Who bite me?

Wah lao eh, gonna bitten by don’t-know-what... so damned itchy. So many pimple-like spots on my left arm. Shit!

Decided to see the doctor at a polyclinic... (in case blood test is needed, etc, it’s easier since they have the facilities there right? Actually it's also because I'm cheapo, just don't feel like paying so much to see them just to get some sense of assurance - I self-prescribed and already bought myself a bottle of Calamine Lotion)… the whole process (pre-registration, registration, consultation (see the doctor), collect & pay for medicines, plus lots of waiting) took about 2.5 hours but the actual consultation with the doctor is less than five minutes.

The doctor only said six sentences:
Doc: Hi, Miss So-and-So, where is your discomfort?
Me: These spots are itchy. (and I showed her the spots at the same time).
Doc: When did you first discover them? (and she proceeded to take my blood pressure)
Me: Yesterday morning.
Doc: Did you go anywhere in particular?
Me: Nope.
Doc: Bitten by something. I’ll give you a medicine to consume and something to apply. (blood pressure taking finished).
Me: Orh.
Doc: Need MC?
Me: Yes.
Doc: Okay, you can go and collect your medicine and MC.

Still blurred with the bloody itchiness that kept me wide-awake last night, I left.
After which, I realized:
1) So what is it that has bitten me? At least the doctor should have given me some examples even though the actual source could still remain a mystery.
2) How long does it take to recover? Should have told me these so that in case the unbearable itch continue beyond the expected duration, I know that I’ve to go through the long-wait-to-see-doctor process again.
3) Why didn't the doctor give me a jab to reduce the itchiness? Must I ask for it or is it really unnecessary? But if you were in my shoes, you would have felt necessary too because each spot is somewhat equivalent to one mosquito bite (got that?).
4) So what is my blood pressure?

Somehow, I feel that polyclinic doctors are a bit bochap (cannot be bothered)… the only consolation is that it cost less than half of what the private family clinic doctors would have charged.

And see... they gave me calamine lotion too (so now I have 2 bottles)... plus one medicine which put me to "power-saving" mode (and so, just like what a pig does best... I eat and sleep for the past 2 days).

Last exam

Had an exam paper this morning… The questions are mostly regurgitation-type which means that if you have studied, you would definitely know how to vomit out all those necessary details and blah blah blah all the way. However, the questions are damned lengthy – and so even if you know how to answer, you may not have enough time to do so. I write until my hand is sore and still I couldn’t finish (2 hours have passed and I still feel the soreness). I wonder if the questions are set to test your writing speed and memory skills???

CURRENT MOODs

Happy: This is my last exam (met the course requirement) and I shall not subject myself to any more of such exams…
and
Sad: There goes my ‘A’ (I think so) though I still hope for one to make it straight ‘A’s… keeping my fingers crossed.

Always arrowed & what you can do...

I worked for one year after graduation and was always arrowed to do this and that (organize department events/activites, write meeting minutes, etc on top of my engineer portfolio). Luckily I've a few close and nice colleagues to fall back on. Organizing events/activities are fun but writing minutes aren't. Anyway, I learnt how to say 'NO' and push it tactfully away to someone else subsequently when my workload is heavier (hee hee ;p).

(hmm... at the risk of revealing who I am)
Show u guys smth: I still have the unprofessional artwork (just to tell the printing company of the dimension) for a door gift (a blue thermal mug) of one of the department events which I've helped to organize - the artwork showed someone who's shot with lots of arrows (it's printed eventually in silver colour)... ;p haha... and I got the approval from our department head to go ahead because I explained that it's in-line with our archery activity which we are organizing (or something of this sort)... I'll leave you to interpret (it's damned obvious right?)... (See, we had our fun!)

By the way, that's how I come into contact with Archery... but didn't have the time to learn it properly until now.

My new toy

Ghee... This is my new toy (bow and arrows) - not literally as a plaything but rather smth for me to explore in time to come. Couldn't wait to use it but I can't shoot this weekend cos I've an exam paper this coming Monday (sianz man)!

Suddenly I realized that I've a weapon at home - so burglars don't try my accuracy - you are too big a target for me at close range.

Hungry Casino

I am neutral to the building of a casino. Yesterday's annoucement doesn't come at a surprise - expected that the first time it's mentioned - fancy so many people still waste time for the petition - well, I almost joined in the on-line fun upon the jioing (persuasion) from one of my friend via email until I reached the conclusion of "why bother"!

Frankly, I don't enjoy gambling - maybe becoz I don't have the luck (tried on three separate occasions and lose about S$50 each - double confirm wasn't enough, need to trice-confirm - thereafter, I never touch the hungry jackpots, just act as a company or just KLKK to see see look look).

I don't play any more because I reckon I will only win little if I have the luck to win cos I don't play big (more importantly, I don't like to lose to the stupid machines). Now I even wonder if I will pay S$200 just to take a look at the interior of the 2 casinos (so that I won't be labelled a mountain tortoise)... Maybe the casino at Marina Bay should adopt the theme of blood-sucking vampires and hungry ghosts (analogous to money-sucking)...

I just hope that the two integrated resorts (minus the casino) will not be subsequently classified as boring places of interests.

Archery

I hesistated but subsequently decided to get a wooden recurve bow ("wait till I strike 4D before I get a metallic one" - kekek, this is usually what my grandma, mum, aunts, etc. usually say - and when I repeat like them, they would ridicule with "you got buy meh?" - "Yes I did, but rarely"... ;p), a dozen of arrows (black shaft with blue nock and 2 blue and 1 bright orange vanes), and other small accessories... all for S$300...

I increase the poundage of my bow from the usual 18/20 during our lessons to 24 cos I've ordered the latter... practice the form first with target board only about 8-10m away (cheh! beginner mah... wat u expect!?). The best I achieved was having 5 arrows in a 50-cent grouping... well, one went out by 8cm... and when we moved the target board out to 12-14m. Oops, no only the grouping was gone... I've gotten a bruise as souvenir again ;p

xiong tian ping (熊天平) - Before and After

This isn't news... but it's sooooo unbelievable for this contrasting difference... Wonder what happens? Haiz!

Sickening e-filing of tax return

Urrggghhhh... yesterday night I personally experienced the frustration of e-filing. Now I could fully understand why so many people complained about it. Imagine going through the filing for 30mins w/o any success (kept going to the error page). The best part is I do not have any income to declare (just because I receive the pin, got to e-file lah) and the simplest possible option 1 with nothing to fill in could also lead to errors (what kind of system is this???). I am too irritated to continue any further. Picked up the phone and filed with ease within 2 minutes (should have known better).

Spoil Market

Spoiling market is something which I enjoy doing when I can afford the time... not through the external outlook (e.g. binding) but through the internal quality (e.g. contents).

The only thing which I don't understand is:
Why blame us (the spoil-marketeers) instead of blaming yourself (the slackers) for not putting in the effort?

Definition of SPOIL MARKET (found in The Coxford Singlish Dictionary available in www.talkingcock.com): A term used to describe someone who does his work so well, he makes his colleagues look bad.

Real dead people as crash test dummies

Extracted from Today (13th April 2005):
Crash test dummies are now real dead people
"An Austrian ethics commission has ruled it acceptable to use human bodies as crash test dummies, provided the families of the dead approve."

This reminded me of an incident which occur in a lab I do my research in during my undergraduate days:

Three human skulls were being used to conduct some destructive tests to study of the strength of cheek bones (perhaps to facilitate its reconstruction at a later date). These skulls, each wrapped with green surgical cloth, were brought into the lab in a paper box. According to one of the researchers, the skulls are retrieved from those who are involved in accidents, died in the hospital, but are not claimed by anyone after a period of time.

While certain experimental tests on various parts of the dead bodies would benefit mankind in general, would the dead himself/herself agree to such tests? Would you agree? Would your family members agree on your behalf?

After that day, I was the only one who would dare to stay into the other adjoining room late into the night to conduct my experiments… the rest are… ;p

Hybrid Motorcycle-Wheel Barrow

A new type of fixture for the motorcycle?


close-up...
sorry for the poor quality as there is simply no time to clear away the raindrops from the side windscreen (haha... poor coordination between driver and photographer ;p)

These photos are taken by Nathaniel on our last driving trip to East Malaysia...

Soooo busy lately (until I've no time to write)... been having less than 5hrs sleep for the past 5 days. Last Thurs I didn't sleep until close to Friday midnight.

The photo has been cropped and modified from:
http://www.mitacs.com/images2/druckvorlagen-wwfcard-panda.jpg

Lousy lecturer...

1. He speaks in a monotone throughout the lecture.

2. Unclear and poorly organized lecture material – he does not even have a proper set of presentation slides. On a few occasions, he just opened up a pdf or word document and just delivered his lecture straight from a journal paper or notes – the best part is he will scroll here and there to look for the sections/figures (it’s damned obvious that he’s unprepared) and he did it so frequently that sometimes he lost himself and us in the process (it’s so hard to follow what he says).

3. Instead of spending more time to explain, he ended every lecture at least an hour before the scheduled time (so a 3-hour lecture is shortened to 2-hour, and if you minus the 15-20 minutes break, there's only 1.75-hour left) - when you are there to learn, you won't appreciate this. [Even my research supervisor shook his head upon hearing this].

4. Today, I am extremely pissed off as the class only lasted a wholesome 20 minutes. He should have summarized and said what he would like to say during the previous lecture and cancel today’s class. Imagine those part-time students who would have to travel all the way here.

Extremely frustrated...

This transition is that of my boyfriend, xian... You can be 99.99% sure that ten years down the road, he will still be having the same hairstyle as now.