From Tues to Sat

Tis’ the season to be SICK…

All around me people were getting sick…kak yung, nik aishah, others if not really sick, they at least have a runny nose or a persistent cough…even kak aliya all the way in Aussie was sick… it was as if I was waiting for my turn to become sick… and when my body could no longer withstand the persistent air-borne attack by the influenza virus, it succumbed to its demands…

It started on Wednesday night. I felt the slight discomfort in my throat which is the classical sign of a coming fever. My throat will be soar for one or two days then it will progress to sneezing and later persistent coughing followed by a runny nose with excessive secretion of mucus. By that time, I’d have come down with a fever… so now, I’ve arrived at that stage. Oh yeah I also have a lymphadenopathy or an enlarged node at the area of my right jaw (I haven’t learnt the detailed anatomy yet so I can’t describe it in more precise terms). The node is always there but during an acute infection, it will be tender (feeling of pain when touched) and enlarged than usual.

It happens like that all the time. Just getting a sore throat, I can give the prognosis of my condition…yet, there’s nothing I can do to prevent it from happening. It’s inevitable. I do try to take ubat sakit tekak yang hisap tuh, but my effort is futile.

So now, I just have to just go through all the symptoms and signs and wait for my body’s immune defense soldiers to do their work overcoming this virus. I haven’t seen the doctor yet because last Friday when I intended to, the clinic here which opens for just 1 hour every working day , was closed by the time my classes were over so I just had to rely on my friend’s supply of the medication. You’d think that with doctors all over the place and medical students crawling around everywhere, it would be easy to see a doctor if we were sick…but it just doesn’t happen that way… ironic huh.

10.12 am

Confession of a procrastinator

I’ve been wanting to write something down for a long time now, since Tuesday, but I was so tied up with work that I procrastinated. The week hasn’t been that hectic unlike previous weeks but I still procrastinate until the last minute.

So here I am (coughing as I say this), just having woken up (my body having disseminated pain or generalized malaise with a literal pain in the neck) I write the happenings of the week. Many interesting things have happened that I just have to write it all down lest I forget ‘em all… then that would be just sad…

Prepare thyself for a long one… i’m gonna start from events on Tuesday… (sneeze)

Clumsy on Tuesday (and every other day)

Classes were full as usual save for a cancelled class in the afternoon but we had a briefing on the parasito practical. Then at 2 we had our practical. We did a smear of our own blood and examined it under the microscope.

I’d never forget that practical because I BROKE something. I am just plain CLUMSY. It seems that I do not know my own strength. I was curious to find out what the slide holder was made of. It looked like one of those rubbery materials that are flexible. So I pressed on it to see if it would bend and suddenly PRAP it shattered to pieces. Then, I just froze and stood there. My body had gone rigid all over. My friends all around me were smiling and laughing at my clumsiness and my reaction. When I’d regained my senses, I didn’t dare touch anything anymore. Alhamdulillah the lab technologist didn’t say anything nor was I penalized. Thank god for that (I sneeze again).

The weather that evening was so fine I just had to go out and be a part of it. A welcomed change after the nonstop rain last week. I went jogging with mama or kak siti. Her friends call her mama because she’s married and has a 2-year-old toddler. So we went to Taman Bandar. It was a refreshing change.

At night I had tasmi’ then i don’t know what I was doing but only around 10pm did I really begin to study.

Another Wednesday

Classes as usual but we were free in the evening. Yay. Everyone was rejoicing, believe me, I was one of ‘em. What better activity to do then to just sleep all through the evening. But my slumber was interrupted many times. Geram jer. At 5.30 I had silat practice; we learned new fruits (or buah…hehe). Then at night was tajwid class. I was somewhat blur because I’d missed 2 classes last block.

After that me, asma’ and nik took the extra Palestinian cd’s and books from Fahmi that we thought had safely been transported to KL but wasn’t and only informed about it on Tuesday. Geram lagi. Rase nak gigit je dia. Then, all three of us counted the extra stuff and tried to tally the numbers of the amount sold and amount received. There was much confusion due to the poor recording of the items sold. I love money but handling them for events like these can really give me headaches. Then, I tried to do my PBL and alhamdulillah siap. I proceeded to count and endeavor to match the numbers til 2am.

Then came Thursday

Thursday seems like a blur to me. I can’t recall any interesting happening except for the (sneeze twice) microbio practical on Gram Positive Bacteria. Balik lewat sebab kena observe banyak slides then petang ade silat practice again.

At night, I’d planned to do some revising when suddenly kak Rena announced that she wanted to watch the CD she’d just bought… Taekyugi. It’s a Korean film which became box-office over there. It starred Jang Dong Gun, the guy I had a crush on since the series All About Eve and another famous star Wong Bin who acted in a famous series too but I can’t recall the name. Even kak Matun said that many of her friends have watched it and gave excellent reviews. Even guys cried watching the movie. I was intrigued.

I just wanted to watch it for a while, just long enough for me to finish my dinner which consisted of bread and instant mushroom soup. But the story was too encaptivating and I was stuck there like glue. It was about these two brothers during the Korean War against the communist. The elder brother (JDG) loved his brother (WB) so much and looked out for him all the time. Their father had died and their mother became mute after his death. Then, when the war broke and all males aged 18-30 had to become soldiers, WB was accidentally taken despite his poor heart condition. When JDG knew of this, he immediately searched for his brother but both ended up being taken away as soldiers.
JDG tried to find ways to send his brother home but he was told that only those who had made sacrifices and contributed in the war could make requests. Thus began his war-hero incidents. His brother, WB could not understand why he was risking his life in suicidal missions, mistook it for heroic acts to gain a medal and despised him. The war made JDG ruthless and this saddened WB even more. JDG’s heroism was recognized by the authorities and he was awarded an honorary medal and was appointed as leader of his unit. The portrayal of the war scene was absolutely horrifying and devastating. I was gasping and gaping all the way at the inhumane acts in the war. When the troops arrived at their hometown, WB tried to search for their mother but he found his sister-in-law to be first when suddenly, a group of guys came and took her away claiming she was a communist. At that time, many people would do anything in exchange for food. she was innocent. All she did was sign something and she’d get food. With the brothers gone, she had to fend for the mother and her three younger siblings and times were desperate. Little did she know that the papers were agreements to join the communist party. This group of people were so suspicious that they killed many civilians that they claimed to be communists. JDG saw his fiancée killed in front of his eyes. Then his brother was taken away to prison and the new leader was so kejam, he denied all of JDG’s requests and ordered for the prison to be burnt. JDG thought his brother had died. That was the last straw. He was so mad that he switched sides. In the end, when he realized that his brother was alive, he turned back but was killed.

I cried many times throughout the movie. Meleleh je air mata. By the end of the 3-hour movie, my eyes and nose was red due to crying. Jang Dong Gun died in the end. Why did he have to die? Why does the handsome hero have to die? Hehe

Funny Friday

It was a rainy morning. I wore kakngah’s blue jubah and a flowery tudung that I had to wear two layers becoz its translucent. Entah mimpi ape tetibe nak pakai. Me and Azza came just in time for class. Ever since Azza started driving the car, we’ve always been late to class. Entah, maybe its psychology.

Anyway, we had 2 hours with Prof Pakeer’s parasito lecture. When he felt that many students were straying away, he started telling jokes. Lawak jugak. He had compiled definitions of medical terms that were so funny we were laughingour heads off. Then it was Prof Tariq’s class. I was blurish the whole time. I am just not interested in pharmaco I guess. The Islamic input given by Prof Jalal was so interesting I was perked up all the way. He’s from Burma and turns out that his son is dating auntie Maiza’s younger sister. He’s been here quite a while and has learnt Malay. So he speaks campurization. Totally love ‘im. Anyone speaking campurization has plus points with me. Many may beg to differ. I don’t give a #$*#. Hehe…

I didn’t go to the fasi program held at janda baik this weekend coz I had loads of reports (which I’ve completed last night till 4am) to do. I had also cancelled my plan of going to KL for RAFEST at matrix PJ.

So with nothing much to do, after asar, me, timah and kak rena went to Giant. I had some shopping to do. I bought a new gelang-like (gelangoid) watch (first time beli jam sendri), a book (which I dunno when I’ll read), files and foodstuff. Then, we went to the pasar malam. It was raining very heavily and we were drenched.

Slow Saturday

I slept back after subuh and woke back up at 10.30 am. Mimpi macam2 and my sleep was somewhat disturbed by SMSs. Kak nabila messaged and called. She asked me to notify everyone of a meeting that evening. Then Munirah came and gave me some material for the Catalyst. Then I had a bath and did the laundry. All this time, kak rena was busy cleaning the fridge while kak matun and kak lini were having a Naruto marathon. Even as I write this, their still at it.

Oh yeah, I’ve just recalled another incident of my clumsiness series. While I was hanging out the wash, I used Azza’s hanger to hang the undies coz I had destroyed mine a while ago. And I destroyed her’s too. Susah betul. I was just telling timah yesterday when we walking to Taman Bandar that I have to marry a rich guy who can afford all the things I break. Where am I supposed to find an islamic, rich and handsome guy who’s willing to accept my weaknesses? (sigh)

After zuhur, I transferred my parasito drawings to the sketch book. I really do not enjoy drawing. Then I balut my meja which I had finally gotten about to do. After asar, was the meeting on the final touches of this coming Forum On Life and then I went jogging (or mostly walking) with Timah to the only place near here we can go to for a jog. At first, I was feeling unwell but the walk did me a lot of good.

After maghrib, kak rena and kak matun went out for dinner. I had to decline the invitation to come along since I still hadn’t touched the 3 microbio reports which I had intended to do and I had to do some memorizations. After isya’, as I was starting on the report, out of the blue Adel called. Yep, yeop’s little brother. Mimpi ape entah tetibe. He said I’d been promoted to a janitor of my room. He was asking me the meaning of several Arabic phrases and words. Most of ‘em was of love and kill and stupidity. He and his friends used Arabic words to woo and annoy girls. You can figure out how his grey cells work. He also told me of this Chinese girl he liked who had a cool website. He also made imitations of people’s voices. Lame gak he called.

After that, I worked on the report from 11pm all the way to 3.40am. penat betul. I was so tired plus my ailments, I took a single paracetamol and some cough syrup and went to bed. Next time tanak procrastinate dah.

Lazy Sunday

This morning faham2 jelah bangun kol berapa. It was shining brightly by the time I woke up.

Ok, that’s all folks. I’m gonna have a bath and go out for lunch.

12.38pm
19th December 2004