A Year In Training

It is almost 3 weeks into my semester break. I have been eating like nobody business and being a couch potato. Basically, I have not do anything useful since coming back except from finishing the leftover food on the dining table every evening. I actually have a lot of plans for my semester break. One, I want to update the blog more frequently and of course, do some editing on the previous entries. Secondly, I want to bake and cook more. I have like a zillions recipes waiting for me in my FB. I target at least 25 different recipes to try out. Next, I plan to contribute some oxygen by planting more trees around the house's compound.

A year being a Pharmacy student. The verdict is that time management must be very good. At the end of every semester, I always find myself juggling with assignments, lab reports, quizzes and revision for the final. During semester 1, we were taught basic knowledge, errr something like biology. The course taken was Microbiology, General Chemistry, Physiology on human body and communication skills. In second semester, I was suddenly being thrown with various drug names like allopurinol, penicillin, cyclosporine etc. And then, there are various clinical lab test, mechanism on organic chemistry and the list goes on.

Being an OCD myself, I actually having difficulty in organizing my lectures notes. The extra information given during the lectures, I have to write neatly, properly in a straight line in my lecture notes. Knowing myself very well, I started managing my lecture notes very early into the semester. However, in the middle of the semester when things got really hectic, I tend to finding excuses for myself. Even after the semester ends, I still bring back the lecture notes back home to finish it. I pride myself for being an organized person. So after I am done with each semester, I filed properly my lecture notes and keep them just in case I might need them in the future. Also, do not be surprise if I say that I still keep my high school workbook.

I have completed my Year 1 with much joy, happiness and blessing. Not forgetting also the stress, doubts and worries along the way. No retake nor supplementary paper which I am very grateful for. Hopefully, this continues until I graduate. Along the way, I acquired new life lessons, make new friends and most importantly, learn how to live independently. Despite being an introvert, I am making more friends with those who actually care. I always believe in quality and not quantity. That being said, here are the photos with a group of friends during semester 1 and semester 2.

Photo with my run buddies in October

After our marathon run on ABC Day in March

During February 19 to 21, I signed myself up to be part of the 9th Team Building Camp, organized by UCSIUPSA. It was at Kingfisher Campsite in Hulu Langat, Selangor which is about 45 minutes drive from the campus. I actually signed up alone without Ah Hwi. Frankly speaking, before the camp, I actually regretted for signing up because I am actually going alone without knowing anyone from my year. I was dreading and even thought about ways to withdraw myself. Then again, I decided to pull up my big girl panties and deal with it.

We arrived at the campsite at 12 noon, just in time for lunch. After lunch, we were assigned into respective groups. Like any other team building camps you have been before, the next 3 hours were spent on creating our group's name and slogan. Beauty 'N' the Beast is the name we have chosen. The ladies are the beast and the guys are the beauty. Thanks to the 2 talented beauties in the group for their amazing drawing and creativity.

Revamped the fairytale of Beauty and the Beast

Ladies: We are Beauty

Guys: We are the Beast

Together: We are Beauty and the Beast!

 

This is the "Be Swift Like A Snake" group

 

Monkey King group with their members

 

A group of ducklings from the Quack group

 

Ev3rest with their slogan, "You maybe tall, but we are taller".

 

Lion King's members with "Always Win" as slogan

They did indeed won

 

Right after tea time, we were ready to go for treasure hunting under the scorching afternoon sun.

 

At the "Guess the Movie" station. DZheng is doing a hair joining thing

The answer was Avatar. Applause for you if you guessed it right.

 

 

The sad face was for trying to figure out how am I suppose to do "In the Heart of the Sea"

Our lousy attempt in trying to get the coins in the bottle

 

Sin Yee was trying to find the perfect note for Mary Had A Little Lamb

 

It was a very difficult treasure to hunt and we ain't pirates. With a very bloated tummy after dinner, we went for another run of night running for "Who's the Killer" game.

 

Listened attentively to the instruction given by the game master

 

This is my "looking bored and do not know what is happening" face

 

In the attempt to balance 9 nails in one nails

A mission impossible for clueless people like me

 

At this station, we were required to join the missing pieces and built dominos with at least 2 turns

 

The ball must released from the top and knocked off all the dominos in order to succeed

 

Figuring out the given clues by counting the squares and circles

 

The killer was caught at the end of the day. After spending another hour to discuss our sketch for our cultural night, we were ready to tune in for the night. Breakfast was scheduled at 7 o'clock in the morning but everyone was still perfectly tucked under their comfortable blanket until almost 8 am. After breakfast, around 9 we did some team building activities which consist of human bridge and human knot.

 

Seniors in charge were doing demonstration for us

 

A perfect circle from the Lion King's members

 

Twist and turn those lazy muscles in the attempt to resolve the knot

 

After a hearty meal, we went for another round of running and more team building games.

 

Clearly, I am not ready for a photo

 

Here we were trying to build the highest paper tower for our delicate egg



 

Dinner was barbeque chicken with fried rice that night. It was a hearty meal after the strenuous exercise in the afternoon.

Mama Ben showing some of her modeling skills before the group performances

 

Another group photo after the performance

 

The memories singing and dancing around the campfire will forever be cherished

 

We walk to the left,

And we walk to the right,

And we walk, and we walk,

And we walk all night.

 

On the heels, on the toes,

And a half way round,

On the heels, on the toes,

And a new friend found.

 

Since it is still Chinese New Year, we were given Kongming lanterns

On it, we wrote our wishes and released it to the sky, hoping for a dream come true

 

8 members of the Beauty and the Beast

 

Seconds before releasing it to the air

 

It was our last night so we took the opportunity to have fun. Some preferred to test the water by gambling, others wanted to chit-chat and I was too tired for all that so I went to bed early that night. After some water activity in the morning, we packed and were ready to go back to civilization. 3 days and 2 night without access to the internet is the longest I can live.

 

 

A group photos for our closing ceremony

 

Though initially I regretted for signing myself up for this, towards the end of the camp, I am glad that to be part of it. Along with the fun and joy, I make new friends along the way. I am also very thankful and glad to be a part of the Beauty and the Beast team. My team members are sporting, fun and full loads of humors. The memories created will always be special. May the 10th team Building Camp be more fun, exciting and a little bit of adrenaline rush. I feel that it is a waste for not going jungle trekking. It would definitely be fun with a little bit of sight-seeing around.

 

This actually sum up my Year 1. With doubts and worries along the way, I can never be glad enough to be part of this. May the second year be better with more friends, better grades and less worries.

 

Thank you for being in this journey with me.

 

Sad French toast story

Today, I woke up excitedly to have French toast for breakfast. Frankly speaking, I would say I did passed on my French toast. Made my first French toast when I was 12 during camping. While studying here once and also in Krabi once for breakfast. It is a very simple recipe with just eggs, sugar, some water and of course bread.

Cracked 2 eggs, added a tsp of 'salt' and whipped them up. The first piece of French toast tasted salty. I was wondering if I added not enough sugar. Then looking down at the beaten eggs, they looked weird (as in slimy and watery) so I threw them away. Made another batch and this time I added a tbsp of 'sugar' and it turns up very salty. I was wondering why because it tasted as if I added light soy sauce in it. It was then that I realised that I have added salt instead of sugar. FML!

Told Popo this and she laughed at me. How can I not differentiate sugar and salt!!! Such a disappointment. My French toast was good after 4 eggs being wasted. 😒 And I have also finished a week worth of eggs. Job well done!

I guess there's no miracle. My laptop stlll cannot switch on.  Miracles do only happens in fairytales. 😭 I was actually more productive without laptop. Finished my revision for my upcoming quiz this weekend and also got to iron out all my clothes. 👍

Nothing much actually. Just want to pen my embarrassing story down so I can laugh later in the future. 😂😂😂

Night!

Strong, Independent Lady

I have always pride myself to think that I am a strong, independent and tough lady. But there are times that I feel so weak and helpless. Time like these. Last week, the toilet bowl in the house, by that I meant in KL seems to cannot flush properly. No matter how I tried pouring in a pail of water or constantly flush, nothing works. It was on Wednesday when the service man came for the aircon and his worker went and use the toilet. For a moment, I was in panicked as the toilet bowl has remained in that condition for about 5 days. To my surprise later, the toilet bowl is clear again. Kudos to him and his magical talent.

And today, my laptop of 4 years decided to shut itself down completely. I just do not know what to do. Should I send for repair? But then I still need to buy a new one as I need a laptop to work with while this one is on repair. What laptop should I get? I am really considering desktop as I don't carry around the laptop much. It seems destop are more tough and low maintance. This loptop had gone fot repair once and a change in battery one. The main reason why I am considering desktop is for the fact that my laptop is switch on most of the days. Like 15 hours dauly. And also for the past 4 years, my laptop is always in the room, specifically on the table. For presentations there would always be someone who is willingly to bring theirs.

I feel so helpless and frustrated. At this moment, I wished I have a boyfriend that can at least offer some advise or something. I would need to start doing my research on the laptop that I need to buy. It cannot be delay anymore as it seems like the laptop can just go haywire anytime. I cannot put my lab reports and assignments in jeopardise.

Always in comparison, I am always the fat and not pretty one. I guess I do think myself as that too. Not that I want to be pretty or such but how hard it is to find a boyfriend. I am not complaining and not that I want one now. I always feels that when the time is right and when I need the right one, it will comes. As for now, I don't have the time to be in a relationship which needs commitments. Not with lab reports, assigments and revisions, I have barely time for myself already.

I actually feel better putting all these in words. I can see myself waking up tomorrow morning, carrying my laptop to Low Yatt Plaza for service alone. But please let luck on my side. May the laptop be magically switch on and function normally again by tomorrow morning.

It has been so long that I have an entry up. There are lots of things that I would like to put in words but like usual, I do not have the time. Since I am already here today, I shall make a note to my future self to update the blog.

First, I want to write an entry on my sem break (Dec & Jan). And also put up some CNY pictures. CNY this year was a good one as I get to spent about a week with family during CNY. Usually at the 3rd or 4th day of CNY I would have to rush back to college.

Also on CNY, this year Mum does not buy cookies at all. Her 3 daughter baked them! I baked quite a few cookies. Well some turned out to be nice while some ended up in the dustbin. I would really like to share the recipe on the blog so next year, I got reference to make them again.

2nd, I just want to say that my mousy is already ready for university life. I feel very honoured that she actually asked for my advise on what course she should be taking. To me, she seems very serious about her future. I actually never see her that serious before. I cannot offer much advise as I somehow felt I cannot and do not want to make such an important decision for her. She would resent me one day if she regrets it. I can only offer my advise. But then I git frustrated when she said she's afraid that the course would be hard. Hello la! Nothing comes easy. Pharmacy is also hard in my opinion. And who am I to say Law course or Accounting courses are easier?

A jump from that. This semester is still somehow much tougher than the last. I ekt like I was suddenly being thrown with all the medicine names and medical terms all at one. In simple understanding, last sem was like teaching us on the ingredients to bake and this sem, they are expecting me to bake up a tiramissu.

Yes, I am having a difficult time coping but I trust myself that if I spend more time on revision, I can manage it. Problem is, I hate revision! 😭 Out of one hour I spend on revision, the 40 minutes is on me doing other things. 😒 One thing that I realised is that I start to take this profession seriously. I cannot dispense wrong medication to my patients as it may cost one's life. This is not just a pharmacist you see sitting behind a counter at a pharmacy selling you drugs. We are actually more focused and trained to be a clinical pharmacy in hospitals. So technically speaking, we will working alongside with doctors, nurses and other health medical personnel.

For the past 2 weeks, I am enjoying my home cooked food. Have been cooking fried chicken which is really delicious and also sunny side up. I would like to take the challenge to try on fried rice but I yet to find the guts to do so.

Finals is actually coming up in 4 weeks time and I am already looking forward for the holidays. Plan in taking up some gardening skills this time as well as cooking and baking. I long to see baby rabbits hopping around the house but so far I think I will left that for the later part.

I think I have just summarise everything that is going on in my life in just 13 paragraphs. That was fast and short. Let's just pray for miracle that my laptop will function normally by tomorrow morning.

I will edit this entry once I have the time. I wanted to put video on SKII campaign on leftover women. It is what happen in a society particularly Asians when unmarried women that reached a certain age to be considered leftover. I can say, I am always being said to be a leftover one day. Yes, I dreamed for a husband and lovely children but who can see the future? I do know that if by certain age I am still not married or found the right one, I am considering adopting. There is this one beautiful picture that a white lady adopt a black kid. To those felt offense with twh word black, I'm sorry. I don't remember who posted it and I cannot find the pictures again. Hope by the time I edit this entry, I found the photo.

When you know female population are much larger than male, do realised that there will be females that will be left out. This is after considering lesbians and gays. So it's either me or you. Unless you much rather shared your husband. Oh, what am I crapping? I should stop here. Tiem to pull the blanket up and sleep. Good night.

Thank for dropping by!
With love,
Karen

A boring update

Let's do this. While waiting for my hair to dry naturally for bed, I figured why not I spend some time here. Turned 21 last Thursday. I'm just thankful to have a loving and understanding family that is always supporting me from behind. Mum posted birthday cards for me and they reached a day earlier. I'm deeply touched by the simple gestures thou we do not celebrate birthday at home anymore. Not since Dad left us.

I hope I have been a great daughter and sisters to them

;)

So on the day, after class, me and a friend of mine, Ah Hwi actually went to Ikea Cheras for their grand opening. Queued for the door gifts and managed to grab a horse deco and a bag. Considered that as my birthday gifts. I haven't have a cake yet. It seems to slip my mind every time I walked pass Secret Recipe. That shall wait then. Ikea Cheras is so much bigger than the one in Bandar Utama.

Let me ask you, what can a student do in a home furnishing shop other than mentally start to plan their future dream house? I was there to accompany my friend so I basically just walk around aimlessly with people pushing their ways through the crowds to get their hands on the great deals. At the end of the day, I managed to bought a pan for RM 9.90 and 4 Ikea bags for Mum since they are going to BKK in Dec. I plan to cook creeps with the pan but the problem is I don't know when. Shall update the progress and recipe if I manage to do it.

On our way back, we were actually talking about online business. I admitted to Ah Hwi that I have an online business. So apart from my family and you guys here, she is the only friend that knows. She wanted to open her own online business so being in the industry (if you call it that) I offered my advice. I cannot say that I am good at it because I am also still learning but after a year, I guess some of my advice will help her in starting her very own business. Also, I gave her start-up agent that I previously used for my own shopping.

When I started my degree, I actually put the business on hold. I put full focus on my studies. Mum must be proud of me. Frankly speaking, sometimes in class when the lecturers talked about drugs as in drugs preparation, dispensing etc, I often wondered why am I still here when I am clearly very interested in entrepreneurship and business sort of thing.

We are now at the last week of lectures before the study break and then finals. Well, for the past 4 months, I have been thinking a lot. I may look like I am not interested now but who knows I will be one day. I am determined to graduate as a pharmacist. Mark my words! The subjects so far so good. I think I am good except microbiology. I encountered some difficulties in understanding and memorizing the bacterial names. That can be solved with some cutting on my Wattpad stories and more focusing on the lecture notes.

Like previous year and previous previous years, there's nothing different being 20 or 21. Nothing change. But like Mum always said, 21 means it's time for me to be more responsible (like I am not) and to act more lady like (like I am not). Quote from Mum, "Your age 21 ah, you know last time people 21 marry already". Yes yes, I am not rushing into relationship nor marriage but sometimes, it just a whim to be loved and to love. Maybe at 21 I shall find the one. Who knows right?

Okay. I am basically out of ideas and start to crap. It's time to SLEEP!

Signing out as Karen Stone.

 

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Good night!