Latte, guess who?

Sorry folks, my doctor advised me to avoid coffee and tea. Maybe when I have recovered. You see, they called me in the afternoon to say that they detected bacteria in the sample taken from my stomach yesterday. I went back to collect a week supply of 2 different courses of anti-biotics. This, they say, will heal me completely. Sigh...... life goes on.

Yo, who is that kid with a smiling face? It's neither Smily nor Fyn. In fact my children were arguing over the gender of this kid. Okay, a clue for you. She is one of my neices. Yes.............. she is ........

Wu Peizhi

Gastroscopy

Gosh, that was horrible! I went for the gastroscopy procedure at the TTSH this morning. Margaret accompanied me to the preparation room. Had my blood pressure, heartbeat, etc checked. Waited for about 20 minutes and I was wheeled to the theatre. They sprayed anaesthetic on my throat (thru my mouth) and asked me to count from 1 to 10 before swallowing. Soon my throat was numb. The doctor then inserted the gastrocsope, a long flexible tube about the thickness of your little finger, thru my mouth and passed my throat. Brave as a warrior, I felt no pain and watched the view on the tv screen. Just when it was about to reach my stomach, he told me to swallow it not once but twice. Somehow, the scope went into my stomach. It was very uncomfortable and I felt like vommiting. Disgusting! @#$%*!!!!!! In my heart I was cursing. I pinched my hand hard to restrain myself so as to allow the doctor to complete the examination. Finally I felt a sense of relief when he retracted the tube. Phew, it sucks!!!
At the end of the day, everything was fine except for the red dots on my stomach. It was considered as a minor problem. The gastric reflux has improved and I will continue to take the Manuka Honey.
P.S. I would like to thank Margaret for her presence.

Patrick's Homecoming, Subway Cafe

My younger brother, Patrick, has just returned from his 8-days working cum leisure Guangzhou trip. As it is summer there, he could not bear the heat. I met up with him last night and he looked relieved and happy to be home. By the way, he bought me a tin of love letters and almond bisciuts. Thanks Patrick!

I accompanied Margaret to the Toa Payoh Library last evening. Fyn came along as she needed to get a book from Popular Book Store and an ear-piece from CD Rama at TP Interchange. When we were about to queue for the bus home, Fyn proposed to have snack at Subway Cafe, which is located in the bus interchange itself. It is popular with the teenagers. So me and Margaret decided to give a try. We ordered a half footer of tuna sandwich and a half footer of turkey ham sandwich. Honestly, I find that there is nothing special in it. I am still puzzled by their craze.

Subway Cafe @ TP Bus Interchange

Block 6C Margaret Drive

Block 6C Margaret Drive

My mother's block is under the Selective En-block Redevelopment Scheme (SERS). She is down and reluctant to leave. She has stayed in Margaret Drive since 1972. Last week, she managed to get a new 4-room flat at Tanglin Halt through balloting. In short, she will be moving in to her new unit in about 8 months time.


My mum's new unit will be in one of these blocks

Pager and da-ge-da

A young family celebrating Christmas. This photograph was taken at Plaza Singapura, basement 2 former Yaohan toys' department in the early '90s. Looking at it, you would have noticed that I was carrying a pager. At that time, it was a in-thing. Though handphone was introduced, it cost about $3000-$5000. Yes, I am talking about da-ge-da, those big, bulky handphones. When it became obsolete, many used it to crack the crab shell at seafood dinner. Back to the pager, now I find it degrading. Responding to those beeps is like a dog answering its owner's whistle. Sigh! Those were the days.......

Monthly JB visit

It's been more than a month since we last visited Tebrau City JB. Clearing the custom was smooth. Upon arrival, me and Margaret chose to have lunch at Kinsahi Japanese Restauarant. Fyn had to skip this trip as she was busy with her school work. We had egg wasabi mayo, beef ramen and ten zaru soba. The food was good and delicious.

Margaret went to the foot spa and conveniently, I had my hair cut too. I loitered about the shopping centre instead of waiting for her to complete her foot treatment. I couldn't believe my eyes when I stumbled across someone that looked like my 3rd sister-in-law sitting on the bench reading papers. Going nearer, I realised the man sitting at the other end of the bench was my 3rd brother Francis. What a small world! I got to know that his car was in a workshop nearby.

CK workshop in JB. It's not Calvin Klein. I guess it should stands for Chee Keong since the boss is called Ah Keong. :)

Francis brought us to the S-mart durian fair. The durians and the other fruits were not cheap. So we proceeded to Taman Sentosa for the bake paper-wrap chicken for dinner. Sad to say, he beat me to it and foot the bill. Thanks Francis! We enjoyed the dinner and the next round will be on us.

What's the buzz....19 Jul 2007

I had an appointment with a gastro doctor at TTSH yesterday. I was not given any medicine except to go for an endoscopy on the 30 July 2007. In fact I am feeling a lot better today. Got to watch my diet and pray that the Manuka Honey works.


my balcony 'fu gui hua' bloom

Block 6B Margaret Drive

Looking back, the above was the first HDB flat we possessed. It was a 3 room resale flat at Block 6B Maragret Drive. Life was hard as we struggled to build-up our family and home on our own. Yes, our parents did not give us any money. There was a time when both of us were jobless. We had to sneak out of our house so as not to be seen by my parents who happened to stay in the opposite block. We simply did not want them to worry.

We painted the house and laid the vinyl sheet by ourselves. Furniture were bought through the years of bonuses. We lived a very simple life and though tough, we were happy and contented. We stayed there for about 7 years before we moved to Toa Payoh in 1991. Reason was that both my kids were looked after by my mother-in-law there and Smily had enrolled into a kindergarten nearby too.

Manuka Honey

I got a bottle of New Zealand Manuka Honey UMF 10+ for my gastric. It cost $33 for 500 grams. Hopefully, it helps ease my discomfort. Needless to say, this weekend isn't a good one. Margaret is having a headache and a slight throat infection too.
We just had our dinner at Novena Square and I bought a Celio tee at a 50% discount. Most of the weekend we will be left alone as our grown up children have their own programmes. That is why I reserve my weekend for Margaret, failing which she will be lonely.

My mum-in-law was given a sample of charcoal/horse oil soap for facial wash at the Hokkaido Fair (Scotts Isetan) a few weeks ago. She loves it very much. Luckily for her, the fair has moved to Tampines Mall and I managed to get a cake of it for her. :)

What's the buzz....12 Jul 2007

I have been down with gastric for the past few days. A few friends recommended honey water and aloe vera. I may try and hope they work. As for the children, Smily has graduated from his basic training programme and promoted to the rank of Corporal. That means a small pay increment. :) Fyn has won a gold medal for discus and a silver medal for shot put in the National Track and Field Championship 2007 'A' Division Girls. Well done and keep it up!!!!

Save Gaia!

Save Gaia! Show you care by going green. Let's do it for our future generation. Green? Nope! I bought a purple tee the other day. It was slim fit and metrosexual. When I showed it to Smily and Fyn, they burst into laughter. "Dad, purple is the international colour for gays," they commented. What followed was ..... I went back to change to another tee which is beige in colour. I was not worried about mistaken as a gay. But the fact that I found it hard to find a pant's colour to match a purple top. Anyway, who the hell needs an old gay like me? LOL.

I SWAM !!!

Damn it! Margaret's colleagues have forsake her. That is to say that they have gave up swimming. I admire her determination to learn swimming. Last week, I went to fetch her home as an encouragement. Much to my surprise, I saw a numbers of matured men with tummy bigger than mine at the pool. So I decided to...... hehe.... Yes! yesterday, I fulfilled what I wanted to do for a long time... i.e. put on my swimming trunk and swim. Shy to tell you that I got the fairest body among the guys there. Need to go there before sunset in order to have my body tanned. The good news is that Margaret is able to float and swim a short distance. Well done and keep it up!

Mao Zedong and I

Kool man! Mao Zedong rocks! I observed his posture before I posed for this picture. Mind you that I was standing in front of my tour group of 40 and they were waiting to have their pictures taken too. In fact, everyone was laughing at me. I summoned enough courage to make myself a clown for the sake of creativity. Till today, I have no regrets. By the way, this picture was taken in Nanjing, 2002.

What's the buzz....1 Jul 2007

It's goodbye to our National Stadium. I am sure everyone has a memory or two over there. For the record, I was selling drinks in the 1973 7th SEAP Games football semi-final between Singapore and Vietnam. In the early '90s, I watched Deep Purple rocked the stadium.





Singapore celebrates 40 years of National Service today. Looking back, I was posted to Taiwan for an exercise in 1981. That was the 1st time I boarded a plane. The training was tough and we were given 3 days for rest and recreation.





Wanton party at my mother-in-law place. It's a party not to be missed. Just look at the picture. Need I say more. I had 20 wantons for my dinner. I understand Jared (Fyn's cousin) can swallow 50 wantons in a meal.