Niece in Mt E for Test

My niece has tachycardia and has check-in to Mt E for testing.  She has to go for blood test, MRI on her abdomen, 24 hr telemetry and 24 hr urine test for dopamine.  My poor niece has been suffering for so long with fainting spells.  She is very adorable when she was young.  I always remember walking with her and she will chat with me the whole time.  I always reminisce my time with her.  It was golden time and I love her so much.

It was yesterday that she has to check in.  Her friend was with her the whole time.  While waiting for her to do MRI, I chatted with her friend.  She is a 35 years old divorcee working as a social worker for children with disability in a school in Hougang.  She is so good to my niece keeping her company all the way.  I am very happy she is there to support.  I am glad my niece has good friends. 

Mata Puteh Bird

This morning, I was working at my home office as usual.  I heard a loud bang and then a bird came fluttering down and hang on to the ferns I have on my balcony.  It stay there for a while hanging upside down.  So I got a little curious and get nearer to see and it is not fly away.  So I decide to catch it but it flew off but was confused and knock against the glass wall.  I managed to catch it and take a few photos before releasing it.  I have been wanting to hold the live bird by hand whenever I see them flirting around my plants and this morning my dream come true!!

 

Inderjit Singh's Response to President's Address

It is a whiff of fresh air from Inderjit Singh.  Unlike another Singh who throw a bomb on an ant, Inderjit won my respect for speaking out for Singaporeans.  He point out to the realities of the ground and give out real-life examples. 

Kudos to Inderjit for his frank opinion.  Kudos to him for speaking out.  Kudos to him for pointing out the systemic flaws of meritocracy, of scholar driven policy making and systemic discrimination against Singaporeans studying medicine overseas trying to do internship in local hospitals.

The analogy is correct - Singapore is a 6-star hotel, a playground for the rich and rich immigrants.  The question which American politicians asked "Are you better today than 5 years ago" is a good acid test. 

PMETs are not protected from their employers.  I believe foreign workers and maids has better protection than a Singaporean PMET.  Something is seriously wrong when the government is perceive not to protected our own.  Even wild animals protect their own kind.

Will the government take the feedback and change?  Only time will tell.

National Skin Center

B2 has a lot of rashes.  We brought him to see our family doctor and was told she will refer him to dermatologist or a skin specialist.  So she wrote a referral letter and this cost us $32.  Then we head straight to National Skin Center to get treatment and did not use her referral letter.  At NSC, the cost of consultation is $90.  So just seeing the doctor cost $114 with the walk-in fee waived since his condition is quite bad.  He then has an injection and drugs.  The total cost of medicine is $38.  So just for see a doctor for skin condition cost almost $200. 

Medical cost is really high in Singapore.  Citizens are paying through our nose for basic healthcare.  And our government is key to the increased in our daily expenses.

Eating Out

We have been eating out lately and it is not healthy.  My weight keeps on increasing.  I love to buy snacks after meals.  For example, I bought Famous Amos cookies for my boys after dinner but share and ate a lot with them.  I usually buys 300 grams to get the 50 grams "free".  So more cal consumed.  This afternoon in the hawker center beside Fu Lu Shou, there is a temporary market with additional stalls for rice dumplings.  So after lunch, I bought from different stalls to try out the taste of the different manufacturers.

At 91kg, my weight is way past my normal range of 89kg.  My ideal weight is 82kg or less.  However, I always tell myself I am better than this guy or that guy whenever I see someone bigger than me.  It is a psychological device to console my lack of discipline. 

Michigan Professor Exchange Program

This afternoon I was cycling in the PCN as usual.  I like it when the park connector is quiet as I can listen to my music, audiobook or simple reflect as I cycle.  It is far more restful to cycle when there is no need to keep watching out for pedestrians or joggers especially little cyclists!  I decide to turnaround at the water playground.  An Ang Mo lady wearing NParks uniform was waiting and signalled to me.  She asked if I can do a survey for her.  I obliged as I enjoys the parks and want to make their job easier.  I was surprised she is there at that odd hour.  I asked her about it since it is going to rain, there was hardly anyone.  She says they just want to capture park users at all time.  She is a Professor on an exchange program.  She is a nice middle age lady.  She lived and work in Michigan park. 

This bring back memories of my training trip to Chicago.  I was getting training on repairing diagnostic test machine in Chicago.  Temperature was below zero fahrenheit!  The cold was really intense.  Even the short walk from carpark to the building was a torture.  The training was two weeks.  So one of the trainee asked me what I will be doing on the weekend.  I told him I have no plans.  So he invited me to his home.  It was a three hours drive in a rural area of Michigan.  He was a warm host.  He brought me to do ice fishing.  It is quite interesting to drill a hole in the lake and sit there to talk while waiting for the fish to bite.  The fishes are quite small. 

Michigan is a nice place but cold and snowy in winter, very similar to Toronto.

Wu La La

I have no idea but suddenly I just utter out "wu la la"!  It is a meaningless expression but it mean I am excited.  I have no idea what I am excited about either.  Sometimes subconsciously I am just happy?  Maybe it is just work.  I manage get my answers quickly.  It is fun when things go smoothly:)

Takashimaya has 10% sales going on, so my wife wants to get a cleanser for herself during lunch.  I explore the food section as usual.  I noticed two RIJC girls eating chocolate softserve icecream and the label on the paper cone holder states Godiva.  So I starting hunting for the Godiva store.  After scouting the typical area, I saw another woman holding the ice treat coming towards me.  Ah ha moment!  I walk toward her direction and past her.  Then stall come to view.  It was outside Cold Storage checkout counters.  I remember tasting samples of hot chocolate from Godiva in our trip to US.  It tasted heavenly.  We bought a bottle back.  As it was expensive, we try to save it for as long as possible.  Unfortunately, it spoils.  So our money was wasted.  My philosophy change.  If we buy any food item tat is expensive, we have to consume it while it is still fresh.

I bought the chocolate ice cream for her and a milk chocolate shake for myself.  The wife was concerned that about consuming food in Taka and I was scolded.  It is hard to be a husband.  Getting a favorite snack for the wife and totally unappreciated.  Adding insult to injury was being reprimanded.  In Hokkien, pai cho lang.

House Lizards

It seems my house is infested with house lizards.  There are lizard poos everywhere.  The lizard can be quite sizeable.  I like to keep my doors and windows open and they keep coming.  It is hard to trap them.  I like to catch them and feed them to my arowana.  However, my reactions are slowing down and they are eluding me!

I need to find a better way to catch them.  I have a trap but so far it caught only one lizard.

8.5Kg Water Melon

Fairprice is not the cheapest.  Specialty shops for fruits or toiletries are far better value.  However, the good thing about Fairprice is I can weigh the fruits before deciding which fruit out of the big pile to chose.  Water melon was on special last week and I weigh the watermelon and chose between the 8.5kg and 8.0kg.  500 grams more for the same price.  The watermelon is $6.80 each.  I like the large watermelon as they are likely to be ripe and sweet.  This time I was lucky that it is sweet and juicy.

Since the weather is hot, it is nice to have cold watermelon to cool down.

Emergency Couple

We spend the weekend watching this drama series since the actress came to Singapore to promote the show.  It is a little funny at times but has good storytelling with several love triangles.  Watching TV series can be tiring.  But it is good relaxation as we usually do work around the house with the show on.  My wife will do household chores and I will cut fruits.

B1 go to Korea this morning.  He took Cathay as it is quite good value.  The travel time is a lot longer with a 3 hours layover.  His flight is 8am and he landed 8m which is 11 hours of travel time.  He is there with several classmates.  So he will have fun.

6 to 8 years Returns for Solar Energy System

I saw the ads by a company claiming 6 to 8 years return for solar energy.  It is intriguing as I am a green fan.  I may explore this further and see what is the possibility for my home.  We can now sell the energy back to the grid.  So the system is much simpler as there is no need for battery.  I have a few issues to deal with as it may affect my gfa or gross floor area.

I like the fact I can have a smaller carbon footprint.  The price will be high but it is worth the good feeling about saving Mother Earth.

Good Deal in Fish and Co

B1 was out with his friend and came home for dinner.  Since mummy has Fish and Co voucher for her birthday from my eldest sister, he says we should eat there.  While queuing up, he read the poster for joining Fish and Co VIP member.  The annual fee is $50 but we get 80points credit equivalent to $80 in value.  In your birthday month, you get a free 1 person platter.  So we joined and since it is mummy's birthday, we had the free platter.  So our meal comes $77 for which we paid $50.  Not a bad deal.

Slow Fruit Juice Dinner

My wife lent out our family slow fruit juicer to her classmate who was diagnosed with Stage 3A lung cancer.  So we have to open our spare unit to use.  Grapes and Thai Honey mangoes were on sale in Fairprice.  So we bought lots of them and juice them for dinner tonight.  It is very filling meal!!  The fruits were sweet.  We had organic apples, globe grapes, green seedless grapes, honey mangoes, banana and carrots.  We had so much juice in the fridge to the next few days.

Slow juicing is supposed to be much better than the traditional centrifuge high speed spin juicing.  The antioxidants are not destroy through slow juicing.  The best is actually cold pressed but the machine is very expensive.  Slow juicing or cold pressing is best way to extract fruit juice and important for cancer patients. 

The juice taste better too.  We had a healthy dinner tonight.

Change in TV Recording

When we had our first born, we bought VCD for our boy.  He grew up on diet of Barney, the Pink Dinosaur and Bananas in Pyjamas as well as the Magic School Bus on poor quality VCD and video tape.  Our second boy was born and we started to buy more DVD but they were still expensive.  The video quality is much better than VCD.  Second boy like Power Rangers, Iron Giant and Ninja Turtles.  However, our last baby did not watch dvd.  He is watching Youtube.

So even the "new and latest" technology of dvd-9 and HD-DVD is becoming obsolete.  It is video streaming and many free websites.  No wonder, the price of dvd has drop to rock bottom.  Nowadays, I watch video on my phablet i.e. Samsung Note 3.  It is so convenient that I hardly switch on my TV. I even stop watching news.  The technology change had impact my reading habit as well.  I no longer read as much in the airplane.

Vesak Day

It is Buddha's Enlightenment Day.  I was up early to wake to prepare for my work as it is not a public holiday in Hong Kong or US.  So it is about 1pm before we set off as a family to go to "4 Horses Road Temple" or the Kuan Yin Temple in Queens Street.  The temple is full of devotees.  We all went to pray and donate.  It is something we do and all 3 boys donated their own money today.  There is a blind singer/busker who sang very well and we drop dollars note to her as well. 

After prayers, we went to Bugis Junction Food court for lunch.  Even though it is about half past two, the place is jammed pack with diners.  It is nice to have all my 3 boys out as family for our activities.  Dinner is just maggie mee with black bean tofu.  After dinner, they watch Police Story 4.  It is too long and draggy for me.  There are too many flashbacks.  I cannot sustain my attention for such complicated movie, so I gave up and come to my home office to write my blog.

First Starfruit

I have been trying to grow something that bear fruits for years.  My first success is papaya.  That is because my maid from Philippines use a coke bottle to hang it on the tree as the papaya tree was male.  I bought a coffee plant which had plenty of fruits in the nursery when we bought it.  After planting into our front yard, there were plenty of flowers but no fruits.  Same with chiku plant I bought in the Tiong Bahru wet market.  There were a couple of fruits when we brought the plant home.  The plant is still thriving today with lots of green leaves but no fruits so far.

Now I have a Starfruit!

Electric Scooter from Unitrade

I sent the electric scooter back for fixing.  When I went to pick up, the front wheel is still not balance.  Neither was the disc brake.  The man fixing it claimed he is from the "manufacturer".  He told me not to expect disc brake like a car.  I said even on a bicycle, it is flat and smooth.  He insisted that the front wheel and the disc brake are working and "it is like this".  I was very disappointed and upset.  To pay seven hundred eighty dollars for unbalance wheels both front and rear and shaky handle is terrible.  No wonder it is so tiring to ride.  The handle was shaking so much that it is vibrating my arms.

What this repairman did was to loosen the disc brake making it impossible to brake hard.  This way, it reduces the noise the brake and wheels made.  However, it is still very unstable.  I am thinking I must buy a new scooter with reputable brand in future.  At least I can expect some basic quality.

Happy Mother's Day

We went to Arab Street for our cheap and good Malay lunch.  Unfortunately, the place to very pack and we have to look for another place.  So we ended up in Prince Coffee House.  This is Hainanese style western cooking.   We had their Mother's Day special menu, mixed grill and ikan kurau set.  We also tried their beef hor fun, oxtail stew and Hainanese pork chop.  The lunch cost us $100 in a fair hot environment.  The food is quite good.  Only complaint is aircond should be better for the price we are paying.

We also try their Apple Pie and butter cake.  They are quite traditional and tasty.  We had a repeat purchase of Yam cake which is mummy's favorite.  I am glad now I have a good source of traditional apple pie.  When I was in Singapore Poly, I used to buy apple pie from Fuji Bakery a neighbourhood bakery shop in Holland Road when I walked home.  Finally, I found the same taste since more than 30 years ago.  What a treasure!

Mother's Day Dinner

We had a family dinner with my in-laws for Mother's Day.  This time my wife swing the family from the usual Greenland Vegetarian resturant to Imperial Treasure.  The food fits both veg and non-veg.  It is food I can enjoy instead of eating a wee bit at a vegetarian resturant.  My wife will make sure she ordered enough vegetarian dishes for her parents and eldest sister.  Then the rest of us enjoy the Peking Duck, deep fried pork chop and xiao long bao.  The veg dishes are 3 types of eggs with spinach in superior soup.  long beans with chopped mushrooms, steamed buns with veg fillings and plenty of desserts.

I think my in-laws enjoy the food.  I know my nephews and brother-in-law enjoys the meat dishes very much.

Best of all, the meal is cheaper than in vegetarian resturant.

Together

B1 is studying here.  So all 3 Bs are together with us.  We are very complete.  I am very happy to have our meals together.  I know that my boys will fly the coop as in a couple of years they will be going to work and then get married.  I hope they will continue to live with us and their wives if possible.  But it is also good that they set up their own home as they will have major adjustments when two persons with different personalities and upbringing live together.

For now, I am very happy that my brood is growing up well and will contribute positively to society in future.

Electric Scooter

I bought my scooter from a shop in Golden Auto building.  The battery driven scooter is from China and 800W.  The front wheel is not aligned properly.  So it is quite shakey and noisy whenever I brake.  Overall, it is a neat toy.  It is nice to go about without using muscle power.  But I get tired by holding on to the handle of the front wheel.

I called the vendor today.  He says to bring back.  I shall bring it back on Saturday and see it can be fixed.

Overflow drainage

It is important to have backup.  My balcony was renovated by the developer to fix the waterproofing.  The contractor cover up the drain hole for excess water due to sloppiness.  Luckily, I noticed and ask the Far East Project Manager to reinstate the drain hole.  Initially, he insisted it looked better.  I was quite adamant as I have seen water coming out from the drainhole of my neighbour's unit.  So I know it worked!  So I am glad I insisted as this afternoon during the thunderstorm, the dead leaves clogged up the drain hole and water was flowing out from the overflow pipe. 

I am always happy to see a system working.  I have to clear the trap to let the water flow out but as a system person, it is good to see a backup system working. 

Hot and Humid

Summer is upon us.  We have hot and humid weather.   LKY is righIt is difficult to focus with the heat.  With our city continuing to grow and built up, the temperature will only rise.  Our government is concerned with economic growth.  I hope they start to focus on sustainable growth.  The citzens are under stressful conditions with the overcrowding.  We have become a society of rat races and non-stop racing.  You can only fall by the wayside.  No other option for Singaporeans.  While the globalization is causing a lot of dislocation everywhere, we should have options not to race.

Electric Scooter

I cycle every day when I am not travelling.  Sometimes I suffers from fatigue and yet I want to go out.  At first, I thought I will get an electric bike.  But now there are electric scooters.  So I am seriously toying with this idea.  Electric scooter can go up to 25 to 30 kph.  The speed is not bad.  The height is low.  So it look like safer than e-bike.  I have been researching through the internet.  It seem like the EVO is not bad.  It is an interesting toy. 

Poor Grammar

I was horrified to see such poor grammar in my last entry on the heading.  I must have changed my mind as I type.  Still I did not read my own writing.  Hence publishing it indicates my sloppy attitude and weak command of English.   I have corrected the grammatical errors and would like to apologise for the bad English.

So Many Want to live in Landed...

It is covet living in a crowded city like Singapore.  Everyone aspire to live in a landed home.  Developers will advertise the "luxurious" lifestyle.  The message is clear - you have arrived if you live in a landed with a Mercedes or BMW 7 series in the garage.  I do not have a Mercedes or BM.  However, living on the ground floor does have it attractiveness.  No window grills needed.  A lot more space when you need by extending to the ground outside. 

Recently, we discover rats!  Today, we caught one rat on the sticky board.  We caught two before.  One escaped out of the trap leaving behind its tail.  I will need to replace my traps regularly from now onwards.  There are so many of them.

So this is the problem with living on the ground level or in a landed.  The pests issue can be a big pain.  The mynah birds will come to my backyard and shit onto our clothings and eat our food.  Maybe it is better to live in a condo.

Aftereffects of Spicy Food

This morning during my regular "business" or clearing my bowels, I noticed fresh blood when I was wiping my a**.  Last night Sichuan dishes is coming out with a vengeance!!  The effects are so immediate and clear.  I am not good with spicy dishes.  With a weak stomach, I should not be eating spicy food any more.  I guess it is important that anything that goes in must come out.  So I better "don't anyhow eat". 

I was thinking of bringing my two boys to try out.  Now, I doubt I should be causing them stomach upset.

Chinese Satay

We have dinner at a Chinese resturant serving Sichuan food and bbq stewer meat.  The food is quite good.  It is right in AMK Central beside Cash Converter near the bus terminal.  The menu is quite good and authentic mainland Chinese food.  The patrons are all from PRC except for my family.  So the number of PRC living in Ang Mo Kio must be high enough to sustain resturants and food stalls from China.  Only thing is B2 and B3 were not with us.  So we have an excuse to go back there again. 

Chicken and Apple Pie

My boys and I were strolling around Arab Street like tourists.  Along Beach Road there is a shop that sells Chicken Pie, Apple Pie and Yam Cake.  The proprietor came out when we paused to look at their signs.  He is very enthusiatic.  He says he has been around for more than 30 years.  He moved from Bukit Timah to Prince Cinema to Beach Road.  He is in Beach for 3 years now.  I want to try all his stuff but B1 protested and suggest we just buy the chicken pie.  I also bought the yam cake as it is mummy's favorite.  Yam cake is $11 and Chicken Pie is $7.50.  We had them for dinner and they are quite tasty.  I wished I bought the Apple Pie.  Apple pie is my favorite pastry.  I will have to go back to buy the Apple pie to try.  Motherhood and Apple Pie is the American traditional way.  Since I love apple pie so much, I may be half American!

Ali Baba's Place

Do you know where is Ali Baba's Place?  We drove past this place and I told my boys it is historic area.  B3 was very young.  He watch a lot of the Disney movies.  He said this is Ali Baba's Place.  It was so apt!  I was so impressed and tickled that I always refer to this area as Ali Baba's Place. 

We went there for early lunch.  There are a few good choices.  We go to the one offering nasi padang.  The meal cost us $65 which is reasonable.  We had two curry chicken, two fried chicken, three beef rendang, fried long beans, brinjal, sayur lodeh, ikan panggang with kitchup and fried fish fillet with green chilli.  We are very full.  Then we took a walk around.  It is such a touristy area.  Seems like plenty of tourists know this place well.  It is fun to mingle with the tourists.  The holiday atmosphere is relaxing.

So after talking so much, what is Ali Baba's place.  Most of you would have guess it right, it is Arab street.