i can't write... i feel so uninspired right now. can't think of anything to write.. nosiree.

too busy handling my current life to sit down and record it at the end of each day. it's just a phase i guess. only temporary.

btw, i submitted my first article already. i don't know if it's been published already or not.. well it's not exactly an article. a report actually.

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FULL HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI REPORT - 4TH NOVEMBER

on the 3rd day of hari raya aidilfitri - which fell on 4th november - all malaysian students of ksmu are gathered on the hall of pharmacolledge here at karl marx street. i wonder who doesn't already know about it though. quite a good number of people turned up, all geared up in festive moods - malay or non-malay, showed up in baju kebaya, baju kurung, baju selangor and all.

the gathering started at approximately 1 o'clock after being postponed for one hour due to an unfortunate event occuring in hostel 5 the night before.

a mixture of feelings overwhelmed me as i looked out my window and saw malaysian students wearing rich colourful outfits came passing by - on their way to the hall. i felt almost at home, but getting over the fact that i'm celebrating hari raya here in kursk (again) is still hard to digest.

upon our arrival - which is 15 minutes late - all the seats were already taken. there were 6 tables arranged along the right wall - with food on them! but the sad thing is you can only go through those tables once... :( cause i was so keen to eat my heart out that day. anyways, the lovely emcees were siti maysarah and syazwan who captured the heart of audience almost immediately after they utter a syllable.

during the luncheon we were delighted with some performances from the 1st years students - naysid and silat. a few words from our ppm president, mohd alfalah and the most senior student, abang nizam followed, which emphasized mainly on intra and interracial unity. and not to forget, the ice-breaking session with the new students who are celebrating aidilfitri here for the very first time.. aww...

let's hope that this kind of event can be organized every year. personally i kinda like this year's celebration rather than last year's, because there were practically almost all malaysians present. all malaysians know, "you celebrate, we also celebrate".

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i don't know what i was crapping about. i think it's quite ok for first timers. i don't know if they edited it or not but it's been fun though haha!

i was asked whether or not i'm interested on becoming one of the writers for malaysian student association (msa) paper. i don't even know how i should react to it. part of me was screaming, "ARE YOU KIDDING?! OF COURSE I AM!!" and another part was like, "omigod.. can't they find anyone else who actually CAN write?"

i mean, i'm always open for new experiences but i can't say i'm not nervous doing it. i wonder what my first article would be like. i've said yes to it. it's a window of opportunity that doesn't always come rolling. i'm not a good writer but i can learn. i mean, i can't even keep my blog updated and interesting! ada hati mo jadi writer. haha.

but this one is a minor paper so, it's a good starting point. i can write my own topic, i can say whatever i want - whichever i would find interesting. i hope i won't write too many cliches. and i won't write about my cat either.

i'll be writing once a month.

omigod... what have i gotten myself into? wish me luck ok.

i haven;t had enough sleep for three nights in a row. it didn't help that i have physiology classes on 2 consecutive days! i slept through the whole night last night for 9 hours to make up for the lost sleep (initially planning to wake up at midnight to study), woke up for sahur and accidentally fell back asleep for 2 hours and a half. so i didn't read anything for today's physio class.

class started at 9 o'clock you know. both lyn and i woke up late, 10 minutes before we were supposed to go. i was damn sleepy, sleeping with my physio notes all over the bed.

lyn: ain ain, bangun. 8:20 already.
ain: ko pegi lah lyn. i want to read physio.

skipped philosophy. went to class with an empty head and totally unprepared.

i was the 2nd person to be called up to the blackboard. the question was, "can you explain me the path of the electrical impulse on the nerve?" haha... blank.. i blinked and looked at her. "ain...." ok ok..

lucky i paid attention during lecture! i had answered her question correctly and then she asked me another question. "can the electrical impulse skipped 2 nodes of ranvier at once?" now ok, those who didn't take biology at high school probably don't know what i'm rambling about, but nodes of ranvier are located along the axon (a tail-like structure of the nerve cells) in between myelin sheath which aren't conductive to electrical signals. so electrical impulse jumped from one node of ranvier to another (because like i said, myelin sheath aren't conductive). but the question is, can it jump 2 at once?

i had this picture in my head, like the analogy to it is, when you jump from one point to another, the faster you run before you jump, the further your point of landing right? because you had put just enough energy to jump to that length. but i just didn't know how to put it into words. and plus, i remembered this question from high school but i forgot the answer!

so i looked around for clues. everybody in front of me had that unreadable look. then i saw darshla at the back of the class shook her head and made an inaudible "no no". so stupidly i said, "no". then she think it fun to trap me with another question. "why?" erk.... i went quiet and looked for another set of clues among my fellow colleagues.

then farah said, "i think it depends on the intensity of the stimulation," "yes, you're correct. maladets. ain take your seat," haha! so my analogy was right! i just wasn't thinking very properly! i was lucky that she marked me 4 (a-). my written test was half as bad. my heart stopped pumping when i saw the look on her face while she was marking my paper. she had this wth look, as if saying "apa la budak ni mengarut.."

i'm trying very hard right now to build a good impression on the teachers. not to be a teacher's pet, gawsh no! just so i can earn good marks very easily. wish me luck! i dislike being pretentious, but i will if i have to.

of course! i know i'm 4 days late, but to all my fellow muslims, "a happy ramadhan to all!! Allah bless!"

:D

p/s: i'm extremely blogshy nowadays for reasons i don't quite know, so pardon the outdateness. hee.

our physiology class today is the most disturbing class ever. today's topic was physiology of the excitable tissues. basically it centered on how electrical stimulation are able to produce response, easily recognizable are muscular contractions, secretions from glandular tissues and nerve impulses and reflexes.

so for today's topic, we did 2 experiments. they were called Galvani's experiment - she mentioned something about animal electricity but i can't quite remember what is the connection. oh, and the experiment was conducted on my table, so lyn and i were the direct spectators of the experiment.

The 1st Galvani's Experiment:

for the work it is necessary to have: a frog, a set of instruments for preparation, a galvanic pincer. Galvanic pincer is special pincers with copper and zinc legs (or another pair of different metals).

the succession of the work: distract the brain and spinal cord of the frog. cut the frog across in the region of upper thoracic vertebra. take off the skin from the hind extremities of the frog (holding the rest of the vertebral column by napkin). remove the rest of the viscera by the pincers. the preparation is placed on the glass plate. touch the plexus nervous by legs of galvanic pincers. the muscular contraction is observed.

from my observation: the instruction sounded easy wasn't it? but you wouldn't guess that the frog was going to be cut alive! probably for best results but..... ok, so the frog was alive, madam held both its hind legs with her bare right hand, open its mouth, and cut with a pair of scissors starting from the edge of the mouth all the way across its eyes to the other edge, revealing its spinal cord. the frog shrieked in pain.. that's the worst part...

and then she took a large and long needle then penetrated into its spinal cord to destroy it. while this happens, the muscles of the frog contracted, making it look as if it wanted to leap forward. then the skin was peeled from the frog, together with its organs leaving only it's vertebral column and hind legs.

after that the frog was hung on the galvanic pincers from its vagus nerve and the most curious thing happened (not exactly curious la because we studied the topic after all). the dead, skinless, organless body of the dead frog moved as if... i can't find the word, but it looked like the frog was trying to struggle free from the pincers.

the 2nd experiment used the same dead frog, to show how damaged tissues are able to produce electrical excitation (muscle contraction) when touched with the nerve (in this case, the femoral muscles and sciatic nerve - nerve that connects the spinal cord with the femur).

the image of the frog being cut alive across its mouth is very very higly disturbing. i don't even know how to get it off my system. i went to the lecture afterwards feeling very sick while the scene keep playing and replaying itself. when i got to my room, i tried sleeping but i dreamt about it. i woke up feeling so bad for the frog, and i wonder how on earth am i going to summon the courage to kill a different frog for our practical class next week - we're supposed to do it individually next week.

wallaweh.. die la..

it was like i had just been visited by a dementor!

i think betty is infected with parasite... no, perhaps i ought to rephrase.. no, actually that's not even the right sentence. betty IS infected. i saw the flukes wriggling out of her butt! ewwWWWwWWw~~~~~~~~~~~

poor thing... i recognized the flukes right away when i saw them, we studied about them last year in parasitology. from the size of them, they seem to be from O. felineus species.

opisthorchis felineus

phylum = plathelminthes
class = trematoda
genus = opisthorchis
species = o. felineus

flukes are elongated, flat, leaf-shaped worms.


O. felineus is prevalent in cats, dogs, foxes and hogs in eastern and southeastern europe and asiatic areas of the ussr. it is also found in humans.

they are 7 - 12 mm x 1.5 - 3 mm. habitat is the distal bile ducts, ocassionally the pancreatic duct. life span is up to several years. cats appear to be the most important reservoir hosts in highly endemic areas.

may cause enlargement of liver and the liver may become tender in humans. apart from that, eosinophilia, fibrosis, and destruction of hepatic parenchyma may also occur.

what a scary thing. damn.. i'm supposed to study for physiology test tomorrow and now i'm already distracted! there must be so many of them inside betty that they wriggle out at the rate of 4 - 5 flukes in 5 minutes!

the end of my first week as a 2nd year student. things aren't hectic yet, but there are many new things to study and catch up, since i had missed quite a number of classes. there are new subjects added to our syllabus as well, physiology, psychology, biochemistry, bioethics, and also nursing therapy.

but compared to last semester, there's not much difference in the timetable. we still have some 9.00 - 5.00 days :( waaaaaaa....

monday
9 - 11 = bioethics
11 - 13 = physiology lecture
13 - 15 = biochemistry lecture
15 - 17 = anatomy

tuesday
9 - 11 = anatomy / physiology lecture
11 - 13 = psychology
14 - 17 = biochemistry

wednesday
9 - 11 = russian language
13 - 15 = histology lecture
15 - 17 = bioethics lecture

thursday
9 - 11 = nursing therapy
11 - 13 = physiology
13 - 15 = anatomy
15 - 17 = russian language

friday
9 - 11 = philosophy
11 -13 = physiology
13 - 15 = psychology lecture

saturday
8 - 11 = histology
11 - 13 = philosophy lecture
13 - 15 = russian language

i fasted today. i went to buka puasa with lyn and dla at hostel 5 just now, initially planning to sleep over but since i have to study for physiology. there are 5 chapters to read for major test on tuesday and there's no way i can finish reading if i don't start today. so i cancelled my sleep-over plan, and went back to my hostel.

i really envy those people who can read only once and can understand what they read right away. i'm such a slow reader, i tend to read things over and over again to understand better. and i don't have a very good memory either when it comes to words. numbers and pictures work better.

anyway, as much as i am happy to be back, i still miss home though. there ain't no place like home...

i would really like to blog about something but actually i have 2 chapters of physiology to read for class tomorrow. *sigh*

see you all later.

BRAINFINITY - Dilip Mukerjea

also check - USE YOUR HEAD by Tony Buzan.

it aims to teach readers on how to 'use the head' effectively. most especially for people who are nearly braindead like me. the term BRAINFINITY comes out when mr mukerjea tries to imply that the brain has an infinity of powers - each and everyone of us have infinity brain powers.

so it has tasks and question, such as ;-

have you ever been taught how to present your ideas in a way that appeals to people?

have you ever been taught how to memorize facts in a fun way?

have you ever been taught how to be best friends with your brain?

to which i don't have exact answers. but i'd probably answer 'yes' to all anyway. me and my BRAIN are BEST friends... :D

then the next page i was asked to list some things related to which extent have i bonded with my dear brain.

list all the problems you have with your brain..
1) i'm absent-minded
2) i can be a bit ignorant
3) i'm a bit light-hearted (but heavily trying to fight it) to pursue things to the end.
4) downright forgetful
5) not very disciplined
6) procrastinate! - penyakit sejak azali
7) sometimes i'm not organized. but i'm learning!

okay, maybe some of them are actually my bad habits as a mere imperfect human, but as i have always believed, all our bad habits come from the mind, rite?

then..

list all the goals for your brain..
1) i want to get organized.
2) i want to be able to recall memories when needed (i tend to forget what i read - only when panicking will i start to remember)
3) discipline
4) no more procrastination!
5) i want to be able to think to the limit - no, brainfinity remember? - just think for EVERY possible solution for EVERY problem, and EVERY possible setbacks.
6) i want to always able to think positive.
7) and most of all, i want to remember every little details when i read. no more forgetting! knowledge is far too valuable to be forgotten! - well, a bit like answer number 2.. yea i know..

the thing is, if asked about the things we want, there will always be an answer. at least ONE. nobody - even the happiest man on earth - would have no answer at all. in human minds, there will always be room for improvements.

oh ho! speaking of brainfinity, lately i've come across a genius in the shape of a MD qualified physician, Dr. Rath Mathias. this man may not have PhD, but he found the cure to cardiovascular problems, cancer - which is no more a death threat theoretically, and now he's come --> <-- this close to finding the cure to AIDS!

and all of these major killers are tackled from cellular level. simply by maintaining the health of our cells. i've had some of these kinds of discussion with my abah, and came to the conclusion that every problem has its solution, even if it has always been unnoticed right under our noses!

behold! how vitamin c and amino acids saved cancer patients the world over!

i just got back from climbing mount kinabalu yesterday haha! it's gotta be my most memorable experience for my whole life! those who haven't got there yet, you really should! i'm glad that i went anyway, because i almost cancelled going - and i didn't do any training prior to the trip. but i think i'll do it again next year hehe..

there were about 50 of us, with "mrsm semalaysia" students and teachers, then a bunch of guys from kudat, and 4 of us - my sister hana, my aunt babu damit, elyssa and me. the weather was not very nice, it rained almost all the time and up there on the peak it was very foggy up until noon so i didn't really see anything. but it was the mass of rocks i was standing on that really fascinates me. can you imagine a desert of rocks frequented by some small mountain ponds and baby waterfalls?! the presence of hana and babu damit made me feel right at home.

the journey to laban rata was ok at first. i felt a bit clever though, for travelling light - with only 2 shirts, 2 sweaters and 1 pair of jeans on my legs - before it rained. my only jeans got soaked up by the rain and the shirt i was wearing felt like it had been soaked in a pail for a long time. when i finally got up to laban rata at 3;00 pm, i quickly went to the toilet, took everything off and squeeze em as hard as i can.

on the way i made friends with one of the young guides, jamil who was walking beside me. he was a small, soft-spoken and shy boy. as i treaded on with tired legs he said "just step on slowly. you'll get there. because if you don't you'll regret it. it's really beautiful up there." then i asked him how many times has he gone up there. "20.." was his answer. wicked isn't it?

we stayed at gunting lagadan hostel, a bit up from laban rata. there we made friends with the guys from kudat, especially the 3 schoolboys - jam, fauzi, and farhan, also shah and alex since chatting up the mrsm kiddos was a bit hard when they're around. the temperature at gunting lagadan has got to be below 10 degrees, since it was located only 2 km away from the summit. but there wasn't any heating system, no heaters in rooms and the hot water in the shower went cold when there were somebody else taking a shower next cubicle.

at night we spent our times with trying to dry our wet clothings; shoes, socks and JEANS hahaha.. - using the stove. there were about 30 pairs of shoes and socks arranged along the stove perimeters. went to sleep at 9 pm and woken at 1 am so that we could continue the journey at 2 am approx.

we climbed about 700m of jungle trail before getting at the rocky surface. the fact that it was dark and raining almost dampen my spirit but i kept going, seeing hana was already far ahead of me. after the last stop at sayat-sayat (1 km from summit) i went on without waiting for anyone, until 10 minutes later there was already no one ahead of me, and no one behind me. my heart drummed really fast. i was falling into desperation, strongly clinging to the rope that was leading me to the summit. all around me was dark and cold. suddenly there was a light about 10 m ahead of me, quickly decided to go there. the light, it turned out, belonged to farhan, with jam and fauzi sitting with him on the rocks. i was SO relieved! i stopped and sat with them for a few minutes.

jam accompanied me up the mountain, stopping every now and then when tired. then shah and a female teacher from i don't know which mrsm caught up with us. jam was being a really nice boy keh2, he went with me up the mountain to the peak, helping me go down to gunting lagadan, and then even walked me down to timpohon gate - a 6 km journey. both of us were among the last to arrive down, about 2 and a half hours late from everyone. my foot hurts from the stupidity of wearing tight shoes so walking was really painful - hence the lateness.

i can't wait for next summer!! *sigh..*

life is mundane at the moment. but i'm enjoying my holidays though!

GRYFFINDOR! You scored 32% Slytherin, 8% Ravenclaw, 64% Gryffindor, and 28% Hufflepuff!

You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart. Gryffindors are known for their courage, audacity, and devotion to what is good and honest.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 79% on Slytherin You scored higher than 2% on Ravenclaw You scored higher than 76% on Gryffindor You scored higher than 28% on Hufflepuff

Link: The Sorting Hat Test written by leeannslytherin on Ok Cupid