Let’s Get Moving Into Action

I was reminded of my aim to adopt a healthier lifestyle during my walk on Saturday. Told myself that I don’t have to wait until the New Year to renew my resolution – anytime is a good time to start – and anyway, we’ve only just entered the new Islamic year. Now, I don’t run and don’t plan to but I can walk and I do walk a lot as it is (and even so now that I ride the public transportation more) so it’s just a matter of sticking to what I am currently doing and watching what I eat (admittedly harder because I have a weakness for junk food).

Err, no, I don’t. I just walk

Only in Malaysia do people look down on you if you ride the bus. In Europe, most people in the cities ride public transportation or cycle to work. Here’s Poldi taking the local bus in London

When I last went for a massage, the masseuse asked me if I knew why some women get bigger at the hips as they get older. I wondered if it was because of childbirth and diet and she said yes to that and added also because these women hardly move – they just sit at their workplace or remain immobile. Wow, imagine, gaining unnecessary weight just because you don’t move! So come on, move it, move your body! Don’t be like this:

Do what you like and most comfortable with. Dance, jog, run, walk, swim, skip, cycle, whatever. But do it.

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My sister told me that she has fibroids and adenomyosis and that two gynaecologists had advised her to do a hysterectomy. I was stunned to hear this and did some quick research online. I also consulted my doctor friends (and even a friend whose sister is a doctor) for medical advice. From what little I read – and confirmed by the response I received (thank you darlings!) – both can be treated with medication so I persuaded, cajoled and advised my sister to get yet another opinion. I mean, c’mon, hysterectomy is a major step to take and it has long-term side effects. (I don’t know why God tests us the weaker sex with fibroids and cysts and breast cancer, to name just a few but He knows best.) If the surgery as to go through, it would be this week. I also asked my colleagues for recommendations on gynaes and they provided me with some names which I submitted to my sister. One of them turned out to be her previous gynae when she was pregnant with my niece.

So having made an appointment, she went to see the gynae last Saturday and was told that fibroids in general don’t hurt. As she’s feeling the pain, it could be infection or inflammation and so he said he would give some medication to arrest the pain. As for adenomyosis, he also advised medication. Not once did he mention hysterectomy.

A work colleague had a fall recently and as a result, his kneecaps are pulled out of their natural position (I’m not sure I explain that correctly). The doctor at the private hospital who examined him said he must undergo surgery and had even slotted the time for the surgery. Undeterred, he went to seek another doctor’s opinion (at a sport injury clinic) and this doctor said no surgery was necessary and gave him a glucosamine injection instead.

And this is why I don’t trust some doctors, especially at private hospitals. These are not the two instances that make me distrust them but a few other previous instances too. How ethical or professional is a doctor who proposes unnecessary procedures to his patients for the sake of money? And it doesn’t hurt to get a second, even third, opinion.

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It’s the last week of Movember. I don’t think it’s caught up here but I’m amazed at how sporting the English are. Even footballers, including some of the Gunners - when they are not firing blanks (here’s giving all of you an evil stare) - attempt to grow some kind of facial hair upon their lips with varying results but what’s important is their sporting attitude.

Jackpot

Arsenal hosted Montpellier last night in a bid to secure progression into the last 16. I watched the Gunners laboured in the first half and went back to bed (well, I had to get up for work). The Gunners improved after a forgettable first half and we won by goals thanks to Jack and Poldi, both from the increasingly indispensableGiroud assists. Jack scored his first goal after 2 years while Poldi scored an absolute screamer and the more I see it, the more I think it’s reminiscent of a certain Dutch skunk’s strike. You can watch it here or on Arsenal Player. Indeed, it’s a contender for goal of the season in Europe.

 Jack’s back alright

What a déjà vu the past few weeks have been. We started off the season pretty much like last season with haters saying we were in crisis yet again – after all, we did spend two successive summers selling our captains – and the first two goalless matches seemed to bear testimony to this. And then the defeats (but ahem, ManUre have had three defeats too and Chelshit two). It seemed that Chelshit would be breezing through the season what with summer acquisitions of Hazard and Oscar to add to Mata and indeed they were topping the league. Then suddenly they started having a crisis too, just like last season and before you could blink, ruthless Abramovich had sacked di Matteo and hours later appointed Benitez to the hot seat. Speaking further of déjà vu, we spanked a similar scoreline against the scums, mashing the Spuds and slaughtering the chickens. Déjà vu, eh?

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My handsome sweet pie nephew aced his exam! I had promised to take him on a trip and now we are really going, insyaAllah! My other nephew didn’t fare so well though. Yes, you can say it’s just Standard 6 exams but to me, so why can’t one even make the grades for this? And now there’s talk of abolishing major exams. The education system here has gone to the dogs but if exams are abolished, how do we know the standards of our students? How do we test their understanding of what’s taught? How do we gauge their learning? Sure, learning can be done in more fun effective way but I’m not sure abolishing exams is the way to go.

Thanks, That Was Fun

I was supposed to handle an event in early December and had reluctantly decided to stay put, i.e., not travel in November. Only to be informed a dozen days ago that the intended event would not materialise (yippeeeee!!!) but that I had no plans for last week (two days of public holidays meant if I took the week off, it’d only be three days off work). Dang.

Luckily, I managed to secure (with the help of my colleague) a unit at our PD resort for three nights. Well, I guess beggars can’t be choosers and all that.

So we left on Thursday just after noon prayers and drove down to PD. Dad was anxious to beat the holiday traffic and to arrive before it rained. Well, he needn’t have worried after all as the traffic was kind to us and it didn’t rain a drop. It had rained earlier in the morning so I guess that was that. Akak and family arrived closer to 4 pm. We checked in after 4.

My two nieces and nephew couldn’t wait to hit the pool and they went as early as 5 pm. I waited a bit before walking down to the beach. I wanted to take a stroll along the beach but the tide was high and the sea was almost reaching the edge of the resort. I wasn’t keen to get wet so only ventured out for a short while.

It didn’t rain on Friday either. I went to check the beach in the morning and the tide was higher than ever and the waves were already lapping the resort boundary. I sat by the pool watching over the kids until they were finally ready to climb out – after almost two hours. It was my niece’s birthday today; we had a modest celebration.

We drove out to Cape Rachado (name given by the Portuguese. It means ‘Broken Cape’) or Tanjung Tuan in the evening and hiked up to the lighthouse. This hilly cape is a gazetted forest reserve and wildlife sanctuary with several beaches and a historical lighthouse at its summit. It is administrated by the state of Malacca for some reason and is also a favourite bird watching site, especially during the migratory season when the birds flew from one hemisphere to the other. The biggest naval battle in the Malay Archipelago between two naval superpowers at the time (Dutch and Portuguese) took place off the cape in 1606. We left after 45 minutes and went to Sri Purnama beach for some refreshment before going to Darul Hilal (one of the spots for moon-sighting) and returned at 7.30 pm.

After two days of glorious sunshine, we woke to an overcast Saturday. It was bleak and rain didn’t wait long to fall. It rained hard and lasted for hours. It finally petered out after 3 pm and we went for a drive (sans the kids) to Pengkalan Kempas historical complex. Here is one of the oldest Islamic graves (a 15th century tomb) in Malaysia, that of Sheikh Ahmad Majnun, a leading historical personality who was slain during a battle with Sultan Mansor Shah’s army. Next to his grave are the famous stone inscriptions which depcit his struggle and victory. We then went to check out the nearby jetty before stopping at a fishermen’s area. Unfortunately, because of the earlier rain, it was slippery and dad fell down. We returned back to the resort shortly after.

We checked out mid-morning on Sunday. Until the next visit then.

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It was the North London Derby on Saturday. Good thing the resort subscribed to some Astro channels including ESPN. I was not amused when Adebuywhore scored first for the scums but the idiot then managed to get himself sent off. We were labouring until then so this was very welcome (plus he very much deserved it). And we were awarded our first goal from an unlikely source, the BFG himself, straining his neck muscles to open his account for The Arsenal from a Theo cross. Poldi slipped one in (deflecting off Gallas, hahaha) and my gorgeous scored despite being marked and despite having fallen from a Cazorla pass who heroically lifted himself up and ran before crossing it in the box.

Cazorla himself became a scorer in the second half thanks to a Poldi cross and made it look oh so simple and stylish. Then the ape-man pulled one back. I could sense the nervousness at the stadium (after all, we did let a two-goal lead slip in our two preceding matches) and we were a bit quiet at this stage too but we overcame that nervousness and awkwardness soon disappeared. Ox came on for Giroud and at the death, he unselfishly put a cross to Theo to tap home. And the result was exactly like the one in February, nine months prior. AR5EN2L / 5PUR2 hahaha!!!

Schalke And Ciisss

After a disappointing weekend where the Gunners put a woeful, weak and pathetic display, we travelled to Germany to meet Schalke 04 (who beat us 2-0 at the Emirates - grrr). I didn’t wake up to watch – blame that on the end of BST.

Theo started and buried a goal as a Giroud attempt rebounded then the HFB himself headed in a beauty from a Poldi’s inch-perfect pass. Theo then failed to secure victory when his shot was saved.

Our Champions League hopes are not over, not by a long Schalke (chalk).



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In other news, Barack Obama has been re-elected as the President of the US.