Posted on 11 April 2011 @ 06:23 in Health
Last week, I managed four morning walks. This is a big deal to me. Mostly, I manage two, sometimes only one, a week, or even none at all, often because of some health issue. In fact, there were two mornings last week when I thought I wouldn’t be able to go walking, but my body told me it was up to it so I went.
I’m also learning to wear my pedometer (an Omron HJ-113) when I go out, even when it’s not for a morning walk. I’ve discovered that I’m actually quite a fast walker and often achieve aerobic steps when I think I’m walking “normally”. Take yesterday evening. I’d gone to the nearby 7-Eleven to get a loaf of bread. When I couldn’t find what I wanted there, I went to two other shops in the same block, and eventually crossed the road to Jaya Grocer where I found a loaf with a 5-day expiry date. When I got home, and looked at the HJ-113, I saw that I’d achieved a 11-minute aerobic walk with 1,122 steps (that’s 102 steps per minute, almost double the minimum required over 10 minutes of continuous walking to activate the aerobic step counter). So that gives me motivation to wear the HJ-113 like a piece of clothing from now on.
I also log my walking progress on two sites – dailymile and Walker Tracker. I log my aerobic steps on the first site, and regular steps on the second. Believe me, it’s great motivation to see actual numbers online.
For this week, I aim to repeat last week’s walk schedule.
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Posted on 14 March 2011 @ 10:05 in Janis Ian, Stress Busters
I see them whenever I’m driving. But they were displaced recently when I sent in the Corolla and forgot to bring them home with the Vios.
Here they are, in a new, but familiar, place – on the windscreen, driver’s side.
My Janis Ian “Truth is not the enemy” and FONZ stickies.
Thanks to Kong, Sales Advisor at Toyota Subang Jaya, for keeping them safe until I went by to collect them last Saturday.
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Posted on 3 March 2011 @ 17:44 in Health
My latest ESR count is 29. This is from the most recent blood tests done from blood taken in early January. The previous count, done from blood taken in late October 2010, was 5, and previous to that, it was 11.
My rheumatologist says it’s nothing to worry about, but if it persists, she will need to put me back on one 5mg Prednisolone a day, instead of the current one every other day.
The guideline is less than 21 so 29 is over, but still below my early lupus days when I had to take two Prednisolones everyday. At one point, the condition was in remission long enough for Dr Y to recommend one tablet every 3 days, but within a week, I could feel the decline, reported it to her, and she put me back on the every-other-day dose.
For now, it’s the usual dose unless I hear from her.
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Posted on 31 December 2010 @ 23:57 in Personal, Stress Busters
This year marks my 10th year as a giant panda lover. It was in February 2000 when I fell in love with a 6-month-old giant panda cub making her public debut in San Diego Zoo.
Hua Mei was that 6-month-old giant panda cub. She returned to China in 2004. I first saw her in San Diego Zoo in 2001, and it was another six years before I saw her again in 2007, this time in Wolong. I have seen her every year since then, and it was only fitting that I would once again see her on our 10th anniversary.
She turned 11 in August this year, and is the mother of 8 – three pairs of twins (2004, 2005 and 2007) and two single cubs (2009 and 2010).
Beautiful Hua Mei (March 2010)
Pausing at the door to decide whether to go out to her yard
She’s quite a poser
This year also saw my adopted giant panda, Feng Yi (who I’d named Yoong Ping) turn 4. I’d adopted her when she was a month old in September 2006. I first saw her during my 2007 Wolong trip. In 2008, she was one of 8 giant pandas chosen to live in Beijing Zoo as part of the Beijing 2008 Olympic 2008 attractions. I flew there to see her after my annual trip to Bifengxia in August that year. A year later, she was back in Bifengxia and I saw her there in May 2009. In December 2009, she was sent to Guilin Zoo with another panda, Mei Xin.
Since I adopted her, I’d never celebrated her birthday for her. This year, I was determined to do so, and my determination paid off.
Enjoying the pool in her yard the day before her birthday
Official 4th birthday portrait – Feng Yi / Yoong Ping, 23 August 2010
There was another black and white birthday celebration I attended this year. Fuzhou Panda World celebrated the 30th birthday of their star panda, Basi.
Basi enjoys a close relationship with Ms See, her keeper of 20 years
I got my picture taken with the two special ladies
But it was also a sad black and white year. We lost six giant pandas during the year – Chuang Chuang in Shanghai, #20 in Jinan, #21 in Xiamen, Shui Ling in Shanghai, Kou Kou in Kobe (Japan) and Lang Lang in Nanjing. Of the six, Lang Lang’s death affected me the most. He was my photo pal during my 2007 photo session in Wolong. He was only 4 years 4 months when he died on 16 December 2010.
Lang Lang (25 August 2006 – 16 December 2010)
In other news, I had a short story published in The British Council’s A City of Shared Stories Kuala Lumpur.
I also published a photobook of Tai Shan’s public debut in Bifengxia Panda Base.
Proceeds from the photobook go towards Pandas International’s Wolong Earthquake Fund. Please order your copy here!
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Posted on 30 December 2010 @ 19:05 in Personal
It’s complete and set up. One day before the end of 2010.
I’ve been collecting plastic, paper and glass into a reuseable shopping bag to take to my sister’s to add to her pile which she sends to a recycling centre run by the Buddhist Society every third Sunday of the month. Her pile is separated into paper, plastic, glass and metal. So I’ve had to separate mine when I take them over. Sometimes, when I don’t have the time, I leave the bag for the maid to sort. And recently got an earful from my sister who said I should separate the stuff myself.
So I decided to do a little recycling centre in my apartment. My sister’s consists of a big cardboard box (formerly used for holding A4 photocopy paper) for the paper, a smaller box for the glass and metal, and a large plastic bag for the plastic. I wanted something a little more, er, stylish for mine.
The boxes are from IKEA, set of three for RM35/-.
The plank is a shelf, also from IKEA, RM8.90.
The “legs” were the hardest to get. I thought of getting two wastepaper baskets to hold up the plank. But with nothing in them, they could be pushed around easily. Then this afternoon, while at HomeFix in 1 Utama, I saw these “heavy duty fridge stand (big)”, four for RM9.90. I made two “legs” of the four stands.
So now, I have a sorting centre for all the recyclable items.
I still need to find something to line each box so that I can just gather up each pile instead of transferring items from box to bag. Ideally, something made of paper, not plastic.
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