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!

Of Jazz, Dessert, and Love

Life has really been throwing a curve ball my way, with me barely managing to slip on the catcher’s mitt as it hurtles closer.

It’s 1.15am Tuesday as I write now, but let me tell you about my weekend. Last Friday I had off because there weren’t any lectures scheduled. :) Glee and joy! Took the opportunity to traipse down to KL with Rae in tow to collect my poor, mishandled cellphone (which has been “in repair” since CHINESE NEW YEAR). Hello!*cough*Service*cough*centre is really slow, and has awful customer service.

“Miss, we’ll call you when your phone is ready.”

Never received the slightest hint of a ring. In fact, I’d only discovered repairs were finished when I called them two months later. I won’t say anything about how on my first trip to collect my phone I discovered the defect wasn’t fixed and had to come back two weeks later after calling them myself again.

:) So yes. I have my dear Nokia 6500c back in my hands!

Being in KL, we couldn’t resist heading over to Pavilion to visit a Japanese sweets & desserts shop, Ministry of Food. Heard about it ages ago from Cecilia’s blog, and tried it before with Jo. Rae looooooved it. We ended up on a sugar high and took fantastically dumb yet fun pictures. <3 Read all about it on Rae’s blog. I’m lazy to retell the story and she did an awesome job of it, hahaha.

After MOF was Groove Junction @Sri Hartamas for MORE lovely jazz. I’ve blogged about the David Gomes Jazz Band ft. Junji Delfino in a previous post, and they were playing last weekend again at GJ. :)) Of course, I HAD to go! And I brought Sufen, Rae & David along with me. Nothing like some jazz to end the day with. Once again, we were treated to a delicious spread of devilishly-devised tunes, with ‘that David Gomes touch’. I mean, HELLO, they did The Carpenters andThe Beatles ala jazz! AAAAND one of my long-time favourites: The Rose. Wow. Simply WOW.

I love jazz. It puts me in a really relaxed and reflective state, and lets me marvel at the wonderful synchrony and communication which takes place when a band comes together and makes beautiful music.

The lineup for the band was different from the last time. As usual, it was David Gomes on keys & vocals–Junji Delfino, his lovely wife, on vocals. This time, there was Daniel Foong on bass, and Jonathan Jacob on drums. They sounded so good! It felt like the bassist was struggling to keep up in the first set, but in the second set he was ON. It was so beautiful. So united. So grooovy.

I love it when my friends fall in love with jazz. Rae almost died with a huge sigh when David Gomes laid his hands on the keys and coaxed out the first few notes. She couldn’t contain herself when Junji joined in the fun. I was waiting the whole night for Junji to start scatting, and couldn’t stop my foot from tapping along when she did! Jonathan was mindblowing and cheeky with his drumming solos, dishing out surprises where you least expect it. Solid beats. Daniel was a little awkward at the beginning and kept going up and down the scale, but he really shined when the slow and sentimental songs came into play. As in Rae’s words, “Damn ON weiii!” He didn’t really solo much, though.

Junji & David, if you’re reading this, I just wanted to thank you again for a yet another fantastic night! You’ve got yourself another faithful follower right here. :) Definitely coming for more of your shows. It was an honor to be able to get introduced and properly meet on Friday.

Well, that’s “Jazz” and “Dessert” taken care of. Two down, one more to go.

Click to read about the last of the three. <3 Because it’s ranty and I don’t want it on the main page.

Broadway Jazz ala KL Swing style

Have I told you how much I love swing lately? :))

With Abang Lionel. No, we're not posing. HAHA

Saturday night was an awesome night out at yet another swing class, followed by a semi-social with a Broadway Jazz theme at Lake Club, KL. Sing Lim from Swingapore Jitterbugs was the guest instructor, and since I was busy I missed the first two classes (sniff) and only made it for the last one–intermediate.

D: I’m sad I missed the first two!!! WHY WHY WHY!!??!

IT WAS SO FUN YET AGAIN! Sing is sooo cute. :) Chan Meng is pretty awesome too. I also had my first taste of blues. It’s slow and rather sexy. I felt jakun as always, but honestly, had so much fun!

But yeah. We’re a good-looking bunch.

LtR: Moi, Pei Ru, Sean, Queen Ming, Nabihan, Aizat, Chris

When the social ended around 1am, a few of them went on for an after-party at Sky Bar. I had to go home though, having to wake up for worship duty in 5 hours… Oh well.

I had my fill of dance–until Tuesday slides by again. ;) Swing socials @ Aliyaa (Bukit Damansara), Tuesday nights – 8pm til whenever your legs give way, anyone?

David Gomes Jazz Band @ Groove Junction

Aside from missing the turnoff and paying toll twice on the Kerinchi Link before finally locating Groove Junction at its cozy 1st-floor nook in Sri Hartamas, it was a great night spent listening to smooth, smooth, groovy jazz. The David Gomes Jazz Band, featuring Junji Delfino, with special guest drummer Hong from Bangkok, and guest guitarist Jose Thomas.

Not such a great photo, but the best of the lot.

I was actually fairly tired and a little upset from the IMU’s Got Talent semifinals, mostly due to how it dragged on and had some less-than-satisfactory performances tonight, so I didn’t want to go at first. However, Steven, Jon, Raymond, Cheryl and David were already there, and I had nothing else to do… So I got directions and with great trepidation, drove there.

Even though I arrived late and circled the area a few times for a parking space, the show hadn’t begun. :) It started about 15 minutes after I got in. Saw Weili, the violinist from SIB, there as well. He grew out his hair, so I couldn’t recognize him at all! He had to jog my memory of who he was…

When the band began, I think I fell in love with jazz all over again. Sigh. :)) I hadn’t listened to live jazz since the Saskatoon Jazz Festival in 2006, so this was well and truly a treat as well as a jog down memory lane.

Didn’t know most of the songs they played, but I loved every moment of it. I did know “Misty”, and “I’m in the Mood for Love”, though. The room pulsed with their energy, and you could see how the band absolutely loved the stuff they were doing. And loved each other, too. Great chemistry and communication! Seriously. :)

GREAT STUFF THAT I ASPIRE TO DO SOMEDAY. D:

Junji Delfino. Fantastic vocals and expression. Stunning improv soloing! Wow. I loved it. David Gomes. Is there anything he can’t do with those black ‘n white keys? Jose Thomas. Oh my worrd, this man and his guitar are on fireee. That smile on his face could only mean love for the jazz groove. Wan on bass. Smooth, understated soloing. And Hong from Bangkok on drums–driving everything along with amazing beats and solos. So conversational. So casual. So jazz.

:) Can you tell I had a good time?

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Anyway. Just a quick overview of IMU’s Got Talent and the rest of my day prior to the superb ending. Began the plans for the upcoming Noise & Movement event in April, then helped a little with the move down to the BRAND SPANKING NEW MUSIC ROOM @ LG floor. Judged the IMU’s got Talent semifinals, which were “meh”. Only a few people really stood out, IMHO. Most of them deteriorated from their audition performances.

Yeah. That’s it. Good night!