It's Confirmed a Herniated Disc on L5/S1

After 6 months, my lower back is still giving me problem. Based on my read ups, I suspected myself that I'm having herniated disc and sciatica, which I really hope it's not.



But my MRI scan this morning confirmed it's herniated disc on L5 and S1.

First thing that came to my mind, Shit!
Am I going to perform Kama Sutra roll on the mat again? weights lifting? Running? 101 questions starts flowing into my mind.

Doctor told me for now( and I wonder how long would be the now), no jumping, running and whatever is mentioned earlier. My only exercise would be swimming and cycling.

Next appointment in 2 weeks time, meanwhile, will be on Mecobalamin, Arcoxia(etoricoxib) and Norgesic. I welcome any suggestions from people in regards to this issue.

WTF ler . . . . . Just when i thought I found things I like to do to replace basketball and taekwondo.

Meet a friend, or someone special ...

Before proceeding to read the article below, I'll have my say.

I was quite surprised when Ee-Lyn called up to inform me that I was one of the 5 chosen guys for this event. Honestly, It took me a while to recall "Table For Two" while on the phone with her, exams just finished the day before when she called, I call it post-exams effects.

I have to make things clear here, I'm just a certified fitness trainer by my college, yet to be ISSA certified, But will be one within this 4 months for sure.

It's an ankle surgery due to ligament tear and chipped bone to be precise. I didn't really gave it up, but just lost interest during my recovery period and started to play basketball after that. My ankle wasn't much of a problem compared to my knee that ended my career prematurely.

This article was published in The Star Education today
(10 February 2008) so I thought I'd put a copy up here before its lost to the archives.

StarEducation will play matchmaker to 10 lucky guys and gals in “Table for Two” this Valentine's Day.

By EE-LYN TAN and SARAH CHEW

ON FEB 14 candy, cards, flowers and gifts are exchanged every year in the name of St Valentine. But who was St Valentine?

According to legend, Valentine was a priest in Rome under the rule of Emperor Claudius II. The latter decreed that single men made better soldiers than married men so he outlawed marriage.

Valentine realised the injustice in this and secretly married young lovers. When the emperor discovered this, he sentenced the saint to death.

But while imprisoned, Valentine fell in love with a young girl who visited him. Before his death, he wrote her a letter and signed it “From your Valentine”, which is an expression still used today.

In conjunction with Valentine's Day on Thursday, StarEducation has chosen 10 finalists for its “Table for Two” competition.

They will meet for the first time over a sumptuous and romantic candle-lit dinner at Cafe Serena Brasserie at Hotel Nikko, Kuala Lumpur on Jalan Ampang at 7.30pm.

They are the lucky ones from over 70 entries we received. Other than going over their entries, we took the time to meet those in the shortlist personally.

However, they will not know who their blind date will be until they actually meet their respective partners on the night.

Dress to impress, dress to kill, or just dress smart casual if that's your cup of tea.

Who knows, you might meet that special someone. If not, there will be nine more friends to add to your network.

Do bring along a little something for your date, if you can – it is Valentine's Day, after all.

Tang Sue Yee, 20,Taylor's College, School of Communication

I have a passion for photography and I previously worked for an advertising agency and a talent agency, taking shots of models. I want to be a photojournalist, as I love travelling.

Sometimes I travel alone when I need time to think or go for trips with friends to look for good food in places like Klang, Malacca and Penang.

I also like to cook, but from the can! My idea of 'whipping up a meal' usually means adding in mushrooms and tomatoes and I often burn my food. The worst dish I've ever made was Coca-Cola chicken, as it came out burnt and sticky!

I'm on a four-month break from studies now, and am gardening and working.

I've just finished my third job working at a hardware shop.

One of the reasons I joined “Table for Two” is to prove to my mom that I like guys She is glad that I'm going to have a date with a guy.

Pang Chuin Keat, 22, International Islamic University Malaysia

I am a third-year law student studying both civil and syariah law.

What's unusual about me is that I'm the only Chinese and non-Muslim student in my entire batch of 300 students.

In my free time I enjoy swimming, which I do almost every day at the pool on campus.

Otherwise, I spend a lot of time reading. I'm a very big fan of motivational books especially the works of Dale Carnegie.

I also love to travel and my favourite destinations are Pangkor and Redang, in fact my grandfather lives near Pangkor.

I'm very interested in meeting new people so I can make more friends.

Eknaswaran Matandor, 19,Limkokwing University of Creative Technology

I've never been on a blind date before and I am nervous and scared but decided to take a chance.

I think what's unusual about myself is that I can speak Cantonese fluently - even better than Tamil. (laughs!) My friends, who call me “Vickey” or “Eky”, are mostly Chinese so that's where I picked up the language.

I also love to watch Hong Kong television series, which helped me improve my Cantonese.

I also love to cook, especially Chinese food. The dish that I cook best is baby kailan with oyster sauce.

In my spare time, I am learning to dance, both break dance and hip hop.

I've been doing it for four years now.

Jasmine Ong Kim Li, 20, Brickfields Asia College

I'm a very outgoing person so I don't mind doing crazy things.

Once, when I was 14, I jumped on stage during a Disney Channel programme without being asked.

I also stalked a guy my friend liked and asked him for his phone number, but hey, I was young!

I have two acoustic guitars and a five-piece drum set that I play by ear.

I play netball, shot putt as well as attend dance classes and kickboxing.

I like watching lots of DVDs, mostly chick flicks or horror movies, but not the gory ones as I can't take too much blood.

I like intellectual arguments or discussions and I'm not a 'mushy' kind of girl.

Lee Kang Xian, 20, Tunku Abdul Rahman College

I'M crazy about sports and fitness. I can't explain it but it's something I'm very passionate about.

I'm currently pursuing my diploma in social sciences though I will be transferring to another institution soon to pursue my degree in psychology.

Once I've completed my degree, I'd like to move on to pursue my masters in sports psychology as it combines both my interests.

I'm also a certified personal trainer having completed my qualification from The International Sports Sciences Association.

In my free time, I'm still honing my skills in photography and recently purchased my first professional camera, a Canon 400D.

I'm a former district basketball and taekwondo representative but I had to give it up when I ruptured my knee ligament and have had to undergo two surgeries to have it fixed.

When I was younger, I was also a district football player in the under-12 category but had to abandon that as well when I injured my ankle.

I'm nervous about what to expect, as this is my first blind date so we'll see what happens that night!

Esther Wong Shuey Wye, 22, Deakin University, Melbourne

I'm currently doing a Bachelor in Applied Science majoring in Food Science and Nutrition in Melbourne.

I will probably work in my mum's cake shop after I graduate because I like to bake.

Last year, my course had a project in which I had to invent something, so I made a savoury Swiss roll with spinach and cheese.

I also like Formula One racing, I've watched it since I was 12.

My dad and I root for Kimi Raikkonen.

During my free time, I go shopping mostly for bags and shoes – I have probably more than 20 bags and 30 pairs of shoes now!

I've done some travelling and went on an exchange programme to China last year for my Chinese language elective.

Whenever I meet guys, I'm usually always the one asking questions so hopefully my date won't be too shy!

John Chang Shang Hao , 24, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

As a journalism student, I've got aspirations of writing for a travel magazine one day.

Just last year, I spent five months backpacking through the United States.

I worked at Cedars Point theme park in Cleveland, Ohio, as a lifeguard and later became a ride operator for a water coaster.

After my working stint, I took time off to travel and visited Niagara Falls, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and San Diego.

I also paid a visit to Disneyland and Universal Studios in Los Angeles and also the San Diego Zoo.

Before returning to Kuala Lumpur, I also made a nine-day stop in Japan and Mount Fuji, visited Sijuku to see the Harajuku girls, and stopped by Tokyo Disneyland.

I stumbled upon “Table for Two” by chance when I was flipping through the newspaper. I can't wait to meet the others as I enjoy making new friends.

I'm planning to make my date's gift as I feel it should be something from the heart.

Darren Dinesh Navaretnam, 22, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology graduate

AS a big fan of 1980's rock music, I started taking lessons to play the electric guitar, a year ago.

I'm a huge fan of music acts such as Bon Jovi, Motley Crue and Deep Purple, just to name a few.

They've all got great guitarists and I'm working towards being able to play Bon Jovi's “Halfway There”.

I'm a recent creative multimedia graduate who is currently looking for a job.

A month ago, I completed my six-week internship at Codemasters, which is a British video game developer.

While there, I worked on video games development where I helped with several upcoming games.

In my free time, I'm an all rounder and love to indulge in photography and video games consoles.

I also enjoy playing football a couple times a month with my neighbourhood friends.

With this being my first blind date, I'm going in with no expectations, and plan to just go with the flow!

Josephine Chin Fong Leng, 23, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

I study law and I'm the type that likes debating, so I join moot competitions.

I discuss human rights, politics and current news with my classmates but I usually talk about music and movies with strangers.

I like the outdoors and a group of friends and I do things like jungle trekking and rock climbing but I don't have time for it anymore!

I'm quite active in the Asian Law Student Association. I just came back from a conference in Bangkok, Thailand, and I've been to others in Singapore and Hong Kong under the association.

I hope to be surprised at “Table for Two” this Thursday and meet someone compatible.

I can't possibly describe the ideal guy until I meet him, because I believe it boils down to the chemistry between two people.

Amanda Wong Shan Ming, 20, Kasturi School of Accountancy

During my free time, I do arts and crafts such as making bracelets, cross-stitching and drawing on T-shirts.

I'm doing an accountancy course because crunching numbers is like a hobby to me, so my sister thinks I'm weird.

I just became president of my college Student Council and I'm also the external vice-president of the ACCA Student Ambassador Network.

I like my independence and running around, so I guess my ideal guy would have to be understanding because I wouldn’t want him to breathe down my neck!

I've never had a boyfriend because my parents believe I should only start dating at 21.

But I joined “Table for Two” to meet more friends and if something happens, I'll take it from there.

Random Thoughts

I hope I don't have to be opening any of these books for revision anymore, not until my Diploma end.

5th semester ended yesterday and I am praying hard that examiners will be lenient to let me pass all my paper. Especially Family Counselling and Basic Management Principles. *Prays*

1 month holiday begins. Will be a very busy holiday rather. 1 examination to complete, 2 courses to attend, a trip down to Singapore, meetings with supervisor in HUKM and yada-yada a few other more stuffs to be confirmed later.

One very important thing is getting back my physique shape as well, I've not been working out consistently since August last year due to my back injury. Chinese New Year will be very challenging for me to control my junk food intake.

These books will be accompanying me for the 1 month holiday. Call me no life for spending time with books, I guess I am anyway. ;-)

Tearing ACL in Taekwondo Sparring

Watching Human Weapon's Jason Chambers snapping his ACL on a Taekwondo sparring match just reminds me of myself back in 10th May 2005. Jason Lee Kang Xian Chambers attempts to execute a tornado kick with a poor landing, and resulting torsion snaps his knee.



Similarly, I attempted to continue fighting when my knee snaps for the first time, which then snaps for the second time in less than 20 seconds back into the round. It caused me to undergo an ACL Reconstruction surgery.

Warning : Awful video clip,
But serves as a very informational/educational documentary on Endoscopic ACL Reconstruction.



It's also something that I've went through in the operation theater before not once, but twice. And I feel the pain when I watch it.

Practicum Placement

I first approach National Sports Institute hoping to get into the Sport Psychology Centre for my practicum placement. NSI accepted us with the condition of having our practicum done 5 days per week. However, our college rationale only allows us once per week. There goes my opportunity have a taste of working in NSI and more specifically the Sport Psychology Centre.

To be honest I was pretty pissed off that it's because of the college rationale that stops me from getting exposure in the field of Sports Psychology. External factor rather than internal factor. Oh well, at least I get to step into the National Sports Institute building. *shrugs!*

This morning, just hours after answering my course mate's question as a post entry in regards to our education, I received a text message from the Social Science programme leader, asking me to call her back. I thought I was in deep shit for criticizing the programme, or failed her assignment. You know, usually those who received phone calls from her, it's never good news. Those are people who fail in coursework, got barred from exams and the list goes on.

I called her up, braving myself to face whatever consequences for my action.



And indeed, I'll be facing the consequences for sending the practicum opportunity request letter to HUKM. They accepted our request and I'll be posted to HUKM Psychiatry department along with Ezra in our last semester of Diploma programme for our practicum.


Till then.

A Question Posted by My Coursemate

Ezra posted on Private Institutions That Offers Undergraduate Psychology Course - Updated

Hey
i still cant figure out whether to take advance or degree
financial concerns and all
plus im not sure about the benefits of goin overseas to take my degree.
I thought we are supposed to learn about malaysian culture and not the culture from overseas so that we can counsel malaysians.
i hope that u could blog on that

Ezra's question;

1. Advance vs Degree

Based on my personal opinion after I've went through other institutions' Psychology programme syllabus, I would say that TAR College's Psychology programme standard is abysmally low for the course of it's kind that is available in Malaysia. Read more to know what's the main reason.

Before I proceed, let me explain the route of progression in TAR College. SPM leavers who has 5 credits including English are entitled to be enrolled into Diploma in Social Science (Counselling). It's a two years (4 semesters and 2 short semesters) programme. Upon completing Diploma, students who chooses to continue their education at TAR College progresses to Advanced Diploma in Social Science (Psychology) for another 2 years (4 semesters), and finally for a Bachelor Degree, students who chooses this route will HAVE to join Summer Semester Programme at Liverpool John Moores University(LJMU).

No doubt students enjoy the opportunity of Summer Semester Programme by going to LJMU for 3 months to complete their Bsc(Hons) Human Psychology, but in my humble opinion the period is too short for us to even start adapting to the new environment, or for some, just began to adapt.

A recent informal interaction between our course seniors who are in their 2nd year of Advanced Diploma with LJMU's Summer Semester Programme leader for Psychology, Professor Noel Sheehy ( which I shamelessly joined to in to ask questions although the meeting wasn't for us in Diploma level ), I understand that there will be no Industrial attachment/posting/training provided to students who complete their Degree via the route mentioned earlier.

The lack of or should I say non existence of industrial attachment/posting/training in our syllabus itself is a big lost for students in terms of exposure to the working world.

However, students do get a practicum experience during their last semester in Diploma level. But again, I do not believe that students will gain MUCH from the practicum arranged in our syllabus. Students are arranged for practicum once a week for the duration of 7 weeks. Summing them up, we only go to our practicum posting for a total of 7 times only.

But for students who are not concerned about industrial experience and intend to pursue a Post Graduate course that is offered by LJMU, this progression route would be for them because the courses are offered to the Summer Semester Students at discounted prices.

On the other hand, other institutions that I've mentioned in my previous post do have Industrial Posting/Placement as part of their syllabus, except for Raffles School of Psychology which I will inquire more later on in regards to Industrial Placement.

2. Financial concern

If you intend to pursue your Degree locally, you can always apply for PTPTN loan. But that doesn't mean your dreams of studying abroad is crushed because of financial issues, you can still apply for study loan from various organizations or bank, if you don't mind paying back with interest after graduating.

3. Benefits of studying abroad

Again, my personal opinion says It depends on individual. I think the article The Benefits of Study Abroad " by Mary M. Dwyer, Ph.D. and Courtney K. Peters would be a good read up.

4.I thought we are supposed to learn about Malaysian culture and not the culture from overseas so that we can counsel Malaysians

If I can remember clearly, we do have a module called Malaysia: Cultural & Religious Practices during our 3rd semester. Although we used textbooks from United States, but the theories can still be applied here. Our assignment topics given during that semester for this particular subject was to analyze Malaysian culture based on a few local production movies.

I decided to make this entry a post instead of replying to Ezra's comment after having deep considerations for my course mates who are still undecided and not clear with what is lying ahead of them. I hope based on my limited knowledge,resource and survey, it will help them in their decision making. But then again, please do find out the information first hand by yourself as well before deciding/making any conclusion.

Disclaimer: Informations posted are correct at the time of posting and may change without notification. I shall not bear any responsibilities in anyways for any form of damages caused by reader's decision due to my entry posting.

Private Institutions That Offers Undergraduate Psychology Course - Updated

Related Post:

• Private Institutions That Offers Undergraduate Psychology Course (11 August, 2007)
• Private Institutions That Offers Undergraduate Psychology Course - International Medical University
  (26 October, 2007)

Went to The Star Education Fair 2008 instead of studying today to inquire about Psychology programmes in other institutions in Malaysia.

In my previous write ups, I mentioned about HELP University College, Sunway University College, University College Sedaya International, Monash University, University Tunku Abdul Rahman and most recently, International Medical University offering Psychology as part of their new courses available.

And today I got to know that Nottingham University, Malaysia Campus and Raffless School of Psychology, Malaysia Campus will be offering Psychology programme as part of their new courses, just like IMU.




Raffless School of Psychology is actually from Singapore, and recently started their Malaysia campus. They will be awarding Diploma in Applied Psychology up to Specialist Diploma in Applied Psychology. To complete a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Applied Psychology that is validated and awarded by University of Wales, students are required to complete it at Raffles School of Psychology Singapore campus at their third and final year. As an option, students can either do a 3+0 programme with Singapore Campus, or 2+1 with Malaysia Campus for the 1st two years and final year at Singapore.


On the other hand, Nottingham University, Malaysia Campus offers BSc (Honours) in Applied Psychology And Management Studies under their School Of Applied Psychology.

It seems that every year more and more institutions are offering Psychology programmes. A good sign indeed, for people who intend to study Psychology locally and most importantly to match up the ratio of Psychologist in Malaysia with the citizens.

And this certainly brings more joy to me as once I complete my diploma, I'll be having extra few more options to choose from. Infact, I've already submitted my application form to IMU today, and If I were to proceed to study at IMU, I'll get my application processing fees waived.

Till then, we'll see.