being a grade 3 tutor: fail

i am currently marking the exams from my grade 3 and 4 classes... and all i can think of is : FAIL. fail to you kids for making absolutely ridiculous mistakes that make absolutely no sense to me and fail to me for not drilling in the concepts hard enough. well i tried, but your attention spans dont last long enough...

1. draw a bar graph for the following data...
the sample sizes go from 1 to 8 and they give you a table with 9 rows... one student decides to put a scale of one square = 5 and to top that off, her scale reads 5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40, 40

2. same question
another student colored in groups of boxes to represent each sample... to paint a picture, little clusters of squares all over the graph....

3. find the perimeter and area
area = count the squares.. apparently that's too difficult for half the class...

4. worded problems
i really really dont see why over half the class couldnt subtract 26 from 60?!
one student's working out showed 60-26=26 and another 60-26=72....

most of them drew pictures on the last page... maybe i'll have to give them marks for their drawings instead...

that's only the grade 3's so far so hopefully i'll still have hair on my head by the end of marking the grade 4s...

antimicrobials

two of my grade 4 students carry dettol antimicrobial gels with them. How hip i thought to myself. For some reason, I didn't think they would appreciate to the full extent which bacterial species the gel is ineffective against, so i kept my mouth shut...

one shot , half ko.

i now remember the reason why i don't do shots. someone please remind me for next time!

girl genius =)

FIRST OF ALL, i beat you to the punch minh! =)

A few months ago when we were sitting at a restaurant called Lazy moes in the westside having a lovely lunch (details means you can't deny it! i can also look up the date as well in my organiser! hehehe) and the westgate bridge came up in our conversation..

minh: ooooh, is the west gate bridge in america?
me: ......
and then after explaining where it was, i figured i could let it slide considering she is not a fellow westsider...

coming back to a few MINUTES ago... we ended up talking about the bridge yet again

me: hahah remember a few months ago when you didn't know where the westgate was?!
minh: pscht!
me: well at least you know where it is now...!
minh: yes... it's in australia
me: where in australia?
minh: sydney.

oh dear... second time's the charm, you'll hopefully remember it now! hahaha either that or my fingers are crossed you never have to take the westgate bridge otherwise some serious lost'ness is bound to ensue...

the old adage: men are no good with directions...

just got back from party number six this week and i am officially exhausted... this particular party was held in woop woop land 15 minutes drive from the airport... kudos to the two birthday boys for booking out a whole entire (very gorgeous and well equipped and furnished) house for a 21st... house parties are definitely the way to go but you can't exactly book a house in the middle of suburbia considering the amount of noise and rowdiness that usually comes hand in hand with 21st's... so woop woop it had to be... being the designated driver, I had to rely on the five other people (yes, five cos we squished one extra one in, the more the merrier!) for directions... two were equipped with google maps on their iphones so we were all set.... apparently not... chaos soon ensued... a number of wrong or missed turns later we were heading down a freeway to sunbury... and with no u-turns allowed on freeways we had to keep driving until there was a way to go back... woop woop freeways don't have frequent exits either... cars zooming in both directions... 9.30 pm at night, trying to find 'the magical dirt road' that lead to the house proved more difficult then expected... at various times I became extremely stressed and anxious... but yes, back to the point, of the five, one was a guy and the rest were girls... men may be horrible at directions but so too are women! either that, or googlemap sucks...

this odd thing keeps happening to me where i dream that i still have some form of assessment and I start stressing out about having too much fun and not doing my work....

in my dream last night, I still had not finished my micro assignment yet and it was apparently due tomorrow and then i started freaking out in my dream because of my going out to parties in the last few days... i woke up panicked and it took about a few seconds to realise i have nothing due... the same thing happened last semester where i dreamt I still had one more exam left... apparently my psyche doesn't seem to like freedom and enjoys the stress that comes with uni?

today marked the second day of the downpour of birthdays that are about to rain down upon me... in the next week alone I have six. which leaves me one day to recuperate... I guess everyone wants to celebrate their 21st, which is a good thing as our next milestone IS 30. by that time, our BIGGEST celebration ie. the big white day with the big white dress will have already come and gone by for most of us!! =O just to put things in perspective...

Happy 21st birthday Colleen, Kim, Minhza and Vi. x

note to self. caffeine is a diuretic...

epic fail.

because i didnt want to waste any study time BUT had to take a shower, i decided to hunt down some blu-tack to stick down notes against the shower door which happens to be see through...
ultimately, this was a fail on three levels because i did not anticipate but soon realised:
A. i cant read properly without my glasses... which i don't wear whilst showering... and squinting was not an option soooo,
B. i decided to stand closer to the notes, but then was standing outside the optimal range of shower spray... too cold soooo,
C. turned up the heat of the water and as a result, the glass was soon all foggy... way to foggy to see anything much less read...

fail times three.

but at least i smell nice and fresh now?

my fingers are currently bearing the brunt of my seemingly intensive major cram sessions. hang in there middle finger, the pen needs to lean on you just a little longer...

fishies

i have never been up before 8 on a saturday before but here i am typing away at 7.55. mum got up to feed all our fishes this morning and they were all dead... not just one but all five... they definitely were well alive and swimming around yesterday...
my parents are not the biggest fans of pets so when they offered to buy me some goldfishes after getting into macrob, i was overjoyed... i handpicked the 4 myself and over the years watched them grow... considering 3 fishies died, at least one of the current five was from all the way back then... and i know it's nothing compared to the attachment you feel to say, a dog or a cat but they were still pets nonetheless... it's probably ridiculous but I remember crying when the first one died... it was a googly eyed fish and got picked on by all the other fish... i couldn't bring myself to look at its body so let mum handled it...
it means nothing now but John and i were about to buy my parents a new fish tank this Christmas... a few years back my sister and brother were playing in the lounge when they hit the clock and it fell onto the fish tank, cracking it... my dad patched it up with silicon... so after 5 years or so, it was definitely time to upgrade... the what-if's have surfaced and i find myself pondering what if i bought that fish tank sooner? what if we were able to realise what had happened sooner? i find regret slowly washing over for buying them in the first place... partially for selfish reasons being my incompetency of dealing with death, even with something as small as goldfishes... but also because they may have been better off...
there's a reason my parents are against getting pets and i think they were right. I should have listened. but along with everything else i've rambled on about, it's too late...

does not like trains...

alas, i have come to realize the sydenham line is an odd place to be... today i had the misfortune of picking a seat opposite to a lady who would NOT sit with her legs closed... in fact take the opposite of that... i dont even think guys sit like that! =.= and all the while i had to make sure i didn't randomly zone out like i normally do and then be 'caught' looking when actually i wouldn't be looking! so instead i had to pretend i was sleeeping the whole train ride home just to avoid any mishaps ie. keep my eyes closed... good idea considering she was still there on the train when i got off the train and still non-lady like... ergs... =.=

am feeling wide awake... and kinda ok ish... almost parallels that of the calm before the storm...

exams, why do you haunt me so?

it appears even in my sleep i cannot escape the wrath of exams... hot weather + CONSTANT studying all day made me sleepy... took a little nap, dreamt of something along the lines of failing exams, literally sat up straight away and am now wide awake... seems to have done the trick though because this is the first time i've taken a nap that did not exceed half an hour... back to studying i go...

to the lady who shoved her ass into me on the train, as if it wasn't bad enough the first time around, you had to go and do it again as you were getting off. considering the fact i was sitting down as well...

for someone who supposedly finish her report last night (morning) it sure didnt seem that way considering i just made a mad dash around uni looking for printing before dashing off to hand it in JUST before the deadline... last minute changes and referencing sure took longer than what i pictured in my mind... having said that, it is done. cant figure out what i should do now...
inny minny mi-ny eep, should i study or should i sleep?

sleep deprived ramblings

it is almost 3 in the morning... i have finally just finished my report worth 50% of a subject... all i can think about is the quote 'nothing good happens after 2 am, when it's 2 am, go to sleep' but luckily for me i switched my phone on silent tonight.
my exams are now fast approaching but i still cant seem to get myself to that 100% concentration i need... my motivation is lacking... i keep telling myself IF i want to get into honours, must do well... IF (and this one really is the big IF) i want to try for medicine, must do well... but still i struggle to focus... motivation, where for art thou?

in light of yesterdays stress/rage, i forgot to blog about friday's events.

HAPPY 21ST SURPRISE TO MINHHHHHH =)
(sorry you will always be minh to me... BUT i did almost type tash once or twice recently)
It was a gorgeous sunny day (like you minh, sunny and happy! lol) where the biomed gang gathered to surprise minh (btw. big thanks to christine for the organizing! it was top notch!) and indeed she was super duper surprised! i hope we didnt give you a fright though?? O.o But just to quickly go through the perks of the picnic:

1. Khammy climbed up a tree that was at least 2 metres from the ground...
2. rubiks cube challenge: all hail the supreme 'rubikscuber' Ms Vivian Liang
3. violent hugging from minh...
4. extremely decadent but very yummy at first birthday cupcake...
5. the delicious picnic food, loved the tiny sandwiches and potato salad (kudos to christine, mama christine and lucy)
6. being able to hang out with everyone during exam period...

Again, hope you had a very very happy early birthday minhh! <3

and now on to the second highlight of the day... presenting the legendary Ms BRITNEY SPEARS

I must say I went into this concert expecting nothing, maybe even disappointment but came out pleasantly surprised... she was absolutely amazing! the whole show was amazing! the dancing, the stage, lights, circus acts... LOVED LOVE IT! AND she even sang ONE song! the ballad 'everytime', but it was very well done! (to all you other complainers; i dont get how you would NOT know that she lipsyncs for her songs, sheesh!?) but it didnt matter! spectacular... i have been wowed by britney once again...

Anyway i have a date now with microbiology. joy.

yet another vent

it absolutely astounds me how thick-minded some people are... i have come to notice that quite frequently when tutoring some of my students, parents/ family friends will stand around harping about god knows what. and when i say harping, i mean talking very very loud as ALL asians do. =.= honestly, i find it rude and it absolutely affects the concentration of not only me but also the student. and IF i did say something along the lines of 'please shut up' im sure i'd come across as the rude one. so instead i just sit there silently seething and sending telepathic shut-ups. bloody oath.

relationships are one pleasure and a thousand sufferings. or so it seems that way during the downward spirals. I keep waiting for the upwards to come but it never seems to. I keep holding my breath waiting for it yet it amounts to nothing.

maybe it is just me. but my mind keeps pondering and i cant seem to find the wrong in what i think and say.. or are we just stubborn people who hold steadfastly onto our own perceptions. they say there's two sides to every story yet we only see one.

i feel so stuck. so stupid. i see myself as a naive school girl who knows absolutely nothing about that l word. The notion of even believing i did for one second is ridiculous. i only wish I saw that earlier.

please dont comment. i just needed to clear my mind before i hit the books again... studying should keep my mind occupied.. just keep studying...

the sunset currently fills the whole room. but at this point I really don't see the light.

ragee rageeee... stupid quiz. blast it. multiple choice. 12 questions. 11 of which the correct answer was A. lazy much?

the product of a good two hours worth of studying

make that four hours as it took the minds of both khammy and maggie to put this together... im telling myself it's worth it as I was supposed to have done 2 lectures in this time according to my schedule...

low and behold, get ready for a good dose of pokemon



togepi aka togeminh



grimer aka slimon



slowpoke aka slowpetrus

and when in the vicinity of one another, these 3 amalgamate to form: DUGTRIO



dugtrio aka minh, simon and petrus




chansey aka christine



pikachu aka pikhamchu



venosaur aka venpatosaur




persian aka jeff



primeape aka primelan



viximon aka viviamon



viviamon version 2.0 aka veevee




hitmonlee aka hailee lee



goldeen aka colleen



nidoking aka nidokim



psyduck aka psyjoon



-throws pokeball- " i choose you thomasthetankenginamon!" - haha lets pretend its a pokemon...

you know you're stressed when you have...

... multiple pimples.

pimple number three: please go away =/

good riddance to pimples number one and two. you won't be missed.

Time and time again I continue to stare in awe and admiration at the things I see every time I find myself in a hospital.
Just a few observations from today:
- I saw a number of kids who were in wheelchairs, kids with their arms in slings and others with eye patches over one eye, but you’d never know it if it weren’t for these tell tale signs. Their laughter and their smiles light up their whole faces.
- I saw a woman well into her 60s at least, fully decked out in scrubs…
- two sweet elderly women devoting their time to raise funds for the sick children
- Devoted parents who stick by their kids with words of encouragement and braving smiles on their faces whilst trying to reassure/calm their kids.

kudos to all of you!

a little note to idiot number one and idiot number two

This is a story (or rather a rant) about something that has occurred countless number of times before. Ever heard of the old adage: you learn from your mistakes? Apparently I don't. After months of silence, he strikes again unexpectedly...

Idiot number one: stop calling me at 4am in the morning (give or take 1 or 2 hours in other versions of this story.. the record stands at 5:40am ish)
On an additional note, I do not understand the way your mind works... why would you call someone at 4am just to tell them that you're gonna call them back in half an hour's time at 4.30am?!?!!?

Idiot number two: stop picking up...

shame...

I have to say I feel like a noob… there was a massive moth in the classroom today… and im ashamed to say none of the GIRLS were screaming… nor were the boys but that wasn’t a surprise… =.= so I armed them with newspapers to shoo it out of the classroom. Perhaps I should hire them as my moth body guards… oh great now they’re making fun of me… they’re throwing their rubbers (with yes on one side and no on the other side) asking questions ‘is maggie scared of butterflies?, is maggie scared of spiders…’ and despite most of the yeses being correct, I shall deny it. What are the chances of a butterfly or spider appearing in the classroom anyway?

an affair with Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Molecular Approach

I have a confession to make... after committing to ONLY genes to phenotype study for the whole of last night, i cheated. The temptation was just too strong for me when I came across this book a special person bought for me once upon a time... and once i opened it, I realized it had most, if not all the answers I was previously searching for... and so I left genes to phenotype for some time with microbial cells and genome.

It's morning now... time to head back to genes to phenotype... i dread it...

But anyway, thank you to that special person. <3
you know who you are =)

this overwhelming feeling of confusion and sadness has picked a bad time to kick in...

wanted ad: time machine

I have come to realize at this late hour that I would very much like to go back in time to the 27th of July to the moment I mentally told myself 'alright, this is it! this semester i'm gonna study consistently! no more last minute pimples from stress, could-have-been-avoided cramming sessions and major panic attacks whilst trying to take in a whole semester's worth in such a short period of time...'

and IF i could go back to that time, I would:

A. laugh and scold myself for having such a silly notion OR

B. actually put on my nerd gear for the WHOLE semester or at least most...

someone build a time machine please?

pro......... cras..... tin......ation.

the weather was supposed to be crappy today... hence incentive for me to stay indoors and study study study... but its bright and sunny outside, blue skies, birds chirping, music playing... THAT'S RIGHT. music. loud music that cant be blocked out even if i moved to the furthest room away from the source. the neighbours are throwing a party atm. great timing... there goes my attempt to chain myself to my desk and study... i think its a sign i should wonder out of my hermit shell that will form my life for the next few weeks and wonder about...

and if according to the timetable i've drawn up for myself, yesterday was also a failure. i penciled in an appointment with 5 lectopia sessions and only managed 2. Why am I always so 'optimistic' when writing up lists? Why do I even bother writing up lists...?! such a procrastination tool... oh dear... there's a voice inside my head saying 'you're a procrastination tool!' =.= i think im gonna give studying another go...

ps. To Lan: if you read this, we must go play tennis! I 'played' for an hour yesterday and somehow from the last time we played till now I suck even more... from my brother: 'why'd you even buy a tennis racquet for?!' and after a decent rally and jumping up and down with joy, from John: 'you still suck anyway' . but yes... im feeeling some pains in my arms right now so it must mean i did something right...

too many tv weddings i say...

i think all the tv weddings that i've watched has finally gotten to my head... next thing I know Im in a white dress heading to my own wedding that I dont even recall planning... tried running away a few times and in the end was forced down the aisle... eventually refused to sign the marriage certificate.... hyperventilated... then woke up in a panicked state... and realised it was all just a dream... but yes... to all who say I will be the first to get married... I highly, highly doubt it. =S

On another note, yesterday's journey to Heidlberg was certainly interesting... khammy's turf i say though she denies it vehemently... at the platform my peripheral vision honed in on a guy heading in our direction... without even thinking, I turned to look and then he caught my eye and started talking... (stupid stupid me) whilst listening to his ever so mundane small talk, my eyes caught hold of his tag.. eldar fong, missionary of something something something... =.= i see khammy inching away from me slowly... double =.= thanks a lot khammy!

him: so why are you heading to Heidlberg today? Do you live there?

me: No...

him: so where do you live?

me: (really blank and trying to think of an answer) ummm.... -pause for a few seconds-

khammy: sunshine! (thanks khammy?)

him: so are you an international student?

me: no...

him: really?! wow I cant tell you are local cos you don't have blond hair....

(WHAT?!?! btw he was a fob as well... so at this point khammy bursts out laughing.. thanks a lot khammy... and then i burst out laughing too and he's standing there all lost... but yes... he needs a course in genetics... are the two even related?! its like saying because pigs are pink, birds can fly... )

anyway at the end of that conversation, he asked for my name... and again I went blank cos i didnt want to give him my real name... and then khammy came to the 'rescue' and said my name was 'you know who' .. thanks a lot khammy...

i. am. an. idiot.

so anyway after stressing over what words to use in an email to a potential honours supervisor.. and then staring at the screen for ages waiting for the correct words to come out.. and then staring at the screeen some more wondering if i left anything out or needed to change some odd phrases... and then repeating that process a gazillion times cos something didnt felt right... and then finally mustering up the courage to ignore that feeling to not press the send button...

I pressed the compose button instead of the send button... which deleted everything I had previously typed.

Here I go again. blast you.

the fatal addiction of restaurant city

ok I believe you are hooked to something when you stare at the screeen for ages waiting for the 'error in loading page' message to go away. Thats what I did before when restaurant city shut down all of a sudden. An overwhelming feeling of emptiness just washed over me... ok maybe not to that extent... but i did sit there and clicked the refresh button about 30 times.

But luckily it's working again.

oh and lan, here's your kudos on finding the page. =)

mmmmm... oh so 'delicious' nails

as the exam study time grows shorter, so too does my nails... =/ why?! why do we bite our nails when stressed? perhaps its time I put some nail polish on them... perhaps that will deter me from biting them... perhaps...

well done to thy and minh for discovering my blog lol! although I wasn't exactly being stealth by making comments on a mutual friend's page hahaha =.= but tis ok...!

anyway I should probably head off to sleeep now... gotta deal with the little kiddies in the morning... little craps they can be sometimes... especially the Y chromosome containing ones... pfft, they dont get any better when they're older either! cough cough.

signing out, ms jagged uneven nails

x

honourable mention to soon-to-be-doctors

I've been rolling around in bed for the last few minutes trying to fall asleep as it is quite late (or early depending on how you look at it) and realized the futility of trying. so here's me giving up on trying for now.

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate two of my fellow biomeders,

Christine To and Jeffery Chen.

I am super duper happy for you guys and wish you all the best! =) remember to visit when you're down in melbourne!!

I also have a feeling the next few posts will feature congratulations of the same nature to the rest of you guys!

But yes, it's finally sinking in. The 3 years of biomed that was such comfortable and familiar territory to us all is slowly drawing to an end. I still dont have a clue as to what I would like to do after this year. What I would want to do for the rest of my life... well I guess I dont have to have a solid idea on that yet. The first step would be to figure out what I want to do next year... maybe i should find some place to have an epiphany. And all of a sudden the thought that comes to mind is a toilet on top of a hospital like in scrubs. Though my epiphanies aren't exactly helpful as I have had quite a few of them (law, physio, honours, become a bum, defer .. yada yada) that now I'm ever so confused. mind boggling stuff. Though I can probably cross out the defer option as the thought of having nothing to do study wise really scares me at this point. hmm.

on another note, to the girlies currently at susie's housewarming/sleepover, I hope you girls are having a great night! after hearing some more about a certain someone's sleep stripping tendencies, I hope all is well... not that you girls would mind anyway haha!

alright, I think I shall cease my ramblings for now. night.

ps. again a super duper humunga congratulations to you guys for getting into ANU med!! x

frazzled.

after a week of not one, not two, but three assessments of the test nature (exam, midsem and quiz) and 2 assignments, all I wanna do is just close my eyes and float away to a place where uni and all the blahblah that comes along with it does NOT exist. But then I realise, i have another assignment due on monday. bah.

haunted by viro-wooooooooo-logy

it just might be me being super duper tired, but after that awful virology exam this morning the last thing i want to think about is anything icosahedral related. what were the chances of viruses being the feature article on wikipedia today? coincidence much? i dont think so.