Dear blog,

I suddenly feel the urge to write cos I am kind of bored while actually there are many things around for me to do.. But both my body and mind are too lazy to do any progress about them at all.. I seriously think that I need to shift my gear to student mode. Actually there are quite a few things that I really need to talk about with somebody.. But right now, I just cannot think of any suitable person to talk about them with.. sigh.. Therefore, I am coming back to this blog then.

Alright.. Yesterday was Valentine's. Cool. It actually brings back those damn good memories with her. I think it is quite true when they say that, "when a heart breaks, they don't break even." Yeah.. No doubt I like her very much. No doubt about that. I have to admit that it is freaking hard to get over her. And it has been more than a year now.. And I have not seen or heard from her.. There is one burning question that I really want to ask her: "What went wrong?" Thinking about this can really drive me mad. Those times have been wonderful and it has never come accross my mind that I gonna end in that sad and abrupt way.. Seriously what the hell.. Well, the problem is that I always believe some things better unsaid. That is why I never brought up that question all the while. Probably I wanna consult one known person about this.. Guess I am just never lucky when it comes to romance.

Alright.. Tomorrow is English test.. I think I'm not gonna give so much shit about it.. I just gonna memorize the format tomorrow morning and go for the test in the afternoon. Probably, I need to keep writing and blogging to keep my English up to standard. I believe it is quite screwed up now..

Anyway.. CNY was good. That was a wonderful 2-week break. Thanks to AirAsia. There is a direct flight from HK to Medan now..

My new year's resolution:
1. Make more and more friends in HK!
2. Break into the HKU Badminton Team top 8!
3. Be more motivated to study, knowing that my knowledge will eventually be essential to people.

I think I am lonely. Probably it is time to give up and get going. The desert is encroaching over to the pasture.

I am starting to feel that it might be a good idea for me to record about my new university life in Hong Kong. One day, I am sure to visit this site to look back at my past.

So yeah.. I have moved in yesterday into Hong Kong. Took CX736 here. Reached at about 1400hrs. However, there I had some problems checking in my luggages yesterday. My inclination to being presumpatious has again failed me. I presumed that Cathay Pacific has some extra baggage allowance for student. They don't. And apparently, it is also stated in my flight itinerary that maximum baggage allowance is only 20kg. My total baggage was weighted at about 50kg. So yeah.. So cool that I exceeded by 30kg and they are charging Singapore$26.33 for each extra 1kg. My first huge luggage successfully went by a little bit of negotiation. Another 10kg badminton bag has to be tagged with other passanger in order for me to avoid the ridiculous charge. Spent like 15mins to get a kind young couple who agreed to help me. And the rest are carried by hand into the cabin. I somehow believe that I am lucky, I am always lucky. This is a good philosophy. I read that if our mind focuses into something, there is a strong likelihood that we can attract that something. So if you think that you are always lucky, luck will somehow come to you.

New address: 109 Pokfulam Road Morrison Hall 1010A Hong Kong.

Morrison Hall is a hall that house both post-grads(mixed) and under-grad(men only). First impression is that hall people are generally friendly. They are quite willing to help and explain things to help me adjusting in. However, my first night was pretty horrendous. I could not switch on the air-con and without it the room was insanely hot. In the halls, we need to have 'smart card' which store specific amount of credits (to be purchased and transferred into the card) and these credits are to be used to use the laundry and air-con services. So things are done cashless here.

School is cool. Its pretty big. I just hate the fact that I am staying in a hall which is of a fair bit distance from the main campus and my faculty. It requires abt 15mins walk to the main campus. And a bus ride is needed to reach my faculty which is located outside the main campus. Had a hard time traveling around for the first day here. I dont think I'll be able to get used to the main campus map as I will be spending most of my time in the dental faculty. On top of that, it is still summer here. So its quite hot and walking is a chore. Looking forward to fall and winter where the temperature will be cooler.

Food here is generally nice with an average cost of HK$24 per meal. And now I am supposed to decide which optional course that I would like to take. There a lot of choices and many seem interesting to me.
Those that really interests me are:
1. Energy: Its Evolution and Environmental Impacts Details
2. Biotechnology - Science and Impacts Details
3. Stem Cells: Promises, Concerns and Uncertainties Details
4. Infectious Disease in a Changing World Details
5. The Science of Crime Investigation Details
6. Breakthroughs in Biomedical Science Details
7. Globalization: African Experiences Details

But too bad I can only choose ONE of them. I'll think about it. Probably, its wiser to do something to do along the medical line such as optiopn 2,3,4 or 6.

Thats all for now. I am tired of typing. Gotta go buy some groceries and electrical applicance.

Cheers!!

Hey there! I am short-listed for interview to study medicine in NUS :)

This is my personal statement for studying medicine.

My desire to study medicine stemmed on my longing to improve people’s lives. After achieving many things (sporting medals, academic certificates and other accolades), I am starting to become jaded about personal achievements. The more awards that I have achieved, the emptier my feelings becomes. It feels as if something is amiss about personal achievements and glory. After all, these awards are only concerned about my own self, as an individual. I finally come to the point where self-actualisation has to be my ultimate goal in life. I want to live my life for people; to serve people with all the talents that I have.

Undoubtedly, there are many ways in which we can serve and improve people’s lives. A civil engineer can contribute by constructing sound infrastructure that will facilitate the movements of people and essential goods. A food scientist may research on cooking oil with lower level of cholesterol and saturated fat which could potentially save millions of lives each year by reducing the risk of contracting cardiovascular-related diseases and stroke. However, I prefer to work along the medical line as a doctor. Being a doctor is magical. One can bring lives back to critically-injured victims of traffic collision by proper use of his medical knowledge and surgical handwork. Even though I may not have any first hand experience with any doctor who has saved the life of anyone close to me, I am aware that doctors are doing noble job and always try their best to help and save people’s lives. Besides, I love to be surrounded by and deal with people. I remember, how much pleasure I can derive from the appreciation of the residents of the old folks’ home after helping them out during CIP. Even as I am working as a dental assistant, I am very pleased that patients thank me for making his dental treatment less dreadful and more enjoyable. Each appreciation that I receive motivates me to work better and better.

Besides, I see studying medicine as a call of duty that has to be answered and I believe that every individual that is capable to take up the challenge to be a doctor has to do so. I count myself to be fortunate that I am studying in Singapore and thus exposed to a pool of choices for my career path. Imagine that I were a Brazilian boy who grew a village and always played soccer every day afterschool. How likely is the probability that I will ever think of studying medicine? This prompts me to think that if global individual ranking is to be made for my age group, it is safe to say that I stand a high chance to be among the top 25 per cent (of course, this artificial ranking is made based on many factors such as financial abilities, family issues, access to knowledge and information, sophistication of teaching and learning resources, and overall academic performance). Given the disadvantages and lack of resources, although the other 75 per cent may have the intention to improve and save people’s lives, they may not bear the same chance of succeeding as the 25 per cent group. Therefore, I see that the onus is on the best 25 per cent group to take on the heavier responsibilities by rendering themselves to take on the more difficult career path; one example is to be a doctor.

Thirdly, I see being a doctor can greatly facilitate me in achieving my dreams. As I have mentioned earlier, the feeling of being jaded has leap-frogged self-actualisation to be my ultimate goal. My wish is to devote my energy and brain to improving people’s life. One day, I read in the TIME magazine that approximately 4,000 people are dying each day due to lack of clean water. Do the math, in every minute, approximately three of our fellow human are dying. It breaks my heart whenever I read statistics like this. Ever since, I’ve decided that I will put my life into working on installing clean water system across Indonesia first and then start moving from there. The greatest challenge is how to actualize this dream. I realize that I need massive amount of funding. Therefore, I need to start getting people sensitized by this issue and get them involved with me in this project. Being a doctor allows me to relate to people from all walks of lives; from poor to rich, from clerks to managing directors, from house makers to conglomerates, from newly-born children to dying old men, from healthy to chronically-ill people, people from all races, religions and cultural backgrounds. The spectrum is amazingly wide. It covers almost all layers of our societies. I could influence and mobilize these people, you can imagine how plausible my dream could become.

I am fully aware that the path to be a doctor is extremely arduous and long. However, I believe that just like discipline, I can always condition myself each day to be stronger and more ready to face the challenges ahead. As days gone by, I believe that I am closer to the man I want to become and more optimistic that I am closer to achieving my dreams.

I have been dying to write lately, but too busy to. Finally found myself some quality time to write now :) Well, the last time I write would prolly be A Level GP.

So many things have changed now. I think I have changed pretty much too since the beginning of the year. Working is very different from studying. I am really glad that I've got the chance to work as a dental assistant. I think it has exposed me to so many new scenes. Well, apart from learning about dentistry and the life of a dentist, I have the opportunity to interact with so many patients with different personalities. Some are very nice and genuine in their intention of getting good dental treatment and put laudable effort in improving their oral health and hygiene. On the other hand, there are many rowdy, impatient and furious patients who love to bully the staff in getting last minute appointments. Furthermore, in the process of arranging appointments we do come across patients who deliberately postpone their appointments to sort of accumulate their stains and tartar even more such that they will capitalise more of a dentist effort for the same charges.

Then I learnt about the complicity of managing a clinic. I have worked for 2.5 months now, yet i still find that although the clinic is very small in area, there are so many things that I'm still unaware of. Overall, I am very happy with my current job. Its really an awesome job. I see different things every day - dealing with different kinds of patients on the phone and in the dental chair; logistics, making sure that materials are at healthy stock, ordering from suppliers even taking care of light bulbs and leaking pipes; scheduling for major events such as wisdom tooth extractions which sometimes involves simple surgery and implant as well. Awesome!

My boss actually encourage me to write regularly again. He said that he regretted stopping to write regular journals as he wouldn't be able to look back to the past in a more detailed way anymore. By writing, the writer will inadvertently include his own emotions, feelings and thoughts in that period. I think its quite true, I've been reading my previous posts and I'm still amazed with the development of emotions that each post carry on to the subsequent posts.. :) I'm enjoying myself reading those posts.

Carrying on.... A level results :) I'm extremely happy with my results. After all , this is the maximum results that i can ever achieve after getting 2 Bs for Mother Tongue and PW.. :) Yeah, thats the best i can get for the year of 2009. Well, looking back, I realise that things get very exciting when they have not been revealed. For instances, I was very very anxious before getting my dental assistant job then days before the release of A level results have made me very exciting and even more exciting when I anticipate my name to be called. No words can ever describe my feelings when I waited anxiously when the announcer was announcing the list of students who got 6 distinctions. That anxiety and fear if he she didnt call my name. That anticipation and excitement that she would call my name just blend into one single unfathomable feeling. :) The joy, happiness, taste of victory and satisfaction of all the hard work that I've put in taste incredibly awesome. I would want to relive that moment of victory again :) I want to rewind, wind, wind, wind, wind.

However, few minutes later, I am stuck with disbelief and emptiness. Just as after successfully applying for my job, I start to reflect on the fact that I'll be committing 7months of my youth working and not indulging myself during the holiday that I believe I strongly deserve after a year of crazy roller-coaster in J2.

Just in a blink of eyes, its already time to apply for university. Lots of considerations to be taken into account of.. I think I'll only be applying for NUS as I am pretty sure that I should be able to get into pharmacy course. I seriously wanna do dentistry. Tough choice for the second choice, I would LOVE to study law, but as I listen to my heart, I think I SHOULD study medicine instead. :)
Current list would be:
1. Dentistry
2. Medicine
3. Pharmacy
4. Business