Monday, December 31, 2007

ResolusiKu


1.(Akan cuba sedaya upaya) untuk menambah berat badanKu

2.Mencari pekerjaan yang heBat daN yangKu minati

3.Menambah (banyak2) buah-buahan dalam pemakanan seharianKu

4.Mencari lebih banyak kawan baRuKu

5.Meluangkan lebih banyak masa dengan kawan2Ku yang dah lama berkenalan

6.Tidak menilai begitu serius hubunganKu dengannya. Masa bujangKu masih jauh panjang lagi :)

Geez, my Malay shucks! Ok lah, last resolusi :-

7.Mengusahakan kepetahan Bahasa MelayuKu…ye la, aku ni anak Malaysia sejati!

whAt a LauGh!!

What did the hotelier give his girlfriend of 2 years for a X’mas gift?


A mini baby blue bolster.


You heard that right…


Hohoho!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Chicken or pox? Take your pick

It all started with a pain in my right armpit. Feeling a tiny lump beneath the skin, I thought of it as another annoying pimple. Then a few spots appeared on my back and chest. Mum brushed it off as some insect bite…until when a big watery blister-like spot materialized on my chin. That’s when I started to panic. I’ve never encountered any watery blisters all my life and was dubious regarding the whereabouts of this unfamiliar little thing growing out of my body. Fortunately, the ‘attack’ only officially started after the women’s health campaign which me and Mum had painstakingly made preparations for the past few weeks. My bestie, who was the only one out of my invitation list who made it to the campaign, later on told me that she noticed a suspicious spot which resembled chicken pox on my chin (the one I was talking about). Like me, she also thought that it was another big pimple, and so did not tell me about it.

Anyway! The day after the campaign, I felt that the spots were becoming more and more itchier, and Mum decided to take me to the clinic to confirm the illness. It was confirmed allright, the Doc himself told me that he instantly knew that I had chicken pox the moment I walked into the room. I felt relieved and flabbergasted at the same time. Relieved because it did not break out while I was in uni doing major assignments or worse, taking major exams, and that it did not occur in the future where I’ll be doing my first full-time job. On the other hand, I was flabbergasted as I was planning to go X’mas window shopping that week (Lame excuse, I know!) and that X’mas and New Year are just few weeks away. Everyone knows that it’ll take ages for a person to heal out of chicken pox (Which means no partying!) even though the Doc told me that it’ll only take 5-10 days to recover. Now, every illness has its own pantang which are brought down by our ancestors. Let’s see, there’s the (1) cannot kena angin warning (no fans and air-con), (2) cannot shower for 3 days or until when the spots have appeared on the palms of your hands, (3) Foods such as kicap (soya sauce), seafood, eggs, sour food eg mango, peanuts etc are banned from consumption, and of course (4) you can’t go out or else you’ll spread the disease to someone else. The Doc advised me not to adhere to all that, but follow HIS advice instead, which are: (1) shower (including washing your hair) as much as u like, and (2) eat anything u want. Basically, he’s asking me to behave like u’re living the normal, healthy life. All the pantang, according to his opinion, are completely BULLISH. Being the modern girl, I decided to go along with his way except for one tinny part: I’m still not confident about the kicap thing and will avoid it until I’m fully recovered (Pity though, ‘cos I really adore kicap. I even can eat it with rice alone!) Beside the short and simple advice, the Doc gave me another simple rule: NO SCRATCHING. Well, I guess I can tolerate that. As a victim of teenage and young adult acne, I’ve had the complete training and discipline of never picking my pimples even if they are ever-oh-so tempting to be picked at.

When we went back home, I had a look at our family health encyclopedia on what chicken pox is all about. As I quote, “ A common and mild infectious disease of childhood, characterized by a rash and slight fever. It is sometimes called varicella. Chickenpox is rare in adults; when it does occur it usually takes a more severe form.” Mum once told me that I had measles when I was a baby, and from then on I always hoped that she was wrong and it was chickenpox instead (so that I don’t have to go through the sickening situation later on). Looks like I was wrong. 24 year-olds like me can still get it, so you guys out there, you can never get away with chickenpox even if you’re an adult. You gotta catch it at least once in a lifetime. My 28 year-old cousin just got hers last year. Okay, back to Medical Lesson 101, below are more info on the undeniable disease:

INCIDENCE AND CAUSE: The disease is caused by varicella-zoster virus. Although an attack confers lifelong immunity, the virus remains dormant within nerve tissues after the attack and may reappear later in life to cause shingles. The virus is spread from person to person in airborne droplets. Patients are highly infectious from about two days before the rash appears until about a week after. Women in the final stage of pregnancy should be particularly careful, since the disease may be serious in pregnancy and the newborn child may develop a severe attack.

SYMPTOMS: Two to three weeks after infection, a rash appears behind the ears, in the armpits, on the trunk, upper arms, and legs, inside the mouth, and sometimes in the trachea (windpipe) and bronchial tubes, causing a dry cough. The rash comes in crops appearing after 12 to 48 hours and consists of clusters of small, red, itchy spots that become fluid-filled blisters within a few hours. After several days the blisters dry out and form scabs. Children usually have only a slightly raised temperature, but an adult may have severe pneumonia with breathing difficulties and fever.

DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT: In most cases, rest is all that is needed for a complete recovery, which usually takes place within 10 days in children, but over a longer period in adults. Paracetamol can be taken to reduce fever, and calamine lotion relieves the itchiness of the rash.

In my case, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th day happened to be the worst days in this unforgettable experience (suicidal stage). Ugly spots kept on appearing everywhere (especially my face), they were so unbearably itchy, and I got so weak and sleepy even though I had not done any activity. I was so weak I can’t even fold my clothes nicely! I lost my appetite and could only gulp down half a plate of rice. The least desirable everyday routine that I had to go through was taking a shower. I know, I know, taking a shower is cooling and is good to wash away the toxins on my skin. But to even touch the soft and red blisters on my skin made me felt so geli (disgusted). It’s so…eeeeeeeuwww!! Many times I restrained myself from scraping them with my fingernails. And when it comes to washing my face, ugh, it took me 15 minutes to clean them every time. I was particularly careful with my face ‘cos I don’t want to end up Ms. Scar Face of the year. Oh, and I had many sleepless nights too, no thanks to all the itching. There was one night where I changed my sleeping location 3 times: Mum’s bedroom floor, Mum’s sofa, and finally, ended up in my bed. Gosh, that was one helluva experience. It’s my 9th day now. The itch has gone, my spots are drying up, my face is looking better, and my appetite’s back. But it’ll take probably a month for the spots to really clear up. And I heard my niece got the pox too (from me, maybe?) and she should be in the nightmarish stage now. Good luck to her in combating her spots!

Oh God, how I missed all the sinfully yummy food. Nasi lemak, mango pickle, pizza, steamed prawns, fried squid, fish head curry. Ah well, I just need to be patient now.

And chickenpox is history.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

What Makes Bad Boyfriend Material? The Top 10 Reasons

Have you experience this in your current relationship? :

(1)He thinks it’s not necessary to voice out (or sms) a simple greeting of ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘Happy Anniversary’ to you during the special occasion as he adopts the ‘I know, and you know so we don’t need to say it’ theory. And if you demand from him on why can’t he make such a simple gesture, he’ll just shrug and said, ‘I planned to tell you later baby, it’s meant to be a surprise.’ (Oh for God’s sake. Lamest excuse I’ve ever heard) Worse, he expects YOU to say it to him first.

(2)He also thinks that ‘going out for dinner’ is the only option to celebrate your birthday, anniversary etc. He’ll cringe and moan and whine when you ask for a mini spa package as a present or anything that’s more than a 100 bucks. (Birthdays is like what…once a year??) How much did he spend on booze? More like 200 a month.

(3)He sms you the same old message everyday, it’s becoming a normal routine for both you. For example, ‘What you doing, baby?’, ‘Taken your lunch/dinner, baby?’, ‘Take your shower, darling?’, ‘Goodnight darling, love you’ etc. And you’ll reply with the same old, ‘Yup, taken lunch already. U?’. Gee, be more creative, guys :p

(4)If you complain to him that he doesn’t spend much time with you anymore, he’ll go all defensive and says, ‘C’mon baby, I’ve got a job here. I’ve got work to do. Can’t you just be more understanding?’ Okay, you can tolerate that. But when he has his free time, he ends up meeting up with his friends, playing futsal with his colleagues, playing video games with his best pals, or just plain sleeping in his bed. Where does that leave you and when do you get to see him? Oh, perhaps when you need his help in changing the light bulb which is too high for your reach, and brief pizza dinners which take place less than 5 times a month. When you were hoping for catching a romantic movie together after the quick pizza dinner, he straight away takes you home as he has to ‘complete his monthly report’.

(5)He doesn’t ‘come to your rescue’ that frequent anymore. In the beginning of the relationship, he will offer to accompany you at home even when there is a blackout no matter how busy he is. Now, he won’t even bother to offer moral support when your car breaks down late at night and you’re left alone on the streets. When you call him, he’ll say, ‘Oh honey, I’m still at my colleague’s farewell party. Call up XX, he’ll help you sort out.’ Then, he won’t even bother to check on you on whether there is someone there to help, or whether the car’s already being repaired….until the next day. And when he did ask, he doesn’t even act concerned about it.

(6)He’s becoming more ignorant about your presence, safety, and dignity. He doesn’t think it’s wrong to get himself totally pissed in front of your relatives, especially your parents, during certain occasions. He’ll puke all over the toilet floor (even in the living room), and shamelessly sleep on the sofa ‘till near midnight. Who gets the blame? You, you, you! People will start whispering, ‘Oh my, she’s dating an alcoholic. What a pity.’ Some will give you a scolding right in front of your face. What can you do? No choice but to take care of the useless being in case he’ll do something more embarrassing. You know it’s becoming worse when HIS parents give you a lecture of ‘not making much effort on taking care of him’. Excuse me, whose child is it? Who’s responsibility is it? Another scenario would be when he takes you to his relative’s wedding. He gets so pissed he can’t even drive you back home and his parents had to drive the car instead. And you? You have to find alternative ways in going back (aka cari kereta orang tumpang). AND when you confront him about it, either he’ll go all defensive again, ‘Hey baby, it’s not me. The guys made me drink. How can I refuse? They’ll hate me for that’, or he’ll go all out to ask for your forgiveness and promised not to repeat his wrongdoing again. Well, guess what? He did it again the next occasion…and the next as well.

(7)He thinks it’s perfectly unnecessary to reply your sms or calls when he’s out of credit. He even made you wait a whole day to eventually reply. He’s got a thousand options he can choose from which made you think how can senseless can he be for not even ponder on it? For starters, he can use his friend’s handphone, or the office (just a quick, ‘sorry baby, i’m out of credit) phone, or the public phone, or the house phone etc etc.

(8)He doesn’t like to do shopping with you anymore. Instead of helping you to choose out a nice blouse for work, he’d wait outside the shop chatting with his friends, and keeps on asking, ‘Found the blouse, honey?’ every 3 minutes. And he’ll keep on checking his watch, as if he has the whole world waiting for him to do something major, like creating world peace.

(9)He won’t think twice before saying something which poses as really sensitive issues for some people. For example, he’ll say directly to your face, ‘Babe, I’m not going to convert into your religion if we get married. Or else I wouldn’t want to get married at all.’ Worse, he’ll say something like this, ‘Babe, the other day my parents told me if we were to get married, you must get out of your religion first.’ What is this? Belum kahwin dah cakap banyak. That is soooo one-sided, most unfair of all unfairness. Who do they think you are? Some kind of mongrel coming from a crap background? And who do they think they are to judge you like that? You should ask his parents a question: ‘Excuse me, uncle and aunty, who’s having a relationship with me here? You or your son? Who does the decision here? You or your son?’

(10)And the WORST scenario of all these scenarios? He doesn’t think that by doing all the above, is his wrongdoing. Basically, he doesn’t think it’s his fault for all the happenings.

Well, you there, if you do experience more than 5 of the above, it’s time to stop crying all over your pillows every night and just dump him with IMMEDIATE effect. You don’t deserve him ‘cos you’re more worthy of what he thinks of you. You’ve got your dignity to uphold, baby.