it's a cold friday morning

i realised that i love putting days/weather conditions as my blog titles. oh well. am sitting in vic's living room and the view from here is really quite dampening. gloomy grey clouds, strong-willed wind coupled with spattering drops of rain.

absolutely terrible weather.


and to think that i'll have to walk to the hospital in 10 mins in such weather. *gosh!!*....


played badminton last evening with only 3 people. sometimes single, mostly ian and i were trying new tricks on poor victor. he was really really tired. heh...

and i made pasta sauce from scratch using the latest recipe from Orangette (check out my links) and it was a success!.. what i meant was i modified the recipe by the addition of tuna flakes and chicken pieces and i left the onions in there too.. tasted really yummy. but i don't think i will make it that often. the quantity of butter called for scares the hell out of me.

the long weekend is almost here! I can smell it!... I can feel it!...but for now, i have a gruesome friday to endure.

7.30 ward rounds
9.00 neuro OPD
after lunch - back to wards for more torture.

i foresee ending at like.. 4?

i can't wait.

pies!

this is a pig. pig parcel.
in fact, it has more than just pig. there's chicken, bacon and mushrooms.
all happily rolled up together :)

whilst this is a poultry pie.
filled with chicks, vegs and mushroom - all snug together in a creamy base.

the fate of the pig pie.

the yummy bakery we got it from!

all gone!... YAY

the aftermath

having friends over at your house is an addictive thing.
you know you'd love to have them, and you know you kinda shouldn't at the back of your mind.

why so?

you'd realised u will let loose with them.. not study for a whole week.. and even end up spending alot of money (or munny should i say? lol) eating out. >.<

not goood!

but at the same time, friendship is like a drug man.
you keep wanting more :)
oh well, it was time well spent...

on another note,
HOUSE IS ALMOST OUT!.....
and this year, channel 10 is showing house season 4 one week after USA airs it!... HOW COOL IS THAT?.... californiacation and life (new dramas) likewise. eeeips.

i'm so looking forward to grey's anatomy.
cold turkey for the past 4 months!...

ting ting ting!

**scroll down to start from the first part of the trip.
tis' in reverse order.. sorry mate!

excessive caffeine consumption

my dear boy consumed at least 3 cups of coffee daily over the weekend.
WHY? WHY this sudden surge in caffeine intake?
well.. it all boiled down to the fact that we had a NESPRESSO machine in our hotel room. i have to say that this machine was extremely user-friendly, easy to clean, no spills/waste anywhere, and you can have a different blend of coffee everytime! (each colour in the box corresponds to a different flavour coffee blend)

but i am not as easily taken in by advertisement and bright shiny equipment as victor is. he spent the weekend awake, watching random TV channels whilst i slept like a pig every single night. lol...

so yes. this is the tale of the coffee machine.

the big night out!

because we are lazy to set up the self-timer function


Saturday night was spent in Apellation, a restaurant on-site with our accomodation. we tried it 2 years ago and it was so good, we had to eat there again this time around :)

sorry but we didn't take any pics during the meal itself. it's just kinda corny to take pics in a posh place! lol so it suffice to say that the food was really yummy. we also polished off a bottle of shiraz viognier -- locally produced; 'the vineyard is just down the road!"...

we spent a long time talking (and talking and talking) even though the food came out pretty quickly. we took a moment to gaze at the star-lit sky. i'm not sure if this is a rural thing but i reckon there are more stars in rural locations. te hehe.

we went back to the room, lit candles, attempted to dance but ended up laughing instead. i kinda spoilt the evening coz i developed a major headache (alcohol was the culprit!) so i was lying down with a cold towel over my poor little head. ughh.

but was a great night! yay!

saturday part 2

And then.. we went to salter's for lunch. salter's is the restaurant at the saltram winery.
so whilst i waited for my food, victor scooted off for (more) wine tastings.
we went to 3 winers before lunch.. and i think i drank enough wine for a morning.

view from our table at lunch.

lavenders! At Bethany Wines

MORE lavenders! oh they smell so good.
even better than loccitane or crabtree+evelyn combined ok.
fresh! lavendery! crisp! all natural!

this is victor.
all hyped for more wine tasting.

oh the view.
THE VIEW!
all so hilly and green and pretty and lavendery

the next morning (saturday!)

we woke up really early because everyone we spoke to on friday, kept on asking us the same 1 question.
"are you going for the farmer's market tomorrow?"

and we were like o.O

"what market is this we're talking about?"

so apparently there's this really cool market thing every saturday.
we had to check it out....

firstly - the morning view! (hasn't changed from friday afternoon te he he)

a row of vines - young, budding, tender green vines.
full of promise for the next vintage!

oh look! we found the right place :)

and we had to have this market special breakfast roll because 50% of the people at the market were ingesting this one special roll. (and boy was it good!)
for 5.50 - you have this huge ass roll with egg, big pieces of bacon, onions and the best part -- FREE FLOW SAUCES AND RELISHES!...
we tried the tomato and capsicium relish. total put-u-in-heaven food.

now...where now brown cow? so many things so little time.

cheap local flowers.

old man tending his fruit & veg stalls

inside the tent - chocolates, cheeses, sauces, dried fruits, milk.
and a funny looking scarecrow! :)

CAREME = yum yum yum!
one of the best pastries i've tasted in adelaide..
the danishes were buttery and flakey and yummy
and the pies (one whole post later on) were sooo good.

pics pics pics!

im trying to do this in a chronological order.. so be patient!! :)

driver for the trip... ting ting ting!.. victor chia
"so happy to be of service my lady.."

upon arrival... greeted with a GREAT ROOM! :)

sitting area

freaking king sized bed.
check out the weird 'sausage' decorative pillows. lol

this is bok choy, sitting on the sofa, enjoy the complimentary homemade cookie
(which was yummy by the way)

our private courtyard
and the view!
THE VIEW!
THE VIEW!

hello world!

hello world.

im back! ....

after the mad rush stuffing info in my head for the psych viva.. i rushed back home, packed all my stuff.. and went off to barossa for the weekend.

so now i have to unpack. do my laundry. and stop using (fluff)friends on facebook.

will be right back with photosss!! :)

eeick. 2 more days!

ok i'm deluding myself. it's more like 1.5days to the dreaded psych vivas.
all the information is just swimming in my head. eeeick.


the 'hairspray' soundtrack has been on repeat on the itunes so much so that it's getting abit too overwhelming. time for some soothing and melodious songs.

and when it comes to facebook... *shakes head*...
i HAD to adopt one of those damn (fluff)pets!
now im obsessed with collecting munnies, betting on races, feeding my pet, petting other friends' pets... argh.

ok back to benzoooos. i feel depressed and sedated just thinking about it. >.<

hairspray!

i have been listening to the hairspray soundtrack.
get it if you haven't!
i especially love 'good morning baltimore' and 'i can hear the bells'

i swear good music motivates me to study harder and stay at my desk for a longer period.

but halfway through my mugging, what had to distract me other than the FACEBOOK? sigh, now that more people are using facebook, i get karate chopped, high-fiveed and hugged and cuddled like 10 times a day. throw in the daily wall messages and the pervasive pattern of poking.. you end up with an extremely distracted daphne.

oh facebook. why do you have to exist?

the studying is getting along slow but ok. thankfully i finished the case writeups on wednesday. and that's due on monday! this is something that doesn't happen. i am usually the girl who stays up late the night before the assignment is due, typing frantically at the keyboard wishing God had given me more time.

heh. i am so proud of my self-discipline... only hoping now that it will lasts till friday....

and then i will be off to BAROSSSSA. te he he he!

friday.... hurry!!!!

case writeups.

in the midst of finishing the freaking case writeups.
i am running out of ways to describe a psychotic patient's delusions and complex belief system.
i think that the ability to pen down people's thoughts in a flowery and airyfairy way is a prerequisite to be a psychiatrist.



ugh.

it's already tues!!!.................

nothing much is gonna happen till vivas are out of the way.
oh except the international food fiesta this friday.

can we make 90 chunky sushi rolls in one afternoon?
can we cut salmon fillets into teeny slim strips?
can we cook enough rice to feed the city of adelaide?
can we raise up to the avocado challenge?

stay tuned for the outcome....

RANT RANT RANT

*punches invisible person in the face*

i hate being the object of people's bottled-up anger about the world.

a fellow med mate who shall not be named, went all ballistic on me for no real reason.

it's not my fault u didn't turn up for the tutorial 2 weeks ago.
and it's not my fault u didn't ask around what happened during the tute. (and too bad and too sad for you that the tutor was going away)
and it's even more so not my fault that you didn't confirm if tute was happening this week.

all the virtues of a good diligent medical student is lost the moment u flared up at ME.

I was innocently walking through the ED during the supposed tutorial time (because it was cold outside and my jacket was locked up in the CL office)
and you pulled me aside to rant.

I honestly do not care that you have other things on.
I don't give a damn you travelled down all the way in a bus from your suburban house.
And i don't bother if the bus ride took an hour.

HOW common is the phenomenon of tutorial cancellation in the world of clinical years at medical school?

VERY.

why?
1. patients are doctors' first priority. all we pesky little medical students rank way low in the hierarchy.
2. doctors always have things that they need to attend (conferences, private clinics, this and that)
3. that's life in the real world. sometimes no one cares if we get tutes or not.

ooooh. i lurb my chardonnay

You Are Chardonnay

Fresh, spirited, and classic - you have many facets to your personality. You can be sweet and light. Or deep and complex. You have a little bit of something to offer everyone... no wonder you're so popular. Approachable and never smug, you are easy to get to know (and love!). Deep down you are: Dependable and modest Your partying style: Understated and polite Your company is enjoyed best with: Cold or wild meat

What Kind of Wine Are You?

jokes from the psychiatry world

my psychiatry registrar at glenside thinks he is bloody funny.

just a bit of background, the horses in australia are currently down with some flu outbreak. and apparently there is some horse racing thing soon so the horse industry is getting worried.

psych reg:

poor horses!

students, nurses, anyone else in the room:
yeah, it's so terrible!

psych reg:

well especially since it's difficult for horses to take tissue paper out of the box since they have such big hoofs.

students, nurses, anyone else in the room:
-.-" *bee buzzes by...*

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
and about a minute later.

psych reg:

it must be a nuisance having a "horse" voice.

rest of us:

*OUCH* STOP IT ALREADY!

25 degreeeess!

it was a HOT day. had to bring on the sunnies, short sleeved tops and sandals. it was such a lovely day but i had to spend it indoors or stuck on someone's sofa the entire day. i went with the ACIS (acute crisis intervention services) team today and did home visits to patients living in the eastern adelaide area. (my home inclusive!!)

yesterday martini, vic and i went swimming at the aquatic centre. apparently the water is extremely chlorinated because they can only change 10% of the water in the pool everyday due to water restrictions. South Australia has been pretty rain deprived and we are still practising water restrictions - ie: no watering plants with hose, no hosing down the car, no sprinklers and stuff.. but i swam 26 laps. felt SO good to swim. and we even used the heated jacuzzi and steam room as well. so i guess it was 5 bucks well spent. sigh i know i know, it cost only SGD1.50 to swim in the public pools in sg. argh. >.<

it's already week 4 of psychiatry. argh. 2 weeks to the vivassss!

teenagers - my chemical romance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EQAOmJrbw

i am totally digging this new MCR (my chemical romance) song.
the weather is getting warm.

i am happy!! :)

i have been egged!

T.S of chicken egg. Magnification 1x

Rocked up for patient interview today at the rah at 9am.
bloody hell, doc did not appear, even though we hanged around for an hour.

ian and i decided to leave because there just wasn't much point in staying in the nurses station doing nothing. besides, there were only 3 of us today. the rest of the group evaporated into nothingness and thus did not attend. we headed to the etc cafe for breakkie.. vic joined us (he had a very very slack day too). and then mel called me to say that the doctor is 10 mins away. -.-" (that was like 10.30am already) ian and i were like... ponder ponder... den.. "NAH...."

because eggs for brekkie is more important than interviewing psychiatric patients anytime mate.

which reminds me.
i had eggs florentine (2 poached eggs)
ian had smoked salmon with scrambled eggs (5 eggs involved)
vic had baked omelette (5 eggs involved)

cholesterol levels must have skyrocketed since.

die hard!

just got back from watching die hard 4! felt it was quite a good show, considering it was a spontaneous decision to watch it. we were in the area getting post-dinner ice cream from baskin robbins and i suggested watching a movie since it's cheap(er) tuesdays.

went to brentwood, which is the ICU for psychiatric patients. i'm not sure if it is because i was so sleepy, but i felt that the patients at brentwood do no differ too much from the patients at cleland house (just a normal psychiatry ward facility). how do u distinguish the crazy from the crazier? must be difficult.