End of a Chapter

i have officially moved out of Vista. left my empty room slightly teary-eyed and with a heavy heart. i can't believe it has been 2.5 years since i moved into that place. can't believe it has been 2.5 years since i started this course and met all these wonderful people who had made it possibly the best 2.5 years of my whole and entire life. can't believe i am a half-doctor now! :) (well technically i am 1/3rd a doctor thanks to all the waiting i have to do before i move on to clinicals. but i'm not complaining.)

i loved my life in IMU. sure, there were some piles of shit that i stepped on, but the friends i have made just compensated for all the unfortunate events that had taken place throughout my time there. it was also when i actually realised how much i love medicine (exams aside) and how i wouldn't give this up for anything else. i just can't see myself doing anything else.

i'm just SO... SO happy; and most importantly, i have no regrets.

:)

because i'm feeling rather nostalgic, here are pictures of some of my favourite moments of 2008 with my IMU friends:

1) CNY "reunion" dinner! we didn't go back for CNY because it was 4 days before our EoS 3! terrible, right? nonetheless we had each other so it wasn't that depressing.

2) post-EoS 3! we passed! our short trip to Penang. this is at david brown's strawberry hill which is simply gorgeous.

3) the IMU Ball!

4) BIRTHDAYS!!!!!!!

my fabulous 21st. haha.

Teong Rhen's "surprise"

Adrian & Yilin's! this is Merv not Adrian. Adrian doesn't like to take pictures. =/

Priya & Divya's surprise party at their home

Ho Wai's green party

Pei Shern's 21st @ The Attic

Red & Tracy's @ The Maple

Ben's. ok Ben i'm sorry i had to superimpose your face on Kwan's but i really don't have a picture of us together at your party =P

Michelle's krayzeh birthday at Putrajaya

Kwan's halal cheena birthday celebration

5) The Lord of the Rings Symphony by the MPO. good stuff.

6) winning IMU Cup! :)

7) Christmas Eve! 1 week before EoS 5.

will blog more tomorrow! singapore trip and the start of farewells.

... and I am done.

Thank you:

God. for being faithful and assuring. for Your peace and Your strength. for Your word. and mostly, for Your grace.

Mum & dad. for being so understanding and encouraging. for the many trips made to KL just to provide me with home-cooked food.

Teong Rhen. for always being there.

IMU friends. for the good times in the library & osce practices (i know, how ironic). for all the fun & laughter. for all the food-hunting & shopping/movie trips. for upholding each other in spirit pre-exam. for being the best of friends for the past 2.5 years.

Priscilla, Jiang Mun & Eli. for all the kind words. :)

Church people. for the prayers.

Eu Yan Sang. for your very powerful chicken essence with gingko.

IMU. for the memories, both good and bad (but mostly good).
....

Manchester, here I come! :)

(now to really start cracking my head on what to do until September.)

p/s: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! haha my 2009 officially starts!

IMU: The Final Leg

today it just dawned upon me that we are technically supposed to know ~50% of what doctors should know since we are already halfway through our course, though we know that what we have studied so far is only the tip of the iceberg. we have SO MUCH MORE to learn in the future. scary. but i look forward to clinicals because that's when we actually get to make sense out of all the crazy stuff we're saturating our brains with right now.

mich was pointing out how cool it is that we now actually know all the 206 bones in the body. but then if you think about it there are 33 vertebrae; the 12 ribs x 2; the sternum; the bones of the skull, some paired; the 3 ossicles; the hyoid; and bones of the lower & upper limbs all crammed up in dr nilesh's TWO notes... so actually it's not that impressive, really.

but it's good to take pride in little things like this. at least you get through the day knowing your memory isn't quite failing you... yet. haha.

you know what, i'm beginning to love my current daily grind of being a nerd. am i crazy to say that i actually ENJOY preparing for EoS 5? i don't know, maybe it's cos my routine is about the same each day that everything i do is somewhat automatic (no need to plan or think about what to do), or maybe it's because we are less than 5 weeks away from bidding farewell to each other that i'm appreciating the times with my friends, which, unfortunately, are spent in the library, nerd-ing. whatever the reason, i'm glad i *seldom* feel depressed and am not on the verge of giving up.

for those who have absolutely no idea, this has been my schedule for the past few weeks (though i wish i had started this wayyyyyyyyyyy earlier):

wake up
wash up
eat bread
drink coffee
browse through newspapers which includes scoffing at msian politics
defaecate
bathe
go to uni library
study
make fun of mich
study
use library comp
study
listen to songs
study
laugh at tr/red making fun of mich
study
daydream
study
listen to pei rave about twilight
study
(somewhere in between: attend lectures when feel like it, lunch @ horrible uni cafeteria, tea @ library cafe)
practice osce on some days
study
dinner
study
go home
surf net
watch heroes/spongebob squarepants/friends (i know, again and again)
talk to mummy
sleep

okay doesn't look that fun after all. but i feel at peace. SO BE HAPPY FOR ME!

"Sweet" November

- happy (belated) birthday, joon heng! :)

- today is the 1st of november. shit.

- thanks (?) to everyone who INCESSANTLY congratulated teongrhen and i for being matched to the same partner medical school. no, really, we appreciate the gesture. confession #1: we had already anticipated (and looked forward to) going to different universities. but since our God was dead strong about sending us to the same place, to the same place we will go!
confession #2: my jump for joy upon opening the envelope was actually for proving that i have the gift of prophecy (or "a mere lucky guess" if you must insist. *rolls eyes*) after having recurrent thoughts about going to manchester way before the matching results were out. teongrhen, edwina, pei, joonheng, weilin & sarahyuen all bear witness to this. lol. but seriously, halfway in the shower... i heard MANCHESTER! when i woke up some mornings... i heard MANCHESTER! halfway studying... MANCHESTER! in lectures... MANCHESTER! and manchester wasn't even my first choice okay.

- i don't like man utd.

- it's funny how i used to despise pathology with all my heart. right now i don't know why i did.

- it's funny how Dr HA managed to instill an undying love for anatomy within me in semester 3. but thanks to the musculoskeletal & nervous systems that love is now lost in a faraway land.

- yesterday was our last CSU physical examination session in imu. one more history taking session, a mock osce, the real osce... and that is it!

- i found out that it is simply impossible to have fundoscopy and the babinski reflex test done on me because 1) my eyes are extremely sensitive to the light from the ophthalmoscope, 2) my eyes are too small anyway and 3) the babinski test IS SO FREAKING TICKLISH i just cannot allow the end of a tendon hammer, or any object for that matter, near the soles of my feet! (sorry teongrhen)

- i had bell's palsy when i was 9! come, ask me about facial nerve injury and its signs & symptoms!!!

- i can't go home until post-eos5! hate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i guess since i'm going to spend 8 months at home doing absolutely nothing while i wait to go to clinical school makes it seem okay.

- anybody with interesting names for our batch convo mag (preferably something medically-related), please let michelle know asap.

- i am (still and forever) craving for bisou cupcakes.

Intuition

looks like i really am going to Manchester after all - just like i've speculated right after handing in our matching forms. i'm scary, i tell you.

damn, so expensive lah haiyo.
i really really wanted Southampton or Liverpool, but Manchester was one of my top choices so i'm contented.
and i shall go where my God wants me to go. He leads and i follow. :)
besides, guess who else is coming with me? heeeeeeeeeheeeeeee.
(Lau Teong Rhen, in case you didn't know. and yes it's fate - we didn't register for marriage to get into the same Uni ok *does 360° eyeroll*. plus i think it's funny that he got his 3rd choice and i got my 4th.)
mother's reaction upon hearing the news: "why you must get one of the most expensive schools?!" (hallo as if i can help it.)
father: "wah manchester ah? their football very good wan hor?"
*does another 360° eyeroll*
also going to Manchester: Massssy and Niha! i don't know if there are others...
all the way uppppppppp in Dundee: Mich! Merv! Ben! Huiling!
the lone soul in Galway: Adrian! hahaha.
nearby in Nottingham: Edwina!
at the southern end of the hemisphere: Red in Adelaide! Tracy in Auckland!
....
so this is it, then. all we have to do is to pass EoS 5 and we're off to our respective clinical schools.
all the best M206! let's have 100% passes so that all of us can go to where we're destined to go.
:)

Breathe

i'm glad to say that i've made peace with the fact that my poodle is no longer here. i cried like mad when i arrived home on friday upon seeing her little grave in the garden... but i woke up after a long nap on that day itself and felt so much better. besides, i enjoyed compiling all the photos i have of her since she was little. she is in heaven now. why grieve for that? :)

holidays! although just a week, but better than no holidays at all. i know shit about MSK, seriously. started the semester fairly well, consistently studying for... 3 days in a row. and that was it.

terrible.

no time no time no time! 3 more months! 9 systems! health issues! osce! how to juggle how to juggle?

God i need You! let me draw strength from You to finish this race (or half of it, to be exact - since we're only halfway through med school. ohmygoodness can you believe it. only halfway. i've got friends graduating at the end of the year for crying out loud.).

Library Woes & Goodies From Home

i have a newfound love in the form of netter's orthopaedics. it comes in handy for everything in the musculoskeletal course. the drawings are so cute and some of them are hilarious (like the skeleton of a newborn. it's funny somehow). i want to be like frank netter. if only i could draw anything other than a stick figure. i am angry now because when i was about to renew my book online a few minutes ago somebody else had already placed a request for it so i have to send it back to the library. bloody. i don't like you whoever who is robbing me of my book. i have a $3.00 library fine but i don't know what the fine is for. i get really nervous if i don't return my books on time so it's unlikely it's for an overdue book. whatever it is I AM NOT PAYING. i think my parents have already drained out enough money for imu and i'm not going to let them (imu) have the pleasure of extorting an extra $3.00 on top of my ridiculously exorbitant tuition fees.

my parents came on sunday and brought with them food for me to last the week. among them: chicken casserole topped with roasted potatoes and lots of cheese, chicken soup with a whole chicken, si yau kai (chicken in LITRES soy sauce, literally) which is yummy but terrible for the kidneys and nigella lawson's sticky ribs! my mum also baked my favourite in the world lemon poppyseed cupcakes. upon handing over the box to me she said, "NAH. lemon poppyseed cupcakes. i'm pretty sure i forgot to add an ingredient but i just cant recall what it is." so i took a bite and realized that the lemon poppyseed cupcakes... had no poppyseed.

haiyoyo.

what is lemon poppyseed cupcakes without poppyseed you tell me?

nonetheless i still love them lemon cupcakes. i'm just thankful that she had forgotten the poppyseed and not the lemon. can you imagine if they were plain poppyseed cupcakes. how disgusting would those be. she brought 20 and now there are only 4 left. and tr only ate 2 out of the 16. which means i ate a total of 14 in two days. and we bought ben an ice-cream maker for his birthday (happy belated birthday ben!) so i'm expecting to pack on a few more pounds with ice-cream this weekend. hear that ben??? ice-cream ice-cream!!! sigh. how not to get fat like that?

did you realize it's the 16th of september? it's scary. but i don't think anything will change just yet.

Au Revoir

Wow I can't believe Semester 5 commences tomorrow. I'm not going to be nostalgic and reminisce about how it was exactly 2 years ago that I stepped into IMU and how I went through orientation and blabla but damn, time really flew past just like that didn't it! Now we're into our final semester before we set foot into clinical school. It's scary, but there's this sudden excitement within me to get this started so I can get out of here in no time. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed (almost) every single moment in IMU, made wonderful friends (who I will miss like crazy once we're done), did fun things... but somehow I feel there's really nothing left for me here anymore. Just give it one BIG final push and I'm OFF.

Still... just thinking about the workload and schedules for the semester already sends shivers down my spine. =( For those who have yet to get worked up... let me scare you a bit la k. Hehe yes I am that evil.

• 8AM/4PM lectures, with CSU, PBL, MMS etc in between. 8AM! What is this!
• Revise CVS, Respi, Haemato, GI, Endocrine, Repro, Renal ON TOP OF learning new systems like MSK, CNS and Health Issues!
• Mock OSCE some time during CNS =P
• That IMS shit? But should we be alarmed? Don't care la...
• Partner Medical School matching! OMG I can't believe it's soon.
• NO CHRISTMAS.
• NO NEW YEAR'S.
• .......... EoS 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• .......... results?

- the end -

*heaves BIGGGGGGGGGGGGGG sigh*

OK la whatever. Bring it on. I'm ready. I think.

Anyway. On a happier note, I'm glad IMU was gracious enough to plan our Sem 4 holidays at this time of the year. Besides getting to watch the Olympics I was also able to meet up with some friends before they left to further their studies.

This is Jacqueline. We've known each other since we were in our respective mothers' wombs... so I can actually deduce that she is my longest friend? Hahaha. She is a prima ballerina with brains! She left for her beloved New York last week to attend Columbia University (Ivy League yo). I so proud got friend in Columbia. Hopefully I'll get to visit coz New York is one of the places I MUST GO BEFORE I DIE and I don't know when I will die so I have to go visit like real soon...

This is Sharmaine. She is also a long-time friend coz she used to be my neighbour. We used to cycle here cycle there... used to hang out at our 2nd home i.e. Ipoh Swimming Club almost every day of the week... swam together, learnt badminton together, learnt all sorts of other stuff together and QUIT HALFWAY together. Heeeh. We're quitters and proud of it. See at least we know a little of everything. She's a semester ahead of me in IMU... so she has finished Sem 5 and has just left the University of Liverpool... which... I think... I'd be happy if I were to be matched there. *PRAYS*

This is CHONG JIANG MUN. She is weird, funny, foul, rude, loud, disgusting, salivates like a beagle AND NOT REALIZE IT... but... she is still one of my bestest friends EVER. This girl may seem retarded but I'm proud to say she is one of the top students in her batch for law! Tsktsk*cough*stupidgeek. She will leave for the University of Reading real soon and I am going to miss her like how I miss my Ipoh hakka mee under the tree. The only difference is that I won't be seeing her for more than a year whereas I get to eat my hakka mee in one month's time during Raya break! SIGH. Jiang Mun you jaga diri ah... don't kena cheated again (you know what I mean. hint: water. 2nd hint: filter.). Love!

Gombak!

I really enjoyed my 3-day stint at the Orang Asli Hospital in Gombak, although it was more of a cultural education than a medical one. Prior to this I had never seen that many orang asli in my life. Orang asli are an interesting group of people. Very funny, in fact, from the way they talk to their beliefs and ways of life. They are obviously very different from the urban folk and are prone to diseases we hardly come across in normal hospitals.

I spent my last day at the hospital at the infectious diseases ward, in which most of the patients there were on treatment for tuberculosis and leprosy. It was an eye-opener because none of us had seen lepers before (in fact I only remember reading a lot about them in the bible muaha and oh the movie Kingdom of Heaven where I just found out Edward Norton played the leper king wtf). I admit to being slightly paranoid about contracting those diseases myself, especially TB which is so easily transmitted. Somemore we had to take down a case history from a TB patient where we were close in contact with her. A bit scary. But she has been on treatment for 4 months now so I guess chances are we won't get the disease lah. =P

Notable quotes from our Gombak rotations:

Kwan: "Ada makan daun-daun ka? Akar-akar? Rumput?"
Orang Asli: "MAKAN RUMPUT MUNTAH LA!"
(Kwan on his orang asli patient's diet during history taking)

Kwan: "Mandi di mana? Mandi di sungai ah?"
Orang Asli: "AIR SUNGAI KOTOR LA!"
(Kwan on his orang asli patient's social history)

*to be fair to Kwan, this particular orang asli is quite urbanized la. She stays at Taman Negara in a house provided by the government. =P

Jimmy Tee: "Kak boleh nyanyi tak? Nyanyi lagu apa? Boleh nyanyi lagu orang asli tak?"
Orang Asli: "Tak ada lagu orang asli! Nyanyi lagu Melayu!"
Jimmy Tee: "Boleh nyanyi untuk kita tak? Tau tak lagu Negaraku?" *stands straight and sings Negaraku in the ward =/*

Jimmy Tee: "Kak bila sakit di kampung buat apa? Makan daun apa?"
Orang Asli: "MANA ADA MAKAN DAUN!" *rolls around bed laughing*

*we later found out that this orang asli was the same as the one Kwan interviewed. She must think we're morons or something.

Izaquan while conducting a health talk for the orang asli: "Sebelum berus gigi, kita kena ada apa?" (i.e. toothbrush, toothpaste...)
Orang Asli Teenage Rebel: "KENA ADA GIGI."

Dr Sasi: "Mak cik, nanti ada pelajar nak tanya soalan dengan mak cik, boleh?"
Orang Asli: "SAYA LAKI-LAKI!"

*Dr Sasi on confusing patient gender.

---

Fun times! But you know what's the thing I will miss most about Gombak? The roti canai and dhal + sambal at the shop opposite the hospital. Glo-oh-rious.

My rotations group with Dr Sasi!

pics courtesy of Melvyn

Because I'm Not Going To Be This Relaxed For A Long Long Time.

I am not done with my Ipoh series yet! Just taking a break from being a virtual tour guide and from all the free advertising I've been doing. =P

And yes yes... 3 entries in a day. Bravo me. I have quite a lot to blog about but I won't be online from Wednesday onwards till I get back to KL for reasons I shall not disclose. And I'm sure by the time I get my hands on the internet again I will be too lazy to blog so here I am while the blogging drive is still within me. Plus I think I write better when I'm at home in Ipoh anyway.

I feel so accomplished. So many things done in the last 3 weeks! Didn't feel like I was a medical student at all. But heck all this hype will die down when Sem 5 commences so I should do everything I want to do until it does. Because... it's Sem 5. Last sem in IMU. End of Phase 1. And then we're off for clinicals. Can't screw up. CAN'T SCREW UP. (God please let me pass please please please please please.)

More movies watched since 2 weeks ago!

- Batman. I can go on and on about how great it was but... I'll spare you. =)

- Red Cliff Part 1. Quite good, but forgettable. Have to watch Part 2. Chinese war movies are good most of the time.

- Journey To The Center of The Earth in 3D. If you've watched the 2D version of this I'd like to know how you sat through the movie without pulling all your hair out please.

- Hellboy II. That's 9 bucks I'll never see again. Terrible story, bad acting, cheesy lines from the beginning till the end and I mean TO THE LAST WORD. The only consolation was the creatures. I mean it's sad because I actually liked Hellboy I! If you can't do a better sequel, DON'T DO IT. Oh but but but... did you know the actor who played Prince Nuada actually looks like this in person?


Goodness gracious me.
If I had known this before hand I would have refrained myself from being exceptionally annoyed by his character the entire time.

- Hard Candy. Disturbing. Rather dull. They could've inserted some flashbacks about how the characters came about, then it wouldn't have been so dry. I liked the artistic effects that came along with it and I agree that Ellen Page played the role very well but I think I've had enough of her for now. 3 counts of Juno (yes I've watched Juno 3 times) and 1 count of Hard Candy. That's a whole lot of Ellen Page. Boring boring.

- Frida. An academy award-winning foreign movie and a true story about a Mexican painter named Frida Kahlo (portrayed by Salma Hayek) who lived a colourful life as she stayed positive while enduring many of life's challenges. Very very nice. Could do without the many... MANY... many sex scenes though. =l

6 movies in a week. Not bad. And I've been hooked onto That 70's Show seasons 2 & 3. Hehe. Laugh non-stop. Anybody with seasons 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 pleeeeeeeease be kind and pinjam thank you in advance!

Other notable events:

- Went to the AIDS exhibition at DUMC. It was brilliant. I appreciated all the effort and hard work put into the set-up. A superb way to educate people on how serious AIDS is. You'd think medical students are well-versed with the disease. Well we are, medically, but to put ourselves into the victims' shoes... totally changed our perspective towards it. More about our experience at the exhibition on Joon Heng's blog.

- Finished Selectives on Patient Safety. Exam was easy-peesy. If only all our other med school exams were like that. Hahaha. See I told you Dr Ranjit is the best.

- Endocrine-Repro-Renal summative results out. Seriously I think IMU has made it such that I be stuck with that grade for the rest of my time here. Anyway I'm not complaining. Hehe. I'm just thankful.

- Girly teatime + eyebrow threading time + sushi time with dear Eli in Bangsar. Hadn't seen her since April. It was good. OH and I received my super belated birthday present from her! Always nice to get a gift =P. It's a customized key-chain with our faces on it. Very special. I like!



We should do this more often!

Oh and randomly, current favourite album is Coldplay's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (man why can't they just pick a shorter title), of which my favourite song is VIOLET HILL! And Cemeteries of London! And 42! And Death & All His Friends! No but Violet Hill is the. best. BEST! Go get the original album. Totally worth the buy. Initially I didn't quite like what I heard but the songs just grew on me and I am now hooked onto them.

My Short-Lived Freedom

I'm enjoying life VERY MUCH right now. Selectives are shit boring but there were a few good lectures on Patient Safety which I actually paid full attention to. They managed to bring in Dr Chong Su Lin, CEO of Sunway Medical Centre to give a lecture... and I must say, she was pretty cool. Her charisma, her use of the English language, her knowledge... impressive! I took the liberty to google her (as I do with everyone/everything in this world - I know... I have little life, but not as bad as Michelle & Ho Wai MUAHA) and found that she obtained her MBBS and an MBA from London. MBBS and MBA. Unusual combination. Interesting.

Also enjoyed listening to Prof Victor Lim & Yadav as usual. The rest... aiyo. I was just stoning lah. Oh and did I mention Dr Ranjit is THE BEST? I'm so glad he's in charge of our option. He gives us choices for everything while still conforming to the rules. We are scheduled to go to Hospital Seremban either tomorrow or Friday to observe certain things about patient safety. So naturally we have to be divided into 2 groups - one that would go tomorrow and another on Friday. I was sure he would divide us according to the name list (coz that would be the easiest way) and I would've been pissed because I would be separated from TR, Pei & Ho Wai thanks to my stupid name. But he was cool enough to let us choose, as long as there is a maximum of 22 people per day. So yeah. We're going to Seremban tomorrow. Not that I'm excited but at least it's something DIFFERENT from our boring classes.

Then there's the group presentations on case studies next week. He let us choose our partners to work with! And we were allocated 2 days for presentations but he said we can do it in one. Supposed to start at 8 but he gave us a half an hour extra to sleep in coz we would all turn up at 8:30 anyway. And our presentations must only be done on 3 Powerpoint slides in which the first slide will be the case study question. LOL. He's cool and understanding. Such a good person!

So what have I been doing since I have so much free time?

Watched more movies!

The Red Violin, which I really liked this time around. I think I was too young the first time I watched it.

Watched Persepolis twice. It's an animated film about the autobiography of an Iranian named Marjane Satrapi who saw through the Iranian revolution while growing up. Great movie. Loved the graphics and plot and everything about it.

Pei made me watch The Last of the Mohicans, though she spoilt some parts imitating their conversations since she knows almost the whole movie by heart (including the orchestral soundtrack OKAY). Freak.

Watched the Italian film Life Is Beautiful. Very good movie. Beautiful indeed, but very sad. =(

Hmm I've yet to watch the latest movies in the cinema. Kung Fu Panda (I'm not big on Disney/Pixar films nowadays coz most of them are lame and always disappoint - but since most people said it's good then I'll watch), Hancock (??? Don't know if I should watch...), uh... somemore what. Whatever la. Oh I can't wait for Batman.

OH and I can play the guitar now. Self taught. =) My brother surprisingly allowed me to take his guitar back to KL. How kind. Now I know that beneath his perpetually emo self he is essentially nice.

I can play Dishwalla's Angels or Devils, Howie Day's Collide (the simpler version), Death Cab for Cutie's I'll Follow You Into The Dark, Muse's Unintended, Hillsongs... all the retardedly easy songs la! Haha. Basically any song with the chords C, G, D, E, B, F, Am, Dm, Em. Which are a LOT of songs, actually. Currently in the midst of learning up some Pete Murray songs. I still struggle to play certain chords like Fm and most of the flats and suspensions and blah. You'd think someone like me can easily stretch her long fingers across the frets but apparently I can't. =/

What sparked my sudden interest to learn up the guitar, you ask? Let's just say I was INSPIRED by Merv, Chong Bing and Pei at The Maple the other day. Hahaha. And Pei repeatedly told me "FASTER TAKE YOUR GUITAR BACK! IT'S SO EASY YOU'LL LAUGH!" and laugh I did. It's easy to learn but definitely not easy to master it. Not that I'm planning to. Just play for fun only. At least I can play some music since I don't have my piano here. =(

Stupid Endo-Repro-Renal Summative

HAIYO faster come la.

Not that I've finished studying. In fact I'm no where near prepared. A 3-system summative is basically an EoS exam! But I don't quite care. I just want to go home.

Selectives timetable out! I love my classes. Doing Comm Med... either 1 or 2 hours per day only. Plus classes are in the morning so we get the rest of the day FREE! No PBLs no CSUs no labs no this no that! So freaking fun.

Things I plan to do during Selectives:

• Jalan jalan cari makan - Klang bak kut teh. MUST.
• Volunteer at PAWS
• Go The Maple again (?)... Adrian! Can can? I want to swim!
• Meet up with Loo Yeen
• Learn to play the guitar on my own
• The Attic!
• Complete the bible reading assignment for ENLI =/
• Play piano with Mich HAHAHA eee I cannot wait
• Watch movies
• Watch Iron Man again
• Breakfast at the Hilton!
• Tea at Bisou!
• Desserts at Bakerzin!

(confirm broke at the end of the month)

Can't wait can't wait can't wait! =)

Damn You Archie

EDIT (22 May): DAVID COOK WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable. Sad for the cry baby, though, but if you were to put the whole competition into perspective Cook really deserves to win hands down. So happy ;)

---

I had a terribly LONG day, having to wake up at 6:45 this morning for a clinic visit all the way in Mantin (N. Sembilan). I was seriously dreading it because all the past clinic visits or whatever shit visits we've had were such a waste of time, so I assumed this would be the same.

Turns out it wasn't! I actually enjoyed myself very much. We followed a nurse into an orang asli settlement to follow up on a 24 year old who gave birth 4 days ago. The place was actually in a jungle! But it was pretty nice and serene - streams, durian trees, wooden bridges... the simple life.

The scary part was that the house we had to go to was somewhere on top of a hill, and the only access to it was by foot. And mind you the slope leading up to it was dangerous and muddy! Shelva and I had to hold on to each other coz we were so afraid we would fall! Well we finally made our way up to the quaint little house. Obviously not very nice and comfortable, and we were sweating like pigs there because it was so hot and stuffy. But that didn't bother us because upon seeing the baby we were very amazed! A 4-day old baby! WITH A LOT OF HAIR. Cute la. And this is ME talking. I, who have no feelings whatsoever towards kids, actually thought he was cute. Maybe I'm changing la I dunno la and I tell you a secret ok I actually like OBGYN a lot =/

OK ANYWAY. We observed a physical examination of the baby and the mother, palpated her uterus... (And it was very awkward when the nurse kept massaging her [as in the mother's] breasts. Not a very nice sight.)

The most interesting thing we got out of this home visit? Was when we found out the mother actually walked DOWN the slope at 2AM in the morning when she went into labour, gave birth at Seremban Hospital at 5AM, and went UP the slope back home the very next day. How she could do it is beyond me. I mean there we were, 5 reasonably fit students who struggled to climb up and down, when a 9-month pregnant woman could descend in the dark and ascend the very next day! Geez! So embarrassing.

After the home visit it was back to the Maternal & Child Health Clinic. Saw some interesting things like a prenatal ultrasound. Saw the fetal heart beating. It was awesome. Oh and I palpated a pregnant woman's uterus AND ACTUALLY FELT THE FETAL HEAD!!!!!!!!!!! Very cool OK.

All in all it was a fruitful visit. The new IMU nurse (forgot her name) was VERY nice. Taught us quite a lot, like what to expect for OSCE and stuff. Finally, one of the visits arranged by IMU was good. =P

Rushed to the student lounge after lectures back in IMU. I never liked the student lounge. It has a weird smell. But today I had to go because............... I HAD TO WATCH THE AMERICAN IDOL FINALS! Coz I no ASTRO in Bukit Jalil =(

Unfortunately it ended up being so disappointing because David Cook just lost it. All 3 songs were absolutely the wrong choices. I really really struggle to say this but Archuleta will win. People always ask what I have against Archuleta. I admit at first I did like him after watching his rendition of Imagine because it was simply mind-blowingly good (as we saw again in the finals), but as the competition progressed I realized all he could do was ballads. He has a great voice, no doubt, but I can't stand his FACE! Face problem! He looks perpetually worried, as if he's on the verge of crying every second. SO. DAMN. ANNOYING.

But today he stole the show. And I am mad. Because this was the worst David Cook had ever performed.

But it's OK. Even if Archuleta wins, he will probably be like Taylor Hicks. I mean even if he comes up with an album, who's actually going to listen? Would you want to listen to 12 boring ballads non stop? NO! BLEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. David Cook will make it big. You'll see. =P

Entry With Most Labels =P

OKAY. I've abandoned my blog for quite some time now. Have been rather busy/lazy... or busy being lazy...

So many things have come and gone. This is possibly the most fun time of the year! Better enjoy it like no tomorrow before lecture notes start piling up again. And by the looks of it, that time is drawing near =(

Important updates:

The University of Nottingham, UK is now a partner medical school of IMU starting from my batch! I am so excited. I may consider the option depending on the fees (since it's 3 1/2 years instead of 3 - half a year for bridging, which means more money to be spent =/). I wanna go!

Ho Wai turned 22 on Wednesday! Had a "SURPRISE" thing at Vista B poolside the night before but it super tak jadi. Instead it was he who surprised us by showing up without warning. Bloody. So memalukan. But all was forgotten by Wednesday coz we celebrated his big day in style, indulged in some delicious Thai food (as generously treated by the birthday boy himself) ... topped off with (what else but) tonnes of camwhoring. Thankfully everyone turned up looking really good instead of looking like vegetables/supporters of a Go Green campaign. Party of the year? Probably. =)

Been attending batch CG sessions. I like.

Decided to start going to ECF (Edwina, Pei & Priscilla's church) from now onwards.

American Idol down to final 3! So exciting. David Cook will make David Archuleta bawl like a baby in the finals. Carly should have been in the Top 3! I angry.

Mother's Day is tomorrow and I won't be home. Again. But will be back next weekend coz we have Monday off. Can't wait.

I am actually enjoying Repro very much, PBLs aside.

More birthdays to come! INCLUDING A VERY SPECIAL PERSON'S. i.e. MINE. muaha.

Kiss The Rain

It's funny how I love storms and the rain back in Ipoh. I guess it always reminds me of the days when I was still a permanent resident at home. Rainy days would mean lazing on the couch with a good book in hand, a cup of tea on the end table and my poodle curled up nearby, enjoying the coolness of the marble floor against her thick fur. Ah the simpler times. =)

I moan at the sight of dark clouds when I'm in Bukit Jalil. How I despise running in the rain after lectures. How I loathe the rain for ruining so many highly-anticipated activities. How I hate it that my fresh laundry hanging on the balcony is drenched by the time I get home. Stupid rain. It's been a pain for the past few weeks.

But now that I'm back here in Ipoh and it's raining cats and dogs, I LOVE IT. Although it's been years since I last finished a good novel at home, everything else is still familiar. My poodle, now very old, is still faithfully at my feet. There is a cup of hot lemon tea with a dash of mummy's love next to my keyboard to soothe that sore throat. I am home and I love it. Now all that's left for me to do to complete the memory of my childhood rainy days is to bloody stop typing this and perhaps revive my old habit of reading (which, I admit, has been abandoned for quite some time now), because let's face it - free time like this hardly ever comes around anymore.

Repro up next. Apparently it's 2 days of male repro and the rest of the 5 weeks female. Hahaha. No wonder they say we're complicated.

The IMU "Ball" 2008

Saturday was our Ball. To call it a Ball, though, would be wrong, because technically it was just 4 hours of non-stop picture-taking, blinding of eyes, non-existent performances and terrible food.

My day started at 4PM. Did the makeup and hair with Yilin at Pavilion, at Shu Uemura and Esprit Salon respectively. Michelle & Tracy had their makeup done at Shu Uemura too =) As of Saturday, I am now a big fan of their products.

The reason we chose to get ready at Pavilion was that it's less than 10 minutes away from where the "Ball" was held (Parkroyal, which, by the way, SUCKS BIG TIME). See? Such efficient planning.

The pre-prom went well. Everything was according to plan. We even, surprisingly, got ready on schedule! We excitedly hopped into the car, eager to get to our "Ball" WHEN!!!!!!!! WE GOT CAUGHT IN A TRAFFIC JAM! Which at first we thought was fine because it's Bukit Bintang after all - it's almost always jammed. But this traffic jam turned out to be the worst we've ever come across! I swear, our blood was boiling! Sweat trickled down our faces, ruining our expensive makeup! Tempers were flying all over!

See our lovely makeup before the "Ball"?!

Anyway to cut it short, we successfully (though uber slowly) made our way through traffic and eventually arrived at the "Ball", 2 hours late. Yes, people, we were stuck in traffic for more than 2 hours. From Pavilion to Parkroyal. I could've gone home to Ipoh in that time frame OK? Never been so geram before. Argh.

Reached the hotel, jumped out of the car, TR literally threw his keys at the jockey for valet parking (LOL), and went straight to the Ballroom. Thank goodness we didn't miss anything much. Plus there were others who were late as well thanks to the stupid jam.

Well I'll stop blabbering here. I know there are currently about 20 albums of the "Ball" by various people on Facebook (and tonnes more to come I'm sure), but it would be so unlike me if I didn't include some of my favourites on my blog =) So. Here goes!

(picture-heavy, so please be patient)

My date =D

Pei Shern love

Ho Wai. Ignore the look =/

Red. Evil twin. World's biggest poser (and proud of it). Look at all that smugness on his face.

Mervin who says I am fat. Whatever.

(I know lah you're telling the truth but humour me a bit cannot is it?!)

My favourite twins! Gorgeous!!!

Adrian!

Half of the gang. Michelle Lim! Faster upload your pics! I want the ones with you & me and Tracy & me! And the whole gang punya pic if you're the one having it.

Malini!

The lovely Pui San & Hui Wen.

Everybody loves Kwan!

Ghi Waie & Ru Fah, whom I have known since Taylor's!

Yunn Cheng & Matthew, the other couple. Hehe.

Joon Heng & Tracy! Tracy your makeup very nice OK. Matches your dress very much. And DAMN IT Joon, did we forget to take a picture? Or is it in your camera?

Amanda, Edwina & Suisse. All looking wonderful =)

Amrita!

Edwina!

Shelva looking radiant without her neckbrace hehe.

Swen the beautiful.

Delia the best-dressed nominee! Beautiful dress. Delia I honestly think you should have won.

(Most of) the M206 girls.

Yilin is desperate to be a bridesmaid so I let her make believe for once. But I let you in on a little secret la... she's never going to be one. Hahahahhaha. Nevermind Yilin you know I still love you ;)

Ok la I'm getting lazy... the rest are on Facebook!

Designed To Connect

Finally I find the time to blog about the CF Camp!


The camp was held at the Port Dickson Methodist Center

To be honest, I was really really REALLY dreading it. In fact I found it difficult to even make the decision to go. No reason why. I guess being the lazy me, I was more keen on wasting my weekend doing nothing than to devote it to God. Well in the end I went... and I came out of it wonderfully happy. I would have hated myself should I not have gone.



Part of M206!

So what did I get out of this camp? Many many things!!

Firstly it was the mixing-around with people from various batches and courses. I even got to know my own batchmates a little more. Of the 4 semesters I've been in IMU, I've not known a single Nursing student, and during camp I got to know 2 of them! Then my "mortal" (of the Angel & Mortal game) was a Pharmacy student... so... another friend to add to my circle =)




The camp sessions (i.e. sermons) were given by Sister Annette who's just an amazing speaker. She's so funny (and at times very lame but in a very funny way - I liked her "ballet" joke a lot for some reason), and I felt that she was very liberal in a sense that she was able to make everyone, both Christians and non-Christians, relate to the topics without touching too much on religion. I mean, there was just no way one could find fault in whatever she said. More details about her sessions can be found on our Bible Study blog, because Teong Rhen was patient enough to take down notes and transfer them to the blog. =P





Games were very good and well-planned. The ice-breaker game, Rendezvous, was really fun! But Ghi Waie and I had to cheat 'cause we were kiasu =( I admit to being a bit skeptical about the Virus game - I didn't think it would work out because it just seemed really complicated... but everything went smoothly and I'd say it was one of the best games I've ever played. It was the time I bonded most with my group members, sprained my right gluteal muscles (in other words, my right ASS), ran till I couldn't catch my breath (which just further proved that I am unfit)... it was the best time!




Edwina the VIRUS! SO SO SO SO CUTE OK.

Morning devotions were alright. I couldn't quite relate to both the topics but I guess I was glad to be able to share and listen to my group members as well as pray together.

I loved all worship sessions, especially the ones led by Wei Lin and Amanda Albert. But one of the most important take-home messages I got from this camp is to really understand and look into the lyrics of each song rather than to be superficially awed by the tunes. That really opened my eyes to what I've actually been doing - always feeling so connected to the song, not because I really bothered about what we were singing about, but because the tunes just gave this sense of emotion. I'd feel so high in spirit but when praise & worship is over, my spirit dies down and I'm back to square one, feeling nothing. It was good that Annette knocked some sense into our heads, telling us to know what we're really singing about instead of always being caught up in the moment.





I learnt so much from this camp. Dwelled on my personal issues even deeper. Connected with myself. Reminded about how to really connect with my family. Learnt to further connect with God. I also realized that we are all connected to one other whether we like it or not. On the last day after the final session... I went up to be prayed for, and the person who prayed for me was Daniel. In fact I was the first person he prayed for that morning. We didn't know each other at that time. When he looked at my name tag he sort of grinned a little. Then later I found out that he was my Angel. Hehe. Coincidence? I don't think so.


What is your Ebenezer?

Having said all that, you know what was the best thing for me? The most wonderful feeling I got from camp? It was actually to see God moving so quickly through IMU. There were many non-Christians who attended the camp for the same reason : they wanted to get to know Christ. Among them were some of my batchmates. At the altar call on Saturday night, I saw many familiar faces up there... and I felt my heart skip a beat. That was the best thing I got from camp.

=)

Pris! I loved the sharing wayyyyyyyyy after lights were out ;)


Swee Leen's face + Kwan's eyes!











=)

pics from Wei Lin, Sara, Kwan and Ailing