In The Name of God, I Converse...

My First Year In RCSI

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:14:00 +0000

Much has happened throughout my First Year in RCSI, which I haven’t penned down. To say the least, I drifted away from my close groups of friends unintentionally. But as much as there were losts, there were much that I’ve gained along the way.

When I first landed in T1, Dublin Airport, I was overwhelmed with…a terrible stomach ache thanks to the bad in-flight meal. But nothing beats the excitement of being in a different land, where you’re now the tourist – the one looked weirdly at. But things were made easy, thanks to the seniors. Let’s see, there was the pizza breakfast on the first morning I arrived (Fiq), walks to the shopping mall, college and around Dublin (Mu’adz, Gembo and Fred), the homemade dinners (Afham), helps with rent, deposit and much more! After settling down, it was time to get back to school!

My 2.5 years stint in Dublin consist of 3 Junior Cycles (JC1, JC2, JC3) and 2 Intermediate Cycles (IC1, IC2). In JCs, we learn the subjects:

Anatomy
Physiology (how the body works)
Pharmacology (drugs that are useful in maintaining homeostasis)
Biochemistry (of certain important molecules in the body)
Behavioural Science (human behaviours in relation to health, illness and development)
Online Histology (types of cell in different systems) – Free marks if studied
Clinical Competencies (how to conduct physical examinations and take patient histories)
Embryology (how the foetus develops) – I seriously forgot that this subject exists when I typed this out

A hidden Phillip Mayne module consisting of only 1-2 lectures on enzymes but taking up 1/3^rd the MCQs

RCSI teaches Medicine via the Integrated Method, whereby we learn by Systems (Cardiovascular, Neuromuscular, etc.) and in each System, subjects (Anatomy, Physiology) are taught pertaining to the Systems and they come together at the end to shed light on everything about the System.

After 3 semesters of Junior Cycles, we then enter the Intermediate Cycles where the workload doubles and lectures are fast-paced. Here on, lectures are held in the hospital and there will be patient contact. The subjects taught are tougher and if I may, less story-like. We will learn:

Pathology (how the body goes wrong)
Microbiology (need I say more?)
Clinical Pharmacology
Medicine and Surgery

Somehow, I’ve completed JC1 and JC2 thanks to the invaluable advice and assistance from – again – my seniors. The most interesting part in Junior Cycles is card-signing, the oral Anatomy assessments held fortnightly in the Anatomy Room. The Anatomy Room is where our Anatomy practicals are held twice a week. You’ve guessed it right, it contains cadavers! Contrary to the public’s perception, cadavers DO NOT appear scary at all. In fact, they’re the friendliest bunch of peop…ok, who am I kidding here?

Yes, there were those who felt dizzy initially, but after a session or two got used to it. Many thanks to the kind soul who donated her body for our education. And many apologies to the same soul for being mistaken as a male cadaver with a missing penis – at first.

Throughout JC1, I’ve had 3 card-signings and they were not too bad. Luck has it that I received anticlimactic questions during the first 2 CS right before I was graded – and they were ALWAYS about lymph nodes, which I conveniently neglected until I learnt otherwise. Here’s a faint recollection of the last few questions of my first CS experience:

Prof. Garry Duffy: Tell me, what is this (while pointing to a structure on an X-ray)?

Me: It’s the superficial inguinal nodes.

GD: What could you find in them?

Me: Um…lymph?

GD: The inter…?

Me: Yeah, the interstitial fluid. Sorry bout that.

GD: It’s ok. What else?

Me: …

GD: Cancer cells. We find cancerous metastases in lymph nodes too.

Then, it got to this:

Dr. Jane Holland: Ok, can you tell me about this bone here?

Me: *Crap, that was supposed to be last CS’ material, not this!* It’s the humerus.

JH: Can you describe the grooves and structures on it?

Me: Sure. Bicipital groove…blablabla…surgical neck…deltoid tuberosity…blablá

JH: Which nerve is associated with the surgical neck fracture and what happens in such fractures?

Me: Axillary nerve…deltoid…fracture…inability to abduct more than 15 degrees.

JH: Explain the process of abduction.

Me: Supraspinatus…15 degrees…yada yada…more than 90 degrees…

JH: Now what’s in my hand? Hold it in the anatomical position and describe the structures on it.

Me: *Holy crap, NOT THE SCAPULA!* It’s a scapula. This is the spine of the scapula…acromion...glenoid fossa…medial border…lateral border…scapular notch *OMG, WHY OH WHY DID I MENTION THAT???!!!*
JH: Ok, what attaches to the spine of the scapula and what does it do?
Me: The middle fibres of trapezius... rotates scapula during abduction of humerus...

JH: Ok now, since you’ve mentioned the notch…tell me the structures passing through and above the notch.

Me: The uh, suprascapular artery…and *voice trails off pathetically*

JH: Hah, see you shouldn’t point out structures that you’re not sure of. Haha.

Me: *Grin dumbly*

And eventually to better sessions. So the former was a B and the latter an A-. All in all, I've got 2 Bs out of 6 sessions - thanks to the lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh and the margins of the pleura. One simple question can undo all your accomplishments in a session. It’s not too hard, but it’s too easy to get unlucky.

First years will enjoy about 2 lectures per day, except on Tuesdays (Anatomy in the morning, 2 lectures in the afternoon) and Fridays (Anatomy in the morning, CS in the afternoon). Lectures are held in O’Flanagan’s lecture theatre which is more convenient than to have them in various halls in different blocks within the campus. The concept of all-in-one-building appeals to me more than that of an extended campus (UCD) in terms of convenience.

Also within the building is a prayer room for us Muslims. The College is kind enough to provide us with a well-renovated, magnificent room for prayers. The room is most handy to those with CS whose levels of piety are inexplicably high right before CS. From Agnostics to Atheists, everyone has a Finals God.

Come winter study break, Dublin snows and everyone, regardless of nerdity would come out and do funny things with the snow. Some people throw ice balls to each other, some get Timberland shoes and some get Timberland shoes to slip and fall anyway.

True story.

I built a sculpture for my first winter, but since this is a blog for 7 to 70, you can view it at a site that specifically contains explicit images that are unsuitable for the general audience a.k.a. this guy’s Facebook profile page.

Honestly, the fun ends after the second day it snows

Enter the January exams.

Pretty sure most have reached the acceptance part a couple of weeks before. But NEVER QUIT until you’re done with the last stroke of pen. With combined modules (eg: Neuromuscular + Haematopoietic Immune System = NM+HIS combined) papers, we were slapped with 60 MCQs and 6 SNQs (short notes questions) for each paper. Anatomy saved most of our behinds, but for modules without Anatomy, see you in the august hall soon.

Anatomy practical finals weren’t too bad either. It’s similar to CS but the questions are easier and they’re not too hard on first timers. Once everything is done with, it’s time for a much deserved break before everything starts over again. Only this time, it’s longer (5 months).

The winter break wasn’t too short anyway. I’ve had a trip to Belfast and another to Newgrange. The trip to Belfast was just a level short of a shopping haven despite the great prices offered. There’s the notorious Junction One Mall which is a factory outlet mall that sells branded clothes at dirt cheap price. You can easily get an Adidas tee for £8, a Reebok hoodie for £20 and a pair of Nikes at £28. (NB – Belfast is in Northern Ireland, which is in the UK hence the sterling pound and £1 is approximately about RM5)

Houses of the elites in Belfast

If you’d like to travel by public transports, you’ll have to take buses from:

Busaras bus station, Dublin -> Europa bus station, Belfast (€22 – return, 2.5 hours)

Europa, Belfast -> Junction One Mall (£6 – return, 1 hour)

Expect a long wait for the bus returning FROM Junction One Mall to Europa.

The only difference between my friends and I is that I was shopping in Belfast while some of them did it Milan or Oxford Street. T.T

Round 2 then began, shortly.

This time around, I had a better start and I even made time for socialising. The latter translates to societal events and trips to Rico’s, which count as pretty pathetic standards to define the word ‘socialising’.

Talking about Rico’s, it’s the best place in town to get halal fast food that’s worth your money. The chicken kebab oozes out mayo (which I’ve began to like since Rico’s) and it’s worth only €5 with chips compared to the monstrosity of other fast food outlets with their €7.99 set meals.

Classes were pretty much the same in JC2. For Anatomy, we learnt the Thorax (everything within the chest cavity) and the Upper Limb (shoulder, arm, forearm and hand) as compared to Lower Limb, Abdomen and Pelvis in JC1. Had a good load of fun in learning the brachial plexus despite the very rushed and unorganised lecture on that. As for the systems, we did cardiovascular, respiratory, genitourinary, endocrine and cancer cell physiology. It was a race from the start, although we did take our breaks.

In March, we had a rendezvous with our previous Health Director-General, Tan Sri Dr. Ismail Merican who was on a tour around UK and Ireland to preach to our medical students to return home to serve the nation upon their completion of studies. He made a brilliant case with all the perks (both financial and educational), motivation and answers. Not a single political point was raised that night.

In May, we took our finals. I probably forgot to mention the intra-semester MCQ assessments due to the insignificant 5% marks they carry for the finals. Sorry about that. The finals were not as different as the previous semester’s, nor were the levels of dependence towards the Finals God during that week. Short-notes questions (SNQs) were much better than the MCQs, looking at how squiggly my handwriting was towards the end of the papers. Kids, NEVER ignore your Molecular Medicine module no matter how foreign their lecture slides’ language is. I made a mistake and I’m pretty sure I’ll pay for it when I enter Intermediate Cycle where cancer cells will jump out of every other lecture slides to kill me.

There’s only one word to describe post-examination holiday – carefree. I spent the whole day going about in Dublin and on my laptop with all the cool movies I’ve downloaded. Talk about blissful days. A week later, I was on my plane from Dublin to London-Heathrow, where I took a transit to KLIA (it was a 747 and I had the whole left row to myself!) and finally to Penang. I was home at last.

JPA-PMC Batch 2010 With JPA Ireland Officer, Ms. Afidah Arshad (13/10/2011)

218 2010-2011

And that was freaking five months ago. I’m now in JC3, a sophomore.

Brief Update

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:10:00 +0000

My house right now.

UPC 100Mbps Fibre Power Broadband

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:17:00 +0000

Preview of how my life is gonna be like:

Will update further after we’ve got the connection installed tomorrow.

RCSI Lifehacks 1.0

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:06:00 +0000

Don’t register for an account with the AIB branch present at the college on the first day. Open an account at Grafton Street’s branch instead – you’ll get your account set up 3 weeks earlier than the rest.
Don’t bring copies of certificates and passport-sized photos of more than 3. You won’t need as much.
Bring at least €200 of cash along when you arrive in Dublin. You will HAVE to pay for a duvet (on the first day of arrival itself), groceries and the necessary payments (rent deposit – although, seniors may help you with that first).
Read the blue book, unless you know more than what’s in Monkhouse’s.
Don’t bring excessive stationery and notepads. Things are affordable here.
DO NOT wire money internationally into your AIB account. Daily sums of €12 will be charged for the number of days it takes for the amount to ‘reach’ your account. Case in mind – €12 × 14 days deducted from a friend’s dad’s internationally wired sum.
Bring an empty portable hard disk of capacity no less than 500GB – for non-academic purposes. ;-)
Bring a spare jacket from home before you get a better one there.
Don’t skip Anatomy practicals unless you’re good at faking a stomach ache.
Don’t purchase Apple-wares in Dublin. They’re WAY cheaper in Malaysia.

Meanwhile In Kampar...

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:56:00 +0000

Stalkers Will Stalk

Looters Will Loot

Google Maps

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:51:00 +0000

Back in December 2002, I was blessed with an offer to study at a seemingly cool boarding school in Malaysia, Sekolah Alam Shah in Cheras, KL (which was relocated to Precint 1, Putrajaya in April 2003). I was over the moon with the thought of having my future well taken care of so there I was, too excited to even care about any tedious aspects that may follow, which I left to my parents to worry about, such as figuring out the way to GET THERE in time for registration. Little did I know about what the entailing 2 months have in store for me, but I will tell you this – I’m not proud of them, but they were VERY crucial in laying the first few bricks in building my self-confidence.

But I digress.

A few days before Christmas 2002, I saw my dad expanding a folded map which he had obviously just purchased and with a magnifying glass and a red pen, tried to locate the school and the nearest highway exit that will get us there. It took him about 15 minutes to figure it all out, thanks to the map index. Eventually, we had my uncle’s friend to help us get to the school with us tailing him from behind from the Jalan Duta tollbooth.

Just a few years ago, Google introduced Google Maps and like everything else it gave us, it revolutionised whichever territory it peed around. With just a click, one is able to locate any landmark desired, and with a few more, receive directions on how to get there. And that’s a good thing for someone like me – having a good length of holiday with time ~~at my disposal~~ spent wisely exploring all the wonders that KL has to offer.

For example, wanna head over to Mid-Valley? Check out where it is...

...then get directions.

With Maps, I can now locate the most remote and rare of shops and head over with neither the
need of a GPS device nor the fear of losing my sense of direction. Women will find it useful. XP

Also, along with Maps came great opportunities to take pot shots. Watch and observe:

This is Penang on Maps...

...and this is, um, well...

...Sarawak. Or rather, Kuching.

And that’s Google insulting Sarawak (NOT ME LOL). We should do something about that, stat.

Finally, if you wish to jog close to nature and know what you’re looking for...

...zoom in further...

...look closer...

...and you’ll see...

...this.

Kumbhakarna

Pretty sure his index finger wasn't extended

Ten Percent

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:22:00 +0000

Good internet is a good two decades away. Hope is one-half that.

I've been to the future though. And now I'm back to where I belong.

Culture Shock

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:26:00 +0000

After 8 months of being away from home, I’m finally here. I had to transit thrice (Dublin – London (Heathrow) – KLIA) before reaching Penang. I took a MAS-operated, BMI flight, of which all 3 flights were fantastic. I’ve got a whole row to myself in the 747 which means I slept better throughout the journey. After a peaceful 12-hour flight, I reached Kuala Lumpur with the signature welcome from the pilot –

“...dan kepada semua warganegara Malaysia, selamat pulang ke tanah air. (...and to all Malaysians, welcome home).”

One of the things I noticed is the massive culture shock due to the different environments – even my house seemed VERY different despite a mild paintjob. The temperature made me sweat within seconds, a feat achieved by Dublin only in mid-March, after 6 months of my arrival. But the most significant slap to my Malaysian face would be from the price comparison between goods here and there. Of course, there are some goods which are sold cheaper here than there, but there are some which are best purchased there. Do note that like us, they earn at almost the same figures that we do (Interns - €2000 there, MYR2000 here) with the only difference being the value of the currencies.

As of today, the 17^thof June, XE has it that €1.00 is sold for RM4.32 (times 4) and £1.00 for RM4.91.

Let’s start with the basic necessities...

Bread, short loaf - €1.20 (RM4.80) vs. RM2.10

Olive oil, 1 litre - €6.99 vs. RM24.99

Drum wheat spaghetti - €0.59 vs. RM5.99

Dolmio 500g pasta sauce - €2.08 vs. RM15.90

Milk, 2 litres - €1.50 vs. RM17.99

...now for the delightful indulgences...

Chips 500g bag - €2 vs. RM5.99

Dr. Oetker instant pizza - €2 vs. RM8.90

Coca cola, 500ml - €1.50 vs. RM2

Haagen-Dazs - €5.99 vs. RM21.99

Books...

The Da Vinci’s Code - €4.99 vs. RM35.90 vs. £1.98 (eBay)

Where Does It Hurt by Max Pemberton - €3.99 vs. RM35.90 vs. £0.01 (eBay)

Guyton and Hall’s Textbook of Medical Physiology - €54 vs. RM138 (Kamal)

Shirts...

Plain T-shirt - €3 vs. RM15

A ‘good’ T-shirt - €15 vs. RM35

A ‘good’ shirt - €35 vs. RM80 (Alain Delon)

Jeans - €40 vs. RM180

Jacket - €50 (weather resistance) vs. RM169.90

Leather jacket - €160 (quality) vs. RM200

Hoodie - €20 vs. RM59.90

Socks - €4 for 4 pairs vs. RM15 for 3 pairs (as cheap as it gets)

...moving on to the second most anticipated part, the gadgets...

Laptop (15.6”, Windows 7, 2GB) - €429 vs. RM2500

Canon compact (Powershot S90) - €400 vs. RM1600

Nikon DSLR D3100 - £420 (RM2100) vs. RM2500+

Samsung Galaxy S (prepaid, phone package) - €429.99 vs. RM1800

Sunglasses...

Ray-Ban RB3428 unisex - €134 vs. RM600 vs. RM10

Ray-Ban polarised - £150 vs. RM1000 vs. RM10

Restaurants...

Subway foot long - €6.19 vs. RM 23++

Fish and chips - €8.50 vs. RM6.50

Prawn Madras curry - €14.00 vs. RM11.90

Taco fries - €4.99 vs. RM-sorry-we-don’t-have-epic-stuffs-like-that-here

Chicken rice - €-we-can’t-stand-spicy-food vs. RM4.50

Fried rice - €7.50 vs. RM3.50

...and the most awaited bit of the price-list...

iPhone 4 16GB - €569 vs. RM2290

iPod Touch - €229 vs. RM829

iPad - €499 vs. RM1499

MacBook - €999 vs. RM3099

MacBook Pro - €1199 vs. RM3699

So, all in all, did I experience culture shock or cultural cringe?

The former, of course. ;-)

Liberation

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:33:00 +0000

With exams behind me now, it’s time to enjoy the sunshine. Literally. Daily life
post-exams is dull –all the good movies were watched and with no new ones
released, I’m beginning to think that I’m wasting the summer away. The peace
though, contents me. I was kinda excited to return home, but not now.

Tell me, what could I do to spend the holiday’s worth of doing other than the usual
trips to Gurney and the movie reruns? Do drop some suggestions for I am in a desperate
need of ideas so I won’t waste the holidays away...

To rephrase it, what would you do if you have a long 4-month holiday for yourself?

Home Is Where The Net Is

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:17:00 +0000

At Its Best, So Far

Spring Is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:11:00 +0000

Finally, an update. See this is the most desperate of my attempts to procrastinate, but to keep my words, I finally came up with something.

We had a mini reunion at Phoenix Park last Saturday with our INTEC mates. Thinking back, exactly a year ago, I was studying my behinds off for A Levels, being desperate to be where I am right now. All thanks to God, of course.

It’s interesting to see how those in UCD have grown a couple of horns each and an overwhelming hint of cheek (yes, THAT kinda ‘cheek’) while we RC-ians remain the same. The after-hours social life must’ve really worked its charm on them. Or rather just the sights of pretty girls.

It’s supposedly spring already, with the flowers all sprung out, but somehow the temperature is still at the lower dip of the thermostat fluctuation. And having a picnic in Europe’s largest park is probably an experience in itself! Emily, if you’re reading this, people actually do take a nap / read a book / sunbathe / play Frisbee with their dogs under the sun (it’s not hot either!) so if you plan to visit Dublin, it’s best to come here during Spring. Here’s a peek at what’s in store for you here...

He comes with the spring package too...

...this guy too, but only in UCD

Now that I’ve posted a brief update, I’ll take a slightly longer break from blogging – again – for my finals. Then right after my finals...

Note: Dates not revealed to keep a certain fat chicken guessing.

PS: Guess I’ll have to postpone my Eurotrip to next summer then.

PPS: They don’t coin it ‘Spring cleaning’ for nothing...

Be VERY Jealous

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 04:27:00 +0000

I really need a new hard disk now. My current 320GB and 640GB ones are almost full. ;-)

School of Lies

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 09:55:00 +0000

4 years of Law School teaches you how to lie.

4 years of Med School, with an extra fifth year, teaches you how to lie and cover it up.

4 years of Accountancy School teaches you how to detect lies.

4 years of Math School teaches you how to invent lies and get entangled within them.

4 years of Physics School teaches you how to shape the fate of the universe based on lies.

3 years of Engineering School puts you in a position where you’ll have to lie in the future.

3 years of Business School teaches you how to get rich by lying.

3 years of Drama School teaches you to lie convincingly.

3 years of History School teaches you how people lied.

3 years of Theological School teaches you everything that was based on lies.

3 years of Art School...well, Art School itself was founded on lies so...

Egypt Unrest - Where To, Malaysia?

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:24:00 +0000

The street riots in Tunisia and Egypt are becoming increasingly violent, especially with opportunistic individuals trying to suit their agenda with the chances that appeared along with the demonstrations. Although political mavericks here may applaud the ‘courage’ of the people, let’s consider the predicaments of the Malaysian students there first.

As of now...

6000 inmates in Mansoura has escaped
Banks and other amenities were burned down
Students are restricted to daily 4pm-8am curfew with food shortage
Houses are surrounded by the dissonance of tanks, gunshots and fighter jets
A shopping complex was entirely robbed by the loose inmates
My fellow INTEC-RCSI mates who are currently on a vacation are stranded in Egypt
A Malaysian female student was raped at Alexandria

And I haven’t started about the gloom casted upon the lives of average people yet! Tell me, will it take an eternity for mankind to realise that peace can only be sought with peace? I know for a fact that we won’t resort to such desperate measures because we’re Malaysians and we’re more civilised than that. Now is a better time than any to voice out and our voices are being heard from both sides. Besides, we have a working election system, good practiced democracy and free press which are, personally, good enough media to convey our opinions.

So all of you hooligans who are fuelling for a barbaric, bloodthirsty political revolution can kiss my Malaysian behinds goodbye. Either fight for your cause diplomatically or shut up and let the real gentlemen (or women) do the speaking for you as long as the peace of the country and its people is left unscathed.

Call me a coward, but swear to God, if ever were I to lead a crowd in a revolution, I’d only put my life at stake, not theirs.

Speechless

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:02:00 +0000

Really now?

Eenie Meenie Miney Moe Wiene...

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:12:00 +0000

YouTube is a site which offers a never ending opportunity for the use of more domains to store videos of guys hitting each other’s nuts and stupid people. Afterwards, peers are allowed to share their two cents by means of commenting or for the lazier ones, liking or disliking the videos. A celebrity will rise or fall by the extent of support and likes from the online community. I swear, that’s how Kev was made the school captain after a video of him gleefully rolling on the floor - which I presume was an honest attempt to break dance – was uploaded on YouTube.

But try as you may, you can never fool the retard community.

They have the sense to enjoy this...

...while at the same time, rejecting this.

I Have An Eenie Meenie Miney Moe Wiener

They love this...

...but loath that.

Pictured: Ellen Page

And most surprisingly, for reasons I can never fathom, they can’t stand this...

...yet they worship this!

Perhaps he should upload a music video featuring nothing but him getting his nuts hit. Might just do the trick.

Remember Tamiya?

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:31:00 +0000

Studying for the exams really did wipe off quite some memories of who you are. I guess obsessing about the recent exams had set off quite an amnesia, retrograde if you don’t mind. Heck, I even forgot I have a family back home halfway through my shower last week! But the beauty of it lies in the point of epiphany, which when reached, can really be a sweet thing.

It was not before a post by a friend of mine that made me realise another gem of my childhood that till now, was buried deep within a thick layer of dusty memories, waiting to die. Trust me, it’d spark an excitement in you too when you read it because...

...it’s about TAMIYA 4WD RACE CARS!!!

Back in 1997 there was this crazy Tamiya mini race car passion, fuelled by the weekly TV show ‘Dash! Yonkuro’ aired every Friday afternoons (on the 4.30 slot if my memory serves me right). It’s a show about a guy with his other 4 companions battling against other teams to win a race car championship.

But for all that we care about, it’s about the curves and the sleekness of the race cars. Back then, I use to get my models from Lorong Kulit, the same place I’ve got my Pokemon series CDs a few years later – and the cool jersey replicas if you know what I mean.

Really now, Lorong Kulit should be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for all that it has done for the community. Pretty sure a friend of mine with a fake Rolex would agree.

But I digress. Looking at the photos again, the characteristic 486 and the orange-yellow stripes made my heart skip a beat. I once had these cars, number 1-5 (except the pink one) and the 01 model (Super Emperor). Although, I honestly believed that the pink one, the Dashing Doll (they just had to include the ‘Doll’ there, don’t they?) was the coolest because its engine was in the front compartment unlike others. Soon other models were released with front engines and I turned to other muses for the coolness while abandoning the Doll. I still think it’s cool though.

Dash 04 - Cannonball

The fun part about these cars is the assembly of the components. Back then I used to carefully break off the plastic parts from the thin framework, then assembling them one by one – delicately – from the instructions of the included manual into a car. Also, I’d have to grease the end of the motor lever before attaching the connecting gear to it. Then there’s the part where the stickers are attached to their respective parts on the body before they’re locked to go.

Dash 01 - Super Emperor (496)

Still crystal clear, I instantly remembered the details of my cars - Dash 1 (Emperor) had a small part of the sticker on its spoiler torn, with a broken front hood (swear to God I felt a gloomy trickle of sadness just thinking about the taped front hood, which was surprisingly inexplicable!), the way the guy sends the Emperor off to the circuit, and oh, the orange 496 symbol (!!!), Dash 2 (Burning Sun) looked like a tank, Dash 4 (Cannonball) had 4 mufflers, with a better shade of green than the Burning Sun, Dash 01 (Super Emperor) was a good replacement for my Dash 1 with its stickers all intact, but it could NEVER replace my awesome – more chunky – Emperor. Till the day my obsession with Tamiya 4WD mini race cars died, I never ceased to search for a new Dash 1 to make up for the cosmetic damages of the original one.

Dash 1 - Super Emperor (496)

Still, I’ve never did find a replacement for my Emperor.

Neuromuscular and Alimentary System

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 08:44:00 +0000

Looks like it’s A Levels all over again, if not twice the stress and volume. I’ve been taking it slow since the start of the week but I should probably speed things up. If anything, I’ve learnt a few things from my first semester:

NEVER skip Anatomy practicals - without a medical note
ADD ON to lecture notes, NOT to study the chapters from the book
Pain is good - it shows that you’re doing it right in Med school
NEVER fall for the almost-insignificant MCQ traps
Something’s NOT RIGHT when you have the luxury of peace and spaciousness
How to cook spaghetti and fried rice right

And if there are a few things that I think I still need to learn...

The IMPORTANCE of the BLUE BOOK
Chocolates and drinks are bad for my pancreas
C.O.D. is detrimental to my academic health
Include Facebook and Blogger to that

Hence I’m officially off the blogosphere till I’m done with my exams. Also:

iDevice - To Jailbreak Or Not?

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 23:28:00 +0000

When Steve Jobs revealed the iPad, countless sexist jokes appeared – of different versions – but it didn’t took long for people to Mosedify Jobs and go all tablets on iPads. I however, beg to differ. I mean, yeah the iPad’s a marvel but you have to jailbreak it to kill any tribes or you’ll have to fork out more. Besides, what the heck’s a ‘Lite’ or a ‘Free’ if not an eyesore? Clearly, Microsoft went far with pluralistic ignorance of the Anti-Piracy laws and now Apple is following suit with the legality of Jailbreaks. Steve Jobs knows the beast in this move and he knows it right, which is why jailbreaks are even legalised in the US. I mean, what’s stopping a guy who got a liver within days - while others, years – from passing a strong law in his own country?

Of course, the fact that a void warranty would probably curl your parts and turn your backs against jailbreaks and there’s also the chance of a crashed or bugged iOS occurring in your iDevice, but here’s what my tech-savvy friend (I have two tech-savvy friends who know their stuffs and this is one of them) has got to say about jailbreaks. It’s an awesome reply – so good that I just had to share this with anyone who’s willing to read! For anonymity purposes, I’ll only quote him as Chuin.

PS: Jailbreak applies to all iDevices running on iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad).

PPS: Thanks to medical school, the blog now lacks proper Photojob, hence my apologies.

PPPS: iDevices support NO FLASH whatsoever...which goes to say how uneducated Apple fanboys are at committing to a brand.

PPPPS: The author whom I quoted this from would like to disclaim any liability arising from his opinions. In his own words, “he is uncertain if his description of jailbreaking is 100% accurate (since he’s only an end-user and not a developer) so he’s gonna do what a typical lawyer would do and disclaim all liability arising from any application of his advice.

(I’m sticking to his words though =) )

My New 'Badminton' Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:26:00 +0000

Clearly, they’re not badminton shoes.

It started to hail last week and walking on a half-molten layer of snow in a pair of worn-out badminton shoes isn’t exactly the best of ideas, especially if you wish to have your dignity intact while walking in a group. So I bought a good pair of boots to last me a few winters here.

Here’s to wishing for a sooner January bailout...

What Happens When Your Groin Is Hit

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:47:00 +0000

So what really happens when a guy (or girl!) gets his (or her) groin (or ovaries) pounded? I’ll try to exclude as much terms as possible, so do bear with me here.

When the sacred sack gets hit, pain signals are sent to the brain for notification. But the body’s a funny thing – the brain basically receives two choices of where the pain is from and it chooses wrongly – so the pain is felt at the more generalised, pubic region.

The Central Abdomen As They Are Divided Into Three Regions - Epigastric, Umbilical and Pubic Region

Technically, you get a referred pain if you get hit, that is, the brain incorrectly perceives the pain as originating from a distance away from the actual parts concerned. The radiating pain, instead of being felt at the reproductive organs, is felt around the pubic region instead. And since the muscles of the front-most surface of the body are innervated by nerves that run across the body horizontally, the muscle fibres of the pubic region remain flexing the trunk until the pain sensation goes off. The beauty in this is that it is a natural defensive act by the body to ‘bend-down’ and offer more protection to your stimulus package.

Besides the groin, referred pain is also felt elsewhere in the abdomen. Pain from an inflamed appendix is referred to the umbilical region, the box around the belly button in the figure above. The pain becomes localised when the inflammation becomes severe, causing the appendix to press against the peritoneum (the large ‘plastic bag’ that covers the intestines and fills the space within the abdomen) and increase the pain signals to the brain.

That said, do try not to get your parts assaulted! =)

How It Feels To Have Your Groin Hit

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 09:23:00 +0000

Back when I was an idiot and actually had a life in school, I was blessed with one too many melees to my groin. Of course, I never backed down without returning the favours. Though I can only hope that their gubernaculums remained remnants at the time of impact or...

The year was 2005 and we were waiting for our Science teacher to enter the lab. So us boys being boys (this of course, was in PFS) couldn’t help but to be your typical anal-apertures and started our nonsense. Mocks turned into taunts, taunts to jerking chairs, and eventually someone started to knock someone else’s family jewels – I swear to God I didn’t start any of this – and before I knew it...

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!”

...I was hit.

It was pure agony. I had a weird sensation down there, with a suspicious pain along a line from my ‘down-there’ to about the level of my belly-button. The area between the belly-button and the groin felt weak and I was wringing in pain with my body bent. Believe me, if there’s anything advantageous to being a female, it is that you don’t suffer from such a trauma. As fate had it, it was then that my teacher momentously decided to enter and without a moment of hesitation, the monitor instructed us to arise and greet her.

Now this would be a normal, almost boring thing to mention, except that everyone was erect (standing, of course) and I wasn’t...quite. I couldn’t, actually, because my muscles refused to pull me up straight and forcing them would only mean more pain so I stood half-bent, pretending to look lazy. All these and the @$$clowns who did this were laughing away back in their seat but hey, I don't blame them. To shoot a bird down (a jargon from Black Ops, if you may) and actually seeing it plummeting down helplessly is an awesome feat because more often than not, you do miss. True story.

And to add to my misery, I was at the front-most table in the lab.

So, what really happened then? Why the pain? Stay tuned for the answer.

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:59:00 +0000

Near Temple Bar, Dublin

It was Halloween last night. I was supposed to go out as the Invisible Naked Man, but decided to go as Joe McNally after some persuasion by my housemates. XP

We set out at about 8.30pm by bus and reached the city centre (near Temple Bar) at around 9pm. Unfortunately, I left my camera battery uncharged so I couldn’t take as much pics as I’d like to. But hey, I experienced a Dublin Halloween after all! Do share my last night's POV from the following shots. =)

I Have A Thing For His Awesome Spanish Long Coat

Caprice's Brother. A Spur-Of-The-Moment Shot

I Am SO Going As A Storm-Trooper Next Year!

Have You Heard Of...

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 11:11:00 +0000

...a sunny day at 7°C?

Garda

noreply@blogger.com (Raz) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:17:00 +0000

It was an exhausting yesterday. With documents all prepared (finally!), we went to the Garda National Immigration Bureau to register and obtain an immigration card, the one we fancily address to as the Garda card (where Garda translates to police in English).

We set out on foot at about 5am and reached there a few minutes shy of 6. The fact that I didn’t sleep the night before didn’t help.

Arriving shortly before 6, we had to join the line which has by then extended to the third corner of the building. Figuratively, we queued up here:

At about 7am, a Garda official instructed the Stamp 1, 3 and 4 applicants to take their numbers first. That translates to workers, Green card applicants etc. while we students (Stamp 2) were only given numbers after them.

I’ve only got mine at 8.20am so yes, it kinda suck having to wait. If you think standing for 2 hours is bad, try standing while the cold wind blew right to your face. I was given this number and told to return at 2pm:

Having the day only started, we proceeded to have breakfast and went to class. Upon reaching the building at 2pm, we waited till about 3.30pm before our turn was up. The official requested for my:

Passport
Acceptance letter
TWIC (To whom it may concern) letter
Bank statement
Financial affidavit
Letter of sponsorship

After taking a shot for my card, I proceeded to pay for the visa with my debit card. I then waited patiently for about 45 minutes before obtaining my card. We were extremely exhausted by then but we still did some shopping at a Euro-saver shop near the vicinity – since we were already there! It’s a good thing we only have to do it annually.

I hereby declare the Malaysian immigration department to be more efficient than its Irish counterpart.