Just Another Rambling

I am a fairly patient person. But when my own integrity is being questioned, hell yeah I won't tolerate that. I have a quick temper yes, but over the years I've learned to tone it down and try to think first before reacting with either words or actions. Because, if and when I do lose my temper and let my tongue loose, the person at the receiving end would probably have singed ears and wishes that he/she is deaf instead. Therefore, my silence reflects the level of my wrath. You have been warned...

They say I'm a loner. Well, maybe I am in a way. I don't do well in large groups, I've lots of acquaintances but only a handful of friends that I trust and am comfortable with. No point 'collecting' friends just to be popular but ended up not trusting any of them. And I love the few close friends that I have, they gave me comfort and kept me sane all through these years. Better than any depression meds any day. Quality is definitely better than quantity, no?

Some say I'm weird in the sense that I enjoy my own company. Well, I truly do. Going out and hanging out in some noisy pub/eatery is nothing compared to a good book/movie with some soothing music on and chilling at home. Maybe it's the age thing. You see, I have gone through the phase of hanging out with a bunch of friends all day everyday when I was younger. Now as I get older, solace is what I crave. Silence IS golden. And no more wild parties, please. Once in a while I don't mind it, but not all the time. Old already, no more energy, huh...

They say that I am open minded. Yes I am. I don't bother other people and their choices, so why should they be bothered with mine? I don't like to preach and force my opinions on others because I don't like people to do that to me. Unless you're related to me and your actions will eventually affect me, please keep your nosy noses out of my life. But, my open-mindedness does have its limits of course. If you want to drink, smoke, copulate, do as you wish with your body, it's your choice, but don't expect me to follow suit. Yes, I do have an open mind, but that doesn't mean that I would open my legs for anyone too. HELL NO. I am not all that pious, but religion is important to me and I believe that there is only one powerful, knowing and forgiving GOD. The hijab kept me from doing things that I shouldn't be doing, and I'm thankful for that. Hence, I don't do things that I don't feel comfortable doing, and no one can force me to do anything that I don't want to. I am myself, rigid principles all. Deal with it.

Phew! Glad I got that out of my chest. Like I said, it's just another rambling... ^_^

BURN

Do you wanna be a poet and write
Do you wanna be an actor up in lights
Do you wanna be a soldier and fight for love
Do you wanna travel the world
Do you wanna be a diver for pearls
Or climb a mountain and touch the clouds above
Be anyone you want to be
Bring to life your fantasies
But I want something in return
I want you to burn burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn
Burn for me
Burn for me
Are you gonna be a gambler and deal
Are you gonna be a doctor and heal
Or go to heaven and touch God's face
Are you gonna be a dreamer who sleeps
Are you gonna be a sinner who weeps
Or an angel
Under grace
Ill lay down on your bed of coals
Offer up my heart and soul
But in return
I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn burn for me burn for me
Yeah
Ooh
I want you to burn baby ooh
Laugh for me
Cry for me
Pray for me
Lie for me
Live for me
Die for me
I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn burn for me burn for me
Yeah
Ah yeah
I want you to burn
I want you to burn for me baby
Ohh yeah

On Bended Knees

Today was a day of proposals. Why?

1. In real-time:
My dear friend and classmate, Ms.MCL is now engaged! And it all happened in Ophthalmology lab just now. Her bf (now fiance) actually got down on one knee, told her that she was the only woman that he wants to spend his life with, and asked her if she would do him the honour of being his wife! It was a lovely and sweet surprise; I knew I was gaping throughout and our lecturer (and some of the strapping macho guys in the class, heheh) were moved to tears. It was kinda like one of those Hallmark moments, because the love that they had for each other really shone so bright that it was almost blinding. But the best part of it is that I've actually had the chance of watching something like that with my very own eyes and not only on TV. How cool is that! I am really happy for her, and wish nothing but the best for both of them.

Congrats my dear MCL! May your lives together will be full of love, joy & laughter forever and ever...


2. On reel-time
This was about something on the House tv show. Yeah, I'm fan, and have been faithfully following each and every episode without fail. I really love the show, but needless to say after the shocking (to me at least) twist in the previous episode (S5 Ep20) regarding the untimely and rather gruesome and tragic passing of one of my favourite characters, Kutner (he was supposedly to have shot himself due to unexplained reasons), I did not expect that the writers would come up with another surprise in the show in S5 Ep.21 when Chase got down on his knees and proposed to Allison! And this I watched on the telly just a few hours after the real-time proposal in class! Seems like spring and wedding bells are in the air.....


So, the conclusion is:
"Love is in the air, everywhere we look around...."


p/s: Am trying to compile plausible answers for one of the most dreaded questions that will defintely be thrown at me during my cousin's wedding party this summer. Ideas anyone??

Life, or I Think Something Like It

Things are good here, alhamdulillah. Of course, there are still a couple of unresolved issues with some thick-headed individuals that claim to be my friends but clearly don't know how to be one. But other than that, I have to say that things are really good.

Really really glad to be in my group this year. Actually, the school secretary messed up our names and so we ended up being in different groups compared from last years. But I have no complains, because so far I am satisfied with the lot that are in my group. And the fact that our group was assigned to the pediatrics cardiology clinic whereas the others were assigned to the pediatrics nephrology clinic has made some of the other peeps envy us just because we learn more in the department compared to them. Well, boohoo. We're all grown-ups, and we make our own choices and pave our own destiny. Eventhough we had rounds everyday, we still go for on-calls with the residents and attendings there because we wanted to learn more. So don't go blaming other people not teaching you enough when all you wanna do is rest on your laurels and whine. Be proactive, for goodness' sake. Ceh....

I am now the official counselor for Teddy, heheh... (Hey, dia yg nak mengadu dumba, I dengar je lah. I good friend what)... Started eversince he hooked up with his (ex)-gf and now till they broke up. I myself didn't realize it (if not for my roomie pointing it out) but almost every Friday we'll have our sessions via my Samsung. Life's a bitch, but I gotta say some gals are bitchier. Well, there's nothing else to do but to write it off as one of life's sweet yet painful experiences, right? And love makes you do many stupid things no matter how sane you think you are. How do I know this? Mind you I don't think I've ever really been in love, but close to it, yeah. And even being close to falling in love could make you go crazy, imagine if it's the real thing. Urghhhh, scary siot....

Patch and Kruger have been real sweet these days. Apahal ntah mamat dua ekor tuh semenjak dua menjak ni. Si Mummy pulak makin pelik. Hmmphhhh, sukati lah belalang.....

Brains vs. Brawns

For me personally there's no doubt about it; brains win hands down. A stimulating conversation is more of a turn-on than muscle flexing. There is nothing more sexier than a guy who has it all up there and kept it all together. Yummmm....

The ultimate drool factor in this category would be 'Cyrus the Virus' character in Con Air played by John Malkovich. Yeah I know he's just a fictional character, but so far most non-fictional flesh and blood mortals fall real short and ain't nowhere near the likes of him. Sigh, this is what happens when you've set your standards that high.....

And on another note, I have never been a fan of Rufus Sewell, but after watching him as Dr. Jacob Hood in the Eleventh Hour.....oh my oh my oh my oh my..... *pengsan*

Foreign vs. Local

If this is really gonna be implemented soon, then is it really worth it for me to go back and serve my country when they don't really need local docs anymore?

Maybe I should explore other options.

Maybe change is good.

Maybe it's a sign.

Just wondering, that's all......

Flu-ish Weather

Demam
Selsema
Sakit kepala
Sakit badan

The weather is driving me up the wall! Surrounded by sneezy+coughy+feverish people ain't helping either. Barely recovering from last week's bout of stomach flu, now this. Sigh.....

It snowed yesterday. Came with winds and thunder all. Just when you thought that spring is finally here, then suddenly snowflakes started falling down from the sky. Was practically covered all white on my way back from class. It was cold, but thank God the temp was above 0 degrees, else I think my body temp will sharply incline making me tres tres sick again. But thankfully all the medication and fluids worked, and only remnants of a mild stuffed/runny nose is present.

Sudah-sudah lah tu, penat la sakit lama-lama nih. Really I tell you, gone lah my liver like this kalau asyik dok sakit and telan PCM sokmo. Isy.....

Salam Takziah

Just got the news from my mom about the passing of my SIL's father in Kedah.

Semoga roh-nya dicucuri rahmat dan ditempatkan bersama orang-orang yag beriman. Amin...

AL-FATIHAH

n/b: Life is short. Treasure every moment. Every second counts. Don't waste time on thinking about what might have been, but think about what it will be instead...

Stomach Flu et moi

Gastroenteritis, or commonly (and mistakenly) known as the stomach flu, is an inflammation of the lining of the stomach and small and large intestines. Most of the cases are infectious, although gastroenteritis may also follow ingestion of drugs and chemical toxins (eg, metals, plant substances).

Infectious gastroenteritis is commonly caused by viruses (Rotavirus, Norovirus, Astrovirus, Adenovirus, CMV), and less commonly by bacterias (Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, E.coli O157:H7) and parasites (Giardia, Cryptosporidium).

Generally, there is a sudden onset of symptoms, with anorexia, nausea, vomiting, borborygmi, abdominal cramps, watery diarrhea (with or without blood and mucus), malaise, myalgias, and prostration. The abdomen may be distended and mildly tender; in severe cases, muscle guarding may be present. Gas-distended intestinal loops may be palpable. Borborygmi are present even without diarrhea. Persistent vomiting and diarrhea can result in intravascular fluid depletion with hypotension and tachycardia. In severe cases, shock, with vascular collapse and oliguric renal failure, occurs.

Treatment is symptomatic, although parasitic and some bacterial infections require specific anti-infective therapy. Gastroenteritis is usually uncomfortable but self-limited. Electrolyte and fluid loss is usually little more than an inconvenience to an otherwise healthy adult but can be grave for people who are very young elderly, or debilitated or who have serious concomitant illnesses.

(Source: The Merck Manual of Medical Information)

This was what I had last weekend. A rather bad case of gastroenteritis. First it was diarrhea. I thought it was just a plain case of lactose intolerance (had a glass of milk Friday afternoon) which usually would pass after a few hours, or at least food poisoning. But then the symptoms got worse; non-stop diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, a pulsating frontal headache, back pain and muscle cramps. And come Saturday afternoon my temperature spiked! I was dehydrated from the diarrhea and had chills all over that I couldn't eat anything. All I could manage was sipping plain lukewarm water now and then, swallowing a couple of tabs of PCM, gulping down home-made ORS (oral rehydration salt) mix, wrapping up myself under the blankets, and slept and slept and slept...

Alhamdulillah, the next morning the fever, headache, cramps, nausea were all gone. Still had some mild diarrhea though. All I could manage was some dry toast and soup. By nightfall I was almost normal, albeit a little bit weak. I was lucky that my recovery was speedy, I guess that my decision to rehydrate and control the fever worked in my favour. That and also the fact that although the urge to vomit was there I tried not to because I knew that if I do I'm gonna be more dehydrated. It may be bad to suppress the urge, but I do know my body well and how it reacts.

Until now I have been trying to figure out what had caused it. The only conclusion that I can come up with is that I may have had a viral gastroenteritis contracted from the hospital or from my colleagues. Why? Because apparently some of my classmates also fell ill with almost the exact same symptoms that I had on the very same day. It definitely wasn't food poisoning because we didn't eat the same food. Coincidence? I think not. Although, according to one of the doctors it could also be the fact that there was an epidemic of stomach flu at the time. And I think he could be right, because of this. Whatever it was, it affected my friends worse than me. Poor things. But as Ms MCL said there is an upside to it; she lost 5 pounds in less than a week! Good for her, but caution to all of you especially the bulimics: vomiting is NEVER the solution to weight loss, comprende?

It's been a long while since I was this sick. Thank goodness I kept some PCMs, aspirins, charcoal tablets, and paid attention during physiology class long time ago. Time and again the home-made ORS mix proved to be useful when no pre-packed ORS are available on-hand. Thanks Prof. Ruby, you're a life saver!

n.b. I'm laying off rice for now. My stomach can't seem to stand it anymore, too starchy I guess. Might go vegetarian for a while. Wonder how long till I'll start craving for some meat...

Busy Bee

I'm wiped out. Tired of running around town for our classes in different hospitals scattered all over the place. Thank goodness the public transport here is quite efficient, although one do have to put up with bau-bauan yang kurang menyenangkan daripada orang-orang yang tak reti nak mandi, ada yang sanggup tak mandi berbulan-bulan sebab nak jimat air. Sheeeeshhhh....

We're having a case presentation tomorrow. It's about a patient in our pediatrics clinic with Tetralogy of Fallot. Interesting case, nice and very accomodating baby. My group has the honour of presenting first, so I would really hope that we'll do good. Will give an update later on how it goes.

Now need to get some zzzzzzzs before revising for tomorrow's presentation, got a killer headache residual from a very bad case of Gastroenteritis (stomach flu) over the weekend. If got time I'll blog about that too.

Oh, did I mention that I HATE public speaking?? Urghhhhhhh...