When in doubt, watch Definitely, Maybe (for the umpteenth time) and cry/laugh/smile like you’ve never seen it before.

Works for me, every time.

Raya Sunday Secret

One day, I might just do that too.

Don’t get me wrong. I am beyond grateful to NOT have refractive error, but I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to have glasses on. Heh.

Posted in Random ]]> http://ayumin.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/2020/feed/ 4 ayumin cheated http://ayumin.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/as-of-now/ http://ayumin.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/as-of-now/#comments Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:10:35 +0000 ayumin http://ayumin.wordpress.com/?p=481 ]]>

Salam.

I’ve totally abandoned this space for the past couple of weeks! Hehe. But I regularly tweet my random thoughts as evident by the Twitter widget (lihat kanan), so check that out if y’all wanna know what I’ve been up to (gaya macam laa ada orang yang kisah, ceh). Awesome invention, Twitter is.

So final year of medical school had been a smooth ride so far. I’ve just completed 8 weeks of internal medicine and loved every minute of it! Patient load for teaching was more than adequate in HKL and our medical lecturers were SUPER nice and helpful towards us student doctors. Oh yes, we now call ourselves student doctors/doctors in-training/doktor pelatih as opposed to the usual “medical student” title. The responsibility that comes with the word “doctor” somewhat drives us to perform better because after all, we’re about to become doctors in like, 8 months’ time?

Shit. Time really does fly.

-_-

Anyhoots, I’m now back in the nuthouse for 2 weeks and after that it’ll be general surgery for a week and then it’s time for Raya holidays! YEAY! Syawal this year is extra special because 2 of my closest girlfriends, Wanny and Wawa are getting engaged and on top of that, my dear sister’s getting married! There’s also a trip down south with STF girlfriends for Wajihan’s wedding and a possible Singapore trip afterwards. Woohoooo. Can’t wait!

Apa lagi eh.

Ahh yes, Arsenal has had quite a brilliant start this season eh? Vermaelen, who is our only new signing looked pretty solid at the back so far. I feel that we’re still pretty sloppy in midfield though and our strikers have yet to make an impact. The 2-1 defeat to United last week was harsh too (I fully blame Diaby and Almunia for it) but hey, it doesn’t  make or break our season. Hopefully we’ll become a better team this year and let’s bag home some silverwares to add to the trophy cabinet. COME ON YOU GOONERS I BELIEVE IN YOU.

Anyway, I’m generally contented with what I have and where I am right now. Life’s been pretty much same old same old, but I’m actually fine with that. There will be more challenges ahead and many things to look forward to in the coming months, so hopefully all will be well. Insya-Allah.

Have a blessed Ramadhan everyone.

Cheers.

Well I turned 23 on 23rd July.

Had a good one, thanks to dear Damai roommates (for the midnight cake and contemplating whether I was in my usual pekak mode or not cos my iPod was on hehe), the usual Uni besties (now you guys know how pemalu I am! oh yes behind my confident exterior there is a gadis Melayu ayu pemalu hiding inside, so next year please don’t make me give a speech or sing or whatnot unless I’m stoned thank you), lunch treat from studymates and the usual birthday texts and FB messages from friends.

Thanks everyone! Much loveeee. ♥

I’ve never really done a birthday wish list before cos I know that the only person able to grant me those wishes is myself (with the help of parental and JPA funds of course), but WHAT THE HELL IT’S MY BIRTHDAY. Manalah tau kot-kot ada orang nak sponsor kan haha i wish. So here goes :

1. Old Arsenal jerseys. Particularly this (97/98 away shirt) and this (the redcurrant shirt from 05/06 commemorating last season at Highbury).

   This 97/98 shirt particularly reminds me of my earlier days of watching football. I still have that vivid image of Overmars riding the flanks, assisting and scoring goal after goal in that very jersey. Sweeeeet. Oh and the latter redcurrent jersey is just too classy, kan?



2. These Arsenal retro shirts. I’ll settle for Pires’ Magnifique or Overmars’ The Flying Dutchman.

3. A new handphone. I’ve been using the same phone for the past 5 years and I think it’s about time I get a new phone. My trusted Nokia 6610 still works out fine though (except the fact that I have to use a sharp object to turn it on wtf), it’s just a case of mengada-ngada nak handphone canggih. A decent phone with a camera and one that I could go online with would do. Currently eyeing the BlackBerry Javelin 8900.

4. A new pair of Nike running shoes and a Nike+ iPod Sports Kit. Oh FYI I’ve ditched my sedentary lifestyle by running at the nearby Titiwangsa Park at least 3 times a week. Feels good,

5. KL-Tawau return ticket in June 2010, complete with funds for an open water diving course in Seaventures.

6. Funds for a 12000ft tandem skydive in Taupo, NZ.

Hmmh that’s all I could think of right now. It’s worrying how I don’t have any urge to buy girly clothes or shoes, though. But usually those buys are impulsive, so there’s no need to put em in a wishlist laa kan. Tee heee..

Here’s crossing my fingers hoping that I will find a way to make all of the above possible by the end of this year.

Ka-ching!

I am a Potter addict. And I’m not ashamed to admit it.

Have read all 7 books at least twice, each. Watched all movies on the first day of screening (with the exception of movie 1, 2 and 3 because I was in boarding school back then).

So I just have to write this because there have been an appalling number of bad reviews of Half Blood Prince from my friends, as evident by their Facebook statuses. Which is worrisome cause I happen to think that HP6 is just WICKED!

Everyone’s been saying, “Boringnyaaa, slow sangat sampai aku tertidur” and “Oh it didn’t meet my expectations.“

What was your expectation anyway?

For God’s sake, the book has 608 pages and it’s just not possible to put everything in yo. I simply think that previous HP movies tried so hard to cramp the stories that they had lost some depth in reproducing the magic on screen. IMHO, this time they managed to execute it smartly without leaving out crucial details of the book. It’s just a shame that the HP6 somehow lacks a climax and may be a bit draggy especially during it’s flashback scenes.

With that being said though, I definitely wasn’t looking forward to a fast-paced movie with loads of shimmery wizarding action when I know all along that someone important is about to die. The dark and somewhat somber mood it portrayed was just perfect in the build-up to Dumbledore’s death. Show some respect, people. It’s friggin DUMBLEDORE!

Pic from here.

Ron’s Quidditch scenes were definitely my highlight of the film, especially after he was ‘given’ the Felix Felicis. His smug expression while brilliantly performing his Keeper duties was just priceless.. LOL. Rupert Grint seriously has all the makings of a great comic, no doubt about that.

There was a lot of snogging involved in HP6, but I was actually OK with all that. Kasi can laa. I totally didn’t get Ginny-Harry moments though (zero chemistry there), and I wish Ron had snogged Her-my-owh-ninny already cos Lavender is just wayyy too gedik.

Oh and how do you feel about Dumbledore’s death scene? I remember having tears in my eyes while reading the part some few years back and as expected, I weeped upon seing it visually. Sigh. I’m just sentimental like that. Wish they had put in the funeral part too for a more dramatic effect.

Hands down, it’s one of the better HP movies ever made. So go watch Potter if you haven’t already. And please don’t read the book prior to the movie cos you’ll be obsessing about the minute details they missed!

Sekian, a totally biased review from your friendly neighbourhood Muggle.

It’s a frightening start, but Will’s taking it, like a man.

MOMMY!!

ROTFLMAO.

I heart Will Ferrell (and Bear Grylls too!).

HOPE is a lie we tell to keep us going.

Tru dat.

It was one of the many quotes I found in Box of Ideas, which I discovered during the recent Urbanscapes’09 in KLPAC. It is a project inspired by a group of Malaysians that collect ideas from random everyday people to be packaged in a cigarette box. So instead of getting 20 cancer sticks, you get as many as 100 ideas from contributing parties. Cool eh?

Anyhoots, my Urbanscapes experience was nothing short of fun. Spent the earlier hours in the Cinescapes Stage watching Gadoh, a brave film that peeks into the underlying racial tension in our beloved Bolehland. The ever-present Malay-Chinese conflict was the main subject of the film, and with racism being a topic that is close to my heart, I loved it! It was witty and honest, and sometimes even painful to watch for the truth it rawly presented. There were funny bits and the acting wasn’t all that bad so yeah, it was worth watching.

Not going to spill much here, but I am definitely going to get my colleagues to watch the movie (I bought the DVD).  Check out the trailer:

Wish I could’ve stayed longer  to watch more short films though. There were just too much going on in KLPAC, making it impossible to just stay in the cinema and watch (good) movies all day long.

Besides Gadoh, I had the opportunity to watch a few acts perform in The Lawn Stage and The Box areas. Was looking forward to watch Rendra Zawawi and Khottal perform but tak sempat. The ones I managed to watch were Zalila Lee (she’s a gem!), The Sofa Sessions (hillarious duo with a song made about circumcision. LOL), Pop Shuvit (did a tribute to MJ), and Yuna (she gave me goosebumps during Rocket).

There were also many interesting street performances, ranging from theatre groups doing funny skits, stand-up comedies to percussion groups playing drums and whatnot. I especially liked Tugu Drum Circle, whereby they randomly rounded up passers by to play the instruments and put together a performance. The atmosphere was just so festive!

Had Palate Palette’s famous lamb hotdog for lunch, and browsed through the  photography exhibition and all those artsy scraps on display. The usual flea market was tempting too, but I was way too broke to buy anything it ain’t funny yo. Blergh.

In short, Urbanscapes 2009 was AWESOME! Good thing I didn’t feel out of place as I see a lot of people around my age there..tee hee. I remember attending a youth festival in PWTC earlier this year and felt like an old hag upon seing pretentious artsy fartsies and high school-goers going crazy over dresses in flea markets. Sigh.

I came home feeling proud that we Malaysians actually have this pool of creative talents, coming together and putting up a great show. Malaysia Boleh woot! Also felt somewhat jealous la cos I don’t have a single artsy bone in my body WTH. Kudos to the organisers and all participants for the brilliant effort. Can’t wait for next year!

Silly fangirl, PostSecret style.

Tee hee.

Megan Fox needs to shower. Period.

She looks a tad too greasy, kan?

*SUPER LONG POST AHEAD*

This is a long overdue post about my elective posting in Sarawak. Have decided to put this up on the blog so that in the distant future I’ll get to reminisce the amazing 6 weeks I’ve had in Sarawak.

So I’ve been getting questions from my non-medic friends about what an “elective posting” is all about. Well, it is actually a given period by medical schools for students to learn in other hospitals other than their own. We’ve been given the freedom to choose just about any hospital in any country in the world, so it is up to what one really wants out of their elective in choosing a place for their posting.

Those with enough funds may opt to do it overseas and experience what it’s like to practice medicine in other countries. For instance, my boys Heng and Joshua did theirs in Kenya and had many hands-on experience that one could not possibly get in local teaching hospitals (both performed their first Caesarean sections there. JEALOUS!). A few of us went to European countries like the UK to feast their eyes on angmohs *ehem*. Many opted to go back to their hometown hospitals for an additional 6-week holidays. And  some people just wanted to go off for a 6-week vacation!

Like me. Heh heh heh.

I chose Sarawak mainly because I’ve never been to either Borneo states before. Sabah hospitals placement have all been swapped up by my other classmates, so Sarawak was the only option left. Did plan on going overseas, but my application for Melbourne was rejected and I was already out of funds by the end of the semester. So Kuching it is!

On day one itself, our elective supervisor-cum-medical registrar-cum-tour guide Dr. Wong Jin Shyan has reminded us that a successful elective posting comprises of 1/3 medicine, 1/3 cultural experience, and 1/3 gastronomic experience. We took to his wise words and made sure that we lived the Sarawak life to its fullest.

We were attached to medical, surgical and emergency department of Sarawak General Hospital (SGH). To be frank, we just went to the hospital for the sake of filling up our attendances! Hehehe. But worry not, the kiasu bit in me made sure that we at least attended ward rounds, specialist clinics and OTs. We got to discuss a lot of interesting cases too, thanks to the ever helpful medical officers, specialists and consultants of SGH.

Sarawak Cultural Village was among the first tourist attraction we visited in Sarawak. It introduced us to Sarawak’s astounding variety of tribes as there were replicas of longhouses for every major ethnic group in Sarawak; namely Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Penan, Malay and Chinese. I used to have trouble differentiating between Sarawak and Sabah tribes, but I am now well-educated on that subject. I can also proudly say that by the end of 6 weeks, I could pretty much understand the Sarawakian Malay accent! Mauk kamek klaka Sawak kah? Sik hal.. (which means, do you want me to speak in Sarawakian accent? No problem..)

Few entries ago I did mention about Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, which is a temporary home for various endangered wildlife of Sarawak, especially orang utans that were rescued from captivity. We arrived in Semenggoh during their feeding time, and were lucky enough to see 6 orang utans coming out to eat a delicious spread of bananas, coconuts, watermelon, and papayas that were provided by the centre’s staffs. Nora and her adorable son, Baka attracted the most attention as they swung by the many trees looking as if they were performing stunts on ropes. These primates left us enthralled for quite a while, before we eventually lost sight of them as they get into the deep forest where they actually belong.

It would have been a shame to visit Sarawak if one does not go about exploring its magnificent tropical forest, thus we jumped on the opportunity to visit a few national parks that were situated near Kuching. We were in luck when the Sarawak Forestry Department informed us that Rafflesias were blooming in Gunung Gading National Park! So off we go to the quiet Lundu town where the national park is situated and hiked up the mountain to see the world’s biggest flower.

Now Rafflesias are exceedingly rare and special, as the flower buds take 8-9 months to mature and once they bloom they can only last for 3-4 days before starting to wither. We consider ourselves very lucky as there were only 2 flowers blooming during our stay in Sarawak. The Rafflesia we saw was disappointingly small though, measuring just 50cm in size. Bummer.

We then continued to climb up Gunung Gading for another hour and settled ourselves at the clean Waterfall Number 7. Later on, we took some time off at the unbelievably cheap Union Retreat Resort at Siar Beach just 10 minutes away from Gunung Gading before heading back to Kuching on the next day. Siar Beach was just so-so (Sarawak beaches in general are nothing to shout about, really) but we had the whole resort to ourselves so twas fun.

Bako National Park was on our itinerary for the third weekend. We boarded a speedboat from Bako terminal and passed through Kampung Bako, a fishing village along the riverbanks of Sungai Bako. Prior to our journey, we saw a signboard warning us to be careful of crocodiles and to our surprise; we did see a wild crocodile basking under the sun on a rubber tube! We screamed our lungs out as our boatman tried to corner the crocodile but it quickly glided back into the river.

After the encounter with the wild crocodile, we reached the national park and headed straight to the park headquarters to check in. Bako had various types of vegetation perfect for wildlife spotting. We’ve seen just about everything from silver-leaf monkeys, long-tailed macaque, bearded pigs and hermit crabs to Proboscis monkeys and even fireflies at night. Proboscis monkeys are probably one of the main reasons that make Bako National Park a worthy visit, as these long-nosed monkeys are now heading towards extinction.

The national park also boasts a picturesque coastline with exquisite multi-shaped rock formations. We rented a boat just to get near the famous sea stack, which is the icon of Bako National Park as commonly seen on Cuti-Cuti Malaysia advertisements. Other than that, we also went on a few trekking trails and saw spectacular views of various plants and trees along our way. We may came back from Bako with our skin a shade darker, but the scorching sun was damn well worth it. Highly-recommended to everyone!

All was not just fun and games though. We found out about an NGO doing a trip to an interior part of Sarawak, so we decided to follow them to offer our services. The place was Kampung Bawi, an Iban village in Engkilili (near Sri Aman, Lubok Antu constituency if I’m not mistaken). It took us about 7 friggin hours to reach Kampung Bawi from Kuching on a 4×4 after going through endless clay soil trails and steep hills, as the village is located literally in the mountains.

The trip was definitely an eye-opening experience, seeing how the villagers had to walk for 2 hours just to get to the nearest health facility. The kids also have to walk for 2 hours before hitch-hiking on a timber lorry just to get to school everyday. And here I am, bitching about traffic jams and public transports when all they have is their own 2-feet to take them places.

The NGO have actually started to upgrade the living conditions in Kampung Bawi since 2 years ago. They’ve rebuilt the longhouses and install proper toilets for the villagers. They also recruited a few doctors to come and perform health check-ups and advise for referral to general hospitals if the need arises. Medications are also provided, FOC! Now that’s what I call a great humanitarian effort. Thanks to these people, the villagers of Kampung Bawi can now afford to lead a more comfortable life and hopefully this ray of hope will lead to better things in the future for them. Insya-Allah.

So as mere medical students, we did what we could to help the villagers. Four of us ran a free clinic, where we get to sharpen our history-taking and physical examination skills. We listened to their health complains and gave out advices as well as medications for the villagers. We also took the opportunity to teach the women on how to perform breast self-examination (BSE) and taught the kids on how to wash their hands properly to avoid infections.

The trip really puts life into perspective and I now realize how FORTUNATE I am.  For that, the people of Kampung Bawi will forever be in my thoughts.

Gawai or Harvest Festival is celebrated by the Dayaks in Sarawak on June 1^st every year, and luck was on our side as it coincides with our elective period in Sarawak. We had a long weekend off, so KT and I decided to head over to Mongkos Village Homestay in Serian for our first ever Gawai celebration with a Bidayuh family.

Soon after we’ve arrived at the village, our host brought us around the village and showed us how traditional dishes are made. Among the dishes are “Bangkang” (similar to lemang in West Malaysia, minus banana leaves) and “Ayam Pansuh” (chicken cooked in a bamboo). We even helped our host to prepare our own “Ayam Pansuh” and it turned out delicious! *salivates*

After dinner, we headed to the longhouse for another round of dinner and cultural dances performed by the youngsters of Mongkos Village, clad in their traditional costumes. It was a joyous affair as tourists were invited to dance together with the villagers. Gawai is also all about free-flowing Tuak (rice wine) and surely, a lot of people were drunk that night!

The night didn’t stop there. After traditional dances and the officiation of Gawai at midnight, they turned the longhouse into a dangdut club and raved till the sun comes up. Sheesh, these people really know how to party!

We also had the chance to follow the Ngilumboi procession, in which the ladies of the village would head over to different corners of the village to call out lost paddy spirits. Music was played with gongs and they marched around the village whilst clinking seashells and chanting prayers to call home the paddy spirits. It was a unique event and we felt very privileged to have experienced it in Mongkos.

Where gastronomic experience is concerned, we spent most of our time outside the hospital trying out Sarawakian delicacies such as Mee Kolok and Laksa Sarawak. One particular drink called Teh C Peng Special striked the hairs of our taste buds as we consumed it on almost a daily basis!

We got a taste of home every weekend as we frequently went to Farah’s house in Petra Jaya for some good ole home-cooked meal. We even managed to try out some traditional Melanau meals prepared by Farah’s  granny such as Linut and Umai. Yummsss. Farah’s granny rocks! Hehee. Other than that, we also killed our time around Kuching’s many tourist attractions such as the Waterfront Bazaar and Cat Museum.  Kuching is just like any other major cities in Malaysia as traffic jam is still rampant albeit not as worse as KL!

6 weeks have passed and we feel truly blessed to have safely traveled to the aforementioned places. It was an experience like no other, and we have immensely enjoyed ourselves in Sarawak. I’m seriously considering to come back and work in Sarawak one day, y’know?

Academically-speaking, the elective posting had given me some time to reflect and analyze that there are still so many things that I need to learn next year. I now know that I gotta equip myself with more knowledge in order to become a competent and safe doctor come graduation in 2010. Insya-Allah. Bring it on baby!

P/s : Phew, that was long. More pics can be viewed on my Facebook page. Going off to watch Transformers now. Laters!