of teacher's day and knee

teacher's day has come and gone.
it was a very relaxing one where only less than a quarter of students in school turned up. there was no teaching whatsoever and all teachers just chilled out in the classes and staff room. they should have given us a holiday instead.
the attendance is getting less and less year after year. it is as if the students have it drilled in their minds that teacher's day is a day which has nothing to do with them and hence, what is the point of coming on that day.
yup, i actually had a kid who told me that vis-a-vis. he said, 'it is your teacher's day, what does that have to do with me?' yeah, coming from a 16-year-old prefect. and you would think that prefects are the role models in school.

anyway, there was the routined assembly, singing of this year's theme song, oath taking ceremony and a few performances from kids. lastly, a lunch in the canteen sealed the day.

i got 4 presents this year.....a very good haul hehehe.....but don't compare mine to all those primary school counterparts please. they get truck loads of pressies compared to us.
if you cannot make out the gifts above, well, they are handmade paper flowers, a scarf, candle and mcdonalds hello kitty. want to guess which is my favourite??

well, i also had a treat from a few kids in ipoh the day before- star trek movie, mcdonalds for dinner and baskin robbins ice-cream for dessert. that was wonderful. and star trek was awesome! heck, the star paper's review even gave it full marks! the cast was really great as in the space fight scenes too. well, i am a big star trek fan, so i can be bias.  i was so awed to see the enterprise again and again on the screen and everytime it appeared, my heart was like swelling with pride. it was like my baby is flying and exploring. hahahahaha.....

ok...one more with teacher's day.

we each got a polo-shirt and they call it our sports day shirt. do you think i will wear that on sports day? haha....for your information, dad is seen going out of the house with the shirt on his back today ;) i guess that answers the question. the purple is kinda too dark right? many say it is quite ugly. well, you and i know that i won't be seen in that shirt for sure.

the day after teacher's day, i had taken a leave and finally went for a consultation regarding my knee which was long overdue. the pain in the knee was bearable, but it made me stop my running and all vigorous activities to do with legs. the injury was a result of a bad landing when i jumped over a cone and the impact hit the knee when i landed on my heel. it just got worse these few weeks and i felt a pinch and exhaustion in my knee which affected my calf and these few days, even my hamstring felt tight.

i have even stopped bending down for ping pong. so the bearable pain does not look serious to others but i know that if i don't get it fixed, the effect is going to be long-term and worse. all those tales of ppl getting knee replacement scare me and i don't want to end up being one of them like in 20 years time. i also want to continue running, jogging, hopping and playing games.....so i made that phone call and made my appointment at kuala lumpur sports medicine centre.

the initial plan was to just see an orthopaedic but  when dad mentioned that his friend goes to klsmc, i decided to go to that place instead since it focuses more on sports injury. i know the bill is going to be exorbitant already before i went, so i guess i was prepared for the final amount.

no one encouraged me to go to government's hospital, even my own colleagues.  one just told me to forget about gov hospital as the process is going to be long before i get to see an ortho.

so i reached klsmc at 10.30a.m. and i only left at 5p.m.! what a long long day. the waiting was not very very long to see the doctors actually. initially, my slot was at 2.45p.m. for that particular knee specialist, but the receptionist called two days before to tell me to come in the morning for my scans first since it was my first visit there.

i had 90 minutes break for lunch which i spent  in the italian restaurant on the ground floor of wisma perintis- nerofico. eating alone was all right. i had my cousin and siblings chatting with me on whatsapp and a novel i had brought along.

my lambshank. i am not a fan of mash potatoes due to my worry of carb intake, but man, the mash was good, and i almost finished all. haha.....i have a tendency to leave my food unfinished. anyway, i was full already.
saw many patrons ordering pizza, but it would be too big for me to finish on my own.

ok...so what is wrong with my knee???

*photo from www.phillyburbs.com

the above is the mri scan machine where i put my left knee in. the scan took about 30 minutes. this is where the bulk of the bill comes from. rm1100 for the scan...i think that is the standard price for an mri. oh, my insurance agent came and took my original receipts, i am hoping for a reimbursement from my health card policy. my agent said that was the price so well, at least i know i am not dupped.

my knee x-ray. check the bottom pic, the knee cap. it is slightly tight and i have to do proper massages on the knee cap to loosen it. yeah, they taught me how to do it and it is an awe how much your knee cap can actually move.

the mri scan managed to show what is actually wrong with my knee. i have a condition called synovial plica. the synovial tissue is located in the inner side of the knee and mine is injured. see where the blue line is pointed in the film? that is the knee cap bone and it has slight aggravation due to the plica injury i sustained. that is why my knee hurts.

and of course when they tell me to bend my knee and hold their palms on my knee, they can feel the popping and creaking in the knee. you can even hear the sound clearly when i do my squats on the floor. it is the roughening of the cartilage tissue there that makes the grind.

hmm...i feel so old when i think of my knee. ppl usually lose cartilage tissue due to ageing and now i am already experiencing it. but i know mine happens because of sports. all those years of running, jumping and bending expose the knees to injury and exhaust the tissue there. so i guess for active ppl out there, do take your supplements. prevention is better than cure.

if i don't do anything to the plica, it might get bigger and rougher and when i bend my knee or impact is put there, the bones will grind....and i think you know how uncomfortable it will be then.

so in the end, an injection is recommended to improve the joint fluid quality. but before i went for the injection....i got massages on the knee cap and was taught the exercises i can do at home to strengthen the knee by a friendly therapist while lying on bed. knee locking is the key-word and while doing the exercises, i noticed how much weaker my left knee was because i had been adjusting my body weight to rest on the right due to the injury. the right knee had no problem locking and was not shaking, but when i did it with the left knee, oh how i shook.

after the session on the bed, i was brought to the gym area where they showed me exercises which would strengthen my whole leg muscles and which would help with my plantar faciitis as well.

oh, how i love the gym there. as i told them i am not going to head to the gym when i get home, they taught me exercises which will need minimal gym equipment. i can always improvise when i get home. i must be disciplined to do them i guess. even the right knee is making popping sounds now as i bend it. huhuhuhu.

so after all the exercises which really pull those targeted area muscles, it was time to ice the knee and get ready for the injection. aaaa......time to rest.

my injection which covers a course of 2 jabs over 2 weeks costs me rm900. sob sob.  it is hyalgan which is supposed to restore the joint fluid and acts like a lubricant and a shock absorber. it also activates the tissue repair processes in join cartilage, as mentioned in the brochure i received.

so i have to make another visit for a jab 2 weeks later and they have also slotted in another session of physio before the jab.

the puncture under the plaster. luckily my knee was all numb by the ice pack when they made the injection, so there was a very slight pain only. it caused no discomfort or whatsoever and i just walked as usual once i got off the bed.

my total bill in the sports centre came up to 2480 including x-ray, mri, injections, consultationf fee, and physio session. my sis told me to take it as life investment and i won't feel the pinch. well, i only want to be able to get active again and do my sports. at the moment, the only activity i can do is brisk walk and of course swim. 

the bill does not include the medicine from the pharmacy on the ground floor. anti-inflammation and gastric prevention from the anti-inflammation pills.

so that was the end of my day in kl. what a long long one.

now it is just rest, do the prescribed exercises, and apply ice-pack if the knee is sore due to too much walking at work. the rest part is the scary one. how much weight will i put if i don't jog? does that mean i have to reduce my food intake to avoid gaining weight? i am already eating very little nowadays.

aiyoh, don't want to think about that first. now, the immediate task is to finish marking all exam papers. luckily it is the exam period now, so i can sit most of the time in the classes....but the stairs in school are unavoidable of course.

to a non-related mater- free gift from la mer for mother's day. they only sent one card for this redemption so i could only redeem one. luckily someone from tm went to kl that weekend and helped me get it. or else it would have gone to waste since the redemption period was only on mother's day weekend.

just black for the week

haaaa.....one week of black, i think i have made my point.
with the election over, all talks seem to be still on the topic and all the brouhahas it has created.
no matter what happens, i hope things will turn out fine in the end and all malaysians stay united to help this country progress.

well, putting up black outfits for the week was a fun thing. i am not someone who is always decked in black so i kinda surprised myself with the pieces i managed to pull out from my wardrobe as well.
i think i did quite well lol as i got thumbs up from a colleague who is known to be quite fashionable as well. a compliment from another fashionable woman definite made my day.

here are the outfits from monday to saturday.

MONDAY
i was all fired up after watching the live reports of the election results and i decided to go black when i saw ppl's profile pictures on fb going black as well.
thank goodness the tummy was kinda flat on that day so the tuck in shirt on my button-front trouser was really chic. ;)

TUESDAY
no more in first day mourning mood so something grey for the top.

WEDNESDAY
something more feminine and less fierce. a flare skirt with flower embroidery motifs and beads and a ruffle cotton grey polka-dot blouse. the strappy birkenstocks complete the look.

THURSDAY
one-piece black dress with knitted blue bolero. very office-look except for the pair of black comfy clarks.

FRIDAY
another piece of knee length dress but this time in black and white. love my pair of espadrilles. not  too high but just gives me enough height to be taller and the most important thing, it is comfortable. am on the lookout for more espadrilles for my shoe cabinet ;)

SATURDAY
going grungy on saturday. still had to go back to the office. pulled this black hard rock cafe shirt i got from hong kong from the bottom of the drawer. i think i have only worn it less than 5 times, thank god it still fits. black corduroy pants, my birkenstocks and mulberry alexa, black shades from bv and off i went for inhouse training. i also had the time to braid my hair into few locks while in the course and i pulled them all back into a high pony tail. it really rocked!

MONDAY- TODAY
no more black. i think i will fall into depression if i continue. it is green spring and something fresh. braided and coiffed my hair in a style i had never done with the hairclip i got from japan. oh those girls really loved it so much. new ring from marc and my white toywatch. then the pair of trainers to complete the look...comfort still comes first and somehow it works with this above the knee a-line dress. well, i know boys love the trainers.

don't worry, i won't be doing anymore photo collages of my attires for this week. i myself can't stand the narcissism too. hahaha.....too much of one thing is bad for you.

now moving on to other stuff.
new discoveries in tg malim.

tutti fruitt frozen yoghurt shop just opened on friday and when someone said he would give me a treat on sunday, i of course did not miss the opportunity.

this was the queue in front of me. gosh, i still think it is overly-priced and this might be my only one time here. 1 kg of frozen yoghurt is rm53, so it is rm5.30 for 100g. yes, they weigh your yoghurt and the toppings you chose. they are giving 20% opening discount for one week, so go this week to do a bit of saving. my cup of yoghurt was only 102g....count yourself how much it was.

the second new store in tm is guardian pharmacy taking up a corner lot in front of the old rex cinema.

have not visited it yet as there is nothing to buy....yet i nkow mom has been there a few times to get cheap deals that she sees advertised in the newspapers.....almost everyday these adverts will appear in the newspapers.

that is all for today. am looking forward to wednesday when a group of boys have promised to give me a treat of a movie and dinner. hmmmh....i know they are making use of my car to get to mcdonalds. gosh, what do they find in those burgers? i think in the end, i am paying more for the petrol and toll fee. well, it is better than sitting at home i guess and there is that pretty face of chris pine and the oh-so-handsome zachary quinto (!!!)....well too bad he loves men.

come what MAY

it is the month of may and there is only one word hanging on all malaysians' mouths regardless of sex, age and colour.
the word is none other than ELECTION.
the most anticipated day of the month will come this sunday and i am ready to get my finger soiled by the indelible ink. i will be proud to show my finger too ;)

and i am ready to get back some peace too. i can't stand all those flags, buntings, banners, smses, advertisements, etc....whether they are in printed, cyber or audio forms. urggh!! they are really irritating. what a waste of resources.  well, no prize for guessing which party has won this media war.

let me show you some examples of the different forms of adverts that have been bombarding the citizens. every vote matters i guess and by hook or by crook, whatever way there is, why not use them.

print ads in the newspaper.......everyday and more than 1 page.

do all the ads follow the advertising acts?? hmm.....personally, i feel that they have gone over the line in condemning the opposition party. promote whatever you want to promote but leave out all the bad mouthing.
can pepsi challenge coke in their advert or maybe breeze and fab have a showdown??

next- smses sent to the phone every other day....all from the same party of course. i guess my vote is really important huh.

banners and flags....everywhere in every nook and cranny of the town....and my residential is not spared as well.

blue banners circling the fence of the playground opposite my house.

flags blocking the junctions and sides of the roads.
of course there are more creative ones but i was not ready with my camera when i passed them. saw one in bidor in the shape of a fighter jet made using all green flags.

next- letters and pamplets sent to the house. my grandfather got it from mca, my brother and i got them from both the government and opposition, mom also got hers.

cyber ads:

have to see similar ads everytime before i log in to my mailbox.
so don't you think i've had enough of all these ads?? i need a break.....well...just one more day.

frankly, i still have not decided on the candidate that will get my X....but i am pretty sure about who i will not be voting.....still it does not make my choice any easier. so please don't ask who i will be voting ok? even those 14-year-old are curious....and if you give them the ballot paper, i am sure they will be so excited to vote as well.

ok...i am sick of election talk....now let's shop ;)

something came in the mail.....

from the usa......

a ring in pink rose......

and new phone case....kakaka....but i have yet to use it. i wonder if the arms and legs of the teddy will be slightly annoying to hold and put in bag. well, i have yet to find out. i remember posting about this moschino's case when they released it for iphone 4 and how i told myself, i would get one when i get my iphone. hehehe....my wish has come true albeit in a different colour. but i do think that this red case with black bow will suit my black iphone more.

and on 1 may, labour's day, i also made a trip to kl to get some cosmetic and facial stuff from shiseido since they have special sets for mother's day.

got these 3 sets......for sis, aunt and mom.

other than those in the shopping list, i also got myself a skirt.

i enjoyed myself that day.....filling myself with good food. muahahaa.....

my latte....when i arrived at 12 noon.

my super late lunch at 4pm......half a lobster!!!! woohoooo!!!!

and another latte sent to my table courtesy of karen. burp!!! i had no plan to have dinner at all although i had received an invitation to attend a baby full moon party.

but the no dinner plan was not carried out. one of the kids texted me while i was in the mall saying he would buy me dinner because it was his birthday. how sweet. well, i told him not to buy for me and in the end, he bought 3 boxes of large nuggets from kfc while i bought a cheese cake for him

it was feast time and i was happy to see so many happy faces while they were enjoying their little celebration.

spot the birthday boy and birthday girl.

and last pic for this post......sad....sad....sad

the tote bag which hold my notebook toppled and fell onto the road when i opened the door of the car....and this was the damage done to the notebook. a slight dent on the corner that was bumped on the tar.....and thank god, it was wearing its case at that time.

that is all for this week.. my eyes can't take it anymore. time for a good rest to be rejuvenated this weekend. many friends will be back and it is like a big carnival is coming and everyone is in festive spirits.  let's pray for a fair election and a peaceful end to this 5-year campaign period.

idle fingers and off i go down under

haiz....idle fingers made me lose some money again.

there i was, sitting this morning reading the morning papers. then my mind fleeted to my brother who was having his holiday in bandung, indonesia this weekend.....and the next thing i knew, i was thinking about my own 2 weeks break at the end of may.
i still had no plans..... hmmmm..... maybe i should go to bandung too. but then the question came, who would i go with? i did not want to go to bandung alone.

then what about australia to check on my cute nephew again although it was less than half a year since i last saw him. it was too soon right?

what the heck, just check airasia first lah.

and the above was the result i got. and the mind went boink! boink! boink! full gear!!!
oh no! cheap!!! how!!! straight away posted on fb to let my sister know....and she said...what was i waiting for?? so i called dad and he said i could go ahead since his trip to guangzhou, was not going to be at that time......and then five minutes later......all done.

i booked my tickets to melbourne. what a rush!
all just because of this killer smile:

how to resist??? so i guess in about a month's time, those cheeks will be within my reach and i am going to pinch them on all your behalves ok????

luckily i still have some aussie dollars left from my last trip, so i can save on a trip to the money changer. still recovering from the trip to japan. need to be strong not to shop in aussie again especially at the outlet stores. lol. i don't think there will be any sales at that time, so that is a relief. have thought of  a few places to go, so hope i am going to have a great winter down under. my first time there in winter and oh please, don't let me freeze.

i guess i will be meeting my friend whom i missed when he came back to the hometown last march then. haha....just sent him a photo of his mom preparing the delicious chicken chop meal shown below the other day.

yummy, hainanese chicken chop.....breast meat for me please. that friend of mine is now back in melbourne and he said it was my turn to visit since he did try to find me when he came back. and in my reply, i told him it was too soon to go back. well, i guess i have to eat my own words now.

oh, many have asked me about the chicken chop and i tell you, i have never eaten any better than this. it is grilled using coal and still done in the most traditional way. even the two pieces of toasts are grilled over charcoal fire. i think a plate of this chicken chop is around rm10.50. i did not know the exact price since i did not pay for this meal.

well, those who are interested, do make your way to tg malim. and if you know where yik mun pau shop is, that is where you will find E n L, masakan melayu restaurant. it is a simple restaurant with a few chairs and tables. do be patient if you are going to order chicken chop because they will start from zero preparing the dish for you. i usually stopped by earlier to make a booking and ordered first so i can get my chop at the decided time.

ok, with that trip to aussie decided, now i have to prepare my visa and do some shopping.

the above set is one thing i am helping my sister to get in conjunction with shiseido mother's day promotion. am hoping to drop by kl on labour's day to do all the shopping and also to watch iron man 3. i don't think i can find any other time.

it is about time i sit down to set the mid year exam papers and rush to make sure the kids are well-prepared.

well, the mid-year break is definitely worth toiling for.

loser talking

i am so gutted, oh so gutted.
my mind is still in a blur on how we could have lost the match yesterday.

it was the semifinal in the evening and as predicted, we managed to win 4 out of the 5 matches hence, we advanced to the finals.

in the finals, there were talks that we were going to split some of the doubles but in the end, i still retained mine and played in the women's double. well, i won my game, then it was up to the others to get the point.

men's vip won their too and it was then 2-2. we had lost in men's open and men's veteran then.
it was up to the mixed doubles to seal the fate of the group. oh what heartache when they lost in straight sets.

it was a case of putting the wrong chess pieces in the wrong checkered places. if only we had tweaked our combinations, then the mixed doubles would be ours to take and we would have won at 3-2.

i am only slowly taking all these in today and my mind couldn't stop from straying to yesterday's matches and all the 'what ifs'.

gosh, i really need to get over this disappointment of mine.
it is time to let go but there will be that prize-giving presentation on tuesday. waaa.........well, at least we have lost gracefully and we did not use any imported players who did not work in our organisation!!!!

first week in april...

the first week of april has come and gone just in the blink of an eye.
and i think i have also been made an april's fool victim.

well, to be more specific, i was a credit card fraud victim.....on 1 april 2013.
it started with 2 smses at 4 in the evening saying that i had made a transaction of 1USD on some purchase which i of course did not know anything of. i thought i was going to give  the bank a call a bit later when i was freer, but the bank actually called me first 5 minutes later telling me that an attempt to swipe my card for more than rm10,000 on a holiday website was made. of course the transaction could not get through because that was way over my credit limit.

the website was expedia paris. when i gave it more thought, i had a feeling i knew when my card was compromised. it must be when i made an online purchase for a ring on net-a-porter's european website last week. gosh, that would be the only time i shop from net-a-porter.
 

so it was goodbye to my visa card and i already have got a new replacement sent to my house. thank god for the quick action by maybank to block it. i wonder if they will track the fraudster and make any arrest. that is the most important isn't it? to nip the bud.
well, now i still got to inform the insurance companies about the change so my direct debit with them will work.

next up in the week.....flood in my bedroom!!!!

it rained very heavily on wednesday and i was at the handball court supporting the boys when my housemate called saying water was flowing out of my room!
luckily i did not lock the door and they could go in and put all the pails.

this was like 3 hours after the rain and the big patch of the ceiling was all wet. i was so worried that the airconditioner and lights would not function because if you look more carefully, you can see the cable that ran straight on the ceiling where the water dripped.

all the pails in the house were used to contain the water. my housemate told me that the water flowed all the way to the door and down the stairs. gosh...it must have been like a waterfall when the rain was the heaviest.

luckily it did not rain again that night and i could get my sleep. the next afternoon, as soon as i got home from work, i got the repairman to come. so it was fixed within an hour. the tiles were not broken but it was rubbish which blocked the water flow and pushed it down the roof. phew.

i took part in ping pong competition among government agencies in the district. it was a break from the monotonous work routine. we competed in team event and we played all doubles matches.

so far, we had played against 2 other teams and we had won. yipppee!! i won my games quite easily. hahah...i hope it will continue to be such way.
on monday, there will be another last match for the group. i think we will have no problem winning and top the group ;)

the semi-final matches will be played on wednesday and final will be on thursday. so i have something to look forward to this week. wish me luck. i don't know what we will get when we win, but no one is thinking about the reward yet. everyone joins willingly and pays for their own expenses to get to the competition venue. well, it is near for me since it is held in tapah, but some do travel all the way from tg malim.

then on saturday, i went down to kl to attend a friend's wedding.

there was a stopover at one utama after that wedding to meet an ex-colleague of mine. of course, i couldn't resist taking this photo of the stage where sammi had already attended the event today promoting osim's massage chair. nope, i did not go. i had other more important commitments to attend to. i guess now that i am older, i learn to prioritise. not that i could get close to her by attending the event. so what the heck. skip.

my primary school friend and also my neighbour married a chinese lady from china. gosh, it was such a nice wedding with the traditional indian ceremony being held on the stage. i arrived when they were exchanging thali (wedding string) and also flower garlands. despite the noise made by the traditional instrument players, there was a serenity in the chaos. i believe that this marriage is going to be a lasting one and they will find bliss in each other. i truly do. the groom still owes me a long explanation of his whereabouts .....so i will be waiting for that e-mail to come to update me. hahahhaa.

at 1 utama, i met again when meeting my ex-colleague. wa.....really so full ah. we ate at lavender, a bakery but their dining area serves really good meals. of course i couldn't finished what i ordered....greedy lah. hahaha.... the dish in front of the camera was mine- croque madame. very very rich. the perfect breakfast meal.

the above was basically how i occupied my week.

now to some random pics.

coconut flavoured m&ms from japan. yes, the coconut aroma is really strong. but the brown ones not so.

hello kitty digital watch with a secret compartment for candies ;)
given by an ex-kid who went to singapore for a holiday. how sweet....hahaah....i think i will just keep the watch in its packet for the time being.

ok, time for bed. another exciting week awaits me.