The measurement of quality makes the actual work less quality

In any given day in any given government pharmacy in Malaysia, this is what you will hear over the counter.

Puan Husnahkah? Selamat pagi. Apa khabar makcik?

Khabar baik.

Bagus. saya telah memeriksa semua ubat kamu, dan mendapati semua ubat adalah sama seperti kali yang lepas. Makcik ada makan dua jenis ubat untuk kencing manis, iaitu Gliclazide dan Metformin. Bolehkah makcik memberitahu saya macam mana biasanya makcik ambil ubat ini?

Yang putih besar besar ini makcik makan 2 biji 2 kali sehari, yang ini… makcik macam tidak pernak nampak..

Oh… lupa beritahu, ubat ini ada tukar baju sikit. sebelum ini, ia berbaju biru dan sekarang berbaju hijau. Ikut fesyen raya. Tetapi cara makan dan bilangan yang makan masih sama.

Oh…. patutlah..

Makcik, sekarang ini, kami tidak dapat memberi ubat kamu secara penuh. Hanya dapat bagi satu bulan sahaja, kerana kerajaan takut bazir duit. Perlu hutang ya… bila ubat makcik habis, boleh bawa preskripsi ini datang balik farmasi dan ambil ubat. Tarikh dia ada tulis di sini. Jika makcik ada ubat lebih di rumah tolong pulangkan juga. Jangan membazir ya. Makcik juga ada tengok tak tanda harga ini?  Sekarang semua ubat ada tanda harga supaya makcik tahu berapa nilai ubat-ubat yang makcik makan ini supaya makcik akan menghargainya...

Oh… perlu datang balik… bolehkah anak saya datang ambil?

Boleh..asalkan dia bawa preskripsi ini sahaja.. anak tahu SMS tak? Kalau tahu, kami ada satu sistem baru, di mana dia boleh SMS beritahu bila mahu datang ambil ubat. Dengan sistem ini, kami akan siap bungkus ubat dahulu sebelum dia datang. Dia hanya perlu datang pada masa yang ditetapkan sahaja dan tidak perlu beratur.

Tidak apa la…

Ada apa-apa lagi makcik?Jika tidak ada bolehkan makcik masuk sekejap? Kami sekarang sedang buat satu kajian kepuasan pelanggan. Tidak lama punya hanya lebih kurang 40 soalan dan 6 muka surat sahaja… lebih kurang 1 jam akan habislah. Kami amat perlukan maklum balas makcik supaya kami dapat tahu kelemahan diri sendiri dan memberi perkhidmatan yang lebih baik….

And poor illiterate makcik had to sit though the hour long session listening to a pissed off pharmacist rattling through survey questions and answering something she doesn’t care about. She cares more about having full supply of medications so that she doesn’t have to fork up RM30 more to come again just to take her meds than whether we have clean toilets or television set to keep her entertained.

Sometimes, I think its better we rebrand ourselves as Marketing Executives rather than Pharmacists.

In our quest to serve better, I think we had deviate too much from our core purpose. We had literally missed the forest for the trees.

We want to increase the quality of our service, which is good, but ironically, I think that the process to improve the service is hurting the service.

Nowadays we were squeezed and squashed in a pressure cooker, pressured by the waiting time KPI on one side (every patient to get their meds within 30 minutes) and promoting all the value-added services (which is also another KPI). Something gotta give. So what gives? The quality of the dispensing we provide to the patients. The time that we are supposed to put in to show empathy, to delve further and to understand the problems of our patients is sacrificed. For what? For better quality services.

May I ask: What is our core service again?

Haih. I hate to rant but enough is enough. Now we are supposed to measure the quality of our service with a six pages long standardised questionnaire. 400 of them by the middle of May. Personally, I like surveys and measurements, because as pharmacists, we are champions of evidenced based practice. But surveys should always adhere to the KISS principle, and not something so long worded and jargon loaded and so small font and so comprehensive.

The tool to measure whether we practice patient orientated care is so not patient orientated that I feel embarrassed to use it. And angry because it will further erode the time  I had to spend with my patients.

But well, as government servants usually say in the end, kami hanya menurut perintah…

Malaysia Day

In Mukah, there is this cafe called Kafe 1Malaysia.

I had never been inside, but then since today is the first ever Malaysia Day, I thought, why not go and have a look to see whether there’s some celebration going on.

Alas, the whole cafe is empty. Deserted. Only a couple of flies humming around in the lazy afternoon sun. The same applies to the whole Mukah town. Apparently the spirit of Malaysia Day had not caught on. One of my staff is even unsure why we are having this holiday. Okay, maybe here people lives so harmoniously that they don’t need a holiday or some celebration to remind them that we should treasure our independence.

Nevertheless, it is amazing that it took 47 years for those higher ups confined in their plush KL ivory towers to admit the fact that, well maybe, we can’t hide that elephant anymore.

That jumbo being the fact that the true day our nation achieved independence is Sept 16 and not August 31. Even though they called today “Malaysia Day” instead of “Independence Day”,  lets just accept it and give them some face. It’s hard to admit a mistake.

And so today was the first ever Malaysia Day holiday. A day where all Malaysians are given the day off, so that they hopefully can search within themselves or online what actually is Malaysia Day all about. Or maybe to attend the various state and national levels govt sanctioned speech and dance combos.

Well, unfortunately I know, this is being optimistic thinking.

In Australia, Anzac day saw masses throng the streets to ponder and remember the sacrifices of their soldiers . The realistic truth is, Malaysia Day will see most people will just use the day to sleep in, play games and jalan-jalan cari makan. We just aren’t a country with first world mentality.

Do we have the spirit of 1Malaysia? Do we use this day to reflect and contemplate? To be thankful that despite being in an imperfect nation, we are still living in relative harmony?

Just wondering, in this Malaysia Day, what had you done?

Whatever, Happy first ever recognised Malaysia day.

Goodbye Mr Prime Minister

After five and a half years being the boss of Malaysia, AAB will step down tomorrow. A tenure that promised so much at the beginning pattered out barely a whimper.

When AAB started helming the nation on 31 Oct 2003, there was so much good vibes surrounding his appointment that I felt that the country was on the threshold of change for the better. Especially with the enduring images of him doing spot checks on government agencies and rhetoric of cleansing out corruption from the country on the first few days. I had so much faith in him that I kept the whole 56 pages Star Special pullout on him dated 1 Nov 2003.

I still remember feeling euphoric when he won his first general election in 2004 with 90% of the seats. I was in INTEC that time, thinking that AAB must be an amazing guy. Fast forward 4 years later to the next general election, I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning in Australia refreshing the Malaysiakini website for the latest election results. I recalled feeling elated as more and more states fall to the opposition.

Last night, I pulled out that Star Special from my drawer and started reread the whole thing to see where he went wrong. I also scoured the Internet on what prominent people and political analysts make out of his tenure.

The summary was that he had noble intentions but was just weak in carrying it all out. Perhaps the photo below best captured the task in store for him.

If only he had the foresight that it was a huge immovable rock that he was trying to push once he became the PM. He might want to change but not everyone was ready for it. Changing is difficult. Not everyone was really to give out their comfortable lifestyle fuelled with corruption money. Not everyone was willing to relinquish their power for the good of the country. Power and money are like drugs, once you are on it, its hard to go without it. For his trouble, he will probably live with the legacy as the Flip-flop PM.

Perhaps his downfall was that he was a too nice guy. Because in politics, you can't be nice to everyone. He should have stepped on some toes and do some backstabbing. Perhaps he never have the intention to be PM at all. He started off as a reluctant politician, and probably suffers from a lack of ambition once he reached the top. He had the PM position handed to be on a platter after all.

 

But I think the timing of him stepping down is right. With the economy in a downward slump, we need a strong and ambitious PM. Najib seems to be the man. He may ended up to be a dictator as Mahathir, but a ruthless and wily streak can bode well if use correctly.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this power transition will be for a better future.  Perhaps it will be, as this time, I started off by having a lower expectation.

In the meantime, thank you for your services to the nation, AAB. I guessed you tried your best.

Rant because I’m bored

I had been back for around 10 days now in Kuching. A bit bored, hence tried to busy myself by finding something to whinge and whine about.

So lets focus on the oft said problem of the ill-mannerisms of sales staffs. Been to a lot of supermarkets recently. Forgot this is not Melbourne where 8 in 10 cashier will greet you with a smile and a ‘How do you do’ and say a ‘thank you’ at the end of the transaction. It is bad enough that their skin colour is a shade darker already, without being made worse by that non-smiling face at best or frown at worse. At least there’s a mitigating factor in that they will smile back if you the customer takes the initiative to say “thank you” to them.

But in fairness, I guess it is hard for them to decide which language to use when wanting to deal with customers. Malaysia is truly a melting pot of different cultures, but without an obvious national identity. The physical distinction is a bit blurred now, with Chinese looking Iban and Iban looking Chinese. Coupled with the fact that there are non-Malay or English speaking Chinese and banana Chinese, its hard for a cashier to decide whether to speak in Malay or Iban or Chinese or English or one of the dialects when approached by one of these customers with un-straightforward identity.

Speaking English may be deemed a “show-off”; speaking Malay to a Chinese may result with a “Do I look that dark???” scowl; speaking Chinese to a banana may be received with a distained “I am the new age” look. Really a language conundrum we have here. Not like in Melbourne, where English is the default lingua franca. Maybe we should really enforce the usage of Bahasa Malaysia in daily life no matter what race we are, like in Indonesia. Makes things so easier, and perhaps as an indirect result, we will have more friendly cashiers.

Seems far-fetched. An easier solution will be paying them much much more money. With more money, they can fulfill more of their needs and desires, and consequencely, will be happier. But who cares. It’s not my business anyway.

An overnight occurrence

They suddenly sprouted around Melbourne like spring flowers brought about by the overnight December drizzle. The father with spectacles in the baggy sweater, the brother with the camera slung around the neck, the sister tagging along trying to hide the protruding rabbit teeth and the mum who is inevitably the shortest of the lot. Of course at the head of this little tour group is the flashy guy or girl, with hands pointing around like signposts on the street.

They swoop upon places with style over substance, eating in places such as one where Bill Clinton had his first bowl of pho even though the store two streets over serves pho with 30g more noodles and 10 extra slices of meat for the same price. They go to exquisite Greek and Italian restaurants, with menus so exotic that they sound like foreign language. Then smugly the head of the mini entourage will tell the rest what a Moussaka or Parmagiana is, bathing in the glory-ness of the resulting oohs and ahhs. Too bad it will be short lived as the father will inevitably denounce that it was too high cholesterol and the mum said it was too salty. Not to mention too expensive.

They also went to the shopping centres like Myers and David Jones and the myriad of Direct Factory Outlets, their mental calculators going overdrive as they compare the price of the Adidas shoes and Tommy Hilfinger shirt with the equivalent in their home countries. They brought chocolates, key chains, koala bear miniatures, ticking off relatives names off an imaginary list as they went on.  They walked, trammed and taxied, showing their faces in famous places and again, inevitably, got a piece of themselves captured in other people's photos and then unwittingly got cursed upon when the photos were developed. Ah, the photo would be perfect, if only those tiny ants weren't there!!

Then on a certain rainy day, you will see all these tiny sets of people congregate together, and wondered why they all looked familiar. Most certainly because they were there when you were  admiring rocks on Great Ocean Road or Penguins on Philip Island. And that day will be the day when they see their cash cow - the flashy tour leader they send over as a greenhorn calf three or four years ago - got the stamp of approval from some Australian University as "fit for the market". Smile of contentment will be on their face. Another success story to boast to their neighbours back home!

End of an era

From the Friday onwards, the Victorian College of Pharmacy will be a footnote in history.

 

R.I.P. VCP (1921-2008)

It will now be rebranded as Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

 

And they will celebrate it with a BBQ and a talk to discuss the future of the Faculty.

Like any change being instigated, the change in name is resisted by the majority of the students. Technologically advanced we now are, we demonstrated on Facebook instead of taking the streets.

But after this initial burst of passion, a salient question arises: What's in a name anyway?

I admire passionate people, because everything we have today are their fruits of labour. But to really have passion for something, I felt that there is a need to know the history of it. A lot of students entered VCP nowadays without knowing VCP's history in depth, except perhaps its history of excellence.

Once in VCP, most of them just ride on the coattails of past successes without bothering to find out what makes the Faculty so famous or even how to leave their mark on it. They just treat VCP as a stepping stone for the future, never bothering to find out how the stone got there and the story it can tell.

For  instance, I think only a mere handful of students who realised that the faculty was initially known as Fitzroy School of Chemistry and Pharmacy and subsequently Melbourne School of Pharmacy before taking the name Victorian College of Pharmacy in 1921.

That in part, the Faculty had to be blamed for not inculcating that knowledge into the students.  Knowing the history of a faculty is important because it can serve as a source of pride for the student. By knowing the history, students will be more able to cherish their opportunity  to study here. 

Without knowing the history, students will be the antithesis of JFK's "ask not what your country can do for you; but what you can do for the country". They will be forever tuned to WII - FM (What's in it for me) instead of acknowledging that VCP is what VCP is today due to the vision and generous contributions of hundreds of passionate people. A knowledge of this certainly did spurred me to try contribute as much as possible for the faculty.

Perhaps that's something to think about for the future.

Rose tinted glasses

This is a favourite story that I always try to reflect upon when I realise that I started to judge people from my point of view, which is often.

This passage is lifted from Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

I remember a mini-paradigm shift I experienced one Sunday morning on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly — some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene.

Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed.

The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing.

It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said, “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?”

The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly, “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”

Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn’t have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior; my heart was filled with the man’s pain. Feelings of sympathy and compassion flowed freely. “Your wife just died? Oh, I’m so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?” Everything changed in an instant. 

I really hoped that there're more people out there who really reflect on the meaning of paradigm shift or anjakan paradigma rather than just using them verbatim in Form 5 to make their BM essay sounds more sofisikated. Try see the direction from where the others are coming, rather then impose what you think upon their action or opinions.

It's not all about the money

 

"With the pay they are getting there, it’s highly unlikely they will come back and serve here." 1

This is what the Public Services Department (PSD) or more affectionately known as JPA sees as the main reason why overseas scholarship holders are not keen to come back to Malaysia after finishing their tax-payers funded degree. Admittedly that's what the general public in Malaysia perceived also.

"Selfish ungrateful scoundrel! Use our taxpayers money to study overseas and then stay back to earn more money!"

I have no sympathy for them, because I always felt that if they are given a chance, they will do exactly that too.

As a PSD scholarship holder, I admit that the amount of money earned overseas is a big plus factor to stay put, but I never saw it as the number one reason for students to break bond. Money is not everything for the most of us.

What I saw as the main factor is the uncertainties about our future in Malaysia that make us reconsider our options of going home.

Throughout our studies here, PSD never inform us what we do not know what to expect when we get home. Whenever the officer came to see us, the highlight is always the delicious Nasi Briyani at the end of meeting. The rest is predictable. No, according to the rule, you cannot stay back. No, not even for further studies. What to do when you go back? Or just go to Putrajaya, they will sort it out.

It seems that their job is only to get us overseas to study and make sure we get back, and they are not even good at that.

"Another reason many students chose to stay back could have been due to PSD’s perceived lenient treatment of such students in the past." 1

Admittedly, that's a hell of a good reason. But we here prefer to call it ineffectiveness, not leniency.

PSD never bothers to tell us what our options are when we go back to Malaysia. They never bother to get us in touch with our destined profession back home in Malaysia, never told us about where we are likely to work, how the working condition is like, the salary and perks, the chances for further studies or promotion. There's a sense of detachment, a sense of uncertainty.

In contrast, we know what to expect when we start working in the country we graduate in. The options are clear and we are familiar with their laws and systems. And since I had carve out a road for myself here that is likely to secure my future, why should I let it all for for uncertainty? The only reason I can see is for the abstract and ungraspable concept called honour and patriotism.

Back to the point, I'm sure that if they spend more time giving us the information and reassure us about our future when we return to Malaysia, the chances of us going back is far higher. A sense of security is a basic human need, and if you can't supply them, don't start blaming those students.

And don't you start complaining that as we are top students, we should be resourceful and find out the opportunities by our own means. I know we know better than being spoon-fed but we really want to hear from the horse mouth. We want the reassurance and feel the sincerity. That's not too much to hope for in the view that we are going to sacrifice the bulk of our life working for the government when everyone knew that the money is greener outside.

So when we finish our course, we are staring into 2 different paths, one with the end as clear as day, the other shrouded with dense foliage and mist. It's a hard choice, and being realists, we are certainly not to do a Robert Frost and go for the road not taken.

A take on the election results

When I'm still a kid, election is about wow and wah-ing over the seemingly magical overnight sprouting of colourful blue BN and fancy Rocket posters around my Taman. I can still remember jumping vainly trying to grasp some of the posters hanging by a piece of raffia strings across two big trees, wanting to reuse them to make paper aeroplanes.

My first ever recollection of really reading the election results is in 1999, where as a 14 year old kid I proudly thought that "Wah, Sarawak government so great, win all the seats in Parliament when other states suffered some surprising losses. Sarawak people so loyal to the government."

Fast forward five years later in 2004, when I am studying SAM in INTEC Shah Alam. That time, the future certainly looked great - I'm on my way to overseas and a Mr Clean Guy is going to be PM. When BN won with a big margin, there was an air of positive anticipation that Malaysia is on its way forward. This was further reinforced when that Mr Clean Guy did spot checks on immigration department like all the pengawas in ties usually did during sekolah menengah. "I'll eradicate corruption" he said, and I believed him.

2008 is supposed to be the first ever election where I can vote, but alas, I cannot exercise my right as I'm physically located in a foreign country. Even though Malaysia is thousands of miles away, the election fever can be felt here, thanks to the Internet and all those blogs. There's a twinge of regret that I can't vote. Nevertheless, I felt that the country had voted correctly overnight: The opposition gained big, and BN losses 2/3 majority. This election certainly lived to its hype as a history defining one.

I'm greatly encouraged by the result, not because I am pro opposition, but because I shared the sentiment that for a democratic government that is Malaysia to work, there need to be sufficient balance and check. Despite all the alleged gerrymandering, corruption and abuse of power, BN is still the better party to run Malaysia, as I hold the view that the opposition is currently akin a hastily assembled car thrown in to race a sleek Ferrari. Hopefully, the car is fast enough to trouble the Ferrari driver, causing him to look over the shoulder and do constant head checks and be more cautious in making decisions.

Looking back, I am not sure what happened these four years that made me to have a more moderate, liberal view on politics rather than blindly supporting for the ever mightly government. Perhaps it was the move overseas, where you can see your country from a different perspective, perhaps it was a maturation of thoughts, or perhaps it was all those popular online bloggers and websites which tirelessly expose all those government misdemeanour. Perhaps it was that the latent KBKK skills that the education department tried to instill in us takes a few years to have effect.

Nonetheless, the political landscape in the next five years is likely to be a very colourful one. Seems like there's no more need to suscribe to anymore canto or korean dramas.

A tale of two countries

Demonstration in Malaysia for a clean election. 10 Nov 2007.

Highlights: Water cannons and chemicals doused on protesters. Media cover-up. Interesting you-tube clips.

Contrast this with: Demonstration in Australia for climate change. 11 Nov 2007.





They caused closure of the whole stretch of main street in Melbourne (which is admittedly quite a nuisance). Only a few policemen are seen. And yeah no water cannons. By the way, they have nice music, just like a band marching to and fro from one end of the street to another. Lots of tourists take photos.

The DPM said having street demonstration is not part of Malaysian culture. Point to ponder... What exactly is defined as Malaysian culture? Who should define what Malaysian culture is?

I don't think demonstration is part of Australian culture too or any culture. I don't think demonstration has to do with culture.

The stark contrast is the action of the police and the media. The police here didn't use water cannons and they didn't arrest poeple nor use road-block and get all paranoia. They let it happened peacefully. The media didn't black out any stories. Wonder how those ppl in Malaysia dare call themselves journalists. Muppets should be a better word.

Maybe this is why Australia is a 1st world country and Malaysia is still a 3rd world country trying to play catch-up...

Felt so sad about this.. A lot of people really need to grow up and stop living in a dream.

On another note, today went for a stroll at Glenferrie.



Nice suburb. Lots of shops and Asian and Middle Eastern eateries. For those studying in Swinburne Kuching, this is what Swinburne's Hawtorn campus looks like:



Now I'm on holiday mode. Just borrowed 10 novels and magazines from the library on Friday. Now trying to juggle my time reading and watching Korean drama. Will be commencing on my Summer Vacation Scholarship at Royal Melbourne Hospital on Tuesday. So they will be another 6 weeks of 930-5 kinda routine..

Dressing up

You know it is spring in Melbourne when the horse racing season comes along and the flies comes out to play and you still can see the sun at the unlikely time of 8pm.

Yesterday was a public holiday in Melbourne as it is the Melbourne Cup day - a special day where Melbournians don their best attires and go to the Flemington race course to enjoy the Melbourne Cup horse race.

And unfortunately, I am stuck at another racing course during my exams.

Nevertheless, on my way home from the exams, I still can spot a number of ladies spotted wearing their beautiful spring dressess and fascinators around the city.


Ladies in spring dresses.

And aren't they breathtaking.

I felt that ladies looked very elegant and chic in spring dresses. One of my laments is that a big proportion of the female species nowadays didn't really take the care and time to dress themselves up. I would really like to have more females, especially the young ones wearing a dress more often rather then just putting on those convenient tees and jeans. Beauty should be flaunted and accentuated instead of being enclosed or trapped in some baggy shirt or jeans. I'm sure there is some suitable dress for every lady out there.

I have really no idea why ladies seldom wear dresses. Especially Malaysians. In fact, I think it is easy to differentiate Malaysian gals from others in Ausralia - they are always the one in tees and jeans. I have no problems with that, but I really just hope that more of them wear dresses more frequently because I do sincerely feel that they look nicer in that. Is it about convinience, comfortability, women equality or just plain laziness? Gals are lucky, they got a huge array of different attires to dress themselves in and far more boutiques to shop in. And yes, they got this thing called dress. Yet, they still like tees and jeans. You are only young once, and if one didn't seize the moment to dress up, are there any other opportunities to do so?

Sometimes I do wish that if only I'm a girl...


The ubiquitous and too-convenient jeans

I like the fascinator very much - it is basically something that looked like a head but not a hat that you wore on your head. When worn with a spring dress, it can really heighten a person's beauty. Melbournians are very creative with their fascinators - they come in all shapes and sizes and made from all sorts of unique materials. Never saw this in Malaysia before, but I'm sure if given the publicity, it will soon be in fashion.


A fascinator

Females have a distinct advantage over males in that they have more opportunities and ways to look stunning. But alas, they just don't seize the chance. Come on gals, dress up! Spring is here!

P/s: Yes! One more paper to go tomorrow before the end of the exams and the beginning of a >100 days hols. Tomoro's paper will be my 31st exam in Uni...fancy that.

Sunday commentary on health

I always enjoyed the Sunday paper. It never failed to be a good source of information, especially on health.

The current generation should be called the Generation of Health Freaks. We are just too obsessed with our health - following the latest diet fads, indulging in the newest exercise regimens and devises, and consuming wonder pills to increase energy and lose weights. Admittedly, I am one of those health conscious people. I tried to spend at least a 20 minutes walk daily, go to the gym or for a jog 2 times per week and incoprate more vegetables and fruits into my diet.

These are just some interesting and surprising information about general health that I gleaned from just browsing today's paper:

1) A UK research suggests that a lack of sleep can results in obesity. This is due to the fact that by sleeping less, the body undergo hormonal changes and make you crave for food.

2) The best age to give birth is 34. If a woman gives birth at this time, she will enjoy better health, live longer and have healthier babies. For men, they better start help producing babies before 40 or the risk of miscarriage will be higher.

3) The average males start to lose their hair at 28 years old and start to get grey hair at 35.

4) To slow the ageing process, it is good to eat grass-fed meat, oily fish that is high in Omega 3, eat organic produce and drink filtered or spring water.

There are just so many different information and opinions on how to lose weight or look younger. Even though I do believe some of these theories might have some truth in them - I still think that the fundamental concept for good health is just these simple rules:

1) exercise - 20 mins walk daily and some anaerobic exercise (jogging, swimming or cycling) 3 times per day.

2) food - eat green leafy vegetables, and take less meat and junk food. To lose weight, just make sure amount of calorie intake < amount of calorie output.

Simple. No need any other theories.

Political bloggers

According to those political bloggers out there, the current Malaysian government is a rotten lot - full of corruption, ineffectiveness and untruthfulness.

It does make me wonder, is it only the Badawi led government this bad? Or it had been this bad all the while, only that then nobody have blogs to vent their feelings? I do feel that the latter is nearer to the truth.

Another trend is that these bloggers surely but certainly began to put their words into actions and entered themselves into the political fray. Because they felt that they can make a difference. This lead me to wonder, how will they fare while in the hot seat? Will they be able to do better?

Will it be a case of Mean Girls? In Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan played a sweet innocent girl who managed to knock the most popular but mean and snotty girl in her school off the perch. In the process, she realised that in order to be the most popular girl in school, she became the new Mean Girl.

These bloggers are certainly full of ideals and beliefs that they can do a better job against these perceived unjust and rampant bad governance. I am sure before Mahathir or Badawi reached the top, they have the same mode of thinking too. But politics is always very dirty game. Once you are in the top, you really need to look after the 'welfare' of those loyal to you and be in constant vigilance to prevent other upstart usurping your position, all while trying to run the country to the best of your ability. The harsh reality is that, the view on top is always very different and everyone wants to be there.

Even though these blogs make entertaining reading and I do salute their noble motives of making the government more transparent, something I don't like about these blogs is that they are too hell-bent to prove that the government is bad that they started picking out bones in the egg. Everything bad is highlighted and in everything good, they see a hidden motive or agenda. What they do is only in reverse of the current government who highlight everything good and black out everything bad.

Can someone with ideals really make a difference? I am sure the answer is yes but it does not have to be in politics. Politics is like a meat machine. No matter what kind of meat you are, once you got in, you will come out as mince meat. It can shape the way you think and act, and somewhere in between, you may lose sight of the goal. There are still so many other ways to make the world a better place.

Rules for guys

Probably some of you knew that I lived with three girls under the same roof when I went to Bairnsdale for my pharmacy placement.

Before you go and say "whoa so nice.." let me warn you that it might not be a very good idea to replicate what I did.

If you still want to do it, there are some certain things you need to know:

Rule 1:
Remember, if you got into an argument with anyone of them, you will soon find yourself in a very disadvantaged 1 vs 3 situation. No matter how logical you are, you are ALWAYS wrong.

Golden advice: The best thing to do is keep quiet and avoid getting into any contentious discussion.

Rule 2:
They will be some point in time where they will expect you to do some thing that they think you should do because, well you are a GUY. Doesn't matter you feel like doing it or not. You are expected to go buy stuffs, to talk to the motel manager...

Golden advice: The best thing to do is spend most of the time sleeping.

Rule 3:
There will be a point in time when they suddenly ask you to divulge some very interesting relationship stories about yourself, which are very awkward questions coz guys never discuss with guys who is their first crush, how man gals they liked before, which girl you like most etc.

Golden advice: Think of some good answers to the above questions beforehand. A declination to answer is not recommended and will lead to dire consequences.

Rule 4:
Prepare to be nagged. Everyone of the female species (except those who cannot speak) will do it. It is their second nature. Prepare to be told off if you buy too many packets of tasty chips, drink too many cups of fizzy cokes, walk with your shoes on in the house etc. Even if you sleep too early.

Golden advice: Live with it. Think of it as how Ai Ling said it in her blog: women nag men for their own good. That means they care for them (Though i don't gree that in 8/10 they are correct). Treat it as music and before long it will be backgroud music. NEVER tell them to shut up.

And if you think you can accept and follow these four fundamental rules above, you will have a very pleasant stay (and a good rest coz most of the time is spent sleeping).

Don't say I didn't warn you! =)

Medicinal Truth

Truth is stranger than fiction.

It really is, especially in the world of health and drugs and medicines.

Just yesterday, I read that brushing your teeth twice daily can reduce your risk of acquiring heart disease. Fancy that. How can this be? ....




Well, it turns out that by brushing your 'pearly whites', there will be less bacteria in your gums (makes sense), which in turn will lead to less bacteria inflammation throughout the body, including in your arterial blood vessel (a little far fetched for me), hence reducing your chance of a stroke or heart attack. And yeah, to make it more convincing, it can also reduce your chance of miscarriage and premature birth. So there.

Should you believe it? Well personally, I don't see the harm of believing it, coz its good to have good oral hygiene. Besides, the article is in the New England Journal of Medicine, which is like the 'Vogue' of Medicines. In simple terms, it is in one of the most prestigious Medical magazine.

After studying so much on drugs and medicines, I am now a firm believer that it is best to keep off drug when you're sick (See Hua will be glad to hear that), coz there's just too many side effects and you body defense system is the best medicine anyway. Okay this is so bad for my future business but you didn't hear me wrong.. the body work wonders. But yes, there's a catch: you must believe in it.

That may be the best explaination why someone who is not taking medication for being HIV positive outlive someone who had (I read it on yet another article). She believed in her body. Oh yes, you also need to have a healthy lifestyle, especially eating a balance diet and exercise regularly. Coz that's how the body maintain its defense system.

So yeah, believe in yourself. There's not magic bullet in medicines.

Now I see the ingenuity of Homeopathy.

At last I wrote something related to my future profession. =)

Parcels of thoughts

The big 'E' is around the corner again!
Cool. This sem I am having 6 paper.
Everything else except studying is so much fun now.

Whilst dwindling my time away surfing the net, these things interests me, and it may interest you too.

Parcel 1: Love..

Ever wonder why the heart shape - the universal sign of love - is the shape it is? Why it can't be a circle or a square but shaped like this?



I never thought about this until I chanced this article in Damn Interesting. Seems that the shape is derived from an already extinct plant - Silphium. The plant has a heart shape fruit which it is reported to have natural contraceptive properties and enable the eater to have sex without getting pregnant. It is so good that it even appear on coins and so effective that it was harvested to extinction before 100 AD.

I have an inkling that we have this custom called marriage due to the extiction of this plant - as a more forced form of birth control. But now since we have this artificial birth control pills, will marriage be a thing of the past soon? And yeah, will the pictures of these pills appear on coins soon?

Parcel 2: Discrimination..

It is hard not to discriminate nowadays.
There's just so many ways in which one can perform an act that is deemed discriminatory.
For example, writing a blog in Chinese means it discriminate non-Chinese readers.
Watched TV today and got one angmo say: "I loved Malaysia so much. The people are so friendly and helpful towards tourists."
Seems Malaysians treat their guests better then their brothers and sisters. How discriminating.

Parcel 3: Logic..

Malaysian news:
There will be no maid from Mainland China because they are deemed to cause breakdown in families, because you know, men just cannot resist them.

Which part of this is different from saying:

Girls cannot wear revealing clothes when going out because they are asking to be raped, because you know, men just cannot resist them.

???

It can also means that maids from Indonesia and Phillipines are not pretty/sexy/attractive. Such an insult!

Parcel 4: Brain teaser..



Collective nouns are fun. You know a pack of wolves, a school of fish..
If you see five owls together, what do you call them?
Hint: no wonder they say owls are wise animals...

Cool. Actually I got other things to write but seems that time is ticking away fast. Save it for another day!

On Racial Integration

At the blink of an eye and the week is finally over again! Wow, it's nearing the weekends again! This always got me excited... not tat uni is not fun.. juz yesterday they have a cooking demo rite in the uni! It was exciting!

Today I read a very interesting piece of article on The Star concerning racial integration in Malaysia. At last they got it that Malaysian children are not integrating at all. To quote verbatim from the article:" Only 52% of the teenagers (in a survey of 4400 F4 students) said they had a friend of a different race." Worse still, only 12.8% felt that mixing with other races was something to be concerned about. Their apathy is simply shocking.

And true to the Malaysian spirit, the relevant authorities start to disseminate and tackle the problem by, guess what: Finding something/someone to blame! As can be seen in this article. The guy who is the National Unity and Integration Department director-general said “I attribute the findings to the current education system, which has resulted in lack of interaction among students of different racial backgrounds."

Sad. But I still have hope and faith that there's someone out there who is able to right the wrong someday.

In retrospect, what the guy said hold a grain of truth too. As I had gone through the Malaysian education system myself, I tend to agree with him that the education system is part of the problem. There is a dinstict lack of integration even in National school, nevermind vernacular school. In my class throughout my secondary school years, the majority of my classmates are Chinese. It is not that we don't want to make friends with kids of other colour, but we have virtually no chance to do it. Now the only way we can see Ali, Ah Kau and Mutu play together is on television commercials, for example the NST commercial. How pathetic.

I am sure a lot of people will have a lot of opinions on this issue and react to it diffrently. Some may see it in a more aggresive/violent manner, some may read it with ambivalence, some may just scour over it with a sigh of dejection. No matter how you all react, a reaction is good coz it means that deep down, you still love and care for the country. However, I guess now it's just not worth the energy to criticise the government on what they should had done or give opinions on how to tackle the problem, since we can't control that anyway. I think we just need to focus on what we can do individually. For example, maybe make a resolution to go out there today or tomorrow and make a friend from a different race or religion. Learn more about them. Appreciate them. Tell a friend to do the same. And tell a friend to tell friend to do the same. Pass it on. Let the ripple effect roll!

Guess thats my two-cents worth on that issue.

P/s: can someone advise me on how to save myself from someone that is doing his best to ensure that I contact the common cold that is unfortunately bogging him down now? Help! I dont want to be pulled down by a drowning guy!

Of Bollywood, shoes and marrying a walking chimney

I leanrt Bollywood dancing today! At last I know how to dance like Shah Rukh Khan. It is fun, exciting and amazingly simple. And I think a great way to lose weight too. Like hip-hop last year, a 1-hour session is enough to make me sweat and feeling tired. And best of all, its free! I wonder why all those ppl in uni never bother to go to these few activities where you can have free entertainment, free lessons and free food. For me, it is always good to learn something new... and speaking of food.. all the specially prepared Indian food are simply delicious. I'm hopeless in naming them.. but there are morukku, roti-naan, tandoori chicken and a whole range of finger foods and sauces. Not to mention the apple-pineapple-orange fizzly drink punch! Really out of the world!

Been busy the whole week. Spent 4 hours at Melb Uni on Sat for a photography workshop. Then on Sunday, been to a practice run along the Yarra river. I managed to run more than 10 kms! So happy.. and speaking of running, my fren Wee Loon brought pair of new shoes for the run. For me, I could only be contented with an old pair of shoes thats so bad it requires bandages to keep it from falling off all together. Anyone wants to sponsor me a new pair of shoes? =P


My poor shoes.

Today, someone ask me a peculiar question: would you accept a girl who smokes as your galfriend?

I answered yes.

And I got a long, hard lecture in return. Seems that people thinks gals who smokes are inconsiderate, will give rise to defective babies, have short lives and is a 'black widow'.

I know smoking is bad, but that does not equal that people who smokes are bad. Sometimes I think we as human have the fallacy of setting our mindset too narrowly. We have what we considered a good behaviour code and frowned upon those who does not behave in a way that fits in the code. We always think that we are right and therefore others must also believe what we think as right being right. So convinced that we are of our mindset that we sometimes somehow missed the whole big picture. Open-mindedness. We need to be open-minded...right? Well, actually I dunno why I answered yes. I know I wanted to answer yes but I dunno the reason behind it. mind's so complicated...

So anyone has any opinion on this? =)

P/s: Damn I juz discovered See Hua had tagged me a total of 3 times in a day. That guy muz be too love-sick to think properly..

P/s2: Am currently reading a fabulously long and entertaining book: The secrets of Jin-Shei by Alma Alexander. Highly recommended that you read it.

Of SPM and certs

The news in The Star today left me a little bit disturbed.

First there's the story of this super-girl who was allegedly reported to achieve 19A1 in SPM by Utusan Malaysia last week but instead got only 14A1.

Then there is the story of a undergrade who lost an astounding number of 300 certs extolling his achievements in a bus.

Then there's the report that a total of 4311 students got straight As in SPM.

Then there's the collective news about the students achieving 16A1s and 14A1s etc etc.

There is completely no news about the normal you and me who study hard and get the normal range of 8-10As. It seems a long time ago that getting 10As is a big thing. It makes me feel stupid that I felt it was so hard to get all the A1s a mere 5 years back. Wonder what our parents are thinking? It was an achievement for them to get just a A in their years.

About the certs. I was like wow! 300 man... that's no mean feat. I have trouble getting 50.

I hate to say this but seems that Malaysian students are being subconciously trained by the government towards being record breakers. It's always about As and As and more As. I knew, because I was a product of this system and I always feel like wanting to be the best. I lived and thrived in competition. In school, they only award you for being good in exams. They only reward you for being good in co-curriculum activities, provided you also did well in exams. They only praise you when you managed to get 1st or break records for the school. If you didn't win, it's not your fault. It's a conspiracy theory. Like a dog, you are trained to fetch, to sit, to jump and fed with a piece of meat when you do them. They train you until you only feel successful and happy when you got the first prize in school and being the president of a club.

Only when you grew up then you realised how much you had missed in life. 'Opportunity cost' is what the economist name them. Instead of spending the time making friends, you used it to study. Instead of spending time learning the soft skills needed to improve your quality of life, you used it to show why you merited the post of president in a small, dysfunctional club (and of course, it comes with a cert). Reality will only kick in in the later part of life when you are alone in the world, with no idea how to cook or wash your clothes, and no friends to turn to for help. Hopefully by then, it is not too late.

What I wanted to share is that breaking records and earning certs is not everything in life. In fact, even if you managed to be a record holder, you are more likely not to be the best. The best usually don't like to compete with fools. They live in caves. For example the beauty queens contest. I always look at the gals at the contest and ask where did all the beautiful ladies go. Then I go to the supermarket and they are there, on the streets.

And yeah to put the nail in the coffin for those of you who still think that good results = intelligence.. there's apparently this anecdote shared by Chang Yang and Xuan Ni: When asked what she is going to do after getting this excellent results, the supposed-to-get-19A1a-gal apparently said she wanted to go to study pharmacy in Cambridge. But there seems to be a problem. Cambridge doesn't offer a pure Pharmacy course.

So much for good results = resourcefulness and intelligence and general knowledge and... but fair enuf, I didn't know Cambridge didn't offer Pharmacy also...but she is THE GAL - the gal who is supposed to super clever, the one supposed to score 19A1s and who wrote a book on how to get it. If she didn't know, will us lesser mortal know? (of course some of us did).

Exams and Marks: A Perspective

I had just received my exams results yesterday. Overall, it was a good result but there is always the nagging feeling that I could have done better.

Since God-knows when, I had always been obsessive about marks. I'm generally fascinated with numbers, and can still remember some of the marks I got in Primary school. I don't know why, perhaps it is the fact that I'm very competitive or a perfectionist in nature and marks are the only indication whether you did better then your friends or not. In fact, I was real annoyed that public exams only have grades, which means there's no indication whether your A is 100% or perhaps 70%. A lot fo people tend to argue that marks are just numbers of no real importance, as long as you pass, that's it; or as long as you get a HD, that's no reason to complain. For me that's a sign of mediocrity, a mentality of 'cukup makan'. How will someone progess with such a mentality? But of course you can beg to differ... that there more important thing out there then marks...

But I do agree that marks are no real measure of how well you know a particular subject, other factors such as time-management strategies and exam answering techniques play an important part too. It may seems unfair to some people that marks are lost due to a lack of time, but I think it is a good training to face the realities of life: time management is a must skill to survive.

Rote-learning is a well-known weakness of the education in Malaysia. As recent as yesterday,

Michael Backman, who recently made headlines due to his proclaimation of "Malaysia Bodoh" wrote in TheAge website:

How children are educated in Malaysia is a national disaster.Learning is
largely by rote. In an email to me last week, one Malaysian recalled her
schooling as being in a system “all about spoon-feeding, memory work and
regurgitation. Students are not encouraged to think for themselves and they
become adults who swallow everything they're told.”

Eventhough I quite agree with that, I also would like to say that rote learning is also prevalent in Australia. Even in Universities, most of the subjects need to be rote-learnt. As a veteran in rote-learning, the fact that I can survive here in Uni is a good enough indication that they practice the same 'system' or else I would had struggled like a fish out of water. So I will said to Mr. Backman: your views are first-rate and spot on, but please look at your backyard before criticising other country. Oops, I forgot.. you didn't like to live in your house, but spent most time in London..

While rote learning had been excessively harped and critisied in the education field, I would also like to highlight the lack of emphasis on learning from your mistakes. In my opinion, it is a fundamental error in the education system. I think a lot of people haven't grasp the importance of correcting your mistakes in exams. While having a critical and creative study method is important, equally so is getting feedbacks after the exams to know where you gone wrong. We make mistakes throughout our lives, more so in exams due to the 'pressure-cooker condition'. And as mistakes goes, the most important thing you can do about it is learn from them to avoid falling into the same trap twice.

Nonetheless, seems that universities examiners doesn't think that correcting your mistakes is important. Nobody bother to give you back your papers unless you asked for it. In fact they don't even tell you the score of the components of your exam. Why? I think for fear that you will ask for an additional mark here or there, or you questioning their methodologies, which means more hassle. Even the Deputy Education Minister of M'sia doesn't think that it is important. He felt that exams should go till the last day of the semester. I wouder which teacher will go through the exam paper for the students the following semester. Even if they did, the students will had already forgot nearly everything about it.

For me, learning from mistakes in an exams is more important than the actual meaning of the marks. A poor mark means that there are lots of mistakes being made and there is a need to do a post-mortem to rectify the problem immediately. There is nothing worse than making a mistake without knowing it. Making the process difficult is an indication of one-dimensional mentality and wrong emphasis. And to my friends who think I complained too much about my marks, try put things in my perspective. I hate to make mistakes. It equals imperfection. Harping about marks especially right after an exam in just a way for me to dissect my mistakes and remind myself not to repeat them during the next exam.