Dead after 8 hours on laptop
“I’ve got myself sick these few days. Had diarrhoea last Thursday (19 Apr), hurt my knee and was limping badly since last Sunday (15 Apr), had breathlessness since Wednesday (18 Apr) and fainted after work on that day at my office lift lobby, knocked my head against the wall when I fainted, collapsed again last night at home.”
Her family members said that when she tried to stand up, the blood clot actually shot to her heart causing her to collapse.

Deep vein thrombosis refers to the formation of a blood clot within a deep vein, commonly in the thigh or calf.
Some risk factors include being over 60 years old, overweight and being inactive for a long period of time.
-AsiaOne Digital

It really struck a cord within me. My friend sent me this article moments ago when i was still rushing deadline while building a mountain of Kleenex trying to stop my nose waterfalls and throatcanic eruptions. I couldn’t believe it. It sounds almost exactly like me. Only child, working hard to earn vitamin M to go on vacation. It could have been me. It could have been any of us.

I still remember the week leading up to Christmas last year, i was rushing deadlines and attending x’mas dinners, i didn’t slept a wink for 38 hours. I shudder to even recall.

8 hours straight on the computer is pretty much a day to day thing for most of us. And many times we try to push that boundary, just because we think we can. Expecially for those working from home. It’s easy to stretch the work time coz we don’t have an “official” office hour. Wanna kill that last few bugs, wanna tweak that design a few more times just to make it perfect, wanna finish a few more lines of code to feel more acomplished, wanna pick up that client phone call in the middle of the night, wanna take in a few more to the already countless projects just coz you think you can handle it even if it means die trying. Don’t we all do that sometimes? if not, all the time?

To my dear designer and programmer friends, and to all workaholics (including myself), please give youself a break NOW! Stand up, go have a cuppa tea or play with your poor little puppy whose sulking in one corner of your room, or go to the bathroom if you have been holding your bladder (lol!). Please listen to your body, and try not to pull an all nighter if possible. Rest well if you are sick and try not to think about work. Take a break if you are feeling tired. You can work hard but take ample amount of breaks in between work. It’s really simple and logical advice that your body are giving you. All you have to do is to take the advice and do something about it. Listen to your body or you may regret it.

Almost had a heart attack. As usual my morning routine is switch on my comp, brush teeth and stuff… then come back to my room and go online. But this morning, my comp is not starting no matter how many times i tried! Checked the power socket, plug and unplug, the monitor is on, but the cpu just wasn’t breathing or moving at all! no sound, nothing!

So i told myself… “Freak out about it later.” So i went on to have breakfast while watching Animal Planet, charge my flat-batt handphone so that i can call my friend for help later if the comp really died. Then come back to my room. Open up my CPU, touched a few internal organs and blood vessels here and there. Close it back and switch it on and Viola! It’s BREATHING again!!!! I think i have a healing touch!

Thankfully, i put freaking about it till later. Ese, i would have wasted alot of energy jumping and screaming and still not get it to work. Phew…. In times of danger or emergency, stay CALM. it will figure itself out sooner or later. Well, usually sooner if you stay calm that is.

I’ve had a revelation today…. As i was typing away on my keyboard while watching a pianist playing his keyboard on youtube, i thought:

“Hey! I can type on the keys of my keyboard as well as he can play the music keys of his piano! ”

So? We all can type well on our computer keyboard…. what’s the big big revelation?

The big revelation is… Practice makes perfect. Yes, typing on keyboard may be a skill that we often regard as “nothing”.
“It’s nothing… it’s just typing on the keyboard. i do that everyday…. day in… day out….in fact i’m doing it now as i’m writing this.” But it’s thing thats we do over and over again that makes as so good at it.

And then i thought…
“Hey! If I can type on the keys of my keyboard as well as he can play the music keys of his piano, then i can definately play the piano if i work towards that goal! ”

But of course, my interest wasn’t to master piano. It just means that, if i put my heart and soul to whatever i love and wants to achieve, i CAN DO IT. There’s no substitute for hard work. After 10 years, with some strokes of good luck and good timing, you might just become world-class. Who knows? You can make yourself into whatever you want to be…. you can even make yourself great. But great doesn’t comes easy.

Tiger Woods may be the youngest Masters champion at age 21, but he started playing golf at 3 years old and never stopped trying to improve.

Mozart began playing piano at 2 and would have accumalated tens of thousands of hours deliberate practice by the time he first played on stage.

It’s never too late to start.
The key word here is “deliberate practice”. Do it regularly, not sporadically. And never ever give up.

It finally rained today….. Think Earth really needs some cooling down… it’s been so hot these day, i could fry an egg on the top of my head.

Was watching Ellen Degeneres show today and she was talking about giving yourself an applause each day when you wake up in the morning… ( Whoohoo!!! I’m awake! I’m awake! *claps* ) Yes, it sounds hilarious. Even more so when it’s her saying it ( i just love her comical voice! esp her voiceover for Dory in Finding Nemo ). But i think she’s right. We should really be grateful for being able to wake up each day, with a roof over our head, food for our body and soul, work for our accomplishments, friends for company and kins for support.

Often we overlook the good in ouselves and we focus on the not so good. We tends to give ourselves a hard time and seldom give ourselves compliments. We think that compliments can only be good if it comes from others. Thus we seek acknowledgements and approvals from others, even if it’s those who doesn’t matters to you at all, their views about you does. And that can be very damaging to your self-esteem. Coz we are trying to base our self-image upon other’s opinions about us, which sometimes may be misleading.

I guess what i’m trying to convey is that We all have flaws. To those who matters, your flaws are merely skin-deep. They will see pass through that. In fact, they may even be oblivious to any flaws you have until you mention it. Try to learn to accept whatever flaws it may be and if there’s anything you can do to change it, then take baby steps towards achieving that change coz it’s not gonna happen overnight. And be patient. If there’s nothing you can do to change it, then learn to accept it and maybe even use that flaw and create something good outta it.
If you choose to be happy, you will be. Happiness is a state of mind.

So yup, let’s all start giving ourself a compliment to start each day with a bang!
I’ll start by saying….

” I can sing weird happy tunes and make it sounds nice!”

See, when i talk like this, i’m really just talking to myself. So if anyone finds that useful, please feel free to apply it to yourself. Although i’m not responsible for any emotional, mental or physical distress, trauma or enlightenment it may cause.