:: BïtS 'N' PiëCÉS ::

domenica, febbraio 27, 2005

:: corny horoscope ::

I was feeling SOOO sian today, I decided to risk my eyes and just blog a bit -more-

I found this by chance, horoscope for the aquarian this week:
'Everything's in a state of flux, so you should be in your element. After all you hate to be tied down to the same daily rut which afflicts so many of your friends. Best of all, someone is about to set your heart fluttering.'

Horoscopes are SO accurate becos they are SO vague, it's all up to our own interpretation. But one prediction that is really accurate is my 'heart fluttering' yea, mr your-examination-is-coming is giving me arrhythmias.

*heh

Dopey @ 12:19 AM | 0 comments

sabato, febbraio 26, 2005

:: wake up call ::

I’ve never really heard of such a ridiculous situation…

Someone who has lived for about 5 years in Singapore and recently gone to work in UK as a Professor does not know:
- what is stonehenge
- what is the big ben
- what is the ‘changing of the guards’
O.M.G.
I feel so sad for that guy…

I think this is a wake-up call for a lot of people… A certificate, a prefix to our name eg. Dr means nothing, zilch, nada… It’s just paper, probably recycled paper. We can be just as ignorant of our surroundings if we don’t bother to keep up with our general knowledge. Plus, it’s not that hard is it? Just keep your eyes open, your ears open… Unless that ‘man’ actually ‘is an island’.

"No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee."
- John Donne

Dopey @ 2:48 PM | 0 comments

venerdì, febbraio 25, 2005

:: dopey is going blind ::

dopey's lao3 mao2 bing4 you4 fa1 zuo4 le! i guess i've overstrained my eyes... I JUST KNEW IT! close to two weeks of glorious uninterrupted mugging was too goo to be true! now i've been impaired by blurred vision, brow pain, periorbital strain and mild photophobia! this impairment, though temporary, has disabled me... ie. i'm unable to function like a normal medical students cos i cannot mug 24/7! haha (tt's just an exaggeration) anyway, i think i'd better go into rehab now at the Dopey Study-Wellness Centre that was set up in mid 2003, self funded, non-profit organisation, before i really become disabled.

so crappy. SO CRAPPY!

:: cool blog to promote ::

ahhh i almost forgot to tell u guys: visit Lih Keong's blog for great blog entries, witty banter and interesting quips and quotes. She's my JC classmate! Now in Melbourne, doing medicine! yoyo! somehow i think they call themselves corny med pies... i dunno y. but v cute. i especially liked her entry on The Great Singapore Squeeze! Well, that's all for now! Do stay tuned in to her blog! ;)

Dopey @ 7:11 PM | 0 comments

giovedì, febbraio 24, 2005

:: the speciality i should go for, in order of rank ::

here are the results for the medicine aptitude test... you can try it out here

Rank Specialty Score
1 thoracic surgery 40
2 radiology 40
3 plastic surgery 40
4 gastroenterology 40
5 radiation oncology 39
6 physical med & rehabilitation 39
7 occupational med 39
8 general surgery 39
9 orthopaedic surgery 39
10 obstetrics/gynecology 39
11 dermatology 38
12 colon & rectal surgery 38
13 anesthesiology 38
14 hematology 38
15 pulmonology 38
16 med oncology 38
17 ophthalmology 37
18 pathology 37
19 otolaryngology 37
20 neurosurgery 36
21 rheumatology 36
22 pediatrics 36
23 nephrology 36
24 urology 36
25 emergency med 36
26 cardiology 36
27 general internal med 36
28 infectious disease 35
29 psychiatry 35
30 nuclear med 35
31 neurology 34
32 preventive med 34
33 endocrinology 34
34 allergy & immunology 33
35 aerospace med 33
36 family practice 31

um... so.. what the heck's thoracic surgery???

Dopey @ 11:06 PM | 0 comments

mercoledì, febbraio 23, 2005

:: yuan xiao jie ::

Yuan xiao jie, or known as the ‘Chinese’ Valentine’s Day... Coincidentally, me and my friends arranged to go for steamboat that day! It was just the three of us. I think for this steamboat, we ate much less than what we’d normally do… L had ‘overate’ at this sushi buffet at around 230pm the –same- day and A had been overfed by her granny. Hehe… As for me, I was in a taxi, where the disgusting cabbie kept –BURPING- and –BURPING- but the car was too full of pandan leaves’ fumes for me to smell his digested/undigested food, but still, the idea is just gross right? I left the taxi totally nauseated.

Along the 50m from the Marina Bay MRT station to the bus stop with the shuttle service to the steamboat restaurants, there were THREE people from ‘Ping Xiang’ offering ferrying service to and from the restaurant if we chose to eat there. Those people were really aggressive and irritating. I’m glad to say, hardly anyone accepted their offer!

Eat. Eat. Eat… I ate a lot of mushrooms, cos somehow, everyone took a bit of it for everyone else. Lolz… poor L had to finish up ALL the yellowish-taupok-cum-fishcake- thing that she got cos she thought it was VERY nice. Our chicken wings got burnt cos it was so hard to grill them properly. They had live prawns as well and one of ours jumped off the table onto the floor. We wanted to grill those prawns, waited quite long for them to be dead… but they just wouldn’t die. So in the end, I held them up by the feelers, dipped them into the boiling stock first then put them on the grill. I hope they died a quick and dignified death.

The way back was interesting. Halfway along this winding lane, there were a few ‘gunshot’ sounds, turned out to be fireworks at the Hongbao river. The really nice bus driver stopped the bus along the side of the road and everyone rushed out to enjoy the amazing display. So nice!

In the MRT, L, as usual… was looking at people’s –legs- at least for once, she was looking at a guy’s legs… then she remarked, ‘looks like horse legs, cos so thick.’ Erm… anyway, A apparently agreed and found it funny. The funny part was… At Raffles Place, the guy got up really quickly(and he is REALLY DAMN tall, partly cos he’s Caucasian too I guess)… then the ahma next to him placed her hand on his seat (I dunnno why…) and almost immediately, that guy realised that it was the wrong stop and sat down really hard… omg… poor ahma’s fingers were like… and she had to struggle to wriggle them free. And then… L went to burst into laughter!!! Luckily that guy thought it was funny too.

Hmm, we didn't get to talk as much as usual, what with A's episode with the prawns and L's digestive system working OT and 'horse legs'... Must meet up again soon!

Dopey @ 11:33 PM | 0 comments

martedì, febbraio 22, 2005

:: my beautiful eyes ::

Ha... rem I was so blur i tot my 18/1 appt was on 18/2? managed to reschedule and went for the retinal photography today... it's horrid, i really don't like the eyedrops... rem that lecture on atropine belladonna? ha, the european women in the past (i cannot rem which age that was) would put atropine eyedrops because then dilated, dark pupils were considered beautiful, hence giving the name of bella (beautiful) donna (lady). it sure isn't a comfy look to carry off! i wonder how they avoid squinting their eyes from the glaring lights (just any light is enuff to hurt yr eyes) and then they didn't even have sunglasses. i had to put up with this feeling for about 3 hours, even now, my eyes are still feeling a bit sore... :( ended up not doing any worthwhile studying today. urgh. double urgh, i just realised i missed a call fr toh... triple urgh. sianz. exams drawing so near and i am STILL WAITING for confirmation on what is my project title... well, if there's no news fr the surg side, i'll just drop by his clinic this thursday to get the precious signature.

hey, you're in for a treat! look this is my left eye retinal photograph! there's this 'abnormality' somewhere, see if you can find it? probably you can't lah.. haha. :P bleah. anyway i've circled it, pls don't go panicking thinking 'omg, i can't even recognise what's normal, then how to see abnormal?... or... holy smokes! is that abnormal? how how how... going to fail liao.' aha... but anyway i managed to spot it k... eh heh.



when the nurse called me in to see the doc, i tot, die liao... got DR?!?!?! shit! then the doc shone this super bright bar of light into my eyes... so coool, i think it's 10x cooler than the fundscope. then he pronounced me CLEAN. phew, that stupid white streak was a reflection from their own equipment. there, u see... robots/machines can NEVER take the place of human analysis and interpretation!

Dopey @ 8:55 PM | 0 comments

lunedì, febbraio 21, 2005

:: andrea bocelli ::

today, was feeling kind of down... sick. ever since study break's started i've been feeling on and off. this is so sick. then the stupid haze... sick. den me niazi! so what's best but some retail therapy rite? so... i got 'andrea' (which is bocelli's latest cd). this is probably one of the most revolutionary work of his? i'm not sure, i had a copy of one of his previous cds and they sounded very opera. this one, wasn't really... and when i listened carefully to his voice, i tot, wow, mario frangoulis and josh groban -pale in comparison- bocelli's voice is more versatile, i think he's got a wider range of notes where his voice still sounds v good. soothing voice. and he's also able to sing more 'pop' stuff... not just the opera stuff. it's an interesting cd... there's even a very 'mariachi' song. the tunes are more 'unpredictable' as compared to groban's and frangoulis'. hmmm also, his vocal dynamics... (i dunno how to put it, i mean those crescendos and de-crescendos) are more 'full of filling'...

btw even his italian sounds better than josh groban's... but that's of course... groban had to have 'italian teachers' to train his italian for his first cd. and frangoulis' italian is a bit different, i think he speak an italian dialect as well... tt's why i guess.

:: NSAIDS = AINEs ::

i just realised, if i do want to go ahead with my plan of doing my overseas elective in a spanish-speaking country, i'll have to learn that NSAIDS = no esteroide antiinflamatorios ie. AINEs. and WHO = OMS (organización mundial de la salud)... if i got enuff money, i really should go. it should be one of the greatest challenges i've taken up. imagine writing a case report in spanish. fun right? :D

Dopey @ 1:00 AM | 0 comments

domenica, febbraio 20, 2005

:: what a small world! ::

It so happens that Jason's new cell group leader is my cousin! what a small world!

:: my blur brother ::

my brother's soooo blur today, first he went to wear my mum's black pants, thinking it was his. erm... then he panicked and tot tt he had put on so much weight over the new year. duh.

next, he left house without his invitation card, and had to back track to get it... or else i guess he'll be left standing outside the instana gates haha...

:: den me niazi ::

this means 'i don't care', these days, this is my motto. seriously, if pple cannot be bothered, why should i, rite? guess what language this is in?

Dopey @ 11:11 PM | 0 comments

sabato, febbraio 19, 2005

:: MORE casualities... and some reflections ::

wa! bad omen... two more down! one of my cousins strained his ligament (i bet it's the pollicis one) in soccer... he's the goalkeeper... and then another one was flipping his swiss knife and dunno doing what, ended up with a laceration on his forehead, just above the eyebrow, that required 5 stitches... haiz... can u imagine, just a little lower and he'd be 'impaired'... and then tt impairment could become a disability... handicap... nvm... wo zou huo ru mo le.

hmmm just reflected on this afternoon's happenings... ya i think that though i'm just a medical student now, at least i think i did something worthwhile today? cuz the family didn't think tt his condition was serious enough to merit a hosp visit immediately... i shudder to think of the possible consequences if he is still 'at large' now. i think it's times like this that makes me feel that all the hard work now is WORTH IT!

Dopey @ 11:11 PM | 0 comments

:: bai4nian2 bai4 dao4 A&E... ::

the most interesting lunar new year ever! went to visit my aunt & family (who hd just returned fr china) and ended up at SGH A&E... here's what happened... upon getting up from his airplane seat when they arrived at xiamen, my uncle felt an acute pain in the left thigh and a bluish hardish streak (oooo... too bad i didn't get to see that), upon arriving at the village, they proceeded to rub his thigh with medication oil, thinking it was some muscle cramp... and... the bruise spread to cover a large area on the medial and posterior thigh... the following day, his left lower limb was slightly swollen, and there was an aching pain. he self-medicated using some potent muscle relaxants and pain killers contributed by another uncle who is a sufferer of chronic low back pain... he did not go see the doctor. 8days later, they touched down back in singapore, the bruise and swelling were STILL there... somehow, he didn't think it was a big problem and left it...

on the 10th day, which is today, i went to visit my auntie and him as well... cuz i tot it sounded like DVT ie. 'economy class syndrome' (and for those who are still clueless: clot-in-your-leg-vein) before that i'd already told my mother he should go see a doc... but he wasn't keen/didn't dare/too painful to walk there... and my aunt's family were behaving like NATO. (no-action talk-only) so today, my mother and i descended on the whole lot of inert folks... my dad drove my uncle and i to the clinic...

i ran around jurong east in my FINEST CNY clothes... and saw: women's clinic, kid's clinic, radiologic clinic, raffles' medical (which is too ex)... and finally found the 24hr SUMMIT clinic... the staff's nice, the doc's both SHUAI4 and NICE and he quickly referred us to the A&E. go A&E and waited for 2 hours, i think the triage thingy doesn't really function tt well... i managed to study three chapters of occupational medicine there, standing most of the time cuz no seats... unless i wanna sit between two pple with bad coughs, that is. i consider it quite an achievement, by rights, i am NOT supposed to be studying today! i was supposing to be gossiping with my cousins, eating mandarin oranges and having a generally good time... and not having my first hand orientation of A&E at SGH. sigh. then, my dad disappeared to the foodcourt and i had to settle the admissions stuff and wat nots.. insurance?!?! help. anyway, i think i know more abt medisave/shield/fund now at least.

finally, he got admitted. and we went up to the ward were i met an extremely skittish HO/MO... who's not very friendly, not very approachable and made me feel like swatting him with my yellow cofm file. (also not shuai4 haha)

i'm having tension headache now, and the haze just came in to make matters worse! bah!

my uncle's DM condition really worries me... he's not compliant to diet/exercise, not motivated and not keen on anything. oh manz... maybe i should use the 'transition' method on him... give him a shock or two... then can apply the behaviour modifications... hai...

Dopey @ 7:39 PM | 0 comments

giovedì, febbraio 17, 2005

:: constantine - film review ::

great hopes shattered...

picture this:
1. as a mexicano holding an artifact (dagger-looking, didn't look like spear to me) walks through a brown field with sheep grazing, each sheep totters and then keels over sideways. dead. now how corny is that? i think what they had in elektra was far far better... at least it was more beautiful and looked more deadly in a beautiful way. haha...

baaaaah.

totter totter... oooh... go left, go right, oh manz, i'm dead. baaaaah.

2. picture lucifer sticking his arms into constantine's chest.. and... euw, taking out all the tar in his lungs for him??? omg. how cheesy is that?!?! on the other hand, maybe med oncology has some use for this special technique! ha...

there sure was lots of ciggies used in this movie, constantine smoked NON-STOP! i mean it. it gets really irritating. then they have got this scene with a tag saying: 'surgeon says smoking kills... emphysema, lung cancer...' very um... singapore government, reminds me of jack neo's productions. i tot it's us copying hollywood and not the other way?

3. now picture constantine caught between heaven and earth... um... as he is ascending to this beautiful kingdom above, he turns slightly and um... shows his third finger, thus ruining this wonderful, pictoric moment... baaaah.

bah bah black sheep.

sorry... the sheep's got over me today.

anyway, it was a weird show. the only thing interesting is gabrielle... hmmm and i thought those extra chapters in the 'bible' were interesting too... maybe can do some research in this area. i've always been interested in religion, mainly the historical parts of it. heh. call it a quest for knowledge, cuz i don't believe in 'the faith' though.

btw the female actress was lousy! she just altered between looking snobbish and spooked. eh, so boring!

Dopey @ 11:39 PM | 0 comments

lunedì, febbraio 14, 2005

:: my 'romantic' valentine's day ::

so... what have you guys been doing today? spent your day with your special someone? well i didn't, but it's still one of the most 'unique' v-day i had... hahaha...

i was wearing surgical gloves, and digging around in the muck of two pipes in my house's toilet, with a self-fashioned scoop made up of a plastic cup, a stick and lots of masking tape. it stank to high heavens! -_- omg... cuz i lost my earring. :( when i first found out, i was studying anti-anginal drugs, and at tt time, my parents and i probably needed some anti-arrhythmic drugs! anyway, really, xin1 tong4 cuz it's not just ex, but it's also kinda special... before my granny passed away she asked my aunt to 'dismantle' her pendant or dunno what and make them into earrings.... so 6 of us youngest got the earrings... actually i was supposed to be getting them last year, but erm my auntie thought i just turned 21 this year! wa!

it was my mother who saved the day, she actually managed to spot it in the extreme corner, between the bathroom tiles! wa, nothing sparkly escapes her! phew! very relieved! and i think i also stink now! :S

Dopey @ 11:32 PM | 0 comments

sabato, febbraio 12, 2005

:: people ::

it's always interesting to look at people... like today i saw/encountered 4 different scenarios:

1. guess who i saw at bt panjang plaza? the vision-impaired lady who was featured on a local chinese programme some time back. from around her teens, she discovered that she had a condition that would cause her eyesight to deteriorate till she eventually becomes blind. nevertheless she didn't give up hope, though she had to give up her sports activities... eventually she married and is quite the capable homemaker! sometimes she sings in public, for some donations... it's not the money she needs but rather the sense of something to do and some way to contribute to society... anyway i was very impressed by her. today i noticed her right away and WOW she IS as pretty as she is on tv! WOWOW... yup my guess was confirmed when i saw her stick, actually she wasn't using it cuz her husband was with her. and by the way they walk together, you'd never have guessed he was acting as her 'eyes'... btw her eyes are every bit as bright and soulful as ours, probably nicer even...

2. i was in NTUC and i saw a queer site... there was this 14-16-year old girl holding a cook book thingy... with pages wide open and her head alternating between books and shelves all the while reading out ingredients and... right behind, carrying a basketful of what looked like bottles of baking stuff was her dad! haha.. awww... so sweet... :P

3. the lady (no i wouldn't call her lady)... the female cashier at 7 eleven was downright RUDE today... first she slapped my pack of strepsils back onto the counter after scanning in the barcode and when she gave me the change, she just flung out her hand and let them scatter all over the counter... so RUDE! i gave her my best glare-cum-rollling eyeballs... i hope she got the message! wat a B!

4. my bro's holding the interviews to choose his predecessors at the macs at ymca orchard... so this president-wannabe messages him... where's this ymca orchard? how to go? so my bro asked me how best to direct this clueless person... so i told him: 'well you might want to consider this guy's eligibility to be the president. he's not very resourceful is he? then how to be the president???' yeah and my bro agrees too... oh manz... pple these days, some pple are just downright er... unresourceful... haiz... what's the fun in people telling you everything? isn't it more exciting to

hmmm realised something, i'm finally going to cast my first vote! yeah! and it'll make such a difference to our society. *snigger* if there's one thing i picked up at the boring new year's party was... there's probably going to be an election this year around april... but it's kinda late rite, when no news has been released yet? hmmm... but then two sources leh... heck, i'm just itching to draw my 'cross'.

Dopey @ 11:58 PM | 0 comments

venerdì, febbraio 11, 2005

:: h*ms*p ::

h*ms*p has evidently proven his horoscope rite... (sometimes i wonder, do horoscopes really predict what we'll become or we subconsciously act according to what our horoscope said?) if the latter is right, won't some pple like eh ham... hem... sup... form their own horoscopes to explain their 'boastful' and 'critical' behaviour of themselves in this new year? ('...' are quotes fr h*ms*p)

Here's what i found in the great writer's blog... his blog entry is touted as the exam question in a future NYU paper... and i've added some 'model' answers. heh heh...

New York University, 2006. Final Year Examination, Contemporary Asian Literature

Qn 1: Discuss the symbolism of the author (mua) mentioning the presence of a "a round coffee table, about 30cm in diameter..." in his entry "ZEN?".
the 'round coffee table, about 30cm in diameter' is a symbolic representation of mua's face when he had his wisdom teeth extracted... then it was round, like mua suffered from Cushing's syndrome... however, there are two schools of thought regarding the 'coffee'... some say it could be a hidden desire to become a coffee plantation owner in brasil instead of a medical student and the other school of thought regards coffee as the nickname of the drug that mua had become addicted to in his years in medical school.

Qn2: Briefly explain the significance of the author's use of the acronym "EW".
the acronym EW means... there also two schools of thoughts here... one is that EW is actually the name of a person the significance is that evidently... the other school of thought is EW stands for East-West which is what mua's writings encompasses.

Qn3: In your opinion, what is the most striking feature of this author's writings.
Underneath the seemingly gentlemanly, peaceful appearance of mua, there is actually a closet Arjun fan bursting to express himself in song and dance, especially the traditional mating dance of kookakoo (which involves 2 hamsaps and a coconut tree...) in summary the most striking feature of mua's writings is... um... um... the answer is outnowhere...

boy am i glad the study break is here, or else i'd probably suffer a cracked mandible and blue eye or something like that on monday!

Dopey @ 11:54 PM | 0 comments

:: balloting ::

before i talk about the rather inefficient balloting we did today, i've got to say something...

DARN THE STUPID HAZE! it's lead to respiratory symptoms for me (like rhinitis, lacrimation, cough, wheeze (even!), dry throat and dry eyes...)

and also, i think pple are just inherently KAYPOH... or like to read boh liaoz entries that some pple think are either bitchy or xiaxue-like. ever since i blogged this my blog meter has been increasing exponentially... no wonder a certain person will blog some cock and bull story that simply makes me fascinated by how her brain works...

anyway... back to mundane stuff... today we balloted for our polyclinics and GP clinics... it's quite erm... 'crappy'? but a necessity i guess... cos we all know that if it were left up to the DO pple, more than half of us would end of travelling across our sunny island every morning... so... i got bt merah polyclinic, not too bad considering that half my grp stays in the far-east and the other in the quite-west, it was a reasonable compromise... humsup best lor, got hougang PC which means he just needs to get out of bed and walk a short while there... but i'm very lucky too la... for GP clinic wooohoooo!!! i got fajar shopping centre... which is abt 10min slow walk for me... and 5 min run hahaha! ole ole ole ole... so i'll be there with Reema (not the rooster, Wenky)... ended up, Wenky n EW are going there too! hey guys i think you'll be glad to hear from my mum that the GP for your clinic has received some praise from the ah po's and ah ma's in yr area... ;) so cool, we can meet for lunch... :D can go to the plaza for lunch too if anyone's keen! cos so near!!!

Dopey @ 10:55 PM | 0 comments

giovedì, febbraio 10, 2005

:: the manchurian candidate ::

hmm i don't believe singapore brought this movie into our box office. and i wonder why not? it's a great movie... in terms of plot. starring denzel washington and liev schreiber as american soldiers in the gulf war who was part of the platoon 'lost' to communication for 3 days... no one really knew what happened in those 3 days... years after their return, where washington had become a high-ranking captain, and schreiber had become a powerful senator in the running for vice presidency, the former starts experiencing strange dreams, and felt that he had been brainwashed... (somewhat) anyway, what follows is this whole conspiracy thingy... (yup, and you'll find out what 'the manchurian candidate' actually stands for). i think i shouldn't have any spoilers here, cos it really would spoil the movie...

just go watch it, it's worth the time, can free ya mind from pharmaco n cofm... the other parts of your brain needs some exercise as well! ;)

Dopey @ 11:18 PM | 0 comments

martedì, febbraio 08, 2005

:: reunion dinner ::

waaaaaa just had a really cool dinner! now i shall make all of your mouths water by blogging about the fantastic paella i had for dinner! it's the best paella that i've tried so far!

The paella is one of the most well-known Spanish dishes and it originated from Valencia. It's got different flavours, the most well known of which are the seafood paella and the arroz negro (the one with black rice, black cuz it's dyed black with squid ink). Here's a picture of it:



drooool.... anyway the rice is a special rice, they call it Valencia rice, i dunno what's the actual name... so it's cooked in a pan, together with the stock (which sometimes includes wine), and then there's various spices, such as oregano, saffron... and a variety of ingredients, then it's finally left to simmer... so in the end, what you get is this succulent flavoured rice with all your ingredients in a pan...

droool... anyway i had it at Esmirada Bar & Grill (CHIJMES) and it's damn good! mouth-watering... for about 30 bux, you get... the rice with sun-dried tomatoes, capsicum, mussels, scallops, crayfish, salmon, prawns, squid... yup and weirdly, also came with one chicken wing hidden deep inside. lolz... first time i see a chicken wing in a paella. :) anyway the result was actually more ingredients than rice. haha... and the seafood was all v fresh, at least, for those with more discerning tastebuds... slurp!

my mum had rather boring black pepper crusted grilled sirloin... my brother and father had really cool looking kebabs... one chicken and one swordfish! can get to see the chefs cook there... so quite fun. hmmm the ambience is perfect, the service is very good too, and the music is well... i like it but i doubt lots of other pple would... coz... it's either latino, or mostly arabic. hehe...

Esmirada's basically a mediterranean restaurant, so they serve food from Greece, Spain (the Andalucian part at least), Italy, Turkish and Arabic regions... i almost had the Musaka (cuz it looked so tempting with EGGPLANTS, and it was Greek, so might be interesting, but anyway it had minced lamb and so i din really want to take that risk). I'm gng to digest my food now... ciao!

Dopey @ 10:19 PM | 0 comments

:: it's great to meet up! ::

After not having met up with TF for like 6 years, Shing & I finally met up with her yday! It was just too bad we couldn't get the rest to join us! TF was our peer support leader when we were just tots in sec one. All cute cute lil'shorties, with innocent 'bambi' eyes... (don't puke), and well, just very gin na (hokkien for 'kid'). So when she saw us, she was like: Whoa, you two bian4 mei3 le... (Shing & I: very pleased with ourselves, on cloud #9) till she said: also bian4 lao3 le... (:/) haha...

Anyway it's always good to meet up and pick up the threads with such special people in our lives... I think it would be such a waste if we didn't fortify the friendship. :D So... yesterday, she was telling us all about her work, she's a social worker... she also told us more about the MSW (medical social worker) apparently, they're very very busy, the turn over rate for cases is extremely high, MSWs do get a bit more 'prestige' and pay BUT... the work life is quite sh*tty, OTs, OTs and MORE OTs... It was a really informative and heart-warming experience. haiz, I just remember the good ole' days at SCGS. Life was really like a bed of roses then. heh...

Concept of SELF-CARE: throughout the entire dinner, TF was stressing on self-care, a concept that I had only gotten to know more recently. Yup, it's SUPERRR important... so as not to let ourselves be burnt out. Plus, in our relentless, diligent work towards achieving our goals (be it getting graduating, getting a good job, or simply living out our lives) we need to pamper ourselves once in a while. We do deserve some kind of reward, rite, for working soooo hard! :)

We just chatted non-stop (yes, like all SCgals do... once they start they CANNOT stop yakking) and time just FLEW past... I'm glad she's still the same ole' TF (but i'm sure we've changed to her) Despite not having really spoken to her since 6 years ago, it was like time hadn't really passed for us... so natural... :) :) :) I feel so darn fortunate!

Dopey @ 12:39 PM | 0 comments

lunedì, febbraio 07, 2005

Disclaimer: This is going to be one of my most forthright blog ever, and has been written in an attempt to staunch all gossips, rumours or speculations about my recently-ended relationship. To all those who are my ‘close’ friends, I am sorely disappointed that some of you have chosen to question others about my r/s, instead of asking me directly. It can only show one thing, you’re either cowards, or you’re not my close friend after all. To others who have persisted in asking me about my r/s especially when you are not in my circle of ‘close’ friends, please, go stick your nose in other people’s affairs, all this prying doesn’t give others a good impression of yourself.

Ok, I shall be direct. I am no longer with Nico, and in case you’re having some mental block, I shall say, this relationship has ended. Finito. Terminado. My boyfriend, yes, the Italian one (I heard some of you are just beginning to spread this fact around… a bit WOLS don’t you think?) has gone to Shanghai, China to work, as well as learn Mandarin. He will NOT be coming back to Singapore anytime soon, unless it’s a social visit/business visit. I’m almost certain he’s not likely to be working in Singapore within say, the next few years. Thus, there is NO possibility that we will get back together within the said time frame. Currently, we are maintaining contact via emails, and when he is all settled into his job, back to sms and perhaps calls. This does NOT mean that we are having a long distance relationship. I will just call this a special friendship, one that even I myself cannot say how long it will last.

Now, maybe your mind is rife with questions… and speculations, thus, I shall have an FAQ section:
1. Why are you so practical/xian4shi2? Don’t you think your r/s should stand the test of distance?
That’s me, I am that xian4shi2. I don’t wish to place the r/s on hold or on the strain of long distance. R/s is not the only thing I’m handling in my life you know.

2. Why did you decide to go out with him, knowing well that one day he might leave?
This is so simple, cuz I like him. (Now don’t start asking me why I like him. I like him means I like him. You don’t need to know the rest.) I believe that love is something that you just have to grasp on to. Kinda like carpe diem. Even if he leaves, I still have the fond memories to hold on to, that sure beats running away from your chance at love.

3. I’m astounded, you don’t sound sad at all? Or is it because you never took this r/s seriously?
Ya, I’m not sad cuz I’m a machine. :P People who know me best know that I never do things without a purpose/reason and I definitely don’t take pleasure in wasting time over things that I’m not serious about.

4. I’m surprised that you don’t sound sad, is it because either or both of you already wanted to end this r/s even before he left?
I don’t sound sad cuz the process of healing has already started from within and because I’m such a great masquerader. I would say the actual ‘break up’ speech never happened. Both parties knew we were going to have to part and so we made the best of whatever time was left for us. We wanted to have the best memories to remain with us, even if the other person’s gone.

5. You’re such a b*tch, talking about your r/s like this, don’t you have any sense of privacy/shame?
Sense of privacy? Check this out! Sense of shame? Check this out! Before you claim that I’m such a b*tch, why don’t you take a look around at the rumour mongers who’ve prompted me to write this blog?

6. Were there any other reasons for the break-up?
3rd party? No. Disagreements? Not any that hadn’t already been solved. Quarrels? Nope. Too busy? Definitely not, we get to meet at least once a week. Both of us also do not like a ‘sticky’ bf/gf, once a week’s fine for us.

7. Have you ever regretted this relationship?
No, definitely not. In fact, I would have regretted had I not taken this path. It has done wonders to my self-confidence and my social life!

8. Why did you choose an ‘ang moh’ bf? What’s so good/great about these Caucasians?
This is the question that lots of people love to ask me. It’s somewhat a kind of trend in Singapore. Some people who’ve never met me before probably think I’m some kind of sarong party girl… (What a hilarious joke!) I don’t see anything great/better/superior about Caucasians… they just mostly have non-black eyes and non-black hair and probably sharper noses than us lot. Simply, a person’s looks/nationality/ethnicity aren’t that important to me. I just want a person I can relate to, someone I’m comfortable with, someone with *chemistry*.

9. So how did you get over all the agony?
Well, I realised something important. That even though I’m sad, there are also people around who are sad, and if I could do something to cheer them up, or say something to comfort them, the sadness in me lessens too. It’s a lesson that I hope everyone will learn from. Wallowing in self-pity is the road to intensifying whatever pain you feel, whilst giving your attention to others, not only helps to heal yourself, but also others around you.

10. So do you have a new target now?
Negative. I’m not ready for any relationship.

11. What type of guy do you like?
First and foremost, do not smoke, gamble, womanise. Comparable intellect (not necessarily in terms of paper qualifications, rather, in terms of higher brain function). Looks-wise: not crucial. Height-wise: I’m sure it won’t be too difficult to be taller than me. Character-wise: that’s almost impossible to say… as long as there’s chemistry, then it’s ok.

Finally, I will like to say that this blog is NOT directed at anyone in particular, just me showing how much I hate rumour mongers. I’m also very grateful to my special friend AGAG and my b*tching partner for all they’ve done in the past month or so. If anyone else has any *burning* questions to ask, please write them here. Thanks!

Dopey @ 2:36 AM | 1 comments

domenica, febbraio 06, 2005

:: my latest metamorphosis ::

i think from a fair butterfly i have evolved into a -SOLAR PANEL-

why? cuz today, i wore black, and was absorbing all kinds of rays at maximum rate... then... after i got home, i bathed... and had dinner... it was like charging up or sth... then suddenly, i started emanating heat! wa! so hot! my face was like on fire... and whoa... just keep generating heat... heated up my room, in the end couldn't take it anymore and went to get some ice cubes to erm eat. and went downstairs to enjoy the cool night breeze... now i'm back here, generating less heat. phew!

PS: met kok kok today, hehe... as usual spent our time bitching and then we went for a shop-watchathon... she shopped, i watched actually i wanted to go run run today (but stupid haze, running in it is like a health hazard)

Dopey @ 10:33 PM | 0 comments

:: The Princess Diaries II - a review ::

well well, aren't you all shocked that i - the morbid, lover-of-horror-movies geek has watched a romantic comedy? heh heh... of ALL such princess stories... or stories of fairy tales-come-true, i have to say, i enjoy 'the princess diaries' best. not solely for the fairy tale and the happy ending, but for it's razor sharp wit, it's jokes (that are NOT slapstick), and the fun! yes, it is a hugely entertaining movie, to the extent that i can watch it twice... and... if i could/dared to (what with the finals looming in the near future) even thrice!

heh heh... um... so who's 'funny' in the movie? well, almost everybody, except the 'bad guy'... there's an agent smith lookalike, an overzealous teenager doing an attachment for national security, a head of guards whose voice is wowow so loud! and yup... simply, lots of witty jokes, nothing slapstick i promise you (or you can come slap me)...

anne hathaway is a good actress, it's not surprising, i believe she was the only american to be accepted into some british drama school... or vice versa. sorry, not v clear about that, but i believe she's had vocal training for musicals and real-life performances, not those hollywood films where your voice can be edited AFTER the film has been shot. :)

ahhhhh such a fun film! keke... i've been laffing throughout the film, my mother actually looked in on me, cuz she tot i was studying till i 'kee siao' so embarrassing. oops.

so late now... i shall go listen to the dear cd sanzhu got me for my bday! oooh so nice (both the music AND the singer!)

Dopey @ 3:27 AM | 0 comments

sabato, febbraio 05, 2005

:: got things to blog le! ::

oh noooo, i'm supposed to feel -very sorry- for myself, cuz i've -NEVER- heard of kdlang. but i saw her pic tt day. can someone send me tt 'constant craving' song pls? i got gmail... send me ma... so i can stop wallowing in self-pity. :P hymns of the 49th parallel? sounds soothing and like vocals? OF COURSE I'M INTERESTED! watcha doing, hand it over quick! haha... just joking, i doubt HS could part with this cd, i guess you could bring it and i could 'listen' to it in the cofm lab? eh he... xie xie...

:: COFM applied to real life ::

wow! today, COFM was soooo impressive! or rather, WML was. on a separate point, i think her smile is really dazzling... like julia roberts! heh. on a more important note, i got to apply my COFM skills on two people today! waaa.... i was counselling someone on diet, nutrition and exercise lolz... i dunno whether the person got it in or not... but i managed at least to teach him what is BMI and how to calculate BMI, what is carbohydrate and how to avoid fat in foods... and also appropriate exercise. i guess the educating part's done, just dunno if he got actually motivated... next up, i'm actually having to counsel a friend of mine on quitting the ciggie. i think that's going to be far far harder! hmmm ok got to go read the 'quit for life' pamphlet now! tata!!!

Dopey @ 3:29 AM | 0 comments

venerdì, febbraio 04, 2005

:: nothing to blog ::

weirdly, i've been experience blogstipation aka blogger's blog. nothing to blog leh, and i still dun want to blog abt my birthday yet. lolz (i'm still in denial!) just want to say that i'm very very very happy with my birthday gifts this year, though i cannot say the same for my family and my neighbour downstairs. cuz i've been singing, or rather, screeching along, happily with my cds. hee hee

of my cds, here are the nice songs:

josh groban's closer - think pavarotti (minus the throatiness) + bocelli (minus the difficult to understand italian) + 50% of looks from mario frangoulis + peaceful music, meaningful words, wonderful tunes...
recommend: oceano, mi mancherai (for the fantastic solo by joshua BELL), you raise me up, all'improvviso amore
most famous: you raise me up

mario frangoulis' follow your heart - think shuai shuai shuai dai le! (i'm still dazzled cuz i found an absolutely DROOL-worthy pic of him inside... not the bad-boy look type)
recommend: follow your heart, hay m'as (for alejandro's really chocolate-smooth voice), enas hartinos ilios (waaaa i like it so much!) and come what may
my fave: enas hartinos ilios
however, i think his second latest cd is better in terms of showing his vocal prowess.

josh groban's josh groban - these artistes may have lots of ideas when it comes to music, but lack creativity when it comes to naming their cds, this cd is not as nice as 'closer' or maybe i've listened to it too many times.
recommend: er... actually ALL the songs inside are really nice. i highly recommend this album. :)

ok... i've also recently laid my hands on kevin kern's 'enchanted garden'...

anyone wants any THING, let me know... i'll be happy to SHARE my stuff with u. ;)

*funnily, i cannot access hamsup's blog today. missing my dose of caffeine and quirky humour. *grumpy dopey*
*i'm also starting to miss the blogs abt fish...
*how come hypoC's blog isn't loading too!

Dopey @ 10:45 PM | 0 comments

mercoledì, febbraio 02, 2005

:: taufik ::

eh heh, guess what, we (the gang who went to fish n co.) today, saw taufik while staggering out of fish n co. feeling very satisfied. he was with another gal... surprisingly, he looks exactly how he looks on tv, probably better... he seems to have either put on mascara, or is suffering from severe chronic lack of sleep, or else he was born with dark rings around the eyes...

hehe... a big thanks to all of you for the wonderful time i had today! and a big HUG for not sabo-ing me today!

i shall do my bday blog another day. ha... i need to go fulfil my craving to blow a few candles...

Dopey @ 11:29 PM | 0 comments

martedì, febbraio 01, 2005

:: blog diarrhoea ::

one more thing to say before i stop feeling constipated (that's the effect of NOT blogging for ages) unlike some people who look perfectly fine even after a blog hiatus of 15days...

what i want to say is... D has been saying 'go study go study' at the end of almost every encounter with him. i'm really -very- stressed out now... and it doesn't make it better when JSJS also asks whether i had done my cofm tuts. x_x

so now, i shall go do my tutorials... dun nag le k... :P

Dopey @ 2:03 AM | 0 comments

:: follow up ::

remember the time when i wrote that -someone- smsed me this after having not seen me for close to 9 years?

well, that someone struck again today!

the story: 2 wks ago, someone asked me to do him a favour, of getting some contributions for a mag from peers of mine. given his seniority and that i do owe him a little something, i agreed to help. so today, i emailed all the submissions over to him and sent him an sms just to make him aware that i'd done so.

the reply:
Thanks LiQi, You r an Angel.

*shudders and gets goosebumps -all- over, even on the scalp* EUWWWWWWWW... that was why i was puking all night. and on my birthday still. choy! what an sms to receive... i'm just sooooooo grossed out! pui pui pui...

Dopey @ 1:59 AM | 0 comments

:: CHP presentation ::

Hmmm, I thought that my group performed rather well at the presentation. Kudos especially to HS for his stunning performance… (I think he’s almost a lao3jiang4 at this, his debut was at the seminar for DM foot) *sigh* wish I could speak like him, I –always- stutter when I have to speak in front of an audience, like as in my neurotransmitters have taken the wrong path. Poor PL was quite nervous today, but eventually she did well too, especially when being ‘grilled’. QM was extremely nervous, but still managed to deliver his speech, and it’s not easy, being the data manager. JSJS was very funny, I was half tempted to flash some fangs at him towards the end of the presentation, but I forgot to prepare… and I know that if I did that, I’d –never- hear the end of it… EW kind of smiled or made some evil face at HS pre-presentation hehe… HS is so fun to tease at times heh!

Then, the grilling/shelling/bombing came… I think those profs were out to bully us. Just coz prof BOM and WML weren’t around, they thought they could cook us to bits. Nevertheless, we gave it as good as we’ve got, and I think we pulled thru rather ok. The worst part was when prof H asked why we used odds ratio instead of prevalence rate ratio? Well, the –entire- group was STUNNED. D had a look of wonderous shock on his face! Luckily prof time-keeper saved the day by saying that we should go discuss with our own prof regarding this. Ie. It’s BOM’s fault lah…

Unfortunately, I felt we had over-emphasised on the point that our questionnaires are VALIDATED… PL, HS, QM, JSJS ALL said it… JSJS even said: 100%... come to think of it, he sounded like PCK at times. Har har… in the end, the prof bu4shuang3 and decided to nitpick over there… he said tt our questionnaires were only validated overseas and not in Singapore. Yeah… we didn’t say our Qn were validated here wat… at least it’s better than grp two that DIDN’T use any validated Qn. I felt their results were at the best, very woolly. Anyway, some parts were plain bullying… the students didn’t even ask that many questions as compared to for the other groups… (maybe they all just wanted to get it over and done with! lolz) I think the profs were having a field day bombing us… (plus we were the last group too)… Yoz lulu, I didn’t know there were so many other evily-evily pple out there… we can soon start a club!

Dopey @ 1:56 AM | 0 comments

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