Legend had it that the people of Coventry, in England, were suffering because of heavy taxation under the rule of Lord Leofric. His wife, known for her lustrous hair and beauty, protested and pleaded with him to remit the tax. He refused but would be willing to do so if she would ride naked on a horse through the streets and all the people stayed indoors with their windows shut. For the sake of the common people, she rode through the town naked and her husband kept his word and abolished the tax. She was Lady Godiva, a gift of God.
Eighty years ago in Brussels, Belgium, a master chocolatier, Joseph Draps founded a chocolate company and sought a name that “embodied the timeless qualities of passion, style, sensuality and modern boldness.” He chose Godiva.
Godiva was perhaps the earliest, and hence oldest, gourmet chocolatier that opened shop in Singapore. It was most likely in 1998 or 1999 and its first flagship shop was at Hilton Hotel Shopping Gallery.
Godiva, which sells their pralines and truffles at $25 and $30 per 100 gm respectively, is possibly the most expensive chocolates available in Singapore (for now). Teuscher (of Switzerland) sell their pralines & truffles at $28.80 per 100 gm whilst Prestat (of UK) sell their truffles at $29 per 100 gm. If Gucci sells their chocolates here they may become the most expensive going by the prices they charge in Ginza, Tokyo.
Godiva chocolates that are available here (and in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan) are made in Belgium. They are airflown here twice a week. Godiva chocolates that are available in US are made in US and they are much sweeter and less expensive.
Godiva used to sell their ice-cream here but have stopped long time ago. I was so disappointed then that I forgot to ask why.
Because of its high price (each truffle is about $5; you get six truffles per 100 gm) and there are other good choices, I nowadays usually eat Godiva chocolates once a year in August. That’s because I will receive a one-time-purchase birthday voucher from them which entitles me to 20% discount for up to $500-worth of chocolates. Other times, it is only 10% discount. I usually get about one kg by getting three to four each of every type of truffles which do not contain liquor.
I like all of them. Besides individual flavour, to savour the velvety smooth chocolate and let it slowly melts in the mouth is heavenly. Every night I will just eat two, before 8.00 pm. I call them my 仙丹(elixir of life pills) - they give me strength, vitality and fulfillment. If it is in the day, such as during the weekends or when I am on leave, I will eat three to four. Sometimes I find I have difficulty sleeping if I take more than two pieces after 8.00 pm. Anyway, it is now my usual practice not to snack after 8.00 pm if I intend to sleep at my usual hours or early.
Indeed, Godiva truffles is a gift from God.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Eli Stone
Just finished watching Episode 7 of Eli Stone. Yes, I am behind time on this – I record the episodes and watch it at my leisure when there is nothing on or when I want a change of genre. It is not a “must-watch” series to me; just one of those "feel good" shows.
Eli Stone is the male equivalent of Ally McBeal. Both are attorneys, with Ally McBeal in Boston and Eli Stone in San Francisco. Whilst Ally McBeal had songs by Vonda Shepard, Eli Stone has songs by George Michael, particularly the track, Faith. The hallucinations that Alley McBeal had were just dramatic representation of her thoughts and wishful thinking, most notably the Dancing Baby sequences. The hallucinations that Eli Stone has are due to his medical condition, brain aneurysm. However these “hallucinations” were many a times some kind of prophecies that guided Eli to do the right (moral) thing.
It is actually these visions that Eli has and the creative ways the script writers used these visions to put each episode in perspective that I find interesting and keep watching. For instance in Episode 7, Eli was chased by a fire-breathing dragon. This convinced him to take a case, even when the odds of winning was low, to sue a Dr Agon for malpractice (DrAgon = dragon). When it seemed Eli would lose the case, he saw his brother dressed as a knight on a horse fighting against the dragon. Eventually his brother provided some information that led to a successful win. At the end of this episode, the plaintiff gave Eli his favourite story book on Medieval Dragons.
Another interesting thing about this series is that every actors and actresses will do a song-dance routine. And Episode 2, in which Victor Garber sang and danced, is reason enough for me to do a review on Eli Stone. Having watched Victor Garber as the no-nonsense-at-many-times-ruthless Jack Bristow, father of Sydney Bristow in Alias for five seasons, it was almost surreal to watch him did that.
Ally McBeal ran for 5 seasons, I wonder how long Eli Stone will last, not that it matters.
Eli Stone is on every Friday at 8.00 pm on Star World (Channel 18).
Eli Stone is the male equivalent of Ally McBeal. Both are attorneys, with Ally McBeal in Boston and Eli Stone in San Francisco. Whilst Ally McBeal had songs by Vonda Shepard, Eli Stone has songs by George Michael, particularly the track, Faith. The hallucinations that Alley McBeal had were just dramatic representation of her thoughts and wishful thinking, most notably the Dancing Baby sequences. The hallucinations that Eli Stone has are due to his medical condition, brain aneurysm. However these “hallucinations” were many a times some kind of prophecies that guided Eli to do the right (moral) thing.
It is actually these visions that Eli has and the creative ways the script writers used these visions to put each episode in perspective that I find interesting and keep watching. For instance in Episode 7, Eli was chased by a fire-breathing dragon. This convinced him to take a case, even when the odds of winning was low, to sue a Dr Agon for malpractice (DrAgon = dragon). When it seemed Eli would lose the case, he saw his brother dressed as a knight on a horse fighting against the dragon. Eventually his brother provided some information that led to a successful win. At the end of this episode, the plaintiff gave Eli his favourite story book on Medieval Dragons.
Another interesting thing about this series is that every actors and actresses will do a song-dance routine. And Episode 2, in which Victor Garber sang and danced, is reason enough for me to do a review on Eli Stone. Having watched Victor Garber as the no-nonsense-at-many-times-ruthless Jack Bristow, father of Sydney Bristow in Alias for five seasons, it was almost surreal to watch him did that.
Ally McBeal ran for 5 seasons, I wonder how long Eli Stone will last, not that it matters.
Eli Stone is on every Friday at 8.00 pm on Star World (Channel 18).
A Tiring Week
This past week has been tiring.
Had second round of budget meeting, which lead to the need to verify and clarify with people who prepared their budgets, like “what were you thinking when you prepared the budget?” After which was the consolidation of the budgets which would be presented for final approval.
Mid-week I caught not the flu bug but the “uh-hum” bug. The “uh-hum” bug just gave me a constant nagging irritation in the throat – no cough, no cold, no fever. But when I had a nasty headache and kind of feverish I went to see the doctor early to prevent another episode of “my immune system being overwhelmed.”
Previously, there was this flu bug that was going around in the office but I managed to fend it off. I was feeling great but whilst at home one day, all of a sudden I got a sudden chill and then fever followed immediately which required two days of rest for me to recover. My doc said my immune system was fighting the then flu bug successfully till it cannot take it anymore and was “overwhelmed” hence the sudden chill and immediate fever. So is my immune system against the flu strong or not?
I have been getting my annual flu jab for the past three years now. Studies show that people who have flu jabs are less likely to get the flu and when they get it, they take one to two days less to recover from it. At $30 a jab, it is worth it!
Was “resting” at home for two days. Spent those two days sleeping, catching up on tv shows and restoring my computer. This time round I can’t even access the failed one-year old hard disk as its CHS values cannot be determined by the BIOS (anybody got a solution to this?). This is a first for me as I never experienced a failed hard disk within a year. My backups had always been in another partition in the same disk and eventually I will create another backup on another hard disk but unfortunately I didn't get to this stage of backup yet. As such I lost all my data and emails for the past 14 months or so. Was kind of dejected over this for the past two weeks as I should have known better and had I not been so "lazy" and so was not in the mood to do anything.
A new staff would be coming onboard so I needed to prepare and configure a computer system for him. Normally I get to know about new staff joining at least a month ahead so I get plenty of time to prep up the system. But this time round it was just a few days’ notice. It seems he was informed of his posting the same time we knew he was coming.
Hope to take some time off next week to catch up with a friend and to play with my cousins’ children.
Had second round of budget meeting, which lead to the need to verify and clarify with people who prepared their budgets, like “what were you thinking when you prepared the budget?” After which was the consolidation of the budgets which would be presented for final approval.
Mid-week I caught not the flu bug but the “uh-hum” bug. The “uh-hum” bug just gave me a constant nagging irritation in the throat – no cough, no cold, no fever. But when I had a nasty headache and kind of feverish I went to see the doctor early to prevent another episode of “my immune system being overwhelmed.”
Previously, there was this flu bug that was going around in the office but I managed to fend it off. I was feeling great but whilst at home one day, all of a sudden I got a sudden chill and then fever followed immediately which required two days of rest for me to recover. My doc said my immune system was fighting the then flu bug successfully till it cannot take it anymore and was “overwhelmed” hence the sudden chill and immediate fever. So is my immune system against the flu strong or not?
I have been getting my annual flu jab for the past three years now. Studies show that people who have flu jabs are less likely to get the flu and when they get it, they take one to two days less to recover from it. At $30 a jab, it is worth it!
Was “resting” at home for two days. Spent those two days sleeping, catching up on tv shows and restoring my computer. This time round I can’t even access the failed one-year old hard disk as its CHS values cannot be determined by the BIOS (anybody got a solution to this?). This is a first for me as I never experienced a failed hard disk within a year. My backups had always been in another partition in the same disk and eventually I will create another backup on another hard disk but unfortunately I didn't get to this stage of backup yet. As such I lost all my data and emails for the past 14 months or so. Was kind of dejected over this for the past two weeks as I should have known better and had I not been so "lazy" and so was not in the mood to do anything.
A new staff would be coming onboard so I needed to prepare and configure a computer system for him. Normally I get to know about new staff joining at least a month ahead so I get plenty of time to prep up the system. But this time round it was just a few days’ notice. It seems he was informed of his posting the same time we knew he was coming.
Hope to take some time off next week to catch up with a friend and to play with my cousins’ children.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
How To Edit MP3 Files?
I mentioned that I have Les Crane’s Desiderata as my sms notification ringtone. I might as well add that I have Sarah Brightman’s I Lost My Heart to A Starship Trooper (SB-ILMHTAST) as my incoming call ringtone. Both songs are about 4.5 minutes long.
SB-ILMHTAST starts off slowly and softly with a radioed message to contact the starship. There is also another attempt towards the end of the song, but this time the music is louder with words of passion being mumbled followed by noise of passion (this is where I usually turn up the volume way up high and low in tandem with the “noise”). Then there is the sound of lasers of the troopers firing at each other. Followed by strong repeats of the chorus.
What this means is that if I have to choose just 30 seconds of this song as my ringtone, there are so many parts I can choose from. The beginning 30 seconds is great. It comes on softly. So when I am near my phone I can pick it up before it becomes too loud for others to hear. But when I am not near my phone, I can’t hear it and might miss my call. I also like the passionate words & noise (obviously!) part and the laser part. So I ended up cutting this song into four parts of 30 seconds each.
To do the above, you just need Audacity. Audacity is a free (open source), extremely easy to use, audio editor and recorder. It supports wav, aiff, ogg and mp3 files. You can also change the pitch, tempo and bit-rates and remove noise easily. You can also install plug-ins for more functionalities. Despite its functions working quickly and smoothly, it does not hog up computer resources.
However because of software patents, you need to install the free LAME encoder to export (save your edited version of) mp3 files with Audacity. Detailed instructions are on its website.
To edit an mp3 file is like and as easy as editing a word document – you just Cut, Copy, Paste or Delete, and Save.
In a word document, you open the file, click on the beginning of the text you want and highlight it to the end of the text you want, either Copy or Cut and then save the selected portion.
Likewise to edit an mp3 file, you open the file and you will see the song’s sound wave and the time-line. Click at the time-line corresponding to the point you to want to start and drag to the end-point. You can click on the Play button to listen to your selected portion and make any adjustments you want. When you are satisfied, just save the file using another file name; otherwise your original version will be overridden.
If you have the time and are adventurous, you can play around with the other functions which can produce some amusing results.
Besides the Windows version of Audacity, there is also one for Mac OS X and Linux.
SB-ILMHTAST starts off slowly and softly with a radioed message to contact the starship. There is also another attempt towards the end of the song, but this time the music is louder with words of passion being mumbled followed by noise of passion (this is where I usually turn up the volume way up high and low in tandem with the “noise”). Then there is the sound of lasers of the troopers firing at each other. Followed by strong repeats of the chorus.
What this means is that if I have to choose just 30 seconds of this song as my ringtone, there are so many parts I can choose from. The beginning 30 seconds is great. It comes on softly. So when I am near my phone I can pick it up before it becomes too loud for others to hear. But when I am not near my phone, I can’t hear it and might miss my call. I also like the passionate words & noise (obviously!) part and the laser part. So I ended up cutting this song into four parts of 30 seconds each.
To do the above, you just need Audacity. Audacity is a free (open source), extremely easy to use, audio editor and recorder. It supports wav, aiff, ogg and mp3 files. You can also change the pitch, tempo and bit-rates and remove noise easily. You can also install plug-ins for more functionalities. Despite its functions working quickly and smoothly, it does not hog up computer resources.
However because of software patents, you need to install the free LAME encoder to export (save your edited version of) mp3 files with Audacity. Detailed instructions are on its website.
To edit an mp3 file is like and as easy as editing a word document – you just Cut, Copy, Paste or Delete, and Save.
In a word document, you open the file, click on the beginning of the text you want and highlight it to the end of the text you want, either Copy or Cut and then save the selected portion.
Likewise to edit an mp3 file, you open the file and you will see the song’s sound wave and the time-line. Click at the time-line corresponding to the point you to want to start and drag to the end-point. You can click on the Play button to listen to your selected portion and make any adjustments you want. When you are satisfied, just save the file using another file name; otherwise your original version will be overridden.If you have the time and are adventurous, you can play around with the other functions which can produce some amusing results.
Besides the Windows version of Audacity, there is also one for Mac OS X and Linux.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Desiderata
Since I mentioned that Desiderata has a great influence on my life, it is only appropriate I share it here with you. However instead of producing Les Crane's version here, which I had shared with many of my friends, I now share with you the original version, which was written by Max Ehrmann (1872-1945) in 1927. He actually named his poem as "Go placidly amid the noise and haste" but his poem is more commonly referred to us "Desiderata," which is supposed to be a latin word meaning "things to be desired" or " desired things". There are only slight differences between the two versions.
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and
remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter,
for always there will be greater and
lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble,
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals, and
everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and
broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
BTW, my mobile phone SMS notification ringtone is set to Les Crane's Desiderata.
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and
remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter,
for always there will be greater and
lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble,
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals, and
everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and
broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
BTW, my mobile phone SMS notification ringtone is set to Les Crane's Desiderata.
Chocoélf Chocolaterie
On every box of chocolate from Chocoélf Chocolaterie, the touching story of how the company came about is retold:
One day we heard this little boy chuckle in delight.
The sight of this transformed little boy was one of pure magic.
“Chocolate means many things to many people:
Well, I find each piece of Chocoélf chocolate kind of small. For Godiva truffles, I usually need to eat two to three pieces before I feel “satisfied”. For Chocoélf, I need to eat six at one go to feel the same “satisfaction”. For example, their Amande Admirer or Almond Duet, which consist of a roasted almond on top of the chocolate, the almond takes up one-third to half the size. Thus the amount of chocolate is “lacking”, for want of a better word. Amongst those that I have tasted, I like Pure Dark Imp, Arabica Aroma and Coffee Major. Their chocolate is not as sweet as those from Chocz.
Unless it is a gift, otherwise for self-consumption I will always buy chocolate by the piece or weight. It is more expensive buying them in a box as you are paying for the box as well. Unfortunately, Chocoélf do not sell their chocolate by the piece or by weight. Going by their prices of $4.50 for a 2-piece box and $200 for a 100-piece box, each piece is about $2 to $2.25. The guy I spoke to told me each piece is about 10 to 18 grams. The price is therefore comparable to some of the other local brand chocolatiers.
Their pralines and truffles are only available at their shop at Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre (162 West Coast Way) and online. If your order is $200 or more, there is no delivery charge; otherwise a charge of $20 is levied.
If there are specific pieces you want, you can request for them. Otherwise, Chocoélf will just pick whatever is available. Thus if you must insist on certain pieces, longer advance notice is recommended.
Many years ago we met an adorable little boy.
His parents doted on him, but he was unhappy
He was blind, unwell, and the hospital was his second home.
The doctors cared for him, but none could lift his spirit.
One day we heard this little boy chuckle in delight.
A kind nurse had given him a little piece of Chocolate.
As he nibbled away, he forgot his darkness.
As the Chocolate melted away, so did his pain.
For a long while, a merry grin lit up his angelic face.
The sight of this transformed little boy was one of pure magic.
At that moment Chocoélf was born.
Our way of spreading joy with the most heartfelt of chocolates.
Taste the Pure Magic in Every Box.
“Chocolate means many things to many people:
For the Aztecs, it was money. Spanish monks drank it for health.
To us in Chocoélf, Chocolate is Magic.”
Let us share this magic with you.
Well, I find each piece of Chocoélf chocolate kind of small. For Godiva truffles, I usually need to eat two to three pieces before I feel “satisfied”. For Chocoélf, I need to eat six at one go to feel the same “satisfaction”. For example, their Amande Admirer or Almond Duet, which consist of a roasted almond on top of the chocolate, the almond takes up one-third to half the size. Thus the amount of chocolate is “lacking”, for want of a better word. Amongst those that I have tasted, I like Pure Dark Imp, Arabica Aroma and Coffee Major. Their chocolate is not as sweet as those from Chocz.
Unless it is a gift, otherwise for self-consumption I will always buy chocolate by the piece or weight. It is more expensive buying them in a box as you are paying for the box as well. Unfortunately, Chocoélf do not sell their chocolate by the piece or by weight. Going by their prices of $4.50 for a 2-piece box and $200 for a 100-piece box, each piece is about $2 to $2.25. The guy I spoke to told me each piece is about 10 to 18 grams. The price is therefore comparable to some of the other local brand chocolatiers.
Their pralines and truffles are only available at their shop at Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre (162 West Coast Way) and online. If your order is $200 or more, there is no delivery charge; otherwise a charge of $20 is levied.
If there are specific pieces you want, you can request for them. Otherwise, Chocoélf will just pick whatever is available. Thus if you must insist on certain pieces, longer advance notice is recommended.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Do I Make A Good Father?
My cousin and her son, when he was about three to four years old, came to my office once and I played with him whilst my cousin talked with my boss, who was her boss previously. A colleague asked me whether that child was my son and when I replied, “no” he said he thought he was from the way I interacted with him. Are there specific ways how a dad interacts with his son?
Whilst walking past a kindergarten class, there was a noise. I jerked my head to the left and right to find the source of the noise and the whole class laughed. I can look at a child, make a face and the child will laugh. Maybe I got a “cartoon” face. Well not all children would laugh. Those that don’t will stare at me first and maybe wonder “what’s that freak up to?”
I seem to get along quite well with children. I seem to know what they are thinking. Does that make me childish and immature?
I think my cousins’ children like to talk and play with me. Why?
Maybe because my aim is to make them laugh. Children should be happy. I think they have been in a “serious mode” long enough when they are in school, with their teachers and parents that they need to switch off and just be silly, talking nonsense, stretching their imagination, thinking out of the box for a while. They know it is nonsense. Sometimes they say I am lying but I say I was just bluffing.
Maybe as my cousin said, I am not fierce enough. But I don’t really believe in being angry with children. Firm yes; angry no. Perhaps it is easy for me to say this as I see them at most once a week and therefore able to “tolerate” their “nonsense”.
Maybe I missed out on a lot of things when I was a child and knows what matters to a child.
Raising a child is not an easy task. Some say it is a life long process. You got to use different approaches at different stages of a child’s life. It is documented that a child will test and try to push the boundaries that his parents laid for him. It is also documented that a child will play one parent against the other to his advantage.
Does one just use the carrot or stick approach? A combination of both? How to have an effective balance?
Knowing how to make a child laugh and happy do not necessary mean I will be a good father. Will knowing and believing in some of philosophies on parenting (which I shared in my earlier posts) make me a good father? I don’t know and don’t think so. Knowing is one thing, being able to apply them effectively is another.
To those who had said that I would make a good father, I can only say, “thank you”.
Whilst walking past a kindergarten class, there was a noise. I jerked my head to the left and right to find the source of the noise and the whole class laughed. I can look at a child, make a face and the child will laugh. Maybe I got a “cartoon” face. Well not all children would laugh. Those that don’t will stare at me first and maybe wonder “what’s that freak up to?”
I seem to get along quite well with children. I seem to know what they are thinking. Does that make me childish and immature?
I think my cousins’ children like to talk and play with me. Why?
Maybe because my aim is to make them laugh. Children should be happy. I think they have been in a “serious mode” long enough when they are in school, with their teachers and parents that they need to switch off and just be silly, talking nonsense, stretching their imagination, thinking out of the box for a while. They know it is nonsense. Sometimes they say I am lying but I say I was just bluffing.
Maybe as my cousin said, I am not fierce enough. But I don’t really believe in being angry with children. Firm yes; angry no. Perhaps it is easy for me to say this as I see them at most once a week and therefore able to “tolerate” their “nonsense”.
Maybe I missed out on a lot of things when I was a child and knows what matters to a child.
Raising a child is not an easy task. Some say it is a life long process. You got to use different approaches at different stages of a child’s life. It is documented that a child will test and try to push the boundaries that his parents laid for him. It is also documented that a child will play one parent against the other to his advantage.
Does one just use the carrot or stick approach? A combination of both? How to have an effective balance?
Knowing how to make a child laugh and happy do not necessary mean I will be a good father. Will knowing and believing in some of philosophies on parenting (which I shared in my earlier posts) make me a good father? I don’t know and don’t think so. Knowing is one thing, being able to apply them effectively is another.
To those who had said that I would make a good father, I can only say, “thank you”.
Children Learn What They Live; Children Live What They Learn
Children learn what they live
Children live what they learn
Teach them the way to love in their hearts
They will find love in the world
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn,
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient,
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence,
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate,
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith,
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself,
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
he learns to find love in the world.
The above is taken from Les Crane Desiderata album which was originally released in 1971. The album consisted of poems narrated by Les Crane and set to music. The words in italics is the chorus and sung, whilst the rest are narrated.
Children Learn What They Live was a poem written by Dorothy Law Nolte. This and the title track, Desiderata have a great influence on me.
Children live what they learn
Teach them the way to love in their hearts
They will find love in the world
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn,
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient,
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence,
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate,
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith,
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself,
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
he learns to find love in the world.
The above is taken from Les Crane Desiderata album which was originally released in 1971. The album consisted of poems narrated by Les Crane and set to music. The words in italics is the chorus and sung, whilst the rest are narrated.
Children Learn What They Live was a poem written by Dorothy Law Nolte. This and the title track, Desiderata have a great influence on me.
Some Quotes on Children
"I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be"
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be"
- lyrics from the song "Greatest Love of All" by
Michael Masser and Linda Creed"
"Every child is born a genius."
- Richard Buckminster Fuller
"Life, love, and laughter - what priceless gifts to give our children."
- Phyllis Dryden
"Listen to the desires of your children. Encourage them and then give them the autonomy to make their own decision."
- Denis Waitley
"We must teach our children to dream with their eyes open."
- Harry Edwards
"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."
- Charles R. Swindoll
"Your children will see what you're all about by what you live rather than what you say."
- Wayne Dyer
"Don't throw away your friendship with your teenager over behavior that has no great moral significance. There will be plenty of real issues that require you to stand like a rock. Save your big guns for those crucial confrontations."
- Dr. James C. Dobson
"In the final analysis it is not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings."
- Ann Landers
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Installing LOVE
My home desktop computer crashed over the weekend. Have not restore it back yet. This got me thinking about Technical Support which in turn led me to think about this piece whose author is unknown.
Tech Support: Yes Ma'am... how can I help you?
Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me though the process?
Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart ma'am?
Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?
Tech Support: What programs are running ma'am?
Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.
Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory, but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of it's own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off ma'am?
Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?
Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have completely erased.
Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?
Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.
Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - program not run on external components." What should I do?
Tech Support: Don't worry ma'am. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.
Customer: So, what should I do?
Tech Support: Can you pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.
Customer: Okay, done.
Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.
Customer: Got it. Hey!!! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?
Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.
Customer: I promise to do just that. By the way, what's your name?
Tech Support: Just call me the Divine Cardiologist, also known as the Great Physician, or, just "I AM." Most people feel all they need is an annual checkup to stay heart-healthy; but, the manufacturer (ME) suggests a daily maintenance schedule for maximum Love efficiency.
Tech Support: Yes Ma'am... how can I help you?
Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me though the process?
Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart ma'am?
Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?
Tech Support: What programs are running ma'am?
Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.
Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory, but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of it's own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off ma'am?
Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?
Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have completely erased.
Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?
Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.
Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - program not run on external components." What should I do?
Tech Support: Don't worry ma'am. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.
Customer: So, what should I do?
Tech Support: Can you pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.
Customer: Okay, done.
Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.
Customer: Got it. Hey!!! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?
Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.
Customer: I promise to do just that. By the way, what's your name?
Tech Support: Just call me the Divine Cardiologist, also known as the Great Physician, or, just "I AM." Most people feel all they need is an annual checkup to stay heart-healthy; but, the manufacturer (ME) suggests a daily maintenance schedule for maximum Love efficiency.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
GYHST
Whenever the words, “gee” and “smell” comes to my mind, I will think of the shampoo which was sold here in Singapore in the 80s, “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific”.
Afraid that no one is going to believe that there was such a shampoo by such a name, I had hope to obtain at least a picture of it to prove it ever existed.
Afraid that no one is going to believe that there was such a shampoo by such a name, I had hope to obtain at least a picture of it to prove it ever existed.
Not only did I managed to get this picture, I found out that it is still being sold in the Philippines and you can purchase it online from the Vermont Country Store in US.
I always thought who would want to buy a shampoo with such a relatively long and unconventional name. I seriously believe it was taken off the shelf here because people somehow mistaken its name to be, “Gee Your Terrific Hair Smells!” Now, who wants to buy that?
Hit A Penguin
This is just a silly flash game to while away your time, when you need a break or just to test how good your aim is.
Just click once and the penguin will fall. Click again to hit the penguin. When the hit penguin lands, two yellow flags will appear – one stating the distance the penguin has being flung and an “OK” flag for you to click to restart the game. You might want to turn on your speakers.
Clicking on the screen shot above will bring you to the site. Can be quite addictive. There was one stage when office colleagues would proudly announced their “achievement” in hitting the penguin the furthest.
Disclaimer: This is a flash (animated) game. No live penguin was used or harmed in any way. The posting of this game here does not constitute the promotion of cruelty to animals.
Who would actually want to hit a penguin? Only a penguin would do that to another penguin. Watch:
Just click once and the penguin will fall. Click again to hit the penguin. When the hit penguin lands, two yellow flags will appear – one stating the distance the penguin has being flung and an “OK” flag for you to click to restart the game. You might want to turn on your speakers.
Clicking on the screen shot above will bring you to the site. Can be quite addictive. There was one stage when office colleagues would proudly announced their “achievement” in hitting the penguin the furthest.
Disclaimer: This is a flash (animated) game. No live penguin was used or harmed in any way. The posting of this game here does not constitute the promotion of cruelty to animals.
Who would actually want to hit a penguin? Only a penguin would do that to another penguin. Watch:
Thursday, May 14, 2009
I Smell Very Nice Issit?
What irks me most is when I am in a queue and the person behind me stands very close to me. I can understand if there is a long queue and space is limited. Otherwise there is no need to be so close till I am able to hear or feel you breathing or feel you are moving or shifting your body weight from one leg to another. I think in all situations, at least a one-arm’s length distance between each one will be ideal. Nothing to do with the flu; nothing to do with body odor. Just don’t come too close!
There were instances when I moved one or two inches forward to increase the distance between me and the person behind me and the latter would also moved the same proportionate distance forward! Hello! I am moving AWAY FROM you!!
I don’t like to queue and take pains to avoid queues. But I have no choice but to queue once a week for non-personal banking purpose. So I get these annoyances quite frequently.
Like most Singaporeans, I am “too polite” to say anything to the provoker and just use my eyes and facial expressions to convey my displeasure. If I had Superman’s eyes, that person would certainly be vaporised.
Since most of them are clueless about body language they need to be told in no uncertain terms. The question then is how to tell them.
You can be very polite and say something like, “Sorry can you please don’t stand so close to me because I get very nervous when people do”, you know the its-not-your-fault-but-mine approach. Or be sarcastic and say, “Stand so close for what, I smell very nice issit?” Perhaps the angry approach: “You gay ah, stand so close!” Or fire off with “Why you keep coming so close? You think that will make the queue go faster? You think that will make those tellers work faster? If it does I would have stuck my body to the person in front of me! So back off! Come any nearer I swear to God I will jab you in your rib cage with my elbow.”
Which approach would you choose? Any suggestion? Let me know.
There were instances when I moved one or two inches forward to increase the distance between me and the person behind me and the latter would also moved the same proportionate distance forward! Hello! I am moving AWAY FROM you!!
I don’t like to queue and take pains to avoid queues. But I have no choice but to queue once a week for non-personal banking purpose. So I get these annoyances quite frequently.
Like most Singaporeans, I am “too polite” to say anything to the provoker and just use my eyes and facial expressions to convey my displeasure. If I had Superman’s eyes, that person would certainly be vaporised.
Since most of them are clueless about body language they need to be told in no uncertain terms. The question then is how to tell them.
You can be very polite and say something like, “Sorry can you please don’t stand so close to me because I get very nervous when people do”, you know the its-not-your-fault-but-mine approach. Or be sarcastic and say, “Stand so close for what, I smell very nice issit?” Perhaps the angry approach: “You gay ah, stand so close!” Or fire off with “Why you keep coming so close? You think that will make the queue go faster? You think that will make those tellers work faster? If it does I would have stuck my body to the person in front of me! So back off! Come any nearer I swear to God I will jab you in your rib cage with my elbow.”
Which approach would you choose? Any suggestion? Let me know.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
K-POP
Since I was able to receive KBS World on TV, I was reacquainted with Korean pop music. I was sort of into K-Pop just before the turn of the century but there was a period of time I was “out” of it. Don’t know and can’t remember why I stopped in between these two periods. Maybe the disbanding of some of my favourite groups?
Was into Clon, Fly to the Sky, S.E.S., Baby V.O.X., H.O.T. and practically everyone’s favourite, Shinhwa.
Clon (formed in 1996) and Fly to the Sky (formed in 1999) were duos. There were lots of high power energy rap from Clon and Fly to the Sky stood out as their music had a lot of american influence. Unfortunately, Kang Won-Rae, one half of Clon, met with a tragic motorcycle accident in November 2000, which left him paralyzed from the waist down.
H.O.T. (formed in 1996) was undoubtedly HOT as many would say that they set the trend and standards for subsequent boy and girl bands in Korea, including Shinhwa. H.O.T. (many think that it stands for High-five Of Teenagers) had five members including Kangta. H.O.T. disbanded in 2001.
S.E.S. (formed in 1997 till 2002) was the female equivalent of H.O.T. The name of this band is made up of the initial of each of its members’ names, just like Taiwan’s SHE.
Amongst the female bands that tried to ride on the success of S.E.S. and actually do made a mark for themselves was Baby V.O.X. (Voices Of Xpression; formed in 1999 till 2005), with five members.
Shinhwa (formed in 1998) is legendary just like its chinese name, 神話. With six members who are not only musicians in their own rights, they are the only band that had survived for more than 10 years. The last album was released last year in 2008. Whilst members had gone solo, they are still officially together as a band. It is rumoured that they will be together for another five years before disbanding.
I am not sure whether it is fair for me to say, but I think that many members of the current new bands may not be able to stand on their own unlike the earlier members mentioned above. Some of the earlier members had gone solo and are just as popular now. Some of them, who might no longer be on stage, are well respected behind the scene.
My comment is based on my observation of current new groups: the members are very young and the sheer size of each group. The earlier groups had 2 to 6 members. Now it is like you need at least 5 and up to 13 members: Big Bang (5 members), Wonder Girls (5), 2 PM (7), Girls’ Generation (9), Super Junior (13). Maybe they are from what is called idol faction [偶像派] and not strength faction [实力派] (having good looks versus having good singing skills).
Notwithstanding the “quality” of the current new groups, their music is characterized by catchy tune and beat with simple yet slick dance moves. The choreography when done by one person might seem silly but when executed in unison and precision as a group it can be quite entertaining. Like many Mandarin and Japanese songs, a simple but mandatory English word or phrase must be thrown in. So for people like me who doesn’t understand Korean, it is usually the part with the English word or phrase that catches on with us.
You can watch Music Bank (Korea Top 20 music chart show) every Tuesday from 6.00 pm to 7.20 pm on Starhub (free) Channel 173. At this time, I am usually just chilling after dinner and checking out what’s on TV anyway.
Not decided whether you want to tune in? Well here are three of the past and current holders of the Number 1 spot in the Music K-Chart, arranged chronologically:
Wonder Girls - Noboby
Girl's Generation - Gee
Super Junior - Sorry Sorry
I want nobody nobody but you, nobody nobody but you, gee gee gee baby baby baby, gee gee gee baby baby baby, sorry sorry sorry sorry!!
Was into Clon, Fly to the Sky, S.E.S., Baby V.O.X., H.O.T. and practically everyone’s favourite, Shinhwa.
Clon (formed in 1996) and Fly to the Sky (formed in 1999) were duos. There were lots of high power energy rap from Clon and Fly to the Sky stood out as their music had a lot of american influence. Unfortunately, Kang Won-Rae, one half of Clon, met with a tragic motorcycle accident in November 2000, which left him paralyzed from the waist down.
H.O.T. (formed in 1996) was undoubtedly HOT as many would say that they set the trend and standards for subsequent boy and girl bands in Korea, including Shinhwa. H.O.T. (many think that it stands for High-five Of Teenagers) had five members including Kangta. H.O.T. disbanded in 2001.
S.E.S. (formed in 1997 till 2002) was the female equivalent of H.O.T. The name of this band is made up of the initial of each of its members’ names, just like Taiwan’s SHE.
Amongst the female bands that tried to ride on the success of S.E.S. and actually do made a mark for themselves was Baby V.O.X. (Voices Of Xpression; formed in 1999 till 2005), with five members.
Shinhwa (formed in 1998) is legendary just like its chinese name, 神話. With six members who are not only musicians in their own rights, they are the only band that had survived for more than 10 years. The last album was released last year in 2008. Whilst members had gone solo, they are still officially together as a band. It is rumoured that they will be together for another five years before disbanding.
I am not sure whether it is fair for me to say, but I think that many members of the current new bands may not be able to stand on their own unlike the earlier members mentioned above. Some of the earlier members had gone solo and are just as popular now. Some of them, who might no longer be on stage, are well respected behind the scene.
My comment is based on my observation of current new groups: the members are very young and the sheer size of each group. The earlier groups had 2 to 6 members. Now it is like you need at least 5 and up to 13 members: Big Bang (5 members), Wonder Girls (5), 2 PM (7), Girls’ Generation (9), Super Junior (13). Maybe they are from what is called idol faction [偶像派] and not strength faction [实力派] (having good looks versus having good singing skills).
Notwithstanding the “quality” of the current new groups, their music is characterized by catchy tune and beat with simple yet slick dance moves. The choreography when done by one person might seem silly but when executed in unison and precision as a group it can be quite entertaining. Like many Mandarin and Japanese songs, a simple but mandatory English word or phrase must be thrown in. So for people like me who doesn’t understand Korean, it is usually the part with the English word or phrase that catches on with us.
You can watch Music Bank (Korea Top 20 music chart show) every Tuesday from 6.00 pm to 7.20 pm on Starhub (free) Channel 173. At this time, I am usually just chilling after dinner and checking out what’s on TV anyway.
Not decided whether you want to tune in? Well here are three of the past and current holders of the Number 1 spot in the Music K-Chart, arranged chronologically:
Wonder Girls - Noboby
Girl's Generation - Gee
Super Junior - Sorry Sorry
I want nobody nobody but you, nobody nobody but you, gee gee gee baby baby baby, gee gee gee baby baby baby, sorry sorry sorry sorry!!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Frak! Shut Up and Sit Down!
Part of this post is password-protected.
I am now so frakkin tired (so mad and frustrated that I could only fall asleep after 12.30 am and woke up 6.20 am this morning!) and the high-starch-carb Portuguese pork chop rice (I had actually wanted a soup and sandwich for lunch but the place was packed) I had for lunch, which I regret now, is making me frakkin sleepy. I don’t think I can work for the rest of the day. My body is awake but my brain is half-comatose. Frak!
If you still do not know how to use the word, “frak” or “frakkin” by now, watch this video:
I am now so frakkin tired (so mad and frustrated that I could only fall asleep after 12.30 am and woke up 6.20 am this morning!) and the high-starch-carb Portuguese pork chop rice (I had actually wanted a soup and sandwich for lunch but the place was packed) I had for lunch, which I regret now, is making me frakkin sleepy. I don’t think I can work for the rest of the day. My body is awake but my brain is half-comatose. Frak!
If you still do not know how to use the word, “frak” or “frakkin” by now, watch this video:
Sunday, May 10, 2009
My First Cousins Once Removed
This photo shows the names of my cousins’ children. As this picture was taken in December 2008, it does not show the Christmas ornament of Evan, who was born early this year in January. Soon there will be another addition.According to genealogists, they are my first cousins once removed and, I am their first cousin once removed as well.
It will be strange if they start greeting me, “hi, first cousin once removed weng.” I am very contented with the current “hi, uncle weng” or “uncle win” as one of them pronounced it.
I have two more first cousins once removed whose names don’t appear in the picture. They are of, er, child-bearing age, and their children are supposed to be my first cousins twice removed.
The Singapore way of addressing seniors uncles and aunties seems to avoid such problems though relationships might be confused. I can’t bring myself to address someone older than and not related to me as “uncles” and “aunties”. Just weird.
Photos being resized automatically
I mentioned in my earlier post that unadulterated and better resolutions photos would be available in my Facebook account. Well I did some experiment and found this not to be true.
My original photo is 2.26MB at 2448 x 3264 pixels. When uploaded to Facebook, it was automatically reduced to 43KB at 453 x 604 pixels. When uploaded to this Blog, it was reduced to 217KB at 1200 x 1600 pixels, regardless of whether I chose “small”, “medium” or “large”. So this Blog delivers better resolutions photos than Facebook.
My first thought was perhaps the article published in the New York Times website on 26 April 2009 has some basis. It claims that Facebook is considering lowering the quality of videos and photographs been delivered to some regions in an effort to reduce expenses. The article states that some global web companies (like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Veoh) are thinking of restricting access or lowering service standards to regions, like the developing countries, which prove costly to operate as the revenue generated from advertising in these regions does not cover the cost of operation, in an effort to boost their profit margins. The popularity and growth of these sites in developing countries eat up costly bandwidth which does not commensurate with revenue generated.
So to test whether this is true, I send my original 2.26MB photo to a friend in US and asked him to upload it to his Facebook account and then download it. The result was the same: the photo was automatically resized to 43KB at 453 x 604 pixels. Perhaps Singapore is not considered to be one of these “developing countries”.
Anyway, I will still reduce the pixels size, for faster download, and marked each photos, for security, that are uploaded to this Blog. I may or may not put another in my Facebook account. Thus if you are interested in any of the photos here and want the original just let me know and I will email it to you.
My original photo is 2.26MB at 2448 x 3264 pixels. When uploaded to Facebook, it was automatically reduced to 43KB at 453 x 604 pixels. When uploaded to this Blog, it was reduced to 217KB at 1200 x 1600 pixels, regardless of whether I chose “small”, “medium” or “large”. So this Blog delivers better resolutions photos than Facebook.
My first thought was perhaps the article published in the New York Times website on 26 April 2009 has some basis. It claims that Facebook is considering lowering the quality of videos and photographs been delivered to some regions in an effort to reduce expenses. The article states that some global web companies (like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Veoh) are thinking of restricting access or lowering service standards to regions, like the developing countries, which prove costly to operate as the revenue generated from advertising in these regions does not cover the cost of operation, in an effort to boost their profit margins. The popularity and growth of these sites in developing countries eat up costly bandwidth which does not commensurate with revenue generated.
So to test whether this is true, I send my original 2.26MB photo to a friend in US and asked him to upload it to his Facebook account and then download it. The result was the same: the photo was automatically resized to 43KB at 453 x 604 pixels. Perhaps Singapore is not considered to be one of these “developing countries”.
Anyway, I will still reduce the pixels size, for faster download, and marked each photos, for security, that are uploaded to this Blog. I may or may not put another in my Facebook account. Thus if you are interested in any of the photos here and want the original just let me know and I will email it to you.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Esophagoscopy- Gastroscopy-Duodenoscopy with/without Biopsy
That’s the day surgical procedure, mentioned in my earlier post, I went for.
I have periodic chest and gastric pains. On three occasions the pain was so intense, spreading from my stomach up to my chest, that I thought they were coronary attacks or something. They lasted probably a minute or two and I had to swift my body and control my breathing to get some relief.
The gastrologist said that my symptoms could be due to too much acid in the stomach, GERD, stomach ulcers or my gallbladder stone, which at three six-month intervals, it went from “yes you have one tiny stone in your gallbladder” to “no you don’t have it” to “yes it’s there (again?)”. Anyway to determine whether it was the first two causes, an endoscopy was scheduled.
After all the “check-in” procedures, my weight, temperature and blood pressure were taken. The nurse gave me a friendship band (patient tag with my name, NRIC no, etc) to wear on my wrist. Took away my wallet, watch, mobile phone and even keys in a sealed envelope with my signature on it.
When it was my turn, the nurse took me to another section, asked to me take off my shoes and lie down on the bed. The small-sized nurse covered me with a blanket and wheeled me off to another section which actually was not too far away. I actually asked her to let me walk there so she need not push me there. Whilst I was being wheeled in I did lift my head and see where I was going. And you know when you watch those TV dramas when a patient is being wheeled into the operating room they like to shoot the view from the patient’s perspective and show you the lights on the ceiling moving along? Ah, I got to see that lived.
A nurse then gave me 1 to 2 ml of slightly clouded liquid to drink saying something about it would help reduced bubbles(?). Then I was wheeled to an inner section to where the scope machines were.
The nurse proceeded to prep me and I turned to stop her and said I wanted to be sedated. Don’t they ask the patients whether they want to be sedated and just assume they don’t? I am extremely nervous about such procedures. I have a very low tolerance of pain (lower than my spicy tolerance quotient). I am a coward. All these equate to “knock me out”.
She then continuously sprayed something into my throat, as if she was watering a bonsai plant, and told me not to swallow and hold it. There was a burning sensation in my throat – an extremely bad case of sore throat. Hardly about to speak, I reminded her that I have yet to be sedated.
The nurse poked me twice saying my veins were too fine. At first I thought “oh no double dosage of anaesthesia” but realised she was just placing the vault for injection later. She asked me to turn to my side and asked me to hold a table napkin ring in my mouth. Again I nervously told her I have yet to be sedated; I was actually pleading, not out loud, please don’t proceed any more, I am still conscious! Obediently I hold that ring in my mouth. A guy came and said what I wanted to hear, “I am going to give you the injection now.” After he was done, I was still awake. Panic! Why am I still awake!?
The next moment I woke up and found myself in another section of the ward. The procedure was completed. I have no recollection of what happened. The last memory was that ring in my mouth. It was like I was abducted by aliens, experimented on, and that period of time was erased from my memory.
I have wondered how can a person not know or feel anything and remember who it was, even if she is too weak to protest, when drugged and raped. Well I have no recollection of this long tube that was inserted into my mouth and I don’t know who did it and for how long that person did it or whether the person was enjoying it. I now believe.
Was given some biscuits and a cup of milo. The nurse couldn't discharge me as there was no one to accompany me home, a requirement if one is sedated. A doctor had to be found to authorise my discharge. I was advised not to sign any legal documents/contracts, such as transfer of title deeds to my mansions and the various islands that I owned, that day.
Duration: 10.15 am to 12.40 pm. Diagnosis: I have dyspepsia. Course of action: have to wait till my next appointment in August.
I have periodic chest and gastric pains. On three occasions the pain was so intense, spreading from my stomach up to my chest, that I thought they were coronary attacks or something. They lasted probably a minute or two and I had to swift my body and control my breathing to get some relief.
The gastrologist said that my symptoms could be due to too much acid in the stomach, GERD, stomach ulcers or my gallbladder stone, which at three six-month intervals, it went from “yes you have one tiny stone in your gallbladder” to “no you don’t have it” to “yes it’s there (again?)”. Anyway to determine whether it was the first two causes, an endoscopy was scheduled.
After all the “check-in” procedures, my weight, temperature and blood pressure were taken. The nurse gave me a friendship band (patient tag with my name, NRIC no, etc) to wear on my wrist. Took away my wallet, watch, mobile phone and even keys in a sealed envelope with my signature on it.
When it was my turn, the nurse took me to another section, asked to me take off my shoes and lie down on the bed. The small-sized nurse covered me with a blanket and wheeled me off to another section which actually was not too far away. I actually asked her to let me walk there so she need not push me there. Whilst I was being wheeled in I did lift my head and see where I was going. And you know when you watch those TV dramas when a patient is being wheeled into the operating room they like to shoot the view from the patient’s perspective and show you the lights on the ceiling moving along? Ah, I got to see that lived.
A nurse then gave me 1 to 2 ml of slightly clouded liquid to drink saying something about it would help reduced bubbles(?). Then I was wheeled to an inner section to where the scope machines were.
The nurse proceeded to prep me and I turned to stop her and said I wanted to be sedated. Don’t they ask the patients whether they want to be sedated and just assume they don’t? I am extremely nervous about such procedures. I have a very low tolerance of pain (lower than my spicy tolerance quotient). I am a coward. All these equate to “knock me out”.
She then continuously sprayed something into my throat, as if she was watering a bonsai plant, and told me not to swallow and hold it. There was a burning sensation in my throat – an extremely bad case of sore throat. Hardly about to speak, I reminded her that I have yet to be sedated.
The nurse poked me twice saying my veins were too fine. At first I thought “oh no double dosage of anaesthesia” but realised she was just placing the vault for injection later. She asked me to turn to my side and asked me to hold a table napkin ring in my mouth. Again I nervously told her I have yet to be sedated; I was actually pleading, not out loud, please don’t proceed any more, I am still conscious! Obediently I hold that ring in my mouth. A guy came and said what I wanted to hear, “I am going to give you the injection now.” After he was done, I was still awake. Panic! Why am I still awake!?
The next moment I woke up and found myself in another section of the ward. The procedure was completed. I have no recollection of what happened. The last memory was that ring in my mouth. It was like I was abducted by aliens, experimented on, and that period of time was erased from my memory.
I have wondered how can a person not know or feel anything and remember who it was, even if she is too weak to protest, when drugged and raped. Well I have no recollection of this long tube that was inserted into my mouth and I don’t know who did it and for how long that person did it or whether the person was enjoying it. I now believe.
Was given some biscuits and a cup of milo. The nurse couldn't discharge me as there was no one to accompany me home, a requirement if one is sedated. A doctor had to be found to authorise my discharge. I was advised not to sign any legal documents/contracts, such as transfer of title deeds to my mansions and the various islands that I owned, that day.
Duration: 10.15 am to 12.40 pm. Diagnosis: I have dyspepsia. Course of action: have to wait till my next appointment in August.
Friday, May 8, 2009
NTUC Incomeshield rewarded me with $75
Yes, that’s because I supposedly chose a lower ward category than what I am insured for for my day surgical procedure. I said supposedly because I didn’t make the choice, knew I could make a choice for such a simple procedure, the hospital (TTSH) did.
At the time of scheduling for my procedure, I was given a form to fill if I wanted to pay for it using my Medisave. With cash in my Medisave account earning 4% interest whilst my physical cash is earning next to nothing, it makes sense to pay by cash. However on the morning of my procedure the staff told me that if I wanted to pay by cash I would have to wait till after the procedure as it would only be then that the exact amount could be ascertained. Plus, I would have to queue again just to pay. The thought of queuing again made me decides to use my Medisave. It was never my intention to claim this from Incomeshield because unnecessary claims will have a bearing on your claim history, claimable amount and premiums payable. So I was surprised that it was paid by my insurer instead of Medisave.
An Incomeshield staff I spoke to said that this was normal – if a patient has other medical insurance, the amount will eventually come from the insurer and not Medisave (if Medisave was deducted first, Incomeshield will reimburse the amount back to the Medisave account).
As for the $75 cheque I got, it was my “hospital cash benefit”, resulting from using a lower ward category than what I was insured for. This was also possible partly because my cover was with Plus Rider, meaning the entire bill amount (up to my insured limits) will be fully covered.
So I didn’t fork out any of my own money, cash or medisave, for the procedure and on top of that I got $75 which I am definitely not spending it on chicken’s essence.
A notice attached to the cheque exhorts me in future to claim from my employer or another insurer instead and if I submit such documents to this effect to Incomeshield, I will get $30 worth of Fairprice vouchers! I am speechless and don’t know how to react to this!
At the time of scheduling for my procedure, I was given a form to fill if I wanted to pay for it using my Medisave. With cash in my Medisave account earning 4% interest whilst my physical cash is earning next to nothing, it makes sense to pay by cash. However on the morning of my procedure the staff told me that if I wanted to pay by cash I would have to wait till after the procedure as it would only be then that the exact amount could be ascertained. Plus, I would have to queue again just to pay. The thought of queuing again made me decides to use my Medisave. It was never my intention to claim this from Incomeshield because unnecessary claims will have a bearing on your claim history, claimable amount and premiums payable. So I was surprised that it was paid by my insurer instead of Medisave.
An Incomeshield staff I spoke to said that this was normal – if a patient has other medical insurance, the amount will eventually come from the insurer and not Medisave (if Medisave was deducted first, Incomeshield will reimburse the amount back to the Medisave account).
As for the $75 cheque I got, it was my “hospital cash benefit”, resulting from using a lower ward category than what I was insured for. This was also possible partly because my cover was with Plus Rider, meaning the entire bill amount (up to my insured limits) will be fully covered.
So I didn’t fork out any of my own money, cash or medisave, for the procedure and on top of that I got $75 which I am definitely not spending it on chicken’s essence.
A notice attached to the cheque exhorts me in future to claim from my employer or another insurer instead and if I submit such documents to this effect to Incomeshield, I will get $30 worth of Fairprice vouchers! I am speechless and don’t know how to react to this!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Lunch at Old Hong Kong Kitchen, Square 2
Had lunch at Old Hong Kong Kitchen (Square 2 #02-76/91) with my mum on Tuesday, 5 May. As in my past four visits, I ordered the Pan Fried Carrot Cake with Bean Sprout in XO Sauce ($5). I think I can just eat this by itself though it’s a bit spicy for me (I have the lowest spicy tolerance quotient amongst people who know me). My mum liked it too.
Since this was supposed to be a light lunch as we were going to have dim sum hi-tea later in the afternoon, I ordered the Sliced Chicken with Mushroom Congee ($6.20). The Congee, as expected of Cantonese congee, was smooth and velvety with each rice grain broken. Some say one of the secrets is to add fu chuk (dried bean curd slice). The chicken was not sliced, as in being shredded, but in pieces, which complemented the smoothness of the Congee. Came with just three tiny but very crispy pieces of yu tiao (Chinese dough stick). A side dish, in a small bowl, of crisply fried fish skin was provided too. Enjoyed this Congee as it was not only a nice change from the usual century egg congee with pork, it was actually good. Had they given me more yu tiao, perhaps as another side dish, it would have been excellent.
My mum had the Fresh Shrimp Wonton Noodle ($6.80) which I thought was average.
Ended the lunch with a refreshing iced cool Lime Honey Jasmine ($3.80).
Sorry, no pictures - still not used to taking pictures of food prior to eating them! However, here is a picture of one of the restaurant's wall features.
Since this was supposed to be a light lunch as we were going to have dim sum hi-tea later in the afternoon, I ordered the Sliced Chicken with Mushroom Congee ($6.20). The Congee, as expected of Cantonese congee, was smooth and velvety with each rice grain broken. Some say one of the secrets is to add fu chuk (dried bean curd slice). The chicken was not sliced, as in being shredded, but in pieces, which complemented the smoothness of the Congee. Came with just three tiny but very crispy pieces of yu tiao (Chinese dough stick). A side dish, in a small bowl, of crisply fried fish skin was provided too. Enjoyed this Congee as it was not only a nice change from the usual century egg congee with pork, it was actually good. Had they given me more yu tiao, perhaps as another side dish, it would have been excellent.
My mum had the Fresh Shrimp Wonton Noodle ($6.80) which I thought was average.
Ended the lunch with a refreshing iced cool Lime Honey Jasmine ($3.80).
Sorry, no pictures - still not used to taking pictures of food prior to eating them! However, here is a picture of one of the restaurant's wall features.
High Tea at Zhou's Kitchen, Square 2
Was at Zhou’s Kitchen (Square 2 #01-73) with my mum, two aunts and my cousin’s daughter on Tuesday, 5 May for dim sum high tea buffet. Didn’t expect it to be packed on a weekday. I did make a reservation and that was because I wanted to sit at one of their round tables (5 or 6 only) with cushioned seats by the side.
There are 30 items on the weekday menu and you just place your order and the food will be served at your table.
The dim sum was as good as the last time we went there for lunch and paid regular prices. The Pansit “Xing Hua” Wanton Soup which we enjoyed previously seems saltier on this day. Wonder whether it is because the soup was kept hot from lunch till hi-tea time; you know the soup evaporates and hence becomes saltier?
We didn’t ordered any desserts when we had lunch there because we were full, but the desserts we had that afternoon, Sesame Cream and Chilled Mango Cream with Sago and Pamelo, were amongst the worst I have eaten. Sesame Cream was sweet (for my taste, but should be OK with the rest) and diluted with no sesame fragrance. And it was like, “uh, you called this mango cream with sago & pamelo?”
Overall: a good and satisfying hi tea but without a happy ending.
Hi Tea is from 2.45 pm to 5.00 pm with last order at 4.45 pm. Weekday Hi Tea is priced at $12.80++ for adults and $9.80++ for children between 3 to 10 years old. Weekend Hi Tea, with 4 additional items on the menu, is priced at $16.80++ for adults and $10.80++ for children. Tea is chargeable at $1 per person. So theoretically you should add $1 to the prices.
There is currently a promotion for UOB Cards holders where for every three paying, one dines for free.
Zhou’s Kitchen, where you can have “causal Chinese dinning” is part of the Tung Lok Group.
(unadulterated and better resolution photos in my Facebook account)
There are 30 items on the weekday menu and you just place your order and the food will be served at your table.
The dim sum was as good as the last time we went there for lunch and paid regular prices. The Pansit “Xing Hua” Wanton Soup which we enjoyed previously seems saltier on this day. Wonder whether it is because the soup was kept hot from lunch till hi-tea time; you know the soup evaporates and hence becomes saltier?
We didn’t ordered any desserts when we had lunch there because we were full, but the desserts we had that afternoon, Sesame Cream and Chilled Mango Cream with Sago and Pamelo, were amongst the worst I have eaten. Sesame Cream was sweet (for my taste, but should be OK with the rest) and diluted with no sesame fragrance. And it was like, “uh, you called this mango cream with sago & pamelo?”
Overall: a good and satisfying hi tea but without a happy ending.
Hi Tea is from 2.45 pm to 5.00 pm with last order at 4.45 pm. Weekday Hi Tea is priced at $12.80++ for adults and $9.80++ for children between 3 to 10 years old. Weekend Hi Tea, with 4 additional items on the menu, is priced at $16.80++ for adults and $10.80++ for children. Tea is chargeable at $1 per person. So theoretically you should add $1 to the prices.
There is currently a promotion for UOB Cards holders where for every three paying, one dines for free.
Zhou’s Kitchen, where you can have “causal Chinese dinning” is part of the Tung Lok Group.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Got myself a ladies phone
Got the Samsung Ultra Touch S8300, red edition, mobile phone recently. To me, it is actually maroon and it is definitely less feminine than the pink edition. Unfortunately the blue edition is not released here (yet?).
This will be my fourth Samsung phone. My first was a Sony Ericsson.
This quad-band, HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) phone is 110 x 51.5 x 12.7 mm and weighs 105g. The 2.8” (240 x 400) 16M Full Touch WQVGA AMOLED display with anti reflection is sharp and clear. Compared to my previous phone, notifications, sms and emails are easier to read now. My UOB SMS-OTP (one-time password for internet banking) is now clearly highlighted in blue and underlined!
The 8 megapixel 4x digital zoom camera features auto-focus, face detection, smile shot (which pinpoints the faces in your picture for optimal portraits) and dual power led (which ensures well-lit photos in dark surroundings).
Other features include video recording at 30fps@VGA, FM radio, MP3 player and voice recorder.
There is also a Fake Call function which simulates the phone ringing, allowing you to “escape uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situations” by pretending you need to take a call. Got a chuckle out of this and have yet to try this out.
On the minus side, battery life, and hence talk-time, is shorter than my previous phone.
The incoming call ringing time is much shorter at around 30 seconds only. However this seems to be network dependent and I'll investigate further. Previously I was with Singtel; just changed to Starhub.
This will be my fourth Samsung phone. My first was a Sony Ericsson.
This quad-band, HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) phone is 110 x 51.5 x 12.7 mm and weighs 105g. The 2.8” (240 x 400) 16M Full Touch WQVGA AMOLED display with anti reflection is sharp and clear. Compared to my previous phone, notifications, sms and emails are easier to read now. My UOB SMS-OTP (one-time password for internet banking) is now clearly highlighted in blue and underlined!
The 8 megapixel 4x digital zoom camera features auto-focus, face detection, smile shot (which pinpoints the faces in your picture for optimal portraits) and dual power led (which ensures well-lit photos in dark surroundings).
Other features include video recording at 30fps@VGA, FM radio, MP3 player and voice recorder.
There is also a Fake Call function which simulates the phone ringing, allowing you to “escape uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situations” by pretending you need to take a call. Got a chuckle out of this and have yet to try this out.
On the minus side, battery life, and hence talk-time, is shorter than my previous phone.
The incoming call ringing time is much shorter at around 30 seconds only. However this seems to be network dependent and I'll investigate further. Previously I was with Singtel; just changed to Starhub.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Time to be a netizen again...
I was asked to start a website or a blog. I had requests to join Facebook. But I didn't felt the need to do so. I thought perhaps I'll do one or all of the above perhaps when I turned 50! That seems like a good time to do so isn't it?
I had a personal website back in the late 90s (1997 to 1998) hosted on GeoCities. Even paid monthly subscription of US$6 to super-sized my website. Received positive comments, but eventually gave up as maintaining a site requires time and effort especially when you have self-imposed high standards.
Well I decided its time to be a netizen again. Joined FB and started this blog: a kind of scrapebook for me to scribble thoughts and things rather than focus on just one theme in the case of a website.
BTW I learned that GeoCities would cease operation soon after 15 years. The shift from personal website to social networking site is just part of the web evolution. Would FB also cease operation after 15 years in 2019 or even earlier when some other apps/services emerge? I suppose I will resist it initially but will probably embrace it if I want to continue to be a netizen.
I had a personal website back in the late 90s (1997 to 1998) hosted on GeoCities. Even paid monthly subscription of US$6 to super-sized my website. Received positive comments, but eventually gave up as maintaining a site requires time and effort especially when you have self-imposed high standards.
Well I decided its time to be a netizen again. Joined FB and started this blog: a kind of scrapebook for me to scribble thoughts and things rather than focus on just one theme in the case of a website.
BTW I learned that GeoCities would cease operation soon after 15 years. The shift from personal website to social networking site is just part of the web evolution. Would FB also cease operation after 15 years in 2019 or even earlier when some other apps/services emerge? I suppose I will resist it initially but will probably embrace it if I want to continue to be a netizen.
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