Trip to Bumi Kenyalang

I had my first trip to East Malaysia last week. I've always wanted to visit the other side of our country and finally had the chance to do so. Not only that, my trip was fully sponsored by the government! Well, not really everything was paid my them, but at least I had my accomodation and transportation covered.

I went there for the Symposium of Adolescent Health, organised by MMA, held at the Merdeka Palace. The event was rather...disorganised. I was initially very irritated on the first day. Imagine, the registration was on the second floor, getting the goodie bag was on the first floor (not like it was worth it) and the talk was on the third floor. Unnecessary exercise that morning. On top of that, the hall that they used was too small to accomodate 400 participants. Somehow the managed to cram everybody. There were no tables provided for us to write on and the aircon was just to cold. The ceiling was too low, and so the people sitting at the back had to hunch in order to properly see the projected slides. To make things worse, packed lunch was served. Who serves packed lunches at a symposium??

On the second day, I was smart enough to sit in front, where the view of the slides was much better and it was less cold as well. The best part of the symposium was that I bumped into my ex-classmate from IMU, Zhun Neay. At least I had someone to sit with and to keep me awake throughout the lectures.

With Zhun Neay-One of the nicest guy in our batch- such a gentleman

Enough about the symposium.

I managed to do some sightseeing in between my hectic schedule. Went to Pasar Satok on Saturday, in the midst of the heavy rain. According to the locals, it's famous for ikan telubuk and fresh prawns, which I didn't purchase. Apparently, they are able to pack the stuff nicely into a box filled with ice, and we could check the box in at the airport. Heh, I actually bought the famous Sarawak pineapple and had a taste of it at the hotel later that night. It was excellent.

I also met up with another friend, Lik Han, who is currently working at Sarawak GH. He brought Zhun Neay and myself for dinner at this Indonesian restaurant called Gamelan, and later to the recently opened shopping mall, The Springs. The mall is probably the same size as Alamanda, and most of the shops there were still under renovation.

The three of us at The Springs

The night before I left for KL, my sister and I (yeah, I dragged along my sister) had dinner at the Khatulistiwa cafe which was just opposite our hotel. I had a taste of the Sarawak Laksa, which was nothing to shout about. Then, we took a stroll down the Riverfront, which had a few food stalls for people to hang out.

The Riverfront

The best part of my trip was the Cultural Village-which is must for people visiting Kuching. The place is like an outdoor museum-telling stories about the various ethic groups of Sarawak, i.e. the Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu, Iban, Penan, Malay and Chinese. The cultural show was great too, which completed our visit to the village and Kuching as a whole.

The Cultural Show

Would I visit Kuching again? Definitely.

D.I.L

How much do you trust your gut feeling?

About 2 weeks back I had this strange feeling just before going to work. Like something bad was going to happen that day. While walking to work from my apartment, I suddenly decided to give my mum a call. It was 0750 in the morning. I've never called her at that hour but I did anyway without any specific reason. Mum was awake at that time and I told her about my feeling. Surprisingly she said that she was having difficulty in sleeping that night and she has been awake for the past 2 hours, thinking whether she should cancel her trip to UK on the 11th of this month. (to attend my cousin's wedding in London.) She had a feeling that she should not go. And so I told her to decide whatever that makes her happy and she cancelled her flight on that day.

Two days ago Mum gave me a shocking news that she discovered my grandma having difficulty in breathing while visiting her that day. And so she brought my grandma straight to the hospital and she was later admitted to CCU for Heart Failure. Deep inside I was thinking, "Thank God Mum didn't go to UK..Otherwise, nobody would have discovered that Opah was very sick.."

At this moment Opah is still in CCU, ventilated but haemodynamically stable. I managed to visit her while she was still conscious on Saturday, the day before she was transferred to the intensive unit. I really didn't realise that she would deteriorate so sudden and so badly..

I was driving to work today morning and my mind went adrift. Many questions popped into my brain. 'Did I spend enough time with her? Did I ever do anything wrong that might have hurt her feelings? Will I ever have the chance to speak to her ever again?'

Not only that, I was also imagining how I could handle if my own parents were as sick her. Being the eldest and a health professional, I have to be responsible for my parents' well being..If any one of my parent were to be in ill health, I need to ensure that they receive the best possible care and inform our relatives accordingly..

I hope that Opah is not suffering from any pain now..I pray hard that God will decide what's best for her..

What makes your day?

What makes your day?

I'm sure there's this little something that you look forward to everyday. And when it happens, you feel like you're on cloud 9 and your day couldn't be better..

Maybe it's fresh air that you breath in first thing in the morning..

Maybe it's the sound of the birds chirping from the tree by your bedroom window...

Maybe it's the cup of coffee that you sip every morning..

Maybe it's the goodbye kiss that you get from your spouse before you're off to work..

Maybe it's the sight of your crush who is just sitting at the next cubicle at your office..

Maybe it's the comic that you read in the papers everyday..

Maybe it's the adrenaline rush that you get after a good exercise at the gym..

Maybe it's pleasure of sleeping at home after a long day at work..

I realise that it is important to have something to look forward to everyday, or in life for that matter. It keeps you going and prevents you from breaking down halfway.

What makes my day are the smiles and greetings that I receive from my staff and patients every morning. It reflects a good working environment, and when the patient greets me, I would automatically know that he/she has clinically improved. Perhaps it's their tactic to being discharged? I wouldn't know.

Whatever said and done, these small things in life that we take for granted could mean the world to someone else..

Tsunami

It has been a very eventful weekend for all of us.

As I was walking towards my school on Saturday morning, I bumped into a couple of my juniors. They were a part of the BN team, in charge of something or rather at the BN booth. As expected, they reminded me, 'Kak Ee, jangan lupa ye', while pointing towards one of their flags. I didn't promise them anything, and I continued walking towards the SPR counter. After checking my name in the list, I headed towards one of the classrooms to cast my vote.

'Iniminimainimo..' Placed an X on each of the ballot papers and inserted them into the box. I have fullfilled my duty as a Malaysian citizen on that day. One of the invigilitators was my Add Maths teacher, and so I smiled at her and left the room.

On the same day, I had to attend a Symposium on Allergy at One World Hotel. The speakers were making political jokes throughout their lectures. I'm sure the delegates as well as the speakers were hoping that they were sitting at home watching the news instead..

All of us slept late last night. Busy watching the news, surfing the net and SMSing our friends. This year's election is really an exciting one. Who would have known the our state, i.e. Selangor will be taken over by the opposition party? It will interesting to see the possible changes that will occur in the subsequent months and years..

Perhaps our very own movie theatre in Shah Alam? Haha. I highly doubt it.

Money, money, money!

RM6,000 a month for docs after two-year housemanship

By IZATUN SHARI
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: At least 2,000 graduate house officers in government hospitals will get an automatic promotion to grade UD44 upon completion of their two-year housemanship in 2010.

They will be getting at least RM6,000 including allowances every month, which is almost double what the present graduate house officers are getting on grade UD41.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the promotion exercise would cost RM1.7mil annually.

He added that at least 7,000 doctors on grades UD41 and UD44, who were appointed before 2008, would also get their long overdue promotions. This would cost another RM9.8mil.
He said many doctors had been stuck at UD41 for six to seven years and that they would be moved to the higher scale of UD44.

“Hopefully, this promotion exercise will indirectly encourage many doctors to remain in the civil service,” he said.
Dr Ismail denied allegations by certain parties that there were not enough opportunities for other races compared to Malays in the medical sector.
He said that from 2000 to February this year, there were 2,085 specialists of whom 56% were Malays, Chinese (23.7%) and Indians (19.3% ).

He said 55% of the specialists on grade UD48 were Malays, 23% Chinese and 18.2% Indians. As for UD54, it was 58% Malay, 21% Chinese and 16% Indian.
Of the specialists under special grade C, he said 51.1% were Malays and Chinese and Indians made up 24% each.

As for those under special grade B, he said that 42% were Malays with the Chinese and Indians making up 24% and 34% respectively.

Can't wait for 2010..it's about time that the government raise our salaries..the timing of this announcement couldn't have been more perfect; just two days away from the election day. Would it be effective in keeping people in the goverment service? We'll just have to wait and see.

Birthday Wish

This entry is dedicated a dear friend of mine.

Thean Pooi Yee

Pooi Yee, I know that u are not even aware about the existence of this blog. Wish that I could wish a very happy birthday in person, but you're all the way in Manchester..and i don't have your number!!

I will always treasure our friendship. Love you loads.

XOXOX

click here:-------> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj6cbM-h8xg

(i can't seem to put the video on this page)

A trip to Pantai Kelanang

I've been meaning to post these photos for ages..

Upon telling people that I'm now working in Banting, they often ask me ' Have you been to Morib?' Yes, I went to that particular beach on the first day that I stepped here. Was really tired, so I didn't really enjoy the scenery and plus, it was raining cats and dogs on that day.

According to the locals here, there's this other beach called "Pantai Kelanang" which is said to be much better than Pantai Morib. Hence, I took a trip to the beach about two weeks back.

My maid and driver came down to Banting to send some things, and I suggested that we go to the beach together that day. It took us about half an hours drive to reach there- after asking for directions. The road to the beach is not so straight forward.

The place is rather secluded. We were the only ones there, probably because it was a weekday. A few kids wearing school uniforms were also spotted hanging around the beach area. I wonder whether they skipped school that day.

I strolled along the beach, enjoying the breeze and sand. I think the beach used to be a mangrove swamp as there were old tree trunks or roots coming out from the sand, just by the seaside.

While walking along the beach, I was picking up the seashells as my youngest sister collects them. Found a few beautiful ones.

I think this place has the potential to become a great tourist spot. Hopefully it stays clean..

My favourite shot. It seems like the crab is shy to come out from its shell.

Kak Mi, Kak Tatik and Kak Bibah. I think they were looking at the crab. I think.

Kak Chik- strolling along the beach

Breathtaking..

SSAAS Band Reunion Dinner

Have I mentioned that I was a really, really active band member in school?

The band was my life. We used to skip classes just to attend the practice, hang out at the gerai near our school everyday after practice and get sunburnt for marching under the hot sun. I have tonnes of treasured moments from it- my school life was so much fun and meant a lot to me because of it.

Recently, I attended the band reunion dinner-held at KGSAS. It was the first time that our school band organized a reunion after I left school-at least the first one that I was invited to. Our juniors, being the organizers had the great initiative to call up their seniors-mostly via friendster/facebook. Thank God for technology.

The night was a great success. The naughty boys were still making crazy jokes, just like how they used to in school. They have not changed even a bit. It did make the night a whole of fun though.

The organizers insisted that Shalyz and I sit at the VIP table with our band teacher, which made me feel so old. My batch was actually one of the most senior people there. They even asked me to pick numbers for the lucky draw. Heh, it did make me feel somewhat important. Thanks guys for making my day.

Some of the guests performed that night-karaoke and acoustic guitar playing. The guys performed the song 'Tanjung Perak', which our drum major came out with once upon a time ago - a song that they used to sing when we were in the bus, on the way to any function.

The sad thing was that I didn't bring my camera. I managed to snap a few photos using my camera phone, but my phone battery died at the middle of the event. Such a waste...

Lan- the M.C. for the night-he's good at making jokes while keeping a serious face.

Farhan, Reymee and Mulia- the cheeky boys of our table

Kak Awin and Rizwan performing a duet. Kak Awin was the senior who first taught me to play the clarinet. She's a great singer.

Our beloved teacher, Cikgu Ismail. Sadly, he stepped down as the band teacher this year. Cikgu, you're the best.

Americans are NOT stupid

I came across this video while surfing the net today.

After watching this, I felt that there are many people out there who are more ignorant than us..:)

The last guy on the video is my personal favourite.

You have to see this..!

Downtime

How I wish I've a switch off button for myself.

It was only recently that I realise that my mind thinks about work almost 24 hours a day. Yes, I am not obliged to answer calls from the hospital after 5pm if I'm not on-call. Despite that, even though I'm home, I always reflect back the patients that I saw, the decisions that I made and the events that happened.

Even when I fall asleep at night, subconsciously my brain will on the rewind button. And again I'd be thinking about the things that I did. The worse part being the events I try to forget -e.g. the small mistakes the I made, the comments that my boss passed to me, the rude patients, and the knowledge that I lack. A few days ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and I tried really hard to sleep again. My mind went adrift and I was just thinking about work, work and work. It a really painful 2 hours.

Ironically, it was an unemployed man, who shed me the light and made me realise this fact. I need a DOWNTIME.

When you're in a job, which constantly uses your mind, it is very important to have time for yourself, do what makes you happy and just switch OFF.

Unlike people who uses their physical energy to work, like farmers, factory workers, cleaners and contractors, what they need is a good sleep after a long day of work. The next day, they are fully charged and can get to work again. That simple.

On the other hand, as for other jobs which require lots of planning, making decisions, meeting people etc, we need something to rest of mind after work. Sleeping does not work 100% in resting our brains, as our brain is still running while are asleep. Hence we need to do something different like, dancing, playing music, cooking, shopping, doing an art project, sewing, playing sports, go for a holiday etc.

Today is my downtime. Not thinking about work. Not thinking about work. Not thinking about work. Not thinking about work.