Better in bed....
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
Sometimes it is better to just stay in your bed cause nothing possibly good can happen when you close the door of your house behind you...
What am I talking about ?? Well, could be anything, you flunked the exam you had been studying for untill the extent your brain felt as if it went through the microwave, your boss might not allow you to take up your saved-up leave from your unpaid job, forcing you to just "burn" it, you might take a last minute to Jakarta but get stranded at the airport cause the option of getting visa from the airport is not an option anymore. The stupid aircon in your not so cosy new home keeps you awake, rattling all night and while you're walking to the LRT station you manage to fall in a man-deep sewer pit. Ah life is sure fun. I actually hate myself, for not being as meticulate in these things as I usually am and taking more time for the few fun things I plan to do for myself. Then, to compensate for my lost outing, I went to a book shop and afterwards hated myself again, having bought 2 books instead of 1 only. Money money money... the eternal headache. Nevermind, I just bought a book that attracted me so much that I had to buy it. "Shantaram", by Gregory D. Roberts. Basically it's a book about not giving up, I guess, but.... well, just read this short summary below and think of it.... this guy actually had to rewrite the book twice, for prison guards in India destroyed the first two versions... Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it's got 900+ pages !!

Shantaram is a novel based on the life of the author, Gregory David Roberts. In 1978 Roberts committed a series of robberies while addicted to heroin, and was sentenced to nineteen years’ imprisonment. In July 1980 he escaped over the front wall of Victoria’s maximum-security prison, in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia’s most wanted men for what turned out to be the next ten years.

His journey took him to New Zealand, Asia, Africa, and Europe, but his home for most of those years was Bombay — where he established a free medical clinic for slum-dwellers, and worked as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for one of the most charismatic branches of the Bombay mafia. He even got involved with a Bollywood movie...

Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
Seems as if every single day is getting hotter. Relieve comes when - almost invariably - by the afternoon rain starts pouring out in a way I hadn't seen before. The sky will turn dark within 15 minutes something. Then, even still dry, the thunder will start, threatening, low grumbling of colliding clouds, as if close to a nearby war zone. While the rain turns the whole premises into a small lake within minutes, the thunder keeps rolling, one after another, like a sea full of angry waves.
I suppose it has nothing to do with my sea of frustration... studying for the exam covering most of the undergraduate stuff, it reminds me of those days when I had my high school exams, in the middle of an already hot summer. Or that time, 7 years later, when I was sitting for my internal medicine re-exam while I had already started working in a local O&G department. Back then, I made it, but I don't know about now...

Mood:  not sure
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
Last week one of my colleagues told me I reminded her of Ross, from "Friends"... I guess she didn't know even half how right she was... Last night I was called in the middle of the night; long distance call... To pick up and hear her voice was not a surprise... I already grew accustomed to the fact that she is probably gonna be part of me for the rest of my life, regardless of what happens in the future... Strange how cannot let go of some ties...

Shocking events...
Mood:  surprised
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
Shake it baby !! No don't you worry... the whole building was waving and I felt like on a cruise ship... unfortunately it was not the love boat but some standard kind of ferry ship. Anyway, in 10 minutes everybody in the building was outside, but this morning the building was still standing and we are all ok. Actually, since my roomy was too afraid to go back immediately, we decided to go for a spin. He wanted to kill time in the nearby A&W fastfood restaurant, but I managed to persuade him to go to the Waikiki Bar, since it was a 2 minutes walk anyway. So out of all the excitement we entered the totally different Waikiki world, where a damn good live band was steaming, rocking & rolling. And so in the end it was worth it after all, holding a good glass of beer while seeing the E-quake news on CNN.

Easter rap
Mood:  silly
Absolutely brilliant my dear... thanx....
http://i.flowgo.com/greetings/rapeasterbunny/rapeasterbunny.swf

BTW, better use my newer hotmail in the future, inbox has a tendency to crash...

Major bummer...
Mood:  blue
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
Ayo, it's sickening... Sometimes it's just too much too take and other moments I'm reasonably @ peace with the thought... Just that hearing this week that the contract already offered will most probably not bevome effective after all... Meaning another 3+ years without income... bleeehhh...

Mood:  quizzical
Topic: Starbucks
When I woke up most of the heat of the day had settled. I took a quick shower to get my day started and planned for my afternoon of shopping in the Mid Valley mall, to see if I could get any good deal from the Chinese New Year discount offers. On going outside however, I changed my mind. I nice fresh breeze cleared the air of any remnants of the usual offending heat. It reminded me of warm summer evenings in The Netherlands, getting ready to settle on one of the Maastricht terraces of one of its many cosy pubs, after not having had more than just a nice fresh salad for dinner. I decided to refrain from any silly purchases of things that were actually discounted all year round, for reasons of whichever occasion came along. Instead, I went up back to the apartment to fetch my laptop and started walking to section 14, to nestle in one of the chairs of Starbucks.
Having been busy most of the evening with arranging banking business and chatting with some friends and my mom on internet, in the end of the evening, just before I want to wrap up my things and go to do my late shift, this lady approaches me. “You don’t happen to be German, do you ?” she asks me… Cause I’m actually looking for a German person. I’m afraid I have to disappoint you, I have to confess to her. A conversation unwinds about her ex-husband who is a Finnish guy and how I should avoid ever getting one for a husband. I assure her politely that the day I’m gonna have a husband is most probably never gonna come. And so she keeps twisting around, trying to make it not too obvious she wants me to meet two of her friends who “would be interested in practicing their German with someone, cause you do speak German don’t you ?”. I don’t know what to think about it and getting rather anxious to leave I manage to short circuit the whole thing by giving her my hp-number and getting myself including notebook in a cab asap, only to arrive late (again) for my night of unpaid consultation labour. What happens next we’ll have to await…

Alexis
Mood:  suave
Topic: Night life & other action
Ha die zus… Tja, nu heb je dan eindelijk ICQ, maar dat werkt natuurlijk alleen als je online bent… (op een moment dat ook ik online ben natuurlijk…). Had nog eens een keer geprobeerd te bellen, maar ik denk dat de telefoonprovider die jij hebt niet de pre-paid kaart gesprekken ondersteunt vanuit Maleisie. Moest gisteren nog weer eens aan je denken, want ik was in een tent, “Alexis” (voor het eerst weer eens “op stap” na weken studeren) die jij ongetwijfeld erg cool had gevonden (zie foto ?). Live jazz in een exclusieve omgeving, onder de klanken van een zeer goede vocale interpretatie van Frank Sinatra (wat meer was dan je kon verwachten van een Chinese zanger die zichzelf “Rabbit” noemt) een goed glas wijn genieten, da’s wat ik werkelijk een geslaagde avond noem.

Getting Gastric
Mood:  bright
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
Suddenly last week I realised... Having seen so many patients with either diabetes, gastric complaints or both, I now finally realized that it’s the food !! Having feasted for the last 6 months on the local food; Indian, Chinese and, in way lesser extent, Malay food, I too start to feel its consequences. Abdominal discomfort after meals started kicking in for me as well and this week I decided that after the exams I’ll have to figure out a way to improve my dietary habits in order to get a healthier intake. Even if it means in the end I’ll have to start cooking for myself again despite the shortage in time…I'd have to get a dishwasher then first though...

How's life ?
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: (scary) hospital stories
Het Pluche Helmondse Leventje is voorbij. Geen halve nachtdiensten meer in kinderbedden met teddyberen (waar is die foto potdorie nou alweer ?). Nee, hier is het echte werk begonnen met 4 a 8 32-uurs diensten per maand en alleen elke 1e en 3e zaterdag vrij; de overige zaterdagen wordt er tot 12:00 gewerkt. Nee, hoewel ik in het begin wel even moest wennen en het hier op sommige gebieden een zootje is, heb ik nog steeds geen cent pijn van mijn keuze. In 2 maanden tijd had ik al zo’n 25 sectio’s gedaan en op werkelijk alle vlakken is de klinische “exposure” hier veruit beter dan in Nederland. Ik moet eigenlijk wel een beetje gniffelen om de incidentele negatieveling die breedsprakig verkondigde dat een opleiding van 4 jaar in Maleisie onmogelijk kon leiden tot een goede gynaecoloog; waarschijnlijk heb ik straks meer klinische ervaring dan het merendeel van deze sceptici. Zoals jullie waarschijnlijk ook aanvankelijk wat moesten wennen aan mijn persoontje, zo geldt dat ook wel voor de zusters hier. Ze vonden en vinden waarschijnlijk nog steeds mij maar een rare vogel. Maar er wordt ook gelachen en omdat ze me toch ook eigenlijk wel een beetje grappig vinden denk ik dat het allemaal wel goed zal komen. Wat helpt is dat er nagenoeg geen taalbarriere is, want het Engels zijn ze niet allemaal even goed machtig. Klick the Pic voor meer...