Finally revenge....
Mood:  hug me
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
I haven’t told yet the story of my housemate’s new car and I feel it’s not fair I withheld it from you all. Last year he bought this brand new Proton car, a local all-Malaysian brand. He was happy as a kid, for as we know, many men see their car as their second girlfriend. That meant we had to go cruising, to go for makan in one of the food stalls in Bangsar. Of course, a car like that, you cannot park outside, so we used the parking basement. Having had our dinner, our ways parted, for I was supposed to meet up with S. Not even halfway the place where I was supposed to meet S. he already called me…

- Ron, the car won’t start, I’ve been trying everything, but nothing works, can you come over here ?
- Well, I’m not a car technician, what do you want me to do ?
- I don’t know, maybe we can push the car or something like that…
- In the car parc ???!! Ah well, never mind, I’ll come over.

Turns out that there’s something wrong with the wiring, and even our skilled fingers can’t do anything to solve it. “Ok”, I sigh, “You go and sit in the car, I’ll try to give it a push”. After muttering a bit about him pushing and me steering I manage to convince him, and while I start pushing the car through the parking basement, C. slowly releases the clutch. The motor starts running in a regular fashion, humming as if nothing special had happened at all. C. is all happy again and I tell him to go home fast before the darn thing gives up on him. While I see his tail lights fade, I have to laugh to myself… Now there is revenge for 300 years of colonisation; the poor Dutch guy pushing the car of the rich Indonesian chap. Finally there is the justice they were looking for in “Oeroeg”, the movie I saw so many years ago.

Mood:  spacey
Hey Ron!!!!

Hoe is het met jou.... dat kan ik natuulijk lezen op je weblog maar dat komt er dus nooit van. Tegenwoordig loopt iedereen maar te webloggen, briljante verhalen maar ik kom niet eens toe aan de zaterdagkrant....
Hier in Amsterdamned alles wel ok, van grote euforie tot totale zinloze dagen, maar de gemiddelde balans is de moeite waard; beetje studeren, beetje werken, beetje feesten, en blijven dromen van het grote onbekende aan de andere kant van de wereld maar nog steeds een te groot gat in mijn hand om het te kunnen financieren.... what else is new ?
Hoe bevalt je opleiding, je huis, je leven, nou ja alles ? Ik hoop dat je je draai een beetje hebt gevonden:

xxx
Maydie

Hey Maydie !!!

Blij weer eens een keer wat van je te horen. Had je vorige maand nog een sms gestuurd, maar misschien is je nummer weer veranderd.... Dus de moderne hoog-informatieve-technologische samenleving heeft jou tenslotte ook al achterhaald ?? Maak je geen zorgen, onze generatie mag al blij zijn de weg te kunnen vinden op internet. Vandaag de dag moet alles snel-sneller-snelst... en straks wordt het een gave en een kunst om de tijd te kunnen genieten. Daar zijn wij dan weer in het voordeel. Terwijl hier het jachtige leven voorbij glijdt, moet ik stiekem toch keihard werken om alles in de hand te kunnen houden. Ook voor mij is de zaterdagkrant niet weggelegd, maar hier is dat geen groot gemis, gezien de journalistieke kwaliteiten en de lokale persvrijheid. Maar de hectiek weerhoudt me er niet van om me regelmatig te begeven in het bruisende KL night life... jawel, bruisen doet het hier zeker... forget Amsterdamned !!!! Dit is de grote stad hahaha
Maak je voorlopig geen zorgen over de weblogs... de mensen die je dagelijks tegenkomt hoef je niet te lezen hehehe.... en die van mij... tja, die crasht momenteel 1 op 3, maar als je de kans krijgt dan zie je misschien wat foto's en binnenkort nog meer. En wie weet kom ik in de 1e helft 2006 richting Nederland om het zelf allemaal te vertellen...

Cheers, Ron

About psycho cabs & smiling monks
Mood:  incredulous
I stop the cab and after a failed attempt to open the door, the cabby opens it from the inside. I get in and intend to start a casual conversation in Malay. “So, what happened to the door ?”, I ask him. “Why you……..” is his first response and then he keeps silent in all languages…. I still try, exclaiming a surprised and friendly “what ?”, but he doesn’t even blink an eye and seems to have withdrawn himself in a world of his own, far away from this one. The car starts to move with a trembling and rattling than can impossibly be ignored. Gear 1 becomes gear 2, switch to 3 end eventually gear 4. he even tries gear 5 for a moment, but after a few metres gives up and goes back to 4. Regardless of all this, the speed doesn’t change. Having arrived, the brakes prove to be as good as the engine, but even an accident probably wouldn’t have the least effect at his speed.
Having arrived at my destination, within 5 minutes a Buddhist monk stands by my side, puts a picture of some Chinese goddess in my hand and requests for a small donation for the temple. Never mind, I think, anything for the buddah, and I give him 10 bucks. Apparently the amount is negotiable, for he tempts me into another 10-dollar bill. I’m really sorry, I’m still a student, I try to explain. Never mind, broadly smiling he continues his quest. A typical day so far ?? I dunno….

In the Ranks...
Mood:  bright
After all the noise of the ranking had settled, I finally decided to take a look at the UK-based “Times” news paper “Top 200 of Universities worldwide”. To be honestly, I don’t really believe in these so-called ranking lists. Just because some university managed to get a certain position doesn’t mean it is so super-calli-fragi-listic-expiali-docious, as well as not having made it into the ranking doesn’t mean you’re attending a bad university. And anyway, in the end, however good or bad your uni might be, it’s most of all about the effort you put into it yourself. But now let’s see; so the university I’m currently attending made it to the 169th place and my “scientific cradle”, Maastricht University, made it to the 157th position. Oh, and did I mention that, for instance, the Free University of Amsterdam (VU) was on the 186th position ? I guess this all means that, overall, both are not doing too bad, being in a list of some 3,500 institutions. So for all the people who were concerned about my future level of education in a far away country, be assured, everything's gonna be OK.

Bar flies
Mood:  bright
Topic: Night life & other action
The Luna Bar… I guess called like that for the fact that it is on top of a tall building, has the sky for a roof and thus enables you to stare at the moon and if you had enough of that you can enjoy what is probably one of the best places for a view over KL by night. With a small pool in the middle, a styled bar on one side and a large “window” on the other side, on its both sides a small wall covered by a curtain of water trickling down, it has a perfect, relaxing atmosphere. You can sit in one of the “glass” cubicles to look straight down on KL or at the sitting corner right next to the pool and enjoy the tasteful lounge music. I guess one has to see it with ones own eyes, that’s why I put up some picks of the place.
I took P. & F. there when they visited me last month, because you can’t miss this if you come to KL. A not so close friend accompanied us and we had some (overpriced – which is the biggest drawback of this place) food and drinks. Of course, being ourselves, we wanted to go Dutch, or at least something close to that. Unfortunately our “friend” was not familiar with the expression; either that or she was a rather cunning, professional barfly. Never mind, she pulled the same trick as a few days before, after which our ways parted and the three of us continued to play a few last games of pool in another equally nice place. The next day, after 2 exciting weeks, they left and for me things went back to their usual normal working pattern. Well… almost… for now I also had had a taste of KL nightlife for the first time in a year and it sure tasted good !! That’s why, in the subsequent weeks, I managed to get out there for some more taste, despite my financial- and time constraints. That’s however, when I discovered that it’s good to be a barfly… well, not really of course, but in many cases my friends were so nice as to be aware of my non-waged job and here and there cut me some slack. So… cheers to you all and thanx for all these times you’ve enabled me to join in on the KL nightlife.

Wet feet...
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: (scary) hospital stories
MMhhhh I knew it today when it started with wet feet... I was in the daycare and just emptying the bladder of a patient... I actually (almost pfffeewww) managed to pee in my own boots. Well, actually the patients urine, but that is a minor detail. Somehow it just wasn't a top day. Next thing I know I'm assisting one of my profs in a laparascopy. Halfway we had to change the instruments and before I know it my thumb is on one of the openings in the abdominal wall. Yeah yeah... the Dutch are saving the day again, as tradition dictates they are holding the finger in the dike...

And the next working day...
Mood:  quizzical
Topic: (scary) hospital stories
Mmmhhh... so typical... today she comes up to me and promises to compensate me for the laparascopy I missed out on... It puzzles me and I wonder if her spells are really only temporarily and as easily over and forgotten as they had initially started. Maybe after all it is only this big issue for her that upset her, even if to me personally it doesn't seem a big deal. but like my friend S. said; for Indians especially, the idea of seniority is a big thing...

Post scriptum... She'd already been spreading some nonsense story behind my back, even while pretending to be nice to me. never mind, for as my supervisor dokter P. said; a tree with strong roots and a broad base isn't afraid if there will be some wind, for it has nothing to fear... Only the weakly rooted trees will fear the wind...

Squirrel on a wire
Mood:  bright
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
Yeah, that's life sometimes, I think... balancing on a wire, like the squirrel does. But now and then, like the squirrel, you sometimes reach a tree and you can sit down to take a rest, think things over. Now I've passed my MRCOG 1 I can take my momentary rest. I used the occasion to alter some things in the webb.. hope everybody likes it, cause I got quite some complaints about the colours of the text.. Anyway, let me know how ya like it, cheers.

Question 23: Ron's bloodgroup is 100% arabica roast; O true O false
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Starbucks
Nothing beats the tranquillity of the night after the rain has swept all the dust from the roads earlier in the evening. Just a bit drizzling, still, it won’t stop me from walking home when there is no cab to be seen in the whole area. When after some 3 minutes a cab is approaching, I hesitate for a moment, but decide to walk on. Especially up Hill Street there is a strong scent coming from the white flowers in this tree that I only know under both the name Japanese tree as well as Cambodian tree. I love the scent as it always reminds me of Bali and the times I spent there. Ahh, memories memories…
This evening was another evening of trying to cramp all the exam stuff in my already overloaded memory. This whole exam is really driving me nuts, and if I’m gonna make it through this exam @ all I actually ought to buy all the Starbucks people some cake or something. From time to time I must have looked quite sad, and they always seemed to know when blood levels where dropping and I needed another caffeine boost. If I would have gotten into an accident one of these evenings and they would have checked my blood group, they probably would have found something like 100% Arabica, double roast.
But still, it’ll keep driving me nuts for the next 9 days or so I guess. For anyone in the medical business who wonders what I’m talking about; go and take a look at the free physiology sample questions @ www.busyspr.com and see how you like it

Mont Kiara Jazz
Mood:  suave
Topic: Night life & other action
Last weekend I finally visited the Sunrise Jazz & Rhythm Festival 2005. Cipto came home late after a surgical battle with the old man… Having no energy for anything else and me being sick & tired of MCQ’s we decided to go there for 2 hours. Good choice, it turned out. I should have brought my camera cause the setting was quite ok. As the matter of fact, it was a bit similar to the Jazz-in-Duketown-thing in my own country. While sitting down and actually realising that I miss my country the way it is in Summer time, I also felt a bit at home, for the mere reason of ending up in a similar atmosphere. To make it even more complete, I even managed to get my hands on a 2 bottles of White Hoegaarden beer from Belgium… It cost me dearly, but it was definitely worth it and for a moment I was back home again. And as far as the music was concerned, it was definitely worthwhile and good for a second round, either next weekend or next year.