City to Surf - First timer

City to Surf is a charity run held annually, and this year I decided to join in the 4km event. It was not the first time that I had heard of this running event, but every year I would find some excuse or another to get out of it. Initially it was K who told us about it, when he ran 12km two years ago. Inspiring as it was, I could not forsee myself running 12km, but maybe in future, who knows? Anyway, I thought it would be good to experience the adrenaline (epinephrine!) of running in a group (No doubt my adrenoceptors are getting a good workout this weekend especially when I panicked for Monday's pharmacological test).

And indeed, it was a unique feeling... of AMAZEMENT at all the people sprinting off like crazy once the starting horn blew and the kids whizzing past me like they had all the energy in the world. of FRUSTRATION when I could not push myself to run faster in order to conserve energy to run throughout... as I had not mastered how to distribute my energy evenly through the distance. of HUMILITY through having to accept that I have leaps and bounds to improve if I wanted to run like these people. Then it suddenly occured to me that running is a bit like life, isn't it? Everyone paces themselves differently, and we cannot always thrive on comparing our speed of growth and development with someone else's. If we want to move forward, we can only do with our own efforts. Nobody can force us off track for good... if we are blocked, all we have to do is to be flexible and find a way around our obstacle(s). We won't get anywhere by just planning and thinking; instead we need to just set ourselves in the right direction and take the first few steps before letting momentum carry us off on our journey. There is no distance that cannot be covered, no destination unreachable. We limit ourselves with psychological barriers, which if overcome, can release our ability to achieve anything we want.

I've always envisioned long-distance runners to be incredibly strong mentally. We can all learn a thing or two from running, n'est-ce pas?

Early start to Half Way Day!

Having gathered at the carpark to wait for the chartered bus that will fetch us to the hotel for breakfast, we arrived only to join in the photo-snapping frenzy that seemed to have infected everyone.




Nuns galore! It's amazing how a theme of "halfway to heaven, halfway to hell" could have produced this many nuns. I deduce it's a state of purity and peace that everyone desires to attain, once in a lifetime, men and women alike. Notice there's someone out of place here?




The photo taking doesn't stop even after we have reached our breakfast destination.






Let me explain. It's pretty self-explanatory really, but how it came about is a mystery (to me). Our vet halfway day marks the point in time of our 5 years where we would have finished half of our course. Truthfully be told, it's probably signifies the end of heaven and the beginning of hell. Perhaps that's why our chosen theme for this year was "Halfway to heaven, halfway to hell" ?

Misc pics of the Winter Dinner

Shades of grey between black and white












Taken by a professional photographer, who helped to "place" us in such a layout.

More good memories

Maybe flowers have that effect on me? *shrug* :)









Table shot, + 2 extras!









Who's red with happiness?









It would be a pity not to be able to show off our hairdos, and so we did








Comprising most of the year 3 vet students that we could find that night. See, so many mei2 nu3 in our vet class.







The dessert wasn't that good, so we had to do something to convince ourselves otherwise ;P






The strange things people do when they've lost some inhibitions... not all of it, yet...

Fun memories

We look good, don't we? hehe








Whatever the event, we always take a Stellfox (our house) photo ;)











Brian and Kelvin. I must say they look good that night.










This picture was taken pretty much after 20-25 minutes of drinking, thus accounting for the colour change in Brian's face. Apparently the girls' makeup foundation is really strong. I could never have avoiding turning red in the face otherwise. Weird attempt to be coy.




The "stuck-together girls" photo. We wanted to do a different pose so I suggested hugging one another. Unfortunately, my hair really did get tangled up with Lydia's hair, and we spent the next few minutes after taking the shot trying to remove ourselves from each other! Ok, it might be amusing for others, but pretty embarassing at that point of time.

Prelude to Tipsy event

Two Saturdays ago, a bunch of us Singapore vet students attended the annual Vet Winter Dinner. As expected, it was a classy event, being held in a hotel ballroom in the city. Honestly speaking, although we had already made the decision to attend the dinner 2 months back before the end of last semester, I didn't really give it much thought till few days before the event. I guess I just thought of it as a second "prom", and I just wanted to go and experience what it's like in Australia as compared to Singapore, and of course, have some fun with my friends. But then, the excitement and hype about dressing up and makeup finally got to me when William's dad, who does makeup professionally, flew down a day before the event and helped us with our hair and makeup. Thanks to his impressive skills, I think I looked better than what I did for prom 5 years ago! Face was still as white, but I guess that can't be helped. He did the makeup/hair for most of the girls in our group, and so, helped build up the excitement as we gathered at our house before setting off...