Loser

TNB, for those who don't normally read malay, means Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the electricity people, decided to install a power box just after I came back from the THOEH and so there was no power for hours. The sun was so bright but I had to wait sometimes outside until it was installed and the power restored. You wouldn't believe me if I told you about the fireworks I saw in the eye from the bright sunlight. The box takes power from the overhead power lines but it has no function.

Di sini diletakkan satu kotak tenaga. For those who aren't Malaysian it means they put a power box here. The translation is correct, nothing more nothing less.

Here's the bill for eye surgery. Even got some refund from the deposit paid. It was RM25 for the consultation fee so there was RM399 refunded.

Click to enlarge to read.

The initial deposit paid on Monday before surgery was only RM200. So now it's no longer a secret.

A RM200 dollar bill.

I watched a South Korean drama some time ago. It was translated into Mandarin so Malaysians could understand as we don't normally speak Korean.

There was this scene where there were both Korean actors and genuine caucasian (white, blonde, etc.) ones. A painting was being sold. It belonged to a white girl's father. The scene was an auction and the whites and Koreans were bidding to buy the painting. In the end the Korean girl had the highest bid and bought the painting which belongs to the father of a white blonde girl. The name of the painter, the blonde girl's father, was James Wind. Before leaving the auction hall the Korean girl told the blonde girl that she knew her father was going to die soon anyway and the painting would increase in value after his death which was why she bought the painting. As she left she said the weather is much better in Korea than New York anyway. Thanks for the kind words.

If you watch CNN, such as Jon Stewart's Global Edition, you may have heard that it's possible to lose your kidneys possibly through unprotected sex. And that swine flu has hit the world. And there was something said about the Transformers movie which fortunately isn't in 3D.

I'm glad I'm not married. Imagine the number of times she couldn't say no. At least sex workers can say no. Heck, they even have supporters next door.

Some Retro Boogathon. Still love the song though. Really.

"More and More", Captain Hollywood Project

Vitreous Humor

On Friday, 26th June I packed my bag to take the short LRT ride and walk to the Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital (THONEH). There was now so much fluid flowing in the left eye it was distracting the right one. It used to be a gel but for some reason one day it started flowing and there was a lot of dirt trapped inside which couldn't get out.

I didn't sleep much the night before, I was preparing for admission at 3 p.m. on Friday and was somewhat anxious. And then at about 5 a.m. CNN reported that Michael Jackson had just died. Earlier Farrah Fawcett had also died from intestinal cancer.

I had already registered with the hospital on Monday, 22nd June and many tests were done. Dr. Pall Singh, the consultant ophthalmologist and vitro retinal surgeon, immediately told me he would be doing surgery for the left eye this Saturday. The procedure would be a vitrectomy and takes 45 minutes. I had to go back to the hospital on Wednesday, 24 June as instructed for the Avastin injection into the left eyeball.

So on Friday I walked over to THONEH and up to the wards which are on the 2nd floor. Dr. Pall was there and checked the eye in preparation for Saturday's surgery at 8 a.m. I had to fast from midnight on Saturday. The anesthesiologist was a chinese lady Dr. Ng and she said there would be no urine catheter which meant I had to reduce water intake as well even before midnight.

On Saturday morning in the OT I was very surprised to find a white caucasian surgeon already waiting in his surgical gown. He sounded Australian when he spoke. I asked the nurse for his name but she said it's his first day here. Dr. Pall arrived soon after. I was in OT around 8.30 a.m. but when I woke it was already 10.30 a.m. General anesthesia was induced through a gas mask.

Dr. Pall Singh and an Australian surgeon perfomed the eye surgery.

These are some results from eye scanning which was done on Monday, 22 June.

Stratus OCT scan, page 1.

Stratus OCT scan, page 2.

Stratus OCT scan, page 3.

A blood test was also taken on Monday and sent to Gribbles Pathology for analysis. Gribbles Pathology is an Australian company and located just down the road from where I live.

Gribbles Pathology blood test result.

The blood test confirms I'm HIV negative. Assunta also took some blood for a HIV test when I was in ICU.

Medical Certificate from THONEH.

There's no more visible fluid flowing in the left eye but it's still very blur and cannot read or see much. Dr. Pall says it will improve with time although it won't be as good as the right eye, which is somewhat worrying. There was a tablet inserted into the eye after surgery which I could see but it has since disappeared. I assume it dissolved in the vitreous humor which could mean that there's some fluid exchange in there and it's not too stagnant. Hopefully this gives vision the chance to improve. One funny thing though. Every once in a while there's this purple flash of light which moves around a bit. It can be seen even with the eye closed. It was like this before surgery, it seems to happen less now I think.

At the moment the eye is still somewhat puffy and red. Nurse said it takes about a week for the swelling to subside. Have to go back for follow-up this Thursday.

When Opportunity Arises

I haven't been out much lately, or sleeping in capsules in Japan. So I've been watching quite a bit of TV while waiting for something to happen. Was watching Mr. Siao's Mandarin Class on ntv7 tonight, hoping to learn some mandarin since China may one day be a superpower to be reckoned with. Either that or trying not to be so much of a retard.

So this rather large sized chinese girl, who wasn't so unattractive either, pressed herself up against this younger chinese boy in the toilet and recognised him as "MC Don Don". She pulled out her fancy handphone and showed him something, possibly photos. The young boy became very shocked, maybe because he didn't want to be caught with his pants down in the women's toilet. And then he said one shouldn't play with SMS.

Long time ago I was walking around the Bukit Bintang area and there was this man who would come up to me and ask if I wanted Thailand girls, Filipino girls, all also have he said. They were supposed to be shacked up in a bedroom at the Hotel Nova at Jalan Alor. I asked how much and he said around RM100–200. My guess was it wouldn't be a 15 minute job thingy and it would be at the Nova.

It came across that Malaysia was so internationalised and so open. When I was working at the Lam Seng Plastics factory way back in 2000, the Indian looking guy who spoke very good Malay told me he was from Pakistan. It was one of the first things he said. I was wondering how come Pakistanis had better Malay than me but he insisted he was from Pakistan.

In reality MC asked if no Don Don was okay and since she didn't disapprove then it was okay. Because in reality some did say Don Don was required. Rather than lose the RM30 Don Don came along. Sending dirty SMSs was another thing which caused plenty of time mostly spent doing telemarketing.

So last night I was watching our Prime Minister Najib's interview on Top Talk CCTV through Astro Awani. The interviewer, a Chinese national, was in control of the entire interview and even helped with suggestions before Najib could reply. It was asked if Najib was the "driver of the bus" when the original question was asked regarding his leadership as PM to Malaysia. Najib's blog and his 1Malaysia policy was discussed and the interviewer suggested it could actually have been called United Malaysia instead.

Then tonight after dinner an old chinese man at the local stationery shop shouted very loudly that some people are just not educated and stupid. At least he supports his PM and not the Filipinos. Don't-ever-support-the-Filipinos.

I went to an interview on Monday. The boss there, P.L. of U.T. Sdn. Bhd. (acronyms are intended correct), lent me his laptop to do some AutoCAD drafting. Thanks for letting me use your computer to learn AutoCAD 2009. I hope I don't have to lend you my eye in 5 years time.

I now know I have cataracts in both eyes which cannot be solved by laser surgery even though Doc Brother Dunstan Fernandez says I should let him do it. It needs a different sort of surgery, a lens transplant. The old crystalline lens is cut out, thrown away and a new intraocular lens (IOL) is inserted in its place. Supposedly it's quite a quick procedure and preferred to be done under local anaesthetic only, which is actually the problem.

For recording purposes this is the Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital, near the compound where I took the driving test. At that time, not knowing I had cataracts, I walked in to have a look.

Welcome to the Eye Hospital.

Please take a number and wait.

Upstairs also can wait.

Glow in the dark, glow in the dark, glow in the dark.

My insurance better than your insurance.

My wife is not a Filipino.

Booo hooo

Don't study the manual – just do it.

No, it's 15% per annum, not 9%. No hidden costs.

I told you so

Did I forget something?

Kurma is light brown, almost yellow in colour, or it can also be green. Like a curry but not so hot. Best with chicken, some vegetables and eaten with white rice. Absolutely delicious.

Knockout

The left eye behaves strangely. First it was like a gel inside. But then something happened. One night it started "flowing" again, the gel inside started moving and it has behaved like this since. But that night it was dirty, all these fine black granules floating around like black pepper. This seemed to have very slightly cleared unless it's my imagination. But vision's still bad, probably for life.

So when it started flowing a garbage bin was left at the intersection. With no explanation. And later that night this guy punched my left eye (please see picture below).

Ka pow!!

But he didn't break the specs. Just left some blood on my face. I thought I saw the French President Nicolas Sarkozy picking up the phone live on CNN with the American President Barack Obama in front of him. I thought the eyeball would blow up (or fall out) like a ping pong ball.

No well, no girl.

Everyday I check for improvement to the right eye here. It was difficult waking at 3.00 a.m. (if I wasn't already awake) so I preset a blank channel.

Memories of clearer times.
What did she say? The first one.

At that time I was working on site at Jalan Gurney and seeing the psychiatrist at University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) on selected days. His services weren't free. Dad paid good dollars. During one session the doc asked if I had a girlfriend or words to that matter. That's when I went. I was assuming he was approving. They don't call him doc for nothing.

So she said, "You sudah keras"
(translation: "you're hard")
In with the bag for a short time and then pullout and then back in without.
I asked, "Won't you get pregnant" and she said, "Saya belum bertelur"
(translation: "I haven't got eggs yet")
So I assumed I got the approval. It usually depends on the girl I thought. And the others said ok before entry or didn't say no. So I didn't do anything wrong, or so I thought.

I was walking home from the Tajukon 25th anniversary dinner one night. There was this fun park at Bukit Jalil near the LRT station.

Eurofun park.

It was called the Eurofun Park.

Entrance to Eurofun Park.

There was this pregnant girl outside. I hope her husband isn't blind or she didn't force him to be a Datuk after she got babes. nom nom nom. Obviously she was the one who decided to get babes and not him.

Euro Wheel ferris wheel.

That's the wonderful thing about having friends. It's like King Kong. He climbed the ferris wheel to save the boy. And almost died doing so. He did find his home at the end, minus the blonde.

Track set for drifting in the carpark outside Eurofun Park.

But couldn't get a picture of the car. They stopped drifting when I got there.

So now my eyesight's real bad. Probably can't drive safely anymore. Hope I'm not required to do so if not necessary. I may not even be able to work efficiently.

Boss: Aiyoh, why you so slow.
Me: Boss, I know my eye look handsome but really I cannot see.

So now I've slowed on the jobsearch which has been happening for 3 months. Anyone want to borrow some money from me? hehe.