Reverberations

This song, fell in love with it the first time I heard it.

the 7th time hearing it,d volume of my harman/kardon speakers turned up to feel the bass, and the reverberations, I was moved to tears. And I don't know why.
I wasn't sad before listening to it and neither was I moody.. but the voice, the feel, the simple lyrics... just resonated with a piece of me... and the drops welled up, burst the banks.

在很久很久以前
你拥有我 我拥有你
在很久很久以前
你离开我 去远方翱翔
外面的世界很精彩
外面的世界很无奈
当你觉得外面的世界很精彩
我会在这里衷心地祝福你
每当夕阳西沉的时候
我总是在这里盼望你
天空中虽然飘着雨
我依然等待你的归期
在很久很久以前
你拥有我 我拥有你
在很久很久以前
你离开我 去远方翱翔
外面的世界很精彩
外面的世界很无奈
当你觉得外面的世界很无奈
我还在这里耐心地等着你
每当夕阳西沉的时候
我总是在这里盼望你
天空中虽然飘着雨
我依然等待你的归期
我依然等待你的归期

It's the current rendition by Karen Mok of a song by qi qing... but it's just so powerful.....

you can listen to it here... but if you like this song, please appreciate it for what it is and not download it, show your support by paying tribute to the artiste behind it. Her new album, 回蔚hui2 wei4,

Into the Twilight- Tiger Blogfest

Written in conjuction with the
Tiger blogfest, this poem sheds some light into the plight of our magnificent Panthera tigris,

May we stop and think, ere we send them to the brink

_______________________________________

Red dust, stung my eyes
I can do nothing, but stifle my cries

Swept up, as they cleared d trail
exactly where I had my first quail

My home, This was; yesterday
In fear, I live, day after day

Chainsaw, axes and machetes
with which our future are torn to bits

camouflage, I no longer can
My stripes stand out at every bend

the foliage was all lush and green
In the distant past, when I reigned King

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A scant thin familiar scent
Ignore it,I know I can't

It's the hut, It's the hut!
Should I, push my luck?

Creeping past the window
came a pang of sorrow

I can only shrug
as I saw the rug

Because of our skin

I lost my kin

spared not, are our Homes

sadly, Nor our bones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My tail hangs low
walking towards the afterglow

the crow flies, one more time
Its thoughts, its cries; echo mine

We share a shadow
We share a sorrow

For the question, it begs:
"Is this my last sunset?"

Any idea what animal this is?

Mysterious ungulate?
I almost thought it is a statue ..

Seladang? X
Kerbau? X
Gaur? X
Banteng? X
serow? X (more of a goat lah)

got this from here

Here's
A true review of the Lok Kawi Zoo, KK, Sabah..
I think it almost represents all the zoos available in Malaysia.
SAD

The End Justifies The Means- Going up Against the Malaysian Mentality.

What are the main causes of traffic jams in Malaysia?

top in the list would be
1)Heavy downpour
2)Flash Flood due to poor drainage due to shoddy workmanship due to cronyism due 2 BN running mlaysia for 53 years
3)Drivers taking too much time avoiding the numerous potholes

and certainly not least- Accidents.

Now you have to understand that in boleh-land
The accident itself doesn't cause musch inconvenience, -as tow trucks arrive at the scene much much earlier than either the fire brigade or the ambulance (some accidents are rigged by tow trunk operators- planting nails on the road etc)-




-it is the 吃饱太得空没事做 folk and the 4D punters who surround the accident scene, actively hypothesizing the reason for the accident, who's at fault, wat's the car plate number, yesterday this number opened in Magnum... while crossing their arms and waiting for things to happen.

now compare this to seeing a burst fire hydrant in a public square,

I don't understand how all those people can just turn a blind eye to it and continue about their own business despite knowing a simple 999 [you can now call 999 for police, emergency services or the fire brigade] can save a lot of water and probably prevent some slippery accidents occuring

"oh I'm too busy"
"Flow, flow lah! not my money also!"
"ahhh,dun worry la, someone else will do it"
"Water come out good wat, Malaysia so hot, cooling effect wor!"

Extrapolate This 自扫门前雪,不管别人瓦上霜 mentality to governance and our community, it will be our own downfall, someday.

So, To combat this mentality, when you need something done, you really must make people take notice by either Inconveniencing them or shame them by advertising to the world the person responsible is not doing anything.

Case in point,

In the Psychiatry clinic of Hospital UKM, Cheras (now called PPUKM)
there was a spoilt tap that runs full blast for a week...
I tried my hardest to turn it off, and hunted high and low for an inlet valve but there weren't any to be found.

I did the next best thing and complained to the PK (healthcare assistant), she told me she has reported it to the maintenance staff... so, OK...

yet Each time I went pass the toilet, the gushing can still be heard... and this went on for two whole weeks.

I made the calculation
the tap takes 4 seconds to fill up a 500ml bottle.
8 seconds to gush out a litre then.

its 24 hrs a day, 60 minutes an hour, 60 secs an hour= 86400 secs
divide that by 8
you get 10800 litres.

2weeks=14 days
10800X14 = HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND Litres of fresh, purified water going down the drain, just because someone wouldn't fix it coz his pay isn't affected, so why bother?

I just couldn't take it any longer and one day, I decide to take things into my own hands.

After a lull in our psychiatry clinic, I sneaked into the toilet...

I need to make ppl notice,

So I kicked the tap to turn it sideways, so it'll flow down the sides and inconvenience more ppl, making ppl notice. But no, the water obediently travelled along the wall and disappeared quietly down the drain.

Undaunted and desperate to do this before anyone noticed, I kicked the inlent PVC pipe below the sink so that it would leak or even better, spray outwards with a little force... and get people's attention.

But that didn't happen either after 2 hesitant kicks.
Khairy was curious on what i'm up to while squatting in one of the cubicles....

so with a "Oh! takde apa-apa...." I gave it a last kick. whee

and the inlet pipe BURST.

"Whee!!!.... errrr...OH SHIT!"

Khairy: "Kenapa ni? Apa berlaku? apa berlaku?"
"Cepat cepat kita keluar! Tandas Banjir ni!!!"

And so we came prancing out of the toilet half wet, and went back into Prof Maniam's clinic
the burst pipe vibrated loudly and violently, with waves lapping the edges of the toilet, and soon we had PKs surrounding the men's WC, shakin heads...and the KJ (head nurse) making frantic calls

And guess what? The whole system was fixed in 10 minutes.

So? Do Tell me the lesson of the story?

why do I bring this up now? because the event happened 8 months ago so no one will trace me, and secondly, because I'm gonna need to do something drastic again, because It has been "raining" outside my balcony non stop for 3 weeks.

Updates soon :-) Have a nice day... and please have more civic consciousness, pretty please?

The Pretending Lion- Of Casinos, Universities, BTN and Medicine-

I recently went on a trip to Singa-Pura, as a promise to my darling little nieces made in January.

I doubt that they remember it but as parenting experts will tell, Never lie to a child or go back on your promise to them, It will have far reaching consequences, and so I kept my end of the bargain.

One thing I found funny was when I approached my friends in Singapore to get a 'visiting ticket', many other non-sporean friends popped up on the facebook post and asked :why do you want to go to Singapore?"

Um, I'm kinda puzzled by this Q and this will be my rejoinder-
Why do I need a reason to go to Singapore?

If anybody is curious, it appears that reasons to go to Singapore fall under the following categories

1- To go the recently opened Casino- Sources say that the Casino has difficuly breaking even due to the high cost of construction. It's estimated that they require a daily patronage of 3500people spending averagely $5000 to cover their initial investment, in the first year

(the cost was $6.59 billion)

the funny thing is that- not only did they not achieve the expected numbers, the universal studios grand opening with lotsa fanfare reached an anti-climax one week into it when the roller coaster ride was honourably X-ed by red and white security tapes. Authorities claimed a technical error needed inspection and tinkering before deemed safe for the public.

To keep These two major setbacks in perspective, whatever number of visitors they maybe boasting, it is important to keep in mind this is prior to the opening of the 2nd casino. hohum... not a very bright outlook, aint it?

2) To buy electronic stuff or to shop down orchard road

3) To study/ or work

4) visiting

Well, I fulfilled numbers 2, and 4 :-)

Met up with Gene in JB where he scooted me oof to his Hostel at the speed of 120km/h (luckily, heavy traffic thwarted his plan to go at 170km/h, his: "usual- everyone in JB use this" speed.
My eyes were tearing at the end of the ride.

while he packed, I got my hands on Starcraft 2! Wooo
apparently somepeople hacked into a demo version and made in widely available for download, albeit without LAN support-

I'm a stickler for copyright, but this time I fault Blizzard for titillating the fans since 2008 with the promise of a :

"summer release", "coming fall 2008", "early 2009", "late 2009" and now its HELLO! we're entering the 2nd quarter of 2010! The fans have been waiting for 12 years GDMT!



I played Protoss, was impressed with the dragoon turned immortal, the warp gets (something like the nidus canal of the Zerg, and of course the arbiter turned Mothership. So far, other than the colossus, there isn't much difference in the units, the zealots got Bruce Lee's Intercepting Fist but having played Dawn of war, their charge is mellow compared to the Kroot's death leap!

And as a disappointment to the many control freaks out there, you no longer have the dark archon, so no more controlling minds for you :-(

Popping down to Singapore, I went over to Orchard road, looking for Ali's electricals in Centrepoint. But, centrepoint has been bought over by another developer who chased all but a few of the original tenants out, and poor Ali was deemed "retired" by the concierge, oh well...

what I'm aiming to buy from Ali, is a spy pen that can record conversations or video, something useful for me to get hard evidence of the hush-hush going on at BTN camps as I will be headed there very very soon.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/44775-btn-taught-me-the-chinese-are-the-jews-of-asia
http://www.harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23431:-btn-dipenuhi-propaganda-politik-umno-unsur-perkauman-sempit&catid=1:utama&Itemid=50

I had a taste of it in Year 3, and this time I shall come prepared.


Turns out that my uncle Steven bought a similar pen for $145, which was over my budget. I was pointed in the direction of Sim Lim Square near Bugis, but on the last day I decided to purchase it over here instead due to price and warantee issues

Arrived at my aunts place much later than I intended as I dropped by a Skater's park and tried catching shots of enthusiasts in action. Bought some Marshmellows, A bottle of Coca-cola Zero and a stick of mentos in Cold Storage. What am I planning for my nieces? not hard to guess!

2nd Day, went to NUS to meet up with E-fly, toured the engineering Fac. As these photos show, they have been very prolific with research and have lots of achievements to stand for it. being holed up in HUKM, I do not know whether our own unis are as productive. I was reassured by Kim Hoo that UTM almost went into the Finals of the Fuel-Cell race but was DQ-ed because they were 2 second off the target time. :-(

This is my 2nd time to NUS, my prior visit being 5 years ago when I interviewed for the medical course. Hmmm, that time, I had 2 rounds of interviews with an Essay thrown in with the title- "your view on Aesthetic Medicine. " that was really tough, I think many would have trouble understanding what the question wanted, including me.

Oh well, I was offered Science in the end, which I did not take up. I felt lucky I was not chosen, for UKM gave me ample freedom to pursue my interests in a relaxed, slow-paced manner. It really is a blessing, and I cherish it.

Photos will be included soon,also in the pretending Lion Part 2.

Raoul In the house

Well, First I have to explain that I am a very seasonal blogger:


Sometimes I blog in quick succession, with 'gap years' in between
Sometimes I write drafts and leave them in the semi-completed state,( i currently have 36 drafts!)
Sometimes I hold up on the sudden spark of idea just a bit too long and well, all the steam just evaporated
sometimes I copy and paste. and leave very little of my interpretation on the post.

oh well, everyone is guilty in at least one of the charges above... we're only human right? :-)

I've been owing multiple blog-posts.. and I promise to clear the backlog as soon as I can.. Blogposts that should have already been posted (which of coz never saw light of day, in chronological order)

-My terengganu trip in april 2009- working with Marine turtles
-My UK ENT posting in July 2009-
-My feelings leading the team in the inaugural environmental carnival 9th January 2010
-My 14 day trip to Indonesia in a R&R (research and relax) trip Feb 2010
-My jaunts to The Balloon Festival, Liu Xuan's Talk, short reunion in Singapore in March 2010
-And finally, my upcoming trips to Cameron and Kota Kinabalu in April

damn, I've got a super long backlog of entries! YIKES

I guess being a jack of all trades can be a real drag.
Having so many interests in so many areas: (check out the labels at the sidebar: There are 22 of them, covering most if not all my secret fantasies)

And having so little time
1) pursuing my interests themselves
2) studying? (bah, don't use this as an excuse, as if you ever!)

and as I told my friends- since CNY till now, I've not had an 8 hour sleep cept on 2 days! most of the time, I get by with 5-6 (despite this being holidays!)

K,K, should really get started now...

First things I'd clear out- is a post on the reason for the name Raoul.

I've never given a full answer to that question, but some would recall I gave myself the moniker around April 2009- prior to starting 4th year.

It actually represents a brand new me, stepping into 4th year of medical school.
I wanted myself to be

bolder,
braver,
eager to take up each and every challenge.

I wanted to make sure I'll be always ready to
try novel stuff,

pick up the mike and let words come forth,
not back down at every given opportunity (and where has that gotten me? LOL!)

the name meant confidence & courage to me

I wanted myself to be less bogged down by friendship matters

Wanted to strike out and continue going against the grain

Wanted to play a bigger part in all the things that I previously did. Wanted to make a difference to the society, the country and the world I live in.

Quite frankly, I don't know whether I succeeded beyond irritating a few people with my Alias
being non-"I'm born with it", Non-christian, non-English (It's spanish)

So please be the judge if you knew me prior to 2009, and let me know if you see any changes. (Any, even microscopic)

Oh and the origin of the name? It came from here.

No Joke

Oh, and Wish me great luck in clearing the backlog. Adios amigo.