Netbook and freebies

Well, so much for waiting a couple of weeks.

Today, after my rather odd interview with KK hospital, I met up with my parents for lunch before my mom suggested we go take a look at the Netbooks again. I already more or less had my heart set on a Samsung N120 if I were to get a netbook, mostly due to it’s weight, size, matte finish, speed, and battery life. The sound system on the N120 is also pretty good for its size and range. All in all, this is pretty much what I need to pick up, chuck in my bag, and walk off to and from lectures.

This 160GB 1.66GHz 10″ little wonder set me back about $700 with an upgrade to 2G RAM and a small pile of free gifts. I think the freebies took up more space than the netbook. We have here a USB keyboard vacuum, earphones, two microstatic cloths, one Toshiba retractable mouse, and one of those ball things you attach to the bottom to help it cool down.

Since I paid for my own computer, mom bought me something as well to bring to Melbourne. This little digital photo frame. We actually got it pretty cheap since the store owners gave us a discount. The plan is to load it full of photos of me my family and friends, then display it on my desk for extra motivation to study. =)

I might be heading down to Melbourne again in early December to do a little recce work, find an apartment, and hopefully get to make a trip down to Monash to attend the FOBS (Foundation in Biomedical Science) day. It’s supposed to be one where we get to mingle with staff, faculty and students, as well as get a short tutorial on FOBS to prepare us for the test on week 2 or 3. Apparently, we need an 80% to pass, otherwise we’ll need to retake it. =\

Not looking forward to the test.

Textbook Crazy

My mom and I have recently developed a nasty habit of pre-med school shopping. After getting the full offer last week, preparations for med school next year has gone into full steam, buying tickets for flights, textbooks, arranging for visas, health checks and police screenings. It has been a hectic week.

Not to mention, tomorrow morning I’ll be heading down to KK Women and Children’s Hospital for an interview. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll probably be serving a short temporary tag on in the pediatrics’ emergency department to get some exposure and gain some context in which to better understand what I’ll be learning in slightly over 2 and a half months. And a little extra (which I’ll only blog about once I get into it…)

So today, mom and I went book shopping after a nice yummy brunch. We headed off to Yun Nan medical bookstore at Bras Basah and bought my first medical textbook! Kumar and Clark’s Clinical Medicine. I also managed to get Wheater’s Functional Histology, a book that was at least twice as expensive in Kino. The books were not only cheaper at Yun Nan, but the lady at the counter also gave us lots of very helpful advice on which books were good and which not to buy. While her tone was a tad condescending, I could really feel she was passionate about what she did, and really wanted to help. =) She was really knowledgeable about the books in her store, advising me which I would need, which were better or more popular, and suggesting some other books I might require in Year 1. Really nice lady.

We couldn’t find Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy there though, and she recommended we went to the NUS Co-op to find it. NUS was horrid to navigate about. Since neither mom nor I had any experience in NUS, we ended up spending most of our time driving in and out of carparks to nowhere and reversing out of dead ends. We did eventually find the medicine and science co-op and found a neat little stack of Netter’s. And having a quick flip through the pages, I can see what all the rage is about.

I have a suspicion that Netter’s was the book Hans Bacher was talking about when he spoke to me earlier this year about medical school. He mentioned he knew someone who did an arts degree, then went on to medical school, later becoming one of the world’s most famous medical illustrators. Netter is definitely one of them. And he graduated from design school too! His drawings are gorgeous and extremely detailed. I would have to struggle to turn off the drooling art student in me to study this book properly.

So after today’s purchases, my textbook stack has grown a little. Here it is next to my phone for some size comparison.

We later went on to Funan to 1. Buy ma’s outdated Korean drama, and 2. Drink arguably the best Ya Kun coffee in Singapore.

The shop turned out to no longer carry the outdated Korean drama, so after a quick coffee, we went about looking for luggage; an exercise that eventually turned into a hunt for a good netbook.

Now, I’m using a really pretty, fantastic, amazing Macbook Pro, currently. However, it does weigh a very hefty 2.5kg. As much as I love how it is awesome with pdf files and looks really pretty, I found myself looking at the much lighter, cheaper, and simpler netbooks. I’m terribly tempted to buy a Samsung N120 netbook simply to chuck in my bag and bring from class to class, then return home every night to write essays, make presentations, and do revisions on my larger macbook pro. Though I’m worried I might slowly lose the need to have two computers and eventually stop using either one. A decision on this would take a couple more weeks of thinking. Not like I’m pressed for time anyway…

So a bit more studying before sleep time. Tomorrow promises to be an exciting day.

12 types of med student

All from this wonderful site I’d recommend as time out brain food.

http://theunderweardrawer.homestead.com/scutmonkey.html

I think I’m going to start off as the Questionable Admission. Then gradually morph into the guy giving patients his apartment. =\

Decal-ed

Quite tough to see, but it’s matte black decals on a nice metallic black body. The words are cut out of the matte black strips to show the shiny surface below.

Going going gone

It’s going.

All of it.

I cleared out more than half of everything in my wardrobe, extracting from its dusty depths huge armfuls of clothing. Tomorrow, they’ll be off to the salvation army and/or some tailors so they can sell the material for some extra cash.

If this doesnt say “I love you more than anything so I’m tossing out all the clothes I love wearing for clothes you love me wearing”, I don’t know what does.

The dust is starting to irritate my nose.. =\

It’s only one more day till Monday, marking the start of the Monash results week. Somewhere deep in my heart, I already know the answer for me is a “no”. I wonder what fate has in store for me, twisting and spinning me round like a fluffy plaything.

Change change change!

Mini is home from 2 and a half weeks in car spa!

No, really. He just got a respray. This is how Mini looked like when we collected him from Mini Habitat almost 2 years ago.

Woot! Can’t believe it’s been 2 years! But now, Mini’s looking brand spanking new in the new metallic black color range! The black looks fabulous with the red and piano black interior, B&W union jack side panels, and JCW rims. GORGEOUS! We also fitted him with Mini’s new line of JCW body kits (see the new extra side skirting?)

A close up of the new body kit from the front. It juts out from the car more, makes it seem a whole lot lower, and comes with a bunch of new air vent things.

It also came with this panel on the inside of the door! SWEET!!!

All in all, we were really happy with the car. It looks great, drives great, and they even very kindly helped us change out the previously dented/scratched license plates. The guys at the workshop did an outstanding job. The Mini looks like an entirely different car today. =) Now that I’ve actually seen the car with its new paint job, I’m not so certain we should be covering it in decals. Perhaps the more prudent thing to do now is to leave it be for a couple of days, see how the current look sticks.

23 Years Old!

Today I turn 23.

I think I’ve reached the point of my life when one year seems to begin blending into the next. 23 doesn’t feel any different from 22 or 24. The implications of the number were lost on me just for today.

In all honesty, the day didn’t start out too well. I spent too much time last night watching documentaries on black holes, space time fabric and theories of relativity, resulting in my rather lackluster appearance today having woken up at 8am to have breakfast with my dad.

Yeap. For those who don’t know (i.e., new to this blog) I share the same birthday with my dad. Today he turns 56.

The day started with the usual mee sua (meant to symbolize longevity since it’s so long and stringy), photos, and I got my present from Long and the rest of the kids. =) We were supposed to head to office to join my dad for the birthday party there. But after I had showered, changed into my pretty clothes, dolled myself up, I realized I was the only one ready, and we inevitably ended up being too late, and my mom told us not to bother coming down. =\

That was a big bummer for the day. Having to spend my entire birthday indoors, watching more videos on my computer. I literally didn’t set foot beyond my front door. Spending the whole day in covers me with a thick layer of sian that was pretty difficult to shake off.

Dinner was good though, and things began to pick up there. Mama cooked a great big pot of Buddha Jumps Over The Wall. A very elaborate and really really really delicious dish choc full of expensive and delicious treats like abalone and sea cucumber. =D I had 3 bowls!

My aunt and uncle came for dinner too, bringing with them a big bottle of Moet champagne! Everyone had a glass of it. =D Yummy stuff. I’ve already begun to forget how to hold my liquor. Just a little is enough to set me off the edge. =\

This is the tower of presents papa and I got this year! Awesome isn’t it?

The big blue/green ones are papa’s, as is the little bag with bears on it. Mine are the pink baggy, the black baggy, and the two gold ones. (plus an extra big big big soft toy my parents bought for me as an after thought).

This year, we bought papa a Drobo. It’s a customizable network storage solution with 4 bays for internal hard disk slots. We bought an extra 5 TB of space to slot in and get him started, as well as a Drobo share to let him share his stuff over the wireless network at home. Cost a bomb. But it was Perfect. =)

Long and Zihui made the trip to Orchard Central to buy us this fantastic banana chocolate tart cake!

Pa and my cards!

The usual durian cake from Sheraton and the special tart cake! We usually have 2 cakes, or one big cake.

When we were in Orchard Central this year, I noticed this shop selling poker chips and remarked over excitedly how awesome they were. Everyone noticed and I ended up getting two sets of poker chips! And a texas hold em game (with tutorial). LOL!

Started out with this… But I very rapidly lost all my chips. Even when we play without real cash, I still go broke! These chips which the rest of the kids bought me have a metal center making them nice and heavy. The ones papa and mama bought for me have “monte carlo” all over them and feel like those in Crown!

Bear posing with all my presents this year! The shirt is from aunt and uncle. Big soft toy at the back. Texas Hold Em set (complete with a mat in it like a real gambling table, a deck of cards, some unnumbered chips and a ‘how to’ manual on all types of poker). Deck of invisible cards from baby. Plus one more additional book she bought me which my mom is currently half reading. =\ One set of poker chips with metal in the clear case in front. One entire briefcase of poker chips with 2 decks of cards and 5 die. One extra deck of cards from the kids that “glow in black light” and have all the picture cards looking sad and emo. Hahahahhaha.

The beginning of my gambling obsession! You saw it here first!

All in all, while I didn’t spend the day with neither friends nor significant other, spending it home with family turned out not so bad. We even ordered in some pizza and watched a weird documentary on how humans descended from aliens.

Thanks to everyone and their birthday wishes! =)

And thanks to my really sweet dear for trying your utmost to make this day special for me even though you’re so very busy. I really really really liked the card substitute. =) I love you!

Orchard Central Escapades

I have always put off going to Orchard Central since it isn’t exactly in the heart of orchard road and at least a good 10 minutes walk in the sun from anywhere I would usually park my car. But after my dad watched a short introduction of the place on tv, it was only a matter of hours before we would all be hauled over there to nose-poke about.

Orchard Central is one of the new malls on the far end of Orchard Road, designed and constructed in collaboration with the National Arts Council. As such, the place is reeking with design, artistic whims, and installations of all sorts. We even got a little Art Trail map from this helpful girl on the first floor which takes you around all the 7 art pieces scattered on the different floors of the building. There are also performances going on, with a three person band playing the evening we were there.

One of the outstanding features of the place is the long convoys of escalators running on the outside of the building, reminiscent of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, just with no protective shell around you. It’s actually pretty terrifying. We couldn’t go all the way up, and some of us discovered our fears of heights on the journey.

This escalator was found on level 5 or 6 i think. It goes up to maybe the roof…

We headed to the bit of the building choc-a-block with food. One of them was this cute little Ben and Jerry’s place with a giant peace sign made from a metal frame and lots of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream tub lids. I thought it looked yummy…

This is the view from our restaurant. The grey jagged wall directly opposite us is in actual fact the rock climbing facility in the place. It’s TERRIFYING.

As you can see, the rock climbing place actually starts on level 3 or something. Adds to the whole freak out factor.

The wall outside Ben and Jerry’s was constructed from old VCR players stacked on top of one anther and spray painted in gold or silver. really really cool.

The lift doors were glass so you can see everything as the lift went up or down. Also made it possible for the people outside to see your fear stricken expression as the lift travels downwards at a freakish speed.

A really cool map of the place.

This is one of the art pieces in the mall. Functioning as an escalator from the outside to the second floor of the building, the piece was formed from a series of 294 pictures taken of the Istana gardens and composited on glass panels. Really pretty.

I like this shop. It’s got lots of cute little soft toys and sells alot of interesting nonsense. I like the little giraffes and hippos at the back of the store sewn from bits of patterned cloth…

They also sell poker chips, which led me to the discovery that I really want a set of those.

So, that was the end of our trip to Orchard Central yesterday. But…

Today, my mom and I both decided we didn’t have enough time to see all the shops yesterday and went back right after lunch. Shopping was horrendous fun! I bought 3 new blouses and a pair of jeans. All really really pretty. =D I LIKE THEM LOTS.

After lots and lots of shopping and viewing all the shops in the mall in 3.5 hours, we headed to this place on the 5th floor which seemed to sell some derivative of fruit. I assumed this was fruit juice and offered to treat ma to some watermelon juice to fuel our shopping weary limbs. However, we found out it was actually a fruit tart place. So we ended up with a pot of tea (with which came a little pink tea cosy) and a banana and chocolate tart. The tart was DELICIOUS. The tea was really fragrant.

food tends to taste better after a hearty day of shopping. =D

Mystery abound!

Mid through yesterday, I developed a fever and a rather incessant nosebleed that have both gone right through the night and continue to plague me today (accosted with a newly developed cough).

My point?

I’m stuck home today.

Not that I don’t enjoy being at home. I just figured I could have gotten more done over the past couple of days instead of lying in a feverish heap on various beds of the upper floors of my home, with a juice box of barley and a digital thermometer by my side.

Doctor says my trip in Australia exposed me to low humidity, leading to the cracking of the skin in my nostrils, exposing my blood vessels (which in my nose tend to run really near the surface of the skin). The fever was but a result of the nosebleeds.

=\

Didn’t explain why I only get nosebleeds when I’m back in the higher humidity of Singapore. Or why I’m developing a cough. Or why the fever won’t abate even when my nosebleeds stopped yesterday.

Either ways, I was pottering about my house looking for some apple juice to fill my juice box with. Only to find that my house is full of mini bar fridges that are neither occupied, nor even plugged in. They’re actually being used as ornament display tables of sorts.

Curiouser and curiouser…

The past 3 weeks…

Finally, I’m home! After a good 3 and a half weeks down under, I’ve decided that Australia is a very very very windy and cold place right now. =\

This post will be extremely image-heavy. So click only if your connection can handle lots and lots of garbage from me and wonderfully large pictures.