End of MC

Before I decide on the date of my surgery, I have already booked my flight to Taipei (26 April - 2 May) with my friend. And we have planned to utilise the 1 May holiday so that we need only apply for 4 days of leave.

*Sigh* So now, I have mixed feelings about this trip. I am exited as this is my first trip to Taiwan, yet at the same time, I am dreading it as it would mean I am approaching the end of my 30 days of freedom!

This April is an unusual month... while some of my colleagues are happily counting down to the end of it, as they have tendered their resignations, effective 30 April, I am hoping this day will take ages to come!

Where is the ART?

Saw this funny sculpture as I walked passed Orchard Paragon last Friday.
They built a temporary 'shelter' so that their construction work will not affect the customers walking outside the building.
But the height of the shelter is so low that part of the sculpture is being hidden by the shelter.

Now... where is the ART?

Dempsey Road

I hesitated when I was about to write this post, cos I knew some of you 'youngsters' or 20+ year old out there maybe laughing at me for being so 'Suaku' (山龟). But the truth is, I really have not been to Dempsey Road since the place has been converted into a real hotspot.

For those equally 'Suaku' people out there... here's a look at what you can find in Dempsey Road!

A beautiful water fountain...

ok, ok, I know you weren't expecting Dempsey Road to be full of beautiful fountains...



A very dimly lit and quiet place for those who want to have a drink and enjoy the moment!



This shop above sells various kinds of carpets.

So you see, Dempsey Road is not just about eat, drink and be merry!



And there are also these cute-looking, red & white Mao Zhedong waving at you!



Here's a Korean BBQ place for those who love Korean food!

So what is most common in Dempsey Road?









Signs pointing you to the location of the shops and restaurants!

Face Lift - Orchard Somerset

Haven't been to Somerset for quite a while (more than 1 year) since our office moved out of Starhub Centre behind Centrepoint in Orchard. Don't even know what is going on in that area until I was there on Friday to settle the claim for my surgery.

What can possibly happen over 14 months? Well... take a look below!

A new service apartment by Pan Pacific has sprung up in the area!



Even L'occitane has found a spot for themselves in this crowded area!



Inside Centrepoint, they have finally built an escalator that brings you straight to basement 2 without having to find your way in like going thru' a maze.(Great improvement! Hope that brings better business for those shops in basement 2.)



A new shop has taken over the Pizza Hut space... Ichiban Boshi!



And finally, when I arrived at Starhub Centre, gone is the stationery shop... and in comes a new tailor shop!

Wah... So much has changed! When I told my colleague who is still working in Starhub Centre, she said:"Wow! Seems like you really have not been here for a long long time! The escalator in Centrepoint has been there for quite a while already!"

Well... Need to go to Orchard more often then!

Black Out!

In my previous post, I talked about the plus side of having a minor surgery - 30 days of MC to catch up on all the shows which you have always wanted to watch. But come on, no pain no gain, right? I went through quite a bit on the 1st day of MC - the SURGERY!

After my colleague returned from her MC, she began describing the surgery to me. She said that the anti-biotics which the doctor has prescribed caused her to vomit; the laxative is so salty that it is difficult to drink and she felt so weak after the surgery that she slept for quite a while. Oh my! I will have to go through the same thing!

The day before the surgery came... surprisingly, I had no reaction to the anti-biotics! But silly me, I ate 2 pills at one go when I should have taken them one at a time! And the laxative was ok, difficult to drink, but ok... wait a minute... I got to go to the ladies... In the end, I think I visited the toilet at least 20 times between 4pm and 12 midnight.

Finally, on that faithful morning, as I laid down on the bed while they wheeled me to the operating theatre(OT), I wondered why all the people working in the hospital are asking me the same question. "Did you remove your the jewellery, watch ...?" "Are you wearing dentures?" Blah Blah Blah... Oh, when is the surgery ever going to start?

Just as I was complaining in my heart, I was being pushed into this huge, white room. I looked around... hang on a second, how come this OT doesn't have a viewing gallery where other doctors can come and watch operations being performed? They have that in Grey's Anatomy and Lost too. And what is this doctor injecting into my hand? Must have been the anesthetic. But why is it making my hand so painful? Oh, here comes the thing which I am supposed to breath into. Heard from my colleague that it will make me black out. Yes, everything looks so groggy to me... hey doctor, my hand is painful... ...

Where am I? Where am I? Why am I making all these weird noises when I am trying to talk? Are they asking me to shift to another bed when I am so weak and hardly conscious? Is that my doctor calling my name? ... ...

Finally, after 4 hours of struggle, I managed to regain my consciousness. I am talking sense again! Phew! I made it! The surgery is over! Yeah! Please don't ever make me BLACK OUT again!

Plenty of Rest!

It has been a month since I last posted in this blog. What have I been up to? Well... it is a long long story!

First, I was away on business trip. Then I was busy trying to clear all the tasks at hand before I start my long long break! BREAK??? Did I say BREAK? Well... yes! In fact, it is a super duper long 30-day medical leave!

Ok, ok... I know the '30-day' made it sounds like a serious illness. Many thanks to those who were so concern about me, I was actually given the 30-day leave due to a minor surgery.

A colleague of mine also underwent the same surgery about a month ago, so I wasn't nervous about the surgery when I was asked to choose an auspicious date for it. In fact, the very first question I had for my doctor was: “How many days of medical leave will I get?”

Getting a 30-day MC is no joke! You have to make sure that every single day is not wasted! So I started planning how I am going to spend these 30 days. Being a couch potato certainly does help me draft my MC plan easily. First I have that last season of Lost, Prison Break, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy that I haven’t got around to watch. Then there is Ugly Betty and Heroes that I have not even started any single episode in season 1. All in, I have about 113 episodes to catch up! Phew! That easily takes care of the first 2 weeks of my MC!