renewal run part -3

The office was filled with people as expected. It was just like old days when we presented to da imigresen; someone will checked you papers before a number is handed out to make sure no time is wasted when you hit the counter.

I stroke the first coral during the document checking session. I did not remove the cover of yun passport when I photocopied in the house. There was this small edge printing of the cover at the edge; what the four letter word with F; I grumbled. There were total 4 documents in that condition and Yun had to do the run at the convenient store round the corner.

Form downloaded from the net was not appropriate and cannot be used !!!!!!!!!!! A chop to write the address need to be chopped at the end of the form…

So double jeopardizes; refilling the form and photocopied some of the document.

After 40min of struggle, we were finally called and luckily our photo will the mild grin were accepted….I opted for the express with a charge of NT250 each. The staff was nice enough to combine the mailing parcel and lifted the fee by half.

We walked out from the office by 11:00am and rushed back to the station to catch the 11:46am train. Xian had to rush for the class at 3pm.

We bought bento from the outlet and enjoyed a good meal. The sushi bento from the sushi shop is great and the fried pork chop bento from the railway bento shop was a must try.

I had fallen asleep soon after I finished my meal. It was truly a relief for me after worrying for the past 2 weeks. Anything could go wrong and wasted all the effort and money. It remind me 5 years ago when I presented to UTC Kuching where we just hand on our document and got the passport in 2 hours. Nothing to worry about.

Yun had gotten off at T city and we arrived at K city station on time. Xian had made it to the class and I headed home for another good nap.

It was just a temporary relief for me as I had to worry about the trip up to pick up the passport. It would be another challenge to coordinate such travel.

worst fear ever....

 

March and April were the changing point, government had started to lose grip of the Covid19 control. Quarantine period was shortened and finally the sharp curve arrived. Case broke the 1k mark and later 10k marks. Daily mortality had increase to over 100. The control center had finally announced that we should co-exist with the Covid19. People raced to buy rapid test kit as if the kit could save them from the disease. It was chaotic as load of patient had rushed into ED showing their positive rtk and queuing for PCR test. The heat was rising in our department as our designated zone was a mix of clean and dirty area. We had to don PPE to see patient in the open and later removed it to the clean zone for charting. The putting on and taking off process was the most dangerous part where you would accidentally contact with the virus during the removal process.

The fear of contracting disease had haunted most of us. There were some staffs who are very keen of being infected as they claimed that getting infected will means immunity. But most of us didn’t think so as re-infection was possible according to report. I had to sprayed and rubbed my exposure surface with alcohol before I left ED.

We had colleagues infected since the start of the biggest wave ever; one after another, our staff being isolated and it had become worst as time passed. Rosters were being revised and revised.

We believed that most of us will be infected sooner or later as the vaccine apparently is not working for the O variant. However we strived to become the last batch to be infected as no one could predict if we would be asymptomatic or not...

At the end of May, I was hit by what I fear most….

Renewal run - part 2

 

My anxiety increased over days; anything could go wrong and I just couldn’t imagine about squeezing through the agony again….

At D-1 days, I had gone through everything again after I woke up from my sleep. Everything was in order; red book, birth cert, myKAD, copies…We headed to the HSR station and have our late dinner at a Japanese food joint. To be honest, I did not enjoy the meal; my brain was all over the renewal event.

The journey to TC city was uneventful and we had checked into Kloud hotel as planned. I met Yun and help her to photocopy the final piece of document at the convenient store nearby; final stone dropped and I was able to have a nap after all those stresses. It seems that everything should be fine but yet I had started to worry about the return trip. Xian got a class to catch and we would need to get on the HSR by noon to make it happen.

I sunk in the bed and woke up after 5 hrs of blackout. I prepared myself and woke up Ving and Xian one by one. By 7am, we had gathered in front of Yun hostel and waiting for the Uber chartered car to arrive. I had been using Uber for the past few months while travelling up north. Simple interface and good service it was. I chartered a RAV4 hybrid as I was sourcing for my next car. It had been ten years since we had Fefe and it is almost time to move on. The ride was average and RAV4 would be at the bottom of the list at the moment.

We had successfully caught up the train and arrived at TP city on time.

I opted for taxi as I did not want to squeeze with other in the LRT at this Covid period.

The ride seems forever from my point of view; moment of truth and the worst is to do it again next month….

On arrival we found that the visa division had shifted to another location 700m from the mission. My fault as I did not read the instruction properly and just took for granted that the visa division is located at the same building.

It was another fast walk for us and we were almost stressed out when we arrived at the building.

The visa division was located at 12F and as expected, the office was packed with people who wished to renew their passport….

The renewal run....part 1

The renewal of passport was one of the crucial events for me every 4 years. I need to properly plan the trip so that it would not be too early or too close to the expiration date. My earliest renewal was 8 months prior to the expiration date and ended up being questioned by the officer for the reason we chosen to renew it early. The officer had told me later that they had flipped through our passport carefully just to see if I have any specific reason that I did so and they found nothing; the process had taken them more than 2 hours to do so. Those who had come later than me had picked up their passports and we were still waiting. The officer let us passed when he knew that we had planned for a travel 3 months later and was unable to return to homeland for passport renewal as the kids were schooling.

When the pandemic started, my passport was far beyond its expiration death. However as the pandemic dragged on for more than one year, I had begun to worry about my passport renewal.

Returning home and comply to the quarantine rule would take at least 30 days [14days quarantine x 2 plus 2 days for passport renewal] provided that we are lucky enough not to contract the disease during the travelling. It would not be feasible for Yun,Xian and me. I had been closely following information about how the renewal could be done at the representative office up north.

The renewal process is easier at the homeland; you just need to present yourself, relevant documents and money. Photo would be taken by the officer and woo la .. it is over. My last renewal of passport at UTC Kuching was smooth. Even in the past where photo had to be prepared by the applicant; it was simple and all you need is walk into any photo joint and tell the uncle what you want. However the photographer here was unfamiliar with the standard of photo needed for the passport renewal. I was so anxious as there would be no margin for error as there would not be any photographer around the office trying to take instant photo making fast money out of those mischief who presented with unqualified photo.

I had to coordinate between Yun, Xian and me so that we could head to the mission and settle the problem in one shot. I started the planning two months prior to the action.

I had e-mailed the mission as suggested by most of the fellow homelanders from the web with no news for over a week. I had to call up and the call was answered by a female officer. When she knew that we were coming from the south; she had squeezed me into the appointment list even though the date I asked for was full at the time I called.

An order of “no event” was given to Yun and Xian around the date I picked; I had pre-arranged my leave and everything was set. However a small disagreement had altered my plan. Yun wanted to travel up north on the day of action. I wanted to put a night at T city and proceed to the mission without rush. I had to compromise and put up a night near Yun’s place one night before the date.

So it would be home ->HSR to TC city –stay a night->HSR to TP city early in the morning. Hotel and ticket was booked after everything was finalized.

The tricky part came later….

I download the sample photo from the website and gone to the local photo studio where I been patronized for years. I had to wear a deep color shirt which was not plain in color as it was my only deep color shirt I had. The studio owner had tried to be nice and made our photo look nicer…I was quite terrified when I saw the photo; a noticeable grin was noted on the photo. It would not be feasible to retake the photo and I had to cross my finger and live with it. Ving was actually happy with it as the photo looked nice…

I photocopied all the document needed and downloaded the form from the internet. The checklist however did specifically state that the form had to be filled AT the office….

Everything seems fine and fully prepare.....  

Double tap....

 

The work in ED is always a team work and as the lead in the team, you would surely want a group of staffs with good skills and proper attitude.

I had encountered a few taps lately…

It was a busy morning when I took over the shift. A car accident with multiple victims; a few youngster rammed their car onto a big drain along the road down south.

Two were considered severe among those victims. A 18 years old girl with T- spine fracture with another young chap sustained a brain concussion.

K told me everything was done and awaiting the family to picked them up.

I took a quick glance at the CT and confirmed the T-spine fracture(yeap it was my fault for taking a QUICK GLANCE). The two victims were surrounded by other and was chit chatting while waiting for the pick-up.

I got a call 1 hrs later by the radiologist.

“Dr L, I think I saw something in the uterus of the pt chart no 123456. I think it might be a fetus”, said the radiologist. I thanked him and cursed while I reviewed the CT again. It was truly a fetal like object in it. I pushed the sonography machine to the bed-side and asked the patient again….She missed her period 2 months ago and did not tell our staff as no one had asked her. WXF, I cursed again; no one even bother to ask the menstrual period! The EP, the nurses, the radiographer; the girl had gotten pass those 3 layers of defense and got hit by a large doses of radiation…Catastrophic incident and my most fear was being walloped by the family when I broke the news to them…

The sonography confirmed my fear, shinning spine with a heart beat was shown over the screen.

I called up our gynecologist for a consult and reported the incident to the superintendent. The social worker was called for further counseling.

One of the youngster around the girl appeared to be her boyfriend. 8+9 type of youngster.

8+9 is a synonym for “eight house general”. There are youngster involved in temple activity as dancer portraying as warrior from sky. Some of the temple had served as branches for triad and these youngster would be adsorbed as minion.

I was a little bit restless while waiting for the parents to come; hopefully they don’t appear with betel nut stained tongue and tattoo.

The father came in his working suit, he appeared like a good old man with good manner. And he was what he look like...

I explained to him about the injury and told him that the CT was done under an emergency circumstances. Father was worried with his daughter injury from his look as I explained the condition to him.

I was relieved when he mumbled that even if the child is ok, they could not afford the child. I arranged referral to a medical center where a further high risk pregnancy assessment would be done. 

The social worker chatted with me later and told me that the family was financially restraint and she had left home early to work. The father claimed that they could not afford to raise the grandson. I was not happy with the ending however it was best for all including fetus…

I had followed up the case 2 months later and found that D+C was done.

It looked like a very happy ending, parents saves RM1k for the abortion, everything was taken care of; girls and boys can go back to their life.....

How the hack did it happn? It was near passing over time, everyone rushing to complete their task and no one bother to ask seems like the only explaination and yet I think it is all act of the Great One....

It was a double tap for me as my staff had sent an elderly female with renal insufficiency for enhance CT without waiting the Cr result(her condition was not ok for that); I had gotten a narrow escape without a scratch with grace from the Great One...And this double tap had made me believed more about his grace...

However the third tap was waiting for me...

U path for XX

 

The path for Xian to University was a major struggle for me. He was not sure of what he wanted to study and lagging on his preparation plan. 2 months prior to the application, he had decided he wanted to dip into show biz. It was way beyond my imagination and all I could do was support his decision.

Only handful of school could be chosen from and Xian grade had limited his choice to only a handful of selection. Good news and bad news. Good news was we don’t have to travel a lot for interview. Bad news was he had gotten only one of it as favorite. He had opted for a University at the central part of the island. We had once passed through it when we visited Yun. It was situated on a mountain and very secluded. The hostel are mostly situated down the mountain and it was a short trip uphill on a winding road. Definitely not my cuppa of tea as a father…but it was not my choice and not my course…However we had however recommended few more school to Xian and persuaded him that not to put all egg in a basket.

The preparation stage was short as Xian was left only with 2 months before the submission. He had had to enter a photography competition and made a short movie. From time to time, I had asked him about his progression and for once, he had told me not to disturb him. I had told him, it was my duty to bother him as he had claimed that he did not wanted to sit for the designated exam (aka best result enter the best school exam) which will make him suffered for another 4 months. My job was to ensure that his wish come true. We were good after the conversation and I stopped my harassment as he promised he would keep to the schedule.

When his ability exam result came one early Feb, his choices had down from 4 to 3. He did not make it to the required grade for his favorite school. I thanked the Great One for answering to my prayer.

Xian was not very upset as he had three options left. The submission was smooth as he had completed everything; from the movie to the photo competition. With grace he had made it to the interview stage for all three of his submission. The most worrying part was the interviews as Xian was not that good as Yun. He had undergone a few simulated interviews at school and there was nothing we could do but prayed.

YSU was situated on a small mountain and it is a Genting like tourism spot with a big mall, theme park, luxurious housing project. SZU was located in a secluded area where the town was 20min drive away. CJCU is a Christian university located just beside a train station and located in a small township.

CJCU was the best choice at the time as it had a vast varieties of hostels to choose from and assessable plus convenient. Xian was looking forward to attend the school as he will be staying out campus and a bike will be provided to him just like what we had offered Yun. The thought worried us as riding around was considered dangerous to every Malaysian parents. However as the local church was situated just outside the school and it even had a society inside the school, we were still looking forward that he could enter the school and enjoy church’s life.

All of the interview had gone uneventfully and the final moment came months later. Xian was accepted to YSU and on backup list for the other 2 schools. Xian was not disappointed as he was very excited when he was given a short tour at YSU during the interview. Just like what I had told him when I persuaded him to apply for YSU; a loaded university with good equipment. He told me that he wanted to accept the YSU offer and not wait for CJCU 2^nd intake even though he would not get a bike during his college years.

It did not go down the road as we had imagined but yet it was a good start.

 

 

late flashback

 

I considered 2021 as the year of trapped. The terror caused by Covid rampage had restricted our movement. The local people had enjoyed more freedom than the rest of world; however the restriction of travelling abroad had really depressed me.

However I did encountered some matters that cheered me up despite of the depression that weaken my soul. Xian had made it to University. Yun was doing well on her first year with some struggle on her second. I had gone back to airsoft life where I set up my workshop and small range on the 4^th floor; I had shot a few IDPA matches and take a few tactical courses.

A few hazard was noted during my practice but I was able to retreat myself properly without any scratch. Entering into the field of long term care was a new milestone for me. The ride was rough from time to time and with grace I managed to surf to it.

I believed everyone will still be trapped under the current pandemic for the next few months. Some had considered the rise of the omnicron as a possible solution to the current condition but I am not optimistic about the situation. Travelling back to homeland might not be possible for another year and when the barricade was removed, the travelling expenses will be high.