Fire Talk

I couldn't believe that I actually followed some of my colleague and sat through a whole hour talk on fire safety at the hospital. One whole hour. And it turned out to be quite OK. Some of the Doctors even bought some fire extinguisher after that. The talk was THAT good I supposed.

And it helped that the speaker actually showed us some photos of actual fires and videos on how to use the available equipment. And some cool pictures on the explosion from the Empire Shopping Mall in Subang. Some behind the scene stuffs.

At least I know where to ensemble should there be fire.....

Saturday Came and Went

This would be the second talk I did this year. I used to do a lot more talks at conference during my time at Universiti Malaya. Now that I have moved on, the demand on my time was a bit different. But I still said yes every time I was approached. I had another three engagements on the cards by June. Most of them would be in town, the other in Penang in April.

But for the talk yesterday, the timing was a bit off. It was a post-call day, and initially, I planned to close my clinic that morning. I changed my mind a few weeks back and limited the clinic until 11. It turned out that I only managed to sort out my ward patients by 10.30. I could only finish the clinic at 12 noon. That was followed by some other review and referrals. I had to forget about making this a short morning.

I rushed to my apartment for a quick lunch, and then rushed to KL Sentral where the talk was being held. Made it there in plenty of time. I fuelled myself up with coffee, and went through with my session. The council meeting came next and by the time I reached home at 7, I was completely spent.

I ended up sleeping in front of the TV while waiting for United to play QPR last night - United won and went 15 points clear at the top. A long day indeed ....

At ntv7 Today

It wasn't the first time that I was asked to appear on a live television talk show. The last time was about 2 years ago when I was still at the University. It was always at Angkasapuri, and almost always in Malay - I did do a radio interview in English before. So, when I was approached to appear on a show in English, I just jumped at the chance. And this time it was at ntv7, in a women late morning talk show, appropriately called Bella Confidential.

Despite the target audience and gender slant, the subject matter should appeal to everyone. It was concerning the option of stem cell transplant as treatment in lymphoma and leukaemia, my bread and butter subject.

The talk started off by introducing a couple of patients - one had seen me previously - both treated at Hospital Ampang. They unfortunately suffered a relapse after their initial treatment and were currently being prepared for transplant, but in one of the lady's case, she had yet to find a suitable donor. The patient did very well in sharing their experience, and I couldn't help but feel that even without the segments with the doctors, the audience would have caught the geez of the discussion.

Waiting before going on airGroup photo - a lady from KPJ, Scha, Vanessa, Alia, Kim Yen and myselfI was there with a colleague from Ampang Puteri, Kim Yen. She was my predecessor at UMMC, and we took turn in discussing the subject from the medical point of view. Although it only lasted about 10 minutes, I thought we managed to get the key points across to the audience. The pacing was OK, and the moderator allowed ample opportunity for us to maneuver the discussion. I was pretty pleased with it in the end. I remember my discussion at RTM being cut short before when the program had to show a live feed - about a Minister officiating some event in town. At the end of that, I just wondered why they invited me in the first place.

Here, things were more laid back. There were no set script, and as a result, the discussion flowed freely.

And another highlight of the morning was actually meeting Ramli Ibrahim, the famed Odissi dancer. He was bigger in person, very personable, and he was there to promote an even coming on in the next few weeks. He offered me some tickets for the events, but I was more interested in talking to him about other things. Fascinating guy.

The Terendak Trip

Red carpet. Great singing from the College Choir. Wifi at the Balai Pelajar. Students allowed handphones. Students proficient in English. Those were few of the surprises I had today when I visited my former college.

I was honored to be invited to officiate a program there and spent slightly more than an hour at the rostrum, giving motivational talks and taking questions from the floor. It went very well. I had the chance to impart what knowhow I had to help them prepare for their exams and future.

Entering the campI also got to meet my former teachers and visited my old dormitory. Some of the building had been renovated since I've last been to Terendak in 2009 - I was there for a career talk. The main one being Block F being built up to three floors - my batch were the first to use the old Block F back in 1985, and it was a double-story building.

The main cafeteria were also extended to accommodate the growing number of students. The playing fields also looked better maintained, compared to when I was there as a student.

My old dormitory. I stayed there for a couple of years - 1988-89The new block F. It used to be only a couple of floors.The old smelly lake was also gone.The cafetaria had been expanded.I had a nice chat with the Principal as well. I was glad that he put plenty of emphasis on co-curricular activities rather than just all studies. The choir were definitely going strong. I remember how frustrated I was as a student when being told to just study, and the Principal then not giving a hoot about anything else. Something which I touched during my talk.

All in all, it had been a fruitful day. I was also approached to visit other MRSM as well. That would be at the mercy of my tight schedule though. Should I be invited again, I would definitely return in a heartbeat.

Back from Terendak

The journey time from Terendak and Gombak was just under a couple of hours. Both in and then the return. The journey down was especially nice as I travelled on an empty highway, setting off just after Subuh prayers.

I had to be in Terendak by 9 and I made it with half an hour to spare. A nice drive down, exiting the highway at Linggi, taking the last 45 minutes along the scenic kampung route. In early morning in fresh air. It was nice.

I have arrived a bit earlier as I was too tired to hang around, plus the fact that I had to be on call tomorrow meant that I could do with a rest and rest I did. I also had to decline an offer to vosit anotjer teacher in Melaka. As soon as I reached home, I took a nap and only woken up a couple of hours after with a phonecall from work. I'll probably have to drive in to visit a patient at some point this evening.

So, for the meantime, I need some food. And a shower. Will blog more later tonight, maybe after the big game against Liverpool. As usual, I've it to have some tandoori .....