Going Personal

To be incredibly honest with myself and with everyone, the only reason why I am before my laptop typing out this entry now, is because I have received numerous nags to update my blog!!! Which I know and I agree that yes, this space and the world needs more of my opinions. LOL

I am having difficulty coming up with the right title for this post because I can't seem to think of a subject title that can adequately represent all that I am about to pour into this post plus have the title to be a fairly interesting one! I will most likely come up with one at the end of my writing, and there is a high possibility that it is a very duh! title. I shall wait to see how my brain decides to amuse me on this matter.

Because I am not in the right mindset to write a review for all the eateries that I have visited over the past few weeks, and I am also too tired to churn out quality work for my advertorials, I shall briefly write an update about my life! Will section the post so that it will be less confusing and more digestable!

*****************************
I'm back in school again. It is the final semester.

Graduation Day feels more real than it has ever been.



It feels weird being back in school, simply because Homie isn't there with me in school.


I miss her. I realised how much I depended on her (be it to help get my breakfast in the morning, fuel my need for snacks during boring lectures and tutorial sessions or to simply curse along with me when I rant about all the bitches who annoy us) and how I used to take her presence for granted. I wish she was back in school again, by my side. (I really miss you Addy!!! Don't you dare shed a single tear! We talked about this before!!)

I am really living out the final school semester. I even swam in the school pool the other day!


Of the two and a half years of my diploma course at NYP, this is the first freaking time that I took a dip in the school pool. When Homie was still around, she kept nagging me to go swimming with her. I always could find a million and one (which was "I'M LAZY" HAHA!) to turn down her offer. After having swam in the pool once, I totally understand why she kept going to swim in between classes. Being alone in the whole freaking pool... is so bloody awesome!! #serenity

This is my last 9 weeks with these girls.


Three months ago, I thought the notion of parting with these girls was a scary one. With the impending graduation, it feels even scarier than it was. I should really invest in a good waterproof brown eyeliner for Grad Day. Hmmmmmm. Any recommendations? :D

*****************************
I'm undergoing a chocolate macaroons phase.



I have yet to try Ladurée's because each of their macaroons costs $5 per piece and the minimum order is 6 pieces each time! It is daylight robbery for a student who is still dependable on her parents' for her allowance. Ladurée can wait a couple months more for when I begin work and take home a decent pay.

Someone suggested to me that since I am so crazy about chocolate macaroons now, I should write a review about it and I totally agree on that! Hence when I have gathered enough reviews from all the chocolate macaroons that I can possibly try in Singapore, I will consolidate my findings in a proper post! Everyone needs to know where to get good chocolate macaroons (when they need a boost of endorphins!) and where they can avoid getting chocolate macaroons that don't quite fit their tastebuds...

*****************************
I recently went for Halloween Horror Nights 4 (HHN4) held by USS.

Jello shots!!!!!!
This is the second time that I have attended their Halloween event - my first time there was their first ever HHN. Comparing between my two experiences, the first one was so much better! I'm guessing that they went all out for the first HHN in terms of the decor and planning, which I found to be really impressive!

After having held so many HHN, they probably realised what they could scrimp on (which they did) and it's quite sad to see that less effort was placed into the decor and scare zones. I'm not saying that the decor was terrible because it isn't! It is still pretty good but it was so much better before!


I could see that they turn their focus on the haunted houses and it is sooooo much scarier now!!! I hate Jack's 3-Dementia (ie. the 3D clown one).. I had difficulty differentiating between what was real and what was not, what was stationary and what was moving. It was an experience that was too mind-blowing and nerve-wrecking for this bimbo here! I walked through most of it with my eyes shut really (note: emphasis on the word 'really') tightly!!

Also, this is random but I am never watching Annabelle unless I am at home and I have no plans for the next day because I know that I am going to get really freaked out by it and will most likely get nightmares when I go to bed. It will be an amazement if I do not mute the sound while watching Annabelle, or if I do not end up watching it in fast-forward mode (it was how I survived watching Insidious and Insidious 2).

*****************************

Le Puffball is as cute as ever!!!!! She makes a lot of sounds now and she knows how to whine... which is cute but also bad because she whines a lot and wouldn't stop whining when she wants attention/hugs/to be carried. After having read this line, you would most probably go "Awwww.. But that's so adorable!"

Yes it is adorable, but it only is when you are fully dressed and not only in your lingerie, rushing around your bedroom, trying to prepare to go out... and there is a baby in her pram in your room, whining in a super high pitchy voice and being really loud with her whining, insisting that you carry her NOW!

I love her. I do still love her. A lot, in fact. But this only goes to prove that I am totally not ready yet to have a baby of my own! Am still a narcissist to a certain extent!! LOL

Did I ever mention that changing her diapers is akin to going into a battlefield? If I haven't, now you know. *moans*

*****************************
I went for a picnic at Botanics Garden last Sunday!


I was a total Derpina because I prepared all the food for the picnic! #mecanmakeasandwich #fuckyeah #lol

Tomato-flavoured popcorn chicken, Beddar with Cheddar Smoked Sausage Links (from Johnsonville), cheesy garlic baked button mushrooms, fucking cheesy omelette ('fucking' because I dumped the remaining 3/4 pack of mozzarella cheese into it) and sardine sandwich.

Oh, and I baked oatmeal cookies with raisins and cranberries. #icanbake #achievementunlocked

Took a quick walk around the National Orchid Garden and snapped a few pretty flower pics!

Some momentos. Contemplating starting a souvenir coins collection!
So yes, a super brief update on my life!

Now what I need is sleep, and then also more time so that I can properly work on my advertorial posts. (Stay tuned for them ok!!!)


XO,
Soph

Oktoberfest @ Paulaner

For the foodsters: Oktoberfest @ Paulaner!

Paulaner
Bata - Millenia Walk
9 Raffles Blvd
Singapore 039596
Contact no.: 6883 2572
Before this I have never been to Oktoberfest before. I've heard of it and the only thing I knew about was... it is a beer festival? Lol. I'm so gonna get murdered for having said that line!

Anyway here is some intellectual shit (because I made the effort to google lol!), Oktoberfest is a 16 days festival held from late September to early October. It originated in Munich (capital and largest city of the German state, Bavaria, which is located in the southeast of Germany) and is pretty much a German culture thing! You get together, you drink beer, you have good (subjective to the chef cooking?) German food and that's pretty much it!

It doesn't sound very exciting because I know nuts about it but hey, if I ever go to Germany and experience the actual Oktoberfest at Munich which has a huge-ass carnival that has games and rides and stuff, you guys will be the first to know! I will most probably have a whole lot of crazy stories to write.

As you can most probably tell, the main point of the Oktoberfest is their beer, which in German is termed as "bier". Oktoberfestbiers are brewed in March and have been left to slowly ferment through the summer months. Oktoberfestbier is also known as Munich Beer and are generally supplied by six breweries: Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner-Bräu, Hofbräu-München, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr.

And back to the story: I was brought to Paulaner to have awesome beer so as to be convinced that beer isn't bitter and can be pretty awesome too! And yes, I got convinced.

To sum up short on my experience of Oktoberfestbier, when you take a small mouthful of it, it isn't as strong as the usual beer that my dad drinks, such as Heineken and etc. There is the usual beer fragrance but this time round, it didn't have the bitterness that bottled beer has. There is a tinge of sweetness that is not the kind of candy sweetness... it is more like purified water sweetness? Then out of nowhere, comes a strange barley fragrance that I really like (I don't think they used barley but it kinda tasted like that lol).

If you were to take a big gulp, you won't be able to taste all of the above tastes, but it is still damn shiok because of the refreshing feeling that you get after swallowing that big mouthful of bier. The refreshing feeling kinda(?) resembles how you gulped down cold water after a long and exhausting run, with a slight taste minty taste after that. It's pretty cool!

Crispy skin pork knuckle with German bread dumpling
This. Is. Freaking. GOOOOOODDDDDDDD!!!!!

Apparently this isn't best pork knuckle but hey, it is already enough to win over the heart of this little girl here! (Okay fine, I'm not exactly little lol!)

The cripsy skin wasn't that oily and it just kept making me go back for more portions of it. There are some slight layers of fat beneath the crispy skin, which can be easily removed by cutting.

The meat was well-marinated and well-cooked. It was tender and the moisture within the meat was still retained in it. For once, I didn't hate eating pork! It was so damn good! I always had this impression that pork meat is either tough and dry, or incredibly oily. But hey, this pork knuckle aren't any of that and is freaking awesome! *thumbs up!!*

As for the bread dumpling, it was something new. I remember having had something similar to this, somewhere before. I can't recall now. Anyhow, the spices added made the bread dumpling fragrant and tasty. It is rather soft in texture, not like the usual bread that you have. It sorta resembles bread pudding, but a lot less wet and sticky and icky.

The bread dumpling goes really well with Sauerkraut, which is a German vegetable dish made up of finely cut cabbage that has been fermented by various types of lactic acid bacteria, hence it has a distinctive sour flavour (like no joke sour!). Fortunately the bread dumpling can curb the sour flavour of the Sauerkraut, and the two when taken together is a perfect combination like no other!


So yes!! This is Paulaner for you.

I can proudly say that now I know like 1-2% more about beer! Such as... draft is the best, then comes the bottle and lastly the can. And hmmm.. I think that is pretty much all that I learnt LOL!! #fail

Ok it is 5am right now and my brain is barely functioning.

Have a good weekend! Bye!


XO,
Soph

Update

It's been almost a whole month since my last entry. I was kept busy with my clinical placement, which is the best one yet.

A lot of things have happened in the past 2 months.

For starters, Rod and I broke up. I'm okay!!!

It took a while to get better but hey, it is a process that almost all people would have to go through after a break-up. I am much much much better now and life is treating me really really good! I guess my mama was right when she told me a very very very very very long time ago that one should never fight against life because there is no point in doing so.

I don't intend to divulge any details of our break-up on this social media platform and I doubt I will be revealing it anywhere else either. All I can say that is that it was an amicable break-up, and no I didn't suggest nor initiate the break-up. Period.

Once again, I emphasise: I AM ALRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With part of the 'Palliative Care' therapists team
As of yesterday, I completed my second last clinical placement and YES!!!!!!! It feels bloody awesome to finally be done with this placement!

Not that it was horrible or anything, in fact this has been one of my best clinical placements yet! I love it and I don't mind doing it again, sans the school lecturer observation, tutorial sessions and evaluation crap.

In this placement, I got to take my virgin ride on an ambulance!!
I got to take some of my patients on an outing at Gardens By the Bay.
It was so bloody tiring (not that I am complaining about it!).

No joke to push a wheelchair with a patient in it, with a 15 litres oxygen tank attached to the wheelchair, carry my bagpack that has 2 batteries for portable oxygen concentrator (each one weighing at about 1.5kg?) and two other separate hand-carry bags (that I hooked onto the back of the wheelchair because I obviously couldn't carry them in my hands!!) - one of which contains my patient's personal items and the other carried my DSLR.

At one point in time, I even had to lug the portable oxygen concentrator which kinda looks like a luggage and has those wheel-y things that allows you to roll them around, and it was insane because the damn concentrator is freaking heavy!!!! I think it weighs about... ok I can't tell lol! But it is incredulously heavy!!!!! I almost lost control of the wheelchair, had to shout for the therapy assistant who was ahead of me to come back and help me >.< SO MALU!!

One last rant about this outing, I officially hate the flooring of the Flower Dome because it was so damn bumpy and do you know how hard it is to push all that stuff (as mentioned above) across a bumpy floor?!?!?!??!!!

You've got to try it to know it! ROAR

Anyhow the outing was good. The patients enjoyed it, and that's all that matters!!

There is this patient that I love...
This patient was my first at this placement. She graced me with love even though I was a complete stranger.

When I first saw her and asked her, "What would you like to do during your time here?"

She replied, "Colouring!"

Me: "You mean colour pencils colouring????"

Her: "Yes!"

Me: "Er... Okay."

And so I passed her my own colouring pencils and for the subsequent weeks, I was on "print colouring pages" duty. LOL!!!

Because she likes flowers so I went to learn how to make flowers out of stockings from my therapy assistant who is brilliant at art and did this with my oh-so dear granny...

Because she likes art and craft so I cracked my brains to think of bedside 'art & craft' projects for her, and this is one of them
During her "better" days, I tried to get her better... I incorporated her interest for art with upper limb ranging activities
Can you see the tree? Can you see the hole in the tree trunk and this weird # sign in the hole?

The # drawing is actually a man sitting on a bench that is behind this tree, and the man (and the bench) can be seen because there is a hole in the tree trunk! #complexmuch #lol

She called my shark a "goldfish" -_- LOL
And this was her favourite game.
The music for this game is so freaking kiddy, annoying, loud and attention-seeking, but because she likes it, who cares about the starers? They're just jealous and envious that they don't get to play this fishing game LOL!!!! #selfdelusion

By the way, the music is Old Macdonalds Had a Farm, Hokey Pokey... and some other nursery songs. It is played in a really pitchy tune which is what attracts even more starers!

SUPER AA (attract attention)!!!

My supervisor/the OT team threw me a farewell pizza party
It was so awesome. Reminiscing with the therapists from the palliative care team about all the hilarious incidents that occurred over the past 2 months. Working with them was so enjoyable, that I didn't mind dragging my feet to work even though I was feeling blue and upset over my recent break-up. They and the patients made everything feel so much better and okay (:

The therapists didn't know about my break up until the last week of my placement. I remember how my supervisor stared at me with her mouth opened for like 2 seconds before she threw her hands up in the air, and yelled "WHY YOU NEVER TELL ME?!?!?!??!!!!!!?!!?!" and then showed her concern by asking if I was okay and stuff lololololol!

Despite her dramatic yelling (which I honestly and sincerely appreciate and love), I actually think that the moment was very funny!!! Part of the reason why I was able to shuffle my feet to work everyday was because my supervisor was so freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best supervisor yet (and probably ever!!!)

My supervisor's note to the sneaky eaters LOL!!!! I can recognise her handwriting anywhere
I'm gonna miss her charismatic personality and laughter!


Here is my awesome supervisor, funny colleague and even better friend. (:
Thank you for all the wonderful days. I owe you a big bunch!
To the therapist assistant who is damn strict but also damn good at what she does!
Honestly if it wasn't for her, I doubt I would have kept myself on my toes in order to prevent myself from receiving any possible screaming from her direction if I should ever forget to push back a wheelchair and have it locked after using it, adjust back the bed height of my patient's bed after raising it (heh!) and etc etc. Ok la, must give myself some credit... I would have done all that but her presence did contribute to my improvement lol!

She was ever-ready to share her experience with me, take time out to teach me and most importantly, she helped me with all of my patients who wanted art and craft!!! I don't know why but from the moment I joined, I seemed to have attracted all the art and craft grannies hahahahahaha!

My brain was imploding from having to come up with art and craft ideas. There was an occasion when she took 2 days of annual leave and one of my grannies wanted art and craft so badly! On one of those two days, I opened up the 'art and craft' cupboard 4 freaking times and stared at the contents in the cupboard, hoping that one of them would pop up at me and give me some sort of 'art & craft' epiphany.

Unfortunately, the cupboard provided me with no epiphany but only gave me more awkward silence as I stared deep into its narrow shelves. Lol!

This placement has been a great experience and the lessons that I have gained from it, are lessons that I will carry on with me throughout the rest of my life span!



XO,
soph