I miss these...

Today I am oncall. Being able to post this up also means that it's a darn good call so far. Hanging around in the op theatre because of the really good air-condition in this place while waiting for a case to come in. Weekends have 'normalized' as I could actually study in the hospital instead of running around like a headless chicken!












I miss good seafood though. I remember the cheap and fresh seafood in TI and wondering if I should go to T.Tualang for similar fare. Just a few weeks ago, had wonderful shrimps and fish at Bubba Gump & Co at the Curve and the portions were huge. Quite nice though as usual, KL prices lar.

Once in a while, we have some good donuts here in Ipoh though...like these from Big Apple found in SOPD one fated Friday morning. Obviously it disappeared not long after this picture was taken. The rate of diabetes mellitus in Malaysia is still rising. We wonder why....

This is to show that I am still in the OT. Beats holding the pager anytime.

In the meanwhile, it's still some time before I can go home this month. Guess where's this place thoughl?

Man...it's hot in here!

I think i have not been blogging much lately. Mostly due to the oncalls and now the added stress of exams. It cost a big chunk of my savings and I'm almost broke, thus no exciting new travels or pursuits recently. All I can take picture of is the view from my room as I am studying. Ah, the dull phase of the year is just about to begin as I open up the Essential Surgical practice book and push myself to study on a very hot Saturday.











I mean, the day started well considering I slept 10 hours in replacement of the thursday nite without sleep in the hospital. I took a quick swim with PS and I was about to study when I was distracted with Kris Allen and AI.














The Net was abuzzed with news of how Adam Lambert lost, so much so I felt sorry for Kris. I mean, he is a sweet guy, talented and cute...the people should give him a break. AL has a good voice yet there is just so much of drama and weirdness surrounding him. Of course, he is gracious in losing but I'm on the Kris Allen camp all the way...so congratulations to someone who would come up with songs I would listen to anytime on my Ipod. Seriously...











Lunch was a departure from the usual kantin food (you know, the oily and salty food in the hospital cafeteria). We braved the humongous crowd at Jusco and the hot sun to reach the quiet Korean restaurant in Ipoh Garden East. It's called Kim Kwang Sook, opposite Sushi East and relatively new.









We both enjoyed our bibimbap and Korean side dishes...hhhmm, maybe it was due to my good appetite after a good swim. Anyhow, the food tasted good and authentic so I was one happy girl as we drove home. Now, let's hope I won't be too sleepy...here goes another round of staying awake in front of my books!

When we are not working..

Malaysians no 1 pastime : eating. If we are not working, studying, sleeping, etc..it would be eating. I have lost count of the number of times pictures of food appeared on my website so why not add to the statistics! Here goes more pics of food....












One thing really good about eating out in Ipoh : I love the sushi there! Jap food is not really cheap, esp in Klang Valley but the ones in Ipoh are quite affordable and tasty too. Of course its kinda low-fibre and high-carb if we take it daily but the 3 of us (PS, Mich and I) do try to vary our taste so it's not like we go Jap everyday!

As for doughnuts, cakes and brownies, Big Apple has recently invaded Ipoh and sometimes we catch these 'holey' wonders in SOPD too. Other than that, we are aiming to taste all of the food listed in the '100 Malaysian top heritage food' (as according to my boss lar...truthfully, i never knew the list existed!) After all, we have big breakfasts every Friday in the department and I think the best attendance to any departmental meetings are on Fridays :-)

And organic food has grown to a sizeable market nowadays. Although costly, a lot of people are willing to pay for food grown and harvested the 'natural' way. I'm still wondering why is it that natural means higher cost. I remembered that in my garden when I was young, watering plants with water that we used to wash rice and spraying plants with chilli-pepper water (as insecticide) doesn't really cost that much. It's funny lor...but as long as there is a consumer's market, the organic industry will thrive.

Finally, how can we forget the 'friendliest' coffee shops in the world..Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Gloria Jeans and co.? Although we only have 2 in Ipoh, it doesn't stop the yuppies from indulging in their favourite java beans drinks while snacking on their famous cakes. My housemate loves their chocolate brownies, etc but as for me, I was in for the free Wi-Fi and comfy sofa!

Until we eat (oops, I mean), meet again...haf fun pigging out this weekend!

Confessions of a crabby post-call MO

I hate to admit it but I am tired. So exhausted from my EOD (every other day) calls. I don't know whether it's the age catching up (I like to admit that I am 25 but sadly, I am not!) or this is a really busy place, but I'm fully worn out at 7 am while still assisting a major operation.I think it was my 7th operation for the day (and night) and not only that, I had to review 4 referrals from various medical wards on a saturday..and the lifts broke down again (what the .....!)




I wonder if I am surrounded by superhumans, esp since Miss CAC seemed to have the energy to complete the ward round until 11am sunday after a whole night-long of surgery on saturday night. LHP was on back-to-back calls and another friend was on his 4th EODs. I think we have seriously overworked and strangely workaholic people in my department (and its an understatement...)




Then again, we choose this path so we must be resilient and strong enough for the stress on our body and emotions I guess. When it's Saturday Night Fever and all the people got in motor vehicle accident left, right and centre....shattering their spleen, liver,brains, whatever..it's actually quite good for my learning experience (that's my rational left brain trying to console my highly-temperamental right brain)




Gosh, would someone please hand me a pillow? I think i am about to sleep on my laptop :-)

Clown alert!

CPD is quite a klutz when it comes to things. I’m marvellous with remembering facts, people, conversations and trivial stuff but when it comes to things..just don’t count on the spicy one. So, that's why God created nurses...especially for people like me.




It was a very fine Sunday when it was so cloudy and windy. I couldn’t resist but jump out from my car (after a butt-numbing drive from KL) and straight-away head for the tracks. Yeah, there are times when little motivation is needed for me to move my lazy legs.




After my joyous runs around the blocks, I started fishing around for my keys and lo and behold….no keys! Aaaaaah…I walked a few extra circles around the track (I think I did very good distance that day) to make sure I didn’t drop my keys. No keys.





Shit! It was almost calamity as rain was falling, it was getting dark and my housemates were at an important event for the next few hours…and I didn’t bring my phone. Yup, this bright spark, in all my enthusiasm, has forgotten to carry the Nokia with me…thus I was staring forlornly at the outer gate waiting for someone to get me in so that I don't get wet. Furthermore, most importantly, I was ravenous because brunch was ages ago. Images of food began floating in my head...maybe I was delirious or just plain annoyed at myself!





My eyes lighted up when someone opened the gate and I silently tailed him into the block. Then, a big sigh....Obviously, I still couldn’t open the door to my unit. Well it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that my lock is working perfectly well and I still don’t have a phone. Or keys.




Thank God I mustered up some courage and asked some student nurses staying downstairs in helping me make some call. Somehow, they are really really kind enough to help me dial a number I remembered wrongly...(yes, PS from now on, I shall remember your number correctly).





Great…now what? Again, my slightly hypoglycaemic brain was working full-time and at last, I managed to get some numbers from the hospitals and 'cleverly' obtained my friend K’s number. K contacted Mich and she came to the rescue after a while.

So, the moral number 1 of the story is : Don’t run without keys!

Moral number 2: It's always helpful to have nurses around, even out of the hospital!!!


Btw, the picture has nothing to do with the story but just a prelude to my next post….

What happened on a hot lazy May Day afternoon..

I was sitting next to this dog. She is ageing and wheezing away, hardly able to walk without limping. Her eyes, patchy with cataract, was filled with wisdom and kindness, accumulated from years of living with highly-intellectual and intelligent parents.











I was chatting with the owners of this dog. He is very young and runs about madly...in wonders with the world and clearly filled with youthfulness and energy. He kept on banging against everything as he barely could stop his joyful runs in time and his tail dropped in between his legs the moment we talked about his naughtiness.












I was having lunch, tea and dinner with my pal from uni, WW and my lovely professor, Prof LL in her airy home in PJ. Missing out on each other's life for almost 3 years, we spent the whole afternoon talking and sipping iced tea. Lunch and tea was great and I will surely post up some pictures on that too!

I was wandering in the garden of a nice home in PJ, surrounded by tropical blooms and soothing green plants. It was wonderful how a house can have a resort-like atmosphere near the busy urban enclave. Maybe I could have my dream home one day too?

I was wondering about my decisions in life. Only time will tell whether this atypical path that I am taking will be worth the sacrifices of leaving a comfort zone. In the meantime, I really need to stop surfing, facebooking and twittering!

Anyhow, I think that the beginning of May augurs well for the rest of the busy and hot month.