PLeAsaNt sUrpRisES...

worked both days during the weekend... but on sun morning we wokeup at 7am to play badminton at this sports court near thornleigh that michelle found and she booked us in for one hour... so we had to wake up at 7am on a sunday morning to play badminton with her colleague, steve... i dun mind playing badminton, but waking up at 7am in the morning and especially it's a sunday and i had to work later in the afternoon till 10pm... that was definitely not enjoyable...

as expected, i was so sleepy already when i started work... kept yawning nonstop...
however, the good thing was, remember the evil supervisor which i used to curse in my blog (yep, i was reading thru my blog to remind myself of some of the things that i did last year at this time, and i read what i wrote on her... it's really weird now reading all that, cos now the evil supervisor has like a 350 degrees change in her attitude... she's really nice now, although she still bitches sometimes, but as long as it's not me, it's fine, i just listen and agree to whatever she says) anyway, she let me go off early yesterday, was supposed to finish at 10pm, which is the closing time of the supermarket on sundays, but bcos yesterday we had too many pple closing, so she asked me if i wanted to go off early... of course i want... yep and it was so boring yesterday during work cos there were too many of us working... so we were all just standing there, bcos the registers have all been cleaned, stock were put back, and mats were done... so the extent of the niceness of the evil supervisor was that even when some of the other cashiers were chatting and fooling around, she did not even say a thing... i wonder what caused her attitude to change so drastically?? hmm...

oh and last night finished handmaking my party invitations and gave them out today... can't wait for my birthday party, i wish my family and friends could come and celebrate with me... and also gave kathryn's birthday present... was actually debating whether to give the present to her bcos like i only got to know her during clinicals and we were not even close... anyway... i decided what the heck, just give it to her and it's up to her what she does with it... and she seemed quite surprised that i remembered her birthday... in conclusion... i was glad that i gave the necklace to her...

oh btw, my sister reminded me that it's National Day on wed... Happy National Day!!!

COld, DreaRy & frEEzing...

second week of semester 2... back to uni proper... the same old routine... lectures, assignments, tutorials and exams... the first half of the year seemed to fly past in a blur...

this semester no off days for me... got uni from mon-fri and the subjects that we have to study are all so dry... and last year after the first semster of sociology, i thought i never have to study it again... and of all the subjects... this semster we have to study something called health policy and service delivery... and the first lecture this week... the lecturer literally talked nonstop for an hour... i was sleeping already after the first ten minutes... last year's sociology was a nightmare and i dread this semester... and also we have this physic-biomechanical subject called kinesiology... and quantitative analysis crap... i think they purposely put all the sucky subjects together to torture me... and on top of all these horrible subjects... we have a project and a portfolio to do for the placement that we did during the midsemester break...

and today was one of the worst days of winter... it was raining so heavily the whole day... so wished that i was staying at home feeling warm and dry instead of shivering and attending lectures till 4pm...

one good thing to look forward to is... i am planning to have a 21st birthday party at home... actually not really a party, more like a gathering, but i will be preparing food and games to play... i thought since you can only be 21 years once in ur life... might as well celebrate it cos i might not be able to have a party again... my initial plan was to hold it in macdonalds... haha... but i think we are all over the minimum age group... the only sad thing is... i won't get to celebrate this important event with my family and close friends beside me...

2006 WFOT Congress...

updates updates... hmmm... since the last day of clinicals last fri, i was working on sat and went to play badminton with michelle and her colleague... and then she came back and had an urge to do baking again... some strawberry pastry thing... but this time i was really not in the mood to bake so she got her bf and her colleague to help out... and my uncle had guests from singapore during the wkend so the house was busier than usual...

and as u noe... this week is the first week of uni but i still have not gone to uni till now... because of the WFOT congress, all OT lectures are starting only in wk 2, which meant that this week only have like one lecture a day so i dun want to travel all the way to uni just for one hour of lecture... so i pon uni for three days already... how bad am i... and apparently today's the last day to buy the manuals... which meant that i have to get the manuals directly from the individual schools... 'mah fun' man...

okay yesterday went to the congress finally... when i arrived, it was crowded with ang mohs... which showed that OT is still very much a westernized profession... so i registered and went to the opening ceremony... they had like this aborigine man blowing this long wooden pipe thing that curved at the end... dunno what is it called... and three girls playing violins... quite cool... and then i just went to talks after talks... three of my lecturers at uni presented their research papers that day... topics presented yesterday included things like dementia, cognition, young adults with motor disabilities, information processing in young preschoolers, evidence-based practice... quite interesting but i was quite tired becos i slept late the previous night so i dozed off during the presentation of my ORL lecturer's paper on parkinsons disease... haha... and they had many booths in the exhibition hall on OT related stuff, like the australian unis offering OT, different companies which supply equipment, the publishers of OT textbks... all in all... i am glad that i got to attend the congress, although i still thought the price is damn expensive for one day... and i have never been inside the sydney convention centre before till yesterday... and i also took back many brochures, free stuff like the pens, mousepads, measuring pads, calendars... my s'porean kiasuism trait was revealed... haha...

okay... i am hooked again on ANOTHER korean show!!! it's all prisy's fault... asked me to watch the show bcos the subtitles were in chinese and it flashed really fast... so she could not read it... wanted me to watch and translate for her... otherwise she has to pause after every sentence and slowly read the chinese... and now i got hooked to the show... but let me warn those who has not watched it yet... it's a sad show but it's a happy ending... although i thought they should not end the show that way... abit corny... and i still think kim sam soon is still nicer... but i would still recommend it to those who have not watched it yet... and the guy is not as cute as hyun bin... ahhhh!!! and also the theme song, which is in english... is really nice... but the lead actress is really cute... and the scriptwriters who wrote this show made the lead actor say such mushy stuff that i got goosebumps while watching and he cried all the time and the show is quite draggy and spans a few years...
okay... u guys must be dying to know what show i am talking abt rite... let's now reveal the show name... drums and gongs pls....
the show' name is...

Save the last dance for me...

DaY 10 oF cLiNiCaLs... YAY!!

Lalala... today was the last day of my early mornings torture... although i have to say that i quite enjoyed this placement... i had a nice supervisor... can u believe that she's only like 2 years older than me??... anyway... since this was the last day, me and the other student decided to give them a card and bought chocolates for them...

this morning... went up to the ward again to do a shower assessment with this elderly male patient... the ward was still under quarantined... so we had to gown up and wear gloves... and whenever we see another patient even if it's within the same room... we had to change into a new gown and gloves... and according to my supervisor... those were not cheap at all... one box of gowns cost like $200... wow...
so after helping the patient undress and sit on the shower chair... my supervisor suddenly turned to me and said, do u want to do this?... i was like what???!! how come never tell me beforehand? so that i can be mentally prepared... but of course i said yes... so... i was standing there watching him wash himself... luckily he did not require much help... only with his back and legs... still not quite comfortable with watching and helping someone shower, and a male patient... and the patient was taking such a long time shaving... till his whole jaw was red and bleeding... my supervisor was like be careful... but he still kept on going... ??!!
so after the shower assessment... i had to dry him and help put his pants on for him... i think with practice and more time... i will become more comfortable with this...
after that... we went to complete my clinical evaluation form... well... i passed my placement...

and after that... we had a talk in the stroke unit and we were also provided with free lunch... upon arrival... found out that the free lunch was vegetarian sandwiches... yuck... no choice but to take one and eat... otherwise paiseh... and my supervisor had to leave even before the talk started... so i was left there listening to the talk on diseases of the muscles... i think it was supposed to be useful... but it was so seriously boring and i dun even understand most of what the speaker was saying also... i almost dozed off... the talk was so long... in the end... i was so miserable and tired already... hungry and sleepy... and there was not much to do in the ward...

so in the end... i was asked to do more orientation charts for the other OT who needed some for their confused patients... and then went back to the ward, wanting to conduct the cognitive test on this patient but she was fast asleep... so my supervisor said try waking her up and see how... in the end... although she was really talkative but still very confused... it was obvious that she was concentrating on the questions that i was asking her... so we had to stop the test halfway... alamak... and then we had to ask ard to see if the other OTs need help with their patients...
finally... we got to do an initial interview on this elderly male patient who actually was ready to be discharged... so it was quite an easy interview... we finished the interview within 10 min... the other OT was so impressed by our efficiency... actually my supervisor's efficiency cos she did the interview... i was just an observer... after that... nothing to do already so i was sitting in her office reading the upper limb treatment tools when kathryn came in and said her supervisor let her off early... so my supervisor also said i could go early... when i was about to go... like it was the last day already... but i really could not think of anything more to say besides thank you... and afterwards... i felt like i should have said something more rather than just thank you... after all... she really taught me lots of stuff and really nice to me also...

oh and today... after the shower assessment and after doing the documentation... there was nothing much for me to do right... so i was just standing there when my supervisor started talking to another OT and the SP there saying that she was dumped recently and she was feeling really depressed... and then they started talking about their past experiences with failed relationships and abt their ex... some of their stories were really funny but i was like hmm... maybe i should not be listening to this cos i dun noe head or tail right and would seem as if i was eavesdropping... but then again... if i leave... where should i go and what should i do... so in the end... i just stood there listening to them comforting my supervisor abt her break-up and stuff... i felt really 'extra'... but she also never tell me to leave or go somewhere else and they were talking quite loudly too... so i was pretty sure that the whole ward now knows that my supervisor got dumped...

SecOnD Last DaY...

yay... it's the second last day of clinicals... dun have to wake up so early every day and freezing cold anymore... today on the way back from kingswood... okay, i always sleep on the way home cos the journey's quite far right... and today i actually almost missed my stop at strathfield... it's never happened to me before... i just suddenly opened my eyes, and still sitting there blur blur for like 5 sec... and then i was trying to look around for the name of the station... and when i realised that i was already at strathfield and the door's was about to close... i shot up from my seat and ran to the exit... whoa 'heng' man otherwise i would have to backtrack... and miss my express train...

today was quite interesting... actually spent less time in the student's room today... in the morning... went back to the wards to check up on the patients... our ward's still being quarantined... and more pple were apparently getting the virus... we had to gown up and wear gloves whenever we were going to see the patients and sterilize our hands... and then after... i was told to observe in on one of the outpatients wheelchair fitting clinics... where the person comes in to be seen by an external OT who specializes in wheelchair fittings... the lady today was already in a wheelchair... a pink one i might add... but her current one was getting unsuitable for her so she had to get another which would better suit her needs... and today was the first day i saw an actual electric hoist in action... like we actually did it once last year during human occupations... but it was really brief and i dun think we got to try it... anyway... yeah... it was really cool... we also did some turning in bed with the patient... and i learnt that there were again many factors to consider... like her current condition, pressure sores, body alignment, whether she's comfortable in that wheelchair cos she would be permanently in it unless she's showering or sleeping... the OT who came in for the wheelchair fitting was really good at what she does... i hope that i can be like her... we also took the patient for a little trip around the hospital to trial her wheelchair...

after that... i was so starving cos it took about two and a half hours just to do one wheelchair fitting... after that... went back up to the wards to visit our patients again... just observed my supervisor assessing one of the patient's upper limb functional abilities... after that, basically nothing much just sat in the office looking through some of the product catalogues... and some outpatient files... and u noe what... my supervisor actually said something that i thought was one of the highest compliments that anyone could give me... she said i had a good memory bcos i could remember the patients' names and that's why i would be a good OT in future!! thanks! and then bcos tomorrow's the last day of clinicals, i hand-made two cards, one to my supervisor and the other to the OT dept... also bought them expensive chocolates... as a bribe maybe??!! haha...

QuAraNtineD...

Day 8 of clinicals...
our ward now has become quarantined... they were not accepting any new patients and nobody were allowed into the ward except absolutely necessary, all the doctors and nurses were all wearing the blue gowns, gloves and masks... we even had to sterilize our hands before going into the ward...
so we had to go up to the other ward to see if the other OTs had other patients which we could see... did another shower assessment with this elderly lady... she was the very confused one which we interviewed the day before... when we went to see her this morning... she told us that she finally realised that she was in hospital... despite us telling her many times... anyway, she really needed help showering... and she was splashing water all over the place, nearly wetting us both in the process... my supervisor quickly went to get the disposable aprons for us to wear... after doing all these showers... i dun noe if i can do it myself when the time comes... and sometimes it can be quite yucky... like if the patients have incontinence pads on and u have to remove them... or if they can't wash or dry themselves properly, u have to help them, sometimes, the bottom areas... oh man... oh well, i will deal with it when the time comes... hopefully not too soon...

after that, we had to go attend a case conference at the stroke unit... apparently it's still on despite the quarantine... it was really interesting though... we had the doctors, the PT, OT (my supervisor), SP, social worker, the head nurse and the head neurologist of the stroke unit present... each doctor would then present their cases on each patient, and the allied health would also provide their inputs... and they would also put up each patient's CT scans and discuss about it... I have absolutely no idea what they were talking about most of time, only knowing that they were scans of the brain... haha... my supervisor later told me that sometimes we were also expected to know how to interpret the scans... alamak...

after that, nothing exciting, cos we could not go into the ward, and there were no other patients in other wards that we could see... so i was once again stuck in the student's room reading... and then apparently we had another meeting... with the other OTs working in the acute setting... basically they were discussing house-keeping stuff and we had to read a journal article and talk about the article... and apparently my supervisor will no longer be working in the stroke unit after next week, she will be going to outpatients... anyway, they started exchanging stories about their patients... some were quite amusing too... haha...

COunTdOwN...

Day 6 of clinicals...
we had no new patients in our ward... so it was really boring that day... stayed in the student's room and read up on stuff on stroke... sian man... dozed off a few times also... completed my assignments... and in the afternoon... only did one initial interview with this elderly lady who was really engaging, talked alot but she was also really confused... she did not know that she was in the hospital and kept repeating herself...
that's about it for that day... not very exciting... oh and received my exam results... did not bad... considering that i was sick during stuvac and during the exams... we actually got high distinction for the groupwork... i guess that's the good thing abt groupwork... haha...

Day 7 of clinicals...
Did a shower assessment with the same lady that we saw yesterday... She initially refused to shower but later reluctantly agreed... she talked alot during the shower, but she still required assistance with her showering and drying... after that, we had to do more documentation (what else is new??) like seriously... we have so much stuff to write that it can actually take at least half an hour to report on a shower assessment... and the other staff in the hospital also dun really read everything, they only read the summary, according to my supervisor... it's more for legal reasons...
after that, we were informed that the stroke unit had a gastro virus breakout... so they prohibited all allied health pple from entering the ward... i was like great... what are we going to do now?? was supposed to do a kitchen assessment with a lady in the ward... but it was cancelled due to the virus infection...

but later in the afternoon... we went on a home visit to bring a sling to the patient's house...this home visit was really short compared to the one i went last week... we were like in and out of the house within 15 min... bcos apparently we brought the wrong sling... i actually got to read the patient's file before we went there... but when i reached their home... the patient was actually in a worse condition than i thought... she was literally strapped to her seat, and she could not talk or do anything by herself... both her parents had to do everything for her... and she's been like that since she was young... really sad... cannot imagine what would happen if both her parents passed away one day... what's going to happen to her... dun even know if she can understand what anyone's saying...

after the home visit... we went back to the hospital and made two orientation charts for two really confused patients of ours... basically we just included information like the name of the hospital, the date, month and year... and we pasted it on the wall beside their beds... so that they would be more orientated... after that... did another initial interview with this elderly male patient... tested his coordination skills and functional grip strength... and then went to see another male patient who apparently had another stroke recently and his condition deteriorated rapidly... it was really sad... he could not turn his head to the left side and he could not write... his left side was totally non-functional...

GeT wEll sOOn...

this weekend thankfully i am not working cos i took leave for the whole 2 weeks for clinicals... but even though i told them i was unavailable, they still called my handphone during the week and auntie told me they also called home... oh well... it's not that i am deliberately not wanting to work, it's bcos i am on clinicals... dunno if they might get upset at me... and then on fri, when i came home... auntie told us that nainai has a high fever and they suspect it's dengue fever... called home and talked to her and sounded unwell... high fever and her whole body like very weak... and then yesterday, she was hospitalised... sigh... all of us are really worried abt her... dunno why suddenly got dengue fever... is it bcos the weather's very hot now in s'pore or what... really hope that she will get well soon... she hates the hospital... i can't even take care of her now that she's old... when she's the one who took care of my sis and me when we were young cos both my parents are working... whenever i think of that, i feel like crying... why it has to be nainai... she's had a really hard life, and even now when she's old... she has to suffer...

Day 5 OF CLinicaLs Cont'...

alamak... realised that it should be day 5 of clinicals... and i forgot about the rest of the afternoon after lunch... yeah so after lunch... i was finally able to do an initial interview on my own while my supervisor observed... the patient was really cooperative thank God... so i thought i went okay... except i couldn't think of what to say to end the interview, so i was like uhhh... and then my supervisor quickly stepped in to help me... anyway, yeah that was it... need more practice... and then after that, we had no patients to see already so we went back upstairs to complete the halfway evaluation forms for my placement... both my supervisor and I each had to complete one copy each... yeah nothing much happened... except that time passed really quickly... i can't believe it's already friday and i only have one more week to go... also glad that the weekend is here... dun have to wake up early tomorrow and on sunday... i can't help but think abt next year when we have clinicals for the whole semester... ohmigod... they better send me to a nearer location otherwise i am gonna kill them...
up till now though... i am glad that i came to nepean hospital... the whole environment is really nice and the people there are really nice and friendly too...

Day 4 OF cLiniCALS...

Began the last day of the first half of the clinical placement with crappy clients... the first lady was too upset to talk to us... she started to cry when we started asking her questions, so all we could do was try to comfort her and go to plan B... which was another elderly male patient, who saw us coming and told us outright that he does not want to be interviewed, that he had enough interviews already... we were like oookay... so we left him alone and went to look for a plan C... fortunately this other OT was going to do a home visit today, and he said we could follow along... yay... my first home visit since i started...

we brought the elderly lady along with us and drove up to her home in the retirement village... it's quite a long drive up about 50min... and along the way... i saw horses, cows, lambs and sheeps... and vegetable farms... how cool is that??!! it was really nice drive and it was really cloudy today too... drizzling abit... after the home visit today... i realised many things... one, being old sucks... especially if u have illnesses or diseases... and also if u are living by yourself... it was obvious that the lady really was hoping to be able to go home but after we have been to her home and watched how she carried out her daily tasks like moving ard her home, going to the toilet, preparing a cup of tea... it was clear that she was not safe to be living by herself at this point... which the OT explained to her too... and it was just really sad... bcos it was obvious that she was trying really hard to show us that she could cope by herself... but she even have difficulties going into her house bcos of the ledge of her front door... and bcos she has an amputation and is currently in a wheelchair... and her home was just too small for the wheelchair... and doing a home visit was not as easy as i thought... there are many things to consider... the person, the environment and the supports available to the person... like today i was observing the OT discussing with the lady and her daughter about the barriers that were in her home and the reasons why they thought she would not be able to live by herself at home... it really opened my eyes to what OTs do on a home visit... we have to consider stuff like how the patient is going to get from one place to another, how she is going to get into her home, any steps, how is she going to move ard her home, how is she going to the toilet, prepare her own meals and stuff... and then from there, think of solutions to make their home environment safer for them... like building ramps, movinig the furniture ard so that she has space to move ard... installing rails in the shower...

and then also found out today that we only will learn home modifications once in the entire 4 year course, like there would not be any more subjects on home mods... i was like shit... are u serious?? we did home mods in first year and they expect us to remember after we graduate? and last year i was not the one doing the home mods at all... i have no idea how to draw the diagrams and stuff... and my supervisor was like saying that's what the clinical placements are for... oh man... i cannot even draw straight lines...

and these past few days, i have been having lunch with my new found friend Kat... it's just weird like i realised that i have never sat down and eat lunch or spoke more than hi bye with any aussie pple since i came here... she's like the first aussie person whom i have eaten lunch with and we talked abt stuff... although sometimes i couldn't understand what she said but she also admitted that sometimes she also dun understand what i was saying... but it's fine cos we got along quite well... my only concern is if we would still be on such good terms once we are back in uni... like u noe how some pple act differently when they are in different environments and she also has her own friends whom she has known for a year already at uni... or if we would just be hi bye friends when we go back to uni... sometimes i wonder why pple are so complicated... it gets harder when we grow older, does it not??

DAy 4 oF cLiNicALs...

Almost missed the train this morning… alamak if i missed this train... i will be late for clinicals...

In the morning, followed Rebekah to do an initial interview with this elderly lady who’s really alert and she could understand us and who could also joke with us… a really nice old lady… after that, there were more documentation to do mainly completing the initial forms and progress notes… like seriously, I was telling prisy earlier that in a day, we only see 3 patients at the most and the rest of time was spent looking for the patient’s files and writing notes… this is definitely not efficient… I mean, the patients are constantly piling up but here we are, as OTs, being stuck writing out all the documents and stuff… wasting time… might as well spend more time with the patient… and then after that, we were called to do a shower Ax on this elderly male patient… I dunno abt you, but I personally have never seen a guy’s penis up close and personal before… only on pictures in anatomy TBs and the atlas… so today was quite an uncomfortable time for me… like I think my supervisor’s actually trying to shield me from him bcos she stood in front of me and pulled the curtains but I would see it eventually anyway, if u noe what I mean… so anyway, it was not a comfortable experience for me… at least I didn’t have to help wash him or something… but he did asked me to help him put on his socks… I have no idea why… like he wanted me to do it, even when my supervisor said she would help him put it on… abit creepy there…

So after that, more documentation stuff… and then it was morning tea… after morning tea, the OT dept had a dept meeting which we attended also… so us students just sat there and listen to them talk about some housekeeping stuff… one interesting thing that they were discussing abt was whether they should continue with making attendance at case presentations compulsory, which was like every fortnight, one of them has to do a presentation on a certain illness/ disability, which I thought was interesting… I mean, as OTs, we cannot just focus on the clinical area that we are working on currently, it is always good to learn more abt other clinical areas, bcos who knows in future you might need the info… so anyway, today’s presentation was on dementia… quite interesting as the OT presented it was well-prepared and I thought she presented it really well, and she also all these cognitive tests that she found were useful for screening pple with dementia…

and then after the meeting, we went back down to the ward again... did a mock initial interview with Rebekah to practise... tomorrow i will be doing one by myself... i kept wanting to laugh during the mock interview... dunno what to ask also... anyway, then after that, followed this other OT Melanie who's got this Polish client and she got an interpreter to come in to translate... i got to sit in and observe her doing a cognitive screen thru the translator... really interesting... and the patient was in a good mood today, not like the last time i saw him... and then after the interview, Rebekah suddenly dunno disappear to where and i waited for her for like half an hour... feeling so extra at the ward... alamak... and the remainder of the afternoon was spent reading up more case files and walking ard the hospital... did not do much after... hope i will do well for my initial interview tomorrow...

Day 3 OF CliNiCaLs...

Day 3...
In the morning, bcos my supervisor had to attend a conference so she arranged me to follow another OT Melanie who works in rehab ward... before we went down to the ward, she showed me a home modification which she did for this patient who is an amputee... thinking of the home modifications and the drawings that OTs have to do make me dread being one... cos my art is like beyond fail... i simply cannot draw and visualize stuff... how... i can't even draw straight lines... anyway, out of the 4 of us at placement till now... i am the only one who still has not been on a home visit... the rest all have gone at least once... i would like to go on one home visit to see what we actually do... we'll see...

and then after that, we went down to the rehab ward to do another shower assessment for this elderly lady... and again all i did was stand there and watch her shower... i think the more you do it, the more immune you get when u are watching someone showering... seeing them makes me dread getting old... u start having illnesses, pains and ur body starts to give out on you, even ur physical appearance declines, body parts start to droop and stuff... and the lady could not wash her bottom so melanie had to wash for her... abit confronting... and after that, she was like telling me like during the assessment, it is quite difficult to remember everything u saw, so what she does is have a mental picture of the human body divided into face, neck, chest, trunk, genital areas, UL and upper and lower parts of LL... and while u watch them showering, note down mentally which parts they wash and which parts they didn't...

after morning tea, i followed another OT Ruth... we went to the cardiology ward first... and again, did another shower Ax with an elderly lady... her right UL was totally flaccid and her UL and LL were swollen badly... and she required assistance with her transfers and mobility... the thing was Ruth... i found out that she's actually Irish... i mean, how cool is that? i dun even noe any Irish till her... and u noe how pple from Ireland speak as if they are singing... really cool... i actually get to meet alot of pple from different countries here... and after that, more documentation to be done, and i got to fill in initial interview forms again... i think i would have to do an initial interview soon by myself... dun noe if i can do it... what if the pt's not cooperative? and also sometimes i can't understand what the patient's saying... cos they are like mumbling to themselves...
after lunch, followed Ruth again to the respiratory ward... and she interviewed this male patient whose both feet were swollen and i think he has ulcers on his feet too... and there was this other case where the file has pictures of the patient's feet rotting and turning black and red... urgh... gross... that's why i am never going to be able to do podiatry... anyway, the initial interview took an hour... oh man... like she was really detailed whereas in the stroke ward, the initial interview at the most only takes 15mins... i was trying my best to understand what the patient was saying and i almost dozed off halfway... got released half an hour early today though... becos our tutorial on confidentiality and professional behaviour ended early... and I still have not got a topic for the project yet... how...

Day 2 OF cLiniCALs...

Day 2 of clinicals...
In the morning, did a shower assessment on this elderly assessment... it was quite uncomfortable for me and i think the lady also felt uncomfortable cos she's like showering while the two of us just stood there watching her shower... i cannot imagine how it would be if it's a male patient... peeping tom?? peeping andrea??? just weird... she managed quite well on her own and it was later found out that she was discharged just one hour after we did the shower with her... which according to my supervisor... is the aim of the acute stroke unit... discharge asap... which meant that we only get to spend little time with the patient, just enough to do an initial interview, review their ROM and strength briefly and that's it... we'll just refer them to some other depts... eith rehab or community OTs...

and my supervisor went thru the learning contract with me and told me that things are not as rosy in the real world as described in the lectures... where we learnt that we must spend time to get to know our patients... client-centredness... all the skills that we were taught like assessing ROM, manual muscle testing, PNF and NDT techniques... i was told today that we would rarely use them in real clinical practice...

anyway, i got to fill out some referral forms, initial interview forms and progress notes... and my supervisor actually filed what i wrote into the patient's file where everyone in the hospital can read and it would be like there forever... wow... it felt so real... like i was an OT already... my supervisor's also really nice and i found out that she's only like 2 years older than me... most of the OTs there are quite young also... in the afternoon... observed Rebekah my supervisor do an initial interview with an elderly man... it was quite funny cos we went in without looking thru his case file first, which we would normally do b4 going in to look at the patient... so i didn't know what was wrong with him, etc... and then the rest of the afternoon was spent reading thru more case files... so i was just sitting there reading and trying not to doze off again... and the weather these days are so nice... it's like clear skies outside and sunny but windy also... wanted to go outside instead of being stuck reading the files... a good thing that happened today was i made a new friend, Catherine... she's also one of the 4 of us at nepean hospital... she seemed like a nice person... but we'll see... like i recognize her face at uni but never really get to speak with her... we actually clicked off quite well today... :)

DaY 1 oF cLiniCALs...

okay guys it's confirmed!! I AM attending the congress on TUesday, 25th july... decided to fork out the really expensive price to attend the congress, considering that this might be my only opportunity to attend it since it's held at where I am now...

Day 1 of clinicals...
nothing very happening... woke up early in the morning at 4am to watch the world cup finals... in the end, bcos the game went into penalty shootouts, I missed the ending cos i had to leave the house to catch the train... the journey to kingswood was horrible, freezing and i was so urgent... there were no toilets nearby so i had to endure like 45mins till i got to the station... normally, i dun even want to use the toilets in the station, but today really cannot 'dahan' already... my bladder's about to burst man... :(

the first session was an orientation ard the hospital where the supervisor brought us ard the hospital showing us where all the different departments and wards are... and after that, more talking abt the policies and procedures of the hospital... blah blah blah...
then after that, the 4 of us split up and followed our respective assigned supervisors... my supervisor was called Rebekah and she looks after the acute stroke ward... first, she brought me to the ward, and showed me ard again... quite a small ward, and she explained to me that bcos it's an acute stroke setting, we dun get to spend more time with the patients except to do an initial interview, maybe some reviews regarding their ROM, muscle strength, cognitive and perceptive abilities... we only saw 2 patients today... the first lady was quite alert and knew what was going on ard her... my supervisor asked her some questions, like do u know where u are now, asked her to cross out Es from lines of alphabets, and got her to undo her buttons...

our second patient was also an elderly lady, she was also quite lucid, but she spoke really basic english and her daughter had to translate for us... her only deficit was her weak left upper limb, but i thought we actually listened to her stories more than we did therapy with her... that seemed to occur often when we are dealing with the elderly... i like listening to their stories... like last time in njc, when we had to do community service at this nursing home, and the elderly there always got some stories to tell... even though sometimes i have no idea what they were talking abt since they were in dialects and i just nod my head... haha...

my supervisor was quite unprepared though cos she also just came back from holidays and she did not expect such a heavy workload... so when she had to do settle some stuff, she would dig out some stroke stuff and ask me to read... not that i am complaining, but i was really sleepy cos i woke up so early today... and i dun think the stuff i was reading actually went into my head... sigh... and... i actually dozed off while reading... luckily nobody walked past... and bcos this year's placement was supposed to be a 3 weeks placement, but the school shortened it into a 2week one, we had to do a project after the placement... and we have to come up with the topic ourselves... thinking abt the project is giving me a headache... when i get home, the only thing i wanna do is watch my kim sam soon... :(

My shIny aNd NeW laPtOp...

okay, i am actually using my brand new laptop to type this blog... i am so happy... it finally came on friday and it's so shiny and it even smells new... wide screens and nice typing keys... everything is so nice, abit scared to use it cos it's so fragile... haha ... this could be one of the most exciting thing that happened during the two week holiday...

went with prisy to strathfield with her friends, actually wanted to eat at ceci... but it was so crowded when we got there, no thanks to michelle who wanted to detour to rhodes shopping centre on the way to strathfield... i was told that the chinese grocery store at rhodes shopping centre actually sold kaya spread, so i went in there to find, wanted to buy one bottle to try, but i couldn't find it in the end... miss my kaya spread... okay, so instead of eating at strathfield, we went to eat at this other korean place, where most of their dishes were soup-based... ordered this beef soup and pork rib soup with rice... didn't really like the food though... after that, we went home to make cinnamon rolls... HUIMIN!!! my cinnamon roll fanatic partner... i found this recipe online and decided to make it... turned out okay, not as nice as the ones i ate in singapore before they closed down... the dough tasted funny and the cinnamon were melting and leaking out of the dough... maybe next time i will find another recipe and we can make it together k... :)
ate till i was so full yesterday, with all the cinnamon rolls in my stomach... and we also made cookies... aren't we healthy??!!

tomorrow is the world cup final already... so fast... Italy vs France... my bet is on France... haha... wanted Germany to win... oh well... definitely staying up to watch even though the next day is my clinical first day... which btw, i am really dreading... dun want to go, juz want to stay at home and rot and bum around... what if the supervisor asked me something and i dun now anything how? year 2 already and still dun noe anything... what have i been doing in uni??

and then today, went to work in the morning, and when i came home, michelle wanted to make her custard puffs... so in the end we made her custard puffs, cheese pastries AND brownies... i am getting fatter every day... how to lose weight like that??? also got prisy to trim my hair cos it's getting so thick and going out of shape... haven't cut it since last december... thinking of growing my hair long... since it's winter now... i have not grown my hair beyond shoulder-length ever... we'll see how it goes... dunno if long hair will suit me though... it's a hassle having long hair also...still haven't decided if i should attend the congress... should i go or not??

StAtuS: ObSeSseD...

obsessed... i am declaring myself to be officially obsessed over the show now... been watching it so many times now and thinking abt it day and night... i think that's all i have been thinking abt these past few days... alamak... how... now i really want to go korea already...

yesterday went to anna's house for a gathering to celebrate her bdae... bought her a tiramisu cake and she cooked korean dishes for us... really nice... although i didn't dare to eat the ox tail that she prepared... after lunch, we sat down and watched suddenly 30 while we ate cake and chips... ate till i was so bloated... took pics too... saw her son justine for the first time too... really cute... stuck to anna like a magnet the whole time, everywhere she went, he also followed...

nothing much exciting happened... just waiting now for my new laptop to come so that i can use, instead of using the old one which kept hanging on me... and watched the semifinals this morning between germany and italy... was hoping that germany would win... sigh... oh well... oh and saw the earth shaking news... haha... that david beckham quit as england's captain... think he must be really upset that england did not win... maybe also bcos he's getting old as a footballer also... he's still my alltime fav football player... think that he's a good father, husband and player...

clinicals starting next week already... dreading it actually... dun even noe what's going to happen... do i have to prepare anything? like read up on stuff or what? can't watch tvs anymore... oh and found out that i can't be a volunteer for the OT congress bcos the compulsory briefing's on mon, which is the first day of clinicals, so i can't attend... maybe it's trying to tell me that i am not meant to attend? i have to pay like $190 to attend the congress for one day... "hai wo bai gao xing yi chang!"

1st WeEk oF holiDayS...

today is the last day of june already... my first week of holidays is coming to an end... on mon after orl exam, angela and me decided to take a train down to kingswood where the hospital that we are going to for clinicals is located... it was almost a 2hour journey there... and the train fares are hiking up again... a weekly ticket there is going to cost me $45!!! the hospital was quite new and nice, at least it's more than 1 storey, which most hospitals i have seen are... and the pple there are quite nice so far... we toured ard the place, found out that offer hostels for students to stay... and i was really considering to stay there for 2 weeks during the clinicals... but after thinking abt it, i decided not to... cos firstly, it would cost me more to stay there and i dun think i can stay there by myself... not as independent as i thought... so the down side would be that i would have to wake up really early in the mornings and travel for long periods of time in the cold...

during the week, i did not do much except bumming ard at home, looking for a new laptop cos my current one died on me during the exams... shitty... now i can't even start it and i still have stuff saved on it that i have not backed up... i dunno how am i going to transfer those... finally ordered one online yesterday night, after much browsing ard... it's a dell model and apparently it's got really good features at a reasonable price... went to eat yum cha at that north ryde rsl club again, this time with uncle and auntie, prisy and michelle... and again, it was really expensive, even though we did not order much... i dun even like to eat dim sum and stuff... but bcos we could not decide and prisy had to rush to work... i never ever want to go back there again... if i can help it...

went to eastwood yesterday and rented a korean series called my name is kim sam soon... quite hilarious but i dun really like the main actress, kim sam soon... i noe her character is to be like this person who does what she wants and dun care abt what others think, but sometimes she can be so overbearing, and okay, i have to say this, the main actor, hyun bin, is damn cute leh! haha... has a boyboy look also... i think he's better looking than Rain... anyway, i would give it 7/10, sometimes it can be quite cheesy... but cute...

went to hornsby at night with prisy... bought a navy blue pants for clinicals... nothing much... and went to work again on wed... felt so alienated when i stepped into woolies, cos i haven't been to work for almost two weeks... and i have officially worked there for 1 year and 7 days, since june 23... congrats to me... haha... dreading work this weekend... working the shitty shift from 1-10pm on both sat and sun... help!

LAsT paPEr To gO...

i know i haven't blogged for a long time... exams!!! what else... first paper, neuroscience, was okay, not as hard as i thought it would be... i think it's bcos i know what to expect after the mid semester exam... anatomy was quite shitty though, i couldn't do the last few questions on pelvic motion and control... and then today's DHR paper was quite okay, not too difficult, although i never pay attention during lectures and sometimes even 'pon' lectures... not a good thing... but i can't help it sometimes... i really feel like dozing off sometimes... my body is there, but my spirit is not... haha...
last paper is on mon... ORL... so wish that today was the last paper... then i can enjoy the weekend... didn't do much stuff this whole week except study and watch the world cup whenever i can... sigh... today saw the news that the czech republic is out... i can't believe it... i wanted them to go into the nect round... i really like them... oh and australia is in... i actually caught the last 10 minutes of the game today, and the game was really getting out of hand... the referee gave a red card to a croatian player but he still was allowed to keep playing... how weird is that? and the referee was also giving the red and yellow cards out like they dun need money... the whole game was weird...

so anyway, that's about it for now... oh and denise emailed me saying that she might come to sydney... really hope that she can come...
did i mention that i will be going to this faraway suburb called penrith for my placement? it's like almost two hour one way journey there... thinking of the fact that i have to wake up at like 5am in the mornings freezing cold just make me dread the start of placement... somebody help me!!! it's a hospital placement this time, and i will be working with acute stroke patients... the good thing is that angela is also doing her placement there, at least i got company...

2006 FIFA WOrld CuP...

That day one of the channels on tv actually showed a chinese show, turn left turn right... by gigi leung and takashi kaneishiro... this show actually brought back alot of memories... of NJC , especially J2 and my first crush... firstly because when the movie first came out, the radio station 93.3 held this outdoor thing at the bridge that connects NJC and Chinese High... so both siti and me waited outside at the busstop to be the first ones to get the tickets to watch the movie... when we were at the busstop, there wasn't anyone there, so we thought okay, let's just wait here at the busstop and loook out for the radio djs... and then pple started to queue at the bridge, so we quickly went up to the bridge to queue... we were so stupid to have waited... and we actually queued at the wrong end on the bridge too... so in the end, we were not the first ones to get the tickets... but it was good that we managed to get the tickets... pple started to flood the whole bridge, all the students from NJ, Chinese High and Hwa Chong JC... it was so crowded and apparently it was such a big thing that the 630pm news that night actually did a story on this... and the funny thing was, my ex-crush also came to queue for the tickets... haha...
so the viewing was held at this 'ulu' shaw centre theatre near suntec... so me and siti both went to watch even though we had practical exam the next day... and i also saw my ex-crush outside school for the first time... it was so funny, i can't believe that i still remembered it after so long...
too bad the movie ending was stupid...

anyway, back to the present... last mon after handing in ORL assignment, we actually planned to go to newtown to eat thai food, but it was raining quite heavily that day so in the end, we ended up at ceci strathfield... haha... the food was okay, wasn't as nice as i remembered, it's been so long since we ate there... we must really go explore new places... otherwise we keep going back to the same places to eat... after eating, went to mel's new house... she moved from one side of strathfield to the other... the side with less shops and less noise... her new house was much much bigger than her previous one though... nice and spacious... she made us hot chocolate and also got biscuits to eat... whoa, ate till i was so full... and we just hung out at her place, talking, looking at her photo albums... nice...

finally, today is the start of a very exciting and special event.... (drum Rolls please)... THE 2006 Fifa WORLD CUP!!! yes, after 4 years of waiting, it's finally here again! i am so glad the australian team got in, otherwise i doubt they would even broadcast the matches here... football to them meant rugby... which is the national sport... that was why initially whenever i heard them talking abt football, i thought they were talking abt football... who knew they were actually talking abt rugby... anyway, so glad that the australian team made it into the world cup cos that meant that the matches would be broadcasted on tv... too bad i am not supporting them... England!!! show the world what you can do!!!

GOoD n bAd...

okay, happy and good things to report: 1) I now own at least 5 new pairs of jeans, well not really new new, cos i did not buy them, but it was prisy's and she gave them to me cos she dun want them anymore... they came at the right time cos i was thinking of buying jeans cos it's winter now and it's what i wear to uni every day... the only thing abt the jeans are that they are damn tight... cannot breathe in them but according to the experts (Prisy and michelle), they are supposed to be like that and not have extra material hanging out... i was like says who???!!!... haha... 2) watched X-men 3 last tues... and i was totally disappointed... both the first and second ones were so good and the third one had to ruin it all... firstly becos many pple died... and the new x-men were not even given the chance to display their powers... rogue was the worst... i mean, can she be any more useless??!! and angel... wasn't he supposed to have really cool powers??!! and what happened to nightcrawler??!! oops... did i spoil the movie for everyone now??!! anyway the verdict is save ur money and watch it when they show it on tv...
3) got back my anatomy practical results... and i got credit... think i tried my best already... although i did not study joints and nerves well... i always skip joints when it comes to exams... i dunno why... now let's hope that everything i have crammed into my brain for the practical will return to me in time for the end-semester exam...

bad things that happened... finished my ORL assignment today and handed it in... last night was another shitty night trying to complete the assignment, and it was so cold and raining outside... didn't even get much sleep then had to wake up at 6am today to try and finish it... i already can predict many more of these shitty cold nights in the coming weeks, cos exams are coming in 2 wks' time and i still got another COP assignment left... i am so really sick and tired of doing assignments...
my life is boring... uni, work and home... that's all... how sad is that... the thing is... i actually got thurs, fri off last week and i started doing my ORL but somehow, i dun even noe what i was doing the whole weekend, i ended up doing last minute work again...
work was okay... got to see my 'motivation' on sunday... realised i really need a weekly dose of 'motivation' before i can work and study properly... how sad is that... becoming too dependent...

Wk 11 FinAllY OvEr...

Soooo glad wk 11 is FINALLY OVER!! i had 2 assignments and an anatomy practical exam due this week... almost benged studying for the practical exam... i hate it when they crammed everything into one exam and some more it's practical lor... i knew i sucked at identifying the nerves and the foot ligaments on the cadavers... didn't even know which was which, and everything was so rushed, dun even have time to think... in the end, had to tikkam so many of my answers... :(

OTTP major group assignment is also finally over... realised that i dun like groupwork... the only thing was u dun have to do all the work and u get the same marks as everyone... but the bad thing was if u are stuck with pple who tended to dominate the meetings, and pple who dun really care, it can really suck... hope we did well, oh and apparently for the peer evaluation forms, i think i was too honest in the marks I gave to some members... oh well... we'll see...

And then today was the deadline was DHR assignment, which was also a groupwork thing and I was doing it with amelia and karen again... as usual, I was the one doing most of the stuff... like me and amelia were the ones who practically did everything while karen did almost nothing, and every time we meet, she would be sleeping... I dun even have the energy to be pissed, i just want to get it over and done with so that we could move on... and also bcos it was her bdae tomorrow...

really really glad that this week is almost over, and i can finally get some sleep... been sleeping late and waking up early since last week... but tomorrow still have to work... but at least dun need to think so much... now have to move on to my other assignments... sian man...

PicTuReS...

Prisy's graduation at the main castle, behind us is the castle that is the main feature of uni of sydney... was my first time there too...

Huilin and me at my fav korean spicy beef and rice place at sussex centre... we were supposed to make funny faces, but she bluffed me!

Huilin and me at Bondi Junction, we ate at the italian cafe behind us... the food was also not that great...

At a korean restaurant in strathfield... i didn't really like the food though... but we had fun...

On Amelia's bdae, inside Bite Me... karen hand-made her a cheese cake...

MotHeR'S dAy...

got back my neuroscience mid-semester exam results, did quite well, but it's those kind of tests that does not require you to understand the stuff, u just have to memorize them... so till now, i still dun understand some of the brain stuff...
last week got an extra long weekend cos i pon uni on thurs, sat was working the whole day, saw my roster for next week and i got the shitty shift again... 1-10pm... this shift seemed especially long, dunno why... this is the shift that i dun like most...

sun... busy busy... cos it was mother's day, so i called mum on sat night to wish her happy mother's day, and the three of us were not working, so we decided to go to the city... started our journey early in the morning, and did some shopping at paddy's markets while waiting for michelle...
after that, i got to eat my fav spicy beef rice... yummy... while michelle and auntie and uncle went to this shop called 'zhu ma ma' (i called it 'you ma ma' cos it's so oily, especially the yu zha gui)
anyway, and then shopped ard market city, actually it was more like michelle shopping, and she took forever, and all of us had to wait sooo long for her... so obviously i was not in a very good mood after waiting for so long, but then after we decided to go karaoke... my whole body felt energized again... haha... sang for 3 hours and it was the first time the three of us are in the city shopping and singing karaoke together... we had fun singing... me and michelle were like singing all these quite old songs like alex to's wu xing shang hai and tian zhen and teresa teng's songs...
and prisy was complaining cos she didn't noe any of those songs...

after singing till like 630pm, time for dinner, since it was mother's day, it was my treat at eastwood to thank auntie and uncle for taking care of me... but when we reached there, there were no seats so we had to wait outside in the cold for like 20 min... but the food we ordered made up for the waiting... and then after dinner, we again decided to go try the limited edition brownie with ice cream dessert at mcdonalds... oh man... i was so full after all that eating... but i think all of us really enjoyed ourselves that day...

PrIsY's GraDuAtiOn...

it's been a week since i last blogged, last friday was a big day for prisy... it was her graduation ceremony at the main campus... we were all so excited for her, had to wake up early in the morning 6am to travel to the main campus in the city so that we dun get caught up in the traffic... so when we arrived there, we were one of the earliest, so we took the opportunity to take pictures of the castle that is the trademark of university of sydney, the castle' s really huge and old... that was also my first time inside the castle... the weather was really nice that day clear blue skies but freaking cold...
after taking pictures, we went to take the photo gallery and prisy took pic with auntie, uncle and michelle and i heard that it was very expensive if u want to frame it up and stuff... even renting the grad hat and the sash thing was expensive... lucky for her, her cousin has got the grad gown so she did not have to rent that...

after that, more pple arrived and soon, the whole place was filled with pple in their grad gowns and hats, all excited to graduate and reunite after so long... at first, we thought that bcos each graduand was only given three tickets, i would not be able to go in, but in the end, i managed to sneak in and attend the really boring ceremony... i literally dozed off halfway but the great hall was really nice and ancient-looking in a way... according to michelle, her graduation ceremony took longer than prisy's... bcos they had more pple... so one by one they want up to collect their certificate...
after the ceremony was more pictures taking with her friends... i was getting quite bored and restless and hungry... but i am happy for prisy... uncle was especially excited on that day... it was as if it were his graduation... :)

after that, yay, lunch time... we were all starving... went to this suburb called randwick where michelle's uni was, unsw, and ate at this chinese restaurant... the food was quite good actually... i dunno if anyone has heard of white bait??!! it's this small white fishes and they cook it with salt and pepper, but that time was my second time eating it, the first time was at that yum cha place... it was much better than the yum cha place... we also had sweet and sour fish (my fav), hor fun and some dofu hotpot... nice...

after that, we went to this shoe warehouse and i bought another pair of boots again!! shit, i just couldn't help myself, it was suede material and it's platform, not heels so it was easier to walk in... and relatively cheaper than if u buy it somewhere else...
and then after that, michelle went out and prisy also got dinner with her frens, being a good girl, i went home with auntie and uncle...

this whole week nothing much happening, more assignments and anatomy pract exam's coming... quite worried abt my cop assignment, cos i think i did not do it properly and i had no diagrams... and i skipped uni yesterday, so i got an extended long weekend... will try to get as much things done as possible...
oh Happy Birthday, HUIMIN!!! hope u received my letter... and SHERRY, BON Voyage!!!

AssIgNmenTs, asSigNmeNtS, and MorE AssiGnmEnts...

my blogging has been delayed again... wanted to blog halfway during the week, but i was so caught up in the assignments that i decided to do it after the human occupations assignment... speaking of which, sucked... cos i did not know what i was writing about... it's on leisure and how it relates to occupational therapists... and neuroscience mid-semester exam was last fri... which also sucked... bcos apparently, we are not supposed to understand what we are studying, but just memorise everything, so if u memorised ur stuff properly, u will get high marks, if not, well... and so obviously, i did not memorise my stuff well enough, so most of my answers were based on 'tikkaming' and 'vaguely remembering reading abt this'... we'll see how it goes... was talking to a friend from orthoptics and she was like saying how come OT has so much assignments??!! well, good question, i also want to to noe why... :(

now that HO assignment is done, next up is COP... okay, i have assignments due every week and in wk 11... i have 2 assignments and anatomy practical exam... interesting huh??!! wonder how i am going to do so much stuff with so little time... although i am now working much less than before... it seems as though i have much much less time to do stuff... i dunno why...

okay, enough abt uni stuff... the only interesting thing that happened this whole week was last sunday, when we went to play badminton with diana... michelle's colleague from work... oh and apparently we found out that both of us were actually "tong men shi jie mei", we both are crescentians!!! ahhh... we were so excited man, so 'qiao'!!! we started talking abt crescent and the teachers and we also found out that we actually have quite a few teachers in common... and of course, who could forget MRS SIAH??!! aka lobster lady... haha... Go Crescentians!!!
it was just weird... and then after badminton that day, they decided to go eat "yum Cha" (that means dim sum), i personally dun like eating those food, but i was overruled by the majority and ended up spending so much money for so little food... it was damn expensive!!! note to everyone who likes going to eat dim sum... never sit near the kitchen!!! danger... cos u are tempted to order everything that comes out of there... and end up with a big hole in ur wallet and pocket!!! that's what happened to us... when we saw the bill, it was shocking...

easter hols' part 2...

this is a continuation of my easter hols' update...
last thurs, went to the city for karaoke... okay but this time, i went with huilin and a few singaporean pple from the spp program that i attended last year... it was quite fun but at the same time, weird... fun bcos i love karaoke, and i have not been for a long long time and going with singaporeans are better bcos i get exposed to a wider variety of songs and can then update my song list... haha... now got 2 new songs which i like... one by rainie yang called "zhi xiang ai ni" and the other is by jolin tsai, "dao dai"...
i also got to eat my korean spicy beef twice... yes, twice, for both lunch and dinner... haha... it has got to be the nicest korean food i have ever eaten... even better than ceci...
but the weird thing abt going karaoke with them is... i dun even noe them well, even huilin, although she was also from njc and we were in the same cca... we were not even close then, but we have gotten quite close now, dunno why, maybe bcos when u are in a foreign land, when u meet someone from the same place as u... u will naturally bond with them, like they actually know what u are saying and we understand each other... like for eg, at karaoke, we did funny things like the kallang wave and took alot of pics... and the singlish naturally comes out... when i am talking to the aussies for eg or even friends who are non-s'porean, i have to mentally check my language first before speaking...
anyway, back to karaoke, we started at 1pm and sang till like 8pm... aren't we die-hard karaoke fans??!!

and then huilin came over to stay for a night... and we stayed up to watch failure to launch, which was not nice btw, the two leads just dun have the chemistry... and they look funny together...
and then on fri, we went to hornsby to shop...
okay, our first stop was kmart cos huilin needed to get something, and so while i was browsing ard, i happen to see the post-easter sale going on... ALL the easter chocolate eggs were selling for $1 each, both big and small kinds... i totally freaked man!
i grabbed as many as i could, got huilin and the both of us started to grab the easter eggs like they dun need money...
in the end, we ended up with 3 bags each of eggs and bcos they were so bulky, we had difficulty walking, much less shopping... after a few shops, i was like exhausted already, my fingers were about to break man...

on sat... had to work the whole day, and at night, michelle's friends came over for dinner, and we ate pizza again... i have been eating so many pizza since uncle and auntie were gone, it's not funny... so sick of it already... apparently, one of her colleagues, diana, who's also s'porean, is going back to singapore to work permanently soon... she's really funny though... although she's been here for so many years already, she's still really singaporean... i actually think i will be like that too... even though i am going to be here for quite awhile, i will still act like a s'porean, still speak singlish and stuff... i still remember our national anthem... haha...

sun... alamak... the supermarket where i work suddenly blacked out, after i just started work... and it lasted for an hour and a half, i thought we would be allowed to go home, since we can't do anything about it, but no... we had to start cleaning everything, and after that, help to do shelving... irritating man... the lights came back on after awhile and i thought it would already be like 9pm, but no... it was only 730pm... ohmigod, i still have like 3 hours to go... great... apparently, we were not the only ones affected, the surrounding areas were also affected and the whole stretch of road at thornleigh was pitch dark...
hmm... recently, all the cute guys at woolies all disappeared, sian man...

EasTeR HoLs...

okay... the one-week easter holidays... a summary of what i have been up to till now...
fri... stayed at home, spring-cleaning with prisy and michelle... otherwise by the time auntie and uncle comes back, the house will become a pig sty and unrecognisable... haha... why girls drop so many hairs??!!

sat... worked the whole day... woolies was so busy... which is good bcos it means that i dun have to do other stuff like cleaning or putting rubbish at the back or putting stock away... very tired when i went back home...

sun... went to this jetty-like place, it's called a wharf btw... to try out this new equipment that michelle's colleague, steve, has... u are supposed to jump on it and it will carry you around on the waters... but that is if u did it correctly, if not, u will end up just sinking into the water instead of hopping ard on it... steve made it look so easy but i can tell you, it's not... okay, i did not actually try it in the end though... i am such a coward... but it was amusing watching the others try... i did go into the waters to float ard though... it was FREEzing! after i went in, i could not even feel my fingers and feet... it was also quite dirty... all i could see down below was green... and stuff floating ard, i dun even want to now what things are down below... anyway, spent quite a long time there, got quite a nice tan also... and after, we went to this chicken place called nando's to eat dinner... dun really like the food there though... and after that, they all proceeded to our house to celebrate my cousin's boyfriend's brother's bdae... they bought ice-cream cake, which was really yummy... but after that, i did not join them anymore, went upstairs to study for abit and sleep soon after...

mon... went to yochi's house to study... her uncle's family went away on hols somewhere and she had to stay home to look after their dog and chickens... yup, u read it correctly... they rear chickens, 1 rooster and 5 hens... and according to her, the rooster is very protective of his hens... he will attack anyone who comes near them, so she always has a hard time feeding them... anyway, studied for abit, ate pizza for lunch, and after awhile of studying, i told her i felt sleepy so she suggested washing her dog to wake me up... the shampoo for the dog was so smelly... yuck... nevertheless, it worked... i was awake, studied abit more and it's time for dinner... she cooked pasta and we watched the notebook as we ate... i actually watched it b4 already... but i still cried at the end... yochi also cried... it was quite funny... the two of us crying as we ate... slept over at her house...

tues... met up with amelia, and the three of us went to macquarie to watch the inside man... the whole place was so crowded, even though it was 10am, forgot that it was the school hols for the school kids too... i personally did not like the movie, maybe bcos there was just too much talking, and maybe the plot was too 'chim' for my brain... almost fell asleep halfway... did i also mention that i also watched zathura... but it was pirated one... but i liked it... quite scary though...

wed... sian ah... had to go back to school bcos i had library books due... had to walk to school and it was so hot that day... when i reached school, i was so ready to 'beng' already lor... but i still managed to do something productive... did research for HO and COP... HO is due first wk of may, how??? i dun even now what are we supposed to talk abt... it's on leisure and OT... and i have neuroscience mid-sem exam friday... shit... neuroscience is definitely a huge leap from last yr's syllabus... i need help!

okay, i am going to stop here for now, have to go cook dinner... this blog entry is getting too long... will blog soon k...

I aM sAd...

celebrated amelia's 21st bdae last thurs... went to the other side of eastwood to eat at this korean steamboat place... okay, i didn't noe abt this in eastwood until last week also, but on one side of eastwood, it's all asian stuff, mostly chinese stuff, and that's where the roast pork shop and the cheap rental shop is which i kept talking abt before... and on the other side, it's where all the korean restaurants and shops are... they even have shops selling the korean traditional costume... how cool is that!! interesting huh... we ordered this huge bowl of spicy pork rib soup and this seafood omelette... okay, i dun really eat all that stuff, so i ended up just eating rice, alot alot of potatoes and abit of the omelette... that's why whenever i have to go out and eat, very 'chi kueh' one... and it's not cheap, just the steamboat alone costs $50!!??
but i think we all enjoyed ourselves... too bad i could not post the pics... dunno why blogger does not let me post them... and then after eating, we decided to go hunt for angela's 21st bdae present (i am soooo broke already!!)... she already told us that she wants a cap, mechanical pencil and a jacket... somehow she reminds me of fran... very practical person...
went to macquarie shopping centre to look... did not do much shopping cos it's not really sale season yet so everything's still quite expensive... found her a nike light blue cap, a grey jacket and a mechanical pencil... all in 2 hours' time... aren't we efficient?? haha...

i have got a really sad news... my parents just called and told me that we have to sell our home... (sobs) and we have to move out by the end of this year... i really love the location that i am living in and the house... and what's worse is that by the time next year when i go back to singapore, i will not be going back there already... did not even get the chance to see the house for the last time or say goodbye...

btw... happy easter!!!

LaST wEeK...

this blogging business is getting abit delayed... it's already a week past what i am going to blog on... anyway, last sun caught up with huilin... if u remember, she's the one who also goes to NJ... she's doing speech therapy now... anyway, went to bondi with her, prisy and her fren, wendy...
we did not shop together though... went our separate ways after arriving at westfield... personally, bondi westfield is like the high-end shopping centre... all the branded and expensive stuff... not my type, huilin also like me, only go for cheap stuff... me, i would choose hornsby or castle towers anytime for shopping... that's why i told huilin i will invite her up to our place next time so that we can go shop at these places... we finished walking in abt an hours' time... actually thinking abt it now... it's kind of weird... cos we were not even close in jc... but we could not stop talking, she likes to talk, very bubbly and she likes brightly-coloured stuff... haha... we are actually quite different in tastes... took quite a few pics which i am going to post... we ate lunch with prisy and wendy at this italian place... actually i wanted to go to the city to eat my fav spicy beef rice, but huilin seemed to want to eat there so we ended up eating there... quite expensive and i ordered fish and chips... when my food came, the fish was like 3 tiny strips only lor... cheat my money...
i had fun that day though, too bad i had to leave early for work... :(

then last week, also called zhenzhen... she was so funny when she answered the phone and i told her who's calling... probably did not expect me to call her... just wanted to ask for her opinion regarding the OT conference... btw... the whole story was... our uni held a lucky draw for 5 lucky pple to attend one day of the conference for free... so a few of us entered... angela and yochi got it... but angela did not want to go so she asked the person-in-charge whether she can let me have the ticket instead... the stupid lady said no, it's not fair to the rest blah blah... and if she dun want it, she has to write a note saying she wants to forfeit and they will redraw... i wanted to go so badly... but i really could not afford the ticket... so in the end... after talking to zhenzhen, i decided not to go... maybe next time when i can actually afford it...

Soo eNviOuS...

for those fools out there, Happy April Fools'... haha...
juz kidding... anyway, i am now into week 5 of uni and already we are going into april, which means it's getting colder and darker by the day, it's autumn now and soon, winter's here and i am soo not looking forward to waking up at 6am in the morning... :(

anyway, been working alot these few weeks, and no time to revise... i am soo dead... thinking of telling my supervisor that i wish to reduce my working days to only 3 days a week... becos if this continues, i would not be able to catch up... went out with prisy on thurs... late night shopping at hornsby, and i bought boots and perfume... shopping spree man... i already have 2 perfumes already... actually wanted to get ralph lauren's ralph for a long time now, but it's so expensive, so i bought paris hilton instead... which has a similar smell and apparently it lasts longer and cheaper too... and then that day at hornsby, i bought fcuk's her... really must stop spending...

today, rarely that the three of us are all at home, so prisy suggested we visit Homeworld, a place where designer homes are built for pple to go in and take a look ard... whoa... everything all so nice, especially the brick houses, and there were a few homes with really nice toilets, they have like a huge toilet with a jacuzzi, a shower and 2 sinks... and some of the bedrooms have really big walk-in wardrobes, it's like another room by itself... and then there was this really nice room with like an extended ledge by the window, which u can sit on and maybe read a book at night... and rooms with windows over the bed, so that at night u can open the windows and look at the stars... seeing all these beautiful homes make me wish that i have lots of money... all of us were like ooh and aahing... so envious... hope that one day, i will be able to afford a home of my own... and two dogs...

ShiTTy daY...

today was the worst day i have had since uni started... i actually forgot to bring my assignment which was due today to school... i saved it on my laptop at home and did not saved it into my usb... and i had to go all the way home to get it... and i had to work later at night... shitty day...
worked full shifts on both sat and sun... and only came home at 10pm on sun and i had a 8am start today which meant that i had to wake up at 6am... dunno why i couldn't sleep last night... kept waking up and going to the toilet... and then today, i was so out of it... i could not even speak coherently... the stuff that i was thinking about did not come out of my mouth correctly, i kept yawning nonstop... and then i only realised that i had left my assignment at home when anna asked me during anatomy lecture this morning, whether i handed in my assignment already... i was like shit, i think i left it at home leh...
so in the end, amelia was kind enough to give me a lift back and after handing in the assignment, i went to sleep for awhile, before i had to go to work...
i really think i am not organising my time well... i have no time to revise... everytime i come home from work, i eat and shower and after that, have to sleep already cos the next day have to wake up early to go to uni...

and then now have this really huge OTTP group project... and we dun get to choose the pple we want to work with... so i ended up with five other pple whom i dun really noe... and so far, after meeting twice, we still haven't got any progress... the project is for us to design a living skills program for prisoners... i tried to pay attention during OTTP lectures... but sometimes, my mind juz wanders off and i dun noe what the lecturer's saying... how... i am so in deep shit...

DuNnO whAt TitLe...

sigh... after so long without having to use my brainjuices to think and now suddenly... all the assignments and uni stuff are all piling up again... and i am still not getting into my study mode... dunno when will my brain realise that i have started school and not still on holiday mode... and then when i come home... i am the only one now who has to study and do assignments while prisy and michelle can watch tv and do other stuff... and not worry abt deadlines and results... this semester is definitely a whole new game cos i dunno anything, everything we are learning now is new... unlike last year at least i know abit of what i am studying before... my biggest fear of all is that one day, i would wake up and realise that i am in the wrong course and being an OT is not what i really want... i'm scared... dunno if i am equipped to deal with some of the clients that we see... saw some clips of children with cerebral palsy and... i dunno... how do u not let ur personal feelings interfere with ur professional ones??
i am going to stop feeling sorry for myself and just take one day at a time...

anyway, on a lighter side... apparently, work has this new policy which says that if u have the highest scan rate for that particular week, u receive a $20 gift voucher and i happen to get one last week... yay... i try my best... haha so that i can use the money to buy food (chocs)... :) easter's coming up and we are planning to go on an easter egg hunt again, like we did last year...
thinking abt going back home during the mid semester break... but mum was saying it's only for 3 weeks so why not wait till jan... maybe... worried abt nainai though...

Not vErY ExcItIng...

end of uni week 1... and it was bearable bcos 1) we dun have tutorials in wk 1, 2) found out that i at least noe some pple in my new tutorial group... previously, we were able to choose the group that we want but this year, it was chosen for us... 3) found out that we have fridays off this semester again... yay!! the downside was i have 3 days with 8am starts... which means that i have to wake up at 6am... when winter comes, it will be so super cold and dark... i dunno how am i going to wake up then... oh and we have got new computers in the labs, the ones with the flat screens... at least the stupid school did something correct...

this semester, i am doing, Human Occupations, Anatomy (Lower limbs), Neuroscience (which is definitely getting more difficult), OTTP, COP, ORL and Designing Health Research... which is a new subject... on quatitative and qualitiative research methods... how exciting! fell asleep during OTTP lecture that day man... the lecturer talks funny, she always has this sound that she makes as if she's eating sweets... and whenever she does it... which was often... pple including me will crack up... it's mean but i can't help it... and it was so boring... moreover, she said we dun have to copy anything cos she will be putting it online for us, okay so we were all just sitting there listening to her... obviously there were alot of heads nodding after 15 min... i think i dozed off after half an hour... haha...

yesterday, i was so pissed off at karen... bcos she borrowed my neuroscience notes on wed to copy and then on thurs, i asked her to return it to me cos i need it to study during the weekend, she told me she has not copied it yet... and bcos i was going to have lunch outside with anna and yochi and then i planned to go straight home, i have to take it back with me... so she asked why dun i come back to uni after lunch and amelia can drive me home... so i said okay... so bcos of her... i had to walk all the way back to uni under the hot sun.... and when i reached uni 2 hours later, i saw amelia and her still eating and she still has not copied the notes... and she told me that she thought that i was going to stay in school to study, which i wasn't, so she took her time... what the hell... so irritating... sometimes, i dun want to lend my notes to others bcos of these things...

2nd YEar 1sT seMeStEr OT...

I am finally back in uni... after a really long vacation... i was almost bored to tears man... i am now officially a 2nd year OT... well... reflecting on the year 2005... uni was copable, i think... because i did some of the subjects in poly already so i was not too confronted by them... on a personal note... i did things that i normally would not get to do if i were in singapore... eg skiing (which I still have a phobia till now), going to clubs and pubs, (which i didn't enjoy)... meet new pple from different parts of the world...
now that i am back to uni... nothing much has changed... the school still looks and feels the same, except that they have refurbished the stupid JDV AGAIN!!! wasting money on useless things like the boards that change the ads every few minutes... and some computers there too and they even shifted the microwaves... which were the first things that i was looking for when i came to school this morning... they shifted them into a corner in BIte me... the only good thing abt it was instead of the pathetic one microwave that we have for the whole school... we now have... 2!!!!
:( so many huh!!
they should use the money to get us more microwaves...
and ...something went wrong with my enrolment... apparently i was not enrolled in the clinical placement subject... because my result was still incomplete since last year... how annoying!

anyway... sat was prisy's cousin myat (remember the one who we went for her wedding?) birthday... she invited us to her house for a bbq... had an okay time there... did not have much to do except eat and sit ard cos i dun really noe the pple there... played drawing with this really cute 2-yr-old girl... she was sooo cute... and then yesterday... also went to my uncle's friend's home... apparently his 2 older daughters are going to live in england for a year so it was like a farewell party for them... and again of course i dun noe anyone there... ate the exact same food also... like seriously same nachos, dips and spring rolls... but they had a really cute dog, a black collie... she is very docile and she actually responds to her name... haha...

was supposed to have a 8am lecture this morning, but the lecturer did not turn up so now i have to wait till 3pm for the next lecture... what a waste of my time... i got nothing to do now leh... save me!! still have 4hours to go...

LaSt WeEk Of a VeRy LoNg hoLidaY...

went to hornsby borders to read my latest in death book... memory in death, it was quite a disappointment for me cos it was not as exciting and funny as the series used to be... i actually have the whole series, i am a big fan of this series but it seems to be getting alittle draggy...

one of our uncles came to stay at our house for a few days and he bought a few pirated dvds for us and we watched fearless by jet li on sat night... apparently it's a new release but i haven't heard of it over here... it was quite good... too bad it's a sad ending and much better than unleashed... all of us agreed that jet li looks better in olden days shows than present days movies... with his shaved head and long ponytail... uncle michael treated us to chinese food at our fav shop in eastwood... and prisy and I found this chinese shop there that sells and rents chinese, jap, korean and english shows and movies for very cheap prices... oh we were so excited... i rented the korean show the successful story of a bright girl with jang nara and she rented a love to kill with rain in it... i actually liked the show alot... saw it on tv before quite awhile ago but bcos they showed it at a very late time, i did not get to watch some parts of the show...

work was as usual... but last week i worked the most, i actually exceeded the standard number of hours that anyone was supposed to work... getting so sian of that place already... but cannot be helped... will still continue working there till i can't... the evil woman's getting better in her attitude towards everyone... and... suddenly i realised that there is a sudden influx of young guys working as shelvers leh... before... mostly were either females or older pple working as shelvers but now things are getting interesting... get to see some of these cute guys walking ard so work is not as mundane... haha...