extraordinary

Winter Break '10

2010-07-05T13:29:00.000+08:00

so over the last 12 months i have subjected myself to lazy blogging through microblogging site twitter and tumblr. oh how many times have i come back to blogger and vow to change?

this trip to Kuching has undoubtedly made me think about certain things which i am dying to write about. too many that i do not know if i will have the time.

know though, that i will be back soon!

smile

2009-07-27T21:57:00.000+08:00

yes, i'll admit it once again. i am a lousy blogger. just take a look at when my last post was - over a month ago!

I didnt sleep much last night because of a radiology test we had on at 9am this morning. Dr Koong gave us over 10 chapters for us to read - over 300 pages in all! lucky we had some hardworking seniors who collated the notes and compressed everything into 105 pages. Even then, it didnt do much to boost my mood for study. i am currently in my 4th week of uni, but for most of the other collegians, the journey into 2nd semester has just begun. little work, and a lot of play for them at the moment.

after numerous episodes of napping, studying, napping and studying again throughout the night, the fire alarm rang. it was a drill of course. college administration takes joy in waking students up in the wee hours of the morning. at 6.30am, i was one of the crazy few who were awake, not to mention one of the few who managed a "good morning!" with a smile :)

today in removable pros we finished the base and rim stage of denture-making. ours looks like the pink block in the background at the moment. it's hard to imagine how i'm going to place all those teeth in the correct positions.

on our way back from lunch, we saw this HUGE cat on the roof. Yuqin and Noe were like, "so uglyyyyy!" but me and Jin went to say hi. haha. It just stared at us, without even a hint of a smile on it's face. How i envy the life of a cat. No worries about the deadlines we have to meet, making our amateur dentures, and that never-ending drilling and filling of teeth. all they do is sunbathe on roofs, enjoying the warmth of the winter sun.

well it's 10pm. i'll have to end it here. got to catch up on some sleep. goodnight!

Singapore!

2009-06-23T00:03:00.005+08:00

I just got back from Orchard and Yuqin's place. Took some pictures in town but they're in my old camera. will upload them later. Yuqin has the sweetest dog and the laziest cat! haha. spent some time in her room looking at pics before heading home.

walking out of the airport this morning, i could feel the humidity and the heat almost instantly. even in the early hours of the day when the sun had barely risen. we touched down in singapore at about 6am this morning. the Jetstar flight was bearable, although i couldn't sleep properly. Noe's parents came to pick us up, and we had Macker's for brekkie (well now that i'm back in Asia, we had McD for breakfast. haha) Then me and Noe went back and slept the morning away.

yesterday was a race against time to finish packing up my room. it was very wise of me to go back into the city that afternoon to look for a camera. i had wanted a new one so that i could take pictures when i landed in Singapore but i still wasnt sure which one i should get. i ended up not getting a camera so i might as well have stayed home to pack. here's how the top floor of my block looked like:
The view from my room door. Sarah didnt close her door when she moved out so moved all my stuff into her room. i seriously cannot imagine packing in my small room.

Oops. how did i manage to collect this much stuff? :S

Even used the heater to dry my handwashed clothes overnight. It didnt work and so i resorted to using the dryer. Sheesh. Beats the purpose of handwashing them in the first place!

break!

2009-06-21T01:00:00.004+08:00

yes, the studying has finally come to an end, and now it is time for a well-earned break.

I am currently in the midst of packing my room and waiting for my final load of laundry to be done. my clothes are mostly still unpacked, and my desk is a complete mess. bits and pieces lie here and there -- i have no idea how i accumulated so many things! i must somehow find a way to get rid of them.

I had my last paper yesterday morning. dental microbiology and immunology. with 33 lectures in total containing all the mumbo jumbo of bacteria, fungi and virus names, their diseases, their vaccines, and all the names of the molecules and cells involved in immunology (think of abbreviations like ADCC, CDK, CMI, APC, IL-1, IL-2, TNF, IF, TCR, BCR, NK etc etc), i wasnt planning to sleep at all. it was my last paper and i might as well go all the way right? read on.

2am - we are all in the college library, burning the midnight oil wayyyy past midnight. Russell finally gets up and says he is going to bed after nodding of at the table for about 10 minutes. He tells me to wake him up at 4.30am.

4.30am - i am sleepy. i just need to go through for a 2nd time my 2nd part of notes. i wake Russell up and go down to brush my teeth

4.35am - i call him a SECOND time. "Don't go back to sleep yah! i'm going to sleep. make sure i'm awake by 6!" i say. "Mmmmm!" was the reply. no words -.-

6am - my phone alarm rings. i hit snooze.

6.09am - my snooze alarm rings. i switch it off and lie in bed a while.

8.42am - i wake up, squint at my phone and SPRANG out of bed. my paper was at 9am. Russ was still in bed. Surprise, surprise.

i didnt even brush my teeth. i grabbed whatever clothes i could find and put them on. gathered my notes (goodness knows why. i had no time to go through them again) and ran out of college. Lucky i live across the road from uni.

I was just in time to walk in with everyone else and sit down at my table. Phew. Thank God i woke up just in time! any later, and i would have had a very stressful winter break. THANK YOU GOD!

Ants in my ears

2009-06-09T01:27:00.004+08:00

I remember years ago when i was young, i made a general visit to the doctor's. For some reason that I can't remember, he decided to have a peek into my ears, with a whatever-you-call-it-scope. He looked at me after switching off his instrument and said,
"You have ants in your ears!"
He wore a smirk, and I looked up at him, trying to read his expression. Was he kidding? In my childish mind i somehow found it insulting. Ants in my ears! He didnt say my younger sister had them! I tried to picture it. Ants walking among ear was in an unknown world. Or maybe they got stuck? And why wasn't the doctor doing anything to get them out??

But now, i'm wondering where all that wax would come from. And i suppose all the docotr could see was my tympanic membrane/eardrum at the end of the tunnel that is my auditory canal? too bad we're only studying anatomy and not physiology this year. or maybe that's a good thing. haha ;)

Study period has been having it's usual effects on my lately. Just the other day i saw the superior and inferior colliculi of the brain on an orange. And what about willing my prefrontal cortex to do a good job and get me motivated for study?
Oh, and i also saw the false and true vocal cords on my room door. oh, the insanity!

Happy studying and good luck in exams :)

P.S. microbiology is going so slowly! Do they really expect us to know streptococcusmutans-staphylococcusaureus-porphynomonasgingivalis-clostridiumtetani-bacillusanthracis-supercallifragelisticespiallidocious and their characteristics and functions and diseases all by heart?!

Caught Red-Handed

2009-05-30T00:10:00.004+08:00

We go through many firsts in life: first words, first steps, first crush, first kiss, first time away from home, first rollercoaster ride (and i mean emotionally and literally) ...

Today was the first time i got caught by aussie police, and i was on a bike, not in a car! Not supercool drifting along the highways of WA, or speeding in a convertible with the wind in my hair, enjoying the thrill of the moment.
No. I was just trailing behind LAZILY, at walking pace, behind Yuqin and JinJin after our last lab session of the semester. We were on our way back to college and we weren't even on the main road. Can you guess what my offense was?

I remember many a time when i was leaving college grounds without a helmet, i would be alert, looking out for police cars. And one time i DID spot one, but i was wearing a helmet, looking like i had a tortoise sitting on my head. Hah. I was thinking. You can't get me :)

But today I wasn't the one laughing. I had already had a bad session, when the compound on my special tray broke within the last 5 minutes of the session. Anatomy results were out online. I had yet to check it, but i had a feeling i failed. And now, when i least expected it, two police riders had to come by in their fluorescent green vests proudly scouting those tortoise-shell helmets with letters that plainly spelled out POLICE.
DARN.

"Do you have any ID on you? Drivers licence?"

No, i thought. That's why i am riding! (and without a helmet, i might add ;)

They saw my student ID conveniently dangling from the side of my pants. I had it attached to one of those gadgets that let you pull it out and bleep it against the sensors that let us into our labs and locker rooms.
Thank God (and my lucky stars) that they didnt charge me! It was AUD50 for the offense, and it was double demerits this weekend.
Phew. From now on i guess i have to settle with the tortoise on my head.

P.S i passed anatomy! and it wasn't a borderline pass! :) HAPPINESS!

"It's 12am. I'm sorry, but we have a plan"

2009-05-27T11:53:00.001+08:00

And so the story goes every time a person in college officially turns year older than they were a few seconds before. Some would hope for some cake and well-wishes, but here you can bet that it's not the only thing you're going to get.

Water comes down from the balcony above, and eggs are pelleted. The others back away he is showered with flour. Caked. He is blindfolded and escorted to the JCR where a real, (smaller) albeit tastier cake awaits.

...But not before the 21 shots of wasabe/chilli/honey/cough syrup/moscato/pepper/soy sauce cocktails.

I can only say that i'm glad i'm a girl, and that Noe's and Yuqin's birthdays were celebrated in CLEAN classier style (waiting for pictures!)

Happy 21st to Gary,
and Happy 17th to cousin Annie. Hope you have an awesome day :)

Heaven, I'm in Heaven!

2009-05-23T16:30:00.006+08:00

Many a time we have played the game Angels and Mortals, and here in college it is a week long affair of notes of well wishes, chocolates, sweets and plushies.
I wasnt so hyped up about the game myself - i hardly even knew my mortal, but one night i went to his room and left a sachet of Chocolate Mudcake latte with a note saying to save it for one of those last minute assignments. My angel was inactive until about the 4th day, when surprise, surprise, i saw a poem pinned on my room door about Angels.

And i thought that would be the end of me hearing from him. But then the next night there was yet another poem, printed out, about Dreams, and holding on to them, AND a bar of Cadbury milk chocolate! Hmmm... this Angel is a pretty good one, i thought. And thoughts of who it could possibly be flew through my mind, must be an angmoh, hahaha ^^

Then the next rainy, stormy night, a poem about the Rain appeared. And i just missed him as he ran down my block staircase. Darn it, i thought. I was so close to finding out who it was!

The last night of the game rolled along, and i met Deb as i was coming back from Currie from Yuqin's surprise. We went to her room and talked, and she ended up persuading me to stay and help her to do something for her mortal, who she hadnt done anything for at all -_-
Yes, being the good cousin i am, i stayed, and ended up making something for my mortal too. Then we went walking around college in the cold, pasting coloured notes on our respective mortal's walls. At 3 in the morning!

Needless to say, i went to bed too late to be able to wake up for class the next morning. No matter though. Anything is more exciting than lectures, although i cant afford to do that often.

warm fuzzies around a second chocolate bar. Is he trying to fatten me up?

P.S. My angel turned out to be TJ!

Bonjour

2009-05-16T16:18:00.003+08:00

... is just about the only french word i can say and spell out correctly. and french was the theme for last night's international formal dinner (IFD). Year after year our dining hall is filled with Hawaiian hula girls, Indian candlelight and Chinese cheongsams, and last night was no different from that it was filled with all things french. From a chopstick Eiffel tower to the Moulin Rouge windmill to the Arc de Triomphe - i bid Choops a job well done.

ooh la la!

I couldn't help being late for Mass - since the change of having formal dinners from saturdays to weekdays means i only have half an hour to run/jog/cycle back, shower to rid myself of the smell of dental masks, gloves and probably some splatter of frasoco-caries water, dry my hair and get myself made-up. there's only so much you can ask for from a girl. And late as i was, i sauntered down to the chapel (after feeling a little like a third wheel in Kris' room), only to find in the JCR two girls making last-minute masks. I chose to hang around and wait for the church-goers to pass by so i could drift along with the crowd. After all, I was already 40 minutes late. But when they said they wanted to go back to their room to get some masking tape (excuse the pun) i thought i should head down to the chapel. The music that drifted out in the night air told me that Holy Communion hadnt even started -.- So in i went and joined the choir, later than i had hoped.

Pre-drinks of champagne got me a little high, though i only had one drink before. I think it was the mood of having the week over and done, and the thought of exams looming was pushed out of my mind for the evening. How else could i have enjoyed the night?

The performances were entertaining - some of which made us get up to dance and make a train that travelled the periphery of the room, much to the annoyance of Brother Rob. There were loooong asian-ang moh Yam Sengs (YAAAAAAAAAAA *breathes* AAAAAAAAAAAA *breathes* AAAAAAAAAAA *breathes* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM *breathes* SENG!) -- apparently yet another annoyance factor for by the third time, Pauline was going around asking everyone to stop, although for some, telling one to stop would spur them on even more, and when the fourth yam seng was evidently in the midst of starting, the DJs hit the play button (purposefully or not, i do not know). Most of the dining hall flocked to the stage and the dancefloor, and i don't know which was worse for him -- the dancing or the yam sengs!

In retrospect, yam sengs are an asian tradition - what is a 'Celebration of all the Nations' (another BRob idea) without various cultures coming together?

And amidst the camera flashes, the dancing and the laughing, something got me thinking. But that is another story to tell.

"oh well, we won't have OPDENT tomorrow!"

2009-05-14T01:14:00.002+08:00

That was Scott's reply when the nurse couldn't find the open gas tap at the end of our afternoon lab. Hahaha. It made me laugh after a not-so-bad afternoon doing a prep to make a gold inlay. I had a frustrating first half an hour when i couldnt even get my rubber dam on. OpDent makes us stress out so much. Right now we are hoping we can finish all our preps for the semester in the allocated time. It looks tight, but i'm thinking positive. WE WILL MANAGE :)

It seems that i am blogging about uni again. Oh, the geekiness. I even dreamt about special trays the day i handed mine in.

International Formal Dinner is on Friday, and choir is performing. I dont want to stand up there and sing in front of everyone. I wont have anything to do with my hands! I havent done this in ages! I wont be able to hide in the back row - that's where the guys will be. Would i dare sneak a peek around the dining hall while pretending to pay attention to Ericius' conducting? And while i will be one of the tallest girls, sticking out like a sore thumb (my high heels wont help), and i'll have to smile and look the world straight in the eye. Well, maybe not the world, just a little over a hundred people. Great.

I hope i dont trip. CHOI!

Happy birthday, sister :)

through child-like eyes

2009-04-25T12:01:00.001+08:00

Dentistry can be fun. Sure, we have 9 - 5 days, countless preps to do, an endless string of assignments and assessments, late nights trying to finish cramming for a test the next day and prelabs that can take hours to complete (if you want to do a good job of it that is), but i don't think i have ever been through anything where i can learn so much every week.

This year in removable prosthetics we're learning about the denture-making process. We're now at the stage where we fabricate special trays to take an accurate impression of a patient's mouth. Here are the casts, or replicas of an edentulous (toothless) patient's upper and lower jaw:

and here are the casts with finished special trays which will be used to make an even more accurate secondary cast:

As students, we spend hours mixing materials, moulding, shaping, trimming and polishing, to produce the perfect special tray. Or so we hope. Give your special tray to Mr. Brown for corrections, and he'll go zip zip zip through the acrylic and be done! I had to make a tray for the upper jaw and i've spent over 9 hours in total trying to make the perfect base (mine had voids underneath), handle (which ended up being asymmetrical and sloping to one side) and fingerstops (that were too big and too bulky). My special tray by the end of Wednesday:

Messy with folds and creases. Haha. Looks like a kindergartener's work to me.
Thankfully it looked a little better by the end of the session yesterday :)
And there are a few of us who agree that removable pros can be fun after all the stresses in operative dentistry.

*photos from mr. mcgee's lectures. i hope i don't get in trouble for plagiarism :S shhh.

How exciting

2009-04-22T22:17:00.001+08:00

OpDent is a combination of frustration, stress, tears, sweat, impatience and... the occasional feeling of being elated and proud of a successfully completed prep.

2 and a half hours. That was how much time i spent trying to expose the root of a tooth so that i could make a fake toothbrush abrasion lesion. I had to knock and scrape away plaster with a plaster knife. You know the sound and the feeling of running your fingernails across the chalkboard. Imagine having to do that on purpose. Eeeeek. I cant even stop myself from cringing after a whole afternoon of that. Then i had to expose the root even more so that i could put a clamp on for the rubber dam.

Well, basically i spent more than 2/3rds of my lab session this arvo with useless effort. All that preparation for my task wasnt even accreditted for. The main task i had to do took only10 minutes. 10 minutes!!! and i havent even finished it because the material i put on the tooth wasnt smooth. I still have to polish it tomorrow.

Yawn.

1st day of uni

2009-04-20T23:47:00.000+08:00

today marks the 1st day of uni after the well-deserved easter break.

it also marks the first day of me blogging after ... 5 months? oops. haha.

i moved to a new room at the beginning of semester. have you seen it?

i now enjoy a shared balcony.

and i dont want winter to come!

ahh it's over..

2008-12-07T23:27:00.000+09:00

as usual, i've been a lousy blogger. anyways.. it's the hols! and those library days are OVA!

small happy times at the library - it's moments like these you need JONO -__-"

power nap!!!

russel studies on the floor below seperate from us so we wont distract him from 'studying'.

hahaha.

lost sense of time

2008-11-13T22:36:00.004+09:00

you count: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

mon, tue, wed, thu, fri, sat, sun, mon, tue, wed

i count: FOB theory, [space], FOB prac, NS, [space], MGC, [space], FCD, [space], OPDENT

today i realised i didnt even know what day/date it is

-_-

facebook?

2008-11-05T22:50:00.000+09:00

ahh the things i try to do...

it helped a bit!

any more ideas??

oh no..

2008-11-04T02:27:00.000+09:00

it's 2.30am and i think i would die again if i woke up at 7am tomorrow morning

wait.. i mean, this morning

*yawn*

JAKE

2008-11-01T23:43:00.001+09:00

meet Jake.

Jake the Fake =)

he's been patiently waiting for the past 13 weeks as i work on the bench next to him. and last monday i did a fissure sealant for him for the first time! haha.

and i'll get to see him again next year when i get to 2nd year! (i hope)

but before 2nd year, comes 1st year final exams which is in 8 DAYS! and what have i been doing today?

i slept till 12pm -_-

BUT i went to the meddent library in the afternoon.

ah yes, the library, where my absorption of human anatomy was quite low =( did about 4 hours of study, then went home, played need for speed while waiting for dinner, had dinner, showered, brushed teeth, attempted to study for a while, and i SLEPT!

AAARRGGHHHHH!

and now, it's 12am :(

so... i have decided to go to sleep to wake up early (6am!!!!) to FOB, NS and maybe MGC in the college library!

oh, joy.

goodnight, world.

floss anyone?

2008-10-30T01:03:00.001+09:00

nope, not candy floss... dental floss! hahaha. today at lecture we learnt how to floss -_-"

did u know u had to wind the floss around your middle finger instead of your index?

"everyone put your middle fingers up! show it to me now!"

hahaha. it felt weird when she said that.

but yeah... something new everyday =)
AND we got free CPP-ACP gum 8)

exams are 11 days away!

and i dont know how i can finish studying =(

cold and showery

2008-10-26T22:27:00.003+09:00

According to the perth bureau of meteorology:

Tuesday Few showers. Min 11 Max 22
Wednesday Few showers. Min 12 Max 21
Thursday Few showers. Min 12 Max 19
Friday Few showers clearing later. Min 9 Max 20
Saturday Fine. Min 10 Max 21
Sunday Fine. Min 7 Max 22

Sadness.

it's spring! (or summer??)

2008-10-25T11:54:00.003+08:00

ahhh... my favourite time of year.. when the cold of winter is gone, the sun shines till seven/eight and the flowers are out =)

yesterday me, jinjin and noezin were goin back to college from the unimentor talk, and we saw the pretty roses near winthrop hall.

and being us, we stopped and took pictures! oh so pretty, tho we were only armed with 2 MP phones.

good enough..

funny how i'm always looking forward to summer and on monday after practical we were rushing back for lunch in the heat and i was complaining. haha. yuqin was quick to spot it. oops. =S

Valete '08

2008-10-16T10:02:00.007+08:00

last sat was Valete at Tommy More! basically it's a formal dinner held to farewell those leaving college in the next 2 sems.

went to Mass as usual, we learnt this reli cool african song to sing! =) Si-ya hamba e-ku-kha-nye-ni kwen-kos (Marching in the light of God)

then after we headed to the dining hall for pre-dinner drinks. then halfway through some fireworks went off across mounts bay road, and it was (apparently) meant for us. hmmmmm.

us before entering the dining hall. dinner was reli good! we had steak wrapped in bacon on a 'bed of mashed potato' mmmmm! AND the steak wasnt as chewy as it usually is by dining hall standards =) and and and! desert was an assortment of (gourmet?) cheesecake! yum!

but unfortunately, i had lost my appetite. why? because, halfway through dinner i went back to my room to leave my water bottle there. i'd brought it coz i was afraid i would lose my voice halfway through Mass and i had to sing Sanctus with Ruth (you have no idea how your voice suddenly seems to be too soft once you're up there! haha) anyways, i went back to my room, met Yvette, my block mate there, and we were both heading back out, when we saw a certain someone PEEING in one of the shower cubicles! UUUGGGGHHH!!!! like standing at the shower door and SPRAYING! OMG.

and after that, i was sooo pissed i didnt even feel like eating.

YUCK.

I AM SOO GOING TO COMPLAIN! u cannot believe the stench the next morning. Russ was on duty and helped to wash it down and spray it with some strong smelling antibacterial spray which on other days i would rather not smell.

needless to say, i walked across the quad to M-block to shower for the next 2 days.

anyways. back to more happy moments... Jono won a medal for volleyball!

me and Lynette after dinner

Russ wasnt supposed to be there! -_- i thought it was taking advantage of Ben's cam by myself!

Meet Ben. i love his cam (*ahem* dont worry i dont love Ben for his cam XD) see what we did a month ago during lantern festival!

we went to King's Park, lit by the full moon to play lanterns and eat mooncake! woooooo!

all of us on the bridge at Synergy park

lanterns!

me, Jane and Lynette! (somehow this reminds me of a singapore night safari kind of photo)

us again with Ben!

SpringFeast

2008-10-10T03:10:00.008+08:00

today was springfeast - hosted by the international students society - kinda like a pasar malam with all kinds of asian food. YUM! i look like a kid in this pic =[ hmmm.

i just finished my essay on Kawasaki disease. woohooo!! and look at the time! *yawn* i slept for the whole afternoon due to lack of sleep. haha. and then woke up just in time to go for the genetics tute at 6pm. 6pm! that's like dinner time! and i didnt have anything to eat all afternoon so yeahh..

and after tute we headed to the guild village for food at springfeast =) had roti john (never heard of it till today! lol), laksa, cotton candy!

it's late. i need to get to bed.

evil plans

2008-09-30T13:34:00.000+08:00

last night he was telling me of his 'plans' to wipe out a certain group of ppl -_-" note the ignored book on his lap. he was getting excited! haha.

who knew such evil plans could cheer me up when i was down. well, it cheered me up a while! =)

Zion's Search for a Star

2008-09-28T02:47:00.000+08:00

tonight we went to zion's search for a star to watch rachel's church performance at the octagon theatre.

jinjin, noezin and me while waiting for the doors to open
rachel and rachel! ;)
. glow sticks! noezin's the yellow one. haha.
us =)
rachel's group performing =)

owh and i met up with letitia, a long lost school friend!

went back and had unagidon at jono's after that. yum!

1st Post!

2008-09-26T16:19:00.000+08:00

well once again i'm trying to blog again! haha. been lazy ever since i moved in to tommy more. and my first post shall not tell of the recent happenings of me, but it will be for Trish, Nemoous and the "not-so-important-specks-of-life", Lijin and Huiqian! hahaha.

[nemoous u know where i got my url from haha] changed my add for erm.. privacy reasons ;)

anyhooo.. i was looking through some old mc pics last night and it made me miss those times.. as said many many many many many times by trish =( boohoo. i wish u were all here and we were studying on the same campus!

this pic makes me feel old for some reason

and let's not forget emo nemo who would never miss any chance to tease, esp the allies! hahahahah! XD

wish he and trish were here - i'd have some help with those two =P

miss you guys!