The long run

Finally clicked over the 30 km mark. Prior to signing up for this event the furthest I'd ever run was 21 km. It's all relative where 20 km feels like a non-event. Roughly 2 hours (for me), but with this week's run of 34 kms, it took me just under 4 hours. That's a long time to be out running. Aside from actually running that long, the other challenge is finding long enough routes.

Have found some decent routes in excess of 30 kms in Sydney, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The challenge with Singapore and Hong Kong is that during this time of the year, it gets hot, quick. So even starting at 6 am, but the time you've wrapped up it's almost 10 am and it's warm. 

Sydney

MBL. Mandatory Block Leave. 10 days where an employee is forced to be out of the office and removed from operations. The idea being that the employee is forced to take a break, and from a risk management and compliance perspective, removes any single point of failure from operations. It's been a while since I've been "forced" to take 10 days of annual leave from work. Sydney would be the destination. Christmas and end of year would be the occasion. 

Jam, jam, jam. Quite a busy time of the year. Catching up with people, health check ups, errands. Blessed with an amazing summer, although there were some stinkers (read 40 degrees).

Sydney

It's her 40th. I'm dating a middle aged woman.

Long weekend in Sydney

 

Sydney Half

Coming off a solid Hong Kong Half Marathon, I figured I might as well continue with the training and roll into the Sydney Half while the weather remains compliant in Hong Kong. I have been really getting into running lately, it's a love-hate relationship, I appreciate the slow steady, methodical approach to improvement, but also find it frustrating at the same time. Have been enjoying the miles and the distance is a great way to clear the mind, also a great way to see and explore parts of a city. Have been enjoying the Cooks river runs and have built up a tiny obsession with trainers.

Was looking to this event, as the first half I ran was in Sydney and I remember it being a gorgeous route. Also, had some friends who were also training and participating in this event.

We kept an eye on the weather the whole week, and resigned to the fact that it would be a wet day. Day of wasn't too bad, we had ponchos and started with them on at the start line. Oddly I cramped before the race even started, but was off to a good pace. The shoes, I'm not convinced. Might switch it up next run. Loved the atmosphere. Another fun and memorable run! Great atmosphere too!

Super happy with my result of 1:44

Neice #2

 Trip back to visit Big Mac!

The Penultimate Wedding

My high school friends married early, leaving me, the sole unmarried one of the group. Now with Parthy getting married, I think I may now be the sole unmarried one of the university friend group now. I feel fairly neutral about this statement. In any case this post is more about coming back for what could be the last wedding I attend from somebody in my immediate circle of friends. They had wed earlier on the the Thursday but had decided to host a wedding reception on the Saturday at the Ivy. Great seeing all the group, but also the university crew I haven't seen since, probably university. The Computer Science and Engineering crowd that I haven't seen in years. The group moved to a Mexican restaurant, only to be kicked out and we found refuge in the only place where you can consume alcohol and sleep without anybody batting an eyelid. Karaoke. 

The talk of the wedding was however the groom who endured a 50, yes, 50 day water fast. Read, not eating anything for fifty days, managing to lose 30 odd kilos before tying the knot. Really fun wedding, great seeing the group, and people that I haven't seen, hung out with, had a beer with in ages. Really enjoying the trips back to Sydney.

Mom's 70th!

Back in Sydney for a couple of days. Making the most of the long weekend trips. Getting used to these short trips. Got to try to make more of an effort with Birthdays, there's only a finite number left!

 

Sydney

The dream is over! Managed to sneak five days back in Sydney. Fair relaxed scheduled back home until waiting for Cardiologist report. "I would suggest you don't fly and wait until you can speak with the Cardiologist next week" 

Sydney

Spending close to seven months in Sydney, has made me look forward to heading back even more. The main differences this time around is that we actually had a summer, we actually managed to gather as an extended family for Christmas and I made it into the city for New Year's Eve. Other side notes, lots of friends returning to Sydney, had a classic Australian Backyard gathering in Sutherland, caught up with lost touch uni friends and stayed in my first Sydney Airport hotel. Oddly enough, the Christmas gathering ended up being a mini covid event, thankfully all who contracted it recovered fairly fast. 

Took me a while to acclimatise to Sydney, that Thailand trip did a real number on my system, I remember describing it as if I had a combination of jet lag and insomnia. Will try to make more a conscious effort to get back to Sydney more often. Farewell, again.

Impressive heart

Once a year I check in with my cardiologist to keep tabs on the old ticker. The most recent check showed an increase in irregular heartbeats and the recommendation was to re-do the procedure. Having been abroad for a while, I thought it might be worth seeing a Sydney-based Electrophysiologist/Cardiologist for a second opinion. The cardiologist in Sydney described my stress test echocardiogram, as "one of the most impressive asymptomatic cases of PVCs" that he has seen. What has gone from a second opinion, to second attempt. The procedure is slightly different this time around. Instead of one entrance site on the right-hand side femoral vein, the catheter from the right, an ultrasound probe from the left. 

This time in Hurstville Private. It's nice having family around for the procedure. It's a little more standard, this time the anaesthesiologist puts me to sleep straight. I wake up and there's bleeding from both the groin sites and a familiar ache in the chest. Initial verdict, irregular heartbeats have been reduced but not completely eliminated. The muscle bundle from which the errant heartbeats were coming from the left papillary muscle, over 30+ ablations were performed. On blood thinners for the next 90 days.

RIP KAT

I'm not sure if I process the concept of death in a healthy way. 

I'm in a state of shock. Selfishly, this is my own fault, or she didn't want people to know the severity of it. I can sympathise with the decision to withhold information and not draw attention to her malady, attention that would be been heavy sympathy and grief during her last living moments. I regret not reaching out to her, I was provided second hand information of her condition in April. By all accounts the cancer had returned and she was restarting chemo, I was under the assumption that she was on the mend.  She was scheduled to return to Sydney and be supported by family and friends whilst treatment continued. In hindsight this may have been a case of her wanting to spend her remaining time with family. It is a classic case of shock where the magnitude being the difference between expectation and reality. The greater the difference, the greater the shock.

I look back at our chats in March. At the time she had been cleared of the cancer after multiple chemotherapy sessions. She was in an isolation ward 100 metres from my apartment in Hong Kong. We spoke about her last 12 months. We touched on what she was looking forward to: getting vaccinated, being able to travel, more specifically to see her brothers in Singapore, to spend time with family and friends in Sydney. She talked about a shift in motivations, potentially leaving Hong Kong, wanting to find a simpler way of life. She felt tied to work, but felt indebted to her co-founders. 

We talked about NFTs, the War in Ukraine. Finding purpose, motivation and passion in life. "What are you passionate about?" she asked. We explored the idea of her being a dance teacher, she tells me she lacks the patience for teaching. We planned a hot pot for when I return to Hong Kong in May. RIP Kat.

Vivid Festival Weekend

Friday, caught train to work with mom, she's off doing some volunteer work. Japanese for dinner, followed by Vivid festival. Langham + Pho.

La nina

It's been a funny old summer. La Nina has brought about cool, damp weather for most of the time I've been back. We are also experiencing "once in a hundred year flooding". Not sure what's worse,  being stuck indoors because of covid, or being stuck indoors because it's too wet to go outside.

 

Snitches get stitches ...

An A4 sheet of paper is put in front of me. On the page are three outlines of the human body. The most left outline has a couple of dots within the outline, let's say 5% of the body is filled with black dots. The middle has more dots, closer to 10-20%. The third on the right is littered with small black dots, 40-50. "So, if you had to say how many moles you have, which of these three do you more closely resemble?". I point at the right hand side diagram. "Oh, you're considered very moley, you should be checking your moles yearly".

It's an interesting process to have somebody look at every mole on your body. Brushing through the hair line. Looking under nails, at your lips, at your toes, are the soles of your feet. Turns out I have a mole on my lip and a mole on the front of one of my toes. We also found a mole that isn't quite like the others. They decided to cut this sucker out for further biopsy. Turns out it was of no concern.

A little uncomfortable sleeping, and you have to keep it dry and clean, that's a bit annoying. Oh, and you can't do yoga else, this the stitches may pop out.

How I became stranded: the Timeline of events

Timeline of Hong Kong government announcements.

November 29th - Government moves Australia to "High Risk" category, ie: 3 week hotel Quanrantine

https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202111/29/P2021112900754.htm

January 5th - Government bans flights from Australia 

https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202201/05/P2022010500713.htm

January 14th - Government extends flight ban

https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202201/14/P2022011400637.htm

February 11th - Government extends flight ban

https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202202/11/P2022021100536.htm

February 22nd - Government extends flight ban until the 20th April

https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202202/23/P2022022300339.htm

It's the end of February, I should have been back in Hong Kong on the 2nd of January. Then back on the 4th of Febuary. So here I am, end of February with no Quarantine Hotel, no flights and an expected return date of the end of April. 

Not a bad outcome, if I do say so myself.

Flight update

 Extension to flight ban. New target 4th March - moving to 4 months of being "stuck" in Sydney.

Covid Isolation (Second week)

There's something about having to do another isolation for a second time. There's also something about having to do isolation in what could be the best week of an ending summer time. In hindsight, that first isolation feels like a complete waste of time. So here I am, out in Olympic Park, listening to the sound of Cockatoos in the morning and cicadas in the evening. Thankfully Ali managed to hook me up with a serviced apartment. Aircon doesn't work, but it's comfortable. This will be home for the next seven days.

Day 7, symptoms all but gone, slight cough remains as does the faintest of lines on the RAT. Will wait another day before discharging myself.

Covid strikes

 "The vaccine works! I was the only person who had a booster and I managed to avoid Covid" were the words of proclamation. That is, until last week. They said it starts with a sore throat, and a spicy cough. Thursday, my throats starts to become scratchy. Friday I wake with headache, and mind fog. The RAT still remains negative. Come Friday evening, I have a fever and body aches. Covid strikes.

Close Contact Isolation (First week)

It's Friday afternoon, I tear open the RAT. I stick the clean swab up my nose, swirl it ten times around my right nostril. Sneeze. The I swirl it ten times around my left nostril. My eyes tear, I sneeze again. I dip the swab into the solution and swirl, dab and mix the sample twenty or so times. I carefully squeeze 5 drops into the applicator and watch the liquid fill up the indicator. 15 minutes later, the indicator is still lined up with the "T". Negative. Time to go out. I meet colleagues for drinks in an outdoor area before heading back to the apartment. By the time I get back to the apartment there's 7 people chatting, drinking, eating. 

It's now Sunday, we have the Airbnb for another two days. NSW is currently reporting around 35,000 cases a day, down from the 100,000 or so, earlier this month. My phone flashes a notification, I've been added to a newly created Whatsapp group. Everybody who came over to the apartment on Friday is in the chat. The first message is "Tim got a positive result and I got a negative result". No sweat, one out of 8. We head over to the get a PCR. I test negative, my house mate tests positive. So begins the slow emergence of the cluster gathering that we hosted. 

I immediately check into a new hotel and prepare to isolate. Over the next couple of days, 7 out of the 8 people from Friday night would eventually test positive to Covid. A week goes by, two RAT tests, two PCR tests later. I, the only one with the booster remains negative.

#whoisamanjaffari