[Geekiness] Fixing CTRL + Shift not working

On Windows, I use CTRL + SHIFT to select multiple words in a sentence. A few days ago, I started noticing something weird: 

## The issue

1. Using CTRL + Shift in that order would allow me to skip words, but it would not select. 

2. Using Shift + CTRL instead, would work. 

This was rather annoying because my muscle memory was CTRL + Shift + Left/Right Arrows in that order. A quick Google search turned up the culprit, which was Windows itself. 

## Solving CTRL + Shift not behaving as intended 

1. Go into your Settings and search for Typing. 

2. Scroll down till you see Advanced Keyboard Settings. 

3. Under Advanced Key Settings, select Change Key Sequence. 

4. Change your Switch Keyboard Layout shortcut. Select whichever you want. 

Good luck! 

Post-CNY updates

Putting this here mainly because I do still want a record of this that’s not in the journal, but yeah, this year’s Chinese New Year/Lunar celebrations was really quite crazy for me. Can’t remember where I heard or read it, but basically this year is supposed to be crazy busy – IT CERTAINLY HAS BEEN, and I’m writing this on the 16th day of the New Year, aka we’re done with the celebration bit, and no, the busyness has not abated.

Am I complaining? Yeah, more than a little. I generally view the period between Jan 1 and the end of the CNY celebration period as a sort of “in-between” before the work starts to really get going, but this year it started right as I went back to work, while we were still in the celebration period, so my body and my brain aren’t used to it.

Anyway, the main reason why I started writing this update was because I spent the whole of Saturday (aka yesterday) pretty much zoning out. Started getting a sore throat and felt feverish though body temperature was pretty normal. Turns out I was not the only one – my father-in-law started wearing a mask as he was also unwell, and we’re all pretty sure the reason is because my niece passed on whatever she’s been having for the last two weeks or so to us.

I ended up taking throughout the afternoon and then the evening, the following items:

  • One antihistamine pill because I originally thought it was post-nasal drip
  • Half a soup spoon of Pei Pa Ko
  • A can of 100+ mixed heavily with warm water
  • Throughout the rest of the time, lots of Fisherman’s Friend and Ricola sweets to soothe my throat

As the night wore on, I woke up frequently to spit. At one point, I was sleeping with two pillows under my head, so it would be elevated. Around 4am, when I think the sore throat was at its most painful (for some reason I was feeling severely dehydrated even though I had been drinking water throughout), I finally managed to get rid of some sputum… and three huge pieces of thick, yellow phlegm that felt almost solid. Immediately after, my throat began to feel significantly better.

Still continued to sleep a little bit more, and I only really woke up around 10am, whereby I took a shower, made coffee to get rid of the persistent migraine, and water my plants. Then I began trying to catch up in my 5-year journal. Forever glad I took a lot of photos and have timeline turned on in my Google Maps, because they reminded me of what I did during those days.

And now I am going to collapse on the bed again. I suppose it is mark of maturity that I no longer harbour so much guilt about “wasting time away” by sleeping on weekends when my body clearly needs it. I do feel wistful for the time I use though.

Tiny money-saving hotel hack

Money-saving hotel hacks (1)

Photo by Vojtech Bruzek on Unsplash

I originally got this from Twitter but because that site’s linking is all shot to hell, what you’re getting is what I remember. This applies mainly to sites that have a “Guaranteed Lowest Price” sticker, such as Booking.com and Agoda.com (did you know that Agoda is a subsidiary of Booking? Now you do!).

How it works

  1. Say you book a hotel room for 2 days at RM350 total on booking.com
    • You’ve already pre-paid your hotel room with your credit card.
  2. Check on other websites to see if the exact same room and items are being offered at a cheaper price for the same dates.
    • Particularly if they offer things like free breakfast etc.
  3. If so, do not cancel your original booking. Screenshot the new offer.
    • Do a full page screenshot (which may be longer than what you view in the browser – there are a lot of screenshot tools on the web and on your phone you may be able to take a full site screenshot instead).
  4. Then, email/contact booking.com or whichever site you used to ask and tell them you found cheaper rates. Ideally you should start the process at least 3-5 days before your check-in date.
    • Include your booking number, the link where you got the offer, and if the form allows, the screenshot of the offer.
  5. Usually these sites will get back to you fast. They may ask some clarifying questions (those screenshots will help) and then they will match the price – to be refunded upon your check in.
  6. Once you’ve checked into the hotel of your choice, email the site again and let them know. They should process the refund and you should get some money back, based on how much the difference was.

I had a business-cum-family trip to Singapore in February and this method saved me about USD 145 on three rooms in a business hotel. Your mileage may vary, but I recommend doing this if you notice the savings are substantial. Good luck and have fun!

[Review] Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai

Title: Bitter Medicine
Author: Mia Tsai
Publisher: Tachyon Publication
Source: I got mine from Libby, but if you’d like to purchase it, your usual ebook retailers will do. Kinokuniya stocks it according to their site (the price is kinda silly though in RM).
Genre: Romance

The only thing I was aware of going into Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai was that it was about a woman who was trying to keep one brother alive while the other tries to kill them both. And it had references to wuxia as well as traditional Chinese medicine, both of which are always my jam.

So when I actually began reading Bitter Medicine, I was pleasantly surprised by how the story unfolded. It turned out to be a cosy read that I didn’t realise I needed in a year where everything seems to be on fire. Even then, it makes you question again the foundations upon which our society is built on and the capitalist tendencies that drive it.

(Though to be fair, I was reading Martha Wells’ Witch King before this, so I’m probably seeing threads where I shouldn’t, but eh…)

Overall, if you go into the book expecting a nice cosy read about two somewhat clueless immortals getting together, you’re probably going to enjoy this. Highly recommended.

Quick Recap: Assunta Ruby Health Screening

Date visited: 15 November
Time: Butt early o clock
Came out: about 12pm +
Total time: 4 hours thereabouts

This was probably the most efficient and quickest health screening I’ve had at Assunta. Previously there was always a lot of dilly-dallying due to the uncertain wait times as they cleared the queue and everything else got backed up, but this time things were super fast.

Registration

This was pretty fast compared to the last time I visited. To be fair, I previously scheduled my visits on Friday so I could supposedly have a long weekend, but a lot of times half the day would have gone by fruitlessly. This round though, I visited on a Wednesday, where there was still a pretty sizable queue, but it was nothing like 2022 where I waited in uncertainty for my number to be called.

Assunta has also revamped their queue system – there were much larger signs and queue numbers being displayed everywhere, and you could tell they had also revamped the registration process, because I saw the queue moving faster than they did last year. The serial number they used also gave you a hint as to where you were in the queue.

In the end, I think I waited less than 30 minutes for my number to be called. Considering that previously the wait times were more than 45 minutes, this is quite a big improvement.

Sample and test taking

Then it was a matter of heading up to the health screening clinic. I had taken a package that included a stool sample, and never was I more glad that I had not gone to the toilet before heading up. Taking your stool sample is a much more difficult challenge than doing a urine test.

Once that was done, I washed my hands, placed the samples where I had been told to, and then sat down and continued to wait. This was probably the first of the two fairly long wait periods I experienced. What I was waiting for was for them to take my height, weight, and blood sample.

The good thing about being in a training hospital is that at least the nurses won’t complain too much about not being able to find your vein – they’ve never had issues with mine but I have had nurses from other places complain about my veins being tiny. Yes, I know they’re small, it’s kind of obvious.

After having my blood taken though, I was allowed to eat, so it was off to the cafeteria with the hubs to break my fast.

Cafeteria breakfast

This was decent, but most importantly it was actually pretty cheap. I had char kuay teow, which was hilarious because usually those things are spicy but this one was barely tickling my nose. Spent some time just chilling here because the next part was going to be the longest wait – seeing the specialist.

From clinic to specialist

After breakfast, hubs and I went down to pick up my preliminary report. Had to wait a bit but got in pretty fast. MO said everything looked ok so far but had concerns about my cholesterol – recommended cutting down on fatty foods, especially foods rich in trans and saturated fats. Also recommended I exercise a bit more, which was something I had been meaning to do anyway.

This was then followed by what I knew would be the longest wait – meeting my specialist. And I knew this was going to be the longest wait because he would usually do his rounds in the morning before attending to the clinic, so my only concern had been reaching his desk early so I could be “first in line” so to speak.

I think we waited almost an hour for him, which again, in my experience, was perfectly fine, as I know he was visiting in-hospital patients first thing in the morning. Plus I already had breakfast, so I wasn’t feeling too hangry. Consultation with him was pretty fast and we spoke about some menstrual concerns I’d been having.

Then it was off to pay.

Payment

Honestly this was the part that surprised me because it was a little longer than expected. The reason was simple – there was just too many people making their payment at the same time. Still I was in and out of there in about fifteen minutes, and this was with the credit card machine being an ass – they had to switch to a different machine to swipe my card.

Once this was done, I was free to go for lunch, and I did! We went to get eggs and lunch, before finally heading home and then sleeping.

Conclusion

4 hours may seem like a lot, but I’ve had worse wait times for a health screening, so this was pretty ok and acceptable to me.Plus I got some ideas for Nano while waiting, and that for me is always a win.