The Synapse Connections of a lifetime

Life's been pretty hectic lately, with this new block presenting many new complicated things.. Anatomists can sure label everything they see everywhere, even though they make absolutely no sense. Oh well, we'll just learn everything we need i guess.. The weather's been pretty unstable lately, that day it was so hot i swaer rocks melt, freaking 37degrees i think.. Then today its so freaking cold I got caught without my sweater.. haha! but i prefer cold than hot, at least you can do something about the coldness, the air con here never works well in the heat.. ang moh likes hot weather.. a bit sot sot.. haha!

Anyway, there was a new singaporean restaurant in Kingsford. The laksa there is really nice! Not as nice as my aunt's asam laksa with lotsa ikan kembung but this chicken laksa is quite nice relatively. It's been a while since i've eaten something with such rich taste here.. wait a second.. actually i went yum cha the other day and ate a lot there.. wooping $22 per person worth of tim sum.. Then rewind a few weeks back and I went to eat chinese at Zilver's restaurant for a heart wenching throat cutting $26 bucks.. Its so so expensive but its worth it in a way i guess.. we ate crazy things like Peking duck, lol!

I've been doing kendo for my third month now. I've made much improvements so far but i think there are still much much more for me to improve on. I still don't know why I actually decided to join it. Its partly Mark's influence but then I don't know why I din not give it much of a thought before decided going for it. Usually I'll think alot before doing something 'major' in my life. Haha! Well, i dit not regret giving it a try, its a great experience and sport which not only pays attention to physical activities but also emphasises on discipline, respect and culture. By respect i mean bowing at least 20 times in a session the other lesson. Haha! Maybe i'll blog a little about kendo next time.

Been called crabbie lately by that certain 'someone' lately.. :P ahaha! It makes me wonder.. am i really that crappy a person? I think i've changed a lot lately.. looking back at the way i used to be, i'm much less a crappy person. In fact, i don't even make lame jokes anymore.. what's wrong with me? I guess I can never know.. hehe!

My english is still so so very bad.. by that i mean english in normal uses like blogging and such.. My vocab is so limited it felt difficult to express myself adequately sometimes.. Luckilly i'm allright with report writing, or is it because of those reports that killed any creativity in my writings?

Warrane's internet decided to block blogspot again for some reason.. sighs.. I don't get to post anything from home anymore.. So i guess the activity here will drop drastically (not like its high anyway).

Love.. what is it? That was a question that lingered in my mind for all my teenage years.. love is something i did not understand, something the text books would not explain..

Looking at the skies tonight, I wondered what love really meant.

I guess its different for everyone, but for me, love is when you can shed tears for that person until you can't breathe. Love is where your mind is saturated with the thoughts of that person everytime you looked at the skies.. Love makes the rain feel so beautiful.. Love makes you run all the way until you're all exhausted.. Love makes you worry about the other person every minute she's not by your side.. Love makes you think of the other person everytime that tune plays.. Love makes you incomplete without the touch and smell.. Love skips your heart everytime you hear their voice..

Love to me had been one of the most wonderful thing that happened in my life. Love is that emotion that tendered the human heart. Love is how I feel for this girl that's been with me for more than two memorable years.. Love is what i have for you, Soo Ching.. I love you dear! I'm missing you every day we're apart..

I've been busy.. too busy with my studies, too busy to try to get things right. One day while iw as trying to get some sleep, some thoughts came into my mind.. I'm losing my friends.. I guess all this while i've been spending too much time persueing my academic goals, i've spent too much time in my room. I'm even skipping coffee clubs everynight nowadays.

Looking back at the whole year, i've really lost contact with nearly everyone from BM highschool.. Now i think i've lost contact with everyone from SAJC and Taylors.. I guess i never did put enough effort into any friendships lately, everyone's drifting away with their friends..

There's no more Friday night ice creams at Alexandra, no more lunches at MeeYok, no more times spent in Pacific. I miss the friends I made from eton hall, i miss the friends from Taylors, I miss my friends from HSBM, but they are no longer there anymore, everyone is everywhere now.. haha!

i guess i'm getting more and more antisocial.. I can no longer talk to strangers.. I always run out of things to say.. and then I would try to find excuses to escape the situation.. "i got to go, see you later!" or something along that line..

I want friends, people that i truly feel comfortable with together, people where i can truly be myself.. I want people that would call just for the sake of calling and something like that..

I guess i'm the kind of guy that needs a little group to hang out with. Trouble is, i never really got myself such a group before. I'm grateful for all the people that truely took me as friends, and i truely enjoyed the company of many people. Sometimes i wish i could be more sociable so that i could keep all my friends. I should find more time to get to know everyone more, I should find more time to keep in touch with everyone.

The only person that truely cherish me is my girlfriend I guess.. Thanks bb! :) Hehe! Although i'm pretty much alone lately, you've made my life more bearable.. You're everything that I have now.. I love you very much!

We had a lecture of the anatomy of the breast today. Everything was a usual until the lecturer reached the lymph node slides. It is then where i thought about my Biology lecturer in A-Levels. She thought us for around half a year and then she was suddenly replaced by another lecturer. It was not after a while later that we found out that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I guess it must have been a late diagnosis as apparently she had reached the advanced stage. The cancer had gone malignant. We were all shocked to hear the news, but life goes on i guess. There was nothing much we could do for her but to give her emotional support. Luckilly she seemed to be a strong woman which always had a smile on her face.

That was two years ago. A few months back, during the winter break, a fellow classmate in Taylors told me that she had passed away. I did not really felt the shock then, as we were told that she only had around a year's time left before we left college.

I had felt the feeling of despair when someone I know passed away. She thought me the lesson to cherish everyone around me.

For all my female friends, do get regular check-ups when the time is right. Be aware and get early interventions.

I'm sorry for everything wrong that i've ever done. Thank you teacher.

Had a lecture on maternal mortality this morning. What irks me is that the lecturer kept comparing the developed world and the developing world. I think there's something wrong is such classification. Everytime a lecturer referred to a 'third-world country' or a 'developing country', it is always a referral to countries such as sub-saharan africa or some country in the middle east. The truth is, within the classification of a 'developing country' there are many countries that are doing much much better than those countries. having my own country being classified the same as countries that are doing much worst is totally unjustified.

We not that bad,

Our maternal mortality is comparable to those of developed countries. Other countries in sounth east asia have good health systems as well.

I think there should be another classification for 'intermediate' countries like us. We're not good enough yet to be a developed countries, but we not that bad as many other third world countries.

Don't put us in the same shoes.. we not that bad..

Something weird happened the other morning. I was up as usual in the morning to prepare myself for class. Suddenly i realise there was another person in the toilet. He was looking through the window overlooking New college, the college right next to mine, happily chuckling away as if something is happening. I decided to ignore him as i could'nt be bothered. (IMO angmohs like to do silly things). Anyway, a few minutes later, another friend came in and went "Hey, what's going on down there?"

Then both of them looked out through the window..

Something is not right.. I decided to kepo then..

The first guy asked us to look into the courtyard of New college and said something like:

"see the bench there? what's beside the bench?"

Sure enough, there WAS something there, and then we realised that it was a chicken..

Apparently, that morning, New college found themselves swarmed by 60 chickens. Someone had smuggled them in as a prank the night before.

As funny as it initially seemed, something was not right.

I did a mental calculation in my head. 60 chickens would at least cost $10 each. That would mean the overall cost for the prank would be 60 x 10 = $600? That would be a little dumb.. I guess whoever did the prank stole a bunch of chickens from a barn. Now this all seemed like a well planned job.

Naturally the people from New college would suspect us, we are notoriously linked to some other incidences before. However, I doubt something this scale could be done by our people. Not to mention that nobody claimed to be the culprit at all.

The incidence was quite serious too as several chickens died of stress. A friend of mine was even summoned to kill some of them. The description was a little disturbing.. haha! The RSPCA or something like that eventually came to clear up the mess.

That concludes the New college chicken incidence.

NB: the winter holidays post will be updated soon.

Gosh.. its been a very long time since I wrote anything.. I almost forgot i have a blog now.. haha! Anyway, the reason for my absense is because somehow the internet system of my residential college decided to block blogspot.. I don't understand them really.. and i can't seem to get it unblocked.. sigh.. Are there still anyone reading this blog? haha!

Went out for a long holiday during the winter break. It was a whopping 15-day long holiday, which means my pockets are really dry now.. I'm open for donations.. hehe! Anyway, the holidays were really fun. I got to meet many people from Taylor's college that I haven't seen for over 2 years and best of all, i got to see my darling, hehe!

i would love to post up some pictures, but i don't have them here with me now, maybe i'll try to post them up later. Anyway, i got to go now, i'll be back with an update.

Two nights ago i had a call from an "unknown private number" at 3 a.m in the morning. After answering it and saying "hello, who is it?" for many times, I decided to hang up and went back to bed. This caller never said a single word, other than sounds of someone talking in the background. Well, I thought that it was someone that accidently called without realising it. Never It crossed my mine that it was a prank call until the next afternoon.. Haha! Ok.. so someone is 'stalking' me of sort.. :P

The next night, I had the same call at the same time, this 'pranker' have good punctuality, hrmm.. well, a little dumb of him coz it gave him away as the pranker. Haha! pranker sounds funny, so i'll call him that. This time, i answered it and to his surprise I did not utter a single word, even a "hello". Haha! So in normal circumstance a person will at least attempt to say "hello" if the other person is quiet right? He did not, which confirms that he's the pranker. Anyway, I just sat there saying nothing for a whole 20-30 seconds or so. It was a test of patience, but he's the one paying, haha! Then i heard some faint whispering noises, as if he was trying to make some 'scary' or 'spooky' whispers, but he gave up half way. After letting out a frustrated sigh, the pranker hung up. Haha! So his attempt to call me and disturb me by not saying anything went wrong, haha!

I felt quite 'puas' after that.. haha! I counter-pranked the pranker, haha! dumb oh dumb pranker.. :P I really wonder why he does such things, but its funny the way it backfired.

I don't understand some people actually.. sometimes they never think before they do something stupid like making prank calls, or doing other pranks. All they think about its their own joy. And then they get into trouble and end up in Emergency Department, and give trouble to doctors and cost the government money.

I also really hate people that likes to blast their music really really loud.. Maybe they have hearing problems or something.. or maybe they just like to feel the beat of the base, but its very annoying.. Again, some people are so self centered.. I really don't know what to do.. And they never gets hints!

Anyway, these are some stuff that happened lately.. am wondering whether the pranker will strike again tonight or not.. I'll be waiting..

Went to clinical session today in St. George Hospital. I had Dr. Low again for my clinical tutor, hehe! I'm quite glad actually.. Anyway, just want to pen down some things about one of the patients that I saw today. The first patient that i saw today had a respiratory problem, and she had symptoms of pleural effusion for the past few months together with persistent coughing. The fluid that is accumulating in the lung had since been drained and she no longer suffers from coughs. However, the patient still suffers from nausea and weakness due to mini strokes in her brain as well as from the effects of Parkinson's. It was difficult to comprehend her condition due to the immense amount of past medical history that she possesed. One important medical history was a mastectomy for her breast cancer. Before entering her room, we were instructed to wear clinical gowns and face masks to prevent cross infection, as the hospital staff suspected that she had viral infection in her lungs. This had caused stress in the patient, due to the fact that everyone she sees wears a mask and a gown. I felt very sorry for her because in addition to her conditions, she is suffering from social isolation and possible depression. Before we end our session, she spoke about her wish that they would let her keep the door open. She also said that she felt as if she's in a prison. I guess we often took for granted all the little things in life. I would never imagine having an open door to be such an important thing, but it is so for this patient. I feel that this aspect of health care is not addressed in this case; that is the social and emotional aspect of the patient. Well, that's all for the day's experience.. hehe!

You scored as agnosticism. You are an agnostic. Though it is generally taken that agnostics neither believe nor disbelieve in God, it is possible to be a theist or atheist in addition to an agnostic. Agnostics don't believe it is possible to prove the existence of God (nor lack thereof). Agnosticism is a philosophy that God's existence cannot be proven. Some say it is possible to be agnostic and follow a religion; however, one cannot be a devout believer if he or she does not truly believe. agnosticism 88% atheism 83% Satanism 83% Buddhism 75% Hinduism 58% Paganism 54% Judaism 46% Christianity 25% Islam 21% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com Interesting quiz, but i think my belief is more Buddhism than Agnosticism. And Satanism?? Lol! The quiz do have some minor flaws though, such as assumption that God means all powerful being rather than multiple gods seen in some religions. Try it, and see what you get. Did some reseach on Satanism. Apparently it has nothing to do with Satan. It is more toward the view that humans are the master of their own destiny kinds of thing.

In a path that leads to uncertainties,
I pen down my words,
What the world would be,
When we walk our paths.

In a sense of security,
I touch my heart,
Looking into a life once unseen, unheard,
Warming up slowly and surely.

It is with you,
Were i will walk this path,
It is with you,
My choice lies upon.

In my heart i etch our story,
A story of our journey,
Our path,
Our walk.

In our story,
I'm no longer the lonely walker,
I'm no longer astray,
I have a goal.

Our story had just begun,
And as we walk down this path,
Together as one,
Holding hands,
Holding hearths,
We shall discover,
What life has in store for us.

No matter how harsh,
How cruel,
How difficult this journey is,
I will pen my story with you.

No matter how everyone treats you,
I will pen my love for you.

So let us write our story together,
Now and forever.

I love you my dear,
Soo Ching :)

For the first time after a while, I felt the sense of hopelessness.. Nearly all the patients that I’ve seen in the oncology ward did not have a good prognosis.. It is as if cancer had been a death sentence for them. My emotions were shaken throughout the time I was in the ward. This began with one of the first patient that I’ve seen. It is remarkable on how some people viewed their life even though they don’t have much time left. There was a patient that had a very positive view of his life, and he seemed well composed throughout the session. Even though the doctor explained that he was at the end of the treatment regime, he remained calm. He even considered donating his heart. His concerns on that consultation were ultimately not on himself, but rather on other people’s life. I could see the disappointment in his eyes when he was told that he is not an eligible candidate to be a donor. I could feel the pain in the eyes of his wife, who broke into tears during the consultation. I could imagine myself in her position, having to let go someone that she loved for such a long time.

This scenario was repeated again with another patient, whose wife was initially unwilling to accept the fact that her husband were down with cancer. Hearing it straight from the doctor herself, she finally could accept the fact, even though tears flowed. During this time, I felt like I had to leave the room for some time to get myself together. The professionals at the oncology wards were indeed strong willed men and women, as they were able to handle and cope with such strong emotional issues involved in oncology.

The visit to the oncology clinic is one of the experiences in the medical line that had made such an impact on me. One important lesson that I’ve learn is that to treasure life as we live it, and not to take anything we have now for granted. Having talked to a man with cancer once, he had thought me a great lesson of taking things positively until the end.

Just arrived this morning on flight MH123.. hehe! great name for a aircraft.. :P

Encountered a problem yesterday during the check-in process in penang.. Apparently, MAS don't allow 30kg for students anymore.. Not knowing this fact, my check-in luggage was 28.5kg.. So i tried to reduce the weight by transfering more stuff into my backpack.. after painstakingly trying to reduce the weight.. I finally ended up with 23kg of stuff.. Guess what? the lady said there's too much weight now as well.. and said the charges for the extra weight would be 2x44.50=rm89.. this is a little rediculous.. haha! Getting quite pissed.. i decided to reduce the weight sommo by taking clothes into my backpack (which is reaching 8.5kg).. My backpack could not be lifted with a hand.. haha! and my laptop weighs at 5 kg.. in total.. i was carrying 13kg of stuff on my back.. talk about backbone problems.. I guess charging students for extra fees is another 'turnback' tactic by the administration to regain profits.. But in my opinion.. this would also reduce the number of passengers..

The flight to Sydney was really pleasant.. Compared to my previous flight on Austrian airlines.. The food was great, it was chicken with rice and prawns and vege and a piece of cake for desert. :) Of course, compared to the meal of my friend taking the business class, this is nothing much, but i'm very tempted to get a second serving.. haha! The best thing about the flight was the new in-flight entertainment system, featuring the new video-on-demand service, which, in my opinion was really great. Not only we don't have to follow the time to watch movies like the old system, it is even possible to forward or rewind the movie. However, the games leaves much to be desired.. i miss the gold old nitenddo games compared to random atari games now.. I miss playing megaman on the old system.. hehe!

Sydney was pretty much the way i left it.. nothing much had changed.. I'm now 'levelled up' literraly from 6nq to 7nj this year.. hehe! Had the VG side, which is much quieter at night compared to the road side rooms, which is good.

My template is really messed up.. Anyone knows how to modify the links area? need help!

I received the following email from the bursar of Warrane College a few days ago..

Quote:

Firstly. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This is to let you know that Bevan Corbett is seriously ill and is currently in intensive care at Prince of Wales Hospital.Yesterday afternoon at approx 5.00 up at Cobar, he was bitten by a brown snake while jogging. While attempting to make it back to the flat, at which he was staying, he apparently fell on a number of occasions, and eventually collapsed just a short distance from the flat. He went into a state of unconsciousness. When discovered his flat mate call an ambulance and he was taken to Cobar Hospital.There, misdiagnosed, he was treated for sun stroke. However at 12.00 MN his condition deteriorated and was lifted out to the ICU at POW. It was 5.00 AM before they, there, diagnosed brown snake venom and inject anti-venom. At 12.00 MD he was not responding well and was injected with a second dosage of anti-venom.He is currently on full life support fighting for his life.The prognosis? Don't know!But I do know, that if you have ever thought about praying, here is a guy that needs some right now. So keep Bevan in mind and ask members of your family to pray for him too. And also pray for his parents Peter and Jenny and his brother Aaron.Sorry for being the bearer of not so good news. But as you can imaging Bevan right now needs all the help you can muster up.

CheersDavid (Curran)

Then a few days later, i received another email from him:

Quote:

Indeed I write with sad tiding!
Since last writing the doctors in the ICU at POW have been working
around the clock, all day yesterday and throughout the night to bring
Bevan round. But as time went on, more and more of his vital organs
began to shut down.
Yesterday afternoon Fr John, the hospital chaplain, gave him the
Sacrament of the Sick, which is a tremendous source of grace to prepare
Bevan spiritually for death or if it be God's will restore him to
health.
At noon yesterday after kidney failure Bevan was put on a dialysis
machine. At about 11.00 PM yesterday, the doctors put Bevan on a
heart-lung machine in a last effort to keep him alive. The doctors and
nurses in the ICU monitored him throughout the night. But alas all to
no
avail.
Then, this morning, Dr David, who was looking after Bevan, cried as he
explained to Bevan's parents that there was nothing more they could do.
And that it was time that all the support systems be shut down.Then
without ever gaining consciousness at 10.30 AM Bevan died. RIP.
There, at his bedside were his Mum and Dad, his uncle Geoff and aunt
Maura. Also at his bedside were Tony Shannon, Felix Yan, Richard Vella,
Phil Santucci, Eugene Tan, Edwin Choi, Robert Assen and myself.
Outside were his brother Aaron and Tom Tudehope.
Please keep Bevan in your prayers. And also pray for his Mum and Dad
and
brother. You can imagine how difficult it is for them at this moment
and
they could do with all your support. May he rest in peace!

David

Someone whom i barely know personally had just passed away.. But i guess there's nothing much for me to say except for a few words of condolences here to his family..

Anyway, the turnout of events shows how important thorough medical examination is in saving a person's life. I guess the main turn point for him was the misdiagnosis of sunstroke, which delayed the administration of the anti-venom.

So, i guess, a short message for all the medical practitionars to be, do keep in mind of the importance of proper identifications of the causes of disease.

I guess that's all for this short entry, if anyone feels that this entry should be removed, drop by a comment, and i'll do so.