Donating Bone Marrow

Today!! is the day that we're supposed to come to save Kian (to know more about it see my previous post- Bone Marrow Donor Session). Originally I felt like not coming because I've been slacking after my first paper, but.. dont know why, the feeling of i might be the one who save him, or somebody else, was so strong that made me made up my mind to come at last, with Bee Peng (the rest all become very ignorant during exam despite saying that got karma one if you come to test >"<)

Surprisingly we saw loads of people when we arrived in the SU bar in park campus. A guy gave us one booklet and a medical application form, asking us to read pg. 4-8 before filling in the form. OK, so next we sit down comfortably and started reading.. right on the first page that we read regarding the donor criteria for joining..

be aged between 18-40 *tick*

be in excellent health *errr.. yes gua*

weigh at least 51kg *wow bpeng!! luckily I gained weight!! otherwise I couldn't donate!! first time feel so good for gaining weight!*

reside in the UK (for the next three years min) *oh no!! we're not sure yet*

bla bla bla... several other criteria which I think we fulfill.. (see picture)

So, being curious whether a carrier of thalassemia gene can donate bone marrow or not.. I approached a lady and wrote down the "disease". She said she doesnt even know what it is but she brought the booklet up and asked somebody else.. When she came back

"Are you a carrier or you actually suffer from it?" (errr.. if i actually suffer from it i should have died i guess >"<)

"I'm just a carrier of it =)"

"OK, it should be fine, but it may limit the way you can donate it" (pointing to 1 of the pages showing different ways of donating bone marrow)

"just discuss it with somebody else later.. it should be fine"

OK. I assume that I'm now an eligible donor. Next thing is the 3 years period problem - that guy said if we can't be sure that we 'll be here for 3 years, the answer is NO =/ (for apparent reason if we're needed we will need to travel here and stay for quite a few weeks.. it seems that we can't make this commitment yet)

So... I'm now blogging in park campus.. instead of giving blood sample.. feel a bit jealous seeing some people having the test up there. Actually in the application form, there's also criteria like "I am not on any other bone marrow / stem cell register in the UK or worldwide" which reminds me that probably we should register in malaysia rather than here in the UK..

Although a bit disappointed not being able to donate, guess we can still register it somewhere else in the future and help somebody else (for their trust, one in 1000 is selected as a match for a patient each year). At least I know that carriers of thalassemia are able to donate.

P.S. Post was written in park campus on 29th 7pm

Countdown to freedom: 7 days!

Prosopagnosia

Do you think you have problem in recognizing human face?

I wonder anyone is like me, that when I first came here, I found most Whites have similar faces. It's kind of embarassing that sometimes when I'm working, I help a customer to look for size option in the stockroom while she's waiting in the shop floor, normally when I come back, I don't really remember which is the one that ask for my help (especially when there are lots customers)! I assumed this as usual (since we seldom see faces of different races ma), and thought that I'd get used to them soon and would be able to differenciate them well. But until recent, things like that still happen!! I've been here for 3 years.. That day when I came back from stockroom and wondered who that was, I asked my manager directly.. she and a colleague of mine kept laughing at me after that.. so did the customer, because she heard me asking.. >"<

Is there anyone out there that have similar situation??

Why would I talk about this suddenly..? Because one of the topic that I revised for exam PY313 (Cognitive neuropsychology) is about Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, which is a selective inability to recognize or differentiate among faces (something like that la, finished this paper I can't remember edy =P).


Then, when I was doing a bit research about it yesterday, I found that it's not just simply wide variation under this diagnosis, but there are mild cases in which, it may be affecting 10% of the population!!!! ok, you may not be able to realize this in general life, as most people are those that familiar to you, while there's no point of remembering strangers'. BUT, one common "symptom" is the inability to keep track the identity of characters in movies!!

KNS.. I really have this problem.. Still remember when I went to watch The Dark Knight (Batman 3) in cinema last year, I couldn't differenciate between the batman (of course when he was in his casual look la - Wayne) and Dent, until my friend told me that they have different hair colour.. so THROUGHTOUT THE MOVIE, I used their hair colour as the cue to differentiate who is who.... super zzzz right?!!?!

OK. Basically it's not a big problem (neither is it very disabling), as I can recognize familiar faces, no matter what ethnicity they are, really well. But.. I'm just trying to look for anyone like me.. please.. (well, if it's really 10%, then 1 of 10 of my blog readers should be like me right?)

What my name means

You entered: Teh Hui Bee

There are 9 letters in your name.
Those 9 letters total to 47
There are 5 vowels and 4 consonants in your name.

Your number is: 11

The characteristics of #11 are: High spiritual plane, intuitive, illumination, idealist, a dreamer.

The expression or destiny for #11:
Your Expression number is 11. The number 11 is the first of the master numbers. It is associated with idealistic concepts and rather spiritual issues. Accordingly, it is a number with potentials that are somewhat more difficult to live up to. You have the capacity to be inspirational, and the ability to lead merely by your own example. An inborn inner strength and awareness can make you an excellent teacher, social worker, philosopher, or advisor. No matter what area of work you pursue, you are very aware and sensitive to the highest sense of your environment. Your intuition is very strong; in fact, many psychic people and those involved in occult studies have the number 11 expression. You possess a good mind with keen analytical ability. Because of this you can probably succeed in most lines of work, however, you will do better and be happier outside of the business world. Oddly enough, even here you generally succeed, owing to your often original and unusual approach. Nonetheless, you are more content working with your ideals, rather than dollars and cents.

The positive aspect of the number 11 expression is an always idealistic attitude. Your thinking is long term, and you are able to grasp the far-reaching effects of actions and plans. You are disappointed by the shortsighted views of many of your contemporaries. You are deeply concerned and supportive of art, music, or of beauty in any form.

The negative attitudes associated with the number 11 expression include a continuous sense of nervous tension; you may be too sensitive and temperamental. You tend to dream a lot and may be more of a dreamer than a doer. Fantasy and reality sometimes become intermingled and you are sometimes very impractical. You tend to want to spread the illumination of your knowledge to others irrespective of their desire or need.

Your Soul Urge number is: 9

A Soul Urge number of 9 means:
With a 9 Soul Urge, you want to give to others, usually in a humanitarian or philanthropic manner. You are highly motivated to give friendship, affection and love. And you are generous in giving of your knowledge and experience. You have very sharing urges, and you are likely to have a great deal to share. Your concern for others makes you a very sympathetic and generous person with a sensitive and compassionate nature.

You are able to view life in very broad and intuitive terms. You often express high ideals and an inspirational approach to life. If you are able to fully realize the potential of your motivation, you will be a very self-sacrificing person who is able to give freely without being concerned about any return or reward.

As with all human beings, you are prone to sometimes express the negative attitudes inherent to your Soul Urges. You may become too sensitive and tend to express emotions strongly at times. There can be significant conflict between higher aims and personal ambitions. You may resent the idea of giving all of the time and, in fact, if there is too much 9 energy in your nature you may reject the idea. You may often be disappointed in the lack of perfection in yourself and others.

Your Inner Dream number is: 2

An Inner Dream number of 2 means:
You dream of close and meaningful relationships, cooperation with those around you; family and friends. You want to be a peacemaker and mediator. You present an image that you are a very pliable and easygoing person who would be very easy to get along with.

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Those in yellow tend to be what I agree with, Or, what suprised me yet I still more incline to agree with. Whereas those in red are what I strongly disagree with.. (e.g. I'm obviously not an easygoing person lorrr.. XD)

What do you think?

In general I think I'm quite a practical person, not really a dreamer (wth it says I'm a dreamer more than a doer, I didn't say I disagree, but I will spend some time analyzing whether it's true! lol). I still agree with "you are more content working with your ideals, rather than dollars and cents." although having to say that I'm a more down to earth person. BUT the thing is I'm shifting my mind.. I mean changing, because at this period of time, I'm going to graduate, and I recognize the importance of......... you know, some realistic stuff (e.g. financial issue if you don't get a job - ahh and it says I'm a natural excellent teacher, philosopher, social worker or advisor - So I should work towards this direction huh?).

Anyway, This is such a long and wordy post that I doubt whether anyone would really read it by heart?! Perhaps you'd be more interested in getting to know what your name means? (click here) And.. I don't really... agree with those kind of analysis, this is why I seldom do any test (I'm still wondering it's just a name that my dad gave me in translation from hokkien to english, does that mean that much?? - most of the time I wonder when I see people doing any form of non-academic test) I still do this one and share it on my blog,.. because it seems pro

Thanks ChungVi (my primary school mate), got this from his blog (=
saw his analysis includes "have excellent capabilities to study and learn really deep and difficult subjects, and to search for hidden fundamentals" and I'm so jealous! because I think I'm yet it doesnt appear on mine =(

P.S. in approximately 12 hours I'll be sitting for my 1st paper, why am I blogging here?

Random

刚刚因为不想读书而无聊去看facebook一自己的照片
看到一些滑雪的照片.. (Austria Skiing Trip)
突然很想念滑雪 很想念那趟旅行 很想念那些像仙境般的风景..


突然.. 有一点舍不得在这里的朋友 大部分都要毕业也准备回去了...

Facebook & Lower Grades

College students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grade point averages than students who have not signed up for the social networking website, according to a pilot study at one university.

However, more than three-quarters of Facebook users claimed that their use of the social networking site didn’t interfere with their studies.

“We can’t say that use of Facebook leads to lower grades and less studying – but we did find a relationship there,” said Aryn Karpinski, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in education at Ohio State University.

“There’s a disconnect between students’ claim that Facebook use doesn’t impact their studies, and our finding showing they had lower grades and spent less time studying.”

While this was a relatively small, exploratory study, it is one of the first to find a relationship between college students’ use of Facebook and their academic achievement.

Typically, Facebook users in the study had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5, while non-users had GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0.

In addition, users said they averaged one to five hours a week studying, while non-users studied 11 to 15 hours per week.

"There may be other factors involved, such as personality traits, that link Facebook use and lower grades,” she said. “It may be that if it wasn’t for Facebook, some students would still find other ways to avoid studying, and would still get lower grades. But perhaps the lower GPAs could actually be because students are spending too much time socializing online."

To read more

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What do you think?

I found myself spend relatively less time on Facebook nowadays due to its new layout (especially not happy with the fixed selections of published news, get annoyed that people keep doing tests and publishing them). But I used to spend lots time playing some games (some applications like "Who has the biggest brain?" "GeoChallenge" or "Friendsforsale" that sort of thing) or commenting on photos. Hmmm.. I do agree that it could be a distraction, but would it be affecting people's grades in college?

Anyway, it's important to note that they merely found a relationship, especially there could be many confounding factors underlie the relationship, such as personality traits as mentioned. There are also people who found facebook improved their grade as it helped them to make course related contacts. So perhaps it just depends.. And if we were to compare, I guess the advantages may outrange the disadvantages..

Students ma, even if there is no such thing as facebook on earth, there will always be something else to distract US from study.. LOL (such as blogging? why dont they investigate the relationship between regular blogging and college grade? ahahah..)

Bone Marrow Donor Session

Young mother, Gemma Isaacs, is urgently calling for people to come forward and potentially help save her two year old son’s life. Little Kian suffers from an extremely rare genetic disorder — PNP Deficiency — and desperately needs to find a bone marrow donor in order to survive.

Gemma, from Wyman’s Brook in Cheltenham, is urging everyone aged 18-40 years old to join the Anthony Nolan Trust’s bone marrow register on Wednesday 29th April from 4 — 7pm at the Park Student Union, University of Gloucestershire.

There are currently 16,000 people worldwide in need of a bone marrow transplant, but because individual genetic makeup is so varied, the chance of finding a suitable donor can be slim. Many searches for patients are unsuccessful — a bone marrow donor whose tissue type matches theirs could mean the difference between life and death.

Kian’s condition - PNP Deficiency - is a genetic disorder caused by a lack of Purine Nuceloside Phosphorylase enzyme, which leaves the patient vulnerable to a variety of potentially fatal infections. People with the condition can also suffer brain damage.

His mother Gemma said: “Without a bone marrow transplant, Kian’s prognosis is bleak. It’s very rare for a child with this condition to live beyond 10. But with a bone marrow transplant, Kian will have a normal life span, although he will still have developmental problems. Please please come forward and join the register. I ask you to put yourself in our situation — imagine if it was your child, or a member of your family, what would you do? I really hope we find someone who will be able to help save Kian’s life. We’re desperate.”

The blood sample taken at the registration clinic is tested to establish the tissue type and the results stored on the charity’s confidential database. As a new member of the register the donor receives a registration card and written confirmation of being a potential life saver. A donor may be found to be a match for a patient almost immediately or may wait many years before being asked to donate — and in some cases may never donate at all if there is no match. Please come to the Park Student Union at the University of Gloucestershire from 4-7pm on 29th April to find out more.

Donors need to be aged 18-40. For further information regarding the clinic and joining the register, please contact The Anthony Nolan Trust on +44 20 7284 1234 or log on to www.anthonynolan.org.uk

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Just saw this on our Uni website.. I feel like going to try ley.. especially the kid (named Kian!!) looks damn cute.. but that will be during exam period plus I'm a bit scared ley.. -_-" and.. and.. and my thalassemia genes.. haihh. Have been saying I want to donate blood for a very long time, but never get a chance to actually do it, of course donating bone marrow is a far bigger matter, but still, if stand on their point of view.. perhaps one day we will need other's help.. why not giving a hand when we're able to? It's like.. saving a life, A LIFE!! And it won't be just a life, it will also be a great boon to the family of the patient. And it's quite surprising.. they actually let people register, and when they find patient who match the donor then only would you need to donate.. Hmm.. dont know, it seems a bit scary.. -_-"

Anyway, hope they can find a suitable donor. God bless him.

P.S. Happy Earth Day!

Well done?

80 pages, my dissertation..
received this email last week, it made me feel wow! finally came to this stage
it's like really the end of it, have been working on it for a year!!
don't really care whether it's well done anymore, I really try my best
but actually not really finish yet, because I don't get what Kerry means by saying "you have 2 univariate tests but only report one"
I think he overlooked something when checking my result section.. but I'm not sure, since he's the pro... (anyway I still think he's the best supervisor, opps, maybe I should say one of the best?)
haih.. hate being so last-minute! otherwise I could have finished and typed all the page numbers..
I was so stressed yesterday that I felt I couldn't really breath as usual :(
but then today I spent all day indulging myself.. zzz
no more procrastinating until 7th May - I say it I mean it I will make it (:
Countdown to freedom: 16 days

Half Year

It's now half a year I blog here in huibee.blogspot.com (which is my 3rd published blog after thespoke and windows live space)
I think previously I did aim to reach 100 posts in six months and obviously - I failed, 15 more till my target :(
Blogging too less in recent few weeks
Just reread nearly all the posts this year
Kind of impressed by my passion on blogging, and my views on some sorts of thing
Guess I'm really kind of forgetful person - thus it's good to keep a blog
It reminds me about myself, my dream and helps me to see my growth and changes
Many people around me start or start again to blog, which is quite nice
as you get to know how life of your friend is through blog fairly easily
But the thing is I just realized the blogs that I'm following exceed 30 already!
they are all bro, primary and high schools friends, ELS friends, uni friends etc (still exclude those that I care yet they blog in windows live space which following here is not possible yet)
And I feel I'm not really able to read so many posts especially some (bloggaholic?) friends (e.g. Nick, Peiman) has new post daily or nearly daily..
so it ends up I just read the first few lines, if I'm interested only would I click on it
Is it good or bad huh? Or I should be more picky - dont follow so many people's?
Yet when I decided to follow every single of them, I'm pretty sure I'm interested in reading it or in knowing this particular person

Anyway, hope I would keep blogging, no matter how busy or boring life is..
and one final thing - Many thanks to those have been reading my blog and/or leaving comments for it.. They are very very much appreciated, they mean a lot to me, especially when I'm down, and they keep me carry on too (:
with real hope, i will be celebrating its 1st, 2nd, 10th.. anniversary

417

不是我不明白 /梁静茹 & 卢广仲
曲: 林稘玉 词 : 李焯雄

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Just saw friend sharing this on FB, worth sharing it too, agree?
Heard the song quite a few times, felt it was just kind of normal Fishy type love songs (except the fact that the lyrics was really well written - deep though)
but watching its MV may somehow make you feel different (:

Passionate about...

I'm passionate about studying, yes I just said studying, just as I'm passionate about jogging, blogging, movies, snoopy, eggs etc
This was what I feel normally, sometimes when I dont study for a long time, I miss the feeling of studying, of working really hard for exams.. It gives me sense of moving on and achievement. This was what happen last year before final
But it didn't happen this year
I can't motivate myself.. I keep saying motivation but I've lost it.
Anyhow I still believe I'm keen on studying.. it's just something's not going right in me lately.
Arrrggghhhhhhh how? Killllll... ok, back to my revision

even if im not motivated, I still hope I can be a motivator of at least some others.

I'm back (:

I need somebody, a psychologist at best, or a sincere friend to talk to
someone who will listen to my words, give me some advices, yet won't spread the things
feel a bit lost recently, but early morning today I decided to find myself and to be the usual self again
hehehe.. dont know what im talking about
anyway, I'm back to my revision, after 2 weeks of slacking..
i'd been on viwawa often or otherwise at work (not uni work!).. now i ban myself from vww already..
worth mentioning as well: regarding the finished ink of the pen that i mentioned in previous post, i'd been using it for 1+ year
it's not just 1 or 2 day that I finished using it la okk.. funny, somebody thought so :P

while typing this, sis msn-ed me "harlo, pama miss you"
awwwwwww... this is so sweet.. ahaha.. i dont think they ever missed me since i came to england?!
oh ok.. at least they never said so (:
i miss them too.. every single family member of mine.. very much.
talk about msn, recently quite often i forget to sign in - i dont know why la
just.. something wrong about me, but anyway.. im back on msn too! - although i may be doing something else and will rarely reply anyone.. -_-"
OK, basically just want to declare battle against final - should be revising not blogging!

Good luck to everyone (:

Swollen finger due to 'excessive' writing

I wonder whether anyone is like me - normally when I write loads word the middle finger of my right hand will get swollen, it hurts a bit when it just appears, and takes quite long time to disappear.
I know the problem is actually because I hold pen too tightly and write too hard - the whole table normally waggle until those that sit beside me usually split their table from mine during high school.. hahahah..

That's why normally I try to get this kind of pen

You may realize or not, there is a little rubber thing to let you hold, although it doesnt help too much, but at least it does.. slightly
Obviously I've nearly finished the ink. =/
and this is my new pen... just 3 hours of note writing my middle finger bengkak :(

What to do?

This is the pencil that has followed me for.. about 5 or 6 years

Guess what I've done to solve my problem - Look carefully,


Hahahaha.. Wuliao, I know
but trust me and try it, it helps!! (:

(Note on 01.03.2012: I don't know why the pictures wouldn't show anymore, but basically I moved the rubber from a mechanised pencil to a ball pen so that it's softer for the middle finger, and it really helps!)

Anyway, I believe nowadays not many have the chance to write excessively..