Bad time management

Woke up early today after a 6 hour sleep to join my parents for breakfast. Ended up sleeping all the way to the restaurant and back, regaining my consciousness only briefly during the meal. When i reached home, was still feeling pretty tired so i spent the rest of the afternoon lying down (sleep + watch tv + read newspaper + sleep somemore).

I guess we can never fully appreciate just how taxing exams can be until after it's finish... and there's always this feeling of relief everytime one passes. The same goes for this one, although actually this time its not so much because the exam itself is over, but because now people can't use that as an excuse anymore not to drop by and read my blogs.

But whatever the excuse, i still felt like it was a total waste of time. Could have spent the entire morning revising my respi but i didn't.... hard to believe i wasted the whole morning... sigh... feeling kind of upset with myself now.. so much so i don't really feel like studying anymore for the rest of the day.... maybe even for the rest of the hols.

Priceless game...

Drove all the way to summit again to buy the board game i saw yesterday. Had run out of money the day before, from the RM20 steamboat dinner to the movie and tolls, just didn't have much left when i came upon them. Cost me a huge RM110 (that's my entire week's holiday money spent, and hols hasn't even started yet..) but it's going to be well worth it as long as i have people to play it with. Had already shortlisted quite a few of our batchmates to help try it out when everybody's back for classes, or maybe even during the hols if any of you guys are around.

Had actually planned on buying them both initially, but my mom balked when i told her so i hurriedly just settled for one... had a feeling then that if i didn't, i probably would have ended up with neither. Tried arguing that both these games (RM180 + RM110) were still relatively cheaper compared to those that i've bought before [civilization (RM250), settlers of catan : stoneage (RM200)] but somehow she didn't seem convinced... will probably try again next week... normally she never says no...

Home at last...

Its 12:45 now and i just go back, completely drained from all the events that has happened today...

Everything started from the night before, when I decided to stay up a little later to do some extra bit of studying for the exam... took my first ever cup of nescafe hoping it would last me till at least a little past midnight but I ended up staying awake for the whole of the night, struggling to sleep even at 4:00am in the morning... dragged myself out of bed again at 7:30 and made my way down to the library, where I stayed put until exam-time, trying hard not to fall asleep.

When that time came and went, I then went out for a movie with some of our batchmates to celebrate one of our birthdays. By then i was already starting to yawn every now and then, although the movie was really good and that kept me on my toes for a little while... at least until the movie was over. It finished at around 8:45 but we continued to hang around starbucks for a little while before we left, and i still had to fetch two of our batchmates home.

It didn't turn out to be the easy drive i had thought it would be as, i was to find out later, the two of them stayed in almost completely different areas. Didn't help either that it started raining soon after i left Summit, fogging up the windscreen mirror so badly i could hardly see. Made my way back through the traffic to bukit jalil to drop one of us off before turning my attention towards the painstaking drive deep into the heart of KL... and when i got there i found out that it was as an absolutely secluded area i've never been to before (although to be fair, i've never been to any part of KL before... at least not when i'm driving), taking more than an hour just to get there from IMU. By then i was completely snuffed, closing my eyes trying to get whatever sleep i can everytime we came to a traffic light, with my passenger alerting me whenever the light turned green.

When we finally did manage to make our way to her house, it was almost 11:30 and i was not even sure if i could keep my eyes on the road. She took time to draw me a map pointing me home, although she needed more than 15 minutes to do it, which prompted her mom to come over to the car to lend a helping hand. The map didn't help though, as the road i was supposed to be on was blocked and i was diverted off into another one. By that time i didn't really bother where i was going as long as i was moving, and once or twice i caught myself losing it for half a second before realizing what i was doing and jerking back up. Was completely lost for the first 20 minutes, driving around aimlessly until i decided to stop at a petrol station and ask for directions, after which i was on my way again and this time managed to find myself in at least someplace familiar, although i was still more than a half hours drive away from home. Finally when i did make it back i was having difficulty trying to walk straight so i just had a quick bath after which i felt much better, and so here i am in front of the computer trying to pour out everything i remembered from today and the day before.

But now that i'm sitting back and thinking, i find that actually i wouldn't mind going through everything that took place yesterday and today all over again... as when i look back i realized that i did manage to have done quite a few things today... like spending time with my friends, stumbling upon a boardgame shop and finding two of the games (which i'm hoping to try out with you guys) that i've been looking for all over the place for a really long time, getting the chance to meet one of our moms, getting the chance to tour KL like i never would have done before... but more importantly on the way back i managed to spend some quiet time with myself, which was something that i haven't been doing for quite a long time now.. and that by itself made everything worth it.

Debatable....

Something was brought up today during lecture that caught my attention. It occurred when we were being taught menopausal and its associated signs and symptoms, where we were told that sitting right at the top of the list of things that women undergoing menopause complained about was depression. And although many theories were put forward, such as the depletion of trytophan and the ‘empty nest syndrome’.... it actually seemed pretty obvious (and many of the girls are going to deny this….) that the main reason why women over 50 feel depressed is simply because they undergo atrophic vaginitis leading to the development of dyspareunia.

Banana leaves lunch... for the first time !!

Had lunch today at steven's corner with the entire pbl group and our faci. It was a rather long, eventful lunch and if you were there it probably wouldn't take very long to figure out that most of us (me included...) had never stepped inside a typical Indian rice restaurant before... or at least not for a long time. By the time we left, i would say we left some sort of a lasting impression.

Everything was going rather well at the beginning. We were shown to our table and were sitting down talking like how any people would in a restaurant when suddenly there came a huge outburst from one of us who had just spotted the waiter approaching our table with a tray of banana leaves:
Batchmate 1: WAHHHH !!! Eii (nudge neighbour)!!, LOOK, LOOK GOT BANANA LEAVES LARR !
Batchmate 2: Walau got banana leaves arr ?! I didn't know we were having banana leaves rice for lunch !!!
Batchmate 3: Wahhhh banana leaves wei... cool...
Batchmate 4: (On closer inspection) Hei.. how come some of them got yellowy-yellowy colour one ??
Waiter : .............

There followed a rare moment of silence as each of us proceeded to (secretly..) admire our individual banana leaves. That moment of calm didn't last very long though and was completely shattered, this time by our faci, when she managed to detect out of the corner of her eyes the waiter returning back to our table to scoop some rice and sauces onto our leaves:
Faci : Eiii !! Can one of you quickly go down to the counter and get some serviettes onot ?! I want to wipe my banana leaves lar before they put things on it...
When the serviettes finally did arrive there followed a mad scramble by most of us (who were obsessively hygienic...) to attempt to scrub and polish and wipe our leaves as hard as we could because the leaves were
Faci : (Threateningly) VERY DIRTY ONE LARRR....you don't believe me rite, you wipe the leaves and then you can see all the dirt... don't believe ahh you try and see...
completely oblivious to the fact that the waiter was bearing the combined weight of the rice and sauces (enough for all 8 of us) for the entire duration of about 5 minutes before he was actually allowed to come any closer to our precious leaves..... and actually i think the very reason why he didn't just rest the bucket of rice and sauce on our table while waiting was simply because he didn't dare risk the entire bucket being toppled and knocked off the table, what with all the vigorous hand motions happening all around.. and now that i think about it, i really do not recall seeing any further for the entire duration of our lunch.

By the time another waiter arrived to take down our orders, the excitement from the previous flexion-extension marathon had somewhat subsided and everything went rather well until the end, although it did take us close to about 20 minutes just to order our drinks, as all of us (being very excited and not wanting to be left out) started shouting out orders simultaneously as soon as another waiter arrived which succeeded only in confusing him further... and unless i was seeing double, a third waiter was actually dispatched a few minutes later to our table to assist the second in listing down our orders...

At the end of our meal when the bill was presented, a huge scuffle broke out between the 7 of us and our faci over who was going to pay, although i wasn't sure we were trying very hard as the bill, by now completely crumpled and in pieces, ended up in the hands of our 40-something year old faci. An argument further broke out in front of the cashiers when each started accusing the other of causing the fiasco.
Faci : You ahhh... very embarassing lar you... fighting for the bill like that...
Batchmate : What me ??? You also what... YOU started it somemore...
Faci : Who say ?? YOU lar started it...
Cashier : .......

Overall though i would say it was a pretty fun thing to do, especially with the exams coming up, kind of took our minds off it a little. Can't wait now for our next faci to come along and take us out, although i probably wouldn't go back to the same restaurant.

Tiring day out at the clinic desa

Had our clinic desa visit this morning. And although Pajam was nowhere close to Seremban Hospital in terms of its facilities or in terms of its size, it outshone itself merely by the warmth of its staffs and by the sheer simplicity of the place. At the end of the day when we left, i do feel like we had learnt quite a lot from this place... and although this really isn't fair, but i kind of gathered we probably learnt more here than if we were to have been in the wards. Lessons here were conducted partly through observing and practising, but mostly by laughing at ourselves.

I can still remember (vividly..) one of our batchmates trying to measure a patient's weight by using the equipment for measuring height, and another trying to inspect a patient's hair from quite a distance
Student (standing quite far away from patient): On inspection, patient's hair is clean and does not have kutu....
which immediately prompted the nurse to retort
Nurse: How do you know the patient's hair doesn't have kutu ?? You boleh tengok ke dari sana ?? You ada bionic eyes ke ??

As usual most of us couldn't get the symphyseal-fundal height right, and even less succeeded in detecting even the slightest presence of life with the fetoscope, despite the nurses continously listening and reporting incredulously after each failed attempt that the sound was still:
Nurse: Very clear !! Very very clear !! Even clearer than the last one.. Siapa tak boleh dengar ini mesti deaf..
And although i was among the group students who were supposedly deaf, i could gather however based on what the nurse was reporting that there seems to be an indisputable rule in Pajam where every mother who steps into the antenatal clinic have a louder and more clearer foetal heart sound than the last.

Came back to IMU feeling completely tired out so i just had a quick lunch and went down to the library. Managed to bug quite a few people to read my blogs before going off for my nap in the audi. Not getting enough sleep for the second consecutive night has left me feling slightly disoriented. Hopefully everything clears up soon or at least after exams.

A difficult-to-get joke.

Today our pbl facilitator decided it was appropriate to share with us a..... rather.... actually it's indescribable... so she just.... shared with us a joke. I couldn't really get it at first, so let's see if anyone could. It was at the end of our session when all of us had already packed up our stuff and was just about to leave when:

Faci : Ei you guys wait lah !!! Before you all go ah, i want to ask you all a question...
PBL members : (All very excited!!)
Faci : How do you all determine arr whether somebody is a guy or girl ???
PBL members : ..........
Faci : Come on you guys, make a guess. How do you all know ??
PBL members : ...... (Looks at each other..) .......
Faci : Haiyah like that also you all don't know arr... You just take down the genes...
PBL members : ???
Faci : Aiyoh come on... (Getting very excited) then how do you all tell whether somebody is a guy or a girl ?!?!
Me : ....urm.... karyotyping...?
Faci : (Getting more excited) Haiyoh you all don't geeeet iiiiit aaaahh ?!?!?!
Me : (Whispering to nearest member while glancing warily at excited faci...) ... yes but... then what do we to the gene ??????
Faci : (Getting very frustrated) Haiyah you all very slow lahhh...
PBL members : (Mumble mumble + look at each other somemore...)
Faci : (Nearly out of breath...) You all rrreeeeaaalllyyy dddooonnn'tttt ggeeeetttt iittttt aaaarrrr ??? To see whether somebody is a guy or a girl... You just take down their JEANS !!!

Of library books and lecture notes II

Grudgingly returned my embrology book today. The first thing the man said when he scanned my book was:
Man : LAMBAT !!
Me : Huh... apa?! (Looking very suprised)
Man : Buku you... you return lambatlah..
Me : ... Ei... ya ke ?!(Lookin very suprised + shock)
Man : Ya lah.. tengok tu (pointing at screen) ...
Me : (Bend down and squint eyes to look)..
Man : Sepatutnya you return last friday...
Me : Aiyah i mesti dah lupa lah.. (looking very pitiful)... i ingat due date tu hari ini...

He didn't really give me a chance to explain though.. got hit with a RM1.80 fine which (coupled with a previous long-standing one of RM0.50) adds up to the grand total of RM2.30. Well at least it didn't surpass RM5.00. But actually now that i think about it... can't really remember where the RM0.50 came from. Maybe some other students scanned it onto my account. who knows...

Was a little moody for the rest of the day after that, although i wasn't sure many people noticed. I'm not very good at being moody. Didn't help either that i couldn't get enough sleep last night. Put that together with a killer 2 1/2 hours lecture and a major exam in four days and you've got yourself the perfect guide to depression.

Of library books and lecture notes I

I just realised that the moore's embrology book i borrowed was supposed to be due last friday... I don't know how much the total is going to come to now but i'm really hoping the fine does not exceed RM5 just so i can scrap through sem 4 and 5 without paying. And to think that just last thursday i had smirkingly put down while answering the evaluation questionaire that i think library fines 'should be upheld as they serve not just as a punishment, but also as a deterrent'. Its just that i very rarely return library books late and didn't really think very highly of those who did. However to be safe i guess i'll just bring some extra cash tomorrow in case i have to make that little trip down to the cashier's. Might have to be getting a new photostat card as well... mine's only got about RM2 left in it. Kind of looks a little overused too.. a little melted at the edges...

Anyway since we're already on the subject i must say there's something pretty odd going on with our IMU library. In the past week alone, I got to know of at least 2 of our batchmates who had had other student's books scanned on to their account. And although one of them was lucky enough to have had that book returned, the other however wasn't... but i'm really hoping he finds it soon.... and I guess although we can't prove that it really wasn't us who took the book out, at least we've got to be pretty clear of the books that we actually did borrow, so that in the event something like this happens you can be up-front and just tell the librarian straight on that it wasn't you who was having the book instead of looking unsure and saying things like 'saya tak pasti lah... balik rumah check boleh ??' which would immediately strenghten their already flawed assumption that you had lost the book.

Annoying karaoke contest

I don't know just how silly this is going to sound but there is actually a karaoke-singing competition going on right now at the open-field outside my house. And although it's placed almost at the opposite end of the field, it wasn't quite far enough for the noise to drown out before it found its way to my room. It has been going on for almost 2 hours now and with every contestant that comes on it's becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate on my studies. Apparently it was organised by a certain association to raise funds for charity, so i guess i shouldn't complain. But REALLY... its not that i don't appreciate music.... but i just feel like i would be much better placed to appreciate the songs... if i can just figure out what sort of language the contestants are singing them in...

Pilot post

Wow what an incredible feeling it is to finally have my own blog ! For the past few weeks all i have been doing is reading other people's blog (some of which were pretty good..) trying to get some inspiration and ideas for my own. But now that i do have my own blog i just don't know where to start.. Maybe a little about the place where i stay.. 'Old town'

Old town is as you can guess... pretty old. The houses here were among the first to be built in the petaling district and if you take time out to observe you can actually see that the houses here have more in common to those in Sungai Petani than to those in Kl. My family and i have been staying here for as long as i can remember and the thing about this place is that its a very small place and coupled with the fact that we've been staying here almost all our lifes just means that we practically know everybody. As such a walk out the door to say... out for lunch and back can take anywhere between one to one and a half hour. Included within this period would be the time taken off to greet the watch shop lady (who has been faithfully repairing all our watches everytime one ran out of battery or was accidentally sat on... which happens quite frequently actually...) or to ask the stationary man (who for the past 10 years has been supplying me with all my 13 or so coloured pens) whether he had had his lunch..

Today was no different as we went out for lunch at 2:00 and only managed to make it back by about 3:15.
However there was one conversation that popped up during lunch that nobody really could foresee. It centred around my 9-year old brother who innocently enough asked a rather unexpected question. We've been back for more than half an hour now and i still do not recall anybody giving him a reply. i guess its the perfect reflection of our reserved asian culture where certain things are still kept very much taboo and nobody's really too eager to talk about it. It kind of went like this :

A mee seller lady came to our table to collect some dishes after some of of us had finished our lunch and she struck up a conversation with my mum (she's actually a new seller, just opened her shop about few weeks back so we don't really know her as well as the others..)

Mee seller as she was collecting the dishes : Eii auntie how are you doing today arh ?? Good onot ??
Mum : ....... (Not too happy at being called auntie)... ok... quite ok..
Mee seller: (unpertubed) Wah auntie you have all boys arr in your family ?? 3 BOYS ARR ??Mum : ......(very insulted) .... urm..... yes.... 4 actually...
Mee seller : WAHHH !!! FOOUURR AAARRHHH ??? (Loudly and sounding as though she was witnessing a miracle)

Actually i dont know if there's any solid reason but there's just something about these people that keeps them fixated on the amount and the variation (how many guys and how many girls) of other people's children. And almost immediately they would proceed to offer family planning strategies (whether or not we were interested..) rivalling even those of our family doctor's. They would get tremendously caught up that they become totally oblivious to everything else.. such as the growing number of starving customers standing at their stall waiting patiently to order or that the entire congregation sitting at the opposite end of the shop was turning their head in our direction trying to see who was the so 'Houh choy' (lucky) person who must have a very 'houh meng' (good life..) just because she has 4 boys.. And in a family with all boys you don't have to be a genius to know that the next thing they're going to say is..

Mee seller: Wah so when you gonna try for a daughter ?? You got no girls worrr ?? Dowan girls meh ???
Mum : ... No... i have enough already... (Fiddle with handphone to try and look busy..)
Mee seller: Aiyah why don't you try and see ?? Maybe this time you can get a daughter leh...
Mum : ..... (put on reluctant smile) ..... No i really don't want already...

When suddenly..

9 year old brother : Eii mameee can choose one ar want kids or not ?? How arr you can choose not to become pregnant ??

Mum : (Handphone nearly fell off hand)......
Mee seller : ..... (nervous giggle)....

9 year old brother : (Louder this time) MAMEEE can choose one meh want to be pregnant or not ??? How to choose arr ??? How come you didn't get pregnant for so long ????

Mum : (Suddenly turned to me and started talking)...
Mee seller : (Quickly walk away)...

I dont remember anybody speaking anymore after that. The rest of just hurriedly finished our lunch and we left as quickly as we could.