Pain Pain Oh!!

I have always hated going to the dentist. Most of the time, I would avoid them until I really had to.... and this time around, it looks like I really have to. :-(

I visited the dentist more than 6 months ago when I had this pain on my wisdom tooth. I ended up having the cavities of a few teeth patched and was advised to extract the problematic wisdom tooth. However after the dentist applied some stuff which took away the pain, I decided to skip that minor surgery and never again returned to see her. I guess I was thinking if I could ignore the problem, it would go away after a while. After all, no more pain ma.

2 days ago, the same wisdom tooth reminded me of its existence again. There is this throbbing pain on my gums and it's so painful whenever I opened my mouth wide. It felt as if my right jaw would dislocate. Besides that (as if it's not bad enough), it came with sore throat. I have to resort to painkillers for relief.

Sigh... guess I have no choice but to get it over with once and for all!! So so scared thinking about this sharp blade cutting through my gums and then getting the tooth pulled out. Also the pain after the anaesthetic worn off.

Anyhow, I will need to get this done. Have to make the appointment with my dentist again. I think she will look at me, smile and say "I told you so!".

PhotoHunt: Hands

Oh look where Alice's hands are!



(Pictures taken at Paris Disneyland in Feb 09)

PhotoHunt

Keeping a pug occupied

I was cleaning Axel's fold above his nose with some tissue paper when a small piece of it got stuck there. See Axel's reaction to it.

This gave me a new idea on how to keep Axel occupied the next time. Muahahaha...

Neck & Shoulder Exercise

I have been getting neck pain regularly again. My colleague recommended me to watch this video and try out the exercise to see whether it works for me. I have yet to watch it and am putting the video here so that I will do so later.



You guys have any good remedy for neck pain? Please don't tell me to just break it.

When the ship reaches the dock - follow up

Hi guys,
Thanks for your concerns on my previous post about the retrenchment exercise in my current company.

My boss had a staff meeting last week to clarify the current situation. Malaysia's office is safe for now, so we get to keep our jobs. There will be some cost cutting measures though.. and other than the possibility of relocating our office, I am not sure what else will be implemented. Again, we just have to wait and see.

1 question for you though... if you do not like your current job scope, will you start hunting for a new job in this economic situation?

PhotoHunt: Yellow

Gosh, it's been a while since I last participated in PhotoHunt, and I am missing the fun!!

Here's my entry for this week's theme. The Eiffel Tower illuminated with golden yellow lights. Breathtaking!!


PhotoHunt

Axel loves Porky

Well, sort of...

When the ship reaches the dock

My company's CEO sent out an email today announcing that there will be a 8% workforce reduction worldwide and a series of cost cutting measures. What we have feared all along is finally here... although it's no longer a surprise when almost all companies are going through the same thing.

Anyhow there is no news on whether our office here in KL is affected. We did hear rumours that some have been laid off in our Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam offices. Online news have also reported that 100 people were already laid off from our HQ.

Guess there is nothing much we can do except to wait. However so far I didn't see any signs that our office here will be affected... but you'll never know. It's not something that is within our control and if we are that unlucky, we just have to accept it and try to move on.

Like the Chinese saying "When a ship reaches the dock, it will eventually straighten itself accordingly". I understand it as no matter how difficult the obstacle is, we will eventually find a way to get through it.

I better sleep now and get up for gym early tomorrow while I can still afford to pay for it.

Oh oh... it's really getting closer

Lately a friend of mine has been telling me about his worries that he would be laid off as he could see some restructuring happening in his company. His current company is my ex-company and so, I know a little bit about it... well, at least I thought I knew. You see, this company is really huge and was always on its recruitment drive as they have this problem with retaining their employees.

So when my friend told me his concern, I confidently assured him that this thing is the last thing he should be worried about. I told him that the company is already understaffed and couldn't retain its existing people, so why would they ask the remaining employees to leave.

I was wrong, so wrong. This evening, my friend called me and told me that some of the contractors in his department were already asked to pack up and leave. I was so shocked. Thank goodness my friend's job is still intact... and I hope it remains so.

Anyhow this news jolted me back to reality. Oh oh... it's really getting closer.

Daddy, I need a bath

I have been a very bad and lazy daddy. Axel hasn't had his bath (not that he is complaining) for 2 weeks already and his nails need trimming. Thank goodness tomorrow is a public holiday... Axel is going to feel and smell brand new!

Who moved my cheese?

I wanted to write this sooner but I was so bogged down by my own negativity that blogging seems to be the last thing on my mind.

There have been a major change in my company recently. I should have seen it coming when I saw my company's 2009 calendar and the "Who Moved My Cheese?" book by Spencer Johnson on my desk the very first day I stepped into the office after my Paris trip. Apparently all my colleagues were given a copy of them.

In case you do not know, "Who Moved My Cheese?" talks about change and how to deal with it. I have read this book some time ago and I guess I must have forgotten the lessons in it... cos I am definitely not dealing with the new change well.

You see, in the new change, all of us engineers have a change in job scope. We all need to do technical support work now... fulltime that is! Previously we have our primary roles plus some secondary support work on rotation basis. With this change, our support work has become our primary role... and to make matter worse, it's for a new product and the very fact that I hate doing support!

Someone has definitely moved my cheese and I am really sad about it. I really love what I was doing previously. I guess many people would say that I should be grateful that I still have a job... they are right! I do!

I just need to condition my mind to accept this change in a more graceful manner so that I can be grateful more. At the meantime, there are going to be a lot of transition periods (which may be painful) that I need to go through in order for me to be comfortable with the new role.

Guess I better pick up that book and start reading again.