Extinction

Yesterday was the first time I had Starbucks coffee and a good long afternoon coffee chat
Went there with 2 frens to celebrate finishing exams (why was i there then?) and really...it was more of a get-together to plan out her post exam activities for the next couple of days
Had a "meaningful" conversation there (for 3 hrs) which I now cant remember much (only remember the useless bits)
but heres a piece of it

A: man Im 22 already but I still feel so young
B: what do u mean "young"?
A: as in I dun feel like Im 22 yet
C: me too...still feeling so immature...
A: I bet that within 5 yrs, at least one of our frens wouldve gotten married
C: That would be 27 yrs old. Isn't that a bit early?
B: nah... thats about right...
C: I cant imagine myself getting married then
A: well u dun have to worry...ur a guy...u can get married when ur older
B: like a 30 yrs old marrying a 25 yrs old girl or something
C: arrhh but Im immature though. I need to get a mature gf
A: hehe mature girls dun go for immature guys
C: really?!@#*@ what would immature guys normally do then?
A: they go for younger girls like those bimbos who r even more immature than themselves
C: s**t
B: or theyll have to be really rich or really good looking
C: s**t ...what would ugly, immature and poor guys do then?
A: they go extinct
C: oh

my fren, she concluded that I should marry a rich girl

Moral of the story: Life always has solutions

What to say

Depressed in a non-depressing kinda way
Dun have exams but ve got assignments.
While everyone else are finishing up exams, I have yet to begin my work

Haven't been sleeping well. my bodyclock is screwed
sleep at 7am wake up at 7pm.
sleep at 7pm wake up at 3am
sleep at 10.30am wake up at 5pm
kept waking up every 2-3 hours
14 hrs stretch but Im still tired
My life lacks vitamin D of late

Badminton sux. or rather... I sux
Euro'08, every teams I went for...lost (plss gimme decent teams to watch in the final)
Kung fu panda has been the biggest plus in my life this last week which is sad
The pursuit of happiness inspired me for 30 mins after which I felt asleep having read 3 pages of journal paper
Maybe I should go make special tray just to make myself feel better again
which now reminds me that my last denture got rejected
Now that's sad too

A guide to understanding the previous blog, maybe

Pharmacology - a study discipline to do with drugs
Paracetamol - a drug for pain relief (commonly known as panadol)
Amoxycillin - a commonly used penicillin (kills bacteria)
Triamcinolone Acetonide - forget the name. its just a paste u put at the site of ulcer. helps heal it
Histamine - a substance produced by the body to fight off external assault. can cause blocked nose due to increasing amount mucous (clear coloured fluid) released
Bioavailability - how much drug is actually absorbed by the body and takes effect
Psychoactive - affect the brain basically
Nerd - a person who understands the previous blog

now that I've looked at it again. u wouldnt understand most of the words anyway even if I tried to explain them. maybe thats why health professionals get paid so much

PS. ur either a nerd or ur not
PSS. Just watched 'Definitely, Maybe'... good movie

In possession of banned drugs

If u dun understand this blog, take comfort in knowing that ur not a nerd*

While reading my 2007 Oral and Dental Therapeutics guideline, it drew on my curiosity of all the medications I hav in my cupboard. See...being a kid with a doctor as parent, I get medicine from dad whenever I'm sick and I just take for granted that hes doing the right thing.

But I'm a soon-to-be health professional and I should do better than just taking my dad's words for it.
so I had a look in my medi stash I brought from Thailand. There are...

1) Tylenol, which is a brandname for 500g paracetamol in Thailand (prob imported from US or something)
2) Cavumox, (500g amoxycillin + 125g clavulanic acid)
3) Buscopan 10mg for relief of abdominal pain/spasm
4) Travacalm (Hyoscine HCl 300mcg)...the med i bought b4 I went scuba diving (prevent car/seasickness) which essentially does the same thing as Buscopan in a much lower dose
5) Triamcinolone Acetonide in Orabase 0.1% for my occasional ulcer I used to get frequently but not so much now. Its interesting that I've been learning about this drug without knowing that Ive been using one all along

and
3 medications which aim to do the same thing (nasal decongestant)...Cetrizet, Sudafed PE and Actifed

Cetrizet (Cetirizine 10mg) is an antihistamine, blocking H1 receptor

Sudafed PE (Phenylephrine HCl 10mg) - selective a-adrenoreceptor agonist. constrict blood vessel and therefore less leak + nasal secretion.

Lastly, Actifed (Pseudoephedrine HCl 60mg) - a drug that is now replaced by phenylephrine. It stimulates NA release which acts at the a-adrenoreceptor like phenylephrine except that its not a-receptor specific, therefore it tends to hav more side effects eg. drowsiness. My dad recommended this drug cos its more potent than phenylephrine. The reason being, Phenylephrine is metabolised by MAO in GIT and Liver which significantly reduces its bioavailability. While Wiki-ing online, I found out that pseudoephedrine is a precursor for methamphetamine (a psychoactive substance that is often abused and sometimes referred to as speed) and hence the reason it has been taken off the counter in many countries. In Australia 2007, Gov is considering banning all products containing Pseudoephedrine.

And here it is, sitting in my cupboard so innocently