was i just plain mean?

i enjoy talking to medical reps. they are generally nice people - they have to be if they want to sell stuff.

i tried selling things when i was in school to earn some pocket money but wasn't good at it. i realised it takes a certain personality & lots of dogged perseverance to make a success of of it, so i often give these med reps some time to promote their stuff. some are interesting to talk to, some are time-wasters while a small minority are just plain eye-candies.

so, i was a bit busy yesterday (manic monday??) when this rep came around. because i had things to settle, it was about 10 mins before i could see her. i imagine some have to wait for hours at the clinics. when i went out to the reception area, she was nowhere to be found. not a word nor an sms to tell me where she was.

yeah, i became the big bad wolf & huffed & puffed.

i then went back to doing things but not before sending an sms to her to express my displeasure at the disappearance. she replied asking if she could wait for me then, but i told her i'm not seeing her. period.

i did feel little bad after that. it's days like this one makes me mull & ruminate & reflect on myself.

yeah, i'd like to blame it on manic Monday but that excuse is as water-tied as the sinking titanic.

i was just plain mean, wasn't i?

big bad wolf perhaps?

1994

a non-descript year but a great one to be born in.

because if you follow the malaysian school system, you'd be sitting for the SPM in 2011. and because the govt was dragging its feet on GE13, it made a few promises to students who do well in the exams. it also introduced the "bursary" which i initially thought was just an allowance to help part-pay tuition fees at private colleges.

as it turned out, it was a windfall beyond anyone's wildest & optimistic imagination. this bursary covered all tuition fees & accommodation for students doing A-levels at private  colleges. for those who entered the matriculation programs & excelled, it also covered tuition fees when they entered varsity.

i know this because 3 of my daughter's sec school classmates are now eagerly waiting to do medicine at newcastle university medicine malaysia in sept, fully paid for by courtesy of the govt's election promise.

before anyone thinks this a freebie, let me also emphasise that there's a minimum 8A* requirement for SPM as well as acceptance into the chosen university for this bursary to be awarded.

looking forward, if GE14 is held around 2018, i would imagine those born in 1999/2000 may be  in line for some substantial academic rewards.

but only if there is any money left.

:P

not poker-faced

the worried father asked me if Dr S is a good doctor as his daughter was about to undergo surgery. as far as I know, there are no bad doctors, only irresponsible or unethical ones.

so, i told him that his daughter would be fine. (note: i didn't reply directly to his query) somehow, i could see that he wasn't convinced because he could sense that i myself didn't sound very convincing.

the words may mean one thing but the body language said otherwise.

i definitely can't play poker to save my life but in this case, the "gamble" paid off as the surgery was a success.

DIL

how else to explain this?

another sms from the daughter....

me : isn't the passport with you? (how did you leave the country without it...duhh!)

she : oh yeah, what was i thinking?

me : not about your studies, i would think!!!

DIL is the acronym for Dangerously Ill List & relatives of critically ill patients are asked to acknowledge this in writing.

it's also applied to young people caught up in throes of teenage emotions where it stands for....

Deeply In Love.

life as an electric current

i was amused when my daughter sent me this sms recently....

the exchange went like this....

me: why?

she : because i take the path of least resistance.

me : AC or DC?

she : AC

me : why?

she : because i'm so indecisive.

i just love it when she talks physics with me......except that it's not her favourite subject.

how mandela went against racial supremacy....

 

ala Gandhi's passive resistance??

**image source**

a million tear-drops....

I see it ever so often, esp in ICU......

patient dies.....

the family gathers around......

shedding tears.....

a million of them.....

it's like a grand send-off.....

but yet, they are imploring that the dear & beloved remains a tad longer....

but the ECG doesn't lie.....

people show emotions in different ways & in varying degrees.....

when my father passed away, i just shed a tear......

maybe two......

now, it makes me wonder how many drops of tears will flow for me.....

if any.

what goes around, comes around....

when you give love...........

you get a return a hundredfold more!

1978 - kathleen & helen

i actually kept this diary, amongst many others, all these years, recording everyday events in those formative years. as I flipped thru the pages, a flood of wonderful memories was relived in my mind - of teenage angst & emotions.

Kathleen was the quintessential girl-next-door. well actually, in the next taman but she might as well be next door because in the months after 6th form, we spent a lot to time together. she was a year younger & preparing for 6th form, so I helped her out a lot. her family more or less accepted that i'm a regular fixture in her life & I just went with the flow. we talked of everything except THAT.

I knew she was planning to go to Taylor's in KL & then to Canada thereafter for further studies. what I didn't anticipate was when she appeared unexpectedly at my place one day to tell me that she's off to Canada. I wasn't at home - those days, even a fixed-line phone was considered a luxury of sorts. so, she wrote me this brief note.....

 

we wrote to each other for a while but eventually lost contact. so, even as I read thru these events of 1978, I do wonder what became of her. is she still in Toronto? did she marry the tall, dark handsome guy of her dreams? many years later, i went to her old house but the whole family has moved. much as I missed her, someone else came into my life that year - & made an immediate impact - in the most unlikely of places.

 

I met Helen in church but that's another story for another post.

when "positive" is not positive news....

HIV positive...

HBsAg positive.....

TPHA positive......

RF positive....

ANA positive.......

CA 125 positive.....

AFP positive......

positively NOT positive news.....

what God gives, He takes.

the boy celebrated his 11th birthday on friday (actual date today). i know for sure he likes nothing better than to have his clique to share with. this group grew up together in the same neighbourhood, attends the same church & goes to the same school. presumably they'll be BFFs in due time.

coincidentally, the obstetricians listed 4 patients for C-section today. my thoughts went to the boy because these babies will share the same birthday with him. although all four were successfully delivered, one inexplicably suffered a respiratory problem soon after birth & eventually succumbed. imagine - one moment the kid was crying the lungs out & then suddenly, the breathing stopped. one moment, there was life & the next, there was none.

it did put a damper on my day but some things are just beyond human comprehension.

to the 3 lovely babies borned today, I wish you well & pray you'd grow up to be useful citizens & make your parents proud.

to the 4th, may your soul rest in peace for you are in a better place now. amen.

UBAH?

 

and i'm pleased he's looking forward to GE15 (in 2023?)......he too wants to make a change.

we agree!

for once, Mr PM, we agree.............

 

but will you graciously embrace it???

how to please the auntie....

i was talking to this 76-yr-old lady & her family before surgery & as I asked her to sign the consent form, she confessed that she can't write well because she's uneducated.

without thinking, i just replied that she's already has many children & grandchildren, & being surrounded by her loved ones is the happiest moment in one's life.

she thanked me profusely for saying that & that's when i learned that a little common courtesy can go a long way....

falling like flies.....

last week, Dr T, whom I remember fondly as a lecturer in med school & who had kindly excised a lump on my forearm when I was a student, passed on after a prolong illness that was refractory to even the strongest antibiotics.....

this week, Dr B ingested weed killer & succumbed to its effects.....

this morning, my colleague Dr K suddenly passed on from a longstanding tumour....

people say doctors play God with the lives of others but i'd like to reassure everyone that nobody, least of all medics, can ever defy the laws of nature. with medical advances, we can stave off severe infections, bouts of depression or cancers but for a brief moment, in a feeble attempt to prolong our stay on earth but it's a matter of time before we meet the Creator.

the Wise Man said:

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 a time to be born and a time to die.

 

rest in peace, my brothers.

 

 

change of heart?

already in her 4th year of study in The Little Red Dot, the girl has always been lamenting about having to study extra hard - her own  perception as she compared with her ex-classmates who are doing A-levels or matriculation back home.

i do sympathise with her but that's the way it goes down south. it has always been cooker-pressure type of environment in school as the neighbour continues to strive to be the best there is. so, i've always reassured her that once she's finished this year, i'll let her choose the varsity where she intends to pursue higher studies.

her inclination so far has been either to australia or UK. so, it came as a surprise to me when i received this sms:

WHAT??

she wants to go thru all that perceived torture for undergrad studies? for a further FOUR years, at least?

this is my reply:

i have always suspected that there's a guy involved everytime she does something totally out of her own character, although so far, she has denied it each time.

ah, puppy love & crushes & all things nice.....

(sigh!)

the girl has much to learn.....!

note:
* a = grade A
* pw = project work, a requirement for entry into varsity.

getting away with murder.

i meant this figuratively.

you know, like how some drivers behave recklessly behind the wheel & yet are not involved in accidents, which is unlikely.....

like how people continue to loot but are never caught, which is happening.....

or, like how some people indiscriminately eat all & sundry, yet are not over-weight or have normal cholesterol level, & i know one such person......

like this 70-yr-old guy who has been smoking 6 packs of cigarettes (120 sticks!!) a day for over FORTY YEARS (!!)& looks fit as a fiddle!!

except for a small area of the lower left lung which was infected, he was none the worse for it. the surgical procedure went thru smoothly.

no one knows why there are people who don't smoke but get lung cancer, yet this fortunate man who smokes like a chimney is living past 7 decades.

to me, i thought that's LIKE getting away with murder ....but i suppose there are also people who actually commit murder & actually get away with it.....!!

the day after.....

knives were wielded & the face-off was tense. however, the arrogant but unprepared backed off in time. bloodshed has been avoided but still, there were heavy casualties on one side.

naturally, an expected outcome when one held 7 knives while his comrade, 12. the losing side came unarmed & therefore suffered ignominy.

is this a military uprising?

or, political manoeuvring?


nah.....it's only a doctors' annual general meeting.

note: knife = proxy

when it's not good to be a nurse....

the firemen have it.....

the postmen have it.....

so, it defies belief that nurses & staff employed at a private medical centre do not have medical insurance coverage.

the admin people go around begging requesting doctors to give generous discounts when the staff seek medical consultation & procedures, while the hospital impose their own charges with impunity. previously, all were covered under a group insurance plan.

& to think this is a public listed company......

what cheapskate employers!!

when kids grow up......

 

 

 

that's why kids are so endearing....they ask for permission first. but now it makes me wonder - at which stage of growing up did they lose the plot?????