Tomorrow, at this time, I will be regurgitating all that I have learned about our sensory and motor system (neuroscience) and lay them prettily down on my paper to be given back to my lecturer.

Until next semester, sunrise!

I sat down and had a good four hours chat with a young man on Tuesday. It is always the unexpected that makes my day and life all the more interesting. If everyone care to listen, and care to ask, they’ll see how colourful each and every person’s life is. A young man. A truly truly inspiring young man - I’d love to share his story, but I think I should ask his permission first.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll get up at 4, try to memorise all the different pathways, nuclei in the brainstem, all the different sensory and motor systems and integration of all of them. Then at 5.30am, I’ll send my housemate to the airport, have a shower after and then drive to uni for my moment of truth. Come 12.00pm, I’ll hopefully come out all relieved and happy, grab some alcohol on my way home and take a long nap.

Party starts at 3.00pm at Ryo’s, and then a chill out session at my place with a couple of friends.

Exam’s not even over and I already have everything planned. :P

So after a grueling three-days study session, I felt like my brain was going to explode right after the exam! I came home and went straight to bed, and later went out to destress.

I know I know, I should be home slaving myself with work, but I can’t help it. We all need our breaks, don’t we, and somehow, it sounds more wrong if you say you went out partying than if you say you went out to release stress and take a break from studying.

It’s all these people’s fault:

Femia

Tim

Brad

But I had fun, so that is all it matters! ;) I came home at 12, got up the next day at 8.30am and tortured myself with study straight away, so it’s all good!

New Year’s Eve was a quiet, good dinner with some very close friends and a heavy drinking night at Mojo to welcome this fantastic year.

January then took me to Kuala Lumpur for a very short trip mainly to get some clothes, and to meet some bloggers I have not met before. It was also a good catch up with the Sarawak Convention Bureau commercial production crew.

Ivan the Gecko came back and we took a trip down to Bau (the mysterious town of Borneo) and did a video that attracted quite a number of ’sex in kuching’ searches to my site. January was also filled with wedding photojournal shootings and learning a whole lot about photo editing at the Alvin Leong Studio.

In an attempt to ease out of my holiday mood, February was mostly the catching up jazz and a relax and unwind time, like taking a trip to Santubong at 4.00am in the morning to catch the sunrise, meeting my “grandfather” for the first time, and spending Chinese New Year in bed (read: sick!).

February was also packed with lots of drinking, and almost a night out every weekend. There were a lot of meet ups from breakfast to lunch, dinner to supper. Myra was back, and a few of us met Robert from UK who works in Kuala Lumpur and was in Kuching for a holiday, so we hung out for a bit. Alvin was generous enough to spend two days doing a studio shoot with me and the whole Alvin Leong Family, which serves me good memories.

I bid farewell to Kuching and left Alvin, Chris, Alwyn, Niggy and some of my friends who came to send me off at the airport, and said hello to Adelaide for about 4 hours (and caught a few winks) before I was scooped to the airport to fly into Sydney for the All Inspired Summit 2008, one of the richest experiences I have had in my life, sharing a meeting room with the CEO of Macquarie Foundation, Cathy Freeman, Ben Darwin, Jack Heath, Kerry Graham, and over 100 other inspiring supporters, donors, staff and young people from all walks of life of the Inspire Foundation.

And there was also the Thank You Event, which was a rewarding experience mixing around with prominent leaders and people from the society, as well as just with other Youth Ambassadors, and young people I haven’t met. I also manage to catch up with Little Miss May for a hearty breakfast before I left Sydney.

The accidental March had me accidentally deleted my blog, but thanks to Bryan, most of the posts were saved, except those posted at the end of February and in early March. I can’t even remember what happened then, but some of those that I remember was my first meeting with uJun, another Adelaide blogger.

And a getaway to Mount Gambier, 5 hours drive away from Adelaide.

April was a wet month, and quite an emotional one as well, but there were still a number of interesting happenings like the controversial April Fool’s post, meeting one of the most beautiful person in the world, and hearing her inspirational stories, and running away to Melbourne for a good 7 days for lots of good food, meeting Wuching for the first time, and catching up with the other Youth Ambassadors and some other friends.

Have I mentioned the Melbourne trip was mostly filled with good food?

Easing out of the holiday mood at the end of April was difficult, but nonetheless, come May, Nat came avisiting from Sydney, I crawled through about 5 pubs, and celebrated Mayboo’s grand entrance into the adult world - 21!

Of course, there was a day dedicated to the lady of my life.

Eddy from Sydney literally dropped by Adelaide for a night, and there was a good catch up, together with some good Thai food and good chocolate.

June was a rather random month, with no chocolate, no travelling, but still it was a good month nonetheless. I spent a weekend at Ben’s wonderful home, which was possibly one of the best weekends I’ve had in my life, and one of the most beautiful place I’ve stayed in. Then there was steamboat and some ‘wii’ fun at Danielle’s place. And pretty much, that’s it.

Of course, June also marks the unavoidable, very much dreaded exams I am going through right now.

Looking forward to a very eventful second half of the year!!

Hope is coming home after a bad, heavy day, knowing that things can get better once I’m in bed.

Hope is when I fight a battle, even if I don’t know the ending.

Hope is a truth that my perception creates.

Hope is not hoping, it is simply lying, but the power that comes from it overpowers everything else.

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence - Lin Yutang

Hope is the last thing that dies in man. - François de la Rochefoucauld

Hope is knowing that my body is functioning enough for me to live.

Hope is when the world convinces me to give up, but I hear a whisper, “Try it ONE more time.”

Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity - Robert G. Ingersoll

Hope.

Hope keeps me alive.

Hope is the comfort of knowing that I can live, love and is loved without needing a purpose to.

Hope is when I wake up in the morning, knowing that all your five (or six) senses are working just fine.

Hope is like a bird that senses dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark.

Hope.

ARGH!

The only thing I want to do right now is to be somewhere far far away, away from civilisation, away from people. Humans are “built” (note that I use the term loosely) to be social animal, but sometimes, too much socialising can be overwhelming.

I have a million pieces of paper laying in front of me as dead as my brain!

Urgh. Sometimes I wish I am not as perfectionist as I am - luckily not to the point of being compulsive.

The only entertainment in these seasons not to be jolly is the occasional silly jokes from people off msn, and the funny thing is, things that you don’t normally find funny will be *very* funny at this time. The funniest I have so far is someone waking up at 0400 with me and making all these funny sounding sound clips with, “AARRRGGHHHHHH!”. Funny as.

One more week and I totally can’t wait for this to be done and over. I cannot believe how much I have studied this past week - I reckon I haven’t studied this much in my entire life. And I thought third year was easy - well it is, except when you don’t want to get just a PASS. Oh well, no pain no gain.

We met up at the airport and had coffee and a random conversation about Albie’s ‘growth’. Not an extra ‘limb’, but skin on his hand (I think) and he was recommending Angeles this cream he used that helped remove it. Angeles was confused, because she has no skin growth, in which Albie replied, “Just in case you want to get rid of your nipple” or something along those lines. In which I made a really random and stupid comment of using razor instead.

The end.

***

Before: 62 kg

After: 56 kg

Causes:
- worship of the Gods of Slacks a bit too much leading to laziness to cook proper meals
- a lot more work out, and by ‘work out’, I’m referring to the 200m hike up the hill from the medical centre to School of Biological Sciences in less than 10 minutes. That’s a record OK!
- a lot more walking these days due to lack of exercise when being home
- the once-in-3000-years heatwave probably burned some of the fat (or lack of)

Clinical Treatment:
- increase of beef intake over the past 2 weeks
- more take away than cooking
- increase in Domino’s Meat Lover pizza intake, coupled with Coke (HEAVEN!) - Only $4.95!

***

Almost killed myself yesterday due to Body Systems essays!

It takes about a few miliseconds to take one step forward while walking. To describe taking one step while walking, physiologically and anatomically, it takes 3 full pages of writing.

And that is in dot points.

Please, kill me.

***

I probably say the stupidest things sometimes. The filter between my brain and mouth doesn’t work particularly well under stress.

After a grueling session in the medical library yesterday, I went to visit Inge, the super nice and gentle supervisor I used to volunteer with. She had stroke, and I was there to cheer her up - although she was quite happy already. I told her I wanted to exchange position with her, and she told me, she wants to knock me hard in the head if she had the might.

She’ll get well soon. She’s too kind, positive and nice to die so early.

***

Ren’s baby is due tomorrow! It’s her first child, and I’ll drop in the Women’s and Children’s Hospital to visit her tomorrow. :D

I had to modify it because I couldn’t be bothered with all the details to make it 5 star.

Beef
Ketchup  (or spaghetti sauce like Raguletto)
Potatoes (cut into small cubes so it cooks faster)
Onions

Optional:
Carrots
Mushrooms (can you tell that I add mushroom to everything?)
Broccoli or Cauliflower
Mustard Powder (because I’m English)

Heat a tall pot - you can use a pan but the oil fountain when you put in the beef isn’t very friendly - and add olive oil. Put in beef and let it fry - leave it to fry, so it has a crusty layer.

Add in onion and fry until soft.

Add some ketchup or in my case, I used spaghetti sauce.

Stir for a bit and then add in water and potatoes. The water should be just enough to cover the potatoes - not too much.

At this point, you can also put in carrot.

Leave it to boil and then turn down the heat and leave it for like 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the potatoes has become mashed and the gravy is thick, you can add in the broccoli and mushrooms and some mustard powder if you like.

Salt and soy sauce to taste and you’re done! :)

Have it by itself - one whole bowl can keep me full for like 4 hours. It has all you need - carb, protein, fat and vege. Now, don’t you love winter?

I used to receive quite a lot of mails or packages but nowadays, no one loves me anymore and doesn’t send me stuff as often. My mailbox feels so unloved, and it gets suffocated with all these junk mails about what and where is on sale.

Back to my letterbox, nothing beats opening the mailbox to find a cheque for you!

All it takes was to have a look at a banner prepared by Family Planning Australia about oral sex and provide some feedback for it, which probably took only about less than 5 minutes. 50 bucks for 5 minutes, not bad ey?

Enough for me to throw a party on the 4th July!

Anyway, it’s exam times with my first paper next Friday. It is almost like a blogosphere’s ritual to post their examination timetable on their blog, but I wouldn’t put mine just to make stalking me a little bit tougher, in case there’s any.

Friday marked the last day of our semester, but I wasn’t overly excited about it, and I am not too sure whether that is a good sign or not. Sure, I love uni and all, but I don’t think I am prepared to graduate and enter the cruel world of working. Think: evil boss, cannibalistic colleagues and a mundane 9-5/Monday-Friday work. Well, at least that’s what the stereotypical perception of work the blogosphere speak about.

I want a job that’s enjoyable, but at the same time, I don’t want to work. I am only one semester to graduation, i.e. if I pass!

Anyway, Friday was also the poster exhibition for the first year students. Me, being a good tutor, was there to encourage the students and stimulate their mind by asking them questions and pretending like I was judging. First look I knew who will win the AUD300 prize for the best poster, cos the winner sure do deserve it and it is evident the amount of research they have put into producing the poster.

I’ve told everyone that they have to either choose a difficult topic, or come out with a really unique and almost-impossible hypothesis if they choose an easy one.

José and Ben with their poster.

Oh wells, the most important bit is I had fun with the ‘kids’ (read: students) and my other colleagues despite being tackled and thrown up in the air several times.

Remember the prayer the student wrote of a lecturer? He’s the guy holding the cheque on the left. And on the right, that’s the first year topic co-ordinator, Karen, a.k.a. my boss.

The consequences of being a typical sized asian a.k.a. small is people are more likely to pick on you (not in a mean way of course) by carrying you, like a baby, high up in the air or on their shoulder. I need to either grow taller or bigger.

Of course, per usual, there was BBQ (note to the Malaysian: THIS is what Aussie BBQ truly means - not those conmen who use “Aussie BBQ” to attract customers at the pasar malam / night market in Malaysia).

The good thing about being a third year is you get to bully the second years to do the cooking while you do the eating.

This is Luc, who was my student when he was in first year, and now he’s my colleague! Also, my partner in crime!

The line to the BBQ. Is it just me or are the students getting taller by generations?

Andrew, one of my “occassional” students, mainly because he attended the wrong class once, and I replaced his tutor for a week, so he was my student twice.

Well, that marked the end of the first semester of my final year. One down, one more to go. GRADUATION! Oh nooooo!

Photo Credit: Alvin Leong, although it is edited by me in a limited amount of time.

I’m Ehon from a tiny little city on the island of Borneo called Kuching, under the ruling of Malaysia. I’m currently in Adelaide completing my studies in Bachelor of Medical Science double majoring in Neuroscience and Physiology, as well as Pharmacology and Toxicology. Neuroscience is a bitch but I love it because it’s a rather mysterious side of our body system.

I love a little bit of everything, especially if it involves a lot of emotions, whether it’s happiness or sadness; or fear.

I’ve done a three month course in digital photography under the guidance of the super talented Alvin Leong, and during that three months, I have had the chance to capture three rather grand weddings, and learned a couple of studio and outdoor shoots too. From that, I have learned a bit about photography, and photo editing - although I’m still perfecting that.

I’ve also been involved in the production of a feature film that was shown in major cinemas all around Malaysia, and a commercial shooting for Sarawak Convention Bureau, so I’ve learned a little bit about the production side of things in movie production.

I volunteer for Reach Out! (www.reachout.com.au) as their youth ambassador, which is under the Inspire Foundation (www.inspire.org.au) based in Sydney. My capacity as a youth ambassador basically is to represent the organisation from doing presentations to conducting interviews. I also organise marketing side of things, and go on air and all those kind of jazz. Through that, I have also met some inspiring people like Helen Maczkowiack the author of ‘An Awkward Fit’, Olivia Stratton Miss Australia 2003, Ben Darwin world rugby league champion, Cathy Freeman, a highly respected international athlete in Australia and so on.

I also moderate the forum, providing support and resources for young people suffering from mental health issues like depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal, eating disorders, to name a few. We do what we can, link them with help, and basically support them through their recovery journey, or we help them to get the right help. Through that, I have heard some of the most life changing stories and have the honour to work with some of the most inspiring people. People who have battled severe depression, survived suicide or sexual assault, recovered from eating disorder and so on.

This blog chronicles my life as a medical science student, an ambassador for an amazing organisation, and just my everyday life. I travel every once in a while, so I write about interesting stuff I experience with all my 5 senses (some say six). And I must say, through this blog, I have met some truly amazing people, some of which are just pure gem!

According to good ole’ dictionary.com:
hodgepodge /?h?d??p?d?/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation
[hoj-poj] –noun
a heterogeneous mixture; jumble.

So expect some really random stuff from me. :)