I am Positive

It has been 3 months since I last blogged. But I have never wanted to have so much at hand such that I have to blog about it.

I fell terribly ill last Thursday, finding myself at 39.2 degC at one point in time. The clinic at AMK Ave 4 did not help me much.On Friday, I cant get out of bed, due to a bad low back sprain. I had to half limped half walked to NUH where I received two painful painkiller jabs and was placed on 3 packets of drip. I had both my chest and lower back x rayed and blood tested. I have not had so many things happened to me in just one day for a long time.

On Sunday, my fever did not subside.Visiting my GP at Margaret Drive led me to do a throat swap for H1N1. I was given more cough, phlegm and fever medicine and was given another 4 days of MC.

Today, the GP called me to confirm that I am H1N1 positive and I need to quarantine myself until 11th Aug. Already been locked up in my small room for the past 5 days, this news is really cruel. I have not finished my lectures, tutorials and revision. I had missed my gown fitting at Sophia's. I missed the JC gathering with Joyce who just returned from Dubai.

I am going crazy soon.

The worse thing is I have to ensure I keep the virus within me and my small room. My parents belong to the H1N1 high risk group and I cannot afford to let them fall ill.

I need to learn to live like a lone ranger. Learning to have my own personal cup, bowl, plate and cutlery. Having my face mask on at all times. My own tissue box and rubbish bin. My own thermometer. My own toilet. No TV for another 7 days.

This is terrible. Glad that I still have facebook and youtube to keep me alive.

Story-Telling

Yesterday I was reading to Paige when I was babysitting her and Matthew.

I read three stories, "The Ugly Duckling", "Rapunzel" and "The Enormous Turnip". It could have been more if not because I was too tired to read more. Story-reading, contrary to common beliefs, IS tiring.

Maybe it is because my command of English has dropped. It has been more and more difficult for me to summarise the story lines from 3 paragraphs to one. To think that it is only a children's book.

Maybe it is because I was fascinated by the stories which I have lost touch with for a really long time. As I read, it seemed the story differs quite a bit from the version I read more than 20 years ago.

Maybe I was trying too hard to think of the morale of the story. I feel that a story is never complete without telling the child what is the story really trying to teach us. Especially for "The Ugly Duckling", I felt accomplished after educating Paige to love everyone beyond their looks.

It was tiring babysitting them. But it was also very enriching to story-tell.

Securing the Date

The Carlton saga ends it all.

While Carlton Hotel remains as the best choice in terms number of tables, location, food, pillarless ballroom with high ceiling and reasonable rates, their service irked us to such an extend that we decided to give up with them. All their perks which was thrown in were all not reflected in the contract. Furthermore, their verbal promises twisted and turned at the time of contract signing. One word. Ridiculous.

Marina Mandarin Hotel became our immediate backup plan. This was despite the fact that it was not even in our original hotel list of considerations, primarily due to the minimum number of tables to meet. Nevertheless, besides the "not-so-high" ceiling and a minimum of 35 tables to fulfil, everything seemed perfect about them. They can even provide us with a solemnisation venue despite that the solemnisation date is a day before the banquet. The forum also raved off their food, service and excellent efficiency. I guess this is really a blessing in disguise.

Have not signed the contract yet, but if nothing goes wrong, we should be announcing the date of the big day in 2 weeks time =)

The Real Meaning of a Race

Desmond has always encouraged me to watch The Amazing Race on CBS. But since the telecast every Monday clashed with Campus Superstar, I never did watch a full episode of the program which features teams racing around the world.

This afternoon, while waiting for Desmond's 3 hour long car wash, I watched all the 6 episodes which I missed, on Youtube. And I derived much learnings besides watching them compete for a million bucks.

1. Jaipur, India - Never consider yourself unfortunate

As teams raced for monetary victory, deaf-mute Luke (and Margie) broke down after he saw Indian children running around shackles naked, feeding themselves with garbage. Think he realised he is definitely not alone in his struggle for leading a normal life.

Luke broke down in Jaipur

2. Siberia, Russia - Wear "proper" undergarments

Poor gal from one of the teams had to stripped to her lingerie and run 2 miles in the -4degC Russian city. Worst thing is that she is wearing nothing but a sports bra and a black thong (Yes thongs!)

Shots of her running from behind were censored of course!

3. Phuket, Thailand - Mummy is the greatest

Bionic woman Margie wins the day again by running on Luke's behalf when she realised how difficult it is to give her deaf son directions while sitting on a rickshaw. In the end, she suffered a heat stroke after running 2 miles under extreme hot and humid weather, nearly fainted and had to be sent to hospital.

Just before Mummy Margie fainted in Phuket

4. Beijing, China - Never give up, even if it is your greatest fear
College athletes Kisha and Jen fear for nothing but water. Unfortunately one of the detour for the China leg is to choose a task from "Swim" or "Sync". Jen broke down as she could not overcome her fear for the waters and was unable to finish neither tasks. Imagine performing a task which is your greatest phobia..Kudos to Jen.

They tried but was unable to overcome their phobia

5. Translyvania, Romania - Pick yourself up, where you fall

Good looking lawyer Victor led her sister Tammy on a wild goose chase in the woods looking for coffins, only to realise that they have been following the wrong arrow directions (white red arrows instead of the official yellow red arrows of The Amazing Race). This should be the first and last time viewers see Victor broke down and cried, before regaining composure to end up at second last place, after skydiving down from the first position.

This is clearly not the race's official direction sign

I had always loved geography back in school, even though I seldom travel. But the amount of knowldege you learn when travelling in a trip, is limitless and invaluable. In fact, I don't think any of the team will regreat this journey even if they did not finally win the race.

Seriously, I cannot wait for Episode 11 to be screened tomorrow at 830pm.

Little Mr and Ms Bump

Last week was definitely NOT our lucky week.

On Thursday, Desmond's car got bumped at the back by a series of cars, after their failures to brake in time in slippery weather. This cost Desmond not only a sprained neck, but also three days without his Rio.

On Friday, I had a freak fall while stopping after my hour long ran around the neighbourhood. Although I only hit my knee, it left my knee brazed with at least 10 strokes of broken skin.

On Saturday, I slipped when I stepped on "freshly" sprayed insecticide in Desmond's room. Fortunately I landed on my bum which caused no more than a false alarm.

I hope we will shed off the title of Mr and Ms Bump next week.