Pickles n' Tickles by JJ

AFTER weeks of tests and follow-up check-ups with different doctors which started earlier this month, I'm diagnosed with something called the Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome  (CECS). It's an uncommon exercise-induced condition in which increased tissue pressure within a closed muscle compartment compromises blood flow to the muscles and nerves within that compartment, resulting in potential tissue and nerve damage. In simple words, it means that I have to quit running, kickboxing and boot-camping as not to aggravate the condition, which also means a complete change of lifestyle.   CECS I'm still at lost here. My only references are my podiatrist and every article I can lay my hands on. This condition is not like a heart-attack where I can share notes with my father-in-law and half the world's population. Not that I'm asking for a cardiovascular condition instead, but this change of lifestyle is not going to be easy. Yesterday, I went swimming as th...

The gods have NO idea how much good this sunny evening does to my sanity. I'm loving it from every angle and I pray that every evening is as bright as today. It's been a few weeks since we've had this sort of evening that casts a shadow on my sofa by the window. That invites children to splash out at the pool downstairs. That allows kite flyers and joggers to fill up the nearby park. I love the smell and sight of the sun, and the hope it brings. I'm not too sure how many would agree with me on how therapeutic sunny days can be to one's mind and soul but it does me a whole lot of good. If I can represent myself through an emoticon, it would have to be this bright yellow type with the largest crescent for a mouth. I'm finally bright happy in a month that's been testing every fibre of my mental strength. No, it's not one-of-those-months kind of month. October 2011 has been a spirit dampening month, just like the stormy evenings over the past weeks. Well, th...

FORMER Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is dead, but what a way to die. Hunted down, killed and the body, stripped and paraded around like a roadkill, followed by a nationwide celebration. Jubilant victors then get snapshots of the corpse for a photo in a frame. Personal belongings found on him taken as memorabilia. I think I even read a man saying that he'd die happy now with Gaffadi's death. And these are possibly the future leaders of the country.  I don't see a difference between them and the dead man.  At least for all their crime against humanity, lucky bastards Saddam Hussein and Osama Laden died a pretty decent death. One tried, found guilty and hanged, and the other hunted down, killed and buried in the sea.  I would've loved to see Gaddafi in the International Criminal Court. 

MY search for the ‘best’ eye-cream has temporarily ended last week with the purchase of Kiehl’s Line Reducing Eye Brightening Concentrate (right). For all the researching I did, this product was a random pick. I bought it after a couple of glasses of wine with Jasmine, who is a huge fan of Dr Sebagh  - she has almost everything that’s on the very expensive beauty counter and she also uses all of it in a nightly ritual after a warm shower. She says she loves what the Doctor does for her and I suppose that’s all that matters. Before settling on Kiehl’s, I had my eyes on a Doctor too. dr.brandt that is. Very tempting reviews from the lady at the counter (naturally), and more convincing testimonies from personal friends who have sworn by the Doctor. The counter lady said that she has stopped using concealers after turning to one of the eye creams and even her under-eye oil sacs have vanished. How interesting. As for my friends, I think it’s just psychological for them - a mere ...

Mr. Jobs IT'S ironic that the first news I read on my i-Phone when I woke up this morning was that of  its maker's demise. Steve Jobs,  was a man who had changed the way I live my everyday life. The co-founder of Apple with an eye for detail, a taste for both art and science, was revolutionary in his offerings. A tech genius. He was all about thinking-out-of-the-box. As an Apple fan, I am compelled to dedicate a post in his memory. This qoute below by Jobs in a 1985 Playboy interview  just before he was fired by Apple CEO John Sculley kind of sums up his outlook on life, career and personality.  " I’ll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life I’ll sort of have the thread of my life and the thread of Apple weave in and out of each other, like a tapestry. There may be a few years when I’m not there, but I’ll always come back. And that’s what I may try to do. The key thing to remember about me is that I’m still a stude...

I am officially on a hunt for a good eye cream now after what my brother (he is not gay, it's just that the men and women in my family have a way of noticing and pointing out the obvious among us, without tact) had said about my under-eye wrinkles. Well, yes. I know they exist. They've existed for some years already and have just become more pronounced in the last year. Something dry and wrinkly on a face that thankfully, is still quite flawless does stand out quite a bit. But still, when my brother merrily pointed it out during a family dinner, it kind of caught me off-guard and got me thinking.  It is true. My eyes are the first to tire and show signs of tiredness by a day's end no matter what I do. I miss a couple of hours of sleep, it shows on my under-eyes in forms of dry, gray skin, and over-sleeping causes puffy upper eye-lids. Allergens in the air especially smoke causes them to...