Term break?

Term break is finally here.....
but I don't feel the slight excitement at all,
all thanks to the pile of assignments waiting for me to complete:
1. Critical Appraisal of a Journal
2. Professional Placement write ups
3. Current drug treatment of Depression and Epilepsy write ups
4. Sulfomamide synthesis report
5. Japanese mini project
6. Japanese portfolio

All which are due after the break.
Why did they name it as term break?
Assignment weeks would be more appropriate.

There are also notes to read and some society work to complete...... Christmas race on the coming Monday and preparing for Chinese New Year party on the 23rd January.

Christmas is coming very soon, but I'm feeling so numb at the moment.
It's my third year spending Christmas away from my family and away from Canaan Church, I should be accustom to it by now.
But no, I miss home more than ever this year.


Some will say that I've caught the sesonal depression, however I will not used this as an excuse to feel unhappy, no way.
I don't want my parents to worry about me,
I'll get better, I know I can with the help of the Lord.



Trust in the Lord with all of your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Blackout

Date: 24 Oct 2008
Time: Approximately 6:40pm
Place: The Precinct, University Accommodation

The whole Precinct (excluding only 2 blocks out of 36 blocks) experienced power failure for about 20 minutes, and its my first experienced in the UK after being here for 2 years.

It happened when I was tidying up my room, and suddenly the room turned pitch black. The only light I have was from my laptop screen. Everyone in the block started finding their way around the darkness, using whatever means they could possibly find, e.g. mobile phones, torch light, and the best was Adrian, he used his laptop to shine all the way to the kitchen.
As for me, I went straight to my drawer and got the mini torch light my sis gave me last year. Sadly, it did not work, might be because the batteries had been in there for too long. So in the end I relied on my mobile phone light to shine my way downstairs.

It was really lucky of us that Jeffrey and Hui Sing were almost done cooking, the soup and the meat, all except for the vegetables. So, though we didn't have light, we have dinner. They were unable to cook the vegetable since there was no electricity. Here in the UK, everything runs on electricity, including the cooker (Malaysians use stoves) , the heater and hot water.

Just great, no electricity, no heater and no hot water.

The power failure lasted for 20 minutes, but after it recovered, the boiler was still not functioning, so still no heater and hot water. Lucky me I've showered around 6pm, some of my block mates brave the cold water, while some others went to other blocks and took their bath.

Candlelight dinner

Adrian, checking if the chicken was fully cooked with the limited light we have.

The boiler was still not working the whole day today, my block mates and I took turns to complain at the reception and seems like 2 other blocks were having the same problem. They assure us that someone is going to fix it tonight.

Kitchen window view
Left: Usual view, Right: Blackout

Edit: 25th Oct 2008, 8:17pm
Just received news that.....the boiler is faulty!!!!!!!!!!!
The technician will only come in on Monday
No heater, No hot water for the weekend.

Beauty and the Beast - Birmingham Royal Ballet

I'm so excited, and I've bought the tickets for the show.

The BRB will stage the performance in the Sunderland Empire on the 12th November to the 15th Novermber 2008.
It will be my first time stepping into the Sunderland Empire Theater Hall (heard that it's not that big) and watching a theatric ballet performance...... I know I sounded very ulu.

The tickets for the performance are selling £24, £18, £10 according to the seating, with students and senior citizens having £5 off top price.

At first, only six of us (my course mates and I) wanted watch the performance, but after much persuasion by Alison, another 4 more joined us. That's makes a total of 10 persons, so instead of getting individual tickets, we would be able to book as a group that entitle us to £5 off top price + one extra ticket free.

Lucky, lucky us wanted to watch the Thursday evening show, which is having a special promotion for schools and dance schools. Since we are all university students, and had a group of 10 people, we were entitled to the special price whereby all tickets were just £5 each.
As the price now much lower than expected before, another 4 more joined in, making the total number of people 14.
Haha...... cheaper tickets attracted more audience.

Looking through the information leaflet and the BRB website, it seems like it's going to be a spectacular performance, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Here, I share a short clip of the Beauty and the Beast posted on Youtube by the BRB



For more info, visit the BRB website.

The renovated lecture theater

Been back to Sunderland for 3 weeks, but was just too lazy to update my blog.

In Malaysia, you'll always drive to your destination, but now that I'm back in Sunderland, I have to get use to walking and carrying my own groceries again (T_T)
Hmm... maybe I should learn from Jeannie, order from Tesco online and they will sent it over :P

Anyway, this post is suppose to be about the new renovated lecture theater!
The Murray Library lecture theater was renovated since last April when we were having our exams, and now I present you....Tadaa.....
University of Sunderland newly renovated Murray Library Lecture Theater.
It's so shinny.... and nicely carpeted.
Look at the light that light up the stairway, it looks like those airplane aisle.

The new comfortable seats are in shades of red,very nice, it feels like I'm in a cinema more than a lecture hall. Some friends of mine commented that the seats are so comfortable that we would fall asleep during lectures more often as compare to the old green seats. Oddly, after 2 weeks of lectures, none of us doze off when the lecturer teaches.

I came up with 2 conclusion from that, it's either that we are too enthusiastic to strive better in our 3rd year, or the new lighting in front of the screen is just too bright for us to loss our focus ;)

Picture credits to Jeannie @ livingmylife.blogspot.com

Take a look at this...

This is so cute....
A cempedak in a shape of a shoe.

My dad and I joked that it could pass off as a Nike shoe, Malaysia Special Edition (^o^)

Shogun..

It's been a tradition in my family, that for each family member's birthday, there'll be a birthday cake and dinner. My birthday passed by 3 months ago, while I was in UK, so I missed out in my birthday cake, but my birthday dinner still stands.
My request this year is Japanese buffet, so Dad took me to Shogun in Sunway Pyramid.

The place looks really nice.

Great wall art beside our table.

The food was good, and there were a huge selection of cooked Japanese food, soups, tempura, shashimi, and various types of shushi. After tucking in till our bellies are full, we helped ourselves to the cakes, fruits and ice cream available. My sis, Sarah adores the chocolate fountain, and the green tea ice cream. For me, I tried all the shashimi available, tuna belly, swordfish, and snapper, but my favorite is still salmon :)

Look at the pretty colors.

Chilled cha-soba.

The hot pot, filled with seafood.

Sarah enjoying her chilled zaru-soba.

Damage done, RM50++ per person, not bad at all.

M.I.A.

I have not post anything on my blog since my summer vacation started, hehe.... been quite lazy.
It's not like I'm going to abandon my blog, it's just that I was in no mood to blog.
I really admire those who update their blogs everyday.

So, what did I do since I got back to Malaysia?
My daily routine involve just 'makan', watching tv programs, surf the net, and sleep for the whole month of June.
But of course I did do other things too, like meeting up with my friends, helping a little with house chores, and baking biscuits and cakes.

I've met up with my secondary school friends, (namely Chee Yuen, Sai Lei, Yen Hong, Stella, Wei Keat, Alan, Mun Ping, Ying Chi, and Lee Fu), a couple times before they started their new semester in July. We met up and talked about our schooling days, and we sounded so old reminiscing our not-so-long-ago younger days. We also interrogated those who are attached on how their boyfriends courted them, how's their personality, etc. Meeting up was fun, but we all won't be able to gather together at least for another year, cos' some of them study in different states, while Sai Lei and I are overseas. I'll miss them so much.

From L-R: Chee Yuen, Sai Lei and I

Yes, and I started working in July, in a pharmacy as a assistant pharmacist.
The Malaysia pharmacy system is so different compare to the UK, but I've learn a lot, from Miss Joanne, Miss Lina and Miss Lau.
I'm currently under their wings, they are very helpful and never hesitates to answer my doubts. Other than helping to dispense medicines, Miss Joanne (pharmacist and store manager) also lets me experience some store administration and stock checking.

I'm also partly in charged of the chasing machine at the dispensing counter, and it was a total headache to learn how to use it, there's a code and process for everything:
How do I do credit card transaction?
How do I give employee and senior citizen discount?
Oh no, double scanned.
Alamak, I've scan the item but the customer doesn't wants it anymore.
How to give special rebates, promotion, wrong price tag, price override, etc.
Thankfully, the staff there are very friendly and taught me bit by bit everyday, some of them even know where the medicines are kept better than I do...so 'paiseh', but I'm getting better at things now.

Standing for most of 7 hours, it's quite tiring (I'm not complaining, maybe I have low stamina), but rewarding (experience wise) at the same time.

And the best thing that happen to me during this holiday so far was:

I've passed every single paper and coursework for my MPharm Level 2!!!
The results were out this Monday and I was so happy.

I was dead nervous when I was accessing the website to view my result. My heart was racing like a horse, especially with my mom standing behind me. But I passed everything!!! Hurray.
I've obtained an overall of 60++ and 70++ for my modules.
Yea... they are not tremendously wonderful results, but the marks were satisfying from the amount of effort I've put in.
All glory to God for carrying me through.
And I must say, Block 20 pre-exam group study was a success!
We ought to carry on the good practice, and I really need to study consistently for the next Level.

So, that's all for now :)

Regards,
Deborah.

Post exam thoughts

Phew...
Finally, it's over!!!
Well, at least for some time before the results are out.
And hopefully, I really really hope and earnestly pray, that I pass my second level. I don't feel like resiting the test.

I think i did quite well in each of the test, all except for one, the last paper - Pharmacy practice.
This is due to, sadly, some lack of revision on my behalf and some open questions in the exam which asked for our personal opinions. I did all I could, answering each questions fully, hopefully the lecturers are satisfied with my answers.

Truthfully, I'm feeling quite down after the test, unlike my friends who are overwhelmed with excitement because the exam is finally over. Although it's no use crying over spilled milk, I can't help but to think about it over and over again, calculating the marks I need to pass the paper (btw, it require 50% passing mark)
Being sleep deprived and worried, I nearly drove myself insane.

During lunch, Adrian, being hyper over the 'after exam party' told me, " you should assume that you have pass all the exams until you are notified that you fail."
Those words were so optimistic, and yes, it did helped me to feel better. Instead of sulking over things that cannot be undone, I should look forward to things that awaits me in the future and prepare myself for it.
IF there's really a need to resit the test, I'll take it when it comes.
The mean while, pray and pray that I do not need to do so.

Cherry blossom updates....

As promised, here are the cherry blossom photos (^^)

There are some white flowering tree in front of Gateway, but not really sure about the species.

Hope you all like the pictures.
It's time to get back to the books, I've still have 2 more paper to go.
Wish me luck~*

A month long battle..

Current mode:




2 papers down, 4 more to go...

9 May 2008 - MPH215 Medicines and Analysis
15 May 2008 - MPH214 Pharmaceutics II
19 May 2008 - JAL 141 Japanese Language
23 May 2008 - MPH213 Pathology and Therapeutics
27 May 2008 - MPH212 Pharmacy Practice Paper I
29 May 2008 - MPH212 Pharmacy Practice Paper II

Hope I stay sane at the end of it.

Back to class....

Yippee.......
Took my dispensing test this afternoon, and I have a very good feeling that I'll pass (hopefully, keeping my fingers crossed).

Spring break officially ended last Sunday, and it's back to class again...well it's not like there's much class to attend other than 1 poster presentation and Japanese classes.

It was raining so badly since the second week of April but it clear up a bit this week. Flowers are blooming healthily everywhere after weeks of rain fall, so things are looking quite cheerful now in Sunderland.

Share some pictures:

This is actually a weed.... a flowering weed.

The flower buds of the cherry blossom trees in front of Foster Building are now visible, I will be sure to put the picture up when it blooms.

snow..... again?

Spring was officially here last week when the daylight saving time kicked in. The weather was warm and cozy the whole week with nice sunshine and cool breeze. The only window in my room that was always shut-tight for the past 4 months to prevent the bone chilling air from sneaking into my room, was finally drawn open to allow fresh air to ventilate the room.
But I could never comprehend the weather here, just when it was all warm and nice, it started to snow again yesterday.
It did snow in March this year and last year, but it's Spring, we're already in April. With temperature peaking at 14 degree celcius during the weekdays, all I need to put on during outdoors was a short sleeve cardigan. However, it's snowing heavily now with longest time record for the year - an hour long and counting.....
I have to admit that that scenery I'm seeing now is beautiful - white fluffy feathers are floating down from the heavens, but I have been so accustom to the warm weather that I dread to have the chilly air back again.

I still can't fathom why it's snowing when the sun is shining brightly, the snow melts immediately when it touches the ground.
The only reason I could think of is Jac - she must have wished for snow on her birthday.

Happy Birthday Jacquelyn aka snowjac.

Oreo

On Wednesday, I went down to town to buy potatoes and vegetables for dinner. At the supermarket entrance, I saw some yellow signs with the words "many item: buy one free one" written in big, bold and black ink.
'Hmm.... that's interesting, must look out for what's on offer,' I thought.
As I enter the supermarket, I grabbed a basket and instinctively walk to the vegetable section, but then, something caught my attention.
I saw an elderly couple holding a long blue packet, with white block words on. It spelled O.R.E.O..... o hang on, did I see it correctly?
O.R.E.O = Oreo, Oreo, Oreo..........
It's Oreo!!!
After living 2 years in Sunderland, this is my first time seeing it!
Price: 75pences a pack, 165grams. Neat, same price as other regular biscuits and cheaper than a whole lot of others.
Here comes the best part, it was under the 'buy one free one' section. ^^
That means, 75pences for 2.
So, if you convert it to Malaysian Ringgits, it will be just a little more expensive compare to those sold in Malaysia.
Without hesitation, I grabbed 6 packs into my basket and continue on with my grocery.
Instead of just buying potatoes and vegetables, I went home with Oreo, Sensation crackers, Cadbury chocolate and milkshakes - they were all on offer. ^^
Well, many will think the reason the items were on offer because the supermarket wanted to clear off near expire goods. But that's not the case, I've checked each expiry date before purchasing and they are not going to expire anytime near within a year, except for the milkshake - it's impossible that fresh milk last more than a month.

My Oreos......

Get ready to attack!

Munch, munch, munch...

1/3 gone..

I told Alison (Oreo fan) the delightful news that day, and she went to town to buy them today. Unfortunately, she came home empty handed - I guess that the Oreo were sold out within 2 days.

Wearmouth Hall demolition.

The University of Sunderland's Wearmouth Hall was closed down since August 2007 for demolition, and it finally came to an end on last Friday, 28th March.
It was built in the 1960' and it's old structure does not meet the needs for a modern university. The university had sought opinions if it could be refurbished, but all came to the same conclusion that it should be knock down for redevelopment. It housed a union shop, lecture hall, bar and the high rised was a block of student accomadation.
This is a picture taken from the University of Sunderland (UoS) website. I received the news with mixed feelings, shocked as it was unexpected, but thought it was necessary as the building was really dilapidated. I've used the lecture hall during my 1st year, and it wasn't enjoyable having lectures there, as the place was shabby and cold. The student accommodation block was not in used for years. So, in my opinion - yeah, knock it down!

BUT, there's a bad, bad news for us, MPharm Level 2 students:
- there's now insufficient lecture halls for use, so we had to have most of our lectures in the Edinburgh lecture hall which is right next to the demolition site.

Yea, LUCKY us have to endure the knocking and banging sounds during lectures. The only protection from the debris were plastics sheets covering the Wearmouth building, on days with strong wind, some of the plastic sheets were blew off and we could hear debris flying over us during lectures.

Thank goodness it's finally over.

Here's a video on the demolition of the Lecture hall back in December. Credits to Millfieldlad for uploading it.

Photos taken by me:Tearing down the accommodation block.

Up-close from Edinburgh lecture hall

All reduced to rubber, revealing a clear sky.

きらきらぼし

I've learned something fun from my nihongo sensei (Japanese language teacher) today, let's sing 'twinkle twinkle little star' in Japanese.

きらきらひかる　
kira kira hikaru
おそらの　ほしよ
o sora no hoshi yo
まばたきしては　
mabataki shite wa
みんなをみてる
minna wo miteru
きらきらひかる　
kira kira hikaru
おそらの　ほしよ
o sora no hoshi yo

(sing with the tune of twinkle twinkle little star)

Like it?

Depress no more....

Yippee,
finally presented my drug interaction presentation and completed my drug profile poster!!!
No more weekly therapeutics presentation.....yea yea!!
And completed my placements in the hospital and community pharmacy ^_^
All there's left for the term is 2 reports and 1 WebCT test.

The past 2 days were tiring, and I'm nursing a headache now, but I feel good cos' I've completed a big chunk of assignments set out in Term 2.
I'm really please that I was able to complete and hand in my poster on Escitalopram for printing, (a big thank you to my group mates, Gareth and Kellie for your cooperation)
and presented the Fluoxetine and St John's wort drug interaction topic today.

[Btw, all of the drugs mentioned are antidepressent, however St John's wort is not recommended for use for various reasons, check Stockely's drug interactions]

Depression, depression, depression.......was all I was searching on for the past 3 weeks, reading journals, looking at tables, graphs, mechanism, etc.
Imagine yourself reading on about depression 24/7 , you tend to get a little depress too.
Phew..... glad that's over, for now.

Rest....
That's what I really need at the moment.
Recharge, to start on the Pharmaceutics notes for the WebCT test next week.
加油！！！

The Heart of Worship

When the music fades and all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart

King of endless worth, no one could express
How much you deserve
Though I'm weak and poor, all I have is yours
Every single breath

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made it
When it's all about You
All about You, Jesus

These are the parts of the song's lyrics - The Heart of Worship, and it's a reflection of how I'm feeling now.
God is ever so forgiving and so loving.

Through these few years, I know that I have drifted away from God. Although I still go to church every Sunday, I know deep down in my heart I was missing something - the passion to love God, the fire seems to be caught in the storm and its threatening to extinguish the fire any time soon.
Sadly, I never did think deep about the whole issue.
However, God works in wonderful ways, He is always present with me although I was drifting apart, and guided me and gave me advice and encouragement. He care for me so much, that though I was too deaf to hear from Him, He reveal his plans for me through my mom. From here, I fully understood my sins and that I knew that I have to set myself right with God. I prayed that I want to know Him like I did when I was a child , to love him whole heartedly again, and He came and answer my prayers. The spirit of God came last night, and it was so overwhelming that I could not contain myself, being in His presence is just really an enjoyable thing.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship, to walk with God, and with work hard to be strong with my faith with God.
May I request prayer from my friends, that I'll walk strong with my faith with God.
Thank you.

January's Yummies....

I love dessert, I love chocolate, I love yogurt <3<3
And I ate loads of them this month...
Let me introduce them to you:

#1 Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Yup, you didn't read it wrongly, it's a triple chocolate cheesecake. Rich chocolate cheesecake, with generous chocolate chips topping(milk choc, dark choc, and white choc.), and chocolate ganache swirls. Found this beauty on promotional price, and just couldn't resist it. It made me very happy in the morning, as I had it for my breakfast. A slice a day, keeps the moodiness away.

#2 Fresh blueberries + yogurt Surprise, surprise.... Alison and I saw the fruit store selling blueberries when it's suppose to be out of season. What's more interesting is that they were selling it really cheap, 99 pence for a full box. I grabbed the bargain, washed the fruit thoroughly when I got home and threw them into my pot of plain yogurt. I took a spoonful and it tasted heavenly, the sweetness of the blueberries was just right, not too sweet, to accompany the creamy taste of the yogurt. Now, I'm thinking of adding fresh cherries to my yogurt next.

#3 Tiramisu
This Tiramisu is simply gorgeous. It's made of mascarphone cheese, coffee liqueur, sponge and Marsala wine, all this for just cost 1.82pounds. Unlike the Tiramisu that I've tasted in certain well known cake shops in Malaysia (which was just awful), it has a light creamy texture, with hint of the coffee liqueur. I rank it 2nd best, next to my mom's homemade Tiramisu.

Chinese New Year Is around the corner

Two more weeks to CNY!!!
Just like last year, the University and the Sunderland City Council will hold a Chinese New Year Celebration in the Stadium of Light on the eve. The picture above is taken by me (^^), from my block kitchen. I assume that each block will have one, since the RSA was the one who came and put it up in our block. Hehe... if you can read from the photo, there will be some traditional Chinese performance, lion dance and authentic Chinese buffer.
Hmm... not sure if I'll join the celebration, cause it's on a weekday, and I've been busy since the new term started, and no one that I know seems to be interested.
So how do I plan to celebrate CNY this year?
No plans at the moment, my block mates and I will think of something after our WebCT test next week.

Finally......

I've finished and hand in my MPH214 Pharmaceutics laboratory book, after weeks of hard work. And here, I wish to thank my friends for helping out in completing this lab book, especially Adrian.
Thank you Adrian for teaching me how to use SPSS, without your help, I don't think I'll be able to finish the statistical questions.

For those who are not familiar with the SPSS abbreviation, its stands for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. It's a killer statistical software, especially for a computer idiot like me.....yes, I'm really bad at it, I didn't even know how to label the variables when I tried to do it on my own.

It's been a week since the new term started, and the weather have not been kind to us, its still freezing cold outside + strong winds.
There's also loads of coursework, presentations and test lined up for us for this new term:

• Next week: Japanese language test, Numeracy Test I
• 3rd week: Therapeutics presentation
• 4th week: Arachis oil analysis report, Pharmaceutics WebCT test.

So far, these are the few confirmed.
There's lots of work to complete.....so,wish me luck and pray for me :)

Snow ~***

It finally snowed in Sunderland~*
It actually started snowing early in the morning around 3am, but it was really light...

Around 12:16pm, it started to snow heavily. However it only last about 5minutes .....how disappointing.... I thought it would be heavy enough to cover the whole Sunderland in a white blanket.

Of course it's now freezing outside (-3 degree Celsius), too cold, wouldn't want to step out of my cozy room unless there's something urgent. Hopefully it will be warmer by next week when the new term starts, even an increase by 2 to 3 degree Celsius would be nice.

These are picture taken from my room window.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to everyone.....

I spent the new year eve cleaning up my room, putting thing into order to give the new year a fresh start.

I took down all the Christmas decoration in my room and the kitchen, and put them away, into storage.
I really would miss 'them', they really brighten up the mood of the room ......too bad, will only see them again in a year's time.



Most of my friends went down to London, others went to Edinburgh to spent the New Year with friends or family members, only a handful of us remained in Sunderland.

Since it was New Year's Eve, I made chocolate mochi (Japanese sticky rice cake) for the remaining handful of us to eat during the mini countdown Jac proposed.

According to my Japanese language teacher, mochi are eaten during the New Year. So course they are eaten all year round, but it's part of the New Year's tradition.

I must say it taste really good, especially since it was my first try at making it. I flavored the mochi with melted milk chocolate and wrapped chocolate filling in it....
Jeffrey mentioned that the filling tasted like Cadbury chocolate........hahaha......see how successful I was at making it :)

We gathered in the kitchen at 11pm, and played Mah-jong while waiting for the countdown. When the clock strike twelve, we can hear fireworks, randomly set up by the neighboring houses near the student accommodation. It was really pale in comparison to the fireworks display my friends and I saw in London last year.

Year 2007 just ended like that, and when I wake up in the morning, a new year begins.
Resolutions for the New year?
Hmm... let me think.

• Need to read the Bible more often - please pray for me (> <)
• Really need more determination in my studies - consistency
  
• Need to exercise more.....been lacking on my Yoga exercises
  

So, what are your New Year resolutions?

Whatever they are, I pray that everyone to be healthy and blessed in the New year.