2009 in review through Youtube!!!

Found this nice video reviewing 2009,

Happy New Year 2009 to all readers. May you be bless with good health and good fortune in the double digit year of 10. May all career man and women promote up the rat race league to a much comfortable payslip although we are all aware that the hierarchy of any company is that of a pyramid and even the best might have to stay at the same rat race league.

For 2010, my goal is to focus on Education. First and foremost will be my part time degree studies. Been getting very good results of As and Bs for year one and I'm not gonna let up on the momentum or allow anything to step in my way in pursue of a higher qualification. Its time to move up the rat race league.

Second, I aim to obtain full SAR66 qualification within 2010. Out of 13 papers, I had cleared 9 and there is 4 more to go. 3 regular MCQ exam and 1 Essay paper. Thank you to Encik "Durian" for all the help with my exam preparation. I own you one.

Finally, I want to recover my leg fracture ASAP and be in good condition to do 2 diving trip this year. Palm is planning a Sipadan Diving trip and I'll most likely revisit Pulau Aur or Tioman again once I recover. Time to bring those fins, mask and wetsuit out of the closet and into the deep blue sea! I really miss Diving.... if not for the fracuture, I would be doing at less a dive trip in Jan 2010.

Thats all the big plans for the New Year 2010. Nothing much to say about career at the moment but a switch is inevitable. I will be back to work next week but how I wish I was in a different career on Work Day 1 of 2010... :).

The road to recovery

Its been almost 3 weeks since the fateful day I had a small operation to surgically implant some metal and screws to hold my bones in place. So far things are looking promising. I am walking better as days goes by and the post ops swelling had more or less subsided. There are still some residual swelling on my ankle region which could be the reason I am still looking slightly awkward when I walk. Of course running, jogging and jumping is out of the question in case I risk buckling the metal implants. Climbing the stair is still a slight challenge though and I definately got to use the hand rail.

Judging the condition so far and comparing right to the left, my right ankle still felt stiff and had not totally restore all freedom of movement. Ankle rotation is still a challenge although I am able to push my foot forward and backward well which helps hell alot with the walking. Been taught by Missy to do some exercise to the foot which will ensure speedy recovery.

Will be heading to TTSH once more after the New Year for the Orthopedic Doc to check how well my bone are healing followed by Physiotherapy session tha.

Few days ago, I headed to Yishun Polyclinic to have the 11 sutures removed. The sutures are no longer required since the surgical wound had healed substantially. What the nurse got to do is to cut each individual loop and pull the sutures out from beneath the healed skin. I can really felt the small little sutures moving beneath my skin and had to experience that sensation for 11 time. A bit of ant prick pain here and there but overall nothing too much to endure. The follow pictures show how my stitches looks like 1 week before its remove and how it look like now. Those brown stuff and regular blood clot necessary to stop bleeding and promote healing.

Fresh from the slaughter house.

Dried and BBQed. Ready to be serve....to the nation.

Oh! Just learn that I won prize from a "caption" contest courtesy of Dive Junkie! The winner was announce via Facebook on 21st November but I only recently check my Facebook's Inbox and learn about winning it. Prize was almost given away to someone else but thanks to Jasmine (from Dive Junkie) for holding on for me. YEAH!!! Time to claim the prize!

Cold hard metal to the bone

Went back to Hospital for followup check today and got myself some goodies...

1 metal plate and 8 screws, huat ah!!!

I am confident they fitted high quality metal and screws to my bones, preferbly Titanium Super Alloy. Those screw sure looks like those I fit on the aircraft or brought from the local hardware store. Glad to know that its not those long screw that go through the Fibula (small leg bone) to the Tibia (big leg bone). I always thought the they had fit the screws this way...



Little did I realize that metal implants for bones looks nothing like science fiction, it just regular plain old screws. I'm sure it makes lots of sound when its drilled through the bones.

Still felt dull pain coming from the broken bone area. Doc told me that its normal to still felt the pain and it should get better as the bone and muscle heals. Apparently, the surgeon had to cut through some muscles and internal flesh to reach the bones and that, according to doc, explain the pain I'm still having.

Still walk funny though and its an unavoidable posture that attracts a certain among of attention from others, especially children who find it interesting (or weird) that human being walk this funny way.

The 35 years old kidnapped victim and his 369 years old wife.

How a typo and math error on Lian He Wan Bao makes an International kidnap case amusing...



Thats a huge generation gap to be married...

POD +6, Post Operation Day 6.

Feeling really good today as I did not rely on crutches to walk around the house for the whole day. Its tiring on my recovering left leg to walk for prolong period of time, it felt like 4 time the effort and energy just to walk but it sure is satisfying to know I can be on my own feet now. Still a long way to go before I can walk like an adult instead of an old man so nutrition, light walking exercise around the house and rest is still the priority. Oh...I'm starting to drive now thanks to the smaller wound dressings on my leg. My road power is back hooray!!! Driving round the neighborhood to the Polyclinic for wound redressing. My right leg felt so different...

Two Syndesmotic screw, that all that is holding, aligning and stabilizing the fracture fibula bones. Its a weird feeling, I can constantly felt its presence in my leg. Felt like some hard object pushing against my muscles which is definitely not my bone since I am accustomed to bone sensation for the past 28 years of Earth existence. The Orthopedic doc told me that the Syndesmotic screw will stay in my leg permanantly, will be with me for the rest of my life unless I lost the limb. Checking out on the Internet however reveal that some victims got the screw taken out after 6 months post surgery. Keeping my finger cross for any outcomes.

While browsing the webby to know more about my current situation and how I could better self-physiotherapy myself back to normal life, I came across this website where people with broken leg gathers and share their stories and knowledge in cast or in screws. Think its pretty informative especially for first-timer (bone breaker) who got much fear, doubts and mystery in their mind surrounding their broken bones. Trust me, you question your condition no matter how good the medical care was. Think a good page to start on will the the FAQ section of the website.

MyBrokenLeg.com

Surgery stitches are healing well and I will be removing my stitches right after Christmas. Yet another bodily experience to go through, pulling threads out of the flesh.

Wound dressing over the stitches. The swelling on the ankle had subsided thanks to massage and Hirudoid cream. Glad my leg hair survived under the casts.

POD +2 , Post Operation Day plus 2

The general anesthesia should had worn off completely by now. My appetite for food is good, I don't feel nausea and tired and I got the mood and energy to pen down my experience two days after the operation.

Anxiety, anticipation and a bit of scary cat feeling. That was how I felt on Friday, the day I am schedule for surgery to implant metal plates and screws to my right ankle. I am looking forward to the surgery because with those metal implants, I will be able to get back on my feet within weeks instead of months. I am already feeling uncomfortable in the cast for 2 weeks and god knows how it will feel to be prisoner of cast for another 2 months. The prospect of been able to walk,drive and at less enjoy the outdoor air and scenery plus enjoying the holiday season with my dear friends and family, this are all the positive thoughts weighing against the little scary cat feeling I had for the surgery.

Its not the surgical knife, the operating theater and the looks of unknown masked man and women of the team that scares me. What I had apprehension on was this "Intravenous Catheter Insertion Device" popularly known as "plug" that is inserted to my left hand with a long thin plastic tube extending into one of my veins. Although I faces bigger needles before from the few occasion of blood donation, the thought of anything stuck into my body give me the creep. Adding to the fear was "Missy" story of some nurse having to poke in and out a few times before getting it correctly "plug in". Describing the procedures now thus give me a creep. First the Anesthetist will wipe alcohol to the insertion area. Next an injection of local anesthetic to the insertion area, this slightly swells up the vein. Finally the "Plug" is inserted with the aid of a access needle within the tiny tube. Once successfully inserted into the veins, the needle is withdraw and the flexible tube stays in the vein. The "plug" is now successfully installed, ready to take in any medication, nutrients, chemical and even potent poisons.

Now I can eat and drink through a tube on my hand.

It isn't painful at all but it isn't comfortable having something foreign stuck to the body. At less the Anesthetist and nurse tries to calm my anxiety by explaining to me whats going on and assuring me its nothing compared to blood donation. That little green plug on top of the "Plug" can be open up and injection of drugs can be administered. The transparent plastic protrusion is where the usual electrolyte drip is supplied through via a long plastic tube.

So now my greatest fear of the surgery was conquered and I'm just lying down waiting for my turn at the operating theater. In fact I am just lying outside the operating theater, occasionally the door swings open and I could hear the sound of grinding and drilling. The surgery was schedule for 11am however I was move down the queue to allow an old lady with hip fracture to have her surgery done first. Ended up moving into the operating theater at 2pm instead. Guess the surgical team realize my long weight for one of the guy came out and thank me for waiting and allow old granny to be operated first, even telling me that he will let old granny know I gave up the Q for her and if she got any grand daughter to introduce to me. Well I guess that was a joke by the surgeon for I didn't hear from any grand daughter this 2 days :).

Dr Anand Pillai, and his team will be operating on my right ankle. He is really burly and hairy with overgrown chest hair that could anytime burst out of his surgical gown. He came out of the operating theater to check on me and flip through a couple of document. We spoke a moment and was ask the usual question that was ask a dozen times by other medical staff , Name, IC, Drug Allergy. Its a dozen confirmation of the same old thing but its necessary. Dr Anand took out his pen and drew a huge arrow on my leg while making a rather nasty joke " Better mark out the correct leg so we won't cut off the wrong one later on." Somehow that little joke makes me relax a little.

Pushed into the operating theater and I am now looking at 3 huge lighting device on the low ceiling, it looks like 3 UFO hovering above me...threatening an alien abduction. The surgical team in mask and gown were walking around doing the preparation The Anestheist and one member of the team stood beside me and ask the usual question again... name and IC number. Next thing I notice was a syringe filled with white colored liquid plugged on top of the "Plug" on my right hand. The oxygen mask was place over my mouth and I suddenly felt a very cold sensation going through my left hand. I remebered clearly the last word I said " Eh!? Quite cold huh?".

I open my eyes and felt like a drunk man. I saw two nurses looking at me. I was totallly lost and confused untill one of them told me the surgery is over and I am at the recovery ward. Looks like I had went into to deep sleep for the 2 hour surgery but there was no dream, no feeling and not even a sense that I was asleep. I still remember the cold sensation going through my left hand and remembered opening up my eyes in this recovery ward, everything in between was a blank. It felt like the surgery finish at a blink of an eye. Very weird and very confusing. Spend the next 1 hour in the recovery ward trying the orientate myself and also drinking plenty of water because I was so thirsty. I looked down at my leg and no longer see a cast but bandages and dressing all around my right ankle region. The surgery is all over and Dr Anand thankfully did not materialize his joke of cutting the wrong leg.

Later on in the day, I was transfered to the ambulatory surgical ward, AS23, where I spend the rest of the days on IV Drip, antibiotics and painkillers. The whole evening feeling tired, had small appetite for food and was blur blur. Although it was only a 1 night stay at the ward, my thoughful friends visited. Missy came before her night shift work together with Corin who is on off day. Eddie walked to TTSH from his office at Revenue House to check me out. Palm and Joa drop by after their work with Subway sandwich and gift of Fish Essesnce drinks they brought from Eu Yang Sheng. Thank you thank you. I am blessed with your visits.

Discharged the next morning with the help of dad and Missy who came straight down to TTSH after her overnight work at NUH. Although the metal implants allows me to but my right feet on the ground again, I was advise to slowly transit from no weight, to partial weight and finally full weight over the next 2 weeks. The stitches are still fresh and the incision wounds are still at an early stage of healing. I'll still be on crutches for the next few days to put pressure off the feet for the time being and I expect myself to start walking before Christmas. Talking about Christmas, My dear bro Alfred and his Wife April will be holding a Christmas eve gathering...can't wait to meet up with the rest. Alfred and April visited me at home after I discharged from hospital. Its good the see the couple coping well with the their soon to arrive baby girl. April tummy had grown significantly and her chatter about their baby girl shows just how much she anticipate her birth. Hahaha....they brought me Essensce of Fish with Ginseng from Polleney! Now I had so much Essesnse of Fish that I am very sure the surgical wound and stitch will see a super speedy recovery before the holiday period. :)

In the meantime, lots of rest and nutrition for the next few days. Looking forward to changing of wound dressing on Monday and removal of stitch 1 day after Christmas.

Casted: Day 7 - Wearing proper shoes

When you are running, wear running shoes
When you are playing field soccer, wear soccer boots
When you are playing tennis, wear tennis shoes
When you are playing badminton, wear badminton shoes
When you are swimming, don't wear shoes.

This is to prevent you from getting injured. :)

Casted: Day 5

Headed down to the Orthopedic Clinic at TTSH for the followup consultation on the fractured bone. Dr Henry recommended that I should undergo surgery to place metal implants to align and aid with the bone healing. The cool thing about the metal implant is that I no longer got to keep the heavy plaster cast on after the surgery. This mean no more plastic bags around my leg during shower and thus I'll be able to move my ankle which is important for driving. However, the metal are there to support, not to bear weight thus crutches are still needed for the rest of the healing weeks or months.

Hmm. I find it surprising that the doctor immediately jumps to the surgical solution instead of keeping everything in plaster. I got this weird feeling at the back of my mind that maybe the hospital needs to earn more money. Excuse me, but I just recently watched "Sicko" and the thought of Medical Care trying to be profitable business lingers on my mind. On the other side of thoughts, they are the doctor, they are the professional... who else should we get an opinion or recommendation other than professional? Didn't take long for me to say yes to Surgery because I know that I had all the insurance and medisave to cover for all the expenses and I don't want my right leg to suffer the same fate as my left leg in the future. Finally, all this years of paying this health insurance is yielding its fruits.

Talking about Health Insurance. ITS VERY IMPORTANT. Why? After meeting a man from Sarawak who suffered the same fate as me, I can better appreciate the importance of all the years of premium payment. By the way, I am not endorsing any Insurance company. This man was on cast for almost 2 months and those bone did not heal properly. He was recommended to go for sugery earlier in the treatment but declined due to financial issues and his company don't subsidise for in-patient surgery. Can really see the stress and slight depression in his face. Not only is $$$$ involved but his job will be at stake as well if he don't recover soon. Where to get the income for himself and the family? If I was in his position, I'll understand how he would had felt when the pocket tightens up upon hearing the cost of surgery. Lets not forget that as a foreigner, he does not enjoy the same subsidised medical care as we Singaporean had (well, you can say its because we pay tax). I wish his all the best and speedy recovery.

My plaster cast was removed after consultation with Dr Henry and after observing that the swelling did not subsides, I had my surgery postponed to next Friday. The nurse at Plaster department applied a different cast on my leg. Its synthetic and lighter than the old cast. All this while, 2 student doctors were observing the entire process. Learn that it takes them 5 years to graduate from University. Their thick glasses is a testament to the wealth of knowledge absorbed from lecture, books and nowadays Internet and Youtube.

Think I did not kept my leg properly elevated for the past few days causing the right leg to continue swelling. Will be on cast all the way till surgery day on Friday. In the mean time, with this new cast on which is thinner, I found a new way to keep my legs properly elevated everywhere I go with crutches.

Casted: Day 3

Been on the cast for 3 days and thank goodness it didn't start to smell or get really itchy as suppose to be expected. The simple modern day convenience of computer chairs and wireless remote controls had now become a "must have" items in the house. Without the remote control, I would have to limp myself to the TV each time I wanna turn it on/off, switch channel or adjust the volume. Without the computer chairs, moving around the house would be so tiring.

I am kinda surprise that I am handling all the challenges of mobility well so far. Had been able to take shower every morning with little assistance, moving around the kitchen to make coffee, getting on the PC, getting on the Nintendo Wii, building up my modern kit with the sudden excess freetime I got. Good thing the apartment is small but spaces are wide enough to move around and most items of necessity are within arm length grab (sometimes a bit of stretching). Still getting use to those heavy plaster cast on my right leg though and I hope it will be change to a fiberglass cast during my followup appointment at TTSH on Friday. Felt like I been chain to an iron ball.

So this long period of absense will be a good one to recover from certain depression and frustration with certain organization. Be a time for reflection and realignment of the thought process. I wonder if things (or accident) happen for a good reason? Last Friday and in fact for the whole 2 weeks after getting back from school examination to work, I had not been in the best of mood and motivation and almost chewed up one of my senior with nasty words. I had been a source of negativity among the juniors. On the last day of long weekend I got a bone fracture that put me out of one misery. Its as though some mightier being up there realize that this boy couldn't survive another few weeks without hurting more people along the way thus mightier being decide to give a little painful fracture and many weeks of peaceful times away from the organization. Oh well, call me and imaginator or story teller or whatever but I certainly felt the injury couldn't had come in the most appropriate time.

Had to put my thanks here to Jack and Sea who dropped by my place to had some work admin issues sort out. Ed, our under appreciated and misunderstood junior will be holding the fort as the skipper right now and I'm sure that without my presensce, his contribution and work will be better recgonized. Kage as usual will be confined to improving our productivity in front of the computer screen and finally our two very junior guy, Caveman and Yammy, will be the important left and right winger. I hope all of them learn more under this "pressured" period and I apologize if I couldn't be aiding them for the time being.

Tonight dinner: KFC delivery...

Fractured!!!

It was yet another Sunday morning long awaited soccer game with the brothers. It all ended with a cracking sound and excruciating shriek and uncontrolled spilling out of some saliva from mouth. I miss step. This is the most painful experience I ever had in my life. A very very bad sprain. I could hardly walked. I was lying down there for almost 10 minutes with the concern faces of brothers standing around.

The guys got me to a Chinese Physician to have it examine for dislocation. No dislocation but he only applied a thick strong smelling medicated paste and some bandage and advise me to had an X-Ray the next day if the pain and swelling did not go away. Thank you brothers for bringing helping me yesteday. I didn't suspected anything but for the whole evening and night, I had to rely on my computer chair to move around the house and using the toilet prove to be a huge challenge. Everytime I tried to move my left leg, a throbbing pain accompanies. It was the most demoralizing moment of my life, not able to move around properly. I truly understand how it felt for people with mobility problem. I literally had to hold on to any support I could find to keep pressure of the right foot.

Today morning, I decided to see the Base MO instead of the GP due to some stupid MC policy set by the organization and also because its a very short walking (or hopping distance) to the Medical Center from the carpark than from the neighborhood carpark to my regular GP clinic. Was immediately refer to A&E at TTSH for X-Ray. MO suspect that I had a bone fracture.

Dad send me to TTSH right away. I was immediately greeted by a staff manning a certain counter asking if I need a wheel chair. I politely decline as I am still able to move with the aid of an umbrella. While walking to the counter...very very slowly... another staff approaches me and without saying a word, ask that I sit down on a wheel chair. I guess I should stop putting on a brave front because I am starting to look rather silly limping around with an umbrella right in the hospital compound. It made the staff at TTSH look bad if I don't take the wheel chair, they might get complain by a third party for not attending to me even though I declined.

First time of my life to be move around in a wheel chair. Gosh... well things went smoothly and systematically at TTSH. Was wheeled from the registration counter, to the consultant (a senior staff nurse), to the X-Ray room to get some pictures of my bones and finally to Dr Tan, a Physician. The bad news was I got a fracture (which explains the persistent pain), the good news was the bones are still in position, the bad news was some portion of the fracture are protruding out of normal position and might need surgical intervention. Got a follow up consultation with a Bone specialist this friday to see if there is a need for such drastic measures but for now, I'm sure I'll be out of action of the next month and Christmas will be celebrated in cast and crutches.

Staff Nurse Melissa explained to me how to use the pair of crutches that cost me $30 and gave me proper instruction of care for the cast on my right leg. No water and no fire on it. Well, I won't wanna test the flammability of the cast though. Overall, I found my experience in TTSH a pleasant one. The staff are all pro and knowledgeable especially Dr Tan diaganosis and Staff Nurse Melissa teaching.

Spend the early afternoon wheeling myself around TTSH with my right leg extended like a battering ram, grabbing a subway lunch for I am super starving from not eating breakfast in the morning. I think been on a wheel chair, makes you a target of assistance and affection. Since I kept insisting on wheeling myself around, many staff at TTSH approaches me to ask if I need assistance to go anywhere. Probably is pride though, I spend the rest of the day wheeling till my arm muscle felt tired. Now I can empatise how difficult it is for wheel chair bound people. Not easy though, you need good arm muscles. Got my medication from the pharmacy and dad fetched me home.

This is the first bone fractured I had in my life and I wish for no more. The inconvenience is way too troubling. From showering to peeing to pooing. Getting from one spot of the house to another. Using my PC and playing Nintendo Wii. Sleeping. Sitting. Watching TV. Its a whole new way of getting things done for the next 6 weeks untill the bones are healed. Oh boy...

Two man and a toilet cubicle.

Right after a day of "war torn" work of words, I got off slightly early and met Missy for dinner at North Point before her night shift work. Right after dinner, my bowel business got a better of me and I excused myself for the washroom. Looks like all the cubicles are occupied for the moment thus I patiently waited for anyone of the 2 cubicle available right outside Manhatten Fish Market Restaurant. On both the cubicle are friendly sign for "Squatters" and "Sitters".

The "Squatters" door slowly open and I was telling myself... "crap...now I got to squat... no choice. Urgent business callings...". However the door suddenly closes again. Hmmm....whats wrong with this guy? So I decide to hang on again. A minute later the door came half open and out rushes out an Indian fellow with his head hanging down. He didn't even bother washing his hands and rushed out of the washroom! Ewwww!!! So naturally I decide to push open the "squatter" door. Suddenly I was rudely greeted by a checkered shirt fair skin (suspected Chinese) dude who gently pushes the door close again. You can imagine the shock on my face. Its two man in a toilet cubicle! What the hell could they have been doing? Sharing a Squatter bowl?

Next moment the "Sitter" door open and I suddenly woke up from my shock state to realise the the urgent business is still knocking on the door down under. Naturally I finish the business with a slight sense of danger.

When I got out of the washroom, Missy was already waiting for me with a story to tell. Apparently, an Indian man walks into the female washroom by mistake and walked out again. I told Missy the Gent side of the story. I can only suspect the worst had happen in the "Squtter" cubicle.

Wii Mod again

Well, got a unsuccessful experience with Wii modding last year but that did not stop me from continuous exploring in the area of mod chips. Tonight I will be modifying my Nintendo Wii so it will be able to play *ahem ahem... "friendly copy games". Just got my hands on the latest Wasabi DX mod chip which only required the connection of the Wii's DVD drive ribbon cables to complete the mod process. It had never been easier than before. I am very confident I will have no problem with the modification. The only challenge that will poise to most of us will the disassembling of the Nintendo Wii however thats not a huge issue for me for I had strip down and assemble my Nintendo Wii so many times that the adhesives on the rubber support feets are running out of "stickiness". No problem with success in any case.

Friends out there who are keen to save some bucks, do contact me if you wanna mod your Nintendo Wii. :)

Its time for Bitching Thursday!

Feeling kind of stress just only two days into my work. Just can't help feeling disappointed with the Empire and a stench of regret putting my fate by shading YES. Shouldn't blame myself or the higher being above me for I took a step back and observe not only am I the only one in agony but the couple of my seniors who had never got their deserved rewards.

Yet again I can't help thinking that all this years of contribution and initiative boils down to a Wednesday inconvinient truth that thou desired might not materialize. Power hungry??? No I'm not. A serious imbalance of rewards and punishment across the Empire? I damn agree... Some say its the right place at the right time which threaten to tear apart my notion that genuine hardwork and initiative is all it takes to be there.

I can only felt very damn fucking demoralize with how situation seems to be unfolding so far. I think I will keep a pessimistic perspective about this whole issue from today onwards.

Well, shit do happen up the career ladder that one had no control but at the end of the day, I think its good to know that I still got really nice colleague (all within my level and only a few above) that I can work very well with. Its wrong to bitch about the injustice in front of them especially the junior. Not only it makes me look bad but at the same time it send a wrong signal to the junior peers that all is lost.

Recently a junior approaches me spilling his depression of discrimination by a certain higher being. He took 3 days MC but this higher being can only adopt a tunnel vision and conclude he is malingering. Junior, although a easily misunderstood person because of his character and behavior is someone who got good initiative and learn fast. Sometime higher being despite the elevated view of theirs failed to see the valued contribution of man on the ground. Somehow the higher being likes to look up with a higher purpose ( apparently our slogan) to snatch some prestigious accolades and award for some crappy contraption that is flawed and oversell. This characteristic only serve to built yet another rocky foundation that see people falling apart one by one due to morale issue.

I don't know why, I wish I could fucking curse and swear and hit a punching bag but thats very unbecoming of me. Walking back to the office with a heavy head, I saw a black guitar bag and in it was a white acoustic guitar. Coincidently someone printed out some guitar chords tutorial and left it on the table. I sat down the whole evening trying to play Oasis Wonderwall and Cranberries Zombie but ended up with random notes here and there. Its therpeutic. Later I met my juniors along the way back and learn that 3 of them brought the Guitar with their own money for the section. They are really nice and what an excellent morale boosting instrument to have in our section. Unlike the big shots WALIing (Walking Around Looking Important) who had struck down us hard by giving us a deadline to get rid of the refrigerator and beautiful fish tank in our section. Fucking idiots... don't they realize that this are the only few morale boosting supplements around? The cold soft drinks to quench our thirst and perk us up after a day of hard labor and the serenity of little fishes swimming around waiting to be fed.

Sometimes younger people can be more empathetic than older ones.

3 down 1 to go.

1 more exam to go. Just 1 more to go and I'll be free for the next two months. Time to complete the Gundam Zaku model kit. Been out from the blogging scene for a while not because I am busy but there is currently no inspiration to write down. Thinking of a January 2010 diving trip or maybe a short trip to Thailand on Budget airlines. Planning to get back onto cycling to work to train those leg muscles and also get some much needed excercise. Looking forward to a career change down the road. Working hard to get my degree. Chance upon this interesting quote at a Chinese restaurant along Sembawang Road....



Well, whats there to fear about looking for a new job? The only true thing to fear is slipping into a comfort zone and not even realizing it. Like a frog in a slow boiled water.

Police Dogs Get Official Police Funeral

Mans best friend. Police dogs are offer the same funeral treatment as Police Officer when they died in the line of duty.

A police dog gets an officer's funeral

They are here to protect the Police Officer from getting hurt in the line of duty through their greater than human senses and perception. Here is a video I got from Youtube on the funeral of K9 Ben. Why are police dog call K9? Maybe its got to have something to do with "Canine", the teeth of dogs.

A little joke to welcome the weekend.

Exam crunch round the corner and the focus for this 3 weeks will be revision, revision and even more revision. Its time more more brands essence chicken to keep the brains sharp and Nescafe for that boost of mental energy when the reading get boring.

What about a little joke to welcome the weekend where I will be spending all the time using my academical brain.

This happen on the MRT train, a conversation between a mother and her 4 years old son.

Son: Mummy! Mummy! I need to go toilet! I want to wee wee.

Mum: Ok boy boy, hold on till we reach our station alright?

Son: No mummy... I want to wee wee now! (boy getting demanding)

Mum: Cannot! There is no toilet here. We wait till we reach Orchard Station ok? There is toilet there.

Son: Cannot! I cannot hold on lah! Please mummy...I need to go toilet now! I want now! I want now!(Boy about to cry, throwing tantrum and attracting attention of some passengers)

Mum: Please! Its just two more station. It will only be 5 minutes! SIT DOWN AND BEHAVE YOURSELF!

Son: Boohoohoo...waiiii..... (son crying)

Mum: Stop crying boy! You are embarressing both of us. Stop crying or else I won't buy you the latest transformer toys.

Son: .....ok ok....sorry mummy... I hold on till Orchard station.

Mum: Good boy :)

A few seconds of quiet....

Son: Mummy, I just put in your mouth and pee?

Mum: WHAT!!!! How dare you say something like that! I gonna cane you when we are home! No more transformer toy for you. Who teach you such things!

Son: But Mummy!!! I saw dad put in your mouth! He can why I cannot!?!?!? I want to wee wee!!!! (Passenger are watching )

Mum: ...... (Hurriedly grab her son hands and alighted at Novena Station).

My neighbour photography website

Recently we have a new neighbor from India. Madawi, "TVS" and a little boy name Rahul. They are already Singapore PR, and they invited my family over for Deepavali dinner. I like to thank them for their hospitality and also show my appreciation for their very well renovated house. Honestly, living in my block for the past 20 years, seeing 4 different neighbor come and go... our new neighbor really know how to create a nice, conducive, private home space for themselves. "TVS", the man next door shared his passion of photograph during the dinner when I pointed out at his pro looking Canon digital SLR camera. Like to share with you guys his photography website...

TVS's Perspective

There are some very well taken landscape picture of Singapore in the website especially the picture of Changi Broadwalk which I only recently knew about not from a local but from someone who had only been in our country for 6 years.

Mum and Baby at the subway

Watch this...

The baby survived with a small bump on the head. Slipping off the platform a second sooner or later, the baby probably will have meet a different fate. Dear parents please watch your baby pram and also your kids at our local MRT station. Beside irresponsible suicidal people deliberately causing everyone to head home late after work, the MRT platform can be a real source of accidents like what happen to this mum and the lucky baby.

A one week break.

Left the office late on Friday. Well, in fact leaving at 5 o'clock when there are no job and no business (which is a good thing for my organization) on a Friday is considered late. While the rest of the guys have to attend yet another organized sports event, I quietly leave the office after clearing some outstanding and leaving behind an "Out Of Office" message in my office e-mail account. No trying to sound like I am working in an air con office environment but we Senior Technician, soon to be glorified as Junior Engineer under MDES, do need the double edge sword of communication for work to be done;- Office E-mail. Love it or hate it, I admit things do get done when E-mail are properly used.

Yet another week of leave for me to take a break from the BS at work. Those BS got to stay at the bay temporary till I come back though. I term them Important but not urgent matters in accordance to the guidelines from "7 Habits Of Effective People".

Two more days of school on Monday and Tuesday. Its Monday Engineering Material and the dreadful Tuesday Advance Calculus and Statistic. Wednesday to Friday I'll be heading to Tioman for a short holiday although I wish I was in Bali or Phuket. Anyway, as long there is the sun, the beach and the sea plus the sea creatures, I'll be fine with any beach resort. On a budget as well, thus got to keep my option limited. Won't be doing any Scuba Diving this time round for the companions on my trip do not have a dive license and I don't wanna look anti-social wandering off for my own diving adventure for sea turtles. Will have my snorkel, mask and fins ready just for some snorkelling and attempts at Skin Diving (Diving without Air Tank).

School activity been winding down in tempo recently. The next major events of concern will be the examination happening in November. I had already started my revision this week and looks like a rough road ahead till the exams are over. The University Dean was right, I realize its gonna be a long marathon of an education experience for me. 3 years? 4 years? 5 years? I'm really not confident how long I will take or if I might run out of steam in the middle and take a long break to work in United States again for the $$$$ for the $$$$ for the $$$$. At less I got off to a good start with the results from 1st semester :)

Eagerly waiting for the next school break from November to December. My unfinish Gundam model kit, My car ram air intake project, another diving trip perhaps, books to read, swimming, couple of PC wallpaper designing, Homebrew setup for my Wii... all waiting in the line.

Clean Up, Clear your trays

Spotted this interesting notice at Tampines IKEA while returning the food trays to the clearing station.

I wonder how many people stop, read and bring their food trays to the clearing station after meal. I could easily count with 10 fingers. The fact is most of us are groomed and grown not to clear the bowl, plates and tray from the table while having meal in the public. Maybe the act of doing so makes that person felt like a table cleaner/clearer, a job but a less desirable one in hawker center or kopitiam. It appear as a kinda stigma to some people.

From my days in Secondary School till now, I was taught and told to clear my tables after a meal both at home and in the public whenever possible. Possible mean when there is avenue to DIY and clean your meal area up for the next patron. A well design clearing station like those from IKEA or those dustbin with counter top found in MacDonald. This practice did not extend to hawker center because there is just no way you can do so.

Recently I am getting into a habit of keeping the tables at less clear and neat if returning the tray is not an option. No food debris on the table, no gravy or sauce shrewed all around, bowls and plates all neatly stacked up. Simply said, just keep it tidy after a meal instead of leaving a huge war of a mess as though diners had been throwing their food at each other across the table. If there is no table clearer available which is almost the case in busy hawker center or kopitiam, the next diner who sat down will definately do the plate shiftings and tissue manuvering to clean up whatever mess left over.

Besides been a tidy and considerate human being in the process. Does clearing your tables at the end of the meal translate to cost saving on the patrons? With the cheaper foreign labors and Ministry of Enviroment tougher sanitary stance post "Rojak" incident, most hawker center will stick to the status quo, keep their prices as it is and insist on hiring workers to clear the left overs instead of leaving the the chances to customers. By the way, if we all start clearing the tables, will we be causing the extinction of the table clearer/ cleaner job? Hmm... once an auntie scolded me for clearing the plates, saying that she will be out of job if I did so. Hmm... catch 22 situation.

Side track from the topic. Where can we find good and affordable western food? Aston that is and I recently patronized one located at the newly renovated Sembawang Shopping Center. Nice dining enviroment with a choice of indoor sitting and outdoor alfresco, asthetically appealing food, great on the taste buds, large generous portion of sides and the most important of all...the price. I am very surprise, for a restaurant...the price of the fare are just less than 5 dollars more than the kopitiam style western food. Not to mention the staff are well trained and offer good table to table service.



Cleared my assignments. Preparing, revising and awaiting the examination in November. I got lots of catch up to do over this few weeks. Good thing most lectures are over, freeing up my weekdays evening for revision and practises. For tonight, after hours of finalizing a certain lab report, i gonna read about Anne Frank... The Class95 morning express DJ recommend all teenage to read Ann Frank diary (now published as retail books). This book is a translation of her diary written between the age of 13 and till her last entry at 15 years old when she pass away during the Nazi German occupation of Netherland. I got this paragraph of her diary straight from Wikipedia. Makes me wanna pick up the book from the store. Always love a good read.

“	I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ... And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ... I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?	”
—Anne Frank[

Japan Self Defense Force

Impressive show of force by Japan. Like Japan, our country is facing a greying population and consequently a shrinking pool of young man and women joining the Singapore Armed Forces as part of our nation defense and deterrence elements. On the flip side, the highly educated people of our country gave us the edge over "you know who" when it comes to leveraging on modern military technology. What took 5 man, warship or planes to achieve takes only a single digit today to attain mission success. Yet again, Knowledge rather than pure brawls and hardwares is power in the 21st century.

Breakfast shopping at Tiong Bahru Market

Another Sunday gone and another Sunday arrived. Missy was called to work at the 11th hour and I dropped the her early in today morning at the hospital. Headed off for my usual Sunday routine of jogging at Mount Faber and Telok Blangah Hill via Henderson Wave bridge. It was not a sunny morning and the sky was slightly overcast. Nevertheless, a cool morning to run, to vacuum my car in the park and to get some breakfast back for the family.

On the way back home, I decided to make a detour to Tiong Bahru to have breakfast. Tiong Bahru had alway held a special place in my heart for I spend a large percentage of my early childhood times staying with my very strict grandma and aunties who are all now in their 40s and 50s and my cousins. Grandma had passed away long long time ago. I remembered a big family of more than 10 staying under one roof in the old colonial style apartment. Seeing this apartment today felt so nostalgic and brings back all the good and unpleasent memories.



I still recall my reservation each time grandma wanted to bring me to the Tiong Bahru market to buy the morning groceries. Back then, there is no such thing as child labor labor law and I am always been fully utilize as grocey bag carrier by Grandma who is a powerful women with a cane :). hahaha. The Tiong Bahru market in the early 90s were wet, it smell and it got broken black cement floor. The though if my slipper slipping out of my leg and stepping on those black cement disguested the young boy heart in me. The smell throughout the market can only be described as transitional, from chicken, to pork, to fish, to veggies and all of a sudden...smell of the famous Tiong Bahru Pau. It was a mass messy single storey congregation of hawker food, poultry and grocery. Definately sanitary condition wasn't that good in my opinion.

The Tiong Bahru market under went a rebuilding effort and today the market and hawker center was nothing of the yester years. Its clean, bright, spacious and every market shopper all had a smile on their face. Grandma nearly got into a fight with an uncle in the market back than...you can imagine the kinda stress going through our ancestors back than. Highlight of Tiong Bahru market got to be the Hawker Center!



FOOD FOOD FOOD....I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough (sing to the tune). Today, I decided to buy home some nice breakfast fare back for the family...

First stop is the 178 Lor Mee store or Lor Mee 178 store depend on how you prefer to read it. I ta pao 2x $3.00 Lor Mee instead of the regular $2.50 ones. Been here once and knew that the extra 50 cents for "shark meat" does enhance the taste factor of the Lor mee. I will highly recommend getting the $3.00 one with "Shark Meat". Its a pretty long Q during peak hours and it took me 15 minutes before I could collect my orders.

Zhui Kuey or loosely translated as water pastry is one of my favourite breakfast fare. This store had been around since I was a little boy and the store is probably now run by the lady boss daughter who might be around my age. Beside Zhui Kuey, the store sells a assortment of Nonya Kuey as well, adding a certain color vibrancy to an otherwise white and brown affair of a Zhui Kuey store. Brought 6 Zhui Kuey at $1.50. A long Q starts to form after I left the store.

Long Ji Soya Bean and Bean Curd store, according to the lady boss...they been around for 36 years!!! Yup, remembered drinking lots of soya bean milk and eating lots of soya bean curd when I was a kid. No wonder the auntie look familiar. :) Brought 1 big pack of soya bean milk for $1.50. It was only 80 cents back than. The power of economy inflation....

Finally I stopped by this store selling Hong Kong style pastry ran by a Father and Son team. Hmm..nowadays I'm seeing my generation people running the hawker store. Its nice to have your own business thought especially when it involve food for every one need good food. Got to try their fried wanton, Char Siew Shu and Egg Tart! Brought S$3.50 worth of pastry before leaving Tiong Bahru market.

Well...around the market there are many nice eateries worth exploring as well. I think the Ba Ku Teh here is good...its just opposite Tiong Bahru market's 7-Eleven. The Wanton mee here is nice too but I forgot where it is located. Oh...take note that there is no free parking on Sunday and Public holiday around the market. Be sure to tear the coupons and avoid parking at the multi-storey carpark because its jam packed with cars.

Home sweet home breakfast :)

Girls Generation- Genie + Gee Gee Dance

After must persuasion, I was finally given the Youtube search term for this excellent Girls Generation "2 in 1" dance video. They are performing at a football stadium and apparently its a pre-game performance before the match between South Korea and Japan. As usual, great dance moves they got but if you observe the individuals closely, sometime the girls do miss out certain steps and it looks a bit awkward. Well, if every one live like a scrutinizer... i think everything around us in life will never been pleasent. Look at things in life as a whole instead of under a microscope.

Yesterday was a wet day. It makes for a great day to snuggle in bed. Would like to give my thanks and appreciation to some of my friends at work for the week. I would like to acronym or nick name them.

BH - For braving the rain to buy 10 carton of drinks for our section despite my insistence he keep dry in the shade of the spec mess. He is our section accountant and make me realize its time we expand the "store" to include sales of tibits.

J, S and Ed - Their assistance with sorting our and setting up of the I-Level tool trolley in the bay. Without their keen inspection of the tools, I might miss out the little details and face with problems down the road.

Col "Robber" - For the blitz plans he devised for our platform tools management. Despite his intrusion of our section to raid and pillage, I am confident to see a leaner maintenance process in the future. In short, a damn convincing plan that I wanna see through it to the end.

GarV and Xiao Hei - Friday evening, two man in the tools store of the maintenance hanger busy setting up the hanger trolley system to be ready on Monday. I can see the look in their face. They are damn shagged out. Appreciate their sacrifice. Thanks Xiao Hei for giving the extra time. Unfortunately our section runs a tight ship and there is not always oppurtunity to get assistance to speed up efforts and make deliveries. But glad we delivered before the work week ends on Friday.

Encik Sniper - For coordinating with me on the tools setup on the frontline. Still got equipment transfer in progress though.

HJ - For telling me that its late and its time for me to pack up and head to school on Friday evening. I appreciate him for giving me the time and space all the time for my part time schooling. Apologize for getting him into a certain predicament due to Helmet issues.

"Old Man" - For getting the contractor down to get things sort out on some equipment fabrication issue. Finally, I can finalize the fabrication of our seal installation tools and sort our payment issues with the contractor.

Tang - For his guidance and making me realize my weakness in areas of work.

Lucas- Supply guy always accomodating to my query and request for assistance.

Missy and Deesh - For surprising me at the Spec mess and the end of my work on Friday. Didn't expect them to turn up at my base. I was really exhausted from the rain and the chaotic sorting out of tools. Brigten the end of my work day....

Flaws, we all got them

No one can confidently stand up and raise their hands to admit they are flawless in their work. Sometime its humbling to know that one is not all that mighty and shining despite good years of experience. I am inspired by Dr Lee story about "Cracked pots" and how not to totally penalize the flaws of others or yourself. We got to always look on the both sides of a character and traits. A very careful person often take too much time with things but you can be confident he/she can get things sort out right. A brave man may enter in harms way and get himself killed but he is an inspiration in battle when he charges in front of the rest.

Time and again, when in emotional stress and when the path of life direction gets rocky, I am blessed to have found Dr Lee's blog. It will never be updated with his latest philosophy and ideas of life but whatever that are left behind is more than we could ask for.

"Cracked Pots by the late Dr Lee Kum Tatt"

Girls Generation - 9 great dancer

This is the Gee Dance song. Great Rhythm and Dance move. Smooth Transistion. Amazing Dance Synchronization! Did you notice this amazing girls are wearing different colored pants and it made a well orchestrated dances of colors in the MV.


This song is Genie. Now I apologize the previous Gee Dance video was pretty much faceless with all the pixelation but it does show off their impressive dance move better than the Genie MV. Now we get a close up look of the 9 girl member of Girls Generation in the above MV. Trust me, everyone is gonna start judging who is the prettiest or who is sweet in the eye of the beholder from this MV. My vote goes to the girl with the shortest hair and chubby face in the group.

Been 1st as a team and lesson learn.

What a great way to start a Friday. Join hands with couple of our base guys to participate in a water competition as part of PC Anniversary celebration. I felt we are the underdogs and will never beat those hardcore guys of air defense artillery and the Ops guys from our base. After 3 rounds of games we emerged top among teams of 4! The score margin was quite significant by the way. I am always excited been in part of the winning team ever since playing in the soccer team back in the oversea detachment days. I am surprised that the usual quiet and reserved juniors from the Chinook and Apache platform shown so much vigor, determination and fighting spirits during today game to clinch us the title. I for once was especially struck with amazement at the performance of Jun Hui from CH-CNEF. He appear to be such "background" guy every morning we met for FOD walk but turn out to be an amazing swimmer and motivator of our team. I of course was pretty noisy throughout, shouting and cheering like a coach at the side line. I realize today I have missed out so much pleasant experience engaging in team activities.

Much could had been say about the usual routine work of base. Sometime, we just can't do the Rambo and fight the battle alone. Consiously keeping my emotion and temper in check, I got a good lesson learn today with a senior counterpart from the next department. Looks like the mistake of yesterday was a bit of a hot topic in the morning while I was happily winning the game with my team. Yup...sat down and listen to what this senior got to say and got to offer to help. I learnt that no want wanna give each other a bad time at work especially when each of us are working under the same department and under the same family. I was too defensive and critical about how the "upstairs" were thinking...its inevitable though for the track record in shows that small issue could easily be blown into big ones base on assumption. Well, in times like this one got to choose to believe whether people are here to help or people are here to scrutinize and harm. I believe in my people, I believe they are all trying to help one way or another.

Weakness. Everyone got it. Its time to learn how to delegate to my right and left hand man. It appears that there is always a reluctancy in me to do so rather choosing to 包山包海 things at work. I finally agree that its getting too taxing to handle. Its time to get things done as a team rather than running my own race all the time. Its nice to work alone sometime but the world don't go round just because of a one man effort or a one man show. Leverage, thats what really matter when getting work done.

The dreaded audit coming up next week and I still got outstandings to clear. Than again there are some major operation coming up next few weeks as well. I am starting to see the challenges ahead. In the meantime, its Friday and I'm heading out for the evening, to wind down this crazy week with a light supper with Missy.

Life is full of ups and downs

Oh yes. Life. Its full of ups and downs, two mutually co-existing forces of life without so we will not have such exciting times from birth to death. Sometimes the frequency of ups and downs can be too much to handle if it all falls within a day...

The morning started rather refreshing, I slept a good full 8 hours of sleep...something I never achieve on the weekdays. Checked out the e-mail in the morning and got the good news that my little project got awarded with $$$$ for the section. Great, the money will come in handy for the juniors who always got some bright ideas but no $$$$ to implement. Thats an up.

Midway through the morning. My work properties are raided by the "old man". Looks like I made a mistake with some equipment due dates and its way over due. It was so co-incidentally spotted during a spot check that I too was surprise I had made such mistakes. Its good thing actually to be discovered but it sure ruin my morning knowing that I screwed up because of some typo error in some database. Needless to say, when one goes around digging for problem...more problem surface out. Got a good handful of problem to cure now. That a down.

Come afternoon. Some little competition which I shall not elaborate too much. Simply said, it involve a vehicle and a wide ass cargo plus some cones in place as obstacles. The crowd cheered for our team was the fastest to clear the obstacles. I felt the depressing morning was salvage thanks to the encouraging spectators. An up for the day.

Next came the competition judgement. Looks like I nearly ran over "A" at the start of the round and "A" nearly got himself ran over at the end of the round. Despite speed, we got penalized in the safety aspect of it. Ok, I admit I nearly got "A" killed but there is nothing wrong with "A" picking up the vehicle choke while its still in motion? In the spirit of competition, I think its fine and to be damn honest, isn't that what we all do when the operational moods and tempo set in? To compress the steps (not skip) to get things done? Suddenly, its a down for the day.

The day ended at work and the day begin for school. Showered, change and headed off to the mess to get Chay Kway Teow for dinner. A cook with a pissed face and no Chay Kway Teow for the evening. What a down....

Went for duck rice along Sembawang road. Recieve an SMS from "old man" that boss is pretty upset about what happen in the morning. Gosh...upset? There are more things to be upset about than what happen to me. Why the hell tell me the boss is upset? Come on, human make mistake and I don't think my mistake had killed anyone or birds in the process? I hope people don't get overly judgemental on another just because of one mistake which is just an isolated mistake. Yup...I guess my track record is suddenly tainted. To be frank I am bloody pissed off with that SMS! Just wanna make me feel bad about it as though I don't feel bad enough? Come on, I too also wanna keep things in order and get my job done well. So I suppose its wise not to play the psychological game and try pushing me into a corner of guilt. Push the button hard enough, it will break and it will not function the next time. There are already many disfunctional "buttons" in the empire, please don't create another one. The SMS was the down of the day.

Sometime I find myself very defensive especially when others find fault in me. Often I tell myself to step back, cool down and listen. I like to apologize to Encik "F" for getting so worked up and emotional each time he pointed out the problems in the work I am incharge off. He is definately patience and understanding of this flared up young adult and spend that extra time to soothe those flames. You got my respect sir and I thank you for keeping a check my work stuff. Thanks for understanding that I got only two hands, 1 head and 1 brain but lots of things to handle on hand. Boy....my temper, its an area I got to work on.

Thank God Its Friday.

Why do ice float on water?

Quote of the day from India's LTC Rajyavardhan Rathore, silver medalist of Trap Shooting in the 2004 Athens Olympic...

"Its the not your condition that decides your future, its your decision that decides your future."

Now back to the topic of the day. Everyone observe that ice cube floats on water but wonder why? Well most of us do know that water, unlike other liquid, expands instead of shrink when it solidifies. This is contradictory according to conventional science we studied in the past. As we all ex-secondary school-ers learn, the molecules of gas is further apart than in liquid and liquid are slightly apart than in solid. This means a 1kg of gas will have a larger volume than 1 kg of liquid which will have slightly more volume than 1 kg of solid. Ok, this maybe getting a bit confusing but take this general rules as starter -- Volume: Gas>Liquid>Solid.

I came across this interesting facts about liquid and solid while revising for the coming Monday test, almost all materials are more dense in solid state than in liquid state. That means when molten aluminium, copper or steel solidifies in a casting, it actually shrinks! Which means if you were to pour 1 litres of molten steel into a cylindrical casting, after solidification, it might end up occupying 0.9 litres. The same old law applied, "mass cannot be created or destroyed" thus in this case 1 litre (volume) of molten steel will have the same mass as 0.9 litres of solid steel and the only difference will be the density. If we were able to drop this solid steel into molten steel, it will be observed that the solid steel will sink.

However water undergoes an interesting process, instead of shrinking when it freezes (solidify), it actually expands! And due to this expansion or increase in volume, ice (solid water) had less density than water (liquid), thus ice floats. Ta da!!!! For those interested in the figures, water volume expands 8.3% when it freezes. That explains why your coca-cola and pepsi cans become bloated when you freeze it in the chiller. That also explains why soft drink maker will never fill up the entire can or else the absents minded who wanted a quick chill of their soft drink might end up with a big freezer mess from exploding cans (over expansion).

Now here is a little IQ question involving water. You got 2 glasses of water and a pail. You are instructed to pour both glasses of water into the pail. Question is, how will you be able to know which part of the water in the pail belong to which glass? This is a question poised to me by a 14 years old school kid...it kept me thinking for hours....

Down and out with Stomach Flu

Been feeling really really fatigue and weakness all over the body since Wednesday. It turn out to be stomach flu or properly known as Gastroenteritis robbing all the energy from my limbs. Turn out to be a struggle keeping the energy level up on Thursday to revise for the Analog electronic test. Thank god the paper was easier than expected. Call in sick today for my body is totally crying for rest in bed and the tummy felt really weird. Visited my regular GP Dr Soh of Joy Clinic for diagnosis and medication. Lomotil, Charcoal pills and tons of vitamin C to tide me over the weekend, hopefully making a full recovery by Monday just in time for the Aero-material quiz in the evening. Crossing out fried food, spicy food, tough meaty food and dairy product from my list of meals. Sigh, its gonna be a challenge doing the revision over the week end in such condition. I need a nap again....so tired :x

A little virgin driving trip to JB

It took some dragging and domestic disturbance to wake me up again at 5.30am in the morning for breakfast with Missy before her morning shift. I am slightly burned out I guess. Its had been a long day of exploration at the Southern tip of Malaysia on Saturday plus catching up with Ricky and Sharon at their mini BBQ gathering in the evening. Apparently it turn out to be Sharon birthday and boy was the Seaview chalet an excellent location to hold the party!!! Check out the view from the front porch,

Sunset as viewed from Seaview Chalet

Garfield, Riccardo, Missy, Sharon and Ricky.

Breakfast as usual at our favorite "Hans - out", Omelet, Toast and Teh-Si. Dropped off precious cargo before 7 at NUH and headed off for my early morning run at Telok Blangah hill/Mount faber. I love morning run and observing the folks. Today I realized that I couldn't cover the usual distance I use to do... signs of ageing? hahaha. Today I saw a Malay Ah ma or I shall affectionally call her "Ma-Cik" joining the Chineses folks for a morning session of Tai Chi while Ah gong and grandson sat down round the corner to enjoy the morning air and scenery. I was like.....wow....Ma-cik, you are showing to all of us Singaporean that we don't need the minister or prime minister to keep reminding us year after year that racial and religious harmony are important. You shown us that we had positively crosses the divides in certain areas of life in Singapore to share our activities, practices and in this case Tai Chi Quan. Ma-cik was pretty good at it and the grand son was very very curious, getting in front of her and maybe asking her to teach him tai chi as well. It remind me of the Chineses joining the annual firewalk held by the Indian Temple and my old secondary school friend who joined all sorts of martial arts including Silat ( he did not become the next bruce lee but end up as a IT specialist punching keyboards).

Yesterday, Saturday... Missy and me decided to embark on a little oversea trip to our neighbouring Johore Bahru. Its my first time driving car into Malaysia and I guess its Missy first time joining someone who first time drive into Malaysia. Yikes! We lost our way real good the moment we exit the Malaysia side of the custom and had the unintended oppurtunity to explore some really Ulu roads. So much had change to their immigration check point that I hardly regonize the road and still assume that I got to do a U-turn to get to where I wanna go. Looks like their dream of building a winding causeway was dashed by our Gahmen and instead they built a winding road to the JB checkpoint. Giddy and thus lost our way. Technology saves the day, my mobile phone GPS help us find our way to Jalan Wong Ah Fok where City Square is located and its also the main road that leads to other nice places in JB.

The novice driver and his navigator.

City Square had already transformed into a "cater for Singaporean" shopping center. What you can find in Singapore can be found in City Square but not nessecery at a cheaper price. So do you research before doing your shopping here. Its inevitable, so many Singaporean enter JB nowadays, Johorian got to capitalize on the money making oppurtunity! If I were the boss of some shopping center in JB, I'll do the same. The power of currency, S$100 to RM$243.50. :)

After getting a bag at a great price at MANGO, we headed off for lunch...enjoyed losing our way on the Malaysia road again and eventually reaching Taman Sentosa where all the nice food are located. I think this is a favourite food hunt for Malaysian and Singaporean alike. Missy spotted Zhu Lin, a popular restaurant serving "Paper Wrap Chicken" - “子包鸡”. Its the corner, non-airconditon restaurant at the end of the row of shop house. There a rival restaurant beside it serving the same fare. Without further delay and more rumble of the tummy, we sat in and placed our lunch order, taken by a borded looking boy. "Paper Wrap Chicken" is a die die must try if you pop by Taman Sentosa (must pop by too!), I cannot describe in words how good the aroma and taste is but I simply give it a rating of 5/5. Its brewed with chinese herbs like red dates and "Kou chi zi". The chicken appear to be fresh and not frozen supermarket type. Must try! Next time we gonna try the Ba Kut Teh near by ... slurp.

Famous "Paper Wrap Chicken"

3 dish, 2 rice and 2 coconut for RM$39.90. Yatsui neh!!!

Another great thing about coming to JB will be the car snow wash over here! For RM$8, pampered your car with a snow wash, very very detailed and clean vacuum and good quality rim cleaning and tire waxing. Will definately not miss it...the car wash market is so big here that you literally find it anywhere and we found one operating out of a private house. The guys did a really good wash to a sparkle especially the dirty rims. The best part was the interior vacuum, months of neglect and laziness leave things pretty hairy and furry on the fabric seats, with the strong vacuum... its felt renewed and refreshed. Like the American way, I paid them RM$8 + an extra RM$2 tips. Hope that make an impression to them and they go the extra miles to clean my car on the next visit.

Its an F1 pit stop ....for cleaning only.

Last stop its Holiday Plaza, great place to hunt for "friendly" movie and games. We got "Quarantine", the movie Missy always wanted to share with me. There is also this car decal shop at the back end of Holiday Plaza selling nice car decals and they do custom make designs as well. We got something to put a little color to my black lancer...

We pledge our allegiance, To the flag, Of the Republic Of Singapore.

I kinda screw up the decal application though... there is some mis-alignment "Ben and Jerry" font style but you know...life isn't always perfect...we got to accept the imperfection and embrace the good we can find within.