Flat Foot??

Woke up super early today(okie only for my standards)to visit the doc today.Something is different today, maybe cos i don't feel that gloomy mood that has been shadowing me for the past few days.For the first time i manage to catch a cab without looking for one to the clinic.When i was there, i was the next immediate patient to enter.But the not so happening part came next.Doc checked my foot.Said i didn't an x-ray.Phew.He just said there was some tissue swelling and bleeding going on in there.I'm not suppose to play any basketball,jog or wear dangerously elevated footwear.Being curious,i ask the doc about the bony protrusion on the side of my foot which came before last ImuCup(4 months ago).He suddenly ask me to take off my slippers and stand on the floor.Er,weird feeling.Then he delivered the bummer, he came up with the diagnosis that i had a slight flat foot,that's why the bone is protruded. He told me i had to get a supporting inner sole not available in Malaysia and the nearest stop was Singapore.Hmm..how cool rite,can pretend to make a trip there to shop. After thinking about it for hours and listening to Paul and Ben telling me about it,I kinda doubt the diagnosis.Reasons are, well i played sports my whole life, i've never had any unjustified pain in the foot or my back and the supporting bone on my foot can't be unevenly protuded on one side only? Call it denial but i refuse to accept the fact till i get a second opinion.So for now...no inner soles for me. I wanna go play volleyball instead..too bad it's raining.And no Chia Huan or Winnie around.Huhu..

Planning for the future

Went to midval today on my healing sprained foot from basketball.It was nice to be able to put weight on 2 foot again instead of limping around.Lunch was at this place in Gardens called Rak Thai.I ordered a dish which was named Khao Ki Mao.Sounded pretty vulgar but tastes very good.Definitely worth going back.It actually tasted like something my friend,Gary prepared years back on a CNY gathering.It was sometime ago but basil always taste the same.Anyway,Mus and Ben didn't stay long after that.Sulking Mus was sleepy and grumpy.I on the other hand,stayed around and pursued an impulsive thought.I went for a walk in interview in Topshop.Took a lil time to build up courage but it wasn't that hard.Only dilemma now is,should i take this 8 hour a day,6 days a week,48 hours a week job in exchange of a research project which doesn't offer allowance.It's a classic battle between gaining experience or earning money.If everything had worked out as planned,i wouldn't have to consider this and Ah Ben wouldn't have to sell his body to be simulated patient.Why oh why do things never go as planned?I wonder if this is a test of patience and diligence.Even my hp's microphone bails on me when i need most to talk to people.Well i'll leave this all for a lil later.Gonna wake up to the excitement of getting my foot X-rayed.

Holding Up

Last week was pretty mundane. The early stages at least.

Monday-It was difficult to start off with prior uncertainties which clouded the research project I was supposed to work on. Rather then experience the Monday Blues most working people would have, I had to fill up my courage with hopes that everything will go as planned. Luckily, the stars were shining upon us, Dr Ignacio with a slumber face told us that the project was approved and good to go. Yay one barrier over.Hmmm then? Figuring what to do next. Meet the other co-researchers and it was mostly talk that I couldn’t understand plus a short tour to meet people. Ended up assigned to shadowing a senior/friend/ex-src colleague, Inthi, who would be nice enough to show us what we would be in for. Highlight for the day was a visit to the animal house. The mice were so cute!!! The smell was not so pleasant though. There were huge scary rats around as well but contrary to the dirty black ones we usually see near the drain these were huge white rats with long red tails and blood red eyes..it’s like some horror movie. Inthi also mentioned that we would be working with the more aggressive ICR mice. (Bring it on mice, if you bite me, I’ll bite you back.hehe). It was the best day in many which had passed. Especially since I got to play basketball after months of sedentary lifestyle!

Tuesday-Nothing happened. Spend a whole day on alone time. Suddenly had the urge to go jogging..then it extended to a walk to the pasar malam and back.Satisfied.Was high on endorphins.

Wednesday- Still no news from Inthi. Ben decided we should play badminton. So we did. No one around, so we tried to tire each other out by running around the court.

Thursday-Looking for more adventure. Figured vista swimming pool not big enough, so Ben and I went for Bukit Jalil olympic sized swimming pool.

Friday-Had to go for practice session with Dr Nyut Wai for Open Day.After such a long time,still had my skills.Finally Pharmacy class test was over. Got to hangout with Ah Yen,Karen and the rest of the gang.Was introduced to an Osyter Noodle, pretty nice in fact but we had weird conversations about a certain topic not to be disclosed to others.(especially not here)And it was the first time I noticed the underground walk way connecting Midval and Gardens.We saw Big Apple Donuts but too full to buy. First time I turned down buying donuts.Guess I’m cured of my donuts craze.Not…
The night was spent at Planet Hollywood.Food was superb (better then TGIF but I still like Chilles, company too, atmosphere was superb..live band later that night.

Saturday- Whole day blur blur in Times Square then…Jay Chou World Tour 2008!!Stadium Merdeka-8pm .When I arrived, like ¾ stadium filled already. Pretty difficult to look for a seat, was walking up and down aimlessly till my friends and I settled for a seat on the aisle. Had an hour to kill while my thirst centre was signaling. Desperately looked for people selling bottled water and it was damn hot. Noticed that I was overly dressed for the event, there were people who came in just t-shirt, shorts and slippers, like going to pasar malam. Well, I had to do with jeans and high heels. The concert was superbly amazing; from the start there were already flashy lights of my favourite colour, purple. When Jay Chou emerged it was like madness unleashed. It was a mixture but he sang many of the older songs which were of no disappointment to me because I actually love the older ones a lil more. Only upset was he didn’t sing Ge Qian. As usual, there was a session with his piano which is just so encaptivating. This time with a twist, he had a transparent grand piano…so cool rite? And and he played the song from Secret , I was seriously amazed at his speed on the keys. Was pretty skeptical about the scene from the movie before but skeptical no more. Didn’t go crazy and shout stuff like Jay Chou I love you but the mood kept me really high for the night.

Sunday- Imu Open Day…had to drag myself out of bed. Was stationed along with Ben, Prasad and Mustaq to do checks on postural hypotension. The criteria was; people over 60 yrs , diabetics or people with fainting spells when they stand up. Considering those criteria’s obviously not many visitors for that purpose. So we ended up as a one stop bp station/information counter. We has many interesting characters asking all sorts of question and having to prove things scientifically like the bp on both sides of the arm are actually equal. At the end of the day we did learn a lot on rapport building (it’s really awkward if you don’t talk for the whole duration of the bp taking), definitely a lot of practice on taking blood pressure in limited time and made friend with a few budding pharmacy students handling the microscopes. Two of them even brought down 20 Yakult drinks from the 4 floor to share. They are so nice kan?

Daddy came to pick me up for dinner. Brought Karen along, so nostalgic to bring ex-roomie to aunt’s place for dinner. Not gonna write about the fuming time I spent in Giant trying to get an internet connection. The conclusion is that, I don’t have a proper one until now. As a pick me up, had strawberries from Cameron to feast upon. Yummy.

Pretty lazy to wait for rest of photos to load...next time maybe

Valentine's Day

This is a pretty back dated post but i guess this wonderful warm memory will stick.Most single people might feel sidelined when it comes to that day every year.But i don't see the need to be.That's because i'll have friends single and taken alike that will make sure that i'm not forgotten.It's more like a celebration of friendship.Michelle and I did exactly that.What made it so great was that it was a last minute thing and it was the first time i got to meet her again after a year.So sweet kan?Got rose somemore and a golden packet full of souvenirs.In exchange my instinct had lead me to prepare a love letter.Hehe.What better way to tell a friend that it you appreciate them,then to tell them?But i know this psychic best friend of mine can understand me even before i say it.Makes me feel that this bond is just Magic.Maybe our magic did us good too,we were lucky enough to get a table in Chilles despite a huge crowd and spent the night chatting away.Seriously thinking back,it's not like we kept in touch daily,weekly or even at months at a time.Somehow,when I do face challenging times,I'll always have her to give me hope.Life is just more worth while with great friends to share with.

MacBook Or Not?

Hmm..had a chat with my dad earlier on my application for UK visa. Somehow the topic went beyond my scope and I was urged to get my stuff ready earlier cos knowing me I’ll try to squeeze everything in the last month and in the end get my parents all worried. Anyway, one of the stuff meant getting a new lappie. It’s always fun when I get approval to buy stuff. Many thoughts are flying around in my mind, was wondering if I should spent more money getting a MacBook cos it’s nice(duh..price also nice) and has photo editing that I love or I should just stick to the other plain old processors that run with windows vista. Had Ah Yen’s opinion because she is like the most pro saleslady from pc fair I know. But knowing her, she’s always helping me indulge in the things I like..that’s why I love her but not really practical that way. Definitely need to seek out a more professional help to solve my problem. My CNY wish-to find cheap and good MacBook. Where to get???

TGI Fridays on a Sunday

Met up with yet another 'long time no see friend' yesterday.Whoopee.That said i haven't met most of my Penangites friends for sometime.So any meet up is an extremely happy event.Went to watch Sweeteny Todd, that's not one of the best movies for those who are squeamish and i know most medical students will beg to differ as the murder scenes are so fake.Kinda like slicing rubber dolls.Surprisingly the pie scenes makes me get goosebumps instead.Can't describe it but i have the images locked in my head..no pies for me for sometime.That reminds me,no wonder people under 18 aren't allowed to watch it.One of my friend had her IC checked because she looked to young.I guess it's a compliment for people our age to be mistaken for minors.Though something else comes in mind, why are some girls reluctant to reveal their age? I've never had a problem with that.Maybe that's cos no one ever told me i'm too old i guess. But everything has it's time.

Nevertheless our dinner plans were not differed even after the movie.We headed to TGI's and were warmly greeted but a staff which we had no idea was our junior cos she looked more matured then us per se.Well there goes the age theory.Age is just a number for now.









Appetizers...Yummy!!!




Jo Leen and I had a run of bad luck or maybe we can call it good luck when we decided to share a 3 course meal.The Entree we ordered came undercooked twice.My blur friend(from previous post) was naive enough to think that it was a method of cooking chicken leaving it to a pink and jellish consistency.She even tired to ask the staff who served us.Most have confused the poor guy.

We being the nice people we were didn’t bother to make a fuss. But they did offer to compensate our wait with the delicious mushroom soup. Two in fact with the persuasion. Needless to say we spent to long long time there, chatting and digging up life histories, along with that enduring 5 birthday celebrations. Even came up with a plan to declare it’s our friend’s birthday on the next visit. Now wouldn’t that be fun?

SUPER condo

About a week ago , my second aunt called to invite us to her daughter’s house warming party. Normal and nothing special but it was most definitely not. Needless to say I had no idea that her humble abode was one of those super condo’s in Gurney Drive. So excited to go..have seen those in hong kong drama’s but to see the real thing, couldn’t miss it. Actually, have no idea what it takes to be a called a super condo instead of a normal condo but from what I observed I guess it must be pretty huge. Bro told me that it was twice the size of our home( upstairs and downstairs combined) and it cost a hell of a lot, 1.9 million was the estimated price. Well it does come with a sea front view and it’s located in one of the most buzzing areas in Penang. If I had that kinda money I think I’d rather make it grow some more..Hehe. After makan ,went to venture around the area..look what I found..

Upstairs was a whole new ball game...Mental note, never take the lift without getting someone with a flashcard to operate the lift.

Filling time

Was anticipating the arrival of 31^st of Jan for sometime….you know why? Because that’s the day one of my bestest friend would be done with work and would go on a shopping spree with me. Despite the anticipation, overslept our 11 am date due to insomnia from the previous night. First stop, headed to the post office in Tesco to mail off the keys of my ex apartment room back to the landlord. The queue didn’t seem to be that long but when I took a number..it was 1182…but on screen it was only 1128. Ah horror. Decided to make use of time and had lunch with Adelyn. Couldn’t believe I had mix up the keys the first time. Kinda got Jane June in trouble with the freakishly demanding landlord. Threatened not to give back the deposit due to delay of one key…ishk. Anyway, glad that was over and done with. Still feel sorry for Jane June for having to bear with the constant taunting.

Finally reached Queensbay in one piece, after enduring Adelyn’s driving and parking. Actually she’s not that bad after all, manage to do side parking in the busiest corner in Penang at the end of the day. Bravo girl..way to go. After that, what else to do but to shop. The moment we entered the first store we knew were gonna take ages before we actually manage to finish even one floor. For two girls…we really did a lot of shopping. And we didn’t even manage to conquer that one floor. Hehe. Finished up in an unexpected stop where I got my face plastered with face powder by an over enthusiastic saleslady till I looked as white as a geisha. After mopping up my face, depositing our finds for the day, Adelyn and I decided to hang up our little aching feet while waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive in Swensen’s for dinner. Ice cream and good company what else could I ask for?

Even though it has been ages since I’ve seen some of my friends, it’s great to know that I don’t always have to start by asking those common challenging questions like “How are you doing?” .For us girls, the start is always more like “Have you heard about so and so ?” Can’t classify it as gossip but rather say that it’s sharing of information. But the funniest moment of the day was when a blur friend replied to a question..

Friend A : Hey where to find pirated …?(dot dot dot was the exact words uttered)

Blur Friend : Pirated what? Porn ar ?

How dot dot dot became porn. I have no idea. But for the record it meant dvds.

People...wake up and give a helping hand

I’m here eating, drinking, sleeping, baking…learning to make sushi and I’m complaining about being bored. But an e-mail from my friend has given me something to think about. Life is not to be taken for granted. The Chinese call it the destiny and believe that everything has its own time. When it’s your turn to go, it’s your turn, nothing to argue about. Nevertheless while we’re still here it’s for the better that we make our life mean something. I’m not talking about going out to save to world or become a missionary to preach and save children from hunger in Africa but those little little that you think may not matter.

I did something today I wouldn’t normally do when receiving an e-mail- Reach out to a cause that I know may or most probably will no be heard by those it was meant for. But i guess i can't argue with my friend that the war is half won when people are aware.The issue about the bus crash has been all over the news..even my bunch of friends and I have mulled over it…but can anyone do anything about it?

If you would like to help, visit this blog BusCrashNoMore and do more by signing this PETITION

I won't even pretend to begin to understand the hurt and suffering that a family has to go through at something so sudden but as someone who has lost a loved one not so long ago....all I can offer are my prayers and the hope that the families will have the strength to guide them through it all.But as a humble bus regular...thoughts are flying...fears are creeping...to think that it could have been anyone...and that it could have been me.