DOOMED! Grey tunics?

Yes, it's weekend again. Double the horror this time. Not only the dateline is just a pinch away, my tunics turned bluish grey!

My tunics which were previously white in colour is now bluish grey!

Before



After



Well, it's not that I'm stupid enough to put both tops and bottoms in together, cos I;ve done it fine, but... I was stupid to put it in 90 deg!! The first day of clinic, we were warned that the tunics should not be washed in temp more than 40 deg! Now that I'm in year 3, I had forgotten all those basics!

So, had no one to turn to, I've told Phil what happened. He gave me tons of remedies. Now my tunics are in the machine. Just wish me for the best!

Problem is, both my tunics are in there. Not unless they're just plain white, I could get it from any uniform shop. But this has the uni and school logo. This is doomed indeed!

Wish me luck already!

UPDATE!

Well.... it didnt work! arrgh!!!! I even tried Vanish... I'm so mentally exhausted and my pocket has got a big hole now.



Just look at that tunics compared to the white lab coat!

Finally... orthotics off my chest!

Alhamdulillah, the prayers had been granted. I finally got it done, although I managed to cheat. I finally able to complete a pair or mega-difficult casted orthotics out of polypropylene material. Considering the times I had failed, and the amount of materials I had wasted, I am pleased to say I'm happy and proud! Many didn't even think they were the same piece from what I started with, until the final result. Everyone was just so impressed. Not to brag here, but hey... I need that energy and motivational boost here... ehhehe.. so I need to find ways to do that.. eheh

Anyway, reflecting on this hard task, it was actually beneficial. It has paid off the perseverance. C'mon, orthotics and biomechanics are the bread and butter of today's Podiatry world. they're the money making bit of Podiatry. At the hospital I'm working musculoskeletal consultation alone costs around £60-120 and these orthotics would normally cost up to £200-600 a pair!! How and why should I mess it up? It's my bread and butter soon.

Talking about the cheat, well, it was because I skipped a step, Which was to put expansions to the positive cast. Which resulted the orthotic material to float on the 1st ray upon inversion to put subtalar joint into neutral. But I could have used forefoot expansion which meant I would have to bevel more and looking at angles etc. Too much work! Then I thought I would try the cheeky way to cheat by heating the ends and press it hard by using hairdryer at home. So I brought it back and tried it. I was pessimistic towards this however as the polypropylene hardly moulded in temperature below 200 deg, let alone the heat from a home hairdryer!! But hey, never say never. It worked! AD the orthotics guru, who is my bestmate couldn't believe it himself. He kept on saying "oh my days!" to his disbelief! On that note, I am happy!

Cheating in the action


The result




To the curious peeps out there, these were made from just plain flat sheets of materials, into what you have just seen above!!

On top of this, the notion that made me proud is that, I did it all by myself with no input from lecturers!

It's actually fun to see people's faces in orthotics. It is always filled with drama! Broken foot casts, things falling apart, tears, fights, accidents... and not to forget, burns! yes I burnt myself before!

The day resembles how I feel.

It's been gloomy and sad in Eastbourne. The weather I mean....
But again, it somehow empathising the way I'm feeling at the moment. Just gloomy and dark. I just wanna sink in my duvet in bed all the time, trying to escape from the idea of datelines entailing me! But I had a remedy to calm me down. Today, albeit the workload and datelines with a snap of my fingers, I took the long journey home from uni. I took the seafront way as I had my camera with me. I took pictures of gloomy Eastbourne. So here we are...

The Pier from a far.

Wishing an identical clone!

I know that I'm slacking with the updates, and as the title says, I wish I could just clone myself as many as I could to multi-task. I have so much to do in so little time within my capabilities. I have been on placements all over the Southeast and tons of essays for the portfolio to be handed in before x'mas! Placement wise, it has been great experience so far although there were few hiccups along the way. But put that aside, and I loved the experience at Epsom for Podiatric Surgery placement with Dr Pabari. It was an excellent opportunity. Rheumatology was not bad either and really learnt alot. And tomorrow, I'm off to King's College Hospital in London for Diabetes placement. Gosh, there goes the money on tickets...

Currently, I'm struggling to finish a pair of orthotics to be issued to a patient in 2 weeks. I've been working on it for 4 weeks now! It's very hard. I've been wasting so much expensive materials just to get it right. I tend to be good in orthotics, but it'sn just not my cuppa tea! Especially these casted ones! And I have 2 more pairs to do! Arrrgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




On a fair share of the story, I've had good times too, although not as much as I used to. For the last few weeks, I've been to a halloween party, a Malaysian do at Sussex Uni, and a meal get together with the pod-mates. So, let's just share that... shall we?

The Halloween party:

It was held in conjunction with my housemate's birthday party and which was a halloween theme. I dressed as a psycho-surgeon, but in the end it ended up more like a Dr rather than a surgeon. Oh well... We also had Malaysian friend, Haslina and family who came over to our little crib and just to see what it's like during this so called crazy horrible halloween. ehehe. Later that night, we went out to the club nearby which was fairly new - BassMent. It was alright, but personally I still prefer Atlantis as they have bigger floor space. But anyhow, we enjoyed ourselves that night.










Malaysian Do:

It was held on the following Sunday after the Halloween party. It was a great experience too as I hadn't had the chance to meet fellow Malays here for the last 2 years I've been here. But there it goes, and that was like a "Raya" for me although it was belated and few days after Syawal. And I stuffed myself with excellent foods!! Picture this - lemang, rendang, and nasi ayam!!! What else more could I ask for! Besides, I had the chance to appreciate and hear the differences about the Malaysian scholarship and student arrangements to that for Bruneians.




The meal get-together:

Shahin had organised a get together amongst us pod-mates. So we decided to try out this new Indian restaurant. It was good, and it was less than £10 per person for all you can eat buffet. Food was great, people were fun to be with and the night was just amazing! And we ended the night the Greek way by breaking a plate for good luck. Anastacia went to ask the restaurant owner if she could break a plate. Bizzare enough, they let her do it!!!! So we had a plate breaking session in the end.

Bachelor's Satay - My style!

Been craving for satay and brahims was too "chemical-ish" taste to my liking. Well, I can't believe I'm doing this which in the past I never thought of doing, satay sauce from peanut butter!!!

Here it goes. Warning: this is not the original satay recipe. This is purely modified to suit a bachelor's capability.




The chicken satay:
Ingredients:

• Boneless chicken
• Tumeric powder
• Cumin Powder
• Salt
• Sugar

Add everything together and leave to marinade for an hour before deep frying.

The sauce:

• Oil
• Sliced onions
• peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
• Tamarind (replace with either lime or lemon)
• Brown sugar (I used damerara)
• Cumin powder
• Wee bit of corriander powder
• Salt and pepper
• *optional chilli powder / flakes