Sunday, September 21, 2008

Getting rid of the cobwebs

Condition
The past 2 and a half months have not been great. The persistent and stubborn inflammation of the skin has returned yet again. I have seen 4 doctors to date. And the amount spent for medical expenses has breached RM500. The third doctor that I went to see is a dermatologist specialist and had diagnosed my condition as pityriasis rosea and had prescribed me with an ointment and probiotics. I was also given a jab and miraculously the condition was almost gone by the next 2-3 days. However, it seem to came back with a vengeance and grew more and in more chronic state. I then decided to see Dr. Mak, who took a quick look and in less than 30 seconds had prescribed ketaconazole, cetrizine hydrachloride and econazole cream; and sent me off the room. He didn't mention what it was and from my research based on the prescription, it could be tinea versicolor or some fungi related infection in the bloodstream. Today is the second day and I have so far see rather positive results. Hope this will finally clear up as I have been very frustrated over this.

Investment
At the current situation, needless to say, my investment porfolio isn't looking great. Couldn't be categorised as abysmal but suffice to say, a -9.41% yield is paltry at best.

To make matters worse, the next progress payment for my apartment shall be disbursed soon. That shall entail more funds to be channeled into the loan account to offset as much of interest charged as possible. If we are not confident of winning 6.85% in investments, we might as well dump the fund there to reduce the amount of principal which is to be charged at -6.85%. Simple arithmetics.

Work
Managed to take 4 days of replacement leaves and went for a short trip to Singapore. Did a lot of walking, as expected, but this time I guess the crux of the trip had opened up my perspective of the lifestyle there and necessary adjustments for working there. I think now, I will only move if the money is right.

With the departure of two team leads, I have suddenly promoted to a higher position, at least on the responsibilities and workload without the pay increment and position change. It has been tough working long hours and trying to solve problems to which I've not had experience on before. Fortunately we have managed to pull through most of it and have gained a lot more understanding and knowledge as a result. To take something out of this, I guess this will clearly mark me as one of the candidates for a promotion in the next upcoming round. Let's be patient and sit out this till March 09 and see what happens.

Misc
Today I have bought my first pillow. It's a dunlopillo and had cost me RM 150. Just a pillow for goodness sake!