the week in newcastle

Sat- met with bible study mates for brekkie and sharing of fav bible verse after at the park.

Spina bifida clinic at the hospital

Sack race with children of the neighbourhood. Kylie came up to me and said in her sweet voice, "I bet I can fit into that!" so i put her in the sack!

drove up to the watagan mountains with church friends claire and anna. We got lost on the drive 10000 times cos being girls, we just kept talking and didnt pay attention to the road

claire picked up a baby leech to show me

shout your fame

amateur video of church band prac

my church minister was funny....thats his voice....and he started doing "steady cam"

happenings

yesterday, went on a 2hour car trip for outreach clinic at Muswellboork. Its a coal mining town with a population of 16000. Its amazing how long each consultation was, one was as long as 1.5hours! well, saw lots of children, mainly with speech, language and behaviour problems. While the dr was talking to the parents, i sat in the corner and played with them. Not noticing that the Dr was also observing play with me. The registrar and the psychologist sitting in the room noticed things like eye contact with me, if the child noticed a new person coming into the room, the child's interaction with the mother, the child's attention span on a toy and even how they answered my questions. wow.

A mum came in with a 1year old girl and a 4year old newly diagnosed autistic boy. I was really happy when I could carry bub while the mum went outside, trying to convince her son to stand on the weighing scales. The psychologist called me "clucky" haha.

The night before was dinner and movie at my neighbour's house. we cooked ginger chicken with vege then watched A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff while eating ice-cream and choc. will miss carly(14yr) and sarah(12yr) and joel(6yr).

today, going to trek around the Watagan mountains and have a picnic with church friends. yays!

its time to go back to work

been having such an extended hol!

well, announcing I am on a kangaroo meat diet. Its cheap, high in protein, low in fat. Lets see how long I can last. Been having it for the past few days. Only mince though cos fillets ran out due to the flood on queensland where the woolys guy told me "flooding prevented farmers from shooting the kanagroos"

started on community paeds placement on wed. Lovin it cos get to play with the children! wed played jigsaw puzzle and mr and mrs potato head, thurs played cooking and putting the animal pieces in the right spot. Something like this:

funny incident

so the consultation room had limited seats, not enough for all the adults. so the reg had to sit on the child's seat. we then stood up for a while, the little girl came over and put the cow piece of the puzzle above(similar one) on the reg's child seat. After finishing talking while standing up, the reg looked at his seat and saw the cow, then said, " oh, a cow has taken my seat". then he went to get another chair to sit on.

:):)i wanted those puzzles for my recent birthdays

walking ned is coming to an end on sat:(

6 days at Mooloolaba, Sunshine coast

travelled last week to my last mooloolaba tri Aust uni games comp. Many memories with me and my bike bag

its such a big festival for this suburb, there were fireworks by the beach. loved loved it. this photo doesnt do it justice.

met up with Sam, who came down for a short hol. Angela and her had a great time learning to surf. Also went for a run tog....which turned more into sit-down and admire scenery and take pics! LOLEmma Snowsill, Beijing olympic games gold medalist in triathlon made her appearance, much to Angela's anticipation.

Sunday- race was good. I came in 21st in my age gp with a time of 2:35. i think its my best time for this course so far. My swim sucked, did 29min but what made the diff was the bike coming back was not as bad as previous years. headwind not so strong, so managed to maintain pace. though the event was non-drafting so couldnt get any faster...my run was goot! i was 10th in my age gp for running split, 46min. Horrendous hill x2 though running down that hill, seeing the beach sort of made up for it. I nearly cried on the run cos I was so sad this was my last race. but the pain was quite bad so had not enough energy to feel emotionally sad.

so, i am wondering why this year's time is better than previous years, given i was better trained then and was lighter too. Def wasnt over 60kg few years ago. Just 2 weeks ago, i couldnt bike more than 50km. So i know my cycling sucks. Swimming- havent been going for squad training due to laziness and trying to save money. Just my own 2/3km easy swims. Running- no fast runs, just slow short ones randomly at most twice a week. So....I think the reason is cos

1. wind on bike was to my favour

2. i knew this was my last race and pushed through the pain

3. met this top triathlete the day b4 and seeing him race in hot conditions, pushing through his pain gave me confidence in my race

4. i had a 'go emma' tattoo on my arm which i looked at on my run when i needed more strength

5. I was very familiar with the course and knew what to expect

6. I believed that God was looking out for me

- so lots of factors, but most importantly don't underestimate the power of the mind

Crazy us, day after triathlon, Angela and I attempted to cycle 90km(in total) to Noosa. I was aching, she was in pain but this was a cycle not to be missed. Thats an old volcanic crater in the pic, Mt Coolum, which we cycled past.
we finally reached Noosa headlands after 45km....omg. it was worth it:) rested by doing some shopping and eating lunch. I had a kebab!

one of the many beaches we cycled past. though we had to get over many hills along the way.

Next day, went for a tour with the backpackers to ginger factory, Nut factory, Montville and Gardnella falls. This is a sick looking pup outside the ginger factory, he was with his owner who was driving down the coast. He became the attraction, rather than the ginger factory. sad sad that the weather turned wet and couldnt swim at the waterfalls:( Ayden at the backpackers also lied to me, said the waterfall could swim with turtles....haha. it was all a lie!

Last day, walked along the beach with Angela to the spit. I got a running shot taken by a hunky lifegaurd who described this picture to be "fantastic"

2nd time at bogey hole

bogey hole. brown moss more slippery than green moss

bogey hole

relaxing in the sun/moss at bogey hole- due to close soon

i'm a mermaid cos i put seaweed on me!

birthday present part 100. Got a text to come home while i was in hosp. Surprise is riding on a harley davidson round the block:)

Newcastle Vets running club. my first running club here 6 years ago:( last training session at jesmond park with them for my life:(:(

this is the new mater hospital

home-made muffins wrapped up for my team

chara just said to me while i was lying in bed: "pool closes at 7pm"
darn. 1hr to swim. then reward by going shopppping! well, more of buying birthday present and food to cook.

baked muffins for my team to give them tmw.

last ward tea party

every tue, the ward staff meeting is held in conjunction with a little tea party. teams take turns baking cakes. This week, it was my team. I baked a pandan cake, hoping to spread the influence of the singaporean cake. Well, actually, dont know what cuisine it is.

anyway, my consultant came in. the pastoral care worker then joked with him that my supervisor's report would be based on how good my cake was! haha. then i offered him a piece and told him its pandan cake. he said,
" yes, i know its a Nonya cake."
me, "you know what is Nonya?"
my consultant, " yes, i know more than u may think."
then everyone in the room burst out laughing.

and that was my last ward 4c tea party:(

time to go swimming. though just stuffed my face with a whole bag of choc eggs.

birthday weekend

Had a great weekend:) extended birthday celebrations, just the way I like it:) been blessed with awesome friends here.
below: on fri, got off early from hosp. My Reg bought me lunch at hosp, but after he made me unhappy and I told him I wanted to strangle him for what he did.
Then met up with Anna to go to the Bogey hole for a swim. But weather was not good. So we didnt go in:(
Fri night: Women in the word event at Compassion at Warabrook organised by my church. This is Gabby with her 13 day old girl:)

Sat morn

Joined Omega cycle group for the 2nd time in years. Morn was dark, slightly cold and a little rainy. Promised my friend I would see her there. So, we cycled out to the farms at Seaham, past Raymond Terrace. That was after we were on the highway for some time. Weather started pouring really heavily, then would lighten up and then heavy again. Ridiculous weather, which made it even more memorable. It was my first time attempting 70km in a year? but thought the gp would pull me along. at 40km, saw sunrise, double rainbows in the farm areas with cows. One cyclist was nice enough to wait for me as the gp dropped me. He pointed out that this scenery was a good birthday gift. I agree! too bad no pics. Anyway, on the way home at 50km, my legs could not go anymore. So I got a lift back with coach paulie who was driving his car, following us. really really thank God that he was there to drop me home. I was shivering then. whew what a morn!

Sat arvo: birthday picnic. supposed to be at Jesmond park, but rain forced us indoors. Thanks to Maz for opening up the church for us just opp the park

We played 3 Legged race. I teamed up with Brendon and came in last:(

Pizza for lunch- made at home

Sat night: went to Sabre's hse to recieve a pressie from him

Sun morn: LOOP THE LAKE~charity bike ride~ woke up early to reach speers point at 7.15am to cycle round the whole lake behind me. 88km. thankfully stopped twice at 2 pitstops with water and fruits. Missed the muffin stop cos I followed my friends who took a short cut. OMG massive and numerous hills throughout. u know, i cycled for a while. was tiring and looked at speedo. it read 6km!! I told my friend that i just met the day before at Omega cycle group that I took 4hrs and he was so dissapointed in me, he waited an hour for me to reach the finish line. He told me to keep up with the training. Somehow his words gave me some motivation.

Sun Night: went into church at 4pm for band practice. Played the keys with the band for church. After church, went out for dinner. We talked abt Newcastle boys and how they are diff, more macho, abt the muscles, less cultured. For example, if a guy here was sitting down reading a book with a scarf, he would be called gay/ some name. But thats normal in Melbourne. And the machoism is cos they are less confident abt themselves. Interesting convo!

i hate how....

i tried to be a friend to my patient, who is only around 20yrs. And recently she has been ignoring me. Sabrina says they are patients, not your friends. Just a week ago, we were talking well....

and how I went out of my way to try to care more for Mrs NR, and she had an unexpected death, after I had grown to like her as she had been in hosp for a long time.

It just hurts me so deep that me reflex action now is to not be too friendly to a patient. And i have grown weary and tired of the process. How can pple do this for years?

more memorable moments in hosp

Dr F came into the ward meeting looking flustered. Mrs A said, " whats wrong Dr, u look lost and left your bag here over night" (his doctors bag with the tools was sitting on the chair in the centre of the room)

[ in a serious tone] Dr F:" my bag is in charge here when I am not around. He makes the decisions."

lovelove my team:)

today saw a patient that came in for a ridiculous reason. she is from a nursing home and lite a cigarette up in her room(not supposed to smoke there). so when the nurse came into the room, she tried to cover her face with a tissue paper, which caught on fire and then burnt her face:( So she came into hosp for facial burns.

funny moments in hosp

one of our patients(with long history of drug abuse) had a visit by her father, which we did not like as he has had bad influence on her(drugs). so this is what my consultant said outside the room.
Dr F: I wish i could just remove him. Some people are just not good for the patients....I wish I could contact my contacts from the underworld to get rid of him....such as my friends the monstrous trio of crocrodiles!

omg...i was laughing....then he said
Dr F: i actually do have contacts from the underworld who where gansters/murders/etc that owe me a favour. used to work with alot of them when i was doing addiction medicine.

happy brithday anna

Good doctor and church friend Anna had her 30th birthday tonite! had a great time at the Clarendon hotel, on hunter street. Hehee...Connor was there and asked him to teach me to play pool....and his mum approved of us!

Anyway, took the oppurtunity to give out my birthday invites....been thinking hard for the perfect location. I wanted something scenic but also easy to manage, considering i will be inviting tons of people. Ended up choosing the park near my house. Gonna get my friends to help me organise a treasure hunt!

Congrats to all those who took A levels last yr.....
and i need to try harder to train. didnt cycle/run today:( nor did i swim. all i did was eat chips, baked a salmon for lunch and soup for dinner

living a new life

so, finished my 48hr task after working on it overnight and through the whole morn. topic was Digoxin in atrial fibrillation. Was so convinced that it had rhythm control properties(cause that was my ans in the exam).

then went for a 3km swim at Lambton pool. i hope to keep up training and write it here to keep tabs on myself. After swim, the pool slide was open. called my friend to join me but she didnt want:( so didnt slide.

came home, walked with my neighbour Joel round the circuit, then Julia, Sarah and Ned(the dog) joined us. they are such wonderful kids! hehe. we tried to play limbo with the dog's leash...hehe. then sarah and joel said good bye to me with a hug(awwwww....) as they were going out.

nite time watched dvd with housematey- Imagine that starring Eddie Murphy. made me cry thinking of how much parents love their children and how a busy working parent can miss so much from their child.

oh. Bible study last nite was at Nikki's hse. She baked cheesecake which was yummy, and showed us the photos from Egypt. Sounded like a dangerous country....but with so much history...the Aswan high dam! learnt that in geog!

a brand new day

fri- studied at Mater Hosp lib
sat- studied at kotara shopping centre cafe whilst chara shopped
sun- studied at the mental hosp
mon- exam at John Hunter Hosp

patient was nice but was taken away from me halfway through the interview to go for a CT. So my writeup wasnt as good. But my examiners knew that.

Tue
feels like the start of my new life. with exam over yest. I feel i can breathe now. Morn went to Paeds clinic to organise my placement there soon. excited! stayed at home after, and saw this cookie infront of my hse. Last nite, in celebration, I first visited my patient in hosp to tell her and her mum the good news. Also met my team intern, who asked me buy the whole ward a coke to celebrate. haha.
Next, bought Atlantic salmon and baked it with Zucchini, herbs, lemon, asparagus, tomatoes and mushrooms. Went to Ping's hse with Chara and watched this movie. its also a book.

got a shock this morn when my reg told me mrs N R passed away last night. She came in when I first started my term, 5 weeks ago. So had grown to get used to her being around. I tried to cheer her up everyday and talk to her, though she always seemed apathetic. Just yest, she commented how nice I was to her. Now, when i walk past her bed, i still see her lying there:(

Mrs S L also passed away today:( miss talking to her and her family....the room now is empty. I used to let her smell the flowers the relatives gave her...also let her eat the mars bar given by the patient opp her. Her response was, "God love her!"

I miss you both!

taylor swift in newcastle

video above: i was standing exactly where this video was taken!!!




so much energy at the concert
good stress reliever where i sang along, screamed and shouted

Chinese New Year

last week, my reg asked me what date was cny. i said i didnt know.
yesterday, went to an outdoor concert at Warners bay with my friends. Only after the musicians had finished playing and wished the audience happy year of the Tiger, then i knew what zodiac year this new year would be. yes, they were aussie and knew more than me.
was at the shops and saw
1. lots of pple looking at the valentines day card section
2. saw a guy infront of me buy choc muffin mix with a bottle of wine. obviously for vday tmw. I bet he normally doesnt bake

my roomie has left me for cny celebration in syd.
I shall be happy that i will have a quiet day with time to run, study and go to church. yays!

unfit

just ate half a block of choc to add to me fat:(
cycled this morn and couldnt keep up with the group:(
one cyclist was nice enough to wait for me, and shout encouragin words like "no pain no gain" when i said i wanted to drop to the back of the pack. his name was Ross from Hunter District club. sigh so unfit.

2 days to taylor swift concert. gotta work hard.

just when i had prob deciding to cut short psych in orange, there was an advert on tv for mental services in orange. How strange! showed nice pics of this country town. and convinced me i would love the place.

nights

crazy day with non-stop brain stimulation as soon as i wake up at 6am. so so tired. gonna do my 1st night tmw. 11pm-8.30am. then stay on till arvo. i am so gonna fall aslp in tute. 0 exercise. i am so overwhelmed i am drowning. everday i walk out of hosp and think the ton of work to do when i get home.