Bye Bye 2005

2005 is a very eventful year for me. In terms of career, I made a leap forward, yet suffered many setbacks. I suppose I could have handle matters differently, with more maturity and thought. I grateful for the opportunity given to me and I am very happy to make very good friends this year. They have given me support and encouragement.

2005 is also an extremely painful year. I suffered from a slipped disc and had to endure excruciating pain and a spinal operation. It made me realized the importance of maintaining my own body and my health. It also made me realize there are many people who cared about me.

Thank you 2005. You have taught me a lot and make me humble. Goodbye!

More Presents for Christmas

Raymond gave me this box of expensive White Chocolate from Royce. Yum yum! Oh no! Growing Fat! ;P
Chiou Lih gave me this photo frame.


Wara gave me this cable organizer for Christmas. (Mmm... my desk does look a bit messy :P) With both of us taking turns falling sick, we did not have a chance to exchange present till well after Christmas. She also give me this cute bear :D

Edward gave me this camera bag. Just nice, I'm thinking that the bag from Panasonic was too bulky.

Money ---> Books

Sigh. I did it again. I stepped into a bookshop and came out $70 poorer and with three more books to read. (Only two shown here. I lent The Rules of Life to citysea.) I must try to finish the books I bought. :P

Good Egg Tarts

Good egg tarts are hard to find. There is a very good chinese pastry stall in Chinatown that sell simply heavenly egg tarts. You must try it!

 

Kolo Mee

I went to the newly renovated Crawford Street Market. The place looks sparkling new, but a lot of stalls are not opened. Vastly different from the old and hot market that I remember. Anyway, not knowing what to eat, I went to the stall with the longest queue. Turns out the wanton mee stall has the longest queue because the two old folk manning it is very slow. Not that the wanton mee is not nice, it actually taste quite nice :D

What has all this got to do with Kolo Mee? Well, because I waited for my mee for a long time, everyone has finished eating by the time I went back to the table. So naturally everyone want to know whether the wanton mee is worth the wait or not. Anyway, as we were critiquing the wanton mee, Jimmy mentioned that there is a very good mee stall near the 长城porridge stall in Chinatown. It sells Kolo Mee from Kuching. Just so happens that citysea just came back from Kuching yesterday and was talking about the Kolo Mee there. So I went back to office, did a search, found the shop and then ask citysea to accompany there.

I must say it is very worth the trip. The mee is great and the fried wanton is very nice. The fish soup has a very unique taste, not exactly nice, but unique :D~~

Loved @ Christmas

Sally gave me the Piglet cushion because of my back problem. So sweet and thoughtful of her.citysea gave me the cordless phone because he cannot hear me when I talk to him over the phone. He also gave me the Origami calendar. Mmm... maybe I should post all my folding creation each day next year :-P

I got myself a calender! Merry Christmas!

Company Gift Exchange

I got this wrist rest for my company gift exchange! Thank you Veron!

Christmas

My collegues brought out the Christmas Tree again! The whole office suddenly becomes more lively today! The magic of Christmas is upon us!
 

Sick so soon!

Sigh. One day at work and I am on MC again. It is not my back that gave me problems but my throat. I have a very inflammed throat and the doctor said how come I don't know I have fever! He did not even give me a choice whether I want MC or not. Rest at home. Period.

On well, I suppose I am very weak after the op, and my immunity is all time low. Must have caught it at work... :(

Going back to work

After 7 weeks of rest at home, I am finally going back to work tomorrow. The feeling is very weird, like going back to school after the December holidays back in the school days.

On the one hand I miss working again (staying at home is very boring) on the other I feel apprehensive about the mountain of problems I need to solve when I go back.

Well only way to solve a problem is to solve it!

End of Oasis

Today is the last operating day for Oasis. After more than one year in business, XN and KK finally threw in the towel. A lot of loyal customers turned up for the last day. The whole place was so lively and fun, it is hard to believe they are ending business today.

I think XN and KK are brave to come out and try their hand at business. I think they are have exceeded all expectations. Good job!

Good Dianxin@Geylang

One of my favorite Dianxin place is the one in Geylang (Take bus 100 or 80 from Kallang MRT. Get off at the durian stall bus stop. Walk down the street until you come to the traffic light. Cross!). It is recommended by Raymond. All the dishes there are very good as they are fresh and hot. I simply love the century egg porridge and and prawn dumping! Yum yum! Another dish to look out for is the Doufu with mango salad sauce. Simply delicious!

Big O

My Favourite Dessert Place is Big O at WheelOck Place. I lOve the feel of the place and the service. I like almOst of their desserts, especially the Baileys Irish Cream Cheese cake, absOlutely sinful. HOwever, the best dish is their rOasted field mushrOOm. I Order everytime I gO there!

ROasted Field Mushroom


Baileys Irish Cream Cheese Cake

World Class Land Transport System

I wrote a letter to the Strait Times Forum and it was publish in their online forum today. Here is the letter:

I refer to the report 'Top bus woes: Long wait and overcrowding' (Sunday Times Nov 27).

In 1996, the Singapore Government released a white paper titled “A World Class Land Transport System” in which plans to improve the quality of transportation for Singapore while keeping it affordable for the average people are laid out. LTA was found with the purpose of implementing this grand vision. Most noteworthy and relevant to the Sunday Times article is the following from the whitepaper:

Providing an attractive public transport system is the cornerstone of our land transport strategy. We will make public transport a more competitive transport mode.
Bus operators must be more customer oriented. LTA will work with the operators to make the following improvements in the next 2 years:

• Improving travel times through more bus priority schemes like priority at traffic light junctions and bus lanes;
• Introducing more choices like BusPlus services, air-conditioned express services, supplementary services and intra-town services;
• Improving commuter facilities by providing bus arrival times at bus stops, over the phone, Teleview or lnternet. Commuters can therefore plan the timing of their trips from home;
• Providing better bus services by refurbishing bus stops, providing more covered linkways and overhead pedestrian bridges and comprehensive display of service information; and
• Encouraging higher operational efficiency. With the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology which uses satellites to pinpoint the location of buses, bus operators will be able to significantly improve their scheduling and introduce mid-way services to relieve overcrowded spots.

Imagine finding out the arrival times of bus from your house or office through phone, Teleview or Internet. I can plan my bus journey from start to end, arriving at the bus stop one minute before the arrival of the bus without having to wait a long time, and arriving at my destination on time. I will not be late for work or appointments (and neither can my friends use the excuse that the bus was late.) Imagine that, a world class transportation system.

Does it sounds too good to be true? Is it an impossible dream? No it is not. Japan has done it. When I was in Tokyo for a holiday earlier this year, I was amazed by their bus system. You will see the arrival time of every bus printed on the notice board at the bus stop. Minutes before the arrival time of the bus, the people start appearing at the bus stop. At exactly the printed arrival time on the notice board (yes, on the dot) the bus will miraculously appear at the bus stop. People will board the bus in an orderly manner. At the stated timing, I arrived at my destination stop. I could not believe my eyes. And the bus driver wished me a good day when I got off. All these are achieved by the Japanese bus companies without the use fanciful technological systems. All they have are a good sense of punctuality, respect for the commuters and a lot of good planning.

This great vision was set out by the Government in 1996. Nine years has passed and we are nowhere near the world class land transportation dreamed up by the author of the white paper. What is LTA doing to achieve the goals set out for it? If there are 1001 reasons (quoted by Mr, Gerald Ee of the PTC) for the bus not arriving on time, please find 1001 solutions to solve the problems. Surveys and talking will do nothing to help the situation. Show us the results. Show us that Singapore, like Japan, can have a World Class Land Transport System.

Dian Xiao Er

I went to a new Chinese restaurant in Marina Square with my friends today. It is called Dian Xiao Er. The decoration is like a Chinese Inn and the waiters and waitress dressed up like... well, Dian Xiaoers. The food is good and there are a number of hard to find dishes.

This herbal roast duck is very nice. Smells good and taste great!

I thought you can only find this kind of fried bread when you eat Chilli Crab. But hey, it seems that it is also a type of Man Tou. (Hee hee, my idea of Man Tou is white, plain and hard. Too much Gongfu movies I guess :P)

This is the super hard to find Dong Po Meat. It is named after the famous poet Su Dong Po. I think it is his favourite dish. It is very nice, although extremely fattening. The fatty part is soft and melts in the mouth while meaty party is very fragrant. Taste a bit like the meat you find in rice dumpings.

The Mongolian spicy ribs is not really spicy. It is chewy and tasty though.

The Nu Er Hong and the Zhuang Yuan Hong are two strong wine. The Zhuang Yuan Hong is more fragrant while the Nu Er Hong is stronger. Give it a try coz it is not easy to find it in Singapore. (P.S. I cannot remember which cup is which liao. hic. ;P)

Mustafa

I went to Mustafa today because my friends said they never been there. I told them that Mustafa sells everything and the prices are good. So we went there...
I haven't gone there for a long time, and wow! I forgotten how big it is. The shelves of stuff extends in all directions, upwards and downwards. There is just so much things. And there are just so many Indians.
We discovered that they sell almost every kind of things but not everything :P. For example, they don't sell Japanese CDs. So, no Do as Infinity CD for me :(

Look What I Got

I finally bought myself a Panasonic FX-8! Hurray! (I want to show you a picture of it, but how to take a picture of the camera using the same camera?! :P)
 

Outside of Me III

I finally removed the gauze for the wound. Here is how my operation scar look like:
Sigh. Good back, nice back.

Outside of Me II

Went to change dressing today. The wound is extremely itchy now:

Outside of Me

Here is a picture of my spine look from the outside now. :P

The plastic covering enable me bathe easily without worrying about wetting the dressing. It is known as Tegaderm from 3M(tm). Wonderful product.

Inside Of Me

In a normal human spine, there are many segments separated by discs. These discs allow the spine to be flexible and act as shock absorbers. The nerve root from which runs along the spine and all the nerve of the body radiate from it to different parts of the body.
A healthy disc is bouncy and filled with liquid. Sometimes as a human ages or through abuse or lack of maintenance of the back, wear and tear occurs and a disc might break and its content leaks out. This is known as a herniated disc or slipped disc.

This usually occurs in the lower back known as the lumbar spine. Sometimes the protruding disc does not press on any of the nerves or tissues, and you might not know that you have a slipped disc. But sometimes, it presses on the nerve root and causes the nerve root to be compressed. This causes unbearable pain to occur in the buttock or/and the leg. This condition is known as sciatica.

Depending on the condition of the sciatica, some people are relieved of pain through painkillers or therapy. But sometime, the condition is too sever and requires surgery to remove the protruding disc and decompress the nerve root. There are many procedures available, but one of the best techniques is known as microdiscectomy where a small slit is cut and a surgical microscope and knife are inserted to remove the offending portion of the discs. This minimizes the intrusion and enables faster recovery.

Here is the a picture of my spine before the microdiscectomy:

Harrie

Sara gave each of us a soft toy. We named them according to the characteristic of the person. Mine is called Harrie because of the hair (and my lack of it :P)

I brought it to the hospital and it accompanies me for the two days I stayed there. I place Harrie on my chest when I slept at night. One of the nurse had a shock and thought that there is a cat on me when she came to check on me at night. I am sorry I scared her.

The doctors and nurses at SGH are very kind and caring. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Sciatica due to herniated disc

I had sciatica due to a lumbar herniated disc at L5 S1. I had a microdiscectomy on 24 Nov 2005 and am currently recovering from the procedure.