Cursive - From The Hips

I'm at my best when I'm at my worst
I'm at my worst when it's not rehearsed
I don't wanna know the damn words
I don't wanna have to spell it out
Don't wanna mumble what i'm trying to say
I wanna scream it from my foaming mouth
Shoot out the lights and ride away

I'm at my worst when I'm at my best
I'm at my best when I'm trying to look
And think and talk and sing and read and write
Like all the rest
We're all just trying to play our rolls
In a play that runs ad nauseam
I hate this damn enlightenment
We were better off as animals, right?

We're at our best when it's from our hips
From our hips we don't give a shit
It just feels good and that's no sin
It's the only way to feel alive
The closest thing to being born again
And when baby comes it's job well done
Roll in the hay, oh roll around the sun

We're at our worst when it's from our lips
From our lips we caused a rift,
And the world has fallen in
From babble to ball room brawls
Our words have formed a death sentence
And I wish that we had never talked
Our hips said it all

And I wish that we had never talked
Our hips said it all

Shocked

What happened caught me off-guard. This is totally unexpected.

My mother suffered stroke attack on 4/3/2010 and was admitted to the ICU on the same day. Alhamdulillah, today she has been discharged from ICU into the normal ward. Her right part of the body is still weak and semi-paralyzed though.

I'm praying she will have a speedy recovery. Get well soon Mother, I love you.

My heart

Working permanent night shift and lack of exercise, I must admit I'm a bit worried with my health. Hopefully, both of it will not last that long. Below is an article from Shine on 5 scary times for your heart. Later guys!

5 scary times for your heart

1. First thing in the morning

The risk of heart attack increases 40% in the morning, Harvard researchers estimate.

As you awaken, your body secretes adrenaline and other stress hormones, increasing blood pressure and a demand for oxygen. Your blood is also thicker and harder to pump because you’re partially dehydrated. All this taxes the heart.

Protect yourself: Build some time into your schedule so you can hit the snooze button and wake up slowly. If you’re a morning exerciser, warm up thoroughly so as not to additionally stress the heart. And if you’re on a beta-blocker, take it before bed so the medication is at full strength in the am.

2. On Monday mornings especially

Science shows there’s good reason to dread the first day of the work week.

Twenty percent more heart attacks occur on this day, probably because people are stressed and depressed about returning to work.

Protect yourself: Relax on Sunday, but try not to sleep in. Getting up early on Monday after sleeping late Saturday and Sunday can raise blood pressure even more because your body is fatigued and its natural rhythms are out of whack. Try to maintain a regular sleep/wake schedule all week.

3. After an indulgent meal

A five-course, calories-be-damned dinner can have an immediate impact on your heart health. Studies show that high-fat, high-carb meals constrict blood vessels, making blood more prone to clotting.

Protect yourself: If you must indulge, keep your portion sizes reasonable. A daily aspirin will also help prevent blood “stickiness.”

4. During unusually vigorous exercise

Having a heart attack while shoveling snow is a classic example of this.

The heart attack occurs because the victim isn’t accustomed to that kind of effort and stress hormones skyrocket, causing blood pressure and heart rate to jump.

Protect yourself: Regular exercise protects your heart. But increase your intensity level gradually.

5. At the podium

From the heart’s perspective, public speaking can be similar to unaccustomed exercise.

Extreme nervousness raises blood pressure, heart rate, and adrenaline levels, all of which can make the presentation itself a secondary worry.

Protect yourself: To counter these effects, some of my patients take a beta-blocker before speaking, flying, or doing anything that makes them overly anxious.

source : http://shine.yahoo.com/event/hearthealth/5-scary-times-for-your-heart-652424/

Fall into place

Pheww,

Finally, things have start falling into places. My life is now becoming more manageable. A bit of update:

1) My promotion has been confirmed. I've started working in my new role for around 1 month now. The catch is that it's a permanent night shift role. To write on this, I need a whole new post, but in short, so far it's OK.

2) My maid has finally arrived. She has been working for around 3 weeks now. So far so good.

Well, I guess item no.2 above kind of free me to sort all bunch of other things out.

The song from Radiohead below pretty much sums it up. Till then, later.

Stress?

Past two weeks has been quite stressful for me. My maid still have not arrive yet. Which mean I need to take leave to babysit my daughter. The most tiring is when I need to take care of my daughter in the morning and then continue to work on my night shift. Mind you my shift is for 12 hours.

My wife? She's in government service. With all the bureaucracy, it's pretty hard for her to take leave. Hopefully the maid will and know how to do a good job. If not, more stress.

Talking about government service, I've been dealing with two government agencies these past two-weeks. Below is my feedback:

KWSP Taman Shamelin Perkasa:

1. I went there to withdraw my EPF Account 2. The first time I went there, I've got all the documents needed except that I need to photocopy my Sales and Purchase agreement (SPA) and the bank loan letter offer (LO). So I'm unable to withdraw.

2. I went back to EPF. This time with the copy of the SPA and LO. I've got all the documents needed except the original copy of the SPA and the LO. Arghhhhhh! So, I'm unable to withdraw.


3. So, I need to go there again (not yet).

4. The EPF customer representative at the counter was fast and courteous. Besides, it was also due to some negligence from my part. So, I've got no big problem with EPF.


Immigration Department:

This is to get the Temporary Employment Visiting Pass for my maid. My feedback:

1. First, I went to Immigration Department in Damansara. Conclusion = it SUCK BIG TIME and a TOTAL SHIT. Do not go there unless you want to waste your time with a REALLY LOUSY SERVICE.

2. You will have difficulty to find parking space and need to brave a terrible traffic jam. Actually, I've no problem with the parking and the traffic as the Immigration Dept have no control on it but they do have control on their employees. Let me emphasize, Foreign Worker Division Malaysian Immigration Department have a LOUSY SERVICE, SUCK BIG TIME and a TOTAL SHIT.

3. I don't want/need to elaborate which part of the service is lousy as they SUCK BIG TIME and a TOTAL SHIT! I just don't want/need to waste my time on them anymore.

4. FRUSTATED with Immigration Department in Damansara, I decided that they're a hopeless bunch of people. Yes if any of you read this, you are HOPELESS. I went to Immigration Department in Putrajaya instead.

5. Conclusion, Immigration Department in Putrajaya = EXCELLENT.


Writing about the Immigration Department triggered my stress back. I better do something else.

New Year's resolution

It sounds so cliche. Whenever new year is coming (in this case, it has already came), you will hear a lot on New Year's resolution. Well, I beg to differ. At least for me, this is my first time making a new year's resolution.

In my company where I'm working, come new year, we'll set a new bunch of objectives to meet for the rest of the year and we'll then review it every quarter throughout the year. In this case, for my personal objectives, I will only review it at the end of the year.

Objectives:

1. Obtain at least one professional cert. My target is CCNP. I need to pass four exam papers to be able to obtain it. Looks like I need to pass at least one paper quaterly.

2. Invest in another property. This will be a bit hard since I will also employ a maid which mean higher monthly expenses. But we will see if this is achievable during my performance review at the end of the year.

3. Memorize Surah As-Sajdah from the Holy Qur'an together with its meaning. I hope that in the midst of the strive to achieve better quality of life in this world, I will not forget why I'm here in the first place.

That's all the objectives that I've set for 2010. We'll review it in December 2010 or January 2011. Till then. Ciao.