History

This year, the pharmacy college that I am studying in celebrated its 125th anniversary. Even though it is now part of Monash University, Victoria College of Pharmacy had been on the map since 1881. It's the oldest pharmacy school in Australia and 3rd oldest in the world. Lucky me for having such an opportunity to be part of the history of one of the most distinguished pharmacy school in the world. Haha or is it that the pharmacy school is lucky to have me?

A mural on the ground of my college's foyer.

Pharmacy itself indeed had a long history. Once upon a time a Pharmacy is not known as a Pharmacy but an Apothecary. Neither do they sell panadol tablets or vitamin supplements, rather they have in their shops tortoise, stuffed alligator, ill-shaped fishes, bladders and musty seeds, as claimed by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. The roots of pharmacy actually travel farther than Shakespeare, back into prehistoric time where herbs is used to treat injuries.

An apothecaries hall in Ballarat, Melbourne.

Throughout the years, medicines and drugs had evolved into what we have now. Now pharmacies stock medicines in nice looking svelte little bottles, or tiny blister packages that are easy to bring along. Liquid medicines even have a nice colour and a wonderful smell. Here's some pictures of medicines once upon a time: Big hideous bottles and ugly packages. If they are still around today wonder who would buy them..

Some medicines not so long ago


A close up look

Back to topic.. when I signed up for Pharmacy, I never know that I'm enrolling into one of the most ancient field of study, or that the VCP is so old. Now I feel proud to be carrying on such a long, rich tradition. Pharmacy rocks!

Pharmacist Jokes

Is being a pharmacist a boring job? Well, it looks like it according to the 'huge' amount of pharmacy jokes found online. What's more, seems that all pharmacy joke centred on three main themes:

Theme 1: Condom and morning after pills: Definitely the most interesting things that can be dispensed by a pharmacist.

For example:
A man goes in for an interview for a job as a TV news broadcaster. The interview went quite well but the trouble was he kept winking and stammering.

The interviewer said, "Although you have a lot of the qualities we're looking for, the fact that you keep winking and stammering disqualifies you."

"Oh, that's no problem," said the man. "If I take a couple of aspirin I stop winking and stammering for an hour."

"Show me," said the interviewer.

So the man reached into his pocket. Embarrassingly he pulled out loads of condoms of every variety - ribbed, flavoured, colored and everything before he found the packet of aspirin. He took the aspirin and soon talked perfectly and stopped winking.

The interviewer said, "That's amazing, but I don't think we could employ someone who'd be womanizing all over the country."

"Excuse me!" exclaimed the man, "I'm a happily married man, not a womanizer!"

"Well how do you explain all the condoms, then?" asked the interviewer.

The man replied, "Have you ever gone into a pharmacy, stammering and winking, and asked for a packet of aspirin?

Another example:
Did you hear about the new "morning after" pill for men?
It changes their blood type.

The second theme is on stupid, idiotic customers. Some prefect examples:

A woman and her husband approach their pharmacist and begin to ask questions like if the pharmacy checks for medications past their expiration date and the reliability of a certain company that makes birth control pills. Finally the pharmacist asks the couple what's the matter. The wife explains, "In spite of using birth control pills I continue to get pregnant."

The pharmacist is astounded and asks the woman if she takes them every day.
The woman replies, "My husband takes them every day."
"What ?" the pharmacist croaks.
"Yep. After we read all those potential side-effects, my husband said ' Ah honey.. I don't what you taking that stuff.. it's too dangerous,.....let ME take them.' "

Customer gets a topical cream. Direction: apply locally two times a day.
Customer says to the pharmacist: "I can't apply locally, I'm going overseas."

A pharmacist is going over the directions on a prescription bottle with an elderly patient. "Be sure not to take this more often than every 4 hours," the pharmacist says. "Don't worry," replies the patient. "It takes me 4 hours to get the lid off".

Theme 3: of course it's about one of a pharmacist main job nowadays: deciphering kindergarten children's handwriting:

A doctor is to give a speech at the local AMA dinner. He jots down notes for his speech. Unfortunately, when he stands in front of his colleagues later that night, he finds that he can't read his notes. So he asks, "Is there a pharmacist in the house?"

Well, so much for pharmacist being a fun job.. anyway looking forward to dispense condoms to you guys later when I graduated... gurantee big discounts...

Doddles Smorgasbord

Uni life is in full swing now, with me entering week 5 of studies this week. I simply do not have enough time to find some interesting things to write about, so let me entertain you with some of my musings over the past week when I had been absent from blogsphere.

Eight things I learnt during the week:

1. Remembering names

I found it hard to remember people's name when I was introduce to them for the first time. This should not be a problem because I know the theory behind remembering names: (1) make an association; (2) sincerely get to know them. Hmm..Is it that I'm not paying enough attention? Or is it as I suspected all along, that I don't have any interest in really getting to know people?

2. Trying too hard

Is there something such as over-trying? Like you really wanted to learn something but ended up not learning anything because you try too hard wanting to learn something? Like me learning Hip-Hop... Food for thought..

3. Wonders of the human mind

Been to a public lecture on stem cells today and was deeply impressed with the level of knowledge and ingenuity of the presenters. Their minds are simply brilliant. Got me thinking.. been studying in uni for nearly 2 years.. that's nearly half of my undergrad degree, but why am I still not feeling that I'm knowledgable and know in depth about the field that I'm specialising in? Why I still have no answers to all the questions that's ringing in my head?

4. Wikipedia is a wizard

Been addicted to the medical drama House for the entire weekend, watching 8 episodes. It may be a cardinal sin for a pharmacist to enjoy a medical movie but..hey there's still no drama about pharmacist.. The terminologies of the diseases in House is sometimes so foreign that an encyclopedia is needed to define all of the terms. This is when I started to appreciate Wikipedia. Makes learning new things so easy.

5. Dan Brown is a genius

Spend the bulk of the week reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. This guy is definitely a genius in writing. I cannot put the novel down at all. The urge to start another chapter or turn another page is just so irresistable. Much much better than Rowling's Harry Potter series. Uh-huh if you don't know who is Dan Brown.. he wrote da Vinci Code.

6. A long weekend makes the rest of the week feel short

A three day weekend can do wonders. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday seems to fly off at the speed of light if I have Monday off. Usual 5-day week is such a drag.

7. Animals can fall in love too (and be heartbroken)

Never really believe that animals do have feelings until Freda relate the 'love' story of her German Shephard. Seems that he fell in love with a visiting "she-hound" and did not eat for 2 days afterwards due to lovesickness. Wow.. pity the lab mices.. wonder how do they feel being manipulated for medical purposes?

8. Being busy makes me feel that life is purposeful

Having things to do all week long and the feeling that you simply do not have enough time to do everything seems to make me happier. A week filled to the brim with assignments, lectures, meetings, social gatherings and such make me feel that there is a reason to life on, a purpose. Better than having nothing to do and regret wasting my time doing nothing later..

War

It seems that we are living in a fairly troubled world now. There's war in the Lebanon, and perhaps soon another in Iraq. War War War. It never ceased to amaze me how in such a civilised era there's still so called animals out there using medieval brute force to maim each other. And I still can't understand why those instigating the war can get off unscathed and it is those innocents that suffer. This may sound like stale whining but seriously there's absolutely no fairness in the world. And why does the soldiers felt so compelled to 'follow their leader?' Doesn't they realised that they are mere pawns being cleverly manipuated just to achieve their leader's ideology? It all boils down to faith. Blind faith for an idea or belief. A single person's belief. Thousands of life gone for a leader's belief. Come to think of it, that's immense, staggering power...

Perhaps the best way to stop war is for the leader to be on the battlefield himself. Then he can see how the soldiers who fight for his ideology agonise in pain when being shot. He will also experiece the feeling of hearing every rustling leaves as the advancing footsteps of enemy soldiers. Then he will think twice about war. If I remember correctly, soldiers are worst affected in war. And worst of all, the effects are only seen after a few years. These sentiments were captured by me in words 2 years ago right after watching a particular poignant movie called We Were Soldiers.

"War. A three letters word that signifies terror, sorrow and evil. Millions had died for it, in it and after it. No one will be the same again after undergoing a war. The experience for blood and gore, and of seeing comrades and adversities slaughtered mercilessly right in front of your eyes is too harrowing to forget. It will haunt you for the rest of your life, and one that has gone through war lost their lives forever, physically and mentally. Puppets of two dueling people were made to sacrifice their one and only priceless and unredeemable possession for the sake of pride, ambition and other abstract form of unjustified stake and claim for power. Insatiable thirst of a few results in something that can never be erased – a holocaust that can lead to a lost generation. Able young men, with newly born children, recently married wives were forced by their peers to battle for the sake of a country they are unfortunately born in. As a result, the number of widows doubled, children orphaned tripled; wealth dropped, country devastated. But what is not seen is the wound inside a person that will forever occupy him like a silent shadow to the grave."

There is clearly no winners in war. However it is also not in our power to stop it. The only way is for the instigators of war to come to their senses and realise the furtility of it all. Till then, all we can do is pray for the safety of all the innocent people unfortunately caught in the eye of the war.

Perhaps this is a fitting picture to summed up the post, since coincidentally today is the 15th day of the Lunar Ghost Month. Hope it doesn't scare the daylights out of you. The cemetery here is not scary anyway. Passed this particular one to uni every single day. It can even be described as serene. May those who deserve to rest in peace rest in peace.

Borders on Lygon

In an attempt to improve my marks in the oncoming final exams, I sought to find out the most condusive place to study in Melbourne. Hence from this week, there will be a review of all the nearby places that I visited to gauge it's suitability to act as a favoured place for me to revise my notes and drill the lecture materials into my ever leaking memory cells.

The place will be given a mark out of 50 acccording to the following criteria:
Ambience (25%): The general background environmentof the place, with an emphasis on general feel of the place, the noise level, the availability of music, temperature, artifacts/decor, furniture.
Chick factor (10%): The availability of eye candies to generate enough adrenaline to keep the body and mind going.
Concentration (10 %): Focuses on the availability of services or activity/item that can potentially cause distraction but can also be used to ward off boredom after two hours of study.
Cost Effectiveness (5%): The amount of price needed to pay to enjoy the facility.

The location given the honour to be my maiden review is Borders on Lygon.

Borders is a bookshop similar to MPH in Malaysia. Inside the bookshop there's Gloria Jean's Coffee which seems quite a condusive place to study.

Ambience
The place is relatively quiet, have nice soothing backgroud music and would be perfect if not of the constant irritating paging for the shop assistants over the speaker. Since it is in a bookshop, the feel of the place is great for study, but the ergonomics of the chair needs improving. It's too high relative to the table and cause me having a stiff back after 30 minutes. Hint: Sit near a wall so you can lean on it and reduce the discomfort.

Verdict: 19/25

Chick factor

For a bookshop, there were surprisingly few chicks in the place. Most of the customers are of the older generation. For the whole three hours I was there, less than 10 pass-able gals of the correct age group were spotted. Downright disappointing.

Verdict: 3/10

Concentration

For today, I spent a total of 3 and a half hour in the bookshop, with the bulk of them studying. This is quite good. There's no computers nearby to tempt me away and there are a wide array of books to read if I got tired of the materials at hand.
Verdict: 8/10

Cost Effectiveness
To 'pay' for my tenure of the table and chair, I forked out $3.95 for a Cappucino Chiller. It's a superb drink, and when calculated, it means I spent roughly 3 cents for every minute on the table. Very cheap. (Well, this does not take into account the $9.95 I paid for a book that just happened to catch my attention during one of my aimless meandering along the aisles. Put it down to occupational hazard).
Verdict: 4/5

Grand Total: 34/50

Not a bad score. Just missed out a distinction there. Will definitely go back there to study once in a while. In summary:
The main pull (+): Delicious and affordable coffee.
Major minus (-): A distinctive lack of girls to marvel at.

Phiawz Calendar Series 2007 (1)

I like colourful calendar that usually can be hung on the wall and flipped over month by month. However, those that are really beautiful ones are hard to find, or if found are expensive. Hence after much brainstorming, I came up with a personalised calendar filled with photographic masterpieces by me. Besides, they come with inspirational wordings too (by me also).. haha perhaps I can sell them someday.

Presenting the Phiawz Calendar 2007:

January

The ship set sail
For another brand new year
As long your pace is no snail
March along without fear!

February

Love is on the streets
Amongst the green green leaves
In the park lovers will meet
Sealing the day with a kiss.


March

Melbourne beckons
It's sad parting from home
But friends here are like shining beacons
You'll feel you never left home!

April

There's no bridge to far
No hurdles impossible to cross
The light shines from afar
Once followed will never get lost.

May

Hues of yellow dominate the eyes
As favorite Autumn arrives
Confetti fall from the sky
Celebrating my birthday in style.

June

Its time to pick grains from husks
Heads down buried in books
Joy is only a mere mask
As worry and stress paints evey look.

Well, look up for Part two.. that's all I can come up with in half an hour. Anyway to all: have a nice week ahead!

Ichi Rittoru no Namida

Translated into English, it means "One Litre of Tears". If you are worried, rest assured it's not me who shed one litre of tears (I admit a few drops but definitely NOT 1 litre). It's the name of a Japanese series that is very very very very very moving.

A shot from "One Litre of Tears."

Admittedly, life is short. We never know when we will die. But to suffer an illness that slowly cripple you, slowly making you a person being trapped in your own body, that did not kill you but slowly maim you... and what's worse than that you know about it and was powerless to do anything about it... and then you need to watch how your parents suffer, how your siblings suffer, how your friends suffer because of your illness.. (If you wanna know more go find the drama and watch it. I'm not gonna spoil it for you.).. simply heart-wrenching.

The drama itself was touching enough, but the story behind it was touching still. The series is based on a true story on a Japanese girl named Aya who suffered a similar disease. She chronicled her feelings in a diary which was then produced in a book that eventually sold 1.1 million copies. Tragically, Aya died at a young age of 25, after battling the sickness for 10 years. In the drama, photos of Aya is shown towards the end of every episodes.. photos of healthy, smiling Aya to photos of blank-looking, bedridden Aya.. never had a series of photo had such profound effect on me.

What's more, the very cute actress who played Aya in the drama, Sawajiri Erika herself is also no stranger to sad episodes in life. She lost her father when she is 15 and her younger brother 2 years later. I couldn't believe that someone who had lost two person so close to her life can still give such a sterling and scintillating performance in a drama. She gained my respect for being able to rise from such depth of sorrow to the pinnacle of life. In retropect, perhaps it is this personal experience that make the events in the drama so true, so believable, so moving...

I think the message the drama is sending through is that the present does not last forever. One day you may wake up singing, prancing happily along your way to school, chatting, jabbering away with your friends, squabbling with your siblings, and wham! the next day, you may be left a vegetable. I know it sounds pessimistic but sometimes we need thoughts like this one to remind us how precious the moment is, how lucky that we are healthy and how trivial our worries are compared to others. Then we will cherish life even more and live it to the fullest.

Life is full of uncertainty and what happened in life if beyond our control. But we can definitely control our approach towards life. It's a choice whether we want to stroll pass a day or make a mad dash pass it. It's a choice whether we choose to see the silver lining beyond the dark clouds or the grey shadows behind a bright sky. How we choose to live life is a choice. Remember. Be aware. It's a choice.. which means, it's in your hand, within your grasp...

P/s: At last the number of visits on my blog will reach the magical 1000. Whoever you are, if you are so lucky to be the 1000th visitor, leave a message for me yeah... ^_^

Snapshots of Melbourne

Melbourne is a city of a thousand quirks. There are just so many different, unique, interesting things to see here. Especially while walking on the street. Instead of the mundane benches, dustbins, streetlights and people, there are pieces of art, sculptures, flower boxes and street performers dotting the walkways. There lies so many undiscovered secrets that can only be stumbled upon if you are looking for it. If fact, Melbourne city is so full of magnitism and allure that you just can't be bored with it. After one and a half years here, I still find some refreshing but delightful sights.

I was strolling along the streets of Melbourne doing some retail therapy today when I discovered some new sights of Melbourne and rediscovered some old ones. First, there is this big chess set on the pavement along Swaston street. I swear it wasn't there two weeks ago. About two dozen curious onlookers are congregating around the chess board, observing two Chinese ah peks having a battle of wits. Some were even enjoying a few leisurely sips of hot coffee while observing the match! The only place in Kuching I've seen this kind of chess board before is in UNIMAS.



Second is this sort of trough just off the main street (Swaston Street). Never knew it was there till today. It looks so peaceful, so tranquil, so European, especially which an ancient looking church as the backdrop. Romantic.



Then of course there are the omnipresent horse-drawn carriages which are always a sight to behold, especially as they travel on the main street of the city together with cars and trams. And the driver of the carriage wear medieval clothings too.



In Melbourne, my favorite street is Flinders Lane. It is a sort of a backlane between two main streets, but tucked in this seemingly innocuous place are five star hotels, university buildings, a police station and the city library. My favourite fixture on this lane is the alley eateries (pic), or whatever you call the narrow space stuck between two high rise that are converted into quaint coffee houses and watering holes. I just love the feel of the place. Unexplainable.



While on Flinders Lane, this caught my eye:



Wondering what those eight bell shaped things that are hanging on the wall are?

Yeah, I'm sure you guessed it wrongly. These are public phones in Melbourne. Now wondering how to use the top ones which are at least 7-8 metres off ground? Levitation? Invinsible stairways or lifts? If you think so you read too many fairy tales there-lah... Melbourne people very advanced or canggih one... when it's so high up, we don't use it-lah. Crazy-meh? Find another phone-lah.

Actually it's a piece of art, smacked right in the middle of a deserted alley, straight up a wall. In fact, it came complete with a sound system (you can see some speakers in the first photo of the phones) that produce eerie, random ringing of telephones. The temperature of the alley seems to drop a degree or two when I venture nearer to the phones, and a gust of wind also conjure out of nowhere suddenly. Deserted, eerie, cold and windy... it is just like I'm right in the middle of a horror movie. Spine-chilling experience. For those in Melbourne, I encourage you to see it. It's in Flinders Lane between Swanston and Russell.

Melbourne is always advertised as a vibrant city, and I couldn't agree more with the description. It has a heartbeat of its own. As I said before, it has a magnetic pull and allure that make you can't stop loving it. Just like a heavenly prefect woman if I may use the word. You just want to go back for more.

P/s: This is not a paid advertorial about Melbourne but a heartfelt tribute to the city planners who make the city so alive. If you are interested in my retail therapy, just like to inform you that I spent around $60 indulging in things as diverse as bubble milk tea, cute dining plates, flowers and clothings. To treat what? my current bouts of mild depression. Things picked up considerably after this treatment.

A lack of self confidence

My self confidence is pretty low now. Dont know how it managed to reach such a low level. It's nearing the nadir... What happened?!?

Been pondering about it for the last two weeks and one of the hypothesis I came up with is that I had not tasted success for quite a while. People say success breeds confidence and I believe it is true. When you succeed in something, for example winning a competition or scoring excellent marks in exams, you feel confident and happy. You feel that nothing is difficult and all the people in the world are your friends. Seems that I haven't sampled the feeling for a long time. Suddenly I realised that everything I touched these two years more or less turned to dust. Everything practically failed or dipped below my expectations.

Perhaps after all the successes in secondary school, I set my sights too high. As a result, I did not achieve my target all the time, making me feeling rather a failure. For example, a lot of people commented that I whined too much about my results, which in their opinion are prefectly good whereas I felt that the results are totally rotten. How can 3HDs suffice when you set your mind on 5HDs? In retrospect I think the results are actually good, considering the fact that I was suffering from World Cup fever then. However, the initial damage is already done, and I felt being such a failure. And failure is just like a cancer eating into your healthy confidence cells one by one, mutilating them, chewing, gnawing, tearing them to pieces stealthily till one day much too late that you found out too late to you utter horror that you are suffering from this cancer. Suddenly, one day, you feel no confidence at all. No aura, no spring in your steps, no life, no spirit in you. Zero. Naught. Nothing. Zilch.

Been combing the internet looking for clues on how to rebuild my shattered confidence. I really need to pick up the pieces and start anew. The ship is aready sinking and if I don't patch up the hole in time, it will be in the bottom of the sea swimming with the fishes soon. Perhaps I need to trust myself more, and believe in my abilities. Perhaps I need to lower my sight and not look at mysef as 'the gifted one'. Perhaps I need to start believing that I am not perfect at all. I am seriously in need of that something, or someone out there to unlock the keys of my lost confidence, and I need to begin my search for it now.

But the way, if you are wondering how does a low confidence person feels, imagine yourself being cast under a spell:

"Adabra kadabra! You are now under Murphy's Law for the rest of your life: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong! Hahahahaha"

_ _ _ _ . . . . _ _ _ _

P/s: I wrote this post because I promised to post something up by today. However I apologized if I let you down in terms of expectations: instead of reading something interesting, you end up reading my inner turmoil and rantings. Well, in retrospect, perhaps I shouldn't apologize coz that's what a blog for rite? To let the world know how u feel?

The day Italy won the World Cup

It was lucky that I lived on an Italian Street. And lucky that Italy won the World Cup. And also lucky that I was there at the right time to see it all.

The date was 10.7.2006. Italy had juz beaten France to lift the world football crown. Lygon Street erupted in a frenzy. Italians thronged the streets, literally stopping traffic.

Cars are stopped;


Even the buses are not spared.

Eventually, the police even had to cordon off a stretch of the road for some spontaneous Italian street parade and street soccer. It started wif a few people dancing in the street, and by the minute, more and more people joined in; in the end, the crowd got so huge that the street had to be closed so that the party can go on. To be there and watch the crowd grow... simply amazing. We ended joining in the fun.

Initially, no one at street;


Then a few people;


Then more people;


In the end, a full fledged street party.

The shop propertiors aren't going to lose out too... right after the win, their premises are awashed with green, white and red.. the colours of the Azurri. And blue Italian jerseys are on parade too, as well as replica World Cup trophies and footballs.

Restaurants are decorated;


Coffee shops are not left out too;


Even CD store caught the fever.

Well, me? My friends and I took full advantage of the win too. We celebrated it with a scrumptious dinner at a fine Italian restaurant, which cost a bundle ($20 for a plate of pasta and other types of Italian staple such as risotto, antipasto, fettucini, tortinelli etc etc.. if cook myself need only spend $4). Usually wouldn't go there but we are feeling lucky as Italy won the World Cup when we coincidently lived on an Italian street. Besides, they give free drinks and garlic bread. And mind you the free drinks are not plain soft drinks, they include all sorts of wine, coffee and cocktail which usually cost around $10. Had a Merlot that cost $7 per glass - taste real smooth compared to the $5 bottle we usually buy at the grocery store.


Me enjoying my Rissotto con Mezza with Merlot.

For those people not here, you sure miss something special.

Acknowledgement: most of the photos are taken by Heng Liang, a Sydnesider who are lucky enough to be visiting Melbourne when Italy win the World Cup.

Writing something meaningful

A piece of this and that

Well, this post is partly written to fill the void left by a sudden creative writing block and partly to reassure my friends that I haven't lost my sanity - that I'm still the same old me.

Been drifting and floating along in nothinglessness and the illusionary world for the past week - engrossed in watching the World Cup, TVB cantonese drama and a few odd movies; as well as reading up a story book or two. I had been tranposing between dreams and reality for the last few days, trangressing the world that I would never live and love to live, and experiencing myriad of emotions and feelings. However lamentable the way I spent my hols may seems, I did learn something from it.

Things that I realised or re-realised over the last week:
1) time flies - this sounds familiar, but it's the reality. I have a feeling that as I grow older the time flies faster;
2) when we are out of something, we want to be in it; when we are in, we want to get out;
3) most footballers are cheats: they will try everything possible to gain an advantage for their team; whether it is to gain a penalty kick or get their opponents sent off;

4) good will prevail over evil in the movies but not neccessarily in real life.

Being happy

Just remembered that See Hua tagged me about things that make me happy everyday. After giving it some deep thoughts.. I felt that I will be happy everyday if I

1) have an engrossing novel to read;
2) wake up to the sound of birds chirping and bright sunlight;
3) have friends around me to converse with;
4) have time to be alone everyday to ponder about this and that;
5) can observe children playing and fooling around;
6) observe that the weather good enough to play sports;
7) have inspiration to write something;
8) receive unexpected e-mails or letters from friends;
9) able to smell the sweetness of flowers on the way to uni;
10) seeing that people besides me being happy.

Time Warp

Where was I last year this day:

Phillips Island

It seems just like yesterday. I can still remember what I had for dinner that day and the tour guide. He is bald. Time really flies. Better cherish every moment...

Iron Chef ala College Square Episode 1

I'm sure most of you had watched the Japanese series Iron Chef, where each week a challenger will challenge one of the four culinary masters in Japan and try to beat them to earn "...the people's ovation and fame forever." If you haven't, Wikipedia gave a good description here.

As the original Iron Chef stopped production in 1999, I seek to revive the series and after a few hours hard work, I'm proud to present Iron Chef ala College Square Episode 1!

Today in Iron Chef ala College Square, an esteemed challenger representing Italy came to challenge The Iron Chef Malaysian of College Square: Phiawiz Cutisan.

Iron Chef Malaysian Phawiz Cutisan starts folicking in the kitchen since he was five years old. He started working as a rice cooker before being promoted to egg frier and instant noddle stirrer two months later. He subsequently enjoys a rapid ascent to vegetable cook and meat cook and later head cook of his family. He now works as head chef of the Michelin 3 stars rated 2109 cafe in College square, where he also coach two protege to be the next iron chefs.

The Challenger today in Hasaih Oncerati, an impressive cook of high calibre, famed for his skill in cooking "very delicious food". His speciality is half-packet Bak Kut Teh and his unique chicken drumstick chopping technique. Due to his aversion towards fame, he declined to be shown in this post.

The theme today is Overnight Rice (hint: that is juz rite for cooking fried rice)

So after a few seconds pondering what to do with the theme ingredient, both the challenger and Iron Chef set to work, bearing in mind the one hour limit. Here are some pics of them in action:

The Iron Chef Malaysian engrossed in cooking a storm!


The ever secretive Hasaih showing off his cutting skills.

And after one hour of hard work we see what they manage to come up with:

The scrumptious Nasi Goreng kampung Malaysia ala Cina by the Iron Chef Malaysian. Filled full to the brim with authentic lap cheong, dried shrimps, spinach leaves, minced meat and capsicum, topped with a generous amount of fried anchovies, a mouthful is reputed enough to make you feel that you are already back home in Malaysia, enjoying the dish at a mamak stall there instead of eating the overpriced stuffs in Melbourne..

Nasi goreng lobak dan ham by the challenger. A surprisingly simple yet elegant fried rice that is unique and not found in any restaurant all over the world, the challenger is surely banking on the surprise element here to umm, surprise the esteemed Iron Chef.

And now its judging time. The judges today are: Celebrity Romance Fiction Writer Jooninho Shinchan, Food Industry Lovers Association (FILA) representative Lami Kongnisan and 'Watching 30 episodes Cantonese Series without stopping' World Record Holder Owl Loonitori.

So after sampling the food offered by both challengers and after much delibration here's the verdict... the winner of Overnight Rice winner is....

"DRUM ROLL"................................

Iron Chef Malaysian Phiawiz Cutisan! Congratulations to the Iron Chef!

No surprise there... despite the gallant efforts of the challenger, the Iron Chef reigned again! Watch out this space for further challenges. If you are interested to challenge the iron chef, pls put you details in the comments box down here. Hope you enjoy our maiden episode today. Thank you for your time!

Disclaimer: The only reason this post is up is to humour the audience. There is no malicious intent and the whole episode shown is fictionious and the actors are there just to create an air of authencity. Hope you enjoy the post!

Soccer fever

It's never cheap when you are so unfortunate to fall sick while overseas. At home, there's mum and dad to foot your medical bill, but overseas it's a different story.

Wondering why I haven't been blogging the last few days? Yeah I fell sick.

I went to the doc and after examining me for 10 measly minutes he came out with this diagnosis: Soccer fever: a rare seasonal malady that is highly contagious but not deadly. Usually happen in a four-year cycle and last for one month each time it strikes. Males are more prone to the disease compared to females, which the ratio being 10:1, hence the suspicion of it being a Y chromosome linked disease. If not treated, can lead to depression and lifelong regret for missing one in a lifetime moments.

With the prescription from the doc, I went to the pharmacist across the road for the medication. And here's what the pharmacist gave me which subsequently burnt a big hole in my pocket:

HOW TO TREAT SOCCER FEVER:
1) Switch on the television and watch the soccer match shown at least once a day until all the symptoms ceased. This may take a whole month.

2) Smith chips: $1.60 per packet x 20 packets. Take one packet per day in conjuction with treatment number 1. Poor adherance may cause bloodied finger-nails due to subcoucious nail-biting during bouts of attack.

3) Nike Total90 soccer boots $30. Take once to prevent any injuries caused by spontaneous urge to kick football in a water sodden slippery pitch. The urge is a side-effect of treatment 1.

4) Nike soccer ball $10. Keep it near you when watching a soccer match. It can be used to let out any steam caused by the impotencies of those actually kicking the ball on TV. Warning: excessive usage may cause broken furniture.

5) Disease identification tag $2.50. This is to prevent from being beaten up by people who are scared to contact the disease. All disease sufferers wear this tag to identify each other and those not interested to share the pain caused by the disease will be wise to stay away when they see this tag.

I had been diagnosed with this disease two weeks ago, so it means that I will only be well again in two more weeks. Hence don't expect to see me on the streets during the next fortnight (due to the sickness and the $70++ hole in my pocket) and yeah please wish me have a speedy recovery!

A tale of two studies

A thousand words picture. Enjoy.

Life's a Pharm

Was watching Grey's Anatomy when this crosses my mind: Why there aren't any serial or sitcoms that are based on the lives of Pharmacists? There are a plethora of Medical series: Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, House, ER and Chicago Hope but not even one Pharmacy series. That's bloody unfair! Being pharmacists are glamourous too and their daily occupation can be also a cocktail full of the daily suspense, life-death situation, decision dilemma and lovey-dovey relationships. Hell, if they make a pharmacist orientated drama, we wouldn't be facing a shortage of pharmacists now.

Making a series on Pharmacist's life is not so difficult at all.. even I could do it..Let me teach you how.

First, you need a handsome guy as the male lead.


Second, you need a pretty girl as the female lead.


Then you need to throw in a support cast full of weirdos.

The whole idea is at the end of the season, the gal fall for the guy and they open their own pharmacy and live happily together forever. The weirdos are there to spice things up.

Then you need the location and an interesting title:

The brand new pharmacy series: LIFE'S A PHARM

Now the scenarios:
Of course in any love story, there will be lotz of complications, like
A male patient fall for the female pharmacist.
"after I exit this hospital, I'm going to your place everyday for panadol.."


Or can have some doctor-pharmacist relationships
Supervisor: "Litigate! you must report him! the doc is too careless! He nearly killed the patient!" Pre-registant Pharmacist: "I can't..he is my boyfriend... "


Of course, some other gals have to fall for the good looking guy too.
"oh cutey..the sleeping pills you prescribed were simply exceptional... I kept dreaming about you last night..


Then there are those arrogant docs who think they are cleverer and always right (if you are always right then you don't need pharmacists to look out for your mistakes, docs..)
Doc: "Me making a mistake? you must be nuts... I had been practising for 15 years and been in med school for 7 years..."
Pharmacist: But you prescribed tamsulosin for that guy who is just 30 years old. it can lead to him being impotent you know..."
Doc: (oops realised his mistake) He's been sleeping with my wife and I wanna make him impotent cannot meh. Nevermind, I'm not angry with him liao. Give him prazosin instead! See I so nice guy!


Then there can be some funny situation:
"are you sure you wanna get some viagra for your husband?"


Junkie looking customer:"I wanna two packets of clarinase please... Ah-Coo!"
Over-zealous pharmacist: "I can't give you Clarinase, you know, you look err..."
Junkie looking customer: "I'm sick can't you see! Ah-Coo! I want Clarinase!"
Over-zealous pharmacist "But you might use them to make Speed. I can't give it too you.."
*Knock-out punch.*

Of course a pharmacists job isn't complete without some extraporaneous fomulation job.


Consider a scenario where 2 pharmacists (the leading actors lah, who else) are confined in a room making cream:
"oooh... see the cream... so smooth.. oooh... so white...so soft...come, let me apply some cream to your face..."


then they can have a battle trying to smear cream over each other in every concievable body parts and have a creamy romantic time..

Easy right? So can anyone out there make a drama about pharmacists real soon please...PLEASE..? I wanna be in a glamorous occupation with lotz of gals swooning over me when I graduate...

P/s: Tamsulosin in a alpha 1 adrenoreceptor antagonist that is used to treat benign prostate hyperplasia in older men. One side effect of tamsulosin is that it can lead to impotence. Clarinase, a nasal decongestant, contain pseudoephedrine, which can be easily transformed into amphetamine (Speed) in backyard lab. Speed is a street drug that can make you 'high'.