Odysseys of George

It was 1992, goodness, a good 16 years ago, I took my first steps emulating all my sisters walking into the halls of fame in this prestigious or maybe once prestigious university in the country and perhaps once upon a time, in South East Asia, University Malaya.

As I walk these steps, a mental slide show begins to reel. It starts with me in Standard Three, when I remember my teacher, asked the class who wants to be a doctor and why. Strangely, 5 of us lifted our arms and out of that 3 of us have somehow manage to achieve it. A smile arched across my face as I vividly remember telling my teacher I love blood! Goodness she must have thought I was mental!

Life wasn’t a bed of roses. I wasn’t the best in class only getting the idea of studying in Form 4, I trailed and toiled and somehow rolled together with the best in my school till I somehow manage to breathe the air of this prestigious hall. Must be my mom’s prayers, I believe. She used to pray for us before we sat for our exams but for me it was different - whenever she prays and tells me all will be well, it would not be. Thus she stopped saying anything but continued praying — I must say I believed in that more than what I studied.

From a prestigious school to a prestigious university, all I could feel was of pride. It was not too long afterwards, that I realized that medical school was a total different ball game. As i stepped into the Dean’s office for the interview, I was asked why choose medicine and I was silent as if to question why not. I looked at the aging professor, and said, ” I always felt like doing it, no second thoughts, but perhaps the most obvious reason was that I would love to help people.” I smiled as I exited the room.

Now 16 years forward, I find myself in constant asking of that very same question. Somehow, this simple question does not seem to be the easiest to answer truthfully. With changing times, more financial strain, difficulties in progressing in the profession, this question truthfully is difficult.

Then, a few days ago, I saw my patient and I realized something. She was a young lady in her 40s with young kids, suffering from Oesophageal cancer. Oesophagectomy (removal of the oesophagus) is a surgical procedure with high morbidity and mortality and thus many shrug away at doing this. The surgery was done 10 days ago. A few days ago, she was already walking about and having soft diet with no major complaints. As I walked towards her, the first thing I realized was the smile she presented to me. That was the biggest present any patient can give their doctor, a smile in return. I was flushed with enthusiasm and I realized that the answer to that very question has never changed. Nothing could be above that smile she gave me, not even the powers above that deprive me of going further for I have already gone a little further. After working for 11 years, still a young doctor and surgeon in comparison, I have learnt to many things and yet has still much too learn. Medicine is a of progressive learning and the best teachers are your patients and not the textbook.

Wah! It has been a long time! The last dive I did was in May. There was 5 of us and the destination was Fisherman’s Dive Center at Pantai Salang, Tioman. It was a good break with good friends but my underwater pictures did not turn out well — I have been having problems since I started using the strobes. Need more practice, I gather. I have decided to display my pictures as slide show - a better difference I think, do you?

Well, I have been waiting for this and now I manage to go for the 26th July performance. That would be the only day I would be free to catch and of course the highlight for me was to catch Mia Palencia.

The venue was at Plaza Mont Kiara. The layout was acceptable. It was packed when I reached there with the center area just in front of the stage being left empty. Many photographers took this to their advantage as I grow in jealousy to see them aiming their delicious gadgets (DSLR) and having the time of their life taking shots .

The music I felt was too loud at its bases. The crowd was there quite obviously for Mia Palencia because by the end of Phunk Mob performance which was for me was a little lack of the jazz soul, most had left and the audience picked up again just before Mia Palencia came back on stage at 11.15 pm. Bassgroove 100 played just before Mia came on stage and they were good but with the anticipation and the warm and humid environment, the audience was geting restless a little. Things were not the same the day before as many reviews said that the 25th performance was fantastic and so was the turnout. It was also too hot and humid for the musicians who were drenched in sweat just about 10 minutes into their performance.

Mia Palencia

I did my share for the local jazz industries by buying Mia’s and Karen Nunis’s albums. No matter what, personally I think this was of good effort and should be done regularly. Jazz awareness is still quite infantile in Malaysia but that is also because jazz is a lot about the feelings and moods of the musicians and harmony between them, which is also why not many people take to jazz easily. Even for me, there are some forms of jazz that is difficult to like. Hmmm….. maybe I should do some research on jazz then…..hmmm.

Sultan Abdul Hamid Collegians can stand proud again as this prestigious school once again stand above all to celebrate its 100years.

The celebration activities actually started in Jun last year with a fund raising dinner held at PWTC organised by SAHOCA on the 3rd of November 2007.

Tomorrow, there would be a THE 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY HUNT.

The SAHOCA Treasure Hunt 2008 with the theme “ Jom Sambut 100 Tahun Kolej” was initiated by SAHOCA Selangor/ Kuala Lumpur to motivate ex-collegians in the Klang Valley to make a journey to Alor Setar and partake in the festivities organized in conjunction with the 100 years Kolej celebration and events.

The starting point is the Car Park B, One Utama Shopping Kompleks, Petaling Jaya and he finishing pint is the Kolej School Hall, in Alor Setar.

The flag off will be at 7.45am on the 24th July 2008 and the closing time of arrival is at 5.00pm at Kolej Hall, Alor Setar.

PROGRAM FOR TREASURE HUNT 2008 - ( 24th July 2008. )

7.00 am
Gathering at Car Park B, One Utama, PJ
7.15 am
Final Briefing by Hunt Club, Organiser
7.45am
Flag- Off by VIP Hunt will traverse North South Highway and into Kedah - Entry into Alor Setar is the North Toll PlazaTreasure Hunting around Alor Setar with relevance points of interest to Kedahan and ex Collegians

5.00pm
Hunt Closes at Kolej Hall, Alor SetarAfternoon Tea at Kolej Hall
6.30 pm
LCD Answer presentation and Prize Award
7.00pm
Event Ends

On the 26th of July, would be the Centenary Celebration Day.

For a walk down the memory lane, check out Down Memory Lane

As for me, I would have to miss it. I am on call tomorrow and would have to work on Saturday too.
However, I have a facebook group that I have created which have managed to bring together many of us. Hopefully the group can do more that just be online.

Well, this is the last of my blogging about this beautiful country called Vietnam and it infamous city Saigon, or presently called Ho Chih Minh city.

I did not manage to complete the tour of Vietnam and as such, have decided to hopefully do another trip there. The next time, it would be to see the War Tunnels which is situated 3 hours from Saigon and among others to fit in a diving stint at Na Thrang.

These are the other fascinating sights in Saigon:

1. Reunification Palace

- also known as the Independence Palace built on the site of the former Norodom Palace. This is the site of the official handover of power during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. It was then known as Independence Palace as at 10:45 am 30 April 1975, a tank of the North Vietnamese Army hit the main gate, ending the Vietnam War.

- In November 1975, after the negotiation convention between the communist North Vietnam and communist South Vietnam was successful, in memory of that event, the Provisional Government of the Republic of South Vietnam renamed the hall Reunification Hall.

2. Church of Notre Dame

- Established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters (190 feet).
-All building materials were imported from France. The outside wall of the cathedral was built with bricks from Marseille. Although the contractor did not use coated concrete, these bricks have retained their bright red color until now.
- In 1895, two bell towers were added to the cathedral, each 57.6 high with 6 bronze bells with the total weight of 28.85 metric tonnes. The crosses were installed on the top of each tower of 3.5 m high, 2 m wide, 600 kg in weight. The total height of the cathedral to the top of the Cross is 60.5 m.

- In the flower garden in front of the cathedral, there was a bronze statue of Pigneau de Behaine (also called Bishop Adran) leading prince Canh, the son of Gia Long by his right hand. The statue was made in France. In 1945, the statue was removed but the foundation remains.In 1959, Bishop Joseph Pham Van Thien, ordered a Peaceful Notre Dame statue made with granite in Rome. When the statue arrived in Saigon, on 16 February 1959 Bishop Pham Van Thien held a ceremony to install the statue on the empty base and presented the title of “Regina Pacis”. It was Bishop Pham Van Thien who wrote the prayers “Notre-Dame bless the peace to Vietnam”. On the next day, Cardinal Aganianian came from Rome to chair the closing ceremony of the Holy Mother Congress and solemnly chaired the ceremony for the statue, thus the cathedral was then-on called Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The crowd overflowed to the road outside the church.

3. The Post Office

Me buying souvenirs from the post office

4. City Hall

- this the modern and hip place of Ho Chih Minh city.

5. Dinner

- a very beautiful restaurant aongside the Saigon River. Enjoy the meal.

and lastly the Five Variety Salad

A lady in her late 40s presented with passing black tarry foul smelling stools (malaena) for a few days prior to admission. This was the second episode after the first being a few days earlier.She was admitted then but was discharged home on a negative finding on endoscopy. On the day of admission, she fainted at home after complaining of feeling lightheaded.

She was admitted and an urgent upper endoscopy was performed. As we were about to withdraw the scope in disappointment, I caught a glimpse of this near the fundus and got excited!

Any takers?
The man responsible has my name too! Ha Ha Ha
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