I had a really rough day yesterday with migraine pain, I can feel the discomfort in my head building as the minutes pass. I have time to decide whether or not to take anything for the attack.

So whats the cause of my migraine headaches? Could it be that I was so engrossed in the tasks at hand I didn’t feel the pain until I was back in relaxed mode. This morning I sat talking with one of the moms at the residence. That last few minutes outside were very relaxed and remarkably non-worky.

Despite not feeling my best today, I decided to be social. Taking a cue from people I know (or whose blogs I read) with New Daily Persistent Headache and/or chronic daily headache, I am trying to still do things I enjoy despite the pain, trying not to shut out the outside world and the things I love in it in favor of lying in bed feeling bad. It worked okay today, and I won’t be pushing myself to socialize all the times I am not up to par.

Last bit of news, is that I’ve been relatively migraine free. The topamax seems to have been doing its job overall. The bad news is that the mood leveling effect seems to be dropping off a bit. Nothing major, but I feel like a bit of the old “angry Rob” is coming back a bit more.

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My brush with the bush fires raging in the hills came in the form of ash falling in the pool.

The Japanese girls came over on Sunday and the boyfriend had gone over to his friend’s place, to meet the newest member of the friend’s family. (His wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy).

It was just the girls and I. They were being their chatty selves. Diving in the pool, lounging around and simply having fun. It was about 2 in the afternoon when it started raining ash.

We decided to get out of the pool then. When we took a walk later by the river, there was a thick column of grey cloud in the sky and a dry smoky scent in the air. There were plenty of dead jellyfish carcasses being washed onto the river banks. I think the girls were slightly sickened by the sight and wanted to leave quickly.

The next day, when the boyfriend went to take a swim in the pool, he noticed all the black ash collecting at the bottom and asked me if the girls had dirtied pool. I could not help but laugh at the irony of it all. They would be the last people I know who would conceive of dirtying the pool.

I had my blood pressure checked on Saturday, and the nurse who was taking the reading got restless and called her colleague over to double check the machine.

“There is something wrong, his reading is too low.” The nurse muttered in Mandarin.

“He just has low blood pressure.” The other nurse replied.

All this happened right in front of me, oblivious to the fact that I was sitting right in front of them, listening to the whole exchange. Were they assuming that I did not understand?

They hooked me up to another machine, and the reading was the same.

“He just has low blood pressure.” The nurse said in relief. “Should we tell him?”

“No, we don’t want to worry him for nothing.” The other nurse said with certainty.

WTH!?!? I have heard everything already. Really, I am not invisible or deaf.

While recently working on a jigsaw puzzle, I began to see many parallels between life and a puzzle.

When beginning both life and a new puzzle, all the different pieces are all scrambled up in front of us with no real instructions to lead us in any direction. After we examine our current situation, we notice there are all different ways we can begin our journey. We may decide to start in one corner or another, depending on what we feel is best for us.

I have found it best to get your edges (beliefs and virtues) down first as a strong foundation to help us see what direction we’re wanting to take. As we continue working, we notice that some parts come easy to us, and others can become a challenge. Just as in life, we all struggle in differing ways. Each obstable, or lesson that we learn in life is like getting the next piece in the right position.

Sometimes, things come along in life that seem like they belong and fit, but after some struggling and frustation, we finally submit to the fact that it just doesn’t belong, at least not here and not now.

You can relate the picture on the box with God. It makes things alot easier when you look to Him as your guide. To see how things should be and look in your life. Some people don’t realize that the box is sitting right there next to them, or they simply try to finish the puzzle without going to it, when all they need to do is look to Him to make life so much easier.

Puzzles can be enjoyable and relaxing, or boring and frustrating, depending on your current situation. After many hours and hours of diligent work and all is done and finished, you can look back over your whole experience and see all the things that you’ve accomplished and over come on your journey.

It’s amazing the things that God can remind you of by simple things in life, like a puzzle.

I’m planning to release a new page here. Well, actually it should already have been released, but I didn’t want to publish a half-finished page. Don’t expect too much (especially from the design ..), but I want it to be kinda meaningful .. Not just another homepage on the web which nobody really needs (Heh – that’s exactly what this weblog is all about ).

All my friends started making blogs, so I’ve decided to join the crowd and make my own. I hope you enjoy taking a peek into my life.

I was going through my monthly budget and I noticed that I’ve been spending excessively on paying others to keep my sites fresh with contents on a daily basis. A bulk of the expenditure was spent on my not-so-new-anymore tech blog which so far have not seen much profit. I spent about a little over $1,000 on writers on a monthly basis, kinda scary when in the real world I make slightly double that amount. Good thing my girlfriend is not tech savvy and doesn’t check on my bills or she would go bonkers! But still this is what I love doing and by being involved (and still learning) I’m keeping myself updated which I could apply to my real work (my line of work involves heavily on IT issues and being web savvy I’m able to keep up during discussions and also able to contribute in IT meetings). It’s a win-win situation, not so much on my wallet though!