Ghent River Hotel, Room 22

My muscles are as relaxed as relax can be. A long soak in a hot tub and a good book (John Irving's The Cider House Rules) would do just that. Welcome to Ghent, Belgium. The land of many (and I mean MANY...apparently there's more than 300 sorts made here in Belgium) different kinds of beer. Sigh, tried to post my pictures but there's something wrong with the connection in the room and as a result...this boring photo-less blog.

I am again tremendously knackered (when enunciating this word, keep in mind that the 'c' is NOT silent...I have heard people pronouncing it as 'naked'...boy oh boy!). The hospital visit ended today. The last few days of early starts and late nights have left me spent and in need of sleep. But it's been a good trip. Seen plenty, heard plenty and definitely dined plenty. One of our taxi driver even threw in a trip to the local 'red light district'. But more later. My eyes are refusing to stay awake. Dozed off a couple of times while typing all this out. Good night you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England!

I'm Sorry For Your Lost

Well meaning words that sometimes hurt instead of bringing comfort. A very good friend's father passed away the evening before I was to fly off. Having lost someone dear before, I understand the tears, the grief, the sorrow. What I don't understand is the constant advice to 'not cry', 'not feel sad', 'to toughen it up and move on'. In this modern society, are tears really such a taboo? What's wrong with grief and sorrow? Are they not a testimony of love to the departed. Sometimes, not saying anything is perhaps the best way to go. A tight hug...a silent tear...these things...well, they say more than any words can.

All My Bags Are Packed...

Actually, all my bags are NOT packed...yet. What's new? But I roughly have an idea of what to bring. Clothes...toothbrush and errmmm...assam? Yes, definitely assam...the saltier the better. So anyway, the latest news about work is:

• The sterile complex is still pretty sick (poor baby).
• The renovation plans have been approved.
• In the mean time we are using PhaSeal...with all its hick-ups and supply dilemmas.
• Yours truly is being sent to Sweden and Belgium to 'learn' how to sort out the above mentioned hick-ups and dilemmas.

So on the road again (that song from Shrek is playing in my mind...you know...the one that Donkey sings...). Will be flying through London and then to Stockholm where we will be spending the night before taking the train (or is it another flight?) to Gothenburg where the manufacturing plant is. The reason why I am so blur about this trip is because well...it's a rather rush one (just got approval for it last Thursday) and up to now I have not even received my flight tickets. So, if I have a computer and internet connection, then expect more blogs. Otherwise, pray for a safe return. I might be bearing chocolates and such...you know who you are...so be NICE.

The Lizard, The Pail And The Bathroom

Once upon a time, Lisha was sitting on her throne as she is prone to do every morning as soon as her handphone jolts her weary self out of deep slumber. And though she was bleary eyed and wooly brained, something caused her to quickly snap to attention. The 'something' was a pair of black beady eyes staring at her from across the bathroom. To her great disgust, it was an utterly despicable reptile of the lizard kind and as soon as she realized what she was up against, Lisha grabs her glasses and puts them on for if one is to wage war against the reptile called a lizard, then one had better have good eyesight on her side. She then grabs the first big thing close to her. This weapon of choice turned out to be a bright yellow pail. On hindsight, she acknowledges the fact that the pail was initially intended as more of a shield (a protective device against the crafty, disgusting, icky cold blooded creature that had the potential to jump on her and not let go) than a weapon of mass reptile destruction. But nevertheless, she bravely waved it at the lizard while making snarling noises to warn the lizard that she meant business. She of course had the sense to not shout at it as shouting would entail opening her mouth and that foul thing with the potential to jump on her also had the potential of jumping right into her open mouth. Then with a single yet deadly accurate swipe, she smacks the lizard onto the floor and a mini chase lasting all of twenty seconds followed suit. Victory was Lisha’s as she finally brought the pail down on the lizard and quickly filled the pail with water for added weight. This was done to prevent the lizard from overturning the pail and escaping. After all, it could have been a really strong lizard with sufficient upper body strength. Lisha was definitely not taking any chances.

With the lizard safely out of sight, she could finally start breathing again. But just as her heart rate was heading downwards, she spots a wriggling ‘thing’ on the floor of her bathroom. “EEEWWW!”. The reptile called a lizard had left behind his tail and though detached, it apparently had a mind of its own and that mind was commanding it to wriggle, wriggle, wriggle. And wriggle, wriggle, wriggle it did for almost a full minute…it of course could have been shorter but it sure felt like a really long time. But finally, when the tail stopped, Lisha had to get moving. The events that morning left her with very little time left to haul herself to work.

The end.

On Googling

I use Google for all of my internet needs. I don't go up to the address bar and type out the site I want to go to (even if I know it). I use google to get into my gmail account, my blogger account, for pharmaceutical and medical journals, for pictures, for recipes (not for myself...ha...ha...since when...), to plan my vacations (that and lepakking in the travel section of BORDERS), for news (don't buy the newspapers anymore) and the list goes on.

And so I decided to be a little perasan and googled up my name: Lisha Ng. To my surprise somebody elses life popped up; a flight stewardess living in Singapore. My illusion that I was the one and only Lisha Ng in this world flew right out of the window. But phew...as I scrolled down, there I was; a pharmacist, a council member of PENSMA and much to my chagrin in Chew Cheong Tat's blog. So there you go, the next time not-so-good news about Lisha Ng reaches your ears...just know...it's not the one in Malaysia.

Caffeine & Apnoea

I am knackered. The sleep deprivation bank collector is a knocking at the door. Right about now, the No-Doz pills sitting on Zu's table is mighty tempting.

Those caffeine pills, believe it or not, are for our babies with apnoea (cessation of breathing) not responsive to aminophylline. This reminds me of a movie (Trapped, 2002) where Dakota Fanning plays an asthmatic kid (duh!) who was kidnapped and had an attack. Her puffs were obviously not kidnapped along with her and so the kidnapper panics. Then (if I remember rightly...it's been a while) he (the baddie) remembers that coffee works as well as inhalers. So he starts to make a cuppa and feeds it to the kid and her airways open back up. At this point, all the coffee lovers of the world stand and applaud. This pharmacist was put to shame by a baddie who looked like a high school drop out. I had NO IDEA that caffeine had other uses other than to perk us coffee drinkers. Now I know better.

What Happened Over The Weekend

I actually started writing on polygamy (won't get into the reasons why right now) and as my writing got more heated and cynical, I decided to switch gears and write about the going ons of last weekend...a weekend that was supposed to be full of conferences. I attended the 1st KL International Breast and Colorectal Cancer Congress on Thursday and Friday and then the Roche Asian Oncology Forum (erm, I think that was what it's called...don't correct me if I am wrong) on Saturday and was supposed to on Sunday as well. But as the meeting came to a close on Saturday, I glanced at my phone and saw a sms from Lionel Loke that read:

Want 2 go church camp? Im in Kl and there are spare rooms ! Will be leaving abt 5 p.m.

My first thought was,"Yes! Yes! Yes!" as I was comtemplating driving down myself if I could find a place to bunk in. It was so kind of the Lokes (thank you) to think of me...the poor lonely soul that otherwise would not have had a church to go to that Sunday. And so I decided to skip all of Sunday's speakers (sorry Dr Haris...I am sure you did great) and rushed (it was 3:45pm and the conference was at KL Convention Centre) back home to pack. Rushed I did...the traffic jam did not help...neither did my lack of familiarity with the KL roads (this gal only terrorises the roads of PJ) and sense of direction. But I found my way home, rushed upstairs, packed, stripped, had a shower (okay, so I am a little bit OC about having showers), put on clothes (man, if I had forgotten this step of getting ready...), rushed downstairs, jumped into the car and drove off towards Subang. Somewhere on the way there I get another message from Lion King Lionel (it's his email user name...I know...a little bit perasan, right?):

My wife said leaving at 6 p.m., so you don't have to rush!

Okaaayyy, well meant BUT A TAD TOO LATE bro. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, we got to Seremban in time for dinner. Oh oh, I also have to mention that Lionel's dog (Nicky) drooled into my bright blue pair of 'crocs'. I think that Lionel put her up to it...yeah sure...deny all you want...the Leech knows better.

I have no pictures of the camp because in my mad rush, I forgot my digital camera (sob sob) but Chew was snapping away and I am sure that he will post it up on his blog. Joe Ozawa is a fantastic speaker...annointed...and this is what I took away from the camp:

JESUS!

I end this blog by thanking a few people that made this trip possible and enjoyable:

• The Lokes of course for their kindness that extended to feeding me with bah-ku-teh (the soup was super yummy) and introducing me to really good chao fan and the even good-er sambal belacan sauce that came with it.
• My eating partners-in-crime in Seremban (Oon Tian, Anne and Christie) for being adventurous enough to stay up late in hunt of really sedap crabs and for waking early enough to be able to chomp down the famous beef noodles and still get back in time for Sunday service.
• The Pois for being my 'tai ka cheh' and 'tai ko' and providing transport back to PJ. I totally enjoyed the pit stop to your house. I even enjoyed the rambutan picking session...ha ha, the urban boy a.k.a Chew Cheong Tat and his sad sad attempts in using 'the rambutan hook-er'. All I can say to you Chew is this, "If I ever need anyone to pluck rambutans, I'll be calling your mother...not you." And also, thanks for the banana leaf rice...man...we had A LOT of papadams, did we not? Love you guys!

Jagoya at Starhill

Promised my colleagues that I would post these pictures I took (with my Sony Ericson phone...so don't expect such clear photos) somewhere last year I think. Jagoya is a not exactly cheap Korean buffet with a HUGE (and I really mean HUGE) variety of food. The place is so big that I kept getting lost on the way back to our table. Describing it would not do it justice as it really is a 'must go yourself and see what I mean' sort of experience. I reckon that it is about RM 101.20 per person and to soften the pinch a little, I made Amelia, Wen Chieh and Jing Yong fork out RM3 per day for 33 days so that it did not seem like a very huge amount which was not good for me because I really felt like an 'Ah Long' for the entire duration. Well, in the end, Jing Yong was not able to make it (you have no idea what you missed) and the five of us (Ching Hooi, Sing Teang, Wen Chieh, Amelia and yours truly) braved the rush hour traffic to KL and here are the results of our pigging out session (in no random order):

This was me having a conversation with like the 8th coconut I had. Clearly there was not much blood flow to the brains.

My Christmas wish list...a coffee machine.

Ching Hooi and Seng Teang...smilling despite the gastronomic suffering they must be experiencing at this point.

Wow! So 'si-man'! I can't remember what was going on here.

Two nuts (the one on the left is way nut-ier).

My impression of what sadness is...an empty oyster shell.

One of the very few male pharmacist in UMMC. Shall not say anything for fear of him leaving us. Nice Wen Chieh, nice Wen Chieh...

Oh oh, the ice cream was just superb!!! Can't remember what flavours there were but we tried them all.

The girls.

The ice creams.

The lovely fried soft shell crab rolls (minus the glutinous rice so as not to fill our tum tums up...aaah...that's what I call strategy folks)

The night ended magically with a group of carollers serenading us (and our tummies) and fake snow falling from the skies a.k.a the roof of Starhill. I don't know how we rolled back home that night but we somehow did and all was well. Thanks for the memories you guys.

Personality Test...Konon!

Was a tad bored (and a lot tired...hence the disinterest in all things grammatical) in the clinic just now...that led to yours truly taking a free personality test over the internet and the results are in, I am an:

When the results appeared, I literally scoffed out loud, "SCOFF, SCOFF!!!" I do not think that I am an idealist for reasons stated below:

1. Certain values of mine are up for negotiation and bribery (ie: good food, coffee and wine (must look after the heart, you know)).
2. I am not all that competitive...the shy creature that I am.
3. The thrill of victory is definitely NOT what keeps me moving. It's more like the rush of adrenaline caused by the much acclaimed 'last minute stress' that is brought on by my mastery of the art of procrastination that keeps me moving.
4. And lastly, what natural ability to accrue material wealth? Man! In government service that kind of sounds a lot like bribery (not the kind stated in fact no 1) because those two concepts do not go hand in hand. If you have one, you cannot possibly have the other as evident by my bank statements.

I was actually hoping for something a little more exciting like 'Coffee Stalker' or 'Rebellious Leader' or 'Future Brain (of Pinky and the Brain fame)' or 'Psychopath' or 'Cheap Thrill Seeker' or...I am sure you get the point. So anyhow, that website DOES NOT get the LEECH'S SEAL OF APPROVAL.

Chinese New Year 2006

The feast prepared by many loving hands of the older generation.

The dishes done by grateful hands of the younger generation.

If it was the other way around, I am rather sure that the night would have ended with us either eating Maggi noodles or calling out for McDonalds (Chi Meng would have been happy though). But then again, how remiss of me! Anne Marie and xie xie Fong were there and between them (and with the rest of us 'culinary idiots' staying out of the way) there would have still been hope.

Sugimoto

Either the "Hokkai & Nabeyaki" or the "Kaisen & Inaniwa" set

Sugimoto at Sri Hartamas, 29th July 2007, 20:41:06. I was not craving for anything that day until Adwin sms-ed me for directions to JW Marriot, Putrajaya (I find it incredulous that there are people who actually ask me for directions). He was bringing a few friends to the Japanese buffet there. Oh boy! That did it! So, I called the only other person I knew who was ALWAYS ready for jappie food...Manju. We also called Ratha...but Ratha being Ratha...well...let's just say that she 'politely' refused us. Lauren was out of town.

Lisha's Verdict:
The restaurant offered cubicles that provided some privacy. It's not terribly swanky (so don't need to dress up) and comfortable enough. The two types of udon we ordered were good. The sets also came with two bowls of sashimi served over glutinous rice. One bowl shared between the two of us would have been just nice...but two bowls definitely tipped us over the 'padan muka for being so greedy' line. Overall, I give this place a 6.5 out of 10 which means that it has earned the LEECH'S SEAL OF APPROVAL.

On Call Weekend

So far it has been a peaceful week...on call wise that is. I guess it's good to let the 1st call know who 2nd is...then they'll think twice about calling you in the middle of the night for no good reason. It has happened and it is irritating because:

• You fall back asleep (after fuming about how you were awoken over something that could have waited till the morning or something the 1st call person SHOULD have known but very obviously did not know) and wake up feeling as though you have not slept at all and still having to drag your $%& out of under the comforter to work.

OR

• You do not fall back to sleep and the rest of the twilight hours are spent tossing and turning and sighing and moaning.

Was at a talk yesterday about "Managing Difficult Gram Negative Infections" and the rates at which the resistant strains are forming...are well...scary. And so to you doctors out there who think that pharmacy screens your antibiotic choice to save a buck...think again...(it's not even our money by the way)...it's this problem of multi drug resistance (MDR for short because we medical people just love using abbreviations don't we?!) we are concern of as well.

Disclaimer: This is NOT meant to take a dig at anyone and least of all the docs in my ward. I think you guys rock but that does not mean I will not continue to say no to some things (In case any of you are counting, three negatives still make a negative = NO!). It's called tough love, baby!

The Simpsons

Watched this last night at Cineleisure. Loved it, loved, it, loved it! Howling is definitely the word to describe the bubbling sounds that burst forth uncontrollably from somewhere within us. Would blog more but that would mean being late for care group and I have been warned...so TTFN.