Well, not really.....
Just spend some time moulding play dough - chilling out after a tough week (three presentations in a week).
Shame on me
It's already February and this is my first post for the year.
Was suppose to blog about the Christmas party
Was suppose to blog about Angela and Serene's visit to Sunderland
Was suppose to thank Birkie for her generous giveaway
Was suppose to blog about my first Graze box
Was suppose to blog about my new Uni term
and the list goes on and on......
I was suppose to blog about so many things, but didn't
Why?
I was busy
Busy again..... I've been typing this word out so many times that I myself finds it annoying
I think it has already become an excuse rather than being really tied up
Or a reflection of bad time management
I think it's too late to share about Christmas and my friends' new year eve visit to Sunderland.
I'll give a little update of things I really want to share.
First and foremost, I want to give a big thank you shout out to Birkie of BirkinBagBeauty.
Birkie had a Pink Giveaway for the new year, and it was really a surprise to me that I've won.
I'm not the lucky type that wins lucky draws or contests, so I'm really excited about it - my first ever giveway prize. Birkie was very generous, she added in few extra things that wasn't listed in the giveaway. Thank you gal for the sweet giveaway!
Hurray!
I've got my first graze box
It's FOC, thanks to Alison who gave me the code for a free graze box
What is a graze box?
The graze website describe it as "healthy eating by post"
It's a box packed with all things healthy - nuts, dry fruits and fresh fruits, sufficient to help you to fulfill your 5-a-day portion.
It costs GBP 2.99 (incl. postage) per box, which I think it's worth it.
It's delivered weekly, but you can set your own settings.
For me, it's a monthly order.
For my first box, I've got:
Cheeky monkey (banana, cranberry and walnut)
Whole hazelnuts
Himalayas and beyond (pineapples, macadamian nuts, and goji berries)
Cajun seed mix
These were send to me according to my ratings of the selections available on the website.
I was surprised that I didn't like the dry bananas (I eat fresh bananas on a daily basis)
But liked the dry pineapples (which I'm not so fond of)
Ha ha... so I had to went back to reset my ratings for some of the selections.
As for Uni life,
Well, no pictures of it. lol
Been doing a lot of things - society activities (designed posters and menu for the up coming Chinese New Year Party), the usual lectures, seminars and assignments.
5 more months and I'll be graduating, seem surreal but it's the truth.
After 4 years of studies, I'll be joining the pharmacist work force soon.
Wish me luck :)
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Especially to friends and family which are far far away in Malaysia, USA and Russia......
I'm coping with 'Christmas loneliness' well this year.
That's probably because I've been so busy with school work that I didn't realize that Christmas was around the corner. Well, I knew that Christmas was coming, but not as soon as I thought it will be - first week into December and I have not posted any Christmas cards yet *panic** *panic**
So, what was keeping me busy?
-
-
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Lab work, to be precise final year project lab work on dissolution of gelatin and HPMC capsules in HCl and sodium phosphate buffer solution.
I've been in the lab from 9am to 5pm, twice a week for 3 months to complete my labwork. On top of that, there's still seminars, lectures and other assignment to hand in. Time literally flew without me knowing.....
But praise the Lord, I've completed all lab assignments, the remaining bits is to wirte up a paper on my work.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
It snowed for intermittently for 3 consecutive days since last thursday, a new record since I've been in UK, there was sufficient snow to build snowman.
Ha ha...... My friends and I made a 'Malaysian snowman' - red chilli as his nose, and two small onions as his eyes. lol
I know it doesn't look great, but we did out best :)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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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！！！
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:
