S|ight|y Neur0tic Woman

Prayer for Exams

2008-06-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

This is a prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino. It is a miraculous prayer that helped me through my exams. I was guided in such a way that it was what i had read that came out in the exams. This is a beautiful prayer and i want to share it with all of you. No matter your religions, in time of need (esp exams), this prayer will help you through it.

There are two variants to this prayer:-

First Prayer
O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favour in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.
Through Christ our Lord.
St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us.
Amen.

Second Prayer
O St. Joseph of Cupertino who by your prayer obtained from God to be asked at your examination, the only preposition you knew. Grant that I may like you succeed in the (here mention the name of Examination eg. History paper I ) examination.
In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.
O St. Joseph of Cupertino pray for me
O Holy Ghost enlighten me
Our Lady of Good Studies pray for me
Sacred Head of Jesus, Seat of divine wisdom, enlighten me.

THANK ST. JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO AT THE END OF YOUR EXAMS AND SPREAD THIS PRAYER TO ALL.

Another prayer that was amazing for me during my exams and always is the prayer to the holy spirit:-

PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
Holy Spirit, you who makes me see every-thing and who shows me the way to reach my ideals, you who gives me the Divine gift to forgive and forget all that is done to me, and you who are in all the instincts of my life with me, I in this short dialogue, want to thank you for everything and affirm once more that I never want to be separated from you, no matter how great the material desires may be. I want to be with you and my loved ones in their perpetual glory. To that end and submitting to God's holy will, I ask from you..... etc. (your request).
(This prayer should be said for 3 consecutive days. After the 3rd day the request will be granted. While making this request should:-
Promise to publish it on granting of the prayer.

You should always remember to give thanks to God for every blessing you get in your life.

Hope this helps.

Benny Lava Meets Char Siew and Siuk Yuk

2008-04-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

My latest cooking fun. I can't cook everything but i like to try. If it jadi goood. I float into my little proud bubble when i accomplish something. Hehe. I always tell ppl it's easy to make this and that. Not because i'm a cocky bitch. But simply because it is simple and i don't think ppl should be impressed by any dish. For those who don't cook.. it may look amazing.. but if they tried it i'm sure they could make it to. Trust me. Who doesn't know how to mix A with B and to dust C on D. Baking on the other hand is something that needs skills and patience. I ain't the best at that because i'm a lazy fart. I use no measurements and weighing scales and i can't wait ages for things to puff and poof in the oven at a lower temperature. I rather whack it on high. BUt i think i should learn.

Enough mumbo jumbo. Recently, i craved for char siew and siu yuk. Best siew yuk in Manchester is in Happy Season but i am in Wigan. So well, if you can't get something, you gotta try making it urself. Best char siew will always be at Jalan Alor in Malaysia. and there is nothing like having some nice fresh chilli garlic ginger vinegar thing they do in Malaysia. So, after a visit to kuali.com and random other websites. i set off on my adventure. The results :-

It was yummy. So I think it was a success.

Will work on it and benny lava shall cook for u guys one day.

*****muacks!!!*****

Goooooooooooooood morning

2008-04-03T00:54:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday. Almost the end of the week. Looking forward to a weekend of blissful shopping.

Someone's drilling in my flat (Brill!!!) or near it but i can hear it so distinctively.

Like a happy child looking for candy in the morning, i stumbled into my kitchen to have a delicious cold bowl of Kellogg's Frosties (craving of the week). Engrossed in my yummy treat unaware my flatmate joined me in the kitchen.... in what i assume was his seluar dalam and a top. We're not talking boxers. We're talking proper tighty seluar dalam.

Trying to look everywhere but there whilst we chatted over breakfast. It felt as if i floated in my little pink bubble with rainbows on either side to have my frosty yummy Kellogg's Frosties and was ambushed!

KA BA BOOM

Now that's the second boy in my life to have a conversation on his underwear with me. The first was a consultant in a changing room. Is this what all male doctors do? Would not like to be caught in this situation with Ray Ming or Jay. Although that there is a high possibility after a few drinks Ray may make an appeareance. Oh well.

Finally excused myself and went into my room. this is my first time having a male housemate. time to get used to it!

---------Scents and Sensuality---------

2008-04-02T11:18:00.001-07:00

5 senses in the body. All important but there is one i absolutely love. Smell.

Smell is able to trigger a memory for me. I adore perfume and always stick to a few fragrances.

Ever have someone (guy/girl) walk past you and fill ur nostrils with a delicious smell (not the b.o)?

or ever have someone say " you smell good, what do u use?"

Or in the case of a certain someone (a guy!)

another guy come up to him and say

" you smell nice, what aftershave is that?"

he answers flirtatiously

" nothing"

LOL!

*you know who you are*

Scents can draw you towards someone or make you run the 100m dash away from that person. One very important factor in a man for me is rich manly aftershave... mmmm. Of course, for those of you nursing 3 hairs on ur chin, shaving will be something you can look forward to in the future.

There is an experience which i enjoy. Probably most people are not aware of it. The main sites for a lady to apply perfume are neck, wrists, and behind the ears. After wearing a particular perfume for a while you get adjusted to it and are no longer aware of the smell. There is an experience that will cause a burst of all these scents. An experience most of you may not even notice and take for granted which i adore. When you shower and the water hits the spot where the perfume was on you neck, it cause a little burst of scents that is absolutely marvelous! These are the little moments of joy in my mundane daily life.. my showers. (for those of you who think i'm insane ..l..) (you know u want to try it!)

There are a few perfumes i love and use which you wouldn't have noticed in the stores and some pretty commonly seen:-

Ja'dore by DIOR

Esencia Femme by Loewe

Loewe's Quizas Quizas Quizas

DKNY - Cashmere Mist

Loewe - I Loewe You

These are just some little scents and smells in my everyday life that make my mornings a little brighter, my showers a little more exciting and my nights a little more *wink*. These are the regulars which are always on my dresser. So the next time ur around me, try and make a guess which one of these it is. Or, the next time ur stumped on what to get me for a gift, you'd never go wrong with any one of these.

I can't believe i blogged about my perfume and shower adventures. Strangely enough, i want to publish this post despite being mildly unsettled about what a loony people are gonna think i am.

My anatomy is a Croc of Shit

2008-04-01T03:19:00.000-07:00

Once again as a deer caught in headlights, I am wide eyed with nothing between my ears. Post take ward round. Was asked what would be obstructed in a caecaltumour ( i probably can't spell that along with my croc of shit anatomy). I said " ileo caecal valve" fair enough right?

Then she asked me where that was. " Large bowel" doing not too shabby so far. Then, point on urself. Like a blitthering idiot, i pointed to my LIF. (slap me now!) Why do i turn into such a spaz when put on the spot by my assessing consultant? Well, maybe because i lack the knowledge right? Perhaps? But then, she asked me to sketch it out. .... During the ward round with the whole team looking at me. I am able to draw it correctly! (well sorta, it was mean't to look a bit more ball like) Now why couldn't i come up wit the answers before. Who knows? it's a great mystery like the riddle of the SPhiNx.

I need to make an impression and i am tripping on my own toes.

Went to theatre in an effort to prove to her i am making an effort to learn. I also wanted to ! Went to theatre with Mr. LOga (Anatomy 101 tutorial man!!). Mid way through first patient. i faint.

I know i have blogged about this before

My fainting

Is it normal?

Do i need a CT brain?

It's like all the time

1.Ward ROunds

2. Surgery

3. washing my hair.

I noticed it has something to do with warm environments. Like when the theatre lights are vasodilating my cerebral vessels or when the warm water is too much.

Why doesn't everyone have the same problem then? Why is it just me.

If i do have some strange condition. I would like to be studied and a case study done and i would like my own name on the publication please. ANy takers?

Funny Thing Happened During the Walk Down the Corridor

2008-03-26T03:20:00.000-07:00

" Keling " ""Keling" " Keling " echos the sound or namecalling ever so familiar in Malaysia. Whilst in the other parts of the word, it will make no sense. In Malaysia (and potentially Singapore) it does make sense.

It is a term potentially initiated by 20th century Malaysians as a form of name calling towards the Indians. This originated from the anklet which is worn by Bharatanatyam (the classical indian dance). It is actually far more complicated than the anklet. Heavy indian dancing jewelery and attire as worn by Aishwarya Rai below:-

The anklet in detail.

In todays modern world, there are a variety on anklet available in the market worn by chinese, malays and indians in Malaysia. These anklets are very simple and plain made of white gold, stainless steel and silver. Well, personally i like the very very simple ones with the tiniest bell.

Something inside of me stirred ... My indian gene. Sudden craving for indian jewelry. I contemplated piercing my nose and having a tiny diamond stud on it. (not the freak show weighing down your nose type and enough to replace the sun type seen all over Masjid India) The other indian craving i had was for an anklet.

Surprisingly, there are no anklets in the UK. Well, at least i never stumbled upon them. Not even Tiffany's!!!

True to my indian roots, i now am decked in a thin white gold anklet with the tiniest bell!

I'm elated. I never take it off ... well, that's for the moment.

One question in mind... are children more aware of the sound of a little bell compared to adults?

Walking back home from hospital down the corridors of the infirmary with the faintest tinkle of my bell....

I saw the most adorable child walking down the corridor. You know the really young little boy who has just learned to walk. Has a broad based gait with the arms sticking out at the sides plodding his way down the corridor. Committed to walking on his own alongside his dad.

I stopped to the side to make way for him and also to adore this gorgeous child. He walks by me and i continue my journey in the opposite direction.

funny thing - i hypothesized in my head that the child would be attracted to the sound to the bell. Maybe it is because he is so tiny he is closer to my ankle and he hears it better.

Sure enough, when i turned around... this little pudgy broad base kiddy had turned around and was walking towards me!!!!

awwwwwwwwww..... then his father led him in the right direction and i went on home to get back to my studies.

The End.

P/S : Mine is not the heavy duty ones. Not planning to break out into a dance in the street but simple. plain. tasteful.

Good Friday : Celebration of the Passion of the Lord

2008-03-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

It is but an unexplainable feeling you get once you walk out of church after mass. No words can describe it. You feel renewed, less burdened and afresh. You feel enriched and alive. There is no other feeling so beautiful in it's purity of spirit and mind.

The priest spoke today about the cross and the crucifx and symbols representing christianity.

In the olden times, the common punishment was to nail one to the cross and have them hang there. As Christ suffered on the cross, it is a little thing we can do just to wear the cross around our neck. The symbol of the Christian church is seen as the cross on the building.

This form of punishment by nailing one to the cross was abolished in 337 AD.

Have you ever stopped to think about what the symbol of Christianity was before the crucifixation of Christ on the cross?

It was the fish. And why was this?

One of the first reasons was the link between the mention of fish in numerous passages of the bible. Another reason was due to the Greek word for fish which is Ichthus spelt

"lota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma"

which has many transalations in English one being

"Jesus, Son of God, Saviour"

Well, this is just a little bit of Christian history i have come to learn about today.

Have a Blessed Easter everyone

xoxo

2008-03-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

Well, as everyone knows, my blog has little bursts of life and then dies off for ages.The reason for thiswhy blog when u can be out having fun.Last blog post dates somewhere in July. It is now March 2008.In these couple of months, numerous thoughts have floated through my head. The key word here being floated. Like jokes, i can never keep a thought/joke long enough in my head to express it to the world.

Currently, following Malaysian Dreamgirl.My personal opinion is that the ultimate judge for such a contest should be a reknown sexy plastic surgeon.Speaking of surgeons, Wednesday morning surgical audit meetings are delish!Currently doing Colorectal surgery. Becoming an expert at the Surgical Abdomen! (no kidding!)

Been travelling a bit in the span of these few months,

London

Paris

Venice.

wow.. Venice.. that was quite an adventure... right??? (those of you who survived it with me!!!)

Speaking of London, stayed at the very special hotel Tatiano. Best place in London by far. Who could want a better host *wink*The manager owner of this lovely apartment a stone's throw from the London eye is none other than ...

Kim Tat - suited Superman!

Belgo.. miss u! mango beers and po pei .. ( dun spell it, just eat it baby)

An adorable little girl on my eurostar to Paris.

Love kids.

Currently, in a situation where i've got to spend more time at home than out. Lots of work to catch up on. Looking forward to next weekend. Lake district, Blackpool weekend. Vomit bag, my best friend. The injury i cause myself in the name of insane fun. *raised brows*

This weekend quest:-

1. cocktails at Socio Rehab

2. tea sweetened with Black Cherries.

3. Shopping (this is like a routine at weekends)

4. and i think there's a movie i am to be dragged to bribed with cheesy food which i will do or else. (sobs)

Frustrated and ANnoyed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

Again an angry post venting my frustrations which you have never seen on my face. Always hidden behind a smile and a giggle. Something set me off now.. to go on about this. It's 9 something in the morning and i am bloody blogging.
Anyway, i'm annoyed with so many things. Mainly the actions of others. I"m lazy to discuss this here.
Moving on to something else.
I am a sentimental fool
I am really
I cherish and keep small little things
I have certain things i reserve for sharing with certain people
Some things only for my family
I really keep a lot of things and there is meaning to so many things i own.
If something not as pleasant has happened to something i love, i somehow see it very differently and will actually throw it away and buy a new one. I throw away absolutely anything irregardless of the price because the sentimental value of it is affected or tainted.
Do YOU do that too? Maybe not to such an extreme extent but i am sure somewhere and somehow you have a few sweet little things that are just special and u love them so much u don't use them
make sense? No? call me on 0780 968 5163
* one digit is off ok! not gonna give out no like that
haahha

Back once again

2007-06-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone? time to resuscitate this blog again. i suck at blogging ... y even bother. but shit bored so fine.

a lot has happened lately. I thank God for the miracles He has done.

i've been to prague.

i think i have "knight's move" thinking. I always jump from one thought to another

it makes sense to me but to whomever's talking to me it's like... "whoa, what????"

it's even more evident in my writing. Doing research now... writing a paper and did a powerpoint presentation, got exactly the same comment, you're jumping from here to there.! uh - oh scary

well anyway here's picccs

MahJong

2007-05-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

you've seen it, you've heard and and yes i've played it!!~!~!~!~!~!

never did the mahjong room of circus casino expect to see an indian girl mah -jonging there...

thanks to cmingo, his patience and brilliant teaching skills, i've learned the game and had quite a bit of fun playing it.

it's rather bitchy to do this but i just gotta..

hahahah "I BeaT my TeaCher!!"

I won 2 games..weee.. i'm not fully clear on the calculation but catching on pretty quick.

But i owe it to my gooooood gooooood teacher CmIngo...

The rest of my day revolved a lot around parking my car. Yesterday was the day of the progress test (yeah it's yday dy since it's 4.17am and i'm just showered back and tucked into my bed blogging). I drove to Uni for the exam and decided to pay and park at the Aquatics Centre as instead of parking for free in Tai Pan coz i feared my paranoia of getting caught for doing that would nag me. (i'm tired there are gonna be a lot of typo's in this blog post)

So, i am all set looking for parking at NCP Aquatic Centre. After the first few floors i was still alright thinking that i could possibly get one at the higher floors. By the time i was almost to the top there was an area for "University Only". Did i fall under that category?? i dunno. I just went on up. As i tried to come back down because the upper levels were full as well ( maybe i was delusional but i think there was about 12 floors), I was suddenly forced to stop. There was a barrier and i suddenly started panicking that only a specific university parking card (which i don't own) will lift it. *sweat*stress*palpitations* Then , still approached the barrier and thought i could buzz whoever was on the other side of the intercom to help me out. Amazingly, as i approached the barrier, it lifted *phew*!!!!

Then, i just made my way outta the aquatics centre parking and settled for Tai Pan. As i drove into the Tai Pan parking lot, the parking guy who is always there looked at me and i panicked and fleeeeeeeeeeeeed (chicken !!!)

After a phone call i came to know about parking lots next to MRI and parked there. Then, i headed for the exams.

After the exams....

We went for dinner to tai wu. I misplaced my parking ticket. Eng tat found it. (thanks eng tat!@@!!!) and soon i was on the roads again no longer trapped in parking lots.

Seriously, parking lots are out to trap me and MisS Poh. (you know who Miss Poh is... don't you?)

OK, NOW I AM REALLY LAZY AND DROWSY AND TIRED. SO BYE BLOGGY AND BLOGGY READERS.

i'm annoYed By tHis FeeLing

2007-05-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

u know when u study, there are moments and times where everything is just flying into your head. Then, there is the times where, you wide awake, alert but just can't concentrate. You read a sentence 3 times and finally get it and someone asks u about it in 5 mins and you can't remember. I have been studying Orthopedics. Yes, carpal tunnel and tennis elbow but all the other stuff is driving me crazy. I have so much left to do

i have

psychiaty

paeds

obs and gynae

get thru medical sch book

past year q's

The time right now is 2.48pm. I have to go to morissons and get lunch or else i will mati kebuluran. Exam is tomorrow at 2pm. I have less than 24 hours to get all of this done. I hope my mind will become a super sucking sponge by the time i get back.

I'm watching Season 1 of Desperate Housewives as I study.

I have to give up coffee.. coz i usually do so 24 hours before and exam. So it's a juicy life for me.. i've got apple mango which is delicious and pink grapefruit which is something that will kick start my engines.

I'm craving for wild grain rice and something, gonna scout the microwave food section of morrisons. I can't eat any more pasta, i may give birth to an italian.

I just wish i could get a great big hug and be told that don't worry you can do it.

I trust God to help me through this Progress Test.

"I Trust in You, O Lord"

Random Ramblings!~

2007-05-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend was brill!!! (feel like i'm writing a "karangan").

I'm stressed out about having to go in all the time for ssc, write my report and study for the progress test!

I have to go to London soon, my passport needs some sorting out! I wanna try the bayswater duck! Lets all go.. make a great weekend of it! try to top last weekend!

I'm learning so much in urology. Did you know about AUS.
it is the Artificial Ureteric Sphincter.
It's a like device involving 3 pieces. The first is a little ring around the urethra with a balloon on it that can fill up with water to create the right bit of pressure to seal the urethra or open it up!! (the sphincter!)
The next is the bit which is a little tiny water filled ball which acts as a reservoir! and then there is a bit with a ittle press button for u to pump water into the balloon at the ring around the sphinter or push another button to drain it into the reservoir to allow u to wee! Isn't that so cool!!! it's a brilliant thing for those with incompetent sphincters! Goodbye incontinence hellow dry land! so simple system.

More medical facts. Did u know that one could get an angina without a stenosis of a coronary vessel or a thrombus or a plaque? it's just syndrome x where there is angina in the presence of no angiographic abnormality!

I've been having such hectic days. I sleep by 12 plus. Up by 7. Into hospital. Back at 6 and the cycle goes on. There's a part of me that can't wait for the weekend but also knows that when the weekend comes, that means it's only a week to my exam
oh well.

Golf + Shopping

2007-04-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

For years my father has been trying to get me interested in golf. Ever since i was a little girl. My father loves the game. He made me a member of the clubs, got a pro to coach and got me all the shoes and clubs and all. I learned the game and liked it. It's been such a long time since i held a golf club in my had. Up until yesterday...

I came to know about Play Golf this driving range just 10 mins from my place! To celebrate post osce, i went to the driving range and really got into it. Love it and can't wait to go back again. It's just so much fun. My father is thrilled about my renewed interest in it and is urging me to buy all the equipment here all over again although i have em back in Malaysia!!!

After that i went to the Trafford Centre! It was time for shopping and eating! Another visit to Carluccios... ( it's this new italian cafe in the Trafford Centre which i keep buying cakes and tarts from ). I am not getting fat though!!! (JeaLous???) hrmm, maybe i am getting fat...

Anyway, the i shopped... Haven't been shopping much lately, my latest purchases:-

1. the latest shade of the Dior Addict Ultra Gloss Reflect

2. the latest MAC liquid foundation - Mineralize Satin Finish

3. La Senza Pj's! nice and comfy. i feel like i'm sleeping on air

I am not contented yet. There is much more shopping to come.

Night night folks. Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

A Twisted Knot in My Stomach

2007-04-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

I have been having this issue for such a long time. It's really eating me inside. I want to get away from it but it seems like there isn't much i can do. It may require a personality overhaul but am i ready to do that. AND, am i capable of doing it after not having done it for so long. No one knows about this but one whom i share it with. That person can't help me and i am not helping myself. I need a change. i need to do something about it. I feel like it's really EATING ME INSIDE. Sometimes i am free of it and it is bliss but then at a certain point in time it strikes me down. I can and must overcome this. I must not look back i must push through full throttle. Blogging does help, i don't pour it out but somehow it helps. I can tell no one. No one will understand but a few and no one will believe. There will be scepticism and betrayal. I don't think any of you will be able to make sense of this but it is but what has made me feel down today and in need of some cheering up. Thanks all of you who were such good frens to comfort me!

i love this song!!!!

2007-04-19T06:49:00.000-07:00

Please go to the bottom of the page and play the Youtube video! this song is lovely.

Is it Just me?

2007-04-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

I have strange body physiology. Is it just me or is everyone the same? Well, i have something to confesss. I go through stages and periods in my life when i am "high" without the well know liquid beverage to be blamed (alcohol!!!!) I am serious. I don't know why, i'm just "high" with no alcohol influence !
1.The typical charlene "high" (the most common one encountered)
* very very friendly, very chatty, not reserved at all, just all my true colours (good & bad) streaming out. Laughing like a maniac, a short attention span and just talking and talking and talking. . . (pretty loudly at times - yesterday haha the guy at the table behind my friends and i was turning over to look at us a lot). When the "high" has subsided, i am then left all "oh goodness, did i really act like that? what will they think of me now? and then i apologize profusely to those people with a text the morning after which they would probably look at and go "huh? what the hell?" the other things i ask myself are did i say that? how embrassing! they typical regrets!*

2.the paranoid charlene "high"
* this is when i can overly paranoid about something. this is like when i know i have done something, and i check whether i have done and confirm that and still keep checking. Like for instance. When i park my car, if it is in my flat area, it's fine. I will just go check if i locked it. If it is at the area outside where the main road is at a slope behind it, i check it a gazzillion times. things i check for :-

1. are my doors locked + my booth

2. is the red light blinking

3. is my steering lock on

4. is my handbrake securely up? (you see, i have this phobia that if not my car will roll down onto the main road)

5. there are no visible valuables displaying (no wallets left or gps navigation equipment lying around)

and after i've done all of that i go in and will still come out and peek again to ensure the car hasn't rolled down.

You see??? this is not normal... well, not to scare you off but that's on my extreme days.

3. the third type of "high" - the i'm sleepy so i'm high

well, this one normally happens when i'm really really tired and it occurs in the night. I will be cranky and extremely anxious about a lot of things, i will think too much and worry unnecessarily about things which when i wake up and think about i myself look back and think i was ridiculously crazy. here's i'll be thinking and replaying events in the day/over the past while and thinking and over analysing and seeing if i hurt anyone and will they be upset and think are they mad at me? do they think i'm a bitch? and seriously, in the morning, not a single one of those thoughts make the least sense to me.

4. the i'm going to pour my heart out to you "high"

Just like anyone else, i have a lot in me which i keep to myself. (seems like a shock to you huh?) There is not one person who knows everything about me. But sometimes when i'm "high" i will just get comfortable with someone and just open up a lot and pour on and on about anything that is bothering me which i usually keep to myself and not share with anyone. Those of you who know me will know that i am most probably the least confrontational person you will meet. If i am upset with someone or someone hurts me, i will not react to that person but instead just let it go and no longer will be around that person. Avoidance?Well, back to the point, at this "high" i do sometimes just pour out all this to someone. and then, i will look back and think "oh no, i shouldn't have done that" and like what was i thinking . Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah, so as you can see, i have a real bunch of strange traits. I guess that it what makes me me. Is this just me? Or is everyone some what like this to a certain extent? Any views?
(i'm sure there are a lot of typo's throughout this post. I can't be bothered to go through it. My english is not awful ok!)

-~YOU~~-

2007-04-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

You...

Are the one always by my side

are to one who comforts me when i'm down

who protects from the rough ways of this world

hits me like a storm

You....

are the one who picks me up when i have fallen

the one who stands up for me when i can't

the one who opens my eyes to so much

You

Are the one

*the wise words of someone*

Times Have Changed

2007-04-13T02:58:00.000-07:00

In this past 2 years i think i have grown a lot. I do not know if it is for the best or for the worse. I have always been by nature known as caring and oversensitive. But so many things have happened over the past 2 years and the people i am exposed to has reshaped my character so much. I don't like the person i have become and long to be my normal self but in life it's so difficult to be that way.
I look back at a simpler time when people were genuine and sincere. In my whole life i always thought of a lot of people as friends but now i look at things differently. i have friends and then there are acquaintances. This is something my father always thought me since i was young.
He also thought me to trust no one. And up till today, there is no one in my life i trust completely besides my father and my mother. Everyone else in life has the potential to hurt you and to "use & abuse" you. *quoted from the brilliant See Lina* haha
As time goes by i do realize that my good qualities are being burried deeper and deeper within me and the cold ice queen is visible outside. Haha, but this FACADE never lasts for long, there are bursts of my normal self coming out from time to time.
For those of you who know me so well for so many years, i am still the same to you and you won't see this side of me. But, somehow , with each passing day, i am indeed changing, i don't know it is for better or for worse of it is what is called "growing up" and realizing this is the world we live in today, but it is all happening.

First night i Slept in my Scrubs

2007-02-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

Well, i had a beautiful day today. It is all because of the way it started. It all started yesterday evening in the labour ward. I was on-call last night and was anxiously waiting for a delivery. I didn't have my bleep on me. I needed to rest because i had Antenatal CLinic in the morning. In my desperation i crawled into my covers in my "gorgeous" hospital accomodation with my room phone by my ear waiting for a call. All night.. i couldn't sleep. You know.. the feeling when you know that you have to be up at any minute. And then the most beautiful thing happen. At 8 am ... after a full nights rest i was called into the Labour Ward to start my day with a birth. It was beautiful.
I realized how previledged i am to be a witness of the great miracle that is childbirth. Really starting to enjoy my obs and gynae posting. The teaching i am getting here is excellent.
and my day carried on with all these pregnant women.. this is really a beautiful field of medicine.

Which Desperate Housewife Am I???

2007-02-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

okay, i didn't sleep. I took a quiz on the ABC Website. Guess which desperate housewife i am???

BREE!!!!!

It says:-

"You're the perfect wife, mother and housekeeper and just a bit of a control freak. Everyone admires you, but maybe they're just a little afraid of you. Step away from the souffle, ease up on the hairspray, and learn to go with the flow"

Hrmmm???? What do u think???

Wigan Pies and Wigan Life

2007-02-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

Well, as mentioned before i'm in Wigan. Completing my 4th week now. I am thrilled to go back to Manchester tomorrow. It's been a pretty relaxed week. Did get an afternoon off which i spent shopping in Wigan with the rest of the girls here. lolz...
i got stuck in my shirt. I'm serious. I was trying this fitting corset top thingy at river island and i could get it on but... not offf!!!
no no, i'm not fat. It's just that it's fitting and it couldn't get past my chest let alone my shoulders... i can't believe how i put it on in the first place. I was so mortified trying to yank it off without ripping it.
At the same time i was thinking about how everyone outside was like waiting for me.. so i started to panic.. haaha finally i relaxed and yanked it off without a rip but a scratch by the tag! "ouch"!
I purchased my first wigan pies with yvinne today... oh no.. i just realized we left it in yvinne's car oh no. ... her car's gonna smell like pie....
i'm so full right now. I drank half a carton of orange juice... not a wise move.
I have 2 oven's (one in my flat and one in my friend's flat) here which is not functional. Made numerous attempts to cook this hot spicy smokin' pizza.
I put it in the oven and wait for it to cook... my mouth watering thinking about it
and it has always been a brick when i reach it 20 mins later
I KNOW HOW TO OPERATE AN OVEN.
lolz.. they are just faulty.
I'm going to sleep.
night people

Notice to Everyone Who Reads this Site

2007-01-28T14:56:00.000-08:00

I went thru a temporary spell where i was too busy having fun to write about fun... (blogging).
I will start blogging again in February. Just a little update to all about what i have been up to. I've been enjoying Manchester! The new Hilton has opened over this period of time. I have tried the food and the club on the 23rd floor with the most spectacular view of Manchester. Absolutely breathtaking.
I've had a couple of exams.
I went back to Malaysia over Christmas. Had a wonderful time with my family.
Had an incredibly long transit in the dubai airport. Killed time by shopping. Whoopsie!
Feel asleep fer a bit.... i woke up to find myself surrounded by the Malaysian army.. goodness me!
I feel i'm growing more. Not sideways or in height but as a person.
Currently in Wigan doing an Obs and Gynae posting with Yvinne.
Living in hospital accomodation and eating microwave food. The toilet in our particular flat is way below par... eeech.. but, i must not be so picky and pampered so i'm dealing with it.
Seeing babies ( i lurve that!!!!)
Great consultant~!
By the way, before this posting i did a Neurosurgery posting with a remarkable surgeon. I am very inspired by him. Even may consider neurosurgery.
My toenails need repainting..
I got a horrible cold.. still there.. *cough*.. incredibly high fever.. .
Had a beautiful walk in the snow of Manchester (perhaps it had something to do with my cold)
Bought a cool monopoly set.. electronic!!!... played it a total of 3 times. That was the end of it.
We've had interesting visitors to manchester... william, kit chung, see lina, maria , amylia, gee, etc. Really brought sparkle here.
We had a christmas gift exchange as usual.
i need to go do my PBL. and get some rest. I am still feverish. Muacks all

Happy Happy Birthday to A Mooo MOo

2006-10-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Lena Ngu~!~!~!~

2006-10-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

Manchester Kiss

Just watch it!@~!~! trust me on this~!~!~!

IN LOVE???

2006-10-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

HEADLINES HEADLINES: THE NEW COUPLE IN MANCHESTER~!~!~!

YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS VIDEO. JUST WATCH IT!

September Babies

2006-10-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

HAN SIAN

KAR XIAN

YEE YIN

So, these were the 3 birthdays we celebrated over a few days:) An italian dinner and a spanish dinner.. hmmm yum yum (now i'm thinking about food again)...:)

After the dinners we really "celebrated" the birthdays. However, on KX and YY's birthday, it seemed like it was Raymonds birthday..... he got a little tipsy.. twas so funny.....heeeheh

He was all light and giggly:) and wobbly.. so, went i took him up the stairs.. to the loo.. (... the guys took him in .. i just helped him up and down the stairs)... well on the way down, he fell.. and i tripped as well coz of that and we both ended up on the stairs...lol

and of all the things to do... he didn't get up... he lurched up.. heehe going straight for the beer kegs (empty thank goodness) arranged at the corner of the stairs.. (who does that?)

causing one of em to roll off and knock me in the leg.. "ouch!@!@" lol..

He continued to entertain us.. and be frightened by the bouncer...

It was a really really good night at Relish... one of the best nights out i think:) very chilled

later on when we were catching taxi home.. it was practically impossible to get one. so i called a company and got a van like thing coz there were quite a few of us. Just as i get the cab and am on the phone with the company... we loose one of them. Dissappered without a word... Eventually, we found out that he went back to Relish and begged the bouncer to let him pee.. hahaa.. (wasn't Ray)

how cute????

After all that we came back to Squires court for some indo mee.. telur and sausages..

How Malaysian~!~!~!

Medics Pyjama Party~!

2006-10-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

hi hi hi people so i'm back. Yeah, haven't blogged in a while... that just means i've been too busy having fun to write about the fun i've had... *wink*
So, all in our pj"s and fluff fluff we headed out by taxi (oh goodness no way was i gonna be sitting in the tram~!~!~!) and found ourselves at Tribeca. The city was flooded by pyjama hotties
lol!@!@!@
So, it was a good night. Team Malaysia met up with our old PBL buddies.. Adam and Andy... Adam was just too beautiful for words...
Enjoy:-

Adam, Andy and I

Me and my "little Miss NaughTy"... (looks closely at her shirt:))

Stephenie, Me and Yvinne

Twas quite a nice night.. weeeeeee :)

loya=lousy

2006-09-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

Just back. The last couple of days have been a real whirlwind for me. Monday was classes and followed by a "thrilling" time to stand in a queue at uni and a night of cooking....

After a late night.. and another late night and the late late night of Han Sian's birthday. . . Tribeca it was~!~!~! not too bad a night for a weekday pubbin'.. followed by Rheumatology bedside teaching today.. . exhausted...

but still

can't stay still

tonight's the Medic's Pyjama Pub Crawl. Goin' fer it. Had to go out to get some jammies. I can't be wearing my shorts and vests kinda pj's out in the UK can i now? so, after a vege'licious Katsouri lunch.. spent the afternoon in La Senza~!~! choice was pretty limited but was not bothered to go searching...

funny thing happened...

the sales person and the security guard started talking to me ... since i was taking like ages to decide

Him: hmmm... you really want pretty pyjamas don't you?

Me: no no no, it's for a pub crawl *gosh embarrased*

Him: i c i c. Why not u get that one? I just got it for my girlfriend (pointing at this cutesy wutesy purply.. light purple one with eeyore on it)...

Me: hmmm, maybe (in my head- no way am i going cutey cutey.. can't pull it off.. added to that purple.. i'd never hear the end of that from raymond~!~!~!)

haahaha..

well, feeling damn LOYA now.. nauseouS AFTER THE Tram ride home.

had to stand all the way

*bleah*

btw, Jason is now know as Mr. Idiot. Ask yvinne and me for details heheheh (* Jason dun marah ya?)

HOPE TONIGHT'S GONNA BE GOOD

* i gotta stop with the late nights~!~!~! as the brits would say : totally knackered

and the malaysians: letih gila

xoxo

Charlene

what??

2006-08-21T04:49:00.003-07:00

was watching MTV and saw someone dedicate a song to themselves.. what the hell??? who does that.?? haaha

what??

2006-08-21T04:49:00.002-07:00

was watching MTV and saw someone dedicate a song to themselves.. what the hell??? who does that.?? haaha

My Malaysian Day

2006-08-21T04:49:00.001-07:00

had a nice day today... stumbled into one of the most famous batik places in Malaysia. Ramlee Malik Batik. From what i heard, he was a teacher in Pahang and he did batik work. He was extremely talented and did great batik designs.

I met his family today... they were very very kind and pleasant. It was wonderful to meet them and have a look at all the batik available at their place. Many tourists who come to Club Med in Cherating come by there to buy batik. They allowed me to choose my own designs and had some small batik scarves made on Indian cotton. Then they let me pick the colours and everything.

Pasar malam adventure later in the evening. I went on my own... sob sob.. Mom was busy, sis in KL and my father was golfing. I'm so proud of him... he won a tournament yesterday. He played 7 under~!!!!! Soon he will be back in the A medal group and back to being a single handicapper. For those of u who know golf.. at a Par 5, he was 2 on and the put for eagle was 10 feet. He missed he hole by 6 inches~!!!
not bad huh??

got some news about the juniors coming to Manc... heard they're all going to Preston. Sob Sob... well, there are just gonna be about 10 of us in Hope now....

MISS MALAYSIA-INDIA FINALIST

2006-08-21T04:49:00.000-07:00

My sister... is a MISS MALAYSIA-INDIA FINALIST!!!! lol.. surprised huh? her friends put her name in or something and she gave it a shot and now is a finalist... wooohoo.. She will be appearing on Astro on the 17th of September... watch out for her... so proud of her... She just graduated this year... she's a lawyer... Beauty and brains..

My mummy is gonna be coaching her with her singing and dancing.. yeap.. my mom is really talented with music. Both my mom and sis are very musically inclined.. My father and i ... hhaha... we're.. out musical talents are seriously questionable..

My relationship with my sister are still on rocky grounds.. working on it. We are just really really different in terms of our character:) but we love each other... one minute and fight like crazy women the next.. haaha.. kinda doesn't allow us to open up about our lives to each other...
heehe..
here's a picture of my sis while she was in UK.. last year:)

My Latest crAZe

2006-08-17T18:33:00.003-07:00

ENTOURAGE

A Mark Wahlberg production ..

An HBO original series...

About 5 guys... (is this the male sex and the city???) - perhaps?

There's the actor.. the star.. VInce Chase (Adrien Grenier), His brother - Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), the manager , E (Kevin Connolly) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrarra) and the shark.. Ari (jeremy PivEN).

It's got great cars, great motorcycles, gorgeous ladies, humour, fabulous mansions.

About a couple of boys from queens living the fast life in Hollywood.

Try watching it~!

Redang.

2006-08-17T18:33:00.001-07:00

Well, i went to Redang with my lovely parents.. it was so nice.. It gave me a good opportunity to spend some time with them and relax away from our normally busy lives. *surrounded by cute fishies*.. They saw a picture's worth a thousand words - KNOCK YOURSELVES OUT@!@!@!
the pictures are funny and i look like a drowning moron... but.. yeah.. keep laughing. There's one photo i never bought... it is never to be seen and i hope the underwater guys deleted it.

yes... more laughter.. hahaha... the photographer asked me to do that... i don't "act cute".. just not me.

My KL-Mini-break

2006-08-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

yeap, i finally went to KL... yeap.. for what was to be my eating partying fiasco and not to forget catching up with old friends. was a nice time...
even made it to seremban.... being the moron i am, i didn't have the phone number of anyone in seremban... so i just met who i bumped into and was in trouble when i was caught red handed making my escape to kl by Chai Jiun... haaha.. yeap, i never got a chance to see her and i was going back to KL.
But it was wonderful that i saw her .. we had lunch in a place i'm sure Serembanians would know about but trust me i had never heard off in my life... Yee Poh??? haaha.. yeah.. sashi, chai jiun and ka seng led us to Yee Poh... haaha..
this is really embarassing to admit.. i went to Aquaria in KLCC~! i know i know.. why??? haaha... twas fun anyway... adorable MONKEY in aquaria and massive amazon fish.
As with any trip of mine to KL, not to be forgotten is the KL nightlife... Zouk it was this time... (some may say.. again??? why why?) ... a good night... great company (Lena, cming, grace, keith, sandev, johnny, and more)... i even ran into one of my other Malaysian-Mancunian friends there.. what a freakin' small world.
twas a nice couple of days. I accomplished what i wanted. Ate all i could. I think this will be enough to last me until my next trip to Malaysia.

Rawang, Penang, KL

2006-07-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

Every year my family visits two particular churches. One is St. Jude's in Rawang and the other is St. Anne's in Penang. As usual, we went about our trips again this year... St. Anne's had been renovated so so so much. This time they had the life- size stations of the cross~!~! I got some pics.. will put up later.. malas to wait for this thing to load...

then of course we went back to KL.. the sale has started~!@~!~!~! excitement.. weeeeeee
i ran about all over midvalley and did not find anything i liked... besides my MAC Brush Cleanser... lol... darn.... how boring..
nothing just caught my eye

i thought when i was back i'd go crazy for the shoes... cheap shoes weeeeeeeeeee but it didn't seem that way... maybe my taste has changed.. i found myself looking for shoes and not sandals as i used to... whatever it is i better buy a ton of pairs and head back...

I'm COMING TO KL NEXT WEEK... on my own.. .lol.. to shop
eat
and be merry (you know what i mean*wink*)

PLan to go up on Tuesday.. and embark on my mission to eat ... nasi lemak under the trees... 50 sen , 60 sen all u can eat kinda nasi lemak... then, klang's bah ku teh (i wonder if the bowl of fat and insides are gonna be ordered again.. ick), seri kembangan's banana leaf..... ( my threshold for spicy food has gone down i think.. i had banana leaf rice at Nirwana in Bangsar.. and i couldn't take it.. wow... WHAT JACKET POTATOES HAVE DONE TO ME.. NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo... i'm trying to recall where else i'd like to eat...
oh yeah.. the char siew in KL.. behind Kim Zhuan's apartment or something...
cendol in SS15...

i know i keep repeating about all this food but ... but ... but.. u have no idea how long i have dreamed about it... i about a month i'm back to JACkEt Potato WonderlAnd so.. hah~!~!

Note/: i 'm getting chubby.. i think it's due to sleeping after eating... sobs sobs.. i'll lose it.. yes i will..

of course.. the nights are left for being merry.. has the nightlife in kl changed much??? thinking about zouk on the regular thursday night.. lol.. oh goodness i remember the night of mat motos .. almost died there.. and the loft or luna on friday night.. haven't decided.. heehe

gonna go watch flintstones.. enuff blogging

another beautiful July baby shoutout~!~!

2006-07-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Grace Lau~!~!~!~!

a BIRTHDAY SHOUTout~!~!~!

2006-07-15T03:08:00.003-07:00

Happy Belated Birthday to

PRAKASH (12th July)

and

WILLIAM (14th July)

blog lost below..

2006-07-15T03:08:00.001-07:00

hehehe, my pre-birthday party blog is located below italia's win.. apologies fer delay to put up

BD 891, MH001, MH1292

2006-07-15T03:08:00.000-07:00

My three flights that brought me back home...
It started out in Manchester, all us Malaysians flying via MAS to Malaysia have to take a BMI flight. Mine, got cancelled~!~!~!~! I was upgraded to BRITISH AIRWAYS~!~!
Bags too heavy, i had to take out 4 kg's~!~!~! shoved some of it into my computer bag and managed to keep most of it.. at least the important stuff...
I checked my luggage straight to Kuantan.. Imagine the BRITISH AIRWAYS ppl trying to understand KUAntan~!~! they had to make calls to get things in order.. haahah a*giggle*
Next thing i knew i was in LOnDon... a long walk and a bus ride landed me in terminal 3 of Heathrow... ooooh.. big duty free area.. so i started my shopping weeeeeeeeeee.....
once i was tired of it, i went to see if my gate had opened.. i had like 5 hours.. my flight was at 10pm.. hmm.. bored.... Well, in my great anxiety, i was standing around waiting for the board.. the worst thing that could happen would be missing my London-KL flight...
my shoulder was killing me.. heavy ass computer bag stuffed~!~!~! handbag... grrr.. and duty free purchases...
okie..
suddenly a bunch of indian auties in sarees came up to me speaking in hindi asking me if i was flying to india
Me:"NOoooo, MALAYSIA"...
i noticed there was a flight to MUMBAi at gate 17... the gate was closing... they rushed off anyway...
as soon as malaysia showed gate 18.. i dragged my baggies.. and went off to my gate... as i was making my helluva lot of noise on the horizontal escalator due to my bag's wheel...
"roll grrrrrrrrr..rrrrrrrrrrrrrr.rrrrrrrrrr rolling*
fine, i noticed i tall man in front of me.. people seemed to be treating him like a celebrity.
there was an airline officer guiding him and all sorts of people trying to come up to him or what ever...well, hmm.. i didn't know who he was.. just a tall north indian man.. sorta familiar.. but what do i know.. so i continued rolling along.. the noise from my bag probably made him turn around and give me way...hahahhaah *embarassing*
Then, he asked me if i was late... then i said "no, i am just very panicky".. haaha...
then he asked where i was flying to.. and stuff.
then he asked my name.. so i said "Charlene, and you?"
He answered Jackie... (i still blur) then he said Shroff...
ooooh... i realized he was a hindi movie actor.. uh-oh what an insult.. shit.. i asked his name..lol...
then, i gave him a nice excited reaction and asked for an autograph...
he asked me for my number *wierd~!~!* he's like 50~!@ and then, i didn't really give, and he gave me his number... hmmm... (i never called i was just too happy to be back in Malaysia)....~~!~!
then i ran off to my gate and he went to his..
lol...
i'm so "duh"
then again most of u reading this will also not know anything hahahahha.. we're in the same boat... i know nothing about hindi movies...
but i did google him and get a picture...
he's the one on the left.... hahaha. the right is shah rukh khan.. did i spell that right?

hahhaha need to expand knowledge.. bodoh dy...

Finally i boarded my plane to Malaysia.. after more than 11 hours, i was in KLIA... i was seriously grinning all the way.. it's such a nice feeling...
Then, i found my Malaysian ATM.. *evil grin*
cleaned it out in duty freee
weee... hehe.. my father did not seeem to happy about it...
but.. i had a 7 hour transit..
and.. and.. and..
lol
then.... i sat in KFC by myself.. so lonely,... In KLIA... ahh.. foood good.. but i hate eating alone.. i feel like a loner..... i had my Glamour with me though... the "dining out alone accesories"

then, at midnight.. i was on my way to kuantan~!~!~!...
imagine.. all the way no one korek my bag
in Kuantan airport, customs make me open my bag.. and they check, thank goodness my bra's were kept separately in something.. the guy put his grubby paws on my clothes.. arrrgh...
good thing he didn't check my second bag.. full of wrapped glass... all football team souveniers....
then .. after all that.. i was home... so tired... slept 12 hours straight..
still wierd sleeping.. i wake up at 3 am for dinner.. haaha.. uk dinner.. lapar like anything.....
waiting to get adjusted.. heheheh
xoxo charlene

2006-07-10T01:16:00.000-07:00

Italia Winning the WORLD CUP 2006

Celebrations at Sports Cafe after Italy's Win baby~!~!~!~!
It was a really nice place. The food was awesome... and there were great number of italian supporters in the house~!!!! There was this family all dressed in their italian jerseys... an adorable little boy jumping about with his balloons and jumping on the shoulders for what seems to be his uncle:)

my catholic boys...

the trophy in an attempt to look cute

weeeeeeeeeee~~!~!~!

My surprise birthday Party... awwwww...

2006-07-08T02:40:00.000-07:00

Well, firstly i'm very touched to all of you who came to celebrate my birthday 3 weeks in advance:)
This blog is pretty last... the celebration was more than a week ago.... sorry i took so long to get around to doing it..

I turn 22 this year. And with every birthday, i never get to celebrate it with friends because my birthday is on the 21st of July. Which means it the holidays and everyone is back home including me being back in Kuantan.

This year, i got to celebrate it with friends although it is 3 weeks in advance, i didn't mind.
I was going for a normal dinner... to La Vina this new Spanish restaurant that opened in Manchester. My love for trying food...

When i went upstairs, i was surprised to see all of them there.... .. I was so surprised... shocked.. and wierdly.. SHY~!~!~ why shy? I don't know... It was so sweet... they all greeted me when i came in... Those who were there include:-
Raymond, Chia Ming, Jaycen, Sandev, Han Sian, Chee Lim, Mikael, Stephanie, Victor, Sally, Jane, Khai Sheng, Yee Yin, Kar Xian, Arvind, Yi Jun, and Yi Wei.
Yvinne had already made her way back to Malaysia... so she couldn't be there.. sobs sobs...
"Yvinne, you are welcome to visit me on my birthday~!~! *hint* lol

We giggled... talked... laughed... and took a whole load of pictures... well, not a whole load.. some.. hheheheh... as can be seen below:- ( seems like i'm writing another report.. heheh SSC~!~!~)

sally and me...:)

Tan Sri Khai Sheng and Puan Sri Yee Yin... lol.. with me of course...

THEN THERE WERE THE OCCUPANTS OF 45 THE ROYALS??? (still not sure about no.)

the honourable CminGo and me

then... there was stephanie and chee lim

We had a lot of yummy foood and my tummmy was growing..

Tapas~!~!~! and Paella~!~!~! Oh lalala

and then there were more photos:-

I must have bored raymond.. or perhaps ... this age is catching up to him...

heheheh just kidding ray`!~!~!

well, i've been trying to put up the rest of the photos but i seem to be having a lot of trouble..

but... i shall not delay this post any longer.. it's so sweet .. it deserves a spot...

xoxo

charlene

2006-07-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

Awesome car

Check out the cool car.~!~!

2006-07-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

Miami Vice

wanna watch it~!~!~!

Heat Rash????

2006-07-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

I'm a Malaysian girl... born in the sweltering heat.. grew up in the sweltering heat for so many years..
9 months in UK.....
come summer i am getting a heat rash.. i noticed it when i was taking a walk today.... btw.. today was really bright sunny and hot hot hot...
but a malaysian girl who never had a heat rash getting a heat rash after almost a year in UK.. is ridiculous... aaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhh...

The Morning After

2006-07-01T05:36:00.000-07:00

And so ended another night of of laughter and secrets amongst friends at the royallll *warm and fuzzy*..
It was a nice night... everyone was so happy... and laughing and i truly did learn a lot about my friends... I even got quite a bit of my work done during the intermissions.
I just woke up at 1pm.. i left their place at about 5am.. whilst the boys were playing their Pro-Evo Soccer imagining themselves as World Cup players... ahhahah *delusions~!!!* but it's nice to see the "boyishness" in all of them...
There is one thing which is playing in my head after last night... "Victor is the Best".. "hahaha..
His little rule of the game was to say that ...
i can't get it out of my head... arrrrgh..Kar Xian cleaned her kidneys like never before *wink-u know what i mean*..
Chia Ming will be leaving for Malaysia today... - bye !~!!! I'll see u in KL:)
Ray and Jay will be leaving tomorrow..
Then i'm stuck here.. grrrrr till the 12th... i wanna go home....

A little dedication

Happy Anniversary to Saleena and Fariz....~!~!~!~!~!~! I luv ya girl..
anyway.... i'm so hungry.. i don't wanna type no more.
till i see u again.. muacks hugs charlene

coming to you live from 45 the royals!!!!!

2006-06-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

this is a life broadcast... podcast... haha.. nah
we've once again found ourselves at 45 the royals.. the site of so many little insanities???
rememeber the game brought to us courtesy of Vincent Tan Pok Chien.?? yeap.. it's on again tonight..
we started off with twenty one.. but lets face it.. no one is in the mood to think let alone count..
then it was a series of intimate questions.. very proud of some boyfriends who respected their girlfriends.. whether they were at the party tonight or not... and kept that bits of information to themselves..
i am able to blog because we are having an intermission... it will resume shortly...
yum... munching on my bag on cheese and onion chips....
i had kfc today... a whole bucket... weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
twas fun
tonight for the non drinkers amongst us.. the ultimate punishment for them besides the pints and pints of water is extremely diluted coke... ewwwwww... it's gross..
it's like drinking water from someone's old coke glass...catch my drift???
well, i'm returning to the party... more juicy details later... not that juicy... what is answered at 45 the royals.. stays here..
xoxo charlene

Pressure on Girls

2006-06-30T01:24:00.000-07:00

I'm sure most girls can agree that there's a greater amount of pressure for girls to looks good... instead of guys... Guys stroll about with their torn jeans and jerseys and some sneakers.. when they get dressy it's simply a stripey shirt instead of a t-shirt. How hard can it be???

But for girls it's a different story. But who puts this pressure on the girls? It's the guys~~~~!!! I've really felt this before. Truth be told, my hair has come a long way. Back in my huge short hair days,there were these boys who never payed that much attention to me. Those exact people are being extremely aware of my presence and contacting me since all that has changed. bye bye big hair, hellow straightener... and thinning haircuts.... It's annoying.. and shallow.. Well it's true i could even fall over laughing at old pictures of myself.. haha. yes i could. When i had my new I.C done, the lady behind the counter who disposed my old I.C snickered before she sliced it.. aaargh.. haha..

I spend a lot of time watching things that happen around me. People tend to gush over the beautiful girl. I was watching a group of friends with one exceptionally pretty girl and the guys always payed attention to that girl. Maybe the other girls don't realize it.. but what if they do. It would be horrible for their self esteem. They shouldn't feel they need to be beautiful in order to me acknowledged.

Back to the point... guys need not care that much about their appearance but why do they put so much pressure on girls to look good. The money, the makeup, the clothes, the plunging necklines, the push up bra's (for the girls which guys call airport!!!).. the poor things.. It's so much pressure on girls. And when a girl cares too much about her appearance.. she is termed.. vain and perasan.. and a bimbo.. arrgh..
haha

These thoughts in my head were triggered due to a discussion of a gorgeous girl who is claimed to have plastic surgery. I think plastic surgery is never the way to go but the thing is sometimes girls feel pressure. If that's the only thing that's going to make them feel good about themselves and keep them happy.. maybe it's their only choice. . . I know a girl should be able to know it's one inside that counts, but sometimes it will take them a while to see that.:)

xoxo charlene

the mystery, strangeness and peculiar ways of Charlene

2006-06-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

After months of endless thinking and havoc in my head ... blogging and removing blogs... i figured out what's wrong with me. I'm able to see things clearer now. To all who have been a victim of my bad "characteristic" i apologize. I'm really sorry... i didn't mean to... I didn't know better. But now i do... i'll make it up to u all

Love u all

Photos from Jaycen's Birthday

2006-06-26T02:40:00.000-07:00

can't seem to put these up with the post i did.. so i'll put them up separately...:)

A Birthday Party.. At Printworks.. and The JOURNEY back

2006-06-26T02:18:00.000-07:00

Went out yesterday to celebrate another birthday party...:)
Had a yummy big platter but i was a bit too full to actually enjoy it being the pig i was having binged on a late lunch.
I found someone who is scared of me.. he denies it.. but i think it may be true.. haha.. finally someone is scared of me... *i'm sure he will be reading this blog*
I got a helium balloon at the party (such a kid huh?) yeap and then.. i kinda was a clumsy woman and let it go.... it's still floating at the ceiling of the Printworks..
The scary thing about this night was the journey home. Well me and yvinne managed to get the tram from Shudehill because of the change in the service for that particular day. Just a few stops later this group of people who appeared to be a family got into the end of the tram. Within a little while there was an argument... i assumed it would be about football since the world cup in on and all.
2 people who had been sitting at the back in the midst of the arguments and the shouting moved to sit in the front ..
Yvinne had been holding her helium balloon up high.. once the arguments got scary... she gently pulled it down....
(that was funny~!!! what an odd thing.. a balloon in the midst of their fight?)
Anyway, the fighting.. and i am sure there was some physical violence as well continue for about 10 stops i think..
when i curiously looked behind us i noticed they had beers on them. There was a elder looking man.. hitting two teenagers..
just as we were about to reach our stop... the fight moved up the tram and got more violent.. there was punching and kicking and beer can flew of the guy's hand.. somehow... the argument reached where we were sitting... the two people involved in the argument were blocking either tram door .. i don't wanna go pass them and say "excuse me"!!! in the enraged state they were it.. i'm pretty sure i'd get knocked in the head..
Eventually Yvinne and I managed to slide pass the teenager... we figured.. it would be safer to go pass him than the elder man who was hitting them...
As we were leaving we saw the teenager take a glass bottle of vodka out of his pocket and hold it up as if he wanted to hit the older guy with it...
we have no idea what happened next because.. we were fine and safe and running across the road to our little flat.. .in SALFORD.
i hope it all turned out ok and no one was hurt..
i wondered why the tram driver did not stop the tram and control the situation. But as i walked out, i noticed it was a female conductor..
I CAN'T WAIT TO BE BACK IN MALAYSIA AWAY FROM ALL THIS ... errrr. TRAM ADVENTURES...

2006-06-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Lamborghini Gallardo Promo video

One helluva sexy car

trying to overcome on of my greatest fears

2006-06-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

Moths and Butterflies.
Moths more than butterflies
it scared me even googling this picture.
shit
it's ridiculous
but that's my only wierd thing

especially this variety
They lurk about malaysia
get them awayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

making an effort to blog.

2006-06-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a tiring couple of days. Birthday after birthday. It's amazing that there are 3 IMU students in Manchester having their birthdays almost in a row! 15th June, 16th June and 18th June.
There have been loads of pictures of the events, but i don't have any... i didn't bring my camera with me.. what's the point of ANOTHER camera at a party...

Here's a photo of Yi Jun's birthday courtesy of the ever so efficient Steph~
with Yi jun grinning away..

We bought Amanda a birthday present but unfortunately, i have been informed that she will not be receiving it until we come back from Malaysia... in August.. arrrgh...

Jaycen's birthday was followed by a crazy load of puke. No kidding..
After a nice dinner, the Mancunian men and a couple of boys set out to make Jaycen Drunk..
In my mind, i had this picture of a drunken Jaycen which involved him wobbling about and break dancing.. and potentially dancing with Men in a Gay cLub..
I think.. there was too much excitement and it happened so fast...
Ray the Gay started it out by buying Jaycen 2 shots of tequila.. and then on it all spiralled outta control....
Jaycen's reaction to the large alcohol invading him was to sit and stone. . . Soon, the boys were in the toilet helping him puke???,.. yeah, i don't know how much helping went on.. there was even time for photos of him puking and then the puke... "what in the world~!!!!"

By about 2 plus, Jaycen was back in his room sleeping..

By the way, this weeked we had two glaswegian pharmacy students with us..:)

Now, i want to just rest and sit at home until it's time for me to watch Tokyo Drift:)
and i actually really really can do that.. my SSC now requred 2 hours of me a week... wooohoooo baby
~~~tired~~

SSC's

2006-06-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well, last night i realized where the GP practice i was to spend the next 4 weeks at was. It was in ORdsall. All this while i thought it was around Salford Quay, a beautiful, classy area. I knew that would be safe. After a while on the GMPTE, i realized it was in Ordsall. So, i tried to figure out where that was.
I found out that my gp's office was actually at this neighbourhood i had seen before and thought looked really deserted. I had to travel there alone *gulp*... the bus stops at the main road and i was to walk in alone.. freaky.
Being the first day, i took a taxi there to avoid the aimless walking in deserted neighbourhood.
My doctor was wonderful. A really nice lady and it was going to be a very relaxed 4 weeks. She even dropped me off back at my place for lunch:)...
I came back in the afternoon for a 30 minute session and was done for the day. I took the bus this time and i realized there was another way to walk into the neighbourhood which was connected to the main road. There is a short distance which still makes me brisk walk like crazy but, i don't seem to have to go into the GP practice much so i guess it's ok:)

A Culinary Adventure with Cmingo

2006-05-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

After a crazy exhausting night.. sleeping when the sun had risen, i awoke...
Unable to return to sleep, i went grocery shopping...
I assumed Ray, Ming, Jay, David, and Shirley would be fast asleep with Pok Chien sneaking off back to Leeds alone... haha
Later at about 4 plus i went over to send Shirley off.. a bit of unecessary travelling because i went to the city and then had to go back to the boy's place (THE ROYALS).. .
The send off was.. simply standing at the corner of the street and puting them in a cab.. haha
There was nothing to do after... Cmingo volunteered to cook dinner!@!@!@ haaha... that was gonna be interesting...
I kinda wanted to go home because i didn't wanna deprive the boys of their food~!... They had 2 packs of chicken and there were 5 of us (Ray, Sandev, CHia Ming, Jaycen and ME)
But, nonetheless, i stayed.. decided to nibble.. haha.. (actually i ate lots... hehe)
Soon, Chia Ming was in action chopping, dicing, stirring, mixing and marinating man~!~! He put the marinated chicken drumsticks in the oven and cooked the other bit of chicken with the vegetables (celery and carrots) and another chinese style veggie.. the "pak CHoi".. am i getting the spelling right here..
He didn't really want anyone hanging over his shoulder while he cooked but i was interested to see wat he was up to so i stuck around hoping he'd forget he didn't want anyone in the kitchen or reside to the fact, i was harmless sticking around..
I realized that he really liked cooking. . . well experimenting. . . haha..
The results..
It smelt so good...It tasted good..
My favourite was his chicken with the celery and carrots...:) yummy...
All an all it was a culinary adventure with the ming man and i wonder what he will have in store next:)
Thanks boys for dinner!!!
Come over to my place next week, i'll cook.. we can eat and go for our OSCE practice sessions..~!~!

Glasgow, Leicester and a dash of Leeds

2006-05-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

It was the weekend and we were due to get our guests. Shirley (Miss Glasgow), David (Mr. Leicester) and on the next day Pok Chien (Mr. Leeds) were to arrive.
It was nice to see them all after quite a while... well actually Shirley is the one i haven't seen in ages where else David and Pok Chien have been down a couple of times.
On Friday night, after a chinese dinner (as usual... but i'm not complaining)... which had really tiny serving portions and a chicken head on one of the plates, we headed off to find a place to entertain our guests. After wandering the streets for a while with the excuse of showing them about, Raymond, Jaycen, Chia Ming, Sandev, David, Shirley, Yvinne and I settled in Yatra Lounge. I've mentioned this place before in my blog, it is almost the equvilent of Red Chamber in Bangsar, Malaysia. It's a pretty cosy place. We discussed a whole lot of rubbish...
Not to forget, My Friend the Racist was there and thie weekend would actually entail part 3, 4, 5, 6... and all about the comments this boy makes. But it is all in good humour.
The next day we had dim sum, the compulsary trip for all visitors to Manchester "TAI WU" dim sum. There was food, laughter and a cigarette which was dipped in chilli oil. (disgusting huh?)
After wandering about aimlessly ( again trying to show them the city), it was time for the England versus the Rest of the World match. We considered watching it in the city but somehow ended up back at the boys' place.
I wished we could have got tickets to go, what other time in your life would u be able to see so many of these people in real life. The people i would have really like to see is Robbie Williams, Maradona, and Giafranco Zola. Tickets were pretty cheap as well, just 15 pounds but they were all sold outtttttt
Being the pig i am, i was hungry even after the dim sum, so i had bought mac and cheese and my addiction (coffee) before coming to the boy's place. The game started out quite interestingly and funny with a bit of falling and a lot of clumping. BUt it got to be a drag after the first half, .. and i was asleep.
Our guest were then whisked of to be wined and dined.. err.. in KWOK MAN. I restaurant here which really reminds me of Malaysia. The greated thing about this place is that it serves food till pretty late. We bumped into our fifth year seniors there which was nice but made me start thinking about the OSCE examination. . . wow.. i'm worried again now.. i should be studying darn it!@~!~!~! why am i such a procrastinator???????
It was time for drinks, talking and games later than night back at the Royals, a site for many drinking parties. Armed and equiped with their Smirnoff Vodka, JD, Coke, RIbena and their 4 shot glasses. Btw, we've got to get them more glasses~~~
Pok CHien introduced a new game to us. I'll explain the game if any of you want to play it with your friends. I have a video of the explanation, i'll put it up later.. (malas~!~!)

THE GAME
Basically there would be a pile of cards in the middle and everyone would be sitting in a circle (duhh!~!~!) . Everyone would take turns opening a card.
Here's what each card means

Ace - you pick one person to drink one shot
2 - you pick 2 people to drink a shot each or you could be mean and dump it on the same person
3 - you drink 3 yourself (ouch~!~!)
4 - you gotta touch the floor, the last one who does drinks
5 - reach for the sky and of course the slowest drinks.
6 - chicks drink
7 - dudes drink (pok chien refered differently, think about it)
8 - make a rule ( something like, you can only call the person by their last name)
9 - never ever have i .... those who have done that gotta drink
10 - category, name a category and we go around the circle naming things
Jack - Rhyme.. say a word and people say another word that rhymes about the circle
Queen- Only say things in the form of a question. You say a statement, you're drinkkin'
King- this was the killer. The first king, someone fills this cup with alcohol, the second follows and the third does so as well. Unfortunately the person to get the last king drinks the whole thing.
An option was extended, those who weren't into alcohol can still play but were offered a pint of ribena. And if that person were to get the King card, Chia ming imposed a toilet ban for 3 hours.

It was hilarious. David found my surname Pius quite troublesome to call and kept asking if he could call me "PIE". The girls tried to get the guys to drink by giving very feminine categories.
David drank quite a bit and turned so very very red. The boys did try to get us into trouble by giving categories like blizzard games.. WHat???? The only thing that came into my mind was a game with a lot of snow falling.. ."stupId"~!~!
It was actually computer games by bLizzArd. I think Chia Ming actually asked for brand names of ping pong Balls. haahaa... people finished naming those at the third person after him.
The thing that was causing most people to drink was talking to much. They kept calling each other by their first names instead of their surname and getting punished.. something like "haha, raymond drinks"
In rhyming, contestent singh or tan actually said newspaper which was followed by a list of idiotic answers including mine.. blue paper.. haaha (green paper, white paper)..
As time went on, people gave up. . . and went to sleep.
I stayed in the living room.. the whole time... i managed to sleep during that time.. with the noise the boys were creating. The last remaining people in the living room were Pok Chien, Sandev, Chia Ming, Raymond and me. I was outta the game.. i decided to observe them...
I fell asleep and woke up to here one of them .. (no names )... was lying on the ground on the top of the staircase.. haha..
At 5 am, it was time to head home.... 5 am`!~!~! well, that's at improvement, the boys have done this till 9 am before.
What a night~!!!!!!!

My Sunday

2006-05-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well, after my previous blog on San Carlo. I started craving for their food again so i made it a point to make a reservation for lunch for Sunday. I was thinking about the food. I think from this blog everyone things i eat like a crazy person. Well, i do enjoy my food and i eat well. So, the reservation was for 1 but it was raining so heavily and the tram was so delayed due to the Manchester Marathon i made it there at 1.30. Thank goodness i still had my reservations.
So, now the food. We decided to have the special San Carlo appetizer. I was amazed at the size and the amount of meat on the platter.

me and the giant appetizer platter. . .

the platter up close. . .

For the main course, i had steak. I have personally never really enjoyed steak. I did try one of the best restaurants in Manchester recommended for their steak called the Gaucho Grill but somehow it wasn't to my liking. Maybe others would enjoys it because it certainly was packed but i didn't. However at San Carlo, it was wonderful. I had a side order of some vegetables. It was all buttery and herby. The vegetables at San Carlo are really really good. I'm recommending it to all of u once again. The steak had a delicious smell and taste with a juicy bite and a burst of flavour into my mouth. Wow~!

I had to stop for a picture but i wanted to get back to my food.

my lovely sirloin steak which i was working my way through. and my delicious vegetables below

i do love my food. . .

Okay okay, enough about my delicious lunch. After that i went to meet up with Siok Lee (our guest from Dublin, Ireland) and the other Mancunians at the Arndale Centre. After that, we headed to the Dutch Market which was taking place in St. Ann's Square. They had the cheeses, the candy, the pancakes, beers and more. I was too full to indulge in any of that.

It was drizzling all day... of course there were moments of sunshine. So well, after the Dutch Market, we went to Yatra Lounge. I lounge that is quite similar to Red Chamber in Malaysia in this alley in St. Ann's square area. It's a real comfy lounge with a modern day jukebox. Or at least we made as a modern day jukebox. They had a plasma screen (i think) with the windows media player on it with a mouse (duh~!) where u could select ur own songs. See, a free modern day jukebox. There is a nice VIP are there which would be pretty nice for parties but this time none of use braved to go there. Haha, there was a couple getting hot and heavy in there. We knew that because one of us (not mentioning who) stumbled upon them.

Since Siok Lee had not seen the curry mile of Manchester yet, we took her there to "Pink Garlic" for dinner. It was a yummy dinner. from my previous blog, MY FRIEND THE RACIST,

here's : MY FRIEND THE RACIST (part 2)

In an indian restaurant. Once again he said his joke about the indian and the bucket of shit. You can view the joke in "My friend the Racist (part 1). What a dinky headed boy.. that's another clue for u. Clue number one was in the first part. To narrow it down to enable mystery solving of the case of "My friend the Racist", i will let u know the people who were there at dinner

1. Jason

2.Siok Lee

3.Raymond

4.Charlene (me)

5. Mikael

6. Sandev

7. Stephanie

WHO DO YOU THINK IT IS???

Missing persons:-

Raymond was taking the photo. Chia Ming was in Dundee and Yvinne was at home.

Barcelona Easter Break 2006

2006-05-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

BARCELONA

Whilst the rest of the Manchester gang (Ray, Ming, Jay and Yvinne) were bar-hopping and bed-hopping (hopefully not) in Amsterdam, i had gone to Barcelona, Spain ( a trip i had planned for a very long time). I faced the normal problem of budget airline tickets. A late arrival and and an early departure. But i did fly the best budget airlines - FlyMonarch. I wanted to travel directly to Barcelona from Manchester.

So, i arrived in Barcelona, checked into the hotel and was in Placa de Catalunya by 8.30pm on a Sunday night. For dinner, we decided to have some tapas in the most brightly lit restaurant in the area. The owner helped us with our ordering and brought us an array of tapas he thought would be to our liking. The food was delicious, it was all seafood. . . yum yum

After that we wandered the streets of Barcelona before calling it a night. We had to make the most of our trip after all. We stumbled upon a Bar...called Ba Ba Reee Ba. Once again.. another brightly lit place... which we were drawn to. In our greed for Spanish food, we ordered some Seafood paella to take back with us. Believe me, this was the best paella i had the entire trip. I ate every little grain of rice there was is the plastic takeaway container.

Ba Ba Ree Ba, Barcelona, Spain

After a good night's rest, it was time to visit Barcelona. The first destination: La Sangrada Familia. A church which involves the work of Gaudi. It was a beautiful structure. Very impressive. It is more beautiful form the outside as the inside is still under construction. The doors to enter La Sangrada Familia were very unique. It had a lot of writing on it. The stain glass that was found inside the church was beautiful. I have always like stained glass in churches. I've admired them since i was young. In La Sangrada Familia, you could take a lift and a walk along a scary narrow spiral staircase to reach the very top. It was incredibly narrow. But it was worth it because what a view it was from the top.

By the time we finished visiting La Sangrada Familia, my feet were starting to kill me. In an attempt to be a stylish tourist, all i had brought with me were gorgeous heels. They lasted about a night and then started to blister my feet. At this point, i was desperate to buy another comfortable shoe. Any shoe would do. To my horror, nothing was open. All stores were closed as it was Easter Monday. So I had to just carry on my journey...

Next destination : Park Guell

Park Guell was another work of Gaudi architecture. Another train ride and we arrived there. I was horrified to find out that Park Guell was a great distance from the train station itself. . . or maybe it seemed that way to me because of my aching, blistered feet. I dragged my feet as we walked there. And suddenly.. there it was... an open Chinese shop selling all sorts of things. I rushed in and was trying to explain "slippers" to them but they seem to speak spanish. wow~!!!

When they understood me, they guided me to the section and lo and behold, there they were "japanese slippers". It wasn't the classic white and blue ones but a slightly more funky one which would do. After getting my slippers, i happily .. practically skipped to Park Guell. It was a very interesting park with quite a bit of structures and delicate work. There was this sandy area which overlooked Barcelona and there was an edge that was made to appear like waves with a lot of seating areas for visitors. I managed to catch a quick cat nap for about 20 minuts because i was so comfortable at the park. Then, i continued walking around taking it all in.

After Park Guell, it was already time for dinner. So, we headed for Port Olympia or Olympic (confusion) for a seafood dinner by the beach. There was an entire row of restaurants there and we had great trouble deciding which one to pick. At each restaurant there was some sort of promoter encouraging us to come to their restaurant to eat and throwing in all sorts of deals. Finally we decided on one. He offered us a set dinner including appetizers, desert, a main course, wine and more. The food was alright but the quantity was great and the atmosphere was pretty nice. A couple of interesting things happened that night. One was that there was this group of people going around collecting money from people at our table for someone from their group to travel back to somewhere. We didn't really understand them but we we gave a little bit of money and we were cheered on when we did. Later the man returned to the table again and tried to explain to us about it. At one point we thought maybe they were collecting money to sponsor our dinner. . . stupid thought. At the end of the dinner, a man who appeared to be tha manager brought over two bottles which were very similar to the bottles i have seen in my secondary school chemistry lab except that this bottles were not even labels. Along with this bottles were shot glasses. Finally after a peculiar conversation with him we figured out that it was some form of alcohol. We were very suspicious of it because we were the only table being offered this free unidentified alcohol. One of the boys at the table was smart. He was Pak Seng. What he did was to offer a shot of the alcohol to the manager himself and see if her drank it. Once he did, the rest at the table started to have their shots of the wierd concoction. After having had the shot, the manager started bring bottles of alcohol to the table. Not the wierd kind but the "sold in stores, labelled, available in bars for a price" types. It was strange. Nothing in life was free. At some point we returned the bottles to him. We were never charged for it. Soon it was pretty late and we headed home to get some rest so that we could have a fresh start the next day.

The next day...

The only thing on my mind that morning was shopping. I love ZARA as all of you know and i was in SPAIN. I'll get to the shopping later. We had to have breakfast first. So we headed to what we were told was a seafood breakfast market. In no time we were at the market "Le Merqat la Boqueria". It was colourful, exciting and full of the hustle and bustle of the local spanish people. After all it was their market. It was the first time in my life i had seen such a clean market. Although as any other market it was full of raw mean and seafood, it did not have any bad smell. There were a couple of stalls where people could have a spanish breakfast. I never every thought i'd be able to eat in a market.

Before sitting down to have breakfast, i walked around for a bit enjoying the sights. The pictures explain it all. I couldn't resist taking a photo with the chillies because of my love of chillies and spicy food. The fruits was so yummy looking and colourful as were the vegetables. There even were rambutans. However, they were indeed the saddest looking rambutans i had seen, they were shrivelled and almost de-rambuted. haha.. I think i even saw a dragonfruit. There was more seafood that meat on display. It was all so fresh. I even think the eggs are larger in size.

Soon, i sat down at a little stall. It was actually a bar in the market and they even served beer for breakfast. I had an expresso. I was determined to try many different coffees there. Having already had the cappucinno, it was time for the expresso. In my coffee madness. ANyway, i had breakfast. It was many little plates of many little prepared food... tapas again i guess but the selection was different it being breakfast and all.

After filling my tummy up, it was time for shopping. There were quite a few ZARA's and MNG's it being Spain and all. We went to Passeig de Gracia, the main shopping street in Barcelona carrying all the great brands. It is a very beautiful street and i would love to live there. I actually saw this apartment complex called 15, Passieg de Gracia. What a thrill it would be to live there. You walk out and it's shopping central. Anyway, back to my shopping, I went to MNG and to the biggest ZARA i could find and many other shops. I also couldn't resist taking a photo outside LOEWE. I first heard of LOEWE in Malaysia and i had started using their perfumes then. Not many people had heard of it. When i came to Manchester, i had great difficulty in purchasing it. When Lena, Esther and Pei Kheng and gang went to London i actually asked them to pick it up from Harrods. Now i have found the one store that carries it in Manchester but yeah, in Spain, i couldn't resist being a tourist and taking a picture outside LOEWE.

shopping in MNG Barcelona in Eurossss~!~!

ZARA

As i was wondering around the shopping street i stumbled upon a tourist attraction site i was meaning to visit. The Casa Milla, another work of Gaudi. It was an apartment complex with an extremely unique design. For the purpose of tourist visits, they had preserved some of the apartment complexes with all the antique decorations and furnitures. It was quite interesting to see that. But the greatest thing was the design of the rooftop area. The structures and the view was simply breathtaking.

beautiful structure of Casa Milla

Next destination : Barcelonata.. a Beach in Barcelona!!!

I was so excited because it has been more than 6 months since in set foot on a beach. When i arrived there, the weather was perfect! It was warm and sunny with a mild crisp cool breeze. I instantly rolled up my jeans and headed for the waters thinking "why didn't i bring my swimming attire??" But as soon as the first waves crashed around my calves, i changed my mind. It was freezing cold. I couldn't believe it. After a while i got used to it and within minutes my entire jeans was wet. I wanted to dry off and lounge at the beach so i had to get some chairs from the guy who was renting them out. I knew i had to get em because a wet jeans and sand on ur bottom combo is a no no. While relaxing, we noticed a bunch of other Malaysians. They went ahead and got themselves some chairs and sat down because the " boss " who was renting chairs wasn't around so they probably didn't know they needed to pay for it. The when the "boss" came back and asked them to pay, they returned the chairs instantaneously. haha. Relax people, enjoy yourself, you've paid so much to come for a holiday. Enjoy urself. ANyway, after drying up i went back to the water. Then, i saw in a distance, the Malaysians had started sitting in our chairs again.. the nerve.. my goodness. When we returned, the reluctantly moved off looking particularly sore. I just don't get some people. All and all the beach was marvellous.

fun fun fun

me in a wool jacket on at the beach.. haha cool breeze

After the beach, once again i was hungry. So we went wondering about the many restaurants along the beach on a quest for food. We settled at this little restaurant which once again i can't remember the name. I had a seafood platter! Must enjoy that seafood in barcelona. It was quite cheap as well... a grilled seafood platter.

my grilled seafood platter

After the beachside afternoon, we headed back to the city centre to Placa de Riyal for dinner and Flamenco dancing. We had dinner in this restaurant that was recommended by the other IMU folk who had been there. The food was pretty good in a very nice surrounding but i was way too full after my platter.. whoopsie.

all of us after dinner

Then we went to watch some Flamenco dancing to complete the experience of spain. It was absolutely AmAzing~!~! The speed the music. It was pretty cramped and dark in the place were with a small crowd in a small place but it was so much fun. The girls are so good at dancing.

flamenco dancing

After that, we called it a night... I was going back to Manchester the next day. i just couldn't resist going to La Merqat De Boqeiria before going to the airport and so i did. I went to have some churros and choclate which was so delicious i'm craving for it this very minute. I was so sleepy though but i forced myself. You can see by the puffiness in my eyes as i dip my churros in my hot hot thick chocolate.

me, my churros and the hot thick chocolate ur supposed to drink once ur done dipping ur churros

Still trying to take more of the food in Barcelona, i went back to the breakfast bar and had some spanish ommeletes and all sorts of other assorted goodies. Then it was time to head back but i took a couple of pictures along the way at Placa de Catalunya.

at the underground rail

Placa de Catalunya

Soon enough, we were back on a plane to Manchester. Barcelona was a great place to visit. However i think 3 days are not enough. 4 or 5 days would have allowed me to cover more places. Before leaving Barcelona i did not forget to get my Barcelona FC shot glasses. It was an awesome trip. I can't wait for my next trip:)

St. Mary Magdalene

2006-05-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

St. Mary Magdalene

The movie the Da Vinci Code was released in cinemas yesterday. I went to watch the movie with some friends. I had not read the book because i always thought there wasn't much of a point in reading it. But, time and again i saw many people become very taken up by the book. I am a Catholic and i would see it in a different light ... a clearer light because i was brought up catholic.
I have bought the book and started reading it. Many say that the movie did not do justice for the book. I don't know about that just yet.
One thing that people need to know about faith is in Hebrews 11:1 which states "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen". God is there for us. The movie claims many things. There are many people questioning things they still can't understand. None of us are theologists and even so, people interprete things very differently. The book is fictional. The storyline used is gripping and thrilling to many but very offensive to the catholic religon in my opinion. However, to see things the way everyone else sees it, i had an open mind while watching the movie and did not allow myself to judge it knowing what i know.
Let me share with everyone some information about St. Mary Magdalene.
St. Mary Magdelene was called "the Penitent". The feast day for St. Mary Magdalene is the 22nd of July. St. Luke records that she was a notorious sinner, and had seven devils removed from her. At Our Lords' Crucifixion, she was there with Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, at Jesus' empty tomb. Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. Her only food was the Holy Eucharist given to her daily by angels. She died at age 72 and was miraculously transported just before she died to the chapel of St. Maximin. There, she received her last sacrements.
When Mary Magdalen first met our Lord, she was a very well known sinner. Someone who was very beautiful and very proud. After meeting Jesus, she no longer felt very proud and beautiful but instead she felt great sorrow for her evil life. When Jesus went to supper at the home of a rich man named Simon, Mary came to weep at His feet. Then with her long beautiful hair, she wiped His feet dry and anointed them with expensive perfume. Some people were surprised that Jesus let such a sinner touch Him, but Our Lord could see into Mary's heart, and He said: "Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved very much." Then to Mary He said kindly, "Your faith has made you safe; go in peace." From then on, with the other holy women, Mary humbly served Jesus and His Apostles. When Our Lord was crucified, she was there at the foot of His cross, unafraid for herself, and thinking only of His sufferings. No wonder Jesus said of her: "She has loved much." After Jesus' body had been placed in the tomb, Mary went to anoint it with spices early Easter Sunday morning. Not finding the Sacred Body, she began to weep, and seeing someone whom she thought was the gardener, she asked him if he knew where the Body of her beloved Master had been taken. But then the person spoke in a voice she knew so well: "Mary!" It was Jesus, risen from the dead! He had chosen to show Himself first to Mary Magdalen, the repentent sinner.
I hope the information i share with you all will enlighten everyone about St. Mary Magdalene.
My interpretation of this is simply that the Lord loves all of us. Even though sometimes we sin, as long as we know that we have done wrong, feel sorry for what we have done and try not do it again and last but not least LOVE the Lord, the Lord will always love us and bless us. It is never too late to change for the better. It does not mean once you have wronged, the Lord will never want you. We are all His children.
May Almighty God Bless you.

*the information i have shared with you if from a catholic.org*

San Carlo, My Dessert and Me...

2006-05-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

the dessert

San Carlo, Manchester

San Carlo Dinner

2006-05-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

I tried out a restaurant in Manchester the other day. It is a very highly recommended italian restaurant in Manchester called San Carlo. I has delicious food, and a beautiful environment and it always has a full house.
<--- That's me and my starter... it was asparagus roasted with cheese and sun dried tomatoes, it was so delicious~!~! my mouth's absolutely watering thinking about it... (for all of u out there who don't like vegetables, try this and you will fall in love with it)

Then, there was the main course, i picked something .. wait a minute, i can't even remember it now. But it was chicken and it was some sort of traditional dish... it looked very plain on the big white plate but it was very tasty. It came with a side order of bacon and potatoes cooked to perfection. The chicken was sitting kinda perfectly in the sauce... (yes the creamy sauce) but as the waiter put it down, it kinda slid in the plate... hence the sauce trail and imperfection of the photo.... (goodness i'm so hungry now)

Next i moves on the to desert... it looked so beautiful, i don't think it was to be eaten. It should have been frozen and kept on display. However i felt about it, my appetite preceeded me and i ate it all.. (haha)... and i i've been saying about the food in this place, it was delicious...

I can't wait to go back there for a meal again... and if any one of you come down to Manchester and wanna try it out.. gimme a call, i'll take you there... and we can have a meal... :)

La Hawelli Curry Night

2006-05-17T05:07:00.000-07:00

~An update on events pre-exam~
It was a curry night at the curry mile in Manchester which is Rusholme. It was organized by one of my old PBL classmates, Abhi.(for some reason, she enjoys scaring and bullying yvinne and me.. the Malaysians.. sobs.. haha) It was just a get together of a a few PBL groups she had been in and it also served as a belated birthday party for one of the girls.
The curry was to start at 7.30pm. I had yet to leave my Salfordian flat at 7.15 pm. Goodness, it would take an hour to get to ther curry mile. Finally the tram came and we headed off.
we were more that half and hour late. whoopsie~!~!~!~
I was very nice to meet my old PBL group mates and also some of the friends we had studied with during our postings. Yvinne and I were seated across from this two boys. They knew a couple of Malaysians in our year and had a couple of malay nicknames they learned for each like Si Puteh and more...
They seemed to have a fixation on using the word "lah" (we have brought the "lah" to England.. maybe it will catch on.. haha)
They tried to learn many word all through the night. It was hilarious... Imagine someone saying "si CoMel" in an english accent.. and due to they love of the word "lah".. they insisted on saying it as "si comel lah" haha
They also learned how to say "cun chick" and more... all in preparations to speak to malaysian girls... :)
Finally, he was put to the test, he was to be videotaped trying to pick up a girl.. which in this case was a stuffed hippo which was given to the birthday girl. He was to use all his new words... it was a hoooooooooooooooott~!~!~ there is a video
i am contemplating on sharing it.. but he seems really eager not to get it publically displayed...hmmm
It was a nice night and for that few hours, the stress of the exam had escaped me until i set foot into my room again..
:)

Mission Impossible III

2006-05-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

well, surviving winter in the UK, i always thought i'd never be able to go out of my house without my armour to battle the cold until summer came around...
for the past 2 days we have been experiencing malaysian weather here... well, yesterday yes, it was hot and humid and.. wow.. no more wool and jumpers...
the weather today is ideal, it's just perfect, the sun is bright and warm... but there is a chilly breeze that help cool us as we walk the daily long walk to HOpE HosPital YvInne and I take....
Progress test is coming up... no clue how in the world we are to prepare for that one..
Went for MI III yesterday... the super plan was for us to watch the 8pm MI III at AMC, unfortunately, we... got out of the house a little late.. say about 7.45, the plan would have worked if the tram came around immediately... that way we'd be at AMC by 8.10 and would have missed the commercials.... and be right in time for the movie...
Our tram stop is one stop before the last one before the trams turn around and come back to take us to the city. We saw a tram going towards the end and we delighted that if it came back within 5 minutes or so we'd make it..!~!... minutes went by..
where was the tram...
i think it went to eccles (the last stop) .. to die..
finally 20 minutes later came a tram to take us .. for..... MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III....
We missed the 8pm show so we watched the 8.40 one..
MALAYSIAN AIRLINES was in MI III... i was so proud..
during one of the scenes... filmed in SHanghai.. there was a Malaysian airlines signboard in the background... unfortunately it was backwards as it was facing the other side.. but which malaysian wouldn't recognize that logo...
hehe..
that's all fer now

my friend is a racist....

2006-05-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

i was having lunch today when someone said
"what is the difference between a bucket of shit and and indian?"
the answer was the bucket...
arrrrgh....
i guess it's just that generation...

blog title says it all...

2005-11-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

i'm having one of those moments... feeling real alone... ever know what it's like to be in a room full of people and yet still feel all alone...
I realized one thing whenever i feel this crappy, you know what makes me feel betteR??? it's the one and only thing i have found so far and even at times it doesn't work.. it's playing with a little baby.... yeah... or a cute little child... not those that could bite me and scream at me... or worse kick me when i'm down <---- haha.. but just a sweet little angel child....
i really really don't like feeling this way....
here's my theory...
it's brought about by a freakin' landslide of things.. most importantly, hormones... female hormones... this kinda feeling comes about because of something like that...
it's also because i'm too free.. and i spent the day bumming in the house... actually it's been days... have been unwell, vomiting and nausea.. so, haven't really been out...
it's always good to get out... and of course thinking too much... i thought about so many things... esp my life while i was in IMU... it was so wonderful... so much joy and fun... the people the places... going out with friends... the company... the comfort.... so many things i miss....
should stop thinking now......
anyway....tomorrow or so i know this feeling won't be there and i'll look back at this and go.. "what the hell????" y did i feel so screwed up?
yeah well, then this post should go away... but.. till then.... it's here....

2005-10-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

alright then... top is an introduction to the character who may appear in this blog... my housemate... the Tang family cartoon... muahahaa... and i don't know what other pic to put... just testing this...
anyway....
second consecutive day of blogging... not too shabby... haha... wonder how long i'll keep this up... anyway, spent an entire day at the GP today...
woohoo... can't believe how fast time flies...
had a pretty good lunch... twas free~!~!! hehe... drug reps seem to come down to medical centres and promote they're new drug and the best part is they come with lots of goodies...
had a wonderful lunch of various cheeses, choc cake, crisps.. cold cuts... the variety was awesome... for a medical centre anyway, compared to haha hospital canteens... lols...
the best part... coffee... yum,... can't get enough of it..

Anyhow Anyhu... hehe..
Cleaned the apt today in preparation of Tan Sri and Puan Sri Tang's visit... well, cleaned half way then got carried away on the computer.. so yvinne handled the rest.. good job babe... sorry.. not my fault.. the computer got me...

Do you know... ???
di sini tiada Dust Pan like in Malaysia??? Wierd fact.. or maybe it's just that i haven't found it. ..
We got a teeny one... where you gotta squat on the floor and use a little brush to sweep it in... haha... You didn't really wanna know about that right???

Going to continue my quest to become a bloggerpert... gonna try to add a pic... you see it, it worked .. you don't damn i suck..
lol
hugs y'all
luv
charlene

2005-10-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

So, yeah well, i'm in manchester already... time has flown by so fast. Currently based in the hospital of my choice... thank God... and living right behind it... (ain't that nice??? ) Well, so much for all the footwear in Malaysia.... ain't no cheap shoes like Malaysia here... hmm, bought shoes.... if gaya then darn painful to wear around hospital... and the "click clock click clock"... goodness...

It's a real potato life... jacket potato, mashes potato, fries.. it's like the main side dish to every meal... has about 2 weeks of jacket potatoes and baked beans... was down with a massive cold as soon as i got here... well, a couple of days later.... sick of it now....

miss malaysia like crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.... miss home, family, friends, the life, mid valley, one u.. the late night movies... the mamak food... the feeling that you're safe and protected in your own country... miss all of that.. miss all you IMU ppl...

I'm still trying to work this thing.. perhaps with the aid or Chia Ming the computer whiz, i can actually maintain this site well and keep it up to date... *hint* chia ming.. help~!~!~!
heheheh

alright then, see ya later all
hugs love charlene

it's been ages

2005-03-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

I'm well aware it's been ages since i wrote in this thing... hmm... don't know y i haven't actually..
the truth is .. it's been so long i forgot my password... haha...

Last night was the mini tremor night... which meant there was a severe earthquake somewhere else.. that may have harmed the lives of many...

Followed Dexter, Lawrence, Hong Chee, Jack, Ai Lee, Etc... to go get ball clothes for the ball yesterday... just realized boys have such a limited varity of shirts and nice ties to choose from...
there was a beautiful white shirt in Topman though... call me boring but i think a gorgeous white shirt with a simple tie that matches ur date's shirt is the way to go..

Waiting for my ball dress to be ready... haha.. anxiety... shouldn't be a problem... well i hope anyway..
i'm really bored right now..

Well, back to last night... i was in "mamak" when the vibrations and swayings of our vista towers had occured... felt nothing... guess coz i was closer to ground... heard the higher floors experienced it more.. hmmm... like Bernard and how he had to run out in all he had... hehe... sorry Burne...
Hopefully another tsunami does not strike... it's really sad how the people who were just recently hit and are trying to pick up the pieces in their lives to go through it again... the poor things...

Semester 5 final is about 11 weeks away... really worried about it... stressed... reminds me... need to go study...
till i look in here again.. *ciaoz*

black feet and delayed motions

2004-10-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

alright... today has been a very very long day... from pbl to cheerleading to class to cheerleading... got home and showered, twas already 10pm... so tired but my eyes seem to be wide open... anyone say exopthalmus and i'll dig ur eyes out...
kinda learned the rest of the moves for the usher dance today... dance around atrium barefoot... ended up with very very very dirty feet... icks... hmmm... oh yeah.. i'm not good with the dance moves yet ... so kinda got a slight delayed reaction going on here and there... sorry guys.. trying my best.. will practice at home.... lolz....
was kinda perky during practice was hopping about and prancing about... my legs hurt.. grrr... want to sleep...no musn't... must study.. hahhahaha.... u must be thinking I'm some sorta nerd... keep mentioning studies... well, if i will be called a nerd, i prefer the term "secret nerd" hahahah...
oh yeah.... had lunch at rooftop today... the food... so bluek!!! goodness... it was so bland i felt like i had no taste buds.... hmmm.... well... then what else about food... oh yeah... had kueh teow for dinner... i think the cook is skimping on salt... no no don't... i'll supply it... i have like 14 packets of salt in my apartment... long story ... hahahah...
anyway, that's all for the moment... i need to go to the kitchen and pig out...
God Bless
ciaoz

sitting on a high chair at the age of 20... plus.. and exclusive on mothaphobia

2004-10-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

okay.. IMU Cup is gonna be over soon... phew!!! i loved it and all but i think it has put my studying on way too long a hold... not to mention well deserved sleep...
allow me to whine a minute here of how much my neck hurts..
oh yeah, tennis for IMU cup was yesterday... I umpired a couple of games... here's how it went..
while getting up onto the umpire's seat i almost toppled it on myself... then, while i was umpiring a game i suddenly noticed huge things flying in the air... birds??? perhaps... bats??? err not sure... but there was a nagging thought in my mind.. MOTHS.... for those of you who don't know me that well... i've got a massive MOTH phobia.. moths and butteflies.. once in my apartment... i actually was so scared i sprayed the moth with ridsect or Baygon and ran to my balcony and started screaming... hahhaha.... i think i kind of wet the Moth's wings ... muahahhahaha... *i'm not mean!*
Oh well, back to the topic... so, umpiring tennis tournaments. .. yeah.. towards the night i had incredible difficulty in seeing the fast balls... hmmm possible presence of night blindness... i'm so so scared to get a score wrong while umpiring...
hmmm.. in a day... i ate mcdonalds 3 times... grrrr.. ... but yummm... i don't know what i'm typing...
okay... i'm too lazy to continue typing... ciaoz

some moments..

2004-10-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

S|ight|y Neur0tic Woman

Prayer for Exams

Benny Lava Meets Char Siew and Siuk Yuk

Goooooooooooooood morning

---------Scents and Sensuality---------

My anatomy is a Croc of Shit

Funny Thing Happened During the Walk Down the Corridor

Good Friday : Celebration of the Passion of the Lord

Frustrated and ANnoyed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back once again

MahJong

i'm annoYed By tHis FeeLing

Random Ramblings!~

Golf + Shopping

A Twisted Knot in My Stomach

i love this song!!!!

Is it Just me?

-~~~~~YOU~~~~~~-

Times Have Changed

First night i Slept in my Scrubs

Which Desperate Housewife Am I???

Wigan Pies and Wigan Life

Notice to Everyone Who Reads this Site

Happy Happy Birthday to A Mooo MOo

IN LOVE???

September Babies

Medics Pyjama Party~!

loya=lousy

what??

what??

My Malaysian Day

MISS MALAYSIA-INDIA FINALIST

My Latest crAZe

Redang.

My KL-Mini-break

Rawang, Penang, KL

another beautiful July baby shoutout~!~!

a BIRTHDAY SHOUTout~!~!~!

blog lost below..

BD 891, MH001, MH1292

My surprise birthday Party... awwwww...

Heat Rash????

The Morning After

coming to you live from 45 the royals!!!!!

Pressure on Girls

the mystery, strangeness and peculiar ways of Charlene

Photos from Jaycen's Birthday

A Birthday Party.. At Printworks.. and The JOURNEY back

trying to overcome on of my greatest fears

making an effort to blog.

SSC's

A Culinary Adventure with Cmingo

Glasgow, Leicester and a dash of Leeds

My Sunday

Barcelona Easter Break 2006

St. Mary Magdalene

San Carlo, My Dessert and Me...

San Carlo Dinner

La Hawelli Curry Night

Mission Impossible III

my friend is a racist....

blog title says it all...

it's been ages

black feet and delayed motions

sitting on a high chair at the age of 20... plus.. and exclusive on mothaphobia

some moments..

-~YOU~~-