Week 27, 2013 - Cronuts in KL!!

Some haze this week, not as bad as it was the previous week. I somehow came down with a sore throat and post nasal drip between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Oy vey.

• A couple of places have started making and selling their own take on the cronut locally - Delectable by Su and The BIG Group for a limited time. If I happen to be in the neighbourhood, I might have a go.
• Braved the crazy AEON Member Day madness this week.
• Waiting to hear how Gordon Ramsay vs. Singaporean hawkers pans out.
• Finally had the Iberico pork burger at Burgers & Ribs this past weekend.
• Got new glasses made at D' Eyewear in SS2 mostly because of the price (under RM200) and I didn't really care about brand of frame anymore.

That's all I got - I'm too tired.

Week 18, 2012

Had a scratchy throat over the weekend that became a mildly annoying sore throat. I also had some fever (even my ailments are half-assed) and a snotty nose and by the end of the week, I'm still blowing my nose some of the time, clearing the phlegm and a less painful but now dry throat threatening to turn into a cough. Sigh. 

• Had to replace the compressor and some other things in the Jeep. On the plus side, I now have working air conditioning, AND my speedometer and rev counter is working again (for now). You wouldn't want to know the damage of that repair, I'm just glad I'm not saddled with that bill.
• Saw The Avengers movie.
• Labour Day on Tuesday.
• Finally settled on transport to Singapore. GSS, here we come!
• Bought a cheap Nikon camera for the 'rents at a Digital Mall weekend event with the sibling Friday night.  
• Didn't know you could reserve stuff at Muji. Put my name down for the hand-cranked shredder and the portable scissors.
• Made my third Churp Churp cashout, but it will be a while before I see the money.

First visit to the sinseh

After nearly eight weeks of the exhaustive cough by post-nasal drip, my mother has had it and brought us to see the Chinese medical practitioner (or sinseh, in local parlance) in PJ Old Town this morning. I couldn't disagree with her and went along; the sibling, kicking and screaming like a little boy since he's already made "plans" (which was to stay home and work on the computer - not exactly plans you can't put off a little while).

When we got there, it turns out that his hours are from 2 - 5 p.m. on Saturdays and that we should call ahead to see if he's in. Not willing to go home and back again, we went on a walking tour of the place and had lunch at a nearby coffee shop before trying our luck again.

As the only one who could speak any decent Mandarin or Cantonese, I went first with my mum. He asked personal details, did the pulse thing, asked about my temper, symptoms, wrote a whole bunch of illegible stuff on his pad (now I know the "doctor's handwriting" also happens in Eastern medicine as well), and went about putting the medicine together (lucky it's nothing one has to BOIL). Reminds me of the Potions part of Harry Potter. He told me what I can and can't eat.. After that it was the sibling's turn and I had to be there to interpret.

The bottle of Chinese medicine cost RM42, but my mum swears by how good the guy is [Her friend brought her there, who also helped translate]: she was cured by the time she finished HER bottle.

Oh well. Here's hoping.

Cold or flu?

Whichever it is, I'm in for the long haul.

While my nose doesn't annoy me anymore, I now feel sore all over and I'm really tired as well. As icing on the cake, I also have a slight fever now. Ish.

Been looking up symptoms online and I got a few questions:

• What the hell is "mild" fatigue? How does one quantify mild fatigue?
• Can the flu turn into a cold and vice versa?

Excuse the fever babble - I think I really need to sleep now.

Damn this bug

I'm feeling a little funny like a cold/flu bug is incoming since last night, but I'm trying to nip it at the bud with Cold and Flu Panadol (the soporific stuff is REALLY soporific), which is like RM4.80 for a blister pack of 10 as well as upping the Vit C. I hope it's not too late.

I might have inhaled someone's bug while on the trains yesterday (the peril of public transport) and it was also self-linflicted to a point because I've not been sleeping regular hours, so my immune system was a little compromised.

I only hate being ill these days is because unlike some people, I don't get the 24 - 72 hour flus; when I am ill, it's at least a week or two long affair and it's a miserable experience.

Damnit.

Got more cough syrup, only to lose a pussy along the way

Another hot and sweltering day at home. Still coughing and hacking stuff out with the persistent dry cough. 

Finally got some OTC cough syrup for it; hope it works cos if it doesn't it's damn annoying.

As an aside, I also lost a "stray" cat (in the broadest sense of the term) as I was going to get said cough syrup - Never realised that it was lazing on the Jeep as I was pulling away from the house, and when I saw a grey flash jump off the roof near William's when I slowed down, I was like, "oh crap". You would think that it would've jumped off while it was still in the 'hood, but I guess not. I'd be amazed if it can find its way back.

I did a quick walk down the road to see if it was still there, but nothing. Mum seems to be happy about the news, but my bro... not so much. It could be anywhere.

Oh Socks, you shall be missed....sorta.

Cold, Day 2

Been trying to up the fluid intake, but it's just annoying after a while - all that fluid has to come out at some point, if you know what I mean.

Another miserable day at the office - one was being told that TOMORROW was gonna be my last day, not today *sad trombone*

Can't say I wasn't tempted to call in sick these couple of days. But the colleagues are doing a lunch thing tomorrow, so what the heck.

I'll be glad if I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night because of something or other.

Damn this cold

Down with a cold now. Argh. 

I have Dad (and my shoddy immune system) to blame for this. He sneezes like a bloody crop duster - never cover nose and mouth. Oy. 

I even woke up around 4 a.m. this morning because my nose was annoying me so much in my sleep. Was tempted to use my bro's neti pot, but like toothbrushes and towels, you don't share stuff like that. 

Last day tomorrow - wonder if I'll survive it with this cold.

If nothing else, I at least have Thursday to recuperate before lunch with friend Jacky down town on Friday (with any luck I won't be worse off by then)

What a weekend

Tenji on Friday, Singapore on Saturday and food poisoning on Sunday. Sheesh. 

Anyhow, went to the clinic and thankfully I was the last patient of the night before the cut off. Got some meds and most importantly an MC for tomorrow (yay).

I get taking more liquids to replenish the lost fluids, but how does one rest when you have to go to the bathroom every so often? It's one of those pieces of advice that never made sense to me.

Least now I have a use for the Starbucks cold drink tumbler I bought yesterday: the liquid replenishment part...

Ill and not ill at the same time

A cold/flu bug ran its course in the house this week.

My immune system is only working part time: I caught the sniffles part of it and not much else - I have to blow my nose every few hours and sneeze violently in between.  Finished my stash of Cold and Flu Panadol (that I bought in Singapore some time back) trying to battle, but still no dice.

Decided to try my luck at Guardian Pharmacy department by asking the pharmacist's opinion on what to take for this. Ended up with the drowsy formulation of Cold and Flu Panadol (RM4) and Esberitox (RM15.40).

See how it goes.

Sigh, so the annoying.

Food poisoning, some.

Had a brief bout of food poisoning yesterday - perhaps from the morning's nasi lemak which I had for lunch (got rancid too soon, methinks). I felt funny when I was getting off work and I puked it out before dinner and stuff went out both ends before the night was over. Bad idea to have some mango right before puking. Also had a really light dinner in the end because of that.

The good news is that it's pretty much all out now.

It's Monday...

And I'm down with the sniffles. Nothing serious - just the oh-so annoying runny nose at the moment. Can breathe, but the dripping gets to me like it usually does. But I'm not ill enough to warrant a sickie, but enough to cause concern amongst the cow-orkers.

Today's supposed to be the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. Just thought I'd say it. I still can't make my mind on whether it actually happened or not as NASA had conveniently "lost" the footage. I hardly think it's a coincidence.

Labour Day weekend... woo hoo!!

It's the start of the Labour Day weekend... wahey!

Finished Norm Feuti's Pretending You Care: The Retail Employee Handbook yesterday. It's supposed to be for people who used to be in retail, or ARE in retail or intending to be in retail in the near future. Reminds me of the Dilbert business books: text with comic strips weaved in for illustrative purposes. Loads of the author's own comic strip, Retail (quite funny - Would get the collection if it was out). I'll try to be less nasty to retail employees in the future (but I'm already pretty nice to them anway).

Got Mary Roach's Spook (book ring - mailing to back to America when I'm done) from Australia yesterday and also Stephen Fry's Making History from Germany today. On top of the other books I got a couple of days ago.

Sore throat started early yesterday morning. By night time I had this crazy fever going which was quelled the next morning with several Panadol and one aspirin (couldn't swallow the second one).

Also contemplated taking the day off, but when Mum came back from work (she's also under the weather) just as I was leaving, I decided not to. Even brought a travel mug full of salt water to gargle (office bathroom of course; if I did it in the kitchen it would gross people out and I wouldn't be able to focus) just in case.

Also found out I'm a weekly winner in Nuffnang's Malaysian Dreamgirl blogger contest. Woo.

Got some plans this weekend, but it depends on how I feel health wise.

Trip to the chiropractor

So I went to see Dr Andre the chiropractor (freaky coincidence: he was featured in a piece in yesterday's NST about his occupation) in Subang today, so couldn't really go to 1U to borong some more Stila stuff - my back over cheap make up lah.

Left the house 45 minutes before cos of the traffic congestion on both the LDP and the Federal Highway and in case I got lost lah. Turns out I didn't have THAT much trouble finding the place, so I ended up being 15 minutes early, and spent the bulk of that time registering and waiting.

The doctor was a nice guy. Boyish looking and also easy on the eye... there, I said it. He was losing his voice after a trip down to Singapore. No, I didn't ask why he was there. Didn't stop the theories in my mind from forming.

After some chat about how I came to be in that predicament and examination (he also couldn't really believe that it happened to me from lugging around a mere 4.5 kg backpack), and from what I could digest...

The arch on my left foot's a little flat, which caused the left leg to twist a little wrongly, causing minor havoc to the pelvis, then there's something about muscle strain which pulls on the spinal cord, la la la. All that, and yes, my lower back's a little weak (as if I didn't already know that) from all that. I think.

Should've asked for a condensed version... d'oh.

After that, I had to strip down to the skivvies (tip: wear nice ones) and change into a gown (pretty secure with all that velcro fastening, so no accidental rear end flashing; also glad to see they got a washing machine on the premises), and had a session of trigger point and electrical therapy, an ultrasound scan of my back (who knew it was that useful?) and also some chiropractic adjustment from the good doctor himself. Took a lot of deep breaths when he was cracking the neck (I'm not a neck cracker cos it might go wrong in so many ways) and spine. Was told to ice my back and take it easy the rest of the weekend before letting me off.

It's a good thing they accept cards, because I certainly didn't have enough cash on me to pay for it. Yes, one of my debit cards went through (the other one didn't go through perhaps because it didn't have enough money in it, so had to use the backup backup card), good to know :P

Driving back, it felt as if the pain went to the other side... O_o But as of now, it's back on the left again. Kinda.

How am I feeling? Ask me again after a couple of days.

After 6 days of D-Toxing....

I was gas-sier than usual. Good thing I was only taking them after dinner as opposed to during the day.....

Bowel movement - nothing really significant..... Still feel unusually constipated even when I'm on this and having my period at the same time (which usually has an anti-constipate effect on me). Maybe they cancelled each other out? It should be compounded, but... hmm.

I don't think there's any significant weight loss or flattened belly. *wistful thinking*

In the tune of Mythbusters... this one's BUSTED.

NEXT!!

Kinohimitsu J'pan D'Tox Juice

Being at the point in my life where I know I should at least attempt to detox my system properly for ONCE or suffer the consequences, but also hating the pills, having to ingest large amounts of water, detox teas and juices (Master Cleanse, anyone?) and the radical change in diet.

I decided to take a chance and try a box of Kinohimitsu J'pan D'Tox Juice, the cranberry version (I'll take cranberries over prunes any day) at a fair going on in 1U when I was there yesterday. When I drank the tester, for some weird reason it kinda went straight up my nose and I started hacking. Maybe I wasn't used to the taste.

The other detox methods were also made available there (the pills, the mixtures, etc), but I didn't get the point of Acca Kappa setting up shop there for the duration: I mean, their specialties are their hair care products like combs and brushes, you know? Sorry, am digressing.

Cost me RM68.90 (promotion price, of course - you can't expect me to try anything at full price, right?) for a box of six 30ml bottles (seriously). The salesperson also threw in an extra bottle as a "free gift". Whoo pee.

From the website...

In just 6 days Kinohimitsu J'pan D'tox Juice leaves you feeling renew, refresh and revitalize!

Natural, Safe:

• 100% natural, concntrated fruit juices
• No additives - No sugar added, No preservatives, No artifical coloring/flavoring, No chemicals, No laxatives

Effective:

• Fast results within 2-4 hours, after intake
• Smooth motion, without strenuous effort

Convenience:

• A instant, functional drink ready for immediate consumption, for your enjoyment anytime, anywhere
• A 6-Day Program that is ideal for those with busy, stressful lifestyle
• No special control diet is needed.

Gentle:

• No discomfort, unpleasant experiences during detox period such as extreme fatigue, headache, bad breathe or allergy reaction

Usage: Shake well before drinking. 1 bottle each time, preferably after food. Taste excellent when chilled.

Sugesstion: Best to have it 2-4 hours before planning for defecation.

First time Detox Users:
1 bottle a day, consecutively for 6 days.

To maintain vibrant health:
1-3 bottles per week, or as needed.

So far...

Had one after dinner yesterday, and it got me gassier than usual after a couple of hours, which makes me glad I started this on a weekend instead of during the week where I might let a few go at work. Felt a bit of a headache coming on, which might not mean anything cos it might be my caffeine tolerance kicking in... that didn't make sense, I know. Best I could describe it.

Will update as the days go on... heh.

My aching back

To people who haven't already heard all about it from my Twitter stream and Facebook status updates, I've got this pain in my back for a little over a week now from (presumably) my lugging around a 4.5 kg backpack around Lion City recently. I'm not sure if my spinal column's out of whack, or whatever musculature there is in my lower back.

Either way, I can't bend over, squat, get up off a chair without wincing, or even walk normally. I feel like Mr Burns...or Steve Urkel. Whichever.

It's not THAT painful, it's just annoyingly painful.

Medicated plasters are not helping much, and I'm still in pain.

Am now considering a chiropractor. Waiting for uncle to give a number for me to call.

Damn the weather.

Sniffles again since the weekend. I suspect my colleague's inadvertently spread her germs (viruses) into the office drinking water.

But it's not the full blown cold/flu. Yet. On top of the sniffy nose, I've got a touch of fever which I still can't get rid as of today. Suggestions much appreciated.

At least I'm not the only one - even the family's down: Mum's been to see the doc yesterday, got her meds and took the day off to recover. Dad's starting to crumble and so's my bro.

My mind's so used to multitasking that even my body's simultaneously dealing with more than one ailment - it's also that time of the month for me this week. Aiseh man.

Another bout of poisoning

Weekend was a little slow because... well, I had another bout of food poisoning. Which I didn't know I had until I saw the doctor yesterday. The only reason why I didn't think it was food poisoning was because there was no puking or nausea. How was I supposed to know that food poisoning doesn't always come with the puking and the nausea?

It started on Friday morning and apart from the surge of pain which comes and goes and the diarrhea, I was (for the most part) fine, alive and kicking. Save for the 3 rounds of diarrhoea during office hours alone...

The pain comes and goes through Saturday and on Sunday I couldn't take it anymore.

Today - pain surges, not as much. But still keeping an eye on my food intake to be on the safe side.

So that was how I spent my mooncake festival this year.

What a way to spend the free day

Woke up at 1, 3 and 5 a.m. suffering the afteraffects of food poisoning (bad red meat, methinks) this morning. Am I never more glad that today's a public holiday. 

Spent the rest of the day at home, feeling the discomfort and nausea.

At least I caught up on the lost sleep.

Now I'm not sure if I can go to work tomorrow....