scenic evening run

went for an evening run by the marina bay earlier and took these photos. always enjoy the marina bay scenery, especially during sunset. 

enjoy!

urinary system not ok

the stone in the left kidney was discharged on the 4 jun but i continued to experience bloodied urine 17-19 jun. the ct scan revealed 2 stones in the right kidney.

the urologist couldn't explain the second bloodied urine but ruled out stones and calcification of the blood vessels in the lower bladder as the cause. in the end, he said it could possibly be a case of urinary tract infection and will just leave it as it is and observe. the stone (that was discharged) had been send for further test to confirm the nature and composition of it. hopefully it will shed light and provide me clarity about any possible diet restrictions moving ahead.

as for the 2 stones in the right kidney, i took the urologist's suggestion to have them removed. have opted for the eswl (short wave) treatment and it will be done on the 12 jul. decided against waiting for another 3-6 months or more to observe as the only thing that can happen to the stone is to grow larger. added to this, i might be required to work overseas if my job application is successful.

had done the eswl before and it was really painful. was offered another option of inserting the scope/ clipper to break the stone via the penis. this would be done under ga but in the end, opted for the eswl after the urologist assured me it will be less painful that the last and that he will give me stronger painkillers. he also assured me he will be on site to boost the painkiller (to the point of almost knocking me out) if i cannot take the pain.

looking forward to be stone-free again.

heart's ok

completed the series of tests (treadmill, holter, 2d echo) for the heart and the findings, based on the staff who conducted the tests, suggest the heart is in good condition. that is to say, there are no enlargement, muscles seemed to be fine and working well, rhythm ok, etc.

will await the consultation with the specialist to give his views.

:-)

twitching left eye

bad omen? or just too tired?

finding dory

watched this show last night. it was a nice show, but towards the end, it got a little draggy. admittedly, i wondered when it will end... it was an entertaining show nonetheless.

:-)

independence day: resurgence

the critical part of me couldn't help but question how an alien community travelled the universe to earth, tried to suck the hell out of the core, fight with human over a small white ball, and finally got destroyed by human beings. proportion of time and space didn't seemed to make sense. also, the show celebrated unabashedly how smart humans (think they) are - being able to read alien languages, fly alien spaceships, etc etc etc.

and oh, i found it interesting to note that the first person to die in the whole show was the character played by a singaporean actor. and the first city to be destroyed by the alien was also a singaporean landmark. lol! and of cos, without being too critical, i think the producers need to be a little more accurate about the details if they want to bring out the authenticity of the cities being destroyed. and i say that cos, for the singaporean street scenes, we have chinese taxis and china-chinese speaking people being depicted.

(the highlight of cos was the superbly cute lead actor, although admittedly, i kept thinking of his brother whenever i looked at him)

then again, its only a movie. let's not take it too serious. it was a rather entertaining show, i must say.

heh heh...

warcraft: the beginning

watched this when i was in taiwan with bee recently. have always been a fan of such shows and enjoyed it much. of cos, the only thing that kept ringing in my mind as i watch the show was - how the hell did they eat with such huge lower incisors! heh... of cos, that would be another topic all on its own.

holter test

yup, that's me. all wired up. this is called the holter's test. the thing being stuck onto my body is the holter's monitor. am being hooked up to do a 24-hour ecg in an attempt to check for any irregular rhythm of the heart. will also be doing the scan tomorrow to see if i have any enlarged heart, damaged heart tissues, etc...

but for now, with me being all wired up, i cannot shower. and to keep myself dry, i try not to do anything that will make me perspire. well, it is not as uncomfortable as it looked. maybe just a little itchy due to the plaster. otherwise, it's really ok. but of cos, with all the wires running around, doesn't it make me look like a suicide bomber?

lol!

auntie in toilet

i was at the hospital earlier for a medical procedure and while waiting for my turn, i felt the urge to pee.

i went to the toilet (unisex) and as i pushed the door, i was shocked to see an auntie inside. she let out loud scream when she saw me and it struck me right away that auntie didn't lock the door! instinctively, i said to her, loudly, "auntie, you never lock the door!" needed to do that before she accused me of anything! thankfully, auntie was fully clothed. i quickly closed the door and entered the adjacent toilet, which was a toilet for the disabled.

it was a good thing that there was no further commotion and i proceeded to pee. as i did so, i couldn't help but noticed the sounds of non-stop locking and unlocking of the next toilet's door (where auntie was in). it went on for quite a while and it got me a little curious. when i walked out of the toilet, the locking and unlocking of the door was still going on. added to that, i also noticed the door being pushed open and closed as the locking and unlocking went on. auntie was clearly trying very hard to lock the door and testing if the door could be opened when locked.

poor auntie, she probably didn't know that all hospital toilet doors could be opened from inside without unlocking (auto-unlock). the traumatized auntie must have felt totally helpless, thinking that door could not be locked... anyway, i walked away as fast as i could. and to prevent auntie from being further embarrassed, i decided to head to the canteen and spend some time there before returning to the clinic. i can still vividly recall her "wtf, wth, omfg" face when i opened the door...

lol!

my last 2 weeks - very positive

it's been a while since i posted anything here. had been really busy and drained past 2 weekends with commitments such as hosting an overseas friend and made a trip to taiwan. thus, i'll make this a summary post of the key things that happened over the last 2 weeks. overall, i'd say things were really exciting and picking up, and it was positive on all fronts (or at least that was how i chose to see things). and frankly, for a brief period, i didn't want to blog anything for fear that it might just stop the momentum of the pick up... heh... ok, here goes...

bee
we made a short trip to taipei over the last weekend. didn't do much except to walk, shop, eat, watched movie and just idle through the weekend. it was not exactly a restful one give the frequent very long walks, but it certainly was a good break. and yeah, he said i snored like crazy these days when i slept, confirming my suspicions that my frequent sleep disruption was due to my breathing. will write more in the next para.

health

in this area, apart from confirming my snoring/ breathing issues, i also completed the ct scan of my kidneys. but the key highlight for my health these two weeks was the fact that the kidney stone came out! it occurred 2 weekends ago after some drinks at the hotel lounge. i went to pee at the hotel toilet and felt a sharp pain. i kinda suspected it was due to the stone. and once i reached home, it came out as i peed again. it was huge! larger than the stone i peed out some years back. and with the ejection of the stone, everything slowly cleared off... the backaches, the frequent pains at the kidney areas, etc. it all disappeared. so, yeah, this was a really good highlight for me in the last two weeks, health-wise.

work/ professional development

some 2 months back, a headhunter company contacted me with the intent to convince me to consider an opportunity with an mnc. i wasn't too keen on it but decided to meet the headhunter nonetheless. and with the change in position titling and the increasingly toxic environment at my workplace, this opportunity became something that could be an escape route for me. but as i spoke more with the company, my interest picked up and with further encouragement from my lady ex-boss, i had, as of today, gone for 6 rounds of interviews - the final one with the chairperson of the company. things look somewhat positive and hopefully i can get some good news in the coming days. so, yeah, this is the highlight for me, work-wise. then again, i am trying hard to manage my expectations here given the many similar occurrences previously that did not materialise eventually. keeping my fingers crossed nonetheless. wish me luck...

colleagues

my crazy colleagues had been organising quite a few dinner gatherings and karaoke sessions and i joined them for a couple of them. they were rather fun and brightened up many of my evenings. i guessed the fact that the recent shift of everyone to the new office, and the decentralisation of the departments made everyone miss each other. whatever the case, it was good to meet up and just go crazy. as for my previous team (before we reorganised), i brought them out for the good dinner as my way of thanking them for their hardwork and support. thought they enjoyed the dinner thoroughly.

friends
a friend of mine from overseas visited singapore and i hosted him over 4-5 days at the start of the month. brought him to the zoo, went shopping at orchard road, visited the temple, ate at different places, etc... enjoyed his company but man, it was really tiring to go to all the different places in singapore over such a short time. that was partly why i didn't blog at the start of the month. heh...

so... yeah, as you can see, every front was positive. of cos, all these happened as i shifted office, the company got merged with another, new department head got bitchy and nitpicked things i did, new boss that despite being somewhat cordial, hasn't gotten used to having me in the team, colleagues that were not too friendly yet, etc etc etc... but well, i have decided to just ignore all these. i can't change them, so just accept them and go with the flow. this, perhaps is the good thing for being in a lower position. i'll just continue to keep focused on the good things, and be positive.

will try to expand some of the things above in the coming posts... if i can find the motivation and the energy.

:-)