The Flowers :)

**Note: This is going to be a LOOONG post**

Okay, let's start off by me saying:

I miss my housemates a LOT!!

Me, Renly, Poh Yee and Chin Yeong during the Christmas Party in Glasgow [Dec 2009]

My student life was fantastic because I had them by my side.
I therefore dedicate this post to them: my housemates, Renly, Poh Yee and Chin Yeong.

The flowers in cheongmsam during the CNY event we organised in Glasgow :) [Feb 2010]

That's Renly and Chin Yeong having some fun in Glasgow. LOL.
Renly's the Mum feeding Baby Chin Yeong some contact lens solution I mean milk :P

I've been staying with Poh Yee since INTEC (way back in 2004 i.e. I've stayed with her for 6 years!! ENAM tahun!! As for the other two (Chin Yeong and Renly), I've stayed with them since I started studying in IMU in 2006 i.e 4 years! They have been great source of laughter and happiness in our little family :)

We've done all sorts of silly things together, including setting up a friendster profile for ourselves.

LOL...funny stuff indeed.

And here's the introduction to the flowers :)

Yes, I am bunga rafflesia of all things! Rafflesia!! I still have no idea why Mr Raj (the creator of the name: Flowers) named me Rafflesia >.<



Then there's chin yeong who got to pick her own flower; sunflower :)
Which I think suits her a lot, as she's a bubbly girl who brings happiness and laughter to those around her, kinda like a sunflower don't you think?


And renly is a periuk kera. LOL. I think Raj gave her that name because she has a very special ability (something to do with her mouth :P)

And finally there's Poh Yee, the pokok semalu, which according to Raj is the total opposite of her. As you all may know, a semalu (Mimosa pudica) is a plant that instinctively closes it's leaves as a protective mechanism when touched. Poh Yee on the other hand, bites (instead of shying away) when provoked. LOL~

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So there's the introduction on four out of the original five flowers :)

Now, while I was studying in Glasgow, not everything was bright and sunny for me. I had my down times whereby I got depressed and cried, especially during the first few months in Glasgow [emo post here].

But I am thankful as I have great housemates who always cheered me up, and picked me up when I got down. If it weren't for them, perhaps my year in Glasgow would hv sucked big time. I actually had a really REALLY good time in Glasgow. I kinda regret not blogging more while in Glasgow as those memories would have been preserved forever in this blog if I had wrote about it. Oh well...

I will always remember that Chin Yeong and Renly did this note for me, while I was stressed out during our final study break in gloomy Glasgow. It's a cute note of their scribblings and random drawings of the places I would be going visiting after the exams :) And I am glad to say that I have visited all the places listed except for Poland :) Notice the little heart shape note there? That's by Sin Ye my lovely Kalyana Mitra :)

Sinye, Sinyen and Myself at Broga Hill recently.

Sin Ye darling, if you read this, I wanna say a big

"XIE XIE" to you, for being my great kalyana mitra who has supported me when I was the saddest in Glasgow. I am blessed to have met you and keep your positive energy going dear :) Mwahs~



Thats Poh Yee looking like Ju-On on bad hair days. And yes, despite her looking like Ju-on, and some say Vendetta when she gives the evil smile, she's been my housemate/roommate for more than 6 years, so I will still stand beside her. LOL. Miss Leong, if you ever read this,

"Make sure you learn how to drive so that you can be the one driving the car instead of me! And when I become the co-driver, I will make sure I fall asleep while u drive :P

To Renly, the baby of the house, who is adorable all the time and loves being manja-ed:

Mummy will be here for you till you grow old okay? *mwahs* Make sure u get married before me, so that I can carry my "cucu" or if you want "cucu-cicit" also can :P

That's Chin Yeong :) She's the tiniest in the house but has the biggest smile and biggest heart :) I love the fact that she's got such a kind heart and I am more than happy that she's found her prince charming :)

To Chin Yeong:

THANK YOU for being so patient and kind to me :) I really appreciate it. Hehe~ I know I've got bad tempers, but you are always so nice, meow will always remember it~ And faster get married with Jay Bee la..I wanna see your babies too.. hahaha~~

That's JayBee (representing Baby Renly while she was off with her Kennethsaur) and us during winter in Glasgow on January 2010 :)



And here's a picture of us housemates in September 2009, in Germany, during our first ever summer trip which lasted for 21-days. LOL. Here's the post I wrote on that long trip :)

Us girls with Brendan (the self-proclaimed leaf among us the flowers) during our graduation ball in Glasgow [May 2010]

XOXO

Wen Yi :)


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Opps.... I had missed out my other flower: DEVI~~


Hehe...she threw an imaginary bi*ch fit because I didn't mention her. *shhh*

Devi dear,

You know I love you despite my not mentioning you in the post. I was in a rush to write the whole post and had wanted to focus on the flowers in Glasgow more. I sincerely apologize for not mentioning you. I'm so sorry dear~

Devi was my housemate when I was studying in IMU for two and a half years. She was the man of the house = the daddy! But she was always out of home, going around, leaving me (the mummy of the house) to take care of

- the baby (renly)
- maria the maid (chin yeong) and
- the milkmaid (poh yee)

LOL~~

Yes, we each had our own roles while staying in IMU :D
But Devi daddy cooks great mutton curry!! And is a great teacher! We'd all discuss past year papers together and she'll give the best explanation for everything :D

The flowers way back in August 2007.

ps: I was thinner back then. I've gained much weight since then :'(

Motivation

I've been slacking. Seriously.

Life has just passed me by ever since I arrived in Scotland. I guess I was sucked into this whole phase of being in a foreign land, enjoying the time and life that I have over here, that somehow I've lost the actual motivation to study :S

Life over here has been more towards, planning for trips.
My mind keeps going,

"When's the next trip?"

"Where to go?"

"Cheapflight promotions?? >.<" Oh well, it's still like that, but on a milder state as the exam draws nearer. I'm not stupid, that granted, I have the confidence that I won't fail my finals, but scoring it.. is another issue all together. It's like I know that I can do it, but I'm not doing my best because my mind has lost it's motivation to study. And I attribute my lack of motivation to the following: 1. Post-grad opportunities will only arise after I've served the government for 3 years. = =''
Initially, I had big dreams of doing post-graduate studies (in silent hopes to be able to stay abroad longer and to travel MORE places in Europe *hehe*) BUT, my dreams are torn down the roof once I found out that freshly graduated pharmacy students (like me) can only apply to do a post-grad course AFTER 3 years of serving the government. Yes, you read right. THREE freaking long years :( By that time I'll be old..and even if I DO decide to continue my studies, I'll be EVEN older after I complete post-grad = =

2. My bed is too comfy
I blame my bed for making me drowsy all the time = =

3. My daily starsign

which almost ALWAYS goes somewhere between the lines of

"Take a break! Enjoy yourself, You deserve a break!"

The proof follows:


But what I realized, that I am the one to blame. No one else.
I've been seriously losing touch with my inner-self and letting autopilot drive me through all these months. It's kinda scary once I think back.

So I've got a daily schedule written down, it's day 2 of the schedule today.
Day 1 didn't go by that well, and neither is Day 2. Half of it was on schedule, but study-wise, it's still a wee bit behind schedule :(

But I believe that I've got my motivation to study a bit more now :) *keep fingers crossed*
I thank the fact that I've got IMU Buddhist Society on my facebook :) They remind me of the buddha and the dhamma. Sadhu to that :)


Quote of the day:

"Mind is the forerunner of (all evil) states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with wicked mind, suffering follows one, even as the wheel follows the hoof of the draught-ox.

Mind is the forerunner of (all good) states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with pure mind, AFFECTION follows one, even as one's shadow that never leaves. "
— Buddha (Dhammapada)

So I'm keeping my mind set :)

first post of 2010

It's amazing how time flies. Really. At a blink of an eye I'm coming to the end of my final year of university and the end of my lovely stay in Glasgow. I've not left Glasgow yet, but I'm already feeling the sadness of leaving this place. I'm gonna miss Glasgow big time.

The last day of lectures just passed. I've had a great amount of fun in Glasgow. Fun time running about in the subway in pyjamas, and drinking in the afternoon! It's something that I'll never do in Msia. Imagine all the "indon" ppl going,
"ah mui, pakai baju tidur pergi mana? mau tidur sama i?" = =

Very un-appealing.

Anyways, it's been way too long since I last blogged. I totally forgot how fun it is to crap whatever I think is fun, instead of rephrasing what journals say, and in the process realizing that my english has gone down to the drains, as the more i rephrase, the more limited my vocabulary seems. I've lost touch in writing in english, or maybe my writing skills were non-existent in the first place. LOL

Okay, i'm a bore. I know. But I've been places, so pictures can do the talking what happened since 2010.

Jan: Snow-snow-snow
Feb: emcee-ing at the CNY party
I love my housemates~ *hugs*

Feb: Inverness trip~
Lochness at its best~
March: A visit to liverpool and manchester
Mar 17 : St Patrick's Day at Bamboo
And just yesterday, Sub Crawling i.e pub-crawling via Glasgow's subway in pyjamas!
I know i don't suit the cute look, but forgive me, it's my last and only chance to do so before I embark to working life :)

Ciao for now. Need to get my final year research project started on, so that I can complete it on time, and there after start acting like a nerd for the month of April, before the finals in May!

Time is bound to fly even more so then. Next post: post-exams in May. Maybe.

Updates (finally)

Sorry bloggie, I missed out on updating you in November! I know I should update you at LEAST once a month, but yea, I've been getting lazier due to the weather~

It's getting so cold out here. I just checked a minute ago, it's -2celcius right now. Something that we never had in Malaysia. Lol~

It's so cold that layering is sometimes never enough.
The days are getting shorter, I think we're getting less than 10 hours of sunlight now. While when we first arrived to Glasgow, we had less than 8 hours of darkness! How ironic. But that just makes me even grateful and strikes me in the face that I am indeed thousands of miles away from home.

Well, enough of emo stuff. Let's talk about what I've been doing over the past month up till today.

Nov 4:
We paid a visit to Chukoku, a nice chinese buffet restaurant to celebrate a friends' birthday^^ The food was rather nice, but MSG-filled thus leaving us thirsty the rest of the day~ But nevertheless, I still managed to down 3 plates + 1 dessert!


Nov 5:
Remember, remember, the 5th of November.
That's the famous saying for Guy Fawkes Night .
It's a day to commemorate a historical gunpowder night wayy back in 1605, and so forth. Full story can be obtained from Wikipedia cause I really have no idea what it's all about. But the thing we all knew, was that the locals had a great celebration by showing off beautiful fireworks that night!

Nov 8: Post-Halloween party because we missed out on the actual Halloween on 31st due to the Notthingham Games. I had wanted to dress up as a cute white kitten (like those anime like with big fluffy ears and paws! But somehow decided to try to be a "HOT" vampire.) The pic below is my best shot in attempting to be "HOT". LOL~~


Nov 13-17 : Ireland Trip

We bought cheap airtickets to Ireland for 5days! And when I say cheap, I mean cheap!!! The return air tickets from Glasgow to Ireland costed us 5.01 pounds per pax i.e around RM30, which was a bargain! And plus, the accomodation was cheap :D

We visited the capital of both Republic of Ireland (Dublin), and the capital of North Dublin, UK (Belfast), as well as making it out to the coastal sides of Ireland such as Wicklow, Glendalough, Derry and the Giant Causeway!




Nov 28: A one-day trip to Stirling + my pre-birthday surprise

It was a weekend called Homecoming Scotland, whereby many of the historical sites in Scotland provided FREE entrance fees!! I being the "kiam" person that I am, convinced my housemates and the other house of boys to head down to Stirling. We visited the Stirling Castle which charged an entrance fee of 9pounds per pax on a usual day :D



The bunch of people who were hiding in my house when we came back! I shall always remember that night as I shouted my lungs out when I freaked out to see ppl in my dark kitchen! lol~


Dec 8: Christmas Ceilidh!

Paid 5 pounds to take part in this event, which was VERY pricey!!! But oh well, it was a day to dress up and get all christmassy~~~ hehe^^

Btw, me red top was bought from ebay.co.uk! LOL^^
Lately I've been obsessed with ebay! Buying quite a few items till today. I've got a cheap earphone, a christmas hat, a pair of shoes, a pair of boots, a white skirt, and 3 tops (including the red one~~)


Dec 11: Christmas party @ TCC D8


My housemates and I sat together and decided to organize a nice simple christmas party before everyone leaves Scotland for the christmas break! Hehe~~

And it was a pretty fun night because we had put up lovely decoration, which is still out in the living area~~

Our little christmas tree, rented from the residents of C1 who got it from their seniors~


See the snowflakes hanging from the red and green ribbons? we got them all from the 1 pound shop, making the total cost of decorating the place 3 pounds only...lol~~~


We had great food that night, thanks to everyone who came~
So that basically sums up the whole of November (except pictures of me going to lab every week as well as minus the pictures of me studying in my room for a 50% class test).

Anyways, the christmas holidays have unofficially began and I'm gonna be heading off the Belgium and Germany come the 21st~ I would be away for 12 days then~~ So pray hard that I'll have the energy to update you again then! Hehe^^

I should be busy....

The week flew by just like that!! I can't believe it! Come to think about it, it's been more than 4 months since I'm here in Glasgow. And I know, before I know it, I'd be back in Malaysia! :(

Well, let's not think too far ahead. Because I've got plenty to do for the coming weeks!!!

First off, let's talk about my research project.
My supervisor is Prof. Alastair Florence.

"Alastair J. Florence (AJF) is responsible for the Solid-State Research Group (SSRG) within SIPBS. The SSRG specialises in crystallographic investigations of pharmaceuticals (Fig. 1), including aspects of solid-state polymorphism, ranging from crystallisation, to phase transformations, through to crystal structure determination from single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction data.

To date, the SSRG has benefited from ca. £2M of investment in state-of-the-art research facilities (Fig. 2). The dedicated facility includes a suite of three XRPD instruments, a single crystal diffractometer, thermal analysis, automated parallel crystallisation and a range of manual crystallisation techniques, FT-IR, microscopy and dissolution apparatus."

Sounds impressive eh? That's what my final year project is about. It's about crystals. I'm supposed to find a new co-crystal (if you don't know what a co-crystal is, don't bother, cause I myself am not 100% sure what it is!!!) for a compound called ellagic acid.

Never heard of ellagic acid? So did I.

And that was the main reason I choose the substance, I'd thought it'd be fun to work with a compound that I've never heard of. Bad choice. Turns out that ellagic acid is extremely unreactive i.e I'm not getting a new co-crystal *haihhh*

Best of all, I've got a postgraduate to guide my lab work. And he's pretty strict, I would say. While other student need only submit their draft for their introduction end of November, I'm supposed to let my postgrad proof-read mine on the 2nd of November @.@

Then, on the 11th of November I've got a presentation to make regarding a case that I clerked in the hospital during the month before I came to Glasgow. The bad news is that not only will I be short on the preparation time, but I get a "brilliant-non-stop-question-asking-lecturer" called Alex Mullen. *sigghh*

Good news is, that despite all that, I'd be off for a short break in Ireland from the 13-17th of November! *whee*

A great week~

I am really thankful for this semester. Classes aren't as packed as the previous semester. And we've got more time to chill around. So basically that was what I did ever since the new semester began. Though technically speaking I should be studying and going through loads of journals for my final year project :p

(My final year project is related to solid crystals (not those swarovski crystals...) it's solid powders with different crystallinity, bla bla bla.... and my group is one of the first who have already started on their lab work. So i should hv been reading a lot to gain more insight on what i'm doing in lab now, but somehow this week has been one activity packed week...)

Monday - went for Body Attack (a really fun aerobic workout of 45mins) then went for dinner @ a chinese malaysian restaurant called Asia Style to celebrate a friend's bday.


Tuesday - Pharmacy Pub crawl!!!!!!!
it was one crazy night whereby all pharmacy students from year 1 to 4 can join. The organizers chartered 2 double decker buses which brought us to 5 diff pubs/club. The theme was rubic cube colours, and the idea was to start with 6 diff colours on ur body and to switch ur items with diff ppl at each stop till u end up with only one color in the last club. Since the majority who joined were the local homestudents, it was really entertaining as it was an eye-opener to see how wild they got that night! haha~
Friday - a night at the Student union to hv a look at a mini-version of Octoberfest, followed by a cocktail party @ a friend's place.


Student Union is actually part of the university's buildings, but its catered for students activities. And they hv cafes, bars, and even a club in the Union itself.
That night, there was a German band who came over to play some traditional German Music, and they were dressed vibrantly in yellow and red.

Throughout the night, they got the ppl to stand on chairs and give a big fat cheers in German! Haha...
So of course, Peas joined in the fun as well~ There's nothing nicer than being "denda" to "berdiri di atas kerusi" and to drink, right? ;p
And for your information, this pic below shows a vendor machine in the female toilet in the student union. Ironic isn't it? A student building selling items that promote ahem..18sx activities. lolz...
And of course, after the Octoberfest, yz and I headed for the cocktail party @ a very enthusiastic batchmate's house. The guy bought all the liqour, and even the cups and glasses, and sold his cocktails to those who wanted drinks...hahaha
Let's just say, I had a drink or two, and had a really nice night~ haha
Saturday - Ser Yiing's Bday
The day was spent preparing Chocolate banana cake, which we had to bake twice, as the recipe wasn't enough. Haha..thus we ended up with two cakes: one small and one big one for the bday girl. Hehe :) After the potluck at the bday girl's hse, it was followed by a afterpaty at a local club. Another late night...lolz....

So that pretty much sums up the week! *woots*
Will try to put my nerdy mood on for the following week :)