Hawkesbury update

Well well, it's been like err 9 months? since I've moved to the hawkesbury region. Oh by the way, did you know that the hawkesbury region is one of the fattest regions in NSW (or maybe it's the fattest.. hmm, can't remember) ? It's pretty true! And they blame the government for not providing good public transport , and therefore they drive around a lot. WHAT?!? yeah, say that again.. WHAT?!? hahaha. Well, I guess walking is a form of exercise, but walking short distances to public transport depots/stations would not stop you from being obese!
sheesh.. that is such a lame excuse ain't it?

Ok, let's not get distracted.. :) Well, I'm glad that winter has gone and spring is here! Although we only had a few occassional hot days though. Winter in the hawkesbury is definitely colder compared to Sydney. Below's a pic which I took while I was driving to work on a foggy, cold winter morning.
And oh, there was the Hawkesbury Show which is something like the Sydney Royal Easter show but on a smaller scale a few months back as well. They had some pretty interesting stuff, especially in the food and produce section. Me being a big fan of mushrooms took a pic of the First prize in the biggest mushroom competition. :
A mushroom that weighs 734 grams!! and next, a pumpkin on steroids!! I have no idea how heavy that thing is, but I have never seen such a huge pumpkin before.So, there you go then, a mini update of my life in the hawkesbury. Sorry again for the limited number of posts this year, trying to find time to blog in this new season of life ya know? And on my off days and free time, I just wanna do something else and relax, instead of blogging.. :)

Ah, I'll be making a trip down to Jervis Bay in bout 2 weeks!! Can't waittt!! Will post pics of the trip then.
Ok folks, till then! God bless!

Free Ad!

Ah, this is not a quick update.. ok ok, will try to update soon

This is just a free ad for Wenqi's food blog that she's just started!

So, click HERE now!

Ho Hum!

Ho hum! I am now a resident of Australia!
It took approximately 8 months for this to be granted which is pretty long I'd say.. Thank God that veterinarians don't really care if you have secured your PR status before they hire you. In fact, why do certain employers care so much? I think the chances of you getting a PR is 99% if you are already on a bridging visa isn't it? Hmm, maybe I don't know as much to be talking about this stuff.. So yeah, I have just received an email from the immigration department saying that I have been granted the visa that I applied for.

It didn't make much difference to me.. because I'm already working and all , but I guess the positive points are that I can now leave the country without paying some 60-80 bucks to get another visa that allows me to do that, and that I can now get my medical insurance settled which is quite ridiculous in the first place.. But err, let's not go there shall we?

Gee, it's been 3 months since my last update. All is well over here in Richmond, NSW. The job that I am in now is fantastic, with a nice and supportive boss and his wife. Just did my first pregnancy ultrasound on a beagle today.. and I do hope that my guess of how late into pregnancy she is is right! I do have quiet days at work at times , but then I have my own computer where I can surf the net and all. Well,in fact that's why I'm blogging right now... I have nothing on. So, just wanted to take the opportunity to tell you guys about the PR thingy then.

Me staying in Australia for a significant period of time? Nah, not really.. well, depends on your definition of "significant".. For now, current plans are to stay for a year or two, and then move on to Singapore or Malaysia. But who knows, there may be a change of plan along the way.. But definitely a year here to gain the precious experience I need as well as to make things nice and fair for my boss. It's not nice when you've trained and supported someone up and they leave you once they're competent isn't it? Well, it's not so nice to me.. :)

Anyways, I'll try to blog from home so that I can put up some pics or something eh? But thats it for now then I guess... now to wait for Benny the King Charles Cavalier to come in to have his wound checked..
bye peeps!

Animal doctor!

I am a vetarinian
I am a veterinaian
I am a vetirinaian
I am a vetirinarian

bah... I am a dog doctor!

:) saw this on a vet's mug..

Richmond

I moved to richmond a month and a half ago. Well richmond's quite a distance away from the city, it's about an hours drive (60km) from where I used to live. It's not too ulu anyway.. although it's classified as a semi-rural area and is on the outskirts of Sydney metro.
Main reason I moved here, was of course my job! The big man upstairs has blessed me with an excellent job, with a really nice boss. So now I work full time from 8.30am-7pm on weekdays with Tuesday being my day off, and on alternate saturdays for half a day. So yeah, it's quite a busy lifestyle I would say..
Wake up - work- cook-eat- 1-2 hours of chilling, and then sleep : Typical routine in a working day.
So it's quite nice to have tuesdays off.. the dreadful monday blues doesn't hit me that hard!

Anyways, some piccies of my modern apartment that I'm renting in richmond.. just to compare with those of St Mikes down below.. :)

The living room + dining area

The other side of the living room area + walkway. Hmm, I need to find more stuff to put on the shelf, and decor as well.

The kitchen

The toilet! A bit cramp, but 100x better than St Mike's! haha

Hmm.. time flies on Tuesdays.. so.. thats it for this post!! :) Will try to blog earlier next time.
And oh, richmond's cold!!! It went down to a minimum of 2 degrees overnight a few nights ago.. brrrr.. winter's gonna be similar I guess..

The Great St Michaels

Stole the title from Howie's personal message on msn. Howie's a fellow St Michael resident/boy as well, and I think he's gonna be the last man standing in the college.

Well, for all of you who don't know about St Michael's College, allow me to enlighten you.
St Michael's is easily the cheapest college in Australia (accommodation in summer as well). Rent was only a mere AUD$150 a week, and this includes dinner, breakfast (cereal and milk), electricity, gas and water! And you have your own room, with some old furniture included.. You think that's cheap? Well, hear me out further.. in summer, rent is only AUD$50 a week! That's even cheaper than staying in some shared bunk room in a backpackers motel!! Only reason why it's so cheap is that the cook does not come during summer, therefore no dinner. But still.. I have saved so so much, thanks to St Michaels!

Well, if you are fussy about your living conditions, then St Mike's is not the place for you. But it isn't all that bad.. just depends on how fussy you are I guess. I have friends who cringe at the sight of the hallways and toilets, and I have friends who ask me if there's any empty rooms at the moment! Some say its dark and gloomy.. our excuse? Save electricity! Who needs brightly lit hallways ? Hahaha

The boss of St Mike's is Father Kevin Muldoon. Man, I could write a whole entry about him, but lets just keep it short yeah. He's really strong for his age (he's 80+!), really nice (till people take advantage of him), funny, friendly,cheeky and cute. You'll know its him when you hear his infamous "Lum Lum". He really loves asians, therefore he made St Mike's into an informal "asian college". Heres a recent pic of Father and myself in front of the college:

Ok now to the emo stuff.. I have been staying there for nearly all my time in Sydney, Australia. Since I first came to ozzie when I was a freshie,I stayed there till my graduation ceremony, with the exception of the one semester when I was in Camden. So yeah, my sydney experience is well influenced by St Mikes, and I have stayed there for almost 5 years! Recently, I have just moved out to Richmond for work which I will blog in my next entry.

Not so long ago, an informal eviction notice was given to the Father and the residents of St Mikes. They're gonna tear down St Mikes, and build a much newer college over it. Sad news right... although there have been talks about tearing St Mikes down before, but we didn't expect it to be so soon. And worst of all, everyone was given only a months notice to move out, which I think is ridiculous for a college with 40+ residents. However, it was an informal date anyway.. its been past the date they mentioned, and they still haven't done anything to move the remaining people out yet. I haven't seen Father so sad and troubled before. But I can so imagine man.. he's been staying there for 37 years! Oh well.. there's a time for everything isn't it?
Ok enough of me continuing on about St Mikes. Here are some piccies for ya!

The back of the college, viewed from the carpark

The carpark, which is divided into 2 sections : 1. the open air section 2. The tropical forest section, which your car will hate you for parking there for more than a few hours.

This is the backdoor, which connects to the carpark. Beware of cockroaches during the non-winter seasons.. If you like stepping on them, then this is the perfect place for ya

The side of the college, where only a fewhave walked this path.

The dark corridors of St Michaels. They don't look all that bad in photographs.. prob cos of the flash, haha.. but i think they don't look all that bad in real life as well!

The dining area.
The washing area which is in between the dining area and the kitchen

The kitchen. These stoves(on the right) are industrial strength stoves man.. perfect for cooking asian dishes!

Ah.. the worst of all.. the toilets!

The bathroom, well this is my favourite bathroom.. why? Because I love the shower head here, cos of its water pressure and spray. Also because it's quite clean at the area where I only stand to shower (not the other areas!!) Well, you can imagine how the other bathrooms are like if I said that this is my favourite.. haha.. Man, these pics make the bathroom looks like its from a horror movie or something..

Well, thats bout it! Oh yeah, forgot to take pics of the rooftop which is quite nice for views of the city. Maybe I'll snap some pics the next time I head down to St Mikes. And oh, I didn't include pics of the rooms, cos it's a bit hard to appreciate them in pictures, cos you can't take a pic of the whole room. But, they're definitely in good condition! Its up to you to make them cosy or nice. :)
Ok, till the next post then!

Arghh

Terribly sorry for promising for a update in my previous post..

I know it has been ages (blog record) since my last post.
Truth is, I have slowly ventured into a new season in my life in which I did not bring my blogging "hobby" into. The new season thingy : from a single university student who does a lot of bludging to a not single anymore vet intern to a graduate who's looking for a job and applying for permanent residency. Hope that explains everything well.
I was even thinking of stopping this blog too.. but oh well, I think I'll leave it here just in case. :)

Oh yeah, graduation.. For those who didn't know, I just graduated from my vet. science degree recently, and I am now Dr Kung. ahem.. :) I'm very thankful to the big man upstairs for answering my prayers (though I have to admit I didn't pray desperately enough, but I'm sure others did e.g. my mum) regarding my honours.
All in all, it was a great day indeed.. perfect weather, getting to see my family (esp my brother whom I haven't seen for eons), and celebrating with friends. Special thanks to all my friends who were there!
Here's a piccie of me and my very happy mum.Well, I'm currently in Melbourne at the moment, spending time with the family (sister's here) and will be back in Sydney on New Year's Day where I have a few interviews lined up. I do hope I'll be able to get a job close to the city ! Oh yeah, and I'll be flying back to penang for a short break before I start working in sydney. Hopefully I'll be able to negotiate (if I get a job before I leave) to start my job later in February or something.

Well, thats that.. here's to a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you folks out there!

I can smell it..

The finishing line that is! For my final year! Yeah.. if I pass this final rotation of mine as well, which I think I will..

Anyways, yeah.. I know it's been ages that I've updated this blog of mine. Well, I'll promise to try and put up bigger updates when I'm done with my rotations. Lots of admin stuff to do after as well.. applying for jobs, settling PR stuff, bla bla bla.. and lots of fun stuff I wanna do as well! Like getting a diving licence, learning to surf, travelling around aussie a bit!

So yeah.. this is another mini update to let you guys know that I'm still alive and kicking!

Fish do cough

Yes Anne.. fish do cough.. I did a search on it especially for you.. so bangga a bit ok? I did a literature search on it! Not just google.. :) Well, it's pretty interesting aye? Fish don't cough like we humans do.. Their version of cough is different. They cough to dislodge stuff stuck in their gills. So I guess, coughing for them is a sudden outburst of contraction of their gills!

Anyways, I am suppose to be studying about how to examine cranial nerves in animals.. Well to aid my learning, I shall explain some stuff here.. What are cranial nerves? They are 12 pairs of nerves that originate from our brain that innervate the stuff in our head. I'm gonna list them out and roughly tell you what they do!
I . Olfactory n.
II. Optic n.
III. Oculomotor n.
IV. Trochlear n.
V. Trigeminal n.
VI. Abducent n.
VII. Facial n.
VIII. Vestibulocochlear n.
IX. Glossopharyngeal n.
X. Vagus n.
XI. Accessory n.
XII. Hypoglossal n.

There you go.. now you know more about cranial nerves.. :) I originally wrote down what they do as well, but decided to change my mind.. don't think you guys will read it anyway, unless you know about them, and wanna check whether I know my stuff.. :)

Well, I better get back to it.. It's getting late, and I need to study a fair bit more..
Will try to update soon!

Roll out!

Watched it on tuesday... "How was it?" my friends would ask.. My answer would be : I would love to watch it again a few times.. Longer answer? : Crazy supercool effects.. action packed, I don't think the main actress fitted well in the whole show probably acting and cinematography? and maybe they should have stuck more to the original cartoon. But hey, all in all.. this is a must watch for all of you who loved the cartoon series when you were a kid!

Refreshed

Ah, just found out that my previous post was one month ago!
My my, the weekends really fly by oh so quickly.. Well , I really treasured this weekend, because I had to work last weekend.. and by the end of last week, it really gets to you when you've worked 12 days in a row.. And they are full days mind you.. no half days at all, even on weekends!
Few more mins till the end of this current weekend!

I'm definitely feeling refreshed from this weekend! Rushed straight from work on Friday to Hillsong Conference @ olympic park because I don't wanna not attend a single thing at all just because I get off work late during the week. The closing night rally was amazing! And watching the recap video of the week, it's like the opposite of what's it suppose to be.. showing me all the things that I've missed out! Or I could look at it in a positive way, that it's a video to show me a small glimpse of how conference was instead of not knowing anything about it hey?

Church today was off the roof !! We had Jentezen Franklin and Joseph Prince for the 5 and 7 pm service. Ended the conference with a bang I'd say!
Well oh well, I so wanted to blog yesterday cos it was a special date, the 07 07 07 thingy.. which a friend of mine calls it the jackpot day.. it was Wenqi's birthday as well!
She's happily travelling all over europe at the moment, and will be back in Sydney bout 11 days and 6 hours from now! Am so so looking forward to that!

Okay, gotta go sleep soon... so I can be refreshed and not have Monday blues tomorrow!
Some piccies of my BIG patient to end this entry!
He's like a little tiger! Huge.. weighs more than me as well! Kinda hard to see in these pics tho! Took these pics with my new phone, the 6110 navigator! Am loving it! Love the navigator/gprs thingy that I can use in my car now. No more pulling up by the roadsides and looking thru maps anymore! well, hopefully.. :)
till then folks!

p.s haha, after reading thru my post, I sound really weird with all those exclaimation marks... don't know what type of writing style is that.. it's like a chat session all joined up! argh, oh well.. am too lazy and sleepy to modify it.. so just bear with it, ;)

Winter update

Time for an update, don't you think?

I am at the moment trying to waste time away on the internet. I know I know, I'm suppose to be studying and revising vetty stuff when I'm free.. but err.. I'm just lazy.. haha and the internet provides me more entertainment. It's a quiet day at the clinic (am at Sydney Uni vet clinic rotations for 3 months), and I'm hidden away in one of the consult rooms updating my blog. 30 minutes till my case comes in! It's a bandage change on a fracture repair we did a week ago. Am trying not to blog too much about vetty stuff in here, although piccies every once a while wouldn't hurt eh? Wanna share the vetty world with you guys! okay, here's some pics of my favourite patient:

That's Panda, my cutest patient ever.. perfect name eh? I am not usually a big fan of small fluffies, but Panda's real different! Sorry for the blur and behind the cage pics!

It's good to be based back in Sydney again.. gotta catch up with things that have progressed in my absence! Not to mention catching up with friends and getting back into church ministry! Working as a vet is tough, but I don't want to ever get into a routine.. you know what I mean? Like everyday it's just eat, sleep, and work. So gotta make an effort to do stuff even when I'm sleepy and tired! which reminds me.. I need to find out more about sleep apnoea..

Ah well, lets hope that I get an early mark today, since it's so quiet.. :) Long weekend ahead!! But I'm on ICU duty on sunday night.. argh.. let's hope that it's gonna be a quiet sunday night as well.. haha..

Alrighty bonitos and bonitas.. till then!

Sydanee!

Am back in sunny Sydney!!
Man, it feels soooooooooo great to get the camden rotation out of the way.. and I passed everything!!

Spent the whole day cleaning and refurnishing my room in St Mike's. Man I feel tired.. still haven't recover from staying up late the night before the exams.

Can't bum around too much yet.. still have a case report due on midnight tomorrow. I better get to it soon!

Tagged

Kena tag from KLo.. I have to agree the first part is a hard one as well, and it took me a while to think and write the 6 things down..

6 Weird Things About Me.

1. I can put my two legs over (behind) my head without much effort (using my hands to pull them). Maybe cos im too hunched...argh! need to stand up straight!

2. I have this habit of "playing/caressing" the hems of my pillow. Big time addictive habit..

3. I think I have sleep apnoea.. I wake up subconsciously/consciously sometimes throughout the night and sometimes sleep in a funny position (froggy style).

4. This ties in with the sleep apnoea as well, I feel sleepy nearly every afternoon.. no matter how much sleep I get the night before. So afternoon studying is very hard for me..

5. If I have continuous net connection, I check my email very very frequently. Sometimes more than twice in an hour KLO! :)

6. I can't drink coffee on an empty stomach.. upsets and "flatulates" my tummy! :P

Now lumber 2..

The rules:
1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you.
Include the state and country you’re in.
Lomantik (Sydney, Australia).

2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.
In no particular order... I somehow feel that these 5 places do not reflect the good food in Sydney that well, but these are the places I visit the most.

a) Sydney fish markets - my favourite food is seafood.. go figure
b) Taste in newtown - crazy chicken caesar salad! I'll need to try their other stuff too..
c) Faheem's fast food in enmore - double thumbs up tandoori chicken! I need to try this new indian place in newtown as well.. apparently the restaurant is opened by malaysians.
d)Shalom/Ayam goreng 99. or any nice indonesian restaurants.
e) Michitaro - bang for buck jap restaurant! I like the una tama don (eel on egg rice)

alrightey! now to tag people!
1) Ashley Ho - haha! now you kena!
2) Wenqi - if you ever read this, :P
3) Chin Kian
4) Irene Teo
5) Tim Teoh

Weekend chill

Man, I'm getting slack in updating this blog.. Past 2 weeks has been crazy in the university equine rotation. Starting at bout 730 am till bout 6pm daily, with treatments at night on certain days..Just this morning I had to give 2 hourly checks and meds(10pm,12 am, 2am, 4am...) on a miniature horse foal that is hospitalised for colic.. and her fluids keep stuffing up, so most visits took about an hour to sort it out. Yep, I don't have to explain any further!

Oh well, the next two weeks should be much more relaxed now that I've got the equine rotation out of the way (well not entirely.. still have a test that I need to resit)

Ok ok, now for some exciting updates.. Firstly, I went on a "field trip" with my lecturer/senior vet together with 2 others to ultrasound 2 horses. One of them was Musket, Makybe Diva's little brother! I just found out that he was sold for a whopping $2.5 million aussie dollars ! (which is an Australian record according to wiki) Man, his vet must be having a pretty intense career.. But yea, it's not everyday that you get to swab alcohol on a $2.5 horse's chest.. thought that I'll share it with you guys..

Secondly, I managed to book return tickets to Melbourne for $10! That's even cheaper than taking a cab to the airport from Sydney.. I owe this to Jetstar's 3rd birthday sale.. well, the tickets were just $3 one way ($2 credit card surcharge). Also bought the one way tick to tassie from Melb for the same price, am now looking for cheap flights for the return back to melb. I'll be looking forward to this super low budget trip of mine!

Gonna chill a bit at the moment.. but still gotta study and prepare for the next subrotation on monday.. here we go!

1 week break

On hols for a week.. and its zipping by VERY fast!!
arghh.. the day seems to fly by without me doing much.. which is quite sad

There are lots on my to-do list for this week.. and one of them is holding everything back cos it's the highest on the priority. Thats to finish up my report/literature review for my previous internship at Gundagai. I have to finish this before I move on to the other stuff.. and it's taking me a while!! Yeah, and I'm suppose to be writing up the assignment right now!

Ok, I better start on it now..I want!!

Gundagai and piccie update!

It’s my 2nd week here in Gundagai! I do have net connection, but only when I’m at the office. No phone line in my motel room. Oh well, at least the connection at the office is pretty fast. And I do spend some time slacking in the office! Was even searching for online games to play and spend my time, haha.. Hmm I better use this time I have in the office to write up some of my assignments and to post up an update!

Am driving back to Sydney for the long Easter weekend! Well, driving down to Melbourne was an option as well, but I decided that Sydney would be better. Thanks ah pork for the comment on the previous post! Well, Gundagai’s not too bad.. very small rural town with nice views of the hills and such. The Murrumbidgee river (which is good for fishing) runs through the town. Well, I would love to take up fishing one day.. just gotta find the gear, initiative and maybe some kaki as well.
Here’s a pic of the motel I’m staying at..

Okay okay.. Now some pics and info of the places I went to in Malaysia.
Went to the Sungai Sedim forest reserve which had the longest treetop walk in the world.. yeah world! It's nearly 1 km in length if I'm not mistaken. Some piccies :

I had to show this expression at this sign.. That's the highest we were above the ground I think..

Next, was the Bukit Hijau forest reserve! Went there specially just to sit under the amazing waterfall! Highly recommended !

Also took a trip up to Langkawi for a couple of days. Really regret that I didn’t take a pic of the beach at Tanjung Rhu, which I personally felt was the best beach in Langkawi! It's like one of the beaches that you see in the island holiday brochures. We saw some funny patterns on the beach at Pantai Kok:

An upclose look :
So cool right?? These holes are made by tiny little crabs on the beach.. and the balls of sands must be the sand that they dug out.. Oh I just googled about these sand balls. A source mentioned that the crabs will take sand into their mouths, suck out the nutrients, and spit out the tiny balls you see here. Very cool indeed.. and these holes with their surrounding sand balls were scattered all over a major part of the beach.


Lastly, I took Wenqi for a fireflies cruise in Nibong Tebal. It took me a while to find Mr Heng’s contact number on the net. Hmm.. wonder if I will get into trouble if I post up his number here.. Just to be safe… I better not.. But if you need his contact, do drop me a message!
I heard that the fireflies activity here is not as good as the one in Kuala Selangor.. but it’s good enough for me! Plus it’s much nearer to Penang as well. Personally, I felt that it was an unforgettable experience. Catching the fireflies and watching them glow inside your palms definitely contributes to this!

Man I miss Penang.. missing the atmosphere, family, friends , tiuking sessions (gang-fights), food, cheap stuff..

Alrightey folks.. thats about it from me for now! Hope you enjoy the pics!

Sydney

Ah, just got back ere 2 days ago...
It's been a while.. sorry for the super late update !!
I think by now, all you guys who are still reading this are like coming in ere once a month or so. Well oh well..
My 2 main excuses are :
1. Lousy net connection
2. Different lifestyle

I had a great time back in Malaysia, with the internship, the holidays, and spending time with frens and loved ones.

2 days from now, Monday, I'm off to Gundagai for a month of rural placement. Gundagai's like 4 hrs southwest of Sydney, and I do hope it's not super ulu.. At least I pray that the accomodation that I'm staying at has like a phone line for me to go online or to call a particular singaporean, :)

Alrightey, will post bout the highlights of my hols in malaysia next! (if there's net connection at Gundagai....) Gotta try get back into gear with this blog thingy..
Adios amigos!

Back home..

Heyya peeps..
just a short note to say that I'm still alive!
am back in good ol Penang for bout 2 1/2 months!

The past few days before coming back to Malaysia has been crazy.. with moving, and a whole heap of other stuff.

Spent New Year at a friend's place together with some old friends.. not at some happening place like Gurney, which Alan told me was filled with kids.. ;)

Yah, so I'm having a month of hols before I start my internship at Gill's at Gurney.. time to chill pill

Will try to get updates up.. but there is very little motivation with the dialup speed that I have.. right now, my speed is just at 26.4 kbps.. happening..
alrightey, goodnight!

Euthanasia

I euthanised my first animal today..
Pipper was a 16 year old German Sheperd.. 16 years old for this breed is really old!

It was a sad moment.. the dog , Pipper, belonged to an elderly couple. They declined to be with her during the process, and the old man started crying.. haih, so sad.. he quickly wiped his tears away before he left the room.

oh well.. I'm sure I'll put down more animals in the future. I pray that I won't ever take this as a routine.

stay tuned, will blog non-vet stuff soon! :)