SHINE! International Student Awards 2007

A few months back, I took part in this competition organised by the British Council in which we had to "write a letter home, depicting our time here in the UK and how we made the most of it".

Just last month, I was informed that I've been named one of two runners-up for the Wales Region. There were, in total, 12 regions, and all the 12 winners competed against each other in the finals, for a grand prize of 2000GBP, as well as the "International Student of the Year" award they so deserved.

As a runner-up, I've been invited to attend this prestigious ceremony at Delfina Studios in London on Wednesday. Hosted by Moira Stewart, a renowned journalist, the ceremony was also graced by Lord Kinnock, the Chairperson of British Council and our very own Professor Dato Jimmy Choo, an international alumnus of the UK who needs no introduction.

My guest for the night was Jacey, a high-flying friend who's doing her PhD at Imperial College. We set out at, well, the plan was to set out at 6pm to be in time for drinks and mingling and the rest of it which began at 6.30pm, but just when we were about to shoot out of the hall, someone got trapped in the lift and Jacey being the dutiful sub-warden of Piccaddilly Court that she is, had to stay behind until the repair people came (yes, I know YOU know what I mean by the repair people ;P).

Not sure when they eventually arrived, but we got to Bermondsey Street just 5 minutes before dinner. Delfina Studios is a corner lot building minutes from London Bridge, not very high-end but big enough to accommodate everyone quite comfortably that night - VIPs, British Council delegates, winners, runners-up, past winners, guests etc.

The lights in the background sure gave it a romantic innuendo, no? Hmm, something's missing from this picture though...yes! A (handsome) man! Eh, I say handsome man lah, not cameraman!

We walked on the red carpet (it actually looked more fuchsia than red) and into the hall where they had a mini exhibition on all the worldly International Alumni that the UK are proud to have links with, eg: Bill Clinton, Mahatma Gandhi, Imran Khan etc. And while I was glancing at all the posters, this caught my attention...

Arnold? I'm sorry Tunku, but everytime I think of the name Arnold, I think of the Governator! Urgh!

As Jacey and I were making our way through the crowd, we spotted Dato Jimmy Choo, and we managed to exchange some brief words with him before he was pulled over by everyone who wanted a snapshot. Man, meeting him in person was an honour. His calmness, soft-spoken-ness and most of all, his humility amazed me. For someone of his stature to be sooooo humble is indeed a rarity, and I am, not to mention, very proud to call this respectable man my fellow countryman!

I was seated at Table 15, the furthest from the stage ;( together with a few other British Council people and some students. I got talking to Qing, fellow runner-up from Bath, and Christine, who was a guest of her friend, a winner from last year. We had a good time having cultural exchanges (Qing is from China, and Christine is a Kenyan). It was nice to have met some new friends.

Dinner ensued and erm, yar, don't ask how it was. Tahu-tahulah, typical western meals... but I was rather impressed with the main course though. "Roasted guinea fowl with lemon-scented mash, chargrilled artichokes, petit pois, broad beans and sage burnt butter". Haha, I have no idea what half of those were, I just stuffed them into my mouth and let my tummy interpret it however it likes. I mean it was oklah, at least Jacey and I didn't have to ta-pau any supper on our way back, guess that tells a lot...

Moira Stewart kicked started the award presentation after dinner with her very professional and posh style of EmCeeing. We were first entertained by a short video clip of all the finalists, who were later called up the stage one by one to receive their prizes. Initially, I thought the runners-up would get to go up the stage too but later realised we weren't gonna. Was quite disappointed but oh well, the winners take it all...

Haha nolah, I was happy enough to have been invited to attend and I am glad I did. After the winners received their prizes from Dato Choo, they were quizzed by Moira - who had an array of questions ready for them with the spotlight on, ranging from why they decided to do the course their doing to how they got to creating awarenes for bone-marrow transplantation at their univeristy and the difference between living in the UK and back home etc...and for those of you who are keen beauty pagaent followers, yes, it's a bit like the Q&A session...albeit slightly longer and not so much about world peace :P

As I've mentioned, all these 12 people were competing for the grand prize, and they were judged based on the impression they've left on the judges during the informal chats they had earlier in the morning. The stuff Moira picked their brains on, so to speak, were just a formality. I think they had already decided who the winner was long before then.

Speaking of the winner this year, he is Yu Huai Zhang, aka Neo, from China. An enthusiastic young man from Queen's Belfast University. I can't even begin to describe how impressive his list of achievements are (it'd take rolls and rolls of 'virtual' space), but do check him out at http://www.educationuk.org/shine/index.html. I think they should be putting up his profile very soon (if not already).

For now, it's Adeline signing off with a few pictures of some very inspiring people who have really lived up to the word SHINE...

...we're from Boleh-land!

...the Spice Girls, oops sorry, Qing, Moira and Christine

...all 12 finalists
Yalar Jacey, it was a shame we didn't have a group photo where we can see the (cute) Aussie guy's face in full :(

...with 2007's International Student of the Year Neo

If I Didn't Love You

Listening to : If I Didn't Love You

I don't know who Tina Arena had in mind when she sang this song, but I would like to dedicate it to pharmacy.

Yes, you saw it right.

So good
When it's good I wanna spend my whole life lovin' you
But I'm tired
And you don't know how close I've come to leaving you
You try my patience
And you race me to the wire
It takes every ounce of my will and desire

If I didn't love you
If I didn't love you like crazy
If I didn't love you baby
As much as I do
I'd just walk out the door
I couldn't take it anymore
I wouldn't put up with what you put me through
If I didn't love you

It's hard
But you won't give up 'till you push me to the wall
But I know
You're the only one who'll be there for me when I call
I can't help believing
That it's worth it somehow
Cause I've worked too damn hard
To wanna give up now

When you love someone
Nothings black or white
When the riptide runs
There's no wrong or right
I'll sail with you but I'll refuse to drown
So don't you take me down!


Only 3 more weeks Adeline, come on! Jia You! Berusaha! Vamos! Allez!

My Sunny Friend(s) and Me

Sorry Sting, I don't like that song but have to borrow the title for a sec...

While I am glad we are getting more sun in this naturally gloomy country, I can't help but beg the honcho not to wake me up at me at 6am in the morning with its glare...I know you're up and raring to go but I'm not!

Sigh, my sleeping pattern has been topsy-turvy of late...sleeping at 2am, waking at 6ish (you know who to thank, don't you? Well, I know I do!), and then struggling to hypnotise self to go back to bed only to wake up at 10 feeling so unenergetic and wishing to sleep again but absolutely cannot because my books are calling...

This morning, my sunny buddy decided to expand my social circle by introducing Bee to me. Nope, not Busy Bee (although I do need prompting from that guy coz Lazy Bug has been tainted me too much with its influence), but Bee, the Busybody.

Busybody came by to say hi this morning, buzzing around my windows under which is where my bed lies. Man, I tell you, that guy is way to persistent for my liking. God only knows how long it's been hovering outside my window. Eventually I got up, opened the windows, flapped my curtains and THEN he got the message.

And thanks for thinking I can get back to sleep again because I couldn't. I am not as lucky as some who can just flop their backs on the bed and snore away...

So who's coming tomorrow Sunny? Pretty O' Butterfly? You might as well tell me now so that I can give them a grand welcome...

The Girl Who Wears A Ring...has a man?

Stumbled on a few online forums on badmintoncentral.com lately and the stuff people write about the players are just incredible.

"Do you guys know what his friendster address is?"
"Where do they usually hang out?"
"Is he of X religion?"
"I saw him wearing a ring. Does that mean he has a girlfriend?"

Dear dear me, how's that your business?

Incidentally, I have a question.

Does wearing a ring means one is attached? No, seriously, I WANT TO KNOW. ANYONE. PLEASE.

The truth is, I love rings. If I can have my way, I'd follow Phoebe Buffay - the LOTR of Friends, but as jewellery don't come cheap (even the cheap ones don't), I have to be content with two that I have at the mo...

But I don't understand. Why do people associate ring-wearing to a person's 'relationship' status? And I don't mean that on the ring finger (obviously).

I dare say that because I've been a 'victim' of it countless times. Just this year, I sported a lovely celtic ring on my middle finger at the beginning of term, and the first thing a friend said to me, instead of "How have you been?" was, "Wah, you're wearing a ring? Oh..got boyfriend already is it?"

WHAT???

And believe me, he wasn't the only one who had that presumption, pharm mates have been harrassing me with the "So Adeline, when are we going to meet your boyfriend?" question for far too long.

Which is why I wonder, what's with ring and BGR?

Can't one wear ring(s) because one wants to?

Time after Time...

Dear God

So far today, I'm doing all right,
I have not gossiped, lost my temper,
been greedy, grumpy, nasty,
selfish or indulgent,
I have not whined, complained,
cursed or eaten any chocolate.

I have charged nothing on my credit card.

But I will be getting out of bed in a minute,
and I think I will really need your help then...



Okay, you'd be forgiven if you thought I came up with that (although I have ALL it takes...no no no, not the creative bit, but every single thing she claims to be guilty of above...)

Cheh...I said it's a she, who knows it could be a he?

Anyway, as much as I'd like to claim credit for such classic poetry writing, I have to give it to, let's see...aiyar smarty pants didn't leave a name...

Ok then, credit given to the reluctant author who submitted this wonderful piece of work to Easy Living Magazine that was published in the latter's January issue...

How jobless can I get that I'm reading back issues of magazines???

Sigh, I'd do anything to procrastinate I tell ya...

Manchester Trip Part 2 and a 1/2

Erm, yes. Sorry. I am not finished with Manchester yet...but will be, very soon!

Went sight-seeing. On Good Friday. On my own.

You see, Hua had to rush a 25,000 worded essay in 6 weeks (or something like that), and being the exceptionally hospitable host that she is, she had already spent so much time hosting me and bringing me around, that I thought it's not fair for her to waste anymore second so I embarked on a self-guided tour.

Man, that was VERY brave of me. I say brave because heck, I don't know Manchester at all! And I pretended as if I knew which bus to take and which tram to hop on and where to take pictures etc.

Like Oxford, I had done NO PRIOR PREPARATION/READ-UP/RESEARCH/ whatever you want to call it. The only thing I know about Manchester, is that it's spelled M-A-N-C-H-E-S-T-E-R and it's an industrial city which boasts of 2 premiership clubs. City and United. One of which I used to support. :)

So the very smart Adeline. 7 hours to kill before she boarded the train back to Cardiff. So, what's the plan?

I was so bold, I didn't even have a map on my hand. The only information I managed to source, with Hua, sitting in front of her lap-top giving "Visit Manchester" a good Google, was Salford Quay.

"Oh yeah, I heard of that. But err, what is there?"

"It says the place is home to Imperial War Museum North, The Lowry, Lowry Outlet Mall, Salford Watersports Centre. It's also a stone's throw away from Manchester United football ground."

Okay, so I found somewhere to go. Armed with that, I walked down Oxford Road and stopped in front of the Manchester Library at St Peter's Square to take the tram.

But wait, where to stop?! Luckily for me, there were a couple of tourists going to the same place, so I just tagged along. Eventually got to the Quays at Greater Manchester about 10 mins later. Oooh-ed and aaah-ed about how scenic the whole place was and basically just started my journey from there.

I walked across the bridge to get to the Lowry and started snapping away like a Jap. Ok, bad joke. The Lowry, I figured, is something like an Istana Budaya. "An architectural flagship with a unique and dynamic identity...bringing together a wide variety of performing and visual arts under one roof". Yup, the wonders of cut and paste. But before I get caught for plagiarism, it's http://www.thelowry.com/AboutTheLowry/.

Literally opposite this chun building is the Lowry Outlet Mall, a high class factory outlet store. Cheapos like me almost died of happiness when I saw the big Nike swoosh logo on the outside, and the words "50% off everyday" somewhere else, so the agenda for the day had already been set.

But aiyar, shops not opened yet...how? Continue to jalan lor...

As I walked ahead, I saw the tourists who I followed earlier. They were now in the middle of a striking bridge, taking pictures and marvelling at something , which I thought must be worth seeing, so I followed suit.

Man, what I saw when I got to the bridge, was picturesque beyond words. It overlooks a serene man-made lake by the side of Lowry Outlet Mall. With not a cloud in the sky, one could really just soak up the sun and start dreaming away. Which I think I did for 5 minutes. 5 stressed-free, relaxing minutes.

As I extended my sights further, I saw...

...

...

OH. MY. GOD.

I let out the shriekiest shriek of delight I never knew I was capable of. Everyone on the bridge turned and looked at me. But I didn't care.

I saw Old Trafford from where I stood.

I saw Old Trafford!!!

Old Trafford!!!

Part of the reason why I was so shocked was because I didn't expect to find it. You can't take the meaning of "a stone's throw away" too literally, can you? And I guess because I didn't expect to have a chance of seeing the stadium, it made it extra special!

It didn't take me long to get to Sir Matt Busby's Way. I followed the roads and figured my way by constantly looking up to make sure that Old Trafford was getting bigger as I walked, not smaller.

I always thought people were joking when they say they see things that make them go weak in the knees. I have personally not seen a man that has such effect on me, but I dare say I've seen a building that did.

If people had caught a glimpse of me, they would have thought I had Parkinsons or something, because I was shaking, all over. Standing in front of the Theatre of Dreams, with Busby's statue welcoming Red fans and non-Red fans alike, was simply awe-inspiring.

I bought a combo ticket for the stadium and museum tour, where a guide brought a group of us around Old Trafford, starting from the stands, to the player's changing room, to the lounge, the press room, tunnel and dug-out area. The tour guide told us interesting anecdotes along the way making the tour very lively.

FYI, the United squad actually train at the Carrington Ground and not Old Trafford, which is a good thing because I would have fainted if I saw anyone of the Class of 92 or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or Wayne Rooney. I seriously would.

When I went for the tour, I got talking to this lady called Shamilla, who took her nephews to Old Trafford as a birthday gift for one of them, a Cristiano Ronaldo-resembling young boy of 11. I swear it was his gelled hair. No mistake. Given his Hispanic genes, you really can't fault me for saying he looked like the former because he did.

I told Shamilla and she laughed. "I bet he'd be over the moon if you told him that. Big Ronaldo fan. Copies his every move."

Ah, I don't want see a peacock in the making so I kept my mouth shut. She was nice enough to ask me if I wanted to join them for lunch at the Red Cafe, and seeing I was hungry, I obliged. I paid for my meal of course, I'm not a leech!

I left soon after lunch. If I had a choice, I would have stayed and camped there all night until I was satisfied, or rather, until all the adrenaline has worn off its effects, but time was pressing...so I had to go... *sniff sniff*

Nonetheless, itt was a TRULY OVERWHELMING 2 and a 1/2 hours there. And I guess I felt a sense of pride because I SUPPORTED UNITED.

ONCE DID.

The older pals of mine might have known it was because of this guy who used to wear the number 7 jersey. But the truth was, although it started off with an interest in Beckham (ok fine, not interest, obsession), my support for Becks and United went hand in glove back in those days. The partnership remained whole until 2003, when I jumped ship over to Arsenal, whose fluid football captured my imagination (much unlike the mundane style United was trading at that time).

But I guess the MAIN causative factor was the decision to sell Becks lah, which I, a 'bigger than life' David Beckham fan couldn't swallow, so like my hero, I parted ways the same time he did.

In hindsight, I may not have supported United for long, but those years had inspired me, imparted a lot of passion into my life, and gave me so much to cheer for. But most of all, the memories I have of the United years is something I can look back on as MY theatre of dreams.

Manchester Trip Part 2

Hua and I went to town in the afternoon after my conference had ended. We walked past St. Peter's Square and were admiring the amazing architecture of the Cathedral yards away when an old man (about 60ish I'd say?) came and interrupted moi, who was halfway zooming her camera lens to take a picture of the WHOLE (tall) building.

"Sorry, are you Chinese?" [What??? Are you telling me I don't look like one? Ok Adeline, give face lah, let's just amuse this old man...won't take 2 secs...]

"Yes I am. Malaysian Chinese."

"Oh right I see. So, are you a tourist or..." [Don't mean to cut him short but my camera was still on and batt was running low.]

"No, I'm a student."

At this point, Hua - who had finished appreciating the building - joined us in our 'conversation'.

"I came to visit her."

"Ah, speaking of visiting, do you know who came by today?"

"Erm, no?"

"The Queen. She came by today. You know about Easter?" [Yup yup, save your breath]

"Erm, a little?"

He went on about the last supper Jesus had etc, and mentioned about money.

"Mourning??? Who were they mourning for?" Apparently, he was talking about Maundy money, which they give out to old people (I think as tradition), and I, for some unknown reason, misheard as mourning...must be the northern accent I tell ya...

At this point, I thought a-ha! It'd be a good "right ok, ba-bai now" moment, but man, could I be more wrong? He enquired after the courses we did, why we decided to come here, commented on how he thought Hua looked Japanese with her rather short stature (which really irked her) and then covered up by saying how good he thought her English was blah blah blah.

And then he turned his attention to me and asked me about Malaysia.

Haha, bad move old man. BADDDDDDD move...

I won't bore you with details, but if I say religion, I trust you'd be able to work that out? He kept wanting to be negative, but after a while, he got the message and switched the topic. I must have done well with my body language.

Then came the most interesting part.

He asked us why we never see Asians rising above the stereotype (which according to him, is working in Chinese restaurants and doing blue collar jobs). "Why is it that you don't see many Asians having a high public profile here, making a scene in politics?"

I think Hua must have had enough of this nonsense, which was why she gave him a verbal equivalent of rapping of the knuckles.

"Maybe it woud be a different story if the British society is less conservative???"

Fooi-yor man!

He was stunned, to say the very least!

I seized my moment. "Plus, this isn't OUR country, it wouldn't be wise for us to mess with the political issues of Great Britain, would it?"

He gave a nervous laugh. "Haha, I guess maybe not." [honestly what else can he say?] "By the way, I'm meeting a young Chinese lady online, someone your age, on Skype at 5pm. I'd better get going. Enjoy your holiday!"

We almost passed out. Skyping with a chinese lady of 20? What a psycho!

Moral of the story? Stop trying to entertain maniacs on the street and if someone comes up to you the next time (bar those asking for help), just say "me er no speaking Englisher!"

We spent the whole walk to Chinatown talking about that old fool. Hua couldn't believe his guts about the whole Asian thingy, which I wholeheartedly agreed. She blasted him through and through, from English to Mandarin to Min-Nan (which was her own dialect)! Man, I enjoyed every second of it!

Before we knew it, we were already in town, which was huge, needless to say. Good thing all the shops in the UK are rather similar (as in you get Dot P, M&S, and New Look everywhere), so I didn't go crazy. I just quietly acknowledged how the store sizes are 10 times that of Cardiff outlets as I walked them by.

But Arnsdale shopping mall is impressive. It reminded me a lot of the malls in KL, don't know why. And I didn't know they have a Selfridges Co store here!

I darted Hua a look. She darted me a look.

Sigh, great minds think alike...what can I say?

Obviously, we skipped almost every floor until we got to the top, where they housed designer items with a more humane price, shall we say. It was quite uncanny how both of us love Karen Millen, and I guess the big difference is that one has at least a few items from it, while the other is still looking to buy her first article from this classy label!



Hua has a keen eye for fashion. She's one of the trendiest and smartly dressed people I've ever known. "Simple, but elegant", that's how I would describe her. A classy young woman with impeccable taste!

But even this lady who shops at designer shops were lamenting about how stuff in Selfridges are way out of her budget, what about cheapos like me? "No need to see lah", I told Hua, "let's just get out of here before we get too depressed to walk back. And plus, shopping is supposed to be a therapy, us having upturned mouths isn't gonna do it justice!"

Determined to feel better, she said she knew JUST the place to take me to.

A place that will offer bountiful comfort.

Yup, you've guessed it. If it's not shopping malls, if it's not handsome men, it's gotta be food.

We went to a bakery in Chinatown on our way back, and indulged in yummylicious cakes. Man, it was probably after I stepped into the confectionery shop that I realised how much I miss Malaysian bakeries. Like how you can choose from Kaya bun to Tuna bun to butter bun to cakes with fresh cream and made to order. How you can stand in front of the freezer thing and choose your pick. How you can have every other thing but BLT sandwich or pasties for lunch...

And those of you lucky enough to study here (or have studied here), please don't say "we have Greggs what".

The 30mins that we spent savouring every bite of our fruit cakes, as we watched people walk us by in the small bakery, at 6pm in the evening when the sun was still lingering around on a beautiful spring day, was a bliss. Utter bliss.

Yes, Janet J. Best things in life are free.

In MY face

I went to the post office yesterday to make a claim on a letter lost in the post. The item sent was actually a National Express coach ticket for a pal who's coming to visit me in May, hence the urgency.

15 working days have elapsed since I posted it and yet still no signs of it anywhere, so I thought, you know what, I'd better lodge a claim.

Went to Albany Road branch Post Office and told the counter guy what happened.

Actually no. I showed him the proof of postage first, then only explained my case.

The moment he saw the word Malaysia, he gave the most disgusted look I've ever seen.

"Hmph! Malaysia??? This country is known for doing this kind of thing."

I LOOKED AT HIM.

AS IN I. LOOKED. AT. HIM.

What does he mean by "known for" and "this kind of thing"? I've sent so many stuff back home through the post in the past and they've never once failed me, so what's his problem?

Anyway, you know me, I am "known for" being tetchy when it comes to "this kind of thing", so I told him straight.

"Yes sir, thank you for enlightening me. THANK YOU."

I think he sensed my sarcasm, so he quietly turned round and got me a compensation form to fill.

Just as he was handing it to me, he asked what it was that I sent. I said a coach ticket. Again, he launched into a tirade of "this country is known for doing this kind of thing"...

Oh no baby, you shall STOP RIGHT THERE.

I grabbed the form form him, gathered my stuff and said "You know what sir? I've heard enough of this kinda thing for today. But thanks for your help. THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED" and left.

Pah! It wasn't so much of what he said that cheesed me off, it was HOW he said it. Fine, we might not have the most efficient postal system / administration in POS MALAYSIA, but that's for us to sort it out. If he had said something like "ooh miss, this has happened a couple of times in the past with some of our other customers, so I'm afraid you might have problems retrieving it" etc, I wouldn't have minded so much.

So, dear post-office counter guy, if you can't think of anything nice to say, just MYOB!

Manchester Trip Part 1

I never thought of blogging as a commitment, but if it is, then I'd better write up my dues before someone labels me a commitment-phobe!

Ok, where should I begin...

Ah yes, was away to Oxford on Wednesday for an interview at John Radcliffe Hospital. Yup, you've guessed it, placement stuff again. The interview/informal chat with the principal education pharmacist went quite well, thank you very much. Nothing out of the blue that they wanted to pick my brains on, and I guess the only blip was the question about what I liked AND disliked about the course. Pah! Never saw that coming and erm, haha, found myself a little tongue-tied. Can't exactly remember what I said but I think I blabbered something about how I "enjoy" learning about the different disease states and the respective therapeutic management etc etc etc. Doubt I sounded convincing at all but what the heck...they either take my answer, or leave it!

You know, it's actually rather unusual for me to take an instant liking to a hospital on a first visit, but that's how it is with JR. No major "urgh I don't like this or I don't like that", just generally a modest, new, well-maintained and brightly lit hospital (this girl just can't stand dim hospitals FYI).Looks to me a good hospital to working in...

Haha, that was, of course, a very superficial observation on my part...it might be the exact opposite when one DOES actually work there...who knows?

Anyway, more news about placement at JR later.

My train to Manchester from Oxford wasn't due till 6 in the evening, so I headed back to town straight after the interview. Didn't manage to do any sightseeing because, well, my fault for not checking out the places of interest prior to my trip, so I had to make do with just going around in city centre...

Ooohhh, Oxford is pretty. Many of the buildings are historic-looking (or maybe ARE historically signifcant themselves), adorned with nice, intricate carvings that stood the test of time. The city centre itself isn't exactly huge, but shopping looks great. Comparable to Cardiff if not better! And if I may add, students are everywhere! All these brainiacs I tell ya...

And after a brief walkabout in town, I left for Manchester in the evening as planned. A signal failure that happened 2 hours ago delayed many FGW trains and the backlog left many people stranded at the station. It was rather chaotic, with stewards shouting at the top of their lungs, and blowing whistles like mad just to maintain order. But thankfully I was on Virgin, so that didn't set me back much. In fact, I arrived at Piccadilly earlier than scheduled because I boarded the earlier train by mistake! Talking about blessing in disguise...

But I didn't bother hurrying my friend who was to come pick me up, so I found the nearest seat and sat my butt down. Spent the entire time just taking in the granduer of the train station really. Yeah alright, it's not THAT big, but it IS very modern-looking. For some bizzarre reasons, it looks a bit like a mini-KLIA from the inside, with all the glass ceilings and spatial design!

Oklah, maybe I was just tired, and dreamy!

I didn't have to wait long before Hua came to meet me, and we walked back to her halls in Grovesnor Place which was only about 20mins away. Hua and I actually met 2 years ago when we went for student warden training together. She graduated from Cardiff last year and is now at Manchester Uni doing a Master's course in Marketing. She was kind enough to host me while I am in the city to attend a conference on Thursday.

The conference was organised by the British Pharmaceutical Students' Association, and they invited quite some speakers to give us talks on pharm-related issues, and all the career stuff. Very insightful :). Sola - my pharm mate - was supposed to join me for this conference thingy, but being the good girl that she is, she decided she wanted to use the time for exam revision, so it was just me, myself and I.

Do you remember yonks ago, well, it was only last month I think, I mentioned about the McNeil's Responding to Symptoms competition in Birmingham? Yeah, I didn't make it pass the semi-finals, but as kismet would have it, one of the finalists pulled out in the last minute, and so they approached the nearest substitute, which was moi! Was rather shocked when I got the text from Sian a few days before the finals, which was to be held on BPSA day, the day of the conference, in Manchester. She asked if I was interested to take the girl's place, and I thought, well, since I was already going to be there for the conference, why not? And as far as I was concerned, I had nothing to lose!

Haha, it turned out that I had much to gain...coz I actually won the competition!

The words "dumbfounded" and "stunned" and "flabbergasted" were nowhere near the emotions I felt when they announced the winner at the conference. Okay, I know this is going to sound weird, but I don't actually know what were the sort of criteria they judged us on...Communication skills? Content? Relevance of advice? Oh well, I guess that probably explained why I was so shocked to find myself emerging as the winner, for I don't even know where I did well, if at all!

But not bad for someone who wasn't meant to take part in the first place...and to the other 3 finalists, I'm truly very sorry!

...to be continued

Happy Easter!

Here's wishing those who celebrate Easter a Happy one, and any leftover Chocolate Eggies are welcomed to be sent here!

p/s: Will be updating blog v soon...haven't procrastinated enough yet... :P

Those are the songs, aha aha I like it...

"He took me to the future in the flux thing and I saw everything, Boybands and another one and another one ... and another one!"

If you know your lyrics well, you would have noticed that the 2 lines were actually pinched from Busted's Year 3000.

Yo dude, no need to fast forward to year 3000 lah, just rewind back to the 90s and you'd see exactly the same thing!

Not that I am complaining...coz heck, I grew up with them. 90s / early noughties wouldn't have been the same without pop culture defining the decade.

While I wasn't one of those who draped her walls with Nick Carter or Justin Timberlake's torso-showing posters (err, if I had gotten my hands on Taylor Hanson's I would, but that guy is now married with kids...*sniff sniff*), I admit to following their songs...very closely!

I was once so into pop music that I know almost every song there is to know. List a few words from the lyrics and I'd tell you which song it is and who sung it. Name the album and I can tell you when it was released. Name a song title and I can describe what the video is like and so forth.

Haha, it sure gives people the impression that I was rather jobless, don't you think?

Just today, I went onto imeem.com to look for more long lost songs (which has become more of a permanent feature since J introduced it a week ago...thanks gal!). I stumbled upon so many catchy tunes from the 90s that I still seem to be (shamefully) bopping my head to...dear dear...