I read this post by Mr. Brunei Resources and I thought I had to find this video.
So here it is….
So does the Royal Marines really think we, Malays, are terrorists? Malays do not just refer to people of Malaysia, but to just about everyone in the Malay Archipelago. And most Malays are Muslims, so do they think that Malay = Muslim = terrorist? Just look to the Middle East and I am not talking about the Arabs, but look at the Israeli soldiers. Their actions towards the Palestinians are bothering terrorism, aren’t they?
However anyway, the Royal Marines apologised for the video and have now withdrawn the video from its website. Read the report here.
Today marks the 47th Anniversary of the formation of the Royal Brunei Malay Regiment, which is now known as Royal Brunei Armed Forces. That means it is a long weekend!
The quirky thing about this long weekend is, depending on who you work for, your long weekend may not quite the same as your spouse’s. For those working for the government, where the normal working days are Monday to Thursday and Saturday, their long weekend begun on Friday, as their long weekend consists of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For those working in the private sector, like myself, where our normal working days are Monday to Friday, our long weekend has only just started, as the long weekends consist of Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Monday is our company’s holiday in lieu of Saturday. There are also some people who work a five-and-a-half-day week and their long weekend consists of Saturday and Sunday.
Apart from the Jerudong International School and the Panaga School (and perhaps some other private schools), school days follow the government working days, i.e. Monday to Thursday and Saturday. So their long weekend runs from Friday to Sunday.
If both the husband and wife work for the government and the children go to schools that follow the government working days, it would not pose any problem, as they all have the same long weekend.
However, if, let say, the husband works for a private company, then he would have different long weekend from everyone else in the family. I would imagine it would be quite difficult to make plans to spend the long weekend with the whole family. Either one of the husband-and-wife would probably need to take an extra day off work. For those working for the government, taking a day off may not be quite easy. Because of the restrictions with taking day off where one would have to wait for a month to have lapsed before taking another set of off days, it would make better sense for the one working for the private company to take the day off.
I would actually prefer it if the company that I work for changes the in lieu rule. If a public holiday falls on a Saturday, the company should bring the company holiday forward to the preceeding Friday. It would allow everyone to have the same long weekend. This would make it much easier to plan for the long weekend and it would allow the family to spend time together more effectively. Petronas actually does this and everyone is a winner.
At the end of the month, I am saying good bye to my Singapore Airlines’ PPS Club membership….
I do not feel that I have reaped the full benefits of the PPS Club membership. More than half of the past year was spent working away in Bintulu, which meant that my travelling was pretty much limited. Since I have not collected enough airmiles to retain the PPS Club membership, I am now reduced to the Elite Silver tier. There goes the source of amusement for the Lunchgang. No more PPS-related jokes then!
Within the next year, I need to collect enough airmiles to keep this Elite Silver card, or else I am reduced further to the basic-entry level with the blue-coloured card!
All tests were negative and it was a slightly better news in a while. This meant that the cancer had not spread anywhere else and the chance of full recovery was increased.
My treatment was then planned; I would have to go through a series of chemotherapy, with the last one to be of a very high strength. I was also told that, because of the strength of the drugs to be used, there was a high probability that I might not be able to bear any children, so I was advised to consider storing some sperm samples. As I was the only known case of MCL in Brunei ever, I was to be sent to Singapore to further consultation at the National Cancer Centre of the National University Hospital, Singapore. It was also where I was to see a doctor about storing my sperm samples.
My family initially resisted the idea of chemotherapy. They asked me to consider alternative medicine, such as traditional, herbal or homeopathy. I was never a fan of alternative medicine; the conventional, hospital-based medical care had proven itself and I was adamant that I would not go away from it. After one very teary talk with my family, I made it clear to them that my intention was to get better and hospital-based medical care was my only choice. I also told them that if I were to try alternative medicine, I would do it alongside the hospital treatment.
With me being diagnosed with MCL, it obviously brought changes to the family. I invited a good friend of mine, who had recovered from lung cancer, to come to the house. He shared his story with the family, telling them how his family’s life was changed. Their diet changed. Their view of life changed. Their way of life changed. He also shared the sacrifices that his family had to do; everyone in the family turned vegetarian. He also said that, regardless of our faith, religious obligation should never be forgotten. At the end, he told us that tender loving care and moral support were very important to the cancer patient. I was grateful of this friend, TFM, whom I still keep in touch with even though he had left the company as he retired a few years ago.
It was a while before I left for the second opinion consultation with the National Cancer Centre of the National University Hospital in Singapore. I had returned to work, though I was allowed to take as much time as I needed. I just felt that I needed to bring some normality back into my life. Support from my friends and colleagues was tremendous and it made it easier to return to work. Obviously everyone was concerned that I might aggravate the condition that I was having, but they were not letting their concern show. I was not treated any much different or special than before, not that I wanted them to. I also started to do some sports, playing badminton with friends and running on the beach, as I was told to keep fit before starting the chemotherapy treatment.
On one Wednesday afternoon, I received a phone call from the doctor, who had been looking after me, that an appointment had been set up with the specialist in Singapore on the following Friday, so I would have to leave the very next day…..
…. watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls on Saturday evening. Without trying to give away too much of the movie, I found myself scratching my head somewhere in the middle of the movie. I thought the storyline was a bit too far fetched. Asking Harrison Ford who is in his 60’s to be Indiana Jones might be a bit too much. I hope that Shia LaBeouf (he of Transformers fame) takes the role of Indiana Jones in the future. Why him? You just have to watch the movie to find out! I give this movie a 5 out of 10.
…. participated in the First Brunei Climbathon which took place at Tasek Lama in Bandar. On the climbathon part, I finished the course in about 50 minutes. That was twice as long as the first-place winner! The hardest bit was the so-called the Valley of Death, where one would have to go down right to the bottom of the hill and then climb on the next slope which was quite steep. Most of us stopped after a few steps uphill; it was very difficult and it was really hard on the knees and ankles. However, on the organisation (or perhaps the lack of), the organisers would really have to improve in the future.
Goodie bag was supposed to be collected on Friday at 2.30pm. When some friends arrived at the Tasek at the said time, the organisers were nowhere to be seen. When they eventually arrived, the goodies had not been put into the goodie bags. There was one particular item that was not included in the goodie bag; the number bibs. We were asked to collect them on the day of the event.
The first thing that we had to do when we arrived at the Tasek on Sunday morning was to queue for the number bibs. By the time we arrived, the queue was long and it took us half an hour to reach the desk. We got more frustrated as we found out that there was no separate queues for the different categories. At the registration table, the name list would get passed from one person to another as they tried to locate the runner’s name. They would then have to go through the pile of numbers to find the runner’s number. Since we were given two number bibs, one for the front and the other for the back, you would think that they were kept together. Wrong! The number bibs were separated so they would have to go through the pile again to find the second bib. Considering the amount of time that it took them to sort out the number bibs, it would have made sense that they had given them away when we collected the goodie bag on Friday.
As we got our number bibs, we were given this plastic bag containing a bottle of water, a pack of Milo drink and a pot of instant noodle (don’t ask me why; I don’t think we were supposed to eat it while running!). We had to refuse ours as it would be silly to carry them around while running through the jungle.
Because of the distribution of the number bibs, the flag-off got delayed for an hour. In the program, it was said that the different categories would be flagged off at different intervals. On the day, all the men, and similarly for the women, were flagged off at the same time. If you were serious runners and eyeing for the top prizes, it would mean that you would have to go through all the other runners in the boys’, veterans’ and fun runners’ categories. That would have slowed you down significantly. And the path along the route was narrow, so overtaking could get a bit difficult.
The flag-off was not done before some performances. It would have been better if the performances were done during or after the race. It was made worse as the MC spent more than 10 minutes going through a long list of do’s and don’ts. While she was doing this, you could hear the runners grumbling and wanting to get the race started. Many runners, who had warmed up for the race, had to repeat the whole thing again as they cooled down while the MC was humouring us with the do’s and don’ts. One of the don’ts was that no one was allowed to help a fellow runner who stopped for whatever reasons; the penalty would be disqualification for both the helper and helpee. So if someone was dying of heart attack or being attacked by a wild animal, we were not supposed to stop and help!
Throughout the course, we were supposed to collect different coloured ribbons to indicate that we had gone through all the checkpoints and we were not taking shortcuts. The ribbons were loose pieces, so all the way you could see pieces of ribbons strewn around as runners had dropped them. At one checkpoint, I overheard the person who was giving away the ribbon telling his colleague that he was running out of the ribbons. I did not know if it was true, but imagine getting to that checkpoint, told that all the ribbon were gone and arrived at the finishing line only to be disqualified as you did not have the complete set of ribbons. Not good.
We were told that there would be one water station, but it was not to be seen at all. Not even a single drop of water was seen given away. And we were also told that there would be no water provided at the finishing line. We were expected to buy our water from the stall that they had put up. They should have given the water and the Milo pack at the end of the race, not at the beginning. For us who parked a good 10-minutes walk away and left our money in the car, we could not be bothered to go to our cars for our cash. Luckily there was this Milo van which gave away free cups of Milo, but it did not last for too long.
As we reached the finish line, we were told to hand in the complete set of ribbons, only to arrive at the registration table and told that it was only important if you finished in the prize-winnning positions. So we were turned away, while the MC was cheering the other runners as they crossed the line and reminding them to hand-in their ribbons.
The Climbathon was pushed back for more than one month from the original date, but it seemed that extra one month could not stop from the organisers not getting it right.
…. helped out as the Company took part in the Energy Fair at the Taman. Together with two of my staff, we conducted liquid nitrogen shows for the visitors. I could not really gauge the reaction of the visitors, I really hoped that they understood what I was saying! I tend to speak quickly when I get nervous and there were some confused looks in the crowd! Because of the delay with the Climbathon, I turned up late for the Energy Fair, so late that one of my staff actually told me that she felt as if she was being stood up and dumped!
I have no pictures to show; I will ask around if anyone got any pictures to share.
Manchester United wins the UEFA Champions League final in Moscow, beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalty. The score tied at 1-1 after 120 minutes of play. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a beautiful header and Frank Lampard equalised for Chelsea at the stroke of half time. In a game of four halves, Manchester United dominated in the first half of normal regulation time, only to be bossed around by Chelsea in the second half. Both teams had enough opportunity to win the game early on, but a mixture of luck, wonderful goalkeeping and woodwork kept the score 1-1, before penalty shoot-out was required. A few ugly scenes took place, which saw eight yellow cards to brandished (four for each side) and Didier Drogba ordered off the pitch to have an early bath.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed his penalty kick and it was left to John Terry to score the final Chelsea’s penalty to win the title. He kicked wide and the penalty shoot-out proceeded to sudden-death penalty kicks. Manchester United converted their two penalty kicks, until Edwin van der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka’s penalty kick to be Manchester United’s hero.
The hero of the night saving Nicolas Anelka’s penalty kick,
which won the title for Manchester United.
The trophy was collected appropriately by Ryan Giggs and the captain of the evening’s Manchester United team, Rio Ferdinand. The team was led by Sir Bobby Charlton, whose colourful history with Manchester United goes as far back as the 1950’s. It was a nice gesture to see Manchester United formed a guard of honour for Chelsea as they went to pick up their losers’ medals, but the gesture was not reciprocated.
Glory, Glory Man United! Champions of England! Champions of Europe!!
Later, in the wee hours of Thursday in Brunei (in the evening in Moscow), Manchester United, crowned the Champions of the Barclays Premiership League 2007/2008 for the tenth time in 16 years, will be playing Chelsea in the first ever all-English Champions League final. Manchester United will be gunning for its third European title, after winning it for the first time in 1968 and part of the Treble in 1999.
There are only two players in the current Manchester United squad who were part of the Treble-winning squad. Ryan Giggs played in the final at the Nou Camp in Barcelona, while Paul Scholes was suspended for that game. Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Paul Scholes would be one of the first players to be included in the final. If, or rather when, Ryan Giggs plays for the final later, he would set the record for the most appearance by a Manchester United player. He equalled Sir Bobby CHarlton’s 758 appearances during the last game of the Barclays Premier League 2007/2008 season away at JJB Stadium of Wigan Athletics. At least two other players had played in a Champions League final; Edwin van der Sar played and won with Ajax Amsterdam in 1995 and Patrice Evra played but lost with Monaco in 2004.
So, come on, bring on Moscow! Glory, Glory Man United!
Prelogue: My last post, entitled MCL, has apparently caused a good friend of mine, who is now in the UK, to be unnecessarily worried. He was one of the many people who were there for me, giving me moral and spiritual support. I am thankful and very grateful to him and all the others for their support.
Anyway, don’t worry Jest! We were talking about this at work a while ago and Kakkarot suggested that I blog about this. And thanks for your sms.
The blog about my experience with MCL will come in many parts. I would probably punctuate it with non-MCL-related posts. Anyway, many thanks for reading the blog.
MCL … continued
As I had travelled to Bandar to see the Doctor when he dropped the bombshell that I had lymphoma, I decided to tell the family about it that evening. As soon as I finished telling them, I could hear someone sobbing beside me and some people hugged me tightly. Tears flowed freely that evening. I had never seen my elder brother cry before, but that evening I saw him cried. My sisters who worked on the evening shift came home right away, upon hearing the news. I had sms’ed my friends about the news and my phone never stopped getting messages of support.
The next day, accompanied by more than half of my family, I went to see a more senior Doctor. I had done the CT scan the day before and I was told that the scan did not show that the cancer had spread to other parts of my body, so he concluded that the cancer was still in Stage 1 and my survival rate was said to be quite good.
From that point, I was passed on to the Oncology team of RIPAS Hospital. During one of the consultations with the team, I was informed that the seriousness of mantle cell lymphoma. MCL occurs to less than 1 person per million population and it is considered to be one of the most serious type of lymphoma. There is no known cause of MCL and the rate of recovery is given from ‘average’ to ‘slim’. If one is to be cured from MCL, it could come back and when it comes back, it comes back even worse. And the life expectancy of a cured MCL patient is given from 8 to 10 years. No known of MCL cases had been reported in Brunei and I could possibly the first ever MCL patient in Brunei; one record that I would rather not have. At one point, the team needed to know if the cancer had spread to my bone marrow so I had to undergo this procedure when a needle was used to pierce through my bone to extract some bone marrow samples. It was a nasty procedure and it would require the doctor to really push a needle though the flesh and the bone which was hard and painful. A doctor friend of mine was supposed to do this procedure and she requested to be excused as she could not bear doing this painful procedure to someone she knew. The procedure was done under local anaesthetic, so I could not feel much during the procedure, but it started to hurt when the effect of the anaesthetic had worn off. Again, the result from the bone marrow was negative.
As more tests returned negative or inconclusive results and this being the first known case of MCL in Brunei, doubts started to creep in. Could something be wrong? Could the pathologist who examined the surgically-removed lumps make a mistake? Was it possible that I might have a les serious type of lymphoma? However, at that time, I was determined to get better, so I left the doctors to do what they were paid to do; to cure.
Bulgemeister 
