Daily Archives: December 22, 2006

Christmas


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It’s that special time of the year again. I loved Christmas as a kid, mainly because the company which my dad worked for would hold it’s annual Christmas luncheon and good ol’ Santa would give out presents to all the kids! Typically, every year I would end up with a model airplane which I have to assemble with glue and paint. It was also at one of these annual gatherings that I had my first taste of beer. They ran out of soft drink and so my dad got me a glass of beer! Had a few sips and nearly landed in the large monsoon drain as I swayed back to the car! :-)

As I grew older, Christmas took on a different meaning. I found the Lord (or rather He found me) at the age of 12. Being the only believer then in the family, I remember celebrating Christmas by staying up late at night on Christmas eve, with my little torch light and my Bible on my lap, I sang Christmas carols alone and welcomed the birthday of the Lord when the clock struck midnight. It was a time of quiet happiness and communion.

As a teen, Christmas was mostly about partying and dances with gift exchanges. We attended Christmas services of course and visited houses of church members that were deemed ‘cool’ (ie loads of junk food and nice decor!).

Christmas was also when I got invited for dinner at the house of the girl whom I eventually married. It was at one such dinner that I was a little tipsy with red wine and spilled all the beans about my good (and bad) habits to the inquisitive mother of my girl! Eternal shame is the best word to describe my feelings the next day…

And now as a parent, I see the same joy in the faces of my kids as they wait eagerly for Christmas day just so they can rip open all the presents that are under the Christmas tree! Darlene doesn’t believe in Santa and Ryan only believes in Buzz Lightyear (of Toy Story fame). Santa is so passe in my family. :-(

My prayer is that they will experience what Christmas is all about. I pray that they too will experience the ‘quiet and happy communion’ that I had as a child as I thanked the Lord for the His Gift that brought heaven to earth and radically changed my life.

Have a blessed Christmas everyone! May the Lord fill us with the joy and peace that came on the First Christmas as the angels sang and the shepherds marvelled. :-)

Fri, 221206 @ 1432, feeling all Christmas-sy (would be better if the salary is out!). Cheers!

One Dishonest Student


I invigilated the Sem 6 Internal Medicine End of Posting MCQ (multiple choice questions) exam yesterday. Being a newbie and not given a “How to invigilate a Sem 6 MCQ exam” booklet beforehand and not having any assistance at all (the one who was supposed to help me didn’t turn up); it ended rather disastrously.

There were 43 students who sat for the exam. At the end of it, I received back 43 answer sheets, 43 ID papers bearing their numbers and 42 question papers!!!!

One dishonest student made off with one question paper!

I am very displeased with what happened. We are grooming in our midst, one very dishonest future medical doctor!!!!

I am also displeased with myself. It was careless of me. It won’t happen again.

Fri, 221206 @ 0758; salary still not in (Santa is late!) and Ryan didn’t vomit this morning though he said he doesn’t feel good.