YP's Rantings

Moved

2004-09-03T11:56:00.000+08:00

Moved

YP's Rantings has moved to its home at http://www.yeepei.com :)

Bidding Farewell

2004-09-01T14:34:00.000+08:00

Bidding Farewell

This is my last post from the CAMMR lab, better known as the VMU lab or, among my batchmates, the fish tank. No more canggih workstation, no more "my own computer" in school, no more privileged guinea pig status. I'm really going to miss this. *sobz*

Goodbye, darling lab...

Respi was bad, to me at least. Nothing I expected appeared, so ya. sigh. I'm going to fail... die die die die die die die die

Love & Fractured Ribs

2004-08-31T19:45:00.000+08:00

Love & Fractured Ribs
While studying for Respi this afternoon, we found this little piece of literary work at the end of the M1/99 past year Respi MCQs.

To let love slip through your hands is like having fractured ribs,
It hurts with every breath you take.
Damage done may not be visible,
But an unrecognised hemothorax can kill within minutes.
Treasure your loved one like your ribs.

You Never Know

2004-08-30T19:29:00.000+08:00

You Never Know... who reads your blog

If finding strange people reading your blog is freaky, then finding out that your lecturer reads your blog, and then telling you that he reads it may well top the list of freaky-things-that-can-happen-to-bloggers. Of course, Sheena feels that AAD people reading your blog and passing a message via its tagboard is more strange but each of us are entitled to our own views. Ok, ok, fine.. fine.. We know all along that because our blogs are online, everyone has access to it and definitly shouldn't be whining about this. I'm not whining ya, I'm just expressing my extreme surprise at this little bit of news.

*Waves* Hello, to whoever has been reading YP's Rantings, especially those who I know in person, yet do not know have been doing so. (Am I making sense?) Leave a comment lah, next time...

On another note, YP's Rantings is moving at last. To a place I have always wanted it to be, moving day is 3rd September 2004... Some know the significance of the date, some don't. It doesn't matter. What is so special about 3rd September 2004 is... *drum roll*... YP's Rantings will no longer be on blogspot. Yay!!! *excited*

It's Sad...

2004-08-29T11:25:00.000+08:00

It's Sad...

We used to be close, now we're not. We used to care, now we don't. We used to share, now we don't. We used to have fun, now we don't. We used to talk, now... it's awkward.

Neither of us changed. Wonder what happened. Maybe I have always been making assumptions and we were never close. Maybe I was living in my own little world.

I'm not upset about what happened because I feel that I lost out, I'm upset because it does show about the friendship or the lack of it. Don't think it's the new relationships popping up, think it's the people. Are we still friends? Maybe we were never friends to begin with. I really shouldn't make assumptions about friendships.

-Lesson Learnt-

To risk sounding absolutely perasan or bhb (depending on your familarity with various languages used), I want no SMSes or emails or phonecalls asking me about this post. Thank you.

---

Update (310804)
Talking to her really helped. She helped me see things from a different perspective. Thanks gal.

Lack of Activity

2004-08-26T12:16:00.000+08:00

Lack of Activity
Everytime I post something like this, I end up doing the opposite.

With Respi in-course assessment, orientation and other stuff just around the corner, I don't think I'll be posting as often as before. Well, if you notice, postings since Sem 3 started have slowed down quite a bit. YP's Rantings is also moving to a new home, but you'll be updated on that later. Most people around me already know about the plan, but well, wait lah...

My Workstation

2004-08-25T14:55:00.000+08:00

My Workstation

Here's a picture of my workstation in the fishtank. :)

This was taken just before I left last night, at around 10.00pm. The pile of stuff on the bottom left, that's the pile of notes and stuff I was bringing back. :) Quite neat right?? I'm a neat and tidy person! Muahaha

If We Don't Get Any Weirder

2004-08-24T20:10:00.000+08:00

If We Don't get Any Weirder

Most people fall sick and end up groaning about it, but we are weird people. One of my fellow M2/03-ian is down with tonsilitis (appropriate time eh? just when we're doing respi system). What joy medical students find in being sick...

A: my oral cavity to the pharynx is nearly closed off, there's only a little bit of space around the uvula

A: wait, when i can i'll take a pic and send it to you

A: :D

YP: hahahaha ok

A: it's a wonder i can take anything at all

YP: suffer a bit, swollow a ponstan or something.. get the pain off.. u can sleep better lor. better rest, faster recovery. YP's theory.

A: the specialist inserted an endoscope down my nose, down my right (or was it left) nose, he could see severely swollen lymph nodes

A: he couldnt go further

A: my other nostril he could get past the outer nares and go no further

A: severe septal deviation

A: and he couldnt get past my tonsils

A: i could see the entire process

YP: CHUN!

A: it was cool

A: hehehe

On another note.. I hope he recovers soon. :) Friend, get well soon ya...

Encounters with Lecturers

2004-08-23T15:22:00.000+08:00

Encounters With Lecturers

I'm going to name 23rd Aug 2004 YP's "Encounters With Lecturers Day".

While looking at chest x-rays during CSU...

Dr A: Why do we want to place the film this way.. *look around, grab me by the shoulder, makes me stand in front of the light box*

Dr A: See? You want to look at your patient this way. You, where's your right?

Me: *puts up right hand*

Dr A: Left?

Me *wave wave with left hand*

(Everyone else laughing their heads off at my dumb impression and the lesson continued)

Dr A: What are these?

Smart M2/03ians: Spinal processes.

Dr A: *grabs me by the shoulder, makes me stand in front again, this time back to the group*

Dr A: *point point point at my back..* This is where the spinal processes are if you look at a skeleton. *poke at my neck*

Me: Eekz! (Er, sensitive ler..)

And in the afternoon, as I was happily walking back to CAMMR lab after filling up my bottle...

Me: *smiles* Good afternoon Dr D (I polite mah, and he's one of my fav lecturers.)

Dr D: What batch are you in?

Me: Er.. semester 3

Dr D: Respi system in course assessment. When?

Me: 1st september..

and the conversation continued with him telling me about his research project and 'bout getting people from my batch to help him and a special request for Sheena to see him.

Yeah, considering I don't talk to lecturers most of the time, today was quite terrible dee...

For a lack of a better topic...

2004-08-22T00:21:00.000+08:00

For a lack of a better topic...

Felt very guilty when I looked at my blog early in the morning and realised that I haven't been putting much effort into it since semester 3 started.

Looking around me, everyone looks so different these days. The stress of being second year students and most of all, the stress of the coming EoS in early January is really getting to us. Apart from academic stuff, my batch also has to worry about the M2/04 orientation which is on the same week as Respi exam and some of us are also involved in the planning of various other activities. Academic workload is piling up, responsibilites seem to be increasing non stop. Maybe it's because the Bukit Jalil campus only has students from 5 semester and as sem 3s, we have to take on quite a bit. Hmm...

I was supposed to pass the event leaders the SM list for their events but when I tried to print it out, it tells me that my file's corrupted and I can't even open them. The written copies are all in the CAMMR lab. Oh no... Looks like I'll have to get the event leaders to push back their briefings by a day or two, this feels HORRIBLE since everyone's working on a tight schedule here. Oh no oh no oh no...

On another note, I've been wanting to blog about my dogs... maybe I'll do that tomorrow... :)

Phrase of the day:

With life comes shit
- Caryn, after watching a delivery

Flirting with the Ice-Cream Vendor

2004-08-18T11:01:00.000+08:00

Flirting with the Ice-Cream Vendor

Has anyone of you ever flirted with the ice-cream vendor before? If you need some advice with regards to how to get the ice-cream vendor attracted to you, please approach my dear friend, Sheena. How do I know that the ice-cream vendor was attracted to her? Well, he did a nice impromptu street theatre thing for her. How sweeeet right? Aww...

Word of the day (17th August 2004): Denial
Phrase of the day (17th August 2004): Cari pasal

And He Said He Wasn't Good...

2004-08-15T11:41:00.000+08:00

And He Said He Wasn't Good...

Once upon a time, there was a debater who thinks he isn't good. Nevermind that someone once commented that his debating was very secondary school style, many of us think he's good and I mean, very good kinda good. One day, this debater went for an intervarsity friendly and in the morning...

V: Yee Pei, I suck lah.. I suck I suck I suck...

YP: No, you don't, you'll be fine.

V: S, S, I've got no confidence!!!

.... it went on ...

Then the debates started and after the first round,

R: Ehz, V was best speaker!!!

After the second round,

R & R: Guess what? V was best speaker again!!!
---

Now, ladies and gentlemen, he said he wasn't good! What's that lah!

Tired Saturday

2004-08-15T11:30:00.000+08:00

Tired Saturday

Up bright and early in the morning on a SATURDAY, I think we must be mad. Where did we go? We went to this place in Serdang where there are horses and even a cemetery! We went there with one sole purpose, to look for people to get into good arguments with. Arguments about discrimination, privacy and I forgot what was it... Now, aren't we mad? Yeah, we are! *Crazy laughter* Sheena & Elena, wonderful wonderful to be on the same team!!! *Happy*

So we argued and argued and got angry with people and got to know people and looked at people play soccer (someone was oggling, actually) and finally left the place and set off back to Vista and then to Adeline's birthday party. HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, ADELINE!!! Had loads of fun, became even more tired than we originally were and finally went back to our nice nice beds. Phew... tired Saturday.

After A Week...

2004-08-13T13:37:00.000+08:00

After A Week...

I've been doing this alternative learning aka Virtual Medical University (VMU) thing for almost a week now. How do I find it? Well...

1. It's wonderful to be able to study at your own pace, waking up when you want to, going back to nap when you want to. :)

2. Can repeat and repeat and repeat the lecture, which means you can relisten to what your lecturers are saying instead of just ignoring what you can't have missed.

3. Animations are good. 'nuff said.

4. Nice aircon. :) This one just came in yesterday. Before this, we only had the centralised aircon and insufficient vents in the room which means, stuffy place. Now... life's great.

5. iLectures take a much longer time. 'Cos of pt 2. It can be really tiring after a whole day.

6. Worrying. We worry about not getting the same stuff our peers in the contemporary lectures get. Kiasu-ism lah.

7. My fingers hurt from copying notes.

8. Cut off from the rest of the world, our social life has gone crazy.

9. In relation to pt 8, I MISS MY FRIENDS!!! *sits and cry in a corner*

10. Mm.. discipline is very important. I really shouldn't be blogging now. :P

Who is Responsible?

2004-08-13T13:28:00.000+08:00

Who is Responsible?

Caught this bit of news in MMR which made me decide to read it in Star.

200 medical students left in the lurch
OVER 200 students pursuing medical degrees overseas are now left in the lurch, as the universities they had enrolled in are not recognised by the Malaysian Government, Tamil Nesan reported.

Quoting MIC vice-president Datuk S. Veerasingam, the paper said students who returned to Malaysia with these unrecognised certificates face numerous problems when applying to practise medicine in the country.

What made me blog about this is the term "left in the lurch". Who left them in the lurch? Is it the MMC's fault that it does not recognise these degrees? Is it the government's fault? Is it the students' parents who are at fault, for sending their offsprings to unrecognised universities? No one left these students in the lurch but themselves. Simply this... If you are going to pursue a degree, a degree in anything, not just medicine, isn't it your reponsibility to find out whether the degree from that particular university is recognised by the relevant body? I will be a very upset citizen if I realise that my government and the authorities in my nation recognises degrees from any universities from any part of the world! To say that these students are left in the lurch seems a little irresponsible, maybe I'm just being touchy here. Well...

Zoo Animals

2004-08-10T17:52:00.000+08:00

Zoo Animals
After 2 ilectures, I realised that I cannot concentrate anymore, that's why here I am, blogging.

We're zoo animals, on display for any curious human beings to see. They can swarm into the room at anytime and stare over our shoulders. They can make comments and laugh if they like. Oh yes, of course they can, they are the big shots, they came with big shots, they are rich. If they are not big shots, then they'll have to look in through the glass panes, yes, just stare. Manners? Aw... who needs to be polite to silly sub-humans like us. We're dumb, we can't complain. Do we have feelings? The answer to this question is of no matter to anyone, we are, after all, zoo animals, who ever ever EVER bother about zoo animals' feelings.

If anyone's wondering what's happening, stop wondering. I'm just ranting.

First Day, Second Year

2004-08-09T20:34:00.000+08:00

First Day, Second Year

As I looked at last August's entries, I remembered how excited I was to begin what I called a new phase in my life. A silly, naive 18 years old kid, I thought the world was like the fantasy dreamland I imagined it to be. Almost a year has come and gone, today marked the first day in sem 3, the past year have seen many changes in me and have made me realised that the fantasy dreamland only exist in, well, dreamland.

This semester is known for its crazy end-of-semester exam with record high failure rates. Yes, the fact that you can fail and face the terrible fate of retaining looms in the future, it's scary. I'm scared. Stressed? I don't know.

Sem 3 started with CSU bright and early in the morning, I wasn't awake. :P Got Dr K, he was alright and well, I was horrible, again. Sigh. The worse feeling I ever get is the lack of confidence and I've been getting that a lot in CSU these days, not good, not good at all. Argh. Next up was a whole chunk of briefings for the VMU thing and a nice discovery that I'll be a happy kid as long I am a good girl and keep my journal (written version). Hid in the CAMMR lab for the rest of the day, being a hardworking kid. :)

First day was overall a good day, if only IE will stop showing error messages.

Even When You Don't Meet Everyday...

2004-08-08T22:02:00.000+08:00

Even When You Don't Meet Everyday...

I met up to Ling and Millie on Thursday and went back to ACJC. Ling and I were interested in visiting our old teachers while Millie, well, let's just say that the yong tau foo was more attractive?

Millie with her bowl of yong tau foo and Ling. Please note Millie's nails.

Ling and I

It's strange that although it's been almost a year since we last met, we can still talk like we did long time ago. :) I'm glad that this is the case.

The 3 of us at Coffee Club Express, attempting to fit ourselves in the same picture. Er... was trying to take the photo overselves with Millie's camera.

Oh ya, ACJC. No change at all, I think. I was commenting that the students look the same. Well, we don't know any of them anymore but the way they dress and carry themselves, no difference from 2 years ago when we were students.

The foyer and the carpark. :) No change, at all.

Looking Back...

2004-08-07T21:14:00.000+08:00

Looking Back...

Since Sem 3 starts in 2 days' time, I think now's the perfect time to look back at Sem 2 and think things through. A lot happened in the past few months, the most significant of which is that he left. I'll always remember the day, the phonecall and finding my home the way it was when I got back. I am not the type who will cry when I talk about it but in the comfort of my own room, cuddled up under my comforter, I think of him and sometimes cry myself to sleep. Well, life goes on... I wonder where he is now, how he is now. Papa, I miss you.

Somewhere along the way, I moved to another apartment, reasons? Close friends have heard me rant on and on about it. That particular incident have taught me a lot and let's all hope that nothing similar ever happens again. Living with people can be difficult but it all boils down to how patient we can be, how tolerant we can be and most of all, how much each party is willing to compromise.

These few months have also made me realise that no matter how close you think you are to a person, the friendship isn't for certain. No matter how close you think your group of friends are, it takes a lot of effort to maintain the closeness. Recently, a friend asked me to rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, friendship between a certain group of people. On average, I gave 3. I told her that in Sem 1, I would have said 7 or even higher but now... I guess it can't be helped, people get attached, they move on. It's not easy to juggle friendship and boy girl relationship. Hmm... It takes 2 hands to clap, maybe I should put in more effort.

A lot more happened during the past few months, if they were significant, I would have blogged about them. Otherwise, I find these 3 the most important ones.

Now, it's on to Sem 3. The much dreaded and much feared Sem 3.

I'm A Genius

2004-08-07T15:52:00.000+08:00

I'm A Genius

I just did an IQ test online and muahahaha, got a score of 150. Go try it out here.

Although I know that like any other online test, this isn't accurate, I'm happy. Eh, it's not often that I get to feel smart k.

And You Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Weirder...

2004-08-07T10:22:00.000+08:00

And You Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Weirder...

Found this on The Star Online.

When she died in June 2002, a day after her 60th birthday, Valle donated her body to the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. During dissection, a faculty member discovered a green surgical cloth the size of a large hand towel behind her left lung.

ERM... Uhh... Ehhh... I can't think of a better way to carry a towel around though. :P

Announcement

2004-08-06T13:14:00.000+08:00

A Little Announcement

Hi guys, this is for the M203 people reading my blog. Please visit the batch blog because there's an notice there for all M203-ians about first day of school.

Hear Hear

2004-08-04T21:18:00.000+08:00

Hear Hear

After reading Adeline's blog where she mentioned about an article in MMA news, I picked up the periodical and started flipping. (Ok, it's not something I normally read, quite simply because it seems to be covered with advertisements) What I found interesting was not the same article Adeline wrote about but another article entitled "Stop Pandering to our Voyeuristic Shame".

If you haven't noticed, our local media have recently taken special care in giving us detailed descriptions with regards to various current issues. This is a good thing, because well, we read the news to find out what's happening. But this is no longer a good thing when they tell us details such as how many semen samples were found in a murdered victim, or how the victim was sodomized. Sometimes, I find these articles bordering on being pornographic, truly shameful.

People are naturally curious and sex, is, in almost every society, something that attracts people and brings about attention. But hey, that does that mean that national newspapers have to end up acting like tabloids just to increase readership. The media has the right and the duty to bring to us latest information, well and good, but what about the right of the victim, or the victim's family? Someone once told me this, which I entirely agree, "A right ceases to be a right when it infringes on another person's rights."

To end off, I'll say that I'm not taking a high and mighty stand here. There are times when I find them interesting but thinking back, I can only be ashamed of myself.

The Profound Question

2004-08-02T21:26:00.000+08:00

The Profound Question

Recently, a forum of which I'm a member has a thread on "What makes your life worth living?" where there is a long list of question, the first being the same as the topic of the thread. ie. What makes your life worth living.

Originally, I wanted to post about family, friends, goals, ambitions, all which makes me feel like my life is worth living but as I was thinking about this question on a 5 hours bus ride, something struck me.

It doesn't matter whether your life is worth living, what matters is why you stay alive. Mankind stay alive because we are alive.

Staying alive is a lot less fuss than dying, because well, if you choose to die, you have to muster the courage to choose a path you don't know about. Is death painful? Is there anything after your heart stops beating? Is it an eternal sleep? Does our soul leave the body? Do we really go to heaven or hell? No one likes the unknown, especially when it's as mysterious as death. Of course, if you choose to die, you have to worry about your friends and your family's reaction. These are people we love, the last thing we want for them is sadness and suffering. Thirdly, there are also things we can't bear to leave behind. Our friends, families and of course, in this practical world, our assets.

So there. My take on this is that what makes my life worth living is the fact that it's less fuss than dying.

A Day

2004-08-01T09:40:00.000+08:00

A Day

Saturday, 31st July 2004. What's so great about this day? Let's see. It was the last day of the 7th month of the year, it was the last Saturday of July 2004. Not all that grand eh?

It was the second time I met up with two wonderful people. (I love these two wonderful people. :)) It was the first time I met some people I think are really nice. It was the first time I went to Long Black. It was the first time I sat in A&W without drinking their rootbeer. It was the first time I ordered The Ultimate Ice Blended from Coffeebean without asking for whipped cream (I'm so proud of myself). It was the first time I heard of rubber ducky thumbdrives. It was the first time I bought an SD card for myself. It was the first time I went shopping (not really shopping but well...) with Say Say.

Ok, Saturday, 31st July 2004 was a great day.