Numb Left Arm

Ok, I got a huge scare when I woke up yesterday morning. My left arm was completely numb. I couldn't move it at all, not even a twitch of a finger! I tried holding it and slapping it with my right hand but I couldn't feel a thing, it was like my right hand was hitting an inanimate object. Then, I lifted my left arm up with my right hand, but it just fell straight down. That really, really, really freaked me out. I tried slapping my upper arm until the feeling went back again and after about a minute, I started to get the pins-and-needle-pricking sensation on my arm and I was finally able to move my left arm again.

Then, earlier this evening, I met up with my college friends to have dinner at ROC in UP Bahay ng Alumni (good food, but they have very small servings). I told them the story, and then Joan told me a similar story about someone who had numb arms too. It turns out the man (who was in his late 50's) had a mild stroke. And yeah, was. So as soon as I got back home (after having some great desserts at Wicked Kitchen, where Gluttony and Sloth rocks!), I googled about getting numb arms while sleeping, and most results seem to say that it's a common problem caused by a compressed peripheral nerve. So I guess there's no reason to panic just yet and I'll just wait if it happens again before checking with a doctor.

I just thought I'd blog about this so that just in case something bad (or worse) happens to me, I've got it documented.

Take Me Out

I have to take a vacation soon. I can't believe I don't have any out-of-town beach trip planned in the next few months. I hate this. Somebody take me out.

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Last night, I had dinner with my college friends at NSG. We try to keep up with each other by having dinner once every two weeks. Earlier in the week I met up with some of my high school friends at the Starbucks place in Las Pinas, I try to meet up with them once every two months because I'm a lazy bastard (Heh.)The big news is that our friend Kate will be getting hitched soon (in the next few months of 2006)

Congrats Kate and Boyfriend/Future Husband! :)

(I was trying to lobby for the ring-bearer role but I think they already got some freakin kid for the part. Daymn.)

That Rant at the End of This Post

is brought to you by the Number 3, and 76, and the Letters G, R, E, E and D.

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My throat (or my tonsils or whatever it is at the back of my tounge/top of my throat) hurts. I woke up yesterday (while I was sleeping on the ride home) and it was just suddenly sore. Damn it.

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Anyone here a subscriber to Bayantel's SkyDSL? Is it good (in terms of quality of connection, technical and after-sales service, etc)? I'm looking to subscribe to a DSL service provider (the sooner the better). I've actually applied for a PLDT myDSL connection already, but it's taking them too freeking long to respond to me and I'm getting impatient so I'm looking for alternatives. Any suggestions?

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Last week, I had dinner with some college friends of mine at Fish and Co. in Greenbelt 3.

Saraaaap!

I ordered the baked salmon and it was really really tender and tasted really really good. I want to eat there again but the food is way expensive... So I did the next best thing and pimped the resto for all its fishy-seafoody goodness to my parents so that maybe, just maybe, they'll to treat me there one of these days for being an extra good boy. Hah.

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Tennis season is almost over, with only the WTA Year-End Championships (YEC) in Los Angeles left for the women and the ATP Masters Cup (AMC) in Shanghai and the Davis Cup Final for the men. The YEC and the AMC are essentially the season-ending tournament for the women's and men's tour (respectively) where only the top eight players for the whole 2005 season get to play.

The Davis Cup Final will be contested by East European underdogs Croatia and Slovakia. Croatia, led by Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic, upset the heavily-favored US team that included Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, and the top-ranked doubles team of Mike and Bob Bryan in the first round early this year. The Slovakian side meanwhile will be led by Dominik Hrbaty and Karol Beck. Slovakia beat last year's Davis Cup champs Spain, also in the first round early this year.

On the men's side, Swiss Roger Federer will lead the field as the top seed and is already assured of ending the year as the top ranked player for the second year in a row even if he doesn't win a match here. A quick summary of his year would read: He won 2 of the 4 Grand Slams this year, losing in the semifinals on the other two Slams. He also won 4 of the 9 ATP Masters Series tournaments this year (Masters Series tourneys are the next biggest tournaments after the Slams) plus some smaller tournaments for 11 tournament wins in all and has only lost a whoping three out of the 70+ matches he played this year (lost to Marat Safin(RUS) at the Aussie Open semis, to Rafael Nadal(ESP) at the French Open semis, and to Richard Gasquet(FRA) at the Monte Carlo Masters quarters). All this despite having to take a break for about a month twice for an injured ankle. Talk about dominance... Enough about Federer.

The women's season ender seems to be more interesting as we have American Lindsay Davenport and Belgian Kim Clijsters fighting for the prestige of becoming the year-end No. 1 player. Lindsay has had a great year, being the runner-up at the Aussie Open (losing to Serena Williams) and Wimbledon (losing to Venus Williams) this year, and taking home 6 titles for herself. I would have to say though that Kim had the more successful year, after missing almost the whole of the 2004 season because of a career-threatening wrist injury and falling down to the No. 130's in the rankings last March, Kim quickly got back to the swing of things winning back to back Tier-1 titles (Tier-1 tournaments are the WTA's version of the ATP's Masters Series) then going on to win her very first Grand Slam title at the US Open this year. Kim has won a total of 9 titles so far this year, and a win at the YEC will seal her comeback year with the No. 1 ranking in her hands.

Maria Sharapova also briefly held the top ranking this year but several injuries have stopped her from challenging Kim and Lindsay for the top ranking and without any Grand Slam trophy to show for this year, will most likely finish at No. 3. The other three Grand Slam champs of the year, Aussie Open Champ Serena, French Open Champ Justine Henin-Hardenne, and Wimbledon Champ Venus will not be participating in the YEC because of injuries. That's just too bad because it would have been really interesting to see these 6 players play head-to-head.


And did I mention the winners for the WTA Championships and the ATP Masters Cup take home a cool $1,000,000 in prize money???

Damn. If only I was taller, moved faster, had better hand-eye coordination, was more focused, is generally in better physical condition, and had the natural talent, I would've dropped out of college and played tennis professionally until my bones broke and my ears dripped blood.