2010 in review

Back in January (the 6th, to be precise), I wrote out 6 new year resolutions that I swore to live by. Twelve moons have passed since then. It’s time to do a review:

Resolution 1:
Gracefully accept that I will be called ‘Uncle’ by a lot of young(er) people.

Review: I have been called that with increasing frequency these days. Sigh. I am resigned to the fact that ‘Uncle’ will always be that thorn in my side and a life time burden from now on, well, at least until I hear some one call me ‘Gramps’ (I vow to beat the daylights out of the first person who utter that foul 6-letter word!). Nowadays I spot a salt-and-pepper crew cut hairstyle. A lot like George Clooney actually, though I think I have more salt than pepper! Yet, I have a feeling quite a few people have rotting toes (see the terms and conditions of my original resolutions post for calling me ‘Uncle’ inappropriately. 

Resolution 2:
Not swear or curse at stupid drivers on the road

Review: Sadly I have broken this rule about a couple of thousand times. Sigh. Thankfully since I am not driving in Melbourne and will not be driving for the next 6-7 months, I will not be expected to swear very much. Of course, it doesn’t mean I can’t swear at tram drivers, bus drivers, horse-cart drivers, cyclists, and other Melbourne car drivers while being a pedestrian!

Resolution 3:
Learn to say a BIG ‘NO’ to any invitations to speak outside of IMU

Review: Thankfully this one I was able to keep, saying “yes” only to speaking engagements that would profit me (in terms of Ringgit and sens) and so, for this year, I spoke in less than 1/3 of events compared to the previous year. I consider keeping this resolution a success.

Resolution 4:
Learn to praise fellow colleagues in public, in meetings, and in the corridors, always within ear shot of another colleague.

Review: I tried to do this for a while but I just couldn’t stick to it. You know, some people are just un-praise-able! Heh Heh! (Kidding). But seriously, when I had to fill up my year-end-review which would determine what kind of bonus I will get next year, I had a tough time filling up the parts that says “Give evidence on how in the past year, you have demonstrated your ability to function as a team player and an encourager, and provide details on how you were humble” (If not for Resolution 1, I would have sworn here!). I consider keeping this resolution a total failure.

Resolution 5:
Learn to hold my tongue and think a godzillion times before I open my trap

Review: I think I quite successfully kept my trap shut in time the past year. I believe I did not wound anyone mortally with my words (if I did, please forgive). This is a good resolution to keep.

Resolution 6:
I shall try to lose at least 2 kgs and get back the washboard abs I used to have, like 20 years ago.

Review: The washboard abs are there somewhere, hidden just beneath the 3-4 cm depth of pure unadulterated human lard. Sigh….I think I can kiss this resolution good bye. However, since I am practically bored to death here in Melbourne in the evenings, I have joined the gym and have been working out fairly regularly. So, there may still be hope that I shall yet see those abs before I turn 60.

So there, a year of ups and downs.

It’s really been a great year. I think the best part of the year was being given an opportunity to learn new stuff in Melbourne, Australia. I’ve been here 3 months and so far, it has been an awesome experience. It has also been a tough year as well as I have to leave my wife with 2 growing kids behind just so I can finish this last leg of the race. I will make it up to them when I get home, eventually (unless I get that Janitor job at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, I will stay on and invite them over! Whee!!!).

The other tough part was to try and survive with about AUD 400 per month (excluding rent). Yes, that’s how little I get for coming here. It’s terribly tough but it has made me realize that it can be done. Best of all, it made me realize that deep within me, lies a dormant cook! I can make a killer spaghetti dish now. And most of all, it made me realize how blessed I am to have my wife back home cooking for me!

So, as the clock ticks away to a new year, let me wish all of you, my dear visitors to this humble blog, my students, my patients, my friends:

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!!!! (I am 3 hours ahead of you guys, so I get to wish you first!).

Cheers!
Jimbo out!

The Bell Bird

One of the most fascinating animal that I have come across since coming to Melbourne is a tiny little green coloured bird known as the Bell Miner, or the Bell Bird as it is locally known.

Some one mentioned about the sound that this particular bird makes when I was traveling to the Dandenong Ranges on Christmas eve. I was told that the bird’s call is like that of the sound of a metallic bell. Unfortunately I did not hear such a sound during my camping trip there (it was probably drowned out by other much louder sounds by much bigger animals!)

However, while I was strolling quietly along the foot path in the Royal Botanic Garden in Melbourne the other day, my ears were suddenly made aware of a unique metallic ‘thunk’ coming from many different spots in the canopy above me.

I tried looking for the source of the melodious bell sound but could not locate the tiny bird. Instead I managed to get a short recording of the sound. Click here to download and listen to the sound (sorry, my free WordPress account does not allow me to upload audio files unless I pay at least USD 20!). The sound is clearest from 40 seconds onwards (it’s a one minute file, so it probably will take seconds to download).

I Googled the word “Bell Bird” and this is what the bird looks like (picture taken from Trek Nature). Apparently this bird is only found in the South Eastern part of Australia (that’s where Victoria is! Lucky me!).

Amazing right?!!!

Lovely Flowers, Deadly Beans

I discovered another flower when I was at the Royal Botanic Garden in Melbourne a few days ago. I first saw these flowers in the backyard of a friend’s place in the Dandenong Ranges where I spent Christmas eve, out camping. At the time, I was told the name of the flowers but quite quickly forgot it because there were too many flowers, birds and owls names to remember (my host was a very enthusiastic nature lover).

These are the flowers of Vicia fibi plants. The seeds from these plants are known as Fave beans (or Kacang Parang in Malay).

And for people who have G6PD-deficiency, consuming these beans can lead to life threatening hemolysis.

Truly amazing.

Lesson from the Garden

I visited the Royal Botanic Garden located just outside Melbourne city centre yesterday. The place is beautiful! I will blog about it when I find the time (and mood!).

I just want to share with you one of the few things I discovered at the garden.

One of the unique feature of medicine is that many of the clinical findings in medicine were usually named after common place objects. For example, the appearance of retinal destruction by the Cytomegalovirus is described as Cheese and Tomato Sauce appearance simply because they, umm, do look exactly like that!

I came upon these flowers during my 2 hour walk within the garden yesterday.

The tiny flowers had a purple colour so striking one can see them from a distance.

And the plant is of course, non other than a Heliotrope, the colour of which was used to describe the characteristic rash of the disease, Dermatomyositis.

A Christ-less Christmas

A local newspaper in Victoria recently ran a poll asking young people (teens to late 30s) what they think Christmas means to them. A great majority of them said that Christmas is time for them to spend with family and loved ones and to relax. Only 14% of them said that Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus.

This Christmas will be the first time that I spend being away from my family and church members back home. It’s going to be a unique experience spending Christmas in a foreign land. It’s remarkable how little Christmas has to do with Jesus Christ here in Melbourne (I can’t speak for the whole Australia, of course). Sure,the decorations are there all over the city, but even this is considered ‘tame’ compared to we have back in Malaysia which is rather ironic. A predominantly Moslem county pays more attention to Christmas compared to a country that has Christian roots!

But that’s exactly my experience here so far. I’ve attended a few Christmas gatherings and dinners here where there was not even a single Christmas decoration present nor a Christmas tree! God or Christ was never part of the conversation.

Sure, they may not be Christians but what about this: A skit was presented in church last Sunday. It was a narration performed by the youths of the church. Basically the story was about a young girl who lived in a village that has ceased to ring the bells (they didn’t mention if it’s a church bell or a village bell) annually for years. As a result, the village became foggy and people lost their cheer. The girl set out to find out why the bells have not been rung for years but no one in the village could give her a satisfactory answer. Finally, in desperation, she decided to pull the bells herself and as the bells began to ring, the village folks awoke from their gloomy state, shed off their dark garments and started to smile, and greet each other and cheer!

The central message of that skit was this: Some times, to know the true meaning of Christmas, all you have to do is to see the cheer in each other faces!

Good grief! I must have dozed off half way or had an absence seizure or something because I failed to see what relevance this story or the central message has to do with Christmas!

Yup, I am going to miss the central theme of Christmas this year while celebrating it in Melbourne which is a celebration of a God so loving He forsook all and came to us so that we could go back to Him.

Emmanuel, God with us.

Now, that’s an awesome message that has nothing to do with foggy villages and silent bells!

This year, for the first time, I will be out camping on the mountains on Christmas eve! My sincere hope and prayer is that the Melbourne weather will be pleasant so I won’t lose my digits to frost bite as I camp out on Mount Dandenong!

And as I camp under the stars, I am hoping to reflect on the year past and gain some insight.

And maybe, just maybe, I might experience some of the Christ in Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year!

Jimbo out!

The Twelve Apostles

Last Saturday I booked myself on a bus tour to one of the famous landmarks near Melbourne, Australia. Located at the Western end of the Great Ocean Road are 8 giant limestone stacks jutting out from the ocean floor collectively known as The Twelve Apostles.

There never have been 12 limestone stacks. I am told that originally there were 9 stacks but one collapsed some time in 2005 as a result of erosion from the waves.

The Twelve Apostles before 2005.

It doesn’t really matter.

Because as I stood there, jostling for a bit of personal space amongst hundreds of tourists and trying to get a good view of the giant monoliths, I was struck by the beauty of the place.

I went, “WOW”!!!

It’s been a long time since I last went “WOW”! The last 2 times were when I held my kids in my arms for the first time.

The Twelve Apostles today.

As I stood there, lost in the cacophony of the surrounding humanity, with the sun shining brightly amongst gathering storm clouds and chilled by the icy cold wind blowing from the Antarctic, staring at those giant pillars standing stoically against wave after wave of relentless pounding by the sea, I felt good inside.

My heart was overwhelmed

.

I was grateful for the opportunity to see for myself such wonders of nature. It’s really hard to describe the feeling but it was an amazingly awesome feeling.

And if the long bus ride that I went on was only to this one destination, it would still be more than worth it.

Watch a short video clip here:

Tues, 211210 @ 2100

Friendly School

When Oprah Winfrey came to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, she declared to thousands of her adoring Melbournian fans gathered at the Federation Square to welcome her:

“Did you all go to Friendly School or something?”

“I mean, you guys are so friendly! Everyone is so DARN FRIENDLY!!!”

Now, I am no fan of Oprah but I do agree with her statement!

I do find the people of Melbourne, generally speaking, very friendly.

Since starting work here, I have yet to hear a fellow colleague exclaim the ‘F” word! You know, the 4-letter word that rhymes with ‘luck’, or ‘duck’ or ‘buck’ and denotes sexual intercourse, although in a vilified way. You get the picture.

Contrast this with some of the people I work with back home. The ‘F’ word abounds every where! In work, after work, and quite a bit on Facebook too! The ‘F’ word back home has become the norm in conversation and takes on the tone of personal angst or displeasure rather than vilifying intercourse.

Anyway, my point is, I am happy here. When I have a conversation here, I can almost be assured that no 4-letter words would creep into the conversation.

I am not sure if this inherent ‘friendliness’ of the people of Melbourne is an intrinsic character of the people here or perhaps it is just a social facade. I am inclined to think of the former.

On the other hand, the other day, while I was being driven home by my pastor and we ran into a bit of a traffic crisis and in that moment, my driver blurted out quite succinctly the 4-letter word:

Oh SHIT!!!!

Oh well, at least it’s not the ‘F’ word. Coming from the mouth of a pastor would be quite scandalous! Heh heh….!

Confundere Pieces

One word of caution when buying fish at the Victoria Market: avoid the confused ones! LOL!

The Suzuki Night Market

Every Wednesday evening, during the summer months (December till March), from 5.30 pm until 10.00 pm, the Victoria Market magically transforms into the Suzuki Night Market! Head over there if you are in town on a Wednesday and enjoy the heady mix of international cuisine, awesome music and dance (they feature a different genre and group every Wednesday and last week was Salsa!!!), and have a bit of retail therapy at the many stalls selling stuff like hand made soaps, to perfumes, to arty farty collectibles, t-shirts, etc etc!

And if the weather is good, you can even indulge in a little open air dining, listen to the buskers showing off their talents or even engage in a little dance.

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I’ve been there twice now and thoroughly enjoyed the place, the people and the food! Unfortunately I haven’t plucked up enough courage to try the Kangaroo meat yet. But then again, there are still many more months before summer ends and I am determined to sink my teeth into some ‘roo’ meat soon!

The Victoria Market

If you are visiting Melbourne, there is one place in the city that you absolutely have to visit!

I am talking about the Victoria Market, a huge market place located at the North end of Elizabeth Street. The market opens 4 days a week, on Tues, Thurs, Fri and the weekends; from 7 am till 2 pm.

The market is just 10 minutes walk from my apartment and this is where I go to, once or twice a week to buy my groceries and indulge in a little retail therapy. Since the winter has passed, traders try to sell off their winter stock (stuff like thick jackets, mittens, muffs, gloves, leather jackets and etc, at really cheap price!). I’ve bought one or two thick jackets in anticipation of the winter next year!

You can get practically anything in this place, from all your grocery needs, the freshest of vegetables and fruits, to sea food and meat, hot and cold meals (try the Greek Lamb Borek which is awesome!), wines, clothing, shoes, toys, cheap stuff from China (actually practically everything here are made in China!), Aussie hats, wool and kangaroo skin (even kangaroo scrotum!), leather belts, fancy arty farty stuff, nuts, kitchen utensils, and the list goes on and on and on! You can even get an iPad sleeve or a jacket for your Galaxy Tab here!

Below is a slide show of some of the fanciful stuff you can see at the market but believe me, the pictures do not do the place justice. I could spend an entire day at this place just marveling at the things they sell here.

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So, the next time you are in Melbourne, allocate a morning to explore this place. It’s worth it!