Maybe I'll get drunk again

If someone was to ask me, when would be ur lowest point in your uni life? My answer would be 3 weeks before the final exams. I find that it's during this time that I start losing all motivation to study and losing all that strength in me to push on.

The past few weeks, it's been a midsem test EACH week. And that consist of 6 weeks in total of midsems (2 of the units divide their midsems into 2 tests). After that's done, I still have 1 more test and 3 weeks into the finals. Problem is, after that full on 6 weeks of study, now I just lost all my drive (which is a big stress since I should technically start studying for the finals).

Even WORSE, 4 of our exams are in the first week. On one Friday, we have the hardest exam of them all in the morning, followed by ~6 hours gap, and then another exam in the evening. ZZzzzz.............

So anyways, it would be a really boring post if I was to explain the lil minute details of my exams.


I've just recently found out that my good primary school friend has a blog. She does Medicine in Indo and it was really encouraging to read a blog by someone who knows exactly what it's like to study something reallyyyyyyyyy "medical", nerdy and again nerdy (i.e. hours and hours and hours of study, hard work, and a lot of sacrifices on the social side)..... It really does take a lot of might and strength to push through. It's also especially hard to share about my uni troubles to people who are not really in the same shoes, cos it will probably bore them or might make them think I'm showing off or whatever (a lot of people kindly listen and encourage me though). It' always good to find someone who 'knows what it's like" (as previously experienced by me during my worst eczema ridden days). So anyway, I'll def be in the lookout for new posts on her blog for inspiration :) In case you wanna check it out:http://lifeinartandmed.tumblr.com/


The lesson I'd like to share with you today would be:
If you have problems (especially long term or really tough one), find someone who's been there before. The same goes if it's the other way around.  If you have been there before, share it with someone who's currently having the same prob as you. It really does make a diff! 


For now, I'll leave you to my current fave song. Hope your days have been good! :)

Pharmacy Panic

Uni's started aaaaaaghhh! Panic mode on. 

These backgrounds now lights up my laptop in the hope that it will inspire me to study bit by bit, slow but steady.. All the best for ya'll who are back at uni!

God works in His mysterious ways

It's 3:57AM now and I can't sleep. Aside from that, I got a story to tell!

Pharmacy is a constant struggle for me. The study load is just crazy, at least for someone with an average brain like me. As a lot of you know, I failed the Human Biology unit in my FIRST semester in my FIRST year of uni. Since then, I had only done 3 or 4 units each semester instead of the full 5 units. Nevertheless, I still found it really hard and I have to pretty much nerd it out every semester in order to pass the units.

Failing in a first year of uni is definitely one of the most disappointing things in life! Especially if it means I get left behind by 1 whole year compared to my peers, not just 1 semester! However, this allowed me to study crazy hard on just 3 or 4 units instead of 5. The result is, better marks than just a pass :) It also encouraged me to study harder, instead of slacking off like I did in first year.

So thank God that I failed Human Bio in first year coz I just got a letter from the School of Pharmacy with an enclosed invitation to a Prize Giving Ceremony for a "succesful academic year in 2011". Couldn't have done it without failing Human Bio haha.

The dress code is lounge suit.. What do I wear to that?? And I'm sorta nervous cos apparently academic and key industry stakeholders will be in attendance. And I'm not good with talking in large groups and approaching new people (especially if they are super-important people!). So good luck Mon! Hope it will be a worthwhile night!

PS: don't worry if things seem to go reallyyyyyy crappy. Everything do happen for different reasons. Good reasons! :)

And if you ever want to give up, observe this picture. DON'T! :)

PERSISTENCE. PERSEVERANCE.

Those would be my mum's favourite words (she was even more delighted when Obama said the same words in his speech). Probably pretty good ones to be the favourites. During busy weeks like these days, I feel like those two words are more difficult to act on than to speak. Thoughts such as "you don't belong in Pharmacy" or "You're not smart enough!" or "Should've moved to nursing in first year!" just constantly run in my mind (just like the monkey in Homer Simpson's brain).

  

Nevertheless, it's too late to change courses now anyway, so it's probably best to just give it the best try! The picture of the pharmacy below now stands in my desktop background (in the hope to inspire me to study so that in the future I might own that pretty pharmacy haha).


All the best everyone in anything that's currently challenging you! 

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did."  Newt Gingrich

New semester, new job!

Today was my 2nd day on my new job at the pharmacy (praising God for the new job!). I quite like this pharmacy because the owners and workers are nice, and the pharmacist allowed me to make Upton's Paste today! :D For those who don't know, this is a really thick cream that contains ingredients to get rid of warts.It was so hard cos the paste was so sticky and I had to triturate it using metal spatulas (the spatulas are the same as the one chefs use to work with melted chocolate btw hehe). At the end of it, my wrists ache so bad! But you know the saddest thing?? I had to use this ANCIENT scales to weigh out the ingredients(see picture below)!! It was so hard to use, and I had to use measured weight on one side, and then weight the powders on the other side. It was funny though cos they only had 0.1g and 0.2g so I couldn't measure the 0.5g properly. The pharmacist told me to just add a lil bit extra. So, unlike the scales we used at uni (accurate to 3 decimal points), I'm measuring using this probably not very accurate scales! Ancient too! Did I tell you, one of the weights are still in "ounce"??

So anyways, even though it was sad to leave the previous pharmacy behind, this pharmacy is better in a lot of ways. New owners, new customers, new company and new stuff to learn.I'm thankful for the previous pharmacy to teach me about a lot of things though, otherwise I'd be the clueless one in this pharmacy! Currently I'm still on a 2 months probation, so we'll see in 2 months if I'll be working there permanently or not :)

The Lessons of Life

Well, not really the lessons of my whole life, but only the lessons I learnt from work after about 7 years of being in the workforce (this makes me sound like a pro veteran or sumtin xD). I often complain about work, but right now I think I should be very thankful that I have a job and am learning precious life skills from it. Just wanted to share it to you guys and keep a record for myself to look back in the future :)


First Job: Junkmail Delivery Girl
1) Do as much as you can today, so you can do less tomorrow.
2) Exercise really does keep the weight down.. Should do more these days..


Second Job: Burger Girl at Hungry Jack's
1) Try to not be too shy and toughen yourself up. Be braver to talk what's in your mind instead of being quiet. I used to be verryyyy quiet cos I was too shy to talk to anyone.
2) There is a reason why it's called "FAST FOOD", everything must be fast!!!
3) Learnt to not be too sensitive, especially when dealing with angry customers or managers scolding.
4) Beware of cheeseburns when taking out burgers from the microwave....


Third Job: Pizza Girl at Domino's
1) Learnt how to count change without using calculator. Yay! :D


Fourth Job: 2 months Casual Cleaner at Walsh's pharmacy in Sydney
1) Eucalyptus oil works wonders for cleaning sticky dirts!


Fifth Job: Pharmacy Assistant at a pharmacy (probably not a good idea to write the name haha)
1) Slow down, check, then check and check! Can't afford to make mistakes with people's medications
2) Pharmacy customers are much more patient than Fast Food customers.. Guess they wouldn't mess with the ppl who are handling their medications lol..
3) Be aware of shoplifters, even if it's just a small, innocent faced little boy. (This boy smiled at me and then grabbed a can of deodorant and ran out the door lol)
4) Connections may be very useful for your future career
5) Good relations with employers and coworkers will make everyone's day much bearable/funner at work :)
6) Don't get too sensitive over scoldings by managers/pharmacists. Instead learn from the mistake and do better next time. After all, these skills will help me if I become a pharmacist one day!

The future of pharmacy?

Yesterday was the Pharmacy's work Christmas dinner. It was held at Burswood Atrium and everyone came except 2 or 3 people. It was pretty fun and we did Secret Santa thing and my secret santa gave me a Sportsgirl makeup bag and a lip jam which looked really cute :)

In the middle of the dinner, the owner of the pharmacy made an annoucement. He is going to sell the pharmacy because he is getting older and it's time for him to slow down. Everyone were so sad cos this owner is like the best boss everyone ever has! He is soooo nice! So things are gonna be so different starting from next year.

I waited for a while to get a lift and this other pharmacist was also waiting for her husband. So I talked to her about work, pharmacy course, and her newly born daughter :). She is now on a work leave and will be working part time next year as she just had her baby. She told me that she is worried after hearing the sudden news because she may not be able to work there anymore under the new owner because the new owner may not want to hire a part timer.

And that got me thingking, the future of pharmacy job is not very clear, just like any other jobs. Apparently the graduates exceed the amount of work placements available. Meaning, it's gonna be harder to find a job in the future. As well as this, what if say, I get married and have children lol. It'd be even harder to find a job because I wouldn't be able to work much. Also, in order to keep my Pharmacist license I cannot neglect work for more than 2 or 3 years (not sure).

Hmmm... It's a thought that a Pharmacy student would have to think about....
But as the pharmacist said to me: The pharmacy students in their final year now would be worrying, but for you, don't worry, the future could actually be better :) yay!