My 1st (and likely last) church service in England...

I landed on English soil on Friday night...on Stanted airport to be exact...Jeff came to pick me up...he drove for 2 hours plus from Coventry to pick me up...thank God he left late coz I was stuck in the immigration for almost 2 hrs...definitely nowhere near Changi's efficiency...we drove back another 2 hrs plus and by the time we arrived at University of Warwick, it's half past 2am...after bathing and settling down, it was about 4am...tired...

Woke up by 8am plus...Jie took me and Sylvia for a walk around the university...it was really nice...has it's own theatre/ cinema...the buses go through the university...huge areas of land...the day was very sunny and quite warm...so we had a picnic at the apartment courtyard...it was so fun to be sitting outside and soaking in the sun...we took a bus to Kenilworth to visit the Kenilworth castle...but only manage to see the outside...coz Sylvia was getting tired...dinner was at this chinese restaurant at Coventry town centre...it was one of Jeff's coursemate's birthday...we had steamboat and karaoke...who would have thought huh? Get to sing karaoke in England...haven't been karaoke-ing since May this year...how I missed having private concerts with Elaine...

This morning I went to church with 2 of the guys from last night...one was the birthday boy and the other was a Singaporean...they went to church at Westwood church...it was a quaint little church...and I mean the stereotypical church building complete with stained-glass and altar and pews...my 1st (and likely last) church service in England was great...felt quite at home during worship coz the songs weren't foreign to me...the speaker spoke about discipleship...was a good sermon...oh, while I was waiting for the guys to pick me up at the bus stop, I saw this cute Japanese-looking guy walking pass with his friend...he looked cuter than Takuya Kimura (I love him)...and then saw him at the church...dang! If only I were 10 years younger (coz Takuya lookalike is most likely 10 years younger), and was studying in University of Warwick...unfortunately that's not meant to be...sigh...God, You're always good to me...but I don't need teasers like that...I need the real deal, hehe...

Tomorrow planning to visit Stratford...the place of Shakespeare...maybe I'll meet my Mr Darcy there...hehe...

I'm off to see the Phantom, the Wicked Witch of the West and Fantine....

So i've crossed the line and entered the realm of impulsive traveller...this England trip was planned at a time when i was feeling too stressed out and i just booked the flight tickets without thinking if i would be able to take leave to go...but thank God that as i'm typing this post, i'm back home in KL and am just another 6 hours away from my flight to England....

I've also finally received my ipad 2 which i bought like 2 months ago...it's a long story and i shall not venture into it...but my new toy will be my source of entertainment as i suffer through 13 hours of airasia flight to England...

I'll be in Warwick over the weekend to visit my sister...then i'll be going to London for my musical marathon at West End....woohoo!!! I booked my tickets for the Phantom of the Opera and WIcked...which has created a rather huge hole in my bank account...hoping to get cheap tickets for Les Miserable when i get to London....then maybe that would leave me some money for yet another musical...hehe...

My sister said that a lot of shops are on sale now...i do plan to do some shopping while i'm there...retail therapy should be good for stress...hehe...i do hope i don't get a full-blown flu coz my nose is running like it is preparing for a marathon...being sick on your holiday is really a bummer...but that's not gonna stop me from enjoying my holiday...

A good weekend...new beginning in October...from free flaps to free from flaps...

So October is finally here...my release is finally here...tomorrow onwards i will be working in HKB for 3 months...although i'll still be back in hellhole for another 6 months after my 3 months freedom, but i'm gonna savour every moment of my 3 months of 'from free flaps' to 'free from flaps'....i supposed how i'm feeling right now can be akin to a prisoner about to be released...except that for the prisoner, his release is for good...

Anyway, i had a good weekend...was post call on Friday...it was a good call despite having to do 2hourly flap monitoring...went home after my call to bathe...then went to pick up my friend...asked her to join our church service on Friday...it was a welcoming service for the undergrad 1st years...was a bit late...there were quite a few 1st years with us yesterday...Dr Tee gave a welcoming talk which felt very much like a lecture...hehe...then Dr Chew showed a slide show of photos of church activities gathered from since i was an undergrad...

One slide had photos of one of our church camp with me in the pics...Dr Chew asked me to go to the front to share my experience...i was quite amazed to see how i looked like back then...i wondered out loud "was i ever that young?"...even Suet Lai said i looked like some secondary school kid...and as i was sharing, one of the 1st year kid actually asked me how old i am...dang!!! can't exactly lie in church can i? so now everyone at church knows i've hit my big 3-0...oh, and one of my burn patient was there...this guy who burned his heel while he was at a sauna in Golok...hehe...

Had a good lunch after service...Hsiao Ling baked some yummy-licious chocolate cake...i think she knows i love and need chocolate...so every week she bakes some pastry/cake with chocolate...or cheese...God bless her...then i went for my facial appointment...it has been ages since i last went for facial...about time to pamper my face...actually, more like it's about time to salvage my face...in the hopes that i won't look 70 by the time i finished my suffering in hellhole...ended up spending rm271 for my facial and buying some products...also got mildly electrocuted during the facial massage...that's definitely the first time i experience such facial massage...

Came back and tried to study a bit but failed miserably...then went for dinner with Sharon & Suet Lai...had Thai food...woke up at 1130am this morning...and have failed studying the whole day...ended up browsing online clothes...saw some dresses that really piqued my desire...and they're quite cheap also...but trying to restrain myself...hehe...well, tomorrow i get to wake up a bit later than usual...better try to read a few more pages before i fall asleep on my physiology book...hehe...

Little Superhero Girl...

Another week of intensive course...and another week of running to the wards and back to the lecture hall for classes...and tomorrow we have our own department presentation before the formal classes starts at 8am...skubalon!!! post call today...after suturing 3 faces from lunch till almost 8pm, thank God there were no more cases at night and i slept till the morning after finishing my presentation...

These 4 months (almost) have been a crazy roller coster ride...though there were more moments of spiralling down than a slow upward climb (not too sure which is actually the lesser of 2 evils)...but my life is pretty summed up by this Corrinne May's song called "Little Superhero Girl"...just wanna share the lyrics...you guys can find her song in Youtube quite easily...

Little Superhero Girl

I feel like a little girl
Trying to conquer the whole wide world
Everybody wants a piece of me
And I just don't know where to turn
I've got work piled up to my head
All I want to do is jump into bed
And wash away my troubles
with lemonade
Play hide and seek
with the boy next door
Take a trip to Singapore and
Imagine how I'll make the world
a better place

All I need is a good disguise
One where nobody can recognise
That I'm feeling so small
All I need is a secret weapon
I've gotta have faith
Zapping monsters into outer space
I'm gonna be a Superhero

Na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-
Yeah

If I were a little girl
Trying to clean up the whole wide world
I'd kick the bad boys back to school
Teach them fighting's just not cool
I'd give every kid a teddy bear
Turn starving people into millionaires
Break glass ceilings with dynamite
sprinkle a little sugar and spice
Turn the bullies that terrorize
Into pink poodles that bark,
but don't bite

All I need is a good disguise
One where nobody can recognise
That I'm feeling so small
All I need is a secret weapon
I've gotta have faith
Zapping monsters into outer space
I'm gonna be a Superhero

Na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-
Yeah

Little Superhero Girl
Little Superhero Girl
Save me
Little Superhero Girl
Little Superhero Girl
Save me from myself

I feel like a little girl
Trying to conquer the whole wide world

Intensive course....

Our 1st week of intensive course just ended today...with a 20-question MCQ paper...the last 2 weeks i've been just trying to play catch up...with what? i can't pinpoint it...maybe it's just my own shadow...but i really feel like i've just been dashing from point A to B and C and D and so on...and without me realizing, 2 weeks have passed by...and i haven't studied much...

I've probably failed my MCQ paper today...despite the fact that almost all the questions were pass year questions which we managed to get our hands on...and which we tried finding answers to the questions...still, nothing in life is guaranteed yea? guess we'll see how next week goes...there'll be practical and viva sessions by the end of the week...i hate vivas...i've always failed them...

In times of haste and rushing through days without being able to stop and smell the roses, i'm reminded of Corrinne May's song "Slow down"...i really wish i can slow down...can't wait for next month...i'll be in HKB...and i'll be going to UK for a week...ah, release is finally here...alright, i'm post call today and i'm playing keyboard at church tomorrow...need to get enough rest....

Of Snickers, Skubalon, and Fun in the Sun....

Last week was the beginning of flaps again...i was on call on Tuesday...and Wednesday was flap OT...and i left the hospital at about 230am on Thursday morning...after about 44 hours plus spent in the hospital...which is quite the usual...but i thank God that Thursday has come and that i was going on a girls weekend trip to across the border to Golok with Sharon and Suet Lai...but when i went out for dinner with them on Thursday evening, they told me that they decided not to venture across the border just yet in view of us not being familiar to the place...so we ended up deciding to go to Perhentian Kecil instead...was a bit disappointed coz i really was looking forward to a good thai massage after a long week...but a weekend island getaway sounded just as good...

We had dinner at Four Seasons...afterwards, we dropped by at 7-11 coz Sharon wanted to stock up on her painkillers...and i saw a bunch of Snickers bars on the counter and just had to get one...it has been ages since i munched on a Snickers bar...so i went home and packed...and enjoyed my Snickers bar at about 11pm...such unholy hour to be eating such energy-laddened food...which was why it was so gratifying...the small luxuries in life...hehehe....

Woke up late for church on Friday morning...good thing made it to church before they finished worship session...we were starting a series on Galatians and Dr Chew talked about Paul's background...and we all learned a new word in sermon...a Greek word: skubalon...which according to Dr Chew, sounds like abalone but is a far cry from it...coz skubalon actually means dung/ shit...so now i have a new word to use...and it won't even sound like a swear word...hahahaha....

After church i went home to collect my bag and the taxi with Sharon and Suet Lai in it, came to pick me up...as usual, i was sleeping all the way to Kuala Besut...hey, i only slept about 14 hours for the last 3 days...i have my extra baggy eyebags in my photos as prove...we had lunch at a restaurant opposite the jetty and took the 230pm speedboat to Perhentian Kecil...initially we thought of staying at Bubu Long Beach Resort again but in the end decided to try some other more budget place...

We ended up staying at this place called Panorama Chalets...got a family room with 2 double beds, AC but cold shower for RM150 per night...very basic, smells of cigarette smoke and has a leaking basin...but otherwise it was liveable...and they provided dinner for 2 persons...so we only had to fork out money for another person's dinner and drinks...so after we settled in our room, off we went to the beach to soak in the sun...i bought my bible along...thought it'd be a good time for reflection and all...after reading Psalm 22, totally dozed off (actually was already dozing off towards the end of Psalm 22)...used the bible to shade my face some more...tsk tsk tsk...

After about 2 hours on the beach, we decided to go for a walk along the beach...went to check out another resort at the end of the beach which has chalets along the slopes of the hill facing the ocean...and the rates were quite reasonable...i would love to be staying in one of those seaview chalets although my 2 others friends thought that any place that needed a hike up a hill isn't worth staying at...we went back to bathe and it started to rain...we wanted to wait for the rain to stop before we went for dinner but it didn't stop even by 830pm...so we decided to just shield ourselves from the rain with the towels and made our way to the restaurant for dinner...

We had our seafood dinner...Suet Lai with her King Fish, me with my barraccuda and Sharon with her squid...nothing to shout about...but the drinks were amazing...the 2 girls ordered chocolate banana milkshake which was just absolutely heavenly...and i ordered a Snickers milkshake which was great too...the ang moh waitress actually told us there was a bar called Black Tip Bar down the beach which has ladies night every Friday...and all the ladies (and men who wore dresses) get a free cocktail...would have loved to get my fix of cocktail if it weren't for the rain...so we went back to the room instead and chatted away...

Woke up about 9am...got ready and packed and went for breakfast...thought of trying out the massage at the guesthouse next door but they only opened at 11am and we were catching the 12pm boat back to Kuala Besut...so after checking out, we just lazed at the beach while waiting for our boat...came back to KB, wanted to find a place for a good massage...but couldn't find a place which would give us a massage....sigh...guess my massage will have to wait till later...

So i've enjoyed my weekend instead of studying...now it's time to get back to studying...dreading tomorrow and the rest of the week...coz it's flap..and then on call...and flap again...Lord, give me the strength to carry on...

Chicken Chop & Good Old Times....and El Camino de Santiago as my graduation gift...

I just came back from dinner with Kenneth and Daphne...had chicken chop for dinner...it's the famous one which we used to go to during our uni days...i just found out today that the owners have moved their shop...quite an upgrade from the shop they used to run their business...which i must say is a rare thing in KB...i guess business has been very good since i left KB 5 years ago...

As i ate my large portion of chicken chop, it brought back a lot of good memories...Alisa, Colleen, Chiew Ping and i used to go there for our dose of chicken chop/ fish and chips...or sometimes one of them would go out and ta pau back for dinner...and when i was with Kheng Wee, that used to be one of our regular dinner date spot...if we ever go out for dinner...Kheng Wee loved the chicken chop there...sometimes he would go on the bike all the way to town to ta pau chicken chop for both of us... ahhh, those were the good old times...

So much have stayed the same, yet so much have changed...but one thing's for sure...you can't go back to the past...so i have to seize the present....and look forward to the future...i've been listening to Corrinne May every so often as i can...and someone used her song "On My Way" as the song for her El Camino de Santiago journey in Youtube...i was curious about this El Camino de Santiago so i googled it...

What i found out totally inspired me...El Camino de Santiago is also known as The Way of St James...it's a pilgrimage where pilgrims make their journey from certain starting points to end at the Santiago de Compostella, the cathedral where it was believed that the remains of St James were buried...it's at a place called Santiago in Northern Spain...and the most popular starting point is from this place called St Jean Pied de Port, somewhere at the French side of the Pyrenees...from there, pilgrims travel by foot/ bicycle for 780km to their destination in Santiago...along the way, there are Alburgues or Refugios (hostels for pilgrims) where pilgrims can rest and exchange experience/ life stories with other pilgrims...when they've reached Santiago de Compostella, some pilgrims choose to continue their walk to Finisterre, which is by the beach...

And so, i have a dream...that is to go for El Camino de Santiago after i graduate from my master programme...it would be a graduation gift to myself...and i truly believe that it will be a purifying journey for me...not sure exactly what i expect to find...perhaps it will help renew my faith, help me to draw closer to God...whatever it is, it is definitely something that i will hold on to, to help me get through these next 4 years...Lord, may You bless Your daughter's desire...

Anyway, enough of dreaming and reverie for now...time to get back to studying...post call today...and i haven't been studying anything...one day wasted...oh dear...but i'm so not in the mood to study...Lord, help me to love anatomy....