Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Possimpible

In one of the episodes of 'How I Met Your Mother', Barney came up with the idea of making up his own combination of words to make new ones. My interpretation of his word 'Possimpible' was simply....making the impossible possible.

As mentioned before, I have become a sceptic when it comes to sappy love stories and fairytale endings. I have willed myself to become a realist and to read things as they are on the surface, never anything between the lines. I do not believe in far-fetched possibilities and about building a whole life in your heads when the now remains the now, and the future is something still intangible in the distance.

But there is something about listening to the stories of the people around you and seeing the exact situation you had deemed impossible, blossom into something so real in front of you, that brings up that warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

It makes me smile to see that amidst all the backstabbing, bad-mouthing, superficial facades and so forth going on in this world, something as innocent as a foundation of love can overcome everything and remain standing till the end.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't change the fact that I am still very much a realist and a cynic when it comes to things like these.

But maybe....maybe once in a blue moon, there is that rare thing out there called a connection that can never be broken, come what may.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Self Esteem vs Good Grooming

After watching 'Penelope' on HBO a couple of nights ago (starring Christina Ricci and James McAvoy), the thought that struck me after the credits rolled - apart from the fact that James McAvoy looked surprisingly good in 2006 with the thinner physique and shaggier hair - was how poorly we value self esteem these days. I started evaluating myself and the people around me. How many of us actually loved ourselves for who we are, would change nothing about ourselves if given the chance, and were happy with things just as they were?

Inevitably, the grass is always greener on the other side. And I would never volunteer myself to be one of those who have a towering self esteem and a personality that is larger than life. But I have always maintained that one should never bother too much about the whisperings that go around behind our backs (or in our faces??).
We are all gossips, in one way or another. And even if one person had a squeaky clean slate that bore no tarnishes, so to speak, it would only be a matter of time before someone else dug up some dirty piece of news about him / her, or even better, makes something up and spreads it around like wildfire.

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.

Yay or nay?

Sidetracking from this a little, as this wasn't exactly my main focus of topic in this entry....like I said, I wouldn't say that I have the innate ability to make everyone gape in awe at my self confidence, nor make half the room turn their gazes towards me as I glide into a room. But I do not equate my interest in dressing up, and presenting myself in a poised manner, with a low self esteem and a desire to 'go with the flow'.

I strongly do not agree that putting on make up, brushing one's hair neatly so it looks presentable, putting on perfume, or dressing up nicely, are merely excuses to cover up a low self esteem. Self conscious, yes....maybe. But I would equate all of the above, not with a low self esteem, but with a good habit of making sure one is groomed to the best at all times.

Self Esteem and Good Grooming. Such a fine yet distinct line. It amazes me how people can actually confuse one with the other.

I find no qualms with my hobby of experimenting with makeup.
I offer no apologies for making sure my hair does not hang in greasy streaks when I go out.
Neither should I feel sorry for the fact that I dress well simply because I cannot stand women who make not attempt to watch their demeanour or personal hygiene when in public.

Of course, it is not all about the fashion and the labels that makes a person 'well-groomed' either. One Gucci bag alone cannot change who that person really is. We could venture on to another topic on that alone....that there is such a fine line between being regal AND being snobbish, but we'll go there some other time.

Truth be told, I haven't been venturing much out of my spaghetti straps, shorts / tights and flowy dresses all summer, but you'll have to step over my dead body before you catch me looking all grungy and dishevelled in public.

And that...is self esteem for you ;)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Taking it Home

Personally, I have never been a huge fan of Doctors. No offence. Even when I was younger and aspiring to become one, I had never made it a habit to shoot off to the GP's office at the smallest indication of a fever and a sorethroat. Not that I've had the worst of experiences with doctors when I was a kid. I wasn't particularly sickly or weak except for a bad bout of sinusitis and infections when I was 11-ish which actually went away with age (or which Barbara's dad managed to cure - who knows ;)).

But even now, being the medical student per se, I'm still one to opt for self-diagnosing rather than running off to see a Doctor. This is where I've come to realise, after reading a bunch of med articles online, that I have become one of those medical students who are on the complacent end of the globe. To put it simply, I think that freaking out over 'something small' is overreacting.

This becomes more evident when we take our medical knowledge home. Ethically, a ton of benefits and dilemmas come about from diagnosing your friends and family members. Maybe because we deal with a different set of emotions when it comes to someone who hits close to the heart. We either laugh it off with a joke or two and try to write it off as nothing serious, for some, because we would rather live in denial than deal with the fact that there might be something actually wrong.....or we overreact and put a ton of paranoid thoughts into everyone's heads simply because we want to be extremely cautious about the person we love, and want the best for him / her.

I think I have fallen into the former group most of the time. Having had a dose of practice recently, I have been sticking true to my guns and wiling myself to behave rationally. Fairly. Logically as in any other situation with any other patient. I am generally not a worrywart, as I have told Niff, but I do tend to enjoy being in denial a fair bit of the time. I probably do make a very bad example of a patient. Gasp. Hahaha.

I could probably write up a 'Notes on Denial'. About how I would rather write off every health glitch that occurs in my family and with my best friends as a non-pathological thing, and recommend 'Mind Over Body', because the thought of them being ill, or even worse, losing him / her, is overwhelming as it is. I'm sure that alot of the time, my closest friends can vouch for how I would rather choose the easy way of denial out rather than dealing with reality. Like it was with hpy. Like it was with alot of other things in life that actually mattered to me.

But at the end of the day, medicine is medicine. We are trained to consider ethical issues and the potential benefits or detrimental effects of our actions before we actually recommend diagnoses, management options and the whole lot.

Whoever said being a medical student was dull? Like Leslie mentioned the other day, a couple of years into your field and you start analysing things a completely different way then others. Rewarding, it is. At the moment though, for myself, I'd still go with my self-diagnosing and self-medicating ;)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Summer Stylings


With the horrible heat that I was suffering from in Kch the past few days, it only seemed appropriate to browse through the fashion sites I read and check out the must-haves of this season.

I skipped the swimsuit section because I have no interest in bikinis nor have a set of washboard abs for it, but one thing I couldn't help noticing on many an entry was the hype about city shorts / chic shorts / tailored shorts... whichever suits your taste.

I am a HUGE fan of city shorts - in case anyone hasn't noticed. I love the versatility of the few pairs I own, be it dressing them down for a (hot and humid) day out around the city or glamming them up with accessories and heels for a more dressy occasion. There's really nothing a pair of stilettos and a chunky cuff can't do ;)

One of the celebs whom I've seen pull this style off immaculately is Lauren Conrad. Some people might argue if she can even be considered a celeb. Haha. Well, I have watched a couple of episodes of 'The Hills' on MTV (guilty as charged) but I have yet to find something LC wears that I do not agree with. She experiments with all looks, and I love the classiness of her outfits with that little bit of funk so it doesn't look TOO dreary at all times.


Another of Lauren's signature looks is the subtle way she wears a braid, which to me is the most flattering way of pulling off a braid by far.....which brings me around to the topic of another increasingly popular summer look: The Braid.

I would definitely go with the way Lauren does hers: by braiding a small portion of the fringe and pulling it back with a barette or a clip. If you have bangs, you can always improvise with braiding one of the choppier / shorter layers of your hair. No worries about the choppier bits of your hair sticking out, you can always get rid of them with some pins in place.

I've realised that the older I grow, the less inclined I have become towards strappy or strapless stuff that show a little too much skin for anyone's comfort, necklines that just ask for trouble or micro mini skirts that just make it inconvenient for sitting, walking and well basically everything. Maybe this is part of growing up and becoming a mature adult, who knows. Maybe it's just that my body is becoming less athletic, hence less feasible to show off (gasp!!! hell no!! hahaha), maybe I'm just becoming more adventurous and more willing to experiment with different looks.

As much as I am interested in trends, however, I'm definitely not one to go for the Boho look, but sometimes a little touch of something interesting can add that fine line between looking classy and poised AND looking just old and boring (because sometimes it CAN be very fine indeed). Let's face it, nobody wants to look too dowdy TOO soon, not especially when they're just in their twenties, hey? ;)

Friday, July 10, 2009

I'm a Mac!


So finally after much research and bombarding a zillion people with a zillion questions, I finally gave in to peer pressure and switched to a Mac. 

The 13.3" Unibody Macbook Pro, to be exact. 
Am still reeling from excitement and disbelief. It's hard to believe that I am a Mac user now. This must be the year for being tech savvy and refining my skills, because soon I'll be a Blackberry user too :) 

It was a little difficult adapting and getting used to a Mac the first hour after I brought it home, and the only thing I could do properly was chat on MSN and Skype with Wynken and Nod, eventually got sick of fiddling around aimlessly and went to sleep. 

Things have gotten better now, and I'm actually loving the MBP Touchpad. Man, whoever said Macbook Pros were smart was NOT being corny! Next up on the list: Figuring out iWorks and Office for Mac, because this is what my Mac will be mainly for right? *ahem* Essays and Assignments.

Hopefully my Mac and I will be GREAT friends soon! :)

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Thumbs Ups

The First Thumbs Up of the week could only have belonged to, none other than the Great Man himself, Roger Federer...officially the most Successful Player in Grand Slam History. Only with his resilience could he have defeated the amazing Rocket that Roddick was to reclaim his Wimbledon title, and he DID JUST THAT.

It was probably the most amazing tennis final of my life...towards the end I was screaming at the TV (and my brother thought Voon had indeed come over to watch it with me - she stood me up at the last minute - so I must have been making quite a bit of noise).

Second Thumbs Up
of the week in my book unexpectedly came about when I watched a series of MJ's videos on Videoscope Channel V only to notice that he WAS indeed a pretty incredible dancer, and very flexible at that.....erm in the past. Haha. After that I started becoming a tad addicted to 'Black or White' , and I even went and downloaded a bunch of his songs from all albums. In my defence, my dad was the one who voiced an interest in buying his albums, and I offered to pirate them for free ;)

Third Thumbs Up
goes out to Apple and the 13" Macbook Pro....soon to be mine :) I'm all jittery and a bundle of nerves....just like a stupid giggly school girl seeing her High School Crush. My fingers were itching today after I visited the store. Can't wait for tomorrow. Will write more about my Mac then.

My Fourth Thumbs Up goes out to a Primary School friend whom I had not kept in contact with in AGES and had not seen since I was last 11 (so go figure!)- I think the last time was when I was doing A-Levels at CC, and she was in Melb - but whom I had found again on Facebook recently, and who actually wrote me a really long message updating me on her life. It might sound cliched, but it really gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside!

And my final Thumbs Up of the week to round it all off goes out to my best fried Momo Voonie, because after spending a good half hour browsing through her blog entries on her panels and the road to Studio, I'm feeling rather defeated and inadequate, as to how my mind could never wrap itself around something like that to produce feasible work - give me 10 portfolios and OSCE's any day! I can't even bring myself to design my own gown to be custom-made, or anything fashion-related....lest buildings and layouts for a sustainable Melbourne. All thumbs up to you, girl! Really! I guess that is the main reason why I am not Alyssa Sim , Architect.

So that rounds off the things on my list which have deserved my Hats-Off this week! It's been a good one so far.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Game, Set, Match

So after a whole term of being insanely busy mugging for finals and after that packing, AND missing out on the Roland Garros, I finally started watching tennis properly again yesterday.


And what else, but the Grand Slam everyone covets after the most: Wimbledon.

I'd put off watching matches properly up till yesterday (well the day before actually, when I saw Safina book a place in the semis) because I really DON'T like watching the ladies play (sorry Jenn haha) and like Woogui mentioned, the only one who does not look like a monster is Sharapova anyway, and she was chucked out pretty early. So I'd waited up till the Mens Quarter Finals to start following the tournament conscientiously.

The Federer Express certainly didn't disappoint, yet again. His was the first amongst the Mens Quarter Final matches, and he was the first to go through to the Semis....his 21st Semi-Final to be precise, and he certainly did it with style. Watching Federer defeat Karlovic in straight-set wins certainly brought back memories of my squash tournaments last year, and the year before that.

I know for a fact that I don't possess much in skills as a squash player besides the fact that I have a, as Chui Munn puts it, 'killer serve'. And that certainly was the case for Karlovic. The stats at the beginning of the match proved rather scary, when they announced the number of aces Karlovic had achieved so far this Wimbledon, and yet apart from the massive serve, he proved no match for Federer, who seemed to take it all in stride as though it was a warm-up to the real deal.

That just goes to show that a top-class player is comprised of so much more than just serving 137 mph, or lunging around the court with insane stamina (ahemahem). I've always said time and time again that tennis is a gentleman's game, and no one except Federer could fit the picture better. His composure is amazing, and no one could possibly realise how much effort it takes to remain THIS calm all the time.

I also caught a major portion of the Ferrero-Murray game, and it was clear from the start who was going to emerge the victor. Murray's game (apparently) has improved tremendously this Wimbledon, although to be honest I've never really watched him play, but I'm sure a good many British citizens are rooting for a Brit to claim the Wimbledon crown, simply because it is an English tournament. As for me, I never really did like his hot-headedness. Bias, I know. But what the hell. Hahaha.

With my poor Djoker out of the tournament (SOBS HMPH *throws withering glare at Haas*), I am now unbiased and ready to support whoever is the deserved champion of this Wimbledon. May the best man win. I've been praising Fed so much this entire entry that it sounds like I am a Federer fan. Pffttt I am, first and foremost, a Djokovic fan, but he's been soooo inconsistent lately that I have no choice but to find a new person to root for this remaining tournament. Haha

Ahhh.....what can I say, I've always thought that Federer was in a class of his own (with Nadal safely out of sight this time), and even if I may not be a Number 1 Federer fan, I still say, Federer BETTER reclaim his crown!


Definitely looking forward to more Centre Court action.