something s h i n y

maybe I should wear my glasses...

2009-10-26T16:52:00.009+08:00

I finish packing away my things on the third floor of the Science Library and log off the computer on my way to lunch. As quickly as I stand up, another student swoops in like a magpie after a diamond and claims the computer. Why is it so crowded in here?!

I walk towards the lift but alas, it was already descending. As I briefly contemplate waiting for the other, the neighbouring stairs beckon with fanciful promises of a long and healthy life. I succumb.

Mid-way down the last flight of stairs to the ground floor, I see my friend dressed in the same summery blue top and jeans she was wearing that morning, with her blue and purple backpack on her back talking to the lady librarian at the desk. Good thing I wasn't lazy and took the lift, otherwise I would have missed seeing her, as she missed my call...again.

I call out her name as I walk down the last few steps. She doesn't hear me. She's writing on the clipboard on the side of the desk. I walk closer and call her name again. I'm now standing only a mere 20cm away from her. The Asian guy on her other side looks at me. I don't know him. Just as I'm about to tap her on the shoulder, I stop. Something was holding me back.

The girl's black hair is tied back in a loose bun, held up with black plastic pins. Hold on, she's never worn her hair like that. I take a casual inconspicuous step to the right so I'm now slightly behind her and lean to look at her backpack. Her backpack doesn't have graffiti all over it.

Omgosh, I'm standing right next to a complete stranger.

I look around quickly for a reason, anything, to explain my behaviour. I find none.

Seeing no other option, no way to possibly explain my presence there, I decide the only thing to do is to disappear from that location A.S.A.P. I avoid eye-contact with the guy she's with, mumble something incomprehensible and walk briskly out the exit.
it's also embarrassing when someone waves in my direction, and i wave back... only then realising they're waving to someone behind me, and so i pretend to scratch an itch on my head...but I know they know... and they know i know they know.
-------
Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
- ruminations.com

A little fibula. *

2009-10-19T23:42:00.022+08:00

The concept of what constitutes an acceptable lie is a complicated area, a whole rainbow of greys in between the two extremes of telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to spinning stories taller than... me, if I was very tall.

My recently finished FCP portfolio included a one page reflection. Seriously, what are we supposed to put here? We're expected to 'reflect' and remark upon the quality of our tutorials and our tutors, whilst our tutor is reading this then giving us a~~n arbitrary~~ mark?

If these FCP PBLs actually enhanced our learning, then this wouldn't be too bad. However, I'm yet to discover what I've actually learnt from being present at a PBL....

Semester Two's Foundations of Clinical Practice (FCP) Problem Based Learning (PBL) tutorials greatly expanded my knowledge on numerous aspects of the medical field.

Like PBLs are the leading risk factor in exhibiting symptoms of narcolepsy.

The group work tasks have been good to increase my team work ability and also time management in coordinating work with my peers.

The only group work involved in these group tasks is splitting the work evenly between members.

Using the butcher's paper for brainstorming and discussion has been useful in allowing an easy way for us to express our ideas and to share these with the rest of the group.

It allows me to spend time to explore my potential career as an artist by doodling flowers and stick figures. (rule 32)

Although my time-management skills have improved greatly, I feel there is more room for improvement. This can be achieved by planning and starting assignments earlier.

I say this every semester without fail.

Overall, this year of FCP has been a greatly enjoyable experience. I have learnt many things, both on an academic and personal level. I look forward to this continuing next year!

I think my drawing skills have improved and I look forward to progressing past stick figures next year.

So there you go, bite sized selections from 532 words of sugar coated lies disguised as a "Reflection" served right up.

P.S. These PBLs would probably be more effective if we didn't spend half our time today filling out surveys on the quality of FCP. (seriously, like 20 pages worth)

* I find such things humerus. (i wanted to include vitreous humour in that line, plus fundus and fundoscopy...but overkill?)
Exams soon :-(
Three weeks to go til holidays.

DISCLAIMER: due to all those stories about people being sued and fired about writing negative things about their workplace via blogs, if on the off chance this strikes a nerve with an important person and violates some fine print that no one read, i'm able to remove any such statements upon notification, and all that jazz. (i don't want to be kicked out of med school, please)
--------

The Pinocchio Paradox

This and that.

2009-10-07T23:43:00.011+08:00

Dear Blog,

Sorry for the four month hiatus!
Hmmmm, what's been happening lately...........*

Love,
Me

I idly chatter to you in suave tones of surface talk.

I tell you everything that's nothing,

and nothing of what's everything.

* There is always the problem of what to include in a blog, whether to blog about day-to-day factual events or abstract thoughts and random realisations. Reading friends' blogs surprise me on most part; there is something about blogging that reveals another side of a person you didn't know they had (at all!) or just don't see too often...makes it a point worth pondering how much is hidden beneath the cool, calm and collected image most people have on. Nonetheless, fun reads and always interesting, though we never really know who reads these things... *run!*

It's as easy as 1, 2...

2009-06-16T14:52:00.013+08:00

One of the sweetest things I have ever read

Taken from leloveimage.blogspot.com

...1, 2, 3, 4

What could have been.

2009-06-10T01:28:00.011+08:00

What if.
What could have happened.
How would life be different.
The joy, the laughter, the tears, the frustration.

If only.
Don't regret.
Don't spend forever after wondering.
Don't make that mistake.

Be open to the possibility.
Take the chance, give it a shot.
Risk everything to be everything more,
Live.

ps. ****I*; try and move on from the past for not all are like that, and remain open to the chance- you never know! :)

People are like dodecahedrons.

2009-05-04T20:00:00.043+08:00

..and no, not because we're reaching an obesity epidemic.

Can we ever figure who we 'are'? Who we want to be? Like those surveys or questionnaires or whatever that ask you to "Describe yourself in three words". Can we summarise our life to this present moment, our thoughts, our feelings, our actions, all in a few words? Maybe it has something to do with how simple we view our lives.

Maybe life can be as simple, or conversely, as complicated, as we want it to be.
Detail.
Pandemonium.
.such drama, always.

Do you notice the little details, the small things, the quick glances, the silences, the smiles, the changes?
Everything has a reason, like pieces to a puzzle.

Can you read between the lines, perceive what wasn't said?
..but at the end of it all, did you?

damn that acetaldehyde.

2009-03-21T15:35:00.008+09:00

FYI.
yay for distractions from study of Liver Function and Metabolism & p450s :P

"Most people of East Asian descent have a mutation in their alcohol dehydrogenase gene that makes this enzyme unusually effective at converting ethanol to acetaldehyde, and about half of such people also have a form of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase that is less effective at converting acetaldehyde to acetic acid.^[12] This combination causes them to suffer from the alcohol flush reaction, in which acetaldehyde accumulates after drinking, leading to severe and immediate hangover symptoms. These people are therefore less likely to become alcoholics. The drug disulfiram (Antabuse) also prevents the oxidation of acetaldehyde to acetic acid, with the same unpleasant effects for drinkers. Antabuse is used as a deterrent for alcoholics who wish to stay sober."

"Ordinarily, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is responsible for conversion of primary alcohols to aldehydes; aldehydes are then converted to carboxylic acids by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). In the case of ethanol, the alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, ethanol is converted first into acetaldehyde and then into acetic acid. Acetaldehyde is the most toxic of these three compounds, and is both a possible carcinogen and a major cause of hangovers; ethanol's toxicity is lower, and acetic acid is relatively harmless.

The result is the accumulation of acetaldehyde. Approximately half of people of Asian descent are considered to be sensitive to alcohol due to this condition. ^[3] Flushing, after consuming one or two alcoholic beverages, includes a range of symptoms: nausea, headaches, light-headedness, an increased pulse, occasional extreme drowsiness, and occasional skin swelling and itchiness. These unpleasant side effects often prevent further drinking that may lead to further inebriation, but the symptoms can lead to mistaken assumption that the people affected are more easily inebriated than others."

sigh, must be the 50-50-90 rule in action.

ref: wikipedia- "alcohol dehydrogenase" & "alcohol flush reaction"

Secret smiles, hidden tears.

2009-02-11T15:17:00.003+09:00

We wake up each morning expecting life to continue that day just as it was when we went to sleep the night before, and most of the times it seems that is exactly what happens. However, what we remain completely unaware of is how for someone else, their life has completely changed. A day in between the last time we talked to them to the current moment- their life may have changed forever. A day before would be a day they remembered without end, forever etched into their memory- whether it be good or bad.

When we ask people the age-old question "How are you?", do we really expect them to launch into a story of how they are feeling at that exact moment and what's been on their mind? In an episode of Sex and the City that I watched over the weekend, Charlotte is asked at a fancy afternoon gathering by a similarly over-the-top dressed woman how she and her husband are doing. She proceeds to launch into what seems like a lengthy description and explanation of their problems, but in reality I'm guessing it wasn't that long- maybe 15 seconds. The OTT dressed woman promptly walks away and stage whispers to the next woman "Don't talk to her". Fifteen seconds isn't too much to give to listen to someone else, but maybe it was 14 seconds too long- after all, it only takes one second to reply "I'm good, thanks".

The thing is though, if it was good, we'd most likely hear about it, but even if we didnt, life goes on. What is more significant is that if it was bad and they chose to keep it to themselves, we are likely to never have any idea. And so we continue to live in our happy yet bittersweet little state of oblivion.

Those eight letters.

2009-02-03T23:14:00.004+09:00

I'm not talking about I love you.

I'm talking about shopping!

Hong Kong is world renowned for cheap shopping (Hong Kong also has 8 letters... coincidence? I think not). Even with economic crisis & the extremely weak AUD causing the exchange rate to be 1AUD:5HKD, pretty much nearly everything in HK is cheaper. Anything from clothes to shoes to bags to stationery to electronics to DVDs to food to Swarovski to brand names to fake brand names.... okay maybe that's not everything but I don't have a huge amount of interest in things beyond those so I don't know their prices. I can only wish for a year ago when the AUD was strong and the exchange rate was 1AUD:7HKD! On top of the cheap prices, there's also so, so, so, much more STUFF to choose from! Maybe I've gone to heaven and this is a blog post coming from above the clouds (insert some ramble about ignoring that and further ramble about Charles Darwin).

HK shopping is very different from say, shopping in Perth. The biggest difference (asides from the price difference) is probably that in HK you are expected to engage in haggling. The best shopping (in my opinion) in HK is at the street markets (Mong Kok shopping - O.M.G. a defs place to go to if you're visiting HK, set side at least two whole days!). However, haggling is very annoying. In HK, the opening price is usually about 120% of what they expect you to pay (in China it can be 300% easy). Once I speak in Cantonese for a sentence of more than like five words, everyone can tell I don't live in HK. Aha, foreigner! they think. And raise their opening price even more :(. I was able to get a bag with an opening price of $250HKD down to $120HKD in Mong Kok, and even then it was still above the shop owner's lowest tolerable sale price (if you're not walking out the shop with them calling out after you, you're above).

The second biggest difference is the large amount of crowding and lack of space due to both people and all the stalls being very close to each other. HK has over 3x the population of W.A. and is like 100x more densely populated (no such thing as personal space in HK). At the street markets, it can get so crowded it's impossible to move, to the extent where it's no longer yourself walking where you want, but walking when the crowd walks and trying to shove your way towards stalls and past people (no room for courtesy here).

Another big difference is that the shops are open past five! In fact, shopping malls remain open til about 10-11pm ish and street markets are open til whenever they want (usually 1am). AND they're open on Sunday! Sunday is actually the busiest day in terms of shopping due to the fact that all HK'ers are extremely hard working and work crazy hours (it isn't uncommon to work through the night til 3am, then have to wake up for work at 8am).

Hong Kong by day

Hong Kong by night

Well, that's my summary of shopping in Hong Kong. And so to answer the two questions that everyone is asking me:

How's the shopping in HK? It's AWESOME :D

Did you buy much? HELL YES :P

Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping. Haha kidding! I'm not a shopaholic :)

Quick intermission

2009-01-27T16:48:00.015+09:00

Just a blog post to say to those that read this that I still intend to keep this blog going but I just haven't had the time!
Back in Perth in a few days!

p.s. Happy Chinese New Year!
p.p.s. and Yay for Australia day :D

If you don't like the Chinaman's driving, stay the hell off the sidewalk.

2009-01-08T19:14:00.014+09:00

China's Culture Clash>>

Driving
The driving conditions is probably one of the biggest differences between good old Perth and China.

There are little to no line markings on the grounds, but it doesn't really matter because no one uses them anyways. If you can squeeze between two cars, go for it! Also, using the car horn is synonymous with driving. It's used at least every 30 seconds (seriously). Traffic lights are sparce at best and there are even less road signs, so cars are usually all piled up in random fashions at intersections inching forward whenever possible. Car indicators could be removed from the features of a car. It is common to just park on a two-way road and thus take up room, so that no two cars can pass side by side. Yet it's still a two-way road. Hence the frequent horn usage. Also, on top of this, motorcycles are more common than cars, and the pedestrian sidewalks are evidently made for motorcycles too.

Ironically due to all this, Chinese drivers are probably amongst the most skilled in the world. Otherwise, there's no way on earth anyone would have the confidence to drive there. Like hooning? Go to China.

Food
First dish on the first day was chicken. Sounds good so far. Except when the plate came, they included the entire chicken. As in, everything. Particularly important to note was the chicken head placed proud centre of the whole plate. Like the chicken was decapitated. It's two beady black eyes stared out blankly, it's thing on top of its head (forgot what it's called) waved slightly as it was being rotated on the big centre plate.

Dinner included duck. And the duck head.

I'm really weary of soup now. This is from the first day only. The soup all contain really er interesting things, like white fluffy things that look like what you might find under a staircase and in dark corners. Soup for dinner contained something that looked like a brain (though it actually wasn't) and had a chicken leg sticking out of it. Both soups were, according to mum, "very expensive". Soup before bed was made up of bird saliva. I'm serious. The bird saliva is manually collected from birds nests, and is subsequently very very very ridiculously expensive. A bowl of it (say 250mL) is easily 200 China dollars, which is the equivalent of about $40AUD. It did taste good though and it's really good for your health, so I suppose it's fortunate I didn't know before I drank it.

I've always been a bit squeamish though.

Toilets
Damn those holes in the ground.

Pollution
Yeah, not much more needed to be said. Woo, constant fog!

Hey Pretty Girl
This is a perfectly acceptable (and maybe expected) greeting to any female, regardless of whether you know them or not. It is more commonly used by females to other females though- to waitresses, shop sellers, people in the street. Guys generally use it when they want to sell you something...or want something from you...yeah.

Mah-jong
China style. I'll teach you all when I get back. It's pretty fun- fast games, no points, little rules. Flowers are wild cards. Great for those of you that don't like playing with points/don't know how. Basically a race to create a winnable hand.

I find it amazing that China is the most rapidly industrialising country in the whole world (and wow, they had the Olympics here last year?!). Great for a holiday to meet all the relies I didn't know I had but either way, I wouldn't want to live in China permanently, even if it's where the future money earning potential is. Give me our peaceful, built-up, clean Australia any day :).

Only good girls keep [blogs]. Bad girls don't have time.

2009-01-03T18:16:00.014+09:00

Title adapted from actress Tellulah Bankhead.

I have changed and experienced a lot over the past year that was 2008. Regardless, I hardly swear, I don't binge drink (FYI PM Rudd- two standard drinks a night for females should not be considered binge drinking), and I definitely don't smoke nor do I do drugs. I am a well-mannered, polite young lady (even if this is disputed by my pseudo-brother dearest). However despite this, for some reason, I've been labelled on numerous occasions a 'bad influence'. Even my pseudo-husband (there you made it into my blog, now you're famous :P) avoids mentioning me to the parentals when listing people attending a particular event in attempts to be allowed to go. The only thing I'm going to influence you to do is to go out more often than not, which at our age can only be a good thing, yes? And maybe run the wrong way down escalators and end up with a fine with a value with three digits, but I digress.

Rihanna's latest album Good Girl Gone Bad is about her rebelling against her little girl image from when she was 17 (or so she says). I've never had the need to rebel against a particular image or from my parents. Those that know me will know that I can pretty much do whatever I want; my parents are big on the whole 'it's your responsibility' thing about nights out and my life in general. Though for some reason, my mum has suddenly been very intent on me making my bed before going out (don't ask me- I think it's a waste of time).

My parents have a few favourite speeches. The 'This isn't a hotel' speech and the 'You need to spend more family time' speech are frequently heard. Not to mention big sweeping statements about 'the youth of today' and the 'society that is generation Y'. Do we really 'demand rights and forego all responsibility'? That came up when I argued a point about the parentals doing the exact same thing that they just finished telling me not to do. It reminds me of all those times in primary school when the 'No hat, no play' rule was enforced, teachers still had control and would patrol the outdoor areas telling all us kids to wear hats, when they themselves weren't wearing hats! Yeah that was annoying. No one was game enough to point this out though, so we just nodded meekly and wore our hats. Then we grew up.

I have the attention span of ... oo look, shiny!

2009-01-02T01:28:00.006+09:00

I have a rather short attention span.

Couple this with the fact that I like trying (nearly) absolutely everything, this explains a lot. Throughout my life I have attended lessons for ice-skating, swimming, ballet, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, badminton, tennis, rock-climbing and sailing, and those are just the sports. At a buffet I will put a bit of everything onto my plate, except for those disgusting things like beetroot and cheese.

A week or so ago, I decided to learn guitar, completely from scratch. Learnt the notes, a few chords, a few songs. Haven't touched it in the last few days. When I start something new, I throw myself wholeheartedly into whatever it is. I printed off the chords with fret drawings, cut them out and make them into impromptu flash card type things. I haven't used them once.

A couple of days ago, I decided to make this blog. This is not my first attempt at blogging, I started a blog once upon a time ago. It had one post in it, and if I recall correctly, it was titled "I wonder what this button does...". After that, I never touched it again and promptly forgot all about it. I didn't even remember I had previously made a blog until I finished making this one when things seemed a bit all too familiar. I also have a msn space thing (http://gloria3107.spaces.live.com/), but that's slowly sitting there collecting dust in the cyber world. Undoubtedly, the posting frequency of this blog will over time decline drastically, but at least it is already beating the success of my previous blog.

A few hours ago, I decided to learn sign language. Again, this is not my first attempt at learning sign language, I already know the alphabet. However, I know unless there's some external motivation, that will probably be it.

I actually started this post intending to also write about something else, but I don't remember what now.
Maybe instead of simply a short attention span, I just have the memory of a goldfish.

EDIT: Stop telling me this blog won't last til whenever! I intend to keep this one going, really.

So, I made one of these...

2009-01-01T00:21:00.000+09:00

Asides from what is already stated in the title, there's not much other point to this post.

This blog is looking pretty boring as of right now, but I can't really be bothered looking up/stealing other people's html codes and that jazz so maybe later.

p.s. HAPPY NEW YEAR !!