So much for.......

.
.
.

STUDYING!

Yea I kinda promised myself I would actually do as much as I can over the Easter break to keep up with the growing stack of notes I have. But as expected, to not THAT much of a surprise, I failed to keep that promise to myself. *bleargh*

The 2 week Easter break swooshed by, just like that.

I was just starting to get used to the holiday lifestyle:
Waking up when the sun has already risen, and not when it's still DARK, going out for nice breakfasts, and basking in the sun, sipping mocha and catching up with friends.

Bleargh.

Now it's back to waking up before the sun rises.

Anyhows, enough with the fretting and the complaining.

About easter break: Supeeeerb. Well deserved too!

The highlight of my break?
Torquay!

Yeaps, it's one of Victoria's Surfing Cities :D Didn't come across way too many surfer dudes, though.

There were 20 over people on the trip, with a 4 (and then 5) car convoy. All packed into a house close enough to the beach. Great place. We had a jacuzzi, a bbq patio, even foosball and air hockey tables!

The girls at the foosball table. :D

The BBQ mess :D

Heading out to conquer the waves!!!!
(or be conquered)

The girls.

ALL OF US.

A little tired to post up more photos.

Just had pathology test today and had just about 10 hours of sleep in total for the past 2 days.

Funny thing was, I didn't even spend my waking hours studying for the quiz.

With just a few more weeks till exams, the amount of notes I have seems OVERWHELMING.

God, save me.

Easter Break!

Finally, the well deserved two week break is here!

Yippppppieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

But actually, so what? I need to be spending time studying anyways.

MEH

A bloody butt.

Yes, im the proud owner of the right butt.
WHAT are you thinking?

I was sitting on horse blood while doing some farrier work on a dead horse's limb and ended up with a bloody butt. Yea and so i thought it's okay anyways since I was wearing my overalls.

BUT, as the day went on, and overalls off, I walked around happily.

And then someone approached me, and tapped me over the shoulder. And then my friend whispered to me,"Hey...er...Kelene, you know...er...your pants...has blood. Hmm...do you have...er..."

And I turned my head around to glance at my butt and to my horror, my jeans has blood on it!!!
Great.

So my message is simply : When you see a girl walking around with stains of blood on her pants just at the butt, think again. It might just be HORSE blood Ok!

Well, at least, it was in my case.

Embarrassment. =(
.
.
.
.
.
Okay, bloody butts aside, I finally had a WHOLE saturday spent outdoors. :D

Well, I found out that my Pathology quiz was cancelled so I cancelled all studying plans for the weekend. WOOT!

In the morning, I paid respects to a friend's dad. The memorial park was very beautiful.

It was indeed tranquil.
And then I went for a yummy roast duck rice lunch followed by a great Japanese dinner.
(yes I do realised I need to exercise all easter)

The night didn't end there.

We went for Gelati next.

And then a visit to a jazz bar. Coincidentally, met a friend who'll be heading back to Singapore for good.
Awww it's goodbyes!

Well, then we played cards till nearly 2am.

:)

It's been awhile since I enjoyed my weekend.

Loss.

So tell me, how do you deal with loss?

Sorrowful music?...?!?
Go out and have fun with a bunch of people?
Talk to a friend?
Drown yourself in alcohol?
Thinking happy thoughts?
Don't think?
.
.
.
.
End your life?

It's hard to deal with when you no longer have your loved one by your side.

More importantly, how do you help someone cope with it?

What can you say?
You can't tell them it's going to be okay when you're not sure it will be.

What can you do?

I'm helpless.

A day with Houdini.

Last Saturday was great. I so needed a day away from everything, away from school! I can't believe we're in Week 5 already and there's already so much to study, I'm drowning. Anyways, we went horse riding last Saturday, rewarding ourselves after completing a month of classes this semester. That's me up there with Houdini. He's a great horse, a tad bit sensitive when it comes to my kicking, doesn't take much for me to make him trot from a walk. I wish I could ride every week :(

A group photo by the beach.
Note the cuteness of the smaller horse.

I was so excited when they allowed us to canter this time. I am better at the trot now compared to the other time I was there. I guess experience is a good thing. At least I am rising to the trot properly now and not bouncing all over the horse.

And so yea, they asked if we wanted to canter and I was thinking, "Yea why not let's do it!"

And the tip the facilitator gave us on cantering?
"Ride as though you're trying to keep a 100 dollar note between your butt and the saddle"

Now, that's helpful. =.=

Didn't happen.
I was about to be thrown off during the canter. Also, I was busy laughing at Daryl who was riding in front of me. It's a funny sight when someone tries to hang on to dear life as a horse canters and gallops away. Especially when you have the rear view of that person. :D It was priceless.

Well, we left the horse riding for lunch at the vineyard. And of course, for sipping pink moscato.

We weren't the only ones who knew how to enjoy life, as you can see...
Don't you wish you lived the life of a cat sometimes?

And then, off we went to Peninsula Hot Springs.
Apparently, the public bath was full till 2 and a half hours later so we went to the beach to kill time.

This is an idea of what we ended up doing.
The view was beauuuuutiful.

Oh-So-Breathtaking.

And so we headed to the hot springs for a nice dip.

And then ended the night with the best congee for dinner/supper.

What a day.

I wanna live like this foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

NOT happening.

*continues to scramble lecture notes*

In the name of Surgery.

Mummy dearest will be having a surgery back in Penang.

I certainly hope all goes well and you'll come to visit me here soon!
Missing you already, mum. :(

Well, on the same morning my mum is undergoing surgery,
I will be here at the vet campus doing a surgery practical!

I will be an anaesthetist tomorrow!

Scrubs, check.
Stethoscope, check.
Short nails, check.
Clean shoes? Check.
Scissors, check.
Pen, check.
Pen light??? I don't have one!
Dog lead, I'll get one from the kennel.
A watch with second hand, check.

Ok. I'm ready to go!
(Well, not really... I only have these chunks of notes to read on drugs, anaesthetic equipment, surgery preps....etc.etc...)

Ah, I hope all goes well with the dog.

Wish me luck!


THE PRESSURE IS ON!

A cat with 27 lives?

Cat shot 27 times - and lives

Ben Blomfield, Monday, March 2, 2009 © The Cairns Post

"THE relentless torture of a pet cat that was shot 27 times at point-blank range in the head and neck with an air rifle has outraged animal welfare authorities."

For the full story, you can go to http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2009/03/02/31331_local-news.html

Okay, firstly...What's wrong with those people?
The pure cruelty shown to animals these days still leaves me dumbfounded and in total....AMAZEMENT?

Some people just wish to remain oblivious to the fact that animals, like human beings,
have feelings and they deserve to be treated with some respect.

SOME. I'm not even asking for much here.

I am so glad this cat survived and I hope those heartless $%#$! are put behind bars!! ARGH!

It may be a little uplifting that this cat survived the tragic ordeal,
but it breaks my heart totally to see another not as lucky.
.....

Kitten's back broken, stomped on by teenagers

March 02, 2009 11:45am

"POLICE have been shocked by the callous murder of a kitten at Deception Bay north of Brisbane."

"About 10pm yesterday a four-month-old kitten was taken for its owner's property in Airlie Avenue by two youths, aged about 17 and 14."

"Police have alleged one of the youths then used a stick or a branch to hit the cat, breaking its back."

"As it lay crying in a driveway, the other teenager returned and stomped on its head to kill it."

"The animal's body was then thrown into another yard, where it was found by police and the distraught owners last night."

I'm left speechless.

No words can describe my feelings right now.

............

What? Say that again?

SO......
I got a Hyundai meanwhile as a rental car while my love, Mazda 3 is alone in some service center in Airport West.

"Don't worry, you will get refunded for the rental of the car. You'll just be poor for awhile. And then we'll reimburse everything. Do not worry, just provide the invoice and everything will be taken care of..."

Well, at least that was what that guy at the car insurance company made me believe.


And so, today I called up the company again, wanting to know how I should go about getting a refund on the rental car and what documents to provide.

"I'm sorry, please understand that we do not guarantee that the payment for the rental car will be refunded to you. It depends on the application you provide, and on the willingness of the insurance company of the truck driver who is at fault, to refund you the payment. You need to provide the invoice, a written explanation on why you depended on a car to get to work/class. We also need a letter from your employer/lecturer as prove."

"Er......but this wasn't what I was told the other day"

"Well, whoever that was who spoke to you that day did not make it clear. I apologize."

"..........."


YOU APOLOGIZE?

Hello! This is hundreds of dollars we're talking about here. You can't just say SORRY!
The incompetence of these people really just drive me up the wall.

Like seriously......

Now I have more things to settle.

I am returning the rental car TomorroW!


=.=

Who said horses don't swim?

Yay! We're going horse riding this coming Saturday!

I can't wait although the other time I went, I came back with a sore butt and back.

Looking oh-so-glam.
(Yes, that's a shower cap we're wearing under the helmet)

Before getting on the horses during riding last year.

Anyhows... I hope riding this time around would be great! And I hope my saddle no longer slips to one side, almost killing me, like how it was last year. When my horse cantered for 2 seconds, I was hanging on to dear life. *meh*

Going horse riding reminds me of my short stint at the Penang Turf Club and the beautiful mornings where I would stand watching the horses gallop before sunrise.

I loved it there.

Horsey feeling refreshed after a swim...

These racehorses were magniifiicent.

Note the double "i".

They are really such beauties. I just love thoroughbreds.
.
.
.
.
On another random note, some people I know are feeling rather depressed recently.
Too much thoughts of loss, regrets and pain.

I guess all these negative thoughts have made them forget about all the things they have and the people around them that they should be thankful for in life. Maybe it's better to focus on those loved ones and things once in awhile, don't you think?

It's not like things have always been great for me. But it doesn't hurt to try looking on the bright side of things. That is one thing I have learnt.

So, to all you feeling the blues lately,
Don't worry, be happy!

PS. My dear car who's in the hands of strangers in the car hospital, I miss you!
Get Well Soon!

OMG WHAT DAY IS TODAY!!!!

OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!

Okay, when I got into an accident, it was lunch and we went from campus to a restaurant and was on the way back. One of the guys behind had his own car parked on campus but since there were 5 of us going to lunch, we went in one car.

So after the accident, I left my car on campus and my friend (one of the guys sitting behind in my car during the accident) offered to drive me home because my car was not in a good shape and I am shaken by the incident.

So, after he dropped me off....guess WHAT???!?!

He got into an accident himself! (Second time for him in a day!!!)

Some car overtook his and hit the side of his car while he tried to do a u-turn.
Luckily, the damage wasn't as bad as my car. And the impact, way less.

His side mirror is broken.

And, the rim of the tire fell off.

And he's supposed to send me to school tomorrow.
Oh well, the car is still okay to be driven.

Two cars with stories to tell at the campus tomorrow.

So, who's to blame for this uneventful day?

=.=

Close shave with death?

Today, some huge-ass truck rammed into my car.

YES, my whole trunk is gone and now my car has turned from sedan to hatchback. Cool eh?
And no, I don't feel like posting a photo of my car up because it's very sad looking and I'm too lazy to photoshop the registration plate.

What happened to the truck you ask? Nothing. Not a scratch.

We were on the highway heading back to school from lunch. We were caught in a crawl and the cars were constantly stopping. Well, and all of sudden this car in front of me stopped, so I had to stop too. I was going "Urgh, stupid car in front of me!" when my friend said to me:

"Hey, you know what's scary-er?!? Look behind!!"

I looked up at my rear mirror. Saw the massive bars at the bottom of the truck (it was so massive I couldn't even see the driver) approaching quick, and it wouldn't stop.

And so, my heart stopped.

And one second later, BANGGGGGGGGG!!!!!

I froze.


That was my day. I'm just glad the 3 guys behind are safe.

And that we still have a tomorrow.

After the incident, I kept thinking to myself "What if I didn't hold on to the brakes? What if my car was a hatchback to start with? What if the car spinned?"

What if.......... =.=

I'm still shaken.

I think I now have TRUCK-O-PHOBIA.

frus...tra...tion.

SERIOUSLY!

I am soooo in need of a place to rant and spit out my frustration.

I've never met someone sooooo irresponsible in my life.

Like, what were you thinking??????

I admire YOU lor, seriously...

Bang bang you're dead.

We were treated to a feast yesterday, thanks Aunt Eva!

I went for seconds, then thirds, and then fourrrtths....

My dearies, spicy and salty chicken ribs.. *drool*
And then there was egg plant and minced meat =D
Well, that was just to name a few... =D

And then we all sat down to play "BANG!" the card game.
It was my first time but I must say, it was really quite fun =)
We then had a session of "Heart Attack" where a few of us got slapped so hard and were left with a mark on their hands as proof. I was, unfortunately, the first victim of the night.

On another not so food related random note, was on skype last night (or rather, morning...) with two primary school buddies, one in malaysia and one in the UK till 5am in the morning. Time difference is a pain =.=
Had my Yahoo Messenger, MSN and Skype running all at one time. While on skype with the two, I was also webcamming with another on MSN and then, chatting with a few others at the same time.

A friend sent me these. My face photoshop-ed into one, a Korean outfit and another, in some poster with a Korean actor. I thought it was really funny, so here I am sharing it with the public, to my greatest disadvantage. Enjoy......

Four legged friends.

Meet Miss Sheep.

Don't they look extremely wooly?!?! Try finding the vein to collect blood samples from them! It's a total nightmare, a test of perseverance and endurance. No joke. It takes a lot of hand and back muscles to hold these guys still while someone else struggles to find the vein.

It's time to hit the gym and build up those muscles, vet peeps!

And so, we finally had our dog prac the other day. Nothing much went on except the usual checking of vital signs and collecting blood samples. The greyhounds are such sweeties.

These few days the weather's been really hot, and wearing overalls in this weather for pracs doesn't really help. This is the usual scene at Werribee during prac days :D Overalls aren't too glamorous, but's it's okay to look like odd job workers once in awhile.

Today I played badminton and squash during break and wearing sandals was a big regret. I could hardly run across the court and was praying I don't slide from running with my sandals (They can get rather slippery). Tomorrow is tennis and I'm wearing my shoes this time around!

Walked Yeti today during lunch, couldn't get to my dog as his enclosure is behind Yeti's and Yeti just dashes out it's just impossible to hold him in. Yeti is one excited greyhound, he was walking me instead of me walking him. I couldn't walk any faster with my sandals but he just kept tugging on the leash and dragged me along the way.

Meh.

Can't wait to play tennis tomorrow!

And.....FRIDAY is here, babes!

Welcome to Melbourne, Lisa!

I have a new housemate!

And guess what? Her birthday's 2 days before mine! woot!

Finally, another girl in the house.

YAY!

(Omg it's such a longggggggggg day, I'm dying already)

PS. Thanks Hubert =)

Something's telling me....

It might just be.....

It might just be you.

Could it be?

The good, the bad, the ugly.

I guess I'm really fortunate.

I am given the opportunity to go abroad to further my studies and chase that one dream I had since I was a little girl: Being a vet. My dad could never understand my passion towards animals or the reason why I need to choose this crazily expensive course, which returns seem not even half the effort you relentlessly put in, just for the sake of graduating as a veterinarian.

I have always been crazy about animals since I was young. I remember I was always asking mum and dad if I could have a dog and they always said no, at least till I was 10, when I got my first and only puppy, Coco. I did everything I could, from hinting how cute puppies were in pet shops to reading out the classified ads of "pets for sale" in the newspapers to my parents each day.

Growing up, I had a wide collection of dog books, cat books, and I was a subscriber of dog and pet magazines. I even had a CD of dog breeds from the American Kennel Club and I would spend hours a day, just clicking through each breed and reading all about them.
I even daydreamt of having all the different breeds, and how it would be.
(yes, i know.........)

The only other pet I got was a cute pair of hamsters. The never did give birth for a year until one year I brought them back to grandma's during Chinese New Year and on the first day, mama hamster gave birth to 7 little cuties! This continued about once every 2 weeks, and I was giving away 7 hamsters to the pet shops each time a new litter was born. Somehow, I could keep up and I remember having 21 hamsters. TWENTY ONE. And yes, I bathed every single one of them everytime I cleaned the cage. I would use doggie shampoo and even give them a blowdry. I was maybe 14 or 15 and I spent hours cleaning the cages and devoting so much time to them, one day, my mum made me give them all away on the way to school.

I was heart broken.

Ok back to where I begun, might have strayed off a little there.

And so yes, here I am studying Veterinary Science, fulfilling my dreams. Being in this course has not always been a bed of roses, as all I ever saw and visioned when I was young were the nice Animal Planet shows However, Veterinary School is challenging (it can be HELL), up to the point where some of my other friends in other courses think I no longer have a life.

It's a struggle to have up to 7 subjects a semester (when the usual number another person in Uni would have is 4) and 10 papers to sit for during the 3 week exam period when others around you might only have 3 or 4 papers.

Sometimes, I work myself dry and I think to myself, "Oh my god, what did I get myself into?"

However, I would never swap this career for anything else in the world.

What other courses allows you to be on a campus, shared with cattle, horses, dogs and sheep?

Which other course allows you to run around with greyhounds during lunch breaks?


Being in Vet also means:
1. Converse shoes are the "in" thing and not high heels.
2. No nail polish or long nails (not allowed in surgery pracs). Go for the short and natural look.
3. Jeans and t shirt is always practical. No skirts or cute little frilly tops on prac days.
4. No free days in the entire week. 8am starts on 3 days out of the 5 is a norm.
5. Scars (from that cat at yesterday's consultation), scratches and bite marks should be present on some part of your body. Or else, you're probably just not experienced enough.
6. No holidays. (when 80-90% of your holidays are taken up doing clinical work experience)

And yes, I constantly meet girlfriends from other courses who look demure in nice shoes and clothings and I pop along to hang out in my dirty converse shoes and a pair of jeans and t shirt.

But, at the end of the day, I feel that being with animals is way too rewarding,

and no wants of being more of a girly girl in heels or any other pleasure in life (like longerrrrrrrrr breaks) would make me regret my choice.

V-day.

Cupid, the son of Venus and Mars is in town!

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.

(William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5)

Happy Valentine's Day to all!!

I got a Yoshi!
My first (and probably last) Valentine's gift this year.

See Yoshi? Hehe...
Thank you, the both of you, I'll love Yoshi with all my heart, I promise.

Look how adorable...

And so, it's February 14th again.
Ever wondered what's the story behind Valentine's day?
Saint Valentine or Valentine really, is the name of the numerous Early Christian martyrs. While the history to Valentine and the religiously celebrated Valentine's Day on February 14th each year may be windy and complicated, this day often sees couples expressing their love for each other in the form of love notes (or rather nowadays, Valentine's greeting cards) or a gift such as confectionery or the huge bunch of red roses.

More than that, it is an opportunity for couples to remind each other of the relationship they share, and for singles to cherish the ones they love and their friends.

Enough said, it's time to celebrate!

Don't forget to tell all the ones you cherish in your life that you love them!
(They don't have to be your life partners, they can be your family or friends)

On another note, it was a good Friday night.
At least the end was Sweeeeet. =)

Hugs and Kisses.

Swollen.

My cervical lymph node's swollen. Just the one on the left and now, I can't turn my head to the right.

This morning, it was so annoyingly swollen and painful, I couldn't even open my jaw to eat my cereal. It's painful to eat, painful to move, and even painful to sleep. I'll just suffer till this swelling decides to regress.

If it doesn't in two weeks, then maybe I'll start to worry.

This week's 8am till 4pm classes are taking a toll on my already "not in tip top condition" body. I feel the need to sleep every waking hour. But, I have these stacks and stacks of notes from the FIFTEEN lectures we already had in the past 4 days...!!!

Sighs, what do I do?

A moment of silence.

The bushfire in Victoria has definitely affected the lives of many where I am right now. My heart goes out to all those who lost their loved ones and the roof over their heads in this act of nature which has shown no mercy.

Over the radio in the car today, I heard the news of two young girls, who were my age, who died while trying to save their horses. It was extremely devastating to hear such news as I knew, I too would not think twice of turning back to save my pet. Even if it would cost me my life.

181 deaths. 80 missing.

and it continues to rise...

A silent moment of prayer for all those people who are suffering out there.



I'm glad some people at the Vet Faculty are doing their part.
*starts rummaging for old clothes to be donated*

A new man in my life.

His name is HARVEY.

Amidst all the stress vibes surrounding me, I've got at least a small something to be excited about.

Lecture notes are starting to pile up by the stacks and it's only the third day of school. I feel like I'm already falling behind and it's only the beginning! Some people are already starting to doubt their intentions of doing Vet Science. Being in 3rd year, it will definitely test my true passion towards being a veterinarian. Yes, all my childhood buddies will always remember me as the odd person with the weird ambition to be a vet (not that many people want to be vets where I come from, it was either a HUMAN doctor, lawyer, businessperson of some sort or that occasional teacher or even pop star). I was that very peculiar kid.

Well, at least I'll have Harvey. I'm looking forward to the long walks I'll be having with you. =)

Dear Kitty...

I can never forget that day.

I can never forget your emerald eyes.

I can never forgive myself.

Till this day, I still think about you.

Dear Kitty,
I'm sorry.

Just because

Yes, I do realize my blog kinda froze in time since early 2008...

However, I'm thinking, I should really take the initiative to update my blog just because:
1. It's still (sort of) the start of the year.
2. This year is going to be way too stressful, I might need to vent my anger and frustrations out
somewhere.
3. I simply feel the need to. Sue me.

Firstly, my apologies to everyone out there who actually reads my blog (maybe just a couple of you) that I strayed off track and did not write anything FOR A YEAR. I know, it's not like it didn't happen before that (there were only 3 updates in 2007) =)

SO, what's happening in my life now? I'm in 3rd year vet. Came a long way from 1st year. A long long way, and yet...it's still a long long way ahead.

I only just arrived in Melbourne 2 days ago, and this is the first time I'm feeling extremely homesick. The 46 degree weather on one day and 21 degree the next didn't help me feel welcomed anyhows.

I miss my mummy and daddy.

I miss my Coco. Miss him to bits.

I miss my friends back home.

I miss being in Penang.
Like, everything about it, even just being at the morning wet markets with my mum.
I managed to point my camera at many strangers that fateful morning
(and no, that's not my mum in the photo)

First day of classes today. Got a timetable which looks like a whole spreadsheet of the longest periodic table you've ever seen. I have 35 hour weeks with 8am starts 3 days out of 5. And worse, my 22 weeks of holidays to come will be filled with 17 weeks of work. So, where IS the holiday actually?

*rants on* I can't even go to the bank, or go run errands as my classes end at 5 and everything closes at 5.
Just great.

Okays, forgive my rants.

Hmm...what else.

Oh yea. I miss YOU.