Happy Thanksgiving!

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving on this side of the globe. But, to my friends over in the States,

Happy Thanksgiving! 

2020 is an awkward year and I am really looking forward to 2021. One month more to go. And for now, let's focus on giving thanks to the people that matters, and of cos, to 2020 for reminding us how important it is to focus on what matters most to all of us - family, friends, relationships... and health.

Stay safe everyone!

Gabapentin

Recently, for some reasons, I lost control of my right hand. It started with some pains in my right shoulder that refused to go away. And one evening, after 2 weeks, I started to feel general weakness over my whole right arm. The weakness spreaded to my hand and within a couple of minutes, I couldn't move my last 2 fingers. It was a scary experience. It took a while before the pain wore off and I slowly regained control of my arms and my hands again.  

I checked in with my specialist who suspected my cervical spondylosis had worsened and that I might be experiencing the effects of nerve impingement. Had gotten an MRI and a nerve test arranged in the coming weeks. And for now, I've been given medication to sooth my nerves (literally)... a series of Vitamin Bs and Gabapentin. My mum used to take Gabapentin for her pains. And now that I'm taking it, I begin to realize how sleepy it makes me. But I'm not complaining cos it helps me sleep really deeply. Kinda "enjoying" it.

:-)

Dreams dreams dreams

Have been having rather weird dreams lately. Some of the more vivid ones include:

• I was in a situation where I was leaving (some thing or some where), and had board a car with someone. And as the car move, I saw my mum by the road side. She was just standing there and I was deeply aware that if I did not stop and connect with her, I will never ever have the chance to do so again. And so, I stopped the car and rushed out to hug her. She didn't speak but hugged me back. The dream was so vivid and the hug felt so real. I couldn't recall how the dream ended. I woke up. Everything in the dream was black and dark.

• In the dream, my nephew and niece visited me (?), and everyone (not even sure who) commented how much they have grown. And for some reasons, everyone gave all the attention to my niece but not my nephew. Seeing my nephew being left out, I reached out to hug him. What was weird about the dream was that even as I was deeply aware I had not met them for a couple of years (and that they had grown up), the two of them appeared rather similar to when I last met them but looked somewhat different.

• I was crazy over one rather popular local actor and he seemed to like me a lot too. In one particular scene where we were walking, he held my hands tight. It felt so sweet. And in another moment, we were relaxing in a couch and my head rested on his thighs. The whole feeling was rather warm. Weirdly, there was another person in the dream who was trying so very hard to gain the affections of this popular actor. His presence was somewhat a distraction although it didn't bother two of us. Everything in the whole dream was white.

These were some of the more recent dreams. There were many many more...

Finally

Yes! Finally, we have a qualified & decent person for the top office. Been too long.

Congratulations!

Jiang Ziya 姜子牙

Caught this show two weekends ago and was simply blown away by the graphics. 

Jiang Ziya is a real character in ancient China and is well documented in Chinese history books. He is also one of the central figure in the Chinese mythologies and deitified as one of the highest level deity in Taoist beliefs. And not many people realised that in modern Chinese art, he is depicted as an old man sitting by the river holding a fishing rod. Watching this movie really brings me back to my childhood where I hear stories about these gods and deities. And oh, I found it rather amusing how the new generation of story tellers in China incorporate elements of very human traits/ behaviours into these characters - like how they showed Jiang Gong is somewhat of an OCD.  

Super liked this animation!