HELP World Mental Health Day 2012

What a weekend! I think I spent more than half of it to transcribe the interviews I'd had with my qualitative research participants. My fingers were so sore and cramped from typing. The player itself crashed a few times because I replayed the audio recordings too many times!

On Saturday, before I started transcribing, I attended an event called HELP World Mental Health Day 2012 organised by my psychology coursemates. Just wanted to give my friends some moral support, plus they invited me verbally AND through Facebook. I was given the impression that it would include exhibition, info booths, activities and yes, performances. How can I not go? 

It was held at Piazza, the Curve. I thought I'd let them warm up first, so instead of surprising them with my presence I headed over to Borders. I'd actually prepared a list of books that I wanted to get, so I hunted them down. Row by row, aisle by aisle. They were all out of stock.

Slightly dejected, I paid a visit to each of the bookstores in the vicinity,  but all of them lacked the books I require. Oh, well.

One book caught my eye: a biography of Queen Elizabeth II. Something about royal families never ceases to amaze me. With my interest piqued, I picked it up and read the prelude. Well-written, light and sure-footed - a thoroughly enjoyable read (at least, judging by the prelude). Considered buying it (the price is, to me, reasonable), but I found other biographies on the same subject-matter. I feel so torn and ended up buying nothing.

Anyway, back to the exhibition. I observed from the balconies overlooking Piazza and saw that it was time for speeches. So I listened. There were so many people on the organising team, all wearing the same type of T-shirt (blindingly white under the hot sun). Midway through a speech, I made my *ahem* not-so-grand entrance. 

Saw my friends and waved at them. Truth be told, the venue was not really suitable (exposed to the elements). Spotted a guy holding up a black umbrella to provide shade for some girls. Other members from the organising team stayed near Laundry Bar. Me? I stood beneath a charmingly tall, not-so-leafy potted plant. After a while I sneaked away and went to have a cup of hot chocolate (warming for my runny nose). 

Re-visited the exhibition after noon and was in time for one of the first performances, then I left, for real this time.

Good job, my dear friends, you have finally pulled it off successfully!

Went Bananas!

I had a mid-term exam yesterday morning, but before sitting for it I went to look for the last few participants for my quantitative research. It was crazy to do so! I know, but if I didn't secure the remaining participants, then I don't think I'll ever look for them. 

When I finally got it all done, I felt relieved before the nervousness kicked in as I rushed to the exam hall. I was breathless from all the quick-paced walking and short distance running. Plus I was sick (still am, but now progressively better). Apparently the invigilators decided to let us in about five minutes before eight, instead of the usual ten to fifteen minutes. No harm done (I thought I would be late).

We were given sixty multiple choice questions. Piece of cake, most would say and yes, most of my fellow candidates breezed through the questions and left the hall early. I finished it easily but stayed until the very end. Some strange habit of mine, which was shared by one other friend. I think our invigilator was damned pissed at us, or outright mad with fury. I tried not to make eye contact with her, in case she mistook that for a signal that says "I want to leave". She might've been staring daggers at us for all I know.

Well, well, who set the time "8.00-9.30 a.m."? :P

Pic credit: On Zhi Xiang

After the exam, my friends decided to have a trip to Bangsar to settle some business and have some time-out. I tagged along, since I didn't have any class until about two hours later. 

We boarded a bus and had a mightily crazy time. Some of us never took bus before and acted like they'd just entered a spaceship or something (I could only stare, mouth agape, at them). We took group photos to "commemorate" the occasion.

Pic credit: Vivien Wong

We reached Bangsar about 10.40 a.m. There were thirteen of us, so when we walked around and explored the streets of Bangsar, we looked like tourists. We passed by cafés, boutiques and restaurants, all of which are high-end establishments. Many of them were not open (was it too early?). 

It was difficult to decide on where to eat, even after we agreed on a budget. At last somebody dragged the rest of us into an Indian cuisine restaurant. South Indian, I guessed. Fragrant, delicious rice served on pieces of banana leaves. No bread. Sour, appetising soup. Thin slices of bitter gourd fried to a deep red. Cucumber salad. Spinach. Crunchy papadom. My first banana leaf rice - it was so unbelievably good that I helped my friends to finish part of theirs. They didn't seem too enthusiastic to know that those "red thingy" were actually bitter gourd slices. How can you NOT love bitter gourd?

Pic credit: Michelle Yong

After our vegetarian meal we went to an art supplies shop. Some friends were looking for stationery, while the rest of us walked 'round and 'round the aisles, admiring things but really buying nothing. 

Around noon, we missed the bus. It didn't stop, even when two among us waved like mad at it. We waited under some trees but it was still scorching hot. Sweating like waterfalls we were. 

The trip back to uni was much more peaceful and quiet, though we still talked as loud. We didn't really want to attend the Anthropology tutorial, but we did anyway. As usual we were separated into small groups to discuss and later present solutions to short-answer questions. I was picked by the lecturer to present. Oh well, bring it on. My group mates found the answers and I presented first, extemporising. Through the microphone I babbled incoherently. My words sounded incomprehensible, even to my ears. 

During another tutorial later in the afternoon, we talked about two inhumane treatments for patients suffering from mental illnesses. Had group discussions again and I presented once more (this time with some help from my mates). When we were given a situational exercise to work on, I even offered some views of my own on the use of new prescriptive drugs. More coherent this time, I think.

Can't believe I behaved quite normally even while being under the weather yesterday, except when I talked or presented. I'm grateful to have been able to be around with friends, experiencing things and making memories. 

It's a mad, mad world

On Monday, my group mates and I dedicated the better part of our off-day to doing our second Anthropology assignment. We had to extract points from the audio-recorded interviews we'd had with our interviewees. That task itself took up several hours, no joke. We all had our own interpretations of our interviewees' verbal contributions, so we discussed at length about our findings and views. At times we deviated from our "serious" discussion and talked about other lighter topics. It may seem unprofessional or unproductive, but it actually helped us from being overstrung. At the end of the day we came up with a concise map that linked our points better. Before we parted we all agreed that we had fun working with each other. Yeah, true. When you get people with the right energies, you'll have good group dynamics.

During tutorial on Tuesday, our tutor enlightened us on some Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) concepts like double hermeneutics and hermeneutic circle:

Double hermeneutics: According to my tutor, when researchers examine what participants have said, researchers are actually interpreting the participants' interpretations of phenomena. Hence, researchers are merely entering the subjective worlds founded by participants, which can be interpreted but can never be accurately described. 

Hermeneutic circle involves two things: the "whole" and the "parts". Sometimes we understand a whole text by referring to the meaning of its individual parts; other times we grasp the meaning of each individual part to understand the text as a whole.

We were split into groups and given extracts of interviews to practise on. After that we presented our *ahem* interpretations. Our tutor's friends (other tutors) decided to crash the party, so to speak. I wrote my group's points on the whiteboard before we gave a brief sketch of the points. At the sight of my handwriting, one of the tutor's friends gasped and said, "I thought all guys' handwriting are terrible. Now I realise it's only you [our tutor]." To which our tutor rebutted with "You realise you're either insulting me or him [me: YEAHH!!]. I'm more advanced ... doctor's handwriting." A mate from the back of the room jokingly asked, "you know what is chicken feet? cakar ayam in Malay?" Then, as if in synchrony, several people made scratching motions in the air, imitating lion's paw or chicken feet, I don't know which. So funny.

The Sociology tutorial on Wednesday was the worst I ever had. We were shown pictures that connote subliminal messages, mostly having something to do with sex. Then we watched Youtube videos illustrating Disney's biased portrayals of social and gender roles in its cartoons. After that, instead of watching the horror movie "Shutter" as suggested by our lecturer/tutor (we all yelled "NO!"), we "read" a short online Korean horror comic, replete with sound effects. Lesson learned: don't read horror comics online. What tutorial is this? Wasted our time!

Awoke in the wee hours of Thursday morning, feeling feverish. In a dreamlike fashion I switched off the fan, pulled the curtains closer and wrapped myself in my blanket. Hours later, when I woke up at my usual six a.m., I found myself in a better state. Touched my neck and felt normal skin temperature. My mum just couldn't believe it when I narrated this to her.

I started my quantitative research's data collection on Thursday afternoon. It was a largely good (and humbling) experience, but I'm not really allowed to blog about it due to ethical concerns (have to protect my participants' rights to anonymity). I'll post it later, after the completion of my study.

Learned about the human history of mental illnesses during Thursday morning's class. People way back in the past treated these ailments in a horrifyingly different manner (I'll spare you the gory details). "Mad" people were being discriminated and ostracised just because they were mentally ill and couldn't behave like "normal" people did. Mistreatment of asylums' patients was common and cruel. I think our lecturer did a pretty decent job in preparing us before launching into next week's topic: abnormal psychology. Somehow some of us are perversely attracted to that branch of psychology. It's a mad, mad world.

Let the sky fall, when it crumbles

I was flabbergasted when word reached me on Tuesday that my studies have gained ethical approval. I'd expected a "conditional approval", feared "conditional rejection" and outright "rejection" like everyone else as well as thought "approval" a remote possibility. Imagine my disbelief when my tutor didn't return my forms because they were approved (!?) and the lecturers saw it fit to submit them to MQA (short for Malaysian Qualifications Agency) for review!

At first it felt unreal. I should be happy or excited but no, I never had any of that. Instead, I was worried. Like, deeply. I knew I screwed up somewhere - I even had in mind certain improvements about the procedures. When I finally received a photocopy of the forms from my tutor, I felt even more worried (how can they not see the flaws?) because I need to proceed with the next step: conducting the studies! I'm a newbie in this! How to do it? #dilemma

Oh, well. I'll just have to take one step at a time and see how it goes.

Adele's theme for the upcoming James Bond movie, Skyfall has been released. It's so arresting, despite the rather schoolchildren-ish rhyming words in the lyrics. People are speculating whether or not the song will be as memorable/long-lasting as other famous Bond themes. I think it might attract the audience after they have watched the movie itself instead of before. Whether it will be big or not I'm not sure, but certainly it has won over the hearts of Adele's fans and critics alike.

Now ... if I were to bake something for the occasion of Skyfall's release (both theme and movie), I would name my baked goods as "Skyfall Crumble". It should taste "heavenly" if I baked it good. :P

得到“恩准”

大约两周前
我发出几封电邮
向一位教授
寻求准许
使用他的问卷

后来从同学那里
得知其实老师
不需要我们
这么做
所以我就
没期望
教授会回复

今早开我的信箱
赫然发现
那位教授回信
说我可以用他的问卷
而且他还寄来
问卷、评分准则
并问我
需不需要问卷的出处
（他的论文）

开心死我了
真的很意外
非常感激他