Passionate About Life | Family

+ Meals | Pizza Night

2006-06-07T23:00:00.000+08:00

OK... I did not feel like having something heavy for dinner tonight.

Since my son likes pizza, I was game for it too. Wify thinks it is just too expensive a dinner to have, but I guess it would not hurt our pockets if we indulge in it once in a while.

Now, we have 3 pizza company to choose from... Pizza Hut, Tuscani Pizza, Canadian Pizza and now, a new Japanese pizza outlet called Oishi Pizza. Loosely translated is should say Delicious Pizza.

It just had its Halal Certificate, so it caters to Muslims as well now. Great!

Interesting menu and lots of Japanese words as toppings. Should be an interesting meal. So I ordered it for the first time. Just like Canadian Pizza, it is a "buy one, get one free" offer.

Called the hotline, but had to leave my name and contact number instead. The line was just too busy. They called me back in less than a minute to take my order.

Spicy is the main interest here, so I ordered Wasabi Seafood and XXX which will take between 45 minutes to 1 hour to arrive.

It took them 1.5 hours instead. They are that popular I hope. We we starving!

The taste was interestingly different. Asian taste with a blend of western origin.

How do I rate it with 10 being the best?... I would give it

a 4 for delivery,
a 7 for looking delicious... then again we were starving,
a 6 for generous toppings,
a 6 for overall taste.

It was an overall "rated-6" experience for both my son and I. And later tonight, another 6 from Wify.

We have tasted all the Halal pizza delivery in Singapore, including this latest entry. We have made our choice for the best pizza award to... Canadian Pizza!

The order of preference is as follows, 1 being the best:

Canadian Pizza
Oishi Pizza
Tusconi Pizza
Pizza Hut

Canadian has the most fluffiest and softest bread, with the most, generous toppings of all. The taste is great! Our most favourite pizza is Singapore Special, followed by Hawaiian Pizza.

Will by default choose these two with a "buy one, get one free" order. It is definitely worth the money.

Pizza Hut has been a total disappointment for us on several occasions - both with home delivery and dine-in at the restaurant.

The service is good, but the pizza is bad!

The bread is thin and the topping so sparse, you would think they forgot to put in. The price is definitely not worth the effort... why even wait for it?

So I guess, Canadian Pizza will still be our family favourite. We can vouch for it.

Wait... I just saw New York Pizza turned Halal a few days ago at Century Square Mall. Wonder they do home delivery...

Will try it sometime and it will go through the Imran's Family Favourite Pizza Rating Routine or short for Imran's F2PR2... say it out loud and it sounded like a Star Wars character.

+ Charity | Club Rainbow

2006-06-06T23:00:00.000+08:00

I received two phone calls from my son while at work today. Both in the afternoon, about 3 hours apart. These were his accounts...

1st Call: 2:40pm

He was playing with his kick-scooter outside at the multi-purpose hall when he saw the 2nd floor of the multi-storey car park next to it was beginning to be filled with smoke.

He went up to "investigate" and saw the plastic trash can was churning out smoke.

Most probably from a smoker who threw a lighted cigarette into the trash bin instead of the ash tray provided on its top.

He told a man who was parking his car about the fire to call for help. The tried to put out the fire by kicking it down, but the trash can was already in flames.

The man called 911. By this time, thick smoke from the fire had the residents alerted and they started to vacate their vehicles out from the 2nd storey car park.

A Rhino Fire Truck came in a few minutes and put out the flames. They were so fast to arrive because the newly built 2nd Division HQ is a stone's throw away from our block.

My son witnessed the whole incident and took the right action to call for help.

I was not to thrilled with him for going into the car park to investigate, though.

It could have been dangerous. He should have just alerted an adult after seeing the smoke; He did not have to confirm its source.

He understood my concern and the real dangers of his action to approach the car park.

In my mind, it could very well have back-fired on him too!

People might mistakenly think he was the one who set the fire instead. Fortunately not. One woman sand "Good boy" to him when she drove her car back to the car park.

Nonetheless I was proud of him. Wait till I tell Wify about it!

2nd Call: 6:20pm

"Are you expecting someone?" was his question to me over the phone.

I was on the bus heading home when he called my cell phone.

I was not expecting anyone, well... maybe the newspaper vendor who collects payments every first week of the month.

"No... not the usual man. Its a lady and she has been ringing the door bell repeatedly!" He explained agitatedly, "She is a young lady with a file in her hands and she is still ringing the doorbell!"

I asked him not to answer. The lady would go off once she gave up. And she did.

"There you go..." I told him, "I'll be home soon."

Now I am again proud of my son because he used his initiative to call me to confirm whether to answer the door or not.

Knowing fully that sometimes Wify's courier service or suppliers would come by for deliveries, he calls us to confirm before answering the door. Good job, son!

3rd Call: 8:00pm

No, not from my son, but the lady who rang the doorbell came back again.

It is either very important or very unnecessary to disturb our peace. I had to put as stop to this.

Opened the door, and there it was... representative of Club Rainbow Singapore, going around our neighbourhood making awareness calls and seeking donors to fund their charity.

It is a private non-profit charity organisation of 14 years. It is run mostly by volunteers especially for children born with chronic illnesses who need long term and often complicated medical treatments.

I know it from some ads on TV quite sometime ago, but never gotten around to find out about it to do my part.

What I lack in time to spare for volunteerism, I make up with donations. To do the least.

Every quarter, the organization will deduct S$120.00 off my credit card as donation. They will do so every 4 months until I wish to stop, for whatever reason.

The donation is tax deductible, which is validation enough for me, that it is a well-respected and properly-run charity organization that is recognised by the government and major hospitals here.

Somehow rather, I feel kind of a relief after signing the Donor's Form.

I remembered Barbara's tips from Trying To Catch Up blog on stress management.To complete your task you have put off for sometime.

This was one of those that I have in mind but did not get to go about doing.

I have now! Boy am I glad! I always feel that I have to give something back to keep my conscience in check, in balance.

I feel I am doing more for the greater good than just my immediate family, however small my contribution might be. I feel relief. I am proud of me nonetheless.

Am I gloating?... Guess I am. I am happy and life is good!

+ Parents | 3rd Physiotherapy

2006-06-03T23:00:00.000+08:00

Left home so early this morning to be in time to fetch Mom and Dad at their home in Woodlands and get to Tan Tock Seng Hospital Medical Centre by 8:15am.

Her appointment was the earliest since there was no later time on Saturdays.

It was her 3rd time today, it should progress to a better condition, but she had an attack of leg cramps last night that made the two of them so tired to wake up this morning.

Mom was in pain that she could not sleep well, and Dad was awake massaging her legs to ease it. They looked really spent and was quiet as they dozed off during the cab ride to the hospital.

We were 10 minutes late reaching there and had to wait a little over 5 minutes before it was her turn to have her routine traction treatment.

This time, Dad was allowed into the therapy room for the first time since there were not many patients this morning.

He saw Mom going through the 15 minutes traction treatment after the physiotherapist did a physical examination of Mom based on her complaint of pain last night.

The traction intensity was reduced by 2 Kg today, to 26 Kg pull for 20 seconds and 10 Kg for 10 seconds alternately for 15 minutes. A little straining for Mom this time as compared to the previous two sessions since her spine was still sore from last night's attack.

Instead of the scheduled stationary bicycle exercise, the physiotherapist replaced it with a heat pad for 10 minutes.

And like routine, since it was still quite early in the day, we headed for the Kopi Tiam food court for branch - breakfast and lunch in one.

Like me who cannot pass on Tom Yam, today I got to know my parents current favourite foods - Mom is crazy over Spaghetti Bolognese, while Dad likes Yong Tau Foo. I had Fish and Chips.

Since the day was still young, we decided to go to IKEA, Mom's favourite window shopping.

It was not window shopping after all. Mom bought kitchen wares, laundry basket and a carpet. I bought metal racks to extend the display at Wify's shop.

Fortunately all the shopping items were able to fit into one cab as Mom's wheelchair was one large item to fit as well.

All seemed good until we noticed we left the carpet was unaccounted for. We must have left it somewhere between the payment counter, Burger King when we stopped to take a drink break and the inside the cab boot. Sigh...

I somehow dozed off on Mom's comfy couch for about an hour. By the time I woke up, lots of food and fruits was prepared for me. I was stuffed full!

Knowing that I will be meeting them, Mom and Dad cooked Durian Serawa and packed in two plastic take-away containers for me to take home; Wify's and my son's favourite snack.

Dad helped me all the way down to the side of the road where I got a cab to Wify's shop directly from my parents home.

Dad pointed out to me the Rambutan trees that lined their block. The trees are full of green hairy fruits waiting to ripe into bright red, juicy fruits.

Unfortunately, the fruits are not allowed to be harvest by the general public, but only RC members who will distribute them to old folks homes and orphanages.

It is always bitter-sweet to bid them good bye. Waving goodbye as my cab drove off.

+ Son | Home Again

2006-05-31T04:00:00.000+08:00

I received a call while at work just before lunch today.

The Call Most Waited For

It was my son calling from the Malacca, Malaysia. He was heading back to Singapore right after lunch, but before that, their group will make the last visit to the Batik Making Factory.

I was delighted to receive his call, and had been anxiously waiting for him to come back home again. 4 days seemed kind of long, and yes lonely without his presence. I truly feel how J. Andrews must have felt whenever his children were away.

He will be home about 6:oo to 8:00pm this evening. I was ecstatic to receive him home again.

At The End Of The Rainbow

I left work promptly to buy his favourite dinner and want to know all the things he saw, places he visited and all his experiences while he was away.

Interestingly enough, I saw a large rainbow that seemed to "shoot out" from the roof of Poi Ching School roof, that is beside my block. Awesome sight.

The first one I ever saw since I moved here, 11 years ago.

I just had to snap a photo to prove to everyone the phenomenal joy I was feeling. I do not have to, no one really cares... but I just need to.

The photo did not turn out that good with my cell phone camera, but then, who cares!

It was as if to welcome my son back home. That was how wonderful a feeling I have to see him after time away.

I know I am making a big deal out of this, I am being over sensitive, over-dramatic even, but I cannot help it as it was his very first time away from us.

Why The Pale Face?

I saw his sneakers outside our door. Our son is safely home. Thank The Almighty!

Pressed the doorbell and expecting an excited boy to greet me as I was as excited to see him.

Instead, a pale sickly and tired boy opened the door...

"Ayah, I don't feel well," was the first sentence he said to me. Oh man! What happened?

He had a slight fever. Bet you it was from the lack of sleep. Too much fun, too little rest. It is expected when you leave 4 energetic boys to a room with all the freedom without adult supervision.

He came to me with his body breaking out in hives a little later while I was preparing dinner I just bought.

Oh great! This is going to be a long night! Wait till his mom gets home.

By now I know his fever has triggered the hives to appear. He had that happen to him before, quite a long while ago. It could also be triggered if he had too warm a bath, or sweltering weather. He could also get it if he eat too much eggs.

"I had lots of scrambled eggs at the hotel everyday, they were great..." he confessed when asked. Figured.

Got him to take a bath and dabbed the welts with Mopiko.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I should us Calamine lotion instead, but that was the only one available to ease his intense itchiness.

Eat his dinner and had his pink Panadol for kids for his fever. He laid and dozed off in front of the TV until his bedtime. Poor boy.

Then There Was The All Nighter!

I was woken-up by him at about 2:00am in the morning.

He had a runny nose and it was blocked, he could hardly breathe. No wheezing, that is good!

The 3-month preventive medication for his asthma has proven to be effective. Thank The Almighty!

He had to sleep propped-up, almost in a sitting position to ease his breathing after a decongestant nose drops was given. No fever, that was good.

He kept me worrying about him all night as I laid beside him until he fell asleep. Wify was so tired from her work at the shop that she was a total log.

At this hour, I know I am not able to go to work today. I was spent! I need take him to the doctors tomorrow morning. Wait... It is morning now!

I am so very tired! I have to knock off now.

+ Son | Day Two

2006-05-28T23:00:00.000+08:00

Second day today since my son went off on a school "business trip" to Desaru Malaysian.

Like a responsible son he is, he called us once he reached his destination and was settling down at his hotel. They were bunking 4 students to a room.

Both Wify and I were kept busy with the new stocks for her shop that arrived on Friday. We were unpacking, counting and checking each items for correct quantity and workmanship before we brought these new arrivals to her shop.

The whole day was busy with reorganising and shifting display items here and there to make room for the new arrivals, that we quite forgotten about how our son was doing in Malaysia today.

Like ESP of some sort, while we were talking about him in the shop, he called us on my cell phone in the afternoon. Sounded a bit down.

He was excited about the many visits they went and saw, but he nonetheless missed home. He said he missed us, playing with his hamsters, his PC and his Xbox...

The major reshuffling of items to accommodate new arrivals and the fact that it is the second day of The Great Singapore Sale - with so many eager shoppers at the shop, it took our minds off him so quite a while, but we deeply missed him too.

That set me thinking...

I am happy that he thinks of us and misses us. That means our bonding is strong as a family. Then again, I wish for him to learn to be independent.

Not independent totally, because he is still a kid and because we are still dependent on him emotionally too, but to be responsible and depend on himself when he is away from his parents.

Even his hamsters, Puffy and Buddy miss his human touch as the two will be brought out of the cage and get "man-handled" by him for hours, playing.

We notice this when both hamsters come out of their hideouts to the side of the cage facing the door when we enter the house. They will poke their little pointy noses out between the bars for us to touch them and keep doing it until we hold them in our palms and give them cheese treats.

If we deliberately choose to ignore them for a while, these two will keep watching us while standing on their two hind legs until we approach them, pat them and give snacks to them.

Just to spend a few minutes with them before they "retire" back their cosy den. A routine, our son has "trained" these little rodents unknowingly while playing with them.

It dawned on me that this trip not only teaches my son about the world of business, but holistically, teaches him to appreciate his parents, his home.

He has to trust his instincts and care for himself in a different setting with no parents to guide him. He has to depend on himself.

At the same time, this trip teaches my wife and I to appreciate him too and respect him and his presence. We miss him very much too, I felt it, Wify keeps saying it.

Though it is only for a few days, the house is still very lonely without his presence.

Our precious and only child, growing up.

+ Wife | Missed Opportunity

2006-05-27T11:00:00.000+08:00

Picking off from our son's "business trip" to Desaru Malaysia, we went off to Metro Department Store at Tampines Century Square to replace Wify's cell phone since hers was given to our son for his trip yesterday.

Yesterday marks the first day of a month long The Great Singapore Sale, where the whole island is participating, not to mention Wify's shop too.

Metro has this unbelievable great offer of Sony Erricson K750i cell phone for S$198.00 after a 50% discount when you purchase at S$50.00 worth of items in the store.

So timely, that my son and I need our underwear "replenished" as Wify puts it. The ones we have now should be "put to sleep" months ago as she babbled while doing the laundry last weekend.

Our son's pyjamas needs to be two sizes bigger now. It is like he is wearing a 3/4 pants when he put son his pyjamas.

Timely enough that Wify needs her cell phone replaced too. Perfect!

So we thought, until we reached Metro to spend and grab our hands on the cell phone. Good thing that Wify thought of asking the sales person there if the phones were still in stock.

Shocking to know that by early afternoon, the cell phones were "fully redeemed." Not even one phones was given a chance to be stay a day long in the department store.

They had to put a sign saying "Fully Redeemed" on all the posters to avoid repeated enquiries.

We went to Customer Service to ask whether there would still be phones available at their other branches across Singapore, but none was as the phenomenon was the same everywhere... cell phones that cheap will not last long on retail shelves in Singapore.

Got it. Learnt our lesson.

Still, Wify has yet to have her cell phone for her business. We had to fall back on Plan B. Get her phone subscription plan upgraded since she now uses her phone more than before.

The upgraded plan should save lots of money monthly.

"Oh... by the way..." Wify told me when we walked out of the department store.

"M1 called me yesterday, I agreed to an automatic upgrade plan they proposed," she said casually and continued, "My present plan is $24.00 monthly, with this new plan I pay only $18.00 monthly with incoming call free!"

"They called since my 2-year plan has matured to a year on the 25th, they called to match my phone usage with a better plan that can save us money." She said contently.

I guess it should take care of her expensive monthly phone bill of more than S$80.00, far from the S$24.00 plan before she started our business; heavily dependent on the phone to communicate and manage suppliers, Customers enquiries and home.

Well then! Since all worked out automatically. Great!

She now has a great plan with no phone! I still need to get a phone for her!

The search is still on...

+ Son | Desaru Trip

2006-05-26T22:00:00.000+08:00

So my son is a growing-up much faster than I can allow myself to accept it.

Today, marks the last day of mid term and June school holidays starts tomorrow.

Instead of him spending his first day of school holiday waking-up very early to play on his Xbox online with his US and UK friends, he will be away for a school trip to Desaru in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

His very first trip overseas on his own... well without us. He will be with his group of his classmates going on trips to experience and learn about entrepreneurship.

Kind of a little too early to be learning about handling a business at age 10 going on 11 mid June 2006, but I guess the government and the school knows what they are doing, grooming potential student into successful businessmen and women.

So this evening, I had to stop by the grocery store to buy him some snacks and cup noodles; handy stuff like wet tissues; medications like plaster and Panadol for kids, as well as his asthma inhaler - just in case he needs it, just to be safe.

Since his cell phone went kaput after his accidental dipping off Sentosa Island, Wify had to hand over hers for him to use for trip. Wify will go with me tomorrow to upgrade her phone plan to get a better value-for money plan and a new cell phone that comes with it.

Have to turn-in early tonight to wake up way early tomorrow as he needs to be in school by 6:50am with his luggage for the coach to take him across the causeway and into neighbouring country, Malaysia.

Learning the different types of industries - farming, greens and livestock, food processing to souvenirs factory and distribution businesses to open their minds to the many stages of a product and possibilities and opportunities.

Well that was what I gathered from the letter given to parents and my son's explanation before he signed-up. Since he was one of the students selected, I had to let him go expose himself to the real world of business at a cost of S$240.00, plus RM$100.00 for spending money.

I believe the experience he gain will be much more that the trip's dollar value.
Last checked, all are packed and he is ready, enthusiastically raring to go.

I will be going to accompany him in the cab tomorrow morning to his school and see him off to open his young mind to the many positive possibilities the world has to offer.

My son growing-up so well, so fast. Love every moment. This one should be quite memorable for both Wify and me, definitely for him.

+ Parents | 2nd Physiotherapy

2006-05-20T23:00:00.001+08:00

My cell phone beeped yesterday morning while I was at work.

It was for a reminder that I totally forgot and was very glad that I actually did use its reminder feature to remind me.

It was for my Mom's rescheduled therapy at Tan Tock Seng Hospital Physiotherapy B1 Clinic.

Had a tough time to get a cab this morning and was late to meet Mom and Dad at the usual sheltered walkway entrance to the car park at their block.

Had an interesting chat with the cab driver triggered when Mom called my cell phone while I was in the cab going over. Had an interesting and worth mentioning story from him.

Something to remind ourselves since we have children, but maybe I relate it in another post.

The appointment was at 10:30am, but we reached there 15 minutes later.

The waiting room hardly had any patience there. Our queue number was 35 while the queue board was at 32.

Before we could even make ourselves comfortable sitting down, our number was called, not 3 minutes after registration.

Wheeled my Mom into the physiotherapy room and had to wait for her turn to get her traction for her spine.

Did an honest mistake in there. I picked-up a call from my son on my cell phone, oblivious to the many notices there kept reminding to not use cell phones within 2 metres of medical equipment.

I had to be reminded by the attending nurse there. That was embarrassing.

Mom had her spine pulled for 15 minutes equivalent to a weight of 28 Kg fro 20 seconds at a time. Rested in between for 10 seconds with a weight of 10 Kg before the cycle repeated again.

She mentioned that she was able to walk longer distances, stand for longer periods of time and was comfortable doing her cooking and light house chores without her leg bothering her with cramps.

I am just glad the first physiotherapy really helped her, then again I hope she was not saying that just to avoid surgery at all costs.

Then again, she has to decide what is best for her. I will be supporting her all the way. So will the rest of her children. Dad will always be there when she needs him.

She went through he second traction with not sweat. This second session included her to cycle with some resistance for about 8 minutes.

Cute thing. The stationary cycle was built for larger persons, so she barely had her legs reaching the paddles comfortably even after the seat was moved inwards to the max.

Nonetheless, she paddled enthusiastically as if she was in a Tour De France league, with several slips off the paddles in between. Like a pro.

Proud of her strong will to get better. Dad was sitting at the side watching her and just smiled.

She finished her therapy 10 minutes before noon. It cost S$12.50 for the session. Her next appointment will be on 3rd June 2006 at 8:15am.

Headed to the cafeteria since it was time for lunch at TTSH Kopitiam. All 3 of us had Penang Laksa, the I have tasted best so far.

Sent them back home and had a surprise from Both Mom and Dad. They had been busy buying stuff to cook for me Sambal Goreng - my ever favourite dish since I was little.

There is a little twist to this, though. No one can cook it like Mom's except two of my Sisters. Thank goodness, a family recipe passed down.

They cooked an extra large portion just for me to take home for Wify and my son too. The portion will last for days! Heaven! Eternally love this couple!

I gave them some spending money, guilty, since I could not take them out for Mother's Day treat. I just had to have my "second lunch" savouring her dish, hot from the stove, before I left their home about 4:00pm.

Like always, their warm, smiley wave goodbye at the door until I turn the corner.

And like always, that wonderful, warm feeling lingers on in me all throughout the quiet bus ride from Woodlands to my home in Tampines.

Life is wonderful!

+ Special | Mother's Day

2006-05-14T22:00:00.000+08:00

Today is Mother's Day.

Made a date with Wify to treat her to lunch today. Thinking of Seoul Garden Barbecue Restaurant at Tampines Mall, but they were not able to take reservation on this special day because of the expected crowd.

The bodybuilder barber from Sri Nada that I had my hair cut yesterday suggested Sakura Family Restaurant in EastPoint Shopping Mall instead.

Yes, why not! The Tom Yam Seafood Soup there is heavenly. The fried rice and noodles are great with lots of choices.

I was thinking we would go out after lunch and head to Changi Beach Park as a family, just spending time together.

But it was not to be as the beautiful morning turned terribly wet with loud thunders at about 11:00am onwards. Sigh.

We left home in the rain, so going to EastPoint seems too far, so we decided to go to Swensens instead. Right at the MRT station in DBS Building.

The time was right when we reached there as there was no queue. By the time it was 1:00pm, the crowd started to fill-in the restaurant.

Many came with parents and flowers for their Moms, bringing along with them that wonderful warm feeling, quickly filling the restaurant with laughters too.

Wify ordered Black Pepper Pasta, while I had Chili Fish Pasta. Danish ordered Spaghetti from the Kids Menu.

Complimentary hot tea were given with a choice of many different mixed of tea leafs that even I cannot pronounce, let alone spell.

It will not be Swensens if we have a meal there without its famous ice-cream. So enthusiastically Danish ordered Colt Tower for himself and Banana Spilt for me.

Wify does not like sweet stuff so she sat out on this one. Strange though, the lunch was in her honour.

The not-so-good part was when my wife had to leave for her shop. Sigh...

She felt that there will be some last minute shoppers for Mother's Day, so she wished to open for business today. It would be good if she is right.

On a positive note, it will be a win-win situation for both the "last-minute" shoppers and our business.

We bid good bye at the MRT Station and watched her leave. Wished we could spend more time together though. Kind of miss her as she glanced back, waving her hand and disappeared up the escalator.

Just us guys now. We then headed to NTUC Fairprice Supermarket in Tampines Mall to buy some groceries.

Not a nice feeling without her. I normally tag along pushing the cart while she picks items in her list. This time, I pick the items while Danish tagged along pushing the cart. The place was packed with shoppers.

In fact, all the places were packed with people celebrating Mother's Day and do grocery shopping afterwards. Just like us.

The rained finally stopped when we emerged from the shopping mall. The Taxi stand had such a long queue that I had to lug around the heavy shopping all the way to the bus interchange to catch Service 293.

Got home and called my Mom to wish her before she headed out with my Sis and her family for shopping and Mother's Day dinner they treating her and Dad.

The whole weekend was sweet with a capital "S," with Vesak Day holiday on Friday, 12 May 2006 kicked-start the long weekend, and ended with Mother's Day celebrations.

Happy Mother's Day

Azi, Danish's Mom

In Tampines;

Mariam, my Mom;

In Woodlands

And To

Joyah, Azi's Mom

In KL, Malaysia.

And to all the mothers in the world, Bless You.

Now, turn off PC and watch some shows before bed. Start another week at work tomorrow.

+ Son | Xbox Games

2006-05-13T23:00:00.000+08:00

Since last night, my son has been playing Sudoku Pro electronic game I bought for him yesterday.

From "What is Sudoku?" to "I am at level 20 now!"

That was fast! I'm impressed. His mind works wonders to me.

I have yet to figure out the secret method of how to play the game, while he has already beating the time and getting scores beyond 700 points in the shortest portable time limit.

Anyway, a promise is a promise. We went to Takashimaya again late afternoon today.

Like yesterday, the Xbox corner was packed with parents and their children, and teens; all crowding the corner, busy picking out the best titles.

The offer of 3 titles for S$50.00 is too good to miss, so I had to buy them for my son. He picked Crimson Skies, Conkers - Live and Reloaded, and Predator - Concrete Jungle.

The last two titles are rated 17 and 18 for violence. I overlooked that. I can understand Predator, but cute little squirrels that is Conkers with violence is beyond me.

Lots of blood and gore, I presume.

Got me a little concern here, so I have to "play" the game with him to rate for myself how gory these games can get for a 10 year-old boy.

We had dinner at KFC, just opposite MacDonald's. Danish had Shroom! double helping of mushrooms on beef burger, while I had the new Spicy Burger meal - which was a let down.

Firstly it was not spicy at all, and secondly, it was so small, it is fit for a child. Fortunately, I ordered an extra Hot Wings - 3 spicy drumsticks to fill my stomach.

Off we went back to Tampines - to Sri Nada Barber Shop on the 4th floor of Tampines Mall for both my son and me to have our haircuts.

Nice to know that my barber for today was a bodybuilder too, so we exchanged training tips, talked about protein supplements used, the good gyms around our area and the ones we had trained in before.

Had a good day today.

+ Son | Sudoku Intro

2006-05-12T23:45:00.000+08:00

My son's mid-term exams are over, the June school holiday is just around the corner. He is 10 going on 11 mid June 2006.

So for his hard work studying for the exams, I bought him a Sudoku portable electronic game.

By chance actually. Since today is Vesak Day holiday, we both headed to Takashimaya Shopping Centre at Orchard Road after our dinner, to get him his Xbox games on level 3, Toys Department.

Once there, there were lot of children, already picking out toys for their reward or toys to fill their playtime during the school holidays.

The Xbox corner was full of parents and children including both of us trying to grab the best game titles, but unfortunately, out of over 30 titles on offer, only 8 were left. Almost all in Japanese. Nope, my son does not read Japanese. It was quite a disappointment for him.

Fortunately, the store is going ot stock-up tomorrow afternoon with all the titles again, so there is hope still.

Loitering around the toys department, my son picked-up an 8-Ball, while I, Sudoku. Had lots of fun asking and getting the answers from the 8-Ball, all 20 possible answers as written on the box.

After much persuasion... from me, I convinced my son to try playing Sudoku and to promise not to chuck it aside to "oblivion."

Had supper at MacDonald's in Takashimaya and we both left at about 9:00pm to go to my wife's shop, help her close-up for the day, normally about 10:00pm.

Not bad a crowd there, as the narrow shop was full of Customers trying out stuff. I had to stay outside for some time until there was enough a room for me enter.

She had a good day. After all, it is a public holiday, so the mood is mainly feasting out and shopping for most Singaporeans.

The last Customer was a Malay lady who bought a glass-beaded necklace with an encouraging word that made us proud.

She said she had been shopping for the most part of the day, true enough judging from shopping bags she and her daughter were holding, that finally she found accessories that are unique and hard to find, and that finally she found a Malay shop selling accessories, which is quite rare here.

She was right, traditionally, Malays here normally would sell food and Malay related stuff. Guess we are like "pioneers" amongst Malays to venture into Ladies accessories to cater to all races. We are the new generation and emerging Malays.

My wife was all smiles from the time she left till we reached home. She felt such a satisfaction, plus the daily taking is good too today. I am happy for her, for us, for our little business.

+ Work | What Season?

2006-04-28T23:00:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-19T13:00:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-18T20:00:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-17T23:00:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-13T23:00:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-08T23:00:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-08T01:00:00.000+08:00

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

2006-04-06T12:00:00.000+08:00

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.

+ Work | Farewell Boss

2006-03-31T23:00:00.000+08:00

Have been very preoccupied with lots of stuff happening at the office both mentally and physically.

Today, I bid farewell to my Operations Director as it was his last day with the company of 19 years.

Also today, I bid farewell to our Quality Manager of 6.5 years too.

Today really suck! The whole Engineering Office was somber and not much work done. Mentally we were drained when we see the two anchor people leave us the same day.

What an impact that did to our morale. Not much say about where the company is heading. This sucks!

As everyone was preoccupied with the farewell lunch and the plague as a gesture of appreciation to our OD, our QA Manager sprung a last minute surprise on us to inform he was leaving the same day.

Since the QA Engineers under him was not doing anything with such short notice, I got permission from our Operations Manager to take time off work for an hour to get a plaque for our him as well.

Went to Royal Selangor Pewter at Raffles City Shopping Mall to pick a plague and headed-off to ST Ming Souvenirs at Orchard Plaza in Orchard Road to have it inscribed an appreciation note on it.

Had my lunch at Burger King while the plaque was being engraved, while the whole lot of people attended our OD Farewell lunch at a Chinese restaurant where they presented the rather large and very expensive plague to our OD.

We presented a small token of our appreciation to the QA Manager a our before the day ended. Took lots of pictures with both of them using my Sony Ericsson's cell phone camera.

Unfortunately I cannot post the photos as I would then be divulging too much information on company affairs and may get myself in trouble quickly, who knows?

Parting with such a heavy heart. All the years working together, my OD knows my capability and really appreciated all my service and efforts by rewarding my handsomely with salary.

I feel that with the parents gone away from the house forever, we are expose defenceless against invading force to break and tear the family and house down. We are at their mercy since the house belongs to them.

I have been working without management's foresight and direction for some months now and it is getting harder to wake up in the morning and drag myself to work. I work one day at a time which is such a terrible way to live everyday.

Today is nothing, but come Monday next week and the weeks ahead, our fate will be revealed as the force occupies the higher ranks and authority.

I already have a backup plan and am executing it as I feel my time with the company is also limited to a few months before I finally have to take the "big leap" and do the same as my managers.

All I have to do are primarily 2 things. Firstly to secure the jobs for 4 Engineers under my charge with HQ projects and stabilize my backup plan as quickly. Once done, I will make that "big leap" into the abyss - the unknown world outside electronics manufacturing.

The Almighty provides; we must put the effort to achieve our plan; God decides. Good luck to me. Amin.

+ Shop | Our Own

2006-03-25T22:00:00.000+08:00

Yes! Finally... after so much time spent searching for our first-time ever shop for my wife's little business is finally over.

Last two weekends, my wife found and ad that wished to sublet a shop space at Bugis Village - a haven for accessories and unique finds. The human traffic there is incredible. Hope the buying power is too.

She went alone at first to take a look at the location and enquired about the requirements. She must have impressed the lady owner to consider us among the other 4 contenders.

I went with her on Saturday afternoon, 11 March 2006 and met with the owner. She was nice and seemed sincere.

To impress her further, we gave our online store website Chic Couture, well... blog-site actually, and our proposal of the intended layout that we are considering base on the square feet given. We submitted it the next day.

The monthly rent was reasonable and very competitive in fact, but not without the very fierce competition offering more than we could afford.

To sustain, we figured that as long as we have our merchandise unique with a matching price tag, the pie is big enough for everybody there.

Before we could call her to inform her of our submission on Monday, she called my wife in the morning to inform us of the good news.

We signed the agreement today for the length of 3 months trial period extend-able yearly if we wish to continue. Went off to buy our display racks and cloths for the layout at Jalan Sultan and Ikea.

Though it is only a 60 square feet space, we intend to maximise the area we have, to be able to display as many as we can without a cluttering look.

It is a very interesting proposition and maybe my career path to be in business when I decide to leave my manufacturing job.

We need to work hard and make good, informed choices as best we can for a smooth path to establish ourselves in the retail business.

Hope we can persevere through to stabilize and grow.

+ Life | And Death

2006-03-22T22:00:00.000+08:00

Overwhelming feeling it seems. Lately, I have been swamped with the news of demise. My colleagues at work and friends I know, are in morning over their loss.

Since I can remember working here, I have always been the one who prints out condolence letters and go around collecting contributions for the bereaved colleagues in the office and production floor.

I would be one of the guys who would attend the funeral to pass the contributions to them. I do not know why, but I feel that it is their time of need however small a contribution of my efforts could provide.

These two weeks have been the peak of such news. People under my charge have their Grandmother and father passed on. A few days later, my boss lost his grandmother, but before that an office colleague on the 4th floor lost her mother.

Since I have been feeling quite down with all sad occasions, last night I received and email from a dear friend who is loosing her adopted father.

I wrote her something I have never written before, but could not totally relate to as I have never lost someone close to be before. So the magnitude of the feeling of lost has not strike me yet. I hope I will not go through it, but that is not life.

As I wrote the reply to her, I realised that, that was how I view it. It has always been never thought through for me, but that was how I view it.

I wrote that it is a journey of life that everyone has to go through... alone. It is a frightening path to cross over, but it would think it would be easier to cross to the hereafter with the love and warmth of the people you love surrounding him, to give him strength to make that leap.

I may be wrong and it may totally be untrue, but that is how I would want to feel when it is my time. There may be a lot of things that I cannot complete, and a lot of wrongs I cannot make right again before I go, but if I can feel the love and warmth of the people I care surrounding me, I would feel closure and gain strength to leave.

The rest of the journey will be between me and The Almighty. The good deeds I have done, my contributions on earth to myself, my wife, my child, my parents, my siblings, my neighbours, the society at large and to my God.

This is the journey I have to take alone. Only the sincere prayers of my child and wife, my parents and love ones will lighten my sins to face Him.

This is an emotional post for me. I feel that I have to do it for my own sanity and to lift my spirits up amidst all these mounting load at the workplace...

What was with the audits from the ISO Standards Board, technical audits from our visiting US Customer; my dear, former boss whom I have worked with for the past 14 years leaving the company; the constant loss of people I know from the manpower cuts, the setting up of my wife's new shop... all the insecurities seem huge now, all at once.

The last one is a passion for both my wife and I, but I cannot fail either, because that may be the path for me beyond this company. Going into retail and manage our own little business.

My view in short to all I know, the passing of someone we love is inevitable. We have to deal with the loss and the memories that are left - both good and bad, because only these memories will make the person truly real in our hearts as we go on with our lives.

The prayers we contribute to them are the best food in their afterlife. Take care the ones that are around you still. Time heals every wound. Bless you.

+ Life | Boston City

2006-03-21T11:00:00.000+08:00

You Are Boston

Both modern and old school, you never forget your roots.
Well educated and a little snobby, you demand the best.
And quite frankly, you think you are the best.
Famous people from the Boston area: Conan O'Brien, Ben Affleck, New Kids on the Block

What American City Are You?

Wow, never imagined I would be Boston and snobbish too. Not an American and live in the equator, but tried the fun quiz anyway from Carol's A Revision blog.

Though I have been to the US with my wife and son on 3 separate occasions before - Texas, California and Ohio, I had always wanted to go to New York and Hawaii.

Of the 3 states I have been, I definitely love San Fransisco the most. The weather there is perfect outside. The fusion of people around the world is like a melting pot of food and culture. Awesome place to be and live.

All the states have wonderful places that we get to visit within the very short period of 2 to 4 weeks tops. Wished there was more time for each to explore the state further.

Quickly come to mind are San Antonio and The Alamo in Texas while we stayed in Austin.

Hollywood in Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe and Mojave Desert in Las Vegas, 17 Mile Drive, Monterrey Bay. Alcatraz, Susolito, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Frans.

Cosi Science Museum in Columbus, Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati, Downtown Dayton and the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio.

Wonderful places, wonderful people I worked with, most wonderful memories for the 3 of us!

Should post photos of place we have been and friends we made there in my Photography and Escapade sections one day, but before that, scanning of the photos will take a bit of time.

It should invoke wonderful memories again.

+ Life | Teal Green

2006-03-15T11:00:00.000+08:00

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you.
Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible.
While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks.
Your warm personality nicely counteracts the strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Another quiz link from Sister Celtic's - Life On Lopez Island blog. I do agree with most of what is said here.

"One of a kind" person sounds a bit scary to me. I would rather blend-in and not stick-out like a sore thumb in a crowd or room. I cannot stand the attention if singled out.

"Making the impossible possible..." I wish it is mostly true.

"Offbeat... but don't scare people away" I scared a lot of people in my lifetime plenty, me included.

"Warm personality..." I try my best sincerely, without faking it. A genuine interest to at least make someone feels nice about the day or themselves, even if it will last a few seconds. My wife says there should be more of me when I give a positive perspective of something unpleasant happen two week ago.

Now for the next interesting quiz out there...

+ Son | Lost Puffy

2006-03-14T22:00:00.000+08:00

Puffy is missing!

I refrained from writing this entry and kept hoping that we could find her again. But after the 3rd day, I think she is finally gone.

It happened last Sunday evening.

My wife was not feeling well, so we had take-outs from the neighbourhood food stall. My son, Danish went out to buy of dinner from the S11 Coffee Shop 2 blocks away.

He decided to bring both Puffy and Buddy along in a box strapped-up to his kick-scooter.

Bought the food and lost Puffy on his way back. Only to realize that Puffy was not in the box when he reached home.

Retracing his steps back, he last checked the 2 guys in the box before he crossed the traffic light, so the stretch of path where Puffy had gone missing is from the traffic light, right up to our home.

I could see Danish's face, in panic, he rushed out, handing Buddy to me on the way to look for Puffy.

He came back empty-handed. I came out with him again to look for her, but was in vain too. We went out to look for her again right after dinner.

Expecting to see anything that scurry across the grass verge or under the shrubs, but nothing still. Both my wife and Danish cried their eyes out.

Danish cried the most as he felt so guilty for not taking extra care of the 2 while there were out, against my wife's advice not to bring them out at all.

On my way to work in the morning yesterday, I looked around too until I actually missed a vacant cab. You know how difficult it is to get a cab on Monday mornings.

Still felt a tinge of hope, I called my wife at lunch time to check if Danish had maybe... found her. No still.

Danish had been patrolling the path several times a day in the hope of finding her, but the odds are so much against it.

Puffy is so tamed that she will not be afraid of anything that comes near her. A cat, dog, bicycle on the pathway, or even worst get run-down by a car if she were to go down into the road.

On my way back from work in the evening, I searched for her again. That hope of finding her was still there.

I just cannot imagine her frightened, hungry, cold... Is she alright, hurt, or even be alive not eaten-up by a cat or mauled by a dog. Oh, God, help protect her. Bring her back to us.

Else, let someone find her and place her in his/her care or a proper home. She has never been in the wild to fend for herself, how is she ever going to survive?

Wherever you are, we will love you, Puffy. Please be safe. We are missing you.

+ Life | Stroke Symptoms

2006-03-12T14:00:00.000+08:00

A friend forwarded an email about Recognizing A Stroke.

A story was related in the email of an encounter that could have been prevented if any of the bystanders could recognise the symptoms.

My Mom suffered a mild stroke about 2 years ago. Received a call from Dad while I was at the office. Everyone rushed to our parents' home and called the our family doctor immediately.

Her symptom was noticeable that of a stroke. The loss of feeling and control of her left side with the drooping lips to one side. It was a scary moment for us all, a terrible one for her.

Everyone felt helpless as we could not do anything for her at that point of time, but called the doctor and be there by her side, massaging her and lots of reassuring words to lift her spirits to give her strength to fight it, at least mentally.

It was a terrible time not being prepared or ignorant.

Coming back to this email, not so clear symptoms are important to know, with these 3 Steps and get the victim help within the 3 hours to reverse the effects:

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed an getting to the patient within 3 hours which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE:

Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps. Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking 3 simple questions:

1. Ask the individual to SMILE.
2. Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
3. Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE

(Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today) If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions.

They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February.

Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.

Whoever reads this, should remember these 3 Simple Questions and most importantly spread the awareness to anyone they know.
This awareness can save lives and prevents disabilities. So start now!

+ Parents | TTS Hospital

2006-03-09T09:00:00.000+08:00

Took off from work again today.

Mom sure has so many medical appointments scheduled for her since we decided to transfer her medical care from a Private GP in Pasir Ris to public Medicare subsidised by the government.

Woodlands Polyclinic, under the umbrella of SingHealth as referred her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for her backache she has been having for the past 3 to 4 years.

It was her first time receiving medical service from the hospital. Her appointment was at 10:30am Medical Centre B1A . We reached there 5 minutes late and got our queue number 2203 at Room 5.

Dr. Fong Shee Yan name was at the door. She was called less than 5 minutes after we sat down at the waiting area when the last number flashed was 2202.

A nice an smiling Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Fong asked a series of questions about her walking conditions and her fall four years ago.

She was then referred to Radiology for X-rays on her spine in a forward and backward bent-over position to see her spine movements.

An MRI scan was also issued to be done.

It is to check her nerves as the Doctor believes that movement of the spine may pinch her nerves making her sometimes, loose feeling or pain and cramps on her legs as she is complaining now.

It will cost us S$475.00 and not subsidized at all for a specialty procedure. We have to pay in cash when we come on that day.

Our queue number at the Diagnostic Radiology was A0045. We waited for another 10 minutes when she was called to Room 3 to change and her x-rays taken.

I was a tat uncomfortable to help her undress, and asked her if she would like Dad to come in and help her.

Instead, she surprised me with her mature and open outlook in handling the awkward situation than I could. "Don't worry, you are my child." That was reassuring for me when she was comfortable with the situation.

Less than 2 minutes, I was called back in and took her out to change back to her clothes.

Wheeled her back to B1A Room 5 to see Dr. Fong. We waited about 10 minutes before she was asked to go in.

As he expected, the last 3 vertebrate are displaced from the one on top whenever she beds forward. She suffers from LSS or Lumbar Spinal Stenosis.

That created some pinching on her nerves. In this case her right leg gets the brunt of it.

That explained the intermittent pains and cramps she suffered when she walked to much of accidentally put her posture at an awkward position.

The doctor explained that it was not due to her fall, but a normal degeneration of the spine when age catches up with you.

He quipped that he will be getting this same condition when he is at her age too.

The MRI will tell exactly which nerve is affected due to the slipped vertebrae and the next course of action.

Since there will not be any medication for such condition, the normal way would be to do physiotherapy to strengthen her back muscles to relieve the weight off the spine somewhat.

Since the pain is not consistent and extreme, surgery is not imminent, but surgery can relieve the pinching affect permanently if so chosen.

Made payment of S$50.20 and made a date for 30 March 2006 for two stops:

30 March 2006 at 8:15am - Physiotherapy Assessment and advise
30 March 2006 at 11:00am - MRI scan
7 April 2006 at 3:20pm - Dr. Fong consultation on the MRI results and next course of action.

Now must discuss with the rest of my siblings for these appointments and update the status of her condition. That's that for now.

The level of service has greatly improved and so has the infra-structure that looked cheery like a shopping centre than a gloomy, intimidating hospital, my Mom commented.

All 3 of us had Penang Laksa for S$3.50 each for lunch in Kopitiam Food Court at the hospital. Surprisingly delicious.

Met my wife at Park Mall Shopping Centre in Orchard Road.

She intends to rent a kiosk there for April 2006 and was there checking out the human traffic there since 10 in the morning by herself.

Looked good so far, so we went ahead to the Management Office on the 8th floor for the request.

The Officer, Joey Lee was lively and very nice to us. She already prepared a proposal for us taken the photos from our Chic Couture website to present and propose to her management for approval.

Keeping our hope to get the approval and start this 1 April 2006 for a month trial and to continue with another 2 months if the reception is good.

Went to MacDonald's at Singapura Plaza for afternoon tea and headed back to Causeway Point Shopping Centre in Woodlands for some window-shopping before sending my parents back home.

A full day. Made my leave off work worth while. I just needed a warm bath before I retire to bed.

+ Life | Happy Hedonist

2006-03-06T23:00:00.000+08:00

No, nothing sexual. Just a description of my personality test after I took a survey in Starhub's new cable Smart TV.

No, not "X" or even "R" rated cable TV shows. Not in Singapore you will not! It is the new DVD Recording cable TV program over broadband lines. The ability to record TV programs simultaneously as you watch other shows.

Guess it is old news to certain countries that already have it, but an exciting here. And will be the first ones to try out if chosen when launch mid this year.

Anyway, the best thing about the survey after pages of questions on my viewing habits and likes and dislikes, the survey gave out an accurate summary of me.

WOW! Read what it said:

A spontaneous and dynamic person, you don't presume to know what the future holds - and like it that way. However, the eternal optimist in you likes to believe that tomorrow will be better than today.

You seldom make plans, and can be quite allergic to routine. Keenly attuned to the possibilities of each new dawn, you are quick to recognize and capitalize on opportunities.

In your downtime you like to switch off, kick back and zone out. You tend to be highly receptive to new technology, and easily excited by novelty. A childlike sense of wonder heightens your enjoyment of new products - 'wow' is a word that often falls from your lips.

Your enthusiasm is contagious, and you enjoy sharing your discoveries with others. You like to keep abreast of innovations, and preferably one step ahead of them. The cutting edge is your comfort zone - you wouldn't be seen dead sporting an 'old' model of anything. (Unless of course it's 'classic' or 'vintage'.)

Your big personality attracts an adoring fan club.

You are a passionate lover... of life.

I agree every word it said. Most probably it is a standard answer to each combination of questions answered, but it described me so accurately, that I was stumped for a while. The last line is what this blog has been about, all this while!

The person who created this is truly gifted.

Let's see if my wife and son can give the survey a go too.

+ Life | Sunday Shopping

2006-03-05T23:00:00.000+08:00

It was an enjoyable Saturday yesterday and a pretty good Sunday today as well. We planned today entirely for shopping as the list goes:

Get a replacement hamster for Puffy.
Send Danish's cell-phone for repairs. Sigh...
Get a new wristwatch for Danish. The last one lasted a month. Sigh...
Shop for groceries.

ONE : Hunt for Red October

No... its March, we were hunting for a White Winter Russian instead.

Since the class Pet Project needs the hamster back. we decided that we keep Puffy and replace her with a another hamster. We had to find one today.

Bought a new cage for Puffy with all its glory of hamster accessories yesterday at Harbour Front, World Trade Centre. It cost us S$59.00 for the cage and S$30.00 for the accessories including her toilet pallets.

A month-old White Winter Russian hamster cost $41.00 each! 5 time more that what it cost when the class purchased Puffy at Per Safari. We gave it a miss.

So today we visited Pet Safari at EastPoint Shopping Mall in Simei.

We decided to get Puffy a buddy to avoid her felling lonely. So we had Puffy tagged along in a shoe box with all the hamster comforts-inside.

We had to find a buddy that will mix around without fighting. It has to be of the same breed and size.

After a Tom Yam Noodle lunch at Banquet, we headed for Pet Safari on the ground floor, but unfortunately the large store was under renovation.

A smaller, temporary version was located on the 3rd floor, but did not sell any live animals yet except some fishes until they moved back down. Yikes!

Bought Puffy's bottle of sand-bath for S$10.00 and continued our search for a replacement.

TWO: Save the Communicator!

So happened that newly opened Sony Ericsson Service Centre was on the same floor a few shops away.

I let the service guy checked Danish's T610, but it had rusted around several spots rendered the mainboard not recommended to be repaired. Sigh...

Danish accidentally dipped it into the sea water at Palawan Beach in Sentosa yesterday. The phone was able to call out and receive calls too, but the display just showed a blue screen.

So off we went to continue searching for Puffy's replacement and third-party repair at Marine Parade.

A neighbourhood pet shop in front of the Hawker Centre had many breeds of hamsters and rabbits, apart from the array of fresh and sea-water fishes.

Each White Winter Russian cost S$21.00, a Pudding at S$40.00, a Sapphire at S$19.00, a Roborovski at S$31.00 and others that I could not remember.

Cute, cuddly little ones barely a month old, huddling together sleeping, some buried under wood shavings.

We fortunately found the second hamster to mix with Puffy without any disaster. The first one was chased away by her mercilessly. Naughty girl!

The second one stayed and huddled together like long-time buddies. It regurgitated some seeds and Puffy excepted by eating it. Guess it was a welcome gift.

Turned out to be, the second one was a male, while the first was a female. The domineering Puffy actually needed a partner, not competitor. Wow!

Sold! One month-old male White Winter Russian for S$21.00. With much debate between Mom and Son, they finally amicably settled a name for Puffy's buddy... Buddy!

Welcome to the family Buddy! We are now a family of 5!

PS: Tons of photos and portraits of Buddy will ensue...

Yikes! We still have to buy one to replace Puffy. We got one at Tampines Street 81 neighbourhood pet store later in the evening.

It was sadly scared of human touch. Squeaked every time we tried to hold it. We could not name it or we will end up taking her in too. Sigh...

THREE

A few stores away we found a nice sports watch for Danish, with many fancy functions including flashing colourful background lights.

Hardy and sturdy for an active boy. He fell for the colourful lights. Sold! For S$18.00. Not a bad bargain. Now, for the reliability test by Danish.

FOUR : Food, Food Glorious Food

Next in the schedule... groceries shopping. Walked to Parkway Parade Shopping Centre to Giant Hypermarket.

The groceries amounted to S$183.15, almost all the items listed for the whole of this month.

I got myself a 50-piece CD-R for S$12.90. Calculated to 25 cents a piece, not bad. I have tons for an ever increasing amount of photos to burn.

Ran to GNC for a 30% discount Protein Powder that cost me S$194.50 for 2 tubs of 2kg each to feed my muscles after my daily workouts. Yes! Good bargain too. We were set!

The day went well. The whole weekend was great and I am personally pleased with it. Thank you Allah, the Almighty for making our days wonderful.

Now, ready for work tomorrow and lots of photos to burn. Signing off.

+ Life | Sunday Sloth

2006-02-26T23:00:00.000+08:00

The weekend was coming with full of hope to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors after two weeks of "stay-home" coup.

On Friday last week, I had already planned to go see the Asian Aerospace Exhibition at Changi International Exhibition with the whole family, but had to ditch it and make the best of the 2 days instead.

Went out Saturday afternoon once our son had his rescheduled home-tuition done in the morning.

We went to Peninsular Plaza to assess the possibility of our retail shop there. Then married that with our relaxed pace outing. Strolling at The Esplanade and Marina Bay after dinner, and had supper at Makan Sutra.

Sunday was a promised "stay-home" day just relaxing around the house to clear his mind for his Monday CA or Continual Assessment exam - a quarterly mini-exam with percent of it taken into his finals.

Had in the morning, chores like cleaning-up around and gardening for me.

My wife Azi was to cook Fried Rice for us, and my son Danish had his hands full with washing and white-wash his school shoes, check all his wirting materials ready for the exam and cleaning-up Puffy's cage.

The highlight of the day was definitely of cleaning Puffy's cage which he did outside in the corridor.

Puffy was placed in a spare plastic cage handed-down from his classmate. She was as if looking at him cleaning the cage, stood on her hind legs.

Well... that was how it looked like, though hamsters can only see a few inches away.

She probably saw the movements more than observing him, but then again, she might know it was Danish from his scent.

Maybe... but it was sure fun to look at her antics. And a photo opportunity too.

Once all cleaned, it was time Puffy was let into her cage. But before that, Danish asked me to observe her primal routine whenever she is let in after a clean-up.

She would go to every inch of the cage to leave her own scent that was lost from the change to new bedding and sand bath, the wiped-clean yellow-house and wheels and whater spout, etc.

On queue, when Danish released her near the outside of her cage, she dashed to it, climbed in and started to go to every little inch of the cage, scouting, scenting, well every corner!

It was fun and so cute. She did not waste any time.

Once "done", she stayed inside her yellow house making herself comfortable as she made her nesting.

Slit a piece of crumpled tissue paper at her door, she pulled it in and covered herself with it inside. Then, all was still.

She was home. Rested.

What a relief and joy to see her happy. Very adorable! Can only love her!

Had lunch and it was movie time.

We watched The Fog on DVD. The movie was alright for me. Nothing spectacular even with its CGI of the fog and burnt Grandma. Nothing we never say done before in other movies.

It was sure tough to watch something with a full stomach. Right after the movie, eveyone was slowly dozzing off. Azi on one couch, Danish on the other.

Even Puffy was asleep!

She slept on the couch with Danish. Had to snap a photo. She was like a cat more than a hamster. She seemed comfortable with and trusting of Danish.

I finally get to see her sleeping outside her yellow house. It was incredibly endearing!

A wonderful "sloth-like" family Sunday for us today.

Come to think of it, the gigantic flying machines would have been awesome, but this tiny being in our lives is divine!

Will not trade this day for anything else.

+ Outings | Makan Sutra

2006-02-25T23:00:00.000+08:00

We have actively been looking out for an affordable retail shop space these past month. After scouting for an advertised shop space at Peninsular Plaza, the walking got us all so hungry.

We had dinner at Funan IT Centre Food Court. The Nasi Padang stall has great tasting Lontong.

The Fried Rice was alright, nothing memorable except its Sambal Belacan, very nice.

Wifey bought some sweet and sour snacks and off we went to the Padang, then like a magnet, the Esplanade.

Soaked up the fresh air, the open space bay area with the backdrop of a beautiful The Esplanade - Theater By The Bay.

Sat a while and listened to some free live performances at the open amphitheater.

Surrounded mostly by teenagers and youngsters, their hands in the air, clapping and gyrating to the rhythm of the music. They were having a very good time.

It was catered more for the youngsters. My son "dig" the music too. I felt so old, ancient even. It was out of my century. You can only listen to so much hip-hop and rap at one sitting.

We headed to the outdoor eating place there for supper. It is called The Makan Sutra - Glutton Bar. A self-serve, open-air eating place.

It is strategically situated in front of Marina Square Shopping Centre and The Oriental Hotel.

An alley to access the Esplanade and the Marina Bay.

You would have to help yourselves to go buy your own food and drink after getting a table first.

With about 12 stalls selling mostly local Chinese delights, we found a Malay stall Alhambra Padang that sold Satay - a Malay barbecued meat skewered on a bamboo stick.

We noticed that the stall was so popular especially with the western tourists, that there were a long line.

I ordered Set A Satay on the menu. Consisting of 10 sticks of chicken, beef, mutton and prawn combination.

Very nice combination. The peanut sauce was indeed delicious.

Wifey gave the thumbs up for portion and taste. No wonder the queue was long.

The tourists from Oriental Hotel seemed to know this the best place to eat like the locals with the cheaper price than restaurant food, at a nice, breezy open-air place overlooking the bay.

I know I enjoyed sampling the local food sold nearby our hotel on our vacations.

As long as we are comfortable with the level of hygiene we are accustomed to, we will not give it a miss.

Glutton I was indeed, because I was filled to the brim and could hardly breathe. We took a cab home. The taxi stand was right in front of the entrance.

How cool was our outing? Very nice, very relaxed!

Now, I have to do extra workouts to burn these calories.

+ Son | Postergirl Puffy

2006-02-24T23:00:00.000+08:00

Another update on our family's significant other.

Puffy, our Dwarf White Winter Russian Hamster.

She is making good progress living with us. We get to know more about taking care of hamsters and she has now recognised us.

It was interesting to know this when my son had to bring her to class Wednesdays and Thursdays for Pet Day.

She was let loose on the Recreation Table with the whole class surrounding the large table. She kept returning to Danish's palms amongst all the open palms layed on the table.

The class acknowledged that she now attaches herself to a familiar scent, that is Danish's. He was so proud and very glad that Puffy has accepted us.

She has now wanting to eat something different and varied than her standard Hamster Food of seeds and tiny biscuits. Her favourite is definitely cheese. Will never turn down one.

Other treats include apples and orange saps which she will eat straight away instead of storing it in her pouch at the back of her mouth.

This cute creature has no choice but to endure more photo sessions from me and my son.

Cell-phones cameras, digital cameras and camcoders. All on standby, ready to snap whenever she does something new or just cute.

Facinating little "fur-ball". Cannot help but love her.

+ Life | Sunday Certification

2006-02-19T23:00:00.000+08:00

Well, it is Sunday night again.

Nope, no chance to be lazy today. A second weekend that I become a "houseband", no longer a "Desperate Houseband" as I got the hang of really doing house chores.

Start from morning, after my wife left for her booth, I got to read my Sunday newspaper. I got started on my house chores.

Cleaned the bathroom a bit, then proceeded to trim the Durantas. Yes, the flowers that bloomed so abundantly on the ends of the branches have wilted off but left beautiful little bright-yellow fruits.

I had to trim the wild growth out anyway, but too late to realize that some birds were feeding off the fruits.

As I was clearing, our "corridor garden" I was visited by butterflies and a few birds. The few birds were looking for these bright fruits but no longer there. The birds were startled when they saw me. I felt terrible to cut off the branches.

Rearranged the pots to give turns to other plants its turn to get sunshine and cleared dead leaves off the plants. The garden looked refreshed. I am pleased.

Had lunch with my son and helped with his leftover homework. Watched "The Cave" movie on DVD with him then I dozed off. What!

I woke up near the end while Danish was engorssed watching till the end. I am getting old.

When it ended, we split to doing our own stuff on our PCs. He was in his room learning and practising on his Java and HTML scripts with a couple of ".... for Dummies" website building books that he borrowed from the library, while I, well, blog-surfed! Yeah!

Came dinner and I warmed up the food while he set the table. Roasted Chicken Rice was good. We discussed about some methods he read on "pull-down menu" scripts, etc...

Then he got back to his room to practise more on building his website, while I started my ironing. The toughest part of the day for me.

This time around, I was able to set the ironing board swiftly like a Pro. I was able to do ironing of my son's uniform shorts and shirts without breaking a sweat.

Well actually I sweat like a pig.

What I meant was, I became good at it that I was pleased with the no-leftover-creases and finished it in record time.

I did my clothes and pants and well, no double lines on the pants either.

I finally have graduated from ironing school. Maybe may try on extreme ironing sport. Nah! Cannot understand why there is such a sport.

Ironing with the sharks, ironing while jumping off a plane, a cliff, what is that all about?

Anyway, ironing all those clothes was not all that bad or tough anymore for me the second time around. Still not my favourite "past-time", but I have to contribute to the household chores too, or I will not feel right.

Nonetheless, these mundane but important chores still need to be done. We have discussed and are up to hiring a part-time maid to do them. Maybe come twice a week while one of us are at home to oversee things.

This way I can have my weekend with family that I crave so much every single weekday, my wife can have more rest times while she still tends to her business, and the lucky maid will earn some money too. A win-win... -win situation.

Oh, I will leave the cooking to wifey, definitely. Cooking with love is the best tasting meal you will ever get. Else it will be take-outs.

It is late and I just got a call from her that she will be reaching soon. She has just got off the bus and coming up any minute now. Time to open the door for her and set supper for her. Signing off.

+ Life | Sunday Chores

2006-02-12T23:00:00.000+08:00

Today has been a slow weekend for me.

A Sunday that I should be out doing stuff with the family, in the sun.. something. Instead I was left to do house chores. Sigh...

My wife was out at Shaw House at Orchard Road tending to her booth in a Wedding Fair event. She was out of the house before 10:00am today.

My son Danish had his friend's birthday party to attend at her home. We went to Isetan Orchard at Shaw House yesterday and bought her a pink heart-shaped pillow with a bear on it.

Hope she likes it, because I had no idea what girls that age liked.

He left home at 1:30pm to meet his friends at Kembangan MRT Station. Oh, great! He left his gift at home. Well, he just have to bring it to school tomorrow to give her.

I was left home alone! Yeah, the thought of lazying around was all too attractive for me, but I have some gardening and ironing to do before I can do that. The list from wifey.

Did some blogging in the morning. Heated up lunch for both my son and I. Once he left, I gave myself time to watch a movie - The 40 Year-Old Virgin.

Steve Carell was alright, but his friends were hilarious. All the guys appeared together and macho on the outside, but somehow insecure inside which they tried very hard to not show. Man, I am so blessed to have met my wife and have a family.

Well this movie is not a tamed one. It is quite... "graphic?"

My wife will flip if she sees this type of movie. It's too adult and the too-open-minded mannerism is not yet suitable for conservative Asians like us.

Now the chores. First. Trim the plants.

I hated to trim the wildly grown branches of our Durantas because at the tip of the branches are purple flowers blooming. I just do not have the heart to cut away the cheerful sight the plants have to offer.

There is this nice feeling to see flowers swaying in the sunshine. Just love it. Just watered the plants and cleared the fallen leaves off my corridor instead.

Then started my ironing. Wow! I have not ironed a piece since I got married some 12 years ago. Man, I have taken her doing the chores for granted. It was tiring and my god, so boring!

Took in the dried clothes from the service balcony, folded some clothes and continued ironing my son's school uniforms and my clothes for work till I completed every last one.

Rested a bit and watched a little of City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage over Cinemax until the end. Never got to watch it before, but only to see Meg died in the end. No!

My favourite romantic lady dies in a movie? Never! This movie sucked!

Well, not exactly. I liked it, but still I do not like to see Meg dies in a movie in any manner whatsoever.

Anyway, Danish came back at 6:30pm and went straight to helping a little with his left-over Malay composition homework.

Took a shower and headed to the S11 Coffee Shop and bought us dinner. Stopped by the newly expanded sundries shop and got some snacks and a correction pen for Danish.

Today, I become quite a domesticated dude today. Well, I have to do this for 2 weeks, until wifey completes her rent for the booth this 23rd February 2006. Until then, I am a Desperate Houseband.

Man... I have to work tomorrow. Sigh...

+ Son | Puffy's Twin?

2006-02-10T20:00:00.000+08:00

With the rain outside, we are all being kept inside. Sigh.

As I was blog-surfing, I can hear my son talking to Puffy, our Dwarf White Winter Russian hamster. She has been sleeping all day and become active at night. Guess she is awake today and restless too.

She has been climbing the grill of her cage that normally signifies that she wants to go out for a while. That is her signal to us that she wants out, but exactly what she wants after that is anybody's guess.

Danish finally figured out what she wanted. Treats. Her favourite is definitely cheese. So while he went off to the kitchen to get the cheese, Puffy was left on my desk.

"Hey look! Puffy's friend!" my son quipped. Oh yeah...

Rodent family. My Microsoft Wireless Mouse and my son's buddy, Puffy.

Good photo opportunity when Puffy was enjoying her treat beside her electronic twin.

Puffy can remain cute, but the MS Mouse must do work for me. After she had her fill, she took a nap in my son's clasped palms.

And soon Danish himself fell asleep on the sofa with the song of the raindrops outside. Cozy...

This is lame! We cannot be kept indoor for long, we will go insane. We are sunshine people.

Rain, please give it a rest.

+ Life | Afternoon Mom

2006-02-07T21:00:00.000+08:00

Promised to fetch her and Dad at 1:00pm. I was fortunately I was on time.

We reached SGH's SNEC or Singapore National Eye Centre half-an-hour early as the appointment time was at 1:4pm.

At Subsidised Clinic 1, our queue number was 0308. The last number displayed was 0288. Within 10 minutes, we got her name registered and then the trail of wheeling in and out of Mom from room to the next started with a new queue number 1682 ...

Stop#1 Room 16 Eye Screening.

Directed to the waiting area and waited for about 5 minutes.
Both her eyes were checked and tested by a nurse about 10 minutes.

Stop#2 Room 18 Eye Specialist.

Directed to wait at the same waiting area for next routine.
The attending Staff Nurse dropped a dilating eye drops to both her eyes.
She had to wait for 10 minutes to let the eyes get dilated before the doctor saw her.
Once in, a series of medical history and allergies were asked by the doctor.
10 minutes and a further eye examination by the doctor, she was asked to go for a thorough eye scan with an Eye-Scan Specialist.

Stop#3 Room 20 Eye Scanning.

While waiting, the another round of drops were administered by the Staff Nurse.
A green "BE" round sticker was pasted on Mom's blouse for monitoring before she entered.
10 minutes again to wait for the eyes to get dilated while the Staff Nurse kept checking her eyes prediodically.
She then felt really glaring and had to wear dark glasses she brought from home.
Finally wheelled her into the room where the Eye-Scan Specialist then asked a few more questions on her medications, etc.
I get to witness a technological advancement when the doctor used an E-Z Scan AB5500 for the whole of the session.
An eye drop on both eyes again and then an Infrared pen on the left of the equipment was used to point, touching her eyeballs while he took numerous readings of the back of the eye from all angles of the cornea. The results printed on a series of thermal printouts.
Then he did an ultra-sound of the eyeball using another blunt pen on the right, from the top of the eye socket, with her eyes closed. Another series of printouts. The whole procedure was over after less then 15 minutes.
Must have been a wonderful tool to a doctor.

Stop#4 Room 18 Eye Specialist.

This time the attending Staff Nurse did another drop on her right eye which actually had a burning sensation.
She had to wear her dark glasses to keep off the glare.
We had to wait almost 20 minutes before we get to see the Eye Specialist again for follow-up with the scanning results.
She is confirmed suitable for Cataract surgery.

Step#5 Room 19 Eye Surgent

In less than 5 minutes, she was in with the Lady Eye Surgent.
With her advanced cataracts, she had to have the surgery done latest by this week.
Else there may be complications if the lens were to burst.
She had to be put as an urgent case.

Stop#6 Room 29 Surgery Administration

A 10 minutes wait in from of the planning room to get the day surgery date fixed and surgery payment papers settled.
Unformtunately the latest slot available was only in mid March.
I highlighted the urgency mentioned and we had to see another Eye Surgent to confirm and perform it as he was available this Friday.

Stop#7 Room 21 Eye Surgent

Less than a minute, Mom was checked by a young Dr. Markus Lim.
It took him less than a minute to confirm that Mom needs urgent surgery and he was going to do it.

Stop#8 Room 29 Surgery Administration

Back to the admin officer and she scheduled us for Friday, 10 February 2006 at 12:30pm
Signed a few Medishield papers as Dad was going to pay for Mom's surgery through his medishield account. I being the witness.
It is costing S$888.00 deductable all from Dad's Medishield account. No cash required.

Stop#9 Room 23 Health Screening

And with that... off we went to have Mom's urine and blood sampled and her blood pressure checked.
Her blood pressure was unfortunately high, she must have been very nervous.
Another nurse had to recheck to confirm.
Yes, it was over 200!
Another Doctor had to come to give a final confirmation of her condition.
She was asked to get her Woodlands Polyclinic doctor tomorrow afternoon to reassess her blood pressure medicine dosage to be able to be within control it before she can have the operation.

Stop#10 Counter 5

Finally, we get to leave the place once we made payments.
It cost S$92.00 for all the checks and specialist.
Thank goodness its affordable. Kudos to the government for taking care of the people.

Stop#11 Pharmacy

Last stop, was to the pharmacy to collect her eye drop medication for the operation.
10 minutes wait and we got her eye drop and instruction to follow a day before and the morning before the surgery.
The drops costed S$6.80 paid in cash.

DONE! Now early dinner before I sent them back to their home.

We headed to SGH Food Court to have my Mee Baksoh while Mom and Dad had Nasi Padang. All dishes of Indonesian origin.

Wow! What a full day, but all worth the time off work.

Do not worry Mom, everything is going to be alright. Sincerely.

+ Life | Morning Wife

2006-02-07T20:00:00.000+08:00

What a scheduled-filled day I had today!

Took leave of work to accompany my Mom to Singapore General Hospital or SGH Eye Centre to have her right eyes checked for a proposed day surgery.

But in the morning, my wife had the opportunity to look at a small shop for a take-over lease by SBS Transit at Punggol MRT Station.

The monthly rent from SBS Transit was very reasonable, almost too good to be true, but we had to check it anyway of we will be left wondering if we did not.

We need to see the location and human traffic there for ourselves.

So, off we went at 10:30am to site the place. Good and bad.

Good thing was that the place is totally new.

Bad, unfortunately was that the human traffic was very limited to only the residents there and out of the way where the human traffic paths.

A definitely no-no. Not until the place has more developed with more residential area. We had to turn it down.

Would have been great to own a shop and do the things you like to do, but we have to be patient and cautious as investment is quite high and we would only take calculated risk with our hard-earned money.

Got back home at midday.

Had our lunch and then off I rushed by cab to my Mom's place in Woodlands for my next appointment...

+ Life | Something Wonderful!

2006-02-04T08:00:00.000+08:00

The long awaited "verdict" has been announced! We are finally a family of 4!

No, my wife has not given birth to our second child. No, we have not adopted a child either.

It is Puffy, our "part time" adopted pet hamster. She is finally family. Great new to all of us personally!

My son came back from school all excited, quickly told me wife at the door, before he even got into the house.

Danish went to school yesterday and told his teacher that Puffy was found and that his parents were nursing her back to health.

His teacher has decided and class agreed that it was too much of aa distraction when it is in class, and too much of attention and maintenance to care for one in class.

An aquarium full of tropical fish might have been a better choice, but definitely not hamsters.

Danish was voted the best person to care for her. Danish accepted the honour with glee and a promise to bring her to class once in a while for everyone to say hello and she how she is doing.

His teacher probably thought that Puffy would be in better hands with us caring so much for her. We got so attached to her in a very short space of time.

We have been responsible for her well-being when she stepped-in, well... came carried-in into our home. We asked how she was doing when she was with another child's care.

A Fish Called Merah

My wife just lighted-up on hering the good news.

Understandably, she never had a pet before in her life. The closest thing to a pet she had for the first time was a Red Parrot Cichlid.

It was named Merah or Red. Yes, a fish!

That was the only fish that interacted with people. We have two aquarium tanks one on top of another on a rack. On top is the Tetras and tropical Rainbow fish.

You may want to see it at + Interior Son's Aquarium if you really have the time.

Below it was Merah's tank. A loner.

This type of breed can only stay in a group of 5 or more in one tank, fewer than that, it will start fighting with each other until only one survives. Fighting for territory or dominance, whatever.

Merah behaved very intriguingly whenever we were around.

It showed interest and reacted with you whenever you are near with its antics. Flipping over, swaying left and right, just wanted your attention.

It unfortunately died the 2nd week we were away in Ohio USA. It was in my sister's care coming over to our place every other day when it died. It made my sister felt awful about it, but it was none of her fault as we believe Merah was lonely at home.

Anyway, this part of our lives will be documented soon.

Life is Good!

Coming back to our Puffy. My wife and son went straight to Tampines Regional Library to borrow books on how to care for hamsters.

We now know that Puffy is a Dwarf White Winter Russian hamster. It's livespan is about 1.5 to 2 years. It can grow between 8 to 10 cm in length and are rugged enough and suitable for first-timer pet owners. Thank God!

Now we are not sure how old Puffy is, but maybe we can find out from the Pet Safari shop where she was purchased.

Equiped with more information on how to care for Puffy and our unconditional love for her, she is going to be just like one of the family in Imran's home.

Life is good!

+ Life | Something Great

2006-02-03T20:00:00.000+08:00

"Puffy!" I yelled and called my wife. Our "part-time" adopted hamster was found!

Guess you would want to read + Life Something Good first before you continue reading an extended version of my insignificant entry.

Puffy came out from behind my dry cabinet where I store my electronic stuff in my GymRoom. Came out to me and looked (or was it smelled me?), before I frigthened her with my ecstatic yell to her.

The Triage

I picked her up before she went behind the treadmill.

Her body was shaking in the plam of my hand. Not sure if it was dehydration or hunger, or was frightened by me, or all of it combined.

She looked alright though, whiskers not broken and she managed to keep herself clean, apart from her leaner body that was not as "puffy" as she used to be.

Is she alright? I asked myself. My wife and son repeated the same question out loud. She is the baby of the house, the one who needs the most attention, the most fragile.

We brought her to the living room and gave her water. Fed her with white bread, apple and a whole lot more. It was like a little hamster buffet spread. She was spoiled for choice.

She eat and drank, so we believe she is alright.

I then looked at my son and my wife, they looked ecstatic. Full concentration on the little joy in my son's palm. They are alright too. I am good.

We were overjoyed to have her back. Just glad that we did not cause her unintentional harm. Before she was found, everybody seemed moody whenever her name was mentioned or looking at the empty cage.

This, a creature from the class project can have such an affect on us personally. Wow! So small, yet so much impact!

Home Sweet Home

When we place her cage on the floor, she hurriedly approached it and climbed onto the cage and into her "home." Boy did she missed her home or what?

What a smart creature! We should have place the cage on the floor all along for her to find her way back home. Duh...

Those 3 days, she was all over the place inside our home all along, but smart enough as I would think its instint that she did not leave any traces or poop or anything out in the open or along the walls. We thought she had gone out from our front door as it was open when she went missing.

After she settled in, she went out for more food and water. Got onto the wheel did her "workout". Scurry here and there inside her cage, she finally slept in the wheel. She must have missed her cage so much.

Family Now?

Now my son is tasked to tell his teacher and the class that Puffy is home today. We will get to keep him for the weekend, but must return him back to his class for the next student's turn to bring back home to care for her.

There is a likelyhood that the teacher may wish for the program to stop, as their pet is somewhat distracting her class. She told this to the class when Danish broke the new of Puffy gone missing.

His teacher was not too keen to get it replaced, even when we offered it since it was in our care. So there is a chance that we can just compensate the money to the class and keep Puffy to ourselves.

We can only know the "verdict" when Danish comes back from school.

If all works out well, Puffy will no longer be our "part-time" adopted pet, she will finally be family.

+ Life | Something Good

2006-02-02T23:00:00.000+08:00

Something was telling me today would be great day. A great day indeed! To start off, I got a cab in less time than it took me to wear my shoes.

No 1: Honeymoon Revisited

I enjoyed the most relaxing ride to work I had not felt for a long while.

Simply listening to a Sundanese ethnic music playing over his CD player. No chating, just soothing bamboo flute music from the Indonesian Islands.

It evoked a wonderful memory of our first honeymoon in Padang, Indonesia in the West Sumatran islands.

The place was heavenly. Crime is the lowest as the people there are practising Muslims.

The foreign sights and sounds, thier proud traditions and culture, the modest lifestyle and contentment for the gifts they are given, however modest.

All intriguing, interesting and an eye opener for me as that place was my first ever "tour" in my adult life.

It was my first aeroplane flight, so the whole experience was magical and us being newly weds, fantastic! More stories of this place the next time.

Yes, just the place, not the newly weds thing. This blog is still rated "G."

Before this trip, the farthest I have been was our neighbouring country, Malaysia.

No 2: I Did My Best Today

Secondly, with the reshuffling going on, I managed to convince the management with my proposal to save some people under my charge from being transferred and left without a job at worst.

Engineers under my charge could not be more happier with the outcome. Should not have entered this, but it is my little achievement against the odds. It is for my own sanity. There! I said it.

No 3: Puffy Decided To Come Home Part 1

Thirdly, our "part-time" adopted hamster, Puffy has finally returned home. Well... return to his cage that is.

She has been missing for the last 3 days. My son forgot to close the cage door tight before he went off to take his morning shower. Puffy was able to get out unnoticed. She made a run for it.

You may wan to read + Son | Our Hamsters first before you waste your time reading this insignificant entry.

My wife suffered the most heartache for our loss as she became the most attached to the little creature than my son, as I found out the few day.

She was very sad and sent us searching for it outside as out front door was open the time when Puffy got out. And we searched the whole house for those days she was missing.

I was the vigilante for 2 nights and slept on a mat on the floor in the living room to see if I could detect her lurking around the room, with my superlight sleep and keen hearing.

Nada... no hamster, just backaches when I woke up in the morning.

Then again, I probably slept through the whole night while Puffy danced around on my belly! No, do not tell my wife that.

Yet, today, Puffy suddenly appeared before me in my GymRoom while I was blog-surfing.

"Puffy!!!" I yelled with joy. I thought I would never see her again!

She was shaking when I picked her up. 3 days without food or water. Is she alright...?

+ Life | Peanuts Character

2006-01-28T23:00:00.000+08:00

Peanuts, my childhood favourite cartoon characters

Surfing blogs to blogs and finally landed on Ry's Justme & My Midnight Thots with this Peanuts Character ID. Answer a few honest questions about yourself and it will in return flash you your cartoon character. Cool!

This is the only cartoon movie that I actually went to watch when I was a child, in my whole life of movie-going life to date.

I asked my Son and Wife to take the test too. Here is how "Peanuts" we are!

You are Linus!

YES! That's Me!

For the longest time, I always identify with his character. Though I sometimes think that Linus should do something about it to come out of his shell, I have yet to see him daring enough to do it, except for a few tentrums thrown here and there.

You are Woodstock!

WOW! That's my son Danish for you!

He is always up to something new, and pursue it tirelessly. Always so easy to make friends like a "friends magnet" with the many children know him and calling his name to say "Hi" whenever we are outside, but he tends not always to remember theirs. Though he will go lengths to help his friends.

You are Woodstock!

Surprise, Surprise! That's my wife Azi!

She is unique in her own lovable way. As loyal as a partner can be. She cannot stand for copy-cats, always wants to stay true to herself. Always busy with new things for the family. For herself - a new budding business she is nuturing and gathering more friends in the process.

Which Peanuts Character are You?
Brought to you by Quizilla

+ Son | Our Hamsters

2006-01-23T22:00:00.000+08:00

Puffy Hamster, Class of 5/9 Saint Hilda's Primary School

Well, not exactly ours.

My son's class had started a Recreation Corner where they dedicate one corner of the classroom for creative thinking activities. Arts, hobbies and pets too. The class decided to adopt two hamsters from the neighbourhood pet store.

So the whole class chipped-in a dollar each while the teacher topped-up the difference.

Viola! Two hamsters with a 1.5 x 1 x 1 ft cage complete with all the hamster-loving wheel and other gadgets fixed into the Hamster Villa.

Our Little Guests

Now everyone will have a turn at caring for the hamsters a few nights and weekends too.

Our son got the first turn and on Friday, 6 January, he brought the two hamsters home for the weekend.

Interesting creatures, these lovable cuties.

I came back home from work and instantly got one hand holding a hamster. My first time at touching a one. My son was playing with the other.

That little creature, so fragile, just stayed still in the palm of my hand and fell asleep. Intrigued, I held it for more than 30 minutes while watching TV, have not even took changed from my working clothes yet.

We just fall in love with these little animals.

All 3 of us spent the whole weekend focused on our guests. Our world revolved around them that weekend. We got to know their temperaments really fast with that kind of attention.

The Naming Of...

The smaller one was always moving about. Kept itself busy turning the wheel as if it was preparing for a marathon and always bathing itself in the sand pit.

It was Danish's favourite.

The other, a slightly larger one, was always in the little yellow house, napping! Once in a while it would go out and stuff food in its mouth and headed back home.

That was basically what each was doing the whole weekend. With that, my wife bestowed upon them each a name.

The sporty one was named Sandy while the sleepy one, Puffy.

The Warning Label

Have no idea how to tell its gender, so everybody had to take the pet shop owner's word for it that both are females.

It came with a warning though :

Do not feed them with anything that contains salt;
Return one in exchange for another if the two cannot live in peace with each other;
Blow at them to stop them from fighting.

With those reminders recited by Danish, we were ready to take care our little guests for the weekend.

The Unthinkable Happened!

My son was so occupied with these little creatures that he hardly touched his Xbox the whole weekend.

His buddies around the world must have wondered what happened to their "clan" leader.

He played with them, re-arranged the gadgets in the cage several times. Kept watching him most of the time and feeding them. Yes, he blew at them several times too.

He had gotten attached to our two guests, but he needed to return them to the school for his classmate's turn to care for a few days.

Just as Danish turned-in for the night on Sunday, the two started fighting. Heard shrieks several times and stopped the two from fighting, but then it became intense.

Could not really figure out which one is attacking the other, but after a long, patient watch, it finally turned out that Puffy was the attacker. It kept chasing after Sandy and attacked her.

Did not expect such small creatures can inflict wounds that badly. I stopped the fighting and took Sandy out.

The First Aider

Sandy had wounds and was bleeding from her tail and left hind leg. She was shaking in fear and licking her wounds.

I had to stop the bleeding by applying a light compression on the wounds with a damped tissue.

Little spots of red blood on the tissue. So unfortunate.

Since we had nothing to separate the two, I had to put Sandy back in. I decided to sleep at the living room, near the cage for the night hoping to stop more attacks if it happened.

Nothing happened... or was I fast a sleep?

Err... anyway, I checked Sandy again in the morning for fresh wounds before Danish returned it to his class, with a reminder to let his teacher know that these two were fighting and the exchange be done quickly.

The Bad News

A few days had passed and it was Friday again.

Danish, for whatever reason was entrusted to take care of it through the weekend again. He was more excited to be selected again then proud and could not wait to take them back.

Before noon, a fight broke out again in Hamster Villa. The whole class was distracted with the loud shrieks and Sandy was hurt much more seriously.

She was bloody with cuts on various parts of her body. She was not doing well at all.

Before the bell rang, she died!

Everyone in the class was somber. Danish in particular cried when he told the happenings leading to Sandy's "demise" to my wife when he reached home with Puffy.

"Puffy, The Hampire Killer" I named her. Then again, she is still cute.

I was quite disappointed that nothing was done to prevent the death of Sandy, despite telling the teacher what had happened. A prompt exchange at the pet store would have saved her life.

She would have endured repeated attacks and sufferef quite a lot.

Now I Remember...

I think I am growing old too fast. My memory ditched me!

I finally remembered that we do have a plastic hamster cage that we bought for Danish's red-eared sliders before!

We could have separated the two! We would have been more willing to donated the plastic cage to his school! There would be double the joy since two pupils could take care one each.

Why did I not remember that? Why only now? I could have saved a life! However minute. My wife and I felt bad every time we thought of Sandy.

Now we have Puffy at home, and what a cute little creature she is... despite being a "murder". Call it unconditional love if you will. You just cannot fault her, not when she's that cute! Its mother nature.

We love you Sandy. May you rest in peace.

+ Parents | Great News

2005-12-16T22:00:00.000+08:00

Mom at McDonald's in Admiralty MRT station

Happy faces all around while we made our way to the Kopitiam cafeteria for brunch. The day was great so Mom decided to sit outside.

I received a call from my elder sister asking about Dad's condition. She was also relieved to hear the good news.

Mom had Nasi Beryani Ayam, Chicken Curry Rice of North Indian origin while Dad and I had Nasi Padang, Mixed Rice of Sumatran, Indonesia origin.

While eating, we had a family of 4 Mynah birds asking us for food. A mother and father with their 2 noisy chicks chirping for food.

Quite extraordinary though, two chicks instead of the normal one, and quite tamed for wild birds as the birds came real close to us.

We secretly tossed some rice and the birds lapped it up fast. Did that several times until the birds had their fill and flew away.

Interesting lunch time crowd.

Part 2

After our meal, we sipped coffee. Dad's tone turned serious-like. He reminded me of his intention he announced to the family just before he was wheeled away to the OT.

He had intended for my name to be included as second to his and Mom's bank book each. He wants to avoid any complication that may arise if any of them were no longer around.

I obliged sincerely, but reminded them that all my brothers and sisters must be aware to avoid any misunderstandings between siblings later on. They both have already reminded all their children of this and they respected their decision.

Until now, I have yet to realize how big a responsibility this is. But am honoured that the trust and faith both of them have in me.

Mom had hers done first at POSB branch within SGH itself. It sure saved us a trip.

The procedure caught me by surprise though.

The bank teller had to question my Mom and required her reply - that she understood what she was doing. Implying that Mom was enabling me to get access to her savings!

Mom replied an embarrassing yet honest answer. She told the teller that her son has more money in his bank account than she hoped to have.

The lady smiled as she nodded and apologized to me. She was carrying out her job and its her duty to be sure.

Dad was at the pharmacy so he missed the routine question. I turned down a standard issue of an ATM card for myself and told Mom to keep her bank book for her use.

This way I will have no access to her savings, for my sake.

Once done, we headed to Causeway Point Shopping Centre. Mom finally found her ideal Tefal cooking pot with the non-stick inner layer.

She wants to limit the amount of cooking oil and avoid crusts from forming too. She got hers for S$23.00 at Metro.

We next headed to Admiralty MRT Station for UOB Bank. There the same routine was done, but this time I was prepared for the implied questioning.

A new bank book had to be issued, so it had to take 20 minutes to get processed.

We headed to McDonald's to have our break. Hot Milo for Mom and Dad, a Coke for me and a large fries share between us 3.

Received a second call. This time from my youngest brother wanting to know Dad's condition. He was delighted too to hear the good news and planned to visit them that evening.

More Kampong days stories, but most importantly the principles they stood by through hard times were explained to me. Their views on certain matters and why they do things a certain way. I learnt a lot about them in the most unlikely place - a fast food joint.

All that chatting made us forget about the time. We returned to the bank 35 minutes later and collected Dad's new bank book. Again, no ATM card for me and Dad to hold onto his book.

Back to my parents place and they gave me a surprise desert - Serawa Durian, a sweet durian syrup in glutinous rice, a traditional Malay desert that is very hard to come by nowadays. I have not known any food stall in Singapore sells this desert.

I turned down a second helping, but surrepticiously slurping the last few drops off the bowl. It was sinfully delicious! They packed some to bring home for my wife and son too.

4:oopm and was my time to leave. Both were at the door waving good bye to me until I turned the corner and down the stairwell.

Its their trademark to all their children that leaves you feeling nice and warm inside every time you bid them farewell.

It is the same way I emulate when guests leave our home. The same hospitality shown. Good habits die hard, and I can say that again.

+ Parents | Great News

2005-12-15T23:00:00.000+08:00

Singtel Satellite along Bukit Timah Expressway BKE

Took leave off work for Dad's 3rd follow-up medical appointment at Singapore General Hospital - SGH..

It has been 5 months since his colorectal surgery. Dad has been in high spirits and energetic all this while. His recovery rate is incredible.

He is up and about to do his usual stuff - going out for groceries, to the barber and Friday prayers. Religiously tending to his garden and always so busy in the kitchen with the chores, while leaving the expert cooking to Mom.

My wife had to attend to her booth while my son has his cousin sleeping over. 5 people would defintely not fit in the cab, so I went alone with my parents.

Besides the medical appointment, both Dad and Mom wanted to do some shopping. Mom did go out much because she needs help even with her walking stick. Long walks meant she would rather be in the wheelchair.

Part 1

The journey from home was smooth. Since there was traffic jam at CTE due to the morning peak hour, the cab driver decided to take the BKE, PIE and Stevens Road route instead.

No luck there either. A broken down van made the traffic slowed down to a crawl, coupled with Dad forgotten to bring along his appointment card, it made me quite anxious.

Honestly not so much of being late, but more of the outcome of the blood test. I worry every time when the result is announced. Both Dad and Mom are kept out from knowing the cancerous tumor Dad had removed.

Mom made the ride less stressful as she pointed pointed out the beautiful blooms of pink and bright red flowers along BKE. The morning sun made the bloom so cheerful.

She pointed out to the wild ferns growing out from the undergrowth of the jungle along PIE and the abundance of tapioca plants as we about to exit to Stevens Road.

Reminiscing, we told me that Pucuk Paku or fern shoots were nice to eat when fried. So was the Pucuk Ubi Kayu or Tapioca shoots. Apart from its bulb, the shoots are normally cooked with coconut milk or Lauk Lemak Pucuk Ubi gravy.

Yes, we did ate the fern shoots when we went on a tour to Sarawak Malaysia just before Dad was diagnosed with the tumor in his large intestine.

The native there call it Sayur Midi they pick from the wild. They normally fry it with belacan or shrimp paste. It was my first taste to the wild fern shoots and it tasted great, just like asparagus!

Mom told me that it both dishes were common then when we were still living in the Kampong or village. I had no recollection of ever eating the fern shoots though. Unlike tapioca shoots, the fern shoots dish is non-existent in modern Singapore as far as I know.

We finally arrived at the hospital 6 minutes past 9:20am, our appointment time. Got our queue number 0937 but noticed the doctors were not in yet as all the lighted numbers in each consultation room were zero.

We continued our chat, mostly catching up on the stuff I missed or did not understand then when I was a child in the village. Some words of wisdom from them and some funny stories and incidences they experienced with the neighbours took us almost an hour before Dad's number was flashed on the queue board.

Dr. Ooi was exceptionally cheerful this morning. Lots of jokes with Dad that made his 2 nurses assisting him laughed as well. In between the jokes and casual talks, he interjacked questions of Dad's bowel movements, his general energy level and his diet.

All was good. He encouranged Dad to go out of the house to stretch his legs. He was happy to know that Dad had been doing just that since after his first follow-up visit.

More jokes from the drawn curtains as Dad was check by the doctor. All good.

As Dad got dressed, Dr. Ooi informed me of the good news. Dad blood reading was at 1.8, way lower than the 3.5 cancerous indication. His next follow-up will be spaced 6 monthly now.

I was relieved upon hearing the news. Guess it showed on my face.

That had always been the most tense moment with every visit I had to sit-in personally. Unknown to Dad or Mom of Dad's condition. For all they knew was that was a benign tumor that was removed.

Every checked out well, so Dad's next follow-up appointment will be spaced 6 monthly now. He is scheduled to go for a colonoscopy in mid June 2006, approximately a year after his surgery.

I am very proud of my Dad for religiously sticking to his diet and keeping himself in high spirits.

Off I went to tell Mom of the good news. Mom smiled and looked at him proud. Dad reciprocated with a smile that was even wider. No words were spoken but that was their moment.

I will not forget it. I was so happy to witness another beautiful moment. Wished all my brothers and sisters could have seen that too.

I thank Allah for the blessings He gives this family and more happy moments that we all get to share our time together.

+ Son | Special Days

2005-11-18T23:00:00.000+08:00

Looking through my computer and found some dated photos of my son's special moments.

His first day to school this year on Monday, 3rd January 2005. Going to Saint Hilda's Primary School over at Tampines Street 81 as a Primary 4, class of 4/9 Faith.

Special to us because it was his first day taking the public transport instead of the school bus.

Just to get a photo of him before he left for school.

He insisted that he was well and good taking the TownLink Service 293 all by himself, since the bus stops at home and at his school are right in front of the buildings. Subtle sign of him growing up.

It was easy to decide to let him off the chartered school bus of 3 years and use the public transport because he showed great confidence to handle and decide wisely for himself and his maturity for his age of 9 years.

He is growing well and with good self-esteem and confidence. I am proud of him.

This photo was taken on Saturday morning, 27 August 2005.

He made himself a healthy sandwich of salad,, banana and apple with mayonaise, strawberry jam and peanut butter on a wheat bread for breakfast. He called his masterpiece as Special Sandwich. All meal and desert in one.

Offerred to make one for me, but I gracefully declined... not sure about mayo and strawberry jam together which what he said was what made the sandwich special. I'll stick to my chunky peanut butter sandwich.

Together with his favourite "never-can-do-without" Dutch Lady strawberry milk. Notice the keyword here is strawberry.

He enjoyed the whole meal in front of the TV with his favourite Cartoon Network character Spongebob Squarepants (mine too).

My wife and I are relishing his growing-up years together. Thank you Allah for this blessing.

+ Son | Big Boy

2005-11-08T21:00:00.000+08:00

Danish at Botanic Garden Palm Court Visitor's Centre

Had a call at the office from my son this morning.

He asked for permission to go out with his classmates from Saint Hilda's Primary School in the afternoon for a movie Sky High at Tampines Mall Cineplex.

Quite a shock to hear such request because that was his first time going out with his friends to hang-out and watch a movie.

It was a mixed feeling proud of him growing up in confidence, at the same time contemplating in my mind if it was wise to let him go "out with friends" as he is only ten years old.

Sponteneously the following questions came to mind for him to satisfy me with his answers:

One, who he was going with?
Answer: Two of his classmates - Joel and Andrew.
Which cinema they were going?
Answer: Tampines Mall Cineplex.
What show time was the movie?
Answer: 2:oopm

With the answers, came the conditions:

Must bring along his cell phone with him at all times.
Must only go for the movie and no hanging around the mall afterwards.
Must come back straight home before 6:00pm.
And yes, Mama must concur with me, before he could go.

With the stipulated conditions agreed upon (well, I made him promise), then came the goodies:

Get S$20.00 from my drawer.
To spend only for the ticket, food and drinks.
Must account for the money spent and return the balance back to me.

With that, I bid him to enjoy the movie and the afternoon with his buddies.

Wow! Thinking back when I was at that age, I was still ignorant and totally had no confidence to venture out of my Kampong or village, with my friends especially of the same age. And that was if my parents would ever allow such request or we were courageous enough to ask.

I gathered, him being an only child, and mixing around with us most of his time when not at school, he is somewhat mature and independent for his age. We let him decide as much as we possibly can and ensure that he can be responsible for his choices.

Nothing major or life-altering path mind you, but just give him room to grow, make-up his own mind and trust him (with "a pinch of salt" of course) for him to trust us back and make good, sensible and responsible decisions.

We feel the line of communication will always be open this way, even when he is in his teens (God help us) when we as parents are honest, open and importantly approachable. The utimate virtue we treasure is the mutual trust between us.

In return, we see conduct himslef well at school with the numerous badges his teacher awarded him. Does his homework without being told to. Does it with minimal help us and consistently does a good job at it too. We know he puts genuine effort in his work.

Delightfully, he has been getting distintions for all his tests for English, Math, Science and Social Studies. The recently ended final examination was no different with the exception of his mother tongue - Malay Language. Something we have to practice more since it is almost not spoken.

He is fast growing up and a responsible young boy he has become indeed. I am proud of him; of his intellegence to absorb facts fast, his curious and analytical mind - always asking and researching for answers, his achievements and self-confidence, his independence despite his tender age. And not at all a social misfit.

Yet he remains respectful and filial to his parents. We thank Allah for blessings us and showing us the path to nuture our child proper.

+ Faith | Raya Shopping

2005-10-30T02:00:00.000+08:00

Geylang Serai Hari Raya Light-up 2005 Night Bazaar

Count down to 2 days before the big Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations that falls on Thursday, 3 November 2005.

Did spring cleaning to our home, and it already is quite done-up for friends and relatives to come visiting in Syawal, but we still have not done any Raya Shopping yet for your new clothes.

This evening was the perfect time to do just that.

Off we went to Geylang Serai, the focal point of all Raya Shopping stuff you could ever need were there. It is not Hari Raya in Singapore if you have not stepped into Geylang.

Just like Orchard Road to all Christians for Christmas shopping, Little India to the Indians and Hindus for Deepavali and China Town to all Chinese for their Lunar New Year.

A short shopping list for us this year.

Just two sets of traditional Malay Baju Kurung and my wife's matching headscarf, since we already bought her the two dresses in Bangkok when we had our trip there a few months back.

Ventured out after buka puasa or break fast at 6:51pm and ended late into the night to almost midnight. Our poor son was nagging us to go back home. His "batteries" needed charging as it was way past his bedtime.

The crowd was exceptionally enormous! I had to snap some photos with my cell phone.

There are so many people mostly because it was a Saturday and the bazaar will stay open into the wee hours of Sunday morning, and partly because this will be the final year Geylang Serai will hold it ritual, Hari Raya Bazaar annually due to the government's total upgrading of its amenities, slated to start next year.

Going there was tough enough. Like a ritual, any taxi driver will always advise to go the opposite route via Paya Lebar and alight at Tanjong Katong Complex, to avoid the slow crawl traffic on the stretch of Eunos and Changi Road.

As a norm, traditional Malay Baju Kurung will be a matching family set with loud in colours (yes, for the guys too), the Malay way of reflecting family unity and cheerful celebrations, of the otherwise religious triumph over earthly passions.

This year is no exception. We bought two sets of clothes - one, a "be brave, my son" pastel orange, and the other, a "men, face your fears head-on" purplish-pink colour. All to match the colours with my wife's dresses.

Men would wear such colours on only two occasions.

One on their wedding day, and another, on Hari Raya. You will otherwise stick-out like a sore thumb if you wear it on normal days as the colours are too dramatic.

Anyway, getting there was quite alright, but going back home was arduous.

Since thousands converge almost every night at the same place for the same purpose - Raya Shopping, getting a taxi was an impossible task, as you would see families after families lining the street hailing for a cab.

I was too tired and skipped that challenge. I called a cab instead. End of story.

Now waiting for Aidilfitri.

+ Faith | Fasting Starts

2005-10-05T21:00:00.000+08:00

Family portrait in Traditional Malay Dressing on Eid Fitri 2004

With the calling of evening prayer at 6:57pm today, marks the successful first day of Puasa or fasting for the Muslims in this part of the world.

The whole of Asia and Oman start today, 5 October and will end by 2 November 2005 when we celebrate Eid Fitri. Most parts of Middle East started the day before.

Waking at about 4:00am in the morning for our meal. Fasting from any water or food intake from 5:38am this morning to the evening prayer, the first day went well for my wife and I, except our son.

I was called by the school a quarter to noon today, asking me to fetch him home from the school's General Office because he was not feeling well. I had to take urgent half day for that. Thank goodness I have an understanding boss.

In fact, I had to take an urgent day off work on Friday, 30 September. He was having a blocked nose the night before that he could not have a proper sleep. Took him to Dr. Yoong at Tampines Street 32, his doctor since he was a baby, the next morning.

He skipped school with an MC for that day and I had to stay home to look after him. My wife had to open her kiosk, else risking a penalty payment if the kiosk is not opened for business.

At the doctors, he was the one talking, describing to the doctor his symptoms as I watched on. He is a confident boy and I was proud of him with the consultation that went on.

Today, his blocked nose symptom recurred just before his release from his morning session. The blocked nose caused him to have a blunt headache right in the middle of his forehead and the cause for the mild sore throat. Just as what the doctor had diagnosed earlier.

He insisted that he continue with the fasting, so I let him to sleep once we reached home. I was proud of him again for his great will to fast.

He woke up feeling much better after 3:oopm. Played a few rounds of online interactive PC games and talked online with a Singaporean gamer for a while over MSN Messenger, and went to do his homework.

Breaking fast this evening was a very different experience for me personally, as my wife is not with us to break fast together. She was on her way back from her kiosk. We set a place for her at the table while we eat dinner.

Gave him his medication - Dewndine for his blocked nose and Napan for his headache and tucked him to bed.

It has always been her and our son waiting for me to come home from work. Guess this is how is is going to be from now on for the whole of this fasting month, leading the Hari Raya Puasa or Eid Fitri.

I will make a point to leave the office latest by 5:45pm, enough time to buy dinner for all of us, while she will do the same by 6:00pm from her kiosk. Together we will try to break our fast together like we have done all these years.

We are fortunate to have Ramadan in peace amidst these terrible events that have been plaguing our neighbouring countries.

World peace to all. Hope we receive blessings from Allah in this cleansing month of Ramadan.

+ Parents | Dad's Well

2005-09-22T16:00:00.000+08:00

Father sipping tea at Bistro Delifrance at Causeway Point

Took leave off work today to accompany my Dad to SGH this morning for his 2nd follow-up checkup. It has been two months since his Colorectal Surgery to remove a tumor.

Was a tat late coming going over to my parent's place this morning, so was 8 minutes late from the appointment time of 9:05am. We registered at about 9:10am but the consultant was not in until our number 0918 was called 10 minutes before 10:00am.

The consultant Dr. Ooi, checked my dad's wound to heal nicely and statisfied with his progress. Good appetite, feels energetic and consistent bowel movements.All were good. Though not out of the woods totally yet, but he was given a good bill of health.

He checked my Dad's blood test result off of his PC, done last Saturday, 17 September '05 at Tampines Polyclinic.

The result was very good. The rating to indicate "bad" blood with tumor was 3.5 and above. My Dad's reading was only 1.7. A remarkable improvement from before the surgery that was above the bad limit.

His next appointment will be 3 months intervals instead of the monthly checks, that is to be on 15th December '05 at 9:20am.

A month early than anticipated before the intervals can be spaced out further apart from montly to three months then six monthly for a period of three years, since his blood is "clean" from cancer. Thank you Allah for this blessing.

Back to my parents' home to meet my Mom and gave her the good news. Dad looked proud of himself when I praised them of their efforts with the choices of food and eating habits.

While Mom stayed home, we went out to Causeway Point Shopping Mall. I wanted to have my hair cut and buy some groceries while Dad wanted to by the sugar free Equal for both of their uses as part of their diet.

After getting everything we needed and ready to go back, the rain poured heavily, I mean really heavily with gust of winds and all. We had no choice but to stay within the mall to wait out the rain.

We went to Bistro DeliFrance and sat down to have coffee. Dad had hot tea while I had Mocha. We talked a few about the upcoming family celebration.

My parents will be having their first ever wedding celebrations, after 53 years of marriage.

He told me that their wedding date was 9th February 1948. Yes, 53 and not 55 years of marriage as they remembered. He checked their marriage certifiate to double confirm since their grandchildren are getting a wedding cake to mark the anniversary years on it.

I just sat there and my heart said "Wow" in amazement. I hope to be as close and long-lasting as them too. I hope to have my child love us as much as we love my parents and more.

He is intending to get new dentures made, so he can now enjoy more variety of foods and Mom needs Cataracts operation done on her right eye since it is obviously looks more cloudy now. We have to set a date to do all these soon.

We left the Bistro when the rain stopped a while. He took the shuttle service 913 to Marsiling while I parted to take 168 back to Tampines Avenue 9. Good morning indeed.

+ Outings | Simply 12

2005-09-17T23:00:00.000+08:00

Elgin Bridge 3 Street Lights overlooking Financal Centre

Like the title states, my wife and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary with a simplicity. Wow! Has it been that long?

Went to one of our favourite makan spots in Circular Road for a simple meal together, just the two of us. A Malay buffet style dishes. I had my favourite Nasi Goreng Kampong while she had Fried Kuay Teow.

Savoured our food amidst a calm surrounding and then headed for the Satchi's House where she picked her handbag.

She decided for a handbag to use daily for work at her kiosk at OUB Centre. Since she already has a Satchi's Business Document Tote bag, she matches her new handbag with it.

Turned out the Satchi's House was having a special offer that day, with a further reduction which made the buy really worth.

I decided to buy her another handbag of her choice. She delightedly chose a ladies backpack style, suitable for when we go on tours.

Had a walk along the river and just talked, snapped some photos with my Sony Ericsson S700i cell phone for memory. Nice day.

+ Faith | At Ease

2005-09-16T22:00:00.000+08:00

Entrance to former workplace of 13 years

I have been working in Kallang Avenue for the past 13 years or so. The place has been like so familiar it like the back of my hand.

Every Friday, I would get time off to attend Friday Prayers at the Hajah Fatimah Mosque in Clifford Street.

With the revelation of reconsolidation of this sister company site with HQ, we had to move to Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5.

I was not particularly involved with the shifting as at the same date of moving, I was attached to our Johore Plant to transfer and set-up one of our existing project there for the span of two weeks.

I went in and out of the causeway with the exception of the two nights that I stayed at Mutiara Hotel in JB as requested by our Customer to avoid the jam for the two critical days there.

Coming back, and going to work at a new location in Ang Mo Kio, seemed awkward. Nothing is familiar, not even the desk I had for the many years was anything soothing to me. I did not feel belong, not yet I thought.

Came the many issues at work rendered me lack of time to do anything else. My routine for Friday Prayers as was at Kallang was also disrupted.

The only time of the week that I can "escape" for an hour, away from the mental stress of work and seek solace through prayers.

I had to skip a few Fridays because of urgent reports to be submitted and Customers' visits to attend to, made me quite and incomplete. My service to the company, to family and to Allah, the last one is not fulfilled yet.

Finally, one Friday morning, with some divine intervention, I met a friend who for some reason kept calling me to accompany him for the Friday Prayers.

Though in different departments, never before in all those years working in the same company did we ever go for prayers together.

Now I know where the mosque in Ang Mo Kio is situated. Al Muttaqin Mosque is right next to Central Avenue 6.

We took service bus number 268 from work to right infront of the bus interchange. Along the way, we got the opportunity to catch-up with each other.

I feel at ease and complete. And now for the trials and tribulations of daily living.

+ Outings | Circular Road

2005-09-11T08:00:00.000+08:00

Circular Road leading to Clarke Quay

Since I do not work on Saturdays, I helped out my wife with her pushcart at Raffles Place, outside OUB Centre yesterday.

Our son stayed home. He would rather play on his Xbox. The perils of online gaming to the family bonding... I think is more of nothing interesting about ladies' accessories as compared to Xbox new games that I bought him at the Comex Expo last month.

The place is almost like a ghost town on weekends since all the offices were closed. Sale was slow and kind of bad, but that known since the human traffic is few and far in between.

Opened at about 11:00am and stayed there until 1:30pm. In between I was so bored that I left her a few minutes to do some sightseeing, since I could not resist the Singapore River scenery.

Took a few pictures using my Sony Ericsson S700i phone. It was a sunny day, so the photos turned out quite well considering it is just a phone camera.

Placed the photos in my Photography - River Tranquility section. It cool and convenient what a phone can do these days.

Helped her close-up and went off to Circular Road. For the life of me, I did not know that there was a Muslim Food Stall there. It was called "Circular Road Corner Nasi Padang".

While admiring the old and the new buildings blending in a clean and kind of quite time yesterday afternoon was, I noticed an old pre-war house across the street with two gargoyles on top.

While looking I saw smoke lightly clouding my vision. I was coming from a burning charcoal for satay (a Malay version of fondue - beef or chicken meat marinated in species on skewers) barbecuing.

Noticed a Malay man sitting there at the coffee shop peeling potatoes while waiting for the fire to set. Only then I noticed the stall.

We both crossed over and to our delight the food stall had our favourite food. Nasi Goreng Kampong Style for me and Mee Soto for her.

I was thinking to myself - we have to explore Singapore more and open our eyes. There are so much to see and so many unassuming yet interesting places in some small corner, somewhere.

Sat outside near the roadside ala bistro, the afternoon sun was blocked by the buildings, making the area cool and breezy since it was so near to the river. A nice and tranquil place to be at that time.

I know that all the shops were preparing for the savvy, Saturday evening crowd since there are so many pubs and bars around this hip business district.

The food were great and cheap too. Had a relaxed time there. Would definitely be there again.

Circular Road in water-colour style

+ Outings | TomYam Paradise

2005-09-10T23:00:00.000+08:00

East Point Shopping Mall photo courtesy of Albert Lim from ArchNet

Both my wife and I love Thai food. Tom Yam Seafood Soup or Noodle is our favourite to be precise.

We can only sample those that are Halal (food prepared in accordance to the Muslim requirements), so there definitely are places with even better tasting foods, but we have narrowed the best Tom Yam Noodles to three places across the island:

1. East Point Shopping Centre.

The Banquet Food Court on 5th floor called Prawn Noodle specialising different types of noodles with many types of soups.

We like to have our Maggie-like noodles or sometimes the Chinese calls it as "egg-noodle" served "dry" in a separate bowl from the Tom Yam Seafood soup.

The soup is not as spicy as we would hope to get, but the correct amount of sour and a thinge of lemongrass is heavenly.

Since the place is the nearest to our Tampines home, it is our most frequented "port" to satisfy our tastebuds for Tom Yam any day of the week. Even the stall assistants know us as regulars to their stall.

2. Raffles Hospital.

Also a Banquet Food Court on the ground floor of the private hospital. The foodcourt is facing the dry market wholesalers' near Rochor Centre and Bugis MRT station.

Here we have to spend at least half to one hour, to slowly savour a big bowl of Tom Yam Noodle Soup. The first thing you would notice is the big while bowl.

In it would be slices and slices of beaten pan-fried eggs, and thick slices of deep-fried Ikan Kurau that has a correct hint of saltiness.

The soup is clear but spicy enough with little chops of Chili Padi, and sour enough with slices of lemongrass and two cubes of tomatoes.

3. Marine Parade Hawker Centre.

Now this has the Thai Tom Yam Noodles Soup with a strong influence of Malay spiciness that is intense, that will burn your tongue and make you cry a little.

The stall is the first in the second inner row of food stalls. It is facing the cinema. You will immediately notice the hot and spicing reddish soup, with a long uncut lemongrass in the soup.

+ Son | SunPlaza Park

2005-08-28T13:00:00.000+08:00

Was a lazy Sunday afternoon 17 July 2004. Remembered after morning task of tending to the garden, I had nothing interesting to do. So was my son. Nothing good on TV either.

He suggested going to the park instead. A good opportunity for me to practise my photo taking with my Lumix. My wife stayed behind to catch on some beauty sleep after a hard day's chores around the house.

Packed with some tit bits and a bottle of water, away we went to Sun Plaza Park at Tampines Avenue 9 on our bicycles.

There, the sun was already blocked by the clusters of flats, so it was s clear and breezy day.

Lots of kids riding bicycles and roller blades. Lots of kids with their parents and some with their nannies at the children's playground.

Lots of folks jogging on the asphalt trail, meandearing through the park.

The flowers were exceptionally blooming as if boasting and waiting specially for me to take pictures.

Once there, my son went straight to the playgound where the tight rope webbed all the way to the top of the 3 metre pole.

He went up in no time and poised to ask me take a photo of him triumptant after concuring the peak. Should be a cool view from up there. It was fun being a kid.

The park was blooming with lots of flowers, most of these were not local species, but brought in by the Parks and Recreation Board.

While taking photos I spotted a lone Tom cat resting under some bushes taking a breather under the cool shades. Sleepy eyes but it tried hard to keep virgil of a flock of birds on the ground catching insects.

I remembered that it was just like in the Kampong days, where things moved slowly, at a tranquil pace. You get to watch the entics of your pet cats. Cool afternoon indeed.

+ Parents | Stage 3

2005-08-24T20:00:00.000+08:00

Took leave off work today to accompany my Dad for consultation at SGH Clinic D with Dr. Ooi Boon Swee, the Colorectal Consultant and Surgeon.

My brother-in-law fetched him from Woodlands, while Mom stayed home. My wife and I met them at Clinic D. The appointment was at 10:05am, but we got our turn to see him at 11:10am in Room 1. Our queue number was 1009.

The review went well for my Dad's recovery as the surgery wounds have healed nicely and Dad's bowel movement were back to normal since he was discharged from hospital.

While he was laying on the examination table waiting for the Dr. Ooi to examine, I asked him the result of the biopsy done on the tumor.

It was cancer at stage 3 or T3 as it was termed. The cancer has penetrated the wall of the colon into the abdominal cavity and invaded his lymph nodes.

Treatment cannot be done to him due to his age. He is 79, the common mode of treatment was to go for chemotherapy and drugs, but Dr. Ooi figured that he would be worst off as the side effects of the treatment on his old body will make him even sicker than he is now.

No drug or suppressant to slow down or eliminate recurrence. Just let him live his life to the fullest and be healthy. Eating healthy food, avoiding especially red meat and barbecued or grilled food.

He is at his critical 3 years of a recurrence of a tumor growth. Since there is usually no symptoms, the only detection early enough is a monthly blood test to detect cancer presence in his blood.

If all is good for 3 months, the blood test will be spaced to between 6 months apart and eventually to once a year. After 5 years with no traces, he should be cured off cancer.

Half of the patient after surgical removal of the cancer will have a recurrence because there would be cancer cells still present that are too small to be detected, and those that are outside the colon walls where no test are currently available.

Survival rate of Stage 3 Cancer patients with no treatment given is about 60% who survived to 5 years and beyond. Many patients have lived beyond 5 years.

Dad and Mom are not being told of Dad's condition. We as their children have decided to spare them the anxiety and burden if they knew, but to focus on living their lives with us to the fullest.

We will be there every step of the way and make their lives both meaningful and happy as humanly possible, as the time has way passed for us to take care of them.

We will be with you Dad and Mom, all the way! You can count on your children, guaranteed! We love you Dad and Mom.

May Allah bless you both for the wonderful things you have given to us and the sacrifices that you have made for us.

+ Mars | 2 Years Late

2005-08-24T07:00:00.000+08:00

Man! I am 2 years late!

What I read in the NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab website was indeed true that the Planet Mars being closest to earth was in 27 August 2003! But I kept hoping that the email was right.

The email I received from a friend was a mistake made by someone who forwarded the email thinking it was this year.

I guess the date 27 August was enough to excite him to spread the news excerpt since it did not contain the year within the article.

It got me excited too when I read it. It got my son all excited to fix his telescope to view it up close. It got both of us ventured into the night "stalking" at the night sky to catch a glimpse of Mars since it would have been as big and as bright as the moon.

After several nights, I decided to SMS him for more details as he was checking with his Astronomy Club Pesident-cousin when we talked a week before.

He replied an email to me today confirming of the mistake. Man!

How on earth did I missed the once in a human-of-this-lifetime phenomenon past me unnoticed? It must have been big in the newspapers and media, and maybe the TV news before and after it.

How on earth was I so oblivious of the whole event? How come no one at work or family members not talked about it? Was there actually coverage on this in Singapore?

What a wasted opportunity for me as a human to witness one of God's greatest wonders! My son will be very disappointed when I break this news to him tonight.

Now, our best sources of information and pictures would be NASA's JPL and Hubble Site websites.

Anyway, the positive side of it was that I get to spend some time alone with my son sharing same interest, and got excited with the same things. Cool!

+ Mars | Third Watch

2005-08-23T23:59:00.000+08:00

For the 3rd straight night, my son had been bugging me to check the night skies for the elusive Planet Mars that was stated to be visible to the naked eye as being as big and as bright as the moon since it was supposedly closest to earth this August month.

He made me promise to wake him up if I spot the "second moon" for him to also witness this phenomenon as "no other human being in this live time will ever see it again." My wife wants to see it too.

For the past few nights, since I did not have any luck spotting it, my son thought that I was not actually standing guard for star gazing in his place since it will always be past his bedtime for him to do so.

Tonight I made sure I have proof that I did stand guard in my effort to spot Mars. I took pictures of the moon that rose behind the blocks of flats and the Poi Ching Primary School nearing almost midnight.

The sky was cloudy, but the moon was kind enough to show itself for the photograph.

And yes! I discovered another function of my digital camera using instead of the usual, no-fuss auto-focus setting to select A/S/M dial as manual and Exposure to ISO 400.

The results were stunning to me. Though a little shake is still evident from the photos, the night condition was transformed into bright surrounding.

A little grainy, but so impressed with the camera's function that I never gave time to read the manual to learn since I bought it.

Well son, these are the photos of the moon, but no Mars for now. We will have to keep virgil till Saturday, 27 August 2005 when Mars should be at its biggest and brightest as mentioned in the email.

Good luck to us the next round!

+ Mars | Star Gazing

2005-08-22T20:00:00.000+08:00

Well, all set-up and ready to go star gazing. Planet Mars gazing to be exact.

That was what my son and I did yesterday, 21 August 2005 Sunday night at 8:30pm.

At first we went to an open field beside Pinevale Executive Condominium at the cross roads between Tampines Street 71 and Street 73.

The night sky was pretty bad for star gazing. It was very cloudy. The stars went in and out of sight blocked by the passing clouds. After a few minutes there, with high hope, my son had the best idea ever.

He suggested that we went up to Block 703A roof top of the 5-storey carpark. Brilliant idea!

More height and open space away from the passer's-by curious stares at what we were doing. Perfect!

Ashamed to admit, but I have lived in Tampines Courtview for almost 10 years, and yet yesterday was my first time up on the top floor of the carpark. Guess it was simply because I do not own a car.

Yet it gave me a new perspecive view of the whole neighbourhood from up there. I felt re-introduced to the surrounding area all over again.

At the far distance I could see the new factory FPLD, manufacturing LCD screens, and the almost-complete Civil Defence Building alongside Tampines Avenue 10, just across the open field we were before.

At the back were the block of flats 730 and 731. Just hope the neighbours did not get any misunderstood feelings the they were being watched instead.

Towards the right was Street 71 where Pinevale Executive Condo, block 737 to 742 forming Tampines Greenvale precint.

We set the telescope up on the roof and aimed at the first bright spot we saw in the night sky.

Not many could be seen though. Only 3 dots in the sky with the moon nowhere to be found.

We had no idea the bearing to which Mars would appear in the sky, though we knew that it should be a little later into the night.

Still it would be interesting to view a star throught the telescope.

While waiting for the sky to clear, my son started talking about another family he saw came up there a few months back having some kind of a rooftop-carpark picnic.

The family of 4 had two telescopes, sitting at the centre of the carpark on a mat with a picnic basket. He thought it was "cool" family time they had.

It sounded "cool" to me too. That family made the best out of their surrounding other people take for granted and never even thought about. Doing something together as a family is always worth it. An intangible bond.

After about half an hour on the rooftop, we decided to call it a night. It was almost my son's time for bed. He had to wake up bright and early for school tomorrow.

Did not turn out as we expected, but a nice time with him sharing the same interest up the rooftop. Well, hope it will be good condition tonight.

+ Mars | Second Moon

2005-08-20T11:00:00.000+08:00

Have always been intriqued with the night sky since my childhood.

Lived in a village sandwiched between a rubber and coconut plantation. The sky as I remembered was very clear and bright at night, except for the scheduled loud noise made by the commercial airplanes landing at the Paya Lebar Airport.

Yes, all that tranquility marred by the noise polutions from the airplanes flying past the village which was very close to the airport. The airport soon moved to a much larger location in Changi, well reknowned today as Changi International Airport, a few years after the whole villagers moved to the Tampines.

Would sit in front of my house outside the verandah with friends talking about nothings and stare at the night sky. I would dream of being a cosmonaut with space station and rockets docked very right above my home.

Would always see shooting stars and dreamt of alien spaceships hovering over earth, mimicking one of the many bright dots in the night sky.

In those recurring dreams, those dots would suddenly move from its position in the sky to another strategic location and stop.

Some would move slowly like in convoys and dissappear from the sky. All these were oblivious to us except me, but could never explain to anyone, as no one would believe me.

Wonder what brought about those dreams and what actually my subconscious mind was telling me. Until today, I have yet to find and answer.

I am not sure if I will start to have those types of dreams again when I receive an email from my friend David, stating that Planet Mars will be closest to earth this August month in 2005.

This news gets me all excited again about the cosmos and would not miss to witness it, since it is a once in a life time phenomenon. The next one would be in year 2287. My dusty remains would have already disintegrated by then.

Sharing my excitement is my son. He brought out the telescope I bought him last year from the store and started to assemble it again.

This time he assembled it all by himself without a manual. He figured which part goes to where first time right. Bright boy, independent and resourceful. Proud of him.

We are going to watch the night skies starting tonight, though it is not as promising we will see anything since it has been cloudy and rained for the past few days. The forest fires raging in Sumatra Indonesia may also get the skies hazy.

Nonetheless, will try to get a view and take photos of the "Two Moons" if they do occur to be seen from where we are.

Anyway, below is the email excerpt I received with exact details of the phenomenon. I guess it would have originated from NASA's site, though the info in that website mentioned that the closest both planets got was in year 2003.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.

The Red Planet (MARS) is about to be spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.

The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky.

It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide.

By August 27, Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot.

At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m.

That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressivelybrighter and brighter throughout the month.

More info from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Click logo below.

+ Parents | Dad's Home!

2005-08-10T23:00:00.000+08:00

Received a call on my cellphone quite early in the morning. It was barely passed 9:00am and I was busy at work.

Heard a frail yet happy voice at the other end of the call. I was my Dad telling me that the house doctor who checked on him in his morning round informed him that he was well enough to be discharged.

Dad's going home!

He could not wait to tell me more. He had a good and long walk around the wards' corridor before he was told of the good news. I think I felt as happy as he was when I received the news from him.

Applied for an afternoon day off and counted the hours to noon, could not wait to fetch him home to Mom. She would be so pleased.
Reached the hospital about 15 minutes by taxi from AMK where my office is. Saw him happy talking, panting a little, but happily talking to the other patient, Mr Omar who has a very bad case of gout attacks and was hospitalized for more than 3 weeks.

When he saw me entering, he seemed proud introducing me to Mr. Omar.

With zest, I admit I packed his belongings from his bed No. 3 locker and drawer, and dashed to the Nurse's Station. There they were expecting me and preparing for the paperwork for his discharge.

Dad changed to his own clothing. Off with the sad-looking light blue pajamas! His face lit. I was excited for him inside.

The staff nurse came in first and took the canular or "plug" they call it, off his frail right arm. She was cheering him on, saying that he was a strong-willed person to quickly recover from a major operation. They were thrilled for him as well.

He was full of smiles and expressed his gratitude numerous times to her and the other nurses who greeted him when they came in and out of the room.

The nurses were telling me that Dad was the most pleasant patient with hardly no complaints of any kind. He did not give them any difficulty or problems at all. He was one of their favourite patient.

Then again, they may say this to all patient that was going to be discharged, but this time I truely believe them. Dad is so obliging and has high tolerance for anything.

My brother-in-law fetched us and drove us to our parents' home. Greeted by my youngest sister and my niece at the void deck with a Mom's wheelchair.

Mom greeted Dad at the doorstep of their home. Her face showed her happiness that Dad's home. The home is again complete. I can only guess how much happiness both of them were feeling at that very moment. They have been together, never separated, for almost 55 years.

Dad smiled quietly sitting in the living room, and with Mom's cane, he went straight to his favourite place, his Garden. There, his Hibiscus welcomed him home with big bright yellow flowers blooming and swaying in the wind. He sat there for more than 10 minutes. That corner of the home always brings him relief and gives him tranquility.

He went to the kitchen, his other favourite spot, he missed doing chores in his kitchen too.

All that excitement made him tired. He retreated to his bedroom a nap. I could see his calm face as he shut his eyes from the dining table where I was sitting with my sister and niece.

After some coaching Mom on the medicines for him to take in the mornings and evenings, we left. Felt sad and helpless not able to stay longer, or stay with them to help out around the house.

Mom bid farewell. I could see her face saddened, but definitely relieved that much of the unpleasant things have passed the family by, and Dad was finally home.

We love both of you, Mom and Dad!

+ Parents | Dad's Getting Better

2005-08-09T13:00:00.000+08:00

Its National Day today. Singapore celebrates 40th year of independence. The whole nation is in joyous mood.

One part of me to celebrate with it too, to attend the first off location fireworks right out my doorstep in Tampines, another was moody and sad right a the back of my mind with what is going on with Dad and his condition.

I received a call on my cellphone in the moring. The programmed number I did was for SGH Dr. Ooi. I was shocked and anxious about what the news is about to unfold on the other side of the call. It was Dad! Alhamdullilah!

Frail sounding, yet with a tinge of happiness in his voice, he told me that he was served warm Mila drink for breakfast. That was good news.

He told that his IV drips has been taken off him. He is now free off any tubes. That was even more good news! Alhamdullilah!

This eposide has opened my Dad emotionally. He seems no longer afraid to show his affection. He has started to make calls personnally to almost everyone in the family with the phone list I wrote to him in bold letters and numbers of the whole family.

Had a good breakfast this morning and got to clear up some emails from work till about noon, rearring to go to see Dad.

I received another call from Dad. This time he was given lunch - porriage and a drink since he did not vomit out the Milo drink he was given in the morning. That was a very good sign of him recovering. That was a very good news to me, personally.

A speedy recovery for Dad, Insha'allah. Guess now he is calling the rest of his children breaing that good news.

I am proud of him. His determination, his high tolerance for pain, his patience with not a squeek of complaint out from him. All was left to Allah for His mercy to bring him back to health.

I am coming to see you Dad! I am celebrating two things simultaneously after all.

+ Parents | Turning Point

2005-08-05T00:00:00.000+08:00

As per normal, had another visit to the hospital on Thursday afternoon, 04 Aug 05 after work in AMK.

Was surprised to see Dad with all the IV and a tube in his left nosril with dark green liquid in it.

My eldest brother was alreay there by his bedside. Dad was half asleep. My brother was watching the overhang TV quitely. Seemed to know someones approaching him, Dad opened his eyes and I saw his welcoming face upon seeing me.

Gasping slightly and with faint words, he told me he had pains in his stomach that morning. It was bloating and felt hardened.

Dr. Ooi noticed that when he came to check Dad in his daily morning rounds. He immediately instructed Dad be stopped from any liquid intake by mouth and the rass tube be inserted to pump the accumulated liquid out of his stomach. "Nil by mouth" again.

Dad had a relapse.

His condition was progressing well after he got out of the HD ward. From "Nil by mouth" instruction, he was given sips of plain water a few days later. Then he proceeded to have some warm Milo drink for his empty stomach.

He had one in the morning and another in the evening. All was well until that morning. His stomach was distended. Everyone seemed to notice that Dad's stomach seemed a little bloated than when he first came out after surgery, but no one said anything since Dad had never complained of anything he felt abnormal.

Than again, that was Dad, always hiding his condition with his high tolerance with pain.

Back were tubes for urine and another in anticipation for him to pass motion and that rass tube from his nose to his stomach. A cold patch on his forehead due to fever.

Noticed he was weaker that evening from the past few days. Was a sad sight. More nights of close virgil and anxiousness.

The whole family turned-up, giving prayers for him to get well soon.

Got a hold of the Dr. Ooi's assistant. Did not get his name though. He told us that Dad stomach stopped functioning totally. The situation was not common, and then again, not rare either. I do not know what to make out of it then.

The rass tube had to be inserted to pump the liquid out of his stomach periodically and the amount pumped out was being monitored. The positive progression would be that the amount gradually be lesser than the one before. That would signify the stomach to start functioning again.

A breakthrough would be when he passed motion. For now, the rass tube will be there about 3 days to week depending on how he pulled through.

If his condition deteriorated, he would then have his food inserted through the veins in his chest to his heart. The special food would be of broken-up enzymes since the stomach could not process to break down the food for his body.

The body cannot survive on the Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride and Glucose drips alone.

Come-on Dad, be strong! Ask Allah for the strength to pull through and rid you off this sickness.

+ Parents | Dad's Recovering

2005-08-04T01:00:00.000+08:00

The visiting doctor told us the operation would roughly lasted about 2 hours, but it had been 3 hours since he was in there at 7:00pm. That was the longest 3 hours for everyone.

Dr. Ooi finally called my cellphone to inform that the surgery went well with no complications. He was pleased with my Dad's upper large intestine, though swollen, but no need to remove it all. No other tumors. He needed only to remove the affected area as with senario 1. No bag tube needed to temporarily be inserted to his small intestine.

We were relieved and waited at the OT entrance anxiously for his return. It somehow took another 2 hours and 30 minutes more before he was wisked out from the OT to HD - High Dependency ward for close observation for a few days.

He was sent to Ward 47. There he stayed for 3 days instead of the predicted 2. Hooked-up to the IV and rectal tubes for his urine and bowel movements. He was asleep most of the time, barely awake once in a while. We kept virgil at his bedside.

That Sunday, 31 Jul 05 afternoon, there were so many relatives visited him at once, it was like sending and receiving pilgrims at Changi Airport. My Dad has so many relatives, so no surprise the whole waiting area in Ward 47 was flooded with our relatives.

I received a call from the Senior Staff Nurse Ms Manisah, that Dad's condition had stabilised and he was to be transferred back to his normal Ward 78 Room 12 - a B1 Class, 4-bedded room.

Told everyone about it with relief. The critical part was over. Dad was on the road to recovery. We thank Allah for his blessings.

+ Parents | Dad's Warded

2005-08-03T14:00:00.000+08:00

With his frail and in pain condition, I explained to him about the tumor, minus the cancer details to avoid unnecessary stress to him, and the operation that he had to undergo to remove it.

He replied to get it out as quickly as possible to rid him of this constant pain. Was a brave front he displayed, knowing he hated hospitals. I guessed the pain as indeed acute for him to say that.

I announced the findings to all the family members via SMS. We waited until he was admitted and sent to Ward 78 Room 2. There family started responding immediately and come in droves to the hospital.

In the ward we congregated while Dad was being prepped for the operation, that was to take place at 6:00pm that evening.

There, with everyone present, he got everyone's attention for an announcement. The room came to a silent. God Willing, he said, once he recovered from the operation, he would want to have a family gathering to celebrate his and Mom's 55th wedding anniversary together and whole a special prayer for all our deceased to Allah for His blessings.

Quite a shock to me, as if he was acting out of character. He never cared much for such occasions before, and we never held that either. Coming from him was very new to us. Nonetheless, that was a good suggestion and so over due.

Though that was that, then he said another thing that shocked me especially. He announced that he wanted my name to be included in this finances, third after Mom's. He wishes to entrust his monies to me to take care of them.

Everyone replied that, that was a good move and supported his decision. I obliged. I have yet to digest all that has been going on, and now this responsibility. I will definitely protect their interest.

Shortly before 6:30pm, he was whisked away to the OT. Everyone followed until before the entrance where we bid him to be strong and that we would be waiting for him there.

Everyone was emotional. My Mom felt the hardest and I was taken in as well with teary eyes, but I chose to avoid being seen. Why is that?

+ Parents | Colonoscopy Results

2005-08-02T02:00:00.000+08:00

We came the next day at 9:00am instead because my Dad was still in so much pain that night to A&E, but my Dad's pain subsided by then, so we stuck to the appointment.

Registered at the Endoscopy Centre and waited for his turn at 11:25am. He went in as scheduled until about 2:00pm. My youngest brother and brother-in-law went for Friday prayers, I stayed back with their wifes.

Fellow surgen Dr. Ho from the Colorectal Department as with Dr. Ooi, came to inform us of the outcome of the check done by Dr. Ooi himself. My father had Colorectal Cancer right at the end of his big intestine, just before the rectum.

The cancer tumor photo taken from the Colonoscopy was quite shocking. The camera could not pass through the small hole left because the tumor had grown big enough to close the passage. That condition had to be there and growing to that size for more than 6 months as explained by Dr. Ho.

That explained his incontinence. He had to go to the toilet immediately every time he eat or drank. The condition was obvious while we were touring Sawarak together a few weeks before.

The food he eat did not pass through, instead it stuck in his large intestine the whole time. Only fluid could pass through the tiny hole that was left blocked by the tumor.

He kept silent about it all that time, saying his bowel movements were normal everyday, but failed to inform us of the liquid instead of normal stool every time he went.

I guess, it is for fear of being warded or just in denial of something terribly wrong with his health. That did not do him any good, nor to any of us either.

I was in shock and in disbelief. Never thought something like this could happen to us. Guess this is a cliched reaction to anyone.

Colon cancer is hereditary which puts us at risk too, but that will be another chapter in our life's story, another time and another place, but for now, I have to deal with what is next for my Dad.

Dr. Ho explained that due to the total blockage, Dad's large intestine was distended and swollen. Would not know if there were any more tumors in it until they operated him.

Dr. Ho explained that my Dad had 3 senarios how the operation would go, depending on what the surgen found:

One was to immediately operate and remove the portion of the large intestine where the tumor was and joined the two ends back.
Second was as with the first one, but if he is too weak, a small tube be inserted at the end of his small instestine to drain the food he eat to bypass the large intestine, so as to allow the large intestine to rest for the swell and sutures to heal. The tube would be connected to a Stoma Bag outside the body.
Third, as last resort will have to remove about 60% to 70% of his large intestine if it proved to be in bad shape or raptured in any way.

Senarios 1 and 2 would not affect his bowel movements at all when he recovered, but the third one would make him go 4 to 5 times a day. The inconvenience was the least to worry. At his age, the journey to and from the tiolet would pose danger, as he may slip and fall. Another was the fact that the rectum muscles would be too weak with the constant bowel movement due to old age.

Dr. Ho suggested that they were carrying out a study on total blockage cases such as my Dad's. The clinical trial was that a stent be inserted into his large intestine where the tumor is to open up the blocked passage to let all the solids out and wait out for swell to subside. That would take two weeks. Afterwhich, he would have to come back again to remove the tumor.

The 3 senarios could only then be decided during the operation. The purpose was to eliminate the third senario. SGH had done 9 such trails so far with 100% success rate. In Spain such procedures were done to more than 90 patients with very good success rate too.

We decided to have the trial, but unfortunately did not get the chance as the random picked envelope came out as normal operation. The study had the random picking to eliminate biasness of subjects' conditions for the study to prove as successful, rather than picking on those they thought might be a sure success.

Dad had to be operated on immediately.

+ Parents | What's Wrong Dad?

2005-08-01T02:00:00.000+08:00

Had a call from Mom on Saturday night, 23-Jul-05. She was very concern with Dad as she noticed he was not himself the last few days.

He was normally always in the Garden, or at the kitchen doing chores or looking to do one. He could never kept still, always something to do around the house.

Lately she noticed that he was always resting, not watering the plants outside and care little about their Parrot Fish they care dearly. She came to know when she saw him rubbing ointment onto his stomach and his expression of pain. This kept going on for a couple of days until she called me that night.

I offered to take him to their doctor, Oxford Clinic in Pasir Ris, or even just the doctor downstairs in their block, but Dad just declined saying it was just gas or some heartburn. Self medication should just be fine, he said. My persuasion did not get through that day.

Mom called me to inform that Dad had the worst pain Sunday night. With some family contacts here and there, my youngest sister and her hubby in Woodlands rushed them to the clinic below joined by my 2nd eldest sister with her hubby at their home.

The GP diagnosed him as having too much air in his stomach. Prescribed him something to ease his stomach distension. Two days passed and the pain did go away. Phycologically I think Dad thought the pain eased because of the medication, but on Thursday night, the pain was the even worst.

Dad waited the night in excruciating pain instead of telling his children immediately. Mom called me and was crying of fear something really bad was happening to him.

I was about to leave the house for work in JB, but fortunately she got me in time before I went passed the immigration. It will be a hassle to get back once I was across the causeway. Took urgent leave that day and rushed him to A&E. Fortunately though, my brother-in-law who lives in Ponggol fetched him and went off the SGH.

We met at SGH Outpatient Clinic at about 9am. They then referred us to A&E instead. The A&E doctor attended to my Dad with a series of tests - Blood, Urine and X-ray after some physical examinations. All looked good, but because he was in pain and his age, the doctor referred him to the Colorectal Consultant at Clinic D.

At 2pm the same day, we registered and Doctor Ooi Boon Swee attended to him. After examination, he could not find anything wrong outrightly, so he recommended that my Dad go for Colonoscopy to see if anything is blocked by hardened feces or a tumor growth in his big intestine.

We had to come back for the check the next day, Sat 30-Jul-05 at 11:25am. He had to fast after 6:oopm and took two packs of laxatives to clear whatever food off his stomach.

Hope nothing was serious, but Dad should know best how he was feeling. We had to wait out till the next day.

+ Birthdays | Cakes & Wishes

2005-07-10T20:00:00.000+08:00

Celebrated my 39th Birthday this year 2005.

Had a quiet one with my wife and son at home. They gave me a surprise birthday cake after dinner.

My wife came out from the kitchen holding a birthday cake with my son trailing behind her, both singing to me a Happy Birthday song.

My son had with him a gift for me. This year he did something extra special for his Dad.

He hand-made a trophy from blocks of wood he searched and found. Painted them with bright and cheerful green, orange and red poster colours, and glued them together to resemble a trophy.

On it he wrote "This is to the best Dad in the whole world, Ayah" in black marker. He pasted a piece of paper with "Ayah's Excellent Award" on top of it, like its on a pedestal.

A creative work that is original to show his love for me. I am touched by his efforts.

My wife gave me a battery operated Braun Traveler's Shaver for my birthday gift. It was exactly what I needed since my last electric shaver broke down, and I had to use the razor that I hated every morning.

The birthday cake was indeed a good sweet desert for 3 of us. Life is sweet, Life is good. My love to my wife and son.

+ Welcome | My Oyster

2005-07-06T12:00:00.000+08:00

Everybody has their ups and downs going through life. Happy moments, sadness, fearful encounters and maybe even mysterious ones at times.

To me life is full of opportunities to try new things, make the best of what I have and try to enjoy going through life in moderation.

May not be as easy as it sounds, once in a while I may get side-tracked with petty annoyances, and become very depressed or even vindictive at times, but I am learning understand what is really important and need focus while let the petty ones slide by.

Now I have my family who shares the same belief and we are going through our live together thick and thin united, stronger and closer with every obstacle we get through together.

My family is my oyster. I go throught this journey in the sea of life together with them, and with it comes splashes of precious moments amist the changing tides. Here, I keep them for our posterity.