Don't be too CNN

On my way back from sapporo to KL... I have been trying to follow the news on the Beijing Olympic Torch relay wherever I go. Never thought I turned out to be such a big Olympic fan!! Well, I don't really have a choice -- it is like the next big news after the United States' presidential primaries!

As I travel to different parts of the world, I realised how media coverages are so very different in different parts of the world. Take the Iraq war for instance, CNN, FOX, BBC, NHK, Al-Jazeera and HK Phoenix had different news coverage, having CNN & FOX being so polarized towards one end and Al-Jazeera at the other. BBC is slightly better than both CNN and FOX. The same incident could be interpreted into two different situations. NHK would basically be doing similiar coverage as the United States as they share the same sources eventually. I do like HK phoenix alot as it has broader coverage, and a more objective view on international issues. I was impressed that they have their own crews on the ground doing the news coverage.

The torch relay received so much attention due to the vast coverage on the protests by the Tibet exile group that tries to sabotage it. It is amazing that everything seemed to be falling into place, first the riot then the protests, as if all these are masterminded. The news actually came out not showing the torch relay itself but the protests. I guess people are still more interested in the protests than the torch. Who cares about Olympic Games anyways.

I was in my Japanese host family house when the news about the protests was on TV every 2 hours. My host mother was pretty upset about the Chinese Government for the Tibet issues and the destroying of the residential areas to make way for the Olympic games. China to her, has a very, very negative image, to my surprise. And even the most educated person in Japan could easily share the same view. I, myself, being able to access good and bad news from all Chinese, Hongkong, Taiwan, Japanese and Western media, was worried that how badly she is influenced by the media. It seems that she only got the bad portion of the pie and never really got the other part of the story. Man, how media can actually mold ones mind in the 21st century!!

News are for you to judge and not to believe.

Sometimes, it is very hard for one to know the truth as media these days aren't so reliable. I came across this web the other day: http://www.anti-cnn.com/ and it was a site made by some Chinese netizens revealing some renowned international media actually distorting news by using old or fake photos. That actually disgusts me very much: media, being a voice of the people, has actually became so corrupted.

As the media sees a weaning in the coverage of anti-Chinese protests, there was an increase in the news of the french-boycott and pro-China rallies in the media. Not to my surprise, it only gets attention in Asian media, only very few done in BBC and none in CNN.

I also came across this really funny song done by an amateur singer, called "Don't be to CNN". It is part of the ant-CNN campaign which is gaining support from Chinese around the globe. Recently "Don't be too CNN" became a common sentence in China, especially among millions of young people.



Well, my advice would be, never trust the media. At least, don't trust just one. I think the only way to seek truth is to go through different sources, so we are never blinded by just one. :)

Okay, enough of my serious talk. Any one wants party this weekend??! :)

Back... it's great to be back again...

Wow... its been almost a month that I was on the road... traveling with my only belongings. Well, almost all :) Haven't been doing such long crazy travel, not since I started work.

I started my journey from sapporo, stop over at Sendai, and then ended up in Tokyo, venturing through places I have once called home. It was awesome meeting with mates I haven't seen for a while. The old faces brought old memories, lots to laugh about, and lots to be proud of. Of course it could be very taxing, with parties, parties and parties, and of course more parties to go to.

Tokyo changed a lot compare to when I was last here. Lots of nicer unique buildings, and lots of nicer condominiums. If it was like 10 years ago, I would never want to stay at any of the condominiums there. But now, it is a totally different story. :)
Managed to catch sakura during my way back. Did not get a lot of hanami done, but was glad that the timing was just right.

Took business class flight on United Airlines to Singapore, and had lotsa champagne on the way back. I might sound like an alcoholic, but trust me, I am not. Just happened that every time I try to clear my glass, the flight attendant just would not stop refilling. It was bad enough that I had couple of wine in the business lounge before getting on the plane. Save me from the liquors.. anyone?!! LOL

Singapore was my first stop in South East Asia. Everything smells, sounds, looks, and feels so familiar. Even the hot dirty air there just felt so good. LOL. A feel of being home, though not quite yet. Darren was kind enough to offer his apartment for my stay. I inhabited his newly renovated apartment, and nearly turned the place upside down. Had a really great time and of course, why miss the party when you are already there??!!! Went for another weekend spin, hopping from one club to the other.

Since I had a big luggage (that I haven't used for 9 years) of my only possessions, I decided to take a train instead of plane/bus back to K.L.
The train of course was late (Malaysian time - 時差無いのに?), and took me like 10 hours to get home. It just amazed me how slow a train can run. Man, never thought KTM could be so cacat. I would definitely take a plane next time. Let it be Air Asia and I won't mind.

Besides having to fill up my applications for my residency in the states, I was finally down with fever. Must be the endless parties and sleep deprivation. But I guess my body could tell, it is the best place to be sick -- home.

2年ぶりの仙台へ

光陰流水、二年間の臨床初期研修生活は「あっ」というまに終わっちゃいました。北海道での生活はほぼ“病院→家→病院→家→すすきの→家→病院→家”のように過ごして、単純な生活でした。残念ながら、北海道の観光はほとんどできず、スキーは一回もしなかったまま、この雪国から去っていっちゃいます。振り返ってみると、この二年間で、様々なすばらしい人たちと出会え、そして仲良くなり、確かに恵まれた環境でしたね。すすきののクラブは行きまくってしまって、クラブの職人まで知り合いになりました。（注：クラブ＝Dance Club;　キャバクラではNOT! )これからこの暖かくしてくれた職場から離れ、未知の世界に飛び、ちょっと不安でもあります・・・（汗）。
この二年間支えてくれた同期たち、そして甘くしてくれた先輩たちに、本当にありがとうと思います。

4月2日に札幌を離れ、苫小牧からフェーリーに乗って、二年ぶりの仙台に戻る予定です。
4月3日に母校（東北大学）の後輩たちに北米の卒後臨床研修の説明会みたいなイベントあり、ちょっとどきどきします。いや、いつの間にか仕事増えたな～！（笑）

2年ぶりの仙台、6年間一緒に過ごした仲間たちと会うのを楽しみにしています！！

San Francisco revisited

Finally the my exams are over.
I felt the sense of relief, but at the same time, was not very happy with my performance. Well, I can blame no one for that, I was hardly even prepared for it. February has been busy than ever. Besides having visits from family and friends, I was doing a neurosurgical rotation, with much of time spent in the OR. There were lots of farewell parties, meeting-ups, and events that packed my schedule for the whole month. I wasn't able to even study for the exam; writing a blog was totally out of the question.
The last week of the rotation was spent in Hokkaido University Hospital, an affliated hospital of an Imperial University nearby. Though there were lots of red tape in such instutites, I was welcomed with opened-arms. It was a great experience getting to know the various other surgeries done there, and the interesting people working there. I had a great time.
Though my career was sort of decided by now, I still get lots of friendly invitations to join the neurosurgical team from various famous surgeons, and it has been hard to resists.
My step 3 exam was taken place in San Francisco, a city in the west coast of the U.S.A. It was my second visit; the first visit was 2 years ago, when Daisuke was doing his one year study vacation over there and I decided to stop over after my visit to UPMC and Boston.
It was great going to a city that felt familiar from the start. The weather was awesome during my visit, pretty unusual for a place famous for its rainny and foggy winter. Though my exams were complicated by the computer break-down, lost of my registration form, and the terrible jet-lag, I am glad to have a much enjoying experience outside the long hours of computer-based exams.
Chinatown, Coit tower, Fisherman's Warf, Ghirardelli Square, Golden gate park etc. were awesome, and I was glad to be back again. The openess of the city could be seen in how people from all skin colors actually integrated into the society, with hispanics and asians working from top executives to blue collars. I heard that the Police Chief is a Chinese woman. This is sort of different from the east coast, since the society is more segregated and you don't get alot of great different mixture of ethnics in one place the same time.
San Francisco - though this visit was brief, I came to love the place, and perhaps, it shall be another city worth more revisiting.

过一个好年

正月初一头一天，家家户户过新年...
农历新年又到来了！
自从来到了日本后，农历新年也不过是普通的一天。没有新年假，没有新年歌，没年糕吃，没红包拿。搞不好更是大考之时，哪儿来的庆祝呢？来日之后，过农历新年，已经变成了一种难得的奢侈。
说来也挺凄惨的，日本自从明治维新，脱亚入欧后，明治政府决定从阴历变阳历，最后也干脆把新年也改为阳历一月一日。农历新年，就只有受中国文化影响深刻的冲绳岛老百姓坚持保留了下来。也因为没有农历新年的观念，阳历2月除了2月14日的情人节之外，便是大学年终考试的时期。6年的日本大学生活中，几乎每一次年初一都刚好有考试，除夕晚和几个马来西亚的朋友随便搞一搞“爬地”，然后冲冲忙忙地赶回家“抱佛脚”。书读不完时，也干脆不庆祝，在家里吭书。呜呼，哀哉！
去年虽然没大考，却得工作，今年也一样没有年假。但是，今年可不同了 —— 家中老爸老妈心血来潮，特地从老远的马来西亚来到这冰天雪地的北海道来过年。真高兴！华人新年讲究团圆。年除夕吃团圆饭，意义深远。像我这长年在外地生活的单身汉，最是体会到团圆饭的温馨和快乐。虽然当天手术搞到很迟才结束（本来还以为更本回不了家的...），回到家时大家都吃饱了，但是还是很高兴能够跟家人便吃边谈，热热闹闹。
光阴似箭，转眼间一个星期过去了。阿弟，老爸，老妈，还有爸妈的两个朋友在北海道受够了寒风雪舞，吃过了山珍海味，成吉思汉烤羊肉，寿司等，看过了冰雕，还过了年。还算这趟没白走。
前天手术晚上10点多才结束。昨天临晨4时左右大家都准备好行李，到机场去。
看着身材高大却又任性的阿弟，和年纪渐老，步行蹒跚的爸妈走入了安全检查站，心中有些依依不舍。
爸妈，阿弟，希望你们一路顺风，多多保重！
新年的同时，也不忘记向大家拜个年： 新年快乐，万事如意！

Cleveland Clinic ― the next global brand?

As the world is getting more globalized, what we see is the creation of global brands: When we talk about burgers, we think of McDs, Burger Kings; cars - GM, BMW, Toyota; computers - IBM (Lenovo), Apple; shoes - Nike, Reebok, Addidas, Manolo Blahnik; iPod, Nokia, Motorola, Sony, Samsung, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Rolex, Cartier, Bulgari, Hermes et al, from everyday food to accessories, games software to high end fashions, we go for brands.
The same tendency is developing among services like higher education and healthcare. We talk about well-known schools like Harvard, Oxford or Qinghua... and worship them. Nowadays, healthcare is getting globalized as well. Harvard Medical International is aggressively expanding their brand outside the United States. John Hopkins has a center in Singapore (Johns Hopkins Singapore International Medical Centre), and recently had some affiliation with a Japanese Clinic. Cleveland Clinic has centers in Florida, Toronto, Canada, and will be opening the Abu Dhabi center in 2010. The current CEO and President of the Clinic, Delos M. "Toby" Cosgrove, M.D., recently indicated plans to expand into other markets abroad including Austria and Singapore (wikipedia). I came across this article, stating that Cleveland Clinic is considering building a center in Shanghai. (read the links 1 2 3 )
If that became true, it would be awesome.
In the very near future, I believe that there will be international brands of hospitals that will lead the healthcare service of the world, providing standardized, high quality medical services to the people. By then, you will start hearing people bragging about going to high end 'branded' hospitals. Hopefully, that will bring a new landscape to our world's healthcare system...

To become a Clevelander...

Another emergency surgery today.
There was this patient with this gigantic ovarian tumor. It was HUGE.
There was enough hair in the tumor (a teratoma) to make a wig. The creamy yellowish liquid that came out from the tumor, splated all over the place, looked totally like the french chou a la creme (cream puff). I guess I am not eating シュークリム for another few weeks.
I went to the gym, did 30 minutes of chest, and got home around 12am.
I was very excited when I received an offering letter from Cleveland Clinic, and I guess my future is sorta set for a new course.
Well, 3 more months to go, then sayonara land of sakura. Crazy-land... here I come!

海商の昼

Yesterday was incredibly crazy.
I slept for only 3 hours, went to work in the middle of a snow storm, ended up on a bus that was 30 minutes late, soaked wet.
Wasn't a good day to start with.
The snow was as high as my knees when I was crawling through my front door. It is my second year here in Sapporo, and never had I seen so much snow before.

I was the only doctor in the ward when I got there, and luckily not alot of time-consuming cases on the ward. Did some gauze changing, stitches-taking, wound-dressing, and my day was almost over. The weather was pretty bad outside, you could see right outside the window, where the snow just piled up like a thick whip-cream on top of the cars parked below. Nevertheless, it was a good day, for I have finally got my match result.

For my last 3 months in TKH, spending time with the residents are somehow high in my to-do-lists. Ikechan came out with his big black car, and Seki, Oilin, Mu-chan and I decided to go for a drive　――　a quest for a nice meal in the middle of the snow storm. Oilin is a 'local' local, and she knows every trees and every plants in this area. And immediately she was our best guide to consult. We decided to go for Gyouza(餃子) but eventually settled on a place call Umi-syou（海商）. Seki came here twice and was pretty impressed by the 'tension' (atmosphere) of this Seafood restaurant.

It was a nice sea-food buffet restaurant, with somewhat like Malaysian 'food-court' style kinda setting. Well, a bit more posh than that. Anyways, my day was not meant to be easy. My 10000 yen notes went into this ticket vending machine, where you pay for the meal in advance, and the whole machine broke down.

$#%"&$"&!'!!

And the whole restaurant staffs were running about, panicking. They came back with the change, and was consistently apologising for the corrupted machine. I think I am gonna miss this kinda scene after I leave Japan. We got to our table, and the buffet officially started. The sushi served there was marvellous; there were also all sorts of aquatic-beings, waiting to be grilled. I couldn't help serving myself with yakitori too. The desserts were superb as well.








It was like a 90minutes binge thingy. Stuffing seafood into your stomach was not too fun. I would say we only need an hour to be filled, but we still went on for desserts. I guess it was pretty cheap for a seafood buffet, and the food was not crappy at all. I would definitely bring my family and friends here for buffet the next time. The only downside of coming to this restaurant is that the smell of seafood + BBQ just stays with you the whole day...

By the time we reach home, it was already late in the evening. Shortly after that, I was starting my night shift at the emergency room outpatient clinic. I did not get to finish until after midnight.

What a day.

I had a great time hanging out, though it was a long day for just a meal. It was a long day after 3 hours of sleep, and by the time I got back home, I was near unconscious.

Matched...??!!!

It was hell of a lie if I say I wasn't anxious about where I will be matched for my residency in the States. Yeah, hell that was a lie when I acted cool during the rounds and scrubbing in for operations, as if I did not give a shit about the match result. Hell yeah, I was bloody lying whe I tell you over lunch that I wasn't even worried...
I have been sneaking into my cubicle every now and then to check if I got any email or notification about my match...
from ANYBODY...
PLEASSSE....
It was Jan 25th 2008.
The match result should be out by Jan 24th, US PST.
But my email was only filled with junk mails, and some mailing list that I was subscribed to... No email about the match. Not even a single reply from anybody. Not even a word of condolences. Damn it. It was a very long day... More Cesaran sections, more laparoscopic surgeries, more vaginal deliveries... the day went on...
Still no mails from SF match... I was getting neurotic.
I was up until 2 AM in the morning... trying to find an airbed for Dad's friends who will be coming with my family for Chinese New Year.
Still... the mailbox looked empty.
I fell asleep eventually.
5:15 AM. Jan 26th Tokyo time.
I couldn't act cool no more.
So I decide to make a phone call to SF match and....
I was told that I matched with Cleveland Clinic!!



Yahoo......!!!!!

okay, now what???
oh... my NRMP... haven't done that ranking list yet...
okay, what next....??

.......

Still need to get my airbed. But damn, I am so sleep-deprived.
Need more sleep.

7:30 AM.
Yikes! Look at the time!! Too late for sleep now...
Needa clean up and go to work...!!!

今天不回家

今天（又）不回家。。。
没想到今天又是手术天。傍晚的回诊拖到晚上9点才结束，但是还是回不了家。急救外来有个紧急手术，过不久又得上手术室去，今天大概也是搞到三更半夜的吧！以前听人说妇产科的医生生活挺惨的，果然此话不虚。阿姐，阿姐！真佩服您！糟了，晚餐还没吃，还是早些到手术室去！