T21:09:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday, I attended the ASBC (Adelaide-Singapore Business Council) annual national day D&D function. It was a really formal event, with a plethora of emminent guests, such as deputy high commisioner, AMBC and ASBC chairman, director of SIA and more. After sipping some wine, we were treated to a buffet of Asian cuisines, featuring South Indian style chicken, Asam prawns, stir-fried vegetables and beef in oyster sauce and chinese greens.

Sunday morning, I went to Ingle Farm, and Melissa Rogers was there to talk about her trip with Mercy Ships next year to Sierra Leone for 9 months. She's currently raising funds for her misson trip, because Mercy Ships is a non-profit christian organisation that provides third world countries with health and medical services, but it is entirely voluntary, and the volunteers have to pay for their own living expenses.

I think it is really noble of her, to embark on such a long journey, so far away from comfort zone, away from friends and family. I've been really inspired by her story, and am determined to schedule a year of missionary work before I'm thirty (maybe after my internship year).

Went to Aquinas International food night in the evening, and managed to meet many of my old Aquinas friends (although I felt kinda out of place, cos there were so many new people!). Got to meet some nice people, like Felicia, Cui Xia, Hun Wen, the two jap girls, Theodore, Victor, Mel etc etc.! And managed to play on the Gleeson piano, like old times. Miss it quite alot.

National Day Celebrations!

Top right: Jamie, Gau, Shaan
Middle: Jamie and Eugene
Bottom right: Felicia and me
Bottom left: Bridgette and me... haha omg she looks so cute in this pic!

I can't sleep (2)

2006-08-11T22:49:00.000+08:00

I can't sleep, but this time, it's because I'm high. Really, really high. I'm not sure why. :p it rhymes! It's 12:15am now, and I really feel like running round and round the field or exploding or something. PBL today was boring, but everyone brought food, and I think I ate some foods (esp. Maddie's muffins with icing and additives, and Alice's sinfully chocolate cake), which is driving me crazy now. Cos on Today Tonight Adelaide, they've found a correlation between food additives in school canteen snacks, and how hyperactive and rowdy the children are. And I think it's making me really, really restless. Aahh.

Anyway, we had the Singapore National Day celebrations today, which was quite a success, because many many many people turned up, and we had lots of fun playing the games, singing national day songs, winning prizes, making silly jokes. It was -fantastic-. I got to meet lots of people too, and amazingly, most of the people I met are not from Singapore, they're China, Hong Kong, Indonesian or Malasian nationals! I'll upload photos soon! Whee.

Mood is improving, so I hope it'll stay that way. I'm going to do alot with my life, and first of all, I'm gonna start learning to be happy. I have instructions and directions, just gotta get around to doing it.

You said you'd understand if I thought you didn't deserve my friendship, but you were the one who didn't want to retain the friendship. I really don't want to have anything more to do with you. It still hurts, maybe because I still care. Well, I'm going to be extra nice, thoughtful, patient and caring the next time, just so I know you're missing out on that much. Hee hee hee...

Crap, I'm still really really high. Oh no. Wheeeee...

I can't sleep

2006-08-07T22:11:00.000+08:00

4:30 A.M, I'm awake again
Singing to the dark through open eyes
While dreaming I see only you and me
Stuck between desire and compromise

If I said I want you back I'd be a liar
There's nothing left of us to long for anymore
But inside the ashes burns an endless fire
And every night I can't help reaching out for more

And I can't sleep... You're so far away from me
And I can't sleep... And I can't sleep
And I can't sleep... You're so far away from me
And I can't sleep... And I can't sleep

You're leaving these scars scattered round my heart
A road map of the places you have been
But I can't escape, can't wash this away
When love has burned your mark so deep within

If I said I want you back I'd be a liar
There's nothing left of us to long for anymore
But inside the ashes burns an endless fire
And every night I can't help reaching out for more

And I can't sleep... You're so far away from me
And I can't sleep... And I can't sleep
And I can't sleep... You're so far away from me
And I can't sleep... And I can't sleep

"I can't sleep" - Above and Beyond

Happy Birthday Clare!

2006-08-06T22:19:00.000+08:00

!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARE!!!

The past week has been quite bad towards the end, with me fluctuating from being utterly depressed, to plain sad melancolic, to bitter frustration and constant irritability. It is particularly interesting to note the similarity between my moods and the Indonesian tsunami in 2004, which is extremely annoying because it can be seriously disabling at times.

Was pretty sad on Friday, (I have no fucking idea why) and probably looked so moody no one was bothered to talk to me. It's a trait of depressed people, that others are worried it might be infectious, and go to all means to avoid them. It's like happiness, which -in conclusion- is why people enjoy hanging around happy people, and not sad people.

Hmm, I've really got to work on that, got to learn how to look happy. That's a start, I guess.

Anyway, Friday evening was better, with me going for Pre-clin pub crawl. Got to meet lots of people, and dance with my favourite Kudnarto (and I forgot to compliment her on her dress!!! ARGH what was I thinking..).

Happy Birthday Clare, hope all your birthday wishes come true. =)

I'm not sure when all this will end. Soon, I hope. It's just a pesky, lingering feeling that haunts me constantly, and doesn't seem to get better with each passing day. Maybe it's not a matter of letting go. Maybe it's just something I have to bear with until it wears away with time... soon, I hope...

Some cute cartoons...

2006-08-03T18:22:00.000+08:00

I've realised that not everything should happen according to the way we want, or expect it to be. We've just got to trust in God, that things happen for our own good, be it to prepare us the future, for something better, or for our role in His plan.

The world doesn't owe us happiness... it's the other way around.

Sometimes, acceptance can be so hard. It's so difficult to move on, maybe because I still believe in you. Believe in us, maybe?

It's pointless I guess.

I wish...

First week of August!

2006-08-03T18:12:00.000+08:00

Last week was really crap, my mood felt like shit. Maybe it's because I checked her blog, so am so reminded of her.

Anyway, last Sunday, Ingle Farm church service was good, and I got to watch dozens of bubbly children in action, scampering around the hall, squealing in delight. Their energy and laughter is really infectious. And I've discovered Sara sings really -really- well, because I was sitting beside her, and got to hear her sing AND harmonise with the hymns that were sung by the congregation.

After church, I was invited to Kevin and Ann Rogers' place for lunch! I met their children, Melissa, Tom and Kayla, and Tim and Joanna, and was treated to a delicious feast of roast pork and chicken, baked potatos and absolutely fantastic mushroom sauce. I had strawberries and ice-cream for dessert, and drink two glasses of wine. I felt really at home by their hospitality and nice family warmth.

Melissa is a physiotherapist, who works at MINDS, which is a non-profit charity organisation that helps children with physical and mental disabilities. She's going to go over to Serra Leone next February for nine months, to help the underprevilaged disabled children there. Amazingly noble of her. Wish I could get to know her better, but she doesn't go to this church.

There was youth mass in the evening at St. Francis Xavier, and went for dinner with Leny.

Was quite happy from lunch, and the week started to improve after that. YaY.

Mood: Extremely Depressed

2006-07-26T22:45:00.000+08:00

Today is a depressing day. Not sure which subset of depression, but I'm pretty sure it's related to severe dysthymic disorder. Chronic, lingering, ongoing. I have no idea why.

Sure like hell doesn't seem to affect you, you're having a fucking good time yourself.

I don't even know why it's hurting so bad. Is it because I find myself non-existant in your eyes, is it because I've lost a best friend, is it because you don't care anymore, is it because you promised so much, but gave so little?

Am I a liability now, some fragment of the past you want to sweep under the carpet to lie hidden from the view of guests?

I'm not sure if I'm angry or frustrated, I'm not even sure if there's any point in what I'm feeling. And I'm not sure why.

Why? So many questions, so many answers, so few that make sense.

-Whatever-

Ingle Farm Church

2006-07-24T19:39:00.000+08:00

Visited Sara's church again on Sunday morning, and I baked cookies for all the little children! There are so many of them, all playfully running around, and all really adorable. I'm feeling slightly more accepted into the church, and was invited to lunch next week at someone's house, but I guess it's still quite a long way more before I can start making good friends there.

Sometimes, I feel so alone.

So Alone.

PBL was boring today, with rapid and extremely dynamic discussion provided by all the locals. Sometimes, I think my brain is too slow to keep up with them, I'm still processing what Jess said, when Bianca, Maddie and Rob had already replied. [Lag x4]
I need a brain speed upgrade. I need RAM upgrade. I need memory upgrade.
Anyone has spare neurons to give me?

Melbourne Day 3, 4 & 5

2006-07-24T09:01:00.000+08:00

Went to St. Pauls Cathedral, this really huge catholic cathedral just behind Parliment house. It was an amazing experience just to step into it, beholding the gigantic pipe organ, the magnificent marble alter, shading my eyes from the brilliant light streaming through the myraid of colours on the stained glass, each depicting a scene in Jesus' life and the wonderful angels that populate the heavens. Beautiful place.

Met up and ate delicious pasta at Sofia with Viven and Audrey, my JC classmates (yayy!!), went shopping at Queen Victoria market with Myintzu, was brought around the docklands by Ryan and June (view of the city skyline was stunningly beautiful and really classy, looks much like Singapore's Boat Quay and Esplanade), and savoured pizza, pasta and gelato at Lygon Street with Jia Min.

It was great meeting all of them again!

Melbourne Day 1 and 2

2006-07-18T19:45:00.000+08:00

I arrived 7am early Thursday morning to Melbourne, and made my way to my friend, Melody's apartment along Swanston street. I was greeted by a cheerful and friendly face (albeit sleepy :p), and introduced to the warm, cosy apartment where I would be spending my next few nights in!
Exhausted, I took a short nap, after which, I met her housemate, Amanda, who was equally friendly and welcoming. They brought my to St. Kilda's Beach, where I had a sumptous lunch of fish and chips, and ate delicious chocolate cake and Polish cheesecake for dessert at one of the many dessert shops along the street. I even took a picture with the beautiful waitress!

On our way back, we stopped by the State Library, and ate at a Japanese Restaurant.

On the second day, they brought me to St. Pauls Cathedral and Fitzroy Gardens, which was absolutely beautiful, and had historic cottages, magnificent ancient oaks and pines, and cute little fairy houses. Wonderful place.

Melbourne (cont..)

2006-07-18T18:45:00.000+08:00

*Melody and Amanda, the two lovely, hospitable and kind ladies, letting me put up at their place, having long 3am chats about almost everything, from relationships to the Mr Brown Show, and giving me stacks of books to counter any boredom I might have, including Blankets (by Craig Thompson), which was a superb book-- very poetic, romantic, and touching.

Good Day!

2006-07-12T17:02:00.000+08:00

Today (tuesday) was a good day! Went to cut my hair at Toni&Guy in the morning, and got myself pampered to a hairwash (with extra conditioning!) :p

In the afternoon, went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with Aya and Kris. It was a good show with fantastic special effects, lots of action, and pirate-d humour (oh har-har).

Also received my MMI results in the late morning, and I got 73 (credit) for it! Am really relieved to have passed it and gotten 6 credits for my electives, because I neglected MMI for medicine revision during the study week and exam period, that I thought I was going to fail it. Thank God, cos I prayed really hard the day before the exam (and slept at 6am as well, thanks to last minute revision cramming)

Good Day! Happy.

Off to Melbourne this wednesday evening! Going to visit all my friends there, and catchup with them. Yay, am excited.

Holidays Update Part 2

2006-07-12T11:12:00.000+08:00

On Sunday morning, I went to Ingle Farm Community Church in Ingle Farm, which was about 35mins bus ride away. I was cordially invited to attend the service there by my coursemate Sara, and was really excited to see how it was. The function room it was held in was nice and cosy, and the people were really friendly. There were alot of children running around as well, looking ever so cute and adorable! After the service, I went to try out on their keyboard, and had lots of fun playing church songs. A really refreshing experience, considering I was really scared that morning, because I was going there alone, and didn't know anyone else except Sara.

That evening, I invited the remaining survivors (Singaporeans that were 'left behind'!! heh) to come over for dinner, and cooked fried rice and pasta for them. Bruce, Aya, Lee Ping, Kristin, Jamie and Joanna came over, and we had great fun eating, watching Pirates, playing mahjong, chatting, playing Texams Hold'em, and savouring the delicious Tiramisu ice-cream Joanna brought over. Yum yum. Fun day :)

Watched world cup that morning, and Italy won! (But on penalties...) Was really really sleeeppyy after that... zzZZzz...

The next day, I went to habourtown with Lee Ping and Kristin, watching the girls in dynamic shopping-action was truely an amazing sight. They moved swiftly from store to store, glancing through the clothings and accessories with unrivaled speed. They homed in on trendy dresses, beautiful tops and funky shoes/boots with uncanny accuracy, leaving those who had witnessed the event (namely, me) simply breathless.

Aquinas day

2006-07-08T20:45:00.000+08:00

Today, I invited all the Aquinas people over for lunch: my delicious fried rice!! (ask them, it really was delicious hee hee). James, WoonLeong, Hay and Joel came, and after feasting on the main course, which I tediously laboured for 2 hours in the morning to cook up, we headed upstairs to watch abit of MTVs on the com, and for a nice chat.

Played the organ at the Church of the Holy Name in the evening, and managed to meet Beatrice's parents, who came over from Malaysia for a holiday. Can't wait for tomorrow, World Cup Finals, Italy vs France!

*pics of my cooking :p

Holiday fun!

2006-07-06T11:11:00.000+08:00

Ryan a.k.a. Ah Kiam, my Hwa Chong schoolmate, BMT section mate, and currently studying at La Trobe in Melbourne, came to Adelaide just yesterday! They're staying at Annie's Place along Franklin Street. I met up with him and his girlfriend, June, and we had lunch at Noodlelicious along Rundle, and drove them around the city to show him Central Market, the Cathedrals, and Victoria Square.

In the evening, we were invited to Kristin's place, where she and Leeping cooked up a huge feast for us, with dishes such as curry and fried chicken and more! Thanks alot to both of them for the delicious meal. We had Champagne and wine, and Ryan was entertaining us with his medical history of Hernias and AS, sparking much interest amongst us medical students. After a lively discussion of government politics, medical terminology, and other stuff, they went back to their backpackers inn for the night.

The next afternoon, I went for a jog with Leeping on the Torrens River route, and went all the way to the dam that Theodore was talking about last year! Wow, the scenery there is quite nice, I'm gonna explore that area in more detail in the future.

The start of my holidays!

2006-07-05T10:04:00.000+08:00

Finally, exams are over, and the holidays have begun! Had a massive 8hour-cramp-the-whole-semester's-workload-session before my last paper for Microbio and Immunology last Thursday morning, before I slept at 6am, and got up an hour later to go for the exam. zzZZzz. Extremely draining.

Fang's birthday dinner at City Zen, a chinese restaurant in the city, was a great start to the holidays. Had a fun chat with everyone, and it was good to see them again, after the long study break and exam period.

Over the weekend, many people flew back to Singapore, including *ahem-naming-guity-parties-time* Eugene, Youwen, Lam, Fang! Hope they're having fun in Singapore, eating their pratas and chilli crabs.

I bought a new Olympus camera on Sunday, yay! More photos will be posted up as soon as I get the battery charged. (Yep, I've noticed the blog being devoid of photos for the past few months)
Yesterday, I played at a church memorial service, for a parishoner who passed away a few months ago. Since it was informal, I brought my keyboard to the church instead of using their organ, and it sounded amazing! Am very happy about it, and hope the other people enjoyed the songs.

If I had one wish...

2006-07-05T09:44:00.000+08:00

If I had one wish, I would wish to be happy and satisfied with everything I have. In that way, I wouldn't have to wish for anything else!
No point wishing that things would've turned out differently, or wishing that I could turn back time and try again. No point wishing our situations were different, and that we would be together again, just like before.

No point wishing for anything, actually, because wishing is addictive. More is never enough.

I thought I was in wonderland, but in reality, I was in a fairytale woven with your lies, of deceitful promises of eternity. You didn't even bother to hold on.

Real love stories never have happy endings, because real love story never end.

Where are you?

2006-06-25T17:32:00.000+08:00

You were supposed to arrive this morning, something I was looking forward to this past 4 months, even meticulously counting down the days as they trudged on. We started at 119, and were so excited when it became double digits.

We had so many plans, touring the Great Ocean Road, watching the sunset with the Eight Apostles, shopping at Melbourne Factory outlets, maybe even flying to Gold Coast for a week of fun! Looking forward to this holiday was what motivated me, even when I was burdened with problems, exhausted from life, thinking of you just kept me going.

We never got past 70.

MEQ Paper

2006-06-21T22:02:00.000+08:00

Malcom's the patient with anemia,
from chronic colon cancer.
Michael's the one with myocardial ischemia,
presenting in a breathless manner.
Sarah's sister had viremia,
from her MMR vaccine.
That's why her mother
doesn't want her immunising.
One poor old lady had RA,
and had joint pains the whole day.
She ought to take DMARDs, I'd say,
or get her joints aspirated today!
Someone had a lump in her breast,
and had to go for a mammogram test.
She better get it excised, lest
it grows into a malignant mass!

That more or less sums up my MEQ paper for today. Made alot of careless mistakes, although I thought it went pretty ok, for the amount I actually studied before this. Hopefully next week's papers won't be that difficult as well.
Good luck, everyone :)

Exam Week!

2006-06-19T17:28:00.000+08:00

Exams have officially begun, with an exciting RLE paper today that left me with PBLogenic dyspnea. Breathless. Trying to understand and answer the question while forcing thoughts of impending doom down that tiny little drain in my brain was an extremely tiresome thing to do. Of all diseases, today's case had to be about spinal cord injury resulting from trauma, with our patient having loss of sensation and paralysis/weakness in her lower body. Kinda sounds like the state I'll be in when I actually get the results back.

Here's a nice song I like... it's called Nella Fantasia (In my fantasy)

Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo giusto,
Li tutti vivono in pace e in onestà.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien' d'umanità in fondo all'anima.

Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo chiaro,
Li anche la notte è meno oscura.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano.

Nella fantasia esiste un vento caldo,
Che soffia sulle città, come amico.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien' d'umanità in fondo all'anima.

In my fantasy
In my fantasy I see a just world,
Where everyone lives in peace and honesty.
I dream of a place to live that is always free,
Like a cloud that floats,
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.

In my fantasy I see a bright world
Where each night there is less darkness.
I dream of spirits that are always free,
Like the cloud that floats.

In my fantasy exists a warm wind,
That breathes into the city, like a friend.
I dream of souls that are always free,
Like the cloud that floats,
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.

Nice song with nice lyrics :)

Will be updating less regularly, with the exams on and stuff. Anyway currently don't have any plans for the hols except maybe a short trip to Melbourne to meet up with some friends I haven't seen for quite awhile. So if anyone has any ideas on places to go, stuff to see, things to do, please tell me or ask me along!
Otherwise, I'll just be waiting to go to Victor Harbour with Danielle in her new car! hee.
Good luck to all Uni-Adelaideans for their exams! (but don't take too much, I need alot of luck too heh)

~~~

Sometimes, I just wish and pray that things didn't turn out like that. I would pray so, so hard, fighting back those tears my heart cries out every night. So many whys, with so many answers that I don't want to listen to. If I had the power, I would love only you, wait the 100 years before the Prince awoke Sleeping Beauty with his kiss, be the Angel in your fairytale, happily ever after.

But wanting you to love me back would be too selfish of me. After all, you said it was tying you down, and you wanted to fly. The grass is always greener on the otherside, you always say. Well, I truly hope you find it, your greener grass.

~~~

My revision-deficient week

2006-06-09T22:07:00.000+08:00

Today is Friday, the last weekday of a week devoid of study! I've been trying to focus, but that state of pure concentration keeps eluding my grasp, despite all efforts to attain it. During every attempt to absorb textbook knowledge, my mind inevitably wanders to my life these past few weeks, and there I am, powerless to control the unstable entity, losing all authority over my thoughts. What a mess!

Anyway, crap aside, I went Pullman's buffet at Skycity again yesterday afternoon, and had a great lunch there, eating succulent lamb chops and beef steak (actually both were pretty tough), crispy batter fish fillets, delicious spring rolls, and of course, who would forget the delectable desserts, like rich luscious chocolate cake, banana-caramel pie, mouth-watering chocolate mousse and many more. We celebrated Lam's birthday as well, which was so sneakily hidden from us this past year. Happy Birthday Lam! Yum yum. hahahaha. Great food, great morale boosting time, considering exams are just in two weeks! EEKS.

Watched an amazing World Cup opening in Germany, with all the excitment in the atmosphere. There were wonderfully performances, dances, and a parade of the past World Cup winners! Fantastic!

***

Tomorrow, I'll be starting afresh. No more wasting time in front of MSN, pining, longing, waiting, watching. It's -stupid-, and it has been wasting so much of my precious time the past few weeks. No more hanging on to old memories, wondering, hoping, praying. So stupid!!
Yay, I can't wait till tomorrow! Hopefully, the coming weeks will be as good as I'm hoping it'll be.

Leny's Birthday

2006-06-06T19:08:00.000+08:00

Leny's birthday was last week! We - her housemates and our church friends, ate at the $5 unlimited pancake place (whee!!), and gobbled down massive amounts of pancakes. I think it caused a worldwide catastrophic shortage of pancakes, causing the prices of pancakes to soar in stock markets all around the world. Amazing

On Friday, we went to BBQ City near Chinatown to have a sumptuous chinese meal, and even bought her a cake with a candle and all! (A small cake though :p )
Happy Birthday Leny!

My weekend!

2006-06-05T08:30:00.000+08:00

Spent my weekend making mango pudding and baking hazelnut squares (which turn out to be more of soft-hazelnut-cookies. Maybe it's cos I overdosed the chocolate). It's for my PBL group on monday, last PBL group of the semester. Will really miss seeing Kudnarto so often though, unless of course she's in my group next sem! Haha, time to do abit of infiltrating into the MEU!

Went to church to play on Sat evening, and was surprised to see Leny there, cos she told me she wasn't going. Went to this church near my house on Sunday, and am going to play there next Sunday! But catch is, I've gotta bring my piano there, cos they have no organ. haha, am excited.

Eugene and Hans and I were invited over to Aya's place to eat dinner! Thanks alot Aya! She made Rojak, and fried chicken. Amazingly friendly of her. We also got to meet her housemate, Evelyn.

Oh on Saturday afternoon, we saw huge beautiful rainbows! There was a double rainbow actually, but it is pretty hard to notice in the photos! I'm still looking for that pot of gold!!

The end of the world

2006-06-05T07:49:00.000+08:00

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world,
`cause you don't love me anymore?

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love.

I wake up in the morning and I wonder why ev'rything's the same as it was.
I can't understand, no I can't understand, how life goes on the way it does!

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said good-bye.

Patient case study report: June 06

2006-06-04T21:47:00.000+08:00

The patient is a 21 year old male who is presenting with symptoms of severe emotional distress, recurrent heart pains and acute confusion and depression. He complains of regular shortness of breath upon rest, retrosternal chest pain, general fatigue, lack of emotional well-being, and lack of motivation. The current episode started two weeks ago.

Symptoms began two months ago, and was most severe at the start. Attacks occur frequently, mainly at night, but in the day time as well. There was an incubation period lasting two weeks prior to that, when minor symptoms were observed.
He has been on detachment and distraction therapy two weeks after the onset of the illness, but they have not been working effectively.

His past history is unremarkable. He had a similar but much less severe episode about a year ago.
His family history is unremarkable.
His social history is consistent; he has not been doing anything out of ordinary routine that might have precipitated the symptoms. He is currently a student who does not smoke and drinks only occassionally. However, his social life has been severely impacted by the illness.
Systems review has revealed that he has been sending daily emails beginning two weeks ago, which coincides with the onset of the most recent episode. Patient claims that he was only trying to keep to a commitment he made.

A physical examination of emotional and mental state has revealed the following:

Examination report:

Pain, loss, longing, jealousy, possessiveness,
selfishness, anger, frustration, depression, sadness, confusion present.

This illness seems to be self-limiting, but recovery times vary from person to person. In certain cases, it might develop into a chronic condition that has major impacts on the person's social life and emotional and mental well-being.

Patient is advised to continue on distraction therapy. He will be prescribed 5mg support-from-friends, to be taken 3 times a day, 2mg be-positive pills 3 times a day, and advised to concentrate on his studies, which will complement the distraction therapy. (He is also recommended to play his piano more often, because music sooths the soul.)

A follow-up has been scheduled in three and a half weeks time.

Peter O'connel Day!

2006-06-02T15:09:00.000+08:00

Today, we had the chance to meet our Peter O'connel [not his real name =) ], a tetraplegic/quadraplegic (paralysed in body and legs, and lost some functions in his hands) who suffered a spinal cord injury during a car accident nearly 19 years ago. During the lecture, we were given insight into the difficulties a quadraplegic faces in his daily life, which we all so often take for granted.

To get out of bed, he has to roll to the bedside, grip the handles of his wheelchair carefully, and whilst maintaining his balance, pull himself over to the chair. It takes them about 6 to 9 months just to master how to pull themselves into and out of their wheelchairs when they need to transfer themselves into a car or onto a bed. Clearing his bowels takes him a few hours in the morning (he commonly wakes up at 4am to prepare for his day), and emptying his bladder involves regular self-catheterization throughout the day. At the start of his rehabilitation 19 years ago, he needed help in almost all daily activities, be it cleaning, moving or eating, and took many months to learn to do them independently. He also needed to install modifications into his house (especially bathroom). Luckily, his parents were highly supportive of him, both emotionally and financially. (He had a paralysed friend whose mother disowned because of his disability!! So mean!!)

Sometimes, this just makes us feel much more blessed with what we have, and make us realise that we actually take so many things for granted. Just waking up, washing up and eating breakfast is a real feat for a disabled person, whereas it's just another daily routine for us.

Sometimes, we get so caught up in comparing ourselves to others, feeling so jealous and unhappy that we're not leading the happening, cool lives that they lead, watching them party every other weekend! We don't notice that there are miracles occuring around us, even when we perform routine tasks like waking up and walking to the toilet.

Ask the quadraplegic how it feels to get to the bathroom every morning,
Ask the blind man when was the last time he saw the rainbow,
Ask the deaf man when was the last time he heard Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Sometimes, we are so greedy, we want to have everything. To us, the grass is so much greener on the other side, that we lose sight of the lush vegetation on our side of the meadow.

Sometimes, we long so much for that elusive grass, that we forget to water our own grass, and they wither and die, leaving our once beautiful meadow all lifeless and barren.

Sometimes we are so obsessed with our problems, that we fail to see how much the people around us are suffering. We just think life is so unfair to us, and wonder why bad things happen to us, when those bad things are just anthills, compared to the mountains of challenges life presents some other people with.

I truly admire Peter O'connel.

My broken heater

2006-05-31T21:15:00.000+08:00

My trusty heater of 4 weeks,
crumbled under heat, I couldn't fix
it, and now my room is cold,
miserable, and freezing fourfold

The heater was working fine
all along, no sinister sign
that it would just cease
to provide that warm and comfort
that I so dearly miss

One unexpected evening, under the starry sky
the heater had decided, by and by
it was weary, and could give no more
the wonderful warmth from its metal core.

Puzzled, I stared intently at it
in my heart I pondered, bit by bit
why in the world would the heater stop
and cause the temperature in my room to drop!

Frost crept slowly into my room (and heart)
as I opened the heater part by part
I peered, I screwed, I tried my best
but this was a really challenging test

After some time, I came to realise
that the hours I had spent would not suffice
I was tired, exhausted and pained,
'cause all my efforts were in vain

The world still spins, life still goes on
Despite me being all forlorn
I really wish it would be easier
to bid farewell to my dear heater

I can't be clingy and linger on
wasting time from dusk to dawn
So much to accomplish, so little time
that standing still would, indeed, be a crime!

Falling

2006-05-29T21:28:00.000+08:00

falling,
who's there to catch me?
drowning,
in the bitter salty sea
tumbling,
into the endless abyss
bleak as can be.

Like the phantom that haunts the night
I'm the pretender that walks daylight
Like the patient who lies to the doctor
harbouring an MI
seething with angina
yet smiling at the physician
behind a veil of lies
which hides my sorry soul
that all so often cries
out in silent agony
so afraid, so tired, so cold.

Happiness...

2006-05-28T21:51:00.000+08:00

I don't really know what happiness is anymore.

Life is drifting past ever so quickly, I've forgotten what it's like to be happy or excited about something.

I need to rediscover myself and find out what makes me happy, what makes me excited, and what motivates me.

Today, at church, someone said that we are truly happy not when we have what we want, but when we want what we have.

Sometimes, we don't fully appreciate those little things in our lives that we take for granted, that so many other people out there don't even have.

We find ourselves trying to be happy by wanting so many things, and trying our best to achieve them, when actually, what we already have is more than sufficient to make us ever so happy.

True Happiness isn't a euphoric state of mind, it's an attitude to life.

Presenting....

2006-05-26T22:50:00.000+08:00

*drum roll*

The first mouse on Mars!!

Our cool new bus driver!

Dreams

2006-05-26T09:57:00.000+08:00

That night he wandered blissfully into whimsical dreamland..

We were there wandering around this huge maze of corridors, with no idea of where we were going. We talked, we chatted, and we laughed. For once I felt truly happy again. Just knowing you were there beside me made me feel complete. As we roamed around the yellow-washed corridors, we chanced upon a room with so several shelves. Curiously, we opened and peered into the shelves, to discover various items lying in storage. You sat on one of the shelves, and pulled me towards you. I leaned forward to hold you, to kiss you, feeling so secure in your arms. I miss you so, so much.

He awoke suddenly, choking on the bitter taste of reality.

Reality sucks.

X Men 3 !

2006-05-25T17:49:00.000+08:00

I went to watch X Men 3: The last stand today at the cinemas at 12:10am!! (Thanks Lam for the tickets!) The action was amazing, but it didn't do justice to the characters! There was no character development, and so many major Xmen died, to provide a conclusion to the trilogy I presume.

And Rogue lost her powers!! All for some guy!! That is such a cheesy turn in the story! If that guy doesn't love you, then why bother to sacrifice so much for him? Who gives a damn, you're better off without him anyway. You can come with me! Yeah, Anna Paquin is sooo hot!! heh :p

Anyway I thought the Phoenix would play a larger role in the story, instead of merely killing off all our well-liked characters! The phoenix was guardian force of the M'Kraan crystal, which held the power to destroy the universe. Inhibiting Jean's body to defend the crystal during the galatic war of the Sh'iaar Empire, the phoenix boosted her powers tremendously. After the war, the phoenix turned evil, because it tasted human emotion and desire, and brought it to the extreme, destroying everything around her in pure passion and rage. Dark Phoenix nearly killed her fellow Xmen, and the Jean Grey within her realised she was a danger to the people around her, so she sacrificed her life on the moon, and the phoenix force, now emerging from Jean's broken body, was once again free from the influences of human emotion, and resurrected Jean Grey. Rebirth.

As the phoenix is consumed by searing fire,
blazing in the scorching pyre,
it is reborned from within the very embers and ashes,
gleaming with renewed passion and desire.

Being a friend

2006-05-25T17:38:00.000+08:00

What does being a friend mean? To me, being a friend means how much of myself, my time, my energy, I'm willing to sacrifice for a friend, and how much I care for him or her. To me, a friendship is about what I can do for the friend, and not what they can do for me. I don't really expect anything out of friends, because if I make friends based on their value or worth, the friendship will be really fake. If they do support me in my darkest times, then I'm fortunate to have them as friends =)

Adelaide Rankings

2006-05-25T15:27:00.000+08:00

Entertainment Announcement: Danielle just beat Kudnarto as the hottest girl in South Australia! Working as a Supre promotions manager at Rundle Mall, she's rated highly on the coolness scale. But Kudnarto may win after all, due to high exposure times! (I see her 3times a week!!)

Ok here're the final scores*:
Danielle: 9.95
Kudnarto: 9.93

Hot Hot Hot!!

*Subjected to change depending on the judge's moods.

The blind man at church...

2006-05-23T13:46:00.000+08:00

I went to church last Sunday (Million Paws Day!!), and sitting at the pew just in front of me was this average looking man gently patting the milky coat of a large dog who was sitting affectionately at his feet. He wore a pair of dark shades, and was staring intently at the altar in front. After communion, on his way back, I noticed he walked straight past his pew, following his dog obediently. Just then, the people near him quickly rushed forward and tugged his sleeve, patiently ushering him back to his seat.

This just reminds me of the blind man in the bible, the one who called out to Jesus for help. Jesus lay his hands on his eyes, and told him that he could see again, thanks to his faith. Even though the blind man at church was physically blind, God gave him vision to see the goodness in the people around him, who are willing to help him in any way they can, be it his family, his friends, or just mere strangers on the street.
Sometimes, when we're burdened with our own problems, instead of drowning in sorrows and self-pity, we should take a step back, and see God's Grace in it all, notice how He sends us help to accompany the challenges and trials He sets for us.
So instead of wasting our time analysing how much suffering life has dished out for us, we might as well look around us and see how many people around us are actually bearing worse sufferings than us. We should pick ourselves up, let these people know that we've been there and know how horrible it is to suffer, and spend our time and energy helping them out of their sufferings and letting them know that we'll be there to support them whenever they need it.

That's much more productive than enduring heart-wrenching moments in the silence when you wonder why life had to turn out this way and how unfair it had been. Because it wasn't all that fair to others anyway.

Million Paws Day!!

2006-05-21T19:20:00.000+08:00

Down at Elder Park along the Torrens River was the Million Paws event today! Hundreds of people came to walk their dogs on the footpath along the Torrens river bank.

It was spectacular to watch hundreds of adorable dogs trottling obediently beside the people, occassionally barking and racing around playfully. The graceful Shetlands and Collies were prancing about, while the Shitzus looked so cute! There were a few Huskys around, as well as Cocker Spaniels, Terriers, Malteses, and one fierce looking Rottweiler! Scary! Was really reminded of my own dog at home, ah miss him so much!

Aww, he looks tired!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANIS!

2006-05-20T22:40:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday, my dear sister (psst she's the one in the middle!)!! Heard about your surprise party, and all your celebrations! I'm really happy you have so many good friends who plan this kinda stuff for you!! Take care, and miss you and Dino super lots!

CPR Day!

2006-05-20T22:20:00.000+08:00

I had a full day course at the SA St John's Centre at Unley today, learning about First Aid and CPR. It was really cool, how the paramedic who was teaching us shared with us his experiences about accidents and emergencies, and how he had to evacute them and perform First Aid, like this guy whose car just smashed right into a huge tree trunk, and was in a state of shock.

The class was a little boring, but it was pretty interesting to imagine all the different A&E situations I could face in the future, really adrenaline pumping =) I may try to join the St John's Ambulance service next semester when I have more time, it'll be a great way to be happy and to make friends! muhaha.

And the Melbourne skiing planning is going quite well, my friend just agreed to let me stay over! Whee. Just gotta finalise the skiing details and dates and all. Am trying to be excited about it!!

So what?

2006-05-19T18:27:00.000+08:00

Oh wells, this meant something once, but not anymore. Wanted to write it up, but didn't get about to doing it till now.

So what means...

So what means my shoulder's always there for you to cry on when you were sad, hearing you pour out all your fears, sadness, insecurities.

So what means I'll always hug you when you need it, and pat you gently, assuring you that everything will be alright.

So what means sitting with you in the silence when you're tearing, wiping away your tears, drying your face with my shirt, and holding you close to my heart.

So what means laughing with you about silly jokes, funny things we see on the streets, talking endlessly about how entertained we were by them.

So what means telling you ridiculously lame jokes and dancing and flying around to cheer you up whenever you were stressed or depressed.

So what means jumping around together excitedly whenever we had something wonderful to look forward to.

So what means giving you a loving back massage whenever you're tired, no matter how tired I am.

So what means being there always, even if you were moody, in a bad mood, or were angry with me.

So what means that I'll always say sorry and admit it's my fault, no matter whose it is.

So what means I love you, in a really, really big pretend to like your taste in music (I do!), let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, always giving you a nice big hug to cheer you up, unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. So pick me, choose me, love me.

July Hols!!

2006-05-17T20:07:00.000+08:00

I'm thinking of going skiing during the winter holidays, maybe in Victoria or New South Wales! Would have had company at first though. But now, since most of my friends here will be flying home, or have things to do, I'm opening the invitation to anyone who wants to join me! Do tell me soon so we can start planning!

Ooohh, skiing, that'll be so amazingly fun! I've seen my cousins' States skiing photos and videos, and the whole experience just looks awesome.

...I read about your broken friendship, and how eager you are to repair it. Am just wondering if you are interested in repairing ours. I've been really confused - I still am. I know I don't want it to end up like your broken friendship (whatever the details are). You don't seem too eager to repair ours though. I'll try to work at it, but if you're not willing, then we'll just leave it at there...

Nicole

2006-05-15T17:41:00.000+08:00

During the labour contractions, I had a chance to talk to the midwife, Nicole. She was the one who patiently explained all the procedures that they carried out during labour, and even helped me Scrub in for the C section. She's tall, slender and really pretty. She was a registered midwife, who graduated from her 3 year course last December. Jessica (Sue-Anne's sister) asked her what her inspiration was for being a midwife, and she said she did a paper on it for English in Year 12, and really found interest in pregnancy and delivery. However, she did Law in Uni-Adelaide for a year, and didn't like it, so she changed to studying midwifery instead.

I was quite shocked, that someone who was studying law, would give up a future as a laywer, and become a midwife at a hospital instead (no offense to the profession, I think all professions are great!). Are her parents supportive? Does she see any prospect in her occupation? I guess my surprise at this stems from the Singaporean culture and way of thinking, and how they sometimes rank professions according to viability and how much you can earn, instead of placing emphasis on doing what you enjoy and are interested in.

It's pretty sad how sometimes, people in Singapore allow their lives to be directed by the 'Singaporean' culture and way of thinking, studying and doing what society tells them has the most financial potential, instead of following their hearts. They allow themselves to be limited by reality, being boxed up by so many factors like financial situation, parent's attitudes and so on, that they don't dare to pursue their dreams. To them, dreams are at the other end of impossible, because it requires them to be different from others, to actually step out of social norm, to achieve their heart's desires.

Sometimes, they believe that dreams will tie them down, because by daring to dream, they are stopping themselves from achieving other, more practical dreams. They think that daring to dream is actually fencing them in, and are willing to settle for other aims which are far less difficult to achieve, and much more practical.

"Why not, since it's already there, within my grasp, why not make it my dream, and convince myself I'm happy with it. After all, if I'm happy, I won't need other dreams to make me happy."

There's nothing wrong with that train of thought, after all, if you're happy, that's all that matters. I'm just reminded of how Singaporean and Aussie culture defer from each other.

Dare to Dream.

The (7-hour) Aleck Saga

2006-05-15T05:29:00.000+08:00

OH MY GOODNESS!!

At 11pm Sunday night, my pregnant woman's partner calls me and tells me she's in labour. After calling my mum and wishing her happy mothers day (Yep, it's mothers day :p Did you forget it? Heh, quick go wish your mum!!), I hurriedly donned on my T-shirt, jeans and jacket, and rushed down to the Women's and Children's.

When I reached there, Sue-Anne was just in the middle of her contractions. They started about 8 hours ago, but she didn't get to the hospital until night time. The clock ticked past, as I sat there, listening to her mum and sis talk crap to pass the time. During the wait, midwife Nicole was busy monitering the fetal heartbeat and contractions strength, and was nice enough to explain what they were doing, with the vaginal examination to check for cervical dilation and all. Her cervix was at 9cm then.

During the wait, I got to watch this procedure in which they pushed a tube up the vagina to prick the fetus' head slightly, and take a small sample of blood to test for its acidity, ensuring that the fetus is not under undue stress.

After 5 long hours, they decided that the fetus was in the wrong position for delivery, because during that time, cervical dilation was good, at 9cm, and contractions were regular and strong. They quickly opted for a Ceserean, and let me scrub in for the operation!!

WHOOOO HOOOOO

I was thought how to wear theatre dress, wash hands, wear operating gown and gloves, and within no time, was at the operating table beside Dr Roberts. He was really kind, and explained step by step as he started to slice the skin of her abdomen, cut through the rectal sheath, rectus abdominus, the peritonium, before reaching the amniotic sac. Blood was squirting each time he made a new incision. He cut the sac in one smooth slice, and the midwife quickly used a vaccum machine to suck up the amniotic fluid that gushed out instantly. He then made a small cut across the uterus, and there was the fetus!!!

WHEEE!!

He even let me cut the umbilical cord!!! WWWOWWW!!!

He removed the placenta, and then deftly stitched up the uterus, the peritonium, the muscle layers, and then the skin, and before I knew it, the operation was over.
I followed the newborn to take his blood sugar levels, and he was then presented to the family, who fawned over him with absolute delight!
He was a boy, and the couple had decided to name him Aleck.

Superbly wonderful and amazing experience. Wow. Went home at 7 plus in the morning, was exhausted after the nightly vigil. Wow.

A Love That Will Last..

2006-05-13T11:40:00.000+08:00

I want a little something more
Don't want the middle or the one before
I don't desire a complicated past
I want a love that will last

Say that you love me
Say I'm the one
Don't kiss and hug me and then try to run
I don't do drama
My tears do fall fast
I want a love that will last

I don't want just a memory
Give me forever
Don't even think about saying good-bye
Cuz i want just one love to be enough
And remain in my heart till i die

So call me romantic
Oh i guess that must be so
Theres something more that you oughta know
I'll never leave you
So don't even ask
I want a love that will last (Forever)
I want a love that will last

I don't want distant memories,
Give me forever
Don't even think about saying good-bye
Cuz i want just one love to be enough
And remain in my heart till i die
So there's little more that I need

I wanna share all the air you breathe
I'm not the kinda girl to complicate the past
I want a love that will last

Forever
I want a love the love that last
Always
I just want a love that will last
Want a love that will last

(A Love That Will Last: Renee Olstead)

Dreamland

2006-05-13T08:35:00.000+08:00

I wish I could run away,
and come back to reality another day.
The pain never ceases,
there're no cool breezes,
to grant me respite on my journey today.

I wish I could run far far away.

There was a place I once called home,
where I felt my heart belonged.
My world of childhood fairy tales,
living in a fancy fantasy song.

I sang, I danced, I wandered far,
(In my mind)
around my dreamy reverie,
(I did find)
so captivated in my paradise,
(I was blind)
and all the wonders I could see.

I played, I stayed, and then I paid (for it),
entranced by such deception,
it still lingers on,
the scar from my illusion.

Such young fascination...

Ice Age 2!

2006-05-11T20:27:00.000+08:00

Whee, watched Ice Age2 last Tuesday and ate pizza after that. Haha, wonderful evening, and lots of cute Scrat action in the movie! Haha, especially the one where he entered acorn heaven. Pretty funny.

Yesterday evening went to this Steamboat Buffet place along Hindley street, and ate so much I nearly exploded! It was quite nice, with Moses telling us his "boomerang" jokes, and Eugene educating the girls on 'Corpus Copulatoris', the part of the male brain that filters clean-ness out of clean thoughts. Was really funny.

Today really made my day! Went for yoga this afternoon, and was thought abit of meditation and the Salutations of the Sun sequence. Am excited about the meditation concept, cos everytime my mind wanders and I start feeling sad, I'll try to meditate and take slow breaths to clear my head. Am hoping it'll work.
Late afternoon, went to the Adelaide Rock Climbing gym with Myintzu, Tah Wee, Lee Ping, and met this guy Yong En there. I realise to rock climb, it takes nearly all your muscles, including your abdominal ones, to help you, not just your triceps or biceps. Am really amazed with the grace and agility Myintzu had when she was climbing. Thanks for bringing us there Myintzu! Had alot of fun, and am hoping to bring more people there too, so we can have rock climbing outings.

Jazz Night

2006-05-09T21:03:00.000+08:00

I went for jazz night last Friday evening at Club199 along North Terrace, and the atmosphere was amazing! It was superb for relaxing and chilling out!
Was there with Myintzu, Tau Wee (her hostel friend) and Tak Shek (his cousin), Debby, Maybelline, Fang, Kristin and Leny.

We were chatting about gossipy stuff amongst the Singaporeans, discussing about Debby's birthday party (which was the next day, Sat!!), and just plain chilling out. Had a fantastic time there. I even played Ballade Pour Adeline (the Richard Clayderman song) on the Yamaha Grand there, and dedicated it to Debby and Maybelline, cos their birthdays were last week and this week.

Haha, on a side note, it was so wonderful to play on a piano again, especially a Yamaha GRAND!! Whoo!! Hehe, my Casio Privia is lovely, but still, nothing can beat a real piano. (muhaha, especially a grand! :p Really miss my baby-grand at home!) The feel and touch of this ivory keys is pure ecstasy!

It's not fair!!

2006-05-09T20:50:00.000+08:00

It's not fair!! Why?? Why???
Haha, I've been asking who knows those questions the past few weeks. I've asked God, and I think He's pretty sick of me asking so many "Why"s. He probably answered me so many times, it's just that I was too stubborn, or too deaf, to listen.

I know I should think maturely, should handle this whole thing like an adult. I'm not a child after all, and crying over spilt milk won't bring it back. (hee, just gotta look for other cows now :p)
But it's not fair, why do I have to go through this?? and ALONE??!? I've put in so much effort, so much of myself into it, gave so much patience, so much care, so much love into it all. Why am I getting this in return?? WHY???? I HATE THIS. I HATE YOU.

Somehow, I can imagine God telling me, "there people around you who are suffering worse torments than you, how is that fair to them?? Some of them are even born with their sufferings, and yet, here you are sitting and whining about this trivial challenge I gave you, obliviously blind to their plights!"

My dad told me too, part of the healing process is to help others in their sufferings, share in their burdens, and help them heal as well. In that way, we actually realise how fortune we've been all along, instead of just focusing on the bad things that's happening to us.
Hmm, haven't really been helping, listening, or supporting anyone lately. Maybe I should start.

I know I have to face this challenge, and pull myself through it. It's just so tough, so much easier said than done. I laughed, when Mingwei said yesterday, "Yes, it's easier said than done. But still, it must be said, then done."

Tough, tough. I'm told I will come out of this stronger than before. But I dunno if I'll even come out of it alive.

Multi-Cultural Week

2006-05-09T20:47:00.000+08:00

Last week's multicultural week was really busy, having to cook Nasi Lemak at Debby's house till 3am, having to pack Honeydew Sago, clean pots, help de-feather and clean and deep fry chicken wings, and so much more!! REally tiring week, but it was rewarding to see people enjoying the food, and was fun trying to jio all our friends to come try the food we prepared at the stall. WE made stuff like Laksa, Nasi Lemak, Pulut Hitam, Gula Melaka, Honeydew Sago dessert and more! Yum yum.

Was quite glad for the busy-ness, it gave me some relief from reality. At least for those few days, I stopped hurting for awhile.

After that, it's back to reality, back to hurting, back to picking up the pieces of my life. What a mess.

Back-dating

2006-05-09T20:34:00.000+08:00

Haha, sorry for so many backdated events, just been abit too busy to actually write about them on time.
This is me playing the organ at the Church of the Holy Name. Been doing it for a few weeks now, and am quite happy I can provide the people there with music.
The picture above is Leny and me. Leny!!!
And the one with all the dishes was taken on our Popiah-Hot&Sour-Soup-Pork-Dumplings-Day during the holidays! We made Popiah, Hot and Sour Soup (at this point, Grace will say --Ya Huh--), and dumplings! Haha, and I learnt how to cook them! Yay, will make them for mum and sis if I go back this July.

Jamie's Birthday!

2006-05-07T13:38:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Jamie!!
Jamie's birthday was on the 11th of April, Tuesday. She celebrated it with her friends in the evening, and at night, Eugene, Debby and me drove over to her place to surprise her happy birthday!! I gave her one of my precious Snoopys for her birthday as well!

That Saturday, we held a surprise party for her at Matsuri, this Jap restaurant near Chinatown. I had to pretend to ask her out for dinner, then lead her to Matsuri, where the others were waiting.
We took a nice walk around Victoria Square, and were talking about life, friendships, relationships, and all. Really deep.
Matsuri was this really fancy restaurant, which looked authentically Japanese, with their bamboo plants, and kimonos hung up on display. We all ordered dishes (I had Teriyaki chicken!), and there was free flow rice. We ate so much rice, that they had to cook while we were eating! Really gluttony.

Happy Birthday again Jamie! Hope you enjoyed it!

My favourite song..

2006-04-28T07:27:00.000+08:00

This is one of my favourite songs...

The water is wide

The water is wide, I cannot swim over
And neither have, I wings to fly
Give me a boat that will ferry two
And both shall row, my lover and I

When love is planted on arid ground
It grows and blossoms like a rose
It has a sweet and blessed smell
No flower on earth can it excel

A ship there is, as she sails the sea
She's loaded deep, as deep can be
But not so deep, as the love I'm in
I know not if, I sink or swim

Oh love is handsome, oh love is fine
It's like a jewel, when it is new
But left alone, it grows so cold
And fades away, like morning dew

Oh, this song is so true. Love is so wonderful yet so blind.
And I was both naive and blind.

Adelaide Motor Show!!

2006-04-27T06:37:00.000+08:00

Three weeks ago just before the start of the holidays, I went to the Royal Adelaide Motor Show! It was absolutely fantastic, with lots of sleek stylish cars from all the different brand names, Mercedes, Ferrarri, Bently, Nissan, Mazda and many more!

Some of the cars, especially the Ferrarri and Mercs sports cars, were really stunning, with 10million exhausts, and a huge engine (with the signature of the enginner who designed it!) sitting cosily at it's rear! Nice!

A tinge of sadness

2006-04-24T07:54:00.000+08:00

I do understand.

Like you, I do feel that tinge of sadness, but am happy to have met you, and spent all that time with you. I know you're confused now. Take your time to think life over.

Just remember, I'll always be there to care for and comfort you whenever you need it.