Here's My Story

  Ban: Wahhh must have Japanese chef wor.

Each time the Mid-Autumn Festival comes, I miss having these glutinous rice balls. I didn't know where to get some. Last year, however, I made the effort to google and so based on good reviews, I had it at Dao (outlet at Damansara Jaya). Delicious with quite strong ginger syrup. Yum.   Years ago, we used to dine at Go Noodle regularly until they severely reduced the wine in its soup such that its difference with noodle soup at other shops didn't justify the price and our visit. Think this happened during the pandemic. Recently, we found out that they gave the option of adding RM 3 to add more wine and voila! It was the same as the original. Given the inflation the past few years, we think the additional RM 3 is fair. This time, I tried their  Nyonya curry noodle. It was quite delicious but there was so little vegetable, especially compared to that of their usual noodle.     One of my favourite types of cake. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to share with here :( Ba...

News article: " Customs tribunal officer found dead, with neck, legs bound by cable ties " "A Customs tribunal officer was found dead this morning, with his neck and legs bound with cable ties. However, Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi Isa has ruled out foul play." 😮 "Rusdi advised the public not to speculate about the case." How could we not?!

    I might spend $100.

For years, I've been ordering Norwegian fjord trout (and the occassional Atlantic salmon when it was cheaper), fresh enough to be eaten raw, from Top Catch Fisheries at Taman Megah. I would place the order in advance and they would bill me in the morning of my requested pick-up date. I would order 300g of the fish but understandably they couldn't cut exactly that much from the bigger slab. Often, I would get slightly above it. If I recall correctly, the most I got was 330g. Couple of months ago, right after I put in my advance order, I was surprised to be billed right away for 300 gm. I reminded them that it as for pick-up in a few days time and not for the day itself, which they acknowledged. They want to speed-up the process, rather than billing me on that day. If payment wasn't made on that day, they requested that I remind them of my order that day. Incidentally, ever since they had a change of staff in charge of taking care of advance order, half of the time they forgo...

(Emphasis is mine, to show the mistakes) 1. Nine News article: "Canada's Trudeau resigns as Liberal Party leader, spelling end to time in power". Sentence: "He planned to stay on as prime minister until a new leader of the Liberal Party ." Hanging sentence.   2. Aljazeera article: "Trump announces US crypto reserve: What it is, and why it matters". Sentence: "And if the US government, through a reserve, holds a substantial chunk of the global volume of crypto tokens, it would be in a position to reduce the price volatilty curtentyluy associated with these digital currencies." 3. Free Malaysia Today article: "Macron wants ‘clear pressure’ on Moscow to accept ceasefire". Sentence: "In a statement released later Saturday, his office said Macron would Canada’s new prime minister Mark Carney on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine and “other international crises”." 

Here are the average dividend yields on cost for shares that have paid out dividends: Share counters (2 of them) with no dividend yields just means that I have yet to receive at least a year's worth of dividends from these companies. The overall dividend yield on cost weighted by invested amount is 5.0% (vs 5.1% in previous review), excluding the 2 share counters mentioned above. There are 15 share counters with dividend yield (on cost) less than 5% (number of consecutive years of this low yield in bracket): Capland Ascott (1) CapitaLandInvest (1) ComfortDelGro (5) Delfi (1) Frasers L&C Tr (3) IFAST (6) Keppel DC REIT (3) Mapletree Log Tr (3) Micro-Mechanics (1) Parkway Life Reit (5) Raffles Medical (3) SGX (5) Sheng Siong (3) Singtel (3) UOB (6) (at 4.9%, it's very close to 5%) UOB's dividend yield of 4.9% is good since it's a bank. iFAST's low dividend yield is more than compensated by its huge unrealised capital gain but I might pare it down further. Parkway ...

These are the shares that I initiated position in and sold since the last update about year ago : Initiated in: (1) Credit Bureau Asia Ltd (as recommended by The Smart Investor) " Credit Bureau Asia (CBA) is a leading credit and risk information solutions provider in Southeast Asia. The group provides credit and risk information services to a wide variety of clients such as financial institutions (FI), multinational corporations, government bodies, public agencies, local enterprises, and individuals. " Reasons to buy: A dominant market leader in the credit information services sector Network effect competitive moat Solid financials with growth in revenue, net profit and dividends Catalysts for continued growth Potential growth in China and other countries Risks: Economic downturn Non-renewal of contract with Dun & Bradstree Uneven track record in expansion (2) The Hour Glass Ltd (as recommended by The Smart Investor) I bought some once The Smart Investor moved it from sp...

Recap regarding pain: Pulling pain at the wrist just below the base of the thumb when I moved my clenched fist upward. Sharp pain at around the same spot as above when I push the back of my palm towards me. Overall, there was slight decrease in pain level when testing the pain (as above), when massaging my upper left back, and when rubbing stubborn stain with a rag. Sometimes, though, there was sudden throbbing pain (for a few seconds) even at rest. The good news was that neither exercise caused any pain. In fact, pain level reduced a little after exercising.  As usual, physical manipulation and ultrasound treatment was applied. Therapist got me to do the first exercise 20 rep followed by 10 rep x 2. Tiring! He then prescribed the same two exercises for two weeks with no appointment set i.e. see him if I need to. I guess this is good news. Although it wasn't specified, I'll continue with the 10 mins of break after 30 mins of using the right hand until it's fully healed.

    Name of the shop, in Butterworth, is Bo Plan 😄

I tried Magick Archer before Mystic Spearhand but the mechanic of using the bow was too clunky for me (or so I thought) when following the instructions in-game. I thought maybe this was the case because I was using kbm (keyboard with mouse) instead of a controller. Later, a video guide on building an Magick Archer incidentally helped me to realise that its bow mechanic is easier than described in-game. I tried, it worked and so I changed to that vocation :) Here's my final build: Weapon skills Frosthunter Bolt: It was my usual opener on single target. The aim was to freeze them. Sagittate Avalanche: After freezing them with the skill above, I would use this a couple of time, at least, before deciding whether to resume freezing them. If I had opened with this skill instead, I would draw aggro earlier iirc. Lifetaking Arrow: I used this it hit mass of small enemies to momentarily stun them. Super useful on flying creatures. Martyr's Bolt: This was used only if I desperately want...

Hands down the best steamed chicken in PJ. This was served by Yat Yat Seng @ Megah Rise Mall. Its sauce is unique and its rice was certainly more flavourful than many other so-called chicken rice in town. The only downside is its steep price. Korean corn dog at CU convenience store. So-so only. The noodle was not bad but not to my liking. I can't remember what else was there but I'm guessing that since I didn't place Ke Ren Lai in my list of food places to go, that means that I wasn't keen to try again. I vaguely remember that Ban liked the lei cha though. Dry mee hoon kuay at WR food court, Butterworth. It's rare to come across this dish and even rarer that it's good. This was definitely good in terms of taste, portion and variety of ingredients that were generous in portion compared to your typical noodle dish.

Recap regarding pain: Pulling pain at the wrist just below the base of the thumb when I moved my clenched fist upward. Sharp pain at around the same spot as above when I push the back of my palm towards me.  First exercise caused no pain to either postures but there was pain when doing the second exercise. After a week, there didn't seem to be any improvement in the pain from first posture but there was decrease in pain level for the second one. Therapist viewed this improvement as good news. As usual, he tried various physical manipulation to determine which one relieved the pain and applied suitable massage techniques. Ultrasound was also used to treat the pain. Then he got me to do the first exercise but with 3 kg weight, 15 reps x2. He prescribed this exercise but at 10 reps x3, once daily, and canceled the second exercise. Instead, he introduced a new one: Hand hold bottom of 1kg dumbbell, making sure it's not leaning heavily on thumb. Lower arm flat on table, elbow 90 de...

 

Me: Since we have stuff to do later this week, we should clean house today. If not, no chance to clean before we go to hotel this Sunday. Daniel: Yes, otherwise the gremlins in our house would be unhappy when we're away in Australia. Me: 😂

(Still not allowed to use mouse and keyboard. Hence the short sentences.) Recap regarding pain: Pulling pain at the wrist just below the base of the thumb when I moved my clenched fist upward. Sharp pain at around the same spot as above when I push the back of my palm towards me. The stretching exercise worsened the second pain above but the strengthening exercise lessened the pain. Nether exercise eased the first pain. In fact, the pain level increased. Noticeable muscle loss around the pain area. the therapist remarked. He applied massage and ultrasound treatment and got me to do some strengthening exercises. For the next one week, I'll be doing these exercises: (1) Hold 2x1kg dumbbells, facing up. Don't grip hard. Move down all the way, then back to neutral. 4 x 10 rep, once a day. (2) Hold 1kg dumbbell, facing down. Don't grip hard. Move up all the way, then back to neutral. 4 x 10 reponce a day. Still don't use mouse and keyboard. Can resume swimming.

About 6 months after purchase , the condo unit was renovated, partially furnished (the idea, as presented by my sister, was that some tenants may already have their own furniture) and ready to be rented out. So, I contacted the agent to commence looking for tenant. Less than 2 weeks later, I happened to be in Butterworth to meet the agent who brought a family of three to view the unit. It was quite clear that it was the wife who wanted to move out from their then current rented place: Husband told me that his wife wanted to move to a condo. He asked both his wife and daughter whether they liked the unit or not. The viewing went well. The mother/wife was impressed with both the photos of the unit and the unit itself. In fact, among the preliminary questions that the agent asked (I suspect it was part of a standard form of enquiry), "What are your requirements for the unit?" Their response was "LIKE THE PICTURE". Both mother and daughter liked the place. There was no...

After the previous session , the pain stayed away for a day and then it started coming back gradually over the week. So it was back to square one. After doing further test to a certain, once again, where the pain was exactly, the therapist concluded that I did not have De Quervain’s tenosynovitis (what??). The pain seems to be around the carpal tunnel but it is not carpal tunnel syndrome. Tendonitis, probably. One quirk that the therapist commented was that when he fixed the alignment on one side of my hand another side of my hand went out of alignment and when he fixed the second one the first one occurred again. 😵 The treatment he applied consist of massage, shortwave, ultrasound, icing and taping. Next appointment is in a week's time. In the meantime, I cannot use mouse and keyboard with the right hand for a week 😱. Can try swimming but stop if pain comes the next day. Do the following exercises: (1) Hand's pointing down, inner palm faces out. Use other hand to lightly pul...

Playing this vocation is like being a character in anime such as Naruto: zipping around in a blink of an eye, with a spear. Horizontal. Vertical. Flurry of attack, with after-images. Truly one of its kind in such ARPG. So after pretty much completing my Sorcerer build , I switched to Mystic Spearhand. Here's my final build: Weapon skills Dragon's Foin: Very useful in closing the gap or to run away. Also, it's used to go across a chasm but make sure it's not a wide one :D Skiedragoun's Feste: Use it to evade enemies' attack and if the evasion is successul, deal more damage to them. Quite amazing, actually. Mirour Shelde: Cheap and almost-broken invulnerability. Wild Furie: The above-mentioned flurry of attack. To be honest, I didn't observe how much damage it it but it was so cool to watch anyway :D Augments Mettle: Increase physical defense. Never a bad choice, in my opinion, especially for melee characters. Endurance: More stamina, much needed. Apotropaism:...

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. - Abraham Lincoln

Two days after the previous session , I sent a WhatsApp message to the physio centre with this question: is it normal for the pain to temporarily flare up (it settled down less than a minute later) after doing the stretching exercises? Apparently not and so I was asked to stop doing those exercises too @@ Unfortunately, stopping these and exercises that significantly involve the arm didn't result in any difference. So, it's back to square one 😔 The good news that came out of this latest session is that there's further confirmation that the diagnosis, De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, is correct. The next theory is that the previously injured tissue healed incorrectly, resulting in inflexible tendon. This explains why directly pressing the area firmly doesn't cause pain but pushing the back of my palm towards me does. So, in between the usual massages (which still helped a lot), the therapist used shockwave therapy to break down the scar tissue. The idea is to help it heal ...

Saw this at Burns Club, Canberra:  How does this work?  

Once again, the good times didn't last: the pain gradually came back to usual a few days after the last session :( During this session, he discovered that the forearm muscle, especially the part closer to the elbow, was even tighter than it was in previous session. It was also more painful when he massaged to loosen it. After some massages, he asked me to test the pain level again. It decreased. Then he pressed that muscle down and asked me to test again. No pain! Omg. All the while he asked me whether I did anything different during the previous two weeks to tighten that muscle that much. The only relevant one is that about half my push-ups were done normally. Previously, all 3 sets were down with knees down. So, for investigation purpose, he asked me to stop doing any exercise that uses my hands e.g. push-ups, swimming and that thumb exercise with rubber band. Meanwhile, he placed kinesiology tape on the forearm, around the base of thumb and half of my wrist, covering the pained...

Lately I've been playing lots of Dragon's Dogma 2. The copy of the game belonged to Ban and he shared his Steam library so that I could play it. He had finished playing it like 8-9 months ago. Graphic is good, world building is not bad, combat is great but boy, their quest system is...questionable. Some of them gave very little clue on how to progress. Some needed others to complete so as to have "good" ending but with no hints of the prerequisite. NPC quest givers randomly died off-screen 🙄 At the start, I could start off as one of 3 classes: Fighter, Thief and Mage. As usual, I chose Mage but soon I switched to Sorcerer shortly after I unlocked it. I built my my pawn as a Fighter and I usually hired a Thief and a Mage. My Sorcer build is as follows: Weapon skills High Levin: I don't like Sorcerer's basic attack i.e. Magic Bolt. Yes, it's great that it's semi-auto aim but it merely tickles the enemies. As much as I love High Frigor for it's crowd...

As usual, I did health screening in January, shortly after I returned from my trip to Australia. In future, I plan to do this before the trip because I realised that the results do not represent my usual health condition. I considered postponing the tests by about 3 months but then I remembered that although I ate more sinful food (specifically dessert and slightly sweet  drinks) in Australia, I also exercised a little more than usual. So, I went ahead to get them done. WBC dropped slightly from 3.5 to 3.4, which is comfortably above 3. This time, they also provided the absolute count of the various types of WBC. Neutrophil count is at 2.1 i.e. comfortably above 1.5. Lymphocyte and monocyte are, however, below the the acceptable range i.e. 1.0 (ref 1.5-4.5) and 0.2 (ref 0.4-1.1) respectively. Based on previous year's results, my GP calculated the counts of these two and the results were similar as well. Given that clearly I'm generally fine, she wasn't too concerned about ...

The first time my sister brought me to this restaurant at Gungahlin, Canberra, was about 2 years ago. I had some nigiri which was not too bad but not great either. Maji had much better nigiri but so was the price :D Recently, we went there again as our first, second and third choice of restaurants were closed. I nearly ordered the set of 6 pieces of salmon nigire but then spotted salmon avocado rolls (8) for much cheaper price. I decided to try that instead. I vaguely recall that proportion of the ingredients was similar to that depicted in the menu. Quite impressive :) The fillings were quite generous and the overall food was delicious. A definite must-have.

There was no improvement or deterioration slightly more than a month after the last session i.e. there was still pulling pain at the wrist just below the base of the thumb when I moved my clenched fist upward, there was still sharp pain at around the same spot as above when I push the back of my palm towards me, and there was still sourish pain, at the base of thumb where the bone is, when I pushed my thumb backward and away from the fingers. The therapist tested a few things, asked some questions and then explained some things. He massaged to loosen some tight areas until the first two above were gone. Miraculous. He modified the physio regime: Fingers and thumb straightened side by side. Place rubber band around it in such a way that there's some challenge in moving the thumb sideway away from the rest of the finger. Moved it 30 times. Do this before the following stretching exercises. Palm faces forward, fingers pointing down. Pull the thumb backward for 10s. Do this 30 time...

Saw this in Canberra:

 Saw this in Canberra:

(Emphasis is mine, to show the mistakes) 1. BBC article "Trump vows to 'take other countries' jobs' in economic speech". Sentence: "Harris will return to the another critical swing state, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday to lay out her own economic agenda." 2. FMT article "Grab shares jump 15% after ride-hailing firm raises forecast. Sentence: "Yet, the firm also needs to show it can maintain healthy balance between profits and growth even as tough competition from rivals including GoTo Group weighs on its ride-share and food delivery margins." 3. Malaymail article "PAS spiritual leader says party must lead Perikatan, didn’t back Muhyiddin as PM". Sentence: "PAS controls 43 of the 67 parliamentary seats under coalition’s control, with Bersatu holding the remaining 25 . The other PN parties — Gerakan and MIPP — have none." 43 + 25 = 68. 4. FMT article "Writing a will: 4 common mistakes Malaysians tend to make". Se...

1. Unlocked 135 achievements (Steam median 13) 2. Played 18 games (Steam median 4. Only 4?) 3. Longest streak: 14 days (Steam median 6) 4. Spent 7% of my playtime on 2024 newly released games (vs 15% for all Steam users). 5.  Explained by point (6) below. 6. Top 5 games (with % of total play time): Slay the Spire (21%), Baldur's Gate 3 (20%), Wildfrost  (16%), The Last Spell (13%), Minion Masters (11%). 7. Played the most in February (by far) and the least in May (by far). 8. Seems like they don't take into account of the game I played from Ban's library (he shared it with me): Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't on the list of games that I played in 2024.

1. Listened to 13,163 minutes, which puts me in the top 27% of listeners. This was mostly due to me listening to Spotify when I drove to Butterworth and back home. 2. Apparently the song Spotify played for me (since it's shuffled within the "Liked" album) most was Every Heart by BoA, a song from the anime Inuyasha. It was followed by Baldur's Gate 3 Main Theme Part 1 by Borislav Slavov, A Thousand Years by Christina Perri and Steve Kazee, Beautiful Love by Tanya Chua, and Shadows, Curse and Death by Borislav Slavov. 3. Listened to 6,987 minutes of podcasts. 4. Top podcasts: The Rest Is History, Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast, The British History Podcast, The Explanation, and The Foreign Affiars Interview. 5. Top artists: Borislav Slavov, Mariah Carey, Kaoru Wada, Olivia Newton-John and V.

Here are the books that I read, podcasts that I listened to and shows that I watched in 2024: Books: Cradle: Skysworn - Will Wight Cradle: Ghostwater - Will Wight Cradle: Underlord - Will Wight Cradle: Uncrowned - Will Wight Cradle: Wintersteel - Will Wight Cradle: Bloodline - Will Wight Cradle: Reaper - Will Wight Cradle: Dreadgod - Will Wight Cradle: Waybound - Will Wight Reborn: Apocalpyse Vol 1 - L.M. Kerr Reborn: Apocalpyse Vol 2 - L.M. Kerr Reborn: Apocalpyse Vol 3 - L.M. Kerr Reborn: Apocalpyse Vol 4 - L.M. Kerr Shadow Slave Chapter 1 - 2045 - Guiltythree Shows: The Good Doctor Season 3 Ep 15 - Season 4 Ep 8 Delicious In Dungeon One Piece (Live Action) Ep 1-3 Dr Stone Delicious in Dungeon Frieren My Instant Death Ability is Overpowered Ready Player 1 Young Sheldon Season 3 Young Sheldon Season 4 Young Sheldon Season 5 Young Sheldon Season 6 Young Sheldon Season 7 Avatar: The Last Airbender (Live Action) Season 1 Bleach: Thousand War The Adventure of Dai Daily Dose of Sunshine Ep...