Sore Back

On Wed, the Jurong East Chinese Sinseh is off.  So I went on Thursday and wait for about 3 hours before he adjust my spine.  It is still quite sore but I do not look forward to the waiting time.  I must find another sinseh.

While waiting another guy in yellow t-shirt was in the queue in front of me.  He had the same problem as me.  He was cycling and lost his balance and use his arm to steady himself against the wall.  I slipped and almost fell of my bike and managed to break my fall.  However, my spine was compressed and sprained causing the nerves to be pinched.

Now after adjustment, I have improvement but still feel the pain.  Will need to strengthen my core muscles and be more careful when cycling.

The Quiet Peace of Front Yard

I am up early in the morning.  After making coffee and watching a bit news, I decided to sit at my front yard and blog.  The sound of running water is very peaceful.  I can hear vehicles moving about on the road but it is not constant.  Only school buses and some cars sending their kids to school or going to work.  The birds are chirping.  The sky turning from dark blue to like shades of grey.  The clouds are low.  Lizard makes clicking, chirping sounds.  A bird just flew over our central courtyard.

I can see my neighbours with kids going to school switching the lights in their rooms and then off as they head off.  The dog outside my estate is barking.  Just simply listening and observing life as the day break is relaxing.

I injured my back while cycling.  So I have to visit Chinese sinseh in Jurong East to fix.  Right now, it is quite tight and sore.  I get sharp pains when I tried to stretch.  So I need my vertebra realigned.

Charcoal BBQ

I loved to bbq!  When the library in Compass One was reopened recently, I borrowed a book on Japanese Grill.  I learned a few things from the book and is inspired to bbq more often.

Dinner was chargrilled pork belly, asparagus, organic cob of corn and duck and chicken gizzards.  The gizzards turned out tough as it cannot be cooked long enough.  I should have boiled them before bbqing.  Asparagus and cob of corn looked nice and appetizing with charred bits.  They tasted good too.  Pork belly is quite good too.  Overall, the dinner was pretty good.  It took all day to prepare. I have to slice the pork and seasoned it.  To slice the pork thinly, it must be frozen first.  Luckily for me, I have a Japanese fridge that come with "versa room".  Versa room is a compartment where food is frozen at about zero degree.  So the pork belly is not so hard that it is like trying to cut through stone.

Healthy or Convenience!

My wife decides to cook pasta for dinner.  She used minced meat, Johnsonville sausages and Sakura tomatoes.  We like it.  B3 harvest some basil from our garden to add flavor.  Overall the meal is very good.  Eating at home is a lot healthier than eating out.  But it is also a lot more work in preparation, cooking and washing up.  So we need to have both ways.  Healthy or Convenience!

Exercise More Vigorously

I am more serious in my cycling.  I sweat more and my necklace stinks of my sweat smell!!  Yes, it is the first time I notice the stinky smell and this makes me realize all my past cycling is not really exercising by merely getting to Punggol Point for fishing. 


With real exercise, I stopped taking my blood pressure medicine and my blood pressure still within range.  It is just so amazingly true the fact exercise cures many ills and disease.  Now I know for sure it works for high blood pressure.


Next, I have to reduce my food intake.  This is hard, very hard for a person who lives to eat.  So I have to work on it.

Heat is ON!

Mid afternoon.  Hot and muggy.  I am at my home office and it is so hard to concentrate.  The heat and humidity makes it difficult to focus.  I am happy my IT guy is helping me with my old computer.  I am setting it up as a spare laptop.  So far it is working out good.  Although basic, I had use it for work for many years.  More than 4.  It is past 5 years old and without my office security, it will be faster.  I will have to borrow all the audiobooks again from the library so that I can transfer them to my phone for my listening pleasure while I cycle.


Stock market is dropping like crazy with the news that the "armada" that Trump said he sent to N Korea actually went to Australia and only today it is heading to N. Korea.  What a booboo!  This news is causing my stocks to nosedive.  So it is another form of heat!

Gardening Skills

My gardening skills has improved!  Now my plants are growing better.  All I did was to give my plants organic fertilisers every week.  The other is to make sure I water frequently so that they do not get water stress.  The water stress will cause the leaves to drop and all flowers and fruits to wither.

I am happy to see my plants doing well.

Thunderstorm

It poured than stopped and poured again.  I love the wet weather.  It means we will not have to worry about water.  The lightning was a little majestic and magnificent!  Followed by a thunderous roar.
My plants are growing well.  Now I make a point to put fertilizers once a week.  This way I will not forget.  With regular fertilizing and rain, the plants are growing well.

Lunch in Cafeteria

My office the lunch is quite cheap.  The economical rice or chap chye png with 3 dishes but no meat is only $2.70.  I had yong tau foo and it cost me $4.  I like it because I had two vegetables.  I need to eat more veg.  I have no idea why the food is so much cheaper in our cafeteria.  Maybe the rental is low.   There is one Muslim stall, chicken rice, economical beehoon and minced meat noodle.  The drink is expensive at $1.10 for a cup of tea.


The food quality is acceptable.

Gyu Kaku Lunch

I like to yakiniku or Japanese BBQ.  Since my two older boys are available, we can go to Gyu Kaku for lunch which allows me to claim the beef freebie.  I had 15 chops and each chop cost $20.  To get the freebie, I need to have at least $50 on the bill.  So I ordered enough to cost $60.  With 2 boys, they can eat up more food.  My wife and I have small stomach and also we gain weight quickly.  It is enjoyable to eat fine food.  Also barbequing the meat is my enjoyment.  In the restaurant, there is a suction and no oily smoke!!  So it is great.

Hot and Humid

It is so hot and humid today.  I want to cycle but my wife discouraged me as she is afraid I may get sick.  My internal heat is high now.  So I have to drink a lot of water and ice chinese tea.  I make a lot of Chinese tea concentrate and then save them in the fridge.  After that I will dilute with ice water and keep them in a thermos.  The tea will stay cold for long time.

MBS

There is an exhibition in MBS which I went today to support my colleagues.  MBS is a huge place but not interesting to window shop.  The shoppes are branded goods and I prefers gadgets, hobby shops or books.  So I did not do any window shopping at all. 


I noticed on of my shoes the stitching has broke.  So I went to Imperial Treasure for late lunch and buy a new pair of shoes.  I bought a pair of Flexx under "strong recommendation" from The Wife.  Basically, I do not have a choice as she think it is comfortable as she is wearing Flexx.  Anyway, I bought a pair and wear it right away.  The current pair is retired right at the Takashimaya.  This is my way of buying shoes.  No extra.  One pair in and one pair out.

Yong Tau Foo Lunch

We have to pick up my uncle-in-law from SGH.  He is discharged from eye surgery.  It is just lunch time, we went to the yong tau foo stall just outside the hospital.  There is a famous char siew stall there as well.  I think the stall has changed owner.  The person chopping is different and the char siew also look different.  Yong tau foo is quite good but a little dear.  3 bowls cost $20!  It is very popular, so it is still good value for money.

Beautiful Sunday Morning

We are planning to go to a garden place to get more soil and vegetable seeds to grow our own vegetables.  I tried before but harvest only once.  Kang Kong is easy to grow and quite prolific.  To be green thumb takes discipline.  With travelling and work, I did not take care of the vegs well.  So I gave up.

Now with all the pesticides in our vegetables from Malaysia, Thailand and China, we are switching to organic as much as well can.  Back to nature is important.  For those with cancer, eating organic food is the way to keep cancer at bay after treatment.

I am up early as usual, boil my water and make a cup of tea to start my day.

Ah Kun, Toastbox are extremely busy!!

It is Saturday morning and we have to send our boys to Bishan stadium and MRT.  So I thought we have a relaxing cuppa at Ah Kun and all the seats are occupied.  Since Toastbox is more expensive i.e. coffee/tea at $2.20 instead of $1.80, maybe there are seats especially since Toastbox is not aircond.  No luck!  Toastbox at ground level has a longer queue.  So we decided to come back to our homely Seletar Mall.  It is busy too.  But there are seats.  Ah Kun in Seletar used to be a ghost town and now better patronised.

Seems like Saturday morning is a good time for everyone to visit the coffeeshop in airconditioned mall.  The price is reasonable and it is nice cool comfort even though the price is $1.80 instead of $1.10 at the hot and humid coffeeshop or hawker center.  However, I like hawker center as it offers me the chance to observe the life of a regular Singapore.

Programming Self Taught

No really self taught.  Self taught is from books.  Now I have internet, youtube and search engine.  Still it can be challenging as there is no experienced person to ask questions and get instructions to solve the issue.  I have go search and look for answers.  It is quite tedious and running through the video and internet takes a lot of time.  Have to go through irrelevant info.  It is frustratingly slow and painful.

Slow but Progress - Programming Self Taught

I am facing obstacles after obstacles in learning how to program.  My boy finally asked me to go to Harvard website and follow the course.  I am too impatient.  I may have to learn from an instructor as it is quite difficult to learn from books.


Anyway, it is the next big thing and I want to participate just for the fun of it.

Long Long Wait to Ta Po

We sent B2 to Yishun for duty and went to Chong Pang to check out the durians.  It is still very expensive and quality quite poor.  The durians are at $15/kg.  So we decided to go AMK to see if this is better or more reasonable priced durians.  Per kg in AMK Ave 1 and Ave 10 is at $22/kg!!!  We were shocked and decided it is not to pay the huge price for small craving.

So we check with B3 and B1 if they want any food.  B3 said he wanted chicken chop and B1 whatever.  The wait for the takeaway is half an hour as the order taker estimated.  FHM or fried hokkien mee is also half an hour wait.  The hawkers are doing a roaring business!

Durian Season is Starting

The price of durians is quite high.  The small durians are going for $20 for 3.  The fruit vendors in Yishun are making tons of money!  I think their durians price is not so competitive.  Window shopping is free.  I may have to check my regular durian vendor to see if he is selling yet.  But last year, I was disappointed as many seeds were not edible even though I paid by kg.

Probiotics

I might have a bad reaction to zhajiang mian in Bugis MOF yesterday.  I have to go toilet immediately after my meal and continue to go even when I am at home.  My wife insist I have to take the Probiotic 50billions per pills.  I took one but she insisted I have to take at least 2.  So before going to bed I pop in another two.  I must say I feel so much better today.  Probiotics does work wonder for diahorrea.  I am glad we have a good supply at home.