first world problem for a mountain tortoise

i'm on invisalign aligner number 15, yay! only 10 more to go, by right. 

Dr R did say to get an electric toothbrush at the beginning, but i have never had one in my life and have always considered them an extravagance. however i have in recent months been bought over by the promises of whiter and cleaner teeth on the boxes of these devices, so after comparing and comparing toothbrushes online, finally decided to get one from boots when it was 50% + 15% off, haha. i love deals, have i said that already? 

ok, so the toothbrush arrives a few days later, and i eager tear it open and set it up. alas, it requires an initial charge of 24 hrs and we were going to paris the next day... another 3 day delay then (i was hoping to have perfectly white and shiny teeth 2 weeks from the time i placed my order, just as Philips promised). 

back from paris and it's time for a first brush. i did what i thought was right - i squeeze some toothpaste on, hit the "on" button, and bring the brush to my mouth. But scarcely was the toothbrush halfway to my mouth when all the toothpaste flew away from the brush, literally. i tried a 2nd time, and again the toothpaste just couldnt make it to my teeth. Exasperated, i shout out to the husband (who had used electric toothbrushes in his previous life before meeting me) and he starting laughing and laughing.... 

apparently i was supposed to put the toothbrush, with toothpaste on, in my mouth first, before i hit the "on" button.

how on earth was i to know something like that!!! 

anyhow, onward to white shiny teeth! :) or i will call on your money back guarantee and ask for my money back! 

The eleventh day of the eleventh month, at the eleventh hour

A nation falls silent for 2 whole minutes.

Normally I'm sitting at my desk at work, waiting for the tannoy (what i learnt is known as the PA system in singapore) signal to signal the beginning and the end. No one moves or types on the keyboard as a mark of respect. It's a moment of poignant remembrance, for the fallen of the world wars but also more recent conflicts. I know singapore was a big story of WW2 and I recall my paternal grandfather telling us stories of the war. It felt real then. Now, in this country, war is still real. Every couple of weeks the news carry reports of another young soldier killed in the conflict, in a bid to secure the freedom of another country.

This year, today, we specifically remember how the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taketh away. May we find the courage to say, Blessed be the name of the Lord. He will make all things beautiful in His time. Amen.

Of meeting your past self and strange ingenuity

Have you ever read an old piece of work and then thought to yourself, "damn, I was a genius then. What happened?"

The work one produces under stress can be quite amazing sometimes. I just need some motivation to finish the next paper this weekend. Stress factor has already been maintained a week-long high. Come on, Carol!

Sense of Wonder

Epic US West Coast Extravaganza

3-15 Oct 2012

I have stopped writing about travels; maybe I have become too busy. Worse, maybe I have lost my sense of wonder and have become desensitised to the feeling of amazement and awe I feel whenever I see or experience something new. This trip, I resolved to not let that happen. This is the story of our super-quick roadtrip nearly covering the entire length of the US west coast, from Los Angeles to Seattle .

Day 1 - we landed in Los Angeles in the afternoon after a surprisingly pleasant 11 hour flight. The scale of the place starts to dawn upon us when we had to take a shuttle bus 15 mins away just to get to the car rental. We somehow get persuaded to upgrade from a 1.5 litre economy car to a 2.0 litre full-sized car, a decision we did not regret later. We drive what would have been 30 mins to Hollywood, but actually took 1 hour in the horrible jam. Exhausted after the travelling we find the motel in a rather nice part of town near the private hospitals and next to a huge Church of Scientology. We drove down Sunset boulevard to get D's must-have fast food: Chick Fil-a. Apparently they famously stood up against same-sex marriage, consequently losing and gaining its following. Junk food stop #1.

Day 2 - drove down Hollywood Boulevard in search of the famed strip. Learnt the art of parking "validation", ie free/discounted parking based on some conditions. Checked out the walk of fame (some ridiculous pple have been added to the legacy like the muppets and Billy Graham) and viewed the Hollywood sign, as well as the Grauman's Chinese theatre and its concrete hand and foot imprints of celebrities. Got bored. Went on a drive to see Paramount studios, from the outside. Drove somemore through the Wiltshire Miracle Mile before hitting Farmer's Market for lunch (and free parking). Philly cheese steak and chilli dog were decent but felt like junk food too. Drove 20+ miles to Santa Monica beach by the Pacific Ocean - checked out the pier and the end of the historic Route 66. Attempted to check out the supposedly impressive LA County Museum of Art but was denied entry (closed). Headed to Beverley Hills instead which turned out a sharp contrast to all the surrounding neighbourhoods. Walked along Rodeo Drive and the seriously fancy shops trying to celeb-spot unsuccessfully. Returned to the Dolby theatre in time for the performance of Cirque du Soleil which we impulsively decided to treat ourselves to after being rather disappointed with what Hollywood had to offer. impressive acrobatics combined with dizzy performing makes for an antidote against serious jet-lag. Drive to in-and-out for dinner and was not that impressed, despite all the rave reviews and not-so-secret menu! Junk food #2. LA, done in a day.

Day 3 - rushed to make a headstart at Universal Studios. Followed A's advice on the order of rides/shows and we managed to finish the whole park with minimal queuing before closing time, with time to spare despite a long lunch at Bubba Gump (junk food #3 which made us too full for dinner). The park was excellent, particularly the studio tour and technology deployed in every corner. But from a rides perspective was rather dismal given most of them were 3D which implies some form of sitting in a moving seat in a machine with screens. Forget the roller coasters. Tired from a day of rushing around, we left at 6pm and drove 3hrs north to our accommodation for the night - Santa Maria. Too tired for dinner, we settled for some snacks and fruit knicked from the morning's breakfast.

Day 4 - checked out a latino supermarket for supplies, and came face to face with the supersized reality of America. I seem to remember massive row after row of freezer and fridge facilities but not the tubs of 5 gallon ice-cream they were filled with. The meat section was the same; they seem to have supersized chickens and turkeys too. Despite a rather horrifying sight, we settled into Mexican lunch at the supermarket of tacos, right next to the aisle that sold the raw meat. Nice. Junk food #4. On the road now headed for the Pacific highway 1 and towards the Big Sur... Mile after mile of drive along a winding dual carriageway, just by the Pacific Coast. It was bliss for me (the passenger) and not so fun for D (for driver). We stopped along the way multiple times to take in the particularly calming view of the boundless ocean with the waves crashing into the rocks, got caught up in a festival, stumbled upon a large 600-strong colony of male elephant seals lounging lazily on a small beach, saw an unusual waterfall onto a beach, and caught the sunset at the beautiful Pfiffer beach where the sand was purple inside. Finally, we arrived at Monterey Bay for the night.

Day 5 - with the jet-lag (ie ability to wake up early in the mornings) fast fading, we only made it to the Monterey Bay aquarium just in time for the 11am Open Sea feeding session. The sea truly opens up a different world and I'd never seen such a huge school of tuna hundreds of thousands strong, or all kinds jellyfish bobbing up and down, or seahorses of all variety etc. it was straight back on the road for a 3 hr journey to San Francisco, which was much colder and windier than I had ever imagined California to be. On the way we must have passed some very smart and/or rich pple who live and work in Sillicon valley. Entered hilly San Fran just in time to catch an Airshow, probably for the first time

In my life. The slopes in San Fran were scary, probably at an incline of 60 degrees and with cars parked perpendicularly all along! We checked out the Golden Gate bridge (from a distance) and saw Alcatraz, which brought some grief to us considering we didn't manage to buy tickets, even 2 days in advance. Dinner was kindly hosted by some old friends from school.

Day 6 - contrary to all advice, we took our car everywhere we went in the city, which actually worked out very well. 1st stop was down along Lombard Street, a part of it is named the crookedest street in the world with numerous hairpin bends for cars (hmmm we've probably seen worse in Norway!) then on to Coit Tower for supposed good views of the whole city (waste of time). Lunch was seafood at a nice but cheap restaurant along Fisherman's wharf (so that we could get 2 hours free parking!) followed by some wandering along Piers 39-45. This time there were some sealions on the pier greeting the multitude of curious tourists. Then we drove downtown and parked right smack in the middle of town (Union Square) where parking cost $4/hr - no validation! Saw the Hyde street cablecar turn around, a ridiculously long queue round the block outside a newly-opened Uniqlo store, checked out the Mother of all Chinatowns (disappointing) and the Financial district, did a Macy's and Cheesecake Factory run, and retrieved the car. All within 2 hours. Fed up of paying for more parking, we just did a driving tour around the more spectacular buildings of the opera and drive through the Tenderloin to a little park where there was a cute view of nice Victorian houses in a row, with the San Fran skyline in the background. Back to Fisherman's wharf for dinner at Boudin's (great clam chowder!) and unfortunately we didn't make it out of the city across the Golden Gate bridge before dark :( it was another 3 hours (this time with coffee in hand) on the same highway before we reached Redding, the last major town of Northern California heading north. Fiasco at the front desk of the Best Western plus because they couldn't find my reservation, and on top of that scoffed that I only paid £37 for the room through Priceline. All made up for with a very very nice room. 

Day 7 - drive, drove, driving, overtake, avoid police cars, sleep, change driver, drive some more. This was the one day we were especially thankful that we had upgraded to a bigger car. It was a 650km drive, 643km of which was along the very same highway. Not sure why I bothered getting a Sat Nav! It wasn't all bad - each time the landscape changed we were kept entertained for 10 minutes. From dessert to mountains to lakes and autumn trees, that drive had it all. Tried to stop in Eugene, Oregon (home of Nike) but we couldn't quite locate a decent downtown or a decent lunch place. Ended up at Denny's along the highway where we nearly died being bloated. Death by junk food #5. Everything was made better upon arrival at the Woodburn company stores. No therapy better than retail therapy, all the more when the state you shop in does not impose sales tax! Unfortunately after a whole day of driving we only got there close to 7pm at night, so 2 hours had to suffice. Exhausted, we pulled up at the nearby crowne plaza at lake Oswego (only £50!) and felt all very posh indeed at a proper hotel! Who needs dinner when u have sleep?

Day 8 - returned to the outlet mall, and resumed shopping for 3 hours but still did not manage to complete a full round of the shops. Auntie Anne's pretzels in hand for lunch (Junk Food #6), we sped all the way to Seattle, 3.5hrs north, desperate to make the cut-off time for returning the car. Sadly we only saw Portland on the periphery, and it looked like a nice city indeed. Once we hit Washington, all the trees seemed more seasonal - the orange, red and yellow hues were more distinct and deep-set, making for a scenic backdrop for our race against time. Suddenly, just as we hit Tacoma (just south of Seattle) the sky turned a familiar shade of London grey and it seemed that we had left all the good weather behind! The remainder of our days were to prove worse. Anyhow with the help of the amazing High Occupancy Vehicles (defined as 2 or more people in a vehicle!) we made it to Seattle downtown in time to return the car, albeit with sub-optimal petrol levels. We transferred straight to another car, this time chauffeured by our dear friends S&S who met us at the end of our epic dive. Dinner was authentic Korean in the university district, and we were welcomed very warmly (in freezing cold Seattle) to their beautiful home, in a proper orange 3-storey house!!! :D more bliss.

Day 9 - woke up at the crack of dawn because we were on a mission to get to Mount Rainier National Park (3hrs back down south!) before the working crowd, which comprised mostly of Microsoft folk) trudge their way to work. Weather forecast was horrific and we were prepared for the worst, ski jackets et al in tow. But the thing we really needed were a pair of sunglasses, for God gave us a p-e-r-f-e-c-t blue sky hiking day. In fact it actually got quite warm! Mt Rainier, an active snow-capped volcano part of the Cascades mountain range, was the best-dressed mountain I've ever seen, with a white top against a solid blue backdrop, and with a skirt of bright red, orange and yellow (ok and green too) plants. Drop dead gorgeous. We took the most ambitious route at Paradise, 5.5miles and 1700 feet elevation (starting at 5400 feet). We were kept rather entertained for the next 5 hrs by looking out for small wildlife like chipmunks and raccoons, a mountain lion, traces of lost hikers, and coming high enough above the tree line onto some frozen glaciers. Sun-burnt, grimy and achy, it was another long drive back to Seattle, comfort Japanese food, board/card/video games with friends and zzzz.

Day 10 - woke up late morning and lazed around; perhaps this was the start to a proper holiday. Went supermarket shopping for American chocolates with S and again found them in supersized packets (given Halloween was round the corner). In the afternoon it was time to explore downtown Seattle. Pike Place market offered the popular fishmongers with fish-tossing fanfare, quirky little shops and the world's first Starbucks store! the rest of Seattle did not have much to offer, except for Top Pot donuts which were probably well worth their weight in gold. Took the bus back to home-cooked beef stew... mmm.

Day 11 - helped to pack the house a little bit and more outlet shopping in the afternoon/evening! This time with tax. Enough said.

Day 12 - last full day in Seattle. Went to church in the morning where I think I met my match in someone who could speak faster than me. I felt tired just listening to the pastor speak, but it was a very good message. Lunch was proper burgers (as opposed to fast food burgers) at home, and then more staying at home all day because it kept raining and raining! S&S had friends over for dinner which was very nice. Before we knew it, it was 1am - time to pack and for one last holiday snooze.

Day 13 - off to the airport in the morning knowing full well our flight had been delayed, which would have caused us to miss our connecting flight in Houston. Thank God that we got re-routed via Chicago without any hassle, and many uncomfortable hours on an antiquated plane later, we were back in London. End of vacation. Barely left the airport on the tube when I got a call from the office - I was being sent to a client meeting by myself that afternoon. Nothing like sheer hard work to bring one back to earth. 

My most and least favourite parts about landing in heathrow are how it takes ages and many rounds of circling the low skies before being allowed to land via a final descent in an east - to - west direction across central london. On a clear day, every landmark or building can be easily observed and London looks truly magnificent from above; on the other hand, I moan everytime we distinctly see and fly right past our home, only to have to travel another 2 hours across london to get there from Heathrow.

Maybe I'm just not so suaku anymore. But may I never, never lose my sense of wonder, especially at the beauty of creation, its brilliant Creator and the bestowed genius on man as a minuscule reflection of His image. 

"For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise."

Hollywood - we have arrived!

The end of the Mother Route 66 (from Chicago) at Santa Monica

Meeting the Simpsons at Universal Studios

Elephant Seal colony along Highway 1

The Big Sur

San Francisco

Friends in San Fran (pun intended)

Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bread Bowl - Fisherman's Wharf

A whole day of driving! (California - Oregon)

The sights and sounds along Interstate 5

More sights and sounds along Interstate 5

Hotel with TWO beds!!!

Mt Rainier National Park with S&S 

Loving the colours of fall 

Seattle skyline

Jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

The original Starbucks at Pike Place Market

grocery shopping - level-up

so today i went to harley street for dental after work, except i was so late that i actually met the dentist walking down the street (away from his practice and off for the day). no dental appt for me then, but i had already paid £1.30 for the tube into town (which was delayed as usual on the way causing me to be late), what do i do?

go shopping on oxford street of course. and not just any kind of shopping - grocery shopping, my favourite kind! 

went to the john lewis food hall (which is actually waitrose, but more atas) and found it to be like Jason's supermarket in Raffles City. i remember not being able to afford anything there, or refusing not to buy anything because it cost a lot more than in a normal supermarket.... i always wondered, 'who are these crazy people - going into town dressed perfectly well and buying overpriced (albeit fresh) veg and raw meat...' 

amazing lay-out and looked very boutique, but actually i just bought my usual groceries at the usual prices (+ a 10% discount, yay! they sent me a discount card for 1 month!) and had to carry my pork ribs + mushrooms + pak choy down the most awfully crowded tourist street in london and through the tube. how silly.

but at least i can now say that i've leveled up that once! :p

God hath not promised

First heard this more than 10 years back, shared by a dear friend when i was going through one of my rough patches as a 13 or 14 year-old. don't even remember what it was now, but it's funny how our problems always seem so big as grow up...

Beautiful poem / hymn which i was reminded of over the last couple of weeks.

(1) God hath not promised skies always blue,

Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;

God hath not promised sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, light for the way,

Grace for the trials, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

(2) God hath not promised we shall not know

Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;

He hath not told us we shall not bear

Many a burden, many a care.

(3) God hath not promised smooth road and wide,

Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;

Never a mountain rocky and steep,

Never a river turbid and deep.

TLC

after evening service today we dropped by the Baker's to see little baby Caleb. He is soooo tiny but so adorable and attentive! so happy that he is finally home, but this post is not about him. it's about what happened after. 

P drove us to the nearest train station. funny thing was that it wasn't really that near and he had no idea where the station really was. he knew where the train track was though, which was a good start. it was 2 mins to the train. just as we got to the track the barriers came down across the road, signalling that a train is coming through, we figured it was our train and jumped off the car and made a dash for what looked like a underpass to the station. it was, but we were on the wrong side of the platform and had to run across the underpass to the other side, which would have been fine, if i had not been wearing heels. i have become extremely unused to walking in heels, let alone run. it wasn't a high one, and it was about 5 years old. anyhow, just about 5 metres from the train, my left heel decided to give way, but i was running so fast (or so i'd like to think) that i couldn't stop the cycle of my legs. 

everything then started to happen in slow motion, as they normally do when something bad is about to happen. i feel myself leaning more and more forward. in my mind i try desperately to stop, but before i knew it i was hitting the ground, flat on my chest. i think i must have screamed, because everyone looks at me. the train driver pokes his head out of the window and said there was no need to run. i pick myself up quickly, said i was ok and got on the train. then i got a big hug from the husband, who was rather traumatised by it all. i was too, couldn't decide if it was the impact of the fall (which apparently was quite loud) or the sudden realisation of the embarrassment. but i got fussed over (scrapped limbs etc), which never happens! he even called a cab to get us home from liverpool street station.

forget the $10 (or maybe it was $5) mondo heel. it was left on the platform of highams park station, wherever on earth that is! finally a good enough reason to throw these shoes out. 

thank God for the husband.

just thought this was post-worthy.

Invisalign

Growing up, I always knew I had quite horrendous teeth. All the girls around me seemed to have braces on their teeth, but somehow I never really felt the need to ask for the same because I knew how expensive they were. So I convinced myself that I was fine the way I am. I was sensible then.

Fast forward 10 years, work has brought in a rather steady stream of income, even if a small stream. I decided that it was now time to do something about my teeth, so I started saving, and looking at my options. I read about this relatively new invisalign treatment available and consulted with a few dentists. A few of them said that not everyone would be suitable, and most others simply refused to opine, blizzare. One of the places I went to was smile pod, a small dental outfit in canary wharf which claimed to be qualified invisalign practitioners at one of the lowest prices I could find in london. The consult went well and their patient list looked rather long, but the dentist seemed unsure abt the suitability and wanted to consult another invisalign specialist. Alarm bells went off, and they never came back to me until 2 months later anyway.

So I googled again for a good clinic. Harley street has always been a forbidding place, given its reputation. But one of the few orthodontists I found online with almost no negative comment was Dr Raj. Decided to make an initial appt to see what he says and how comfortable I would be with his working style. To cut the long story short, I was sufficiently impressed/swayed and signed up immediately.

A few weeks later, my aligners have arrived! I just started wearing them on Monday night, and I might say it's been tough getting used to it. First of all, it does feel extremely tight on the teeth, and particularly difficult to take off. It's a good thing dr R gave me this fulcrum like tool to help me pry the PET mould away from my teeth when I've had enough. When they're off, the teeth are still tender and sore, making biting quite a struggle. Nonetheless my love for food and eating far is complimented by my rather high threshold for pain. So eat I will. And eat more I must, because I have precious few hours in a day to do so.

I never quite thought it through properly before signing away a year of my life, and a lot of money with it. The last week in the office has been quite a struggle, and I've become super conscious of myself. I now speak with a lisp and I now try to avoid phone calls and chatting. Which is quite uncharacteristic and rather painful for me. I hope I learn to speak properly soon or I might just give up.... I have declared to my team mates my inability to speak, which has made things slightly easier.

On the brighter side, the very laborious process of having to brush and floss every single time u put your aligners back on has kept my teeth very clean. I love feeling how clean my teeth ate whenever I take them aligners off. The other positive is that I've been forced to have a proper breakfast at home before going to work, rather than at work. And I do eat a hearty breakfast knowing I can't eat till lunch. And likewise for lunch knowing I'll starve until dinner otherwise. I think the regularity of meals might do me some good, and the lack of ability to snack might do something for my weight :)

It's only been 4.5 days and already I can't imagine still being almost paralysed in speech and deprived of snacks 1 month on, much less 1 year. But I shall persevere. And I shall have straight teeth. Go, me!

Washing up

It has occurred to me that I cannot agree with the idea of taking a bath, or the British concept of washing dishes in a plugged sink, to get oneself or the dishes (respectively) clean.

For the bath- how is it that soaking
Oneself in one's own dirty water and then pulling oneself out, makes one clean? I can understand that it's quite nice to lie in a bath sometimes and
try to relax with nice aromatheraputic scents, and admittedly most people
are too busy for that and most Singaporeans are busy people. I guess the only way to get clean after talk g a bath is to take a shower, a colossal waste of water.

On the dishes, I have on occasion offered to help wash up after dinner at friends'... But I always say that I need to remove the basin from the sink, soap the dishes and then wash each piece thoroughly with running water. For me, throwing all the dirty dishes into a basin of soapy water, sponging them and then pulling them out would be sufficient. Oftentimes the plates are still soapy! But I guess it saves a lot more water.

I think I'll stick to my ideas of washing up....

End of rant.

Beginning the year of the dragon

It was the first day of Chinese new year today. I wouldn't have known better if not for Facebook.

Arising from my 13 hour slumber at 6am, unable to sleep another wink, I browsed through Facebook on my iPhone, and it was a continuous stream of scenes from home and its most colourful holiday of the year. I guess the thing I miss most about home is family. I now have a family to call my own here, but it'll never be the same as the noisy lively and most importantly close-knit bunch I've known all my life. I rang them, and they were at my grandmother's... Tho strictly not celebrating CNY in a show of respect for a supposed year-long period of mourning.

Anyway it was actually life as usual for me, it being a Monday morning. Except that I had woken up unusually early. I even had time to make breakfast, do QT with David, iron clothes and as mentioned, speak to every member of the family at home, before I strolled into work 20 mins to 9.

Other achievements of the day include calling up my phone line provider to complain of a faulty line (sheesh I had bought a spare phone cable and a new phone just in case either was spoilt!), switching my broadband plan from £6.49 a month to £3.24 a month (woohoo!) and sitting at office till 10pm working on an urgent deal.

The calendar day was almost over by the time I got home at 10.15pm. But someone got it worse, only bursting through the door (with not quite as much energy as the word suggests) at 11pm.

Knackered, we are now ready to usher in the 2nd day of the lunar new year in our dreams before we hit the office again bright and early at 8am...

It might be a long and colourful year ahead, much like how we'd imagine a dragon to be!