ok, just to clear up any misunderstandings that ppl had when they saw me dressing up tody!
I am NOT DRESSING UP for anybody particularly. Though the words on the shirt Screams " I've got U On my Mind". it means everyone in general! I am dressing up to reward myself for everything that I have gone through for the past week as well as to brighten up day!!!

nothing to blog much about as life settles down to the boring routine of studying, giving tuition, going out with friends. Destiny has been pretty kind to me these days, without much upheavals nor internal struggles which i experience quite often last yr. I feel an inexplicable bliss and calmness (Maybe it's delusional, I myself ain't very sure) Every morning, I wake up feeling extremely glad that I'm still alive and kicking, being able to do what I like and perhaps bring some joy to the ppl around me.

just a quick blog entry as i have to sleep soon, or maybe watch the swimming race btw ian thorpe and phleps if i am still awake by then... ok, nothing much has happened last week, except lectures, tutorials and histo pracs... I have to rush for tuition right after my lectures, and probably bcos of exhaustion accumulated over the months and triggered by the rushing up and down this week, i fell ill on sat and sun, sleeping my whole sunday away... I have since recovered from my illness, but my head still feels like being smacked by a bat from behind, which is probably why I took such a long time thinking through concepts and answering some questions... Hopefully, my fried brain will repair itself soon (cell-stress response... haha just joking) , or i'll have serious trouble catching up with my work...

I watched catwoman on sat, despite running a fever and having a terrible running nose... The movie was such a disappointment, nothing like spiderman... Cliched plots (kind of expected), cliched dialogue, etc... No wonder it was given such a bad review... My friends were truly bored and i'm no exception either... I had to force myself through the show so as to make my 8.50 worth!


Mdc welcome tea just ended ... Only a few juniors came in spite of the effort put in by the seniors printing flyers, making lollipops... I am rather disappointed with the attendance but we have prepared for the worst knowing that the predominant m1 population comprises of mainly christians... Yet, the welcome tea was a success, considering how smoothly the games went as planned. Charades was really phenomenal: Our seniors were so brilliant that we think that we have insulted their intelligence by setting such easy questions... In the middle of the game, we decided to come up with more interesting movie titles, song titles and proverbs... which stumbled them initially... nonetheless, they managed to guess these titles... eg wuthering heights, crime and punishment, all roads lead to rome, toxic, inseparable... wow!

I enjoy myself thoroughly tonight! and hopefully, more juniors would come to know about the benefits of dc ... A big round of applause to everyone who has contributed to welcome tea one way or another!

Nothing to blog about my dull and meaningless life... I spent my sat and sun slouching at a corner in my room watching vcds of xi yuan1 lu (Witness to prosecution 2) ., the current drama serial shown on channel u every weekend. Even dinner couldn't bulge me off my seat... Hours and hours just passed and I had no measure of time... The computer was burning hot, my eyes were bloodshot but I refused to give my computer and myself a rest... finally, after 20 hours of drama-serial marathon, I finished watching!!! Hurray!! *clap*

I never knoe tvb dramas can be that addictive... I had to alternate bet chinese and cantonese... though i prefer to listen to their dialogue in cantonese, there were parts thatI have no choice but to switch to chinese so as to comprehend better... (esp scenes that involve examining dead bodies)

Some medical knowledge that was acquired:
1) Yi Lang Yi Lang, Yi Du San (some viagra-like chinese medicine) and jasmine , each harmless on their own, can combine to become something lethally poisonous to guys only... (requires verification)

2) Blood coagulates after a person's death and sites where coagulated blood settles can determine the position of a person( sitting erect/ lying down on his back/etc)


tvb never fails to impress me with their intricately-woven plot (some sub plots can be ludicrous though) and witty dialogue... everything seems to fall in place unlike hk movies, which always ended up being an insult to one's intelligence... And hk movies are always recycling previous successes... Note the similarity btw Infernal Affairs and Jiang Hu and House of flying daggers...
Except for Infernal Affairs, there had been no good chinese films these few years that were worth watching...

Charmaine Sheah is so cute and pretty... Her acting has definitely improved since she entered tvb... I read about reports of her putting on airs after gaining some fame... I seriously hope this is just some fabrication put forth by the media to blemish the image of an up and coming star... Charmaine is an angel...=)


ok, better not crap anymore... I hope life will be as carefree as the holidays even when the school workload starts pouring in...

My thoughts...

Overall these 4 months have been a really fruitful holiday... The highlight of my holiday was of course my trip to Australia which I have been planning and wanting to go for quite some time. As I have stated on my previous blog entries, this trip has cleared misconceptions I had previously about overseas life and made me much more appreciative of what Singapore has given me. Life in Singapore isn't as bad as what I used to make up ... At least we have much more nightlife ! At least shopping centres dun close at 5pm sharp ... And most importantly I feel much safer walking along the streets of Singapore at night , knowing that the chances of getting mugged is extremely low... I can spend freely on food without feeling the pinch...

Ha but Singapore still lacks the nature aspect of what other countries provide . I still love the scenic views of countryside, rugged Blue mountains, great ocean road which are such sights to behold, experiences that I would never trade with anything... Those images are so deeply etched in the hollows and recesses of my mind that I still recollect them with fondness. I enjoy esp the few hours I spent at Bondi beach, with the waves lapping at my feet, feelingthe salty wind caressing my face, enjoying the soft sunshine falling on my naked torso, allowing the gentle waves to lap at my feet, all of which East Coast beach can never match up ...Okay, I may be overromanticising the Bondi beach but it's really that great!

Besides my trip, I am also happy to have read a lot over the past one month... Da Vinci Code, The opposite of fate by Amy Tan, A case of need + prey by Michael Crichton, The Decarmon by Boccacio, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Northern Lights, Guards!Guards!, etc, all of which have given me much joy and sorrow... Now that the holidays are coming to an end,
i am not going to read for a very long time... Sigh, i am going to miss the intricate and convoluted plots and medical books are such a poor substitute... I can imagine myself ploughing through those thick stack of notes, trying to make sense of medical jargon...


I am very happy with the new ca schedule, though i have heard of many complaints from med fac friends, telling me how heavy the study load would be when the 5 cas comes at the same time... Hey, but what are we complaining about when the number of cas has definitely been reduced? Besides we have more free time to do other stuff besides muging right... So isn't it more beneficial to our social life ? To me, this ca schedule comes at such a perfect timing and I couldn but be more delighted!

ok it's getting late and I have to wake up very early in the morning for flag day...

Fear & how to overcome fear... Salient points from Ajahn Brahm's Talk

p/s: Skip this if u r not interested... May contain some buddhist teachings...


Because of fear, We tend to exaggerate the situation and not see things as they are... Here are some examples that Ajahn Brahm used to illustrate how powerful fear can be...

Story one: While meditating in a jungle, a monk heard a sound... It was a soft noise, but because of fear, his thoughts started to run wild and the noise was amplified tremendously in his mind. He was convinced that the noise he heard was the stomping of an elephant. At last, he couldn't resist opening his eyes to catch a glimpse of the animal/object producing this disturbing noise. Imagine his surprise when he realised that the object that was making the supposed stomping sound was a rat...

Story two: A man who was trapped in a frozen cubicle thought that his end was nearing since the temperature in the frozen cubicle was normally subzero. He wrote a detailed account of his last moments, which was found along with his dead body next morning by his colleagues. It was later discovered that the thermostat was in fact switched off last night and the temperature had been normal room temperature ... The man was found tobe frozen to death by forensic pathologists.


How powerful and destructive fear can be... Many times, we allow fear to conquer our minds, incapitate and overwhelm us, wreck havoc in our personal lives instead of reining in fear and taking control over it.

Fear also cramps our minds up, prevents us from making rational decisions which in turn, making our worst fears come true. Eg, Just before an exam, most students , including me would try to sleep early, thinking that it's essential to have a good night rest to have a clear mind to think. But often, because of our own fears of not getting enough sleep deprives us of a good night sleep. As a result, the bad effects of not getting sufficient sleep manifests itself during exams and we are not able to concentrate and think well.


So what are the antidotes to fear?

First of all, we have to understand the origin of fear. Fear originates from the unduly high expectations we have of ourselves coupled with the continuous thoughts of how things can get wrong... we only think of how bad things can turn out and ignore how good things can turn out ..
To conquer fear, we ought to think positively and optimistically about the outcomes of events...
Instead of always thinking what if i fail, why not change your mindset by thinking "what if i succeed in this task"

If we think of the negative aspects of fear , it also helps us to cope with fear better. Fear causes us not to think rationally and logically, reduces our immunity to diseases, etc... So would u permit fear to live with u constantly or take on fear as an enemy and annihilate it ?

Of course, the true antidote to fear is to not have any expectations of ourselves, to completely let go of the attachments we grasp on so fervently in life. If there's no expectation , where is thy fear? If there's no attachment, where is thy fear???

ok, one of my fellow dc mates also mentioned that faith also helps in conquering fear, though i am not someone who places faith with such high regard. Faith must be coupled with true wisdom to produce the best effects.

ok, that's all...Hopefully the above points will be of some help to u in some way or another. A big thanks to Ajhan Brahm for giving such a brilliant talk on fear...