DAY 180

Feb 28

1) Today has been a normal day for me. As I have said before, I have a lot of catching up to do, and not a lot of time to do it. Anyway, after breakfast, I made my way to the library, where I've been the whole day. Later in the morning, I went over to RCSI for the lion dance rehearsal. I'm really happy because we made good progress, and will (hopefully) on schedule before our full dress rehearsal in a couple of weeks.

2) The whole afternoon I spent a) having lunch, b) taking a short nap, and c) trying my best to memorise my answers for the Principal Seminars. As my group is due to present next Tues, we have a lot to memorise, and a lot to present as well haha. Essentially it is one topic out of five, but we won't know which topic until ONE minute before the actual seminar. Definitely not something to be taken too lightly...

3) Come evening time, and I'm still in the process of memorising. Off and on, my mind drifts away and I'll take a break to do something else. As much as I might want to do well in my exams, I also recognise that there's absolutely no point in going all out, if it means over stressing my mind and body. Nothing else important happened today, other than me having some supper and returning home to sleep, of course XD. That's all for today, and I hope you'll visit again tomorrow for my next update, Stay tuned, cheers!

Yes - RCSI is also the professional training body for surgery in Ireland

The most important meal of the day - breakfast! :D

Pasta

DAY 179

Feb 27

1) Today has been a very interesting day for me. Three things happened to make it that way, the first being I got a haircut! After months upon months of letting my hair grow like Samson, I couldn't stand it anymore and went for a free haircut at the Dublin School of Barbering. Felt a lot better too, since my hair was so long it sometimes blocked my vision.

2) In the afternoon, I went over to the National Surgical Training Centre (just opposite RCSI) with my friends, Nee Kee, Esther and Zi Yan. We took part in the Laporoscopic Skills Competition, where the top two would represent RCSI for the Intercollegiate Finals! There were two tasks involved, the first was using the graspers (yes, that's what those long grasping thingamajigs are called) to insert a shoelace through five holes, while looking through the monitor. Apparently the all time record is a scarcely believable 40-odd seconds! The next event was stacking sugar cubes, again with the graspers. We had two minutes for this, and some participants were really unlucky when their tower of cubes toppled with seconds to spare! Although we tried our best, none of us made it to the finals. It was absolute fun though, and really gave us a feel of what it's like to do surgery.

3) In the evening, Khee Heng and I walked to RCSI, where there was a "Feed the Homeless" programme, organised by a collaboration between the RCSI Islamic Society and the RCSI Book Club. We were broken into groups of six or seven, with each group assigned a certain area to cover. We then took the goodie bags, which contained the essentials like food and water, some gloves, socks, hats etc. As we were assigned Grafton Street, it was quite easy for us to find the homeless people. Grafton St is the main street in Dublin, and it makes sense that underprivileged people would camp there, waiting for passersby to donate. And off we went - and we met many homeless people along the way. All of them were very friendly with us, and many were genuinely touched that we were giving them warm clothes and good food. Other groups weren't so lucky though. Apparently someone got told to f^&* off by a homeless person. Oh well, there will always be exceptions I guess. Luckily it didn't happen to me.

4) After the event, we returned to RCSI, where we were provided with a simple dinner. We also got a certificate each for our hard work, which was an added bonus. To be honest, I felt pity for the homeless people still stuck outside in the streets while I'm here in the warm library typing this out. It was absolutely freezing tonight, and the winds are really strong. Being out in the cold with them has made me realise how lucky we all are, with food and a place to call home. Most of my friends felt the same way too. Anyway, I will be leaving the library soon, as the staff have just announced that the library is closing soon. That's all for today, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Have a great day, cheers!

Surgical scissors

Breakfast :)

On my way to Dublin 1 for haircut

Before and after haircut XD

Pizza

Born again after haircut :D

National Surgical Training Centre, RCSI

Machine used for teaching laporoscopic skills, mimicking the human body

The first stage: passing a shoestring through the five keyholes, using only the two graspers and looking at this monitor (it's not as easy as it seems haha)

RCSI Dublin

INMED sent my friends and I an email recruiting volunteers for the event. After we agreed to sign up and confirmed, there was no reply from them, or any follow up. That is the last insult I will tolerate, first asking for help and then not even having the decency to reply!

My group mates for the "Feeding the Homeless" event :D

Achievement unlocked! ^^

DAY 178

Feb 26

1) Today has been a day of playing catch-up with my studies. Woke up early, had my morning toast and went to the library. I spent the entire morning and the better part of the afternoon working on the five Principal Seminar topics. Finally finished writing everything down, and now the only thing left to do is memorise all of it haha

2) After a short nap, I started working on my group's team project. I finally finished my allocated task, and there is very little left to do before we are finally finished with it. Thank goodness for that, for I'm not someone who multitasks very well. Anyway, by this time it was already evening, so I went to have my dinner at Mercer Cafe.

3) The evening was spent tackling the individual project, which had to be completed soon as well. I still have some way to go before finishing up, but at least I'm getting closer. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish all of this soon, so I can start focusing on studies again. That's all for today's blog update, and tomorrow promises to be more eventful. Thanks for reading, and have a great day. Cheers!

Unitarian Church

Yes, I'm experimenting with signatures...

Batch-cooked pasta ^^

DAY 177

Feb 25

1) Today has been an eventful day for me. I came to the Basketball Court (RCSI) early to play captain ball - a ball game which loosely resembles basketball. My friends and I were training to play for the SEA games, hosted by University College Dublin. Due to unforeseen circumstances, that would not be the case, but more about that later. We had fun practising, and by around 11 we took the 46A bus to UCD.

2) When it was time to sign up, we found out that somehow, the RCSI team had submitted their registration forms too late, and so would not be eligible to take part. We were, however, given the opportunity to play with random teams as sort of a friendly match when the real games were going on... As expected, many of us were more than a little displeased, to say the least.

3) Anyway, we were idling about, exploring UCD's lush campus until afternoon, when we were given some lunch and a bottle of water. We grabbed the next bus back, and I returned to the library as I always do. Hopped over to Dunnes to replenish my stock of bread, and came back to the library. This week will see me preparing for our Principal Seminars, which is on the 6-8th of March. That gives me 11 days to prepare for 5 topics, before presentation and a short Q and A session. I'd best get started then XD So that has been my day, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Cheers!

UCD Dublin

The basketball court at UCD

I must admit the view is amazing

(truly a great campus life)

And it really was free! :D

Our lunch for today

My pasta for dinner ^^

DAY 176

Feb 24

1) So today has been a really awesome day for me! For starters, we got through our first Card Signing, which is the culmination of a week's hard work. Our surgeon prosector today was Dr. Jane Holland, who frequently gives us lectures on anatomy as well. I was extremely lucky to get an A- for it. Granted in terms of marks, literally nothing separates an A from a B, but as my friend Gavin so tactfully put it; an A- is still an A.

2) There were two more lectures after Card Signing, but the elation of having finished our test meant that I wasn't paying much attention to the lecturer. Nevertheless, it was still a great lecture by Prof. J. Docherty, and he's one of the very few (if only) professors who can elicit a round of applause from the audience after each of his lectures. Fun fact: if you're Malaysian and were present during his lecture today, you'll feel a sense of pride knowing that the inventor of propranolol and cimetidine, Nobel Prize winner Sir James Whyte Black was once senior lecturer at none other than University of Malaya! But then things were a lot different than it is now...

3) Anyway, I went to the library after lessons ended, stopping by Dunnes to pick up some groceries. For dinner, Khee Heng and I went out together to Boojum; my first in a very long time and made all the more special since it marks the beginning of our Reading Week! That's right - no lessons till the following Monday, although we have Principal Seminars right after that XD. Seems that there won't be an end to my hectic schedule, although I'm getting used to it.

4) The rest of my night was spent completing some unfinished projects, as well as completing my daily use of the Headspace App. So far I've been using it for three days and there's not much to comment on, although I'm remaining positive that there will be noticeable improvements after some time. And on that note, I think I'll end my blog update for today. But I haven't explained why I called today awesome at the beginning of the article. Sure, the results as well as the holidays are great, but the real reason why today has been awesome for me?

It's my dad's birthday. Happy birthday dad!! From your son all the way across the Atlantic YAMD

Morning toast

Sampling my recently cooked batch of pasta :)

Today we celebrated Kuwait's National Day at RCSI ^^

(their 27th Year of Independence)

An assortment of local delicacies from Kuwait

I never got round to ask what sort of game this is...

Anyone willing to help me out? :D

Cakes in the color of the national flag of Kuwait

Stalls were set up just in front of the O'Flanagan Lecture Theatre, on the main Concourse

Boojum tasted so good after a long time <3<3<3

DAY 175

Feb 23

1) Today has been a busy day for me. Oddly enough, we had the shortest amount of lectures ever, at only two hours! So what was keeping me occupied for the rest of the day? Well, for starters, I went to Beaux Lane House (just opposite Mercer Library) after class ended, for an interview with Professor Kathleen Bennett, Associate Professor in Pharmacoepidemiology and Biostatics in the Population Health Sciences Division, RCSI.

2) Along with Dr. Caitriona Cahir, Prof. Bennett asked me about my background and my interests in conducting research over the summer. After a nice long talk, we agreed that I would be doing statistical analysis in the month of August, for approximately four weeks. I was delighted to know that I would have the opportunity to not only gain some research experience, but also to come up with an abstract for the research done!

3) Furthermore, I've agreed to volunteer to test out a new app called Headspace, which basically teaches us how to relax through meditation. Research is being conducted into this and I signed up to provide feedback on it. That means I get a full year access to the app, provided I fill in some questionnaires about my experience thus far. Free access AND better mental health - what's not to like? ^^

4) In the evening, I went over to the National Surgical Training Centre (just opposite RCSI) to chart my laporoscopic surgical skills progress. I finally managed to do all five laporoscopic tasks (which included extracorporeal and intracorporeal suturing) and we were introduced to two new tasks, one which tested manual dexterity by using one hand to fit in pegs into the pegboard. The other task required us to (virtually) position a rotating arrow so that it was perpendicular to a cube. They were both a lot of fun, and will provide valuable research into how our manual dexterity varies over time across a broad range of factors i.e. training, hobbies, sports etc.

5) Returned to the library after that, and it was freezing outside! The winds have gotten THAT much stronger, as if it weren't already cold enough. Perhaps Dublin should try installing one of 'em wind generators, to provide free electricity for everyone XD Anyway, that's all for today, as I have my Card Signing tomorrow. Thanks for reading as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

That's a fully functional artificial human body, capable of reenacting human-like body function

(and reportedly costing upwards of €100k)

That is my last batch of fried rice :)

 

Before the pegs are placed in the pegboard

After ~~