Write Drunk, Edit Sober

 Wrote this a couple of months back and an edited version of it was published in the New Straits Times & The Star sometime middle of this year. The full article I wrote has just recently been published in The Star. 20.12.2012 - Education Guide pullout. Incredibly happy. :) Coming to study in JB has brought about so many opportunities for me and being able to write a full page article and have it published in the local papers is simply another dream come true. :)

I've never been back home so close to Christmas before so it really didn't feel like it this year. Until this morning. Well last night. When we opened our presents.  Heh. Went for service this morning. Saw SOO many familiar faces. Aunties and uncles I haven't seen in bloody ages . All the little babies I saw as a child myself are now teenagers sporting funky hair-do's and sporty outfits and short skirts and make-up. My goodness how they've all grown. How church has grown! Easily over a couple thousand people today for our English service alone. Place was packed ! Really, really lovely to see all those people there. Still remember how it used to be when I was way younger. How things have changed!  Went over to the new house to check on things. My new room is coming along nicely. By the time I'm back for my birthday next year, most of it would be done already. Wooden flooring and cupboards will be in. Wallpaper would have been put up. Looking forwar...

These past two weeks or so have been so crazy. First the car. Then the lighting at home. Then the laptop. Money's going out faster than water it's so frustrating. Laptop screen's been giving me some trouble for some months now. Two days back I couldn't open my files, documents, Skype, media player wasn't working and bla bla blah and I had to get it repaired coz all my study notes are in power point files. So yesterday evening around five thirty I went over to Danga City Mall (in the pouring bloody rain. I don't understand why people use their hazard lights when it rains. Why? Why hazard lights? Just turn on your damn lights you don't need your hazard lights!) in the hope of getting it fixed. Found a reputable comp shop, told them the problem and apparently there was a virus and the laptop had to be reformatted. Left it with them after telling them over and over to back up ALL my stuff and to call me as soon as they could possibly get it done....

Absolutely love having the weekend all to myself. Did all my Christmas shopping today. Got gifts for mom and dad at SSF. Went to Jusco and got all my Christmas cards. Will be posting everything on Monday. Was nice to be out on my own again. Sure it's fun going out with friends and all...but I like being alone sometimes. Most times. No unnecessary conversation. No need to wait for anyone or follow anyone.  I've come to realize, that no matter where you are, independence slowly gives rise to confidence. Once you start doing things for yourself without depending on anyone, it's like you have this new lease of life. It's like I have this new lease of life. This new found confidence. And it doesn't matter if I'm walking alone and people look at me and think I'm lonely or whatever. I just feel so confident being by myself now. And I think every young woman needs to feel that way about herself. I really do. Spent about two hours in Harris reading J...

Everyone knows how tough medicine can be. Not just as a profession but also to study. I knew it would be stressful. I knew. But that's about all I was told. Now that I'm experiencing it, it's a whole different story. Our days are long. Our weekends fly by within the blink of an eye. There are never ending tests, exams, assignments, presentations, role play sessions and lab sessions. Classes start at eight every day five days a week. We finish at five on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Fridays we finish at one and on Wednesdays at three, followed by extra co-curricular activities from five to seven in the evening. Tuesdays are test days for Biochemistry. After every unit we're given a short test to see where we stand which keeps us on our toes. We have role play sessions on Mondays and Fridays. Presentations can be on any given day. Assignments are a day to day thing. Questions, essays. And when I say essays I mean pages and pages of what you've studi...

Girls and cars. Single girls and cars. You learn that freedom comes with a price. My four wheeler started giving me some problems about three weeks back.  The engine used to die and then come back to life within seconds and the radio settings would run whenever the car was in either 'park' or 'neutral' gear. I had friends with me all the times it happened but it was still unnerving. Then last week I couldn't start it a couple of times. No lights came on, there wasn't any sound. Absolutely nothing. Sort of came and went. Some days it'd start, some days it wouldn't. Incredibly frustrating especially when I had errands to run. Same thing happened again on Monday just this week. Car was on campus. After trying a couple of times it was fine. But yesterday it didn't start at all. Hitched a ride with my neighbours to uni and asked around if anyone knew any good mechanics I could call who could come take a look and see what was wrong but no dice. ...

Was in India for about a week. Came back the day after Diwali. Main reason I went was to accompany mom coz she had some things to buy, she told me. We ended up coming back with five huge luggage bags ALL of which were overweight (Not to mention the one bag we had no choice but to leave behind at the airport and have it sent to KL). Nothing a few thousand rupees can't do though. Trip was only so-so for me. I fell sick three days into my so-called holiday due to the lack of sleep the whole week before; thanks to my mid term exams. I left JB on a Wednesday night to KL. My flight out was supposed to be at ten but it got delayed and we were held back by nearly two hours. I had only gotten two hours of sleep that morning and a couple of hours of sleep all the other days before. I thought once mom and I reached the hotel in India I could make up for all that lost sleep but boy was I ever wrong.  So.  I reached LCCT at around one in the morning. Mom was already waiting for m...

Sixty eight days into medical school already. Still feels so surreal somehow. The past month off Blogger has been a breath of fresh air. Really wanted to be without my blog, period. But I felt like something was missing. I missed expressing myself through words. Writing. My writing. That's what was missing. It's been a part of me ever since I can remember. I had my first diary when I was eleven and I haven't stopped writing since. Events. Feelings. Birthdays. Experiences. Firsts. Lasts. Best friends. Family. Loves. Losses. I used to write everything down. Every happy moment, every sad moment, every little thing that happened I wrote down and then SNAP! one day I just stopped. I stopped because something in me simply didn't want to continue anymore. Something in me just became so numb. But things change. Feelings change. And here I am again. You learn a lot of things as you grow up. You learn a lot of things when you meet different people....