Here's My Story

After sorting out the retiming mess more than a month ago, I was checking my phone's photo album to make sure I screenshot all the relevant flights and hotels for our trip to Australia. This is just in case there's problem opening the relevant apps later to show the booking reference numbers (I don't print out anything). Apparently I had yet to screenshot the reserved seats. So I wanted to do that but then noticed that seats were not selected for the KUL-SIN leg on the MAS flight. I checked and confirmed that seats were reserved on the original SIA flight and so by right I should be given seats upon transfer to the MAS flight. So, once again, I used the live chat feature in the SIA app to get help. The first CSO checked and then told me that I should use the same booking reference number in the MAS app, which I did, and then asked, "Anything else by the way?" I was dumbfounded. I succintly asked why my reserved seats disappear upon the transfer and then they lost...

We celebrate our "went steady" (is there a neat term for this?) anniversary instead of our marriage anniversary. In fact, Ban still doesn't remember the date of the latter :D I wonder which date is more common. This year, it coincides with a session of Pathfinder 2e Remastered ttrpg which we signed up for. It's part of a campaign, based on the adventure path Season of Ghosts, rather than a one-shot. It ran from 1pm to just after 5pm. We hang out there, chatting with fellow players, before heading to Kinpachi for dinner at 6pm. Kinpachi is one of our favourite haunts but we dined there only 2 to 4 times a year because it's expensive. Most of the time, we ordered these: seafood teppanyaki for Ban and eight pieces of salmon sushi for me. Once a while we tried something different and that was what I did this time too:   This is daimyou maki.  It was huge! I had to take two bites to finish one. Its filling was salmon, tuna, yellow tail, egg and cucumber. Delicious and ...

The real way you win a competition is by running faster, not by holding our competitor down. - Anne Neuberger 

There was a pair of black short pants which was a bit tight for me. At first I thought it was due to the position of its button: I sewed it further than its original position. Yes, I could have rectified it but I was feeling lazy and so I merely waited for it to come loose again :D One day, however, I noticed that it was also difficult to zip. I guess putting on 4.5 kg over the last 10 years or so does that :D I would like to think that my thigh muscles have grown. The last point could be the reason because I could still wear all other short pants. I decided to stop wearing the pants when I noticed that I felt uncomfortable after having lunch. So, the next thing to do was to get a new pair of pants. There is one place that I can reliably find short pants that fit me: F.O.S. Their size 28 Navy & Navy pants fit me just right, unlike many other places where some don't even have such size. I saw a design that I didn't have and so I tried a pair of black pants and one other pair...

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The first scare  more than 2.5 years ago resulted in us ordering an ultrasound for mum. Fatty liver was (probably) the cause of the elevated AFP. Fatty liver was further confirmed about 8 to 9 months later  but AFP was normal few months before this. It was again normal in late 2024 but a year after that it was elevated once again. As an aside, mum has been diligently exercising for about an hour everyday, when she's isn't unwell. She has also cut down on fatty and fried food. Hence, we'll be surprised if there's still fatty liver. Also, tests showed, for two consecutive years, that she's immune to hepatitis A and B and non-reactive to hep C and so we didn't order these tests for 2025. Both Pathlab and mum's GP advised us to get ultrasound done. Dr Yeoh was confident that it would show that there is nothing wrong, despite the elevated AFP. He suggested that mum consult doctor at her usual Klinik Kesihatan at Penaga so as to get free ulstrasound done. The doct...

During the two weeks after the previous session , I noticed something rather peculiar: there were more actions that triggered the pain shortly after I woke up each morning than during the rest of the day. For example, I drink a full glass of water shortly after I brush teeth. That triggers the pain. At other times, it's either no pain or so slight that I won't notice it if I don't pay attention to it. I reported this to the therapist. He proceeded to massage and prod different parts of the hand. The first several proddings didn't trigger any pain but later he found it: it was deep inside. So, as I understand it, something (a tendon?) inside was stiff and inflexible and so certain movements caused the bone to rub against it and thereby irritated it. He proceeded to explore ways to alleviate it. Took him four tries before I finally confirmed that there were no more pains when I it. The following exercises were added to the current routine: (1) Palm facing left, with finge...

Among the notable fast-food restaurants, A&W had the best fried chicken. However, it's food that I rarely have. Just not value-for-money and my money is better spent on, say, salmon sushi :D Late last year or earlier this year (I kept forgetting to blog about this), we decided to dine at the outlet at Paradigm Mall. It was a first for us. Years ago, I patronised the outlet at Seventeen Mall a few times. I ordered a meal set which included two pieces of chicken thigh. I was shocked to receive these:   Each of this was just slightly larger than a piece of cut chicken of a typical stir-fry chicken dish or braised chicken dish that can be found at many mixed rice shops but this meal cost close to RM 30! Ala carte price for these two pieces are currently RM 17.90. To add salt to wound, they didn't taste as good as previously either :( If I ever want to have A&W fried chicken again, it won't be at this outlet. 

(Emphasis is mine, to show the mistakes) 1. Malaymail article: " ‘Like a plane turbine’: Witness tells of raging gas fire near Puchong, Putra Heights ". Sentence: " "Since yesterday was the first day of Raya, most of us were asleep but we were women up abruptly because we wanted find out what was causing the scorching heat and noise from the shaking of the iron grilles," " 2. The Rakyat Post article: " Parents Order SPM Retakes Despite 4 As: Student’s Engineering Dreams Hit Family Roadblock ". Sentence: " Despite scoring straight As in four subjects including Mathematics and English, and earning a B in History , the student faces mandatory retakes of science subjects they passed with lower grades – all due to unyielding parental pressure. " "Straight As" means A for all subjects . 3. BBC article: " Trump's ceasefire pivot will have caused dismay in Kyiv and Europe ". Sentence: " Despite Europe's emerg...

During the 12 days after the last session , I took note of activities triggered the pain: Lifting the bottom of my t-shirt. Scooping up soup using huge ladle. Drinking soup with a spoon from a bowl held near me. Dicing chicken. When thumb was used to scoop up dental floss that dropped on floor. Holding phone horizontally and bringing it closer by bending elbow and wrist. 5th finger pressing Shift key while 2nd finger pressing the 8 key The good news was that when it occurred, the intensity was less. During this session, the therapist remarked that the tendon was no longer swollen. After further testing, he concluded that it was back to the original diagnosis i.e. De Quervain tenosynovitis 😔Possible repetitive actions that might cause this, that is specific to me, are using thumb to press space bar and the positioning of wrist when using keyboard. Lee massaged and used shockwave to treat the pain. As usual, the pain went away after that. I was to continue with the current exercises and...