DCM

Yup... look's like the bug really got me. I bought this magazine... DCM... Digital Camera Magazine...

The Three Musketeers

Not as united as they once were but they were together today...

I drove back this morning to see my dad in hospital. My elder brother had announced that he was driving up to see my dad and that is indeed a rare occasion. The elder one back to see his family!! I knew I had to make the effort to go back so my dad could see 'The Three Musketeers' together. One never knows what might happen... so I went back.

When I arrived in the afternoon both my brothers were there already with my mom. According to the doctor, dad's cancer of the esophagus is not responding to the treatment. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean it's bad coz it is not responding positively and neither is it responding negatively. However, over the many months my dad has developed a brain mass and it has begun to turn septic. The pressure is starting to make his right side paralysed and he's having memory and speech lapses. Other than that he's pretty much the same.

I had a tough time. Hurts to see someone you love like that. Coupled with what I'm going though in life now... it sucks... big time.

Shutter Bug...

Once upon a time... a long, long time ago... I was bitten by the shutter bug and bought myself a Canon EOS 88. This was back in the year 2000. Then in late 2000, November I think.... I moved into my new apartment. And one fateful day, it was broken into... and my camera was one of the missing items. I just gave up after that.

So... back to the future... over the past year or so... my interests in photography has rekindled thanks to my N95. The shutter bug got me again. I have been toying around with the idea of buying a digital SLR for quite some time now. The itch is getting greater and greater and I have narrowed down my choices. The decision will be soon... just need to read more reviews and have some hands on feel of the choices before I make my mind up.

Essentially, it's between the Canon EOS 450D, Sony Alpha 350 or a Nikon D60...

Here's the comparison chart.

Bye-bye Baby...

For the past few months, I have been seeing the Mitsubishi Lancer GT 2.0 here in Kuantan. Every single week, without fail, there will be one here at the car park where I work. Every time I see it my heart skips a beat. I really, really love this car.

This is a picture I took from my car... my Beng-Wira, while driving here in Kuantan. I keep seeing it so often that I decided to take a snap shot since I was in queue at the traffic lights.

Here's another look at it from the front. Don't you just love it? It has 152 horses under the hood, stock. I love it so much that I was thinking of pampering myself on my next birthday by getting myself one when I get my 10-year service 'bonus'. But my spirits were dampened when I read that there was a 12 -month waiting period for this car so if I booked it next March then I will only get mine in 2009. And by 2009, there will be a new variant coming out. So.... I guess it's bye-bye baby... :(

Bougainvillea

I am in my training now. and with download speeds up to 1MB, I can do loads of stuff and my boss isn't paying much attention to me coz he knows I know most of what he's talking about today. It's just putting the pieces of the puzzle together for me, today.

It's photography time again... Caught these two shots yesterday with my handy and ever faithful N95. I am seriously considering buying myself a digital SLR camera soon.

A variant of the bougainvillea. This type looks nicer to me as opposed to the next one.

This one is special as I managed to capture something else. Do you see it?

Sick Again!

I was in KL today to attend a training tomorrow. I had to send my car in for service as it was due and also because the temperature gauge was giving me problems. As I was waiting for my car I was hungry and was tempted by this stall nearby selling Indian food. This is what I had..

Plain rice drowning in fish curry, dry mutton curry, mutton varuval and an omellete. It was really, really good. I enjoyed it very much but that enjoyment didn't last. I had just recovered from a viral attack and this lunch was way too heaty for my body and within 30 minutes I started feeling the heat. Within a couple of hours the fever came, then the aching joints, then the sore throat and by late night it was also cough and flu.

Big Apple Donuts

Yes, Big Apple Donuts in Kuantan!! Finally!! Donuts in Kuantan!! This outlet is located in the newly opened East Coast Mall, the most happening place right now with Carrefour and Parkson as its anchor tenants.

I'm not one who likes queues... I mean, who does? I won't get in a queue just to buy donuts... no way jose... so I went on a weekday... so, no queues. I picked out six as you can see in the picture. Then I proceeded to pay at the cashier and decided to get myself a latte and savour these babies right there and then.

As I waited for my latte, this attendant inside just brought a donut over and put it on the tray in front of me. So I asked the cashier, what is this? The cashier said it was on the house. Wow! I'm not going to refuse...

Ummm... by the way, I finished all 7 donuts...

Flavaspot

Flavaspot is a cafe here in Kuantan. I haven't patronised the outlet yet. No, it has nothing to do with the car either. Actually, it's about the banner. The owner is thrifty and creative. The banner originally reads 'Akan Di Buka' meaning Opening Soon. Instead of getting a new banner when he opened he modified it to read 'kini Di Buka' which means Now Opened. Creative I must say... click on the picture to see a bigger and clearer picture of the fonts...

The Longest Fart...

Not to be mistaken with the movie 'The Longest Yard' starring Adam Sandler...

It was a normal work day and I was getting ready for work and I was 'investing'... it was my longest fart... I counted about 7 seconds in total...

Throat Problems

WARNING!!
THIS BLOG CONTAINS DISTURBING GRAPHICS.

Please skip this entry if you're not comfortable with graphics of internal organs and the like.

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It happened last month. It was a Friday on the 25th and I was doing some work in the office. I felt some discomfort at the back of my throat and I was getting a foul taste. I brush my teeth every morning, after every meal (almost) and before bed and I gargle with Listerine every morning. So where did that foul taste come from? I coughed and coughed due to the discomfort. Suddenly I felt something in my mouth after a very hard cough. I quickly put a piece of paper on my desk and spat the 'objects' out. It had a foul smell... the rotting smell... the kind that you get at drains and sewages.

This is what came out. I took this with my N95. I didn't think of measuring at that point but the large ones were about twice the size of a boiled barley grain while the smaller ones were the size of a boiled barley grain.

Shortly after that, I fell ill and since I was at the doctor's I showed him a picture of my 'foreign objects' and told him what happened. He told me that it was normal (yeah, right... and I am a monkey's uncle) and that it happens when we get throat infections and this are hardened discharge and that it will go away. I didn't believe him and neither did I like his explanation. But since he's just a GP, I left it at that.

Somehow, after that incident the foul taste did not go away. Every time I swallowed my saliva, I'd get that taste but I didn't know why. And I still felt some discomfort at the back of my throat but I couldn't see anything in my throat though I could feel it.

Then this morning when I looked into the mirror and checked my throat, I saw it. I used a teaspoon to try and dislodge it but I gagged and it didn't move. So, I went to the doctor again and showed him my throat. Again he said, it was normal and that it would go away and that it was not cancerous or anything. He just said that my throat was rather inflamed and swollen so he gave me some medication for it. He assured me that it would go away on its own but I didn't believe him.

I went back and took another look at it. This time, I noticed a second object sticking out of my tonsils. You can see it in the picture above. The one on the left which is more visible was the initial 'sighting'.

Here's another picture of it with a clearer view of the object. Oh, by the way... I took these pictures myself with my N95.

I was really uncomfortable and I was not going to leave it just like that so it was the teaspoon again... I took the teaspoon and gently nudged my tonsil just next to the object... the first one. Sure I gagged... but the object came out. Then I gently pushed the other object to see what happened. It moved. It moved towards the opening of the earlier object an dit wa sthen that I saw there was more that one object. I was tearing by this time but I did not give up an dpushed some more. They came out... all of them.

Here's how the objects look like again but this time with measurements. Rather large don't you think? I have no idea what it is but it seems to be like hardened fats and/or carbohydrate and they smell really, really rotten.

My throat's clear now and the foul taste has gone and so has the discomfort. Here's a picture of my throat. Notice the holes on my tonsils? I have pictures and I plan to see an ENT specialist soon and show these to the specialist.

Pandan Waterfalls

Today is a public holiday here in Kuantan so I decided to take a drive to the Panda waterfalls located about 25kms from Kuantan towards Gambang. It was relatively easy to find. At the entrance they collect RM1 per person. As I drove in I noticed about 4 large buses parked outside which seems to look like a designated bus parking area. I drove further in but only to be stopped by a group of kids in National Service uniform. There were some cars parked alongside the road so I gathered that, this was as far as I could go. I parked and made my way to the waterfall. As I approached the waterfall I came across the National Service students getting a brief from their leader. There were about 150 of them in total, give or take.

As I was in jeans and had no intentions of 'playing' with the water, I made my way up the trek alongside the waterfall. As I trekked I saw many, many people playing in the water and after awhile, I noticed I was the ONLY Chinese there. Well, I wasn't alarmed as this happens a lot here in Kuantan. I would have been if I was in KL and I would have been a few months back.

This is a shot of the waterfall that I took from the website. As you can see later it is of a different angle from mine as this shot was taken while standing in the stream which I didn't want to do.

This is the shot that I took with my ever faithful Nokia N95. I took it from the trek alongside the waterfall.

As I was trekking down, I came across this mushroom.

And I also came across this flower. Don't know what it is called though.

All in all it wasn't really much fun and I doubt non-Muslims would enjoy it either unless you enjoy playing in water fully clothed like most of them were except for the men that is. And if you do decide to go as you wish you'd probably end up getting 'dagger stares' or even get cited for indecency. It is Kuantan after all you know...

I'm Back...

It's been 4 months. I'm back... to square one, that is. I haven't been keeping myself healthy.

These are my statistics...

NOW

Weight - 80.2 kgs

Body fat - 22.5%

Muscle mass - 59 kgs

Waistline - 35.5 in

Arms - 14.25 inches, flexed.

December 2007

Weight - 75 kgs

Body fat - 19.5%

Muscle mass - 57.5 kgs

Waistline - 33 in

Arms - 14.25 inches, flexed.

October 2007

Weight - 85 kgs

Body fat - 23.5%

Muscle mass - 59 kgs

Waistline - 35.5 in.

Arms - 14.75 in. flexed.

So, it's back to my daily exercise regime and diet plan. And I'll update my progress sometime next month.