PRP Diaries: Week 1- Of Lapor Diri, Orientation and Tagging

Salaam and hello everyone! This post charts my first week experience of a PRP. Before I started working as a PRP, I had scoured through the internet to look for a detailed account of a PRP experience but well, there wasn't much to be read. And I was nervous, having a bleak idea on how will my life be and so after I had finally become a PRP myself, I thought, why not I write about a PRP's experience at the hospital?

This post is very long but I hope that it will be of many help and use to the Pharmacy students out there or other graduated Pharmacy students who are waiting for their PRP posting, in terms of getting a clue about the whole process of becoming a PRP and consequently to be mentally prepared. I'll try to blog as regularly as I could, insya Allah.

Here it goes:

LAPOR DIRI 

On the 19th of January 2014 aka the sacred date, the day of judgement (so-called), I woke up at 5 am, got ready for my first day of work and headed off to Seberang Jaya Hospital at 6.30 am. 

Truth be told, I was really nervous the night before, and when I was driving from Sungai Petani to Seberang Jaya. It was my first time driving that far. The sky was still dark and yet, there were many cars, plus I was alone. 

I was contemplating my fate. Seberang Jaya is still pretty far from home. But imagine, what if I get GH Penang? Then I'd have to find a house to rent on the weekend. But who will stay with me? What if I'm the only one who got posted to GH Penang? And just the day before, my mom was driving the car to show me the way to GH Penang, and the roads leading there are quite small and narrow, hectic and jammed, packed with cars and vehicles of various sizes. Of course, many 'what ifs' were in my mind. I just prayed to Allah to give me the best. But still, I'd pray to get the nearest hospital to home, which is Hospital Kepala Batas. 

I parked my car in Hospital Seberang Jaya and saw a Farmasi Klinik Pakar just a distance away. I wondered whether I'd end up in Hospital Seberang Jaya? So, from HSJ, I got into my friend Suney's car, and Aliaa was in it as well. All three of us in the same car, off to Penang Island we went, not before crossing the busy Penang Bridge and Penang Roads. T___T

The Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri (JKN) Penang is located on the 35th floor of the KOMTAR (Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak) building. The parking fee is RM1 per hour. ZzzZzzz...

We arrived there at 8 something a.m and got our 'visitor sticker' from the counter. We had to lapor diri at 9 am. So, after meeting Muna and her mom and sister there, we decided to have a breakfast there. I ordered a piece of roti canai but somehow, I couldn't really bring myself to chew and swallow it. I was extremely nervous, the same goes with my other friends.  Only 5 of us IIU-ans went to lapor diri on that day (and plus another girl who graduated from University College London, and that makes the six of us). The remaining 3 UIA students haven't received their posting letter yet and JKN has this rule that you couldn't lapor diri if you do not have the original posting letter with you. >_<

So At 9 am, all of us went to JKN. We waited there for about 40 minutes. Then an officer came out of the room and said that they are going to discuss about which hospital shall we be posted to, and that we're required to come back to JKN at 10.30 am. 

I asked him abruptly "What criteria do you usually use to decide this?"

And he said "Usually, we'd base it by your home address," 

And I replied "In that case, please let me get Seberang, hehe,"

The rest of my friends responded the same. xD

The officer just smiled and said "Well, let's see,"

He sure had a way to get our hopes high up. 

Those 40 plus minutes of waiting were dreadful. We had high hopes that all five of us would be posted to Seberang Jaya or Kepala Batas, and the other 3 in Pulau Pinang Island, LOL. 

Then, 10.30 am. We walked slowly to the office. We had to wait again. The officer in charge went out of his room and gave us each a form to fill. A personal particulars form. 

After about 10 minutes later, he walked out of his room, bringing a stack of envelopes. 

He called out my name first.

I was nervous as he passed the envelope bearing my name and the hospital I'm going to be posted to, to me. 

I took the letter out of the envelope and saw "Pengarah Hospital Seberang Jaya," typed at the top of it.

An immense relief swept me off my feet. I was elated. Alhamdulillah! I was expecting to get Hospital Kepala Batas but...Hospital Seberang Jaya is still acceptable. I didn't get posted to GH Penang!

But that feeling was temporary. My girl friends, all of them got posted to Hospital Pulau Pinang, and I was left with a male classmate. Only two of us got Hospital Seberang Jaya. T__T

The thing about JKN Penang is that, they are inflexible. Other JKNs allowed you to exchange your hospital placements amongst yourselves. But Penang, no. It's a sad case for Aliaa as she has a daughter back home in Seberang Jaya. To cross the bridge everyday to Seberang Jaya is something that is quite difficult, especially in your PRP year, as your schedule is not really fixed. But never mind, the first step is always the hardest. 

SEBERANG JAYA HOSPITAL 

As for me, to Seberang Jaya we shall go! I had no choice but to sit at the back seat of Ban's car (which was filled with his stuffs he lugged from his home in Taiping), directing him the way to HSJ at the back like a boss! While he was driving in front, xD.

We reached there at about 12 something pm. We were required to report to the Pengarah Hospital Seberang Jaya. But she was in a meeting.  The person in charge gave us a stack of forms for us to fill up and we had to come back at 2 pm. 

I was sad. I was alone. Lunch break, and I didn't have anyone to eat lunch with. No way was I going to eat with Ban. (and he didn't want to have lunch either, hahahaha). So I just bought a sandwich and a bottled tea, eating my lunch at the stone bench, my legs splayed out in a yoga position (bersila la tuu).

So at 2 pm, we went back to the office. The Pengarah Hospital was still in a meeting. But the nice person in charge, Puan S (she's also from SP!) gave us the 'Aku Janji Form' to sign and the hospital booklet or something. She then explained a bit about the procedure. We were required to send the many forms that she had given us by the end of the week for the 'salary purpose', hoping that we could receive our salary by the end of February.

After everything was over, she brought us to the IT Department (?) to get us registered for our thumb prints. There were many thumb print devices scattered all over the hospital and each time we reached hospital in the morning or before going back home in the evening, we had to punch in and punch out using our thumb print. Gone was the era of having punch cards. Haha. 

I forgot to punch out before going back and in the morning on the second day. (I reached the hospital at 7.30 am but I only realized about it at 8 something am). LOL. Hopefully they will forgive me, as it was just my 1st and 2nd day there. 

PHARMACY DEPARTMENT, HOSPITAL SEBERANG JAYA 

So, after everything about lapor diri had settled, we were required to meet our Ketua Pegawai Farmasi (KPF) to lapor diri to her. But she was in a meeting, haha. And coincidentally, on that day, it was the first general meeting for the pharmacists of HSJ. It was really awkward for us two newbies. We didn't know anyone! So  after that,  Miss O of Training Department briefed us about so many things like the organization chart, many forms, schedules, timetables, night shifts etc. It was complicated, really. It was overwhelming, it was just too much for me. who had just being forcedly awaken from a 7 months slumber, to experience such a hectic year ahead of us. Hahaha...I got even more depressed by the thought that I had to drive all the way to Sungai Petani again after that, and the following days to come. 

DS, a sweet senior PRP (she had done her PRP since July 2014, but same age of course) brought us on a tour around the Pharmacy department and introduced us to many staffs there. 

Then, it was already 5 pm, without punching out, I walked towards my car forlornly. For that week and the week after, we have to undergo a 'tagging process' from 5 to 7 pm at Farmasi Klinik Pakar and Farmasi Bekalan Wad. Coming home at 7pm? Huuu...Ceh, that's just the beginning. Of course, everything was new. I haven't fully adjusted myself to the environment there yet. Naturally, I'd feel sad. But at least I could come home every day! :) 

When I reached home, Miss O had already uploaded the pics of our timetables. Hahaha... *gelak speechless*.

Only two of us there? Me and Ban? I hope someone from my class (a girl) would come to Seberang Jaya on the next day.

Oh yes, the first day that you lapor diri is the first day of you working. Ban who hailed from Perak still didn't find any house to rent yet and so he stayed at someone's house for a while. Be prepared!

My advice would be, once you received your posting letter denoting which state will you be posted to, try to google for houses to rent in different areas there. In this case, if it's Penang, it will be Penang Island, Seberang Jaya, Kepala Batas or Bukit Mertajam. 

SECOND DAY

Woke up at 5.30 am. Had only a mug of warm cocoa drink as my very early breakfast. Went driving. I kept on praying that Allah will soothe my heart and give me strength to carry on. It doesn't help me upon thinking that my Sungai Petanian classmates got posted to HSAH. :( Anyway, I firmly believe that there is a solid reason of why Allah had placed me in Penang (Seberang Jaya, to be precise). I haven't found the reason yet but I'm sure that it will materialize itself along the PRP process, or at least, at the end of my PRP year. 

Orientation at Ambulatory Pharmacy, or Farmasi Klinik Pakar/Outpatient Department la. Briefings given by Miss L, Encik F and several others. Of course, many more complicated information and systems to digest. But hopefully I can get the hang of all of them when I'm officially posted to this department. 

Paris messaged me and said she got Seberang Jaya! Yaay! She is from Penang Island and naturally she was disappointed for not getting GH Penang. She came in to the hospital a bit late because Aliaa wanted to change the hospital with her and that they have to meet the JKN people again and noooo, they've decided that Aliaa could not change her hospital. Muna said Aliaa even cried in front of her preceptor. So sad... :((

I got gang! Yaay! Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for answering my prayer. :)

So, first day of tagging at the Outpatient Pharmacy from 5 to 7 pm. We had to do the filling process. Screen the prescription, look at the drug regimen and fill the medications according to the name of drugs, frequency and duration. Thankfully, most of the doctors/specialists at HSJ have nice handwritings. Hehe. But of course, we couldn't read/decipher the prescriptions, we could always ask for help from the helpful PPFs (Penolong Pegawai Farmasi), FRP and another senior PRP there. 

I was feeling clueless the moment I look at the prescription. 40 mg of Simvastatin? But I have to take it from the 20 mg rack. So two tablets per day? Times how many days? It was all simple mathematics, really, but I blanked out. Hahaha... Buat malu je. Nasib baik ada Kak J yang sangat helpful. And oh, another tip from me: Always carry a calculator, a pen, a small notepad and a pair of scissors in your white coat pocket. You'll know why once you experience it. :P

Naturally, as it was only our first day there, we had difficulties locating the drugs, and took a long time to fill them up. But as time went by, slowly, we had begun to show some improvements, alhamdulillah. We also committed several mistakes while filling the prescription. :(( But never mind, it's a learning process. The most important thing is to never give up, and to make sure your patients are safe and healthy (no medication errors) when consuming the drugs you had dispensed. Because it's the job of a pharmacist to do so.

I drove home feeling happy. It was really a nice feeling driving back home after a long tiring day. :) 

THIRD DAY
Again, another day spent at the Outpatient Department. This time, I observed on how the FRP counselled the patients regarding usage of medications and also I jot down some notes based on my observation. I also asked the PRPs about the screening of prescription process, etc.
Encik F also get us to fill in the prescriptions of the Blue Card patients. (a value added service), and by time, we had gotten familiarized with the many locations of medications in the pharmacy. Get it? Hehe.

I also had the opportunity to observe the FRPs conducting the MTAC (Medication Therapy Adherence Clinic) Diabetes at the MOPD. And after that, we went to see Miss F at the counselling department and she briefed us about the counselling of medications and devices, even asking us to demonstrate how to use those devices correctly, hahaha. She gave us each a Metered Dose Inhaler for us to practise on at home.

Third day of tagging at the Outpatient Pharmacy was superb! The FRP there taught us on how to reconstitute syrups for pediatric, which involved some calculations, and also he taught me how to calculate the dosage of heparin needed, how to fill the small table at the back of the prescription, how to determine whether the dosage was appropriate for the children based on their body weights, and many more. He was very nice when he called out our names, telling us patiently about the mistakes we had done.

I had made up my mind that when I become an FRP later on, I will be as helpful and nice as he is, insya Allah.

FOURTH DAY

Last day of orientation at the Outpatient Department. Again, Miss F taught us how to use the medications, devices, etc. Encik F pointed out the mistakes I've made when filling the blue card medications. (There are both Amlodipine of 5 mg and 10 mg strength available at the pharmacy okay!!!)

And as for tagging at the outpatient department, this time we had the opportunity to label the medications. The three of us newbies made practise exercises on the reconstitution of drugs. So, new things learned every day, alhamdulillah.

FIFTH DAY 

Last day of the week! The schedule for the morning-  CDR,  Galenical, TPN orientation. Mr A of CDR briefed us about the CDR process and such, while Miss T of Galenical brought us to the place where the pre packed the medications used in the ward. I love galenical because it reminds me so much of my experience in Pilot Plant, IKOP, IIUM. Well, let's see. I also love TPN because it seems interesting. Hehe.

In the afternoon, we had 'logistics pharmacy' in our schedule. We went to the logistics pharmacy department (basically, it's a store) and we had to separate the letters received into different sections and also we had to key in the information from the letters into the Microsoft Excel. Sounds tedious but at least our feet did not ache as much as when we were in OPD haha. We were just sitting in an air-conditioned room and typing on the computer. The feeling is like working in an office, like you see in those dramas and movies. But still, it's too early to determine the workload as that was just our first day of orientation at the Logistics Pharmacy.

The final day of tagging at the Outpatient Department had its own highlights. I finally managed to reconstitute the Penicillin V syrup for pediatric all by myself! I double checked the calculation and even asked Paris to check whether my calculations are correct. I pray hard (still praying) that the patient will be in good condition. Ameen.

So, end of the FIRST WEEK of PRP.

We have to study in this weekend because there's going to be a 1 hour examination tomorrow (Monday) to evaluate our performance at the outpatient department. If we failed the examination, we will be required to repeat the whole tagging process again! (balik pukul 7 lagi) so please please please pray for me and my friends, and also our patients. :)

I'll put some pictures later la. Gotta study! 

Nightmare Before PRP

With her creepy eyes staring intently at me, Sally said 'Sarah, go and study!' I woke up abruptly as I heard her voice. Upon looking at my horrified expression, her mouth slowly curved into a peculiarly freaky smile and she silently cackled. 

Nothing is scarier than having Sally Skellington as your studying partner. XD

I wish I had bought more pens like this. They are so cute! >___<

Okay, so what's cookin'?

I still haven't received my official posting letter yet. Called the office yesterday and they said that we can only report for our duty when we got the posting letter. ZzzZzzz...

Ahad cuti. Sultan Kedah's Birthday. So, we might get it on Monday? Monday is supposed to be the first day to lapor diri but never mind, let's just report for duty on Tuesday...LOL. 

I had finished all the tasks required for lapor diri like undergoing medical check-up, akuan sumpah at the mahkamah and other stuffs. 

Now I have 2 things left to attend to. 

1. To pack up my stuffs-baju kurung and such. 

2. To start studying. 

I had only started studying last night, after more than 6 months of graduating, haha. 

I guess I had some of the stuffs figured out. I don't exactly 100% remember everything, but the things that I had studied for are at least enough (in my opinion) to prevent me from getting panic attacks and to be entirely clueless when I start working.

I decided to plan my revision/study according to what are required in the logbooks. I had covered 6 logbooks so far (like I said, I don't memorize EVERYTHING about them and besides the seniors said that you mainly gain knowledge through hands-on experiences) and I think I had gotten a general idea about each department. Let's see.. hmm...

As for today, I have to study on the counselling for medications like anti diabetics, antihypertensives, antiasthmatics, anti retrovirals, anticoagulant; those are the main stuffs and others (psychiatry, renal). 

Here's the PRP training schedule. 52 weeks! 52 weeks! 

Oh wait, some of you might not know what does PRP stands for? 

PRP stands for Provisionally Registered Pharmacist. It's like the Houseman version of medical doctors, only that we're required to undergo one year of training, as opposed to 2 years for them housemen. 

Throughout the 52 weeks /1 year, we will undergo rotations to different departments (9 main departments) and we have to complete the logbook for each department (9 logbooks) and achieve a minimum of 60% marks for each logbook to pass each department. Why 60% eh? Why not 50%, like the usual passing marks? Oh, I don't really know but I think it's because 50% is just atas pagar, cukup-cukup je and KKM wouldn't want to produce 'cukup-cukup makan' pharmacists, am I right? Haha memandai je. 

Other than completing the logbook, we also have to sit for the Forensic Law Exam, held thrice a year (in March, June and November-you can choose to take the exam in any of these 3 months) for us to proceed to FRP and get our license. 

So, after sending our logbooks and passing our Forensic Law Exam, that marks the end of the PRP! (Can't wait for this glorious moment)! And then, we will become FRP! (Which stands for Fully Registered Pharmacist-the Medical Officer (M.O) version for pharmacists). 

I hope I could blog at least once a week during the PRP training. 

I hope I can pass my PRP and proceed to FRP.

I hope that all my patients will be healthy, safe, sihat walafiat. Ameen. 

I hope I will be spared from the emotional and physical torments (exhaustion) , which is unlikely. huhuu..never mind, pain is gain. But it's  a whole lot better to gain without having to experience the pain right? hahaha. 

Please pray for me and my friends, and the Angels will pray for you. Hehe. 

That's all from me. Adieu and wassalam. 

EDIT: Di saat baru nak bergembira ingatkan hari Isnin ni tak kerja, posmen pulak datang bagi Surat Cinta. Just arrived. Siap guna pos laju lagi! Begitu gigihnya KKM! 

Moh le lapor diri hari senin ni.... Dx

A Great Plan for Sarah

Morning is my favourite time of the day.

The chirping of the birds+

The coolness of the weather+

The refreshing soft rays of the sun+

The thought that a brand new day is finally here

= All these make me feel happy and inspired

 Last night, before going to bed, I convinced myself that I can do this! I can survive working in Penang, no matter how notoriously hectic and stressful the hospital environment is, as what had been told by others who had been working there/are now working there. I figured I need a good night sleep instead of worrying about choosing which house to rent ( with an affordable price). LOL I worried more about the house to rent rather than about my PRP. :P 

And so, in a trying moment like this, you need a GOAL to keep your head up straight and not to succumb into any distraction along the way. 

GOAL: ACE my PRP! Passed PRP with flying colours, passed forensic exam, work hard (and smart) throughout your PRP year!

DISTRACTIONS: Stop thinking about which house to rent, how you're going to go back home after a long day of working, worrying about the flow of traffic, bla bla bla...

I have a lot of worries and fears, you see. But once I realized that I have no power nor control over certain things (like predicting the flow of traffic, the supernatural presence in the rented house, the number of mat rempits/drug addicts in the area), and instead, to just submit myself to Allah and put my trust towards Him, surprisingly, I feel a lot better. 

I have to say that I am a bit disappointed with my posting result. Even though it's just Penang and I'm not supposed to think much about it. But all of my Kedahan friends who put Kedah as their first choice got KEDAH as their place of posting. All of them, except me. It makes me think, why did KKM decided to forgo my 1st choice and let the others get their 1st choice of posting place? Why only me? 

And that all of my friends who got posted to Penang had this small state as their first posting choice. It's only me who is not a Penang-ite. 

After doing much thinking and reflections,  I had finally brought myself to this conclusion:

Allah has a Plan for me. 

It might seem imperfect at first (because I didn't like it at first), but it WILL turn out to be the greatest and most perfect plan in the end. 

Hard as it seems, I must convince myself to go along with His plan, and also to trust Him, and his Great Plan. 

Let's look back after a year on how wrong could I be now, and how VERY RIGHT Allah had been all along since the beginning. 

I shall call His plan for me as 'A Great Plan for Sarah'. Whenever I'm faced with a difficult situation, I must keep this in mind, this is one of the elements of 'A Great Plan for Sarah'. Patience. Trust. Pray. Patience. Trust. Pray. 

A classmate of mine got posted to Melaka. Her first choice is Pahang. She's the only one who got posted to Melaka. She's also struggling to search for a house to rent. Lagi kesian kan? Never mind, Allah has bigger and greater plans for her.

5 more days till Monday!!! *cries* 

21 Days Later

This was a drafted post written on 3/1/2015.

***
It was on the 13th of December 2014 that I  started to pick up the pencil to draw and colour for the first time in years! (Thanks to Mandy Wang for indirectly triggering my sudden interest in arts! :D). I think the last time I ever did so (colouring) was in primary school. And that was like 13 years ago. O___o.

And of course, as expected, my stiff hand struggled to start drawing on the white piece of paper. I had encountered problems mostly in drawing facial features. xD

Everything turned out crooked and lopsided. Hahahha... 

And this was the first artwork I did back then. 

Remember cross-eyed, half-paralyzed Rapunzel? Hahahaha

And after days of practises, I finally come up with this. 

21 days later. 

The improved version after weeks of training my once stiff hands into becoming more flexible. xD

Picture reference from Mandy Wang. 

It seems that my drawing skill had improved a lot. I did receive many positive feedbacks from my friends on instagram. Thank you! :D

But in terms of colouring, it is still not perfect. I'm still trying to figure out the correct combination of colours to create the perfect skin tone. And how to draw realistic-looking hair. ^^  

Of course la, I still have lots of things to learn. But from this, it shows that everyone can sketch/draw and colour, regardless of whether you think you are talented or not. The most important thing is to keep practising! And never give up. :) 

That's all from me. Buhbye! :D

2014: A Personal Reflection

Salaam and hello everyone. Today is the 31st of December 2014, which is the last day of the year.

It is said that the year 2014 had been a sad year for Malaysians. It started out all right, in my opinion. I was happy and contented in the beginning, and I had anticipated for more great things to come.

 But as the year progressed through, a series of unfortunate events had began to happen, firstly (and foremost) started with the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370. I remember thinking about it every night. I couldn't sleep. This is just unbelievable. Like what our Defence Minister had repeatedly said, this situation is 'unprecedented'. I prayed hard that they will find the plane. But then again, even if the truth behind its disappearance won't be revealed in this world, ever, I could at least be assured that everything will be revealed in the akhirah,insya Allah.

A few months later when us Malaysians (and the world) were about to slowly accept whatever outcome and conclusion from this event, another Malaysian plane and more innocent souls were lost in the MH17 tragedy. It was during the month of Ramadhan, and I didn't remember when was the last time I cried that hard, or felt that sad. This sadness was doubled with the plights of our brothers and sisters in Palestine who had suffered so much for so many years, most recently during this year's Ramadhan.  I felt so helpless. Is there anything that I could do? Watching Mufti Ismail Menk's video "The Tragedy of MH17: Our Response as Muslims"! had managed to soothe my aching heart.

It seems like this year is a bad year for us all regardless of nationalities. Many accidents and tragedies had happened. The crash of Air Algiers, plus another Taiwan-bound flight (if I'm not mistaken), the heartbreaking Ferry Tragedy in South Korea involving the lost of lives of innocent school children, and just recently, the alleged crash of Flight QZ8501 of which the bodies of the passengers were discovered at the sea. The whole world is mourning.

As for the Sports section, our team had given less than satisfactory performances in the Commonwealth and Asia Games, and that two of our athletes had been tested positive in  drug doping test.

The monsoonal changes, in addition to the massive deforestation and global warming had led to one of the most bad cases of flood in Malaysia. Hundreds of thousands of people had lost their homes and properties. Some, most devastatingly, had lost their loved ones. May Allah give them strength to overcome this. Ameen.

These are some of the major events that had tugged my heartstrings.As for personal stuffs,  well there had been one bad experience. It had been so bad that I think I won't ever recover from it, completely.

But not all there is about 2014 had been that bad. Nicol David, for example, had captured her 8th World Title and we finally have our own first Nobel laureate! 

 Life in this temporary world isn't meant to be perfect, but it is not that bad either, you realized, especially when you are grateful with what you have, as compared to the others who are less fortunate.

So, I would like to reminisce the good things that happened to me in the year 2014.

In no specific order: 

My First Winter Experience in China. A memorable class trip. I visited many historical places, climbed up the Great Wall of China, got into verbal fights with the rude sellers of Silk Street, almost got conned by the Pearl sellers of Olympic Stadium and played ski for the first time!

Family trip to Sabah and Labuan. Ate lots of good foods, snorkelled in two different islands, got stung by a jellyfish, encountered a dangerous experience of almost getting washed away by the big lapping waves, enjoyed long road trips from Kota Kinabalu to Kundasang and other parts of KK, took a boat to WP Labuan and hey, I had finally covered all 14 states of Malaysia! :)

Fun at Legoland Malaysia. I enjoyed the water park and theme park. As a 'thrill rides' enthusiast, those so-called thrilling rides are not thrilling enough for me hahaha. I prefer the rides in Universal Studio Singapore (Battlestar Galactica).But all in all, it had been fun! :)

Jalan-Jalan Penang where I indulged in good foods and visited interesting places.

Singapore. Wedding. Orchard Road. And we went to Studio Jalan Ampas! If you're a fan of P.Ramlee's films and classic black and white films in general, you'll know the significance of this place.

Spent 6 weeks in Pekan and Pekan Hospital for the Hospital Attachment subject. Got into a dispute with a lecturer from KOM. :P. And she complained to my kulliyyah saying a Pharmacy student had been rude towards her hohoho. Heyyy I was just defending my lecturer(you were rude towards her in the first place) and our rights as the pharmacy students there! I can't stand injustice. I really couldn't. Hope I can survive working at the hospital!

Plus, I 'befriended' a mentally 'special' patient called Sabri. :) All of us adored him, actually. He was like a younger brother to us.

Aaanyyywaayyy, the only place of interest we've been to over there was Muzium Diraja Pekan hahaha...But I had fun living under the same roof with my friends of which I could now call my family. (Ten of us sharing a house with a single functioning bathroom/toilet!)  Hardships had brought us closer. :) I miss them already! And the routines and memories we had there! :')

Ice skating again! After so many years! (At the newly opened IOI City Mall, Putrajaya) This time I was skating like a pro as I didn't fall even once! :P

Pergi kursus kahwin. All of us Pekanized gang went there because two people in our gang were getting married (they're married now, Alhamdulillah) and they needed to attend this compulsory course. So, kira teman diorang la. This going to marriage course thing is not that significant but heyy, it's something new! At the end of this course, we were required to sit for a so-called exam hahaha. And some of the questions are very funny!

Graduation/Convocation.
Alhamdulillah, after 4 years of stress and agony, I finally graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons.) with Upper Second Class Honours yaayy!!! And the best thing was that I graduated with my brother Syafiq! (His course is only for 3 years).

I had my braces taken off after being sentenced to 3 and a half years of teeth imprisonment!

Germany won FIFA World Cup 2014 like finally!!!!

I got my own car hahaha. Alhamdulillah. Thanks mom, thanks dad!

Replaced this classic phone below with a new one. 'Smarter' one, geddit? It's a graduation and birthday gift from my parents. I love my new phone! I am so blessed, Alhamdulillah.

Got myself a Tab. To be precise, a Galaxy Note 8.0. Typing this very post on this tab now. My 6 years old (and counting!)  Laptop had been warded since late October.  Discharged but haven't collect it yet.

Read a total of 23 books this year. But I didn't complete my Goodreads Challenge of reading 100 books a year. Actually I had read more than 23 books, but not new books, get it? I have this habit and tendency to revisit my favourite books.

76 books behind schedule? Hahahaha

In 2013 however, I had read 34 out of 40 books. So for the duration of 2 years, I had read a total of 57 books yaay!

For 2015, I'm just going to set my goal to 12 books per year. A pretty realistic goal, right? :) Meaning, I must finish at least one book a month. 

I had just recently discovered my love towards art. I've always thought that I'm more of a musical person rather than an 'artistic' one. Thanks to the talented Mandy Wang, I had suddenly got interested in artsy stuffs and I've decided to take this newly-found passion seriously! :D Still a long way to go though. It had barely been a month.

Some of them turned out weird. They are not failures. They make up a path towards perfection. :) 

Crocheting. I was bored. Enough said. I managed to scrape through crocheting a phone case that looks like a chrysalis though. Hahaha. I wanted to try knitting too. I went crazy buying knitting supplies at Daiso. One day, one day.

Improved culinary skills from zero to at least, something. Just you wait, I'm gonna become a domestic goddess/food fairy one fine day muahahaha...

Picking up keyboarding after years of not practising. 80% of Canon in D mastery.

A very short video I posted on Instagram.

I learned German on Duolingo. Level 7. In progress. Again, I abandoned the lesson halfway. ZzzZzzzz....But it's quite easy, really. 

 Ich lese ein Buch. Der Junge trinkst das Wasser. 

Bars tak full sebab lama tak practise.

2015 Resolution: Complete the German language course and pass the exam! 

So basically,  that is all. There are more memorable things I had experienced, I'm sure. Even the smallest of rezeki/bounties and nikmat are very valuable and precious. I could not afford to lose even a bit of it. Thank you Allah, for everything.

After looking at all the good things that had happened to me in 2014, I feel extremely grateful for the life I'm living now. Alhamdulillah. Our parents had been working so hard to ensure we are living a comfortable life and we are very thankful to them for all these. :')

2014 had generally been a bad year for us all. But like I said, it's not that bad either. By counting the blessings that I have received(too many of them!), I know that there is a reason of me being placed in such a fortunate position in this world. I have a role to play. I must share the blessings and gifts Allah s.w.t had given me with the less fortunate ones. Insya Allah. Please pray that Allah would give me strength to help others. Please make this path easy for me. Ameen. 

I have a feeling that the year 2015 will be great year, insya Allah! My wish and hope for this coming year is to create more memories, gain more valuable experiences from my daily life or places I've been to, to polish up my existing skills/interests. To take up a new skill. To be a much better person. To be more organized.

I miss my laptop! It's been such a painful ordeal to type long sentences in this tab.

Oh wow, it's a pretty long post. The year 2014 summed up in one blog post.

Have a year full of Barakah everyone! :) 

Graf-Von Faber-Castell Boutique @Orchard Road

A few days ago,  I went to Ion Mall located at the famous shopping street of Orchard Road, Singapore.

The design of the building is quite modern and futuristic. At the front of the mall; just before the entrance, there was a pretty Christmas-themed set, decorated with sweet and quirky-looking props. :) 

It reminds me of the illustrations in Dr Seuss's books. 

*sings* Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose

Ion Mall hosts shops and boutiques of renowned, prestigious brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce and Galbana, and Salvatore Ferragamo, to name a few. 

But of course, I wasn't there to shop for those branded designer items. 

The main purpose of my visit there was to buy the Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencils that I had been eyeing for since the last 2 weeks. 

Presenting, the Graf-Von Faber-Castell Boutique @Ion Mall, Orchard Road Singapore. 

It's quite small

In this little wonderful place, you could find many exclusive, expensive pens and stationeries made by this famous stationery maker from Germany. 

Expensive pens displayed in glass panelled shelves. They probably cost about thousands of dollars! @___@

Faber-Castell Polychromos Range yaay! On the top left shelf is where you can find the coveted luxurious colour pencils

Pens for Manga/Comics drawing

This full Artist's Set costs SG$ 3000++! 

(Can't remember the exact price) 

I walked out of the shop with the dark-green Faber-Castell carrier bag containing this:

Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencils(set of 60's)!!!!!

The price is SG$ 212.00, inclusive of GST. Yeah, if you didn't know, there's GST in Singapore too.

My precioussss!!!! *stroke stroke stroke*

Yup, it's expensive. But I feel satisfied and happy. Some people find joy in splurging on the latest gadgets, handbags, jewellery, clothes and make-ups (not that there's anything wrong in doing so) and then there's me, who finds delights in spending on things some people couldn't seem to fathom the reason why would anyone spend so much on them; like books, and colour pencils.

I'll put them to good use, insya Allah. :) 

So, I've tried experimenting with the selection of colours available, also with the help of a Pinterest tutorial to finally come up with this. :

'The Eye' gagagagaga

All right, so I couldn't quite get the lashes, xD but anyway, the colours are so vibrant and beautiful! These colour pencils are so much different from the ones I've always used. They are very smooth, the (soy-bean)oil-based lead glides effortlessly on the surface of the paper. The feeling was euphoric, similar to when you're devouring a scrumptious delicious meal. Hehe. 

Of course, more practises are needed. There were times when things didn't work out, leaving you in frustration.  But it's okay. :) 

Like what Walt Disney said, 

'KEEP MOVING FORWARD!" 

The Klutz at the Wedding

For the past one week, I had been spending my time away from home, all for the purpose of attending a relative's wedding in Singapore, and also to have fun along the way there (LEGOLAND!!) XD

So, after everything was over, we finally left Singapore at about 5 pm and arrived home in Kedah just this morning at 5! FIVE in the morning ( 12 hours journey by car). Upon arriving, I slept for a while before waking up for Subuh, then I resumed my sleep, woke up, unpacked my bags and tidied up the room. And later this afternoon, I went to Farahin's wedding. She is one of my childhood friends and we've been friends since we were nine, when I first moved to Kedah. Fast forward to 15 years later, she's now someone's wife!!! 

Anyway, back to the title of this post. I was never considered as a klutz or someone clumsy but somehow, the klutz that was hidden deep inside me decided to unleash itself on this particular day. 

Upon arriving, Jem, Sri and I went inside the house to see Farahin, aka the bride and on the bridal dais, we saw her and her husband posing for photos with other people. 

They looked so preoccupied at that time and that Farahin didn't realize that we were inside the house. And thus, the evil mischievous klutzy me decided to take a quick chance of this moment. 

I decided to give her the shock of her life (or day) of surprising her by coming from behind the dais, grabbing her on the shoulder and said "GAHHHH!!!!" Hahahaha. 

So I carefully went towards her, walking stealthily at the side of the living room. She was still talking to someone. And then, I saw that she was about to turn her head to her left (where I was walking). Oh no! I decided that I must act fast! I quickly ran up at the left side of the bridal dais and.....

KABOOM!!!! CRASH!!!! 

In the midst of hurrying to carry out my evil plan, my left foot accidentally stepped onto the brightly lit fluorescent lamp on the floor and it was smashed into pieces, with the light simultaneously went off. hahahaha

I intended to surprise her and instead, it was me who got the shock of my life! Not just me. Everyone was so shocked, including Farahin, but not in the way I had expected it to be *sobs*

Everyone in the room was looking at me. 

Oh My God. It was SOOO embarrassing!!! The wedding crasher much? Hahahaha...But not that many people were in the room. Alhamdulillah for that. 

The look of shock and dismay on my face must have been apparent as Farahin kept on assuring me saying "It's okay Sarah, it's okay! It's cheap! (LOL)  Is your foot all right?" 

I inspected my foot and discovered although it hurts a bit, nothing serious happened. So I just left the matter to rest for a while and pretended that nothing happened while we took photos together and ate outside. 

# I went home and upon taking off my socks, discovered that a really minor wound had formed at the sole, but that's it, no glass stuck on my sole or whatever, thanks to the thick socks I was wearing. Alhamdulillah. I've experienced worse anyway.

The second klutzy moment was when I accidentally stepped onto Farahin's long wedding train. Dx

As for the third klutzy moment, when we were outside to again take pictures together, I bumped onto the flower decorations and it fell to the floor. Pffttttt.... 

My friends were commenting on how clumsy and klutzy I was during the wedding. Dx. I guess once you did something clumsy  for the day, it will create a chain reaction which leads to you doing more clumsy acts. 

And after I got back home, I realized that I might have forgotten to put the money into the envelope that I gave her =hence empty envelope. Might be. MAYBE.  I am 10% unsure though. 

After reading all this, I realized that my clumsy acts could be attributed to one main factor: Lack of sleep. It leads to impaired rational thinking and decision making, also incoordination in muscle movements, leading to the occurence of 'a series of unfortunate events' as described above. I didn't fall asleep until it was about 4 am. XD

Okay, end of story. I hope it won't happen again. 

Selamat Pengantin Baru, Farahin and Hazimin. 

Semoga Berbahagia hingga ke Syurga. Ameen. :) 

Messed-up Mulan

It started out all right. I thought it's gonna be simple. Simpler than 'The Incredibles'.

How wrong could I be?

VERY wrong.

Mulan turned out all right. It's just quite difficult to draw her hands. But the real problems lie on the rooftop she's standing on, and the background.  I had to use the ruler to draw the pillars and the roof. It all reminds me of Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu Tingkatan 2. It's complicated, what's with the degrees of slopes and all the measurements needed to ensure that the structures do not turn out to be uneven and unbalanced. blurghh... 

All these led to me being in a tense mood. Hahaha.. No more fun in drawing and colouring. Everything went topsy-turvy.  The colours got all wrongly mixed up and eventually the whole thing turned out bad, hahahaha...and I did try everything I could (within my capabilities) to salvage the messed-up drawing, to no avail. 

And today, I figured out 2 things:

1. It's much more difficult to draw buildings rather than people (animated characters, that is). 

2. My mom is right, I don't have what it takes to take architecture. LOL. Let's just stick to Pharmacy, all right? 

Kudos to all architects out there! You guys are amazing!!! 

Mulan in action.

Messed up nose (again!), backgrounds, roof, pillars, I seriously have no idea what was going on in my mind. Hahahaha.

Hey, keep moving forward, remember?