One Giant Leap

December 29th, 2008 The author

This year has been quite an experience for me. I never would have thought that I would be involved in so many different things, some painful, some exhilarating, some pure adventurous.
I’ve gone from coping with a loved one who was diagnosed with cancer and passed away as a result of it, to exploring a new hobby (photography); from jumping careers and landing in a job that is different from my past work to finally making the effort to take care of fitness and health.

Yes this year, has been truly an year filled with a myriad of experiences. And given the recent developments in my life, I don’t see any signs of slowing down.

As I write this piece on my bed, stacks of magazines on home and deco lay beside my bedside lamp. Yes yours truly is now into the home improvement and deco design! All this only came about fairly recently when we (my brother and I) decided to buy a place of our own. Yes that’s right I’m going to be a home-owner pretty soon. And the sweetest thing about this property is that it’s an actual house with land by the side, which means, gardening could be a future hobby of mine some day!

But for now, I’m soaking everything that’s related to home design like a sponge, starting with the kitchen! Yes I’m a guy and I’m looking at kitchen countertops and cabinets! It’s really quite interesting to broaden your knowledge and learn about something which has always been thought to be a “feminine” thing. Yes I consider, or at least I USED to consider anything to do with the kitchen or home deco and design to be classified under “women interests”.

But the fact that I’m now into it, I think just goes to show that … well I’m growing up! A year or two ago if you were to ask me whether I would be interested in such things, I would have sincerely said “NOPE!”. But I guess sooner or later you gotta grow up and … in the words of the well-known phrase of Russell Peters - BE A MAN .

There are things you just got to do and see to as you get older. I have to be candid though, it’s overwhelming; getting absorbed into this whole home deco ‘project’. I had spent more than an hour today at the bookstore going through books on home improvement and design.

But I gotta admit, like most of the experiences that I’ve gone through this year, (except for mum’s death), it’s enjoying. It’s enjoyable to learn something new, to read up with enthusiasm in your mind as you try to absorb and understand everything as much as you can.

Tomorrow morning, we are going back to the house to meet up with the agent and I’m going to use the time to study in greater detail on the house and the rooms.

Next year is sure gonna be an interesting one

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Of Weights and Gymming

December 16th, 2008 The author

“Seventeen…eighteeen”

I clenched my teeth as I counted the number of times my biceps were flexing. I could feel the tension on both my biceps as I lifted those 10kg weights on each hand. Straight ahead was a wall-like mirror where I was observing my progress.

“Twenty!”

I exclaimed as I brought the weights back down. Yes, ladies and gentleman, like many of the typical young corporate yuppies you have heard, I too have joined the gym. I guess what really got me into joining a fitness club here was the fact that I had finally come to terms that I needed to exercise if I wanted to stay fit and continue functioning properly in my daily life. Up until now, my exercise had only consisted of weekly futsal games. I didn’t even like jogging in the area near my place because…well I found to be plain and simple boring.

But I guess I can’t run from the fact that in order to renew my body and keep it in “optimum” levels, excercising was a gonna be a must in my weekly habits. Although the membership isn’t cheap at all (190 bucks a month!) I gotta say it’s a step for me towards the right direction. And I have to admit after my sessions every time, I do feel a whole lot better, both physically and mentally.

But my membership is only gonna last me for 3 months (Hence that’s why is $190) and after that I have the option of renewing my membership for the rest of the year if I want to, which I think is great because rather than paying $150 for a 12 month contract commitment, paying a little bit more for just a quarter will allow me to assess whether I will want to still continue gymming.

I’m honestly skeptical though whether these fitness gurus can help me gain weight. I did confess to them that I wanted to gain more weight and look abit more…”meaty”. And they did assure me, that with proper dietary meals and exercise, it is possible. In theory that’s quite obvious, but I have always contented to the fact that I will never gain weight no matter how much I try - it’s just not gonna happen. But anyway in the midst of all my cynicalistic view, I am curious to see if this time around, things will be different for me.

So I guess it isn’t really hard to see what will make it into my 2009-New Year’s Resolution list eh?

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The day I lost my “wisdom”

November 30th, 2008 The author

“ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGH” I screamed as Dad placed the extraction forceps on one of my mandibular third molar, aka my wisdom tooth. I had actually planned on removing both my wisdom teeth on the same day, but Dad advised against it, saying it can be quite risky.

Risky is one thing, the thought of having go through the excruciating pain again for the other tooth was enough to put me off.  Having a father who is a dentist, I grew up my entire left being fearless of the dental chair. In school, whenever we had our routine dental check ups, a couple of my friends would agonize in terror as they await their turn to visit the Dentist. It was a different experience for me, I wouldn’t allow the trainee dentist to do anything as I would often have to explain that my dad is a dentist and therefore I would get the necessary work done by him instead.

But the operation over the weekend has got to be my worse experience of all time. No amount of self inflicting pain (i.e - pinching my arm) could match or help me cope with the pain that was coming with extracting the wisdom tooth. It was so painful so much so I actually cried halfway and pathetically pleaded with Dad to stop.

The anesthesia did little work even with 2-3 injections to numb my gums. I gotta admit in my entire life I have never had to undergo so many injections just to pull out a stupid tooth, but I guess this was serious.  At the end, Dad decided to apply a stronger dose of anesthesia which finally did the trick.  I gotta admit, going in for the second time around (where he used the stronger anesthesia) was not something I was looking forward to. All throughout the day I was thinking of the pain and whther I should just cancel the whole thing and come back another time.

But the pain was also to great to bear. There were nights before this where I had to crush a couple of ponstans and take them just to cope with the profuse pain.

I’m just glad it’s all over and boy what a first dental experience for me!

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