2009: Year-ender

Its the time to write another year-ender, however,  this year I’m devoid of any interesting thing to write. 2009 just  pales in comparison to the thrill of last year. If last year was a da Vinci, then this year is a black and white abstract. 

The highlight of 2009 is work, work and more work. Not that I find work tedious - conversely, I found it fun – but nonetheless there’s this monotony to it. 2/3 of this year was spent working and hopefully it is not be like this the rest of my life.

So its nearly a year since I came back form Melbourne. Overseas education – what does it translate? Are we better off compared to the locals? Well not really. But perhaps we do have a different attitude when it comes to asking questions, following orders and ways looking at things. Knowledge wise, we are more or less the same.

The beginning of the year – what distant memories it is now, was filled with the joy of doing nothing. It was a blissful period of indulging in my favourite pastime of reading and writing, knowing full well that it was likely to be the last of long holidays in my younger years.  It was punctured by a short and sweet trip to Singapore – the only time I flew this year.

Then in mid-April work began and never stops. Throughout the year I had been to many places in the pharmacy department of SGH and meet all sorts of characters. It augurs well that I had the foresight to reread Dale Carnegie the week before work starts – the peculiarity and complexity of human behaviour proves to be the main trappings at work.

My main obsession this year was to deliver the perfect presentation. It had something to do with my perfectionist streak I fear, as well as a penchant for show-boating. Public speaking serves as a good output for both. I had also joined Toastmasters for good measure, hopefully to hasten my ambition in reaching the proverbial holy grail, whatever that might be. Still got a long way to go this one..

When it comes to girls… I still wonder what I look for in the perfect one. Choosy sounds a bit harsh but well, it may be spot on.

Hopes and resolutions for the new year? Am still figuring it out when I had the time. Time is a premium currently, and it had been a tight balance between work and play. But of course there was still time for a good book… and in case you are wondering why my English sounds so English, it probably rubbed off Jeffery Archer’s latest paperback. I had spent the last three days sinfully polishing off the 500+ odd pages…

Anyway, hope you all had a swell 2009 and may 2010 prove to be a better year. 

Mirage – Part 2

“Wouldn’t a trip here give them inspiration to work hard and earn enough spending money in the future? It can provide motivation to make their dreams come true,” I try to counter his words.

“Dreams? Bah! Dreams seldom come true. See that couple there?” He points to a couple whose backs are facing us. The woman had tilted her head to rest on the shoulder of her husband, while the guy had his hand encircling the waist of his wife. They are strolling towards the escalator that will bring them up to the first floor.

“They are probably here to live their dream. This is their dreamland. They are here dreaming about all the things they can’t have and the life that they can’t afford. He will go to the computer shop upstairs, caressing the sleek edges of the MacBook Air notebook he knows he can’t have. He will type a few sentences on the keyboard and wish he can do it forever. His wife will probably go to VINCCI, trying on a pair of Manolo high heels she saw on Sex and the City. She will feel that she is on the catwalk, sashaying about like a model. Then they will stand in front of a 42 inch plasma TV, marveling at the high definition images, trying to transpose it into their living room. Then the spell will be broken.”

His face is a little red now, as if all the blood had left his body to congregate there. I could detect wheezing undertones beneath his labored breathing. Probably early stage of emphysema due to chronic smoking, I diagnose. Pink puffers, they are called. He pauses momentarily to catch his breath.

“They will realise their living room is too small, and their car is also too small to put the TV into. Then they will be reminded that they haven’t finished paying their home as well as car loans. The ticket to realising their dreams rests solely on the shoulders of their son. They are now investing their money on him, sending him to tuitions, with the hope that he will find a good job and command a high salaried job one day. He is probably in one now. To kill time while waiting to pick him up, they are here to escape the harsh reality of their life. But looking at those things they can’t have…” he shakes his head sadly.

“Can’t even guarantee the son will give them the money.” he mutters.

The couple has disappeared from view. The old man’s words bring images of hamsters I used to have, running hard in the round exercise wheel but ended up getting nowhere, into my thoughts. A wave of pity washes through me. How long will they stay trapped in the rat race? But at least they have each other. That will alleviate the pain.

I follow his eyes which have wandered back to the four teenagers, who are ambling out from the ESPRIT store. They are walking towards the direction of the food court. It may be a fraction of my imagination, but they are more subdued compared to the time before they ventured in. The gaiety has been diluted from their face. Maybe, like the old man had said, they suddenly realise that they don’t belong.

“Poor kids, this venture into a rich men’s mansion will scar them for live. When they reach the food bazaar, they will be pawing into the deep reaches of their pockets, hoping to discover another crumpled ringgit inside to add to those few blue notes in their hands. They will travel from stall to stall, looking for food they can afford. Probably ended up sharing a plate of Nasi Lemak bought with a price where they can get two plates each at the village warung.”

The old man’s eyes dart around the mall again, like the searchlight from a light house, searching for a new target to harp on. Like a bald-head eagle finding his prey, he swoops down lithely on a young couple emerging from a corner of the mall. They are probably only around seventeen. They look sweet together, holding hands and sharing a single scoop ice-cream.

A throw of dice?

 

The two groups of children are roughly the same age: cute, big eyed, cherubic cheeks with just a hint of baby fat. Just like an unfinished masterpiece. They exude a sense of purity, of vulnerability that will melt the heart of whoever set sight on them.

Yet they couldn’t be more different.

For those on the left were an award-winning choir members flown in from KL; those on the right, children suffering from cancer.

Those on the left were resplendent in their Santa hats and smart red-and-black vests; standing upright rendering Christmas cheers in heavenly voices.  Those on the right were dressed in shapeless green smocks, their head shiny domes, listening passively.

Those on the left are here to give, those on the right, receive.

What makes them different? What makes them the anointed one to give; and conversely, one to receive, when in theory all children were born equal?

Surely not more than a throw of dice. Fate dealt a hand, and one find him/herself on one side, the other find him/herself on the other side of the divide.

And just by that, the rest of their lives are different.

Life is unfair. But surely, mentally and spiritually, both sides gained something from this visit, because even me as a bystander, learnt something new. 

Update by short sentences

Seems an eternity since I last updated my blog.

Been busy doing this and that. Caught up in things.

A little bit burnt out. Going here and there.

This weekend been nice. Been sleeping a lot. Readying myself for on-call next week.

Best feeling is when curled up in bed reading a novel. Peeking into the magical lives of others.

Clinical pharmacy is okay. But is every single life worth saving?

In the meantime, going to post up a short story to fill the impending void.

Mirage it was called. Wrote this in March 2009. Since then have ideas on how to improve it but lazy to do it. Oh well, just enjoy the original version.

Going to try making apple crumble cheesecake later. Anyone interested?

Mirage – Part 1

“Good weather today, isn’t it?”

It seems funny that the man should comment about the weather, as both of us are located deep in the labyrinth of the colossal shopping complex, where rain or shine, the temperature is kept at a cool 18 degrees, and the lights bathing the place are from artificial sources. But he looks friendly enough, offering a smile which exposes two missing front teeth, a feature that stands out amidst the surrounding salt and pepper stubble on his face.

“Yes it is,” I reply, out of respect for his seniority.

“Interesting place here huh? Never thought I will see a shopping complex this big in my life,” he continues.

I nod mechanically, not really interested to be mired in a conversation with this wizened old man. His sallow face is lined by wrinkles and he stands with a stoop. His fingernails are yellow and dirty, probably due to years of smoking. The outline of a pack of cigarette is jutting out of the front pocket of his blue T-shirt.

“My son said this shopping complex is smaller than those in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. But what do I know? I never took a plane before in my whole life. For me, this is big enough. Maybe too big for this place…”

What do you know, old man, I want to smirk with disdain. You are like a frog living in a well. How can the country progress if all people think like you? But I keep quiet.

Just then, a group of four dark-skinned teenagers walk by, their loud chatter diverts our attention to them. Two gangly guys; one in a chequered shirt faded with too many washings and jeans torn at the knees, the other in a bright yellow T-shirt and gray slacks, which I suspect used to be white. Two skinny girls; one in short sleeved V-neck tee and shorts above the knees, the other in a flowery baju kurung. They are chatting in a language that sounds familiar yet foreign, a hodge-podge of Malay mixed with some other dialects. Bahasa Sarawak, I suddenly realise.

Oblivious to the newly wiped floor, they trudge across, leaving numerous grayish imprints of their sandals on the otherwise spotless marble slabs. The old man shakes his head disapprovingly.

“These kampong kids are probably wearing the best T-shirt and trousers in their limited collection. The lipsticks on the girls’ lips are probably their mum’s, stealthily removed from scant make-up boxes and applied, then stealthily put back. The boys talk loudly and walk with a swagger to hide their insecurities. They need to be macho, even though deep down they are afraid of this foreign place. This is probably their first trip here, via the old steel mass called a bus.” The old man’s voice is suddenly animated.

My eyes linger on them. They are standing in front of the ESPRIT store, their mouths agape upon seeing the huge poster of a European female model on the display window. The spacious brightly lit store beckons, yet they seem afraid to go in. Perhaps they are overawed by the futuristic space-age façade of the store, so accustomed they are to the congested, packed-to-the-brim kedai runcit in their kampong. Tentatively, one of the boys steps across the line into the store, and like goslings following their mum, the rest join him.

“Their eyes will widen, big as saucers when they see the price tag of the clothes. Probably a piece cost as much as their parents’ monthly combined salary. The shop girls will watch them like hawks, afraid that their dirty hands will smudge those expensive wears. If they are intelligent, they will see their own reflection off the mirrors or these marble floors and get out of there quick. It is not their place to be here.”

The venom in his voice surprises me. He seems such a genial man, a dotting grandfather.

Clinical Pharmacist

I always thought I wanted to be a clinical pharmacist. I don’t know why, perhaps I had the perception that being a clinical pharmacist is the epitome of being a pharmacist – walking in the midst of patients, sorting through their meds and data readings, solving their problems.  

Besides, being a clinical pharmacist is sort of the ‘glamour job’ in pharmacy here. There is this perception that only the best and brightest can be clinical pharmacist. There is this allure and veneration of white coated people strutting about confidently in wards. They are the one standing there thinking on their feet, standing toes to toes with doctors discussing about the care of patients. 

When I was interviewed back in February, the question asked was “Do you want to be a clinical pharmacist?”. When I  reported for duty in April, the same question was asked. What about in-patient supply? total parenteral nutrition? cytotoxic drug reconstitution? No one asked.

Well, I guess I would know whether I would really like being a clinical pharmacist or not tomorrow. I will be starting a four-week rotation in the cardio-thoracic ward. Armed with 4 years of knowledge and 7 months of experience, I am going to march right into the baptism of fire.

Anyway, some more pictures straight from Thirteen’s Cookbook. Enjoy!

 

Very healthy apple crumble made with oat crumbs!

Just eat it with ice cream. It tasted heavenly.

 

Self-made profiteroles filled with sinful cream and dusted with caster sugar.

Don’t you wish you are here?

 

And this was for dinner! 70% cooked Rib-eye steak with self-mashed potatoes and self-made creamy mushroom soup.

Damn I am getting fat.

Sunday Cookbook

Another page of my cooking adventure:

Take some sticky honeyed dates,

Add in the usual suspects in baking: butter, flour, eggs and sugar, and beat them up..

This don’t look very promising..

But hey, my sticky date pudding came out just nice! Warm and fluffy in the inside, caramel and sticky on the outside.

Blissfully sweet. But tasted quite sinful too, to think I did it after writing about diabetes and a sweet death.

But then, something are worth dying for.

Anyone want a try? ^^

Dying a sweet death

Today is World Diabetes Day.

15% of Malaysian aged 30 and above have diabetes.

Worse, 1/3 of them was unaware they have it.

You see, diabetes encroaches upon you silently.

Slowly and surely, it lets you drown in sweetness before you are even aware of it.

To put it simply, diabetes is a condition where there is too much  sugar in your blood vessels.

Too much of a sweet thing is not a good thing, as it slowly clogged up the blood vessel, impeding the transport of oxygen and nutrients to your body. All these leads to severe consequences with death as the end point.

Amongst the complications caused by diabetes include

As pharmacists, I believe we have a huge role to play in educating patients about diabetes.

Hence a few of us are embarking on a research project to educate and enlighten them about this disease.

We are going to make them aware of the disease, the consequences, and how to reduce the progression of the disease via a PowerPoint and video presentation. 

Hopefully, it will make a difference in their lives.

This is our call of duty. Who cares the idiotic government is mulling to cut down our allowance by RM650 per month. Even if  they have every intention to screw us and the patients, we still have a responsibility to make sure patients don’t suffer as a consequence .

Cut down your sugar. Order kurang manis.  Take care of your health. Exercise 150 minutes per week. Check your blood sugar level yearly. Diabetes is no sweet way to die.

i injected myself with an insulin pen

The pharmacist reached the anticipated end of him long-winded speech. Hands were already in the ready-to-clap position, eager to bring the curtains down on a long day.

But he still had one final twist to the tale on his sleeves, one final rabbit to be pulled out from his hat.

“Now I’m going to give each and everyone of you an insulin pen. You will then proceed to inject yourself to see how it feels for the patient.”

Commotion broke out. The hall was abuzz with nervous and incredulous chatter. What? Poking a needle (albeit a 5mm one) into ourselves?

Pens were passed around. In our little group we were fiddling with the pen nervously.

Since I was the most senior PRP in my group, I wasn’t surprised when the group facilitator pointed a finger at me and intoned “You go first.”

Putting a mask of nonchalant bravado, I put on the needle on the insulin pen and with one swift push poked the pen into my ample subcutaneous layer. All I felt was a tingling sensation not unlike a red ant’s sting.

“It’s not painful at all,” I declared with a smile. And to prove my point, I proceeded to poke myself a few more times. “See? It’s okay.”

Until I realised blood were tricking out of my tummy. “Eeek... blood.” 

I rolled up my eyes and fainted.

 

Injecting insulin. Been there, tried it. Really, it is not  painful.

That would be an appropriate and sensational ending. But alas, in a disappointing and normal end to the story, I just proceed to wipe out the blood and continue teaching the new PRPs how to use the pen.

Anyway that’s what we do as pharmacists. We don’t just give out medicines to you like mindless robots. Nor are we there to just pick out the careless mistakes of doctors. That will be demeaning to say the least. No, we are the crazy ones poking ourselves with insulin pen to experience how you feel poking yourselves everyday; munching through tablets to see how bitter it is, tasting the syrup to see how sweet it can be.

While we were dispensing, we think of ways to make it easier for you to remember taking the bagful of medicines,  coaxing you and praising you so that you feel taking the medicines are worthwhile, exaggerating our actions like clowns while demonstrating to you how to use your inhalers so that you will remember better.

Really, we do try our best to step into your shoes.

I understand this is how you see me if you have glaucoma.

We are here to make your live living with a disease better and more comfortable.  As long as you can get better, we will feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Exam

Taking an exam is just like playing the roulette. You spend as much as you can afford on as many numbers as possible and fervently hope upon your lucky stars that the silver ball rest upon a number you choose.

An element of luck is needed together with all the hard work you chipped into it, especially in assembling the money.

For those caught in the feverish exam mood, I wish you best of luck. May the exam gods smile on you, and you in turn, walks out of the exam hall with a foolish grin on your face and be promptly spanked.

If your luck is in the dumps, oh well, go find a four leaf clover to put under your bed and have a nice dream. You won’t fail. The Uni loves to boast having a 99.9% passing rate.

Anyway, just good luck and all the best!

Six months

October sixteenth was the day where I passed my sixth month mark of my year as a provisionally registered pharmacist (PRP).

Half of the road travelled and am I none the wiser?

Come to think of it, this half a year had been an enriching experience, in terms of pharmacy knowledge, human relationship, work politics and keeping a right frame of mind for the job.

I remembered starting my work in the Out-patient pharmacy (OPD) a picture of blur-ness, not helped by the marketplace like scene.  OPD was madness then, the baskets of prescriptions piling high, the pharmacy people having harassed look, patients, frowns of impatience. 

That’s what happens behind the scene in OPD the middle of the night…

Six months down the road, I found myself in OPD again, this time seeing mirror images of myself writing down notes  on things to learn tonight, flipping through books, asking questions. Ah new PRPs…they never cease to amaze. Me? well, I am a little bored now, feeling mechanical dispensing yet another paracetamol or benadryl. Just trying my best to keep the smile on my face going. Knowledge had improved leaps and bounds – its all about experience. But of course, it is still a process of continuous learning.

Office politics is all dirty, with half-baked rumours of back stabbing and two-faced people constantly flying in the air. Everything you did is tagged with an evil motive by green eyed monsters.  Being neutral is hard – genuine friend or spy from the other camp? Guess just need to survive as best as I can. Diseases of the human mind are more complicated than the sum of the diseases caused by all those little bacteria and viruses. Why can’t everyone just be friends…

Pills are now my best friends…

Me? Just going to work everyday in a cheery mood. I need to go work anyway, why choose to be in a bad mood? Amidst all this hocus-pocus I still find work fun. It feels great to be able to help people managing their medications and life better everyday. In the end, this is what pharmacists are trained to do – making a difference in the lives of the sick. Okay politically correctly, the medically deranged.   

So my views or wishes or outlook for the other half of the journey? Bring it on!

Salmon galore

 

Rich succulent raw salmon

Plus a prehistoric carnivore who loves raw salmon

Equals to salmon sushi!

Proof that I made them:

 

Sushi master at work. I just adored raw salmon. Their texture is just heavenly. Yum..

Night Shift

It had been over for a while but I guessed I should’ve blogged about my night shift. It was a week ago to be exact.

Anyway as the hospital is open for 24 hours, someone gotta be out there to man the counter at night. I was the designated one last week – to work from 10pm to 730am.

The main reason we were required to work is to cater for those people being sent to the Accident and Emergency department. The amount of human traffic was very random, from one solitary person every hour to a sudden bunch of ten in a few minutes. As they say, accident happens anytime.

It was actually quite a boring shift. The medications dispensed were similar every time: either the asthma meds, the upper respiratory tract infection meds, the gastric meds, or the painkiller meds. 

And time passed real slow. Most of the time the waiting area was empty.

And I spent the time there munching tit-bits, drinking caffeinated drinks and watching dramas.

 

The only eventful thing was that there was a drunk guy on my third night of shift. He was complaining how the doctor sort of looked down on him. He rambled on and on for like 40 minutes. It required quite a lot of patience just to keep myself from shouting “wake up” to him.

Once in a while you get these kind of patients who think the doctors are useless coz they didn’t get better or didn’t treat them as they expect to be treated. They expects us to hear them out and  to ring and complain to the doctors. Yesterday a lady was complaining for half an hour that the doctors incompetency got her surgical wound to be infected. She had been bitter about it for 3 years. I actually was quite tempted to refer her to a psychiatrist to get rid of her victim mentality.  No quality of life at all if you are unhappy all the time.

Overall, working nights was not too bad. Just that it causes reactivation of dormant pimples and probably some weight gain due to overconsumption of junk food. But a novel experience. I didn’t realise I can cope with an all-nighter that well.

Lanterns.Cameras.Food for thought

The moment I stepped into the park, I can feel the first prangs of regret.

For even at the ungodly time of 11pm, The Malaysia-Chinese Friendship Park was filled to the brim with colourful lanterns and people.  

Imagine this, beautifully sculptured red Chinese gazebo next to green bamboo trees that were dotted with lanterns of myriad colours; people of all shapes sitting, strolling, laughing and chatting all around and soft smoke billowing in the background. All this bathed by the big round moon in all its shining glory.

The ultimate scenery for a good snap. And I didn’t bring my camera.

But obviously a lot of people didn’t forget theirs. Shutterbugs in droves paraded their toys, one bigger than the other. Snap snap snap, busy fingers trying to capture the moment in bytes and bits, to be stored and reminisced sometime in the future.

A bunch of sour-grapes I am not, but are we not better be living in the present rather than saving the present for the future? In our fascination of taking photos, are we not living the moment in real life but rather behind lens and apertures and lightings? How can one drink in the whole scene, with all five senses behind the bulky frame of a camera?

Sans a camera, I did my best to store the whole picturesque scene into my memory. I see the lantern swaying gently in the soft breeze, feel the cosy heat  from the candles, hear the carefree laughter of kids. It enriched my experience. I feel contented. Happy to have witnessed such amazing random arrangement of things and people that create this smorgasbord of senses.

But yet, I couldn’t channel and share it wholly with you. Even I wrote the whole scene in a thousand words, using the most beautiful words, picturing it will still be akin a puzzle in the process of being pieced together, broken and incomplete. Only a camera taken picture can ensure a grasp comes out from your mouth, a breathtaking ‘wow’, a murmur of praise for the beauty of the night, a yearning wish that you were here in the matter of seconds.  

Perhaps taking a photo then is really an ultimate case of selfless sharing, an action of forsaking the fulfilment of your five senses at that time for the enrichment of others not there. How noble is that!

Nevertheless, perhaps it is good sometimes to take in the world not from behind the camera lens. =)

This mooncake festival was also the first time in 6 years that I spent it with my family. We had a feast with lanterns as the backdrop.

The only dish that I cooked was the pork with salted fish. My and my housemates in Melbourne used to eat this a lot as it was LamTK’s signature dish.

Ahh.. brings out the memories. The good old days.. How I miss them!

Anyway, Happy Mid-Autumn festival.

Hari Raya

It is Hari Raya today, where our Muslim friends celebrate their equivalent of Chinese New Year.

Hari Raya is synonymous with visiting relatives and friends living in quaint wooden houses on stilts,

  

enjoying beautifully and lovingly made colourful layered cakes,

eating tasty, gravy laden meat with sticky rice cooked in bamboo accompanied by red sugary rose-tinted syrup,

and see people visiting rempit-style.

But of cause food is the most gravitating pull of Hari Raya.

Simply mouth-wateringly delicious!

Wishing everyone Selamat Hari Raya. Have a great one. May this new year  be one of increased mutual understanding and goodwill.

Saturday @ Starbucks

Its yet another Saturday and I was yet at another Starbucks sipping yet another kind of frappucino and writing yet another blog post.The rain was crashing down in droves outside and its was chillingly cold inside.

It had been quite a hectic but enjoyable week. I pretty much like life in Outpatient Pharmacy, with its fast-paced quick fire mood and motley mix of interesting customers. I found out that after having 5 months working experience under my sleeves, I am way more confident this time round and can easily converse and mix with the staffs and customers.

What appalled me was the lack of customer service shown by a few of the pharmacists. They are too robot-like and focusing too much on the medicines  rather than the patients themselves. No smile on the face. No look into the eyes. Perhaps this thing should be really taught well in Uni. I think there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a grateful patient and having them praise you for your attitude.

To pharmacists to be out there, please remember, people who are sick needs a bit of reassurance, they want someone to show they care. A little praise here and there to keep them going. There is no harm done asking how they are coping, whether they are getting better, whether they have any concern with their meds. A little smile and care goes a long way. That’s what I believe.

Oh yeah by the way, i just cut my hair ^^

 

This is going to be relaxing long weekend, if not for the diabetes research. At last I will have the chance to go visiting and eat rendang and ketumpat again for Hari Raya! Missing this very Malaysian tradition in Melbourne.

Cinema experience

The movie was at its climax. The protagonist had his fists out, ready to deal the killing blow.And like a helicopter which rotor had suddenly stopped in mid air, the screen chopped out in perfect rectangle pieces, fragmented like shreds of broken glass and went blank. Not even a lingering flicker remain,  The side-lights went on. Groan mingles with sarcastic laughter.

Camera lit up the cinema as people started to take photos to record this interesting episode. Handphones sounded. I bet a few were twittering. Some were heard telling friends about the experience. Heck when the worker came and explain the situation, someone even recorded the whole conversation with a camera phone.  Surreal. Welcome to the new technology advanced world. Did I mention the movie we were watching? It was none other than Gamer. 

A very unique experience at the new MBO cineplex in The Spring. And I’m reporting it now live haha.

Anyway the projector was dead and un-revive-able. We were upgraded to a first-class cineplex to finish the last 3 minutes of the movie. The seats there feels like massage chairs. But the seats at the normal cineplex was not bad too.Similar to Australia’s. Can pull the arm-rest up and rest my legs over the next few seats which were vacant.

Interesting experience. Anyway I wrote this whole piece in the free wifi zone.   

This whole thing about being able to blog live got me excited like a little kid. Another that got me excited was this:

K-Box is opening soon! ^^

Online-ing @ starbucks

Now that I have a cute and good-looking laptop, I can bring it out and flaunt it at the numerous uber-cool cafes around town.

Here I am now, at Starbucks The Spring, using the free wifi to online and the imbedded webcam to take photos.

My dark mocha frappucino with SeeHua’s sleek Apple Mac and four Japanese girls as background.

 

This is SeeHua, the German speaking to-be-engineer. He is the reason we are here today. He is currently downloading lots of free stuffs.

Me drinking my coffee. Didn’t take the whole photo coz don’t like my hairstyle for the day. It badly need a trim but I’m just too lazy to do it.

Anyway a little bit of update. Had been busy manning the Dangerous Drug Pharmacy for the past two weeks– with the time spent meticulously counting, packing and distributing drugs that are dangerous if being abused, for example midazolam and diazepam, which coincidently contributed to a dead Michael Jackson.

There were 11 new provisionally registered pharmacists reporting to the hospital in the last few days. At last I am not the ‘youngest’ one there and there will be someone to bully!  Come to think of it, I had worked for nearly five months now.

My next station will be the dreaded Outpatient pharmacy. It is projected to be a very busy time as it is near Hari Raya – everyone wants to be alive and well during the festive season. So I’m likely to have lots of exercise soon.

I guess that’s all for now. Time to focus back on my diabetes research. It had been dragging the ground for far too long.. and I am going to watch a movie at the new Spring Cinema in 2 hours!.

Sunday is baking day

Oh well, supposed to carry on with my diabetes research proposal today, but mum kept on insisting me cook something nice. So the whole morning went to doing these:

Shanghai Wo Tie.

Quite yummy besides the fact my brother made the dough a bit too thick, so the water didn’t penetrate in quite well.. that was not enough juice squirting into my mouth when i ate it.

Baked an Oreo cheese cake for my mum to bring to school and boast. Besides Oreo selling at the unbelievable price of RM2.19 in Ta Kiong, The Spring now. Usual retail price RM3.10. This time I baked it using a water-bath, so the colour looks nicer.

And here’s something I did for my own satisfaction coz dad been complaining no one was eating the apples.

An apple pie with cinnamon and lemon flavour.

 

Tasted just heavenly. Can’t believe it is this tasty. For the first time I liked the crust that I made.

For those who liked a bite, wish you were here. =P