In "Crush"ed Mode

Sigh, yeah I guess I am. Again. Crushed by a crush... ^_^

It's been a very long time since I've had any crush-es. This time I was quite the slow to realize it, but it suddenly became apparent to me when I was looking forward to go to class each morning. I am sooo not a morning person, but for the past few weeks morning rounds have never been more interesting, ngeee...

But before you say anything Ms.Snuze, nope, I am definitely NOT in love. Maybe never again. This is just a minor fleeting "crush" of a feeling. Just something to keep me going day to day. My Energizer batteries, so to speak.

Why him? Well, definitely the brains factor. And plus, Nerdy+Gym buff=Agak2 hawt la jugak, HAHA...

But, all good things must come to an end. No more rounds with him anymore, bummer. Although, he did make our last encounter a memorable one for me... *grinning like an idiot*

Sah. I got an itch that can't be scratched. Heheh.

n.b. There are rumors saying that he's batting for the other team. Sigh, just my luck... :(

Furious Fingers

Guess what?

44 words

Typingtest

Yeah I know, I'm a slow typer (got ah such a word??)

Mana nak tengok skrin lagi, keyboard lagi...check spelling lagi..... huhu.....

New resolution: To learn to type as fast as I could!!

Three Graduates & A Bride

Last Sunday was a verrry busy day. There was a graduation ceremony for the girls and a wedding of a friend. I was practically running around for both occasions, but in the end I'm glad that I did it although my feet were killing me by the end of the day.


The Wedding
Remember when I wrote about my friend, Ms.MCL's proposal during class? Well, they finally have all their papers in order and decided to register their marriage here legally. As she is of Romanian-American parentage and he is an Israelian, there were a lot of paperwork to get sorted out. But after all the hassle and running around, finally they were declared husband and wife on May 31, 2009 at the wedding registration place in town.

It was a really sweet occasion. Because it was all kinda last minute, they decided to forgo the pomp and frills and invited only close friends and family to the ceremony. I was deeply touched and honoured that she would include me in it and plus this would certainly be my first.

The ceremony itself was simple, short and sweet; practically hassle free and it took less than 30 minutes. The bride was really beautiful and glowing; she couldn't stop grinning all through it all, and I am really happy for them. As I said it was my first time in a Romanian-style wedding and was delighted to join in with the newlyweds-walking-under-flower-bouquets and rice-throwing thingy because before this we only got to watch how it was done from afar whenever we passed by this place while there was a wedding there.

It was a really really lovely affair, simple and sweet. No hassle no fuss. No frowns, only smiles all around. I wish I could have joined them after that when they went to Ciric to celebrate but I wanted to run back to the graduation ceremony before it's over. And so after giving her the flowers and gift I left the happy couple to join my friends in CUG.


The Graduation Ceremony
Got up early, got ready, and accompanied the soon-to-be grads to the university (5 minutes walk from our place) for a pre-graduation group photo taking session. After that we straightaway went to the Centrul de Providenta in CUG where the ceremony was to take place (which was very very far, according to Iasi's standard lah) and waited for things to get started. As I had a wedding to attend to at noon I had to leave and later on joined them again after the wedding.

It was nice to see all of them happy and excited and seeing some juniors coming to show their support, but I was quite bummed coz didn't get to watch them actually walk onstage, receiving their scrolls and reciting the Hippocratic Oath. Rugi gila lah, tapi takde rezeki nak wat camno... Eventhough people keep saying that our turn will only be next year, it's kinda hard for me to believe it coz it really felt like only yesterday that I had set foot in Iasi. Will I be ready to don the robe and cap and be a good physician in the future? Scary thought. Sigh, time flies so fast eh.....

I gave the girls white roses as a token of our (crazy) friendship which I had pre-ordered a day before and had asked the boys to pick 'em up for me and gave it to them because I wasn't sure if I could make it after the wedding. And after that we were just chilling out at the sistas place. Good times indeed, they were my travel buddies and also my partners in crime; I'll surely miss them when they've gone back home for good. Sigh, there'll be no more Gummu Girls escapades after this.....

Oh, and I am really glad that I came back to the graduation place. Surprise surprise, I got to meet a friend who was with us for the first 3 years but had transferred to Bucharest in our 4th year. He told me before that he had exams the day before and couldn't come, so imagine my surprise when I saw him there. And apparently most of my classmates were there too, but only managed to meet some of them because they left early.

Wonder how our graduation ceremony is gonna be like? Compared to my first convocation several years ago in UM which was a very formal affair (DYTM Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah yg bagi scroll tu tau) the ceremony here is, I would say, semi-formal. Takde org kenamaan, cuma org2 besar & yg penting drpd uni kitorang je. Which is a good thing I think. Less hoopla, but a bit dragging also lah. Tak kisah la belalang, asal jangan tergolek doq masa kat atas stage tu nanti udah ler. Isy, malu giler tak terkata gamaknya.....

So, to the new bride and the new MD graduates:

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Update: Was asked to stand in line for the bouquet-throwing thingy, but the bouquet flew into the hands of Ms.MCL's bestfren. Fuhhh, nasib baik... :))

Miss Austen says...

"If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences. The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out."

-Jane Austen-

Very eloquently said, Jane!

Besday

Happy Birthday to .....

Well, you know who you are.

If you don't, then you should.

If this doesn't make sense, well, everything about you didn't. Hah.

Man, I am so over it.

MEN

Could never understand them.

Have been baffled by them, and would continuously be baffled by them.

Can't live with them, and can't live without them. Errrrrrrr...Yeah. Right.

And they say that women are complex beings.

Pffffftttt.....

Girls Day Out

As today was a beautiful sunny (albeit a little warm) day I went and accompanied my roomie to the nearby mall and market. She bought a pair of sandals, and some stuff for baking. I ended up buying a variety of vegetables from the market coz I was dyiiiiing for some. Now I can have rice and lauk-pauk after almost 2 weeks not eating it, been surviving on bread, eggs and instant noodles je, sigh...

Oh yes, guess what Ms.Snuze, the strawberry season is here again! YAY!!
Both my roomie and I could hardly contain our excitement to see those juicy red heavenly aphrodisiacs that each of us ended up buying 1kg of them succulent berries at RM7 per kg! Murah gila, kan?? For sure mine will be finished by this weekend, muahaha... :D

Later in the afternoon I went out again. After yesterday's mental purging (yeah right) for the Tropical Infectious Diseases exam and the cancellation of Neurosurgery class today (because the prof was in a major surgery rewiring a guy's brain), we (G, Mnl & moi) decided to go to the other mall and celebrate the start of the weekend with a l'il bit of window shopping and makan-makan.

We walked and walked and walked around the mall; me KIV-ing some stuff while they bought some nice tops; sat down at the foodcourt and talked and talked and talked, had a mini self make-up session at the make-up counter and without us realizing it the time was already 10pm!! Gila lama lepak kat sana, kul 4 ptg sampai 10 mlm tu! Isy, isy, isy anak dara 3 ekor ni, apa lah yg korang buat kat sana lama2 ah???

All in all, although it was tiring and my feet is aching, I really had a great time. Being in the company of like-minded people sure makes my day.

Me is content.

The Moroccan Dream

One of my classmates is from Tangier, Morocco, born & bred. She's actually a Berber, and can speak several languages (jeles nya!). Eversince I've known her for 5 years now we have talked about lots of things, especially about our cultures, our homes and our families.

You see, I am an explorer at heart. I love getting to know about all these different cultures and their way of life, especially one that is so foreign from my own. I told her that one of my dreams is to go there for a visit, so that I can see the culture with my very own eyes and experience it, sample their cuisines while breathing the Moroccan air.
Sigh, that would be so lovely, wouldn't it?

Btw, I already have a standing invitation to go there. Tempat tinggal makan minum tak payah nak pikir dah, cuma kena beli sendiri tiket kapalterbang nakgi sana je. Bestnya kalau leh pegi.....


Disclaimer: All the piccas above are not mine. Click at the images to go to the original sites. Thank you.

Ahoy! Crazy Week Ahead!

Day 1:
Paediatrics morning ward rounds, Paediatrics Surgery lecture, Ophthalmology lecture

Day 2:
Paediatrics morning ward rounds & lecture, Ophthalmology lab

Day 3:
Paediatrics morning ward rounds, Neurology lecture & lab

Day 4:
Paediatrics morning ward rounds & lecture, Tropical Medicine EXAM!

Day 5:
Neurosurgery lecture & lab, On-call session


Oh well, looks like there'll be no time for blogging this week I think. But then again, one can never halt the creative process once it has been set into motion, da?
One thing for sure though, I have a biiiig feeling that I'll be a walking zombie by the end of the week because we might also be joining the other groups for their on-call session on day 1 and 3. And there is also a case presentation to prepare, plus have to do some running around to settle some uni related matters.

HELLLLLLLLP!!!

*falls unconscious on the floor like a lump of log due to severe hypoxia from excessive hyperventilation induced by an acute panic attack*

"What do you mean you cannot drink milk??"

"It's because I have Lactose Intolerance (LI), ok? "

I got asked this a lot. And when I told them why, they automatically assume that I don't drink milk. Actually, it doesn't mean that I cannot take milk at all, in fact I love dairies, but consuming milk or any type of dairy products will eventually cause bloating, flatulence, abdominal cramps, and last but not least, acute diarrhea that could lead to dehydration if proper countermeasures are not taken.

Why me??
Well, thanks to the 1/8 chinese, and the remaining jawa part of me = Genetic predisposition, of course. And plus milk-drinking is never really a Malay culture, isn't it?

When will I have the symptoms??
Whenever I have appeased my cravings for something dairy i.e. milk, yoghurt, cheese, ice-cream.....YUMMM!!

How come??
Basically, we lack the enzyme lactase that breaks down lactose, a form of sugar found in milk & other dairy products. Lactose is a big-moleculed sugar and cannot be absorbed by the small intestinal (ileum) walls.
Therefore;
No lactase --> Lactose passes intact from ileum to colon --> Fermentation of lactose by the normal intestinal bacteria --> Production of a lot of gasses --------> Bloating, Flatulence, Cramps + Diarrhea (by lactose that attracts water into colon)

What to do??
Avoid dairy products (unless they are lactose-free), oral rehydration salt, water, water, water, water, water... + Oral enzyme substitution (never tried this before coz can't seem to get my hands on it yet)

Where??
Check out the prevalence of LI in the world population:

If you are still clueless and don't know what I'm talking about, go watch White Chicks the movie. Pay attention to what happens to one of the agents when he ate cheese. Oh yeah, I soooo know the feeling. Been there done that, sigh....

IMHO, being lactose intolerant really suck, big time. Especially for a person who loooooves dairy and can't live without them, like moi. And yeah, different individuals have different levels and degrees of intolerance. But 'lucky' me, I got stuck with the one-glass-of-milk-will-make-you-have-diarrhea-the-whole-night type of LI. And imagine what would happen if I'd have 1 glass milk+1 slice cheese+1 stick ice-cream, in 1 day. Berkampung kat dalam bilik air ler jawabnya...

A lactose intolerant gal who loves lactose-full dairies. What a bummer, ain't it?