For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

so the wonderfully poised and elegant Miss Audrey hepburn said something like that. or those might have been her exatc words. I'm not too sure but i think it's a good start to an entry, no?

I was in Singapore recently, for a quick 2 day trip to check out Universal Studios with my old travelling buddy Miss Dids. And it was quite a fun adventure, since i had been vyong for a road trip away from home and all things familiar prior to that.

But no, it wasn't a road trip, we opted for the cheaper and time saving mode of travel- commercial low cost air line! (trust me, its cheaper than the bus or train! hah!)  But once in singapore we managed with the cost-friendly and traffic avoiding system of the MRT.


we stayed at hotel 81 in geylang for those looking for a cheap, but quite comfortable place to stay in! it was about 60 sing dollars a night. cheap right...and its close to the MRT. 5 min walking distance.

before i bore you with more pictures as i have now realized that i really dont have much to say. I'll sum up our 2 day trip. "UNIVERSAL STUDIOS".

so we rode the rides, bought the drinks, tried out the theme diners, divorced the frankestein, bought a whole bag of candies for the sake of buying and did the touristy thing of walking around taking photos of ourselves with a map. :D

oh, and of course we couldn't miss the opening of

AND do this :D .

Toodles.

Tv-isms and its form of addiction

"If you're using half your concentration to look normal, then you're only half paying attention to whatever else you're doing. Just pointing out something that could save your life. You want society to accept you, but you can't even accept yourself."

X-Men First class. One of the few superhero movies i've been watching in the past few months. The best one of the bunch if you ask me, aside from Thor i think.
Green Lantern was not taking itself too seriously so in my opinion it was much of a bust but Captain America, i did enjoy thoroughly even in its own sense of cheesiness. He was exactly what an American hero is. though i never was a fan of the comics. Can't wait for The Avengers to come out next year and the latest installment of Batman.

quite the tv addict post wwork these days. Its like being mindlessly watching stupid reality shows fills my soul and de-stress my head from whatever happened at work everyday. I dont know if thats healthy.
The Voice is kinda cool. The winner Javier Colon ahs some awesome tunes.
And then there is True Blood - the vampire series i've been following since its first season- a bit on the explicit nude scenes too much though.
And of course thoe cooking shows. Masterchef, ironchef, DC cupcakes. Heloo its fasting month..its like a never ending cycle of cravings and food requestas after tuning in and you can't just stop. : p

I have been
On updates:

Much has happened from June to August. We are now in the Holy month of Ramadhan, so Salam Ramadhan to the muslims out there.

I lost a very good friend  last month to an incident no one expected. Al-fatihah and my prayers go out to you. I miss you dearly Miss Shakeera Hani Adnan. Known her for over 10 years. I believe Allah SWT has better plans for her.

A close friend gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Babycakes Khaisah Bt. Hashley. Got to see her 3 times already and how adorable is she! :)

Wish there was more to write. Maybe when i  feel lke it in another day or two.

Need to catch up on my zzs.

A never ending cycle of stupidity

That was what my Boss, the yo-yo said about our patients decision to forgo an operation. It was an AKA operation or Above Knee Amputation. I dont find it very professional to insult someones personal right not to cut off their legs.

yes their limbs can't be saved. Yes the bacteria or flesh eating bacterias will ascend and spread if we do not. But who are we to force an action on them.

It is our duty to advice.

Working life has been shaky for me to start off with. I've been on the job for 5 weeks now and there's no satisfaction. Maybe a tiny bit.

I dont HATE my job.
I'm just still trying to find my footing in the sea of H.O's who are far more worthy and quick on their feet and mind than i am.

Everyday i wonder if i'm doing the right thing. If i know exactly what i'm doing and if i really want to do this for the rest of my life.

Orthopaedics Department is not too heavy-handed. The protocols and procedures are though. I've had 4 calls which by normal HO standard is really not much but too me, i feel like i'm struggling.

sighs.

Took a sick leave today. And could not help to think about work all day which made my sick day unenjoyable.
Had a headache and migraine, so didn't go to work.
But i had no idea not going to work and thinking about work at home could give me more headache,

I believe i care too much.

Am working on weekends too so i guess i shouldn't feel guilty.

Let's hope my mood will pick up in the next few weeks and i'll be a pro in no  time :)

"I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you... Yes there's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you,"

 

There's just something soothing about a soft voice singing easily accompanied by the strumming of a guitar. I've played this song over and over about a year ago. And then rediscovered it when it randomly played on my ipod. 

Its been a week since my interview. Been restless waiting for THAT envelope with my name on it to arrive so i can report to duty (sounds like I'm going into the army). The truth is being on holiday is nice. For a short period of time. When it goes on longer than a month, you get restlesss.

No more classes to go to. No more quizzes to take. No more being late to class or tell a friend about that awesome procedure you got to do the hospital. Being in between getting a job and graduating is becoming stale. For me. 

I may complain now. But i know i'll wish for holidays as soon as i start working. 

Ah. The incomplete pointless unsatisfied feeling in us humans.

I'm rambling. 

The video above is titled falling in love at a coffee shop. Coffee, something i have loved for years. Flat white all the way dude :). Since my holidays began, i've been frequenting a few food haunts with friends. 

There was Fat Spoon that i went almost 3x in 2 weeks. But today we decided to look for the awesomely delectable Mille Crepe cake in PJ at Food Foundry.

The crepe cake was exceptionally good and so were the pastas. Mille is "thousand" so Mille crepe is supposedly a thousand layers of crepe with splashes of cream in between the layers to make up one awesome cake.

A slice of cake and good company always makes it better.

" Say what you mean, Tell me I'm right. Give me a sign, I wanna believe,"

 

The Terrace of DeLuna Cafe, Makassar March 2011.

Good morning wednesday. I am somewhat relieved to have gone through my Interview yesterday with less stumble than i had expected.

I'd write a blow-by-blow detailed Interview but then I realize that this might bore you to death. So i'll make it short and as interesting as possible.

Slept over at Huey's the night before to "prepare" the last minute details of what to bring, what to read, and what to wear for our first S.P.A Interview. We dallied between quizzing medical facts and playing Angry birds before we hit the sack at half past midnight. Thankfully mum rang to wake me up at 5.40a.m. so we wouldn't be late to  head to Putrajaya from Damansara.

We met up with Asma at the parking lot and made way into the Interview room. Needless to say it started on time, 8.am and the first numbers were displayed on screen. I was no.11 for my interview room. And staring at the clock between Interviews, running for bathroom breaks every few minutes was exhausting. I blame the nerves. Tummy aches too untill about 10 a.m. When my turn was up, we had gathered some of teh questions that seemed to be repeated or asked of almost all the candidates so i took a deep breath and calmed myself beforeturning the door knob and facing my future employers.

There were two interviewers. One lady who looked like she put on a bit too much make-up, with big hair and wears her golds and jewels proudly around her. And another man in a sharp suit who smiled and asked me to sit. The man was the doctor, and the lady was an officer of S.P.A and turned out not to be as menacing as her looks.

They did the small talk of my background, then graduated to my grades, before starting on the tough questions. My knowledge of the 5-year-medical degree.

"What diseases do you know. Let's start with that." the doctor asked.
Wow. Isnt that a  bit too wide? Then i started with infectious diseases, then thyroid problems, then DM before he stopped me and started getting to the point.

He had found my weak point. Statistical research questions. Percentage of certain cases in Malaysia. Number of cases of CVD's and Tropical diseases in the past year.

There you go. I hadn't read up on that. or i did , but it wasn't anough information. Because i didn't have the numbers he wanted. Thankfully it went okay. He explained what i couldn't answer. And sent me out of the room after 20 minutes. Phew...

At 2.30 pm they let us know that we passed the interview.

Now I'm joyously awaiting my induction letter. Sigh. Work must come.

Is it too soon?

You hit me once, i kick you back

   " A kiss with a fist is better than none.." Florence and the Machines

keeps playing in my head in the lsat 24 hours since i heard it.
isn't it domestic violence in a love story? but the beat is cool.


I've been neglecting my blog again.
Can you blame me? 
Tumblr's so much more.. easier to be lost in.
Also, i believe i have no more ways with words as i once used to.
Can't seem to prepare words to write up a piece even when i feel like i have so much to say.


But here i am.
Writing again. :)


I finally had my graduation on March 24th 2011. I now hold a Medical Degree. which means i am now an M.D.
you know?
Medical Doctor.
Yikes.


I filled in the necessary forms, applied for the hospitals i think are good and close for my two years of housemanship
and now all i've been doing is waiting.
The Interview (oooh!) will be on the 12th of April. That's 3 days away.
An my preparation for it?


Lots of reading up. Which i have failed to do. 
I hope when i'm done writing this i'll log out and actually do some reading.
Ran 2km on the treadmill this morning (my new aspiration to keep fit)
drank a cup pf coffee.
so hopefully nothing will put me to sleep in the next 12 hours at least :p.


Okay folks. The doctor has got to get back to the books. :)


The doctor. Tee hee.
     

There and Back Again

no, this is no Hobbit's tale.


Although at my height, there may be some possibilities, and the fact that i have big..no wide feet?..ok that's not the point. Its the New Year :) .
2011.

And naturally a lot of things have happened since my last post. Good things. a lot of good things. Looking at the sidebar of things i wanted to achieve by the end of 2010? Glad to say i scratched out most with gusto.
To start things off, how was your NYE? I spent mine at home, very quietly sleeping. hehe. yeay, no excitement there. I fell asleep between 10 to 11 watching fireworks outside my house. But i did have a new Year's Day barbecue with my friends :) we shopped, cleaned and cooked our way through a lot of sea creatures and added in some Italian choices for the menu. After dinner, we played fireworks and a game of monopoly before we retired around 10pm. woot! we play hard don't we?

Did i mention that i'm done? I'm done with being a medical student?
yep. Finished.
I've graduated to being a real life doctor now.
wow.
Feels cheesy saying it.
I think other people should say i'm a doctor. I feel cheesy.
....
....
No, I'm actually really happy and proud of myself for going through 5 and 1/2 years of medical education to grant a title with a much bigger responsibility to humanity than i could ask for.
I still can't believe I'm a doctor.
    Nadiah Alwi. M.D


And yes, i am still in Makassar Indonesia.
Had my oath-taking in the last days of December.
None of my family member was there though because everything was so last minute, and rushed. I only knew i could join the oath-taking ceremony the day before, so you see, i only told my parents on the day itself.

 

Among the 30 that took the oath with us, 5 of us decided to run to a photo studio and get snapped. In our gear. It was one of the most fun  I had. Free from worry.

So this post, that i'm writing here, is just to tell you, i graduated :)

Mum and Dad, this was for you. Alhamdulillah.