Points Of Information

Australian Quest...

2006-08-05T12:23:00.000+08:00

I heard a very disturbing rumour/hearsay/fact from a particular someone who was equally disturbed after being told of the rumour/hearsay/fact by a doctor regarding so-called recent updates in the future of medical graduates from Australia. Pardon my mouthful of words as it really is bothering!!!

It goes like this: apparently for students who graduated from any Australian university (regardless of whether they managed to stay on in Australia or came back to Malaysia after graduation), should they later decide to get their specialist training/certification (MRCP, FRCS etc.) from the UK, they would NOT be accepted back to the Australia for work! Even the UK, who themselves certified the MRCP etc. holders will NOT accept the specialists for work in the UK.

The impression I got was that the moment you get your let say, FRCS from UK after 5 years you graduated from Australia, you turn into an outcast who is rejected by Australia and the UK.

I find little (and rather unacceptable) possible reasons for this phenomenon, if this is really true. Possibly, once you graduate from Australia, you are expected to do your postgrad training and certification in Australia itself and opting for the UK is a kind of insult to the Australian medical system. So therefore they refuse you for work in Australia as you are deemed a betrayer. But this is assuming that Australia has their OWN form of specialist training and certification that is just as recognised and reputable as the UK's version, to begin with. Or perhaps it could be some sort of protectionist policy, where holders of the Australian version of specialty certification are given higher priority in terms of job opportunities. This sounds like the Masters of Medicine certification which recognises the holder as a legal specialist in the country that issued it and are given a certain extent of protection in the country. I am not sure if this concept applies for the Australian version of certification, if there is one in the first place.

How about the fact that the UK doesn't allow specialists who were certified by them in the first place to practice in the UK? Could it be that they don't recognise medical graduates from Australia to start of with and thus even if a doctor got his FRCS from UK he is still deemed unfit to practice in the UK because he wasn't an MBBS grad from UK? Does this only apply to Aussie graduates or even those from other countries? Perhaps this is also another form of protectionism of UK graduated doctors; pretty much like how even US MDs are required to pass stringent exams to be admitted into the British Medical Association, never mind the fact that UK and Britain are best of friends. However the impression I got from the rumour/hearsay/fact was that you are totally deprived of the opportunity to work in the UK once you are an Aussie grad who got your specialist training from the UK. In short, if the story I heard is true, Aussie MBBS holders who get their specialist certification from the UK are considered unfit to practice in Australia and the UK. So you may go anywhere in the world that MAY take you in but NEVER in Australia or the UK (unless they are so desperate for doctors or they may take you in if you pass lots and lots of entrance exams).

The reason I find it a concern is because I myself intend to do exactly the same; to graduate from the University of Queensland, stay on with an attachment at a hospital and then get my FRCS in Orthopaedics from Edinburgh or wherever in the UK. Then either come back to Australia or Malaysia to work and spend the rest of my life. If what I heard is true, I will have to instead opt to do my specialist training in Australia (no more UK) or risk coming back to Malaysia. UK would be a definite no way too. But this is all fine if I am just prepared to screw Australia and UK and just come home work in KL or Kuching (yes, I like Kuching).

But IS IT TRUE THAT SUCH A FORM OF DISCRIMINATION/LEGISLATION/RUMOUR/FACT exists??? People who know more about this possibility please shed some light!!!

Adventures across a latitude 2006: Kuching

2006-08-03T20:08:00.000+08:00

Yes, the title is so resemblant of Grace's posts' titles of her travels overseas and since as you all know that I have returned from Grace's hometown (which is across the sea at the same latitude) I decided to so name this post.

However, I won't be doing the job of detailing every food that we ate in Kuching nor describing the great view atop a sea-front cliff; Instead of Elena and I coming up with two about similar posts about the 4 day trip, we have decided to combine our posts and put it up on HER blog. Yeah, so for the stories and pictures of our wonderful trip go pay her blog a visit.

So since she will be doing the academic part, allow me to go into the more sentimental and analytical part. As a whole, I came back to KL having only nice memories and pleasant aftertastes in my mouth. The trips around and away from Kuching was fun, the food was overflowing and definitely yummy. I just miss all the wonderful noodles there. Sarawak Laksa is very much different from the one that we used to have at C1-7-2, if you know what I mean. It's beautiful with tiger prawns and gravy that compliments perfectly with the noodles. The Kolo mee, having a Maggi mee texture with sweetness of Char Siew sauce. Just yummy. Not to forget the wonderful provincial food we had on the way back from the beach, and the extravagant Chinese Fusion dinner we had courtesy of Grace's parents. Ok let's stop here as I am already salivating from the cephalic phase of digestion... And did I mention earlier that food in Kuching is very cheap? RM 5 for a Laksa with 3 Tiger prawns, RM 2.20 for a standard one-size-fills-all Kolo mee. KL money goes a LOOOOooooooOOOOOOooooooOOOONNNNNG way there. Oh yeah.

Our stay at Kuching, albeit a bit too short, was used to the fullest. If we weren't scaling treacherous slopes and descending menacing downhills at the Bako national park, we would be eating or simply gossiping/discussing/sharing about many different topics. I really appreciate the effort and time that Grace spent on us inspite of the fact that she is soon to leave for overseas and hasn't finished packing. Her parents are equally commendable for personally taking the initiative to drive us miles and miles to the beach and for treating us to all the special food of Sarawak. Even her Standard 5 sister Serena was very sporting to mix with her elder sister's friends. So with her cool dad, super friendly mom and funny sister it was a nice combination of hospitality that we got. They really went all out to plan for us our day to day activities, ensuring we were well entertained. Haha. As I told Grace, I would definitely have not done the same for anyone else who came to KL because I am too lazy and too busy to drive around and show people places I have been before. It's really a shame, because even as her parents are both busy specialists they still go the extra mile to spend time with us, talk to us and make us feel at home. It certainly was a well worth trip to Kuching and the only regret is that we couldn't spend more time there. Of course that won't be too nice since she has to get packing to leave anyway.

Another interesting fact to note is that somehow when her batch people goes to her place some form of car related incidents happen. When Daniel and co went over few months back they were unfortunate to get into a minor accident and scuffle with some local treehouse idiots. This time when we were there, her Unser (the same vehicle involved in the earlier mentioned misfortune) stalled in the middle of the road when rain water got into her engine's carburetor. But thanks to some reading up of the car's manual we managed to get it up and running again. The following day, after the final lunch in Kuching, her other car got summoned for not putting up a payment coupon. Kuching??? Must pay parking??? If it was MPPJ it would have been maximum fine of RM300 for not displaying, but apparently in Kuching is less than RM 50. So I gladly gave her the money to get it settled. Oh well let's hope it stays this way and nothing worse happens...

Now here's a list of what I miss from the trip:

The beach, the Jungle, the view from the cliff, the boat ride, the FOOD!, the beautiful house, the Cat, the Dogs, the FOOD!, the whole experience, and of course, the wonderful company and fellowship that we had.

Big Thank You to Grace, Serena, Uncle Surgeon and Aunty Paediatrician, Duchess, Bella, and Lazy Cat. Loved the trip so much!!!

ps. Sheena, we weren't able to make it to Miri as our schedule was already packed with so many pre-arranged activities and in fact we didn't even see all of Kuching! We missed the museum visits and caves! Will see you at the airport lor...

Random Scribblings 2

2006-07-24T14:53:00.000+08:00

Ok first up, apologies to Zen for quoting her as a gossiper with YP in my previous post. There can be two possibilities, which I will leave it to the readers to decide which is more likely to have happened:-

1) YP and Zen DID NOT gossip about anyone or anything. Just because I saw the two girls silently engaging in some gossip-like talking tone and atmosphere so I assumed they were gossiping;

2) YP and Zen DID gossip about somebody or something. But I am being a bit tactless here to kinda smear Zen's good image by actually posting it on my blog.

In any case, sorry to Zen for me quoting her in my previous blog in such a undesirable position.

***
If you guys have been reading Elena's blog you will then know that she has got a new toy called the PLAYSTATION PORTABLE/PSP. Great gadget I must say, and even non-gaming fans would marvel at its beautiful sight and curves. Not a cheap toy admittedly, but since I promised here to get it for her if she got an A for any exam (which she did get) I finally bought it last Thursday. It costed me quite a bit but it is worth while since it also coincides as her 21st birthday present. She is all happy with the PSP and thinking its by far the most valuable thing on Earth that she has received. But I can't say the same for her parents, who think I have just gotten her a device which will practically send her studies to the doldrums. But that's the only thing she likes!!! Tough, really.

And to echo her plea/avarice for enhancements for her new toy, she wants a 2GB Memory Stick and a couple UMD games for her birthday! So you figure out la, either pool money or ask her new brother buy for her la. Her 21st birthday is on the 26th of July, ie this Wednesday!

***
Been thinking hard on which PDA or PDA-phone I should get my hands on. Well you see I am quite a fickle minded person, not that it's my nature, but rather I keep changing my decisions when I read reviews or comments on forums about the gadget I am eyeing. First it was the HP IPAQ rw6828 PDA-phone, then I dumped it and looked at the XDA 2 Atom, then the Atom Pure, then the Palm TX, then Treo 650, then Palm TX, XDA 2 Mini, back to TX... I dunno what to get!!!!! Rajinder thinks I am too fickle minded and have too much money to spend, but there is only one thing I am aiming for --- no matter what PDA type I get, it MUST be able to use cracked Skyscape medical programs! Newer Pocket PC version WM5 hasn't been able to be cracked, 2003 PPC is too old, Palm is too simple IMHO... So I will just continue debating with myself. Sigh...

***
JPA is offering a 200k loan to students who are doing twinning programs at the tertiary level apparently. Those doing medicine are given first priority for consideration followed by dentistry, pharmacy etc etc. There are a list of criteria in the website but generally if you have been doing well in IMU you should apply for it. Repayment depends on your contract, ie either 10 year bond to forfeit the loan, full repayment, or 75% discount if you do well in your second part. Btw, the max loan amount is only for your tuition fees. Living costs is on you. In any case I see it as a very good opportunity to lighten the burden of middle class households like mine and to enjoy being viewed as being affliated to the JPA. HAHA! Those interested can go visit the official JPA website and look for the loans tab. It's all in BM so YP get your maid to help you translate k.

***
Going with Elena to Kuching this Thursday evening to visit Grace, and hopefully Sheena in her Treehouse. All excited since we have never stepped foot in East Malaysia. Hopefully we can be lucky enough to see and taste and feel all the essence of Catland within the few days we are there. But it's actually more of catching up and bonding with her in her last few days left before she leaves on the 20th of August. So big thank you to Grace for letting us put up with you.

Random Scribblings...

2006-07-16T21:02:00.000+08:00

Too little time, too many things to say. So when I FINALLY get the time to blog, this is what you get --- little bit of everything.

First things first, I am going to Cat Land to visit Grace! Yay! My first trip to East Malaysia and first time on AirAsia! (It costs me RM 320 for a return flight) I will be going there at the end of this month to see for myself if there are really treehouses from which some of my friends live in and swing around. Not to mention San Francisco kopitiam which one dear friend of mine has been working at (too obvious...). Anyway, thanks to Grace and her hospitality, Elena and I shall be putting up at her big house and having makan times with her specialist parents. Oooh that's so cool man... Will post up pics when I return, hopefully.

***
Met up with the YeeP! last Thursday at Mid Valley to sama-sama watch the Pirates of Caribean. While it was fun to meet up with her and many other friends, in the end the real catching up part was a disappointment. Sometimes even if we have that many friends, we can't possibly be talking to all of them at one go. So yeah, as far as Yee Pei is concerned, we only heard gossips from her (with Zen) and Richard asking her about her blog. We assume she has nothing too interesting to tell us. Won't be seeing you off, so big BYE BYE here! Other people? Well they are people like Raj, Elena, Daniel and co which I see all the time. So nothing special, not that I take them for granted. The movie itself was good, apart from the all too sudden ending which leaves most people scratching their heads, as if the film roll suddenly got cut. Interesting nontheless.

***
Among the M2o3 people these days, there is this famous tagline that has easily replaced the all too common "See you again" that we all say to each other before we part. It's not only popular, it makes you look good when you exchange that quote with some one else.

Shu Jin: "Ok la Yee Pei, I go first la. SEE YOU IN UK AR!"
Yee Pei: "Yeah, SEE YOU IN UK too!!!"

At this moment, passers-by near them would take a look at them, startled not only by the outburst of words at a louder than usual pitch, but by the amazement that they are the select few who will be going to UK for one reason or another. So, this guy imitates along and gets the attention he seeks.

Richard: "Eh, Ai Ling, you leaving already ar? Ok lor, I SEE YOU IN UK la!"
Ai Ling: "Talk nonsense la you not go Australia meh? Lebeh only la..."

Only to draw laughters from strangers who have just met a desperate attention seeker.

***
At some point of your lives, have you ever had certain misunderstandings or differences between you and another person that has become so messy that it's absolutely irreconciliable? At the time you are involved in the fray, at the time when there is still chance to go back to where it began, you never thought of taking the step back. Rather, when time has passed and you have come to your senses, you realise the mistakes and loss that you have had but nothing can actually be done. We have moved on and we are in different paradigms of thoughts and experiences, thus we have effectly been severed of any possible ties in the future. All that remains is very superficial, very shallow, and the damage done remains for a lifetime. It may be their fault, it may be ours, but the end result is one that makes us feel it would have been better if we have never met in our lifetimes. Sad, but true.

***
This last part is to give my deepest and heartfelt condolences to my dear friend, Prasad, on the demise of his father last week. It truly is saddening and unfortunate to experience such a loss of this magnitude, but I believe that your dad is definitely in a better place now. Trust me, anywhere else in the galaxy is better than planet Earth where oil prices are sky rocketing and people killing each other. Be strong man, look to the future!

So Much For O&G

2006-07-06T15:58:00.000+08:00

All this while I had barely much idea of how one goes about being a specialist after our basic degree. I had alot of misconceptions, even thinking that one may probably have to spend a year or so attending lectures and PBL at some university, sit for an EOS and be a specialist after you pass. Or perhaps you just have to grow old enough to look and think like a specialist. I have asked many people but to no avail, till I personally asked a doctor who is preparing to be a specialist.

She is currently a Medical Officer who is attached to the O&G clinic and is getting experience to be an O&G specialist in few years time. Here it goes. Regardless of whether you have an MBBS from Malaysia or from any other part of the world, as long as you come back to Malaysia you have two options (I am talking about O&G here). Once you become a Houseman ie. a fresh graduate, you can either choose to pursue a Masters in Medicine degree (M.Med) or opt to go for the more glamourous Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (MRCOG) certification. While BOTH these degrees will legally allow the holders to use the title of Pakar O&G or O&G Specialist, the M.Med degree is only recognised LOCALLY while the MRCOG one definitely goes far and wide. So as long as you are willing to pledge your life and loyalty to Malaysia, taking a M.Med degree will be sufficient for a specialist title (and of course the higher income and privileges that come with it).

Here's the difference between the two. Apart from the recognition factor, the level of difficulty and hence the level of quality differs quite greatly between the two. To ultimately possess an MRCOG certification, you have got to first take the MRCOG Part 1 exam which can be prepared for since Day 1 and sat for anytime when you are ready. Next, you will have to go for the Part 2a exam, which can only be taken at least 4 years from passing Part 1. Subsequently you go for the last Part 2b before becoming a certified MRCOG holder. The passing rate for Part 1 and Part 2a is only between 7-8% max, while the pass rate for the final part is a bit higher at between 15-20%. And so as you can see, the problem with getting this degree is the difficulty of passing its exams! To even qualify and be eligible to sit for the exams, you must have a logbook which shows that you have had sufficient work experience and exposure in this field. Really not easy man... Exams can be taken in any certified hospitals, not necessary to go all the way to England.

Now having said all that, I also found out a truth about this field. Apparently, Chinese males are the least popular among female patients in the O&G sector. A Malay female or Indian female would be the most welcomed, followed by a Chinese female, Malay male, Indian male and Chinese male. The acceptance level may not be so clearly demarcated in Government hospitals but when it comes to private practice we see such differences, like it or not. Of course, this is not an absolute rule but rather a common sight and understanding among the doctors and patients. So, perhaps O&G isn't for me after all. Better stick to Orthopaedics. That has another LOOOONG story which I won't want to go in depth. Basically to get an MRCS (Ortho) degree, one had better opt to do the local Masters before attempting to apply for the REAL MRCS because apparently the Part 3 exams is kinda by invitation only. They select limited students for it and it would matter if you came from a local or overseas university, for the MBBS I mean. So instead of waiting till you die, you would be better off doing a Masters and practicing as a specialist here first.

Oh well. Now I see the long and windy path to go up there...

Back in Business...

2006-07-05T19:41:00.000+08:00

Albeit a little late.

I LOVE ITALIA!!!

Not just because I betted on them and won, but they are really good. Since day 1 I saw them play I knew they would go far. After they had beaten Ukraine in the only clear cut 90 minute victory there is so far in the knock-out rounds of Germany 06, it was made even clear that they are definitely champions material. Now having gotten rid of the host nation, they are left to either bungkus France or Portugal, either of which stand no chance against Italy, IMHO.

GO ITALIA!!!

I am Back!

2006-06-24T00:15:00.000+08:00

Yes, after having my last post here 12 days ago, I have finally found the time and motivation to post something again. Contrary to what some may think that my blog is dead because I have lost interest in it, it really is because I have been too occupied with many things in my life currently. The ongoing World Cup is one big distraction like it or not, and my lab work has just started to show how demanding it can be. But I still aim to blog more frequently to update my avid readers who have been visiting my blog so faithfully and churning up my site meter.

As I said, the World Cup is a huge distraction not only to me, but to millions around the world. To football crazy fans, regardless of whether they bet or not, have been enduring many late nights consecutively to watch the horribly late matches. The first match starts at 9pm, second at 12 midnight and the third at 3 am. By the time the matches are over, you will probably end up sleeping at 5am, the time you hear the mosques blasting the early morning prayer call. In some cases where you bet and have lost, you can't even sleep and have to go to work/school in about 2 hour's time looking like a Chinese panda. Even IF you won, you would probably be sighing why didn't you bet MORE! I speak from experience...

For the past 2 weeks I have been spending much time at the House of Vice playing mahjong while watching football. Of course, I used to bet on almost every match there was when I was still winning alot then. I had my fair share of winnings, my peak at about RM150, but after an 8 unbeaten run of winning my bets in a row, things started to head downhill. There were times when I betted small amounts, won, but complained that I should have put more. Then there were times when I played bigger amounts and lost, and whined that I should have know better earlier. Either case, I lost sleep, lost mahjong most of the time, and lost many matches recently. In the last few matches before the end of the First round, my entire winnings were wiped out and now I am in a negative state. Down RM50 to be precise. So for now I have put a stop to football betting and decided to sleep early every night. Even if I do bet in future, I will just put my money and go to sleep since staying up won't change the results anyway. Of course if it was the semi finals or finals I would consider staying up.

Daniel came up with an interesting idea of recovering our losses. If I am down 50, I should bet 50 for another match and try to break even. He says that we should keep trying to place bets since "you can't possibly lose every match". So what if you lose the match which you have betted 50 bucks on? The answer is to double your stakes ie. put 100 on the next match with the same aim of winning and breaking even. And if you happen to lose again just double it up till you break even. But my take on it is, will you actually stop playing after breaking even? There is just this natural greed in punters to go beyond breaking even, to try to win more. Just when you think your luck is coming, you bet a bigger amount and unfortunately lose it all to be back to square one. Football betting I discovered is highly addictive and unpredictable. I guess it takes alot of discipline to know when to retire after winning money, and when to stop betting after losing. Anyhow now it is in the second round which makes betting even more unpredictable, and I will opt to just enjoy watching the matches as it is, if ever; instead of trusting and hoping lousy Ecuador to beat Germany just because I betted on Ecuador.

So much for football, lab work has already started and on Friday I had my first experience of a long day in the lab. I spent 11.5 hours playing around with tiny amounts of antibodies in cute bottles just to produce my first ever ELISA plate. The whole procedure is frustratingly and irritatingly long, and I can't run anywhere far once I have started. The tinny-weeny drops of antibody are like gold. Every 1ml costs over RM1,000, so imagine the great precaution and attention I have to put in. I am not too sure if I will eventually like doing this stuff but for the next 6 months at least, I will have to bear with it for the sake of my degree. Come to think of it, it has been really fast now that I have only 6 months left before I finish! Can still vividly remember the days when I was still bumming around at home in December, as if it was only weeks ago.

San San, YkK, Ai Ling and Zen will be doing their last week of work in IMU from tommorow. After Friday they will no longer have any business with IMU, nor will we be seeing them anymore till they fly off in August. That's presumably we bother to see them off in the airport. Guess the lab and postgrad room will be quieter without them...

Elena and I are planning to visit Grace in Kuching sometime end of July, earliest after Elena's 21st birthday on the 26th. It will be the last chance we will ever have to visit her, before she leaves for UK on 20th of August. When she comes back for holidays next year we would have already been reunited with good ol' Phang in Queensland. So yeah, better work hard and finish more plates before I request for leave from Dr. Vishna.

Who do you think will win the World Cup? In any case, I want France to go die and go hell for playing sucky football. Spain will thrash those blue idiots!!! Hrmph.

B1-9-6 Jinx

2006-06-13T16:34:00.000+08:00

Amidst smoke billowing from Marlboro Lights cigarettes and the alcohol stench from Heineken beer, Richard has once again proved useless in 4 kaki mahjong. Round after round, sigh after sigh, tile after tile, he just has NO luck in this game PARTICULARLY when he is in the House of Vice. Is it the people's aura surrounding him that is just too suppressing of his luck, or the very house that seems so incompatible with him? In any case, having had so many bad and nightmarish experiences losing to other people on at least 9 out of 10 games, it is fair to accept that Richard has officially decided to QUIT playing mahjong in B1-9-6. He may team up with his luckier girlfriend in future in 3 player games but certainly not going solo. Unless he is feeling considerably charitable on a particular day.

"You cannot bang the tiles so hard wan. Just like women, you cannot bang them so hard. Must soft soft only can!" - Adrian Lim.

Speak to the hand, Adrian.

***

I can't say the same when it comes to World Cup betting. So far so good, I have won all of the 6 matches that I have betted on. My winnings now is enough to cover all my mahjong losses in the past and I am certain there will be more winnings to come. Yeah baby, South Korea and France is gonna win tonight!!!

Supper for late nights - RM 15
Beer - RM 7.90
Mahjong losses - RM 10
Loss of sleep - considerable
Cheering with friends when our team scores - PRICELESS

I love the World Cup life!!!

*** I will respond to Zennie's tag in a while. Too occupied with the World Cup...

Richard's Guide To Enhancing the World Cup Experience

2006-06-10T19:29:00.000+08:00

This will be of some help to those facing one or more of the scenarios below:

1) You never understood the fun in 22 mad people chasing after a ball, but now you feel compelled to like it in order not to be neglected by all your other football crazy friends;

2) Your girlfriend loves football for the cute players but you hate it. Your close friends call you a geek and they have your girlfriend over at their place but not you;

3) You like football, but only when your favourite team/country plays. All other matches are a bore and you really hope to find some motivation to watch these to keep your World Cup spirit high;

4) You are waiting too hard and too long for Chinese New Year to come so that you can meet up with your uncles to play blackjack because you may still be underaged to go see Uncle Lim;

5) You are in need for some quick cash but how you wish they come while you are fast asleep at night.

The solution to any of the above mentioned scenarios is............

PASSIVE INVESTMENT.

Yes my friends. I am no Warren Buffett or Donald Trump, but the way to enhance/rescue/change your World Cup experience is by betting. Of course there is a possibility of losing all your hard earned pocket money, but hey, what's wrong with placing small amounts of bets so as to find renewed interest and excitement in World Cup football?

Trust me, when YOUR money is on the line, you will really show much interest in the teams you are betting on and not to mention the fact you will be probably even more a football maniac than your other friends. Every mistake made by the lousy defence will warrant a F*** word from you, cos you could be losing your bet! Or a 30 yard free kick converted into a goal could make you yell for joy and kiss your TV set! This is what I call as really being a part of the world's greatest sporting event. Without further ado, allow me to share some of the commonly used betting Methods...

The easiest way is the "ball" method.

For example, England vs. Malaysia (World Cup 2060). Duh, it's obvious England is a much stronger team than Malaysia thus it will seem that there isn't much logical motivation for a person to bet on Malaysia to win, unless you are Malaysia's coach or Prime Minister. So in order to level the playing field, a handicap is given to the weaker team. The handicap is in the form of giving balls, and the number of balls given is based on the ability and current status quo of the particular team. This is how it works. Say for example those who take Malaysia is given a 2 ball handicap, it means that even before the match starts Malaysia would already have a 2 goal lead over England. For the England taker, he has to hope England scores 2 goals to draw, or at least 3 goals to win the bet. For more balanced teams, eg. Argentina vs. Italy, there may not be anybody who is willing to give handicaps or at the most some may give half ball. In that case, a draw means the person who has the half ball advantage wins the bet. Basically, you literally add the handicap to the final score and the higher number wins the bet la. But beware that it doesn't mean taking the weaker teams and always taking handicaps is always a good thing. You have to know when to take and when to give balls. This all comes through experience.

For the more advanced betters, they may opt for the bookie methods, ie. betting using odds. It's more complicated for sure, but the profits can be big. Here is as example of how it looks like:

England vs. Paraguay.
3/4 handicap to Paraguay.
Odds for England to win: 1.8
Odds for Paraguay to win: 2.1

The smaller the figure of the odds, the better is the team's performance. It means that, say if you bet on England for RM 1, you will be paid RM 1.80 should England win. But if you take Paraguay and they win, you get RM 2.10 for the RM 1 you betted on. So you can see that it seems not much a surprise for England the stronger team to win compared to Paraguay of which you deserve to get paid more in the event they win. Now you have heard of half and 1 ball, how about 3/4 ball? Technically, half and 3/4 ball doesn't seem to have any difference. In a 1-0 match the half or 3/4 ball taker still loses his bet. But this is how it works in bookie world. If England wins Paraguay by 1 goal difference (1-0, 2-1 etc.), the person who betted on England only gets HALF his money multiplied the odds for England to win. If it's a 2 goal difference (2-0, 4-2 etc.), the England taker wins in FULL multiplied the odds. ie.

England beat Paraguay 2-1, I betted RM 40 on England:

My winning is RM 40 X 1.8 (odds) X 0.5 (half money) = RM 36.

England beat Paraguay 5-2:

Winning is RM 40 X 1.8 (odds) = RM 72

If draw, or England loses to Paraguay, I lose RM 40.

If I betted on Paraguay for same amount, and Paraguay wins, or ends up in a draw:

I win RM 40 X 2.1 (odds) = RM 84

If Paraguay loses to England by 1 goal, I lose HALF money, in the way the England taker wins HALF the bet multiplied the odds.

So these are the methods of betting available to you. But a word of caution, bookie betting is ILLEGAL in Malaysia. Betting among friends quietly is er.... ok, I guess. Hope what I have shared will benefit those who read and try what I described. All the best, good luck and enjoy the World Cup!

Judi adalah haram di sisi agama!

World Cup 2006

2006-06-09T16:35:00.000+08:00

Yeah man! I lived through the era of World Cup USA '94, France '98, Seoul '02 and now let's put our hands together to welcome the greatest sporting event of our day --- World Cup Germany 2006! So ladies and gentlemen, place your bets!

For a start, let's all hope that GERMANY wins the opening match against Costa Rica and that Ecuador beats Poland ok? And I need more football kaki!

Kangoo's 3 Costly Lessons

2006-06-05T13:17:00.000+08:00

After one year of driving my Kangoo and having had 2 accidents (both of which are not my fault), I have learned 3 lessons at a very high price. So to all of my readers who drive any vehicle, here are some stuff worth noting:

Lesson #1: Be sure to include ALL drivers' names in the insurance cover note.

That is, say if there are 3 people in a family that have driving licenses, include all their names when you are applying for or renewing ALL your motor insurances EVEN IF any particular vehicle may be solely monopolised by one person. Every insurance company allows up to two names/drivers free, and an additional driver's name will only cost you RM 10 for one year.

What if you don't think you wanna spend that extra RM10?

Should you happen to out-of-the-blues decide to use your dad's big car for the very first time for IMU's convocation at KL Hilton, and unfortunately you land up in an accident (regardless of whether you knock people or got knocked) and have to make an insurance claim, you will automatically be fined RM400 as long as your name is not included as an extra driver in the cover note. In my case, my Kangoo is registered in my mother's name only, but I happen to be the only one who drives it. So when I got rammed from behind and couldn't possibly afford to pay 5k in damages on my own, I made a claim from the insurance company and got a 400 bucks fine, non-negotiable.

Lesson #2: Always insure your Windscreens.

Motor insurances don't just insure your vehicles against theft, adverse weather conditions, accidents etc., they also offer insurance for the glass components of your vehicle. You can either choose to insure only the front and rear windscreens (which happen to be the most costly to replace), or insure all round including the door windows for those whose vehicles are prone to vandalism. The extra premium costs RM225 a year for my Kangoo, which insures 6 side windows and the front and rear windscreens. I am not too sure if it is the same price for another vehicle with larger windows such as a Toyota Estima though, but at the end it is really worth it should something happen.

So what if you wanted to save that less than RM20 a month premium to buy pirated VCDs instead?

Should you happen to be unlucky to get a stone to pelt against your windscreen while cruising at 120 km/h to Hospital Seremban early in the morning, and the glass starts cracking into the shape of a 7-legged spider, you will have to end up paying nothing less than 1,000 bucks to get it changed. This is the price for an original Renault tempered front windshield. It could be cheaper for a Kelisa, but no matter what, you will be so thankful you had paid that extra premium if you happen to get your glass cracked for whatever reason. And as you can expect, I did NOT have glass insurance when my front screen cracked in April. So I paid RM1,100 like a duke for the whole thing changed. The glass only costs RM400, but you have to also pay for labour charges, sealants and rubber mountings.

Lesson #3: Insure your glass tints too!

Newer cars these days come with all round glass tints upon delivery as part of a sales package. There are various brands, but by far and large the best brand is still V-Kool. Different brands have different films with varying degrees of UV absorption, hence different prices too. Apparently, they charge you according to the number of windows to be tinted, NOT based on surface area of glass. So don't be surprise if the price to tint a small passenger door window costs the same as tinting the front windscreen. Another rule is that, tinting a single glass piece costs more than doing a few together. So when you get your front windscreen cracked, and you decide to get it tinted after replacing the glass for RM1,100, you end up paying RM450 just for it. By the way, tinting 8 pieces of glass for my Kangoo only costs RM2,2oo. So you get the idea.

The extra cost? Only RM 75 a year. Of course you could always do without it by bearing with the hot sun that beats into your car every afternoon while driving and to have a less cool interior after parking it under the hot sun for hours.

Having spent so much due to ignorance, Richard is much smarter now. I added my dad's and my name to the insurance, insured my glasses and glass tintings too! My Kangoo is a happy car. No need scared go out now.

OOoooooooo Kangoo!

So much for my favourite game...

2006-06-03T21:20:00.000+08:00

Mahjong that is. Apart from other board games such as Monopoly, Scrabble and Risk, I love playing mahjong as much as (if not more than) the board games. Mahjong is an old traditional Chinese gambling game which is well loved by the young and old alike. It is not only a favourite past time game during Chinese New Year, but it is a game that promotes fellowship, family ties and more importantly has the ability to sharpen minds. Ever since I started doing BMed at IMU, I have been playing/gambling mahjong so very often that I wonder if tomorrow God came to Earth will I be sent to hell for gambling when I should be studying. But perhaps He is sending me a message that I should put a stop to it. I have been losing too much too often...

At the beginning of the year I used to frequent the House of Vice (Daniel, Adrian and Linda's place) for my fix of mahjong. We would play for hours and hours, while hearing gossips and watching American Idol in the mean time. All was well at the beginning, but as we played more and more I realised I have been losing more and more frequently in bigger amounts. Then after a while what I did was to set so-called cooling off periods to probably recover from my losses. So after losing 30 bucks on one Thursday I quit it for the next 3 weeks before I tried my luck again. Having lost another 15 bucks after the 3 weeks, I totally vowed to quit mahjong which was becoming too expensive for me. But although I had decided to quit playing with my other BMed friends, Elena's dad is a big fan of mahjong and time after time he would try to get me to have a game with him and Elena. So there was this time in Melaka when we all went for a weekend break that we gambled till 3am, and the results were the same. I lost a coool 30 bucks to father and daughter. Nothing I really could do to avoid that.

Then came yesterday, a Friday when I would fetch Elena back to her house as usual. And just after dinner when I was about to say goodbye and leave, her father suggested that since today is a holiday so why not I stay over and play mahjong. Still reeling from past experiences and being so phobic, I still obliged considering he is always so enthusiastic when it comes to this. So we played round after round, and after the first 10 rounds I was winning so much that I began to feel shy to keep beating them. And just when I decided to give them some leeway, I started losing non-stop and by 6am in the morning, I had lost 15 bucks to Elena, again. So the conclusion is: I just have no luck playing mahjong and I ought to quit it lest I lose all my cash...

But one consolation I have is exactly what Adrian once said: "Gambling with your future in-laws is not about winning; it's about investing in your future and basically, you won't want to keep winning to make them lose face right?"

So I guess I am doing pretty well then. Sigh...

Don't Mess with Us

2006-06-01T19:01:00.000+08:00

I have seen, heard and experienced many incidents where SOME of the post-graduate students in IMU's little research community show utter disrespect for the BMed students. This has happened not only to me, but also to my other colleagues.

I admit that we are juniors as far as research is concerned. BMed students from my batch have at most spent 6 months so far compared to other Masters/PhD students who have spent even longer here in IMU's research labs, not to mention their stints at their previous universities. But look here buster, as far as being in IMU is concerned, I dare say we have spent a longer time in IMU and have done more for IMU in our past 3 years here. Cos' hey, guess what? IMU only started offering degrees for Masters of science and PhD in 2004.

We ought to be treated with some respect over here and don't just think just because you are a science bachelors or masters degree holder you can treat us like idiots. If it's our fault creating a ruckus in the postgrad room owing to the larger number of BMed students, we apologise and say sorry. If due to our inexperience we screw up some stuff or dirty your place, teach us how to do it the right way and again we apologise. But please treat us with some respect and tact. If you think you are more senior to us in chronological terms in IMU, or that you may be smarter than us, just speak to the hand alright. We will be an upstart if you behave as one to us.

I will not want to quote names or describe incidents here but if you are one and if you are reading my blog now, stop messing with us and treating us like small kids.

Convocation M203

2006-05-27T22:42:00.000+08:00

It was a day of recognition, honour and reunion.

And I am still feeling sentimental about the whole thing even though it is already over...

Alongside the C2/03 class of graduating doctors and the less mentioned pharmacy students, we were honoured for our efforts and hard work in successfully completing Phase 1 of our medical education in IMU Malaysia. Hours of studying in the library, all the sacrifices made and having endured all the lectures, it all seems justified and paid off now. It is also amazing to see how we all grew together; from the first day of Orientation to the day we all passed out and reached the final moments of a M203 communion. I mean, I seriously can't think of another event where maximum amount of us from the same batch will actually gather for a common purpose. The next convocation will be at many different places at many different times. So yeah, yesterday was about the last time we would all meet together in a large group.

I am so glad to have met up with many friends who I have not seen for ages. Also, it was also nice to meet up with parents of some of my close friends whom I have never met before. But I must say, it would have been even better if those who have already gone to PMS were with us yesterday. Those who are in Australia, Aberdeen and Canada. But anyway, it was a very memorable day yesterday and I really wish I could go through it again...minus the crappy speech by the Chancellor.

Congratulations M203 and all the best in your future. God bless you always!

Our Local Music Scene Atrocity

2006-05-20T12:37:00.000+08:00

I am sure most of us would know of quite intensive efforts taken by local Malaysian artistes to garner support for the local music scene recently. Advertisements for support appear all the time on radio; just tune in to Hitz.fm for 15 minutes and you are bound to listen to one. Either ReshMonu trying to tell local artistes to not give up hope, or K-Town Clan threatening to end up serving Satay if we don't show them any support.

Personally if you were to ask me, I would say that the quality of music put out is improving, albeit at a slow rate. Stepping stone programs like Akademi Fantasia, Malaysian Idol and BlastOff! have actually done quite alot in not only giving new talents a shot to fame, but also as a boost for improving the local music industry. Through stringent training, public choice voting and quality judging (definitely not Paul Moss), the final winners and even those who may have lost out actually learned something about the likes, dislikes and demands of the locals. This is essential in producing music fit for local consumption as well as to achieve favourable album sales, which in the past, has been in the doldrums even before the era of piracy. So what have we had so far? We have Jaclyn Victor's successful and popular Gemilang album, Mawi's popular Malay numbers which are sung even during PAS ceramahs, and the winners of last year's BlastOff! - KTown Clan, to name a few.

To quote Adrian Lim when he first heard Jason Lo's single called Operator, The Line Is Dead, "I will actually be very surprised if this was sung by a local artiste".

But I don't know if you guys have heard of Lo's most recent release called OLD NEWSPAPER. The song is pretty weird. He begins it as a soft rock kinda song with lyrics without much meaning. When it's time for the chorus, he just blasts out "OLD NEWSPAPER, SAU KAU POH CHI (Cantonese for collect old newspaper) like a total madman. And he comes out in the following radio commercial urging listeners to support their local music industry. I don't know if he thinks this song is funny or he ran out of ideas, but it really is nonsense. I don't Pink's Stupid Girl is any better, but coming up with a dumb song when you are barely established in the music scene isn't a good idea personally. So really, how do they expect to get us to support the local industry if they keep coming up with these kind of songs?

Resurrection

2006-05-20T12:12:00.000+08:00

Her blog was about one of the earliest to be up among the M203 people, and about one of the most active around back then. Going by the title of a F***ed Up Life, it took a sudden twist when it just dropped dead probably due to the lack of enthusiasm and lost of interest on the side of the F***ed Up author during last year's end-of-year holidays. After a period of silence, inactivity, re-construction and taking heed from the wishes of concerned friends, ELENA has finally reconciled with her blog and has given it a new facelift with a whole new title and template. This is also done to coincide with her blog's 2nd birthday. So how apt it is!

Anyways,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ELENA'S BLOGGIE!!!

For Jody

2006-05-18T18:44:00.001+08:00

Alright, I just put up a post below this and next thing I know, I gotta blog again cos' Jody tagged me. It's the FIRST time somebody tagged me and according to Elena, I should be courteous to do the survey. So here it is.

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:

1. Richard;
2. Gerald;
3. Yew Min (Chinamen only call me so).

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:

-I think I like all that has been given to me by God and I shouldn't discriminate between my legs and hands.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:

1. My poor eyesight;
2. I am too thin though I can out-eat Jody and anyone else my size anytime;
3. I get diarrhoea far more easily than anyone else I know.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:

1. Son of Adam;
2. Son of my dad;
3. Son of my mom. (??)

THREE THINGS YOU CAN'T STAND:

1. JPA scholars who abscond;
2. People who don't know nuts but pretend they know;
3. Girls who smoke like chimneys and drink like mad.

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:

1. Heights;
2. Alone in the South China Sea trying to see underwater sea turtles without Grace helping me keep afloat;
3. Getting into another accident.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SHOWS:

1. The Last Breakthrough;
2. The Simpsons;
3. Basically almost everything on Astro's Channel 30.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE JAPANESE ANIMES:

1. Ranma;
2. That's all;
3. Im not a fan of anime.

THREE OF YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE SONGS:

1. Theme song of The Last Breakthrough by Raymond Lam Fung;
2. Pussy Cat Dolls feat. Will I Am.
3. Because of You by Kelly Clarkson.

THREE MOVIES YOU CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN:

1. Shrek 1 & 2;
2. Chronicles of Narnia;
3. Kung Fu Mahjong.

THREE MOVIES YOU WOULD LIKE TO WATCH:

1. Pirates of Carribean;
2. Da Vinci Code;
3. That's about it.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:

1. Air;
2. Money;
3. Handphone.

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:

1. Shirt;
2. Pants;
3. Undies. (Bra, panty, nighty...).

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:

1. Understanding;
2. Good communication;
3. Respect & loyalty. (Pretty much what most guys would want ok)

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE GENDER THAT APPEAL TO YOU:

*this is such a cliche question. How different can it be?

1. Looks;
2. Breasts;
3. Hair.

THREE BAD HABITS:

1. Eating more meat than vegetables;
2. Eating more than I should;
3. Fight with my sister for the bigger chicken drumstick.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:

1. Playing with a brand new and latest handphone;
2. Cycling a brand new super high tech and modified mountain bike on a highway and hear the purring of the wheels;
3. Watching TVB serials on WLT.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:

1. Beat the shit out of this bloody stuck up and disrespectful O&G Specialist;
2. Pass all my exams with flying colours and be a nice, kind and humble O&G Specialist;
3. Get a new gadget to play around with.

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING OR CURRENTLY PURSUING:

1. Medicine;
2. Economics;
3. Law.

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON A VACATION:

1. Port Dickson;
2. Kuching; (for Grace's sake)
3. Johor Bahru. (for YP's sake).

THREE KIDS' NAMES YOU LIKE:

Ah! This I have really discussed with Elena before. Believe it or not, here they are in no particular order...

1. Adeline;
2. Grace;
3. Edward.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:

1. Make sure I go to heaven;
2. Make sure that even if I do make it to heaven, there will be enough space for me;
3. Eat my favourite food.

INITIALS OF THREE CRUSHES:

1. E
2. E
3. E

WahLau super long eh!!! I now tag Elena, McGong and Zen to do this horrifyingly loooooong (pat kua) survey.

Another Farewell

2006-05-18T18:44:00.000+08:00

Farewell #1 to me was when Adeline aka McGong and the rest of her gang left for Aberdeen. Today, Caryn, Ernie, Eugenia etc. left for Dalhousie, Canada. Some of our friends and their die-hard fans eg. Rajinder, YkK, Prem, Kat etc etc actually stayed over at Seremban yesterday night to see them off on their early morning flight. I didn't go along since Thursdays are sampling days. But a big BYE BYE, ALL THE BEST AND GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU to all of you... If fate has it we will meet again someday.

***
There is also another reason for us all to feel sad today.

Today happens to be the premier of the DA VINCI CODE, a thoroughly misleading show that will shake the fundamental believes of most if not all Christians and keep non-believers even further from the truth and the Word. Personally I am not very interested to watch this movie; and if it wasn't for the keen interest showed by Elena to watch it I would have most probably skipped it without feeling a bit left out at all. Anyway, as how Caryn would justify herself in watching an "anti-Christ and satanic" movie (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), we as Christians should all the more watch these movies so that we can know what we are up against.

"If you don't know who or what is the enemy, how can you fight it?"

Hear hear!

Btw tomorrow morning I am going to be the first guy on the queue at One Utama to buy uncollected tickets. Couldn't book any tickets online. Quite a shame but yeah, we gotta know our enemy.

Me and TVB

2006-05-14T09:50:00.000+08:00

I may not know what TVB of Hong Kong stands for, but all I know is, I LOVE their serial dramas!

Since I was in Kindie at 5 years old, I would sit in front of the TV with my mother at 6 pm onwards to follow on all kinds of dramas, ranging from corporate-themed dramas to totally soapy love dramas. It really does provide us with entertainment, besides keeping us in touch with our Chinese background and mother tongue. It's something that we look forward to on every boring school day. Through the years as I grew up, I never seemed to lose interest in these dramas. Even on exam weeks during my secondary school days I would still find time to watch my favourite shows. Those days without Astro's channel 30, we could only watch dramas on TV 2 that were many months old unless we spent money to rent video tapes from the neighbourhood video shop; something my mother never allowed me to do.

The best part about TVB's serials is their creativity. The themes for their serials are pretty limited, and sometimes they come up with some totally crappy themes. By far the most popular ones are those that revolve around the corporate world (Threshold of An Era), police and thieves (Armed Reaction), ancient settings and the all time favourite love soaps such as Secret of The Heart. Ah my personal favourite too. Newer movies these days on Astro are those about firemen, customs and immigration, pilots, swimmers (???), super magic kung fu masters and my recent favourite one on doctors. But with these same themes, they employ different actors with different stories and twists to make every drama feel different. There can be two corporate dramas going on at the same time but one maybe on stock market and another on property development. So how do you judge a popular drama? It ends 5 minutes earlier than the stipulated air time to include a sneak preview of the the following eposide, has advertisements that last almost forever and ends at the most climactic moment. I have followed dramas that last only half an hour each day and the episodes run into the thousands!

Now I am following The Last Breakthrough which is a doctor drama. It is even better than Healing Hands, personally. It adds more spice to its story line as it also takes you through Africa to see how the HK docs join Life Force to help save lives of poor native African tribe members. Some variety compared to the all-HK setting we see in most dramas. There are also many twists and educational elements in its story. There is a part where a doctor suddenly develops liver cancer and goes for RFA (Radio Frequency Ablation), and another part where a doctor suddenly forgives a guy who mowed down his girlfriend because the murderer agreed to donate his marrow to save his friend's son who has leukemia (Note my use of SUDDENLY). There is also a part where in Africa, the doctor used jumper cables linked to a car battery to defibrillate a guy who got VF. Unacceptable but it worked. There was another part where a doctor brought back to life a woman who died after delivery by punching her chest. Talk about resurrection. Haha. Nontheless, I must say they did very well in mixing love affairs (like, all the time), a generous amount of hospital politics and accurate medical information, with heart warming scenes of humanity. The latest thing I learned is this condition called the Brugada syndrome. Common cause of sudden death among young people. Go check out about it.

This brings me to a question to all readers: Anybody knows WHERE can I download HK serial dramas by the episodes? It's so easy to download or find trackers for Gray's anatomy or Scrubs but Chinese dramas are almost impossible to find! Also, where can I download Chinese songs?

I'm suddenly getting all Chinaman Ah Beng-like now...

Btw, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I am HaPpY!!!

2006-05-10T17:53:00.000+08:00

Yes, Richard is happy on a bored, sucky and tiring day. Today, that is.

Why? Blog Patrol says that my blog has had 1,011 visitors to date! Cool right? Ahhh at least I feel happy.

To people like YP who may have had 3 times the amount of visitors in the same time frame, this may just be a small achievement but nontheless I am still proud. This shows people read my blog! Thank you to all those who frequent my blog and to those who have not, may they soon learn the joy of visiting my blog!!!

Ok, yet another space filler in my seemingly boring and poorly updated blog...

Bored, and not so bored.

2006-05-07T16:24:00.000+08:00

I am bored, people.

I have got nothing better to do; other than chatting on Messenger occasionally, I check my mails 10 times a day, clear spam, take 3 naps a day and play my latest game: INSANIQUARIUM.

I check my blog often too, hoping for a new comment or tag for me to respond to. But more often than not, there is none. But still, I continue to blog.

Till I get something interesting enough to blog about, I am going to take a nap now.

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzz......

Exhaustion Phase... LIfe Sux

2006-05-05T14:14:00.000+08:00

Every Friday is a sucky day for me. And they say Thank God It's Friday.

After two days of intense talking, driving and lab work which I hope to get used to every week, Friday comes as a day of rest and stoning. But it always seem that the exhaustion cannot be rectified by a good 12-hour sleep even, which makes Friday a very unproductive, tired and uninteresting day. Kinda like a hangover. I am feeling LOUSY!!!

Saturdays and Sundays are spent at home. I compile data of the mothers and prepare for the week ahead. I don't have the Chinese Astro channels, no PS2, nothing interesting to do at home. I should get a hobby really, something cheap and interesting and safe and doesn't come in the way of my busy schedule. Mountain biking is just too expensive and sometimes dangerous to indulge in. Apart from that, I really gotta do something interesting with my life.

Suckkkkkkyyyyyyy... Someone help me!

He begs to differ

2006-05-01T13:25:00.000+08:00

In response to the article in Sunday's Star papers (regarding the brain drain in Malaysia), a Professor Dean of Medicine from UKM has argued that contrary to what the people interviewed believed, Malaysian doctors in UK are ACTUALLY losing out in promotions and job opportunities. Reason being, EU doctors are given higher priority than foreigners.

It seems that not only is Malaysia a place which churns out more specialists than the UK at institutions at par or better than the UK, there are apparently also more chances for promotions locally. Also, he mentioned that Malaysian doctors who wanted to remain in UK was mainly for the bigger money never mind the fact that they most of the time end up as house officers who find it difficult to climb.

While he does shed some light on the possibility of better opportunities locally, I wonder if he says all these with the fundamental belief that all opportunities are EQUAL regardless of race, religion and melanin concentration. Because sometimes being treated as second class citizens in our homeland, fighting with EU doctors in the UK on the basis of pure meritocracy may be still more worthwhile and possible. Also, he has not shown how local work conditions are better than that in the UK.

But should there really be EQUAL chances for all doctors in Malaysia for training and promotion, I suppose coming back to Malaysia to work shouldn't be a very bad idea for me.

Talk to me, son

2006-04-30T20:02:00.000+08:00

Through my observations lately, I find varying degrees of communication between parents and their child/children. It can range from being completely open ie. you know what I know and what I did, to absolute secrecy. I dunno if you know but I am not letting you know anyway.

The whole concept of good communication between say, a father and a son is good, definitely. It shows the extent of comfort and confidence that the child has in the parent that he doesn't mind sharing or seeking advice from a parent about whether or not he should propose to a girl. Think Gilmore Girls, about the mother and daughter who are so close in everything so much so people like me may mistake them for being lesbo. Notwithstanding that, having a parent knowing about what a child is doing would be essential in ensuring that the child is properly guided. It forges a bond between parent and child; they tend to learn to understand each other better and hopefully learn to compromise too. But this is all assuming that parents to begin with, are 1) bothered or have the time to sit down and talk to their children; 2) "friendly" and approachable enough for a child to confide in them. In conservative Asian families, parents are always regarded as the authority who more often than not, rule with an iron hand. This is done for the sake of bringing up the children well, that they will be well disciplined, hardworking, won't do drugs and will bring pride to their families. But in doing so, it leaves little room for their children to express themselves. They obey their parents whole-heartedly (or risk being caned and not having pocket money for the next week) and really, you don't expect them to go against their parents' instructions eg. of not getting involved in a relationship while still in school. Let alone discuss with them about that cute girl in the next class. Or about changes in puberty. Through time, what we see is a sort of barrier that grows between them. Children acknowledge that while their parents may have been pivotal in their success, they can't exactly treat them as a friend either. An authority remains an authority and that's as far as the relationship goes.

While that maybe the scenario experienced during our parents' days and maybe even till today by some of us, I see much change in some families nowadays. Probably through Western influence and education, some parents I know are amazingly cool and friendly to their children, yet not letting their children forget who's in charge. Sorry if I always draw parallels from boy-girl relationships, but really I know of friends who actually discuss with their parents on whether they should dump the guy/girl or not, and how they should go about it. I seen alot of interaction and good conversations between mother and son; on the child's future plannings or life's ups and downs over ice-cream or on the swing. It's really great and enviable to have such an approachable parent who comes down to your level and isn't one who's waiting to hear of your wrongdoing and then pounce on you. The family I come from is a conservative one, exactly like how I described it earlier. Dinner time on weekends is mainly about surface stuff, like "How's your studies?" or "Has the toilet leak been fixed?". I just feel weird to initiate conversations with them, especially my father who has since young been really strict with me. The feeling is just peculiar, if you know what I mean.

My parents are also the type who thinks they know something about me, but yet don't ask for confirmation until I tell them so. Even though I have been with Elena for the past three years, they do suspect something of that sort but still have not asked me about it till today. I don't know if they are afraid that by asking me for confirmation, they have to come up with an unfavourable response to me. If they say it's ok, it means they have allowed me to disobey their instructions of not getting into a relationship while still studying (because apparently love and studies don't mix). If they say no, they risk breaking my heart and causing unrest in the family because I know they know how much I am into this relationship.

Well, personally if only I had started or learned to communicate with my parents more freely since young, things need not be so awkward sometimes. And let's be friendly parents to our kids next time too.

Apalling

2006-04-29T14:46:00.000+08:00

How can a relationship of a couple which showed the world (and each other) of its then stability, mutual loyalty and unwavering love for each other end so abruptly simply due to the reason that "it is getting boring"??? Even if it was, what a coincident that this happened when the couple was seperated long distance for the first time, after a mere one month?!

IMHO, if only PAS MP Abdul Fatah had rephrased his earlier remarks on divorcees and widows to "some long distance-seperated couples tend to be more gatal while abroad", perhaps there would have been more truth to that than the former.

Breaking long distance relationships---a matter of convenience or lack of commitment?

Of Poverty and Negligence

2006-04-22T20:53:00.000+08:00

This is a real life account of a story related to me by a mother whom I met at the O&G Clinic of Hospital Seremban last Wednesday. It is as true as how the teary mother told me, and I find it deeply disturbing and worthy to be blogged here.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are my sampling days. I travel all the way south to Hospital Seremban at the crack of dawn in search of suitable candidates' blood samples for use of my research project. Wednesdays are booking days (ie. days when mothers come in for their FIRST checkup and also BOOK their slot for delivery at the same hospital), and it also happens to be less chaotic than Thursdays which are purely for antenatal checkups. Last Wednesday as usual, Elena screened through the pile of fresh records to identify mothers that fitted into the criteria of our projects and one by one, I called them into my room by pressing their queue numbers.

After seeing two mothers, I came across this file of a Chinese mother with her Obstetrics history in the red. Well this is not the first time I have come across such a case, and in fact, 8 out of 10 mothers actually have past histories in the red; which means some where along their multiple pregnancies they had had at least one failed one, either a miscarriage or elective abortion etc. In this case, it stated that the 3rd child died after 6 months of gestation, apparently due to strangulation by the umbilical cord. While I am aware that such an incident is possible, it also intrigued me as to how it could have been missed by the mother and doctors whom she met. Cases of umbilical cord strangulations are rare, especially at later gestational ages since the foetus would have already been able to kick around (medical term: quickening) and would definitely show signs of distress if it really had the cord round its neck. Examination by the doctor using ultrasound and some basic experience would be able to detect the problem and can be rectified by emergency operation. Of course if the mother doesn't mistake the sudden extra kicking as simply a stomachache and delay medical attention.

So having greeted the distraught and haggard mother, I proceeded into some history taking in 100% Mandarine. When I started to ask her about her third child, it was when she completely took over the conversation; she broke down in tears and went on telling me the whole story of how she lost the child with a mix of absolute sadness and anger in her voice.

One fine day in her sixth month of pregnancy in the year 2003, she felt that there was an extraordinarily peculiar movement in her "stomach" that persisted since the night before and showed no signs of abatement even on the morning of the day after. She suspected something was not quite right and decided to visit the Klinik Kesihatan in Jelebu where she used to go for her regular checkups. The clinic is the nearest from her place, and it is one hour away by bus not to mention the process of waiting for one to come by. After one hour of standing in a packed bumpy bus, she arrived at the clinic and was seen by a doctor. All the doctor did was just ask a few questions, gave her some pain killers and sent her home, without any physical examination or anything more. Probably in blind obedience or sheer ignorance, she just left the clinic and went back home, with many questions left unanswered. But the pain was still felt. And mind you, her husband happens to be working as a rather odd job worker, and he is rarely at home according to her, let alone accompany her for checkups or listen to her problems.

On the following day, realising that the pain was obviously not cured by the painkillers, she decided to go the extra miles to come to Hospital Seremban for help. Again, she had to endure the rough ride and stuffiness of the old jallopy minibus, this time for more than one hour and with her little son tagging along. After arriving at the hospital, she had to wait another hour before she could actually see a doctor. The doctor examined her this time and wrote her a referral letter to be passed to a particular doctor at the Jelebu Klinik Kesihatan, since it would be a little more convenient for her to go to that clinic. The doctor also did mention to her that there was a possibility that her foetus was actually having a cord around his neck (it was a male foetus by the way) and wrote down his finding/probable diagnosis in the referral letter too. The strange thing here is, why didn't the Seremban Hospital doctor admit her and get the problem diagnosed and rectifed there itself? Wouldn't the small clinic also refer her back to the general hospital for operation? Anyway she was pleased that at least she got a little more information here and hoped that with the letter the doctors at Jelebu will look into her problem more seriously.

On day 3, she went back to the same clinic in Jelebu and showed the letter to a doctor on duty there. To her horror, that particular doctor just quickly brushed her aside and said that no such person exists. When she tried to explain more, the doctor just rudely argued and growled back at her and even told her not to come back to the clinic anymore in future. At this point she was totally stumped; she had been going up and down hoping to find a solution or at least someone who may treat her case seriously but all she got was a dead end. Totally depressed, and not to mention the pain still persisting, she went home and decided to go back to Hospital Seremban the day after to get treatment. It was her only ray of hope left for her baby boy to be saved.

Day 4. The pain ceased in the morning, and soon later her amniotic sac broke. She rushed to Hospital Seremban crying incessantly and doctors there did an emergency operation to take out the already dead foetus. To make things even worse, the nurses tried to make her sign a form of acknowledgement that her foetus was dead without even showing her the foetus. She had to practically cry and beg to get a glimpse of her foetus before it was taken away for good.

Till this day, she holds the doctors responsible for the death of her would-have-been third baby boy. She kept telling me that "It is you all who caused the death of my son. I am also very poor and I can't do anything but to follow the whims of you people". Personally, I felt very ashamed that something like this actually happened; by either laziness or negligence of the S.O.B. doctor in Jelebu, the lack of common sense and consideration of the Seremban doctor and the ultimate is the young Malay doctor whom she met on the second occasion who practically chased her off. Also if only she could afford to have a car, or a house nearer to town or the money to visit a private clinic, there is a higher chance that the foetus could have been saved. To me, it is poverty and the doctors' negligence that killed her son; and along the way had her heart broken to a thousand pieces and made her lose all trust in the healthcare system. Seeing me was a phobia to her, but thankfully I managed to console her and she even agreed to participate in
my project.

I sincerely hope that her third child that she is carrying now will be fine, and that God forbid such irresponsible and idiotic doctors who take advantage of poor, uneducated people to be found on this earth ever.

PC Fair

2006-04-16T17:02:00.000+08:00

It's the time of the year again when people get great bargains for anything PC related-from RAMs to hard disks to printers and even screws for desktops.

Few of us went on Friday, the first day of the fair hoping to get some nice deals. Most people think that on the last day (Sunday) there would be the cheapest deals around, but apparently I was told that by Sunday most stuff would have been sold out or the stock level would be low and hence prices should go UP instead. So anyway we went on Friday, and while my friends bought themselves laptops and PDAs, I got myself a 512MB RAM stick and an 80GB HDD. I swapped my original 30GB HDD with the 80 GB one, and along the way faced all sorts of problems. I had troubles pulling out the delicate film like connector from the back of the hard disc (of which few pins were bent when I forced out the connector eventually), getting the darn thing recognised by my computer, getting it formatted and mainly reinstalling everything back like usual. That explains why I am posting a bit late. Other side effects include having about RM500 less from my piggy bank, and a sore thumb as a result of trying to be forceful yet gentle in fixing and dismantling the old HDD from its casing. Aargh.

Nevertheless I must say that the prices there are really at a bargain. Things that are usually sold for RM400 go for RM340, only during the 3 days. So even if you have to squeeze and push and get lost in the fair (as in my case), the savings are really worth it. But we must also consider the fact that most people driven by the big discounts opportunity, tend to be impulsive in their buying. Some people may never have planned or needed to buy something, but ended up with them eventually just because they are cheaper than outside. Or sometimes, because of lucky draws that come with purchases. Think of someone who already owns a few large capacity thumb drives, but still goes ahead buying several more just for the sake of entering a lucky draw. The biggest prize is a cordless phone, which IMHO costs less than RM200. The cost of the few thumb drives? RM95 multiplied by 3. Most people who genuinely needed to buy one ended up with a SD card look alike chocolate bar, and they go away with a smile; but I can't say the same for those who treated the whole thing like a gamble.

Another thing worth noting is that although all the stuff in PC Fair is generally much cheaper than usual days, the prices between different booths vary quite a bit too. An exact product eg. a 1 GB PenDrive thumb drive may be RM4 cheaper if you walk to the end of the hall, and even if the price is the same, some where else they may be giving a free gift along with the purchase. So really we got to shop around wisely. Incidentally, talking about being impulsive, today I got myself a super duper cheap webcam. It's called XYZ brand and Made in someone's backyard. But I must say that the quality of the video is not too bad, and even has other features like night vision. Apparently, it can also function as a CCTV. "Just imagine you are downloading porn from the net, and you gotta go downstairs for dinner. Your brother finishes his food earlier than you and decides to use the PC. If you set the Alarm function, the moment it detects someone sitting in front of the PC it will start making noise". This was what the promoter said.

Oh and the price for this wonderful device? Only RM 48 plus a free microphone cum headset worth RM 16 on its own. Cool.

So for those who missed out on the deals, there will be another one in August. The fair goes around Malaysia and hopefully they may be at a town near you.

My Poor Kangoo...

2006-04-07T23:51:00.000+08:00

This is not the first time my Kangoo has met such bad luck. Is it really my bad luck (as how Elena's mom think it is) or is it because the Kangoo just attracts so much negative energies?

For those who didn't know, my dad bought the Kangoo in June 2005. And by the end of July, an idiot motorcyclist rammed into the back of my Kangoo which completely shattered its back windscreen, seriously dented the rear tailgate and bumper. The damage? RM 6,000. Lucky for me (and unlucky for the insurance company), I managed to claim the damages in full although the insurance company was really sore about having to pay out 6k after receiving only a month's premium. But the experience was bad enough. I was on my way to Istana Budaya to watch Stomp!, a group of people making music out of trash cans and brooms. It was a few seconds after I stopped the car at a red light that a loud crash came from the back of my Kangoo. Before I realised what actually happened and managed to react, the idiot Malay guy with some cuts just scooted off. I was in total shock immediately after what happened, and I totally wasted my money on the show since my mind was so disturbed. After the show I had to bear all the hassles of making a police report, claims etc., and had to endure scoldings from my father although it wasn't my fault. Also, I had no car for the next two weeks. Till today, I have this phobia whenever a motorcyclist tails too closely behind, for fear they may just ram into my back any moment. And after that incident, I just prayed that I may never have to go through that ordeal again.

In less than a year, another misfortune has occured to my Kangoo; less serious though this time around.

On Wednesday morning, which was the first day of my research sample collecting at Hospital Seremban, my Kangoo was hit by a high-speed stone/pebble (possibly from a stone-laden tipper truck on the opposite direction) which cracked my front windscreen. It was about 7:45am, and the road was fairly clear. I wasn't driving too fast then, and when I was almost reaching the exit, a loud 'SPLAT' was heard on my glass. Contrary to what I always thougt, this time it was no bird dropping or small sand particles hitting. My glass had cracked and I could see a 7 legged spider on my windscreen as a result of being hit by a fairly large stone. I was shocked but somehow still managed to drive on. I have heard of people sharing glass-cracking experiences but this time it was real to me. I was worried of a few things; worried if the crack grew larger, or if the glass may eventually fall on me. I also feared if it rained, because then I can't use my wipers as it will exert pressure on the cracked glass. And after finishing for the day at the hospital, I returned to my car to see that the legs of the spider had grown longer! The car was like an oven having been in the hot sun for hours, and I suppposed that the extreme heat in the car caused air expansion that exerted more pressure on the glass. Anyway, tomorrow it will be off to the Renault workshop for replacement, but it will surely be costing me. For your information, it will cost me RM 1,100 with NO insurance claims. Reason being, my mom did not buy insurance for the windscreens when we bought the car.

AARGH!!! Why are all these happening to me! It really kills my confidence in driving! It makes me think that each time I drive out I am at such high possibility of landing up in accidents, even though they may not be my fault. How the hell can such a large stone be in the air firstly, and worst still, why does it target my car??? I ought to feel lucky that it could have been worst, where the stone could have went through the glass and punctured my heart if it was bigger or faster. But still, with a thousand dollars out of my pocket for something not my fault, I have lots of reasons to feel sad and pissed, as how I am feeling now.

Pray for me and my Kangoo that I may be safe from all untoward incidents wherever I am and whenever I drive.

Below are pictures of the crack taken with my V3i:

Note that the location of the hit is actually pretty much in line with the area overlying my heart. If only the stone was bigger or was travelling faster...

From a seven legged spider with about equally long legs, three of which grew longer as a result of the intense heat. Note the extended crack on the top left corner.

Kangoo support group???

2006-04-02T15:01:00.000+08:00

I drive a Renault Kangoo, thanks and no thanks to my ever frugal yet want-the-most-out-of-money-spent dad. Back in May 2005, we were set on buying a new Waja for me to drive, but the next thing I knew was that I was supposed to go collect a new KANGOO from a nearby showroom. For those who don't quite know how it looks like, it is a shoe-like car/van/MPV with many large glass screens and has conflicting views of its exact identity. Go find one on the road yourself and tell me your comments.

My dad insisted I drove the Kangoo for a very obvious reason: since I drive around much more than he does, I need a safer vehicle. For 70k, it has ABS, EBD and 2 airbags. Its framework is solid and has won this-and-that awards for safety and reliability. But none on its looks and design. Anyway after much persuasion, I have been driving it since day 1 till now to the glares and mockeries of other road users and fellow friends. Adrian says it's "UGLY" while Elena's parents call it a "COFFIN CAR". A doctor in Lumut's naval base was cheeky enough to ask me where was the sticker at the side of my van that says "6 penumpang sahaja". But I guess the good thing about having this vehicle is that 1) People rather not car pool in my car for fear of being seen in it (and I get to end up in their cars out of sympathy for having to otherwise drive alone to a place); 2) It attracts alot of attention from passers-by; 3) I don't see much intelligence in someone stealing a vehicle that has such low popularity and hence low resale value; 4) it can really stuff lots of things.

Amidst all the grouses and criticism about this vehicle, there has apparently been a formation of what they call a "Kangoo Club" with the motto "I Love Kangoo!". It was featured in an advertorial in the Star papers for quite a while and now it can also be seen on posters hung on lamp posts. Apparently they have been hoping to gain support and popularity by leveraging on the success of the Renault F1 team (by the way Alonso of Renault F1 won today's Australian GP again). The strange thing about this club is that they have not mentioned the purpose of this Kangoo owners' club. Is it a forum for discussion on the technicalities of the vehicle? Or is it a group of disgruntled owners like me who were at no choice of choosing a better looking vehicle and so sit together to find rebuttals to criticisms? I see it as nothing more than a Support Group. It serves to assist and support each other as Kangoo owners face the cold, merciless, stereotyped and uniqueness-unappreciative world of drivers out there. It hears grouses and threats of breakups made my girlfriends of Kangoo owners who are guys, as well as hearing sudden excessive offers by guygriends to fetch the female Kangoo owners for outings and such.

Well I say that the society of drivers (at least in Malaysia) are too un-unique friendly. I admit that apart from negative comments, I have also received a small amount of compliments mainly saying that it is a very cute and unique vehicle. It has also been praised for the remarkable quality of its engine and overall performance. Therefore it is my assertion that this club will certainly be a spear-header in making the Kangoo wholly acceptable and shown respect and love by all the drivers on the road. Being a lobbyist for the acceptance of weird looking vehicles amongst stereotyped people, I am going to sign up to be a proud member of the Kangoo Club pretty soon and demand people show Kangoos the respect it deserves. Hmph.

I LOVE KANGOO!!!

Exodus

2006-04-02T12:48:00.000+08:00

For those partnering to UK and Canadian schools of medicine, yesterday marked the beginning of a series of send-offs which will last till end of August. To start the ball rolling, Adeline and gang left for the University of Aberdeen yesterday night in two flights. And taking the lead to be the first to leave for UK, they certainly were sent-off by an enviable number of people in style. Or at least for Adeline.

Most of my batchmates had their parents, BF/GF, couple of relatives and/or friends to see them off, which may total to a maximum of 10 well wishers each. Herbert from Sarawak had NOBODY to see him off; no parents, no friends who came specially to see him off (excluding his batchmates), no one extra. Adeline on the other hand had THREE groups of people/fans/supporters/ce le fes/whatever-you-call-them to see her off!!! Group A had her parents & relatives, Group B had IMU mates and Group C consisted of church mates (who came in at least one bus load). It was really astonishing to see the people coming in throngs to see her off, and she was absolutely busy "entertaining" her friends who were everywhere. All her church mates were at McDs, parents near the escalator while the IMU people just had to run around trying to capture her shadow. And just when we (Hai Liang, Prasad, Deborah and me) met the Gong...

Hai Liang: Hey Adeline! I barely had two sentences with you, you know.
Richard: Ya where have you been?!
Adeline: Oh I am so sorry guys, but really thanks alot for coming.
Hai Liang: It's Ok...
Adeline: (Abrupt) Oh I'm sorry but I gotta go cos my church group are in McDs waiting for me. Better not let them wait...

And she scoots away.

The next time we saw her was when she left McDs for the toilet, and then to the departure escalator. Since she was found to be at McDs for such a long time, and having neglected her IMU juniors who came SPECIALLY to see her off, they have now decided to call the Gongster... McGONG. No hard feelings Adeline, we understand the crowd was just too much for you to handle.

***

Enough of gossiping about Adeline. After Aberdeen, it will be time for those heading for Canada to leave in May, followed by the remaining bulk of UK/Ireland people throughout August. Apart from all the travelling to and from KLIA (and gossiping bout McGong), I think I can expect to see more tears, hugs and kisses in these coming months. Not only me seeing people getting emotional, but perhaps experiencing it myself too. So far I must say that I haven't been really emotional when friends or relatives of mine left in the past. But this time around I think I really will feel the vacuum when my close friends leave. Yesterday of all who left, I think the people I felt sad most are for people like Siddharth and in all honesty, McGong. Sidd has been a close friend of mine since 2001 where we met in Taylor's, sat together and traded foreign currencies together. McGong on the other hand was our CG mommy, one of my closest friends and by far one of the most intelligent girl I have known. Her thoughts are profound, conservative yet at the cutting edge of the avantgarde at times. She is one who I can talk with about all sorts of things from religion to politics, and she really does provide you with insightful and out-of-the-box ideas. But for now I think there won't be a McGong to talk to much...

Other friends who I will be missing are people like Jody whom I have known for the past 9 years, Grace who have always been a paragon to Elena and I, Yee Pei for the times we debated and for the times we just talked nonsense, and a few more people. It's just these few people that make a difference in your lives, regardless of the fact that my batch may consist of well over 180 people. Sometimes although they may not be physically present next to you, the fact that they have left for "somewhere far" and that we see no prospect of meeting up in the near future will really make me miss them. Well at least for consolation, I have 13 other friends who will be with me at Queensland; and more importantly, there is Elena around. But I suppose I would have preferred if ALL of us, the whole batch or at least the people close to us, were able to study our clinical years together. Wouldn't it be nice? Then again, it's easier said than done.

For now I think the best thing to do is to be close to one another in the remaining time that we all have together and try to make the best out of it. The next time that we may meet in a big group would most probably be for someone's wedding. I can't think of another occasion where we can all meet for a common purpose. And by the way, I realised that by the time the Queensland people leave in January, there will be no other friends left to see us off. Of course we have the Seremban people around, and we might as well have to depend on them to see us off. We'll see.

For those who have left, good luck and all the best in your future studies. May those who are still single and maybe gorgeous and available, successfully find the love of your lives in UK or wherever you may go.

Rags to Riches?

2006-03-26T16:22:00.000+08:00

I have been observing that most people that come from rich families more often than not tend to be rich themselves too later on. Or at least, they seem very promising to be successful based on their current achievements.

Take for example, a guy whose parents are both doctors is brought up in a nice family; with maids to handle the chores and to ensure he is well fed, lots of toys to play with when he is young, air-conditioned study rooms, home tutors, frequent overseas holidays, shelves full of books and nothing less than education at private institutions. The environment he lives in is perfect for character building. It is one that is conducive for learning, growing and covers all the necessities of nurturing a so-called role model kid. Of course with a little discipline and dinner table manners instilled to the child by the parents, the child would be a potential success; in scoring maximum As in his SPM, or in becoming a person his/her friends would admire and sing praises to. Furthermore, if I were to just say all these in the context of a family where both parents are doctors, you can very much expect the children to be easily, as intelligent and successful or exceeding that of their parents. When the parents are doctors, most of their children get pretty much influenced to become one too. They achieve the good results as a result of the conducive environment they live in, get the PSD scholarship, and get to go to England to study medicine. Never mind the fact that their parents could have easily been able to pay for their course in full.

And when the children pass out along with the other doctors, they seem to get a higher rating by the senior doctors. This is true due to recommendations given by their parents or by their parents' colleagues, or simply by their potentials seen during the days when they were doing attachments at private specialist hospitals. This is true even so in terms of applications for a post with limited vacancies. A doctor who comes from a family of doctors tend to find their way around EASIER than those whose entire clan doesn't even have a veterinarian.

Scholarships awarded based on sole merit compounds this fact, although I know many may argue with me against it. Scholarships given on sole merit WITHOUT taking into consideration the family's background and financial capabilities are really depriving the poorer/middle class people who most of the time, are not the highest achievers. Although the poorer/middle class people have put in efforts to the best of their abilities, it may just be inadequate in comparison to those who did better as a result of the better background and environment they were from. I do not discount the fact that top SPM scorers in recent years are not those from elite backgrounds, and I salute them for their achievements. But apart from them, controversies arise in many occasions that are not seen in the newspapers. What would you think when a 10 A1 scorer whose father is a Datuk of a public-listed company gets a full scholarship to UK for medicine while a son of a typist at a government Jabatan fails to get even a twinning medical programme just because he got 9A1s and 1A2? This happens in real life, believe me or not.

So in essence, it seems that the rich would just get richer, while the poor will get poorer. Or if they wanted to break loose from the so-called generational curse of poverty or mediocrity, they have to really work hard to turn their rags into riches. And to these people who are currently working hard in their bid to challenge this adversity and achieve their fair share of success, i truly respect you.

Simple vs. Profound

2006-03-25T13:54:00.000+08:00

It hasn't been the first time today that I realised my posts in my blog are rather... simple. Or at least, not as profound as those found on Adeline, Grace or Sheena's blog. Is this supposed to be a good thing or not? Or is it just a matter of variety?

I admire Adeline's posts the most; not only because of the good grammar and vocabulary, but the profound nature of her delivery of thoughts and ideas into words. Sheena also never fails to be articulate in blogging/describing about any thing that comes into her mind, be it about Sarawak laksa or simply the process of pulling ticks out of armpit hair (joking). Grace on the other hand exudes a subtly gentle yet impactful energy in her writings, evident of the fact she is a well-read person. Also not to forget someone from the male species, Ken Jay joins the pact of profound and articulate writers/bloggers with his wits, sarcasm and other capabilities seen in his capacity as resident blogger of M203's blog.

Well at the end of the day, I suppose that apart from the fact that these serve as providing variety to the various types of personalities, more importantly it shows the extent of READING that they must have undertaken all the years. In fact, I must say that if there was only one thing that they had in common, it would be the fact that they all love reading.

I love Doraemon comics, but Stephen King, David Eddings or Clive Barker I don't think so. Never mind the fact they actually stimulate my creative thinking and sharpen my writing and descriptive skills.

But what exactly do I read?

As some of you may know, I am more of a factual person than one with much preferences for fictions, fantasies and novels. I read more real life stories than those genres, but since we do not discuss about Hamas or Warren Buffett's fortune story always, I guess posts which mainly revolve around my life and experiences will remain SIMPLE, free of any possible attempts at sarcasm or profoundness (such word?) .

I hereby rate my blog...

Sesuai untuk bacaan umum.
(Suitable for general reading)

To go or not to go...

2006-03-25T01:46:00.000+08:00

Yee Pei told us that Sheena and her have pretty much decided to go to Manila for the 2nd Asian Universities Debating Competition in May yesterday, and was nice enough to tell Elena and I that she has arranged fundings for us to join in too. Now Elena is so enthusiastic about going to Phillipines for the competition, never mind the fact that she and I would most probably be in what we call a Bin Team. She has been bugging me to join her and the rest to Manila, but I have many doubts and worries about going for this. Firstly, we have not debated or practiced for a long, long time. Heck, I hardly even have time to read any news in the papers or in bbc.co.uk nowadays because I am just too busy with my course. So apart from practically putting to waste IMU's money on our registration fees for the competition, we are really going to be making a fool out of ourselves. Elena and I are not THAT popular like Sheena in the debating scene, but people still recognise us. It would be shameful if people would to say: "Aren't they the IMU debaters who have been around like for many years? They haven't progressed much, have they? Never did see any significant achievements by them". By the way, we were at the first AUDC in Singapore last year too.

Secondly, is The Philllipines safe at the moment? I am not too sure. Although it is not by anyway a huge target for bombings, I am more concerned of its internal problems ie. the People's Power to oust the stubborn headed and tak-tau-malu Madam President. What if coincidentally there was a big riot going on and Emergency Rule was declared again? What if we get mistaken for protesters while we go out to Makati for shopping and riots are happening? Maybe I am thinking too much.

Thirdly, we will be starting our sample collections for our research in April. It would require us to travel to Seremban and Bukit Jalil back and forth every Wednesday and Thursday to collect and analyse samples. If both of us were to go to Manila, no one will bring the blood samples back to the lab in IMU, let alone process and store them properly. Although it is just one week that we will be away, our act of irresponsibility may land us in the bad books of the Seremban doctors which may mean a lack of cooperation by them in future. Moreover, we may miss out on some good samples which are essential in producing good results for our paper. And Elena is thinking of winning the Nobel prize. Sheesh.

But the only incentive I see to this is, when else can I get a chance to be sponsored by Jewish IMU for an international event?It will be a nice holiday and exposure for me, as I have never been there before. And if I really can form a no-stress, no-expectations, anything goes Bin Team, I think it would be really fun. Unlike the last AUDC where my team was really stressed not only by the trainings but also by Sheena and co., I would love it if this time around things are more at our own pace. See how things go.

On another note, Adeline aka Gongster will be leaving soon. In fact, on April 1st. Debaters will be having a BBQ for her at Deborah's place tonight and there will also be another get together this coming Friday. Looks like one by one, they are all going off. I wish I have farewells by my friends before I go to Australia next January too... But they will be all gone by then. Oh well people gotta move on I suppose.

Convocation is on 27th May, for IMU people who do not know this yet. You guys should be getting the invitations soon. Really looking forward to it, though I I would be just another head amongst hundreds of other students graduating as Doctors. We have no square hats, but we do have gowns to put on though. Apart from the sole gold medal winner, I will be just another ordinary student making up the numbers. Haha. I wonder if there are any other special prizes for Dean's list students or for other categories. Really can't expect much from IMU's Jewishness.

Oh and hopefully if the convocation date falls within the dates when we are supposed to be in Manila, then it would be a definite no go.

Change of Strategy

2006-03-23T14:34:00.000+08:00

I think I should stop trying to aim for long posts as the thought of blogging for hours to produce just one post is too time consuming, considering my current state of business. Therefore, from now on I will be posting in installments, ie. many SHORT posts. To start the ball rolling, this will be a short post indeed.

A quick update...

Today's presentation (Defence of Research Protocol) concludes the series of vetting by IMU for our research projects. Unlike the Research Committee and Ethics Committee meetings, today's presentation was done by ME, and I was GRADED for it. But I must say that I did well in it, at least by my own judgement of my own presentation. There were two examiners saying "EXCELLENT" work, and another saying that my work/presentation is at par with a Master's degree work. After the hard work and hours spent on my PowerPoint, I would still have been so relieved that it's over now, regardless of the comments I got. Oh and did I mention that I was the first presenter? It made me really sleepless yesterday night. Well now I am officially starting my research!

And to all the folks out there who have been missing my posts so badly, I assure you that I will try my best to keep my posts up as frequently as possible, albeit a little shorter from now on.

So stay tuned!

Exhausted...

2006-03-04T00:26:00.000+08:00

Yet another week has passed and it's bout time I publish another once weekly post.

I'm back home in PJ after completing the 2nd week of my year long BMed Sci course. And I must say I really am worn by the whole research thing. But mind you, I have NOT even started any work on my research project as it has not passed thru the 3 vetting committees yet. Well the reason is that unlike MOST of my other friends (or in fact ALL of them), Elena and I have to do our own research proposals from scratch. Our supervisors (Dr. Vishna and Prof. JPJ) are not those who spoon-feed us; they think that by us doing the whole thing it will give us a better understanding of the entire project besides teaching us to be responsible over our own work. So both of us have been spending hours in the Post-Grad room in IMU typing and retyping our proposal so as to be acceptable to the supervisors in terms of grammar, language and usage of scientific terms. This is also not to mention the hours spent perusing various scientific journals to learn up more about our topics. We do all these while our friends spend their time at Fitness First centers trying to build muscles or walk around malls with their partners. Sigh...

But in times when I am free, especially on occasional night times, I get to indulge in mahjong sessions with Adrian and Yee Pei for hours. And I must say that this is the ONLY joy I get out of all my stress and it really is fun. Was looking forward to movies but since the petrol prices has gone up by 20% I guess I will be spending more time indoors than going out. And by the way, for those who did not know this, RAJINDER aka Techycardia has joined in the BMed Sci program to be the 9th student in this little fraternity! He was supposed to have started his Phase 2 at Seremban in Monday but he ditched it and instead appealed to join the BMed progam. Well I guess doing research sometime along our path as medical professionals is very essential as this field gets much more competitive in future asides from helping us being recognised as an outstanding doctor. Publish or Perish is what they say in the West, where old school medical personnel who do not get involved in any form of research will eventually find themselves left out in terms of recognition, promotion and competency. So blessing or not, I feel proud to be able to be in a real research with a hope of contributing to mankind and my country now. For now I just aspire to publish a good paper and have it in the Malaysian Medical Journal or at the international level hopefully.

The coming week is going to be a busier week, with presentations to be prepared, proposals to be defended and more mahjong! And sorry if my posts are all revolving around my course; it just shows how much time of my life I am spending on it and not doing anything much other than that. Have a great week ahead to all my fellow friends and readers and God bless all of you. Stay tuned guys.

One week later

2006-02-25T00:16:00.000+08:00

Hi guys I'm back.

Unsurprisingly, many of you would think that the BMedSci course that I started this week has taken its toll on my blogging. Indeed, it has. But better late than never, I am sadly informing all of you that I won't be posting at every 2 day intervals due to the fact that I just don't have the time to do so while back in uni and also because the PCs available in IMU's postgrad room where I am based in are too slow and too few. Nevertheless after me complaining to the Dean about the too few and too slow PCs, hopefully I will soon be able to post more regularly. Of course if I am free to post in the first place.

Anyhow, now I am back home in PJ and allow me to update you on the little events that have taken place in my life for the past week.

Eight of us: Elena, me, Daniel, Adrian, Linda, Ying Wei, TJ and Kasemsuk are now officially RESEARCHERS; voyagers of science, servants to mankind. Each of us are now involved in different research projects ranging from finding the cure for cancer using some algae to preventing pregnancy-caused high blood pressure. Forget all the hype and oohs and aahs, it basically isn't all that easy. In fact, it is so tedious and meticulous that it really irks me sometimes. For the next few weeks our timetable may seem relax, with just 2 hour per day for lectures. But once our research proposals are approved by three different committees, we will be really busy collecting samples from all over and locking ourselves in the lab day and night to see how little molecules float around and fight with each other.

Speaking of being meticulous, each of our research proposals have to be vetted by three different committees before we can start work on the projects. We must pass the IMU's Research Committee which basically sees whether money is worth being spent on our individual projects or not, the BMedSci Committee which looks into ethical issues including wanting to know how lab rats will be killed and how patients are convinced into giving up a tiny bit of their tissue, and finally a so-called Defence of Research Protocol meeting which is basically an interrogation session where you present your proposal to a top brass committee consisting of IMU's Chairman, senior consultants etc. and they throw all sorts of questions at you regarding the feasibility of the proposals. Having passed all these, then we will be given RM20,000 each and a official permission to commence our projects. Incidentally, the RM20,000 is actually from our own pockets. We pay 30k for this one year course and of which 20k is our research grant. Essentially, as how Prof. Mak aka Parasite King puts it, "IMU only makes a MEAGRE 10k from each of you which IMHO is just or barely enough to cover the costs of the lab equipment and overheads. So 30k is actually quite cheap."

Like speak to the hand, PK. *roll eyes*

I am currently spending my time doing lots and lots of journal reading on my research topic which is about finding certain biochemical markers in a mother's blood and urine which may be able to predict whether she will suffer from pregnancy-caused high blood pressure or not. For readers who are more science-savvy, the official title is: "Use and detection of maternal serum soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase sFlt1 and urinary Placenta Growth Factor PlGF in third trimester of pregnancy in predicting pregnancy induced hypertension/preeclampsia". Other more fancy research topics include TJ's one which involves "stunning" lab rats by simply grabbing the rat's tail and hitting its head hard on the table and then slicing up its belly to harvest a small strand of artery to be used in an experiment for Gingko biloba. All research topics are actually very interesting in their own right but they differ in the method of research and sample obtaining. Also, very few researches have been done in the areas where we are venturing in and not only will our works be significantly contributory to the scientific world, but will be of much importance to the local Asian/Malaysian context. By the way, if we so happen to come up with such a Nobel-winning research finding that our project is sought after for millions of dollars, IMU comes in to take HALF of our earnings as royalty. Not so glamorous finding a cure for AIDS after all.

Apart from all the academic stuff, life has been mundane, slow and less exciting compared to the days when we were studying together through the semesters. Lectures are with a few friends at weird times of the day in a small tiny PBL room and before and after lectures time is spent on reading, discussing and thinking. Occasionally we do go out for a movie, or even catch a play like the Actorlympics at Bangsar's Actor's Studio. But that's as far as fun goes. IMU is now a dark cave with no sunlight at all seen when you are in the building owing to the massive renovation works going on. Juniors in silly costumes make up most of the population and noise amidst highly stacked scaffoldings and the persistent humming and rumbling sounds. Almost at every corner you see bins which collect water that drips from leaky ceilings and sawdust covers the floor. IMU is sad. Tell me why am I still farting around in IMU again?

Anyway hopefully life will be more interesting next week with more upbeat activities planned. I will be remembering to bring my mahjong set to keep us occupied and we are also planning for a series of karaoke and movie outings. Seriously, research is not very fun. Interesting but not something I can stand doing for the rest of my life. Every thing you write or quote must be backed up by references or evidence and there is no room for doing something based on individual opinions or assumptions. I really admire how the other postgrad students can actually be so enthusiastic doing research till their doctorate levels.

I just gotta do my best for my project and hopefully get a Second Class Upper or better and I am going to continue my journey towards being a practicing clinical doctor. But let's see how the real thing is when I start my project later.

Back to good ol' days.

2006-02-18T21:55:00.000+08:00

I'm going back to school officially as a student (again) on Monday. And I am happy about it.

Unlike previous years in IMU and also in school where I used to look forward to going back to school for the sake of meeting up with old friends, this time I am looking forward to the course itself, and also seeing my friends again not to mention. I will start my BMedSci course which is basically about a group of 8 former batchmates getting together to do research work in a lab previously unfamiliar to them. There will be NO more library study visits I must say, but this is not to say we have nothing to study, but rather we will be having our own assigned cubicles in a seperate room to study/bum/play/surf net. Sounds cool right? But contrary to what most people think (including Daniel and Elena), this course isn't a one year break with a BMedSci title to make us sound hardworking. The truth is according to seniors who are halfway in it, this course is a time where we really put to use our critical and creative skills acquired since secondary school days where they used to exhort this KBKK or Kemahiran Berfikir secara Kritis dan Kreatif. True to its name, even if we should get a negative finding, we are supposed to still be able to critically appraise all data and information we obtained through our own trials and publish them in a typical journal-like format, with graphs and what-nots. Because according to Dr. Vishna, a negative result is still a result and by getting one it does not prevent a PhD student from getting her due recognition after years of working on a negative result research. It's the way you think, the deep intellectual analyses and multi-faceted points of view of a subject that determines if a student gets a First Class Honours or a Second Lower, also in the same way as how some publications land in the Jurnal Diraja Seremban or British Medical Journal.

Not only is this course laborious in terms of brain usage, but it will also require us to work at all sorts of odd times. Imagine going back to the lab at 10pm just to see if the bacteria you cultured at 5pm has produced toxins or not. Or maybe having to go to Seremban Hospital at 3 am to obtain fresh samples of a placenta which was discharged by a mother with pre-ecclampsia. Well these are just the few examples of the unusual routines/timings that we will have to work at. The fun thing about this course is most likely to be the fact that we do not have so heavy lectures everyday that require us to hide in the library after dinner. Also having only 8 of us means we will have more time for each other and forge closer ties; we are after all going to be together in Queensland and will be graduating together. Apart from the 6, the 2 more students from my batch who are doing this course but not going to Queensland is non other than TJ and Kasemsuk. They just love BMed. Other friends from our batch who are working are San San, Ai Ling, Yee Pei and Yean Koon. It's gonna be a mini M203 so it won't be so boring I guess.

Among the activities that I have planned to be done during the BMed are:

1. Visit Singapore for a day trip.
2. Visit Pulau Ketam for wonderful Fried Oysters.
3. Play mahjong with friends every night.
4. Watch movies and have more outings with friends.
5. Revise my Sem 1-5 notes.
6. Exercise more often.
7. Sing at Karaokes more often.
8. Find a CG and join in.

Oh well let's hope I can juggle my time well enough to do all these.

On another note, today I went back to my apartment to clean up my room and while I was waiting for a lift at the lobby I noticed that there were just so many new students who have come with their parents in fully-loaded vehicles. These are unmistakenably JUNIORS! Young upstarts who haven't even spend one hour in the library! So there were bags, new tables, new chairs, TV sets etc. And as I cramped into a lift with the stuff and the new students, it just so reminded me of how I used to be in their positions once too. An as I stepped out of the lift of B2 15th Floor, I realised that there isn't any familiar people left on the opposite extreme of my unit where Sheena and Co used to be. I looked at the block opposite mine and instead of normally seeing Yee Pei in her short pants, I now see Daniel laughing away. Time has passed so quickly and now I find that I have grown out from being a junior, passed the rank and file semesters at IMU and I'm now with just a few familiar people in a sea of unknowns. Ah how I miss those days, the days when we studied together and had fun together.

Well I will certainly appreciate the little fellowship that we will have together in Bmed, in a familiar place called IMU which is now nothing more than a war-zone lookalike.

I miss all my friends...

Happy Belated Valentine's Day.

2006-02-16T16:46:00.000+08:00

Today may be the 16th, but the air of love still lingers around me so thickly I can clearly smell it. To all readers out there, be it singles or couples, divorcees or spinsters, I wish all of you a very Happy Belated Valentine's Day. May God bless you with love, love and more love with every living being on this planet.

To those who are wondering why I am posting this a bit late (and to foul-mouthed, bad-hearted, morbid readers who thinks this blog is dead as well), the reason is because for whatever reason, the Blogger website was down the whole day on the 14th of February! I'm honest! I tried logging in in the morning and in the afternoon but the page just couldn't load up. Someone who also experienced the same thing please put a comment to prove it.

Secondly, it's Valentine's Day for heaven's sake. You guys don't expect me to sacrifice my day just so that I keep up my 2-day-a-post consistency, do you? In any case I find that my readers have been spoilt by my too frequent, too long and too consistent postings that it backfires on me (Come on la, most blogs do not have new posts in every two days ok?). As for yesterday, the Blogger site was back up. But I must admit that it was my fault for being too engrossed in my new found love that I kept blogging out of my mind.

But better late than never, I am back.

Since we are in Valentine's mood, allow me to pay tribute to a very special loved one of mine...

She is beautiful beyond compare;
Fair and bright, on the outside and inside;
Small and slim, no one fails to notice her;
Spread her open, and you notice a glistening shine coming into sight;
She is not all beauty, but with brains to go with;
Feel her, touch her, your senses will be aroused;
Open her, press her, and music comes out of her little mouth;
Oh such a cutie pie you are to me;
And I wish I may have you for the rest of my life;
To sleep with, to play with and to often bring me to the other world.

Mr. Chair, Members of this august house. It is my pleasure to show you a very special loved one of mine, the one who has given me a new meaning to life. Put your hands together to welcome...

MY BRAND NEW MOTOROLA RAZR V3i !!!
(Clap clap clap clap clap......!)

Yes I have just bought my brand new V3i on the 14th of February which is also Valentine's Day. And I actually spent the whole of yesterday playing around with my new found love hence I didn't blog yesterday. I must say that having it in your hands and playing with it personally is actually far more orgasmic than seeing it on websites. And whatever I wrote above just so aptly describes it. It is a head-turner, a beauty, an engineering marvel and a fashion icon both in one.
Open the phone and you see a bright shiny nickel-copper alloy keypad just begging to be pressed. Hit the music button and you play great sounding tunes with the built in iTunes software, the same one found on iPods. Being made of aircraft-grade anodised aluminium, it's surface is so cool and nice to feel against the skin. All in all, I would say describing the wonders of this phone is akin to describing a beautiful, sexy, horny and brainy girl.

And the best part is, I managed to get my ORIGINAL set at a bargain price, thanks to my mom who knocked the price so low that the boss almost chased us away. While most shops sell it for nothing less than RM1,440 as far as I know, I got it for RM1,380. Don't be mistaken; I get the same accessories at this price as those paying higher prices elsewhere. Mine is Made in Singapore with a one year warranty by Motorola Malaysia, and there are no items less in my package. For those interested in buying one at this price, I can show you which shop to go to.

But apart from all the hype, there is one glaring problem that I am facing. I am not used to Motorola phones. In fact, I buying a Motorola phone after owning 5 Nokia phones really come as a surprise in the same fact as how I am now a blogger who once used to detest blogging. The User Interface as I already knew is really un-user friendly, and it does not accept any ordinary downloaded themes/screen savers/skins. I suppose maybe this model is still new and they yet to come up with compatible downloads. Other unfamiliarities are the absence of permanent report delivery after sending messages, the Select and Back keys opposite than that in all Nokia phones, a whole new messaging input system called iTap instead of good ol' T9 (by Tegic) employed by Nokia and Sony Ericsson, a 3-bar battery indicator compared to the 4 or 8 bar ones found in Nokias, a kuchi-rat mini USB port for both charging and synching and so on. Apart from these that I still lack experience in, the V3i is a superb phone that does all it promises to do. The 1.23 Megapixel camera is not equivalent to the N90 or K750 but it takes decent shots with exposure control, white balance and 8X zoom! Audio from the little speaker behind the phone is also good with no cracking heard at higher volumes. Almost everything on this phone can be personalized; you can adjust the screen brightness, menu layout, speed dials, voice commands etc. In short, I love this phone. Feel free to ask me anything about it.

On another note, my Valentine's was made even more significant this time with me going over to my GF's place to have a nice home dinner with her and family. Unlike the previous 3 celebrations that we had at posh restaurants, this time the environment and ambience was different. It was more of a family affair, where we had to work together to prepare our food. We had a wonderful pizza by Elena's mom, fried chicken by her grandma, fries by Elena, red bean soup also by her mom, fresh vegetables by her maid, longan water by her sister and tomato ketchup by me. No, I grated the cheese and sliced the pineapples for the pizza too. It was economical, fun, delicious and most importantly, great in terms of family bonding. Oh and also not succumbing to the over-commercialisation of Valentine's Day.

In as much as I paid tribute to my V3i, I think it is also fair for me to acknowledge my dear GF who has been with me for the past 3 years come this 26^th of March. She has played a very special role in my life; as someone who balances out my life, and one who compliments my shortfalls. In times when I was overly stressed out in my studies, she would show me comics and tell me stories to help me relax. When I was frustrated and sad, she is the one who would cheer me up. When I lose my way trying to go to Mid Valley from Vista, she is the one who will draw maps and direct me there. When I was sick at home, she is the one who will buy food and take care of me. And after almost 3 years together and counting, I must say that she has been a wonderful GF to me in her every right. We had and still have our fair share of arguments and fights, but it is through all these times that we sort out differences and learn to understand each other better. And through thick and thin, we managed to sail through together in our journeys and I pray that God bless us always in the future.

Thank you, Elena for being my wonderful GF.

A Little Bit of Everything.

2006-02-12T14:57:00.000+08:00

This post is gonna be a post that covers many little things which on its own would be too short to qualify as a solitary post. And no, this is NOT a desperate attempt to post something up in my blog to maintain my 2-day-a-post consistency. At least I don't blog about my experiences killing cockroaches ok! *takes cover from YP's missiles*

According to Coach aka MTI (Miri Treehouse Inhabitant), I must tell what I'm gonna talk about, talk about it and tell what I have just said. So these will be what I'm gonna talk about in this post:

1. YP vs. YkK vs. Speaker (this is not about wrestling);
2. Rusty brains and how to get it tip top again;
3. Convo mag misprints;
4. My blogging future;
5. Valentine's Day.

Issue #1: On getting paid, not getting paid and having to pay.

After most people read my post that said Jody will be getting paid as a research assistant as how YkK, San San and Ai Ling are, I have gotten 2 feedbacks so far:

1. Richard, why are you PAYING RM 30k while others are BEING PAID to do similar stuff?
2. Why they get paid while I don't get paid wan???

The answer to the former question is simple: I am getting a BMedSci degree at the end of one year while they only get to swank around with the title "Research Ass." in their CVs. If that's not convincing enough, dig this: I can only afford Queensland, and to get there, I must have a first degree of which paying to do BMed in IMU is THE only way. Therefore, screwing BMed and taking up the RM50-a-day job as Research Ass and eventually having to go to a more expensive uni is NOT an option at all for me. The people who are paid now are more talkative because they are all on scholarship and they are just earning extra pocket money AT THEIR LEISURE, WITHOUT PRESSURE, WITH PLEASURE probably for a trip around Europe during holidays or something. On the other hand BMed people gotta slog their ass out for the degree just as their parents have to in forking out the cash. Apart from those who did this for the love of research, is it a curse to be poor?

In answering the latter question: Not all lecturers pay students to work for them. You must be hired by someone in position to disburse funds from the research grant, namely Prof. Mak (Parasite King) or maybe Prof. Ong. Dr. Vishna DOES NOT pay students for helping her with her projects because she is neither a person in high enough authority nor is she willing to dig into her pocket to pay you for breeding rabbits. It's purely on a I-wanna-learn-stuff-only basis of being hired under her.

Issue #2: On forgetting what we have learned in the past 2.5 years.

Apart from those who have already been transferred to PMS, can I have a show of hands of those who have been revising our past lecture notes?

I speak for myself, and it's a big fat NO.

I don't say this out of kiasu-ness nor am I a lifetime Library Demi-God, but the fact is we will really be squeezing our brains when we are at our respective PMSs if we don't act to refresh and reinforce our hard-learned knowledge anytime soon. Well but I also wouldn't expect most people to lug 2.5 years of notes back into library cubicles and start revising them alongside unfamiliar juniors. The fact remains that basic sciences learned throughout our Phase 1 is still the core of all future clinical practices and it's inescapable that we will need to recall them time and time again in exams and in our practice.

I strongly support Yippie!'s suggestion to start some kind of study/support/play-cum-study/whatever-you-call-it group to at least get us to sit down and discuss or study together, lest we suffer and be despised when we get overseas.

Let's call this club KBSR. Not Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah, but Kelab Belajar Sesama Richard. I propose I be the President and life-time member while Yippie! can be the Vice or something. Hear hear!

Issue #3: On ME being old???

The Convo mag is out. And to those who haven't got it yet, go get it soon. And BE HONEST! DO NOT TAKE IF YOU STINGY PIG DID NOT PAY FOR ONE!!!

It's called M203, Our Story. Overall as a critic, I would say it was a commendable job; heck of course since I was in the committee. But to be fair, allow me to point out MY STORY on several problems I have with the magazine.

Firstly, I find that the thin film that coats the outer hard cover of the mag tends to bubble up after repeated opening and closing of the book. This is especially obvious at the vertical groove next to the spine. Also after a few knocks against the table, it bubbles too. I hope the film doesn't bubble up so badly that it begins to peel like a psoriasis sufferer.

Second and the most intolerable flaw...

SINCE WHEN WAS I BORN IN 1983??? I am a rat, no ordinary rat, but a GOLDEN rat, ie born in 1984 and am damn proud of it. I really am disappointed to be in the league of the 83s as I am not as old as I really am. But guess nothing can really be done about it. I wonder who did my profile anyway...

Third problem. I find that pictures of me are very scarcely found in the whole magazine. I mean I am sure I am not so anti-social nor am I Mr. MIA to be so barely seen in the magazine. If they needed pictures of me, I'm sure they knew where to find me. I am also sure that I have been involved in many events to get photos with me inside in the mag. Examples:

-I was in CF camp organizing committee but I don't see myself in any photos

-I was with the debaters for the Red Box Karaoke outing but I don't see myself in any photos.

-I was in the front in all exams but I don't see myself in any photos.

-I was in Orientation M204 committee but I don't see myself in any photos.

-I was in KKB and while my friends' photos are in the mag, I don't see myself in any photos.

Ok I will stop sounding like a megalomaniac and admit probably I am not good looking enough to be worthy of having my photo being published.

Ps. But did you guys notice how cute Elena turned out to be in almost all pics with her?

Issue #4: On my blog dying? Like speak to the hand!

Coach commented on how she feels that my blog will "begin to come to an end with the start of my Bmed" on the 10^th of February recently. It played on my mind for a while thinking of the future of my still virgin blog; will I really lose interest with the start of the Bmed, or will it also eventually die later, or will it continue to go on even when I have grand-children? The fact is, I can't predict the future and neither can I be sure if I should discover another more interesting past-time that brings me away from blogging. But as it is, I am committed to bringing you the latest update in thoughts, feelings, stories, criticisms, reviews and gossips of mine. And although I concede the fact that I will be less regularly putting up posts when my busy schedule starts, I am adamant that I will still blog albeit at a slower pace. This does not mean it has died alright.

So continue to give me your support by visiting my blog more often AND leaving comments/tags for encouragement. Your visits are most appreciated.

Issue #5: On Valentine's ideas (and stupid ones).

Yes, the Day of Celebration of Love is round the corner; Tuesday as a matter of fact. Flip the Star papers and at every corner you will see all sorts of ads and articles pertaining to Valentine's. You see mainly advertisements by restaurants or hotels having all sorts of dining packages at all sorts of prices, not to mention those by jewelers and florists also trying to capitalize on naive guys and super manja girls. Basically don't get me wrong. I would definitely love to give my dear Elena the finest dinners, gifts and flowers, but the way the commercialization (and gullible people) is going year after year really undermines the whole purpose of this day. Take for eg.:

Promoter: "Sir, sir take a look at our beautiful flowers here, suitable for your beautiful girlfriend la."

Manja girl: "Wah so nice la! I want! I want!"

Promoter: "Ya lor you so pretty, must get pretty flowers to match ma! I'm sure your boyfriend so love you sure buy for you wan lor, hor..."(looking at the Naive Guy)

Naive Guy: "Dear you choose which flower you wan I buy for you. No problem."

Promoter: "Leng lui (pretty girl) ar, why not you go in our refrigerator and see our flowers? Got more nice wan there in bow-kays wor."

Naive Guy: "You choose from here la, quite nice oso ma!"

Promoter: "The ones inside more nice! Got big ribbon and wrap nice nice some more! Aiya sir, you love her must buy big bow-kay only can (Canto=match) ma. Just now also got one couple by one bow-kay of roses and the girl so happy. Come come I show you..."

Manja Girl: (irritated) "So are you going to buy for me?"

Naive Guy: (Like a dog with tail between legs) "Sure, let's go see."

And so under pressure from the Manja Girl and the sign in front of the fridge that wrote "Flowers to make your loved one feel loved", Naive Guy ended up with indeed a bow-kay of flowers costing RM180 excluding the wrapping.

This is what REALLY happened while I only bought a few roses for a girl I love as much as Naive Guy did. So to generalize, this is what usually happens:

Skimming Promoters + Heart stirring ads + Naive Guys + Manja Girls = Valentine's Day.

What a shame indeed.

Another stupid advertisement came out in today's Sunday Star---giving your loved one a REAL Shih-Tzu dog in a hand-knitted basket adorned with ribbons and look-goodies at a whopping price of RM2k. If Big Siaw called his blog absolute nonsense, this would be even more an absolute nonsense. So if next year is the year of the Pig, would Valentine's be about giving your loved ones Piglets in baskets? Since the shop owner said "chocolates and roses are losing its appeal to the young and they want newer ideas". Or how about little rats or monkeys in baskets? No wonder SPCA says they foresee a substantial increase in dog-dumping after the year of the Dog ends.

Call me old-fashioned but I still stick to the conventionals and believe loving somebody isn't all about doing the most magnificent and succumbing to the equation above on Valentine's day. This day is merely a flagship of your relationship and of course it means doing something out of the ordinary but not to any extremes, IMHO. It can even be done on some other day other than the 14^th of February. What I do approve are like flowers, nice dinners, gifts and maybe lingerie too (Hey red lingerie sales are going up these days). Or maybe a nice hug and movie with Haagen-Daz would also pretty much make up. It's the heart that counts, don't you think?

And so, having said what I wanted to say, allow me to tell you what I have just said. I have talked on 5 issues; on the research issue, studying before PMS, problems with the convo mag, my dying blog and about Valentine's.

With that, IMU 2 is proud to rest its case today. EEEEEEEEEAAAAARR EEEAARRR!

Life in Slow-mo.

2006-02-10T15:51:00.000+08:00

My victorious comrades in M2o3 completed and passed Semester 5 with flying colours.

Yes, we made it through four days of hell between 12 December to 15 December sitting for exams and endured another 8 days of suspense waiting for the results to be out on the 23rd of December 2005. Essentially we were able to be completely at peace and rest from the 23rd right till the day each of us leave for Phase 2.

As it is, a good 49 days or 7 weeks have already passed, for better or for worse. Now let's take a look at how some of my friends are dealing with their sudden burst of excess, study-free days.

Yee Pei aka Yippie: Poor girl, looks like boredom has so overwhelmed her that she not only has NOTHING to blog about, she even thinks the world hates her. Just see how depressing excess free time with nothing to do can be. And some say studying sucks...

Sheena aka Coach: They say that when a person is busy, he/she finds time passing so quickly they can't keep track of it. Likewise when you are beginning to chart patterns of how your minutes pass in a day, you must be having alot of free time doing nothing much really productive. But unlike depressed YP, Coach still at least bothers to post about her experience with pre-school kids. Not bad!

Adeline aka Gongster: After having near endless nights chatting with friends on Messenger till 3 am in the morning, I am sure she must have thought of doing something more productive and time-occupying. Kudos to Gongster for getting a job at MMSG and will now be no longer considered a "pandai makan tak tau kerja" kid.

Elena aka Fakdup girl: Since the results were out on the 23rd, she has been working at her mom's friend's office. For a meagre pay of RM 450 a month, Elena has no choice but to be exploited in the name of obedience to her mom. Her mom thinks that working outside for whatever pay is better than bumming at home. Good point I must say but Elena is saying that she is missing out on the fun she could have at home with her PS2 and comics. Well you guys figure whether working to occupy time is better than playing games all day at home or not.

Basically after the highly stressed exams and studying periods we all experienced, we are finding ourselves having too much free time doing nothing. And we have not even completed 2 months; what more people who are going to UK and have another 6 months plus to burn. This is not to mention that all of us are at risk of forgetting stuff we so diligently/forcibly learned during the past 2.5 years! Just test yourself on something, say "Name 4 nematodes causing food poisoning" or "4 signs and symptoms of cervical cancer". Frankly, I took quite a while to come up with some answers myself too...

But I suppose this is what all students from IMU who are twinning overseas will experience. Students bound for Australia save the most time as the term starts in January, but of course this applies only for M2 students. So it's either we continue bumming around, or find something productive to do. And hey, working in IMU's research lab is one good idea too!

Quite friendly after all...

2006-02-08T23:59:00.000+08:00

Monday was the last day for BMedSci students to pay up their fees, and me being a last-minute guy, rushed to IMU in the afternoon to pay up. IMU was closed all the way from Day 1 of CNY and only reopened on Monday while most KL businesses including the KLSE opened on Friday. Apart from paying fees, I intended to visit some of my friends who I heard were working at the lab where I will be conducting my research work. They are San San, Yean Koon (aka Zipper Girl/YkK) and Ai Ling. Accompanying me was Jody, who was equally interested in getting a job as a research assisstant under any available professors.

After paying my fees, I met Dr.Vishna, my Godmother in IMU. As usual, we launched into a long conversation that ranged from how Elena was to IMU's research rabbits. She even invited Jody and I for a car ride to Technology Park where she was to do some banking so that she could tell me more about her projects. It is always fun to talk to her as she really does come down to the level of a student and speaks without much unnecessary formality as how I would experience with other lecturers (think Achike, people). Would you just tell a Professor straight in her face that she is fat? I don't think most people would ever do that, but I could. It's that informal a bond I have with her but of course I am conscious of certain protocols and also not to be disrespectful nor rude. In short I will be undertaking one of her projects which researches on a rather common pregnancy disorder called Pre-Ecclampsia. I don't think I would elaborate further so wait till I start on it only then will I update.

Anyway that was so much for my story. Me meeting a familiar friendly lecturer. Jody on the other hand was lamenting on how his multiple requests to Prof. Mak Joon Wah (aka. Parasite King) for a vacancy at the lab were turned down, hiring instead the 3 girls who are now at the lab.

"I think he prefers girls only la. I asked him before they did and they got jobs instead."

(Btw the 3 girls are doing researches under Prof. Ong Kok Hai's project in bacterias; San San: Salmonella typhi, YkK: S. paratyphi, Ai Ling: Brugia malayi (parasite))

To add to his dissatisfaction and reinforced conviction that Parasite King (PK) was indeed a sexist (girls resemble parasites more than guys maybe?), Jody heard that Zen and Yee Pei were coming to the lab to assume posts as research assisstants pretty soon too! In short, he plucked the courage and decided to confront good ol' PK and met him in his room.

Much to our surprise, PK actually welcomed us into his room and invited us to sit down for a chat. After explaining the purpose of us coming to IMU, Jody went straight to the point in asking about his long overdued job. And very surprisingly, PK mentioned that he had previously had a word with Prof. Yeoh Peng Nam (Aunty Nam) and was wondering if he could fix an appointment for Jody to meet her regarding the vacancy. It was indeed a surprise because after hearing no news from PK and seeing the girls already working, we would have thought he had long forgotten about Jody's request. And either as a show of hospitality or to make his words credible, he picked up his phone and rang Aunty Nam.

"Prof Yeoh, this is Prof Mak here."

"Which Mak are you?"

"Professor Mak la..."

"Oh ok, ya why?"

"Remember the student I mentioned to you before? That he could help you with your project..."

And it went on till some point...

"Are you free now? Can I send him to see you? Oh you're coming over? Would trouble you then."

I was startled at the thought of having the lecturer I dreaded most to be sitted at arms length from me, in the presence of Parasite King, another dreaded lecturer. But as it was, PK actually seemed very friendly, not only for arranging the meeting which Jody appreciated very much, but it's also through our conversations that we realised how jolly and open a professor can be with students. He didn't appear to be an idiot to me anymore as how he irked me by always making us remember parasites I can't even pronounce. Try pronouncing Culex quinquefasciatus and spelling it in exams.
***
It wasn't long before Aunty Nam walked in, greeted us and extended her hand for us to shake. She also made it a point to try recalling if she had seen any of us in lectures before. Then I thought that since I never bothered to look for her for answers after her long winded and confusing lectures, she wouldn't probably remember me out of hundred over students. Then again, I was always the cheeky one to call out Phang's name for every single question she asked or fault that happened in the lectures. Anyway thankful that she didn't recognise me but the gesture was nice. Next thing that happened was Jody started having a conversation with Aunty regarding the job and PK in the meantime was finding opportunities to support Jody in his bid. After a while, I found PK staring at me and smiling, as though he could sense I was being left out and wanted to strike a conversation with me.

"You know, just now Prof. Yeoh asked which Mak I was." Lamented PK.

"Ya I wondered whether you were this Mak or the other Mak upstairs. There are only 2 Maks here." Aunty referring to Dr.Mak Kok Fee, another lecturer.

"Well to me there is only one Mak here," PK pointing to his MUG sitted next to his microscope.

And Aunty and PK burst into laughter. I also went "Hahahaha..."

Lame I must say but these little antics coming from research Professors really amuse me and show me how I shouldn't judge a lecturer by his/her lectures!

The bottomline: Jody got his job as assisstant to Aunty Nam in researching the negative effects of Noni fruit. Not only that, he will be getting paid for his job, courtesy of PK.

Aunty Nam and PK rawk !

Of Symbians and Razors

2006-02-06T13:31:00.000+08:00

I just read Sheena's recent post about the array of handphones that met such tragic fates under her hands. Of course with the exception of some phones that she peacefully parted with to be given as a gift to her dad or were traded in, I must say Sheena really is NON-MOBILE PHONE FRIENDLY.

PHONES BEWARE: SAY YOUR LAST PRAYERS BEFORE YOU LEAVE THAT LITTLE BOX YOU HAVE BEEN SITTING IN COMFORTABLY FOR MONTHS AND PROCEED TO BE TUCKED INTO THE POCKETS OF SARAH SHEENA TOYAT !

Anyway, it's such a coincidence since I also had a draft post which is about my own handphone stories. So guess Sheena's post will set the precedence in this technology-themed post.

Below are handphones which I have previously owned and the technological specifications each has:

1. Nokia 3210 - December 2000-May 2001

Remember this phone? It was one of Nokia's very first antenna-less phones. I bought this at the end of my Form 4 using money that I stinged and saved for months. It was about RM 850 then since it was considered the latest handset in town and you would look super cool with one of this in your hands, never mind the fact that even labourers own better phones these days.

What so special about it?
-Black and white screen with the all-time favourite scroll down menu. Has ringtone composer and great games like Snake. Keys are widely spread and very tactile. Perfect for gaming. Changeable covers for those who wanna keep it funky. Heavy at the top, lighter at the bottom. Bulges in tight pockets and weighs down on shirt pockets. Extremely solid in built and withstands falls with only a dent left behind. Ask Grace about it.

(Those days when J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) was not heard off, we could only play games that were pre-loaded and not download or expand our games. For those who wanna know, J2ME is a platform (kinda like a software) for graphics, mainly games. The phones must have this to be able to support games with graphics.)

What happened?
-Well as I said it was not a very cute phone as I thought it was at the beginning. It was heavy, bulky and definitely not cool anymore as newer models namely the Nokia 8210 and 8850 were being launched. Since the price tag for both the two beautiful handsets was well above the 2k mark (8850-RM2,899, 8210-RM2,299), I decided to cling on to it till the prices dropped. And trust me, prices for Nokia phones drop fast. And so, when the time was right...

2. Nokia 8210- May 2001-January 2002

Oh what a beauty don't you think? The 8210 was actually designed by a famous European fashion designer sometime in 2000 and if you take a good look at it, it resembles a low cut blouse from the front. Do you see the white borders that goes plunging downwards towards the valley where they meet and end as the call/hang up buttons so gracefully? There would be the cleavage line but what a marvellous design notwithstanding. And to go along with it, the phone comes with little petite buttons that are silver painted that look so elegant. You gotta feel it to appreciate it.

What so special about it?
-The main buying point for most if not all people is its physical built. It's a fashion statement Nokia is trying to sell and really it was a big hit. Lightweight and cute, but functions-wise it's all the same as the 3210. No Symbian, no J2ME. Only addition is an infrared port for connectivity.

What happened?
-I got bored of it. I started to look towards the other beautiful phone Nokia had-the 8850. I traded in the 8210 and got an 8850.

3. Nokia 8850-January 2002-May 2003

By the time I bought this the price had dropped to RM1,400. Still expensive to most, but you must consider that it has dropped by half from the initial price. The Nokia 8850 is still my most loved phone till this day and I deeply regret trading it in for another more inferior phone. Sigh...

What so special about it?
-This phone is completely made of a magnesium-aluminium alloy and has chrome plated keys, neckline and sidelines. Thus the high price. It has a one of a kind banana slider and a very refreshing, Alps-like white background. Open the back alloy cover and you will see your face brightly reflected on the shiny chrome plated interior. It was a popular phone with businessmen as well as stylo people. I must say I still love this phone and Nokia today has came up with nothing close to this except for the 8850 Gold and the 8910 which is just a slight improvement in design over the original.

What happened?
-As you can see above, I traded in this phone in May 2003, which was a few months after I got together with my beloved GF. You see, this phone only stores 10 messages at any one time (so do the other 3 phones above). It's very irritating and frustrating when you have to delete some nice messages to make space for newer incoming messages. That wasn't all. The slider was getting loose and the finger prints that smeared the shiny surfaces was getting on my nerves. I concluded that this phone was a beautiful girl with not much brains. And so I settled for...

4. Nokia 6510-May 2003-May 2005

This is the longest phone I ever kept so far, two years. The only reason why I willingly swapped my dearest 8850 with this is simply because this model stores up to 100 messages in its Inbox. Other than that, I had no special love for it although it also came with radio, GPRS and HSCSD. And after having taken tender loving care of the 8850, I found it hard to keep this phone equally shiny and immaculate. I really trashed it around and even when it fell of my car I just didn't feel much for it.

What so special about it?
-BIG Inbox storage capacity with options for folder creation, radio, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) for going online to get downloads and updates, HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) which is basically a technical term for saying "it transfers data in and out of this phone real fast".

What happened?
-Newer phones with colour screens and cameras with equal storage capacity emerged in the market at affordable prices and so I thought it was about time I progressed on. After weighing functionality and my affordability, I opted for...

5. Nokia 7610-May 2005-present

Bought it for RM 1,400 without trading in my 6510. Intended to use it as a spare phone but eventually gave it away as a gift to Grace. She deserved it at least because her old faithful 3310 had been giving her so much problems yet she was willing to bear with that Dinosaur phone. Anyway as you can see this phone is another stylo model, with hints of fashion elements on it; the two colour tones and the nice patterns that flank the camera shutter at the back. Also notice the eccentrically arranged keypad which I soon realised that was a real chore in typing, not to mention the loud clicks that it emits when pressed.

What so special about it?
-It is a Series 60 phone, ie. it's a phone that runs on the Symbian 60 Platform/Operating System. Symbian is a trade name of an operating system, in the same manner as Windows being the OS for computers. This OS is exclusively found in Nokia and high-end Sony Ericsson handsets and is the major selling point for Nokia phones apart from its wide range and affordability. It is more user friendly than other brands and also it allows users to upgrade/update/download stuff into their phones, making it more useful and interesting. Not withstanding that this phone comes with a 1.0 megapixel camera which is not too bad, voice functions, MP3 and video recording and playback, external memory storage and also a LARGE Inbox, among others.

What WILL happen?
-Currently I am eyeing the all new Motorola Razr V3i, which just rolled out the production lines a week ago. Be sure to get this right; not all thin and slim phones you see are Razrs. There are 4 variants of the popular, award winning Razr series, namely the first and original Razr V3 (VGA camera only with no external memory storage), Razr V3i (1.23mp camera with 256MB external memory card), Razr V3c (same as the V3i but specially catered to US only market) and the V3x (3G phone with dual cameras). These 4 handsets will be undistinguishable to the unexposed but if you were to pay more attention to them you will spot the differences.
(Courtesy of MobileBurn.com)

The first phone above is the original V3; notice that the Motorola logo is seperately embossed below the black panel housing the external screen. The V3i below instead has a new cool luminescent blue logo embossed and integrated with the black panel that houses the screen. Apart from that, take note of the new V3i's colour. It's official colour is called Silver Blue, while the V3 has colours in silver, black or pink (the latest edition). Another tiny difference is the words below the camera's shutter as shown below:

(Courtesy of mobile-review.com)

The words unfortunately do not appear very clear here but on the left picture, the words "VGA ZOOM 4X" are written below the shutter. As for the V3i, you do notice the word "MEGAPIXEL" below the shutter. Lastly, engineers have added micro-engraving to the anodized aluminium casing to give it the metallic look. It can also be felt as you run your fingers across the grooves as well as be seen at an angle in bright light. So in terms of physical appearance, the differences are 1) Colour; 2) Logo position and 3) Camera details below the shutter; 4) Micro-engraving. Apart from these, they look, feel, weigh and smell the same.

Well so much for all those nitty-gritty, but really the new V3i is a superb phone with improved features notably the camera, design and expandable memory ie. it has an external memory card slot (unlike the old V3 with a fixed 5.5MB memory). I am waiting for a few more reviews before I actually spend my hard-earned Ang Pows on this beauty. I will be passing on my 7610 to my sister who is currently using a debilitated 3310 instead of trading in as usual. Guess I have a soft spot for 3310 owners.

Oh and note one thing, I NEVER lost any of my previous phones, nor have I ever accidentally left them in pockets and let them be spun in washing machines. Maybe I am just more careful and protective with my phones than others...

So much for this post. Hope it didn't bore too many people...Will update again once I get my hands on the new V3i.

Twilight Industry

2006-02-04T00:43:00.000+08:00

"No one blogs these days la...Just when you are so into this people have quit it already."
-Ken Jay-

We met at Jody's place on Friday night for a simple gathering, a gambling gathering to be precise. Ken Jay, Collin, Elena, Ai Ling and I turned up for few rounds of Blackjack and Mahjong which I eventually emerged Champion (I took home $19.60 net profit). Since good old med friends were around, I thought I might as well do some much needed publicity for my blog. And what you read above was what Ken Jay said. Ken Jay may be a man of few words but his words sank into me. And I recalled that it was similar to a term called Twilight Industry learned in basic economics. It simply describes any field of business that has past its glory days, and is now in a phase where it is stagnant, non-developing and on the verge of extinction.

So what am I messing around now?

The truth is, it depends on what we expect to get out of this activity. Is it meant to satisfy the insatiable appetite of nosy people? Or are we doing it so that our holidays are well spent and have our writing skills improved? I see it as a way we share happenings in our lives with other people, our friends who may be thousand of miles away. Realising the fact that we may not have the luxury of sitting at Coffee Bean with many close friends chatting about sizes of Mandarin oranges or how early we woke up to go to church, blogging is a way to say all those in a halfway formal and informal manner to anyone at anytime. Not so informal as in online chatting, at the same time not as formal as diary report writing. Not withstanding that, we must also consider the fact of whether blogs are visited by our so-called target group. I mean if I were to be the only one who writes and reads my own blog, what purpose does it serve then? I might as well jot them all down in a diary and not needing to spend eye-straining hours in front of the computer screen. Having said that, I suppose there are still active bloggers out there who believe in sharing stories and happenings among friends. As such I believe this activity maybe worthwhile after all.

As for me, as long as there are blogger friends out there, I will continue to be part of the circle of sharing and gossiping and what not. Just hope I don't lose steam like most others.

I'm Back

2006-02-01T20:07:00.000+08:00

The Yee Sangs have been tossed, ang pows opened and money gambled away. I'm back.

I drove home from my little sleepy hollow hometown called Tampin at the border between Negeri Sembilan and Melaka and reached PJ at 11pm yesterday. It's my mom's family, and I really love going back there ever since I was born mainly because of the non-stop supply of food that churns out of my grandma's kitchen and also the great company I have with my relatives. My dad's parents ie. my grandparents are no longer around, and all of my other uncles, aunties and cousins are all in Australia, US and UK. That means I only get Ang Pows from my mom's side every year.

This new year will be my last one in Malaysia as I will be in Australia by next January. Realising that, my relatives have not only been harping on this fact but also gave me bigger ang pows this time around. I have also been eating non-stop. In 3 days I have had 3 yee sangs and 3 big dinners. I think I am really going to miss CNY when I am away.
(Yee Pei: You're not the only who's gonna miss all the CNY fun...)

Talking about Australia, I realised that many of our batchmates have actually already left before the Chinese New Year. I received many messages from people like Phang, Desmond and Ken Rhee on the days before they left but useless as I am I never did see any of them off at the airport. Well it'll be hypocritical if I said I am very sentimental about all these little things but the fact is I really do feel sad that it all ended so abruptly. I mean could we have had a grand end-of-M203 party or something? Even a mamak with half the batch would be great. I guess most clicks would have arranged for one for themselves and so I think it's really my fault for not getting together for a meet or something. Last I heard was that a gang went to Ipoh to visit Phang, but by time I heard of it they had already gone and came back.

I don't suppose that those who have left and are in Australia would read my blog but to those who ever do, I really miss you guys man. Life is such that we sometimes never realise how people play a role in completing our lives till they are missing from it. But it may not be so bad because I will be going to Australia too! Albeit a year later. So I think what we CAN do now is to at least make an effort to get in touch with those friends of ours who will be going overseas later.

Of all the 2.5 years in IMU, and being a library Demi-God myself (I am not proud of it ok), I would say the fun-nest times I had apart from orientation were the times we studied in the library with Phang around. (For those who are wondering who Phang is, he is a friendly giant the size of Goliath and is thoroughly Chinese educated. He was the Batch Representative for 2.5 years and he's the best.) The best part about Phang is that no matter how much we make fun and laugh at him about his England, oops I mean English, he is simply OBLIVIOUS to it and sometimes ask us what we are laughing at. I don't discriminate against him but he really is amusing. His antics and other idiosyncrasies are equally worth remembering but I don't think I would wanna talk about them here. Below is a real dialogue that occured in IMU's library two weeks before the Semester 5 End-of Semester exam at approx. 9:30pm:

Eugene Tho: (in a hurry) Richard Richard I ask you ar what test do you use for Cushing's disease?
Richard:Well you do the dexamethasone test and the free cortisol test...
Phang: I know that one can, but I read somewhere you can do the Syntech test also can.
Eugene and Daniel: Richard, have you heard of this test?He keeps talking about this.
Richard: Syntech?You mean synthetic is it?
Phang: Wait I bring book come.
(He flips and flips the Physiology textbook but becomes exasperated as he can't find the topic.)
Phang: #@$% I can't find it. I check the back but cannot find Cushion's disease.
Richard: What disease?
Phang: Cushion disease la! The fat fat guy with purple lines on stomach.
Richard: It's CUSHING'S disease.
Phang: Is it I always thought it's Cushion. You help me find la.
(Eugene searches this time for the Syntech test)
Eugene: Phang, there is no Syntech test in the whole book.
Phang: (takes over book) Here la! Can't you see!
Richard: It's called the SynACTHen test la. As in sin-act-turn.
Phang: Aiya syntech sounds like it can la.

Tribute to my fellow Batchmate, close friend, study mate and future coursemate at Queensland, Phang Soo-Cheun.

G'Day Mate !

Year of the Dog

2006-01-29T14:29:00.000+08:00

GONG XI FA CAI !!!

It's the time of the year again where the Chinese celebrate the most auspicious festival-Chinese New Year. It's a time of reunion, a time of putting on weight and most importantly the time of collecting Ang Pow money. It's really a time of peace and tranquility, most pronounced when you just take a drive along normally busy streets of PJ and KL. Just see the power of the Chinks; streets are deserted, shops are closed, cars are few and only Malay/Indian shops are open. This brings to mind again the large role of the Chinese in businesses and the economy. Way to go, Chinks. (No offends to other non-Chinamen and women)

My blog is opened officially and finally. I chose the 28 of January as it is a nice date and also an auspicious one being new year's eve. It's Reunion day and how apt my blog's launch is as it gets reunited with the other blogs of my dear friends. But I must admit my visitors haven't been many, judging from the few friends who left their stamp on my chatterbox. Kudos to Adeline for her publicity, Acidulous, Michelle and YkK. But I do understand it's First day of CNY and hopefully I will be seeing more activity in days to come.

The year of the Rooster has ended to be followed by the year of the Dog. It is expected to be a good year, at least equal or slightly better than the past. Like what Ong Ka Ting just said on Buletin 1:30 : "Tahun Anjing amatlah baik untuk negara kita kerana seperti anjing, ia amat berdedikasi dan akan melaksanakan semua tugasan yang diberi dengan penuh kesetiaan. Jadi diharapkan semua orang menjadikannya sebagai rujukan dan mudah-mudahan negara kita menjadi lebih berjaya."

Great command of the Malay language and really a great message to us, I must say. Hear hear.
(Yee Pei: ask your maid to translate for you.)

So guess that's it for now. Let's quit talking Cock and focus on our work/studies with full dedication and loyalty, in sheer Doggy-style.

God bless all of you.

***The Speaker is going back to his hometown down South and will be away till Wednesday.

Welcome ! Selamat Datang ! Bienvenue ! 欢迎 ! 환영 ! добро пожаловать !

2006-01-28T01:32:00.000+08:00

What can I say? A very warm welcome to all my dear friends who have come to read my blog!

Yes, it's Richard Lee's blog, once a blog condemner, now a blogger himself. One may ask: "What made this guy change his mind??" The answer is simple. While many of my friends like Elena, Yee Pei and Sheena picked up blogging for whatever reason, I was busy studying away and really never had the enthusiasm/motivation to start one. I regarded them as having nothing better to do and would rather waste time telling the world whether their gold fish grew longer by a cm or whether their tree house was invaded by Borneo monkeys. Anyway, that was true as I was occupied with my studies for the past 2.5 years. Every little spark of igniting MY very own blog was supressed mainly by the fact that an In-Course Assessment was round the corner and in another part due to human nature being FEARFUL of starting something new and having to maintain it. It's kinda like getting into a relationship; we gotta think of the sacrifices to be made, opportunity costs, commitment etc. Basically the time wasn't right then.

Now that exams are OVER, I am proud to have decided to embark on this new past-time---BLOGGING! From now I will not only be leaving messages/comments on other people's blog, but rather I will be having my very own say to things. It's peculiar as just when I am all hyped up about blogging, most blogs have either died or are dying. Well I can't be too sure if my current enthusiasm will last, but as of now I pledge to try my best to keep this blog as alive as possible.

If any of you have anything good or bad to say or have any ideas to contribute to this blog, please feel free and at liberty to write anything in my chatterbox. Also a very happy Chinese New Year to all those who celebrate the lunar new year and to those who just wish to bask in this festive season.

To the future!