yinsynn's Xanga

Monday, May 08, 2006

Mon, 08 May 2006 14:04:21 GMT

Shifted to synnster.blogspot.com

Sorry Mark...

Friday, January 20, 2006

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:06:46 GMT

Renal exam just over. Okay la. Quite a few unexpected questions but it was slightly better than I thought it would be. Yeah, it does help when you walk into the exam hall thinking that the examination would be a killer like the previous batch got it. The previous time, I heard, they got testicular cancer in renal system assessment. Testicular cancer is in the reproductive system syllabus, not renal, so the seniors answered based on faded memory of the previous system. The reason given was that students are supposed to keep the stuff they learnt fresh in their memory, and that testicular cancer can have renal involvement.

Anyway, sitting here in the SRC room planning the revision plan for the next few weeks in preparation for EOS5, the killer. Yes, I did say that EOS3 is the killer examination... but now that it's over, kena dethroned by EOS5 edi. Quite scary la the exam, considering the sheer number of systems that would be tested.

The imucampus.com forum featured a friend complaining about the noise level in the e-lab due to pharmacy students. This is really a minor problem and generalising it to pharmacy students isn't really fair, since medical students generate a fair amount of noise as well. Anyway, I promised to pass the message to the pharmacy folks telling them to pipe down... and met up with the messenger. Apparently he did not see the need of it since they already read the forum on their own. Wah, quite surprising la because I more or less expected them to respond and defend themselves. Now I wonder if they are offended.

Everyone is going home after this. Ken balik makan kua. Chu Kin also... both after tai chi. Chow going for meeting then go back also. Think I'll just sit here and study CVS alone. Sigh... depressing la studying alone in the SRC room. It's quiet la but not exactly very conducive since the lack of movement does become sleep-inducing after a while. Don't feel like training, don't really feel like playing ping pong... not exactly very enthusiastic about studying either... but guess have to maintain the momentum la. Otherwise very hard to jump start again. *grins*

Monday, January 16, 2006

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 23:21:48 GMT

Mentor Mentee Programme

Shirline came just in time for lectures yesterday so I circulated a paper asking for names of those who want to be mentors to the incoming semester 1 students. The paper came back with 61 names, with most "requests" being dowan nerd, girls only (preferable unattached) and the best from Kah Heng, as pretty as possible.

Never seen much of my mentor. Heck, I don't even know who she is. It's always been like that. Random matching of semester 1 students to semester 5 seniors, not taking into consideration the fact that not all semester 5 seniors are willing mentors and not all semester 1 juniors are willing mentees. Most turn to their own friends and do not even need a mentor to show them around. Others are probably so independent that they view any form of offers for assistance an insult to their capabilities. Yes, I've met a few who like that. Pretty offensive folks who view the world as a big insult.

So this year, with a difference, semester 1 students would be able to request for mentors and choose their own. The paper circulating around M104 asking them to fill in two columns: (a) "short self-description" and (b) "how I can help my mentee" should give a rough idea for the juniors to make their selections. *prays hard that there wouldn't be like rejects...

Chow's description reads: Me guy... Food... Food yummy... Me like Food. You bring Food... You good friend. *concludes with a piggy cartoon*

How I intend to help juinors: Me help you eat... (to which I added Me retarded kua...)

What kinda impression are we gonna give to the juinors?

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 09:44:22 GMT

Have you ever felt like you have tonnes of work to do, but all trivial? That you really should delegate your work, except that you're the lowest ranking member of the SRC and there's practically no one under your "to delegate" list? It gets overwhelming and then suddenly, you find yourself not having work to do... all the projects you have are either completed (like IMU Cup so long ago, the board, the coaches, the tournaments) or just waiting for approval from the guys up there.

Then you get bored and wonder if the SRC is indeed redundant.

So in the boredom, you open your books and say "hey, there's so much in here that's more fun than the SRC!" and wonder if you'd have the mood to return to SRC service when the projects come in again. Losing momentum? No, not really... it's the danger of discovering that the stuff that they don't teach you in lectures (found in the same books under "elaboration") are actually quite a great deal more fun than the stuff that they do. Maybe coz the fact that they are going to appear in the exams discourages me. You tend to lose interest in other things... like ping pong training that's held in Vista B now and I'm too lazy to go. Shoulder and ankle aching, but admittedly, that wouldn't have stopped me from going for Taekwondo... ping pong is just lower in the hierarchy.

I'll just continue mugging.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 10:23:45 GMT

Kinda bored now. Chow sleeping on the couch... so no one to disturb before I start mugging in 13 minutes' time. So yeah... posting when there's nothing to post. *okay, ada ilham* Ever wondered what it's like to be in my shoes for a day? Today's schedule was something like this:

0620 Wake up, stare at the alarm clock and wonder what day it is
0622 Fully awake now after orientating myself. Must be that marmite-tasting liquor
0630 Finish showering and ready to leave home. Shoot where's that car keys?
0635 Discovered that Pa kindly kept car keys in drawer. Leaves house
0655 Drives through 9 traffic lights in 1st-3rd gear to Lee Hong's place
0700 Lee Hong comes out. Gossips in the car on the way to school
0740 Wah first time so early to school... goes to SRC room. Studies
0835 Alamak, five minutes late to PBL. *runs like kena kejar anjing*
0836 Reaches the room, almost everyone inside already. Dr.SC smiles at me
1000 Finished PBL. Volunteered to do CT scan. Feel stupid.
1005 Finish visiting the 1st cubicle of ground floor tandas. Drop by SRC
1015 Finish reporting to Jing (president SRC) and drive home
1045 Finds everyone ready to leave the house already. KLIA we come.
1145 Reach KLIA. Wait with Ahma while Kor kor checks in
1200 Damn hungry already. McDonalds. Ahma reminds me that I'm getting fatter.
1240 Hug Kor kor who reminds me to study harder. Sure forget one
1245 Visit tandas KLIA. Then visit Choc Shop. Yes, I did wash my hands
1300 Finish buying chocolates for Renee and Ken. Mission: locate WHK 2082
1400 Reach home. Visit tandas bilik... Fourth time in the day.
1430 Must go school otherwise sure lazy to attend lecture one.
1530 Stupid jam. Visit new cafeteria, students and operators seem happy.
1600 Coffee with Chow Chow (Cheok Soon) discuss IT stuff...
1615 Two back-to-back entertaining basic lectures in renal physio
1830 Argue about going for dinner...
1845 Finally go for dinner at FA coz it seems empty compared to the cafe
1910 Finish dinner, service good since nobody there. Bad business.
1922 Now... going to mug a bit la. Physio. Wake Chow up first.

That's all, folks. If you read until here, your patience damn keng man... pure ranting.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 05:21:54 GMT

Laughing Stock

A group of 35 Malaysians is reportedly going to Egypt in May to make a bid at covering the Great Pyramid of Giza with a giant national flag and those of the 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). The expedition, estimated to cost close to RM200,000, will be funded by the Selangor government, Youth and Sports Ministry, Ex-Servicemen’s Affairs Corporation and programme sponsors.

-from We Need To Tower In Areas That Matter, an article in The Star-

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 00:22:07 GMT

The clock in the auditorium showed 5:48 and it was another 5-tonne renal lecture

My handphone had a message: "From: Coach. Msg:when does training start this year?"
I stared at the screen. "today... six thirthy?"

Coach didn't come again. Don't get me wrong... I like him. He's very friendly and isn't materialistic. He makes sure that we, his students, are well taken care of when organising championships. He's a good coach who can fine-tune our techniques very well... that is, when he comes.

The rest of us trained for a while and Khang Hee started counting the number of times our coach DID come for class for the past few months. The members are starting to ask questions... I tell them that Coach is at Manila for the SEA Games. I tell them that Coach is at meetings for the Interclub Championship. I tell them that Coach has a meeting to attend at the National Sports Council. They nod, as the reasons are valid, but they do not look satisfied.

Khang Hee's final remark was "it's not good for our club. It's not good for our members". I can't help but agree. The juniors, now in yellow belt, probably can't recognise Coach if they see him on the streets. They have seen him only during their grading sessions.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 01:51:46 GMT

Happy New Year, everyone! All right, so those who broke your new year resolutions by now, please raise up your hand... *I thank God no one can see me raise my hand macam orang bodoh in the SRC room*

Spent the last couple of hours preparing for PBL: pathogenesis of nephrotic syndrome. Damn fun reading and reading and reading. End up with a three page diagram featuring "disease", "how they cause the pathology" and "in a nutshell-what to know for exams". Since the second column will bore my PBL mates to sleep, gotta compress all that "already compressed" information into that nutshell... Well, I kinda hope that they will at least read through the handouts... otherwise kinda sad lore do all that work and then not much use.

These days tidur-tidur like oinky still tired. Has been like that for some reason after the repro exam. Think the holidays are bad for the body la, kena pampered already so now have to wake up early, that fella protest like nobody's business. Anyway, the reason why I had to wake up early is because gotta fetch Lee Hong. Not that it's the real reason la... it's the reason that took away my tendency for procrastination. It's like that: when I don't have to fetch Lee Hong, I hit the snooze button for at least another couple of hours. *guilty grin* So yeah, Lee Hong more or less jump-started my day. Of course, if this gets to her, she'd probably demand lunch or something.

So yeah, that's my day so far... wake up, travel, do PBL, photocopy PBL handouts... do the usual SRC duties of sorting through mails and forum issues (so far none)... then now gotta mug. No wait, go pee-pee first then mug. *grins* The bottle of water and packet of Milo coupled with the low ambient temperature in the micro-environment like the SRC room sure force ppl to "inspect IMU's plumbing" within a couple of hours.

Have I disgusted you yet?

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 03:29:51 GMT

She greets me in the morning with a cheerful smile and a wave. Very often, she reminds me to take my meals regularly instead of staying in the SRC room studying and have my lunch at tea. No, she is not my mother.

"You suka makan pao tak?" she asked.
"Okay lah. Kenapa?"
"Mak saya buat pao. Pao kacang merah, pao sambal ikan bilis, pao kari ayam... sedap."
She grins at me. "Lain kali, saya bawa untuk kamu cuba ya?"

I ask her about her family. She's from Kedah, a large family of Malay-Thai heritage. Kacukan, she describes her father. It's been five years since she came to KL. Initially they lived in poverty, "hidup merempat, hutang keliling pinggang" from the economic downturn that most of IMU students hardly felt. As we wondered why our Christmas presents were getting smaller, she had to quit school for unavoidable personal reasons. She maintains that she is not a drop-out. "Saya tak bodoh," she assures me. Neither does she see herself as a victim of circumstances. She considers it a path that life has taken her and being sad about it won't change a thing.

Her mother followed a Chinese family friend's suggestion and started the pao business and together, they named it AYU'S, an acronym for "Aku Yang Usaha Sendiri". It's now a moderately popular chain of halal pao that has two branches in Klang Valley.

All her experiences and she's only sixteen. "Budak!" I tease her, and she grins. She tells everyone that she's eighteen. She's not treated very kindly by most students and staff of IMU, many of whom see security guards as people with limited intelligence and experience. Quite a number of them don't treat her with respect, especially when she bars them from entering IMU because of their lack of compliance to the dress code. She seems upset that some students don't seem to like her. With her limited Chinese vocabulary (she understands more Cantonese than I do, thanks to her interest in soap operas), she understands it when students curse at her or call her stupid. Yet, she enjoys getting to know "nice students" (like me, she said... wah kembang only me!) and finds joy in greeting students and welcoming visitors.

Before I left to collect my already-cold stir fried beef ginger from Food Avenue, she tells me to keep our little gossip about the students and admin to myself. I wink. I found a new friend today... and a little reminder of how easily we walk past people who may have seen more of the world than we mere students whose world revolves around examinations. While we whine about the dress code and how we are tired of FA food, a security guard is thankful that her family has food on her table.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 03:05:23 GMT

Hi guys,

just want to notify that i am down with chickenpox 3
days ago and wouldn't be able to come to IMU for da
next 2 weeks....Unless u guys want an outbreak in
IMU...heheheh....

So if there is any info/etc for me plz do mail me in
this email...

Hopefully i would be fine by EOS.....sob sob

rajenrao

Poor fella. Get well soon, Raj