Sunday, 8 July 2012

Vitacost this time

Today Mon 9 July (blogspot date is wrong, going by US time).

Damn parcel held at customs warehouse. Previous time was fine. Don't know why this time stuck at customs. UPS website says customs requires more documentation. More documentation? Didn't Vitacost list all the items there?

Called UPS just now 10.30 a.m.. Lady said UPS (or customs) didn't have my number to call. But my number is always on the shipping label. Nevertheless, gave her both hp and house number. She said customs side will call within business hours today.

I said it's just some shower gels and toothpaste. Almost wanted to say they can open it up if they want (but didn't say).

I need those shower gels. Damn. Was hoping to get them today. On Sat, it was already in SG but no update at UPS website, so thought delivery guy didn't deliver on Sat (which was what lady told me for the previous parcel when I called). This morning checked, it's "Held at Warehouse". Customs.

Besides shower gels and toothpaste (just 1 tube), there is just a dried Mulberries packet, facial mask tube and 1 small bottle of Lavender essential oil. That's all. Don't know why it's unable to pass. Lack of documentation is just weird. Did Vitacost mess up?

Update:  Parcel has been released by clearing agency at 10.32 a.m., directly after my call to UPS. No phone call received on my end. Either customs opened the package or the UPS lady told them what's inside (shower gels and toothpaste).  Now in transit to delivery. But delivery update says by tomorrow (delayed by 1 day, supposed to receive today).

Update 2: No delay at all. Received today.  Worth paying extra for. UPS.

Hakuoki Season 1 and Season 2

9 July (Mon) early morning after midnight.

This anime is unstoppable. I haven't been able to stop watching episode after episode. I told my bro who noticed I was glued to my desk:  Bloody Japs are damn good at anime. 

Finished Season 1 today, watched in 2 or 3 days. 12 episodes. Started Season 2 this evening (Ep 13 onwards). 

According to anime news network, Season 2 followed 4 months after Season 1 finished airing. Pretty close, meaning, they must have had Season 2 already planned and in progress all the while. 

Season 1's episode 12 followed smoothly into Ep13 (Season 2). Season 2 is even better (10 episodes). 

It is now 25 mins past midnight. I have to stop to sleep. Stopped at episode 18. Continue tomorrow with the rest. Left 4 more episodes till end of Season 2. 

All episodes from the last link (on Ep 5) given in the post here on Hakuouki Reimeiroku, can be watched on animeshippuuden.com

While watching Season 2, I noted my feelings: 

Hakuouki Hekketsu-roku (Season 2)

Cherry blossoms theme scenes in this anime beautiful.

Season 2 Ep 1 (Ep 13) I love the music towards the end. When Hijikata unexpectedly holds up Chizuru's chin, and when she sees him in western clothes for the first time. 


No privacy... (I was thinking luckily Hijikata didn't kiss her):


On western clothes:

After Saito, as though it weren't enough, the camera moves to... I knew who it was going to be...I almost choked on my excitement as the camera starts from his feet... My god. Hijikata.

Saito may be handsome but Hijikata wins. 

Saito-san: 
 

Hijikata-san, as the camera pans up from his feet:

Legs now crossed like a westerner, his hand with his fingers on his katana like that. He doesn't know how crazy it drives the girls (the animators certainly know), all innocent as Chizuru stares wide-eyed.

 
 


Ep 17 Why don't Hijikata launch a rescue.. of Kondou-san? I believe it's possible even without the rest of the guys. What purpose to continue with the army to Aizu? Without Kondou-san.

Ahh... *sighs* Poor Hijikata (seeing him bending to Chizuru's neck, beautiful music playing). A proud man reduced to this...  and having to say he is sorry.

 
 


Hijikata satiated: after Chizuru tells him she will always remain at his side.

Ep 18  http://www.animeshippuuden.com/hakuouki-shinsengumi-kitan-episode-18/

Hijikata was at Tsuruga jo (Tsuruga castle)?  For a moment, I hoped for an explanation of what I felt when I was at the castle when I visited it. Did he perhaps stand where I stood up on that ridge?

But no. He didn't reach it but had to stop at a shophouse. Was to meet up with gang at Aizu. Sano dies. Was to meet up with Shinpachi.

Okita Souji... dies.

What is Hijikata left to protect now? (Chizuru) What is there left for him to live for? (Chizuru). What is he fighting for? (Shinsengumi that he built together with Kondou).

Is it all worth it? Is it all worth...losing their lives for? Losing everything for? Shinsengumi. What is it anyway?

They are fighting for a life to stay. If I were they, I would fight also, because it is the only life and living I know. To live a life no longer of the sword... I do not know how. I dare not. It is as good as death. To die then, to die now. Might as well die now fighting for a life I live for. There is no loss.

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Hakuouki Reimeiroku 薄桜鬼 Ep 1 (Season 3)

http://www.anime44.com/hakuouki-reimeiroku-episode-1

(Update: faster here: http://www.animecrazy.net/hakuouki-reimeiroku-episode-1/)
(Update: It seems the first anime link does not include Saito speaking at the end of Ep 1 of Reimeiroku).

Currently, it is un-subbed (no English subs yet). But I still watched to its end because... I needed to see.

Ahhh... I finally found the name to the face of the handsome man I saw on an artbook cover in 2009 at a Japanese bookstore in Shibuya (I think it was Shibuya).



Hijikata. The man who caught my eye on the top floor of that bookstore (can't recall the name). Samurai in western uniform, long-hair, sad, cool look, standing with his sword drawn among the fall of Sakura petals. Didn't know who he was, didn't know the anime (I guessed must be anime or manga).  Couldn't fully read the Japanese writing on the cover that looked like Chinese. Read the first word as "Bo" which I felt was incorrect, and the last word was "Gui" (ghost). Didn't know what was the middle word in cursive (even if it were not, I still wouldn't know).

(I did guess that it probably has something to do with the Shinsengumi, since the fashion style looked familiar to that time frame. I had watched Peacemaker Kurogane previously. Present time looking up in Wiki shows it's not anime, but a game. From the game, it was adapted into anime and manga.).

Certainly, the Japanese pronunciation would be different. I didn't know what it was, and felt one day, I would know which anime the artbook came from and who was on the front cover.  Maybe I could look it up when I returned to SG, although it is difficult without the Japanese name and just front cover. (In hindsight might be possible using just the 2 Chinese words).

At that time, didn't have much money left for shopping, except enough for maybe just 1 or 2 more items before I have to stop. That was the extent of the allowance I set aside for shopping, which wasn't much and I hadn't bought much. 

This book I had to buy. There were 2 books of different covers I think and I chose the one that I felt was more beautiful.  (Now looking at what I bought, seems I didn't choose the cover that first caught my eye. And it does not seem that it is Hijikata as I just watched in the anime.).

It is still unopened because I love it as it is. Strangely, I don't feel like opening it. To keep it as it is, is to preserve it in its original form, untouched, forever perfect.

I couldn't buy both books with different covers, unless I abandoned the Taki and Tsubasa meant for the past love. In the end, I sacrificed my side in order to bring back the Taki and Tsubasa for someone whom I needn't have sacrificed for. 

2850 yen. Approximately based on today's rate, around SGD 45. I think the rate has been around there since 2009. 1 yen = 15+ SGD.  So, it's still pretty expensive. But if sold at SG, probably above $70. Yet, the airfare has also to be considered in the cost. So, not really saving.

This first pic was taken on the $99 foam mattress on top of my bed that's going to be dismantled tomorrow to make way for the new Franc Franc bed coming tomorrow. I took pics of the whole mess of my bed as well.

The 2nd and 4th pics taken at the kitchen window. The 3rd pic and last pics on the washing machine top that's near the kitchen window. All for the light.

I have not seen this selling in Kinokuniya in SG.



In SG, such artbooks sold by Kinokuniya are expensive. While browsing the bookstore, it occurred that I could get cheaper here at the source (Japan). So, the purpose was set as I started looking around for anime artbooks to see what I might find, perhaps not available in SG.

Found a Taki and Tsubasa calendar book for my past love, considered whether to buy it with the tight budget I had, whether worth sacrificing for the person, decided to sacrifice the amount of money for it, then went upstairs. 

Was in the back of the topmost floor, almost disappointed at not being able to find any artbook, when that man on that front cover stopped me. Didn't know which anime it was, but had to buy it. 

Why is it, I always take a while to find out the identity of the men I love? City Hunter and now him. Starts with just a picture, an illustration, don't know who he is or where he comes from. But I will, in time. 

Some time back, was at Central 2nd floor where an anime theme shop recently opened. From there, I bought a Kuroshitsuji T-shirt. And saw the familiar gang that the handsome man I saw in Japan belongs to. It seems the handsome man is among them, though I couldn't be sure since the artbook illustration was more beautiful.  But the overall artwork seems to be from that anime (that I didn't know about). 

I asked the young woman staff who was attending to me, what anime it was. She said the name, even spelt it out to me when I asked. And yet I couldn't remember after that. So... it passed. 

Then recently, my past love has been sending unhelpful e-mails to me, and a few days back sent this one about a prequel to an anime called Hakuouki Reimeiroku. And something about a movie going to be done. I didn't care for it. But this morning, feeling in the mood, had a closer look at her e-mail.

Somehow wondering if it could be that anime with that man, I pasted the name into Google, and viola.

I read some of what it was about in Wikipedia and thought the story was unique and interesting. Somehow, the Japs always come up with such cool ideas I could never think up [such as the Rasetsu, whatever that means, and the wanting of some royal being wanting to capture a girl instead of another who has the protection of a bodyguard (sexy idea)].  And I saw a few Seiyuus (voice-actors) I know in the cast (that's how I saw Shinichiro Miki as Hijikata and definitely had to see.).

At the end of this first episode, it would seem the man I am looking for (who seems to match the front cover of the artbook I bought)... is not Hijikata... but someone else. This man: Who is he? 


Currently, there is only Ep 1 of this prequel, said to be Season 3. So, I will need to look at Season 1 from the start to know who he is.

While watching Hijikata, I thought Lee Min Ho's face is like Hijikata's, like anime. That's why the Japs like him.

But also, while watching, I felt I still like the Hijikata and Souji in Peacemaker Kurogane anime.The Hijikata there is more manly and sexy, with a fearsomely sexy voice unlike this one voiced by Miki Shinichiro and looks feminine type.

The Souji in Peacemaker is sexier with his fragile-looking willowy figure and girlish voice that incites the possibility of yaoi with Hijikata (more fun). This Souji in Hakuoki makes no impact at all. Just a young punk like the rest with a pale no-impact voice.

Also, of course, in Peacemaker Kurogane, there's the pig Sanzo, that I almost expected to see in this Hakuoki.

Update: Just realized. Hakuouki is 薄桜鬼. The prequel is called Hakuoki Reimeiroku. What's Reimeiroku?

Looked up Season 1. Part 1 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5E_BZLwPFo
Follow up with this full version since the uploader for the above link didn't upload further. http://www.animeshippuuden.com/hakuouki-episode-1/

Strange: In Wiki, it says the anime was first released in 2010. But the bookstore was already selling the artbook when I was in Japan in 2009. So the artbook I have... is based on... ? The game? (disappointed).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haku%C5%8Dki 

Ep 2 (part 2):  Take out your sword leh. She wears pants but she falls like a girl.
http://www.animecrazy.net/hakuouki-shinsengumi-kitan-episode-2/123279

Ep 3: http://www.animeshippuuden.com/hakuouki-shinsengumi-kitan-episode-3/

Ep 5:  http://www.animeshippuuden.com/hakuouki-shinsengumi-kitan-episode-5/
Wahh... Okita is so cool. His stroke so beautifully executed in the rescue of Chizuru in the garden washing sake bottles when approached by the sly Itou.

Later, what Saito says, applies to SG. "A group grows and expands when people with various ideas gather together. But it will fall apart from the inside out if you force diversification.". There is now a rift between Singaporeans.

Saturday, 30 June 2012

Latest Updates

Today is 1 July! Happy July everyone! Glad I lived to now! For a while back then... I was concerned if Aug 13 might just be too far away for me...

1) Waiting for Lee Min Ho's new series coming out in Aug 13. Called "Faith". Looking forward to seeing him in period costume playing a general with his cool face, particularly a shot of him looking very pale and evil.


2) Last night, tried for the first time, CocoIchibanya@ Bugis+ formerly known as Iluma. Don't know why they have to change the name so that now have to put the more lengthy "formerly known as". Iluma was fine. Bugis+ is so nothing. But name doesn't matter if numbers are to go by--last night plenty crowded, thanks to the linkway from Bugis. Mainly queues for food.

3) Just ordered from Vitacost again. Waiting for order to be shipped via UPS. Will need to do a post on this. Been wanting to since the first time, but didn't. This is my 4th order with them.

4) Just got a Franc Franc @ Vivocity bed frame and mattress on Friday 29 June night, just before closing. Cost a nice number of $1895. Krone bed frame = $845. Mattress memory foam spring coil = $1050. Free delivery for next/coming Friday 6th July. So, I wait to see.  Will do a post on this as well.

5) Got my hands on The Third Gate by Lincoln Child. Just issued hot and fresh off the National Library! I'm the first because reserved it even before it reached the shelves!! I learnt of its release by e-mail from the author who said it's out. So, I wondered if our dear library had it and viola, the computer system acknowledged that they had but not yet ready for loan. In the past, reservation wouldn't have been possible until After the book has been released to the shelves. But for a while now, it's been possible to reserve books even before they touch the shelves (as long the system shows the branches and says "in process").

6) Bubbles

Friday, 15 June 2012



*splat on my bro's bed while he gets changed to go out to Sim Lim*

Me *thinking of the handsome guy in Devil Beside You (Taiwan drama), seeing his face in my mind*: Ahh... I need a handsome guy in my life.

Bro: What you need is money. Then you can buy a handsome guy.

Me: Tsk. I don't wanna Buy a handsome guy...  *dammit. I want him to love me*

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Google Organ

Wed 23 May 2012

WHoaaa... this is fun!! Woke this morning to find this.
Depending on your connection, you can hear the whole song well.
Otherwise, some notes will sound missing.
No idea how long the link below will last online.

http://g.co/doodle/3uubxu

It's a recording of the song I played on the Google organ.
First prize to whoever can guess the name of the song and singer of what I just played!!

Actually, no idea what this Google organ called since I didn't check up on Robery Moog's 78th birthday, but it looks like a precursor of the organ with knobs and everything.

All the knobs of the Google organ can be turned and the switches can be flipped! Cool stuff!!
Google is so rich to be able to do this on a global internet scale.

To record, press the red round button on the recording machine. It has only a few seconds of recording time, so keep your tune short.

Wait a second, then start playing your tune. When done, press the stop button on the recording machine. If your tune is too long, recording will automatically cut off.

To play back, just press the play button on the recording machine.

Place your mouse on the paperclip icon, Ctrl C the link and there you have it! Paste the link you have in your browser, enter it and it'll show back the Google page with the organ starting to play the tune you just recorded!

This really depends on the internet connection. If the notes sound bad because of the connection, try refreshing the page.

To record again, refresh the page, though this will erase all the settings of the organ you set earlier.



Sunday, 13 May 2012

Friend Wanted

Sun 13 May 2012

At this point, it's been weepy for me. If only I had someone like Jeon Jin Ho (in Personal Taste Korean drama) in my life. A man who is dependable, loving, intelligent, caring... Someone who can be with me in this time when I really feel so alone, and so ... afraid and so sad.

But in my life now, I have no friends. Only acquaintances who have come and left.

It may seem impossible, but I cultivated or invested in no friends throughout my years of existence. I smile at the absurdity while typing this.

Thinking of my past love... I had to think back while typing a post regarding my novel in a forum I just created... adds to the sadness.

And all my life, I have done nothing except be a good citizen and exercise a lot and eat fruits and vegetables. What can go wrong?

When I was 25~26, I made it a point to look at myself carefully and closely in the mirror in my room one day. Remember this skin, the brightness of these eyes, the lips, the face... For all these will deteriorate with age.

Unfortunately, I cannot stop the years from going. Neither can I prevent myself from aging and having health problems later in life. Even while looking at myself in the mirror, I know health problems will be inevitable later.

How does it feel to look at your own perfection in the mirror and know at the same time that all these will not stay? Sadness. Tragedy. Inevitability. Powerless to prevent.

Just as Lee Min-ho (the man who plays Jeon Jin Ho) says, he does not like that he is getting older (and he is just 25) when the cast and crew celebrated his 25th birthday on the City Hunter set.

I am sure that, he, like me, knows the meaning of the passage of time and what it will do. Five years ago, he was involved in a serious accident that left him still injured but still able to work/act. A man who has seen the fragility of his life.

Those who have seen it and/or have seen death, will have a maturity different from everybody else's. At 25, his interviews show him to be a mature guy with a quiet intelligence. His eyes speak of a maturity different from other people his age.

Unfortunately, tears do not change the situation. Crying only makes me feel more alone.

I am still stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea *faint smile*.

I do not know whether/if my condition will worsen. I don't know if this anemia will damage my heart, cause heart attack or cause brain damage/stroke subsequently.

The doctors are unkind, uncaring and useless. They should not have spent years in medical education just to have their hands tied saying "I don't know" or just sending the patient home without any comforting advice just because the patient does not want to undergo the only solution they have (blood transfusion).

Blood transfusion is the only solution they have = pathetic.

Yet they don't see it so. The entire 21st century medical science and medical community are pathetic. They don't see it as so?

Instead of healing, they kill. Instead of helping, they harm. Instead of holistic, natural remedies, they recommend methods and procedures with risks.

Their medications are potent, dangerous. They treat patients as playthings for their drugs.

After all their years of study, "doctors"  are impatient, not updated, old-fashioned in their treatments, impersonal, mercenary.

After 4 months, iron supplements have brought my blood count to only 8.6 (normal 11~12). I am having unpredictable, unstable symptoms of the heart that I never had before (even when the blood count was 5.5 and I rejected blood transfusion).

I don't know if my heart can hold up until the blood count rises further. I am afraid it might not.

I don't know why this is happening.  It's ironic since I don't smoke, don't drink and don't generally eat meat. A healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise and optimism for all these years, come to this.

I don't understand.

The fibroid is kept in check and blood count while low, is still higher than 5.5. Even at 5.5, I didn't have this heart problem.

Bro thinks could be it's taken too long to raise it to 8.6 and the heart has been injured/badly strained.

I think it's because of the low blood count and my vigorous exercise even with the low blood count. It strained the heart too much and now it's showing signs.

If I hadn't exercised during this time, and let the blood count rise first, the symptoms now might not have happened. 

This morning, I felt a little breathless. I tried a Feroglobin capsule for the first time and it got worse quickly. The left side of my head down to my jaw tingled with my hands and feet. I felt my heart strain just sitting at the laptop at my desk, till I had to lie down.

Rising to get to the bed, I felt a little dizzy, a lot of tingling and slight nausea. My hands were perspiring.

Lying down, I felt the tingling subside and my heart calming down.  

Am I going to spend the rest of the days lying down??

Went to the clinic downstairs (Healthplus) and the doc was very unhelpful with a disturbing "lording over" attitude. He should not be a doctor.

He insisted I go for blood transfusion as the only way to fix the problems, and wrote a referral to go to A&E. No time sparred for considering my feelings or anything, even becoming upset that I was dawdling with his advice. Cut everything short by telling it to my face in a very "lord it over" way with his lousy-looking face, that there was nothing he could do, no medication he could appropriately give.

When he did that, he immediately made me feel much worse. My heart beat harder, I could feel my tingling sensations coming back. Anxiety.

How can such a person be a doctor? Making the patient feel worse.

Bro is worried the symptoms might get worse the long we delay blood transfusion. He understands my concerns and fears, but he feels blood transfusion might be the way before it gets worse.

I, as the person enduring this, feels fear. I live in fear every day. Not knowing when the symptoms will come back, when it will be worse, when and if one day... I might just...

A while ago, I created a forum. I've been anxious about whether to do it because I'm afraid of people stealing/taking my work.  Copyright concerns.

But with my health like this, I've anxiety about my work not being seen.

I'd like my life's work to be known. In my own name. Copyrighted.

While the forum I created will likely not have visitors since it will most likely not turn up in search engines... it is still online. Anyone with fate, may drop by. It is no longer just in my laptop, e-mail or handwritten/typed papers in my file folder where nobody knows.

If life ends here, at least... I have done this much.

I've chosen to place my work in a forum is because it is better than just in a blogspot (although I'm also considering placing it in a blogspot).

I've a forum that's been around since 2004. With this history, it's quite certain the forum I just created will be safe. This is considering if/when I am not around.

Blogspot is run by Google which is unpredictable and mercenary. They might shut down anything anytime, even though blogs/sites can remain in cyberspace "forever".

A forum format enables me to partition my work according to how I like. Also, other people can contribute as well, should they wish to.

Putting my work online, I hope they will remain "forever". Known instead of unknown. I do not want to have lived in vain, showing nothing of what I was/am, what I wrote, what I believed in.

Star Trek The Next Generation:  Time's Arrow Season 6 Ep 1 Part 2

Picard: I wish... I wish time would have allowed me to know you better.
Twain: Well, you'll just have to read my books. What I am is pretty much there.

Bro has been asking to go to Swensen's for the past 3 days, and I haven't been able to go with him. Our dinners have been white rice, canned Campbell soup and green boiled vegetables.

I wish I had someone like Jeon Jin Ho with me. Depending on my bro is not enough. He has his moods/attitudes. It can be difficult. It is also straining and stressful on him because of his inability to handle it, apart from his own problems. He does not do well in emergencies and stressful situations.

Worse of all, he can't cook. Which means, I don't get to eat any nutritious food. I'm unable to cook if I can't. And we are unable to go out to eat if I can't.

At the moment, bro has cough. And he has to go for RT training on Wed evening. I hope all will be fine while he is away. He will be having 8 sessions of those. By the time he gets home, it'll be after 9 p.m.. All because they changed the normal IPPT window to 9 months without properly informing him (no letter, no brochure).

I told my bro today that I need a fortuneteller, not a doctor.

Monday, 7 May 2012

May 8 2012 Happy Birthday to me

Was surprised this morning when checking e-mail. The past love sent me an e-card. Was unexpected since...

Well, we've been e-mailing sometimes, on and off recently. More often than not, I don't reply because her e-mails never seem to be talking to me, but rather to herself.

In the past, every year, we would send e-cards to each other for birthdays etc...

I think I started the first one with virtual gifts via e-card etc...

Was a nice surprise this morning because I hadn't been thinking she would remember. Since I gave up, I began to see everything clearly and had not been thinking well of her. I have no idea what she thinks of me, neither do I really care.

Her world comprises of escapism in computer games, yaoi men having crude sex... I don't know what else. Mine these days, comprise of health, heart problems, anemia, fibroid... when all I want to do is jog, swim, skip like I used to.

Right now, my heart is beating strangely, I feel strangely, my head feels a little giddy. I don't know if it's the anemia.

All this aside, I really like the card she sent. She must have timed it for today morning (or at least 8 May). Perfect timing. Couldn't be better.

I'm surprised by her choice because after all the crudeness she's been showing me for the Sims game she's into now, this card is surprisingly beautiful in its simplicity, beauty and music.

I'm actually always surprised by her choices when it comes to sending e-cards to me. *faint smile in the memory* She always manages to choose the cards that matches me completely, revealing a surprising understanding of what I like or would appreciate. Sensibilities which frankly, I didn't think she has.

Strange.

Despite it all, this birthday card this morning, I like a lot. The music is unique, with a turn reminding of a Japanese instrumental music (Romantic Kyoto) I listened to in the past. An instrumental I loved but can't find again. Cassette tape, on keyboard I think, not sure since it's been song ago. Mom used to play it over and over when I was young.

Over time, the cassette got old, became ruined I think, and was thrown away. It certainly isn't in the tape racks in my room or anywhere else. Doubt it's in the drawers that have been cleared out some time ago.

Despite it all, the past love... somehow still manages to understand me the best, considering the e-cards she sends. That's the only time she shows that understanding, ergo the only time I'm surprised by it.

I would love to keep this card forever with its music, but the website only holds it for 30 days. I can't find a download for the music at the site. Seems they don't have it.

[Update 9 May 12.14 a.m.:  The thought came... that I could ask her to send me another exactly the same when this one expires after 30 days, though... it'd be odd and not the same... and went away.]

It's playing now. I usually let her e-cards play for half a day while at the computer because I like them so much. I don't tire of the music I like for this span of time.

I would prefer to post up the URL for the e-card but it shows her name and mine, her e-mail address and mine.

While I'd like to post up for posterity and my love for it, I can't. So, I post *sighs* only the link where this card can be found and where anyone who has someone to love, can choose it to give. May your loved one/s be happy.

http://www.123greetings.com/birthday/happy_birthday/birthday189.html

At the top of my card, it says: Samantha
On the left, below the card, it says:  Happy Birthday :@)
And further below on the right bottom, it says her first and last name (I suppose we are on formal terms now. After we broke up, I never could bring myself to address her by her pet/nickname that we had for her. I told her my name was Samantha, so it seemed clear I didn't want to be addressed by my pet name either. So, she has used her formal name as well. ).

As I said in my e-mail thanks to her, I love the card.
I like the mountains, meadow, flowers, butterflies, trees and unique music.
It reminds me of (a place in) Japan. (Now I think, most probably Hanami Hill in Fukushima, but actually it gives the feeling of Japan, no specific place. It's very Japanese.).

I could stay here (in this card) forever. :)  (I didn't tell her that, but said I could watch it for a long time).

Saying this, I feel as if I'm saying something that should be private. But these days, I feel I should say what I think.  I don't know how short my time is. Sometimes, it feels short if you know what I mean.

[ Update 9 May 12.04 a.m:  More to the truth, I'm able to say something that I'd usually keep private, because I don't love her anymore. If we were still in love and I loved her very much now, such things as this e-card and what was written in it would be kept only between us. It's enough for me to love and know.  Something as close and private as this between us, will never be revealed. ]

Health is unstable. So I say whatever I feel strongly enough to say.

Political views I avoid expressing because it benefits no one and has only disadvantage to myself and my bro. Expressing the views doesn't change the situation. 

I cannot stay the music for you in this static image, but you can click on the link above to get to the actual e-card.




For my birthday, I have no great wish.
Just good health will do.
*smiles* I don't know if 3 wishes can be made.
1) Good health
2) Finish writing my 2 books by the end of this year
3) Give me Lee Min Ho [as Jeon Jin Ho in Personal Taste (as a friend, lover, boyfriend) ]!!!!!

[Update 9 May 12.06 a.m.: I didn't say "husband" because it's so old-fashioned. But tonight while waiting for the bus @ Meidi-ya, considering if I would marry him for life, as a life partner... I think I wouldn't mind, if he would have me. :) ]

I want what they have:  This love.
I want to be this woman that Jeon Jin Ho loves. Lucky, lucky woman.


Yes, that's the man from City Hunter that I've fallen for. I have acquired a pillow of him in kissing position, that I've kissed his lips a few times already before bed. ^__^

I have a wall scroll of him, magazines (a paper poster from one of them), an absorbent long towel, and 2 black face masks that I had intended to wear with my gothic/punk outfits.

I found the more suitable mask that the seller claims is the same design as what Lee Min Ho wore for City Hunter, is quite difficult and warm to breathe through.

All merchandise I acquired from Taiwan. 

Right now, Lee Min Ho should be filming his new and latest drama "Faith" that's supposed to be out this August. Big rush, I think. They only confirmed him this March. From then till August release, is very short time.

They must be filming very fast without rest. (Will a rush job be good? Already City Hunter has too many flaws).

No idea why they always match such a young, handsome Lee Min Ho with women who aren't pretty and older-looking. In Faith teaser/trailer, the woman looks so much older than the young, soft-looking, pretty army (?) captain he plays.

I still re-watch Personal Taste at night even though I've seen it once (parts that have him in). I can't get enough of Lee Min Ho's handsome face and cupid bow-shaped lips and eyes and hair!!!!

One of the episodes from this uploader has no subs at all, so then just drop by another site for just that episode. Can't recall which episode.  The subbers for this drama are very good with good English that brings out the humor and flavor well (The Heavens Subbing Squad)

Episode 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUpzcgk95MI&feature=related

There are still a few more things to talk about, but I will give it a rest for now.

I will be dropping by the clinic downstairs in a few minutes. The first time, it was this doc who discovered my anemia and suggested I had fibroids.

I'm going back to him now to check my blood count to see if it's really up as the A&E recently checked (or whether A&E made a mistake). Also, to see what he has to say about my heart. Bro advised against telling him about the recent A&E, swimming sprain or whatever etc...

So, we'll just present the problem to him and see what he makes of it.
=========

Update @ 5 p.m.

Got back from the clinic. ECG normal. Blood pressure normal. As expected.

At Tan Tock Seng A&E recently (2 weeks ago on 24 April), everything checked out normal but I was still feeling the strangely fast heartbeat.

They take the measurements when I am lying down, so it checks out normal (I just realized). But it beats strange when I'm sitting or standing or walking. It's not normal. I know my own body.

It feels unstable, and I know I can't walk for long or jog up in the hill/park. I definitely don't feel like I can jog. I feel if I go and jog, my heart is really going to go nuts this time.

Just walking to the mall and coming back makes me tired and the next day, my heartbeat feels irregular. That's why I went to check with the clinic just now. But again, checking says it's normal.

When the doc put the stethoscope on my heart and listened for a while as I stood, he looked up brightly and said "Perfect".

So I really don't know what's wrong. At this rate, I can't do any physical exercise. For how long?

Even now, sitting typing this, I feel the heart is not beating normally. "Normal" as in previously, as it used to. I never used to feel it beating like this, or feeling that it's there.

Checking online, it seems to affect a lot of youngish people who report more troubling symptoms than mine. People who seem healthy, don't smoke, no alcohol. Yet they describe rather severe symptoms of heart beating very hard and fast for no reason at all. And oddly their docs say the checks for blood pressure and ECG (EKG) are normal.

I think their machines are not sensitive enough to detect problems within the heart. I don't think it's so much of coincidentally checking when the heart is well-behaved at the time (a case of hide and seek).

Last night, I woke just to go to the toilet, came back to bed and could feel the heart beating so fast it was hammering my right pulse. Took a while before it calmed down to slow, steady beats.

The clinic doc considers that anemia might cause this. But he isn't sure. Blood count is still low at 8.6. 2 weeks ago, A&E measured 8.4.

The clinic took just from a pinprick of blood, whereas A&E took 3/4 vial. I have no idea why the hospitals always take so much just to get a blood count reading.

Even if taking a vial is more accurate than from a pinprick, the readings are still pretty close to consider the 2 methods accurate to each other.

Right now, I feel a little nauseous. Could be the lousy new glasses I'm wearing that don't match well to my eyesight.

Previously after returning from A&E, I felt swimmy without glasses or with my usual light blue glasses. Never happened before.  I blamed it on the heart troubling my brain.

Ahh... *sighs* Even on my birthday, I have to worry about this.

At the clinic just before the counter receptionist/doctor's assistant recorded my ECG, she suddenly asked in Chinese "Today is your birthday?".

Surprised, I smiled, said "yeah".

She wished me "Happy Birthday" in English, and said she wondered what date today was. (What a nice lady).

[ Update 9 May 12.04 a.m.: Strange however, that she would only speak to me in Chinese even though I didn't think she's from China. The doc speaks to her in English since he's Indian and she understands fine.]

Lying with my bra open, I released a slight chuckle along with hers. (It belatedly occurred to me that I should have thanked her. But I thanked her nonetheless on my way out.).

I guess the ECG screen must be displaying my record. True enough, the printout showed my birth date at the left side top.

I said, "Yeah, yet I have to go the clinic.".

She didn't comment but told me she was going to activate the printout.

At A&E, the nurses don't necessarily lift up my bra if they prefer not to or I prefer them not to. They can still sticky the electrodes on the skin under the bra.

At the clinic, she preferred to stick on the breast (near the heart), so it was necessary to open the bra.

[ Update 9 May 12.10 a.m.: I've played the birthday e-card for the song the entire day, till now, on and off when I'm on the laptop. So, it is more than just half a day as mentioned above. Well, it'll only be for 30 days, this card. So love as much of it as possible.

P/S: The clinic doc prescribed a "new" iron supplement that I haven't seen in the pharmacies before. Saferon Chewable tablets. But there's nothing on it on the internet. Likely because it's made in India. Guess it's unheard of and unknown in the US where most people post their reviews and comments from.]