I went for my follow-up check yesterday. The results of the tests on the tumour was ready. Here it is:-
Basically, what it means is that everything is good!!!! The doctor said that this is the best result that could come out - that it is Grade 1. The lower the grade, the better it is as it is less dangerous. Mineis Grade 1. In fact, this tumour is even less aggressive than the one i used to have last time.
This is indeed wonderful news. Tumour removed, surgery successful, confirmed benign. I am thankful to God for this. *Song from her debut studio album and was also featured on the soundtrack of Sliding Doors.
Since being discharged, i seek for this series and i finally completed the first season - which consisted of 10 episodes!
In case you don't know, this is a spin-off prequel of the successful series Breaking Bad.
I first came across it when it was nominated for 7 Emmy's this year (or is it 6?)
including Best Drama Series as well as best actor and supporting actor. Upon checking IMDB, i also found that the episodes were highly rated.
I enjoyed Breaking Bad and i also liked the character of Saul Goodman as well as Mike Ehrmantraut. So why not?
I really enjoyed it and am glad for the two Emmy nominations for the actors in the series.
It is interesting to note that in spite of the good ratings, there are those who feel that it does not deserve the positive reviews - and that it is only good because people miss Breaking Bad so this is the next best thing.
I think it is unfair. Better Call Saul is different. You can't really compare the two series - in my opinion. Although there are similarities - the main one being that things may not be black or white but grey at times.
Still, i really like Better Call Saul - it seems to be taking its time to build up the characters - perhaps this has worked against it as some have said it is slow moving. But we really get to see what kind of a person Saul was in the past. The main thing working against this series is that we all know what kind of lawyer he ended up being.
But for now, we see how he started as a con-man to someone working in the mail room of a huge law firm to a lawyer himself.
The character of Saul to me is very likable. He is your everyday underdog, trying very hard to make a living. His virtues would be he is willing to work hard. He definitely has the gift of the gab - and this was illustrated so well when he pleaded for the lives of the twins in episode 2. Enough said to keep this as spoiler free as possible.
Bod Odenkirk in my view deserves his Emmy nomination. The show is about him. We see him almost all the time. He has to carry the series on - and to me, he has done a really good job!
As for Mike, he was arguably my favourite character in Breaking Bad. So nice to see him again and to also see how he becomes who he is in the Breaking Bad series.
I will be waiting for season 2!
*This was the band's biggest hit ever and is included in The Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
Finally, after a long time, i got to watch this movie:-
Dear Galileo. It's a Thai movie about two friends who decide to travel to Europe. I've been wanting to watch this for so so long and have had the DVD for quite a while - there were a few trips to Bangkok when i looked for this DVD. I did find it but it did not come with subtitles. In the end, i found it at the local Speedy Video store!!!
Here is the trailer for the movie:-
So how was it? Putting it in a nutshell, i enjoyed it. In about 5 minutes into the movie, i already had tears in my eyes!!! And the tears kept coming all the way till the very last scene!!!
No, it is not a sob-fest. It is a simple movie about friendship, about life, about experiencing it to the full. You can read more about the movie elsewhere. Here, i just want to talk about what it means to me!
It was nice to be able to "travel" with the two main leads and share their experiences - especially the London part. The roles were played out very well. I have to admit that the movie dragged on a bit at times (it was over 2 hours - but it did cover 3 countries. 4 if you include the Thai part.
And perhaps this is a movie for those who are younger, those who are doing their tertiary education or just ended it. To be able to be free from responsibilities and just go where you want to go, meet up with people, see a whole new world, experience new things both bitter and sweet, sometimes bittersweet.
The wanderlust in me was indeed stirred up again. Just last night i was chatting with an old friend who spent two months travelling around Europe earlier this year!!! There are so many places that i still would like to go to. And so many sights to see. Of course, there are the people that can meet during the travels too.
But times are different now. I have a family. I cannot just leave at the drop of the hat. There are bills to pay and mouths to feed - and future education to save up for!!! It took me a while but i have resigned myself to the fact that my travelling days are over. And i have come to peace with that.
Instead of looking at the glass as half empty, i look at it as half full. I don't think so much of the places that i have not been to yet. but i keep in mind the places that i have! And I have been to many places. More than many others would ever have the opportunity to do so. I should be thankful - and i am.
Perhaps when my kids are older, we may travel again. We still do - but cheap. Local. And that is good enough.
I confronted myself honestly as i watched this movie - would i rather go travelling or stay put now. Thankfully, my honest answer is that i would rather not see some of the most wonderful sights but to just be able to spend time with my wife and with my daughter. That is far more precious to me now.
But to those who are young - and especially unmarried - go and travel. See the world. Experience life and widen your outlook.
*The theme song for Aladdin which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as the Grammy for Song of the Year.
So its confirmed - Benteke will be Liverpool's new no. 9. The question is whether will be be a worthy no. 9 or not?
Pic taken from Liverpool FB page
We have had some hits but a lot of misses in recent times with our no. 9s, the most recent one being Lambert who is now at West Brom (to be honest, i felt he needed a bit more time). You can read about the good and bad no. 9s in an earlier blog post here.
I've never been a big fan of Benteke - but a lot of people are rating him highly - including one of the best no. 9 ever, Robbie Fowler (read his views here where he feels that Benteke is "perfect" for Liverpool).
As usual, i cautiously optimistic - but when Benteke does something like this (see the following video clip) on his debut, you can't blame me for being excited, can you?
Is he the one then? The one worthy to inherit the no. 9 jersey? I really really hope so!!!
*The first single from the album of the same name.
And so English football resumes again!!!! Whoopie!!!!
An interesting game which was won in the end by a brilliantly taken goal by Alex Oxlade Chamberlain for Arsenal. A significant win for Arsenal?
But what amused me was Mourinho's reaction to the loss. He said that the "best team lost".
You can watch the interview here:-
Yeah, yeah, yeah - the best team just couldn't score against an organised defence. The best team conceded the only goal. The best team obviously was the team in blue, isn't it?
To be fair to him, he did congratulate Arsenal.
Let the football resume!
*Tom Chapin is a multiple Grammy Award winner, only for Best Spoken Word Album For Children. This song is from his album Billy The Squid - a "family" album.
Exactly one week ago (give or take about an hour or so), i was lying flat in a freezing unfriendly sterilised white room with tubes attached to various parts of a body while a man with a very sharp knife cut my head opened.
The night before, they placed markers so the surgeon knows where to cut
Time flies.
Tumour removed, new titanium plate put into place. ICU, HDU, normal ward, back home.
First real hearty meal was food from home!
Modern technology helped!
Friends came a visiting
Friends came bearing gifts
Give us this day our daily bread - and medication
Reunited and it feels so good!
So thankful to God for his gracious providence and care not only for me but for my loved ones. It's still a long road to full recovery but the worst should be over.
*Their first single from their 1998 album which made them famous.
It's day 6 since my surgery and I'm back home! Well, back to me mom's home. Have been here since day 4!!!
I've been feeling pretty good. As me wife drove me back from the hospital on Friday, i told her that i feel that i can deliver a lecture there and then! With a mic, tho.
Truly God has been very gracious to me. The recovery has been very very good! Much better than the last time! Although it didn't seem like it would be like that initially. My first memories post surgery was that i was feeling pretty bad. I had a headache, i felt like i had urinary tract infection and i was feeling pretty nauseous. The nausea stayed with me for the first two days. I also could feel the pain - albeit slight - on the stitches/staples on my head. I recall the last time round, i couldn't feel anything at all.
But slowly and surely, God helped me to recover and recuperate. The defining moment - actually it was close to 2 hours - was on Wednesday when they were getting ready to transfer me to the normal ward. I got "unplugged" - yay!!!! I felt like Ultron! or Pinnochio!!!
I recall from the last experience that when they finally wheeled me into the ward, i was so overcome by nausea that i went right into the toilet and threw up whatever little i had in me tummy!!!
So this time round, when they told me that the room was being cleaned, i decided to sit up on the bed and prepare meself for the nauseating journey up!
It wasn't easy. I still felt bad but made sure i sat up. Lying down for more than 50 hours can really mess with the head!
Thank God that after an hour passed, i was feeling much better. Soon, i was sitting there singing hymms and old Bible School songs quietly. I was having a mini worship session!
When they wheeled me to the ward, i continued sitting - on the chair next to the window drinking in the view of the world outside, the light blue skies and white clouds, especially, and whatever greenery there was to see.
My condition steadily improved and when i got home, i was quite surprised at how "normal" i felt!
When a fren came over to visit, he reported back to the rest of me mates saying that i look the same except with the patch on my head.
Sure, i don't feel 100% - but i feel quite good. Less than 1 week and i'm already blogging. I think the last time round, it was in week 3 when i started to blog again. And i would have been blogging earlier if i wasn't too busy watching TV!!!
When me wife came over to visit me last night, i think i was feeling much better than she did!
Last night also, i started singing this old chorus that we used to sing a lot during our secondary school days. We used to love this Praise and Worship album - Give Thanks. I still listen to it once in a while these days and the CD is in my car. The song that i was singing was "I am the God That Healeth Thee".
Truly, he is the one! I speak very well about my surgeon and he is probably the best neurosurgeon in the country (and the most expensive too) but at the end of the day, i acknowledge that it is God who used the surgeon and it is God who is healing me day by day. Although i am 5 years older compared to when i had the first surgery, i am recovering much faster. Much much faster. I walk down the stairs and i find myself surprised at how easy it is. I remember how i had to gingerly walk down slowly the last time round.
Well, it's still a long journey to full recovery. I can't see what is happening inside me - so i better take it easy and slowly and just leave it in his hands, the hands of the one who can heal me completely and perfectly!
*His cover version of this popular song written in the 60s.
Last Sunday's sermon was on the latter half of Romans chapter 1. It was on the wrath of God - how God's wrath is poured on us be used of our sins. It was a good reminder of how much God detests sins, how holy he is.
But it wasn't all just "fire and brimstone" kind of sermon. It ended with us being reminded th at even though God cannot stand sin, he still loves us and provides a way for us to be forgiven of our sins, to be transformed rom our sinful ways. We cannot do it ourselves but with God, nothing is impossible. It may be possible but it sure was not easy - it cost Jesus everything. He died for our sins. God demonstrated his love for us this way (as stated in chapter 5 of Romans).
Therefore, in Romans chapter 8, we are reminded of this great love of God in verses 31-39:-
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What a wonderful reminder. I really needed this. We talk about God's love so much that sometimes, I forget just how much he loves me. But when I think of how much I love my little girl, and then remind myself that God loves me even more than that - so very much more than my feeble love, it overwhelms me to think of such great love. And just like how I will love my girl no matter how naughty she gets, God will still love me the same no matter what I will do.
And nothing will be able to separate me from his love. His love will never change.
One of my fears of the surgery that I am going through next week is that I will be separated from my daughter for days, or even weeks. And that she will not be able to understand what is going on. But that is something that will have to be done. And I know that while I may be separated from my loved one, God will be there with me all the time.
"Hold me close, Lord. Never let me go. Bring me near, draw me to your side. And as I wait, I'll rise up like the eagle. And I will soar with you, your spirit leads me on by the power of your love".
*His version of this love ballad which in my view is better than the original.
Who knew that i would actually stop posting anything for more than 1 year?
Who knew that i would once again be going for a major surgery to remove a tumour from my head?
We don't really know what will happen, do we? We can hope, we can wish, we pray - at best, we can try to predict. But we will never know until it happens.
Looking back, i never knew how much studying in the UK for my Masters would change my life - until it has changed it. In fact, it wasn't even my plan to go to the UK.
I never knew how wonderful being a parent is until i am one now. There was a point in life when i didn't even think i would get married let alone have a daughter!
So that is how life is. And that can make it a very scary and nervy journey as we travel on this road, not knowing what lies in store. Yes. And no.
No - not if you know someone who knows what is going to happen!
God knows! God knew! God will always know. He is in control of things - yes, even when things seem to be spiraling out of control. How many times have we seen things go that way only to somehow miraculously fall neatly into place? Or when things do indeed crash and burn - and from the ashes, rises something even much better?
As one classic song goes - I don't know about tomorrow - but i know know who holds tomorrow, and i know who holds my hand.
Here is LeAnn Rimes with my favourite version of that song:-
When we know the person who holds tomorrow - and we know that he is holding our hand, then it doesn't matter if we do not know what is going to happen ourselves. Just like a little child who holds on to her father's hand as he leads her to a mysterious place - it is fine with her even though she doesn't know what to expect because she is holding on to her father's hands. And she trust in him.
I am going through a difficult time now in my life - i do not know for sure what is going to happen but it helps so much knowing that God is in control. And that he loves me so much!
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him
(1 Corinthians 2:9)
*My favourite song of hers. It was a hit in the UK during the summer of 2006 when i was a student there.
When my daughter wakes up in the morning, she will have a huge smile on her face. I think that she is happy because it is a brand new day - an opportunity to be with people she loves and do the things she enjoys. In the past, there are many mornings when I would wake and groan and sigh because it was another day. These days, when I wake up, I will smile back at her - and I try to love and enjoy life and be happy and thankful to God for things that I would have taken for granted - like being able to wake up in the morning and seeing my daughter smile at me. *The title track of his 6th solo album.
