Status: Stuffed!

So…after the BBQ steamboat dinner at the Telephone Restaurant last night and resolving (once again) to go on a starvation diet for the next week or so…I managed to prove to myself (once again) that resolutions are made to be broken. As Aunty Poi once so wryly remarked, “Who are we kidding?!” Words of wisdom indeed.

The clinic tonight was a back breaking event. It was also unfortunately a perfect opportunity of building one’s appetite up. By the time the last prescription was dispensed and everything locked up, my stomach started its usual whining which soon turned into fierce growls. Time for Williams.

Introducing William.

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It is because of this one jolly fella that my blog is christened ‘bluecheesenaan’…except I thought that most peeps would spell naan as ‘nan’…and hence the intentional typo. Don’t bother asking for a menu. I don’t believe that there is one lying around…and even if there was…it would not be as interesting as hearing him (William) describe his latest inventions with such relish that you could literally see the dish in your mind. This is also one place where it is NOT rude to stare at another table’s orders and then ask around for the name of that particular dish that has caught your fancy. In fact, it is rather flattering when someone points to your plate and asks William about it. It basically means that whatever you are eating is interesting enough to warrant attention and that you have made the right choice…bangga I tell you!

Enough of gushing and down to the nitty gritty of what I ate tonight. As usual, I went there with a predetermined order in my mind; Portobello mushrooms with risotto and baked pasta topping. But alas…as always…William describes another dish of his choice and being the easily swayed people that we are (especially when it comes to food), we agreed without putting up much of a fight. Tonight’s specials were smoked salmon pasta in a creamy white sauce with a light splattering of tuna flakes and beef pesto pasta lightly tossed with pine nuts. Both receive the LEECHES SEAL OF APPROVAL but the smoked salmon pasta wins the prize…though I thought that by adding blue cheese into the sauce, perfection would be achieved. But that’s just me…a blue cheese lover.

The really yummy smoke salmon pasta

The second prize winner; pesto pasta

And then, when we thought that the night was over, he comes over and plonks another dish on our table. Yummy…complimentary bruschetta topped with smoked salmon and blue cheese and another topped with a sun dried tomato paste. Yummy just doesn’t do justice to how wonderfully scrumptious each bruschetta tasted. It’s really good la…REALLY BLINKINGLY SUPERBLY FANTASTIC! But that’s just me…a blue cheese lover.

And the drinks that he concocts! My favourite is the jumbo pint of ribena laichee. Others that I occasionally order would be the mango special, ice lemon tea and the sea coconut laichee (can be substituted with longan if you are hot too thrilled about laichees like I am). One drink that I most probably NEVER order but have tasted before is the banana strawberry blend that Amelia seems to fancy…but then again…being the M-unkee that she is…it’s no wonder really.

So yes indeed…once again…I ended up waddling to my car. My stomach made not a sound…it was after all satisfied as satisfied can be. Good night.

The Leech Rambling While Testing Font Colours

Black. New template...new font colour. Realise how much there sort of things bother me. Font size, colour, alignment. Meticulous? Not...just painstakingly obsessive I suppose.

Red. Chinese New Year. This will be the first year after so long that I am not flying off for mission work. Actually, it's the first year after my mum passed away that I have been around. It's just hard...putting on a smile and having to fake niceties when what I really want to do is curl up in bed and read a really good book. But this year...just as well...LQ and myself will be flying up to Penang for a week. Tai Yee is there...recuperating from her mastectomy. Also haven't seen the folks up there for a long while. And the assam laksa and prawn noodles and rojak...yummers!

Orange. Vitamin C? Prevents scurvi. Good stuff. The Leech recommends really high doses (around the region of 1000mg - 1500mg/day) and plenty of water when you feel the flu coming on. Most of it doesn't get absorbed anyway but I just love chewing the stuff...or drinking the effervescent tabs.

Green. Ahhh...always associate this colour with my enviromental engineer munkee buddee...who is probably right at this very moment gushing over her winter clothing in anticipation of her trip to Japan. Am happy for you woman! Only wish that I am boarding that plane with you. Sigh...maybe Air Asia will fly to Japan and give MAS a run for their money. I seriously tried looking for other cheaper flights but RM3700++ for tickets? Daylight robbery I tell ya. Anyway have fun and if offered any raw horse tongues for dinner...for goodness sakes EAT IT and then come back and tell me all about it. Man...if you really do that I will pay for your champagne dinner when you return. Ha ha. Must have proof (preferrably video with the audio set to high) of you munching AND swallowing the stuff.

Purple. A colour that you will not see in my closet. I don't even have any purple underwear. That's how much I don't like the colour. Hhhmmm, maybe this has something to do with Barney and how he freaks me out.

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Then there is this pinkish sort of hue.

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And yellow. Very hard to see when blogging because of the white background of the text box. Rumah Mahkota rulez! My old sports house back in high school. Yellow was Mahkota where all the cool and non-kiasu kids hung out. Red was Laksamana...ha ha...I have so much to say about this house but I will not. You know who you are. Blue was Paduka; a lepak and easy going house and then came the green house (Indera); where all the self proclaimed brainiacs gathered to plot strategies for world domination. PS: This paragraph used to be yellow until I got 'gatal' and changed the background of my template...again.

RibLee's

The Girl, The Boy and The Sane Drug Pusher's next animal protein culinary adventure: RibLee's at Desa Sri Hartamas. The website http://www.riblees.com/ is still under construction...so pictures only, no information and we know that though pictures may speak a kazillion words... they can also prove to be utterly deceiving. But I am game for anything new...well...almost anything new...there are certain lines that I will not cross. I will not drink blood. I will not eat...hhhmmm...drawing a complete blank here. Anyway, RibLee's serve baby back ribs and that's one of the many dishes that we will be ordering. And knowing the bottomless pits that The Girl and The Boy are...we will also be trying out desserts. Can't wait...if one of you dares to fly kite on that particular day (you had better have a REALLY good reason) then drinks are on you the next time...and I am not talking about 'limau ais kurang manis'. See you guys there!

Exams...Essay...In Malay...Gaspsssss

Imagine this. Eight essay questions...which I am required (the rebel in me hates the word required) to answer in malay. Okay...all of you who are going, "You bukan orang Malaysia ka?"...give chance lah. I can speak the language relatively well...plus I can also somewhat put on a Trengganu accent to humour my malay staff and the Trengganu/Kelantan folks I encounter in the hospital...but the written language is proving to be more of a challenge. Given time (and much request/pestering for help from the unfortunate others around), the words do flow out when I need to type out a letter or a report in malay...but this exam...two papers...one general and one pharmacy related...which means technical terms and what nots. My education post SPM (Sijil Pengajian Malaysia...not sure what it's called now) has been in English so you can just imagine poor old me in the exam hall...thinking in english and then having to translate everything to malay. The amount of inverted comas that I am forced to imposed on the examiner...

So the exam is really near...and of course...yours truly has not studied for it yet. It's just so tedious and boring! Let me give you a flavour of what I have to read for my general paper:

• Peraturan dan process urusan pelantikan, kenaikan pangkat dan penamatan perkhidmatan mengikut Peraturan-Peraturan Pegawai Awam (Lantikan, Kenaikan Pangkat dan Penamatan Perkhidmatan) 2005 P.U (A) 176/2005
• Pekeliling/Perintah Am Bab B, C, E, F dan G
• MS ISO 9001:2000
• Protokol dan Etiket dalam Majlis Rasmi
• Arahan Perbendaharaan
• Akta Prosedur Kewangan 1957 (Akta 61)
• Tatacara Kewangan dan Perakaunan PPUM DS-0534
• Nilai dan Etika dalam Perkhidmatan Awam
• Motivasi
• Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti 1971
• Dasar Pembangunan Negara
• dan lain-lain...

Bored? Yeah, it was pretty painful for me to type all of that out. And I can assure you that it will be even more painful studying it. But this is our test of competency. Seriously. And with that I suddenly have no other comments to make...but I will of course be letting you know how competent I am after the results are out.

My House Has Been...

like a hotel for this pass week and will be for the next couple of days. I get out of the house at 7am and check back in after midnight. Haven't been to the kitchen...haven't even sat down on the living room couch...much less touched the remote control. Some late nights have been work related and the others...well...let's say that oysters, scallops and wine were involved...and the occasional catching up 'yum cha' with friends. Hey, remember Jack...the all work and no play guy? Well...social frivolities often come with the sacrifice of sleep.

But soon...and I fear that it has already started...Jack will be my best bud. The congress is fast approaching and being in a part of 'THE SECRETARIAT' sucks...big time. Who is in charge of doing this? Answer: THE SECRETARIAT. Who is in charge of doing that? Answer: (all together now) THE SECRETARIAT. Woo hoo! Bring it on. Why not? What is life without a few challenges.

So besides being in THE SECRETARIAT, there's also the "Booketh Project" that needs to be done...SOON...and that "Neutropenic Project" that is testing my patience and needs to get a move on...SOON...if not just to preserve my sanity. It is no joke rushing off to medical records after work to collect data (nothing more boring than a pile of folders in a stuffy room). Actually, I suspect that I will miss the data collection bit once the keying in part starts. SPSS. Arghhh! But let's not get ahead of ourselves here...breathe...breathe!!! And the PTK exams coming up soon...which by the way Lisha...you have not started to study for. Oh boy...it's not good a good sign when I start to talk about myself in the third person...or when I feel that my grammar is about to take a leap off a building. Time to go. The sleep bank is demanding a deposit. I need to take a shower and wash my hair...and partially dry it...and rub in some vitamin E serum...and then dry it some more...because I have been told many (many many many) times that 'It's bad to sleep when your hair is wet...sure will wake up with a headache...and when you get older...you watch out la...your neck sure gone one'. And since I am getting older (ha ha ha, not before you though, Lauren and Ratha, mua ha ha!!!) I suppose I had better pay heed to that piece of advice. There must be some truth in it though I have survive all these years of not drying my hair before I sleep. You see...I don't believe in hair dryers...the evil electricity suckers that they are. Oh boy...I am rambling. I had better go...to the bathroom then...off I go...yes sirree...yawn...YAWN...hair...oily...needs washing...eyes...tired...needs sleep...wash hair...sleep...wash hair...sleep. Logging out.

This Morning...

proved to be rather exasperating. Was late for work by no fault of mine. The automatic gate went on a strike (probably got that idea from the writer's guild) and as such, I was held a prisoner in my own house. The emergency key (never tried out before as the gate proved thus far to be a faithful worker...springing open at the touch of a button) did not work and I was at my wits end. Dad must have been the lucky last to cross the line before the strike was declared. So what was I to do but to wait for me dad to turn back to save his daughter from that sole picketer of a gate.

Meanwhile, my PRP calls to inform an exasperated your truly that the awaiting methadone patients were getting restless. I told her that they will have to wait until my gate decides to set me free. I don't know whether she believed me.

And so while I waited for me dad in my car...was too lazy to unlock the front door...I started thinking about this exasperating patient I had at the private clinic the other day. She walked into my room holding an empty antihypertensive drug box and the following conversation ensued:

Her: I want to buy this drug!
Me: Do you have a valid prescription with you? (as polite as always)
Her: Buy medicine also need a prescription one ah? (which left me wondering what in the world precriptions were for)
Me: Yes according to our country's Pharmacy laws.
Her: But this private right?!!
Me: Yes.
Her: But outside private pharmacy I can just walk in and buy. No need prescription also one.
Me: That's not how we practice medicine here.
Her: But this also private mah! (this lady clearly had a one track mind)
Me: Yes but we still uphold the law here.

And the law was sufficient to shut her up. She left my room in search of a doctor and a prescription.

This apparently happens at the Kedai (what I call the pharmacy shop in the hospital) as well...not just with the patients BUT (get this!) the doctors as well. Thank goodness none of them were my doctors...aku sekeh kang! This leaves me rather puzzled. Really. I understand patients expecting to buy drugs without a script. I will be the first to admit that they are many in my profession in the retail industry that sell prescription drugs over the counter. It is not right and it is even worse when they start a patient on prescription items without a doctor's consult or planned follow up.

But doctors asking why they need a prescription to buy drugs (and I am not talking about Panadol here)? Come one...

Anyhow...dad arrived. After much ado...we managed to trash out acceptable terms that the gate was pleased with. I was set free and did a Kimi Raikkonen all the way to the hospital. As such, I would like to take this appurtunity and space to apologise to all the...well most of...(the rest were really idiots with cars)...the undeserving drivers on the receiving end of my honks and flashes. Sorry!

Ratbert!

I love reading Dilbert. Comic strips and books. Hilarious! But this cartoon strip has a special place in my heart. Aaaaawwwww...Ratbert...you wouldn't...you mean you would! You rat fink!!!

Renovations!

The whole hospital feels like it is under renovation. The incessant sound of drilling and the intoxicating smell of paint is carried and magnified (or is it my imagination?) through the labyrinth of fungal infested ventilation that snakes through the whole place. Each day at ward rounds, we discuss our patients case to the background of uneven beats of hammering and that drilling...that drilling that continues is our heads even after the actual ones stop. My only respite was pharmacy where the little midgets in my brains (after a while the hammering and drilling felt like it was coming from within) take a rest. But now that the renovations in the clean room has started...yes, right next door to my station...there really is no rest for the weary. Whoever came up with that proverb should be shot!

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So life is as usual...exciting. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I finally got my Starbucks 2008 planner. Ha ha...I did not even have to drink six cups of coffee or eat a pastry (read previous post). Of course it helps that I have loyal friends who put up with my nonsense (Lauren and Ratha...I love you guys!)...seriously...all my nonsense...unquestioningly. Knowing that I have friends like them...well, I am very fortunate...no...EXTREMELY fortunate. Hey Ju, that includes you too...I know that you were just too stuffed for anything else...not even green tea (gasp!). Oh it also helped that the barista gave me two stickers for each drink that we had. Either he had a directive to do so or I must have looked pretty desperate. Anyhow...mission accomplished.

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And mission accomplished here in the ward. Was waiting for a staff nurse to come back from her break to interview her about some precipitation problem I am having with one of my drugs. Got all my facts and it is now time to write a report. Joy!

What Feels New?

This is a very 'rambly' sort of post. Not for the faint hearted or impatient readers.

So, 2008 is in. What feels new? I really don't know. In spite of the fireworks and cheers, as the clock flipped from 11:59 pm to 12:00 am, I did not feel a rush of wind or jolts of electricity...something to indicate that the old has gone and the new is here. Nothing. Zilch. So what's the hype about celebrating and partying and singing Auld Lang Syne? I guess that people just like the idea that they can start anew, to wipe the slate clean and change the direction of their paths. But little do they know that they can actually do that on a daily basis. Maybe it's the need to just celebrate at any given opportunity because their everyday life is just so mundane and rut-like. Perhaps we need to take a really good look at our lives...each day should be a celebration...each day a blessing. But I think that we allow the little things in life to take over...little by little until we lost sight of out priorities...and one day, those priorities will cease to be of any importance and we wonder why we placed them so highly?

Why am I in this mood?

Ah, more food for thought. I was just thinking that's all...and yes I CAN think. What feels new? Nothing really. Maybe that's not the question to ponder about. What should be new? That's more like it. I think that in 2008 my resolution is to be more aware of the bigger picture. Of course I still want world peace and to be a better person and to be kinder to rats...but unless I 'get' the bigger picture, I reckon it's kind of hard to achieve all that...or that it would be meaningless. I still have lots of other things that I want to change about myself but like Rome...yeah...time...and the belief that resolutions can be made at any time...not just at the start of a new year.

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Happy New Year...may this year be filled with what's really important...LOVE, JOY and PEACE!