Live A Different Life

I miss internet! I miss internet! I miss internet! After countless nights of counting and negotiating with Vodafone, finally internet is here. It feels good to be able to aimless to surf the internet, read blogs, news etc etc.

I wish I can blog more now but it's time to go to work. Finishing work @ 8pm tonight. Until then, I miss you guys! *hugs*

Real photo to come

and I met my new watch for the first time! No more finding my cellphone to check the time, no more time guessing game. Loved the new watch by my family~ Thank you!

After beauty sleep, Alex and I went out to collect my birthday gift! Driving around Auckland was not in my genes unfortunately and we ended up lost. Thanks to people who invented maps, we managed to find the place in the end. Please say hi to my NEW LAPTOP, HP dv6817TX! Loved the design, the widescreen, the webcam and microphone, the whole thing! I have already officially named it *drumroll* Alex :) In fact, I am blogging from the new laptop now. No more lagging or system crash when I'm in the middle of doing stuff.

After lunch at Nando's (highly recommended!), we came home to rest for a while before getting ready for dinner @ Hammerhead Seafood Restaurant by Mission Bay. Beautiful scenery, wonderful atmosphere and delicious food.

Thank you everyone for wishing me happy birthday. Thank you for your present, I really loved it =P Thank you for being my friend and thank you for being there for me, always!

Been in Napier from last Tuesday until today. I totally felt like an adult, doing things which I never imagined I will do before I reach 20: buying fridge and washing machine, arrange meetings with potential landlords, invited over for dinner with auntie and uncle. Still to do: buy bed, lounge suite, dining table etc etc. Feeling overwhelmed but excited as well.

To sum up my first week in Napier:
Day 1: Reach Napier at around 9pm. Couldn't find a trolley(!) and for the first time see an airport with no baggage carousel. Reach backpackers to a room with no window at all. Interesting~

Day 2: 6 appointments with various landlords and agents. The first three houses: scary and ugly. Really thankful that the rest of the houses looked quite nice. Spent the whole day walking around Napier (from 10.30am to 5.30pm). Tired -_-

Day 3: Finally no more walking. Alex rented a car so we drove around, checking out houses not within walking distance. Beautiful areas like West Shore, Ahuriri, Bluff Hill etc. The whole Napier is along the coast. Beautiful!

Day 4: Finally decided on a house. Signed contract, bought fridge and washing machine. Drove around to check out beds, lounge suites etc etc. Parked the car by the beach for sunset and had dinner there. *Love*

Day 5: Drove around Napier trying to find sandy beach (along the main roads of Napier is rocky beach, heard people say you can find sandy beach if you drive further away from town). Drove to Cape Kidnappers only to find out that if you want to see the gannets, you will have to walk 4 hours round trip *eeks* Not suitable for a lazy person like me. Had dinner at an auntie's place. Delicious dinner and close-up observation of Napier lifestyle. One comment I heard most often during the time I spent in Napier: You will love this place. I can't imagine living anywhere else. Can't wait~

Day 6: Bus from Napier to Auckland. 7 and a half hour, just 2 hours short of a plane trip back to Malaysia. Had porridge for dinner. I miss Auckland's food. Michelle, May and everyone, if you need anything from Auckland, just let me know~

Have you ever wished that there is no one sitting next to you and be disappointed when someone says "Excuse me, can I get through please" Well, check out Air NZ's latest 'invention':

Passengers on partly full Air New Zealand flights to the United States can guarantee an empty seat next to them - if they're prepared to pay $75.

The airline's novel way of making money out of empty seats during the long-haul travel slump has proved popular during a month-long trial.

Air New Zealand group general manager international airlines Ed Sims said it took the lottery out of whether or not passengers get an empty seat next to them.

Like other carriers, Air New Zealand has been hit with a steep fall in passenger numbers as a result of the financial crisis. The airline has been forced to lay off up to 200 staff.

"Necessity is the mother of invention. While we've got some empty seats we'd rather be making something out of that seat than nothing at all," said Mr Sims.

The airline started the scheme just over a month ago on flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Up to 10 passengers a flight had opted for the extra seat which could be offered on more international routes, he said.

I feel like I'm getting older. Displaying signs of ageing.

Symptoms include:
1. Searching around the house for books which I put in my bag just 2 days ago
2. Look at old photos and make comments like "Ah, that's me when I was young" and "oh, I can't even remember I did that"
3. Telling young people "When I was young...."
4. Listening to songs from the 90s
5. Getting nostalgic and can't stand separation
6. Keep referring back to point 1 in case I'm repeating myself

Enjoying my last student holiday~ I spent my days sleeping, eating, surfing and watching occasional movies. Have always wanted to watch 27 Dresses and now that I have, I totally enjoyed the movie.

For those of you who have been living in a cave or simply don't enjoy watching chick flick, 27 Dresses is a movie about a girl who has been a bridesmaid for 27 times & who is waiting for the right guy to come along. A girl who doesn't know how to say no, who is willing to help out with anything and who is always there when you need a super bridesmaid. A wonderful movie!

I always say: I want to be slim! and my friends always answer me: Exercise. I finally found a perfect comeback line:

Even though I have only left Dunedin for a week, I missed it very much! The people, the scenery, the church, the food. Missed them so much that we drove back to Dunedin for a 2 day stay.


Been in Dunedin for 4 years and have never been to Moeraki Boulders. Shame on me! For those of you who don't know, Moeraki Boulders is famous for stones. HUGE STONES!


Michelle has been playing for The Full Monty for the past three weeks. An amazing show if you look past the dodgy parts. Funny actors, funny conversations and funny songs.


LightHouse Fellowship + Dinner @ 5 = Good food, fun and smiles :)

St Clair!!!!!!!!! My favourite beach of all times

Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)

Ashton is just a typical small town, except that it is not typical at all. Angels and demons entering the town quietly, two opposing forces silently working against each other. People finding themselves in situations unexplainable other than through spiritual interference. The reality only emerges when a skeptical reporter and a prayerful pastor begin to compare notes, they suddenly find themselves fighting a hideous New Age plot to subjugate the townspeople, and eventually the entire human race.

Thank you Michelle for giving me such a wonderful book. It is a must read, a book easy to pick up and hard to put back down, a book which describes the spiritual warfare beautifully. I will give it a 5 star rating!

Bacteria are already being used in some throat lozenges to help treat sore throats. Now researchers say their application could go much further.

New Zealand is leading world research into applications of useful bacteria to counter problems such as tooth decay, body odour and ear infections.


At a conference in Auckland yesterday, Professor John Tagg said products were already on the market as a result of University of Otago research to help protect against sore throats through lozenges that contain a streptococcus known to reduce the risk of infection.

Now Professor Tagg and his researchers in the microbiology department are turning their minds to other applications using similar principles. He is confident probiotics - live organisms that confer health when given to people - have a huge potential in a range of conditions.

Already an infant formula is being developed containing bacteria that will help fight middle-ear infections.

Professor Tagg said it was possible to come up with a body stick, with bacteria in the wax, to help deal with body odour, and lozenges with live bacteria to help fight either tooth decay or gum disease.

Professor Tagg told the Herald the area he was most excited about was developing some form of immunity against bacterial meningitis, through exploiting a bacterium that might be able to protect people from it.

The science involved in probiotics might also be useful in the future to help fight hospital superbugs, he said.

Professor Tagg is a consultant scientist to BLIS Technologies, which manufactures a range of probiotic products.

BLIS stands for Bacteriocin-Like Inhibitory Substance and its products have been on the market for about eight years and are starting to make a profit, he said.

Professor Tagg said he was also researching applications for bovine mastitis which "you would be very grateful for if you were a cow". (NZ Herald)

I am finally, officially a pharmacy graduate. Thank you, thank you
*Smiling and waving*


Our results came out today and I managed to pass all the papers! No more studying, no more assignment-induced stress, no more burning midnight oil. Really thank God for seeing me through these four years in uni.

As celebration for surviving uni, I finally gathered together my lazy bones and went outside. The sky is so blue. The weather is so sunny. The gardens are so beautiful. It seems like the world has changed quite a bit since the last time I came out of my turtle shell. Went to Christchurch Art Gallery. Only one word to describe the place: beautiful. Looking through the paintings, some of them look so real that I thought they were photographs. Such attention to detail, it was awesome. As we were leaving the place, we saw some kids getting ready for a show. Apparently it is an initiative to integrate cultural studies into school curriculum.


Random pictures taken throughout the year :)

Missing people seems to be the highlight of my day these days: Michelle & Raymond, Janice & Greg, Jocelyn, May, Sharon T, Chyi Mei, Fiona, the Lighthouse Fellowship.

Last minute packing is seriously unhealthy for you, speaking from an experienced last-minute-packer's point of view. Barely enjoyed my Unicol bed for the last time before leaving :(
Pack, unpack and repack everything. It wasn't fun at all. Thank you Michelle for all your help, Sharon & Tao for looking after our luggage and Unicol's trolleys for being there for us!

Supposed to reach the airport at least half an hour before the flight departs but we only arrives 15 minutes before the flight to a super duper long QUEUE. Even worse, I realised that I forgot to bring my bag with all the travel documents ie our tickets etc! Thanks Alex for saving the day by calming me down and thought of using his credit card to check in. So glad that the flight didn't leave without us. Turned out that we weren't the only late-comers and the flight had ended out depart late. Had a interesting talk with the girl sitting next to us and found that we have quite a lot in common: she is a pharmacy student-to-be, she is a christian, she knows Sarah Stewart, she works in the pharmacy where Sylvia and Esther will be workin as intern. What a small world, or rather, what a small country.

Big thanks to Amy and Rob for bringing my bag up. Big thanks to Michelle for the wonderful sermon notes *hugs*

What I have been up to these few days:


As Fiona is considering driving her car from Dunedin to Gisborne (congratulations for finding your dream job *hooray*), I have been researching the time and costs and we have come up with a plan (being super organised and all). We will be driving from Dunedin-Christchurch-Picton-Wellington-Napier- Gisborne. Before you ask, yes, it'll be a long drive but it'll be fun too. A wonderful opportunity to check out NZ and see what it's made of (literally).

Suffering from post-exam syndrome at the moment. Symptoms include sleeping and waking up at random hours, staying up despite no need to study, drinking excessive amount of coffee, eating lots of snacks etc. Looking like this...

It's this time of the year again. Tears building up and pouring down in moments of separation. I dedicate this post to Janice Lee, my best friend who is leaving Dunedin in 2 hours.

For once, I woke up super duper early at 9am (hey you, don't laugh. It's rude). Decided that shower is a good wake up tool so got all my stuff ready and moved into the bathroom. Walking innocently, suddenly found myself...

My head hit the floor, my foot hit the shower door, my hands swinging around trying to grab hold of something --> so embarrassing. Results: head concussion (ok, maybe not that serious...possible seizure?), bleeding foot and a super red face. Instead of start studying early and be super motivated, I ended up...

Advice for myself: Do not wake up early to study, do not study too much to the point that my brain is filled with knowledge until body-to-brain weight becomes imbalance leading to fall. Should sleep more, study less and eat more (to balance the weight of the brain)!

Despite sustaining serious injury, I thank God that I managed to spend some time reading through the notes. Hours before the exam, trying to squeeze in some pharmacokinetics but it was too boring so decided to switch to Thomas Rades' lecture. Two 10 marks questions today: liver pharmacokinetics and Rades' stuff. I just finished studying liver pharmacokinetics before switching to Rades! Really thank God for His blessing and guidance :)

With my next exam in less than 2 hours, I should be feeling stressed. Shouldn't be blogging and should be studying/praying/eating breakfast/preparing stationery. I just realised that I have a bad habit of blogging before exams. Not sure if it is due to low stress level or excessive stress. Could be a result of 'head trauma' from the fall yesterday (more details after my exam). Favourite song of the day:

Officially 4 hours before my second and my scariest exam. Walking into a room with two very-experienced-and-obviously-smarter-than you lecturers is not fun at all. Answering the questions like you know everything when you have no idea what they are talking about is even worse. I think I need to sleep. I think I need to study. I think I need to pray. I think I need Hsiu Ping's secret recipe. I think I need to play Commando 2.

Exams=Stress=Random game

Not recommended for people who are not stressed :)

I just realised that today is officially mantha-sam's one month birthday! To mark my blog's birthday, I decided to make it a cake.


Coincidentally (or not), one of my favourite books at the moment is Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray.


Wanted to blog about it for quite a while, but didn't have the time or opportunity to, so here goes:

Ever been so stressed that you can't seem to breathe properly? Just imagine that you are in the special place, where you can breathe freely and fully relax, be it your childhood home, the beach, your bed. For Ruth, her special place is the warm, hollowed-out centre of a Bundt cake. With her teenage daughter acting like a teenager, her husband fired, her mum moving in with the family on her plate, she seems to visit her special place quite often. To add more joy to her life, Ruth's oft-estranged father and her mother's ex-husband, with two broken wrists joined the chaotic household. It seems like cake is the only thing that can get her out of this situation, literally. Using the sheer power of her mixer, Ruth turned her imagination into reality through baking cakes and saved the day.

Really love the story, how Ruth united her family on a mission to turn the situation around through doing what she truly loves. A really simple, yet thoughtful novel. Ever feel like you are in a overwhelming situation? Stop, think about what you really like to do, think again and act on the situation. Do not let your situation define who you are.

*the teddy bear cake image was taken from http://www.maisiefantasie.co.uk

Once upon a time, in a far away land, a beautiful fairy named Hsiu Ping came up with a secret recipe to getting 100% in exams. It was a very powerful recipe, a recipe that was kept secret for years and years, for fear of exams losing its control on people. After much consideration, the beautiful fairy decided that students do need a little help with their exams so she decided to break the silence and tell the whole world about the secret recipe.

Please be careful if you are unfamiliar with this recipe as it is really really powerful

You will need:
A pinch of knowledge
A bucketload of adrenaline (don't worry, your body will take care of that)
A heaped serving of divine intervention

Instructions:
To use this recipe, run around like a frenzied chicken (to facilitate blood flow to the brain) and pray before taking exams

Looking out the windows of Unicol at 6am in the morning. Love the sunshine, the beautiful weather and the exclusive view into St. Margaret's the scenery.

Coming close to the end of my time in Dunedin, there are things about Dunedin that I will definitely miss: the special student culture (and I am not referring to the drinking culture), the friends, and the adventures I had here.

Michelle T has a new blog! Looks like blogging is the new black. Interesting stories, cute characters and wonderful layout. By the way, Michelle had officially crowned me platypus :)


With three exams lining up next week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), I shouldn't be blogging but am looking for any reason to escape from...

Talking to May and Jocelyn, I am again reminded that we have not found a place to stay in Napier yet! Have been putting the job off due to exams, will be entering finding-a-place-to-stay mode after exams. Looking forward to next Friday: finish exam in the morning, lunch with Michelle, Janice (Jocelyn, May, Sharon and anyone interested?), hot chocolate and shopping therapy! If anyone is free or need a break from studying, give me a text (this is an order, not a request!)

People, all the best for exams! It can only get less, not more.

I always thought that I am cool. Not girly-cool but neutral gender-cool, Sharon-cool. My heart was shattered (jokes) when I was told "You are not cool. You are sweet." My heart was screaming "I wanna be cool, I wanna be cool. Sweet is not my thing!" Well, I guess now I can finally kiss goodbye with my illusion that I am a cool girl.

Listening to 'Beautiful in Your eyes or mine?' (Composed by *drumroll* Mrs Yeo!), I realised that at times in life, it's easy for us to say "I am too ....., I want to be ......" The comment that Jacqueline made was really true: "We will never stand before an artist and say aiyo why your art so ugly." Why should we then, do this in front of God, the mighty artist? We are beautiful in God's eyes. God created us and He obviously knew what He was doing and was good at His job.

Let this serves as an encouragement to everyone out there: God created us to be good, smart, talented, handsome, pretty, cool, sweet, awesome, able to pass exams with flying colours so do not ever believe that you are not good in any way.

Enough of the serious stuff, now on to the real topic of the day: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAZA!

You have really being a blessing in my life and I am glad that I had the honour of getting to know you better throughout our time together in Dunedin. Continue to be God's light, holding out the truth in the darkest place and shine like a shiner!

First time writing a blog, first time looking for a full time job (and found one), first time being to a camp where I did not spend a minute regretting the decision, first time being able to be myself and be appreciated, first time being in a cellgroup where I can really connect with God, first time worshipping with eyes closed. My time in Dunedin have marked a lot of first-times in my life and here is another first-time: my FIRST real sleepover!

Random text on Thursday: You guys keen to do a sleepover this Saturday? Food...fun...sleep :) I was so keen that I texted back asap (a rare thing for me as I often forget to reply mass texts) only to know that I was the only one who replied. NO.... With exams coming up, I think I might be the only one who still scream out "More fun, more fun, more fun; less study, less study, less study!"

A few quick texts later, we are all set up for sleepover~ Michelle, Janice, Sharon T, May, Jocelyn and I. Having exams in mind, we had a study-orientated sleepover. Had heaps of fun studying, playing choh dai di, eating best mi goreng ever, talking about things (including guys) and praying together. Waking up only a few hours later to Sleepover Part II: Shopping.

Waking up at 8.30ish on a Saturday morning, something that I have not done in a long long long long time. I always thought that I am really strong willed in the sense that it's really hard to wake me up but my 'dream' to become the hardest person to wake up in the world is shattered when I meet *drumroll* Mrs Grape aka Mama axolotl. I must say it was really fun cos I am always the last to wake up and now I can finally enjoy the fun of waking someone up *evil laughter*

Most productive Saturday ever: going to Otago Farmers Market, Countdown, study, playing with Izzie (cute poodle), lunch, study, choh dai di, study, dinner, choh dai di.

Thanks Michelle for inviting us over for sleepover. Thanks Raymond for lending us your wife, you living room, good food etc. Thanks Janice, Sharon T, May and Jocelyn for being the bestest sleepover mates. I must say this is the best sleepover I have ever been to!

Ever met a waiter who was rude to you? Ever left a restaurant due to bad service? Fear not, the solution to bad waiter/waitress is here!

Had my last QUM workshop ever, last presentation ever and last class ever (fingers crossed) today. So excited that we even took a group picture after class today. Having attended endless classes for the past four years, I am feeling excited, yet somehow lost in the rush of excitement. Nonetheless, NO MORE CLASSES ever!!!!!! (technically speaking, we still have to attend training sessions and submit assignments next year as part of our intern practice but that's doesn't count)

Spent quite a bit of my time reading through Sharon T's blog today. Read through all her posts from the past year at one go (instead of studying law exam for next week). Interesting reading and really helps me to get to know her even more. Really enjoying being a blogger and a blog-reader :)

Motivated to think more, read more and write more

Nice food, good fun and beautiful scenery are pretty much what Monday cellgroup was all about!

Having heard really good comments about Auntie Tong Siew's cooking (eg Raymond saying: Auntie Tong Siew's cooking is PROBABLY as good as mine), I really looked forward to the trip to Auntie's Tong Siew's house at Waverley, beautiful scenery, good food and awesome company :)

Considering the fact that I have spent a whole year working on the elective project, it definitely deserves a post. As part of my course at School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, I have to do a group research project with my classmates and present it to the class as part of our final year course requirement. For my group, our research topic is Solid State Stability of Drugs in Suspension - a literature review. Don't understand the topic? Worry not, for after a whole year of research, I still don't understand the topic myself.

Simplified abstract: Many drugs exist in different polymorphic forms with identical chemical structure, but different physical arrangements. Some of the polymorphic forms will be more favourable compared to others due to solubility, stability or better absorption profile etc. The main aim of our research is to investigate the stability of favoured polymorphic forms in suspension. Although it was a boring topic, it did not require much work and our supervisor was really nice as well, making the elective project really enjoyable.


As part of the elective report, some students decided to present their research in presentations and we had to listen to 18 presentations from 9am to 3.30pm. Sitting through the presentations which are very in depth and having difficulty understand the topics, I decided to focus on QuadraPop instead. 276660, my personal best! Since Alex set the record of 102810, I have never managed to come even close to that record. Finally after a year of hard work, I made it!