Category: My Good Life

I couldn’t open my jaw.

OK.  I could.  But not without the strange bone cracking sound from within my skull, and the pain.  It started when I was in Malaysia and it didn’t bother much till I realized that I couldn’t really sing without being able to open my mouth wide.  And I couldn’t yawn properly during my rather tiring return trip on the Malaysian highway.  Took me forever to finish eating a sandwich.  When I told my friend JL my little problem, her response was: you were speeding on the highway with the window down and your mouth wide opened, izzit?

Ha ha ha.  Farny.

Since I woke up feeling sick, I was motivated to see my favorite neighborhood doctor whom his core competency is to give out medical certificates – and I hope to have my jaw fixed.

We were like long lost friend inside his consultation room because my last visit was on December 2006.  “So you’ve changed your job,” he asked.  I nodded and he told me that I looked more relaxed and less stressed.  Really?!  And I shall trust a doctor’s observation.

“What can I do for you today,” he asked.  I told him my jaw problem.  And I told him that I may be coming down with a flu.  He said he would give me some lotion to apply and some painkillers for my jaw and my flu.

At the counter, I stared at the lotion and it says: nanotechnology.  I was amazed!  Although nanotechnology is not new, its application to our commercial world is still at its infancy stage.  It will be years before those nanoscaled swarm of microscopic machines become a reality as depicted in Michael Crichton’s novel “Prey”.  When that time comes, I don’t know what the world would become.

My friend SF asked me out for lunch and she saw the tube of lotion.  She asked if I was OK.  I waved the tube in the air and said, “This, has enough nanorobots to keep me happy.”

“There is no nanorobot inside,” she laughed.

OK.  I know she is a bio-science graduate.  But still …

“Yes, there are,” I insisted.

“No, there isn’t,” she shook her head.

“Look,” I began.  “Look,” she interrupted.  I continued, “Look, there are things inside this tube that are manufactured, programmed to carry out a certain function, and they are super tiny.  Therefore, these are nanorobots.”

“They are not nanorobots!” she reinstated.

Whatever they have inside the tube, it doesn’t seem to work wonders.  It smells really bad (bad bad robots!) and I think the painkiller does the job just as good.  In the evening, the flu virus seemed to be ahead of my willpower by a nanometer so I have decided to take the non-drowsy flu medicine my favorite doctor prescribed.

At first I felt terrible.  Then I felt like puking.  My head was spinning.  I vaguely remember such an experience.  This morning I woke up, I did a search of “cough pills” in my own site and I found this post.  OK.  For future reference, my body doesn’t go well with Dextromethorphan (or Dexcophan).

Bad bad (+)-3-methoxy-17-methyl-9α,13α,14α-morphinan or whatever it is.

Related Entry: Cough Pills

It was all bright and shiny at the base of the hill when mom asked if she should bring along her little brolly.  Sure, why not.  It’s raining season in Singapore.  Back in where my mom lives, it is her favorite pastime to trek into some of the mountains with my dad in Hong Kong.  But there is no mountain in Singapore!  When I told her that we were climbing up a hill yesterday, her eyes lit up in disbelief.  There are mountains in Singapore, she asked.  Of course not, I answered.  Just that in Chinese language, there is no difference in the informal word usage of hill and mountain.

Bukit Timah is in fact rather low.  If you visit this little bump on a rather flat disc of Singaporean land with a high expectation, you will get disappointed as it is no Mount Kinabalu.  Having said that, if you take the little trails that go round the hill instead of the straight main road that leads to the summit, there are sufficient up and down slopes that can last for hours and make the trekking interesting.  We did just that and felt that we have climbed up the hill a couple of times.

It was the first time I actually led the expedition.  I normally go with my buddy KF the branding consultant and follow his lead blindly.  Starting from the base of the hill, I told the World War II story of how the British and the Japanese armies fought over this little hill of Bukit Timah and I showed my mom where the military cave was (I was trying to replicate what I’ve heard from KF, he is such a great storyteller).  Just when I told her that at times I could hear the gunfire from the military training camp nearby, the sky got dark, air pressure was dropping, and there was a helicopter hovered above where we were.  So dramatic!  And if that was not dramatic enough, I spotted a piece of metal on the ground (see picture on right) and just when I was about to give it a few kicks, my mom screamed, “Stop!  It could be a landmine!”  There is no landmines in Singapore, I laughed!  And she told me about her recent holiday trips to Vietnam and Cambodia.  I shrugged, gave the piece of metal a few kicks, and there was no ka-boom.  Now you know where I got my dramatic genes from.

Raindrop falling from the sky soon after we passed the cave.  There was still a long way to go and I was determined not to cut short our expedition.  The sky roared with thunders and my mom opened her brolly.  Somehow the thought of umbrella and lightning was not very comforting.  Maybe that was why I did not bring my golf umbrella with me.  The golf umbrella could be useful, my mom said.  And she told me that in Hong Kong, people bring along a long stick during trekking to wand off wandering snakes.  “Look ma, there are no landmines in Singapore, there are no snakes in Singapore too!” I retorted.  Right at the moment, inside the dark bushes nearby, I detected a movement.  I strained my eyes and it did not look like the usual squirrels that seem to be the only inhabitant of the hill.  It has a long slender body and I just could not make out if there were legs attached.  OK, let’s move on quick as the sky was falling!

I put my towel over my head and I was complete drenched.  Every cloud has a silver lining and for us, in this wet wet weather condition, we saw quite a number of fungus spawned from everywhere (see the pictures below).  Something that I haven’t got to see before.

 … or rather Ash Wednesday that happens on a Tuesday.  Ash what?!  I know … when I told people around me that I have to MIA for an hour due to Ash Wednesday, quite a few didn’t know what it is.  And when I am back with ashes on my forehead, the concerned ones would pull me aside and tell me that there is dirt on my forehead (ps: thank you!).  On the street, there are usually three types of people.  Most see it without really seeing it (ain’t we all too occupied on the street?).  Some do a double take on my forehead probably wonder what it is.  A minority few actually smile at me … which is nice.

Let me do my part in raising the awareness of what Ash Wednesday is all about, in a rather short and sweet manner.  Roman Catholics throughout the world observes Ash Wednesday in the form of fasting, abstinence from meat, and repentance.  During Mass, ashes are put onto our foreheads to remind us to turn away from sin, be faithful to the Gospel, as well as we are all dust and unto dust we shall return.  40 days from Ash Wednesday is … ?  Easter of course!

I certainly welcome taking a break from the mundane office life and to attain a 1.15pm lunch time Mass at the Cathedral.  The downside is of course to have ashes on my forehead till sunset (that’s the tradition).  Cynthia and I often joke that the more sins one has, the bigger the ‘ash mark’ is going to be.  Deep inside, we – or at least I – secretly hope that the priest or the minister has mercy and try not to make the ‘ash mark’ all too obvious … ha ha ha.  Bad eh?  And here are the tips to make the mark as subtle as possible (disclaimer: results not guaranteed) but not make it disappears.  Otherwise, what’s the point in having ashes on our foreheads?

• Quietly seat yourself strategically somewhere that you are not the first in line to receive the ashes and yet able to see what everybody are getting.  You see, some priests or ministers have strong hands and large thumbs (sadly, mine today) and tend to leave a rather prominent and huge ‘ash mark’ onto your forehead.  Some are more gentle when applying the ashes.  Once you found what you want, wiggle your way into the right queue!
• Grow your fringe beforehand.  Pull it back before the ashes are applied, let it down afterwards.
• Have a “Sign here” or rather “Press here” sticker at the corner of your head.  That way, it is much easier to somewhat cover it up with your fringe.

OK.  Enough humor for the day.  Back to something serious.  After Cynthia and I received the ashes, as we always do for the past don’t-know-how-many-years, we looked at our foreheads and asked, “So, how was it?”  I stared at her forehead and said, “It has a nice cross shape … pretty faint.”  Cynthia let out a sign of relief.  I looked at her in anticipation and …

“It’s … big.  It’s dark.  Certainly looks like a thumb print,” Cynthia said.  Realizing that I looked more and more concerned, she waved her hand as a matter of look-silly-it-is-not-that-bad and said, “It is more like an extension of your fringe.”

Oh gosh.  That’s bad.  I will try to sin lesser this coming year …

PS. For those who wonder why Ash Wednesday falls onto a Tuesday instead, it is because tomorrow is Chinese New Year Eve so the Pope brings forward the event for one day.  That way, we can still celebrate our Chinese New Year Eve in the traditional way (imagine a Chinese reunion dinner without meat).