More time? Please?

Hi. I am back.

I am down for 2 reasons:

Firstly, my holiday is over. So shitty work life begins again. Hell, everybody has to go through this so even though it sucks big time, i still get on with it.

I would love to blog about my trip, show you all the beautiful pictures of the great ocean road, the melbourne city at night, the amazing great barrier reef .... but im just not in the mood now.

A good friend of mine just confirmed that he has cancer. Brain cancer.

1 month ago, he had undergone an operation to remove a tumour in his head. It was bringing him frequent headaches, and the inability to recognize words. It was only until one day, when the headache caused him to paralyze, that he was taken to the hospital for a brain scan.

They remove the damn thing, about 9cm long and 4cm wide from his head. There were even cysts growing on the tumour.

When I visited him at the hospital, I was teasing him that he might not be able to play mahjong anymore. He and his GF knew that I was going to Australia for a holiday and they both wanted to join. I was more than glad to have their company. They're both great people. Really.

I also observed that he had a ring on his fourth finger, and he admitted and they had gotten registered just a month ago, after Chinese New Year.

"Wah lau! So secretive ah?"

And I was truly happy for them.

These 2 have been one of the most unaffectionate couples I have ever met. But on that day, when I bade them both goodbye at the hospital, I saw them held hands in front of us, for the first time.

I was touched. Really.

A week later, friend told me he wouldn't be able to join in the trip as he had to undergo chemotherapy. The tumour was cancerous.

"But the tumour's removed. So he should be fine, right?" Or so, I thought.

Was on MSN with him, and he told me that he's undergoing chemo and radiation treatment now. I didn't realise the seriousness (probably because I refuse to believe he could be this ill at this age) until he told me, the statistics of similar patients living into the 2nd year after being diagnosed ... is 25%. No one, in Singapore, has lived more than 4 years.

I shed a tear.

I got to know said friend when I first went over to Brisbane to study. He became my housemate. After the other 2 housemates moved out, I stuck with him in the same house and we both sublet the other rooms, making us the main tenants of the nice, old Queenslander.

We had a lot of fun playing mahjong, pool, and I described him to my other friends, as the housemate who eats a mountain of rice. Which he did. But he never gained weight. At that time, friend was already on medication. I didn't know what he was suffering from, juz that, if he didn't take his full medication every day, he would get into fits.

It was also in Aussie land that he met his current wife.

A couple years passed, and even after graduation, we still kept in touch. Mostly for mahjong. He was one of my faithful mahjong khaki. And always will be.

He is coming 29 this year.

I really wish there is something I can do for him.