Penang trip (II)

Here's a photo that CK took while we were in Penang 2 weeks ago... It was taken from our hotel, Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel. Classic isn't?


Anyway, England broke my heart ...again... But with 'wonder' Rooney around, I'm now looking forward to Germany '06.

Tak nak!

Last weekend yours truly and 8 of my friends drove up to Penang to attend a workshop for smoking cessation providers. The workshop was organised by MPS and conducted by the vibrant Prof Haniki of USM and Dr Sallehudin of Respiratory Medicine Institute (IPR), KL.

On the same day, news came out that Malaysian government has partnered with tobacco giants to promote non-smoking culture within our youths.

One question... Among all the companies in the world, why the tobacco companies?? DAP called it 'sleeping with the enemy' and I couldn't agree more!

Secondly, have any of you seen the advert? I had the opportunity to see it once. They went along the line that 'Smoking is an adult choice'... Are they saying that it is ok for adults to smoke but not the teens? Can they give us any clinical study that shows lung cancer, COAD and hundreds other diseases associated with smoking only affecting the youths and not the adults??? And knowing the rebellious nature of our youths today, don't they know that this tagline will only encourage them to smoke more just to prove that they're adults?? I'm so so disappointed....

They got RM20 million budget for the Tak Nak campaign and all they can come out with was this fancy yet stupid and misleading advert. If they're truly sincere about the campaign, why didn't they pay for the cessation workshop instead of us having to fork out the money ourselves. If they're truly sincere of wanting malaysians to stop smoking why don't they give us (HUKM)the money so that our patients can get the nicotine replacement therapy (NRTs) for free? Why don't set up (or help us setting up)a smoking cessation clinic? Don't they know that there is only ONE cessation clinic in KL?? (which is run by Dr Sallehudin)How pathetic is that?

In a few weeks' time (after our attachments with Dr Sallehudin), we will be certified smoking cessation providers... but what can we do? We can only give advice to our patients but without free NRTs available , I don't think we can go that far...

How frustrating...

Ball Talk

It's 3.45 sunday morning and I'm already up... why? Footies ofcourse! I'm now watching Holland, one of my favourite teams playing and so far, they aren't dissapointing. 2 goals in the first 20 minutes although the second was a result of an offside.

I'll be up again the same time on monday morning to watch England against Croatia. I hope 'my' Rooney will do his wonder again.

Sometimes I feel abit guilty that I can name the whole team of England players but I don't know even a single player of our Malaysian team. It's not that I didn't try to follow our local football scene but it's not a fault of mine that they're so (truly)boring and inconsistent. I tried watching Malaysia playing once but I switched the tele off after 10 minutes! Poor passes was one thing, but the non-existent of true passion for the game within the players was another. If the players couldn't even bothered to play with true spirit and commitment, how could you expect the 'fan' to have any interest in watching them?

Anyway, I hope I'll remember to put my red england Tee into the washing machine tomorrow so that it'll be ready for monday :) Go England!

4.20 am: Gee ...I commented too fast. It's now 2-2 and Holland is down with 10 men. What a game!

Words of wisdom

"God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but he did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way...."


I got this from a friend a few weeks back….
Reading it now kind of giving me some strength to keep going…

RHH sheffield

I stumbled upon the photo of my old work place while browsing the net last night. Thought of putting it in here..just to remind myself how it looks like and that I've once abseil down the building too!

I used to complain how cold sheffield was ..pretty much all year round. But I do miss it now. Hot choc with a good book next to the fire place. How comfy!



Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield

Nexus Karambunai, Sabah

I'm lucky in the sense that I've been to quite many places either in Malaysia or abroad. But I thought this one resort deserves a mentioning. Not only it has a 2-km beautiful stretch of white sandy beach, its customer services were superb that even the gardener greets you with a broad smile!! Hope I'll be able to go back there someday..


sunset on beach







where we stayed

Unbelievable!

I know this is old news but it is so ridiculous that I just need to mention it. According to Daily Mirror, Rebecca Loos, the girl centred in Beckham’s controversy has to date banked about £1,025,000 by doing her kiss-and-tell. As if that’s not enough, more and more offers are still pouring in ranging from TV appearances and sponsorship to advertising deals, and newspaper/ magazine interviews… you name it!

I just can’t believed this… How can a person who not only had affairs with one’s husband but also had the cheek to broadcast it all over the world get rewarded like this? What is happening to our society? What had happened to common sense and humanity? Have they not spared a thought or two for the two innocent Beckham Juniors?

What a strange world we’re living in right now…

L.I.F.E

Life can sometimes be so unpredictable..
When you thought that you've finally get hang of things,
something else happens and there you go...the cycle starts again...

Sometimes you just get really confused, unsure whether to carry on fighting or just to surrender. Is it worth it? Or is it easier to give up and start anew? Will you ever regret it?

People say you'd be wiser as you grow older...I beg to differ. Things get more complicated and confusing.. more options to choose, more decisions to make...

I'm just tired... *sigh*

D DAY!

I'm proud to say that I've exercised my right to vote for the first time today. I had to queue for more than 1/2 hour to do so but hey, I'm not complaining...it just shows that apathy is not yet a big problem here and malaysians (or those in my neighbourhood atleast ) still care about the future of this country.

I voted with confidence and high hopes... being our family dentist for more than 10 years, I know that she sincerely does care about other people and can live up to the expectations. She's gentle and kind, although she can sometimes be too chatty (How can you chat back when your mouth is wide open with that scaling machine in it?). I hope that she (if she wins that is!) will bring some changes to things that really matter to me (and most people that I know). We're not asking for the moon...our needs are simple such as clean water supply, safe neighbourhood to live in and for our roads to be resurfaced (about time!).

Anyway, I had the chance to take these pictures on my way to the polling station.

The first picture was taken in Pekan Ampang. As you can see, the bridge was practically fully covered with posters. My question is... is it necessary???

The second picture was taken at Jalan Ampang-Taman Kosas junction. Look at the mess! First of all, I seriously think that the EC should have some strict guidelines on where and how the posters can be put up. They shouldn't be able to stick posters just anywhere they want like this one. This may sound too much but it would help if the EC can also teach 'these people' on how to put up the posters in a proper manner instead of just serving as eyesores!

Patriotism or money-wasting?

I'm 28 and I've voted twice in the UK but not even once in this country. So, excuse me if I am a lil' excited about the forthcoming 21st of March. However, I've noticed a different trend here compared to the UK. I've seen 2 'bilik gerakan' in my neighbourhood and boy, they really know how to decorate!

I really wonder...
1. What is the actual purpose for 'wrapping' the places with layers after layers of posters?
2. Where do the money come from? (well, both you and I know the answer to that one!)
3. Who is responsible for cleaning up (the posters) once the election is over?

When I was a kid, I somehow got involved with this so-called poster war. They paid some unemployed boys to go around putting up these election posters in the middle of the night(and sometimes tearing up the oppositions'). These boys made some pocket money, got endless supply of cigarettes and drinks and get to stay out late. It was actually illegal for me to join them (I know!) but at 10 years old, it was really hard to resist being surrounded by good-looking boys! ;P

Almost 20 years have passed and I thought we are now mature enough to move on from the poster war. I guess I was wrong. New batch of candidates, new generations but same old tactics (and same old posters too!)

Now...A couple of possible answers to my first question:
a)to remind us that the election is coming
b)to remind us how BN/PAS/Adil symbols look like...

which brings to my fourth question:
Do they really think we're stupid??

I hate to compare Malaysia and UK (for the fear people calling me ungrateful) but we really can learn a thing or two from them. One thing for sure, they don't litter their streets (and street lamps) with unnecessary election posters. What happen over there is that the local candidates actually send out their own manifesto to our home addresses so that we (the voters) can actually read them at our own leisure so that we know who and what we're voting for. Sometimes their manifesto are simple ones such as ways to reduce the traffic load in the neighbourhood but these are the ones that really matters to us, the common people. Here in Ampang Jaya, the road conditions are really bad that you can find roadholes almost every 50 meters you traveled (I'm not exaggerating). These holes have been there for donkey years but do our MPs really care? I doubt they even noticed it... how many times do they actually come over to visit? And when they do come (to officiate some functions or something), these roads get repaired hastily beforehand only to get damaged again a couple of weeks later since they were badly done.

Now, come to think of it...will I still be excited to practise my rights come the big day? Probably not anymore... I will probably become disillusion with the whole poster saga and prefer to be under the hot sun in Sepang to see some real actions. If I can get free tickets again this year that is!

A piece from Daily Mirror

It's really tragic if these tapes are for real...

Diana: The secret tapes