IM mentioned...

Smarter Launches Two New Vans By Azaraimy HH
Bandar Seri Begawan - The Society for the Management of Autism Related Issues in Training, Education and Resources (Smarter) Brunei yesterday launched two new vans in its bid to establish itself as a recognised centre to tackle autism-related issues in the country.

Smarter is also set to launch a centre, Brunei Autism Centre for Adults (Baca), in two weeks.
One of the vans was acquired with proceeds from a recent charity event, while the other was donated by Baiduri Bank, Brunei Shell Petroleum and BIDB Bank.

According to Smarter Brunei Secretary Hajijah bte Haji Moktal, the Charity Evening for Smarter, organised by medical students of the Institute of Medicine, Universiti Brunei Darussalarn on February 2, collected some $70,000 in donation.

She said some of the proceeds went to the van, while the rest may be used for the construction of a swimming pool at the centre.
Meanwhile, the centre organised a visual strategy workshop for parents of autistic children.
Hajijah said the centre frequently runs workshops for parents to assist them in handling their children while informing them on issues related to autism.
She also said the centre will launch Baca soon to provide autistic adults a place to advance their training and education.
Smarter Brunei is run mainly by parents of autistic children, with strong support from public and private sectors, as well as philanthropists.
In its early days of inception, the centre fought for public understanding on autism as well as the need to provide these children with proper facilities and training programmes. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Congratulations Zeti!!

CONGRATULATIONS ZETI!!

KK trip Day 3

Day 3 was a rather laid back day for us where most of us just went shopping for the day. By Mr Rajah's (Karthik's dad) recommendation, we went to the "revolving restaurant" for lunch. The concept was pretty cool; we would have lunch while slowly revolving in the tower, giving a 360 view of the place. The interior was really nice and we took quite a few pictures while waiting for lunch to be served.

Outside the restaurant

Enjoying the atmosphere of the place

Mr Rajah and Dr Tim

Chong Hsien serenading us on the grand piano


Chong Hsien and Ben team up to entertain us

"Cheese!!"

We stopped by the almost-completed 1Borneo mall after lunch

The last part in the KK trip series would be coming soon....

Environment day- Tree planting ceremony

Today, the VC launch the tree planting ceremony in conjunction to the environment day 2008. Here are some pics and video surprise performance.















I find the singers are quite good especially the lady. I hope she can make an album. I was impressed with the performance. Nice job guys...

KK trip Day 2

Day 2 was probably the highlight of the whole trip. We spent the whole day at Manukan Island. The place was amazing; white sandy beach, clear blue water and a whole list of activities lined up for us !!! We had a blast there and were very reluctant to go back when we had to.

The excitement had already started in the boat ride to Manukan Island

A beautiful view of the pier

First, we settled ourselves at our bench and signed up to various activities

Amongst the water activities was paragliding; the ladies excited to go....

...and away they went!!!

Others opted to take strolls along the beach

Meanwhile, the men were hard at work at getting the fire started for our bbq lunch

Some of the guys were playing some football...

... and some opted to play volleyball.

Some were just having fun, be it on land...

... or in the water ...

... I mean, really in the water!!

Eventually, we had to leave the island

Tired but well worth it!!

Night time - Steamboat at Nelayan Restaurant with Mr Rajah (Karthik's dad)

Enjoying our meal!!!

Still more coming up soon!!!!

KK trip Day 1

As most of you know, most of the 3rd years and 2nd years as well as some staff members recently had a trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The trip was certainly a breath of fresh air from the busy semester we had. A big thank you to the organisers of the trip as well as the staff members for bearing with our antics during the trip ;)

Below are accounts of the trip in pictures:

Departing from IM at 6am

It was a long bus trip but we were still cheerful

At one of the many immigration checkpoints, waiting for the passports to be sorted out

Finally, we arrived at the hotel at about 2pm

Happy to finally be checking in at our hotel

Having dinner at a Seafood Restaurant

Aswir enjoying his dinner!!

Our dinner?? Nah, we didn't have lobster but this one was huge!!

Group photo!!

There's more coming up so look out for it!!!

p/s: photos courtesy of those who put them up on facebook, hope you guys don't mind me 'grabbing' them to post them up here :)

What the first years have been up to for the past year...

Just a general picture of what we do while waiting for a class... We usually sit in the classroom, but the basement rooms were filled at that time...
Photo taken on Ibnu's phone.









Photo of us girls and a few background "ornaments".. ehehe...
This picture was taken during the earlier months in the first semester, when we were still very shy creatures.. ehehhe... Photo taken when Jo Wen was about to leave UBD for Australia...






Photo taken during a visit.
Don't we look suave in our white coats? :D

Fun Facts about SLEEP!

For most people, we sleep at least 8 hours per day.. ( might be a little bit different for medical students.. hehe..) Below is a list of some amazing facts about sleep:

1. The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
2. It’s impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.
3. Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you’re sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you’re still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.
4. Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It’s possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.
5. REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.
6. Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep.
7. Some scientists believe we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others think we dream about things worth forgetting - to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.
8. Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - sleep and consciousness.
9. Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain’s sleep-wake clock.
10. Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.

Netball Friendly match

Interesting play. The kids from FBEBs are nice too. Very talented. But I think IM team manage to score alot. The real superstar in the first rounds are the two birthday girls (Fiza and As) and not forgetting Syukri (who always catch the ball on time) and Kenny (who scores!) First round is 6 to 1 goal. That is 6 goals for IM....yeah!!!! But after that I forgot...Anyone remembers? keke... enjoy the pics

Dance rehearsals

This afternoon, there was a dance rehearsal/workshop for the buddies of the upcoming International Summer Medical School programme. This was be the second of such session. Led by the 'teachers' Mariah and Nadzir, the girls learned their dance moves and the guys their dance/silat moves. The aim is to learn the moves well enough to teach to the Japanese when they come soon. The progress is pretty good so far and here are some photos of the guys in action.

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