Shingles

Its five minutes to 9 in the evening and I'm sitting at the dining table looking on at Adam and Risa playing Ben 10 monopoly. Can't believe that they can be that noisy. I hope this noise would not be replace by wailing or crying tomorrow. Adam has been infected by Shingles. It is caused by the same virus as chicken pox. Unlike chicken pox, blisters in Shingles will not appear throughout the body. It'll appear only on the path of the nerve that is infected. As for Adam's case, his blisters is appearing in his right leg. It is at the back of the leg and stretched from his calf to the area around his anus. The blisters looked quite bad and I read that soon it'll be filled with blood. I'm afraid that since Shingles affects the nerve, it might cause Adam a great deal of pain.

We went to the doctor today. As it was a Monday, the clinic was quite busy. We waited for some two and a half hours to see the doctor. After diagnosing Adam, she gave Adam 7 days of medical leave. I'm sure any parent would be taken aback by the number of medical leave given. Being a non-medical person, the length of medical leave would correspond to how serious the sickness is. The longer the medical leave, the more serious is the sickness.�

We got a scare in the evening, Adam cried saying that he can't walk. I was psyching myself up to spend the rest of the day at the hospital. As it turned out, it Adam's crying for attention from his mother who has just returned home. It was comical, the dramatics and the reactions from both mother and son, but it was very apparent, the concern faces of Risa and Su.�

He is limping now, walking on the ball of his right feet. I hope he'll be better.

The cases of swine flu around the world has really given me the jitters. During SARS and the bird flu scare, I wasn't this afraid. But after feeling what I felt when I first heard Adam's diagnosis, I know I could never empathized with the families and loved ones of those that were infected with the diseases.�

I pray all goes well.

Kuda Kepang

Was at Woodlands today. On the way to the car park after visiting Su's cousin new born baby, saw many people gathering at a void deck. Quickly parked the car and together with Su, her mum and...everybody else, we saw that it was a birthday celebration. And in this birthday celebration we saw that a kuda kepang performance was being put up.

Armed only with a 28mm 2.8 lens, I went and seek out the head of the troupe and asked his permission to take pictures. He readily agreed. It was a long event but I was�spell-bounded...

It started with the dances coming out slowly and dancing to a traditional tune from the accompanying gamelan. I think that it took some 20-30 minutes of slow dancing when the action finally started. The dancers seemed to go into a trance and after some dramatic hesistation, they took to their horses. Some had to be baited using burning charcoal and incense. While waiting for the action to start, I actually spied a big plate filled with fruits like banana and coconuts. And not only were there edible stuff, but there were also broken glass. When I enquired further, these were meant as food for the dancers. Whoa!�

Anyway after the dancers got into a trance, some of them were fed broken glass, some of them got whipped, some were hit using a stick. It then appears that they acted as though they were horses...

More pictures in my album.

the sixties

Been reading as to how the sixties has affected the science environment. Part of my UNISIM assigned readings. It seems that the sixties had made a great impact on the science environment. Most probably it was because of the second world war. What I meant was, after any wars, scientist would go about researching about how to make the world of man a better one. For example, research on diseases. However, after the second world war, governments especially the then US government realize that it was a good time as any to get ready for the third world war. Thus, in this sense, the government injected funds for research into making weapons. Two of the research were profound. They are the nuclear weapons and radar.�

The effects on such research trickled down to the public. For instance, it somehow seems cooler to be associated, or working for, a company that does research in weaponry. Almost all advertisements were shown with pictures of rockets and missiles. And the advent of the Vietnam war further increase the importance of research and development in that area.

Many implication arose because of this new directions. Scientist began research into weapons as dictated by the armed forces instead of towards the overall good of mankind. The implication of this implication would be then scientist would then go above and beyond their boundaries.

Another implication would be the fact that the nation would be ruled by the elite who are well versed into science and technology. For example, since a lot importance is placed on science and technology, then the insiders would be the one who decides as to what is and should be research upon. These implication could be the reasons as to the "revolution" the US faced in the sixties.�

My question is, is this direction still the direction being taken by current scientist. Do they let the government dictate what should be researched into? How bad is it? Or were there any good that comes from adopting the 'direction'? How as the revolution affected the direction taken by the scientist now?

Another point which I wanted to write about is the NRMs or new religion movements that sprouted in the sixties. The�

Garlic Spread

Made this spread while Adam was practising on the piano.

I used 3 cloves of garlic, three stalks of cilantro (parsley) and 3 cm cut from a brick of butter. Since I used unsalted I also added a pinch of salt.

Instructions.
Chopped up the garlic and the cilantro and add them into the butter.�
Mix them well. Spread them on bread, I'd like to use meatier bread so I used whole grain.
Toast them on a grill and served.
Sprinkle some extra virgin olive oil if you want.

Service

Did servicing for the car today...

Bought engine oil for $48, oil filter for $5 and labour charges was $15. So total was $68. Used chevron engine oil 5w-20. This is the second time I'm using it. The cheapest synthetic 20w oil I can find.

Bought the oils at mxtradings.

Lunch

Not feeling very good lately. Stomach been churning and had to do the doo after every meal. Must be all the medication. Was tired after sending Su to work today so I decided to force myself to sleep. Woke up after a restless nap at 11.30 am and fixed myself lunch...

Wished I'd took some pics.

I had two slices of turkey bacon with lettuce and sauteed cherry tomatoes and onions in between half a baguett. It wasn't filling but I still did the doo after half an hour of eating it...

Spanish Tortilla

Finally did it.

Here is what I used.

Three potatoes, sliced.

4 eggs.

Salt.

Olive oil.

Heat olive oil in a pan, preferably non-stick.

Peeled and sliced potatoes.

Fry potatoes until mushyable.

Beat eggs.

Add salt to eggs to tast.

When potatoes are ready add in egg.

Use a plate to help to flip the tortilla.

Cut it up like a pizza and serve.

Took me ten minutes.

tortilla a la española

Saw this on discover channel. Since I'm going grocery shopping later. I think I'll just make one.

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/spanish-tortilla.aspx

Penne and angelhair pasta in oil.

It was ten in the morning and I was hungry for something warm, smooth and beautiful but my wife was not at home so I made this... I used Penne and Anglehair spaghetti as I had them. I'd recommend the normal spaghetti though. 

I cm cut off a brick of butter. 

2 cloves of garlic chopped. 

Chilli flakes, you could use chopped chilli too. 

Salt to taste.  

1. Cook pasta. 

2. Strain pasta. 

3. Heat butter and pour in chilli flakes and garlic in a pan. 

3. Add in olive oil. 

3. Add in pasta. 

4. Stir. 

5. Serve.  

Notes. 

1. Stir butter, chilli flakes and garlic constantly while cooking. This is to avoid burning the sauce. 

2. Switch off flame when you add in the pasta. Total cooking time, the time taken tohave the pasta cook +5 minutes. In the pictures above, I add in cherry tomatoes.

Earth Day

It's earth day today and Adam was so excited. He made sure the lights were switched off and was adamant that Risa did the washing up in candle light. As for me, I had my dinner in candlelight as well. However, when I looked outside the windows, there were many flats still with the lights on. I guess, they had their own reasons. It was fun though with Adam shouting and laughing hysterically whenever one of the candles blew out. Su, took out a glass bowl, half filled with water and placed some candles. It was a nice cosy hour.

Trying something diff

There I was attempting to complete my TMA for the 2nd time when I had an urge for something salty and tasty. Realised I had a couple of potatoes and some leftover grated cheese, I decided to re attempt my potatoes brisquet.

Ingredients. Produced 4-5 brisquet.
1. 2 potatoes
2. grated cheese (mine is a mix of mozzarella, Parmesan and cheddar)
3. finely chopped parsley
4. salt to taste.

Instructions.
1. Grate the potatoes.
2. Placed them on a napkin and squeeze the juices out.
3. Mixed the cheese, the parsley into the potatoes.
4. Form patties, much the same way you'd form beef patties.
5. Shallow fry them using any oil you like, I used grape seed oil.
6. Served.

It took me some 10 minutes to prepare and some ten minutes to fry all of them. It took Adam only 5 minutes to eat four of them...

Its so hard....

Its so hard to concentrate. So many things on my mind. The death of one of my uncle left me dumbfounded. The fact that I'm totally relying on my wife's source of income is worrying, the fact that I've yet to complete or even starts on my TMAs is a great cause of concern. Felt like a cow going into the slaughter house.
Anyway, read in the news today, that an Ang Moh person was convicted and thrown in jail for throwing his Thai wife out the window. They were at a fourth floor apartment when that happened. I thought, oh my, this is like CSI. But its Singapore, no hollywood style excitement here!
Apparently his mom is sick and he was upset that his Thai wife was not giving the attention that he thinks he needed. Hah hah. So he waited for her to fall asleep, went into the room and he flung her out of the window! How cool is that?
Whats even cooler is that she survived, albeit bleeding from the head, spent some time in our very world class hospital and wanted him to be released from Prison. Hey this is no Hollywood. You can't just go into the police station and tell those boys in blue, "thanks for all your help but I think you could let him out now." Awesome. But whats not cool is when its stated that he is a good provider, etc etc. I mean, so what if he is a good provider. He flung you out of the window! Imagine if like me, she stayed in an apartment 16th floor up!
Anyway, Adam now has a blog. Its in www.lead.com.sg so I don't think it accessible to the public. He is writing alot now. I'll see if I can get him to post in blogger.com

Its so hard...

Doughnut Recipe

2 eggs
2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of flour
3 teaspoon of butter
1 teaspoon of baking soda
Milk

1. Cream sugar and butter together, add beaten eggs.
2. Mix and sift dry ingredients.
3. Add dry ingredients to mixture. Add milk. Mixture should be very soft.
4. Form into a ball and roll to one-half inch thickness.
5. Cut and fry in hot oil.

Hope that helps!

Kinderchef

While I was contemplating as to how I could attempt my TMAs, Adam went to Kinderchef today. There was a celebrity present, Chef Bob. He cooked pizza using a slice of french loaf as a base. He made a cookie too. He enjoyed the session. Took some pictures.



The picture above shows the teacher that accompanied Adam. Did not catch her name though.



That's chef Bob.

Doughnuts

Adam came back from Kinderchef all excited of what he did in Kinderchef. Kinderchef is a cooking enrichment class conducted by Iman. Anyway, he was telling me so much of the doughnuts that I can't wait to try them out at home. We went over the cheklist and we have all of the ingredients but one. Baking soda! What the heck is baking soda? Since Su is not at home, I'll guess I have to leave it to her then. Heh heh...
By that time, the excitement has died down and he is now xboxing...
Will be going to tutorial later. Oh my, it had been such a cold day, my joints are aching.
Anyway, for those who are interested in strawberries, the Korean strawberries sold in NTUC nowadays are very sweet. If not for the fact that strawberries may trigger another gout attack, I had only a couple. I bought them for my dearest wife anyways.

Adam's shoes

It has been three months since Adam went to Greendale Primary. Since then, he has made new friends and and experience a whole new level of teacher talk. Teacher talk? The way teacher talks to the kids, the very unnatural way of talking. I mean we, human beings do not talk like that when we talk to other human beings right? Think of teacher talk as an abberation of mother talk.
Anyway, Adam has got into a pretty good routine I must say. Only last week, he took out his assessment books and finished his homework, all without being told. I planned it such that 3.00pm will be his work time. He can do anything he wants from the time he got back from school until work time.
A funny thing happened the other day, well him, not me. He walked straight into a lampost! He was coming back from school and he was distracted looking at a friend of his that he smack straight into the lampost. It was funny, but both me, wifey and grandparents were not surprised. I mean, when he was in Iman, he walked straight into a bush!
His weeknights and weekevenings are quite eventfull.
He'll have swimming on Tuesdays, ngaji on Wednesdays, library on thursdays with his mum and piano on fridays. Not to mention Madrasah on Saturday morning. He seems to be coping well. Will be updating again.

This is so stressed.

Only two more hours till my TMA submission deadline. And I'm blogging and facebooking! Crazy!

99000

I read in an article that it is expected to have 99000 people who will lost their job. Its getting very real. At first, one would think that it'll not affect us, Singaporeans I mean. But if the numbers do come true, imagine how it must feel like for those involved. Some may be lucky to have saving to tide them over, but for how long? What will happen then? And imagine the stress people are feeling now, thinking that they may lose their livlihood.
I have friends, who are zipping around, travelling to overseas destinations, talking about buying new cars and all, all painting a rosy picture to their aquitances. But it is not that rosy. The person sitting next to you on the bus, is probably thiniking as to how to feed his or her children in the coming weeks! Its that bad.
I have friends who resigned from jobs, because they don't like the environment. Who does? If you like your environment, then its not work. But in this times, there are mouth to feed and bills to pay.
I'm sitting here, on my bed, listening to the sound of tyres splashing on the wet road. I wonder, will it affect me? And if it does, am I fully ready?
I guess the answer will be yes, it has already affected me, and no I can never be ready. People close to me have their lives changed because of this recession. A relative had to spend time away from her son just so she could work and bring $1.5k back home. Another close friend, has fallen sick thinking as to where is he going to get the money to pay for his house instalments.
Many of my colleagues or ex colleagues seems to be living in this bubble, sterile inside, translucent to see through. They see what they want to see. They see misbehavior, they see dirty unwashed uniforms, they see borrowing and lending of money to buy food for luch. Its what they don't see that makes me wonder. I'm not one to judge, but I want to know, what is it that makes them unable to see, or empathise. Perhaps, its their lot. Perhaps they can't do anything about it. Perhaps they don't bother. I don't want to judge. I want to know.
I want to know what will happen to my neighbour who has two kids and husband only earning 1k per month. I want to what what will happen to another neighbour who owes a bank 1.4k a month on car instalments. Sheesh!
All I'm saying, it time one be prepared. Spend some time in putting some away. It might just come in handy.

TMAs

Been sometime since I last log in. Been busy finishing my TMAs and now I've got three more to hand in a couple of weeks. As to what I've been up to, well, its what I've not been up thats interesting. My leg was hurting real bad last week that I've to used a wheelchair. I felt so useless; I cried myself to sleep. Took me three days to be able to stand up without support. As a result, I missed my tutorials and a lecture. It won't be so bad except the TMAs could do a lot of help.

Because of a lack of driving, my Jet FC went down. So went to JB once a week for the past two weeks instead of my normal twice a week routine. Just went in last Wenesday in the afternoon. Left the house at 11am and reach back home by 1,40pm. Managed to catch Adam as he was walking home. Heh heh. Spent some RM$100 on groceries too!

Now as I sat here watching and Adam practising his piano, I can smell the pizza baking in the oven. I made a half and half. What I mean is, I used Ranch dressing as a base on half of the pizza and a traditional tomato, garlic and olive base on the other half. Just a few minutes more for me to see if it'll taste nice.

Actually, me and the whole family seems to be doing fine. Athough I've yet to be broke, there are some belt tightening that needs to be done. Its o.k, I'm living well with $150 dollars in my bank account. Su is doing well with $800 and Adam hmm, lets say he has a long way to go in understanding the concept of savings.

Still hoping for the GST credits to come in and Su's pb to come in. It'll be really useful I bet. Anyway, my job is to study and I better do it well. Else, why would I need to tighten up my belt for. I need to make this worth it. Its not a nice feeling not to be able to buy new stuff, especially Cds, DVDs and er...oh yeah, car stuf. But hey, if a friend of mine can do it, I's sure I can.