Dry

I hate coughing more than a blocked nose. I can still sleep with a blocked nose. Just cover my nose with a blanket and let the warmed air relaxed and clear my passage way. However, with coughing, you end up waking up with a cough or trying to sleep with a cough. Its such a terrible feeling. The worst kind of cough is the dry cough. You just keep coughing your lungs out and you can't stop. Nothing comes out, which means its practically no use. Coughing with phlegm is just the body own way to remove the excess infected phlegm out of your system. So dry cough is nuisance to my own sanity. I feel like biting everyone heads off.

Cough syrup taste terrible. That so called mixed fruit flavour is very nasty to me. I got who loves the taste of cough syrup. Ergh.... A friend of mind recommended me to a home remedy which consist of half of calamanzi lime and a table spoon of pure honey. They taste great! The tartness of the lime is soften by the smooth sweet honey and that gooey honey texture and smell gets cut by the lime. Its means both ingredient work incredibly well with each other. There have been many researches done of the effectiveness of lime and honey, together or separately against many types of bacteria. Since I am having a sore throat as well, the honey and calamanzi lime combination should aid in healing the throat.

At least I don't have to get my tonsils remove like my sister did. Her tonsils were disgusting before, filled with holes and tears, because it was so badly infected. After she got them taken out, she never fall as sick as she did before. Hopefully my tonsils are just irritated for a while.....

Not There Yet

Have you ever experienced a time when you are about to fall sick, but you managed to defer it for sometime. That is exactly what I feel is happening now. I feel like I am about to get a cold, but I took an antihistamine and Panadol. Sure enough, the cold and fever never appeared. However, my throat felt a bit coarse and it did not help that I decided to go karaoke and sang "Lagu Untuk Mu" by Meet Uncle Hussein, which consist entirely of falsetto when sang with my voice. In addition, I did not get enough sleep because I decided a weekday is the perfect day to stay up late. I still took the antihistamine, the panadol and some vitamins to curb the cold. My throat is killing me, so I end up takig honey and calamanzi lime to sooth my throat. I threw in a few sugarfree Fisherman's Friend and keep my self hydrated. I even gargle with mouthwash in hoping it would kill the bacteria invading my throat right now.

Supposedly its working, but right now I fee like I am about to get sick, but I am not, which kinda suck. I mean no point of getting an MC, apparently I still look healthy to the doctor that was assign to me, I had beg for an MC. Its makes me irritated to even ask one.

I hate drinking lots of water before sleeping because I would end up waking up to the pain of wanting to go the bathroom. Its definitely a dream breaker. Hopefully this whole sickness thing will go away

On the positive note, my nose is not stuffy. YAY!!

Cough

Gosh, the only thing not well about me, is this persistence cough, which is something everybody is having now days. I am in my forth trip to the clinic in two weeks to get another bottle of this non narcotic cough syrup. It does work, it stop you from coughing so much for a few hours. The doctor also gave these herbal candies to soothes the throat. I find the candy interesting because it comes in a variety of flavours. I've gotten Pineapple, Raspberry, Strawberry, Grape, Lemon and now Orange. Its a Skittles of herbal candies. Sometimes I had to take so much candy to wet my throat during times I don't have access to drinking water, my teeth hurts. Sugarless candy is a much better deal now for these times. Keep up your health people, don't wanna fall sick again.

When Things Gone From Bad to Awfully Worse

I am tired, I wanted to write so many things that happened instead I just try to keep it simple. This is a scene if my father was not in the picture.

Sister: eh my car got into accident
me: how? where? who?
sister: a man driving a Kelisa hit me from behind, near BP velodrom
me: so how? is he paying or going to report to police?
sister: i asked to pay me, he said he wants to pay only 150
me: okay lah, gi report police then
sister: come lah, accompany me
me: sure okay, i want mcD
sister: ye lah

then drive to the police report, lodge a report, give insurance details, take picture of the car, write a report, then have mcD drive through. a few days later insurance come, tgk kereta, then claim.


however.. my father was in the car when she called me, and he overheard what happened, and he willingly without anyone forcing him, to go to the scene of the crime to "save" my sister, and hell breaks loose. The situation became so long, that I don't think I could put a dialogue in. Here is a summary of what happens

Father comes, inspects the car, demands money to repair, Kelisa guy (KG) said he has no money, wants to report, father argues and argue with KG, i kept quiet and avoid eye contact with KG, father gets furious, KG looked pissed, father yells at us to take KG details, KG is so pissed off that he just wants to talk at the police station, we tried to follow KG, but father told us to go home right away. Father kept yelling and screaming in the car and almost hit my mother. Sister was yelling and screaming in the car, but I was driving. Father kept yelling and screaming more since the TnG card was in my possession since I went and reload it since it was low on credit. Sister cooled down after I kept quite and calm, while offering her a cool can of Coke Light. I had to find out where the police station, where they will report the accident. I Google Map, I called and called again till I ran out of credit. KG did not report the accident yet, probably went home to send his child that was in the car during time of accident. Now at 12pm the next day, I have to meet my sister at KLCC to go to make a police report during lunch at Tun HS Lee road.

So yes, this gone from bad to awfully worse, thanks to participation of my father. Btw I haven't written down, things that happened BEFORE this accident. He freak out because his coffee came late and that he got mad that I won't go to the counter and DEMAND a cup of coffee now, instead I ordered and waited for my turn.

Oily Skin

Oily skin, is when you face is shiny, greasy, with large pores and can accompany with pimples, blackheads and whiteheads. I know this problem very well, my skin is very oily, sometimes its so oily I could have shiny skin in an air condition room. Its not visually attractive to have a shiny face when taking a picture. So why does it happen?

• Over active

Oily skin is caused by over active sebaceous glands. This glands produces sebum, a natural lubricant for the skin. This keeps the top layer of the skin, soft and supple. People with dry skin are lacking with this substance. However too much of a good thing can be bad. Too much of the sebum causes the skin to be shiny and greasy.

• Causes

It could be a family trait, if your relatives have greasy skin, you could too. Food can be a factor, especially the greasy, over processed food. External factors such as humidity or heat can cause skin to produce excess oil. The human body is all about balance, if your skin is over dried to due harsh skin care products, your skin will produce excess oil to compensate to dryness of the skin.

• Treatment

The way to treat oily skin is not by scrubbing the oil away or using harsh soaps to dry the skin, but is to treat it gently and making sure there is balance of oil on the skin. You can use cleanser made for oily skin. A general guide on cleanser suitable for oily skin is that, it could be in a gel form, it has clay ingredients to absorb oil, or its not oily. These cleanser with leave your skin feeling very matte and fresh. Then afterward you need a bit of moisturizer to balance the skin oil. An alcohol free toner is actually a very good moisturizer for oily skin, and it will help the skin to be less oily, since the skin is already moisturized the skin will not produce excess sebum anymore. Another route to go is to you a gentle cleanser that cleans the skin gently, but this is not enough to get rid all of the oil, so a toner with alcohol in it can really help clearing up the oil. Our main mission is to create balance in the skin, to reduce the oil at a certain level to reduce greasiness but at the same time leaving a bit on so that it will stay moisturized without being greasy. Another product that is very good for oily skin is benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide is great since is absorb excess oil from the skin while being the best product to treat mild to moderate acne. There are many studies that has shown the effectiveness of benzoyl peroxide to treat oily and acne prone skin. If you do find it over drying or causes your skin to peel, find a product with 2.5% benzoyl peroxide concentration, this low concentration is mild enough for most skin, unless you are allergic to it.

• Conclusion

Your skin will always be oily no matter what you do, you can't really help it, however with the right care, your skin will be dewy and moisturized without being greasy. If it does get greasy during the day, all you need is just tissue paper to blot the oil away or just wash your face with plain water. One bonus thing of having oily skin, is that it does not get wrinkled easily or photo ages, so you don't need all that expensive creams to reduce wrinkles, your skin produces enough of it, to keep your skin soft and supple.

Swollen

You know, whenever the air is really cold and dry, especially if I turn on the airconditioner, my throat will get really dry. This is because I sleep with my mouth open. It get worse if I have a cold and nose gets blocked. The sinus drip from my nose will cause my nose to be swollen even more. One time, my throat got so dried, the uvula (anak tekak) got so swollen, it touches my tongue and makes it hard to breath. Those breath right strips are damn expensive, and I am not sure if they work or not. I guess I need to sleep with someone in order to find that out >:). Perhaps another car trip where I fell asleep with my mouth open :p. This is why I prefer to sleep on my stomach or on my side, so that my mouth won't open as much.

Sense of Smell

I was feeling extra disgusting today. Okay I have been feeling extra disgusting all week long. Things just don't smell nice anymore. After that horrible series of incidents where I had to be exposed to decaying carcases and had to endure the smell of it for weeks. I felt like I was so used to smell decaying animals, I just numb my sense of smell. Sure I spray perfume each morning, but that is for other people so they won't think I stink. Today however was a bit stressful. I had no problem helping a friend out from a hospital and waiting for him since I have my notes handy (recombinant protein here I come). Somehow during that waiting period, something smells bad. The worse thing about it, that it came from me. Suddenly my shirt smells bad, I could smell my how bad my shoes,feet and socks smells. Then the smell of my car suddenly came into my nose, the smell of carcasses was still there. Then I suddenly remember the smell of my room and how the towel really stinks up the room. Arghh! Help. When I got home is to find my air freshener that I chucked into a corner somewhere. I sprayed not once, but twice all over my room. I need my room back.

I stripped off my clothes and make sure they are washed (putting it near the washing machine for my mother) and went straight to the shower. I make sure I brushed my teeth well to remove all that nasty plaque. I took a long hot shower using generous amount of germ killing Dettol shower gel, shampoo using the new range of Herbal Essence Shampoo, which smells heavenly (they now brought back the anti dandruff range) and use this vanilla smelling conditioner. After that, I went back to my room, literally smother myself with a perfumed lotion and then proceeded to dust my feet with some medicated talc to absorb every other smell. I finally felt clean, I felt like I washed off every problem off. I need to go back to the pool. It works almost the same way, to be in the water and swim, even though my form sucked.

Cry Me A River

I try so hard, but fall so far in the end it does not even matter. Can't live, can't live without you. Why isn't there some one try to find me. Here I am once again, I am falling into pieces. Its too late to apologize. How do I, get through this night with you. My heart will go on. It too little too late. I am tired of crying all night long till my eyes are swollen and read. You both made this happened. Both of you...........

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Aspirin and Shrimp

Hahaha, no lah, it will be crazy for me to cry for someone till my eyes get swollen like that. That is my friends, is an allergic reaction. There were two things that I ate today that were allergic prone. First it was the fried shrimp that I had for lunch. Second, I took two tablets of aspirin to relieve my headache. The result was, headache was gone, but my eyes were swollen. The picture of myself in the green shirt was at the onset of the symptom, while the picture of myself in a red shirt was the outcome after 1 hour. The swelling got worst, I can still see even though the swollen have made my eyes looked very squint. A jab of injection at the doctor and some more anti histamine should reduce the swelling. However, this resulted in me being very lethargic. I wanted to do some work, but I can't drive to UPM for the fear of being slotted under the lorry. I have a presentation on Tuesday, thank god I written my skeleton on the whiteboard. I was supposed to erased it, because I thought I would return tonight. I am struggling just to keep awake now. Tomorrow I have Ps2 marathon with a dear friend. I must finish my slides tomorrow..

Hot Stuff 2

Its a Sunday and I am still not feeling well yet, my meds are finished and yet I still have a runny nose and fever. 4 days man.. this is the longest fever I got that I could remember. One of the many challenges of Ramadan.

Sleeping is good during ramadan as long as you still remember to pray :D. I was tired, really tired, mentally, emotionally and physically tired. Fasting has really exposed all of my weakness that I used to cover up with eating and recently exercising. Since I can't really do both during the daytime I am switching to other religious activity to make up for it. People say don't think about it too much, let it go with the flow or just do it, sadly I am trying hard to follow it. Its facing the problem head on, am I ready or prepared to face it?. I hate to say I don't know but I really don't.

*I still miss someone I know very dearly, we are so near yet so far. Maybe its my fault, maybe its not. What ever happens, already happens, I just wish I could turn back time and return to that happy time and place.

Hot Stuff

yup hot stuff.. got i heck of a fever from a flu that i got from my family. my head is spinning, my body is aching, gosh,, this sucks. I guess because I told my mum who had this virus before me "its only a fever ma" tsk2 prayers just got granted so quickly in this holy month. My mother told me the sky is open all night for us to pray anything from god... Many things I want to pray for, definitely a ramadan worth remembering for.

Sick of This

I was not feeling too well the since last Thursday. My body ached and I had a mild fever. I mean thought I could just braced it through, but I could not take it anymore. So I went to the UPM clinic for treatment. Its free which makes it an obvious choice for me :D.

As I was waiting for my turn I saw this creepy poster of a smokers body. Apparently it was born with both female and male reproductive organs since it can developed ovarian cancer and testicular cancer :-p.

The whole cycle from registration to picking up the medicine took about 15 minutes. One thing that is intriguing to me is that, I kept getting foreigners as my doctor. Last time I came here I got a middle eastern doctor, now I met a Indonesian doctor. Both of them were very nice to me, so no problems there :D.

My face looked liked it was wrapped in plastic wrap right.. Hehe its just one of those peeling of mask that I decided to wear tonight. Also I still had the series of upset stomach so I was just holding my stomach in. I was just too tired after running to the toilet too many times :p. Anyways, I really need to take a deep breath and figure out what is happening around me. There so many things I ignored and left in denial. The issues I had was supposed to be resolved already, but somehow residual problem still linger in me. I decided to tackle each problem head on (well almost all of it). Its going to be more painful, but at least it teaches me to face the problem and figure out a quick solution to it.

Sick again

NOOO!!!!!

Again.. I thought I felt something bad is coming up, when I started coughing again. and it came through in the form of a very stuffy nose and infective mucus. Sigh... I guess my dad who just got back from Sudan also contributed to this latest sickness. That old timer smokes like two a packs a day. The house reeks of cigarette smoke. I want out of the house, I want fresh air......
Even after a clogged nicotine filled artery, damn old fool still smokes. The house smells like an ashtray..

Sure I could just say to him to stop smoking and all the ill health benefits, but that is like asking for an early grave. Whether I am 5, 25, or 55 he will always be right and his children will always be wrong..l

Bummer...

The cat video cheered me up just a little. I still went to bed feeling like crap and woke up feeling like shit. Although smelling very nice with the perfume my sister bought me at her small french boutique. I hate people who break their promises, maybe its life's way to teach me how my professors feel when I did not deliver the literature review and the genomic DNA profile after they asked me repeatedly. Maybe its stings a little bit more, coming from someone you care you much. I think its my fault because I took their words to seriously, its like each word that comes out of that person's mouth is a promise for me......

HOW NAIVE!!!!!!!!

I just make like the easiest target to get played with you know, so easy to trust people, so eager to like people, that I have forgotten about my self. Its true I do not have much experienced with people and relationships. I mean before only people I met in school I would considered as friends, but after school is over or there is a break, automatically they disappear. At 25 only, I could meet people outside my working or comfort zone. Only now I get to learn to read people. My sister was stabbed in the back so many times at school by her so called female friends, she has like this ultra sensitive bitch sense. She will take like 2 hours to just observed my female companion and she will conclude "I don't like her, she is a bitch". Which is true by the way, because that particular companion was a total bitch to my classmate.

Oh crap... do I have to learn the hard way... getting lied, cheated, hurt... again and again... is there any thing in a bottle I could take to learn faster about this. I could finish my PhD and still don't have a clue in reading people....

Wait.. now that makes a good thesis.. a research on making a drug that allows us to be more alert and determined other people's behaviour.....

Hmmmmmmmm.....

Budlee the red nosed scientist

Yah its been a while in my standard that I have updated my blog but so many things happened along with sheer laziness has caused it to be delayed, even though there is so much to write about. Anyways it was a stressfull week for me. I had a major riff with my prof who is also my supervisor for my thesis. The rift was so severe in addition with an assignment that suddenly was given a dateline along with a relatively mild cold has lead to a severe flu like symptom. So I skipped lab on Wendesday and slept half the day. People who met me noticed that when I breath I will make these whistling noises. Asthmatic people are usually those that noticed this condition with this because its one of the asthmatic symptom, which is the sound of blocked breathing. What happened is I had a cold more than a month ago, what I do usually is take some anti histamines, double up on my multivitamins and blow my nose until it gets dried and red. This is because the virus that causes most cold likes to stay in the nose. So that is why we will get green mucus and other stuff coming out from out noses because that is the body reaction to the foreign substance. A fever is also the body natural ways to kill the virus because the virus cannot live above normal body temperature. My main mistakes was that I did not blow my nose hard or frequent enough to remove all of that nasty infected mucus. I just let my stuff nose become a stuffy nose and let it stayed that way for more than a month. Now I plan to get rid of it, so you will see me with lots of tissue in my pocket, a red sore nose and vaseline. Vaseline??? that is for my nose to moisturized it because it felt dried and irritated from all that nose blowing.

Boy that a mouthfull, I hope I get most of the facts right because two doctors are actually reading my blog (gulp...this feels more like an essay in my clinical microbiology class during my degree.