No way out ?
Mood:  hug me
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
I was on night shift for the first time with one of my new juniors, this guy from Iraque. He’s a nice guy really, but there’s so much anger in him when he starts talking about the war raging in his country. And of course I understand… But he wants to fight fire with fire, and to me, in the end, the circle of violence is round. I told him “Look, as far as I’m concerned, there has not been a single war in history that was not essentially based on politics and even more so, on money, regardless of what excuses were used. Now I don’t have a short term solution for your counttry, though I wished I had. But when it comes down to it, the solution is not to condemn every single person who belongs to the nation being the agressor. The only way out is education, so that we all can try to understand each other and look through the veils of culture, religion, politics and economics. So stop fingerpointing and start to improve the world starting with yourself, because the Iraqi people themselves are also not doing a fantastic job by bombing each other, using a different religion as an excuse. And don’t go and tell me this is an American conspiracy, because in the end the choice to follow someone is always still a choice and an individual responsibility that you can’t blame on someone else.”.
Later that evening I sat down and I thought, is there really no way out ? Then I thought about how India retrieved independence from its British oppressors. By means of strictly massive non-violence and people sticking together to reach the purpose. And regardless of the difficulties the different ethnicities experienced later on, at least they stood together to reach this goal. And I guess that’s why Mahatma Gandhi is to be regarded as one of the greatest persons in the world… Gandhi-Wiki

Vaderdag
Mood:  crushed out
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
The biggest surprises most often come quite unexpected and, of course, unannounced.... When the door bell rang this morning, I initially hesitated for something as long as up to 1 minute before opening the door. I was peeking through the hole in the door, trying to see who was there, expecting it to be "P-boy", Cipto's nowadays best friend. Eventually I decided to open the door after all, which turned out to be a good idea. The young chap from the Malaysian Postal Service was pretty much as surprised as I was, judging from the confused expression on his face. Me suddenly talking to him in Malay by no means improved things and only increased his confusion. After having signed the receipt slip, he quickly made his way out and I went back into what now is still my apartment.
Ik sloot de deur en maakte het pakje open. Groot was mijn verbazing over de inhoud van de envelop... Maar toen ik de bijbehorende kaart opende, klaarde mijn hele gezicht op en de glimlach op mijn gezicht zal de gehele volgende week kunnen kleuren. Dit is het beste vaderdags kado dat iemand kan wensen, de eerste voluit handgeschreven kaart van het prachtigste kind in de wereld; mijn dochter...

Ik voelde me uiterst dankbaar dat W. dit samen met Gita heeft gedaan. Door dingen zoals dit, weet ik dat er, diep in haar hart, werkelijk iets goeds schuilt, iets waarvan ik hoop dat we in de toekomst het goede in haar vaker aan de oppervlakte zien komen. Morgenvroeg is Gita bij Arjan. Ik hoop dat Gita voor hem een lekker ontbijtje maakt en dat W. ook voor hem samen met Gita iets soortgelijks heeft gemaakt. Dat zou het voor ons allen maken zoals het moet zijn; Gita die 2 echte pappa's heeft en van hen allebei kan houden zoals haar pappa's ook van haar houden...

6 more weeks & counting till Bali
Mood:  hug me
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
It’s been a hectic week for sure. Tons of problems coming at me that needed a swift solution. And in the meantime what nowadays seems to be a chronic lack of sleep due to frequent night shifts and working nightly hours. College fees for 2007/2008 are paid *ouch*. My appeal letter is now waiting in the office to be signed by prof. My trial had a head start this week, rather hectic and not in the way I usually like to have all details neatly taken care of. Official confirmation of my case report in JOG being accepted.
I came to wonder whether it is really all worth it, this hectic life style. How will it be afterwards, once specialised ? I want to be able to go out and have a drink for a friend’s B-day without having to feel bad about not being able to afford the dinner-outing and the worry about the workload that is still awaiting me. I want to be able to spend proper time with my gem. I want to be able to more often see my other small gem. I want to be finished with work at 5 in the afternoon. This week the pre-med kids from Taylors college were walking around in the hospital, to get a taste of doctor’s life. Prof BK and I gave them the best possible advise; don’t go to med school. By the time you find out how it is for real, it’s pretty much too late to bail out. And that’s how it is for me too. One happy-happy though this week; I got my hands on a 66 years old lady with a tummy as huge as 3 full term babies pregnancy.
With BK coming in later, I managed to get the whole thing out (including uterus) on my own. The result was a huge egg of at least 10 kilo’s, likely a dermoid cyst.

More things you might have wondered about...
Mood:  silly
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
I read it somewhere, but I forgot... While looking for the answer I stumbled on many more data...

How much gas does a normal person pass per day ?
On average, a person produces about half a liter of fart gas per day, distributed over an average of about fourteen daily farts.

Is it true that some people never fart ?
No, not if they're alive. People even fart shortly after death.

Do even movie stars fart ?
Yes, of course. So do grandmothers, priests, kings, presidents, opera singers, beauty queens, and nuns. Even Yoda farts.

Do men fart more than women ?
No, women fart just as much as men. It's just that most men take more pride in it than most women.

18 more months...
Mood:  not sure
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
The 4th year is starting soon. For me it means another 1.5 years, and already 3 years of working without a wage. My casereport submitted, my new research trial approved and funded, that leaves 2 major issues. This week I'll send my final last appeal to the Malaysian Medical Council. For all of those who are not aware; the MMC doesn't acknowledge my perfectly acceptable Dutch medical degree, even if I would be fully registered with the UK GMC. That means that - even if I would have a local specialist degree - I won't be allowed to stay on and earn a living here. For me, I've reconciled myself with my current unpaid status; I regard it as a major form of charity from my side. But I feel by now all the hard work that has benefitted the Malaysian government so far should be rewarded in at least giving met that full registration so that I can start earning some money. If not, then I guess little is left but preparing for my exams and start thinking about the next step. For I don't think I can stay on in a country that so much disrespects me and the many others like me who contribute to this society....

Lost in translation 2
Mood:  bright
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
OK, everybody can check out my translation skills on this website... just check the Dutch language section and you see the product of my creativity.... And... it's also about the LUNA-Bar, for those who have already visited me... http://test.pacific-regency.com

Worms in the computer department
Mood:  cheeky
The last couple of months the whole hospital network had been infested with worms and trojan horses. But today I saw it's getting worse and worse; the security staff was showing off a sample that they had actually cought in the computer department. It was an at least 2 meters long Boa Constrictor that had made the place to it's home. MMhhh... I turned on the virus scan straight away when I came home... Today worms, tomorrow snakes... what's next... ?

Fighting Fish
Mood:  d'oh
Topic: Night life & other action
I went to the local Dutch Film Festival. Well-well, a dutch movie about Chinatown in Rotterdam, trying to imitate kung-fu. It was bound to end up as some kind of bad Jean-Claude van Damme movie. It was quite obvious that they were trying to hide the terrible Dutch-English accent of the Dutch born chinese actors, but apparently the only way to do so was to minimise the lines of the actors and even then it was mostly quite corny what came out of their mouths. So to summarise; good but too long fighting scenes to cover up poor conversation in lack of storyline. Fortunately I had recently seen 2 nice other movies ("Pursuit of Happiness" & "Pan's labyrinth"), so I didn't land in an instant depression, although I came close.

W.
Mood:  blue
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
When I allowed W. to re-initiate contact 1 year ago, I actually knew what I was in for. My friends warned me for foolishness and naivity, but I knew exactly that this was most likely to happen. W. was gonna put me under emotional pressure and upset me at least once a month. Once the choice was made however, I couldn't go back. She made Gita part of my life, and me part of Gita's life. There's no way I could let that go without a fight. I know W. is very nice to Gita and she is a very important person in Gita's life. But sometimes I'm worried... thinking about nature & nurture... and hoping it won't affect Gita, hoping she won't see the things W. does to the people who cared about her, or worse even, following her behaviour.
On and off I think Gita would be better off staying with Arjan. I'm sure she would be happy to live with him and his girl-friend, with the cats and all other pets she adores.... But the reality is of course that in the end Gita needs W. and that is the most important thing of all...

Lost in translation
Mood:  bright
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
The other day I was approached by Alberto… Alberto is this chap whom I’ve only met once via a mutual friend whom I haven’t seen in ages either. Anyway, back then he got me to translate some info pamflet on tropical fruits from English into Dutch. He actually thought I had already left Malaysia and was merely trying his luck. Whether I’d be willing to translate a website into Dutch ?? Hell, if you pay me enough I’ll even come over and clean your office…! Well. Or something like that huh huh…. What seemed to be a breeze once again turned out to be a major headache. But... also once again I pulled it off, and when I saw the actual web page in English I knew I had struck the right key with my “blind” translation…As soon as the web page is activated, I’ll put up the URL on my weblog.