+ Work | What Season?

It was Friday yesterday, and man, I already had plans at the end of the working week! It is the long weekend - Monday, 1st May 2006 being Labour Day holiday.

What a let down when 20 minutes before knock off time, loud thunders were heard from inside my office. Only then did I noticed from the frosted glass louvres that the evening had turned very dark.

It was raining mad at lunch time for a few hours and it had already cleared by late afternoon.

My plans were on then, but after the loud thunder that shocked everybody in the office, it was all over.

Thunderous storm with strong winds that blew my umbrella like crazy and had me giving up waiting for a cab at the side of the road after just 5 to 8 minutes.

I was going to Wify's shop but had to cancel since I was soaking wet from my chest down. Dripping at the shop is not a good idea.

Headed home instead and shivered throughout the journey as the double decked bus air-conditioning blasted my body to an ice-block.

All that shivering did not deter my desire to snap photos along the way.

It has always been blue skies and sunshine with my picture all this while, so here they are... pictures of gloomy wet days that are not suppose to come till June at least.

If I had known better, I think mother earth is trying to heel itself from all the damages we humans are causing everyday.

So the erratic weather we are having.

It used to be sunny from late January to May, peaking in mid March with dry heat that sparked pockets of wild bush fires around Singapore, but not these few years though.

Heavy, almost stormy-like rains started from late March onwards, causing flash floods in some parts of the island.

The recent was in Bedok area - Bedok Reservior in particular.

Since late morning today, I have been with my wife at the shop. The crowd was good knowingly tomorrow is Sunday and Monday is a Labour Day holiday.

The sentiments from the Customers were good as pay-day is coupled with the coming holiday, make for good "shopping-mood" day.

All smiles from the neighbouring shops too despite the on-off rain that kept the crowd from reaching its "full potential."

Nonetheless, our son was at the shop too for the first time since its opening. He was the cashier.

He has always been the cashier whenever he came to help at the many kiosks Wify had done before this.

He is able to operate the cashier's machine effortlessly like he had worked in MacDonald's before.

The weekend started very wet, but fortunately it did not "dampened" our spirits, nor the shopping mood of the crowd either. No pun intended here.

We got to spend time together as a family in a different setting today.

Rainy days may come, but with another holiday just around the corner, plus the June school holidays, shopping season has just began! Yes!

+ Son | Sick Today

Did know that I missed the call on my cell phone this morning.

While taking my breakfast at about 9:40am today, my wife while on her way to her shop that she received a call from my Son's school asking her to fetch him back as he was not feeling well after the PE lesson.

She she had prior engagement and was too late to break it, I had to take urgent leave from work to bring him home.

Eat my Mee Soto that I already bought, drank my hot coffee in gulps and off I went to fetch my son from his school.

Fortunately, I managed to get a cab right in front of my office entrance when someone alighted.

Reached Saint Hilda's Primary School at about 10:20am, a fifteen minutes ride from work. Registered at the school's Security Guard Entrance to let me into the compound and straight to the General Office where he was waiting for me.

For some reason, there were 4 other children from the two classes combined that took PE lesson today, were sick afterwards.

2 were still in the sick bay while the school's nurse was tending to, while the other 2 had already gone home with their parents.

My son had stomach cramps after running 3 rounds around the school's outer perimeter.

Well, I cannot fault the PE teacher, because my son refused to eat anything this morning except his strawberry milk.

He was very hungry when I took him back and had to stop at Tampines North CC for MacDonald's breakfast.

Astonishingly, he eat an Egg MacMuffin, Sausage MacMuffin, A Hash Brown with Ice Milo. All in one sitting. He also wanted to eat the Apple Pie then, but saved it for later.

I just had a cup of coffee and watched him gobbled all that food down in record time. This is the boy who hardly eats, and is often forced to eat something, because he is slightly underweight, and a growing boy.

Reached home. He greeted his Hamsters - Puffy2 and Buddy and went straight to sleep in his room. At 10 minutes past 1:00pm, his best friend came over after school to see how he was doing.

I am staying home and monitor his condition for a few hours before I decide whether he needs to see the doctor or not. Updting wify about his condition.

Hopefully it is only a case of not taking breakfast today and doing rigorous physical exercises on an empty stomach, that made him sick.

Have a good word with him about the importance of taking breakfast and made him promise to eat breakfast before going off to school tomorrow onwards.

Have no idea what happened to the other 4 students who had... from fainting spells to tummy aches, after their PE lessons.

Maybe, all these kids did not eat their breakfast this morning before school, just like my son.

Man, kids... they scare you every time the school calls.

+ Life | Tax Return

Like all lazy, last minute Singaporeans, I finally filed my income tax return for Year 2006 via internet on the very last day available, Phew!

Well, actually I filed it online on 12 April 2006, but hit the wrong button to complete the tax under Option 1 Personal Relief declaration, which prematurely "completed" my filing.

Guess it was my mistake.

I was suppose to choose Option 2 File Other Income, thinking the relief was correct and the next screen should bring me to the income filing section.

Nonetheless, I had to read through the online help instructions to amend, but the option is not available at the moment. I do not know why.

In replacement, I had to email for amendments to IRAS which an auto-generated reply email was sent to me immediately, confirming my request was received.

A separate IRAS officer's email came rendering his help by asking me to file the amendments via email instead of on its website a few minutes later.

I did today and sent if off. Another confirmation email from IRAS was received with instruction that the tax advise will follow once done.

Hope all is good. I am quite uneasy to file my personal details and income via email, but the address is to IRAS and confirmation email from it is received immediately afterwards.

So I just have to wait and see how much I have to contribute towards nation building. Sigh?

+ Parents | Bye Comel

I got a call from Mom at lunch time today to receive a bad news. A sad news, in fact.

Mom's adopted little kitten she named Comel or Cutie has died.

Mom cried last night when my Sis who was taking care of Comel while nursing him, died at her home on Saturday night.

Yes, it was a He. The Vet told Sis.

Comel refused his milk for two days that prompted Mom to call my Sis to bring it to the Vet at Sembawang on Good Friday morning.

Comel was having diarrhea again and it became worse the night before.

Sis said the Vet checked and found that he had phlegm, but otherwise quite healthy - his lungs were clear and breathing good, but cautioned her that if the diarrhea did not stop, he would die of dehydration.

The Vet confirmed the brand of milk that was being fed by Mom from the pet shop was correct for kittens. But something was wrong inside him.

Maybe this fragile little kitten was roughly handled by the kids playing at the children's playground where Sis found it. Maybe he just needed and badly missed his mother. Maybe...

From Comel excretion, the Vet did not give it as good a chance to survive due to his tender age of two weeks.

The Vet nonetheless gave medication to stop the diarrhea and antibiotics. The kitten has to be force-fed to avoid dehydration, at least 3 syringes of baby milk bought from the Vet.

Sis brought it back to her home to nurse it since Mom would not know how to medicate Comel.

All seemed good when the diarrhea subsided, during the day on Saturday, but Comel's breathing became shallow late in the evening and became lifeless all of a sudden.

As he laid dead, his once taunt and bloated stomach became flat and deflated. She could see Comel's ribs and his intestines through his thinned dehydrated and pale belly.

Sis and my niece who for several days have cared-for and caressed the kitten to sleep every night, cried the whole night.

A beautiful and adorable kitten was no more.

Comel's cruel and painful journey into this world had ended as fast as it started.

He is now in a better place; rid of the suffering and pain he had to endure, stripped away his right to survive and care from his mother while still a day or two old.

Somebody has to answer to The Almighty for the cruelty he or she had done to this poor, defenseless kitten.

Whatever is his or her reason maybe, the deed was wrong! Totally inhumane, totally wrong!

+ Life | SmartTV Installed

I received an exciting news via email on Tuesday, 7 April 2006.

It was from Starhub regarding a survey I took about my viewing habits and the personality test that came with it, describing me as The Happy Hedonist.

I was chosen to be one of the limited participants to be the first few people to evaluate the new cable TV service called SmartTV.

With so many things going on in my life right now, I can hardly sit down and watch something on TV. I already find it hard to actually read my newspaper daily.

Delighted with this news. For one, I can hardly remember I ever won anything in my life, this is a welcome change.

Another, I can now at least selectively save the programmes for later viewing at my convenience... when I find the time, that is.

The email I replied on the same day came with a request form to install the Starhub DVR. I then received a follow-up call on Wednesday for an appointment on Good Friday morning to get the DVR installed.

Since I already subscribed to Digital Cable TV, this set replaces it at the living room, while the old one goes into the bedroom; at least for a month's grace, before we decide to have both or just the DVR at the living room.

Right on the clock, the Starhub came a-knocking on my door on Good Friday morning, and installed the DVR in less than 15 minutes.

The man taught my son and I the basic functions and how to use the remote. I left it at that and did my chores while within that half hour, my son was fully "in-tuned" with the functions and operations of SmartTV. He then taught me a few more fancy stuffs with the remote.

A deal made with him, that he should finish his homework and all important chores before watching TV. Now he has no reason to delay anything since his favourite programmes can now be recorded for later viewing.

This service is going to be launch soon together with the inclusion of internet access in the very near future since the remote is already equipped with a keyboard on the underside. Cool gadget.

Now, I need to arrange my priorities more efficiently so that I can have some time to sit and watch TV shows, or Prime Time News... at least, the recorded one.

+ Shop | Now Open

My wife and I share a dream of opening our own little shop one day. Not sure what kind products that we eventually will sell, but being the boss ourselves seem great.

Well... we realised this dream when we "officially" opened our little 60-square-feet business on 4th April 2006. Chic Couture is now located on the 2nd Floor, Unit #02C, Bugis Village.

Since my wife is the key person to our "starting-out" investment, we did what came naturally to us, well my wife that is... Ladies Accessories - handmade Necklaces, Earrings, Bracelets, Evening Bags and many more.

These are the things she loves and is familiar with, so these are the products we are selling at the shop.

Since Bugis Village is the most popular haunt for ladies of all ages to look for rather inexpensive costume jewelleries and clothes, the prices have to be lower than we would like it to be, because of the amazing massive choices available there.

For two days, we slaved through the set-up and figured where and what should be displayed here and there once the display racks were up.

Throngs of Customers as well as curious neighbouring shop owners came to see our shop. Many shop owners there thought our set-up was creative and pleasantly nice, and welcomed us well.

Guess, we have to be nice too, skeptical too because this newcomer is in direct competition with them for Customers' attention and patronage. We just believe that the pie is big enough for everybody to share.

Just hope that our collection and selection of accessories are the ones that the Customers' fancies and like to own them. Hope our pricing is a win-win situation and our service is up to par for first time Customer to be eventual regulars here.

With that, we thank The Almighty for the opportunity given. May we be successful in our start-up and meet lots of good people to sustain our livelihood here. Amin.

+ Parents | Adopted Kitten

Wish to talk about my Mom's little surprise when I reached her home this afternoon to fetch and accompany her to TTSH for her MRI scan result.

A little kitten was found at the foot of her block near the children's playground. Abandoned while still a day or two old from birth out alone.

Such a cruel act by some one to actually leave the kitten, knowing fully that it cannot fend for itself without its mother.

Stomach bloated full of air from all the crying for its mother; eyes still not opened yet, aimlessly moving about blind and shivering on the grass verge while people pass it by.

Such a sad sight. So sad that my Sis who lives in Woodlands Avenue 4, who is a year older than me saw it and picked it up while going over to my Mom's.

Dad was not keen to take it in at first, but when he saw how defenseless the kitten was, he gave in and they decided to "adopt" it even though they know it will be a lot of work for their old age to care for it.

But most importantly, they had to nurse it back to health.

With bloated stomach full of air, its rear watery for some reason, hungry, cold, frighten and exhausted, the three of them Mom, Dad and Sis got into ER mode.

My Sis went straight to a Pet Shop in the nearby Causeway Point Shopping Mall to get milk and milk bottle - $12.00 for the milk the size of a condensed milk and $5.00 for the milk bottle.

Mom and Dad massaged the kitty's stomach with Vick's Vapourub until Sis came back with the milk to start feeding it.

Bit by bit the kitty finally took in milk and stop crying. Cuddled in a shoe box stuffed with fluffy cloth to keep it warm and secure.

Since both my parents decided to keep it, Mom and Sis named this little kitty, Comel or Cutie in Malay.

Just before we left, Comel cried again for milk. I got to witness something I did not see for so long.

Mom did the same thing to a kitten way back when I was a child in our Kampong or village home; wrap Comel with a towel to and feed it with a milk bottle.

Nice day, Friday nonetheless, notwithstanding my tension headaches. One life saved!

+ Parents | MRI Results

Took half day off work this afternoon to take Mom for a consultation with Dr. Fong Shee Yan Orthopeadic Surgeon at Tan Tock Seng Hospital or TTSH for her MRI results done a week ago at the same hospital.

Sick coughing and recovering from a bout of flu, I had to go to work in the morning, did my work and cleared all emails from yesterday and went off to Mom's place from work after taking my lunch at the canteen with my cliques.

Since I was early reaching Mom's place at Woodlands, I sent up to her home instead of our usual "rendezvous" with Mom and Dad at the entrance of the covered walkway downstairs.

Mom had a surprise to show me when I went up. She had adopted an abandoned a day or two old kitten found at the children's playground at the foot of her block.

We left the kitten at my sister's place in Woodlands Ave 4. Thank goodness Dad remembered her block 846 for the taxi to make a stopover at the roadside for Sis to pick it up.

Off we went to TTSH from there. We reached the hospital at 3:05pm; 20 minutes early for the appointment.

Got the queue ticket number 1524 at Room 17, but for some reason, this afternoon, there were wheelchair after wheelchair of old people with bandaged hand, legs, bashed up face from a nasty fall, and a few already in hospital beds at the waiting area.

With so many urgent cases attended to first, our number was called about an hour later. Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Fong really looked tired when we consulted him. I can only imaging his typical day at work.

From Mom's MRI scan pictures, the doctor confirmed Mom's nerves are being pinched due to her dislodged lower spine whenever she bends backwards to straighten her posture.

That explained her bending forward most times to ease herself while standing-up and has sudden numbness or painful cramp attacks from an awkward stance.

Dr. Fong explained that it is a normal "old people" condition. A degeneration of the bone in that there is no cure with medicine to dissolve the bone spurs.

Surgery is the only way to relieve the pain by aligning the spine back with metal screws after clearing the bone spurs that prick and pinch her nerves when she moves.

He is not recommending any surgery as long as Mom is not in constant pain that it disrupts her daily life.

He recommended therapy instead for the next two months to see if he condition improves with lesser painful attacks.

Mom's next appointment for follow-up with Dr. Fong will be on 6th May 2006 at 2:45pm.

Had our early dinner at the hospital's Food Court. Mom had her Thai Pineapple Rice while Dad and me had Roasted Chicken Rice and vegetables in Oyster Sauce.

Sat a while after our dinner and chat. Explained to her the next few steps that are coming her way with what Dr. Fong has explained.

Reminding her with her recommended twice-daily hip rotation exercises to strengthen her back, which she is doing religiously daily.

Parted ways after I sent them back home and off I went to my wife's Bugis Village shop to help her with some display ideas which stretched all the way to midnight at the shop.

Thank God Its Friday! I do not need to report to work the next day.

A fully loaded day from work, to parents and then to wife; all in a day with sore throat and light throbbing headache pushed subconsciously to the "background."

A fruitful day nonetheless, with many tasks completed satisfactorily despite the odds.

+ Life | Medical Leave

With all that has been going on lately, it has taken its toll on my health. Got back from the doctor's this morning, and the day is beautiful. The blue sky took my mind of the headache I was having.

These past two weeks, I could hardly sit in front of my computer and update my blog. There has been so much going on in my life that I am actually burnt out.

On medical leave today for cough and touch of the flu. I have been feeling that I was coming down with something since Monday, especially in the afternoon. Aches in the joints and sore throat come and go until last night when I could not sleep but cough violently throughout the night and woke my wife and son with it.

I had to sleep in the living room to not disturb their sleep. Wify has her new shop to tend to and son has school in the morning, so I muffled my consistent coughing with the pillow. Finally dosed-off at close to 4:00am when I last looked at the wall clock.

My spirits are not high, with all the people leaving at work. The fate of the people I am in-charge of is also uncertain; like a buffet spread, take anything you need and discard anything you cannot finish.

These are good capable people, but no higher management left to vouch for that, even for me. We are left to the "elements" now.

Apart from that, I have been taking leave off from work to send my Mom and Dad to the doctors for the medical check-ups and tests. In fact, tomorrow is another day to accompany my Mom for the results of her MRI she underwent a week ago.

This will tell us what she will need and to decide whether to take long-term medication or opt for surgery. Her misaligned lower spine is pinching on her nerve when she bends down or twist to the side.

This explains the frequent leg numbness and painful cramps she has been having all of a sudden, especially during cold days. Hope there is a permanent solution to correct this, so that she can live her golden years happily.

Dad's colonoscopy will be next in mid June at SGH, so I will be the one again to accompany him. Both wish that I will be the one to accompany them, since they trust in my judgement and level of understanding when I confer with the doctors and convey the message to the rest of my siblings for a family decision.

I am not complaining, I am touched that Mom and Dad trust me so much and depend on me. It is my duty too as a filial son. It is only right, but I feel so much responsibilities from all directions and facets of my life right now, it is overwhelming at times.

I just need some time alone for myself to take a breather, but I am have left with no more annual leave in my book to take. Not even enough to take a little vacation this June with my family during the school holidays.

Looks gloomy and overwhelming, but the only nice thing that is happening right now it our little shop that my wife tends to right now.

Open for business since 4th April 2006, the only thing we hope is that customers like our products from the selections and choices we made. We just have to wait and see.

I realise the most weight of my concern is the uncertainty of my work; am I ready to go out of my comfort zone and go into retail business with my wife?

Can it sustain our family with this business. Am I making the right choice, the right timing, because I know I cannot work there much longer... elements or not? The rest I can handle.

Need to take lunch and my medication and then back to sleep. I need lots of rest, at least for today, the only day I feel that I have time for myself to do nothing, not responsible for any thing. At least for today.