Dementor’s Kiss

Maybe the ability to adapt with moving cheese diminish with age.

I remember Slim River is a really small town with coupla rows of business, literally difficult to find food, minimal activities thus bedtime used to be around 10pm. I remember feeling quite excited when I first posted there, I would wake up to really great fresh air and felt like singing ‘Sound of Music.’ Slim River was more than 2 years ago.

KK is a totally different place. Lotsa food choices, buildings and cars everywhere, activities round the clock if you want it. Today is the first day of doing nothingness, and I felt depressed already. For the umpteenth time, I asked myself ‘What did I sign up for?’ But nobody is responsible for my decisions and my life except my own. Probably this is the time of transition. Or the time of settling down. Trying to swing a momentum.

I was wondering since KK was a definite better place than Slim River, why  was I able to adapt to Slim River rather easily? Yeah, then again, Slim River offered me a steady 8 to 5 job. Having nothing to kick start any engine now, or having stalled plan is just sucking the life out of me. It is like I forgot how to be happy. Cholerics need to get their hands busy. I have a great family here, but they have their own things to do. And again, I am left with no friends.

Joy to the World (Malay)

I went for a Combined Bilingual Christmas service this morning, English + Malay. Eventho the songs we sang was in different languages, this is the day I have this heartfelt thanks and I just wanna worship the Lord.

Hai dunia bersukalah
Tuhanmu t’lah datang
Hai sambutlah Raja Surga
Alam nyanyi riang, alam nyanyi riang
Alam, alam, nyanyi riang

Hai dunia bersukalah
Rajamu nobatkan
Bukit, padang, gunung, lembah
Gemakan pujian, gemakan pujian
Gema, gemakan pujian

Dosa tak lagi berdaya
Dukapun ‘kan lenyap
Anug’rah-Nya melimpahlah
Gentarlah kuasa g’lap,
Gentarlah kuasa g’lap,
Gentar, gentarlah kuasa g’lap

Kini bertahta Almasih
Dengan sejahtera
Perintah-Nya penuh kasih
Mari sembah Dia,
Mari sembah Dia,
Mari, mari sembah Dia

And this is ‘We Wish you a Merry Christmas’ in kadazan lingo.

Kotobian da Tadau Krismas
Kotobian da Tadau Krismas
Kotobian da Tadau Krismas
Om Toun Vagu
Atatamis kou no
Doid nombo nopo
Kotobian do Tadau Krismas
Om Toun Vagu

Thank you, Jesus. and Happy Birthday =)

First locum at Kota Kinabalu

Like most firsts, this one strikes a ‘gan jeong’ note in me too. I ironed my shirt, went to bed early, prayed for God’s guidance, woke up early, etc.

Although I haven’t found a semi permanent job to start in January, I certainly didn’t expect a surprising fast locum job offer. Day #3 after I touched down KK.

I took out my notebook (shamefully called a lil revenue book) which i routinely record my locum jobs, flipped to the next empty page and wrote the date today plus the location. 23 December 2011

Then I flipped a page forward and noticed the last entry was 24 November 2011

Whaaat? My hands stopped earning money for a month flat ?!?! A month already? After 24th Nov, I went to Kuching for Hope Malaysia National Convention, then I spent about a week to settle my Ipoh house and say the goodbyes (poorly), spent few more days at Kampar for LifeGame 2.0, spent a really fruitful and enjoyable week at Penang doing the exact kind of dentistry work i love and gave up. I mean surgery of course. I tagged i-can’t-name-her-in-case-i-get-her-into-legal-trouble for on call, and I caught myself really feeling excited when I saw a deep gruesome laceration wound over the face =.=

There goes my month.

Sigh…

Well, locum at Kota Kinabalu is no different from elsewhere. Private practice IS private practice. You decided the best treatment and render them to these patients who trusted you, and you be responsible for what was done.

What’s my career plan? I honestly don’t know.

But I have a lil vision. Grace Dental Group. Dad gave the weirdest look, as in why I named it after mom. To me, Grace is more than just that. It gotta start with one Grace Dental Clinic somewhere sometime. I envision it to be larger than.. Tew Dental! Hahaha, look who’s talking. Someone who wasn’t working for the past one month. Laugh with me, Dream with me, Realize it with me.

Taxi driver

Never thought that I can flag a taxi driver in Tesco who is willing to send me to LCCT. I have a flight to catch and 4 baggage to tend to. I thank God I found this amusing driver, and he charges really fairly. Peter sent me to Tesco and shifted my bags into the taxi before he went off for his work duties.

‘Itu adik ka? Kenapa dia tak hantar airport? Ada kereta tapi tak mau hantar?’

‘Oh, dia kerja la. Takde masa.’

‘Aiya, isi minyak RM20 saja, boleh sampai balik airport. Yalar, lunch time 1 jam saja, nanti pergi sini sana, kena buang kerja.’

—-

‘Pergi mana?’

‘Balik Sabah.’

‘Kampung sana ka?’

‘Ya.’

‘Balik holiday ka?’

‘Balik cari kerja.’

‘Ooo… balik kampung, tanam jagung.’

—-

‘Sabah ada shopping mall besar?’

‘Ada, macam Midvalley pun ada.’

‘Tempat-tempat mahal, kalau pergi, mesti kena bawa duit. Kalau takde duit, bawa boyfriend.’

O gosh…..

Shofar

Maybe it’s age factor, I developed interest towards weird and exotic stuff. And I bought a Shofar from Hope Kuching store =)

Well, of course, it’s not just some weird and exotic stuff. Shofar has significant spiritual meaning behind it. When Hope Kuching was praying for the MNC, God gave an image of Shofar to Ps Dennis and He taught him how to blow it. So, Shofar appears in the XtraOrdinary logo, during heart preparation session, and etc.

Found online : When you buy a shofar, please remember that since the shofar comes from an actual real, live animal, there may be some particles of sinew, muscle or bone left inside the shofar which may cause certain odor…

Spiritual significance of Shofar

1. Repentance. Eg Abraham and Isaac and ram. When Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, God provided a ram. The blast of a shofar is to remind us God’s forgiveness and lead us back to repentance.

2. Procession and start of war. Eg Joshua and the wall of Jericho. Joshua 6:4. Judges 3:27

3. Proclaiming God’s kingship

4. Announce important days. Eg Leviticus 23, 24, 25:9. There were ‘Day of blowing’ and ‘Memorial of blowing’, for Day of Atonement, Passover, Jubilee Year

5. Musical instrument. Eg David’s band. Ps 150:3

Another sentence found online. Well, after everybody attempted to have a blast and all sorts of weird noises came out (or to some, just wind or none at all). Being a Ba’al T’qiah (shofar sounder) is an honor…”The one who blows the shofar on Rosh Hashanah . . . should likewise be learned in the Torah and shall be God-fearing; the best man available. Then again, brothers and sisters, you are the royal priesthood, God’s chosen generation. 1 Peter 2:9