Category: General

Today

No serious itching today, well, at least not to the extent of having to take anti-histamines, apply Beprosalic ointment or scratching like a monkey till the skin breaks. William will be dropping by in a short while to take me to the bank. I told him to give me one hour to get ready. I need that much time because of my new wheelchair.

I like my new wheelchair very much. It is compact, comfortable, gives me a good posture, easy to propel and has a very short turning radius. Considering the fact that it cost me a few thousand, it is still money well spent. The only problem I have with this chair is dressing myself up. In my previous chair, I could dress myself up in 10 to 15 minutes. In this, I need at least 20 to 30 minutes. Its compactness restricts some of the limb movements I need to wear trousers. You win some you lose some. I just need to get used to doing things in this chair.

Back To Paperbacks

After that fateful meeting with Jiwa Rasa, it got me thinking. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Since I started blogging, I hardly read books anymore. Nevermind that I have a stack of bestsellers in my apartment in Penang that I got at a bargain and has been collecting dust for a couple of years already. Back in the early days, reading blogs was fun. Bloggers blogged then because they had a story to tell. Now, I would be hard pressed to find a blog that could entice me to go back for more.

I want to get back to the habit of reading again, not blogs but paperbacks. There is a sense of pleasure and mystery in holding a book, smelling the sometimes overpowering scent of pulp and the sensuality in turning the pages one after another. First things first, I am going to finish Tuesdays with Morrie, that is if I remember where I put it. I was halfway through when, somehow, other things took priority over it, and I lost the momentum to continue reading.

After I am done with that book, I would love to read stories written in Bahasa Malaysia. That is one of the only two languages that I am able to read and it has been the longest time since I read a book in that language. It would be such a waste to allow my linguistic skills in the national language slowly rot away. Jiwa Rasa, any suggestion?

WordPress 2.5 Upgrade

The Digital Awakening is now running under WordPress 2.5. The upgrade was straightforward and painless – download, unzip and upload. I did not even bother to delete files from the previous version. Everytime WordPress releases a new version, my reservation is whether the plugins will be compatible. The plugins are working fine with this latest version so far although there are newer versions for some of them.

One thing that needs a little getting used to is the dashboard look and layout. It is a radical change from the familiar layout that we have come to expect from previous versions. Links for the menu has been moved around and regrouped while new functions have also been added to the dashboard, namely the add media icons. I have yet to use it. I am not a WordPress power user. Some of these new functions will be lost on me. As long as I do not have problems posting entries I am happy – new version or otherwise.