wouldn't it be nice to..

It's during trying times like this that I wish I were born in the medieval English period.
Like, Jane Austen's times.

I think, why do I study so hard? Why must I study so hard?
Would all that I study be utilised in my future career?
Is it worth it to be stressing my head off like this, for what? a few pages of words, of information that seems oh so important now, but probably wouldn't be of use once eos is over?
My parents tell me that what I'm studying now is the basis of my future career, and I believe them, no doubt.
But IT IS JUST SO DIFFICULT, right now, for me to study what I'm supposed to study.

So, back to my Austen musings.

I would be living with my family, probably a middle class one.
We would have 2 or 3 servants (which is considered normal in those times), a cook, and a modest carriage if possible.

My days would be leisurely.
Maybe I would have a governess, but I prefer not to.
I would be able to read all day long, and discuss the books with my sisters and brothers, and I would not be obliged to undergo an exam on it.
I would be able to play the piano(forte) all day long.
I would probably need to know French, other than English, and coupled with my extensive reading, abilities to play and sing, and probably draw a little, and I would be deemed an accomplished girl. No need to torment myself with hafal-ing the whole Rang and Dale book.

My conversations could be centered on how wonderfully broiled the potatoes were for dinner, and no one would call me shallow or think me silly, because why, girls during those times were supposed, or almost expected, to be silly, and converse about minute, unimportant things.

I would probably meet a nice (rich, if possible) man and after dancing with him at a few balls, have him propose to me and we'd be engaged. No need to paktor for 5 years before even thinking about marriage. Once one falls in love, one has to be engaged then. Nothing less.

And if my husband were to make ten thousand pounds a year, he would be deemed extremely rich! We would live in a beautiful mansion with paintings hung all over the walls, footmen to wait on us, and phaetons and ponies to bring us around the grand grounds of our residence.

Of course, if he were to make only a modest sum, I wouldn't mind living in a small but comfortable parish, with a medium-sized garden.

I would keep myself busy everyday with tending to the household matters, probably cleaning and cooking and looking after the children, if any comes along, that is.

My life would be centered on making my home a confortable one, and pandering to my family's needs.

My life would be uneventful, but happy and satisfied, in a modest way.



And not struggling to stuff gazillions of drug names and information into my brain!


Of course, a dream stays a dream, eh.
besides, I can't possibly transport myself back to the 1800s to live like that.

Just that sometimes, being a 小女人takes much lesser effort.
And it would be nice to lie back and let others take the reins for a while.

For a while only, mind you! =)

of patients and being patient

So yours truly spent today (technically it's yesterday since it's past 12am now) in the company of sickness, disease, and doctors.

ie, I went for my hospital attachment la!

The one thing I learnt, or realised, from this attachment, was how easy it could be to lose oneself in the humdrum daily life of treating diseases, and consequently lose sight of the most important thing: the patient.

Somehow it seemed to me there was an unspoken rule that once patients stepped inside the doors of a (cough*government*cough) hospital, he had signed a contract to relinquish all rights to his body, and to his feelings.

I was somewhat disturbed by the fact that everyone else in the ward seemed to be of importance, including the (obviously) doctors, nurses, and yet-to-be-seen pharmacists. Except for one glaring omission: the patients themselves!

Imagine this.
You're the poor patient who had the bad luck to be chosen as the case study of one of the many medical students infiltrating the hospital you're lying in. 'Your student' comes to you, with 7 or 8 other students, and a lecturer. He presents his case (that's you!), what happened to you, what the diagnosis, and what is going to happen to you. Unfortunately you don't understand half of what he's saying, and somewhere along the road you catch a word or two that you DO understand. But the word doesn't sound good...in fact, it sounds bad, even to your layman ears. Just when you're starting to wonder if there's something the doctors are NOT telling you, the lecturer gives orders to the group of students to press on your chest and prod your stomach. One by one, they come up to you, and without making eye contact, they probe and prod your body, exposed and open for all to see. You feel some pain, but you're reluctant to say anything lest it starts yet another round of probing and prodding. Then, the lecturer gives your chest a final prod, and proudly announces the answer to a question you weren't even aware of, to all the students. You feel tired and want to sleep. But the people around you seem not to be aware of this fact, despite you yawning, lying down and closing your eyes. The never-ending voices go on still, and at a certain point, you feel your gown lifted up, to be given yet another prod. You decide to ignore this, and continue to close your eyes hoping they'd go away. But they don't....and so you fall asleep amidst the chatter.

Then, two people, obviously students (and you're starting to wonder by now, are there more students in this building than patients anyway?!) come up to your bed, and start copying and muttering to themselves. You don't know what they want. Then suddenly, as if remembering something, they say they are pharmacy students. PHARMACY?! you think. AREN'T MEDICAL STUDENTS ENOUGH TROUBLE FOR ONE DAY?! You want to go back to sleep, but it is difficult for you to do so when you're aware that there are people standing in front of you, and you're afraid they'll laugh at you if you start to snore and sleep with your mouth open with saliva dribbling down the side of your mouth. So you stare at them, and they stare back at you. You don't know what to do. Look at them cannot, sleep also cannot. You hope they would go away quickly, but they stand in front of your bed for the next two hours. Then your lunch comes, and you eat. But as they're still copying the papers, the stare at you eating. And you would swear you saw one of them swallow hard, and stare hard at your food like he was going to snatch it from you. You continue eating as fast as you can. Fortunately, they leave you after a few minutes. You slump back on the bed, lunch forgotten. And you think to yourself, why is it more difficult to be sick than it is to be healthy!


Okay. No offence to any medical students or doctors reading this. I understand the roles and responsibilities you have, and I have no problem with that. I know you're just doing your job, and that, in this case, is to keep the patients alive, kicking and healthy.

I just couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor patients.
And I swore to myself, I would either take care of my body well and live a long and healthy life; or die an early death to avoid being put in a hospital.

Of course, I am also aware that I have to visit hospitals to have babies, but that is another story for another day.

I have no problems working in a hospital as a pharmacist. I just don't want to be in the hospital as a patient.


And today, as I stepped into the wards for the first time, I had this sudden urge to cry.
Why?
I felt so sorry for all the poor souls lying there, helpless, ill, and feeling like sh*t.
I feel sorry that they have to go through all this pain.
I feel sorry for them because I know some of them are not going to make it through the week.


Oh well.
Hopefully I get over these feelings by the time I graduate.
If not takken I cry everyday I go to work meh?

new year resolutions, a little late

...but better late than never, right?

1. I shall not let other people's emotions affect my own.
Because people cannot make me feel a certain way unless I allow them to. Eleanor Roosevelt put it this way: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." I will not be irritated when someone irritates me; I will not feel angry when someone does something to make me; I will choose to be happy every single day. Yeah right.

2. I shall not worry about 'what people think of me'.
People's lives do not revolve around me. They have their own issues, their own insecurities, their own troubles. No one probably cares if I say something stupid, or fall down in front of the class. I shall not fret even when I realise my mascara is smudged or my face is oily and I was talking to a cute guy without knowing that I look like a racoon who fell into an oil tank. Life is too precious to be wasted on thinking "what do people think of me?" Because, more often than not, they don't even think about you. Really.

3. I shall do my best and leave the rest to Him.
There is only so much I can study and do in a limited amount of time. If I have given my best I shall have no regrets, and I can face Him with dignity, rest assured that I have not let Him down, even if my EOS results suck like a vacuum.

4. I shall stop harping on my body and weight issues.
If I exercise regularly and eat healthily, and my thighs still resemble tree trunks and my belly a balloon, I shall still be happy and not complain incessantly to my poor housemate. And to anyone else who would listen. I will think of myself as beautiful, even if I don't have large Bambi eyes, Elizabeth Taylor's arched nose, and Gisele Bundchen's body.

5. I shall praise more and criticize less.
Because no one likes to be criticized, and who doesn't love people who appreciate them? Of course I will not praise for the sake of praising. I shall learn to see the good in others, and less of their faults. Because for every fault that one has, there are ten more good points in them. So wouldn't it be easier for me to spot those ten rather than the one measly (and perhaps unimportant) fault?

6. I shall stop worrying so much about my 'popularity'.
Because I cannot expect everyone to love me to bits. Because I know I have a 'fierce' face. Because I don't make funny jokes when in company. So I cannot expect to be popular like those who do all of the above. But I will still be happy because I have a bunch of great friends who love me for who I am.

7. I shall make my own decisions.
And not be influenced by others. Because I am my own master. Or mistress.

8. I shall stop complaining about not having a boyfriend.
Or better, I shall stop trying to find a boyfriend. 是你的，就是你的。勉强没幸福。

9. I shall sleep early and rise early.
I have recently started to love mornings more. The fresh cool morning air, the chirp of birds. And the sight of old ladies doing taichi in front of Vista B1 makes me happy. Besides, I'll never have to worry about not waking up in time if I wake early, right?

10. I shall be happy.
Enough said.


Difficult enough, I daresay? But certainly not unattainable. Because there is no 'perfect' world, only an ideal one. And it is up to us to create our own ideal world, and not anyone else. Not our friends, not our boyfriends (or girlfriends), not our parents, not our EOS results. Just ourselves.

Of scents and memories

So I was reading this book about emotional intelligence, which mentioned that certain traumatic events become imprinted on our cells, and if we ever come across a trigger that resembles that disturbing event we get the same flood of physiological and emotional responses.

Fortunately I have yet to come across such traumatic situations, but I can vouch for the fact that certain scents can trigger specific memories. It happens to me all the time.

Mostly, these scents comprise perfumes I own, but of course there are some others too.

For instance, the smell of Johnson's Baby Bedtime Bath (the one with the purple bottle) floods me with memories of my National Service days. It was the only shower gel I used throughout the 3 months I spent there. I think about the days where I have to lug a huge pail, filled with water from the common kolam, into one of the toilets with cement floors and walls to bath. The carrying of the super heavy pail probably wreaked havoc on my spine and arm muscles, but I didn't much like to bath at the kolam. Open as I was, bathing in a group still made me feel a little uncomfortable. There was another time, as I rushed to the bathroom as soon as I came back from a sweaty kawat session to shower, I heard a voice blast over the loudspeakers telling us...no, demanding us, to berkumpul at the common hall AT ONCE! If not, the trainers will personally come to drag us out! (*repeat many times, with increasing intensity and volume. I never knew why military people like to shout so much.*) And I was in my birthday suit, all wet and soapy! Only God knows how flustered and nervous I was as I rushed to finish showering and rush to the hall at once. And I was just in time, for the trainers bolted and locked all the doors to the hall, trapping us inside. I learnt afterwards that they wanted to check all our bags in our absence as someone had lost something, I can't remember what it was. To think how many brain cells were killed when I zoomed at top speed from the bathhouse to my tent (to dump my clothes and bath things) and then to the hall. Sweat!

The Body Shop's Oceanus reminds me of my Hong Kong trip, it was the only fragrance I wore throughout the whole journey. When I put it on again, I am transported back to those lovely days, especially of the day when I stood at the Victoria harbour gawking at the Symphony of Lights. I remember the cool breeze that blew after the misty rain, and how the seats were wet and I had to stand throughout the concert. And I remember too that it was the first day of my period, so it was difficult for me to stand for such a long time. I'm sometimes surprised at how minutely I am able to remember events!...but sadly not drug names or their mechanisms.

Another fragrance from The Body Shop is the Beleaf scent, which I wore all through my INTEC days. I see myself in my punggung-tutup-ing jacket and jeans, and relive the moments when we had to rush and pek for the bus which came oh-so-infrequently. Those days brought with them their fair share of memories, the friends I had, and the seemingly difficult days where study made up the bulk of our days and everything else was sidelined. I remember the happy days more vividly than the rest, like how much fun we had preparing for the Merchant of Venice play, how I got UTI right before my badminton match (and thought it was appendicitis, silly me), and of course the friendships sealed in the boundaries of that dreaded place we called home for 2 full years.

My BCBG Nature fragrance makes me think of exams, because that is the only scent I wear to those horrid events. I think of it as my 'lucky' scent, since I won that fragrance in a magazine contest. Somehow it gives me the confidence I need to face my exams, and puts me in the mood to concentrate on my papers. At one point I wore it to school to increase my chances of meeting my crush, and somehow I do always seem to bump into him when I wear that scent! =P Whether it really makes me luckier, I don't know...it's probably a placebo effect, but hey if it works, why not?


+:+:+:+:+

And that is enough reminiscing for a day.

I know I have committed a major criminal offence by failing to update for 3 weeks. 3 weeks! Oh dear. If I were getting revenues from my blog, I would probably have people exploding at me and threatening me to f***ing blog or else they'll chop off my head or something. Actually I'm somewhat confused..and a little flattered, truth be told. Even with my extremely long blogging hiatus, there're still more than a hundred good souls trawling this site each week. Which makes me feel guilty for disappointing all of you, all this while. I have somehow fallen into a comfortable lull of not writing, even though my days aren't really that busy. I suppose the lack of blog-able topics is partly to blame, nothing really interesting happens in my life nowadays. But I'm not complaining. It feels good to wake up and slowly unfurl myself from the bedsheets, rest assured that nothing out of the ordinary is going to happen today. To me, it's a luxury to have everything go according to plan, and it feels good. It gives me a sense of security.

Actually I have a few plots for short stories in my head these past few weeks, but I just have been too lazy to put these plots to print. And the other (ambitious) side of me is telling me to not blog these stories cos I won't be able to publish them in my (currently fictitious) novel in the future. Yeah right, as if anyone would want to pay money to buy stories that came out of my brain! The very idea seems impossible...but I have been toying with the idea of writing my own book ever since I was 18, I even started a novel during my 8 months' break but somehow never got beyond the first chapter. Proof of my extreme indolence when no deadlines are due!


Ooh. That's a lot of words for a post. I shall call it a day.

Good luck to all my batchmates for next monday's test!


Till then,

xoxo

CNY musings

The chinese new year is not a time for me. It never was.

As a kid, I never enjoyed CNY, not even the angpau part. Somehow I always felt more embarrased than happy when receiving angpaus, though now I am better able to appreciate them, in light of the recession. Not because I'd have more money to spend, but because I am thankful for their well-wishes that come with the little red packet, and thankful for the angpau givers, that they are still able to afford giving out angpaus in these hard times. I feel relieved that my relatives and my parents' friends are still doing reasonably well to be able to afford CNY. I've heard of worse.

Cloudy, rainy days always makes me emo.
And today, chor chat, is a cloudy day in Vista.

I am emo-ing because my parents have just left me in Vista to return to Ipoh. I'm already missing them and they have only just left! That's why I don't like going home. Cos I always feel like shit when I have to come back to KL. I feel like I've been dug up, roots and all, literally. I feel sad. I feel like crying. Or maybe I'm pms-ing. I don't know.

I am emo-ing because it is becoming clearer that time is ticking. Fast. My uncles and aunts are growing older and my cousins are already holding their firstborns in their arms. Another cousin almost my age is getting married soon. My kiddy cousins are already in secondary school. One of my relatives just passed on. I didn't get to meet my closest cousin this CNY cos she's in Leeds this year. Everyone and everything is changing so fast I can't even keep up! I'm overwhelmed by the changes that are happening, whatever happened to those good old days?

*to digress a little: I really admire my cousin, one of the two who gave birth last year. She and her husband were a couple since their high school days and they have been going out for what, 10 years? I think she's around 26 or 27 this year. She was his first love, and he her first. I love it that they are still so much in love even after so many years of being together. I have always envied couples that started when they were still in school, it feels so much more innocent that way. They are not concerned about how much money their partner makes, how big their partner's car or house is, and how high their position in the company. It's like, they're together simply because they love each other. They're there because they want to be there. Not that I'd only accept a CEO for a future husband, but I feel somehow as we grow older, the innocence that once was, gets lost in the churn of our daily lives, one way or other. If you met someone in school that you could really consider your soulmate, as I see it, you probably can consider it equivalent to striking the lottery, 10 times over.


And of course, I'm emo-ing because I have gained 1kg over CNY! Dang!


+:+:+:+:+

Alright then, lest you become emo after reading all that, here's a little something from our CNY conversations that got stuck in my head. If you can, read this out loud, it sounds better that way.

问：你是辩论员哦？那你是主辩，一辩，二辩，还是结辫？
答：大便。


问：哎哟讲好来啦。你是主辩，一辩，二辩，还是结辫？
答：随便。


Enjoy the remaining 8 days of CNY peeps! =)
xoxo

when a (future) pharmacist gets menstrual cramps

What does she do, besides curling up on her bed and writh in pain?

Why, go over all the drugs in her possesion and decide whichever is the best choice for this purpose, of course!

1. Panadol a.k.a. acetaminophen
COX inhibitor. Anti-inflammatory analgesic. Hmm. But I have cramps wor. dunno can work or not? Never mind, take first, don't care liao. Since it's the closest to me. (I always keep panadol in my 'emergency pouch' which I carry around with me, my other meds are stored somewhere else)

2. Celebrex
NSAID analgesic. Not quite sure if it can work for menstrual pain, dad gave it to me for severe stress-induced headaches. And it's far away with my 'other meds'. Never mind la.

3. Muscle relaxant?
Actually I think I was somewhat delirious when I came to this, for I started thinking about today's DD2 class test material and how benzodiazepines can be used as muscle relaxants and the part in Rang and Dale where this is stated ('decrease decerebrate rigidity in cats and patients with cerebral palsy' wtf) Then I thought, oh cannot, I don't even have benzodiazepines on me! I only have SSRI (Prozac) which does not have muscle relaxant properties. Cannot.

4. Loratadine (antihistamine)
I was in so much pain and feeling like shit and dying so I thought perhaps I could use this to knock me out for a while then I can sleep while the panadol kicks in, so I'll wake up pain-free! But then I thought I'd seen somewhere that Loratadine is not much of a sedative. So cannot use also. Haiyah.

5. Peppermint essential oil
This is what I use for my headaches but I doubt it will work as well for period cramps since it's a stimulant and all, but it wouldn't hurt to try, would it?


Verdict:
It's 2 hours since the pain started and the panadol has kicked in, thank god. 90% of pain gone. But I know it's only masking the pain temporarily so I'll probably have to take another dose 4 hours later. Or maybe I should try celebrex for the next dose...?

It's almost funny to look back and think about what I thought just now, in so much pain! It's been years since I had such a bad cramp, the last time I was hit with such horrible cramps that I couldn't even move and could only lie down like an invalid was when I was in high school. Then I didn't know that panadol could relieve the pain so what silly me did was to hug myself in the fetal position and wait for the pain to subside. The weird thing is, the panadol variant which is supposed to relieve period pain has no effect on me, but the normal one does. I wonder why.

Do you get such bad period pains? if so, what do you do? =)



+:+:+:+:+

So today we had THE DD class test.

And Prof YPN was our chief invigilator for the test today.

(to digress a little: How nice it would be if I had Twilight's Edward's mind-reading abilities, I would be able to read all the test material off prof yeoh's mind and get 100%! Muahaha!)

As with any exam, the chief invigilator would say something like, "Time's up, put down your pens".
Guess what our dear YPN said?
"Students, you have a few more seconds to go....and three, two, one. Time's up!"

This, coming from a Quakeress governess-ish sort of lecturer, totally cracked me up! =)


xoxo

rant, rant, rant

I hate it when I study hard but don't get good results!

Mana itu theory 'You reap what you sow'? How come I don't see it at all?
It was just the same in my semester 4 EOS. Studied hard but results like shit.
Now pp2 too. 40 questions in the paper, I get 20 wrong. Sei mm sei?

Gone were the days where I could study hard and rest assured that my report card would look reasonably good.
Now, I study hard but I also have to worry about NOT getting good results.
Ah, I know.
I am in a state of high dissonance!
Which would explain my inner turmoil and emo-ness after the class test feedback.

How leh now?
What must I do to get good results? Study more?
But how much more is more? Is enough?
I really envy those who don't have to study really hard but yet always get good results.
Why can't I be like that too?
Or am I just plain dumb?


Anyways.
So I read that some drugs can help students in their pre-exams preparation.
Apparently they increase activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain so as to increase focus, concentration, and mental endurance. (as in being able to study longer without going siao)
It seems that there were 60% of students in a US university who admitted to taking these drugs prior to their exams.
Earlier drugs like amphetamine and Ritalin, though being able to increase focus and all that, could cause tolerance quite fast and had many physiological side effects as well.
So now they are using drugs for the treatment of ADHD to help them study. Cos it seems these drugs work just as well, but minus the side effects and tolerance.
The catch?
All are POMs. Or illegal.


Now, if I could get my hands on these wonder drugs.......

what else...btn camp la!

Just a quick post on the hot topic that's on the lips of all JPA scholars in IMU: the BTN camp!

Yes, it's unfair.
No, it's not right.
But no, it's not exactly that bad..

(this I understand from various blogs on the camp. One said that the facilitators treated them really well, and most of the marks does not come from the exam but from our participation in classes. and also that we would probably be able to pass our exams without much studying, just a little common sense. now isn't that refreshing?)

When life hands you lemons, the smart people would know how to grab the tequila and salt immediately!

As I see it, there are bound to be many utterly unfair catch-22 situations in life.
This is just the start.
And it can only get worse, when we start working, where *ahem* issues are definitely going to arise, and there is little we can do to help it.

I see this camp issue as a challenge.
Now, if I can go to the camp, pass the camp exam, AND score my class tests, wouldn't that entitle me to smirk in the faces of the BTN people and say 'neh neh neh neh neh' (with the appropriate hand gestures, if possible)?

And yes, I know my results are going to be affected to some degree by this camp, but it is my duty to do my best, no excuses. And if my best just aint good enough, at least I can rest assured that I have acted according to my conscience, nothing less.

You could probably call me a positive thinker, but I'd rather think of myself as invariably practical-minded.

If I AM to go to the camp, and if there WERE to be any racial and religious slurs thrown around by the facilitators (as rumours go), I would sit patiently and smile at them angelically. Why should I let someone who hits below the belt affect me? Why, if I were to be affected, that would mean I'm of the same level as them, wouldn't it? Oh no, I'm staying where I am, thank you very much!

And yes, cramping so much PP and DD information into my brain in such a short span of time is practically crazy, but I'm gonna do the best I can and leave the rest to God.

I believe I am stronger than this.

Now, I'll just have to prove it to myself.



Update 12th Jan 4.50pm: 万岁万岁万万岁！We get to postpone the camp! Thank you so much to Balqis, Siva, and Andrew! You guys are the best! *wide grin*

on getting older and (hopefully) wiser

It was the first time I felt no joy awaiting my birthday.

I spent my last day of the 22nd year of my life listening to The Carpenters and emo-ing.
Why emo?
Because I couldn't understand why I had to grow older!
I did not feel any different from the time when I was 16. Or 18, maybe.
I still feel the same.
I am still the big bumbling block who falls down a lot;
I am still unable to hold a witty conversation or crack a really funny joke;
I am still the nerd I was when I was 16.
Mentally, I feel exactly the same.
But the numbers on my identity card, unfortunately, seems to tell me a different story!

For some people, being 23 means they already have a stable and moderately paying job.
For some, it means they probably have had their first child.
For others, they may already have started climbing up the corporate ladder and aiming for the post of CEO. Some would already BE a CEO.
(FYI, the current CEO of Malaysian Today, Jessie Soon, was made CEO when she was a mere 21 or 22 years old. So see, I'm not fibbing! )

And me?
I'm still slogging my way through university life and studies..and feeling like I'm slipping down!
Now I know studying a subject that I don't like is no mean feat.
But then again, I have grew to love what I'm doing. Just that I don't have a passion for it, probably. I don't feel as if this is my calling in life, what I was born to do.

At 23, I don't know where exactly my life will lead me. Or where I'll lead my life.
It's kind of pathetic, isn't it? To muddle around in life without a clear perspective.
But yeah, that's what I am. For now, at least.

Sometimes I feel disappointed, actually.
Sometimes I feel like demanding a refund from the God of Age, if there's such a god.
When I was in my teens, I thought being in my twenties would entitle me to a great deal of maturity and vision, and I wouldn't feel like the mess I felt when I was younger.
But unfortunately, my brain stopped growing while my body grew older, somehow.
So technically, I'm am 18-year old trapped in a 23-year-old body.
And even though now I have my visions of what I will be like when I'm in my thirties, somehow I feel I'm gonna be disappointed, once again, when I hit the 30-year-old mark.
For all I know, I would probably be no different from what I am now, perhaps with the addition of a government job and (gasp!) a husband?!
No, I don't think so...for the husband part.
But I don't know.
It's a pity we don't have more people like Alice (in Twilight) huh? It would be so convenient to be able to see the future. To reassure myself that I'm not gonna be the same ole' messy and immature person twenty or thirty years down the road.
Ah now, my Edward, where art thou?

+:+:+:+:+

Of course, to give credit where it's due, my dear friends did make an extra effort to make my birthday a memorable one. =)

Unfortunately I had to attend a convo mag meeting and we had classes till 4pm, so any elaborate celebrations were out of the question. But but but! a cake was brought into class while the batchmates sang to me! Yay! =) And I went out for dinner with wenchin, sinwee and doreen at secret recipe's, and I had a fantastic chicken cordon bleu instead of my usual lasagne. =)


A big thank you to Wenchin, Sinwee, Aiwui, and Jane for the Shu Uemura cleansing oil!
你们不愧是我肚子里的蛔虫！To know exactly what I needed..and wanted, but would never buy for myself. =)
And an equally big thank you to all the other friends who got me the Shu Uemura toner. How did you know my toner ran out? So geng! *cough*wenchin*cough*

And to Jocelyn, who painstakingly made a card for me! (assisted by Roxanne, haha)
I love it, it's so cute and funny! =)

which opens up to...

And the card (also handmade..by wenchin) from all of them:

But she beat me to putting the picture of this card on her blog. humph! Oh well. I daresay it's a commendable effort on Wenchin's part...perhaps another Van Gogh in making? (no I'm not being sarcastic, have you ever heard of a diamond in the raw? well here's one! )

And of course, my darling Wenchin's personal card to me:

Special mention: Lots of hugs and kisses to Jane, who rushed out in the early morning to get my gifts...do drive safely (and slower) ok? =P And of course Wenchin and Sinwee, who were the main dalang-s behind all the celebrations, I truly appreciate all that you have done for me! Muax!

And to all my friends who gave their wishes before, during and after my birthday via sms, facebook, or friendster, thank you so much for remembering! You can't imagine how much that meant to me.

So yeah, thank you all for lifting me out of my emo-ness. Really. Age, after all, is nothing but a number, right?

Dear God,
Can I not become one year older tomorrow?