In between start and end

Actual 5 digits amount after 2 years of saving, can you believe it? My past self would've been so proud.

I still remember when I was first assigned with a mentee, I had a ton of worries. I didn't know how I could possibly guide someone else knowing I am lacking a lot myself. It was both exciting and a scary experience at first. I just wasn't used to be depended on like this.

Now, 6 months later, I finally felt the reward of my hard work. My mentee - who is also an apprentice in my team, was offered to be converted into a full-time position at my company!

The seniors and I came to this conclusion after seeing his conversion presentation. He managed to get so many praises from the team. My HOD even praised his answering technique and said he "surpassed expectation" at his level as an apprentice by pulling that off.

Although, I barely contributed to his presentation directly, I definitely felt proud of him.

I think I learnt a lot from this mentee. Not only was he very humble, he is also everything I wished I did as an intern.

He was proactive and bright with ideas. He always tried to make things clear for himself and speaks in confidence. He isn't shy to approach his seniors and most importantly, I wished I had a senior who is like myself back then. Someone I could get close to and communicate more than just a colleague.

In a way I like to think that I served my time well being a good senior to him. Not necessarily technical-wise, but at least I tried my best to not make him feel like he's all alone.

At least I am a better senior than MY OWN senior. That is all I wish to be.

I am also happy that he is willing to listen to my feedbacks. It's not often that people are genuinely curious on what I have to say, especially when I know I don't always have the best solution.

I still remember my previous performance manager telling me, "As a mentor, it's not just you teaching them, it's also about you learning from them". True enough, he kinda inspired me to do better in the aspects I'm lacking in.

I'm grateful I am able to get a good and reliable mentee who managed to make me feel proud. Thanks for having me as your mentor, kiddo.

Dropping by,

At this point, I should really stop getting into more groups. However, I am so invested with their songs that I find so hard to not love this one!

TRENDZ is a boy group debuted on 5th January 2022 so they're still a rookie group. The group consists of 7 members with the oldest born in 1999 and youngest born in 2005. I don't think you bother to remember the members names, so we shall skip that part of the introduction 👀

The story begins with how I first heard of them.

This is a bit unusual these days (moreover kpop) but I actually first heard them on the radio. At that time they had a comeback with a song called 'NEW DAYZ' and I first thought it was a really good song. The song had a good hook and I immediately Googled it so that I can add it to my Spotify playlist. Typical behaviour.

I liked it so much that I even searched up their choreo on YouTube. I thought the dance was pretty good.

I listened to the same song for about 4 months until I decided to try listening to their other songs. Figured that I might like them too.

The next song I played on YouTube was 'VAGABOND'. The title reminded me of the K-drama of the same name lol. This was their comeback prior to 'NEW DAYZ'.

When I played their dance practice video, this is when I became amazed by them. Their choreo was very powerful but the song actually sounds good. The sound wasn't as fierce as I thought. The choreo definitely blew me away - it was so beautifully choreographed and they all danced so well with the energy.

I read the comments saying how all their choreography are always so good, so I got curious.

I thought I wouldn't get any more impressed until I watch the next song 'CLIQUE'. At this point I was just like "Why do all their song sounds soo good??" bcos it's rare to see me liking all the songs that I play back-to-back. More impressively, the choreo is always so satisfying to watch. I'm just in love 😍

After watching 3 videos, I was like, "There's no way I'm gonna be impressed with another video" and then I played 'Villain' and bruh, I SPOKE TOO SOON!

'Villain' is literally another level of cool. They literally choreographed the dance with a rope! If NCT Dream danced with a hoverboard and Speed danced with heelys, TRENDZ danced with ropes!

I'm sure it's not the first time people uses ropes as props. I've personally seen PENTAGON using ropes for their performance in Road to Kingdom and I've seen Stray Kids performing with ropes on their neck during 'Red Lights' at their concert, but to see a group dancing with ropes as part of the entire choreo was something else.

I was just blown away by how good they make the choreo look and how they gave the rope its own identity within the choreo. Like it wasn't to simply make it appear "cooler"... They definitely did not half-ass it here.

All of their choreo are so satisfying to watch that I just couldn't get enough of them. I'm falling so hard for their songs and dances.

I'm so excited bcos they're having a comeback in September - yes, that's next month! I can't wait to be impressed by them again. They're also going on their first world tour soon. Not sure if they're coming anywhere near me, but I'm surely gonna be tempted to go. 

.@TRENDZ_OFFCL coming 🔜! #TRENDZ is going on their first World Tour starting this Oct, according to their music label on Aug 16. They will be visiting FRIENDZ in Asia, including Indonesia, Kazakhstan (and more!), then 25 US cities, France, Morocco, Senegal, etc! ✈ #트렌드지 pic.twitter.com/HhvYbOipm7

— SPOTV ent. (@SPOTVent_KPOPUP) August 16, 2023

I do feel like it's veryyy soon to be having a world tour especially since they're still a rookie with basically little to no presence in the vast kpop industry yet, but I applaud the company's effort to promote them. They don't even have a lightstick yet, but I'm excited for their future opportunities. I hope they won't disband too soon huhu.

Dropping by,

I've been feeling sore around my neck for quite some time. I guess working from home all day and the lack of exercise routine is surely taking a toll on my body. So earlier this year, in January, I went for a massage. It was my first ever massage session. 

At that time, I was considering regular massage sessions bcos I thought it could relief my soreness. Unfortunately, after the first session, instead of feeling relieved, I was actually in more pain. 

I did shoulder and feet massage and for the whole week I was having trouble moving around bcos the massage spots were super sore. At first I thought it was normal, but my friend told me that it wasn't. I didn't go for any other massage after that.

However, I did started to jog outside for about 30 mins a day. That massage session made me realize how sore my shoulder was and how unfit I was becoming. Even during fasting month, I replaced the jog with walk to keep this habit going.

Also back in April, I actually went on my first ever solo trip to Korea but as soon as I got back, I started feeling pain on my right knee. The pain was so bad that I couldn't even properly kneel down during prayer. Initially I thought it would subside after awhile and it was probably just a post-travel thing since I walked more than usual during my travel, but I was wrong bcos it wasn't going away. 

Roughly 2 months in, that was the first time I heard my knee popped. I did feel a short relieved but the pain was still there. The pain and popping went on and off for about 4 months. 

During the whole 4 months, I continued with my daily walk to get my steps of at least 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, which is equivalent to an hour plus of brisk walking. The pain got more disturbing as I could hardly walk up and down the stairs without feeling a sharp pain.

Then suddenly I came across a tweet recommending a chiropractic centre. That was my first time hearing about this option. Not long after seeing that, I saw a post on Tiktok about a girl ignoring her knee pain and ended up getting diagnosed with cancer. Not gonna lie, I started overthinking.

I told my family that I'm tempted to try chiropractic. But my family told me to go for a doctor check-up at the clinic first bcos they didn't think it was serious enough. Well, I did went not long after I came back from Korea. That time the doctor told me that it was bcos of my tendons and I was only prescribed with painkillers. The doctor couldn't give a more detailed explanation so I was quite reluctant to go back thinking I might hear the same thing.

I scraped that thought for awhile but I kept on complaining to my family about my knee. 2 weeks later, my mum told me I should just go for chiropractic. 

After getting a green light from my mum, I tried to find a chiropractic centre near my house. I found a few at SS2 but I hesitated bcos I didn't like driving there and the prices were quiet expensive for first time treatment.

That is how I came across Wellsworth Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Centre at SS7. I inquired on WhatsApp and found out that they're having a promo on free consultation for first time visits and that their pricing system were flat rate of RM100 for consultation and RM160 for treatment. Their doctors are also all female, so since it checks out all of my boxes, I thought I would give it a try.

During my first visit, the chiropractor - Dr. Mag, basically asked few questions to understand my areas of concerns. I told her about my knee pain being the main concern and the neck being the secondary concern. She examined my body and explained to me what she discovered. 

She told me that I actually have flat feet on my right leg. The flat feet causes pressure on the inner part of my legs. She also told me I have a mild case of knock knee. It is a position where my knee is mostly facing inwards and feet facing outwards bcos the muscles are pulled from the inside more due to the flat feet.

I learnt so much from that alone. I never knew I had flat feet. I thought my feet were normal, but apparently the arch on my feet wasn't really arching, thus causes it to be flat.

We also found out that my legs weren't the same length. My right leg was shorter than my left.

Basically the pain on my knee was caused by the muscles being pulled more on one side than the other.

After explaining everything, she suggested me to go for a physio session as well. Although she could help with the adjustment of my bones, it is better to not depend on the adjustment alone. Adjustment is only a temporary solution and at the end of the day, our body should be able to function on its own.

It is also preferred for me to come again for another checking next week. When asked whether it had to be weekly, she explained that she would prefer to not have to do the same adjustment again the next time as it would make the treatment less effective.

She also suggested me to undergo a physiotherapy session to strengthen my muscle as my muscles were weak.

So I decided to follow her suggested treatment for chiro and physio, and buy their 4-session package to use it as a weekly checkup for a month. 

I don't think I was being pressured with the marketing at all. She answered my question and treated me like a patient than a customer. I like to believe that I make this decision solely for my own health benefits bcos I was so satisfied with the service. I paid RM560 for 4 sessions so that is RM140 per session, which to me is such a good deal for chiropractic and physiotherapy.

After the chiro, I noticed a difference in the way I walk. My feet are no longer facing outwards like it previously did and my right knee was finally no longer in pain. I even felt the difference in the length of my legs while walking after the adjustment haha.

The next week, I went in for a small adjustment on my neck. Dr. Mag told me that she won't consider it as her session for this one bcos she would want to see me on my last session at the end of the month. So the plan is basically 2 sessions for chiro and 2 sessions for physio.

After the neck crack, I continue with my first physiotherapy session with Jescy.

Since Dr. Mag had briefed Jescy on my condition, she didn't have to start from zero. She begin with examining the muscles around my neck and knee. She told me that my neck is indeed very stiff and it is bcos of muscle knots.

The treatment session was basically her relieving all the muscle knots on my neck, shoulder, lower back and knee - which is basically my entire body. The whole session literally felt like a massage. It was so good. I could feel her putting pressure on my pain spots and I could literally feel the difference before and after the muscle knots being untangled. I could tell how big the knot on my dominant side was compared to the other side. It was amazing.

It was quiet a scary sight tho bcos she literally presses me using her elbow and that was painful, but it was such a good pain.

She told me that I have weak muscle so the next session, she will teach me strengthening exercises. She also taught me stretching to help with my muscle tension.

I asked her what causes weak muscle and she explained that our muscle have memory and bcos I was previously active but stopped for a long while, the muscles now contracts (meaning it is shorten) and that causes the stiffness.

Basically, my sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise is the root cause of my issue. She highlighted that my daily walk isn't enough, which makes sense bcos I once played softball and obviously playing a sport uses more muscle than merely walking.

I was pleasantly surprise with this physio session. I thought physiotherapy is about me doing exercises and the therapist just looking over me. But turns out they also do "massage" (at least that's what it felt like) which is much more effective than the ones we usually go to. This one really focus on my pain spots with great knowledge of the muscles instead of applying the same pressure all over the body.

Jescy taught me several stretching exercises and sent me some pictures as reference bcos there is no way I would remember how to do all 9 exercises she demonstrated haha. She even explained which muscle each exercise is meant to help me and where I need to feel the tension.

I came out of the room feeling super relieved with all the muscles not feeling stiff anymore. I haven't feel this relieved in so long. So worth the buck! I'm glad I decide to go for a proper treatment than just trying out different massage bcos this is definitely what I needed more.

I'm so excited to go for my next session.

Although the clinic just opened 2 months ago, the doctors are definitely experienced and willing to give you the best treatment. I'd definitely recommend this place to my friends!

Dropping by,

It's my first time purchasing a VIP equivalent ticket which happens to be a standing zone. I spent RM1,060 on a Soundcheck ticket (the most expensive ticket) during pre-sale and tbh, I wouldn't have chosen this ticket if it weren't for the venue.