1.Too much Information - 00:00
2.Ordinary World - 4:59
6.Come Undone - 21:56
7.Breath after Breath - 26:37
9.Femme Fatale - 37:13
11.Shelter - 46:58
13.Sin of the City - 55:50
17.Come Undone" (12" mix - Comin' Together) - 1:16:35
18.Ordinary World" (acoustic version) - 1:24:00
19.Too Much Information" (David Richards 12" mix) - 1:29:11
(Note : I only highlighted my favourite tracks from this album)
A. Men are born to compete
Last week, I had this feverish cold for few days. And honestly, I missed my intake of medication for hypertension and diabetes, as I just started working at a new company.
Last Friday, asthma attack, and out of a sudden, I coughed heavily and vomitted green coloured phlegms. I guess my new boss was so disgusted looking at it, that he asked me to excuse myself from work and get proper treatment.
Went back quite late as I was resting at some place before I arrived at my house, hence wife is already at home back from work. We directly went to Hospital Sungai Buloh.
As for always, since there's quite many experience going to hospital, whether private or Government run hospital, there will always be sometime that you will have to wait. A long wait.
Based on this knowledge, I will usually bring along books, the thick-kind of book, sometimes I bring one of the "jilid" of the 7 "jilid" of Ihya Ulumiddin. (Religion book is a common thing to be read when you are sick, as you are at this stage, very honest and very dependent on God).
Not that day, I brought along a book on German Renaissance.
Arrived at the asthma room at the hospital,. the Medic Officer checked the pulse and blood pressure reading before starting the nebulizer treatment.
As I opened my thick book to start reading, I was surprised when the Medic Officer arrived on a second time, with a wheelchair.
Shit, my blood pressure reading was 165/112. At any time, there's this risk of Stroke or TIA due to that high reading.
I was brought to a Yellow Zone at Emergency Ward of Hospital Sungai Buloh. For a second time, this year, what an achievement.
I was strategically located besides high blood pressure reading patients. A very friendly talkative 30-40 year old Malay "abang" and beside him, an old Indian man.
I saw them very talkative, and quite jovial too. They asked questions to me, which I replied with short messages. I wasn't feeling very well for this kind of "forum". I'm not breathing well, some more to reply to long talks about sickness, hospitals.
The "abang" told me I shouldn't worry, because his blood pressure is 200 something that time. He was quite proud when he told me, on a normal day, he could easily get MC from any doctor.
He seems so proud of his achievements that I had to give a proper head nodding movement, minimumly, to indicate my respect of his "achievements".
The Indian man told me of his heart condition, his previous history of heart.
Hence, I realised, this forum is a competition of "he is macho is the the one who is the sickest yet the presevered of them all".
Thank god, my asthma condition doesn't permit me to join the forum. The doctor and the Medic officer then proceed to give asthma nebuliser, while monitoring the blood pressure.
So with that oxygen mask in my face. I read about the rise of Albert Krupp steel business, supplying cannons to Otto Von Bismarck's war to unite Prussia, all while my fellow bedmates continuing their forum of history lesson of blood pressure and sickness.
The malay "abang" then asked the nurse to go to toilet. Somehow they let him go, and after 20 minutes, a commotion among the nurse and the doctor happens, on why the "abang" disappears.
The Public Announcement speaker in the hospital started mentioning the Malay abang to come back to his bed.
The Malay abang smells of cigarrete when he came back.
I was in the Yellow zone for 2 hours plus some minutes. with two nebulizing session, with my blood pressure around 140/90 range.
One personal lesson, is, don't cheat to your doctor. I just told truthfully, that my medication is 8mg of Covapril daily, 1000mg of metformin twice, daily and 80mg of glicazide daily. And I might have skipped taking it because I was not disciplined in my diet.
Because, nationwide, my hospital record is there, the doctor knows what medication they gave and whether I followed it. Thank god, when the doctor checked my sugar reading, it was 9. hence the doctor believed that I can learn to take this medication thing more seriously.
So I was let go early.
The Indian guy couldn't believe that I was let go early, he shouted "ma-ci-bai" (profanities in Cantonese) then started criticising hospitals generally.
He must've felt that it is not fair. The thing is, I believe, it is not a sport or a competition that it has to be fair in the first place.
B. Compete and compete, so that you not end up a loser
The news of that fake "doctor-dentist" who was bailed-up at RM70k by some MGO must have appalled Malaysians.
and her reply pissed many people off.
Somehow, the story is now being turned into a Robin Hood kind of theme.
The lady, poor family, had to become breadwinner, had to do something, but then people conspired against her, and now when she is bailed, it is a win. the conspirator lose.
So what is right and wrong, can somehow be portrayed as a competition of an underdog going against companies or establishments.
Put religion and some under-dog theme and anything can happen.
That's why there are flat-earthers in Malaysia. Deep inside, the fuel was belief and competition.
The answer to this all can be found in this video Psychology: Defense Mechanisms & Rationalization: "Facing Reality" 1954
Note Update 8 October 2017 :
In a recent video, I understood that the 70k money was from a motorcyclist gang called Dragon76.
Somehow they sympathise with her"fake dentist" father, and did fund collection for her father. Her father was personal friends with these guys.
The money was not from PPIM.
Only that, they didn't expect the girl to come out with that video, and for PPIM to come out with a statement.
the video can be seen from this link = .https://www.facebook.com/amirhamzah.abdulhamid/videos/1862925543732426/
C. Reminiscence
So yesterday and today, the fever was still there. So I remembered some nice warm memories in my life, to try make things more positive.
And I remembered Duran Duran Wedding Album, released in 1993.
I was 11 years old. Back then, my mom had this credit card difficulties, that she had to use big portion of her salary to pay off the cards.
So, in order to support the family and cover the loss income, my father, who was a general clerk at UM then, had to do a part time job at night working at a petrol station.
The time was quite tense, as my father felt tired and pressured. Mom was feeling guilty and everyone doesn't feel nice when we're together.
So each people in the family treasure their personal time. For Mom, she usually rent Hindustan videos and watch it after dinner by herself until it was sleeping time.
Me, I was into listening to music in the radio, and I was find by this Ordinary World song by Duran Duran. One day, I recorded this on a casette tape when the song was played on radio.
I played this on my mom's car-radio everytime she sent me to school around 6.30am.
Sometime later, she bought me a Walkman with this Duran Duran Wedding Album.
Surprisingly, the album released in Malaysia, doesn't have this acoustic track, nevertheless, being 11 years old, I was into the record.
I was lucky when I got good result, and I got into the special class in Standard 6. My mom then never hesitates buying whatever record I wanted since.
I don't know, sometimes, I tend to block people or personal problems and just listens to songs.
Maybe it is my defense mechanism after all.