1 year

Its been a year since i started my first job as a dietitian... and finally after working for a year here....

I HONESTLY DON'T FEEL ANY DIFFERENT!!!!

Sometimes I wonder if my patients found it beneficial attending clinics with me... lately there has been more and more difficult patients in my clinic... And when I say "difficult" I don't mean just medically challenging but also challenging in terms of their personality.

There are times where I feel like just telling them of that if they don't expect to change or if they don't want to come for my session, then just don't show up! Or sometimes I feel like just telling them off that they're not the only person I am seeing and I really don't give a damn on what happens to them... If they can't be bothered to care for their own health, then don't expect me to care for them as well... What do they think I am? Their mom? Can't they just learn to grow up and be a responsible adult and stop whining like a baby! geez!

So anyway... after working for a year... I got a pay rise of about 20 dollars a fortnight i think... =) that's good enough for me to go out and have a cup of hot drink and dessert with my housemate... =)

Lets see what lies ahead in the near future for me...

Till then, Adios world!

*~*~*Sue*~*~*

Long lost blog

Ah... after what seems like days... I realised that I have a blog! And that's not a good sign at all cause that means my blog has been completely neglected! Oh wait... it has been months since my last update? whoa! What happened over the past few months?! >.<

Life now isn't as great as what it once was.... Back when I was a student, books and lectures and assignments were my LIFE and now I have to delicately balance my life between working, sleep, eating healthily to live up to my awesome "Dietitian" title, spend time with the boy and the family, study, socialising, entertainment, and of course... cleaning of my own mess!

Life now looks pretty much like this:

Working life:

Ah yes... working life... What's life without work... Besides sleep, earning money is the second biggest thing in my life now... @.@

But I guess I cant complain much... I have got interesting cases, seeing a variety of people from CONFUSED patients, to dying patients, to REQUESTING to die patients, to nice patients, to 100 years old patients, to pain-in-the-ass patients, to tinny little premature babies, to flirty patients, to morbidly obese patients, to 'living skeleton patients', and the list just goes on...

Interesting workload? Yea, I must agree it sure is! And what's more, I am one complete 'genius' to apply for a senior dietitian job and I actually GOT IT! @.@ Now before I even learn how to walk properly, I'm trying to run! Seriously... Fresh grad, less than a year's experience and apply for a level 3 position... I must be insane at that point of time.... But hey, with stress comes motivation I guess... My "life chart" will change soon and there will be a huge section for "study" in the near future!

Other than patients, I must say staff here are awesome, I have supportive colleagues and nowadays I spend less time communicating and actually spend more time on paper work! Nuff said bout working life... next on the list...

Time with the boy:

Pretty self explanatory isn't it? In short, we are still doing the LDR thing... in fact, now we are doing a Long-er Distance Relationship as the boy is now in Europe at this very moment as I type... Lucky boy....

FYI: YES, I actually DID persuade him to get me a souvenir... Persuade? Maybe more on threaten him to get me a souvenir! >) And post cards from the other side of the world! =)

Now that he's in Europe, time spent talking to him has reduced significantly... which probably free up some space for other personal stuff like... work... studying for work... and organising things for work... and looking at stationary for work... @.@ *I'm a workaholic!*

Eating 'healthy':

Yeap... Have to eat healthy to live up to my reputation as a dietitian isn't it? =P I wonder how many people actually think I eat really healthily... At least I have 3 meals a day (with much emphasise on "at least") =)

Time spent with family:

Pretty much means skype with mainly mom... Whenever there's free time and we both happen to be in front of the computer...

Cooking and Grocery shopping:

As a dietitian, I must say that I should spend more time on this area... Spending HOURS in the kitchen and cooking up a storm for the next 1 week for lunch AND dinner isn't quite the best way to prepare food... @.@ Suggestions? *If I earned big bucks, I could probably afford to eat out daily!* =)

Social life and Entertainment:

Seriously... Social life? In Tasmania? HAHAHAHAHAHA... Joke of the day.. REALLY!! My friends are my colleagues, my colleagues are my friends... And people that I know OUTSIDE of the hospital? Well... The only people that I kinda know outside of the hospital is probably my patients who are well enough to walk around for me to run into them... @.@

Entertainment... Is probably the time spent in front of my laptop reading nonsense comics and doing 'window' online shopping... And probably catching a movie every once in the blue moon where the tickets are waaaaayyyy too overpriced...

Cleaning:

Happens when I wash clothes and plates and a little tidying of my room when I have some spare time... And ever so often, I will do some ironing of clothes...

Sleep:

Is VERY IMPORTANT ... Need to prevent wrinkles... And dark circles... and eye bags... >.<


If only life was really that easy and we could compartmentalise our life as according to how we want... Anyhow... I can't wait to go back to Malaysia at this point of time... Its FREEZING cold to the extend that I am pretty sure I am living in a fridge on most days, and occasionally I'm living in a FREEZER! Temperature going below 0 is NOT fun... Its cold, and gloomy, and the sun sets too early! Not to mention I have to get rid of a layer of frost around the car in the morning means waking up EARLIER! >.<

Speaking of which... I have a car! Finally the freedom to travel! =) Unfortunately getting a car comes with a price... And this includes BUYING the car, BUYING insurance, SPENDING on servicing of car, PAYING for road tax and registration, BUYING more stuff for car such as "anti-fog liquid".

All the hard work of working... All spent on travelling to see the boy, phone bill, rent, electricity bill, food, internet bill, petrol, etc... =(

If only money could just drop down from the sky... that'd be so AWESOME...

Wonder when will I be free to post up another blog... Time will tell...

*~*~*Sue*~*~*

Ah Valentine's day

Ah its the lovely V DAY again...

And I still have to go to work like usual... See patients as usual... No mails as usual... Eat alone as usual...

Life goes on as usual... ...

Busy as an ant, but ain't too sure why am I so busy either... .

Life's way too good, went to Brissie for holidays over xmas and new years, then back to work for 2 weeks or so... then to Melb for 4 days, came back with the parents, and then 4 days gallivanting around Tassie  with the parents, and then... back to work again like normal...

Wards ain't too busy, 2 new dietitians have just joined the crew, and I have TONS to do... of which I haven't been doing most of the "Tons to do things"... At least not just yet...

Things to do:

1. Seriously need to work harder on obtaining a full Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) status from a provisional status. *100% importance*
2. Need to look for insurance... Health insurance (70% importance)
3. Need to get a car soonish (50% importance for now... as time passes by, percentage of importance will increase)
4. Practice my English skills for the damn IELTS test (30% importance)
5. Clean up my room (25% importance)
6. Exercise? (??% importance)

Why I'm not doing those things listed as above (as according to numbers):

1. *Sigh* never remember... When I do remember, I'm doing something else like cooking / showering / in the car / outside...
2. Health insurance... soooo many of them... SOOOOO many to read... =(
3. Lack of fundings / monies for now... Can only look around for cars but can't afford to get a good quality one (I believe in good quality SECOND HAND CARS *cause I can only afford 2nd hand cars* as I do not want my car to breakdown in the middle of nowhere and can't get help)
4. IELTS test sux... Max.... 
5. Retaliating... Cleaned up my room for the clothes part... But not the paper part
6. Ah the exercise.. Will do so... whenever... Whenever I feel like it...

Should really update this lil blog of mine sooner... But... Retaliating... Just happily living my life in a cycle on a weekly basis:

Mon - Fri

Wake up - breakfast - work - dinner - online for a short while (study when I need to) - sleep

Sat

Sleep in - lunch - wash clothes + hang clothes OR grocery shopping - online - dinner - online - sleep

Sun

Sleep in - lunch - wash clothes + hang clothes OR grocery shopping (depending what I did on Saturday) - cook 1 week's supply of dinner (if possible) - dinner - prepare 1 week's supply of lunch (if possible) - sleep

Same old boring routine... Same old schedule... Same old... 

Anyway, time to do some APD stuff while I remember! =)

Adios world!

*~*~*Sue*~*~*

Updates over past 2ish months

Hey peeps... sorry for the LOOOOOOONNNGGG delay.... Got soooo caught up with loads of things such as Bro came over from melbie to visit me, went to hobart for a conference, went out for lots and lots of dinners with the pharmacy gang and with the doc, a friend of mine got engaged, got pretty much addicted with the song "best friend" by jason chen, and also being pretty much bored out of my brains busy drawing sketches and now trying to colouring one of my sketches during the weekends.

So far work is getting just more and more busy. I've volunteered to help out in LOADS of stuff cause... initially I had nothing much to do and I felt that I needed to be more productive instead of sitting around the wards and hoping for more nutritionally compromised patients to appear before my eyes waiting for referrals... So now I've got paper works, helping to clear up the resources folder, starting to process referrals for outpatients and seeing outpatients when I'm free, did an in-service for malnutrition screening talk, offered to help out in the organising of next year weekend workshop (tas), and also volunteered in the carbohydrate exchange group thingy... And not forgetting my main priority is still my inpatients (that's what i'm hired for anyway).

So anyway, bits and pieces of things happening in inpatient settings:

1. I got to 2 patients in the kiddy's wards! =)
2. I actually got called in to the emergency department @.@ and its to see patient, not because I got myself into trouble
3. Had a patient with TPN
4. Have a patient with possible eating disorder
5. Have unlimited amounts of people with diverticulitis lately @.@
6. Also have almost uncountable amount of stroke patients
7. Most of my patients are pretty much in the elderly groups, and main reason for referral is patient at risk of malnutrition
8. So far have had 3 enteral feeding patients (2 via NGT, 1 via PEG) and 1 parenteral feeding patient (of which I didn't get to plan the feeding regime or anything)
9. Patient mistaken me as a "School girl"
10. Patient telling one of the doctors that "The Dietitian (me! me! me!) is very useful" *feeling proud*
11. Last week was probably my craziest week so far... had 10 new referrals on monday, and 2-3 new referrals on tues, had a last min urgent referral on the evening of friday! 

And this week for one of my outpatients, I hadn't had a clue that english wasn't her first language until AFTER I've booked her in for an appointment that's due in the next day. Ended up couldn't get a phone translator on time and had to actually draw basic pictures of foods so she understood exactly wat foods I'm trying to say! @.@ Thank goodness my drawing skills have improved since schooling days. 

Oh oh, need to remember to buy flight ticket to and from melbourne during cny.... parents coming over for visit!!! so there's still the family reunion this year... YAY! =)

Wat else... Oh right, i'm turning another year older in a weeks time, and I will be flying to brissie in 12 days! =) Holiday... ooooo boy... just cant wait... Some holiday or break sure sounds PERFECT for now.... 

Meanwhile, there wouldn't be any pictures for this post... too lazy to upload, and also need to do reading on eating disorders and try to get a better understanding on it... 

Till then world, I'll probably update my blog next year!!

So merry xmas and happy new year (and maybe happy chinese new year as well) too all of you lovely people who still takes the effort to drop by and read my rants! hahahhahaha....

*~*~*~Sue*~*~*

Let the music fill your soul

Lets see... its been almost 3 weeks since I've been here in Tassie, and I've been working for 11 days now... of which I've been on my own for 4 days... Not too bad if you ask me... At least I don't think I've done anything to harm any patients under me...

I was suppose to be asleep since an hour ago... But I'm too absorbed into listening to music that I can't sleep.... Strange? I wonder.... Music is something that should calm the soul, where people find peace with it...

Whereas for me, some music just fills me up on the inside to the extend I feel energised and ready to sing my lung outs!

Or.. maybe I'm just another weird kid on the block....

So anyway I've been listening to the song All or Nothing by O Town... Melody was just amazingly beautiful... Lyrics was meaningful, but... a bit sad as well....

All or Nothing - O Town
I know when he's been on your mind
That distant look is in your eye
I thought with time you'd realize
It's over over
It's not the way I choose to live
And something somewhere's got to give
As sharing this relationship gets older older
You know I'd fight for you
But how I can fight someone who isn't even there
I've had the rest of you now I want the best of you
I dont care if that's not fair

Chorus: 
Cause I want it all
Or nothing at all
There's no where left to fall
When you reach the bottom it's now or never
Is it all
Or are we just friends
Is this how it ends
With a simple telephone call
You leave me here with nothing at all

There are times it seems to me
I'm sharing you with memories
I feel it in my heart
But I dont show it show it
And then there's times you look at me
As though I'm all that you can see
Those times I don't believe it's right
I know know it

Don't me make me promises
Baby you never did know how to keep them well I've had the rest of you
Now I want the best of you
It's time for show and tell

Chorus 

Cause you and I
Could lose it all if you've got no more room
No room inside for me in your life
Cause I want it all
Or nothing at all
There's no where left to fall
It's now or never

Chorus x2 

I wonder why is it this song have this sudden huge impact on me today.... I wonder is it because of the melody? Or its because of the lyrics? I sure hope is the melody... With my relatively new Sennheiser earphones, I think I've just discovered a whole brand new level of music... A level where music is not as simple as just listening to some random sound... Its more on feeling the music running through your soul and to actually be able to feel the true meaning of the actual song...

Or maybe... I'm getting insane... I sure missed playing on my darling keyboard... =( And I sure missed dancing... and I missed singing in the choir...

I kinda missed the past... Especially in Newie where I had a bunch of great girlfriends to laugh and to cry together... Also missed home where I don't have to worry about a single thing... Mainly cause mom's home... =) Now... What is a Home??? In my own personal opinion, I think Home is..........


.........................





A stress free place for the kids, and a mad house for the parents... 

=)

Haha... nah, seriously... I think Home is where the heart yearns to be... And I know at this present time, Tasmania is nowhere near comparable to home for me...

Tasmania, Tassie,  Tas.... What do I have to say about you.... Its a lovely, BEAUTIFUL place to be in... But unfortunately at night the temperature drops low enough to the extend I will just sit on the bed shivering... And I am currently shivering under the blankets as I am typing out this entry.... Strangely enough, after I fall asleep, I feel pretty warm under the blanket!

Other than that... what else do I have to add on about my life here so far....

• My landlady / friend's sis / my friend is a really nice person... She makes sure I have everything I need, and she even reminded me not to open door to strangers when she left the house few nights ago (that's cause some random stranger have been knocking on the main door a few nights ago when she wasn't in)!
• The house mate isn't too bad a person as well... As far as I am concerned, I get along fine with her.
• My mentors / dietetics colleagues are really nice helpful people... Nothing like JHH where there's so much politics.... Absolutely love them!
• The staff in the hospital are generally quite nice.... I must say the doctors here are extraordinarily nice compared to most of the snobby doctors back in JHH... I must say I really feel welcomed and accepted here in this small lil hospital! Among all the staff, I seem to be getting really well with the pharmacist in the hospital though... =)
• So far there are a few doctors that stand out in my mind...
  - There's the Dr funny... cause he's really funny.... Makes most of the staff laugh... His presence sure brighten up the day of the people in the ward...
  - And there's this Dr nice, where he's... well... really nice... He's one of the first dr. that actually introduced himself to me... and he actually sat down and listened to me talking about what sort of patients should be referred to a dietitian, and etc.... I wonder if he was really interested in listening or he was just bored cause there wasn't much to do at that point of time... hmm....
  - And there's this Dr outgoing... I guess this nickname kinds of explains his personality... Outgoing person... =)
  - And there's this Dr how-can-i-help-you where so far I've got no problem getting my request done in no time (make my life easier) such as charting my high energy drinks as part of the medication round for a patient...
  - There's also this Dr serious... where he always seems to be very serious and worked up about things... But when he has nothing to do, he'll go disturb Dr nice.... But overall, he's not too bad a person....
  - Oh, and there's Dr quiet where she's a really nice lady, but she seems to be relatively quiet... Or maybe I'm too talkative... >.<
  - And not forgetting, there's Dr understanding where he really tries to understand about my profession, about why I do certain things... He's also another great person 
• And so far I must say the person I'm closest to is my landlady / friend / friend's sis.... Next few ppl I'm close to is prob my other hse mate and also the other 2 pharmacy boys... One remind me of my elder bro JC cause he's so much like my bro in so many way.... the other... remind me a bit of my 2nd bro cause... he likes food... =)
• Staff in the hospital can get really... free... Like seriously... facebooking, youtubing, playing games on their hp, reading random things such as... recipes? @.@ But that doesn't mean that they're not doing their job... Its just that they've ran out of things to do!
• Believe it or not... I actually look forward to going to work! =) I guess its partly cause I'm new... And I don't have much patients so far... Having said that, I dread the time where I need to wake up though...
• Oh, and just to make things sounds nice... I am the only inpatient dietitian in the whole hospital! =D
• Food at cafeteria is cheap...$4 for now... But the price will increase in another week's time...
• I'm going to drive to Hobart somewhere in October!!!!!! @.@

Oh wait... its 0130hr already... Crap!!!! I think I should get some sleep... Can't afford to allow my biological clock get out of its current order.... >.<

Till then, adios world!!

*~*~*Sue*~*~*

Its time to move... again?

Ops.... should've updated this earlier... which i didnt... But i do have my reasons!!!

To start off with, i was still busy unpacking 3 weeks ago.... and really to put away everything properly... and 2 weeks ago, I got this phone call asking if i'm interested in working at Tassie.... Seriously... for someone who's been jobless for... 6 months-ish? Duh... Of course i'm interested!!

And just today, the manager from that hospital called to say that I finally can have the green light and that they are going to generate a job offer for me! =) And what's more, this's a job at the hospital (meaning i'll be mainly an inpatient dietitian) and that I didnt actually apply for this position... And... I didnt even need to attend an interview for this position as well!!! I guess it just shows how desperate they need someone to fill up that position ASAP....

So yes.... After nicely settling in to Brissie environment... Its time to move on again and start packing all over again! *pulls out hair* So for the past 2 weeks I went to find for a thicker coat to buy before I move to tassie... But apparently the people here starts selling SUMMER clothes a month before winter even ends! >.< Nevermind that... So I bought myself a good, stainless steel, Gold Trim + Silver body, "click-able", Parker Jotter pen to use for work and documentation (all official documentation HAS to be in black ink... don't ask me why...)

Oh yea... this little baby here is going to be accompany me probably for the rest of my time in the office / working hours... I'll surely take good care of this lil sturdy thing.. =)

Meanwhile, I have also bought myself a new external hard disk with 1Tb memory space.... The previous external hard disk works fine... But i fine that my pictures are really gathering up and I needed some extra space to for movies / series / anime, etc..... Hopefully I get to meet up with the 2nd bro and get more movies / series / anime off him...

Meanwhile, while getting a job is a good indication that I finally have somthing to do with my life, it also means a momentarily good bye to the boy at brissie... =( So that's why I've also bought a digital photo frame to put in my room.... So that there's some sort of light in the room and I wont be stuck in complete pitch blackness.... >.< I have this slight Nyctophobia and thus, I need some source of light when staying alone... and the digital photo frame works perfectly... When i'm feeling afraid, all I need to do is to look into the pic and look at my loved ones and I'll feel all better already... What's more, there's a clock and calendar function too... So i can easily tell the time if i ever wake up middle of the night...

What else.... Oh yea... I've finally parted with the old image of myself having long hair over the past... 13 years?

Now there's an improve look of myself!!! =)

Well... maybe I dont look THAT different... but hey... I'm fairly happy with it! at least my head dont feel as heavy and I dont feel that "pulling" feeling on my scalp... Plus... as a bonus, i save on shampoo and conditioner by at least 75% and I spend way less time showering and blow drying my hair... =D

My next post will probably be... When I'm in tassie... =(

Till then, ADIOS!!

*~*~*Sue*~*~*

Brisbane.... Again....

The last time I've visited Brissie was last year as a vacation... And now I'm here to STAY here until I find my next job... And boy must I say... getting a job here sure is tough! There're LOTS of advertisements for part time job and I've applied lots of it... but apparently no one wants me.... I think its mainly cause i dont have ANY experience in working.... =( yea.... this suxxxx....

Lets see... wat else i've got to say... I ran out of dietetic jobs to apply... so I have nothing to do AT ALL.... So i try to play with the cat that I currently live with.. But it appears that the kitty doesn't likes me... attempted to bite me and scratch me... When I'm not paying attention to my food (cooked and raw), the cat attempts to eat it... so now i eat in my room.... and that makes the room smells of food now... >.<

How's the landlord and landlady? They appear to be quite ok.... They are like... Nice strangers to me... During my first 2 weeks of my stay, we had a little bit of things to talk about... such as where are u from, what u graduated as, a bit of house rules, etc... Now its my 3rd week here and I must say we kinda ran out of things to talk about.... So that makes staying here quite awkward.... Me staying at some stranger's place, and we'll just exchange awkward smiles or "hi" when we see each other....

The boy on the other hand... Is staying with his cousin, the cousin's hubby and the cousin' friend.... Oh and their pet dog, QQ as well... I must say I prefer to be in their house than to my own... Because my house is always sooooo quiet....


The silence... really... could kill.... me...

And then between a dog and a cat which is a better companion? Definitely the dog wins... At least I can chase QQ around the house, play with him, pat him... and he'll even paw me (use his paw to scratch me) if he wants more tummy rub! That little poodle is just oh-so-adorable.... Also, at the boy's place I manage to get along well with everyone in that house... whereas in this house... somehow we don't seem to get along as well... Dont get me wrong, they don't hate me neither do I hate them... Its just the awkward silence and the obvious barrier between me and my landlord and landlady... And the cat that hates me.... All these combo just adds up to give me the "non-homey" feeling...

Looking at the boy and how he has his own relatives... And the landlord and landlady (and cat) happily living together as a family... surely adds up to the feeling of being lonely here... Thinking about it.. I realised the horrible truth... I have NO FRIENDS, NO FAMILY, i know almost NO ONE here... all except one person... The Boy.... which... I don't even know if its a good thing or not to start off with... And the fact that I've ran out of jobs to apply AND can't get a part time job just makes everything else worse...

*I like this caption.... "sometimes this place can get so lonely... it feels like... i'm not even... here..."*

As a result... I ended up buying two harry potter books to keep myself companied.... 

Looks like I'm turning into a nerd again... >.<

And wat's new... I've indirectly have a curfew right now... @.@ Curfew time... 10pm....

Looking prety miserable eh.... Well, I must say I'm starting to feel a lil bit miserable... Even though I see The Boy everyday, it just seems.... well... miserable...

So anyway... on the brighter side of things..

I went to the strawberry farm, and visited a fake castle in Brisbane with Cheryl, Samantha and Te Boy! =)

My harvest for the day 

The castle...

The slightly freaky doll museum... 

Oh, and another thing I NEED to remind myself.... NEVER put egg into packet soups.... The results is a lumpy, thick soup... @.@ Taste wise... not too great... the taste of the egg overpower the soup... and texture wise... just... gross.... And because of that... I've currently just lost my appetite....

Anyway, will try to update this blog more regularly now that I have so much time here.... Meanwhile I hope this feeling of misery + loneliness will disappear....

Till then.... adios!

*~*~*Sue*~*~*