My cross is heavy.

Nothing great has been happening since my last posting. I went for my blood testing since I skipped the one last year. The results were good except that my HDL-Cholesterol is high at 76 mg/dl exceeding the maximum of 70. However that is suppose to be the good cholesterol.

The surprising reading was my fasting blood sugar which was at a low of 53 mg/dl beating the reference low of 65. That accounts for my lethargy and irritability. Sometimes when I am reading the newspaper or working on the PC, I can just keel over and fall asleep.

The doctor told me to eat some bread after dinner. Instead I told him I would prefer some ice cream. Actually what I need is a 'Sweet Young Thing' (SYT), to keep me going.

I have been cutting down on my sugar to avoid diabetes and also to control my weight. Ironically now I have to eat something sweet. What kind of a life is this?

A miracle happened last Wednesday, when my wife accompanied me to church for the Ascension Mass and actually sat next to me. This is rare as she usually goes on her own and whether I am there or not, she will not sit with me.

After Mass, she followed me for dinner of rice dumpling and noodles. She told my daughter she did not enjoy that and had trouble swallowing the dumpling. Terrible woman! If it had been her son, she would have vexed lyrical praises over the food. But because it was me, the food was bad. That is why I do not like eating out with my wife because we are so incompatible. One couple leading separate lives. My cross is getting heavier and heavier. My back is about to break.

Yesterday being Sunday, Emma wanted chicken rice for lunch. So we all ended up eating at Ying's Kitchen. Emma finished one bowl of rice and had a cup cake. Kidding her, I asked her whether she wanted duck rice. She insisted on eating chicken rice. So I asked her if she wanted rice and chicken. The smart kid told me that is also okay.

I have been recommending my friends to eat at Ying's Kitchen. Their feedback has been good as I am trying to help my friend Ying to increase her business. I wrote to the ST food columnist Wong Ah Yoke to visit and do a write-up for Ying. He has replied saying that his colleques or himself will visit Ying's. So if you want good traditional Hainanese chicken rice, you know where to go.

To all those lovers of traditional cakes and curry puffs and chicken pies, including the winged cakes, take note that Balmoral Bakery is now re-opened for business in a cleaner environment. Maybe this will bring up my blood sugar level. Unfortunately it is bad for my weight control. This is a cruel world!

Writing this on a Monday morning and at the beginning of a new week, I wonder what the week will bring me. Maybe some kind souls will brighten up my life for me.

Till then....

Nothing!

Ever since my last posting on 8 April, my mind has been as blank as the blog itself. Looking for inspiration to write something, I found nothing. Nothing has eluded me and my mind is nothing. If I see a psychiatrist, he will ask me what is the first thing that comes into my mind. I will tell him, "Nothing". He will think that I am a nincompoop and lock me up in Woodbridge.

The last time I saw a psychiatrist, I was in my air force uniform. Walking towards the psychiatrist office, I met a group of men marching past me. One of them gave me a salute. I returned the compliment and wondered if that was the right thing to do. Who was more insane?

I had just got married and my wedding picture had appeared in the Monday papers front page, the very day that I was in the psychiatrist office. The caption read: 'Fly boy takes hello girl'. My wife was a telephone operator.

I was in the sitting room alone, waiting for my turn, and could not help noticing the front page of the newspaper in front of me. There were two young nurses on duty. Their whispered conversation went like this.

First nurse, "Is that man in the front page today?"

Second nurse, "Yes, he just got married."

First nurse, "Why does he want to see the doctor?"

Second nurse, "Marriage is not easy. I think he does not want to get married after all."

Although I was not seeing the psychiatrist on account of my marriage, that conversation said a lot about me. Until today, I can still remember that incident in the psychiatrist office.

That happened a long time ago. Too long in fact. Now that I am living out my twilight years, it is more like the twilight zone! Life is just as stressful and things are not as rosy as they are made out to be. Things have not gone as well as I was hoping. Not that I am not grateful for the Lord's blessings, there are many things that I find disappointing that I am trying to cope with.

Today, little Emma came after school. Spending time with her brought some cheer into my life. Now that she has gone home, I look forward to seeing her again on Friday. Emma has been very good and close to me. Playing with her has a therapeutic effect on me, although she often plays rough wrestling with me, makes me feel wanted. Emma has a good nature and a good sense of humour. She can amuse me and amaze me with her funny logic. Now is the best time to be with her because when she grows older, she will have nothing to do with this silly old man.

The swine flu or H1N1 flu seems to be retrogressing. I was thinking of quarantining myself because my wife was born in the year of the pig. She snores like a pig too. At least I still have some sense of humour left in me.

It is now almost 10 pm and time for this silly old man to go to bed. Actually with these very hot and humid nights, I look forward to going into my air conditioned bedroom. Tomorrow, I have transport to church and back, in a friend's car. Otherwise the rain and thunderstorm create havoc for me. It is a luxury to go out in a car, because jumping in and out of public buses, is very stressful. And so, good night to whoever who bothers to read my blog.

Till then....

To Phuket and back.

Last Friday (3/4), I left with wife, son and girl friend, for Phuket. Getting up at 0430 in the morning, Ben picked us up at 0530, and by seven, we were airborne. Due to the time difference, we arrived Phuket by 0810 local time.

The reason for the trip was to attend the wedding of a friend's son, a French guy to a Thai girl. The wedding dinner on Saturday was very grand, as can be seen in the picture above. Good food, good wine and good company. The decor was nice, and I was very surprised, to find us sitting on the main table with the bridal couple. We were honoured and humbled to be given this high esteem.

The French was so lessez faire with life there, that the father was wearing shorts and sneakers at the dinner. No one bothered to even put on a tie. The bridegroom wore white slacks and shirt. But the bride, being her big day, was the only one being dressed up. After the champagne toast, there was a lot of boom and bang, as fireworks lit up the sky. A nice closing to the festivities.

The next morning, we were invited for brunch by the Club House, where we had bread, pastries and the remainder of the leftover food.

Besides the wedding, we were able to relax in the villa resort and ate Thai food. As usual, I ate too much. Two days in succession, we went for Thai massage. One of the ladies squeezed me so hard that I had a problem trying to stop my fart. If I had lost control, they would have to evacuate the building. So embarrassing!

The Thais are very laid back people. They are very hospitable. However, their English is hilarious, as can be seen in the last two pictures above. On one of the massage parlours I saw, there was painted in large prints, "I will sleep with you tonight".

On my previous visit to Phuket, I had my entire family with me, and we really had a fantastic time. This time there were just the four of us. I really missed them, especially the kids. I hope the next time I go to Phuket, I will have everyone with me. That would be nice.

Till then....

Drama from Sunrise to Sunset.

Last Saturday (14/3), J decided to lift up a grate to clean the drain underneath. Along came the Princess, Emma, who ran right into it. Sustaining a deep cut on her right foot, she was rushed to KK Hospital.

I was having lunch at Sentosa with wife and son, when I got the news. After lunch, my son brought us to KK Hospital. I saw a rather forlorn looking Emma sitting on her pram with her feet sticking out. The right foot was covered with a white plaster. She had sustained a deep cut between her big toe and second toe.

After her X-ray, she was anesthetized and given eight stitches to seal up the wound. When she was finally discharged, she looked none the worse for her ordeal. She did not cry until they jabbed her (I was told). But she remained very calm throughout.

When we all sat down to eat dinner at the Kopi Tiam, Emma saw the small play area and asked her mother to carry her there. Carefully, she was placed on the floor. Moments later, we were surprised to see Emma standing up supported by the bars on the side. She had overcome the pain by standing on the side of the right foot. Surrounded by everyone, including Sam and Tim, Emma was happy and singing away in the car all the way home.

On Tuesday, Emma spent the day with us. I was surprised to see her walking and almost running around, and noticed that she did all these standing on the side of her right foot. She had overcome a temporary adversity.

In the afternoon, I was playing with Emma on the sofa. She was very happy and was playing rather rough. I had just gone to the toilet, when I heard a heavy object fall on the floor, followed by Emma screaming and crying. I rushed out to find that Emma was playing by the grotto, and a brick had accidentally fallen on her left foot. This time she was really in pain and I got very worried for her.

Fearing for the worse, J took Emma to Gleneagles where they x-rayed her left foot. There was no visible fracture and they dressed her bruises and bandaged her foot.

The following Wednesday, Emma spent the day with us. With both feet bandaged, she was not able to walk. We were advised by the doctors to observe when she would start to walk again. Otherwise, Emma would have to go to Gleneagles by Friday for further treatment. By afternoon we were trying to coax Emma to walk, but she told us she was still in pain.

Throughout the day, Emma was very happy and cheerful and even played rough with me on the sofa. She found a way of sliding around kneeling on a cushion.

Thursday, Emma was not with us and spent the day with her aunt and cousins. I have been told that Emma had started to walk again and was her usual mischievous self again.

As I am trying to close this posting on Saturday morning, Emma had spent yesterday with us. She was able to walk again but insisted on being carried when she felt like it. Playing by the metal gate, she had accidentally slam her fingers and began crying. I guess she is as accident-prone as her mother. When her mother was very young, I was playing with her, and when I gave her a hug, I found I had accidentally dislocated her shoulder. Like mother, like daughter!

Yesterday, I had a fun day with Emma at home, as I always do. She was up to her mischievous antics and wrestled with me on the sofa. I expressed my concern about Emma's left foot to J, and hope he will take appropriate medical action, because next week, school re-opens, and Emma will be back to school. Life at home is very dull, until Emma comes and bring some fun and cheers to a lonely old man.

Till then....

Karaoke

Yes, I am crazy enough to go out and buy a karaoke set. This thought has been buzzing round my head for some time now, after seeing some of my friends singing away, and my neighbour Stephen inviting me to his place to join in the singing.

So I ventured out to Sim Lim Square and bought one. The set included two wireless microphone with buttons to select tunes and functions. It has a console and remote control. The whole thing comes in a carrying case like a laptop, and is portable. I can carry it anywhere and set it up as long as there is a television available. The hard disk and SD card hold a repertoire of 27,000 songs. Besides English songs, there were Chinese, Tagaloc, Vietnamese, Indonesian and some Spanish songs.

The first person to use the microphone was the Princess - Emma. She was thrilled to sing into the microphone and had a fun day with it. There were some nursery tunes in the repertoire and she enjoyed singing them. She even sang a song she picked up from the maid.

Despite my love for music from the classical to the oldies, except the contemporary noisy pop songs, I made the amazing discovery that my singing is simply horrible! Luckily there was no one to hear me, as I made my debut in trying to sing. I ran out of voice! What to do? I guess I will have to sing quietly without the microphone. Any one for a song?

Till then....

Lent

It is now the last day of February. My last posting was 14 February, 2009. There is nothing much to write about since. I am stressed out due to domestic problems. Got to find an outlet somewhere.

I am still trying to shed my extra weight. This week, I have not been able to go to the track due to the afternoon rain. Last week was good and I went three times.

Venturing on the track, I ended up in Jurong, the Ayer Raja Expressway near the Business Centre. It took me about 20 minutes of brisk walk. I felt good after that which relieved some of my stress.

Yesterday (27/2), I took Emma to the new playground by the bridge. She enjoyed herself so much and told me it was indeed a fun day. We walked across the bridge and Emma saw the river, the Herons and experienced the echo effect, when we were under the metal roof. Due to the acoustics, it gave off an echo, and Emma was thrilled to hear her voice coming off the echo. So she jumped and screamed.

Across the bridge, she stepped off to play with the 'shy grass', the ones that closes when touched. Running around the tall grass, she was so happy. Pity I did not have my camera with me. Nevertheless, there were two very happy people out there yesterday.

Getting home, Emma was very tired and threw a tantrum over some trivial matter when she had her shower. She finally took her nap, and later in the evening, was her usual self again. Having Emma with me certainly relieved me of some of my stress and depression.

I was supposed to have roasted a duck, and cooked a seafood concoction of my own, for dinner today, but with the rumbling and grumbling from the wife, I gave that up.

Last Saturday, we had a very nice impromptu family dinner. My son was away. Fortunately the wife did not grumble, when I went and bought three dishes back from the Ji Char stall. I had often told the wife that this is a good alternative to cooking at home, but she does not agree with me.

And so we come to a new month and the first quarter of 2009. Time is passing and the financial crisis weighs heavily on us. What comes next, nobody knows.

Till then....

Got to lose it!

Chinese New Year has come and gone but my weight has stayed. I have put on something like 3 kg. So I now have to lose all that and return to my pre-Christmas and Chinese New Year weight of 64 kg.

When I looked at the mirror in my bathroom, I looked terribly awful. My son has just as big a girth, and he plays tennis. Little Emma has developed a rounded belly. Whenever I tickled her, she breaks out into giggles. She is actually quite proud of it, and often makes fun of herself showing it off, distending it more.

For the past week, I have returned to my brisk walk on the jogging track. The last time I did that was June last year, before my house move. After my house move, I was happy that my weight had dropped to 64 kg.

The new jogging track here is nice. It is perhaps a little longer than my previous track. It is not flat but undulating having to make that extra effort in coping with the gradient. There are more trees here, with the track leading into the fitness corner, tucked away in an open space. The trees provide a nice and cool shade. It is possible to even have a picnic under the trees, for there are stools and benches provided.

And so with the pleasant surrounding, I ventured out last Monday afternoon. In one hour, I completed four and a half laps. I felt very relieved after that and all my stiffness went away driving away my depressive mood. The workout made me perspire and although I was tired, I felt high. I was to repeat all that on Wednesday and Thursday. I feel that with this new regime, I should be able to lose that extra kg. Now I can tell my doctor that I have resumed my walking exercise.

My appetite is still good and I am trying to control my snacking which contributes to my weight gain.

On the cooking front, my roast pork has improved and last Saturday, my roast pork was crunchy and nice. The pork was roasted on the rotisserie, which seem to make the difference. I have several ideas in mind and hope to roast a duck when I can find people to eat it. This evening I have to roast a chicken.

Till then....