Thursday, December 30, 2010

Simple friend vs. real friend

I have many friends.
Perhaps I have too many friends.
But what I am thankful for is that I have more than enough REAL friends.
To differentiate between real friends and good time friends, take a good read.
Then perhaps, you will know who your real friends are.


A Simple Friend has never seen you cry.

A Real Friend has shoulders soggy from your tears.



A Simple Friend doesn't know your parent's first names.

A Real Friend has your parents asking about them when it's been a while since they saw each other..
(and sometimes, your real friends have nicknames for your parents too).


A Simple Friend brings a bottle of wine to your party.

A Real Friend comes early to help you cook and stays late to help you clean.



A Simple Friend hates it when you call after he/she has gone to bed.

A Real Friend asks you why you took so long to call.



A Simple Friend seeks to talk with you about problems.

A Real Friend seeks to help you with your problems.



A Simple Friend wonders about your life history.

A Real Friend could blackmail you with it, and they never will.



Simple Friend, when visiting, acts like a guest.

A Real Friend opens your refrigerator and helps himself.(yeah, Harry, carry on then)



A Simple Friend thinks the friendship is over when you have an argument.

A Real Friend knows that it's not a friendship until after you've had a fight.



A Simple Friend expects you to always be there for them.

A Real Friend expects to always be there for you!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Quote for 2011

Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.


- Arnold Palmer

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Thought for the Day

No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity,


if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family,

what have you really accomplished?

Elbert Hubbard, 1856 - 1915

Saturday, December 18, 2010

21 Things To Remember

Can't remember if I posted this before, but it's definitely worth remembering, these 21 things.


1. No one can ruin your day without YOUR permission.



2. Most people will be about as happy, as they decide to be.



3. Others can stop you temporarily, but only you can do it permanently.



4. Whatever you are willing to put up with, is exactly what you will have.



5. Success stops when you do.



6. When your ship comes in.... make sure you are willing to unload it.



7. You will never "have it all together."



8. Life is a journey...not a destination. Enjoy the trip!



9. The biggest lie on the planet people always tell THEMSELVES is
"When I get what I want, I will be happy."



10. The best way to escape your problem is to solve it.



11. I've learned that ultimately, 'takers' lose and 'givers' win.



12. Life's precious moments don't have value, unless they are shared.



13. If you don't start, it's certain you won't arrive.



14. We often fear the thing we want the most.



15. He or she who laughs......lasts. I mean, it's really true.



16. Yesterday was the deadline for all complaints.



17. Look for opportunities...not guarantees.



18. Life is what's coming....not what was.



19. Success is getting up one more time.



20. Now is the most interesting time of all.



21. When things go wrong.....don't go with the flow.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Anyway, whatever...........

The general elections for Malaysia is coming in 4 months time.
People are stoking up emotions for political purposes.
That's already not including the barriers you have to go through every day in your work, with traffic on the way to work and when you are at home with family.
It's the end of the year, people!
If it's anything, it's time to reflect on what good you have done, rather the bad stuff that others do.
This is a great collection of thoughts by Keith Kent.
As long as you keep it in your heart and mind, you'll go through life just fine.


Anyway



People are often unreasonable,

Illogical and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.



If you are kind,

People may accuse

You of selfish motives;

Be kind anyway.



If you are successful,

You will win some false friends

And some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.



If you are honest and frank,

People may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.



What you spend years building,

Someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.



If you find serenity and happiness,

They may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.



The good you do today,

People will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.



Give the world the best you have,

And it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you have anyway.



You see, in the final analysis,

It is between you and God;



It never was between you and them anyway.



Keith M. Kent

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

What's my MBA for then?

This is food for thought. Take your time to digest this quote.


The opportunity for the average workman to rise to the management positions in industry was never better than it is today.
These opportunities will continue to grow in the next decade.
If the average intelligent and honest workman supplements his practical work experience with study of the general problems of business he will find privileged opportunities and promotion awaiting him.


-- Henry H. Heimann

Monday, December 06, 2010

Medicine is not just a career, but a calling.

It's high time to regulate the private healthcare industry in Malaysia.

When the media recently highlighted the case of a DOCTOR getting billed RM10k for a simple procedure at a private hospital, I laughed because it's almost like a taste of your own medicine.
You mean to tell me, you NEVER intended to profit from your patients?
Like I expounded before, is it the Hippocrates Oath or Hypocritic Oath?
Here's an article written by a doctor, the weight of her name should not affect her opinion.

Dr Lee Wei Ling, Lee Kuan Yew's daughter.



I have always felt keenly the suffering of animals. Since I was a child, I had wanted to be a vet. My parents persuaded me to abandon that idea by using the example of a vet whose university education was funded by the Public Service Commission. When he returned to Singapore, he was posted to serve his bond at the abattoirs. That was enough to persuade me to select my second career choice – a doctor. I have never regretted that decision.



There are still many diseases for which medical science has no cure, and this is especially true of neurological diseases because nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord do not usually regenerate. Hence, a significant percentage of patients seeing neurologists, of which I am one, cannot be cured. But as in all areas of medicine, we still try our best for the patient, ‘to cure, sometimes; to relieve, often; to comfort, always’.



An example is a 70-year-old woman who sees me for her epilepsy. Her husband has taken a China mistress whom he has brought back to his marital home. He wants my patient to sell her 50 per cent ownership of their HDB flat and move out. Her children side with the husband because he is the one with the money and assets to will to them.



When this patient comes, I always greet her with a big smile and compliment her on her cheongsam. She will tell me she sewed it herself, and I will praise her for her skill. Then I ask her whether she has had any seizures since the last time she saw me. She sees me at yearly intervals, and usually, she will have had none.



Next, I ask her how she is coping at home. She would say she just ignores her husband and his mistress. I would give her a thumbs-up in reply, then ask her whether she still goes to watch Chinese operas. She would say yes.

By then, I would have prepared her prescription. I hand it to her, pat her on her back and she would walk out with a smile on her face, back straight and a spring in her step.

It takes me only five minutes to do the above. I can control but not cure her epilepsy. But I have cheered her up for the day.

One very special patient, Jac, has idiopathic severe generalised torsion dystonia. By the age of 11, she was as twisted as a pretzel and barely able to speak intelligibly. She did well in the Primary School Leaving Examination, but was a few points short of the score needed for an external student to be accepted by Methodist Girls’ School (MGS).

I had done fund-raising for MGS prior to this and knew the principal. I phoned her and explained Jac’s disease as well as her determination and diligence.

I told the principal that the nurturing environment of MGS would be good for Jac, and that it would be a good lesson for the other students in MGS to learn to interact with a peer with disability.

At the end of Secondary 2, Jac mailed me a book and a typed letter. The book was a collection of Chinese essays by students in MGS.

There were two essays by Jac. In addition, she had topped the entire Secondary 1 and, subsequently, Secondary 2 in Chinese. She was second in the entire Secondary 2 for Chemistry. She was happy at MGS, and her peers accepted her and helped wheel her around in her wheelchair.

Medication merely gave Jac some degree of pain relief from her dystonia. Being admitted to MGS gave her the opportunity to enjoy school and thrive in it.

I was walking on clouds for the next few hours after I received the book and letter. Jac showed that an indomitable human spirit can triumph over a severe physical disability. As a doctor, I am not just handling a medical problem but the entire patient, including her education and social life.

I have been practising medicine for 30 years now. Over this period, medical science has advanced tremendously, but the values held by the medical community seem to have changed for the worse.

Yearning and working for money is more widely and openly practised; and sometimes this is perceived as acceptable behaviour, though our moral instinct tells us otherwise.

Most normal humans have a moral instinct that can clearly distinguish between right and wrong. But we are more likely to excuse our own wrongdoing if there are others who are doing the same and getting away with it.

These doctors who profit unfairly from their patients know they are doing wrong. But if A, B and C are doing wrong – and X, Y and Z too – then I need not be ashamed of doing the same. Medical students who see this behaviour being tacitly condoned will tend to lower their own moral standards. Instead of putting patients’ welfare first, they will enrich themselves first.

The most important trait a doctor needs is empathy. If we can feel our patient’s pain and suffering, we would certainly do our best by our patients and their welfare would override everything else.

Medicine is not just a prestigious, profitable career – it is a calling. Being a doctor will guarantee almost anyone a decent standard of living. How much money we need for a decent standard of living varies from individual to individual.

My needs are simple and I live a spartan life. I choose to practise in the public sector because I want to serve all patients without needing to consider whether they can pay my fees.

I try not to judge others who demand an expensive lifestyle and treat patients mainly as a source of income. But when the greed is too overwhelming, I cannot help but point out that such behaviour is unethical.

The biggest challenge facing medicine in Singapore today is the struggle between two incentives that drive doctors in opposite directions: the humanitarian, ethical, compassionate drive to do the best by all patients versus the cold, calculating attitude that seeks to profit from as many patients as possible. Hopefully, the first will triumph.

Doctors do have families to support. Needing and wanting money is not wrong. But doctors must never allow greed to determine their actions.

I think if a fair system of pricing medical fees – such that doctors can earn what they deserve but not profit too much from patients – can be implemented, this problem will be much reduced. The Guideline of Fees, which previously was in effect, was dropped last year. I am trying to revive it as soon as possible.

The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute.

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Credit to Fandi in MT, for the best questions to ask about Malaysian History

Malaysian history




Dilarang senyum atau ketawa semasa menjawab, kalau tidak anda akan digagalkan dr Ujian SPM.



1. Siapakah yang membuka Melaka?

a. Param

b. Parameswari

c. Paramugari Terlampau

d. Parameswara

e. Parang Kontot



2. Pada tahun 1771, seorang penjelajah Inggeris telah tiba di sebuah kawasan yang dikenali sebagai New Hebrides, siapakah dia?

a. Kapten Hook

b. Kapten Crook

c. Kapten Cook

d. Kapten Cool

e. Kapten Boleh



3. Siapakah yang pernah menjadi pemerintah Sarawak?

a. Brooke Shields

b. James Beruk

c. James Bond

d. Sapok Biki

e. James Brooke



4. Siapakah yang membuka Pulau Pinang?

a. Torch Light

b. Traffic Light

c. Francisca Peters

d. Light and Easy

e. Francis Light



5. Salah seorang pahlawan melayu terbilang?

a. Tuk Janggut

b. Tuk Misai

c. Tuk Sideburn

d. Tuk Misai A Galak

e. Tuk Bulu Hidung



6. Pahlawan Melayu di Pahang?

a. Mat Kilau

b. Mat Silau

c. M Daud Kilau

d. Mat Sentul

e. Mat Rempit



7. Siapakah Residen Inggeris di Negeri Perak yang dibunuh oleh Datuk Maharajalela?

a. Jawa Jerongos

b. J.W.W Birch

c. Jay Jay

d. J.W.Marriot

e. Jawa Rangers



8. Negara manakah yang menjajah Tanah Melayu selepas Portugis?

a. Ayam Belanda

b. Bela Anda

c. Blender

d. Belanda

e. Blunder



9. Apakah antara hantaran yang diminta Puteri Gunung Ledang kepada Sultan Melaka?

a. 7 dulang hati nyamuk

b. 7 dulang tongkeng ayam

c. 7 dulang tahi hidung

d. 7 dulang tahi lalat

e. 7 dulang gigi arnab



10. Siapakah puteri Pahang yang mencintai Hang Tuah?

a. Tun Mahathir

b. Tan Tin Tun

c. Tun Tak Tahu Eja

d. Tun Teja

e. Arnold Susahanakeja



11. Siapakah puteri Negeri China yang berkahwin dengan Sultan Melaka?

a. Puteri Hang Li Po

b. Puteri Kepala Hotak Hang!

c. Puteri Opah Hang!

d. Puteri Hang Go Poh

e. Puteri Hang Cing



12. Ikan apakah yang melanggar Singapura?

a. Ikan Bilis

b. Ikan Masin

c. Ikan Kembung Masak Asam

d. Ikan kekek mak iloi-iloi

e. Ikan Todak



13. Siapakah Ketua Kominis Malaya?

a. CIMB Bank

b. Chin Peng

c. Soh Chin Aun

d. Chim Pan Zee

e. Chin Chau