kingsman 2: the golden circle

this is such a fun show to watch. totally enjoyed it. and it was funny how the president in the show exhibited similar mannerism as that of the current potus and in the show, the potus was eventually impeached. lol!

additional comment: would have been perfect if channing tatum had stripped. heh...

d&d

it was funny how many departments hold their dinner and dance during this time of the year. my department had ours this week and it was held on a wednesday evening. and guess what? i was named as one of the best dressed male and called up on stage during the d&d. lol... so embarrassing to have to parade myself on stage. but it was a lot of fun. anyway, the flip side of having a wednesday d&d was that we had to drag ourselves to work on thursday.

heh...

kneeling

in most (if not all) asian culture, kneeling is considered the highest form of respect.

:-)

ps: whereas in america, it has been used as a show of political disrespect. what irony.

kidney stone review

i went for my medical review today to check if there are any further growth of kidney stones. this was arranged last year following my ultrasound procedure to remove the stones and the doctor wanted to review me yearly instead of every 2-3 years as he said i have a higher tendency to develop stones.

anyway, the review was relatively straight forward - went for my x-ray when i arrived and saw the specialist after that. what i want to blog today is not so much the review but rather the way it was done. you see, as my specialist was busy, my case was given to a younger doctor (probably a medical officer). this was how it went - i walked in, verified my identity, etc... and the doctor introduced himself to me. he was a young chap from the philippines and spoke with a slight tagalog accent. after introducing himself to me, he showed me my x-ray and this was how he went:

doctor: errrr, mr sim, from your x-ray, i think there might be a small stone here... (he used his finger and pointed to a spot), but errrr, but i am not sure, maybe there is no stone cos it is very unclear. so, yeah, maybe there is, but maybe there isn't. and if you compare to the left kidney, it looks clear. but for the right one, i am not too sure. maybe there is, maybe there isn't. and if it is a small one, maybe it'll pass out soon, but if there is, then maybe we have to observe. ok, tell you what, you better drink more water... and we'll see you next year.

hmmm, what an explanation. not exactly the same words, but you kinda get an idea how the debrief went. i was half-tempted to tell him, errr, doctor, maybe i have wasted my time or maybe i shouldn't have come. cos your maybes are just so iffy. well, of cos i didn't say that... but yeah, you kinda know how the whole transaction went. i acted along and thanked him for debriefing me about my condition. he said a lot but said nothing. i supposed he was young and his communications was bad. he could have said:

doctor (if i were him): mr sim, congratulations, the x-ray showed there are no large stones that warrant any immediate concerns. but having said that, we cannot rule out the possibility of small ones. this is because for x-rays the contrast is not that sharp and small-sized stones may not show up clearly. having said that, i do encourage you to continue drinking lotsa water daily. this is so that small stones, if any, can be flushed out quickly and not be allowed to develop into bigger nasty ones. so, let's review your case one year from now.

right? roll eyes...

dream of birds & butterflies

this really weird dream occurred last night (or rather, this morning).

i was travelling in a car and was on my way to a certain bus stop where bee was to pick me up. now, the driver of the car couldn't drop me at that particular bus stop as he (i think it's a he) was heading to another place. he had to make a left turn at a junction just before the bus stop and i had to alight some distance away. from where i was to alight, i could see the bus stop. now, between me and the bus stop was a huge grass patch. in the middle of this grass patch was a burning tree stump and the whole scene was very smoky/ hazy.

now imagine this, from where the car stopped, i would have to backtrack and walked to the road junction and turn left before i could reach the bus stop. but i decided i should simply cut straight across the grass patch (akin to walking the hypothenuse of a triangle) as it would save me some time. and so, i opened the car door and hopped out of the car onto the side of the road. as i hopped off, i found myself free-falling into a stream, i didn't know it was there as it was covered by the grass. thankfully (and miraculously), i managed to bounce off the grass and avoided falling straight into the stream.

interestingly, as i landed, what i thought was dry ground turned out to be ankle deep water. i took a hard look around and realised that the whole place was flooded. i knew then that i could not avoid getting my shoes wet, which by that time, had turned into army boots. yes, i was in my army field uniform (for unknown reasons). i started walking and when i reached the burning tree stump, i decided i should extinguish the fire as i didn't want the fire to spread. but when i looked closely, the fire that burnt brightly earlier had disappeared and in its place was a smouldering stump. i wanted to use the water to douse the stump but didn't have any container and in the end, i simply peed onto it. as i did so, there was a moment where i worry whether i would be contaminating the clean water. lol...

anyway, the smoke cleared after a while. at that moment, as i looked towards the direction of the bus stop, i saw quite a few multi-coloured birds perched on a tree. they were brightly coloured just like those parakeets from south america and were really beautiful. it was really amazing. i just stood there and stared at the birds. and as i did so, a few very pretty butterflies appeared in front of me. pink coloured ones...

and the dream ended there.

???

hahah...

dreamt about jeremy

i dreamt about jeremy (a good friend who calls me "kor" or "big brother") 2 nights ago. here's how the dream unfolded.

i was in a crowded place that looked like a school canteen. there were two long tables in front of me. in one table sat jeremy's brother & his partner and a whole lot of strangers. i was on the other table with quite a few strangers too. in the dream, i recalled i felt rather stressed up and unsettled. and then, jeremy appeared. i saw him walking from afar towards the canteen. in no time, our eyes met and i stood up and walked quickly towards him as he did the same. we grabbed and hugged each other very very tightly. it felt really good and we both didn't want to let go. in no time, i felt awkward as i was conscious everyone was looking at us and i loosened my grip and lightly pushed him away. and for some unknown reasons, i walked away from the scene. i tapped his brother & his partner's back as walked off.

the dream ended there. quite a weird dream that had no start and no end. i related this dream to jeremy and he simply laughed it off. well, time to get together and have a meal, he said.

hahah!

my photos

had procrastinated over this for many years and finally decided to just do it. got all my old photos reframed and touched up. decided on gold frames for the black and white photos (that have turned yellow and hence matches the gold), and silver frames for my graduation photos (that are blue based and thus go very well with silver). thought this composition is very nice. 

and so finally, my living room's main wall will no longer be blank.

sapphie @ home

i've been searching for a small dog figurine to place at my parent's niche at the columbarium for the longest time. finally found it two weeks ago and got it installed last week. cute right?

:-)

hurricane irma

i am reminded of the period where i was based in florida when i read about hurricane irma. it was an interesting experience for me to go through charley, frances, ivan, and jeanne and i cannot find any word that can fully describe how i felt. especially for charley - my first experience and driving in the dark through the everglades to take shelter in miami. my heart goes out to everyone in florida at this point in time in time as everyone awaits irma's landfall. for those who has the ability to run/ evacuate, please do so. and for those who have decided to stay put, i do wish everyone all the very best as they brace themselves for the monster.

a child's smile

an ex-colleague of mine gave me a toy shark for christmas last year - the type that is made of rubber and painted to look life-like. the whole idea about giving me a shark was because the initials of our lunch click of four spelt "jaws". no better way to make me remember the group than by giving me a toy shark right? all the more apt as it coincided with my farewell back then.

i had placed this shark on my shelf since and it had been collecting dust for the last 8-9 months. and as i did my housecleaning yesterday, i decided that i should give it to someone who would be able to appreciate it more. so i took it down the shelf, cleaned away the dust and brought it downstairs where parents and their young kids usually congregate. and sure enough there was this little toddler, no more than a year old, by the swimming pool.

he was at the age where he needed assistance to walk an extended distance. he was merry making by himself and savouring his little achievements in each little step he walked. and his mother was nearby keeping watch over him. i walked up to him, acknowledged his mother and gave the toy shark to him. he took it curiously, and within quick moments, his face glowed, his mouth gaped and his eyes opened up wide! in no time, he was making faces as he held the shark and looked into its'  face. he looked so funny! 

it was such a pleasant and heartwarming sight! his mom stood there speechless for that moment too, only to utter "he is soooo happy!" after a few seconds. and she thanked me for the toy. it's my pleasure, i said as i walked away from the little boy. 

:-) 

eyesight? mindlessness?

i am not sure if this is normal (such as due to aging), or it is something that i should be concerned about. you see, i am a person who would craft my email as i think and before sending it out, i will proofread my email content again and again to ensure i get my message right. and in the process, i will restructure my sentences, and my paragraphs in order to bring the most important point forward. this is the inverse writing technique as i was taught decades ago - it is supposedly the most effective technique to bring ones' point across.

but lately i have noticed one very interesting thing - i tend not to see things. i tend not to see my mistakes when it comes to structuring my sentences correctly. on top of that, i often end up having double words. the thing disturbing about these double words are that my mind would be thinking of one word but i will type another word. for example, when i want to type "that are", i end up typing "are are" or "that that". and i would be totally oblivious about it... and worst of it all, i don't see these double words when i proofread. i will only discover it after i re-read my mail again a day or two later.

these mistakes are getting too often to be comfortable. a case of deteriorating eye sight or a case of mindlessness? 

should i be worried?

ps: and i do the same read, reread, amend, restructure etc for my blog entries too. 

rough night

this is another show where you will watch when you have nothing else better to do. lotsa superficial girly fun, that i am sure, many gay men (like me) will be able to identify. enjoyable, fun, crazy, at times tense, but overall, just easy-going.

tinder

i downloaded tinder and experimented with it last week. it was an interesting app. had all along thought it was an app for straight people until not too recently, a gay friend mentioned he had been using it too.

the app was designed to allow only mutual matches to connect. this, i thought was unique and interesting cos it provided individuals to safeguard his/ her preferences (male or female). on the other hand, it can be quite damaging to one's ego if there is constantly no match! 

haha...

kooza

caught the last show before it ended its run in singapore over the last weekend. thought the performances were very good and enjoyed most of it. but there was one that i felt very uncomfortable, almost to the point of wanting to walk out. that was the one performed by the 3 chinese ladies where they bend their bodies... it was freakish! one performance stood out for me and that was the wheel of death. loved the overall colours and vibrance!

:-)