Back From Kuala Lumpur

Back from 4 hot , sweaty sticky days at Bentong Pahang , and I must say that more than ever , taking the SQ/MH shuttle flight service to KL is more of a pain than a convenience. Long gone were the days where they had flights every hour or even half hour to KL ; now I had to be at the mercy of those passengers holding the more expensive confirmed tickets , as there were at most 20 seats open to stand-by passengers like me. Thankfully that Prof Prabha cancelled his Paeds Surg lecture that Friday ( that was like the best news I had heard in WEEKS ) , and I could rush straight down to the airport.

I was quite sad actually to leave NUH coz I had made a really nice young friend in whom I call "Wisely". She is a patient who has to spend her New Year hols in hospital because a really nasty steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome. Incidentally , it happened to be cao cao's ward assessment cum professorial case presentation. It was quite ironic that she got kind of ticked off by the Prof about not taking initiative to explore deeper in the history as she simply ascribed it as a "girl who wouldn't talk to anyone". It was just so clear that "Wisely" wasn't a girl that would talk to anyone simply , and language was clearly not a factor when she was happily talking in English to the friendly Malay ward clerk. It was a matter of who she wanted to talk to , coz' she even snubbed Prof Yap in the face hehe.

There was so much about her that one could learn : at her age of 8 , she has learnt to be so much more mature and strong a girl because of her disease. It saddens me a bit to know that after all, despite her strong front and cool nature , she is after all a young child who is valiantly fighting a life-long battle with a chronic ailment.

Was still a bit sad for "Wisely" while waiting for my queue number to be called at the SQ counter. I dropped off at around 3.30 pm at Terminal 2 hoping to catch the SQ 116 flight. It was apparent that the number system had failed , and they were only calling standby ticket holders like me ONLY after booked ticket holders were cleared. This was financially more viable as booked tickets were a lot more expensive. I hoped for the best ; smiled a winsome smile at the SIA counter staff , and *ding dong* I was one of the lucky 20 passengers on stand-by to get the SQ 116 flight.

I must have been really tired coz' I settled in the wrong seat. A SIA stewardess , in a geisha-like manner, sashayed to me and purred "Seerrr .. 57A is over there ..." I sheepishly changed my seats like a raped geisha in shame. The Boeing 777 took off with a full load of passengers for the short 30 min hop to KL.

Finally got to KL - took KLIA express at the ridiculous price of 35 ringgit one way to KL Sentral. Weaved through a sea of sweaty Malaysians all gelleking around the station with nothing much to do. The station was impossibly crowded - all the taxis were full and there were none available for the next half hour. The queue for the LRT counter snaked across the main hall. A Malay girl tried to cut my queue in the ticket counter for the LRT. I used my precocious ass and luggage to edge her mannerless presence out of the queue.

I AM SO TIRED ! I finally got to meet my grandma , cousins and family for some light dinner of fish , cereal prawns at the usual Gombak restaurant. Then I went to my cousins' house to watch some old flick "Bring it On" on their computer. Then I went to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz because today had been a freakin' long day.