6th August 2010

Yesterday was Friday, the 6th of August 2010.

It was our half-year anniversary. Wow didn't realize it.

So, we decided to eat out at Iori Restaurant -- what claimed to be the best Japanese restaurant in Canberra (but Davis' Zen Toro is still the best). We had to make a reservation since it's IMPOSSIBLE to go there on Friday night without reservation. We reserved a place for two at 6:30 pm, but we showed up at 6 pm anyway since we were too hungry.

After taking our table, we looked through the menu, although we had decided what to get while waiting for the restaurant to open haha (they put their menu up at the entrance). We ordered a regular size sashimi for the entree (I hadn't eaten good sashimi for years!), and a combo meal for the main dish. The name of the combo meal was "This is what I'm talking 'bout!" (I'm not kidding), and it consisted of a soft-shelled crab sushi roll, salmon and vegetable in miso broth, unagi, unagi tempura, and unagi braised in egg. We didn't order any rice since the portion was big enough for two, although I think a bowl of rice would be perfect to complete the meal. Anyway, I had my usual green tea, and Mr. Husband had a bottle of coke. The whole meal cost us $74.50, and that's huge for our August budget. But hey, it's not that every month we get to celebrate our half-year anniversary :)

Owh, forgot to mention--it was a quadruple celebration actually. Other than our half-year anniversary, we were celebrating my not-bad Semester 1 result, Mr.Husband's potentially get a job (we need to provide a couple of documents, and insyaAllah, it's confirmed), and something that I will announce later when it's confirmed. So, what if it's not confirmed? Well, I guess you'll never know. Hehehe.

Owh, here's the chronological pictures we took at the restaurant. (Just realized we didn't take a picture with two of us in it :/)

arriving at the restaurant. hungry face.

can't wait for the food

the entree -- sashimi

the main dish -- this is what i'm talking 'bout

muke semangat nak makan

Ajoy dah tak sabar

muka kenyang..tapi takleh lawan...

muka kenyang ini!

doctors and patients

My friend's status on Facebook today made me think.. Her status was about her wanting to do medicine, but her senior doctor told her to do other thing instead since the patients in medicine like to lie. It's funny, really, and true to a certain extent. But another friend of mine commented, saying sometimes it's not that the patients lie, it's just that the doctor doesn't want to believe the patient. Which, sadly, is also true. She has a first hand experience, and so do I.

I remember having a dislocated pelvic once, and 2-3 doctors did not believe me. I told the first two doctors I'd fallen and hurt my spine about a year before. They told me, without checking my back, "The pain will go away. Give it some time," and gave me a warm massage oil. But when the pain worsen and gave me trouble when walking, sitting, even lying, and made me cry in the office just because it hurt too much, I knew it would not go away. But another trip to the doctor did not do any good, as the third doctor did and said the same thing and gave me the same oil. At that point, I knew I had to see a specialist. But since to see a specialist in a government hospital would require me to have a reference from a doctor, and a specialist from a private hospital would cost me a fortune, I opted to see a chiropractor. And thank God the chiropractor was good; she checked me thoroughly and identified that my pelvic was dislocated, and she corrected it during the first visit.

Another experience was when I had shingles. It was still in the early stage, and I didn't know it was shingles, but I knew it's not just a normal rash since it was red and had bubbles. When I went to see a doctor, the doctor looked at it for a bit and said, "It's just a normal rash. I'd give you antibiotics for you to apply to the rash." And of course the antibiotic did not work on the 'rash'. When it got larger and weirder, I went to see a specialist straight away, which cost me a fortune, but at least the doctor did look at the 'rash' closely and told me what it was. After a round of antiviral, it was gone.

And not to forget when I had, which I believe, chikungunya, since all the doctors whom I went to see did not care to find out what's wrong with me. So, sorry if I'm wrong, but I had all the symptoms. Anyway, even after 4 trips to at least 4 different doctors, and 4 blood samples taken, left me perplexed and confused since all of them told me I was okay, although clearly I was tomato-red, swollen, and had a fever and a strong joint pain. Owh, did I tell you they were even skeptical to give me a medical leave, even for a day or two? For God's sake, I was sick for more than a week. (I think they took my blood samples to check if I had dengue, and since I didn't have dengue, they didn't care).

But, I know we cannot 100% blame the doctors for being very skeptical towards the patients. I mean, even if we've never done it, we've at least known one person who has lie to a doctor to get a medical leave, to run away from work or skip a class. So blaming the doctors 100% will not do them justice.

But please, fellow doctors, although I don't look as honest, believe me, I am one of the most honest people you'll ever find. I have never lied to a doctor before. So, please believe me when I say, "I'M IN PAIN!"

forgive and forget

Sometimes I wish I remember what I forget, and I forget what I remember.

Ahh..so much for being someone who forgives but never forget. These unnecessary memories take up my memory space, which I desperately need for other more important stuffs, like the exact mechanism for DNA transcription, translation, post-transcription, and post-translation. (Do ignore the jargon).

O well, what the hell. I need chocolate.

choosing a digicam

although i am terribly busy, i still want to sneak into this blog a bit haha this blog has started to get covered with spider webs anyway.

so my husband and i are trying to look for a camera. we both have no camera at the moment, and are relying on the camera function on our samsung jet mobile (yes, coincidentally we both have the same mobile). so we are trying to figure out which camera to buy.

of course, looking at the popularity, dslr is the most tempting option. good quality pictures, slightly expensive, but affordable. but of course, with dslr, one needs to be knowledgeable to be able to use it properly. knowing me, i don't think i am up for that. every time i buy a new gadget, i never read the manual before using the gadget. i am more to try-and-error person. even with my old camera, sony t-10, i took 2-3 years to actually understand the functions and actually used them properly. so, i don't think dslr will do me any good.

so i am opt for a digicam with some good functions. yup, i am not a photography master, but i like to take good pictures, and i do use functions in a camera. i am not one of those people who use auto setting for everything. so, an affordable digicam with good functions.

i was looking at this harvey norman catalogue. they have discounts on cameras now. i was attracted to olympus sp600 ultra-zoom, just because it has wide-angle lens and 15x optical zoom. it's on sale for aud$268 now. fuji finepix xp10 is on sale for aus$237. but i don't think i will be using its waterproof function on a regular basis, so maybe olympus is better.

but then yesterday my husband was showing two more olympus or fujifilm model that really caught my attention. ah, i forgot the model now, but i'm pretty sure it's something like s2500..a compact camera with good functions 18x zoom, wide-angle lens, hd video recording..and all for under rm1000. wow.

but, all that said, my husband just texted me saying he found another model which looked good. a canon. aaa~ i don't know which one to choose anymore. i'll let my husband, a.k.a my technology master, to choose.

or, do you have a recommendation?

To all my friends

Dear friends,

Here, I want to congratulate all my friends who are

(1) done with their owh-so-time-consuming medical school and now are doctors,
(2) done with studies, whatever it is
(3) got new jobs
(4) got engaged
(5) got married
(6) pregnant
(7) got babies!

I am so happy with all of you, really, but there are just too many of you for me to congratulate everyone personally. I just want to say to all who are done with school, an end of something is just a new beginning of something else. May you get the dream job soon, may the success be with you, and may the skills that you have acquired will help elevating our country to a better level. And to my friends who are now doctors, may you guys be the greatest doctors ever and do good to the society. Everyone else wants to be you, really. To those who got new jobs, hey, good luck in building your career! and don't get too caught up with the stress, and don't ever lose your passion! To those who got engaged and married, congrats in entering the new phase of life, and remember, tolerance, love, and trust are the keys. And to those who are pregnant and just got babies, may you be good parents, and hopefully your babies will grow up healthy, smart, beautiful, be good sons and daughters to you, good muslim (to my muslim friends), good citizens to the country, and good person to the humanity.

And to everyone else who are still waiting for anything (bachelor, master, phd degrees; career; soulmate; babies), like me, let's do our best and never lose hope! Just believe God has something for us, and we just have to work and pray hard to find what that something is. Usaha! Usaha! Usaha! :)

And to those who just lose something or feel like a failure, remember, life goes on, and the end of something is just a new beginning. Life is a journey after all; sometimes you are up, and sometimes you are down. The process of going up again is really the thing that makes you grow. The hardship will only make us stronger and remember, don't ever lose hope! :)

And lastly, I want to wish everyone a Happy (belated, now, or advanced, whichever applicable) Birthday! I am never good at remembering and checking everyone's birthday, especially when there are hundreds of people on my friends list, but hey, I am not the only one, am I? hehe. O well, anyway, have a superb year ahead, and may all your wish come true! :)

Ok, I think that's all. Have a good day everyone :)

<3 Pushie

Obsession

Dark chocolate. Yummy yum.

Owh, this is my biggest obsession.

and since he's my biggest obsession, I just have to put more pictures of him haha

tgk tu dah besar pon makan ice-cream macam budak2. sungguh comel. rase nak picit2. hahaha

Owh, last Sunday was his 25th birthday. So I went out to the mall and celebrate his birthday. Bought a piece of Black Forrest cake and a Macchiato. Next time, please remind me that Macchiato is not Caramel Macchiato without the caramel. Speaking of which, I still haven't found any cafe selling Caramel Macchiato. I mean, seriously, where the hell is Starbucks? Anyway..

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY MY LOVING, ROMANTIC, COMOT, COMEL, HANDSOME, AND OWH-SO-ADORABLE MR.HUSBAND! :D

Hopefully we'll grow old happily together with dozens of children and grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

I love you.

p/s: I went out to celebrate his birthday but I totally ignored mine. haha. O well, we practically have the same birthday anyway. The celebrations are always combined :)

p/p/s: chocolate picture googled. Mr.Husband's photos credited to Lun. I took the cake picture myself, of course.

Life

Do you know how smart our body is?

Do you know that each cell in our body is like a very complicated and complex factory, making sure everything goes alright?

And every time I learn about how this enzyme works, how this gene is regulated, how this enzyme communicates with another enzyme..it has never failed to make me think about how amazing the whole system is. And also how this whole thing totally proves the existence of God.

I mean, such a very complex and very smart system totally need an extremely smart creator as well. I mean, even if we ever do learn about everything in a cell, even if we ever isolate and gather everything together to make our own cell, we still cannot make it work like the real cell. Even a real cell can stop working once it's dead, although all the components are still there.

SubhanAllah.