Powerhouse Museum & Coogee BBQ

Here are some more shots taken during my trip to the Powerhouse Museum during the winter break...



Me and the GRAND grand piano




A miniature replica of the infamous Sydney Opera House




Of trains...




...and engine




A solar project by UNSW students on display




A more focused shot




The aboriginal spirit and I




If only I was a kid again! :p




The Powerhouse Shop



And now, some outdated shots from the ESF BBQ at Coogee beach on Saturday, May 20th...



Renard and I posing with someone's doggy. (It just kept coming back to us... or was it the smell of bbq meat nearby?) By the way, friends claimed we both look like bro and sis. Is that true?




Jerome tried to be funny...




...but Jason managed to outdo him!




The Iron Chef (Andy) at work...




...with the aid of the other chefs. (Kenneth, did you say grace first?) By the way, Kenneth's our bible study leader cum MTSer (MTS=Minitry Training Strategy)




Time to sink in...




...followed by ball games



Last but not least, an ESF group shot taken after my baptism (together with Karen)...



Comments! ^_^

Sydney Aquarium & India Down Under

"What have you been doing during winter break?"

This is perhaps the most repeated question I was asked recently and it shouldn't come as a surprise as I myself used that quite often as well! :p Well, some of you would know that the Melbourne gang came over and so here are some photos taken at our visit to Sydney Aquarium...




Min and I posing with this huge lazy turtle




The shark and I (do I hear Jaws theme playing in the background?)




Me petting a starfish (aren't they beautiful?)




Min and I trying on these "koala hairbands" in the gift shop


After spending a whole afternoon at the aquarium, we headed to India Down Under in Potts Point, a restaurant operated none other by the parents of my best friend, Queenslander Yasu! Somehow, in all the excitement of finally tasting some good spicy dishes, we hungrily lapped up our meals and forgot to take snapshots of the dishes! Anyway, here are the after-meal shots...




Min, Yi Man, Yasu and I at the bar



The Melbourne gang and I



Well, that's all for this time... Hopefully, some of the ESFers would send me pics of MYC or if Zi sends me some really radical shots a group of us took in the city, I'll post them up! Tata! ^_^

Random stuff...

Found this on a friend's blog and responded to it... Here's her post:

If you comment on this post:

1. I’ll respond with something random about you.
2. I’ll challenge you to try something.
3. I’ll pick a color that I associate with you.
4. I’ll tell you something I like about you.
5. I’ll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I’ll ask you something I’ve always wanted to ask you.
8. If I do this for you, you must re-post this on your blog.

And her reply when I responded?

1. you are very very VERY smart AND hardworking
2. be a bum like me for a week! =)
3. Gold. Think gold excellence stars
4. You are sincerely nice and you are never afraid to question!
5. Putting up your hand to answer/ask a question in class during primary school. You were shorter than me then =P
6. An owl. Wise.
7. What is the craziest thing that you have ever done?

Haha, so is my dear friend, Sharon, correct? Any comments? Or maybe you too would like to know how you fare in my opinion? Comment! :p

The Girl Down Under

The night birds hooted nearby. The full moon did not appear that “full” with the dark clouds circling it with their misty folds like how a mother would place her protective arms around her innocent child. Heavens must be mourning the death of a star as it had rained for more than a day non-stop. There was no way she could make it to the library at this rate. With a heavy sigh, the girl at the window released the edge of the curtain which she had tugged aside.

With a quick sweep, the girl’s eyes returned to the fine print of black alphabets surfacing boldly across the pages of a thick blue book. Upon the flick of a page, her quizzical eyes gazed at the diagram spread out on the page with labels and arrow heads jutting out all over the place. Hiatus semilunaris. Hypophyseal fossa. Piriform fossa. Rima vestibuli. Instinctively, the girl’s chilly fingers reached out to feel around her nose and throat, probing uncertainly while occasionally flipping the page back and forth for cross-referencing.

Taking a break from studies, the girl shifted her gaze to the Medshow script lying on the other side of the desk. A week ago, she had auditioned for the part of Fei, a Chinese medical student with a thick heavy Asian accent, and was successfully selected by the directors of this year’s musical production. The girl figured that the extensive vocabulary of Manglish that she had garnered over the years would now come in handy and not be scorned upon.

“Ok guys! It has always been an annual Clancy sold-out so we’ve gotta put in our best efforts! We’re talking about more than eight hundred people seated in Sir John Clancy Auditorium paying to watch us perform so let’s give them their money’s worth!”

The crisp yet forceful voice of Tessa Kennedy still rung clearly in the girl’s ears. With a bravado-like spirit and almost-professional acting skills, the girl understood why a senior like Tessa made the cut as one of Medshow 2006’s directors. It then became evident to the girl that slacking was not going to be an option.

A knock came on the door and the girl opened it to find her friend standing opposite her. In one hand was a loaf of white bread while the other hand clutched a butter knife and a jar of thick greenish coconut jam.

“Hi Shih Ying! We’re thinking of having supper down in the kitchen. Wanna join us?”

With a brief nod, the girl could already picture her teeth sinking into the soft slice of white bread smothered in thick spreads of pandan kaya; a taste that would bring back memories of home sweet home. Beaming away, the girl Down Under grinned from ear to ear as she closed the door behind her.

Post-exams post...

Ok, I know it's been ages since I last did some real posting (instead of just crapping on some online test)... Well, lo and behold, my exams ended yesterday (Friday) morning (it's Friday midnight-Saturday early morning now), half past eleven to be precise... And so, yes, I've got 3 fabulous weeks of holidays to look forward to! 1st week: hang out with Melbourne and Queensland friends who're coming over to Sydney (Jon, Yi Man, Min, Shir, Yasu, etc.), 2nd week: unplanned yet (any ideas?), 3rd week: MYC!!! Oh, for those of you who're not informed, MYC stands for Mid-Year Conference. It's an annual Christian conference and this year's theme is iRelate (relationships)...

To those of you back in IMU (Fun, Wen and LY), gambatte for July's paper! ^_^ I trust you guys will do well (knowing how you gals study!). And like how we used to ramble on questions after each and every exam (this applies to you too, Anne, in Adelaide), here are some questions (YM and Min may be interested in this too) from yesterday's 2.5-hour Society & Health 1 paper consisting of 4 short answer questions (so called short answer, they're more like essays) and 30 MCQs. Pardon the "unprofessionalism" of how the questions sound as these are from memory (question booklets are collected back after exams)...

Question 1
Refer to Rebecca's TB scenario.
(a) Describe the immunological response in the host that leads to caseatous granulomata formation. Describe also the cells present in biopsy and their functions.
(b) Rebecca was not given the BCG vaccine before she left for Papua New Guinea. Comment if she should be given BCG:
(i) before she left for Papua New Guinea
(ii) after she has been diagnosed
(c) Evaluate one strategy of prevention of TB other than BCG vaccination.

Question 2
An elderly man (can't remember his name) aged (forgot the age) presents in the emergency department with tachypnoea, pleuritic chest pain, productive cough with purulent sputum (and some others). There is reduced chest expansion on the lower right region and it is dull to percussion and only bronchial breath sounds are heard. (think there's some other diagnosis stuff as well) Tests indicate the man suffering lobar pneumonia following a Streptococcus pneumoniae infection.
(a) Describe both macroscopically and microscopically the anatomical features travelled by the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria from the nasal vestibule to the alveolar spaces.
(b) Describe and explain the pathophysiological mechanisms involved that led to the clinical presentation (signs and symptoms) described.

Question 3
Refer back to same patient in Question 2. Patient found to have shortness of breath. Ventilation rate of 34/min. Arterial PO2 of 56mmHg and PCO2 of 33mmHg. Oximeter was used to determine his % Hb saturation.
(a) How does (patient's name)'s blood gas levels compare to normal values?
(b) Draw an oxygen-Hb equilibrium curve for a normal human (when arterial PCO2=40mmHg and temperature=37C) with the axes and units clearly labelled.
(c) List 4 factors that would shift this curve to the right.
(d) Indicate on the curve (patient's name)'s PO2 level and use the curve to estimate the % Hb saturation read on the oximeter.
(e) What is the normal breathing rate?
(f) Explain the receptors and processes involved that led to the patient breathing rapidly.

Question 4
Peter is a 37 year old gay accountant living in Sydney. His parent migrated over to Sydney from the UK. He is HIV positive. Recently, his CD4 count has dropped to below 200x10^6/L. He is prescribed with antiretroviral therapy and now suffers occasional headaches, (and some other symptoms).
(a) Explain the public health measures to limit the spread of HIV in Australia. How does this apply to Peter's case?
(b) What are the limitations placed by the HIV infection on Peter's life?
(c) What are the health care facilities that Peter can access to help manage his HIV infection? How would this differ if Peter had lived in a rural town in NSW instead?

There you have it, the 4 so-called "short answer" questions. Not that "short" after all, eh? :p Not to mention the 30 mind-boggling MCQs... Try explaining to me how to tackle all these in 2.5 hours... Meanwhile, enjoy contemplating the questions! :)