Fragile life

This is a post I've been meaning to write for some time but could not bear to put it into words.

My friend messaged me on Facebook that our mutual acquaintance has passed on. Perhaps 3-4 months before he asked if I wanted to be part of his music group. I replied in the negative, citing time constraints and the like. Granted, this is not the only friend I've known that has passed on, the news still hit me hard. He was after all, the one who tutored me through the grade 5 theory exam, going to his home every week. He was the one who bothered to organise gatherings with his malaysian friends so I can widen my social circle. He was the one I've known to be a kindly uncle figure who would do his best to help you if he can.

Life is fragile and we would be prudent to treasure our relationships.

Grand Rounds

My reads of 2014 have mostly been fiction.To add more non-fiction reads to my bookshelf, I have taken to following friends and people I think have similar tastes to mine on Goodreads. It has turned up fiction gems like "The Martian" which I enjoyed (The protag's conversations with NASA are always fun to read) and then there's Grand Rounds.

Grand Rounds at it's core, is a series of 24 medical case studies which take you through how doctors diagnose and treat medical patients. Much like "House", each case study has a patient and you'll play detective as Dr. Benaroch doles out the clues. He will explain what normally is involved in the review -History of Present Illness (HPI), the basic physical checks - Head, Eyes, Ears, Nose and Throat (HEENT) and other very interesting nuggets of information like how a doctor progresses from student to M.D.

In a  first, I bought this as an audiobook on Audible.com.I had wanted to get this as a ebook on Kindle but it seems to be only available as an audio recording and so today I went running to the lectures. As an aside, I am generally not big on audiobooks but these recordings were the perfect medium for these lectures to be delivered.The case studies today were on cancer and heart attack. Both of them have afflicted my friends and loved ones and as such, the case studies hit closer to home. I, in turn, am emotionally affected by them. 

Emotions aside, lectures 6 and 7 have very informative. I did not know that checking for air passage has been obsoleted in favour of chest compressions in the common CPR. It's also not just a course of diagnosis after diagnosis. For example for the lecture on heart attack, the professor suggests treatments and steps we can take to prevent it. In the same lecture, he also gives a short instruction on how to react to a possible heart attack and with it, an updated CPR lesson. Lecture 8 awaits.

State of the Wardrobe

Spent half the day tidying my wardrobe; Here's the breakdown.

Left

a) T-shirts

b) Hiking wear and accessories

c) Formal Jackets

Right

a) Formal long sleeve shirts

b) Informal long sleeve shirts

c) Short sleeve shirts

d) Polo T-shirts

e) Bottoms

Within each category, it is organised by colours: Richard Of York Gave Birth In Vain. All told, I wound up with 2 bags of stuff to donate to the Salvation Army and about a half bag to alter. My friend suggested I use one of my jeans to be donated to get the 50 dollar discount at Levi's. I think this is an excellent idea.

I've been on a roll organizing stuff lately. Before this, it was my bookshelf. What next, I wonder.

Update: Turns out, "next" are my drawers and the blog itself. Some of the links(e.g. Twitter widget, Allconsuming.net) were outdated. I've updated the Twitter widget and replaced the allconsuming.net widget (which previously tracked my book consumption) with the Goodreads widget instead. Cobwebs thus swept, I'm a happy camper.

It's been a while

So it's been awhile since my last update.

Well, happen to look up why iPhone laterally inverts photos taken by it's front facing camera and found out it actually does that so that words appear normal on its photos. Think mirror and words on a page and you'll get the idea. Fascinating.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2491655

Apropos resolutions

Here it is, on record : my resolutions for 2012. I'm going to go really modest this time so chances are, more likely than not, I'll keep them. In no particularly order except the order in which they pop in my mind:

1.  Run a 10 km in under an hour
2.  Pass my Grade 6
3.  Teach my violin student to read notes
4.  Laugh at myself more
5.  Exercise more
6.  Watch what I eat
7.  See the dentist regularly
8.  Practice my violin more
9.  Spend more time reading
10. Spend more time with family

After the quake

At first I thought it was an absurdly long post from one of my friends on the newsfeed of Facebook. But later in the day when I had more time coming home from violin lessons on the bus, I read the thing in it's entirety. They were twitter messages sent by survivors of the quake and some of the stories really tugged at my heart strings.



Our hearts are with you, Japan.

Here, there be dragons

Just when I've become comfortable with what I've been doing, some six months into my job, it appears there is going to be a shuffle in manpower and in little more than 2 weeks time, I'll be doing something quite different.

The move is purely out of practicality due to a number of colleagues leaving and evidently there is going to be a lot to learn in a very short span of time. It's rather nerve racking and exciting at the same time.

Forward, to uncharted ground and just maybe, the discovery of the something new.

Letter writ

There is something intrinsically wonderful about receiving a hand written card. Speaking of which, I will have to start making some for the holiday season. Ideas, please come aplenty this weekend. Thank you.

Simple times

The past few weeks just flew me by because there literally is a ton to do at work. It's a great thing because every day I learn something new. From organising projects, to people relations, to engineering know-how, I think it's an excellent first job experience. But sometimes you need to take a breather and all it takes is just good company and a good old (Har Chong Kai) burger from EwF.

The Effort is the Prize

A week or so ago at work, I asked my friend when he ran. He replied simply. 3 times a week with his friends at 8pm. Astonished I said:" But that's after work! I always feel so drained." He again dished out his wisdom matter-of- factly: "But that's all an excuse."

Seneca, a Greek philosopher once said," what you change inwardly can change outer reality." The conversation I had with my friend is just one instance in which it is proven true a thousand times each day.

It all sounds rather weird but I actually feel more alive after the runs I do these days after work. And the fact is, it takes more effort to take the very first step out the door than to complete a run. So where do I intend to go with this? Apart from passing my IPPT? Not much else really. But reality is often not so simple. To get better at something, apart from just going through the motions, this article suggest that one has to really love the process.

In the end, it's a bit like what my previous conductor in Hai Sing or really any conductor has to say about the SYF. It's more about the process than anything else.

“In the end, the great truth will have been learned, that the quest is greater than that which is sought, the effort finer than the prize, or rather, that the effort is the prize . . . ”
-Benjamin Cardozo

But will it make you happy?

Thanks to this article, I am now of the opinion that we do not need more stuff.

In fact, everytime I consider a purchase these days, I find myself questioning if I could do without it instead and be perfectly happy. And the answer most times is yes. However, some things do not go. These include books, performances now and then, violin classes and gatherings with friends and family, even to treat them. An experience, the article posits, produces longer-lasting satisfaction than plain old material purchases.

One reason, I think is that these experiences don't come easily. They have to be worked at, thought through even planned. For example, it takes collective effort for a group to make time for each other to come together for a meal perhaps for a treat. Compare this if you were to spend the money instead on a shiny new digital camera. Experience requires work and that makes them all the more satisfying. And if these experiences don't come often, we are able to appreciate them all the more.

This realization only got me thinking about what I aspired to have before. A big fancy car is definitely out of the picture as is a couple of other things. What is I want now are more experiences rather than just stuff.

I want more and you should too.

Some expectations

As I think about the month that has passed me by in what can only be described as a flurry of activities, I realised something. Goodness, I am really quite fortunate. Traveling to work is essentially one 20 minute bus ride, the colleagues are nice , the job isn't desk bound and above all , I have time enough to be divvied amongst family, friends, violin and the occasional book. For now, I can actually see myself here for some time to come. For now.

Funnily enough

Sometimes getting back home, I will be greeted by neighbour's daughter who, like my cousin and apparently other small kids, have a penchant for my iPhone. Most like my "fish" game and Sneezies and one or two like my ice cream game. My cousin likes Hangman but since he barely knows how to spell, I end out playing most of the time and he waits for the "yay!" to emit from my iPhone's puny speakers, which more often than not, makes him giggle and he then proceeds to ask me to solve the next dozen puzzles - which I do, most of them unsuccessfully.

The thing about all of them is, they all clearly know the line - how to ask nicely for it, how to behave with it and most importantly, when to stop and hand back the phone - which is more than can be said of some of the people we meet in our lives. You would think a couple of years of experience would count for something. Apparently not. It really is quite strange.

Time regained

FYP is (finally) over and what officially ended it for me was not a presentation but an amiable e-mail from my supervisor wishing us the best in our final examinations and to bid us to come find him when we somehow find our way back to NUS when we were working. It was a long shot but it was thoughtful of him nonetheless.

In retrospect, having finished the project, it wasn't as bad as I made it sound. In fact, in some really warped sense, it was actually rather enjoyable. There were just so many times you get to spend the night in the lab eating chicken naan while running simulations and playing Mahler's fifth. It was quite the combination.

Fried rice paradise

The Nasi Goreng with the silvers of bacon and slices of white sausages was really very nice. As was the Curry Chicken with little gravy but bombastic taste and fried Fish Fingers, served on an oily napkin. In fact, I dare say this was my best meal in NUS ever. There truly is nothing better than home-cooked food. Thanks you guys, Jie Ying and Kai ling! Greatly appreciate your waking up early to cook and lug the food from one end of Singapore to the other.

To boldly go

So the graduation trip to Japan is set. Tickets have already been booked, accommodation settled and what's left is basically to plan where we will actually be going. Safe to say one of the places we'll be going will be the Ghibli Museum and part taking of a healthy amount of Char Siew Ramen.

Besides this, there is the rather pressing concern of finding a job. For all the wonderful news about the economy picking up, things seem rather quiet on that front save for a couple of callbacks- thank goodness for that. With any luck, I will have secured a job before I fly for Japan.

So to all job seekers, all the very best!

Over tea

Met up with the TPJC gang for our "reunion dinner" of sorts at Jia Hui's place. Quite decidedly ate the best fermented beancurd chicken wings ever although I realise that as I am typing it out, it does not sound particularly enticing .Those at those at the table seem to agree with us polishing off an entire plate and don't even let me get started on the gravy. The company was great and as we played Cluedo over our cups of tea while getting distracted by the 9pm serial finale episode, it struck me that most of the people in our group will be moving on to the next stage of our lives.

And come next Chinese New Year, we will most probably doing be the same thing all over again but this time as working adults - a small semblance of order in our chaotic working lives. Somehow, I found that thought particularly comforting.

Hello 2010

I really meant to write something to sum up the entire 09 but then I thought it would be me looking up older posts in this blog anyway, so for the more curious, may I direct to the archives section just below the clock. I haven't clicked that drop-down menu in a long time.

Instead I will update you guys on the second batch of brownies my mum and I baked. On the advice of a friend, I added one more egg and didn't chop up the pecans so finely this time round. It turned out more moist ( the last batch was a little flaky) and had more bite. These I shared with the TPJC guys during the Christmas celebration at my place and man were they good smothered in vanilla ice cream.

The only problem was that we had chocolate left over. And so - in the spirit of all things chocolate - our next project would be chocolate fondant. I can almost feel the chocolate oozing out of this one.

Here's to a great 2010.

Little note

Dear Kongkong,

how have you been the past year? Well, I hope!

Remember the LCD flatscreen TV you wanted to share with grandma when the new house comes? Consider it done. The old TV broke down and we bought a new LCD TV to replace it. That's about all that's changed around the house though. Everything looks just about the same. Even the blood pressure monitor you were using. Grandma's using that now.

Grandma has been well. The newly bought TV serves her well in watching the Korean drama at 7pm every Monday to Friday. She had a heart surgery not too long ago and doesn't pant as much when walking now so that's good. She's also going to the market more frequently now. She talks about you sometimes but mostly it is about happy stuff - like the way the blood pressure monitor churns up erroneous results and you would hit it a little or how you would play with your new grandson when he comes around.

Oh...by the way he is a big boy now. Doesn't throw things as much but when he comes around to our place, you can see how much mama loves his company. He is scared of her though. I think it's because mama always tells him not to run around with an angry look on her face. He likes me though because mainly I give - and this is absoutely true - the best make-believe F1 car simulation on my lap ever. Well that, and I sometimes goof around with him. His play is good but his studies...well...his Chinese could do better as mine could.

My sister is in her second year in NUS and ...erm... is doing OK at school - I think. In other news, Mum just got transferred to an Nautica outlet in Marina Bay!That's so close to the esplanade. I'll bet you would love to be go there to take a look see. And Dad just came back from America! I, on the other hand, will be going to Japan for my graduation trip. Oh yes...I'll be graduating next year! About time I say. That's one event I think you would like to be part of too.

Your other grandson is in Japan with his family and your granddaughter is studying in the U.S. I am not sure which university but I am sure it's one of the better ones around. They came back for a while during the June-July period.

Well, that's about it from me. Take care now. =)

Yours truly,
Daniel

In Search of Lost Time

It is all I can do to juggle between school and work these days.

Perhaps it's the little things that add up, the little promises that somehow accumulate like dust on the windowsill. Or perhaps, it's the obligations,those devilish little things.

Sometimes, I find it hard to breathe. Just sometimes.