Breaking out the news

News are generally divided into 2 categories – good or bad. Well, good news is good, no matter however way you decide to break it, it will still sound good. Same as sweets, kit kat, Cadbury.. no matter how you chew, kiss, munch or lick it – it’s sweet.

Now the next category – bad news – I’ll divide into 2 subsets : poor prognosis and dead. Poor prognosis is the time when the patient is apparently critically ill, and you’ll have to prepare the owner. “Be prepared…” but if she started crying, I can always end the sentence with, “There’s still a chance anyway…” and to be more honest, perhaps I’ll add a few more final words, “Though the chance is extremely slim…”

Not so bad to convey this news. Not so bad indeed…

Now the worst kind of news anyone can hear would be, “He’s dead.” It will not have mattered if the doggie's owner had wanted him dead. But then again, if so, he wouldn’t have brought doggie to the vet in the first place, will he? To save my blog space, let me just conclude: most owners want their doggies/ kitties alive n healthy.

Now, what will happen has finally happened. Little doggie died. How am I supposed to tell the owner? I’ve thought and ran through many methods which can be applied over the phone… and still thinking of better ways. Here are some examples (my imagination):

Option A:
Vet: Harlow! How are you doing?! Hahahaha… I'm fine I'm good.. how's life?

Owner: I'm busy. Very busy right now. (indifferent)

Vet: Oh ya.. ok.. I just called to say that kitty has died.

Owner: What?! Oh no!!! (started deafening you with his cries, and you started wondering, why the sudden change of tone?)

Option B:

Vet: Hello… I'm calling to inform you about kitty. (solemn)

Owner: How's my kitty? (anxious)

Vet: I'm sorry… he left us last night. (sobs)

Conclusion: Words and tones used are sensitive enough. Owner may feel that you’re in the same boat with her – sharing her sorrow. But what if the owner replies with this? “Where did he left to?”

Option C:
Vet: Hi… remember what I told you yesterday?

Owner: Er.. you used more than 500 words yesterday.. which one do you mean? (scratching his head)

Vet: That your kitty may die.. he died.

Owner: I remember you said there may be a chance!

Vet: I told you the chance is slim.

Owner: But a chance is still a chance! You said you'll try your best! How can he die? It's either zero chance or you didn't try your best! I'm gonna sue you! You liar!!

Conclusion: Use less word in such situation. More words = more confusions = more misunderstandings = things will turn out sour.

Hapi Deepa Gatherin

It’s been a long time since I last seen my smkb frens. Wow! That deepa gathering was terrific, thanks to Ma n Su, ha.. I finally got to see my long lost frens’ faces – esp CKS. Haha, yep, it’s tru. I’ve never seen him since.. F6, maybe? He’a changed.. fairer.. and a little bulky. Oh yeah… *slurrrp!

Ok. The 2nd good thing about this type of gathering was it was a platform of sharing – about almost everything – ur work, mood, problems.. etc, you name it. Except that some things which were supposed to remain P & C should not be brought up to the table. It was a fun time. Asking one another how do they de-stress themselves, motivate one another.. having a good laugh together, for once. =)

Now, this part happens almost at all gathering. When ppl started throwing questions like, “Where do you work now?” “Where are you studying? What course? When graduating?” “Oh, you changed your job? So what’s your new job now?” “Oh, what business are you in?”

Of all answers from the above questions, honestly, I remember only 30% of them. Yep. Once YJin even slapped me with this, “OK, let’s make this very clear. I no longer work with Sxxxx, and I’ve never worked with Syyyy. And my new company is Szzzz. Everybody clear?” Truthfully, at that very moment I was enlightened, truly. But ask me now, I can’t tell you where he works. :P

A fren of mine once commented that the reason why I can’t remember the details was because I’m not interested in them. Not true. I’ve been “specially” interested in a few ppl, and yet I forget about many of their details. Ask me abt my idols, and I can’t remember his wife’s name, his DOB, his POB. But I can surely tell u the songs he sing, and roughly the number of albums he’s published. =)

Ohya.. a bonus from the deepa gathering – me, PGaik n Kar actually stepped into SMKB (now SMKKB)! It felt like going thru the tunnel of years. Watching all the memories flashing back unto you, it was great, indeed. Once we found that our old Bilik Pengawas was gone! Replaced by St Johns. I’m glad tat SJAM finally got their office. But…. Where’s Bilik Pengawas? We searched the entire school and still couldn’t find it. Finally I went to ask Mr Pak Guard – only to find tat it had shifted to a larger, air-conditioned, beautiful room. All smiles. =) yea yea….

But one sad thing – most of my beloved murals are now gone. GONE!!!! Why?!!!!!

Anyway, this was wat one of the murals which I painted says,
“Ask not what the school can do for you,
but what you can do for your school.”

It was a nice, sweet one, with birds and flowers, and the colour was so-oh-how-harmony! Thank God, praise God, I’ve got the murals captured in photographs – all laid in my museum, “Colours of My Life”. (in short, my photo album la…)

becareful when near the road

i'm not running any campaign for our government on road safety, though i'm on their side.

It happened one day that i was about to cross a main road, looking left and right before crossing. As the traffic relaxed abit, and i was about to cross the road, all of the sudden i saw a car zooming right across me.

What dropped my jaw was, the driver was not looking forward! He was looking down, i wonder if he's removing his shoes or whatever, zooming about the road without looking forward. Imagine if i were a child trying to cross the road...

cycling in ktn

haa..finaly.. today is the first time, ever in my days here, tat i got up, exactly the moment i heard my alarm clock ringing. wow! it took me how many months! for the past days my poor clock was slammed quiet everytime it rang.. but today, somehow my wil power got hold of my laziness. and there i was.. waking up at.. 7.30am! haa...

it was difficult indeed, my mind was still stirring about - maybe i should sleep for another 10 minutes? the other part of me was saying, hey 10 minutes won't mean anything ok... while the other part, "i'm sure it'll be wonderful cycling abt early in the morning, here in the breeze-ly ktn."

10 minutes later i was on my bike, wondering speeding about my housing area. i felt wonderful, indeed. ;)

perhaps i'll do more so in the coming days. no more laziness. get into the dustbin you the-thing-called-laziness!

i want to claim more will-power!! POWER!!1

OH NO!

my holiday is over!!!

i can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!

argghhee!!!! (scrambling to grab the "time + day" to stay on, DON'T MOVE!!!)

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the dog with bottomless stomach.

The prayer (and also mine)

I pray you'll be our eyes,
and watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
in times when we don't know

Let this be our prayer,
when we lose our way
Lead us to the place,
guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.

I pray we'll find your light,
and hold it in our hearts
When stars go out each night,
remind us where you are

Let this be our prayer,
when shadows fill our day
Help us find a place,
guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

A world where pain and sorrow will be ended.
And every heart that's broken will be mended

And we'll remember we are all God's children
Reaching out to touch you
Reaching to the sky

We ask that life be kind,
and watch us from above
We hope each soul will find
another soul to love.

Let this be our prayer,
just like every child
Who needs to find a place,
guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

Needs to find a place,
guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe.

Is this weird?

Today I got a weird client. Weird, indeed. Let me explain.

When I wanted to deworm his puppy, immediately he refused, saying, "I decide not to deworm my dog." When I asked why, assuming maybe he dewormed his dog else where, or perhaps he wanted to save the cost. But he gave me no reason, simply refusing it. So I assumed he already knew the consequences of not deworming the puppy. Well, just to be sure, I threw a question to him, "Have you heard of all these worms? Hookworms, roundworms.." Surprisingly, he knew nothing about them!

After that, I told him about heartworm prevention. The same "No-no-I-decide-not-to-give-him-any," came from him. Again, he knew nothing about heartworm. ~sigh~

Finally, before leaving, he requested me to write a report for him. Since I'm charging him for the tests, which cost him less than RM10. What he meant was, all kinds of tests/check-ups, when not written in reports (though you verbally told him the results), they should be done Free-Of-Charge. Great. Imagine.

Say you got fever, flu and cough. Rationally, you went to visit a human doctor. Naturally, the doc starts checking you up, and towards the end, you have to pay for the check ups and medications. I kinda imagined - what if you request the doctor to write up a written report to you (since he's charging you for the check up). The report should include the results for the auscultation he did, blood pressure check, opening up your eyes, mouth and shining a torch down your throat, feeling your neck - all these should be presented in a written report - as spoken words alone should not cost any money.

I kinda wondered, will the human doctors entertain these "educated" requests? I really don't know.

Or maybe the doctor will request him to come back in a week's time to get the report? If so, I'll go for it. =)

Come back in a week's time sounds attractive to me.

What is your purpose in life?

Dear friends, today I have a question to pose to you. You don't have to give me any answer, just as long as you have the answer for yourself. =)

Recently quite a lot of struggling took place in my life, and i was wondering, what is my purpose in life, actually? Am I working towards the purpose?

Friends, if your purpose is to climb the ladder of career, what if one day your management decides to lay you off? Or one day the international market just crashed just like in 1997? The whole economy goes down. But you're still alive. What would your purpose be then?

Some people their purpose is to educate and nurture their babies - may they grow up to be useful beings, etc. But as we flip the newspapers each day, deaths take place everyday, snatching away children of some parents. Now, what is the purpose in the parents' life?

For some filial children, their purpose in life would be to treat their parents the best way they could to repay their kindness or etc. But there will be a day where their parents will leave them. Then what will the purpose in life be?

To some people, their purpose in life is a wonderful/beautiful love life. As mentioned, there will be a day where their loved ones will leave them - perhaps leave them for a better man/woman, or nature's call. What then, will be the purpose in their life?

I'm reading a book entitled, "The Purpose-Driven Life" by Rick Warren. There are 40 chapters within, where I'll read a chapter each day. So far I've covered 6 chapters, and it has already given me solutions to 2 of my big problem. And I'm yet to discover my purpose in life. =)

Blunt, extremely blunt.

Dear friends, have you ever heard of this simple abbreviation: P&C? I don’t mean Palmolive and colgate ok.. I’m sure among the first few things tat come to your mind must be, "Private and Confidential". If so, you’re rite. If not so, you’ll have to learn more business language pal. ;)

P&C simply means, private and confidential.

I remember when I started my first few jobs after Form 5, a senior once told me tat our salary/pay is private and confidential. What she meant was; you don’t have to tell the world your pay/salary. It’s good enough for only your employer, family and close friends (and government, if you qualify for income tax) to know it. She also added, "People don’t go around asking ppl about their salary unless they’re very close to each other."

"What if they still want to ask?" An innocent question from me.
"I would say that those ppl are extremely blunt," she said.

Funny, of 100 ppl I met here, 30% of them are extremely blunt.

First, I’m not close to them. I’ve merely met them for maybe 1month +.

Second, their question was very direct indeed, "What’s your salary?" When I pretended stupid to elude their question, they persistently repeated, "What is your pay?"

Third (and I can’t stand this), when I retaliated by asking them the same question, they went generalizing the whole idea, like, "Oh, enough to eat la.. enough to survive la.. enough enough enough," and all sorts of redundant phrases. So I’ve tried using their method, "Enough to eat la." Then came the irritating reply, "So how much? Got RM1000? 1500? 1800? 2000? 2200? 2500? 3000?"

HEY, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS CAN’T YOU?!

Today I finally told myself, enough is enough. Then came a familiar question from an innocent looking guy/uncle, "How much is your salary?"

"Hah? What did you say?" Act stupid, my first defense line.
"What is your pay, I asked."
"What? You want to know about my salary?"
"Ya, I want to know how much your salary is."
Enough is enough. Smiling, I replied, "I can’t tell you."
"Got 1000?"
I ignored.
"1500? 2000?"
ENOUGH! "I said I can’t tell you, it’s private and confidential."
"Got 2000? I’m sure got one…"

I ignored him totally, didn’t even want to respond to him anymore. Politeness has reached its limit.

Blunt. Extremely blunt.

for once i'm blank

i've tot of so many things to fill up my blog each time in my life.. but now i'm finally sitting in front of the pc, i don't know wat to write. the things i wanted so much to write? hmm..

lost passion.
lost mood.
lost the memory.. i mean exact memory.

so let's talk abt the cockroach. yep, "siu keong". tat day i saw a siu keong in the bathroom, boy, i quickly ran out of the room and called for my landlady. so we sprayed mortein.. he won't die! spray.. spray.. spray.. after about 3 minutes.. my landlady finally blurted a phrase, "you're not scared of dog bites, but you're scared of siu keong?"

"Hey.. dogs don't fly.. siu keong flies you know.." was my simple reply.

Nights before i've tried killing a little siu keong by spraying water jet at it, tot it could drown him in no time.. but then.. 1 minute passed... 2minutes .. 3 minutes... 5 minutes... and he's still running happily rite in front of me! wow.. i surrendered and closed the door behind.

conclusion: Roaches are tough creatures. no wonder they're used as symbols/icons in starcraft..

u-chen!!

u-chen!! i'm suffering from the same syndrom as you had before! mistakes mistakes mistakes in my work place!!!

i din know how they happen, they JUST happen! without my knowing.

ARGGSH!!

oh wow, it was frustrating indeed, at first i couldn't stop blaming myself, felt like slapping my head off, banging it on the walls.. but then.. wat's the point? it won't change the things.

so now i'm extra careful in everything. i know tat i'm not a superspeedy gal, so i'd rather go slow and steady.

no more mistakes.. God bless.

feeding raw food

Yesterday I met a very unreasonable client. Well, I've actually met him before this, in an unrelated occasion outside my clinic, and found him rather annoying. The moment he stepped into my clinic yesterday, I was thinking, "Oh no... not him is it???"

Soon I confirmed that it was exactly him, the very same person, with the same line of thinking and wordings. He brought 2 pups with him, and I was seeing them for the 1st them. This is a glimpse of the conversation we had yesterday...

Me : What food are your pups on?
Him : (In his proud mode) Oh, I go to the market, get the raw chicken necks, raw fishes?and they like it you know!
Me: Do you cook them beforehand?
Him : (still in proud mode) No no no, I don't have to cook them! They eat it raw! I won't bother to cook at all.
Me : As you know, many kinds of diseases can be transmitted by eating raw meats. They contain viruses, bacteria, parasites..
Him : (super proud mode) That's why I bring them here to deworm! (smiles with the yousee-I-am-so-smart look)
Me : Deworming doesn't kill the viruses bacteria parasites..
Him : Don't worry doc, I feed them garlic too! That helps kill the rest of them. Hahaha...
Me : How much garlic do you feed them?
Him : One piece per pup (4kg) daily. You know what? They don't like to eat it. So I held their jaw tight, opened it, forced it in. And wow, they were chewing and spitting and making life so difficult for me.
Me : I bet you don't like eating a big chunk of garlic raw too, do you? (and they're so tiny comparing to your 65kg!)

My heart: (shaking head with a sad note) And who's the one making life difficult here? GOODNESS!!!!

working...

i remembered clearly still how i had wanted so much to start working and venture into my career. gave a lot of thoughts on wat i will look like. wat i will be. when i was still a student back in upm.

now that the days i tot of so much have come.. it was good in a way.. but really a heavy responsibility on your shoulder. never had i felt so much responsibility.. in my life.

i remembered clearly when i was still in my teenage years.. and post-spm stpm holidays where i worked part times.. life was still so easy. it was still basically - a responsible-free life!

wow.. and now.... this time it got serious, coz im building a career. perhaps not that far yet. perhaps it's better to term it as, "i'm starting my career."

and i remember how my stomach shrinks before each exams during the DVM years in upm.. and now? my stomach shrinks almost every morning. "What will I face today?" "What will I do today?" "Will everything goes well?"

Whatever comes, I must still face it. And I will face it, courageously. I'd fallen, even tho' it's just a month plus of work. But I've risen up again. With God as my pillar of stregth, I'll walk on. This journey. Courageously.

a lousy day

i din know why, most of the dogs n cats today are so wondrously full with lice! oh.. they're not just full with lice, they're hair was overflowing with lice n fleas...

omg.. u can actuali see those little insects squirming on the little doggies n kitties.. n my.. you'll eventually feel it yourself when you feel something squirming on your hands.. and ...

eventually your hair! goodness.. .zoonotic? ahem.. no la... they'll get off me sooner or later.. anyway tonight i gota wash all my clothes, hair.. etc.. dun wana get a lice/fleas-infested-bed.

:)

besides that.. today was lousy in a way too. hmmm.....

our biggest enemy

often ppl say i hate this person.. i hate this n tat.. wat the.. well.. have you ever did something wrong.. you wished so much to reverse it? and when everyone around you forgives you for wat you have done, but you just couldn't get over it?

you've inflicted so much pain unto someone.. unintentionally.. and there's no way of forgiving... yourself...

so who's our biggest enemy here?

well...

as the saying goes... get over it fast.. but then, is it reali that easy?

friexxster again

i wonder if someone's been sabotaging friexxster, or some illegal spyware is going on in it? I'm not a techy person.. so they're all guesses...

First i was not able to post a comment. Now I can't even send a message. A normal frien-to-frien message. Everytime i click to send message, a new window pops up, asking me to Re-Sign in (i was already registered with my name) and then Re-enter my password. Wat for??! Then the funny thing happens, "The page you have requested is not found or available"

Great.

convocation!

i've finaly truly graduated! wow! i can't beliv it.. i just cant cant cAnNot believe it!

how could it be?

today was a very happy day indeed.. this is the day when I received the most flowers, ever, in my life. wow... thanks to my belovd family.. n frens - kY, kkan, tee, er, patrk, liz, and the cute juniors. a lot of thanks to these special buddies, nvr forgetting kYin n su, for coming all the way here. haha, poor su -blur case. :p n also to frens who have taken the time to call up - uchen, yHar, aHoon, Richrd, ma, heng, and many more.. wow.. thanks! i'm really grateful! =)

afta taking pix ceremony from 12.15pm - 2pm, i was runnin al the way from Dewan Besar to our fac - we had oath taking ceremony there. Saya bersumpah.. oops.. we dun use such a convulsive word.. it was actuali, "saya berikrar..." hehehe... meeting my long-not-met coursemates was fun indeed.. some of them whom i missed so much.. aaahhh............ =)

life at work

perhaps i'll change my blog title to "Life at work" coz i'm finally working. i remembered when i went interview earlier, most ppl told me,"haiya.. small animal practice ar? no life man... " and i remember how i strongly swept that idea away with just 5 words, "it's a matter of priority."

question now is... how's my life. im living well.. in a land of strangers... but no fear.. coz i know that the Lord is with me. ;)

so far everything is going well... except that my medicine knowledge had really went down hill burying themselves. now im struggling to excavate them.. but so far doing ok. =)

convo coming next sunday... hmm... then i'll get my license.. and i can then call myself a TRUE VET.

oh yeah! imagine! 5 years for this day.... oh my oh my...

MV Doulos

Went to West Port to visit the famous MV Doulos this afternoon! Wow, it was a hot saturday, but many ppl crowded the floating book fair which is conducted, managed, maintained and organized by international volunteers- and i got a good harvest today. Praise Lord.

There are lots of books there - a wide range - includes animals (i wanted so much to buy an animal encyclopedia book there, but was budget tight, so have to hold back my dream), DIY books, mechanical and transports, world, languages, sports, motivation n leadership, religions, novels, children.. and all sorts! Though it was superb humid and claustrophobic inside, but i like it, coz i found what i wanted there. (tips! thr's a spot where you got cool air blowing down straight at you near the atlas area)

The best thing was, i believe the prices are standard - they're not hiked up by the taxes n etc. Bought 4 books, for only RM25.60! And one of it was "Window of the World" which is a thick hard-cover book telling n teaching abt the big wide world at only RM16!! I really really luved it! Goodness!

My recommendation? No matter how far, how humid, how hot the weather, GO GO GO!!! You can't miss this chance! The last time they stopped by Malaysia was 6 years ago! And the next time maybe 10 years.. or more.. we'll never know... So hurry up frens, grab this chance! MV Doulos, go go go! for more info, visit their website: www.mvdoulos.org.

Here are some pix... (there are more pix, unfortunately they're not in my camera, which means i dun have it with me rite now. so solee...)