Posts filed under ‘Things Worth Checking Out’
Front Row Seats
I think God must know whenever I’m stressed out. Cos’ whenever the finals are days away, I get things like these: Anzac Day Parade, Guy Sebastian’s 7am concert and the Christmas Parade as my entertainment.
These things usually start pretty early, and by early I mean like 7 something 8. So at 8 something while I was still dreaming, I heard Aladdin’s theme song and LOTS of kiddy voices! I was like “Wtf! Am I still dreaming?!”
Well, I wasn’t.
This was what I found.
What we look like at 9 in the morning after only 4+ hours of sleep.
Smoking Cessation
All materials are sourced from the QUITbook except for the images which are from various websites.
Quit because you can
Smoking Kills
Every year, about 19,000 Australians die from diseases caused by smoking. One in two lifetime smokers will die from their addiction. Half of these deaths will occur in middle age.
Cigarettes are full of poisons
Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals. As well as tar and nicotine, there is also the gas carbon monoxide (car exhaust fumes), ammonia (floor cleaner) and arsenic (rat poison).
Cancer
At least 69 of the chemicals in tobacco smoke are known to cause cancer.
Your blood
Every cigarette you smoke temporarily increases your heart rate and blood pressure, and narrows the small blood vessels under your skin. It slows your blood flow, reducing oxygen to your feet and hands. Your fingers and toes become colder.
All cigarettes are toxic
It doesn’t help if you smoke weaker tasting cigarettes such as those labelled ‘fine’, ‘smooth’ or ‘refined’. These cigarettes have holes in the filter that let in air to dilute the smoke. But you still end up inhaling the same amount of chemicals as you would from stronger tasting cigarettes. So you do the same amount of damage.
Smoking causes disease- a good reason to quit
Emphysema
Lung Cancer
Heart Disease & Strokes
Babies
Fact 1: 12 hours after stopping, almost all nicotine is out of your system. In about 5 days, most nicotine by-products have gone.
Fact 2: Within a day of quitting, the level of carbon monoxide in your blood has dropped dramatically. Your body can take up and use oxygen more easily.
Fact 3: After eight weeks without smoking, your immune system improves.
Know why you smoke:
All smokers have their own smoking habits which are usually tied to certain moods, activities, events, places or people. They may be quite strong bonds.
Addiction: To satisfy the craving
Emotions: Feeling stressed, upset, angry, frustrated, bored or happy
Pleasure: To enjoy something even more or to reward yourself
Social pressure: Feeling part of the crowd
Habit: Feeling like smoking while doing things or taking a break
Plan ways to deal with quitting
Phone a QUITline
Talk to your doctor, pharmacist or other health professional
Explore Quitting products
Gather information
Make a Quitting Plan
Find a Quitting Partner
Get help from friends and family
SET A DATE TO QUIT
Coping with cravings
Few smokers can quit without feeling the urge or desire to smoke. The first week after you quit can be the hardest, as cravings can be more frequent and intense.
Ways to deal:
Using quitting products
Changing your environment
Using coping thoughts
Changing what you do
Resources:
Smoking & Cardiovascular Diseases
Resources:
In short…
SMOKING = DEATH
Random-ness
By the end of the entry, I swear you’d be into the whole concept of being random too. 
Anyway, there was a mee hoon kueh/cinnabon-clone/ chocolate cupcakes/ popcorn party at Cardiolicious’s place.
Yeah, before I forget here’s the list I’ve come up with so far:
Maarish —> Yummilicious
Ju-Lear —> Cardiolicious
Li Xin —> Sweetielicious
Daniel —> Danielicious
Ivan —> Ivanlicious
As for me… (^_^)
Hyperlicious
Not being a big fan of mee hoon kueh, you know it’s good if I give it 2 thumbs up. In fact, I had 2 helpings!
Wei Jin picking up a skill or two from Cardiolicious
Yat-Tuang, Sher-Ri & Ju-Lear had a major shopping spree in Harbor Town where the latter picked up accessories for $1 apiece. Models are freelancers.
Watch this space for my features article on Chin & Ju-Lear soon. The topic shall remain a secret for the fun of it 
Poor Wei Jin had to beg to leave Ju-Lear’s place
Cinnabon-clones made from scratch by none other than JL. (btw, you should be paying me for all the free advertising you’re getting)
Finally! We made the cupcakes that I’ve been bugging JL since Monday
Sweetielicious & I were eyeing the chocolate frosted cupcakes all the way through dinner.
Another unconventional toast
Doesn’t this look absolutely scrumptious????
You bet it is!
JL’s rose garden
I swear if I to ever become housemates with JL…. we’d be so fat even our mothers wouldn’t recognize us at the airport
We had roti canai & fish curry! What a treat! So ppl back in M’sia.. pls appreciate your curry!
Not contented with stuffing us, JL make popcorn too! From scratch! Like I said, I have a love-hate relationship with you Ms. Cardiolicious
Ooooo!!! And in total random-ness, me, Yat Tuang & JL donated blood in conjuction with the Vampire Cup hosted by SAPSA. Let me just tell you, it was just so freakin’…………………………………
Cool
Yup, you read that right. I was actually terrified to begin with, probably drove JL mad with all my questions.
But I’m so glad she gave me the extra push I really needed to do something I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while now.
It started off with the normal procedure of filling out forms but after that we were all individually interviewed.
The actual donation probably only took about 10-15 minutes but they allocated an hour so that it includes the interview, hemoglobin levels testing etc.
The nurse overseeing my donation was Cathy and she was really really really nice! So friendly and she seriously made the experience almost to the point of being exciting and fun! It was memorable to say the least.
They actually collect about 470 mL from a single donor into a single bag, before spliting the contents into 3 smaller bags. Hence the saving up to 3 lives thingie. The other cool thing was the pamphlet they handed me, it details which component of the donated blood is used in a particular scenario. Maybe when I stop feeling light-headed I will post up some interesting tidbits.
I think the staff there must be thinking we are a delirious bunch of people cos’ we were so happy and animated AFTER the donation. :0
And guess what?
We got to order drinks and food for free! I mean they actually feed you after you donate!
Anyway, speaking of random. Right after that, we literally hopped onto a bus bound for Harbor Town.
I bought a bag from Portmans for $20! It was so totally random. I think it was my quickest purchase, it was like BAM! “That bag quite nice ya?” JL & YT agreed so… I grabbed one and headed for the cashier. End of story.
Like I said… random
Sole-Searching
Can you guess what activity is an instant mood-booster? Nope, not exercise (although that’s what they always tell you). It’s called sales shoe shopping!!!
Was feeling pretty exhausted after work last night, but Ju-Lear intrigued me into going shoe-shopping with her today. She heard from Yat tuang’s housemate that Myer’s was having a shoe sale. She picked up 2 pairs of name brand shoes for only $27.
We fuelled up on coffee prior to our ‘mission’ and that was a smart move! Cos’ as soon as we went in…. it was like WHOOSH!! There were just so many many many piles of shoe boxes! At first sight, we spotted names like Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Dianne Ferrari, Candy, Tony Bianco and well, the list pretty much goes on. Ju-Lear was soooooo excited that she said she was actually palpitating. It was frustrating for me at first cos’ I’m a size 7 and all that were left were sizes 8 and above! But, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise cos’ the good ones were yet to come.
Oklar, don’t want to make this a draggy post cos’ I think pictures will do the shoes more justice anyway. Oh! By the way, I’ve just discovered that my phone camera is quite canggih cos’ the picture quality is quite good.
Ju-Lear’s Gold Candy (which she bought)
My Apple Candy (which I bought)
Ju-Lear’s Black Miss Shop (which she also bought)
Ju-Lear’s White & Navy Regattas (which she bought also lah)
Some strappy gold heels which JL did not buy
My Black Innovare Slingbacks (which I bought and absolutely love!!! I *heart heart heart*)
JL posing with the final contenders (then came the hard part of deciding which ones to actually get)
In short, JL bought a total of 4 pairs whereas I bought 3 pairs. Mission accomplished? Yup, it’s a success alright.
My Green Tony Bianco Slingbacks
My Apple Candy
My Black Innovare Slingbacks
As I was chatting with JL earlier tonight, I got this sudden urge to photograph all my shoes. So off I went, lugging boxes of stinky shoes from the living room into my bedroom and lining them up. The end result was this:
Amazing isn’t it? I bought a grand total of 11 pairs of shoes since the day I arrived in Adelaide. That’s 11 pairs in barely 8 months! I only photographed those I purchased here, I deliberately left out those I brought from home cos’ you’ll think I’m a serious shoe junkie and have me committed.
Ms. JL to sent me her shoe photos, so more shoe glory.
One last thing, remember what I said about my phone camera? The pictures with legs in them were photographed with my phone.
These are just a couple of pics from my phone that I decided to upload.
Ok, this is me signing out cos’ the shoes are starting to stink up my room. Ciao~
Life In Motion
Just something crappy I put together…
Natalie Merchant – My Skin
It’s a really beautiful song. Try listening on a quiet night with the full volume up, lying on the floor…
Danielicious’s 21st Birthday
Though Daniel’s birthday wasn’t till Sunday, a group of us got together for his birthday dinner. Ju-Lear, Li Xin & Maarish put so much effort into making the night extra special and I think they really did. You’ll see what I mean later.
My dad would be proud! Ju-Lear made the pizza dough from SCRATCH! And it came out perfect! Maybe you should consider switching lines, be a 5 star chef or something
The mashed potato for the potato bake
Yummilicious Maarish’s secret recipe filling for the potato bake
As you can see, all I did that night was eat and snapping pics.
Candied Ju-Lear’s pizza dough rose to perfection
The view from Maarish’s balcony
Daniel with Maarish’s end-product
Yummilicious Maarish & Candied Ju-Lear
Delicious pasta sauce by Wei Jin
Ivan giving his thumbs up
And so is Li Xin
Michelle also gave her thumbs up
Finally, the VIP of the night Daniel giving his thumbs up
Sher-Ri, Yat Thuang & Maarish
We had a game of Uno while waiting for the others
Ju-Lear displaying her waitressing skills
She has many in fact
Yet another one
Guess what????? This cake was handmade by Ju-Lear with the help of Li Xin & Daniel. It’s in the shape of a turtle and it was so cutteeeee!!! Ju-Lear girl, what other shapes can you make? I want one for my birthday as well!!
Isn’t it absolutely adorable????
A classmate of ours, Fabian got us pre-sale tickets to HQ (a club for those of you who’s not familiar with it) so that’s where we went to initially.
But then, we had a change of plans and decided to join in on Adelaine’s party @ Red Square. So, off we hop!
Unfortunately, I had to work the next day so I had to rush off by 12. This is after only having about 3 hours of sleep. I rule man. Did I also mention I worked from 1-9 pm? Yeah, either I seriously rule or I’m a big baby. You decide.
Royal Adelaide Show
After hearing mixed opinions about the Royal Adelaide Show, I absolutely had to check it out for myself. Tung Wei, Poh Lee, Chin & Kent made up the mix and off we headed to this much-talked-about event.
The weather was perfect despite the weather forecast warning of occasional showers throughout the day.
Being the professionals we are, we had the whole day semi-mapped out
We headed off to the Farm Expo. Here is where they showcased all the newest discoveries/technologies in farming, agricultures etc.
I’ve always viewed the Ferris Wheel as a must-have landmark at a carnival. This wheel was humongous in particular that made it a must-cam-whore-with backdrop.
Crazy as we are, Tung Wei and I had so much fun walking around the whole day with halos on our heads and wings on our back. I’m sure most of the other patrons thought we were overgrown kids.
My partner in crime for that day. Only she indulged in my childish whim wheres Poh Lee & Chin only had a halo on. Thanks girl.
Determined to fit in with the girls, Kent had to resort to this:
Man, I feel angelic
Next, we went to watch an unconventional sport: Pig racing. Yup, you read that right.
One of the stars of the highly anticipated race.
The race also featured the piggie stars diving off the board pictured below. Being the pig-lover that I’m am, I was in pure ecstatic heaven!
The award-winning vanilla cone
Angels indulge in earthly pleasures every once in a while too you know?
If you thought the earlier event was strange, wait till you hear about this. A logging competition. I’m talking about people competing against each other (either in teams or a solo category) to see who chops off a tree trunk first. Suffice to say, it was certainly very interesting to watch and we found ourselves cheering mid-race.
This would surely send my younger sis up the roof. There was a dog show/expo on and I fell in love there one times too many. Pictured is this year’s winner.
The others joked that we seem to be related.
Yong Chen! Look! A real life schnauzer! I think it got bored with so many people wanting to pose with it cos’ I couldn’t get it to face the camera 
This poor guy was locked up all by himself in a glass-paned cubicle. My heartstrings were all tugged out by the time I was done photographing him
Kent trying his ‘hooking’ skills
The girls were terrible, they pulled everything photographable into the picture, this poor guy included who was just doing his job of passing out free samples of coffee
Paid $1 for this sample of indian curry. If this were in Malaysia, it’d be a total rip off. But here, it just tasted like absolute heaven.
The curry got our tummies going however so off we went searching for dinner
An unconventional toasts to us~
My favourite kind of dinner, a mis-match of everything delicious.
This was how hungry I was. See me eyeing the oysters? Be very afraid
Met a couple of friends there too
The highly anticipated showbags area. It would take too long for me to explain the concept of it.
Chin got the ‘gag’ bag. You go girl!
Kent & his butt double
Having always been a fan of F1, I thoroughly enjoyed the dirt-bike stunt show
Chin with the bear Kent won in the afore-mentioned hook-up- game
Then, it was time for the fireworks. I have to say this, Adelaide has got to have the best fireworks displays ever. In my short 8 months here, I’ve already seen more than I can count on one hand. Each of them seem to outdo the previous ones by large margins. The show that night was sponsored by the Dairy Farmers and it was even coordinated with music.
Poh Lee & her goodies
DND: Angel at Work
Too good of a chance to pass up
Royal Adelaide Show
WooHoo~~~~~
It’s when the ‘unofficial’ holiday begins! Gone are the multiple (and truly degrading negative marking scheme) tests! But ahoy there! There should be some sort of alarm bell ringing in the back of our minds. I guess the approaching 2 week break sorta signals the time to get our asses in place and start studying for the finals (due 10th Nov)! Fat chance I should say if you know me.
Don’t know bout’ you guys but I’m gonna take it easy for the 1st couple of days…. do some much-needed non-pharmacy related reading. Maybe watch more DVDs till my eyeballs pop… pig out! Hmm… nothing I haven’t been doing already.
Will stop crapping now and perhaps take the shower that’s way overdue since 8 am.
Ta (doesn’t this sound weird, but the aussies sure love it’)
-yhwee-
I want! I want! I want!
Damn it! Ignorance is bliss sometimes.
Was just getting my daily dose of pop gossip when I saw…
Ipod Touch
Damn orgasmic just by looking at it. To learn more about this fantastic new beauty:
*I’m not Apple’s spokeperson, but I can tell you I totally *heart* heart* their Ipods. I’ve had an Ipod Mini, now a Ipod Video and my sis and dad all have Ipod Nanos. But I kinda hate it whenever they unveil their new products cos’ they always look so goooooood and they always manage to outshine their last product. You can never keep up with them I guess. If I’ve to do that… I will be constantly broke!
Ok, pls forgive me while I have my *spoilt brat* moment. I’m entitled to a few annually. Thanks.
Just to induce more salivary moments:
