Boredom She Wrote

New Job

2010-11-28T18:10:00.002+08:00

Note to self:

Positive attitude
Smile alot
Look interested in whatever interviewers are saying
Client awareness and good communication and business management skills are skills that i need to gain.
Do not take sides
Try to stay out of work politics if any.
Be fair.
No bad mouthing.
There will be people who hate me for no reason, and maybe some reason.

NZ

2010-11-22T15:30:00.003+08:00

I'm really apprehensive about my trip to NZ. So many things that we planned to do have been suspended. The shotover jet, sky diving at fox glacier (not that i planned to sky dive). Another issue that worries me and has been bugging me is not suitable for public display on this blog.

I'm going to pray and hope that it works out.

I just need to remind myself that I am going to NZ to have fun. It is my graduation trip. And I don't wanna die. So even though shotover jet has been cancelled, I am thankful that I wasn't on the ride that caused it to be cancelled. I am going to make friends with people at hostels if I'm left alone on my own devices.

i don't want this to end up like my ex housemate and me. We are now mortal enemies.

Big mess.

2010-11-21T12:54:00.002+08:00

Mama's right....
when people invite me to events, I don't go. When people go for things without me, I complain that they don't call me... what's wrong with me man...

on another note, packing up my room is a very slow and painful process. Half of me thinks its too early to start packing since I need half the things in my room now, and if i start packing the other half that i don't need there won't be any space in my room for me to walk. the other half of me thinks is hould get it going cos I have nothing better to do anyway.

oh well!

The end of the journey.

2010-11-13T14:12:00.002+08:00

We got the "ok" that we passed our final year oral exams yesterday.

This is it. This is the end of the journey. The end of the beginning. The end of my university undergraduate life. What happens after this I do not know. But I will be taking a break from studying, that's for sure. I"m not even going to take NAVLES which everyone else seems to be taking! Hope I will not regret this 10, 20 years down the row.

This course has been very interesting. I entered into a niche course that has a wide diversity of jobs open to me when I graduate. This course has also been extremely tough. Course load was wayy too heavy. I had very little work life balance, it was easy to score in exams if you managed to cover everything in your notes but there really was hardly enough time to do that.

anyway, after waiting for the dreaded phonecall which never arrived, (thank goodness.. that would be the prof's secretary ringing up those who did not make the cut... and would have to come back on monday to take supps) we watched the social network (bloody good. the actor who played winklevoss was very good looking). mark zuckerberg and eduardo are freakin geniuses. if they did THIS much while pursueing their undergraduate degree, i think it will be a very sad thing that i should be this overjoyed with me passing my finals.

headed over to claudine's house after retrieving her car form kenneth's car park which he kindly lent to us for the day.

dinner was at ant's bistro. didn't get any long bean black thingies in my teeth this time hahahah.

kbox with aug jess kai jo ting changhang, jack, albert, kin, claudine. Those HK boys CAN SING.. omg... they put us to shame. Their voices are so velvety. Apparently it's part of the HK culture to Kbox so alot of hong kong people are damn good at kboxing. They were belting out song after song. So impressive. Chang hang himself was quite a good sport as well!

2010-10-24T14:23:00.002+08:00

I really want a dog :(

last icu shift.

2010-10-22T19:54:00.001+08:00

way to make an impression, jan.
i think Mark davis the head icu vet probably thinks i"m an Idiot. Yes, idiot with a capital I!

i asked mark
why must we measure MAP for the tail pull cat
he said
er... to check if it can get low BP?
then i said, "but why?"
then he said "cos it might die?"
then i said "but why would tail pull injury cats get low MAP"
then he told me the answer...
totally did'nt dawn on me
hypovolaemic shock.

which is something we always address when the animal first comes into ICU that might have suffered from trauma!!!

and dammit always do chest radiographs too.. think jan, THINK!!!

last overnight shift.

2010-10-17T03:29:00.003+08:00

WOw ICU== no regrets as an elective! i may not do fantastically well in it, but i'm enjoying it!!!! i mean, where else would you get so involved with individual animal critical care and then get to do a castration and would debridement also?! and then of course i got smeared with blood stained faeces water after this dog had an enema and i helped carry it back to its cage.. of course i had to be handed the bum end. -__-

and then i did 2 consults for cat bite abscesses. i am very very poor at thinking on my feet and explaining stuff. SUPER need to think about it before i start.

and i actually did this other consult for a cat that was gagging while i had blood from the castration caked under my nails... tried to wash it off before touching their cat while i was in teh consult room but really it hardly made a difference.

later in the wee hours of the morning at 5am i helped to clean a dog infested with fleas. help to carry it out of the wash basin, bum end again of course. fleas like the backends of dogs. when i returned to my room in kendall, i saw live fleas crawling on my pants. OMG. i hope the washing detergent gets rid of them cos frankly i dun think capstar will work in the washing machine... hope nothing got into my room as well cos they can bloody survive in carpet for up to 3 months.

got to switch my body clock around by 12 h in the next 24h. how am i going to do that. my shift starts tmrw at 6am. i just finished today at 6am.

Fear is paralysing.

2010-10-13T18:26:00.003+08:00

I'm scared shitless about driving my parents to mornington and great ocean road.... PLEASE dear God don't let anything bad happen on those days.

2010-10-05T21:05:00.002+08:00

Feeling really sore after a 9h icu shift. I should really strengthen my core muscles abit more... Shall get a gym membership when i return home.

on another note, I've been fantasizing about attending friends' weddings. I CANNOT WAIT. i'm no interior decorator but fairy lights would look really good at a garden wedding, no? SO QUICK MY FRIENDS... GET MARRIED SOON. i wanna share your joys.

YAYNESS.

2010-09-28T07:23:00.002+08:00

Mum and hopefully dad has allowed me to keep a caged pet. Perhaps this will provide me with slightly more motivation to study. I'm only going to adopt these animals, so i won't be able to have a wide variety of coat types or ages to choose from, but I'm still excited anyway. Gotta rmb to keep these animals cool with frozen water bottles!!

Did you know the guinea pig is related to the chinchilla?

I'm so cute and fluffy take me home please!

Ick factor x100000

2010-09-22T14:42:00.001+08:00

argh... I'm having cow pat diarrhoea. I regret eating half a tin of sunsweet plums. Those are potent.

2010-09-19T19:54:00.001+08:00

My 19 year old sister is wayyy more fashionable than me. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! i need to revamp my wardrobe.

2010-09-16T16:45:00.001+08:00

Feels horrible to put down those tiny cute 3 day old chicks for a post mortem.
On another note... girl chicks have 2 layers of feathers, but boy chicks have only 1 layer of feathers as the feather layers grow slowly.

Eye gel

2010-08-21T23:26:00.002+08:00

My first foray into expensive skin care. anti ageing for the eyes. 20 years down the road it better prove to have been useful!

gold leaf @ sunshine tomorrow!

2010-08-21T21:35:00.002+08:00

Why do I feel so unhappy?
haven't i stuck with my principles all through this time of trials and tribulations? i should be proud of myself. i live by my morals. i try not to be opportunistic, or take things for granted. I can do things on my own. obviously that'll be the harder, more difficult way, life will be tougher, i will be less happy. hopefully it'll be worth it when i look back.

i met eliza for a very very brief time. i should learn to speak more like her... haha. clearer diction and slower. also met her cell group leader. forgot her name. nice girl.

i met up with joann and kenneth... it was good seeing them again after so long... well kenneth for longer. i know i was quite quiet during dinner today. somehow i didn't have much to share about. Jo-ann was excellent at telling us her stories at terang. poor girl got majorly cut up when a pony reared up on her. not doing any mixed practice electives will probably come back and bite me in the ass during exam oral exams.

dentistry seems quite fun. lots of modelling and crafting and making dentures and retainers and moulds that cost $700 or more if you buy them from the dentist.

i mnust try to be happy.

bimbos.

2010-08-20T06:16:00.002+08:00

Quick post before i grab some brekkie.

found the place with the cheapest pizzas and pretty nice tasting ones as well. Bimbos. somewhere in fitzroy, near lygon street.

headed there with a couple of vet people. all ang mohs. i was the only non aussie asian international student. AND MAN, IT WAS AWKWARD.

in my final year in vet sc, this is probably my 3rd or 4th time out, going solo without my signpaorean friends or jess or aug joining me, with the aussie bunch. 1st time was to gou climb the 1000 steps at ferntree gully then dinner at skyhihgh with ruth, sheree, hannah, amy.
2nd time was at some german buffet restaurant at dandenong, cuckoo restaurant with my group mates,
and yesterday night, to bimbos with a whole bunch of other people... tom, kenny, sheree, hannah, cass, szymon, ruth. priya and jimson came to join us later, but i didn't talk to them cos they were downstairs waiting for food while i was upstairs eating (in the rain).

look, company was good. they had an entertaining converstation throughout. The thing i realised about convos with the locals is that... i dunno they seem to talk without taking a breath, but they can still say really intrestesing things in their rapid fire of speech, ... like... cass saying.. "I'M ITALIAN, I DON'T SHARE MY FOOD"... priceless.

and then when i try to get my 2cents in... like it just gets drowned by everyone else's voices... So basically, i feel like I'm being a spoilsport or something along those lines about being a wet towel. and then they start talking about sex and random stuff like that and i feel so uncomfortable... i'm not a prude but we just do not talk about these things back home with such ease!

I did not enjoy myself as much as hanging out wiht my asianf riends. yEAH the vet pple are great, but i lack chemistry with all of them. so i spent most of the night listening n laughing and smiling but talking really little, and you should know that when i'm out with my singaporean pals or asian friedns i do most of the talking!

REALLY OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE OVER HERE.

anyhoo, the pizza was gorgeous. amazing. had agnello (lamb and rocket) and then chocolate pizza for dessert. Guess how much? $8 in total. and these are WHOLE pizzas.. not a measly slice.

time for breakfast.

2010-08-19T20:10:00.002+08:00

Its really annoying when I appreciate people more than they appreciate me. So frustrating. Must remember not to trust and rely on people so much. Unfortunately, this is in Melbourne, and in Melbourne, I need those people. I can't wait to go back to singapore where I have already found the people who accept me for who I am and sincerely want to hang out with me.

Animals and I

2010-07-14T17:30:00.000+08:00

2010-07-14T17:23:00.003+08:00

Do you even have a soul? If you have one it must be black. You need to know when to stop sticking your nose into other people's businesses and respect people's privacy. Obviously you have not learnt that at all. Looks like you are denser than you look.

Unfulfilled.

2010-07-14T00:03:00.003+08:00

I want alot of things I cannot have.

I want a new phone. (easiest thing to achieve on my list. Will do so after graduation. I'm surviving now on my nokia 8250 since my samsung died on me from old age. Could not resuscitate it despite repetitive recharging. Decided not to waste money on a new battery for an old phone which I'm gg to replace in 6 months anyway.)

I want a dog.

I want a nissan GT-R.

I want a kitten if I can't get a dog.

I want a guinea pig if i can't get a kitten. (I will love them all the same)

I want alot of other things that I most likely am unable to get given my current lifestyle and habits and personality.

I day dream alot. Not good for my mental health. Makes me think of things that I cannot get and makes me upset after that for being able to get them.

I guess getting a dog is slightly more feasible than getting a nissan GTR. But that involves me moving out. What will my relatives think?

When will I start feeling blissfully satisfied with my life? Do I really have to be busy in order to distract me away from all this wishful thinking (i mean how on earth am i going to afford a nissan GT-R.... the answer is NEVER.. NOT in a lifetime with the kind of pay that I am going to be earning.)

I've started to worry about my future alot. I am very grateful for my scholarship. But with it comes many expectations, which I am worried I am unable to fulfill in the future. What if they realise that they chose the wrong person? What if I fall short of so many expectations? I'll be a disappointment to many. I don't know if I have the capabilities to handle whatever responsibilities they hand out to me. I do not have one of the brightest minds, I do not have the confidence, I know NUTS about what I'm supposed to be doing.

I hope I don't end up feeling all depressed and useless when I start work because I HAVE felt really depressed before although not in the category of clinical depression after talking to my friend about it.

Having nothing to do.

2010-07-03T17:47:00.002+08:00

I am no one.

I have nothing to do when I do not have anything to study. This is really bad. I have no interests, or rather, I have not discovered any interests. I have no inkling of what to do with myself when I'm not buried in my notes. I only know how to be a student. I don't konw how to be a human being. Sure I hang out with my friends sometimes but when they are busy I'm often alone, drowning myself on way too much online streaming and rewatching friends episodes and essentially being a slob and quite useless.

My excuse is that (gosh why did humans invent excuses. Excuses are for the weak) interests take too much money. And very often its only fun if you take someone but obviously this isn't an option when half the people you sms are busy or just don't reply your smses anymore ahem youknowwhoyouare.

Scuba diving needs money and friends.
Jewelry making (ha never tried but i'd like to) needs money.
Shopipng needs money.
Traveling needs money and friends.

I don't have any musical talent despite studying MEP in MGS (I tell this to everyone to try to show that I have some form of a hobby or talent, but relaly, I can't improvise a song for nuts that doesn't tear one's eardrums to shreds), I have technical skills but I probably don't have much talent.

I don't think playing with any bloody animal is considered an interest at all when you don't have animals to play with at home. (hence home is also a bore)

I don't have computer games/video games (thank goodness)

I guess exercising is an option but really, who counts this as an interest. Plus it rains half the time in singapore. Should probably buy some weights i have been putting off since like forever. cheaper to buy from Big W i think.

I guess I could go climb the hortpark thing but anna only returns on Wednesday so we will wait till after that.

Eating is my only solace. MOther's cooking is always a comfort. Eating provides me a break from monotony, the constant staring into a computer screen,l constantly refreshing the freakin facebook page that no one really updates anymore now that exams are over. (facebook was an irrepressible comfort to me during the exam period)
The thing is, with eating, I consume calories. And these calories need to be worked off or they just end up on your hips permanently. Which brings me back to the exercise point. Its cloudy and I dont' feel like running today so I'll just be a lard today. I'll run tomorrow. *promise. (if it doesn't rain.)

I could go out for outings that have already been planned ages ago instead of my usual pang-sehness, such as things such as my grandmother's 80th, but I think its weird when the freak 2nd general grandchild is the only one from her family at a dinner with 3 other full families of cousins, aunts and uncles. I saw my cousins last week, and i would have loved to catch up with them.

On a completely different note, my estate has a lot of fancy smanshy cars of gargantuan numbers. Some families even own more than one of these fancy smanshy cars. We, on the other hand, only own a very humble honda civic that is probably the oldest car you can find in the car parks. A stark contrast against the audis, porches, ferraris, mercs, bmws, volvos, volkwagon beetles.... So many convertibles, and one of them even let their dogs sit in his convertible after they walk all over the wet roads and leaf-strewn parking lots!

Wish I could be them in a few years.

I'm in my mid 20s and I'm not achieving anything and not being productive. Is this how a human life is to be spent?

Yan can cook so can you?

2010-06-29T22:43:00.001+08:00

yummy yummy baked chicken goodness. why marinate your own chicken when you can buy better-tasting ones from the supermarket? A shame each of us could only have 4 small pieces though. Would have loved it if I had more!

Making room 2

2010-06-29T22:08:00.001+08:00

My handwriting used to be marginally neater. I also seemed to have an overuse of tiara pens. Then again, who didn't at that age?

These ugly yellow/green/maroon paper folders weren't exactly durable.

There were times when I did pretty well in class too. This is a thing of yesteryear. No longer am I even near scraping an average grade.

A maths and E maths brought back good memories.

Making room

2010-06-29T21:34:00.000+08:00

The day began with clearing out my cupboards to make room for my uni stuff. My cupboards and shelves were shrewn with notes since 1999 when i was in secondary one. No kidding. I was half expecting beetles (in deed, i found one in my hair later in the evening), cockcroaches or decomposed lizards hidden in the depths of my books as the last time i tried to clear the junk was maybe 2 years back when my room got flooded with rain water. It was disgusting. Did lots of damage.

I caught up with some old exercise books that met their fates with the omnimous black garbage bag that pathetically could not withstand the sharp edges of most of my files. Had to double bag most of these.

So close

2010-06-29T19:21:00.002+08:00

I'm not sure who's reading this anymore, but here's a brief post.

Please don't ruin this for me, horses. I know I screwed up. I feel sick to the stomachm whenever i think about this. :(

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.

2010-05-09T14:09:00.001+08:00

"Hey mum, i have to go for my shift in 5 minutes, so HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!"

"ok go la go la bang sai ah!"

" no, shift!! ICU shift!"

"Oh!! shift not shit! okok go go go thank you darling"

HAHAHHA lmfao

i'm 2 life stages behind my peers.

2010-04-25T07:16:00.003+08:00

I got used to seeing my friend's older sisters getting married.

My friend (the same age as me) just got engaged. I'm quite happy for her, but I'm quite worried for myself!!! Hm. Sooner or later I'll have no single girl friends to hang out wiht anymore as they will be moving on with their own lives. And then it'll just be my dog and I.

Stupid

2010-04-20T20:47:00.002+08:00

The referral vet's knowledge is akin to the mount everest. mine is like the little ant hill outside my room. :(

How is it that I am graduating in less than 8 months, and have to know all these things in such clear detail. :(

2010-02-27T01:45:00.003+08:00

i need to be able to enjoy the process of learning, rather than not enjoying something just because i'm not good at it.

horses horses horses. magnificent beasts, but fluid pumps are damn fidgety.

It keeps me dry

2010-02-18T06:57:00.002+08:00

I never realised how big my umbrella was relative to other's till I saw this.

As you can tell from the composition of this photo, the big one belongs to me... it can easily shelter 3 people. Shulin has the more regular sized one.

I dunno how i can still get wet with that big one.

I am now the proud owner of a ... ....

2010-02-18T06:52:00.002+08:00

What's this??

Is it a banana that's gone rotten?

NOO! Its a cow horn!!! I helped dehorned half of the horn yesterday. Eben did the rest. I had not much luck with upper body strength.

Its starting to stink though. :(

I'm hoping I can bring it back home to Singapore!

I dare you.

2010-02-13T19:39:00.001+08:00

My vet class wants to do a nude vet calendar featuring our 2010 class for the 2011 calendar...

Just to give it a measure of classiness, it'll be in black and white, and no vital body parts will be exposed.

I did not write my name down.

Jess was kind enough to say she added my name for me. -___-

I have to find that sign-up list. I think most pple who signed up on that list thot it was a list for calendar orders.

I've got much to lose.

1. dignity
2. dignity
3. dignity.

Because this is my blog,

2010-02-09T05:30:00.002+08:00

I can write anything I want.

I felt like I was a horse with impaction colic.

And i might have burst a facial blood vessel or cranium blood vessel in the process of going to the toilet.

youch!!!!

On a happier note, Group H has the day off today.

Will study.

Nightmares.

2010-02-04T09:39:00.002+08:00

I rarely have nightmares.

I slept really poorly last night. The most recent nightmare I remember waking up from was one with priya and I. We had 3 huge lime green snakes in front of us, and we had to determine their breeds. I was sitting backwards on a chair, and looking on as priya used her hands to measure up their diameters and patterns. We were dealing with the middle snake, which I thought was a green boa, when priya decided to get a better view of its patterns and size ratios by flipping it over and straightening out. At that point, the snake started writhing and snapping, and I remember keeping my legs off the ground while kneeling on my chair. I remember telling myself that I wasn't afraid of snakes, that I even LIKED snakes, while priya single handedly mastered the snake by grabbing its neck and tail and wrestling it down to the table. When the chaos settled, we started analysing the 3rd snake, and the same thing happened!!!
I also remember touching the snake and thinking that it was warm and dry, rather than the normal cold and dry touch to a snake.

At that point, I woke up.

Now i know.. I dream in colour, I can feel temperatures and textures as well.

Eeekss. snakes. I know I put on a brave front in front of vets that handle snakes but it takes me a while to get used to handling them!!!! i was cringing at the start of the phototaking session with the python round my neck in africa!

2010-02-02T17:01:00.001+08:00

wah seriously ... i wake up at 10am, and by the time i'm done with grocery shopping and cooking lunch, its already 2pm. then i start cooking dinner again at 6pm, eat at 7pm, and then don't do anyting else till i go to sleep. I'm just glad that this is during the HOLIDAYs. cos if its during the semester, i'm going to spend more time cooking then studying. which is bad.

Maffra

2010-01-30T20:50:00.003+08:00

I'm quite glad Maffra is over.

I felt like a fish out of water in so many instances. The farmers and vets (most of whom own farms or grew up on farms) used a different sort of lingo from city slickers. They have heavier accents, they know each other and each other's families and businesses... and they own utes. I couldn't understand quite a bit of what they were saying, and many atimes when jakob malmo or mark humphris was taking the history of the cow i had to make guesses to what they were saying.... Considering this maffra trip gave me my first opportuinity of seeing a real life herringbone shed (all of you country people go OMG I CAN"T BELIEVE THIS) it was quite an eye opener.

jakob malmo must make quite a lot of money from all the stakes he holds in the sharefarms and properties and as director of the vet practice... he owns a toy car.. the nissan 370z.... imagine a 71 year old man who combs his hair with a curry comb in his car driving such a swanky toy car over long stretches of the country roads... u should think he is quite successful!

i think i might have approached this opportunity in a more positive light if i had actually revised my cattle notes before coming.

I had rectalled ALOT of cows durign this week, and i'm glad for it.. i finally managed to feel the non gravid horn (smooth) vs the gravid horn (bumpy) through the rectal wall.

and i'm getting better at locating the cervix, and pulling at it to find the uterus tho i still can't quite grab the ovaries but I think at this stage I should just focus on bouncing it instead.

I need more experience with mixed practice. Think I should really confirm my warragul one.

Dirt.

2010-01-30T20:47:00.003+08:00

I think i've changed abit.

I ate a nectarine that was plucked from a tree growing on a farm, given to me by my vet lecturer, that had rolled off the little platform behind the handbrake of the car to the back which was covered with old newspapers, old, dirty towels, intramammary preparations, medications, and all sorts of junk. I picked it up with my cow dung caked hand, and ate it.

It was very sweet.

It was also probably quite dirty.

Ahh the country... you just try not to think about these things.

Nothing to do.

2010-01-20T12:05:00.003+08:00

I really envy people who can bake so well and have the creativity and brains to present a dish so beautifully and take lovely pictures... you probably already know about this blog from all the delish photographs and especially wonderful christmas cookies.

I'm probably just really lousy, but look at how cleanly she cuts the slice of cake!!!

I love anything with raspberries in them.

Its a feast for the eyes. Can't wait till her next Christmas posting.

3 weeks is not enough

2010-01-20T11:24:00.002+08:00

My short stay in singapore has come to an end. I did not even have time to fall sick at the start of my holiday in singapore because now the usual start of my vacation is now the end. I am starting to feel flu-ey and it sucks cos my flight is in slightly more than 48 hours and i don't really want to be feverish on board the plane. Sucks to go back to Melbourne.

Mummy, may I have a dog for Christmas please.

2010-01-17T22:15:00.003+08:00

The unfortunate answer has been a resounding no. I suppose if I "rescue" a pup and bring it home without any forewarning my parents will not have the heart to throw the dog out, though they may throw me out. If only I own a house. The dog and I would be very happy. We would play catch together, get discounted medicines from my vet friends hopefully with zero consulation fees (must ask the ava vets how they go around doing it), eat Addiction's venisona and zucchini diet together, go for runs together, while I bask in the praise that my dog is so friendly, affectionate, intelligent, and well-trained. Cos that is how my dog will be.

Singapore dogs are so wonderful. The only downside (to me) is that I can't really predict their temperaments, as opposed to pedigree dogs. Perhaps getting them as young adults would be a better decision assuming that their personalities would have reared their ugly heads by then. haha.

Seriously, how could you resist a silly face like this?!

I hope my dog will not be too aloof. As much as I am in love with Mr Darcy in Pride and prejudice I will need a dog that will show me with lotsa attention and love after a long day at work. Will probably need to get someone (mum, dad? ) to walk this bugger in the day.

Cavvies are wonderful dogs with fantastic personalities and are one of my favourite dogs. However, throw a stone and you'll probably hit one of them with a heart murmur. Heart meds, anyone?

Ahhh I fell in love with a red border collie at one of the clinics with the most lovely disposition. He was enjoying the head scratches i was giving him till he almost fell asleep in my lap. Too bad he belonged to someone else or I would have taken him haha. I'm not sure how happy border collies will be in singapore homes with hardly any back yard. But I really hope to own one in the future.

The wonderful shelties. Lovely coats. Intelligent minds. Handsome dogs. Lovable personalities. They have chopsticks for legs. If i accidentally step on one of their legs I"m pretty sure it'll break.

And as usual I would love a golden retriever as well. AHHHHH when can I get my own house that's big enough for a biggish dog?? The thing is land is so restricted here that a stinking hdb flat or condo won't be big enuff for anything larger than a white fluffy dog, which I quite like as well. boooo.

Work

2010-01-13T22:18:00.001+08:00

+I don't understand how people can blog about work. For me, after spending over 12 hours at work, i refuse to relive the joys and tribulations of the thing that has taken up all the good hours of the day.

Pet products I never knew existed till 1 hour ago.

2010-01-03T09:35:00.002+08:00

Christmas is over, but that doesn't mean you still can't get gifts for your pet-lover friends!
Here's a few very interesting and almost out-of-the world pet products that were probably invented with all seriousness. In writing this post, I must include the disclaimer that all opinions expressed in this post are of my own, and are not representative of any higher organisation. I do not intend to insult or defame anyone.

Ever wonder what your dog's barks mean? Presenting the BOW-LINGUAL. This was awarded the "best invention of 2002" by Time magazine. It categorises the dog's bark into one of six distinct dog emotions (happy, sad, frustrated, on-guard, assertive, needy) and then matches the bark to one of the 200 humourous phrases that are stored in the device that fits within that emotional category. Handy, eh?

Sick of unsightly butt holes but like dogs with short tails? This "rear gear" ensures that you will see no more of "mr brown eye" (courtesy of the rear gear website). A perfect gift for people don't like seeing their cat's/dog's vulva or anus exposed to the whole wide world, especially when the bitch is on heat. A great talking point at the dog park. Also comes in christmas trees, cupcakes and alot more designs. You probably will have to remove it when the pet takes a poop, as the rear gear might get covered in excrement and end up causing a mess.

Neuticles. I first found out that these silicon testicular implants existed when I watched an episode of Bondi Vet. Dr Chris Brown had ordered these implants for a dog that he was going to castrate because the owner's boyfriend did not want the dog to feel like he lost his manhood. I think we all know who really has issues here. I doubt any castrated dog knows he has had anything removed post surgery, other than having a decreased libido. Anyway, routinely, both testicles are removed during a castration, leaving the scrotal sacs empty. These neuticles replace the testicles in the scrotal sac. Humans apparently have use for such technology too. LOL.

Comes in different sizes too. For cats, monochids, and cryptochids too.

A tattoo of King Tutt was made on the chest of this sphynx cat while it was under anaesthesia for 3 hours. There was outrage amongst animal welfare organisations when light was made of this procedure, argueing that they oppose animals used for the cosmetic whims of an owner, that animals have no voice and shouldn't be subjected to such disrespect etc etc.

I personally don't think the cat would realise it just got inked. While I oppose other cosmetic procedures such a debarking and tail docking, I'm not sure what I feel about cosmetic tattooing yet. Tattooing has already been used routinely in various developed countries as a means of a population management tool, as a indication that an animal has been desexed. What do you think?

2009-12-29T16:42:00.002+08:00

OH GOSH I AM SOO tired!

and i didn't even do ANYTHING that required learning today. i.e. I did not learn anything today. at all. All I did was brainless washing up stuff. I never wanna be a vet nurse, and definitely not a vet nurse who is not paid (like how I was today. yikes) I'm glad I'll be someone who in the future will have some degree of pull in the future. I'm glad I'll have a degree that allows me to effect some change in an organisation, or in the health of a dog. I don't just wanna be someone who "supports" because I know I'll feel really frustrated. I want to be at the helm of something good. I want to be the one who creates something good. I want alot of things. But first I must learn to pass my exams.

I love good masterpieces like sakamoto ryuichi's song.. that was used in merry christmas mr lawrence. I'll never tire of it. I will try to pick it up again when i get back to singapore. I also like chasing cars by snow patrol haha.

Natalie told me she's sick of her job and might consider venturing into music. I think that's awesome, pursueing one's passion. She is really good at music. So is melissa Khong. Music makes me happy (when it's played well. Practicing makes me very frustrated and irritated. My EL-900 has sustained many blows of agony haha)

I miss my friends.

thank you jane. though i know you don't read this.

2009-12-21T18:09:00.002+08:00

what jane told me when i was feeling extremely discouraged:

jan yong... i tell you the reason.because you love animals. because you want to be a vet. because next time you will make shit loads of money and you will actually love what you do.if you look beyond the exams, books, papers, and literally.. shit and guts... you will see that it all started with a girl with big dreams. you will get there babe. keep on :)

Guess who I met today!

2009-12-20T12:43:00.003+08:00

I saw Anthony and his girlfriend as I was walking home today after some semi lunch with hoiyee. Anthony is the residential advisor at kendall and also my oral examiner LOL. I didn't bother to say hi!! Just tried to avoid eye contact teeheehee.

Yesterday, as I was walking home from my grocery shopping at victoria market, I came across Christina Cheng waiting for her dad do groceries while keeping a keen eye out for the parking attendant, 2 dollars in hand. lol.

A few weeks ago, when i went to botanical gardens with madeleine, I met HANNAH LYNCH with her group of friends. She came up to me to say hi!!! SHe's so friendly. Possibly the most friendly girl in school.
hahaah

Melbourne is so small, i meet alot of people everytime i take a walk out on the streets hahaha!

Mornington Trip 2.

2009-12-19T08:59:00.002+08:00

Fong Chin, Jimmy, Shen, and I headed down to Mornington recently for yet another round of fruit picking. This time, given that we were somewhere at the start of summer and it was the early cherry season, we decided to do some cherry picking. I think cherry picking is possibly more fun than strawberry picking. Cherries grow on low trees, so it doesn't excacerbate back pain like strawberry picking does. It was extremely therapeutic. Alot of the cherries on lower branches were split and cracked, which was kind of a waste, as they were otherwise very black and looked quite promising.

headed down to some 1km Kings circuit walk, with the promise of a waterwall. Unfortunately, the waterfall had been reduced to a creek, really. Which was very disappointing. I don't think I'll go for a bush trek again. Not in summer anyway. The twigs are so dry, theres hardly any scenery. I prefer coastal treks as I'm not into observing trees or looking out for miniscule birds (we saw 2) and there are so many spider webs. Being the person leading the group is no fun.

kings circuit walk.

Kings circuit lookout.

Some cherries were moderately sweet,

I picked 2.6 kg of cherries. ARGHHH.. WAYY TOO MANY. took me ages to finish them!!

some cherries weren't so sweet.

Looking forward to Dec 2010

2009-12-12T07:26:00.002+08:00

A few of my friends graduated on dec 5th this year. They were from the vet, med and dentistry faculties.

Myself, fong chin, huiyin (from malaysian medical royalty haha) and yu-tang and dae hoon.
The facade in the background is one of the few backdrops that look remotely victorian (or gothic?!) and hence alot of the new grads choose to take photographs against the backdrop. Most of the buildings in Melbourne uni are either very plain brick buildings or modern buildings of modest architectural design that don't really make a very nice backdrop.

Eefung and jun jia gowning up!!! Our graduation gown does not include the motar board. They safety pin the lapels onto your clothes, so I must remind myself not to wear a super nice, brand new top next time cos 4 holes are going to be pricked into it anyway.

yay!!! flowers from me! I'm sorry I know the flowers were a little troublesome for you to carry through the graduation ceremony. Very cumbersome stuff, but at least you have them so you can pose with them for pictures! My medicine friends hardly got any flowers. -__-''

Eefung's hard work.

2009-12-11T17:47:00.002+08:00

Eefung offered to cook me meals for the 1+ week that I was having my university rotations and she had finished exams. So touched! Thanks for looking after me eefung during that time!! My friends were very jealous of the food you cooked for me you know. It was a zillion times better than the instant mee that I made for myself after you left. Your breakfast pastries were a treat!!!! Thank you so much. :))

My cereal. Not made my eefung hahaha. The sticks look like rabbit food right.

Plain bread, to go with.....

YUMMY CURRY!!!!

Very very good scones. So much nicer than miss marples which seems like sponge cake.

A noodley lunch!

Nice chocolate custard thingy. I'm on facebook early in the morning.

Super nice pastry. Thanks for waking up so early to make this, eefung!

Rice with chicken cutlet

Soba and fillet!! with super nice mushrooms and tomatos and cabbage:;))

Prob the best food i've eaten at kendall. :)) THANK YOU.

strawberry picking anyone?

2009-11-22T20:26:00.002+08:00

It's late spring/summer now, and the straw berries and cherries are popping out and are ready for picking!!! We seized the opportunity and went to mornington peninsula to pick some fruit. It was great fun. The berries were as fresh as they could get, so firm, no bruises, and so sweet. I think the small ones are alot firmer than the large ones simply cos there's a smaller core. We bought chocolate sauce for dipping those buggers in them.

does anyone know why birds don't eat the strawberries though? it was an open field. i was thinking it could be the plastic bag which they place over the soil that stops the birds from landing nearby and eating the fruits, but eefung says the plastic bag probaly protects the strawberries from the soil (which also makes sense)

i did see some snails, and some strawberries that were half eaten that were still attached to the stalk. :) i can just imagine some marsupial entering the field in the middle of hte night and munching on the strawberry.

we had to wear plastic bags on our feet because it was muddy. gosh I'm very short. :(

headed off to ashcrombe maze after that. a beautiful 25acre garden that had zillions of flowers.

fairies in the woodlands! it was really really very beautiful.

tempting eh?

1st time ice skating.

2009-11-22T20:22:00.002+08:00

I learnt that socks are a necessity to protect yourself from foot fungus and disgusting blisters.

blister on my right foot:

blister on my left foot.

one week later the blisters are still there. the skin is slowly sloughing off. my skin is really very delicate. which kinda sucks cos i can't wear ALOT of shoes that are pretty.

Kendall BBQ

2009-11-22T20:08:00.003+08:00

So post exams, and we're going pretty crazy with the free time we have. We spend our days on our hospital rotations, and in the evening, we do things like watch movies at werribee cinema (poor quality) and bbq.

this bbq was pretty good, apart from the fact that 1.5h into the bbq the tray caught fire, burnt all the foil, skewers and killed the bbq. the leftover skewers were then stir fried the next day. har har.

thats anthony (my oral examiner and also a vet) trying to cover the fire with sand.

some fish that ton and szymon speared at wilson's prom!

did i say that there was a fire? that's ton btw.

the kebabs. skewered by me me me! and a few others. haha.

dennis, joanna and eva.

theres a running joke that ting is pregnant (has been for a year now). heres ton listening for baby sounds.

kelene and tracy!

i know i used to study mep and i'm supposed to be good at music but i failed miserably at playing anything worth listening to. we tried sight reading jay chou's song. i was the left hand, kel was the right. epic FAIL.

tadah! after a tiring day of standing during surgery. (AS IF). surgery rotation was pretty quiet. haha. one surgery a day if we were lucky haha.

surgery mates!!!! love you guys!

Camberwell market.

2009-11-22T20:03:00.002+08:00

Oh gosh could werribee get any more boring. I actually have to blog to kill time.

ok so here's camberwell market with jiayuan. as usually i forgot to take pictures of me and my friends but here's pictures of this market where people sell old things and call them vintage. its a really small market. If i were more fashion conscious, I might have been able to unearth some rare good buys, but all i bought was an owl necklace that i presume was brand new because I dont' like wearing hand me downs. Though i did take an old dress from horace's sister since he was going to chuck it out anyway.

wallets, anyone?

cute cards.

to the rodeo, anyone?

Cherry eye.

2009-11-15T20:50:00.002+08:00

I bought a cherry

with a weird tumourous growth today. look. its like a nipple on a cherry. i think it was supposed to have a twin.

it happened to be the best cherry.
so firm. so fleshy. but with a tumour. so i chucked it out.

Do baby pigs drink water?

2009-11-06T19:38:00.002+08:00

Jan: do baby pigs drink water?
Dev: haha why.. why not.. of course they drink water (or something to taht effect)
Jan: or else i can't say they suffer from salt toxicity if there's no water!
everyone gets curious and starts laughing at the initial question and starts discussing
Jan: Nilhan! (who just had a son) do babies drink water?
Nilhan: Babies at 3 months drink water!
Jan: weird shifty eye look.. that's not much use.. 3 months in baby time.
Nilhan: So in pigs it's 3 weeks!
Sally Szymon Raul Jack myself dev horace champ and vic start laughing...

i'm screwed la.....

2009-11-05T03:59:00.002+08:00

I really think i've lost my opportunity to graduate with a first class honours... i realy messed up my exam papers on mon and wed (dogs and cats and horses) shit la... what a waste... i def def cannot get a h1 for those 2 subjects. lets see if i'm right in a month's time. i don't think i can pull up my marks with the nexgt 6 papers which will end on 13nov fri.

i shall be the first scholar who doesn't cut the 2nd upper honours limit. hai. i'm always the first to do such things. can i be called a maverick?

Parental comfort.

2009-10-29T19:56:00.002+08:00

I think my parents know I am feeling depressed. My father told me that he knew I would be alright for exams. Normally he says stuff that would make me heaps more discouraged. This was a refreshing change. Maybe they know I'm doomed already> i'm really unprepared. i dunno why Im still blogging when i should be mugging.

Escape Plan

2009-10-19T14:56:00.002+08:00

i begin horse week tomorrow. I'm not excited. I am fearful. My plan is to run sidewards from the horse if it decides to kick. I hope I'm fast enough and won't trip over my own boots.

Irony

2009-10-10T15:47:00.002+08:00

I watch grey's anatomy and yet I'm so lousy at surgery. hm. maybe I should just stop watching it and the inverse relationship will go in the opposite direction?

Balance

2009-10-06T16:38:00.003+08:00

when you don't ask enough questions, they call you quiet.
when you ask more questions, they ask you to think before asking. or say that they won't spoonfeed me.

I don't think my questions were dumb/unintelligent. What's their problem.

how now brown cow?

Pig Tongue Soup

2009-09-29T19:19:00.002+08:00

My friend Joanna cooked pig tongue soup today. There were 3 pig's tongues floating in the water, and I had never tried it before. I thought it looked pretty gross, but I bet it tasted better than what I had prepared for my own dinner (veges and minced chicken, suitable for the dogs at ICU ward, but I added oyster sauce)

The conversation w joanna and myself went something like this :

Jan: I've never tried pig tongue soup before. I think you're more asian than me. THe most exotic thing Ive tried is pig intestine... oh and i like pig kidney.

joanna: omg you eat pig kidney? that's so disgusting!! the kidney and the liver gets rid of all the toxins and it makes the shit of the body... and you eat it? that's so disgusting!

jan: HEY you eat pig's tongue ok! you can't judge!! you eat pig's tongue! that's worse!
joanna: that's not worse... pig's tongue is the start of the GIT tract... it doesn't make shit. Its just like pork.. muscle, just that it can move! your pig kidney and liver makes shit!

jan: no it doesn't! anyway after you boil it all the toxins go away.
joanna: doesn't work like that!

jan: you eat pig's tongue.. that's worse.

and I still think its worse. The pig's tongue were floating in the boiling water, w the torus pyloricus for all to see, and papillae floating in the water.

joanna added that you can't eat teh papillae. still don't understand why not. you're already eating the whole tongue!

Orhbiang party at Hanting's and Chai's house.

2009-09-21T11:33:00.003+08:00

On the last day of school I trained all the way from Werribee to Clayton and then hopped into Jia's car, chips in tow, after a fearful 40minute wait at the train station (melbourne train stations are notorius for gang fights and beating up of poor innocent bystanders). Just thankful that the lighting there was alot brighter than other train stations and there were heaps of commuters around.

The theme was a very good theme: Orhbiang. No black or white clothing allowed. I regretted not dressing to the max as my wardrobe was extremely well equipped for this theme.

I only knew slightly less than half the crowd gg there and no thanks to jia mavis charmaine hahaha they didn't intro me to any of them so i was forced to put on a smile and pretend to be an extrovert (or maybe i am.. i don't feel like one) and pull up my confidence level and say hi to everyone! hahahhahha....

Everyone was dressed so much better than me!! In terms of the bright colours, etc. Our outfits made most photographs pop!

We spent the night either chatting or playing Rock band (for like 5 hours). THese meddies are extremely good at Rock band. I have this feeling that they gather every evening or so to practice.

Charmaine buried by baby pink balloons that added a whimsical effect to the house which was already very nice and well furnished with good taste!!!

Whee so colourful. I love Iris's "costume", esp her pink leggings which only cost $2.50 from cotton on!!

me, jia and hanting.. As you can see my outfit was only a bit more gaudy than ordinary. bleah.Should have put in more effort.

Mini disco ball.

The oven produced so much smoke while reheating the meatballs/chicken that the fire alarm went off!!

We left at 2am. Hopefully the ChaosCulprits think of an equally fantastic theme for the next party and hopefully I can go as well!

Nuggets

Something from the supermarket.

Fruit platter

Charm's and jia's and mavis's hard work!

I contributed doritos and dip. It was really nice!! Would have prepared somethign better but then I came from school all the way from Werribee i.e. from west to eaast so I didn't have much time.

I'm so slow.

2009-09-09T18:32:00.004+08:00

I'm such a dumbass!!!!!!

Dr Tina asked us if we knew where a Wood's Lamp was kept in the clinic. Tom and Eben shook their heads. I heard her say "Wood Slab" and asked whata woodslab was. Then she looked at me quizzically and said, "oh its ok i'll get it myself you guys prob don't konw where it is." Something to thta effect.

When she left the room I asked tom and eben what a woodslab was and they said it was used to detect ring worm. I then realised she meant the wood's lamp, but assumed its nickname was the "woodslab".

When she returned to the room with the Wood's Lamp, I cheerily said "OH! I DIDN'T KNOW THAT WAS CALLED THE WOOD SLAB!"

*omg i'm so slow

anyway,dr tina then said, yeah its even got a label here, just in case people don't know.

And then it dawned on me. She had been saying wood's lamp all the time. My ears were playing tricks on me.

ogmomgomgogmog she must think I'm an idiot.

And then, I couldn't take blood from the jugular. I tried, but needed to redirect the needle ALOT and try twice to do it.... hai... and one of the referrel vets or was it a nurse? i still can't tell. anyway she was so bossy. she was trying to teach me how to feel the jugular, and i think i felt it, but she said, no you're not feeling it. ARGH anyway the point is that I am lousy at taking blood from veins. i think i'm stupid. I've done it countless times, ok lah.. maybe around 3 times from doggies and I still can't get it. I think next time when I do take blood I will try to put the needle in slowly, don't push it all the way down to the hub, and apply negative pressure all the way down so you konw when you hit the vein. Arhhhhghghghghhghghhgghghghghh i feel so lousy about myself.

2009-08-23T22:14:00.001+08:00

Wow my mother knows myself better than I do and she knows the current situation better than I do even in Melbourne... amazing! Should listen to her more often.

Graffiti

2009-08-20T20:30:00.002+08:00

This is Jacob's awesome portrait of a sick dog! He drew it on the Graffiti application on facebook, and the playback function shows the amazingness of this drawing in action. took him 2-3 hours...

He is now my graffiti shifu. not that i use that application very often anyway. I mostly use it to make garish looking happy birthday cards. I used to think i was artistic , now I highly doubt it.

python love!

2009-08-19T13:54:00.003+08:00

OH WOW we ultrasounded a CARPET PYTHON with cardiomegaly today. you could actually see a bump where the heart is! something like when a snake eats a biggish animal and you see a bulge where the prey has lodged in its digestive tract. This is only the 2nd snake that Dayle had ultrasounded and she was so jumpy with the snake hahaha. Well the snake was nice and placid at first, but I don't think it liked us holding it belly side up for the ultrasound and after we put it in the bag to let the sedatives work (cos it was so wriggly and it couldn't be ultrasounded properly) it got into striking position. eeks. After 10 minutes, we opened the bag again to check if the snake was sedated and it wasn't. We tried getting it out and it immediately pointed its neck straight at me... It kept coming towards me.. I was so spooked... I don't konw if that's what it does when its planning to strike or if it just wanted to smell me but I don't like snakes looking at me dead in the eye and just stretching out towards me so I quickly backed off as fast as possible without sudden movements.. could just imagine getting kissed by the snake with fang marks to show.

and then half way through the ultrasound the sedatives finally kicked in and we managed to get a good image of its bulging heart.

Ag Animals.

2009-08-13T12:55:00.002+08:00

We vaccinated 68 Brahman calves today.. they are quite cute. The lady was quite nice. I suck at manning the head bail. I let 3 calves escape out of 8 or so. HAHAHAHAHAHA. that means I only managed a less than 50% vaccination rate. hahahahaha. big woops. Thankfully I wasn't the only one who made the mistake. At the end of the day because we had to catch the calves that escaped (and thankfully MIke was there yarding the ones that escaped), they were quite traumatised, so Angus Campbell our young lecturer kinda told us to let him man the head bail instead hahahahaha. didn't trust us to not make the same mistake again. Pete however, volunteered and he's pretty good.

My first time vaccinating calves. And I'm about to graduate soon. Thats pretty sad. People who are studying vet science, please try to seek work experience in all sorts of animals ok??? Don't plan your work placements around your visits back to your home country unless u can be sure that your home country has as much to offer you....

2009-08-10T13:02:00.003+08:00

I was given a free sample of L'occitane Clarifying face mask to try.. the lady said it'll shrink my pores and I wouldn't have to worry about oil for 3days. I was quite impressed by what she said. I would buy it if what she said was true. So I put it on last night at 11pm plus.. thinking blissfully how nice it would be not to worry about oil for the next 3 days. Alas, at 3pm today, I decided the effects of the mask on me was not as powerful as what she made it out to be. Maybe I won't buy it. It costs $39.90. for a 75ml tube. it contains kaolin. Thats the thing they give dogs that are having diarrhoea... Not exactly very cheap eh? I may try buying a bodyshop one instead. Its $10 cheaper.

Vet dinner 2009

2009-08-09T18:31:00.005+08:00

Our vet dinner was held at Melbourne Aquarium. A very very delightful evening. The atmosphere was fantastic. Its so surreal to have jelly fish floating around you and a shark swimming in circles in the exhibit next to you while you enjoy an entree of trout and main of salmon (ohh the irony of eating fish in the aquarium).

We got to view some of the exhibits at the aquarium, there were waitresses and waiters on hand feeding us finger food of sushi and siewmai and some salmon on toasted slices of bread thingos that were super yummy and filling. Waiters were walking around with champagne and wine and beer and non alcoholic beverages.... I had a glass haha.

We had to wear name tags stating our name and year! My atrocius handwriting looked like I was in 2nd year rather than 3rd year... damn.. and that was when I was already trying so hard to write neatly.

Though the whole aquairum was closed to the public, there were still presenters introducing us to the fish in different exhibits. i was not listening. The champagne at this poitn of time was a little strong. I was on my 2nd glass (also my last glass.. switched to water after that in case i needed to drive home)

Finger food on the small tall table. victoria polished it all. haha.

The aquarium security literally herded us from one part of the aquarium to the next like cows/sheep..... as vet students we recognise this feeling and its no surprise when at 12midnight they herded us out of hte aquarium as well since it was FINALLY closign time for them. In front of me was a crowd of 1st years... the ava boy was one of them.

We were herded down the ramp. See the aquarium guy in the vest behind colleen? The aquarium was quite cold youknow. Good excuse for me NOT to take my coat off haha!

I like sea turtles. They are so cute.

One choice of the entree was this chowder soup.. Really good stuff.

Another entree choice that was the trout.. Mine... YUMMY. trout and beetroot... and cucumber... SUPER NICE... aPPARENTLy the dinner costs over a 100 bucks to cater..... but our ticket only cost $60. how nice was that. nicely subsidised by HILLS. I even won (for the 1st time of my life) the lucky draw for a bigass hills umbrella.

My main course after I kinda finished it.. I forgot to take the -before- photo. It waas orignially a huge slab of salmon. I demolished it in a bit.

The jelly fish exhibit... Victoria glows purple under teh UV light.

Jellyfish!

Me and my other classmate... Loads of 3rd years went... my table comprised mostly of 3rd years, and robin stanley the eye vet and a 2nd year and a 4th year and her boyfriend.

dessert! Sticky date pudding. mine. nice.

dessert 2: chocolate tart. didn't try, but chris cheng says it tastes like ordinary chocolate.

Happy birthday Singapore!!

2009-08-09T18:27:00.002+08:00

I miss Singapore so much.... I miss my family, I miss my friends!!! I miss the sweltering humidity. So glad I'm on a scholarship... at least I have a secure job for the next 6 years of my life. I don't have to worry about searching the 4 corners of the world looking for a veterinary related job.

Never a food blogger

2009-08-06T08:17:00.003+08:00

I will never survive as a food blogger. i lack discipline. I was ready to take photographs of the entire spread of yumcha at sharkfin house with jiayuan but my goal was ruined by my lack of self control. It became an afternoon of mercilessly attacking the food as it landed on the table. My camera had no chance. All it got was this lousy picture of glutinous rice which tasted fantastic. And a random photograph of the National Library, which I have yet to set foot in. haha!

OK I WILL STUDY NOW...

herbal tea

2009-08-06T08:15:00.001+08:00

Sanmei!

What is this chicken bone grass??!

A eulogy for my Pen

2009-08-06T08:12:00.003+08:00

I'm having the day off from school, so I'll use a brief 5 minutes to write a short eulogy for the best free pen I ever had. My dear Sworke pen, which came free with my sworke sunnies, was a good ball point pen. It had the amazing capacity to write on fabric, paper, survive falls into pools of blood, urine, and shit. It lasted me 6 months, and it lent me something to write with during all my practical classes. I'm sorry you ran out of ink. You served me well, and now I shall lay you to rest in my dustbin.

I don't know how to pose with animals.

2009-08-06T08:08:00.002+08:00

3rd finger was unintentional. this little piggy was being fostered by eefung.. she's going home on Sunday (hopefully)... she used to be a shy hermit crab, but now she's just a pig and would come to the edge of her cage to ask for treats!!! She prompty urinated on me (for the 3rd time) after this photograph was taken. I seem to be a favourite substrate for her to urinate on. :( My jacket got wet.

See I don't konw how to pose with animals. You are supposed to hold the guinea pig near your face to make the photo look nicer.

Such a girlie place!

2009-08-06T08:04:00.002+08:00

This shop is so pretty. Can you guess where this is??

Fish is anti-pink but she seemed to like the icecream sold here.

Its PEABERRY AND PRETZEL!! Such a girlie name....

Some random shot of yiwen and weishan who's hair is not as short as she thinks!!

ugly knee bruise

2009-08-06T07:55:00.002+08:00

\I fell down a few days after landing in Singapore on the staircase of my house and hurt my knee. THe bruise kept expanding and expanding and bleeding subcutaneously for 2 days and it was so painful i couldn't even squat!

But its gone now. Yay for healing mechanisms.

One complimentary photograph from my zoo experience.

2009-08-06T07:49:00.002+08:00

Seen this? Its a pangolin!!! I'm holding it wrongly I think cos she was struggling to get out, and was making this funny swimming action. I have a problem posing with animals. When you pose with small animals, you should always put them near your face to give an impression of affection and closeness. I only realised this after looking through a series of shots with animals. I'll elaborate later. I obviously have a problem with posing and hence my career as a model is probably going to remain a fixture of my imagination. Not that I ever dreamt of being one.

2009-08-04T17:22:00.003+08:00

I want to go Thailand to do some spay/neuter volunteer work... perhaps during my winter break next year of after graduation (if I'm given the time)... 2 weeks.. would be awesome.

Train to nowhere

2009-08-01T22:02:00.003+08:00

I took the train alone today to the city. It was a pleasant ride. It was 9am, saturday morning, the carriage was half empty, everyone got a seat. Got slightly confused when the train stopped for 5 minutes or so at Flinders, I think it always does that. I was worried it might reverse its direction and head off back to hopper's without going to Melbourne Central, but then I decided to stay on for a bit i.e. take my chances.....

The train ride BACK at 7plus was a totally different experience. I wouldn't say it was vastly different, but the crowd was different. There were more people, and they comprised of a lot of rowdy teens. They are obviously younger than me, but they do silly things like sing loudly along the radio on the platform, climb and jump off barricades, talk in loud voices... I was half relieved that the train got stopped half way at some ulu stop in the middle of nowhere and were transferred to buses. Which was wayy faster. And since none of these younglings were heading towards Werribee, the ride was slightly more peaceful. I think the feeling was slightly like when sanmei and ws and i were walking through the underpass to go to ECP and there was this huge group of young malay teens (not being racist... they just happened to be malay. if they were chinese teens i would react the same way too) hanging ard and were making alot of noise and we just felt so overpowered by numbers so we walked faster and the guys were like, DON'T SCARED! DON'T SCARED!....

I wouldn't dare take a train back alone after nightfall! :S

And then as the 3 of us were walking back on the dirt road outside the hospital, this car came by and honked at us and its passenger shouted.... these kinds of things have happened to me before, dunno if its cos we are asian or maybe cos we just happen to be there, but these idiots should be ignored. But I would definitely walk alot faster if I were alone.

Baaa baa red sheep

2009-07-29T18:20:00.002+08:00

We saw a sheep today..... that escaped the jaws of death, but was drenched completely in blood. I had never seen a red sheep before, this one was a bright pinkish red and was walking around in the drain. Poor dear... it was like a scene from a horror movie!!

My new group

2009-07-22T06:59:00.002+08:00

So I've been rostered with a totally new group, all australian group. And I have concluded that attempting to socialise on zero amount of sleep, at 4am in the morning, is a waste of energy. My brain also doesn't function well without sleep. I actually mistook the attendance time for treatments in the morning for 7.30am instead of 7.15am, so I was 15 minutes late, not that anyone noticed since there was nothing to do anyway. I did get to brief the day group on their case though.

I think it'll be really useful if I could speak clearer. The way I phrase my sentences and my accent really makes communication abit more challenging. Its not like I haven't spoken to angmohs before, but it'll be nice to fit in better I guess? I must start crawling out of my shell. This is a good chance to make better friends with all these people who have been my coursemates for the past 3 years! Well things could be worse.

I really don't like how I don't function well at night. Grrr. I'm on for night duties on TUESDAY (over), THURSDAY, SATURDAY, and MONDAY. And on call ono Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Wheeeeeeeeeee.

2009-07-22T02:15:00.002+08:00

wow there are cleaners working at the vet clinic at 4am in the morning. amazing....

More juice more Goss.

2009-07-20T17:27:00.002+08:00

Believe it or not.... moving to Kendall Hall does not stop the dramz.. ... but this was still prob a good decision ahhahaha.

Read my other blog for details.

WHAT KIND IF SICK JOKE IS THIS?

2009-07-18T11:28:00.002+08:00

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-17T17:30:00.000+08:00

2009-07-17T17:14:00.000+08:00

zoo part 3

2009-07-17T16:52:00.005+08:00

Think in the last few days of my attachment things slowed down ALOT.

day 8 sunday...

what did i do. hmm....

i rmb things were pretty slow. We had lotsa treatments in the wards, i hardly went out on the van. Think i followed reza out in the van to see the ferret and the same snake that they've been injecting. super nice guy. in the mean time, we did some rabbit grooming (extremely time consuming), helped out in the mouse deer abscess tx, a couple of snakes came in i think. I did lots of parasite checks--was eunice's assistant mostly that day as well, as anwar and sonja went to dart the wolf. wasn't allowed to follow.

day 9 monday: jackal that had to be pts cos it was at the losign end of a fight. tradegy struck that day. there was the deer that died i suspect from capture stress. super awkward day. we didn't know if we should follow the vets ard during such an emo period but then we were invited to go see some prob w a rabbit at kids world again, so that was the only ride we took out. That rabbit was groomed and as it was put in recovery, sonja invited abrahma to check out the deer PM she was doing. SIGH WE WANTED TO FOLLOW BUT SERENA SAID HOW COULD WE LEAVE THE RABBIT ALONE ON THE TABLE. ah well. so we stayed w the rabbit and continued to groom it while it recovered. and missed the pm. :(

day 10 tues: gave everyone icecream. everyone loved it. whew. hm more action as Cream the raccoon came into the ward for treatment for skin wounds they are so cute. And a sugar glider that was introduced into the pack and hence got bullied. Anwar the vet also got attacked by alot of them as he entered their enclosure to collect the injured sugar glider. So finally got to see my first exotic animal surgery today. about time! It needed a tail amputation as the end of its tail was all cold dead and necrotic. followed anwar and lita out to dart a deer (cant rmb why) but we got to help load the dart. i was more hindrance than help cos i prepared the needle for a blowdart rather than the gun. woops. took more pelican blood. i love it when i get to do vet work on my attachments hahahahha.

day 11: Super little action today. did heaps of cleaning. what a sucky end to the attachment. but I don'tkno w... there were v few cases on wednesday and sunday anyway. maybe cos fewer vets are on duty? but we only followed the van out once, to see a ear notching.... little boy fawns scream alot. think they are almost like pigs.

2009-07-17T16:50:00.001+08:00

I don't understand how some people can twist the truth till they make themselves seem like the victims when they are the ones causing all the trouble. GAWD some people just don't like to admit they are wrong. bastards.

Zoo again....

2009-07-11T11:58:00.002+08:00

Hmm I can't really remember what i've been doing at teh zoo but the highlights were that we got to learn darting (I have extremely weak lungs eeks. I might as well be a smoker.) and we vaccinated/took blood from pelicans in the quarantine area. They are quite scary I must say! Those beaks are like razors if they attack you. Not so good. ANd their bodies are so light and spongey and when you wet their feathers they form a squeaky noise.

Yikes.

I don't wnana go back to school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I want to stay in Singapore and start work and be at home and earn some money.

Blind as a bat

2009-07-06T20:26:00.002+08:00

My glasses fogged up when i got off the 927 so I took them off and decided to walk without my specs since I could see more or less without it anyway to the MRT station. I saw those Ez link scanners and was quite amused that the normal open-shut barricade was now turnstiles. So i took it, and thought it was quite weird that there weren't any escalators. Just stairs and an elevator. Took the elevator up, and tadah!!! Ended up on the LRT platform instead of the MRT platform. Note to self: Blurry vision causes me poor decisions.

Dead tired.

2009-07-05T22:02:00.003+08:00

Ok so its been Day 3 with the zoo, and its getting slightly better.

I'm not too sure if I'm allowed to blog about my zoo experiences. I do know that photographs aren't allowed on blogs or other public networks, but with my lack of knowledge of whats going on anyway I think my account of zoo experiences should be alright in this space.
So day 1: Quite quiet. Glad that sandhya was with me on the first day. Friends make everything seem more fun, but then the zoo people are quite friendly anyway, it wasn't difficult to make introductions.

So Fadilah brought us ard, got desperately lost with my lack of a radar of a gps system.

Then dr sonya came and said one of us could follow her to see an elephant footrot case, and sandhya went. I hung ard for 20 more minutes or so and Serena and Abraham (the new vet whose been wroking in KL for afew years, also his first day) started the van and i followed them, where they darted a BONGO called rhumba which is a female antelope so that it was under standing sedation. They use CO2 powered darts as opposed to the vaccuum powered darts. Serena did the darting using a blow dart. prob need quite strong lungs. They thought it was losing condition, so that took Xrays of its thorax w the portable xray machine. I was sweating and feverish and wearing my overalls didn't help at all. Yes and you are supposed to keep quiet while the drugs kick in within 5-10 minutes. Didnt know that.

then...

after lunch, followed sonja up to the reptile area to see this reticulated python with bad skin. Soaked her in iodine and sonja squeezed out some faeces from the snake's cloaca while the keepers were scraping the dead scales off her. Guess I should have helped. but i was feeling under the weather so I just squatted there. And i had fallen down the day before, had a huge blue black on my knee that was still red. Could see the capillary loops and stuff. And i think it was still oozing subcutaneously as it was still expanding and there was petechiae all over my patella. 5 days later, its more yellow. about time!!!

Then a short headed viper that was abit slow... argh zoo animals are always either having skin probs or being more or less weak and lethargic since these are the signs that keepers can take notice of. its lumpy tail could be necrotic so they scheduled a tail amputation the following day which I missed. Sonja was expressing faeces from this viper but in the process squirted a jet of urine out from its cloaca onto my arm. Thanks man.

Day 2:
Saturday! Ahh all refreshed and better. Slept loads and ready to roll. A very very good day, though it was ENTIREly based on observation.

I was cleaning the ward cages, and there were 32 chicks in the lower cage which I was supposed to transfer to the upper cage. So i was like... WTH... MUST I STAND UP AND SQUAT DOWN 16-32 TIMES to do the transfers. So i started... did a pretty good job. after a while, there were only 10 left. then the lady came n told me that i could use these huge baskets to do the transfer. -_-. so embarrassing.

Then, a sick IBEX!!!!! I almost got to do the cathetherisation!!! almost! Anwar was going to let me do it. BUT. ok anyway, here's what happened. this ibex was v sick. couldn't even get up on his legs. couldn't move. so anwar asked if i was confident doing a cathetherisation while he held the animal. I asked what animal. He said ibex. Note that it is one thing to read the word ibex (and you'd know its some sort of antelope) as to hearing it.... cos its totally diff, and i had no idea what an ibex was... for i knew it could be some sort of armoured anteater which I had no idea where the vein was etcetc. Anyway, if i knew it was an antelope, i would be more confident, cos obviously you do it at the jugular vein like a horse right. Anyway he sensed my trepidation, and said ok nvm i call for backup and he called lita. Atthat moment my heart sank cos i'm great at missing opportunities like these...... lita did the cathetherisation that i've done before!!!! and I felt so useless... and then she drew blood from the saphenous vein, failed, then tried to draw from the cephalic, failed, then drew bld from the jugular instead. It was super dehydrated. skin tenting to the max. So they put it on shock rate fluids, didn't seem to get better even after the 500ml was exhausted. then they put it on dextrose or plasma expander, and it revived alittle, even treid to stand up, but the pressure ischaemia of his muscles on the down side prevented him from standing properly and he collapsed again. We left him there after giving him a lot of meds to help him.

then I saw the awesomeness that was teh elephant pregnancy ultrasound... 5-6months gestation out of a grand total of 22. Sonja did a wonderful job, and all the zoo keepers were like proud parents, cheering when they saw the good news, and they were so happy and were treating the dam like there was no tomorrow. Note to self: don't wear gloves in elephant pregnancy. just grab those huge ass balls of faeces and chuck them on the floor! the fetus was prob the size of a grapefruit already! amazing stuff. abraham said i was very lucky.

ahhh a very eventful day.

then day 3: today.

argh i'm so tired. have been typing for half an hour already. not non stop tho.
started the day off by cleaning the wards again. those chicks make a bloody mess of themselves. so much shit. its disgusting. wanted to puke. and i'm afraid i catch some sort of feathery lice disease cos theres so much fluff floating ard.

then went to check onthe ibex again. this time, he let us do the cathetherisation, and then draw blood! i"M not very good at drawing blood though... argh! any tips? sandhya's pretty solid. he said think of an ex boyfriend and jab the needles in perpendicularly at first firmly and then direct it more parallely. i'm abit too gentle haha. then we also built a harness for it later in the day to prop it up so that it odesn't rest on its muscles anymore.... its joints were getting swollen from all teh weight placed on it. looked almost like a case of CAE but he didn't think so. I suspect blood parasites could be a problem for this sudden weakness and anaemia since its chest xrays look clean. he says the wbc count is also normal then i asked if it could be degenerative but dunno what he said after that.

semi surgery on mouse deer!! tank anaesthesia on little miss chopsticks legs. had a huge abscess on the side of her pretty face that required lancing..... so i did a s/c injection of hartmanns'... 1-0ml for this dehydrated little lady that was ard 2kg as well. lesser mouse deers are cute. they fur is quite soft!

then.... anwar went to check out the kangies and some wallabies but we weren't allowed in the area (got told to stand behidn the barrier after we gungholy walked in to the photography area hahaa)

he went to see a white tiger tt was losing hair as well. so he said jus wait and see how.

alot of wait and see cases. alot of empirical diagnoses too.

2009-07-03T20:17:00.000+08:00

ugly bridge road photo

2009-07-03T20:16:00.000+08:00

charmaine loke is feeling hot sitting in the sun!

2009-07-03T20:15:00.000+08:00

banana pancakes yum!

2009-07-03T20:14:00.000+08:00

TAe's bay bug risotto!

2009-07-03T20:13:00.000+08:00

the corn fritters thing w salmon

Bridge Road

2009-07-03T18:22:00.001+08:00

I needed to fight my post-exam depression, which based on my recent grades, wasn't uncalled for.
So here's some fabulous feeds at the Richmond Hill cafe and Larder to make up for the terrible oral exam!!! Glenn Edwards almost tried to kill me with wound healing. Even Bill Harkin's feline tooth resorption (never read anything about it, just saw the photograph on the front page of the lecture notes and went hmph won't be tested alas it was tested shucks but I did a pretty good job smoking my way through I must admit. glenn's part didn't even go as well). Heres some corn fritters and salmon cos I didn't get to try it at MArt 130.

This is Tae's bay bug risotto. Hmm how come I don't have a photo of him???

This was charmaine's awesome banana pancakes that were extremely filling and delicious for the first few mouthfuls but after that it was just jilat (dunno how to spell).

We had to sit outside as we didn't make a reservation. It was hot as the noon sun was glaring down on us. I think I got alittle sunburnt. Didn't help as we had piled on layers since it was supposed to be winter.

headed off to hoyts after a successful day of shopping to watch the proposal. We were 15 minutes late for the show, and got quite worried when we were still stuck in the queue and the movie listing on the tv screen was taken off. But thankfully we managed to still buy tickets for it and get rather good seats. Ryan reynolds was soo cute and that show cheered me up quite alot. It was hilarious.

However, I have concluded that there is no real cure for exam depression for me. yucks.
Will try harder next time!

ZZZZZ

2009-07-03T18:16:00.000+08:00

Ooooo the vet course lectures are exciting, exciting times... kai shian cheated.. she was sleeping at first but then she woke up.

1st july to 15 july...

2009-07-03T17:59:00.003+08:00

having attachment at teh zoo now... I love how I scheduled my leave days on my 2nd and 3rd day of work. Great chance to recuperate from a "Stressful" first day. Better make full use of this attachment which i waited 2 years for man!!!!!!

VROOM VROOM VROOM!!!!!

2009-06-20T20:55:00.006+08:00

Cape Otway Lighthouse.

Geelong.. eastern beach for the rich and famous.

Our rented TOYOTA CAMRY SPORTINO. Omg I can't believe I was driving a sportscar model. This car was so smooth. I loved it. IT was big, making parking very difficult, considering my non existent car parking skills this wasn't surprising, but it was so smooth and quiet. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! SO MUCH better than a hatch back.

some house at the cape otway lighthouse place.

great ocean road... beautiful views!! we never got to the 12 apostles cos there wasn't time, but this was nice enough despite the intermittent rain.

477 km of driving... I drove all the way for ard 12hours?.. this is around 24 times as long a time as any distance I've ever driven. I normally just drive half an hour and give up.

the view was MAGNIFICENT. though we all got nauseous from the windy windy road that was Great Ocean Road. 32km of windy road is no joke. My vestibular system was all screwed up after that. I felt seasick in my head!

We made several stops:
1. Info centre at coria....
2. torquay (pastries)
3. apollo bay (windy road great ocean road)
4. info centre at apollo bay
5. cape otway lighthouse
6. lunch at apollo bay (fish and chips)
7. eastern beach at geelong.

you know you're a vet student when:

2009-06-12T17:28:00.000+08:00

Meaghan O'Brien at 11:42am June 12
sleep is no longer in your dictionaryMeaghan O'Brien at 11:43am June 12
the only people you have spoken to for the past 4 weeks have been other vet students or your familyLyndel Jeffery at 11:44am June 12
when you think about renal pathology while going to the bathroomMarcus Verstraelen at 11:48am June 12
you go to the races and wonder how many horses have got subclinical EIPH at the end of each raceHannah Lynch at 12:05pm June 12
somone asks you your name and you think it's a trick questionDevina Natasha Loekito at 12:18pm June 12
your ideal vacation involves being able to sleep and wake up when you want itLyndel Jeffery at 12:20pm June 12
holidays just means a change of study/work locationMarcus Verstraelen at 12:22pm June 12
4 years of study university, Dr. in front of your name, and 35 grand a year awaits youMeaghan O'Brien at 12:26pm June 12
it's a good thing when you ONLY have 9 examsMeaghan O'Brien at 12:27pm June 12
everyone tells you that you are doing the hardest semester yet and it will get better after this one - and they say the same thing every 6 months for 4 yearsLyndel Jeffery at 12:31pm June 12
tying people up is study... quick release knots ofcourseHannah Lynch at 12:32pm June 12
When catching the train yesterday I was thinking about all the pathogenic agents i could be catching from aerosol transmissionMeaghan O'Brien at 12:36pm June 12
you want to live on the westside (just to be closer to uni)Hannah Lynch at 12:48pm June 12
The path lab makes me hungryMeaghan O'Brien at 12:50pm June 12
you spend your weekends looking at pictures of dead things - and some of them make you laughMeaghan O'Brien at 12:50pm June 12
you spend your weekend looking at pictures of dead things - and this is not strangeDevina Natasha Loekito at 1:01pm June 12
when ben discovered that the baby with holoprosencephaly looks like a character from futurama; which in my opinion does look alike.lolzDevina Natasha Loekito at 1:02pm June 12
when the highlight of your day is opening your facebook account.Shelley Brown at 3:43pm June 12
when you wonder what your own organs look like and hope that you don't have fatty change in your liverChris Halman at 3:43pm June 12
you look at a greyhound and only see what's under it's skinShelley Brown at 3:46pm June 12
also when you see a live Greyhound and get freaked out. Shouldn't you be dead??Chris Halman at 3:48pm June 12
you have a surprising hatred of animals for someone who wants to work with themJosh Crouch at 4:47pm June 12
...when a loin steak becomes a longissimus dorsi...Jessica Ierardo at 4:54pm June 12
when you think it would just be easier if all the animals were deadJessica Ierardo at 4:54pm June 12
when you realise you know about 10 different types of diarrhoea