fair weathered friends
It’s true when people say your true friends shine when adversity hits you. And it’s also true when they say you see who are the ones who shun away from you.
Life has taught me many lessons. None quite as significant as this.
I have always given my friends the benefit of the doubt whenever shit happens. And I also always thought that my friends should do the same for me.
But guess what? Things never work out the way you want them to. And at the end, only the really true ones stand by you. Unshakened, strong and willing to weather more with you.
And to the fair-weathered ones who run away and shirk responsibility, hell with you.
farewell hometown!
Once again, I return to Adelaide. Boy do I miss the friends, lifestyle and weather! I have forgotten how cold and wet winter is, how much fun sunday baddy sessions are… haiz.
8 weeks in your hometown should be bliss and it certainly was. From learning how to take a history in various dialects, to attending one helluva hen’s night.. this trip has been great. I also realised that the people who matter to you never really change, and they always embrace you every single time you return home. Such a wonderful feeling.
For now, goodbye singapore and hello adelaide! I am looking forward to the last 12 weeks of uni, to medball and graduation, to tri-weekly badminton sessions and more!…
CANNOT WAIT TO GRADUATE.
of an unexpected visitor.
1745hrs, Thursday 6th August 2009.
I was astounded by my mother’s sudden cry of outburst.
” WAI WAI COME AND SEE THIS! “
Her voice carried with it a tinge of fright and surprise.
I went to the kitchen to see for myself what was the source of this commotion. Our dear unidentified-four-legged-reptile-lizard-lookalike friend was resting quietly on the kitchen window. It was hanging onto the grill and just chilling out in the cool shade, away from the harsh scorching sunlight. It took me a good minute or two before I could determine if it was alive or not. And then, it swallowed some saliva. An anatomical part synomynous with our adam’s apple twitched a little. Ok friend is alive.
We were pretty certain we wanted it out of its cosy location. But, who deals with such a situation? The police? Pest control? The zoo?
A huge roll of a python snake laid in our garden 18 years ago. The friendly neighbourhood police caught it and we never heard of it again. I wonder how they dispose of the snake. Sold it to the zoo? Sold it to China for human consumption?
However, this time around dialling 999 was not a very good choice. The operator sounded me out and adviced calling a private pest control company. Then, I turned to calling the Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood police and they also said the same thing. Sigh, the days where policemen were willing to fearlessly catch snakes is officially over.
Mother called one pest control company that was recommended by our neighbour. No one picked up, I guess no one thinks that pests affect people after 6pm. They only roam conveniently during office hours.
Now with no real plan of sorts, mother met up with the neighbour. They saw some construction workers across the street that were working on another neighbour’s house. They told them about the situation and they readily volunteered their time and bravery to the clause of operation remove lizard.
With brisk steps to the house, he used one hand and grabbed the poor bugger by the head and subsequently twisted its long tail around his arm to prevent it from moving and hurting anyone. He sustained a superficial cut in the midst of a small struggle with the lizard. With lizard in hand, he walked over to the nearby playground and released it.
We all felt so relieved.
So thank you brave construction worker for your quick hands and swift actions.
But now, I cannot look at a window and not think of lizards.
Our one metre long friend.
one week post lasik
After 1 whole week of hibernation at home, sleeping with eye shields at night and not exercising…. I’m (almost) back to normal! Only problem now is, I seem to have developed a cough and sore throat. dammit.
Resolved one thing and another thing happens. T.T
lasik experience 101
No guys, I have yet gone for the actual surgery. Had a very thorough eye assessment yesterday at the lasik centre followed by the consultation with the eye surgeon. It was quite informative and I shall proceed with the surgery. The doc told me the chance of perfect vision is 93%. ie: 7% risk of having some residual power/astigmatism left behind. This is really because my astigmatism is REALLY bad. It’s 400degrees whilst the average Singaporean has astigmatism of like 50-100degrees. So I am determined to focus on the 93% success and hope for the best really. Other possible short term side effects include dry eyes, glares, halos, infection and inflammation.
Otherwise, day 3 with GP was great. He doesn’t really teach much but I did pick up alot of tactics to handle the local population. The communication skills required as well as the patient’s expectations are all so different. Also, the GP in Singapore sees on average 25-30 patients in a morning session of 3.5hours. This is extremely jam-packed compared to GPs in Australia who allocate 10-15minutes slot to each patient.
I’m supposed to sit in with an orthopedic surgeon/sports med doc next week. Nice to vary between chronic diseases and acute ones I guess! 
and it was a tired day.
Only the 2nd day of the new term and I am feeling fatigue ruining me.
Waking up at 6am for 8.30start is ridiculous. Seriously, traffic is SO slow in the morning in Singapore that it takes me 1.5 hours to get from home to Tampines. At least the GP is really humourous. He cracks jokes with the patients and is generally a very jovial person. He hasn’t asked me much questions except regarding studying in Adelaide.
And it all begins once again.
Once again, the semester starts and I get the pre-start-of-term jitters. At least it will be my last semester at univesity! How cool is it to file for graduation very soon. I never really thought about how long 6 years would be when I started doing med. It really just goes by like nobody’s business.
Tomorrow I will meet someone who will give me the timetable for the 6 weeks that I am in Singapore. Thankfully, I’ve heard that the schedule is mostly half days. HAHA. But I still have to travel to uncharted places like Tampines and Sengkang. Too far away and too inconvenient for a true blue AMK girl like me.
Victor’s parents are seriously funny. They think that we should be looking at hotels and what 8 or 10 or million course extravagant chinese dinner they serve for friggin’ WEDDINGS. just because it’s apparently ‘difficult to get an auspicious date at the popular hotels’. eh uncle, your son hasn’t even proposed. He’s not allowed to skip steps! And no, I’m not engaged.
Besides the idea of having a 50 table chinese wedding dinner is so unoriginal. If only we can throw one by the sea, and have people eat out of bowls with food that have flying bits of sand in it. Hurhur. Crunchy prawns eh. Or perhaps we should save all our money and run away for a month long holiday to Europe or something.
Hong is stressed up about her upcoming wedding! Poor girl, all that work that goes into a wedding.
For now, I shall retreat back into the world of DVDs. Heh heh.
goodness gracious!
it’s been WAY TOO LONG. how to sum up 2 months? just a list of quick updates?
1. HONG IS getting married. when i saw ian’s sms that wed before good friday i nearly flipped. but im so happy for her!! and she’s the first so naturally we are even more elated at this.
2. i joined yoga. and it’s been really good. it’s totally delayed gratification because when you are in the 40 degrees stinking heat, doing poses you couldn’t imagine doing, you just have to keep pushing yourself for 90mins. and you really do feel tons better afterwards. it’s really interesting. just that you need to wash alot more towels than usual.
3. i don’t like modbury. i will say it once, and i will say it again. i don’t care if people are getting tired of me whining about modbury, but unless you are in my shoes, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMMENT. you have no idea what i have to face every single freaking day for the past 3+ weeks.
4. which brings me to the next point, i hate people who are judgmental and unable to put themselves in the circumstances of others, who make sweeping comments and statements without using their god damn brain.
5. random note: easter houseboat trip to mannum was heaps fun. too much cooking i’d reckon but alfred is the one friend i will bring on any houseboat/camping/chalet/sleepovers from now on. HE IS JUST TOO AWESOME. with him, you do not only get meals. you get meals PLUS wine PLUS dessert PLUS dessert wine PLUS hot chocolate made from scratch PLUS green tea latte which is better than starbuck’s version PLUS he’s so funny.
otherwise, i can’t wait to get out of modbury. may 8th please come quickly! and i am looking forward to ED, to ian coming over to aussie land and to JUNE when i get a miserly 2 weeks break. damn it.
i am just too good at ranting.
someone please stop me.
