Worrying

B3 is sick this morning as he was doing his exams.  I am afraid he may not do well.  He suspect it is food poisoning as it is after recess.  I prepared his sandwich as usual cooking up bacon and egg.  So I do not think it is food poisoning but regular flu or cold.  He is vomiting and has fever.  So it is worrying to have a sick boy at crucial junction of final examinations.  It is a critical year as the results will be used for streaming.

B3 is Sick

It is exam time and B3 is not feeling well.  He vomited and now having fever.  He has no appetite.  I am worried.  This is not good for his performance.  I wonder if it is an infection or is the haze affecting him so badly.

Luckily, tomorrow is English exams which he does not normally prepare.  It is hard to prepare for English exams.  My teacher told me to do a summary of the newspaper editorial but I did not follow his advice.  My classmate did and scored an Ace for English in "O" level.

Welcome Respite

The thunderstorm late afternoon is a welcome respite but it is still hazy and the burning smells become stronger.  I have class tonight and we have to delay our outdoor perspective section until 9pm. 

Our instructor has asked her friend to come and sell Daniel Smith watercolors.  It is so expensive.  A set of 6 colours is $28.  And another set of vibrant colours for fashion is $30.  Then there is a box for the palettes costing $25.  The tiny palettes $5 for 10.  So in total I spent $86 as I bought 6 palettes for $3 from another classmate.

Anyway, the colours are for B3 who will be able to use the watercolour more effectively than me.

Executive Apartment

Today, I visited a neighbour who bought an executive apartment.  It is very nice with 4 bedrooms.  The interior decoration is well designed.  The bedroom doors when closed integrated with the cupboard and so it is flat wall.  The whole house is quite zen.  It is still new as the neighbour just moved in.  So the house is not cluttered and full of empty shelves.  My wife's dream!  An uncluttered home where every item has a place in the storage.  It is high floor and a room has clear view.  Other rooms looked into other flats and vice versa.  So very little privacy.  I guess if you keep the windows closed and blind drawn, then no problem.

My current house is the same where we looked into our neighbours and our neighbours looked into our living room and master bedroom.  So there is no choice in crowded Singapore.  We have far more privacy in Canada.

Mrs Pho

Mrs Pho as the name suggest is a Pho resturant.  B3 suggested going there as he must have like it the first time.  We were lucky as one car just left the car park lot along Beach Road.  So we park close by the resturant.  B3 had chicken pho, B2 ordered steaky beef and Mummy decided on her usual combination beef.  I tried out something different instead of soup.  I had vermicelli with roast pork, meat balls and fried spring roll.  It taste heavenly.  The portion is small and insufficent for big eater like me.  We had 3 drinks and extra orders of fresh spring rolls and deep fried spring rolls.  Total cost of the meal is $55 and change.

I would recommend this resturant. There is a chio bu there.  Maybe more.

Clearing Up

Amazingly, the sun broke through at about 10am!  I was so happy I sang so loudly in my usual off-tone voice as I go to the pool for a dip.  It is wonderful to have a swimming pool right at the door step and no kids are out.  So it was a very pleasant 15mins by myself.

Really Bad Haze!

No Schools!  Headline: Hazardous Haze!  We are suffering from the haze.  Less outdoor traffic and less people going out.  Business is down significantly especially F&B.  This morning was really hazy(pun intended).  Not many cars on the roads as there is no school.  I went for my regular tea and the queue is still there.  So the wet market is fine.  A number of hawker stalls are not open for business.

If this continues our economy may start to contract!!

A Few Hardy Souls

The haze is so bad not many shoppers are in Takashimaya.  I went to Taka for lunch and to find a toaster oven to replace as my current unit broke.  Even Imperial Treasure has long queue during holidays is fine today, no wait for a table. 

Best Denki has a good selection of Toaster Oven.  I settle for Mistral for $59.  It is 1200W and has two heating elements on top as well as bottom.  So the heat will be quite even compared to the single heater each.  Or at least this is what I think.  Further more, there is temperature control.  One problem and only when we tried to use it that we found out.  We want to try out to heat our food in the evening for dinner.  We cannot read the dial.  The labels are too small and contrast is weak.  It was ok on display as the place is bright.

As the haze is quite bad, I decided to wear a facemask and go to Punggol Point to catch fishes.  Along the way, only a few hardy souls are in the PCN walking.  A number of them are foreign workers on the way back to their domitory near Punggol Marina.  I guess I can be classified as the foolhardy to ignore the haze.  I doubt my facemask did much to reduce the air particulates from entering my lungs.

Water so Dirty

The water at Punggol Point is so dirty these few days.  The regular fishermen are not gettting any luck as the fishes are gone. They says it bunker water which is oily and the water is dark gray.  So the sea life is gone.  I am so sad to see such bad pollution in our waters that we cannot do anything about.  This does say something about our neighbour.

Stitches Off!

My stitches are off!  It is two days late actually.  They started to give me trouble yesterday.  Once the wound seal and heal, the stitches became irritating and at times painful.  I am glad the doctor says come back in 6 months.  Dismissed! 

With that I went to net fishes.  Seems a little dangerous to my internal surgical wound as I need to swing the net suddenly and swiftly as the fishes are extremely speedy and good escape artist.  Still I am glad to catch enough for my arowana to have a fine feast.

Color Drawing

We have progress to color which is a lot more complicated to do.  There are so many new terminology e.g. hue, tint and highlight.  Color mixing, wet vs dry etc etc etc.  I like charcoal, just black and use for fingers.  Man, colors is so complicated and challenging to learn.  I guess this is the joy of developing the right brain.

Back to Normal Activity

I decided to cycle and catch fishes late in the afternoon.  I cycle slower than usual as an bump cause pain to the surgical site in the abdomen.  I also realised catching fishes is also a risk as I notice the bump seem to have return slightly.  My abdomen is tender to slight pressure.  But I will say the recover is pretty fast.  It is only 36 hours since the surgery was done and I am able to do my regular activity albeit with care and caution.   The pain is a reminder not to do too strenous work.  Only problem is the intense focus needed to sneak up on the fishes means I forgot the pain and may have stress the stitches. 

I am very happy the recovery is fairly swift.

Vegetarian Dinner

As you know, I am not a veg meal fan.  Tonight's dinner is vegetarian laksa.  I ate veg meal with my in-laws.  Yes, it is my mother-in-law's birthday.  We went to Paya Lebar Square.  It is a small mall.  Pretty new.  Lots of familiar F&B like Toastbox, Ah Kun and food court with traditional hawker fare.  There is a Ipoh hor fun place that looked interesting.  But I doubt I will go all the way there to try.

Come to think of it, the vegetarian resturant is very popular.  It is the busiest among all the F&B that are in the mall.

Laparscopic Hernia Repair

Yesterday afternoon, I checked into Farrer Park Hospital for hernia repair.  I had this sore ache on my right lower abdomen for a few months.  I had to do to planking exercise to strengthen my core muscles to prevent backache.  I always thought the soreness was due to strenous exercise as it does go away after a few days.  On Monday, when I was showering after exercise, I decide to look at the sore area and notice a bulge.  When I tighten my stomach muscles, the bulge increased in size.  So I went to see my classmate who is an Urologist.  He confirmed it is a hernia as I deduced.  He no longer do general surgery and recommended a few general surgeons for me to go to.

He also suggest Dr Ngoi saying that he is good but expensive and his wife who is also my classmate had her appendix removed by him.  The one hour procedure and overnight stay come up to a total of $15K!!

I like this post!

As you know I lived in Canada and known Trinidadians who migrated there...

Honest opinion from a Trinidad citizen about S’pore

May 31st, 2015

A lot of what Amos Yee said about Singapore and LKY is spot on. But most Singaporeans are too brainwashed to realize this. I was born in Trinidad, an island in the Caribbean, grew up in Canada and lived in many countries in Asia, including 10+ years in Singapore. Once I attended a talk given by BG Lee when he was still DPM. He was talking about such great accomplishments for such a small country but I thought to myself, I know of a country that has similar or better accomplishments.

Trinidad is a multi-cultural population with Indians about 50%, Africans 35~40% and rest of the population consisting of English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Syrian and Jews. It has only a little more than 1.3 million people, so the population is only about less than one-third the size of Singapore.

Trinidad has a Nobel prize winner while Singapore has no other famous people except LKY.

Trinidad has world famous singers, including Nicki Minaj and Billy Ocean, Singapore nothing! Calypso came from Trinidad, so did the Carnival and Steel Bands.

Trinidad won two Miss Universe and one Miss World, Singapore nothing! And this so infuriates them that they said the contest is rigged against Asians, but India, Thailand, Philippines and Japan have won these contests many times before.

Another interesting fact is that, different races have represented Trinidad in these contests; Blacks, Indians, Chinese and Whites. It is not considered strange. In Singapore, you basically have to be Chinese to make it in beauty contests or modelling. Sometimes, a token Indian might make it to Miss Universe but rare, and the result is still the same, zilch.

Trinidad is one of the smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup (back in 2006), Singapore is not even close. Trinidad footballers include a world famous player named Dwight Yorke.

Other famous athletes include Brian Lara. At his peak, he is considered the best cricket player in the world. Also, we have Olympic gold medal winners, while Singapore produces nothing.

As for food, everyone says Singaporean food is great. It is good but KL or Penang or Bangkok are better. I think it is the Westerners who say Singapore food is so good because they can’t handle the authentic Asian food. Trinidad food is on par with Penang. It is so good, especially the Indian food there.

The main claim Singapore makes is, it is rich and yes, its Per Capita Income is very high but so is its Cost of Living. But Standard of Living does not seems so great with the wide income disparity and large number in poverty. In Trinidad, people make less than half of what a Singaporean makes but they can own their own house (landed property) and their own car (usually Japanese mid-size car). They are also very happy, shown at its best during the world famous Carnival while in Singapore, you get arrested playing music during Thaipusam! Trinidad has a bigger land mass than Singapore but it is still a small island, a dot on the map but people can easily buy cars and houses. And all seems to have a nice garden, while Singapore is stuck with SBS buses and rude taxi drivers. No wonder they are the most unhappy people in the world.

In Trinidad, it is Trinidadians who live there, they are not overrun by foreigners.

But most importantly, both became independent around the same time. Singapore in 1965 and Trinidad 1962. Trinidad has had successful transfers of power, you can vote out a political party in free elections. In Singapore ….. *sigh*

Like I said, I worked in Singapore because I wanted to stay in Asia as my wife is a Thai. She wants to be near her family and Singapore is an easy place to live and work. When not working, I prefer to go to Penang or Bangkok and will eventually retire there too. Singapore is just too expensive and crowded and not as much fun as other places.

But BG Lee thinks Singapore is #1.

bo ram

No Mood to Read the Papers

I have no mood the read the newspapers nowadays.  Even the internet is not exciting.  We are back to the same old same old.  Life is boring with the same complaints and same issues.  So sian.

Good thing is work keeps me occupied.  I also can look forward to my art lessons.  Even my art teacher know I am terrible at art.  But no matter.  As long as I "enjoy" the frustrations as she puts it.  Next lesson is critique and color.  So I know I am not going to do well as my drawings is quite far from my classmates.

For me, it will be another 4 to 5 years wait for the next round of excitement. 

Exhausting Haze

The haze is making me feel tired.  Everyone in the drawing class is also feeling under the heat.  We finish class early and I am back early.  I am glad to clear my body with a shower and ready to go to bed.  I am sorry for Indonesians who are suffering from heavier haze.

Strategic Media Campaign

The signs of a professional handiwork is clear.  The S50 celebration and using the TV to air programmes to feature progress of Singapore and LKY is so successful that even the Party was surprised by the good results.  This will encourage them to engage the "invisible" campaign manager again.

Laksa for my Siblings

I invited my siblings over for lunch.  Told them to come at 11am.  I scrap my plan to do a salad and bbq ribs and decided to cook laksa instead.  I went to AMK Ave 10 and Ave 1 market and bought fishcakes and fishballs, beansprouts, taupoks and 1.5kg of thick beehooon.  I spent the morning cooking and was ready by 10am.  It is very easy as the Prima Deli's pre-pack laksa kit is very simple to put together.  We had a good time to catch up with each other.

I should organise this more often.  It is good feeling and increased happiness.

Good Cappuccino

I went to Queens Street hawker center for lunch.  After lunch, I ordered a cappuccino in a cafe opposite LaSalle School of Arts.  The cappuccino is so good that I need not add sugar.  It cost only $4.  The cafe is run by a Chinese couple.  The husband speaks only Mandarin and the wife speaks English.  I did not try the cakes as I was quite full.

The cafe also sells many paraphernalia for making coffee.  All their products are sourced from China.  The smell of the cafe is very good.  The coffee is better than the Singapore's Australian cafes I been to.

Octopus

A Nice Gift

I was cycling to Punggol Point as usual to catch some fishes for my tank and arowana.  A regular fisherman was using a pair of scissors to carry a wriggly creature.  I was staring at the creature as I cycle.  He saw and asked if I wanted it.  Yes! and nodded my head vigorously.  B3 loved to have a cuttlefish.  He always wanted an octupus and I told him it is impossible as octupus only live in cold water.  In Japan and South Korea, live octupus are sold.  And we do not have octupus in our wet markets.  So my assumption is octupus do not live in our waters.  I was totally wrong!  The gift proved it!

D Day

Decision day tomorrow.  Voting is compulsory. The real excitement is tomorrow night where the counting began and the outcome.  It is nice and quiet. I went Punggol in the evening and the water was dirty.  Still I managed to catch some fishes.  A little girl was trying to scoop fishes out of the water but could not.  I gave her two so that she at least has some fishes.

Adenaline must be coursing through the blood stream of all the candidates. The last two weeks has been long and tiring.  Today is a good rest day.  Tomorow night, I will know what the rest of my fellow countryman thinks.

Sylvia Lim, Master of Judo Strategy

Sylvia is really good at using PM's speech and turn it around and apply to WP's candidates(must be stout hearted, thick skin and strong mind... or something to that effect).  She is an excellent speaker as Yahoo attest.

Sylvia is a friendly down-to-earth person.  I loved to sing loudly in my off-tune and "tone deaf" voice.  One Saturday morning on I was walking up the stairs to Tiong Bahru hawker center with my wife, I break into a song.  The woman further up the stair looked down and said this "how deep is your love..."  She was grinning happily at me and continue "you loved to sing..."  and this is how she strike a conversation with me.  Yes, it was Sylvia.  She asked if I am a regular to the hawker center.  She was there with Quah Kim Song.  Kim Song is a quiet guy.  I enjoyed my banter with Sylvia.

Seagate Personal Cloud

B2 loves to go to Comex and other electronic fair.  This time I tasked him to buy 4T Personal Cloud.  It is just plug and play.  I wonder about the security of the system.  I just turn on and it is ready to use.  I wonder if my neighbours or anyone one else can access the information in my Personal Cloud.  It is so much better than the first version, 1T I had bought for trial.  I have not setup it up with password or security yet. I am now borrowing videos from the library and putting them there.  I loves documentaries and they are free to borrow from our libraries.

Practise Drawing

 This is what I draw during class.

Blitz!

The same picture is everywhere, the same symbol is everywhere.  Even when I go to Youtube, the advertisement is on about all the good things that are happening.  It is like a psychological warfare.  Obviously, media strategist have been consulted and plenty of cents thrown in.  The power of $$$ at work.  Yes, the old man is right.  His son has more resources at his disposal.

The competition needs to engage "Judo Strategy".

Rally Live

It is so convenient nowadays.  I can watch the different rally and switch around at the comfort of my desk.  No need to go to the field.  The atmosphere live is quite different.  It is very exciting to see WP rally during the 2011 GE.  The traffic slows to a crawl, impossible to find carparks, and overhead bridge is full of spectators. 

Chee Soon Juan rocks!  So I think he may get his lucky break this time.

Fishing with a Boy

I was at Punggol Point as usual in the late afternoon to net some fishes for my arowana.  A small boy came down the stairs of the jetty and he is trying to catch fishes with a small net and a small pet container.  I told him it will be difficult to catch using his net.  So he asked for a fish.  And I gave him a live ikan bilis. 

He continues to follow me around to catch fishes.  I showed him some easy targets but he still could not net it.  His friend can and asked him about his fishes - I demonstrated how to fish and put those I caught into his box.  He told his friend he caught the fishes together with me.  If I am the boy, I would have said the uncle gave them to me.  When his friend probe further, he insisted he caught the fishes together with me.  Hm!

Pesticides in Vegetables

My wife after Chinese New Year suddenly cannot hear on one ear.  We found out from the ENT it is known as Sudden Hearing Loss. Seems quite common. The medical treatments cost more $10K.  Luckily, it worked and was covered by insurance. 

She did a lot of research and find out all the possible causes as the Professor says there is no known root cause.  She suspects fried shallots so that became banned.  She suspected our cutlery, cups and bowls were not rinsed properly and the maid had to be reminded constantly.  Finally, she finds our maid is very stubborn when it comes to washing vegetables.

I had to go to Poly Clinics to get a referral letter.  Our boys also had skin allergies.  The doctor asked if it happened after dinner. And both my boys confirmed.  Doctor says this is quite common but she did not know why. 

On the internet, one of the possible cause of Sudden Hearing Loss is pesticides. My wife think it is possible that the allergy occurs after dinner as many eat vegetables during dinner time.  The hawker food has very little vegetables.

So my wife decided to buy organic and wash the vegetables herself.  It works!  Our boys skin allergies stopped after dinner.  Her hearing is stable.  So it is very important to get rid of pesticides in vegetable.  Best is organic.  It is much cheaper than paying the medical fees.

Yahoo! It is best time to live in Singapore

It is the best of time from 2pm today until 911.  Our operating room sterile atmosphere will turn smoking hot!  I love it!  Once every 4 to 5 years exciting event.  I love just to hear all the hot issues and my hot buttons pressed over and over again.  It is addictive.  Yes, I am addicted to adenaline rush.  Life will be back to normal, a new normal on Saturday morning, 12 September when we know the outcome. 

It is good to see the shows.  The quality of the speakers has improved drastically.  So the show is getting better that the political apathetic are getting engaged.

Today, we went to Junction 8 for lunch and the walk to RI.  The atmosphere is festive.  Lots of old aunties wearing all white with PAP buttons.  Looked like the Old Girls and Old Boys from ORA (Old Rafflesians Association) have come back to their alma mater.

Hey, I wonder if my good friend, Boh Tong go back to his old school to check out the atmosphere!!