The Colour Before the Commute
Tuesday, May 19, 2026 at 11:11PM 
Please click the photo above to play the daily videoThe sunrise had that shimmering orange tinge this morning — the kind that makes you glance up from the steering wheel and think, briefly, that the sky is showing off. It lasted maybe ten minutes before the light flattened into ordinary daylight, but those ten minutes were worth noticing. KL doesn't always announce itself gently, but today it did.
Traffic was kind again, which is two days running now. I'm not foolish enough to call it a trend, but I'm quietly enjoying it while it lasts. There's a version of the drive in that feels almost meditative — windows down, no particular urgency, the city still warming up around you. That was this morning.
Rounds were straightforward, the kind where the list behaves itself and the team moves through without anything catching fire. Clinic followed in its usual fashion, a steady procession of faces and files and conversations that range from the routine to the unexpectedly complex. You never quite know which appointment will be the one that makes you pause and think. Today had a couple of those, but nothing that threw the day off its axis.
Lunch, unfortunately, was not a repeat of yesterday's leisurely affair. Back-to-back meetings swallowed the hour whole, which meant sustenance came in the form of a quick sandwich from Family Mart. There's no romance in a convenience store lunch, but there is a certain reliable pragmatism. The sandwich did what it needed to do. I did what I needed to do. We understood each other.
The upside of a day that starts early and moves efficiently is that it sometimes gives you the other end back. I was home relatively early — still light out, still enough of the evening left to feel like it belonged to me rather than to the clock. That's not nothing on a Tuesday.
After dinner, I found myself in brainstorming mode. Projects — the kind that sit in the background humming quietly until you finally give them some attention. Nothing I can say too much about yet, but the process of turning vague notions into something with shape and edges is one I've always enjoyed. There's a particular energy to the early stages of an idea, before reality has had its say, when everything still feels possible and the constraints haven't arrived yet. I spread out some notes, scribbled a few things down, let the thinking wander where it wanted to go. Not every evening needs to be productive, but this one had a pleasant sense of purpose to it.
Anita was busy with her own things, the house quiet in that companionable way. Two people in separate rooms, both absorbed, both content. Sometimes that's the best version of a Tuesday night — parallel lives running smoothly in the same space.
The Joy of Sharing
I had the chance to participate in patient support group activities again last weekend, even though the initial plan was to have it in a park at TTDI, early Sunday morning rain soon put a dampener on things. But in true Malaysian spirit, we went for the obvious choice! We head for Mamak! Luckily there was one about 5 minutes drive from the original venue.
Nothing beats a nice the tarik and roti canai on a cold Sunday morning, and doing it in such company was even greater. Despite my schedule, Sunday morning before my ward round was just perfect timing.
We congregated just before 8, with my session kicking off by 8.30. It was mainly about Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) and the new patients who turned up took the opportunity to find out a bit more about their disease as well as listening to the stories and experience of their fellow sufferers. Great session and I hope that those who turned up on that Sunday morning benefited. And I would definitely do it again if invited.
A one hour session although the participant was not yet done. I bid my goodbye and left for the hospital. I was able to start my rounds by 10 am. Great time keeping!
Photo courtesy of the Max Family.