Under The Weather (Again)

Hello! It's been so long since I last blogged and that's simply because... I fell sick. Again! This time round it's quite bad as I had to be put on drips. Yikes. So basically I was sick for the whole of second half of last week whew. I just recovered fully on Tuesday. This is how it went. 

So last Wednesday (19/2) I started having fever at night. Actually I was already feeling rather feverish on Wednesday dawn. I was having some flu symptoms (blocked nose and constant sneezing). On Wednesday I woke up with a sore throat. It wasn't a bad sore throat, just painful when swallowing food. And then on Wednesday night the fever got worst, and on Thursday dawn, I was down with a fever of 38.3! And you know how much I panic when I have fever. Had fever since like 3 AM till 7 AM.

On Thursday I lost my voice. Not exactly like lost my ability to speak but my throat felt so numb I couldn't even like speak properly. And I continued to have fever for the whole day. It was very unpleasant really. I was just spamming water and chamomile tea throughout the day haha. It did kinda help. But on Friday I still woke up with a fever. It's lower this time though like 37.6 ish. But I was having a really bad headache since Thursday and I thought I was having dengue!

The blood test came negative. But since my fever lasted for 3 days, and my headache isn't gone, and I'm allergic to all fever/headache medicines, doctor asked me to be put on drips. Also my blood was very concentrated and that's why I'm having constant headaches. After the drips session, I was feeling much better. At least I can walk quite freely then. On Saturday I was still recuperating and Sunday I was feeling much much better, except for the remaining sore throat. But I wasn't having fever or headaches! 

So I thought I had recovered right... And I was wrong. I was down with a fever again on Sunday night and a huge round of nausea! Damn it. I was scared that I had dengue (cause usually the virus is detected 3-5 days after infection). Went for another blood test and thankfully it's still negative. I was just given anti nausea medicine and thankfully by Monday night I was feeling much better.

I only returned to work on Tuesday and yeah it was the first time in almost a week that I actually felt "normal" and healthy. No fever, no nausea no sore throat heh. I think there's a flu bug going around here. My workers were sick and my father got sick too. Then I got sick and my mum followed heh. Not sure what and why. Perhaps it's the change of weather. Cause the rain and sunny days are interchanging weirdly... In February. It's so hot in the afternoon but it rarely rains!

Anyway here I am now! It's the last day of February tomorrow and I will be going to Java Jazz whoop whoop. I wanted to cancel the trip but I've been feeling great these past 3 days. My sore throat disappeared too. I'm gonna enjoy the last day of February and this special leap day with some great music! Catching T-Square, Mondo Gascaro and PREP! And some other acts too.

I hope you had a Fabulous February. Please take care of yourself too, especially in times like these. Drink lots of water, wash your hands often and keep it up with the fruits and veg. Let us all march towards a Marvelous March! I will see you with some photos and story of the festival :)

Happy Ji-It Meh!

Happy Ji-It Meh!

Today is a special day for us here in my hometown as we celebrate Ji-It Meh (21st of the first lunar month). Or also known as the usual Cap-Go Meh (15th of the first lunar month, or the end of CNY) festivity. It's also known as 元宵节 or the lantern festival. But instead of celebrating it on the 15th, we celebrate it on the 21st. If I'm not wrong, the reason why we celebrate it on the 21st is because in the old days the lion and dragon dance troupe would travel from Bogor, Cianjur (neighbouring towns) and my hometown. But since they can't be on the 15th in 3 different cities, the festivities were spread across different times. Cianjur was held on Tuesday I think. And my hometown's on the 21st.

We haven't celebrated this on a big scale like today for 5 years. The last time this was held on a big scale was on 2015, and that's only near the temple grounds. This year we went all out to the main streets of my hometown haha. Which was quite a surprise! Anyway thankful that the event went on smoothly. Kudos to the organisers and everyone else involved. It was a great celebration!

My cousins and I carrying the sedan for Hou Ciang Kong

Went to meet my cousins Febi and Nanan at Iyo's shop before the event started. I really didn't expect the parade to reach quickly. They started at 3 PM and by 4:30 is they already reached my cousin's shop which is quite far away. When I reached it was just nice that they arrived too. Met Febi and Nanan and we went around with the parade taking turns to carry the sedans of the deities, with other people too.

Salute to the all-ladies crew carrying the Guanyin sedan

I forgot to bring a towel so I was carrying the sedan right on my shoulder. And I'm so gonna be prepared to have painful shoulders tomorrow haha. The sedans are heavy. Well most probably someone is sitting inside (AKA the deities) so yeah. Met with some of the folks from my hometown and we just carry on taking turns to carry the sedans as we parade through my hometown.

Interesting experience carrying someone who's on a trance

Something interesting happened during this. Nanan and I were asked to help carry the sedan from a temple from Jakarta. And we gladly went. But... We didn't know we were carrying a sedan with a man in trance on it! And boy it was so heavy haha. It's quite gruesome to see the man's back with blood but I understand he's on a trance. It was a sedan for Ne Zha, famous in Chinese folk story. The interesting thing was... I'm not sure if it's physics of what, but we couldn't walk in a straight line. Me and the people carrying the sedan were just trying to keep a straight path haha. Interesting.

We didn't follow the parade back to the temple as we have a long walk home so we parted with the parade halfway back to my aunt's place. And then Nanan sent Febi and me home. It was a great Friday and Ji-It Meh indeed. I hope we can do this again next year with more of my cousins!

Happy Ji-It Meh once again everyone :)

Privacy

So recently I... Did something quite drastic. Something I didn't do for years. That is... Private my social media! Haha. Okay this may be something ordinary and nothing drastic. But I've left my social media public probably since the beginning. Especially Instagram because I want other people to be able to see my photos and so on. Also since I am someone who enjoys photography.

However recently I realised that I have a lot of followers who are... Strangers heh. No shit Adhi. Okay most of my followers are (I think) bots, or they are programmed to follow me, or they follow me in hope that I will follow them back. You know like I realise when I like a post for a certain page, another page that is related to that page will follow me. I think it's bot or something. Or when I leave a comment on a post, some other people similar to that page will also follow me. And it's fine by me.

Also most of these "bots" followers don't really like appear on my stories, or they don't constantly like my posts. So they just pretty much follow me randomly. And thus I'm okay with it. But recently I realise that there are people who follow me and they view my stories, they like my posts and interact with me etc. I used to be okay with that, but now I kinda think twice. To have strangers see my life heh.

Okay the thing is I realised that as I grow older, I value my privacy more. This is very obvious with the way I post. I used to be that guy that post anything and everything. From food I eat, the road condition and etc. I think back then we all kinda do that on IG before stories appear haha. Now we can post them on our stories. But now I don't do that, I just post photos. And even on my stories I don't post my day-to-day happenings. Probably the most "private" thing I will post it my food lol.

The way I post is this: do I want this post to appear on my page forever? Then I will post it. If not I will go on my stories. Similar with Twitter, I don't usually post often now. Even now I'm scared to share my thoughts. Like the older I grow the more I prefer to keep things to myself. I still do share my thoughts etc but I become more selective I guess. I'm not sure why, the older I grow the more uneasy I become sharing things with other people. I guess sharing them to my friends is the last straw.

And yup, it is just recently that I come across the thought that there are strangers seeing my "life" and my "thoughts" that I think twice about my own actions and decisions. I used to be that friendly guy who would allow everyone to follow me. I used to be that open guy that interacts with everyone else. I used to be that guy that "wants to be seen". But now not anymore heh. I become more wary of being seen. I become more reserved and prefer less interaction (unless necessary). 

At the end of the day, sometimes I think to myself, what do I get from this (being open)? Now I even think that it's rather weird to have strangers follow and interact with me as if we know each other!

Also nowadays 90% of my social media usage is to follow my favourite artists/bands for new materials/tour dates and for news. Which also reminds me, now that I have privated my accounts, my favourite artists/bands can no longer see my tweets to them T_T It's okay though I still love you and I will support you always. I guess it's time to move on from the notice-me-senpai phase as I like to call it.

Well I'm just going to set another rule for people to follow me - we need to have a common ground. If we totally have none then maybe I'm not gonna allow you to follow me haha. I think it's fine that I just keep my posts to the usual circle of people who have been following me for years. I think it's the age, it's time. I'm no longer that friendly neighbourhood guy who wants to be seen heh.

Under The Weather

It's been a "great" start to the year of the rat with me falling sick the past two weeks urgh. I was having sore throat and flu last week, and this week I was having diarrhea. I'm still currently having diarrhea though, thankfully my stool is thicker now. Okay sorry if I write too much information.

Well during the CNY gathering a few of my family members were already having sore throat and cough. So I probably got it from them haha. Last Monday (the Monday after CNY) I was already having a slight sore throat. I'm  not sure if it was a sore throat or ulcer at the back of my tongue. But basically it hurt when I swallow food and sometimes when I was talking. And as I was getting better on the 3rd day, I woke up with a blocked nose. And flu. And yes. What rotten luck indeed haha.

And just as I got better on Sunday, I have no idea why but I got diarrhea since Tuesday! Okay Wednesday morning to be exact. It was quite bad that I went back and forth to the toilet for a few times on Wednesday dawn. I couldn't sleep cause of that -.- The diarrhea didn't stop till today so I was worried, decided to ask a doctor and was recommended to take antibiotics. I hope it stops tomorrow!

Not sure why I'm so sick these past two weeks hah. The diarrhea was most puzzling because I don't remember eating funny funny stuff. Also neither my mum or dad has it (we eat the same food) so yeah quite unsure why. I'm just annoyed at the fact that I have to go back to the toilet often. I even stayed at home today cause I'm worried "accidents" might happen if I go to the office haha.

Oh well tomorrow is the 15th of the first lunar month. Maybe I just need to pass this for everything to be back to normal hahaha. Alright just a short update from me. I might see you tomorrow! 

Missing Those Days

Whew guys it's been such a rough January for the world hasn't it? Floodings in Jakarta and Venice, the Australian Bushfire, Iran-US escalating tension and the recent Coronavirus outbreak. All of these rocking this nervous world left and right. Anyway, February is here. Let us all hope and pray that thing will get better as the year move along. And also prayers for everyone affected by the Coronavirus, the patients, and also the medical team who work tirelessly to contain the disease. 武汉加油!

Not sure if it's because of all of these events happening but I feel like January moved way too fast! Haha. Well that's kind of the case in each year. Every year moves faster and faster, and so does its individual months. We only have 29 days in this month, so it's gonna even be quicker!

Anyway it's Saturday now and somehow earlier, during the night, I just came across the thought of my old days back in Singapore. Just a simple reminiscing thought, about how I used to spend my Saturday. Well to be honest I really miss those weekends. Those weekends where I really have a weekend. Nowadays I don't have a weekend heh, cause there's always things to do on both days.

Even though I still do work most of the time during my weekends in Singapore, I usually set aside my Saturday as my chill day. Usually I'll just "force" myself not to do anything haha. Unless I have lots of work to do, or I have some revisions to do before exams/tests. And usually I'll do work on Saturday morning till afternoon. But I will always dedicate my evening time to chill. And man I miss this feeling!

Usually my Saturday will start off quite late (as compared to weekdays). I'll usually wake up at 10 AM ish. Usually I would have already bought breakfast to eat. If I'm feeling really lazy, I would start the day watching TV till the afternoon! I remember I always call Saturday the day where lunch is forgotten. Cause believe it or not, there were a few Saturdays where I skipped breakfasts and lunch (maybe snack a little) and watch TV/browse the internet till evening! And I would hate myself after that.

But anyway most of the time I would pull my ass out to eat haha. Either at Clementi, Holland or just a walk to Cold Storage to get something to munch. If I'm feeling lazy I will settle my dinner too. If not I will go out to get dinner again, or spend the evening out with my friends for food. Man, those were the good old days really haha. I miss that feeling of freedom, that feeling of doing whatever I want to do on every Saturday. Back in Singapore Saturday is always my favourite day of the week haha.

At night, if I didn't go out, I would spend it at home. Same, watching TV or surfing the net. Since 2010 onwards, just like these days, I spend it journaling! If I'm feeling lucky I would buy beer and drink it at home heh. The night would stretch till late, probably 2-3 AM. But usually I won't exceed the time, because I usually go to the temple the next day and have to wake up at 9 AM ish.

And yup. This is how my Saturday usually go. A completely different Saturday than the one I have now haha. I ain't complaining. I understand that life happens, life moves on. We all get busier heh. I do hope one day I can experience this all over again though. The freedom, the silly things, the quiet afternoons watching clouds pass by at the balcony, or through my window. The little things.

As MGMT song "Time To Pretend" says: 

"I miss the boredom, and the freedom and the time spent alone".