There's something wrong with Lord of The Rings

I read thi from a friends' page; Jason Leong. i thought it was funny and worth a mention. read it. :)

----------------------------------------

When the dust has settled, and peace restored to Middle-Earth, once the mighty Sauron has collapsed, one applauds at a beautiful trilogy masterfully made by a genius equal to Tolkien himself, Peter Jackson. But now that I have time to reflect and swirl my thoughts about the plot, I realize that something is terrible wrong with the story of how Middle Earth was saved.

Here's what's wrong : I think Sauron should have won.

I mean, ya gotta give the guy credit. He was BRILLIANT! I mean, he created the One Ring, which controlled many other rings, which controlled the dwarves, the elves, etc. It gave the wearers a false sense of security, as if they were in control, but in actuality, they were not! The same concept can be seen today in pyramid schemes! Sauron was way ahead of his time man.

Okay, then he controlled Saruman, who looked extremely dodgy in the first movie, like the classic I-act-like-a-good-guy-but-

actually-am-the-bad-guy-just-wait-for-the-plot-twist kinda character. I dont trust Christopher Lee's eyebrows. Saruman then built this massive Isengard, which then had massive factories which built cruel war machines. Now we see Sauron embracing technology to achieve his goal.

First politics, now technology. Sauron can do it all.

Then, mastering genetic modification and biology, he created the Uruk-Hai ( which sounds like a bad Chinese word),a cross breed between Orcs and Men. Not only did he bred them, he assembled them into an army, giving them weapons and armor, and organizing them into an effective fighting unit.

One by one, cities in Middle Earth felt, in a meticulous decimation by Sauron's forces. Sauron was a tactical genius.

Then came Helm's Deep, and we all know what happened there. It is at Helm's Deep, where the first injustice occurs for Sauron.

Sauron had what, 10,000 soldies, outnumbering the Men. Not only that, they managed to break the fortress, something never done before. Then, in a matter of 10 minutes, his armies are defeated by Orlando Bloom skateboarding down a flight of stairs and....SUNLIGHT!!!!! The Black Evil , the Uruk-Hai, The Lidless Eye's army, the black shadow spreading across Middle Earth...were BLINDED by SUNLIGHT and then defeated? How is this realistic?

But Sauron was not one to give up. No sirree, he had perseverance,determination and the unwillingness to give up.He regrouped, and sent more armies, this time to thrash Minas Tirith. Sauron, ever the strategist, also sent warships BEHIND minas tirith to ambush them while they were preoccupied with the war at the front.

The Men were outnumbered. Many of their kind had died. THeir spirits were broken, and Legolas's hair was slightly out of place. They were about to be defeated, and rightfully so, for the master strategist had already beaten them.While the men were fragmented, Sauron's army was relatively united.

Then suddenly, Aragorn talks to a bunch of GHOSTS in a random CAVE and decimates the ENTIRE SAURON ARMY!???!!??!!?

Apa ni???

Who doesnt pity Sauron just a teensy weensy bit? I mean, cmon!

Of Birthdays, Cakes and Surprises

14th of November is a big day for me. It is, afterall, the day i was born 24 years ago.

This year, i celebrated my birthday, in a dark hallway, in the morgue, waiting for a dead body to be brought in by a paramedic. Well, it was 11.45pm on the 13th; but still..that was my birthday.

I was posted in Bhayangkara Hospital for a week; which began on the 5th of November till the 15th. And so i already knew that i wouldn't be able to do much or see my friends as i had duties to attend to. Posted in this hospital, means i have to live in the on-call room with 5 other junior doctors like myself and wait for autopsies and medical exams for legal cases (i am currently in the forensics department). It's not like what you see on CSI. get real. we do autopsies, and paperwork. nothing else. oh yeah, but reporting and reconstructiing of the crime is kinda cool. ;)

 Anyway, i was pretty down the whole day untill my fellow group mate ran out and got me a cupcake. yeah, one and it was sweet of her. At least i thought i had something to blow a candle on to make the day feel a bit special. Later that evening, my dear friends Shila, Wah, Huey, Elango and Melvin came to the hospital and surprised me with a dozen doughnuts (i love J.CO.s ) and gifts. We crammed into the on-call room and hung out till late (the cops had to call them out for disturbing said junior doctors..at 11.30pm. The hospital i was stationed at by the way is a police manned hospital.)

Sunday was spent studying for my exam on monday morning. before finally leaving bhayangkara hospital at 8pm for home.Earlier in the week,  some of my juniors had water shortage at their homes so i let them shower and wash in my house as i was not living there for the week anyway, so i rang them up to say i was coming home and i wnated my keys. So when i got home, it annoyed me that they didn't come out to help me with my things ( i was holding three bags, a chair and a fan. phew) when i knew they were inside and heard me calling. But then when i knocked and the door was open, standing in front of me was my dear junior Boo, holding up a home-made chocolate cake and to her left was a table filled with home-cooked chicken rice just for me. My neighbors were there as well, and sang along. Surprise no.2!

Needless to say, the cake was delicious, and so was the chicken rice. I guess it pays to be nice :)

Monday morning started great, finished my exam at 11 am, went for karaoke with my gal pals and then Huey called me out to try the new sushi place. And what do you know, surprise! they got me another choc cake and bought me dinner. :) did i say i love my friends? because i do.

I want to put up photos but it being all surprises, i actually didn't take any. But my friends did, so i shall put them up when i get them :)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 November is not just a special day for me, i've been sharing birthdays with my older sister longer than i can remember as her birthday is on the 17th.

This year, i surprised her with none-other than the trendiest thing since doughnuts!

cupcakes. hand-made to perfection and personalized to a tee by my high school friend Mei Leng.She creates these art works and delivers them too!

since my sister was an avid traveller, i wanted the cakes to show that, and that she's an architect, used to live in New Zealand. so here they are. I  knew she loved em :)

Hot & Humid November

Hello November,

I usually get psyched up when i see the turn of the calendar right after Halloween.

Of course. it means a month closer to the end of the year, my birthday would come up and usually i'd be flying home soon enough.

But the extended power cuts are annoying me physically, mentally as well as emotionally. Stress can alter everything about you.

For the past week i've been stationed in Bhayangkara Hsopital, in charge of doing autopsies as well as forensics examination in legal-medicine.: rape, abortion, road-accidents and etc

So it has been a hectic week where we are not allowed to leave the hot, air-less hospital, and to add up to our misery, there is no fan, no window in our on-call room. and the electricity gets cut every 6 hours, for 3 dang hours. Even the water stops running after the 2nd day.

I get hopeless, and tired, and angry and emotional. hmm..

ok, so the upside is we get free wireless internet connection with a very limited speed. but still..only so much free browsing can happen when you're hot and sweating.

Hello November indeed.

Details

Last weekend, on the 19th, my very close girl-friend got enganged to her long-time-best bud in a very sweet ceremony which i wished i was able to attend. Sadly, not being there i could only offer my coongratulations through the technology of text messages n fb account. haha. Za's engagement was the 2nd engagement i missed this year, which hopefully i can make up for next year on the wedding day, k Za? Sha?

Am in my 3rd week of forensics and legal medicine. Presented a blunt trauma case of road accidents. Went dr. G came in and requested us to present after he had just maimed the group before us, i was quite speechless. But minor referential mistakes aside, he thought we gave an overall good presentation. Yeay! But Dr.G wouldn't be Dr.G if he wasn't critical of every word, every detail and every photo that we showcased.

"Who do you think you are?"
-Ouch.

Remember that everything in forensics is evidence-based. Always remember that when giving a statement, an objective or eve subjective point of view.

Duly noted Doc. Hopefully tomorrow goes well.

Bite Marks

Today, in the forensics lab, we were acquainted with my supervisor, dr.Peter S. and he gave us a brief lecture on bite marks, the importance of superimposing the coorect size and shape in identifying perpetrators of law. It was interesting, especially when we started discussing the famous investigation of Ted Bundy.

In Forensics and Legal Medicine, we don't just do autopsies, although in CSI its pretty much rules the show; but we investigate. And study, and deduce our assumptions in a crime scene and point fingers at the assailant; all within reasonable evidence as proof.

Are you getting the picture?

I always thought it'd be easy to watch an autopsy, or even get my hand dirty in doing one. But in truth, touching, feeling and smelling a dead body, a fresh corpse, and cutting them open is a whole other level.

I hope InsyaAllah, i will never have to go through one as the body lying cold on the table.
Its something i would never wish on anyone.

Who turned out the lights?

I've been updating the blog as my own personal Travelogue. No idea if it helps you if ever you want to go where i went. But jus thought i'd slip this in. Am back in Makassar for a week now.

I am currently in Forensics department which sounds cool. But in reality; we're all just waiting for a dead body to turn up for us to investigate. Now isn't that a BAD wish?

I had fun coming back and seeing old friends, going out to check out the 'theme park' but really, i only felt i was back on this isolated island when they started the power cuts AGAIN.

9.00 am

"Oops, no power for the next 3 hours people!" when the screen and LCD shuts down at the forensics lab.

2.00pm

"I'm home!...wait..what the? Aaaaah"

11.30pm

"Okay, time to go to...AAAAAh. Who turned out the lights?? Dang you mosquitos!"

Welcome back to Makassar.

Oooom, hot hot heat

Luang Prabang, Laos

A vip bus ride the next day, that took about 7 hours over the hills brought us into the UNESCO World Heritage site of Luang Prabang. We left Vang Vien at about 9.30 am and arrived approximately in the central bus station of L.P at 4.30pm. A quick 10 minute tuk-tuk ride brought us right into the main street where guest-houses were aplenty to choose from.

(Tip: When descending the bus at the central station, you will be surrounded by various guesthouse "agents" offering you their best price if you follow them. Keep in mind that the guesthouses are literally next to each other; so if you do follow an "agent" and are not satisfied with the room; you can always walk into the next one. So what we did was get a brochure with a map of the area and just dive into the main street. You'll have plenty of choices so relax and just haggle away).

The guest-houses were all clean and simple. So we un-packed, cleaned ourselves up and started to head out for dinner. In any asian city/ town, tourist pot; there shall always be something similar or akin to a night market; and Luang Prabang is no exception. The Night Market in downtown Luang Prabang, which is open roughly from 5.30pm till 10pm is a treasure trove of scarves, hand-painted artworks, beutiful hand-crafted linens and accessories.

I went crazy running my hand on all the tradiotinal skirts and colourful scarves looking for one i'd spare my USD for. Bangles and bracelets as well as figurines of Buddhist worship were also among the many crafts on sale. Laos Kip, and US Dollars are mainly in use although some may accept Thai Baht if you have them to spare.
 But as we walked through the market, most stalls and both sell the same wares and our churning, growling tummies were in need of serious fuel before we could go on.
Luckily for us, Ro found a vegetarian buffet vendor right smack in the middle of the market. 5000 kip for a plate of food. There were spring rolls for 1000 kip a piece, but who would mind? All you can eat, and cheap too. We indulged, had more than one serving before we moved on to what some might say the national sport of Luang prabang.
Bowling!
(Note: As Luang Prabang is famous for its many temples and holy status, it is by law that all establishments of bussiness should be closed by 11.00pm; except for the bowling alley which gets to open till 2.00 am. Disco bowl maybe?)

The next day, began with breakfast at a nearby cafe, called Joma which serves a big portion of delectable goods for a good price. The setting and ambience were reminiscent of a cozy western cafe and the menu was filled with choices for all taste buds. We tried getting tickets to fly into Hanoi that morning itself, but the planning and searching, and haggling prices with tour agencies sucked us dry of energy before we agreed to cool ourselves from the scorching sun at the famed Kwang Si waterfalls; an hour's drive from the town of Luang Prabang.

Driving through rice paddy fields and villages to get there reminded me of driving through KB, my very own village; where everything was still and green. Kwang Si waterfalls was a good choice, the water was cooling, there was another swing in one of the swimming area and the place was cleaner than the last waterfall i came across (okay, Makassar has so much to catch up to!) Just sitting on one of the rocks with my feet in the water was good enough for me.
After much sun-bathing and water-paddling, we rallied and went back into town, to explore the temples and Luang Prabang's National Museum.

Despite of such good intentions, i did not get to see the temples and museum  untill the next day, which incidentally was when Ro parted ways with us to see the rest of Laos on his own.

The National Museum was; i guess in a way was interesting? It explained essentially the history (duh!) and legendary stories of the kingdom through out the ages. But i guess i was hoping for something more as the best thing in the museum to me were the paintings, and the stories it told.

To finish of our stay, with one extra day, we took a boat trip out to see the Pak Ou Caves (with upper and lower caves and a whole lot of stairs in between these two) and a nearby village called 'Lao-Lao village' or in other words; whisky village. Where home-made Lao whisky is made and processed before it is sent all over the city. Scorpions and cobras were the meaty choice to put in a laos whisky bottle. Too strong?

3 days in Luang Prabang was enough for me. I prefered its streets and general feel to Vang Vien; but alas we had places to go and Vietnam to see. I do miss the fruitshakes though.

Pink Dragonfruit just doesn't taste as good on its own.:)