Overheard

 

I overheard this conversation between one HO to another HO in the ward:

“What happened to you? You look like you have just been r*ped!!!”

You know, the ‘r’ word that rhymes with grape, tape, nape, ape, cape….you get the idea!

Actually, I don’t blame them for ‘looking like that’! We have 10 HOs now in the department which means some of them have to do back-to-back on call for days on end and there don’t seem to be any new blood joining in soon!

Reminds me of my HO days in GHKL. My maximum number of calls in Medicine was 18!!! And to rub salt into the wound, the call claim then was RM20/24 hours work and I was allowed to claim only 8 calls because “we have no budget”.

So hang in there guys, I am praying new HOs will join you soon.

And they say teachers in Malaysia are overworked! Pah!!!

Thurs, 310507 @ 1400

World NO TOBACCO Day

Today is World No Tobacco Day and this is what I learnt from my radio DJs this morning:

1. Every cigarette smoked shortens a person’s life by 7 minutes.

2. On an average, non-smokers outlive smokers by 15 years.

3. Smoking was thought to have started from Native Americans smoking in their wigwam or tippy.

And here is one fact I figured out myself (which I tell to all my patients who smoke):

If a person stops smoking his one pack of 20 cigs/day, he will save RM 7/day, RM 210/month and RM 2555/ year! Probably enough to pay for a Proton Saga monthly installment.

And one of my patient told me this yesterday. He said:

“If I calculate all the cigarettes I have smoked in my life, I can probably line them up end-to-end and they would have formed a line stretching from Perlis to Johor!”

Personally, and frankly, I get irritated with people who continue to smoke after their first heart attack, even more irritated when they continue to smoke after their SECOND heart attack; most don’t survive the 3rd one.

Ditto for people with COAD (Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease).

Thurs, 310507 @ 0725; I’ve personally smoked 3 cigarettes in my life.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3

Shiver me timbers! Actually it was more like ‘shiver me bladder’ as I sat through 2 hours and 40 minutes of the 3rd installment of Jerry Bruckheimer’s POTC. The first place I headed off to after the movie was the loo, tugging along my equally bladder-full kid. Sigh.

My sentiments? Well, I kinda enjoyed Part 1 and Part 2 more than this one. For one, the ‘exhilarating factor’ in Part 2 was conspicuously missing in this one. The same thespians are there of course and they all played their parts well, with the exception of Kiera Knightly who played Elizabeth. Seeing and hearing her screaming and shouting, trying to encourage the pirates (French, Chinese, Arabic???, African etc etc) to ‘go to war’ was like eating plain tosai – plain and uninspiring.

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) was in his elements of course, and this time there were decidedly more of him, as he now suffers from auditory and visual hallucinations on top of his rum-fits.

Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is still too asthenic and his facial hair is ironically still nicely trimed (despite the fact the others look like they haven’t seen shaver in a millennium) throughout the movie. The thoracotomy inflicted upon his chest (for the cardiectomy ~ removal of his heart) was badly performed (probably by a fly-by-night cosmetic doctor la) leaving a keloid laden scar.

There were loads of slap stick comedy but they kinda fell flat. I laughed out loud probably about 5 times throughout the movie.

And everyone has terrible dental hygiene!!!! Ugh!

And everyone needs a good bath and scrub!

To cut to the chase, in the end, the pirates won against the might of the East India Company. And everyone cheers!

Frankly I think the show overglamourized the pirates and the people who set out to destroy them were demonized. In truth, real pirates are real menace on the high seas, they will not think twice before killing anyone and plundering any ships that cross their path.

Oh well, it’ s just a movie. The ending kinda sucks though…

My final verdict: 6/10

Update: While talking with some students and Fibrate yesterday, I found out that most of them missed the real ending of the show which came after the credits! I only caught it because I was so busy looking for my son’s lost sandals! So guys, if you haven’t seen the movie, don’t leave the cinema so soon ya.

The 3rd IMU-Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar MRCP PACES Preparatory Course (2007)

Venue: Clinical School, International Medical University,
               Jalan Rasah,
               70300 Seremban,
               Negeri Sembilan.

Date: 6 – 8 September 2007

Cost: RM 1,000 (inclusive of MOCK Exam)

Contact Person:

Danielle Ho
Postgraduate Studies and Research
International Medical University
No. 126, Jalan 19/155B
Bukit Jalil
57000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-8656 7228 (Ext. 2212)
Fax: +603-8656 7299
Email: danielle_ho@imu.edu.my

Thought I’d do a bit of advertising. Who knows, might get me a raise or something. Sure need the money after the Crabs episode.

Dream Chasers

My church mate sent me this pic recently. The accompanying message was: “We are climbing it tomorrow”!!!

My next reaction was one of marvel (at the majestic mountain) followed by intense jealousy! Mainly because had he told me I would have joined him!  :-)

He accomplished the climb and thus fulfilled “a dream that was 14 years in the making”. The only thing that stopped me from clobbering him when he came back was the ‘glow-in-the-dark” Mount Kinabalu T-Shirt he bought me! Thanks bud!

It’s also been my dream to climb Mt. Kinabalu before I pass on (how morbid) or develop severe osteoarthritis of the knees (whichever comes first). And so, it’s time to take action!

I want to climb that rock by the middle of next year. I am told the cost will be about RM1300 (assuming Air Asia hasn’t raised its price by then) for the whole trip, inclusive of air fare, food and shelter (not inclusive of the glow-in-the-dark T shirt).

So, any one wanna join me? You can sign up here….

Tues, 300507 @ 0713

Crabs

Jonzz beat me to it by publishing pictures of the crab we ate last week. But being the kiasu person that I am, I went TWICE!

Cheese Crab. I didn’t eat it as I’m cheese-intolerant.

Marmite Crab. Not bad but I think the crab was a little juvenile (hence not much flesh).

We went there again last Sunday, to celebrate my M-I-L’s birthday. The restaurant is called ‘Seremban Seafood Restaurant’ located on your left along the road in front of the Income Tax Building heading towards the traffic light. You can’t miss it because it’s crowded like crazy (seems like Seremban folks really dig seafood) and finding a parking space is near impossible.

The crabs were tasty but if I have a choice, I’d rather eat elsewhere. First of all, I dislike crowded noisy places immensely; and secondly, the dishes were exorbitant. The crabs were retailling at RM 40 per kilo and the 2 dishes above cost RM80! A plate of fried rice, a plate of ‘longevity’ noodles and a plate of plain vegetables cost RM22! Coupled with some dehydrated facial tissues and a pot of tea, the total cost was RM 110 (for 4 adults).

Sigh. What to do. If not for my MIL, I won’t have my wife and if not for my wife, I won’t have my kids….

Happy Birthday Mum! It was worth it. I think…

:-0

Boldness

I’ve been ‘volunteered’ to coordinate my institute’s effort to ‘adopt’ a village in conjunction with its 15th anniversary. It’s a first for me heading such a big project and work has been mixed with ease sometimes but much of the time with slow painful progress as we hit one brick wall after another.

So far we have identified an Orang Asli village nearby to be adopted. What we plan to do is to launch  it in a grand way in July and thereafter provide health screening to the population in that village once every 2-3 months or so for next 3 to 5 years. The idea is to get our students involved in providing health care in a rural setting.

One of the needs that we found out in the village was the lack of toys and books for their children and hence we decided to launch a ‘Donate-a-Toy’ campaign to collect used toys and books for them.

Unfortunately the response has been dismal so far, mainly because there wasn’t any publicity; and because those I entrusted the job to publicize the campaign have been slow to act.

I got this letter attached to a toy yesterday. I’m not sure if it’s from a student or a staff but what was written on it is so true.

Whoever wrote it, let me say thanks. There is a Chinese saying which translates into: “If you have to beg others, might as well beg yourself to do something”

So, today, I shall, if I have some free time, work on something to publicize the campaign.

This is one aspect of my students here that I am proud of, and that is their boldness to speak up (sometimes to the point of being brash!) compared with their counterpart in the public universities. Perhaps it’s their upbringing, or perhaps it’s just the culture here.

Whatever it is, I’d prefer ‘bold and brash’ than ‘timid and quiet’.

Tues, 290507 @ 0740

When the day is done…

Sometimes after dinner, and if the sky outside is still bright, we would take a walk around the neighbourhood. It’s been a while since we did that. I think we’ve become too busy lately (and the evening showers didn’t help things).

Mon, 280507 @ 0734; I could swear it was Friday yesterday.

Story of a Man

Story of a Man…..I was happy. My girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year, and so we decided to get married.  My parents helped us in every way, my friends encouraged me.And my girlfriend? She was a dream!

There was only one thing bothering me, very much indeed.

That one thing was her younger sister. My prospective sister-in-law was twenty years of age, a beautiful young lady, very open minded and sexy.One day little sister called and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations.  She was alone when I arrived.

She whispered to me that soon I was to be married, and she had feelings and desires for me that she couldn’t overcome and didn’t really want to overcome.

She told me that she wanted to make love to me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister. I was in total shock and couldn’t say a word. She said, “I’m going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want to go ahead with it just come up and get me.”I was stunned. I was frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs.  I stood there for a moment, then turned and went straight to the front door.  I opened the door and stepped out of the house and walked straight towards my car.My future father-in-law was standing outside. With tears in his eyes he hugged me and said, “We are very happy that you have passed our little test. We couldn’t ask for a better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family.”

The moral of this story ???

Keep your condoms in your car, never in your wallet.

No Shame

This entry is for my friends who went down in their Part 1 & 2 MMed and the M. Anaest. Folks I know how it feels. Right now you might not feel like you can go on or you feel like giving up. It’s normal to feel that way. But the night will soon be gone and the dawn will surely come.

Take some time off, relax, clear your mind. Lick your wounds if you must. Catch a movie, indulge in your favourite food. Have a Banana Java Chip at Starbucks.

After that, when you are done, get up, steady your nerves, be strong and resolve to start anew and do better the next time!

You’ve had a bad day. It doesn’t have to be a bad forever.

This one is for you: Sdr, Sgt, Kli, WMH, Shla, Chh, Rn, Shkl, Sdhu, Ymn.

There is no shame in failing. Trust me, I know. I’ve been there.