Friday, December 31, 2010

2010

This is it - the last day of the year 2010. And boy, what a journey it has been! In retrospect, this has been a really eventful year for me. From everything that has happened in the past 365 days, I now find myself that little bit older (inevitable), that little bit more mature, and that little bit..wiser. I can't say I now know all the answers to life's questions (gimme a break, I've only been around for 21 years! :P ) but I can say I have grown, thanks to life's best teacher - experience.

The Ups of 2010! :)

  • I turned 21! :) Threw a bash in conjunction with Dad's birthday, spent the night surrounded by blue and silver helium baloons, family, friends, and lots and lots of love. Regrettably, there was no speech, but two friends sang for me! :) (Thanks, dudes.)
  • Easter Weekend - Of heart to heart convos about One Tree Hill characters, of mustering every ounce of confidence we had and cannon-balling into the water. Very, very interesting weekend.
  • Melbourne - My very first holiday on my own! Caught the Tim Burton Exhibit, tasted Durian Gelato, stared at the walls of MoVida Alley in awe, relished yummy chocolate treats at Koko Black, shopped at the DFO's and most importantly, caught up with my high school friends after yoooonks. Carpe diem-ed alright. :)
  • Catching Linkin Park live in Perth - Simply E.P.I.C. this was a dream come true! 
  • Catching Victor Wooten live in Perth - Went in not knowing anything about the bass guitar, but was blown away all the same. 
  • Circle of Death at Sta's 18th - My first go at a drinking game. Was as red as a lobster waaay faster than everyone else (but that's expected). What happened that night will never ever again be relived (on my part, anyway), but trust me, it was very, very fun.
  • Summer Roadtrip to Albany - My very first roadtrip, ever! :) With views that took my breath away, laughing ourselves silly over 'Yo Mama' jokes, pigging out on spaghetti, IndoMee and CrunchyNut, Circle of Death Part II, what's there to not love? A roadtrip to remember for always - and to everyone who was there...thanks for the good times, guys. :) Love you long time.
  • Studying 3rd Year of Podiatric Medicine - I actually enjoyed this year immensely. I think the fact that my Year Coordinator took the time to get to know all of us personally really made a vast difference, compared to previous years. I also enjoyed my clinical placements, they really added on to what we were already learning about in theory.
  • Clubbing - LOL. This one night out has managed to convert me from a 'What, clubbing?! No way!!' to a 'Hey, it's not so bad after all'. But imo, I think this only works with the right group of friends. And don't worry, if you happen to fall in the group of friends that prefers boardgames, movies, chilling or just talking in a nice cafe somewhere, count me in - this still beats clubbing hands down, any day! In my books, anyway. 
  • Falling in love. That warm, fuzzy feeling is very nice. :)
  • Getting our PR! For this, I can only say: Thank God :)
The Downs of 2010. :(
  • Lost my purse, or rather, it was taken from me. Pree-tee stressful, having to lodge a police report and having to call up the bank to cancel my cards and blablabla. I remember being super devastated because I lost a picture of me and my siblings that I kept in that purse. Upside: Received 3 new purses for my birthday! 
  • Saw a pilonidal cyst (naaaastyyyy) and fainted one day at my RPH placement and had to be wheeled into ED. Very embarassing. Few months down, I was there again for placement, and one of the podiatrists there suddenly brought up the topic of this 'student who fainted once after seeing smth nasty' and was like, 'OMG THAT WAS YOU?!' and he lost it. Upside: At least i've seen a pilonidal cyst once in my life... =/ and thank God for Pastor and Auntie Kim who came to bring me home from the hospital. 
  • Had to write an essay even though I smashed my first semester Pharmacology exam, because I left out some points in my answer which resulted in a seriously life-threatening situation for a patient. Upside: At least we were all in it together - Me, Aloy, Gabs and Devin. :) And we all know what to do now should an LA overdose occur.
  • Falling out of love, or at least, the attempt to. It was a period of suckanoodle days for me, and I didn't like it one bit. I did finally come to terms with it, and I must say, the book 'Passion & Purity' really helped. Big Time. And listening to Lifehouse prolly played a part too. Upside: As sucky as it was, it was a good life experience, Passion & Purity - one of the BEST books i've ever read, and Lifehouse is now one of my favourite bands. My faith in God, I feel, has also been strengthened through this episode, and I feel that maybe I had to go through all that I did for a bigger reason, for a plan that only He knows.
  • Pissed one of my very good friends off on more than one occasion - please, please know that it was not intentional. Upside: We are still very good friends. :)
  • The fact that this year has just flown by, just like that. Too fast...too fast.
Verdict: 2010 was a good year.

And now we're approaching a brand new year, with more challenges than ever before. I haven't really thought about Resolutions, but I have decided that I will try my utmost to see the best in people around me and to believe in the good in them. No matter how badly they piss me off. I think I also have to make more decisions (as opposed to ALWAYS being indecisive) and learn how to say NO. I'm actually pretty apprehensive of 2011, it will be my final year in uni - after that I'm supposed to know everything and go out into the world and be a..podiatrist! It is a scary thought. 

Speaking of scary and not knowing what the future brings - there is no other way around it then to step into it, right? Life is after all, full of risks and consequences. (For some reason, 'online shopping' comes to mind when I think of the word 'risks' o.0)

But if there's one thing I've learnt, not only from this year, but also from the past years, is that I have a God on my side who will never leave me nor forsake me, and so, I know He will be there before I get to where I do, in 2011. He holds my hand today, tomorrow and forever. He is my God. :)

So here's to another awesome year ahead, here's to seizing the day, and here's to no missed opportunities, no what ifs, and no should haves, here's to embracing life and all the good times (and not so good times) 2011 will bring. All in good faith..all in good faith. :)

"How bout we do this together? On the count of two? Ready?" 

"Ready."

"One...Two."


Happy New Year, everyone. :)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas 2010

How I spent Christmas this year:
  • Christmas Service at church on Saturday (pretty geng chorus by the chinese side choir)
  • Secret Santa exchange with the lovely girls (Sta is ossum)
  • BBQ and beach with the family on Christmas day (Turkey sausages, mustard n herb marinated lamb, bbq steak, teriyaki chicken and onions *nomnomnom*)
  • Dessert at mine on the night of Boxing Day (Konnyaku Jelly, Jelly Slice, Cookies n Cream icecream and Winner: ALMONDY DAIM CAKE ! *slurp*)
  • Then brainless button bashing on the PS3 with Tekken 6 (Seeing Joy n Becs button bash was hilarious, and I think we all established that Loony takes the cake with this one)
  • And then Pictionary till way past midnight (Loony almost took the cake with this one) - Thank you all (Esther, Loony, Rick) for awesome company!
  • Opened Christmas gifts on Monday morning, the 27th (this has happened 2 years in a row now, maybe we should just make it an official thing for our family LOL). Best gift of the lot: Polaroid Camera from Nick! =D Still very over the moon about it! :)
  • Then had a big big lunch and spent the arvo watching one of my favourite Disney movies 'Enchanted'. (Still very good the 4th time!)
  • Pretty much spent today at IKEA ($5 brekkie and for lunch, 20 meatballs for $5!!) and Spotlight :)

So there you have it. In a nutshell, I spent Christmas this year at my favourite place (the beach), with heaps of food and sleep-ins (of course they top the list of my favourite things to do!) and most important of all,  with my favourite people (you know who you are)! :) Quite possibly the BEST Christmas yet! :) :) :)

Saturday, December 25, 2010

39 degrees

To treasure up all these things, and ponder them in my heart. :)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

goosfraba

I would really like to vent, but that would be just plain mean.

So I'm just gonna keep repeating this in my head until I find myself a pick-me-up, or a chill pill. (And to be reminded again of this last night, how timely.)

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails."
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 -

So I've highlighted the phrases and words that apply best to me at this point of time. 

Gosh, I am so irritated...*sighs* 

Anyways, let's not go there. Paul says in Philippians to think of anything excellent or praiseworthy, so here we go: "Love is patient, love is kind..it does not envy, it does not boast...."

Sunday, December 19, 2010

F.W.B.

"..Just cause it's all in your head, doesn't mean it has to be in mine..."
- Only One, Lifehouse -


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Rhythm of Love

At first I wondered why my gingerbread man didn't get a nice dress, or a beanie, or gloves, or buttons, but then I realized that I was overlooking what it already had - a BIG heart, and a smile. :)

Much love to Joy and Rebecca for making me this cookieman!
This has totally made my day, and I know seeing it again tomorrow will continue to make me smile
And this happiness shall last until...I eat it all up. :P

Even so, I'm glad I have this picture to remind me of what Mr Cookieman used to be.
Yay for Tim and his iPhone!

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." -Helen Keller

Monday, December 13, 2010

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

*whew* I am mentally drained. Spent the entire day at the UWA Clinic today, but thank God that my patient load today wasn't too intense. I actually had time for lunch, although quite regrettably, I only brought an apple and an orange. Didn't think i would have time for lunch, based on my last placement experience at the clinic. Oh well, I suppose it's a good thing - jian fei! :P Actually, no, I just remembered: Heather (the receptionist) gave us about 4 chockies each. "For sustenance," she said. So much for jian fei-ing. Lol.

I carried out my first ever surgical procedure today - a partial resection and phenolisation of the hallux nail! In simple English: I operated on an ingrown toenail of the big toe. Basically what I did was (and this was done step by step, following my supervisor's lead) take out the edge of the nail that was digging into the skin and causing the toe to hurt. It wasn't a messy procedure, but it was fairly bloody. Not extremely, but still enough to make some knees go weak. Therefore, not surprisingly, my one and ONLY thought before carrying it out: Please please pleeeeeeeeeease don't let me faint! :P Apparently I did very well (well..okay, not like my supervisor can tell me I did a bad job in front of the patient, lol), so all in all, that was pretty much THE most exciting thing that happened today! :D Yay! And it's things like this that make me not regret volunteering to come in to the clinic over summer. Otherwise, I do sometimes get a very 'meh' feeling about having to go back to clinic, especially on a Sunday night.

I have also just turned blackanese from my Albany sunburn. I should probably mention that 2 days ago, my face started peeling, making it look as if I had fungus growing all over my face. It was terrible! Hopefully all that peeling and dead skin's gone. Now I just look...black. Speaking of my sunburn - vanity got the better of me today, so I decided to wear my glasses so that my sunnies tan doesn't look that obvious. Yes, it's that bad - you can totally draw a line to separate my different shades of skin colour! What? We're all entitled to vainpot moments once in a while, kay. 0:)

Anyway, check out the view from The Wind Farm. That was an absolutely beautiful reminder of God's presence with us that day in Albany - indeed, how great Thou art!

"When I feel afraid, and think I've lost my way
Still you're there right beside me
Nothing will I fear, as long as You are near
Please be near me to the end."