Revolution 9

I Want To Break Free

Malaysia to India
It had been exactly one week since i came back to India.. I came back 10 days later than all my friends, and had skipped a numbers of classes, but it was all worth bunking for the extra fun and food in Malaysia.. I had a very very enjoyable holiday. I met many many old friends this time and even celebrated Chinese New Year with my family which i had not been able to for the last 4 yrs. Of course it's sad to come back to again, but that's my calling, plus i have some extra reason to be back there as well, hehe.. On the very first moment i stepped foot on Mangalore, Indians had already pissed me off. What happended is that me and Hong Ling took a cab from airport to town. After dropping off her, i asked him to fetch me to my hostel which is only 1 km away, but this useless driver asked for double cz he said it's considered two different destinations. Of course i wont give. So i scolded him and only give him a small amount of money, not a rupee more, not a rupee less. This is Indian stupidity No. 1: Money-Mindedness

Mangalore pub attacks
2 days before i came back to Mangalore, there was a scary incident: 40 young men went into a pub near our college on Saturday afternoon and started beating up a few young Indian girls, slapping them, hitting them, kicking them like an animals, assaulting their boy friends, molesting them, all without any reason. The police arrested 23 of them. These brainless people are backed by the ruling political party of this state. 2 days later, all 23 of the violent maker was bailed out, without any charge. A more sickening thing is that a big bunch of crowd were outside the police station cheering for them, giving them celebrated ovation and flower rings. When interviewed, those fuckers still said they'll do it again if there's a chance and they do not regret their deeds. Even the Chief of the Police said he would have beaten up his daughters is she is found in a pub. The head of the attack group - SriRam Sena, said the girls deserved it. What the fuck!!! Which era are we in now? Is going to pub wrong? Is it any of your business? Where's the respect for women? Where is the law? What are all the money-sucking useless dumb ass police doing? Just few months ago, many churches are being attacked in Mangalore and many other places, then the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Now this violence against women. India is horrible, especially for us students who study here. No wonder India is still such a poor country full of useless people. Indian stupidity No. 2: Lawlessness.


Medical Postings
I am now in Final Year MBBS.. I passed all my 3rd year papers, really thank god.. Final year will be the most busy year, with 4 subjects - Medicine, Surgery, Obrstetrics & Gynaecology, and Paediatrics. All the books are super super thick. I'm now posted in Medicine in Wenlock Govt Hospital.. Before this, i was really hoping i would be posted in KMC College Hospital. I don't care if Wenlock has more cases, more, more patients, more exposure, more practical practices; i just hate to be in a stinky and dirty and disgusting environment through out my 1 and half month medicine posting. I have to change my shirts every single day, my lab coat twice per week because of all the urine smell stains plus all kind of pathogenic microorganism under the sky on my shirts.. Most of the days, i have to take cases in the hospital after my afternoon class and can only be back at night time. Imagine my day starts at 8am every morning and finish only at around 8pm.. It's shitty. Life sux. Besides, this semester is full of seminars, so occasionally, we have to prepare seminars to be presented in the lecture hall, means even more extra works at night.

Lectures
The lecture hall is another big let down. It's newly a constructed and enormous lecture hall, situated at the roof-top, and equipped with 2 projectors. However, it is not air-conditioned!! Imagine in India's hottest season of the year; from 2pm till 4.30 pm; Monday to Saturday; 250 students vs 1 single professor, after lunch... Of course, i will feel agitated, restless and sleepy. How do they expect the lectures to be effective and conductive? No way!! Some times, i myself will go to class with my short pants when every single classmates are on their full long sleeve formals. I know it's wrong, so what?! I don't even care. I mean, this weather is considered "summer" don't Indians have some common sense and allow the students to wear short pants and thin t-shirts? This is Indian stupidity No.3: STEREOTYPICAL

Slumdog
Friday night i went to watch a movie in theater with Caryn and Karthik - Slumdog Millionaire. Directed by Danny Boyle, it is a piece of gem crafted by the combination of Bollywood and Hollywood. It is a movie about a slumdog Indian, who is the lowest and most worthless class of Indian, made his way to win the game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionare?" How he did that?
A. He cheated
B. He's lucky
C. He's a genius
D. It is his destiny
Every single questions of the game show was written in his life experience, from small to young adult. His experiences guide us through the most comprehensive, real, shocking truth about life in India. The extreme poverty; religious fights; policeman's scariness and uselessness; caste system; illiteracy; urbanization, love. Everything is portrayed excellently well and impressive. Of my high movie taste, i dare say this is definitely one of the best movie i'd ever watched. It is very much similar to another of my all-time favorite - "City of God". The only difference is that "City of God" is more bloody and sets in Brazil. "Slumdog Millionaire" language is mostly in English, with some Hindi in the beginning. It won Golden Globe Awards, and was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture. I highly recommend this movie to every single one, truly a must watch!!



Hectic Final Year Life
My life have been really hectic and tiring in this first week in college. At night after dinner, i can only aboe to study a few pages, but i would prefer to just sit on my chair and stare at the laptop, listening to music and watching some movies. I don't even have the energy to study anymore. Food over here still sucks as ever after my tongue had been so accustomed to Malaysian cuisines. Weather here is scorching hot. My throat had been a bit of uncomfortable since i came. Besides, local Indians here are "stupid" and annoying. The political members here are all hopeless. Day by day, my temper gets shorter; my body got sicker; my shirts get dirtier; my intelligence gets lower my fashion sense gets worse; my humor gets lesser . I really can't wait to leave India. I can't wait to get rid of my final year of studying plus another year of internship here. Every minutes spent here feels like a year to me. The only good thing over here is my room; Caryn; and my fellow friends. I can't wait to fly away from here fast. God help me.

Hooray! Hooray It's A Holiday

Hello there, I came back to Malaysia on 20th Dec, actually 5 days before the actual date of my final practical exam day, but since i already bought all the domestic and international flight early on for the 20th date, i do not want to change the ticket and waste money on penalty and ticket rate differences. I took the hard and lonely way - appealed to authorities to pre-pone my practical exam date. Thank God, after some talking to this and that profs, my plea was granted. So, i was back 1 week earlier than my friends, ate more Malaysian foods, spent more money and gained more pounds than any of my fellow friends in India.

I came back with Caryn, and this is the first time we flew back to Kuantan together. It was a very nice journey. At KLIA, we both ate dim-sum at Eden for RM100+, which is the most expensive dim sum i'd ever taken and i think that was the only time i'll ever take. On 23rd, my family and I went to KL for Christmas. I met my super cute cousin sister who's only 1 and half year old. One year ago when i saw her, she was still super tiny and forver sleeping. Now she can jump, walk, and make noises. On Christmas eve, nothing much was done at my uncles's house, we wished one another and then i was playing PS2 with my bro. There goes my silent night holy night. The next morning on christmas day, we all attended a Christmas lunch organised by my uncle's church at Damansara. It was an OK lunch, at least it's more meaningful better than whatever count downs, partying, boozing, Santa Claus etc. Then that very afternoon on 25th, my parents went back to Kuantan first due to some work, while we 3 brothers stayed few more days at my Uncle's house, until 30th Dec. During that one week, all i'd done is shopping and eating, spent around RM1000 easily shopping for shirts and shoes etc, plus my Uncle and Aunty fed us like pig, and my belly is forever growing outward.


In Kuantan, it's forever raining. That kind of gloomy feeling that clouds over my mind. Cannot do any out door activities, except going to East Coast Mall like super frequently. I'd never been to the mall when it opened. I liked the mall, at lesat it's more high-class than the stupid Berjaa Megamall. Megamall is so dead now. Since back home, i'd only be able to meet up with a few old friends. Most of my friends are already graduated and living in KL working, leaving me alone still dealing with books, damn...



Last Sunday, after me and my family came back from church service, Caryn suddenly called me and asked me out. When she reached my home to pick me up, a super familiar face is sitting inside the car too. Bastard Ki Yang didn't tell me he was coming over. A surprise? Very much did. So me and Caryn showed him around Kuantan, eat here and there, visit this mall that mall, watched Outlander (stupid movie) at Megamall, and went to Teluk Chempedak like hundred times (what to do, Kuantan not much places to go). Ki Yang came for 2 days, and he just went back today. It was a very good time we 3 from India travel around Kuantan together.



Yesterday, my 3rd year MBBS result was out. Thank God, i passed!!! Hooray!! My Community Medicine marks is exactly on thin line between fail and pass. If it weren't God's grace, what else could it be. I was really relieved, and my parents are happy too. My dad bought me the Littman stethoscope which i was supposed to pay by myself. I saved RM250, hehe. Besides, my mum treated all of us for dinner. The stethoscope is bought by Caryn's doctor uncle, so it's cheaper, Most significantly, it is Littman, and it's navy blue in color, weee, unlike all the boring blacks everyone is using. Really thank god that i passed, cz next year-final year, there'll be 4 subjects, and it's the most hectic year of MBBS with super dupper thick text books of Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics, and Obstetrics/Gynaecology. Phew!!

OK, enough for now. Am so tired after whole day going here and there with Ki Yang and Caryn and her parents already. My mum n dad somemore asked me to go jogging tomorrow early morning. They kept complaining bout my super big belly, aiks.. what to do, i was non stop eating all the time in Malaysia. Every night, i sleep with my belly extra full. You can see a big bulge under the blanket when i'm on bed.. I was really nice coming back to Malaysia, eating good food, hearing familiar langauges, spending time with family and friends... I love holiday, that's why i myself further extended my holiday for 8 days (on 30th Jan). So, basically i'm the first who came back and last to go back India, hehe, my holiday is the longest!!

Happy New Year of 2009 and have an enjoyable holiday to all my friends!!!

Eight Days A Week

In exactly 1 week time, i'll be having my University exam of my 3rd year MBBS. There's a 2 weeks study break for us, and i think it's rightly enough to cover 3 subjects - Ophthalmology, ENT n Community Medicine. Compared to last year, the work load is much lighter, and hopefully, by God's grace, i'll be able to pass all subjects. 1 week, seven days is a bit scary when i think bout it, hopefully i'll manage.

So far, 1 week had passed, and i can't find myself studying too long on my chair. I still get distracted easily, my mind still oftenly wander away, and i still do all kinds of shit. I juz assumed when you get too much free time all by yourself, you tend to take the time for granted and waste it juz like that. Recently, what i did besides studying was downloaded some HD movies and watched some, did some eBaying, played a lil bit of Pro Evo Soccer with frens and practised guitar. I planned to do gym in my room but everyday ended up too lazy or too tired to. So far I have Matrix, Gladiator, Shawshank Redemption, Full Metal Jacket & Dark Knight in HD, and watching them in supreme clarity & details along with crisp Dolby surround sound juz amazes me and make me appreciate them even more. But 8gb for a movie is juz too much sometimes, so i limit them only to my all-time-super-favourite list.

Yesterday, whole India was shocked and anxious bout the Mumbai bombing incident. It was HUGE, merciless, scary, and exciting. Even playing game like Call of Duty doesn't seems as exciting and cruelsome. Imagine: "two super high class 5 star hotels, some hospitals, police station, and railway station... AK-47, hand grenades... super well coordinated, random sweeping of bullets, floor full of blood... UK & US citizens being targetted, police officers died, people running around, numerous hostages......" Wow, the scenery is just "phenominal", "rare".

Today when i went to the toilet in the evening, i saw a 'peeping Tom' sitting quietly outside the windows. It never go away for looong time. I feel shy even to pee or take bath. It was there juz for shelter from the rain, and at the same time peeping on me doing private stuffs. I bet it's a female!!

It Was A Very 'Bad Month'

On early september,
It was a very bad month,
A very bad month for KMC,
Our college is derecognised,
by Indian Medical Council,
Our future is uncertain,
It was a very bad month.

On late Spetember,
It was a very bad month,
A very bad month for local Christians,
Churches being robbed and destroyed,
Christians became refugees,
Our faith is being tested,
It was a very bad month.

On early October,
It was a very bad month,
A very bad month for Adriana,
She got a car accident,
Her boyfriend drank and drove,
She had head injuries,
Being treated in ICU,
It was a very bad month.

On early October,
It was a very bad month,
A very bad month for Alok John,
Our dear hostel mate and dear friend,
Who died in his room,
Actual cause still unknown,
Who'll be missed always,
It was a very bad month.

p/s: sing this according to Frank Sinatra's 'It Was A Very Good Year', in a solemn and sober tone..

Money For Nothing

All of us (i mean those who are constantly updated with world news and scenarios, not referring to book-worms or idle or self contained people), knows the world economic is under crisis, a very very big crisis.. However, the news are always full of financial terms and digital digits, making most of the Tom, Dick and Harry scratching their head and then turn away from reading and understand further. It's quite difficult to understand the whole situation in US economic, as i myself thought almost impossible to, but for the sake of my friends, i will make up a story very easy to digest and getting to know the whole picture.

Imagine, in 1998, Kelvin, in US, a newly graduate from college, just started to step into the working world, wants a personal car, a nice private apartments, many high tech gadgets and in a period of dating a girl. So he went to the housing departments and saw that the houses are very cheap, and it's rumored to rise in price in the future, so he went to a local bank A and also saw that the newly set loan deal is very loose, plus the interest rate is really low(due to faulty government policies), so he borrowed a large amount of money to buy a big bungalow, a sport car, and also applied a credit card to buy whatever gadgets he wants and spend all he wish with his girlfriend.

10 years down the line, in 2008, the interest rate which was very low in the first few years, started to became higher. Unable to clear his debt, he just kept dragging and do not pay back the money he borrowed, still owing the bank a large amount of money. Besides, the house prices which was rising all these while, suddenly dropped (due to too many sales of cheap houses in the past 10 years), making him impossible to alternatively to sell off his house to earn some money eventually pay off his debt. At the same time, oil prices had increased, making everything that were on his wish-list became too expensive to buy due to inflation. So, he was declared bankruptcy.

Imagine 5,000 Kelvins are there, 1 Kelvin borrowed 1 million, it will come up to 5 billion borrowed from the same local bank A. So bank A is in trouble, with all their lent money not coming back, so in order to continue their business and maintain liquidity, bank A borrowed from a bigger bank B. 10 banks similar to bank A borrowed from bank B, so bank B in trouble also, so B borrowed from Federal bank C, then C borrowed from D of another rich country, and this trait continues, and so, the whole world are in what we call a "credit crisis". The whole world is 'owing money' to one another in a big circle. We refer Kelvin as "subprime mortgage", a risky and lowly paid money borrower. So, as the credits of banks increases to a very large magnitude, some big companies are bankrupt (eg Lehman Brothers, one of the biggest investment bank in US); AIG (a super big insurance company) is in big crisis and have to sought loans from Federal Reserves; Meryll Lynch (another top 5 investment banks) have to be purchased by Bank of America; mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were placed into conservatorship. So, the stock of US plummeted like hell, and as US stock (which consist of 21% of world stock) is in a Bear Market, the whole world economy suffered greatly too and get pawned by the same bear's paw.

Oil price is tremendously high, making food prices increase as well, and inflation went on to record a new high. Currently, 63,000 US citizens had lost their job. A man without a job, his/her buying power will drop. As demand is low, and importation from other countries decreased, and so the economic of the other countries dropped together.

What are the US government planning now? A 700 billion bailout. Bailout means the government taking out their own national treasury money to buy up all the rubbish assets of big banks and big companies, helping them to lessen their credit burden so that they'll have more liquidity to resolve their financial issue. However, is it a sure success? Very unlikely. We shall see how it turns out. It might help to strengthen the economics, and at the same time might also lead to a recession. Recession means the output gross of a country is 0 or negative, means no productivity at all, the country doesn't grow but fall, and many more citizens, investors will die

Personally, my Public Mutual Fund in Malaysia became few cents left; my ICICI-Prudential Mutual Fund in India lost quite an amount already; Indian rupee's value dropped like hell (1 USD=47INR now); ICICI Bank (the biggest private bank in India) is under crisis still holding all of our JPA money inside.

So, how we, as timid consumers, can do to prevent ourselves from being sucked up by the crisis?

1. Do not invest on stock market or mutual fund or warrant or debt fund right now.
2. Save, save, save on everything. Do not buy unnecessary items.
3. Never ever use a credit card in your life, you'll regret later.
4. Buy things through eBay, save transportation, save money, save environment as well.
5. Do not withdraw your money from banks in crisis, so that the bank will be able to resolve their problem with the money.
6. Spend most money here in India while you're still here, because it would be stupid to bring such low Indian Rupee back to Malaysia and loss on currency exchange.
7. Read Rich Dad Poor Dad, learn more about how money works.
8. Manage your own money-- spend, save, record at your own will, do not let other people control your money, do not even simply leave the money in Saving Accounts to rot.

p/s: all these writings were totally unprofessional, and were all based on a lame man's shallow thoughts. Personal opinions and feedbacks are most welcomed..

Star Sprangled Banner

Last week was Malaysia's 51st National Independence Day.. Oh is it? Maybe many people do not realize or maybe there's nothing interesting to look forward for.. This year's Independence Celebration was marred by many negative issues occurring back in my own country -- the big loss of Barisan National in the election; the loss of 5 states to opposition parties; the rise of Anwar; the accusation of sodomy of Anwar; the further investigation of Najib on killing of a Mongolian lady; the loss of support towards present PM Abdullah; the blog of ex-PM Mahathir who always like to tocuh and flame up any sensitive issues; the conversion of ex-BN members to other opposition parties, the racial issues on chinese as immigrants started by Ahmad,... etc etc... Not to mention the Beijing Olympic that got everyone sticking in front of TV instead of preparing for Merdeka celebration, plus the still unresolved safety problems of the citizens such as raping, killing, snatching, stealing, robbing etc etc..

How can you expect the celebration to be good and full of spirit when everyone is affected by more majot negative issues? And that's why this year's Malaysia's Merdeka celebration was an utterly failure. After half a decade of independence, finally the cycle of curse had reached the so called land of harmonious and land full of honey and milk, a very fast developing country marching hard to reach it's 2020 target. The storm that struck left many political members unsettled, and most importantly, the citizens to become civilians, crying for help from God above. Is there any more hope for the future? Who might be the next Prime Minister? A killer, a sodomizer, or a senile??

51 years ago, all the 3 races were fighting had to hand against aliens that invade our country. Then, there was 51 years of harmony and peace and developement, but i would rather say it "superficial harmony and peace", or 51 years of lies that has been overclouding our mind and eyes, or only "apparent developement", of the outside that we can see, touch, taste but not inside that we can believe and have faith in. People from other countries (esp Indians) will definitely thought that we live in a super high class thrid world country, full of luxuries and fun, but we true Malaysians know what's actually happening deep inside our hearts. The racial issue for example, is like a flame covered with a thin veil, it will burn eventually, just like what's happening today. Are we going to reach "developed" status in 2020? Or is it going to be another recurrence of 513?? All these we'll have to see, nothing is for sure now.

*a change of scene, a beam of aurora flashed in front of your eyes, and 'blink', you're in India*

We, around 150 Malaysians, were celebrating our MSA Merdeka in a new hotel called Deepa Comforts, where people from all walks of life came together in their best dress and cloths to show off their fashion taste, and to try out the taste the buffet of this new hotel.. We invited all the deans from our colleges, the HODs, and some local friends, to witness the slide show and short films of our 'Malaysian culture' and see the dances and skeet performed by our grand grand juniors. A round of applause to them who organised this event and also those who shed sweats to perform. The dinner was a success, and we once again felt we were close to home. How often do we get a chance to meet and talk and eat with and take photos with all the Malaysians residing in this small city called Mangalore? Many bad issues are happening back home, but for us not in Malaysia are saved by grace not being affected much, are still enjoying the peace of mind and the joy of togetherness. Luckily, we students over here, either Malay, Chinese, Indians, or other ethnic groups, are still ONE in spirit and in person, and also in speech.
"Hey, mereka semua 'tempe' tak pernah tengok perempuan sexy ke? Asyik tengok perempuan kita saja? Tsk tsk, still kita Malaysians yang lebih 'high class', haha"
"Ai yer, benda kat hotel ni tak sedap la, tak de Malaysian style langsung!"

Here Is Gone

Today i just came out from my 1st paper of my 1st sessional exam of 3rd year MBBS. First paper was Community Medicine, a subject which i, together with majority of my class mates, ignore since 1st year. This is a darn boring subject, with all kinds of so called "general knowledge" but actually it's very complicated with all kinds of statistics and definition and methodology. I sat the paper only studied 1/3 of the portions and studied only once, in 4 days time. People spend weeks to study but i use only 4 days, haha, and mind u the 4 days are not those intensive sit-till-your-ass-pain study kind, i still fool around and slack here and there. Today, it only took me 1 n half hour to sit in the exam hall and write, whereas the paper is supposed to be 3 hours long. My paper was super empty. (I'm the 3rd to come out, normally i'm the first, hehe)

Tomorrow is Ophthalmology, and followed by ENT, Medicine and lastly Surgery. Among all, the subject i studied the most is Ophthal (1 week). My mum scolded me through SMS say i lazy, that's why cant finish studying. But think bout it, it wasn't my fault. Let me explain:
I had my Supplementary exam for Pharmacology just 2 weeks before this sessionals, and all these while i was stuck with Pharmac, and every subjects in 3rd year are untouched. So imagine in 2 weeks time to cover these 5 subjects while all other people had 4 long months to cover them, IMPOSSIBLE!! So i tried to allocated my time: 1 week Ophthal, 4 days Comm Med, 3 days ENT, Medicine untouched, Surgery dun even have a book yet, wahaha.. Call me crazy!! Everyone say the professors wont even mark Comm Med and ENT paper, so actually this exam is very insignificant. Besides, i am mentally tired after the Pharmac exam, and few days back when i know that i passed the Pharmac paper, i was relieved and happy, tried to celebrate but can't as this sessionals is coming next.

Come on, this semester is supposed to be a honeymoon sem, everyday max 2 hours class, so of course we're supposed to enjoy and relax and do whatever shit u want. Even the college is not taking this sessionals seriously, so what for crack my head and burn my midnight oil suffering for exam? No way!! So, don't blame me!! It was the lack of time; the insignificance of this exam; the post-exam tiredness; the celebrating mentality, plus the holiday mood which 'encouraged' me not to take this sessionals seriously ..

OK, let's face it.. "Peer pressure".. "Ophthamology" (supposed to be my favourite field).. "They mark this paper".. "I can enjoy even more in the 1 week holiday if i had worked hard for the exam"..
Fine!! Whatever..I should start opening the book right now and study....

Shopping spree

Yesterday was Sunday, i couldn't wake up for church, woke up at 11am. Went to Taj Manjarun for a buffet lunch with Caryn. Then we went to watch movie (One Missed Call). It's a stupid typical Japanese style ghost movie, and the ending didn't bring any sense at all. In fact, the whole movie has no meaning, except some chilling moments that make up jump from the seat. Then, we went to shop for cloths. She bought some cheap Salwa cloths, and i bought a Van Heusen white long sleeve shirt, a Van Heusen informal long pants, and 2 cheap Peter England short sleeve formals. I'm now super lack of formal shirts and pants, i always wear t-shirts to classes and posting, plus some of my tight fitting formal pants that i taylored last year is now unzippable (i'm a man with a belly now, damn). Since JPA just banked in money few days back, it's time to shop till my wallet drop. In 1 day time i spent 4000 rupees on shirts, ouch!! It's my first time stepping into Van Heusen shop, and i fell in love with it instantly. Though the shirts are all expensives, but for that kind of design and comfort, i think it's worth it.

Today, the Logitech Alto Express laptop stand that i bought online few days ago arrived. I'm happy. That day when i was surfing the net, i stumbled upon this laptop stand and thought it was good. Then after some research, i think it is essential for a laptop to have an external keyboard n mouse, plus a stand to elevate the height of the screen. Why? So that you'll have a healthier work place or gaming ground. Just imagine a laptop is so small, the screen is so low, and the user has to bend his back, his neck, and strain his eyes to look down at the small screen and the hand has to stretch up and in front to reach the super small keyboard, what a hard and bad posture, plus the user need to be in this wrong posture for long hours. All this can cause what we called working-place-syndrome such as tendonitis, arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, neck pain, back pain, dizziness, lethargy, insufficient blood circulation, eyes strains and shoulder pain. There're so many working class ppl and students nowadays suffering from all these, just that they did not realise and ignores them. However, these are not minor problem as sooner or later, the problems can become chronic and when turn older, everything comes out together and get severe. So, what we need to do now is to use our computer ergonomically by setting up an appropriate computer work station. Here, i have some very important points of using the computer in an ergonomic ways (click on the pic to enlarge).
"Let all of us work simultaneously towards a healthier working life style by using our computer ergonomically.." by Dr. Kelvin Liu

Transform

Just came back from Horse Face Hill Station, Kudremukh for a Youth Camp on 5th, 6th and 7th April. The theme of the camp is Romans 12:2 "Transform". Almost everyone from my international cell group went. At first all of us are quite reluctant to go, but due to our Pastor's constant encouragement (or i should call "pestering"?), we signed up for it.


Early morning at 5.45 am, i miraculously woke up (i'd never woke up that early in my life, plus i slept at 2 that night), and went to wait for the bus at the church. We took 2.5 hours to reach Kudremukh, and saw already many ppl are there, and about half the number from New Life Church in Bangalore. We got divided into 10 groups, took home cooked breakfast over there, then the worship and sermons sessions straight away started. On the first day, i couldn't get used to the whole thing, was damn too tired as the sessions runs continuously without break till 11pm, crazy, and basically i was sleeping through all the messages. The place that we sleep in is super lousy, only 4 walls and a super thin mattress, with a lamp and fan and limited water supply (only 8 hours water per day), plus 12 person stay in a dorm, sharing 1 and only toilet, zz. The food provided are all home cooked by the New Life church members there, we have to eat with hands and wash the dishes ourselves. The first night i cant well oso, cz the weather is too cold.


2nd day i woke up headache and nauseatic, so all sessions slept off too, zzz, until in the late afternoon of outdoor game time. There are altogether 10 stations of crazy games, and we ran, laughed, shouted, drenched, and sweat. It was real tiring but fun. That's the first time i got to know the group members in my team. Then at night sessions continued, but i was able to concentrate more already. The second night i slept more soundly and was the latest to wake up in the whole house.


On 3rd day, everyone was more "committed" and fired up as it was the last day. We had a spirit-filled long sessions where the pastor we invited prayed and laid hands and God was moving in the hall and performed many miracles and gave out lots of power and blessings. I was kinda 'scared' bout this kind of thing, ppl shouting and crying, and in the end i succumbed. In general, the camp was a big success and everyone enjoyed and being transformed and fired up for God. But all these are only the beginning, it all depends how we live in the secular world. At 6pm. we all went back to Mangalore heavy hearted. The bus is just super super packed, as half the ppl had to stand. But throughout the 3 hours journey , we were singing and shouting and having fun, and time seems to passed fast. At last, at 9.30, i reached my hostel which suddenly seems like heaven to me, with AC and nice bed, ahhh, time to have a long long sleep to compensate the tiresome mind and jaded body.


Few main things i learn from the camp:

• NO One Can Defeat Me, when the holy spirit is with me!!! Live a victorious life!!

• Set your TONGUE to the right directions, you're defeated because of the words that came out from your mouth, your tongue is like ammunition for Jesus to shoot at Satan.

• Nature of sin, Do Not make provision for temptations in the mind. Therefore CONFESS your sin to each other & PRAY for each other so that you may be HEALED. The prayer of a RIGHTEOUS ma is powerful and effective. James 5:16

• Living spiritually in the urban lanscape: Keep your cool, endure hardship, do the work of evangelist, discharge all the duties of ministry. 2 Tim 4:5

M.I.C.K.E.Y M.O.U.S.E

It'd been a long long time since i last posted. I came back to India on 25th Jan, 10 days later than the actual date the school started. It was a great time of holiday having the chance to spend time with my family members, plus Chee Kang is back too. He was back on the 21st, but this careless bro of mine stupidly dunno guided by what spirit went to the AirAsia station, and missed the domestic flight to Kuantan, so he have to come back the 2nd day by bus, swt.. At last i have someone to talk to bout tech geeks, compare our iPod, handsets, exchange games, songs, and played Pro Evo together (though i got trashed by him in all matches). At last, after a one month long holiday, i came back to Mangalore for my 3rd year of MBBS.



I bought a lot of new stuffs back to India. On the 1st day i went to school, everything on my body are brand new. I bought a new brown Nicole leather school bag, new Body Glove pencil case, new Umbro football boots, new Dr. Cardin leather shoe, new Dell XPS laptop, new Logitech gamepad, new games like Bioshock, FEAR, Half Life Orange Box, new Snails Original pants, and few shirts. This time, my luggage is only 25kg, including lots of Caryn's stuffs, cz we posted a 17kg parcel through ship and i'd put most of my dried foods and 3-in-1 drinks into the parcel, so the weight this time is lighter than expected.


I'm finally in 3rd year!! This new semester is just too too free, everyday we have only maximum 2 hours class, posting every morning as usual, and some unimportant posting in the afternoon which can choose to neglect them, hehe. But sadly, i failed my Pharmacology paper in my 2nd year finals, and have to carry over and retake it in around June. Throughout this one month of my 3rd year, i'm just too too free cz there too little classes and exams are all too far ahead. Basically, all i'd done in my room is playing lots of games (finished Bioshock, awesome game! Went for a local Dota tournament feeling that we could pawn any Indians and win the prizes but got fucked totally in 2 games, aiks). I played lots of football as well -almost every evening, as the interclass competition is coming very near. This time, my skills improved, i understand the game better, and less injury prone compare to last year. I'm gonna continue playing football though the year to make up all my free time. Besides, i played some guitar as well, cz i'm gonna perform with my friends on Dental Week interclass program. In addition, i picked up the chinese chess board which had been long abandoned, and played regularly with Cheng Yeow. Also, i started to follow some Hong Kong drama by internet streaming.

This year is the year of Mouse!! It's my year. As usual, we celebrated chinese new year over here. However, this year is quite a small-scaled and less fun compare to last year's. This time we had reunion dinner at Hao Hao. First sad thing is that there is much less people who joined us as the dental students are all having exams; secondly, the amount of food is just too less, and none of us had enough. Anyway, the most important thing of CNY is that everyone can come together and have fun. At night, Cheng Yeow and i went to friend's apartment to gamble as 2 of my friends from Manipal came over. I won around Rs600 this year, hehe. We played till 4am, and we climbed through the apartment wall and came back to hostel.

I'm 23 years old already!! My birthday was on 12th Feb. At 12am, my friends in my hostel gave me a simple surprise party, which i appreciated a lot. Thanks Caryn for organizing so much for this and bought me a cake. Luckily, there were no eggs for my head this year, hehe. Then at night, all the chinese friends celebrated with me in Pizza Hut again. 4 days later, when Caryn finished her exam, she celebrated with me alone again and gave me a treat at The Village Restaurant. Thanks. I've got 2 more shirts as my bday party from my friends (omg, my wardrobe is just so full of shirts now). But the best present i got is from Caryn. She gave me a nice leather guitar strap and a whole set of guitar string. She also bought me a Guy Laroche super cool wallet when i first reached India. She gave me 2 birthday cards as well. You're the best!! So so appreciate all that you've done :)
I'd celebrated Valentine's Day too. I treated Caryn for a special dinner at Taj Manjarun, then i gave her a Nao porcelaine of ballerina baby, a bouquet of red and white roses, and a card. She gave me a lovely card as well.

Ok, it's time to sleep. Tomorrow have to wake up at 6.30 am for football practice, as the match is on Monday. Good night.

That's What Friends Are For

I just came back from Genting and KL trip with a bunch of my old schoolmates (primary school classmate!)

On the 9th Jan, Yik Han, Alvin n me took bus to PJ to meet up at Lip Kuan's house. When we reached his house, Eng Chwan and Shi Hao are already there. Then after we packed lightly, we departed by taxi to One Utama and took Genting bus up to skyway station, then took skyway up to the city of entertainment.
Firstly, we went to the casino de Genting. We entered both Monte Carlo and Starworld. It is our first time going in because the last time we all came here was 3 years ago-when we were still too young to enter. But now, i entered straight without any block from the guard while all my friends kena everytime, haha, maybe they see my white hair n thought i'm old, or maybe i have a more matured attitude and style, hehe.. The casino is nice, and i was standing there trying to find out which type of gambling has the highest probability to win, but in the end i never even bet 1 ringgit cause to me it's simply not worth it and the money in my wallet is very very tight, i would rather spend it on something else. Except Alvin won a mini jackpot, all my other friends lost.
This time, we couldn't play any indoor games cz it's all under maintenance. At night, we all chatted, eat snacks and drank beer in the room. Next day after we checked out from First World Hotel, we went to play the outdoors games.. But half way playing, the rain started pouring down, and we are forced to stop playing and go down the hill. While goin down by skyway, the most exciting moment happened. It was raining really heavily, and there's lightning and thunder. Half way through the journey down hill, the skyway just stopped, and it feels like falling every time it stopped cz the tension of the wire is loosened. This happened many many times and all 6 of us were so scared and prayed hard, but thank God we arrived safely in the end.

We then took bus and stopped at 1U. We had KFC as dinner and then ate 龟苓膏 to reduce the heat. Then we all went to sleep at Lip Kuan's place.

Next day, we went to Jogoya at Star Hill for lunch. When i stepped into the place, i was like, OMG!! This place is just awesome!! The food, the design, the environment, it's just unbelievable. I walked around the buffet line and get lost, haha. I don't know what to eat, all things are just so expensive and high class and many of them i'd never eat before. There's fresh oyster, salmon, prawns, sushi, octopus, mussels, clams etc. There's also all kind of soups, and you can take your own choice of fresh seafood to be stir fried, deep fried, etc etc. For drinks, there're very nice thailand coconut, all kind of fresh fruit juice, teas, coffee etc etc. Deserts there are Baskin Robins, Hagen Das, all kind of fruits, cheese cakes, cookies, mochi, 龟苓膏, puding, strawberry with choc coatings.. Argh, i cant name all. We stayed there for 4 hours, and ate like mad. However, i cant stand the taste of clams, so after i ate mussels and oyster, i puked. Aiks. But at the end of the feast, my stomach is so so round and feel satisfied. Yummy. Everything we ate are well worth, or exceeded the RM78 per head. I personally drank 4 coconut, plus i actually quietly pour another 4 into my bottle, hehe.
Then we went to Pavilion for a walk. Star Hill is for high high class people to shop (minimum watch i can find there is RM10000), and Pavilion which just opened recently is for medium high class people (minimum watch cost RM1000). We cant afford to buy a single thing there, but wait, in 20 years time, i hope i'm a regular customer of this place, not to mention Star Hill first. :)
Later we went to LowYat Plaza. I bought a RM69 Logitech Dual Action gamepad for gaming, mainly for PES, and also helped Caryn to buy Samsung G600. Woot.. Later at night, we went to play Dota at SS2 and ate supper there before goin home.

The next day, me, Yik Han and Alvin came back Kuantan by bus. Eng Chwan and Shi Hao went back to their college. And so, we departed. It was kinda sad to say goodbye cz i hardly even meet them in a year, and Yik Han had been 2.5 years since he last came back fr US. However, i hope that our friendship shall last forever.