The many chapters of 4eVeRRiVeR
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Uploaded Redang picts from my canon A430 to shutterfly but apparently still need to send an email those those who wanna view it.. Damn troublesome..
And another 12hr to go b4 e exam results are released..
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Went to watch V for Vendetta at e new Cathay building (opposite SMU and YMCA) which opened juz 3 days ago. Most of e restaurants and shops aren't opened yet but e cinema was posh! Got a damn good deal when Zhi Xiang parked his car at e Cathay carpark, coz thou e entry fee is $2, we gotta a complimentary large pop corn and large drink! Kaoz.. E package will cost like $5 liaoz ah.. So anyone with cars pls go and park ur car there within this promotion period.. Anywae the movie itself was pretty good.. The sound system is shiok and e leg space is adequate as well. And after e movie, there's this ice age mascot walking ard more.. En e moviehouse thingyee.. Wah.. e seats look damn shiok ah, complete with a lounge too.. Dun mind paying $3 more to try out e moviehouse..
Day1- 24/03/06- After 10hr of freezing cold bus ride, we arrived at e holding area at Terangganu where we put our luggage and wait for e next bus.. The adventure is abt to begin..
Guess wat this is? Nope.. Its not a fish.. Its a single puny wan ton for e whole wan ton noodles we have had for breakfast at Terangganu.. Guess RM $2.50 only giff u tat much..
Survival Redang! We were pretty surprised that there's no jetty for our resort, Redang Bay and tat e ferry stopped in e middle of shallow waters.. Apparently e jetty is only reserved for Laguna Resort ah.. And u can see e tractor as well, which is meant to carry e luggage, but ZX tot it is used to unload homosapiens as well.. Anywae, its an interesting experience..
We haff first checked in for our Redang bay resort room, which is rather spacious with adequate space for 2 queen size beds and 1 mattress but basically nothing much otherwise. But e guys ain't complaining, and it is actually a better place compared to e Sydney backpacker inn ah.. Anywae, we took off to explore e island before lunch and kaoz.. guess who we saw ah.. E 4 gals who had left for Redang a day earlier b4 us, in a separate grp ( yes.. its farniee..), were marching to e sea in their bikinis, e exact reason y they were avoiding e guys. And halfway down e beach, they saw us and immediately turned and ran back up e beach for their clothes.. Hmm... Okie.. Wasn't really sure en we wanted to carry on walking or u-turn heh.. Well.. It sure was a farniee sight..
Our snorkeling equipment.. Used a normal one w/o degree for e first day and I can't see shit ah.. So paid RM $20 more for e special goggles with degree, but even so, e max they haff is 600, while mine is 750.. Still it made a damn big difference and e 2nd day experience is so so so much better than e 1st.. Then u hold a piece of bread in ur fingers and e fishes will start to nibble at ur hands.. And en also saw small translucent jellyfish and also felt e sharp transient plankton-stings all over e body, limbs and face ah.. And also e strange ringing sound once ur head go under e water.. Maybe Ivan can explain all these heh..
At e 4 star Laguna resort with nice toilets and comfortable sofas where me, NIjam and ZX dozed off and almost missed our snorkeling trip e next day afternoon.. Quite an experience..
Met up with e gals again when we went to Laguna resort for dinner and en walked back to our humble abode to crap and taboo..
Haffing fun with taboo! And booze! Played and crapped till 2 plus but en it started raining so e poor gals were entrapped in our simple room while e guys slept.. But its e last nite for e gals so I guess they dun mind staying up late..
Day 2- 25/03/06- A day of snorkeling ah.. One in e morning at 9.30am and another at marine park at 2.30pm.. Basically we saw lots and lots of colourful fishes.. Again was feeding them and trying to trick em into e plastic bags until one of e instructor from another resort saw me and warned me its a RM $20,000 fine for a clown-fish lunch.. Beside, e fishes are pretty agile and not easy to catch after numerous attempts by e guys.. Anywae Dennis T took 2 rolls of film of underwater pictures so ya.. awaiting for those picts to develop heh.. Didn't get to see any leatherback turtles or murray eels sadly thou..
Redang bay- e resort with e sea horse.. It is 2 stars compared to e 4 stars- laguna resort, S$90 cheaper but w/o tv, fridge, dressing table, or nice toilet bowls. The swimming pool is 1/3 e size tat of Laguna's also. But not to worry, coz apart from sleeping or tabooing, we are always somewhere away from our bunk, such as in Laguna's luxurious toilets for big business or inside Laguna's swimming pool.. =)
E 2 Dennis.. E instructors finally gave us some useful information and told us we could see baby sharks at e beach near to Summer Point and so we tried our luck and bingo! We saw abt 4-5 baby sharks and me and Dennis S were trying to chase after e sharks.. Kaoz.. They were damn fast ah and considered e fastest liaoz among e other coral fishes..
We have had our 2nd day dinner at Summer Point, a splendid seafood joint along e beach with a relaxing atmosphere and ever-lasting sea breeze.. Simply shiok! There's even fireworks from e beach ah.. Spectacular.. After dinner we walked ard trying to search for e blue sands butta w/o luck.. Saw e Terence guy, e game host for Laguna Resort evening entertainment getting himself exasperated with this Italian guy whom challenged him in lotz of ways.. Pretty interesting heh.. And en we went back to our bunk and finished e other green side of e taboo and more booze..
Monday, March 27, 2006
Day 3- 26/03/06- Me and Dennis slept till 10.10am, 20 min b4 checking-out time. And retrospectively, we haff finished 1.5 bottle of vodka on e first nite, e remaining 0.5 bottle of K.V. and 1 bottle of Joker Whisky straight from e bottle on e 2nd nite. Enuff alcohol to keep ur body warm thru-out e nite even with our freezing air-con..
Ventral and dorsal surfaces of e tongues on e ferry ride from Redang back to Terengganu, again wadding our way thru e water b4 climbing aboard e ferry.
Terengganu was a rural town and we have had 6hr to spare while waiting for e evening bus at 7.30pm, so we went walking ard Terengganu for e whole afternoon. Guess GF would like this place alot heh. Its best shopping complex was a 3 storey-supermarket with neither restaurants nor cinemas and its electronic corner is selling out-dated software and pc/ps2 games. But e day ended with a good and cheap seafood dinner b4 we boarded e 10-hr journey bus home..
Hi ya folks.. And I'm back from e sea of e fishes and corals.. Nay.. not e Great Barrier Reef but Redang, Malaysia, or rather, Survivor Redang!
Bought a new canon digital camera A430 especially for this trip, since my last camera, an old-fashioned film camera was spoilt and this is e very first digital camera me and my family will be owning. Pretty good deal too.. 4 megapixel, pretty decent looking, for just $273 and highly recommended by Dennis. And its been really interesting to try out all e different manual modes, diff ISO speed, continuous shooting, stitching panoramic images, e likes, thru out e trip.
And Survivor Redang! Man.. It was a damn interesting trip ah.. Partly because its e first snorkeling experience but more so becoz of e company. And again I'll giff a pictorial itinery of watz been happening thus far..
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Went to see e doc again for my melanoma, coz after subsiding a little for e first 3 days, it literally stopped and became a stagnant black mole for e next 3 wks.
And here's wat e doc say:
Doc: Well, its a reaction of e melanocytes to e infection, so the pigmentation may be there for some time, like mths..
Me: Wat? Mths!?
Doc: blah blah blah..
Me: blah blah blah..
.
.
.
Me: Mths!?! ( juz before I left e clinic, still in a state of disbelief..)
But wun't e skin epithelial cells and melanocytes be exfoliated fairly rapidly? hiaks..
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Well, e melanoma is definitely retreating..
9 mm by 5 mm now..
Definitely something to cheers abt..
And who is melancholic? Pls identify urself e next time u see me on msn k.. Juz wanna strangle u for saying me proud tatz all.. Haha..
Cheers again..
Definitely a day to be happy abt..
Friday, March 03, 2006
Juz to show I was still alive and kicking, here's my update.. But I may be dying..
And as much as I was worried abt e exams, I have been more worried abt something else..
A seemingly tumour-like mass in the centre of my right cheek..
It is elliptical, irregularly shaped with poorly-demarcated margins, measuring 14 mm by 9mm. (i.e. HUGE!) Its surface is rough with black, pigmented spots sitting on top of an erythematous mass of subcutaneous tissue which on palpation felt nodular and indurated. The surrounding tissue appear normal. Function is not compromised in anywae, but aesthetics was a big NO NO. Kaoz.. now I look like PCK..
History: A seemingly pimple like thingyee 8 days ago. And I was telling sw, xl, bran abt it coz I seldom kanna pimples before..
3 days ago- The lesion is growing so damn fast! And it is definitely not a pimple or anything I"ve seen. And I was getting hell lot of worried. I looked up my oral pathology textbook and search e possible carcinomas- e signs stated above are tat of a malignant, not benign tumour and differential diagnoses came to be melanoma or basal cell carcinoma, becoz of e black pigmentation, which I've ruled out hemorrhage, since I was pretty sure I had not traumatize it or seen blood oozing out. The underlying nodular subcutaneous tissue is definitely inflammed because of e erythematous lesion, and a distinct nodular ball of mass under e lesion on palpation. But it was worrisome, because e inflammation lesion is indurated and cover a much larger area, abt 2mm wider than e surface lesion. It was mildly tender as well, esp on provocation, since its inflammed.
2 days ago- I was having mild but sharp, transient, radiating pain in e region ard e lesion. The pain is split second, but is frequent, once abt every 5 min which lasted abt 1/2 hr. Involvement of e facial nerve? Since e parotid lies beneath, but en tat will mean e lesion is really deep.. I took pictures of e lesion and measure it en-
1/3/6- 12 mm by 08mm.
But somehow I decided to just wait and monitor it, to see if its growing or causing more pain.
Until last night when I measured e lesion again, it was 14 mm by 9 mm! Got so worried I had problem sleeping ah.. And so I went to see Dr at e University Wellness Centre earlier this morning, hoping she will refer me to a skin specialist and conduct some diagnostic tests, imaging tests like CT scan, MRI, ultrasound or blood test for tumour markers or biopsy for histology or cytology.
But instead, here's wat she said:
'No lah, a tumour can't grow so fast.
The black lesions aren't pigment. Should be scab.
Most prob a skin infection.'
Farniee coz shouldn't scab or matured blood clot be raised above e lesion? In my case, it was flushed to e surface, abeit rough surface. She couldn't explain e pain thou, and tatz y neuro is so tough..
Anywae she prescribed me a topical antibiotic, fusidic acid cream, a 50S unit inhitor, highly specific for gm +ve organisms and tell me to come next wk.
For now, e antibiotic seem to have helped me won e battle. The mild tenderness is almost gone, and e underlying erythema seem to subside. And I'm more than happy.
Guess mugging all these cancers really make u think u haff one of those.
Cheers..
ps: And en I met two friends en route to e wellness centre.. Kaoz.. Damn embarrassing ah..
