Bruxelles

So with the hype of officially passing finals and Med School being over and done with, 'The Cartoons' and I reunited back again in London to make the most of our remaining holidays before the formalities of Graduation, Farewells and Doctoring began. 

And what better way to commemorate the last of our time spent together in this part of the world than a Euro Trip! 

Destination: Bruxelles, or Brussels - the capital of Belgium

Mode of Transport: Eurostar (Read: Convenient 2 hour journey from a train station in the city and NO fluids restriction! Awesome stuff)

Participants: Us girls and Daisy's Plus One. 

Mood: Jubilant! 

Didn't take very long to figure out what our main agenda for the majority of the trip was. Doing this:

In front of the miniscule-sized Mannekin Pis, which we took ages to find. Talk about anti-climatic.

Brussels was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of London. Small, reasonably-priced transport and easy to get around, with the help of our awesome tour guide, Mr. Rengier. We had fun gorging on Belgian Waffles, Chocolate and Frites dipped in a variety of sauces, amidst me flagging from a HUGE pot of Mussels. There wasn't that much to do or see per se, but it was a nice enough and relaxing holiday for us, and something to remember before we went our separate ways. 

And we even squeezed in a load of sight-seeing, thanks to Tour Guide #1! Four churches, the European Quarters, The Grand Place, parks, cam-whoring outside the Atomium and a whole load of laughter and movie sessions at night.

We even found a car park whose top floor overlooked the entire city and spent a fair amount of time taking self-indulged photos which could rival any Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls promo poster. Coming soon. As soon as Daisy gets around to uploading them.

It feels a little surreal that we have now reached this point in our lives, when only two months or so ago, we were worried sick about whether or not we would get through finals. It feels even more unimaginable that in a while, we will be going our separate ways, and not know when we would next see each other again.

Ah the friends that bless your lives with their wonderful presence. It's just a pity that people come and go in our lives and there is no way we can prevent that.

Thanks for the past three years, Cartoons xxx

Coffee Hunt....Continued

This time...in the comforts of none other than our beloved hometown of Kch.

I know there have been occasions time and time again where I have gotten a raised eyebrow in response to my ignorance of certain Kch 'hotspots', to the point that I am possibly....?Pseudo-Kuchingite, but hey, I swear I'm getting better.

So while Lynn was coffee-hunting in London, I decided to pull my weight and set off to do some evaluating in Kch.

Back to the awesome Carpenter Street where limited parking + lousy driving skills = exasperation escalated by subtly sarcastic reactions from my BFF in my passenger seat.

No matter though, Vamos Shing! Eventually success loomed. Managed to build some immunity towards the snarky remarks and head over to this:

Iced Lattes

It was definitely refreshing to be able to drink Iced Coffee again, after all those moments in London where any form of an iced drink would lead to uncontrollable convulsions and chattering of teeth the moment you walked out of the store.....and into the arms of the brutal cold. Ironically, the context in this case was the lack of any form of cooling device and a series of new mosquito bites to add to my current collection.

Overall, it was definitely a refreshing layout to the typical London (or rather Aussie) style Coffee place.

Simple, old-school and functional. This was Kch-style through and through. And the coffee wasn't bad either.

My substitute Coffee-Hunting partner in crime: Best Friend Forever and one of the causes of my deteriorating laughter threshold.

*Note: Shades are Tom Ford aviators belonging to the author, not the model...just in case you were wondering*

Black Bean Coffee & Tea Company 黑豆食品咖啡茶叶贸易公司

No. 87 Ewe Hai Street

93000 Kuching,

Sarawak, Malaysia.

Apologies for the mediocre photo qualities. All snapped with my sturdy HTC Desire S on a new awesome app that Daisy recommended.

So all in all, who would have thought that Kch would be so much fun this time around. And honestly, no sarcasm intended. As much as I thought there would be no one to see and nothing to do prior to coming back, the reality when I was back was that there still weren't that many of my High School friends back, and Kch was pretty much still a hole.

But then you realise that all it boils down to is 'The One where Laughter Never Ceases'. Or in this case, a list of random, significant, bizarre, 'What-The-Hell', yet memorable Kch moments with the Liangster.

The Adventures of Dora and Boots

Back from a week-long adventure in KL! Which I must credit for the title of this post.

And a huge adventure it was! Definitely best KL trip to date EVER! Lol. Bit of an inside joke for me and Daisy Hoo, but this was definitely one summer holiday I would never forget.

What was supposedly a week of 'being keen' for two medical students, ended up being a barrel of laughs. From being continuously sloughed off onto the service of other members of the team to continuously being asked to 'study in the library' and my personal favourite.....'No patients have turned up for Clinic'. Just to say, the end point was that we both transitioned through periods of wanting to kill certain people, to being exasperated to the point of laughter, to making the most of our time together and turning it into an 'adventure'. What's not to like about escaping from clinic to go shopping in Pavilion countlessly?

Well, to be fair, I guess we did learn maybe 6 important points about Cardiology at the very end. Two new Diabetic drugs I hadn't heard of, VSD's, Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome and two more interesting patients we saw on the single round with pretty distinct conditions.

Other than that, this was definitely THE gastronomical KL experience!!! And sadly, I have to agree that the West has a far larger variety of food than the East, where my standard answer for good Kch food is 'Kolo Mee' and 'Sarawak Laksa'. Lol. Or maybe that's just me. Please don't kill me, I am still very much a Kuchingite at heart ;)

And the holiday is coming to an end.....soon it will be Kch-Withdrawal Symptoms again for me. And I have a feeling that they will be FAR worse this time around.

Oh well, still have got the week left.

In the meantime, a huge shout-out to my BFF Daisy Hoo, aka my fellow explorer Dora for an amazing time in Kay-Elle :) And pRease okay....I am being truly sincere ;)

The Real Winner

Unbeaten this year.... invincible, to say the least.

That is my Djoker for you :)

A 24 match winning streak, and STILL winning!

What started off as a disbelief in him reaching YET another final, and declaring adamantly that he would stand no chance against the King of a Spaniard Rafa Nadal, proved immediately where my loyalties (and heart) will always lie, the moment I watched the final set showdown between these two.

Instantly, I knew. Once a fan, always a fan.

Djoker must have sensed my escalating frustration with Liverpool and decided to give me something to cheer about this season, sports-wise.

And to quote:

'The real winner today has to be Tennis, as a sport. Both Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic deserve equal credits for a fabulous final'

And for the cherry on top of the cake, we decided to tweet Djoker to congratulate him. Different approaches, but both seambursting-laughter-worthy. Lol.

Let's go now, Nole! This is the Real Winner you were made out to be.

And it helps to put more smiles on my face as well :)

The Simple Things

Although this time around, my trip back to Londres did not involve as bad a dip in mood as over summer, nothing here could have replaced the times I had back home, short as they were.

People ask why I keep going back during the holidays. Firstly, to see my family...and more importantly this time, my brother whose holidays and mine don't coincide very often. Secondly, because no Kch holiday experience has failed to deliver yet throughout these years.

So by the time Saturday swung around and reality sunk in that I was back in this rainy, windy, chilly city, I was feeling a little peaky, as always although not so much the bad SAD I had before the break.

And then you made me smile again :)

The excitement I professed over Gtalk and over BBM was genuine, nonetheless. And when I woke up this morning to another message that was so you, I realised that this was the one time in a very long time that I had woken up with a smile on my face.

As much as so many other things have gone wrong, as much as we might lament about what 'might have been', I am thankful as much that this strange, special bond of a friendship we share might just about be one of the few things that I have done right in this lifetime.

Ahhh Zhin. All the way from the topic of High School Crushes to being the one who never failed to lend me a virtual shoulder to cry on each time my heart was broken. And to think the only time we ever met up properly was almost 4 years ago.

Note to self: I need to get my arse over to Melb some time soon.

Joke of the Day

Sometimes I think God works in mysterious ways :)

I have been having horrible bouts of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and although retail therapy did help slightly, this couldn't have come at a more suitable moment to brighten up my day......with laughter.

Just to recap, last week I had a mock OSCE which started off the week in the WORST possible way. Firstly because I had been horribly ill over the weekend and secondly because I was STILL ill when I went for it and was not prepared at all. And oh, did I forget the last reason? Because we were doing it with some people who were on their Paeds placement and did I mention that I know NOTHING about Paeds? The Paediatric examination station didn't help. I had never done one before and the kid would not stay still / was eating crisps!! I wanted to kill him at the end of it. And yes, I mean it literally.

I left the OSCE feeling horrible. Sure that I had flunked it grandly. Then SURPRISE there was a written MCQ paper to follow. Even better. True/False questions. Just my cup of tea. MORE Paeds questions....and to be fair, Medicine and Surgery as well. But just as terrible.

Today, I got the emailed results, and was expecting to see multiple FAILS all over the Word Document.

To my immense surprise, I:

1) Passed my written MCQ! ZOMG there must be a Cerulean tinge to the moon right now! Amidst all those Paeds questions and me hacking my lungs out, I managed to get a pretty decent pass.

2) Not only passed my OSCE too, but got this comment for my Paeds examination station:

'Demonstrated a perfect Paediatric examination. A natural Paediatrician in the making.'

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. This sparked a good amount of uncontrollable laughter and I am still amused!

The whole world knows that I am not fond of Paeds. Or kids in general. I have not done it yet, and I even know that I will already hate it. Plus, I was almost in exasperation with the crisp-eating and a super sloppy respiratory examination. What can I say: the examiner must have been blind!

But works out well for me. Brightened up my day indeed!

HAHAHAAHA. What d'u think? Perhaps I should add Paediatrics to my (super short and super biased) list of career choices.

Not THAT Kind of Girl

Mini weekend getaway to the country.

AKA Lake District, Cumbria.

Was feeling extremely knackered all week and was wondering if I would be too exhausted to properly enjoy the outing, but again, I underestimated a trip with the kawans.

Beautiful place. Peaceful. Cold......BUT at least it wasn't raining. Very much welcomed from the hustle and bustle of London. When I was being jostled and shoved and almost knocked off my feet today in Victoria Station, I couldn't help but recall and embrace the lack of human capacity, where I could actually SEE miles and miles of unpopulated land at the Lakes.

Unfortunately, this was the response I got on two separate conversations after I got back.

#1:

hpy: How was the trip?

me: Good! Except we were hiking for 4 or 5 hours on the rocky footpath and my leg muscles AND feet hurt so much. Also I looked so damn out of place in my attire!

hpy: WHAT???? Just like Edinburgh?! Don't tell me you wore high heels!

me: *speechless* Why are you asking me the same question again?!

#2:

Jenn: Shing! How was Lake District?

Me: Good good. Really pretty! Except I wasn't exactly using proper footwear or gear and it was kinda tedious hiking for 4 hours!

Jenn: What improper footwear? Don't tell me you wore heels.

Me: OMG why is everyone asking me the same thing? Why would I wear heels to go hiking? Pffttt.

Jenn: HAHAHAHHA because you are sooooo predictable like that, Shing!

And this is coming from the two ppl who are supposedly the closest to me and have known me well for 7 whole years!

HMPH. I may like Minnie Mouse, and I like anything with a bow, and I wear heels on normal, non-hiking trips (because I am short!), and I do not own anything that is remotely North Face....but I am sooooooo not that kind of girl.

Pffttt.

Next purchases: Timberland boots, North Face parka, Deuter backpack. Watch this space!

In the meantime, here are some moments to remember:

Pssttt. Look at my shoes. Sneakers! No heels! I know my attire looks odd. But please ignore that. For the record, I had no idea we would be doing full blown hiking AND I have no proper outdoorsy clothes here with me in London.

And regular meetups with you are what keeps me sane throughout the year.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder. And yes, I say Best Friends are Forever :)

Heart-Stopping, Heart-Warming

So the last week of Gen Med passed by in the blink of an eye.

MAU was amazing, in more ways than one. The consultants, the pace of it, the many many teams bustling around, the way no one has time to speak more than the necessary 5 sentences to you, the way you think of yourself as being 'useful' by helping the On-Call team clerk patients first.

I love Acute Medicine. And was oh so pissed off initially when DB made me go to all the Onco MDT's etc after teaching because he was taking one whole day away from my MAU days! But I guess he made up for it after by going through all this incredible Cardio stuff with us. I haven't listened to an Ejection Systolic murmur in SO long. So hopefully more of that to come tomorrow.

And speaking of Cardio. I was catching up with a friend on Skype last week when she came up with this for me.

LOL. Call me cynical. Call me skeptical. But I guess it is easy to laugh it off now when you happen to not be the one in that position, hey?

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

So Cardio next, and then after that Gen Surg at this amazingly wonderful 'hole' at the end of the world named Epsom.

So the theme of this week shall be Hearts. Heart-stopping although it may not be, but perhaps it will be heart-warming at the very least.

Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery.... and I heart my neneks <3

So....heart-stopping palpitations, a drama-filled life, or the presence of someone who makes your heart flutter that much more......vs. the heart-warming familiarity of amazing friends.

Give me heart-warming ANY day. But know that true friends are irreplaceable, at the very least.

Thank God I found you.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This week has actually been alot more productive compared to the last. I started off the Monday with a good candidate as a Grand Round patient, managed to get almost all my WBA's signed off by today (Friday), and had a really good week overall - with Daisy, Lynn and Nenek last night, and my firmmate today. It's a little strange how I realise that I have ended up clicking best with this firmmate of mine, even though I was a little apprehensive at first, seeing as he was this orang putih guy whom I initially thought was a tad quiet and whom I had never known to exist before this.

Him: "No, we DO have the same phone." (I use a BB Curve 8900 and he, a Bold 9700).

Me: "No, look at the buttons. And also I use a Curve and you use a Bold."

Him: "What? Mine's a Curve and yours is a Bold?"

Me: Hahahahahahah!!!! (At his obvious lack of knowlege of Blackberrys)

He amuses me through and through. Not to mention his blurness does remind me of hpy at times. Oncology has not been fantabulous, but I will say that conversations with him are probably the best part of this whole rotation. Not to mention a nice dress sense. Ahhhh, crush-worthy - from a safe distance. Because I know he has a girlfriend. Well, cheap thrills :)

But we had a really good teaching session with the CT2 who had been on study break and was just recently back, and both managed to get a CEX signed off.

Good day :)

I hope my good days continue and that my mood will remain this elevated for a while. And seeing as I am anticipating a good weekend of Opera with Chekkie & Zen and a good luncheon with Daisy Hoo, I am pretty sure I will be okay.

Yet, I need to constantly remind myself that all demons of the mind are IN the mind itself and do not exist outside of it in real life.

Even if they are demons of your past, that you have cursed yourself a zillion times over for ever making that most stupid mistake of your life.

As hpy has constantly reminded me last year, that momentary blip in my life has probably forever tarnished my record AND my reputation. And yet I have moved on and put that part of my life behind.....with HUGE relief!

Ah well, I guess I always knew that she who has skeletons to hide in her closet will one day be found out eventually anyway.

Shingshing in Venice

Of Gondolas, San Marco's Basilica, San Marco's Piazza, the Rialto, Murano, Gelato-overdose and the lot.

Some of the more memorable moments:

This pic definitely deserves a caption. Reinactment of Gossip Girl's 'Lunch on the Met Steps'. Lol.

(Note: No one sits higher up than Queen B. Lol ;). Jokes! I am kidding myself. I can be Queen Blair in my dreams).

And my possible favourite picture of all: 'Holding Hiro Hostage'. Dangling Keng's toy above the sinister murky waters of the canal while he watches on helplessly. Hahaha.

Too much fun in a week-long Easter break. Much-needed though.

Thank you my travel buddies. Take care you all, and may we all conquer this thing called Medical Finals :P

Highlight of The Week :)

The Liangster on BBM :)

I swear this is the best thing that has happened to me all week. Nobody can put a smile on my face like you do. Thank God for BB Messenger and the new Blackberry Bold 9700.

BFF's indeed ;)

XX

Why I Miss Momo Voon

C: Hoot hoot! Thought of you

S: Hahahaha you know what, now thanks to you owls remind me of myself too!

Cherie and I have this inside joke of hoot hoot owls being connected to me, for reasons which I cannot pinpoint now.

Definitely cracked me up to see this in my email inbox, sent from Melb when Mo was walking along some random street with her friend.

I had hoped the shop to be Alannah Hill or Sass & Bide - two of my favourite Australian labels (although I don't even own anything from them!), but unfortunately it was the very High Street (albeit trendy!) Sportsgirl.

Hahahah well, I do have a long-standing history with Sportsgirl. It was one of my favourite Australian brands during my numerous visits to Perth and the one visit to Melb all those years back!

Yes, there is definitely something about owls and I.

High School Musical

I recently had a very engaging 3-hour conversation with a High School friend, L (Zhin, for those better-informed individuals), about every little bit of nonsense you could possibly think of under the sun.

We spent a good part of the duration revisiting old times and the mutual people we could both think of, moving on to gossip-sharing (I prefer to call it 'keeping on par with current affairs') and then on to the subject of crushes.

I literally rolled my eyes, telling Zhin so, as I did it.

And he said: You might roll your eyes now, but I'm sure back then the mention of a particular name was enough to give you palpitations and make your knees go weak.

That....is probably pushing it a little too far. As far as High School crushes went, I never had much physical contact with any, lest went on any proper dates. Heck, I never even came close to actually turning that crush into a full-blown High School Boyfriend. The most I did was remark that this guy, or that guy, looked cute from afar, giggle profusely about it with Manda and the rest, and find strange thrills in the silliest little things.

Then again, what is a High School career without the crushes, huh?

The presence of these people lit up our lives that much more, back then.

Made Sejarah lessons seem that much less boring.

Made the long hours seem that much more bearable.

Since I was in the mood to saunter back down memory lane, I pulled out the autograph book I had owned in Form 5, flipped to Manda's page, and found myself frowning deeply at some of the stuff she had written. I had gone through so many other 'best friends' since those school days, that it made me wonder aloud which was that particular 'Best Friend' of mine she had been referring to at that time. It was good fun though, and I found myself laughing aloud numerous times throughout the whole experience.

I think so many of us have grown so much since our High School stints with crushes and romance, that when we look back, it can only be with a good laugh or good-natured humour. Truth be told, I no longer remember all the names of every crush I ever had on any guy in school, and even for those whom I actually did, I could hardly remember specific details and encounters in much depth at all.

But the conversation took a turn for the 'not-so-hilarious' exit when Zhin suddenly reciprocated my remark about a mutual friend's constant teasing by blatantly asking:

'So you haven't answered me. Did you or did you not have a thing for me in High School?'

'OMG you ARE shameless aren't you?'

'Is that a Yes or a No?'

'I'm rolling my eyes now! Whatever rocks your boat!!'

'What if I said I had a thing for you in High School? Would it change your perception of me?'

'No way!! Because it was ten thousand years ago, and like I said, just High School crap!'

'Gosh you are quite the cynic aren't you?'

Hahahah. It definitely brought out bountiful laughter on both ends, although at my expense. To me though, High School really seemed like a century ago, and whatever whims I humoured myself with back then were far from serious, in any sense.

I do maintain that at this age and day, I would not hesitate to show very obviously, my liking for a guy whom I probably thought I could stand a chance with, or even just say it outright. It still remains to me, though, that whatever remains unsaid remains untrue. So I would only really like you, if I said I liked you. And vice versa. No mind games or anything of the likes now ;)

Here's to Zhin, who never fails to provide me with much entertainment, and who ultimately remains one of my most baffling (and sometimes exasperating) friendships to date.

Here's to Manda as well, who helped carve out the majority of my High School memories, and who remains one of the greatest friends of all time.

Ah, those silly antics that make up the most hilarious moments.