Need To Move To Be In The Groove

A FAREWELL ODE TO SOFI

Did you bid farewell enough to..

Your 'manja' cats and kittens at the back?

The ones you named mocot and mocel ?

How about Mayo and Angelo?

Did you stroke their fur till it glow?

And make them purr with ecstacy?

I can't tell but I am sure,

They'll miss you sorely, cause to them you're their 'mummy'.

Did you bid farewll enough to...

The battered car in front?

The one that you drove ricketty racketty, all about town,

If it could speak, it would definitely plead, "minta ampun! Please no more round!"

Did you bid farewell enough to...

Your bedroom that you loved to, (behind locked-door), 'lepak' in?,

When you're not drivin',

With the big bed, full of things you 'dumped',

How to sleep? It's easy mom,

Just push them a bit and just sleep amongst 'em!

Did you bid farewell enough to..

The serene beach that we walked?,

Initialy in the morning,

Then it changed to evenings,

But lately, no time for jogging, not even walking,

Those were the time, of exercise and reflection,

And even photo taking session.

Did you bid farewll enough to...

To all the things that you love?,

To all the places and stuffs?,

To all the people that you care?,

You cherished with love that you share.

No?...it's ok, we understand,

Bidding goodbyes is never easy..

Farewell Sofi...

Take care..and may your new found place treat you well,

And may Allah swt guide and ease you, gal,

Farewell, Sofi, farewell

*Sofi, please consider this ode as a going away gift from me.:) Hampeh ek??

DIARI HARI ISNIN 15 SYAABAN

Semalam aku berpuasa. Sunat Isnin. Sunat Syaaban. Dapat dua pahala sekaligus, insyallah. Orang kata kalau beribadat biarlah berilmu. Jadi kalau puasa satu hari tapi kalau niatnya untuk lebih daripada satu 'sebab' maka bijaklah orang yang beramal itu. Allahualam.

Entah kenapa letih sungguh semalam selepas berbuka. Petang tu pergi pasar malam beli kuih-muih sedikit. Agaknya bermacam-macam makanan bercampur dalam perut maka itulah sebab badan jadi letih.

Selepas solat maghrib, pergi hantar anak tuition bahasa arab dan terus ke KSH hantar dinner cum berbuka puasa suami yang sedang on-call. Selepas itu ke mall dengan niat hendak membayar bill DIGI. Aku ingat nak suruh iFos turun sedniri and settle the bills herself. Rupanya anak aku ni ada plan lain. Dia ajak aku turun sekali. Katanya nak beli gifts sikit untuk aku dan orang lain. Bila aku decline dia bunyi macam merajuk je. So aku pon setuju la.

Aduh. Terasa amatlah letih rasanya berjalan dalam awang-awangan je. Tapi orang perempuan ni kalau pergi shopping, macam mana uzur pun, sampai je kat kedai, jadi segar pulak. Pelik sungguh!

Mula-mula pergi bayar bil DIGI. Canggih betul ofis DIGI ni. Buka malam. Dan deco memang habis retro and smart. Then off to Parkson (mana lagi?).Selesai membeli untuk toknya, ayahnya, anak sedaranya, anak tanya aku," mak nak apa?'. Aku jawab,' tak payahlah pi.Simpan je duit tu untuk benda lain'.

Habis shopping, fetched anak and off back home. Punya lah letih, bawa kereta dengan mata separuh buka! All the way kepala dah plan: sampai rumah, solat isya lepas tu teurs hit the sack! Tapi sampai rumah nampak kereta mak sedara .Dia and hubby dah lama menunggu. Kesian! Datang nak wish goodbye to iFos la tu. Ada parting gift lagi. So duduk la bersembang tapi mata dah kuyu. Tengah sembang, kawan dari US call pulak. Setiap kali kawan ni call aku mesti cakap sebab dia call jauh, mana boleh decline and excuse kata ada visitor. And setiap kali call mesti 1 jam paling pendek. So kena apologize kat mak sedara. We spoke almost 1 and half hours. Badan dah lunyai cakap telepon sampai kena baring. Tapi orang sebelah sana tak tahu la..:). Kawan ni banyak beri ilmu agama. Apa yang dia belajar kat sana dia sampai kepada aku. Terima kasih kawan sejati!

Pagi ni kepala rasa teramat lah berat. Rasanya macam dalam kepala penuh dengan cobwebs. Dah telan panadol. Nak kerja sikit lagi ni. Macam mana ya? Siapa nak kasi aku MC??? Siapa??

A MINI KATRINA AT OUR DOORSTEP!

Last night, we had a dose of a strong thunderstorm that uprooted several trees around my area. We were at my father in-law's attending a kenduri tahlil doa selamat when a sudden strong wind came hailing, followed by a heavy downpour which is accompanied by loud thunders and lightnings. I felt that it was just a slightly more heavy thunderstorm than usual and didnt give much thought. In fact, felt so comfortable watching the results of the tilawah despite the furious weather outside.

As it was getting late, we didnt wait for the rain to stop, braved it and started back home by car. It takes a good 15 to 20 minutes to my house. We took the normal route and found many old coconut leaves strewn across the road and had to swerve left and right to avoid them denting the car. It was difficult though and we heard many screeching sounds as the hard leaves scratched underneath the car. Almost reaching the second last turn to our house, we saw that a big tree had fallen across the road next to the surau. There was no way of getting around it so we had to turn back to the main road upfront and negotiate another route.

The fallen tree totally blocking the raod!

Feeling all too weary, we took the second route hoping for no further disaster. This time we had to endure a reckless driver driving all too fast, splashing water against the windscreen obscuring our view for a moment, forcing us to brake to almost a total halt!

This time we had to manouvre through a narrow road next to the primary school , up a slope, meeting a T-junction facing a cemetry. Turning right slowly along the narrow kampung road, we are faced with another fallen tree! Masyallah! This can't be happening our hearts cried! Slowly we drove on the sand next to the road and managed to go round the tree. But our relief was short-lived when we saw another fallen tree ahead and this time totally blocking the path, making our journey impossible! Astaghfirullah! We felt so exhausted and down. My house was just a close two hundred meters away and we could already see it! After traversing to and fro, at the dead end, we made a turn and traced back the road but only to get stuck in the sand! The heated sound of tyres failing to move the car reached our ears, demoralizing our hearts further.Fortunately we lived in a kampung area and like all kampung(s), the people are tremendously helpful in times of perils. A guy on a motorbike came and pushed our car back on proper road, pulled the tree branches as much as possible, giving enough space to allow our car to pass through. Alhamdulillah! May Allah swt bless this person with his kind deed.

We now took the last possibly acessible route. This means that any more obstruction and we'll have to park the car somewhere safe and head back home on foot! Allah swt made our last  route free from obstacles and we arrived home safe and sound. We were worried sick because, just adjacent to our house there's a big ancient mango tree said to be a hundred years old. Should it fall, our house could be hit. Nauzubillah! Must call the authorities on Monday to cut the old branches. I personally am against cutting down trees especially those big ones that give shade. however when it endangers life and properties then you've got to do what you've got to do.

The ordeal we went through last night was almost like a 4x4 rally, a short one that is. But enough to make us feel so drained out after it! This was just a small test from Allah swt. , just a fraction of Katrina I would say but the aftermath was still quite pervasive. I guess this is the price for chosing to live in a kampung area near the sea where old big trees are in abundance and thunderstorms appear to struck stronger. Oh Allah, may we be protected from further harsh weathers! Ameen.

THE STETHOSCOPE

Found this somewhere and felt like sharing:

In 1816, Allah swt. gave ‘ilham’ to a young French physician, Rene Laennec  (your guess is as good as mine on how to pronounce his name) the idea of inventing the first stethoscope ever. He was at that time, examining a young female patient. Prior to that the medical practice was to do ’immediate auscultation’ where a doctor puts his ear directly to a patient’s chest to listen to the lungs. Remembering a trick he played as a child, he rolled up papers and placed one end to his ear and the other to the woman’s chest. To his amazement he discovered that not only was the sound transmitted clear, but was also louder! Alhamdulillah!

This new found method of auscultation is called ‘mediate auscultation’. Laennec chose to simply name his newfound medical instrument ‘Le Cylindre’ but later changed it to the present-time name ‘stethoscope’ derived from Greek words for ‘I see’ and ‘the chest’.

He later developed his idea and created a better stethoscope out of wood which is hollow in the centre. It was made of two pieces. One end had a hole which we place our ear and the other end was conical in shape. A third piece had a hollow brass cylinder that can fit into the cone, used for listening to the heart.

This is Laennec’s prototype stethoscope,  

The present auscultatory signs that we still use in medicine was first described by Laennec. Signs like ‘bruit’, ‘rales’, ‘bronchophony’ and ‘egophony’ were first discovered by this guy.

The stethoscope allowed Laennec to study chest disease extensively especially tuberculosis. Ironically he died from this disease, probably due to too much contact with them.

Many physicians have modified Laennec’s first stethoscope. since then, creating dozens and dozens of stethoscope of varied shapes and sizes in search for the perfect auscultating gadget.From monaural to binaural stethoscopes and finally evolving to the present day stethoscopes.

Original Littmann Stethoscope

Dr. David Littmann was a distinquished cardiologist and international authority on electrocardiography. In 1961 he described the "ideal" stethoscope in the Journal of the American Medical Association . The stethoscope included an "open chestpiece for the the appreciation of low-pitched sounds, a closed chestpiece with a stiff plastic diaphragm to filter out low-pitched sounds, firm tubing with a single lumen bore, the shortest practical overall length, a spring with precise tension to hold the ear tubes apart, and light and convienent to carry and use."The Littmann Stethoscope rapidly became the stethoscope of choice in America and its original design is still the basis for most stethoscopes used in medical practice today.

Up to today I still have my first stethoscope with me (Littmann of course! :)). Its very light and has helped me extensively during my varsity and also present days! :)

I would like to digress a bit here and comment on the many 'ways' of 'carrying' the stethoscopes :). Many doctors and medical students would opt the 'hang around the neck' look which shouts 'hey I am a doctor, don't mess with me!' Others would carelessly hang the bi-metal tubes by their necks, ready to stick the rubber ear pieces anytime into their ears . These are the busy doctors who couldn't care less how they look as long as they can finish their ward rounds before the specialists arrive. Specialists would just opt to roll their stethoscopes tightly and hold them in their hands giving this message clear: 'I am a specialist and I don't need to hang it round my neck for recognition!' Oh, well!