once again,

it's swot vac and it's time to hardcore study.
(wait, i can't believe its like the end of year 4 sem 1. which is so damn fast. feels like it was just after cny when i flew back to melb).

this sem was not very smooth-sailing (yea i realised how i've described every sem as bad). screwed up during clinics + patients not turning up when i really desperately need them to turn up, being very disorganised and bad with time management, and being distracted with (good/bad) stuff. etc etc etc.

nevertheless, i thank God for all that have happened and all his plans for me :)

on a side note, thanks to someone who delivered breakfast to me this morning. made my day :)

for now, just concentrate on studying. other things can/should wait.


I CAN DO THIS.

sick =X

got a bad runny nose.. i had mucus collecting my mask during GP clinic just now. omg, so gross.

saw a very old patient just now, and her son accompanies her everywhere she goes (for dental appts and other stuff). so heartwarming. :')

and back to being sick. i need to survive tmr. got preclinical (at the new awesome building) at 8am and then my day ends at.. 9.30pm. i win.

back to uni.

super busy. =S
and it's only the 4th day of the semester and it feels like 4 weeks have passed. i'm serious.
9 am - 5pm every single day, sometimes my day ends at 6.30. and my first emergency duty is next tues (will be in the hospital till 9.30pm).
so many preclinicals, clinicals, lectures and admin stuff to do. have to book patients in for appts, check if appointments are cancelled, and call patients to remind them to come for their appts etc. omg really. i feel like a receptionist. but thank God that things are working out (even though it takes a lot of effort, its worth it)!

but, i slack a lot when i'm home, cause i'm too lazy/tired to do anything after a long day. so many lectures to catch up on =x

week 4 of uni

wow its week 4 already. been slacking so much that i really wonder if i did any concrete studying during the past 3 weeks of uni. and i guess the answer is no, sadly.

and i really shouldn't be updating my blog now since i have to prepare for my perio presentation tmr =/ i have to read and familiarize myself with the 16 pages of content that su and i have written. i foresee myself dozing off in front of my lappy soon. ya i seriously don't know why i've been so tired these few weeks =( i sleep more than usual. i blame the weather.

awww mummy's coming on the 31st and i can somehow sense her excitement about coming to melb. she kept asking what i want her to cook when she's here. so sweet right (i love my mummy ttm!)

and yes, i found a part-time (or rather, casual) job. teehee. i went for training last week and i felt a bit stressed by the job cause its fast-moving environment but the people are nice and i really hope i would be able to work with my friend (she's really awesome). i just checked the roster for this week and guess what, i'm only working 2 hours this week. LOLL, i want to work at least 4 hours! but i really don't dare to negotiate with the supervisor cause i'm a newbie. and i think i need to work more often to get used to the job. but ya, maybe it's also good that i have more time for my work (that's provided i really make use of my remaining time to study).

Ahhh i can't decide if i should go cairns with my dent friends during the mid-sem break in sept! the whole trip will cost about A$800 to A$1000 depending on the activities that we'll be doing. i think i might just snorkel/dive etc. definitely not sky-diving. totally not mentally prepared for it. i thought if i'll be working more often then chances of me going is pretty high. but looking at my working hours now, i think i should carefully consider going to cairns.
i know i eventually want to visit cairns and probably sky-dive, maybe when the flight is cheaper or something? i really don't know!! =//

i skyped with pam yesterday and i really miss her company here in melb. i really hope she'll be back in melb to visit soon!

horrible day at the clinic =(

its 2.30 am now. feeling so shagged after a long day - 8am lecture, afternoon lecture and GP clinic session, meet-up with cousin and friends who came to melb for holiday. shagged but yet i just feel like i have to blog about my GP session today. it was eventful - in the negative sense. planned to rush out as many restorations as i can (i have to do four on this patient). i did the one that was giving him the biggest prob but it took much longer than i expected. and so, i only managed to do one. i really feel very very bad to this pt =( and getting very very worried about the progress of this impt pt. a bit hard to explain here why he is impt and i shall not go into the details since i should not be discussing about any specific patient's case here.

AND GUESS WHAT. another of my pt came in today when he is supposed to come in next fri. omg a DOUBLE-BOOKED appt. sucks ttm. i was pretty sure i told him NEXT FRI and the date but apparently there's some miscommunication. MR X was really nice about it, though i bet he was feeling unhappy inside (i mean who in the world would feel good about having to make a wasted trip down to the hospital and having plans disrupted just to come down for a dental appt). i felt really bad and kept apologizing. but luckily he didn't scold me. i bet if its other patients, they would have scolded the student like crazy. thank God for that.

yea and i was so unhappy with my demo (supervisor). (loll okay i doubt he'll ever read this but i still won't go into the specifics).

JIAYOUS LEONA! u have to press on even though its really tough.

happy day

i feel happy today even though,
i've been slacking too much and wasting my time (not doing anything useful since uni started); and
i got woken up by parmesh's calls yesterday and this morning which kinda shocked me (and i really don't like getting shocks in the morning); and
i went to uni today even though its my official free day (still can't believe that my group is so lucky to have every thurs off).

YEA, but still happy,because,
its my MUMMY'S BIRTHDAY today! and i called her just now to wish her and she was happy + excited from receiving my birthday wishes (so cute right) and i'm happy whenever mummy's happy; and
i kind of enjoyed assisting parmesh today in the clinic (actually glad that i went to assist her. i'll be wasting my time at home anyways and i get to meet my friends in the clinic and chat with them. loll); and
i can watch city hunter (with ENG SUBS) tonight. second last episode though. i'll miss lee min ho! hahaha

life's good when u feel good. =D but but, i need to start being disciplined (study more and eat less!).

yea and i'm so not looking forward to celebrating my birthday with friends. i don't like to celebrate with a big group of friends. prefer small groups' celebration and like to celebrate with my family the most. mummy said when she come to melb in late aug, she'll celebrate with me a super belated one. awww she's the best :D but yea its alright, not that i really want my birthday to be celebrated. i seriously don't mind just staying at home and do what i like to do.

last paperrr

3 more hours to the start of my last paper. totally not in the mood to study. i think i'm kind of prepared (or rather i just want to get over and done with it)? just pray for no mental blocks later during the exam.
path is such a self-study subject. the notes are just pictures and u'll have to read up in order to have something to study. so i guess how well we do for this paper depends on how much we read and whether we read the correct stuff.
i really miss being spoon-fed.

i have a feeling that i won't feel damn excited/relieved that exams r over later when it finally ends. maybe cause this whole thing has been dragging and dragging for such a long time that i'm just mentally drained to feel anything. and another reason could be that i'm not going back to sg this winter break. going back home always brings excitement, at least more excitement than staying here. also haven't got much plans for this hol.

cheer myself on,

last day of year 3 sem 1

okay, not officially halfway through the course cause there's still exams, but we are nearly there right? :)

many of my friends have already embarked on their grad trip and i'm really happy for them that they have graduated. not feeling sour that i still have such a long way to go (actually not that long cause time will fly) cause i'm really enjoying what i'm studying and i'm glad i made it this far already. Praise God for everything :)

coming up is swot vac (study break). dreading it totally :( been so slack this sem.. didn't make much notes as compared to previous semesters (cause i think the lecture notes are kind of sufficient?). yea but still, i feel kind of inadequate. have to admit that i'm not as driven as before. :(

hopefully i won't do too badly this sem. seriously, who doesn't want to do well?

cold~

its 7am now and i'm shivering!! the weather has been freaking cold the past few days. so difficult to study or to even sit still in front on my study table, resisting the temptation to snuggle under my warm fleece. i guess that's why i keep falling asleep early (thanks to studying on the bed =//). and i keep drinking loads of hot water at night to make myself warm (bet that made my face looking swollen in the morning).

and the weather forecast says there's "local hail and thunder" today. sigh sigh.

my exam timetable came out on monday. super not looking forward to it. got two weeks (freaking long) of study break before my lst paper. 4 papers over a period of 2 weeks thereafter. the whole studying thing is going to last 4 weeks. I'll going to be drained like crazy :( and i'm definitely going to lose my steam studying during that 2 weeks of study break. at least give me 1 paper during the 1st week of exam and end the whole process earlier. now i don't feel the urgency to chiong my revision since i feel that i have ample time (and hopefully that's true).

so many things unsettled/undecided. should i go for the prize ceremony (will have to skip my occlusion preclinic and the last pharm lecture of the sem and pam has to skip her tutorial to accompany me)? the stupid dental school alwaysz spoil my plans by rescheduling sessions =/. and i haven't book my air ticket to new zealand after exams (need to arrange some stuff first) =( hopefully the cheaper fares will stay the way they are. and should i work during my winter break after my new zealand trip or travel to other places? quite tempted to work though. haha can earn extra money to shop during the end of financial year sale. :D

not having a lot of luck with patients the past week. sian. patients can't make it for my wed perio session so i have to squeeze them into my fri gp session (meaning i have to do perio during gp when i have other stuff to do) and i hardly have any gp sessions left before it's exams and holidays. won't see them till 2 months later. hope their carious lesions don't progress or it'll be beyond my ability to treat them and have to refer to senior/specialist. seeing a new patient today and she's coming late :( guess i can't do much today again.

realised i keep sighing these few days. very loudly. hahha.

okay, time to go to uni.

=D

feeling super tired after a full day in uni today but i have to prepare for my presentations for tomorrow and wednesday. hope everything goes fine!

received a good news today and i was very surprised when i heard it!

God is indeed faithful. Thank God for everything!

its going to be friday again =//

cons preclinic (i don't like u!) + gp clinic (another new patient). ahh so tiringgg.
this is so me, complaining that i'm tired even before it starts.

week 6 of uni

ended clinic at 5 sharp, surprisingly. it was total craziness cause i had to rush out a restoration on tooth 28 for my patient (and i had to take 2 radiographs as well). and that tooth was damn difficult to work on. hard to access with the handpieces, can't see cause its right at the back, plus lots of saliva pooling over that area. it was my first occlusal restoration on a real patient and i wanted to do it properly. but, it was just so tough. my demonstrator was really encouraging though i bet she could tell that i was disoriented. but i guess the final result was alright after all that struggling. i'll improve with experience, i hope (:

(oh and i did my first LA injection on a real patient as well! wheee. okay i know this is lame, but its a historic moment for me right??)

i was having lunch with my 2 closest dental friends this afternoon and we were saying how stress makes us super grumpy. and we are particularly grumpy towards our parents. like when we talk to them over the phone, we'll just sound very pissed even though they didn't piss us off. we just can't help it.. it just comes out of us like that (if u get what i mean). this is so sad :( i really need to learn how to control my emotions better and stop being so self-centred.

week 5 of 3rd year

getting really busy with assignments/preparation for clinics/readings for lectures to be done. and as expected, i'm having less free time to slack and chill as the stress is building up. going to yarra valley and healesville for a weekend getaway with my dad ( who is arriving in melb this sat). hopefully everything (preclinic and clinic) will go smoothly on friday so that i can take my mind off work and enjoy myself during the weekend.

clinics are getting more exciting as cases get more interesting and as we progress into treatment planning and the actual treatment process itself.

LEONA, YOU CAN DO IT! :D

Psalm 56:3-4 3

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid.

brand new week (sem)!

i guess i'll HAVE to feel better since it has already been 2 days since friday.

just get over it, okay?


i'm waiting for pam to arrive and we'll probably head to our favourite brunch place after she put down her luggages (:

the uni semester starts formally tomorrow. our first week of seeing patients.
let it be a good start!

have a good week ahead everyone!

HAPPY CNY!

HAPPY CNY EVERYBODY! may all of us have an awesome year ahead!

i have so many things to update on this blog.. after all, my two months summer hols is ending real soon (flying back earlier than planned) and i'm glad to say that my hols have been very fufilling because i managed to accomplish everything i wanted/planned to do. cheers :)

my hols started on a good note with a temp job that i (was pretty lucky) found online. working in a hotel was definitely a pleasant experience. nice colleagues and bosses, meals provided, lots of freedom, managable work. and the best thing was that they were comfortable with me working for 1 month, which meant that i could just spend my other month doing things that i want to do.

and so, my second month was about attachment with NUS dentistry (it was rewarding!), hong kong trip, more meet-up sessions with friends, spring cleaning, bringing Jin (korean friend) around Sg etccc.

hong kong trip was AWESOME to the max! love the fact that i was travelling with my sis and everything was well-planned. =D yes, we just ate, shopped, ate, shopped ... ...

meet-up sessions were kind of difficult to plan, cause everyone's so busy with uni/internships/preparation for exchange.. thanks friends for accomodating my schedule! at least we managed to catch up on quite a bit of stuff!

Jin was in Singapore for the past 5 days and bringing him around was such a torture. hahaa no la, not because of him, but rather, the super bad weather (!!!) and the lack of places to bring him around. but at least now there's RWS/USS and MBS in Sg. But Jin's just amazing. he eats everything and anything, tries to fit into the sg culture, agrees with any plans that we have for him, and does not complain about anything. =D yes, a super guai tourist (except for the fact that he keeps imitating me)!

CNY was pretty normal this year. haha the same questions, as usual, "which year are u in uni?",
"how many more years before you grad?", "when are u going back to Melb?", "How's uni?" blah blah blah.
having a bad cough now so i can't really indulge in all the cny goodies. booo, i want my bak kwa and pineapple tarts. had to see a doc just now to get stronger antibiotics. 24-hour doctors are suckers - $75 for consultation and medication.

good news and bad news.
good news first, THANK GOD that i'm managed to change my flight back to melb to the 5th of feb! so i won't be missing my 9am preclinics on the first day of sch. PHEW.

bad news, i'm not prepared (emotionally and physically) to go back earlier. just started to sink into the CNY mood and i haven't started packing. i have loads of stuff to bring back.
I need to arrange a new appt for the collection of keys for my new apartment and the connection of my utitilies. and i'm in the process of getting all these done. pray that everything will go smoothly.

this sem's timetable is simply crazy.
8am-5pm. starting clinics this sem. pray for nice and good patients. (:

bye singapore again - not sure when i'm flying back the next time, most probably end of the year? whatever it is, see u guys then! =D

love,
leona