The White Rapids…

Trivia: Why is it called White.... water rafting? - Cos the rapids are white in color :) hehe

:) Finally, on 26th Oct, 2008.. I have reentered the rafting world. My last rafting trip was in Austria in M1 2001, but that was relatively a low level trip with short rapids up to grade 3. So, after numerous failed attempts to go rafting, I have decided to go at it alone at Sungai Selangor, with reported rapids up to level 4.

The trip to raft started, as usu on Friday afternoon.. up to KL. Stayed at Ivy’s, as usu.. (thanks gal..) Saturday was mainly a rest day, with some work to finish.. Was suppose to go swimming on Sat morning, but the lazy me prevailed… sorry again Ivy.. had a nice lunch at Old Town Kopitiam and had dinner and movie later on. So… not bad for a relaxing Saturday.

Okays, twas Sunday when all the action took place…. Woke up late at…. Groggily prepped myself… and headed to Midvalley KTM Kommuter station. Took the 7.27 am train… and nervously journeyed to KKB.. arrived there on the dot at 9am… took a cab to the Post Office (meeting point) .. but ahem.. the other participants who drove were late.. so went to eat brekkie at nearby mamak.

Well.. after everyone has gathered, off we went to the starting point… here, another looooong wait as there were about 50 participants that day… so wait long long for the briefing.. after that, we broke into grps of 4-8 and hopped onto the 4 rafts.

I was in a boat with 2 other Malaysians and a Swede. There were 2 guides with us as well in the boat.. so we were the lightest boat there was with only 6 peeps. Short practice in the water about the instructions, like “over left” means quickly lean to the left, and “inside” means quickly go into the the inner part of the boat, and not on the sides… and.. finally…off we go!!!

The first few rapids were small rapids with small drops… but man, that brought back good memories. Things became familiar again. Ahh… man I really missed rafting… Now, altogether were 4 major rapids ranging btw grade 3-4, and many other small ones. Shortly after, we came to our first Grade 3 drop, aptly named “First Canyon” . The drop wasn’t very high but it was enough to get the adrenaline going. We got splashed with water and I got my clothes wet.. (well, it was already wet before that when I jumped into the river before the rafting had even begun).

The second major drop was called “Suck em Dog” errr errr… okies.. I’m getting lazy here… Just read this article…. http://www.wildasia.net/main.cfm?page=article&articleID=181 for a lowdown on the rapids ….

Okaaaaay, rafting was a blast. Though the water levels were not as high as I had hoped for… but I guess it was the weather is unpredictable so cant do anything about that. Next off, I’m looking forward to more rafting trips; hopefully Sungai Singor in the near future. So… to all those who wanna try something new… do give white water rafting a try, and I guarantee it… you’ll like it!!

So total itinery for those who wanna KKB the Jonie way:
0630: Arghh…. Woke up late!! Haven’t prepare yet!!! Curse abit... sleepwalk abit..
0715 : Arrive at KTM Midvalley
0727: take the KTM Kommuter to Rawang, msged the guide… might be late and change to KKB at Rawang.
0900: arrive at KKB KTM station. Either call the guide to pick you up or pay RM5 for the cab to the post office… (I ran out of batt.. so err… no choice, lorr.. take the cab)
0905: Meet guide…eat brekkie…raft raft raft…
1400: Fin rafting..shower , have short lunch, exchange emails, phone number.. IM, facebook, spits… whatever…
1430: Leave for home… or ask someone to bring you to the KTM station. Train at 1505 (basically every 30mins)
1630: arrive at Midvalley… proceed to shop or home.

Trudge on…. And raft on!!

Medical Informatics...

One of the biggie questions I oft get is ... "what do you do for a living?" I would then reply, "I work in the HealthCare Industry". Now here's comes the tricky bit.. if it's and aunty or uncle, their first impression is... orrr ... "so you are Missy larr?" .. which does in a way.. pisses me off abit as though every young woman who works in health care HAS GOT to be a NURSE!!.. After a silent sigh... I would reply.. no ... "lohkun la... lohkun"... which then brings up the next question... "which hospital arr?" another silent sigh... and I answer.. at S%&*$h%&*@h HQ.

Now, the HealthCare Industry is HUGE.. and not everyone in it works as a doctor or a nurse per se. Medical Informatics is quite a new field (especially in Singapore) but has its roots deep in the great US of A. It's not that well known yet, as we're still a small group in this tiny island, but we are.. a growing group (hopefully!). It mainly involves ... (take a deep breath) the integration of IT systems into doctor's workflow to "assist" them and finally ensuring patient's safety. It's basically building a bridge btw docs and IT peeps . Still clueless?.. here goes an example:

To doctors... UFEME means Urine FEME...
To IT folks UFEME sounds the same as FEME, fluid.. (which in a way makes sense...)

But in reality... they are not the same as both are completely different tests.

So there's where informaticians come in : to explain to the IT folks doctor's language ...

Another more impt work we do is to figure out doctor's workflow itself. Strangely, nobody really governs the way a ward or clinic works. Somehow, just put a nurse, a clerk, a doctor and the ancillaries together, and voila.. you have a working ward/clinic. Things just runs on its own, without much fuss as ultimately, everyone works to ensure the patient's health is taken care of. But when informatics come in place.. we're detailing down, if possible every single workflow there is.. and when we add in new IT stuff.. every single thing that can go wrong. It may seem like an easy thing to do..but when you really get down to it.. it just feels very "holey" and closing down each holes only reveals new ones... like how my colleagues put it.. it feels like all the holes in a block of cheese is coming together... hehehe...

Hmm.. what else is there in Informatics?...hmm.. well.. in my short time of May to Oct so far.. tt's about an accurate description of my job that I can give. The job is quite OK, with new discoveries along the way (like learning how a cavernosogram is done) and learning that IT folks do think very very differently from doctors... :) I kinda like my job so far.. but we'll see how it goes in the future when the projects take off... ;)

So for all out there who are interested in it.. give it a go... You might like it... you might not.. but its a fun experience learning what happens behind the behind the scenes.. and have a good time too as it is really fun to see how sth you help build take place. There are the good times, there are the bad times.. but I'm sure everybody have already been through that..

:) till the next time

trudge on, dear friends.. and never be afraid to try sth new..

The Twelve Months of Jonie

From an earlier post, the promise to myself to do sth new every mth for this year... so far, so good :) .. to be completed only on 1/1/2009 :)

January: CSMC paintball... then get to meraba-raba Brazillian Hotties.. hehe ... then arhh... Pacesetters 30 km run - my first race in KL

February: First CNY visit to Ipoh after..ohhh... 5 yrs?... first gathering with the SMKSI peeps..

March: Got my Open Water Diving license and First KL marathon... and first big bdae celeb after omos ?5-6 yrs of nothingness.. which was graced by first jewellery not bought by parents (gift from lovely housemate - GIRL!!!)

April: MULU - caving again after many yrs of absence.. Clearwater - wind cave connection

May: Changed posting to Medical Informatics. First Ultramarathon, but only managed 54 km before died-ed

June: Moved to another place in HV ... so new place :)

July: First tri bike, then first OD triathlon - OSIM

August: First bike crash, then PANGKOR where I rode on a JetSki for the first time!!!! oh yar.. oso first LV bag (and the last ever too)

September: First Half IM Triathlon and first ever visit to Tioman

October: First visit to Yangtze cinema, and first kayaking ever. Rafted at KKB!!

November: First SkyDiving Sim at SkyVenture, First Genting Trailblazer, First Tattoo (temp la), First Fish Spa, First Wakeboarding, First Pedicure!!.. then the Gmax Reverse Bungee and Xtreme Swing rides, First Makeover and James Bond Movie - Quantum of Solace, Another rafting trip at KKB and Skydive basics training at Genting!! Spent time back in Ipoh...

December: Whitewater kayaking

hehe... trudge on...

Soul searching...

September is now gone.. and we're about approaching the year end. The latter half of September and early october was really another soul searching time for me, where a trip back home reminded me of how much I really enjoy being who I am. so here goes:

1. First and foremost, I love my freedom. I love the ability to go where I want, and do what I want. Though most of what I do spells DANGER (yes, with all the capital letters), I do understand and am fully responsible for anything that happens to me, in other words, i don't go around trying to get myself killed (well most of the time, anyways).

2. I love adventures and excitement. I love to do things that excites me, both physically and mentally. I never run out of energy until I reach my bed, otherwise.. I can go on and on and on and on and on...

3. That said, at times, I love the serenity of just sitting back when the moment is right. The world was made to be beautiful, just the way it is. Sometimes, the most amazing thing is just in front of you.. you just have to open your eyes and open up to it

4. I love to procrastinate. 3/4 of my uni life was spent in front of the com - watching movies, dramas, animes, tv shows... anything, u name it, i'll prob have watched it. And yes, I DO watch TOPGEAR cos I love the show... and the cars... really really amazing... (droooling...)

5. I think too fast which makes me super neurotic... need to slow down at times, but I love thinking. Till now, solving problems and answering questions makes me happy :) bring on the sudoku!!

6. No.... I am not a clubber....but will go if invited...

7. My Left knee pain will probably never go away.... :(

8. I want a simple life. When I was young, I've always thought that I want to live it big and rich. But after doing a lot of stuff, I realised that the simplest life is what I am craving for. I'm glad to know that I have a safe home and stable life to go to whenever I come home from work, or from wherever it is I will be.

9. No.. I dont wanna pretend to be who I am I not, irregardless of whether I will impress/attract ppl or not. I am forever not tactful, hurtingly blunt.. I can get blur at times, and can be hideously impatient... but that is who I am... I can learn to be better.... like how I've not lose my temper for many a yrs now... but that will take time and someone needs to point it out to me.

10. I will change in the future... but tt's the greatest thing in life to do... to change and be ready to accept changes.. Some changes will be for the better, but some will definitely not. That makes life interesting; that every twist and turn at each corner... But you know what.. I'm thankful for all my family and friends... cos with them, that each change is bearable... no matter how bad it can be

:)

Trudge on...

Separuh Orang Besi!!!

YAYY!!! Completed the Half IM last Sunday... finally... after 3 gruelling mths of tri-specific training... I've finished the half. The feeling was greeeaaat .. and i finished at a comfortable 6hrs 39mins. yayy!!

As advised, I went to the race area at around 5.30 am and it was buzzing with activities. Sooooo maaaaaanyyyyyyy Ang Moh there... it seems that really half of the participants were from overseas. First stop was the body marking area, and got myself inked up with : 0062 and the AVIVA chop on both arms. Next to the transition area, where I lay down my shoes and other stuff. Bike was already chked-in the day before, but had to wipe it down as it got wet from the overnight rain. oooo...I was sooooo nervous then. Talked to some of the more experienced triathletes there and got some useful tips.

At about 6.30am was the race briefing. After that, went to the starting area at the beach where some where already doing warmups, stretches. Went into the water myself after that for a quick swim.. brrr...cold....

We were chased out of the water at about 7am as the elites were going to start their race.... boy, they were really fast swimmer... Mine was the ladies wave, and as the saying goes, "ladies first". hehe....Finally it was time to start, counting down now.... Three, Two, One...and GO!!!! the marshall shouted.... and off I went, running into the waves.

The sea was calmer than the OSIM tri, but still got the kicks into the face, ribs, tummy...and all other areas. The ang moh were so onz...they were swimming above me at some parts....was like...how come suddenly so dark one??... haha... but anyways, the 2 lap swim was ok, and quite easy.

Took my time at T1.. about ten minutes or so to rest and prepare for the biking part. Cycling was ok ...for the first half..then almost wanted to die the second half. It was up across the AYE and the killer Benjamin Sheares Bridge almost made me gave up. Note to self in next races : BRING WATER AND POWERGELS DURING THE BIKING!!! haha...forgot to put my water bidon on the drinks cage, that i almost dehydrated flatly during the bike, Luckily managed to get a bidon with cold 100Plus at the last lap... phew... gotta thank the organisers for that.

Finally, T2.... took my time again.. and then the run. The run was surprisingly quite easy for, prob due to the 6 powergels i consumed along the way. Managed to run fully without stopping.. except for photo shots :) .. and finished in about 2hrs 20 mins. :) man... at the finishing line.. I was ...YES!!!!! YES!!!! YES!!!!! jumping for joy.. just simply happy.... until i took out my velcro strap for the champion chip... ouch... abrasions!!!! Note to self : use some padding next time..

So, yay!! now a half orang besi.. thinking back again, i think i'm getting hooked on triathlon-ing. The multisport part of it makes it really exciting and fun. Now, to move on to the next mission: to complete the Ironman Langkawi itself. Hopefully, i can manage it... man.. just dreaming of the eagle medal makes me feel giddy. :)

ok...gtg prepare the training plan for the IM in Feb next year...

to all.. happy living, and trudge on...

Preparing for the 1/2 Ironman - REPC...

The time has finally come, the AVIVA half Ironman is this coming Sunday itself... boy am I nervous. It's my second triathlon and also the second one in my series to complete the 3 tri's. Time has really flown by with days of endless training...and food :). Been tapering the past 2 weeks to relaxy and prep the body for the race, but caught a darn flu a few days ago and still reeling away from it slowly...

Went to the Race Entry Pack Collection yesterday, after the Training session in CGH. It's been aptly renamed to Race Expo.. to make it sound nicer.. or cheesier.. whichever you preferred. Held at Millenia Walk, it's really a much better place than the REPC for the Osim tri at Roxy Hotel (far far away). Firstly, hopped over to get my race pack... and I got Bib no ..... 0062 (can go buy 4D liao). The pack was huge...but have very little things inside, just a small microfibre towel, some vouchers, the usual bibs and stickers for the bikes and a PINK swimming cap. Trying to imagine myself now in my blue tri-suit and pink cap and ?green running shoes,..hahah.. Tim Gunn will so disapprove of me.

Here's the funny thing... they wanted to strap me with the unremovable racing entry bracelet yesterday before I can collect my timing chip.. I declined cos of eczema problems... but I otherwise, I can't collect my chip till Saturday, when they will finally strap me with it when I check in my bike... hmm... din knoe they had such a rule.

Well, anyways.. after that, my colleague and I headed down to chk out the other booths.. and I succumbed to an ugly green pair of Newton racers (which I tried later on and swore never to wear any other shoes for running again) Put me back another SGD 239, but was well worth it.

Then, off to the AVIVA booth..where I got a shoe bag, a water bottle and another towel. Here's where I got really silly. There was this simple health chk up booth next to the AVIVA booth. They were using the fingerprick device to chk cholesterol levels... and were using the "tak" finger pricker... I really hate those stuff (prefer needles).. When the guy was about to prick me.... I kept pulling my hand away.. cos I was superbly terrified.... hahah... so scared that when he did manage to prick me.. my fingers turned cold.. and almost no blood came out... arrrr.... hahahah in the end, had to prick me twice.. eeeeekkk... I was sooooooo scared..... err... but unfortunately, the results were so super skewed (in the words of my colleague while cross chking with the normal values, " I should start you with IV - intravenous - simvastatin now.. either that or you're dead .. hahahaha) okies.. all that for nothing but a hilariously good time :)

had fun at the REPC yesterday, albeit in a torturous way... well..time's up for now..gotta get back to work..

ciao.... will come up with race report.. after the race.. if I survive :)

trudge on... and live happy!!!

Finally..a relaxing trip...

Finally, a truly relaxing beach trip... the trip to Pangkor last weekend was great, satieted (i think its a word) with sand, laughter, booze and Ramly burgers. Haven'e been to a beach since March, and this beach vacation came in just about the right time to chill out.

The "Pangkor" plan was iniated by the members of the high council of vacations (Ivy, YP and Bun) and was planned about a month ago. A total of 8 went ie me, the 3 above, Callie, Ow, Ian and Fio..... err... Joanna, in 3 cars, 2 taking off from KL. I went back to Ipoh on Fri night/ Sat morn and caught a ride with Bun Bun and YP. Was kinda sleepy when I arrived.. but had egg tarts from Kampung Simee which tasted heavenly.. and that kinda perked me up a little. Mum saved some mangoes from our tree and it still tasted as sweet as ever.. hehe.. i didn't inherit her green fingers though.. all plants die with me, sadly, so better eat as much fruits as I can for now :)

Well.. took off from Ipoh at about 10+am.. and got lost at the new trunk roads while trying to exit Batu Gajah..hahah.. got lost for a good half hour there.. Ivy, Ow and Callie reached Lumut first. Ian got stuck in Tanjong Malim, (some roadblock) and after that got lost at the trunk roads too.. haha.. Well, the 6 of us had lunch first at a Chinese seafood restaurant at Lumut first.. not too bad... finally fresh seafood for me. :) yummy... Ian and Joanna arrived not too long after we finished.. and off we were.. to the jetty and to Pangkor.

A return ticket costs RM 10 ringgit and the ride took about 20minutes. Pangkor is really quite developed compared to a few yrs ago when I last visited. The fishing village was still there and as usual the fishermen were drying up all their produce for the day.. ahh..the smell of ham yu in the air.. We alighted at the new jetty and took a cab (van) to Coral Bay Resort, where we checked into our apartment...

It was a quiant 3-room apartment, bigger than my own in singapore (sad, huh) and the girls took one room, leaving Ow and Bun to enjoy their night together :P. Ian and Joanna took a room of their own. All of us changed into our swimwear.. and off we were.. to the beach!!!

The beach was about 5-10minutes away from the resort.. and it was great. The only let down was the boats there that kept zooming in very close to the shore. Otherwise, the water is clean (cleaner than Sentosa lar) and the beach was not too crowded. Went for a swim as far as I dared and even took a ride on the jet-ski (ex though, costs me RM 20). We tried to play "galah panjang" err... but the linesdrawer man aka Bun, was too tired to redraw the lines after first review. So, ended up playing in the water (inc tossing Ivy and YP in to the sea) and just hanging around the beach.

By the time it hit 6 plus.. we were dead tired already. Calling it a day, we headed back to the resort to clean up before dinner, which took a looong time, so Ow had a Ramly burger in while waiting and the rest of us muched on some pisang goreng and cucur udang.

Alright!! Finally all cleaned up after about an hour. Off to dinner, we went, to a nearby seafood restaurant. Ah Bun was the maitre 'd of the moment and read out the menu to us (which sounded funny to me) hehe...fresh seafood again.. ahh..wish I had this all the time in Singapore.. steamed fish... prawns fried in some kind of batter.. mmm.. yummy.... after dinner, had a short walk around the area before heading back to the apartment.

Time to booze!!!! No bars hold this time as the bunch of us (except Ian who was sleeping and Ow who was reading "Freakanomics") were crowding around the table, with liqour in hand playing ...of all games... BlackJack. Loser takes a sip, the bigger the loss, the bigger the "sip". Ivy went as first Cheong Ker.. and sigh.. lost almost every hand.. Ah Pooi took over... not too bad.. but when Bun became the banker.. all of us practically drank after each hand, well except for Joanna... phew.. lucky not playing with money, woiuld have lost big time then.. hehe... all throughout the game, secrets and gossips were flying all over... haha..the more you lose, somehow the more gossips you talk.. haha...

All of us had a round of Ramly burger not too soon after the game... mm... (making myself drool again) ..mmm.....

We were all dead tired after all that boozing and burgers and soon after that (around 1am) were tucked in bed. Bun, being the nice Ji Mui, after all, shared the "window" ghost story with all the girls... (think Ow was already asleep) ..hahaha.... lucky I wasn't sleeping next to the window :)

Woke up late the next morning and had nasi lemak for breakfast. We were glued to the TV showing the Olympic rythmic gynastics until about 12pm, when it was time to pack up and checkout. Rented a van to the town area and walked around a bit before having a light lunch (since we just had breakfast not too long ago) Took the ferry back to Lumut and finally it was time to split up. :( .. we all said our goodbyes and made a pact to go on more similar trips in the future :)

Well... it ended as fast as it began, but the trip was fantastic.. short as it was, it was well worth it and really fun. Feel like going for another trip soon... hehehe... anyone up for Krabi anytime soon?

Photos as follow *thanks Ivy*...if you havent seen it yet :)
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/cchivy/PulauPangkorTrip2324August2008

that's all for now....

trudge on... and Jonie...out!!!