The Week

The Week is finally coming to an end. It's almost a month since i set foot in this cold, cold place with warm, warm people (:. I'm actually beginning to fall in love with this town.

After having gone through our bridging course in 3 weeks, we had a week's break before the 4th year starts and we join in with the rest of our new batch. A week to do all the catching-up needed for the half year more they did which we skipped.

Catch up, we did. Caught up with the Aberdeen gang of course :P

Since they came all the way down to check Dundee out the last time, we figured we'll return the favor this time round :P. So the day after our online assessment exam (which is.. let's just say the half year we lacked really shows haha) on Thursday, we took the train all the way to Aberdeen.

3 days, 2 nights in Aberdeen, the Aberdonians are really really amazing hosts. Especially Jackie, who went to all the trouble just to make sure our stay is comfortable. Nice to see all of them again after so long, all settled in and close knit now, just makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside even so far away from home. And so much thanks for the dinner you all cooked on our last day there. Yummy. Miss you all already (:

After Aberdeen we head even more northwards to Inverness, where the famous Loch Ness is. Very scenic town along the River Ness, albeit a small one (but their shops are open till late evening! maybe dundee is too un-touristy ..). Managed to book a tour package of Loch Ness and Uruquat Castle, which was really worth the 20 pounds we paid for it. Our driver/tour guide, George is such a funny chap hehe.

And after 2 days in Inverness, we came back to Dundee. Since then i've just been either sleeping as much as i can at home, went exploring around the neighbourhood, or be in town (just did a psychology experiment and earned 6 pounds aha). Didn't do nothing much really, but now i think i should have studied a little bit more =/

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Just 9 hours to the start of our class now.

The Week is finally over. I guess, i will really miss this week of nothing-to-worry-about-but-just-chill very very soon ..

My first block is Surgery 2 - Acute Care (A&E) for next week. Let's hope i don't embarrass myself and at least get to know some of the locals (:

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A random note, listen to this guy's singing. Beautiful song. Just came across it on Facebook hehe (yes, and i've been Facebook-ing too much as well ..)

Rain Melts [A Becca Fox Poem]

Darren Ashley, drummer/vocalist of Malaysian homegrown band, Bus Company, who won the Battle of the Bands Asia 2007 (reminds me of the BotB back in Taylor's College .. so long ago now sigh ..)

T-plus 12 days, 10 hours

Finally, finally got our internet up last Friday evening. The only thing we've been looking forward to the whole week we're here in this wooden 'cabin' which happens to be where we're staying in.

Finally, i get the guilt of not updating my blog again.

Finished our first week of bridging, which was pretty good for me. Refreshed my memory of all the stuff that were lost in my brain during the 6 months break. Though, there's still many areas for me to work on, but ah hell, that'll be done. When i get to it. Eventually. I hope.

Throughout the first week, we've had a tour of the labyrinth called Ninewells Hospital, slept in lectures of Cardiovascular and Orthopaedics, practised a little clinical skills, and had our health and English assessed. Rather light week, found ourselves rather free that we made quite a few trips to the city. Well you see, somehow the hospital's located kinda far from the city. Therefore staying near the hospital, we didn't really have much place to loiter around.

The weather has been pretty good lately, compared to when we first touched down. The first few days were so bloody cold, i had to turn on the heater. During summer. Haha. But i eventually get used to the cold. It's the wind that chill you actually, without which it's really a very nice weather.

As for food, it's really scarce around here since the shops close at 6pm. Nowhere to go for dinner at all, except the takeaway kebab shops. I've bought plenty of stuff to try to cook for the next week tho. So if you haven't hear from me a week after this, you know what happened to me. Time for my Tummy-of-Steel to go into overdrive! .. *crosses fingers*

Ah yeah, Jackie and a couple of Aberdeen seniors came down to Dundee last week. Helping Adeline Gong (hereforth known as Dr Gong) move in, so they say. Just another excuse to travel around, i say. Haha. But seriously, i haven't even start my fourth year and Jackie's already toured London, Glasgow, Dundee AND St. Andrews. Tak tunggu pun! Haha

Guess that's all for now. Got a few backdated posts yet to be finished, but mostly boring stuff. Will finish them up when i'm not so lazy. Heh.

PS - bon voyage to syiok-sendiri punya lengzhai, Mus! Have fun in Calgary (:

T-minus 73 hours

Denial.

I guess, it's time to come out of it. My 6 months holidays have indeed come to an end. The break i needed so much has finally come and gone. I wished i'd look forward to the next couple of years with much more .. enthusiasm. But somewhere inside of me, there is still some kind of reluctance.

To be so far away from home, it does feel a little surreal. I would need to get used to the time difference first of all. 8 hours. Mom said my biological clock wouldn't need any adjustment, since now right here i'm already nocturnal. Once i get there i would become a 'normal' person. Haha.

At least right now, the financial burden is finally lifted off my parents' shoulders. Dad has been talking to me bout our current situation, and has been assuring me he's still able to cover the university fees if i couldn't get any study grant. Just, barely, i know. Thank all the gods now he doesn't have to worry anymore. They tell my Dad we have been very very lucky. I think so too (:

That done with, it'll be the last hurdle for me to study in Dundee. I know, Dad wants me to just concentrate on studies and not worry myself with the finances. Well, the past few months, i tried at least to cover my own expenses with my office job and part time job. Haha, but just, barely.

Even before i leave for studies overseas, i already have been getting 'ang pows'. From Grandma, my aunts, even Uncle Tan next door. Hehe. Didn't expect to get that much.

A little more than 72 hours, and i'll be on that plane. Do miss all my friends of course, especially those in Bukit Jalil and Seremban. I know we didn't spend much time together while i was still here, but i'm still grateful we did. Dundee seems pretty cold. Lonely, perhaps.

Everything already packed up, it's hard to believe that i'm ready to leave now. I'm still trying to digest that. It takes months, but i have finally reached the next stage.

Acceptance.

And now comes the hard part : start studying again!

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo............ haha

ps - i feel, infinitely grateful .. Lady Luck must have been smiling on my life (:

home is where the rabbits breed

Have been too lazy to blog these days. I blame the looong break! It's making me lazier than i thought i could possibly be =/.

So. While the JPA dudes and dudettes went for camp in Langkawi last week, me came back to Senai after almost 4 months of working in KL. Considering i only have few weeks left to strike off, i should be spending some time with my family i know.

Been back for 5 days now, actually. I'll say i got most of the things done already. Settled the accommodation, bought a new pair of running formal shoes for hospital rounds, that should be all that's needed to be done. Except the perishables and foodstuff to smuggle onboard, of course. Then it'll just be waiting days pass by.

Damn, 5 months are gone just like that.

There goes my plan to learn to read/write/speak Chinese.
There goes my plan to be damn good in basketball before i leave.
There goes my plan to fatten myself up to prevent hypothermia in Dundee.

And there goes my plan to relax and enjoy myself for the first time in my life.

Damn. I want my holidays back!!

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Enough with my rant. Haha. On the news back home in ol' sweet home. I think i found the cure for infertility. And it lies in white fluffy animals. Couple of weeks ago, Mum put one white fluffy male and one white fluffy female together for just a second, and the next thing she knew, poof came out more white fluffy animals!

Baby rabbits are just so cute. Mum and Dad might be giving away the older ones and raise the babies instead. This home is getting a little too overcrowded. At last count i think there were a dozen chickens in the backyard. At least. Haha.

Come to think of it, i'm more at ease back home with the animals and greens everywhere than in the middle of a bustling city squeezing with dozens other strangers in the trains or on the road. Such peace and quiet to be found here. At nights i can hear crickets chirping instead of the sound of cars driving past.

I do wish for a quiet, stress-free life like this sometime in the future (pretty soon now) with a caffeine addict somewhere :P

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Oh yeah just yesterday, three cousins came over, just one short of all from my dad's second sister's children. Sometimes i wonder why me and my cousins were never really close, sort of like 'blood-related and that's all'. 二姑姑 (second paternal aunt) was telling Grandma that my cousin bought a house somewhere near their home. Haha he's just 3 years older than me? Everyone's grown up now.

As i was telling 'Optimum Blunder', we are all old now..

Such a random blog post. Haha ah well. Here's a baby rabbit waving goodbye at ya. Okay, not exactly waving - it looks like it's playing possum in my hand. I don't look that carnivorous, do i? =/

Kung Fu Panda / me and my new shoes

Went for a long overdue outing with the increasingly diminishing number of us here. Earlier in the week me and Huilin were talking bout dragging Mus out to watch Kung Fu Panda with us, but someone seemed to have disappeared without a trace. Haha. Fortunately Yew Wen and Ben were free, so the 4 of us instead went MidValley to catch the much anticipated Po THE big fat panda doing kung fu (:

Maybe it was just me, but i think the movie was really really superb for me. I was almost in tears at the end of it. Possibly because i really loved the kung fu scenes of them fighting haha. I'm a biggie fan of martial arts fighting. Even by animated animals haha. Real cute. It was pretty funny too. Some lady behind was amazed by the "city is full of pigs" :P

After movie Huilin and Yew Wen left, with me and Ben scouring MidValley and Gardens for things to shop. I was looking for a pair of sports shoes actually, since the Reebok i bought after IMU Cup in Sem 1 is already shedding its skin and sole. Good time to get a new pair too to wear in Dundee.

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First time i spent more than RM200 on myself with my own money.

Some might think i should have no qualms about spending just a fraction of the pay i earned the past few months. I do think too, but you don't know how heart-wrenching it is to fork out the money you've earned with your sweat and blood the pantry's Milo.. until the money left your hand and into the cashier machine with a ka-ching. Ouch.

Wouldn't say it was an impulsive purchase (like what usually happens to me), i've been looking for shoes for weeks now. But still i made a stupid mistake of not trying out a bigger size instead. Only after i looked at it while waiting for the train that i realised i bought the shoes one size smaller than my usual shoes. They do fit perfectly, albeit too perfectly. Now i'm worrying i might outgrow my shoes. Haha perhaps i do worry too much. RM270 is a LOT of money. Sigh.

Reebok Trail Haven. RM270. ouch ouch.

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Perhaps not too long ago i was dreaming of a pair of outdoor shoes, and now i already own one. I know i should be much happier than i am right now, but somehow i don't. A year ago, i would be ecstatic to have bought one. I do love my new pair of shoes. I love the smell of my new shoes. But something wasn't exactly there, like i'm missing something.

Maybe because i kept worrying my shoes is one size smaller than my other shoes.

Certainly not that our group is so small now. Or the clock ticking away somewhere. Nope, i'm certainly not. *in denial*

random rants

Sometimes, looking at how people end up on my blog can be interesting.

One such person was searching for "how to be a happy med student".

Are med students really that sad? =/

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Fuel prices increased by 40%, electricity increased by 18%, these times are getting tougher. Time to save and conserve, instead of complaining bout something that's inevitable.

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If what is posted on Malaysian Today is true, it really does hurt. Like stabbing me with a knife and twisting it just for effect. From Malaysian Today's post:

「Last month, Umno Johor said that the greatest mistake they made was in giving the non-Malay immigrants citizenship in August 1957. Now that they have been given citizenship they show their ingratitude by voting for the opposition.」

Did they really say that? Sincerely, deep down inside i really hoped not.. because i still believed people like this don't exist here in my country .. (yes i was born and grew up here and no, China is not my home).

the days are getting shorter

It's June now. I've just spent the last day of my work last Saturday, the end of last month. Technically, i am free from any bond or contract. In other words, now i'm part of the unemployed community. Yay!

True that i've been looking forward for this day to come. Ever since work becomes boring, and the one hour travel to and another fro becomes increasingly a waste of time. There wasn't much that was entrusted to me at work, partly 'cause i'm only working there temporarily. Ended up staring at the monitor screen in front of me, wondering what else i could do, day in day out.

Thankfully i was able to access the internet at work, which is ironically, where i spent half of my time at work. Occasionally finding some poor victims on MSN to disturb - mostly Huilin, Jem and Yew Wen (haha).

I had thought i would miss the work, or my (ex)colleagues, or the lonely travel even. Funnily enough, sitting here in front of my laptop having all the time in the world to myself (for the next month, at least), i seriously don't. I'd much prefer to be bumming than working, anytime. Haha i can be such a lazy sod if i wanted to.

There's one thing i miss though. The very core of my survival of those 3-months of intense sleep-inducing boredom. That which sits where i can always find it in times of need.

The Magical Tin of Milo of the Pantry!

It has been the one i look forward to seeing everyday. The moment it's emptied of its content of Milo, it'll always magically(!) fill itself up overnight. Man, i need to get my hands on one of those. Haha. I think i'm suffering from Milo withdrawal syndrome now =/

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On a more serious note, reaching the end of my working period does hit me hard. It's like one of those to-do-before-i-leave stuff, and most of the list is already crossed out now that it scares me. That before long, i'll be ready to head to those unfamiliar lands.

Ready. I don't think i'll ever be ready to leave. There is too much at stake, and i'm very, very happy status quo. Why can't life remain its familiar self to me. Sigh.

As i woke up today, my mind was replaying the scene when my older brother crossed the checkpoint and left on his plane to Melbourne. I remember me, my younger brother, parents, and our relatives sending him off. As we lost sight of him past the checkpoint, we went to the viewing gallery and watch as his tram took him to the departure area.

Next year, my brother would have graduated. Then it will be my turn to be on the plane. In my mind i saw myself, carrying a big backpack, luggage in stow, walking towards the departure gate. I felt sad.

a look on life (ii)
16 July 2007

It seems almost surreal my turn is coming. I'm already feeling sad.