Across Borders

this year's chinese new year celebration has been the most memorable for me thus far. might sound a tad naive to a working adult, but this is my honest account on my thoughts over the past few days.
the stereotype of doctors leading terrible lives, hvg countless working hours, lack of sleep has always been alive. i hear of it, feel it, smell it and my mind reeks of it. in the anticipation of joining the working force in just a few more months, i can't help but from time to time dread the thought of starting work. the negativity surrounding the whole thing makes me believe that it's going to be terrible for me.
now hearing from my friends who were back in kuching over the cny celeb, those working in engineering firms, the banking line, doing sales and marketing was really really refreshing. felt so amazed listening to their account of their day to day working life. dealing with events, products, people, clients, economy, shipping, millions to billions of ringgit each day. now, that, is what I call challenging. phewh. battling the ups and downs outside there in the corporate world. learning from experience. working on stg totally unrelated to the degree they studied. when I compare my job to doing that, I'm thinking, mine's a lot easier. i felt as if a chip of the coconut shell that has been faithfullly shading a huge portion of my life that revolves around the hospital and clinics being lifted. a small beam of light shining in, making me look up in awe. Man, these ppl are awesome. their jobs are interesting (and tough).
well yeah, no doubt i gotta study lots, sleep less, work round the clock. but i deal with patients. and they deal with kickass bosses and clients with crazy demands. different job requirement altogether. guess of course we're more comfortable with what we've been trained to expect when we walked down our respective pathways in tertiary education.
i came back from kuching this time feeling motivated. i didn't have to look too far for role models to get me going. they didn't have to be internationally renowned figures. they are my secondary school classmates who currently brave the corporate weather each day. darn... i'm so proud of u girls and guys. parting words from the classmate who dropped me off at my house last night: Bye Vin. Take care. Study hard. :P she said it half jokingly. but it did for a moment spur that motivation in me to study hard n get it going in the last lap of my race in this undergraduate course, finals being just 2 months away.
maybe it sounds ridiculously simple. but it evoked a special feeling in me. i wana work hard to make them proud of me too. hehee.

photos taken frm leen and pauline. :P Jacq's place, stealing shots drg the wedding reception, the bridegroom and his bride.

A classmate, Sheryl got married on V day to Jarred, who's from the States. lovely. wish them both much happiness and future blessings. cross cultural marriages are always beautiful (with a hint of curiosity) :P

Lamentation

The place you love the most is always the place you call home.
Kuching will always be home to me. The familiarity makes it the ultimate comfort zone. it feels good to tell ppl where i'm from and take in the cute misconceptions ppl have about east msia. on a bigger scale, it's malaysia i will always call home. the people i will always love the most among any of the nations in the world. However, as a young undergraduate who's bound to leave student life and join the huge throng of labourers in the workforce soon, i have my concerns. where is our country heading to? it's true that the way of management of every country has it's pros and cons. financial policies, priorities. we're called to serve our people. deep inside, i know that i will love treating any msian uncle, aunty, teen, child more than anyone else, bcz i feel that i can identify with them and that there is a need in this country for ppl to serve. BUT. with the onslaught of drs in training hospitals ard, current financial planning of the country, the latest doomed project in kelantan, it makes me wonder what the future holds in this country. well to be honest it's more of the failed project in kelantan that i just read about this morning that gave me this sense of hopelessness. why can't people, developers, etc. have conscience. why is there corruption. why do ppl misuse power and rob the country. there're tons of ppl out there who're poor, underpriviledged, unable to afford themselves education, whose lives are confined to meagre states of living. most of you would shake ur heads and think, yeah well it's nothing new. corruption. ppl who would squander money for themselves and leave the rest to rot. they shud be banished. well lol my lecturer would say they shud be shot, i kinda feel that way too, but i suppose it sounds pretty scary. you wish this didn't have to happen in your country. i wish there was absolute equality. but it's a thought of an idealist. equality can never exist. what is left is hope. the ultimate value of life in the end is afterall, to run the race and live for His glory. I love Malaysia. you know that feeling when you wana prove urself to be better than any individual from a neighbouring country lol. we all have that kiasu feeling. ahaha. I just wish the spark of hope and light here can brighten up soon, if not to not be extinguished. many of us feel the flame's dying. without transparency, questions pop up. the truth is evident, some know more, some less. but i think no matter how much we lament, deep down this is still our home. and we want the best for it.

thaaaaat said, still, looking forward to the coming week. :) gonna fly back kuching saturday. cny cny the reason to kick off those shoes and celebrate :D

So... Who Gets to Age With Grace?

Maybe you think or I thought I was gonna be spewing out a gurgling mud pool pie pool bbblllblblbl of asking everyone to appreciate and love our elderly people, how ungrateful children can be and how elderly ppl are being left to rot in old folks homes that thrive on public donation. I was thinking that. Indeed I was. We all know it. The adverts on TV every festive season gently remind us about it. It's a social phenomenon that's sad but real and it's happening in every country across the world.

I guess everyone has heard one too many messages and shout outs on that.

(but yes i agree that a one too many reminder is still good to catch our attention for a sec and keep our sense of humanity in check on and off)

Just a few thoughts that came to mind after a visit to an old folks home today.

How do you imagine yourself to be in 60 years time??

non existent cute magical grandma knitting snowflakes from the moon

some of us are gonna be the hockey grandma -is that a parallel to a hockeymom?-
the senior consultant who gets to wear socks with slippers and shorts and no one can say anything about it. or spot sportshoes with slacks. or purple socks with orange shoes. ok no. nope.

and nope.

the super duper businessman who never stops working
the owner of land properties who never has to work
the aunty running a kolo mee stall to pass time
the aunty giving line dancing lessons to church members -thr's a really cool aunty in my church who does that

we basically wana be independent financially and physically so that we can do things we love.

but you never know what kind of disease is going to come knocking on ur bones i mean door one fine day. choi touch wood but yea we all know that's imminent in old age. buy health insurance ppl!!!

when that happens, no amount of money can buy u genuine love from ur loved ones who will care for you no matter how things end up. u can pay someone tons of money to tend to ur daily needs when u're chronically ill, but it cannot buy u the bond u share with someone dear, or daily wound dressing done with love. when u're bed bound, the smallest things like feeding, bathing, clothing yourself, combing ur hair, personal hygiene, getting things to ur bedside etc will require help. who'll be willing to do that for u, and r u willing to do that for another individual?

still, buy health insurance.

we cant deny diseases like Alzheimer changes a person's behaviour. it can make them totally indifferent to someone they used to know and love so dearly, be aggressive, forgetful etc. and it brings two level of thoughts.

1. love those around you, care for them, appreciate them, and it will naturally be mutual. now i'm not saying do things with personal intent. that's just kinda weird. but u get wad i mean. i hope. :)
2. love those around you before it's too late. choi touch wood i'm once again not saying bad things are gonna happen to ur loved ones. but again, u get the gist of what i'm saying.

It also leaves us all with another important reminder.

Save for future needs!

Money isn't everything, but money is still vital. and, did i mention insurance? xP ok enough about insurance. grins.

At the end of the day, pun unintended, you still wana age with grace.

Now i certainly wana be up and active even at old age, doing lots of things, reading cute books, knitting??? hahah, baking pies??? (so stereotypical of grandmas lol), running about doing work for God, maybe still contributing medically to society?, making sure lil kids dont stuff pencil erasers up their noses or doing the Heimlich manouevre on a choking kid or doing CPR on a person who collapsed in front of me -oookkay maybe going a bit too far-

and being able to descend from the skies holding an umbrella would be cool

The old folks home isn't somewhere you ideally imagine your parents or yourself to end up in. A retirement home is different, but lets not get into that. There's no place like home. Home meaning the house+people+comfort zone+love+birds singing outside ur window lalala hehee ok

So..... basically we need to work hard, keep our brains active, keep our body fit, keep retirement savings, get insured -ok enough already, keep running the race for His Kingdom, and hope life ends in the most beautiful way possible. the word is, dignity. to live, and leave in dignity. (it's the essence of palliative care for chronically ill patients. another interesting topic to talk about.)

Hmm no it's not that i'm pessimistic or anything that i'm mentioning end of life. afterall, what awaits after that is eternal life. :D

what i'm saying is just a tip off the iceberg in the massive world of geriatrics healthcare. if u're passionate for elderly ppl, it's a great area to research on.

the awesome ppl who made today's visit possible :)

last but not least, a great shout of love and appreciation to all nursing home volunteers out there. u guys have amazing giant hearts. i stand in awe of your works.