From KL to San Diego

Seems like a dream but I am sitting in the good ol Residence Inn of Carmel Mountain Ranch, San Diego. To think that less than 72 hours or 8000 miles ago, i was still having nasi lemak at Madam Kwan's in KLCC. Ha, the wonders of modern technology...

I have always dreaded the long flight over the Pacific. 7 hours to Narita and 8-9 hours to LAX. Cramming in a dehyrating cocoon for that many hours was not an enjoyable experience. Airline food was no mouth-watering cusine either. And somehow I always got seats next to the wings. Never mind there was no view, we were flying over an ocean, what was there to see? But those engines under the wings, gosh were they loud! I hardly slept a wink with all the constant dronning.

Long queues at the immigration checkpoints were my next gripe. I used to go through LAX and they were just the slowwwwest airport customs I have experienced. US flights from asia normally land in the mornings. When half a jumbo jet of 'aliens' come crashing at your gates, how many custom counters should you open? Two? Nah, you were thinking of the Malaysia-Thailand border at 6am. This is US of A, strongest bully country in the world; they do better. Three. Yes. For about 200 aliens. Subjecting each and every to detailed questioning and interviews, all in the name of 'national security'. Your cooperation and understanding is appreciated. Thank You and move along you wuss...

BUT, surprise surprise! This trip has been the smoothest of all. I breezed through immigration checks in SFO under 10 minutes, including waiting. There were 8 to 9 counters opened today! Even with an trainee officer on my turn, it was over in 5 minutes. Now, this is what I call 'quality service'!!!

If only we can say the same for our JB lines on the last day of our Lion City's ubiqutous Long Weekends...

What's up, Doc?

Visited the neighbourhood doctor this morning, for the first time, after 507 days. How I know? Because I saw the date of my last visit on my patient record lah!

While waiting for my turn, I eavesdropped overheard a conversation between another waiting patient and the doc's clerk/assistant/receptionist (what do you call these folks who work at the clinic anyway?).

Apparently, this lady patient had some trouble with her eye from the use of contact lenses; lack of proper hygiene, she said. The doc's previous prescription (probably an antibiotic) seemed to have helped and she wanted a refill of it. She thought she could just buy it over the counter without the doc's consultation. Well, unfortunately, the cleck could not oblige as the drug was 'by prescripton only'. The patient was pissed at such a 'rule', claiming that 'as a customer', she's very 'dissatisfied' at the clinic policy to charge patients $30 for 'consultation' each time just to continue a prescription. The conversation ended with the patient telling the clerk off, 'no point talking to you, just register me and let me see the doctor lah'.

If you asked me, 'respect!' to the clerk for being so patient with the patient.

question: are all sick people called 'patients' or only those who are warded in hosiptals? If I go see a neighbourhood clinic doctor, am I a 'Customer'?

Anyway, back to the story. I probably would have said something like 'Sorry lor mam, you cannot suka suka buy any drug you like because you think it is good. If like that, any father mother son and daughter can open shop and play doctor liow. The reason drugs are controlled is because doctors are responsible for what they give you to apply/eat/drink/shaft up your a**. Don't like to pay doctors for consultation? Then learn to take care of youself and don't fall sick lah!' But that's just me... luckily I not doctor...

Oh, did I say why I see doctor? No, not that I am ill. I had to resample my blood for a liver screening test and 顺便 run a Hep B screen since I have not done it. My bilirubin levels were isolatedly high in a previous test and the doc wanted a re-test to confirm. During the course, I mentioned I read that a symptom of elevated bilirubin was jaundice. It must have been my poor pronouciation or something because the doctor's reply was 'Who is Jaundice???'

Errm, doc, I think you should know jaundice better than I. And it's a 'what' not a 'who'.

I guess I will find out soon enough (in 2 days) whether I will get to know 'Miss Jaundice' or not. I know she's yellow-skinned, does she have long hair?

What's my dream job?

Would liked to have blogged this in Chinese but the conversation with my colleague was entirely in English. Too lazy to translate...

Was chatting with my Indian US colleague (or US Indian colleague?) about what kind of job we take up if we quit what we are doing now. He thinks he would like to be a travelling writer, visiting places, trying new food, doing new stuff, writing reviews, a la loney planet style. I asked if he would think such a job can pay as much (or as little?) as what he's getting now, to that he replied, "maybe lesser but at least I get job satisfaction!"

Hmmm, is that cliche or what? Job satisfaction? Hey, ain't I getting paid? Still not happy? Or is this one of those 21st-century buzz words that everybody uses but nobody understands - like paradigm shift and value-added.

So it's not about getting a monthly paycheck to pay my liabilities in life. I have to *enjoy* what I do. I have to *love* going to work everyday.

And what defines 'enjoyment' at work? Is there an X-factor that makes me look forward going to work everyday?

Nice office with posh furniture? Super kick-ass PC + 21" LCD (to read emails?). Hot babes to flirt around with?

Truth be told, none of the above really applies to me. The state of my cubicle at work is constantly under the threat of violating ISO14K and OSHA regulations. My PC is functional but nothing to brag about. As for the babes, well, the married ones don't qualify and the qualified ones are just '小妹妹', physically and mentally. Anyway, what's flirting? :P

Or on a less-materialistic note: Is it going home everyday feeling a sense of achivement? Or is it a realisation (of 'truth'?) of what I do everyday and therefore spurs me on to do more?

Hmmm, let's see, [mental flashback] what have kept me going all these years were ... ermm, a constant diet of insane deadlines, unpredictable changes and ever-recurring problems. Yeah. Right...

Will there ever be a day where my boss tells me, "Hey I see that you are getting a lot of satisfaction lately from doing this project, I am cutting 10% from your pay this month."

Well, if that's true, then do I get more moolahs if I am all pissed from the crap? Ha!... maybe... Go find a spider first...

I think I have doodled long enough, not gonna think about it anymore...

母亲节

今天是母亲节, 又是商家们乘机捞一把孝顺子女的大好机会. 还没翻报张就先来一环"我猜我猜我猜猜猜", 猜猜会有什么人写了什么感人肺腑的"我爱妈妈"宣言而赢得了大奖. 结果没猜到. 报纸首页, 读到了妈妈婆婆选美赛, 知道祖母原来也可以是皮肤白晰, 珠圆玉润. 翻下一面, 读到面对生活逆境而担忧的妈妈, 又是另一种心情.

正奇怪今年真的会有一个没有商业成份的母亲节吗? 不可能的啦! 哈, 言之过早. 副刊之尾, 一箩筐的物质诱惑, 就让你在这一年三百六十五天当中最重要的一天里表表孝心. 不过大大标题"收买妈妈的心", 似乎跟孝心有些反调. 妈妈的心是用一瓶香水, 七张'邓丽君'CD 来"收买"? 或许真的可以. 不过希望你是出自"孝顺"而非"收买".

一直认为所谓的母亲节, 父亲节, 奶奶爷爷, 大姑妈节都是商家想赚而搞出来的. 好好的一个星期天干嘛得颂起爸爸妈妈亲戚朋友来? 生我之父, 养我之母, 孝之理所当然! 送礼, 请吃, 似乎是城市人最方便表孝顺的方式. 礼的轻重, 也许有人在乎, 送礼的那份情意, 除了口头上敷衍了事外, 心里想的是什么, 也只有天知晓了.