I have now arrived at the main reason of my highism. When we went back to our flat after countdown we dashed into our rooms and brought out all the presents (when I say all I mean 2) and cards for........... GIFT EXCHANGE!!! (while watching Star Awards) And my late birthday present arrived! Den I got THREE presents! Hahahahahahahahhhaahahahahahahahhahahahah XD

I love exchanging presents during Christmas. Just nice too! It was in the early wee hours of Christmas.

I got a bag of chocolates and a PINK heart-shaped fat cushion (which I shall use to fluffify the new house) for my Christmas present. The part where everyone opened their presents togethe is damn fun and heartwarming and familyish! Which led us of to another round of house-fantasising and how we were going to hang out stockings across the fireplace.....

CHOONYAN THIS PART IS FOR YOU TO READ:

And guess WHAT I got for my birthday present??? I got a box of Praline chocs and a Jun Jie Westside CD in a memorial (sounds like die already but I dunno what other word to use) booklet! I tink it is limited edition. Den the book and packaging is damn grand and proper and with proper certification and signature and message and stamps (for some weird reason. Was JJ a stamp collector in his childhood..? =O) ...

Dun worry cy I WILL show u when I go back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha I know u will be jealous but I still wanna show you (and I bet u wanna see oso lo)............

Den we studied until the late wee hours.

HAHA...... YO MAN... It is Christmas here today and (still) in most parts of the world. I wanted to upload all the christmas photos we took (not to mention my christmas presents!!!!!!!!!!!!XD) but I'm like really cannot be bothered to plug in my camera den wait for the whole thing to load den alowly upload den plan how to write... As u know, this is my study break den I rarely come into contact with civilisation during this period and all that kam-ma-ra, hang-pong and komputer are usually foreign to me during this period. I am actually quite proud of myself for even blogging and going on msn and hotmail... Sorry for sounding so damn A.P. but I tink Ling and Bon should know.......... BUT because I was so damn happy yesterday and in te wee hours of this morning celebrating christmas I decided to technify myself after all. Still too lazy to put up photos though. Ok Christmas Eve began on a cold gloomy morning... I woke up late, having fantasised about the house with Paula until late morning again. Understandably, guilt poured over me and I crawled out of bed faster than usual to begin my morning routine. Haha pri school compo... Basically I attempted to study for the whole day. However, wee hours are not good for most people and so my admirable progress in the morning deteriorated rapidly and I ended up with my usual amount of work (3 miserable chapters). Gave up at 5 plus coz we had to cook to contribute to the Christmas dinner and I kept glancing at the time in panic. NOTHING was diffusing through my impermeable brain. Naturally I was feeling fuzzy and irritated and panicky when I enetered the kitchen. Some new considerations about house-hunting surfaced again, which I couldn't really reister coz I was still feeling woolly. Surprisingly, as the cooking progressed I found myself having more and more fun and chatting about happier things. I tink Paula and I felt quite accomplished about our mashed potatoes, mushroom soup and mini garlic bread. Though we took 2h to make this simple fare (as opposed to Archana who started making CHICKEN RICE at the same time as us but could still make it in time some more dressed nicely) I tink the kalang-kabutness was kinda fun. We then went down to Qin Yi's flat dressed in pink. I had a pink woolly sweater, pink rubber band and pink slippers. The theme was pink coz we wanted Xin Yi to appear remotely girlish at the very least. The dress-skirt theme didn't work out coz I refused to agree and insisted on wearing my bathrobe down as a dress. Xin Yi said I looked like a snowball in my sweater. Unfortunately I felt like a snowball too. After taking photos and merry-making for a bit we FINALLY started on the food. We had chicken rice, pizzas, mashed potato and sauce, mushroom soup and garlic bread. Which doesn't sound like much, but there was more than half left for Part 2 and 3... Den we went upstairs to watch hong xing da jiang and held our notes while watching it for the deceptive effect that we tried to study. That made us damn high coz we were shouting at the screen about everything. At 11.52 we had to go down to qy's flat again for COUNTDOWN. We were too late to countdown after all the hello and phototaking blah... So we just heck and quickly 10 9 8.... MERRY CHRISTMAS! Den we popped the crackers and took photos with the paper crowns and played with the kinder-bueno-like toys and read the lame jokes inside. DEN WE ATE LOG CAKE. It looked damn bought lah and qy even went to pick berries and leaves and pine cones to decorate it! I really marvel at the effort she puts into cooking... Which is why her cooking is like WOW and I take 2h to make mashed potatoes... Comparisons, comparisons... DEN we watched the rest of hong xing da jiang and really meant to study after that but we decided to click on the Post Show of Star Awards just to 'see what it was'. The after-effect is predictable. I have now come to the main part of my highism. Which I shall post on the next entry so as not to waver your attention span by reading such a damn (a bit complainy) entry.

Hello. I only managed to upload my phone pictures coz my camera battery flat as usual. This should be sufficient for now. The top 2 pictures were taken outside the zoology museum and was taken on my last day there. No points for guessing what animal it is.

Next to me now is the ceiling of... one of the colleges. Cambridge is made up for many colleges and is famous for its colleges, all of which are collectively called University of Cambridge. I did not know that...

Oh I realli should have blogged immediately after. This is the one of the last colleges I visited so I am guessing it is Trinity. Or Kings. Shit.














This is the churchy part of (I think) Trinity. It looks alot nicer when you tilt your head to the right. Or when you rotate your computer 90 degrees clockwise.

A little bit of Did You Know? here. You are not allowed to step on most of the grass. Some patches of grass only some up there people can step. The porters of some schools are damn ngiao and do not like visitors so some bullyable people get chased away from school-viewing sometimes. The buildings are especially grand in Cambrdge. Very elaborate with opulent facades and balustraded walls (actually I dun really know the meaning but it makes my vocab sound good). Some of the architectures have meanings like there is one school which was built to be perfectly symmetrical. Den the head punished people for opeing their windows coz it spoilt the symmetry of the building. Den there is one rectangularish building (probably in my camera) which is supposed to be inspired a forest but I can't quite describe it if I dun have the building with me. Ah so many things you have to see for yourself. So difficult. Want to show you oso cannot (hope you are helplessly jealous at this point). ~Hai

Oh! Just nice. This is a picture taken from the inside of the Bridge of Sighs. There is a picture of it in Wikipedia... It is the nicest bridge I tink, like an indoor bridge. The whole place reminded me so much of Harry Potter. There are alot of bidges along River Cam. Wikipedia even has a list of Cambridge bridges. How cool is that?? Haha River Cam has many Bridges, which is probably how Cambridge came about.

A nice view (taken by someone with natural photographic skill) of the River Cam. Must have been taken on one of the bridges. Oh. Yea. I can see the edge of the bridge.
Lunch on my first day. The utensils are really cute. Never use this kinda thing before. Except the wooden spatula they use to write table numbers, which perhaps I have used for baking once.
It was a waffles shop. The waffles were hot, thin and crispy on the outside and really soft and spongy on the inside. Not exaggerating. Like you were biting nothing. And the taste of the waffles was good too. Most places by the time you are halfway, 3/4-way or 4/5-way you get a bit sick of it but this one no......

They had sweet and savoury waffles, a lot of which were named after the colleges like Trinity and Queens. This is some of what we ordered.

What I ordered. Beef and dunno wat cheese and something. Ah well it was nice anyway.

What some of the rest ordered. Banana, chocolate, apple, cinammon... I really tink the savoury ones are a lot nicer though.

What I ordered. I shared with another girl. Brilliant me came up with the idea of ordering 1 sweet and 1 savoury and swapping so we get the best of both worlds. The M&Ms/Smarties/Imitation-coloured-chocolate-sweets were horrible though. Plus point is that the ice cream takes really long to melt.







Ook folks! Stay tuned to Cambridge Part 2 because my camera battery is still flat and some photos are not with me, where I tell you about more exciting things like PUNTING, THE FUDGE SHOP AND THE OPEN MARKET. Cheers.

This is the email i sent to jiemin some time lassst.... or last last week. Thought itwas quite a good summary of what goes on on a normal school week with no additional lectures and talks about doctor's health (which i ponned) and other things similar. I will be going to morrisons after this coz I ran out of alot of emergency food (ham, cheese, bread, milk, mushrooms and rocky chocolate). I've just remembered I have to send bong her birthday card soon otherwise she'll receive it on my birthday instead, which, incidentally is on the 14th Dec. Ah, how apt. That topic just flowed out of nowhere. Not that I meant it to come out. Ohoho. I tink I shall buy a birthday cum christmas card for my patient as well.

Had fish and chips at the best fish and chips place here yesterday. I ate so bloody much coz my flatmate from china den not used to eating deep fried stuff den she very fast full den vomitted at home. the fish u know how big right. i blogged in... march. i tink. haha.Lunch and breakfast actually I usually skip coz always late to go school. So I have one meal a day and lots of rubbish food like chocolates and potato chips to sustain me through breakfast and lunch. am determined to have proper breakfast though coz i know the importance of breakfast. perhaps that is a contributory reason to my unexplained fatigue. had a damn nice breakfast on mon though. went supermarket shopping. bought english pork sausages. ate fried eggs, fried fat english sausage, fried my remaining mushrooms to clear it, 2 slices of thin toasted bread and apple and alot of tomato sauce. den settled myself in front of my laptop to watch metamorphosis. mmm mm. Ok gonna run for lectures now. decided not to pon after all. will sleep during lecture. Haha!

Ok. The fried sausages and stuff were actually lunch, not breakfast. Typed wrongly to jm. I cannot possibly have such a nice breakfast coz like I said, am always rushing off to school in the mornings. Had a nice cup of MILO for breakfast today though, coz I ponned the amino acids santa claus lecture. I do not understand why I have been faithfully attending Santa Claus' lecture for the whole of my life here until today. It is pointless. I believe I have told some of you about my auditory learning abilities. Basically, when it is santa's lecture, the amount of info I take in through pure listening is... ~1% (the title). People who attended lectures with me in TJ should know.
I had to read the slides myself while he was droning on in the background and that brought my level of intake up to about................ 10% (that's 10 times more!). Haha den I decided to go home and work it out. Got out my handy dandy textbook and basically reconstructed the ppt slides and voila! I understand it perhaps as well as I understood JC stuff on general school days.
Figured I should do the same for today.

Yo
Was suddenly feeling homesick after reading emails and blogs. I know I should be studying but my old procrastinaty self is emerging again, which makes me do lots of wu liao stuff and think too much about things that won't do me any good. Like being oversensitive about people ignoring me, dwelling on being lousy and being homesick and jealous of people having all the fun and comfort in funny sunny Singapore. Now that I have realised this I will start keeping myself busy and studying after this.
I really do tink talking to Paula has made me a little bit more mature. Am still child-like but perhaps not as childish as before. Something she said made me kinda 开窍 about being understanding. Hm I do like talking to mature, honest people. Maybe coz that used to be the opposite of wat I was and kinda still am but less of now. Like Ewa telling me now she does not let being alone affect her coz she knows how to sort out what is important and what is not. Den Paula making me realise that if she can kan kai on certain things I should do to. Have been talking to some other people who make me see the bigger picture instead of focusing aimlessly on the nitty gritties of life. Makes you more prone to dwelling on the negative aspects of life. Reflection is important but too much makes you abit sod like me. Take home message: 不要想太多
Let's see how good my 72变 is.
People ignore people all the time. I realise I ignore many people more than is desirable as well (as yiling will know). So it is only fair and I shouldn't be so sensitive. Everyone is entitled to forget and be lazy and hec about stuff.
Being lousy should happen to everyone and I guess it means I can only improve? That remains to be seen? (am still cynical not really converted to positie thinking yet) But still. Dwelling on it will only make it worse.
Being homesick and jealous of people enjoying the comfort of Singapore? I learn alot more here than I would have done in Singapore. Not just standard chores but doing things alone, not being dependent on cliques, TRAVELLING... That kinda thing I will never get to do in Singapore. Too comfortable and too dependent on the people who will always be there.

Ok fine. Decided to blog. Here is the dilemma. I have ponned training for 2 weeks. This week I was really determined to go but THERE IS A DAY TRIP TO OXFORD ON SATURDAY (but that costs £15 and I spent alot of money already). Also I am quite determined to go to Cambridge over the next weekend, which means definite ponning of training. Again. But Cambridge is going to be more ex. But I said I would go already. Shit shit how?

Den please give your comments on the hoodie! Blue Blue or Red

The words are WHITETELL ME SOON OK. NEED TO TELL THEM BY MONDAY.

Yo

Forgot to tell those of you who know about Jack that there is a Jack in my tutorial group... Cannot anyhow use the name now... Haha... One of the teachers looks like (tink only I tink so) Jack too! At least he has white hair. But Indian. Never mind lah I like can already at least that increases my chances of paying attention :)

Damn it wanted to say something else but cannot remember. Something is wrong with my memory these months. Oh dear...

Going library to do night studying with Mai (Malaysian). Study very slow. Scared. No structure to follow so keep forgetting things except that Obesity is a chronic weight disorder characterised by excess body fat especially in the upper body and abdominal area and I'm sure I still missed something out and added somethings extra.

As promised, here are "more details of my communication skills thing"

First time experiencing talking to a patient, though he was to be a simulated patient. Got two mentors. I was REALLY apprehensive, seeing as we had to converse with the patient in front of the whole group and the two mentors. Some of my friends had said that they did not manage to get a turn as their groups had run out of time so I thought if it was really hard or scary I would probably just sit in silence and wait for the time to be up. They had also said that I should actually try to be the first to volunteer as the first person has it the easiest and it subsequently gets harder as it gets to the next person.

We were told that our patient had had chest pains in the past and been to a surgery. He/she seldom visits the GP as he/she does not like to. One of my group members volunteered to be the first and gave a brief introduction of who he was and what he was going to do. In the end I didn’t volunteer at all and was the last person to interview John *not real name* as it just got harder and harder to think of new questions. As we progressed we also found out more dos and don’ts which made me more conscious of what kinds of questions I should and should not ask, making me even more apprehensive about volunteering. However, it turned out that there are advantages and disadvantages of going the first and last. In the end it did not matter who went first as everyone had their good and bad experiences. Going first was definitely easier as the person would have a standard set of questions to ask before he or she got stuck. However, going later meant that though we had to wait nervously for our turn, we could watch and learn a lot from the others and at the same time, think of questions to ask and going at a more challenging stage meant we could learn more it got harder for us to ask questions.

Apparently, we got a really nice patient for our first try. John was extremely cooperative and told us many useful things without much prompting, which allowed us to continue with the flow of conversation easily. He enjoys gardening and was pushing his wheelbarrow one day when he slipped on some wet leaves and fell. Subsequently, he experienced a constant, dull, ache in his right lower back which radiated all the way through his leg. Despite taking paracetamols and trying different resting positions, the pain persisted and thus, he decided to visit the GP to see what the doctor could do. The pain has been causing him great discomfort and he has never experience a back pain like that before.

Blahblahblah...

By the time it got to my turn the GP tutor asked if I remembered the summary he had given about John. This included the chest pains, which had not yet been brought up. Thus, being the last to interview the patient, I had to try to structure my interview effectively and bring in all the relevant questions smoothly and naturally. I started off by introducing myself. I greeted him and shook his name, telling him my name, status and purpose of speaking to him. I started off with an open question of asking him how he felt in order to get the conversation started. Subsequently I asked several questions about his general home and work situation in order to identify how he had been coping and possible problems that could arise due to the accident. I started by referring back to the pain in his leg and asked if he had difficulty moving about the house and walking. He told me he could move around though his wife pointed out that he tended to lean forward awkwardly while doing so. I asked if there was anyone else to help him around the house besides his wife, such as up and down the stairs or into and out of bed and he said there was no one else at home but it was manageable as he lived in a bungalow and there were not too many stairs.

Recalling what Mr Wilkinson had said about being anxious to return to work but not daring to drive as he was not confident of his right leg being able to control the car pedals, I asked him general questions about his work, such as the distance to work and how he planned to get there. When he said he normally drives to work, I asked if there was anyone he knew who could give him a lift, or perhaps whether he had children who could drive him there. This led me to find out that he had two children, both of whom are married and live far from the parents. This led me to find out blah blah blah..........

I later switched to general lifestyle, whereby I questioned him on his diet and gradually led that to social habits such as smoking and drinking. Blah blah blah... I later asked if he had had any follow up treatments as I wanted to make sure that he was certain that he was fine.

I interrupted the patient once, having misinterpreted a pause as an end to his answer. I smiled and told him to carry on, after which I allowed him long periods to talk. I learnt that sometimes just keeping quiet would give a cue to patients to keep talking and this might, inadvertently, to say more than they would have done if I had used the pause to ask them another question. Even if a patient has finished speaking, perhaps maintaining the silence for a while longer would be good not only to ascertain that he had indeed finished what he intended to say but sometimes serves as a prompt for the patient to voluntarily tell me more. Naturally, smiling, nodding and eye contact are essential to telling a patient that I am listening. A useful technique I learnt is agreeing and repeating what a patient has said at the appropriate moments to assure them that I had understood and heard what they had said. This encourages them totell me more as they know that I am really interested and have taken the trouble to listen and remember what they had said. Sometimes, to keep the conversation flowing, merely repeating what they had said is a good silence breaker.

Furthermore, clarifying and sometimes summarizing what a patient had previously told me tells them that I have heard what they said and allows both parties to be sure that the correct information has been understood clearly. Also, asking open questions also prompts patients to talk more and get used to talking. Try not to give options such as or to allow the patient to elaborate and describe situations themselves. This inadvertently causes them to give more information and gets them more comfortable talking. Body language of the patient is also important. John was obviously in great discomfort as he kept shifting about in his seat and trying to find a comfortable position.

Obviously that was not written in blooging style. Omitted the extra parts though still very long. Haha that is part of my first reflective diary which I wrote some 3 weeks ago. Which explains the slight formality. Haha i'm so high and blogging TWICE IN A DAY coz I just called my patient!!! Oh my god!!! But I still have NO IDEA how to get there. But still. Getting somwhere... Hee

Once again, PRO MAN

Yo... Just finished lecture... Starting again in about half hour...
While I have been here I keep thinking of the appropriateness of xi jie for people living in the west. Though it is not the real meaning of the song, taking it literally actually is pretty fitting too. Seeing as we used up our daylight savings last monday at 12 a.m. by turning back our clocks, here is what I came up with:

因为我活在西边

只拥有半个白天
一到午后夜色就蔓延
所以需要换时间
回到一小时之前
很讨厌这天色的改变
在西界的那一边
只能有半个白天
真期待回国家的那年
这天气很讨厌
根本没有晴天
看不到太阳的光线。。。

Hahahahahahah... Pro right? Did it in between lectures lo... Impromptu wor... Though my chinese is obviously mediocre. Metabolism formative on FRIDAY. Haven't done laundry. Haven't called patient. Haven't found out where patient lives on the map and how to get there. All to be done on friday as I pia the remaining 3 chapters pf metabolism these 2 days. Shen ah, jiu jiu wo ba yi ba nian ji le.... ok not funny already

Yo man...
Just to let you get a feel of my surroundings, I am currently sitting at the corner-most computer in the comp lab at school. School has ended and I just finished comparing workbook answers in Biomols and Tissues with Iman and my medic 'brother' (we're forced to have a medic family. woohoo.) in the canteen. It is now 4 p.m. Planning to head over opposite to the sports hall to play some sports. Apparently the Islamic Society had booked the court and it's free and open to all to play anything they like, which doesn't sound realistic coz where the hell are we gonna get the variety of balls from and how is one court going to support "any game we want to play"? But anyway... shall just go and see. If can play den play if cannot play den NIxon is just 10 min away.

I guess I should give a summary of what has been going on the past few milleniums of my life here.

Week 1 (of school not induction week as I should have complained to enough people sufficiently about it)

School has finally started. Induction Week lasted forever and of course, being the enthusiastic person that I am, I went for one event in induction (which was comedy night, which was all right but unfortunately not enjoyably lame). Woohoo...
First week of school was basically a repition of the "You have been chosen to enter Medicine. Your career begins now. In fact it already started one week ago. Let me first warn you that you will not be able to memorise everything in this course. You will have to form links and undertsnad the massive amount of information that it going to come. This is going to be a difficult but rewarding journey..." introductory lectures, which were the main preventions of us ending school early. Had to go for a computer course where, naturally, they threatened us with Attendance but didn't do it. Had a few more scares on meeting our patients, meeting fake patients and how difficult the exams will be. Lectures were a whole load of dry revision which lay forgotten and fermented at the back of my brain.

Week 2 (school has kind of started but still revision and more scaring)

Can't remember what I did in week 2 really. I guess that means it was pretty similar to week 1. Oh went to the Clinical Science Library for the first time with Ewa (polish girl), got lost, learnt how to open the library door, managed to enter the library, got abit overenthusiatic and borrowed 5 heavy books.

Week 3 (I must have had some Singsoc thing in the first 2 weeks. Met Singaporeans, learnt how to walk to Opal Court, had steamboat...)

School has really started. I began to realise that I should start studying or revising or at least doing something with the notes I had bothered to print out. Floating around trying to decide how best to start. New stuff are slowly diffusing into the lectures.

Exciting week ahead seeing as I got my first Communication Skills seminar. I shall put up the details of that one day. More or less was trying to dig out information from a fake patient without making him feel uncomfortable. Shit part was having to do it in front of the whole group plus the 2 tutors.

Went to play volleyball at Oadby. Borrowed Paula's bicycle and cycled like mad for almost an hour. Bloody place is made of hills. Naturally, I didn't know my way and had to borrow a really good map from Paula. Still, took me 1 hour. I was abit apprehensive about going, coz you know, shy and stuff. Also didn't wanna waste time coz going there and back plus playing time will take up at least half a day, after which there was a Singsoc dinner. My legs were really jellyish and sour after I reached home and still had to go for Singsoc dinner.

Ate singapore food at the LT at Singsoc dinner and watched NDP songs (which conveniently didn't include jun jie). Met some people. Met a girl called Nell from Taiwan and we keep saying we will meet up but we never do but we should be going for the sports thing today...

Week 4

Still floating. More new stuff coming in during lectures. Lectures obviously dun follow the Law of Simple Diffusion (LSD). Ok I invented that. Information is diffusing into the lectures at an almost zero initial rate and is increasing exponentially. On the same note, the emptier our brains are (i.e. large diffusion gradient) the slower the information actually seems to go in.

Went to town with Fatima and Faisa. Self-invited myself to Sheffield, talked about setting up and ice-skating society (the uni has ultimate frisbee society -_-), found the one pound shop and Iceland (which, to my disappointment, turned out to be a cheap place for frozen food, not an ice-skating rink).

My group keeps threatening to go out for a group meal. One of them just had their birthday so they have an excuse to go out and celebrate. We never get anything done properly though, coz people just keep getting distracted. Speaking of which, I keep getting distracted whenever I try to do work as well.

Went to play volleyball again. Borrowed Paula's bike again. Took the map as a precautionary measure but didn't use it. Got there in 30 MIN. Pro man. I even had time to wheel the bike for the last part of the journey, which, incidentally was an uphill task. REFUSE to buy a sports card coz there I was sitting directly in front of the counter and she didn't catch me. But then again, it's kinda awkward not having one when everybody confidentaly flashes theirs to the person at the counter. Training was REALLY quite tough. Reminds me of the good ol' DHS days under Mr Lim where we did interesting stuff instead of just practising standard volleyball stuff. Legs were less sour this time. Went for Oriental Dinner, which was pretty cool. Ate more chinese food. :DD

Week 5

Daylight saving! Woke up at almost 10 but decided to turn back my clock early and voila! I was up at 8 something! Still lost. Have started the engine though. Started to make notes and go to the library (without getting lost!) but just made notes never really study.

Scary man. Formatives next week. Mock exam but still. Help me tell papa and mummy ok? Haha.

Finished tutorial early yesterday (still got no idea what Ames Test is about). Unsurprisingly, instead of doing our HaDPop groupwork, my group decided to go to Pizza Hut to celebrate the guy's birthday. Dun ask me how much it cost. I'm not gonna go grocery shopping for another week. Apparently pizza hut puts chemicals in pizza to make you feel full and pepsi puts chemicals in pepsi to make you feel hungry. -_-. Haha but turned out all right. Had some stupid debates about 'no dogs in the botanical garden except guide dogs' and other stuff.

After spending all that money, we went to catch the FREE HOSPITAL HOPPER to Glenfield Hospital. Had our first People and Disease seminar. GOT MY FIRST PATIENT. Haha overall quite fun.

Which brings me to today, where I am sitting in the comp lab at the corner after doing kiasu work with Iman and the medic brother. Cool cool

Haha thought this email was quite amusing. After complaining about orientation (again) and seeking some advice from Evon, she sent me this email as consolation

hello! wah you so dao leh.. now then reply my email. maybe next time you can ask

-what do you do in you spare time?
- any siblings?
- what are you studying here? if it's not med orientation lah.
- i like your ________, it's cool!

liddat lor. somehow you will meet people who will want to nswer you lah. i told you it was gonna be cold! hahaha. i bought a new top it's very cute and comfortable. hmm. i send for your birthday present want or not? hahaha. is your blanket warm enough? wah you go uk everyone worried leh, i also worried. i tried to call you on your handphone the other day but then somehow cannot get through. how's your room like? take pictures!! i have so much work to do but i'm so lazy!! spring is so pretty too... :) do you have internet connection in your room?

bonbon

In reply I wrote

yo orientation no internet... moved into my room yesterday ... i tried the i like your __________ which is the most effective in case you wanted to know... but after

"oh really? thanks! yours is pretty cool too!"

"no! mine is big and heavy! it doesn't have ________!"

"haha i got mine at____________"

"does yours have ___________?"

"yea it does"

"oh mine doesn't i want a __________ like yours!"

"haha"

"haha"

u need to start thinking of smt new before the ______________ topic gets REALLY dry (notice alot of it especially on my side ends with the exclamation mark)... haha dun need lah got quite alot of clothes... mainly i want long johns... those are really good... my room is actually quite hot kinda like singapore on a rainy day without the wind... i'm wearing dri-fit and hawaiin print bermudas now... yea my blanket is warm enough coz the room itself is quite hot when they decide to on the heater which should be all the time now wintery autumn is here den got students... yea i know everybody worried... dun worry lah... but den again if dun worry den less and shorter emails... i go online at 12 midnight one day den u webcam lo... lazy to take pictures... i shall blog soon...

bye bye...

tgo

Pretty amusing isn't it? Dun tell me I'm the only one who finds it funny. Oh dear I better not have lost my sense of humour...

Ways To Annoy Your Roommate

Administer last rites as s/he sleeps.
Adopt an iguana. Collect the skin peelings. Give them to your roommate as a peace offering from Peter (the iguana).
Always flush the toilet three times.
Announce everything you do as a group activity. (i.e. "We're going to bed now.") If your roommate fails to do whatever you said, accuse him/her of not being a "team player."
Announce on the answering machine that your roommate has moved out. Tell anyone who calls for him/her not to call here anymore.
Arrange thirteen toothbrushes of different colors on your dresser. Set one aside from the rest. Laugh hysterically at the one toothbrush. When your roommate asks about it, refuse to discuss the situation.

There's a whole bloody long list but it's really too long. Didn't have the patience to finish reading it myself.

Yo!

I'm back after a whopping 3 MONTHS of work! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaha

Went to WaterFest with Judy yesterday {whoa it's so much easier to type with short nails [i just cut my nails yesterday (easier to type on handphone too!)]}. The organisers suck, to be honest. Not only because I complain alot. The events were pretty limited and it was abit wat when they closed all the stalls to force us to watch the water performance (which was a replay of what they showed at bedok reservoir after the wakeboarding championships). The organisers were these groups of sour-faced sporty people with nice tans. The kind who think they look damn cool and wear sunglasses even when it's going to rain and have expressionless faces which are supposed to get the crowd going woooo!.Good thing there was good company. We went on the banana boat ride and got 3 free goodie bags! Then there were family games (actually for children) which we went to play and won prizes (I won a watergun, sticky spikeball goo yoyo and 2 packets of heat balm attached to postcards).

Unfortunately I didn't (as usual) bring a camera. Neither did I make the effort to remember to take photos with my handphone...

I am such a bum.

In view of the return of Spiderman, I decided it wasn't fair to give all the credit to just one guy and so...

Presenting to you...

The one...

The only (besides Spiderman)...

Cinkak Man.

Stay tuned...

for the adventures of...

Cinkak Man and Butterfly Boy!

SMA removes fee guidelines for doctors

Let me first draw a general outline for this move. Basically so as to not be in danger of violating the Competition Act, SMA has removed guidelines for fees charged by doctors on condition that docors do not charge outstandingly and that the doc must inform patients of their charges. Apparently it may be illegal. May cost too much to request for guidelines to be imposed too. Law firms and other statutory bodies are allowed to keep their fee guidelines, though.

My first reaction? -___-

My next? *raised eyebrow*

I mean, quite lame right, statutory bodies are exempt but health isn't. So... superficial? only-care-about-the-economy? Whatever. My brain's abit fuzzy at the moment. Can't quite find the right word.

Wah lao. At the current GP (and other private pracs) prices some people (like me) are already deterred from visiting them as far as possible, preferring to sweat out my fevers or allow time to heal most other ailments at home. If (as they should) these charges rise further, won't more sick people (like me) not want to see a doctor?

That's a rhetorical question.

What is the point of telling the patients the charges (though before treatment) after they have walked or driven all the way to the clinic? They've already driven or cycled or walked all the way there. Most of us will just reluctantly pay for it and vow never to go to 'that expensive clinic at block X' only to find out that all subsequent clinics we try our luck at charge equally costly costs.

Haiya. No choice lah. I just find it rather disappointing that health be treated as just another trading good which has to have competitive prices 'for the good of the economy'. And that setting guidelines for healthcare charges can ever be deemed illegal. So... haiya brain still fuzzy. Still can't find the right word.

Large fish and chips. Really large. Gargantuan fish and chips. Actually the fish is big the chips are the thick kind yea but quite normal sized but they give a mountain of it. And mushy peas. Really. It says mushy peas on the menu. And a bowl of what they call curry sauce.

Yo. Just got back from England (actually I've been back 2 weeks now just need a good, cliche start) where my lips were all cracked and red and black and dry and horribly painful. Back in sunny, humid Singapore, things are back to normal, just the way i'm used to: normal, moisturised epidermis, comfortable, unpredictable temperature, nua T-shirt and bermudas, carefree Singlish, sudden appearance of eczema...

Man I almost got that trolley through the barrier at platform nine and three-quarters. But they must have realised that I'm a Muggle and left me stuck halfway. Ok not funny.

England is all quaint and nice really, but I'm really not used to it. Culture shock, scare, whatever. For one, the sudden blasts of cold air (and dry) are, I suppose pleasant in their own way but I kinda prefer the Singapore system of air-con in warm weather instead of heater in the freaking cold. I feel like ham being taken from the freezer and being left to defrost indoors. Only hams get defrosted outdoors. You know. Outside. The fridge doors.

Ok never mind.

Also the sudden need to convert from Singlish to English is truly not easy. Suddenly the Han Yu Pin Yin of the language goes all funny and expressive and you've got to mind your lahs and lors. Everything is "Brilliant!" and "Fantastic!" and "Amazing!", when in Singapore all we've got is "Ok lah. Not bad. Liddat lor". Don't stare at me when I'm back in Singapore asking my wy tiu the chube stytion. But still. Should get cracking on speaking proper English sentences without the humps and bumps of Singlish here and there. I also have to get used to using the right words there. Like fries are no longer fries but chips. Elevator is lift. Oh right. In Singapore we call lifts lifts too. Singlish is so annoying. So is English. Why can't there be a uniform term for potato strips and automated, box-like staircase substitutes? Why must UK and US call them differently? Why must Singapore adopt a half UK had US social dictionary? Perhaps one day some important people shoudl sit down together and iron out these words. Like calling a lift and eleliftor. On one hand it's a cross between an elevator and a lift. On the other hand it is a cross between elephant, lift and the tor in elevator, showing that the device so strong and sturdy that it is an elephant liftor, thus, the eleliftor. Cheers to my brainwave.

Anyway, the point being, I found it hard to transit from Singlish to English.

Thirdly, the cost. Everything except digestive biscuits cost about three time as much as they do in Singapore (except in Orchard Road. And Sentosa. And other tourist hotspots used for cheating money from foreigners for the benefit of our economy). A pie in London costs slightly more than 3 pounds, which is easily $10 in Singapore. Not a big pie too. That's about 10 times the price of a slightly smaller pie from Giant. But then again, that's London so that's none of my business. I will be in a cost-saving little town which is in truth a city but looks like a town where pies cost just 3 times more than they do in Giant. Whoopee. Still, there is the bright side. Digestive biscuits only cost about 70 cents...

But really, the place is all nice and quaint with chimneys (they really smoke!) and weeds which are much nicer than the flowers in Singapore, which include bougeanvilla (not sure how to spell it), lalang, frangipani, ixora and mimosa, to name the colourful ones. Not bad. That's pink, porridge-grey, red, white and pink. Oh. I've already mentioned pink. No offence to the Garden City... I'm sure we have lots of greenery though, along the roads and in, uh, the Botanic Gardens.

Singapore should be the Glutton City. Oh. But surprise surprise, we're already the Food Paradise -___- . Typical. But really, no matter how great (as in large) the food in England is, Singapore will always be in my stomach. Yea the food there is really huge and everything, but nothing impressive and affordable, really. We have big fish in Fish and Co, big stingray in chomchomp and big burgers in Carl's Jr. :D

Oh and it gets really freaky when this perfectly ordinary-looking guy leaning on the pillar next to you at the bus station suddenly turns to the entire bus station and shouts, " Do you know where your destination is?" and you think, " Oh well, yea. The airport. But I'd better check my ticket again."

And just when you are unfolding your ticket, you freeze as the guy shouts, " Will it be Heaven? Or Hell?"

And you don't dare to move or look at them in case they start asking you whether you want to go to Heaven or Hell when all you want really is to go to the airport.

It also isn't very pleasant to know that the guy (who has been joined by a partner) is standing next to the pillar next to you (which is now behind you as you have surreptiously inched your way toward other people with luggages who are politely pretending not to notice anything).

I'm not against the religion or anything. I have many friends of a healthy variety of religions. But it gets really freaky when someone you thought was perfectly ordinary (and within grabbing distance) starts preaching so vehemently.

Ok. Preferably you're reading this just before sleeping as it is not a short entry to read. May be abit tiring to comprehend at certain parts too. In fact, I am going to sleep soon myself. I shall post a picture of the big fish and chips I had there in the next entry. Goodnight!

Would you rather have a life with no bad luck or one with both good luck and bad luck?

Hello, here I am, twiddling my thumbs and whiling my lazy days away and procrastinating when one day, I decide to activate myself a little and do a little cycling at ECP. As always, I stroll up to the counter and ask how much the rental costs and whetehr I need to leave some form of identification with them.

And I get a fresh insult unknowlingly tossed in my face.

I stroll into the rental shop on a sunny weekday when every other student is where they should be when the person thoughtlessly asks, "Have you, uh, got your IC yet? That pink card?"

That made me stare. Truth be told, I was, for a moment, stunned. But still, I maintained my composure and coolly handed over the card I was granted three years ago.

Childish angst, I know. But seeing as it is not long before people my age step into real working society, this age thing has rather been gnawing at me. Like, if I teach, I can only each up to perhaps Sec 2, then students will look more childish than me (yay!) and I will be able to bully them. Any higher and they bully me. Childish, yes, but undeniably somewhat true.

Ok. Medicine taking effect. Sleep I must. Tata.

Layer ONE- On the Outside
Name: yilun the great
Birth Date: 14/12/88
Current Status: single but well loved by my fans
Eye Color: dark black haha
Hair Color: black
Righty or Lefty: Righty
Zodiac Sign: which ? dragon(earth to be precise)+sagittarius

Layer TWO - On the inside
Your Heritage: chinese
Your Fears: people i care about dying. snoozy dying. dying before i start earning money as a successful person. failing at anything. losing friends. people discovering my ignorance. not being successful. people not appreciating wat a say. people not laughing at my jokes like yiling does.
Your Weaknesses: snoozy. papa and mummy. chou dou fu. ball games. tv.
spoilt. dependent. unreliable. proud. talk too much.
Your Perfect Pizza: standard hawaiin with twice the amount of cheese. pizza hut crust. pelican pizza cheese. no not chou dou fu flavour. good food should be given your full attention.

Layer THREE - Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Your thoughts first waking up: haa i hope it is still 3 am but i know it is not coz it is too bright. shit shit. keep ur eyes shut no matter wat. den u are still asleep. (i know they say first wakng up but the mind is not an open book such that thought can be read out. all these sentences contribute to my first thought just expressed in many sentences).
Your Bedtime: 12-2am. Haha evon wrote pm when she wrote 12. Haha
Your most missed memory: Playing ball games with my upper sec class at every free period. acting and doing impromtu stints which made the class laugh.

Layer FOUR - Your Pick
Pepsi or Coke: coke. with salt. pepsi too artificial though i heard it is the same recipe den the brothers who set up coke and pepsi just went their separate ways with their separate brands and that it is nonsense to think that they are different.
McDonald’s or Burger King: good ol' mac. safe. good reputation. reasonable food sometimes nice. enjoyable $2 breafast and 50cents ice cream. they really mean it when they say it is value for money not like other fast foods who go around bluffing ppl that a meal costs 3.95 when really, what difference does the 5 cents make (to us) except that u can now cheat the ez-link non student system by paying 55 cents (in cash coz the bus uncle will believe that u are a student) instead of 65 cents (by ez-link coz the computer knows that u are not a student). mac can pay by ez link.
ok plus point about burger king. generally better beef burgers and cheese burgers. employ the disabled. employ senior citizens. give coupons on the streets with smiling employees. i like the old people at fast food places.
Adidas or Nike: nike. duh
Lipton tea or Nestea: lipton (classy tea such as earl grey tea)
nestea (younger not so classy tea such as fruit teas)
Chocolate or vanilla: chocolate. duh
Cappuccino or coffee: all taste the same to me. duh order wat is appropriate. order kopi at hawker centre. capuccino, frappe or latte at coffee bean. yiling is a milo gil. evon is a water girl. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahhahahahahaah

Layer FIVE -Do you
Smoke: No.
Curse: duh. however, i must first clarify that quantity is not quality. i curse alot but they are low-grade swearwords. i am a conservative person.

Layer SIX -In the Past Month
Drank alcohol: abit
Gone to the mall: abit
Been on stage: superstar of course lah. but i have chosen to retire for one year so recently no have not been on stage. (this is not the end. this is only the beginning) the sentence which appears everytime a singing competition contestant is voted out.
Eaten sushi: abit
Dyed your hair: nopey

Layer SEVEN - Have You Ever?
Played a stripping game: no. never. why is this a personality question
Changed who you were to fit in: yeah. sad huh?

Layer EIGHT
Age you’re hoping to be married: uh. go away. good one bon.

Layer NINE - In a Girl/Guy
Best eye colour: black (black is dominant) (it is the most natural yet striking colour too)(look at ziyi in the Ascience advertisment)(Ok maybe that was not a convincing argument)
Best hair colour: black(ditto)(same)(need i say more?)
Short or long hair: girl either looks ok. usually. different face shape and all that shit. guy short. long hair looks nice sometimes but sick of the taiwan, korean, jap popster look. so cliche. obviously short hair more convenient rite. long oso dun wanna tie

Layer TEN - What Were You Doing
1 minute ago: this quiz lor
1 hour ago: this quiz lor
4.5 hours ago: watching the 7 o'clock show
1 month ago: counting down to the days i had left at attachment. :p
1 year ago: was chinese new year

Layer ELEVEN - Finish the sentence
I love: chou dou fu. animals. ball games (not for the pervert who thought of the stripping question to misintepret). home. those ppl i care about. tv. cartoons.
I feel: like i must only focus on one thing at a time and i cannot take stress
I hate: feeling stupid, lousy, inadequate, guilty, indecisive. worms. cockroaches.
I hide: if i hide it i tell you for what. another good one!
Sometimes.I miss: snoozy. home. family. chou dou fu. oh sorry that does not come under sometimes. oh actually when i was young i missed homey stuff at random times. like bathing halfway den sddenly scream for mummy. den there was once (when i was still a power ranger fan) that we (family) were at a department store den i suddenly missed mummy (who went to try clothes in the fitting room) for no reason... den i kicked open a door which i thought, guessed or felt that mummy was in. it was a good imitation of a power ranger high kick and naturally the door burst open. unfortunately i am no psychic and the door i felt a connection with was hiding the wrong woman. naturally this was a good and bad thing and i shan't elaborate on wat happened next.
I need: brainpower

Layer TWELVE - Tag 5 people.
not agian

Cool shirt? Yea I know. Me too. Applaud me for my artistic talent for it is I the Great one who drew and designed it with a little help from Evon. I drew the big monater Evon drew the small monster.

But cool as it may be it issurely not meant for a stroll down, say, Orchard Road. Coz it is Yi Ling's camp T-shirt. Orientation camp. Which is about the worst T-shirt anyone can be forced to pay for. Mine has zou3 xiang4 yang2 guang1 da4 dao4 with a railway track and a sun rising over the railway track. -_- right. I could give some credit to the ClipArt sun though.

Nevertheless I still wear it with pride. I shall draw on it some day. Seeing as it is my secondary school shirt I shall draw something more respectable, say, a monster with a hairy mole, which likens it to a repectable figure we all know. Oh yea just a random thought I thought of randomly. I think what defines a good companion is someone or something you can maintain comfortable silences with. If like I go out with someone or have a conversation with someone and prattle uncontrollably it probably means I am thinking up a constant stream of words to avoid the discomfort of silence. Probably.

Mei Yun bought a new light for me today. It is an orange beaded light with a stained glass cylinder which holds the light bulb and hides all the unsightly mechanism. there is a wire to support a glass cup in which I am supposed to put therapy oil so that the heat from the light can cause the smell to disperse more effectively. The coolest thing about it though is that it uses the left sensor machinery whereby the metal base and the metal support are sensors which respond to the touch. Touch it once it switches on twoce it grows brighter three times it grows brighter four times it switched off. Cool huh. Hahahahahahahahahahaha

A pretty work of art it is (like me).