yay osce's are over! it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be i guess. i'll pass. =) and its just 10% anyway. so now i already have 35% of my marks in the bag. another 65% to go!

1. Spirometry - was asked about how we would prep the patient, instructions and all. contraindications. we were then given a flow-volume curve and asked what the pathology is. anything to look out for that would invalidate the test.

2. history taking (cvs) - patient didnt have much for me to explore which was irritating. not sure if we needed to make a diagnosis cos i didnt. besides, it wasn't written on the sheet as far as i can remember. >< but i think i covered everything so that's fine.

3. respiratory exam - ran outta time at the end. just before i did the JVP. was auscultating the anterior chest when the bell went. but forgot to mention that i'll do the JVP but said i'll check the ankles for swelling or signs of peripheral cyanosis.

4. written exam (Infective Endocarditis - i think!) - one of the more stressful stations simply because i wasn't sure if i wrote enough.

5. ECG - guessed wrongly! said 2nd degree instead of 3rd degree. but i think apart from that, all's good. maybe a little shaky on the cardiac output qn - whether it would increase or decrease. oh well..

overall i think i did relatively well. yeah i'll definitely pass for sure. which really is enough for me. i'm not expecting too much this year. because it really is an insane year.

now for studying proper. cheonging again! =) wish me luck!

ok! the day is finally here. it's the OSCE today!

*freaks out!*

ok i guess its not THAT bad but i'm just being my usual flustered self before the exam. *recalls how i almost had a nervous breakdown before my driving test*

gonna head back to my books to get some last minute cramming of ECG and spirometry as well as some clinical signs into my head. and run through what i can ask for a history as well. dang! so much to do, so little time! noo....

jiayou! =) i'll cya in a while peeps..

my attempt at prawn paste chicken! =) it actually tasted quite decent!

didnt have prawn paste so i used fermented beancurd which people usually eat with porridge. added black pepper, salt and sugar and allowed it to marinate for about 1h.

would be better if i had eggwash and more than just cornflour. so at least the flour would stick better and it probably wouldnt appear THIS pale.

nonetheless, it was awesome! i know i had a flair for cooking. hahaha! just kidding.

and why waste the oil when i've got a banana sitting right there waiting to be eaten?

its halfway through concluding week! with osces on sat.

life feels quite horrible right now. need to get my head around all sorts of things. =(

i want to go home soon!

tried to make the sago pudding! and realised i dont have a sieve so that was quite interesting. hahaha!

anw the most exciting part would be trying to make REAL caramel (yummy!) without burning the place down. first try was quite funny cos it became concentrated yet not yet caramelised. so when i poured it out, it crystallised immediately in my container! i was like SHIT. now what.

so i decided i should attempt to caramelise it. so found this recipe which sounded nice. so i added water to the super huge block of sugar, melted it down again. this time it worked! there was this line in the instructions that freaked me out a little.

"6. Once sugar has reached the temperature, or proper colour, remove the pot from the heat and add the cup of water quickly and place the lid over the pot. CAUTION! Adding water to hot sugar results in a lot of sputtering and steaming. The steam and flying blobs of hot sugar can burn, so use your oven mitts and stay back once you add the water."

i was like what?! thankfully i figured that i should put my pot under the hot water dispenser and just press the button. and it worked! hahahaha! so yes thats the trick to making perfect caramel! add a little water at the end! =)

at first i didnt add enough water so when i poured the caramel onto my cold sago, it solidified! then i added more and thankfully it remained a liquid. =P wonders of science and experimenting.

my little tub of liquid gold.

ok my sago is green because i think colourless sago looks ugly with condensed milk. i've still some sense of presentation alright. imagine what it will look like! considering my bowl is white too! eww.. not appealing at all!

two tutorials to go and i'll be done with the work for this weekend! =)

can't wait to start revision proper and get all these irritating things outta the way! boo!

you know you have some obsessive compulsive disorder when you spend 15min of your life voluntarily sticking reinforcement rings.

and it makes you happy.

and it makes you feel in control.

what a sense of achievement!

let's just hope this thing actually sets!

have a feeling that one of them is actually leaking a little. =(

dont they look adorable though?

hahaha!

posters like this went up all over uni today. =)

but this one's in my room now.

HAHAHAH!

souvenier. so typically singaporean. aww.

just as you thought you've had enough of me cooking.. i've got more up my sleeve! hahahaha!

to be honest, this semester has been so much easy because i've cooked. just being able to eat proper asian fare is such a delight. i have no idea how i managed to survive last yr eating just jane food. whoops!


my chicken rendang! but of course i have to give credit to my wonderful partner in crime!

before you all call me a cheat, everyone does this anyway! hahahahah!

chicken congee! perfect during winter.. preferably eaten off the stove.. cos it cools down sooo quickly! darn! hahahaha! chicken + rice + water + 1+h + soy sauce = yummy chicken porridge!

TEACHING RESCHEDULED FROM THURS 21 MAY

19 May 2009 2:59 PM

As you are probably aware, UTas employees are taking industrial strike action this Thursday 21 May. This will result in a disruption to your normal teaching activities. All teaching events scheduled for that day are being, or have been, rescheduled. The rescheduled timetable should be available Wed 20 May. Please contact Linda if you have any queries

really sorry about the lack of updates! this week has been insane beyond insane especially on friday!

had the cardiothoracic ward visit, t5 presentation as well as pasar malam! which meant that thurs was spent preparing and wed was spent shopping for food. ended at 3.30 on tues which was alright but had dissection on monday which was tiring as usual.

the cardiothoracic round was really interesting as we met up with the patients and got to know them better. sat in with the nurse who drew blood, took swabs etc. was questioned about the various tests that they are doing such as FBE (full blood exam), coags (coagulation tests), (multi-resistant staph aureus)MRSA, Fibrinogen (clotting), BSL (blood sugar level), U&E (kidney function tests), CK (creatine kinase), Trop I (cardiac troponin I), MSU (mid stream urine) etc.

followed the patient to the surgeon's office too and got to see how they really work. =) and its really awesome how you actually see what you learn in OSCEs being applied! like how MR's can radiate to the axilla and how the apex beat can be displaced when there's Left Ventricular hypertrophy!

anw rushed back to clinical school to meet my groupmates for a rehearsal!

had lunch with elvin3 and christin@ after that at the polytechnic! sth like SHATEC.

we ordered this mocktail which was $5.50 and we were just commenting that we'll just share and the girl asked if we wanted it in 3 cups! =) how great is that! we had the indulgence!


so that means we all get a strawberry each! instead of just one per cup! hahaha!

thats me with mine.

we then had our mains. i had some ricotta cheese filled ravioli thing with hazelnuts on top. yummyy and it was rather filling.. i think.. not sure if its cos there was so much cheese in it or not!
you can vaguely make out 3 raviolis somewhere in there. elvin3 and chri5tina had the yellow thai curry with blue eye and 3 strands of udon! hahaha but it was nice. just not that filling though.

me ravioli and drink

chri5tina and her one strand of udon.

i ended up paying $10 while they paid more cos their mains were more expensive!

we ate at the cafe while they had the restaurant next door with steak for $15 but of course we wonder about the portions now. =P

anw presentations were a bore and being a kiasu singaporean, i rushed off to the hospital when i saw that they were having free flu vax! =) so yay i got my flu vax for free + one lollipop! haha! didnt miss anything since my group would have been the last to present. zzz.

rushed back to uni for pasar malam and started the prep. no pics for now cos they're all in chri5' camera! will be up soon.. when he gets around it.. hahaha..

A couple go for a meal at a Chinese restaurant and ordered the 'Chicken Surprise' .

The waiter brings the meal, served in a lidded cast iron pot.

Just as the wife is about to serve herself, the lid of the pot rises slightly and she briefly sees two beady little eyes looking around before the lid slams back down.
'Good grief, did you see that?' she asks her husband. He hadn't, so she asked him to look in the pot. He reaches for it and again the lid rises, and he sees two little eyes looking around before it slams down.

Rather perturbed, he calls the waiter over, explains what is happening, and demands an explanation.

'Please sir,' says the waiter, 'what you order?'
The husband replies, 'Chicken Surprise.'
'Ah ! So sorry, mistake.' says the waiter, 'I bring Peeking Duck!'

exam timetable's out!

t2-5 : 8 Jun
t 1 : 10 Jun
applied exam : 18 jun

yup! ehh mummy you can go book 19th i guess! =)

i love these people. =)

and i love how people dress up. its fun! you'll probably rarely find people dressing up apart from DnDs i guess.

Close Shave with the Smoke Alarm

tonight's international night so lunch was bad (or rather worse than normal) because they have to put all their effort into preparing for tonight! so i decided to make myself some lunch again. hahaha. i really do enjoy this. minus the cleanup.

the porridge was alright. no incidents with that.

the next thing i cooked was the sambal lady's fingers! you know how you need to heat up the pan before adding the sambal and then fry till its fragrant and add the vege? well i did just that and WHOA there was this huge mushroom of 'oh so yummy' smoke! freaked me out so i took it off the stove and stuck my pot out the window! haha! decided to add my cooked lady's fingers in and it was better cos it was slightly goo-ey and it didnt cause much smoke.

the salmon was initially in one big slab! to think i thought i could cook it thoroughly and actually fit it into my tiny pot! haha. so i had to cut it into half but still it didnt cook well. gave up and up them up into mini pieces which made my life so much easier. =)

things you never know until you start doing it yourself.

and now i'm happy and very very full. thankfully i didnt cook too many lady's fingers or else i have no idea how im gonna finish it. next time i shall cut the salmon into half. thats too much man!

Escapade with the Giant Cabbage

ended early today so we headed down to salamanca to grab some salmon and then to sandy bay to do some shopping (for food of course!)

saw coles selling a cabbage for $2 each! what a steal! but it was enormous! seriously. it's madness.

its bigger than my head!

christina trying to split that head of cabbage. not with a scapel. HAHAHA! head of cabbage. pun intended.

i have violent tendencies. maybe thats how i will kill my victims next time. be very very cautious!

splitting our salmon!

bought rice, fermented beancurd and pickles too! so thats my dinner for tonight! thank goodness dinner was bad today. peas, rice, pork meat balls. errr i think mine's better, thank you very much.

food for the brain! chicken broth with carrots, cabbage (yes from that cabbage) and onion! yummy... =)

i love cooking man. this is so fun!