因为我还年轻

I love to sing since I was very young. I remember having a cassette tape of Chinese nursery rhymes, a kiddy book with lyrics and piano score for some of these songs, and singing with Yan over the good old telephone during kindergarten days.

At some point, we started differentiating between 大人歌 and 小孩歌 or 儿歌 - forgot which term we used but it was definitely 大人歌 for non-nursery rhymes :p

And apparently, my very first 大人歌 was 《我还年轻》by 张清芳 Stella Chang, which came out in 1986. I remember Mother telling me to sing in front of relatives when we went to TPY :p

Then I never stopped singing.

So when I happened to hear about Stella Chang's concert in March, I decided that yes, I should go!

The day finally came - 10 August. I missed watching fireworks with the boys from our kitchen, from a heartlands celebration of National Day right outside Star Vista. But Sito was with them. And I enjoyed the concert in Star Vista and Stella let us know that fireworks were going off outside!

This was only my second time at a concert. The first was 伍佰 in 2002 - yes, 22 years ago! I was excited even though I was going on my own. Songs and singing can, after all, be a very personal affair.

I found my seat - I was looking right at the middle of the stage, and in between another solo concert goer and a group of four aunties. In fact, I must be among the younger adults in the audience! Some of my age range brought kids along but the majority was maybe around 50yo.

As the first notes rang out at 8.10 pm, I was very 激动 coz it was《我还年轻》!!! She sang so many songs and I knew all but two of them - one was probably not a 主打歌 while the other was a worship song - she said she would always sing a different one at each concert. And there was an English song by her elder son! Looked like a somewhat reluctant teenager and reminded me of Kai :p

Many in the audience were singing along - the side screens showed lyrics. Some were invited on stage to sing 《这些日子以来》with her. She also went down the stage to greet fans. I was up on the second level so too bad for me :p

The concert ended at about 10.30 pm, after an encore of two songs. Took some time to leave the theatre due to crowd control. I was quite tired - seldom went home so late! But ok, don't complain coz 我还年轻 :p But I wasn't young enough to pop into Teo Heng KTV downstairs to sing haha!

mf in red - my pretty dress and also ND weekend

Only took a photo of her and her son coz cute and coz they were just talking. Much as I would like to have more keepsakes, I figured there was no point going to a concert and instead of focusing on it, looking through the phone camera to take photos and videos!

I wonder if my next concert would be 20 years later... Hope not!

Happy 59th!

We were very pleased to find that the National Day Observance Ceremony for our neighbourhood would be held at the new mall. Not very pleased that each Singpass could register for only four persons and somehow Sito couldn't get any. But there shouldn't be any barricades, right? Anyway, we didn't need so many goodie bags.

Bingo - one closed eyes, one guided the hand

The boys wore these tops to school the day before too. I washed them once they came home so they could wear them again :p Bought Kai his shirt only the previous weekend coz I only had small tees :p Then I remembered he could also have worn his red P5 level shirt. Oh well, lucky we found $15 tees at Clementi. The shops were selling for $30!

Playing games

Actually we were among the few with kids when we first arrived. Many of those in the queues for the games were seniors! And one auntie was very impatient and rude, and made Yang sad.

She was right behind us, and saw that I gave the game I/C three out of our four game cards. She hinted she wanted the last one - nope, I was saving the last one in case a kid MUST play again. Yang was the last of the three to play. I was busy with Kai or Yu with their returned cards and the lunchboxes they won, but I heard the auntie telling the game I/C, 随便啦小孩子！

Before I knew it, Yang left with a country eraser. He looked sad and about to cry. I forgot about the fourth game card. Then Kai told me the auntie took Yang's hand to throw the ball and it missed. Wa terrible!!!! It's ok if he lost the game on his own but the auntie was just too much. If I had seen it happen, I wouldn't care if she was an old auntie - I'd scold her!

Kai and Yu were both very upset with the auntie, and they agreed to let Yang play an extra game in the next game. That wasn't all. When Yang's ice cream happened to be rather melted, the boys still remembered the terrible old auntie and agreed with Papa's suggestion to give Yang an ice cream cone at Macs later. Thanks to all these, my poor Yang looked a bit better.

Watching bhangra dance performance

Kai's fave song came on at one point. Told him to go dance, but he didn't want to :p

Went upstairs to watch preschoolers perform coz it became more crowded

We were in red and white!

(Yes, my top can be used for racial harmony day too...!)

Look, the balloons are flying higher!

Rested a bit after the anthem when the crowded thinned out

Also got - and then lost - some balloons!

Breakfast as brunch for them

These three gave different responses when I said "look here" - one bo chup, one smiled with food in his mouth, one tried to give a victory sign rather distractedly...

Sito and I waited another 30min for the lunch menu :p Kai couldn't wait so he went home on his own first - he wanted to do a paper!

So bro, haha!

We spent the afternoon watching a lot of YouTube videos of National Day songs, including some cute Roblox versions. In fact, we started on the videos a few days before. A bit late but better than nothing. I realise the kids actually know a number of the songs but these are songs I'm way less familiar with...

Then it was time for NDP!

In the past few years, we had KFC for dinner while watching NDP. But Yang didn't like KFC much, and KFC is not so near us now - we were still staying at BP this time last year. So I decided to make fried rice - I had fried rice and teh c on ND almost every year in my teens! Mother said it was easy so she could sit down to watch NDP too. I agree, haha!

I enjoy spending ND at home, unless I have tickets to NDP! I think it's important for us as parents to help the kids learn more about our country. The kids couldn't sit still for long but at least they caught some parts of the show. Yu even came to find me when I was washing dishes coz they were singing the char siew bao song - they heard me sing before!

The next day, there was a major celebration right outside Star Vista. We didn't get tickets coz late, lazy and I had a concert that night. But the four of them managed to catch the fireworks from our windows! Sito whipped out the phone too late but Yang and Yu were telling me about it; Kai was less interested.

Happy to hear we won a bronze medal at the Olympics on ND. I saw Yu watching TV on Saturday morning and I told him about the bronze. He nodded to the TV and said he knew. Ok, I extra :p 

With that, ND is over. Now we look forward to NDR - first from new PM!

Revelation thanks to Bridget

Random mid(ish)-year resolution: I shall quit reading.

Resolution made in style of Bridget Jones quitting drinking/smoking/self-help books, i.e. high chance of me not sticking to it!

So yes, I was reading again, which explains the dearth of posts this last month.

And yes, I have been reading Bridget Jones, no thanks to the film showing on the telly a few weeks ago, making me realise that I hadn't read the books before.

So once again, I found myself immersed in the wonderful world of fiction, almost oblivious to the real world. But as a well adjusted adult, I always managed to finish the things I must do before sitting down to read. Like having my morning coffee (a must, and during which I could read some), keeping the children educated (by waking up on time to send them off to school) and alive (by cooking), keeping everyone clean (by doing laundry). Cleaning table tops? That can wait though :p

And shortly into the first book, I had a revelation - I'm not the only one who keeps having random thoughts in my head! These thoughts could be real (i.e. past happenings), planning (i.e. what to do later, tomorrow, next year, when rich) or imaginations (i.e. fantasising what might/could have happened, not so much BJ's faves of weight and men)!

Caveat - I did not, dared not, check with my friends whether they had such random thoughts while scrubbing the toilet or cutting up boneless chicken thighs. But Helen Fielding - surely she must have (had) random thoughts running through her mind since she wrote BJ?

Not alone :)

But then, I couldn't help it. I decided to ask people whether he had random thoughts running through his head.

First of all, my dear hub sitting right next to me as I type. His reply was to tell me about a comic he saw before, comparing a man and a woman who were not thinking of anything. The woman had thought bubbles of everything - what to eat, kids, etc. The man had one thought bubble - a monkey clapping cymbals!!!

Ok, men. Or maybe just my man :)

Next, JY when we met for breakfast last week. Her reply was that everyone was wired differently.

Ok, tactful. Haha!

I haven't had the chance to ask others yet. But ok, I accept I'm wired this way. That's why I can type on and on here. 

Many thoughts have come and gone, coz I'm usually busy with physical work when such thoughts pop by so I don't write it down, and by the time I'm free, I don't remember a thing unless something happens to remind me of it. Bird brain. 

PS: I just started an online novel and it's been only two or three weeks since I wrote the first paras of this post - major fail!

Kai is 12?!

Kai is so big now. At this height, it's getting difficult for me to put my arms around his shoulders; soon it'll be him putting his arms over my shoulders..

Happy birthday, my dear Kai Kai!

Yes, we stuck a candle into a pint of cookies and cream ice cream coz the boy still wouldn't have cake! I found photos of him and his last cake in 2020. From 2021, it's always doughnuts or ice cream. But this is the first time we just put a tub of ice cream there :p

Must have his hour of phone games

His birthday fell on a Friday this year. We usually have Japanese curry on Fridays so we had curry mee sua! I diluted it a little and used enoki and more carrots instead of broccoli.

Doesn't look like much but it was yummy!

As usual, we went to Swensen's. But this time, we had lunch instead of dinner so that Yang could be with us and also go to his classmate's birthday party.

The kids had their usual fish and chips x2 and spaghetti. Sito and I had nasi lemak since we were at Clementi; Bishan doesn't have this menu. We were so full we couldn't have dinner - Sito ate Yu's leftover pizza while I had a slice of castella cake. 

大鼻孔 smile!

Yang and Yu had ice cream at Macs later. Nowadays, the system does not allow us to redeem the usual kiddy sundae along with birthday treats... Bought some cakes and snacks before leaving in two groups - I brought Yang to his friend's place (and clocking 14k steps that day!) and the rest home. 

On Sunday morning, when he heard me move, Kai came into our room and onto our bed to wake Papa - he wanted him to go through a paper with him! Somehow he got Sito to play phone games instead *.*

Watching Papa play games

He still likes to squeeze with us in bed, just like those weekends when he was a baby - we used to nap together. But look at him, he's almost my size!!!

Lunch with the grands on Sunday was at Ju Xing Home, a new Cantonese restaurant in Taka. Again, the kids were more interested in playing the grands' phone. But I was glad to see Kai see multiple servings of the fried noodles and hear from Yang later that he wanted to eat there again.

More ice cream!

Think Kai had two tubs of BR and one cone. I closed two eyes - it was to celebrate his birthday anyway.

But until now, he could not tell us what he wants for his birthday present! He got Nintendo games from the grands already but from us, ??? We shall wait and see...

Yang is a decade old!

When I said he has entered double-digit age, Yang said he is now a decade old :)

How time flies! I kept getting reminders of his baby time from Facebook memories - so tiny! And now, he's a big boy of 10.

Yet, he is still such a baby, even more so than Yu. He is just cute without trying to be cute. And he's a very sweet boy who would hug me for no reason :)

Happy birthday, my dear Yang Yang!

He decided on this chocolate cake from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf a few weeks before. I collected it on Wednesday after a doctor's appointment, just nice for his celebration on Thursday. It had just enough space for 10 candles - Yang and Yu enjoyed placing the candles on the cake but they got concerned about wax dripping down when I was lighting the candles!

He decided to cut the cake himself

But it was rather stiff! Finally, we each had a slice, except for Kai of course. Yang had the largest slice but as expected, he couldn't finish. Yu didn't like the cake so Sito and I ended up having a lot of cake!

Birthday boy was allowed an hour of phone games

We decided to restart the whole birthday mee sua thing. Yang said he prefers fried eggs to ajitsuke eggs and he wanted two! So I cooked everything separately and assembled each bowl when the soup was done.

Then he fell asleep *.*

Didn't have the heart to berate him on his birthday. Eventually he woke and finished his dinner. The rest of us had the same food, except for Sito and Kai who did not have eggs.

That night, I asked Yang about his birthday wish. This bad Mama now cannot remember what he said exactly! But I think he at first wished for more phone games. I told him if he made an unrealistic wish, it would not come true. So he said he should have wished for better results instead. Now that could come true with effort! 

"But I don't want to work hard!"

Wa liao...

Yang decided he wouldn't have the firehouse ice cream which Swensen's gifts to birthday kids on the actual day. So we went to Swensen's only on Saturday after Bishan library.

Somehow he enjoys serving drinks to us :)

(Yu also wanted to serve drinks, hence the look!)

Three different expressions - staring into space, kaypoh, concentrating

Kai had finished his ice cream while it was nice and cold - think he has learned to wait properly while the rest finish.. On the other hand, his brothers let their ice cream melt and drink it *.* They were discussing their melted ice cream as they drank...

On the morning of Yang's birthday, we headed out for breakfast. Our doting Papa Sito then tried to find Mr Beast chocolate as Yang said his friend told him it was yummy. We saw it in the nearby supermarket before but couldn't find it this time. Later in the morning, Sito tried two candy stores nearby to no avail...

Finally, we found it at the supermarket at Junction 8. It was expensive for the size. On the way home when we passed by Cold Storage downstairs, Sito pointed out the cost for Cadbury chocolate which was 4-5 times cheaper by weight!

But this boy was very happy :)

They tried the chocolate - just like any milk chocolate. On Sunday, we bought the Cadbury and let them try both side by side on Monday which was a school holiday for Youth Day. Sito also tried. Same taste except that the Cadbury was thicker and hence harder fresh out of the fridge.

Anyway, we bought the Mr Beast bar to let them try since Yang's classmate recommended. But we would not buy again. Hope the kids learn about VFM through this...

Back to birthday... Sunday was celebration with the grands. No cake since the kids don't really eat cake. But they had doughnuts for tea. And presents of course. 

Happy with his doughnut!

The kids also had a lot of snacks as usual. Didn't think they were terribly hungry when we went out for a roast dinner. And they were all way too keen to play games on the grands' phones. But with some cajoling, we managed to give them a decent amount of food. Kai was most resistant. Yang and Yu managed to eat more while playing - AhYee and I stuffed food into their mouths haha!

Happy with his presents too!

Yang's presents - including Sito's toy soldiers which arrived ytd - are now sitting on the TV cabinet. I threw out their old Beyblades last night but I think I really need to sort out their toys over there else the TV is blocked :p

So just like this, Yang's birthday is over. He's officially 10. And I shall continue my quest to fatten this boy up!

如何保持苗条、健康？

一整年都有大吃大喝的时候！

一月：新的一年，新的学年，先吃个开心！Auntie 我生日，吃蛋糕，吃大餐！

二月：农历新年通常这时候，可能吃上三顿团圆饭！就算是一月，十五的元宵火锅也一定在二月，吃吧！

三月：第一学期结束，吃大餐庆祝加慰劳一下！还有过年的黄梨挞等零食，可以吃上几个月！

四月：都说了，黄梨挞……晚上看剧时吃最爽！

五月：孩子他们爷爷奶奶生日，吃蛋糕，吃大餐！第二学期结束，吃大餐庆祝加慰劳一下！

六月：端午节通常这时候，吃粽子！扬生日， 吃蛋糕，吃大餐！

七月：铠生日，没有蛋糕可大餐少不了！

八月：国庆日，过去通常打包炸鸡，今年可能换家常，八月没有大吃！👍

九月：第三学期结束，吃大餐庆祝加慰劳一下！中秋节通常这时候，吃月饼！

十月：宇生日，他外婆生日，吃蛋糕，吃大餐！

十一月：老公生日，吃蛋糕，吃大餐！学年结束，吃大餐庆祝加慰劳一下！

十二月：圣诞，跨年，吃大餐庆祝庆祝！

中间也少不了和老公两个一起到处吃吃喝喝，或兴起煮上十个八个馅饼、烘上几个蛋糕的。也有嘴馋时，非要买点豆沙饼什么的。

所以，回答问题：如何保持苗条、健康？还是适量吃吧！

（最近觉得有点肉，有感而发。）

A thought about plastic bags

It has been almost a year since July 2023 when the supermarkets began charging for plastic carriers.

I remember having a huge store of plastic bags from supermarkets when we had a helper. After we axed the helper, the store dwindled down to a very manageable number - always enough for rubbish with no more than a few extras just in case. 

I suspect it's the packing. Helper paid at a manned counter. The cashier probably double-bagged the milk, and we bought four to five of those 2L bottles every week. When I went to the supermarket, I packed as much as possible into one bag and I never double-bagged the milk. Sometimes, I didn't even take a bag if I bought only one bottle.

Still, when I heard the news, I felt sian, coz I would have to spend money on what had been free, to line my rubbish bins. As it turns out, I realise I don't need to spend a lot on plastic bags. Almost a year on, I'm maybe into my second or third pack of 30-a-pack plastic bags. 

In the old house, the rubbish chute was next to the lift. I only wanted to go out max once a day to throw rubbish coz I was fearful of the small (heng!) cockroaches which were often around the chute. Once, I opened the chute to find it filled with a big item that didn't go down and I had to spend more time there to push it down - didn't know which neighbour, grrrr...

Also, there was an ant nest somewhere in the kitchen and they came very quickly if I left food out. So I always put the clear bag* of food waste from food preparation into the rubbish bin. This means the rubbish bin definitely filled up by the end of the day. On days I didn't cook, the bin might not fill up but if there was any food scraps like biscuits, I would also throw out the bag.

* These are the rolled bags in supermarkets used to contain loose items of vege and fruits. I also use them to contain meat packs in case meat juices leak out. Still free in supermarkets but they seem thinner these days...

So I used at least one bag per day for rubbish in the old house. On Fridays when I empty the vacuum, it's plus one. Now, I throw out one bag every two to four days. No, not gross at all.

The chute is now right next to my sink. After preparing food, I tie up the clear bag (or ziplock bags that come with my frozen meat, a new favourite) and throw it into the chute immediately. In the evening, I also throw out a small bag of wet food scraps - could be as small as those bags for individual buns, or as big as a clear bag if I have to throw out soup scraps. A little torn? No problem - tape the hole with masking tape. 

So my rubbish bin only gets tissue, snack wraps and dry food scraps. There were ants at first but they were due to snack crumbs dropped on the floor near the bin. I cleaned out the bin a couple of times. Eventually, after applying insecticide at all entry points, I can afford to leave some food scraps in the bin for some time. The exception is banana skins which attract fruit flies easily. 

With Yang having a banana every morning, I now have a secondary bin in the fridge, to store food waste to throw later, when the rubbish bin is relatively full. These are from individually wrapped oranges, strawberry boxes, and even ice cream pint tubs - when we finish a tub of ice cream at night, we don't throw it in the bin coz it may attract ants, or down the chute coz it's not tight enough AND we don't want some nocturnal thing flying out of the chute at us! So we leave the tub in the fridge, perfect as my little food rubbish bin. 

Big empty cake boxes with cake stains can stay in the fridge too until I'm ready to bring to the bin downstairs - no point wasting a bag to bag it and it may be too large to go smoothly into the chute anyway.

Then there are bags that don't fit our rubbish bin:

• Small carrier bags, e.g. bakery, Old Chang Kee, clinic - perfect for the vacuum dust box or barley from our weekly boil. They get tied and fed directly to the chute.
• Big carrier bags, e.g. Daiso - store recycleable stuff until it's full enough to bring to the blue bin downstairs. This also helps to protect the recycleables from contaminants.
• "Untieable" bags, e.g. Watsons - I don't take them but Sito sometimes blur blur brings one home. Tie with rubber bands if I have any, or use it for recycleables.

Sometimes, we get supermarket-size plastic bags too - forget to bring our reusable bag, buying more than our bag can take, shop doesn't charge for bags :p So each pack of 30 plastic bags can last a long time. But actually, these are only slightly cheaper than the 5cents at supermarkets.

There are two side effects of charging for plastic carriers.

1) Excessive number of reusable bags!

Been around for some time. In fact, I wrote about it before. I think reusable bags are sturdier than plastic bags when it comes to heavy stuff. Nowadays, we buy six 1L cartons of milk from Cold Storage and one plastic bag would not be able to take it due to the stiff edges of the cartons. 

Usually, one bag is sufficient for me. But a few times when we went to Sheng Siong, we bought too much for our bag. I don't always remember to bring a second bag so I would buy a plastic bag.

Why don't I buy a reusable bag? Coz honestly, I have a lot of reusable bags. And I much prefer fabric bags and not the plasticky type sold at supermarkets. It's inevitable that some meat juice or vege soil will dirty the bag. I find it's better to throw it into the washing machine to wash than to just wipe with a wet cloth.

2) Dirtier chutes?

One of the first thought I had when I heard about the charging of plastic bags was whether more people would just throw rubbish directly into the chute without bagging them *.* I hope not... I'm glad we're on a high floor so less chance of unbagged rubbish hitting our chute. It's very gross lor!

I'm all for being environmentally friendlier but let's be honest, we do need plastic bags to hold some shopping and to contain rubbish. While it is possible to bring a reusable box for your next bakery run, it is not always feasible. And rubbish - if it's not contained, we will end up with smelly environments thanks to decomposing food in this hot climate!

In summary:

1. Give all the plastic bags you receive from shopping a second chance - these may be carrier bags, supermarket clear bags or bakery bun bags. Keep the big ones for lining the bin and use the small ones for peskier rubbish. Other shapes and sizes can be use to contain recycleables.
2. Fill up each bin bag so there's no wasted space - separating your waste can extend the lifespan of the bigger bin bags until they're full. Just throw peskier waste in smaller bags or keeping them in the fridge until you're ready to empty the bin.

Fathers' Day game

Yu decided on his present for Papa the Friday before Fathers' Day. He hid it and planned a treasure hunt for Papa to find. And wait, that wasn't enough - he pitted me against Papa to find the present! 

In the end, I found it and gave it to Sito :)

That's why there are two sets of clues :)

As for Kai and Yang, well, no school means no preparation!!

The third boy is really after Papa's heart :)))

First NAPFA tests

Kai and Yang had their first NAPFA tests in May. I seem to remember it being an annual event during my time, starting from P4. But now, it's for P4 and P6; I shall learn about secondary school later...

Due to COVID, Kai missed his P6 NAPFA. So the two brothers "practised" for the test - jumping across the tiles, and pulling out Sito's unused exercise mats for sit-ups.

Plus pull-ups near AhMa's place

That was taken back in September last year actually, coz they have been playing with those bars for ages. So nice to see three of them wearing the same design and standing in line with Papa :)

Kai even went jogging with Papa

But just once :p Btw, he wore Papa's shoes! Sito's current pair has a tighter fit. He wore his old pair instead.

So they passed every NAPFA item except Kai's shuttle run. Very good - Mama only passed shuttle run haha!

Gastro-intestinal issues

On 1 November last year, I had a shock when I went to pee. My pantyliner was yellow with - what?! Then I saw oil floating in the toilet bowl. It looked black but the toilet paper showed yellow so should be it.

It turned out that I leaked oil when I, um, flatulated. Such a polite word. I should just say "farted".

I continued to leak oil in the next three mornings. I don't know why there was nothing in the afternoons. After that, nothing until 9 March when I had oily poop. I continued to have oily poop for the next three days but only one episode of leaking oil when farting.

I went to the polyclinic on 2 November coz this was such an inconvenient bodily malfunction! Imagine if I were in the office?! Did an amylase test but all was fine. When I went back for a review one week later, I was referred to a gastro specialist at Alexander Hospital.

During the specialist appointment on 13 February, I brought up four issues - might as well!

1. Oily gas and poop
2. Cramps just before passing gas/poop sometimes - first instance after delivering Kai
3. Tummy ache with cold water
4. Gastric pain despite eating

Doc sent me for a CT scan and recommended gastroscopy and colonoscopy.

Had my CT scan on 20 March. Was injected with dye via an IV line. Nothing complicated. Doc called me two days later to say things look fine but my womb looked swollen so she would refer me to a gynae. I told her I decided to proceed with the scopes so she arranged those for me (I tried calling but the wait!) and postponed consultation until after that.

And now, I'm going to give a detailed breakdown of having the scopes. I hope someone who is anxious about getting these procedures may find it helpful...

So I finally had the scopes done on Friday, 7 June. Right after our anniversary lunch on 3 June, I had to stick to a restricted diet - from 4 June, I could not have vege and fruits, milk and soy products and red meat. I was given a brochure with the list of oks and not-oks when I went to collect the laxative - oh yeah, laxative, keep reading...

The diet was torturous!

Now, I'm not such a foodie. But I felt awful that I couldn't have the usual things. It's one thing if I decide to not eat. But you know, when you tell me to not think of a lizard, I'll keep thinking of a lizard *.*

So I had bread with butter, chicken noodle soup without vege, kosong instant noodles, mee hoon kway, hardboiled eggs and chicken rice. For drinks, I had only water and plain tea. I'm glad I like my tea kosong. I can't have my usual coffee without milk. Everything else, I feasted with my eyes by watching short reels on cooking...

Actually 6 June was pretty sad. I wanted chicken rice like for 5 June but the stall was closed! Luckily I had kosong instant noodles in the pantry and hardboiled eggs in the fridge. Must eat by 5 pm that day coz I had to clear my bowels from 7 pm. How?

With these!

I was supposed to finish four packs of the Fortrans with four litres of water from 7 pm to 11 pm. I had to "save" water from the afternoon so that the water could all be at room temperature - this was the only time I thought a water filter would be useful, no need to keep boiling water!

I also had to dissolve the Fortrans laxative in batches in my 500ml measuring jug as it was tricky pouring the white powder directly into the tall flask with its small mouth. These Ikea flasks have 1L capacity so just nice for one pack of Fortrans.

But four litres are really a lot of water to drink in such a short time. I'm not used to drinking even two litres throughout the day! The drink tasted like flat 100 plus but less sweet so not terribly nice too. Worse, from 8.20 pm, I started pooping madly, like every 10 min for the next hour before the frequency began to reduce, partly coz I was lagging behind in drinking...

By 9.30 pm, I was seriously falling behind in drinking. Eventually, I finished 3.5 litres by 11.30 pm. JY told me she skipped one whole pack of Fortrans. And I figured my bowels looked clear by 9 plus anyway. I'm not sure if water going through the intestine would just look yellow or if it was the Fortrans - but later when I wiped the table, I found that the wet powder was a little yellow on the cloth.

I managed to go to sleep at midnight, but woke to poop a few times. Even in the morning, I had to poop before I left the house. By then, I had poop some 20 times! Really 屁股开花 already... 

Btw, I had no anxiety. The desire to eat what I wanted filled my every braincell. No more cells to consider the risks, which are minimal anyway. That and the poop made me just want to get it over and done with.

My appointment was 10.30 am but I had to arrive at 9.30 am for preps. I changed into a kimono covering a surgical gown in a handicapped toilet - I wish they had a proper changing room... I was given a big plastic bag to keep my clothes and bag. I read an e-book until the nurse came to get me and cable-tied my bag, leaving me with only my reading glasses and slippers. My hair remained tied up, no hair cover.

Then they gave me Fliumicil to clear bubbled in my stomach, and inserted a straw in my right hand which would be where they gave me the sedative later. But the nurse warned me - my blood pressure was too low to be given the full sedative so I might not be knocked out!

Indeed, I couldn't be knocked out.

My plastic bag and slippers went under my trolley bed. A nurse removed my disposable underwear and another sprayed a numbing solution at my throat. I was to keep it there and swallowed only when told - bitter. I'm connected to a blood pressure reading machine. A mouth guard kept my mouth open while I lay down on my left. A nurse held my head still. 

We started with the stomach scope. The scope was a black tube of maybe 1.5cm diameter. I felt it a little but it wasn't painful. But as it moved, I could feel it going through to the stomach. 

And I could see the inside of my stomach! At one point, I saw lots of folds. Gosh, I could eat a lot and the stomach could take it :p Then I saw a thin orange tube going into the black scope. It emerged again on the screen and I saw the metal clip at the end. It pulled at a cute little blob in my stomach. 

Next, my bed was turned 180 degrees as my bum would now face the machine with the scope. I couldn't see but I trusted that they changed the scope? Haha!

Doctor said she would apply some gel first. I didn't really feel it. Also didn't feel the scope until she started pumping air inside to open up the colon. That was painful! It was like the cramps I feel sometimes when I need to poop/fart but this time, I couldn't!

The doctor had told me to just fart before she pumped the gas but I couldn't. Had to bear with the pain. A nurse held my belly to help manipulate the scope from the outside. Another nurse came to pat pat me and encouraged me to fart. 

But finally, it was over. No more gas. Doctor sprayed in water instead to remove remnant poop (I could see on the screen - yellow mucousy stuff) so that she could see better. No pain. 

Then the nurse put back my underwear and led me out to the resting area. As I was wheeled out, I could see a big cylinder of yellow solution - probably sucked out when doctor was spraying water inside.

At the resting area, I saw the uncle before him sipping Milo and eating biscuits. Strangely, I wasn't hungry at that time. When my drip finally finished, the nurse sat me up and gave me the same food. So nice to sip on hot Milo coz it was so cold there! 

The nurse went through the scopes with me and showed me photos taken. So I had a polyp in the stomach - yes, the cute little blob - from which the doctor had removed tissue for testing. There was also an inflamed part. Colon all ok. Then I could go.

But I had to make a trip to the toilet - last watery poop! But I continued to feel the peristalsis of the colon until the night...

At the follow-up visit this morning, I recorded 56/48 blood pressure - crazy auto machine! Anyway, doctor said the histology of the polyp had not come back but at the size of 1 cm, she recommended removing it regardless of the result. She couldn't remove it that day coz it would take more time, with a slightly higher chance of bleeding given the size, and I wasn't knocked out.

While waiting for her to schedule the scope to remove the polyp, the histology report came back - ok but may not be representative of the polyp given the small sample. I was reading that a small % of stomach polyps may become cancerous so ya, better to remove.

Waited a while more and got a date - subject to changes as they had to coordinate with an anaesthetist as well coz must put me under. Asked them to avoid PSLE dates :p

Now to tie back to the original reason for seeing the doctor? No conclusion, sighs... Everything looks fine except for the polyp. Maybe it's destined for the polyp to be discovered like this? Hope I don't get the oily farts/poop anymore...

端午节吃粽子

It's 端午节 today :)

Yesterday, we all went to Mother's place to (watch me) wrap rice dumplings. But we were very late - Yang finished his breakfast late, it rained, we went to the market to pack brunch for parents and lunch for kids.

So Mother had started wrapping some. She made them quite big as the leaves were big and complained about longer cooking time. Somehow, she couldn't manipulate the size. Nvm, mf to the rescue! Made the rest a little cuter :) Coz I like to eat two at one go so they cannot be too big :p

Yu had the patience to watch me wrap just one

Kai and Yang already watched me wrap dumplings two years ago. The kids watched a lot of Netflix while I wrapped dumplings and waited for the dumplings to cook and cool down. Sito and I had our brunch on arrival while the kids had their lunch around noon.

This time, I took way under an hour to finish up the rice. In all, there were fewer than 40 rice dumplings. We brought 19 home :)

Swung by AMK Hub to walk walk and cool down, scoring some Krispy Kreme doughtnuts along the way. Then we ended up at One HV - one receipt for milk let the three play the dragon bouncy castle while Sito brought all the food home. 

Our kids were a menace to themselves and other kids *.* Luckily, Sito came back quickly enough and I got them out of the bouncy castle...

Dinner was at Little Pond - this time, we didn't order the vege and ordered more shabu beef instead. The ice cream selection was different from last time - chocolate and green tea and surprisingly, Kai liked the green tea more! Sito and I enjoyed their hot tea :) We plan to come back to eat their skewers (with yummy Chinese spices) and enjoy free flow tea at some point :)

Anyway, this morning, we had doughtnuts for breakfast. Even though Yang enjoyed the rice dumplings two years ago, he didn't like this time! I let him have a bite of mine and he decided to have ham and cheese sandwich instead. Kai, Yu and I had two each while Sito had one. Now we're left with only 12! :(

15 :)

Been late posting in recent years :p It happens coz kids...

Mango pudding on vanilla ice cream for us :)

With our anniversary in June, it is fated that we would celebrate with kids in tow for some years at least. So we tossed some ideas about where to eat that the kids would enjoy too - steak? BBQ? Eventually we landed on...

Kiseki!

Love their expressions in that photo :) I brought them to wash hands and take photo while Sito stayed in the reservation queue. Kai was charged as adult given his height.

They had not had Japanese buffet before. Japanese BBQ buffet yes but that is different. At Kiseki, they had tempura, karaage, yakitori, mini sausages, tamago sushi, ramen, shabu beef, ice cream and jelly! But actually, they were pretty selective about what they ate. So most items were only at tasting portions. But for those they like, gosh...

Yang had 12 tamago sushi!

Kai had 10. The two of them disappeared after we put down our stuff at the table. I found them emptying out the - thankfully not big - tamago sushi tray *.* Told them to stop and try other food before going back for more...

Kai had 11 of these mini jelly cups and six tubs of ice cream!

He didn't really eat much apart from tamago sushi and sweets. He also had one yakitori (too lazy to wash hands after handing the stick with sauce), a couple of karaage (not so nice), and some noodles with beef shabu (not so nice), and tried a slice of salmon sashimi (not nice).

Yu had nine mini jelly cups and five tubs of ice cream!

In the picture, he only had eight mini jelly cups; the ninth one was later... He must have eaten the most among the kids though. While waiting to start on sweets, he just picked at the plate of beef shabu and finished it! Kai and Yang didn't really like it. 

Later, when I told him to rest after four tubs of ice cream, he discovered the mini sausages and had maybe six?! Actually I wanted him to stop eating! And of course, he also discovered the mini jelly cups. He also had prawn tempura, yakitori and some noodles. Pretty scary...

Yang decided to wait on his brothers and brought them many mini jelly cups :)

He had one and didn't enjoy it. He also had only one tub of ice cream coz it was too cold. I think he was full from the tamago sushi... Oh but he had some seven mini chocolate tarts. He didn't eat much of the others, maybe a karaage and some noodles which he didn't like.

Happily posing with all the mini jelly cups :)

It was the uncle who was clearing our plates who gave them the idea. I asked him not to clear the cups and he said sure, many customers stacked them up, some as high as 20! 

Sito and I each had our own poison. He had a hotpot going so there were the usual suspects. But we didn't have any beef shabu coz Yu finished it all and we just didn't take more. I'm the only one who enjoy sashimi so I had my fill of that, plus leftover karaage, leftover yakitori, and some tempura. We also had some of their desserts - quite nice :)

So overall, it was a very successful trip. Everyone enjoyed the food, never mind that some had more desserts than proper mains... The free flow drinks were also popular with the kids. Sito and I had quite a bit of tea at the end to wash off the grease of the food.

Happy boys :)

And so happy parents :)

Aiyoh so sweet :)

We took a walk to Plaza Sing to buy bah kwa. The salesperson was very friendly, and was happy to show me what 500g of bah kwa looked like coz I had not bought this shape for a while... Also bought tau sar piah - buy 10 get two free! But I couldn't eat them yet - more on this later...

Happening at Plaza Sing - we'll probably watch it later this month

Sito and I couldn't have dinner but we had some dessert with drama :p The kids surprised us. Actually, Yu surprised us - he was the first to say he was hungry at 6 plus. I asked the brothers - both ok to eat. So I made a simple meal - prata with ham and cheese. They were gone very quickly. Growing boys indeed!

And with that, we embarked on our 16th together as Mr and Mrs Sito :)

End of term 2!

Usually, the last week of term 2 is a short week as there is early dismissal on Thursday and no school on Friday for PTMs. This time, it's shorter due to Vesak Day falling on Wednesday.

We had a bad start to Vesak Day - Kai was injured on the escalator up from Bishan MRT platform. I was behind Sito and didn't see it happen. Only heard a loud noise and peeked from behind Sito to see Kai fallen on Yu and Yu fallen on Sito! 

I realised I couldn't help Kai up unless the woman who fell on him got up so I pushed her up with the help of another passenger. The first thing she said was, "Where's my phone?" Wa, pissed off man..

When we got off the escalator, we stopped a bit ahead to examine Kai's leg. There was one streak of blood but it wasn't flowing. The woman came over to say sorry and that she lost her balance. She sounded like a foreign domestic worker. I didn't want to look at her at all. She left. On retrospect, we should have asked her to stay until we got things sorted out in case we needed to make a report.

An MRT staff came over very quickly and brought us to the first aid room. By then, Kai's abrasion was more visible - besides the streak, there was a patch of redness around it. The staff kindly cleaned up the area. I took the leftover to clean up Yu who had a slight abrasion but no blood. We rejected plasters as the area was too big for the plasters; the tape might hurt the abrasion instead.

Kai's abrasion

Poor Kai. But he was quite collected throughout the incident. Thankfully, he's big enough else that woman might have caused more damage.

Later, I learnt from Yang who was standing in front of Kai, that she also knocked into him. But he managed to steady himself and dodge her full weight. He couldn't remember but he probably was holding on to the handrail. 

So the first lesson, when we got down to a debrief, was that we must always hold on to the handrail on escalators. We may be standing well but other people may fall. We can minimise injury to ourselves if we hold on tight. Rather be the domino that breaks the fall than a fallen domino.

And the second lesson started with questioning why the woman fell. Yang guessed that she was probably looking at her phone and hence lost her balance coz she was looking for her phone after that. Yes, my dear boy! We must not stare at our phones when walking, much less on a moving escalator! Yang said very wisely that the best place to play phone games was at home :)

We made it to Ah Yee's place, thinking we were late. Turned out we were not the latest! But lunch was delayed. The boys played with Sito's phone while waiting. But after lunch, no more phone - they played hide-and-seek etc and were very noisy. Papa took up the job of managing them while I chatted with the extended family, oops...

Discovering the joy of speaking into a fan :)

All on Papa!!

Lunch was yummy! But the kids didn't like or eat much except for chicken cutlet and siew mai. I sneaked in some fried sweet potato coz the beehoon this time was spicy tom yum. 

Left with Mother's png kueh, lots of biscuits that Ah Yee bought for the praying session (I think she just wanted to give the kids :)) and some leftover tau sar piah. But we didn't go home straight away.

Strolling in Toa Payoh

Wa, Kai is so handsome!!!

Ok, distracted... Yang and Yu went to TPY for one of their social studies learning journeys in P2. Kai probably missed out due to his P2 being COVID outbreak year. So we asked the two to show us where they'd been. They remembered only bits and pieces. So we just anyhow walked.

Yu was hungry so bought him a char siew bun. After the stroll, we went to Macs for an early dinner. Settled down early as the next day was still a school day.

We managed to score PTM slots on Thursday so Friday could be freed up totally. Anyway, PTM has changed to PCTC - Parent-Child-Teacher Conference. The format is for the child to share his review of the year with us. 

But first, lunch at Subway

Yu couldn't finish his drink and gave it to Papa. Yang wanted it so Yu told him that he had slobbered all over it! Then he gave it to Papa?! Poor Papa!

Kai decided to start on his holiday homework. He continued to do his work while waiting for his turn in school. So conscientious - I like!

Waiting for Yang's turn outside his classroom

Yang was first. It was clear that the form teachers - science and maths - did not prepare the kids for the session. They were also not terribly good at prompting Yang. Yang also didn't answer questions very well - we have to work on this. We asked about his academics, and the teachers said we could ask the subject teachers any time during the year - which was fine but this session was not going anywhere. The teachers even said this was MOE directive. What rubbish.

But we learnt that Yang talks the same way at home and in school. That isn't the case for his brothers...

Yu was next. This time, it was clear that the teachers prepared the kids - Yu's first line was, "I like Founders' Day because it lets me learn more about ACS." He even spread out his arms as he finished this line, hilarious! But that was all. The rest of the time, he just answered his teachers' questions, and quite well. When a teacher paraphrased wrongly, he corrected her - so cute. 

But the cutest was how he spoke. So soft-spoken, so unlike at home! His teachers also said he was soft-spoken but he would participate in class. It was clear that his teacher know him well, even the one who takes him for only FTGP; the other takes him for English and maths as well.

Now Kai. He was very... 敷衍 about it. Everything was oh ya, yes yes yes. His teachers - Chinese and FTGP - were two chill guys who would prompt Kai. Quite different from Yu's but it was also clear that they know Kai well. Chinese teacher reassured us his Chinese was ok. The other knew him since P3 and that he doesn't like to read after all these years, and advised him to pick up reading! Both also shared they got their kids to write 300-500 Chinese words a day! *.*

Sito said if he were the HOD, he would also assign the weakest teachers to P3 and P4. Sighs. But it also depends on the individual teachers. Yang's P3 form teacher who also took Kai for P3, was very good and could share a lot about both of them at PTM.

Since we scored the PCTC sessions on Thursday, Friday was totally free, yeah! We went to the Science Centre. But this time, we were there less than four hours. Yang and Yu were hungry despite Macs breakfast, which was more than their usual toast. And my nose was dripping madly - not sure if it was the heat from Thursday or the rain on the way to Science Centre - so just as well that we left early.

A rare moment that Kai and Yu smiled at each other :)

Fascinated by dry ice, especially Yang

These two went for the laser maze; Yu didn't want to be alone in the dark

I had always thought it was like laser tag. But it was more like, avoid the laser beams. Each player gets two rounds for $5. Yang tried easy and expert while Kai chose expert twice. Seemed quite fun and a good replacement for the free escape room on level 2 which was "closed until further notice".

Our planned early dinner became a late lunch. We had our usual at Ikea. Sito left us once he was done to go to the bank for the second time that day. The bank refused to waive his credit card fee as he had spent on the card after the fee was issued - what nonsense?! 

Also ridiculous is that the bank couldn't waive or even cancel his card on his first trip. They called later to ask him to go to the bank again to do it. So Sito spent time waiting quite a bit that day but as he put it - waiting at the bank is less painful than having his leg kicked (by Kai), being sung to (Punjabi song by Kai) and having his ears pulled (by Yu) at the same time, as had happened at Macs that morning!!!

What about Yang? He couldn't decide what to have when he was still not full after his egg McMuffin. But that was fine and Sito couldn't nag him coz that was just like him, haha!

Anyway, we packed hotdog buns home for their light dinner. Sito caught up with us when we were going to Donki. Bought some snacks and stocked up on curry roux and mayonnaise. 

I went to sleep while Sito settled their dinner and packed soup noodles for me. The boys enjoyed their Friday TV and snacks before going to bed. And that's it - end of term 2.

Today, we started holiday schedule - school work after breakfast, reading, lunch, news on TV, Nintendo and phone games, dinner. Last four months for Kai and last five months for Yang before exams! Yu has to do work too - no escape, heh!