i have to admit that i awfully enjoy working with Pangkeng, the ultimatum in tough love. when there's a stubborn patient who refuses to take a toilet bath, Pangkeng will be the only one who can convince him (though i sometimes think it's more like coerce). if there's a patient who's being an outright pain in the ass, Pangkeng will be there to 'counsel' the patient. he's has already gained a reputation for being one who pushes the limits of boundaries. and nobody at work's saying anything about it. not because they don't give a shit or they are terrified of his huge frame and looks (though i can name you a few who have such an innate fear). but rather, because he breaks through the barriers all in the name of the patients. simply put, he gets the job done when others don't want to do it. he who hath not sinned and all that stones.

we make the perfect tag team when we work together, with him being the muscle and me being the brains. if you own an Xbox360 and have experienced Bioshock and the Ayn Rand-inspired city of Rapture, well... he's my big daddy. you wouldn't believe the stupid shit that we do in the ward. smoking in the ward, self-phlebotomy, getting lucky numbers from patients for lottery tickets (this one's Pangkeng's department, i don't play 4D, hell, i don't even know how to, but he has struck lottery before via this method), most of which is pretty much frat boy-inspired youtube-worth stuff. i guess the both of us are simply people who don't play by the rules. which is perhaps why both of us have the guts to do all this crazy shit that borders on us losing our jobs in the hospital. it's sorta like an open secret, except that no one has ratted out on us yet.

well, recently Pangkeng and i were working together again. and we both decided to go fetch a patient back from a procedure at the radiology department by ourselves. now, fetching patients back from procedures can be quite a pain sometimes. it's all in the problem of manpower. you need at least an Enrolled Nurse (one step below the Staff Nurse on the career ladder) and a porter to bring a patient back. it's a 2-man job in a 'every man in too precious to spare' kinda working environment. apparently, the radiology department didn't have any porters to spare because 'our porter has gone for his lunch break and our other porter is on medical leave'. so naturally, Pangkeng and i who have the patient's best interest at heart, dropped everything we were doing and immediately went to fetch our patient back. of course, we went to have a smoke together before we went to the radiology department.

it was while wheeling back the patient that suddenly, Pangkeng said, 'Jon, you want to see what is Initial D?' in case you're not Asian or you're not familiar with anime, Initial D is an anime-turned-movie that features street racing in Japan, a lot of hills, meandering roads, drifting cars, and delivering tofu while street-racing at the same time (the protagonist works as a tofu-delivery boy). awfully boring film if you ask me. but then again, i don't have a driving license and have never liked the Need For Speed series of games.

i assumed it was one of his millions of lame jokes, so i just shrugged my shoulders and gave some nonchalant reply along the lines of 'whatever'. before i knew it, at the next corner which required us to make a left turn with the trolley (NB: there was a patient in the trolley), Pangkeng swerved the bloody thing violently (NB: with the patient still in the trolley). the trolley went from position A to position C. i'm too lazy to put it in words, but all you need to know is that the trolley was still standing upright (NB: and the patient is still in the trolley).

'fuck,' was the first thing i said, 'what the fuck was that?'

'Initial D,' Pangkeng replied with a grin.

the patient in the trolley who prolly must have watched that accursed film before, laughed along with us.

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