End of the Year

The end of 2008 has come. Year by year, the time just shifts too fast for me to grasp a single moment in its entirety and enjoy life second by second. Every year we celebrate the new year that it may be as good or even better than the last year, and to do this we reflect on what has happened. What we have experienced and what we have learnt, the good things and the bad.

I suppose the first thing I've learnt is that people are never who they seem to be. Under calm waters usually lurk a deeper (sometimes dangerous) current. Friends are also hard to come by. It has taken me the whole 4 years of my university years to realise who are the friends I want in life, those who are worth holding on to and those who are better off as just "hi-bye" people. I have not come close to being able to read people easily but, by withholding a part of myself and not throw the whole of me into a friendship has done wonders. Instead of feeling cheated by something that wasn't even promised in the beginning, you get more than what is expected and that is very fulfilling.

I tend to complain every day about something but looking back, I think that I have actually enjoyed the experience of being here in UK. Living through the gloomy weathers, and spending time with my friends. It's nothing compared to being at home, of course, but it's something different from what the rest of my life would be (the way I envision it). The complaining was a fun activity in itself, just another way to communicate with people.

So what does the year 2009 bring for me? It marks the end of my university life and the starting of work life. It brings about uncertainty in life, as this time it is surely a time where I would be moving to a place where neither my family nor friends would be there, in person, to buffer anything that might happen. It is a scary thought but I'm sure I will survive and be stronger from these experiences to come. Granted that I only have to go through these things in August, but you only have to think about how the years slip by, that 8 months would just pass by without any thought to what I want.

I'll just have to make sure that I make full use of the 6 months left of university. I won't waste my time making new year resolutions as they don't help much anyway, but will just spend my life as fulfilling as possible.

Happy New Year and may the year of 2009 bring much excitement and happiness to you!

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...

I just found out something interesting. Apparently there's a religious symbolism behind the Twelve Days of Christmas...

Religious symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas (The 12 Days of Christmas)

1 True Love refers to God
2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

 

Taken from: http://www.carols.org.uk/the_twelve_days_of_christmas.htm

Christmas '08

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all! Let us all celebrate the day that Christ was born with joy!

For fun, here's a site to track Santa Claus.

Transport problems

I'm sitting in the train to Nottingham now, but not the train that I was booked on. It's another train which is 15 mins later than the other train and I am lucky to be able to get on this train without additional charge.

We had planned our journey to reach St Pancras International in plenty of time for our 1115 train, and had left at the time planned. Unfortunately, the tube stations were against us leaving London so they all decided to go on strike. Signals failed, lots of tube lines weren't working and we had to go from one tube station to another just to get to St Pancras.

The Hammersmith and City line which is the most convenient for me was down. If we had been able to take that line, we wouldn't have needed to change at any tube stations and just to get down at Kings' Cross and St Pancras. We got down from the bus at the station and found out that the line wasn't working, so we had to take another bus to Paddington Station to take the Circle line, which to our dismay when we got there, it wasn't working as well.

So, we had to take the Bakerloo line to Baker Street and change there for the Metropolitan line to get to St Pancras. And the Metropolitan line is not the most frequent of lines. We had to wait there at the station for 15 mins before our tube arrived, therefore making us late for our 1115 train.

We just queued for the 1130 train and thankfully, after explaining what happened to the attendant at the barrier, she let us in without extra charge. It was such a relief to get onto the train to Nottingham. Else, we would have just turned back and gotten another ticket for another day which would've been cheaper. And just spend Christmas and New Year's in London.

I hate travelling in London.

Portobello Market

I walked out to Portobello Market this morning to try and find a suitable gift under 5 pounds for exchange during my Christmas party. Since it's a Saturday, the whole market was open and there were lots of things to see. As I always forget to bring my camera out, I did not manage to capture any interesting photos.

Two things that happen to catch my eye this morning. One was a stall manned by 2 people from China. They were selling iPod nanos 8Gb for around 50 pounds, which apparently is half of the normal selling price. I wonder if the iPods are genuine ones (which they claim them to be), but they could be fake ones for all I know. I just google'd iPod nano and apparently the ones I saw were the 3rd generation ones, not the new 4th generation. Not a lot of people crowded around that stall though, only a few who seemed to be really interested in buying.

Another was that there was a funeral procession down Portobello Road and there were 2 hearses - one a modern hearse and another was a horse-drawn hearse. Following that was an expensive looking car (which for the life of me I do not recognise). There were also people running after the procession with one guy who seemed to be a reporter.

There were people who stopped and took photos of the horse-drawn hearse which I felt was quite disrespectful to the dead. But I suppose they expect that since they went down such a crowded street. The horses were very pretty though.

Anyway, I still can't find my gift.......

Frosty Day

MOULD!!!

ARGHHHH.. there's mould everywhere!!!

Anybody know if I can get Thirsty Hippo here? or any equivalent? Or it won't help at all?

Lincoln Christmas Market

We made a trip to the largest Christmas market in Europe, which incidentally is only situated less than an hour away from here. And we managed to get the train tickets cheap as well. As there was a promotion on one of the train booking websites, we only paid 1.15 pounds for our return trip to Lincoln.

Lincoln is a pretty place, and its annual Christmas Market brings in a lot of tourist. It was so packed and there were a lot of stalls as well. I didn't actually count how many stalls there are but apparently there are over 300 stalls there.

I was going to put photos up, but looking through the photos that I've taken, they don't seem to be very nice and I didn't manage to capture the atmosphere there. So, what I'll do is that I'll post up a photo of me, which I rarely do. Here's me with my red jacket and sling bag. Apparently people recognise me from away by those two.

We had to climb up Steep Hill (yea, that's what the road was called) to get to the market, and yes, it was very steep indeed. It was good exercise to climb up that hill though.

Here's a photo that shows (not really) the crowd that was there. It wasn't that crowded when we got there which was around 1030am but it got crowded as it got later. Behind you can see the cathedral which is apparently one of the must-sees in Lincoln.

 

We did go in and see the cathedral. But unfortunately, due to our reluctance to part with our money, we did not explore the whole cathedral, even though I had really wanted to before. So, I just took a photo from the entrance. Didn't get to see pretty stained glass....

Well, it was a good experience to get into the Christmas mood and rub shoulders with everyone else. I, for one, do not really like crowds so I don't think I'll be making another trip next year to the market. I prefer slow and less crowded places. Another thing that makes it a good day was that the weather was beautiful, albeit very cold. My hands were frozen after I left my gloves off to take photos. But, no complaints - as long as it's not raining or very windy.

Nottingham is pretty as well...

A 10,000 pound jigsaw puzzle

Read the news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7765701.stm

I wouldn't mind having that kind of puzzle to solve. I've always been interested in puzzles and how to solve them. I play lots of puzzle games online and try out every sudoku that comes my way.

But, how good it would be if solving a puzzle equates to getting 10,000 pounds at the end of it?

Winter Woes

Just chatting to my friend on MSN and talking about the cold weather and the people who make it just a tad difficult to live through UK winter.

emily says:
i wan
emily says:
some animal with lots of fur
-Val- says:
polar bear
-Val- says:
hehehe
emily says:
yea
emily says:
that sounds good
-Val- says:
eh then u go back kuching sure die one la
-Val- says:
emily says:
thn i go back kuching and can cut off everything and it won't grow back d
emily says:
cuz the gene become dormant
-Val- says:
hahaha buy veet ah?
emily says:
no need
emily says:
just cut
-Val- says:
hahahahahaha
emily says:
dormant gene rmbr
emily says:
haha
-Val- says:
oh that one
-Val- says:
hahahahhaaha
-Val- says:
creative also!

So, if I had fur, I won't have so many problems associated with cold weather, would I? Dormant gene that activates when the weather is cold and unbearable and goes dormant when the weather is warm/hot.

Maybe I should just get a portable heater, a table lamp and my books, and hide in my closet to get through winter.

emily says:
i shall take the heater
emily says:
and hide in the closet
emily says:
me
emily says:
a heater
emily says:
and a lamp
Pui San says:
hahahahahahahahahahahaha
Pui San says:
die later
Pui San says:
no o2
emily says:
leave a bit of opening la
emily says:
haha
Pui San says:
sounds more like prison
Pui San says:
or sauna
emily says:
sauna is good

Sounds good eh?

Imagine

Imagine if you were shrunk down to a size smaller than a cell, and somehow you are floating or swimming around in the body. What would you see?

Cells that go around eating everything at comes in their way, white lymphocytes bringing around spears and guns and what other weapons they can get fighting with mean looking bacteria and viruses. There'll be some ninja lymphocytes as well who have shurikens that they can throw at those mean bacteria so that they will stick on them and some other white cell will kill them.

Then you will accidentally get swallowed by a cell and you find yourself in a chamber which you cannot get out. Suddenly lethal liquid will be poured into the chamber, filling it up quickly, which is intended to digest you. If you are lucky, you will be able to escape and swim in the cytoplasm to reach the nucleus where you can see strings being unwound and wound and floating here and there.

Ok, I don't know what else can be seen if you were there. That's all the extent of my imagination, seeing white cells are actual people with weapons going around killing those evil looking bacteria.

Our lovely landlord

So, it's not even December yet....and our ever so lovely landlord call us up to tell us he's coming on Sunday to collect the rent. Sunday is only the 30th and they want to collect rent on that day, just because they will be in town on the 30th.

Kept saying that by right we have to pay by the 1st, so we have to pay on the 30th... what kind of logic is this? Don't we at least have the first week of the month to settle the rent?

When we say that we don't have that amount of money now, he says however much we have we just give him.. isn't this daylight robbery?

ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Hearing experiment

I went to volunteer as a subject for a hearing experiment today, with money being the primary motivator for me to join. It was a two hour experiment based on hearing and whether training improves hearing.

First, I had my hearing tested where I had to press a button if I hear a sound and let it go when I don't. And fortunate to say, I have good hearing.

Next, a little game was played where I had to identify which one of the character emitted a different pitch compared to the others. I don't know how much can I actually say anything about this experiment but one thing for sure, is that the characters had really sleepy eyes. They made me feel like sleeping as well. It got a bit tedious at the end where they used the same characters over and over again.

Anyway, I was paid quite well for my time there. Maybe I should go for another one next time.

Ouch....

I'm in PAIN!

There's nothing more terrible than waking up in the morning with a sore shoulder. Can't make any sudden moves or else the pain will be unbearable.

I think I need a better bed...

Pharmacy pre-registration troubles

During the 3^rd year in pharmacy, we are bombarded with the fact that we need to prepare to apply to various pharmacies at the end of the year for a pre-registration placement. If we have an eye on certain pharmacies, we might have to think about it even earlier as they require you to do a 3^rd year placement in order to qualify for a pre-reg. And if a place couldn't be secured before the start of 4^th year, we would need to worry about it when term starts as well.

I, for one, did not have much trouble with securing a placement, and I am thankful that I did and do not need to go through what my friends are going through. Take a friend of mine for example (let’s call her R), who has gone through a bit of tough times just to get the placement that she is finally happy with.

R did a 3^rd year placement with X pharmacy, which was a pre-requisite for a pre-reg. When she applied for her 3^rd year placement location, she did not realize that the pharmacies in the northern region actually bonded a pre-registration student for 2 years – meaning the pre-reg year plus one year as a qualified pharmacist. If you were going to break that bond, you had to pay a huge sum of money. She had her own reasons for not wanting to be bonded, so started searching for alternate arrangements by asking for advice from the university tutors, who were happy to help her in trying to find a new location.

About a month ago, she had an offer from Z pharmacy, which she had gone for an interview for during the summer (yea, long time ago), and thinking that she could not get a better location with X pharmacy, she verbally accepted the offer, not knowing what will happen next.

R heard back from X pharmacy, offering her a location that she was happy with. Whilst comparing X and Z pharmacy, she found that X was more attractive and rejected Z though email, and thought nothing more about it.

She got a call from Z pharmacy early in the morning, asking her why was she rejecting their offer. Being too honest, she told them that she had another offer from another company, with better conditions than Z. The caller from Z (let’s call her T) then said that they can still negotiate for better conditions, but R stressed that she really was rejecting their offer.

As it is too long to repeat what was being said in their conversation, I’ve decided to extract and edit what R had wrote in her blog (I feel that it’s better than she remain anonymous so excuse me if I do not put her blog address in). Below in blue is what was being discussed and in red is R’s explanation of what really happened. (“She” in the extract is T, and “I” is R)

She said I had been unprofessional because they actually sent me two offer letters since September but I took long time to reply their offer.

This isn't true because Z Pharmacy had only made an offer to me recently. I was on hold since August .

She said there were actually two offer letters but first offer letter was lost on its way. After a second check, she found out the offer was made on 10/10/2008.

T then changed topics and she said since an offer had been made on 10/10/2008, why did I take so long time to reply?

I said I had only received offer letter from them after two weeks, which was on 28/10/2008. I received offer from another company (X) after I had received offer letter from them. I took about two weeks to reply them because I needed time to make my decision. (She later found out that she only had the letter for 8 days.)

SHE SAID TWO WEEKS WAS TOO LONG TO MAKE A DECISION.

I replied her saying that I think I have the right to make decision in two weeks. Even for first round candidates, RPSGB also mentioned that they must given enough time to decide, how come I can't have that TWO WEEKS?

Fact: There wasn’t a reply-by date stated on the offer letter.

She said because of me they had to turn down other candidates.

I explain to her that I was told by her manager that the place I was offered to already have enough students and my offer was by special arrangement. So, I had taken it for granted that no other candidates are waiting for my post.

That phone conversation ruined her whole day. Imagine waking up to a call like that. She was also told that she was being unprofessional and a complaint would be submitted to the university about her. She again went for advice from her tutor and staff in the school and was told that they would support her and that Z pharmacy had no grounds to do anything to her, but to email them regarding what had happen so a response could be given if and when a complaint letter was submitted.

I would not say that my friend was totally blame-free. She was being a tad unprofessional by verbally accepting and then rejecting Z pharmacy but I would say this is due to naivety about how the world is. How can it be that they expect students who are in their last year of pharmacy, to know all about the working environment? This just discourages students when they think about having to work soon.

The caller from Z, was being unprofessional herself when she made groundless accusations. She should’ve gotten all her fact right before accusing someone else of being unprofessional.

I would like to commend the School of Pharmacy for standing by their own students first and in helping R a lot in her decisions.

Several things to take from this situation:

1. Do not give a verbal agreement if you are not sure. Tell them, “Thank you very much for the offer, but I would like several days to consider this offer.” I, for one, was very lucky as my future employer told me to go back and think about it first.
2. Be sure that you are happy with any decision you are going to make.
3. Be sure that you are able to back up your decision with valid reasons and that you can stand firm in your decision even when faced with accusations (especially when those accusations are false). This is something you would have to do when you are working.

I wish everyone the best in their applications for a pre-registration placement and may what I have told you help you in what not to do when applying. It is good to keep options open but do not respond in the affirmative when you are not sure about it.

Bonfire Night

We braved the heavy winds and rain, and managed to drag ourselves to the Forest Recreation Grounds to join in the Bonfire Night celebrations. Ok, I'm exaggerating. The wind wasn't that heavy and it was only really heavy mist.

Anyway, we went for dinner first before going off to marvel at the "great" fireworks. Again, with every dinner outing, I always forget to take photos of the good food that we had. So, you just have to take my word that Zizzi is an Italian restaurant that is worth going to. The food isn't as highly priced as others and the food is quite good (I really need to find more synonyms for good). The restaurant atmosphere is very conducive for a romantic dinner or a quiet meal between friends.

Off to the recreation grounds. Firstly, I was grateful to my memory that I managed to remember how to get there by bus and which stand to take it from (was kind of worried that I might have lead the group to wait in the cold for the wrong bus). We got there early and caught the end of the Children's fireworks and waited for the bonfire to be lit.

Some little kid was jumping in front of my camera while I was taking photos of the fairgrounds so I took a photo of him. His mum kept having to drag him away and apologising to me.

The bonfire was then lit and we were mesmerised by the fire (ok, maybe not all of us, others seemed to be more interested in taking photos). There is something about the fire that just captures your attention (no, I'm not a pyromaniac, thank you very much).

We stood there until our legs were rubber just to wait for the fireworks to begin. It was just ok. There wasn't a very good choreography of the fireworks leading to fireworks being lit simultaneously on both the left and right side so you did not really know which one to see. It got really smoky in the end and that spoilt the effect of the fireworks, as we only saw gray.

It was fun spending time with friends and this year being the last year to be surrounded by friends, we need to find fun things to do together (not only expensive dinners).

I realise that I need to complete one blog post without doing something else in the mean time or my train of thought gets sidetracked and I always have to cut short what I was writing as I forget what I wanted to write. hehe..

Don't know what to title this..

For some reason, I find myself in the same situation as I was in last year. I wonder how lucky can you get that a year ahead you experience déjà vu, which in this case isn't the feeling that it has happened before but the fact that it is history repeating itself. Ok, I don't think I'm making any sense here, so you can just ignore that last sentence and just know that I am going through the same problems that I went through last year.

I'm craving for lemon chicken.....

Finally... Food...

Above is what I had for dinner - ham and cheese tortelloni (which I bought) in carbonara sauce (which I made using mascarpone cheese, bacon and broccoli). Also made mushroom and asparagus soup and garlic bread. I wanted to put up a photo of the soup, but it looks like sewage in the photo.. so thought the better of it... It tasted good though.. I just need a nice soup bowl so that I can present it better. Another thing to add into my list of recipes.

Lately have been feeling discontented with everything. But tonight I realised there are still people out there who are great. Guess will just not take everything to heart and take one step back from everything. Just be happy-go-lucky.

Not fair

Our final year project titles have been allocated and I did not get what I had chosen. We each had 6 choices and I did not even get allocated to any of them. It's not fair that other people get their choices but I did not get it. Why then did they even ask us to rank our preference? It makes no sense to do that if we are going to get something that we didn't choose in the end.

Well, an upside to this is that the title I got (novel gasotransmitters) has 11 students assigned to it and half of them are friends. So I suppose doing this project won't be that boring after all if there's friends doing the same research. We can discuss about our research instead of having to do it alone.

But it is still not fair.

Daylight savings

The clocks have been turned back and the days are getting shorter each day. It's fortunate that I wake up early each day so that I can maximise the hours of daylight that I am awake (not that I can achieve more things that way, just that it's less depressing to wake up to the sunlight instead of waking up to a gloomy day).

The temperature is dropping daily as well. So up goes the hours that the heater will be on so that the house does not become a freezer.

Anyway, it's now 8 hours difference between UK and Malaysia so will have to remember to +8 instead of +7...

Fat?

I'm writing this while I'm in stuck on the train journey back to Nottingham from London. It was great spending time with my grandparents, aunts and uncle and cousin for the two weekends, whom all of which I won't see again until next year.

I find that people around me are always complaining about their weight and figure. When you ask them what their weight is, from a BMI point of view, it's a healthy weight. And I never can see if a person is already putting on weight until it is very obvious (obvious being very huge tummy and and very round face). One thing I see from a person who says that he/she is fat, is that he/she is not fat at all. I do not know where they can pinpoint any flabbiness. Granted that the stomach may bulge once in a while after eating but that's normal right?

So, all this is making me self-conscious as well. Am I growing fat as well? I have never cared about my weight or figure as I've always been blessed with a great metabolism, and was never brought up to be very weight conscious.

I suppose I need to exercise more but that's just to get healthy (apparently my BP's a bit high when I went to check at the doctor's but I think that's due to me running to avoid missing my appointment) and also to strengthen my knees which are weak. Not to control my weight which I feel is in the healthy range. I still think I need more meat on my arms - my wrists seems small to me. But overall, I think I'm perfectly fine.

One thing that struck me while I was looking at my grandfather packing a box - how similar my dad is to him physically and in behaviour. Pa! Next time when you're old, you will look just like kung kung - without hair. hehe....

Is my blog getting to be boring?

I really need to find more topics to write about so I can update my blog more frequently.

A lot of things that we have to do this year. Lots of work for the preparation for practice module which has all sorts of things jumbled into one module - clinical aspects, law and ethics - skills that we need to "survive" in our profession.

When I start preparing for our weekly workshops which deal with different topics each week, I feel that I am so inadequate in my knowledge that it is hard to write down what counselling and advice can be given to the patient in a particular scenario. It is just scary to think that when I am out there working as a pharmacist, there won't be someone guiding me everyday to avoid any major mistakes from happening. I guess I'll just have to arm myself with the necessary information to keep from doing any major harm.

Anyway, this is the 5th week of studies and time seems to be going quickly. Chosen my final semester project titles (I'm in Physiology and Pharmacology division). Now all I have to do is cruise along and make sure I keep my marks up.

Should I join Sports Centre this year? It's expensive though... What do you think?

I know I know.. I haven't been writing much. Too much reading and researching to be done.

I've reverted to my anti-social personality and shunned every dinner invitation that comes my way (well, just the ones where we eat out, I won't ever reject any home-cooked meals). Everyone keeps telling me it's the final year of university and because of that very reason, I should go out more and have fun. But I've already been a stay-at-home person and how would this year being the final year in university change anything?

I just realised I haven't blog about my new house yet. So, a quick rundown on the house and the old Hongkie couple who are our landlords for the year.

The house: Well, the layout is basically the same as the last house I stayed in, with everything flipped 180 degrees as it is now a left corner house (if you get what I mean). It's an older version of the last house as it hasn't been renovated. One thing that is good about this place is that the windows are double-glazed which makes the whole house a lot warmer, and the rent is much cheaper than last year. It was more livable after we cleaned everything.

The landlords: Friendly people when we first met them, but still very calculative and cunning. They keep saying that we complain too much, and that they are only renting us the house - which means that they do not need to supply us everything and that we are lucky the house is even furnished! What kind of people are they? Of course we expect the house to be furnished. I can go on and on about how wrong they are as landlords. When they argue a point, they will go from A to B and back to A and to B again and so on and so forth but will never come to C (the conclusion).

Another thing is, we have explicitly told them to inform us whenever they want to come into the house to do anything. And they said that we are different from other people (read: weird) as we seem to not trust them! Of course I don't trust them - I don't even know them!! But I told them in my very broke Cantonese (which eventually I just gave up and spoke in Mandarin) that we expect them to tell us because if we come back to a house where the things are moved, we would naturally think that we have been burglarised! Stupid people...

Anyway, I do not want to talk to them ever. I will be ever so glad if I do not need to see them anymore and listen to them babble about nothing. It is also hard for me to argue with them as I do not speak fluent Cantonese. That's why I leave the arguing to Puisan who has more patience in arguing talking to them (and also because she is fluent in Cantonese).

I can go on and on about the old couple but I think it's enough for one post.

Well, here's a lesson to all of you out there who are looking to rent a house now or in the future: Never, ever rent a house from Hongkies or Chinese. Rent from a white British who are more reasonable and will not disturb you for the whole tenancy.

Oh ya... the weather these days is beautiful. Not too hot.. not too cold.. Just right. Hope it stays so.

Back to reading about paediatric pharmacy. I keep getting sidetracked by other things...

Things like this just make me worry

There was a pervert standing outside my house just now.

I was washing the dishes while cooking and staring out of the window and there was this weird white guy who came up to the sidewalk (good thing it wasn't up to the house) and kind of wiggled his fingers at me. And stood there for quite some time staring into our house. So, I averted my eyes and told my friends about it, while discussing whether or not to call someone, i.e. the police. Fortunately, he left while we were in the midst of discussion.

Then, our next door neighbour came by and said, "你们有没有看到色狼?" And we said we did. And she then said that his THING was hanging out of his pants, which we didn't notice at all. We just noticed a strange guy standing there looking in and never did see his parts hanging out which is a good thing in my opinion.

I think the police should up their patrol around this area, get rid of these perverted people. Hmm.. wonder if I'm being discriminating if I say stuff like this...

First day of classes

Today we had our first day of 4th year. And boy, were we bombarded by the fact that we are doing our MASTERS year. More of student directed learning instead of guidance by the lecturer. Projects, patient interviews, lots of studying...... and the all overwhelming decision on whether to take a 40 credit research module or a 60 credit extended one during the last semester. What if I make the wrong choice?

Moreover, there's the terrible fact that we have to work when we graduate from university. What if I make a mistake? What if everyone looks to me for answers and I don't have it and I look stupid? What if I accidentally made a major error and resulted in dire consequences and I'll have to live with that guilt forever?

I think it's better if I just continue to study all my life without having to go out into the working life. That way, I won't have to worry so much about the other things, will I? And life will be much simpler if I could manipulate time and go to any time I wish to go to.

Success!

I finally got an offer for my pre-registration placement! It's a very early offer as placement only starts in August next year. Well, at least I do not have to worry about it while I continue on with my final year.

So, during the interview (by two different hospitals), they asked me about the recent happenings in the pharmacy world. Sad to say, the things that I have been reading about in the Pharmaceutical Journal did not get asked (well, maybe a small part) and they asked me about NICE which I did not even think to read about as preparation. So I had to be honest and said, "I'm sorry but I have not recently read NICE guidelines so I cannot tell you anything about their recent reviews." I couldn't very well talk about something that I haven't even read.

Anyway, after the very brief interview (it only went on for around 15-20 minutes), I was asked if I would accept if either of them offered me a placement, and to sign a document saying I will consider any other offers from hospitals in the West Midlands. I said yes to everything. In my mind, I found myself a desperate person who does not mind wherever I will work at in the future. I didn't think I did very well during the interview but it was a very big improvement from the first one.

But I was glad to hear from one of hospitals the next morning offering me a place. She asked me whether I would like to accept and with a bit of hmmm... I just said yes. She did say she's not going to pressure me into accepting but I did anyway. So all that's left to do is to email them formally saying I accept.

Well, it's a relief to be able to say that I have a job when I graduate. That I do not have to worry about finding one when I finish with my studies. But the thing is, where has the time gone? How is it that 3 years has flown pass so quickly that I have a glimpse of it and now I am about to start my 4th and final year tomorrow?

First day of Autumn

Apparently it's the first day of autumn today. And it was a very gloomy, cold and wet day. How is it that the weather suddenly change from being sunny and warm (ok, not warm but just not cold) to gray and rainy?

Well, welcome to autumn 2008 and goodbye summer.

Hospital Pre-registration Interviews

I attended an interview on Tuesday and I can't help feeling that I did really badly at it. Considering it's the first interview I have ever attended, I guess it cannot be blamed. I just hope that the second interview which is coming up this Tuesday will be better.

Throughout the interview, I had to keep thinking about how to explain it perfectly and express myself in an appropriate way. I found myself forgetting the word that was needed in that context and then kicking myself mentally when I remember it a moment too late. I was always better at expressing myself in writing rather that verbally. Wonder if I can do an interview through messenger?

One thing about all this is that you come back thinking that you should have said this instead of that or should have elaborated more instead of just stopping where you did.

Still anxiously wondering if I can actually get a pre-registration placement in a hospital pharmacy which is what I really want. I just have to take whatever I have undergone in the last interview and improve on that for the next.

Now... all I have to do if to keep myself calm for the next interview and stop hemming and hawing when answering. I just feel that if there were clinical questions I would've been able to answer those better than the questions that were asked of me.

Finally!!

I got internet connection!!! After a few days of having to go to my friend's place to borrow her internet connection, we finally have our own connection.

We had to pay 10 pounds installation fee.. but I suppose it is for the quick set-up kit. It wasn't that hard to install everything and get it running but the phone is still not working!! Waiting for them to call me back on how to fix the stupid phone.. or better yet, send someone to fix it. Oh well, as long as the broadband is up. They better not charge me for the phone line (even though the person I spoke to said they won't until everything is up and running).

You know what's great about having internet connection today? It's just in time for me to download all my favourite shows which are starting soon... :D yippee!!

Long awaited post

Thought I should update my blog with a post saying that I'm in London! Ok, I've already been in London for several days now and going back to Nottingham tomorrow. Why am I back in UK so early you ask. Well, that's because I have two hospital interviews lined up. And I have no idea how to prepare for them.

So, when I came, my bag decided to be broken, and I couldn't pull it as the lever broke. I had to carry the heavy heavy 20kg bag up and down the stairs at the tube station. I was so very glad that I did not bring another box full of stuff with me. Even so, i had quite a hard time trying to get the bag back to my aunt's place. I don't know why this happens to me every time I am in UK. Must be the weather, causing me to carry all the heavy things so I won't get overweight. Good form of exercise.

Time to watch TV. Have to watch as much as I can before going back to Nottingham as I don't have TV there. So more TV for me.

Terrible nightmare.... dreamt that it's already September and I passed the deadline to send my applications.. arghh...

Really need to start doing them. Anyone have any good ideas on how to start?

A little more than 2 weeks before I have to go back to Nottingham. Where had the time gone?

Near Miss

I nearly crashed into another car today. Was just cruising along the road at a moderate speed when suddenly I just blanked out and didn't see the car in front of me brake. Then I have no idea what happened after that, just that I managed to hit the emergency brakes in time to avoid hitting the car. Scary. Heart went thump thump thump thump thump really quickly.

My eczema is back again. And I thought it is gone forever. I always seem plagued with skin problem. I remember when I was younger I used to get, seasonally (even though there are no seasons here), really itchy spots which are blotchy and tend to spread the more I scratch. In no time, my whole arm  or thighs would be red and bumpy. Nothing I applied helped with the itchiness. Good thing that stopped after two years.

Now, it's eczema. I've come to the conclusion that it is also a seasonal thing as I had the same problem last year around the same time. What's worse is that it's around the eyes so I can't put any potent steroids to make it go away. ARGH!!!

Power Failure

I thought I better start writing a post before I go off watching drama series and forget about jotting this down.

There was a power failure yesterday afternoon from 3pm to 10pm. And it was horrible... The house was terribly hot and all I could do was try and stay as still as possible to burn less energy therefore produce less heat, but it was still hot. Couldn't even open the front gate to go out because it's an electric gate and I did not have the keys at home to open the gate. One of the things that we each seem to have done once in our life is climb over the gate to get into the house, which isn't such a difficult thing to do.

While eating a candlelit dinner, it got me thinking what would we do if suddenly, there was no electricity anymore. We wouldn't have any lights unless we use a candle and we wouldn't be able to go online or use the phone or watch TV. AND no FAN or air-conditioning! Life as we know it would surely stop to exist. We would all go back to the pre-electricity times and do nothing but write letters. It would be even worse in a cold climate where there would not be ready heating available. So we should all be thankful that we have electricity.

There's this little black dog that keeps coming to bully our golden retriever puppy. And it's funny that such a small dog can get the better of our dog which is at least double its size. That dog only runs away it sees someone coming.

I got my camera back. It cost a fortune to repair. Should have gotten a water resistant camera the last time.

Ok.. time to watch TV.

My Blog's Birthday

I just realise that today marks the birthday of my blog. Well, I thought I missed the date but apparently not.

I started this blog a year ago in a small internet cafe in Edinburgh, to post up all the photos I've taken and blog about what I am doing, in and around the UK (well, not so much around UK.. not so much in UK as well), so I could keep my family updated.

I did not really think I could keep this blog running as I tried once or twice before with only a couple of post before forgetting about it completely. And before the invention of blogs, I tried keeping diaries which was an utter failure. I did not have the patience to sit down and write about what was happening in my life when it was just routine. (Blogs are the same as diaries, only that they are more public, right?)

I wrote more posts when I was in UK as it was a deviation in my life. Something different that I was living through and I felt the need to document it. Different cultures, food and people. But back here in Kuching, most things become routine again. And there is so much more interesting things to do, such as the wonderful tv and astro and cantonese dramas and also hanging out with family. While in the UK I spent most time hanging out with my laptop and the WWW.

So, I won't let this blog die away but as you would have already found out, there are only minimal postings throughout this summer. I'll try to crack my brain and see what I can find but I won't promise.

So happy birthday blog. Maybe when I have the time I will try and see if there are any interesting skins for this site.

11th Rainforest World Music Festival

I finally attended the RWMF, although I only went for one day last night, just to get a feel of what happens during the RWMF. Managed to get in free as my aunt has contacts.

One thing I would have to say is that I do not have any photos from this event. My camera died on me and couldn't be started so no photos. I was so planning to make this into a photo post but guess not.

Went down to Damai Puri (the hotel that we stayed in for a night) in the afternoon and the Sarawak Cultural Village where the RWMF is being held is only a few minutes walk from the resort. We kinda forgot about the workshops that are held in the afternoon which is a shame as the workshops seemed interesting from their descriptions. We only went for the night where the music, booze and nearly naked people were having fun.

One thing you have to have in a rainforest is rain. We had lots of it. It was pouring! It wasn't much fun for me being drenched in the rain listening to some melancholic music (which was what was being played earlier in the concert). Good thing I had an umbrella and we bought ponchos as well. The mood began to pick up as more upbeat music were being played and the skies started to show mercy. There were a variety of instruments being player - bagpipe, violins, flutes, traditional instruments, and also a weird instrument being played by one member of the trio from England (no idea what the instrument is called).

We were there for nearly the whole night. We were there at around 8pm and stayed until the night ended at 12. Standing! My backing was aching by the time we started walking back. There was also this woman standing behind me who kept poking me with her umbrella. I move one step forward and she follows, poking me again with her umbrella. Annoying!

Well, it was what's expected from a live concert. Loud music, people screaming and dancing, and lots of muddy people. Fun...

Still, I would say, it's not my kind of thing. Maybe if it didn't rain...

Something new

I learnt something new yesterday. That you can actually flip your screen to become vertical or upside down instead of boring old normal looking horizontal, right side up screen. It's just the most interesting thing that I have learnt about the computer (at the moment I suppose).

I got a new phone... :D

untitled

I was going to play guess the age with my own photo but I couldn't get a decent photo by taking it myself so I'll just forgo this game. Anyway.. the reason I wanted to do that was because over the past few days, I have been thought of as still being 16/17, even though I just passed by birthday last week. I think it's the haircut that makes me look young, compared to my old hairstyle which was long and straight, making me look old. haha..

I thought of some stuff to write the night before but now I totally have no idea what I wanted to post up. Think I have amnesia...

I'm hooked onto a Taiwan drama series again. The thing about these series is, even though you think that they are very immature and the things they do is very unrealistic, you just can't stop watching them. So, on to watching series then..

Away Away Away

I shall be away from tomoro until Saturday! (I can hear lots of people saying now that it does not make a difference since I do not update as regularly as I should.)

Anyway, making a short trip to Sri Aman for a few days to eat and relax.. :D

*latest news: I will be away til sunday.. hehe..

Food Fair

Went to a food fair today and, boy, was it crowded. People were being willingly packed like sardines into the small hall where most of the stalls were set up. You get stall operators shouting at you to buy their things.

Things sold at food fairs are always expensive. But because you have already pre-bought vouchers, you have no choice but to join in the crowd in trying to spend the money wisely.

A word of advice when going to a food fair or any other place where there are a lot of people - do not bring along any young children who are scared of loud noises and crowds. You will only end up carry them and walking along the periphery of where all the action is.

Because I know how much all of you like food, here are some of the food I ate over the past few days:

My dad's pork leg.

Prawn in white wine (or drunken prawns)

Homemade Sarawak Laksa

Father's Day celebration

Here's the dumplings (Guo Tie) that we made

Here's the ratatouille that my dad cooked.

And here's the whole plate of dinner that we had: Roast Chicken a la Jamie Oliver, Roast Lamb Leg, peas, ratatouille, roast potatoes and croutons. hehe.. :D All courtesy of my dad.

 

Ok, time to go swimming later.

couple of photos

Photos of the sky over Dubai when I flew over. I like the colours.

Finally went to check my eyes again and to fix my specs. Guess what, it only costs a fraction of what it would have cost me if I had did my specs in UK.

Went for a choir practice at church yesterday and it was a disaster. I'm supposed to be enjoying myself but I found myself inching to leave. But I did not know how to tell them that we did not want to join them anymore. Never mind. Next week. Another week's trial and we're out.

Since I probably won't be updating tomorrow, Happy Fathers Day to all!

I'm still here

Contrary to popular belief, I am still here....

Ok.. there is no popular belief that I am gone.. It just sounded like a nice way to start.

Anyway, what's everybody doing in their summer holidays? Mine's just lazing around, and playing with the dog, and playing with the sisters, and playing with the brother. Busy life.

The weather is terribly warm here, but not so yesterday and today as it rained heavily. Yes, heavy rain. Not like the rain you get in UK where it DRIZZLES! No, worst than drizzling. It's this constant slight dripping of rain like someone forgot to close the tap tightly and the water is running ever so finely. If it rains heavily in the UK, there won't be constant drizzling will there?

I've been meaning to post up some photos but I have no idea where the cable is. Need to find it before photos can be posted and I shall show you Dubai's twilight skies from the plane.

Update at last

I'm going through an identity crisis.

I cut my hair this morning and now I can't recognise myself anymore.....

It has been a busy few days for me. First, I travelled for 2 days over 4 countries. Then, I got on a plane again to go off to KL. Tiring, tiring... I wonder how people adjust to jetsetting all around the world.

It's very warm back home as compared to UK. I'm just sweating everyday, unless I'm in front of the fan. Everything seems slightly different from before I left nearly 11 months ago. Why does everything go on without me?

I really cannot think of anything to jot down now. Just wondering what I should do for this few months....

Home!

I'm going home tomorrow!! home home home home sweet home...

Can't wait to go home... but i dread the travelling that i need to go through to reach home...

Happy Birthday Puisan!!

Happy birthday you crazy fella...

Missing

Arrived in London yesterday by train. When we went into the coach we were in, it was quite full and the baggage compartment (which was small) was left with minimal space for us to squeeze our bags there. When the train reached St Pancras, we let most of the passengers go first before we made a move towards our bags. Mine wasn't there.

I started worrying and wondering why are there such people in life wanting to steal my bag which contains nothing except clothes. Went out of the coach looking up and down, then back into the coach looking up to see if anybody put it there for more space. It wasn't. Until one of the passengers saw me jumping up and down with my worried face and asked me if i lost my bags.

Guess where the bag was. It was beneath someone's seat. And since the bag was brown, it kinda blended into its environment.

Travelling

Will be off to London tomorrow. 5 days of being in the city.. wonder how would that turn out? Then it'll be home in 8 more days!

Cooked laksa (Sarawak Laksa for all you people who think the only laksa is Penang Laksa) again yesterday, this time it was nicer than the previous time I cooked it since I put less water this time. A good thing about cooking one meal and inviting others is that you get invited back for meals! I didn't cook a single meal today, except to heat up laksa for breakfast. Had lunch at Hwee yin's place (fried leftover pasta) and dinner at Yan Leng's place (Nasi Lemak!), which was good since I didn't have to think of what to eat.

I've been packing my stuff up and it seems like the bag I want to bring home is quite heavy. Will need to weigh it after I finish packing and take some stuff out. (SARAH, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. YOUR VIOLIN STAND IS VERY HEAVY!)

Having a terrible headache today and I have no idea why. Maybe it's (the brain) is too free so is dilating and constricting its own blood vessels. Exercise....

Yay!

How is it I go to bed at 2am and still wake up before 7? Maybe it's the sun shining in... or maybe it's just my stomach being empty.

Well, it's the end of Pharmacy year 3.. How fast time flew. I can still sort of remember walking into the first day of year 1, and now it's already the end of third year.

We went out to celebrate yesterday at Las Iguanas for Latin food, but basically I think they only served Spanish and Mexican food (or they the only two Latin countries?). The food was ok, not that great.

Then we dilly-dallied in Tesco waiting for Goh to buy everything he needed for the picnic later, so that we can help carry them back. It's a bit funny when you see so many girls waiting for a guy to finish shopping.

Came back and started helping him prepare the food. We peeled, cut, boiled and mashed potatoes for his shepherd's pie. Made scones (it was in two trays and the tray on the upper side of the oven was nicer than the lower tray), and since Rachel wanted to learn how to make Banana Bread, I made that as well. Well, in the end, poor Rachel didn't get to see what I did as Puisan kept her busy making scones together (it was more of a puisan making and a rachel being helper.. poor rachel).

Time to go find some food now.. as I have been smelling Banana Bread while I was sleeping and when I woke up.

And picnic later!! Sun, friends, food and frisbee!

I PASSED!!!!

I PASSED!! I PASSED!!!

Last one of the year...

So, there's another paper left.. and it's the last one for year 3, Toxicology on the 19th May. That is also the day for when we know if we pass or fail our Law exam and our dispensing exam. I'm pretty confident that I did quite well in those two.. but life is always unpredictable, where things I am confident about don't really turn out as expected. So fingers crossed.

Anyway, back to toxicology. I started studying this module fairly early on, and the past few days I was wondering if I had forgot everything that I spent so much time revising. Turns out I still have some space in my brain for toxicology, and that because I understand what I am studying. If I were to blindly memorise something without understanding it (like yesterday's Quality in medicines design and usage), my brain cannot handle that.

My brain is split into two compartments - the understanding part and the memory part. The understanding part takes up the majority of the space in my brain. The memory part is just a tiny spot really. It's just there because everyone has to have a memory compartment. It's like a pendrive storage space... Mine's still outdated and using 56mb instead of the new ones which can store up to 8Gb (or more?). Hmm.. maybe my memory compartment is still a floppy disk. And my brain's running on really low RAM.

I really need to improve my English... I find that it is really deteriorating. Maybe I should start writing stories again (or tons and tons of factual essays) or start reading the dictionary and thesaurus. I found myself using the same words over and over again in the essay yesterday, and I couldn't even crack my brain to find another word to substitute those words, which made me cringe when I was reading through the essay again. It read like a broken disc player, where the same thing was repeated several times.

Or maybe it's just writing factual stuff that makes my English go down the drain?

I think I need a brain scan to determine if I actually have a language spot in my brain.

I just realise I veered off topic after I posted this post. I was talking about toxicology. And I cannot remember what I wanted to post about it. So, short and sweet, good luck everyone on our last paper of the year.

11.32am

I'm still waiting.... why do we have to have exams in the afternoon... they should just put all in the morning... esp the last paper.. which is at 4.30!! OMG! I won't be able to sit still the whole day....

Quality in medicines design and usage

It's 9.15am now.. and it feels like I've been awake for ages. Trying to study for the abovementioned module which will be examined on later on. Just to test my memory, decided to test my memory on how drug development is..

Normal drug development is done in a few stages. First comes drug discovery by various methods, such as natural product sources, targeted drug design, random synthesis and high throughput screening.

Then, the chemical process development. Here, bulk quantities of the drug is produced and the most cost effective synthetic pathway is to be discovered. Then, the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) or collectively the pharmacodynamics are studied. Toxicology is also being done on that chemical compound. In vitro testing on cell culture or Ames test (which tests for bacterial mutagenicity), acute toxicity, chronic toxicity, carcinogenicity, and reproductive toxicity are being done.

Then comes pharmaceutics. The form of the drug has to be determined, taking into account the physicochemical properties of the drug and aiming for an oral formulation.

Next comes the clinical trials. This is in 3 parts (or 4 including post marketing surveillance).

Phase 1: Clinical pharmacology and toxicology

This is being done in health volunteers (males age 18-45) to find out the smallest effective and highest tolerated dose. The metabolism and pharmacokinetics of the drug is being observed. Any side-effects are also recorded.

Phase 2: Clinical investigation of therapeutic effect

Assesses the bioavailability of the pilot formulations and also the therapeutic effect of the drug.

Phase 3: Full-scale therapeutic evaluation in patients

Determine the dosage form and also the regimen. The efficacy, benefit, long term tolerance, adverse side effects, contraindications and interactions with other medicines are investigated in this phase. If everything is up to par, the documents can then be sent to the appropriate regulatory agency for approval and registration (MHRA in UK).

Phase 4: Post-marketing surveillance

The drug is already sold.... more research will be done to find out - long term side effects, efficacy, toxicity, and maybe find another indication for the drug. The dosage regimen can also be optimised for better effect.

So.. will I get 100 marks for all that? Cross my fingers that this question will come out and that I can actually remember everything that I have read through.

Sorry to bore you all with all this... It just seems more fun to study this way. (I hope all my details are correct though, I kinda took all these from my notes and paraphrased them..)

Update @ 1546: it was a lousy paper... I was just writing anything and everything that came to my head and I realise that my english is getting worse.

Side effects

Side-effects of exams:

1. Gastro-intestinal disturbances
2. Nausea and vomiting
3. Tremor
4. Sleep disturbances
5. Tachycardia (Increased heart rate)
6. Restlessness

Other side effects may be experienced by other individuals.

These may be alleviated by open spaces and fresh air.

One down, three more to go

Finish law!! yay! Somehow it's going to be over very fast. Then it'll be freedom... Off to visit Manchester and also London!

Anyway, bout today's paper, it wasn't that bad. Since it's an open book test.. but the time seemed to go by very very fast though. 2 hours just went pass without any extra time.

Next.. Disease and goals of treatment.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! Esp to my mum, my sa ee, my two Grandmas, my aunt, and my dear godmother Liz. Hugs and kisses to all!

Exam Exam Exam

2 more days! Then I'll have to tackle Pharmacy Law and Ethics...

It's so hot these days... up to 25 degrees each day! Good thing I got my mini-fan... my window is open throughout the whole day regardless of the bee that seems to like to visit my room each morning and evening to say good morning and good night.

Ok, good luck everybody with the exams. It's only 4 papers anyway, no worries... (yea, right)

Sunny day

It's a sunny day today and quite warm. Actually it has been warm for the pass few days as well, just that only today that I got myself out of the house for a walk and a break from studies.

Since a lot of people come to my blog to see food, here's dinner. Sweet and sour fish and beans fried with egg.

Nearly cut off my thumb again. That's twice in 2 days. Thank god we have nails to protect the poor thumbs and fingers.

Guess what I got?

I recently won a competition! yay! I won the above 4 cds (Lizst, Mozart, Mahler, and Rachmaninoff), two orchestra tickets for this Friday's performance by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and also two orchestra tickets to BBC Philharmonic Orchestra's performance on Brahms and Schumann in Manchester in June. Am I lucky or what?

Well, I have a feeling not a lot of people joined this competition that's why I won.... hehe..

Just photos

I saw this er.. crane-like bird in the drain.

Experimenting with different modes in my camera. Sepia.

The tree outside my house is growing its leaves again.

The leaves in black and white.

Blog earnings..

Well, I've turned my blog into earning me some money and I've been cashing in 3 pounds per month since a few months ago. I put on Nuffnang ads and I have never ever ever earned a single penny. But when I look at my account today, I finally have RM0.50! Now, all I need is 100 times that amount for me to cash out...

In the meantime, I'll just continue receiving 3 pounds a month (click here).. :D since there is no revenue from Google Adsense and not a lot from Nuffnang..

The dreaded time has come....

The time of our lives has come again... exams.. We can never run away from them. They will haunt us forever and ever!!! LOL.. ok... they won't.. but it sure feels like it..

Anyway.. this time I have to tackle: Disease and the Goals of Treatment (DGT), Toxicology, Law relating to Pharmacy, Quality in Medicines Design and Usage... not forgetting Dispensing exams which I have my last session on Friday.

DGT is fine (to me anyway, others may disagree and we shall agree to disagree).. Most of the answers can be found in the BNF anyway and it's an interesting module where we learn how to apply our knowledge in a clinical setting. We get case studies and we get to solve them like puzzles.

Next there's tox.. can too much revision on toxicology be toxic to my brain? It's an ok subject, not as fun as DGT but still applicable in pharmacy like how to treat an overdose. But there is a lot of information to remember/memorize and I hate memorizing. I need a way to understand all of this.

Law is just annoying. It's an open book test, thankfully. But since there are no past papers on this, we have no idea how the questions are going to be given. why do we need to study law???? I'll just employ a lawyer...

Quality in Medicines Design and Usage is one of those modules that are not very useful unless you plan to go into the pharmaceutical industry. Teaches you all about the process of how a drug is formulated and brought into the market. And get this.... It's a one hour paper... and you need to choose one question out of three and that will give you the total of 100%!!! How and what are we supposed to write for that????? I don't see a good outcome for this for me as this is memory work. And I do not have the best memory!

Anyway.. timetable for exams:

12 May: Law relating to Pharmacy

14 May: DGT

16 May: Quality in Medicines Design and Usage

19 May: Toxicology

30 May: Home

Good luck to me! and ok ok, to all you others as well (but don't take all my luck, k? hehe... jk..)..

Food food foooood

I haven't been posting a lot of food photos up recently as I've been too lazy to create "masterpieces". To tantalise your palate again, it's time for food photos.

But first, the Trent Building.... and pink-flowered trees with white ones behind..

And an empty plate....

Lime-marinated baked salmon (took the recipe from here), onions, mushrooms, mashed potatoes with ham, and carrots and beans.

If you do decide to take a look at the recipe, I substituted the Cayenne peppers with Tabasco sauce.. You have to make do with what you have in the kitchen.. hehe..

Procrastination!

I think this applies to a lot of us.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

How can I be so dumb? If I were any more dumber, I would need a brain transplant! ARGHH... How can I forget to label the medicine?????????? The lecturer had to tell me not to look so worried next time.

I don't know whether to laugh at my stupidity or cry...

 

Anyway.. on a happier note, a lecturer praised me yesterday.. HAHAHA...

Rant

It's past time for a ranting post..

I don't know how some people can be so self-centred all the time. How is it that some people can feel that others are making her life miserable when she is the one making it hard for other people to be associated with her? This is just amazing to me.

ARGHHHH... I can't stand it!!

Dispensing

Dispensing exam today! I've been practicing really hard these few days and got it down to doing 2 sets (that's 16 prescriptions) in 2 hours...

So, today's exam had 7 prescriptions and I did all in an hour and a half... I tried doing it slower but it just seems natural to do it fast... I think it's in my nature to do things fast. Which isn't a good thing sometimes as I might miss something important..

Oh well.. one session down.. and two more to go!

Highway

My friend just said: "my brain is just a highway... 1 straight road, heavy traffic, fast come fast go, no parking lots available"

How come I feel the same way also? I think my parking is limited and there's a time limit to anybody using the space..

More news on dispensing rights

I just read two doctors' blog on their view on the dispensing rights:

one is here and here (two posts) and to summarise it, he has given 10 reasons why pharmacist should not have exclusive dispensing rights, but from what I have read it sounds like why are pharmacist trying to act smart. Among the 10 reasons are, pharmacist want to make money, there are no 24-hour pharmacy and pharmacist keep trying to be better than doctors. Can't they give a new reason cuz this is getting old? (BTW, I noticed something in his post. He said that he wrote a prescription for his sister to buy something. Correct me if I'm wrong but, I thought you shouldn't treat your own family? If I'm wrong, I'm sorry)

Another is here, here and here ( a three-part series) in retaliation to the above person.

Mind this, both are doctors. I do not know where the first one was educated in but the second graduated and worked in a developed country before.. see how different their views are?

Ok, so far I've read doctors comments and doctors blogs... Anybody know any Malaysian pharmacist blogging about this topic?

Revision time again

Been going to the library these few days to complete my toxicology assignment and also getting some revision done. When you are confined in a small room trying to study, you tend to think about funny things.

My toxicology report is on Red Wine and Pregnancy, and there are research done in this area using mice and rats as the subjects. While completing my report, I read a journal where rats were force-fed alcohol to show what alcohol does to the fetus. So it got me thinking, how do mice and rats look like drunk? If using white rats, they'll probably get flushed faces (which is going to be so cute) and also stumble around (because that's what drunks do).

In that very small room, the lights are triggered by a motion sensor and would switch off automatically if there is no movement. I came up with this thought on whether the lights would go off if we were very very still. So, to break up the monotony of studying, me and Yan Leng both conducted our own experiment (separately), and tried to be as still as possible. True enough, the lights went off after around 3-4 minutes of inactivity. I was imagining what other people were going to say when they saw somebody sitting in that room not moving at all! haha...

ok... I know, I know.. very 无聊. But what to expect when you are forced to do revision?

Amazing

No title

Just some photos..

Btw, forgot to mention in the other post how long I waited at the hospital. My appointment was at 2.45pm so I reached at 2.30 to wait. I got home at 4.30pm. 2 hrs! And I think the checkup was at most only half an hour, the rest of the time was spent waiting.

Too bright!! too bright!!

My eyes are fully dilated now and any exposure to light makes my eyes water and my vision blurry. I can't see near stuff so I can't do any reading that I have planned to do. Even typing out this post is a bit difficult and I have to turn down the brightness of the screen.

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with my eye. There is not "fairly large naevi" which was written down by the optician, only a very very small pigment according to the ophthalmologist. These pigments could, in time, turn into a tumour, but it mostly occurs in Caucasians and very very very very rarely in Asians. So nothing to worry about!

OK... going to rest my eyes now. It was difficult trying to walk back just now because, even without the sun, it was too glaring. Blessed relief when I got back home and into my room.

Am I going bananas?

The whole house is filled with the aroma of bananas today, as I embark on a baking frenzy. I bought lots of bananas which cost 1 pound on Friday and they are ripening very fast so I had to find a way to get rid of them.

And so, I baked....

Nutella Banana Muffin! Well, I didn't have enough nutella so you can't really taste the nutella. But it is really moist and soft. Yum yum..

And banana walnut bread! It looks nice, smells nice.. but I have no idea how it taste like as it just came out of the oven and I'm too full to try it out. Never mind, will let my "guinea pigs" try it out. 

To break the monotony of banana-made products, here's my dinner. Baked chicken with potatoes and mushroom and homemade coleslaw. Somehow I think I need something new to try out for my dinners. It seems to be repetitive.

Baking is fun and all, but the tedious part is washing up. You get tons of dishes to wash up after baking.

Anyway, if you want the recipe to the above banana muffin and bread click here and here.

I still have some more bananas.. What should I do with them? Banana milk shake?