They say you never miss the water until it is gone

I dreamt about DARLING. My dearest irenegirl.
It was this place, this same kitchen /backyard that i previously dreamt about her, in the same "kennel". the kennel looked big, but had a small opening.

this time, someone had turned the kennel door over to face the wall on the other side to prevent the lights shining in too brightly.

in the dream, almost felt like i have neglected darling for a while. perhaps far too long. this kitchen looked a little like the old connaught's kitchen, with a little difference. but i have no doubt i've dreamt of this same kitchen a few other times. we were having a party of some sort apparently. i was too busy having fun. i forgot about her (how could i?) then i was washing dishes when she came walking to me.

Then it must be a while later because i went over to her kennel. and had to call her out. she came walking slowly out. the same lazy way she had been in the latter days. then when she was at my knees, i immediately grabbed her and hugged her so tight. So so tight i never want to let go. i was kissing her. hugging her.

I really don't want to let go. now after almost a year, i'm still missing her because of her. because someone who had been with you for 12 years whom you treasure so much but then i can't help thinking that there were times i might've neglected her while i had fun myself. too busy with life. too busy to rememeber to feed her. is gone. While she loyally sat by me when i was busy. busy playing. busy packing. busy onlining. busy studying. she would literally sit by my side.

when i was upset she seemed to know and came over and licked me knowingly.

Sure i do keep saying i want a dog. But i know no matter what even if i have another dog, no one can ever replace the love of my life. The most loyal bestfriend i ever had. My dearest darling. I want to just hold her once more and never let go. i want her back. :(

i'm homesick sick. and crying my eyes out. missing everyone at home. missing irene. missing home. yet i cant call mom because i wouldnt know what to say even if i had her on the line. it would only make her sadder that i am sad. talk to friends?but what good would it be. Doesnt change the fact that i am still here and still homesick.

I woke up late because i wanted the dream about irenedear to last longer. and because i didnt have time today, until before i close my eyes to sleep.. that's when the memories of the dream and of her all comes flooding in. I bet i would've otherwise waken up crying.

My attention span is like a kid's

Yes. I've got attention span of a kid. I can't concentrate long on my report about laryngeal cancer which i desperately need to finish by Friday. *fingers crossed* And i'm barely halfway through, and far from my own modest standard of a 'good' report.


And so through the day, i've allowed myself to daydream, chat with my close friends and dearest nic and dad, lie on my bed and do absolutely nothing but stare at the ceiling, cook my yummylicious ABC soup ( i hadnt cooked healthy food in at least a month!), think about how i want to revamp my room (yet not act on it cos i'll feel guilty i should be doing my report), think about what to pack to Leicester and home (yet do nothing about them again), and now blog.


Okay, so most of what i've mentioned were in the category of 'daydream'. But it doesnt matter. So let's talk about.. ENT. (ear nose throat). That's what i've been doing for the past 2 weeks, and for the rest of this week. Theatres mondays and fridays, clinics for the rest in between. Am i enjoying it? Certainly. Except i didn't understand why for the first two weeks, i kept falling asleep in clinics. Not that they're boring. I just can't keep my eyes open!


So i've resorted to accepting tea offers when i'm sleepy, even if it means palpitations. I put the second week tiredness to a rebound of my long weekend Paris trip which was partly like an Amazing Race game. Seriously, 3 days is not enough to admire all of the city's beauty. I'm definitely gonna be back for at least a week next time. But it was good to just have a like, sneak preview.


I've seen 2 neck dissections - one radical and one non, some mastoidectomies and tympanotomies, a CO2 laser surgery, tonsillectomy, grommet insertions, a cauterisation (lo and behold it only took a few seconds i didnt even know that was it!), and a few random others. And clinics can actually be pretty interesting, tonnes of laryngeal Ca patients as uncommon as they were (when i asked, my consultant told me "no, they're not common, it's just that u see more of them in this department". hm, fair enough), or as boring as a 'snoring' day where 9/10 patients came because their partner (not the patients themselves) are bothered by their snore.


Ah, i've also had some English lessons on idiomatic phrases. But instead of your boring 'quiet as a mouse' or 'loud as a lion', i've learned modern and interesting ones, such as . . . "To snore like a grizzly bear" and "Eats like a horse" !! And I've learnt them all from my ENT Clinics. *beams*


And happy patients and sad ones. Tuesdays are mainly head&neck cancer day. So you'd see happy relieved faces when the scope goes in and comes out 'everything is fine it looks clear down there'. And some tensed faces when they had to break the news 'you have cancer'. Some patients take it better and just said "well, it's alot to take in". But last week, was horrible. There was this man, wheelchair bound. He looked like he's alot to worry about life but then when he sees us (medical students) he shows us his better side, he smiles at us through his somewhat sad eyes and say "hello ladies". They took a FNA biopsy of his neck lump a week before.. he was in total agony and teared but kept apologising profusely. My consultant passed us his FNAC and CT report before they sent him in.


Turned out the neck node was a cancer mets. In fact, he has got multiple metastases all over - in his axillary lymph nodes, liver. It was a Stage IV Bronchial Carcinoma. When they told him it was cancer, he totally lost it. Deep down, the patient and his wife knew it was going to come, they just tried to keep that tiny speck of hope alive. And when they broke the news, it was like dropping the bomb.


And being the emotional me, seeing that big man in his wheelchair crying and saying sorry for crying at the same time, tears came pouring out. I imagined myself in his shoes. What you would do if you get that kind of news?


How unprofessional of me.. But i can't control it. I wished i could keep my cool just like my consultant did, showing empathy but not sympathising with tears. But I also know, if that day comes, i'm probably not me anymore.

Scrubbed In

Yay! First time i scrubbed in. After having watched surgeons done that hundred of times, i somehow still find it a little bit daunting. What can i touch? what can i not touch? And putting on that blue gown oso needs skill one. ish..


Having said that, it was fun! the Spr and nurses were really helpful. lol. Can u believe i even had no idea how to 'scrub' my hands properly? yes i know the seven steps technique. but not that u cant go back upwards while washing ur forearm. i didnt even know how to turn on that high tech sensor tap. sheesh.


It was a 'radical neck dissection' that i scrubbed in for today. The poor chap had cervical lymph node mets, apparently the primary was in the tonsils, common for pharyngeal cancer. So basically all his level 1-5 was taken out, including the sternocleidomastoid, IJV (internal jugular vein), submandibular gland, and the lymph nodes of course. i didnt know the IJV is so huge! >.<


For the first surgery i scrubbed in, i was satisfied just to hold the tractors, and cut the thread. :) And now, i really really need to start on my report if i wana hand it in next week. But i'd do everything else to distract myself and no open that damn file or my books. grrrrrrr.

My 1st CNY in Manchester

Reunion dinner on CNY eve at Tai Pan!~

"lin ngau" lotusroot soup..

forgotten to take more pics. there's actually 3 tables of us!!
CNY Day 1!! gong hei fatt choy... dimsum at Pacific ~

Spent the rest of cny day1 and few days thereafter doing ssc report!!X( So glad it's FINALLY done!! so kailyn n i decided to celebrate with dinner at Tampopo and then a movie-'Definitely,Maybe' and now i'm back home in dear ol' preston. back to boring life;p

CNY Card!!

My first CNY card (of the year)!!!

Guess who it was from? My friend since secondary 1... Shirley. *mwah mwah* awww... so touched! I'm so touched to be remembered like that, I'm finally feelin a little bit of that CNY-ness in UK. Now I know how it feels like to receive a CNY card when your miles away from home. Hugs hugs hugs babe...... thank uuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!

My Winter Break

Yay.
Exam's finally over... both progress test and the mock OSCE! NME's over. Can finally relax... until May/June!


The 2 week winter break was really blissful. Yet good times pass too quickly. Mom came over for 2.5weeks, and I finally remembered how good it was to eat mummy's cooking and to have mom there by my side :) No need for few hour chats over the telephone line, no need for mummy teaching me how to cook, she cooked for me! I even got to eat Pan Mee, Loh Mee, mum's chicken curry, sigh in short mum's the best!:D and i got so much of food supply enough to last me 2 months!


We went on a short 4day3nights to Barcelona, together with Eve,Kenn and Wills. ZARA is certainly so much cheaper there!!! ;D And then towards the end of mum's stay, we went Edinburgh for 3 days thanks to daddy's persistence that i bring mum somewhere for a short few days. It was certainly a very nice getaway :) Edinburgh was different, and being there on a holiday was certainly even more different. And with mummy meant lots of shopping! Especially over boxing day -january sales period. weeeee! When we came back to Preston mom had a hard time trying to stuff them all into her luggage. hehe.


It's so sad mummy had to leave. It meant no more mummy's cooking for another 6 months, tat i'll hav to cook for meself again, tat i'll hav to call home if i wana talk to mum, tat .. i'll had to start studying for progress test! >.<


And then I had 1.5 weeks of lazy GP postings. :P come back home everyday and watch lots of TVB. And Sze Liang, Glen , Alice, Sing Yee were all in Manchester on the 2nd .. so we went Trafford and dinner at Tai Wu then they came back to Preston wit us! woo... Preston oso got quite alot of visitors one kay! ;)


hahah.. so, who's coming next to visit me and bring abit of malaysia-ness here for me ??? :) (hint hint: nic dono when ure coming leh? ;D we can go shopping together!!)

FemPop

In my 2nd week of surgical posting now :) my 3 main consultants are basically lower GI surgeons. So it's mainly lots and lots of back passages. Interesting? Tried very hard to keep straight face when i see them examining. Especially stuffs like soiled back passage and when the registrar tries to stick the rigid sigmoidoscope up the patient's bottom end while the patient whinges in silence or not so silent. I'll probably get used to it by end of 4th week.


Most of the patients in clinics are follow up cases. Or cases that needs urgent attention via the 2weekrule. I've seen 2 incisional hernia cases today. huge ones. And as i listen to the reg's explanation I kinda get the hang of the management plans. It's interesting :) Ok, well... in a way it is. hehe of course alot of times i tend to tune off a little, and then the patient will mumble something to me and i just smile back cos ops, i didn't know what they were chatting about there. my stomach loves to grumble. i was eyeing Mr. Bev's cookies whole morning >.<


Still, i got to say these clinics are somewhat more interesting than that I attended back in medicine block. Not that i find back passages interesting. 5 out of 6 patients come in with an IBD follow up. Alot of coeliac too, and some IBS. BUT, the wards were certainly more interesting. I see alot of alcoholic liver diseases. A few oesophageal Ca and colorectal ca.. who came in for other complications.


Oh well, it's just the beginning of my surgical block:) Should be getting more interesting now I get to go to theatres. Ah, and this is where FemPop comes in! Yeah so last thursday afternoon we were supposed to follow one of my consultants in OT. So we happily got changed into our scrubs and went into the designated theatre. Turned out the surgeon wasnt there that day and it was a vascular surgery but the guy said sure we could have a look if we'd like to. So we stood in for 3 hours watching a FemPop (femoral-popliteal artery bypass surgery) done, using the long saphenous vein as a graft... It's amazing to watch that initally pale leg turning a healthy pink and to see the graft "dancing" by the end of it. And i forgot to mention, the gentleman who was lying on the table was 93 years old. i'm utterly impressed :)

Memory Lane

One of the days of my community posting, I was sent to a nursing care home. It was called "Memory Lane", simply because most of the residents there has dementia.


There was Joe who used to be a really successful businessman, traveling all over the world living a comfortable life in a large home and running an internationally known company. He's been married to his wife for nearly 70years. Now he randomly holds another lady resident's arm to take a stroll or dance, because he thinks she's his wife. But when his real wife came around to visit him, he couldn't recognise her at all.


There was another man who was an engineer. He still goes around dismantling the television set, the fridge and then get frustrated when he couldn't piece them back. Just because that was what he used to do all his life.


There was a lady who used to bake really beautiful cakes and wonderful pastries. Now she lost all her skills of that, even though i bet she's still fond of baking.


And then there was another one who lost her husband a while ago. When she gets part of her memory back, she'd start crying. Then her memory switches off, and she'd be wondering what she is crying for. Which will make her cry even more because she doesn't know what is making her sad.


With their short term memory gone, they all lived in their own little world of different eras. He may remember how he'd fought through the war, but not the names of his own children. Some of them had family members who would rather shut them out of their lives altogether, and would not even come by to visit them not once. While some had spouses who'd come and see them ever so often. Even though forgotten, even when they are ill themselves and needed to be taken care of.


Isn't it sad?


To think about waking up one day and slowly forgetting ur own life bits by bits. I'm sure it must be even more painful for those who loved them so dearly. He/she will no longer be the same person u knew all ur life. It may even change one's personality. Listening as their stories were being told it saddened me deeply. It reminded me about my grandma who pointed to the huge teddy and asked why my dog had became like that. It sounded funny, but more so it was horrifying to hear that. And to think that it could just happen to anyone....

Happy Birthday To Me :)

It's my first birthday away from home. Somehow I wasn't at all excited about it, or rather i chose not to get excited over it? I asked a friend and she told me the same. Could it be that after ur 21st you feel less excited about the rest of the birthdays. I laughed, could it be i'm finally bored after having too many birthdays?

I chose not to expect surprises. I do want close friends to keep me company ... just so i won't think too much (and miss home). But i still do miss my twin sis. Its after all my first birthday without her.

Bought myself lilies after GP morning!:)

And after PBL in the afternoon, I went to Borders and sipped my hot choc (wanted to drink mocha but didnt >.<) and a little pie with siewsing, my clinical partner+shopping partner. =)

Well it's not as sad as i made it sound...my friends were really sweet!! i did have a surprise on Saturday during dinner .. and presentss and cardss! my first tatty!!! *thanks everyone*

*makes a wish*

Hey There Delilah...

a funny conversation between Tom and i in the shuttle bus.. when Hey There Delilah suddenly came on the radio

Tom: Will u fall for a guy if he sang u this song?
Me: Yesss!!! I luv this song!!
Tom: I know the guy who sang it. He's a friend of my cousin's..
Me: serious?
tom: yea ..
me: are u serious .. ure kidding me?
tom: im serious..
me: cool..... ( i was gona ask where abt in england is he from)
tom: u know, i acutally made it up. i dont know the guy.
me: :S !!
tom: u know actually the girl he wrote the song for, her name's not delilah, it's julia..
me: huh, then why did he change the name? delilah sounds better huh..
tom: haha yea i think so .. (sings : hey there julia ..)
me: yea julia doesnt seem to fit so well
tom: i'm still lying u know
me: yea.. i know i'm just going along with ur lie ;P

laughs.

Things I'm beginning to miss

one month now and these are the things i'm beginning to miss..

1. mom & dad & siss & family dinners.
2. mom's cooking...
3. my beloved darling doggy.verymuch. can cry when i think of her or see her on skype..
4. beginning to miss all the shopping places & my usual hangouts. esp when nic told me she's in borders. wish i could js grab car keys and drive myself there n laze a whole day sipping mocha n reading books.
5. all my friends of course!!! hangingout,crapping,and the long holiday i ever had.

;)

Happening Manchester

Manchester is happening ;D where i am right now, is not so. >.<


3.5 weeks here so far... and for the past 2 weekends since i've moved over to this kampung, i've been going back to manchester. like i said, it's more happening there. And for the past 3 weekends, we've been having dimsum at TaiWu. It's halfpriced dimsum for weekends, really really nice:D


I haven't really got a chance to miss chinese food yet because we've been getting doses of it in manchester. But i do miss mommy's soups :) mom hasn't exactly been cooking alot lately and i have been away either traveling or eating out too the past few weeks before i left. and i actually tried so hard to complete my list of 'To-Eat' that, i was practically forcing myself to eat 2 buffets in 2 consecutive day... i didn't get to thoroughly enjoy jogoya :( rakuzen was bad experience too because they were so busy that our orders take so long to arrive. sad. when i go back next year must go Jogoya again!


The seniors in Manchester are really nice.. and happening ppl. Last weekend, we went to Rileys, and i Finally got to play darts again!!!!!! brings back all the good memories of sem4 times when we play darts every single minute we could squeeze. in between csu and pbl. in between pbl and lectures haha. on results day we even had a 'final championship', we actually woke up EARLY just to play darts :)


Oh, back to the original topic... two weeks ago we had the biggest dinner at tai wu (for me so far). i think we had about 4 or 5 tables. and all the manchester seniors even those from preston, and even those who are working in manchester came. and even some from other places.. and i'm glad i persuaded shirlyn to come. hehe... ;)


this was how my first saturdaynight at manchester was spent.



This week alone, i've been back to manchester twice. during the weekdays. haha, i wanted to settle my student ID and stuffs on wednesday but i end up shopping. hehe. Classes end early on Wednesdays.. so we had time to go down.


This weekend tho, evie will be coming up :) Well, Preston isn't exactly unhappening, we got BBQ party this saturday nite;D.. it's just not so. ;D

Good Times

Isn't It Strange How We All Get A Little Bit Weird Sometimes

3 days more before I fly.


How come I don't feel anything at all?


Got my flight ticket, visa, medical checkup done. my hair cut. my contact lens supply. i've been spending these few weeks eating wat i think i might miss eating. meeting up with ppl whom i might not see for another year. going around just to buy stuffs i need to bring over. wat's not so settled is my accomodation, but with fingers crossed, i hope everything turns out well. My luggage? haha, i got most of my things in it. except 40% of clothes, some coats, a few pairs of shoes, and alot of other stuffs piling next to it. Maybe I should rephrase, I got most of my things ON top of my luggage. I've got a problem with packing. And I'm lazy to pack the other 40% of clothes in to it. because, my luggage is about full... which means.. i have to repack.

Exploring Hong Kong

It was back in March when Shirlyn and I were still working at TTMC and we decided to check out the MATTA Fair Friday after work. There weren't much time for us to think, I was busy for the next 2 days and anyway who wants to go twice? So, we booked our 4D3N Free&Easy trip to Hong Kong.

Day 1 (AUG 3).
After checking in, we briefly discussed our plans and decided we shall just go nearby our hotel today. We bought our Octopus cards from the nearest MTR (Yau Ma Tei) station. first day, we traveled the area in kowloon peninsula,

Mong kok. Near Ladies Street... beautifully lighted and happening at nite..

Day 2 (AUG 4).
We went to Tsim Sha Tsui for breakfast dimsum @ Silvercord. Then went to Central.

I'm on the longest escalator in the world! (MidLevels Escalator).
We stopped by SoHo (food place). Then we walked to ManMo temple...

and to Wellington St. Waited almost half an hour for this dish of 'siu ngo bei' to arrive. Yung Kee Restaurant, famous for their roasted goose.


and then we took the peak tram up to the Peak... where I got to take a pic wit Leo Ku! =P a wax one, tat is.

After tat we went back over to Avenue of Stars, and watched the fireworks display. Yes, ALL in A DAY. ;D

The best night shot of Hong Kong Central from Kowloon wit my little sony.


Andy Lau's handprints... in ave. of stars.

Day 3 (AUG 5).
SHOPPING day! We went to Causeway Bay, Wan Chai(to visit the 'Crabtree & Evelyn: The Tearoom'), and then Central!

Lan Kwai Fong. It was still pretty early... so abit, empty.
Went there after eating wanton at Mak's Noodle, Wellington Street.

Day 4 (AUG 6).
We woke up extremely early, JUST to make the most out of our 4 day trip, so we spent one hour traveling ... took an MTR to Kowloon Tong, interchange to the KCR. Then another bus to reach this pretty secluded place..

The Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree.....
Of course since we came this far, we did make our wishes. But because this poor tree is on rehab (2 major branches fell in 2005 hence no more throwing wishpapers onto tree, sad.)

We still got back in time for a hearty dimsum&yumcha at Maxim's Palace before goin to airport about 12noon. 2 times of dimsum in this 4 day trip, Shirlyn's wish came true. hahah, plus, we did tryout and went to all the places that Evelyn recommended! I'm so proud ;D However, I came back home with my gastrocnemius musclespain!!

Land of Koalas and Kangaroos

Well, where do i start?
Australia was awesome. I spent 2.5 weeks visiting 4 places, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, touring with Shirlyn, my twin sis nicole joined in melb and syd, and met up with so so many friends. :)


Perth was the first and last stop. 3 days was short, but we managed to see the swan bell tower, the city skyline from kings park, the coastal area from city beach (where we stayed) til hillary's harbour, ate steak at sizzler, tried authentic vietnamese food of broken rice and viet ricepaper spring roll salad at this little vietnamese village, shopped a full day at hay st and murray st, visited the casino, the lake, and tried Donut King's original donut.


Melbourne was next in itinerary. I wonder if my particular favour for this city was due to the fact that we stayed within walking distance to city, or the fact that i met so so many ppl, from high school friends to and old chatfriend, jot, or the fact that i ate so much here-(max brenner, freddo,greco,kokoblack,brunetti,viet.list goes on), or it is because we had spent almost a week here. But one thing's for sure I have Ai-Ming, my friend since primary school and her sis Ai-Lynn to thank for their superb hospitality and being our unofficial tour guide, providing us with lots of maps, info, recommendations, cooking for us in the middle of the night. etc etc. And i made a few new friends as well, shirlyn's niece Brenda and her college fren, Jocelyn. We went on a day trip to Yarra Valley-Fergusson's Winery and Healesville Sanctuary(animal reservatory) and had a fun choo-choo-train ride sitting wit my legs dangling from the window sill. It was really enjoyable! Then we also went to St. Kilda on Sunday morning, caught a tram to Sydney st's Green Cafe(very cosy), walked along Docklands at night, had a mini BBGS gathering, catching up with so many of my old mates, 2 of which had been studyin here since secondary3. most of which i haven't met since high school was over. Especially my dear ol cute fren sooky. :D and yeefei! tho i used to meet her every chinese new year. I miss all the good food and all the chocolate (sinful sinful!), freddo's roche icecream, Greco's tiramisu and hazelnut meringue.


We took an overnight train ride to Sydney. It was horrible, thanks to this lady behind who refused to sleep even at 3am her bright reading light was on, and this man chating aloud standing right besidebehind me, coughing at my direction every now and then. That I could only fall asleep with my coat covering my face! Lina and my old fren, JenHau took us around in Sydney. Lina came and spent the entire day with us altho she had to prepare for a presentation! We had breakfast at Pancakes on The Rock on the first day, took a ferry from CircularQuay over to Watsons Bay, watched sunset at darling harbour. Sydney is either really famous for jap food or jenhau really likes jap food. I remember him pointing to so many shops and saying that it's not bad, most all were jap. We tried 2 shops- Takeru and Takemi. ;D Both were super nice! Had dimsum at Zilver, hav to admit this one was better than melb's(shark fins house) altho the service here wasnt as good. Siumai at Zilver is hugee. Shopping wise, we found much more cheap stuffs in Sydney.;D We took pics inside QVB(queen victoria building) and also at hyde park (it was a great day for picnic). We took a rather quick stroll at Kings Cross at night cos we didn't feel too comfy wit the atmosphere and crowd there, partly due to the preformed idea we hv abt this place i suppose. We had seafood platter and lobster at Sydney's Fish Market... was really fresh, mustgo for all seafood lovers. We strolled Bondi Junction a short while and went to Bondi Beach at dusk. I have never seen such huge waves rushing to shore, it was really beautiful. We had dinner at Hurricane. Ate lamb ribs and pork ribs .. lambribs was reallllllyyyy yummy!!! (say, d porkribs tasted like char siew to me. altho the rest disagreed. they prob didnt want to feel d heartache of eating expensive western charsiew). We chilledout at Ravesi's after dinner, more like trying to warm ourselves on a cold night, where i got to try Corona Extra and the famous Tooheys. 3 days to finish up sydney wasn't really enough.... we managed to cover pretty much everything we wanted to visit, though a little rush.


Adelaide was a good change from the previous 2 busy cities. I wouldn't say it's boring though. It's more peaceful and quiet and slow in general. But with 6 of them Villagers there, the house is always full of fun and laughter. plus d lucky fact that chunpeng and wenhao was there as well, made our stay in adelaide extra extra fun! We tried MarsBar Muffin and freshly made yoghurt at Central Market! Fun to take that long busride to Hahndorf, a german village, and ate a hearty german sausage meal although we got caught in a heavy rain (at least we had umbrellas!) Fun to take the tramride to Glenelg and had a fish&chips picnic (not so much fun tho cos it was freakin cold), jumping around on the beach for a perfect flying shot, and drinking Boost and eating ice cream although i was freezing. Fun to cook dinner wit d girls! Fun to have a steamboat dinner , altho with a slight mishap midway. It was all ultimate funfunfun. And Chunpeng brought us to visit the Cleland Wildlife Park, where i finally got to touch koalas and feed kangaroos and wallabies! They were so violent when i refused to feed him, he bit a mouthful of my piece of map! grr. Ah, we also kangaroos sunbathing and scratching armpit and one who scratched his balls. lol!

There's so much more to write than wat i have posted up here, but i'll probably bore every1 with every little detail. Have to say it was such a memorable enjoyable beautiful holiday. And perhaps meeting up with so many people that i may not be seeing for the next few years or so. Makes the trip much more worthwhile. :D


With less than four weeks now to leaving for UK. I'm beginning to get that mixed feelings, thinking abt all the places and food i want to go/eat before i leave. realising how much i'll miss my family, friends and also my dear doggie. i'm still excited about going to manchester, but i hesitate to pack, as if it'll help alleviate my yet-to-come-homesickness, as if it'll make me feel like i have more time to spend here, and make me feel less guilty about traveling ever so often although i'll be leaving home, for the first time longer than a month. There's so little time, so much to do..


Yet, I'll be goin to hongkong over the weekend!:D

Week In, Week Out

Last Friday, to 'celebrate' my liberty off my temporary job (I'm FINALLY FREE again! no more mundane 8-6! but im gonna miss it sumhow), we watched Fantastic Four:Silver Surfer at KLCC. And then we had late dinner at Jalan Alor.. the yummy yummy chicken wing!:D


On Saturday, I got up early and had BakKutTeh for breafkast at Klang, with Hau Chun as our klang-guide. ;p Then it was movie(Oceans 13)+ meet up with d rest of the *INs. After movie, we did our routine Zara-Mango walk, until we realise we didn't have much time left, so we headed for Coffee Bean to sit down and chat. My gosh, it's been so, so, so lonng. And finally all 5 of us are gathered there.. and time certainly flew when you're having fun. It was like time for exchanging souvenirs (receiving for me;p).


Sunday.... FATHERS DAY! I bought daddy a HUGO:Selection. Daddy loved it! Yay. :D We had dinner eating at a seafood restaurant which served delicious claypot crab rice, and chinese chicken herb soup in a trad chinese soupjar. yum.


And then for the rest of the week, i went to sing Karaoke twice, once with nic and another with chuen&jay. Met up for lunch at Vietnam Kitchen (ah, delicious beef noodles!) The timing couldn't be more perfect.. Seremban ppl had a week break, Aus ppl are back for winter break, and i dun hv to go to work!


Thursday (yesterday) was the ultimate MakanClub Day out! We got up early just to rush to MANGO for their first day of sales. And in 2.5 hours, we successfully managed to cover all 3 MNGs in the vicinity (KLP, Lot10 & Times Sq) with Li successfully bagged sth from all 3. Then WenHao picked us up, lunch was at Jln Alor, at this old coffeeshop which serves delicious fishball noodle, loh-mee and pan mee! Because it was so hot, we quickly ate and left... We ended up reading magazines and travel books and chatting, at my favvy bookstore, BORDERS. But only because they somehow do not screen Surfs Up there. When Chuen & SuetMay arrived, me & li had to go back for dinner. A few of them had mongolian steamboat which looked really really delicious. And afterwards, we met up for a mamak session at Devi's Corner! It was certainly one of d most tiring, but fun day. How often do we all get to be seated together and hv such good laughs?


Blink. And it's Friday again! I had breakfast with Nic and mom at Paddington House of Pancakes! at Hartamas SC. :D It's so rare tat we get to sit down to chat and hv breakfast together these days. yumm.. This breakfast set (comes with tea) only cost RM2.50. A must try!;D

Graduation (as we go on we remember..)

Phase1 is officially over.. I've officially graduated from IMU!
(Collage too tiny to fit everyone in it. sry)

When i was young, i couldn't wait to grow up faster. My ambition was to be a teacher. I'd scribble on the whiteboard and my students were the stuffedtoys. I'd give them homeworks which were never to be completed. I'd pretend they were naughty, I'd scold them. I'd mark books made of old diaries, and give double stars like mommy would if i got everything correct. Looking back, it was hilarious. And just how far i've come (and deviated from my original idea) still surprises me sometimes :)


I'm halfway there to the big grad... been thru numerous exams, big and small. met so many great people, made so many friends, created so much more lovely memories. I've finally made it thru 2 and a half years. A good 2&1/2 years. However that said, I still have 3 more years to strive.. in University of Manchester!:D And i know, even after the big graduation, it will only be the beginning of my journey.. I'll be an "amoeba" (as that surgeon in TDMC(tmn desa) had told me before I even entered IMU.)

Halfway There!

My supervisor/pharmacist, Leonie and I were so worried because Mr. Rama the other phamarcist left. Then it'll be just the two of us for God-knows-how-long. They desperately needed to hire a new dispenser. and a permanent pharmacist. Two of us ain't gonna last long with the workload we are handling. Last week i had worked with only one pharmacist at each given day. I was half dying by thursday. But thankfully, Friday was a peaceful day.


Those schoolkids are hving a good two weeks off. This was a blessing because most of our patient load are office workers, the tourists come in second and families (of the panels) usually during saturdays. The timing couldn't have been better, as it was school holiday, not only was the traffic smoother, our patientload has surprisingly decreased as well. It was a laidback week so far. Had a few 'prescription-storms' here and there. Not as often as we used to.. was a good thing.


I've been receiving alot of of
"so you're doing ur intern/training/posting here?". (to which i'd reply "yea well," ,too tired of explaining).
"studying pharmacy?" (smiles, thinks, "i'm studying medicine actually")
Observes changes on their face. Some politely just says "oh!:D"


I had the chance to talk with Dr. Lua a few days ago, an Occupational Health Physician. He said his son was in IMU, almost finishing second year of work in Dundee. When he knew i was studying medicine, he asked me what am i doing at the pharmacy, shouldn't i be following doctors around instead?


And today, with Dr. Koh, an ENT specialist. He was asking me about what kind of antihistamine nasal sprays and original antihistamine tables we have in stock. Then he got to know i'm in IMU. Apparently he used to be a lecturer in Sban GH, he said he even set-up the ENT team in IMU clinical school, and some of the questions from the bank were his! :) He was telling me about the 'those days' stories, and how IMU Seremban Clinicals came about. He mentioned names of lecturers that i've never heard of. Haha.


Last Saturday was IMU Graduation. Congrats to all in the deans list, gold medalist our very own hammy ;D, and of course all the rest for making it past phase1, we're halfway there! Glad to be in M204, a batch that created history time and again. After our IMU Cup victory, we created history by hving 74 in dean's list (usually 7-15 as prof victor had said). i'll post up some pics when i got time over d weekend.


Working makes me tired even if i was just sitting there whole day. I still have half a month to go!

Banana Pancakes .. we could pretend it all the time

It has a cute, catchy tune. Jack Johnson makes me feel like i do deserve a good weeekend in, doin nothing but just lazing in bed, forget the world outside. And that's exactly wat i did.


I had it all set, i needed my booster dose of Borders and Starbucks. desperately. and then i reached home after a half-day work on Saturday; i was homealone the whole afternoon.. my eyes getting heavier staring at my notebook screen. And then it started to rain outside.. ah, the perfect weather. to sleep. i fought my withdrawal symptoms, telling myself i can put it off til tomorrow. i've got the whole day sunday.


And yet, came Sunday, i woke up and went to town for a delicious curry laksa breakfast with mom and dad. oh, i will so miss all these moments when i go to uk. and then we got home, with a full tummy and a whole week's worth of sleep to catch....


nope. i didnt sleep ;D i simply wasted the day away. i still didn't end up goin to Borders. I sulked abit, but it's just normal to hv withdrawal symptoms when it doesn't work. yet again. put it off yet another week. i'm used to doing it. Now no matter waht happens, next sunday i shall be there.


Graduation's on Saturday. Friday's rehearsal and i had to go off work at 2pm. I feel so proud of myself. I'm finally graduating!!:D But i know i'm only halfway there..


Talking abt pancakes, I miss the pancakes in Double Dutch, Bristol. Sighh.

It was under refurbishment not long after i ate there. It was still when i tried my luck again early last year. I wonder if it's done yet.

You hardly even notice when i try to show u this, song is meant to keep ya from doing what u're s'posed to, like waking up too early, maybe we can sleep in pretend like it's the weekend now... we could pretend it all the time. ;D

Can't you see that it's just raining, there ain't no need to go outside.