With Vimalan
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Hidoi!
One of my friends here, Masa was involved in a really bad car accident when he and my other friends were travelling to Burnie (above Launceston). The road was slippery as it was covered with frost after a cold and rainy day. The car spunned and smashed into a tree.
He suffered a fractured left arm and worse, fractured his backbone.
Doctors said he was lucky that he could still move his legs and he did not feel any tingling or numb sensations to his legs as one of his spine bones was shattered and it was squishing against his spinal cord. Any further damage would have paralysed him as the cord will be severed.
I was really shocked and scared when I got the news coz it reminded me of what happen a year back when Veronica, who died in a similar accident in NZ during winter as well. I was travelling to Cradle Mountain in heavy snow so I do know how scary it was driving in such bad condition.
I've been visiting him in Royal Hobart Hospital 2 days now. He looked pretty bad when i first visited him but he's better now, since we have been entertaining him all the way. He was given "special" treatment by the girls as we all took turns to wait on him, feeding him and applying cream on him (he has a bad case of eczema).
He can't move at all as he was in neck braces and he cannot move his back as it's still vey fragile. So he was just lying very still on the bed but thank goodness he could at least move his right hand.
His fellow Japanese friends were kind enough to get him magazines (including Penthouse...which the girls didn't approve) and Ryo has been his translator to Masa's family ever since. We were also trying to get him to eat as he has been refusing food for fear of having to pass motion. I do know how it feels like. You wouldn't want someone to help you do your "business" and it's quite shameful as well. But the nurses were telling us to persuade him to eat.
Since i'm older than him (i'm older than most of everyone else here), I get to play the role of okasan (mom) and/or oneesan (big sister). Therefore, i have the ultimate power to make threats and harassments so that at least he eats something, even if it's only half a banana. I've also been pumping in chocolate milk and water in him and if he says no, i'll always give my deadly stare. Hahaha.... and he always give in in the end...
I don't know why I feel/emphatize with him or why i would take the effort to visit him in the hospital everyday while i can to take care of him but i think it's partly because the whole situation reminded me of my late cousin, Eddy who died of brain tumour 7 years ago. I couldn't do anything back then because i was in school but now that i have an opportunity to do so, i will try my best to give my moral support to Masa. Somehow, when i look at him, i also feel the pain and the suffering he has to go through. He told me that he needs his friends around him, not food. Gosh~ especially when his family is so far away and won't be coming over.
He will be transfered to another hospital this Tuesday to undergo a major surgery to have the shattered backbone removed and to have rods inserted to reinforce his spine. When the doctor explained the whole procedure to him (we were there as well), i felt like crying and i could imagine the pain he has to go through. God! But he has been very strong and courageous and he's been holding up very well on his own, unlike one of his ward mate (thank goodness in another room) who's been screaming and moaning since the day he's been admitted all the time. It was very disturbing as it sounded like something out of a horror movie and Masa couldn't sleep well because of that as well. I feel like taking something to knock that fella out cold and out of mercy as well. Sheesh!! Give us a break dude!! But Masa told me he understood why that guy was screaming like that.... I know he's in much pain but he's trying hard not to show it to show to keep us from worrying.
I'll try to visit him as much as i can before i head back to Malaysia for good next week and please do pray for his speedy recovery and for God to just give him all the strength and courage that he needs to go through this painful process of recovery.
He suffered a fractured left arm and worse, fractured his backbone.
Doctors said he was lucky that he could still move his legs and he did not feel any tingling or numb sensations to his legs as one of his spine bones was shattered and it was squishing against his spinal cord. Any further damage would have paralysed him as the cord will be severed.
I was really shocked and scared when I got the news coz it reminded me of what happen a year back when Veronica, who died in a similar accident in NZ during winter as well. I was travelling to Cradle Mountain in heavy snow so I do know how scary it was driving in such bad condition.
I've been visiting him in Royal Hobart Hospital 2 days now. He looked pretty bad when i first visited him but he's better now, since we have been entertaining him all the way. He was given "special" treatment by the girls as we all took turns to wait on him, feeding him and applying cream on him (he has a bad case of eczema).
He can't move at all as he was in neck braces and he cannot move his back as it's still vey fragile. So he was just lying very still on the bed but thank goodness he could at least move his right hand.
His fellow Japanese friends were kind enough to get him magazines (including Penthouse...which the girls didn't approve) and Ryo has been his translator to Masa's family ever since. We were also trying to get him to eat as he has been refusing food for fear of having to pass motion. I do know how it feels like. You wouldn't want someone to help you do your "business" and it's quite shameful as well. But the nurses were telling us to persuade him to eat.
Since i'm older than him (i'm older than most of everyone else here), I get to play the role of okasan (mom) and/or oneesan (big sister). Therefore, i have the ultimate power to make threats and harassments so that at least he eats something, even if it's only half a banana. I've also been pumping in chocolate milk and water in him and if he says no, i'll always give my deadly stare. Hahaha.... and he always give in in the end...
I don't know why I feel/emphatize with him or why i would take the effort to visit him in the hospital everyday while i can to take care of him but i think it's partly because the whole situation reminded me of my late cousin, Eddy who died of brain tumour 7 years ago. I couldn't do anything back then because i was in school but now that i have an opportunity to do so, i will try my best to give my moral support to Masa. Somehow, when i look at him, i also feel the pain and the suffering he has to go through. He told me that he needs his friends around him, not food. Gosh~ especially when his family is so far away and won't be coming over.
He will be transfered to another hospital this Tuesday to undergo a major surgery to have the shattered backbone removed and to have rods inserted to reinforce his spine. When the doctor explained the whole procedure to him (we were there as well), i felt like crying and i could imagine the pain he has to go through. God! But he has been very strong and courageous and he's been holding up very well on his own, unlike one of his ward mate (thank goodness in another room) who's been screaming and moaning since the day he's been admitted all the time. It was very disturbing as it sounded like something out of a horror movie and Masa couldn't sleep well because of that as well. I feel like taking something to knock that fella out cold and out of mercy as well. Sheesh!! Give us a break dude!! But Masa told me he understood why that guy was screaming like that.... I know he's in much pain but he's trying hard not to show it to show to keep us from worrying.
I'll try to visit him as much as i can before i head back to Malaysia for good next week and please do pray for his speedy recovery and for God to just give him all the strength and courage that he needs to go through this painful process of recovery.
Apple Story: Part 2
Dear all,
Just in case you're waiting for the sequel to my Apple incident, i have news...
GOOD NEWS!!!! HALLELUJAH!
Apparently, i was one of the lucky people who got saman during the transition period in the hierarchy of the office. So whoever got saman then, it will be withdrawn and we will only be receiving a warning letter instead.
YAHOO!!!!!!!!
I couldn't believe my ears and i know this is a miracle. I've been praying like mad for my fine to be waived coz they initially called me, they told me my saman was still standing and my appeal letter has been rejected. But then he wasn't sure about it. After he checked the whole thing again, he told me the good news. I could've kiss him if that guy was with me... Hahaha!
God's been really good to me.
Everything i had wished to do and complete has been done.
I wish to see snow - done.
I wish my fine being waived - done.
I wish to see the whole of Hobart - done.
I wish to go to Launceston and Cradle Mountain - done.
I wish to see snow on Mount Wellington - done.
I wish to fit in with my fellow collegemate - done.
I wish to see the Cadbury choc factory - done.
I wish to see kangaroos, koalas, tasmanian devils, wallabies & wombats - done.
I am grateful indeed to God for this wonderful opportunity. Being here in Tassie was something I have never dream of and now I am here without having to pay a single cent.
This is a miracle indeed.
And I can say with conviction that I am truly blessed by God.
Just in case you're waiting for the sequel to my Apple incident, i have news...
GOOD NEWS!!!! HALLELUJAH!
Apparently, i was one of the lucky people who got saman during the transition period in the hierarchy of the office. So whoever got saman then, it will be withdrawn and we will only be receiving a warning letter instead.
YAHOO!!!!!!!!
I couldn't believe my ears and i know this is a miracle. I've been praying like mad for my fine to be waived coz they initially called me, they told me my saman was still standing and my appeal letter has been rejected. But then he wasn't sure about it. After he checked the whole thing again, he told me the good news. I could've kiss him if that guy was with me... Hahaha!
God's been really good to me.
Everything i had wished to do and complete has been done.
I wish to see snow - done.
I wish my fine being waived - done.
I wish to see the whole of Hobart - done.
I wish to go to Launceston and Cradle Mountain - done.
I wish to see snow on Mount Wellington - done.
I wish to fit in with my fellow collegemate - done.
I wish to see the Cadbury choc factory - done.
I wish to see kangaroos, koalas, tasmanian devils, wallabies & wombats - done.
I am grateful indeed to God for this wonderful opportunity. Being here in Tassie was something I have never dream of and now I am here without having to pay a single cent.
This is a miracle indeed.
And I can say with conviction that I am truly blessed by God.
Best!
I finally experienced my first snow ever. I was up in Cradle Mountain on a road trip with 7 other friends here. We drove up to Launceston, which took about 4 hours ++ and it was raining, not forgetting miserably cold out there.
We got to Sheffield, the so-called Town of Murals (but i didn't really see a lot of murals) to Tazmazia, the world's largest maze and paid $16 to get lost inside. Oh yea.... did I mention Vimalan was also part of the group? Hehehe.... (in case you dunno who's Vimalan, he's a fellow friend from St Thomas). It was great being in there, getting lost and it's quite scary as well coz the place was really big and the hedges were tall (REALLY tall). There were quite a number of dark areas around, so the guys would love to hide behind these places and pounce on the girls. Imagine the screams.... hahaha! I'm one of the people who pounced on them... :)
Cradle Mountain was cold. And snow.... wasn't like what i had imagine. You do get excited when you see white fluffy stuff falling from the sky but beware, it's messy. It melts rather quickly, especially when you run inside the cabin where it's warm. Everything just turns into water and you'll have puddles of water everything.
Cold & soaking wet...
My legs almost broke then as well as we went hiking around Lake St. Clair which is surrounded by picturesque views of Cradle Mountain. It's really like something out of Chronicles of Narnia or LOTR. No joke dudes~ Not bluffing either....I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Oh ye... back to hiking story. We hike for about 3 hours before we reached the checkpoint and by then, my fingers feel like falling off from the cold. We are to be blame as well la coz we were having a massive snow fight without waterproof gloves. So... you get the picture.
Sorry~ can't upload the pictures now as my internet in the room expired so i'll leave it til next time.
Bye bye~
We got to Sheffield, the so-called Town of Murals (but i didn't really see a lot of murals) to Tazmazia, the world's largest maze and paid $16 to get lost inside. Oh yea.... did I mention Vimalan was also part of the group? Hehehe.... (in case you dunno who's Vimalan, he's a fellow friend from St Thomas). It was great being in there, getting lost and it's quite scary as well coz the place was really big and the hedges were tall (REALLY tall). There were quite a number of dark areas around, so the guys would love to hide behind these places and pounce on the girls. Imagine the screams.... hahaha! I'm one of the people who pounced on them... :)
Cradle Mountain was cold. And snow.... wasn't like what i had imagine. You do get excited when you see white fluffy stuff falling from the sky but beware, it's messy. It melts rather quickly, especially when you run inside the cabin where it's warm. Everything just turns into water and you'll have puddles of water everything.
Cold & soaking wet...
My legs almost broke then as well as we went hiking around Lake St. Clair which is surrounded by picturesque views of Cradle Mountain. It's really like something out of Chronicles of Narnia or LOTR. No joke dudes~ Not bluffing either....I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Oh ye... back to hiking story. We hike for about 3 hours before we reached the checkpoint and by then, my fingers feel like falling off from the cold. We are to be blame as well la coz we were having a massive snow fight without waterproof gloves. So... you get the picture.
Sorry~ can't upload the pictures now as my internet in the room expired so i'll leave it til next time.
Bye bye~
Friday, June 20, 2008
Encounters
Well, yesterday was an "encounter" day for me, as i've met with several cool stuffs as well as uncool people. I was in Bonorong Wildlife Park yesterday on a date with lotsa kangaroos, a wombat, a few Tasmanian devils and the koalas.
Kangaroos in the park were like cats in Malaysia. They were just all over the place, sleeping everywhere possible, although the majority chose to sunbathe in the open on a warm and sunny winter. Just feel free to go over and give them a hug or a nice scratch on the chest (the keeper told us that's the roos' favourite scratch spot). I was scared that they'll chew my hand off but after Lina gave them a nice pat on the head, i found out they're harmless like a house cat!
Most of the roos will be lazing under the sun but some will hop in your direction as we're given a bag of kanga food to feed them. The way they begged food off you, golly! It's like watching Puss in Boots in Shrek! Big, round, gleaming and sympathetic eyes... simply telling you to "PLEASE FEED ME!" haha!! I am sure they have tons of things to eat there.
Caution: wombats are EXTREMELY CUTE (!!!!!!!!) and they BITE. They're even cuter than the kangaroos!! The ones that the keeper showed us was still a babe (the mom died in a roadkill) with massive amount of fur (it's a total fur ball, round and fat). You'll just have that urge to grab that lil' fella and squish her in your arms!!
Unfortunately, the (rather handsome) keeper told us that wombats are not at all cute as they are FEROCIOUS and wild, chewing everything they see. The claws are deadly, so as their butts! The butt's a solid cartilage/bone, and if you knock on it you'll hear a hollow sound coming out of it like someone knocking on the door (it's not painful for them though). They use their invincible butt to kill their predators with just 1 knock under the chin. It can kill a dingo or wild dogs only by 1 blow! (that's for full-grown wombats). When it's turned wild, it cannot be seen during the day at all as they're nocturnals.
Next were the DEVILS. Contrary to popular belief, the devils were not at all that crazy, wild and insanely dangerous. They're even tamer as compared to the cute wombats! They can only run as fast as a chicken (haha!! That's what the cute keeper said), much slower than the wombats. They're great scavengers, and were the ultimate partner of the extinct Tasmanian tigers (the Batman & Robin of Tasmania), playing the role akin to a hyena. It can definitely climb up trees (amazing!) and their jaw strength's like that of a crocodile! We also hear they're always fighting and killing each other, but actually all their "devil-fights" are bluffs, coz they only have violent clashes with each other, but not really trying to chew each other off. They'll just "mouth" their opponent, not bite them. Occasionally, they get punctures on their butts from some pouncing devils from behind....
The koalas... not as i've expected. Seriously, they'll just hang onto their favourite spot on a eucalyptus tree and sleep on it for more than 20 hours a day, occasionally waking up to munch on their favourite eucalyptus leaves. I couldn't believe my eyes coz this guy was sleeping and "pooping" aka doing his big business at the same time. They seriously emit a lot of WMDs, even when they're sound asleep. They're bigger than i expected and i'm not sure if i could manage carrying one of them... Quite huge, like a 3 years old kid.
Another encounter was which a bunch of high school punks and i think the animals in the park were better behaved than them. So happens there were a few junior school kids in the bus with us so there you have it, American TV high-school flicks right in front of your eyes.
These punks were just picking on these 2 brothers (both were rather round with specs aka the "dorks") and it just made my blood boil!!! So i made a remark to Lina in BM, "I memang rasa sangat nak belasah diorang", and my hands were itching to do some damage. I know, don't be stupid. Even though they're still in their early high school years (13-14), they're still way bigger than i am.
The price of speaking up against them = harassment. All these punks/kids have no idea what they're doing, shouting and heckling racist remarks against me as a Chinese. But the good thing is at least they stopped focusing on the poor boy (he's only 7-8!!) and started picking on me.
So what do you do in such situation? Just shuddup and ignore them. The heckling became worse and worse (i think God's really testing me on my patience then) and if the bus driver didn't yell at them, threatening to kick them off the bus, i would have stood up and gave them a piece of my mind (not advisable). I would tell them whatever they're doing is so-not-cool (ala Paris Hilton accent, LOL).
They can only speak English (i bet it's full of grammatical errors & full of swear words) whereas i'm multi-lingua, I'm definitely smarter than them despite my size (brain matters) and I'm the only Chinese in the bus! What makes you cool is when you're different than others and that you have BRAINS.
Thank God my ordeal was over when these wannabe punks got off the bus earlier and i sure hope the boy wasn't traumatised. The brother tried so hard to protect him but obviously, he against a group of hooligans... Not a chance. Poor guy~ I would have stood up for the kids if they cross the line and i don't care even if it might cost me my life. Haha...so heroic pulak~ But you would've done the same if you're in my situation. I was playing over and over again scenes of me slapping them and giving them my Taekwondo treatment if they try something funny. Hilarious... LOL (according to Cle).
Living the American TV shows indeed...
Frustrating yet fruitful day. I'm not sure if i passed the "Patience test" God put me through.... hahaha
Kangaroos in the park were like cats in Malaysia. They were just all over the place, sleeping everywhere possible, although the majority chose to sunbathe in the open on a warm and sunny winter. Just feel free to go over and give them a hug or a nice scratch on the chest (the keeper told us that's the roos' favourite scratch spot). I was scared that they'll chew my hand off but after Lina gave them a nice pat on the head, i found out they're harmless like a house cat!
Most of the roos will be lazing under the sun but some will hop in your direction as we're given a bag of kanga food to feed them. The way they begged food off you, golly! It's like watching Puss in Boots in Shrek! Big, round, gleaming and sympathetic eyes... simply telling you to "PLEASE FEED ME!" haha!! I am sure they have tons of things to eat there.
Caution: wombats are EXTREMELY CUTE (!!!!!!!!) and they BITE. They're even cuter than the kangaroos!! The ones that the keeper showed us was still a babe (the mom died in a roadkill) with massive amount of fur (it's a total fur ball, round and fat). You'll just have that urge to grab that lil' fella and squish her in your arms!!
Unfortunately, the (rather handsome) keeper told us that wombats are not at all cute as they are FEROCIOUS and wild, chewing everything they see. The claws are deadly, so as their butts! The butt's a solid cartilage/bone, and if you knock on it you'll hear a hollow sound coming out of it like someone knocking on the door (it's not painful for them though). They use their invincible butt to kill their predators with just 1 knock under the chin. It can kill a dingo or wild dogs only by 1 blow! (that's for full-grown wombats). When it's turned wild, it cannot be seen during the day at all as they're nocturnals.
Next were the DEVILS. Contrary to popular belief, the devils were not at all that crazy, wild and insanely dangerous. They're even tamer as compared to the cute wombats! They can only run as fast as a chicken (haha!! That's what the cute keeper said), much slower than the wombats. They're great scavengers, and were the ultimate partner of the extinct Tasmanian tigers (the Batman & Robin of Tasmania), playing the role akin to a hyena. It can definitely climb up trees (amazing!) and their jaw strength's like that of a crocodile! We also hear they're always fighting and killing each other, but actually all their "devil-fights" are bluffs, coz they only have violent clashes with each other, but not really trying to chew each other off. They'll just "mouth" their opponent, not bite them. Occasionally, they get punctures on their butts from some pouncing devils from behind....
The koalas... not as i've expected. Seriously, they'll just hang onto their favourite spot on a eucalyptus tree and sleep on it for more than 20 hours a day, occasionally waking up to munch on their favourite eucalyptus leaves. I couldn't believe my eyes coz this guy was sleeping and "pooping" aka doing his big business at the same time. They seriously emit a lot of WMDs, even when they're sound asleep. They're bigger than i expected and i'm not sure if i could manage carrying one of them... Quite huge, like a 3 years old kid.
Another encounter was which a bunch of high school punks and i think the animals in the park were better behaved than them. So happens there were a few junior school kids in the bus with us so there you have it, American TV high-school flicks right in front of your eyes.
These punks were just picking on these 2 brothers (both were rather round with specs aka the "dorks") and it just made my blood boil!!! So i made a remark to Lina in BM, "I memang rasa sangat nak belasah diorang", and my hands were itching to do some damage. I know, don't be stupid. Even though they're still in their early high school years (13-14), they're still way bigger than i am.
The price of speaking up against them = harassment. All these punks/kids have no idea what they're doing, shouting and heckling racist remarks against me as a Chinese. But the good thing is at least they stopped focusing on the poor boy (he's only 7-8!!) and started picking on me.
So what do you do in such situation? Just shuddup and ignore them. The heckling became worse and worse (i think God's really testing me on my patience then) and if the bus driver didn't yell at them, threatening to kick them off the bus, i would have stood up and gave them a piece of my mind (not advisable). I would tell them whatever they're doing is so-not-cool (ala Paris Hilton accent, LOL).
They can only speak English (i bet it's full of grammatical errors & full of swear words) whereas i'm multi-lingua, I'm definitely smarter than them despite my size (brain matters) and I'm the only Chinese in the bus! What makes you cool is when you're different than others and that you have BRAINS.
Thank God my ordeal was over when these wannabe punks got off the bus earlier and i sure hope the boy wasn't traumatised. The brother tried so hard to protect him but obviously, he against a group of hooligans... Not a chance. Poor guy~ I would have stood up for the kids if they cross the line and i don't care even if it might cost me my life. Haha...so heroic pulak~ But you would've done the same if you're in my situation. I was playing over and over again scenes of me slapping them and giving them my Taekwondo treatment if they try something funny. Hilarious... LOL (according to Cle).
Living the American TV shows indeed...
Frustrating yet fruitful day. I'm not sure if i passed the "Patience test" God put me through.... hahaha
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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