For A Hospital, You Aren't Quite Hospitable...

Gee, and you thought that I’m just being catchy by playing around the words ‘hospital’ and ‘hospitable’. Catchy title aside, there is something which I should highlight, and let this be a lesson for improvement. Think of it as a note from a concerned citizen (you guys should be lucky that I did not put this up on ‘Aduan Rakyat’ or something.

Just a quick recap; my dad was admitted for 22 days in a government hospital (which by the end of this note might explain the title). Another thing, the source of this note that I’m about to type would be my mum’s conversation with pretty much all the visitors during CNY (family friends, cousins), so it may be inaccurate someway or another, but it’s the gist that’s important. So it was his last day (I was at work that day, sorry Papa) when the doctor finally gave him the good news, ‘Awak dah boleh balik’ at about 11am, if I’m not mistaken. There are still some paperwork needed to be done, but other than that he’s good to go. So my mum pun start la bersiap-siap, kemas2 all personal belongings of my dad. They then waited at the sofa where they put the TV.

About 12pm or so, my mum mentioned she saw the nurses and the hospital staff started to kemas-kemas my dad’s bed. They then thought, ‘Oh ni dah start kemas2 ni, siap2 untuk org lain nak masuk la ni’. Very efficient indeed. My dad was also served lunch, but then since his bed is already made ‘unavailable’ for him to lepak2, he ended up having lunch by the TV. My mum thought that it won’t take long before everything is all set.

She was wrong.

Come 5pm, she approached the front desk of the ward, asking the status of my dad’s discharge. After some time after being told that you can leave, you wonder if indeed you can leave. The feedback obtained was ‘Pakcik dah boleh keluar, tunggu sekejap ye.’ My dad started to feel uneasy, but still maintaining his cool. You can’t afford to burst into flames if you’re just that weak. So they waited, waited, and waited some more....

Until 8pm, the staffs ended their day shift and the night shift nurses arrived. Again, my mum and dad asked them ‘Boleh keluar ke tak nih?’, adding a more serious tone to it. They receive the same answer, ‘Pakcik tunggu dulu ye’. My dad at that moment got grumpier (for God’s sake, you made him waited for what 8 hours only to settle his discharge papers, it’s only fair that he didn’t burst sooner!)

9pm; it is inevitable. My dad started shouting at the staffs ‘Saya ni boleh keluar ke tak ni?! Kalau tak boleh cakap la tak boleh! Apsal lama sangat ni!’ (I was not there, so I’m not sure of the exact words, which again..not that important). Long story short, after about 9 hours of waiting, barulah all those paperwork settled. Fail la government hospital when it comes to this small2 things. Memang fail abis.

The story does not end there. My dad is still weak to walk on his own, so my mum asked for a wheelchair’ Their response? ‘Boleh pakcik nak pinjam wheelchair, tapi nanti lepas turun, tolong bawak naik balik wheelchair ke tingkat 7 ye’. WHAT THE FUCK? Sorry about the caps lock, but I was just furious about the way they responded. So my sister then terpaksa la push the wheelchair on her own to the 7th floor, while my mum and my dad waited in the car.

Again, I wish to emphasize here, when it comes to the human factor, government hospital memang fail. FAIL ABIS LAH SENANG CERITA!. Upon hearing that story, I can’t help myself but thinking ‘I won’t go to a government hospital for my treatment. I’ll invest in some medical insurance or something, but I’ll want a decent, proper treatment with utmost respect, warmth. For crying out loud, when you’re sick, the last thing you want to have is to have people pissing you off. So, please lah, just because you’re the government hospital does not mean you can treat sick people like crap...Sort out your work process la, sort out your manpower and resources. Don’t let us consumers pay the price of dissatisfaction amongst the staff which leads to the sucky treatments

So yeah, to the staff of Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, on behalf of my papa, I thank you for your hospitality (it is both a sincere thanks and a sarcasm)

Let There Be Light

As I’m listening to a few songs I just downloaded (for quite a few times now), as I am repeating the words over and over again my head, my heart is just intrigued to express something, that I thought I should just write it down...loosely said, it pretty much sums up my thoughts that I need to clear up in the air.

As my brain activity is sorting out my thoughts properly to connect what I’m trying to say, let me just state the obvious first and foremost. These songs share one thing in common; the crazy little thing called love and relationship. As I was in what you called a ‘zaman gelap’, and I’m still currently sorting out my life (relationship wise), I’m still figuring out what’s in stored for me in the future. I’m not trying to be specific of what I’m feeling nor I’m trying to be vague, so here it goes (feel free to not read this, I don’t care).

One song sung by a brilliant band is portraying the message ‘I want you, could it not be any more obvious’ basically. Come what may; silly or erratic arguments, difference in opinion and what not. In the end, when you have that loving feeling to someone, it will not simply fade away, time after time. People may have said that they are moving forward (pinjam tagline Toyota kejap) but when thoughts of that special person came and go like a warm breeze, he or she will be an absolute terrible liar to even consider it as moving forward . I for one will definitely be devastated knowing that the special person I care about are with someone else. Words may not have my strong forte, but I think my actions spoke clearly of my intentions; always have, always will.

Then there are this two new songs, one sung by a WAG, and another, a duet from two reality show contestants. Both talk about the hardships in a relationship, on how love isn’t an everyday picnic or a walk in the park. That it may not go as what we’ve planned, that it may not be rainbows and butterflies. That it will take patience, compromise and trust (not to mention a lot of learning!) to make it work. Sometimes we take things for granted and ended up regretting it when it’s gone. I’m not saying it’s ok to take for granted (just to be clear), but it’s in our genes to sometimes forget what matters. Mistakes are just means of saying that we are indeed human. Everyone isn’t perfect, but together we can achieve a balance stronger than anything. If something’s worth having, it is definitely worth fighting for.

Lastly is a song recommended for download by a family member. I was not excited about the music, but then when I listened to the words carefully, I thought ‘man she’s right’. Love doesn’t come cheap. You have to earn love. You got to go what you got to do. Let her know that you’re really serious about...you know, getting serious with her. I was especially shocked when I heard one of the verses in the song ‘What you gonna do if someone convinces me, to believe that he can do it better’, and I asked myself that very same question. I’ve got no answer to put it in words, but my heart saddens to even have a thought about that...I sincerely hope that I will never have to find out the answer to that question...

Whatever happens happened, which I think has a reason. It has been written. I may have done mistakes which I’m not proud of. I may have done things which I shouldn’t. I may be wrong, I may be right for my actions. This might also be a wake up call for me, to get things straightened out before it’s too late...In the end, I only hope and pray for one thing. Whatever it is that I’m embarking on, whatever signals being transmitted and vice versa, please...let there be light on the other side of the tunnel. I’m not putting my hopes up just yet, but yeah...let there be light...it’s just not cool anymore to be in the dark...

I hope I’m being vague enough. I may have used the wrong words and phrases, and my sentences may jumble up and sounded silly or wrong, and I apologize should this post came out offensive...oh btw, the songs I listened too were ‘Just Say Yes’, ‘Fight For This Love’, ‘The Art Of Love’, and ‘Put It In A Love Song’ (great songs btw, not to be listened during unstable mental state or an emotional meltdown). Till the next post, mm-kayy..

Apparently Sometimes You Got Discredited For Being Too Good...Geeee

To those who are unaware of my whereabouts, I was in Kota Kinabalu last week for a conference on Maintenance Management System. The setting could not be any better; awesome place to visit, huge hotel room (minus the lousy view for the room that I got, unlike some other people I know who managed to get the one with sea view!), great and fun atmosphere, warm company, etc2.

Anyway, throughout the 2 day conference there was a session whereby OPUs (operating units) presented their so called 'best practices' with hope that it could be adopted and practiced elsewhere. While some presentations are quite interesting, some of them...not so much. I would rather consider them as 'good practices'. The ideas are OK, doable..for me it just doesn't have that 'wowww, that's just awesome, I can't believe I didn't think of that' factor. Our reliability manager, one of the delegates from our side, presented our best practice on preventive maintenance compliance. Nothing special or out of the ordinary, just yet to be practiced by others (at least that is what I've been told, kalau salah tu salah la kan)

Long story short, there was an award for the best presentation, and we didn't win. Well, sad aside, we accepted our defeat (cewahh)..maybe next year luck will be on our side. Of course after that we were discussing on why we didn't win, so on and so forth...well in the end, so be it, right?

Today I received a mail from the reliability manager asking for feedbacks from all managers and end users regarding the best practice. And get this, he said that based on the feedback received by the Engineering Managers Panel (basically the head of engineering from all OPUs, of whom became the judge for the presentations), apparently our best practice was too advance for other OPUs. TOO ADVANCE! (pardon the uppercase). It took me a while to digest this before I came to realization. So apparently we got punished and discredited for being too good in what we do? Is that the reason why we did not win the presentation? We ran too fast when others might just started walking?

Gee, apparently you do learn something new in life everyday...

The Most Panic Moment In My Life Yet...

It's been a while since my last entry, and what I'm about to write about is the recent happening in my life; it induced the greatest panic attack yet...

My dad went for his regular medical check-up about two weeks ago. Being a diabetic and a regular visitor to hospitals, one would not expect nothing out of the ordinary. Come the afternoon, my mum called him only to find out that he was asked to be warded. Apparently the doctor found that there might be some issues concerning his kidneys. Yet to be certain, the doctors want Papa to stay in the hospital for a couple of days. He was being himself, curious and angry (sort of). 'Papa sihat jah, bakpo nok suruh masuk spita pulok.'

Days passed by, and the doctor performed and endoscopy, just to check on the internals. It was then confirmed that his kidney may cause some complications. He was then brought to the High Dependency Ward (HDW) just so that the doctors can look at it better. The general ward is not exactly the best place for you to get proper diagnosis.

On the way to HDW, this is what my mom told me. He was babbling about how slow the staffs here work. Arriving at the HDW, the staffs set up his bed and all that, and my eldest bro asked my mum to wait outside for a bit. Then when their ready, my mum entered the room for like 15 minutes when then, my dad's heartbeat dropped suddenly to like 20-ish BPM. Slowly getting unconscious, my bro immediately ordered my mum and sister to get out from HDW while he tried to work something out with the nurses, while waiting for the on-call doctor. Next thing you know, he was brought immediately to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

My sister called me at around 6:30pm-ish, 18 Jan. That time I just arrived home from work for like 10 minutes. She was sobbing, asking me to come back home as Papa was doing not so good. I was in total state of shock after hearing that. I got dressed up, rushed into the car leaving my laptop behind and rushed back home. I was driving like crazy speed freak..doing 160, 170 with the right signals on, 'chilok' left and right of the highway. My mind was empty, I can't think straight, the only sound heard was from the high rev engine. That moment I could only think of the worst thing that could happen. 'Please let me arrive on time', 'Papa, please hold on longer'...that was what I thought of (along those lines). To make things worst, I took the wrong junction after the Sg Besi toll plaza to end up God knows where. I can no longer think straight, I can only think of getting home to re-route myself. Long story short, I arrived safely in HUKM.

Fast walking towards the 2nd floor, I was panting, clueless of what's going on. Then I saw my mum. She was calm, managed to put a smile on her face. I know she's trying to be strong, as I should too. After a while, the nurse let us go inside for a while to see Papa. I went in with my sister in law, and I don't like what I saw. It's not that I don't like it, it's just sad and unbearable for me to watch Papa as he is at the moment. His face was all bloated (sembab), unconscious with his eyes open, under full blast life support, tears coming out of his eyes. My sister in law was crying, asking Papa to stay strong. That moment was the saddest I've ever experienced yet.

Back outside, the mood was extremely gloomy. You can perhaps here a pin drop to break the silence. A few were reading Yassin, some are still sobbing. In the end, we only prayed that he will get better. Since his kidneys were not good, he had to undergo dialysis for the first 24 hours. We headed home at 1am, hoping and praying for the best...

Come the 2nd day, he was still intubated but the other stuffs were slowly removed, still unconscious. Come the 3rd day he was semi conscious, able to react which indicates he's conscious, tried to talk but he was just still weak. But come the 4th day, all smiles can be seen from each and everyone of us. He gained full consciousness, and is able to talk.

As of today, he has undergone some physiotherapy to strengthen his lungs, as he is still dependent on oxygen mask to breathe. He is no longer in the ICU, but he is yet to be discharged. Let's hope that he will be, soon. He planned to treat the nurses for makan2 once he got discharged; typical sign of him being himself, which is a good thing because that means he's getting better...

There were some fond memories being on leave to be in the hospital. There's the annoying apek in the HDW which makes constant noise of 'Haiyoooo...Hoiii', then there's the constant annoucement to 'Sila Cuti Tangan Anda' when you entered and exited the ICU, annoying nurse, the togetherness of all the family members, not to mention the great Kelantanese eatery which is just fantastic.

I'm actually not a good story teller, so I'll stop here. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to all beloved family and friends. You know who you are, who has called and sent SMSes wishing nothing but the best. It may be nothing much, but in the darkest hour of your life, those wishes lifted my spirit up. To all staffs of HUKM, only Allah can bless you for what you've done. You have been nothing short of wonderful.

Welcome To The Family, MacBook Pro:)

Yes, as you have read in my previous post, my car got hit by another car on my way back home, and I'm in need of some serious cheering up. Well, this certainly made my weekend. I have just purchased a 13.3 inch Apple MacBook Pro. Yippie! I made my purchase at Machines, OU. Their sales and technical team have been wonderful, and transactions have been zippy. I got the 4GB RAM upgrade, and I think it is a worthy addition. The looks are just gorgeous (as what you've expect from an Apple), sturdy construction; it just reflects that cool factor. Plus it's quite thin too. I've compared side by side with my Asus laptop which its LCD has failed me, and it is significantly thinner:)

Pressing the on switch at the top right corner, I could not help but feel excited. Ya-haa! it's my first Apple computer. I've always been a Windows user (for better and for worse) and I think perhaps it's a good time to try out a totally different OS. I just love the little detail, like the illuminated keyboard, pressing the keys just feel great. The only problem I have at the moment is the edges are rather rough to the skin, I think. Well, so far so good! The things that I like so far: 1) Logging in and shutting down is just super quick, unlike Windows which just take too damn long (not to forget sometimes it just crashes). 2) Then there's the interfacing aspects of Mac which are very user friendly. 3) The battery life is long (I know, it's still new and all, but come on! 5, 6 hours on a single charge for typical use like surfing, music. That has got to be something. 4) Energy saving (the light just dims when you're inactive for like 2 minutes).5) This is my favourite! The trackpad is just awesome. The trackpad acts as a button, you can have multiple finger gestures for different stuff (my favourite will be the 2 finger gesture for scrolling down web pages, documents, lists, etc2). It is unbelievably awesome!

Oh, before I forgot, I just found out the most awesome thing ever! My HTC TD2 acts as a wireless modem via Bluetooth, and I can access the internet using the Internet Sharing option. Super super cool feature. As long as there's EDGE or 3G signal, I can simply turn on BT and tadaa! Internet wherever you are, wherever you go.

It is still to early to say on the software aspects, since I haven't transfered any of my media. Plus I haven't tested the work capability of iWork (I may need to install Office for Mac, we'll see), but so far I like what I've bought. Very much! I'm posting this on MBP as we speak, hihi. Till the next post! Oh yeah, check out some photos below:)

PS: I just checked the battery. 20% left, but it's good for about 1 hour of computing.:)

Thank God It's Friday...Not This Week For Me

People who work love Fridays. It marks the end of the workweek. Everyone's looking forward to spending quality time in the weekends doing something they enjoy doing. I was looking forward to have a nice time relaxing and chilling out after an exhausting work week, with the plant start up and all. Well, if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be.

I was heading home from Ayer Keroh at about 6-ish. I was in the PLUS highway northbound to KL, when somewhere in Pedas, the rain starts to fall. Then it started to get really heavy (wiper no.2 la). I was doing around 90, 100kmh. Plus, the cars starting to pile up, you know, typical rush hour for the weekends. As I reach just after Seremban's R&R (km 275.5, according to what I wrote in my police report), the car in front of me suddenly braked. My quick reflexes triggered me to push the break hard enough, I managed to slow my car and avoid hitting the car in front. Unfortunately (hear comes the sad part), the car behind me could not brake on time and then, Bang! hits my rear bumper. I was shocked my mind just could not process what just happened. I drove my car for further 5 meters and then stopped. It was raining and I was like, damnnn..accident plak dah, and I put on the hazard lights and head out to check my car. Aiyoo, bumper sudah kemek. I grabbed my mobile phone and snapped the picture of my rear bumper, took photos of the car which banged me (btw, it's a white Proton Wira, registration no WMS 1467). Funny enough (although really it's not), there's 5 Series BMW got banged by another car (I think it's a Hyundai). The BMW, driven by a Chinese chap had minor bruises on his rear bumper, but his exhaust almost fell down! We then took our car to the side, chatted about what happened, what to do and all that, and this guy suddenly showed up to ask us to head to Seremban police station report about this. Later I found out that the dude was working for a workshop (kira macam runner la, siap ngan tow truck ready). Damn, they were quick to the scene (more about them later on).

So with my bruised bumper, not properly closed boot and with my hazard lights on, we headed to the nearest police station. Somehow I lost track of the convoy and took my own way to the nearest police station, which led me to IPD Sepang. There, upon asking me where the incident took place, they insist that the location is under Seremban's jurisdiction, so I need to head there to report. I was like 'Geez, takleh ke buat kat sini je?' I was hungry, soaking wet, so want to pee, not to mention fuckin' pissed! So I made my way, driving to Seremban at 60kmh (the last thing I want right now is to have my boot flying off my car, leaving me behind). At about 10:30 ish, I reached Seremban's police station. I parked my car outside the station, headed inside when a bunch of these runners I talked about earlier, starts asking me if 'abang dah ada workshop dah?', while at the same time handing over their business cards. I was like 'do they smell opportunity, do they have insider info of what's going on'? I head inside to find out they are about 20 people reporting of accidents! It was 10:45 when I took my queue number, and only called on at 12:30am! My god, this is just horrible! While sitting, standing, pacing around the station, I observed these so-called runners teaching victims how to write their report', explaining what to do next, bla3, even hanging around with a few of the officers. Haha, talked about networking for your business.

So then comes my number. I sat down, gave my IC and license number and the police lady took my statement. I waited for a while when another officer asked me to show my car, took some photos. The incident investigator then asked me to head home and wait for his call. By the time it all finished, it is already 2am. I head back to KL, doing 60, 80kmh and reach home at 2:45. I'm so starved and I can barely open my eyes....What..a...day it has been.

Some photos after this. I need some serious cheering up. I know! I'll get my 13.3" Macbook Pro today! Sighhh...

When it happened...
The banger...

The morning afterAnother view
My statement...

MG3 & HPU2 Turnaround 2009: Ramblings

This is like my first post for 2010, and it's been about what, a month since my last post. Before I go any further, I just want to wish everyone 'Happy New Year'. I would like to quote from my sms sent to mass recipients, 'Cheers to a good 2010. May this new year bring many opportunities your way; to explore every joy of life, turning dreams into reality, and all efforts into great accomplishments.' I wish nothing but the best to everyone including myself for this year. May all your dreams, wishes (and past unfulfilled resolutions) come true.

Enough intro. So, I've been busy over last month. As you have read in my previous posts, the refinery I'm working at is having its turnaround (TA in short, basically a routine major shutdown). A lot has happened within this time span. I am currently relaxing within the comforts of my own home, after gruelling hours spent working. I'll try my best to share what went on and all that, just so that you guys have a feel.

The TA begins with the handover of the plant from the Operations team to the TA team, which is on December 3rd, according to my Twitter. The plant comprises of equipments such as distillations columns, heat exchangers, pressure vessels, relief valves, furnaces, and many more, the size is just massive! I was given the responsibility to supervise the works for pressure vessels. Basically the works will be done by the contractor, and it is my responsibility to ensure everything goes well, within the require time frame, and ensure work execution was done safely. Pressure vessel works started with the equipment isolation (to make sure no hydrocarbon enters the vessel before entry), opening of the manhole, pre-cleaning inspection, cleaning, full inspection, inspection by Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH; more about them later), manhole closing and de-isolation, and I think it applies pretty much the same for other equipments. Some of the equipments operate in high pressure (to give you an idea, there's a picture of the size of the bolts and nuts used to seal the manhole and contain the vessel), and there are some which is located in high elevation, so heavy lifting is required to remove some parts (as you can see later, the cranes used are just like the Transformers)

The stud bolts used at of the pressure vessels. Huge!The 400T crane used for the heavy lifting. There are 2 of these, and a smaller one

The TA is also the time you can see inspection works carried out in a bigger scale. Basically for an equipment to operate, it must have a CF (Certificate of Fitness). You need to know how good/or bad your equipment is after operating for a certain period of time. Parameters checked include corrosion rates, signs of deterioration, hairline cracks, weldin intergrity, and many more. The inspectors always have the coolest gadgets! They have infra red, ultrasonic, CCTV, boroscope. You name it, they have it! They are like the CSI of engineering. I happened to witness some of the inspection works carried out, such as CCTV, Ultrasonic Thickness Scanning (UTS), and it was a great experience.

TA challenges are totally a different ball game. You'll never know what to expect till you actually see it. We've encountered this coke substance (solidified, hardened carbon deposits) stucked at a few of our heat exchangers, then I've experienced pyrophoric material first hand (stuff that auto ignites when exposed to air). We've had issues with heat exchanger leaks during hydrostatic tests, seized bolts till it requires flame cutting, unprecedented thinning in one of our heat exchangers; problems are encountered one after another. Not to mention the weather has not always been on our side (what do you expect, it's the time of the year, the monsoon season). It kinda slowed down our progress a little bit. We're a bit off-schedule, but heck; work must be completed at all costs!

Throughout this TA, I was on a journey to explore my true mental and emotional limits. The contractors just like pushing our buttons, and sometimes they just get into your cracking nerves. By the final week, I think my mind works differently than my body (basically dah weng la). My bosses almost got into a fist fight, mind you because of these emotional stresses! That is how tensed all of us are. I even followed one of my colleagues for a full body massage (haha, not to be shared in this post, next one perhaps?:p)

I lost track of what to write next. Ahaa, let's talk a bit about the DOSH fellas. They basically are the ones who determined whether these equipments are fit to run. They're from the G, so yeah, they got the power. What I found out is that all of them are relatively young (the one I escorted is just a year older than me!), lack of experience, mostly a diploma holder. But from what I heard (biasala, office gossip), they demand! They had new bags, uniform, shoes each day they come for the visit, escorted by their entourages, dining VIP style, came and go whenever they feel like it, banyak lagi la. Hahaha, hopefully this stays here.

I lost ideas of what to write. Will update soon of any. Have a good weekend!

Yawnnn...

When I stumbled into this article, I remember being in a Physics class back in college. Mr Suresh, my Physics teacher was explaining something I don't quite remember, but I do remember unintentionally yawn (I supposed it's because it's a bit boring), when I got caught with a caution 'No yawning in my class'. I supposed now reading this article I can say, 'You should let me yawn!'

Yawn It’s one of the best things you can do for your brain.

By Andrew Newburg

Go ahead: Laugh if you want (though you’ll benefit your brain more if you smile), but in my professional opinion, yawning is one of the best-kept secrets in neuroscience. Even my colleagues who are researching meditation, relaxation, and stress reduction at other universities have overlooked this powerful neural-enhancing tool. However, yawning has been used for many decades in voice therapy as an effective means for reducing performance anxiety and hypertension in the throat.

Several recent brain-scan studies have shown that yawning evokes a unique neural activity in the areas of the brain that are directly involved in generating social awareness and creating feelings of empathy. One of those areas is the precuneus, a tiny structure hidden within the folds of the parietal lobe. According to researchers at the Institute of Neurology in London, the precuneus appears to play a central role in consciousness, self-reflection, and memory retrieval. The precuneus is also stimulated by yogic breathing, which helps explain why different forms of meditation contribute to an increased sense of self-awareness. It is also one of the areas hardest hit by age-related diseases and attention deficit problems, so it’s possible that deliberate yawning may actually strengthen this important part of the brain. For these reasons I believe that yawning should be integrated into exercise and stress reduction programs, cognitive and memory enhancement training, psychotherapy, and contemplative spiritual practice. And, because the precuneus has recently been associated with the mirror-neuron system in the brain (which allows us to resonate to the feelings and behaviors of others), yawning may even help us to enhance social awareness, compassion, and effective communication with others.

Why am I so insistent? Because if I were to ask you to put this magazine down right now and yawn 10 times to experience this fabulous technique, you probably won’t do it. Even at seminars, after presenting the overwhelmingly positive evidence, when I ask people to yawn, half of the audience will hesitate. I have to coax them so they can feel the immediate relaxing effects. There’s an unexplained stigma in our society implying that it’s rude to yawn, and most of us were taught this when we were young.

As a young medical student, I was once “caught” yawning and actually scolded by my professor. He said that it was inappropriate to appear tired in front of patients, even though I was actually standing in a hallway outside of the patient’s room. Indeed, yawning does increase when you’re tired, and it may be the brain’s way of gently telling you that a little rejuvenating sleep is needed. On the other hand, exposure to light will also make you yawn, suggesting that it is part of the process of waking up.

But yawning doesn’t just relax you—it quickly brings you into a heightened state of cognitive awareness. Students yawn in class, not because the teacher is boring (although that will make you yawn as well, as you try to stay focused on the monotonous speech), but because it rids the brain of sleepiness, thus helping you stay focused on important concepts and ideas. It regulates consciousness and our sense of self, and helps us become more introspective and self-aware. Of course, if you happen to find yourself trapped in a room with a dull, boring, monotonous teacher, yawning will help keep you awake.

Yawning will relax you and bring you into a state of alertness faster than any other meditation technique I know of, and because it is neurologically contagious, it’s particularly easy to teach in a group setting. One of my former students used yawning to bring her argumentative board of directors back to order in less than 60 seconds. Why? Because it helps people synchronize their behavior with others.

Yawning, as a mechanism for alertness, begins within the first 20 weeks after conception. It helps regulate the circadian rhythms of newborns, and this adds to the evidence that yawning is involved in the regulation of wakefulness and sleep. Since circadian rhythms become asynchronous when a person’s normal sleep cycle is disturbed, yawning should help the late-night partygoer reset the brain’s internal clock. Yawning may also ward off the effects of jet lag and ease the discomfort caused by high altitudes.

So what is the underlying mechanism that makes yawning such an essential tool? Besides activating the precuneus, it regulates the temperature and metabolism of your brain. It takes a lot of neural energy to stay consciously alert, and as you work your way up the evolutionary ladder, brains become less energy efficient. Yawning probably evolved as a way to cool down the overly active mammalian brain, especially in the areas of the frontal lobe. Some have even argued that it is a primitive form of empathy. Most vertebrates yawn, but it is only contagious among humans, great apes, macaque monkeys, and chimpanzees. In fact, it’s so contagious for humans that even reading about it will cause a person to yawn.

Dogs yawn before attacking, Olympic athletes yawn before performing, and fish yawn before they change activities. Evidence even exists that yawning helps individuals on military assignment perform their tasks with greater accuracy and ease. Indeed, yawning may be one of the most important mechanisms for regulating the survival-related behaviors in mammals. So if you want to maintain an optimally healthy brain, it is essential that you yawn. It is true that excessive yawning can be a sign that an underlying neurological disorder (such as migraine, multiple sclerosis, stroke, or drug reaction) is occurring. However, I and other researchers suspect that yawning may be the brain’s attempt to eliminate symptoms by readjusting neural functioning.

Numerous neurochemicals are involved in the yawning experience, including dopamine, which activates oxytocin production in your hypothalamus and hippocampus, areas essential for memory recall, voluntary control, and temperature regulation. These neurotransmitters regulate pleasure, sensuality, and relationship bonding between individuals, so if you want to enhance your intimacy and stay together, then yawn together. Other neurochemicals and molecules involved with yawning include acetylcholine, nitric oxide, glutamate, GABA, serotonin, ACTH, MSH, sexual hormones, and opium derivate peptides. In fact, it’s hard to find another activity that positively influences so many functions of the brain.

My advice is simple. Yawn as many times a day as possible: when you wake up, when you’re confronting a difficult problem at work, when you prepare to go to sleep, and whenever you feel anger, anxiety, or stress. Yawn before giving an important talk, yawn before you take a test, and yawn while you meditate or pray because it will intensify your spiritual experience.

Conscious yawning takes a little practice and discipline to get over the unconscious social inhibitions, but people often come up with three other excuses not to yawn: “I don’t feel like it,” “I’m not tired,” and my favorite, “I can’t.” Of course you can. All you have to do to trigger a deep yawn is to fake it six or seven times. Try it right now, and you should discover by the fifth false yawn, a real one will begin to emerge. But don’t stop there, because by the tenth or twelfth yawn, you’ll feel the power of this seductive little trick. Your eyes may start watering and your nose may begin to run, but you’ll also feel utterly present, incredibly relaxed, and highly alert. Not bad for something that takes less than a minute to do. And if you find that you can’t stop yawning—I’ve seen some people yawn for thirty minutes—you’ll know that you’ve been depriving yourself of an important neurological treat.

You Know Italiano? Si, Si, Little Bit...

I'm not sure if this is a standard issue of Lonely Planet's guidebook to Italy...but it sure is funny. Imagine, getting lucky with some Italian chick when you just have to reach the phrasebook to ensure she's having a good time, haha...

The Refinery Turnaround

The refinery I'm working at right now will be having its first turnaround starting today. We will start reducing feed capacity and should be in total shutdown mode in 5 days time. So, since the refinery operated 24/7, you can't afford to shut it down very long. Work around the clock is very, very necessary in this case. Thorough and detailed planning has been taking place for the past year, ensuring that everything is in order. Even 1 hour delay is not acceptable in a turnaround, as time is money, literally. Just as a ball park figure, the plant I'm working in generates about 300K dollars per day in revenue.


So, why do we have to shutdown? Well, in the new plant's case, once you got it commissioned you will get the Certificate of Fitness (CF). For a new plant it will last for 12 months. Then you need to shut it down, held up a series of inspection to make sure everything is in order, then you'll get to extend the CF. You can get an extension up to 72 months before shutting down again. So, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) will be calling the shots when it comes to the inspection.


Besides my plant, another complex will be having its turnaround as well to extend their CF. Things are going to get very complicated, messy, not to mention tiring. I don't think I'll be able to update the blog for this coming 1 month. I will however try to update myself via Twitter, so stay updated. I might also post something in advance if I have the time

The Most Hideous Burger In Town?

So I took my mum & Yaya for dinner last night. We went to My Mom's Chicken Rice (the famous Linda Onn's dining spot) nearby Ampang Point, which I don't quite understand why it got so famous. If you ask me, I've tasted better chicken rice. Perhaps, because it's Linda Onn's it has some star appeal to the customers. Anyway, driving home Yaya suddenly mentioned about 1 particular burger stall which is quite famous. Having a big appetite, I thought 'Let's check it out'. 10 minutes later, here we were, at Burger Om.

Seeing the stall at first sight, the stall definitely does not spell out much appeal. It looks like your typical burger stall that you came across every day. By the way, don't get me started on asking why the hell do all burger stalls are located so close to 7-11? The only difference I can see is the one who's making it. Most stalls that I go to are handled by teens at their 20s, not some old chap with his wife as you can see here. And thanks to my eavesdropping skills, I learnt that he has been involved in this business for the past 25 years.

So, after waiting we got our burgers and we headed home. I can't wait to see what's so special about this burger. Is it so delicious beyond imagination? That would probably be too ambitious, judging from the appearance of the stall. But I'm not to judge, I'm just wanting to have a good meal. I opened the wrapping when I saw this:
I might be wrong, but could this be the most hideous looking burger I've ever seen in my life? I mean look at it! Does it not spell sloppiness and poorly prepared? How come this burger got famous? Mind you, I've ordered a beef special, not a double beef special. You can only imagine how double beef special will look like after looking at the above. I looked at Yaya when she insisted me to try it first. I had my first bite, and then everything changes. It DOES NOT taste like it looks. It may look poorly done and all, but it sure tasted good. Juicy, tender, full of flavour, as what you might expect from an experienced burger maker. But again, looking at the image above and you are not wrong; it looks like it is deep fried, with all the oil and grease...and...may I suggest full discretion upon eating this. Your health is yours to take care of. Hehe.

Satisfied with the 'sloppy burger', I browsed the Internet to verify the claim that this 'Om Burger' is in fact famous. I was stunned. There have been a few food blogs praising about how good this burger is. And one more thing, it may be the most hideous burger in town, but it also holds another record, according to popular votes:

I'm not kidding you. Fried Chillies (a legit Malaysian network site on food) organised the 1st Annual Fried Chillies Foodsters Awards and Om Burger was voted 'The Best Street Burger In KL'! (you can check the list of winners here).

So, don't just take my word. Try it out! Om Burger is located at Lorong Kolam Air Lama, 68000 Ampang Jaya, Selangor. (N 3.16063 E101.78560 for those of you with GPS). Who says sloppy can't taste good? Till the next post...

Seen And Heard: Kris Allen - Live Like We're Dying

Today has been a gloomy day, as it started raining from the afternoon till about like 6 or so. Anyway, I was downloading a few songs for my collection and I encountered this song. At first I thought it was from The Script. I was like 'Gee, haven't heard this song before. Is it from The Script?' After further digging, I found out the truth: it is Kris Allen's latest single! Hey hey, now why it sounded just like The Script's nature of songs? Turns out, it was originally recorded by The Script. But then, it was pretty much unreleased, and now Kris got his hands on it! Check out his video after this. If you're a big fan of The Script, I'm damn sure you'll like this too:)
Download

That's Just Plain Ballsy...

Enough said. Pics courtesy of mirror.co.uk

Happy First Anniversary MG3!

23 November 2009 is the day the MG3 (the plant where I'm working now) celebrated it's first anniversary of commercial operation. For that, the organizing team (led by yours truly) was entrusted to hold an event for it. A lot of work was put into making it a success, but in the end I am satisfied with the end result.

We have received a helping hand from the HR department to assist us in making this event possible. They helped us with the hall and seating arrangements, audio visual aspects as well as event photography (I have yet to get the pics from them, will upload a few here later). One colleague at work helped us in the food section (which I'm glad he did, as everyone praised the food that day). It was especially important to have everything perfect as we are expecting the CEO of the refinery, as well as the CEO of the marketing arm for the base oil. Now what is left is just...flyers, backdrops, banners, email invitations, montage, emcee text preparations, goodie bags, cake, hampers....did I miss anything else?

I have put my creative cap on to design the flyers, banners, backdrops. I was thinking something complicated when suddenly it hit me. We're celebrating 1 year old, why don't we just do something simple? Something very 1 year old? So, I thought why not put a 1 candle and a cupcake beside it. It will look cute, simple, appropriate. So the result is:


We also thought that since it is a 1 year anniversary, let's do something a 1 year old would do; cut a cake! So we went to the bakery and ordered a 4kg cake (huge!) shaped in a number 1..How cute. Then we went to Mydin, buying out stuffs for the goodie bags & hampers. I also had to prepare and emcee text as I will be the emcee of the event. Sunday at about 5-ish, we returned to the office, having all stuffs ready, we got our young operators helped us out in packaging the goodie bags.

We're supposed to be giving out the goodies at 7:15am but guess what, at 6:30a, it started to rain! At home I was like, crap, are we supposed to bring along an umbrella now? But luckily, as we reached the office, the rain stops. My boss was there, early and so bersemangat to give away the goodies. We got all dressed up in our new corporate shirts (ordered especially for this anniversary). Heck, I even bought a new pair of Dockers for this, haha.

After everything was given out, I went straight to the main hall for audio and visual check, as well as last minute preps. We tested the backdrops, montage, background music, I even practised reading my text for the big event! I was pacing here and there (my routine habit when I'm nervous, huhu).

11am, guests now slowly arrived and entered the hall. There's no turning back now. I prayed that everything will turn out well. I played my cool being the emcee, and everything else just flows along. In the end, it turned out well, and I'm happy. The wife of the marketing CEO gives a thumbs up to me and said 'Good job'. I smiled, thinking I had the job done, that's all that matters:)

Will share some of the pictures when I got it. Till the next post...

Stretching My Voice Chords; Something I Haven't Done In A Long Time

I can't really remember when was the last time I sang out, you know, publicly..with friends. I mean, I enjoy music so very much, but not to the extend of singing the tunes wherever I go. I still remember when I used to sing in public functions back when I was in Standard 2, 3 I think. Anyway, there were two occassions where suddenly I have been sucked into karaoke. One was my colleague's birthday. About 6 of us went out celebrating and the organizer thought that it would be great going out for a karaoke. So we went to this spot at Dataran Pahlawan. At first it was awkward you know, as you feel like you have to impress many people with your freakishly sumbang voice. I have no idea of what to sing, so I chose 'Better Man' by Robbie Williams as my first debut. Man have I made the wrong choice! That song was hard, especially if you haven't really been involved in this karaoke for a very long time! Later on, all of us got comfy stuffing ourselves with food and all, relaxing on a nice couch. Suddenly it doesn't matter anymore. I chose any song I felt like singing, I sang along with the others who chose songs that I happened to like. You don't really care how you sounded like, coz in the end it's about enjoying the moment with your best buds. All and all, it went well, so yeayy for me (at least)

Then there's this away day organized by my department in PD. I arrived at about 7, settled down and getting ready for dinner. At dinner, I happened to be on the same table as my process manager (you know, the one I talked about in my earlier post), and all of a sudden he was like, 'Jom malam ni karok (as in karaoke), aku dah book bilik (I've booked a room), (invite the others). I was like 'ajak yang lain2mimpi apa plak boss aku nih? (what the hell is he dreaming about, suddenly inviting to a karaoke?) So the dinner ended and 15 of us went to the VIP room booked, and again we sang our asses off! We sang and sang and sang, and one by one left the room until there are the three of us! PM, my operating enginner colleague, and me! We sang Aerosmith's I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing like crazy. Steven Tyler, we don't know how you did it singing this effing difficult song, but man, you're god! I even took the opportunity to sing one of my all time favourite song 'Iris' by Goo Goo Dolls. They dig the song too and together we sang! There are more songs, but that was definitely the highlight of the night. We left the room almost at 1am. We have to stop there, coz tomorrow we'll have a breakout and discussion session. But man it was a fun night.

I don't know, there's just something about karaoke that's just stress relieving and liberating. It's not to be enjoyed frequently (or otherwise you have to use note pads or sign languages to talk to people), but when you went out for it, it felt good.

A Valuable Lesson In Office Politics

Remember that one time I twitted about being underrated by the boss despite working like crazy? I never really managed to get it off my system. I haven't got the chance to speak my mind about it, and yesterday I got the chance. I was at the Operations room, discussing and chatting with the process manager (let's just put him as PM) about the event we're organizing in two weeks time, which is the 1st anniversary of our commercial operation. Along the way, the topic just surfaced. 'I heard that he (my boss) rated you guys harshly, really?', PM asked me. 'Well, let's just say that some of the comments that he put in, he can personally talk through with us and we'll get around it to improve, but no he has to put it in the system so that all people in the bloody refinery can look at it! It feels like a slap in the face", I told PM. PM heard about it from our senior manager, which then he commented as being totally uncalled for and biased. Personally he (PM) thinks that for a young engineer like myself and my colleagues here in the maintenance team, we did a fantastic job. Fewhh, I'm glad to hear those words. PM then talks about his past, having fair share of working with shitty bosses and all, and how he worked around it. Man, he was quite a bad ass, even till now! But if you ask me, he is a bad ass knowing exactly what he wants and fought for it like hell, which I think is a quality to be admired for. Bottom line, before we ended our chat, he gave this advice. 'Know your allies (be it your senior manager, or other senior colleagues which you are clicked with, they can be very valuable when it comes to year end feedback), if you know that your boss is not on your side. So what if you're called a stupid son of a bitch, as long as what you did was right, fuck those guys'. Wow, I did learn something today, something which may be worthy over the next few years. Something you actually need to master if you are to survive the world of office politics...

The Heart Speaks...

It's been a while since my last blog. I don't really have anything to blog about other than just sharing what I found over the Net. But today, I just feel like typing something.

First, let's talk about the state of mind that I'm in right now. If my state of mind is like a drink, I have passed my watermelon sweetness phase, bitterness of a Brazillian coffee, etc. If you ask me, I prefer to reflect my mind as being a plain water (Kelantanse will phrase it as tawar hebe)

Let's just reflect what had happened in my personal life (I'll try to not let my emotions cloud the way I'm typing here). It's been about what, 1 year 9 months-ish since the unfortunate event. Well, things went well before that, till one day I was told as being boring, having no sense of commitment, yada3 (which I admit anyway as my weakness). And then we sort of..drfit apart from each other. As time goes by comes this thing about this 3rd guy coming into the picture, of how he's doing something not cool to get her, bla3. Then comes the yoyo phase, whereby she suddenly texted me to say she had a bad dream about me and all, treated me to my birthday dinner and all of a sudden, not answering my calls and smses (I have stopped hoping then). Then comes the picture. Please don't get me started on that picture. I started listening to The Fray's Heartless over and over again, my brain starts to go cuckoo and my grey hairs breeds like crazy!

Now comes a new chapter in my life story. I got a crush on someone at work (at the moment probably I'm just the one who syok sendiri of having a fling). Heck, I even found out that there is someone in the other department who had a crush on me! Talk about playing the game eh. But then I realised that it will probably not work in the future. I just don't feel that we're compatible to the 'happily ever after' state. Plus, my stupid company has enforced this stupid policy on marriage. Apparently you can no longer got married with someone within the same company. Fuck...There goes my chances. Now what the hell am I supposed to do now to find my prospects outside work, now that inside work is a no-no? Perhaps I should start Facebook-ing again...We'll see about that...

I don't think I'm living the past now (now that I got myself occupied with work, but now and then flashbacks are triggered when I look at the little tortoises on my Crocs), but also I'm not living the future. Of course I have started saving myself financially, thinking that 11 Nov 2011 (11/11/11) is a good date to get married, but then in the mean time, I'm just living the present, and I know I can only live the present for so long. I have to look forward to the next stage in life.

To Papa, Mummy and Yaya, you have been my strongest support system I could ever have in this life, and I could not ask for more. When I reflected my actions on what happened, I think the bottom line is that what I did was not wrong.

I'm not writing this to gain sympathy or pityness but simply a means of letting my mind do the talking. Think of it as an RV (relief valve) moment. When there are times of overpressure, it 'pops' to relieve it and things will get to normal, at least for now. I've been told that things will get better in time. Well, it better be true.

Now, two happenings are awaiting. One is my turnaround (TA) of the refinery I'm working in. It starts on the 29th Nov till 3rd Jan 2010. Secondly is another significant date which is coming in about what, 37 days or so? That date surely makes my mind ponder. In the end, only He knows best...

Till the next post...

Losing My Virginity

Before I go any further, NO! it is not about that! It is about the book that I just finished reading. And no, it is not a book about journey into adulthood. I don't need a book to find out what adulthood is all about. I have all the knowledge that I need for that, hehe...'Losing My Virginity' (see above) is a book by Sir Richard Branson, who is the owner of the Virgin Group. Basically it is his memoir of his upbringings and how he drive the rising of the Virgin empire. He may not be famous here, but back in the UK you can see 'Virgin' name almost everywhere. From video stores to mobile service carriers to airplanes to trains to broadband! You can't help but wonder if all these 'virgins' are of the same company. And the answer is YES! You can see the list of his business ventures here

He started off his venture into business by setting up a magazine, 'Student' when he was only 16. His academic intellignence may be lacking (he suffered from dyslexia back during student days), but his tenacity for business is undeniable. He then set up Virgin as a mail order record retailer. Funny thing how he and his team came up with the brand name. Apparently, during that time all of his colleagues are basically new, naive into business ventures- hence the word 'Virgin'. From retailing company, 'Virgin' went to recording, undergone sheer amounts of struggle before emerged as one of the top recording companies in the world, signing up big names during that time like Boy George, Rolling Stones, and the Sex Pistols.

From there onwards, the branch of the Virgin tree keeps growing further and further. He expanded into airline travels (setting up and running Virgin Atlantic was probably the biggest challenge of his life, fighting against the ruthless British Airways who have been monopolizing British air travel business), rail business (setting up Virgin Trains), to the media business and currently, space travelling by setting up Virgin Galactic. All of his journeys have not been smooth sailing, and the heat can be felt reading this book. The way it was written is just so exciting.

Aside from business, he is also a sucker for adventures. He went for a boat trip attempting the fastest Atlantic Ocean crossing, hot air balloon challenge crossing the Atlantic & the Pacific...Goshh, only God knows what is going through in his mind, attempting all this dangerous attempts. But then, it is this sort of attitude which makes Branson exciting and admirable. He approached his life and business ventures with zest, exhiliration, and more importantly passion.

Upon reading this book, you can't help but to be green with envy towards Richard Branson. He has been living an exciting life (you will if you have two private Islands in the Carribean), his ventures have been going well, and he has the family to be there with him all the time! Woww, what a life he is having, and certainly this is one of the best books I've ever read. I highly recommend all of you to read this book.

Seen And Heard: This Is It

I went to the Gardens to watch 'This Is It' with no expectations. Heck, I don't even remember that Yaya and I bought tickets for Saturday night until the afternoon, which showed the state of mind I am in earlier. I'm not entirely sure what to look up for. Is it a documentary? Is it a tribute film? All I know during that time was the airing is only scheduled for 2 weeks only.

'This Is It' is a compilation of hundreds of hours of rehearsal footage, on how MJ and his crew prepared for what could be the greatest show ever performed by the great genius. In a nutshell, it shows you what to expect and what will the concert look like should it take place. There are footages of how the auditions for the dancers went on (a very brutal selection process I would say), the stage preparation, the visual effects. They even construct some new video scenes to complement the concert for songs like 'Thriller', 'Earth Song' and 'Smooth Criminal'. From what I saw, they really put an effort to make it BIG! It was going to be the greatest pop concert ever based on what I saw and its preparations.

Well, some might say that the release of this so-called film is only a mere publicity stunt, as a means to return what they have invested, taking advantage of the good name and just 'milk' the public in any way possible. I could not deny that possibility, and based on what I've read the public seemed to have that same opinion. But then, most of the public seemed to embrace the release of this film. Reviews were positive (at least the ones I read) said that they're glad to be able to watch MJ one last time, preparing of the greatest show in his life. Fans can see that MJ really loves his fans, and that is shown in the rehearsals. Yeah, he takes rehearsals very seriously!

MJ's attention to detail is very, very admirable. Despite being 50, he knows his stuff very well. He knows the right note to hit, when to excatly hit them. His dance move is still rockin'. You can see that he has the stamina to get the concert going. There are no signs of deteriorating health, although MH can been seen obviously thin. He is very methodical in his approach, and for that reason, it is a pleaure watching a genius at work.

I came back a happy audience. Despite being only a rehearsal footage, you can't help it but to be excited, excited of things that might happen. It is just unbelievable! Too bad the audience took it like they're watching a movie. I was dying to clap my hands, shouting 'Woooo' after each song and they can just sit there seriously like watching an epic film. Only when the end credits started to appear, people started clapping. What a dull audience. Have you not been in a concert before? That is how you should embrace 'This Is It', imo. A review from BBC can be read here. Go watch it if you're an MJ fan. I think you will not be disappointed...Signing off..

Eye Candy For Your Viewing Pleasure...

Well, not in the perverty sort kind of way. Have you ever looked at clouds at the sky and thought ' Gee, that cloud just looks funny looking!' Well, you're not the only one who ever had that thought. Check out some other weird looking clouds. Have a good day!

More can be looked here