BPharm Completion Ceremony

Monday, 23rd November 2009. The official closing of my university career for now. Although I don’t see myself coming back to uni for any more study in the near future haha.

The morning kicked off with a decent brunch at the Fale Pasifika building next to the university’s new business school (which I STILL haven’t set foot in lol), followed by a short break. Jenny, me, Kristen, Lisa, Jae Gon, Chris and Ming took this time to grab a quick bite to eat at Wendy’s. Kristen, Lisa and I also took a slight detour to Smith and Caughey’s to get our dissertation supervisor, Dr. Raid Alany, a thank you gift. We decided on a pair of cuff links.

Next came the class photo in Albert Park at 1pm. I’m glad the weather held up! It wasn’t sunny, but it wasn’t windy/rainy either, although it was VERY humid. Especially in a full formal suit and tie…

The actual ceremony at the Maidment Theatre started at around 2:30pm. My management group came first in the P409 management module, so we received our $100′s each wahahaha

All in all a very great day!! I had a blast and I’m sure all my fellow classmates did as well!!

Once again, CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL 2009 BPHARM’ERS!! WE MADE IT!! XD

My Silverstone PS02 tower case for the new desktop I’m building came via courier this morning too! Very fast service from PC Online Shop! Also managed to source the remaining parts from other online sellers and paid for them all. Hopefully they’ll all arrive over the next few days!

BPharm

And just like that, my uni career has come to an end. I received an email this afternoon from the Head of Pharmacy School congratulating all fourth years for completing our Bachelor of Pharmacy degree. What can I say? I guess the only thing I can say is “WOW!”

I’ve taken longer than most people to complete this degree (combine “slacking off in first year” with “bad luck with the course coordinator(s) in third year”), and you’ll be put in my situation. Normally it takes only four years to finish the BPharm degree. I completed it in six. I’m definitely not proud of it, but to some extent, I feel I’ve learned a whole heap more and matured that much more over the course of these additional two years. Not to mention the close friends I’ve made; especially those made this year (you know who you all are!)

I never thought I would say this, but I’m already starting to miss uni life. But on the bright side, I’ve accomplished my mission, and as far as I can see, this is where my educational career comes to a close (who knows, maybe in a few years, maybe even in ten, I may decide to come back and do something else!). I’ve had a lot of fun. Sure it was stressful at times, but all in all, I’ve enjoyed my time at uni.

A big thank you needs to be dedicated to my girlfriend, Jenny. Without you, I don’t know where I would be right now. I would probably be wasting my time with a BCom or Japanese degree. If you hadn’t stepped into my life and encouraged me way back in our second year (gosh that seems so long ago, eh?), I surely would not have persisted and continued with BPharm! SO… THANK YOU SO MUCH, BABY!

Monday’s (23rd November 2009) the Pharmacy Completion Ceremony. I’m thoroughly looking forward to it!

Congratulations to my fellow fourth year BPharm’ers!! We made it!!

100,000km Milestone!

Emmy just reached 100,001km on the odometer when I got home from uni today!! What’s best is that she drives as good as new!! Oh how I love German automobile engineering.

I predict at least another 100-200,000km more on top of that no problem. Let’s see a Jap car get to this number and not fall apart! Won’t be selling her anytime soon (if ever!)

Photos taken with my N95 8GB (I’m seriously still loving the phone more and more every day! Calling the camera BRILLIANT is an understatement):

100,000km (or 100,001km to be more precise) is nothing on a Mercedes-Benz

A closer look. She still drives like she's brand new!

Now, to get the catalytic converter(s) replaced… Still have to ask Coutts the exact part number for Emmy

Confused LOL

Spent pretty much the whole day at Grafton IC with my dissertation group, touching up our project. 3rd day in two weeks we’ve met up for a whole day. Final day on Thursday.

Funnily enough, when I left IC at 5:45pm in the afternoon, I was convinced it was Thursday, saying “see you guys on Monday!”, until Lisa corrected me… Have I been in IC THAT long?… Or I must really getting old!

I really should get back into the habit of sleeping earlier! It’s so late! :s

Photo Update

I just realised I ranted on about my new N95 8GB a few months back but never posted any photos of the phone itself! Apologies!

First week of my mid-semester break just breezed by. Been at uni for 2 of the days for dissertation, and managed to wash Emmy again this past Friday afternoon (weather’s been BEAUTIFUL, but still somewhat chilly). I really hate bird crap.

The 40D’s been hibernating all winter as well, so I thought what better time to wake it up! Was initially thinking of snapping a few photos of Emmy after the wash, but ended up taking 129 photos of her LOL. I’ve included a small handful of them below

Looks like the Yankees are cruising through the remainder of the season. I smell #27! If not them, then I hope the Phillies take it all once again! Now if only Brad Lidge can wake the hell up and start closing out games! 10th blown save today! FAIL.

The King of Kings in all its boxed glory. Simple box, but very nice nonetheless!

Very nice presentation once you pop open the lid. Love it!

The NSeries flagship. 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss autofocus camera.

Dual slider. It slides this way to reveal the keypad...

... And it slides this way! Revealing the dedicated media keys!

Frontal view, on an angle. Very nice and sunny day. Perfect for photos.

Emmy's Avantgarde grille. Up close and personal!

Frontal view from the other side.

My beloved pseudo-AMG W202

Dinner plates! My current laptop wallpaper; I quite like this shot. Love the depth of field.

"Dinner plates" from another angle. AMG Monoblock II replicas. Made in Taiwan.

Easter Holidays

Wow. Five weeks of uni has come and gone. Queue the arrival of  our usual two-week mid-semester break, which coincides with Easter.

Had a pretty easy day today. Only class I had was my P409 aseptic workshop in the afternoon from 2-4pm. Spent the morning chilling out with Jenny, and we also went to The Warehouse in Newmarket. Got a SpongeBob SquarePants easter egg for Dill lol.

I also bought the 2-Disc Casino Royale DVD, which was only $9.99. What a steal. What’s crack up (or strange) is that the lady at the checkout asked to see my ID before selling it to me… An R16 DVD, and she’s asking for my ID. LOL…

Another Update, Some Purchases & Reviews :)

Time flies when you’re busy with something. Especially if it’s uni work. My FOURTH week, I repeat, my FOURTH week has just come to an end. The first four weeks sure went by fast! Uni will definitely get more and more busier, with dissertation slowly picking up steam, and the assignments for each paper are rolling in too.

It also seems like when Mum and Dad are gone, Dill and I tend to go on an internet shopping spree lol. Dill just got his two Batman belt buckles in the mail today, and to his disappointment, they were not as big as he thought they would be. What’s more, one of them had a huge scratch on it lol… Luckily, the seller was pretty cool, and he’s sending Dill some replacements.

I on the other hand have gotten a Freddie Mercury t-shirt from the UK, and an iPod dock/stereo from 1day LOL. Pictures to follow. The Freddie Mercury t-shirt was from the official Queen website, and it’s bright yellow (just like Freddie’s Wembley jacket), and part of the profit goes towards the AIDS foundation that was started after his untimely death, the Mercury Phoenix Trust.

The iPod dock/stereo I bought off 1day is an Altec Lansing inMotion iM7 stereo, which is very impressive considering it’s smallish size. The bass it pumps out is simply amazing. I got it for $149.99, whereas shops sell them for around $399.99, so even though it was quite an impulse buy, it was a steal nonetheless. 9/10 (good price, charges the iPod, and excellent sound quality + build quality, but it would’ve been nice to be able to see what level of bass/treble I was at).

It’s also been just over two weeks since Mum left for Taiwan. Dill and I have been surviving well, I reckon haha. Then again, it’s not the first time we’ve had to look after ourselves!

I’ve also been on a bit of a movie marathon today. First I watched “Quantum of Solace“, then watched “The Strangers“ and “Punisher: War Zone“ with Jenny and Dill.

First up, “Quantum of Solace“. I really don’t know why it’s been copping so much flak ever since it was released, but I found it just as enjoyable as its predecessor, Casino Royale. Sure, the story might have been pretty cloudy and slow at times, but the raw action sequences, the spectacular car chases, the awesome one-liners more than makes up for the shallow, slowish plot. Not to mention that I reckon Daniel Craig is the best Bond, period. The previous Bonds were portrayed as being too perfect and charming to be believable. A very solid 8/10 (same grade as Casino Royale), and I look forward to Bond 23 (it’s yet to be named).

Next we have “The Strangers“. The first 10-15 minutes or so was great. It was shaping up to be a great looking horror/thriller, but after that, the movie went downhill pretty damn fast. What a SHIT-STORM. The three antagonists’ motives are never explained clearly, the suspense was lost, and the ending was downright awful. It didn’t explain anything, and I cannot believe they’re making a sequel… I’d give it a 4/10, and that’s being quite generous.

Finally, there was “Punisher: War Zone“. The violence and gore was brilliant, but that’s about it. Ray Stevenson may look more like Frank Castle than Thomas Jane, but I believe Jane captured the brooding, anti-social, remorseless persona of Castle much better. Stevenson simply had a little bit too much emotion. His build/physique and looks were spot on though! Other than these strong points, the movie was quite a big letdown. The plot was weak, the villian (Jigsaw and his brother Loony Bin Jim) weren’t menacing enough, and Jigsaw’s over-the-top accent pissed me off. But what bugged me the most was that for the most part, the whole movie was really corny and cheesy. Kind of like that other shit-storm from 1990, “Dick Tracy“. It definitely doesn’t suit the Punisher universe. A 6/10 at most (mostly thanks to tbe violence/gore, and Stevenson’s looks).

Bright yellow, Freddie Mercury picture & signature. What more can I ask for?

All for a good cause.

After taking off the delivery wrapping, I'm left with the iM7, still in its new & boxed glory!

Halfway through unpacking!

All setup, ready to go, with my U2 iPod Video 30gb sitting snugly in the iPod dock/cradle!

Shot of the back. Rubber grip/handle for easy moving, nifty little cubbyhole for the remote, S-Video, RCA, power plug, headphone jack, AUX-in plug.

Dissertation Topics/Groups Announced!!

Our Pharmacy 410 dissertation topic and group allocations were announced this afternoon. I must say my group and topic are both really great. I was allocated my 2nd choice. I was 80% sure I’d be allocated it, because after putting in my choices, I found out that around 18 people had put topic #13 (my 1st choice) as their 1st choice.

My topic involves progesterone delivery thru the skin via supercritical fluids (4th state of matter woohoo!). My supervisors are Dr. Raid Alany and Dr. Jingyuan Wen. Both pretty awesome people. An added plus is that the PhD student we’ll be working with is none other than James Falconer from work hahaha

My group members are pretty awesome too; Kristen from my subgroup, Nick, Farah, and some girl named Lisa (dunno who she is lol).

The Freddie Mercury Wembley Stadium poster Jenny got for my birthday arrived a few days ago too! Hanging proudly above my bed right now as I’m typing this! Long live Queen, Long live Freddie Mercury!

A Quick Update

Just a quick update since my last post. Only just got home and had my shower. Had a late finish at work. A couple of customers came in at 11:25pm. One wanted the ECP, the other had a script for morphine elixir with no dosage, so Bernie had to call hospital ED to ask for the dose.

Dill and Steph also happened to come into the pharmacy too. Dill had some acid reflux so he got some Gaviscon.

On other news, my final year at uni’s starting in less than a month. Time sure flies when you’re having fun bumming around. Better pick up some books and do some reading.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome the newest member of the Wu automotive family Dad recently bought a 2002 Mercedes-Benz E280 for $13,500. Pretty damn good price for the age, AND mileage. It’s only done around 43,000km! The car drives like a charm too. You can really tell the class difference between my 2000 C240 and the E280! Don’t worry Emmy (yes, I gave my car a name), I still love you the most So that’s three Mercs in the household, including Dill’s 1998 C240 (I like to call him the Cookie Monster, cuz he’s a bright aquamarine blue).

Anyway, better hit the sack. Covering for Heena tomorrow from 12pm-6pm. More money for meee!

PS: If anyone’s wondering why on earth I called my car Emmy, it’s because I checked my chassis number online a few months ago, and found out my car’s paint colour is “metallic emerald black“, so instead of being boring and calling her (yes, my car is a she) Emerald, I decided to affectionately shorten it to “Emmy“. Even though my car’s actually more black than anything else, with a very, very dark tint of green