It has been so long since I blogged here. I’ve been keeping myself busy with getting better physically and mentally. I’ve been happier and happier, so no angry post, nothing to rant about here and just deal with what I need to do. Yay… This blog has been useful as a place for me to express my displeasure and pent up unhappiness; I’ve been healing well since I’ve let it out. After that, I found other ways to deal with my problems and have been putting in time to improve my life in many areas. It has been useful indeed to have a place to write down my thoughts and to just let it out. You’ll be wondering why would someone want to show their problems out in the open through a blog. Well, everyone will have their own ways to deal with their problems.
It’s not like life is perfect with nothing bad going on. The pandemic is still going on and the number of cases are getting higher in Malaysia. It has just passed the 5 digit figure during the last week in Malaysia, and Malaysia has been able to keep the number of cases to below 10,000 for the past 1 year since the pandemic began in early 2020. It’s just that I’ve been getting good at protecting myself from unwanted people and entities in my life; and removing what I don’t want. How it’s like is as though you’re putting yourself in a spacesuit which protects you from germs, viruses and everything you don’t want near you. It’s like wearing PPE suits, which are commonly seen donned by front liner staff dealing with patients during this Covid-19 pandemic.
Talking about spacesuit, just last week on 11 July 2021, human beings have taken their first step towards realising commercial space travel with the launch of the test flight to space by Virgin Atlantic where we saw Sir Richard Branson travelling in a spacecraft. It was a short journey, about 15 minutes or so – up then down and landed. Apparently there are many who have booked their places on this commercial space flight and the waiting list is long. Many criticised this space launch during this pandemic and whether it was necessary to spend so much on this space flight when the money could have been used as financial aid towards those in need. In all fairness, this space flight was by a company and they have a choice to choose whether to use the money to fund their space flight launching or to donate it to any other funds. The government should be the one forking out money (which is actually tax payers’ money) to aid the citizens during this pandemic. It doesn’t mean that during the pandemic, everything needs to shut down and everyone don’t do anything except to rot at home. Life goes on.
Even the Euro 2020 has taken place already recently and the Olympics 2020 is about to begin soon. I guess they can’t delay these world events any longer. I don’t feel it’s good though, to hold the Olympics now when there are corona virus variants popping up and those variants are stronger, thus making infection rates higher and faster. From news reports, it can be seen that some athletes infected are spreading the virus to other athletes and there were some athletes who were barred from boarding the plane because they found out they have Covid-19. As you know sports, athletes need to practise and they’ll be breathing in and out air faster without a mask when they are running and doing sports, due to the increase in movement and heart rate. So the chances of contracting coronavirus in such a situation will be higher. Would it be necessary to create such a risk ? If testing the commercial space flight, I wouldn’t have any problem with that because it’s a few people going in a contained area which is the spacecraft, which would have been sanitized before boarding, and they are not stepping out of the craft until they land, and after they have landed, they are probably chartered off quickly in an enclosed and safely sanitized area with a team of people who are probably masked up properly. I doubt billionaires would simply risk their lives being exposed to the virus and they would have taken only calculated risks. Who knows this space flight was actually necessary so that it can one day be humanity’s way to escape to space should any catastrophe happen on earth that can wipe out our entire species.
Anyway, talking about sports, today I dance-exercise for 45 minutes, the longest I’ve done in a few years now. It has been so long since I felt the healthy blood rush to my face and my sweat glands working properly. I love it. 😍 Previously, I had to cut down on my exercise time because my sweat was burning my skin and it was causing too much of an itch. My body temperature imbalance was also not suitable for me to exercise. As of now, the longer exercise time is still not suitable as it causes itchiness and some hives to appear on my body. After the exercise, the skin on my legs feel stiff and my legs are attempting to swell up. However, I can breathe better and my sinus has cleared up though not entirely. I’m not crazy to self-inflict pain by exercising when I know it’s going to cause me damage. Of course I do it for a reason which is for the benefit that comes with exercising. If I don’t exercise, it can be worse off because my body has not much movement and my health deteriorates further. At the end of the day, it’s finding the balance so as not to over exert myself and also to ensure I get some exercise.
Today is also my Grandma’s Remembrance Day, the day she passed away. By now I’ve already accepted that she’s no longer alive and I don’t feel super sad thinking about her demise. It took over 10 years to not feel that wave of extreme sadness and not to cry at the thought of her. After all, we were living in the same house while I was growing up, so she was by my side from the time I was born and all the way until I was in my twenties. Of course I will still feel a teeny-weeny bit sad knowing she’s not here by my side anymore but like today, praying to her at the altar on her Remembrance Day, I don’t feel anything. I hope she’s in a better place now. There’s a Buddha teaching that says everything in this life is impermanent and that we should not have any attachment to anything. Holding on to something when it should be let go of, will only cause suffering. How true, indeed. Maybe that’s why it’s so much easier for me to get rid of whatever I don’t want in my life now and to move on, not remembering what’s not important to me. The time has come and learnt this, I have. Blessed, I am.
Talking about Buddha, today is also the launching of Kek Lok Si Charitable Medical Centre, which is a hospital. Kek Lok Si is a temple in Penang. May this non-profit hospital serve its purpose to heal those in need and not just another hospital in Penang that claims they are non-profit but then charge the patients quite a large sum of money. I end this post with a picture stating my thoughts to my Grandma, showing a candle made by Myle Enterprise from pure beeswax and infused with tea tree oil. Candles made out of beeswax is more expensive than candles made out of soy or paraffin. This candle is supposed to make the air smell better. Candles are usually used for prayers, to light up the room, to cleanse the air or as air freshener. Check out Myle Enterprise’s online shop as they have more items like this, from homemade, handicraft to event items.
The flame from the candle is mesmerizing.