Reflecting on 2017

2017 had been a difficult year on a personal level. It was the year which I lost my father. Alfatihah.

The rest of the year went through like a blur. At least Mum had moved on somewhat with her recent trip to New Zealand. For me, I should've taken more time to digest what had gone on. My strategy to cope was to get on with work. It was alright for a while. And then when things get tough or I had a moment alone, the thought about my Dad came flooding again.

Rather tough being a Doctor and was not able to get any clue about how it happened. Could I have done things differently? But it was all in the past.

One of my plans for the end of the year was to slow down. Unfortunately, my father-in-law was taken ill this time. He had three separate hospital admissions in the last couple of months. It certainly was tough for him.

Both my boys were now on a same school. So, at least Anita need not worry about school runs and she should have more free time in the morning.

Work had been steady this year, which is good. And I didn't do many trips overseas. Just that the timing was never right.

On the photography front, I didn't invest in many new equipment. I added a new wife angle prime for my Sony and started to rediscover my Leica M again. Not much time for many outings lately.

The immediate plan for 2018 was the coming MSH Scientific Meeting which I would be chairing. I might be replacing my 4 year-old Mac Pro towards the end of the year. I wouldn't mind going to medium format at some point but they are not easy to come by and expensive at that.

Praying for more stability in 2018. In shaa Allah.

Merry Xmas

Or should I say "Mary Christmas" as the saying went.

I will be on call this Xmas Day - something that happened quite commonly. The Xmas Eve turned out to be a Sunday and many used the opportunity to do some last minute buys. The shopping complex was full and although I got some free time this afternoon, I didn't spent much time outside.

I took the MRT from KL Sentral to Bukit Bintang. The coaches were empty but despite that, the road were full clearly people prefer to drive in town although the traffic must have been a nightmare.

I decided to sort out my credit card payment - the main reason I had to be out - and after a quick lunch, carried on home. I ended up having a nice afternoon nap instead. So much for a free afternoon ...

A New Instrument

As mentioned before, when it came to pen, I was very fussy. I loved to write but since my hospital went paperless, I had to change tact. Certainly it made me miss my pen.

I always carried a couple of pen with me in coat. As a houseman, I used to carry three. A ballpen, always black and of a broad nib, and a fountain pen - again broadest nib available carrying a blue ink. My third pen used to be another fountain carrying a red ink. I used to write all my blood results in red at the left side of the medical notes. That made looking for results that much easier.

Now, my ball pen was a Mont Blanc. I used to carry a Parker fountain before I discovered Pelikan. I dabbled with other fountain brands including another Mont Blanc, but that unit stayed on my table. The nib wasn't smooth enough. But the Pelikan was great - going well with my royal blue Pelikan 4001 ink.

3 years back I changed to a Lamy before going back to Pelikan.

A few months back, I tried a Faber-Castell and it felt great. The main thing about them was the heft that it had, balanced at the nib. Not all fountain have that kind of balance. So, I tried a few of their models before finally settling for one. But unfortunately they didn't have a broad nib in stock. I had to order one.

So, I received the call that order was in and the timing was perfect as it had quite a bit of discount for the Xmas sale period. Been using it all evening and I was certainly liking it.

My Pelikan pen was of special broad-nibbed, heavy flow model which wasn't designed for daily use. The fact that it lasted 3 years was a bonus. Time to shift. So, great news all around ...

A New Tone

Since moving my studies into my bedroom and converting my old personal space for a spare bedroom, I found the lighting rather dull. Something needed to be done.

I decided to change the bulb and synchronize their colours and tone. In came a few more Hue bulbs.

I still had a couple in the main living area where I sometime used to watch Netflix at. I bought a few more with a separate base station specifically for the bedrooms. After arranging everything, I realised that a couple of the wall mounted lights used a smaller bulb. I would need to replace the sockets in order to get my whole room on the same tone. At this moment I time, I was content with my desk lamp and the couple of bedside lamps using the Hue system. More modifications needed I should think ...

Much has Changed

I left Universiti Malaya in 2011. And now that my father-in-law was.warded there, I got to spend some thine there. Much certainly has changed.

The biggest one being the new tower called Menara Selatan. They were still building it when I left. It had certainly changed the landscape of the whole place. With it the outpatients department had changed as well.

There were a few other development going on as well. The building next to the Primary Care Department - affectually known as RUKA - was being demolished. More buildings were being added which could only be a good thing. I remembered that when I first joined UM, the Paediatrics block was out on hold and it was finally opened just before I left.

Traffic flow was still bad but somehow I managed to get a spot on top of the Trauma Centre. Gone were the eatery at the Trauma Centre where I used to go to when I was on call. That place was being renovated as well. A lot was happening.

There was always a part of me which missed the place. I always had affinity to it although lately I haven't been there that much despite only staying 5 minutes away. Maybe in the next few days, I would give my old ward and the Medical Department a visit. Many of my old colleagues were still there. I might join them for lunch ...