i have only lasted 2 days of school.

the hospital that i am currently doing my PICU elective is 35 minutes brisk walk away from my home. it's probably pointless to take public transport because all that waiting for the bus and changing from bus A to B would most likely outweigh the walking time record. I realised, since I walk at about 7ish in the morning, it is pretty cool and there's this nice morning breeze in the air. However when afternoon rolls in, it is extremely painful to walk in the sweltering heat. The sun is scorching, there is no wind and your eyes feel like it is succumbing to the UV rays.

Well, I have another 12 rounds of walking to do (this rotation is 3 weeks long) so I either start getting used to the walking OR find myself some alternative transport. Both of which is rather impossible.

So I am just going to shut up and continue the walk.

PICU has thus far been abit slow. Bed occupancy is only at about 50%, which means the consultants have tons of time on hand. Which literally translate to having more opportunity to quiz me on random paediatric facts for dummies version 1.0 AND actually deliver teaching. I spent 1+ hour yesterday re-learning about the mechanism of breathing, what determines compliance of the lungs.. etc. You get my drift. Was really good, especially in helping me grasp how the ventilating machines help PICU patients.

Speaking of which, PICU patients really tug at your emotional strings. There is almost nothing worse seeing a very ill child with tubes coming out of his tiny body and seeing his parents keep watch at his bedside. There is also this a whole wall of photos/collages of kids who have been through the doors of the PICU. Some of them struggled and survived a lifetime of a miserly few months, whilst some others managed to leave the PICU better and are still thriving. Be it kicking a soccer ball or learning how to paint - it really makes you think about how lucky you have been, especially if you have always been healthy and free from the clutches of medical treatment.

Oh wells, common program tomorrow. Can see classmates! yay!

yipee!

i am finally done with the unpacking and the cleaning.
gosh it was so tiring.

so i took a long bath, did the scrubbing and the masking.
whoot. i feel shooo good. especially, since i am just sitting in the room with the fan blasting at me.

i might do some peds reading tonight. oh well we shall see how enthusiastic i get. Not terribly, i'd think. heh

Right, it's almost dinner time. gotta cook!

BACK

I'm back in dear old adelaide. thankfully it was sunny but not too warm today. About 25 degrees. Quite good weather :)

Just consumed dinner (stir fried noodles type thing) and probably have some fruits later or something.

I was sooo delighted at the supermarket just now because all the summer fruits were SO CHEAP! Bananas were 1.90/kg, nectarines were 2/kg and grapes were 2.50/kg. yayyyy!

Might go out in a bit for a drink of sorts.

Later!

Byebye Singapore!

Last night was really something.

Lucky I had my wan-jie-ling sister who helped me to clean up the place (thanks BABY sister).

But for now, I'm leaving sg (again).

Bye humidity, farewell durians and i will see you again folks!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Excerpt title: Why I love my friends.

Post-dinner, daph asked: Hey guys, want some durian puffs?

ian, tiff (clutching their already bursting tummies): Aiyar, dowan already.. so full!! *shook head furiously*

daph: huh!! but they are from goodwood park hotel!

ian, tiff (in complete unison): OH, YAH I WANT. *eyes glistening, voice affirmative



Where to find this kind of friends?

BIG BIG SOB

just as i thought life was great,

THE PRETTY GIRL ON MY PREVIOUS TEMPLATE DISAPPEARED

and my random clicking made it worse.


so. no cool template.

/daph runs off to find a replacement.
ARGH

/update:

OMG. can u imagine. I FIXED the problem all by myself. the pretty girl is back! WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS! *jumps around*

ARGH and my necklace arrived in the mail.

Singapore Airlines Website has been down since 11pm last night!
It's so annoying because I cannot do my internet check in!
And it is nearly impossible to find a suitable phone number to dial.

I'm destined to sit in row 60 already.

Sob.

/update:

still unable to find number to call.

I am so irritated! Shall sit by the lappie refreshing the singaporeair.com website every 5 minutes.

Grrrrrrr.

/further update:

website became viable at 2.30pm.
did my internet check-in, and got seat 36A.
not a fantastic seat but it's better than nothing.

and guess what! My Necklace arrived in the mail just a minute ago! I'm pretty pleased with the services. It came nicely wrapped in a ziploc bag, and inside the bag it was housed in a nice gift box. When you open the box, there was a piece of bubble wrap to prevent things from moving around too much. You lift the necklace out of the box and discover that there was even a silica gel packet to absorb excess moisture!

Wah. and guess what else?

The price was inclusive of registered mail postage!

Wheee. me is happy.

And something else is making me very happy.
Tiffany, Ian and Hong are coming over to my house later this evening. My mum has kindly bought Yu Sheng from Mandarin Hotel, Cakes from Bakerzin and Durian Puffs from Goodwood Park Hotel! Oh mummy dear, all the yummy food! For me to share with the friends. Lol. Sho happy.

Plus we are opening wine to drink.

And my baby sister is coming back home from hall today.

Even the fact that I am going to start school soon isn't going to dampen my current happy spirits :)

Things are finally going well for a while.

ha ha ha!

I find this terribly amusing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Perfect Man, according to 40,000 UK women.

HE should be clean-shaven, good-looking and drive a silver Mercedes. And, most important of all, he should be more than 178cm.

Height is apparently more important than looks to women looking for Mr Right, a survey claims.

Gallery: The world's most desirable guys

With blue eyes, short dark-brown hair and medium build, the ideal candidate would appear to be film star Jake Gyllenhaal.

Looks aside, the perfect partner must also love pets and appreciate fine wine, theatres and nice restaurants. Coupled with this he should have a "wacky" sense of humour, according to the study of 40,000 women by UKdating.com.

Mr Right wears smart jeans and a T-shirt, weighs exactly 80.5kg and is a doctor or lawyer who owns a home in a good location.

He has had three serious relationships, no more than six sexual partners, has never been married and doesn't have children.

Because.

Thank You Lord for the trials that come my way
in that way I can grow each day as I let You lead
And thank you lord for the patience those trials bring
in the process of growing i can learn to care

Chorus
But it goes against the way I am to put my human nature down
and let the spirit take control of all I do
Cause' when those trials come my human nature shouts the things to do
and God's soft prompting can be easily ignored


Yes I thank you Lord for the victory that growing brings
In surrender of everything life is so worthwhile
And I thank you Lord that when everything's put in place
Out in front I can see your face and it's there You belong

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OMG

I changed my layout!

and lost my tagbox and links.


oppps.

will get that fixed soon.

PS: you could leave comments if you want to say something :)

new additions!

I went a teeny bit (ok, maybe a bit more than teeny) crazy the past few days over necklaces. Thus, I am happy to showcase the magic of online shopping! It really is quite cool man.

Imagine the way we used to shop for accessories.

Steps Involved:

1. Call/text interested friends. Preferably girls because when men look at girlish stuff for too long, rashes develop and their throats clamp down. You don't want your men dying on you.

2. Arrange to meet at a strategic location - the usual suspects being orchard or cityhall. (told you singapore is very small)

3. Meet these friends, but first start with a meal or a cup of coffee. Shopping requires lots of energy, concentration and eye power.

4. Ok, now you are ready to start combing the targeted area for accessories you (might) like.

5. Walk for gazillion hours. KIV (keep in view) many items. Hesitation sets in.

6. May or may not return home with accessories that you like. Sulk in front of the computer/TV

7. Repeat Step 1-6 again, with a different group of friends or a different location.

NOW, with the explosion of online shopping, things are so different.

1. Check out sites that you'd found by chance or ones that have been recommended by your trusty friends. This could be done in the dead of the night or in the wee hours of the day!

2. See something you (might) like. Eyes glisten in glee.

3. Copy and Paste Link into msn chat with good (female) friend making sure your taste is good.

4. You can even skip Step 3 if you really like that item!

5. Pay for it online and patiently wait for its arrival at your residence.

6. Relax one corner as you dream about how you are doing to match your recent purchase with the rest of your wardrobe.

Anyway, online shopping is coolbeans. Here are some sites that I frequent from time to time.

1. www.etsy.com

Many, many artists. Many, many, MANY choices.
If you worry overseas shipping will cost you a bomb, you can even choose to shop local.
they sell everything from jewellery, to recipes, to bags and hairclips.

2. www.urgetheboys.com

A girl from Queensland. Some cool pieces. but dang, always sold out so quickly.
Good if you have a keen eye for vintage-inspired pieces.

3. eaindriacreation.blogspot.com

Chinser recommended this site to me. Singaporean artist with a name I can hardly pronounce. BUT has quite interesting pieces. Some of the pieces I don't quite agree, others I like alot. That's the good thing about these sites. There is USUALLY something for everyone.

4. http://girlsmadethis.com/html/s01_home/home.asp

Mostly resin work. I like the pieces alot but the prices! O.O
But you know what? they are having the yearly sale! 50% off everything! Whoot!

Year 5 med. all planned out!

for those of you who are extremely interested to know about the year ahead for me - pls click the pic! haha

this is my first screenshot. gosh, i'd never know how to do sth so cool.
thanks lionel! heh.

so there you have it. one more week, and then i will have to face 36 weeks of torture. sit for a big exam and hopefully pass it.

on the right, there is this stupid column where they record your grades. hopefully i can fill them up with decent ones! yay!

i feel excited. is there something wrong with me??? hmm.

oh, on another note, the year is going to be different. key persons are missing.
was sad at the news. but hey, life always throws challenges and setbacks.
i guess i'd have to try to help as much as i can.

there comes a time..

whereby in every blogger's mind, the following question would resound.

"should i continue blogging?"

and for that, one must examine the reasons that drive people to blog.

1. An avenue for ranting aka "I had a bad day, X scolded me, Y betrayed me and Z tried to kill me."

Ranting, whether to a friend online, to a buddy over coffee or just personally over a written entry in a diary - is supposed to be healthy and encouraged. Pent-up angst and inconsolable problems often trouble each and everyone of us to some degree. Blogging could help with releasing some of those bad bad feelings. Especially if you are better at expressing yourself through writing. Ranting works wonders for me. Heh.

2. The place for deep thought and philosophy aka "what is love? if love is a piano, play on, give me excess of it"

Many a times, reflections and perspective can be obtained by penning down a few paragraphs. People could read what you've written and reply with some profound comment that would push you to think further than you'd ever.

3. Pseudo-online communication tool aka "this happened to me today, i'm feeling good in australia and please don't miss me too much"

This big world has significantly seemed alot smaller with the introduction of the internet. I wonder what people used to do for fun before the internet. Gosh! But anyway, when you have friends all over the world, writing a single entry recounting all events would save you much time and effort repeating the story 10 times to 10 different friends over the next couple of weeks. Oh plus you can post up photos and videos. Very handy.

4. Attention aka "I have posted up pretty pictures of myself pouting, winking and angling my face in different lighting. Please adore me and tell me you think I am extremely cute."

I can't really explain this reason for blogging other than... boredom? attempt to elevate self-esteem? Oh I know. for the lack of better things to do in life. But it could be a good way to get (wrong) attention.

I'm not really sure why I blog. It's a combination of reasons 1-3 I suppose. I don't even know who reads it, who thinks it's funny and who thinks I should just shut my trap up and whine to death in a corner. But seriously, I feel as though this blog is pretty public, accessible to a wide variety of people that know me. Which poses the problem of personal privacy - how much do i want to write on this blog? and if i cannot turn to my trusty old blog for answers - why should i even continue blogging?

Many questions. Uncertain answers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a totally different note, I had a wonderful dinner with an old friend today. After such a long time, I finally told him how I really felt about his ex-girlfriend, her flaws and undesirable attributes. I thought he would get offended at my blunt delivery of honesty. Instead, he agreed with me on many points and told me thereafter in a lengthy sms that he felt it was indeed very 'REFRESHING' to hear things like this.

I was kind of taken aback. Afterall, who likes to hear criticism?

Maybe I said the things that he had to hear for himself. Maybe I said the things that he thought was real, but had brushed aside for unknown reasons.

Maybe people should (in a tactful manner) tell one another their flaws and suggest ways for improvement.

Oh well, if your good friend cannot honestly tell you things - who else would?

oh we have a visitor.

and his name is jon teng! i heard he brought us otak-otak from msia. hmmm yumyum! planning to go for seafood together with david and june as well. and tomorrow night we plan to try la fondue - hidden somewhere in that elusive dempsey hill of a place. the reviews have been pretty mixed, some people liking it heaps and others finding it silly. oh well. we will find out soon enough.

anyway i just added my classes online. oh dammit the school fees have gone up by another 5000 per sem! Oh the rage and horror! What the hell do they do with all that money man. it's like 38K per year from one of us. the mathematics goes -

$38,ooo X 40 international students = $1,520,000

1.5 million AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS.

that's helluva lot of money. considering how much 'self-study' we do. eeeirppps.

i think i want to change my goals in life. i think maybe, i should open a medical school? it's like super money generating man!!