Journal
Went on a quest for a journal and found one after going to like... ten stores or something along those lines.
Finally settled on a red leather journal with lined gold edged sheets of paper. Took a long time to make up my mind - the other ones I saw were too tacky, the lines were too wide, the lines were too narrow, the size was too big, the size was too small... blabla.
Yes, I'm a fussy person.
Labels: Life, Obsessions
Lesson Still Unlearnt
You would think that after losing 2 pairs of safety glasses I would have learnt my lesson.
Once again I left my Hogies in clinic - except this time I was fortunate enough to find them exactly where I left them the next morning.
What is wrong with me?? One would think that one learns after making a couple of mistakes but apparently safety glasses and me don't seem to have a great relationship.
I think it may have something to do with the fact that once clinic is over I am extremely eager to leave, just hurriedly pack up and leave without really making sure I've taken everything with me.
Sigh.
Labels: Ramblings
Dire Straits
Did not go grocery shopping for quite some time and was left with almost nothing in the house. Resorted to eating various random things to fulfil my voracious appetite:
1.
Haw flakes. Found them in an asian grocery store a couple of weeks back and was over the moon.
2.
Candied winter melon. Originally bought for making barley soup but ended up eating them straight up from the packet.
3.
Vitasoy Vanilla Soy Milk Whole posts devoted to this wonderful wonderful drink. Enough said.
4.
Indomee.
However, the hard times are over. Just went to Coles and stocked up on Bega Stringers and more soy milk.
Enjoying the weekend already.
Labels: Food
Pink Froth
Colgate Sensitive tastes really bad in my opinion. And it's pink.
Don't like it.
Labels: Life
Revelation
Interdental brushes really work!
Labels: Dental School
The Borrowers
Am currently reading The Borrowers by Mary Norton. It's a charming children's storybook about little people that live in the houses of normal human beings. They're called Borrowers because they 'borrow' a.k.a. steal things that are owned by humans.
I'm grateful I'm a human bean.
Labels: Ramblings
All Too Familiar
This feeling is all too familiar.
The butterflies in the stomach whenever the person comes near. The obsession about exactly what he said and how he said it and the crazy analyzing to decide if it 'meant' something, the hope and the worry.
Yes, all symptoms of a massive crush.
Please not now - I have other things to worry about.
Labels: Ramblings
What I've Been Up To
The past 3 days have been a rocky road for me. All sorts of things just not going right. I've been questioning
why my life has been so tumultuous and have not received an answer. I can only hope that things get better from now on.
Firstly, my car was just innocently parked in a perpendicular parking spot when I went to church. When I got back, there it was - a graze on the left back of my car - presumably done by someone who couldn't judge how much to turn in or out of the lot.
Secondly, my Co-Cr framework was out of occlusion by 3mm. Demonstrator said everything had to be repeated over again. Why? The lab screwed up - that's why.
Thirdly, I'm not going into what happened but it was also
bad. Definitely the worst out of the three.
I guess with great misfortune comes silver linings. The clinical coordinator said it's better if someone qualified made the denture instead of me and allowed me to send the patient to another department (yes, there is justice in this world!!) and as for my car... I guess it's nothing money cannot fix. The third thing - only luck can rescue me.
Labels: Life
Currypuffs
Made some currypuffs last week.
Instead of making the pastry from scratch I decided to cheat and use puff pastry instead. Was very pleased with the results - recipe definitely a keeper.
Labels: Ramblings
Seeing Red
There are certain things that really make me fly off the handle.
1.
Lousy Internet Connection - My internet has been getting into this extremely irritating habit of dropping off the line every 2-3 hours. It really riles me up. With each additional time it happens it pisses me off more and more. It's gotten to the point where I start clicking refresh maniacally and try not to throw things to release my frustration.
2.
People who must be right - Even after they are proven wrong, they stick to their original idea. No, it doesn't make any difference even if you showed obvious evidence that they are clearly
incorrect - their word is law. For goodness' sake just admit you're wrong and move on!!!
3.
Patients who don't show up for their appointments - Then they say that they have problems that need to be resolved.
Labels: Rants
Vinegar
Just experienced one of my cleaning frenzies with my new found cleaning agent - vinegar.
When I finished one of my cleaning spray thingies, I decided to make a home made spray solution on a whim. Tried out vinegar and water and it works like a charm!
Everything in the house smells slightly vinegary and then it all dissipates leaving everything strangely... odorless.
Pleasant.
Labels: My Organized Life
Scattered
I've been leaving my belongings all over the place these few days.
First I left my scarf at a friend's place. Then I left my safety glasses in
Footscray when I was on call. Then I left my umbrella at a cafe... and my ID tag in clinic.
It's as if I'm trying to leave bits of me all over Melbourne.
Anyway, bought
another pair of Hogies because I've decided that having a backup is always a good idea. Trying to think of the best way to take care of them so that I don't lose them, break them, scratch them or anything along those lines! These will be my... 4th pair. :(
Labels: Dental School
Freebies
Went to a dental exhibition yesterday and came home with all sorts of dentally related freebies.
I think what made me the most excited was a tooth shaped pen and miniature floss boxes. Very adorable!
Labels: Dental School
Unfortunately...
Was working in Knox today and was desperately trying to ensure that I get onto the 3.28pm train to get back to the city.
The last patient was booked in for 3pm for a OPG assessment.
Me: We're going to do a 5 minute review.
Partner: Yes, we are.
So the patient turns up...
without his OPG. Apparently he left it at home.
Me: *sad sad face* Unfortunately, we can't assess your situation without your OPG. We'll just have to book you in for another appointment and see you then.
Yippeeeee!!!!!!
Came back home, made some konyaku jelly, made some currypuffs and it's still only 9pm now.
:D
Labels: Dental School, Life
Delicious Zzzs
I've been having more than my fair share of sleep. Currently I'm probably getting about 9-10 hours a day.
It's come to a point where I'm starting to wonder if it's healthy to sleep this much. But then again, if I don't
need sleep why is it that every time I get into bed I automatically just drop off? I don't even have to try - after a couple of chapters of a happily ever after tale my eyelids get heavy and I turn over to switch off the light and drift off into bliss.
Currently very into Babybel cheese as well as Bega Stringers. The packaging makes the whole cheese eating experience highly entertaining.
Only 4 more days to the weekend!
Labels: Food, Life
Etiquette Grrls
Stumbled upon a site called Etiquette Grrls. It's basically a site written by a few women who take it upon themselves to explain the finer points of etiquette to people who dare ask.
I find it
hilarious! Some of the situations are so appalling, and the replies can be a perfect blend of wit and cold civility.
I must say that it did teach me a few things on how to say no graciously and how to get out of certain sticky situations. Some will probably find it a tad... high handed I guess, in that they always seem to assume they are right. However, in general it's a very good read.
Labels: Life
Cutlery
The cutlery in my house is slowly falling to pieces.
Every time we have a small dinner party of say... 6 we are stretched to the limit in terms of cutlery. An assortment of miss matched bowls and plates are taken out and we will have to dig up every single fork and spoon we have in the house to accommodate everyone.
Also, the handles on the spoons and forks are not as firmly fastened together as they used to be back in their hey day - meaning every so often while eating the spoon will fall into the plate while you grasp the handle foolishly.
The situation has gotten so dire that guests have actually volunteered to bring their own cutlery from now on when they come over to eat. Shame on us hosts!
Me and my housemate are stubbornly holding on because we figured we only have to eat with questionable spoons for another 3-4 months. After that, who knows? Sterling silver set from Tiffany perhaps.
Labels: Life
Kuih Dadar
Have been feeling nostalgic of late and decided to cook more Malaysian tea time snacks to cure my blues.
Kuih dadar is a coconut pandan-flavoured crepe rolled up with a sweetened coconut filling. Made it the moment I woke up to enjoy with a nice cup of tea.
Love weekends!
Labels: Food
New Acquaintances
I've been meeting quite a few new people lately.
I guess I have to say that I judge pretty quickly when I meet someone. I generally try to give the benefit of the doubt to people because after all, not all first impressions are the correct impressions. But sometimes all you need is 5 seconds to know you can never get along with some people.
For example, someone I met for the first time proceeded to state pompously,"I'm a very cool person."
Me: Really? What's so cool about you?
Him: You know... I'm just cooler than everyone else in my course. People in my course are so boring!
Me: Right...
No, he was not joking he actually meant it!
On the other hand, I've met some really nice people as well. Some of these people put me to shame in terms of their amazingly good nature and...
niceness.
If only I could be as good.
Labels: Life, Ramblings
Gratefulness
I was talking to a couple of German dental students today in uni. They're visiting Australia for their summer holidays and are having a look around our uni to see what it's like.
After talking to them, I realize that perhaps we have been having it easy all the while. I guess you don't count your blessings until you realize your situation really isn't that bad after all.
In Germany, they are forced to practise 2 handed dentistry - the same as us.
We have an abundance of patients to treat. Admittedly, some may not actually come in for the sessions/come in late, but at least you can just dig deeper into the waiting list. In Germany, you have to find your own patients - family, friends, etc. And people aren't willing to come because unlike in Australia where treatment from students are free, they still have to pay the full fee as per if they were seeing a graduated dentist. As a result, they're always struggling to find patients - and patients who need things done.
And their exams!!!
Their final year exams span 5 months, with a total of 16 papers.
I think one could actually die if subjected to such stress. Thus, I am now concluding my life has been relatively easy. No more complaining.
At least for a week.
Labels: Dental School
Seri Muka
So a couple of weeks ago I bought a 15 dollar steamer. After one use it stopped working.
Deciding to give it the benefit of the doubt, I decided to exchange it for a new one. Unfortunately, it too has failed to work after the first use.
Conclusion? I have lost faith in 15 dollar steamers.
Anyway, due to the fact that I had no steamer I had to make this in the traditional way - in a pot with a steaming rack. The outcome was rather pleasing:
A tad too little mixture on the top but I followed the recipe exactly, which means the recipe is to blame! Will adjust accordingly in the future.
Labels: Food, Life
Babka
Went to Babka on Brunswick St today in celebration of the fact that I have a free day.
I've heard several rave reviews about their baked goods and decided to have a look and see for myself what it's all about. I've decided it's not too bad, but nothing mind blowing.
Also went to the Alanah Hill outlet on the same street and came out with nothing. Frankly, I think it's overpriced flimsy material that isn't even cut very well.
Now sitting in the comfort of my home with the rain pouring ouside. There's certainly more rain this year than the last, which is a good thing I guess, due to the drought etc. If only rain would fall over the water catchment areas exclusively and not in the city! The good side is that my car got a wash.
Am currently making seri muka. Hoping it turns out well and not overly coconuty.
Labels: Life
Trials
Isn't it hard enough that I have to get up at 8am on a Monday morning with 4 patients to see for various petty reasons?
Apparently it isn't.
The first patient was for a try in for Co-Cr framework. Went up to the lab to claim it and it wasn't there.
It was due on the 4th. I gave them a whole week to get their act together and apparently it's still not enough!!
"Oh... apparently there's been a miscast so it was deferred to the 7th."
"Well, it's the 11th today!!"
"Well... yes. It's unfortunate. You can have the lower though, but the upper isn't ready. The fastest the lower can come here is 30 minutes."
"What's the point of only having the lower?!?!"
"Yes...well, you'll just have to tell your patient it's not ready."
So yes, had that unpleasant task dumped on me the first thing in the morning. Thank goodness the patient was nice about it.
I only have a few GP sessions left and I honestly cannot afford to squander them on trivial things like this. It really pisses me off that the lab didn't even have the grace to tell me about it. I mean, I could have easily booked in my patient on the 5th and the outcome would have still been the same.
Exceedingly bad start to a week.
Labels: Dental School, Life, Rants
Friday
Made some crazily sweet candy a couple of days ago.
It's also known as coconut ice and the ingredients are dessicated coconut, condensed milk and icing sugar. Don't want to even imagine its cariogenicity.
It's rather hard work making it, mainly because of the amount of kneading one has to do with something that has the texture of very very firm dough.
Next attempt? Probably something nice and buttery, possibly associated with puff pastry.
Labels: Food, Life
Sticks and Stones
Someone just informed me about a piece of gossip about me that is completely untrue. In fact, my first reaction was ,"Are you *()#@ serious??" and the next to wonder how on earth did it even hatch.
The thing is if it was something factual it would not have hurt me as much. Like say... negative opinions about my character for example... or retelling a scene in which perhaps I did not come out on top. But this was just plain outrageous.
Not pleased.
Labels: Ramblings
New Developments
After much hesistation I decided that perhaps I should attend a cell group again.
The truth is that I never really had an excellent experience when it came to things like this. Generally I went out of obligation rather than true enthusiasm and ended up just dropping out after a while. And it's
not easy to drop out. Questions have to be answered, excuses have to be given and all in all, I felt it was too much trouble.
Anyway, I attended one last night and for the first time I really actually
wanted to be there rather than somewhere else.
On another note, the new toothbrush I'm using has bristles that are of different lengths and that has caused some pretty bad gingival trauma on the lingual of my lower 7s. Not comfortable.
I have also learnt that putting an ortho band around a tooth undergoing endo is a
very wise idea. I used to think it was a complete waste of time but now I see it's not.
Labels: Life
Agatha Christie
Am delving into Agatha Christie books now. Love her work!
"Good exercise - what's twelve miles? Keeps a man fit. Great thing to be fit."
If only I could say that about even 2 miles.
Labels: Life
The Little Things...
Dentistry is a competitive course. One has to admit that.
It has always annoyed me when people would come up to me and say that they are
surely going to fail, when we all know for a fact that they do extremely well all the time. And when they say they have not studied
at all when they've probably finished their revision two times over by this time of the year.
Fair enough for people who actually really are in danger of failing, but if you're obviously good at what you do please don't say you're not - it just pisses off everyone who aren't as good. After all, if you insist that you're going to fail, what about the rest of us mere mortals?
Some may say they're just being modest. Some say it's because they have to
appear like they're doing nothing to trick the competition into a false sense of security. - but surely you can just give a non-committal response along the lines of "Uh...yeah, it's okay I guess. Not great, but not bad."
Just my two cents.
Labels: Ramblings
Ambition
Was introduced to a few people over the weekend.
Person: So, what do you study?
Me: I'm doing dentistry.
Person: Wow! You must be really driven to do a course like that. Are you going to specialize when you graduate?
To be honest, I am not a driven person. Nor am I particularly ambitious. I picked this course because I perceived it to be easier than medicine (it is academically, but probably not in terms of hands on work) and I
thought it was going to be fairly straightforward. If someone had explained to me explicitly what dentistry
really meant I think I would have backed out.
I had a vague idea that dentists did some fillings....how hard can it be to drill and fill? And I suppose they gave a few injections here and there.... and did some crown work. And a few extractions - that's just brute force, no? Shouldn't be too tricky.
How wrong I was.
Labels: Life, Ramblings
The Way It Goes
So after one session of steaming the steamer decided to keel over and die.
Have gone to exchange it for a new one. Hopefully this second one does not repeat the first one's performance, or else a refund is in sight.
Buying rice is such a tricky thing to do in Australia. Some of the brands come out really hard and non-fragrant. I know I should just stick to something that definitely works and never swap around but sometimes they're out of stock etc and I'm forced to take the risk.
All I can say is don't buy Koala brand rice.
Labels: Life
Random Things...
1. If I spend too much time with someone inevitably I'll get sick of them. It doesn't matter how nice they are - I just can't spend unlimited amounts of time with the same person. Especially if I'm craving alone time and someone is around. Need space!! Obviously not the person's fault, but my own issue that I need to resolve.
2. I have a stapler that's about 2 inches long that fires 24/6 staplers. Every time I staple something together the force I have to expend is enormous compared to the result I get. Did not have a pleasant time when I had to staple 105 questionnaires together last week. However, it works perfectly well and I feel bad if I buy a new one. Is this rational?
It's like my hole puncher - it punches holes perfectly fine but every time I wanted to punch a set of papers I had to measure where's the middle to get accurately placed holes in my paper. I finally caved in and bought a puncher that had the measure thingie and my life has been infinitely better since then. However, I still feel twinges of guilt every time I think of my old puncher.
3. Every time I forget to bring a hair-tie to uni (which is practically every day) I'll take one of the gloves and rip off the cuff on it to use as a hair-tie. I've wasted countless gloves in that manner.
4. Every time I reach Friday I actually start thinking about Monday already. The way when it's Monday I'm already thinking of Thursday.
5. I broke my Hogies yesterday. Must have somehow squashed it somehow in my bag the wrong way. Not sure which colour to buy next.
Labels: Ramblings
My New Toy
Went grocery shopping in Coles and a steamer caught my eye.
Price? 15 bucks.
Decided to risk it blowing up in my face and bought it.
Love love love it!! Excuse me while I go off and enjoy my steamed egg now.
Labels: Shopping
