I’m sorry to announce that we will be taking an indefinite break from blogging here for the moment. Life’s a little too busy and shitty and we’ve gotta use every last bit of energy to survive each day. Haha. Anyway, we will be back soon… I hope. Cheers

Natsuhiboshi naze akai?
Yuube kanashii yume wo mita
Naite hanashita, akai me yo

Summer Star, why are you lost?
(You are) searching for we who disappeared.
That’s why I have such sad dreams.

~Song taken from Naruto, Episode 180

Teran, teran. Tarik nafas kuat-kuat, tahan dan teran panjang-panjang, ya? Teran kat perut, bukan kat muka. Angkat kepala, tengok perut. Tarik besi itu, ok? Bagus! Macam itulah. Teran, puan, teran! Sambung! Lagi. Lagi. Ok, curi nafas, sambung lagi. Betul, puan. Teran! Teran! Macam mahu berak. Geram! Geram! Rambut sudah nampak. Selagi rasa sakit, mesti mahu teran!

Kuk ah, kuk! Hou ah, kuk, kuk, kuk! Tau hei. Tui ah, tui! Kuk, kuk!

I was initially apprehensive of the labour room on-calls. First of all, there’s a lot of blood, screaming and pain. Apart from that, there is the suspense of waiting for the cervix to dilate from 1cm to 2cm, to 3 cm, to finally 10 cm. Not to mention those 24 hour-calls where you barely get any sleep and end up walking around like a zombie the next day.

The first day on-call, the doctors and the nurses scolded me for not cheering the patient on enough. I couldn’t seem to bring myself to cheer, as I’m generally an introverted person, who just doesn’t like to do this sorta stuff. To all you introverts out there, I’m sure you know what I mean. We hate making a big scene of ourselves.

Anyway, 6 weeks later, the cheers above have become spinal. What I mean is, all those words come so naturally, its almost like a spinal reflex, which by-passes the brain. I can do it at 5pm in the evening, I can also do it at 4 am in the morning, regardless. It has become so natural, that I actually feel as though I am watching myself do it from outside of my body. Seriously.

Nevertheless, I am so glad it is OVER. I conducted 6 deliveries. Assisted in more than a dozen others. Weighed and checked tons of placentas. Observed a couple of Caesarean sections, and scrubed-in once. I’m sure CN- did a lot more, as during her calls, the deliveries always seemed to be endless.

The stress, the fun.

The scoldings, the occasional appreciation.

The horror, the joy.

The tears, the happy smiles.

Whatever it was, it’s time to move on.

Paediatrics, here we come…

An astounding mail in my inbox:

For all you scientists out there and for all the students who have had a hard time convincing these people regarding the truth of the Bible here’s something that illustrates God’s awesome creation and shows He is still in control.

Did you know that NASA’s space programmers are busy proving that was has been called ‘myth’ in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, and a consultant in the space programmes, relates the following incident:

One of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland. They were checking out the positions of the sun, moon and planets out in space where they would be 100, and 1000 years from now. We have to know this as we do not want a satellite to collide with any of these in its orbits. We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite and where the planets will be so the whole project will not bog down. Computer measurements and data were run back and forth over the centuries when suddenly it came to a halt, displaying a red signal, which meant that either there was something wrong with the information fed into it or with the results as compared to the standards. They called in the service department to check it out, and the technicians asked what was wrong.

The scientists had discovered that somewhere in space in elapsed time a day was missing. Nobody seemed able to come up with a solution to the problem. Finally one of the team, a Christian, said: “You know, when I was still in Sunday School, they spoke about the sun standing still…….”

While his colleagues didn’t believe him, they did not have an answer either, so they said: “Show us.” He got a Bible and opened it at the book of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one with ‘common sense’. There they read about the Lord saying to Joshua: “Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not be a man of them stands before thee.” (Joshua 10:8).

Joshua was concerned because the enemy had surrounded him, and if darkness fell, they would overpower him. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That’s right ­ “And the sun stood still and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Ja’­sher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hastened not to go down about a whole day.” (Joshua 10:13).

The astronauts and scientists said: “There is the missing day!” They checked the computers going back into the time it was written and found it, but it was not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua’s day was 23 hours and 20 minutes ­ not a whole day. They read the Bible again and there it was: “about (approximately) a day.” These little words in the Bible were important, but they were still in trouble, because another 40 minutes were still unaccounted for, and this could mean trouble 1000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits.

As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere in the Bible which said the sun went backwards. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but once again they opened the Book and read these words in 2 Kings.

Hezekiah, on his deathbed, was visited by the prophet, Isaiah, who told him he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for some sign as proof. Isaiah said: “Shall the sun go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?” And Hezekiah answered: “It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backwards ten degrees.” And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.” (2 Kings 20:9 ­11).

Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty-three hours and twenty minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in 2 Kings accounted for the missing day in the universe!

Isn’t this amazing? Our God is rubbing their noses in His Truth!

Rules for the World Cup
Extremely important advice and recommendations to be passed on to wives, girlfriends, fiancés, mothers, sisters, daughters, etc. (to all women in general) These rules are to be communicated prior to the World Cup in June/July this year…

LIST OF RULES

1. From 9 June to 9 July 2006, you should read the sports section of the newspaper so that you are aware of what is going on regarding the World Cup, and that way you will be able to join in the conversations. If you fail to do this, then you will be looked at in a bad way, or you will be totally ignored. DO NOT complain about not receiving any attention.

2. During the World Cup, the television is mine, at all times, without any exceptions. If you even take a glimpse of the remote control, you will lose it (your eye).

3. If you have to pass by in front of the TV during a game, I don’t mind, as long as you do it crawling on the floor and without distracting me. If you decide to stand nude in front of the TV, make sure you put clothes on right after because if you catch a cold, I wont have time to take you to the doctor or look after you during the World Cup month.

4. During the games I will be blind, deaf and mute, unless I require a refill of my drink or something to eat. You are out of your mind if you expect me to listen to you, open the door, answer the telephone, or pick up the baby that just fell from the second floor….it wont happen.

5. It would be a good idea for you to keep at least 2 six packs in the fridge at all times, as well as plenty of things to nibble on, and please do not make any funny faces to my friends when they come over to watch the games. In return, you will be allowed to use the TV between 12am and 6am, unless they replay a good game that I missed during the day.

6. Please, please, please!! if you see me upset because one of my teams is losing, DO NOT say “get over it, its only a game”, or “don’t worry, they’ll win next time”. If you say these things, you will only make me angrier and I will love you less. Remember, you will never ever know more about football than me and your so called “words of encouragement” will only lead to a break up or divorce.

7. You are welcome to sit with me to watch one game and you can talk to me during halftime but only when the commercials are on, and only if the halftime score is pleasing me. In addition, please note I am saying “one” game, hence do not use the World Cup as a nice cheesy excuse to “spend time together”.

8. The replays of the goals are very important. I don’t care if I have seen them or I haven’t seen them, I want to see them again. Many times.

9. Tell your friends NOT to have any babies, or any other child related parties or gatherings that requires my attendance because:
a) I will not go,
b) I will not go, and
c) I will not go.

10. But, if a friend of mine invites us to his house on a Sunday to watch a game, we will be there in a flash.

11. The daily World Cup highlights show on TV every night is just as important as the games themselves. Do not even think about saying “but you have already seen this…why don’t you change the channel to something we can all watch??”, the reply will be: “Refer to Rule #2 of this list”.

12. And finally, please save your expressions such as “Thank God the World Cup is only every 4 years”. I am immune to these words, because after this comes the Champions League, Italian League, Spanish League, Premier League, etc etc.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Regards,
Men of the World