A Royal Brunch

Last Monday morning, the Sultan of Selangor officially opened the new MediPlex building at SJMC and I attended the ceremony and was invited to be present for the brunch as well.

The ceremony was a late morning affair, meaning that I was able to do a bit of my ward round before attending the event, returning to complete it later after the ceremony before the afternoon clinic. It spelt for a hectic day at the office but nonetheless I was honoured to be invited.

The ceremony started sharply at 10, with the new Permaisuri in attendance which also became the focus of attention. Tight security meant that there were no selfie but truth be told, the whole ordeal was not as boring as I thought. While waiting for the Sultan, I had the chance to mingle and bumped into Zul, a photography buddy who worked for one of the big Insurance firm. My seat for the ceremony was on the second row offering a good view of the whole event.

The CEO doing a great job with his speechThe new Permaisuri appeared to be a hitOur CEO - an Australian - did a good job in pronouncing the Sultan's name and his was the only speech of the morning. Next came a short video of SJMC - which was rather slick! - followed by the Officiation by the Sultan. He then left the hall to visit the new Physio Department next door while I was ushered to the first floor to wait for the brunch later. More mingling.

The meal was excellent. And it was prepared in house by our Hospital Chef. That guy could cook! I only wished that our canteen food was just as good ....

And now to the serious businessThe startersAnd the mainsThe food went down well and the company was good. I didn't take the cue from Anita to bring along my business card though ... Silly me! The whole event ended at noon. Off I went to complete my rounds after that ....

A great experience none the less .... and great food!

Free Morning

Monday and Wednesday mornings were supposed to be my free morning, when I only have clinics in the afternoon. Still, it was not often that I had some time to myself. This morning was an exception and it was such a bliss. I had the choice of either the Oscars, or a bit of a me time.

Me time every time.

Armed with my iPad and a Moleskine, I headed to Bangsar to get some errands done and spent the late morning at my favourite Starbucks. In the last month, that spot is only a five minutes drive from my apartment. And set out to plan the rest of the months.

I then realised that I needed to sort out my budgeting. Moving to the new house, and the coming trip to Kora Bharu is not going to be cheap I'm afraid. Even at the beginning of the month, I was now officially broke .....

Need to work harder I supposed ....

A Grand Day Out

The guest-of-honour had to do some work in the end ....

The initial plan when I went to London last week was to hook up with an old buddy of mine who still remained in the UK after finishing his medical studies. Currently he was in Pharmaceutical industry, awaiting to transfer to Frankfurt. Therefore, he decided to use the time before the transfer to spend some time back home in KL. He was due to return to London tomorrow evening. So, today, we decided to meet up at a friend's place in Subang Jaya. A fee other gang member came along, it was a nice time talking about the old days .....

All the ingredients were fried first

Before they go into the rice with chicken to be cooked together

We were treated with cooking from one of the old buddy, an Arabic rice affair, which I better not attempt to spell. It went down really well. The original plan was for pot luck, but unfortunately, since we had a late night last night, Anita and the boys were still asleep when I left. No chance of preparing anything really. I decided in the end not to take them along, and have my friend from London drive me there. But in the end, there were plenty of food to eat. The chef however, turned late ...... as usual. Instead of brunch, we ended up having a late lunch.

And now, it was ready. Walla!

And the dessertIt was great to see how we evolved since we came back from the UK. But sufficed to say that our career path may have varied since it intentionally set out. It was great fun talking about our exploits when we were students. We talked about our time in Malaysia Hall, what I did when I was in London last week as well what we had been up to since returning. A few of them I have yet to meet after 10 years, at the very least.