Recovery's a bore

OK, it's been 3 days since I've been discharged. I've basically been resting at home except for Sunday morning when I had to report to the hospital for a new bottle of antibiotics. After that, I took the opportunity to drop by Funan to get some DVDs and then to Kinokuniya at Taka coz they were having their 20% discount sale. Phew. It was really tiring to move around since I've been hospital bound for 2 weeks. It's gonna take some time for me to get back to normal... if that ever happens.

At the same time, I'm also getting used to life with my little bottle. Here's a pic of it. The blue pouch is a thermal pouch which the hospital graciously gives so that we can carry the bottle around while preventing extreme changes in temperature. You can see the balloon/condom in the bottle which basically contains the antibiotic. As time passes, the balloon gets smaller as more of the antibiotic is pressured into my body.


The bottle's with me all the time, whole day long. I've gotta constantly remember to bring it along with me and at the same time, make sure the tube doesn't get tangled or caught somewhere. When I sleep, there's also the fear that I might rip the tube from the plug in my body. When I bathe, I've gotta waterproof the bottle and the plug in my right arm to make sure it remains dry so that the plug doesn't get infected. Sigh. Sounds fun right?

Anyway, tomorrow's my second refill visit to the hospital. Second day of outing! Hooray! I might just go catch up on a movie.

Two weeks

That's how long I've been away. Two long weeks. Not on a holiday, mind you. How I wish I was on one. The two long weeks were actually spent in Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

As my faithful readers might remember, I've been going through a tough time with a fever which refused to go away. I seriously mean a 24hour fever, everyday. All I could do was pop 2 panadols every few hours to try to keep the fever under control. Of course, I was seeing my normal doctor who was putting me through tests and antibiotics to try and tame the fever. However, 2 weeks ago, on 9 Nov, I knew I had to get myself admitted when my fever crossed the 40 degree limit and refused to come down. So on 10 Nov, I went over to Tan Tock Seng A&E and got myself admitted.

There were many needle proddings, blood drawings, body scannings. And after about 4 days, the doctors reached the conclusion that I had caught MRSA, also commonly known as the dreaded Superbug. Simply put, MRSA is a bacteria which is resistant to all normal antibiotics. For me, the MRSA had attacked my right kidney which apparently was filled with pus due to the infection. So, for the next one and a half weeks, I had a tube stuck to me right kidney to drain the pus from it, and I was put on a strong antibiotic called Vancomycin which is one of the drugs used to tackle MRSA.

Everyday was a dead bore. All I had was Channel 5, 8 and U and my Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, having a tube stuck to your kidney greatly decreases the pleasure of playing on my DS. So I'm left with the mind-numbing programmes on the free-to-air channels. I tell you, I still cannot believe how mediacorp can come up with programmes like 80s Rewind and The Noose.

Staying in a hospital is every bit as horrible as you can ever imagine. And this is coming from someone who paid to stay in a B1 ward. Other than the constant needle poking, or the misery-inducing groans from the other patients with painful/more serious problems, I must say that I cannot understand why the hospital can't make a half-decent cup of milo. Someone must have read the instructions wrong and decided that it was like one teaspoon of milo for every cup of milky hot water. The milo was miserable. Food was not too bad. But when I was put on a liquid diet for a day, I could not believe how they could mush up everything to make it 'liquid'. yuck.

Well, after two weeks, I'm finally out. But it's not quite over. Due to the strong infection, I have to be on the intravenous antibiotics for another month. So basically, I now carry a bottle with me everywhere I go. The bottle is filled with the antibiotics which I have to refill at the hospital every 2 days. Whoopee. So now, I have the pleasure of finding ways and means to camouflage the bottle and tube when I go out... which I am dying to do since I've been cooped up in a hospital /home for 2 weeks.

On a positive note, I am feeling much better since the treatment began. But it's kinda scary to find out that I've caught MRSA. It's a pretty strong bug and can be life threatening too. Well, here's hoping for a proper recovery.

80's Rewind

i must admit it. I wanted to watch this because I wanted to find out how much it would suck. And disappoint me it did not.

Main storyline A: Mother & Father obsessed with tree-planting & starting a neighbourhood watch.

Main storyline B: Two brothers trying to get tickets to watch Return of Jedi. They end up getting it from a 'scalper' called Obi Wan Neo... :S Helloo..... Neo is Matrix.... didn't even happen till 1990s.

Both storylines suck.

The acting sucks. Talk about 80s rewind. The acting standards are probably 80s standard too.

Jokes suck. Father threatens sons with.... MOTHER! wow! no one must have ever thot about such a joke. Son says he was robbed. Everyone still keeps asking 'Were you robbed?'. funny hor.

It's been 20mins, I've not even broken into a smile. It's a seriously sad show. I didn't dare to watch The Noose last weekend. I think I'm glad I didn't.

okok.. now got romantic twist.... wife thinks of how a tree helped her get over hubby went he went for NS. That's why tree-planting so important. OMG!!!! What a contrived story!

Thank God. Advert time. Some decent storylines/filming. Please adverts, please dun end....

Sigh. Adverts ended. Soppy round up. Something about planting a bean for wife to see it forever and remember him all the time.

Wow... HILARIOUS ENDING. They all got tickets to watch Return of Jedi and just as the movie started, their sister tells them the twist at the end that Princess Leia is Luke's sister. SO FUNNY.

What is wrong with Mediacorp? Seriously.... Who on earth can think this is even near funny? This is more proof of the death of Mediacorp local programming.

Movie Reviews

OK, I'm kinda in the mood for it, so here are some quick reviews of movies i've watched recently. I've placed them in order of positive reviews to crappy reviews.

STARDUST is a pretty good movie if you are into a decent fantasy story. There's a good balance of action, romance, magic and most importantly, humour. The movie doesn't try to take itself to seriously, and the big names like Michelle Pfieffer and Robert De Niro appear to be having a whale of a time in this movie! Michelle is excellent as the old ugly witch trying to get the heart of a star in order to be youthful again with her 2 other sister witches. De Niro is a sky pirate whose name strikes fear to those who hear it. What's so fun about the two roles? Well, Michelle has got some excellent jokes when it comes to her aging. Just watch what happens when she tries to cure a mole or something on her chin. As for De Niro, I will not spoil it for you... He springs a surprise which is pretty hilarious too. For some, Stardust might be a little slowish. For me, I don't think it's an academy award winner, but it was an enjoyable movie, especially since I watched it after watching THE DARK IS RISING.... (reviewed below)


If you are offended by vulgarities, SUPERBAD is definitely not for you. Almost EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE is filled with at least a vulgarity, a reference to a sexual organ or some other offensive word. Essentially, it's a movie about how 3 nerds try to buy liquor for a girl's party so that they can 'get-the-girl' despite being social outcasts. My brother warned me that the show was pretty vulgar coz he watched it before me. But after I watched it, I told him it's sad, but I know of not a few students who do talk like this, especially when a teacher is not around. SUPERBAD is quite fun coz it pokes fun at some American institutions like the police. The whole side story with one of the nerd befriending two policeman is really funny. 'McLovin' as he is called in the movie really steals the movie from the other two kids. Watch it, but be warned that it is not for the faint of ear.


I went to watch The Drummer only because I do have some interest in these huge drums. I've always been fascinated by Japanese Taiko Drum performances and here was a movie about Chinese drums. I was also interested to see if Jaycee Chan would be as irritating as his father, Jackie Chan. Well, to answer my last question first, I thought that Jaycee Chan did a decent job and he didn't irritate me like his father does. Every since Jackie started acting in Hollywood, I have just lost all respect for him and pretty much hate most of his shows. Even his latest visa ad where he pokes his head through Yao Ming's arms and starts clapping reminds me so much of a monkey. Anyway... back to the movie... I was kinda disappointed that the movie was quite slow and limp. As much as the director wanted to showcase the drums, you just don't get the heart pounding feel of a good performance/filming. We rarely see any good performances by the troupe. Then it also tries to be a gangster type movie and again, it's so disjointed that you don't feel that the two parts are really forced together. I think the movie would have been so much better with a stronger story line and a better director/cinematographer. On the whole, sadly, a missable movie. Don't watch it unless u absolutely have no choice.


OK, down to the bottom of the post and hence the bottom of the barrel. THE DARK IS RISING is another in the long chain of Harry Potter wannabes, and it fails sadly. The other two movies that come to mind are Eragon and Narnia (although Narnia is more of a Lord of the Rings wannabe). The good news is, I think this movie is mildly better than Eragon. The bad news is, I think it still sucks. I've not read the books so I didn't have any expectations when going in for the movie. But you can't help but feel that there's nothing very magical or exciting about the worlds created through the time-travelling. And it all zooms by so fast! Each visit to another time to seek a 'sign' lasts no more than 10 minutes! The special effects are nothing to be excited about. And the evil Rider isn't very fearsome at all. On the whole, the movie just plods along and the story just doesn't excite. As I was watching this movie, I couldn't help but wonder at how the different directors of the Harry Potter series have been able to capture our attention and imagination and keep the movies fresh over 5 movies! That must really be some accomplishment. Anyway, back to this movie, I say skip it. Save your money for The Golden Compass, another HPwannabe.... but this one is showing some promise.

Medical Frustrations

Looks like i've kinda lost some interest in blogging doesn't it? Just realized it's been a long time since I posted any movie reviews. It's not that I've not been watching movies, but I guess the movies are either not very good or I usually only get to watch them on weekends, coz it's kinda hard to watch movies when I'm at work.

I don't think I've lost interest. But as you would have realized from my last few posts, I'm kinda going thru a lowish point right now. A large cause of that is this fever/infection which simply refuses to go away. I've been to the doctor a couple of times and I've pretty much been surviving on continuous panadol and antibiotic intake. I think this is the longest I've felt so sick and it's frustrating. The wonder of medical science is that when it comes to antibiotics, it's kinda trial and error. Doctors let us take those which more or less tackle most kinds of common bacteria. So if you've got some weird strain, those antibiotics just might not work... like in my case. I can't tell you how many courses of antibiotics I have taken in the last few weeks. And things get a little better before they return to the same old pattern. I am so tired of it!

So, right now, I basically keep myself panadoled-up so as to keep the fever at a manageable level. As for curing wateva's messed up inside me right now? Just gotta leave the doctors to carry out their tests and hope for the best. What else can I do, right?

Rants

This is not a happy post. I've been in a bluesy kinda mood in the last few days and I just feel like letting off some steam.

For some reason, I'm just tired of everything. It's not to say my thots are real/factual. They're just how I feel about stuff right now.

Everyday feels like such a drag. I drag myself out of bed. Drag myself to work. Drag myself to lunch. Drag myself to see clients. Drag myself back to office. Drag myself home. Drag myself to bed. I think it's sad to live like that, no?

I've been trying to understand why I feel like this. Maybe coz I'm not in the best of health (still recovering from the effects of my operation). Maybe coz I'm not terribly excited by my work. Maybe I'm tired that I'm settling into a routine that I can't imagine for myself. Maybe it's just that time of the month... lol...

Hopefully I get out of the blues soon.

a day of fun, a week of pain

It has been a painful week. But before talking about that, let me talk about something more pleasant.

Last Monday, I took some time off work to go back to visit 2M. It was Children's Day and I thought it would be nice to drop in with some goodies since it would probably be the last time I will see them as a class. sniff. It was a short but really nice visit. Great to catch up on all the juicy gossip. I think I've said it before, the one thing I've really missed about RI is the interaction with all the students. Well, I think this will probably be the last time I will visit RI on my own accord since after this, 2M will be divided into different classes and I think by next year, most of the students I really know would be out of the school. Kinda sad really.

OK, back to painful matters.

Last Tuesday, I went in for my operation to remove a kidney stone. I actually have two that need taking care of. One big one up in my kidney and a smaller one in my... shall we just say body's plumbing system. So this op was to remove the smaller one first. Anyway, got to Tan Tock Seng Hospital at 8.30 and it was good that there was no line so I was attended to quickly and moved into the prep room. Changed into the operation gowns and couldn't understand why they were designed like that. Someone should seriously look into improving those silly gowns. Anyway, within minutes, the nurse finished keeping my valuables and asking me repeatedly who I am (as if the person in front of her would change identity in a wink). Got wheeled towards the Operating Room. It's always a strange sensation, lying on the bed and being wheeled around. YOu just get to see the flourescent tubes overhead zooming by, and I just don't know what I should be thinking about. After being wheeled around like a supermarket trolley, I arrived in the prep room of the Operating Room (that's what I think it is anyway) and then began a couple minutes of waiting as the operating team/anaesthetist/doctor get ready. I finally got wheeled into the OR and that where they start prodding me with needles and monitors and stuff. Then came the best part... the mask. They put this gas mask over me and say 'it's just oxygen, take deep breaths', so i comply. Can't do anything else rite since the mask is in my face? Then this time round, the anaesthetist didn't even tell me she was injecting the drugs, i just knocked off.

About 2.5 hours later, I opened my eyes to the sound of the nurse asking me to take deep breaths again... something about filling my lungs or something... quite tough coz it feels so good to just go back to sleep. Then the worse thing happened. I had to pee. Believe me, this is not something I want to do after a kidney stone removal. For the sake of my male readers, I shall not describe the ordeal. Anyway, I found out later that the doctor had cleared the first stone fairly quickly so he made the decision to go after the bigger stone in the kidney. There's kinda mixed feelings although it would mean I probably need not go for another big op for that stone, it also meant that the doctor had to put in a stent (a tube from the kidney to the bladder)... so that means I have to go for a stent removal procedure... which I will describe at another time....

Anyway, finally left the hospital at about 2.45pm.

The past week has been painful coz of (1) sharp pain on my right side, probably due to some stones moving through the system and (2) peeing out sand... lolz... yes, i've had to pee out sand at times. It's not really painful but I think the thought is quite scary. But seriously, the first few days after the op, going to the toilet was something I had to but didn't want to do.

It's been 6 days since my op and things seem to be slowly going back to normal. Still have some pain, but it's becoming more manageable. Have MC until Monday, so it's back to work on Tuesday.

Might talk more about the past week of pain if i feel like it... but I think I've given enough info for now...

Weird poster

Have you seen this poster on our buses? I find the way they insert little 'lessons' creepy. Sorry for the blurry pic, hard to take a pic in a moving bus. Anyway, for your ease of reading, here are the 3 steps listed above:

1. Take SBS Bus and/or Rail Services. (No eating on bus and train!)
2. TITO: Tap-in-tap-out to accumulate e-tokens with your monthly e-stamp. (Give up your seat for the needy!)
3. Login and redeem! (Remember to study hard too!)


Can someone explain to me the relevance of the little 'lessons' after each instruction? It almost feels like some form of brainwashing! What does tapping in and out have to do with giving up my seat for the needy?

A question of control

I've been thinking about how important is the issue of control to me. I'm talking about this ideal state where I get to call the shots and decide how and what happens to me. I'm not talking so much about control over others (though I admit it's one area I've had to work at in especially in my last job working with students). In this case, I'm talking about control over my own life.

I realize I hate it when I feel helpless. This could be in the case where say, I fall sick. Like right now when I'm working through my kidney stone problems (yep, got a couple of them swimming around my plumbing system rite now), I feel frustrated because this is something that I can't control. I mean, I can't get rid of them, I can't stop them from giving me other related problems like infections. I just have to sit and wait until the doctor blasts them out of my system, one way or another.

Another example is when people force me to do what I don't want to do. I don't know if I sound pompous, but I kinda feel that I've reached an age/point in my life/career where I shouldn't need to do what I really don't want to do. Haha, I can think of so many examples with respect to this. In fact, this contributed partially to why I left teaching last year. I was feeling hopelessly powerless with what I was doing in my job. When I was younger, I'd think about patience, tolerance, etc. But somehow, for me, personal fulfillment/satisfaction seems much more important than just doing something for the sake of doing it.

Right now, I'm still struggling with this issue of control.

It's a frustrating life when I'm controlled by a clock and a card.

It's a frustrating life when I'm controlled by what others want me to do.

It's a frustrating life when I don't find myself doing stuff I find meaning in doing.

I guess that's partially why I'm irritated by those little government things like the longevity insurance, etc, etc. Our governments gives me the idea that we are powerless in making decisions for our lives. Only the government knows best. MPs can say all they want in the 'debates'. You can make all the noise you want at 'feedback sessions'. But in the end, government knows best. The decision was already made anyway. It's just nice to let you rant a little, to let it out of your system.

How? Like that can go crazy rite?

Cloudy skies

I love bright and cheery mornings, but I must admit I also like dark cloudy and breezy mornings provided the rain hasn't started pouring. This is how the sky looked today at about 7.15am. It wasn't raining yet and there was a wonderful wind stirring up the air. Not a bad way to start the day.

In that kinda mood

For some reason or rather, I've been in a kind of buay song mood over the last few days. Reading the newspapers & surfing the blogs on singapore issues just reinforce this buay-songness. It's like, there are just so many weirdish things going on in our little red dot and we littlereddotians just seem to live with and tolerature them (myself included).

One example is the silly Odex 'demonstration' where a couple of people got together and placed some toy figures carrying little banners and toy flags to protest against how Odex had handled the whole issue. I just can't understand why our dear authorities had to send police to go and 'control the crowd'.... I mean, don't they have better things to do? And what's really wrong with people just trying to make a statement? And as some blogs have mentioned, it's interesting to note that despite having all sorts of news on the Odex court case, there was virtually no reporting in our local papers about the mini-protest. It's all just messed up, imo.

Well, I believe that as a consequence of my mood, I'm a little more irritated with little things that I see around me, stuff that are less political (dun really intend for this blog to make big political statements).

So the thing which I can't understand is this totally silly road crossing between Bugis Junction and Bugis Village. I dunno which wonderful civil servant designed this zig zag crossing but I marvel at how they can connect two MAJOR large road crossings with this tiny strip between them. Everytime I have to cross this place, there's this huge clash of people moving from Bugis Village to Bugis Junction and vice versa. And there's this huge jam as you can see from the pic below resulting in people pushing and shoving and trying to get off the road before the red man flashes on.

Wonderful quirky examples in our efficient little city. My next rant... butt-rests. Be back for it.

Two things on my mind

Two things that happened over the last weekend are kinda weighing on my mind.

First. I was at 7-11 buying some sweets for the movie when I saw this teenager taking two boxes of sweets and putting it in his pocket. Basically, he was shoplifting. Of course, it was disturbing to see this teen behaving like that. But what got me more disturbed was.... I didn't do anything about it. Yep. I just stood there, saw him put the sweets into the pocket and did absolutely nothing except walk out. The point is, I dunno why I didn't do anything. As a former teacher, I talk about doing the right thing always. The right thing would of course be to either stop the teen or immediately inform the store staff about it. But I just did nothing. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Ok, at the end when I was paying for my stuff, I did tell the cashier that some teens had shoplifted some sweets. But that's kinda too little too late rite. So i've been kinda stewing on why I didn't do anything when I saw the fella taking the sweets. Was I apathetic? Was I scared? It's really weird. Talk about moral reasoning and moral action. ie. Knowing what's right and doing what's right.

And in some way, this is kinda connected to the next thing on my mind.

As some of you might already know my now, Mr Otto Fong, my former colleague, apparently posted a letter on a blog telling everyone that he is gay. Wow. I've known him in my 5.5 years in RI and he's a real nice guy. But I admit that I've never thought he was gay. In fact, I'd thought he was married. lolz. I think it's incredibly brave for him to come out of the closet and tell everyone that he is gay, especially in Singapore and in RI. For that, I salute him. I know he is in for a really rough ride coz he now has to face both MOE and RI, not easy at all. For me, the question is... why did he do it? Why now? It's interesting to read all the comments in Tomorrow.sg and The Online Citizen. My response comes in two parts. First, from Otto's point of view, I can see how he might want to do what he did. But of course, I'm sure he's thought through it thoroughly and knew he could be martyred for this. For whatever reasons he might have I'm not here to judge him. But I must say he is incredibly brave to do it.

My second part has to do with what the school/MOE is gonna do to him. I am of the stand that a teacher's sexual orientation has nothing to do with his suitability to teach. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with moral values. It's ridiculous to equate gay with immorality. So, do we take a lousy teacher who is immoral or do we take a good teacher who is gay but moral? hmm. It's interesting to read about moe's stand that it “does not condone any open espousal of homosexual values by teachers in any form, in or out of the classroom”. As mentioned by many netizens, what exactly are 'homosexual values'? Is there even such a thing? Otto is an excellent teacher in my opinion and has mentored many students well. If he gets fired just for saying he is gay, then it goes to show the school/MOE's priorities.

It's been an interesting weekend.

Hairspray

Last weekend, I took the chance to go catch up on some movies which I'd not been able to watch since my 'incarceration' due to my sickness. I've wanted to watch Hairspray.. it's got raving reviews and I'd just finished watching the latest season of So You Think You Can Dance, so I was in an extra 'dancey' mood.

OK, before I talk about Hairspray, let me tell you what happened before. I went down to The Cathay at Dhoby Ghaut to catch it, but unfortunately, when I arrived, the seats were really bad, like first row bad. So I decided to catch a later screening at AMK Hub. In the meantime, how to past the time? I looked at all the movies screening at The Cathay and I saw the poster for Azur and Asmar. It was kinda eye-catching coz it was an animation not in the usual Disney/anime kinda way and of course, they had those 'First Prize in blah blah blah film festival' flashed all over the poster. So I looked at the screens above the counters and it said it was in English, so I thought, what the heck, how bad could it be.

Yes, how bad could it be.... sigh. First off, to be fair, the animation was interesting in that it really wasn't your typical Pixar or Anime-style. So it was eye catching for a few minutes. What got to me was that it wasn't in English. In fact, I frankly don't know what language it was in. I think is was French and Arabic. Yep... Arabic. I have nothing against the Arabic language. I just never imagined I would go watch an arabic cartoon. My point is, as much as I want to enjoy the animation, how do I do it if I am focussed on reading the subtitles? So, basically, I lost concentration and kinda fell asleep towards the last 1/3 of the movie. I definitely must stop being a sucker for the 'Won First Prize in blah blah blah festival' trick.

OK, back to Hairspray.

This is a real 100% feel good movie. I've read in some reviews that this movie is supposed to be the 'GREASE' for the current generation. I don't think I agree but I think it comes close. Hairspray is a musical. So of course, those who hate shows which break out in singing every 5 minutes better give this a miss. The singing in the movie was not bad. Everyone did a pretty fine job. I even liked all the songs John Travolta sang as a woman. lolz. The songs. Hmm. I don't think the songs were that memorable. Other than the last song, 'You Can't Stop the Beat', I think the rest of the songs are fun/nice but not very memorable. Next, is the dancing. I enjoyed the dance numbers but I can't say that the choreography was very fantastic. It was nice to watch and all that, but I think it lacked some bang. To some extent, maybe it was the filming coz often, we can't see the whole dance move but bits here and there.

For me, one of the highlights was John Travolta. I think he did an excellent job playing the mother of Tracy. Of course, many say it's just a gimmick, but I was checking it out and apparently, in the original musical version on broadway, that role is always acted by a drag queen and usually done in an over-the-top kinda way. I saw a video on youtube and saw this really flambouyant drag queen in the role. I guess it could be interesting, but I think I like the way John Travolta played it, more subdued and in a non-drag kinda way. In fact, I find his quite believable as the mother who was scared to go out. And his dance numbers were quite exhilarating, especially when he/she decides to go for it and does the Tina Turner-like number at the very end.

Overall, like I said, Hairspray is a nice feel good movie. The singing, dancing, acting were done well and it's nice to leave the cinema feeling warm and fuzzy. :P

Long silence...

Yeah, sorry for the long silence, faithful blog readers....

It's been a miserable two weeks and it's only getting marginably better. I've been down with a viral infection since two saturdays before and it's been terrible. First and foremost.... out when my appetitite. For more than a week, all I could stomach was porridge and kway teow soup. OMG... after the 3rd day, I almost wanted to just inject the stuff into my veins so I didn't need to force it down my throat. Those who know me how important it is for me to enjoy my food. Forcing myself to drink porridge and kway teow soup was just plain cruel.

Then there was the constant fever. Yes, I mean CONSTANT. This time round, no matter how many panadols I took, I constantly had a fever of at least 38 degrees and it just wouldn't quit. Fevers are no fun. They sap the energy out of you from doing anything and everything. So while I may be home on medical leave, i can't do anything coz I simply dun feel like doing anything. Add to that the fact that my baby nephew comes over every afternoon, I had to pretty much hide in my room to prevent passing the virus to him. Fever finally started coming down three/four days ago. It still comes and goes, but at least it actually goes down to a normal 37 degrees some times.

Stomach cramps. It was some kind of stomach virus. So it led to really uncomfortable stomach cramps. And to make it worse, it also led to constipation. Sigh. Actually, I guess there wasn't much for me to... shit out... since I was only taking porridge and kway teow soup anyway. This also persisted for about a week.

Miserable, miserable.

I pulled myself to work this week, partly coz i was really getting too bored at home and partly coz it really wasn't good to be gone on such a long long mc since I'd only start working there for about 2 months. It's been quite uncomfortable coz it's kinda hard to focus on preparing a proposal when you head just doesn't seem to be screwed on right. Add to that the cold sweats due to the occasional fevers and I've got a super uncomfortable day every day.

Silver lining on the grey clouds.... I appear to be able to ingest more solid and palatable food today. Can't take food that's too oily, but I was at least able to have some better food today like chee cheong fun (without sesame oil). Fever is still there, but seems to be less frequent.

Gotta make my way to the hospital next week for some shockwave blasting. Doctor says there's a kidney stone blocking my system so I gotta need to 'blast' it. Sure beats having a scope go up your manhood to attempt to crush and break up the stone. Trust me, it's as horrible as it sounds.

On a more positive note, I was really glad that one of my former students invited me back to RI for his installation ceremony just before I fell sick. It was nice to visit them in RI and I really felt proud of him for being appointed the president. So to my dear Zongyi, congratz again and I'm sure you'll do a marvellous job! (PS. Ernie, if you're reading this, you did great too! Never imagined you as an emcee but you did it really well!).

So that's about it. Sorry for the long delay in posting. Like i said, it was just a long moody two weeks.

Lunch Options... YAWN

One time of the day I almost dread now is... Lunch time. Yeah, surprising rite? Especially considering the fact that I enjoy food. But that's exactly it. Because I enjoy food, I am kinda picky when it comes to stuffing it into my mouth.

There are some nice options for lunch around Shenton Way, but the problem is, there are only so many places (which I do get bored after frequenting the shop often) and I hate it when the places are super crowded coz I don't get to enjoy my meal. I hate it when people are staring at me when I am eating, wondering when I will finish and vacate the place for them. I hate it when the tables & chairs are cramped to allow for maximum seating and minimum space. It just doesn't make for an enjoyable lunch experience (yeah, it sounds kinda spoilt I know).

I don't like to eat at Lau Pa Sat. Most of the shops are selling cookie-cutter food at higher than average prices. There's a cheaper market at Amoy Street but it's really crowded and has long queues. Recently, I've taken to eating sandwiches coz I can't seem to find anything else I really want to eat. Sandwiches are not bad, but BOY ARE THEY EXPENSIVE! I can get a plate of chicken rice (with extra rice) at abt 3.50 to 4 bucks. A sandwich (like the one u see below) with a soup and drink, costs about $10!! The sandwich alone is about $6. Sigh. If you think about it, two slices of bread + lettuce + tomatoes+chicken... cost price can't be more than $2.... These shops really know how to make a profit.

My office is moving to Toa Payoh at the end of the year. Can't wait! More interesting (and economical) food choices! Thinking of the yummy char siew & roast pork rice shop liaoz... and also the katong laksa shop... Ooh-la-la!

Yep, the meal above costs $10.

Biscuit World

Was at J8 today and saw the biscuit models of famous landmarks. Tbh, it was not very impressive. It looked nice, but the biscuits were pretty big so it's like simply glueing big bricks together.

I was a little disappointed at the way the event was held. As you can see from the pic, other than the sculpture in the middle, the rest of the place was pretty sparsely decorated. Not very festive.

On the whole, a nice distraction I guess. :P

I want to puke....

Sorry for the 'strong' title, but that's exactly what I'm feeling right now. I was happily settled in my seat on the bus when suddenly this lady sat down in front of me with a totally overwhelming pungent odour. OMG... Learn some moderation lady! Since I started work, this is the first time I've had such a puking experience. I've had to shift the air-con vent to blow directly at my face to try and blow the odour away. So it was a choice between stinking to death or freezing to death. It worked a little, but every once in a while some of it escapes and I want to gag...

What a wonderful way to start my day.

A Nice Way to Start the Day

Wonder how many of you ever read the line under the title of my blog. It's kinda like my mantra in life ever since I learnt that poem in secondary school. For the working person (and for students definitely), I think it's like a constant reminder: what is life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.

One thing I realized when I leave for work every morning is that the sky can be really beautiful. No, I am not being poetic or anything, I just think it really looks nice. Have you looked at the sky lately?

JMAG Tour

Feeling kinda proud... I've fulfilled one of my dreams in planning a Manga, Anime and Tokyo Game Show tour. It's being launched under the name JMAG (Japan Manga, Anime & Games). I'm not too sure if people are gonna sign up for it, but I think it's a start!

Take a look at the blog I've set up for it: JMAG2007.blogspot.com

Here's the flyer(updated).

Disturbia

Disturbia has been getting some decent reviews in the media. So when I was given the chance to go catch a special screening tonite, I jumped at the opportunity.

The movie stars the golden boy of the season, Shia Labeouf (of the recent Transformers movie fame) as a kid going thru a rough patch and ends up undergoing house arrest with that thingamajig tied to his ankle to prevent him from leaving his house. To pass his time, he starts observing his neighbours closely, learning their habits and their secrets too. Of course, as with any Hollywood movie, there has to be the obligatory love interest and the act-cool asian sidekick. Thru his spying, he ends up suspecting that his neighbour is actually a serial murderer. The remainder of the movie is basically an edge-of-the-seat ride that ping pongs you between 'yes he's a murderer' to 'no he is not'.

The movie really follows the typical paranoid-thriller formula. You know, the sudden shocks with someone touching your shoulder or breaking through a door kinda cliches. But surprisingly, it all works. And it works very well. Despite knowing that these things were going to happen, the director still manages to catch me off guard and gives me a few shocks along the way. And the edge of the seat moments are really good - at moments, the tension is so tight I almost felt my blood vessels bursting.

So what makes this movie tick? I think I must give credit to Shia Labeouf. He really does a pretty credible job of acting (and not over-acting) his role. The supporting roles are also fleshed out nicely. The cliched asian side-kick was not too irritating and manages to draw some laughs, especially at the start with his 'kick-ass' spanish. And taking the role of Shia's mom is non other than the Matrix-woman, Carrie-Ann Moss. She looks so motherly and... fleshy... that it's kinda hard to imagine that this was the same woman in the Matrix. Last but not least, we have the suspicious neighbour, portrayed by David Morse. David who? Haha.. he has actually acted in many movies, but never really in the A-list roles. I remember him best as Jodie Foster's dad in CONTACT. He's pretty creepy in Disturbia.... keeps you guessing if he is really evil... or not...

Disturbia is a surprising hit for me. I thought that after The Simpsons Movie, there would be a slump of good movies. Don't miss this thriller. Highly recommended.