Sunday, May 23, 2004
Hmm. let's see... didn't do much this weekend. i am so SCREWED for exams. it' s crappy, i know i don't have much time left, but everytime i sit down, it takes me so long to FOCUS! My reverend suggested praying to the BUddha in order to focus and collect my thoughts.. THat helps me initiate the studying, but after that i lose concentration again. Havne't meditated for so long.. .
believe or not, i actaully bought JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE tix.. holy shit. I blew like 130 bux on the tix. Lz and her fren are going with me.. i'm pretty excited but still feel guilty.
Went to the lib today to mug with hilda, pek sang and her bf. Concentrated a little better there and i'ts fun to mug with other ppl.. guess i enjoy it coz thye're one year ahead so i'm not stressed out watching them study but at the same time they motivate me to mug. may decided to hang out more in the lib, if i can convince my mom to elt me stay late. but then again, i guess i can study loads better at home then i could last year.. more conducive.. graon.. so much more anat. Anat can really drive me up the wall and make me turn on the water tap. yeah, until i realised how sillly it was to be wasting my tears over muscles. but wat to do... so stressed....
believe or not, i actaully bought JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE tix.. holy shit. I blew like 130 bux on the tix. Lz and her fren are going with me.. i'm pretty excited but still feel guilty.
Went to the lib today to mug with hilda, pek sang and her bf. Concentrated a little better there and i'ts fun to mug with other ppl.. guess i enjoy it coz thye're one year ahead so i'm not stressed out watching them study but at the same time they motivate me to mug. may decided to hang out more in the lib, if i can convince my mom to elt me stay late. but then again, i guess i can study loads better at home then i could last year.. more conducive.. graon.. so much more anat. Anat can really drive me up the wall and make me turn on the water tap. yeah, until i realised how sillly it was to be wasting my tears over muscles. but wat to do... so stressed....
Friday, May 21, 2004
ER ? more like scrubs
When ppl think about doctors, they usually conjure up images of cool people in surgical scrubs or white coats who have really interesting lives ( and love lives). Well, someone forgot remind them about the hours spent cooped up at home and in the library studying endless stacks of notes and the total lack of social life. ANd, no.. med students and doctors don't always look so cool and poised aka ER. Life is ... more like scrubs i suppose.
Clinical exam.
We were one jittery bunch of med students sitting in patient's lounge outside the wards, waiting to be called in to be shown our patient. It was like playing russian roulette.. get a tough patient ( eg. one with dementia ) and screw your exam. Faraz was talking crap ( wat's new) trying to keep our spirits up, but most of uz were juz fiddling with our stethescopes and trying to recall the places where we were supposed to place the bell. I had had very little patient contact this semester , in fact none, no thanks to my lousy tutor ( who was also my examiner) so i was doubly edgey.
After what seemed like forever, it was finally my turn. The patient looked quite bored already ( post 5 med studnets ) . I examined his peripheries and then told him > " now i'm gonna have a listen at your chest." I plugged in my stethescope and told him to breath in and out. Well, the paitent was taking big breathes but i couldn't hear a darn thing.. hmm. obstruction??? no .. Wait.. living dead/? nonono.. can't be. Ahhh. , stethescope was the wrong way in. URGH. my face burning wiht embarrasement,i sheepishly apologised and repeated the procedure.
I rushed thru the whole thing and scooted out of the room. As i made my way back to the group, one of the dudes looked at me and asked what had happened? I realised i had been gone only for a couple of minutes... that was a quickie .
Scrubs.
No not the show, i mean i had to wear scrubs. I was trying to look for the supervisor for the anaesthetics depart in the Royal melboure hospital, and so far, the receptionist have been sending me running lal over the hosp to look for the doctor.. WHen i finally got to the right place ( which was the place i first looked when i arrived) i received instructions to put on some surgical wear and then go to the op theatre to find the doc.. So i found myself in the changing room.. holding to wat i thot was a cap. I was aobut to pop it on my head when this lady ( who was watching me quizzically) told me that was supposed to go over my shoes. Oh.
The pants were way to big.. with a split that showed my undies to good advantage.. cough. lucky it could be covered by my top. I stumbled into the op theatre 11, and caught a glimpse of my supervisor before he disappeared into another theatre.. ah well. so i struck up an akward converstaion with a very nervous paitent who was waiting to be operated on. After waiting for half an hour, i figured i had to rush back for class, so a kind regristra ( whom i had been also conversing with ) tried to look for the doctor. and he had DISAPPEARED again!!! goodness. We tracke dhim down and finally he could talk to me and show me a quickie tour of the ops. We peekd into 2 surgeries.. a bit weird like there was music on and everyone was like walking in and out of the rooms.
THen after that, I quickly changed and raced all the way back for anat pract. But all in all it was pretty interesting. may consdier it for AMS..
When ppl think about doctors, they usually conjure up images of cool people in surgical scrubs or white coats who have really interesting lives ( and love lives). Well, someone forgot remind them about the hours spent cooped up at home and in the library studying endless stacks of notes and the total lack of social life. ANd, no.. med students and doctors don't always look so cool and poised aka ER. Life is ... more like scrubs i suppose.
Clinical exam.
We were one jittery bunch of med students sitting in patient's lounge outside the wards, waiting to be called in to be shown our patient. It was like playing russian roulette.. get a tough patient ( eg. one with dementia ) and screw your exam. Faraz was talking crap ( wat's new) trying to keep our spirits up, but most of uz were juz fiddling with our stethescopes and trying to recall the places where we were supposed to place the bell. I had had very little patient contact this semester , in fact none, no thanks to my lousy tutor ( who was also my examiner) so i was doubly edgey.
After what seemed like forever, it was finally my turn. The patient looked quite bored already ( post 5 med studnets ) . I examined his peripheries and then told him > " now i'm gonna have a listen at your chest." I plugged in my stethescope and told him to breath in and out. Well, the paitent was taking big breathes but i couldn't hear a darn thing.. hmm. obstruction??? no .. Wait.. living dead/? nonono.. can't be. Ahhh. , stethescope was the wrong way in. URGH. my face burning wiht embarrasement,i sheepishly apologised and repeated the procedure.
I rushed thru the whole thing and scooted out of the room. As i made my way back to the group, one of the dudes looked at me and asked what had happened? I realised i had been gone only for a couple of minutes... that was a quickie .
Scrubs.
No not the show, i mean i had to wear scrubs. I was trying to look for the supervisor for the anaesthetics depart in the Royal melboure hospital, and so far, the receptionist have been sending me running lal over the hosp to look for the doctor.. WHen i finally got to the right place ( which was the place i first looked when i arrived) i received instructions to put on some surgical wear and then go to the op theatre to find the doc.. So i found myself in the changing room.. holding to wat i thot was a cap. I was aobut to pop it on my head when this lady ( who was watching me quizzically) told me that was supposed to go over my shoes. Oh.
The pants were way to big.. with a split that showed my undies to good advantage.. cough. lucky it could be covered by my top. I stumbled into the op theatre 11, and caught a glimpse of my supervisor before he disappeared into another theatre.. ah well. so i struck up an akward converstaion with a very nervous paitent who was waiting to be operated on. After waiting for half an hour, i figured i had to rush back for class, so a kind regristra ( whom i had been also conversing with ) tried to look for the doctor. and he had DISAPPEARED again!!! goodness. We tracke dhim down and finally he could talk to me and show me a quickie tour of the ops. We peekd into 2 surgeries.. a bit weird like there was music on and everyone was like walking in and out of the rooms.
THen after that, I quickly changed and raced all the way back for anat pract. But all in all it was pretty interesting. may consdier it for AMS..
Sunday, May 16, 2004
I"ve a test tomolo.. and my exams are coming up.. ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
ANyway, today, i was previledged to have the opportunity to help out at this BBQ for disabled kids. LZ, me , J9, Matt and Julie were amongst the few melbourne uni students who showed up to help out. The bbq was organised by Jenna, a politics student at melbourne uni. SHe was awesome. I mean really. Her enthusiasm was so infectious, she had me excited during every meeting to plan the event. Every time we met, she would whip all of us up into a frenzy of planning! Even though there was a test hanging omimously over my head and i had started to regret my decision to help out, every meeting would fuel my determination to go through with my promise and boy am i glad that I did.
Her whole family was involved with the running of the event.
Interchange was a programme for disabled kids run by volunteers. It aimed to help look after the kids ofr one day of the week to give the families of the children a break. Jenna has been volunteering with them for 5 years and she extended the invivation to some studnets from the uni to help out. Lz was recruited through a leadership prog she was attending and me and j9 decided to tag along to help out.
I was really glad i went. I mean, even with the test bearing down on me, and my revision in a big big big mess.. i can't find a slightest tinge of regret in my heart after the bbq. Matt and Jul came to my house on sat to practise for our perfomrance we were going to put up for lunch time. It was sooo lovely to be amongst ppl who shared the same love for music. We had a great time foooling around, singing and playing our instruments. I realised how bad i was with the piano after been out of practise for one year sob..
matt and jul were both AWESOME with the piano.. gosh. so talented! mAtt had this extrordinary no. of scores in his head.. like he could juz listen to the song and play and sing it. :P wish wish wish i had half of his talent.
At the bbq, i was shuffled around awkardly at first, didn't know what to doTHe kids were all being entertained, and everyoine seemed occupied accept for us. We all started wondering if it was mistake to come. But soon.. things started picking up. MAtt, jul and I pulled off a lunch performance. HT ekids were a great audience, really encouraging :) Really enjoyed perfomring for them although I screwed up most of the songs.and SCREAM!! i got to actaully play an ELECTRIC guitar!!!! Ahh.. dream come true man.. haha.. We had a really delectable bbq. and then we organised a passing the parcel game of teh kids. It was sooo sweet , one of the kids managed to get a prize and she immediately gave both her chocs to matt.. ! We organised a limbo comp .. nearly broke my back tho' :) THe kids had lotsa fun. ONe of them was soooo determined to win the comp. She did really well in limbo and she got lotsa prizes for the rest of the comp too! I struck up a conversation with her after notciing her Eminem shirt.. Yay!!! EMINEM RULEZ!
Then we played musical broomsticks.. with Matt dressed as harry potter. holy cow. we were all in giggles after he walked out.. But yeah, the game was real cool. Even those in wheelchairs got involved in the limbo and the broomsticks ;) THere was also face paiting , but i never got to try that out We had to leave early coz we had to study for the test. As I lingered in the garden of the court house, I spotted T, the gal who won the limbo comp staring at her reflection in the mirror ( post face paiting). I got her to take a photo with me.... A memo to this beautiful day with this very very special people.
It was a really cool opportunity to get to interact with these kids..and i got to know matt and julie much better too.i thoroughly enjoyed myself and i'll treasure this memory for a really long time.
ANyway, today, i was previledged to have the opportunity to help out at this BBQ for disabled kids. LZ, me , J9, Matt and Julie were amongst the few melbourne uni students who showed up to help out. The bbq was organised by Jenna, a politics student at melbourne uni. SHe was awesome. I mean really. Her enthusiasm was so infectious, she had me excited during every meeting to plan the event. Every time we met, she would whip all of us up into a frenzy of planning! Even though there was a test hanging omimously over my head and i had started to regret my decision to help out, every meeting would fuel my determination to go through with my promise and boy am i glad that I did.
Her whole family was involved with the running of the event.
Interchange was a programme for disabled kids run by volunteers. It aimed to help look after the kids ofr one day of the week to give the families of the children a break. Jenna has been volunteering with them for 5 years and she extended the invivation to some studnets from the uni to help out. Lz was recruited through a leadership prog she was attending and me and j9 decided to tag along to help out.
I was really glad i went. I mean, even with the test bearing down on me, and my revision in a big big big mess.. i can't find a slightest tinge of regret in my heart after the bbq. Matt and Jul came to my house on sat to practise for our perfomrance we were going to put up for lunch time. It was sooo lovely to be amongst ppl who shared the same love for music. We had a great time foooling around, singing and playing our instruments. I realised how bad i was with the piano after been out of practise for one year sob..
matt and jul were both AWESOME with the piano.. gosh. so talented! mAtt had this extrordinary no. of scores in his head.. like he could juz listen to the song and play and sing it. :P wish wish wish i had half of his talent.
At the bbq, i was shuffled around awkardly at first, didn't know what to doTHe kids were all being entertained, and everyoine seemed occupied accept for us. We all started wondering if it was mistake to come. But soon.. things started picking up. MAtt, jul and I pulled off a lunch performance. HT ekids were a great audience, really encouraging :) Really enjoyed perfomring for them although I screwed up most of the songs.and SCREAM!! i got to actaully play an ELECTRIC guitar!!!! Ahh.. dream come true man.. haha.. We had a really delectable bbq. and then we organised a passing the parcel game of teh kids. It was sooo sweet , one of the kids managed to get a prize and she immediately gave both her chocs to matt.. ! We organised a limbo comp .. nearly broke my back tho' :) THe kids had lotsa fun. ONe of them was soooo determined to win the comp. She did really well in limbo and she got lotsa prizes for the rest of the comp too! I struck up a conversation with her after notciing her Eminem shirt.. Yay!!! EMINEM RULEZ!
Then we played musical broomsticks.. with Matt dressed as harry potter. holy cow. we were all in giggles after he walked out.. But yeah, the game was real cool. Even those in wheelchairs got involved in the limbo and the broomsticks ;) THere was also face paiting , but i never got to try that out We had to leave early coz we had to study for the test. As I lingered in the garden of the court house, I spotted T, the gal who won the limbo comp staring at her reflection in the mirror ( post face paiting). I got her to take a photo with me.... A memo to this beautiful day with this very very special people.
It was a really cool opportunity to get to interact with these kids..and i got to know matt and julie much better too.i thoroughly enjoyed myself and i'll treasure this memory for a really long time.
vesak day and a flight of stairs
Exams are coming!!! STRESS STRESS STRESS..
neway, vesak day was on SUnday. The temple organised this huge fair at federation square and i was helping out at the tea and meditation stalls. It was early on a saturday morning and i was perched at the edge of the stairs helping decorate a lovely bamboo structure at my stall. My dharma sister instructed me move quickly to the other end of the board so i could receive a string she was passing me from the other end. Seeing a table on my left, my first instinct was to take a step back to walk around it, but my foot never made contact with the ground. As I fell, my only thought was .. I'm gonna die. The steps were half a meter high each and it was a steep incline. I rolled down 2 or 3 steps before my reflexes kicked in and i managed to halt my rapid descent. Shaken, I clung to the side of the steps. Thank goodness the Bodhisattvas were watching over me, I escaped with a bad graze and bruises. I knew that i was incredbily lucky i didn't fracture, or worse, end up with a concussion.Now i knew what my reverend meant by focusing on the present. Urgh.. looks like i've tons of cultivation to do. One whole hour lecture on that topic and nothing went into my head.
another of my dharma sisters was at the bottom of the stairs and she raced up the stairs, jabbering frantically in taiwanese hokkien, which i had zilch understanding. I was too embarassed to listen anyway. I picked myself up and returned to the notice board. But soon, reverends were hurrying over to see what the commotion was about. I slipped away to the toilet to wash my wounds when i realised that my pants was ripped and the skin on my left knee had disappeared into a mess of blood and grime. I was dispatched to the ambulance to be doctored. THe paramedic was real nice. :P oh yeah, and there was a real cute guy paramedic who showed up later.. DANG.
The weather was awful,we kept having to keep our stuff and huddle together. And ohhh. my poor poor poor knee.
SUnday,
We had the grand offering and prayer session. The abbess actaully helped me with my costume!!! So honoured! I didn't even know she was the head abbess. Oh dear, i was so impatient waiting for her to attend to me too.. gotta have more patience next time. Despite my bad knee and the awful weather, i found the prayer session extremely uplifting, especially the prayer for peace.
" xing1, fo2, Zhong4 shen1, deng3 wu2 cha1 bie2,
ni2, wo3, ta1 ren2, yi2 qie 4 ping2 deng3"
SOme people mistake Buddhism as a religion of mysticism, and of blind worship. And i was one of those ignorant ppl, sad to admit for most of my life. Young teenagers abandon this worthy religion in droves simply because it is utterly deviod of meaning for them. I , myself, was at one time disillusioned with buddhism. It seemed to me that i kept asking for favours from teh bodhisattvas and the buddha, without gaining any insight about what was expected of me in this religion. After taking an interest to buddhism last year, I have discovered the true meaning behind many practices and best of all, i discovered the dharma.
I was reading a book about Heaven and hell which I found extremely useful. The Buddha is not an all powerful being who can give us what we ask for, anything we do is reflected back to us by the universal law of cause and effect. He is our teacher, one who discovered the dharma and endavoured to teach it to mankind. THe Buddha doesn't offer us promises of a paradise after death. He teaches us that there was no such thing as an eternal life in heaven or hell. Man is imperfect, and that is a fact. it would be dastardly unfair to bequeath man one chance to make or break his life before condemming him to an eternal lifetime in heaven or hell. Even if you do a misdeed and generate bad karma which may affect your next life or your present life.. you get another go to cultivate yourself.
A refugee from sri lanka stopped by to pay homage .He told me, that although he was a roman catholic, he had the utmost respect for Sakyamuni Buddha's teachings and that's why he came to offer his respect.
BUddhism is a teaching that transcends all sentient beings. The dharma permeates every part of our lives. THe Buddha taught us that the law of cause and effect is universal.. Good will come unto you if you do good. But even if you err and receive you comeupance in your next life, you still have a chacne of redemption. The ultimate goal is to attain enlightment through cultivation and that can come about by escaping the cycle of rebirth, it is a tough path, almost impossible, but we all have a buddha nature inside of us, though it is veiled by our selfish thoughts, and attachements. But the teachings of The Buddha will help uncover our buddha nature.
I just started reading a book by Master Xing Yun on Cause and effect. Will sumurise it once i've the time. Now with exams bearing down on me.. it's quite difficult to chou chu shi jian.. urgh.
Exams are coming!!! STRESS STRESS STRESS..
neway, vesak day was on SUnday. The temple organised this huge fair at federation square and i was helping out at the tea and meditation stalls. It was early on a saturday morning and i was perched at the edge of the stairs helping decorate a lovely bamboo structure at my stall. My dharma sister instructed me move quickly to the other end of the board so i could receive a string she was passing me from the other end. Seeing a table on my left, my first instinct was to take a step back to walk around it, but my foot never made contact with the ground. As I fell, my only thought was .. I'm gonna die. The steps were half a meter high each and it was a steep incline. I rolled down 2 or 3 steps before my reflexes kicked in and i managed to halt my rapid descent. Shaken, I clung to the side of the steps. Thank goodness the Bodhisattvas were watching over me, I escaped with a bad graze and bruises. I knew that i was incredbily lucky i didn't fracture, or worse, end up with a concussion.Now i knew what my reverend meant by focusing on the present. Urgh.. looks like i've tons of cultivation to do. One whole hour lecture on that topic and nothing went into my head.
another of my dharma sisters was at the bottom of the stairs and she raced up the stairs, jabbering frantically in taiwanese hokkien, which i had zilch understanding. I was too embarassed to listen anyway. I picked myself up and returned to the notice board. But soon, reverends were hurrying over to see what the commotion was about. I slipped away to the toilet to wash my wounds when i realised that my pants was ripped and the skin on my left knee had disappeared into a mess of blood and grime. I was dispatched to the ambulance to be doctored. THe paramedic was real nice. :P oh yeah, and there was a real cute guy paramedic who showed up later.. DANG.
The weather was awful,we kept having to keep our stuff and huddle together. And ohhh. my poor poor poor knee.
SUnday,
We had the grand offering and prayer session. The abbess actaully helped me with my costume!!! So honoured! I didn't even know she was the head abbess. Oh dear, i was so impatient waiting for her to attend to me too.. gotta have more patience next time. Despite my bad knee and the awful weather, i found the prayer session extremely uplifting, especially the prayer for peace.
" xing1, fo2, Zhong4 shen1, deng3 wu2 cha1 bie2,
ni2, wo3, ta1 ren2, yi2 qie 4 ping2 deng3"
SOme people mistake Buddhism as a religion of mysticism, and of blind worship. And i was one of those ignorant ppl, sad to admit for most of my life. Young teenagers abandon this worthy religion in droves simply because it is utterly deviod of meaning for them. I , myself, was at one time disillusioned with buddhism. It seemed to me that i kept asking for favours from teh bodhisattvas and the buddha, without gaining any insight about what was expected of me in this religion. After taking an interest to buddhism last year, I have discovered the true meaning behind many practices and best of all, i discovered the dharma.
I was reading a book about Heaven and hell which I found extremely useful. The Buddha is not an all powerful being who can give us what we ask for, anything we do is reflected back to us by the universal law of cause and effect. He is our teacher, one who discovered the dharma and endavoured to teach it to mankind. THe Buddha doesn't offer us promises of a paradise after death. He teaches us that there was no such thing as an eternal life in heaven or hell. Man is imperfect, and that is a fact. it would be dastardly unfair to bequeath man one chance to make or break his life before condemming him to an eternal lifetime in heaven or hell. Even if you do a misdeed and generate bad karma which may affect your next life or your present life.. you get another go to cultivate yourself.
A refugee from sri lanka stopped by to pay homage .He told me, that although he was a roman catholic, he had the utmost respect for Sakyamuni Buddha's teachings and that's why he came to offer his respect.
BUddhism is a teaching that transcends all sentient beings. The dharma permeates every part of our lives. THe Buddha taught us that the law of cause and effect is universal.. Good will come unto you if you do good. But even if you err and receive you comeupance in your next life, you still have a chacne of redemption. The ultimate goal is to attain enlightment through cultivation and that can come about by escaping the cycle of rebirth, it is a tough path, almost impossible, but we all have a buddha nature inside of us, though it is veiled by our selfish thoughts, and attachements. But the teachings of The Buddha will help uncover our buddha nature.
I just started reading a book by Master Xing Yun on Cause and effect. Will sumurise it once i've the time. Now with exams bearing down on me.. it's quite difficult to chou chu shi jian.. urgh.
