Merry Christmas!

Here I am, updating my blog on Christmas night. Well, just a few minutes more and it's not Christmas anymore. Again, it's been a while since I updated. There's quite a lot of things happening in the last 2 months plus since my birthday. Had my viva in mid Oct. I didn't call up the chief preceptor to check my marks but I guess it should be ok. We'll have one more before the end of pre-reg... and that's in early February. The training programme will officially end mid March and I'm looking forward to that.

Currently, I'm no longer in Gleneagles Guardian. I'm into my last rotation in Toa Payoh T190. It's a patient care centre, so there's more emphasis on patient counselling as well as patient follow-ups. So far the say is quite pleasant. Most of the people there are nice and I especially like the second pharmacist there. He's middle aged and very blur sometimes. Nevertheless, working with him is great as it is always stress free. However, all in all, I still like my attachment to Taka best haha...

For the past 2 months, I've been asking a girl out for meals and movies. Not exactly my first time going out with a girl but it still feels special. Actually, I kept in touch with her ever since I started emailling her in Feb 2004. I was trying to get to know her more then. She strikes me as someone homely and sweet. As it turned out to be, she seems quite family-oriented, which is what I'm looking for haha. It wasn't until 1 1/2 years later before I asked her out... So far we've gone out 3 times for movies and meals. I managed to know her more after each outing and she seems nice although sometimes I find her not responsive...and that can be pretty discouraging at times. Well, it's still early in the relationship and we'll see how it goes...

I went out with a former university classmate today for dinner and a drink. Well, I've never really seen him feeling sad before...other than the times when his marks are not up to his expectations. Today, I really can see his sadness. It appears that he has been liking a girl for a fairly long time, but due to some obstacles, he couldn't persue her. An email from her the day before made him realise that perhaps he should not have waited too long. As much as I wanted to say here, I think it's not right to reveal too much as he might just come up and whack me later haha. Just that... yup... unrequited love is painful. It's worse when the girl doesn't know that you like her. Worse still, when you bump into the girl right after that... Heard he confessed to that girl already, which I think is the right thing to do. At least the girl knows and won't be a dum dum after the whole episode haha...

Next weekend I'll have a 4 day weekend. Yeah, you heard that right. Can't wait till then. So this means that next week, I'll only work for 3 days. What a way to end the year! Most of my close friends are away now....one back in Ipoh, one back in Muar, the other one going back to Segamat soon. Let's hope that by the countdown to the New Year, at least one would be back...

I can't go back to Penang until CNY...which is about a month away. I'll be going back for a week. Hopefully they will approve my leave because there seems to be an out-of-place project presentation on 2 Feb. How ridiculous to have that right after CNY?? Sometimes, I think those people doing the arrangements are doing that on purpose... so that you cannot go back and must work during the festive season. Grrrr...

Ah, to 'drugged' who added a comment earlier. Sorry for not replying to the comment because I didn't realise there was one haha.... Merry Christmas to everyone! And a Happy New Year too if I don't update my blog by then.

Till then, sayonara!

Eve of Birthday

Here I'm writing again on the eve of my 24th birthday. It's really been a loooooong time since I last blogged. Somehow I couldnt find the motivation to. Maybe I'm more of a reserved person, or maybe I'm just not good at representing myself in words haha...

Well, 24 now. What have I achieved? Come to think if it, really nothing much. Finished university education and now working. At least that is more certain. Personal life hmm...utter mess. In my 24 years living on this planet, I've never been attached, hence making me a lonely soul haha. I know I know...I'm still young. But prospects are not good either. Usually when I'm interested in a girl, she's usually not interested. That is what I feel usually or maybe I'm not persistent enough. Some girls like to play hard to get. But I guess I'm more of the passive type. So usually I won't go further. Sometimes, those are missed opportunities haha.

Went out to have lunch with my friends today after the PSS lecture. Lecture was interesting but sometimes the lecturer can be a little too long winded. We went to Magic Wok for lunch. Yiu Cheong and Yik Chuen (the two YCs) gave me, Andrew and Othua a birthday treat. Andrew's and Othua's birthday was on 3rd Oct and 30 Sept respectively. After that, Yiu Cheong left for work while the rest of us went to Bras Basah to look at some medical books. After the last of the YCs left to be with his GF, we went to Bugis for a drink. There was a lot of people but we managed to get a place in Starbucks. As usual, the topic is always on the plight of our bachelorhood hahaha... I decided to be brave and smsed a girl for a movie but I'm yet to receive a reply. Oh well...expected lah haha

I wish that my life will be more fruitful from today onwards. Get job satisfaction and more importantly, get someone I can share my life with...be it happiness or sorrow. I'll patiently wait for that day to arrive. :P

Busy busy...

July has got to be the busiest month and it's tiring me out. Because of the tight schedule, I've been lacking sleep until this weekend when I can try to recuperate haha...

After the cemmencement weekend, there was the NETP which took up the whole of the week after that. It's ok to attend training from 9-6pm but coupled with the first aid course on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it can be really tiring. Imagine working from 9 to 9.30pm...

Then there's the past week. Torturing haha... Started peacefully with Monday when I went to work in my morning shift. These days, I really like morning shifts. It's always so relaxing to be training under my preceptor. He has always been patient and there's practically no stress learning under him. So, the mornings are usually peaceful. Afternoon time is usually the unpleasant one. Some others around can really give you the stress and unpleasant atmosphere haha. I just cannot understand why some people have perpetual mood swings everyday...sigh

Tuesday was the PACW presentation. That day was Teck Hua and Yi Lin's turn to present. The in-charge that day was not someone whom you can easily approach. While I must admit that she's knowledgeble, the method of teaching was unnecessary. In my opinion, it was counter productive. Are all 'smart' people arrogant and hard to get along with? Hmm, I've seen many friendly and down to earth SMART people around. So I guess those are just bad apples... Went back to work after lunch and proceeded to First Aid later at 6.30pm. Days with First Aid are always the longest.

Wednesday and Thursday was the Journal Club presentation. I presented on the second day and we were all grilled by David and Ivan. Fortunately, I think I did quite ok for mine. Those 2 days were the most torturous days...especially on Thursday when we also had First Aid later at night. I slept through the lecture haha... Thankfully, our trainer was kind that day. He must have noticed that most of us were dozing off, so he let us off earlier so we can rest.

Friday was my off day after working last Sunday. Today started with the PSS lecture and during the break, my preceptor called to say that there was only 1 person working in the store! How amazing. So later after lunch, Lee Sun and me went back to store to help out. We were supposed to have a talk from 2-4pm in Crown Prince but we skipped that. The store was in a mess because the GDC stock was everywhere literally. So we began to help to clear those first. Went fine at first. It's when one of the staff came that the nightmare began. There was even a quarrel involving another staff and her in the store later. Sometimes there are a lot of things that are just so amusing. Makes me wonder whether the position of an executive is higher than a mere bargainable. I saw right before my eyes...a bargainable scolding and shouting at an executive. It's lucky that the executive is not the one that likes trouble. The act of the bargainable is totally unacceptable. In fact, if I'm the one in charge, I would have fired that fella decades ago. A totally despecable character which is unbecoming of a human being. Totally KP. Sigh...I'm not that one that gets angry easily but this character is really too much I guess. I really pity the other staffs who have to put up with her antics all this while. Anyway, it's none of my business and I shall end at that haha...Politics

Anyway, the pharmacist that came to work in my store today is totally my type. Feminine and sweet. Wow...never seen this kind in my cohort haha. Found out that she was born in the same year as me..so just one year my senior in uni. However, this kind of girl will surely be attached already. If not, then there's something wrong liao haha...

Long Time Since Last Entry

It's been a long time since I last blogged. It has been a busy week for me because of the commencement ceremony that took place last Friday. The week started pretty normally. Work on Monday till Wednesday. My parents came down to Singapore on Wednesday noon but I wasn't able to accompany them because I had work until 6.30pm. Fortunately my brother was able to accompany them after fetching them from the airport.

After that, I took leave on Thursday to accompany my parents. That also marks the start of a 4 day holiday hehe...partly because I have my routine weekend off too! My parents stayed at my home and takes over my room while I moved to my brother's room. With my parents around, the house seems more complete haha... Went shopping with my parents everyday. My mom likes to shop for clothes and while she does that, my dad has to find some place to sit down haha... She can take up to the whole day shopping for clothes!

I had my commencement on Friday night. We reached the University Cultural Centre at 6.50pm and I went to collect the extra invitation card for my brother. Initially, they only gave 2 invitation cards for each graduate. Soon, I went to the robing room to wear the gown...which took a little effort to get it right hahha... After that, we took some photos before my family went into the hall. Outside, I managed to mingle around with my friends and bumped into Chin Kwok and Jonie who came to visit. It's been a long time since I last saw Chin Kwok and hmm, his hairline seems to be receeding and his hair has thinned a lot too! Wow, the power of studying medicine...sigh

Not long after, we grads went into the hall and was seated accordingly. We were shown some interviews during the pre-commencement ceremony. Shin Shin, Jaspar and Andy were somehow interviewed on the big screen. Then, the ceremony started with the entrance of the professors and Prof Shih. The ceremony was rather fast I must say. Each of us lined up and received an empty scroll cover on stage before collecting our real certs later. At the end, Jamie gave quite a good valedictorian speech after which she received a thunderous round of applause. The ceremony ended with the release of balloons from the top. All in all, the ceremony is OK but not very impressive hahhaa..

Outside the hall later, everyone starts to take photos for remembrance. My brother managed to take a lot of my photos with my friends. The atmosphere in UCC was very joyous with grads taking photos with their friends and families. We left UCC at 10 and managed to have dinner in Crystal Jade Holland V.

Saturday was a day of shopping again with my parents. My cousin treated us to lunch in The Soup Restaurant in Suntec City. The food there was not bad and it was the first time that I tasted the food there. My parents went back on Sunday at 6.45pm. Feels a little sad that an interesting weekend has come to an end. Another tiring week ahead with more training in Guardian. We will be having out New Employee Training Programme for the whole week on top of our First Aid lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Went to the first day of NETP today and found it rather boring. Nevertheless, it's a good time to relax haha... Gotta sleep soon. Have to wake up early tomorrow for the talk by the French Dermatologist in Mandarin Singapore at 8am. Ah well, American buffet will be served hehe... :P

Oh ya! By the way, I've uploaded some of the commencement photos in http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=4021333 together with the year 4 class photos as well. Enjoy!

Commencement Soon

Another week has passed. It has been quite a tedious week as I had some admin matter to settle throughout the week. I worked in the night shift, so I get to wake up late... but that also means that I will have to work till 10pm.

Monday was just a normal day. Nothing much happened. Working in Guardian is more of a routine already. Learn new things, dispense, counsel if there's a chance, merchandising, helping out in cashiering, chatting haha. I must say it has been quite fun working in Taka as the people there are nice. I'm not sure whether the same can be said when I go to Gleneagles. It's going to be much busier with many prescriptions. In fact, we have to make a lot of preparations as well. Fortunately, hospital outlets only have morning shift, hence I won't be working till 10pm. And there's no work on Sundays. Saturdays are just until about 3pm. Not bad eh? Haha... Actually working night shift isn't that bad either la...

We had our case study presentation on Tuesday morning from 9 to 12. The topic is on Asthma. This time, it's Kai and Janice who presented. Lee Kim was in charge of the session. After that, 5 of us Malaysians went to meet Winnie from HR to get our employmeny pass letters. We then learnt that we must go back to Shenton Medical to do a HIV test for the EP. So, we got the rest of our day off to do that. I also got to know that she had forgotten to update my bank account information, so my pay will be in the form of a cheque. This also means that I will get my pay later than the rest...Grr

I finally got my pay on Friday. There's the monthly Pharmacy Practice Meeting in Peace Centre for all pharmacists and pre-regs. Usually, they will invite someone to present on a certain topic and this time, it's a Gastroenterologist from Mt E who came to talk on dyspepsia. After that, Jocelyn, Jialing and Kai presented on Allergic Rhinitis. Yes, we pre-regs are expected to present on a topic during PPM. My turn should be in January though. It can be quite scary presenting to pharmacists as they should know more than you do. Fortunately on that day, no one asked questions hahaha... After the PPM ended, the 5 Malaysians went to meet Winnie again and that's when she passed me my cheque. After that, we went to Ministry of Manpower to collect our employment pass. After presenting them with our documents, we needed to wait for nearly 3 hours to get the passes. Amazing efficiency I must say. What more... Jerry found that his address is wrong and he told them. They said that they will change it for him. The rest of us were wondering how long that will take again. Guess what. His new card was ready within 2 minutes. So what's the 3 hours for?

I worked yesterday as well. Saturdays are busier compared to other days. Many customers came and go. It was the best opportunity to practise dispensing skills. How to ask questions to 'diagnose' and how to master the art of recommending the best product for the patient. Oh ya...and I got to see more weird customers hahhaa... One even came to borrow a pen and promised to return another day. Oh well...

I'm getting my Sunday off...yup, that's today and I'm now in Funan McD writing this. All alone in Funan haha.... Will be catching F1 later. Let's see that happens haha...Commencement is next week and my parents will be coming down to Singapore on Wednesday. Busy week ahead with the First Aid course starting as well haha.

Alright! Going off to Holland V Harry's now... :D

Work's Fine

It's end of a Saturday again. This week is a normal week for me as I'm working on a Saturday instead of a Sunday. Still I had to wake up early today because of the opening lecture of the PSS continuing education lectures. Since I was in SGH for my year 3 hospital attachment, I can gauge accurately how long I will take to reach SGH. The lecture was held in NCC Level 4 Lecture Theatre. This was also the first time the whole class get to meet up again since leaving NUS. Happy faces around haha... We were given a briefing on PSS and their membership drive before a break for tea. Food was provided...well...with the $200 per person fee which we are to pay soon haha. Managed to catch up with some of my friends before we went into the LT again to finish up the briefing. The lecture ended at 11am and I had to go back to Taka to work. The rest of the day ended quite fast. Business was good...export sales were like crazy...many prescriptions...many came for P items too.

The week started on a Sunday because I had to work at least 1 Sunday a month. As a result, I had Thursday off as well haha... This week I was in morning shift. I love morning shifts because I like to roam around at night after work haha... So if I'm in the night shift, then I will not have that luxury...and I won't get to meet up with ppl.

Days are getting pretty uneventful. Everyday work, then go out a while, then back home. Is working life like that? haha....well, I'm still trying to get used to it. It's so much unlike studying days. You have so much freedom with time. You can skip lectures...but I've never skip lectures on purpose haha...unless I overslept :P

Went to collect the academic gown on Friday. Pharmers were allocated 24 June 9-12pm to collect the gowns. Because of that, most of the institutions gave us a half day off to collect it. In the midst of collecting the gowns, I was approaced by many ppl doing survey, notably financial planners. Looks like new grads are easy prey for them. Unfortunately, some of them are going to call me soon. Heck, I'm going to reject them haha. I paid $12 for my graduation picture to be taken on stage and I also bought the graduation plaque. See, before I even get my first pay, I'm already spending like crazy. How to survive?

Next week will be my night shift week. And on Tues and Fri, I might be working from 9am to 10pm, thanks to the meetings in the morning. Tuesday morning is our Asthma case study presentation day in Peace Centre. Friday morning is the monthly PPM where some of the new pre-regs will present something as well. 9am to 10pm...I'm deader than a dodo

Second Week in Guardian

The second week in Guardian passed quite quickly. On Monday and Tuesday, we attended training in DFLC Bukit Merah. It's about Interacting with Customers and this training is actually an accredited WPA 2 day course. I was slightly late on Monday because there was a terrible traffic jam along AYE. There was actually a 4 car accident. Luckily, our trainer Victor Tng had not started and a few others were late as well. It seems that there's a tradition in Guardian where latecomers will have to do a forfeit like singing for the rest haha... It's a way of telling ppl to respect time more :P

The training was quite interesting because there was a lot of interaction with the trainer. We had roleplays where we were presented with common ways of handling customers as well as those difficult ones. This is important for us because as retail pharmacists, we will be at the frontline, facing customers all the time and thus we must know how to handle situations. Moreover, customer satisfaction is very important especially when you're in a retail setting. Greet and smile and you'll be alright hahaha...

At the end of the second day, we were supposed to take an ESS test which tests employability skills. Then one thing interesting happened. All of us happily filled up all our particulars and then Lee Sun asked the examiner how to fill in the NRIC section for foreigners. Guess what, the examiner was a little puzzled and went out to ask some of her colleagues. After a while, Victor Tng came in and told us that the test is only for Singaporeans haha.... Wow, foreigners got to leave early woohoo hahaha...

After the two days of training in Bukit Merah, I went back to Guardian Taka on Wednesday. We had stocktake on that day and much of the time was spent counting and counting stuffs haha...Time really flies when you are soooo busy. Before I knew it, everything was over and the day ended quickly. The rest of the stocktake will take place on Thursday morning where contracted ppl will come to do it.

On Thursday, I went to do an assessment for the training we had on Monday and Tuesday before I go back to Taka. The assessment was pretty simple and of course all of us were given the competent score. Soon, we'll each have a certificate stating that we're competent in serving customers hahha....interesting though

Back in Taka, I found out that Christine will not be working that day and another pharmacist will come in. She turned out to be Yanqun who is only 1 year my senior. She has just 'graduated' from the pre-reg programme and she will soon have her permanent store in Suntec when the huge 4000sqft one opens. Meanwhile, she will have to move around like a locum.

Today marked the end of my night shift week and I'll be in the morning shift next week haha. Lee Sun and me swap every week for the 2 shifts. Lee Sun was off today because she worked last Sunday. So, as a compensation, she will get a weekday off. As I'll be working this Sunday, I'll get my off day next week.

So far, the people in Guardian Taka are amazingly friendly and approachable. Mr Tharakan, Christine, Tess, Julia, Margaret, Miki and Zaida are very nice people to work with. Looking forward to learning more from them hehe...