Pre-Ramadhan Gathering

Today, my son, Ihsan, came back home from JB. As he reached home, a representative from the surau (Azif?) came by to drop a box of dates from the surau.

Just two days ago, we fetched Izzuddin from UiTM Jasin for his semester holidays. Before leaving the college, he took a pic with his friends.

He also helped drive on our journey back home (Note: he rarely had the opportunity to drive Malibu and this time for a long distance).

So, with both Ihsan and Izzuddin home, we have now the whole family back together again. Unsure if we have any special plans while everyone is back. Ihsan, in particular, said that he might not be able to take leave during Ramadhan. Let's see how the day goes.

Just the day before our Jasin trip, I went to UPM to collect my stock of medications for Ramadhan & Shawwal. I also showed the medical report from Pantai Hospital of my angio CT scan to Dr. Sufi (the doctor at UPM). I requested another letter from him to IJN as advised by some others (in addition to the letter from Pantai Hospital). I was told that there may only be a partial coverage of the fees of whatever procedures done at IJN as a UPM retiree. If the fees are too high and not affordable for me, I will probably take the risk of not undergoing the procedure. In some way, I wished that I did not have taken the angio CT scan before. If I have to go, I will just go.

On scientific front, I have been making many pauses in whatever I'm doing due to my back and my intake of pain killers. I would be lying if I have not thought of giving up on science altogether. The only thing that held me back is somehow my feeling of doing the science is like a religious obligation, given that I have been given the opportunity of pursuing it before. More so, when theoretical sciences and pure mathematics are less pursued locally. Thus, it is more critical to create enough critical mass in these science. The coming AI revolution (if it is not already here) will make it more urgent for such community building. Even if AI are going to replace many of the intellectual processes in the future, we as humans will still be part of the picture (hopefully not as slaves). The least, the role of meaning endower for the intellectual process executed, should be taken up by the human, but I think it should be more than that.