Museum Saturday

Played tourist today and decided to go to the (free) attractions in Edinburgh to pass my Saturday :)

My happy tourist get-up for the day :)

The first museum I went to was the Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments, which belonged to my university. It’s a small museum–about two rooms in size, and houses unique, varied specimens of old stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, percussion instruments, bagpipes, etc. I was hoping to see some ancestors of the piano, but apparently those are found at the other museum at St. Cecilia’s Hall (which I haven’t gone to). Next time for those!

Display cases full of the time-worn instruments.

Not knowing where I’m going.

This is not an emo post (the title is misleading)!!

:) In fact, it’s one of hope (and has updates about my life in Edin at the very end, sorry for the long post).

Was doing my devo this morning and something hit me–which I wanted to put down in words. I’m not a Bible scholar, and neither do I profess to be one: so check me out, and if you find anything odd, do correct me and share your thoughts! :)

Naaman's wife bidding him farewell, with slave-girl beside. Image courtesy of Garden of Praise.

 

Last night, at PCCF (Pollock Chinese Christian Fellowship), we were discussing 2 Kings 5– the passage where Naaman, the macho army commander, had leprosy and ended up listening to his wife, who listened to a little Israelite slave-girl, who suggested he go and meet the prophet Elisha back in her homeland to be healed. In short, he did go, and Elisha did heal him, but not how he expected it to happen (waving of hands, thunder, sudden cool sci-fi peeling off of the lepromatous skin which would drop to the ground…). Naaman had to go splash around a 7 times in a stinky river (or so it seemed to him), and his leprosy vanished when he was done.

Cool, right. So what’s the point?

Breaking the Dawn

Something I don’t usually do, because I sleep through it anyway. HA. (or I end up staying up through it before falling into bed)

Just decided to title the post this way because it sounds cool–not to mention that I’m also currently addicted to the Karmatronic remix of Michelle Williams’ song We Break the Dawn. Found it while going through my old songs to re-populate my playlist. Really like how it was put together.

So the MSK & NS summative was on Thursday, two days ago. Gotta say I was pretty demoralized and unsure of things until the feedback session began–it re-painted a smile on my face after that though. :) Hee. All glory goes to God!! I mean, what are the odds of your friends discussing topics in the library in the hour before the exam THAT ACTUALLY COME OUT AS EXAM QUESTIONS?? Hello!? Something smells, and it wasn’t coincidence. :))))) THANK YOU! And many many thanks to my mum for keeping me alive (by feeding, hugging & praying), and my dad for handling my pre-exam breakdown and praying for me, the stressed undergrad med student.

JONBEAR YOU DON’T COUNT FOR TELLING ME TO NOT GO FOR SUMMATIVE JUST TO MAKE MY FINAL GRADE MORE EPIC! HAHAHAHA. Bodoh. :p Love you lah. Thanks for the hugs when I was emo in the library.

Besides that, little mundane things that have got me through the first studying period were (sorry for the shitty photos, my phone is being repaired so these pix are taken with my China “AIphone”):

Akubear & Melody! :) And many more studying friends in the library (i.e. the Chastity club).

 

Library cafe food. Also, my mummy has been packing TONS of food everyday for me & friends to snack on. Thanks, mummy! <3

Bad Ass Coffee & MAJOR sales at The Face Shop. :) Yay for weekend studying perks!

De-stressing by painting & decorating my nails (and taking advantage of OSCE being two weeks away).

 

Bad Ass coffee pin. How sweet is that? The staff gave me one because they see my face so often, camping at their outlet with my truckload of books & notes. Thanks you guys. :) So sweet!

Right, so one more hurdle left before I can retire from being a phase 1 student: the EOS 5. D: Horrors! June 7th – 10th I shall be trudging through this dark shadow that hangs over the lives of IMU MBBS students in phase 1. A consolidation of all the information we’ve ever been fed (or so industriously endeavoured to self-learn) for the past 2 and a half years. 

K LET’S HIT THE BOOKS. :) Refresh and go!

The dumb things we do while chugging through med school.

Bad Ass Coffee @ Tropicana City Mall. :) My new study haunt on weekends. That’s my hand & Meiyan’s hand. We had a lovely sushi dinner before settling down to study.

Don’t know how good the food is, but the coffee is great. Strong. Kicking. Kicks my brain into study mode. All hail Kona coffee! Makes all the lattes and whatnots I’ve had before seem like puny little milk-filled drinks. My favourite is their eye-opener + a raspberry flavoring shot.

Studies are… studies. Still extremely nervous about not being able to finish in time, but there’s an underlying peace that transcends everything now, not to mention pick-me-ups from friends and family.

Love food from aunty!

Found this while clearing out my mobile…

Random picture of the moment: Meet my PBL-mate, Navin. Chindian. Funny guy. Happily attached (sorry, ladies). Troublemaker. Matchmaker. Always scolds me for speeding home, hahaha.

Acting cute (and being caught in the act): Navin.

How did he get into this situation? I walk into PBL with this red headband, he sees it and immediately comments he’d wear it if I can attach it to his head. :)) Apparently boys aren’t too bright when it comes to the mechanics of female hair accessories, heh.

Despite the stress & culminating pressure, Acoustic night was a blast. Thanks for continuing the legacy, Tits! Here’s the least retarded pic of our performance–meet Brian. Brian played guitar for me. He’s really shy, but really good. His friends kept heckling him to sing all night, hahahahaha. Ladies, he is also single. Sensitive. Romantic. And he wants 11 kids. If you want an introduction, let me or Alison know; we are training him to be the ultimate boyfriend.

We did three numbers: Aretha Franklin’s I Say A Little Prayer For You (but a Double Take-inspired version), Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon, and Brooke Fraser’s Waste Another Day. Quite easily the most fun I’ve had (and will have) in a while. Thanks for the great night and responses, everyone!

Then when it comes to practicing clinical skills, the boys always find creative ways to improve the learning process and make it as realistic as possible:

Didi giving the female breast model new life.

When you don’t have real female patients to practice on, you put the synthetic breasts onto flat-chested males and begin palpation. Don’t forget to apply a high-pitched voice and appropriate squeals when you think the examiner is pressing too hard, or doing the wrong things.

:) OH IMU. How I will miss all of this very, very soon.

12 days of class left. :( medt108!

Man Fined for Blowing Nose in Car

See the news report here.

I seriously lol’ed, and then thanked my lucky stars I don’t drive in Britain… They’d probably fine me for eating, applying mascara, applying lipgloss, doing full makeup, changing clothes, reading books, texting, answering calls, camwhoring… all while I was driving.

:) The gift of multitasking is one of the joys of being a woman.

Yeahhh.

IMUCF+CSS: Christmas 2009

NB: Long post, so it’s been truncated into a “click me to read more” format. :)

So! These two days have been nonstop days of sugar and fun. :)) MERRY CHRISTMAS! For this year’s Christmas celebration by IMU’s CF+CSS (Christian Fellowship + Catholic Students’ Society), I didn’t sing/perform, but instead, I helped plan the doorgifts. I love making pretty things (and no, Ben, not babies).

Yesterday, the CF peoples helped make the doorgifts, which were customized bookmarks + shiny plastic star accessory + swirly lollipop + pretty ribbon! I’d pre-bought everything on Monday & Tuesday, so it was just an assembly line last night as we bertungkus-lumus-ed to finish making all 450 of the gifts… phew!

A separate bunch of 24 were also made for lecturers/staff, which were decorated tealight candles + glass tealight holders wrapped up in fancy tissue wrap. The extras ended up being given out as trivia prizes. Many thanks to everyone who helped to make the doorgifts: those who sketched stars, cut the stars, punched holes in the bookmarks & stars, glued the bookmarks, cut the ribbons, tied the ribbons… et cetera. :) Many hands really made the work more enjoyable & faster!

Back to today!

Kiss the Batchre–err, what?

Today, my batchmates voted me in as the new female batch rep because the old female batch rep is now our new Student Rep Council prez. Thank you to all who voted–I will serve you to the best of my abilities, and be a great team with my di di, Korwoi!

Does this mean I can’t skip BS lectures or *certain* lectures by a *certain* lecturer anymore? :P Goodbye, my truant days.

I lol’d @ Jon today.

After being voted in, I went back to my seat next to Jon because the next lecture was commencing.

Me: “Eh, if I’m batchrep now I must be good-lah! Cannot skip anymore…”
Jon: “Shit. I got tendency to kiss the batchrep. Meaning Korwoi. But you also batchrep. And I’m single…”
Me: “…wtf, SWT, stay away from me. I tell you…” >_>

****** lecture commences, dialogue ends ******

He gets the benefit of being too feverish to know what he was saying, but it is still quote-worthy. A truly dumb Jon moment, which is rare. :)

:) Why am I blogging again? BECAUSE I FINALLY HAVE MY LAPTOP BACKKKK INNNN MYYY ARRRMMMSSSS. xxxooo

She was sent to the computer shop over the weekend to recover from her viral infection, and is now 100% cured. I is now back in ur cyberspace.

The Boyfriend Phase

Er, Jo, Rae & Dea know what I’m referring to in the blogpost title. Sweaters, cologne and all. We’ll leave it at that.

But ANYWAY.

Random snippet of conversation today from dinnertime with Jo, Jon & Wilkinson at Sri Petaling’s Ipoh Nga Choy Chicken Rice shop… We were discussing the possibilities of Jo + myself + Faye + Rudy doing some music thing together in the future.

Jon: Actually, you know, I can’t picture you two singing together. Jo, you wouldn’t DARE sing together with Jade! Correct, right??

Jo: *after a moment’s silence* JADE I THINK YOU’RE SUPPRESSING MY TALENT. YOU SHOULD LEAVEEE

Ok, HAHAHA. It was such an immediate response. Jo, I know what you think of me nowwww. D: So much for me trying to be supportive of your singing debut in IMU… *mock sniff!

:) Nutty friends are a good close to the day.

And what a good day it was.

Also,

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME TO THE IMU MUSIC & PERFORMANCE WELCOMING PARTY! It was a bigger turnout than we expected, and the food ran out (*coughWEIJINandDANIELcough*), and I felt like I was a tad too long-winded… But I’m well and truly excited for the year to come. :) Now that it’s more official that I’m in charge I can say something about it. I think I have an awesome committee, and we have many exciting activities planned, including the Battle of the Bands. :D

Stay tuned, world, for the next installment of Noise & Movement, the afternoon music showcase, at the end of April 2009. ;) Drop us an email at musicperformance.imu@gmail.com if you’re interested in performing–IMU students only.

Procrastination Woes

It is gloriously 3.54 a.m., Friday morning. I sit before my buzzing, bright laptop screen, my own mind buzzing, too, with caffeine ingested hours earlier at OldTown White Coffee, Kelana Jaya.

Knowledge of the electrocardiogram, WHERE ART THOU? And yea, thou sly and knavish drug, O atropine, hast hideth thyself within the tubings of the internette. Also, such atrioventricular blockades hath never been gazed upon… Henceforth, reveal thyselves!

…Last minute PBL research, hooray. Thankfully, I’ll be collecting my saving grace tomorrow morning — Lilly’s “Pathophysiology of the Heart”, 3rd Ed. Thank you, Sowmya, for the early tip!

Besides putting research off until now, I also had a lovely day “yesterday”–Thursday. My morning began with brunch with Ming, this guy I met at the Debfung & Alarice songwriting workshop last December. Uncannily, we have a lot in common, and have had similar experiences of sorts with God, relationships, people, and stuff in general. :) He’s a cool guy with a big heart for God. And an amazingg voice & musical talent!

Much later, after dinner, we met up again for more yumcha and sharing about life, relationships, and everything in between. Awesome stuff. Encouraging stuff. Super excited when the time for writing the song comes around. I have this feeling it’ll be this spontaneous inspirational moment… Yeah. (and then the long tweaking process)

The afternoon was then sorely invaded by dear Dr. Nyunt Wai’s lectures on arrythmias and the cardiac cycle… He has the most unique slide arrangement AND lecture style, bless the man. Sometimes, he uses the most random metaphors to explain a concept, and one can’t help but smile. But most of the time, he goes along on his own, leaving one in a state of woeful, expectant confusion as to what he referred to the tiny sun graphic as… or what he said about the lines being “pawweww” (parallel). May the EOS be kind to us Semester 3′s! :D

The evening petered off with Jo & I traipsing into LT2 for some catchup time, while I played around with the grand piano in my little n00bish way.

When dinnertime swung around, Jon, Jo & I headed to Cova @ Gardens Midvalley for some much-anticipated hangout time! :D Don’t think I’ve laughed that much in a while (or said/heard that much dumb stuff in a while).

Upon seeing the brightly-colored yellow and red pussywillow centerpieces, I quote Jon’s brilliance (or not): “This is what you get when you cross a plant and a rabbit!”

Cue uncertain, quickly progressing to loud and disbelieving, laughter. Sometimes, things get so dumb you can’t help but laugh at how LAME they are (your sprain, Jon, hmm?). Jo, for some reason, was on par with Jon’s, er, sudden burst of “creative” wit. And I, being the nice slash boring one, bore the brunt of it. :P

ALSO ALSO I DISCOVERED ONE OF MY ANCESTORS GOT HORNY WITH SOME CAUCASIAN RACE BECAUSE APPARENTLY I’M NOT PURE CHINESE!!!!

Being mixed is a popular trend. I try to be trendy, yeahh. :D

In reference to the post title, this blogpost is -also- another form of procrastination. *headdesk* OH CVS. D: OH MANNNN.

The Music in my Mind

I did end up going for the One in a Million Season 3 audition yesterday at Berjaya Times Square, but I didn’t get through. Timothy Au (my fellow canticle singer and the Malaysian Josh Groban) DID get in though!!

:DD CONGRATS TIMMY!!! AND ALL THE BEST FOR THE SECOND ROUND OF AUDITIONS!!! Now go make us proud-I’ll DEFINITELY vote for your heart-melting voice. <33 For those of you ladies who have never met Tim or heard him sing, you’re missing out. He’s got a voice like a dream, that might just steal your heart away. Unfortunately for the older ones, he’s only 18… (unless you don’t mind younger men, heh heh)

On another note, though I am slightly disappointed in myself that I got nervous and cracked during my audition.. I’M STILL GONNA KEEP ON SINGING. :DD Because I love to sing, and because God’s given me music to share. Doesn’t matter what the media likes or doesn’t like–as long as I’m good enough for you guys, I’m content.

A BIG thank you goes out to everyone who encouraged and supported me, especially Patrick, for driving me basically EVERYWHERE the whole day, and keeping me company though he didn’t sleep the night before, Jon Ng and his friend Kelvin, for coming all the way to support me in person and through multiple morale-boosting text messages then later driving me to Bangsar for my practice, Sarah for being my correspondant, encourager and fellow auditionee when I had to leave BTS for The Canticle Singers’ practice, and God, for the spirit, strength and voice that He’s given me. :)

Also, GANBATTE to my two loves, Dea-chan and Rae-chan, who are both studying hard for their exams. All the best, you two, and keep it up! Can’t wait to celebrate with you guys after your exams. I miss you two a lot. T_T We need more camwhoring sessions.

QUESTION: I need opinions on who to cosplay for the upcoming Comics Fiesta event. And if anyone wants to join me, it’ll be on the 20th – 21st of December! I’m thinking of Hagumi from Honey and Clover, Reira from NANA, the Alice monster from Ragnarok Online, or Rabi~en~Rose from Digi Charat. My only problem will be wigs… ugh.