Elon the grifter, fooled me with Twitter

Here's a moment of weakness yesterday afternoon. I finally subscribed again to Twitter Premium+.

Because (damn you, Elon!) the Platform Formerly Known As Twitter now gives users the option not to accept DMs from those who don't have a Verified account 😜

By the way, I've been using my Twitter account since November 2009. I've gone to too many tweetups, endured the Fail Whale era, and won too many Twitter hashtag battles ("Oh it's TRUE, it's DAMN true") – to start calling it X now.

In fact, this is my second Twitter account. I actually joined Twitter in May 2008, but abandoned that first account because of a dumb bug that made my tweets invisible during hashtag searches.

So I grudgingly paid the monthly subscription fee on my iPhone. On Mac, it's an annual subscription where you could subscribe to Premium.

OK, damn, I got suckered. On the app, it says the monthly's only a Premium+ option. But now that I'm checking the Managing your current subscription on iTunes, all plans, whether monthly and annual subscriptions, are available! Including Premium, the minimum required to get that stupid blue checkmark.

Elon the grifter FTW! 😂

Anyway, what's done is done. I'll downgrade to Premium next month.

By the way, you don't instantly get a blue checkmark. The standard notification is: "Your account will be reviewed for a blue checkmark soon."

Also, heads up: once your account is Verified, avoid changing your profile pic/avatar, and/or bio. Your blue checkmark will disappear, and you'll trigger another account review.

So, is a Premium+ subscription worth it? All I really want and need is the blue checkmark because having a non-Verified account can be a hassle in certain situations.

You be the judge. Here are the benefits.

We get early access to their Grok AI chatbot. I tried it in Fun Mode.

Also, for Monetisation, you can submit a Subscriptions application. Once approved, you could earn from users who subscribe to the exclusive premium content you’ll offer.

As part of the ID Verification process, you'll need to scan your passport or other government-issued ID, and take a selfie. The usual KYC (Know Your Customer).

I got up from the bed and opened the closet door to get the plastic envelope that contains our passports and other important documents. But I couldn't find it where it usually was.

Puzzled, I bent down to see if it was in the bottom shelf.

Then felt my legs suddenly weaken.

I landed on my butt, and couldn't get up!

I couldn't understand it. I've already lost 32 kg (70.5479 lbs) since the start of this cancer journey. It should have been a lot easier to just carry my weight. But even with my cane I couldn't. I was shocked. My legs felt so limp.

Thing is, I had closed the door to my room because I was using the AC. My phone was on the bed. I tried shouting to get my caregiver's attention. But how could she hear me?

I tried to use my cane again. I've never felt more helpless in my life. Then I thought, OK, I'll crawl towards the door. Dunno why I even held on to my cane while I crawled.

Opened the door and started shouting like a madman: "Karen! Karen! Karen!"

Panicked because she didn't reply and I couldn't see her in the living room.

Then my wife came running out of our daughter's room. That's where she took a nap so I wouldn't have to take a nap yet early in the afternoon. And was horrified to see me like that on the floor.

“What happened? Karen’s in the bathroom. What were you doing? Why didn’t you ask me to do it for you?"

Sobbing, I told her I was looking for my passport. And that I couldn't understand what had just happened. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.

When Karen got out, she was just as shocked. The two of them helped me get up. My cane was useless with just me trying to stand up. My wife asked me to hold the clothes rack with my left hand to lift myself up. Then, my right hand on my cane. And I was finally able to stand up and get up on my bed again.

I kept apologising to Karen for shouting like that.

"It’s not your fault, sir. I understand," she said, assuring me it’s just something cancer patients go through.

I kept apologising to my wife, telling her over and over that I’ve never felt so helpless. She made me promise not to try anything like that again. To just ask her or Karen if I"m looking for something, or needed something to be done,

I am keeping a positive attitude. Even though this extremely rare cancer that has made me a mutant, monomorphic epitheliotropic intestinal T-cell lymphoma (MEITL), turned my life upside down overnight.

Even though MEITL has no standard treatment and is a highly aggressive lymphoma with a poor prognosis and a high mortality rate.

I know the median survival numbers are that bad because the sample sizes are small and skewed. Precisely because MEITL is so rare. Also in the case of many patients, the MEITL is only detected and properly diagnosed in the late stages because of perforation, by which time it's more resistant to chemo. Plus many of them are also senior citizens.

MEITL escapes detection by normal biopsies because a special one is needed to track the specific markers showing you have genetic abnormalities, meaning things missing from your chromosomes.

No one knows how you get it. Just that it's genetic but thankfully not hereditary, because my main concern when I asked my wonderful gastroenterologist Dr Tan Soon Seng was if my daughter could inherit this from me.

MEITL is usually misdiagnosed at first as one of the gastrointestinal illnesses that have the same symptoms. I mean, it's so rare I’m sure most of us haven't encountered the term. Not even the doctors. It ultimately turned out that the daily diarrhoea and abdominal pain I've been battling since November 2022 were MEITL symptoms. But of course the gastroenterologists had to be the ones to do the colonoscopy and biopsy. Why would gastroenterologists and their patients not naturally think it's IBS, or IBD, or Crohn's disease?

In the absence of other metrics, though, I just have to rely on the median.

I've already outlived the median overall survival of 7.8 months.

The first anniversary of my MEITL is 17 July. If I make it to 17 July, I'll be part of the 31% that survive the first year.

I certainly intend to: 14 July is our 24th civil ceremony and 23rd church wedding anniversary. Meanwhile, 15-19 July are the orientation dates for our daughter's two-year Master of Professional Counselling course. Commencement date: 22 July.

Afterwards, again keep living one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time, until I join the 15% who survive until the second year.

Yes, I'm not just living with cancer. I'm living life with cancer to the fullest — joyfully and meaningfully.

But as you can see, I'm not always strong. You have no idea what MEITL puts me through every day. How physically and medically weak I am. All the changes and indignities cancer has wrought in me.

And I'm not just living with cancer, but also depression and anxiety. Included in my daily cocktail of drugs are my antidepressants Lexapro (escitalopram) in the morning, and my mood stabiliser Epilim Chrono (valproic acid, sodium valproate) in the evening.

I honestly don't know how much time I have. The curative treatment of this MEITL ended 21 February with my eighth and final chemo. My brilliant haematologist, Dr Alan Teh, says my body can no longer tolerate additional chemo infusions.

Since then, it's just been palliative care. The only thing my doctors can do for me now is to help me manage my symptoms and make me as comfortable as possible.

But that's OK. Medicine may no longer be able to treat MEITL, but I believe in miracles. And miracles don't run out.

All I have left are prayers, palliative care, and a positive attitude.

Whatever MEITL does to me, I will have the moral victory.

Speaking of Twitter. Tonight, Thursday, 7-9 PM GMT +8 (KL/PH), I'm launching the very first Space I'm hosting for my personal brand, not a company.

I'd like to thank my Chief Bro, Playfix.io Co-Founder & CEO Tobias Abdon, for pointing this out and encouraging me to do this. He will guest to support me and handle the AI-related stuff.

If you have time, please do join us tonight when I kick things off with Joey Alarilla Live: Technology for Good.

We have an awesome lineup of speakers.

@PlayfixLab Co-Founder & CEO @tobiasabdon
@blockchainspc CEO & Founder @petering_
• @gcashofficial Head of Crypto and crypto author, artist, and entrepreneur @helloluis
@KatsCoGroup ~@KatsDojo Founder @KatsDojo
@DiamondNFT Super-community Head of Content and Enjin Writer @JaimeZ888
@bitdoctorai CEO & Co-Founder Asher L
@bigaarcade Community Manager @mrKonsole
@nodefemme, content creator, connector, and artist

I don't what I've ever done to deserve this level of support, but I'm truly grateful.

Set your reminder now:
https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1eaKbgzDMkvGX

See you tonight!