Saturday, August 30, 2008

Dah 4 tahun dah...

Wow... I just realized today that my blog celebrated its 4th birthday 3 days ago !! My first ever posting was on the 27th of August 2004.. Wow.. I've written so much huh ? Never thought that I'd be a constant blogger though it may not be the popular one. However , enough to archive for my future generation. Its a space for venting out !! Internet generation huh ... macam nerd la pulak.. hahahahahah
I guess blogging spurred me to do a lot of things and opened up my mind while reading others. Its a kind of pscho-therapy in a way ; sharing about one's life and trying as much as possible to be transparent. I guess there are bloggers out there who prefer to conceal more than reveal but that is one's personal choice. My blog definitely had lots of emotions documented throughout the 4 years. So many things had happened and so many life event turns that I've crossed.
Here;s for more to come ! And of course.. Happy Birthday Malaysia to all of us.. MERDEKA !!!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Raving for adrenaline


I guess my running mates and I are getting more "daring" and BELASAH mode. We've registered to join the Genting trailblazer on the 2nd of November !! Seeing the pics and reading other people's blogs ; it will certainly be a challenging yet "dirty" race !! Memang kepala sudah gila aahh... Betul2 mid life crisis huh...
In a way , it is a good motivational factor to train ; especially when October will be Syawal where we will be on the festive eating mode the whole month. Mind you , we've even registered for Klang 12K and Mizuno run. A certainly good run up to our 14K Genting trekking !
I've lost a bit of weight after my latest expedition and in a way quite happy with it ! I'm wearing my old trousers which i could not earlier as well as having to poke a new hole on my belt ! However , I am a bit dissapointed that I've not been able to do evening runs because of the heavy downpour these past few days. I've resorted to decreasing my food consumption which wifey is so surprised to see the discipline !
P/s I've placed the weighing machine in front of the toilet .. A certainly good way to know how much you've lost after the "session" !!! Hahahhaha

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Mount Tambuyokon 8 - 10 August 2008


Tambuyokon 8462 ft / 2579m
I will never climb this mountain ever again !! Cukuplah sekali !! Hahahahaha.. Tambuyokon maybe the 3rd highest peak but the trail to the top was Wow... Masya Allah ! We started at 300m and the peak is more than 2500 m , tak ke mencanak tu ? Hahahaha.. The travels started from Pekan Ranau where I was just in the nick of time to get my new shoes ! The classic kasut getah which was all of our guide's official sponsor for their climbing shoes !

The journey started after dinner in Ranau. It was excellent ! Sup tulang tu.. mmg dahsyat and nice ! I guess eating proper good food in between the climbs. We took the 4Wd straight to Pos Manggis.It was a bumpy ride and it was raining. We crossed the river thrice but I was not sure whether it was the same one ! But it was my first time on a 4WD crossing a true wide river at night !!



8 August 2008
The trek to Tambuyokon peak was only 14 km but we were warned about the tough conditions and how we should approach the climb. The last time people went up there was in May and being untouched for a few months the denai trek maybe masked.On top of that , its PACAT ( Leech ) heaven !! Hahahaahaha.. The thing most climbers dread most. Therefore , before leaving the next morning we really had a field day spraying our legs with sheltox as well as the magical air tembakau..

True enough , the moment we step into the thick forest ; one could see how the leeches were dancing to see us.Especially when you stop .. ATTACK !!! Hahahahaha in a way , it was something that brought our mind off from the gruelling track because we were busy looking at our legs. I manage to fend off the big ones but the baby pacats manage to slip into my double layered socks..
According to the original plan we were suppose to shoot straight to Kem Musang which was the nearest camp before we reach the peak. However the guide were very sceptical of us reaching that goal We were keen on reaching the peak within a day but they were more prepared to bring us up there in two days ! Its OGKL man.. memang Impossible is nothing !! Hahahaha.. After negotiations ; we decided to camp halfway in Kem Kopuakan ( we call it KEPUAKAAN.. hahaha ) And Kepuakan is only 800m above sea level.. so to reach above 2500..haa..jawab la sendiri layan trek !!!


9August 2008
Again.. it was as to follow our tradition ; we started walking again at 2am from Kopuakan. According the guide , he expected us to reack Kem Musang in 6 hours but the whole group did it in 3 hours ! Hidup OGKL !!! Hahaha.. the trek was uphill and I was already getting tired. From Kem Musang to the peak ; 6 hours at least.. MAk AAIII... Jauh lagi tu.. hahahahaha
The trek from Kem Musang ; General ; peak had everything. It was mountaineer's haven ; the climb was vertical.. we had the Irau-like mossy forest , climbing on literally roots , and then the rocks.. I truly felt like a cliffhanger !! Memang kewl.. But at the same time.. IT was draining and we had to ration our own drinks to maintain one's hydration.. Memang PEWAAII..


We had to climb again and again while reaching the peak.. Memang ada 7 puncak tipu ! It was a mental game for us ; a real test to see how determine you are. I was fairly exhausted but Alhamdulillah , it was a good feeling reaching the top ! Subhanallah !! Tambuyokon pun sudah sampai laaa !!!!It was good and I'm glad I was on the trip. It was satisfying eventhough ada la badan, kaki sume jadi mangsa..
Thank you OGKL for making my dream a reality..Gua pun hardcore!!! hehehehe
" Apa yang penting..bekerjasamaa...."


blisters..

pacat..

Walking above the clouds....
I forgot to mention earlier , besides the pacat marks and blisters ; I did dislocate my shoulder during this trip ! Such morbidity !! Hahahaha Luckily I was able to reduce it ( put it back in place ) and continued the journey home. It could have been worse but the pain was .. tak bule cerita bang !!! I do still have immobilities but Ok la..

Mount Trusmadi 6 - 7 August 2008

I've delayed this entry log because life has been hectic since i came back. On top of that , I caught the bug from my children and it left my weight as how I like it at the moment !! Hahahaha...

TRUSMADI 8669FT / 2642 M
5 August 2008
Wifey made a surprise move by offering to send me to the airport. I was speechless because when it comes to Outdoor activities that I do , I will try as far as possible to trouble her. Thanx Ja ! Dzaeffran was with us as Mak was not keen for us to bring Qaisya to LCCT. As soon as we arrive , the usual suspects were there. The OGKL group ; Ramli , Muzammil , Tok Gajah , Syuk and Amir were the early birds. I was introduced to Nadir ; a seasoned mountaineer and I certainly envy his gear ! Cool giller... :)

The whole 17 of us then checked in and obviously with the recent Air Asia restriction on baggage , somebody had to be sacrificed and it was Syuk ! His bag was witheld and all of us took a bit of his stuff. And in upholding the true OGKL way , we were late ! Ahahahah We rushed through the immigration point and that was how we manage to bring parang and the forbidden stuff on flight!
We arrived in KK at about midnight and straight away , the van ride to TVRC ( Tambunan Village Resort Centre ). We stopped for supper which was a good introduction to Sabah !

6August 2008
We slept cowboy style at the TVRC outdoor hall. We already 1000 m above sea level so it was very cooling and comfy in our sleeping bags. Everybody was up and early as Deeno had planned a ownderful trip for us ! He was the Guide for Trusmadi as he'd been there twice before. After a good Nasi Lemak breakfast , we were on the 4WD to the foothill of Trusmadi. The 2hr ride was hell !! hahahaha.. I guess most of our butts were bursting from pain and NOTE : pakai cycling tights with pads is not a bad idea next time !!


We arrived at 1800m above sea level and everybody was in their high spirits to scale the 2nd tallest mountain in Malaysia ! The whole track to the peak was 7 km. Hehehe but it is the within 1 hour 7km that I do for the runs !! Initially the track was flat for the first 1.5 km till we reach the 4900m mark. After that it was up and up and up and up ! The track was fairly readily available but not as how Kinabalu is which maybe over commercialised. Semput jugak.. hahaha..Gaban or Gabby as how she is known as prepared us Nasi Himpit from home. Guess what ? Hancur bang.. hahahah.. that was a good laugh but luckily we had spare nasi lemak from breakfast ; so it was still funny !
We climbed at our own pace and the group spread out. My speed.. hmm.. About 1 km per hour ? and the speed lessens.. to 0.5 km per hour when it became steep!Tak percaya tengok climb profile !

The original plan was to climb to the mountain top by hook or by crook that day. However , when we reached the cabin site which was also the last water point ; hmmmm... we had a relook and rethink. We surpassed the 2000m height mark and it already felt cold eventhough it was 3pm in the afternoon. Then rain started and the consensus was for us to stay overnight at the cabin.. And it was not a bad decision!!! Dinner was as ever satisfactory and the whole gang slept early as we will start early again..

7 August 2008
We started moving out from the cabin at 230am and my oh my.. sejuknyeeeeee..... We only had 1.4 km to reach the peak but it was A LONG 1.4km! The climb was steep and we moved because it was too cold to stop. At about 3ish , it started to rain heavily. Ya Allaah... Only god knows how cold it was to walk in such condition. I was on Celebrex so my usual cramps did not show itself truely. Alhamdulillah , by 430 am I was at the peak of Malaysia's 2nd highest peak...



SUBHANALLAH.. we watched the sunrise and it felt really great to be up here and witnessing god almighty's gift to us. It was DAMN BLOODY cold but the satisfaction and adrenaline shoved everything off ! MY Admiral shoe which i thought could survive the two mountains gave away its life on top of this mountain.. Hancur kasut !! Hahahaha nasib baik boleh ikat-ikat.
We celebrated our achievement on top of Trusmadi till about 7 am and started the descend. Somehow it was not that bad as we were all eager to reach ground zero ASAP so that we can relax longer. By 1pm , we were at the foothill and after that the "sakit bontot" time again on the 4WD. We reached TVRC at about 430pm and cleaned ourselves up before the long ride to Ranau for our next climb. Time ni dah letih dah...

Sad day


It was a sad day for the radiology department yesterday. They lost a first year trainee , who was pleasant and liked by everybody. It was a sad atmosphere in ICU yesterday morning when the last ditch attempt of CPR was done . A big number of her colleagues were around ; especially after i informed my wife earlier after reviewing her as the SMO on call. She was then in the upmost critical stage of her life.
She was young , married with a 2 year old child. She was admitted last Friday for her worsening of symptoms; she wasn't known to have any other illnesses and was just not recovering from her bad URTI.Unfortunately , the sepsis was overwhelming. She fought hard to live but i really dunno which fulminant bug was condemning her to death.She was in severe septic shock , DIVC with all the complications that one can imagine. She was on major supportive care ; but she could not recover at all.It was too overwhelming and her time had come.

My condolonces to the family ; wifey was certainly disturbed and affected by the untimely death.
**********************************************
Getting the SMO ( Senior Medical Officer ) oncall job is certainly a challenge.By right it is not my time yet to do it but the circumstances forced my batch to take the responsibility. The 4th years have a huge shortage and because we have surplus 3rd years , 2 of us will take turns to do the SMO job. the The "upgrade" can be a moral booster but at the same time a different kind of stress when one has to incorporate plans of management in the oncall.
Experience certainly plays a big role while managing and i guess by doing the SMO job one is trained for the future specialist role one will play for his/her lifetime. I reckon its good but it should be guided well so that we don't end up to just BELASAH or do things without proper knowledge.
Yesterday I had to sit in the PAIN clinic because both of the PAIN PROFs were away ; and the it was passed on to me to see the patients. They were not happy to be sent home so SMO lah kena pergi ! Hahahahaha.. Chronic pain clinic is a totally different dimension and i kinda learnt something while talking to the patient. Their NEUROPATHIC PAIN is real as real can be.. and WTF to do lah ? hahahahaha PR job was the main thing to do yesterday and ok lah , the patient went back happy.. :)
I;ve done 3 so far and alhamdulillah the 3 calls were cool ; too cool that i foresee i will be having a torrid and eventful call really really soon !

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Kedah did the double treble..


I was in Bukit Jalil earlier tonight , hoping to see a miracle. It was the Malaysia Cup final and to not be in the stadium when Selangor plays is a mega sin. I missed the FA cup final because I was in Palembang so i guess , this time since I am around I should not miss it.
Kedah was expected to win this match that made Selangor the underdog team. When we arrived , it was obvious who were the winners ; absent were the usual Selangor final fans ; it was half empty on the Selangor side while on the Kedah side ; it was almost full. Unbelievable !!! The atmosphere was electrifying and the Kedah fans were really fanatics !
Selangor started well , scoring the first goal. At that time the whole bunch were jumping like mad because we thought it was a sign !! Unfortunately , the better team started to pressure Selangor and it was obvious how they controlled the game. Selangor let in the first goal with inch perfect through pass , and then a blaster a minute later ! The whole Selangor crowd went quiet. And guess what , Razman the no 3 defender had to make a STUPID mistake in the penalty box and gave a PRESENT to Kedah.. and they scored ! 3-1 down.. Dil , Fiqar and Kamal just went out the stadium looking to watch Liverpool on telly !! Hahaha 2nd half there was not much of a difference , Safee Salee scored a screamer : EPL quality goal ! However it was not good enough.. and as a Selangor fan.. I was utterly dissapointed for us not to win the coveted sacred cup... :(
Congrats Kedah for their true champion consistency... they were the better team by far !! As for Selangor.. takpe , penyokongmu masih setia... :)
p/sI will always remember that one Kedah fan who danced tak "hengat" punya everytime Kedah scored !!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The mega launch



I was at L4T's( Leaders For Tomorrow ) soft media launch on Tuesday despite me being sick. I had to come anyway because I was holding one of the buntings , kangtak datang kena maki kang dengan Dil.. hahahaha
Surf www.l4t.org for further information..

Down and out


I've been sick for the past 3 days. I must have over-exhausted myself ; went over the limit of my physical ability ! I had a really bad viral bout which really floored me but i still manage to do my call on Monday despite the light headedness. Alhamdulillah the call was uneventful otherwise I myself would have collapsed ! I was anhedonic that even blogging was out of the question. I am better today and since I don't have a proper list today so here I am again.. blogging again !!!
I suppose I was still recovering from my TT expedition ; but last weekend i really walloped myself. I was the MC for Mat's ( Dil's brother) wedding in Sheraton and we started rehearsing at 3 pm that Saturday afternoon. The Tengku Temenggong Kedah was the VVIP therefore we needed to ensure that everything was smooth. The event ended at 11pm and of course , dah tidur kat hotel bersama anak dan isteri... hehehehehehe... boleh la pulak lepas tu layan Liverpool's first game till 2am ! mana nak penat..

And the best thing was , I woke up at 530am and prepared myself for the Merdeka 10km run in Datarn Merdeka !! Hahahah.. time ni badan rasa cam kuat lagi.. Azad , Mafiz ,Ruslan and Halim joined the run as well. Kalau lari cam biasa takpe , badan kan rasa cam best sikit afterthe expedition , so i really pushed myself in that 10 .8 km run ! Memang gile... After the run I felt a bit funny and went back straight to the hotel... dah la tengah panas ; kerana nak bagi anak happy I had my dip in the pool... AND THAT WAS IT..

I felt sooooo tired after that.. slept the whole afternoon and by late pm , chills and rigors... still , we had to attend Elly and Edzwan's wedding in Anjung FELDA. My body was telling me to slow down but I cannot miss my own sister's wedding can I ? It had the similar BALI theme as how wew were in BORA ASMARA. Elly wore full traditional JAVA costume and EDZWAN certainly looked like Dukun Dewangga from SUSUK.. hahahaha We went back home , and..hmmm.. memang confirm demam. I was very cold intolerant that i had to sleep outside the room because everybody else was hot !

Itu la.. nak buat cerita.. moral of the story.. when you're above 30.. you'll always be above 30.. the body will not lie to you.. :)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Some picture summaries from the trip

I still can't find the right time to write up about my trip as yet. I had to bring Dzaeff to the hospital today as he developed nasal bleed after a week of fever. I was just making sure that it is not dengue and the trip to the Paeds A&E this afternoon certainly drained my energy after my long day in OT.


Check out the Trusmadi Tambuyokon pics from one of the expedition members ; I am impressed with Nadir's pics ; certainly captured the "feel" during the 5 day long expedition.. :)


Our butt smacking 4WD ride

on top of Trusmadi


playing with the clouds near Tambuyokon's peak

Malaysia kita bah !

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Puncak kejayaan


Trusmadi peak


Tambuyokon peak

Bruised and injured but fully satisfied

Its 4am now. Touched down in LCCT from Kota Kinabalu at 12 midnight. I still can't sleep and at the moment I'm clicking through all the pics of my trip.Yes.. i conquered Trusmadi and Tambuyokon ! Alhamdulillah.
Eventhough I am now very sleep-deprived , tired , both feet swollen and bruised with pacat's marks.. I just can't make myself to go to bed as yet. ( I'm also waiting for my laundry to finish.. ) I am still euphoric ; i smile as i go through the pictures. There were too many memories and experiences to treasure.
I will write about it later ; I definitely will !


Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Let the adventure begin..

I'll be away for one week. I'm not sure whether it will be possible for me to blog while I'm there.. but we'll see. I'm not bringing my Sony ericsson , therefore no mobile blogging possible ! ( ari tu my benQ rosak pasal bawak gi outdoor la.. ) Wish me luck and insya allah selamat pergi , selamat kembali..

Sunday, August 03, 2008

The children's first sports day

After having a very hectic day on Saturday , we ( including the kids ) reluctantly woke up early on Sunday because it was Salsabila's sports day. Both Dzaeff and Qaisya were involved ( imagine.. 2.5 years and 1.5years old !! ) so there was no excuse to skip it.Besides that , wifey is the medical officer in charge for the day so literally there is no way to not attend it ! We were looking forward for it anyway but i guess elly's wedding reception took its toll on both the kids.
They were cranky from the moment they woke up. Dzaeff was suppose to be the main runner for his event but he just had to do a "Misbun" or"Hafiz Hashim" act.. hahahah.. Qaisya's event was benign ; it was the stroller's beautification competition and even then she was crying!
We enjoyed the day anyway. Dzaeff became much better after that and he ran and ran with his friends. Time perform tak pulak... hahahahahha This was my first time being involved and honestly , i am quite surprised to see how certain parents are REALLY PASSIONATELY involved !!! It was exactly like the tv shows you see..hmm..its REAL ! They were serious about winning as if their lives depend on it.. biar betul !! Hahahahaha

pagi pagi sudah kena bangun..

opening ceremony

Qaisya in action..

Dzaeff had to be forced to play !!

t

Wifey was invited to give away the prizes to winners..

And by the way , there was this competition amongst the parents ; to write few words about the theme. The submission date was a week before the event.Hehehe.. why do i bother to blog it ? Hahahaha to my surprise , I WON IT !! not bad eih ? beating all the other mothers out there... :P

NEVER MISS A MOMENT....

Never miss a moment ,
From womb to birth ,
To appreciate their cry ,
To see them smile ,
To gaze their lovely eyes.

Its a joy to watch them learn ,
To teach them iman ,
To yearn their taqwa ,
Tawadda' to the Almighty.

Never miss a moment ,
Because the hands you caress ,
Will bathe your body upon your death ,
and pray for your soul in the life here after..,