Gone Too Soon: Tan Shyn Lyn

Saw on my facebook homepage that ivy joined the group 'gone too soon: tan shyn lyn' and curiosity got the better of me. so i clicked on the group and went to take a look.

the info there did not put away all my curiosity and i was still wondering what had happened. all my friends in spore were in the midst of exam, so i did not want to disturb them.

at buffet at bondi beach on sunday, heard from minwei that there was a msian girl from selangor who was studying in NUS (Spore) who committed suicide. she was in her final year and was going to graduate from dentistry within months. immediately, my thoughts linked this to the facebook group. there must be some correlation.

came back and did some research or rather web-surfing/browsing. more info surfaced and i drew all them together to explain certain situations and made my deductions which were later confirmed.

A fellow ASEAN scholar, even though she was a few years more senior than I was and I have not met her before, it is sad to know that such a bright, talented girl had taken her own life. I share her brother's sentiments that I am glad and proud that she had the courage to seek medical help for her depression in a society where seeking mental help can be stigmatised and laughed upon.

There is no proper explanation of why she has taken her own life and I do not attempt to make speculations. Rather, i think this tragedy sheds lights on how important support is for teenagers and young adults alike, especially those who are on a foreign land on their own. No matter how many years a person could have been living independently away from home, the hollow and lonely feeling still surface from time to time. There is no reason to assume that necessary and adequate care and support can be regarded as of less importance.

Hopefully, it is also a reminder to all of us to make that little effort to understand and listen to people around us, be it our friends, family members, relatives or just anyone who does not look like his or her usual self. There is so much that i would want to write, but i have no idea how to put them into words. this is a very sad tragedy, which probably could have been prevented.

I hope that shyn lyn's demise could be a wake up call for us to reflect on what could have been done and what should not have been done so that we can all prevent such tragedies from happening again.

Took these news articles from the facebook group:

http://search.sinchew-i.com/node/530623?k=自殺 (chinese)

http://search.sinchew-i.com/node/531706?k=自殺 (chinese)

http://search.sinchew-i.com/node/531848?k=自殺 (chinese)

http://freeweb.wordpress.com/ (translations of the above 3 chinese articles, for the benefit of non-chinese readers/speakers)

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/lindaxlquek

found this quite cool and interesting :D

Saving Andrew Mallard

Watching the documentary called "Saving Andrew Mallard" made me reflect on why I am studying law after all.

When I was young, I told my mum that I wanted to be a lawyer because I wanted to help people who are disadvantaged. Mum told me that being a lawyer often means helping the bad guy. Innocently, I said, I would help good guys who are just too poor and can't afford a lawyer. And mum said, then you won't get business to make money! Haha. How innocent was I.

People always say that money in the legal profession lies in the corporate area. People often ask if I am going to be a corporate lawyer in the future because I am studying commerce and law.

There is so much injustice in the world. Our society is not perfect, I admit it and I acknowledge that no one society can be perfect.

I guess I will just have to figure out what I want to achieve from my career and what are the possible trade offs.


Here is a link to wiki on Andrew Mallard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Mallard

strange + CEO

it is funny how at times when you are surrounded by many people, you still have this hollow feeling. it is like you are looking for someone, but you might not even know who you are looking for. it is a strange feeling that i have yet to find an explanation for.

anyway, attended the Meet the CEO - Mike Smith (CEO of ANZ) this evening at Scientia building.

the financial parts are a little too in-depth for me to fully understand. but points taken are:

- how do you pull through challenges? you never doubt yourself. you always believe that you will succeed and you will achieve what you want

- not everyone is ambitious

realized that china is really the big power now. dont need to think about a nation-wide china business. just a small city might be enough to generate decent profits. on another note, size of population might be important, but the wealth level of the people can make a huge difference too.

-the end-

enjoy life

haven't posted anything for a long time. apologies to people who actually read this blog. LOL.

easter break is over. had a wonderful one with family in melb and later with friends on an epic crazy trip to mount kosciuszko.

reality is starting to sink in.

putting that aside.

nothing is permanent in this world. everything changes. i m in control of how i want to live everyday and every minute of my life.

life is complicated and that is what makes it interesting. human emotions, interactions, understandings, secrets and all sorts of stories keep the world colourful and add spice to our lives. sometimes they turn out to be trouble. but aren't they what keep us going and train us to be stronger? definitely there are times when we feel like succumbing and giving up. but is that an option? we are answerable to our lives at the end of the day. so live your life in whatever way that you want. there is no one path that everyone should take. there is no one formula to living. there is no one formula to happiness and success.

enjoy your life because you never know what is going to happen next :D

obstacles

just to share with you guys:

you can let obstacles beat you, ruin you or you can choose to overcome them.

:D

so much has happened

i havent written a post for so long. apologies to my readers out there (if there's any left) LOL

i have been back in sydney for 3 weeks. arrived in sydney on 1st march on SIA A380. well, so much news about the A380, but i felt that there is not much difference! lol. maybe i m just someone who doesnt pay too much attention to details.

week 1 was too easy and maybe as levin said, i slacked too much and fell sick. really sick.

friday on week 1 was IH opening dinner. i had headache in the middle of the dinner and went straight back to my room after the dinner, missing out on the after party and the camwhoring session. a night sleep didnt help and i was feeling cold. down with fever the next day. maybe fever started on friday night. but anyway, i was down with fever on saturday. but i still went for sailing. because i thought that it was going to be fun and it was fun! and then we went to have korean bbq. didnt really have appetite for dinner. sunday, i was still sick. monday of week 2, went to uni health services with sis. fever and was told to get panadol and nurofen. took blood test too. to cut the story short, i went to the health services every day on week 2. until friday when the gp decided that i should be admitted, because they cant figure out what is wrong with me! LOL.

went to emergency department at Prince of Wales (POW) hospital and waited for 2 hours before i was attended to. (considered quite a short waiting time). more blood test and they wanted me to try eating. initially i was told that i will be able to go home and to return on monday to see the blood test results. however, the blood test results showed that my liver has malfunctioned. basically, there was a very high level of panadol. overdose of panadol? not possible because i didnt take more than 8 panadols a day. so ya, i was told that i have to be admitted because they have to get my liver count thingy down to normal. it was really high. normal person's max limit is 50 and mine reached 1500.

anyway, the first bag of drips was BAD! side effects, maybe. i was going to vomit and coughed like crazy. sis must have been frightened. and btw, we waited from about afternoon till 1am before i was transferred from ED to a ward! LOL.

spent saturday and sunday in the hospital, in P4E which was an oncology ward. well, that means cancer patients. like xiaoshu said, maybe it is a good time to reflect on life! LOL.

anyway, was discharged on monday morning and luckily cheekong was there to listen to what the doctor said. because i couldnt understand the terms. LOL.

btw, mum flew here from msia and arrived on saturday because everyone was so worried about me and chyeyew cousin told her to come over. maybe the liver count was really terrifying.

on a last note, i would like to thank everyone who has visited me, helped me and cared for me when i was sick. i m well now, and hopefully tomorrow's blood test results will show me that i m totally well!! :D

back to studies! :D