Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year 2011

Today is the last day of 2010 and I still not sure of what's my new year (2011) resolution ...........
What's yours?

One thing for sure I'd like to do in 2011 is to Reduce Stress espcially work related ones!
I shall not take my work too seriously.
So I may quit my job should I cant stand it anymore ..........

I think money is important but is not the most important, to me, health, family and happiness should be priority!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Merry X'mas 2010!

Time files and it's Xmas again!

As usual, RY and myself will be heading to Ipoh for the festive holiday tomorrow afternoon.
We cant start the journey early as we still gotta work half day.
We didnt take leave since it's simply not make sense to utilise 1 day of annual leave as company is giving half day off.
You may wonder why we dont just apply half day of annual leave?
Well, the company policy state that if you didnt come to work on X'mas leave, it's assumed that you're taking 1 full day off and 1 day of annual leave will be deducted from your annual leave entitlement.

Do you find this a petty policy which doesnt make sense?

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

My Love, Happy Birthday - 22 Dec 2010!

Tomorrow is RY's birthday and we've planned to go eat Tiong Bahru Bao and lunch he'll take me to Swensen for their 1-for-1 lunch deal which also comes with a free Firehouse ice-cream for the birthday boy.

I didnt buy him any gifts but I've told him what he'll get from me for his birthday.
Do you wanna make a guess?

Yep, I told him the land tour in NYC will be his belated birthday gift from me.
I'll research for good land tour and pay for both of us.
I think this is a practical gift to ensure no wastage due to buying unwanted and impractical things.

Dinner will be at my mum's place since it's Dong Zhi  冬至 Festival.
Yep, RY is a  冬至 baby.
Every year, mum will make dumpling for us.
Why dumpling during 冬至?

Here is the story of  冬至:

The Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; Pinyin: dōng zhì; "The Extreme of Winter") is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese as well as other East Asians during the dongzhi solar term. The traditional Chinese calendars divide a year into 24 solar terms (節氣). Dōngzhì (pīnyīn) or Tōji (rōmaji) (Chinese and Japanese: 冬至; Korean: 동지; Vietnamese: Đông chí; literally: "winter solstice") is the 22nd solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 270° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 285°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 270°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around December 21 (December 22 East Asia time) and ends around January 5th.


The origins of this festival can be traced back to the Yin and Yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fù (復, "returning"). Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of Tangyuan (湯圓, as pronounced in Cantonese; Mandarin Pinyin: Tāng Yuán) or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tangyuan are made of glutinuous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Every one in the family receives at least one large Tang Yuan and several small ones. The flour balls may be plain or stuffed. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savoury broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on dongzhi. It is said to have originated from Zhang Zhongjing of Han Dynasty. On one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, distributed them among the poor to keep them warm. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named it "qǜ hán jiāo ěr tāng" or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From then on it became a tradition passed down to eat dumplings on the day of dongzhi to keep the ears from getting chilblains.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

New York New York!

Yep, RY is going to New York on biz trip next Feb and he is bringing me along for holiday prior to his biz meeting commence.

I'm looking forward to this NY holiday.
The last San Franc trip has made me fall in love with USA!

Now I gotta start planning what to do in NY ......... weather should be cold then, ummn so gotta bring winter clothes ...........

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Meeting up my Old Friend!

Yesterday I didnt go to work as I was attending training in town.

My ex-secondary school classmate - MyL met me up for lunch as she was on leave.
I've known MyL since sec 1 and we still keep in touch every now and then but more recently as she's preparing her wedding in Feb'11.  So I'd give her my opinion on her gown, hand bouquet, make-up artist, photography etc ..........

It was nice meeting up old friends and brought back fond memories of days of being young and wild ........
She was the friend who brought me to pub and disco when I was 18 ........ and I remembered going to her place almost every saturday to dress up for the party and spent the night at her place since she stayed in town.  Oh I'd the permission from my parents to spend the night at her place as they knew her pretty well too!

MyL is a interior designer and studied in NAFA after GCE "O" Level while I chose the acadamic route to do JC then University.

She remembered my birthday and wanted to buy me dinner but I rejected and insisted paying as I know she had already spent a fortune in her wedding preparation.

I hope we can continue remain as friends till we grow old ............

Happy Birthday 11 Dec 2010

Today is my birthday ........

Last night we attended my company's function and arrived home at 11.59pm and RY sang me a Happy Birthday song when the clock ticked at 12 mid-night and also handed me a nicely wrapped gift.

Since last month, he had asked me what I want for my birthday and I told him that I want "nothing".

Do you wanna guess what he give me this year?
He wrapped the "item" in a flat box about the size of a A4 size paper and with a diameter of 1cm.

Initially I thought it was a ladies long wallet with key chain set or a jewellery set.
When I opened it up and was disappointed to see a note pad (a paper note book) but, wait ...... when I looked closer in between the pages, something shimmering & glittering fell off.
Yep, it was a Gold Bar!

RY told me that since he didnt know what to get for me, he decided to buy a piece of gold bar from the SG authorised Bank since it is also a form of investment.

This is indeed a very pratical gift which will appreciate in value!

I appreciate the thoughts and efforts he puts in.
He must've spent some time thinking of what to get and how to wrap this small piece of gold bar to surprise me!

This afternoon we'll go for a movie and then have a dinner in town.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Alkaline foods for conception

I recently read about natural food therapy to improve fertility.  In such therapy, women eats alkaline rather than acid foods.

In summary, the chemical processes during digestion have an ideal pH at which they are most efficient and the human body functions at a slightly alkaline pH between 7.0 and 8.0. The pH of blood is slightly alkaline and the body has many stores of alkalizing minerals to keep it that way.

Where do we get these minerals? Our food supplies our minerals (not including vitamin and mineral supplements). The total balance of minerals in a particular food is either acid or alkaline. A food is not classed as acid or alkaline by how it tastes. It has everything to do with the residue that remains once the food has been metabolized.

When food is metabolized to produce energy, a residue remains that is either acid, alkaline or neutral. It is important to note that although a food may taste acidic, it may leave an alkaline residue.

Alkaline-forming foods include vegetables, fruits, soybeans, almonds, most legumes, potatoes with skin, bananas, millet and buckwheat. Acid-forming foods include meat, fish, eggs, cheese, most grains and nuts, and peanuts. Neutral foods include fats and oils.

Many diseases and allergic reactions are associated with an over-acid condition of the body fluids. Symptoms such as pain and weakness may indicate that the alkaline reserves of the body are exhausted.

In addition, taking large amounts of Vitamin C especially as synthetic ascorbic acid increases the body’s acidity.

Attaining a healthy PH balance is essential for reproductive health. If cervical mucous becomes too acidic, it can become hostile to sperm and prevent implantation (sperm favor an alkaline existence). For an ideal PH balance, 70-80% of your diet should be from alkaline foods, while 20-30% can come from acidic foods. Saliva is alkaline, so remember to chew your foods well to create an internal environment conducive to fertility.


Highest Alkaline Forming Foods:
String beans, banana, dandelion greens, dates, figs, prunes, raisins and Swiss Chard.

High Alkaline Forming Foods:
Almonds, asparagus, avocado, fresh beans, beets, black-berries, carrot, cranberries, chives, endive, sour grapes, kale, dried peach, persimmon, plum, pomegranate, raspberries, rooibos tea and spinach.

Alkaline Forming Foods:
Agar, alfalfa, apple, fresh apricot, globe artichokes, bamboo shoots, snap beans, sprouted beans, most berries, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cantaloupe, cauliflower, celery, cherries, chestnuts, chicory, coconut milk, collards, corn (when fresh), cucumbers, daikon, eggplant, escarole, garlic, ginger root, gooseberry, grapefruit, guava, horseradish (fresh and raw), kelp, kohlrabi, leek, lemon, lettuce, line, loganberry, mango, melons, raw, milk, m millet, acidophilus yogurt and whey.

Neutral Oils:
Almond, avocado, coconut, cottonseed, linseed (flaxseed), olive, safflower, sesame, sunflower, and walnut.

Highest Acid Forming Foods:
Alcohol, artichoke root, barley, bread, buckwheat, caffeine, coffee, corn (when processed and not fresh), custards, drugs, most flours, ginger preserves, honey, lentils, pate, oatmeal, peanuts rice, rye grain, soy bred, soy noodles, sorghum, spaghetti, and other pastas, sugar cane, raw beets tobacco, walnut, wheat.

Acid Forming Foods:
Dried beans, cashews, coconut, cranberry juice and concentrate, egg yolk, filberts, fruit jellies, (canned jams, sulfured, sugared, dried), grapes, pasteurized milk products, dry peas, pecans, Damson plums, tofu, fries and water chestnuts.

Acid Forming Fats:
Butter, cream, margarine and lard.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Nature giving way to modernisation

I was doing my usual morning exercise passing by the small garden near my house this morning.
I was rather shocked to see trees being chopped down to make way for the new MRT downtown line .........

I was kinda sad and went to touch the lifeless tree bark and branches ..........

The trees used to provide shades during the hot sunny weather for people living near the vincinity when we exercise, play or walked the dogs there.
Now, they just lie on the ground "lifelessly" ........

I hope upon the completion of the MRT downtown line, the govenment can consider planting the trees back.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Earwax is a Pain!

I was "partially deaf" on left ear for the past 2 weeks due to big lumps of earwax build up that blocked the ear canal.

Being partially deaf was really frustrating since I was not able to hear properly to detect danger while I crossed the road; not able to hear properly during work or in restaurant when my queue nos was called; not able to communicate will with friends/ clleagues during lunch since I can only hear my chewing sound and hardly able to hear them talk when I was eating ............. etc

For the 1st 3 days when the earwax build up erupted, I patiently waited for it to come out by its own.
On the 4th day, I went to the pharmacy to get a off the shelve earwax drip - Tropex and drip the solution into my left ear for > 1 weeks.

I waited with 9 days for the earwax to get soften and was hopeful that it'd flow out of its own.
But it didnt happen.
Yesterday, I finally gave up and went to a GP to get it fix!

The doc extracted a big lump from the outer ear and then flush out the balance lumps.Syringing method.
He made me lie on the bed, pulled the external ear up and back, and aiming the nozzle of the syringe slightly upwards and backwards so that the water flows as a cascade along the roof of the canal. The irrigation solution flows out of the canal along its floor, taking wax and debris with it. The solution used to irrigate the ear canal is usually warm water, normal saline,sodium bicarbonate solution, or a solution of water and vinegar to help prevent secondary infection.


He also checked my right ear and managed to extract a dried huge lump of earwax!
Both my ears are really clean now and I definitly can ear very clearly!

Dont under estimate how the earwax can wreck havock to your daily lives.
Care for your ear and remember to seek professional help if it blocks your ear canal and affect your hearing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earwax
Explanation on Earwax from Wikipedia:
Earwax, also known by the medical term cerumen, is a yellowish waxy substance secreted in the ear canal of humans and many other mammals. It protects the skin of the human ear canal, assists in cleaning and lubrication, and also provides some protection from bacteria, fungi, insects and water.[1] Excess or impacted cerumen can press against the eardrum and/or occlude the external auditory canal and impair hearing

Cerumen is produced in the outer third of the cartilaginous portion of the human ear canal. It is a mixture of viscous secretions from sebaceous glands and less-viscous ones from modified apocrine sweat glands.[2] The primary components of earwax are shed layers of skin, with 60% of the earwax consisting of keratin, 12–20% saturated and unsaturated long-chain fatty acids, alcohols, squalene and 6–9% cholesterol.[3]


Fear, stress and anxiety result in increased production of earwax from the ceruminous glands