Produce that I don’t have to buy anymore

Maintaining the edible garden to always be in good shape is challenging lately because of the return-to-work albeit alternate weeks. It survives so far nevertheless and I am proud to say that I no longer need to buy the following from the market. I have sufficient fresh supply of them.

• Ginger
• Tumeric (and its leaves)
• ‘Ulam raja’
• Curry leaves
• ‘Daun kesum’
• Aubergine
• Green vegetables like spinach & pak choy
• Kaffir lime leaves
• ‘Limau nipis’
• ‘Daun pandan’
• ‘Cili padi’
• ‘Daun sup’

Quite a number for such a small garden. Proud.

Some tips on using clear aligners

As previously posted, I am now embarking on an Invisalign journey.  I’ll be putting the second pair tomorrow.  The first one were fine.  I did not experience any pain.

In preparation for the new pair, I’ve got some ideas, which I think can be helpful in making this journey more bearable.

1. I will not be changing both the upper and lower trays at the same time.  I am going to change one first, maybe the upper one, and leave a gap in between.  I’ll change the lower one when the pain resulting from changing the upper one, if any, has subsided.  But I won’t let the gap to be too long.  Maybe 24 hours at most.
2. To avoid discomfort from eating after changing to the new pairs, I am going to fast on the day I change them.  So, I plan it in such a way that the change takes place early morning, after sahur, on Monday.  Since I change my aligners on weekly basis, I get to fast every week too.  Nice.

My Invisalign journey

I am embarking on another journey 🙂.  A journey to straighten my teeth, especially the upper ones.  I think my two main front incisors at the top are too big and a bit protruding. Because of the size, even small overbyte can be obvious.  They're not too bad actually.  It's just that I think it'll boost my confidence even more if I can have them properly aligned, especially now that we are making more and more online appearance where our faces and mouths are closer to the cameras than ever before.

Captured at a speech I gave
during an online conference

Upon discussion with the dentist, the two incisors are actually of normal size.  But the other two incisors at the sides of them are smaller than average, which make the former two look bigger than they are.  So, it’s these latter two that need to be made bigger.

So, for my case, the Invisalign treatment is divided into two parts.  The first one is mainly to space out the upper teeth to make way for the super small teeth to be enlarged, cosmetically.  The second part is the real journey to straighten them.  So half way through, there will be a rescan for me where another set of trays will be printed, at no additional cost.

My byte before the treatment

After the first scan, I received 25 sets of trays altogether that I am not going to wear all.  I will only be wearing half of them, for about 3 months or so.  Once enough spacing is obtained, the super small teeth will be enlarged and after that, there will be a rescan and I will be receiving a another set of trays to complete the treatment.

The dentist also said that for my case, I can change the trays every week.  Good news.  Looks like I can move my teeth faster and hopefully the journey can be shortened too.

Month 1 - 6/12/2021

With this other journey, I will no longer be too preoccupied with the journey to spotless.  Hope both will end well.

Journey to spotless

Despite COVID-19, I am excitedly reporting about another journey!  A different kind of journey though.  A journey to a spotless face.  Flawless face might be too much to ask at this age.  So I will be fine with having a spotless one.

Ever since not having to go to the office, I have not been religiously applying the skincare regime, thinking that I am safe because I am not being out under the sun while working from home, forgetting that hormonal changes due to aging also play a part.

They're not that bad actually and can be easily covered with a thin layer of foundation.  But if zoomed in, they're quite horrendous.  There are two spots that I am mainly targetting, one of which is shown below.  I will reveal my skincare treatment regime at the end of this post, if it works.

Day 1 - The beginning
6/11/2021

Day 6 - Hardly any change
11/11/2021

Day 11
16/11/2021

It’s difficult to ensure the same focus and exposure.  I try my best to ensure fair reporting nevertheless 😁.  After all, this is amateur work.  I think it's fading.  Not to be overly optimistic though, let’s wait for another 5 days.

Day 16 - After 2 weeks
21/11/2021

The next reporting would be in about another 2 weeks i.e. result after about a month.

Day 30 - It’s still there
5/12/2021

I am actually not quite sure now if it is fading or what.  The thing is, even if it is fading, the skin around it is also probably getting fairer, which, in a way, makes the spot more visible than before.  Nevertheless, I don't expect the positive effect, if any, is going to be very noticeable that fast, especially when the spot has been with me for years.  So I'll come back with update after another 2 weeks, or maybe a month.

New addition to the garden: French bean

Gardening has become part and parcel of my daily routine.  Because of the limited space, same have started to intertwine themselves.

Flowering

Tiny French bean appearing.
The dry flower is still attached to the end of it.

I hope that post COVID-19 way of working will still allow me to continue doing what I’ve been doing for the past one and a half year or so.