My Own Happiness Project

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

20101231

the year that was 2010..........

for the first half of 2010, I was still flying over the mountain twice a week... now I'm missing the view...
  1. I know, I know, the last few entries were crap entries but I really want to hit 100 posts for this year, so just let me continue ;o)
  2. 2010 was marked with quite a few major changes in life. Going on study leave to pursue Master in Public Health was one. It wasn't easy to regrease the brain engine after leaving it out rusty for donkey years. But it was probably the single most important decision that I've made in this year.
  3. Leaving office was not so easy on the emotions. I've been working in the past 7 years, from managing a clinic to managing a state programme, and finally managing a district health office. I've worked with the best staffs, being guided by the best seniors who treated me like peers and was mentored by the best boss who believed in me. Coming back to studies where everyone starts from scratch, not so exciting.
  4. MPH has been okay so far. First semester exam just passed and now waiting for the results in a few days time. The next semester starts on Monday. Having worked in the field did help in understanding concepts, but come exam, whatever I know may just freeze and refuse to come down in writing. Why that happened is still a mystery.
  5. Okay, maybe I didn't mug hard enough. Promised myself to mug harder for next semester ':o/
  6. Rekindled some lost friendships, made some new ones... and in the process made some 'dislikes' too perhaps. Learned that anger, frustration, disappointment is not the opposite of love, but can be part of love. Hate is the opposite of love. Since I don't hate anybody, I must be loving everybody! Oh wow...
  7. But wait... then there was that person who stole our Christmas toys... okay, there is someone that I hate >:o(
  8. The most exciting month has to be December when I turned an evening of depression into fruitful initiation to start on Project Toy Story. Now come to think of it, I have the 3 Ps to thank for doing the publicity (another P here)... Pang (of Annexe Gallery) Patrick Teoh (of Niamah!! blog) and Poesy (of Helping Angels)... Nice coincidence ;o) By the way, the name Operation Toy Story was coined by Pang, not me.
  9. One of the frustrations I've had in this year, was the inability to keep to training discipline despite having a Personal Trainer to whip me around the exercise machines. One reflection from this. I guess I'm more comfortable climbing on the machines on my own effort than having someone push me there.
  10. The total body fat composition is another strong drive to keep coming back to the gym. I was upset with the 42.2% earlier, which got me started with OTS. After a couple of weeks of going to the gym and toiling on OTS (and I swear I didn't stuff the face during Christmas) I couldn't believe my eyes when the body stats machine reads 43.3%! on the good side, my weight did drop.
  11. Now that does it... I will not let some numbers (in percentage) define who I am. Now off to bigger projects....

some thoughts on the next project...







20101230

where are you christmas?

My Christmas theme song for this year...



Where Are You Christmas

Where are you Christmas
Why can't I find you
Why have you gone away
Where is the laughter
You used to bring me
Why can't I hear music play

My world is changing
I'm rearranging
Does that mean Christmas changes too?

Where are you Christmas
Do you remember
The one you used to know?
I'm not the same one
See what the time's done
Is that why you have let me go

Christmas is here
Everywhere, oh
Christmas is here
If you care, oh

If there is love in your heart and your mind
You will feel like Christmas all the time

I feel you Christmas
I know I've found you
You never fade away
The joy of Christmas
Stays here inside us
Fills each and every heart with love

Where are you Christmas
Fill your heart with love

going back home for chinese new year!!....

I'll be darned if I missed my flights again this time...

20101228

thank you note for operation toy story.....

confession: I kept a Rex from the pile of donated toys, to remind myself of OTS2010
  1. Took 2 days off from the Internet. It's midnight now but I told myself I must not sleep until I've written a thank you note to all donors, contributors, volunteers and publicists ;o) for Operation Toy Story '10.
  2. So here goes -- A WARM AND HEARTY THANK YOU TO ALL DONORS. CONTRIBUTORS, VOLUNTEERS AND PUBLICISTS FOR MAKING OPERATION TOY STORY 2010 A GREAT SUCCESS!!
  3. I must admit that I did not at all expected such overwhelming response from so many people that I've never known existed ;o) such is the power of electronic social networking! What started off as a 30 emails sent out to people I have in my friends list, ended up as far as Thailand and India!
  4. 1 day before d-day, my living room was a heaven for kids, with all sorts of toys from cute fluffy penguins to a 7-feet tall zebra (not kidding about the zebra), pianos and keyboards, talking and singing dolls, books, colouring stationery and mysterious wrapped gifts! Not too good for my housemate though because he's a neat freak and all that hoard is giving him a major headache.
  5. On d-day, 4 cars were deployed to bring the toys to Base-Zero, a conference room kindly provided by Beely of Usana Health Sciences (many many many thanks to her, can't do it without her!) and from 3pm onwards, the volunteers gathered and started wrapping and categorising toys accordingly so that they'll be gender and age appropriate.
  6. To keep the working morale high, some contributed snacks and drinks for us, we even had a kilo of butter cake made just for the event! Thanks to all who provided food, I really helped myself with the cakes ;oP
  7. At 6pm, designated Scouts went on their way to get information on the numbers of kids who stayed back to spend Christmas in the wards. There were 7 wards in 3 different locations, so we split up and covered our given assignments. Had a slight glitch on the Onco ward initially, but it was rectified promptly with the help of an internal Mule, DrS who has been indispensable for this project since the beginning ;o) DrJ was roped in when I happened to cross her path on the way to the baby-ward, I've not seen her for the past 7 years and I had about 20 seconds to explain to her what's going to happen later that night, and she signed up immediately! And she brought along her minions of medical students!
  8. After scouting we went back to Base-Zero to tag the presents and pack them according to wards. Even after pushing in 10% more toys into the loot (to account for late admissions), and filling a car-load worth of toys for the Paeds Day-care Unit, we had around 300+ extra toys and presents left and didn't know what to do with it.
  9. The housemate gave me a sharp threatening look - a deadly warning that none of the toys should come back into our house ':o}
  10. Finally they were donated to another volunteer's charity event, also involving kids just before the new year, yay!
  11. The night ended after we shuttled the packed toys to the designated drop-off points at the hospital. The night duty nurses seems to be nicer and more accepting than the evening shift ones. Not sure why, but the sight of over sized plush animals with huge button eyes might have melted their hearts ;o)
  12. The plan for an after-mission party didn't take off, the volunteers were so visibly tired from the day's work at the Toy Factory. I've had a splitting headache since the evening and was just too glad to be able to go home and have a warm shower ;o)
  13. Many did ask in their sms the next morning, were the kids happy when they woke up on Christmas morning? Well, all I can say is, we'll probably never get to know, because Santa never stayed to watch anyway...
  14. But of course they will be :o)
  15. So, now for the aftermath -- cleaning up and clearing up the remaining of the toys. Some of them have been donated to other charities such as the refugee camps (since we're all about cheering up those who didn't get to be home for Christmas, so I thought it would be very fitting to give some to them).
  16. Till the next project, have a Merry Merry Christmas, and a Wonderful New Year 2011!!
Luv, Arteo

20101222

tang-yuen, toys and the grinch who stole christmas toys.....

you're on Santa's BAD BAD boy list, Grinch!
  1. Can hardly find time to blog down updates on Operation Toy Story. Was on the move for the past few days, receiving tremendous amount of toys and gifts, Ookikuro could hardly be stuffed more at one point of time. Felling good, feeling the Fuzz. And also feeling tired, of course...
  2. Winter Solstice today. Missing the tang-yuen that Kakak makes. It used to be without season in Asrama Budi, we had it whenever we feel like it, or whenever Kakak wasn't too tired to roll some gelatinous rice flour into marble sized yummy marbles. Moments like this makes me miss home much.
  3. This week has been crazy with pickups for those that could not make it for the Annexe drop-off. Starting from Friday till yesterday I've been in shopping malls and driving all over Damansara, Subang and Mont Kiara under the hot sun and crazy rain.
  4. The BJ condo right now looks like a petting zoo with so many kinds of fluffy animals in it, ducks, puppies, dinosaurs and mostly my species, the bears. Haha.
  5. Just last night, a deranged individual (or maybe there are few of them I can't be too sure) broke into Albert's car, and swept away 1/3 of the toys that he collected on his side. I am actually upset about this, but some people had asked me to see it in brighter light, since it's Christmas... not sure I can do that. The Grinch will pay for what he's done! Fortunately Albert's car was okay. Note to all and myself: Do Not Leave ANYTHING not even toys in your cars!
  6. Still having problem looking for a suitable place to centralise gifts and toys collection for wrapping and preparation before sending off to UMMC paeds wards on the 24th... Hoping to get a free space to fit around 20-30 working elves called Scouts, and maybe a bit of finger food pot luck while working... ;o)
  7. Many lessons learned from doing this. One of them is: Need anything? Ask for it. Nicely.
  8. Received a lot of undeserving pat on the back for doing this. In actual fact, the real Superstars are those who generously donated, and those that offered their help to drive around, to navigate, to pickup, to publicize and do scrubbing and conditioning of the toys, being on the phone to look for resources and space, and willing to offer up their own home for this project. When I started off writing the emails to ask for pre-loved toys, it was imagined like a size of a cupcake. Now I have a 3-levels fabulous cake of a project to handle. Wow.
  9. I wish for this Christmas, to have someone play O'er the Rainbow, live on a piano, or violin, or guitar, that I can listen to with my eyes closed and imagine that wonderful place beyond the rainbow where my troubles would melt like lemon-drops. Haha. Or What A Wonderful World. My two all time favourite songs.

20101221

letter from a fellow dreamer, a kindred spirit........

20 December at 12:09

Hey there,

Its Christmas time once again. And somehow, the holiday season never fails to remind me of all of you. Maybe I'm getting old or just feeling nostalgic. I just thought that I would write to say hi. I hope that you are keeping warm in spite of the cold weather ( except you roddy !)

In the spirit of the season, I just wanted to rekindle the warm feelings and memories that we all shared a while ago . I guess those times seems ages ago now, though I'm sure it feels like yesterday for all of us at some point or another.

Much have been said and done over the past few years. On my part,I just want to apologize for all that I have done or failed to do. Maybe some of you will think that I'm being excessive but I do think that it is important. There may still be some sore feelings here and there ...

I have missed each and every one of you. I do sometime wish that someday we can all 'hang out' once again. You never know ... Whichever the case, I really do want to keep trying to keep us together.

Anyhow, I do want to wish you all a merry christmas, my old friends. Have a blessed time knowing that someone is thinking of you here ...

KT

20101218

socks-creatures, sinful donuts and stuffed ookikuro.....

mochabella freeze, tiramisu donut and that other coffee based donut... not the best decision made for breakfast choice...
  1. Came home last night to a package received from Florence from Ipoh. She sent her 3 cute creatures, all handmade from socks and gloves, and they are sooo cuuuuuute!! And I think I heard them whisper to me, saying they'd rather stay with me than to be given away. Just kidding. I do hope some kids would really feel better after receiving them (o:3
  2. Woke up early to be in IOI Mall before 10am this morning. Receiving toys from Anthony and Winnie. While waiting for them I was just loitering in front of Fitness First, but decided to have coffee at J.Co Coffee and Donuts, right in front of Fitness First. Probably the worst decision considering I'm still pretty upset about the 42.2% thingy.
  3. Ookikuro is so stuffed with Hello Kitties and other stuffed toys right now. I'm going to need some help to transfer everything into the house if I want to make it in 1 trip.
  4. Locum right after gym is probably not the best idea... but I don't think I could afford to skip gym today, considering the sinful breakfast I had in the morning.

20101217

toys, blog hits, the fuzz and pan bakery fraternity.....

our nasi lemak at pan bakery was more monsterous than this
  1. First batch of toys arrived this morning, yay! There should be some already at the Annexe Gallery, I should retrieve them before they clutter up Pang's place...
  2. Sat down to chat with Angela this morning, a woman of strong will and a heart of gold. Inspired by her stories, and really, it's been a while since I had a good chat with someone. Reminds me of the good ol' days before Facebook, where chat means mouth-works rather than finger-works...
  3. The blog visitors count hits 105 at the moment. Ah, the shameless unethical self-promotional post up of my blog address tagging along Operation Toy Story. I usually have 15 hits a day, no wonder Nuffnang stops banking in money! Hahaha, what ethics?!
  4. Thinking about the reason behind doing all this charity stuffs. There was a time, years ago, when there was a group of kindred spirits doing every little that they can to feel the Fuzz. Usually the high came from a night of walking in the red-districts back lanes of metropolitan KL, re-humanizing the outcasts of society, bringing a pack of nasi lemak as a token of friendship to start conversations. More of than not, the street folks would be too busy shooting in the hi-way to talk to us, but consistency did the trick. Some became good friends. We felt the Fuzz.
  5. I miss the Fuzz. I miss the time when we just sat down and talked deep and pretended we knew something about the quality of life. Well maybe we did know a little. Maybe just a little. I miss the time when we fixed our own monster size nasi lemak from Pan Bakery.
  6. Thinking of next project to do already. Got to keep the Fuzz going. Keeps me sane. And humane, I think. Keeps me busy that's for sure. Keeps me wishing that the Pan Bakery fraternity would come back together one day for another project.
  7. Just got another box of toy, brought in during locum. Among the stuffs in the loot-box, two football jerseys for an adolescent sized football fan. Original from UK!! Heard that they were intended as a gift for one kid that has leukemia, but passed on before he received them. I'm just so glad my life is fortified with stories like these... thanks Melvin ;o)

scouts and mules get wings...........

OPERATION TOY STORY: THE ACTUAL MISSION :o)

These are the angels that have pledged to come along during the distribution day. Do tell me in the comment section, or post up on Facebook if your name isn't here and you're interested to join in the FUN ;o) This list will be updated frequently until the 23rd Dec 2010 ;o)

SCOUTS
  1. Jey
  2. Albert Law
  3. Albert's dad
  4. Alvin (Albert's brother)
  5. Albert's friend from TV
  6. Sky Ku
  7. Hazel Chia
  8. Hazel's Husband
  9. Trista (Hazel's sister)
  10. Richard Chin
  11. Chloe Wang
  12. Vicky (Chloe's friend)
  13. Sulin Lau
  14. Jasmine Tan
  15. Sheon Lo
  16. Comieko Luna
  17. P (Arteo's friend)
  18. Chenyi
  19. Kelli
  20. Rachel Loke
  21. Siyan
  22. June
  23. Shuey Lim
  24. Shuey Lim's friend
  25. RongRong
  26. RongRong's friend
  27. Beely Tang
  28. Ivan Lim
  29. more more more (I think best to stop at 30)

MULES DESPERATELY NEEDED!!!
  1. Dr. Smrdhi
  2. Arteo
  3. Anne Yong
  4. Anne Yong's friend1
  5. Anne Yong's friend2
  6. SFX youths
  7. more more more (hopefully can reach 10)

20101216

mission toy story......

  1. Collection of the toys are still going on. We will probably be able to gauge how many toys we get only after the 19th Dec.
  2. Sorting of Toys would have to be done prior to the 24th. Cleaning and scrubbing (though we hope there would be minimal works on this) also would have to be done before the 24th. Final sorting would be done on the 24th itself.
  3. Due to the procedures and regulations on visiting hours of the hospital, we would be limited to visiting during the evening visiting hours. So a new plan has been put up to deliver the toys to the kids at midnight as originally intended.
  4. Two groups of secret agents would be recruited for the operation ;o) One group called Scouts and the internal group called Mules ;o) I know, for want of a better name! Do suggest ;o)
  5. Scouts would go around the designated wards and identify the kids there using a location map that will be distributed later. Particulars on age, gender and suitability for types of toys would be noted.
  6. After the visiting hour is over or when everybody's done collecting data, Scouts will gather at the "toys factory" and start matching kids to toys and wrapping the identified toys and labeling them with the corresponding bed numbers.
  7. After that, the toys would be passed to another group of agents called the Mules (haha).. Mules are volunteering medical students and staffs who are either on-call or working on that particular night, and they will have the task of delivering the gifts as intended.
  8. I know that this mission sounds like a secret-agent spy-game, but hey, we adults must not forget to have fun too, right?
  9. I am going to put up a list of volunteering Scouts and Mules, so do tell me if you're available and interested ;o) Visiting Hours for Christmas Eve starts from 5pm to 8pm. The gifts have to be delivered after the 11pm doctor's round (so as not to disturb their work).
  10. It would be nice to have a little gathering for makan or just hang for us volunteers and contributors after the mission. Any suggestions on place? Or shall we just crash someone's party? Haha..
Designated "Toy Factory" will be announced later. Since wrapping will be done after all, we'll need contributions of wrapping papers, sticky tapes and gift-tags. Please get neutral wrapping papers and neutral message gift-tags (religious sensitivity is something we all have to put up with, even when we're doing charity, a request from the hospital admin :o/ ) Thanks very very very much!!

coffee, emails and the bloody red tapes....

civet cats eat coffee cherries and shit out good stuff...!
  1. My third cup of coffee today. And while discussing the brew of the day at the counter, the barista asked me "Are you a coffee drinker?"... Shall I say "No, I eat coffee..." ;o!
  2. Continuously receiving emails for inquiries and volunteering to join the Operation. Feel so happy that the response has been extremely encouraging, but still I need to cook up a plan to get the execution done within the normal evening visiting hours, meaning that I need to recruit at least a few internalists, the gifts-mule to carry them to the kids while they're asleep ;o/
  3. As for now, I think there are about slightly less than 80 active respondents to pledge toys contributions and other ideas that they have -- baking, making chocolate cookies and all -- but the Red Tapes.. Arrgghh the Red Tapes!!
  4. Okay. Just finished the round of email replying for the first quarter of the day... Need to seriously sit down and write down the modus operandi of toy distribution on Christmas eve.
  5. More coffee perhaps... my House Blend feels a bit cold already...

20101215

when life gives you lemon, make lemonade.....


  1. Why is it that everybody's having meeting when I need to vent today?
  2. Just came back from meeting with the authority of UMMC, in hoping to get permission to distribute gifts to the kids while they're asleep. Bad news. Sometimes it is better to not ask for permission and just do it. Now that I've gotten a red light from them to do it at night (along with so many other rules on no religious materials to be passed out, no praying over, no overtly playing/dressing up like Santa - this point I can't believe myself)...
  3. Told them that I used to do it for many years as a medical student and all they can answer back was "Keadaan dah berubah"... I just had to refrain from rolling my eyes openly just now.
  4. So I have to device a new plan. If we're only allowed to come during visiting hours, well, visiting hours it is! That way I can bring more volunteers in. Not all is lost ;o)
  5. Lemonade anyone?

20101214

final bits of exam and operation toy story.......

  1. Currently on my semester break proper, while waiting for the result of the exams and registration of the next semester.
  2. Exam for the last few papers weren't that fabulous. I got numb from disappointment on the OEH paper, so I guess I went in for HRA (Health Risk Assessment) with an ounce less expectation. Told myself I won't be an Occupational Health Physician anyway. But hey! I actually felt much relaxed, not so stressed about the exam and it was a pinch lighter on the nerves.
  3. Law and Health was, as predicted, another kelentong paper. Again as usual, i spent too much time answering the Problem Solving Questions and the Essays I didn't have much time allocated for the Short Notes. At the end, my Short Notes were REALLY short. But good riddance, I was just happy to breathe again after the last paper.
  4. Started to go to the gym again. Had a swollen toe, my foot was hurting, not wanting to shock the system for my first day of workout so I took it easy a little bit (sounds like an excuse no matter how I put it ;o/)
  5. Had my body fat composition measured (just for the fun of it) again and the numbers really hit me pretty hard on the self esteem department and I was feeling pretty shitty about myself. So I decided to rescue some self respect while doing my locum last weekend, I started writing personal notes to people in my facebook friends list, appealing to those I know are in KL for used toys to be given out to kids who don't get to go back for Christmas in the hospital.
  6. Few key friends responded and offered to re-post the plea in their website and open up a collection box at their workplace! Pang from Annexe Gallery and Poesy from Helping Angels helped to make the project viral... and within hours (yes, hours) of their involvement, I started having an incredible influx of emails asking for more information and volunteering to help. It's really a matter of not what you know, but who you know ;o)
  7. Even Patrick Teoh, yeah I can't believe it at first too, Patrick Teoh of the broadcasting fame, re-posted the plea in his blog and tweeted about it! And so many people were directed from his blog to this project! Ahh.... this project has become bigger than it was intended when first conceived about 10 years ago!
  8. I'm still having to reply up to 30 emails each day, and I'm just overwhelmed by the generosity of the people.
  9. At least I am thinking less about the 42.2% that makes me unhappy in the first place ;o/
  10. More updates on Project Operation Toy Story later ;o) ... ... ...

20101205

tag game on facebook........

You've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the 3's of YOU. At the end, choose 26 people to be tagged. You have to tag me so really you just need 25 more people. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you - but not in a creepy stalker kind of way. It's a good way to learn more about your friends without INTRUDING!!

To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, copy & paste everything you see in this note into the body of the note, edit your answers, tag 26 people - in the right hand corner of the app - then click publish.

Three names I go by:
1. Roddy
2. Boy
3. Arteo

Three Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Assistant Administrator in a tuition center in SS2 PJ
2. Floor staff of MPH, MidValley
3. Government servant (still till today)

Three Places I have lived:
1. Kota Kinabalu
2. Tungku, Lahad Datu
3. Beluran

Three Favorite drinks:
1. Coffee drinks
2. Iced Calamansi plum
3. Did I mention coffee drinks?

Three TV Shows that I watch:
1. Judging Amy
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Ed

Three places I have been: *most recent*
1. Low Yat Plaza
2. IOI Mall, Puchong
3. Salak South Garden hawker center

Three places I am looking forward to go:
1. Bali again
2. Japan perhaps
3. Taiwan sounds nice

People that I sms/sms me regularly:
1. Jeremy
2. Tony
3. UM MPH 2010/11 Group leaders

Three of my favorite foods:
1. Anything mushroom
2. Anything seaweed
3. KFC

Three friends I think will respond:
1. I
2. Don't
3. Know

Three things I am looking forward to:
1. The end of this First Semester Exam
2. To get into the Doctorate of Public Health programme
3. To drop 6 sizes

Three things that are always by your side:
1. Handphone
2. Wallet
3. Ventolin Evolaher

Three things I always look forward to during weekends:
1. Waking up late
2. Bumming
3. The next weekend

Three things I always do every morning:
1. Brush teeth + shower
2. Shite
3. Make coffee

20101204

chicken pox, recurrent bursitis and numb face.....

  1. Can't help but to compare what I am doing this time of the year now and what I was doing last year. This year's inactivity makes it look like I'm just conducting a crickets orchestra. I wish I have been more proactive in doing something to raise awareness on HIV issues, or at least run a charity drive to benefit a home or something.
  2. Lately I always feel a little feverish after locum. Just last night I woke up in the middle of the night with chills and had to take pcm before going back to sleep. Immunity's not like when I was young anymore, nowadays I think I catch bugs from patients more easily. Suppose I should be consistent with my daily supplements of vitamins.
  3. I am most worried when I have to see a patient with chicken pox. I've managed to dodge the infection for the past 31 years though. Nevertheless, I'd still do a proper disinfection and spray the table and chair with Dettol disinfecting aerosol spray every time after seeing such patients.
  4. The weather's been cloudy and gloomy today and I think it's making me sleepy and a bit grey on the moods.
  5. Or it could very well be the 3 tramadol and 2 mefenemic acid capsules I've been taking to kill the pain on my right foot. Damn recurrent bursitis. Now even my face is numb from all the meds.
  6. Well, I guess this could be used as an excuse to make me feel better about not going gym for three days in a row. I hope tomorrow I'll be well enough to go though, got a little embarrassing situation happened while I was trying out jeans at Parkson earlier.
  7. But I don't want to talk about that.....

20101203

from lil'formers.....


exams, bullshites, chicken and chillex...........

  1. Starting to do locum again. Figured that even if I sit at home in hope that I would do some studying for the exam, I'm just gonna kid myself. Might as well do some good, helping the community to receive better medical treatment and health care (read: make money from sick people).
  2. Monday paper was on Biostatistics. Of all the things that could happen, I actually forgot to bring along my calculator to the exam. Not that I don't have any, in fact I have 2 calculators - one normal basic type and another scientific type that I just brought over from KK (nostalgic one I used for my PMR and SPM, the precursor of all the canggih canggih type we see today, I think they stopped production of this model more than a decade ago). Luckily Tony was there to help me borrow one from the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
  3. Tuesday paper was on the Principles of Epidemiology. Should be my forte, given the experience working in the field, but not too sure anymore. Can someone still be an Epidemiologist flunking statistics?
  4. Wednesday was the paper I spent most days reading on (although number of days may not necessarily correspond to amount of revision done). Management in Health was a kelentong paper, and although I cannot say for sure I did well for the paper, but at least I attempted all questions and I think I managed to bullshite my way through most of the questions. Friggin' Maslow and Henzberg, I am so glad I spent one good locum evening reading all their bulls on human motivation, and able to bull some of them back during the exam.
  5. Thursday paper on Occupational and Environmental Health was baaaaaad. NEVER in my life have I ever left any questions unattempted in any exams, and this day, the 2nd of December, 2010AD, I did just that. I am so never going to be an Occupational Health Doctor anymore. Or rather, Environmental Health Doctor. Whatever. I left a short note question that costs 10 points blank. The effect of climate change on health. I kept on thinking about pollution effect on health. How was I supposed to know how does climate change effect the health of people? Why not ask the weatherman to become the doctor? Maybe he knows!
  6. Sigh. Actually that was given during the last lecture and I should attempt the question on the angle of weather related disasters leading to population displacement and its effect on health. Damn. Damn. Damn.
  7. Slapping myself hard on Thursday after the exam, I went to buy half a chicken for lunch from Cold Storage Deli, and 2 packs of nasi lemak and fried chicken wings for dinner from the pasar malam. Just don't tell Shah I did that. I felt so sick after that, I had to take ENO repeatedly to help with digestion. Blaagghhh..... after all that BodyCombat and BodyJam and running on the treadmill, I hate myself.
  8. Today's paper was on Principles of Family Health. I did not leave any questions blank this time, but for one of the 15 points short notes, I just had enough time to write 3 lines of answer, in hope that I get 3 points out of it.
  9. I think my problem is that I do not know how to differenciate essays from short notes and problem solving questions, because the way I was writing, I think answered 8 essays instead of 4 short notes, 2 essays and 2 problem solvings questions. Well, 7 essays because one of it has only got 3 lines. Even for Management paper and the OEH paper, I feel that I have attempted all the questions in essay manner, writing longish craps and wasted so much time there.
  10. But I write essays in my sms texts too, so.... oh well.
  11. Five down, two more to go. Monday paper will be on Health Risks Assessment (yucky, now that I am so sure I cannot be an Occupational Health Physician anymore) and the last paper on Wednesday, Law and Health. Another kelentong paper, hopefully I am able to bull it through like how I did the Management exam.
  12. Spirit is quite low after the shitty papers for the last 2 days, and now weekend, yay! Shall I go and chillex with some 40%vv type of spirit instead?
  13. I hate people who uses the word chillex.

20101123

aeba, urti, pen warranty and lime sulphur for bodhi.....

  1. Didn't get much studying done yesterday and I'm blaming it on the actifed I've been taking to help me breathe. Got this second round of URTI with AEBA just before coming back to KL, which was irritating because I just recovered from one shortly prior going back to KK.
  2. Restarted immediately on the acute rescue for asthma and loaded up on my daily fizzy vitamin C and batches after batches of the salty lime with Sheshe Cao cooling drink. Miraculously it actually works to shorten the cough duration. Plus of course I am already on my third bottle of Ubat Batuk Cap Kelapa Laut Afrika, which I consume in the fashion of chugging from a cheap whiskey bottle.
  3. Came out of the house, away from the bed today, hoping that I could catch up on some reading in Starbucks. I know I could go through at least a chapter or two sitting here, but I should have also left this computer at home. Internet is distracting. What was I thinking?
  4. Caught up over lunch with an old friend who happens to work in MidValley. The food at the food court is horribly expensive. Same goes for the taste, horrible.
  5. Got my pen back from Faber Castell. The service provided by this brand is unbelievable! I got my expensive pen fixed for free, and the warranty goes on for life, and need not bring the purchase receipt for servicing. Then I brought in another pen which I bought probably in Ming Kiang or somewhere back in KK, a plastic cover that snapped and they got it replaced for me too, free of charge.
  6. Just 3 weeks ago I accidentally dunked my (another favourite) ball-pen into the washing machine, and though the ink cartridge didn't survive the spin cycles, the body was still ok, except for some hardened ink part on the cover. I told them about it and they agreed to have a look at it and see if they can get it replaced for me for free. Faber Castell is so my favourite stationery brand!
  7. Got myself a bright red gel-roller pen.
  8. Went past this bonsai kiosk and was tempted to get one for myself. But bonsais are so bloody expensive (RM200++). So I got some lime sulphur solution (RM6/bottle) from the kiosk instead, to help with Bodhi's parasitic bug situation.
  9. I think I should shut down the computer now and get some reading done.

20101119

the divine silence........

  1. I had the most liberated worship that night - no music, nobody else watching, nobody else listening, no reservation - it was just God and me - it was very poetic, really - I sensed Him whispering on the wind that blows on my face, I opened my hands and touched Him, and He comforted me. It was one of the most tangible experiences I had of God’s presence. He was there, I swear! (Cafe OAC, Friday, April 14th 2006)
  2. Reading back my old entries in my old blog (the Friendster blog, back at the time when Friendster was still cool), I can't help but feeling like I'm reading someone else's writing. I could barely remember the last time I used such a language to talk about the relationship I had with God.
  3. I think it is just best, and wisest, to say that I do not know what's happening. Some may want to call it the desert years, Fr. Green called it the dry well, St John of the Cross used the analogy of the Dark Night. To me, it is just that my God is being silent. Or that I am being oblivious to His signs, I don't know.
  4. ..........
  5. Yeah, I don't know.

20101111

arteo and bkteo went to bintang walk......

  1. Intended to wake up early today to do a bit of house cleaning, but woke up late this morning. Indigestion made me feel bloated the whole night and woke up a couple of times to make myself some ENO. Slept a bit better only after the alarm clock rang at 8am. Finally decided to start the day at 9 something, made breakfast of chicken-ham sandwich we bought from JUSCO yesterday. Finished the second half of Toy Story 3 while having breakfast.
  2. I watched Toy Story 3 four times already.
  3. Went to Bukit Bintang for some shopping. Ben bought jeans for himself and some other surprise goodies for some people (o:3 hehehe... from UNIQLO. The hype is getting slower and before long I think the crickets can slowly move in already, just like any fad in Malaysia.
  4. Lunch was at Yin's Herbal Soup, at LowYat Plaza. We both had mussel chicken soup meal with free honey tea. Having soup with herbs, white carrots and wolfberries always give the feeling of a wholesome meal. Set lunch comes with vege, chicken cooked with soy and the free drink.
  5. Got some trays to organise the kitchen from DAISO.
  6. Now back for a short siesta before heading out to Cheras for steamboat dinner at Cheras with Jeremy.

20101110

arteo watched toys story 3, three times.....

Think I'm stepping into the fanatic zone, watched Toy Story 3 twice in the normal format and once with the producer and director running commentary on, all within the time span of less than a week! Freaky. Anyhow, here's some "easter eggs" or hidden trivia that can be found throughout the cartoon..
  1. "A113," the number of a classroom at CalTech where many Pixar animators studied, shows up as an Easter egg in every Pixar film. In the "Toy Story" series, it's the license plate on Andy's mother's car.
  2. Sid, the bully from the first movie who wears a skull T-shirt, appears as a garbage man in the new film wearing the same skull T-shirt.
  3. There's a postcard on Andy's dresser addressed from the featured characters from last year's "Up," Carl and Ellie Fredrickson.
  4. Lightning McQueen from "Cars" is referenced a few times throughout the film: A miniature toy car at the daycare center, on a child's shirt at the center and on a fictional train that shares McQueen's number, 95. That number is itself an Easter egg, referring to 1995, the year the first "Toy Story" was released.
  5. A calendar from Pizza Planet is clearly seen. Pizza Planet has appeared in every Pixar film except "The Incredibles."
  6. Pixar has a history of hiding a character to be featured in a later movie somewhere in a current film. Nemo first appeared in "Monsters, Inc." and "Toy Story 3" newcomer, Lots-o-Huggins Bear (who, ironically, is not very huggable), first appeared alongside a bed in "Up." A poster on Andy's wall shows a character from next year's "Cars 2." It shows Finn McMissile, a British sports car/secret agent who plays a major role in the sequel.
  7. Buzz Lightyear's batteries are from "Buy 'N' Large," the giant corporation responsible for ruining the planet in "WALL-E."
  8. Totoro, the furry, friendly creature from Hayao Miyazaki's Japanese animated classic "My Neighbor Totoro," shows up as a toy that Woody meets. Pixar founder John Lasseter has called Miyazaki an inspiration for his work, and Lasseter produced his most recent film, "Ponyo."
  9. A significant amount of the film takes place at a daycare center. At the daycare center, Mr. Ray the Scientific Stingray from "Finding Nemo" makes a cameo. Nemo himself appears as a sticker on Andy's toybox.
  10. "Toy Story 3" director Lee Unkrich performs one line in the movie, as the voice of the Jack in the Box character.
  11. The "Toy Story 3" screenplay took 2 1/2 years to write and storyboard.
  12. John Ratzenberger keeps his streak alive of appearing in every single Pixar film made to this point. For "Toy Story 3," he reprises his role as Hamm.
  13. Ken, voiced by Michael Keaton, was based on a 1988 version of him called "Animal Lovin' Ken" which included his "own chimpanzee to care for and love." Um, okay. The Barbie featured in the film is based on a 1983 version titled "Great Shape Barbie."
  14. Ken wears 21 different outfits in the movie.
  15. Woody has 229 animation points of movement in his face. Buzz has 215 animation avatars in his face.
  16. There are 302 characters in the film.

20101109

medicines, fire, dinner and junkmails.....

  1. Finally give in to proper oral medications. Went out to the pharmacy earlier to get myself tablet salbutamol and oral prednisolone for my asthma and of course, ubat batuk cap Kelapa Laut Afrika for the cough. Still gulping down the salty pickled lime steeped in hot water, as mom did before. Got them from the Chinese Sinseh Pharmacy last night during dinner with Ben.
  2. Talking about Chinese Sinseh Pharmacy, one just got burnt this morning. Heard the fire-engine siren while taking shower, and when we went back to OUG for breakfast, it was quite surprising to see the Sinseh we went to last night was on fire. Too bad we didn't buy from that shop because the service was a tad bad.
  3. Sent Ben to KL Central after breakfast, then to the pharmacy and straight back home. Slept a good part of the noon off, hoping for the fever to subside. Still coughing though, and the type that makes you see stars at the end of the coughing bouts. No fun, no fun at all.
  4. The nurses cooked ayam masak merah, fried fish and vegetables for dinner. Was forced (ok la, invited) to down a huge plate of rice!! Ohh the caloric punishment is just flashing in my eyes!!
  5. 4 more minutes before I can go off... better get things packed up first.
  6. Cleaned my email just now, removed 4,087 read and unread mails from the inbox, took more than a few minutes to delete everything.

20101108

barney, hi5 and sesame street.....

  1. YihYi was asking for Barney and Hi5 CDs few days ago when I called back. Thought she was asking for a Barney toy. Got her the crayons, and will be on the lookout for Barney CDs but nope, no Hi5 or any craps like that from me. Actually I am against Barney myself, prefering Sesame Street instead (I grew up with it, remember the pie-man who always fall down the stairs with the number of pies according to the number of the day? Or the Choose the Odd One Out Game? Classic, man!)
  2. But since YihYi belongs to this generation that adores the softy purple sissy tyrannosaurus, ugly yellow triceratops with suspicius looking green spots up her thigh and that other green dinosaur of unknown species) I'll give in and buy her that.
  3. I think it's my duty to introduce the magic of Sesame Street to YihYi. Okay, Sesame Street CD for YihYi, coming up!

uniqlo, mickey mouse t-shirts and urti.....

  1. Finally stepped into the Genting Casino last weekend. I was never a lucky gambler, so I left Jey to do the gambling while I just watched. He won about RM400 from playing Baccarat thanks to me staying off his back, I think. The winnings got us a seafood meal at Port Klang on Sunday. Thanks Jey! Now I'm a big fan of salted yolk crab... yum, yum!!
  2. Went to Bukit Bintang Fehrenheit 88 for the newly opened UNIQLO boutique yesterday. Arrived there at 1030 thinking that I could catch some breakfast there maybe before the crowd comes in, but to my horrible surprise the queue was already zigzagging outside the shop and continued into the main F88 building. so in the spirit of kiasuness, I joined in the crowd and queued at 1030, forgoing breakfast and finally got in at about 1115am.
  3. The stempede inside was so crazy, people elbowing each other to get stuffs on the rack as if they're free. The best deal for their opening promotion was probably the jeans trousers, but most disappointingly their sizing only went up to waist 36 max. What, there are not obese people in Japan? Felt so sidelined!! Anyway I was determined to get something after lining up so much, I don't care if I only went back with some handkerchieves or something... Came out only at around 2pm.
  4. UNIQLO doesn't sell handkerchieves. Damn. So I got myself 2 pairs of undershirts and a Tshirt with Mickey Mouse picture on it. Not the best fit even at size XL. Oh well...
  5. Feeling a bit feverish when woke up this morning. Coughing since yesterday and I've depleted my stock of Kelapa Laut Afrika from the last episode of URTI. Trying hard not to cough on my patients' faces during consultation. I don't know if it's me or what, but Klinik Dr Azizah Puchong supposed to be quite free (according to the nurse) but within a few hours I've seen 21 patients, and dishing out sick leaves like a jolly soul in festive mode. Still considering if I should start myself on antibiotics...

20101103

answer for JerryInc.....

locum /lo·cum/ (lo´kum) [L.] place.
locum te´nens , locum te´nent a practitioner who temporarily takes the place of another.

Dorland's Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers. © 2007 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

Noun1.locum - someone (physician or clergyman) who substitutes temporarily for another member of the same profession
locum tenens
backup man, fill-in, reliever, stand-in, backup, substitute, relief - someone who takes the place of another (as when things get dangerous or difficult); "the star had a stand-in for dangerous scenes"; "we need extra employees for summer fill-ins"

20101030

patients stampeed and missed dinners.....

  1. Locum isn't so bad today. Think I had only about 10 - 15 patients so far. Last night was bad, with less than 60 patients for the whole day, more than 30 was served in the duration between 1730 and 2300hr. With the average of one patient every 10 minutes I wasn't even allowed a time for dinner, and when I finally got a breather, it was already 10pm!
  2. October has been a crazy month with all the departments deciding to give our assessments and presentations simultaneously. After the Research Methodology paper last Wednesday, the exam climate seems to cool down a little bit, leaving only one assignment left, which is the journal article critique to be due on Thursday. As usual, me being me, I've not started anything on it yet. Instead I've decided to treat myself with a season of Chuck, 13 episodes of it in just 2 days. Started on the second season today.
  3. Shah the personal trainer has been texting me to remind me about our paused training. Needed that break to focus a bit on the exams. With about 2 weeks break between now and the last session we had, I'll have my stamina down to the level of a potatobag on the treadmills. Sigh.
  4. Went out with Ben last Thursday, didn't do the Japanese food @ JayaOne though, instead went to SS2 for pigging out session at the WSK and followed by dessert before calling it a day.
  5. Deep in the mode of pondering about the future and the life decisions made at the present. I wish I'm out partaying in a Haloween Party like previous years, instead I'm stuck here doing locum. Next year Haloween I must join a dress up party, I don't care. I guess I'll be a terrorist again though.
  6. Damn hungry now.

how to work better.........

  1. DO ONE THING AT A TIME
  2. KNOW THE PROBLEM
  3. LEARN TO LISTEN
  4. LEARN TO ASK QUESTION
  5. DISTINGUISH SENSE FROM NONSENSE
  6. ACCEPT CHANGES AS INEVITABLE
  7. ADMIT MISTAKES
  8. SAY IT SIMPLE
  9. BE CALM
  10. SMILE

20101027

arteo rambling while waiting for exam time...

  1. Been on D for the past 2 days, took my 3rd and last from the previous stock today. Been prompted to restart by comments from people that I've seemed to pack on some flab lately. Valid reason for that observation -- I've frozen the last few sessions of gym training to cope with the exam stress this month. October wasn't a month to relax at all.
  2. Ben has been around for the past month but he also seemed to be rather busy with his course schedule. At least then I don't feel that bad for not meeting up with him since the day he checked in at Shah Alam. Tonight we're going out to have that internet purchased offer meal at Jaya One we've been postponing for a while.
  3. After being off D for almost half a year, the side effects of it seem to be felt stronger. Mood swings are more extreme and that snappy tendency is there all the time. Good thing today is the last of the never-seems-to-be-ending series of continuous assessments and presentations and reports for this semester. Next I can focus to make a come back to the gym and I won't be needing these anymore.
  4. I miss working. It's totally different being a student. At this age, adjustment is kinda slow, even after half a year of doing post graduate degree.

taxation explained.....

Got this from a circulating email. Like the analogy a lot, especially the caption right at the end of it.

UNDERSTANDING TAX


Suppose that every evening, 10 men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to RM 100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay RM 1.
The sixth would pay RM 3.
The seventh would pay RM 7.
The eighth would pay RM 12.
The ninth would pay RM 18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay RM 59.

So, that's what they decided to do....... The 10 men drank in the bar every evening and were quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner said, "Since you are all such good customers, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by RM 20".

Drinks for the 10 men would now cost just RM 80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men, the paying customers - how could they divide the RM 20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They realised that RM 20 divided by six is RM 3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

Therefore, the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing.
The sixth now paid RM 2 instead of R3 (33% saving).
The seventh now paid RM 5 instead of RM 7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid RM 9 instead of RM 12 (25% saving).
The ninth now paid RM 14 instead of RM 18 (22% saving).
The tenth now paid RM 49 instead of RM 59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a rand out of the RM 20 saving," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got RM 10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a rand too. It's unfair - he got 10 times more benefit than me!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get RM 10 back, when I got only RM 2? The wealthy always win!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists, labour unions and government ministers, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

20101024

arteo's assignment on malaysia's progress on achieving the fifth millenium development goal...

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is a set of eight targets that each of the 192 member states of the United Nation and some other international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. The goals are targeting essential developmental and socio-economic issues of the states, generally in health related areas, and are indicated by specific measurable indices. The areas of concern are to eradicate extreme poverties, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality among women, to reduce child mortality rate, to improve maternal health, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases such as tuberculosis, to ensure environmental sustainability and to encourage global partnership for development.

The fifth element of the Millennium Development Goals spells out targets to achieve in improving maternal health. There are 2 targets attributed to this goal, the first being a reduction by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio; and to achieve, by 2015, a universal access to reproductive health. Under each of these goals, there are specific indicators to chart the progress towards achieving the goals.

Malaysia has seen a heightened national concern and has been involved in international effort to promote health in general, and particularly the maternal and child health throughout the post independence era. Even before the Safe Motherhood Initiative that was launched in the 1980s, this country has gone through impressive reduction of the reported maternal mortality ration, which was halved between 1957 and 1970, from around 280 to 141 per 100,000 live births. The figure continued to come down to under 20 per 100,000 live births, which is a level very close to that of mostly advanced countries.

According to the United Nation Development Programme report in 2004, Malaysia approached the reduction of the maternal mortality through six key elements. These includes improved access to, and quality of care of, maternal health services including family planning, and by expanding health care facilities in rural and urban areas. Malaysia has invested in upgrading the quality of essential obstetrics care in rural clinics and district hospitals, with focus on emergency obstetrics care services. Streamlining and improving of the efficiency of referral systems and feedback systems to prevent delays in service delivery. On the human resource angle, Malaysia has invested in training and increasing the professional skills of trained delivery attendants to manage pregnancy and delivery complications. A comprehensive monitoring system was implemented which focuses on periodic reviews of system investigation, including reporting of maternal deaths through confidential enquiry systems, and to work closely with communities to remove social and cultural constrains in improving acceptability of modern maternal health services.

It is doubtlessly challenging, and requiring tremendous amount of commitment, human and financial resources, and innovative programmes to further reduce the maternal mortality to a lower level, even to sustain the maternal mortality at the current low level. Continued monitoring of maternal deaths, improvement in access and quality of care is of utmost importance to further lower maternal mortality. The shift from direct to indirect cause of maternal mortality requires greater involvement of multidisciplinary professionals and sectors, including Non-Governmental Organisations and religious leaders to address more complex factors of maternal mortality.

Based on the evident and accounts of development gains over the last recent decades, Malaysia has kept itself on-track in achieving its ambition and goals. For this country to become a fully developed nation by 2020, this positive weather of growth needs to be carefully sustained and improved, including continuous human development, especially with emphasis on higher education and trained skills. Essential issues that need to be continuously addressed are such as poverty and inequality, education, gender issues, health improvement, sustained development, issues pertaining to foreign migrants, improvement of information systems and partnership with multisectorial agencies for development.

Economically, the vast majority of remaining poor households are Bumiputeras, and are mainly concentrated in the agricultural sectors especially in the least developed states. Addressing the ethnic group disparities in maternal mortality continues to be a challenge for the health policy makers. At the same time, the high maternal mortality rate among immigrant women, comprising 42 percent of maternal deaths in this country in the year 2000. Migrant women face a limited accessibility to maternal health services, especially those lacking of valid travel documentation. This limited accessibility problem will cascade to a bigger problem resulting from unwanted pregnancies such as complicated trial of abortion, and abandonment of newborns.

Over the past decades, there has been a shift in preference of delivery at home to institutional delivery centers such as the hospitals, the health clinics and the alternative birthing centers (popularly known as the ABC in rural setting). Therefore, there is a need to increase and establish more of these facilities to provide safe deliveries closer to communities and to prevent overcrowding of the maternity units in the hospitals. These facilities must be equipped with full range of antenatal and maternal services such as family planning, management of complicated pregnancies and counseling services, as well as staffed by skilled professionals and adequately equipped for basic essential obstetric care and provision for referrals.

With the advancement of the information technology era, we are seeing more and more well informed and educated clients, together with the rise in educational level of Malaysian women. The societies nowadays are better empowered to make their own decisions and informed choices regarding healthcare, delivery and family planning. There health service provider, therefore, has to be better prepared and equipped to meet the raised expectations of the clientele, and to be able to provide necessary information to facilitate autonomy in client’s decision making. Good use of information and communication technology will eventually lead to positive changes in health seeking behaviour and healthy lifestyles.

Even though maternal deaths have become rather relatively low in Malaysia, there is still a need to ensure the preservation of quality, accuracy and reconciliation of data obtained from the government registration system. As proposed by the UNDP Malaysia report, for analytical purpose, it would be helpful to have the adjusted and the unadjusted annual maternal death figures to be made readily available. Provision of regular and detailed reporting of contraceptives prevalence rate would provide a better comprehensive profile of maternal health.

20101015

is it november already??

I've been reading on Maslow's theory and how it is linked to Sartre's philosophy on existentialism on the field of existentialist psychology during locum. Then I bought some medicine from the clinic which requires me to open an account. Seeing my age calculated a 31 years and 8 months, brings me straight away to my yearly blues -- occuring mostly in November -- the period when I ponder back on what legacy have I created, and what significance I have achieved in life. This is also the month when I ponder on the philosophy of existantialism... sigh...

20100917

arteo's homemade dinner.....

How to make SALMON AND ALFALFA BREAD SUSHI

Ingredients needed: wholemeal bread, salmon spread with mayo (shown here - Ayam Brand), Alfalfa sprouts and nori sheets. Needed also is the sushi roller made from bamboo sticks, called the sushi maki sudare.

First, lay the nori sheet on the sudare, and a piece of bread on it.

Then the fillings. I'm also trying with seafood mayo, also by Ayam Brand.

Then roll the bread into a cylinder in the shape of a maki. Wet the loose end of the nori with water and dab it on so it holds the shape of the maki.

Voila!

Can be cut into bite sizes but the knife used must be sharp enough to cut through the wet nori, can be quite challenging!

Sedapnya...

20100902

take home lessons.........

After a sleepless night and a appetite-less day, finally the crisis at hand comes to a slow plateu and a steep anticlimax. Anyway, there are repercussions from this event and the most important thing is that I learn from it.
  1. At the end of the day, it is true about how it is impossible to please everybody especially when you are in the super-visible position of obligatory duties (willingly or unwillingly) so just be weary of the 20% that will make noise and stirrups.
  2. Be extra careful of the 80% nonetheless. Slacking here can cause severe negative implications.
  3. Be careful about saying something against another person, even to the person you trust. Misquoting is a rampant endemic in any relations. Go full blast when talking nice about somebody else, though.
  4. In a conflict, be quick to admit wrongs and be soft about wrong accusations. Eventually you will be heard, so be patience.
  5. Duties, works and projects are fleeting events in life. Preserve relations if it is worth keeping, that should be the priority.
  6. Know who you true friends are. They may not be the ones talking the nicest to you.

20100813

feed a girl and you feed the whole nation.....

An Essay On Gender-Selective Micro-financing And Women Empowerment
by Arteo


For ages, certain societies has seen unequal treatment towards women as compared to men in many important aspects such as bodily integrity and autonomy, in getting education, in having marital, parental and religious rights, and many more. Another aspect that has in the recent decade been brought to prominent attention is the gendered poverty. This phenomenon has a simple meaning, that men and women both experience and respond to poverty in different ways. The solution, however, is not all together simple.

Poverty is perpetuated by a complex set of factors. Other than gender differences, other factors that come into importance are ethnicity, income, health status, access to resources, politics and hierarchies. It Is proven, by addressing gender as key strategy in implementation of any developmental assistance programme produces sustainable mechanism for alleviating poverty.

The International Labour Organisation acknowledges a strong connection between vulnerability of impoverished women to underemployment and low-wages. And has proposed various strategies to combat this problem. Based on a study by Buvinic (1996) it is stated that the most straight forward vehicle to empower poor women is through economic empowerment, which means increasing their productivity in home and market production and to increase their income from work. One of the most popular and proven forms of economic empowerment for women is by providing microfinancing services.

The World Bank states that microfinancing enables poor women to become economic agents of change by increasing their income and productivity access to markets and information, and decision making power. Microfinancing is just a means of providing impoverished women with financial crediting, usually in small amounts, to enhance the productivity of their own small enterprises and other income-generating activities in which they invest. Income generating activities encompasses a wide range of activities such as small business promotion, cooperatives, job creation schemes, sewing circles and credit and savings groups.

Indeed the world is in no shortage of success examples proving that microfinancing to women results in elevation of their social status, independence, improved income and negotiating power. Women are also better able to exercise their rights to sexual and reproductive health.
Learning from a United Nations Development Programme sponsored microfinancing project in Chifeng, Mongolia, apart from the high loan repayment rate, it was found also that the participants were more confident in making decisions and using the loan funds, and were able to provide a clear and transparent fund and credit record-keepings during the audit. They have managed to reinvest earnings to expand and diversify beyond their initial enterprises. They also frequently talked about allocating their earnings to the education of their children, including the daughters.

Dr Alan Rosenfield (Dean, Columbia University School of Public Health) during the panel discussion on the Microcredit Summit Campaign hosted by UNFPA in 2006, noted that when women are better off, so are families and societies. Women empowerment is essential to economic growth, democracy, social justice and human rights.

Microfinancing aims to make small differences in small steps, in lives of women. By feeding opportunities to one woman at a time, she may not ever feed the whole nation as it were, but she will be able to tend to her family better, and give them a livelihood. That, more than anything, means the whole world to her.

My essay, as submitted today for Principles of Family Health module. Not easy okay, to start writing again after so many years!!

20100807

arteo's new fav song: the rainbow connection...

Written by Paul Williams and used by Kermit the Frog, of The Muppets, Jim Henson Productions

THE RAINBOW CONNECTION

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that
and someone believed it,
and look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.

All of us under its spell,
we know that it's probably magic....

Have you been half asleep
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
It's something that I'm supposed to be.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
La, la la, La, la la la, La Laa, la la, La, La la laaaaaaa

20100719

arteo still alive.....

  1. I've been in KL for almost a month now but still no post ups of whatever's been happening here. Got no valid excuse though, not that I've not been able to connect to the internet, not that nothing interesting has happened, not that I lost my fingers and can't type (palis-paaaaalis) so excuses schmexcuses, I'll spare you guys of it.
  2. Just a quick post to ascertain that I am still alive and kicking, and enjoying very much of the course I am taking at the moment (gasp, my homework! at the thought of that...) and I will be updating pretty often soon, or at least I'll try to.
  3. Till then ;o)

it's almost 2 am and i'm still wide awake......

20100614

boom-de-ah-daa, boom-de-ah-daa...

Usually sticky tunes are irritating but somehow this one is okay, featured by Discovery Channel as their theme song.

2008 version



Astronaut 1: It never gets old, huh?
Astronaut 2: Nope.
Astronaut 1: It kinda makes you want to...
Astronaut 2: Break into a song?
Astronaut 1: Yep!

I love the mountains,
I love the clear blue skies,
I love big bridges,
I love when great whites fly,
I love the whole world,
And all its sight and sound,
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da..

I love the oceans,
I love real dirty things,
I love to go fast,
I love Egyptian Kings,
I love the whole world,
And all its sight and sound,
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da..

I love tornadoes,
I love arachnids,
I love hot magma,
I love the giant squids,
I love the whole world,
It's such a brilliant place,
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da..

2009 version



(Astronauts still singing refrain from last commercial)
Astronaut 1: Man, I cannot get that song out of my head.
Astronaut 2: Totally, I’m going again.
(Melody begins, astronauts begin to sing)
Astronaut 2: I love the mountains,
Astronaut 1: I love the sun so bright.
I love crustaceans
I love the stars at night
I love the whole world
So many things to see
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da

I love to catch fish
I love the lemur eyes
I love the future
I love when humans fly
I love the whole world
No plave I'd rather be
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da

Still dirty, still loving it
I love to blast off
I love adrenaline
I love the big bang
I love where air is thin
I love the whole world
And being part of it
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da

The Original Version



The song used in the ad is a re-writing of a traditional camping song known as I Love the Mountains or I Love the Flowers, sung to the tune of Hoagy Carmichael's 1938 "Heart & Soul", featuring a chorus of "boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da"

I like the flowers, I like the daffodils,
I like the mountains, I like the rolling hills,
I like the fire place, when the light is low,
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da,
Boom de ah da, boom de ah da...

20100611

'a' is for arteo......

1. What is your name : Arteo
2. A four Letter Word : Apes
3. A boy's Name : Andy
4. A girl's Name : Alexandria
5. An occupation : Art Director
6. A color : Amber
7. Something you'll wear : Anklet (not)
9. A food : Appam
10. Something found in the bathroom: Air freshner
11. A place : Ampang
12. A reason for being late : A-dog-ate-my-keys
13. Something you'd shout : Aaaarrrgghhhh!!!
14. A movie title : Ada apa Dengan Cinta?
15. Something you drink : Apple-juice
16. A musical group : Abba
17. An animal : Ambuk (monkey in Bruneian)
18. A street name : Alor (as in Jalan Alor)
19. A type of car : Audi
20. The title of a song : Angel's Lullaby

Rules:
It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag twenty people. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real...nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.