But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this
all-surpassing power is from God and
not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

Monday, July 30, 2007

I am such a lousy girl

I think i really am useless. Useless to the extent that the closest people around me think that all i know is to feel unhappy and sad.

One of the F4 female toilet is demolished. Like denyse said, it really is a big problem. The greatest humiliation is that nobody had brought this up to me during my term as F block head. I feel so lousy. Sometimes i really wonder why. Why i was not told during the meeting last time, when they discussed about the renovation.

Denyse was very angry when she found out about this few days back. I think when the rest of F4 residents move back to F4 next week, they will be so angry. I feel really embarrassed.

Denyse wrote a letter to the management:

Dear Dr Seow,

I am writing this as a member of JCRC and as the occupant of F402.

I checked into hall last weekend and i was appalled to see that the toilet next to F401 had been converted into a pantry. To my knowledge, neither the JCRC nor the incoming and outgoing F block heads knew about this plan.

Table 1. illustrates the breakdown of the toilets in F block, as well as the gender and the number of residents each toilet serves.

Toilet Number of Residents
each Toilet Serves
F1 14 Male
F2 a 9 Female
F2 b 10 Female
F3 a 10 Male
F3 b 10 Male
F3 c 11 Male
F4 17 Female
F5 13 Male
Table 1.
* A toilet consists of 3 urinals, 3 shower cubicles, and 4 sinks.


As indicated, the result of the demolition of the toilet for the construction of the pantry has resulted in a whopping 17 residents using the lone toilet in F4. I foresee problems.

Female toilets traditionally cater to lesser residents than male toilets (refer to Table 2), and rightly so. It is well-known that females tend to spend longer times in the bathroom as compared to males. This is especially true for those with long hair. I thus forsee that during the peak shower period (8am-930am), there will potentially be a queue of people waiting to use the shower facilities. This will be a total waste of infrastructure as the F4 toilet will be grossly overutilised whilst the other toilets are underutilised.


Toilet Number of Residents
each Toilet Serves
A3 9 Female
C2 a 10 Female
C2 b 11 Female
E3 7 Female
E6 a 8 Female
E6 b 8 Female
G6 8 Female
F4 17 Female
Table 2.

Other minor problems include the fact that there is not enough room on the flat surface in the toilet to accomodate everyone's toiletry baskets, and the fact that the toilets will have to be cleaned twice as often as there are twice the amount of people utilising the toilets now.

I understand that nothing can be done to reinstall the toilet since the pantry is already constructed. However, i feel that the Block Committee or even the JCRC should have been consulted on whether to build the gigantic pantry, and if applicable, where to build it.

There is no use now crying over spilt milk, and so my suggestion would be to convert 'Toilet F3 b' into a female toilet. It may be slightly inconvenient for F4 residents to go down one flight of stairs to use the facility, but i believe it will go a long way in easing the potential congestion in the lone F4 toilet. The result of converting 'Toilet F3 b' into a female toilet is shown in Table 3.

Toilet Number of Residents
each Toilet Serves
F1 14 Male
F2 a 9 Female
F2 b 10 Female
F3 a 15 Male
F3 b 8 Female
F3 c 16 Male
F4 9 Female
F5 13 Male
Table 3.

The residents in F3 will be affected, having 15 and 16 residents to a toilet instead of 10, 10 and 11. However, i feel the impact on them will be lesser than that on the F4 residents, for reasons as stated above. Executing the change would also involve minimal effort.

Thank you Dr Seow, and I really hope you can bring this matter up to the SCRC if need be.

Warmest Regards,

Denyse De Silva




I am such a lousy girl. I don't wanna move back to hall anymore.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Friends


From left: judy, me, miao juan, jia yuan

This is my NY clique. Actually we were not this close back in NY, but after we left NY, i have been meeting up with them quite regularly, and we got closer and closer.

Sometimes it feels really nice to have friends like them. They came to northpoint after my work and we went for dinner. judy is going to Perth soon to meet her bf, and mj will be going to bangkok to meet yiteng. oh ya, yiteng is doing CIP there, and she was my deskmate!

Jia yuan was my math partner, cos we sat together during our E math and Add math lessons. We were quite competitive then, she is a fervent fans of MAYDAY!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Your Inner Child Is Sad

You're a very sensitive soul.
You haven't grown that thick skin that most adults have.
Easily hurt, you tend to retreat to your comfort zone.
You don't let many people in - unless you've trusted them for a long time.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

What Matters Most

"Love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love."
2 John 1:6

Life is all about love. Because God is love, the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love. Love is the foundation of every command he has given us and the whole Law can be summed up in this one command: Love others as you love yourself.

Learning to love unselfishly is not an easy task. It runs counter to our self-centerd nature. God wants us to love everyone, but He is particularly concerned that we learn to love others in his family. And there's a reason why He insist that we give special love and attention to other believers, and that is because God wans his family to be known for its love more than anything else.

God says, love should be our top priority, primary objective, and greatest ambition. Love is not a good part of your life, it's the most important part. The bible says, "Let love be your greatest aim" . It is not enough to say "One of the things i want in life is to be loving," as if it's in your top 10 list. Relationships must have priority in your love above everything else. Why?

Often, we act as if relationships are something to be squeezed into our schedule. We talk about finding time for our children or making time for people in our lives. it gives an impression as if relationships are just a part of our lives along with many other tasks. BUT God says, relationships are what life is all about.

Four of the Ten Commandments deal with our r/s to God while the other six deal with our r/s with ppl. But all ten are about relationships!

Relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life. When our schedules are overloaded, we start skimming relationally, cutting back on giving the time, energy and attention that loving relationships require. What's most important to God is displaced by what;s urgent. Busyness if great enemy of relationships. We become preoccupied with making a living, paying bills, and accomplishing goals as if these tasks are the point of life. They are not. The point of life is learning to love -- God and people. Life minus love equals zero.

Another reason God tells us to make love our top priority is that it is eternal: Love will last forever. "These three things continue forever: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love"

Love leaves a legacy. How you treated other people, not your wealth or accomplishments, is the most enduring impact you can leave on earth. When life on earth is ending, people don't surround themselves with objects. What we want around us is people -- people we love and have relationships with.

In our final moments,we all realize that relationships are what life is all about.Wisdom is learning that truth sooner rather than later. Don't wait until you're on your deathbed to figure out that nothing matters more.

The 3rd reason to make learning to love the goal of your life is that it is what we will be evaluated on in eternity. In heaven, God won't say "Tell me about your career, your bank account, and your hobbies". Instead, He will review how you treated other people, particularly those in need. When you transfer into eternity, you will leave everything else behind. All you're taking with you is your character. That's why the bible says " The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love".

The importance of things can be measured by how much time we are willing to invest in them. The more time you give to something, the more you reveal its importance and value to you.

Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set of amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That's why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.

Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is "T-I-M-E".. the essence of love is not what we think or do to provide for others, but how much we give of ourselves. Men, in particular, often don't understand this. Many will say " i don't understand my wife and kids. I provide everything they need. What more could they want?" They want you! your eyes, your ears, your time, your attention, your presence... Nothing can take the place of that.

Whenever you give your time, you re making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love. Jesus modeled this " Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave Himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins."
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. Love means giving up -- yielding my preferences, comfort, goals, security, money, energy or time for the benefit of someone else.

Circumstances change. People die, Children grow up. You have no guarantee of tomorrow. Knowing that one day you will stand before God, here are some qns that should be considered: How will you explain those times when projects or things were more important to you than people? Who do you need to start spending more time with? What do you need to cut out of your schedule to make that possible?

The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Today a parent brought his terribly ill baby to the pharmacy.

This baby is so poor thing, she has HFMD.

Hand, Foot and Mouth disease is a common illness of infants and children. It is characterized by fever, sores in the mouth, and a rash with blisters. It usually begins with a mild fever, poor appetite, malaise ("feeling sick"), and frequently a sore throat. One or 2 days after the fever begins, painful sores develop in the mouth. They begin as small red spots that blister and then often become ulcers. They are usually located on the tongue, gums, and inside of the cheeks. The skin rash develops over 1 to 2 days with flat or raised red spots, some with blisters. The rash does not itch, and it is usually located on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. It may also appear on the buttocks. A person with HFMD may have only the rash or the mouth ulcers.

The most common cause is coxsackievirus A16, while HFMD is not deadly, it is moderately contagious. Infection is spread from person to person by direct contact with nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters, or the stool of infected persons. A person is most contagious during the first week of the illness. Normally babies/ children contract it in childcare centres, due to poorer hygiene habits of kids.

So this baby is really very poor thing. A baby with HFMD will experience great pain because they will experience high fever, and the sores in her mouth has made her lost her appetite for food and water. Drinking simple fluid like water will cause great pain. Drinking milk hurts, eating cereals hurts, everything hurts.

So we recommended pedialyte. Pedialyte is an ORS (oral rehydration salt), normally we take it if we have many episodes of diarrhea, in order to replenish the lost fluid. It contains the necessary salts and glucose to sustain our body. So we asked the parent to buy the Pedialyte freezer pops for the baby, it may help to numb the pain in her mouth when sucking the frizzy pedialyte.

Today i saw a lot of babies and toddlers in my pharmacy. You know, they are soo cute :D