I just want to announce that as of this moment, my fantasy adventure webcomic Lovarian Adventures will be exclusively featured in the online adventure/action webcomics subscription service Graphic Smash.

This means that although readers can still read the latest page installment of my comic for free, they’ll need to subscribe to Graphic Smash to be able to read or re-read my archived pages. I’ll tell you now that it isn’t really too expensive to subscribe. It’s only $2.95 a month (or $29.95 a year) to have access to all the archives of all the webcomics available on Graphic Smash. It’s cheaper than buying one print comic issue per month.

Anyway, enough of the sales talk. I just wanted to say I’m stoked to be involved in this project. I’ve suddenly have a renewed interest in continuing my webcomic which at one point in time I almost wanted to quit from for good.

So for long time readers, I guess in a way, this is good news because you’ll now be able to continue reading the webcomic. The bad news is that if you aren’t a Graphic Smash subscriber, you better not miss any new installment.

As to anybody reading this who aren’t into webcomics, you may wonder why joining Graphic Smash renewed my interest on my webcomic. I guess the honest truth is that this time round, I’ll get paid out of drawing the webcomic. Sounds very materialistic, I know. But What can I do? Being offered money to continue drawing the comic is a good incentive. This is almost as good as getting a gig at print comics, I imagine.

*****

On other news, my right temporomandibular joint (TMJ) which hurt for a couple of days is now pain free. I’m now extra careful when I yawn so as to avoid the clicking. I don’t want the pain to return. And I also don’t want to end up getting surgery done there like this other Filipino in the US (thanks to Kiwi Pinay for the link).

The other morning, I woke up having this sore feeling in my right cheek. Actually, it’s not the cheek but the joint that connects my jaw to my skull - the Temporomandibular Joint or TMJ. It was a bit of surprise then but not so much. I’ll explain that bit later.

This morning when I woke up, my TMJ is still sore. People close to me know that I worry too much when it comes to uncommon things happening to my body. I tend to think the worst and so I cannot help but attempt to self-diagnose myself through research.

The easiest and fastest way to look for answers was to use the Internet, of course. I found sites that talk about dull pain in the jaw and it led me to sites that talk about Temporomandibular Joint dysfunction/syndrome. After reading the symptoms and the causes, I felt that this was the problem I have.

When I was around 10 or so years of age, I remember having this bad habit of “grinding” (for lack of a better word) my left and/or right jaw until I hear a click sound. Sort of like the equivalent of cracking your knuckles except I do this with my TMJ.

It wasn’t really painful to “crack” the jaw. It’s about as painful as cracking one’s knuckles which wasn’t. So thinking nothing of it, I kept on doing it for a while.

Over the years, I stopped cracking my left jaw but continued cracking my right jaw. I noticed that the right side of my head (where my right TMJ is) is protruding more than the left. At the time, I tried to stop cracking my right jaw. Of course, the operative word here is “tried.” I tried and failed.

At around the early 1990’s I started to have this odd thing going on with my jaw. Whenever I yawn, my right jaw would lock momentarily but I was always able to close my mouth again but not after a loud clicking sound (which really grosses out Raquel, I might add).

I stopped cracking my right jaw then. I was thinking that this is my punishment for cracking my jaw all these years. But then at around 1995, I started feeling pain from my right TMJ. That made me real worried.

I visited my dentist aunt to have my jaw problem examined. She didn’t really tell me what the problem was but she did tell me what the possible solution was. I had to wear braces to adjust my bite or something like that.

The pain stopped some time after the braces were put into place. The pain did not return even after the braces were removed a year later. It apparently cured my yawn-jaw-lock combo problem then.

However it wasn’t long before I suffered my first yawn-jaw-lock problem after the braces were removed. Well, at least it didn’t hurt so I didn’t mind. But after that, every time I needed to yawn, chances were, I’m going to have this jaw-lock-click issue.

What I did to avoid the jaw-lock-click was to stifle the yawn. But sometimes, I just can’t stifle it and so, jaw-lock-CLICK!

I didn’t mind it too much still because it wasn’t causing me any pain or anything. Except last year, right after a jaw-lock-click incident, my TMJ became painful. I got worried then but not too much because the next day the pain was gone.

It’s not the case this time. Two days in a row and the pain remained. Raquel suggested I let it rest for a while by not chewing gum and chewing on my fingers. If the pain doesn’t disappear by itself in two more days then I should see a doctor about it. Wait and see.

The wind’s blowing outside and rain has been pouring down since yesterday. The rain is a welcome relief from the high temperatures we’ve been having several days ago, bringing much needed rain to our dams. Hopefully this would end the drought that has affected many areas here in Australia for more than a year now.

However, as it’s impossible to go out for several minutes without getting drenched, it also means that we have to forgo our daily stroll in our bid to lose weight. In fact, my pedometer registers only 6,626 steps today.

If you’re not familiar with the 10,000 steps regime, it’s a program that’s designed to encourage people to regularly exercise in order to manage their weight. I first heard of this program last year when the National Heart Foundation launched an ad campaign to promote it.

This program to beat obesity by doing the 10,000 steps a day routine is not unique to Australia. It has been launched in several parts of the world so you may have already heard of it. What’s not commonly known though is that the 10,000 steps a day recommendation is only for the maintenance of your current weight. Some sites claim that 10,000 steps is enough for weight loss but maybe they’re referring to the weight you’re supposed to gain yearly if you’re not doing the 10,000 steps (or any other exercise for that matter).

If you intend to lose weight like me, you’d have to do more. Meaning my 6,626 steps just doesn’t cut it. Good thing we have a stationary bike at home and I could just use that and try to make up for the missing number of steps according to this FAQ from Shape Up America.

Also, I think I’d like to get myself a better pedometer. I’d like my new one to have a cover so that I don’t accidentally reset the counter. It has happened to me several times already with my current pedometer that I sometimes wonder why I bother putting it on in the morning. I’m also looking for improved accuracy (perhaps a model that takes my stride length in consideration would be better)?

Maybe one of these models would hit the spot. Or maybe I should just buy the National Heart Foundation’s pedometer and save myself from a lot of possible grief. However, at $49.95 a pop, it’s not exactly cheap. On the other hand, I think it beats the costly gym membership hands down. Now, if only it would stop raining…

Kung ikaw ay sumusubaybay sa aming pakikipagsapalaran dito sa aming blog, malalaman mong isa sa mga resolusyon ko sa taong ito ay ang pagpapapayat.

Kadalasan sa mga taong nagpapapayat ang timbangin ang sarili nila para malaman kung ilang kilo ba ang dapat mabawas sa kanilang kasalukuyang timbang. Pero… di ko ginawa yan nung naisip kong magpapayat. Paano ba naman, baka naman mawalan agad ako ng loob kung makikita ko na malaki ang dapat kong ibawas. Sa madaling sabi, naduwag ba.

Kahapon ay naglakas loob na ako, naisip ko kasing parang di ako seryoso sa pagpapapayat kung di ko ito gagawin. Isa pa, anong magiging panukat ko kung ako nga ay unti-unti nang gumagaang?

At, eto na nga ang nangyari. Dahil sa ang timbangan namin ay walang pounds na karaniwan na gamit sa Pilipinas, di agad ako naapektuhan nang makita ko ang timbang ko sa stones at kilograms. Pero nung nag-compute na ako! Aba, malakas ata ang gravity dito sa Australia, di ako makapaniwala!

Sinabi ko rin kay Gabriel na timbangin nya ang sarili nya. Aba, at kahindik-hindik din ang naging resulta. Di pa nga ako nakuntento sa computation ng PDA (personal digital assistant) ko at naghanap pa ako ng calculators sa internet. Wala pa rin, pareho pa rin ang resulta.

Habang naghahanap ako ng converters at calculators sa internet, naalala kong ang sikat na paraan upang malaman kung ikaw ay nasa normal weight o overweight ay sa pamamagitan ng paggamit ng BMI calculator. Ang kalulunos-lunos na resulta? Ako raw ay overweight at si asawa ay obese na. Hala!

Kaya ang gimik namin ngayon? Maglakad-lakad sa paligid ng tinitirahan namin pagkakain ng hapunan. Kaya lang ay kulang pa yata. Masubukan kaya ang mga dyeta-dyeta na yan?!?