It's a happy day :) Serotonin levels are unusually high (no idea why, though my theory is that there's "something" in that spring jasmine stuff that my new cute little glade air freshener is puffing out - there really are little puffs of stuff!!! it's so cute :P) and my last class for the day finished at 10:30 which also makes me :D

[Joyce's conscience now kicks in and says: Joyce is in a good mood today. She is going to wash her formal dress, clean her room, eat a relatively healthy lunch and do a lot of study this afternoon]

-- Now playing - The beauty of all things - George

It might change, it might fall
but love is stronger than the seasons,
of our daily lives
Out of death, comes new life,
waking up inside the beauty,
the beauty of all things

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Wow it's been almost a whole week since I blogged :P Since last post, I've got sicker, got better, done a bit of work in between, applied to transfer to another college.... Teds isn't working so hopefully IH here me comes :P (i've got this grin plastered to my face since i put my application for transfer in) - 12743 at solitaire!! :D

In hindsight, the last few weeks have probably been the most trying weeks i've had for a while being sick and in a lonely college and having lots of work, but I think it was God's way of making me (little miss self-sufficient i can cope by myself) completely incapable of coping on my own so it's been a great refresher in F.R.O.G. (fully relying on God) :D and being sick on the weekend made me slow down, not go out, and clean up my room and do some work... hehe... but anyway, God-willing, I'm going to be moving!! (grin is still plastered to my face, been singing lungs out to any random song for the last hour)

Free icecream this afternoon with the nice year 3 people who are the 'buddies' for our PBL group (or maybe coffee for joyce so she doesn't get hacking cough syndrome too much) :D

2 weeks to easter camp! i'm going to be like.. an 'old' uni student this year that is so weird.... can't wait! :D :D :D :D

to all the old trinity YFers - pray for the evangelistic youth group night on friday (dinner, games, talk) i think ross is doing the talk and evie's organising it!! and easter camp too :)

-- Now playing - My hope is built

His oath, his covenant, his blood
Support me in the 'whelming flood
When every earthly prop gives way
He then is still my strength and stay

Well i'm sick.. officially... last sunday i woke up with a burning throat and a craving for paracetomol. or ibuprofen. or aspirin. or some form of analgesic and possibly a strepsil... 4 days of coughing later, i have a productive cough with mild rhinorrhea and fog of the brain. the fever's gone though so i'm happy about that :D and Ping brought me some cake from the birthday party that i helped organise and then had to miss because of the gagging cough...(*graow!!* )

mmm chocolate cake with smarties...

my day off was busy and fun and busy and i have a printer!!! I am now the proud owner of a DCP-115C though slightly ripped off (due to lack of transport to other shops and pressing need for printer, i paid probably 20 or 30 more than i should) but still happy :D *licks fingers after chocolate cookies and cake - wow they brought me a lot of cake aren't they meant to be feeding me healthy stuff so i get better? :P* - in terms of RRP i saved 33% so that's good enough for me :D and it cute and little and quiet and fast and scans and copies and i'm still obsessing and there's this huge box in my room with all the plastic and stuff in it.... 4 of us went to officeworks (poor misinformed international students who were under the impression that officeworks sold cheap electronics...) 2 of them went to the beach and me and Ping bought our printers and came home. my little inkjet was easy enough to carry even with 3 other bags of stuff... but Ping had a huge bag sitting on top of her large (though not too heavy) laser printer box... and i managed to get us on the wrong bus home - it all turned out fine in the end (the bus driver told us which bus we were supposed to catch and in the end we only wasted about.. 15 minutes .. on the wrong bus) though staggering around with large printer boxes in not the most enjoyable way to spend the afternoon it's funny when you've got a friend :D

Well... time to get some form of rest - hospital tomorrow at 8:30 i'm really excited but i've heard it's boring ;) it still means i have to catch the 8am bus to the John Hunter... should be fun :D goodnight all ;)

-- Now Playing - Anthony Warlow - Anthem

She is eternal, long before nation's lines were drawn
When no flags flew, when no armies stood
My land was born

I've finally changed the timestamp! It is now 4:45 on a monday afternoon and not some bizzare hour of the night/morning anymore! :D

Today, I officially handed in my first assignment. I'm a big girl now! Been watching lots of family guy thanks to the evil genius in IH, finished UT2004 so it's going to be... DELETED!!!! (when i get enough motivation to) and I'm back on the Clannad bandwagon again :D

Newcastle's been beautifully overcast and cool today - threatening to rain all day while never actually doing it ;) This means that winter's coming!! yay!!! no more mozzies!! no more overheated room! :D

After being sick on the weekend i went to the pharmacy today and added to my growing 'pharmacy in my drawer' - not only do i have bandaids and panadol, but i have betadine, imodium and disprin too! ironically enough, the only thing i wanted was strepsils but the asprin seems to work well enough - i'm really hoping this doesn't turn into a full-on flu because i don't want to make any of the patients sick on friday - we're going to the hospital!! YAY!!! (says Joyce as she removes a rather large and itchy scab from a mozzie bite, whoops that's more blood than usual oh well pulls out betadine and bandaid again).

-- Now Playing - Clannad - Caidé Sin D'on Té Sin

Deir daoine go bhfuil mé gan rath 's gan dóigh
Gan earra gan éadach gan bólacht ná stór
Má tá mise sásta mo chónaí i gcró
Ó caidé sin d'on té sin nach mbaineann sin dó

People say I'm without riches no doubt
Without goods or clothes or cattle or stock
If I am happy living in a hovel
Oh what is that to anyone else?

I'm not dead yet! I feel happyyyyyyyyy!

It's incredible to think that it's the 4th week of uni - in some ways it feels like i just got here (but in others it feels like i've been here for ages...)

Stuff that is new since the last post: dad sent me lots of textbooks (yay!), we got our first proper assignment yesterday (not yay!), we're going to start medical interviewing next friday (aah!) and i've discovered that camomile tea actually tastes really good, but rosehip and hibiscus tastes like icky cordial and peppermint is just weird. Japanese green tea is yummy with a kind of rice aftertaste (yum!) and the hot chocolate from the dining hall is really really chocolately... a nice cup of hot water is good too ;) - you may notice that coffee hasn't appeared in that list at all - i think i've developed either lactose or coffee intolerance which means that if coffee goes in, it quickly goes out again the other end, dragging a lot of whatever else was in the GI tract with it :( - so joyce is off coffee :(

College bible study tonight - yay! despite the fact that i haven't even really looked at my working problem for this week it's still one of the highlights of the week - it's a pity that i established myself as a vocal member of our PBL (problem based learning) group because it means that if i don't contribute something more than once i get strange looks. which means i actually have to do a little bit of work. maybe even some work. *sighs*

If anyone has a pair of black pants that will fit a short size 6-8er she wouldn't mind having a pair of pants she could wear while at the hospital.... or i could just wear skirts until i go home and grab my pants... need socks...

Now playing -- Van Halen - When It's Love

Everybody's looking for something
Something to fill in the holes
We think a lot but don't talk much about it
'Til things get out of control

I am procrastinating. And listening to Josh Groban again (he's been in the box for a few months now it might be safe to take him out). But i haven't watched series 8 of red dwarf yet so i've been a very good girl :) but i've watched another 6 strong bad emails so maybe i haven't been such a good girl...

Now playing -- The Lark Ascending -- Ralph Vaughan-Williams

(since this one's instrumental here's a the poem it's allegedly based on... either way it's a cool poem)

He rises and begins to round,
He drops the silver chain of sound,
Of many links without a break,
In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake.

For singing till his heaven fills,
‘Tis love of earth that he instils,
And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup

And he the wine which overflows
to lift us with him as he goes.
Till lost on his aerial rings
In light, and then the fancy sings.

- George Meredith

Today's resolution: I will never drink a litre of iced coffee in 4 hours ever again.

On the bright side, I got more than RDI of calcium!! (which is a rare occurence for me - check back in 50 years or so i'm guaranteed to get osteoporosis or something like that - I've already had a bout of juvenile arthritis even though that's probably completely unrelated to osteoporosis) On the downside, i'm still on a complete high - to the point where i'm listening to antiskeptic and even vaguely enjoying it (to be honest i actually really like clear to pass from aurora) but enjoying the punk beat and singing... agh - hence the resolution.

I managed to do absolutely nothing productive for all of today (mostly thanks to Dan coming up to visit) - watched all of series 7 of red dwarf though ;) anyone want to research down syndrome or congenital rubella for me? i'm so lazy.

Oh good, normality is being restored - the blurry guitar and over-the-top drums and punk voice are starting to irritate me. yay! but there's punk rock and punk rock... (flashback to my one-gig history as a keyboardist for a punk/heavy band - that was fun, even if i couldn't hear anything properly for weeks afterwards - somehow i don't think i can pull off the rock-chick image properly)

*flicks through aurora cd* - total number of tracks i enjoy (i.e. >like) has just risen to three. one of them is 32 seconds long and has no singing in it... does that one count?

Had dinner at with some of the international girls - 3 malaysians, 2 singaporeans, 3 japanese, 1 korean and me (whatever i am) and we all jammed into a room at barahineban (self-catered motel quality rooms with ensuite, kitchenette, airconditioning, etc.) it was fun with people bringing random dishes from their culture - next time i'm doing a 'how to cook australian' (me of all people) or maybe italian that's easier... or maybe i can demonstrate my current staple diet of instant noodles with tuna... eep.

Maybe bedtime now i hope the iced coffee's worn off
Merry christmas to all and to all a good night!

Now playing -- Antiskeptic - Clear to Pass

I am nothing but a slave, as self belief will lie and keep me down...

So tired... I have discovered that i like to use the three full stops an awful lot. so for the sake of convenience and saving on memory i'll shorten it to one. every time anyone ever sees me use one full stop ever again, it means three ok? hehe :P

Survived my first 8am - 6pm day! :D Though it wasn't a proper 10 hour day - the 2 hour anatomy lecture ended an hour early at 11am and the lecturer didn't turn up for the 5pm anatomy lecture so we sat there for a bit and hibernated then decided to walk out ;)

The challenge now is to survive a 8:30am - 7pm day tomorrow! with bible study at 7:45 too! it's not nearly as bad as today though, there's huge breaks in between each lecture/tute/whatever so i can finish researching before wednesday (yay!) - been spending all night on the computer on MSN or skype or even doing some work. i can tell that i'm going to be very sick of embryology by the time i've finished these couple of weeks ;) medical ethics in professionalism is a bit of joke and epidemiology is like statistics only more confusing. fun! i'm still really enthusiatic and getting into the entire med student thing so it's all good so far! (watch this space - in a few days i'm going to be whinging again ;p)

Now playing -- Clannad - Closer to your Heart

It's the same old story when someone astounds you
The harder they come is the harder they fall
Taking it easy no matter what people say
And time will heal all your troubles away

Crazy day...

I woke up at 8am today... i thought 'my lift for church is coming at 9:40 i can sleep for another half hour' and set my alarm on the phone to what i thought was 8:30... little did i anticipate that i would hit 9 instead of 8, wake up properly at 9:40, chuck on some random clothes grab bag keys mobile bible and head out the door. fortunately my lift was late so i got some oj from the kitchen to kill the morning breath a bit... then after church i went out for lunch and stayed there for the afternoon, went back to sunday@six (not an email address silly blogger!) and got back here at about 9ish.... so naturally i am stuffed and looking forward to an 8am - 6pm day tomorrow (yay i'm a med student!! waaaaah)

Sorry to unichurch.. but i think i'll be committing to elermore vale for now :) i can anticipate problems with trying to sustain 2 churches (and college bible study and med bible study) at all, let alone when uni gets crazy so i'm going to sort myself out before the crazy uni thing starts ;) i figure the people that i'd really miss from unichurch i'd see at the college or med bible studies... but it's a bit of a wrench to have to pick :\

I got the google desktop program and it's actually really really cool - if you have lots of bandwidth to burn ;) the photo slideshow is running at the moment and reminding me of all the silly photos that i have on the computer ;)

anyway going to get back to work and stop procrastinating... i'd never procrastinate, would i?

Now playing -- Diana Krall - Abandoned Masquerade

You can cry a pool of tears and sit beside it...
Then perhaps you'll know what you want...

Well, I'm back... again...

let's see what's been happening in the last 2 weeks since i have had no internet at college and everything... (thanks to the little mr network admin at home - it took me a week and a half to figure that the 'manually configured' IP address was not a good thing and that i should change it ;) )

in summare:

- moved to newcastle (if anyone wants to send me anything, my address is:

Joyce Wong
Edwards Hall
University of Newcastle
Callaghan NSW 2308

- easy!)

- survived oweek in the 'drinking college' of newcastle uni (usually by disappearing somewhere else e.g. friends in other colleges, going back to tamworth, skipping all parties)
- survived going back home and getting my citizenship and coming back (5 minute ceremonies rock! 4 hour train trips both ways don't rock!)
- survived starting med (and actually enjoyed it! the problem based learning thing sounds dumb but it's fun and it might work... we shall see...)
- survived a trip down to sydney and even survived the trip back

the trip back from sydney was convoluted, to say the least - everything was fine until i realised that i'd read the timetable for weekdays, which was all right but meant i caught the 4:15pm train instead of the 3:45 or 4 that i'd intended to... then i waited half an hour for the bus which was fine... then i missed the stop at the uni which was not fine!!!!! so i got off the bus and started heading back to the colleges which was a pretty short walk... but it was dark and scary and i was by myself so fortunately a kind old lady gave me a lift back :) - the morale of the story is to work out which side of the road the bus travels on and which way the stops work. and never to start running out of credit when alone on a roadside trying frantically to contact friends with cars that lived at the uni to find that they were all in sydney, at a party or couldn't drive because they'd had wine with their dinner (*doh!!!). second morale of the story is that God definitely answers prayer, strangely enough he often uses little old ladies. (hehe)

so i'm into the books and finding myself some instant noodles for dinner... and cleaning up the mess in my bags... and thinking how good it is that today is SATURDAY not sunday... and feeling very tired.

-- Now playing: Ivory Sessions - Abraham's theme

(The first track in a completely instrumental and mostly piano/electronic CD which is the most relaxing tape that i have ever listened to so i turned the tape into a CD!)

Well.. I'm back..

We got back on Thursday after travelling for ages and it's been a bit surreal since then... less than 3 days ago I was in malaysia... weird... after adjusting back to english as national language, and being chucked headfirst in all the stuff that i needed to sort out after getting back, it's not that bad, actually!

Malaysia was hot. Hong Kong was busy and scary. went shopping lots. not quite sure what else to write about holiday because i could end up typing forever ;)

Going to uni next week will post more later

Still jetlagged and tired. Past midnight. Church tomorrow. Should probably sleep...

-- Now playing: David Gray - Sail Away

Sail away with me, and what will be will be...

Packing for Malaysia... stress mania time!

We had a great day at work.. really... too many patients not enough time also = stress mania time! Mum's stressing about everything so that means it's impossible to help with anything since if you ask her what she needs help with she says/yells something along the lines of what does it look like you should be doing ?!?!! and promptly goes and does whatever it was she told you to do after that herself. *sighs* I think I'll take shelter in my room for a few days until the weather forecast clears up in the teacup and we really do head off to malaysia...

On the brighter side, Dan's numberplates arrived today and we went and got them - I can finally stop holding surprise present now :P FunfunFun :P oops got a glare from mum for being on the computer when there's a hundred and one more productive things I could be doing at the moment... oh well should probably do lots of packing now :P

What is with Sportsgirl jeans? Besides being the most comfy and well cut jeans i've ever owned, I'm getting too fat to fit size 8 (agh!) but the size 6 pair still fits me fine... weird... :P

-- Now playing: Clannad - From Your Heart

Siúil ag siúil an bhealach seo
An bhealach seo tá
romham'sa
Siúil in aice liomsa
Is bí i gconaí caoimh

Walk, walk this way
This way
ahead of me
Walk close to me
And always be my companion

I'm back!! I'm back!!

Lol it's been 2 weeks since i touched this thing - I'm so slack :S Though I had summerfest for a week.. and I've been playing WoW (World of Warcraft) - got a 2 week trial for $2 and hence disappeared from society for 2 weeks... w00t! :P

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SNITA!! Officially over the hill :P

Going to malaysia next Wednesday... NO MORE WORKING!!! YAY! YAY! YAY!

ow. just thought i'd say that. blergh.

Australian KFC is disgusting

-- Now Playing: Ivory Sessions - A Time for Peace

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

I woke up, I cleaned my room, I helped mum clean the kitchen and bathroom and then went out to Paul and Russ's birthday party - happy 20th birthday to both of you! :D Then I came home early and Iron Chef was on! :P then Inspector Rex the Christmas Special was on! oh dear i'm turning into a bit of an SBS fan... hehe :P Summerfest music is all printed out and ready to give to people tomorrow :D It's been a great day ;) Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

---

Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" —which means, "God with us."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

BibleGateway.com is © Copyright 1995-2005 Gospel Communications International

--

-- Now playing: George - Fortunate Smile

And I pray every day for a glimpse of your fortunate smile...

Another day... I'm going to play earthworm jim now! :D Summerfest meeting was... interesting... and music practice was... interesting... :P Sorry Catherine, practices just aren't the same without you ;) though Trudy did a great job! :D looking forward to the carols tomorrow night anyway - hopefully the people that we invited from work will come - it's great working somewhere where there's guaranteed to be at least 30ish people wandering through your door every day and no matter how much you annoy them with brochures to 'church stuff' they'll still stay there because they need to see a doctor ;)

Evie and I did lots of work today - refiled the patient records, discovered new uses for bubble wrap, created an ad for the "Brita water jug" and generally had a lot more fun - it's weird - after tomorrow there's a 2 week holiday for Evie and a 3 day week next week for me! ;)

Earthworm Jim time! yay!!!

-- Now playing: Idea of North - Singin' a cappella

Compared to this he's bland
You should play another hand
Such a pity that he'll never understand...
That you're singin' a cappella :P doo doo doo do doo doo doo do doo doo doooooo....

There comes a point in the year when everything is happening at once and it feels like a sudden snowstorm has hit the rolling snowball.... strangely enough, it's usually around the june long weekend or the christmas-early january ;) I think i'm starting to feel the load from summerfest prep - being sick and out of it for the last almost week hasn't helped either... must finish editing voxpop... and sorting out music... and finishing the talk and craft with evie... (thankfully, evie's a lot more organised than me)... and to add to that, there's getting ready for malaysia.. and sorting out accomodation next year so they don't call my empty house... and the carols night on friday... and the practice for that on thursday.... and packing up my room so it's inhabitable when Miriam and Phil come to visit next... agh! Thursday!... and packing up my room for uni...

I'm so glad evie's at work to push me to get off my butt - I haven't done so much work since.. never and it feels really good to be doing something productive (all i need is a push along now and then :p) and it's good to have someone to talk to and laugh with/at ;) and dan's always there to give me a push as well ;) otherwise i'd just be wallowing in a lazy pool of self-pity at the moment...

whew now that i've written all that out it doesn't seem that scary after all.... as long as i get on with it now ;) urgh. 11:49 with wet hair *sighs* off I go to dry it...

I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength - Philippians 4:13

-- currently playing: Savage Garden: I Want You ;P

But the time of talking
Using symbols using words
Can be likened to a deep sea diver
Who is swimming with a raincoat

I hereby declare tonight "catch up with people you haven't talked to for ages" night - I decided to catch up with one of my primary school teachers (more like a family friend) this year and sent her a christmas present and she called tonight and we had a good chat for the better part of an hour.... then I was in a motivated mood to call a few people I hadn't talked to for ages... hmm who else can I call/email now....

Mum went for a gastroscopy today - she didn't have to get cut open for a laparoscopy after all ;) so they just stuck a camera down her throat instead. She just said she had a really good sleep ;) but they still don't know what's wrong with her :S hopefully they'll find out soon.... My tummy's sick too :( but at least i'm getting better - since it started hurting to eat, i've lost 1 and a half kilos so it's a surefire way to lose weight... today it wasn't so bad though so i suppose that weight loss will only be temporary ;)

Summerfest in 12 days!!!

Lookee - new mouse! Razer diamondback plasma limited edition ;) YAY!! (I don't know about the 'limited edition' though - they claim to have made only 10000 of them, but it appears like they're everywhere... not complaining though it's a really cool mouse ;))

Voxpopping was scary at first, but then it was a lot of fun! We harassed customers in Target and got told to camera outside Big W, and got a variety of different responses to our questions (interesting ones too) - there were a couple of people that we met that we knew (Prue Sutton, Em Turner (and her dad), Josiah's Kmart workmates, and a thankyou to Jared for answering our questions on the spot even though we didn't see a movie with you) - there was a buddhist guy that we asked as well (we didn't know he was a buddhist at the time...) and a guy from the Tamworth Bible Baptist church - I went into Coles to get iced coffee, Josiah stood outside with the camera and got into a theological discussion with him ;) - we got heaps of footage for me to play with now and it was a lot of fun! lol can't wait until doorknocking at summerfest :P (another scary but fun activity)

Well it's 10 to 12 now and i still haven't had a shower (or dinner, i suddenly remember - though i'm not hungry so i'll survive to breakfast - sleep time! goodnight :D

I feel like an... octopus. eww. no, try.. um.. octopus. :P I need at least 8 arms to do everything in the office at rush hour but fortunately evie's started this week so i only need 4 because she has 4 as well. hmm that was a very strange logic process, but it works ;) so now i feel like.. half an octopus? :P

Dad's having a teleconference this morning which essentially saves me having to pick up the phone (bet all the patients are happy with the 1 and a half hour downtime with the phone, I know the reception staff is :P) - Evie's coming in the afternoon so i'm taking the opportunity to finally catch up on Christmas card writing ;)

Going to do voxpop this evening with evie and jj - shoud be fun! we bought a new battery for the camera (for $260 i feel ripped off... but at least it came before tonight) and since i charged it last night i had to wait until midnight until it finished (not that i was complaining i was playing the computer ;)) After a 2am night the night before, I think Joel and I are officially stuffed. Though his movie is really good for a year 8 production in 2 weeks ;)

Back to work/cards :P

Well it's a little bit ridiculous... blogger will happily upload your photos onto your blog but when it comes to profile pics you have to have an url... fine.. i shall give in and simply post them here! :P then they'll have an url - ha that's taught it!! :P

this is a pic of me pre-chickenpox, post-brownhair, pre-retainer removal, and pre-new glasses :P i think i like this pic best ;)