On Getting Failure Out of the Way

Wish Granted: A Cramp-Free Period

I have a *girl* announcement to make.

My periods are now cramp-free. :) Let me say that again – I HAVE CRAMP-FREE PERIODS. On my last two cycles, I didn’t suffer the debilitating stomach cramps I’ve associated with my monthly flow for the past 20 years or so. Yay!

I really, really never thought that this day would come. It’s an amazing feeling. It’s like discovering something for the first time or finding out that there’s a better way to do something you’ve been doing your entire life. “This is how it should feel? Life doesn’t need to come to a screeching halt every month? Fantastic!”

I went out about town meeting customers the other day and  was on my feet, during my heaviest flow day for 5 hours. Ha! What liberation! Just months before, I would be doing my routine of  sitting on the chair the whole day crying the pain away.

How did it happen? Well, it started with me trying to find a vitamin supplement that comes in soft gel capsule form for my mum (she has difficulties swallowing large hard tablet ones).  I ended up buying the only one that fit the criteria (it’s called Vykmin). I bought the bigger box because I thought I’d give them try too. (I’ve been on and off various supplements for a while now.) After about 3 weeks of taking them, I had my period. Amazingly it was without any cramping. It was so unbelievable that I didn’t tell anyone about it, in case it was a fluke.  So I continued and lo and behold! no cramps again this month!

I have not made any drastic changes to my diet or lifestyle. I drink the same amount of water as before. I had no increase or decrease in physical activity or stress levels. Unless the government has been tinkering with the water supply here, the only difference I could think of in the past two months is the red and black gel capsules I’ve been taking daily.  Have I, despite my attempts at eating copious and varied amounts of fruit, vegetable (and milk, among other things), been lacking in the vitamins and minerals department all along?

Whatever it is, I am very, very thankful this wish came true. I’ve spent so much time away from school and work due to the pain and so much money at the doctors and pharmacists to try to fix it. I feel for you girls who are still suffering as I once did. I hope that this post would give you some hope in finding your own cure.

PS: Although I am without cramps now, I am not without pain. I have major headaches 2-3 days before the onset of period. I’ve never had this before, at least not with this intensity. The headaches were very, very painful and even after 3 rounds of Panadols Extra, the pain would still be there. I can’t sleep properly because I’d be dreaming of having my head drill throughout the night.  One of the nights, I had a dream of a soldier bashing my head repeatedly because I coloured the battle scene wrongly (pink and green leaves?), it was kinda funny. LOL

Discovering Life

A few months into pre-school, I told my dad that I didn’t wish to continue going to the classes anymore because my teacher could not, for the life of her, pronounce my name properly. (She called me Manina. Manina?! How did the letters “r” and “l” morphed into an “n”? And this came from a person who was supposed to teach me my ABC’s.) After a chuckle and an “Are you sure?”, my dad agreed to let me stay home and play instead.

The days that followed were tranquil and filled with joy. In the mornings, I’d draw, paint and play; the afternoons were spent with my mum who read me stories and taught me how to add and subtract; some evenings, my dad would teach me how to read and write.

One of the mornings, I found myself awake alone in our house that was bathed in the glorious warm tone of a delicious morning sun. I remember walking into the kitchen, thinking the rays that flooded the windows were veils of magic dust. I went into the bathroom, cupped water from a running tap and then watched it flow through my fingers. I caught myself breathing deeply, paused for awhile and thought, “this is life. I am alive.”

That afternoon, I watched my mother’s rhythmic breathing as she was taking a nap. I tried to hold my breath to see if I felt any different. Then I deduced that there was an existence within me that was more than physical. I asked my dad later about it and he told me I’ve just discovered my own soul.

Do you remember the first time you discovered life?

Creative Types

Entertaining talk about creativity in the school system by Sir Ken Robinson.

Easily Amused

My cat is sleeping on the bed, oblivious to the thunderstorm brewing outside. His curled up position makes him look like a baby seal, so chubby and cute. But I bet baby seals don’t whine as much as he does (he whines about 179 times a day).

The coffee on my desk is 5 hours old and tastes like what a 5-hour-old coffee should taste like – bitter, with resentment for a glory lost.

I have a handful of pistachio shells on a piece of recycled paper. I wondered what they could be reused for. Googling for an answer, I found “helmets for snails“. LOL :)

PS: Busy week for me, yay for weekends!

Start Up

Sadly, my computer hard disk died on me last week.

Luckily I have back ups done for my client work on a regular basis but 6+ years of personal stuff – sketches, ideas, plans, stories, etc – are all gone.

When I fired up my email application yesterday, my inbox was empty. I’ve lost all my emails too.

A similar event happened to me a few years ago.I used to have backups of all my work on Zip disks then (does anyone remember those blue disks?). When my then PC got corrupted beyond repair, I didn’t really worry because thought I could rely on the backup data on my zip disks. But no – ALL the disk were corrupted and unreadable. 5 years of work gone. ;(

I have to admit there’s a certain amount of liberation, starting on a clean slate. But I’m a little worried about data preservation at the moment. Will my data DVDs last? If they do will there still be DVD readers in future? Do I need to transfer my files onto a new hard disk every few years? Do I need to upload all 89 million terabytes of my digital photos to Flickr? Should I carve my ideas in stone? Or blog every tiny detail of my life online? Hmmm…