FLy LikE a BULLet...

finally back at the hospital doing clinical work... and then what happened?? my supervior called in sick and I was supposed to run a group that day... so I was debating on whether to run it or not cos I needed someone to assess me... luckily, the dietitian whom I am working with on the project came together with the OT manager... so I was like oh thank god... at least they can then feedback to my supervisor my performance... and although I was quite disappointed that only 4 turned up, in a way it was good cos a smaller group was better to control and it went quite smoothly... the next session would be a challenge though... cos I think there will be more people and everyone would be there... I am just wracking my brains trying to think of interactive ways to present my stuff...

other than that, besides wishing for the days to go faster so that I can go home... went to the movies with prisy and edlyn at macquarie... we watched the golden compass... it was alright, abit like narnia... but apparently it's a trilogy, so there will be sequels coming... but i have to say, the costumes that nicole kidman wore in the movie are really nice... and prisy got me hooked onto this new series called moonlight... it's like a vampire show... and it so reminded me of the super long ago mediacorp show, with chew chor meng in it... i loved that show...

next week is the last week of placement... YES!!! free of all annoyance...

BAcK tO pLaCeMEnT...

went to prisy and mich's cousins gathering on new year's day... played with the kids for awhile and then we had bbq for dinner... we had sausages and satays... then we played taboo... and as usual i sucked at describing the words... always end up saying the taboo words... it was nice although weather was so hot that day...

movie review time... first up we have death at a funeral... it was stupid but hilarious... a good movie to watch just to laugh at the characters... then we watched I am legend... the vampires were not as scary as the zombies in resident evil but it was more the suspense that was scary... it was also quite sad at times... i would go crazy if I was in the same situation as will smith in the show... and finally, we watched blades of glory under michelle's recommendation... ohmigod... it was even more hilarious than death at a funeral, laughed till i had tears and my stomach and face were aching... it was so funny... but knowing that will ferrell was in the show, you would definitely kind of expect that he would have some gross stuff... but i would definitely recommend this show if you are in need of serious laughter... haha...

back to serious stuff... went in to the hospital to work on the lit review... and i just want to say that i never ever want to work on anything ever again with her... she seriously annoys me... we just dun communicate well as a team... i really wish that i can just fast forward these 2 weeks... this whole placement thing sucks... i can't believe it's going to be my last placement and probably most impt one and it sucked... I will forever be reminded of how sucky it was...

IT's 2008 ALreAdy??!!

Happy New Year!!! 2008!!! Can't believe it's a new year already... was looking back into my blog in 2005/2006 when i was in sydney like now... and found out that it was more exciting than it was now... but the good thing was that it was like 45 degrees outside that time whereas although it is still really hot now, but not as hot as that time... and while everyone was out partying or doing something... i was sitting in front of the laptop, working on my literature review... very very boring... I could hear the sound of the fireworks but I could not see it from where we are... and from the pictures that i saw on tv today, it looked like the fireworks were really nice... worked on new year's eve as well... but it was a short shift and there were not as many people as compared to christmas eve... made some new year resolutions, and i really hope they come true... can't wait for the placement to finish so that i can go home... i hate it...

CooL cHriStMaS...

got roped in by michelle to do some charity gift wrapping thing at borders last week... so it was just me and prisy wearing the christmas hat thing sitting there asking the customers who passed by after paying whether they would like some gift wrapping done if they make a small donation... and at first it started out slow, nobody wants any gift wrapping, but then after like an hour or so... people started coming to wrap their books, cds, and calendars... and before this, i have never had to wrap so many things before, so needless to say, i did a really crappy job, i was expecting the customer to tell me to stop wrapping most of the time... well, no one did thank god, but i figured that's bcos they are not paying much to get their gifts wrapped and it's for charity... well... not sure if i would do it again next year... I would not want myself to wrap my gifts...

worked over the weekend and on christmas eve... was expecting to see crowds of people queuing up, but surprisingly it was pretty quiet other than a few long queues once in a while... i guess people are waiting for later when the prices of the fresh food get marked down...

prisy and i went karaoke on christmas day... the city was pretty quiet as compared to normal even though chinatown was open... but we did not hang around, we sang and then went straight home... had bbq for dinner that day... the weather has been not too hot actually which was good, cos that meant that the flies stayed away... watched movies after... ghost rider, stardust, ratatouille... i actually thought ratatouille was nicer than stardust... but i definitely do not want so many rats cooking my food... that's just wrong...

Ho... Ho... HO...

last week was really shitty... i am really hating the placement right now... all bcos of my big mouth and now my whole christmas break is ruined... and i got the email saying that my ethics did not get approved... another thing to worry about... now i have to wait till february before the ethics commitee meet up again... no big plans for christmas... we dun even celebrate it anyway... to me it's just like any other public holiday... still remember back when i was in singapore... during christmas we would drive to orchard and then walk down orchard road... just strolling and taking in the festive atmosphere and the decorations... but these recent years we have not been doing that anymore...
and i went back to the hair salon last week to recurl my hair cos the curls did not even last for a week, so they agreed to do it again for me free... and it's now a week and my hair is back to straight again... how annoying...
anyway... merry christmas everyone... hope your christmas is better than mine...

OnE WeEk tO XmAs...

last week was uncle's birthday so we went to this cinema called the Ritz at randwick... it was quite an old cinema and the movie we watched was Beowulf... other than the movie having really good graphics, i do not recommend anyone going to watch the movie... no plot and no storyline... oh well... after that, we drove to broadway to this german restaurant called Una's... and most of the menu was chicken schnitzel... i got the crispy fried one which was quite nice and quite a big portion... prisy got the same one but with some spicy sauce spread over the chicken, and i think that made the chicken less crispy after awhile and they put alot of the sauce...

worked over the weekend... nothing much happening except i am working on christmas and new year's eve... which will definitely be crowded and something i did not do last year... i still cannot get over the fact that if not for the placement... i would be in singapore already... the one good thing is that the weather has not been too hot lately and hopefully it does not get hotter and the flies stay far far away...

placement is starting to suck... cos 1) this placement requires me to talk alot, communicate and try to engage the clients into conversations and it is quite hard for me cos i am not a natural talker and i can't seem to relate to the stuff that seemed to interest them... 2) they smoke ALLthe time... in fact, that's what they do most of the time... every day i come home feeling so smelly and i am breathing in so much second hand smoke, it's really bad... 3) and I have no idea what the lit review thing requires us to do and apparently it's very difficult to look for related articles on the databases... and today was the halfway assessment and the feedback i got was not that great... so to sum it all up... i am not enjoying the placement at the moment...

and anna told me she got ethics approval... another thing for me to worry abt...

HAirY exPeriENCe...

went to this japanese salon in the city to curl my hair... i showed the lady there a picture of the type of curls i wanted and said okay... she said digital perm will last longer than normal perm so i thought i will give it a try... so i sat there not knowing what to expect... she trimmed my hair alittle and then gave it a rinse, and then put some gel thing on my hair... then put glad wrap over my hair and i had to sit under the hot circular thing for like 15 minutes... then after she removed the glad wrap... rinse my hair again... and then used alot of rollers to curl my hair... and then after putting the rollers, she put like this white cloth thing on each roller and a stick thing into each roller... and then she brought over this machine, and attached the electrodes onto the rollers... i looked like a freak... so i sat there for a good half an hour... and the whole time my head was hurting from the heat... it was really hot... and i kept fidgeting till one of the hairdressers there came over and asked me if i was alright... it was actually quite painful... and then this other hairdresser came and applied some liquid onto my hair and allowed it to drip onto a bowl resting on my shoulders... and he did it twice, and i have to sit there and wait again for another 20 minutes... and then finally, he removed the rollers from my hair and i felt so relieved... the rollers were really quite heavy... then went for another rinse again... sat back down again and waited for like 20 minutes before she came and blow dry my hair... i was quite happy when i came out of the salon...

however, when i decided to go curl my hair... i should have done my research first cos i did not know that there was so much maintenance to keep the curls and now... the curls are almost gone... ahhh... what should i do... and then i looked up on the internet and realised that after washing my hair, i have to twirl it and blowdry it at the same time to maintain the curls... which i did not know... and you also have to use products... which i dun really want to... and you dun comb your hair... so now... i am trying to keep the curls whatever that is left... alamak help...

Went to curl my hair on saturday with prisy in the city in a japanese salon... really expensive but I thought I should do something different with my hair after having straight hair since forever... after curling my hair, realised that I did not consider the consequences of having to maintain the curls...

And this was the result of the hailstorm that we had last sunday... can you see the smashed window and the hailstones on the carpet??!! it was really scary... I never ever want to go through that experience again...

SCArEd liKE hELL...

ohmigod... yesterday was one of the most scariest days of my life... i was about to leave for work and everyone else was out when it started raining really heavily... and then minutes later... i heard loud banging on the roof... and i thought oh it's hailing... so i went to the window to check it out, and to my utter disbelief and horror, the size of the hail was like a tennis ball... and it was coming down really fast, the rain started raining even more heavily... and the hail started hitting on the windows... and a few seconds later... i heard crashing... when i went into the living room where the sound was coming from... the windows were smashed and glass were all over the place, hailstones were coming into the room... and there was a huge gaping hole in the window... i was so scared, i was actually shaking when i called uncle... and i hid in the laundry room... i did not dare to go into the living room... after awhile, i decided to go check it out... the hail stopped but rain was still coming down... there was nothing i could do except try to prevent the carpet from being soaked... and the whole area was covered with hailstones the size of tennis balls... i started picking the stones and pieces of broken glass up and wait for uncle and auntie to come home...

it was really bad and it has never happened before... apparently it only happened in certain areas, ours including... our neighbours' windows and cars were damaged as well... i was so glad that i did not leave for work early like I originally planned to... otherwise I cannot imagine what would happen...

PP4...

first week of placement... survived... some of the things that i realised after the first week at macquarie hospital... it is quite different from my other placements... 1) in my previous placements, i only have one supervisor and most of the time, i just followed him/her wherever and do whatever they tell me to do... this time, bcos we have one supervisor but he is shared among the four of us... and although it is considered a hospital placement, but it is actually a half clinical work and half lit review placement... and we are required to visit other mental health community settings as well... like yesterday, we have to make our own way all the way to this mental health place called pioneer clubhouse... in manly... and it was pouring... and when we got there, the person in charge actually asked if i could go pull out a bunch of lettuce for her in the garden and wash the toilets... i was so surprised... i just looked at her... thinking to myself... did i really just heard what i thought??!! insane... in the end, someone else did the plucking of the lettuce and i had to go wash the toilets... ahhh annoying... i really hate it when they ask us to go travel to all these other places and what if i dun have a car??!! it's so stupid... and another task that we had to do was pretend we had schizophrenia and catch a bus to collect some stuff at centrelink... and we have to act like we are hearing voices, laughing by ourselves, and acting suspiciously... but cos it was pouring that day, the other student and I decided to drive there... and our supervisor found out and wants us to redo it... so freaking annoying...
sometimes i wish this was just a straightforward placement... without having to do all the extra stuff... and we only have access to two computers... but there are 4 of us... anyway, everything is not going so smoothly at the moment... hopefully, things will become better in the coming weeks...

NOt tiLL jAn...

it's finally confirmed... i will be doing the placement in dec till jan... and i have to pay for changing the dates... sigh... well i guess it can't be helped... hopefully this placement will be worth it...

went to the city to meet up with melissa and suet ming... well... melissa still the same... and i haven't seen suet ming since nyp... but she is still the same as i remembered... what a coindence that we both know melissa... we went to eat at my fav spicy beef place and after that, brought them to walk along george street... they were saying how the transport is very expensive here so they did not want to catch a train to other places... so we just walked around the city... then took a monorail... and who knew it would be so crowded... we waited for two monorails before deciding to get onto one and we still had to stand... and it went so fast... melissa and i were saying shouldn't monorails be slower so that people can enjoy the views?? suet ming almost fell... and then we went to lindt cafe and i got to drink the iced chocolate... cos they did not accept eftpos for purchases under 1o bucks, i almost could not drink my iced choc... thank god i had some spare coins in my other purse... sat and talked for awhile... glad to hear that people who were in the same class as me in nyp were doing well... and alot of them went to melbourne and perth to do the degree conversion... i really think we should have a class gathering for the OTs of class 2007...

LAtEr...

the first week of holiday was quite boring... went to uni to finish up the ethics proposal and worked on the article... then went to amelia's house, ate pizza and watched movies... and she lent me a few hongkong shows to watch... went to ikea to get a bookshelf... i actually quite like it... now i have a proper plpace to put all my barang barang instead of putting them in boxes... however, it is still not enought to store all my stuff... i seriously have too much stuff... and uni placement coordinator called yesterday... i got selected for the placement in macquarie hospital... so i will not be going back to singapore till jan... well... i am alittle upset but i want to get the placement over and done with so i will not have to worry abt it next year...

WHaT shOuLd I do?

the monday after exams... starting to feel bored already... i could think of many things to do... but it's so hot that i dun feel like stepping out of the house to do anything... and at the end of the day, i just felt like i wasted an entire day...

the gathering last thursday at my place was fun... and i hoped everyone had fun as well... ate the korean ricecakes that anna so kindly volunteered to cook and the fried rice that joanne's dad cooked... and then watched movies and just chill out... after that, jessica and the rest stayed over at my place, and they started their movie marathon, not wanting to sleep for the entire night... i wanted to join them, but i was so sleepy already... in the end, they continued watching and i went to bed... and when i came down the next morning, found them sleeping in front of the tv... haha should have taken a picture of them... it was a nice way to round up the year...

now, i still have the ethics proposal to hand in and the ottp article to finish... went to mel's house last friday to do the article and anna did not show up for like an hour... we were supposed to meet at 10 but when it was 11, she still did not show up, we started calling her mobile, her house, even tried the library, and they did not allow us to make a PA call for her... i was starting to get worried... in the end, she showed up at ard 1130... what happened was yochi decided to change the venue and smsed anna to tell her... but anna did not check her phone so she went to library and waited for 2hours and the silly girl forgot her phone... and she decided to try mel's house when none of us showed up in the library... she was really upset when she saw us at mel's house... i felt so bad...

and now, got an email from the placement coordinator that they have a mental health placement coming up in dec-jan... and i really want to do it cos if i can get the placement over and done with, i dun have to worry abt it next year and can concentrate on the honours project... but then i have to change my flight and i dunno if i have to pay or not... and family back home would not be too happy...

THe eND...

Finally!!! year 3 semester 2 exams are over!!! this semester was the shittiest so far... tomorrow is the ottp presentation and after that, instead of being able to properly enjoy our well-deserved holidays, we have to work on the journal article still... and the funny thing was... after the exam today, there was no sense of relief that the exams are finally over... maybe bcos i know i did not study hard enough for the exams... and so the worry begins for the day when the results come out... but for now, i am going to enjoy myself first... starting from tomorrow, we are gathering at our house for the end-of year cum early christmas 'party'... hopefully, everything goes well and everyone enjoys themselves...

yup, the COP exam still sucked even though i studied so hard for it... this semester's exam is just getting better and better... i hate this!!!

It's RAininG AgAiN...

today is the first exam... maladaptive... and the research proposal is also due today... felt really relieved when i finished and handed in the proposal... it is taking up so much time... and maladaptive today was not good at all... i think i did not study properly cos i know i have so many mistakes in the mcq section... hopefully my presentation will help pull my marks up... i have a really bad feeling about maladaptive, human occupations and COP assignments...

auntie and uncle left for singapore last week... wished that i am the one going back as well, not stuck here cramming for the exams... watched bridge to terabithia on saturday with prisy and michelle... the movie was definitely not what i imagined it to be... i thought it was a fantasy movie like narnia... but it turned completely out of what i expected... and it was seriously storming that night as well... could hear the rain pounding on the roof and lightning and thunder... and it is really rare for the weather here to hear thunder and see lightning... and these few days are going to be really cold and raining... almost like winter... haha... i am in my fleecy as i am typing this...

this coming thursday is cognitive exam... no mcqs and all short answer questions... oh man... no chance to tikkam even... either you know or you dun... i am going to work harder for this and applied physiology... cos maladaptive really sucked...

STuvAC...

Stuvac week... almost coming to an end... this semester's stuvac has got to be the most boring and worst ones... have been going to uni almost everyday... assignments and group project stuff... and next week is the start of the exams... three papers this time, two next week and one the following week... this whole weekend will be spent cramming for the stupid maladaptive exam... which is totally ridiculous cos how are we supposed to memorise the whole freaking textbook??!!

bought a sunshade for my car... and the funny thing is... i bought a blue one but when uncle helped me to insert the sticky thing on, he put it on the silver side... so the blue side is facing the inside... haha...

and on the weekend, amelia lent me this hongkong series which was 40 episodes long... and guess what... once i started the show... i couldn't stop so stayed up till like 4am on both sat and sun nights... shit man... this is all amelia's fault...

ExHauSteD...

These past 2 weeks have got to be one of the worst weeks ever... HO and COP were really difficult, and OTTP was also taking up alot of time cos we are going to the school to present next tuesday... and today, got back the presentation marks for HO and it was not good... i really hope the report will be better and hopefully pull me up to a credit at least...

and it has also been raining these past few days... and bcos the garage was damaged, bcos of the incident, auris had to be parked outside in the rain... and it rained so heavily today... i had to go to surry hills for the meeting with our industry parter and it was not funny at all... i hate rainy days...

the next few weeks leading up to the exams are going to be worse, although i think it's already really bad at the moment... this semester really sucks...

attended the fourth year honours students presentations today... one of the students who presented had the same supervisor as me and during the presentation, i was thinking to myself, some of the things that she mentioned sounded familiar, cos apparently our supervisor has been telling us to use the same studies... but I dun want my research to be similar to someone else's work... i want it to be different and unique... isn't that the whole point of doing honours?? and also one of the guest speakers was this really experienced OT who I worked with before when I was on pract at Westmead Hospital... what she talked about was really inspiring... she spoke about her experiences and how she became what she is now... and I realised that I want to be someone like her... although I dun really like doing research work, but I know that I am better at research than at clinical work... so if an opportunity comes in future allowing me to do both research work and clinical work, I will grab it with both hands...

WHerE's mY HOLidAY??

These few weeks before stuvac was really stressful... HO assignment was due, the presentation did not go too well cos the questions that she asked made me realise that I was not specific enough in the report... COP assignment is not going well... cos apparently he said that we have to find the assessments and complete them based on what we see in the film... and that there are other conditions that the character was suffering from... research proposal due date was postponed till the monday of exams... so good and bad...
anyway, in summary, this whole semester sucked!!!

Went to watch movie with prisy... resident evil 3... we both thought it was not as scary as the first one... i totally agree... as prisy said, maybe cos i did not expect the show to be so scary for the first one... i still vividly remembered going to watch it with Fran and Joanne from SAJC... it was soo scary... my legs were shaking when i tried to stand after the movie ended... anyway, went to visit the school to sit in on one of their class... it brought back memories of me learning coordinates and gradients and intervals... i already forgot half of the stuff that the teacher was teaching... it was really bad... and becos the school was for immigrants, it was really different from schools that i have seen... the kids were speaking in non-english half the time and the teacher was trying to teach them maths in english...

and finally, i am not going to korea anymore... argghh... I NEED A HOLIDAY!!!

STrEsseD oUT...

these past few days have been very stressful... assignments are all due in the coming weeks and i am so confused as well... it has come to a point where i can be doing one thing and the next minute, i have no idea which assignment I am actually researching for... and I dun even know what I am doing half the time... and this semester, I think I have read more journals than I have ever read in my entire life... read until my eyes cross... and exams are coming next month... and this semester, i have 3 exams but heaps of assignments...

basically that's it... just assignments and more assignments... dun really feel like blogging as well but i thought oh well just write something cos my blog has not been updated for awhile...
and oh yeah, will be going back to singapore in dec and possibly going to korea for a week... looking forward to the holidays... i really need a break!!!