Posted on 26 July 2010 @ 10:01 in Personal
A favourite Malaysian pastime – driving to visit the shopping mall furthest from where you live. This is particularly evident on Sundays – cars queuing to enter the parking lot of a popular shopping mall, followed by driving round and round inside to look for an empty spot, or stalking someone with lots of shopping bags who look like they may be walking to their car to leave. And when a new shopping mall opens … yes, similar scene as a Sunday at the malls.
Me, I like to shop at a mall near where I live. And I live near quite a few. Within a 10-minute drive, I have four to choose from, all connected by pedestrian walkways whether above (covered) or below ground, so shoppers are protected from the sun and rain as they meander from one mall to another. More than 10 minutes away, there is another, with a choice of two separate, but connected, buildings called Old and New Wings.
But none of these malls are of any use in times of emergency. And yesterday I experienced just such an emergency. I’d spilled water over a small section of my computer table, a small but important section that held the life of the desktop computer system – the electrical extension strip. I’d quickly powered down the computer and unplugged all the different connections from the extension. I then wiped dry what I could see – the table surface, a bit of the wall, the floor, the wires and the plugs. Then in a CSI moment, I took a torch and shone it on the extension, and saw water inside the plug holes. If I could see water there, the inside must be swimming in it.
I wavered between going to get a new extension strip and giving the desktop the night off. But get from where? It was Sunday and it would be difficult to get into any of the nearby malls and find parking. Eventually, I decided to give the desktop the night off. But later, while driving home after dinner, I saw a familiar road leading into a familiar neighbourhood. And inside this familiar neighbourhood was an oft-forgotten shopping centre where I used to hang out when I lived there.
Centrepoint Bandar Utama. Yes, this place deserves to be named.
Compared to the other malls nearby, Centrepoint does not have the usual trendy stores, and as a result, does not attract a big crowd, not even on weekends. I would be able to find parking. Best of all, parking is free. Even on weekdays, it’s only 50 sen from the second hour onwards (the first hour is free). Weekdays, the place is crowded because the upper floors house offices and offices have staff that require parking. In fact, almost half the parking lot is reserved for tenant parking. Never mind, it was Sunday yesterday, and as expected, the parking lot had quite a few empty spots. Good for me. I got what I went to get (the extension strip), and something more (a bar of chocolate).
When I was studying in Norwich, England, and living off-campus during my third year, I would stop for stuff at a little corner shop on the way back to the flat I shared with three other students. There were times when I would reach the flat to find zero food in the fridge, and walk back to the corner shop to get something.
Centrepoint Bandar Utama is now my “corner shop” that I can stop at for a loaf of bread and some fruits from the supermarket, a paper notebook from the stationery shop, dinner sometimes, and even get my haircut (Hair At Work’s where I’ve been going for more than 10 years). All without having to drive too far or pay too much for parking.
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Posted on 12 July 2010 @ 23:51 in Stress Busters
Bifengxia Panda Base
10 August 2008
It is one of the highlights of a visit to Bifengxia Panda Base (and Wolong Panda Centre, before the 2008 earthquake) – to have your picture taken with a one-year-old giant panda cub. There is a fee for this rare experience, but it’s money well-spent, not just to get up close and personal with one of these cuties, but to contribute to the research work done here (for that is where the money goes).
Once the photographs are taken, most visitors eagerly turn to their digital cameras, to go through the shots that were taken just minutes before, to remember the experience afresh and to see if any shots are good enough to be enlarged for display back home.
I must admit I did something similar when I had my photo op with a cubby on 9 March 2008. The next day, I offered to take pictures for a couple of friends during their black and white photo op (they agreed, even tho’ they had their own cameras but, hey, the more cameras the better). After the session was over, and while they were going through their pictures, I followed the keepers down the path back to the one-year-old cubs’ enclosure, and ended up taking what I believe is a rare picture of a giant panda cub safe in the arms of her keeper.
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Posted on 6 July 2010 @ 10:46 in Stress Busters
Giant panda cubs are usually born between July and September every year, so they’re off to a great start this year with the birth of twins at Beijing Zoo on 2 July 2010. The proud parents are Gu Gu (father) and Ying Hua (mother). If Gu Gu’s name looks familiar, it’s because he has been in the news a few times for fighting off unwelcome visitors into his den.
For a long time, there was the mistaken understanding that giant pandas only give birth to single cubs. However, once captive breeding began in giant panda reserves like Wolong and Chengdu, the panda vets and keepers observed an unusually high number of giant panda twins being born. They also saw how one of the twins, usually the weaker one, would be rejected. Again, through observation, they saw why the rejection occurred – giant panda mothers can only care for one cub at a time, and would choose the stronger of the two. As a result, swap rearing was developed, in which the rejected twin would be taken away to be cared for in the nursery, and then swapped every few days with the twin that’s with the mother so that both would get to spend time with her. Then, around three months old, both cubs are presented at the same time to mummy.
And so it was with the twins born to Ying Hua on 2 July 2010 – she rejected the younger cub. But the panda team there was prepared; since Beijing Zoo is not a giant panda reserve and does not have the necessary facilities, the cub was flown to Bifengxia Panda Base where it was found to be female and to weigh 109g. In addition to being cared for in the nursery, she is also being fed frozen colostrum from her grandmother, Ying Ying, during the first three days after birth.
It is just as well that this little one was rejected by mother Ying Hua and taken to Bifengxia Panda Base. Following the wonderful news about the first giant panda cubs born this year, came the sad news that the older cub, the one mother Ying Hua did not reject, failed to survive beyond 20 hours.
The circumstances of the cub’s death are very sad – due to its tiny size, and possibly the mother’s inexperience (she’s a first-time mother), it was crushed to death. According to news reports, she had fallen asleep and when the cub cried, had woken but was confused where the cub was. It was behind her and got crushed when she turned around to look for it.
The news reports also suggest that Ying Hua may have been stressed from the attention focused on the birth of her cubs, hence her confusion. In the wild, a giant panda mother about to give birth would find a hollow tree as the birthing den, but under captive circumstances, there is no such luxury. This is not to suggest captive breeding is bad because overall, captive breeding has increased the survival rates of twin cubs, but unfortunately, incidents such as this sometimes happen.
Both happy and sad news within days of each other. But they only serve to remind us how precious these little lives are.
Here’s the precious younger twin, currently in the nursery at Bifengxia Panda Base:
Correction
According to fellow Pandas Unlimited member, lovecatbear, this was what happened:
“On July 3 at 4:45 a.m., Ying Hua was sitting in a corner of the room with the cub under her chin when she heard the cub crying again. She turned and her head hit against the wall, accidentally crush the cub. The keepers heard the screaming, but as Ying Hua sat with her back to the surveillance camera, they didn’t know what actually happened. When they saw the cub fall off to the floor at 4:55 a.m., motionless, it’s too late.”
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Posted on 24 June 2010 @ 17:56 in Health
No, this is not a post about the 2010 World Cup.
Following mother’s recent brush with diabetes, I’d asked for a blood glucose test at my last lupus consultation. That was 2 months ago. At this morning’s consultation, Dr Y, my rheumatologist, told me that my level was 5.8 from that test (to be honest, I’d forgotten about this). I asked what it meant.
She said it depended on whether I was in the States, or in England and Europe. In the States, 5.5 is the upper limit which means if I were there, the alarm bells would’ve gone off. In England and Europe, however, 6.1 is the upper limit, so I am still alright. She then asked me if I wanted to be English or American.
I turned to look at the trainee nurse. “What’s 5.5 plus 6.1?” I asked her.
Dr Y started to say something but I explained that I just wanted to take an average of those two numbers. It turned out to be 5.8. So I’m on the borderline. The upper borderline.
When I got home, I got online and googled for blood glucose. I wanted to know how to avoid staying on the upper limit. One of the googled articles talked about the 4 Common Causes of High Glucose Levels.
Turns out exercise is an important factor to managing blood glucose. When I took that test two months ago, I was an irregular walker (2 walks in March and 1 in April). Since then, I’ve made a commitment to my morning walks so I think I’m headed in the right direction. And now I have even more reason to keep walking.
Dehydration is another factor. I know I’m still not drinking enough water, so I will aim to drink more from now on, until I reach the target of eight glasses, or 2 litres, of water per day.
As for the other 2 factors – well, I need to cut down on carbohydrates (bye-bye Mr Potato and Pringles), plus I need to make sure I don’t get stressed out.
And that’s it for this health report.
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Posted on 4 June 2010 @ 08:56 in Health, My Faith
To be honest, I didn’t even think of either this morning. I just wanted to go for my walk as per schedule. The sky looked overcast and for the first time, I walked out to the balcony to check. The road below didn’t look wet and I had to look closely to see the vertical lines falling down.
I thought of a hat, even a raincoat, but the latter would make me sweat (not the way I would sweat on my walks; my way is natural, adding a raincoat would not be, but I digress). Then I decided to just go, at least to the ground floor and if the rain was heavy, to maybe use the gym.
Downstairs, the road looked wet but without any raindrops. So I started on my walk, activating the Nike+ Sportband, holding it down until it told me to “walk”.
It was still drizzling a little. I’d thought of doing an old route, where there would be trees to ward off the rain. But on the curb, I decided to turn left (new route) instead of cross the road.
It was still drizzling and I found myself asking “What if it doesn’t stop?” And immediately, another voice answered.
“Hello? Who is in charge of the rain?”
God is. And I’d already told Him when I was on the balcony looking out that I wanted to go for my walk.
So I continued walking. And the drizzle stopped. Across the road, someone under an umbrella closed it, tentatively, head lifted to make sure it really had stopped.
And I went on to complete my walk. And to enjoy it, too.
So was it test or trust? It was a mix of both. And it will continue to be a mix of test and trust in most situations – not God’s fault, but completely mine. Because I still cannot believe I am worthy of His attention, and care, and love. But I am.
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