As I wrapped up my last day at prac at AAWA yesterday, I couldn’t help but feel rather forlorn. After yesterday, I’ve got another 8 weeks and 1 day before I officially finish my 4 year degree. I’ve been in Perth for 5 years, which isn’t a short amount of time. But 5 years have flown by so quickly. I still remember the rather orientation day at Taylors College Perth 5 years ago, I couldn’t sleep the night before so I had something like 5 hours of sleep. I remember that was 29th January 2004 and that the was day I first met my course mates.
As I count down the days to my family coming to Perth, my heart soars. I haven’t seen them in nearly 2 years, which is probably one of the hardest things to do, being away from them. But as each second ticks away, it also means that I’m nearer to the end of my course. Which I will bid goodbye to assignments, lectures and portfolios. I guess I’m torn about the what to feel. I’m happy that its almost complete, only 8 weeks and 1 day stand between me and the finish date of my course. But that also means closing a chapter in my life, my student days. Undoubtedly I’m also sad, not being able to have 3 month summer holidays, not hanging out with friends between lectures and tutorials but instead going to work and put into practice what I’ve been taught over the past 4 years.
After the next 8 weeks and 1 day, I’m opening a new chapter in life and closing an old one. I’m a sentimental person and like to remember things the way they were. When my friends ask me if I am looking forward to starting my next prac, my answer is both yes and no. Yes because that means I’m nearer to being an OT, and no because I’m going to finish my undergraduate degree. After that, I’m becoming a research assistant and investigating the use of doll therapy for people with dementia. I guess you can say I’m very excited to start but also dreading finishing.
Yesterday I attended the Creative Approaches Workshop run by DBMAS which had the Research and Consultancy Manager speaking about assistive technology, the speech pathologist speaking about communication strategies, the dietician speaking about nutrition strategies, and Louise my supervisor speaking about sensory based activities. At the end of it, it was she was so sweet. She introduced me and what I did for DBMAS during my placement and gave me a present in front of everyone. I was so touched by her generosity and what they thought about me. It made me think that I am in fact good at something and being recognised for it.
So my 4 years of slogging it away has paid off. I now have a job and am in a position for using that as leverage to apply for OT positions. I could not have asked for a better outcome for things. I have a job while waiting for my PR to be approved and I get flexible hours doing what I do best. I guess my future is looking a lot brighter now 
I’ve been doing prac/work at AAWA for the past 6 weeks and I’m beginning to slip into a routine now: Get up, change, drive to work, sit in front of computer, go out for facility visits if lucky, more computer work, drive home, do work, sleep, repeat routine. At the end of next week I once again change ‘jobs’, I switch prac places. Trying to switch jobs once a year is bad enough but switching 3 times is just very tiring. I’m beginning to fatigue from it, beginning to hate the 7 weeks cause once I begin getting used to the routine, I get uprooted again to be placed somewhere else.
I’ve been reflecting on life a bit of late, thinking about cell and my future. For those who don’t know, I’m in the midst of completing a 7 week placement, doing a group assignment, managing my migration application and applying for registration as an OT. Amongst other things I am doing 3 projects for work, which involves me bringing home the company computer to work on it and try and finish 2 projects in 1 day. The other project is an ongoing one which I will have to finish by the end of next week. I have a whole heap of paper work to fill out to apply for permanent residency here in Australia and I’ve got to get that done as I go alone so I have enough time to submit the papers before my visa runs out.
Recently I’ve been thinking about what jobs I will apply for as an OT and found out yesterday that if you are a health professional working outside the health department, the pay is less than if you worked for the health department. I was thoroughly surprised at that, seeing as how government servants aren’t really highly paid. So that pretty much set me on a path to apply for work at one of the public hospitals, preferably Charlies cause I’m already quite familiar with the system there and I know the OTs there. I looked up jobs on Seek there are quite a few, though one of the conditions was that you need to have a right to work in Australia, so I would have to lodge my migration application first before everything. I’m anticipating a very busy Christmas period, filling out forms and making dozens on phone calls and submitting documents. I’ll be going down South for a while when my family comes so I’ve got quite a bit of paper work to bring down South Working holiday. Actually, I can’t even remember the last holiday I had. This is bad. It’s high time for a holiday huh?
I think I’m probably addicted to being busy. I feel rather useless when I’ve got a block of time that I can’t schedule for say doing some Bible study to shopping for groceries. I think my diary speaks for itself. It’s full of all sorts of reminders as well as appointments and peoples’ birthdays. I think a hospital job would be good for me, I actually like carrying around pagers Feels important. Hahaha….So I had never used a pager before, so forgive me if I like prodding the buttons and being paged 
I’m currently on my laptop typing this entry up, with the work computer next to me and I’m doing things on both computers at once. Talk about really multi tasking. I’m also sitting on a fit ball just so I get the exercise while doing work. Haha. I got off work early today, there was nothing going on in the office and my supervisor let me off at 1.30pm and I skipped out of the office, well walked out since I was carrying 2 laptops and 2 other bags and waltzed to Ange’s house. It was 27 degrees today and it was a beautiful spring day! Though it was a lot hotter than I expected 
Anyways, here’s a picture of my current work station at home with the 2 computers.
I guess the only reason I have the two on is cause the left one is the mine and the work one has the programs I need and space to save the stuff to bring back to the office. Speaking of which, I need to lug the computer to work tomorrow while on public transport. I hate to admit this, but I’m a bit spoiled already cause I have a car but oh well, just one day won’t kill me I’m off to go get some work done before the night ends. Toodles!
I was told today by my patient at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital that I have a nice complexion. I guess I didn’t know what to feel: happy that I have good complexion or shocked because that came out of the mouth of a elderly gentleman. I guess I was stunned that after the hour long interview and standardised assessments that I had to do with him that he actually noticed my face. I guess I take what compliments I can get, after all I did wear make up today
As I work on the ward where most of them are older people, I sometimes see an older couple on the ward, where one of them is an inpatient and the other is visiting them. It breaks my heart sometimes to also see people who don’t get visitors at all and spend the whole day staring at walls and doing nothing. What amazes me to see sometimes is that the old couple have been married for so long and yet still support each other so well. Sometimes I wonder if I’m going to have a husband to look after me when I’m old, a person to spend days with and to look after each other.
Today is one of those days where I spend time on the bus and I think lots of random thoughts to myself. I had interviews with 3 clients and 1 team meeting back to back and now I’m feeling rather exhausted from everything. I have yet to write the reports for the clients. I’ve got a meeting in the morning tomorrow and have to look through files for patient notes and I’ve got that case study presentation things happening tomorrow as well. I’ve just finished the case study and I’m going to get that printed out and I should be done for the day. I took over today for my supervisor at the Falls Clinic at the Day Hospital and I’ve pretty much took over half of the role of a senior OT for the day. I can tell you that it is no joke what she does. She’s in charge of the DASU which is the delirium unit and as well as the Day Hospital OT stuff and home visiting for both places. It’s a jolly lot happening all at once, but I’m glad I took this prac. Its pretty much opened my eyes to a lot of things and I’m loving the experience, though I’m just flat out by the end of the day. Productive nonetheless.
Speaking of being exhausted, it is now 9pm and I’m off to print my case study and off to bed I go. I’m just way to pooped to do anything else but read in my nice warm bed.
Well, 2 pieces of really exciting news today! My family are visiting me in December and coming for my graduation in February! I so can’t wait to see them! They manage to get the free Air Asia tickets that were on sale at midnight and voila! I miss them so so so much! Almost 2 years of not seeing them, it will be so sweet to see them again
Another piece of news is that is recent is that our cell, Keypers, has multiplied and split into 2 groups for word and discussion time. Worship will still be together and then discussion will be separate in the smaller groups since its much more effective that way and that way we can help each other grow spiritually. Justin will be leading 1 group and Joe and I will be taking on the other since I have only just begun to take on more responsibilities in cell and can’t manage the cell by myself yet. We will officially be separating into 2 different venues on the 18th of July, in other words next semester. Since I do not usually run on a semester timetable, and I’m in my 2nd or 3rd week of prac then, I’m foreseeing it to be quite a challenging time. But I’ll keep pressing on and I believe we can make it happen without much trouble.
I see myself trying to bring up topics that are worthwhile discussing in cell and I’m definitely open to suggestions from anyone. What we are doing in cell is basically to sow into each others’ lives and to reap what we have sowed, to encourage one another and support each other in times of need and to grow spiritually together. Doing that in a smaller group is much more optimal than trying to shout across to the room to 20 people. I guess the task at hand for me now is to learn as much as possible as I can and prepare myself to take on the role and to also imbibe my passion for God into other people. I feel that it is important to reach out to others who do not know the Gospel but it is also important to make sure that your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are also growing spiritually and not lagging behind. Start with the people at home, then go outwards.
I believe my part to play in all this is to minister to my fellow brothers and sister in Christ. Not to say that missions and outreach and evangelism isn’t important, I feel that my role in the Body is to grow my brothers and sisters. Who knows, maybe in the near future I might have different roles in take on in the Body. The main thing I believe to to follow what the Lord leads me to do. Doing it might sometimes be hard and challenging at times, but to put it in a bigger picture, it is not about me but what God intends to do with me in His plan. I look at it this way, God, the great and almighty who created the heavens, the earth, the stars, the universe and everything it, is using little old me to go forth and makes disciples of people. Yes, it is unnerving but at the same time, I feel honoured to be playing my little role in the Body.
There are many more things I need to learn and study about but life is all about learning and it is a journey. I believe that learning doesn’t end at tertiary education, but that is just part of a lifelong learning journey. I learn new things everyday and I don’t think I want to stop learning. There are so many things in the bible that I learn each time I open it; a new lesson, a new verse, a new revelation and glimpses of God’s plan. It is so amazing that I can’t contain it, I want to tell the world! Yes, it is the line of the song.
Well, from here we shall keep growing, in numbers and spiritually with our walk with God. When Pastor Jason told us that we’d be multiplying again after 6 months (this was 6 months ago), I didn’t really believe it was possible. After we split from Finders, we were 8 people only. Now, we’ve grown to 23 people in cell. That is nearly 3 times the size of what we were in August last year. It is just amazing. Well, we can sit on our butts and still have cell with 23 people in 1 location or we can go forth and multiply and bring more people into cell.
Well, we shall go forth and GROW!
Just got home from bible study and dim sum lunch. Been studying about the sequence of the prophetic events of Revelation and some of the Old Testament. It is scary to watch all these events in play at the moment. It is prophesied in Revelation that there will be earthquakes and worldwide famine happening prior to the Great Tribulation and with the earthquake in China, price of food (especially rice) and petrol climbing each day, it all ties in now.
Reading something in the Bible and then seeing it happen according to what this book says that was written such a long time ago, it is hard not to believe that God is in the world and that Jesus is the Messiah. I read and study about how tough time is going to be in the Great Tribulation and I’m thanking God for revealing this to me in time for me to believe.
Doing all this and the Masterlife series with church, just reaffirms what God has said, “Go and make disciples”. I have felt God speaking to me to tell people all about Him and how great He is. Funny how I would wind up in this position as an associate cell leader and preparing word some weeks. Just makes me explore further my understanding of the Bible and what God’s plans are.
Things happen for a reason and I do not think me being in this church, in this Friday morning bible study group or being associate cell leader happened by chance. It is all God’s work behind everything I do. It is definitely amazing to see where I have come since last year. I came to NLCC, not sure where I was and not feeling too comfortable but slowly but surely I fit in. It feels like I belong. A year ago, if someone had asked me to go tell people about the Gospel (which is the Just Walk Across the Room program), I just shrivel up and shrink into my shell. I enjoyed my comfort zone and didn’t think it was important to tell people about God, I was comfortable with life. I just wasn’t brave enough to say hi to new people or just to strike up conversations with visitors at church.
I think I’ve come a long way since then, sure I still have my comfort zone but I think I’ve become braver and more willing to step out of it to do things that are unexpected. I could not have done this without God’s guidance and definitely not without fellowship with believers. I think now, I’ve become more open to the idea of witnessing to people and talking to people about God and their beliefs. Sure, it isn’t always easy to tell people that my God is the omnipotent God and the omnipresent God, there is rejection to be expected. It is written in the bible that Jesus told his disciples, expect rejection because they come in His name. But fret not, for He has given the resources to go spread the gospel and He will always be there.
At the end of it, I take it this way: Tell as many people about Jesus as possible, I don’t care if I look like a fool. People ridiculed Jesus when He walked on the face of the earth, what makes me think that I won’t get ridiculed, even if the Messiah was called a liar by the nation of Israel? I’m out there to tell people and nothing can stop me from that.
On a lighter note, it is Michelle Tang’s birthday today. Happy birthday dear!
Came home from Amanda’s prize giving ceremony last night and had dinner with her parents and her brother. Man, the stories they told made me laugh till I cried last night. Being at the ceremony last night made me miss the times I had my prize giving ceremonies in Malaysia. Which then reminded me of my family back home.
See, Amanda won the most prestigious award of the night, the Ken Hall medal for the best overall graduating honours student in Curtin Business school. Then her dad went to go talk to Emeritus Professor Ken Hall after the ceremony, which reminded me of the time that dad went up to the press and got me in the newspaper after PMR.
She told me of the story where the defining moment in her life was where once her dad chucked her bag into this big rubbish bin. There was one day she didn’t do her homework and her parents found out and then her dad chucked her bag in this big rubbish bin far away. So Amanda had to go get her bag from her bin in the dark, groping around a smelly bin for her bag and trudged home. When she got home, her dad said, “Don’t want to study, that is what you are going to do. Pick up rubbish for a living”. That pretty much drove the point home.
I guess upon hearing that, it really does make sense: if you don’t put in the effort, you’ll end up like that, without much of a career. That really got me thinking, if I put in the effort now and do well for my pracs, there is going to be employment opportunities along the track. The next 21 weeks at prac will be gruelling but I think I’ve prepared myself mentally for it. I expect a lot of blood (not mine), sweat and tears along the way but I keep telling myself it will all be worth it in the end to see a degree and a resource package for Royal Perth Hospital which can add to my CV.
You only get one chance to live life, and life is too short to let go of these opportunities. From now on, I’m grabbing every opportunity in life I can get my hands on and living the way God wants me to live.
Today at the Vic Park train station, this gentleman asked if he could have change for a 5 dollar note for the ticket machine. Either that or if one of us had 20 cents so he could purchase his train ticket. The other Asian guy just stared stupidly ahead while fiddling with his bicycle, Lin was on the phone so I dug around in my wallet so I could give the poor guy 20 cents. He was wearing a suit and tie so I thought he was in genuine need since he took out his 5 dollar note looking around for change.
What I didn’t imagine was for this guy to thank me profusely for the 20 cents. To me, that 20 cents maybe could have topped up and bought me some fries or something at McDonald’s but to see this guy (I’m guessing in his 50s or 60s) thanking me even as our train arrived just made my day. I did not expect to get it back, for I did not even know him for him to track me down and return the money. So as we reached Perth Train Station, I forgot about that little incident and happily was chatting with Lin when I bumped into David, who was heading to uni. So we ended up talking for a minute or 2 and then Lin taps me on the shoulder, gesturing just past the SmartRider gates.
And there was the same guy who borrowed that 20 cents from me, handing me back 20 cents and thanking me again for lending it to him. I was gob smacked that he even returned the money since 20 cents can’t really get you much these days. That just brought me think, some people really take a lot of things for granted, I know I’m guilty of that sometimes. I suppose when you’re caught up with the whirlwind of life, you tend to forget the little things in life. It’s the little things in life that really matter.
Someone sent me this forwarded e-mail recently which describes some natural highs:
1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favourite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry).
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15 The beach
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they Love you
19 Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you’re beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy or kitten.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends.
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36. Making chocolate chip cookies.
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38. Holding hands with someone you care about.
39. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the expression on someone’s face as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43. Knowing that somebody misses you.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you’ve done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
Never have I learnt the value of treasuring the little things so well.
I received a letter in the mail from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions today. In the back of my mind I knew what it was, but I refused to acknowledge it. I opened the letter with shaking hands and handed it to my Aunty to read cause I couldn’t bear to read it. I immediately saw the 3 names of the people behind the attempted armed robbery. 3 names that will probably stick in my mind for a long time yet. I finally can put a name to the face that terrorised me 6 long months ago. A face that I will remember, my screams that will continue to ring in my ears once in a while and the thumping of my heart pushing blood through my veins. All those things will remain in my memory, I do not forget that easily.
The Plea Day has been set for 12th March 2008.
I’ve decided. I will write that document. I want closure. I want it all to end.
It’s the first day of 2008 and it doesn’t really feel that much different from yesterday, with the only exception that the calenders are now 2008 instead of 2007.
Had a great BBQ at Ange’s place yesterday with Ange, Emeline, Lin, Kim, Euhin, Leigh-San, Eukim and Mark. Ended up not having to cook for once at a BBQ, the guys did all the cooking. Unfortunately I could not find my camera in my room so I didn’t take any pictures but I’ll grab them off Ange later and post them up. Counted down the new year’s with all of them, got entertained by Leigh-San’s magic tricks, thought about some new year’s resolutions and took plenty of pictures
2007 was a good year, filled with many ups and downs. The 3rd year of uni, one more year left to finishing my degree and graduating as a full fledged Occupational Therapist. A year spent with dear friends of mine, got sick plenty of times, worked the many hours at jobs and most of all spent time with my family.
So here’s to a fresh start and Happy New Year!
Today has been ending of sorts. Last day of semester for third year. Last semester together with the babes before we are being shipped off to do pracs around metro Perth and elsewhere. Lin’s going off to China, Ange and me are possibly going to Melbourne for pracs. It has ended on a bitter sweet note. One of the last times we’ll hang out together all three of us at uni, lounging and baking in the sun at Angazi.
I suppose I feel sad, excited and scared all at the same time. Many things in the future are uncertain and that really scares me. I don’t like feeling out of control and not knowing where my pracs are is really worrying me. At the same time, I’m excited about going out and FINALLY experiencing OT out in reality and not being kept under a shell and having to learn everything from books and the internet. Finally it’ll be hands on experience. Yet I feel sad cause my support group (ie: the babes) are being taken away from me. It’s going to take a lot of getting used to, not being able to chillax in between classes or wait for them to pick me up from ‘work’ or having long lunches at Angazi cause someone got paid or meeting at Main Cafe where all of us just get the $3.50 specials with my guild card.
I am going to miss those moments, being carefree (relatively) and young. Telling people I’m doing my final year next year and completing a degree is a scary thought. Definitely a whole set of challenges next year. No more submitting assignments right on the dot when it is due. Though there’s going to be 3 sets of portfolios and a self-directed project to complete. I opted for the self-directed instead of another supervised prac.
I guess the way we celebrated the end of 3 years of uni was by hanging out at Angazi and chillaxing and laughing about each others’ famous funny moments. 3 years seem like such a short time, yet it is a heck of a long time. Many many hours of work, sweat, tears and sometimes blood being poured out for the sake of uni. 3 years of uni, 2 years of friendship are just but numbers.
Speaking of numbers, I’m thinking about doing something for my 22nd since I didn’t get to celebrate with friends here and I didn’t really do anything for my 21st this year. Any ideas? All I know I have got to lose a freaking 15 kilos by then. Gah! Which pretty much equals me having to exercise each day. I had a walk on Wednesday evening and probably going to go next week so I can get the oxygen flowing to my brain and the endorphines working and gearing me up for exams.
Speaking about exams, I cannot stand the buzzing sounds from the planes that are taking part in the Red Bull air race. Everyone 1 minute or so there’ll be buzzing cause those damn planes are flying over where I live. It’s going to be bad tomorrow and Sunday. I seriously pity the people taking exams at UWA tomorrow, they’ll be hearing things buzzing about them every so often. I tell you, I have such a low threshold to stimuli, verbal and visual, that it is literally impossible for me to concentrate with that noise around.
I’ll be working tomorrow till Monday and then pretty much studying till exams start on Monday 12th November. 2 written papers and a viva and I’m good to go for placements next year. How scary is that?
Anyways, I’m going to have to leave now since I plan to do some iLectures before I sleep tonight to kick start my study program