back home, and still tender
Sorry for being out for a while. Some updates would be good now.
Thanks to Grace for putting up some
wonderful photos from my stay at the hospital over my birthday-weekend. That's taken on Friday night, after they wheeled me out from the operation theatre. Daren, James and Grace dropped by, and with a nicely proportioned mango cake too. Think they were looking forward to eating it, but seeing the sorry state that I was, they had to forgo any thoughts of me consuming any food that night, and had to go off without cake. Sorry guys! The cake's good though...
I had a nose job. Well, it was more like a blocked nose, but May likes to call it a nose job. Even my manager warns me the repurcussions of ending up looking like Michael Jackson. So anyway, my very good doctor (his nurses call him Angie) took one of
these out. And without making any cuts! How cool is that?? Only complaint was that I woke up soon after the operation because of the constant chattering of the nurses in the operating theatre. They put me in some observation corner before I was to be wheeled back to my ward, just to make sure my condition is stabilised. But it really was kind of difficult to do so! Yak yak yak yak....
Some friends from the old workplace dropped by too. And they bought me birds' nest! Wow... those things ain't cheap. Thanks people! Also that huge fruit/flower basket that the bank sent. Quite sure that boss sent it. Cause he's the only one who asked which hospital I would be in. Am also quite sure there'll be tonnes of work waiting when I get back :(
And of course to my lovely girl who spent her entire weekend with me in the ward, on that dastardly uncomfortable chair:
Is it actually possible? I mean, Perth Western Australia is really a weird place (says our new Nobel Prize winner. see paragraph below from story through link above). Outcast, out of reach, and barely noticeable to the rest of the world. The Sahara is probably geographically more accessible from the rest of the world than PERTH.
Somehow, after realising that the winners indeed from UWA, some strange tingly feeling came from within. A mixture of pride, amusement, and some green tea from dinner was felt. Maybe nice guys do win afterall. Even if its once in a blue moon.
So anyway, here's an except from the MSNBC article on them. Bravo!
The two researchers began working together in 1981. “After about three years we were pretty convinced that these bacteria were important in ulcers and it was a frustrating time for the next 10 years though because nobody believed us,” said Marshall, a researcher at the University of Western Australia.
“The idea of stress and things like that was just so entrenched nobody could really believe that it was bacteria. It had to come from some weird place like Perth, Western Australia, because I think nobody else would have even considered it.”
Give us our daily bread...
Just posted a photo of my "that one" (since so many of you are bugging me for a photo of her), and some great shots of my 2-month-old trip to BKK. Had a relatively good time there, but wish it wouldn't drizzle on our boat ride though... Hopefully can go back there soon again. I was promised a tour-guide...
Seems like quite a few of us rush through the daily routine of work/NS/uni without much thought into planning for weekends/freetime/holiday breaks. Realised this when I was talking to Richard-the-Poh a few hours ago. By the way, I have to admit he does look cute and cuddly. But there's no way I'm going to do so at his neighbourhood coffeeshop. I guess its just stepping out of our comfort zone. If you feel dissatisfied, step out of your circle and do something for yourself. If you feel too lazy about it and don't mind lazing around, then continue doing so. Hey, there's no evil in being piggy. Just don't gripe to those around you about it, without any actions to support your whinings. I think they call it "procrastination". Sounds cliche right? Maybe a bit of deja-vu about it as well?
Well, I'm going to (try to) look forward to work tomorrow. My Indian colleague with the monotonic voice (he's a great guy actually) is going to coach me on some stuff, and that's probably going to form the bulk of my work from now on. Yeah! Give it to me!!! And I'm going to commit at least 1 hour every weekend to my Lego-cleaning+sorting project from now on. Estimated time to completion: end-2007... Maybe mid-2008
It really was a sight to see him chug away. You think easy uh? You try to even hold a 1-litre solid glass mug in your hand! My wrist almost dislocated when I tried to lift it up
For some strange reason, both Turtur-D (not Initial-D) and I felt the cup noodles on AirAsia tastes quite nice...
Seems like fridge-girl sells little bunnies at Chatuchak market as well: "You wan? 1? 2? 50?"
Yet another scandalous photo of the fridge-girl. (Daren can vouch for me that she forced us take this photo of her on the bed)
Somehow a fridge salesgirl sneaked into our apartment trying to sell us the fridge. I think she's selling fridges in New York now
Stayed at this FABULOUS service apartment. Beat any 5* hotel hands down. Anyday. Thanks Daren for the great lobang.
Yah, TurturGrace and TurturDaren and Turtur went to Bkk couple of months ago. Sorry for not posting photos earlier. I went nutty at the Royal Barges Museum
This is the ONLY photo I have of her. REALLY!
What did he just say to 'cher???
('cher: slang for "teacher" in sg schools today)
Caught up with some old old friends (read: I knew them while we were in primary school. count that from 1986!), and one of them just started formally teaching in some primary school. That'll be kids ranging from the age of 7 (I think) to... whatever.
So ok, it is a sad fact that we have bratty kids with bratty parents who demand the world from schools today. Ranging from "How cum my chill-ren kannot speach Engrish poperly uh?" to the ridiculous "My son knows the number of our lawyer". What the..? Has our social conscience degenerated to this ludicrious level? Last I checked, it is not the institutions' primary affair to instill (MTG enchantment: one green) social values and ethics. Surely the parents don't expect their kids to learn what's right and wrong from the school? But signs of this phenomenon are hard to ignore.
My newly-government-approved-teacher-friend's-colleague ran this little exercise with his students: A drawing of an public bin near the letterboxes. The bin's overflowing with trash and the students were asked to comment on it. What he got were 2 sets of answers from all his students:
(1) "People shouldn't throw things into the bin when it is obviously too-filled up"
(2) "Why is the cleaner not doing his job?"
Plus teachers can't hit/torture/maim/vertical suplex the kids now, I guess those that continue to sign up as teachers deserve some commendation for their bravery and commmitment. As for myself, my kid better be complaining about too much homework and "evil" teachers when he/she comes back from school. And I'd personally hand out canes to my kid's teachers. "Feel free to crack them anytime."
Which brings us to the next headache: Are these same kids going to be part of this society? Or will they hopefully migrate elsewhere (with their bratty parents) and leave us alone? I guess England was facing this problem in the 18th century, and in 1787 used Australia as a solution. Best not let history repeat itself, cause I wouldn't give an Australia to those brats anyday.
