i lost my blogging mojo. well not really i guess, i just haven’t had the time to sit still and stew on things that i really want to write about. writing is special to me and something that i love very much, and (although i am guilty of posting random thoughts that i sometimes write for the sake of writing) i’ve decided that until i really sat down and thought about the things in my heart that i want to share, this blog will be a little quiet… for now at least.

and now for some updates! i’ve been back in The Land of Extreme Humidity for nearly 2ish weeks now, and have been busy spending time with family and friends. many of my peers are busy undertaking summer attachments and electives and whatnot, but ive decided that i am going to take a break from med this time. (in other news, i passed 4th year! on to my fifth and FINAL year of med school! hurrah!) ive been reading a lot about the fashion industry lately and it’s really really interesting! i mean i love clothes and bags and shoes, but seriously when i sat down to read about the workings of the industry, from luxury consumership to fashion history to haute couture to vintage shopping, i was enthralled. yes i was captivated, in awe, amazed at how this industry has evolved over the decades, or perhaps centuries. i wish i could take a course in fashion journo for a semester. i think i would seriously enjoy it and cherish every second of it. it is so, so, so very interesting! i’m half-glad i’m taking time to pursue my other interests in life, i know i should be reading Harrison’s instead of Vogue but i really didnt think i could stomach more med, especially when i’m meant to be on vacation! haha. okay i really didn’t mean to write a whole chunk but fashion just gets me so excited, and when i’m excited i talk a lot. yes A LOT. and oh yes i got a new macbook. it is gorgeous! this is the first post i’m typing on it!

anyway dear friends in singapore, I AM HOME! please ask me out for coffee or something, i would love to catch up with you! i will be here till the 14th of January, so there is still time for us to do fun/crazy things and feast on delicious local food. i’m up for anything most things! okay here’s wishing you all a very merry christmas and a happy new year! love to everyone from me xxx

my exams are over! hoorahhh! although i say that half-heartedly, because i don’t actually feel liberated, in fact i’m rather stressed because i don’t have a good feeling about how my papers went….. but in any case i’m just relieved.

it’s been 36 long and gruelling weeks of rotations and lectures, of which 18 weeks (paeds and women’s) were absolutely fantastic(!!!!) and the other 18 weeks were…for lack of a better word, uninspiring. psych was interesting, but i don’t see myself doing that in the long term (or i may be wrong.) but in general it’s been fantastic, i really am glad for the opportunity to see and do so much, but right now i’m feeling burnt out and absolutely spent.  so i’m very very happy that this long awaited break is FINALLY here and i’m flying home REAL SOON to spend the next 1.5 months with my family and friends!!

oh and just before i was about to leave the house for my last exam i saw this:

everything will be okay

in the end.

if it’s not okay,

it’s not the end.

i really like it! simple logic makes for good comfort!

and i watched Waitress today, i’d always wanted to watch it after seeing the poster in 2007:

YES pies! omg so many pies! i remembered that i wanted to watch it and so i stopped putting it on hold and finally got down to seeing it. it’s about Jenna, a waitress who makes lots of pies with strange names, like “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby” Pie (quiche of egg and brie cheese with a smoked ham center), “Kick In The Pants” Pie (cinnamon spice custard), “Baby Screaming It’s Head Off In The Middle Of The Night And Ruining My Life” Pie (new york style cheesecake, brandy brushed, pecans and nutmeg) oooh speaking of pecans i had a very very tasty pecan maple pie the other day, it was so good, i can still remember exactly how it tasted

anyway the movie was relatively enjoyable, it was interesting and quirky and now i can’t stop thinking of banoffee pie

yesterday i came across the term gnirob while reading a novel (what is a gnirob? i’ll leave you guessing because i’m sure you’ll get it.) today i decided that i would not be a gnirob, so i took the day off from kingst0n (ive decided that old age psychiatry is really not my cup of tea). it was sunny so i thought i would go for a nice run to westall and back. the last time i got lost and ended up in an industrial park. this time i managed to lose my way again, with disastrous effect. i ended up having to run along the highway, just mere inches away from the huge cars and monstrous trucks speeding at 90kmh.

too fun.

i have once again overstepped my shopping budget for the month (already!) and i blame ninewest for it. i blame them for audaciously displaying the dreaded red lettered signs proclaiming ’sale!’ in every angle of my peripheral vision. okay actually i blame myself for lacking willpower to resist the lure of material haven… one pair of shoes and one (very nice) bag later, i was filled with immense guilt and satisfaction at the same time. although i did want to return the shoes at first, but i figured i would let them linger for a while more in my room before i decide if i should exchange them for a different pair. ahhh decisions decisions decisions. anyway i do feel extremely guilty for splurging, especially when the money i spent was my hard earned wages from my vacation job, which was meant to be saved for my elective trip/grad trip next year. i often toy with the idea of saving for something big, or perhaps for a rainy day… but i somehow never manage to put it into concrete action. every bit of money that i earn just goes to the retailers……. i’ve tried to be more strict with myself these days, only allowing myself to buy something if i really need/like it, but everything seems to qualify as a ‘i must have it’ item. anyway i was reading an article today about how much australians spend on clothing. apparently the average australian woman buys 56 pieces of garments each year, and if she’s under the age of 30 she tends to buy double that amount! geez. i reckon i could quadruple that, seeing as i just bought 14 pieces of garments and 4 bags over the last month (yes i counted). i’m guilty as charged- i did overspend, and i’m not proud of it. hence i am on a shopping ban until july is over…. i really need to be more responsible for my finances.

oh and today i attempted to pack my room. i say attempted, because the mess is epic and has to be carried out in stages. i think i finished stages 1 and 2 out of 5 today, and i am absolutely knackered! i spent most of my time folding clothes, stuffing them unceremoniously into my bursting wardrobe, and of course setting aside some for donation. i have way too many things in my tiny room and i’ve realized that i am absolutely hopeless at decluttering, because i want to keep everything and anything. when i was little my mother called me a junk-collector. i think she was quite right.

hello, what makes you happy?

kai wrote a post on happiness…. i was quite inspired after reading it and so i decided to come up with my own 3 steps to happyness:

1. do a good deed everyday. bonus points if you do something nice for someone you barely know! i know it seems cliche but being nice and gracious to others can really give you a spring in your step. at least it works for me

2. spend time doing one thing you love everyday. treat yourself to some sticky date pudding, curl up in bed with a book, talk to a loved one on the phone, or….retail therapy!!. or exercise on the wii fit! i have to say it really motivates me

3. get enough sleep! i cannot stress how important this is. no one manages to smile and mean it when they’re running on 4 hours of sleep. i am most grumpy when i don’t get my magical 7 hours of sleep… that’s why i looove sleeping in on the weekends

there’s more of course but i figured i should stop before it turns into one of those columns in a lifestyle magazine. BIGGG exams are a-coming, which makes me slightly less happy, but i know that i have much to be thankful for, so i choose to be positive. and maybe if i work hard enough, i could probably treat myself to a luxurious advanced birthday present ohh the motivation!

+ wii updates!: day 5, and the wii is making me ache from top to toe. i swear i haven’t been eating (too) much, but apparently i’ve been gaining weight! still, it’s only been a couple days…. i shall persevere and see how it goes!

+ p.s. aren’t these mighty cool? these are drawings on the pavement by a chalk artist called Julian Beever. i think his works are absolutely fab and there’s more to be had if you head here

amazing. some people are just so incredibly gifted

+ started mentor week today in mitcham with my mentor who’s a fab gynaecologist. i actually didn’t get lost (hurrah!) and it was a tiring but (kind of) exciting day, and i am absolutely drained from 9 whole hours of clinical work. oh and i managed to correctly diagnose a transverse fetal lie in antenatal clinic today. i feel semi-competent. perhaps i’m really getting better at this! and this is the kind of thing that really makes my day

it is tres gloomy and cold (brr!) outside and i woke up (late again, as usual) feeling awful… i blame it on the oreos i wolfed down before going to bed last night. this is what i call a downer day, where you know it’s going to be a crap-awful day the moment you open your eyes… so i gave school a miss, was supposed to spend my time studying very conscientiously but as you can see i am still(!) procrastinating. i want a large poufy skirt (see picture) and some glossy patent black lace-up oxfords, and some nice brown leather boots (i really need new boots!). i think i might feel better then!

on a side note

i was just wondering… have you ever met a person whom you know is the love of your life? it doesn’t matter if you dated before and then broke up, or are still loveydovey together- what i want to know is whether you’ve ever had that feeling you get when you look back on fond memories and you just simply know….? do things like these exist only in the movies, or do they really happen to real people in a real world? anyway forgive me for the rambling soliloquy, i’m beginning to think that bad days always put me in a semi-contemplative mood. haha

+picture from lorick (the designer behind the waldorf collection in gossipgirl, which.is.back! yay!)

p.s. just caught ‘how to look good naked’ on tv! ooh it looks wikkkid!

i’m so bored*… can you tell? two posts within 5 hours. that’s saying something isn’t it. PLUS i cleaned my pigsty tornado-swept rathole of a room (not exaggerating, it WAS that bad) and organised my clothes (FINALLY). as usual i have too many clothes and my wardrobe is bursting- again! so i set aside the clothes that i probably won’t wear ever again and it came up to two big bags! my room is now comparatively cleaner and less messy than before! although i’ll give myself 2 months before it goes back to its original state…. i love being tidy and neat but somehow it never lasts for long, mainly because i can NEVER find my things when they’re kept in folders and boxes. (or is that just my excuse for being messy)

anyway, i came across this article from The Age about medical students eating poorly, apparently eating disorders seem to be more prevalent in highly-educated women… sad but true. i know it doesn’t seem logical but then again most things aren’t, especially when it comes to human behaviour. i once met a consultant who specialized in eating disorders, she was in her 40s, and absolutely stick-thin! (i also noticed that she ate a single apple for lunch.) i wonder if she makes a convincing case when it comes to counselling girls with anorexia…

*i also changed my header image as you will have noticed; i took this picture in ann siang hill (loveliest tiles!) while i was home for the holidays in january- ….which reminds me that i still have those pretty pictures in a folder waiting to be posted (which i will in due time, of course).

was doing my regular fashion-blog browsing when i came across this post from the lovely ms spinach, whose site i frequently love to visit. there was a picture of some very gorgeous lace-up shoes that caught my eye, but it transpired that the post was evidently not about the shoes but about a little girl with a brain tumour. i fully agree with ms spinach that we’re incredibly lucky (in some way or another), and i was inspired to make a donation to this little girl’s family, rather than splurge on something that my closet cannot accommodate.

please click on the link to read the post, and donate if you can! even if you can’t give financially, it would good to drop them some kind words of encouragement.

obviously there are many other people who have to go through the same things, if not worse, and you probably are thinking that stories like these are a dime a dozen and/or clichéd, BUT if everyone felt like that, there would be absolutely no hope for this little girl. i only say this because i’ve seen lots of suffering children in my paediatrics rotation, and often i have had no chance to help them (in a medical way at least), and all i could do was to listen and try to be extra nice. it’s easy to shrug it off as ‘yet another sob-story’ but remember that in every story like this there is a kid and her family involved, along with huge financial and emotional ramifications- and they can’t shrug it off like we can, because it’s their kid. you probably don’t know this girl and her family personally (neither do i), but you know their story now- so please help them, any donation/encouragement is certainly good enough!

on a related note, my paeds rotation ends tomorrow. cannot tell you all how much i love paediatrics, i have enjoyed every single moment of being with the little bubs and toddlers these nine weeks, and am very sad (!!) to move on to ob&gyn.

HI!!! sorry i have been remiss in updating. i’ve just started my 2nd paediatrics rotation at B0xh1ll Hospital, which is an hour away and so i’ve been waking up at 6am for 8am tutes, trudging back and forth by bus and attending ward rounds and clinics…… tres tiring but i’m getting the hang of it! BHH is kind of small, nothing like MMC (boo! i miss MMC) but it helps that the people there are awfully nice, i get to go to the special care nursery to cuddle the little bubs ….can i just tell you that i love doing baby checks! and clinics are pretty interesting as well, so that probably justifies the time and money spent on transport.

anyway, i do have pictures to update and stories to tell! will post soon after i get my studying done. meanwhile here is a little preview!

ANDDDD. Easter Break is coming up! though i only have a 4-day break but it’s always lovely to have holidays! plus i’ve booked my tickets to Sydney over Anzac weekend, wooo! many exciting things coming up, i’m pysched!! i can feeeel it already

so it’s nearly 4am and i just got home from what was supposed to be dinner at hotpot with the meddies. finally! i got to meet kellyn and it was lovely catching up with her! our dinner was so long, it lasted 3 hours and then i got dragged to gishy’s party although i vehemently protested because: 1. i wasn’t dressed up for clubbing 2. i wanted to head home for a bit of study. but peer pressure won out in the end so i decided to go with the flow…. and then we got lost for 2 hours! seriously!! (we could have driven to bendigo in that span of time.) we drove around collingwood for ages trying to locate fitzroy street when it was really in st. kilda. so when we FINALLY reached area61 just after midnight, nearly all the people at the party were leaving but i managed to catch up with rupert just for a brief moment and then we danced for 1 hour and spent another 1 hour outside the club talking and inhaling awful ciggy smoke (pffft). no one really wanted to go for supper after that so we headed home and i now have a stomachache from eating all that hotpot! >:s