WAK

Sayang,

Sorry for the lack of a "WOW!" birthday present. The poem could have been much better if not for the fact that Physiology Finals are inducing excessive stress neurotransmitters. And also, it's a bit mixed up with another poem I had in mind which was in reply to your ANadh poem.

Say hi to Wammey for me:P

Happy Birthday my dear:)

WAlina

Alina;

Sorry hun, I just only came across your blog update because you've not been updating:(

Thank you dear. It brought me close to tears.

ANADH

victory

I like this.

How do you imagine the taste of victory? � sweetness of triumph and jubilation, spiced up by determination, sacrifice and rush of adrenaline in dire situations � an intoxicating concoction that accelerates the rate and volume of secretion from the salivary glands (of those who aspire).

I want to taste it.

Always be there

Maher Zain

Watching is unnecessary. Listen to the lyrics.

if i were pregnant

I heard the most amazing speech ever given in my entire life of witnessing speeches.

We had a normal MIM Toastmasters meeting yesterday morning. However, it was anything but normal. In every toastmasters meeting, there is a session called the Table Topics session. For this meeting, I was the Table Topics master and so my role was to prepare topics for volunteers to talk about for two minutes. It's basically to help people practice thinking and speaking on their feet.

When TT session came, I said that "there are times in our lives we wish to be someone else... and so my theme for the topics was 'If I were...' " The people who came up front had to randomly choose a character from a card. My variety were:

• Wizard
• Radio
• Colonel Sanders
• Walt Disney
• Pregnant
• Reporter
• Bill Gates
• Tooth Fairy
• Vampire

I was snickering on who would be the one lucky enough to get "pregnant".

During our meeting, there were guests from Confucion school, about 12 of them (teachers and students included). So when the time came for me to ask for a volunteer, the 5th speaker, in the form of the only boy from Confucion School, shot his hand right up. He looked very quiet and reserved, did not show any eye contact neither did he really smile. When the probably-15-year-old chose a card, yes you guessed it, he got the topic "If I were pregnant". The audience erupted in laughter! And everyone eagerly leaned forward to hear what exactly this boy would come up with.

I think at first he was a bit dumbfounded as well because he slowly said "If I were pregnant..." He had a far away look and stared at the floor most of the time. But suddenly he kept on going without any stutters or stammering.

If I were pregnant.... I would look after my child (pause).... like how my mother looked after me. My parents got divorced when I was very young. My father abused my mother and hurt her a lot. We had to go to court and my father was fighting rights to take us as his children. He said that our mother abuses us. My mother also fought for us and in the end, she won. So if I were pregnant, I would protect my child. Because no matter what happens, you know that there will always be someone who shares your blood which is your mother.

There was a pin drop silence throughout the whole 2 minutes. Everyone was holding their breath. I swear I could feel tears welling. After he ended his speech, the audience erupted in a thunderous applause! People were shaking their heads in disbelief and smiling at the same time. I was momentarily speechless and all I could say after his speech was "That was a WOW speech". The applause carried on for the second time and everyone were astounded by that moving speech.

That was the best speech I have ever heard.

And not surprisingly, his was voted as Best Table Topics Speech.

NB: what I wrote wasn't two minutes but the basic gist of it. I was too caught up in emotions to fully remember his whole speech.

heroes

Nothing makes you feel appreciate life more than learning Physiology. Once you learn the the function of every system and every organ involved and all the tissues within that organ and all cells, right down to the molecular level; it is honestly so amazing.

What struck me most was when we were studying about pain receptors. It brought back the Immune System topic from the previous year. Although Immune System was probably the most complicated out of all topics, I loved it so much simply because of the processes that happened and how your body fights for you.

Take for example inflammation. When you have a harmful substance like a sharp pin penetrating into your skin; the cells there will be alerted and desperately (as I imagine) send out signals. The aplomb and suave macrophages also signal for more backup. Backup arrives almost immediately in the form of increased blood flow, consisting of platelets, white blood cells, all coming to your (specifically your skin tissue's) rescue. In a heroic attempt to combat those harmful substances, your blood vessels splurge out a whole amount of fluid and your heroes start warding off the foreign substance. The phagocytes all with angry faces (at least in my drawings) instantly begin eating up all the baddies whilst at the same time, platelets start repairing back the damaged tissue. After all the drama, there is only pus or what's left of the war zone; dead white blood cells, and cell debris... Proof of their undying devotion to always help you.

Honestly, that's how I imagine it. (That's basically the process of inflammation; but don't take my word for it, I'm only recalling and as we all know, Prof says not to trust your brain). It's just that when I visualize it that way, it makes me so amazed that no matter what kind of injury or harm that is inflicted onto you, your saviours will come to your rescue no matter what. You can bet on it. (Unless of course they are mutated or something but that's a whole different story). So if there's one thing you can depend on, it's your immune system.

If ever you feel unloved, pinch yourself and see the red mark (the cells would signal for more blood flow) so you know they are all coming to your rescue. Know that at least the mast cells are looking out for you without fail and the phagocytes would eat up those hurting you all the time. Would any guy EAT anyone who hurts you? I think not.

Immune system: our heroes. Love your body, look after it well, learn to appreciate:)

DMMGM

I have recently acquired a new nickname. DMMGM; pronounced "Damage 'Em". Very suitable especially for someone like me who's in Team M16. But being in the team was not the reason I was nicknamed so.

Throughout my almost 19 years of living, nicknames have been cropping up here and there. I've always been called Alia and very seldom do people call me Nadhirah; except my eldest brother and occasionally my dad. In my college now and since high school, there have been a number of 'Alia's and so when I wanted to enter first year mbbs, I thought of switching my name to Nadhirah. But I guess it was a bit too lengthy and people were stuck associating me with the name "Alia". I didn't exactly respond very well to the name Nadhirah. So Alia stuck.

I got the most nicknames in high school. Who wouldn't have? It was probably the craziest time of my life. So, gathering the nicknames together, I have decided that there are two categories of nicknames:

1. Nicknames associated with your real name:

Of course Nicknamer Iman gave me the most- ranging from Ally, Als to "door banger" and "the swallower" (on account that they PERCEIVE I'm a fast eater and apparently don't chew on my food..). Caaliya is what Fuddy calls me; solely because Siraj was trying to spell my name as Kak Alia and she saw the misspelling... and it stuck. Sharaf calls me Nad. Nurul gave me McAlister (I think) and up to one point "Kuachi" because she was named Dodol and Rasya was named Sotong because of some triad thing; but most of the time I'm Nunu's darling hunny bear sayang or "anakku". Nabil calls me Dira- as in from Nadhirah. Aki calls me Eli sometimes and when you put the two names together, it comes out as Eliaki which sounds like Teriyaki and makes me hungry for sushi.

2. Variations completely unassociated with your name:

Najah dubbed me M16 mascot. Anas calls me Shishou (which means "master" in japanese)- referring to drawing and arts.

And now, the latest: DMMGM. Syafiqah Shuhel's short form of my nickname "Drawing Mind Map Genius... something" (I think the last M is for Master- but then it wouldn't be making such sense).

Awesome are they not?

If you don't have a nickname, get one now. They bring sweet memories and make you laugh at how varied your name can be.

What's your nickname?:)