Back from KKB

It’s almost exactly one year I never been to KKB. As usual, KKB still remains its calm and peaceful environment, which you can hardly find within a city. Waffle shop, Restaurant 98, Guys’ Houses, BBQ set and etc are things that you tell people once they mention “KKB”. (oops, did I just miss ‘hospital’? )

I took KKB as a place for vacation, though I know we are supposedly to do hospital posting there. We spend quarter of the day in hospital, another quarter for sleeping, then the rest reserve for eating and playing. In a small town like KKB actually has nothing much to explore, but when you come with a group of friends, anything will be possible.

Unfortunately this time the hospital’s ward round was pretty boring, not many interesting cases as there were not many patient. The worst part was no labour. I have been waiting for the chance to see pregnant lady gives birth since last year, but… Fine, I believe I will get to watch it in clinical years. For compensation, I got the chance to palpate a pregnant lady’s tummy. The tummy was huge, and the baby inside already aged 38 weeks. I didn’t dare to palpate it with force, but without sufficient force I wouldn’t be able to determine the baby’s position. Thus in the end, I touched it with care because I scared I would burst the amnion. Silly betul!

Other than hospital, we also went to waterfall, water dam and Genting. It’s a very nice experience indeed. Here are the few pictures I took with my handphone.

SPLASH (water dam near KKB)

The dam's side view

Thanks Swarna for being there for me all the time (cable car to Genting)

The girls are posing at somewhere in Genting

A Surprise Visit

Yesterday night around 11pm, James suddenly popped out at my window, showed his 'hypoglycemic’ look and really worried me. So I immediately opened my door, guess what, a group my good friends were also at my doorstep. “Haaappy Birthdaaay”, they shouted. I was really surprised and stunned for a couple of seconds. Aaron and Kevin were holding camera and tried to capture my shocked moment, but thank gosh my living room was dark so the cameras couldn’t record anything much.

I regained my consciousness later and opened my door for them. They sang a birthday song for me, but wasn’t too early to celebrate? Anyway, the intention matter the most. Kevin, Caryn, Aaron and Fiona bought me a present, a very big present. It’s an ALTEC LANSING! Omg, this speaker was awesome, I missed a powerful speaker for duno how many years already. So I quickly opened it up and tested it on my computer. The audio performance is perfect, when I played Orinoco flow, my room transformed into a grand theatre; when I played Whine Up, my room instantly changed to a club. Wow, I am so gonna on my speaker loudly this few days. So Thrance, sorry and blame it on them for giving me this, haha!

So for the rest of the time, all of us squeezed into my room and took lots of photo. That’s the time human start to show their vanity side. James and Caryn even wanted to redo ‘Jadi kamu ingat kamu boleh menari’, and that’s really hilarious. We also went through some of our video that we took in Sarawak, like JKIKBM and Chinese New Year Song Music Video, which will be released soon, remember to grab a copy, hehe!

Lastly, I am really exalted and touched by their surprise visit. Though it was pretty early to celebrate, it really meant a lot to me. I am very glad that I met this group of friends who spend their time laugh and cry with me. Thank you so much, James, Kevin, Caryn, Aaron and Fiona!

Present by CK and Firen

Thank you guys!

Anticipation of 21st

Turning 21 years old in less than one week,

Becoming a full grown man that I always want to be;

Is there anything else I need to seek?

Hoping a mature adult is what I always wish to be.

Social Norms vs The Truth

Believe it or not, all of us are brain washed by social norms everyday. Every single thought, gesture, language, manner and perceptions, all of these are being regulated by social norms. So what is social norms? Who created it and why is it so powerful?

Social norms, of course is created by the society members, who use it to distinguish between majority and minority. It varies from community to community. I believe all human beings never intent to create such thing at the beginning, but don’t know why and how social norms slowly, progressively seeding in everyone’s mind and exerting its action, till now.

The truth, nobody can define it, because the definition that you may try to come up with might not be the truth. Everybody loves the truth, without any reason or purpose. Truth, changes with time. In the ancient days, people thought that God is the ultimate truth, thus by following the priests’ words, you would find Him and The Truth eventually. For example before the Renaissance, civilians were told that if they buy the Letter of Indulgence from the priest, the God would erase their sins. That’s obviously wrong even in the eyes of atheist. But in the modern days now, with the aid of sciences and logical thinking, The Truth has became vague and beyond our understanding. For example last time scientists thought that the sperm contained a small baby which will only grow in the womb of a lady. And now it is proven that’s no such ‘little, tiny baby’ hiding inside the head of sperm except genetic materials and nutrition. The theories proposed nowadays are really convincing, but would it change in the future when newer advanced technology is being invented?

As a modern civilian, we are always bounded by social norms and the truth. Besides, the relationship between social norms and the truth is quite fascinating. Firstly, social norms will tell you current truth, and the truth may explain the current social norms. Secondly, the truth can alter the social norms as well as the social norms can bend the truth. Wow, really need to kill more brain cells to comprehend these statements.

If you are asked to choose one side, social norms and the truth, which side do you want? If you choose social norms, your life will be ordinary and forgettable. The challenge that you have to face is to keep up with the trend, and that’s not easy. You need to have good observation, be an obedient follower, and able to change when necessary. The advantage would be acceptance by the majority, no harsh life. But if you choose the truth, let’s just say you are digging your own grave. The challenge is uncountable and unbearable. Do you still remember Galileo? What was his outcome just to prove that the earth travels around the sun? Yea, death sentence in the name of heaven. See, when social norms and the truth fight against each other, social norms will be the winner most of the time. Well, people are getting more civilized and they won’t kill you just because you say something different. But the mentality still persists. The good thing of choosing the truth, you will be remembered and your life is meaningful.

To tackle social norms, we say ‘dare to be different’, but seriously how many people willing to become the minority? Do we really like stereotyping? People, seek for the truth and stop living in ignorance.

“The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves, and you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it” -Tuesday with Morrie

Hermitage and Bohemian

Have you ever wonder these two different entities can come together? Recently I always thinking of bringing in these two elements into my life, but I know it won’t be easy.

Hermitage is a place where one can live in seclusion. Out of civilization and out of materialization. We have been controlled unwillingly by all of these, yet nobody can do something about it except flee from it. Pathetic, isn’t it? I want to live in somewhere which out of sight, never bothered by chaotic condition in haphazard city, enjoying serene atmosphere where mother nature and human harmoniously co-exist. That’s my dreamland that I always searching for. But the problem is, where is it?

Bohemian, I quote from The American College Dictionary, is defined as a person with artistic or intellectual tendencies, who lives and acts with no regard for conventional rules of behavior. They do whatever their hearts tell them. “Follow your heart and let it leads your way”, this sentence has been repeated for many times in the book Alchemist, just to tell reader that don’t ever give up on your dreams. Back to the reality, not every dreams and ambitions are being appreciated most of the time. In fact, it takes your whole gut to insist in pursuing your dreams nowadays. Thus I really admire the spirit of Bohemian in expressing themselves regardless of current trend. They show you what they got, not what you want to see.

Almost 21 years I have been living in this planet, I have witnessed and being taught by history. There are something waiting for us to achieve, of course there are something standing on our way too; There are something shouldn’t exist in the beginning, and we are just waiting for someone to remove it. I wish life can be filled with hope, so that life can goes on. But when you realize that the hope is frail, then you start to keep faith in it. Faith in hope, requires indestructible energy and bliss of ignorance, which not many people own. Perhaps giving up on hope would be easier…

To become a Bohemian and live in somewhere hidden, I guess it is something I want to do when I reach my late adulthood. I want to do anything that the society won’t bother or criticize, especially extending the artistic side of mine, which often being affronted by the majority in the present; I want to see the true image of environment and understand it, which often being covered and transformed by so-called ‘civilization’.

I believe this world is created for human to enjoy and appreciate its beauty.

Happy New Year 2008

A brand new year, does it mean we will have a brand new beginning?

Somebody might think it is, but I am doubtful about it. Time, a mystical substance in this universe, flashes through our lives without our control, sometime even without our knowing. New year, simply means the earth has finally finish its one course around the sun, but time still remains as it is, keep on going…

Time can’t be reset, time can’t bend. 31^st of December and 1^st of January is separated by 24 hours, just like any other days, but people always think that a new year is a new beginning. Yes, it is a new beginning for the calendar hanging on the wall, but for our lives, it already began long long time ago.

Life is destined or modifiable, is a good question for all of us while celebrating new year. If you believe in destiny, new year will tell you that your time is approaching. But if you think life is in our hand, I guess new year doesn’t make any difference for you.

Another question, if you were given a chance to sit on a time machine, sending you back to the past to undo some of your mistakes, which mistake you want to erase? Hmph… wow, I have a long list of errors that I wish they never happen to me. But after watching the movie ’13 going on 30’, I got an answer. The answer should be: nothing. Because of mistakes, we are who we are now. Mistakes make us grow and learn, mistakes make us stronger and wiser, mistakes guide and lead us in the future.

So what do you think of 2007? What are you hoping for 2008? As usual, wishing you all HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!