Category Archives: Everyday Life

Nordette

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Nordette is an oral contraceptive pill. Easily available in the pharmacy. I haven’t used any OCP before because I am just lousy at taking pills but I am keen to take it now – not as a contraceptive method but more to delay my menses. My friends at work have been using the OCP strategy before this for Ramadhan and I wasn’t really into the idea in the first place. Until last year, when I felt that ‘ganti puasa’ is becoming challenging to complete with advancing age.

Nordette is priced at RM17 for a strip of 21 days. You then have your 7-day break for the breakthrough bleed before you start on a new strip of the pill. However, in my case, the plan is to continue straight with a new strip upon completion of the 21 days pill to prevent bleed. At least for a few days until Ramadhan ends. To achieve this, I’d need 2 strips and I have just started my 1st pill on the first Sunday in my current natural cycle.

I hope I can be compliant. I’ve set my alarm to ring at 8pm daily for this.

I hope I wouldn’t suffer from any horrible side effects.

I hope this strategy works.

Looking forward to a full Ramadhan month.

NOTE : Please consult your doctor first before taking Nordette.

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Youngest brother is engaged

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Last month my brother got engaged to the woman of her dreams.

I am just relieved that the lady is not mengada and gives us a headache. She seems to come from a humble family. In short, we adore her. The engagement ceremony was held at the lady’s residence in Ayer Hitam. Since Mother has passed away, I am kind of the next in line to place the ring on the lady’s finger. Our relatives are all in Kuching. Dad had to get his friends to come with him as part of the entourage.

The ceremony was quick and simple.

By simple, there is no extravagant backdrop or anything. It was something that we, the sisters went through as well. A short and sweet occasion. Followed by eating. Our side gifted the lady with a set of AlQuran and prayer garments, a rolled cake, a fruit basket and a ring. We look forward to the akad nikah ceremony in June.

Children and end-of-year concert

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In Malaysia, the start of the new school year starts in March, in contrast to the usual January start. It has been like this since Covid and has yet to be changed back to how it was before. Therefore, end-of-year graduation ceremonies and concerts are organized around this month of the year – February. My daughter had hers a fortnight ago and my son, just last weekend.

I asked my daughter if she felt nervous performing in front of the crowd. I used words like scared and shy instead of nervous cause I don’t think she is able to understand that yet. She said she wasn’t. In fact, she was excited to perform on stage and show us (our little family) her dances, singing and hadith recitation. I find it interesting how they do not recognize the need to feel anxious about it at this age.

Come to think of it, the teachers have prepared her for this at least 2 to 3 months earlier. They did daily practice perfecting small steps. In a way, the kids would be more confident and make fewer mistakes in their performance. The teachers would constantly tell them that even if they messed up, they gave their best in their acts.

animals dancing to the lion song

I suppose this is something I could remind myself to do as well. Practice makes perfect. It is easy to be overwhelmed with new tasks or they could be a usual, routine task but resides out of my comfort zone. An example of this would be to give public talks. Ironically, despite my not loving the task, I am in charge of a health portfolio that requires me to give mass patient education on a regular basis. Diabetes, hypertension and asthma are my bread and butter. At the moment, I am revising my portfolio programmes to include the team and other supporting services. It seems that I’d have to slow down on my psychology studies to give way to these exciting activities.

February blues

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The meme states, ” January is the trial month because the new year only starts in February “. Indeed, for me, it started with a bang. There were meetings, and courses to attend, and organised on top of the usual monthly programmes. I also had my side goals which were my psychology assignments. I am just relieved that I took only 2 modules this semester. The new year is not a good idea to be ambitious. I can bear the stress and workload. However, when I am bombarded with health concerns – the motivation kind of wears off and I have been slacking off a bit.

I am having a sore throat with a productive cough and low-grade fever. The fever has subsided but I am left with this hoarse voice that makes my work of talking to patients a bit difficult. On top of that, I have excruciating pain in my wisdom tooth. Prior to this, my dentist did warn me that since it is impacted, it will become bothersome one day due to its growth angulation. I hate that ‘one day’ is now. I couldn’t even go for a consult because I have an active respiratory infection and that has to be settled first before the dental officer could have a look at it. So I have been taking my analgesics (paracetamol + Voltaren), dabbing peppermint oil at my gums, drinking peppermint tea and sleeping in a propped-up position at night cause that is when it hurts most. Helps to prevent blood flow too much towards the head/ teeth area and causes throbbing pain.

I am also on my period which means additional mood swings, lethargy, bloatedness and myalgia as a whole. It’s like ‘we will have to make Minci unwell now – in February, all at once!’. And boy, this is probably me feeling at my worst after so many years. I console myself with what Yoongi has been up to on IG and of course the many silent vlogs on Youtube. I hope next week will become easier cause I really need to get my work done.