goodbye 2008, hello 2009!

2008 passed so quickly! but it has been nothing less than AMAZING! and i believe 2009 will be even better.. :) i'm so excited. chris & i spent the first few hours of the new year talking and praying and committing the year ahead into God's hands :) last year, God gave us the word PROPEL, and indeed, in every area of our lives, He has propelled us to places we never thought possible. this year it's gotta be FAITH! with important decisions and changes in hand, we just want to trust and put our faith in the One who knows best, whose thoughts are higher than ours, whose plans are good and of peace :)

some of the decisions/changes in 2009:

1) deciding where to work.. to stay in adelaide? if so, which hospital? or to move interstate..

2) to actively consider the area of specialty that i want to go into, and work towards it..

3) starting part time bible school next yr! woohoO! i've been thinking about it all year..

4) would like to seriously take my baking to another level, and hopefully have more business eh? :) so if you have any parties, events and you need cakes/fingerfood.. look for me k? :)

5) chris will be moving out of the village *sobs* that's one thing that i'll have to get used to.

will add to the list as we go along :)

blessed new year everyone. praying that you'll have a fantastic God-filled, God-favoured year ahead :) *hugs*

Merry Christmas!!

wee :)

no, not wii. haha although the idea of getting one is tempting.

more on my holiday updates :P

my brother got me a belated birthday + be-early christmas gift. guess what it is????

yeahhh.. thomas sabo charm bracelet!!!!! teehee.. :) it's so pretty!!!!!! one more thing off my wish list. hehe.. i got a basic bracelet with a heart-shaped charm. can't wait to add more to my collection..

have been meeting up with my secondary school buddies.. and on one of our meets after lunch (mee hoon kueh!!! yeahhh), we (the girls) went to watch twilight.

omigosh, is edward (robert pattinson) the most charming and good looking vampire you've seen or what? see, i'm really not the type to go goo-goo-gaa-gaa over an actor. my last "fad" - koo tin lok, and before that christopher lee. they both ended at just - he's cute, ooh la la. but omigosh, this guy, his gaze - is electrifying. mysterious yet attractive. hahaha.. in case you think i'll get in trouble for swooning over him, aiyah don't worry, i told chris already la. hahaha.. it's just a momentary thing ok! :P

what else? hmm.. eating lots still. looks like my 1/4 portion plan is not working out like i plan to. but i've been swimming. yes. a little bit of basketball. and some table tennis. so yeah.. :)

since i've been bck, i've......

1) been eating non-stop.. not funny.

2) been gaining heaps of weight (of which i've vowed to start swimming daily, and eat 1/4 of my usual portion from now until christmas)

3) been the mosquitoes dream come true.. (*sigh* i'm spotty all over now. grrr.. i hate mozzies)

4) done NOTHING study related (woohOo that feels good to say)

5) done NO shopping (now this is PROBLEMATIC with a capital P! :( why laaaaaaaa....? i've been into MNG like in 3 different places and couldn't find anything although everything was so attractively cheap. i suspect it's because of reason 2. meh~)

6) experienced some massive "culture shock". i wonder whether it's always been like that, or it's only evident to me now because i've been away for a whole year? reading newspaper articles, encountering ppl, and looking at situations arnd me.. all this while, i've been adamant abt returning home to serve; i still am, except, to be realistic, it's going to be quite a challenge. so i've told my parents & chris that no matter what, even when i start working nxt time.. i will definitely come bck to malaysia at least once a year, in order to be regularly sensitized to the environment. heh.

7) seen my youngest niece for the first time, baby Elina. she is the sweetest thing ever.. :)

8) experienced God's grace, faithfulness and revelation in such an amazing way.. His planted some exciting desires and plans for the coming year for me, for us! :)

all in all, there's no place like home :)

verdict

i'm unofficially a DR now!!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!! My heart was beating irregularly irregular at a rate of approximately 150bpm all the way bck home from lunch, the moment i found out the results were released. hahahaha... YAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it seems so surreal. i suppose i need a few days to digest the 3 letters - NGP... after all these years, just for this 3 precious letters. what do they mean????? non-graded pass. just that. whatever it is.. i PASSED!!!!!! God's grace indeed. thank You Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can't express how thankful i am to Him who has made all things possible. this year, as i have been telling everyone, has been such an eventful year. so saturated (in terms of commitment, and events, and experiences). but still, such an amazing year, filled with grace. without which, going through life (especially so this year) would not have been humanly possible. and i mean really, impossible. thank God for swot vac, although having been a gruelling 4 wks, has been an amazing time for me & chris to grow deeper in God, and a miraculously peaceful time (no stress, nothing). not because i was super confident in myself, but knowing that He's got my back.. and that I just have to do my best!

final exam as a medical student. i can't believe it! the journey has come this far. an amazing journey it has been, and will continue to be in the future :)

so 6th year, here i come :D

it's over!!!!!!!

yahoO!!! exams are over.. overall, it's been quite a challenging week. but i thank God for seeing me through it :) and before i knew it, we were in melbourne! (remind me not to buy 6 am flights anymore... they are insane!) so the first 2 days were pretty much spent resting because of our lack of rest and chris falling sick. but we made up on the last day.. covered as much territory as we could, and filled our tummies with melbourne goodies until we're satisfied to the brim. funny how we only had effectively a day to spend in melbourne, but it turned out to be one of our best trips ever! :)

this deserves a whole new paragraph altogether... wait for it. wait for it.............

WICKED WAS SOOOOOO AWESOME!!!!!! omigosh, who hasn't watched it??!! what are you waiting for? GO WATCH NOW!!!! it's extended till the 8th of feb 2009 :D

anyways, in 2 days time.. i'll be touching malaysian soil! well, technically, singapore soil first than malaysia. but haha.. who cares. you get my point!!! and i have to PACK PACK PACK!!! last year, i went bck the day after exams, and i was just frantically throwing random stuffs into my luggage, hoping i don't miss out on anything. now, a year later, not much has changed (despite leaving a week later!!!). don't understand. probably never will. hahaha..

this year has passed by so quickly it's unbelievable!!!!!!!!! all i can say to sum up the year is: grace. so busy. but grace has seen me through.

as for now, just have to wait till next week when i collect my results, then the real holiday starts~!!! bring it oN!!!!!!!!!!!!

the time has come...

finally, our 4 wks of swot vac has come to an end (and of taking deep breaths and giving standard replies of "nope, my exams are not over yet, because it hasn't even started!"). haha.. not that i'm complaining.. 4 wks is just nice. much needed. although, haha.. if it was any longer, i may go berserk :P

and this is it. i can almost see the finish line. all 5 yrs of medical studies, with this BIG exam being the last lap. i'm going to sprint. no looking to the left or right. only focusing on the prize, thoughts on how God has brought me through time and again, lap after lap.

this year especially has been such an eventful year. you must be thinking, why am i writing this on the day before my exams??!! go study la!! but yeah, this will serve as a mark. that when i look back a few years down the road. i'll remember. remember His faithfulness. remember how far He has brought me. and that i commit this exam, into His hands, once again.

well. keep me in your prayers! and to all my fellow batchmates. all the best!

Lifted Me High Again

Listening to Lifted Me High Again, from the album For This Cause by Hillsong (yes, ancient) brings me bck to my JC days, when I used to attend City Harvest. Can vividly remember the atmosphere, the trumpet players (distinctly!), and of course, am then reminded of how God brought me through my 'A' Level days. It was a true demonstration of "impossible is nothing". Exactly what I need to know, cos at this very moment, I'm not as productive as I would've liked myself to be.. Cos for the past 4 hours, I've only covered Asthma. The good thing is. I'm still not stressed :P because He has just lifted me high again :)

more cupcake pictures

sweet & rosy was what i had in mind while making this batch :) and i think they turned out picture perfect!!

[vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting; banana cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting]

2 wks into swot vac

my titles are getting a bit boring, even i had to stiffle a yawn as i wrote it :P

but haiyah, my brain juice (creative or not) is all recruited to absorb any form of medical knowledge i can lah. so if i forget names, birthdays & other things, forgive me k? i'll bounce bck to normal memory on Nov 29th :P hehe..

should be sleeping now, but just had a bowl of maggi (my comfort food!!!) because my empty stomach was complaining aloud - like seriously aLOUD. and also partly because, i needed a break from all the studying.

really wanna thank God for the past 2 weeks, although it's been wake-eat-devotion-study-sleep cycle throughout, there wasn't a single moment where i felt stressed, (bored maybe, but not stressed) at all. and i pray it will stay this way for the next 2 weeks - especially as i start paying more attention to practicing & brushing up on my clinical skills.

God I want to pass.... and like Joshua, i'm gonna hold my spear up until the battle is won! :D

ok, goodnight peeps~!

too much studying does this to you

i was reading about oesophageal cancers - and i came to this part about the complications.

sometimes, it involves other mediastinal organs as well eg. recurrent laryngeal nerve invasion...

i interpret it as, the laryngeal nerve being constantly poked and prod!! isn't that annoying?! invade already, still want to invade somemore -_-"

anyways, i read on further, and it goes on to say...

there may be signs of hoarseness as a result of recurrent laryngeal nerve involvement.

haiyoh~!! then only i realized why it sounded so funny before, i took the word recurrent LITERALLY, when the recurrent laryngeal nerve is a structure of its own!

i knew that!!! i really did!!(in case you have already made a mental note not to come & see me nxt time) it just didn't occur to me at first. to redeem myself, the words 'recurrent' & 'laryngeal' were in separate lines that's why all these confusion took place! grr..

i may not be...

1) an american

...neither am i

2) into politics

but i'm glad obama won :) when i first saw him giving a speech (on tv la of course!) i thought to myself, wow, a man with charisma, heaps of it! - i wouldn't be surprised if he became president.

let's hope the US will see a brighter future under his leadership. winning is only one part. executing it would be a story he has to tell in the next 2 terms.

p/s: his speech was pretty awesome! considering i only watched the end bit, but still feel like i was actually there, having that patriotic and hopeful moment. haha.. 'yes we can!' (echoes that for the exams..)

After a whole day of studying....

i'm kinda saturated. scratch that. i am VERY saturated. you have to agree with me, rheumatology is NOT the most exciting subject on earth. but i'm pleased to announce that, i manage to cover 3/4 of it in a day :D anyways, past few days i've been studying orthopaedics, now rheumatology.. so it's all about bones and joints (and sometimes extra-articular features - non joints eg. heart, lungs), and i found some "abnormalities" in myself. i know they're benign one la. but i just thought i'd tell you :P

1) i've got clicking on my L hip when i walk
2) i've got crepitus on both shoulders & both knees
3) my R knee tends to give way when i walk
4) i have a 3rd heart sound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sounds like a horse gallop. lub dup dup. actually i know this a long time ago already. when i went for my checkup for visa approval 2 yrs ago, when the dr placed the stetoscope on my chest, she looked a tad bit worried - i nonchalantly told her, yeah, i've got 3 heart sounds! :P

the first 3 is probably due to my more "active" self last time. which essentially revolved around dancing. the 4th one.. not sure? physiological splitting kua..

and since yesterday, i've been having indigestion. threw up my non-digested dinner. and started burping non-stop, until NOW!!!! eww gross. any remedies???

i can't waittttttttttttttttt to go home!

cupcake photos!

classy is what i had in mind working with these.
they are my "best sellers".

[chocolate cheese cupcakes with whipped chocolate fudge frosting with chocolate drizzled shapes]

Centrestage 2008

some weeks ago, OxyGen (the International Students Ministry of Paradise Community Church) held an event at PCOM, where every lifegroup had to come up with a performance and we would be judged.. being so close to exams, we thought we didn't have the time to put everything together, practice and all. but thanks to our directors, sumi, yong ling & shee laine.......... & the rest of my beloved, awesome possum Village Lifegroup members. we did it! :) :) :) Chris & I couldn't have been prouder 'parents' to this wonderful bunch. we did have a lot of fun, despite the powerpoint not working (weifen did an amazing job on the animation & graphics), and we only had 2 practices.. but on that day itself, everything ran so smoothly. we've been praying about it the whole week leading to the event!! and once again, as always, God came through for us. and He spoke volumes of where there's unity, there He commands a blessing.

so here are some pictures of the wonderful people that were involved in making this possible :)

some funny behind the scenes, preliminary shots!

on the day itself

action!! but unfortunately not many photographs of the skit itself cos too much movements.

group picture. we won!!!!!

and this is us, the following week during our last official LG. sobs.

Stitch: This is my family. I found it. Is little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.

---

Lilo: Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten.

You guys have been awesome! :) We're all different. But we're same in that we share one faith. one love. one God. we're all broken in our own ways. but still good. still good. because God says so! :D

Parting at the end of this year doesn't mean, leaving things where they were. it means, taking it to another level!

Deut 10:21 He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

swot vac!!

first day of swot vac. woot~! had an amazing weekend of doing everything BUT studying. goodbye perinatal guidelines & ten teachers (for now).. hee..

i really thank God for a smooth sailing osce on friday. i was truly experiencing phil 4:6-7 - Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. my heart wasn't pounding, i wasn't shaking. all (but one) the stations went well.. will only know my results in 2 weeks, but they don't matter.. because what was more impt was knowing the Holy Spirit was with me through out! :D

after that, fuh~ big sigh of relief, celebrated by having a late lunch at kfc(to satisfy my cravings) and headed to friday night church soon after. i've posted a clip (in my other blog) we saw in church that truly moved me to tears. click here to watch it. highly highly recommended! :)

the next day, chris and i had a photoshoot to go to! haha.. long story. will tell you the details later (another post) once we get a hold of the products of the shoot :D we went to hog's breath for dinner (finally!!!!!!) and that was awesome. yum!!



on sunday i went shopping. wooHOO! bought a skirt. the picture doesn't do it justice. hmmphf!

and had dinner at gusto (linguine granchio's - awesome blue swimmers crab pasta) with the rest. ahh.. that marks the end of my wonderful weekend.

cos i promised to study starting today! :D started the day with ramen & veg & egg -> made by dear -> did our devotions -> study!!!!! -> dinner @ kopitim. yums! :D see how my life revolves on food??!! no wonder my arms so flabby now :(

wonka nerds is gonna be my companion to help me stay awake, and NERD of course ;)

more pictures up on facebook! so go check now!! :D

O&G

what's that??!! the usual response i get. then i say, obs & gyn. i answer with another abbreviation. i guess, i tend to forget that as med students we have a lot of abbreviations that we think other ppl would understand. i wonder why the word abbreviation is so long? -_-"

obstetrics & gynaecology.. in short. women's health/medicine. see women are such complex beings that we have a whole 9 weeks rotation dedicated to our health. hah!

just got bck from prof dekker's place. long case + viva tmr. i'm first up! i hope i wake up and the bus doesn't leave me behind. osces on friday. keep me in prayer yeah! :)

i'm at peace (mentally, emotionally), but my body's fighting it. pls pray that my symptoms will resolve - they include tummy aches, bloating, irritable bowel, headaches (thks or no thks to having the XX chromosome).

i can't wait for swot vac!! :)

deut 10:21
He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.

yes! i've seen the great & awesome things He has done for me. and He will do it again. Amen.

why i love my boyfriend (part 1)

because...
1) he sneaks into my room while i'm in the hospital and surprises me with this as my desktop wallpaper :)
2) he calls me girlfriend christine. hahahahaha.. who else on earth calls their girlfriend - girlfriend???!!!

almost there, but not yet

5th year. 5th year. 5th year. 5th year. 5th year. 5th year. 5th year.

what a mind blowing thought. can't believe it's been 4.5 years since i stepped into medical school. wow. time flies!!! at the same time, it does seem i've been studying for a long time.. a very long time. for something that i never thought of doing in the first place, i think i've had a pretty good journey so far. i enjoy studying medicine (well, as a whole; can't say the same for O&G but haha yeah..), not the exams! *grins* and for me to come this far, it's all by the grace of God. from my "surprise" 'A' Level results (everyone thought i was going to fail, even I thought i was going to fail), to the day i stepped into IMU (and was so sure i wanted to leave - yes, orientation left THAT much of an impact on me), making lasting friendships in IMU (you know who you are), growing roots in CF (my greatest spiritual growth spurt), to coming to Adelaide with Chris (that was a miracle in itself), to God's providence throughout - money that always came on time, to passing 4th year, and now here i am. 2 more weeks to my O&G exams, and 6 weeks to the BIG BARRIER EXAM. it almost seems surreal how quickly this year has gone by.

why this sudden emo/nostalgic post. over the past week, many people have been asking me, so final year already?? and i have to go through the standard answer of, this is my final exam year, but i have a whole year of pre-internship before i graduate, and have the DR title in front of me. or some even asking what do i plan to do? i have many plans! some pretty ambitious ones too. but i guess before i start daydreaming about how my name tag will look - Dr Chow, i really should concentrate on how i can pass 5th year. sometimes it's scary. sometimes i feel a bit worried (ok A LOT)- looking at how hard everyone around me is studying. sometimes i scream to myself (in my head), "christine chow en li! can you please be a bit more hardworking??!!" other times, just numb and oblivious and don't really wanna care anymore. sometimes i get responses like "aiyahh.. you so smart, don't worry la" but the truth is, for every exam i pass, for every time i am relaxed and at peace before exams, it's solely because of God's grace. and when i do go off the rails, and become the worrywart that i truly am, God just reminds me of how he brought me through it all. worrying is not going to do any good eh?

so the reason for this post is, i am getting a bit worried now. but philippians 4:6-7 (The Message) says,

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

wow, i love this version of the verse. and for all those having exams out there. this is for you too! :)

while browsing for some vegetarian recipes....

...i found this, and burst out laughing. [please click to enlarge]


wahaha!! ketjap??!! what's that? so funny right. ok la, maybe it's just me being easily amused. so.. as a break from all that studying (which only started yesterday. yes, i know. not cool. exams nxt week!!!!!), i decided to post some of my recent bakes - of which, the results i'm very pleased with (this sentence sounds grammatically wrong, but anyway). feast your eyes! ;)

chocolate cheese cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting

cornflake cookies with chocolate drizzle

banana cake (yummy) with chocolate swirls.

everything's chocolatey!!!!

Highly Recommended!!!

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Click on the PODCAST.


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You'll be blessed!

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the weekend that was.

thks for your concern peeps :) i am now well, & very much healthy. it's been a long battle with the BUG :P

here are some pictures from our recent LG bonding/fun session @ GLENELG!!!!! Good weather, good company.. what more can you ask for? ;)

The Village LG then... (Sem 1)

The Village LG now... (Sem 2)


More pictures on facebook :) So get a facebook account today!