I guess only certain people are allowed to wear yellow these days

Parking

I don't know if I should laugh or cry because I just found out today, after a short drive to the nearest KFC that I can do reverse parking but fail badly at forward parking. Haih....

One look at my car with it's left back wheel barely inside the corner of the parking lot and you'll know that it's a new driver or somebody in a rush. Maybe I was craving that much for KFC. (consoling myself. Hahahahaha)

Dreaming

'Let's go to have beef noodles. I know a shop which is famous for it along this street', as I enthusiastically led my colleague down the street.

We approached this rundown wooden shack with its low zinc roof  looking so out of place surrounded by modern shop lots and yet it so lively with customers having their meal, cooks preparing the dishes and waiters running up and down.

'Why don't we try this place instead of the corner shop down the road?', I asked my colleague and we made our way inside.

I counted my lucky stars as there were empty seats. Taking in the aroma of the boiling beef soup which was stimulating my saliva glands, I searched for the stall's owner to take our orders.....

Then, I opened my eyes, after all that walking and hunting for seats, I'd just turned 45 degrees from my initial sleeping position after hibernating post-call. Haih.....I was so close to having beef noodles and I could actually smell it!

That was how I started my 4 days leave for Chinese New Year with such a funny dream post-call. Hahahahahaha. Beef noodles anyone?

Gong Xi Fa Cai and may the year of the rabbit bring good luck to everyone!

Exam for docs won’t cause brain drain

Exam for docs won’t cause brain drain

I'm sure I'm not the first one who wished that this exam was implemented earlier. Such a big potential loophole for scholars who do not wish to do their housemanship in Malaysia after graduation. We can choose to fail this examination in the act of free will and thus deem incompetent to practice in our homeland. Just joking. There are many reasons why we choose to come back instead of serving in a foreign land.

Change of topic.

Almost 3 months into my training and I'm still grumbling and complaining every single day. I blame tiredness for sucking away each and every passion I have for medicine and helping mankind. There are still occasions where I'd reached my breaking point and almost walk away from whatever cruel act that I was carrying out on screaming and crying children or some who are too weak to even make a sound. There are also times when I'd just turned cold blooded and went ahead without caring about their pleas to finish the job so that I can go home postcall. Seriously, I don't know how long inhumane working hours can provide optimum training for house officers. Most of the time, nothing gets absorbed by the organ sitting between the ears.

House officers are not distributed evenly in Malaysia. Seriously, they're not. I hear others boasting about only 4 calls a month, having time to play football, never covering a ward alone. I can only say that the grass is always greener on the other side. I should start accepting my own fate and stop complaining. Our seniors had it worse. I wished that there is a labour law in Malaysia safe guarding sufficient resting time. With the numbers of HOs now, I'm sure we have the capacity to implement safer working hours.

I wonder how many patients realised the dangers of overworked doctors and some even complained that we switch on the lights in the middle of the night while administering IV drugs and even on our technique of drugs giving. Am I supposed to administer drugs in the dark? I almost encourage the father of a patient to lodge an official complaint when he said, 'If you don't know how to administer IV drugs, then don't administer!' when I accidentally caused some backflow into the 3-way tap. Well, I can guarantee that none of the house officers has had proper training in IV drugs administration prior to any of our oncalls. We learnt it from each other. Another thing about some nurses, they're not supportive at all. Some don't even carry out their jobs properly and yet they start criticising you for minor mistakes, even scold you for wrong techniques and worse of all, when you ask them for help, they complain first and then reluctantly drag themselves over to help. That's counted lucky, try walking over to the nurses station to ask for a hand and end up not getting any thus patient's mother had to help out instead. Hmmmmmm......that's professionalism for you.

I was really angry at one occasion when I was asked to remove a umbilical artery catheter from a few days old infant during my oncall and the nurse told me that usually the house officer removes it. I'd never done one before but was pushed (or you can say coerced) by the nurse to do it. Only advice that she gave me when I asked where was the appropriate place to start cutting she said 'Just cut lah!'. Great, whatever happens to this poor baby will be my fault and I wonder who was the super enthusiastic doctor who tied so many knots. When I face the blade toward the catheter, the nurse started scolding me cause I might cut the catheter but it was impossible to even get in between the thread, so when I asked her how else should I cut, she couldn't even suggest anything. Luckily, my oncall MO came to the rescue in the end when I gave up and looked for him for help. Even then, no one taught me the right way of removing until today!!!!! I love my ward's MOs cause they're so helpful and they teach you the correct method before setting you off into the wild. That should be the way. It's only then I felt glad ending up at Paeds ICU ward despite all the stress and long working hours. Will make the best of my placement there.

I'm apologising to all my patients as I am forced to make you my guinea pigs most of the time due to poor training provided for housemans.

Meeting up

Finally, a day off on Christmas Day thanks to my other houseofficer who helped cover the ward. It's just the two of us on the Paeds ICU ward and the workload is massive. I somehow survived 2 weeks and there's 7 more weeks to go. Wish me luck.

Met up with M and YH at Midvalley. Long time no see!

Catching up at Seeds Cafe. It's a new concept where the boutique is connected to its own cafe. Service was excellent but of course, you pay for it.

Took the KTM to and fro as I'm still not confident enough to drive alone. Going was all right. The way back was almost a nightmare as the same scenario of watching people trying to squeeze into the coaches like sardines is still happening. Luckily, there were 2 trains one after the other at that peak hour and I caught the one less crowded. I even managed to find a seat.

Looking at the new poster for the female coach, won't you think that Malaysia's really open minded? What about both parents and children? Are they allowed?

Today's half day for me cause Malaysia won ASEAN Suzuki Cup. We definitely need to win more. Enjoying my chance to hibernate and recharge this evening. Will separate out another post about my work cause that's another category and a total contrast to this post.

What happens when you're late

If you're late for 5 minutes, you'll have to sing.
If you're late for 10 minutes, you'll have to sing and dance.
If you're late for 15 minutes, you'll have to sing and dance alone as the bus would have left you behind.

Try saying this with a straight and expressionless face.

I love my Russian tour guide.

Guys, this is the best way to learn CPR

Forget about all the mnemonics of DR SCAB PACED or worry about forgetting the steps to basic life support. Once you've watched this, you'll definitely pass the BLS station at OSCE and all set to go out and save lives.

Tutorial video was recommended by Dr Leo Khoo who is currently single, available and working at the A&E department of the Royal Liverpool Hospital as CT1. So, whoever is interested can pop into A&E which is open 24/7 and request for him. Hahahahaha.

Funny Print Ads

Clink on the print ad to go to the original source.









The best one:

Confusing Chinese Names

All credit goes to the original author. It is not intended to make fun of people with surnames mentioned below. Best effect achieved if you understand Hokkien, Mandarin and Cantonese, which luckily, I do that's why I almost 'pengsan' laughing. Have a good laugh.

Confusing Chinese Names

Caller : Hello, can I speak to Annie Wan (anyone)?

Operator : Yes, you can speak to me.

Caller : No, I want to speak to Annie Wan (anyone)!

Operator : You are talking to someone! Who is this?

Caller : I'm Sam Wan (Someone). And I need to talk to Annie Wan (anyone)! It's urgent.

Operator : I know you are someone and you want to talk to anyone! But what's this urgent matter about?

Caller : Well... just tell my sister Annie Wan (anyone) that our brother Noel Wan (no one)has involved in an accident. Noel Wan (no one)got injured and now Noel Wan (no one) is being sent to the hospital. Right now, Avery Wan (everyone) is on his way to the hospital.

Operator : Look if no one was injured and no one was sent to the hospital, then the accident isn't an urgent matter! You may find this hilarious but I don't have time for this!

Caller : You are so rude! Who are you?

Operator : I'm Saw Lee (Sorry).

Caller : Yes! You should be sorry. Now give me your name!!!
======================================================
This is hilarious ...

Why Chinese shouldn't have Christian names:

Anne Chang => Dirty (Mandarin)
Anne Chin => Keep Quiet (Mandarin)
Faye Chen => Dusty (Mandarin)
Carl Cheng => Buttock (Hokkien)
Monica Cheng => Touching your buttocks (Hokkien)
Lucy Leow => You are dead (Hokkien)
Jane Tan => Frying eggs (Mandarin)
Suzie Leow => Lose till death (Hokkien)
Henry Mah => Hate your mum (Mandarin)
Corrine Tai => Poor fellow (Hokkien)
Paul Chan => Bankrupt (Mandarin)
Nelson Tan => Bird laying eggs (Mandarin)
Leslie Tong => Rubbish Bin (Mandarin)
Carmen Teng => Leg hair long (Hokkien)
Connie Mah => Call your mother (Cantonese)
Danny See => Squeeze you to death (Hokkien)
Rosie Teng => Screws and nails (Hokkien)
Pete Tsai => Nose droppings (Hokkien)
Macy Koh => Never die before (Cantonese)

Pass around for some laughter*

Simple test to know your character

This was an email forwarded by my dad. All copyrights go to the original author.




*Hello Good Morning all….. Keep smiling always….*

* *

*Check this out.... It Really Worked with me.... Will work with u too...

Here you have a great chance to know about yourself like your character
etc. without spending any money. This test was devised by IIMA. It tells
about your personality just by your choice. So know yourself & enjoy

Here it is......

Imagine you walked into a small hut by the river in the jungle. You pushed
open the door, in front of you were 7 small beds to the right of the hut,
and another 7 small chairs surrounding a small round table.. In the middle
of the table was a round food tray with 5 kinds of fruit in it.
There are:

a. **Apple **
b. **Banana **
c. **Strawberry **
d. **Peach **
e. **Orange **

Which **fruit ** will u choose? ** **
Your choice reveals about u! Pls be very Honest to yourself.... .
& Now scroll down for results: **

........... ........

**



**

........... .......... .


**





**
........... .......... ......... ....... **







**
............ ......... ......... .......









**
........... ......... ......... ....... **















**
............ ......... ......... ......















**
........... ......... ......... ....... **











**

........... ......... ....


**




**

........... ......... ........


**



**

............ ......... ......... ........


**




........... ......... ......... ......... ......... ..
TEST RESULTS:
Here are the results.
------------ --------- ------ *

*
a. if you chosen **apple **: that means you are a person who loves to eat Apple * *
b. if you chosen **banana **: that means you are a person who loves to eat Banana * *
c. if you chosen ** strawberry : that means you are a person who loves to eat Strawberry * *
d. if you chosen **peach **: that means you are a person who loves to eat Peach
e. if you chosen **orange **: that means you are person who loves to eat Orange **

Note: If u r hunting to punch** **me ......Well... .I am busy hunting for the person who sent me !!!!!*

Can't believe my dad even forwarded this lame joke to me. I can't believe that you people are reading it as well. Hahahaha. Hope that made you laugh today.

Spice up your photos

Have you ever dreamed of having your face on billboards? Have you ever yearned to be a top model but nobody seemed to spot your beauty and talent? Or have you wondered how does it feel being a famous painting?

First step to achieving your dreams, is to realise it on photographs!

That is why there's no oriental version of Mona Lisa.

Interested? Go to http://photofunia.com

Maybe only the cats are interested

Things can be worse

A Letter to Dad

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the pillow. It was addressed 'Dad'. With the worst premonition he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands,

'Dear Dad, it is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you, I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mum and you. I've been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice but I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings, tattoos, her tight Motorcycle clothes and because she is so much older than I am. But it's not only the passion Dad, she's pregnant. Stacy said that we will be very happy, she owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people in the commune for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better, she sure deserves it! Don't worry Dad, I'm 15, and I know how to take care of myself, someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your many grandchildren.

Love, your son, Joshua

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Jason's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the school report that's on the kitchen table. Call when it is safe for me to come home :)

When I came across this letter from a random blog, I started laughing non-stop until my sides hurt. I guess it is a really good tactic for getting away from a major mistake that you've made.

I do agree, things can be worse and remember to read the post-scripts! They are important.

Caution
Not recommended to be used on elderly parents with high risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Malaysian Manglish and culture shock

Aren't we speaking the same language? Why are you doing it that way???!!

Do you get that puzzled look when talking to people from other countries? Why is it that Malaysian accent is so easily identified? Do you get very self-conscious when speaking to the local people because your usual way of speaking contains loads of grammar and pronunciation mistakes? Do you get a shock of your life while watching your flatmate wash the dishes?

These were the things I've encountered during my stay in England since the September of 2005. Whoa, that's a long time. I haven't been back since the summer of 2006 and I'm anticipating for my flight on the 14th of June from Manchester to Kuala Lumpur.

This recent conversation which I had with my GP partner during our 3 hour lunch break came up as we were bored. He's half Malaysian but was born in the UK. I can't believe he even visits his relatives in Malaysia more than the number of times I went home over this 2.5 years.

Talking about Malaysian accent, we are really famous for ending our sentences with all sorts of different additional sounds. Our most popular and infamous one is -Lah. It is so, so, soooooo difficult to remind myself not to end each and every sentences with it when I first came over to the UK. Without the -Lah, it feels like the sentence is without a full stop left hanging in mid-air. Usually I start off the conversation fine, but as I get more and more comfortable, the -Lahs will start appearing before I could stop myself. I used to use a lot of -Bah as well when I was in Sabah last time and even both -Lah and -Bah next to each other. For example, 'Janganlah, Bah' which translates to 'Don't be like that'.

The next thing is grammar. My goodness! This is even worse than trying to get rid of the -Lah. I've never realised that my grammar was so poor until I forced myself to speak proper English with my course mates. It is really difficult. Sometimes, it's already too late when you've started with a wrong structure and then, to savage the sentence, I'll try to correct it midway and it ends up sounding really awkward. I was talking to M the other day and she told me the same thing as well. So difficult! Sometimes I wished that I'd grew up speaking perfect English and don't have to change the old habit when I'm already this old. Ok, ok, 22 isn't that old yet. Oh yes, M, what happened to our 1 hour a day English conversation session? We wanted to try to improve on our language skills but in the end, laziness and too much work overtook that priority.

I'm not sure about you, but most Malaysians which I've spoken to tend not to pronounce the Th- but instead, we pronounce it as just T- without the sound of blowing air and withdrawing the tongue after placing it between the teeth. I'm not sure if this is the correct technique of pronouncing it, but my mum has taught me this way when I was younger but I've never followed it. Please correct me if I'm wrong. There are times when I've pronounced a few English words especially those which I'm unfamiliar with using the Bahasa Baku way and that brings puzzled looks from my friends.

Don't you feel that the way we talk resembles singing at times? We have a really rich intonation while speaking as compared to the British. I think it's thanks to our multi-language skills and influence from so many cultures that we share and borrow words from other languages and dialects to enrich our vocabulary and intonation. No wonder lecturers here sound so boring. Hehehehe.

I've been brought up to greet people who are older than me by addressing them as 'Uncle' or 'Aunty' as a sign of respect. But over here, they will only call their actual relatives uncles and aunties. My GP partner told me that it was really awkward for him to just call his mother's friends uncles and aunties as he's never done that over here. Another phrase which he said was really funny to him was 'making noise'. We do hear this so very often when somebody is complaining about someone else. We mean complaining when we use this 'special phrase'. I've never realised that this phrase was never in the English dictionary.

Coming to culture. This one totally shocked me in my first month in the UK. I was chatting to my local house mate while watching her do her dishes when she announced that she was done.

She has soaked her dishes in a mixture of water and dish-washing detergent, scrubbed them with a piece of cloth to make sure nothing else was stuck on them, place them on the plate holder to drain off the water, and proceeded to use another cloth to dry them off before placing them in her cabinet.

'Aren't you going to rinse your dishes?' I asked her with a horrified face.

'No, it's done after I've dried them'

'But, there's still soap on them'

'The soap is for killing the bacteria' (I don't even know if she was telling the truth or not)

This is definitely a culture shock to me. A big one too. Since that time, I used my own plates for everything, even when she cooked for me. Never mind, don't think about how she washed her pots and frying pans. Hehehehehe.

Food, this one I still cannot accept it. Do you treat crisps a.k.a. keropok as part of your proper meal? One of the famous menu for lunch is sandwich with crisps. After finishing their lunch, my local friends always end it with either a bar of chocolate, cereal bar or just something sweet. I find it unhealthy, therefore I've never come around to trying sandwiches with crisps yet. My friends were trying to convince me that it was delicious but I still cannot accept the crisp being part of lunch. It is not only weird to me but also unhealthy.

Phew, this is a long entry. I'm sure that you all will have your own unusual or funny experiences and encounters as well. Come share it with me and we'll have a good laugh.

Joke that made me laugh today

I was watching this variety show on YouTube when the host started telling this joke:

My friend was driving and he sped past the traffic light which has just turned red.

'Why did you beat the red light?' I asked.

'Don't worry about it, my brother taught me to do so. The drivers here obey the traffic rules so there wouldn't be any problem.' he reassured me.

At the next junction, the traffic light just turned orange and my friend stopped his car.

'Why did you stop?' I asked him.

'I was afraid that my brother would be rushing out from the other side.'

Which traffic light am I suppose to follow?

*Please do not try this at home

Funny Videos

ImprovEverywhere is one of the most creative group created. They're the same group who staged the 'Frozen Grand Central'.

Here's another of their mission in a food court:



No laptop to serve the Internet? Bring your desktop!:



The video that created the legendary 'Freezing trend':



Have fun browsing through other videos from them.

There's another group called the Flashmob. It's funny to note that humans do practice the herd mentality.



It's great to have a good laugh.

Solutions to help you wake up

Do you wake up in the morning blaming your alarm clock for not waking you up? Do you press that snooze button a million of times and end up late? Don't worry. Below are innovative solutions to your problems.

Clocky - the runaway clock
Here's 2 videos about it:




You just got to wake up, catch it or maybe find it first before you can have that peaceful silence again. The alarm is not that annoying though. Might be ignored. Who knows, the further it runs, the softer and less annoying the alarm gets?

Walky Clocky

This video is so funny. The clock practically runs to your lecture hall. No excuse not to turn up for lectures.



Biggest alarm clock
I think you can jump right out of bed with this one.



Rolling ball alarm clock
If you want to go bowling but you don't have a bowling ball, can use this to substitute.



Flying alarm clock
Have to find the propeller to switch off the alarm.



Ticking bomb alarm clock
I think I'll get a heart attack every time I need to diffuse the 'bomb'.

Water gun alarm clock
Wake up drenched every morning.



Piggybank clock
I like this one. Can save money and wake up at the same time!



P.s. Not all are real alarm clocks

The Power of Photoshop

No wonder people said never trust anything on the Internet. With Photoshop, you can get perfect pictures without having to diet!

The picture of M and I in Basel last summer. I know! I do look really fat here. Actually, I look like this picture now......haih.....maybe I should look for my sifu and ask her to teach me how to diet. I still remember getting a certificate from her in college after finishing the course of 'Learn to eat more'. Since then, she retired and changed her profession to Diet Guru. As her toudai, I'll have to follow her footsteps as well.

Aiyo....I look so fat here. M as a good friend sacrificed to stand next to me so that I won't be the only fat person in the photo.....so touching.

OK, first step was, of course, make myself look slimmer and get rid of all the pimples on my face.

Tadaaaa!!!

Then I can imagine how M will be complaining why I never make her look thinner and of course, I don't want her to sue me for copyright and force me to take down the pictures. Therefore, I did the same for her and the result is

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Yay! Now that's what I call the perfect photo. Can develop this and hang on the wall to motivate me to diet. My next target will be to look like this before I go back to see my family.

Let me just put the 1st and last photos together so that you can see the difference.

You can start playing spot the difference with these two photos. Have fun.

I was just playing with Photoshop today and I was wondering what was all the hype about it. Browsed around the Internet and stumbled upon the secret behind it. I'm still an amateur therefore, you can see that the bars of the steel gate in the background is distorted. Oh well, need more practice.

J'ai la patate!

This was really funny when I was talking to my flatmate in the kitchen a while ago.

I was planning to ask her what J'ai la patate! mean as soon as I got back from my ski trip but I kept on forgetting until tonight.

Any guesses?

Direct translation (you wouldn't believe this): I've got the potato!
What it really means: It is an informal and strong way of saying I'm fine!

Don't believe what I've said? Check this BBC link out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/cool/moods.shtml

There are even phrases like I've got the peach, bananas or even fries which mean the same thing. Interesting how food can be used to represent this.

My flatmate did say that you can use this among friends but not with your teacher.

Come to think of it, we started our ski lessons just outside our resort, near the restaurant. By standing just before the stairway outside the retaurant, it was the most strategic place to watch what was happening to us. In no time, we attracted a whole big group of audience consisting of all the chefs who diligently prepared each meal for us.

It was at this very first lesson that our ski instructor, Charles, taught us this phrase. Inexperience and foreign to skiing, we were really struggling with that tiny slope. Even screaming our heads off while tumbling down. Charles made us say 'J'ai la patate' every time we fell or just to motivate each other. Each time we said that, it was accompanied by laughter from the group of chefs.

What we do after ski lessons - play with snow!

We were stuck at the resort even on boxing day. Nothing to buy except maybe snow, even if there were really good sales going on there, we wouldn't be able to afford as all of us invested our life savings into this trip. Was it worth it? Definately!

My friends and I were telling each other, even if j'ai la patate really meant 'I am stupid' or 'I just cannot ski', we wouldn't know and can only take our ski instructor's words for it. Never will I expect it to be related to food in any way! No wonder the chefs were laughing. Not surprising, we did have potatoes for lunch that day and a lot more potatoes for the following meals.


Imagine if someone came up and asked you what would you like to cook for dinner and you have to answer knowing that one only phrase of French.

J'ai la patate! (now we know why potatoes are in shortage)