Kung Hei Fat Choi '18

photo from google images

I have been busy with life and re-arranging fixtures at home for Feng Shui reasons. Kung Hei Fat Choi by the way since Chinese New Year just happened few days ago. It’s just odd to celebrate the new year twice in a  year although I have no problem with that since I love Tikoy or what is known to be as year cake/Chinese New Year’s cake. It is actually called Nian Gao in Chinese which means — “Nian” as Sticky, “Gao” as cake. I usually dip it in egg and fry it after slicing the whole cake into tiny squares. It’s definitely a winner if you eat it whilst it’s still warm. 

Moving on, I had some blood work done and 2D Echo as per my doctor’s recommendation since I need to have my blood checked at least once in year or whenever I feel something out of the ordinary. If you have read my previous blogs, I had RAI (radioactive iodine) for my thyroid back in 2014 due to Hyperthyroidism and after treatment I became a Hypothyroid which is the expected outcome post RAI. Anyways, I complained about restlessness even if I’ve been medicating for years so my doctor advised to have my cholesterol level checked (blood chem), FT4 TSH (a blood test required for thyroid patients which would determine if you need to have your thyroid medicine adjusted) and the result said my cholesterol level was alright and was just 2 points over the normal level (probably because I have been a bit lazy exercising lately) but it wasn’t really something that work out coupled with proper diet can't change so my doctor had to look at my 2D Echo result and that eventually isolated the problem. 

Please be careful with my heart 😁♥️

2D Echo is like an ultrasound for the heart to simply put, a cold gel is applied to your chest to check your heart’s every nook and cranny. The 2D Echo result was fast because it only took 24 hours (from the usual 2-3 days) that’s why I was able to schedule a follow-up check up with my doctor that same afternoon. Looking at the result from my own perspective everything appeared to be normal until my doctor read through it and told me that I have a congenital, although not really alarming heart condition (or should I say activity?). The 2DE result mentioned something about a tricuspid mitral regurgitation which means that blood is leaking to my heart’s right atrium in my understanding. Normally, the blood flow in the heart should only go upwards and shouldn’t flow back down which is what's happening in my case. My elder sister who was with me during my check up with the doctor eventually also has the same condition except she’s having a hard time breathing most of the time since childhood and I don’t, I just feel exhausted that’s all which I thought might’ve been related to my being hypothyroid.

To make the long story short, I was advised to veer away from anything caffeinated as it will just aggravate the problem such as coffee, soda (except the colorless one like Sprite/7UP. Do we even have 7UP nowadays? lol), tea (except green tea), even Matcha (which caffeine content can actually equal half the level of a black cup of coffee) and was prescribed to take Bisoprolol only as needed. I asked my doctor out of curiosity if it could lead to heart attack and he told me NO, but, it's still best to have a healthy lifestyle for as much as possible to prevent it from getting worse of course.

So far Bisoprolol is working for me although it works best if I take my vitamins everyday and the one that I take is called Vitagin which (as per Google) is good for physical stamina, mineral-related poor nutrition, inflammation, improve memory, physiological stress, nutritional deficiency and other conditions. So, better consult a doctor if there’s something about your health that's bothering you because a simple fatigue can be fatal. It can also be a possible symptom for an underlying medical condition which you never thought or knew you have.

Time for some DIY Project...

Crescent Moon Dreamcatcher

Sometimes, I just feel like being crafty but is too lazy to go out to buy materials so I just suit myself with whatever I have in my crafting supplies. I have been yearning to re-purpose an old dreamcatcher I made couple of years back since it's already pretty worn out/has collected dust since I hang it outside my door. However, I don't know where to find a new hoop so I instead decided to make a crescent moon dreamcatcher out of it. I was inspired by one of my favorite Youtuber & Instagrammer named Audrie Storme that’s why I decided to make this project. Please refer to her YT video below if you want to make your own diy Crescent Moon Dreamcatcher for the step by step process. I love the way she edits her videos by the way, very moody. I think she’s a very creative soul. 👍🏼 

Related Posts:

hyperthyroid turning hypothyroid

Same As It Was

No Magic Pill

Post-RAI

life and other drugs

Scam Alert V2.0

My sister recently sold her DSLR camera through OLX and yes it is really a risk to sell  goods online because there are tons of crazies out there you will come across with. You name it, they got it: joy reservers, bogus buyers and last but not least, scammers. I never transact offline because if the transaction becomes  person to person, it is already outside of the e-commerce site’s control in case trouble may arise therefore makes them off the hook. To simply put, it’ll be the buyer or seller’s security at stake (transact at your own risk). Point being, the buyer or seller may have to get in touch with law enforcers in the event a fraudulent transaction occurs and God knows how lengthy this  will take before it gets resolved ‘if ever’ the perpetrator will get caught.

Going back, I decided to intervene and took care of marketing the camera on behalf of my sister because the item is already taking too long on the listings page and one fine day I received a private message in OLX from a certain Mrs. Grace Aquino (This may just be an alias/moniker) asking if I could possibly email the item details to her and this is what she sent me verbatim: 

graceaquino156: I will buy this item from you. Please send your final price to my email address graceaquino156@outlook.com from your email address. Please use the item name as the subject of your email. Please don't reply here on olx because I can't check it due to the fact that I will be very busy at work. Only reply me directly through my email address graceaquino156@outlook.com God bless you, Mrs Grace Aquino graceaquino156@outlook.com

Sounds fishy right? I was curious and also squeamish to sell the camera I sent an email nevertheless to the email addy mentioned above with my limited details of course because I’m beginning to feel suspicious and this is her response:

Thanks for responding. I want to buy it as a gift for my folk that was transferred to study overseas as an international relations student in a reputable institute there in west Africa. I want you to deliver it via a reliable courier company with 5 to 7 days express service delivery. 

Please log on to the courier websites below and choose your preferred courier and postal service depending on whichever one is close to you;

UPS www.ups.com or DHL www.dhl.com or EMS Express www.ems.post/en/global-network/ems-operators/ems-philippines

Below is the information and address for the delivery;

Receiver: Collins Iyamu
Address: 6 Odunsi Street, Lawanson
City: Surulere
State: Lagos
Country: Nigeria
Zip code: 23401

I want it posted with 5 to 7 days express delivery so reply as soon as possible and let me have the total cost.

How can I get the money through to you? I prefer to pay you via bank to bank transfer because it is safe, reliable and very convenient. If my preferred payment method is ok with you then please send me your bank account details as it is written below;

Account name:
account number:
Bank name:

Thanks and God bless you,

Mrs Grace Aquino

It's such a shame if you will fall for this right? I mean, why would a seller in the first place go through the odds of shipping an item without even receiving a payment for it, really? This email justified my suspicions further. I have worked for an e-commerce website before and shipping an item to Nigeria is a 'red flag' because the moment the seller sends the item to this country, it gets lost somewhere in the planet and the poor seller in return never receives any payment for his/her item so BEWARE. They also often target high value items and their common denominator fyi, they ask for your account number. Fortunately, as soon as I read this email (of which I have no intent of participating) the camera just got sold to a legit buyer and was picked up and paid for that same day. 

SO, what to watch out for in transacting with buyers online? Legitimate buyers do not say ‘i’ll take the item’ upfront. Item collection/pick up in my opinion may be the safest way to go as it is paid for in cash and it’s a spot on payment, you hand the item to the buyer and in return the buyer hands you the payment (just be very discriminate when it comes to counterfeit bills). I hope this blog is helpful to other online sellers and buyers out there, do not trust anyone no matter how ‘nice’ they are.   

Static & Silence In A Monochrome Vision

"Full Moon" taken 02.02.18 📸  by m00nchildr0cks with a Fujifilm
s200exr camera.

photo from Pinterest

Oh hello February! January ended with a global phenomenon or the rare occurrence of the super blue blood moon which is a first in 152 years and I’m so lucky to have witnessed it three days ago. It was rather a beautiful sight to behold and t'was the talk of the social media world with awesome photographs to boot from individuals throughout the globe. According to news, the next one is not going to happen until January 21, 2019 which is next year so I’m looking forward to that again with hopefully a better camera so I could take a much better photo as it’s a very rare occurrence. I was only able to snatch a photo from my mobile phone so I wasn’t so happy with how it turned out that’s why I had to grab a DSLR camera.

A super blue blood moon is a blue moon and lunar eclipse combined with the moon being at its closest point to Earth, which resulted in a "super blue blood moon.” But then I was still curious with where the term ‘super blue blood moon’ came from and here’s what I found: 

🌕  Super Moon - When the Moon is at its closest point to Earth.

🔵  Blue Moon - The 2nd full moon in a month.

🔴  Blood Moon - The red tint Earth’s shadow casts on the Moon during a lunar eclipse. 

My Super Blue Blood Moon inspired 
Cookies & Cream 🤩

#SuperBlueBloodMoon 01.31.18. 
Moon phases taken with a Fujifilm DSLR 
camera. Lunar eclipse with an iPhone 5s.

To simply put, it was a triple treat, a full Moon (take two in a span of one month), the Moon’s closest proximity to Earth and a lunar eclipse all in one rare occurrence. I really do not know much about it until l I checked out my Twitter account and saw nothing but the hashtag #SuperBlueBloodMoon on my feed. I only got to see it until around 8:00PM past last January 31st and I was like glued to it for a while. An eclipse never cease to amaze me every time what more when the Earth’s shadow began casting its red tint on the Moon. I was lucky to witness the Moon’s different phases which went on like a time lapse video. It didn’t really take long before the earth casts its shadow on the moon, what a beaut. I was really stoked with it, such a nice photography subject because when you take a zoom in shot, you could almost see its craters, amazing.

Ekiben inspired breakfast: Omelet, Chocolate Muffins, brown rice with
 grated carrots & sesame seeds, Burmese veggies & Tonkatsu.

Ekiben.

I have been fascinated with Japanese train Bento meals since I started watching tons of YouTube travel videos shot in Japan and I can’t wait to go to there hopefully in the near future so I could try one of their Ekibens. If you read my last blog entry I mentioned about my newfound hobby which is making Bento meals as I was inspired by quite a few Japanese YouTubers who make one of those beautiful Bento lunch box meals that’s why I decided to make my own version. Few days ago I made an ‘Ekiben’ inspired breakfast meal for my sister and I and it was really filling. I don’t how the Japanese people are able to keep a slim figure with the amount of food inside their Bento lunch boxes or train bento meals otherwise called as ‘Ekiben.’ I guess walking as a form of exercise does all the trick.