A Frozen Shoulder

Tomorrow I'm off to a yoga retreat in Chiang Mai organised by a bunch of friends; it's a trip that I've been looking forward to for months (!) The last time I went on a yoga retreat was ... maybe two years ago to Canggu. That trip was nice but it was kinda expensive and Bali has become far too commercial for my taste. 

Looking back, I was already suffering from frozen shoulder (right shoulder) without even realising it. I remember my shoulder would hurt when it was moving in certain directions and it got so painful at one point I had to see a physiotherapist. Not the greatest personality I've ever met but he, after months of treatment, eventually fixed the problem. 

Then my left shoulder started to feel the same tightness and, eventually, pain ><

Being more aware this time, I knew exactly what was going on so I went for physiotherapy straightaway. But this time even that didn't help much ... and eventually the physio said I should just let the frozen shoulder run its course ... and the pain will eventually go away. So I am expecting another, maybe, six months of pain. 

Which is kinda upsetting. For a start it has totally disrupted my yoga practice. I used to be able to do reversed twisted bind (well, all sorts of binds), wheel (urdhva dhanurasana), headstand (my fav) ... I was actually quite proud of my mobile shoulders -- and now I cannot do any of that because of the pain in my left shoulder. Perhaps I was doing too much handstand practice and it really messed up both my shoulders. So no more handstand for some time -- which is fine. Yoga is more than just doing handstand.

TBH, I have not had a proper practice for a long time and even doing trikonasana is challenging. I just feel that my body is, like, shrinking up.

So in the next few days I will just be in tune with the body and let it take me to wherever I am at with my practice right now. And relax. And enjoy. 

World of Final Fantasy Part 1 (Danganronpa V3)

Actually have not been playing this game for awhile but am now back into it and it's quite a blast. This game seems a lot longer but I'm actually enjoying it cos there is so much more to the story this time than 1 and 2.

FAST FORWARD ...

What happened there? I found the above (unfinished) entry written probably several months ago (I've since finished Danganronpa V3) and ... my bad ... I have totally been NOT keeping up with this blog. But here we are ... many months (and bouts of food poisoning -- what is WRONG with 2018?!) later, I am now playing the World of Final Fantasy -- and totally LOVING IT.



But first, a quick recap on Danganronpa V3, which has one of the most controversial endings in video game history (or that I have played) and to this day I am still not sure whether I liked it or totally hated it. Whichever I think I still liked the second instalment the best.

I'm still (yes, I surprise even myself) playing Final Fantasy XV A New Empire MMO and pumping $$$ into it ... but it's okay, as long as I get something out of it, I think it's fine ... and it's not, like, I am addicted (LOL).... Six of my heroes are now over Level 100 though, to the surprise (and annoyance perhaps?) of my guild mates, my citadel is still at level 25, with tier 4 troops. Which means I am def not strong enough to wipe out t7 troops, especially march size is now at... 500K+ (the whales launch 1M marches ... totally WTF) . But I do have an extremely solid defence and this weekend I will test out whether Luna can be a sufficient defensive hero (after Gladio) in the "free for all" RvR (realm versus Realm).

Right now, I am (literally) spending much resources on building up a strong Mercenary force, which is still relatively cheaper than levelling up my citadel but I know there will come the day I will HAVE to get t5 troops (which will be such a chore) ... but what needs to be done -- needs to be done.

Okay, off to teaching one of my two weekly yoga classes so will save Part 2 (and other yoga updates) for later .... hope that will not come in another six months ><  

A Brave New Year

It seems F.O.R.E.V.E.R since my last entry -- Christmas and New Year already come and gone -- so here is a bumper edition :-)

To welcome 2018, I led a therapeutic/ nourishing class today ... after all, we can take a step back, reflect and contemplate at the beginning (as well as the end) of a year, right? Why not start a new year with calmness and solid grounding. And everyone in the class loved it! The slower pace and the gentle stretching. After months of not being able to stretch my right shoulder today I can finally do it; I didn't push it though but it felt great especially after months of immobility. The physio - painful that it was - really helped. I plan to go to a level 2 yoga class tomorrow. The instructor is not one of my favourites (too ... athletic) but there are just no other choices. Also, I think it's important to have a practice that challenges the body (at least once in awhile). There are now so many poses that I am working on that I like but not quite there yet: handstand, seated wide-leg forward fold, split, wheel with straight arms ... also, elsewhere, my (outer) knees are definitely not getting better (chronic pain) so will see where my yoga practice will take me this year. 

Game-wise, I've returned to Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire after a couple months away (spent WAY too much on this MMO) and only because my guildie mate wanted to pass my account onto someone whom I don't think would do a great job maintaining it. Luckily the guildie I did entrust the account to did a GREAT job in not only in sustaining it but actually made advancement with it. So now I feel my base/empire is a lot stronger/ powerful than when I left it. Also it appears Square Enix, who holds the licence to the whole Final Fantasy franchise, is not happy with studio Machine Zone, which basically turned the title into a money-spinning thing, instead of a proper game for the Final Fantasy fans and community and gamers who are genuinely interested in the title. There are now rumours that SE will pull the game next month ... I love the game still but let's get a proper studio to run it not some greedy, money-grabbing enterprise!

I have also started Danganronpa V3 ... tbh, I think the aura around this franchise is gone. I spent, like, five hours+ just to do the prologue and first chapter and it was WAY WAY too long. I quite like the new cast but ... oh well, will see if I will stick with this. I certainly am in no hurry to finish it. Have also been trying to finish Escha & Logy in the Atelier series... I actually really enjoyed playing this game -- I finally got my head around the synthesis/ crafting -- but there is a time limit to the game and it appears I won't be able to tackle any of the big bosses until second playthrough so I've kinda left it there (for now). And I am still very slowly playing Final Fantasy XV on my PlayStation 4...  I completed quite a few side missions last time but I forgot to save -- and then got salightered -- so I will have to reply those again ... all in all, there is enough game stuff to keep me busy this year.

On the gadget front, after the VERY disappointing Sony Xperia XZ1 compact -- Android 8 or Oreo is so full of bugs -- I went back to the LG G5 and to my (pleasant) surprise, the phone is pretty good and with the Cam Plus added onto it, I enjoy using it for gaming/ photo taking and social media. Just as well I didn't re-buy the XZ1 compact!!! And a friend also got me the Black Edition of the KeyOne, which is great since I've dropped the one I am using a few times and I wanted to have a spare just in case this one dies! 

So here we are. Now we have the Chinese New Year to look forward to (in February) !!