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| Well, camp ended yesterday. Ok, before I go into that, the song Half Our Lives from Sanctus Real's new album We Need Each Other is such a very cute ballad! The following is just one of the verses: "And we will spend our days finding helpless competition to defeat
Yeah, we'll chase away the girls and pretend
That we don't want 'em on our street
The sun is running too, being chased off by the moon
We should go to bed, but we'll catch fireflies instead" (In case the meaning is still opaque, it's - I think - from the perspective of a guy reminiscing about his boyhood memories) Anyway, camp was good...apparently most of the campers thought it was the best camp yet, which I wouldn't know anything about seeing I've managed to escaped going to any of Full Gospel Assembly Melbourne's camps so far till last year when my family migrated and I didn't have the excuse of mid-year trips back home any more (sadly). I liked it because Ps Mike was there (my former youth pastor from Malaysia; he was the guest speaker and I was so happy to see him and his family! I was really touched that he and his wife still remembers me) and because Jamie was one of the camp commandents. The whole camp made me miss home even more, though, which some may say is rather strange for someone who's in the middle of her sixth year in Australia. I really miss Full Gospel Assembly, Kuala Lumpur. I still dream of working for FGA KL one day, probably after retiring. I should go to bed. I'm starting the new semester tomorrow - women's and children's health, should be fun.  AND very hard work...hai, back to early starts, long hours and study study study again after the slack GP/psychiatry semester. Ok, night and take care! | | |
| I passed! Yay, thank You, God! Well, assuming that there's nothing wrong with both my student email account and mobile phone's missed calls service. Sydney was nice...more of a city feel to it, which is what I like. The suburbs look pretty run down, though (well, the ones I saw, anyway). I went to Hillsong church too (the main campus); ironically, the service times changed just on the day we went, to accomodate for winter (rather hard to wake up in the wee hours, you see), so we were there more than an hour early. It was FREEZING! And the ushers wouldn't let us into the main auditorium while the worship team was warming up (which I thought pretty dumb, it's not as if it's a performance...unless they meant it to be one?) so we went to the nearby shops to have breakfast. The church has one of the shortest sermon times ever - less than half an hour long (more like sound bites). I liked the speaker, though; he was a guest from the UK and spoke about how people who really loved people made you uncomfortable (and gave the examples of Mother Teresa, Jackie Pullinger and Jesus Christ Himself). Ooh, and I got an email from the faculty saying that the official policy is that Bachelor of Medical Science students are not allowed to undertake two projects simultaneously (which is rather strange seeing I know someone who did), so the decision's made for me then. It's a pity, though; if I could have done the other project too, I might have had a chance of getting published in an international journal, which is exciting. =) But at least I'm doing something I like. Ok, take care! | | |
| Nothing much to say here. I'm going to Canberra/Sydney for the weekend and then to my church camp for two days next weekend. In between, I've to fit in a date to: - Meet my supervisor (research project), which seems to be going nowhere due to his immensely busy schedule,
- Pack up last semester's stuff (old cardboard boxes are such a boon in this instance),
- Prepare for next semester, which starts in a week's time (probably starting off some of the readings would be good - does that sound too much like a nerd? Oh well, if it means I get a HD, that's a fair enough trade off...and besides I doubt I'll do too much studying during the semester itself, knowing my own procastinating ways),
- Send off some dry cleaning,
- Call up some people for church,
- Compile some ideas for missions that I promised myself (and some other people, what's more) I'll do,
- Do some miscellanous stuff for church (I'm involved in the missions committee, you see),
- Finish watching the seven DVDs I borrowed (two down, five to go - I didn't know they made films of the Discworld series (by Terry Pratchett)! So exciting, I'm going to watch Hogfather tonight),
- Read some of the very big pile of books I've bought over the years and never read (and yet I'll buy even more if I could! Just bought two Bible commentaries, The Interior Castle by St Teresa of Avila, Dark Night of the Soul by St John of the Cross as well as The Classic Collection on Prayer by EM Bounds today - no idea when I'll read those...), and lastly,
- Organise all my papers, magazines, files, folders, and so on and so forth...Well, I've made the first step of sorting them into three stacks so far: personal, school and church. Oh, and one more for "to discard". Sometimes, I feel as if I need a secretary. Well, at least I've already vacuumed and cleaned out my car, which was disgustingly filthy for half the year due to the tramping of mud-stained boots all over the mats, the blowing in of leaves and the like. Ideally, I should also wash +/- wax my Honda Jazz, but eh, I'll leave that for another time. And of course, if there's any time left over, I should spend some time relaxing. Don't worry though, my body has the funny way of making sure I waste my time doing nothing (which to some is another way of relaxing) instead of expending myself to tick off that checklist. Which might not bode well for the future. Well, goodnight! P.S. In case you're wondering why I'm such a social recluse, I did think of meeting up with a couple of old friends but I'm not sure how that's going to happen now (time wise), which is rather sad. | | |
| Regarding myself: Exams are over, yay!!!!!!! Today's practical examination (OSCE) was horrible. Half of it I think I did well but half was disgusting (i.e. I got the diagnoses wrong; I probably had a correct differential somewhere in there but the primary was WRONGGGG). Why did I get it wrong? Because I either ran out of time or for some obscure reason known only to my cerebral cortex (even my normal state of consciousness doesn't understand it), I omitted asking important questions when I knew very well what they were and that I had to ask them. Argh...it's like my brain occasionally thinks it fun to torment me and send me down the path of career suicide. Anyway, I better go rest. Speaking of one's mind in the third person cannot be healthy, not to mention the extra exclamation marks and writing in CAPS a possible sign of ?anxiety ?psychosis (well, obviously not that). Please let me pass, God! Well...I mean, if it's reasonable in the grand scheme of things and if it doesn't mean someone else fails and all that. But I really do want to pass. *sighs* And I was hoping for a HD (I think I could have obtained one based on the written exam alone). Ok, goodnight! | | |
| Ok, I'm ready to post my review on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for anyone who cares. Just be warned that if you adored the movie, you'll probably either end up in tears or send me hate mail after reading the following (well, when I first learned of the changes the filmmakers made, it made me want to cry too): http://www.narniaweb.com/reviewShow.asp?id=3819 A critique (spoilers abound!):
• Narnia: By reducing the "humanity" of the Narnians, it was hard for me to empathise. The river god was rendered mute, thus making him on par with the non-sentient river horses in The Fellowship of the Ring. You don’t see too much of any specific Narnian with the exception of Trumpkin +/- Reepicheep. The main factor distinguishing between the Narnian books and other similar novels, i.e. Greek and Roman mythological figures (albeit, “domesticated” ones) are either lost or only referred to in passing. What a waste. • Of dwarfs and modernity: The randomness of Susan and Lucy calling Trumpkin “our DLF” later in the film as opposed to after he called them “my dear little friends” first (as in the book) makes them seem demeaning. Petty, but you can never be too careful these days, and if it comes to political correctness, what about that of making Susan fight and kiss Caspian? • Politics: As mentioned by other critics, it is puzzling as to why exactly the Narnians need a “son of Adam” to rule when the two lead male characters (i.e. Peter and Caspian) are respectively arrogant and foolish or requires a backbone (Ben Barnes doesn’t express much other than sorrow and anger, though I fault the screenwriters for giving him a lousy character arc by removing his pre-Second-Coming-of-the-Pevensies background). • Telmar: I actually felt sorry for the Telmarine soldiers; it’s hard not to when they’re constantly being pummeled and the only real baddie we see is Miraz and his court. The omission of the Beruna sequence meant we aren’t introduced to Telmarine civilians who would be just as innocent (e.g. Caspian’s nurse). This, plus the contrast between the Pevensies’ Britishness and the Telmarines’ Spanishness, makes the culture clash rather provoking in real-world terms. All very well in theory, but if it makes the audience lay the blame at C.S. Lewis’ feet, then I find that inexcusable. • Finale: After investing so heavily in the multiple battle sequences in the film, it’s rather disappointing to be confronted with a deus ex machina plot device. I know it’s in the book, but the anticipation built up in the film was deflated way too fast. The audience couldn’t participate in the other (i.e. non-blood-shedding) journey of saving Narnia as the reader could in the book (the trip through the gorge, the redemption of Beruna, etc). • Character...or the lack of it: Peter’s change in character was totally unwarranted. One who was once a king under Aslan should have more wisdom and dignity than to start brawls with school kids, throw rocks at strangers or let his emotions overrule his head at the cost of lives. Sure, he may be disgruntled at descending to the lowly status of a plebian (if that is lowly; refer to Aslan’s speech to Caspian) but if that’s all one learns after becoming a grown-up, then save us all from ageing. It mystifies me as to what exactly has he learned from this foray to Narnia too, and it will be unconvincing to show in The Last Battle (if it is made into a film) why he deserves to return to Narnia in contrast to Susan, when in the film he does not so much as apologise to Caspian or the families of the massacred Narnians while Susan is consistently heroic. Interesting character development? Maybe, but so much more unlikable. • Aslan…and more: My biggest pet peeve is how they’ve mauled Aslan’s role in the film. E.g., seemingly minor changes in two of his spoken lines – “I grow bigger as you do” and “nobody knows what would have happened” (compare with "every year you grow, you will find me bigger" and "nobody is told [what would have happened]") – substantially reduce his omnipotence. And making him appear so much later, making Lucy seek him out instead of the reverse, omitting the whole Beruna sequence, and then flippantly excusing his absence by giving the lame excuse of “things don’t happen the same way twice"? It doesn’t quite cut it. • Positives: Edmund (especially Ed!), Lucy, and the cinematography. In case you missed it: Edmund Pevensie (well, Skandar Keynes, really, since Lucy's still my favourite character). | | |
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