One more week...

It was just last week when I could shout, "THERE'S TWO MORE WEEKS!!!" and frantically start reading my notes.

Now, I am at the stage where I can't cramp anything in. I finished the notes, but honestly don't remember anything. I've been slacking for almost 6 hours now, since lunch, and I still don't have the mood to do anything.

I went on Vent to chat to my guildies. The greeted me warmly and wished me luck.

Read an e-mail from my mother. Found out that I am not going to be graduating when my mother retires. And that my parents are working extra hard to finance me here.

At the end of this 6 hour period of boredom, I had a few ideas running through my head:
1. I know more than I think I do
2. I would usually have a friend I could talk to, as it have been for the past few years, but this year, I am alone. Truly alone.
3. The stars are beautiful... Though people in the other hemisphere have a different picture
4. If I started working and stop studying, I could finance my WoW addiction.
5. 1 hour of social games is NOT enough to satisfy boredom.
6. Study time read. Leisure time read. Geez, my eyes need a break from words!!!
7. I started to see signs against me doing medic... dating back to my JC days:
i. I didnt do well in Bio and Chem, the two important subjects for Med
ii. I didn't do well enough to get into Med NUS... nor dentistry
iii. When buying the application form, my father's car got broken into. (Vista, sheesh)
iv. Expensive course fees, parents had to work extra hard
v. Went through tough times, still indicative of 'i should not proceed further'
vi. Problems getting cheaper options for phase II
vii. Difficulty applying for a Visa to enter Australia
viii. Going through difficult times here
ix. Lead into temptation of WoW
Makes me feel like quitting while I'm ahead...

Fireworks, Gandalf! Fireworks!

Its quite a beautiful thing to watch from afar, fireworks are… But to see them at ground zero, that’s something different! Despite my fear of the upcoming exams, we still managed to take a whole day off and went to a carnival/fun-fair/entertainment fair. It has everything a carnival needs, games, rides, shows and holes in your pocket.

I spent too much money at that place. We were literally throwing away our money. At least for one game, where your $1 coin must land perfectly within a square… We didn’t win anything, but in the end, I bought a prize to keep me sane. However, I got to try games that I wanted to for a long time, shooting and darts. I love those projectiles… all I need now is accuracy.

We also walked around and bought show bags, bags that contain stuff they were promoting, and for a very cheap price. Playboy magazines, Chocolates, Gamer magazines, you name it, you got it. I bought some beads that would allow me to start on a project that I have been planning since my Singapore days with a visit to Chee Seng’s place. Now, all I need is time… after exams…

We also played with baby farm animals. I learnt something new: I’m calling chickens with wild hairdo’s as Chooks. Chooks are slang for chicken Australia, but these funky haired ones deserve a name… I also managed to meet several kids. They were so cute and cuddly with their innocent behaviour. They jump around, enjoying the cooing of the crowds. And they eat everything! Or at least try to.

Then came the highlight of the event, a show in the central stadium. By the time we got there, we’ve missed quite a lot. But I knew there were stuff involving helicopters and emergency vehicles… Anyway, when we started watching, there were horses. It’s quite different from the horses in WoW and this is certainly much more majestic. They didn’t so much, but just showing them is enough to cheer and clap.

Then came the higher horsepower riders… This showdown was excellent! The horses on one side, and the cars on the other, slowly inching their was to each other… Then, BAM! The horses surrounded the cars, the cars desperately trying to get out of the circle. The cars roared but the horses stood fast. Then one car broke out of the circle. Two horses were on it immediately. They chased the car around the field while the remaining 4 horses continued their hold on the frantic cars. Finally, they managed to ‘lasso’ back the runaway car into the circle. Yee-Haw!

The next part was with just the cars. It was just brilliant. “Turn left to turn right,” says the quote from Disney’s Cars. It was just fantastic! Imagine the Red Arrows making formations in the sky. Now, picture cars instead of planes and ground instead of air. That’s what it was like. They made crazy formations only seen in traffic jams! Only centimeters apart and driving at a fast speed! Then of course it wasn’t complete without a stunt involving ramps and flying cars.

The last part of the show was a firework display, and we got to see it at the base. The sounds and explosions don’t come with a delay! It was great fun and breathtaking (coz of all the smoke…) And all that I can think of during the firework display? Copper burns blue, magnesium burns white…

I've Done It

(no, not what you think...)

I've finally gotten my character in WoW to level 60. I thought I could finally quit the game, but apparently this is where It all begins... A friend told me that now that I am 60, I'm on the quest to gain reputation from each faction. My current goal is to get reputation from Darnassus, where I will get my Tiger mount. Raj reckons that I should get my PvP gear and mount, which cost way much less, but I still think that it would take a hell of a time to get that... I'm ranked 1979th on the server and Raj is ranked 1672nd. We've got a LONG LONG way to get the PvP gear and Mount, but that is his goal...

ANYWAY, apart from that, I've started my surgery rotation. So far, I've been to many theatre sessions and I basically see the same thing over and over again. I've decided to stay out of surgery and study other things unless there is something really different happening in surgery. But when I think about it, I guess if i want to be a surgeon, I need to get used to seeing the same thing over and over again. Some how it's the same as WoW... (damn, that game is taking over my life)

OK, I am trying to stop making references... We went to Karaoke the other day. I've always said that there are 3 types of people; those who can sing, those who can't, and those who don't know they can't. I belong to the middle group, yet as a group, I am forced to sing. I will only sing to myself next time... I chose most of the english songs, songs that I wanted to hear for a long time... but not necessary the best to sing. Though, I managed to get someone to sing Blue Suede Shoes, and everybody liked Top of the World. And they just love Spice Girls... haha. There, no relation to WoW.

By the way, I am sick.

so much to say no words to describe

It's been a long time since I was here...

This is a brief summary of things I wanted to post about but never got around to doing it:

I drove a car in Perth!!!
We went on a road trip. Need to explore more...
I love taking photos. I just wish I had a friend who takes photos of me like I do others.
I drank more alcohol this year than my whole life before... Perth habit.
I have trust issues. I do not trust anybody.
We created a extended Bridge game.
I've been socializing. I love birthday parties.
I know more about everything than most people. I know lots of useless stuff.
I saw some dolphins in Swan River.
Ate veal. Missed out on kangaroo meat.
24hrs awake. Half of it in WoW. Slept while instancing.
Bought a new phone.

Movie Marathon

I've been watching several movies this past few weeks, among which are highly acclaimed titles like Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Surprisingly, the movie that I liked best was The Breakup.

Sure, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 had awesome graphics and scenes, it just didn't quite make the cut for me. Will Turner was still being Legolas. Elizabeth Turner was more seductive. Jack Sparrow was being more.. of an ass. It seems like a great change from the first movie and perhaps I had too high expectations for it, so I would say that it wasn't good enough for me. But I still love the two 3-way combat scenes at the end of the movie. The graphics was not as impressive as the first movie and there were certain things that I didn't see a point in having. An example was the battle on the Black Pearl, where they used barrels of gunpowder on the Kraken. Really pointless action scene. 3/5 rating

Superman Return also was not as great as I hoped. Actually I didn't hope anything for this movie. All I know is that it is a continuation where the original 4 movies left off. It is different from the more popular The New Adventures of Superman so I was a little annoyed it didn't tally well. I'm also very influenced by the cartoon series The Justice League and how they potrayed Superman there. If you have been traveling down the same path as I did, I don't think you would have liked the movie that much. I didn't agree with how they potrayed Clark and Superman. And I was probably too used to Teri Hatcher in Desperate Housewives to appreciate Lois Lane. I make no sense... 2/5 rating (Raj going to kill me...)

Zathura. Kinda old, but I had it with me so I decided to watch it. Only one message I got from there: Don't let your emotions guide your decision. 3/5 rating

V for Vendetta. This was a great movie and V was such a charismatic character. And the scene I enjoyed most at the beginning where he introduced himself. I can never spew that much words beginning with V yet alone make a proper sentence with it. I wish I could find the script and post it here... This movie is like a page out of George Orwell, I don't know how else to put it... 5/5 rating

The Breakup was a movie that I relate to, and while I was watching this movie, all I can think of is, 'it's a movie based on the book, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.' The movie shows both sides of the relationship, from the deep women's point of view and from the simplistic men's point of view. Kniving women with thier schemes and revenge, and the guy's egocentric efforts to save his own face. Apart from that deep meaningful message, I also like the fast paced, pointless chatter that happens between characters in efforts to put force view points for others to see. It's just a load of rubbish being said and I commend the actors and actresses on how they were able to act them out without laughing. And lastly I would like to thank all those who have helped me as how they were helped in the movie. 4/5 rating +1 (for Jennifer Aniston nude)

Books, books and more books

MI have lots of good news and I am enjoying myself so far...

First was the dreaded midyear exams. I went in not knowing what to expect and came out still the same. I thought I did worst in Pharmacology and best in Pathology, with IE the most ambiguous... After a few days of relaxation, our results were out. Thankfully I passed everything. I still don't think I deserve it with the amount I put into studying, but I still am thankful that I passed. And I did best in Pharmy and worst in Path... I still passed.

Next was my psych remediation last month. It really went well. I was given very good encouragement from my remediator, Dr. Gliozzi. She guided me well and I really had fun being under her for psych. The patients were crazy, but willing to be spoken to and quite nice to talk to. They really have interesting things to talk about, if you are willing to listen. So in the end, I was given an ungraded pass, which is still a pass. So KenJ, I got one too ^_^

While doing my remediation, I was having my Geriatrics posting. I was actually posted to the Orthopedics ward where lots of the cases were the frail lil' ol' ladies with osteoporosis. I did more Gen Med than Geriatrics I reckon. I had a case of Guillain Barre syndrome, lots of osteoporosis and one suspected pheochromocytoma/diabetic/cardiac cause of fainting spell. I still don't know what it was, but it was an atypical presentation of the fall. Geriatric patients just have a long list of medical problems with a long list of past surgical/medical history plus a long list of medications. Anyway, after handing in my case report, I got really good grades for it. This will be my first thing that I was ever happy with in terms of marks and the only thing that I know I definitely passed.

Aside from studies, another news would be that Grace is in Perth now for a holiday and completing her journey across the latitude. She is basically been doing what my parents have been telling me to do... EXPLORE. And she has been to more places than we have in Perth... And I have been giving the same old excuses; no transport, no time, no money. Which are really just excuses. Anyway, its great to have a familiar face visiting, aside from hearing a familiar voice ie Raj.

And while Grace is here, she found out interesting stuff to do in Perth like the German dude's Human Body thingy. I last heard about it was by Raj and YP when it was in Singapore. It was so exciting as we approached, but Alas! it was over just the day before... Disappointed, we went to cd, dvd, and book fair instead. We bought a total of 21 books and 5 cds... Books for AU$4 each. There's my manic episode for you.



So with Grace helping to bring over my convomag and a copy of Talley & O'Connor... I have a huge list of reading material to last me my stay in Perth... Thanks Grace!



























And my current past time:

Viral Infection

My computer has been a little buggy over the weekend. It took a while to load up and whenever I open Internet Explorer, I will be directed to an antispyware site. A rogue antispyware. It gives popups about your computer being infected and you need to download antispyware programs to get rid of it. I know they are false stuff and cancelled everything, but it slowly made its way into my system anyway. So, here a page that loads everytime I open Internet Explorer and it automatically downloads spywares. And they in return download more. Never ending chain...

My quest started on Friday 11.58pm. My initial response was to reformat harddisk. Actually, 5 people told me to do so over the next few days. I was really tempted to but I took the short cut and decided to attack the virus/spyware manually. (Short cut coz I didn't want to go through all the backing up, file transfers, reinstalling everything...). I talked to Raj the expert and downloaded a few antivirus/antispyware programs to hope to get rid of it, but this little bugger is dodgy (wow, aussie words) and reinstalls itself everytime I restart the computer. I gave up.

My next step was to go search the world wide web for more information about how to get rid of it. It really helps when you know what to look for. The Net is both blessing and a pain. Anyway, after searching a few websites, taking down notes, experimenting on my comp, I finally deleted the suspected files manually from my sacred Windows folder.

Lo and Behold... Them popups no bothering me anymore. I checked the time, it was 2am Tuesday.

I restarted my computer just to make sure. A few times. I was happy.

Now, I am feeling sick in the gut, lethargic, muscle ache and back pain. I think I caught a virus.



I'll just post up the irritating file name and what I did. Go google to see full instructions.

1. Turn off systemrestore
2. Restart in safe mode
3. Delete the following files. All these files were found in my Windows/system32 folder:
regperf.exe
simpole.tlb
dcomcfg.exe
hp???.tmp
ld???.tmp
stdole3.tlb
(can't remember what else...)
4. Delete some things from the registry regarding these files
5. Restart
6. Change homepage before opening Internet Explorer
7, 8, 9, & 10. Restart to make sure.