The Synapse

Technology in the workplace

2011-03-25T09:04:00.003+11:00

Term one has just ended for me two days ago, and surgical nights is officially over for me. It has been quite a journey, some great experiences and some not. Next up is Emergency, which should be fun, but from what I can tell with my experiences with the emergency people during nights, it's not that great a term, at least in this hospital. I won't get into the details of the politics, but I'll just have to see what's in store.

What I realised after going through the term is how much technology has helped me with my work. Despite hating Apple and the so called fanbois, I have purchased myself an iphone4. This phone has helped me quite a lot during the course of my work.

For start, there's calculators that allowed me to quickly add up severity scores, like Well's score and Ranson's scores. Then there's this app that quickly displays all the differentials to consider with a given clinical symptom. Add that to the army of books available and you can see how much power you can have in your fingertips to support your decision making process. This is especially important at nights, as many times you are the only one there to make the call and everyone else just looks at you, waiting for you to make the decision and assessment.

One day I had to insert an IV cannula into a Russian patient who just recently pulled out her old one. She was a non-english speaker and no one could convince her to get another one. Getting intepreters was out of the question at 3 am in the morning, and the patient was getting increasingly agitated since we can't understand each other. I took out my phone, launched the google translate app, typed in the things i wanted to say and it reads it out aloud in russian! Problem solved, patient finally settled down and IV line inserted. hehe!

Soon I will get myself iMIMS, which would allow me to quickly look up medications and its interactions. It does cost a bomb though.

Technology has changed how we do things and personally it has improved my working experience. What about you?

My New Life

2011-02-02T05:03:00.001+11:00

What i'm going through now is probably old news for many of my friends, I'm starting work as an intern! It has been a long journey of hurdles and reflection, now here I am on the edge of my new life. The room was filled with many eager faces, some of them familiar since we ate from the same uni. What followed was orientation that lasted for three days. It was something we needed. Friendly faces thats there to support us and some time to come to terms with our new responsibilities. Yes, no longer can we hide behind the "I'm a student" phrase when faced with a difficult situation. We are now in a privileged position as doctors and we have responsibilities toward the safety and wellbeing of our patients. I started my first term as a surgical night intern. My job is to take care of surgical patients and to make sure they went through the night smoothly. A week after orientation I find myself alone at night in the wards. There was support by the hdu rmo for high level though which I really need. My first job was a request for fluids.. A simple task that took me quite some time to decide, much because it was the first time I'm the sole decision maker and also because if done wrongly it could really mess up the patient. The confidence increases steadily by the week, and I find myself increasingly able to make critical decisions quicker. The vivas that we went through for the exam was invaluable, kudos to the viva study group, whom without I would be so much more lost. All is not smooth though. On the second day one patient developed severe abdominal pains and needed emergency surgery for perforated bowel. It bugged me for a few days whether I did everything right, and if theres anything that I could have done differently. I'm not sure if the man survived; the last time I heard he was in icu post op, I never see him ever again since. Now I'm in my week off, and it's going to be annoying coz I'm starting work on the first day of cny! And such is my life so far, I wonder what's next..

My final week

2010-11-20T14:15:00.000+11:00

It has been so long since I’ve updated this place. Seems like this is going to be the trend. We had our last tutorial today. In a couple of weeks I would be starting my internship! Feels like not long ago we were still preparing for the final exams and now everything’s finished!

We’re just doing our PRINT term now. It stands for Pre-internship and it’s basically just an excuse to work us out without pay, haha! But seriously, it’s just to make the transition to working life smoother, with all the discharge letters and stuff.

I’m doing Orthopedics term now and it has been quite interesting so far. My team isn’t that demanding in terms of attendance so I’m taking it slow as well. Went to surgery the other day, did'n’t get to do more high tech stuff yet but I got to remove a screw from a leg! It’s weird coz it felt EXACTLY like unscrewing a furniture. Orthopedics seemed to be quite fun. They are the carpenters in medicine. Hopefully next week i’ll get to wear the space suit!

Still have some stuff to arrange before i leave for good. Just another ten days left. IH seemed very empty at this time, since most residents have left for their holidays. Strangely enough, I don’t think I’ll miss this place that much.. Maybe the food. hehe!

We just finished gradball last week as well and it was a blast! It was the first ball I’ve been to since Uni began. The whole event gave our graduation a feeling of closure. And of course there’s the graduation ceremony which is coming up on the 14th of December. If you know me, please drop by for a photo!

Goaaaalllll

2010-06-11T02:37:00.001+10:00

Check this out!

Responsibility

2010-06-10T00:57:00.003+10:00

Working in medicine carries a very strong responsibility. We all know that even before beginnning our studies.

Yesterday I had a taste of what decision making in a real clinical setting felt like.

Saw a patient who presents with symptoms of vertigo, did a hallpike manoeuvre which was positive and immediately came about with my diagnosis of BPPV.

Under normal circumstances, I would usually present my findings to a resident or a registrar and then make a decision on clinical management together. That way, I feel safe and well supervised. Most importantly, I feel assured that whatever decision we make is correct in terms of best patient outcomes.

The situation was slightly different for that case yesterday. The resident I presented to didn't know about the Hallpike nor much about the management of BPPV. Based on my convincing presentation that it was BPPV and a short presentation during the ward round, the diagnosis was set and we can safely discharge the patient home.

Everything was fine, I was quite confident of my final diagnosis and the managment plan was safe (we ensured the patient gets followed up by a GP within a week).

I thought nothing of it until last night when I was writing up the case. I felt burdened. What if I was wrong? Did I just send someone home in error? Did I consider all the possible differentials, did I get the history right, did I exclude critical diagnoses?

In another year, this would be routine. I need to buck up to make sure I don't mess up.

Weird random

2010-03-20T16:28:00.003+11:00

Saw this in the command and conquer forums, made me laugh for a few mins. Back to work!

Zoop! Its March!

2010-03-18T00:26:00.004+11:00

Was gonna post pictures of Brisbane's fireworks in new year's eve 2009 but I procastinated.. yes yes.. haha! That's only one of the many things I've procastinated.. Assignments, study, among other things.

Without further bs i present you my fireworks pictures of NYE 2009.

The nights were lit with colours and light. Thanks for reading!

Random post

2010-02-07T22:52:00.001+11:00

Haha, i LOL-ed

Seaworld!

2010-01-07T19:38:00.002+11:00

Went to seaworld last month, it's one of the many theme parks in Gold coast. The park itself isn't much to talk about, its probably more geared towards kids to be honest. There isn't even any thrill rides, except one which is quite fun. :P

I did liked the dolphin show though, never seen dolphins do the tricks like that before. The show is called 'Imagine'.

It started with this guy on a motor boat coming in with the dolphin jumping in front.

Then suddenly three dolphins leaped from behind.

The dolphins can be quite cute and filled with character. It was cool how the instructors can easily control their behaviour. Best trick is this one, they pretty much reversed in this position! No idea how that is possible..

Then there's lots of jumping and flying and stuff..

And then they show us the dolphins can do more.

And finally..

Cool.. haha!

Salmon!

2010-01-01T21:14:00.003+11:00

Grilled salmon for the first time today. Followed the instructions from someone online. I had no expectations.. haha!

The marinade used for this salmon was teriyaki, which is essentially a combination of sugar, soy sauce and sake (or water).

After addind the marinade, the fish was left for about an hour, with occasional turning. Then it was put into the oven to grill for exactly 9 minutes.

After that, it's done! The marinade used earlier was pan cooked until boil then popured over the grilled salmon and its ready to serve.

Again, it doesn't look like much but it tasted great (better than initial expectations at least, haha). The meat wasn't too dry and it wasn't raw. I was happy :P

NYE 2009 pictures from Brisbane coming up next, but it wasn't that good.. the experience in Sydney 2008 was much better.

Scones!

2009-12-31T13:19:00.006+11:00

I baked some scones today, all by myself! This is how it looked like..

Not bad for first time right? I know it doesn't look like scones.. but it tasted close enough.. haha!

New Years Eve tonight, hope fireworks 2009 in Brisbane would be awesome. :)

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-30T22:57:00.004+11:00

In Brisbane now for summer holidays. Currently doing my electives term in Princess Alexandra Hospital. Respiratory team there is the best team I've ever been attached to, they were really friendly and helpful! Thanks guys! Will move on to Emergency next Monday, no idea how's that going to turn out at all.. hope it'll be a good term.

Just came back from Wet & Wild, watched a movie until about 8.00pm inside! It was an outdoor movie screening and it was cool coz it's by the pool and people can actually swim and watch the movie at the same time! Astroboy was being screened, which was cool since it was a new movie and all. Never really liked the manga/anime character coz IMO he looks gay.. haha but the movie turned out well. Maybe its coz most of the time he actually wore clothes instead of the gay red shorts in the anime :P The ending was quite heart warming as well.

On another note, I'm starting up a photography tutorial site call lightcrafters. Do pop in and have a look if you are interested and if possible, contribute an article!

Looking forward to NYE 2009 in Brisbane, hope the fireworks here will be as good as Sydney!

Brisbane Festival fireworks!

2009-09-14T08:31:00.000+10:00

This is perhaps one of the best fireworks I've attended so far. With one of my best photographing of fireworks. Although I could really benefit from a better tripod and better location :P

I also took some really bizzare pictures like this one, which looked like hairy trees in the sky.

And this one, which looked like an alien invasion.

I loved this one, look electrical to me. :)

No time to process more at this time, will update my flickr with them later.

Brisbane Festival - Fireriver

2009-09-13T22:37:00.001+10:00

Brisbane Festival - Fireriver: Dump and burn
Originally uploaded by WaySiong

Brisbane festival's fireworks was the bomb! With a duration of 30 mins it actually felt more intense than the Sydney NYE 2008 fireworks. Great choreography, great variations and great music.

Seen here is the 'dump and burn' thingy, where an F-111 jet flies by and dump fuel then igniting it with its afterburner. More pictures to be processed but the thing I learn is to get a much higher tripod.. there's this SOB blocking all my shots with his head!!

Brisbane!

2009-09-12T14:57:00.003+10:00

After a harsh experience at Sydney airport, I'm not in Brisbane. Think i only have 2 mins of internet left, waiting for the train to leave the station and leaching off the free wifi :P

Looking forward to meet my gf again :) and also the supposedly awesome Brisbane festival.

More updates later.

Apple

2009-06-14T19:39:00.005+10:00

I'm sick! runny nose, sore throat.. sigh.. must be one of the kids in Campbelltown with RSV :P On that note, I've completed my 4 week term in Campbelltown hospital, no more travelling 43km one way!

Campbelltown is a nice place to do paeds though, no other students, all the patients for yourself, all the registrars for yourself, hehe!

Anyway, just in between studying i decided to have a look at apple's site and came across the new Mac OS called the Snow Leopard.

Scrolled down a whole page that says how good and fast it is and at the end I saw this:
Good job apple! :P

The guys at apple marketing is probably the best of the best in the world.

Take this ad for example:

The most powerful iPhone yet! A bit duh rite? its comparing to itself.. of course the new one is more powerful than the old one la.. duh!

Voice control? even my old phone has it.. But i guess using voice to control music is something new. Now on the bus you will hear this:

"shuffle"

"next"

"increase volume"

"play"

Haha!

It might be a good thing though, if someone on the train blast his music and you don't like you can shout "off!" to stop it. :P

And compass.. really dunno what to say about it.. :P

Seriously though, at the rate apple is releasing their products, It would suck to buy something only to realise a few months later ur apple is rotten apple already. Slow down laa!

Oh well, that's my little thoughts on the new phenomenon.

Disclaimer:
I have nothing against apple, if you would give me a free apple product I would use it :P

GPCE

2009-05-23T23:31:00.003+10:00

Went as a student volunteer in this year's GP conference and exhibition today. It is a yearly thing held in Sydney olympic park but it was my first time attending. Supposed to be the biggest event for GPs in the Southern Hemisphere.. The thing about Australia, everything you do has the potential to be the best in the southern hemisphere, since there isn't many other people in the southern hemisphere itself with the same demographics :P

Anyway, to be honest, my main objective to attend this thing is to get free stuff. Drug reps are a medical students' best friend. U have things like pens, notepads up til really random stuff like BMI calculators, stress balls, and random junk. Best thing today was probably a 1GB thumb drive, although these things are dirt cheap now. : P

Sperm shaped stress balls!

Day was tiring though, was asked to do stupid things like preparing pig throtters for the suturing sessions. Got a suturing kit for free at the end though, but i'll need some meat and some sutures to do anything!

But to be serious, the event itself can be quite a good learning experience since volunteers are allowed to sit in on most of the talks and workshops. Was too tired to do anything though.

Time to pack up the pens! :)

PS: what do you do when a guy who threthens to suicide on a bridge obstructs traffic for 4 hours? You push him down :P . The 'victim' survived at the end.

Life of a student

2009-05-04T20:10:00.006+10:00

Saw a classic case of superior vena cava obstruction today. Patient had every single symptom and signs associated with the problem, including +ve pemberton's sign, distended veins, etc.

The thing is, I feel quite bad for feeling excited about the examination. The findings represent a grim outlook for the patient, as she has a massive mediastinal mass confirmed to be a high grade cancer.

Feel like i'm benefiting from her tragedy.

Important information regarding Swine Flu

2009-04-28T22:58:00.002+10:00

Just thought I should share this information. Its rather informative and useful.

Adapted from theStar.

What is swine influenza?

It is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. It regularly causes high flu outbreaks in pigs but with low death rates. There are four main sub-types of the virus, but the most recent isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.

How does it spread?

Swine flu viruses do not typically infect humans though they do occur through close proximity or contact with infected pigs or contaminated areas. Cases of human-to-human spread have been documented.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms are similar to those of regular flu:
- Fever
- Lethargy
- Runny nose
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Lack of appetite
- Vomiting and diarrhoea in some cases.

How common is swine flu infection in humans?

In the past reports of about one human swine flu virus infection had been received every one to two years in the United States. From December 2005 till February 2009, 12 cases have been reported.

Has this strain of flu been seen before?

No. Flu mutates constantly, so it is common for new strains to emerge. Pigs can also be infected with both human and avian influenza, and the current circulating swine flu strain appears to contain genetic elements from all three.

Can swine flu be treated with antiviral drugs and flu vaccine?

The swine flu is resistant to two common drugs – Amantadine and Rimantadine. The H1N1 swine flu viruses are very different from human H1N1 viruses. Therefore, vaccines for human seasonal flu would not provide protection. However, a “seed vaccine” has been specifically tailored to this swine flu and will be manufactured if officials deem it necessary.

Can people catch swine flu by eating pork?

No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 70ºC and above kills the swine flu virus.

How long is someone with swine flu considered contagious?

People with swine influenza virus infection should be considered potentially contagious as long as they are symptomatic; possibly for up to seven days following the onset of the illness. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.

What can I do to protect myself from the swine flu?

There is no vaccine available right now to protect against the swine flu.

However, you can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza by:

- Covering your nose and mouth with a disposable tissue or handkerchief when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the waste basket after you use it.

- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also helpful

- Try to avoid close contact with sick people. - If you get sick with influenza, stay at home and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

- Consult your nearest healthcare facility if you think you have any of the symptoms.

Which countries have had cases of the swine flu?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed human cases of swine flu in Mexico, the United States, Canada and Spain. Only Mexico has reported deaths from the new strain.

Are there any travel restrictions or advisories for Malaysians?

The Health Ministry on April 27 advised Malaysians against travelling to certain places in the United States, Mexico and Canada which have been affected by the swine flu.

What precautions are in place in Malaysia?

- The Health Ministry’s operations room in Putrajaya has started a 24-hour monitoring of the situation. The public can call 03-8881 0200/300 for enquiries.

- Those returning from Latin American countries and found to have flu-like symptoms will be quarantined.

- Health Ministry officials are conducting health screenings on passengers arriving from the United States.

- Thermal scanners will be placed at international airports to speed up the screening process for swine flu.

- Public and private medical practitioners have been instructed to report to the district health office any patient with influenza-like illnesses or severe pneumonia symptoms and who had travelled to the affected countries after April 17.

- Owners of the 797 pig farms nationwide have been ordered to immediately contact the nearest Veterinary Services Department office or the Animal Disease Control Centre if their workers or animals show symptoms linked to the swine flu.

Where can I get more information?

For more information, go to the Health Ministry (www.moh.gov.my) or call the Ministry's hotline at (03) 8881-0200/300.

Useful Links:
World Health Organization: www.who.int
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov
Homeland Security Department: www.dhs.gov
WHO swine flu page: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

Currently the situation is still under control with border controls well in place in many countries. I guess H5N1 taught everyone a good lesson on pandemic control and reaction.

Seek medical assistance ASAP if you have any flu-like symptoms.

Quack medicine!

2009-04-05T00:07:00.004+11:00

Had to say something about this:

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Health will soon introduce a two-and-a-half year diploma course in Islamic Medical Practice at a local university here.

The director of the ministry's Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM) Division, Dr Ramli Abd Ghani, told Bernama the course content was developed with the assistance of prominent local practitioners like Dr Harun Din, Datuk Amran Kasimin, Dr Hatta Sharom and other T&CM practitioners.

The aim was to train Malay healers in the true teachings of Islam and to avoid "syrik and khurafat" (polytheism) practices in some Malay-Muslim communities, he said.

Dr Ramli said the graduates, who would be certified registered practitioners, would be self-employed to treat "santau" (a kind of deadly poison coupled with magical incantations) and other spiritual problems.

They might also be employed in selected government institutions in the future, he added.

Dr Ramli said the division was also working on introducing degree courses in traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, naturopathy, homeopathy, Malay medicine, Ayurvedic medicine and Chiropractic care.

It would also introduce diploma courses in acupuncture, naturopathy, aromatherapy, reflexology and Malay massage, he added.

Dr Ramli said these courses could be offered at the International Medical University, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Inti College, Cyberjaya University College and Community College.

Most of these courses would be conducted by local lecturers and some, like Chinese traditional medicine, acupuncture and Ayurveda, might need the assistance of foreign academicians, he said.

Dr Ramli said the division was also working with the Association of Malaysian Spas (AMSPA) operators to establish local training institutions so as to develop the local spa industry for health tourism.

He gave the assurance that all these courses, which were part of the T&CM, would be properly evaluated with the cooperation of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) and it would be ensured that the practitioners provided safe and effective services.

He said the T&CM was gaining worldwide recognition, and that Malaysia would also develop this sector as it was popular among Malaysians because almost 14,000 patients had opted for the T&CM since its introduction in three government hospitals, in Putrajaya, Kepala Batas and Johore Baru, about 18 months ago.

Dr Ramli said the division was set to expand the service to three other government hospitals one each in Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak by August this year.

He said that by 2010, the T&CM service would be available in 10 government hospitals and two clinics in the country. - Bernama

Source

Seriously the minister of traditional and complementary medicine needs to resit his degree. Complementary medicine is one thing, quack is another. Degree in Naturopathy? Homeopathy? Chiropractors? Dude, don't you know these things have NO evidence at all?

Employing graduates to treat spiritual stuff in government institutions? What's he thinking? As if medical resources are not thin enough.

Med

2009-03-29T00:46:00.001+11:00

Clown Fish 2
Originally uploaded by WaySiong

Just finished medicine course two weeks ago. It was quite interesting, with 8 weeks of neurology rotation we had the opportunity to see quite a lot of interesting cases in neurology. Spending this long with the team has its perks. For one the team knows you well and you feel really incorporated with everyone. The registrars were really friendly too, had a nice dinner at Darling Harbor with them before the end of the rotation. One of them just got married, in Circular Quay!

Several patients under our care passed away during the rotation. It was quite depressing at first, since most of our patients don't really fully recover. Just found out another patient had died a few days ago. It's quite sad actually, she had literally hundreds of tests done and in the end, nobody could explain why she has persistent recurrent coma.

Saw lots of stroke patients as well since we were largely based on the strokes ward in POW hospital. Stroke patients are a sad lot. Some can't move their limbs, some can't speak, it really sucks. We had a patient that didn't speak English. One day we talked to her with an intepreter and she said she has pains everywhere. No one could understand her so nothing much was done until now.

Anyway life moves on and I'm in my surgical rotations now. Currently with the Upper GI team for 4 weeks, then moving on to Cardiothoracic. The pace is so different here, from 9am to 7am and from slow ward rounds to rapid ward rounds.

Surgeries are fun for a while until the feet hurts. Got to scrub in and help with retraction and stuff which is kinda cool :P The surgeons are quite cool too, they have a mac playing rmb music in the background while they are working.

Thanks for reading!

I'm bored

2009-03-12T00:11:00.001+11:00

DSC_1513-531
Originally uploaded by WaySiong

Just something random I found in Newcastle :P

The Journey Part 4

2008-10-10T00:08:00.002+11:00

The winds are beginning to feel chilly, the darkness is unfriendly to those outdoors. The sun has just set, some rays can still be seen in the distant horizon, residue of the light that illuminated them. A storm is forming, snowfall is fast turning into a blizzard.

Bunked in their buggy, the men held themselves close to their bodies to try to keep the heat. The ride is bumpy, and they took turns driving it towards the city. He looked into the darkening sky and wondered if she could admire the skies the way he is now. In their haste to reach the capital, there is still an ironic serenity that envelopes the surrounding. He wonders what awaits them for the next few hours.

"Tell me, why were you on the train?", asks Lee.

"I have to see someone"

"I take it's someone really important then, nobody travels much in this war"

"I've not heard from her for sometime, I need to get to her and tell her something I couldn't say in the past.", he said, looking down at his feet with his hands clasped tight.

He's not a man of many words, many thoughts forms in his mind, but only a fraction were expressed. He is like a man wearing a mask, always keeping his emotions to himself. Throughout their relationship, he had never expressed his feelings for her. They just happened to fall into a kind of unofficial relationship, tied by invisible strings of understanding. The distance didn't help, she felt apart, physically and emotionally from him.

The two buggies raced across the tundra of snow. Visibility was terrible and the ride was bumpy. In a few hours they would reach the bridge. If the capital isn't warned, they would be annihilated.

----------

The research is progressing rapidly. They've just passed through phase five of the experiment. Soon the weapon would be complete, and perhaps, they could change the tide of the war that had taken everything from her. There's nothing else that mattered, she still feels the devastation from the news.

She decided to retire to bed for the night, exhausted from the endless trials throughout the day. She looked at the picture of them together by her bed, collecting dust. She sat at the side of the bed, taking the frame of the only picture they've ever taken together, and thought about the times when they were closer together. Tears began to stream down the side of her cheeks, she held the picture closed to her chest and cried sorrowfully. It was a heartbreaking moment, the room were filled with an aura of despair.

At that moment, there was a faint knock on her bedroom door.

"Are you all right? I'm coming in"...

Max found her there and embraced her. "Everything will be okay"

She felt powerless. "It's not okay!", and pushed him away.

"Please leave me alone".

"Tell me if you need anything.", he said quietly.

"I just need some time for myself."

She slept that night with the picture of him by her side.

A day later, the weapon would be complete. They would feel her pain.

------------

"Hostiles!", screamed a soldier from the buggy behind him. Another forward scout team had tracked them down. They were good; it was almost impossible to follow their trail in this weather, yet they managed to keep up. The men began to get nervous, they might not make it in time or survive this encounter.

Captain Lee gestured to the other driver to split up, they would stand a better chance at reaching the bridge this way. He tapped the driver of his buggy on the shoulder and pointed towards the left. The driver nodded, they would head towards the woods. It'll provide some cover. He looked back at the enemy. "I see two buggies, they've split up as well. One is following us." Each buggy had a dozen soldiers. They've only got four passengers, giving them a slight speed advantage. The blizzard didn't feel like it's going to subside, at that time, low visibility is a friend. Rockets would miss more.

Bullets begin to zip pass them. Some missed by mere inches from the side of his body. Everyone tried to kept their heads down. The buggy had limited cover and no roof, exposing them to enemy fire. They began to shoot back, but the bad visibility is a double edged sword as they too cannot seem to hit the enemy. They strafed around the woods, dodging bullets and trees altogether. At random intervals, the enemy would try their luck on the rockets, but they would just hit the trees. The driver is good at his job. In a high speed chase around the woods, he managed to keep the enemy back and navigate through the dangerous turns.

----

The other buggy jumped through the foliage into a frozen lake. Ill equipped to move on ice, they skidded and drifted left and right as the driver struggled to keep the buggy moving. Miraculously, the buggy still manages to move at a high speed though control is limited. The enemy buggy in pursuit followed them into the lake. Their heavier buggy however was making slight cracks on the ice as they moved. It was like a dance of two butterflies, chasing each other in circular motion, each trying to get a clear shot at another. Gunfire was exchanged furiously. They managed to kill two of the enemy. The dead was heartlessly thrown out of the moving buggy to reduce the weight.

One of the soldiers suddenly shouted. "They're gonna fire rockets! Are they stupid!?"

The rocket left a trail of smoke as it traveled through the air towards them. The men saw their lives flash before them, thinking that their doom has come.

It didn't.

Their buggy skidded again and it swerved towards the left side. Missing the buggy, the rocket exploded instead on the ice, fracturing it. The enemy buggy noticed it too late and with their limited control, dived into the freezing water of the lake.

--------

"We can't shake them!", Captain Lee exclaimed. Bullets ricocheted at the back of the armored buggy. Occasionally, they would take pot shots at the enemy but they didn't managed to kill any. One of the soldiers saw a small package at the floor and took out a round object, about 15 centimeters in diameter. "What's this?", he asked Lee.

"There's some words on it, read it out", he answered.

"It reads.. erm... this side down." Then he flipped it to the other side, correctly orientating the object and read, "M, I, N, E".

"What's a MINE sir?", he asked, curious about the object.

"I have no idea, chuck it out the back and see what happens."

He threw it like a Frisbee to the back of their buggy, towards the enemy. It fell on the ground.

"What? it's just a piece of junk?"

The enemy buggy rolled over the mine and exploded into a furious ball of fire. It sent the buggy up the sky towards the side, hitting a tree trunk, killing everyone in it.

"WHOA!" Captain Lee says in disbelieve.

The buggy chugged and stopped.

The high speed chase had drained them of fuel.

--------

The Journey Part 3

2008-09-26T02:57:00.004+10:00

"We're set, let's move."

The men set forth to initiate their plan to escape from their predicament. Each of them knew exactly what they needed to do.

The two men continued to suppress the enemy. Three of the other men begin to plant the explosives they found on the train carriage nearest to them. The rest pulled back to an ambushing positions, hiding beneath trees and under the blanket of snow.

White flakes of snow begin to fall as they exchanged gunshots.

The two men on defense managed to kill at least three of the enemy. Everyone is at their positions. Captain Lee signaled at them with a hand gesture. They immediately stopped firing and went into hiding.

Then there was silence in the air. The snow is falling much heavier now. Visibility was reduced to about five feet.

Everyone was shivering, from the cold and the fear. They are going to confront 21 enemies. It won't be easy.

Unsuppressed, the enemy begin to close into their position quickly. They climbed through the wreckage where the men were hiding. They were greeted by silence and dead bodies scattered around. Something is terribly out of place.

"FALL BAC..."

"Now"

One of the men pressed a remote trigger. After about half a second of delay, the train carriage were consumed in a violent explosion of three explosives. Shockwave were heard from a few miles away. The whole area was engulfed in think black smoke. There wasn't even time to scream, the men simply perished. A whole squad of them was killed in that very moment.

The eight men sprung out from their hiding, taking the already stunned remaining enemies completely by surprise. They managed to kill all of them, leaving only one survivor.

Captain Lee planted his rifle on the ground and walked towards the soldier. He was already wounded by a shot in the thigh. Blood was oozing out from the wound. He grabbed the soldier on the neck and dragged him up. Then with much anger and hatred landed a solid punch on the face.

The soldier etched a wicked smiled and said, "We're coming, and you can't stop us. We will take everything from you." Captain Lee threw the soldier to the ground, grabbed his pistol in a swift motion and let loose three shots into the man's head.

Snow was piling up, it is time to move.

"They must have a vehicle nearby", said one of the men. True enough, the enemies travelled with a pair of snow buggies. With all the supplies they could carry, they settled into the buggies and moved on.

"Where are we going?", he asked the Captain.

"If there are here, it means they just took our town. They must be a forward scout team, which explains why they are so underequipped."

He stopped talking and suddenly looked shocked. Turning slowly towards him he said, "There is only one reason why they are here, the train travels through the only passageway into the capital city. They are planning a final invasion."

"We'll need to head towards the Bridge of Exen and warn the Capital."

With due haste, they eight of them sped towards the city. It is already dark by then, snow still falls lazily to the ground but visibility has improved somewhat. It was somewhat a peaceful and serene moment.

The journey would last about eight hours, they could only hope they'd have enough fuel.. Time is of the essence.

----------------

The Journey Part 2

2008-09-25T00:57:00.005+10:00

She was up earlier than usual today. The sky outside her window was still dark, dawn has not broken yet. Though small, the apartment doesn't feel cramped at all. In fact, funded by federal funds, it is well furnished and a relatively comfortable crib. Unfortunately for her, there was no time to enjoy it.

The room felt empty without him anyway.

After washing up she headed straight to the lab. Today an important breakthrough may be possible, she was sure of it. She started to work on the experiment straight away.

She was just about to initiate her experiment; one hand holding a test tube, the other holding a beaker. The professor entered the room, together with max, her research partner of two years. They have a gloomy look in their faces.

Something is terribly wrong, she can feel it.

"There's something you need to know.. twelve hours ago we lost contact with the town of Prixma. Reports were sketchy but we last heard that they were bombed"

"There are no survivors."

The last word echoed in her ears. There are no sur-vi-vors..

Prixma is her hometown, it is also where he lived. They had been friends since childhood. She still remembers the grass in the field where they used to play. Everything is gone. He's gone.

She dropped the test tube. It fell to the floor, shattering into many pieces.. the sound of the breaking glass echos in the silence of the room.

She kneels down on the floor, cutting her knees from the glass fragments. The pain from that injury pales in comparison with the pain in her heart. The loss was so sudden it was incomprehensible.. She can't accept it.

And she let out a scream. A scream of despair and pain. Her heart shattered like the test tube. The scream was filled with despair and terror that it sends shivers to everyone in that room. Tears began to flow, they drop to the floor mixed with blood and glass. It was tragic.

Her thoughts are filled with regrets. One month, that's how long she'd stopped contacting him. She thought it would be better if she drown herself in work. She thought she can suppress how much she misses him.

Max helped her to get on her feet again and embraced her.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Max was his classmate back in graduate school. While he chose to serve the army, max decided to further his research. "There is more fame and fortune in research." They used to be best of best friends but circumstances had changed. The war had changed many things since then, he lost his family to the enemy and chose to seek his revenge by serving the army, even though it means it will put a distance between him and her.

Unknowingly to him, his relationship with her is the real reason why they were no longer friends.

----------

The train had turned into a barricade against the approaching enemy. Taking cover behind the burning wreakage, the survivors of the assault tried to hold them off as much as they can. The other civilians were dead, only eight survived. Of the nine carriages, three were completely destroyed, two was burning and the rest was overturned.

The man that saved him turned out to be a captain. Captain Lee was a war veteran, known for his charisma and his brilliant strategies. While the six of them got together to discuss their situation, mortar shells can be heard exploding around them. Dirt were thrown around from the impact. The remaining two soldiers tried to buy some time by pinning down the enemy with sustained fire.

"We have to get out of here, but just running is pointless. We'll be gunned down easily. A tactical retreat is the only way."

He gestured at the other two soldiers. "Gather as many weapons and ammunition as you can." They simply nodded and went in one direction each, covering as many grounds as possible. Fortunately for them, the train was a military train that carried some war supplies.

The air is getting cold as the breeze of early winter begins to take hold. Behind them was a tundra of snow, which began to built up since a month ago. There was a river and some trees scattered about. The burning train turned out to be a blessing in the blistering cold. The sky is getting darker as the sun sets beneath the horizon.

"What are we up against?" he questioned the two men on defense.

"I eye two squads of twelve men each. Both squads were equipped with standard rifles and mortars. They are approaching on a pincer formation."

"As we're still here, I guess they ran out of rockets, how fortunate.." Lee said to himself.

He looked up towards the darkening sky and close his eyes for a moment. Then looking back down on the ground he started to draw some figures on the snow.

"Here's the plan:"

---------

She had been consumed by rage. Never had she hated the enemy as much as today, never had she cared about the war. His death had struck the cord.

"They must PAY."

As if on a trance, she started to work endlessly around the clock in the lab. Now she barely sleeps, sometimes only taking 20 minute naps in between the experiments. There is only one aim in her mind, to destroy them the way they destroyed her heart. Even the professor had lost track of the experiment. She is now in control.

Through these times, she grew closer and closer to Max, who provided her with technical and emotional support. She felt guilty of being so, but her heart is too vulnerable now.

What happened on the day she heard of the news turned out to be an important breakthrough for the experiment. The chemical they were testing with were always producing negative results. Something was stunting the chemical process.

Now there is a solution. The shattered test tube, mixed with the chemical and blood appeared to accelerate the process. Shattered glass particles for some unfathomable reason acts as a catalyst for the reaction.

Nobody knew about it until the afternoon that day, when her blood were noticed to had frozen in place on the ground where it was left.

Exactly the reaction they wanted.

----------

The Journey

2008-09-23T02:29:00.006+10:00

It was cold and mists filled the air. Over the horizon streaks of golden rays appear through the morning clouds. Dews on leaves forms droplets and fall to the soft and moist soil beneath. This morning is different, though cold, it feels fresh.

It has been four years. Time went by so long it doesn't mean anything anymore. The past remained a vivid memory, the present remain incomplete, the future, unknown. Everything that began that four years ago changed how life played out for him. Sometimes he wonders why it has to be done this way. The little time they had together is never enough.

He had waited forever for this day, after many long and painful months it'd be time again for their meet. He knew deep in his heart, no matter how long it takes, he'd wait patiently to see her.

Today is the day, the day the journey begins. Time will not be in the way.

He remembers everything she says. "I'll be waiting". He sets out to the train station. The fresh air is like a greeting, an encouragement for him to take his long journey towards the one that's important to him. Everything's feel right, everything will work out today.

----

Work had been a heavy burden. Today the professor wanted another run at the experiment. It has been the fifth time they have been doing that today. Wiping away the frustration from her face, she tried to etch another fake smile. "I'll get to it right away", she says.

There were times when she felt like giving up, not just the experiment, but the relationship with him. It has been a month since they talked. Work has drained all her energy, all her motivation, all her emotions. They were too far apart, it felt empty.

She remembered the old days well, when everyday was as bright as a newborn star. The joy of holding the hands of the one she held dear. Deep inside, she misses those solitary moments of bliss. Thinking of that gave her a real smile as she held her hands close to her chest with her eyes closed.

"Results?!"

The dreaded voice broke her brief moment with herself, it was back to the harsh reality of work.

-------

He stared at the map of the little town where he stayed. Dotted lines stream out from the center, indicating rail lines. "Single ticket please."

The morning is now bustling with many other passengers in the train terminal. The sky looked cloudy and there was a slight breeze blowing on his cheeks.

He sat down by the side of the terminal alone on a small green bench. It was cold from the morning. His mind has too many thoughts for it to matter. As he breathed, mist puffed out. He thought of what he would say to her when he meets. Too many things to say, yet too little things to say. He wanted to tell her everything that he's been doing for the past month. He wanted to tell her how he missed her. He wanted to tell her soon he will be further apart. It pains his heart.

He just got transferred. It would take a month's of travels to reach her this time. The war had not been going well, men were dying and had to be replaced. He was next.

This would be the last time he can see her.

He waited, and waited. There was no sign of the train approaching. It is now half an hour delayed.

It is an agonizing wait. The few months worth of wait felt like nothing compared to these few minutes.

-------
She finally got home. After a quick shower and late dinner she headed straight towards the bed.

"Tomorrow would be a better day." She muttered to herself, knowing that it is a lie.

Life in the research department isn't what she wanted. Her talents were however picked up by the professor. Obligated by law, she had to help the government develop their weapon against the enemy.

Time is against them, territories are lost by the day. Unless there was a technological breakthrough, they are all doomed.

She closes her eyes and went to another sleep that lasts three hours.

-------

The train finally approaches. Puffs from the steam engine are clearly visible from afar. A mixed feeling of frustration and relief envelopes his already messed up thoughts.

He sat by the window. The train carriage wasn't full. There were gloomy faces everywhere, the war had killed many and left the others alone with themselves. Some were dressed in the army's clothes.

He looked out of the window, the train station shrunk as the train eased away. It will be a long ride through what's left of their country.

"I'm coming to you," he smiles to himself, looking at the sky. Then he slept.

-------
"Get out! get out!" He was awakened from his slumber suddenly, still dazed and confused at what is happening. Explosions can be heard from the distance. The carriage was overturned, fire is everywhere. The man who shouted at him pulled him out of his seat and helped him get onto his feet.

"Let's get out from here, we just took a bomb shell". They both climbed out through the top of the carriage which was once the side window. The sky is dark and smoke is everywhere. Gunfire can be heard everywhere, it was a complete chaos.

The solders that were with the train tried to mount a defense, but they could not stop the onslaught of the enemy. Outnumbered and outgunned, there was nothing much they could do but delay the inevitable.
----------

Photography

2008-09-03T18:48:00.003+10:00

Been a while since I've logged in to blog :P Was preoccupied with photography and ILP and I'm just plain lazy hehe!

Did my first wedding assignment last month for Camei, learnt quite a lot of things about lighting and using flash. Thanks to Zhong for loaning me his weapons :P

Pics can be seen here and here.

Overrall it was allright although some parts can be improved. Stupid me set F2.8 for all shots.. :P The wedding was unconventional as well as the theme was Gothic..

Then Bodhi Nite came and I joined in with Unibud's archive department as one of their official photographers. It was fun and pics were of acceptable quality, so I was happy. :)

The people there having huge rocket launchers I mean L lens makes me feel very small.. :P

Theirs:
Mine:
Pictures can be seen here:

Set 1
Set 2
Set 3
Set 4
Set 5

Will update on the trip soon, stay tuned :)

New Zealand Day 1

2008-08-01T00:17:00.010+10:00

Been awhile since I last looked at the blog. I guess my attention was taken away by other priorities =)

Morning of day 1:
Christchurch winter's is at all time high that month. Coming from Sydney's weather really didn't prepare me for the wind chills. Decided to head on straight to our first attraction in Christchurch that morning about 10am. There was a free shuttle service from the airport to the International Antarctic Center. It's actually just about 5 to 10 mins walk away from the airport but not that convenient with all our bags and the cold.

Managed to find a place to store our luggage while entering the site. The rate is reasonable so we placed it for about 3 hours if I remember correctly.

There are three main highlight of the place.

The first one is a room to simulate an antarctic storm. It's basically a hugh fridge with a powerful fan to chill you down to negative temperatures.. Quite freaky to be honest.

These kids have no idea what's gonna happen soon

Next is the Hagglund ride. It's basically a modified armoured personnel carrier from the people that brought you the swiss cheese.

The driver will take u through a quite cool ride like jumping across ledges, falling a bit, tilting a bit, floating a bit (it's amphibious). Quite cool and fun, I like.. Too bad they dun allow second rides..

The last thing there is the penguins. These guys are pain in the a*** to photograph.. they never stay still! The first time I wanted a tele lens begins here.. These penguins are apparently adopted and are deformed in one way or another. It's part of a rehab program or something.

There's also a section to see them swim underwater.

After this I was like.. what's next?

Then I realised we finished the whole attraction.. What a dissapointment..

Verdict: cool but not worth the price.. :P

And then we left on one of the shuttles. We took the coolest looking one for NZ4 a way.

So next we head on for the city.

Christchurch's cathedral square is quite impressive. Had our lunch there before checking in to our backpacker. The cathedral is quite pretty, so I made a HDR picture of it.

We booked a place at Cokers Backpacker.. it's simply the worse out of all the backpackers we're stayed in. The room is cold, there's only one small lamp and everywhere feels a bit dirty. Guess that's what we get for the price we pay.

Afterwards we head on to check out the city.

There's a weird cup thing in the square, didn't check out what it's really called or bothered to check out the history. But the design is weird.. haha!

Then we went to Pak & Save, something like Coles in Aussie and grabbed some stuff to eat. It wasn't enough.. haha! our attempt to cut cost failed.. coz that night we went to maccas to grab a burger.. Our fast food spree begins!

New Zealand Trip - Day Zero

2008-06-25T03:09:00.004+10:00

Day zero. Finally arrived at Christchurch airport.. it's quite cold this time of the year and the first thing that was obvious once we stepped into the place was the mist out of our mouths.. :P Arrived about 12.30 a.m and we're still hanging out at the airport until morning. It's already 5 am now but I can't sleep.. street sleeping just isn't my thing eh?

While back in Sydney I took some pictures from the observation deck, wished I had a tele lens then so I can take pictures of planes and such.. :P

Christchurch airport isn't the biggest of the airports the airports that I've been to. My favourite so far has to be Singapore's Changi airport. They provide free wifi internet access. Here, I'm limited to a 15 minute wifi access. 8 minutes has passed.. darn.. haha!

Once we arrived we were "sniffed" by this cute little guy.

Although it's cute, it's a bit annoying coz it leaves some of it's fur around our bags.. haha!

Anyway, time's up.. :( Day one will begin shortly come dawn, and it's time to put the D80 to the test ;) Will update if I can.

Just another day? :P

2008-06-06T10:59:00.002+10:00

Woke up for breakfast today (it's a rare thing for me).

My orange juice froze in my cup.. -_- It's pretty bizarre..

Oops.. Gotta get ready to see my ILP supervisor.. So lazy to walk up to POW hospital..

Aliens visited my school

2008-05-17T02:51:00.004+10:00

Somewhere in my memory suddenly sparked a short vision of my primary school. I grew up studying in S.M.K Stowell, one of the earliest primary schools in mainland Penang. Anyway, while just sitting around in my room, I remembered what Cikgu Rosli told us back in Stowell. I don't remember the year but he was described to us a story about aliens in Stowell. Being young kids, we were really amazed by that story, but it was just buried in my memory until that day. I went to Google and searched "Bukit Mertajam, Alien", and to my amazement, there really is several articles about the Alien story that Cikgu Rosli told us about. It was widely reported in the local papers that day, and apparently similar episodes were encountered in several states as well.

The aliens of my former school was unlike normal aliens. They are miniatures, barely 3 inches tall. I remember Cikgu Rosli telling us about a book that has all these stories, but he never showed us. Someone in a forum posted this:

Apparently the aliens look like clowns with star pattern on their shirt and pointy boots. :P Kids back at those days have no imagination? :P

1970 - A ten year old student in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia reported seeing about 25 landed small objects among the bushes just outside school grounds. From each of the objects emerged a three inch tall humanoid. As he approached the UFOs the school bell rang and he returned to class and did not see the objects depart. After school six school boys in the same village reported seeing a very small disc-shaped object, blue in color, land in some bushes near their school. Five little men described as merely three inches tall emerged from the object. One was dressed in a yellow suit and the other four wore blue uniforms. They were seen installing some type of aerial on a tree branch that apparently sent out signals. The boys became frightened and ran away. (Source: Albert S. Rosales, Humanoid Contact Database 1970, case # 812, citing Ahmad Jamaluddin, FSR, Vol. 28, # 5).

CASE 3: Bukit Mertajam, 1973
A group of boys playing football in a school field sighted a small UFO landed nearby. From it emerged tiny creatures which immediately one of the boys tried to catch. A beam of light was fired at the boy’s hand. The UFO flew away.

I remember asking my parents about this and apparently they remember about the issue. Somehow the whole thing died down. I guess it's all the space hype that the cold war and the sapce race generated sparked all these ufo sightings. This is a weird entry, haha! I hope you are entertained :P

My first DSLR

2008-05-03T01:32:00.002+10:00

After toying for almost two years, I finally made the move to get a DSLR. Goodbye Panasonic FX-9, you have been an excellent camera. Hello Nikon D-80, you are so complicated I haven't finished reading your manual..

Got the camera off ebay at a reasonable price, the camera was shipped from Hong Kong within three days! The D80 is pretty heavy, but Nikon really knows how to build it so that it feels perfectly in my grip.

SLR photography is quite difficult, but it's really fun to learn all the tricks of the trade. The hobby does require a substantial amount of $$$$ though.. which I don't have.. lol!

Did a first test run in UNSW at night with choy the other day, results were not as good as I hope coz there's a few aspects that I needs to learn about. It's slow but I'm getting a hang of it.

The next thing I tried to do was to set up a mini-studio in my room for my Gundam. I dun have all the expensive lights, so I just use my kiam siap table lamps.

It turned out.. OK, but not very good, still have much to learn..

D80 is so exciting!

Dinosaurs!

2008-04-20T19:16:00.007+10:00

Dinosaurs are here in Sydney! Until 8th of June, the Australia Museum is holding an exhibition for dinosaurs.. :P It's all Kirby's fault, we got dragged to attend it last Saturday, but it was fun and worth it (only $5!).

Even before we went in there's this t-rex head wanting to eat the visitors already. We're like little kids, hehe! dinosaur! dinosaur!

The first thing they decide to show off was the big tall brontosaurus,

These guys are so tall, it's nearly impossible to take pictures with them..
Kirby was like, I want to see T-rex! But there's no t-rex that day, only this Giantosaurus, supposedly larger than the t-rex so t-rex got degraded already.. :P
The Raptors are also there trying to eat everyone,
Triceratops!

Then there's this 'siau kia', didn't got to read the description.. :P

I like this one the best, it looks so jurrasic park-ish
Finally, the one weird thing I noticed about most of the bones..

What's this?? How come the pelvic bone extend like that.. as if it forms the bone for something else.. haha!

There's also another skeleton section that's not part of the dino exhibition, it's quite cool actually. The most creative one is this:

The skeleton guy is sitting on the chair reading a book, holding a leash for a dog.

Look properly and then you'll see there's a cat and a mouse at the background..

This is so cool.. the mouse is even trying to crawl into a hole.. :P Even the bird in the cage is just bones..

It was a fun outing, anyway, thanks for reading! :)

Red Bull FlugTag

2008-04-07T22:05:00.006+10:00

Last Saturday there was this random event hosted by Red Bull called the Red Bull FlugTag. Apparently it was the first time this event was held here, and it attracted a whooping 60000 people!

According to the website, they say the event is:

A uniquely loony competition, Red Bull Flugtag, involves manpowered flying machines and crazy pilots attempting to launch themselves off a 6m ramp and into the water below!

The event wasn't that good though.. there were too many people that we can't get a good view at all. Initially we were standing in a really ideal location where we can see the whole ramp, but then this ferry came and parked right in front of it, blocking out way :(

The 'flying' machines they bought were really random.. they really put quite a lot of effort for something that will just drop into the water and break apart.. haha
This one is my favourite :P
This one is just.. wrong.. four men and a butterfly..

This one not bad, they have the best costumes IMO :P These guys are the grey nurses.. Just wrong..

I like these guys best, they have anime hairs! :P And lastly, I think this team won the competition in the end

The whole thing was pretty boring in the end, the teams just take turns falling into the water and that's it.. No idea how thing event could attract so many people..

After that we went for lunch in this place called wagamama.. It's the only restaurant we could find that were open around the place.. haha! we're so sap pai..

It's a japanese restaurant run by ang mohs with an indian cook.. Best combo..

I ordered this:

It's called Chilli Chiken Udon or something like that.. the bowl is huge but the portions aren't really.. haha!

Hope you've enjoyed the read ;)

Assignments done!

2008-03-15T00:57:00.004+11:00

Yeay! submitted my assignments, so I'm geared to focus on the ICE for the next two weeks. Hope I have enough time though..

Just some pictures for fun.. :P

These two guys are fighting out on my table while I was studying. My table is a dangerous battlefield.. :P

You know what this is? It's the law library!

I swear it's a spaceship in disguise!

Peculiar Stuff

2008-02-25T21:30:00.003+11:00

Went to city for Thai with Tuck Seng, Wu Chuan and Keh Min today. On the way we saw a really peculiar sight of hundreds of bats migrating. At first I thought they were birds but it's actually large bats. The lines are endless.. wonder what's gonna happen to Sydney coz animals have some sort of six sense right? A little bit freaky now that I thought of it..

On another note, we realised that the University now has free uniwide service, means we have wireless connection on campus! There's no connection in my room though, it's a damn conspiracy so that the colleges can squeeze the juice from their students..

Gearing up!

2008-02-24T23:06:00.004+11:00

I have around a month left before D-day. Study progress is going well but there's still plenty to do.. I still have to finish up my medical case and find a patient for my surgical case.. Sutherland Hospital HAS NO SURGICAL CASE! I guess that's the downside of getting attached to a Shire, everyone gets transferred to major city hospitals to do their procedures..

Today was pretty hectic, got my first senior duty for the weekend and its driving me nuts.. Got so many calls today for so many random stuffs.. I'm developing phobia to the ringtone of the senior phone.. I swear my heart beat faster when it rings.. Can't study either.. everytime i settle down the damn thing rings!

Anyway, watched this anime not long ago and I really liked it! It's called 'The girl who leapt through time' or '時をかける少女 Toki o Kakeru Shōjo' in Japanese. Like the title, it's about a girl who found out suddenly that she could jump through time and repeats things she liked to do, reverse outcomes she doesn't like and so on. All until the end where the twist of the story comes, and the boy she didn't realise she loved had to dissapear. It's beautifully told in a semi-matrix like style and extremely well detailed in the arts department. The character is developed well too. It's filled with lots of emotions and expressions and it's definitely worth the watch.

Some screens:

And finally a note for people having exams like me..

Ok.. back to work again.. ;) Thanks for reading everyone!

By the way, had a most random search keyword that pointed to my blog: "korean barbecue klcc medical center". Korean barbeque then KLCC, then medical center??

Quote of the day: "A flower lasts a day, a smile lasts forever"

Travel

2008-02-04T22:31:00.000+11:00

Clinical sessions are great, but travelling aint.. 4 hours three times a week spent just on the bus and train is both tiring and time wasting..

Into the oblivion...

The 'joy' of cooking

2008-01-29T19:56:00.000+11:00

Today we nearly triggered the fire alarm, and nearly turned half the college against us..

Today our frying pan caught fire.. haha! The fire was almost a foot high and the smoke was almost out of hand.. :P Luckilly there's the exhaust fan sucking them out and the windows are open. I'm not the one holding the pan by the way.. :P haha!

No idea how it happened, but it sure is exciting.. lol!

Australia Day

2008-01-29T14:01:00.000+11:00

It's my second week back at IH, and everything is settled now. Class has started as usual, early wake-ups to travel two hours to hospital in the morning are also happening as usual.. The only thing out of the ordinary is that the IH kitchen is closed.. -_-

So.. we have to cook our own meals..

There's only one small problem le.. I dunno how to cook!

So on our first grocery shopping, we bought ingredients to cook the easiest thing after instant noodles! --> french instant noodle --> pasta!

Its so easy noobs like me can cook it.. lol! I'm proud of my product though.. haha!

After cooking pasta for three days straight we realised that we can't do this forever.. haha! So next we experimented with fried rice.. which IMHO was really great.. haha! I like my fried rice, even though there's nothing in it but rice, soy sauce, pepper (LOTS of it), mushrooms and ginger and onion (nearly cried cutting those, lol).

Gotta think of the next thing to cook.. else it's maccas for the rest of the month.. gulp!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, one of the events that we could catch coming back so early is Australia Day on the 26th of January. Australia day is such a huge thing that i've never seen so many people congested on the streets, the Hyde park and the Darling harbour.. it's like.. ants!! We went at night to darling harbour to catch the fireworks. The huge number of people is kinda annoying.. coz there's no place for me to set up the tripod to take pretty pictures.. So in the end all my shots end up crap.. sigh..

There's insane amount of people here
Tons of people there
Watching a huge television on a floating stage in the middle of the harbor. (it's showing some nationalistic materials)

There's a ferris wheel ride here resembling the 'eye on malaysia' ride in taman titiwangsa too, although somehow it looked like a smaller version.

We went up to a overhead bridge so that we could see everything better. Come night, the array of lights and boats entertained the crowds.

It was really nicely orchestrated, with cool sound effects and lighting and things..

Then the fireworks came into action :P
It was the first time I've seen a lense flare in my camera. Our location was crap though, we pretty much got a side view of the fireworks.. sighs..

This one looked like tracers of anti-aircraft guns.. lol

By five minutes the whole place is totally covered with smoke. All my shots that night were crap.. sigh..

By the end of the fireworks, the boats are nicely tucked at the side, still with their colourful lights on.

Australians are very nationalistic, they sang their national song with pride and decorated themselves with lots of Australian flags.

I'm surprised with the turnout of the day.. really surprised.. :P
Happy Australia Day!

One day left..

2008-01-17T05:05:00.000+11:00

One last day to spend at home, then it's time to go again..

Short holiday sucks big time.. sigh..

Leaving home

2008-01-09T19:49:00.000+11:00

In less than ten days It'll be time for me to leave home. Should really be studying now but I'm so lazy nowadays.. The upcoming viva exam is kinda freaking me out.. On a positive note, I'm quite successful in compressing the Tally book.. Soon i'll be able to cover the book in about five days.

Didn't met any friends from home this time round.. Kinda too late to say "hey guys, i'm home" and I have no idea how to say it now. Not really in the mood to go out as well.. wondering why.. Anyway, I'd probably drop some of them a call or something.

The holidays were nice though, traveled to KL a few times to meet my her. Man the shopping centers keep sprouting like mad. Old time favorites like Mid valley and Pyramid got upgraded and there's new places like The Pavillion. Pavillion looks posh and things are quite expensive, but I kinda like it coz it doesn't feel cramped. Mid Valley is filled with people the last time I was there. That was a huge headache.. Met these guys in space suits in Alamanda Putrajaya too. They were promoting a space exhibition in Alamanda that day. The suits are pretty cool, the make cool spacy sounds when they walk..

Anyway, It's nice being home. I like my food, I like my bed, I like to know that my gf's relatively closer :P.

My camera's finally fixed from the freak accident at Newcastle and I got myself a new laptop. The Inspiron 1520 is a charm and works pretty well, except for some vista related issues that keep coming up.. I miss windows xp..

On my trip back I had the chance to fly aboard the A380 with Singapore Airlines. The flight was great and it quite live up to the hype they've been building on since last year. Unfortunately for economy class people like me I don't get the chance to try out the cool bed and bar and stuff..

Too bad for me I had to reduce myself to using my handphone to take the pictures.. I hope it didn't turn out too bad.. Luckilly for me i'm not the only 'sua pa kao' (hokkien for swamp monkey) there as there are quite a lot of people taking shots of the new plane.

Apparently in the aviation industry a few inches mean a lot.. translated to my viewpoint.. it's negligible.. lol! I put more emphasis on foot space and it's not really that much of an improvement in that sense.. But the round windows are certainly cool.. :P
The onboard entertainment system is top notch as well. He's a look at the monitor which is slightly larger than the usual size.

The new system also has a USB slot and a LAN cable port for use in conjunction with it's on board office program, the 'Star Office writer'.

However, with a keyboard like this It's hard to imagine how anyone would want to write anything with that program.. So it's just for show and syok only.. haha!
The remote itself looked like this: it certainly looked sexy.. haha!

Halfway through the flight I was wondering where the lights were, you know, the usual lights were installed on the top of the seats but it's no where to be found.. Then I realised it's here:
It's below the monitor! Damn cool man..

Didn't take any shots of the toilet though, but it's cool.. Hehe!

And man, the wing is huge..

That's all I guess, thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T19:35:00.000+11:00

hello everyone, just to wish you all a merry christmas! :)

Journal article on Magic??

2007-12-22T14:35:00.000+11:00

So some researchers have nothing better to do.. so they decided to pick up a few harry potter books and came out with a study called: "Origins of magic: review of genetic and epigenetic effects".

It's weird.. haha! Everything is done so professionally that you woould think it's a real study.. Hang on.. it is a real study.. check this out:

Abstract

Objective To assess the evidence for a genetic basis to magic.

Design Literature review.

Setting Harry Potter novels of J K Rowling.

Participants Muggles, witches, wizards, and squibs.

Interventions Limited.

Main outcome measures Family and twin studies, magical ability, and
specific magical skills.

Results Magic shows strong evidence of heritability, with familial
aggregation and concordance in twins. Evidence suggests magical ability to be a
quantitative trait. Specific magical skills, notably being able to speak to
snakes, predict the future, and change hair colour, all seem heritable.

Conclusions A multilocus model with a dominant gene for magic might exist,
controlled epistatically by one or more loci, possibly recessive in nature.
Magical enhancers regulating gene expressionmay be involved, combined with
mutations at specific genes implicated in speech and hair colour such as FOXP2
and MCR1.

The even quoted a twin study from the book..

Twin studies: Although assumptions are made, complete genetic determination
of a disease would result in monozygotic twins being concordant.12 The two
pairs of twins in the Harry Potter books, the Patil and Weasley twins, are
monozygotic and both have magical abilities. Although two sets of twins is a
small sample size, the finding does add credence to the idea of magic being a
genetically determined trait.
This is weird. Certainly not something I expect to see from BMJ :P
References:
Ramagopalan et. al. (December 2007). Origins of magic: review of genetic and epigenetic effects. BMJ 2007;335:1299-1301. Retrieved December 22 2007 from http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/335/7633/1299

Modelling kits

2007-12-15T19:03:00.000+11:00

Bought a cheap Gundam model from a shop in the place opposite QVB, making one is quite a fun. Made another one last time so this one is no new adventure. Thought I'd write about it a little. :)

This is the model I worked on, 'High grade' 1/144 scale Mobile Ginn from Gundam Seed. The 'high grade' is actually one of the cheapest grade available, don't let Bandai fool you.

This is my working space, it's just my normal table with ample lighting.

These modelling kits come with the parts placed in plastic frames where you take it out from called the 'runner'. More advanced people would spray colour these runners before starting their work, but I'm a beginner so no colouring.

Taking them out piece by piece and sticking them together is basically what it is, Bandai has made some cheats into their models coz you don't need any cement or anything, just snap lock them and they work.

That's a torso and a completed arm and parts of the left arm left. In no time they will be this:
Finally, with the legs together you'll get something like this:
This one is quite good, the joints are very articulate and you can use it to make many kinds of poses, including weird ones.. haha!

It takes around 3 hours to finish this, so it's fairly simple. If you have more cash, you could get more advanced models with articulating fingers. It's a great thing to kill time and to add some nerd decors to your room. :P

A good tutorial can be found here.

Just for fun

2007-12-15T18:56:00.000+11:00

This is my dog, STORM a.k.a "tin kosong", hehe!

That day half of IH was awakened by this fella chirping like nobody's business, took of pic of it coz it looked like it's wearing some kind of mask :P

I'm home!

2007-11-22T16:06:00.000+11:00

I'm finally home :) Will talk about the trip home and stuff later but here's a quick link to a donation site.

Freerice

Through the site, you can enhance your vocabulary and donate rice to reduce world hunger at the same time. Try it!

Another template mess

2007-11-08T20:56:00.000+11:00

Template's getting messed up again, haha! Bored of the last one.. :P

Mafia!

2007-11-04T01:20:00.000+11:00

Took this picture in Foundations Day's Dinner just for fun;

Yesterday we took another one during the End of Session dinner;

Mafia family reunion!

And then there's the mafia extented :P

Thanks guys, IH was fun coz of all of you ;)

The future of Cili Padi

2007-10-31T23:13:00.000+11:00

Instead of exporting palm oil, we might one day start exporting our cili padi.

Apparently the capsaicin (the chemical that give chilli the hot taste) contained in cili can be used to reduce post operative pains by exploiting the numbing effect it has on nerves, the TRPV 1 receptors to be exact. This effectively leads to reduced use of pain killers and opiates.

Full story here

This is a very clever move that may well revolutionize medicine in a few years to come.

The Reality Nobody likes

2007-10-29T20:31:00.000+11:00

For the past week I've seen many happy moms with their new and cute babies. For them, every vomit, nausea, frequency, heartburn, frequent visits to the doctors and the many troubles of carrying 11kgs around are rewarded by the first cries of their baby and the first cuddles.

Today though, I was tagging along with Dr. Newton and we had to follow up on a mother who just gave birth to a baby. Unlike most of the other babies, this baby is one of the two babies on average that gave birth with a limb malformation:

The baby didn't have a left hand.

The session was quiet saddening. We can see the mother slowly coming into tears while her mother wipes them away from the side of the bed. Dr. Newton were quite empathic, slowly giving her the time she needs to digest the situation and understand what's going to happen for the baby next. She clearly explained things that needs to be done and what's the prospects are for the baby.

The thing I realised about the mother is how some guilt seems to seep into their mind. We read in books that often parents will wonder if what they do during the pregnancy caused the problem. Everyone needs to blame someone, or something for any mishaps. How did it happen? What could we have done? Questions that are difficult to answer for us.

I guess all we can do is to do our best to be understanding.

Thanks for reading :)

Babies!

2007-10-28T19:25:00.001+11:00

Beginning, Growths and Development is by FAR 100 times better than Society and Health! Just gone over Obstetrics and Gynecology and now we're moving on to Paediatrics. Handling babies are really cool, but it's really scary though. The mom says she can easily tell if we ever had kids just by looking at how we're handling the babies.. The baby feel really fragile, I'm so scared i'll break something or injure the baby somehow.. haha!

Babies are cute! I know everyone knows that but they are so so cute.. :P The nicest thing to do is to do the grasp reflex, coz the baby will grab your finger if you stroke the palms, hehe!

BUT, when babies cry, it really sucks.. You can't palpate the abdomen, you can't hear the lungs and the heart you can't do much! Not to mention the poo.. haha! Scary black stuff.. :P

Had to travel a lot for this though.. It's really far away from Uni, even further than Sutherland Hospital.. It sucks..

Anyway, more to come, thanks for reading!

UFO video

2007-10-07T20:14:00.000+10:00

It's pretty easy to make fake UFO videos now but this one looks pretty convincing.

Living without the computer

2007-10-04T18:34:00.000+10:00

Two weeks ago i dropped my camera during the trip to Newcastle. Now it's sitting on the shelf waiting to be buried.

The day after that, my laptop died. While playing a game called cnc3, the enemy launched a nuclear bomb in my base. The explosion looked something like this:

Then suddenly, a few seconds after the bomb went off, the screen suddenly flashed and weird random gibberish stuff comes up. I was like, "wtf?".

The gibberish stuff was also in windows. Even after restarting, it's still there! In fact, it's in the BIOS loading screen!

The nod nuke blew up my graphics card..

That cost me AU$266.60...

It's funny how I realised how dependent i am to my computer.. I'm so dependent it's pathetic.. I actually hang out downstairs at the computer room of IH more because of this.. :P Found a random side shooter game and it had became my staple for 2 weeks.. lol!

Oh well, the Muslims fast for their Ramadan, I fast by giving up my computer..

Found something else to occupy my time during this period of 'starvation' though. Never in my life I would imagine having to read a novel to pass my time.. it was interesting though, instead of going an anime episode by episode, I was reading chapter by chapter.. There is entertainment other than the computer! (i am such a nerd :P)

Nevertheless, a few days ago Dell decided to do me good by sending the graphics card over. Guess what, the package originated from Bayan Lepas, Penang.. That's the building I can see from my house! That Dell building that were there since I dunno when that I never cared about.. haha!

Anyway, I was excited of course. So i called Dell tech support to get instructions on how to install the graphics card..

It goes roughly something like this:

Me: Hi! I just received a graphics card that i've ordered a few days ago. I need instructions on how to install it.

Dell technician: the part that you need to install is very complicated. We need to send someone to fix it for you.

Me: How much will that cost?

Dell technician: AU$185 (or something like that)

Me: WTF!(silently :P) Can you just send me the instructions for it so that I can do it myself?

Dell technician: No, the installation is VERY complicated. You need an ENGINEER to do it for you.

Me: err.. Ok.. I'll think about it.. bye

I felt really cheated.. I mean why the hell do you need to charge more than 100 bucks just to install something? That's like half the cost of my graphics card.. So I went to Dell support website to take a look. Guess what? I found a manual.. I has step by step guide on how to install the stuff..

Got a friend to help me out and we managed to install it in 1 hour. Does that make me a computer engineer? :P

Oh well.. life goes on back to usual.. :P

Thanks for reading :)

Paediatrics

2007-09-20T18:26:00.000+10:00

Just something funny I found in MMR forum just now by a poster called UK doc:

"The secret with children is to tell them lots of rubbish so that by the time they recover from their confusion of what you were saying you have done your examination."

Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village

2007-09-18T22:36:00.000+10:00

Was surprised by a news in yahoo today:

Mon Sep 17, 11:23 PM ET
LIMA (AFP) - Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.
many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

Could this be an alien contact? 1000 different ideas coming past my mind! The thing that caught my attention the most is the last line in the article about boiling water and stuff, there's also a strange 'odor'.

So why do the people there fall sick? It can be a totally unrelated incident, but it can also be due to some toxic materials from the meteorite. More interesting though, can it be due to some bacteria that were sitting in the meteorite?

If it's the third possibility, then it'll hit the scientific community like mad. It'll mean that there's an alien lifeform in it, like science fiction.

What's happening there? I want to know!

Tzuo Hann - Cycling Home From California to Malaysia

2007-09-18T14:15:00.000+10:00

Would you rather take a day flight home from California or would you spend months cycling home? Recently there was a thread in Recom about this guy who decided to put some interesting twist into his life by cycling home all the way from california and meeting new friends along the way. It would be obvious to say that this attempt is insanely challenging, dwarfing out le tour de langkawi dudes, haha! Anyway, he's keeping a log of his journey online and they can be accessed here.

Initially I thought this guy has lost his mind, but after looking through the first few days of his journey, I knew he was serious. He don't look like the average athlete but he certainly has the determination to do it. Back to his journey, he did things like sleeping by the road side or in some random bush holding a pepper spray on one hand and a knife on another. It must be quite scary to be alone in somewhere you're not familiar with.

His parents are gonna hold a briefing about his charity mission tomorrow. The guys that would benefit are:

St. George's Instituition's Developement Fund,
MAA-Medicare Kidney Charity Fund and
The Naational Cancer Society.
(Targeted donation - RM1 million

He gonna cycle for a total distance of 30000 km. That's like cycling from Penang to KL 300 times! It'll end with an event called the 'Bike for Malaysia Tour' where for 3 days youths will join his last push toward taiping, the finishing line. I would join him if i'm home AND i'm fit enough to cycle for 3 days but i'm not :P Haha! So anyone who can, do support him, I think this is a great effort that deserves more publicity than all the other gov-funded 'adventures' that we had so far.

Old Memories

2007-08-31T22:21:00.000+10:00

As many have heard, a lunar eclipse was visible throughout Australia on the 28th of August. I didn't know about it at first, but I overheard of it from the radio when I was waiting for the bus early in the morning that day around 6.00 am. At around 7.30 pm, a few of us were already at a small field near International House. The moon was already 20% covered by the Earth at that time. Eagerly, I began to deploy my trusted tripod in hopes of landing a few shots of the special view that last came 7 years ago.. After 1 shot, the battery bar flashed red! For the first time in my life, I came unprepared and my camera's batt went dead.. Only managed to land 3 shots with the remaining batteries..

The lighting condition was suboptimal at best, as there was a severe light pollution coming from light sources around the vicinity and of course, the city itself..

Nevertheless, the product is still magnificent..

Luckily Zhong was also there and we ended up having some fun with his camera instead.. He took some great pictures, and he managed to compile everything into this,

The streak of orange at the bottom right of the picture is the result of a prolonged exposure over 5 minutes if i'm not mistaken. What we see, is the motion of the skies, and the moon for that matter within that time frame. At 8 pm, the awesome image of an orange moon was visible, in a phase called 'totality'.

The reason for the odd title here is because the event reminded me of the days when I was very interested in astronomy. Because my neighbor is an avid astronomer that even has his own observatory, he allowed me to cultivate my interest in astronomy. Years ago, back at 1999, I was at school looking at the solar eclipse, using a special set of glasses that filtered out the glare. I had also watched a meteor shower in my own lawn. However, perhaps the best experience I've had is the 1997 comet Hale-Bopp experience. That was a truly amazing sight, the comet was even visible to the naked eye then. Together with a large number of avid astronomers, we set out a huge event in our residential area to allow everyone to have a glimpse of the comet using telescopes and binoculars. That was one of my most memorable experience.. Probably the first and the last time I'd see a comet.

However, there's also disappointing moments, such as in 2003, where Mars was reported to have been in its closest proximity. I was in Taylors back then, and I organised a trip (sold out!) to the National Observatory in Kuala Lumpur. However, the skies were cloudy and we can't see anything that night.

Anyway, back to the lunar eclipse, we decided to play around with the long exposure functions of Zhong's camera, and we ended up with quite amusing products, hehe!

My name! A part of the X is missing though,

Edit: Apparently this technique is called 'light writing' and it's a new technique! I'm surprised noone else used this effect till now. This short clip is how this effect can be used to it's max!

Multi-hands!

Well, that's all for today's post I guess.. Tomorrow would be a full day of study and group project, hope we'll pull this through..

Found a nice song called 'Stories' sung by Hitomi for a great anime called Code Geass, somehow it really sooths the mind. Gonna get sick of it soon though, lol!

Thanks for reading! And Happy Merdeka for all Malaysians!

Japanese Hot Pot

2007-08-28T18:21:00.000+10:00

Just realised that I haven't updated this blog for a whole month! been bz with some studies recently, especially reading the Clinical Examination book by Tally and O'Connor. It's a good book for clinical examination skills, presented in a rather systematic way.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, yesterday we had a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Masuya located somewhere along O'Connell Street in Sydney City. The restaurant is located in the basement and has a small sign leading into it.

It was Jesselyn's birthday and our good friend Jerome planned a nice dinner there, ready to drain our pockets dry dry.. Everything except the entree and the vegetarian meals easily cost more than $15, which, granted is rather 'reasonable' for an expensive looking place.

Anyway, we ordered a combination of stuff, namely:

The Sashimi Main ($25)
The Sashimi main has an assortment of raw fish complemented with some salad stuff and a clump of wasabi (the green paste to the right) to spice things (and to kill bacteria i suppose) up. It was kinda weird at first but a good tasting meal nonetheless.

The Unaju BBQ Eel ($16.80)
This here is my favourite of all the dishes we ordered. The taste of the thin slices of fried eel is great and the rice has a very nice consistency.

We didn't had enough just yet, next up is the Agedashi Tofu ($9.80).
Although i'm not exactly a tofu type of person (except for some types), the tofu is great, deep friend and seasoned with lots of random seasoning things on top and dipped in random soy sauce.

Finally, the finale of the night, with the Sukiyaki hot pot ($22.80 per person) with extra beef added ($13.80). The Sukiyaki hot pot is Japanese hotpot concept with a combination of Grain-fed beef, shirataki (Potato jelly noodles) and seasonal vegetables cooked in a special pot with Masuya's mirin and soy based sukiyaki sauce. The cool thing about this dish is that the waitress actually sets up the hot pot on our table and starts cooking for us.

Here you can see Jon Lee looking eager to go for the food, haha! After that it's a short 5 min wait for the stuff to cook up.

Also with the dish is some udon noodles, but it's too little to be shared around though..

There's also some beaten raw eggs to use as sauce. It sounds like a weird concept but having gone pass raw fish, raw eggs are nothing special, hehe!

And that's all we ordered that night. Oh yeah, not to mention a cute drink called 'China Doll'. Was wondering why it wasn't called Japan Doll, but oh well..

And here's the birthday girl in the middle (5th from left) together with all the girls who attended. The picture of the guys are still with another camera, will be up when it's acquired.
Afterwards the rest of them went for some KTV, but i didn't join them as I had to wake up at 4am the next day. Overall, Masuya is a nice restaurant with good services but is rather costly.

Thanks for reading! :)

Vitamin C and the common cold

2007-07-28T22:20:00.000+10:00

I've been told by several people of the usefullness of taking Vitamin C to prevent colds and also to treat colds.

Apparently, while looking through MMR, there was a Cochrane review on the matter which reviewed the studies done to evaluate this issue. It had been updated and their latest conclusions were that:

“Regular ingestion of vitamin C has no effect on common cold incidence in the ordinary population. It reduced the duration and severity of common cold symptoms slightly, although the magnitude of the effect was so small its clinical usefulness is doubtful.”

However, I guess it's no harm to take Vitamin Cs to reduce the severity of the problem as there really isn't anything wrong with that practice. However, from this review, it is implicated that regular pill popping of vitamin C has not been shown to have any real beneficial effects for prevention of cold.

Reference:
Douglas RM and others. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007,Issue 3.

Picnic at Centennial Park

2007-07-28T22:11:00.000+10:00

As part of the Session 2 O-week, the Resident Society of International House organised a picnic at Centennial Park this morning.. The turnout for today's event was surprisingly high, making this event a successful one.

During the event, we had the usual small snacks and we played some mini team-based games, which is quite fun although not exactly the most creative games i've played so far.. :P

I'll post up more pictures and elaborate more in the near future, stay tuned.

For now, this is a picture we took in the end of the picnic, during the clean-up process. The water in the buckets were to be disposed of, what better way then to snap an action picture of static flying water? :P It turned out to be quite a cool picture. The guy closest to the left is me by the way :)

Society and Health

2007-07-24T15:38:00.000+10:00

Started my second session on Phase 2 med course this week. We're doing the course called 'Society and Health'. I really dread this course, at least the non-hospital part of the course. Why? Because it's filled with endless statistical and ethical stuff that bores everyone out. I can seriously see at least 10 people sleeping on the first day of Uni. I hope the hospital attachments are interesting this time round, we're gonna get attached to various aspects of community health care, so we'll be doing home visits and stuff, which are quite interesting.

But then, we received an email from the course coordinator from Sutherland Hospital.

The best sentence i've see so far from him is this:

"Everything that can go wrong with this has gone wrong"

So now we're kinda lost souls with no idea where to go or what to do, hence my free day today, which i'm glad for :P

The trip i just had during the winter break was great. Went to Perth to visit my baby and the trip was a very enjoyable one. :) Took some nice pictures while we're at it, and gave my new tripod a test run. I'll post up some pictures when I have the time, but this is one of my favorite.. It's taken during a Curtin Uni organised tour called 'Twilight Tours'.

This is taken at King's Park at night. It's pitch black at that time, but a good 60 second exposure lighten up everything, including the stars. It's quite difficult to aim the shot here as my camera has no viewfinder and it's pitch dark. I was lucky to hit a shot that obeys the rule of thirds here though. Hehe! Don't kill me bb :P

In King's Park, we were also greeted with a magnificent view of Perth's Cityscape. It's truly a great sight and the location we were at greatly puts everything is a good perspective for photography (minus the stupid trees blocking the view).

On the way to King's Park, we visited a beach (forgot the name) to supposedly see the sunset. Unfortunately, the sun has setted before we reached it.. so it's pitch black.. haha! Oh well.. luckilly, I was armed with my tripod here, and I was able to take some quite colourful pictures of the twilight hour.

That's all for now, more pictures shall come later :)

I might be updating my aquaria KLCC post as its receiving some hits from google/yahoo search. Stay tuned.

Quote of the day: "Most cardiologists think that the heart is the most important organ in the body"

The decision

2007-07-04T20:21:00.000+10:00

In the ward rounds today, we saw a patient that had severe Alzheimer's disease. The woman was bedridden and have lost most of her cognitive functions.. She is no longer able to speak, move or understand what's going on around here.

The consultant were talking to her husband and then suddenly he said something like "can I have a talk with you outside?"

What follows are a little bit shocking, as the discussion that ensued revolves around the suggestion of discontinuing treatment.

"It is time. Discontinuing all her treatments is the best course of action.."

I was surprised, but everyone was calm, the husband confessed that he had prepared for this. He knew it was coming. The thing about this situation is how the consultant handles it. Again, it takes good skills to express your empathy and explain what's going on, and what's the best course of action.

It was a sad situation for the husband, and we could feel his grief. It was a very difficult decision that only he could make. Hopefully, he would be able to cope with his loss.

Korean BBQ

2007-07-01T09:27:00.000+10:00

Korean barbecues are pretty popular here, with some restaurants situated just right next to each other. For Anne-lise's birthday, we celebrated in one of them, called BBQ-city at Liverpool street. Simon managed to book a huge room that looked pretty cool, it's one of those Japanese (Korean?) styled short tables that requires you to either sit cross legged or kneel jap style.

The seating arrangement is pretty cool for the first 20 mins, until I begin to lose sensations to my toes.. The few minutes after that is pretty much a struggle to stand up from that crammed position to drop some blood back.. Luckily some of the other guys are suffering too.. haha!

The food is 'geng', actually, not the food, but the price.. so I rephrase.. the price is 'geng'.. so 'geng' my wallet felt lighter.. A lot lighter after the dinner, but that's not the point :P

[Vegetarians beware, pictures of meat ahead]

Here's how a usual Korean BBQ set up is like, you get a pan (I don't know what it's called) and they give you raw meat to cook yourself. It's a neat setup, and in another place where it's a buffet, you get unlimited meat so you can literally cook till you drop. Also in the menu are MISC stuff like kimchi, pancakes, radishes and other random stuff I can't name.

We also ordered a hotpot (or steamboat) dish called beef and mushroom (I said beech and muchroom that time for some reason, it was hilarious!). It has a number of different kinds of much.. mushrooms and also noodles, which is quite tasty actually..

Then after the meal, we sang the birthday song and ate the cake.

This is Anne-lise and Simon. The fuzzy image of a person at the back is the manager, and he's trying to 'xiang jing tou' or trying to get into the picture and do the Asian victory sign while I was taking the picture. This guy, is quite a businessman, he offered a wine to the 'most beautiful lady in the room tonight' and we all know he's going to give it to Anne, haha! Then he sang the birthday song himself! It was actually quite good, he had the soprano type voice, lol! I was quite stunned at that (not at his voice, at his appearance mind you :P).

After that we all went to Club 42 (M.K's place in Barkers) for an after party, I left early so I have no idea what they did after that, haha! They were still sober when I left though..

Random pictures

2007-06-23T23:57:00.001+10:00

Was just looking through some pictures and came across some random stuff, thought i'd share it here.. enjoy!

This one is a random guy using a metal detector on the beach. I think there's a high possibility he's trying to find some rare metal or maybe syringes dropped by druggies.. :P

In this pizza place, we saw this amusing looking table menu:

It looks pretty ordinary until you start to play around with it.. Then you'll realise..

There's more stuff in the inside part of the triangle shaped menu. But that's not all..

There's more stuff at the bottom!

I guess this is a method of budgeting.. or maybe it's a 'secret' area to get special price? Haha!

Good thing the pizza was awesome.. :P

Finally, the best toilet i've seen so far..

Thunder... thunder.. thunder BOX!!! Won't tell you who's the guy inside.. Don't wanna get sued.. :P

Safe?

2007-06-22T23:38:00.000+10:00

Recently a small bomb exploded in Puduraya, a central hub for busses in KL. The bomb injured a little girl and left her with burns. The news was a little bit shocking for me, as I used Puduraya to take my busses home several times. The place was already plagued with pickpockets and other random criminals, now terrorists? Maybe I should start avoiding that place now..

What we need is a stronger police image, and a stronger presence. But the fact is, maintaining security in such a busy place is difficult, no matter how many personnel are placed. I hope this will not repeat again, lest fear is instilled in Malaysia.

Took this picture in Dubbo. I like the angle of the shot (self praise?) haha!

Death be no end to existence

2007-06-18T01:20:00.000+10:00

Something interesting and closely related to what I'm seeing nowadays.. It's a poem of sorts, stolen with permission from Shuli's blog. Hope you find it insightful.. :)

REMEMBER ME

THE day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital busily occupied with the living and the dying.

At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.

When that happens, do not attempt to instil artificial life into my body by the use of a machine.

And don’t call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.

Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face or love in the eyes of a woman.

Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.

Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.

Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.

Take my bones, every muscle, every fibre and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.

Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.

Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.

If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.

Give my sins to the devil.

Give my soul to God. If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you.

If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.

By Robert N. Test

It's sad to think that someone with cancer would probably not able to donate anything except for his cornea.

Cancer

2007-05-24T23:08:00.000+10:00

Clinical experience in Phase 2 is rewarding and is quite an eye opener.. in Agings & Endings, I found myself in the oncology department again.. Unlike the last experience, this time I've spent a lot of my time in the wards and the clinics.

Fortunately, even after two weeks, I have not encountered any patients that were unable to cope with their condition. I guess it was probably because by the time I've seen them, they have already completed their treatment and are in review.

The impact of cancer are enormous.. and more often than not, cancer strikes when you least suspects it.. Sometimes it strikes at the peak of their lives, when everything seemed to go well. Without much warning, you suddenly feel a lump, lose weight or break some bones and your world just switches around. Nothing else matters. It's just you and the disease. The world seemed to change as well. Perspective change, and you suddenly find yourself lost in a place you don't want to be in the first place.. the chemotherapy chair, the radiotherapy room, people in white coats prodding your body and the journey into the most dreadful place; the hospital.

Breaking the news to someone with cancer is difficult, and yet it is something oncologists do all the time. Of course, getting used to it makes it easier.. Medicine are always focussed on practicalities and we often forget about humanity in the mists of our diagnosis and tests. Not only did patients lose their lives, they lose their job, their freedom but more importantly, they lose control over their bodies and their pride. Doctors become their guide, and everything they say is canon. Doctors, however, often forget about this, and they shower huge amounts of medical jargon that does nothing more than confuse the patients.. We often neglect the fact that they are trying to cope with the news of their disease, and now they have to cope with the treatment.. As doctors, we should make this journey as smooth as possible.

Just blur

2007-05-04T03:53:00.000+10:00

[Warning, nonsense post-exam syndrome (PES) rant follows]

It's 4 a.m, and yet I can't seem to sleep.. My eyes are blurry but my mind is running about like nobody's business..

Lately I realised that there's no more passion in everything I do.. I'm becoming like a person with a dead personality.. I'm just moving on with the present, the very present, not reflecting on my past, not aiming for the future.. I felt empty after a long long time, and that everything that I do brings fourth no purpose and bears no productivity.. I have seemed to lose what used to be my personality, my warmth.. I've changed somehow.. and I'm not liking it..

I don't know what I want anymore, I have no vision nor ambition.. I just lived my life in a corner by myself..

Damn I feel like an idiot.. Self esteem? It's almost rock bottom. Interpersonal skills? I try to avoid communicating with people I don't really know now.. Everytime someone approaches me, I'd try to find excuses to back away.. Don't talk to me, I having nothing interesting to say to you.. Haha, it's a vicious cycle I guess, stop talking to people, lose interesting things to say, can't talk to more people..

I guess I should set things back up.. to put my aims all together, to put the pace of my life back up.. Else i'll fall deep into a hole that never ends..

Once someone told me, rule No.1 of Holes: "When you're in one, stop digging".

I feel relieved that the exams are over, but stressed that i might have just made it though (or did not make it) by the skin of my teeth.. I wish I can remember everything i've learnt.. they seem to delete themselves.. sighs..

I guess there will be a day where everything falls apart..

[End of rant]

UNSW lower campus as seen from 7th floor Warrane College

Next up: A look at International House..

Super stressed..

2007-04-22T00:59:00.000+10:00

I'm burning out.. :P

[Image deleted due to potential ethical concerns]

I give u genie!

Don't waste time

2007-04-08T23:36:00.000+10:00

Note to self: Don't waste time, study hard and save people..

I'm stressed

2007-04-07T23:35:00.000+10:00

I think i'm stressed.. Am I stressed? I don't know.. Why am I stressed?

I don't know what i don't know..

Wish my brain can function better than how it's working now..

Esophoria's not helping either..

More Macro!

2007-04-02T22:21:00.000+10:00

The almost obligatory macro shot of a flower.. probably a bad attempt at it though..

Picture taken of my phone when I first got it.

My True Age.. So accurate

2007-03-21T21:12:00.000+11:00

***You Are 20 Years Old***
Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have
an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.
13-19: You are
a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your
place in this world.
20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel
excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.
30-39: You
are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but
you want more!
40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the
ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.
What Age Do
You Act?http://www.blogthings.com/whatagequiz/

Roar, i'm not that old yet.. :P

Playing with Macro

2007-03-14T12:29:00.000+11:00

Was getting bored with study, so i decided to fiddle with my camera and take some pictures of what i can find on my table.. :P Of all the functions my camera offers, I like the macro function the best. It's able to give a fairly good macro shot although it's not a very powerful camera. The macro is only 5cm or something..

This is a picture of my new 2Gb Kingston DataTraveler thumb drive. I got it as a birthday present from my baby.. :P Hehe! I don't like the way the string casts distorted shadows though, it's there because i used two lights on the subject. What i like about this picture is the way the words on the sides look. Feels like one of those 'Gundam' decals.. haha!

This picture is an origami that i folded back at warrane. Again, i have nothing better to do so i was playing with the macro function. I tried several angles and lightings but i guess this looks the best. I like the grainy texture of the surface, which is my laptop and the soft shadows casted at the bottom of the object.

That's all for now, i have some usual macro flower pics, but they are boring i guess.. :P Hope i can improve taking macro shots, need a sifu.. haha!

Frames and Lenses

2007-03-10T00:50:00.000+11:00

Only just recently, Hau Cher invited me to begin a group photo blog, where a few of us would contribute to make a collection of pictures and photos documenting what our camera's see. The link is at the right panel, do take a look!

Hectic

2007-03-10T00:21:00.000+11:00

Feeling like there's too many to do and no time to do it.. Preparations for End of Phase exam is underway, but time is running short and there's still much to be done.. Been studying nearly every day for now, but it's a little bit difficult to balance between studying for this block and studying every other blocks.. Time's running out as i'm sorting this out.. Group project basically stalled and I've just started individual.. wah.. can die man.. :P

Meanwhile, i've settled down in International House. Gotten used to the routine, including the usual chores.. The people here are friendly, much friendlier than those in Warrane and the food is pretty decent. Today we had Bak Kut Teh for dinner, that day got Hainan Chicken Rice.. hehe! It's something you won't get in Warrane. Plus, people here use fork and spoon to eat rice.. :P

Took some pictures of KLCC the last time i visited. It's pretty nice, although if you look properly you'll be able to see the car window coz it's shot from within the car.. :P

The other day we saw this cool shop. Bamboo or wooden chicks, which one you prefer? :P

That's it for today, must go back to study.. wasting time.. :P

Eye on Malaysia

2007-03-04T20:26:00.000+11:00

Earlier this year, in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2007, the 'Eye on Malaysia' Ferris wheel was unveiled. It has a height of 60metres and contains 60 gondolas fully air-conditioned. One of which is the VIP gondola with a price tag of RM300 i think..

An exclusive VIP gondola has also been outfitted to include plush leather
seats fit for a king, a mini fridge, a DVD player, a plasma TV and a mobile
telephone.

DVD player? plasma TV? who in the sane mind would even think about trying it? Come to think about it, watching movie while sitting in the gondola may be quite some fun.. but why not just watch it at home ar?

Located in Lake titiwangsa, it is supposed to provide a nice view on the whole Kuala Lumpur City. Like any curious couples, we decided to pay a visit to it. Surely, it provides a good avenue for good photography, just wish i had a tripod with me..

Luckilly for us, the we got into the gondola after just about 10 minutes of wait. The horror stories of 2 hour waits luckilly did not came true.. at least on that day.. Anyway, in the picture, the barge in the middle is actually a site for fireworks launching at night. Also, laser shows are supposed to be on as well. We didn't see those as it was quite early when we got there..

Here's how the gondola look like, fitting about 6 ppl it's pretty crampy.. Not to mention it is pretty spooky when it sways at the top.. Our ride costed Rm20 each.. felt like got chopped in the head after that.. :P There was a little baby in our gondola, he was crying non-stop throughout the ride.. lol!

The view from the top was a little dissapointing though.. Apart from the KLCC, there really isn't much to see. I guess the best view is actually the lake itself, which surprisingly looked cool with the water fountains and stuff..

All in all, it isn't a bad idea really.. other than the illogically expensive ride and the lack of parking facilities, the eye on malaysia ride is quite a good venture. It'll only be here this year, go see it if you can!

Aquaria KLCC

2007-03-03T03:00:00.000+11:00

Went to Aquaria KLCC during the holidays, got some pics so i decided to try it out.. It was a pretty hectic day.. Woke up at 7.45 in the morning compared to my usual 12 pm, hehe! We went to a place to eat dim sum for breakfast with SooChing and her friends, Alan and Yin Ling. That meal was extremely filling.. It's so surprising a little this and a little that can fill me up so badly.. Haha! Then we drove all the way to KLCC. On the way, I saw a few pretty interesting things. I saw a construction worker carrying one of those road dividers that the construction people use to wall the roads. The weird thing is, she carried it on her head, without arm support. I tried to take out my camera in time but I can't.. Might win Rm50 from theStar if I could..
haha!
We passed an airfield as well.. Interestingly, I eyed on a bunch of pretty old aircrafts. One of them of which is a seaplane, probably decommissioned or something. Unsurprisingly I was the only one excited about the find.. :P Then there was this cool looking helicopter landing, haha! I have something for planes since I was young..

If you can tell, there's a spot of dirt on my
camera when this picture was taken on the bottom.. sigh..

In KLCC we went to Aquaria. Aquaria is an aquatic exhibition build very recently, I think it was only opened not more than 3 months ago. The journey to the actual place itself from KLCC was terrible.. We had to walk a good 10 minutes through a boring looking tunnel to reach the
place. We could only think of a reason for this.. "Aiyah, already walk so far d.. Might as well go in lar.." haha! The price was a hefty RM20 for students.. I had to fork out RM25 coz my uni is overseas.. Unfair lar.. I student also mar..

Inside, we were first greeted with a little pond where we could touch the specimens.. There were fishes and starfishes and stuff.. Looks pretty geli actually.. When I asked the attendant whether they
will bite, they said they can; but would not.. Lol! What kind of answer is that? Can say can lar, kenot say kenot lar.. :P I won't sue you one..
There were many cute and weird looking fishes in boring looking aquariums. The coolest one though, has to be this puffer fish.. It's a square looking fish, and it spits water out of its mouth! Pretty Cute.

Submarine! Check out the 'windows' at the side of the fish!

Then we enter the main 'attraction', the underwater tunnel thingy.. (I forgot to note what it's called.. Silly me.. ). It's actually cool.. Not cool cool cool.. but cool.. So cool we went through the tunnel twice.. Too bad we din get through it three times.. More value for the RM25..
Sigh.. Inside though, there are cool and big and scary looking sharks.. Then there's this big and cool looking sting ray.. Seriously massive.. And there's this 'faceless void' character.. Spooky..
The eyes are actually on top of the fish.. The 'face' is actually it's mouth and water intakes. It was difficult to get a clear picture though, as the subject was moving in dark lighting.

I guess the best attraction in the whole place is the underwater tunnel, typical of all underwater parks. Apart from the usual sharks and divers, the cool thing is the conveyor belt everyone stands on. Feels like a baggage in KLIA.. haha!
That's pretty much Aquaria KLCC.. Finished it in less than 2 hours.. That's rm12.5 per hour.. It's not really worth the money nor effort.. Langkawi Underwaterworld is much better in my opinion.. Oh well.. :P

Cheap adverts

2007-01-26T02:42:00.000+11:00

Spammers are weird people.. Look at the chat bar and you'll see what I mean.

What's up with me so far?

2006-10-16T11:12:00.000+10:00

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?

2006-09-16T02:19:00.000+10:00

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..

Friends

2006-09-10T00:45:00.000+10:00

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!

Thank You Teacher!

2006-08-29T15:03:00.000+10:00

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.

We Not That Bad

2006-08-28T09:26:00.001+10:00

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..

Chicken Run?

2006-08-08T11:32:00.000+10:00

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.

Winter Holidays

2006-07-31T10:46:00.000+10:00

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.

The Pranker!

2006-05-18T23:53:00.000+10:00

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..

Prison

2006-05-11T19:19:00.000+10:00

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!

Religion Quiz

2006-05-05T21:50:00.000+10:00

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.

Our story

2006-05-04T21:58:00.000+10:00

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 :)

Visit to Oncology clinic

2006-03-28T21:46:00.000+11:00

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.

i'm back!

2006-02-26T13:09:00.000+11:00

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..

Anyway, the flight went on well.. and on reaching KLIA, i chanced upon Kush, a guy from my college! hehe! that was a relieve for the both of us as we could share the taxi charges.. which i forgot to gave him yet..

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.

Messed up template..

2006-01-23T01:39:00.000+11:00

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

Goodbye~

2006-01-03T19:29:00.000+11:00

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.

Back to blogging

2005-12-20T22:45:00.000+11:00

Its been quite some time again since i've been blogging.. I doubt there's any more readers here though with my lack of updates and not so interesting entries.. hehe! but anyway, i'll just blog.. for my sake, and for those who still reads.. thanks!

For those who still did not know, i'm home. Came back a few weeks ago and have been nicely enjoying my holidays.. hehe! The experience at the airport was particularly interesting, as I had to 'camp' at the airport for around 5-6 hours to wait for my transit flight home. It was pretty easy, considering i had wireless internet connection together with my trusty laptop games.. time really pass quickly.. The airport's internet connection was quite good, and i've found a great location to use it, which is right outside the Mc.Donald's restaurant, where there's good seating, and even food if you want it.. hehe! If you run out of battery, you can charge at a few random power points located in the airport (which is not meant for public use). The locations are weird, at the walls, at corners and stuff.. The one that i always use is near Mc.D, its right at the corner, just walk roughly 50 m to the right of the entrance and you can see the power point. You'll have to sit on the floor to charge it though.. hehe!

There are a few more that i've found.. but that is the best one that i have, but if you found more, do tell me.. hehe! I might need it again.. :P

I'll end this entry with some useful links:

1. http://inkyhands.net/ : its an interesting website for enthusiastic writers, and its growing by the day, do try it if you're interested.
2. http://tinkosong.blogspot.com/ : This site is very useful if you're looking for scholarships. Its a little project compiled by nick, joyce and enghan and it says in the site that: "A non-political, non-profit community of Malaysian college and university students aimed at collecting and distributing information about education, opportunities and the future generation of Malaysia." Its really worth a look!

Well, i guess that's all for this entry.. hope i can bring myself to write more interesting entries in the future!

OMG

2005-11-20T01:02:00.000+11:00

Omg omg.. lol! i'm more girl than guy.. cham...

You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch.Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes.You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them.You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

To the girl in my dreams~

2005-11-09T17:02:00.000+11:00

Kiss me sweet, I’m sleeping in silence,
All alone, in ice and snow,
In my dreams, I’m calling your name,
You are my love…

In your eyes, I search for my memory,
Lost in vain, so far in the scenery,
Hold me tight, and swear again and again,
We’ll never be apart…

If you could touch my feathers softly
I’ll give you my love,
We set sail in the darkness of the night,
Out to the sea,
To find me there,
To find you there,
Love me now if you will…

Kiss me sweet, I’m sleeping in sorrow,
All alone, to see you tomorrow,
In my dream, I’m calling your name,
You are my love…

New speakers!

2005-11-06T15:02:00.000+11:00

Hahahaha.. i just got myself a new set of speakers.. Logitech X230 2.1 speakers.. :) So happy.. now i can revenge on the ppl blasting their speakers down the corridor.. muahaha! Nah.. i'm not that evil.. in fact, my bass is only at 1/4 of its max capacity.. lol!

I have less that a week left until my assignment submission. So far, everything seems to be done except for a little bit here and there. Group project's almost done, but we have around 1300 words to cut down before we can submit it. Tomorrow's the presentation day though, i don't know what the others are doing, but i've prepared my slides..

This session had been my slowest session.. I don't know why but i haven't been really focusing.. maybe its because i'm going home soon! lol!

Anyway, i did a different thing for my Individual assignment.. i did a communication's assignment instead.. its a little different than normal assignments.. coz i don't have to research much.. For my interview i went to my hospital search for a suitable candidate. After a few attempts, i finally decided to choose a patient that had 1 meter of her bowels removed. She gave me a good interview, hehe! how thankful.. One other interview was quite interesting. It was a man with diabetes mellitus. It's astonishing how much more we can learn by chatting with patients. After going through the lectures and reading my text books, i realised that there a few things that they never mentioned, like not eating bananas because diabetics' kidneys have K+ overload..

Anyway, i've made some progress in this session as well. For start, i've started a little study group of around 6 people. We've done quite some things together, like compiling notes and stuff. It was quite productive, as we have an online forum to post our notes. Pretty cool actually.. haha!

Nothing special had been happening lately though, so i have nothing much to ramble about.. Oh yeah, on of the lights in the lift died.. It was so freeky to be in that dark lift.. epecially at night.. alone... haha!

Well.. session's gonna be over.. i'll do my best to maximise everything i can until it ends.. the year will end nicely..:)

Exercise and Diets~

2005-10-12T10:15:00.000+10:00

Want to lose weight?

Most people tried in vain to lose some weight. Some tried dieting by reducing food intake. I know people that was paranoid of eating things like buiscuits, chocs and fatty stuff just because they are afraid that they'll be fat. For myself, i always tried to avoid fatty and oily foods. Not because i wanted to lose weight, but because i just don't like it.. Some tried rigorous exercise. I am slightly overweight, i admit that, based on my calculated BMI, i am on the border between accepted weight and overweight. However, recently, there is a little urge in me to start regular exercise. The last time i did good exercise is before my AS paper last year. I somehow lost my momentum and then everything went downhill. I have palpitations the other day when i played frisbee with two friends. It was quite bad that i scared byself with it.. I have become unfit..

After the incident, i realised that if i don't do something about it, my health will deteriorate in the future. I think i need to get a new pair of shoes for running. The shoes i have now isn't comfortable enough to run with.. stupid Bata shoes.. lol! I guess i should go back to Fila shoes i had last time, that was quite comfortable..

For those who are using diet programs over the market to try to lose weight, just an information, there is no proof that they will work. Sure you'll lose some weight initially after you follow them due to starvation of your system, but eventually you WILL regain the weight, possibly even more than the weight that you began with.

Enter the starvation response. The starvation response is a response of the body to starvation. As fat of the body is burnt away, our body goes into panic mode and tries to retain fat. So weight loss becomes increasingly difficult as more weight is lost. Insulin levels will also rise to help deposit fat into our bodies. The starvation response will hence, increase our weight. Most people that tried vigorous diet would feel discouraged because they will have no progress after losing some weight. They get blamed because people think that they are not strict and discliplined enough to keep up to their diets. It is quite impossible to oversome the starvation response. In the end, one will not be able to keep up with their diets and their weight will shoot up. So those that tried in vain, don't give up or blame yourself. Instead, there is a trick to suppresing the starvation response.. More to come soon..