Friday, May 25, 2007

*Hic*! (^_^)

Just had a beer... at 3am.. after finishing my tutorial for later... 1230pm *hic* (not really *hic* la, but just wanna add an effect...)

Btw, beer here is really cheap. 24 bottles of this for $29. =D
Too bad I don't drink that much.

Alcohol is in the form of ethanol in beverages. (CH3CH2OH)


Anyway here is how it works on the body....

Ethanol is metabolised into acetaldehyde (by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase), then to acetic acid (by the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase).

It is the acetaldehyde that makes us feel woozy. How?

We have 2 kinds of nerves in our bodies. The excitatory and the inhibitatory nerves. Acetaldehyde suppresses the excitatory nerves and increases the activities of the inhibitatiry nerves. That's why when people get drunk, they tend to become sluggish, mental awareness drops, and control bodily functions not as good.

So people who get drunk easily don't have much of the second enzyme (especially so in Asians, e.g Me), and have lots of acetaldehyde in the blood when they drink. People who don't get drunk easily either have lots of the second enzyme, or are lacking in the first enzyme.

Also, too much alcohol causes liver cirrhosis. Liver is the organ that filters all the crap in your body, so too much alcohol will overwork the liver, and the liver cells will just die.

I also read somewhere that people who live near the equator, and who are hairless, are predisposed to cirrhosis. (For real.. someone wrote this n a book)

Apparently studies have shown that coffee consumption may protect against cirrhosis, especially alcoholic cirrhosis. But please don't quote me.

Sign in Victoria, Australia

*hic*!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Kree... kree... kree...

Place - Australia Fair (Biggest shopping centre in the suburb)
Date/time - today, 5.30pm.



Took this when I went grocery shopping just now, just let you have a feel of how life here is like.

Watched the extra-time of the FA Cup Final (repeat) after doing my shopping with some random guy, on a screen at the food court. Listened to the match over BBC yesterday on radio.

Have to find a way to watch the UEFA Cup Final.
Go Liverpool.. YNWA =)

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Rainbow

Been hard at work lately... that's why nothing really much going on with me. Don't think I'll go to the extent to blog about the stuff I'm studying... (unless it's a health tip)

Took this just now. Nice eh? Double some more.

For the curious, here's how it works.

Some quick facts about the rainbow:
1. Red is always the outermost ring, and violet the innermost.
2. Angle the sun makes with the ground is 42 degrees or lower.
3. The sun is always behind you.
4. Some people have seen up to 4 rings of rainbows (above is 2).
5. And no, you'll never reach the end of the rainbow.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Endeavour Foundation

For our course this semester, we have to do for community placements, which means to visit places or events that has anything to do with health care.

The one that I just went to is the Endeavour Foundation. It is a government supported organization that provides homes for mentally disabled individuals who do not have personal care givers.

Took some pictures there, to share with everyone.

This is their living room, where they gather to watch TV, read magazines, chat, etc.

This is one of the clients, Billy, having a chat with my course mate, Lindsey. Not too sure what condition Billy has, but he has problems speaking properly, so much so that I can only make out about 10% of what he's trying to say. Lindsey however seems to understand Billy very well. Must have gotten accustomed to the way Billy speaks.

This is their music room, where they have their weekly happy hour on Friday afternoons. Some of them play musical instruments. Billy plays the drums. Maybe we can exchange some tips heh. The rest would just lounge around, some of them dance to the music too.

This is a mini mural of the people at the home. They seem happy.

This is everyone's favorite resident, Sue. She has down syndrome, but she's 63 and still going strong! I don't think it is common for people with down syndrome to live to such an advanced age.

She's so warm and friendly, just melts the hearts of those who meet her.


I had fun.