September 2025
“Graduating” Physio by Natalie
Some of you may know that I had a knee injury post my birthday hike in Lombok.
Essentially I pushed myself beyond my usual capacity (the hike felt more technical than Kinabalu, just shorter and steeper) which resulted in me limping the very next day post hike.
It took me 4 months to fully recover, the first 3 weeks was centered around calming the inflammation (thank God there was no tear), the rest of the weeks were then spent strengthening my weak muscles; mainly glutes. Plus learning to not load my joints too much because I did end up injuring my hips yet again after my knees recovered.
If you’ve never had an injury before, let me remind you how precious it is for your legs to be able to walk. I remember being bed ridden for 6 weeks straight, God bless Ernest and his patience for taking care of me. When shit like that happens you start to question everything. Is the damage permanent? Will I be able to hike as before? Are there limitations?
I remember my outings during recovery were also hella awkward, I couldn't walk as fast as others, had to take breaks every 10 minutes and often felt that I was holding my friends back, and to have to tell the story of how everything happened to everyone I meet makes me wanna crawl back to bed and never leave my room.
Thankfully just like all the horrible moments in my life, this too has passed, and I officially “graduated” physio after 4 months of sessions and have been given the green light to start my sport activities again.
Within just the first month I slowly incorporated all my usual routines; running, bouldering, weightlifting (soon cycling and hiking again). Shout out to Jia Qi, my current physio in Penang for being so hands on and guiding me through all the nitty gritty things about my body.
I cannot emphasize how happy I am to be able to finally do the very things that kept me confident, feeling strong and above all happy.
This is also a PSA, to not ignore your body and to be more intune with it. Physio sessions are not just for the injured, they are also to prevent injuries (which is what inspired Ernest to get into physio as well in KL). Everyone has muscle imbalances and it’s always good to get them assessed for you to work on, especially if you want a more active lifestyle.
My First Fountain Pen Show by Ernest
September marked a first for many; my first fountain pen show, and Malaysia’s first international pen show. I had no idea what to expect from it except for a bunch of tables with pens. At least that’s how other shows looked like in the pen forums I lurked.
It turned out exactly how I expected it to, just 5x the number of people. At times, I could barely walk through with all the people standing by the tables. The main thing I didn’t like about it was that they had a stamp collection system which entitled you to a lucky draw. You had to collect one stamp from each of the 20+ booths.
But execution was really poor and it led to people crowding around tables looking for the rubber stamp, without any interest in the pens/inks (which is so sad for some of the exhibitors!). I usually enjoy collecting stamps in Japan but decided to sit this one out, on principle.
I came home with a handmade ebonite fountain pen from Studyo Agackakan, an independent pen brand based in Istanbul, Turkey. Ebonite is widely loved in the community for its warm feel (as opposed to how cold plastic feels).
I have to stop impulse buying pens!!! I currently have 7 pens in my rotation, excluding that new one I got. I don’t trust in my capacity to equally use all of them. Let’s see whether I can stay disciplined during my trip to Florence this year end.
Unfucking My Hormones by Natalie
Back in July, my OBGYN informed me that I have significantly low estrogen. Which explains the irregular periods, low energy, insomnia and not to mention seasonal depression.
Normally depending on the severity she suggested two ways of going about it:
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) - think pills, patches, gels that aims to replace estrogen that your body no longer makes
The more natural route - supplements, diet + exercise
Obviously I went for the path of least resistance and embarked on a 3 month journey of unfucking my hormones, naturally.
During these 3 months I tried a few different things (not all at once):
- Supplements: Myo-inositol by MooM - helps your body use signals correctly so your hormones (like estrogen etc) can balance themselves naturally.
- Flaxseed - contains phytoestrogens that gently mimic or balance estrogen in your body
- Spearmint Tea - lowers excess androgens
- Exercise (Weights)
- Diet: More veggies
I don’t know what exactly help tbh, but the most consistent one that I up keep is the Myo-inositol so I definitely think that is a huge contributing factor but here are some of the results I experienced:
- My period got so much more regular, it used to vary >10 days, now it’s 2-3 days. Way more predictable
- I don’t bleed as much as before so yay
- My cramps are also much bearable
- I still have anxiety and insomnia but lesser days at a lower intensity
I’ve yet to recheck my hormones, I wanna give it more time and consistency before I do so again but overall I feel happier than where I’ve initially started.
Would defo recommend getting your hormones checked if you have really bad PMS like I do.
Do You Have Bowls? by Ernest
Pewdiepie, one of my favorite YouTubers made a video about Diogenes, a Greek philosopher known as one of the founders of Cynicism. I love his video essays and book reviews, sometimes meme reviews too.
Anyway, there’s a story about Diogenes being free of all material possessions (including fixed accommodation) except for a bowl to eat and drink from. One day he encountered a boy by the river using his hands to scoop water to his mouth. Diogenes realized how foolish he was; he didn’t even need a bowl!
Side note: look up the story about him and Alexander the Great, it's hilarious and badass.
We accumulate many bowls in life. Material possessions that weigh us down. So I started asking myself "is this a bowl?" whenever I thought of buying something new. It works 8/10 of the time and helped me realize how I own way too many bags yet somehow haven't found the perfect one. Maybe the perfect bag is the one I make it so.
Do I own and carry too many bowls with me still? Yes. Am I on a mission to reduce it to a single item? Not exactly, but at least to own only one of each type of item that I deem essential to my ideal slow living life.
And yes, the new fountain pen I bought at the pen show was a bowl after all.