Quiet

My place is dead quiet save the whirling of the fan.  The sky is cloudy yet, some stars are visible directly overhead.  I am reminded of the clear sky in Reno.  The millions of stars dot the nightsky.  No wonder UFOs are usually sighted in US.  The horizon is not covered by tall buildings.  No clouds, so any moving lights can be easily spotted and video taped.

My throat is quite sore and I feel not so good.  My low back is giving pain.  I am up early.

Now I will wait for day break to send B3 to school. 

Down with Cough

First started with phlegm in the morning.  Then sore throat and now I am down with cough.  I am taking the medication and they makes me tired and sleepy.  With my low back pain, it is difficult to cough as pressure on the abdomen cause shooting pain.

I will need to seek treatment for my lumbar problem.

Fixing Up Additional Lights for B3's Study Table

We moved B3's study table to the visitor's balcony.  There is insufficient lights in that area.  We had spotlight and it is not bright enough for reading and writing.  So we have to figure a way to install additional lights.  This morning, we went to Philips in Toa Payoh to buy a 4ft strip LED light.  This is like a flourescent light but very light and low power consumption.  Cost on $17 and change.  We install the light right away.  It was not easy to fix the wiring as it is in a confined space up in the false ceiling. 

After many tries to connect the wires into a connector, I found a way to put both hands inside the false ceiling through the small opening that is used to put in the recessed light fixture.  What a relief it worked!  I am pretty proud of my handy work:)

Now the study area has bright light and B3 can study in a well lite environment.

Chinese New Year Day 2

It was mad rush to clean up the house during eve and also I got myself into a big project of changing the plunger for the toilet in my boy's room.  The water closet was leaking and I had to change the plunger.  I thought it is just take out the water tank and put in the new plunger.  Boy!, was I mistaken!  The metal that holds the tank to the toilet completely rusted.  It was almost impossible to remove. 

My wife went to Google this problem and the best recommendation is to saw off the part.  Sawing takes more than 2 hours.  The rust is stubborn, the tank is made of porcelain and I had spray the rust liberally with WD40.  First, WD40 is unable to work through the rust.  Then it made the porcelain extremely slippery and the rust is thick.  These combination made it very hard to work in a confine space.  Finally, I manage to remove the rust and fit in the new plunger. 

To add insult to injury, the leakage came back after 2 days.  So it maybe another part I have to replace.  Now the plumbing shop is closed until Feb 23.  So I will have to wait until then to get more parts.

Or I need to remove the tank and look at my installation.  I may have done something wrongly.

Stock Market Correction

Finally, the stock market no longer keeps going up.  The forecast on the stock market crash was on the video for so many years and stopped being produced about mid 2017.  The doom prophets had been proven wrong! 

All the doom prophets say there will be a crash and it will be the biggest ever seen.  But the stock market has been defying the forecast!  Now there is a correction which is 10% drop.  When will the crash happen?

Many people will be affected.  Many will gain.  So like elevators, stock market goes up and down.  The only problem is when it go down, it is so fast. 

Day 2 in JC1

B3 want to go to school early before the 7:30am official time.  I send him at 6:25am and we reached about 6:40am.  I thought the school was going to be empty and boy was I mistaken.  It looked empty but as I go to the Marymount entrance, plenty of students are going in. 

RI JC is a motivated group or maybe because they are taking MRT to school and it is better to be early as the crowd will be massive at the later time.  I can only speculate the reasons for being so early.  I know I was late many times as taking bus making bus skipping stops for overcrowding.

Day 1 for J1

Today is the first day of JC for JAE students.  JAE is joint admission exercise.  This is for "O" level students.  The IP or integrated program students started their J1 classes earlier as they do not have to worry about posting.  So now it is integration time for both "O" and IP students in JC.  They have orientation programs for a few days before the lectures starts.

There are lots of SCGS girls, one St. Margaret girl going to school after we drop B3 off.  We saw a boy in white with buttons on his shirt and long pant with his parents.  They are grinning happily as they go to into the school.  He must be from a ex-Chinese school maybe Chung Cheng.  I have no idea how the school uniforms looked in the different schools except for RGS, SCGS, St Margaret, St. Joseph and a few other brand schools.

It is nice the kids have a break after the grueling exams.  Now it is team building time before they get back to the grind again.

School Posting

B3 received his posting at 6:10am via sms.  This year, the cutoff points for RI is 5 higher than last year's 4 and before that 3.  It is now easier to go RI for JC.

The reason for this is there are less cohort and many JCs merged.  Luckily, B3 is in "O" level.  If he is in IP or Integrated Program, he will have to go Eunoia.  Cutoff points for Eunoia is 11 points.  The standard will be much lower than RI.

Sky Clear for Good Times!

I am so glad the sky clear up time to time.  So the total eclipse can be seen clearly before the cloud obscure it time and again.  I managed to take some pictures.  The pictures are taken with my cellphone camera.  It needs a stand to get stable picture.  Also the lens are not as good as a proper camera.

I am so glad to experience the lunar eclipse live and see it!  Most time, the clouds obsure these events in Singapore.  I tried to observe by naked eyes since young and the chance is usually low as our sky typically has cloud cover.

Lunar Eclipse 31 Jan 2018

Tonight is the Big Night for Lunar Eclipse!

I hope the sky is clear for tonight's lunar eclipse and blue moon.  It is a rare event to get a full lunar eclipse in Singapore.  Many times whenever we have solar or lunar eclipse, our heavy clouds spoils the rare event.  Since I was a kid reading science news in Straits Times, I have no chance of seeing the eclipses properly.  Recently, there was a solar eclipse which was not bad as the eclipse can be seen through the cloud.

Moonlight is weak and therefore once there is cloud cover, it will not be seen well.  I am hopeful as the eclipse will last for 3 hours tonight!

Working Late

B1 has been working late last week and yesterday.  So it is a surprise that he comes home at 8pm tonight.  He has been returning home close to midnight every night.  It is nice surprise for us that he is back in time to eat dinner with us. 

Life as a lawyer is tough.  The hours are long.  Most of his classmates work late as well.  The compensation is quite low.  So hopefully, they all get to earn more, much more in future.  Otherwise it is not a good profession to be in.

Enjoying the Front Yard

The temperature cools down in the evening at about 6pm.  So I make myself a cup of iced tea and sat at my front porch.  We have an outdoor table with 6 chairs.  It is nice to read and relax listening to the water sounds of the fountain.  The trees and plants are lush and green.  It is like living with nature.  My wife joins me but she started to talk about the shellac peeling off and started to clean it up.  She is such a perfectionist.  I just want to relax and do basically nothing or read.  So it became stressful.

I am like Dagwood Bumstead in the Blondie comic strip.  Plain lazy when it come to housekeeping and maintenance.  I just like my peace and relaxation rather than endless cleaning and keep the things in the house in tip top condition.

Anyway, we have to go for dinner and I am happy to have space to enjoy drinking iced tea alfresco.

Lucky Day!!

High tide is at about 5 pm.  I starts to cycle to Punggol seaside at 4.  The water is high and murky at the regular spot.  I throw my net and did not do a good job as the net did not spread out.  I was kicking myself mentally as the net lands on the water.  Then I saw a big fish jumps out.  I pull the net in and felt a little struggle.  I do not know yet but feels hopeful that I have caught fishes.  As I pull in the net, there it is a big Asian Seabass.  Another smaller Asian Seabass was also caught in the net.  I felt so lucky to catch a big fish in my first throw.  I put the big seabass in a plastic bag.  The small seabass goes into the bottle.

I feel very lucky!  After that I cycled to Punggol Point.  Again, my kakis are not there whenever I caught a big fish.  No matter, I showed my fish to 2 foreign cleaners whom I says hello to them everytime I met them.  The large seabass weighs more than 800 grams.  My wife put the fish into the freezer when I reached home.

The smaller seabass goes into the tank and it is still alive and swimming.  I also caught some mullets. It is feels good to be lucky!!

Tiny Houses

I have been watching Tiny House series on Youtube.  Tiny houses are usually shipping containers turned into a house.  There are also custom built house on wheels as well as just houses that is less than 300 sq ft.  The tiny houses are practical for small budgets or those "starter" homes.  The house will have to collect rainwater or put water in a container for use.  Toilet is compost toilet.  So have running water toilet if they are connected to the "grid".  Grid meaning water and electricity. Although grid is originally for electricity.

I love the concept of tiny house on wheels.  It mean I can travel around and live without paying for hotel.  I think it is also hard life as there is no running water for shower.  Some of the houses are self sufficient which mean it collects rainwater and use solar and battery for electric appliances.  It seems romantic idea although it will be quite hard as most of the video emphasize the views and outdoor space.  It will be easier in USA, Canada or Japan as the weather is friendlier to outdoor living.

Buying Plenty of Fruits

In Jalan Membina and in Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, the fruit shops with the same name attracts buyers who buy big quantities of fruits.  We were in Chinatown for char kway teow.  The price has gone up to $4 per plate instead of $3.  The queue is still as long. 

After lunch, we drop by the fruits shops.  We bought plenty!  We have young coconuts at $1.30 each, organic longan at $5/kg($6 elsewhere) and soursop at $10/kg instead of $15/kg.  The watermelon is at $3 each and D24 Durian is $8/kg.  Large Australian white peaches are at $2.50 each.  Unfortunately, there is no cut jackfruits which is at $5/kg instead of $6/kg in Yishun.  I have stopped buying fruits in Yishun.

I love my fruits!  They are health snacks.  Only problem is they do not keep weight down.  Only vegetable snacks can help in keeping weight at bay.

Cool Morning

The temperature is wonderfully cool the previous few days.  It is very enjoyable and comfortable temperature.  B1 commented our floor is cold at the level 1 when he open the glass door to let the air in.  I googled and found that the lowest temperature was in 14 Feb 1989 in Paya Lebar.  It must be really cool at that time!

It is nice to wake up in an aircond level type of environment in the open.  So I feel glad to open the door to let the coolness enter our home.  Then I boil water to make tea or coffee and do my other routines.  Many times, I just switch on the TV, this morning I try to write before B1 request I send him to the train station.  I find it relaxing to stay with the cool weather.

RI and Hwa Chong Open House

This morning, we went to the open house in RI.  The school now has astronomy club, runway(for aspiring model), modern dance and other CCA which were not available during our time.  I notice there is no drama or Raffles Players.  Maybe there is but I was moving too quickly to notice.

I left to send mummy to Toa Payoh for her class.  Then I just go home to fish.  Mummy went to Hwa Chong by train.  The station is Tan Kah Kee.  She has to climb up the hill.  Every visitor need to scan their IC.  So it is less welcoming than RI.  Also Hwa Chong is like fun fair.  There is no overall program.  RI is much better organised.  There is an orchestra, dancing on the circular stage, runway show.  So it is quite impressive or rather mum is more impressed by RI.  She noticed the girls from Nanyang i.e. Hwa Chong dance group are prettier and dance far better than those in RI.

"O" Level Results Today!

The "O" level results are released this afternoon.  We went to school and waits for the results.  The school did better than the last 4 years.  More students have 6 distinctions or better. There are 57 with 8 distinctions or more and 93 with 6 distinctions or more.  

B3 has 9 distinctions and was called to receive his results from the Principal.  It is a proud day for us. He has outperform his elder brothers and also the best performer on both sides of the family i.e. daddy's and mummy's.  We are quite relief after so many days of anxieties, worrying and preparing for the worst.

He has a raw score of 7 for L1R5.  He also pass his Higher Chinese which he received B4 and merit for his oral.  So with 4 points deduction, he has 3 points and therefore has a good chance with the 2 most popular school, Hwa Chong or Raffles Institution.

He has a classmate who scored only 6 points and the rest of his good friends scored the same as him.  One did not do as well with B3 for his English and D7 for Higher Chinese.  We feels sorry for him and his mother.  His parents have strong hope for his to go to Hwa Chong.  Now the chance is slim as he has 8 points minus 2 which mean 6 and the points for Hwa Chong is 4.  With the merger, the points may increased but it is still a big worry.  Sigh!  We feel sad for the parents and his classmate but have no idea how to console them.

My Japanese Ex-colleague

This morning, my ex-colleague wrote to me to say hello and ask about me.  I am happy to hear from him and ask about his family as well.  He is doing well but living in a different city from his wife and daughter.  Hopefully, he will get transferred back to Tokyo or Yokohama.  Then he can re-unite with his family as his girl like to stay in the same school when she goes to middle school or secondary school in Singapore terminology.

We worked together for 11 years and he got married while we were working together.  He also had his baby girl during our time together as a team.  So he became a married man, a father and family man while we were colleagues.

We had team building events, so had the chance to meet his wife and his two step children.  However, I did not get a chance to meet his daughter as we stop the team building events before she was born.