Battered Gums

Went back for my ortho review last Saturday... and was eagerly anticipating the temporary removal of my braces for my pre-wedding photography... Unfortunately, dentist said that one of the front teeth (top jaw) is a bit long... and hence, the next 3 week's focus will be on that particular tooth...

Was rather disappointed... but nevertheless, went ahead with what the dentist recommended. Today is 2nd day after the visit and my gums are swollen and sore with a propensity to bleed as and when touched / moved... cos the tiny wires are cutting into my gums... it is sooooooooo painful and sore now... but since it IS the final final push... will just have to bear with it...

16-03-2008: $1,100 [Deposit, X-Rays, Photos & Moulding]
30-03-2008: $ 870 [Deposit & Upper Braces Fitting]
20-04-2008: $ 423 [Extraction & Medication]
18-05-2008: $ 325 [Wire Change]
17-08-2008: $ 325 [Bottom Braces Fitting]
14-09-2008: $ 764 [Extraction, Frenectomy & Medication]
25-10-2008: $ 385 [Wire Change & Scaling]
23-11-2008: $ 385 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change & Scaling]
24-12-2008: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
24-01-2009: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
21-02-2009: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
28-02-2009: $ 714 [Loose Bracket, 2 Screws, 4 Springs and 4 Crisscrossed Wires]
21-03-2009: $ 325 [Springs & Crisscrossed Wires Adjustment]
30-04-2009: $ 325 [Loose Bracket, Wires Change]
30-05-2009: $ 325 [Loose Bracket, Mini Wires Removal, Thicker Crisscrossed Wires]
04-07-2009: $ 325 [Loose Bracket, Springs Adjustment, 8-Ring Rubber Loops]
01-08-2009: $ 275 [Springs Adjustment, Additional Crisscross Wires, Rubber Loops]
22-08-2009: F.O.C [Springs Adjustment, Additional Crisscross Wires, Rubber Loops]

It's F.O.C cos I've finished paying the entire amount... which was supposedly $6,000.00 but YTD... $7,841.00. Honestly, the top teeth are perfectly aligned now with all gaps closed... but the bottom teeth are still moving pretty slowly...

The deal now is to have the braces removed in the next 3 weeks and thereafter... continue treatment only after the wedding... That means... that I will be braces free for at least 4 months... So sad... the entire duration was supposedly 1 year 6 months... It is now exactly 1 year 6 months but am no where near completion... :-(

Videographer

Aug 17, 2009... Met up with the V.i.d.e.o.g.r.a.p.h.e.r from H.o.t C.h.o.c.o.l.a.t.e R.e.e.l.s today over lunch... to discuss the details of the package as well as to pay the deposit to secure him for our wedding dates...

Itinerary as follows...

1. (Nov 29, 2009) Bride's Side
... 07.00pm - 11.00pm = Wedding Dinner in Kuala Lumpur (KL)

2. (Dec 06, 2009) Both Bride & Groom's Sides
... 08.00am - 09.30am = Groom to travel from Kuala Selangor to Kuala Lumpur
... 09.30am - 10.00am = Tea ceremony at Bride's house
... 10.00am - 11.30am = Bride & Groom to travel back from KL to KS
... 11.30am - 12.00pm = Tea ceremony at Groom's house
... 12.00pm - 12.30pm = Ceremony at Bride & Groom's wedding room

3. (Dec 06, 2009) Groom's Side
... 07.00pm - 11.00pm = Wedding Dinner in Kuala Selangor (KS)


Notes
Referring the above itinerary... timing's very tight as we need to be back at KS by 11.30am... (1) Cos we need to adhere to the timing provided by K.o.k C.h.o.n.g M.i.n.g... (2) Cos for the V.i.d.e.o.g.r.a.p.h.e.r to complete the fast edit MTV in time for dinner in KS, he needs to start editing no later than 1pm... So that means... no "jimui / hengtai" games at the door... (both our parents reminded us on this)... "kat si" i.e. auspicious timing is of utmost priority here...


Package includes the following:

Fast Edit MTV
Duration of ~ 2 songs containing snippets from item 1 and 2 for Bride's copy and item 2 and 3 for Groom's copy. The Bride's copy will be shown during the wedding dinner in KS.

Full MTV (Morning)
Duration of ~ 20min containing snippets of Groom's journey to Bride's house as well as the tea ceremony at both parties houses...

Full MTV (Dinner)
Duration of ~ 90min containing everything about the dinner... We'll have 2 separate ones here... 1 for the Bride's family and the other for the Groom's family...

All the above DVD will have a custom-designed cover with our photo... sample below:

Some important terms agreed upon:
  • Shoots to be based on LCD / Plasma Flat Screen mode
  • A location with power point for the V.i.d.e.o.g.r.a.p.h.e.r to do fast editing no later than 1.00pm on Dec 06, 2009
  • Transportation fee of RM200.00 to KS to be waived...

With that, I paid a deposit of RM600.00... the balance of RM2,600 to be paid on the actual wedding day... It was a packaged price of RM3,200.00...

High Risk Lunch

In my "humble" opinion, there are several reasons as to why the A(H1N1) is now a Pandemic Influenza (PI)... Today I went out lunch with my bunch of colleagues...

At the round table, someone mentioned that Ms. B's niece is a confirmed PI case... and that Ms. B and her whole family just got back from a holiday with her niece and family. And guess what? Ms. B was at the round table with us, seated next to me. To be honest, I was shocked and angry! Shouldn't Ms. B self-quarantine herself??? Just because she doesn't have any symptoms, it doesn't mean that she is safe as yet... there's a 7-day period and today is only day 4!!! Can you imagine if anything were to happen??? She will be the CULPRIT spreading it to us all!!!

So you see... back to the point as to why it's now a PI:

Taken Lightly
"It's just a flu"...
"It's OK one... no fever also"...
The argument is of course while many has contracted PI, many has also cured... BUT harlow, don't forget that there were death cases as well!!! A lot of people died from this PI and the number's been growing everyday!!! If we continue to treat it lightly, it is akin to us helping spread the damn flu... It takes several days before the symptom surfaces... so if you're OK the first few days, it's doesn't mean a damn thing yet! There is a reason as to why the self-quarantine period is 7 days and not 3 days you stupid mada farker!!!

Ignorance
"It's OK, it won't happen to me"...
"It's OK one... it won't spread just because we're seating together"...
You stupid bitch... it's a PI cos' it's AIR BORNE and easily spread!!! Didn't you read the damn newspaper telling us not to even shake hands for awhile to avoid contacts???!!! If you should be quarantined, you should be... end of story!

Excuses
"I can't stay at home... I got meetings to attend"...
"I'm very busy la... cannot stay at home"...
Do you honestly think that if you spend your last living day working... the company will thank you??? NO... you will be the fucking CULPRIT who is STUPID and SELFISH enough to come to work and risk spreading the flu to every fucking one in the office... particularly when our office is air-tight!!!

Am so so so upset!!! If I know about the case of Ms. B and her niece earlier, I would've skipped lunch altogether!!!

4-Cars-Pile-Up

We were supposed to go back to KS that night but somehow I felt lazy... I tried persuading OWLoon to go back the following week instead but dunno how, I found myself sitting next to him in his car heading back to KS a few hours later...

He was just telling me how hungry he was when suddenly there was a LOUD BANG that jerked us to the front forcefully... and because our car was motionless when we were BANGED, inertia had the back of our heads BANGED against the head rest violently.

The first thing I asked was "WHAT HAPPENED???!!!" (come to think of it, it was a dumb question... but I was in shock!)... OWLoon drove to the side of the road and told me to sit in the car... while he went down to inspect the damages...

My heart was pumping wildly and I was so scared!!! But I was also worried of OWLoon being out there by himself... What if he gets beaten up by crazy, psychotic, irate drivers??? So with all the courage that I found in my little "chicken" heart, I went to join OWLoon... with an UMBRELLA. It was drizzling... and the UMBRELLA was handy to shield from the rain as well as from psychotic beings should anyone decides to get emotional you know...

That was when we found out that 4 cars were affected in the accident... with ours being the least affected... The bumper’s dented and dislodged from its’ brackets and though the lights were not damaged, they were also dislodged from their original place... and the boot also can't be opened. But it was nothing compared to the other cars...

(Counting from our car; Toyota Altis), car no. 2 (Honda Odyssey) and car no. 3 (Honda Accord) were sandwiched and that meant they suffered front and rear damages... the culprit... car no. 4 (Proton Saga bearing a car plate WBW...) had the entire engine portion of the car smashed... I took photos of the car plates and the damages but stupid iPhone only comes with a 2MP camera with no flash, the photos were super blur...

Except ours, all the other cars had little children... kids were crying non stop from the shock, a bumper was lying in the middle of the road and 2 irate drivers (from car no. 2 and car no. 4 – the culprit) were arguing under the rain:

  • Car no. 2: Eh, you BODOH ar??? Sudah LAMA berhenti di "traffic light", you tak nampak ka???
  • Car no. 1 (The BOZO): Saya sudah HENTI LA... tapi lantai licin!!! Saya pun ada anak-anak di dalam kereta! Ini "accident" la BODOH... ingat saya sengaja ke???

Sigh... when accidents happen, everyone is defensive but the fact that the impact was great enough to damage 4 cars in a row meant that the BOZO was speeding when he knew for a fact that he had kids in the car and that the roads are wet!!! Bloody irresponsible!!!

Anyway, the following day, we bought all the numbers of the cars affected… front and back e.g. 1234 and 4321 in Magnum... but nehhh... nothing came out...

Saudara Saudari

You know... I love my school friends... no matter how old we are or what our day jobs are... when we get together... we're somehow transported back to the era where we were once a bunch of happy, carefree teenagers...

Couldn't stop smiling when I read their replies to my message...

My email:
Helo rakan-rakan sekalian...
Saya mau kahwin sama OWLoon... minggu itu season panas... jadi saya mau cepat cepat beritahu tarikh makan malam saya... Nov 29, 2009 (Ahad)... tolong selamatkan (save) itu tarikh ya... Anda semua dijemput untuk meraikan kelahiran buah nenas... (Ong and Lai = OngLai = Pineapple = Nenas). Mesti datang tau...

Dan hor... Dec 06, 2009 (Ahad)... minggu yang berikutnya... itu makan malam di Kuala Selangor dan ceremony teh di rumah OWLoon... mau datang sekali? Bagi saya tau lah... a-ko-mo-da-tion dibekalkan...Kalau datang ke Kuala Selangor... aktiviti menarik...
- Pagi: Tengok orang minum teh
- Petang: Tengok monyet di Bukit Melawati & matahari tenggelam
- Malam: Makan malam...
- Tengah Malam: Happy hour...

Kasi tau sama saya la... tengok mau pigi ke tak mau (Kuala Selangor)... Kuala Lumpur punya... unless ada Amageddon, MESTI datang wei... hehehe... Ribuan terima kasih rakan-rakan sekalian... :) Saudari "maemee"

Then came their hillarious replies...

Laughing Buddha from NZ:
Helo Saudari "maemee",
Jemputan perkahwinan saudari dengan saudara OWLoon sungguh menarik :-) Terutamanya activiti "tengok monyet di Bukit Melawati & matahari tenggelam" di Kuala Selangor. Alangkah seronoknya kalau saya boleh menghadiri kelahiran buah "Nenas" - tetapi saya tidak boleh membuat janji yang saya akan dapat hadir untuk menyaksikan pertemuan 2 hati menjadi 1. Saya akan cuba sedaya upaya saya untuk bersama dengan rakan-rakan sekalian hujung tahun ini.Sampai kita bertemu sekali lagi - jaga lah diri baik-baik. Saudari Laughing Buddha

Doctor who secretly wishes to be a Bartender:
Wahhhhh pukimak, you punye bahasa still damn sai lek man... wah..manyak jealous lor!!!! okie okie .. ini macam... dua dua pun saya mau.. tengok monyet dan tengok nenas... "maemee" punya nenes tarak mau la .. manyak torns la .. heheheh nasib baik sudah lepas saya punye exam la ... sekian telima kaseh... kekeekeke

The Gaming Expert:
Wah.... apasal you punya bahasa tulis sampai banyak "dot dot dot" nie.....? saya sudah tetapkan tarikh kehadiran saya until Nov 29 dari tahun lepas. mau lepas pun tarak boleh lepas dari tangan you la...itu itu itu tengok monyet tak mau la... tengok nanas ok. saya agi tau bini saya dulu ye...

The IT Expert:
Saudari "maemee",
Terlebih dahulu saya ingin mengambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan taniah atas perkahwinan anda dengan saudara OWLoon.Saya boleh menghadiri majlis perkhawinan anda berdua pada tarikh 29 Nov 2009. Akan tetapi, menyaksi aktiviti monyet tidak dapatlah saya pergi. Oleh itu, tolong menetapkan dua tempat duduk untuk saya dan Mun San untuk majlis makan malam tersebut.

Merujuk kepada Onglai ataupun nenas, anda boleh rizab nenas untuk saudara Alan sahaja. Sebagaimana yang dirujuk oleh saudara Daniel, nenas anda itu berduri! Jika anda memerlukan apa-apa pertolongon untuk majlis tersebut, sila sampaikan pesanan kepada saya. Semoga berbahagia hingga ke akhir hayat bersama saudara OWLoon. Sekian! Nota: Kongket banyak-banyak tau!!

And the email trails just kept getting longer with more funny responses from them... I love my friends and am glad that our friendship lasts more than 10 years...

Finally...

Got my Promotion letter today.
I am officially PROMOTED!!!

However, there is a technical error...
Hopefully it can be resolved in the next 60 days... pls pls pls...

Nevertheless, life is beauuuuuuuuutifulllllllllll!
Thank you, thank you...

Final Push

Yesterday, I went back for my 14th Ortho review. My appointment was scheduled at 2.15pm but the jam was just horrendous (thanks to the street protests and road closures/blocks) resulting in me being 30 minutes late. Because I was late, I missed my turn and thus had to spend another hour waiting for my turn...

I am supposed to remove my braces (temporarily) in early September for my pre-wedding photoshoot on Sept 15, 2009. Hence, this time round, the dentist made even tighter adjustments by adding 2 crisscrossed wires for the upper jaw and new rubber loops for both upper and bottom jaw. It hurts quite bad this time that I had to take pain killers (which I normally don't). This will be the final adjustment prior to the wedding... fingers crossed...

16-03-2008: $1,100 [Deposit, X-Rays, Photos & Moulding]
30-03-2008: $ 870 [Deposit & Upper Braces Fitting]
20-04-2008: $ 423 [Extraction & Medication]
18-05-2008: $ 325 [Wire Change]
17-08-2008: $ 325 [Bottom Braces Fitting]
14-09-2008: $ 764 [Extraction, Frenectomy & Medication]
25-10-2008: $ 385 [Wire Change & Scaling]
23-11-2008: $ 385 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change & Scaling]
24-12-2008: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
24-01-2009: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
21-02-2009: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
28-02-2009: $ 714 [Loose Bracket, 2 Screws, 4 Springs and 4 Crisscrossed Wires]
21-03-2009: $ 325 [Springs & Crisscrossed Wires Adjustment]
30-04-2009: $ 325 [Loose Bracket, Wires Change]
30-05-2009: $ 325 [Loose Bracket, Mini Wires Removal, Thicker Crisscrossed Wires]
04-07-2009: $ 325 [Loose Bracket, Springs Adjustment, 8-Ring Rubber Loops]
01-08-2009: $ 275 [Springs Adjustment, Additional Crisscross Wires, Rubber Loops]

YTD Spent: $7,841.00