I am cow, hear me mooooo...

I have a rant...

2012-01-22T01:48:00.002-06:00

I have a rant. I have a ran about the combination lock to the laundry room at my apartment complex.

The lock is stupid.

The lock has an IQ of a baby chicken.

The lock deserves to be put in a mental asylum.

Because you see, the combination lock refuses to work on the first, second or third try. No, it buzzes and beeps but never unlocks till 5 minutes later.

Which would be fine if it happened on a nice warm summer evening, when the sky is clear, with the stars clearly shinning through the atmosphere, and crickets cheerfully chirping in the background.

But when temperatures are below freezing, and all you are dressed in are pj's and a random jacket you grabbed from the back of a chair, it would be nice not to be stuck on the cold end of a door, punching in numbers and freezing my hiney off.

Or maybe I should just stop doing laundry in the dead of the night in sub zero temperatures.

Maybe I am the one with the IQ of a baby chicken.

Meet Atticus

2012-01-04T20:32:00.002-06:00

Atticus Finch is a fictional character in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". He has a daughter named Scout Finch, and he is super gungho about racial equality. The part about racial equality has nothing to do with this blog post. Not that I don't like racial equality, in fact, I'm ALL FOR IT. But what really matters for the next 2 minutes of your life (or however long you take to read this post) is that Daddy Finch is named Atticus, and Girly Finch is named Scout.

So waaaaay back in Summer 2011 when I was road tripping, I named my GPS Scout because, hey its a GPS, and it scouts for stuff. I then decided that when I got my car, I'd name him Atticus. 6 months later, and I finally got a car to go with that name.

Guys, meet Atticus.

May he not be wrecked.

Gobble gobble

2011-12-19T20:32:00.002-06:00

I haven't blogged a peep since Thanksgiving break. Since then, I have learnt more than I want to know about coronaryarterydiseaseventricularvsatrialheartfailuresystolicvsdiastolicheartfailureleftvsrightsidedheartfailurehyperlipidemiacardiomyopathyx3myocardialinfartionanginasx4 and all the lab values, diagnostic tests, interventions, assessments, signs and symptoms that go with that.

And after that was the dreaded comprehensive final which nearly killed me.

However, nothing was more horrendous than waiting for the results. And that meant refreshing my internet browser every 10 minutes to check grades. That went on for 48 hours, mind you.

But we passed, and I am a happy girl.

So back to thanksgiving which was a hundred times more interesting than the final 2 weeks of school.

#1 I watched all 8 Harry Potter movies over 2 days. I'm still not a fan, but hey, I can say I completed a Harry Potter marathon. Not many people (in their right minds) have done that, will do that, or wish to do so.

#2 I cooked a turkey. Mainly because my roommate's work gave her one and she didn't know what to do with it. But also because its Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving ain't Thanksgiving till there's a 15 pound bird on the table. So they say.

So after the break, I made the mistake of telling my boss I made a big @$$ turkey for thanksgiving. He asked me how big. I said as big as my donkey. I am yet to live that down.

Flip flops in November

2011-11-20T02:16:00.002-06:00

Today I learnt that maybe I shouldn't have worn flip-flops and shorts out when I knew I would be out for over 12 hours. You see, the weather has a habit of dropping drastically when the sun sets, and biking in near freezing weather is no fun when your toes are about to drop off.

Just thought I'd share.

Two and One

2011-10-30T20:44:00.000-05:00

I am 21.

I am legal. 'nuff said.

Motivationless? Undermotivated? Non-motivated?

2011-10-23T17:39:00.004-05:00

I have spent the last couple hours on my butt on my couch in front of the entertainment center in my apartment studying. Or trying to. The drive to pass nursing school and graduate is at a record low right now.

But back to the entertainment center. The entertainment center is for show only. The TV has been turned on 3 times in the last 3 months, and its sole purpose is to make the apartment look less nerdy. So anyways, I have been staring at it for the last couple hours, and couldn't help but LQTM (laugh quietly to myself) at a little incident that happened when the roommate and I first moved in...

So this is the unentertaining entertainment center that has been used 3 times in the last 3 months. Take note of the aircon vents above it. It is very important.
So there's the roommate on the left trying to decide where to hang the picture. And that's my on the floor on my butt watching her.

I also decided to offer my helpful advice.

Or not so helpful...

...annoying even...

...maddening, maybe?

Ok, so maybe I was a little too much...

...or a lot too much...

Yeah, definately A LOT too much...

But finally...EUREKA!
And thats the story of the entertainment center. THE END.

Well, now that I've wasted the past hour on this blog post, I guess it is time to get back to sitting on my butt on my couch in front of the entertainment center in my apartment studying. Or trying to.

Of Rainbows, Loopiness and Breaking the Fall

2011-10-15T17:37:00.004-05:00

This has been an exceedingly exciting week involving rainbows and loopiness. Ending with a much welcome fall break.

It was probably a mixture of knowing I was nearing break and having to deal with rainbows that put me a little over the top. Well, right now, I'm over and off the top. But that rainbow day, I was pretty much on Mount Everest. So much so that when I went in to work, my boss accused me of being in love. Yes. I was that loopy.

So that rainbow day, a bunch of my nursing friends and I donned our smurfy outfits and took our smurfy bee-hinds to this preschool to hold a mini health fair. Each one of us had a little booth and of course, I chose to have mine on nutrition because I love my veggies.

I taught them how to eat the rainbow. Pretty cheesy, but when you have a group of wide eyed preschoolers inhaling everything you say, its pretty amazing. Cheese is amazing too.

That was one of my groups of preschoolers inhaling what I had to say to them. The picture is blurred out in case there are any pedophiles reading my blog!!! Grrr, go away!

I must say, 6 years teaching sunday school really gives you a heads up on how to communicate to kids. Yes ma, I took notes.

But at the end of the day, it is my nursing buddies that made that rainbow day so great. Without them, I'd fail, drop out of school, and spend the rest of my life picking coca-cola cans off the ground.

So plans for fall break? Well, I have a "to do list" of assignments that I need to get out of the way so that I don't fail, drop out of school, and spend the rest of my life picking coca-cola cans off the ground.

What happens before an exam...

2011-10-10T19:01:00.003-05:00

Sometimes its just easier to blog in facebookian. It gives a rather accurate picture of your thought processes at the instant your status got updated. And sometimes, during periods of craziness, the status updates can be rather amusing. This was my weekend:

Friday at 5:01 am
Evidently, my body was already in stress mode. For the last 3 nights, I had been waking up at ungodly hours - sans the alarm clock. My pathophysiology - geared brain immediately blamed the pineal gland for the lack of production of melatonin, which in turn caused me to awaken at those ungodly hours. Or something like that.

Saturday at 11:45 am

I had been staring at fluid and electrolytes all morning. Memorizing lab values and other numbers that I probably never need to know again. And it struck me how much I heart my form 4-form 5 chemistry teacher for pounding all those electrolytes into my poor little adolecent brain.

Saturday at 3:23 pm

Sometime that afternoon, I walked my sleepy head across the street to pick up coffee because my head was sleepy. I had a temporary caffiene high that resulted in random word association post. Believe it or not, it actually makes sense..to a nursing student...um...certain nursing students.

Saturday at 9:59 pm

That evening, I finished reading about endocrine disorders and moved on to the GI tract, also known as GUTS. Take note that the caffiene high had worn off.

Sunday at 1:27 pm

The next day, after church, I fixed myself another cuppa coffee and became inspired. Coffee makes me pee, and stay awake. Why not put the two and two together? So I did, and by the number of "likes", I must say it was a little bit genius.

I took the test today, but have no desire to post anything on fb about it. But I will say this, unlike most sane people who go out to celebrate surviving an exam, I came home, cooked for the week, cleaned my apartment and tried to do my laundry. Tried and failed. But that's another story for another day.

12 midnight, checking my bank acc...

2011-09-14T23:22:00.002-05:00

...and its payday, payday!
Gotta get down on payday.
Everyone is looking forward to the payday!

Who would have thunk that having to pay monthly bills would make me the next Rebecca Black?

Most evenings...

2011-09-06T18:21:00.003-05:00

Most evenings, you will find me and the roommate on our arses, feet propped up, laptops in lap with a stack of nerdy nursing books next to us. It is a fact of life. I have accepted it.

Of Parsley and Plumbing

2011-08-27T22:19:00.006-05:00

Which girl doesn't like a guy that cooks? Really, who in their right mind would want to join the throngs of stary eyed lovers fighting over parking spaces and dinner reservations every February the 14th? Nobody.

No. Every girl's secret desire is to have their guy flopping around the kitchen strapped up in an apron sweating over hors d'oeuvres too delicate for their banana projections called fingers. Of course a bout of food poisoning might change the average girl's mind. But for the most part, I believe that girls find be-apron-ed guys faintly amusing.

Well, all that is true until you meet a guy who shares a plumbing line with you. Then you pray to the Guardians of the Kitchen Disposal that that guy was a frozen pizza kinda guy. Because it seems that the guy who shares my plumbing line loves to cook on Saturday nights. I know this because of the poor plumber who is under my kitchen sink trying to save my kitchen from a dirty dish water flood for the second Saturday night in a row.

Did I mention that he loves parsley? For I see and smell plenty of that in my dirty dish water flood.

Now I consider myself to be a reasonable person. And my neighbours - guys and gals, cooks and frozen pizza eaters - are free to use their kitchen whenever they desire to do so. But when I have to haul 4 bucket loads of parsley infused dirty dishwater to my WC to prevent my kitchen sink from overflowing, I believe I have the right to be the teeniest bit of a grouch. And of course it is way more fun to write about the cook upstairs than to write about the clogged up plumbing system in my dinky little apartment complex.

The Banh Mi Lady.

2011-08-18T23:10:00.004-05:00

I am going to ignore the fact that I was silent for an entire summer because I can. Now I could be ornary and continue to be lazy, but some stories need to be told, and this is one of them. Let me introduce you to The Banh Mi Lady.

Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sub sandwich that is like waaay yummier than subway and like waaay cheaper. And so is this college student's choice of food 3 hours past lunch time and after a long morning at work.

So this college student took herself to The Banh Mi Lady to order herself a nice Banh Mi to take home to eat in peace. She goes to The Banh Mi Lady and asks for a "number 3" sandwich...

College Student: Number 3 please.
Banh Mi Lady: One?
College Student: No, number 3.
Banh Mi Lady: Three?
College Student: Yes, number 3.
Banh Mi Lady: OK, go to cashier, pay and collect later.

So this college student goes to the cashier pays and comes back to the counter. And to her horror, The Banh Mi Lady hands her three "number 3's". Good job, college student, you must have looked very hungry.

I guess I should be thankful that I did not order the "number 10" sandwich. Now that would have been a little too much.

Finals baby.

2011-05-02T09:48:00.002-05:00

Nursing Diagnosis (as defined by me): Inability to express self related to lack of facebook account as evidenced by trying to hack fb password that was reset by a friend and resorting to blogging.

Of late, I've been coming up with really awesome facebook statuses that I am unable to post. I'm pretty sure that this has a lot to do with the vast amounts of caffeine i'm ingesting. I'm sure that the awful-lame-middle-aged-men jokes I've been cracking is related as well. I am my father's daughter, after all.

Junioritist?

2011-04-26T11:08:00.004-05:00

And now that the words "COMPREHENSIVE FINALS" loom up in the horizon, I find that

NOT

CARE.

*gasps*

Lord help me.

Amen.

Mirror mirror on the wall...

2011-04-10T18:05:00.005-05:00

On getting sunburnt -

Roommate: Have you been outside?

Me: Yeah, I've been working on my tan.

Roommate: You don't need a tan, you are one.

I've never been too worried about hiding from the sun or turning 'dark'. Maybe its because I'm already on the pale side, or maybe its because I'm too lazy to carry and umbrella or slap on icky sunscreen lotion. Or maybe I just couldn't care less. Which is a good thing, I guess...because over on this side of the world, tans are pretty cool. Pun intended, thank you very much. =) And thank you to 4 hours in the sun, I am not the fairest of them all.

Of needles and blood (part 2)

2011-03-25T16:26:00.004-05:00

The last time I donated blood, I nearlly wigged out in front of the whole church. I, Caryn Tan, the preacher's daughter, nearly collapsed in the middle of a worship service. I can imagine the congregation admiring the young lady who was "slain by the spirit" while giving her all in worship. How holy and spiritual was she!! But then again, my paper white face would have given it all away. Tummy aches and donating blood don't mix well. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
So this time, before I gave blood, I made sure I didn't eat anything questionable the night before, hopped onto the chair, had 1 pint of blood sucked out of my system, and loss 1 pound instantanously. I must be a sadistic or something, because I actually watched the fat needle go into my vein while my too-skinny-to-donate-blood-with-me-buddy cringed for me. Blood never scared me, and I doubt it ever will.

5 hours later and I haven't fainted. Yet. I'll let you know if I do.

Spring break has sprung, and now it is done.

2011-03-20T19:00:00.004-05:00

Eeesh, who ever knew 10 days of break could be so productive? I spent my first 4 days in a rural part of the state on a medical mission trip. Sorta. I'll tell you why later.

We got to stay in bunk beds without ladders. It was an accomplishment to get to the top. And once we got up, we had to possition our butts on a certain plank of wood to prevent the rest of our bodies from falling through. Coming down was another ritual.
So the objective was to do medical screenings and educate people on healthy livestyles (you know the drill...), but due to miscommunication, no one showed up. o.O

This was on the first day before we realized no one was coming. Still all smiles.

The second day we moved to outside a dollar store. Plan B attracted a grand total of 5 peeps.

So yeah, mission trip failed.

Next 3 days was spent going into all 50+ classrooms on campus installing updates on computers and blowing out projector filters only to inhale about half of the dust. Huff huff. =)

Besides that, some of us took a trip to the zooooo...and spent 7 hours sitting on our booties watching the Bourne trilogy.

But that was all the fun I got in. Other than that, I got 3 papers writ, 2 assignments, a project and a quiz done. Yeah baby, that's the way I like it.

Who knew 10 days of break could be so productive? At least I kinda think it was. Now for the last 6 weeks of insanity. Let all 'ell break loose!

Muffin Madness

2011-02-25T11:28:00.006-06:00

It started out as this...
Progressed to this...

And then BOOM! This happened...

Here's the story...

I've been fundraising for cancer research. And since I hate asking people outright for money, I sent the word out that I will bake/cook (and heck even clean your toilet) for a couple bucks. Now I'd ask ya'll to donate, but since 90% of you guys live in a place where American Dollars do not exist, I figure that would be pointless. But if you have a rich sugar daddy somewhere on this side of the earth who wants to help this poor little college kid out, go to my webpage and DONATE!

So 5 rounds of measuring, mixing, portioning, opening the oven, closing the oven, cooling and packing later...

I figure I won't be making another muffin for a very very long time. That is, unless you tempt me with a huge donation.

Snow Day(s)

2011-02-03T02:02:00.003-06:00

So I skipped the entire month of January and now my "Ancient Manuscripts" will forever have a month missing in the year 2011. *wipes a fake tear from cheek*

There really hasn't been much to blog about that I haven't blogged about before. School, work, school, work, school, work. Same boring stuff, nothing much new. Except for the past week, I have had neither school nor work...because this happened:

Now I stole this picture from a friend because "baby, its cold outside" and "baby, I refuse to stand out in the awful weather to take a picture from my balcony of the awful remnants of the awful blizzard that struck 1/3 of the US of A."

Now try to put that to song.

So I've spent the past 2 days hibernating in my apartment alternating between pretending to study and not pretending to study. Either way, I didn't get smelly brown matter done.

Tonight, I finally stepped outside into the outerworld and took a joy ride down the main street, helped push a car out of a drift, laughed at several misfortuned cars stuck in the middle of the road and hooted when we ourselves did not get stuck. Snow really makes the world a demented place.

So yes, here's a shoutout to my dear friends in warmer parts of the world - stay warm!

2010: The FB Way.

2010-12-31T15:22:00.009-06:00

You can tell a lot about a person by his/her facebook status. You get to know one's personality, lifestyle, what's important to them, what dominates their life and who they really are. Or at least, who they what you to think they really are.

So this is me in 2010 - the facebook way. At least this is who I want you to think I am.

December

A 7 hour shopping trip to the biggest mall in america and one hoodie to show for it. I am pathetic.
told her brother that she was not going to say anything so that she could say something without saying anything. Merry Christmas to all. =) I am passive aggressive.
you know you are a nursing student when you start to pick out "good veins" on random people.
Upon crashing a bachelor's pad: So I braved the cold to buy GIRLY soap because I didn't want to smell like a MAN 2 days in a row. I like to smell man-scents on men. Not me.
I paid 10 bucks to freeze my butt off? Flew up to Minnesota for Christmas with the brother. FOR 10 DOLLARS! =P
part of me would rather be studying than waiting.
So finals are done with and my fb fast is over.
Le Tran is taking a break from fb until finals week. Lets hope that she stays sober. Lets hope I stay sober I changed my study buddy's password and we fasted from facebook for our finals.
‎11 hours of sleep! Recovering from Chicago.

November

Got back in one piece. Thank you God, coffee and sour gummies. (in that order) 12 hours on the road.
Survived a day in Chicago.
Has so much clothes on it's not even funny.
Cruise control rocks my world. Road trip to CHICAGO! In the dead of winter. Hence the next post.
I live. Amen.
My life is on hold until Monday 4:59pm. Yes, I plan to take that test in 59 minutes.
no more fried rice for me. x_x Cooked the worse fried rice I ever made for a cafeteria load of people. Impromtu.
Note to self: do not roll egg rolls on the caf wwand then go to work. Chances are you will
forget to remove your hair net and get weird looks.
Has poofy hair related to too many exams as evidenced by falling asleep before hair dried.
So my teacher told me that consuming alcohol makes you smarter. According to the theory of the survival of the fittest, alcohol kills off the dumb brain cells leaving you smarter!
high on not enough sleep. Beware of crash within next 24 hours.
wants to thank whoever thought of daylight savings. I need that extra hour.
is wearing her "Warning: Beware of the Nurse" t-shirt tonight. I needed the extra motivation.
Not failing is the new "A".
bought a plane ticket for 10 bucks. This is so exciting!

October

Thank you much for all the bday wishes! I think I can handle being stalked once a year. Love you all. =) Happy birthday to me.
thinks its cool she gets wishes one day in advance. Thanks guys
nearly "reported" that her "patient" had urine in her blood.
is almost halfway to the first half of the first half of the second half of her university career.
's new toy works!!
had 9 hours of sleep + a lazy morning. Caryn Tan is happy.
just needs a 75...
will sleep tonight!
Learning about pee makes me want to pee. Lets hope the same thing doesn't happen with the next chapter.
Nursing Instructor: Is there a gentleman in here who's willing to take off his shirt?
my weekends need to take a suppressant. Right now they are on speed.

September

hanging on by 4hours and a grande latte.
week 6!
done!! For now...
woke up crabby. Had a reality check in the bathroom. Is no longer crabby. =)
ummm...=)
survived exam 2.
survived exam 1.
sees the penlight at the end of the tunnel. Maybe.
sold her life to the cheeseblock. aka I began nursing school.

August

smoked up the apartment with chilli fumes. Muahaha.
is certified to punch people in the gut, shatter ribs and administer electric shocks. BEWARE. CPR certified.
‎24 hours in America and my hair has already calmed down. Whoot!
clean house, sleep, or unpack? hmmm... Back in America.
KLIA-HKG-SFO-DEN-OKC. Fly away home.
has a stack of things on top of her luggage bag that should probably be packed.
You know you are about to leave when your parents start pestering you about "what else you want to eat".

July

got locked out of her house and squeezed in through the grill gate. No kidding.
will be MIA for the week. Redang Beach!
is officially gonna be stuck with Lakin Diane Smith , Heather Peden & Bethany Layman for the next 9 months! =)
found a kindred spirit in Lisa Ng. =)
got woken up by some serious pounding. Wesleychurchians, faster raise the full sum so I don't have to deal with this next year. =P

June

beat the cwap out of the old junky computer.
kissed a car and did not like it. First accident. No casualties.
kicked a box and lost half a toe nail. Anger management issues. Or maybe I'm just clumsy.
spent 7 hours shopping and only bought one thing. Help. This obviously is a problem. Refer to December's last status update.
had the best bus/lrt ride home thanks to Choon Mui Soh. Thanks for the company.
nearly crashed at 4pm. But I PULLED thru.
needs to clorox her feet. Camp = dirty feet.
dead duck. Quaaaackeetthhhss.... Survived KIDS Camp.

May

is high on glue and aerosol spray. And caffeine, lets not forget that.
is 3" x 9" closer to June 5, 2010.
spent an hour in a smelly can of sardines. Ooops, I meant LRT
is burried under a stack of paperwork. I long for the day I can see the top of my desk again.
got stabbed 3 time. Curse them baby veins.
is obsessing over a submarine.
has new job blurcase syndrome. AGAIN. New job.
its snowing in my room! Wait, no, its just styrofoam... Props!
has probably gained 10 pounds since touching down. munch munch.
had an awesome shower in her own bathroom!!! SHOWER TIME!
has landed in the land of aunty Lisa Ng. Hong Kong.
is leaving...NOW.
has boxes up to her chin. Packing.
needs to attach her head on her neck again.
Yeah I'm in, but don't worry, I 'll run over...or knock on my window and I'll go over or something. Aparently i was such a ding bat that I posted a wall to wall post on my status.
‎3 down, 1 to go. And then I go nuts.
‎2 down, 2 to go...
and so...IT begins... Finals of Spring 2010 week begins.
‎1 bee + 3 girls = lotsa squealing

April

IT LIVES!!!! My phone survived the toilet bowl!
dropped her phone in the toilet bowl. (After flushing, thank goodness) Contact me via facebook or my room phone.
final week!!!
wants Alexis Caron to know that she is done with her paper. No more writer's block.
stuck! More writer's block.
it is coming. I shall make it come! Writer's block.
is off off and away!!!!
apparently i'm married again. Lol
gone gone gone!!!
be still my heart, you are here. sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
needs her weekend to start like NOW.
had her crash.
is waiting for the crash.
was, is or will be high on coffee tonight.
fell asleep on her laptop again.
went and locked herself out of her room. Thank you mr. nice RA for letting me in.
wants daddy to do her taxes for her.
remembers her Lord's love for her. =)
mochi. mochi. and more mochi.

March

pooped out. No more!!!
is home alone!
refuses to leave her apartment due to crazy weather conditions even to get groceries. Right now, I'd rather starve.
New Malaysian restaurant on 23rd street. Go give them business so they won't shut down and I can have Malaysian food anytime I want
SPWINGBWEAKURHEREMUAX!!! Spring break you are here. Muax.
SPWINGBWEAKURAMOSTHEREYAAAAY! Spring break you are almost here. Yay.
has fat hair today. Thank you rain and wind.
dances in the moonshine..
hearts hearts hearts the weather.
rebels against dismounting, fixing, and replacing that beast. Switching out giant projectors ain't pretty.

February

Someone threw bird food at me. Boy was she embarassed. Bwuahahahaa...
The plumber in my bathroom sounds like he's going into labour. And yes, I spell labour the British way.
I will arise and go now to...
who's watching ice dancing tonight? =) Olympics?
had a good laugh with Le Tran at the expense of someone, involving Lakin Diane Smith. Something tells me that there was an unforgetably funny story here...only thing is, I can't remember it.
go to the Great Hall at 11:30 with 3 bucks coz I say so.
does not want to look at another MSB Class Schedule again. Ever. Period. The end. Amen.
needs to kill this backache.
has Mondanitis...
You know that you have been spending too much time in Microbiology lab when you think the grass peaking out through the melting snow looks like a petri dish of microorganisms.
slept funny last night.

January

needs to stop putting things off. She also needs to stop saying that and start doing stuff!!
Trust me, you should wait 5 minutes after waking before croaking into a phone. Nobody
understands you when you are delusional.
is soooo stuffed. She really nak tidur lah...
aku nak tidur lah...
is selling her human A&P textbook. Any buyers?
is cold. Too cold.
is back to work.
didn't know calling in sick could be so fufilling. =)
=) I guess I started my new year with a smiley face.

So that was my review of 2010. It is safe to conclude that I am a nerdaholic who studies and works all the time. This nerdaholic also does not like cold and loves to sleep. Goodbye 2010.

News from the north.

2010-12-26T17:38:00.004-06:00

So I left off a week and a half ago with a cryptic post that probably left all of you on the edge of your seats in suspense. Right? Right? Hellooo? Anybody home?

*silence*

Dang.

Its okay, at least I know my parents visit this page once in a blue moon. Hi parents.

So here's the deal. I passed all my papers and managed not to be kicked out of the programme. It has been my worst semester gradewise, but probably the most interesting. And after 4 months of slogging, I can state as a fact that I don't hate nursing. Giving people shots is fun and poop is tolerable. The secret is to breathe through your teeth.

OK! TMI! CHANGE TOPIC!

And here I am in Minnesota, spending Christmas/New Years with the big brother. I get to nag him, bum off him, watch movies all day, do nothing all day, sleep early, sleep late, DO WHATEVER THE COW WANTS BESIDES STUDY. I also get to bundle up like an eskimo and take 4 hour tramps in the snow explore the big brother's hood.

Turns out, after bundling up like a fat polar bear, complete with cap, gloves and chunky snow boots, going out in negative degree weather ain't half too bad. Or maybe its the layer of blubber from all the chirstmas consumables protecting me from the fridgid cold. But I choose to believe that my "keep warm mantra" is the thing protecting me from turning into a icicle.

I am warm. It is not cold. I am warm. It is not cold. I am warm. It is not cold. I am warm...

And now the waiting begins.

2010-12-15T14:33:00.001-06:00

She had one hour of joy before grades started getting posted. And now she is a wreck.

Finals week.

2010-12-12T19:59:00.007-06:00

You know you are approaching finals week when...

...your study buddies crash on your couch/floor/bathtub. Okay, maybe not the bathtub.
...your laptop overheats on the cooling pad.
...your refrigerator is empty.
...you eat canned soup for dinner.
...you run to the store to buy frozen dinners to feed all the study buddies crashing on you couch/floor/bathtub.
...your dinning table is 95% a study table and 5% a dinning table.
...you get a permanent groove on your forehead due to multiple catnaps.
...you make an oath not to get on facebook. And you keep it.
...you change your study buddy's facebook password.
...you see your study group so often you think you'll go mad.
...you have so many microsoft office documents open at the same time you get confused.
...you start calculating how much you need on your finals to get an A, an A-, a B+, a B, a B-.
...darn it! you start calculating how much you need on your finals to just pass.
...you blog about what you are doing for finals week.
...you update your blog post every time you think of something to add to the list.

update:
...you wear your "beware of the nurse" tee shirt for inspiration.
...you wear you smurf hat for inspiration.
...you park yourself in the library for 12 hours.
...you drink caffiene. Lots of it.
...you start talking about the randomest things. Ranging from cats to boys to poop to xyphoid processes and back to poop again. (Don't judge, I'm a nursing major k?)
...zits start popping out like mushrooms after the rain.

The Windy City

2010-12-01T19:49:00.005-06:00

They call Chicago the windy city; which really isn't all that exciting considering that I come from the (self proclaimed) windy state of oklahoma. But Chicago is a 13 hour drive north from where I am, and at this time of the year, north = COLD.

But for some unexplainable reason, a friend and I decided to take that 13 hour drive northward in winter instead being sane and staying home watching movies with a big mug of hot chocolate and a turkey carcass in the trashcan.

So that's me taking my first driving shift. For the first time in my life, I thanked my creator that I have a butt, because my bee-hind was nice and numb after each shift. I can't imagine what it would be like if my hiney wasn't as well cushioned as it is.

So we stopped by the University of Illinois to crash at my DNA ex-roommate's apartment which was a ton of fun coz a bunch of other Malaysians decided to crash at her apartment too and after two days, the Malaysianess had its effect on me: all the lah's and aduhai's started sputtering out of my mouth like nobody's business. I even got all excited when I saw an angmor in the car in front of us. That is, until I realised I was still in America and I was supposed to see angmors in the cars in front of me.

But yeah, we went to chicago and took pictures by the bean. Because that is what tourist do. They go to the bean, gasp at their reflection in the bean, take pictures of themselves in the bean, ask people to take pictures of them and the bean, and finally walk away from the bean.

So we wandered around chicago for a bit...and met up with some fellow OCU kids for Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Again. Trust me when I say one slice is enough. Unless you are a guy...coz culinary rules fail to apply to guys.

And that's Chicago at night. Kinda looks like KL from my bedroom. Lol.

The next day we went to the aquarium to look at fishies before driving all the way back home. Which means we reached at 2 am. Half dead, but still breathing.

An appetizer

2010-11-28T13:05:00.004-06:00

I just got back from a roadtrip to Chicago and am in the process of compiling pictures So until then, here's a little appetizer to whet your appetite. It has not failed to make people laugh, and I doubt you will be able to keep a straight face.

Ready?

True story k?

Alrights, here we go.

So 2 weeks ago, the Asian-American student association took part in an international food showcase and as tradition demands it, we made egg rolls. 500 of them to be exact. So on Wednesday night, we were in the cafeteria kitchen rolling them thingies. About 300 egg rolls into the night, I had to run half way across campus to make sure a student group had everything they needs to start their event.

So I yank off my gloves, wash my chickeny hands and take off running to the business school. I find the people in charge and give the speech that I've given a hundred times before: "Himynameiscarynandiworkwithcampustechnologyijustwanttomakesurethatyouhavealltheequiptmentyouneedforyoureventtonight..."

They stare at me and are like, "you work with WHO?" At this point I think they are kinda rude for looking at me like I'm some weirdo from mars decending on them, but I reply nicely, "I work with Campus Technology. Do you have everything you need for your event tonight?" They assure me they are fine, and I happily take off so I can get back to rolling egg rolls. But as I exit the business school, I see my reflection in the door. And my instantly, my ego level hit rock bottom.

I had forgotten to take my hair net off.

I can multiply.

2010-11-16T21:26:00.002-06:00

3 weeks = 21 days = 504 hours = 30,240 mins = 1,814,400 seconds.

I have not had a breather for 1814400 seconds. I need a clone.

Day 1

2010-11-07T22:57:00.003-06:00

I am not allowed to blog/facebook/talk about what happens at clinicals...but I think this is safe to say:

I saw blood, and I thought it was cool. I think that I can conclude I am not in the wrong line of work.

Accidents do happen.

2010-11-01T17:25:00.006-05:00

In the perfect world, where I am calm and composed, this is what would happen:

Me: So last night while I was filming...there was an accident.
Boss: What happened?
Me: There were some guys standing next to the video camera...and I guess one of them had one bean too many for dinner.

But in the real world...this is what really happened:

Me: Um, boss?
Boss: Yeah?
Me: Last night when I was filming...uhh...*stutters/turns red/laughs*...this guy...HEEHEEHEE...he uh...he uh...passed gas...HOOHOOHOO...it was reeeeeally loud...I think its on the tape...*high pitch voice*...I SWEAR IT WASN'T ME!!! *snort*

In the real world, I'm not the put together gentlelady I wish I was. I snort and turn tomato-red and almost pee in my pants on occasion. But real world or dream world, this was ROTF funny. Cause we downloaded the tape today. And holy cow, it was loud.

I am a softy who can now drive in the US.

2010-10-29T19:40:00.004-05:00

Softies like me need to learn how to look at scary people in the eye while pretending that our insides aren't slowly disolving into gooey gloop.

Gooey gloop is green in colour and faintly resembles the poop a bird once deposited on my jeans while I was walking around in brickfields. But I digress.

So back to my gooey gloop innards. I was interviewing a potential child sexual abuse perpetrator and felt that it would be pertinent information to ask about his sexual life. None of the people I worked with seemed to be going in that dirrection, so I openned my big fat mouth. The man gave me a pretty mouthful, and all I could do was to look at him in the eye, pretend my insides weren't slowly disolving into gooey gloop and calmly rephrase the question.

I probably should have mentioned earlier that this is for a class and the actor was probably having a good time chewing me into little pieces.

I got chewed up again today, and this time it was real. This morning, I took my driving test and was paired up with a hardcore examiner - the kind that will bark out instructions so curtly you have no idea what they said, dole out impatience when you ask to clarify, and remind you with every move you make that you are at their mercy. Well, the examiner was merciful, and I passed - with a face of steel and insides of goo. But passing is all that matters right?

Corrections

2010-10-19T09:09:00.002-05:00

I just realized the british spelling of "need the toilet NOW" has an 'O' in it. Like D I A R R H O E A. No wonder my brain is so messed up.

So I take my last post back. I guess I should say, "At the very least, I have learnt how to spell diarrhea. The american way."

If...

2010-10-17T08:14:00.006-05:00

If at the end of the day, the nursing school gets the better of me...
If pharmacology really pharmakills me...
If my Foundations encyclopedia breaks my back...
If I start an IV in the wrong place and I get kicked out of clinicals...
If my needle gets stuck in my pateint and I get kicked out of clinicals...
If I stick a catheter up the wrong hole and I get kicked out of clinicals...
If a put an NG tube down the wrong pipe and I get kicked out of clinicals...
If creepy patients plain scare me off...
If I don't survive my crazy sleep schedules...
If I lose all my hand written medcards and go insane...

...at very least I have learnt how to spell diarrhea.

Want in on a secret?

2010-10-03T19:57:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I'm gonna let you in on a secret...

...ready?

I played college ball.

Volleyball to be exact.

Okay, you can pick yourself off the ground now. I've been silent on that subject for one and a half months now...just in case I get kicked off the team or something silly like that. >.< Kidding!!!

Yes, I joined the junior varsity team back in August and found out that I was a dingbat. Hitting the volleyball around during PJK period is waaay different from playing the sport. But I joined the team and by golly I was gonna have fun at it.

Well, I survived, and I can now brag that I played a season of college ball. But then again...chances are that nobody would believe me.

Quotes from a Nursing Student (Part 1)

2010-09-26T14:58:00.002-05:00

Every so often, I hear/think of something so intelligently hillarious I just gotta share it with the world.

Yes readers, YOU are my world.

*awkward silence*

Just kidding.

SOOOO...Quote #1:
Nursing Instructor: So when you insert at rectal suppository (torpedo that goes up your butt), make sure you insert it about 4 inches deep.
Nursing Student: Umm...what if my finger is only 2 inches long?

Quote #2:
Upon listening for a patient's pulse...
Nursing Student as Nurse: I don't hear anything!
Nursing Student as Patient: You are not supposed to say that out loud!

Quote #3:
Nursing Student: Okay! I'm gonna do this...MacGyver Style!

Quote #4
Upon ambulating a patient down the hallway.
Nursing Student as Nurse: Okay, pretend to fall.
Nursing Student as Patient: Now?
Nursing Student as Nurse: YES, NOW.
Nursing Student as Patient: *falls*
Nursing Student as Nurse: Wait, not so fast!

Quote #5/6
Nursing Student A as Nurse: My patient won't stop laughing!
Nursing Student B as Patient: *laughs even louder*

Nursing Student A as Patient: My nurse won't stop laughing!
Nursing Student B as Nurse: *laughs even louder and snorts*

This is just Part 1 of Quotes from a Nursing Student. Evidently we won't be so "siao" when we are actually practicing on real people. Even if we were, I wouldn't be able to blog about it. So enjoy the crazy things we nursing students say in lab while you can.

Peekaboo! I see you!

2010-09-16T12:05:00.003-05:00

I've been telling people that this is how I will greet my patients:

"Peekaboo! I see you!"

And then I get to practice my CPR skills on my now unresponsive patient. Ooops.

But yes, this is how I would look like if I were a smurf.

See the resemblance?

But yay to surviving my first 13 chapter test since my SPM days. Gotta scoot and get my nose in the books again though, another big butt test next week.

The Penlight

2010-09-12T23:53:00.004-05:00

I see a penlight at the end of the tunnel.

A penlight is supposed to be an essential part of the nurse's gear...along with the stethoscope, and other medical-nursie equipment. You are supposed to shine it in the patient's eye and measure the pupil diameter or something like that...

Note that I'm being all blur and fuzzy because I'm only 3 weeks into my first semester as a nursing student. Or maybe its because the last time I studied this much was 3 years ago for SPM. Or maybe its because I should probably be in bed...10 hours ago.

But back to the penlight...

...essentially it is a torchlight in the shape of a pen. And has a pupil measuring scale at the side of it...and it has a nifty little clip...just like a pen.

But let me introduce you to a awesomer version of the penlight:

Cool eh? Now THAT is a pen with a light. It also has an awesome moo which may be useful for when you need to wake a patient up. That, or send him/her into cardiac arrest.

Road Trip woooot!

2010-09-08T18:14:00.009-05:00

I'm turning into a galavanter, a galavanting person, a person who galavants.

Last weekend was labour day, and a couple friends and I made a road trip *wheeee!!* down to Dallas to catch a show.

So we all piled into the car and I realised just how Asian I am.

You all know the hierachy of car seating, right? Dad is always in the driver's seat and the passanger seat is taken up by the mother or the eldest boy (depending on the length of the leg etc). And however rest of the world aranges themselves, the youngest child always ends up in the middle back where the hump between the two seats are. Correct me if I'm wrong.

It was only on my way back when I realised how natural the whole arangment was to me. My brain did the math and the butt found its way to the middle without me thinking twice.

Yes, I was the youngest kid in the car. I always am, and always will be.

But back to the show.

We went for this show called Medieval Times where there are a bunch of knights dressed up and they have a script about some prince getting kidnapped etc. And there were a bunch of jousting matches (hawt!!) and horsey parades (cute!!). What was really cool was that we got to eat dinner with our hands - medieval style! But cooler than that were the outfits we bought.

Now most girls in their right minds would go for the princessy stuff. Whether or not we want to admit it, we all want to be pweety.

But then I saw the suit of armour. It was in kid's size, but whatever. Minor details.

Now when I was a baby girl, I played with barbies and teddy bears like all the other baby girls. But teddy always had a gun on hand and barbie hid behind a fort. 10 years later and I'm still fascinated with boy's playthings. Blame the big brother for my tomboyish ways. But then again, how many knights in shinning armour carry pink handbags? If you ever find one, let me know.

Cokesbury 424

2010-09-04T21:45:00.005-05:00

Somethings in life never change. Take for example last year when it took me 2 months before I got my hands on my adapter and was able to charge my camera and get pictures of the apartment.

This year, it only took me one month. This blog would have been pictureless for another 9 months if mum had not decided to sweep under my bed at home and discover that I had left my nikon camera charger back in Malaysia. Or if there was no Janice Kok to fly to America ship the charger to me for a fraction of the price.

But mum decided that the floor under my bed was in dire need of sweeping, and Janice was willing to spend 5 bucks shipping a camera charger to a scatter brained friend instead of spending it at a taco truck for a midnight snack.

So, as before, the first thing I did with the camera was to take pictures of my new apartment.

Living room: couch
Living room: TV set

Dining/Kitchen Area

My bedroom:

Disclaimer: I regret it inform you that I cannot confirm or deny the use of any cleaning appliances before taking those pictures.

Apartment mates:

Yes, the 2 roommies on the left are wearing wigs. And yes, I have blue hair. Sue me.

Everything

2010-08-27T00:30:00.004-05:00

Ask me to describe my college experience in 4 words and I will give you this.

"Party"

"Pubs"

"F's"

&

"Shop"

And then I'll laugh, say "not really" and then give you this:

In no particular order: school, work, the apartment and church. And this time around, everything changed.

Most obviously, I started nursing school in earnest. No more random history and art classes for me, no more fooling around dissecting cats and playing with skeletons, and most devastating of all, no more classes so obsolete I forgot the names to. This year, I will bury my head in a stack of medical books thick enough to make a grown man cry. (This by the way, is a hyperbole)

Now work. I've been at my current part time job for a year and a half now and am the most ancient student worker in the entire office. This year, I came back to a new boss or rather a semibossless state. No boss! No boss! Lala-lala-lala!! (Think hyena. Think lion king) Another change.

The apartment is awesome. I struck the lottery and got an apartment with new furniture, new carpets and an interior designer to boot. Okay, maybe the interior designer did not come with the apartment, but she did sign up as my roommate. My new roomies, by the way are as kick-butt as roomies can be. =)

Church is different too. A couple old faces gone, and a bunch of new faces gained. But because of that, my cell group is neither here nor there. Lets just say its complicated.

So yes, the 4 areas that define my life as a college student have turned upssiedaisy. Everything's changed. Everything's different.

Worrying never produced gas.

2010-08-22T14:06:00.006-05:00

Ever thought of what you'd do if you knew tommorow would be the last day of your life? Would you go sky diving? Bungee jumping? Over eat at a super buffet? Go on a hot date? Visit disney land? Or maybe you'd be all noble and say that you'd just continue living your life just the way it is.

Well, I went on a road trip. And it was fun.

Now everyone knows that your life ends once you get into nursing school. And I've heard enough horror stories to know that there is some truth to that. Thats why I jumped at the opportunity to do something totally un-usual and un-me before tommorow comes.

So we took a roadtrip to Tulsa and met up with some old friends, ate sushi, watched a movie, got ice cream, and forgot to take pictures. Typical awesome girl stuff. But there was one thing I learnt from it all:

Worrying never produced gas.

Okay, sometimes it does produce gas. But thats besides the point. On our way back, we had an eye on the gas tank. And some 30 minutes before reaching home the light started blinking at us, and we began searching for a gas station in earnest. But we never passed one and after awhile, we started to get pretty anxious. But as I said, worrying never produced gas, and we kept our cool and tried to digest that sushi to make the car lighter you know? After a bit, the car started slowing down, and we were really working on the sushi in our tummies, when we finally saw a gas station.

Yay for full tanks, and the knowledge that indeed, worrying never produced gas. Sometimes.

Airthoughts.

2010-08-14T11:04:00.007-05:00

Airthought #1
Ever got shot for trying to smell decent?

I did - shot by a deodorant ball thingy. Open the cap and BANG, the thing flies in your face. Something about altitude and air pressure, I believe. Whatever it is, it gave me a scare, I tell you.

Airthought #2
Never complain about a flipping 12 hour journey.

So this high school kid walks into the baggage collection area, sees her parents, and exclaims, "I'm never going on another flipping (language has been modified for children) 12 hour flight!!" Honey, I've been on the road for twice that amount of time, and its gonna take me another 12 hours to reach my destination.

Airthought #3
Necessity is the mother of invention...and strange looks.

After clearing customs, I had to take my huge 28 inch bag and recheck it into the next airline. Problem is, it was past midnight, and the check in counter wasn't open till the next morning. Problem is, I also had my cabin bag and another overweight carry-on baggie containing my overweight laptop. Problem is, I had to take several escalators to the top floor. Problem is, once I got there, I had to pee. Problem is, the bathroom was on the bottom floor. Problem is, in America, I look like a poor, scrawny little asian girl.

So imagine the looks I got lugging all those bags up and down the escalators. As for me, I just smiled and waved. Cute and cuddly, ya know?

This is my 303th post

2010-08-12T04:14:00.002-05:00

3 months and 3 pounds later, I find myself returning to my 3rd year on a 33 hour flight with 3 layovers.

from KUL.

The Dreamer

2010-08-06T13:04:00.003-05:00

I have been having weird dreams of late...

Last night I dreamt I arrived at the OKC airport, only it wasn't the OKC airport. Funny how dreams always mess things up huh? I dreamt my ex roommate was there to pick me up and I was so idiotic I exited the airport without stopping to pick up my luggage. I dreamt she gave me a bear hug and squeezed the poop out of me. And then I remembered the luggage and ran back into the airport. And then I got lost.

And then the pounding outside my window woke me up.

Yay for construction outside my room. It cuts short my nightmares.

And then there was the dream about Excel. He and I never were good buddies. School tried to teach me excel. School failed. School failed bad. But lately he and I were forced to meet again, and after a rocky start, we got along jest fine. In fact, we've been spending sooo much time with each other I dreamt about him.

I had a dream about excel. Has anyone in this world ever had a dream about a Microsoft Office program? I mean like, really?

If you did, you need to go get a life.

Today I thank God that I'm not...

2010-07-23T11:50:00.005-05:00

...Pam Anderson.

No I don't hate the woman. But today, I was able to commit a crime because I was me and not her. Today, I broke into a church.

Okay, so technically I broke into a church compound. And since I live in church, "breaking in" can't really be termed "breaking in". But lets keep a little drama going on here shall we?

So it's past midnight when my friend drops me off. I hop out of the car and try the gate. It's locked. Dead locked. Chained and padlocked by the guards. After several failed attempts to locate them, I decided to squeeze through the grill.

Please do not try this at home.

The first part of my anatomy to go through was my left leg all the way to my thigh. Then I got stuck. Seriously. Any sensible person would have pulled her thigh out of that embarrassing situation, but obviously I'm not sensible. No, I would squeeze my butt through (after a series of contortions and heaving at the metal rods), followed by the rest of my torso, my left shoulder and then my head. Oh, have I ever mentioned that...

...my head.

Is.

HUGE?

It must have swelled to twice its normal size with the sheer craziness of the mission, but all of a sudden, my head was pinned between two rusty pieces of metal. Not a pretty predicament to be caught in. Literally.

So I removed my glasses, flattened my ears and tried again. This time the head got through, followed by my limbs on the right side of my body. After waving off my friend, I walk up the hill to my apartment and scared the living daylights out of the guard.

Half asleep guard: EH? Macam mana you masuk?
How in the world did you get in?
Me: Uh, I pun tak tahu.
I also dunno.
Half asleep guard: Tak tahu?
You dunno?
Me: Um...ada lubang...
There's a hole...

Now I have nothing against the woman, but if I were Pam Anderson, I'd still be standing on the other side of that gate. Or stuck somewhere in between. Now that's something to be thankful for.

Now I know why...

2010-07-18T02:08:00.003-05:00

Now I know why I hate cleaning hair from my comb/manhole/sink/other unmentionable areas of the bathroom. You see, picking it up isn't so much a problem. It's your own hair after all. It's when you bundle it up and toss it into the johnny when the ickyness begins.

When you do that, there is a large ball of fuzzy blackness at the bottom of the johnny bowl. Large because I've long hair, and black because I've black hair. Logic people, logic. Now if you want to waste water and deprive the poor fishies of a gallon of water, be my guest and flush the harmless fuzz ball away. But if you have a heart like me and love the fishies, refrain from flushing leave mr fuzzy there.

Just be warned that you will scare the crap out of yourself each time you enter the restroom, imagining the giant cockroach about to leap at you from the depths of the johnny bowl. And trust me, no matter how often you enter the bathroom, the fuzz ball will keep scaring the crap out of you.

Lucky for you, you are already in the bathroom. No accidents there.

Skinny Jeans and Bathing Rituals

2010-07-13T22:31:00.013-05:00

I don't get skinny jeans. I really don't. Maybe its because I've been "blessed"
(under protest) with a bootilicious rear end. And skinny jeans really makes that bootiliciousness even more bootilicious. And me no likey bootilicious.

But the fashion industry cares not for people like me. If the trend is skinny jeans, well, they are gonna produce skinny jeans. And people like me have two choices: buy the skinny jeans and look like a carrot, or shop hop for weeks on end without any progress. I chose the latter.

Well, I finally got my unskinny jeans. But it made me remember how body conscious we females are. I mean, some of us even have hair washing rituals. Yes, hair washing can be a religious experience. Kinda. Here's the story.

Oh, and that picture is just to make you laugh. Back to the story.

It was 12 midnight and a group of "orang muda yang tak guna" were lepaking making a nuisance of themselves. Amongst them was a "orang yang tak begitu muda tapi masih muda la" who was provoking the nuisance.

For those of you who speaketh not the language of my country, here's the translation:
Orang muda yang tak guna - useless youths
Lepaking - hanging out
Orang yang tak begitu muda tapi masih muda la - A not so young but still young person...la.

So the Orang Masih Muda (OMM) had just found out that she and one of the Orang Muda Tak Guna (OMTG) had the same bathing ritual as her.

OMM: So ya, I shampoo my hair first...
OMTG: And then rinse...then put the conditioner...
OMM: But cannot rinse yet...
OMTG: Must let it sit, so soap the body first...
OMM: Wait a while...
OMTG: THEN only rinse. Start with the body then the hair...
OMM: So that the conditioner has a few more moments to soak in the hair...

Realising that they were kindered spirits in the realm of hair washing, they excitedly gave each other high fives. But wait, there's more.

OMM: Actually right, there's something else I do...
OMTG: Which is?
OMM: You probably think its stupid...
OMTG: Tell la...
OMM: Well, do you comb your hair when you wash it?
OMTG: Of course...
OMM: Coz right, you need to wash your comb, so I run it thru after I apply shampoo.
OMTG: Serious? So do I!!! Like that the shampoo will clean the comb.
OMM: YEAH!!
OMTG: And after you comb after conditioning it too right?
OMM: To make sure the conditioner reaches each strand?
OMTG: EXACTLY!!!
OMM: Do you comb from front to back or back to front?
OMTG: Back to front!!!
OMM: ME TOO!!!
OMTG: So you loose hair from the back instead of the front right?
OMM: YA YA!!!

And so that is the story of how the Orang Masih Muda and the Orang Muda Tak Guna realised that they were not alone in the world. Someone out there thought exactly the way they did, and it brought much joy and comfort to know that they weren't so weird after all.

I've long passed the adolescent stage where I wished my flat nose could exchange places with my not so flat booty. After all, the flat nose is the dominant gene in the family - there's no running from THAT. And no matter how many lunges and butt squeezes you do, nothing's gonna change the fact that God made your hip bones THAT wide. Besides, contrary to popular belief, you can lipo fat away from your hips, but bones...bones are there to stay.

So we females content ourselves with making the best of the one thing we can change - we wash our hair. And we wash it good.

Redang

2010-07-02T05:42:00.004-05:00

A holiday in the Tan family means an escape to some ulu, godforsaken village in the middle of nowhere. Usually, that involves a winding journey up the hills to Cameron highlands or Frasers hill. But this time, dad decided to shake things up a bit and take us to Redang Island.

But before I get ahead of myself, let me give you a 101 on "how not to pee". You see, getting to Redang involves a 7 hour bus ride to the bus station, an hour transfer from station to jetty, and another half hour from the jetty to the island. That combined with all the waiting in between transfers calls for an awesome 12 hour journey from house to resort.

And let me let you in on a secret: I don't like public toilets. Loath them. Avoid them at all costs. End of story. So here's the 101 on "how not to pee". Drink next to nothing, and eat lots of high sodium junk food. The overdose of sodium in your body will cause your kidneys to retain more water to ensure that the electrochemical balance in your body does not go haywire. Therefore, whatever liquid you consume will not make in down into your bladder. Hence, the urge to pee is suppressed. I like it when I get to apply what I learn in everyday crisis.

Really, the theory about eating sponge cake to absorb your pee is not valid.

So we got to Redang, and the island is pretty much everything it is reported to be - beautiful. Clear waters, white beaches, corals galore and crazy fish that eat out of your hand.

I mean, I even dragged my lazy butt out of bed to catch the sunrise, and that's saying a lot.

Sure the resort wasn't 5*'s, and the beaches were rather overcrowded. Neither I do not appreciate karaoke-ers taking turns to blah into the mike through out the night. And yes, after 4 snorkeling trips, you end up seeing (I quote some random youth) "the same d@*& fish and the same d@*& corals". But somehow, beauty is beauty, and ME likes pretty white beaches.

Dad on the other hand, likes water. Water is his friend.

Mum, not so much. Water and mum no mix.

As for me, me likes sleep. And hammock and me became best-ies. And me also likes how dad unwittingly censored my butt from the picture. Thank you dad.

So after 4 days, we took the same crazy bus trip back to KL. And I repeated the same high sodium low salt diet, making it back home in one piece. Albeit slightly sun burnt.

Cold Turkey

2010-06-11T11:30:00.003-05:00

This is what happens when you go from 4 cups of coffee a day to none.

You go cold turkey. You crave it. You feel like you can't go on without it. Your head has a bomb threatening to blow up. You resist it...and take a 30 second snooze. Repeat 25 gazillion times.

Submarine 101

2010-06-07T09:25:00.005-05:00

So its over, and killing you won't be necessary anymore.

By the way, if the above statement made absolutely no sense, you better read the bottom half of this post. That is, unless you want to continue to think of me as a retard. Which is fine by me. Think of me whatever you will. I care not.

Sometimes.

But back to my post. This is a recipe for building a submarine console, and here are the ingredients: polystyrene, sugar paper, lantern paper, stickers, Christmas lights, and lots of other salvaged, recycled, borrowed, created and hastily thrown together items. Lets build.

So we start off with the polystyrene - white and flimsy and polystyreny.

Cut a hole or two...or three. And enjoy the bits of polystyrene-snow floating around your living room floor, the dining table, your bedroom floor, the doorway to your house and the space outside your bedroom.

Wrap in sugar paper. Admire the smooth pwetty surface, and be happy. Enjoy while you can, the end is near.

Over the holes with lantern paper, and cringe at the creased material and the ugly edges. Cover the ugly edges with more black strips and cringe at the uneven lines. Ignore the cellophane tape peeking through. Its not worth losing sleep over.

Add the "chunkies". Obsess over everything for a few days. Add more chunkies. Obsess somemore. Mess up the living room floor, the dining table, your bedroom floor, the doorway to your house and the space outside your bedroom.

Make sure to leave your stapler staple side up and staple your foot in the middle of the night.

Look at the final product, and cry. It looked much better when it was just wrapped in sugar paper -all nice and pwetty and smooth. Add more tape to the chunkies that are falling off. Add more tape whether or not they are falling off.

Let others put up an awesome backdrop, fix up the lights and make everything all lo-mantic. Realize it doesn't look all that bad after all.

Yay teamwork!

Lastly, throw the whole dang thing away.

Chickometer.

2010-05-28T10:02:00.003-05:00

So I guess this blog deserves to be taken out of the dust for an airing. Cobwebs and cows only have four things in common. The 'C', the 'O', the 'W' and the 'S'.

Sorry guys, I know I just made your brains turn into mush.

But back to this posting. As of late, my life has been revolving around 2 things: the chicken, and the speedometer.

So I'm doing this short term stint working as a chicken farmer. No, really. I wake up every morning, feed the chickens, collect eggs, clean the chicken coop and then proceed to play tag with them till evening. Then I feed them dinner and go home.

Or maybe I spend my days sitting at a desk going through stacks of paper.

Whichever story you choose to believe, let me tell you one thing, if all chickens looked like that *points upwards*, I will turn vegetarian in a heartbeat.

I would tell you guys about the speedometer, but then I'd have to kill you. Each. And. Every. One. Of. You.

So I'll leave you with this teaser for now.

A dozen days, crammed into a post.

2010-05-09T21:16:00.006-05:00

Since dropping the NOKIA into the poop-throne, things have happened. For one, I am back home, getting fat. But lets not get ahead of myself...yes?

So the last time I blogged it was the last week of April. That was the final week of classes...which wasn't too bad. All the profs were winding down, everything was chill...everyone was ignoring the fact that we should be studying instead of...not studying. Heh.

Then finals doomed upon me. There were several classes in which I was straddling the border between 'A Land' and 'A- Land'. I couldn't bring myself to settle for the A-, so the kiasu-active spider bit me, and I woke up as Kiasuman. And for 3 days, everything but my finals ceased to exist.

And then there was packing. And I'll let you in on a secret:

I

hate

packing.

There, I feel like my inner soul has been cleansed. I'm a little OCD about packing. All the kitchen stuff/ stationary/ clothes has to be packed together, fitted together jigsaw-puzzle style in neatly taped up boxes, and labeled.

And of course, the hardest part of the last few days was saying my goodbyes. Roommates, thank you for bearing with me. I know I take hour-long showers and can get extremely self absorbed when I'm busy, but you guys have never ever complained. =)

And then there was the flight...which wasn't half bad considering I got to catch up on all the movies I have been deprived of. I finally watched Avatar, Slumdog Millionaire and Horton Hears a Who. I know, sad right? I tried watching Twilight, but I got bored out of my mind. Somehow, pale vampire people with blood red lips don't exactly turn me on.

So I managed to reach KLIA without too much trouble, and jumped on the train to KL Central, found mom and dad, who immediately took me to stuff my face. Since then, I've been eating non-stop, probably twice what I usually eat...so yes, to all the uncles and aunties who have expressed their disappointment at my apparent lost of weight, fear not, I bet I'll fatten right up in a couple of days.

Long live the Nokia.

2010-04-29T22:53:00.003-05:00

I own a Nokia. To be specific, I own a brick of a NOKIA spelled with capitals instead of a sleek and pretty nokia spelled with italics. Its the only type of phone I should be allowed to have, because of its apparent resistance to abuse.

No, I'm not talking about the occasional 3 foot drop from the table to the floor. I'm not even referring to the time I was jogging down the road and the NOKIA leaped out of my pocketsess onto the gravel road and broke into like 352 pieces. Of course I picked up every one of those 491 pieces and put it back together, and voila! It worked.

I am referring to today when I visited the Ladies. After I did my business, I flushed and turned around. At that moment the NOKIA leaped out of my pocketsess (again!!) into the water.

*The next part is censored*

So I ran to the sink to wash my hands and the phone. And pulled everything apart, resisting the urge to turn it on, I went back to the office, pulled out a floor fan and directed it at my phone, leaving it there for a good 4 hours.

And let me tell you what, when we put it back together and turned it on, the NOKIA lived. Not only that, my SMS service which had previously been dead was miraculously resurrected. I tell you, toilet water is the new wonder drug.

Long live the NOKIA.

Fail

2010-04-25T08:43:00.001-05:00

I finally feel like I've got school under control. My attempt at not being a nerd this semester...failed.

'ell week 2

2010-04-15T20:54:00.004-05:00

My boss proclaimed last week to be 'ell week. Seems like every single organization under the sun is trying to push in "one last event" before the academic year goes out. And the boss and his little minions get to set up for every single one of these events.

Being a minion sounds cute. But that's the extent of anything positive that has to go with that. That is besides being paid. Pay is good too.

So yeah, that was last week. This week was 'ell x2. Because on top of work, lecturers are beginning to realize that there are only 2 weeks left of the semester to give homework, quizzes, tests, papers and presentations.

And so, coffee has become part of my life again.

Eggsplosion

2010-04-10T10:06:00.008-05:00

2 weeks ago, I blogged about raising funds for Relay for Life. Last night was the event itself, where we camped outside all night to raise awareness for cancer.

Yeah, sooo...our team sold egg rolls as part of our fundraising efforts. Deep fried, fat laden, artery blocking nuggets wrapped up in a golden-brown-and-delicious wrapper. So basically, we are endorsing that its okay to have a cardiovascular disease, just as long as it is not cancer. rotf!

I'll skip to the exciting part to where the electric deep fryer konked out and we brought out the good old fashion gas burner. And I'll skip the argument about how the weird odor we were smelling was really just the plastic table melting under the heat (carcinogens, I know!). And I will fast forward to the point where I had just moved 2 feet away from the gas burner and BOOM!! The whole contraption exploded.

Good job guys.

Thank God no one got hurt. The only two victims of war was a fellow cook's hair which got singed at the ends, and a couple uncooked egg rolls which caught fire. And because laughter makes everything bad and scary better, we had a good laugh at the expense of our war heroes.

So yes, that's the story of how I nearly lost my eyebrows. I can tell you for a fact that life does switch to slow-mo when things like these happen. And your life does kinda flash before your eyes, in a surreal and totally "huh!?' way. But I can also tell you for a fact that there is a someone up there who does keep watch over us. =)

My talent in life.

2010-04-07T23:16:00.003-05:00

Caryn did what she was best at and locked herself out of her room again. She thought she'd share that with the world. Not that the world reads her blog. Not that she wishes the world reads her blog. She really doesn't want the world to read her blog.

Caryn did what she was best at and went off topic...

DejaVu

2010-04-02T22:57:00.005-05:00

One year ago, I blogged about Good Friday. It inspired me then, and it kinda still does. Especially because I just enrolled for nursing school (like for real, no turning back after this) today, and its really starting to sink in that I may end up doing a not-so-beautiful job for the rest of my life.

But yes. I'm enrolled in Nursing School. That is, after advising my adviser that I have all the pre-requisites and hours taken care of, and that I don't need summer school because I had it all planned out from the first day I stepped on American soil. I'm such a control freak. And that ain't necessarily a good thing.

So back to my train of thought. Last year, on April 3, 2009, I ran out of deodorant. And had to make an emergency trip to the Walmarts to get me some doodad. Today is April 3, 2010. I'm making the same emergency trip to the Walmarts to get me some of that doodad. Heh. Maybe I live in a world of deja-vu's.

Dirty Dishes

2010-03-28T14:17:00.003-05:00

There is a stack of pots and pans in my kitchen sink that needs a-washing. Like, a REALLY big stack. Thank God for paper plates, but someone should really look into making paper pots and pans!! Anyways, let me back up, rewind, and start from the beginning before you turn into confused hamsters.

I'm doing a fund-raising project for cancer. Or as I was told, for annihilating cancer. Because nobody really wants to donate money for people to get cancer, you know? But I digress.

So I'm doing this fund-raising thing to raise awareness against cancer and I've to raise $100 bucks. Which really isn't a big deal if you have like 6 grandparents and 10 uncles/aunties and 59 godparents to go beg for money from. I have one brother living in The States. One VERY generous brother...but sometimes, quantity beats quality.

So I decided to go bug my cell group, get them over for lunch, make them eat, and then force them pay up. Or something to that effect. Which was a good thing because someone had to help eat up the 10 pounds of chicken I bought one a whim because it was going for 39 cents a pound. And someone had to eat up the curry and sambal paste that has been sitting in my freezer since August because its no fun eating a pot of curry all by yourself for a week. And someone had to help me raise a hundred bucks because I don't have 73.532 relatives to extort money from. So I made nasi lemak with chicken rendang. And it was yummilicious. And I only have $10 dollars to go!

On hindsight, I shouldn't describe the chicken rendang as mildly spicy and the sambal as spicy. Some ang-mors have too much faith in your concept of 'mildly spicy' and that doesn't usually end well. I'm just sayin'...

So yes, back to the stack of pots and pans in the kitchen sink...

1 picture, 3 stories.

2010-03-26T15:59:00.002-05:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This one, is worth 3 stories.

Story #1: Malachite Green Stain
Klumsies like me should not be allowed in Science Labs. Chances are that when performing a bacterial microscope slide stain, klumsies like me will choose the Malachite Green Stain with the loose cover and proceed to spill it all over the table. Chances are that klumsies like me will also get it all over their hands and arms. (Be thankful I'm not showing you the other side of my hand!!) Also note that klumsies like me do not possess special skin that allows the dye to be washed off. I guess klumsies like me will just have to be resigned to freakish alien-green splotches of skin for the next few weeks.

Story #2: Home Alone
I am home alone. The roommates have abandoned me and gone to Boston for some conference. That's the reason why I am not in my room but am in the kitchen, taking over the dining table (and every other square inch of the living room). Muahaha. I bet I'll miss them after a while, but for the next few days I reign supreme.

Story #3: Curry Mee
Sue me, but when you are marooned on a yummiliciousless country, you get rather excited about food from home. Check out the bowls of curry mee over my left shoulder waiting for my friends to come and consume. *drools*

Excuse me, I need to go and wipe away my drool. Peace.

Pak Cham Kai

2010-03-22T20:41:00.004-05:00

And...I am back in shorts again. The sun came up and FRIED the snow. Muahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I am most eager for the sun to fry my winter-white pak cham kai-ed legs as well.

Spring where'd ya go?!?!?

2010-03-20T13:31:00.006-05:00

Its snowing. Again. *waaaAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!*

*sniff sniff*

I mean, like really? Its supposed to be spring ya know? I was running around in a t-shirt and shorts yesterday ya know? It dropped 30*C overnight ya know? I'm depressed ya know?

YA KNOW?

Spring, where'd ya go?? And Spring Break, where'd YA go?!?!

Ah well, this one week break was good while it lasted. I hibernated, like I always do over breaks.

I slept. A lot: sleepover in teeny chairs.
Movied. A lot: LOTR trilogy. Yes I am mad.
Ate. A lot: discovered a Malaysian restaurant across the street.
And its almost over. Spring break, where'd ya go?? Come back.

Mad Cow Disease

2010-03-11T10:28:00.006-06:00

There are choices in life we have to make. Like choosing between dragging (literally) one's self out of bed to show up to work - late, disheveled, high on goodness knows what and aching all over. Or choosing between suffering a headache in bed or suffering a headache in class WHILE earning bonus points for perfect attendance. Or choosing between making food or sleeping away any hunger pangs that may arise.

But sometimes choices are made for you. Like when your boss sends you home for looking like crap. Or when a midterm gets postphoned for 2 weeks. And then you know, that someone's really watching over you!!

p.s. I'm fine now, there are few things that 15 hours of sleep followed by a 3 hour nap and another 10 hours of sleep the following night cannot cure.

In the event of a carb overload...

2010-03-06T02:47:00.009-06:00

Here comes another Friday night,

And she squeals aloud in pure delight,
For a swift glide over satin ice,
Alas she falls not once but twice.

Just so you know, I've been skating ever since I was 8. But you know what? I've been falling since the day I was born, and I guess I just am better at that.

She falls butt-first on the ground,
A gasp or two comes from around,
Up she pops with a smile for all,
And limps to the bench against the wall.

Knocking one's tailbone out of alignment certainly makes one famished. And after a carb overload, we felt the need to scale a fence and sneak into the baseball field to work off the extra glucose in our systems.

In the event of a carb overload,
Take a short run across the road,
Jump a fence and pose on the mound,
All the while dancing and prancing around.

Pweeety

2010-03-04T21:15:00.004-06:00

You have no idea how badly my mood is affected by the weather. For the past 3 months, I'd get cranky each time I stepped out of my apartment. Like seriously, I'd get an instant mood crash. Its not even funny.

I know you are laughing.

Stop it.

But today was pretty. Almost like Windows 7.

*sidetrack*
Boss: So what do you know about Windows 7?
Me: [dreamy look] Its pweety...
Boss: [rolls eyes]

So yes, today was a very pweety day, full of sunshine and comparatively warm air. I think I see a glimer of light through the tunnel. Winter's over, baby!

I need to...

2010-02-23T19:00:00.005-06:00

work out.

And no, I don't mean go to the gym. I do that enough. Okay fine, I don't do it enough, but I do go every other day which is pretty impressive for my lazy bum. What I do mean is that I need to be able to lift amplifiers and transport a cart load of computers and haul a/v carts with flat tires without having my face turn purple. And dismount projectors and mount them back on to the ceiling without feeling like a taugeh.

You see, last year, I had a semester of weight training (which I still have no idea how I got into) and you guys saw the result when I came home last summer. Well, lets just say that I have lost some of that buffness and regained most of my ability to become a purple taugeh.

Today I realized that as I attempted to dismount a huge-a** projector without falling flat on my face and have it fall on top of me. That would definitely bring the height of my nose into the negative.

Eventually it came down. I fixed it, and eventually it went back up. But something tells me that maybe I should venture to the other side of the gym...away from the female dominated cardio machines...into the realm of egoistic guys pumping iron...and blow the dust off the pink 5 pound dumbbells.

Maybe.

Or maybe I will remain a purple taugeh.

Vainty.

2010-02-20T09:04:00.005-06:00

I woke up this morning and realized that I was related to Rudolph the red nose reindeer. I am, after all siewCOWpau.

Okay, so the zit residing on my nose isn't all that humongous. But a zit...is a zit. And a girl's face...is a face okay?

Talking about faces...
...I have been recruited as AASA's (Asian-American Student Association) Minister of Making Posters. Don't ask me how it started, I'm not sure. Just like I'm not sure how I became dad's powerpoint girl or the sunday school's default "I need a logo" maker.

So the picture above is the promo for AASA's upcoming haircut-fundraising event. Kinda freaky eh? Lol. But yes, freaky is good. Freaky makes people stop and go, "Hey! That's freaky!" Okay, that was lame.

Anyways, a quick heads up for you. I will be getting my haircut sometime this week to remedy the goofball job that the last hairdresser did on my head. So don't be surprised when I come home this May with a Mohawk.

CNY again.

2010-02-14T16:35:00.003-06:00

Last year I celebrated CNY by eating an orange.

This year I upgraded to a pomelo.

God needs to create a watermelo for me next year.

If a political mutt head like me...

2010-02-09T23:09:00.002-06:00

If a political mutt head like me can get an A for a Comparative Politics essay...maybe you should start questioning your politicians. I'm jest sayin'...

Confessions of a procrastinator

2010-02-03T17:34:00.003-06:00

Getting ready to go to the library to pull an all nighter is like packing for a solo hike through the Sahara Desert. Included in the checklist is caffeine, notes, caffeine, notes, caffeine and caffeine. And caffeine. And caffeine.

You know that...

2010-02-03T15:34:00.003-06:00

You know that you have been spending too much time in Microbiology lab when you think the grass peaking out through the melting snow looks like a petri dish of microorganisms.

Productive....not!

2010-02-01T00:38:00.003-06:00

So I had a glorious 4 day weekend, thanks to the avalanche of ice and snow that came from above. Yes students-up-north-where- the-weather-is-always-awful, my uni shut down just because of an ice storm.

Not that I'm complaining.

I mean, like, who complains about getting a free holiday out of nowhere?

If you do, you need counseling.

But back to me. This blog is about me after all, yes? =D Ahhem!!

Right, so I've spent the past 4 days sleeping at 4am, getting up at 12pm, playing cards/boardgames, watching movies, sleeping some more, freezing my tush off in the snow, sleeping, and hanging out and sleeping. Did I mention that I slept a bunch?

Yes, the only thing productive about my unexpected weekend is my un-productivity. Sue me, I've gotta live.

Frostbite

2010-01-30T14:36:00.004-06:00

*Disclaimer! I do not have frostbite!*

I would, however, like to bite the frost. Crazy winter came back after a good 2 weeks of nice-ish weather with an ice storm followed by snow. And school got canceled. Again. And I went sledding. Again. And I froze my fingers clean off. As usual. They are freezing even right now.

But yes, back to the ice storm. Thursday, it started sleeting or raining ice. So the uni sent out an email saying that classes after 12 noon were canceled. I had an 11am class. Donkey! I missed it by an hour! And like a donkey, I went to class. Along with 5 other clueless/kiasu donkeys. The other 20 odd classmate who stayed in their nice warm rooms were...not so donkey.

So yes, I've been playing the whole weekend. Lots of board games and movies. I even ventured out into the horrid unknown to go sledding. I nearly died. But there's nothing a cup of hot chocolate cannot cure.

There are few things a cup of hot chocolate cannot cure. Unless it is being forced to do laundry in this horrid weather because you ran out of underwear. Ooops.

Old Maid

2010-01-24T16:47:00.004-06:00

If I die an old maid, it won't be because of the lack of chances. In fact, I can boast of a proposal waaay before any of my peers. And the dude was as cute as you could ask for - blond hair, blue eyes and charming to boot. Too bad he was 5 years old, and I, 12.

Little boys like me. I guess its my overwhelming compliance with being whoever they want me to be. A hunter? Sure, gimme a gun and I'll kill imaginary kangaroos from Ozdalia. A t-rex? I'll roar for you dah-ling.

I just spent the afternoon playing with a 3 year old boy, and I feel like a kid again. A kid with a backache from crawling under beds and hiding in "too tight for 19 year old giants" corners - but a kid nonetheless. So go forth and discover your inner child. Your back will hate you, but it'll be fun.

What happened last friday...

2010-01-23T18:09:00.007-06:00

So on Friday, after the whole go to class/work thing was done with, this happened:

Yes ma'am, it's the 16-shot function on my camera at work again. My friend and I tried to do the lala pose thing...obviously, I can't count. What am I doing in uni?!?! I need to go back to kindergarten.

1. Smile, relax, ONE.
2. Still at ONE?
3. Oh yeah, change to TWO.
4. TWO and a HALF/THREE?
5. Finally, THREE!
6. FOUR times two equals eight, dong dong.
7. What the? TEN?
8. HEE HEE, she messed up. She does the chicken dance.
9. She laughs at herself.
10. HELP, she's in spasms.
11. ...frothing at the mouth...
12. ...stretch?
13. She hides.
14. I lift up my eyes to the hills- Where does my help come from?
15. *GASPS*
16. *DIES*

And after I was exercising my abs, I went to tag some people with lasers! And I found out I wasn't half bad at it. I got third (from behind!!!) place. Not bad huh? Lol!! *koff koff*

But yes, laser tag was a blast. Put it on the list of "things you need to do before you die". Basically, you run around in the dark shooting people and getting shot at. When you get shot at, you die for 5 seconds where you can't shoot or get shot at. And as you can see from my ranking, I am very good at getting shot at. =)

I'm coming home

2010-01-21T22:39:00.004-06:00

Look for me on Saturday, 8th of May 2010 at 12:30pm. Coz I'm coming home. =)

So I just bought my plane ticket today, after calling up my bank like3gazilliontimestoraisemylimitonmydebitcard, and freakingoutcoztheroutethati'dplannedtotakewassoldout, so Iwenttoanotherwebsiteandfoundacheaperroute, which intheendworkedoutjustaswellcozi'msuperextreamlypoorrightnow.

Really, I'm not so patiently waiting for the 31st of this month when I get my paycheck from work and from ebay (sold my old textbooks!!). Until then, I'll settle for feeling like the poor college kid I am.

Lets talk weather.

2010-01-20T19:26:00.003-06:00

Weather in Oklahoma is soooo pms. Last winter, somewhere in February, there was a warm spell, and I figured winter was over for good. So I washed up all my winter clothes and packed em up nice and neat. Then the ice storm hit. And I cried.

This time around, there has been 3 days of nice yummy weather, a welcome break from the evil cold that gave me snotcicles. And then today, it decided to rain - complete with thunder, lightning and hail stones. Well, the hail stones haven't struck yet, but they are supposed to.

I betcha tomorrow's gonna be sad again. I think I'm gonna cry.

The fourth first week...

2010-01-17T00:55:00.004-06:00

I've hit my fourth semester, and have long gotten past the "first week freakout" stage. Yes, getting the syllabus, facing a classroom of strangers and figuring out my schedule can be horrible if you don't remember to forget the fact that all the exams, assignments and presentations will take care of themselves when they come around.

As usual, I made myself a timetable so I won't be a klutz and go to the right class at the wrong time or some idiotic notion like that.

As you can see, I have two 3 hour long night classes, which is awesome because I can get them over with sekali-gus. On the other hand, 3 hours of class after a long day of class and work isn't my idea of fun.

I'd be worried for ME if I found it fun.

On your marks, get set...

2010-01-11T09:49:00.004-06:00

GO!!!

*commentator voice over*

Spring semester 2010 has began and the athletes are off sprinting down the track at a blazing speed in the front we see last semester's champion with a 2 meter lead but close behind we see a new comer hot on his heels no wait he is gaining on him he has caught up with him and he's in front what a start to the new semester oh wait someone in the race has stumbled no he's up again and we move back to the front competitors...

...wait? Who's that stumbling into the stadium? Looks like a Chinese lady with her hair standing on end. Must be bed hair. My goodness, she looks like she needs a drink of coffee laced with some *ahheeem*.

Someone, get that lady a cuppa joe before she collapses on the track!

*commentator voice over ends*

It is not recommended that...

2010-01-10T13:58:00.002-06:00

It is not recommended that...

...you step on a sheet of ice to avoid treading on mud. Chances are that the ice will shatter under your weight and you will plunge into a pool of liquid mud-slush. Removing your foot from the brown goo immediately is a must - unless you wish to marinate it in the cold icky unknown.

So go forth and avoid pud-muddles.

Thank you!

Back to work.

2010-01-06T09:26:00.001-06:00

On Monday, I dragged my lazy Christmas/New Year fed butt back to work. I ran to 4 shops to buy 4 envelopes to ship 4 textbooks to 4 different people. I wrote 4 address on the 4 envelopes to (hopefully the right) 4 people. Then I went back to work.

On Tuesday, my alarm went off at 8. I texted my boss to say I'd be an hour late. I went back to bed. My alarm went off at 9. I went to the toilet and instantanously lost 3 pounds, crawled back to bed and texted my boss to say I won't be in till after lunch (maybe). I didn't go back to work. And it was AWESOME.

On Wednesday, I'm back to work. Maybe I should call in sick again. That sounds mighty tempting.

2009 in pictures...

2010-01-03T19:13:00.006-06:00

I stole this idea from someone's blog. I ain't that original. I am pirated. I am a pirate! Arrrr!!! (Heh, joke reference to Stardust, the movie. *squeeeaal*)

So in January, I was busy freezing my butt off. We had an ice storm, and school shut down for 3 days.
In February, Daddy came to visit me.

In March, it finally got warmer. And I realised how much I love hot humid weather.
In April, I found out I wasn't doing all too badly in my studies.
In May, I said gbye to some pretty awesome roommates...
And hung out with some of my girls, before...
...coming back to Malaysia. Met up with the WMS CFers...
(I think this is June)...hung out with the MCKLers...
(Somewhere in July)...Mummels and Daddles. (Don't ask, I totally just made that up.)
...became Siewpau, like every Sunday...
...more MCKLers...
In August we sent David off to become a Dr.
And I started saying my gbyes...
And flew back to Oklahoma.
In September I took no pictures. Lol.

In October, I turned 19, and the Malaysians met up!! There isn't a connection there, btw. =)
and I spent 2 weeks going nuts putting together a presentation for English Lit.
In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving.
And I got my Drivers Permit.
In December, I celebrated Christmas with my buddies...
...my girls...
...and my brother.
There. I'm done. Thank goodness. =)

2010

2010-01-02T16:31:00.001-06:00

I have nothing to say about the new year, except that it has been awesome sleeping for over 10 hours everyday and Happy New Year!

Post Christmas

2009-12-27T10:17:00.002-06:00

David's on his way back home where it is bleak and cold and sad. The apartment is in the process of being cleaned up. I just finished baking the last of the Christmas Cookies to give away. I'm recovering from too many days of eating out and sweets. I'm seriously considering turning vegetarian, but then again, I say that every Christmas!!!

Seems like no matter where you are, whether or not you are the pastor's kid, or whatever...Christmas is still the busiest time of the year. Me thinks me's gonna set aside a day to celebrate Christmas properly next week before I've to go back to work, school and be a nerd again.

Christmas Eve Update

2009-12-25T11:51:00.004-06:00

There is a good reason why the brother came down south to spend Christmas with me and not the other way around:

ME NO LIKEY COLD!!!

I refused to go up north to his university only to turn into a Human Popsicle. But the obstinate boy brought winter down south with him. He brought a blizzard.

We were snowed in all of Christmas Eve, which ruined our Christmas Eve plans. But the food in the fridge multiplied, and we managed to conjure up a halfway decent Christmas meal.

Then we had to open presents at midnight. Which was exciting because I got to put my present underneath my Christmas Tree!!!

Ok, fine, its a $1 spruce-sprout I picked up from Target on a whim. But its still a Christmas Tree!!

Christmas Eve's Eve Update

2009-12-23T22:56:00.007-06:00

So I've moved off the couch onto my MIA roommate's bed. With her permission, of course. I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with how I scared the crap out of her boyfriend who did not expect to see a lump of blanket on the couch in the middle of the night.

Yeaps, so the brother's here.

And we had our family webcam session where we could all see each other at the same time. Sorta. That's only if you count seeing random limbs sticking out here and there as seeing each other.
Yup, we can all see were the slumber-genes came from.

The bladah is here...

2009-12-20T01:42:00.002-06:00

The bladah is here...sleeping in my bed...because I don't want my roommates to wake up in the middle of the night, forget he's on the couch, freak out, and stab him to death. That would be a tad bit too tragic, don't you think?

Let's kick some donkey.

2009-12-17T08:41:00.003-06:00

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This is a children-friendly blog. That been said, I just kicked Semester 3 in the donkey.

Translation for those who are slow or extreeeemely sleepy: I'm officially done with finals!!!

Now to move on to the work daddy sends me. Yay for the advent season where there are a gazillion services to prepare for. o.O

I see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel...

2009-12-14T22:12:00.003-06:00

I have a flair for the dramatic. Or at least I pretend I do. I don't really see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. I see light everywhere. There never really was a tunnel in the first place. I'm blabbering. Or at least I think I am. Do I blabber a lot? That's a rhetorical question. I know that you know I do. I'm sorry, I'll stop now. Honest. See? I've stopped.

Ahhem. Ahhem?? AHHHEMM!! There, that's better. =)

So...the dramatic nonsense aside, I'm done with half of my exams. I've another 2 to go, but as far as ME is concerned, its time to go amok and run around in my bday suit. 2 problems though:

Its not my birthday.
Its waaaay to cold to run around in my bday suit. I'll have to don on a jacket or something.

Moving away from dramatic talk to something plain and boring: weather.

It's cold, it's in the negative, and wind chill is not a very forgiving factor. Brr. That's all I have to say.
.

Homestretch

2009-12-12T21:50:00.006-06:00

I'm done with classes forever and ever and ever. Amen.

In MY WORLD, 'forever' lasts till 11 January 2010.

But no one really cares about MY WORLD. *sniffles*

*stops sniffling*

So yes, I'm done with classes for the semester. This coming week is Final's Week!! Yay for exams!! *vomit blood*

Statistics
Monday (2p-4p)

English Literature
Monday (4p-6p)

History
Thursday (8a-10a)

Sociology
Anytime I want*

*Online course, go figure.

Luckily I tested out of taking the Anatomy final. Yay for 2 years of SPM biology!! *vomits blood again*

Please excuse the rather bloody nature of today's blog post. I'm in a I don't wanna study mood which obviously clashes with my abominably annoying kiasu attitude towards studies and life in general.

Girl's Night!!

2009-12-06T17:25:00.008-06:00

Girl's Nights need no introduction. We camwhore, talk, camwhore, eat fattening food, camwhore, play games and camwhore again.

This particular Girl's Night was to celebrate Christmas, and we had the usual gift exchange thing. I got a baby Christmas Tree for the gift exchange, had tons of fun decorating it...

...and figuring out how to wrap it.
In return, I got a pregnancy test.

I think they want me to be the next Virgin Mary. AHHEM!!! It was positive, by the way. BUT only because it was a fake/trick test. Pa, you may pick yourself off the floor.

So talking about pregnancy tests...*flashback to August 2008*...here's a conversation I had with a church member right before I left for my freshman year in uni:

So Caryn, how long will you be in the US?
9 months. Enough to get pregnant, give birth and come back.
*silence*
I'm kidding.
Oh.

I am a very naughty pastor's kid.
.

Its begining to look a lot like...

2009-12-02T19:01:00.003-06:00

CHRISTMAS!!!
Temperatures finally dropped to just about freezing...I had my picture taken with Santa...Lights are going up everywhere...People are blurting out carols...yes, its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Finals? What finals?

Turkey bones.

2009-11-29T23:11:00.003-06:00

Today is the last day of Thanksgiving break - hence the picture of what was left of our thanksgiving bird. Poor thing, rest in peace.

But yes. It has been an eventful thanksgiving. I think I need to recover from my holiday. =P Last night I slept at 10:30pm, and didn't bother to set my alarm. I figured I'd be up by 8am - latest and have plenty of time to get to church. But noooo, I didn't get up till 9:30, and yes, I was late to church.

Ooops.

But yes, thanksgiving break is over, and finals are just 2 weeks away!! Time to get my head in the game (or my face in the books) and stop slacking off.

And they lived happily ever after...

2009-11-28T21:53:00.003-06:00

I'm beat. Running around in stilettos for 6 hours is no joke. Running around in stilettos for 6 hours doing registration/tearing down deco's/washing dishes is even better!

And I'm not even one of the main people helping out. But then again, most of them didn't need to squeeze into a teeny piece o' cloth and wear shoes which make men feel short in order to look semi-presentable at the registration table.

But whatever, Alice is safely married, and I'm glad I was able to help out in whatever way I could. She deserves it!

And presenting to you my date for the evening:
So this was the product of yesterday's 12 hours of headless chickenism. And it got torn down in like 1 hour.

So yes, Alice and Dennis, have a blessed marriage. It was a joy to be able to be a part of your happily ever after!!

Crash!

2009-11-28T00:31:00.007-06:00

Last night's Thanksgiving Turkey (mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, bread, gravy, snack-age and dessert) has been officially digested.

Side note: The dropping did not stuff out of the turkey. Sorry, private joke.

You see, I spent today helping my friend decorate for our friend's wedding. 12 hours of OH MY COWNESS. It was fun, no doubt, but I'm about to collapse.

So, last night's gluttony caused a spike in my blood glucose which probably turned into glycogen, and God forbid, fat. But the energy I spent in the last 12 hours probably burnt up all the glucose in my blood stream, causing glucagon to convert glycogen into glucose so that I don't drop down dead and spoil the happy bride's big day.

Please excuse the human anatomy jargon. I'm just helping the SPMers out there review for their bio exam.

So a glimpse of the table which ain't finished yet!

And the backdrop which was built from scratch, by the way. Not by me, I was just the nail passer. Is there such a thing?
We did take a break to lie in the grass though.
Envious? Oklahoma weather can be pretty nasty. Or gorgeous.

Today, was gorgeous.

Cow Crossing!

2009-11-25T19:11:00.004-06:00

So I went to get my Driving Learner's Permit just for fun. I have demented ideas of fun, I know...But yes, I am now licensed to learn how to drive.

Again.

Maybe this time I won't have to fail the "bukit" twice before getting my real license - for one of many reasons:

Oklahoma has no hills. It is as flat as my nose. (Clearly indicated in the picture below)
I get to drive an automatic.
There isn't a "bukit" test in the first place.

I'm not sure why I decided to do this, besides teman-ing my roommate to go take the written test. Ironically, I passed and she didn't, and she had to take the test again. Without me.

Maybe its because there's a lot of things you can't do without a driver's license...like, getting into clubs to get wasted. Kidding. I'm not allowed to buy booze here.

But yes, beware. The cow is crossing.

Turkey Holiday

2009-11-25T01:43:00.004-06:00

My history prof has a little trouble getting us to class on time...so he has these periodic "pop quizzes" for those who come early. Today's question was one of his killer questions - "What holiday is going to be celebrated this coming Thursday?"

I answered, "TURKEY HOLIDAY".

How original.

Then I found out that the whole Red Indians sharing food with the starving pilgrims at Plymouth Rock story was a scam. Apparently, the holiday was invented by Ab Lincoln during the civil war to give a break to the soldiers. Really, that takes away a lot of the romance from the story.

Not that Red Indians bringing turkeys to starving pilgrims is very romantic...I'm just sayin'...

But yes, its that time of the year again. The time of the turkey.

*Gobble gobble*

Church, meet Apartment. Apartment, meet church.

2009-11-22T17:22:00.007-06:00

There, now everyone knows each other. Yay!!

So over here, steamboat = hotpot. But really, steamboat sounds waaaay cooler. Excuse the pun, but I gotta be me, you know?

So here's the gang, minus 2 people, before we dug in.

And here's the gang, minus me, after we dug in, and were about to pass out from food overload.

And here's the baby trifle I made for dessert. Its an old family recipe, passed down from generation to generation. Fine, maybe it is only 2 generations old, but you get the drift.

So yeah, my apartment officially smells like Spicy Szechuan Soup, despite burning 2 candles and spritzing everything with scent. But whatever, it was fun. I've got a funny feeling I love ~~stuffing food down the throats of~~ feeding people.

Let's par-tay!!

2009-11-15T02:09:00.004-06:00

This has been an amazingly chill week, and when the weekend rolled around, I found myself homeworkless. So I decided to take advantage of this abnormally and par-tay!! That is, Caryn style: A few friends, food, movies, and a bunch of talk.

Someone suggested making a cake, and I was like, "Yeah!" Then I realised I didn't have a cake pan. So we did cupcakes. Black bottom cupcakes...which really were brown bottom cupcakes, but I guess black sounds cooler.

So this is the crew who baked "them things".

And if we weren't already loaded with sugar, we went to get bubble tea.

And of course, the customary cam-whoring.

I love weekends where I actually get to chill.

Her Royal Highness

2009-11-13T17:10:00.002-06:00

I am the queen of stoicism. I don't lie. Tell me I won a million dollars and I'd reply, "Okay, that's good." Because that's what happened to me today. I won a million dollars, and I replied, "Okay, that's good."

Not really, but you get the idea.

Due to lack of things to blog about...

2009-11-11T21:00:00.004-06:00

Imagine this:

Me: Hi, I'm Caryn.
(pronounced Curr-reen or Care-reen, depending on my mood)
Not me: You are Korean?
Me: No, my name is Caryn.
Not me: Oh, I thought you said you are Korean.
Me: Yeah, I've been told that before...

...many times before...

Weirdo

2009-11-01T06:53:00.003-06:00

I wonder how many other 19 year old girls make pita bread when they can't go back sleep at night...

Evidently, I am most excited about the return of my camera.

I am cow, hear me mooooo...

I have a rant...

Meet Atticus

Gobble gobble

Flip flops in November

Two and One

Motivationless? Undermotivated? Non-motivated?

Of Rainbows, Loopiness and Breaking the Fall

What happens before an exam...

12 midnight, checking my bank acc...

Most evenings...

Of Parsley and Plumbing

The Banh Mi Lady.

Finals baby.

Junioritist?

Mirror mirror on the wall...

Of needles and blood (part 2)

Spring break has sprung, and now it is done.

Muffin Madness

Snow Day(s)

2010: The FB Way.

News from the north.

And now the waiting begins.

Finals week.

The Windy City

An appetizer

I can multiply.

Day 1

Accidents do happen.

I am a softy who can now drive in the US.

Corrections

If...

Want in on a secret?

Quotes from a Nursing Student (Part 1)

Peekaboo! I see you!

The Penlight

Road Trip *woooot!*

Cokesbury 424

Everything

Worrying never produced gas.

Airthoughts.

This is my 303th post

The Dreamer

Today I thank God that I'm not...

Now I know why...

Skinny Jeans and Bathing Rituals

Redang

Cold Turkey

Submarine 101

Chickometer.

A dozen days, crammed into a post.

Long live the Nokia.

Fail

'ell week 2

Eggsplosion

My talent in life.

DejaVu

Dirty Dishes

1 picture, 3 stories.

Pak Cham Kai

Spring where'd ya go?!?!?

Mad Cow Disease

In the event of a carb overload...

Pweeety

I need to...

Vainty.

CNY again.

If a political mutt head like me...

Confessions of a procrastinator

You know that...

Productive....not!

Frostbite

Old Maid

What happened last friday...

I'm coming home

Lets talk weather.

The fourth first week...

On your marks, get set...

It is not recommended that...

Back to work.

Road Trip woooot!