Libra...balanced?

A sleepless night

2011-10-10T21:05:00.031+08:00

On one of the weekends, I decided to go for a solo trip to Rotorua simply because i managed to secure a NZ$2 bus ticket months before the travel date. Everything went well with the trip except for one incident. When i come to think of it now, it was a rather funny incident but believe me, i was petrified and it haunted me for days after that.

So, it started off with me meeting a French lady whom i had to share a dorm room with. The room was able to accommodate up to four people but Rotorua was rather quiet that weekend and so, both of us knew clearly that only two of us would be using that room that particular night. We talked a little and then we bid each other goodbye as she was heading to one of the pubs for a rugby match whereas i signed up for a Maori cultural show and Hangi dinner.

I got back by around 10pm but she wasn't around. Within an hour, i was dead asleep but i had the lights switched on as i thought she would need the light to do her stuffs when she was back.

At around 3am or so, i was awoken and i couldn't go back to sleep. It was completely dark as the light had been switched off. There i was, tossing and turning on bed, and out of sudden, that French lady shouted at me in French. I thought i was making too much noise and i only made a "huh?" remark as i was still blurred on what had happened. Seconds after that, she apologised. I was even more confused. Was she having a scary dream, a dream of being chased by a tiger or something? Then, the next thing she said was, "Sorry, i thought i was the only one staying in the room tonight," From then on, i was so worried that i couldn't go back to sleep at all. I kept thinking that what if she had forgotten the fact that i was there and she came hitting me, thinking that i was an intruder.

It was seriously a sleepless and terrifying night for me and i left as soon as the sky turned bright. I rather roamed around the quiet little town than to stay fearfully in the dorm. I ended up walking around like a zombie for the rest of the day.

This is the dorm room with just 2 bunk beds and nothing else.

Lake Rotorua with many huge black swans

Hangi meal - Food such as chicken, sweet potatoes, potatoes and corns being cooked in earth for several hours

Maori cultural performance

Simplicity

2011-05-24T22:44:00.000+08:00

There is not much entertainment after sunset at the agriculture- and tourism-based highland of Kundasang. Farmers and workers will be sleeping soundly after a day of hard work and tourists will also be sleeping like logs after climbing the Mount Kinabalu. Even when they are not tired, they would prefer (i assume...) to enjoy a sip of hot cocoa/coffee at the nearby cafe rather than wondering around the dark town as Kundasang barely has a few street lights.

I was indeed very excited when i was told that we got to attend a malay-dusun wedding on a Saturday night. Not having any idea on who the bride and groom were and what to bring along as gift, we just followed the crowd up the hill :P

Soon after we reached the brightest and liveliest house, we found the couple to be seated comfortably at the pelamin while the ketua kampung and the respectable figures in the village gave some short speeches and good wishes. The ketua kampung also dedicated a few songs to the newly wed.

Next, the couple went around the 3-tier cake and cut off the ribbons one-by-one. They would then feed each other a piece of cake.

The rest of the well-wishers would then enjoy the buffet spread and some would also start karaoke-ing :)

The buffet spread was nothing fancy but everyone enjoyed their food :) I particularly like their vegetable dish and it seemed to be some kind of edible wild ferns....

The wedding was seriously nothing fancy and expensive. In fact, the house, which i assumed to be the house of the newly wed, was not even completely built. The ceremony itself took less than an hour. Yet, everyone enjoyed the night.....

Happy life can be this simple.......

2011-01-01T15:50:00.005+08:00

Travelling is...

money-consuming yet you're happy to empty your purse

something to look forward and reflect

a time to be away from reality
a self-enriching journey

a people-bonding time

purely fun & exciting :P

3-hour walking tour

2010-12-26T16:07:00.002+08:00

i don't know if i would ever write about my aussie adventure though i claimed loudly that i would come out with a scrapbook...hehehe

about the 3-walking tour, i think it was one of the highlights of my 3-day sydney adventure. As with the name of tour, we really did walked for 3 hours around the city, approximately 3.8km. No tram, no bus, no train...the best thing is that it was FREE but the guide would appreciate any amount of tips given.

Just a brief intro, the guide is a girl from sydney itself and she is currently an architecture student there. she loves her city so much that she is happy to show anyone the city by walking. no booking is required for the tour and all we have to do is to show up at the designated place and time, whether it rains or shine..by the way, our journey began at A and ended at L as shown in the map below

so, at 2.30pm sharp, we started off the tour at Sydney Town Hall (A). there is a little square with some trees and stone benches for people to relax. It was just after lunch hour and so we saw many working class people puffing away or having burgers as a quick lunch. Next, we walked across the street to Queen victoria building (B). It's somekind of high-class mall with a queen victoria statue and her favourite dog, islay at the QVB entrance

Town hallSt Andrew's CathedralQVB

Floor painting at the entrance of QVB

then, we walked at the underground mall of QVB and reached another exit facing the Westfield mall

we walked a little further to the Hyde Park, where the St Mary's Cathedral can been seen standing in the mist of greenery

then we reached Hyde Park Barracks (D) and it used to house convicts. by the way, this building is in the UNESCO world heritage list as it is well maintained as part of the large-scale colonial convicts transportation.

as we strolled along macquarie street, we got to sydney hospital (E). it was the oldest hospital in australia and it has been a functioning hospital since early 1800s

we crossed the street to the martin place (E-F). This road houses all the major banks and financial centers in australia

at about 4pm, we stopped for a little break at the australia square (G). People is australia really seems to enjoy life to the max as we saw many working class people enjoying a cuppa while chatting with their colleagues.

Then, we got to macquarie place (H) and there were a few statues there which were given by the british as a gift. seeing the bronze chains indicated that we were very near to the port.

Next up, the custom house (I). It doesn't serve as a custom building anymore nowadays. surprisingly, it has a library inside. There is also a miniature model of sydney CBD underneath the glass floor on the ground floor.

Just across the road was the circular quay and we can see the famous iconic bridge and opera house from far.

And we walked and walked.....

then, we reached The Rocks (K). It was the earliest settlement for visiting sailors and it was well known to be a slum. this place is indeed very interesting and it is worth a visit. It even has a weekend bazaar with many interesting arts and crafts, food, painting etc. When night falls, people would come to the happening bistros. since it was thursday when we got there, people started having their alcoholic doses even before the sunset. by the way, the sun sets quite late (about 8.30pm) in the summer...

And we walked and walked ......

finally, we reached Dawes Point (L) and the sydney bridge was right above us. the tour ended here and we slowly made our way back to circular quay.

green grassy place right below the bridge, overlooking the opera house and circular quay the "toaster" at night from the circular quay train station

i personally felt that this tour is the best way to check out sydney in a short time ♥

for more info, please visit http://www.imfree.com.au/ and http://www.peektours.com.au/

week 5

2010-07-28T18:21:00.004+08:00

It has already been four and a half weeks since i started on semester 5 and everything seems to be relatively more relaxing than the previous semesters. For the past 4 weeks, only a couple of days that i need to go to university by 9 or 10am and the rest of the days, after 1.30pm. What a 'luxury' and 'freedom' that i never had in the past two years???

The only stressful thing up-to-date was the portfolio task on the management of gestational diabetes mellitus and it was DONE......

Currently, i'm working on the proposal of setting up and managing a community pharmacy with a group of girls. Though we have just started a teeny-weeny bit of the whole project, we came across many amazing ideas in term of interior designs which most of us had never seen in this country. Those designs were so attractive and customers would definitely love to come back just to admire the designs...hahaha.....Of course, those ideas are a bit unpractical when budget is of concern....

till then...

The day with messy kitchen :P

2010-06-16T21:47:00.007+08:00

It's rice dumpling festival, 端午節, today but we ended up making strawberry yogurt cheesecake and maki rolls...My subsequent maki rolls turned out to be a failure as the seaweed paper got soften and can't be cut nicely :(We made a strawberry yogurt cheesecake instead of the original plan of making strawberry cheesecake. It tasted really delicious as the sour taste of the yogurt predominated with a tint of cheesiness :P

HCMC day 4

2010-06-15T11:45:00.009+08:00

What's the best way to spend the remaining hours before boarding the plane??? The answers are eating and shopping like there's no tomorrow....hehehe :P These stalls can be seen almost everywhere along the street in the morning. The stalls may not look alike, as in orange in colour with a huge word 'Bread' written on it, but they sell similar food stuffs such as pastries, baguette, and most importantly, Bánh mì, the Vietnamese baguette. Let me tell you that these Bánh mì tasted like heaven!!! I may be exaggerating but they definitely taste better than any sandwiches that i've eaten before ...A bánh mì was first prepared by spreading a thin layer of liver pâté on a freshly baked and cut baguette. Then, a variety of cold cuts and generous filling of assorted vegetables were stuffed in. Lastly, fish sauce and some unknown condiments were added to make a perfect bánh mì. Most importantly, such great sandwich was only about 15000D ( ~ RM2+)This was another exit of Bến Thành Market. Little did we knew that the other side of the market was a huge food court selling a great variety of Vietnamese cuisine. We were actually looking for a comfortable place to have a drink outside the market after souvenir hunting. Unfortunately, we can only find bottled water which cost 7000D each and it was definitely a cheat as the same one can be bought at a price of 3000D elsewhere. Then, we decided to walk back into the market to avoid the scorching sun.Seeing this stall with many glasses of colourful stuffs really delighted us. We quickly pointed at any two glasses in hope that they taste great.This was something like ABC/ais kacang. The green thing at the bottom was cendol and it was very chewy and fat...yummy :) This was similar to leng chee kang and it was equally nice as thirst-quencher...ahhhh..This bowl of rice vermicelli topped with huge prawns, grilled pork chop and bbq pork was simply delicious :P It was served cold with a small bowl of fish sauce...It was rather expensive, almost 3 USD but amazingly yummy :P

We still had another 2 hours after check-out as the transfer to the airport was scheduled to pick us up at 2pm and so we went out and eat again....The receptionist suggested us this restaurant and bar which was just around the corner from our hotel. Unfortunately, the food here were below expectations. There was nothing to shout about except that the interior design was of bamboo sticks...The foreigners seemed to enjoy their day by catching up with their friends or new acquaintances over the bar... There was another main course missing from the picture above and the lunch roughly cost us USD 30 Luckily this glass of ice coffee didn't disappoint me...hehehe :P :P :P

HCMC day 3

2010-06-13T13:20:00.016+08:00

We purposely got up early, about 5.30am, on the third day just to visit a local wet market which was just around the corner. It would take approximately 10 minutes by walking but my aunt preferred to start the day by less walking. So, we resorted taking a taxi which cost us only about 17000 D (~RM2). By the way, the day was already bright by 6am.

Some wok-fried rice pancake with prawns (Bánh xèo) which cost us 15000D (~ RM3) eachI didn't try this as there was a huge block of hardened blood with pig innards and it smelt like smelly-sweaty clothes...yiks!!The ladies were preparing the Vietnamese chee cheong fun known as Bánh cuốn. It is also served with a variety of pork sausages (chả lụa) and bean sprouts. It was even tastier when eaten with the dipping sauce (nước chấm)...yummy :PBánh cuốn which cost us 15000D (~RM3)Vietnamese spring roll, Gỏi cuốn . It smelt so awful that i can't even take a bite :(This fried spring roll, Chả giò, was great :P

It was stuffed with minced pork, yam, prawns etc

Then, we rushed back to the hotel to join another group of tourists to My Tho, which is part of the Mekong Delta region. The journey took us almost 2 hours and once we were there, we boarded a boat which can accomodate about 12 people for a cruise along Mekong river.

There was even a Shell petrol station on the river bank!!!This was our wooden speed boat...Then we dropped by an island called Tortoise Island, in which i found no tortoise. We had a traditional Vietnamese lunch in the midst of a huge longan orchard. This is known as Elephant fish and the tour guide mentioned that this fish can only be found in Mekong river and no where else.Some side dishes: prawns, herbs, fried yam rolls, rice sheets, etc...My failed spring roll...hehe Then we got back to the same boat and off we went to another island where there was a small coconut candy factory. We were briefly introduced on the production of coconut candy and we were also served with honey tea. Then, we got to another smaller boat, which was better known as sampan, rather than as roving boat, as described by the tour guide. The journey was kinda scary as the canal was small and the water was very murky. It seemed like a crocodile can appear anytime and knock us off the sampan to fill its stomach....It started drizzling when we were about to reach the river bank. As unfortunate as it was, we got to walk under the rain for 5 minutes along the village trail to a hut where we were served with a meagre portion of tropical fruits. As we were all soaked wet, the atmosphere was made even depressing with the singing performance by the locals which sounded like funeral song....hahahahaha :P The trip ended unexpectedly as i was wondering where was the famous floating market on Mekong river. Unfortunately, the market opens daily until 11am only.....We were back to the city of chaotic electrical wiring...For dinner, we had variety of clams and shells cooked in different ways. There were many of these hawker stalls by the road side and the clue to choose which to patronise is to see which got the most customers, both locals and foreigners alike. Not to forget to choose the most hygienic stall.This glass of coffee with milk was FANTASTIC !!!!!! After a hearty dinner which cost 485000D (~RM 80), we walked to Bến Thành Market for some shopping. While we were on the way there, we walk passed a family park and many locals were there enjoying their Saturday evening.
General Tran Nguyen Han Statue, which was at the roundabout in front of Bến Thành Market The view of bars from our hotel. It was a happening Saturday night with mainly foreigners enjoying their drinks and catching up with their friends...And the poor me, staying in the hotel room watching kbs channel while onlining. God, it was just 10.30pm but both my mom and aunt were sleeping like logs! I guessed they must be very tired from all the walking and boating....hahahahaha

HCMC day 2

2010-06-11T00:20:00.002+08:00

Tadaa!!! This is where we had our breakfasts, right in front of the reception counter...heheheThe french baguette was simply great, crispy and aromatic :POmelet with sausage and onions

After breakfast, we headed off to Cu Chi Tunnels, which is about 70km from HCMC. It took us slightly more than an hour to get there by a sharing coach. The area that we visited was only part of the cobweb-like underground tunnels which span over 200km long to the Cambodian border. It used to be the hiding spots of the guerrillas during the Vietnam War and the tunnels were so well hidden and camouflaged that the American soldiers fail to eradicate those guerrillas. The tunnels were not just of pathways connecting places, they have kitchens, weapon factories, hospitals, traps, meeting areas etc underground.

Tadaaa!!! You won't know that there is an opening to the ground by just looking at it...I got to experience crawling the underground tunnels. Initally it was ok as there was a electrically-powered lamp near the entrance. However, as i crawled deeper to a point where it was pitch black, it was damn scary that my legs went jellies, worrying if i bang myself against the wall or accidentally grabbed a millipede.... Some rice papers being dried under the hot sun. They are used to make gỏi cuốn, the vietnamese spring rollThe central post office. It is famous for its colonial architectureThis is the Reunification Palace where it was once the Presidential home as well as the army command center. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we reached there.

Notre Dame Cathedral, a famous landmark in HCMC but to me, it's architecture is rather humble than the one in France, i supposed...Night view of HCMC from Saigon river A rather expensive and not-worthy cruise dinner

But for sure the ship was very pretty

HCMC day 1

2010-06-09T23:38:00.000+08:00

I wanted to write about this trip since the very day i was back to KL but watching 개인의 취향 (Personal Taste) is so addictive that i have been watching it till my eyes sore (and i'm still watching it...). The other reason may be that i've got very little information about my trip, as in the trip forms a very vague memory that i have to google up things regarding Ho Chi Minh and the places of interest even though it was just last week that i've been there. I've read up a lot about where to visit, what to eat and what to do months before the trip but i came back feeling empty, as in reading things in the internet gives a better picture than visiting and experiencing the real things. Maybe it was due to language barrier, or time constraint...

A billboard in Tan Son Nhat airportMost of the traffic lights in the city are of 2 heights and i supposed the higher one is for 4-wheeled vehicles and the lower one is for 2-wheeled vehicles. Besides, the size is so much more smaller than what we normally see elsewhere.The taller white building is Beautiful Saigon Hotel, where we stayed for 3 nights. It's on Bui Vien street, which is about 7 minutes walk from Bến Thành Market. Btw, did you notice the chaotic electrical wiring right in front of the buildings? It's a common sight here in HCMCThe building itself is slim and the lobby is also very slim...

After we checked-in, the receptionist told us that we will be having our breakfast at the lobby and i casually answered ok. Then my mom asked where was the lobby and the receptionist said, "right here! we'll put up tables and chairs for you tomorrow," Even the staircase is very 'thin' We had beef noodle for dinner. It cost us 27000D (~rm5) per bowl and it was slightly pricier as it was in a shop. Most locals have it al fresco on the sidewalk pavement.Locals love serving any dishes with a pile of vege and herbs...Vendors selling fruits can be seen everywhere...This lady was selling colouful glutinous rice.. She was literally pan-frying rice spring rolls by the roadside where motorbikes can zoom pass by a few inches away.Locals also love eating seafood, whether it is grilled or stir-fried.

Btw, burning incenses were used to keep flies away.

It is a french bakery but the korean influence is heavier as they put up korean mtv and musics

2010-06-07T14:04:00.003+08:00

i'm home :P

it's great to be back at home with plenty of choices and generous portions of food....hahahaha

it sounds so greedy of me but it's true...Malaysia is truly a land of abundance and prosperity, minus some of the political instabilities. by the way, the luggage on the left is mine and the other one is my mom's

so cute hor :P

i never knew both of us like loud colours and patterns

at this moment

2010-05-13T22:47:00.005+08:00

I do remember that i own a blog but sometimes, i can't find a reason to keep it alive. The only time when i have the strong urge to blog was when i encountered any frustrating and unfortunate events. However, i hate it when my blog is full of rants and complaints, which highlight how unfortunate my life it. So, i have decided to blog only about happy events and thoughts.

So, what happy things happened past this few months??? Let's recall back...

Erm, the very first thing i recalled was the Malaysian studies stage play. It was fun and exciting as i got to learn Malay dance and performed it with a group of friends. It was the first and probably, the last time that i'll perform on the stage as i don't really 'belong' to the stage. Reminiscing how we learned the dance at first was really hilarious. With stiff bones and uncoordinated limbs, i have to learn to be *ahem* 'lemah-lembut' and enjoy the song while dancing. We were fortunate that our malay friends were very patient in teaching us and getting the costume and accessories. I am really glad that we managed to pull it through despite it being in the busiest week in semester 4.

Not to forget our cute Malaysian studies lecturer who kept scolding us for good, instilling ideas that we would never get from our live-eat-shit-in-the-medical-world lecturers...

What else? Ahaaa....PBL. Somehow i felt PBL was quite fun this semester. Maybe it was my PBL-mates who were interactive and innovative. We talked, argued, postulate the impossibles, laughed at silly remarks, etc. We even did a mini sketch instead of the usual presentation and discussions. It was really inspiring to work with them :P

Celebrating birthdays are also very fun with different quirky ideas. Balloons, mini 'detective games', cakes, surprises, flowers, hand-made cards, etc......

partial summary

2010-01-15T16:28:00.001+08:00

1. For that 7-day trip, we had actually gone through 5 times of the immigration counters, filling up forms, queueing up, dragging our luggage, etc. It was fun at first but when you do it for the third and subsequent times, you will definitely get very fed up as the queue can easily take you about an hour. So, my conclusion is that either travel less countries during a trip OR don't go during peak seasons like christmas and new year.

2. Never go for DIY tour when you have *ahem elderly who tagged along. The best tour for them would be group-tour where everything is well organised and hassle-free. My mom found it very troublesome to fill up forms, carry her own luggage, hailing cabs, travelling by public transports etc. She claimed that we wasted a lot of time getting through the customs and travelling around with mtr and taxis. That's very true but the experience counts. Maybe my mom had gone through those adventure-seeking years :P

3. This is kinda random but i found couples in Hong Kong can KISS anywhere and anytime. They can kiss in the mtr even when it was damn packed. They can kiss non-stop for like 3 minutes behind the bush (only kissing, nothing 18SX...haha). They don't mind people starring at them. Hahahahaha, actually no one stare at the kissing couples. It was only us who starred at them with our jaws dropped. My aunt even claimed that a girl kissed her boyfriend so violently that her whole face was wet...hahahaha. I also managed to, accidentally, capture a few photos with people kissing as background....I never knew the hongkies are so affectionate :P

7/7

2010-01-15T00:55:00.000+08:00

26th December 2009

Finally, we had come to an end of our 7-day trip. There were many places that we missed out due to insufficient time and overwhelming crowd. Maybe i shall summarize the trip on the next post...hehe We had our breakfast at a nearby Char Chan Teng. Some of the food that we ordered were a variety of congee, chee cheong fan, steamed carrot cake and milk tea. The chee cheong fan tasted great with peanut sauce and dark sweet sauce. It was simply delicious, yummy! :P. The steamed carrot cake was disappointing. Actually, we thought of ordering the fried one but it came to our table as steamed one. The milk tea, as usual, was fantastic. Somehow 'their' (referring to the majority of milk tea in hong kong, guangzhou area) milk tea is very aromatic and when you sip a gulp, the tea will easily slide down your throat without any 'kick' feeling that you normally get from our local coffee or tea, as in your tongue won't feel dry and bitter-ish after drinking it . Maybe our local coffee/tea is made too 'kau' d. By the way, the breakfast bill was about HKD180...fuyoh!

Then, we boarded the shuttle bus provided by the hotel to the airport. So 'erm se tak' yet i felt that it was time to be home after 7 days of non-stop walking, seeing and buying....

That's the cable car to the Giant Buddha. This picture was taken from the Tung Chung Citigate Outlet, a mall which is like a huge FOS with a variety of brands. The Esprit there was indeed very big but the queue to the cashiers was even longer. Haih, why bother lining up for 20 minutes just for a shirt leh? This is the iconic walkway that we usually see in Hong Kong drama when someone is in HKIA...hahaha...i just felt that way when i first saw it, in fact, there were a few of those 'bridges' from the main entrance to the check-in counters. And this is the scene where you can imagine people hug and kiss to bid farewell to their friends and family.By the way, our flight was delayed many many times, from the scheduled 3.20pm to 4pm and then 5.30pm and to unknown time. Only until about 7pm that we were confirmed that the flight will take off at 8pm. Actually, i was cheering that the flight was delayed. I would be even happier if the flight is delayed to the next day, so that we can get a complementary hotel stay for that night and of course, we can go explore the other part of Hong Kong which we didn't get to visit...hehe :PThe passengers due for the flight were crowding at the boarding gate. Some were even shouting at the ground crews, demanding for explanation, etc...Meanwhile, we went eating again as we were given complementary vouchers of HKD 40 and HKD 80 each for tea and dinner respectively.Minced pork with rice and stewed egg. It should be a taiwanese dish'Drunken' chicken. It was nice but the only thing we despised was that the dish came out directly from the fridge. I'm not sure if it should be eaten cold....hahaha

And we had Starbuck coffee for dinner :P

6/7

2010-01-10T02:29:00.010+08:00

25th December 2009

After 8 hours of sleep, i was freshly awake anticipating for the fun day ahead. As far as i can remember, i was quite sick the night before, with the symptoms of flu, myalgia, headache and fever affecting me terribly. I was so sick that i didn't even feel like joining my brother and his friends to Lan Kwai Fong.

The best way to start a day is to eat breakfast...hahaha. We had dimsum at a nearby restaurant, leaving my brother in the hotel room as he refused to get up. The dimsum were simply delicious, albeit a bit more pricey. After the breakfast which cost us about HKD 250, we went back to the hotel to wake my brother up. Manatau, he pulak fell sick. He insisted to stay alone in the hotel but my mother disagreed. So, we let him sleep for another 2 hours. Meanwhile, we went for hairwash.

Chelsea Kee restaurant

The yellow pieces of kuih were 'kuai fa gou'We met a groom with his bestmen who were on the way to meet his bride. Did you notice that they were wearing some animal-headgear??? So cute :P

About noon time, we hired two taxis to Giant Buddha in Lantau Island. Unfortunately, Hong Kong has this system that certain colour of taxis can only travel at certain areas. So, the taxi driver said that he can only send us to the Tung Chung Citygate Outlet and then we had to travel by local bus, cable car or another taxi to get to the Giant Buddha. The taxi ride was about HKD200, which was cheaper than the feeder bus service provided by the hotel. When we finally reached there, the queue for the cable car was super loooong and we resorted to taking the local bus. That bus ride was quite bumpy and nerve-wrecking as the bus driver drove quite fast even on hilly roads. The perk was that the scenery was fantastic all along the way

Vegetarian snacks. Only the meehon was eatable. The kuih-muih all tasted weird. The people who sold all these food were so lansi, they disallowed me from taking photographs of their food.Me fixing my fair under a fake Bodhi treeFinally, at about 4.30pm, we boarded the Mickey-themed mtr to the happyland called Disneyland :P

Some cute kids

The Main Street

The Sleeping Beauty castle

Charcoal-steamboat with beer for supper on christmas night....yummy :) We were the only customers there and the bos treated us with extra food. Let say when we ordered a plate of beef balls, he would add an extra 1 or 2 squid balls...He also treated me a glass of so-called very bitter 'wong lou kat', which was not bitter at all...Tadaa, the bill easily came up to HKD590

5/7

2010-01-09T14:57:00.003+08:00

24th December 2009

It was Christmas eve and we started off the day with a hearty breakfast :P...
There was this baked tomato with spices which i found very unique...
By the way, this little church up there is at the top of Penha Hill, which is where our hotel was. I didn't realise that there is a church nearby and apparently, this is quite a famous landmark.

I actually like the place where we stayed in Macau. It is located slightly away from the bustling city and casinos, on top of a hill, overlooking the Praia Grande Bay... even the former governor used to stay at this area :)
We left Macau at about 11am and it took us 4 hours to get to our hotel in Shatin, Hong Kong. The one-hour ferry ride was alright but the mtr ride from Central all the way to Shatin, changing 5 times of trains with humongous luggage with us, was just super tiring. All of us were dropped-dead tired that day. After a short nap, we went out to the Avenue of Star. Only god-knows-why most of the main roads were closed. There wasn't any parade going on and people were not allowed to walk on roads meant for vehicles. The only way of travelling was by mtr...Of course, i didn't get to see those handprints of actors and actresses as they were all beneath our shoes.....

The famous Peninsular hotel...

Then we walked for dunno-how-many-miles to reach a mtr station as god-knows-why they decided to close some mtr exits to Mongkok. The crowd was slightly tolerable on the street but the restaurants and dessert shops were all packed with patrons.

Curry fishballs, skewed balls, mini eggpuffs

'Hui Lau Shan' a famous dessert house for their mango ice-blended drinks.

And some street performance as well....

4/7

2010-01-04T19:45:00.008+08:00

23rd December 2009

I know this is long overdue but i think i ought to finish up the whole 7-day trip. Not being able to finish what i plan is not a good sign the start year 2010...

We started the day very early with a 3-hour drive to Zhuhai. There was nothing much in Zhuhai but wherever we went, there were people selling souvenirs made of pearls, e.g. the fisher girl statue which was made of pearls, key chains, etc...

Fisher girl statue ...

Jingshan park...

KILL THE CIGARETTE PLACE....hahahahaha

We travelled up Jingshan park with cable car...

Some steamed oysters with lotsa garlic....

Some delicious chicken...yummy :P

'Tai chap hai'....it was kinda meatless and i don't know what is so nice about it....

Delicious fried aubergines

This was the restaurant we went for lunch in Zhuhai

Next, we crossed the Gongbei port to Macau and it seriously felt very different. The air was fresher and the people looked cleaner and more decent :P I actually felt safer there in Macao...hehe

We visited the St. Ruin's Paul, which is called 大三巴牌坊 in chinese. I find it very weird to be called that way...hehe

The St. Ruin's Paul overlooking Lisboa and the street leading to Senado Square

A christmas tree in Senado Square

Pharmacia
Double skinned milk....It was delicious but just too yuckie to finish up the whole bowl

Venetian was so pretty and romantic with the gondola singer's powerful voice echoing the whole place :)

Our one-night stay in Riviera Hotel

Our room overlooking the Macau Tower
The desert was delicious....yummy ^^

The Grand Lisboa

Pretty receptionist at Grand Lisboa

3/7

2009-12-29T22:35:00.003+08:00

22nd December 2009

From the previous day, i can actually foresee that we would be brought to a speciality shop after every meal. Right after breakfast, we were brought to a jade shop where there were people explaining things about jade, promoting jade figurine and jewellery. Some were really pretty to be displayed at home but the price was really scary. After much persuasion, my mom's friend decided to buy a pair of 'pi xiu', jade figurine which resembles lion and dragon and it cost about RMB3k!!!

We were VIP VISITER....:P

Our bus 007

Next, we went to Window of the World where there were many marvelous miniatures of the wonders in the world. Unfortunately, we only spent about 2 hours there and it was definitely not enough to explore the whole park. We started off with a train ride and we literally jumped down from the train once it stopped, shot many photos and then, hopped onto the train for the next stop. It was crazy as we rushed like madman, hopping up and down... Finally, the train ride ended near the miniature Eiffel tower. Eiffel tower was so pretty and you can actually travel up by elevator. It felt so romantic even seeing a miniature one :) & i would love to visit France one day :P

The glass pyramid of Louvre, France

London bridge

Cologne Cathedral in Germany

Niagara falls

la tour Eiffel

Triumphal Arch of France

For lunch, we were treated with Hakka cuisine. One of the dishes was 'yong tau fu' and it was very different from what we normally had in KL. The taufu was very soft like 'tau fu fah' but the meat paste was just a tiny one. Maybe this was the way the shenzhen people have it.

Next stop was a herbal shop and some of us were pissed off during the introduction by a staff, whom she mentioned that she graduated from local chinese medicine university. She got unhappy because we had small talks among ourselves and she even demanded us to give applause after she had done explaining. Of course none of us clapped our hands *-) .....Then, i got my palm read and the sifu diagnosed that i had hormonal imbalance and he suggested something which turned out to be honey supplements ^o)

Then we rushed to Splendid China Folk Culture village, repeated the cycle of hopping up and down the train while touring around the park. The trip ended with an hour of cultural show performed by many tall, pretty and s-figured ladies :P I always think that those drawings of chinese ladies from the old dynasties were just drawings, which was nothing real.....hehehe. Now i know they really exist......

The poor donkey was asleep Zzzz...

Forbidden city

West lake of Hangzhou

The dinner was another typical chinese dinner but we were treated with an extra bowl of 'tang yuan' each since it was Winter Solstice that day :P

2/7

2009-12-28T12:29:00.007+08:00

21st December 2009

We started off the day with a simple breakfast at a nearby Char Chan Teng. We ordered a milk tea each, some polo buns, egg tarts and baos and the bill came up to HK$ 112, which was considerably expensive to me. The milk tea was just so-so and it didn't taste as smooth and milky as the one i tried at Cafe de Coral in Guangzhou.

The view of old Kai Tak airport from our hotel room

At 9.30am, we joined a group of singaporean for a half-day tour in hong kong. The very first stop was the Wong Tai Sin temple. This temple looked too commercialised to me as it was mainly filled with tourists and tour group flags. My aunt did tried a hand on the divination sticks and got it interpreted by a master. That master told a whole long story, relating to the chinese history and some historical figures. At the end, it was up to us to believe....

The crowd at Wong Tai Sin temple

Then, we were brought to a jewellery shop owned by Jacky Chan and a ginseng store. Needless to say, all these were tourist-only destinations and things sold there were relatively expensive and not-so-worth-buying.

Next, we had lunch at a restaurant which i had already forgotten the name. Most of the locals there had dim sum lunch and only the tour groups had cantonese-styled lunch where dishes and rice were served. The roasted goose was so-so only and i can't remember most of the dishes..hehehe :P

Then, we drove up to Victoria Peak 太平山, passing by the underwater tunnel, Central 中環, Wan Chai 灣仔, Happy valley racecourse 快活谷馬場, Mid-levels 半山區, The road up was very steep and winding and there were many individual buildings and condominiums sprouting all over the hill like sticks. Later, we went down to Repulse Bay, passing by Jacky Chan's mansion at no. 99. Our hilarious tour guide told us that muscular guys with t-back and sexy girls in bikinis can be seen all over the beach during summer. Because of this, tv and movie producers tend to search for fresh-faces there. So, if you dream to be a Hong Kong artist, you can always go 'sai meng' instead of 'sai tai yong' there :P

Happy Valley Racecourse
View of Hong Kong from the peak

Repulse Bay

We also went to the Jumbo floating restaurant, passing by Deep water bay but none of us went for the sampan ride..hehehe

The tour finally ended with a 30 minutes mtr ride to LoWu 螺湖, where we were greeted by a tour guide in Shenzhen. She came late, giving all sorts of excuses. Because of her unpunctuality, we were left stranded at the immigration as our visa was with her. She even asked us to lie to another group of malaysian tourists whom we joined for dinner and day 3 tour.

Later, we had dinner at one of the hotel on the 29th floor and then shopping trip at Dong Men 东门 Pedestrian Street till 12 midnight. Almost anything that can be worn from head to toe can be bought here and i managed to buy a pair of boots which cost RMB139. A variety of street food which the locals seemed to enjoy very much was found there as well.
By the way, we stayed at Changan Hotel, Dongguan, which was RMB10 taxi ride to Dong Men.

1/7

2009-12-27T15:46:00.005+08:00

20th December 2009

I would say that this trip was kind of unusual, or in a nicer way of saying, eye-opening and refreshing...

Our flight with Cathay Pacific was scheduled at 5.45pm to Chep Lap Kok airport but it was delayed to 7.30pm once we checked-in our luggage. At first thought, it was perfectly fine with me as free meal vouchers were distributed to keep our mouths from complaining. Besides, there was nothing else can be done except sleeping once we reached our destination.

Complimentary meal

The flying experience was really 5-star except for the delay. Free flow of drinks were served and the food was not as bad as i thought to be. Even the buns served were still soft and hot :P By the way, i realised that the cabin crew were not of young people who have just graduated from secondary school. They looked experienced.

We arrived past midnight and it was almost 4 hours behind our initial schedule. Getting through the immigration was really slow as only a few counters were opened. Moreover, the officers were sort of strict as some did ask questions and skin colour do make a difference...
Once were reached the arrival hall, our airport transfer was no where to be seen as the representative had gone home after 11pm. I tried to contact the hotel using the phone number given by the malaysian travel agent and to my horror, the phone number was no longer in service. Luckily, another hotel representative helped us to contact our hotel and we took two cabs to our hotel, Regal Oriental, which was near the old Kai Tak airport. That two cabs charged us almost HKD600....speechless...and i would definitely claim it back from whoever willing to compensate...

We drove pass Tsing Ma bridge and the port in view looked so grand with piles of containers stacking very high up and countless spotlights. We even drove pass a building, literally through a building of carparks. It was like a building with a hole in the middle for the highway to go through...hehehehe

Finally, we reached our hotel after a 25-minute cab ride and fortunately, there was not much hassle in checking into the hotel.

the world is changing

2009-12-11T02:32:00.003+08:00

The cat is meowing, begging for food,
A random girl drops a few pieces of fish cakes,
The cat continues to meow, begging for food,
but the fish cakes are only sniffed once,
A random guy drops a piece of leftover pork rib,
and the cat finished it all...

an encounter...

2009-10-19T16:22:00.004+08:00

Recently i encountered a mentally handicapped/down syndrome individual in the service-oriented industry. To make things clearer, i met a 'special' guy in the pizza hut restaurant and he was one of the staffs there. It was lunch time and the restaurant was quite packed. I think he was supposed to carry food to the customers as well as clean up when the customers left. As i wasn't aware that he is 'special', i ordered from him and he came back with a receipt which showed ala-carte price. I confirmed with him that i wanted a set instead of ala-carte and he said ok ok. Then, when the food arrived, i only got a plate of spaghetti and nothing else. So, i asked another staff which was coincidentally the branch manager. He was kinda frustrated but he apologised profusely and said that the other staff is kinda 'special'. I was ok and of course, i didn't get angry (which i would if the staff is normal). At the end, i got my set but the price was still the ala-carte price.

After i left, i was kinda worried if that 'special' guy will be scolded or worst, get fired. I think these 'special' people deserve chances, not just a chance. I would rather these fast food restaurants hire 'special' people than foreign workers.

2009-10-06T22:06:00.005+08:00

I came across a quiz with the title 'Are you depressed?' while doing some readings and info searching for my extemporaneous dispensing worksheet and the result is.......tadaa.... "You may be at risk of major depression"

The result is quite surprising but i can't be totally agree with the analysis provided

The quiz is prepared in such as way that we have to choose between a YES or a NO for every statement given.

The first statement is "I feel sad or down most of the time" and i immediately choose a YES. The reason behind is as simple as i don't feel happy and joyful at all time. Come to think of it, can anyone except babies and people with not-so-sane-mind feel happy, excited, blessed, ecstatic at all time? Even babies feel sad and cry when they are hungry.

Next, "I've lost interest in the activities I used to enjoy" and it's a YES again. Shopping and indulging in food are my favourite past times and they will forever be. Though, at this moment, i don't yearn to shop and eat, this doesn't mean that i'm at risk of depression. It's simply because there are more important things to be done than shopping and eating.

Third question, "I feel tired everyday" and this is absolutely true except during weekends. How can i be not tired when i'm deprived of 3-hour power nap everyday which i used to enjoy during school time.

There are a few more questions but i do not feel like commenting anymore...

So, i'm not sure if this quiz is a proper tool to assess one's level of depression but finding a normal person with 'NO' as all the answer is definitely rare.

And i'll definitely be in that 'rare' group during holidays :P

a short update...

2009-08-29T15:19:00.014+08:00

Life has been so hectic and tiring that i barely snap any photograph this year. I used to take millions of photographs with my lovely sbu and mbs friends during secondary school time. Maybe i'm growing *ahem more mature that i don't take silly photo anymore. Or maybe there isn't many camera-ready friends, like Lindsay C, to take pictures with.

Well, what made me start clicking away is that my tutor in IMU will be leaving for UK soon. He has always been very supportive in terms of academic and students' personal problems. We relates our problems and unsatisfactories to him and he always made us think from another point of view. Besides, he is one of the most interesting pharmaceutics lecturer that i have ever met. The subject itself is very, very dry and factual but he manages to gather our interests by relating to products in the market. Other lecturers are like dictators and we are 'supposed' to absorb everything like a sponge during lectures. I personally don't think it is the right way to learn.

5 of us with Mr Khalid, our tutor

Then, for extemporaneous dispensing, i made my sixth product: suppositories this week. Suppository is a dosage form intended for rectal use only. Mine didn't turn out well as they melt almost immediately after i removed them from the mould :( Some even got broken into halves. It was so disappointing that only 1 out of 5 suppositories was considerably normal. I'm so jealous of my benchmate who managed to get all 5 perfect suppositories. According to the lecturer, who is also my tutor, it was because i overheated the cocoa butter base and it turned into an unstable polymorph. That's why my suppositories are so soft and cacat!

My failed suppositories

My professional-looking benchmates

Finally, i managed to get a satisfactory one

Here it is, my one and only normal looking one

Next, we also got to play around with different form of inhalers, namely handihaler, accuhaler, metred-dose inhaler, diskhaler, etc. Those inhalers provided are actually 'dummies' with placebo, medication with no active ingredient. Not to forget that some of us also got to try nicotine chewing gum, which is used for smoking cessation. My friend claimed that the more you chew, the more peppery feeling you will get and it is definitely not pleasant taking it.

"Ok, this is how you use a handihaler. First, you open the dust cap by pressing......

I shall end my post with a picture of my friend and i with the work of art of my b107 seniors in conjuction with the 52nd National Day as well as their Malaysian Studies project. Both the kolam and klcc are magnificent!!!

In case you all can't see clearly, the girl in pink/lilac top is me :P

white in, black out

2009-08-21T22:27:00.004+08:00

While watching our seniors happily snapping pictures in their graduation robes, one of my friends mentioned that we came in white but we will be leaving in black. This got me puzzled for a few minutes as i didn't know what black and white she was talking about. Then, she reminded me that we used to be robed with white laboratory coats on the first day of our university life and if everything goes on smoothly, we will be proudly clad in black robes with a stripe or two coloured band on our shoulders in about 3 years time. The day of graduation seems too far reaching and unimaginable for me. I just can't imagine what life is about beyond that. I wish the day of graduation will be full of joy, smiles and gratitude...

2009-06-30T00:58:00.002+08:00

I realised that i've this tendency not to acknowledge people i know if they are occupied with something else. Whether they are engaging in a talk or busy acknowledging everyone else on the scene except me. I do not feel being offended at all when i'm not acknowledged but i definitely worry if the blames are on my parents for my rude behaviour.

Just a random thought...

teh tarik

2009-06-25T21:05:00.005+08:00

I seriously can't believe it when the mamak man asked for rm0.80 after putting a glass of teh tarik in front of me. I even 'huh?' a few times as i thought i heard the wrong amount. 80 cent only!!! It was so cheap when compared to a packet of teh 'c' ice which i took away last week from a chinese coffee shop and it was rm1.70!!!

The teh tarik was just fantastic when hunger pangs strike after dinner time ^^

It's Valentine Today 今天情人節

2009-06-15T13:39:00.009+08:00

I really regretted not going to Fish Leung's concert as a fan, meaning buying a RM200+ ticket. It definitely worth every penny as her live singing was so much more mesmerizing and soothing than listening online. Songs like shu yu, qing ge, chong bai, jin tian qing ren jie, hui hu xi de tong etc were all so touching and emo...But, i didn't get to hear her duet with Victor Wong, especially 'Way back into love'. Instead, Michael Wong turned up as the guest of appearance and sang a not-so-nice cantonese song. Another amazing thing was that all her fans are real fans, that they really sang along, word by word, with Fish Leung. Their voice can be heard as one, loud and clear. So amazing!!! I never encounter this in neither Jay chou's nor Jacky cheung's concert.

I love shopping, i love lilac ^^

2009-06-11T20:55:00.004+08:00

Today is one of the happiest ever shopping day this year.....muahahaha

Lixian and i started off at isetan klcc where we tried on many beautiful but expensive clothes. There were so many skirts e.g. flowery, peacock-y, prairie-y, etc that i dreaded to buy. At the end, i didn't buy any of those but the thought of buying them was lingering me every second till now.

Then, we walked all the way to pavilion for tea at Godiva Chocolatier with Carol, Shiying and Jisen. We had a wonderful time chatting and taking photographs of the cakes and drinks. I don't really fancy chocolate or chocolaty products and so, i ordered an Apple Mojito Soda, a sourish drink with a tint of fresh sweetness, which i think was a perfect drink to go along with sweet but nauseating desserts.

Later, i saw the love of my life, one of the most beautiful lilac dresses that i had ever seen. After trying it on, it was definitely a life-long regret if i didn't bring it home, which i did for RM49. Definitely a splurge! I'm a happy girl....

Apple Mojito Soda

Home-made spaghetti

2009-06-07T22:38:00.003+08:00

Out of boredom, i decided to cook a meal for my family. So, i went online and looked for suitable recipe and *ting*, meatballs spaghetti sounded a good idea as it is easy to be prepared (minus the home-made meatballs ) To make things simple, i substituted the meatballs with big-sized pan-fried cheesy chicken sausages.

Then, i went straight to Jusco Maluri to get all the ingredients except fresh basil leaves. Somehow the basil leaves came in quite big bags and i only need a 1/4 cup of them. By the way, i realised that i don't fancy italian parsley as it tasted stronger/weirder than chinese parsley . The bill totalled up to slightly more than rm50, which i find it not that cheap afterall to prepare a simple meal...

It took me almost 3 hours to prepare everything from washing, cutting, blending, frying, simmering, etc to a decent presentation on the dining table.

My dad said that it was fine but adding a little more salt would make it tastier. No comment from my brother but he kept adding cheese powder. My mom didn't eat much as she wasn't feeling very well.

I think it tasted ok but at second thought, it was even better than the one i tried at Pasta Mania, Pavillion....hehehehe

2009-05-15T19:30:00.005+08:00

oh my! i did not-that-well for my first 2 papers, organic chemistry and haematology. They were not that difficult but many minor mistakes will definitely 'slice-off' my precious marks. For example, i forgot to write -OH group to be part of the Haworth projection of D-fructofuranose and that drawing worth 4 marks!!! To make things worse, the following 4 marks question is related to the same drawing! oh my! Haematology as well...6 marks on principles used in determining blood group ABO. It sounded easy and it's a general knowledge that everyone knows except me....so sad :( Instead of writing agglutinate, i write 'clump' and 'clot'. Instead of writing anti-A and anti-B sera, i just write 'antibody'. While driving home, i realised that my answers were very vague...

pharm

2009-05-05T10:18:00.005+08:00

When a daughter of my mom's friend's asked me about the bpharm imu-otago programme, i was speechless. Speechless because i knew nothing about it as no one from the uni brief us on this and speechless because it is a credit transfer programme....in my dictionary, credit transfer programme is different from twinning. Wild idea started running in my mind as i thought i can be transferred to otago uni for only 1 semester...save cost $$ but can graduate in otago uni and get to travel the whole kiwi-land as a student...sooo fun ^^

Unfortunately, things aren't that fine in this realistic world. The Bpharm imu-otago programme turned out to be another 'twinning' programme, meaning it's a 2+2 programme. Gone my hope....Actually, it's only applicable to the upcoming intake onwards, which is July 2009 and current students are not eligible. Maybe the modules and course outlines are different.

She (daughter of mom's friend's ) also asked me about if Mpharm is a better choice as one graduates with a 'Master' qualification in 4 years time. Actually, Mpharm is just a name, its qualification is equivalent to a normal degree. From what i know, in UK, graduating with a 3-year degree programme is known as bachelor and with a 4-year programme, it's a 'master' .....She also heard that Mpharm in m'sia isn't that good as students relax here but suffffffer a lot in strathclyde, uk. This is half true as the Mpharm-ers do not have pbl and psd during their first 2 years in imu. Besides, their learning materials are imported and are different from Bpharm but these do not imply that Mpharm is way superior than Bpharm. They are just different...mind you, Bpharm is more challenging and interesting ^^

I'm not here to promote imu/bpharm/mpharm but i'm definitely grateful to be in Bpharm :P

PBL

2009-04-17T19:25:00.004+08:00

This morning marked my last session of PBL in this semester. Even after 8 sessions, there are still many thoughts running in my head, the goods, bads, doubts, etc

FYI, PBL is actually problem-based learning where students take charge of the learning process by discussing among themselves based on a given trigger/problem. If i didn't remember wrongly, one of my lecturers mentioned that PBL came about during world war 2 where a group of engineers were made to sit together with a burnt aircraft engine as the trigger. These engineers had to crack their heads to find out the reasons behind the failure of the engine as much fruitless investigations had be done.

I'm not sure what happen at the end but somehow, these ppl or someone else realize that PBL is a good way to generate ideas beyond the constricted method of teaching and learning (such as spoon-feeding lectures). PBL also encourages activation of prior knowledge and adapting this knowledge into finding the best solution through diplomatic (i guess so...) discussion within a group of people. In my opinion, no single idea contributed is considered wrong unless it is proven wrong by any means. Any doubts that can't be clarified should be investigated by using books, journals, internet, experiments, resource person or any possible reliable source. Any ideas shouldn't be banned at once even though they may sound out of place.

So, the reason for writing this post is that i'm a bit lost/confused while undergoing all these PBL sessions. Somehow, presentations overpower the supposed-to-be interactive discussions. I did ask some of my coursemates and they said all they bring along to the PBL sessions are their brains and related information which they gathered previously. They discuss, share, suggest and correct among themselves while exploring the trigger. Their experiences were very unlike of what i had gone through. My PBL group had 'mini' lectures most of the time and there were not much interaction. Even more sad to say, the targets of the lectures are the hard-copy notes or powerpoint slides. I'm really envious of those who were at the next doors as they laughed from time to time. This gave me the impression that they were sharing, not lecturing passively.

To those who are familiar with PBL or anyone who has an idea on this, please enlighten me....

2009-04-13T20:52:00.001+08:00

Due to popular demand, i'm back to write a post just to please those who have been following the updates of my blog...hahahaha...very 'perasaan' of me :P

Speaking of the word 'perasaan', i've not been using that word for a loooonnng time. Gone are those days where i chit-chat in bahasa with my dear friends. That language comes so naturally as though it is my 1st language. Somehow, conversation in bahasa with my non-malay friends is fun, very fun.....

I haven't been writing for weeks as portfolio-s, exam-s, practical reports, etc are piling up every single day. Life has been stressful for me as i do things at the 11th-hour. There was one incident where i had to skip a few lectures just to finish up my practical report and i somehow annoyed my friend who was just being concerned about my absence. I really wanna change this last-minute habit of mine....Ok, i should stop as this shouldn't be a place for my to grumble like a nanny.

Talking about my form 4 student whom i've been tutoring since last year, she did extremely well for her monthly assesstment. She scored 88% for her add math. I don't remember if i managed to score that high for my 1st add math paper. It was kinda surprise for me as she doesn't even remember her timetable well. If i suddenly ask her what is 7 x 7, she'll take at least 1 minute to answer me. All these while i think that 12X12 timetable comes naturally to anyone, at least those who have passed UPSR. Hopefully, she continues to do well. God bless her and me as well.......

It's almost 9pm and it's time for 'Boys over flowers'...muahahaha :P

I need to be inspired...

2009-03-08T00:18:00.002+08:00

I have been very lazy this few months. Nothing motivates me. The fact that my first class test would be in less than a week time also fails to make me study. What happened??? I'm lazy to blog, lazy to do reports (btw, i have to 2 reports which are due 2 days from now)....

Btw, now i know what is it feels like to memorise drugs name. They are soooo not related!!! I always got confused whether the -olols like propanolol, atenolol, etc are beta blockers or calcium channel blockers. My brain doesn't seem to sort them clearly. Besides, i can't remember the drug names for the classes of antiarrhythmic drugs...HOW??? Exam in less than a week time....All i remember are -dipine, -olol, -sartan, -mide, etc but no idea what they belong to....

Inspiration, where are you???

PBL is interesting and it makes me understand better in lectures. But the down side is that i only know my part, meaning, i only remember what i searched the most and the part which i presented/talked about. The rest of the discussion session is just a vague image in my memory. I know the main objective of PBL is to encourage students to do self-learning and knowledge-sharing through discussion. However, our hectic timetable made us 'divide and conquer' the learning issues that we have previously decided on. At the end, we managed to 'divide' but not 'conquer'....

PSD is also very interesting. It's a session where we get to practice our pharmacy skills on simulated patients. On the first session, we were given two situations with the first setting at a community pharmacy and the second one in a hospital pharmacy. Quite a number of funny incidences like asking too many questions that the patient got irritated, introducing oneself as 'I'm the pharmacist in-charged TODAY', being 'chiong hei' by explaining too much about the drugs and their side-effects...

Pharmacy Bazaar

2009-02-07T21:00:00.010+08:00

Being a good team player/kind course mate, i volunteered to be in the decoration team for the upcoming event organised by the pharmacy students of IMU - Pharmacy Bazaar. Basically, there will be food, performance, etc...i'm not so sure but i'll find out once the event begins..hehe....

Things got a bit chaotic at the beginning as i had no idea what or how to do. Being only told that the theme is 'Under One Roof', three of us had to come out with a banner that will be placed at the main entrance. Frankly speaking, i have 0% of creativity and when it comes to drawing, i always get C for arts during secondary school time. Fortunately, the banner turned out fine after taking us 5 hours of hard work :P

Because of this, i ffk for the zillion-th time....

In fact, the event turned out very well.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

2009-02-01T15:58:00.011+08:00

This Ox year is another year which i started off at my mom's hometown, or more commonly known to me as kampung. Due to a special occasion, my family and i had to stay at kampung till chor erm, the 5th day of Chinese New Year. Again, i missed the annual house raiding with my friends.

However, this was a fun CNY as we celebrated my maternal grandfather's 90th birthday. It was definitely a bliss to be able to celebrate birthday at this age and be healthy at the same time. My grandfather can still ride bicycle, cook and boil water using charcoal. He even know how to get to KL by express bus and then, getting a taxi from Puduraya to my house, without even calling us for direction. Very geng!!!

On chor sei morning, we had the cake-cutting session and tea-presenting session. My grandparents were so happy with so many relatives and especially, grandchildren attending the event. All of us wished my grandfather with all sorts of auspicious greetings during the tea-presenting and angpau-giving sessions. In the evening, we had a chinese-styled dinner at a nearby restaurant. I never know that my maternal side has such a large extended family as approximately 160 relatives turned up...

The birthday cake with the word 'sau'

'Peach' bun

My grandma malu-maluEating time...'Money' receiving angpao.....so cute, right? Yum seng!!!Grandparents and grandchildren...
My brother and cousins...Me, my brother and my cousin sis...

Naughty brother and cousins...

Biggest joke of the year

2008-12-25T13:11:00.007+08:00

Most of my close friends would have known that i'm allergic to the sun, more accurately, i get sunburn very easily. The degree of sunburn is so great that about 2 hours after being under the sun, my arms and legs would be damn itchy and full of rashes. I would be scratching myself like crazy and applying aloe vera gel every 10 minutes. Even taking antihistamine doesn't relieve my sufferings. After i got home, i would have to hide myself at home for at least a week to recover.

Until a few days ago, i found out that the sun is not the culprit for making me into a barbecued lobster. IT WAS THE SUNBLOCK ITSELF!!!!

Once i reached Langkawi, i applied sunblock generously all over my arms and legs. Within 2 hours, rashes started to appear on my arms and legs. The inner sides of my elbows and knees got so red and swollen that it was painful to walk or bend my elbows. It had totally ruin my holiday and made my friends worried about me.

On the second day, we went island hopping to Pulau Beras Basah and Pulau Dayang Bunting. For most of the time, i would be sitting under a shady tree to avoid the sun, watching others having fun by the beach. So pathetic, right?

Surprisingly, my friends managed to persuade me to play along at Pregnant Maiden Lake. I still remembered that it was about 12 noon and the sun rays were so intense, piercing my delicate skin. To my amazement, the rashes subsided and i didn't feel any itchiness for the next few hours. Most probably, it was due to the unpolluted lake water. I felt so much better that i got to enjoy the rest of my holiday :P

I shall post some of the pictures soon....

By the way, Happy belated Birthday Peh Yin, Samantha and Sam !!!! & MERRY CHRISTMAS

I'm back!!!

2008-12-15T16:43:00.022+08:00

What an exciting holiday I had! Almost immediately after EOS, I went to Singapore for a short trip with my SBU girlfriends. Then, two days after the trip to the Merlion Land, my father and I flew to Guangzhou. I’d already expected to have a boring time in China as it was a business trip. My uncle and aunt were there as well for trip and they were the ones who sponsored my air tickets...yayy!!! I don’t mind at all being a 'vase' as long as I can tag along…hehe :P

However, the trip turned out to be an eye-opening one. Seriously, an eye-opening one! It wasn’t that I learnt how to negotiate in a business trading or how to persuade the dealers for better deals, ok, maybe a tiny bit lar. The main thing was that I got to see and experience things from the point of view of a traveler, not a tourist. I didn’t do what a tourist normally do, like visiting touristy places like museum, tea factory, temples etc. We were on our own, free and easy!!!

So, below is just a brief account of my maiden trip to 广州.....

Supper at "Zhu Jiang Fan Tien" (Pearl Delta Restaurant)...The dumplings were yummy :P as the fillings were generously given.

Breakfast at "Da Jia Lek" ( Cafe de Coral ) - a famous Chinese fast food restaurant where different menus were available for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I saw a Forever Friends shop!!! Genuine items should be sold as the price was damn high...

Eating time again.....We had "Ma Lat" lunch. Unfortunately, i didn't enjoy it as the dishes were too tongue-numbing for me

香辣虾....yummy!!!

Chinese New Year Deco.....so happy to see those things dangling :P

"Tianhe" District

Beef balls dinner......

This marked the beginning of a boring day...

Some plants....

Orchid...

USD trees....

My father was so excited during the trip to the suburbs.....

Some flower market....
More flowers....

Opening ceremony for some agriculture-related event...

Huge winter melons.......

Humongous aubergines.....

Shopping time!!!!! This is the famous "Shangxia Lu"
"Shangxia Lu"

The pedestrians only "Shangxia Lu"....we went to "Beijing Lu" for shopping on the next evening but i've forgotten to take pictures...hehe

Supper at a porridge restaurant, somewhere at the end of "Beijing Lu"

Worth trying :P

"Zhu Jiang", Pearl Delta, overlooking "Haizhu" District

再见广州......i'll be back for more Shopping :P

U6K outing

2008-11-27T20:37:00.005+08:00

At this moment, i'm seriously tired after walking and chatting all day long with mon amis of U6K. Even while typing this post, my legs are cramping....

We went to school to collect our STPM certs and then, walked all the way to Times Square. Dunno whose idea was it to walk all the way there at 12 noon. So hot and dusty...

Then, we had a 3-course meal at a Hong Kong-styled restaurant. We even made fun of a young waiter boy, whom we didn't know his age but we reckoned that he's definitely underage.

Eeeee, my right leg pulak cramp now....

After today, just hope that the spell will break and we'll live happily ever after...hahahaha :P (only some will understand this last paragraph)

End of semester

2008-11-21T19:50:00.015+08:00

Semester 1 had finally ended about 3 weeks ago. A 14-week per semester course is kinda fast, it's like in a blink of an eye, it's already exam (btw, my last EOS paper was Genetics and it was this morning). I think most of my course mates will back to their respective hometowns soon, leaving those KL ppl like me, nothing to do, aimless...Please don't tell me to start preparing for next semester's module, though i'll do so if i start vomiting for watching too many episodes of Tvb series.

For the past 16 weeks, many things had happened, things which are different from what i had gone thru last time. The most obvious one would be the learning process in university. At first, i seriously detest the idea of lectures. How one earth can we learn by watching slides and listening to high-speed/odd accent lectures alone? Tutorial sessions are just as bad. With approximately 300 students in the hall, how can we have Q&A session in a mere 1-hour time? Later, i realised it's all depends on US. When we have any uncertainties regarding the topics, we are supposed to approach the lecturers, though, they are usually MIA. Lecturers are there to be discussed with, not just passively accepting what they say. They don't teach, they guide!

Actually, i consider semester 1 to be a leisure one. The only hectic time i had was week-13 and 14, where we had to rush all the project works and presentation. Once the semester had ended, we focused on studying for the exam. However, i doubt the results would be as good as my class tests.

Besides, i met many new friends. The most unexpected thing is that i tag along very well with the Victorians. I heard their names occasionally during Form 6 period but never get to know them in person. Btw, they are often in scandals...hahaha

We did a small celebration on the 31st of October at Wai Fun and Li Xian's house in Vista C. The idea of having an early-lunch steamboat was a random one...hehehe

A very big THANK YOU to Wai Fun and Li Xian who went to Carrefour for all the grocery shopping, making the soup, doing most of the preparation and cleaning.

Happy Diwali

2008-10-30T22:13:00.004+08:00

3 of us, Michelle, Yuet Hee and me, officially made it to visit Kanchana on Deepavali Day. To those who can't make it, you don't have to be guilty or remorseful...hahahaha :P

When it was eating time, Kanchana introduced a variety of Indian dishes, namely spicy prawns with petai, mutton with dried chilies, curry chicken, non-spicy long beans, etc. The first thing i told Mic was "You can only eat the rice with beans," and i started laughing before Mic sempat give me a 'sweat' look... -i know i'm evil- muahahaha......

Another funny incident after we finished our meals using banana leaves. Kanchana said, "If you will come back, then you fold the banana leaf towards your side,". Then, itu Mic, folded the banana leaf away from her. I quickly told her to fold it the other way round but she refused, saying that she was already full, she didn't want to eat anymore. That small incidence gave us a very good laugh.....

Kanchana was so busy attending her niece and nephews that she hardly have time to sit down with us for a meal and chat. Almost towards the end only we managed to chat - uni life, friends, evil course mates, good-looking lecturers, exams, etc.....

It begins with you...

2008-10-25T21:33:00.005+08:00

That's the take home message from the AIDS conference today.

HIV infection or AIDS is quite a common term in the modern days. Almost everyone would know that HIV is a virus which can weakens the body's immune system and hence, increase the risk of getting other illnesses such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and even cancers!

So, i would like to share some points, which i think they are crucial but not known or understood by many.

1. How do i know if i am infected?
You'll never know unless you go for a blood test that detects for HIV antibodies in your blood. The presence of HIV antibodies in the blood shows that the person has been infected and those antibodies are only capable of fighting off the disease at the initial stage.

2. Where can i go for HIV Antibody Testing?
If you opt for free testing, you can always go to the government hospitals. On the other hand, private hospitals and clinics may charge between RM15 to RM35 per test.

3. If the result is negative (which means no detection of HIV antibodies in blood), should i go for the same test three months later even if i do not involve in sexual activities?
The first test with negative result does not necessarily mean that the person is not infected. It may due to the low level of HIV antibodies production as the body's immune system has yet to react towards the virus.

4. What if i'm HIV positive?
Seek for counselling and follow strict medical treatment to maintain health and prolong life. Do not be in denial as it will only worsen your health conditions and lead to death.

5. Is it compulsory to inform my employer if i'm HIV positive?
You have the right to keep it confidential!

5. What if i'm HIV negative?
Practice safe sex, that's all!

6. If i'm HIV positive, what's the chance of getting an infected baby?
In overall, about 30% of the babies born to HIV positive mother are infected with the virus. However, the percentage can be greatly reduced by anti HIV therapy and medications. Most importantly, do not breastfeed!

7. What should i do if my friends or family members got infected?
Most importantly, show compassion and don't treat them differently...
You can always hug them, shake their hands, share utensils with them and sit beside them. The virus can never be transmitted through casual contact.
Never judge them just because they are HIV positive. Sometimes, it isn't their fault to be infected.
Encourage them to adhere to medication regime
Share your life with them as it has always been...

I love this particular poster :P - The reds are no less sweeter

'It is human nature to segregate things that are different. Growing up, young people are influenced by the general consensus that AIDS only happen to "bad" people and refuse to talk or have any association with it. However, history has shown that AIDS can infect anyone indiscriminately. Let's talk about it so that more people would know how to prevent themselves and others from infection. To discriminate is only a sign of ignorance. With our understanding and support, HIV patients will have a better outlook on life.' by Canace Teoh

It begins with you...

TJ saved the day

2008-10-24T00:23:00.000+08:00

Prior to the Biological Science tutorial session yesterday, Dr TEL mentioned that he'll hand-pick students in class to answer his questions. In order to be 'low-profile', most of us will dress down. So, we'll avoid bright yellow shirt or neon blue or shocking pink.

Although, i was in dark blue top, i moved to the second row right before his class started. As predicted, TJ, who was happily clad in yellow-orangy shirt was 'fortunately' to be the lucky one. Btw, TJ was just sitting right in front of me!!! TEL 'invited' TJ to answer his question to the whole class of about 150 students. To him, Biology is 'sap sap sui' for him and he managed to gain applause from the whole class.

Again in Genetics class, TJ's 'outstanding' appearance made him the 'lucky' one to be chosen by Dr YBC....soooo funny!! hehehe

Mathematically, the probability of being chosen twice by lecturers on the same day is approximately 0.0000444!!!!! Where got ppl so lucky wan? hahahaha.....

Once again, TJ saved the day!!!!

Closed case

2008-10-23T23:02:00.003+08:00

Finally, all the projects, poster and practical reports which are due tomorrow are FINALLY DONE.....These group works aren't difficult to be done but the most troblesome thing is that they are GROUP WORKS. Can understand?

Basically, i'm in 3 different groups doing 3 different projects. It's not just me, most of the students are in different groups. So, we'll have difficulties in finding the right time to gather. Because of these difficulties, we'll have to do work individually and then meet up in subgroups of the main group.

FYI, these projects are Statistics for Health Sciences project and assignments (project and assignments are 2 distinctly difference things), General Chemistry poster ( we printed it in poster form which is about 4 X 3 feet big ) as well as my Genetics practial report.

So fast....

2008-10-18T22:26:00.010+08:00

Everything is just so fast. In a blink of an eye, it's already the end of my 1st 12 weeks in Imu and in another 1 week time, it'll be EXAM time....then semester break!!! yay ^^

Although exam is very soon, i still manage to find time to go for movie, shopping and food with my dear friends. Eight of us watched The House Bunny today but we didn't get to sit together. Anyway, if u need some good laugh or if u're having a very stressful week, i strongly encourage u to watch it :P....I'm looking forward to watch 10 Promises To My Dog, a japanese movie which is about a golden retriever puppy with its owner. By the way, the producer of this movie is the one who was involved in the movie Quill, another touching and thought inspiring movie about guide-dog.

Btw, i was really really really happy yesterday with all da sms-es, calls, gifts as well as surprises from my lovely friends. Thanks you sooo much!!! Especially my Imu mates, they did so much for me, cakes, card, surprises and everything, making me feel so special and cherished....Moreover, they refused to let me 'belanja' when we went out for dinner yesterday evening at Secret Recipe. Btw, i still haven't eat my birthday cake, it's just too pretty and meaningful to be eaten :P

My cake is sooo cute, right? about 5 inches in diameter

One big happy family ^^

* From the left, 2nd row : Shi Ying, Li Xian, Wai Fun, Wei Loong, Ching Ju, Su Yu, Tatt Jhong and Beng HongIn Secret Recipe, Sri Petaling...i found out that Times Square's Chicken Cordon Blue is sooo much more delicious
Ji Sen, Wei Loong, Beng Hong and Tatt Jhong...

To my zhi-muis who are studying near near and far far away from KL, terima kasih banyak-banyak!!! especially Samantha (i know u want me to highlight this) who never fail to sms the birthday boy/girl at the moment the clock stikes 12 midnight....Lynn-lynn and Mel as well, who sent me some 'jampi' which can 'enrich' my life with white horse prince...hahaha ^^

Besides, it Koi Yi's sweet 20 as well!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Many many thanks...Merci Beaucoup....

Direction, please...

2008-10-11T22:40:00.008+08:00

This should be a random one...

On the way back home yesterday, a foreign guy who sat beside me asked for the direction to 'Chinatown'. My immediate response was looking up at the LRT map which was above the LRT automatic door, without even responding to him verbally. Then, i turned to him mumbling " You should get down at 'Plaza Rakyat' station, which is the 3rd station from the intercom," (pointing at the map, which i wasn't sure if he got what i mean as well as if that 'thing' is really an intercom). I was too 'nervous' to answer him as his face was soooo near to mine, about half-a-metre, where he had 'invaded' into my 'privacy bubble'. He replied " Ooooh, is it da station after 'Hang Tuah'?"......Haih, i should have answer him 'the station after Hang Tuah' instead of the unnecessary pointings and head-turnings...

By the way, he looked like Zinedine Zidane

Chanel, the bachelorette...

2008-10-10T23:10:00.000+08:00

Recently, every batch of the first year students (medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, health sciences, etc) had to send out a guy and a girl as its representatives for the 'Bachelor and Bachelorette' competition. The bachelor and bachelorette are determined by the number of votes and of course, the number of votes that the guys always outnumbered the ladies'.

The main point is that CHANEL represented M207

Blog of the Month

2008-09-27T21:01:00.004+08:00

September is about to end in a few days time but i've yet to blog anything. Blame it on my laziness as well as my never-ending class tests, practical reports and group projects.

By the way, i got my results for General Chemistry and Biological Science class tests. Double A...muahaha :P

At first, we were informed that we have to get our results through our respective tutors. However, dunno for what reason, we can get our results from the Academic Affairs Department (AAD) by 'calling' Ms Eva. The word 'calling' here means that we get her on the phone through her extension number even though she was only about 5 metres away from us.

Then, this month, we celebrated 2 person's birthday in IMU, wei loong and ching ju. The celebrations were kinda lame and lack of surprises. Many awkward moments popped up, for examples, dunno when to sing birthday song, a sudden silence when one of us appeared with the cakes, no photo-taking, etc....

What else happened this month? Ahaaa, i donated my blood. Buddhist Society of IMU organised a blood donation drive last week with the help from Hospital Tunku Jaafar, Seremban. Every volunteer was supposed to donate a full bag of blood of 400ml but i only managed to squeeze out 200ml....paiseh betul....When the nurse came and checked, she said "Kenapa tak keluar punya?" while pointing at the bag filled with my fresh blood. Then, she pulled out the needle of about 3mm in diameter and said "sudah beku la,".....I got a shocked as i thought she might insert the needle again somewhere else in order to get a full bag of blood from me. Luckily not.....

Last but not least, i finally get to pass the 'perpisahan' gift to Samantha today. If not, it would be a decoration item in my room...muahahaha....Today, a few of us met up in Times Square, had brunch at Secret Recipe and chit-chatted for a few hours. One interesting incident occured where the staff of Secret Recipe took our orders (6 of us!) using his 'superior' memory power. 3 minutes later, he came back with a piece of paper and re-took our orders....sweat, right? Nevertheless, he as well as the other staffs were very efficient as our food and drinks were served in less than 10 minutes time.

Itu sahaja...tak tau apa mau tulis lagi....

Charity Home Visit

2008-08-29T20:34:00.002+08:00

After reading what Wai Fun had written on her blog regarding her charity home visit, i somehow, felt obliged to write one as well...Charity home visit is a must for all IMU students and i wouldn't say that we were forced to go. It is just that the future health care professionals have to be trained to have compassion for others. True, right??? If one doesn't even feel sorry when he/she sees a limbless man lying on the ground, begging for money, is he/she humane enough to be in the medical professions? Actually, i'm one of the cold-hearted one....

Instead of going to Ti-Ratana, the orphanage that Wai Fun and her course mates went, my group went to Rumah Shalom in Puchong. About 30++ of us visited the home and we did some painting, cleaning and most importantly, entertaing the kids. During our visit, there were some kind-hearted people who dropped by with Milo, biscuits, rice, etc. We too collected some money and bought some food stuff for them. I'm sure the children have enough to eat and wear but what is lacking the most is love...

Rumah Shalom is a corner-lot terrace house with adequate area for the children to run around.
SEE....so many leng-luis in BPharm

The children were very shy...

Ice-breaking...

See the trophies!!! If they can do it, why not us who have everything?

These were the 'painting' people.

The 'sweeping'beauties...

This is Ben, the 'head' of 'cleaning department''Cleaning' group in action

'Curi tulang' time - Su Yu and Poh Jin

Another pretty and funny girl - Stephanie from Kota Kinabalu

Me, Yen Shuang (Johor) and Vanessa (Malacca)

This is Ms slim-tall-&-pretty Susan...by the way, she's from Brunei

Yusra from Kelantan, my practical bench mate

Lucky draw session...

We literally removed everything against the wall and swept, wiped, mopped, arranged, .......This site seemed to be not 'cleaned' for years as we found hidden old smelly shoes, bags of all clothes, some were even wet, old newspapers for recycle, wooden plates, etc.....luckily i didn't get to spot any dead cockroaches or rats...

This visit really reminds me of how lucky i am to have family, to have many friends, to have the opportunity to do the course i want, to do things i like.......

Industrial Visit

2008-08-22T18:54:00.000+08:00

For the module 'Introduction to Pharmacy Practice', there wouldn't be any written examination...good news, right? If there is, we would most probably be forced to memorize the Code of Conduct or the stages in registering a drug or even the vision and mission of MOH...just kiddin' :P

So, we are assessed through log books which record the key concepts learnt through discussions, visits, tutorials and practical. Although the visit to a manufacturing plant was just a brief one, at least i've 'seen' one which is normally not opened to the public.

Our destination : PharmaNiaga Manufacturing Facility in Bangi

This company mainly supplies medicine to the government hospitals. Besides, it is also a contract-company for many big pharmaceutical company like Pfizer, Bayer, Astra Zeneca, GSK, etc. It also produces herbal products and supplements like Citrex Vitamin

Sadly, photo-takings are not allowed and we have to follow strict rules or we would be barred from entering the plant.

A short briefing from a Human Resource representative.

The first stop was the Warehouse, a place where it stores all incoming raw materials which pass physical inspection. Boxes which are wet, unsealed packaging or dented drums are all rejected. The conditions of the warehouse are carefully controlled, e.g temperature and humidity, by a device called thermohygrograph. Besides, samples have to taken from the bulk raw materials and analysed by Quality Control. Only those that pass the chemical inspections can be sent to the Production unit. The rejected ones are discarded properly, not by throwing into the river. There is even a 'jailed' rack to keep those batches of products which receive complaints, to avoid sabotage from irresponsible third party.

Next stop was the much anticipated Production and Packaging Unit as we had to be 'sterilised' by covering ourselves from head to toes. Processes like granulation, blending, tablet-compression, packaging, tablet-coating are all under stringent supervision. While the mass production is going on, some samples are taken to be analysed. This is called In-Process Quality Control (IPQC) and this is to ensure the products are still of standard requirements. The production will stop immediately even when there is a slight contradiction or inaccuracy in the samples.

Guess what is this spongy thing?

A 'shower' cap...interesting, isn't it?

This is just part of the 'sterilization'....Not shown in the picture are surgical face mask, plastic shoe covers and a thorough surgical hand wash before stepping into the Production unit.

Basically, i didn't see any pharmacists around as those involved in the laboratory testing and machine-handling in Production unit were mainly technicians. The pharmacists are usually at the executive level. So, what is so valuable about pharmacists? Their signatures and licences.....

hectic schedule

2008-08-15T21:14:00.012+08:00

An-nyo-ha-se-yo!!!

Finally i've the mood and time to write a proper entry as having a daily 9am-6pm schedule (most of the days) which is 80% filled with lectures, practicals and computer-aided-learning (CAL), really drained me.

Let's take yesterday as an example, at 8am sharp, i had a workshop on General Chemistry where we were given some questions to be solved. Then, we had a lecture on Aromatic Hydrocarbon by Dr Arjun, a very strict lecturer with some understandable Indian accent at 9.15am. Right after that, we rushed to the cosy library for a nap (actually, it was just me.....hehe :P).

As my Moral studies group was supposed to meet up at the noon for some discussions on the given topic -War, my friends and i went down to the cafeteria for a early lunch at about 11.30am.

By 1pm, we had a short briefing on Hospital Visit. For your information, some of my course mates and i will be visiting Hospital Seremban in early September where we will get to see hospital pharmacists in practice, pharmacy services that are available e.g. clinical pharmacokinetics, oncology services, drugs information and of course, the dispensing counter.

From 1.30pm onwards, we had 3 lectures and 1 tutorial in a row, right to 6.15pm. My eyes could barely open during those classes except for the talk on Telemedicine by Mr Tan, a Pharmacy Enforcement Officer. He even showed us a picture of Miagra, which is a fake version of famous Viagra and told us many laughter-inducing incidences he encountered as a drug enforcer.

As usual, i'll be in the library till about 7.30pm to download and print some lecture notes. If i don't procrastinate, i SHOULD be able to do some revisions.......

What do you think of my timetable? Tiring? Suffocating? Boring? or Challenging?

1% interest

2008-08-14T21:30:00.005+08:00

I am ecstatic!!!! The administration charge for PTPTN loan is reduced to 1%

Previously it was 3% per annum

With the previous rate, the amount of interest alone i will have to pay for the next 20 years is RM26, 000 ++......that's is a looooooootttttt!!!!!!

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/14/nation/22079534&sec=nation

Just pray that the Cabinet wouldn't change its mind and increase the rate by the time i'm supposed to repay the debt.

a glimpse of imu

2008-08-07T23:52:00.001+08:00

So, it has been about 3 weeks since i first entered IMU as a student. Of course, there are things that i'm love as well as detest about the uni. However, i'm not gonna reveal them here.....hehehe...i'll just bring you for a short tour to IMU library

Currently, IMU is undergoing a major renovation where many areas are not accessible, important departments like students' affairs depart, academic affairs depart, cashier, etc, are temporary being hidden on some higher floors,...

If there isn't any lecture or practical going on, i will definitely be in the library - cold, quiet and spacious...

Sometimes, we would gather to do some discussions and group-work in one of those semi-soundproof-glass-cubicles in the library

There is even a small cafe in the library where you can enjoy a cup of Latte with crispy croissant in between classes.

you speaking english?

2008-08-06T23:17:00.006+08:00

What would happen if one day, someone who is supposed to deliver knowledge to you, start pronouncing words like the followings :

instead of 'alkane', he said 'alcan'
instead of 'alkene', he said 'alkane'
instead of 'trend', he said 'train'
instead of 'chain', he said 'change'
instead of 'due', he said 'duke'
instead of 'carbocation', he said 'car-bo-cat-tai-yen'

and the list goes on......

Sooooo confusing!!!

if you add '-s' to the end of every single word you say, it's fine... e.g. " I likes to eats chocolates and sweets,"

if you love eating the '-th' sound, it's ok... e.g. " Don trow de tree oranges away,"

but please don't make them into words with totally different meanings...it's scary!!

IMU Orientation 08'

2008-07-20T15:49:00.013+08:00

Before i enrolled into BPharm, Imu, i was somehow, suffered from Uni-phobia. I was afraid that i can't adapt myself well there, don't dare to initiate conversation with others, can't make it through the orientation week, etc......Furthermore, i heard nasty things about the previous orientation weeks, for example, being thrown eggs, flour and mud, cross-dressing to the extent of shaving legs (especially guys), eating dog biscuits and doing demanding tasks like pole-dancing, just to get signatures from seniors.

After i had personally gone through the orientation week, i felt that it wasn't that scary after all. Yes, we did being covered with flour and being splashed with onion-garlic water but i found it tolerable. One of the most unforgettable activity was duck-walking around a circle of about 6 metres in diameter, which i fell to my knee as the amount of lactic acid was generated to the max, causing my muscles to be energy-less. From that moment onwards, my thighs would be aching whenever i walk up/down the stairs. I cursed those seniors at times for making such ridiculous activities but on the other hand, i love them very much as they prioritised our safety and took good care of us :)

This was how i looked after the 2nd day of orientation...too tired to smile...

The back view...with all the starch and flour stuck on my hair

A closer look of my hair...disastrous!

I did made some new friends and although they may be hi-bye friends, i truly appreciate them for making the orientation week memorable. Who knows if these people will my best buddies for the next four years? Special credits to Wai Fun, Ching Ju and Wei Loong for accompanying me almost all the time.

On certain nights, we were entertained by various performances from our seniors, namely, Bollywood dance, Modern Chinese dance, Malay dance, Violin-piano performance, Hip Hop dance, music bands, Cheer leading performance and many more. They gave me the impression that they are multi-talented, not just nerding in library at all time. On the finale night, they revealed to us that they actually learnt the dance and planned everything since 4 months ago just to welcome us, juniors. They were just like us when they were still uni freshie-s. Oh, i am so touched...

Fellow InCrEdIbLeS....

Haatyai Trip

2008-07-13T23:32:00.002+08:00

Two days ago, I accompanied my mom and aunt to Haatyai for a short trip. Actually i didn't want to as it was an 'auntie' trip where around 40 'auntie-s and uncles' joined it. So, you can imagine 'auntie' giving comments to almost everything...one moment, the air-con was too cold, another moment complaining that others were chatting too loudly that they can't sleep well, etc...The list was sooo loooonnng... Worst of all, for every single complaint, they will 'bebel' for at least 5 minutes, repeating their words/phrases...Apart of that, the journey was very smooth, super comfortable new coach with competent bus driver :P

At 6.30am sharp, we crossed the Malaysia-Thailand border and reached Haatyai at about 9am.

Dim Sum breakfast

Spotted a 'Thai-ed' AirAsia advertisement on the way to Guan Yin Temple....

A visit to temple is a MUST when travelling Asian countries...

Me standing on the golden dragon's beard...

After that, we were brought to New World Hotel, a 3-star hotel and i would say that for the price we paid, the rooms were acceptable. Then, we had buffet lunch on the 33rd floor of Lee Gardens Hotel. It sounded nice having buffet on the 33rd floor but to my horror, it was literary full of people, like the scene in LRT during peak hours...Once a dish was served, it would be cleared off within 3 minutes...Some ham sap uncles who were rushing to meet beautiful Siamese girls just gobbled up their food at a corner, not even bothered to find a seat.

After a chaotic lunch, we boarded a tut-tut, a form of public transport in Thailand to the market for shopping and food hunting.

A photo of tut-tut taken from a tut-tut

During a tut-tut ride - 20 baht per passenger

Fish stomachs are everywhere!!! 120 baht for 0.5kg

Local delicacies like dried sotong, nuts, mushrooms, lui-lui, etc

Delicacy which makes you drool - Bird nest with ginkgo

Fried chickens with special sweet-sour-spicy sauce - ichiban!!! But, watch-out for feathers sticking out of the chickens...hehe

Humongous prawns - 200 baht each

BBQ dried squid

Super delicious seafood tomyam gong...it tasted very different from those in KL, the sourness was just right and the spiciness didn't numb my taste buds...most importantly, very little ajinomoto...

Baby yaw-char-kuey, 10 baht for a few...very crunchy with a tint of potato-sweetness

The trip to Haatyai ended my 7-month holiday since after STPM and tomorrow, i shall begin a new journey as a BPharm student in IMU...

BPharm

2008-07-04T19:11:00.004+08:00

Finally, i've chosen Pharmacy in International Medical University, IMU over Science in National University of Singapore, NUS. It wasn't an easy choice to be done...so many aspects to be weighted...

Another sad news, i was turned down by Kuok Foundation Awards - Singapore and Malaysian Public Universities. No call, no letter...I thought this time would be different as my relatives whom i've named as referees got calls from Kuok Foundation. At the end, sek-cha-wu...

So, with my thick-face, i'm going to apply Kuok Foundation Awards again. Although it is just a loan and the maximum amount given can only cover about 60% of my tuition fees, i will still work towards it.

I try my best to be outstanding and yet nothing returns except compliments.

The Nanny Diaries

2008-06-27T22:07:00.011+08:00

This movie started off with the introduction of the Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) as a fresh graduate who minors in anthropology. However, her mother wants her to enter the corporate world as it seems to be the money-generating sector. Soon after she failed to sell herself in her first job interview, she got many offers to be a nanny, out of coincidence, while strolling in the park. Happily, she took the job offered by Mrs. X, a wealthy mother who stays in the elite area of New York. At the beginning, Annie had much troubles nannying Mrs. X's son, Grayer, who is a typical spoilt brat. As time goes by, she realized that Grayer's mischievous behaviour is due to lack of love and attention from his parents. Furthermore, the X couple's marriage is shaky as Mr. X loves having mistresses and always finds ways to stay away from home. Hence, Mrs. X tries all sorts of method to capture her husband's heart, namely, keeping herself youthful, trying to get pregnant for second child, etc....The only thing that she didn't do is personally care for her only son. So, Annie is responsible to do everything from feeding Grayer with organic food ( Mrs. X insisted on healthy organic menu ) to teaching him French........

So, why do i decide to write a review about this movie?

Firstly, there are many parents who are career-driven and earn a more-than-enough for living. Yet, they have forgotten to raise their children. Yes, they do provide the best in terms of material possessions ( preservative-free food, designer wear, best school, well-planned route up to university, etc...) but they fail to involve physically and spiritually in their children's growth.

There are parents too, who are overly protective towards their children. Some may even have the extreme idea that a sneeze by a stranger can spread H5N1 to their precious children. Hence, they may think keeping their children at home is the safest choice, providing the best of the best, spoon-feed them, not giving a single chance for their children to be independent, not even a chance to fail. Caring is good but being over protective isn't. (it may be a bit too extreme but it is happening somewhere in the world...)

Back to Mrs. X, if i were in her position, i would, of course, try all sorts of methods to safeguard the marriage. But, if nothing helps, i would choose to focus on my children, rather than pleasing my husband, just to make him stay by my side. Therefore, i should be financially, emotionally and mentally independent before, if by any chance, it happens. When one trusts his/her partner, even life partner, head over heels, he/she will get extremely hurt when things turn out the opposite way...

* this is a personal blog which serves as a mean for me to express my thoughts and feelings. Whatever written here is not targeted at anyone or anything. Please do understand that every individual is unique and therefore, my stands may not necessarily please everyone.

Can A Family Man With Salary RM3,000 Survive In Malaysia???

2008-06-26T17:40:00.004+08:00

I came across this as a forwarded email and i seriously agree with it. A family can barely survive with RM3000 and now, the government is only giving scholarships to those families with income less than RM1500. HOW???? Do those families eat bread everyday, walk to school/work, no tv, etc....I don't think buying newspaper everyday is part of their monthly expenditure as it can easily cost up to RM40 per month, which i think they rather use that amount to eat.

Let's do some simple calculations here.

In Malaysia , the average family income is RM3,000 /month (where father works, mother doesn't). I understand there are many families whose monthly income does not even reach RM3,000, but, to make things simple, let's take RM3,000 as the figure. Ok lah, right?

Okay, let's start rolling with a family which has Papa, Mama, 1 daughter and 1 son. Ngam-ngam ....

Calculation starts...

Electricity and water bill: RM100 (No air-con, No home theatre, No water heater ... ok?)

Phone bill ( Telekom): RM100 (Internet streamxy RM68 + land line RM25 = RM93, round-up to RM100 la)

Meals for a happy family: RM750 (3 meals on RM25/day 4 persons. Forget about makan in restaurant ya)

Papa makan / teh-tarik during working hrs: RM150 (RM5/day, RM5 ... can eat what?)

Car repayment: RM400 (A proton saga aeroback, 7 yrs repayment)

Petrol (living in city, traffic-jam) : RM300 (go to work, bring son to school, only can afford one car running. )

Insurance: RM 650 (Kids, wife and self. Forget about insurance la..no money to pay, lets drop it)

House repayment: RM750 (low cost housing repayment for 30 yrs, retired still have to work to pay!)

Tuition: RM90 (got that cheap meh? i don't think so)

Older children pocket money @ school: RM20 (RM1/day, eat bread?)

School fees: RM30 (enough ah?)

School books and etc: RM100 (always got extra to pay in school)

Younger children milk powder: RM50 (cannot have the DHA, BHA, PHA one, expensive)

Miscellaneous: RM100 (shampoo, rice, sauce, toilet paper, saman, etc)

Oh wait!!! I have to stop here, so...
No Astro, no movie @ cinema, no DVD, no CD, no toys, no computer,
no KFC, no McDonald,
no insurance, no jalan-jalan makan angin (vacation)
no chit chat on phone with grandparents, and etc... nothing breaks down for repair

Let's use a calculator to total up... WALAO EH! Shit! RM2,940 already...
EPF belum potong, income tax lagi........ oledi RM2,940 ....
How to survive lah tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekalian ???
Our Deputy Prime Minister asked us to change lifestyle? How to change? Don't eat? Don't work? Don't send children to school and study?
Besides that, I believe in Malaysia population, there are millions of rakyat Malaysia which still don't earn RM3,000/month! !! What is this?
Inilah Malaysia Boleh... Sorry ... it should be Malaysians Boleh , because we're still alive and kicking!! Our politicians must be mad!!!!

No wonder so many Ah Loong around lah....

IPTA appeal

2008-06-23T15:50:00.002+08:00

I went to MCA Youth this morning with the hope of getting a course change. For your information, i got Food Technology from USM instead of Pharmacy (which i've been longing for). Since the course offered was one of my 8 choices, the MCA people told me that it would be difficult to get it changed. Besides, with my result, which was neither excellent nor extremely bad, definitely could not get a place to do Pharmacy in any public universities. I do understand that there are many more students out there who couldn't even secure a place in IPTA.

Then, i told them that quite a number of my friends managed to get Biochemistry from UM, UKM and UPM. They were surprised as according to the statistics and their own experience, only STPM students getting Cgpa a minimum of 3.70 can get that course.

Later, a lady asked me if i'm going to accept the offer and i answered NO. If i were to do Food Technology, why not i do it in NUS? She just smiled...

At the end, i got home with whatever i brought along.

Redang Escapade - Part 3

2008-06-22T11:24:00.002+08:00

On the last day, some of us got up at 6am just to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day and the sight of red/orange fire ball coming up from the horizon can only be imagined. Then, we, the lazy pigs, crawled back to our respective rooms and continued our beauty sleep Z Z Z Z Z...............

At 10.30am sharp, we boarded the speed boat and left the beautiful Redang....

Pasir Panjang wasn't in sight anymore...

You can always find a Chinatown wherever you go...

Our last group picture at the boarding gate before taking off with flight AK 6337.

Ratings :

- Accommodation : 2/5

- Food : 3/5

- Boat/Van transfer : 4/5

- Hospitality : 4.5/5 ( people there were super friendly and helpful :P )

- Location : 4/5

- Activities : 4.5/5 ( As i've mentioned, this trip was more about snorkeling...For first timer like me, snorkeling 3 times a day was super fun ... )

- Budget : Worth every penny! *thumb up......i spent about RM500

http://www.redangreefresort.com.my/index.html

Redang Escapade - Part 2

2008-06-21T11:48:00.032+08:00

Our trip to Redang this time was all about snorkeling, snorkeling and snorkeling. We were brought to 4 different snorkeling sites, namely, the Marine Park, somewhere along Pasir Panjang and somewhere in the middle of the sea but very near to cliffs / piles-of-rocks-which-resemble-an-island like the picture shown below...

Rocks...

A mode of transport which brought us to snorkeling sites

The guys literally jumped into the sea rather than descending the provided stairs.

Some opted to cling hardly to the float...

This is me, making my grand entrance into the sea...

While waiting for dinner time, we decided to dirt ourselves with sand...

And this was what we managed to produce...

It somehow looked obscene and purposeless. So, we modified it...

Proudly present, our masterpiece...i seriously had no idea what it was...However, it managed to grab passersby's attention!!!

Again, we tried to build something after the BBQ dinner and it turned out to be a heart-shaped cake.

Joshua and Kien Yuen ended up making a veerrry deep hole...with the purpose of making people tripped..hehe

As everyone was super tired, all of us fell asleep on the beach...

~THE END FOR 2nd DAY~

Redang Escapade - Part 1

2008-06-19T15:46:00.027+08:00

After a 7-hour bumpy ride with Transnasional, we finally reached Kuala Terengganu. Poor me, i managed to have only 45 minutes of sleep as i was super worried about the competency of the bus driver. All those bus crashes really freake me out.

Once we reached the bus terminal, someone from Redang Reef fetched us to the office which was located in Kuala Terengganu Chinatown. Then, another 'brake-less' 45-minute van ride to the jetty after breakfast. Next, the photographs below shall tell you my enchanting holiday with my dear Mbs classmates...

The jetty...

Everyone got so excited seeing the clear river with fishes swimming happily. Though we managed to spot a baby's diaper floating by....

Clockwise from the left : Kien Yuen, Jia Loon, Kah Kit, Khar Keong, Michelle, Wai Kuan, Agnes, Suyu, Melia, Sharon, Jeremy, Joshua

Pretty girls from Upper Six Kensett '07...muahaha :P

Another fast and furious speedboat ride which resulted in tangled hair in all of us.

Our zhi mui-s

Can you see it? So cleeeaaaaarrrrrrrr and unpolluted...

Next, we checked-in into our respective rooms, got changed and lathered on layers of sunblock. Yet, the latter didn't work well on me as i was terribly burnt like a barbecued lobster (Jeremy's simile).

There weren't any extra charges to be paid except for the rental fee of a life jacket and snorkeling set (RM20) and marine park entrance ticket (RM5). 4 meals were provided everyday and free-flow of drinks (plain water, orange juice, milo, coffee and tea) through out our 3 Days 2 Nights stay.

After lunch, we were brought to the Marine Park to explore the diverse marine creatures and colourful corals which came in different shape and sizes. Snorkeling for sure is a very good exercise which burns a lot of calories ^^

This was where we lazed around in between eating and snorkeling time.

The view of Laguna Redang Resort from Redang Reef Floating Restaurant.

This was our Dinner place. 4 dishes, Chinese-styled soup and a choice of fruit were guaranteed every lunch and dinner.

Then, we strolled the beach bare footed...

We tried to do a jumping pose but failed.... The funniest thing was my mother thought the building was on fire!...haha

Counting stars and admiring the moon...Sharon....forever lying on the white soft beach

3 Tai jek lou in front of More More Tea Inn

Fuming...

2008-06-12T19:37:00.008+08:00

Kemarahanku meluap-luap seperti gunung berapi yang baru meletus...kanasai lu!!! I know i'm a hot tempered person but i wouldn't simply utter kasar words or show rude gestures to those who think that the road belongs to his/her father!

As to initial plan, i'm supposed to be teaching my student, N, now at her home. But now, i'm unleashing anger through typing after complaining it to my dad who is still in Ipoh.

Can you imagine turning up at your students' door step only to be greeted by his/her grandfather saying that he/she is veeeeerrrrrrrrrrry sick and his poor grandchild is unfit for the class??? Worst of all, this was the second time!!!! Doesn't he realize that the price of petrol had increase and i'm driving all the way from the city center to Pandan Indah at the time where everyone has just finish working and is rushing home from town!!!!!!! Excuse me, my time is far more precious that your cell phone's credit....kanasai!!!!

He claimed that his daughter (which is the student's mom) had called me earlier to cancel the class but in fact, no one called me!!!!! I seriously do not mind if you choose to cancel class but inform me at least 30 minutes before the class starts. Irresponsible excuse such as " I've lost my cellphone and therefore, i couldn't contact you, " is bullshit.

When i was back in the car, i immediately called N's mom, A.

me : Hi, Ms A. This is Ms Yeoh, N's tuition tutor.

A : Oooo, i'm soooo sorry that i didn't contact you earlier. You see, i've just lost my cell phone.

me : Really? (trying to be surprise but deep in heart, i felt like slapping her) I was just informed that your daughter, N is realy sick and she couldn't attend class today. So, do you mind informing me at least 30 minutes before the class starts on the next time?

A : I'm really sorry but i've no way to contact you.

me : Ok, that's fine. Erm, actually, my initial plan was to teach right till end of this month as my uni is going to start soon. So, what do you think? Is it alright?

A : (within 2 seconds) Oooo, that's fine with me but can you please come for another 2 weeks? At least, i can find another tutor. You see, my daughter's BM grade has improved from a C to a B. Besides, she is able to say aloud timetable 1 to 9 like telling stories. Your methods of teaching really work! Bla, bla, bla........

me : (yayaya...trying to make me feel better BUT this is not going to work!)

I've been teaching N since January 2008 and everything is totally fine until recently. If A thinks that my teaching isn't up to her daughter's standard, then stop me. Why does she keep cancelling classes? For your information, she had already cancelled 4 classes this month!!!

Another more melampau punya incident was the student's grandma refused to pay me RM37.5 X 6 = RM225. She argued with me that i came for only 4 times in May. Kanasai lu!!!..........In fact, i came 6 times. I had even showed her my notebook, where i recorded all the topics that i've covered for every class. Kanasai lu!!!!....She just answered ," No, no, no....You see my calendar, only 4 days you came. Remember, you didn't come 1 day where you were sick.....ahaaaa, you also didn't come on Wesak Day and the day after that was N's BM midterm paper," Kanasai lu!...i remembered clearly that i did came and N's mother who usually isn't around at home, was present and spoke to me about her daughter.

After dunno how looonnng and after making thousands of calls to whoever-i-don't-care, she finally agreed to pay me the fees for 6 classes......Fine, i shut up and took the $$$

In conclusion, i don't mind if she choose to terminate me now but please pay the remainders, even if it is only one class!

Splurging like there is no tomorrow...

2008-06-11T17:12:00.003+08:00

With the recent increase (AGAIN!) in price of fuel which most definitely causes the inflation rate to soar, i still spend like i've loads of $$$ waiting to be splurged. For your information, my current income = RM0

Let me reveal to you my extravagant expenditure on Tuesday,

A cup of hot lemon tea from Madam Kwan's RM 8
A Tuna wrap from Dome RM 20
A bottle of mineral water from Cold Storage RM 1.65
2 pieces of --- from Xixili RM 148.80
Parking fees in Suria KLCC RM 18

In order to earn that amount i've spent, i've to work for at least 49.25 hours, which is equivalent to almost 4 full working days, where 1 full working day = 12.5 hours!!!!

Worst of all, i'm planning for another shopping spree this coming Friday where i've a list of items in mind. In order to be kind to the environment as well as to my purse, i've decided to walk to Times Square instead of driving there. Next, i'll bring along my own drinking water instead of buying one. Avoid eating imported food/drinks as shipping contributes great damages to the Earth. What else???... Ahaa, get home before sunset in order to avoid giving excuses to myself that someone has to fetch me home since it is dark and unsafe out there in KL...

These are just some goals to be achieved. Remember, one should take one step at a time. If you choose to speed from the beginning, you'll never reach your destination.

Finally...

2008-06-09T14:37:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was the last day of me working at Caring Pharmacy, Pavilion. I've been longing for this day since last month as i didn't enjoy the job 100%. Of course, nothing is perfect but i cannot simply accept the flaws.

As i walked into the pharmacy for the last time as a staff, my colleagues were like kept on reminding me that it was my last day. They said for the thousandth time "Jangan lupa kita tau...kalau ada masa, datanglah melawat kita," I felt soooo guilty as i was happy to leave them but they weren't.

Sya gave me a perpisahan present. I've never thought i deserved any gift from any of them. The moment i had free time during the working hours, i'ld start chatting with anyone in view and laughed at silly jokes. On the other hand, Sya is a very dedicated staff. She wouldn't join in any illegal group discussion during work time. At most, she'll only chat with 1 person for a mere 5 minutes.

Another person that i really salute is Kak Liza. She's the most hardworking Malay that i've ever encountered. Her working schedule is so packed with at least 3 days of 12.5 working hours a week. Moreover, she'll be sitting for SPM this year as a private candidate. I really wondered how she manages her time. Imagine reaching home at 11pm after a 12.5 hours working shift, can you still concentrate on your studies? For me, the only thing i can do is sleep. Sometimes, she has to get up early the next day if she has another full-shift or morning-shift which starts at 9.45am.

As for Valentino Rafi, who has strong connections with people from Food Republic, he always help me to ta pau food at minimal price. If i ta pau a bowl of rice with some vegetables and a choice of meat, i would have to pay about RM6. If he does so, i'll only have to pay RM3.50. A glass of carrot juice which normally costs about RM5 would be just RM1.50.

During the last 2 months, i really learnt a lot from the pharmacists, namely Ms Soo, Ms Ang and Ms Kristy. They are always willing to explain things that i've doubt in. I've even learnt how to take blood pressure and check blood glucose level. Besides, they tried their best to convince me that pharmacy is worth doing compared to other courses.

Though this may not be the most satisfying job, the experience is simply priceless.

I hate my comp, i hate my student's mom...

2008-06-02T16:42:00.006+08:00

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with my computer? The line always disconnects by itself whenever i want to upload pictures to my entry.

Actually, i have lotsa pictures to be shared with everyone. Especially during the Nus Open Day as well as the short-backpack-trip to Singapore. Due to my weak memory which degrades as i age, i can't recall many of the details. If i manage to upload those pictures one day, the content won't be as interesting as it can be at first.

Haih, i should be in Genting Highlands now, with my relatives from Johor as well as my mom and aunt. It's all my student's mother's fault. She called 1.5 hours before the class starts and asked for the class to be cancelled. What am i suppose to do now at home? Clean the ceiling? Scrub the toilet bowl? I really dislike this and this isn't the first time of her doing so. By the way, i've decided to terminate the class be the end of June and the irony is, i've yet to tell her. I've also yet to tell her that i'll be away for holiday 2 weeks from now.

I really miss Genting....it has been 6 months since i went there November last year...

Wonder why i miss Genting? It's because i wanna indulge in buffet lunch/dinner high up there...I love buffet...i love seeing a variety of food...i love having a bite of every dish...i love having my plates changed whenever i'm done with it...i love the feeling of dining with my family...

The Journey Down South

2008-05-26T11:05:00.003+08:00

Everything was so well planned that i thought that my father and i would be able to reach the Faculty of Science, NUS by 9am. At the end, we reached there at about 12pm. Bad time management of mine...

Since we couldn't get any bus tickets from KL to Singapore , my father decided to drive down south only to Johor. Then, we took a bus which can bring us all the way from Larkin Bus Terminal, Johor to any MRT station in Singapore. It was already 8am by that time, 1 hour behind our schedule. Dah-la i didn't have a good night sleep as i worried that my father might fall asleep during the early morning drive. Terpaksalah tahan tidur and chat with him from time to time.

Another nightmare, the bus smelled like urine...yiksss!!!...Worst of all, we had to bear with it for more than 1 hour as the way to enter Singapore was super jam.

When we reached the Immigration Office of Malaysia, all the passengers alighted the bus and rushed through a passageway which was for Malaysian Passport Holders only. None of them took out their passports and there wasn't any immigration officer! All of them just walked passed the counters and then jumped into the same bus. So were both of us...no stamp chop, no microchip scanning, nothing!!!

Then, we alighted the bus for the second time to go through the Singapore Immigration. Another hour of queueing...this time, our passports were stamp chopped and finger prints were taken. That's the difference....

After declaring our belongings, we got into the same bus and finally reached Kranji MRT station. About 40 minutes later, we arrived at Buona Vista MRT Station after a train interchange at Jurong East MRT Station. Instead of taking a bus which only cost S$0.90 per person, we got to LT 27, Science Drive 2 by taxi....gone my S$5.00!!! S$5 X 2.38 = RM 11.90 for a journey of 8 minutes!!!

For your information, we had yet to eat anything since dinner the day before...Worst of all, my father had forgotten to get his Malaysian Ringgit exchanged for Singaporean Dollar...Mati kelaparan lor....Both of us had to survive with only S$20 of mine

Luckily, the faculty prepared some edible food for its' Open Day ( no meehon kering, no diabetes-causing teh tarik,...)

Self-absorbed

2008-05-16T00:02:00.000+08:00

I think i'm self-centred...the world is tumbling down with so many disasters and innocent people dying...yet, here i am, grumbling about my future, fretting about my super exhausting job and planning for holiday...i am not showing any mercy at all...WHY???...As i flip the newspaper every morning, i seem to be immunised by all those news and cases of people dying, robbery, human trafficking, etc..."Ya ya ya, again people are suffering from natural disaster/killed/sexually assaulted," whispered in the mind of mine. Hey, i feel so evil! For sure i will not donate cash as i believe that only a fraction will reach the miserable hands of the victims. A friend of mine did mentioned that at least there is some hope for them if we fork out some cash. It may be only 1% but that meagre amount means a lot to them. True enough but still not convincing....However, i would be happy to donate usable items...I am even willing to dig my piggy bank to buy basic necessacities for them as long as the amout i donated is 100% used for the good of the unlucky people.

Where is my future???

2008-05-15T23:28:00.003+08:00

I have to admit that i'm materialistic...pharmacy offers a bright and guaranteed future with promising pay $$$...science, on the other side, looks bleak and uncertain...NUS is a great place to study and to gain exposure to the world but i can't be choosing it for the sake of it....A course from a reputable university doesn't equal to a great future...There is future but it takes time and a lot of efforts to reach there...I have been facing quite a lot of disappointments but they are alright to me...But, how about my parents? My father once mentioned that he didn't have to worry about me as i always did well in school....But, now, i'm the one that they worry most...I can't be going to a top-notch university and later graduate complaining about redundancy...I can't afford to make them worry about me anymore...

Science is NOT a dream job...stay away - Research Scientist, Biotechnology - (City withheld for privacy), Massachusetts, United States.Posted in Dream Job on 1/22/2008.
I agree....NEVER get into life science research. Long hours, long schooling, absolutely NO promise of a job at the end of it all. And if you get one, it will not even come near the proper compensation you deserve.

Do not get into science and do not go to graduate school -
Research Scientist, Biotechnology - (City withheld for privacy), Maryland, United States.Posted in Dream Job on 8/30/2006.
Just don't. Go to those professional schools. Your life would be so much happier. Do not let your kids and cousins get into science. Do not let them get interested in becoming a scientist. Help them to go tho the professional school. Don't let them ever think about becoming anything to do with science as a job. They will appreciate your advice forever....

Median Salary by Years Experience on Hourly Basis : Chemical Analyst (United States)

Median Hourly Rate by Years Experience - Job: Chemical Test Engineer (United States)

Median Hourly Rate by Years Experience - Job: Pharmacist (United States)

See the difference?...more than double in terms of the pay!!!...I definitely prefer the last chart....What do you think???

sources from http://www.payscale.com/

Ageing...

2008-05-12T11:14:00.004+08:00

Suddenly, i've this feeling scare of losing my parents. All this while, my father is unwilling to do medical check-up. My parents would definitely argue when this matter arises as my mother prefers to know the truth and takes appropriate treatments/solutions whereas my father is vice versa. Finally, i managed to pursue him to do so and the results were quite positive except for his liver. I got a shocked when he told me that something was wrong with his liver. Everyone knows that liver plays a very important role. In fact, every organ, tissue, system, etc is super important to us. However, he assured me that the doctor just wanted to give him an injection for the benefit of his liver.

Just a week ago, i was informed that my mother's health condition got worsen. For your information, she is diabetic since five years ago. The doctor said that her blood glucose level has been very inconsistent. Her most recent reading was 17 mmol/L, which was extremely high. A normal person should have reading between 4-6 mmol/L. Now, she has to take insulin everyday... Worse of all, she got fever and visited three different GPs during those few days. 39.5 Celsius!!!...Those really drained her physically and mentally.

Thinking back, i've been quite harsh to them especially through words. It wasn't that i scolded or cursed them. Sometimes, when they care about me, my working condition or future education, i would simply answer them without further explanation. Sometimes, i'm just tired of repeating the same answers to them as they don't really remember. It wasn't that they choose to forget, it was me who didn't make things clear enough for them to absorb.

Wish both of you good health, longevity and happiness...

A Girls' Day Out (updated twice)

2008-05-05T17:24:00.012+08:00

SBU-VI-MBS
BOARD OF STPM SURVIVORS MEETING
( by invitation only )

Old Town Cafe, 3rd floor, Times Square

May 5, 2008

Board Members :

Present : Chiang Michelle (late for 40 minutes), Leong Pei Theng (late for 1 hour), Ling Koi Yi (late for 1.5 hour), Samantha Cheng (late for 1 hour), Wong Wei Leng (on time), Yeoh Su Yu (late for 30 minutes) and Yeung Hui Jing (late for 1 hour)
Absent : Agatha Ng

Proceedings :

- the meeting started off with Michelle, Wei Leng and Su Yu ordering food. Michelle was so hungry that she ordered a toast and a 'Fire Ice Toast'. Wei Leng decided on a toast and a cup of white coffee while Su Yu requested for a Javanese Mee (simply Mi Jawa) and a cup of white coffee.

- when we were about to submit the order form, Samantha, Pei Theng and Hui Jing turned up.

- while waiting for the food, we discussed about the offers from NUS

- Samantha, Pei Theng and Su Yu have been offered Science, while Hui Jing got Chemical Engineering. The others were either pending or didn't apply at all.

- Pei Theng was the only one who got offer from NTU doing Physics and Applied Physics.

- Koi Yi had decided on doing Medicine in India and will be leaving by end of July.

- Wei Leng will be going to HELP for Business at the end of this month.

- Out of sudden, Pei Theng had a wild idea of opening StarHill Medical Center, right beside Pavillion. Her proposal was so detailed that she had elected some doctors, nurses, etc. Michelle was honoured to be the Director of Sanitary Department. Even Agatha was named the Head of Nurse. The responsibility of 'grinding' tablets into powder was given to Samantha (which i didn't know why). Last but not least, an area was reserved for my Pharmacy.

* since a week has passed, i don't think i can still remember every single detail. I do recall SOME but they are not going to be revealed here...hehehehe :P....Gossips!!!

Chicken Katsudon

2008-04-29T00:42:00.000+08:00

As a way to pamper myself, or rather my picky appetite, i bought a Chicken Katsudon from Ichiban Boshi in Pavillion. Actually, i thought of buying bento from Food Republic but the stupid person said "tak boleh ta pau," The reason was there were too many things to be ta pau-ed. Stupid-nya...7 minutes wasted

So, i walked around, looking for something which can make me drool...NOTHING! 3 minutes wasted...

Finally i reached Ichiban Boshi and spent 5 minutes browsing through the menu. The waitress was being so nice. She went to the kitchen a few times just to ensure my order was attended first. Besides, she helped me to find out the origin of the beef used in that restaurant.

5 minutes passed and voila, my lovely don...
Katsudon (カツ丼) - a bowl of rice topped with a deep fried chicken cutlet, egg and condiments, with a few green peas sprinkled on top. I wasn't exactly sure about the taste but one thing for sure, it was verrrrrry egg-y. The sauce managed to seep to the rice at the bottom and it tasted oh-so-yummy with a layer of sliced onions between the rice and chicken. However, there was a tint of sourness at first bite. The whole meal ended with a big gulp of miso soup.

Basically, i spent 20 minutes savouring it. Who cares if i was late for 10 minutes?

Reminiscence

2008-04-27T23:27:00.001+08:00

Innocent faces with carefree minds...

Disappointed...

2008-04-21T23:34:00.002+08:00

I am for sure not disappointed with myself. Although i didn't do the best, i did my best. (trying to console myself...but hey, it's true)

Actually, i've expected the outcome. I've learned not to have too high hope on neither things nor people.

OR, did i applied for the wrong scholarship?

"Thank you for your interest in the Yayasan Sime Darby Pre-University Scholarship 2008"

I remember clearly that it was for undergraduate studies!!!

"Although your extra-curricular activities and qualifications are remarkable,"

Your application is most likely to be unsuccessful if you see those words.

Maybe i'm disappointed with the system...

I didn't even tell my parents that i applied for this in order to avoid disappointment in them.

Luck isn't on my side again...

Happy :P

2008-04-13T21:38:00.005+08:00

Although this job is super tiring and demanding at times, i enjoy it very much. Furthermore, a lady ( should be filthy rich and educated as she was holding a Salvatore Ferragamo paper bag and spoken knowledgeably) remarked that i look like a pharmacist after a short conversation with her.....hohoho!!!

Actually, i was promoting some supplements from Blackmores to her. She was searching up and down for the product that was in her mind. So, i went near her and asked if she needed any help. "I'm looking for gluco-something which is for joints," she said. Immediately i knew that she was looking for glucosamine. Oral glucosamine is commonly used for the treatment of osteoarthritis by rebuilding cartilage and reducing inflammation at joints.

Her compliment really lightened me up :P . Though, she didn't buy any of those supplements at the end. Next time wor.....

Working...

2008-04-08T22:47:00.010+08:00

Finally i got a full-time job which i had been hoping for since after STPM. Guesssss????? A staff in Caring Pharmacy. As mentioned earlier, a staff, a person who serves customers, checks stocks, replenishes goods, cleans cabinets, sweeps the floor, etc...NOT dispensing drugs or giving professional advice to customer.

Day 1, Friday, 4.4.08
~ Started work at 9.45am, cleaned the medicine cabinets thoroughly, memorize the location of the goods, served customers ( however, i hesitated to do so as i knew nothing...."Do you have Dermavate?" asked a Middle Eastern woman and i answered for millions of times "Erm...can you wait for a moment?" and i dashed away looking for help from other experienced staffs )
~ Had a great headache, my head was throbbing like crazy that i can only sleep after dinner that day. I blamed the bright lighting at the pharmacy...hehe

Day 2, Saturday, 5.4.08
~ Started work at 9.45am, mopped the floor, SERVED customers for the rest of the day. According to the pharmacist, Ms. Ang, this outlet achieved its highest sales record since its opening 6 months ago. Waaaa, i must be bringing luck to them...
~ I had been shivering the whole day due to hormonal changes, with my palms sweating 'cold' sweat. I really thought that i would pass out any moment....i'm considering buying Evening Primrose Oil
~ went home at 10.15pm

Day 3, Sunday, 6.4.08
~ Started at 9.45am again, did the same thing as the day before plus tagging-job.
~ I still felt reluctant to smile to the customers ( 'macam' idiot ) or greet them loudly "Good morning madam/sir. May i help you?"
~ For the million-th time, someone asked me "Excuse me, are you working here?" Well, you should know that normally the Malays work in the local drug store.
~ For the zillion-th time, i thought of giving up.
~ went home totally drained at 10.15pm

Day 4, Monday, 7.4.08
~ Felt super energetic today as it was my off day

Day 5, Tuesday, 8.4.08
~ I was negatively charged in the morning but felt really satisfied after work.
~ Did stock-checking today and enjoyed doing it
~ Learned a lot about the supplements

For your information, i am working in Pavillion and Caring Pharmacy is on the first floor. Come and visit me...hehe

Cabbage

2008-04-02T17:24:00.003+08:00

After breakfast, my mom asked me to get 4 cabbages from Carrefour and i was too happy to do so as i love grocery shopping. For first timer like me, i stood in front of a mountain-high stack of local cabbages, inspecting which were the better ones. Then, a woman who was about in her fifties came towards me,

( the whole conversation was in Cantonese )

Aunty : " The one you're holding is not good la. There, that one is better,"

Me : " Oh, really? Ok, i'll take that one,"

Aunty : " Let me teach you la. You have to remove the bug-ridden leaves first ( which is normally the outer leaves ) You still have to remove them back at home, why not doing it now? Cheaper mar, lui"

Me : " Har, can meh?"

Aunty : "Haiya, see ( pointing at those detached not-so-nice leaves ) Everyone is doing that. Why wanna waste money? If they ( Carrefour ) don't let us peel, then they would have taped around the cabbages," ( pointing at the packed celery )

Me : "Oooo," ( somehow convinced ) - I felt like a pasar si lai

Aunty : " Har, peel this...peel some more la, not nice what...PEEL,"

Me : " Enough lo, i think it is perfect liao,"

Aunty : " Not yet, you cincai peel one,"

I felt so embarrassed and wanted to run away after getting 4 cabbages - where their sizes got almost halfed after peeling them.

Aunty : " Why do you need so many of them? Can finish meh?"

Me : " Erm, got party tonight, " ( preparing to speed away )

Aunty : " Wa lau yeh! Vegetarian party?"

Me : " Ya ya," ( escaped )

When i got to my mom's stall, i told her the whole incident. She just laughed. " If you ever do that in pasar pagi, you'll be cursed by the sellers," said my mom.

Poor me, dipermain-mainkan...

For your information, that woman never touch the cabbage. She just pointed where i should peel. If the Carrefour people had seen me doing this, i bet i would end up going home with 20 cabbages and an empty purse...

Qing Ming

2008-03-31T14:03:00.008+08:00

Once a year, my uncles and their respective wives and sons ( read carefully, only SONS ) from Kota Kinabalu would fly to KL or Penang for Qing Ming, a day to remember and honour one's ancestors at grave sites where the young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, (joss) paper accessories, and/or libation to the ancestors.

These pictures were taken a few years back for my brother's moral project.

On Saturday afternoon, we drove up north to Bukit Mertajam. The journey this year was much more comfortable as we travelled by two SUVs, Estima and Ford Ranger. On the way up, we stopped by a few fish farms owned by my father's friends. For me, there was nothing much to see. The sun was striking at me from head to toe whenever i was out of the car. Luckily, i didn't get sunburn...

At 4pm, we reached Bercham Emas food court in Ipoh. All of us ordered food separately, namely, Klang Bak Kut Teh, roasted duck, fried kuey teow, etc.

I got a tai pau all by myself. It tasted really authentic and handmade. In fact, all the pau-s there were handmade. Nowadays in KL, almost all pau-s are machine-made, where all the pau-s look photocopied. Unlike this Pau Langkap, the pau-s look less perfect but the buns were so soft and layered. Besides, original pieces of meat were used. Most importantly, a little chinese wine was added to the tai pau. When i took a bite of it, there was a feeling of a long lost taste finally found!

For dinner, we went to Tua Pek Kong, Bukit Mertajam. As usual, my mother and i strolled around to look for food which can make us drool. Then, we stumbled upon a prawn mee stall with a 'Taste with Jason' (阿贤人情味) poster and we had a try of it.

It was indeed delicious with the shells of the prawns all removed and braised chicken feet which was succulent and soft. So yummy!

I personally prefer to eat it without the spicy belacan. The spiciness literally covers your taste buds and prevent you from truly savouring the sweet prawn soup.

Pimples

2008-03-27T23:51:00.002+08:00

Where am i gonna hide my hideous face? Wuuuu...my mom started bebel-ing me for not taking care of my own face. It's not my fault for having pimples, like i promote the growth of acne vulgaris. Maybe i did, haih, i've been eating spicy/fried food everyday two weeks in a row. Itchy mouth!!!

In order to get rid of this disease, i purposely dropped by at a pharmacy and asked for help from the pharmacist a few weeks ago. So, this Mr. Pharmacist recommended Tretinoin. This topical treatment actually dries up the pimples and within a few days, the latter will drop like durians. Ok, it worked at first but after using it 7 days in a row, my skin was so dry and flaky. Yet, pimples can still grow...

So, from now on, I will :

NOT eat spicy/fried food
NOT touch my face except while cleansing it
NOT rest my chin on any surface
NOT have hairs on my face ( excluding facial hair )
NOT stay under the hot sun for more than 10 minutes
......

Boiling...

2008-03-22T19:02:00.000+08:00

I seriously do not know if i'm over sensitive or it's others' faults. Anger is controlling my brain now and i do not know how to ease it. This feeling is giving me a bad headache. My voice is shaking. I just feel like crying...

I know i'm not hating anyone but the thought of him being so inconsiderate really pissed me off. Is playing computer games a reason? A reasonable reason for being busy?

For sure i hate people shouting at me or talking to me restlessly, with a tone of unsatisfactory. It's not that i'm asking you a million questions, it's just a question with 3 possible answers : yes, no or i don't know. I know i'm nagger who must have my inquiries answered, even the answer ' i don't know' is acceptable. NOT total silence or an answer given a million years later...

Merci Beaucoup

2008-03-15T03:36:00.004+08:00

My deepest and most sincere gratitude to all my teachers, namely, Pn. Saw for giving the least pressure to students, Mrs. Ng who patiently explain mathematical problems, Pn. Munni for encouraging us to ask beyond the textbooks, Pn. Chan who pushed us to success, Miss Saratha for making Biology the most interesting subject, Pn. Aida who tolerated our ridiculousness and Mrs. Ramani for inducing laughter in class.

Besides, thank you so much Mr. Chee who promoted neuron connections in me, Mr. Han for ridiculing us for not knowing some mathematical rudiments and Mr. Huan who always guarantees us an A for Physics if only we finish all the given tutorials.

To all my U6K classmates, love all of you so much as the presence of every single of you encouraged me to stay on in form 6. For the past one and a half year, i have learned that things do not come easily without efforts. Meeting all of you made me realised that i am not alone and most importantly, i did the right choice :)

For the VI gang, all the tuition that we went together and nights spent squeezing brain juices in chemistry classes had made our relationships stronger than ever. Without all the lame jokes and stupidity acts, form 6 would be like an average Japanese adult's life, working without off. Thanks again for tolerating my never-ending-grumbles.

Never forgetting the SBU clan who are always be humble of their above average results and make it an effort to update us with their vibrant lives. I really appreciate all the sms-es and calls which are full of encouragement and luck.

Most importantly, i owe a great debt of gratitude to my ageing yet working hard parents. Compared to their sacrifices and patience, my achievements are nothing. However, a speck of the latter can make them smile from the bottom of their hearts. For my brother who always pretends to listen to my nags, keeping pursuing your interest and we shall make our parents proud.

Lastly, i really hope all of us will have a great future ahead, a future that we desire most and a future which reflects our efforts.

3.84

2008-03-12T12:34:00.002+08:00

3.84...I am overly satisfied with these figures. With the amount cow-like efforts, i was granted with a grade which was overly worthy. My parents were overjoyed that they were announcing to the whole world that i got 5As. I reminded them thousands times that there were some hyphens here and there but this idea did not seem to sink into their brains. They even got up early on the next day just to get a copy of The Sun, thinking that i'll appear in the paper. Why on earth the newspaper would publicize me when there were about 414 students with cgpa 4.00?

However, with this result, getting a place in the Pharmacy school of any public universities in Malaysia is definitely not a breeze. So many students who aspire to be a doctor will, most of the time, put Pharmacy as their second or third choice. Moreover, the number of places offered are more limited than medicine.

Let's just pray....a-mi-to-fo....

Home Nursing Course

2008-03-09T20:53:00.011+08:00

Getting up at 8am is really a very difficult task to be done since i've been getting up at about 12pm everyday (sometimes it's later than that...a hibernating hybrid of dragon-pig...hehe). Worst of all, i glued myself to the television from 7pm the day before to get the most recent updates for the 12th General Election results.

The first most shocking news was the defeat of Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu (BN) to Dr. D. Michael Jeyakumar(PKR). Then, followed by the lost of Lembah Pantai seat to Nurul Izzah Anwar (Gone Datuk Seri Sharizat's seat). At the end, BN still won with simple majority and it was said that this was some of the greatest defeats in the history. To those who have won, please exercise what you had promised to avoid disappointment in the people. After all, it is us who decide.

Back to the story, i got up so early just to attend a Home Nursing Course in the headquarters this morning. It started off with "Patients and their surroundings" by Ms. Indraini. Then, followed by the practical part : different positions of a patient while on the bed, namely, recumbent, semi-recumbent, upright, lateral, semi-lateral, supine (face up) and prone (face down), bed-making with or without patient on it & moving the patient from and away from the bed.

After lunch, we had a short lecture on Nutrition which included digestive system, food pyramid, methods of getting nutrients (other than eating food), types of diet for different patient & serving bedridden patient. Merci beaucoup madame Yang, a senior dietician.

Lastly, method of washing hands by 'tuan' Hafiz, whom he is a nurse. I can't really explain with words. If i have the time, which i should, i'll show step-by-step using photographs.

Fu-yoh! Another one a half day to....

STPM results

2008-03-07T13:45:00.004+08:00

Attention to all 2007 stpm candidates, the results will be released on 11th March 2008 , which is next Tuesday.

http://bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=318926

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/7/nation/20565962&sec=nation

Good Luck :P

Money

2008-03-06T22:58:00.002+08:00

Last saturday, i sent my dog - Money to a pet salon called Wow-wow & Meow-meow for a trim. I did went there a few months ago to survey their price list and found out that it was RM 35. Ok, since it was quite affordable, why not let Money to have a splurge. So, Money was, for the second time, being left without us around. According to the staff there, Money was literally shaking from the second i left it there until i pick her up. Poor Money...

4 hours later, i was so surprised to see Money. It wasn't the Money that i sent it there. So different...Here came the second surprise, the bill was shockingly RM 80. I told the cashier that what i was informed was just RM 35. Then, politely, she told me that RM 35 was only for bathing. Never mind la, it was my fault for not confirming the price with her at first. (I wasn't dare enough to tell my mom about the price....just 'korek' from my purse)

Now we're calling it 'yong meh meh' as it is like a lamb with all its fur shaved off ^^

By the way, Happy Birthday Pei Theng. Sorry for not turning up to celebrate your big 20 today. Have fun :P

Bonjour...

2008-03-02T22:42:00.001+08:00

I've never thought that i will blog in my whole life. It isn't due to my uninteresting life, it's just that i HATE reporting to anyone or anything of what i've done. After browsing through http://www.uppersixkensett.blogspot.com/ and a few of my classmates' virtual diaries, the idea of keeping in touch with everyone suddenly became sooo important ( don't get me wrong, it has always been important to keep this relationship strong ) that this is the only thing that can link all of us together as long as internet exists. ( Oooh, i'm getting a bit emotional now...)