Braces. This has always been the subject that I avoid all my life. When I was 12 years old, my mom took me to a dentist to have my "tiger" tooth extracted but back then, the doctor advised against it and told me to put on braces instead. Since I was also wearing specs then... I was terribly reluctant and have begged my parents to just let it be...

Years went on and the slight protrusion became rather bad that I decided to try braces. Last year (2007), I went to see an orthodontist. The orthodontist did 2 x-rays and a mould of my teeth... All was ok until she told me that she'll be extracting 4 teeth - forth tooth from the upper and lower left as well as the upper and lower right. Given that the teeth she opted to extract are too near the front... I chickened out! Cos come on... the 'holes' will be highly visible when I talk / smile / laugh ok!

A year has passed since my last visit...

This time round I visited another orthodontist who was recommended by my colleague. His name is Dr. How KC and he seemed very gentle and kind. Since I ain't getting any younger and am already planning to get married in two years time... I told myself that this would be the final chance for me to correct my protruding teeth in time for me to flash the perfect smile for my wedding photos...

And so... I went on with the x-rays, mould taking and even paid the deposit... Everything cost RM1,010 on my first visit alone... so I told myself there's no way I could chicken out this time round! My second visit was THE DAY where the braces was put on... (30-3-2008 @ 6pm) and I spent another RM870.

The entire treatment would cost me RM6,000 and this is non-inclusive of extraction, scaling or any other dental works in between. I opted for the so-called latest translucent bracket with clip technology that would facilitate faster movement and is not as obvious as the normal metal type.

Alan accompanied me into the surgery room and patiently waited by the side... In between, he snapped numerous photos of me with my mouth WIDE opened... And thanks to him, I was able to blog about it... :)

The entire process of putting the braces on took approximately an hour... After that, Dr. How told me to open my mouth WIDE (with the help of 2 plastic thingy that was inserted into my mouth) so that he can snapped a photo of my teeth with the braces on... At this juncture, I could sense Alan laughing like a mad cow by the side... cos my mouth was REALLY WIDE opened!

Everything was fine until I was given a mirror. When I saw my own reflection, I felt like crying! Yala... I 'sememangnya' am that vain... why else would I procrastinate for so damn many years before actually putting on braces?!

Here's a pict of me with my braces on already... But just the upper part cos Dr. How said if the bottom part is done up as well, I won't be able to eat anything at all...

More on this later... but for now, I need to go and brush my fucking teeth. Grrr...

Hari-ini-dalam-Sejarah...

The last stick I had was on March 17 (Monday evening bout 7pm).

Since then, I've not lighted a single stick yet... :)

Last week... I went for a complete blood test cos the morning before, oil literally leaked out of my ass as I was going through my morning poo-poo session. Worried that there may be something wrong with my liver, pancreas or even stomach, I went to BP Lab.

On Monday, when I collected my results... everything was ok. Except one particular reading... some antibody called Anti-EBV-VCA (lgA) where it measured a reading of 2.18 vs. a normal of 0.8. All I knew was that area indicates a nose area and that the reading was higher than it should be.

My childhood friend who is a GP told me that he'd check with his ENT colleagues (Ears, Nose and Throat specialist) and in the meantime, I was asked to stay off cigarettes. Bout 8 plus that night, my friend called in an urgent tone. He managed to get hold of his ENT colleague and found out that the antibody is usually only found in cancer patients. Particularly nasal cancer patients. I was asked to see an ENT specialist immediately to get my nose checked.

I was on my way home when he called... so I went into one of the clinics for a second opinion on what the antibody was. The GP I saw was even MORE crude... Upon finding out that I was a smoker, she immediately announced that I was a high risk. Her words left me totally shaken: "This is a cancer marker. You reading was tripled what is normal. You must see an ENT specialist immediately. I'll write you a referral letter".

That night, I had to put on a brave front when I reached home. Didn't want my parents to worry unnecessarily and wasn't sure if I can put on the front if they are aware of the issue. Thus I went to bed super early that night. It was one of the longest nights in my life... I was so terrified and afraid that I got up countless times drenched in cold sweat. I was practically shivering uncontrollably and was praying all night long.

Alan got up at 6am the following morning and drove from his hometown to KL. At 9am, we were already at Sunway MC. Though I was terribly afraid, I had not shed a single tear before that... But the minute the doctor inserted the long-metal-rod (with a tiny camera at the tip) into my nostrils, my tears flowed non-stop. My heart was pounding like mad and I could barely speak. I was so afraid that I kept my eyes closed while Alan looked at the monitor and asked the doctor all the necessary questions.

At the end, the doctor said that there was nothing wrong with my nose. Though the reading wasn't very high (readings are usually waaay higher if there are tumours... usually on a scale of 10-ish to 20-ish) I was asked to do the same blood test again 3 months later to see if the reading drops.

On the way home, I spent a good 30min crying my eyes out in the car... releasing all the pent up anxiety, stress and fear that I suffered the night before... Never have I been so afraid and terrified of dying in my life! And for the right or wrong reasons... I told myself that I am never gonna light another cigarette again!

P.S. Am so glad and thankful that Alan was with me all along... Though he quietly assured me that everything will be fine... I knew that deep down he was equally as worried. When he looked at me... I could see love, worry and fear all mashed up in his eyes... SOB SOB... and that... was how we spent our 11th anniversary together!

Survivor's Law II (Lut Jing San Yang Wong II)

Casts

• Kenneth Ma as Sun Man Gwun 辛萬軍 (MK)
• Ella Koon as Suen Lei Lei 孫俐俐 (Lily)
• Sammul Chan as Cheuk Wai Ming 卓偉名 (Vincent)
• Selena Li as Cheng Choi Yuk 鄭彩玉
• Rebecca Chan as Cheen Siu Ham 錢韶涵 (Brenda)
• Chun Wong as Wong Teen Bo 王天保
• Kwok Fung as Suen Bat To 孫伯滔
• Wu Fung as Poon Wing Leung 潘永良

Synopsis (from Wikipedia)

MK Sun or his real name Sun Man Kwan (Kenneth Ma) was once stopping a drug smuggler, but because of that, he was wrongly accused of taking drugs. Despite his background, he hired a famous lawyer to help him, and not surprisingly, he won. The lawyer, Brandon (Waise Lee), became his idol, and MK Sun grew up to be a lawyer.

Years later, MK was trying to get a job in his idols company, T&B. He beats Brandon's wife, Brenda (Rebecca Chan), in a case, and started working there. There he meets a stubborn, rich, and spoiled girl named Lily, (Ella Koon) only caring about her looks and herself. They became enemies because of each others' backgrounds and attitudes.

MK Sun then meets Vincent (Sammul Chan). Vincent thought of MK Sun as ghetto, but soon realizes he was wrong. After having a fight with him in soccer, and Vincent punched the umpire, MK Sun took the blame. Soon, they became best friends.

After splitting with his former girlfriend, Jessica (Bernice Liu), Vincent (Sammul Chan) falls in love with a coffee shop girl called Choi Yuk (Selena Li). Vincent had his license for being a lawyer taken away for three years and couldn't get his license back yet. After getting a chance to work again and start a new refreshing career, he started only caring for himself. He was so determined that he went against Choi Yuk and her family, even his best friend, MK Sun. Choi Yuk thought he betrayed them and only cared about himself so she ended the relationship.

In a court case, MK finally confesses of his love to Lily, but she didn't like him back because of his background. But after MK jumped into the sea(to swim back to get to a court case) and ended up in the hospital, she started to like him. During the court case over Po Po's custody she proposed to him and asked for custody,which they got, and they eventually got married in court.

Soon, Choi Yuk gets into hospital after taking a beating in the head, falls into a coma, and gives birth to a baby boy named Jophy. Vincent, while trying to uncover Noel and her previous crimes, smashes his head to a drawer while avoiding a knife. While Choi Yuk just woke back up and while waiting for Vincent to return, she sees Vincent in a stretcher she hurried there with Jophy and thought they could finally be a happy family, Vincent does not recognize her, having received a big blow to the head and is suffering amnesia.

However, to prevent Choi Yuk from despairing too much from not remembering her and Jophy, he promises that some day he will propose to her and they will get married. He never regains his memory and ends up working at the cake shop with Choi Yuk. MK and Lily share a sweet and happy relationship.

Mascots are just soooooooooooooo cute...

Last year I met Sonic the Hedgehog:

This year, I had the chance to meet Bomberman!!!

Aren't they adorable??? Hehehehe... Simple pleasures in life...

Wherever you go and whatever you do these days, the talks are all about the general election that happened on March 8th. Anyone and everyone will have their share of views and opinions on this matter (try googling the topic) and the incident will eventually go down in history and be passed on from generations to generations just like 513... But to me, I see this as a great opportunity for me to really learn and reflect upon myself:

Change = Only Constant
For a party that has led the nation for 50 over years with a majority of 2/3 all along... It must have been shocking and unreal for them when the results revealed that they've suffered the worst ever defeat in history! But to the rest of us, it serves to remind ourselves occasionally that what worked before may not work again now... One needs to constantly evolve, shift paradigms and to really think out of the box! This was one of the things I learnt from my ex boss: Doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results? That's the definition of insanity!

Finger Pointing
It's so easy to finger point when things go wrong. Even a 3 year old with a pure innocent mind is capable of doing that... But what purpose does it serve to finger point? To state out the obvious? To cover ass? To look supreme? To be perceived as the victim? The lists are endless and we too have most likely done it before in our lifetime. But sometimes, I try to remind myself that it's better to just shut the fuck up and be the bigger person to just forgive and forget. Life goes on... whether you make a big hooo-haaah out of it or not...

Evaluate!
When you're high and mighty with people rushing to kiss your ass at every given opportunity, it does wonders to your self esteem and ego. So much so that one could easily be swept off feet and be completely detached from reality to differentiate what's right and what's wrong. In life there will always be plenty of advise from the people who really mean well down to the people who intentionally manipulate you towards their hidden agenda to those who are really just scheming patiently for your downfall for their own personal gains. The key is to evaluate, evaluate and evaluate every piece of info and advise and weight the pros and cons before embarking on them...

Shit Floats
The g-mt can disperse "illegal" gatherings and demonstrations on the pretext not disrupting the peace of the society. They can control and choose what to be reported in mainstream media... Heck, they can even throw you in jail for causing "nuisance". But really... the truth remains the truth no matter! Moral of the story? Don't cover your shortcomings... don't lie about your achievements... don't mislead and confuse others to detract them from the reality of the issues cos at the end of the day... shit floats! Might as well spend all your energy in trying to resolve the issues at hand and to mitigate them from future occurrence than to spend it fooling others. At the end of the day... you're only kidding yourself.

Be Humble
I don't like your face & I don't like your attitude - I believe that these are 2 different things! While you can't change who you are (unless of course you're loaded enough to go plastic), you can change your attitude which will in turn be reflected in your relationships with others... SV may have been a great guy with plenty of achievements to boot... but because of his lansi-ness... he ain't exactly your Mr. Popular. In fact... mention his name and see for yourself how many scrunched up faces you'll get... So ya... must remind myself to be humble... just like how another ex boss once preached: Jor lang hum hum (be humble in Hokkien).

The Building Blocks of Life (Gin Chuk Yau Ching Tin)




Casts

• Alex Fong Chung Sun as Chung Kwok Keung 鍾國強 (Isaac)
• Christine Ng as Ching Wai Yee 程慧儀 (Winnie)
• Tavia Yeung as Cheung Mun Zhing 張文政 (Freeda)
• Chung King Fai as Kwong Shing Yu 江承宇 (Preston)
• Chris Lai as Choi Zi Yeen 蔡志賢
• Natalie Tong as Kwong On Kiu 江安蕎 (Veronica)
• Power Chan as Yeung Zee Heen 楊子軒 (Brian)
• Anne Heung as Cheng Lay 張莉 (Lily)
• Kingdom Yuen as Chung Kwok Mei 鍾國美

Synopsis (from Wikipedia)

Interior design company owner CHUNG KWOK KEUNG (Alex Fong) used to be a favorite student of renowned architect KWONG SHING YUE (Chung King Fai). He gave up his dream of becoming an architect when his father passed away and he had to take up the family business.

As time goes by, the ambitious KEUNG has become an ambitionless man who has no opinions of his own. He has a prosaic relationship with CHING WAI YEE (Christine Ng), an estate agent who he has been going out for six years. He has to rewrite his blueprint in life with the appearance of CHEUNG MAN CHING (Tavia Yeung).

CHING meets KEUNG through work. She has mixed feelings for him, but she forces herself to suppress them when she knows that he has a girlfriend. Yet the unexpected always happen. Firstly, she and YEE become close friends because of a traffic accident. Since then she has to try hard to avoid seeing KEUNG. Secondly, as if it was not worse enough, a new building project brings her and KEUNG together again. Love starts to blossom secretly between the two.

Meanwhile, with the help of YUE, KEUNG pulls himself together. He is confident of handling interpersonal relationship, too. But YUE’s help has upset another student of his, who pledges to frame KEUNG up. As for relationships, KEUNG finds it hard to leave YEE, who has stuck with him through thick and thin, for CHING, who he loves truly…

It's been ages since I last logged in to blog about things in my life. So much has happened in the past 2 months that within the blink of an eye, we're already halfway thru the end of quarter one in 2008!

• Mid Jan: I started the year tearing my hair off for a project that involved a celebrity and a whole truckload of project team members to deal with...
• Early Feb: Then came CNY... which came and went super quick... but leaving me a fat wallet
• Early Feb: Along the way bitch-from-hell came back into my life and made peace...
• Mid Feb: Then came the frustrating bit bout managing people, complexities, timelines and budget!!!
• Early Mar: And now I'm tearing my hair again at another project revolving yet another celebrity...

Back in 2007, life seemed so promising... with plenty of reasons to laugh and celebrate!!! But the good fortune seemed to dissipate into the thin air the minute I entered the CNY period. From then on, all I felt day in day out was frustration, anger, disappointment and bitterness.

Things were so bad that I had to print out The Secret's summary sheet and have it stuck in front of me to help me recall the fact that life can be beautiful if only you dare to think, ask and believe that you've already got it (in your mind) to actually make it materialize. It's really that simple and I've benefited tremendously from it before so why the struggle now???

I've gone from quite the "chio" looking chick to a haggard bitch with breakouts, dark circles and messy hair... I've gone from the talkative ever smilling person (at the time when I practiced The Secret) to an introvert who spends endless hours tinkling on this stupid laptop...

The only thing that remained unchanged was my relationship which has somewhat reached a new height this year. Apart from that, I spend my life working... and when I'm not working, I spend it thinking bout work... Is this it? Is life really all about work? If yes... I think I ought to give myself a big slap and to remind myself that I must be MAD to think so...

Sigh...

P.S. Will try to talk more bout happy things soon... but for now, I just needed to BITCH out LOUD!!! There's really MORE to life than THIS!!! REMEMBER THIS MAEMEE!!!

Word Twister's Adventures (Tit Jui Ngan Nga)

Casts

• Charmaine Sheh as Lap Lan Ching Ching
• Jordan Chan as Chan Mung Kat
• Michael Tse as Fong Tong Kan
• Sharon Chan as Consort Yee
• Kara Hui as Poon Bak Fung
• Yuen Wah as Sir Lap Lan

Synopsis (from Wikipedia)

The most difficult thing for an articulate legal expert is not to win a lawsuit but to bargain for a twist of fate. Plagued by a mysterious family curse, CHAN MUNG-KAT (Jordan Chan), who comes from a legal family, is forced by his mother to fool around and devotes all his time to running a brothel despite his great talent. As a result of a careless mistake, he is embroiled in a legal dispute, through which he gets to know the eloquent LAP LAN CHING CHING (Charmaine Sheh)[though Lap Lan Ching Ching was the only reason for the legal dispute and he knew her before) and the government opponent FONG TONG-KAN (Michael Tse). KAT has developed a strong hatred towards CHING and KAN since being innocently accused.

CHING’s articulation has not only won her a legal gown bestowed by the Qianlong Emperor but also an arranged marriage (But this was not the emperor's will. It was part of Wo Shen's evil plan to ruin Fong Tong Kan. Wo Shen had told the emperor that he would arrange a marriage for Lap Lan Ching Ching and Fong Tong Kan, but instead chose the most disgusting man in the city, Chan Mung Kat.). Despite her love for KAN, CHING cannot decline the Emperor’s offer and finally agrees to marry KAT. The lovelorn KAN lingers at the brothel day and night, leading himself to get caught up in a murder. CHING tries to save KAN but in vain. Luckily KAT offers to help and manages to pull KAN out of the trouble. CHING has got a different impression of KAT and the incident has once again reminded KAT of the curse and the potential danger of getting involved in any kinds of lawsuits. KAT gets framed later on and CHING is left to deal with the case all on her own. To everyone’s surprise, the curse has now been shifted on to KAT…

Marriage of Inconvenience (Liong Cai Si Doi)

Casts

• Bobby Au Yeung as Kong Hoi-Chuen/江海泉
• Angela Tong as "Meow Meow" Miu Ling/繆鈴
• Toby Leung as Ng Yi Wu Jiu/吾爾烏焦
• Raymond Wong Ho-Yin as Ivan Yik Hei Ji/易晞智
• Power Chan as Lam Pak Sum/林柏森
• Astrid Chan as Carol Sin Bing/冼冰
• Winnie Yeung as Betty Yim Wun Bik/炎煥碧

Synopsis (from Wikipedia)

While the owner of a marriage bureau himself, the candid Kong Hoi-chuen (Bobby Au Yeung) nevertheless has no luck in finding a girlfriend. He meets Miu Ling (Angela Tong), who has just been disappointed in love, by chance. With his words of consolation Ling is able to get over her failed love temporarily.

Six months later, Ling agrees to marry Chuen. Yet just when Chuen thinks that he is the happiest husband in the world, he finds out that Ling is seeing her ex-lover, Ivan (Raymond Wong Ho-Yin). Burnt with anger, Chuen decides to divorce Ling. Unfortunately it is not as simple as he has thought. Ling, believing that she has been wronged, refuses to move out. Cheun has no choice but to arrange a fake marriage with mainlander Zhao Yang (Toby Leung), whom he agrees can stay at his place for free. With the help of Yang, Chuen hopes to fight with Ling to the finish. But he later learns that Yang is in fact the girl of a triad leader and her true name is Ng Yi Wu Jiu… On one hand, Chuen loves both Ling and Yang, who have completely different personalities. On the other hand, living with them has put him in a dilemma…