My Own Happiness Project

My Own Happiness Project
because happiness begins inside and flows out...

20080531

mabuhay......

Seems like we're going off again.... macam ada giuk oh, always on the go.... Ok who wants to join?

a night out with the sii family......

Some time ago I got the news that Jo and Paulus will be migrating over to Australia, which means they won't be around anymore when I go to KL, and I would not have the chance to see Josh and Claire grow up... sigh... so I have been on the quest to hunt for a parting gift that would not risk being left behind, given that they will carry only the necessities to Australia...

I have something already in my mind, in fact, I have gotten it already, hope they're going to pity me and bring it over to Australia with the, hehehe...

From (L): Grandma (or mama), Paulus, Josephine, Claire, Arteo and Joshua

With Josh and Claire... the next time I see them, probably they won't fit on my lap anymore... hopefully gym will make my thigh small enough not to fit them, because at the rate I am going right now, it'll fit the whole family still... hahaha...

Josh in deep concentration in arranging the balls in perfect triangle... always have been a perfectionist since young... I mean younger... refused to smile for the camera before he got everything arranged well.

Claire taking all opportunities she can get to be mischievous when Josh wasn't looking... Little Miss Independent as mommy calls her... the personification of cuteness....

Josh showing Claire how to fold a paper airplane...

random pics.......

Silly face during Mother's Day dinner at Gayang Seafood.

Hmmm... ass flavoured ice cream anyone? Yucks!

See what decides to pop up - memories of Uni days...

winner announcement......

YOU CAN COUNT ON PATCH!!

Announcing the winner of count number of arteo competition, Ms Sand from bo-idea blog! Yes, the actual number of arteos in the composite picture is seven! Ngam la tuh....

Hadiah dia kokoleter atau mesin kira-kira, sebab itu pertandingan mengira kan?

I have a feeling you guys tiak picaya ni that it's a real competition... bah, kalau ada lagi competition, join la... senang tu mau menang... kan Sand?

20080530

i've remarried again......

Since my other wife got sick - Sony DSC-T10 - she has been having tremors unpredictably and at the most inappropriate of times she will start shaking, unable to fix a focus and ruin the chance to get a descent picture taken. I've sent it up to Sony Malaysia twice, once via an agent, and later on my own. Apparently the lens-motor mechanism is faulty, and since it's past the warranty period, I have to pay about RM430 to get it fixed, and the repair would take up to 2 months!

Coming back to KK after the second opinion I've been on the look out for another pocket point and shoot, and yesterday, I landed on a second hand RICOH Caplio GX8, 8.2MP. f= 5.8 - 17.4 mm, f/2.8 - 4.3. RRP RM1800 and I got it for RM1000. Good deal?

I hope it's a long lasting marriage, now I am officially a Canonian, Sonyian and Ricohan.

The optical quality is really impressive, with flexibility for manual over-ride. What I like most, is the love at first sight - for its old skool appearance. Full metal body with rubber lens hood extension.

At STAR Shangri-la Tg Aru Beach Hotel and Restort.

The Marina beach Bum.

The KK flyover, running over the road in front of Plaza Wawasan.

Dinner with John, at his pseudo-farewell dinner. He was supposed to go off to KL for good this weekend, but changed plans in the last minute. Well, dinner was good, at Little Italy.

the spirit of the celebration... in 40%vvol......

End of May, the season of merry making for the Kadazandusun people of Sabah in celebrating the paddy harvest festival, or Kaamatan. Traditionally the festival originated from a complex spiritual ritual, involving invocation of the Bambarayon - or the spirit of the paddy - nowadays Kaamatan is simply synonymous with beauty peagent of ladies spotting huge bun hair, and one of the most legalising reason for bad karaoke singing and drinking stupor.

Being partly Dusun myself, I am quite ashamed to admit that I've not quite appreciated the festival (partly also because our rice-pot in the house is guarded by the spirit-of-the-purse rather than that of-the-field) but I was happy to acclaim participation in any festivals that gives off a day or two of Public Holiday, haha. This year, however, after having been initiated into the drinking and karaoke culture, I make it my personal mission to get myself (invited) to a siopon drinking session... diorang bilang kick bah, tu lah sya mau cuba tu...

There are actually a lot more ceremonies to Kaamatan than the one we are accustomed to... the one that gets celebrated the most is actually the final rite in the whole observation, namely the Humabot ceremony.

And what about the spirit of the ceremony? The one I know comes in 40% vv strength, enough to knock you off your sensibility and lose all inhibition in singing. Below are the pictorials of the siopon making processes, taken from a local website.

I'm quite glad that this wine making doesn't involve stomping of the poor rice with bare feet like what they'd do to make grape wine... imagine some kampung people flavouring your drinks... yucks!

The young wine takes some time to ripen. As seen in this pic, everybody's impatient to have a go at it... but it's unlucky to open up a fermenting jar before it's completely done...

There's no actual guarantee that the product will turn out well, so a little bit of improvisation will usually ensure the spirit of the harvest is well appreciated... even though it's not actually its harvest we're celebrating.

Guranggak's special tribute to the harvest-spirit of rye and wheat, feat. the harvest spirit of currant. Haha.

Pinjam gambar ko sekejap, Gur...

the great search for......

SIOPON
I've got to have some this time round...
...any invitation?

20080529

an autograph i would want....

I'm not exactly a big fan of political blogs, but I've been found reading Tun Dr M's blog almost on a daily basis, checking out on latest updates - of what else has he got to reveal to us. Have a look, maybe you'd be hooked too...


Ah, Tun Dr Mahathir is going to have an autograph signing session for his latest book which I already have and half way through finishing (because I was distracted by The Last Lecture by Pausch). His is one autograph I don't mind lining up a km to get...

Tun! Can I have your autograph please!!!

20080527

2 days in tawau......

I've been away in Tawau for the past 2 days and because of the difficulty in getting an internet connection, it has been difficult also to update Patch on a regular basis. However it's been a fruitful 2 days, given talk to paramedics and inspectorate staffs on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Programme, the City Entertainment Outreach Programme, and Counseling with regards to HIV screening and AIDS follow up.

I won't lie about it, talking about counseling is never fun and is never interesting, especially when my slots are put right after lunch, but give it any time of the day, a lecture on counseling would still be sedative.

Since this morning I've been feeling a bit bloated, I guess from indigestion. Can't say I am very surprised, because last night I had some fried chicken wings from Servay, some barbecued chicken wings from pasar malam, murtabak jawa also from pasar malam, and KFC late night - just because it was opened for 24 hours. Well I am paying for it today, I have downed 2 sachets of Eno and still not feeling much better by now. I probably should go for a short stroll around town later.

Another frustration I've got is that I did not pack another book to bring along to this trip, other than the one I was finishing. Finished it already yesterday and last night I could not sleep because i did not have anything to read before bed time. Such is my bad habit... I have to read something... anything... before I can fall asleep. So how did I overcome the problem last night?

God Bless ASTRO Guide: Travelers Edition.

But that blessing has been used up, so I guess I'd better run now to the news stand to get myself a magazine of some sort, or the paper for today.

20080526

pantun dua kerat from tun dr mahathir......

This line made me smile today, an excerpt from Blog Che'Det (Tun Dr Mahathir) on his comment about being called a thorn in the flesh... click on the idiom to go to the article.


Wow... He sure is a sarcastic old bull... and I like his way! When I grow up I want to be sarcastic like him...

distant memories... part ii... the rounds......

This entry is dedicated to the Great Dreamers, the rare Kindreds, who, once with the intervention of Fate, had their Paths crossed - to realise a Common Dream, but not without a diverse Philosophy...

If there were to be anything significant that I've done in my life up to now, that I am really proud of and would not be tired to tell of the story again and again, it would be the time when I belonged to a group of dreamers who just got our eyes opened to the real world, a world we would not read about in the glossy magazines boasting of the pride of Malaysia. Yet beneath the shadow of the Petronas Twin Towers, which we are all extremely proud of, we walked the slums and learned that even the slightest gesture of friendship, like an open ear, and the willingness to get down and sit on the floor, speaks volume about the respect for humanity and life.

JR began modest with a few buns to give away to the homeless people around PJ, but soon found its way to KL's most notorious areas for drug addicts, drunkeds and the likes - Chow Kit. What started as a simple enlightenment on a Friday afternoon, took form with time to become a complex philosophy after sessions and sessions of late night debriefings, fueled by cigarettes, our own recipe for the perfect nasi lemak, most often up-sized (for the price of a normal sized), super-enriched spaghettis and over-fortified omelettes at our favourite 24-hours bakery.

At the time when I left it, JR means differently to different people, and that was the way it was supposed to be at that time. I am sure some may not explain it the same way, but to me, JR has always been a blank banner project. You decide on what you want to take home from the streets.

The streets definitely offers more than we bargain for when we start joining the rounds. The streets showed me first and foremost, that with the Right Time, the Right Kindreds, and the Right Dreams, anything is possible... and dreaming big is a natural thing to do.

The street also showed me the value of friendship, internally among the rounders, and also the ones we made with the street folks. Some of them became our usual contacts, and that they'd wait for us every Friday nights, not so much for the box of nasi lemak and the bottle of water that we bring them, but for that few minutes we'd spend siting down on their quarters (mattress of damp card-board on which they'll be sleeping on) and chat. On the street I learned the importance of listening, and the appreciation of life experience that these people have to offer.

This is the inner street of Chow Kit. at night, this road will be closed to make way for a Night Market.

The Seven Eleven diagonally opposite to KFC.

This is just next to Cititel Express Chow Kit. I remembered coming here at night to a bunch of commercial sex workers who became our friends. Further up is the UO Supermarket, just opposite the pedestrian bridge we called Puteri's Bridge - because of a friend called Puteri who sleeps on the bridge. There is another bridge, the Maxis Bridge, or more fondly known as the Cib*i Bridge, as christened some of the rounders for reasons I don't really know. BNot pictured here, though.

These walkway would be lined with homeless folks at night.

The other obvious difference to the picture is the monorail track. This wasn't here 8 years ago.

Cycle and Carriage used to be a landmark for our route in Chow Kit. Now it's a restaurant selling Malay food.

Chow Kit 24-hours KFC was our mark of beginning and end of our nightly rounds. This KFC has seen us through our ups and downs, nights after nights come rain or... no rain, the yoyo of our morale and group size. It has seen all the starting of our nightly mission by delegating members into 2 groups to take different routes, and was there when we end the night as we gathered back here to do our ritual hand wash.

The altar of the ritual hand wash - where we practice our clinical hand washing technique.

I was told, that once a rounder, always a rounder. We all take home with us, different philosophies from the streets and in doing the Rounds, but one thing I share in common with the Kindreds, is that the streets have made us better persons today.

And I know for a fact that we are not quite done with the streets yet, and that the Works are in continuous progress, waiting for the Right Time, the Right Kindreds and the Right Dreams to cross their paths once again.

The view, early morning from my room at Cititel.

This trip, I went on the monorail for the first time.

And a funny sticker of warning.

20080525

distant memory... part i... alma mater...

I have been working for 5 years this June, and it has been that long since I left University of Malaya. I have been back a few times to UM before, to meet up with some juniors, or just passing through (because the 2 gates of UM connects KL and PJ). This time, I came over to see my chances of reattaching myself as a student here... Don't know if I am making the right move, many have told me their regrets in furthering their studies...

I went first to the Faculty of Law to inquire about the external paper they're offering for Bachelor of Jurisprudence. I've been thinking about taking this course since the second year of work, while in Tungku. I missed the boat then, and still missed it this time round. Sigh. I guess there's much uncertainties in the usefulness of a Law degree when I am not going to practice it, but I am sure medicolegal business would take on, some time in the near future. Since UM doesn't allow any students to be taking 2 courses at the same time, I'd probably have to resort to taking LLB instead of this if I want to take up Law at all...

But I still went to the faculty to get the forms, and took some pictures...

So Ewann, miss this place?

The Law Faculty.

The sports field in front of Law Faculty. This is where they play football and sometimes rugby.

Second Residential College

This is the supper stall at 6th Residential College, or Kolej Kediaman Ibn Sina. I spent 4 years taking supper at this place, and it so happened that the day I visited them is the last they're going to be there. Apparently they lost the tender to another person. Surprisingly the waiters and the owner still remember me after all these years!

The arrow points to my room (below), top floor, fourth window from the right... can't really see it now because the palm trees have gotten taller since the last time I stayed there. My room used to be easily distinguishable from the rest because it was the only one with blue walls inside, and with jazz playing all the time.

The lobby. This used to be newspaper reading area, but it's much cleaner now.

Another obvious change is the grill door installed at the dormitory.

The TV room. Still the same.

They named the patch of field in front of our block as Dataran Sentua. Previously it was just called... patch of field.

This is funny. You'd know that Dr Sham is married and has a family because... he stays in the genital room number 4.

Dining Hall where we share meals with a bunch of cats and birds...

There was a puddle on this patch of grass before, and now they built a bridge over and a water fountain on that puddle. Impressive!

The arrow shows the morgue which is situated right in the middle of the faculty on the right and the hospital on the left. Every night coming back from night duty we have to pass this spooky place to go back to hostel.

The PekanBuku bookshop in the hospital.

This is the walkway that connects the hospital to the residential college. Just to the right of the end of this tunnel is the morgue I showed earlier. There was an incident that happened here when I was in first year medic. One fine night, I decided to have an asthma attack, so I had to walk to the hospital in the middle of the night. I was about 2 am if I'm not mistaken. I am usually not bothered by stories I heard about the place, but that night it was just very chilly, especially when I'm literally out of breath. But I just walked on... then at just about 10 meters from the end of the tunnel, suddenly there was a loud noise from the end and an aluminum transport coffin appeared from the side. I'm not kidding, I was quite mortified, I stopped in my path, my heart stopped a while, and was relieved only after a man appeared behind the coffin, pushing it. I half expected the coffin to be moving on its own!

The Lecture Hall of Medical Faculty... where I spent much of my time trying not to fall asleep.

Another place that was really sleep inducing. I could not, for the life of me, sustain a descent 15 minutes reading in this library without getting really sleepy. The best place to read, was actually on my bed in my bedroom. I literally studied medicine on my tummy.

The reason I came back to the Faculty is to get information on the Masters Programme they offer for Public Health. SPM or Social Preventive Medicine subjects were not my favourite during med school. They always have lectures on Friday afternoons, and that's the most escapable subject of all. Now thinking back, they did not do much justice to the field of Public Health by making the classes so boring, no wonder not many doctors see the importance of PH in their line of service today. Personally, I came to appreciate PH only when I was sent to a remote village in Lahad Datu, the best 2 and half years of my life as a doctor.

Even the Department of SPM looks dreadfully boring...

I am interested in the Masters programme they offer, which is upgradeable to a Doctorate Programme after just 1 year - provided an excellent result during the first year.

After that, I went to visit Dr Tony who is doing Masters in Surgery in UMMC. Going back to sit with the patients brings back a lot of fond memories when I was doing clinical medicine. Not that I have forgotten all that, but I realised that this is not the only way a doctor can help people, or even make a difference in the life of another.

The Tunnel at the main entrance of UMMC.

note: all photos taken with my camera-phone W610i