Merry Christmas!

This greeting is 2 days late, but I only just managed to get these shots today, so.

Merry Christmas from Barkley...

and Jamie!

So cute hor? I realise Jamie looks like a reindeer.

And I think Barkley really hated having the band on.... check out his sian face...

Anyways, hope everyone had a swell Christmas!

Losing My Wisdom

The tooth, that is. Just one of the four of them.

It took me a while - 6 months to be exact, to decide that I would get it extracted. Despite the fact that Dr Lee, who happens to also be my secondary school chum, having assured me that it wasn't gonna hurt at all during the extraction. "You don't even need surgery. Just a simple extraction." she said. "Alternatively, you can choose to patch it, but it'd be better to remove it cos it's starting to decay, plus it's hard to clean it as it's all the way back."

That was in June this year.

I finally decided that enough food had gotten stuck in the cavity, and paid her a visit last Saurday.

Purples: "Eh, you sure not pain ah?"

Dr Lee: "No la. Not during the procedure. At most there will be a dull irritating ache a day or two after."

Purples: "Aiyah. Maybe just patch it la. Or do a surgery, since it doesn't require surgery, means it will be easier right if I opt for surgery? You know what I mean?"

Dr Lee: "You siao ah. Do surgery for what? That one gotta cut bone, cut gum you know! That one sure painful"

Purples: "Ok ok. Extract la. How long will it take ah?"

Dr Lee: "15 to 20 minutes."

Purples: "huh? So long ah?"

Dr Lee: "You want your mother to come in and hold your leg? Some kids parents do that."

Purples: "Tsk. No la!"

So she started with the anaesthesia, and tested to see if it still hurt where she tested. And where necessary, she increased the dosage.

Dr Lee: "Ok, I start already ah. If pain you just raise your hand or you say 'ahhh' liddat ok?"

Purples: "Ok ok."

I sat facing her and could see her doing the extraction. In less than ten minutes, it was done! Totally painless! And the whole tooth came out in tact - root and all. Amazing.


You know how we used to study the tooth structure in biology? The enamel, dentine and what-not? And how they made us draw the tooth? It really looks like that lor. Only that in primary school, pulling a tooth comprised tying one end of a string to the tooth and the other end to a door. hahaa.

Thanks to Dr Lee, come Christmas, I'll be eating normally already.

Actually, I was already eating normally on the day itself. I had turtle soup for lunch and Macs (Fillet meal with SHAKER fries!!!) for dinner.

Finally.

I finally got the Christmas tree up after much procrastination.

I actually enjoy putting up Chritmas trees, but somehow have been always too tired to do it this year.

After work, I'm tired.

After Christmas shopping, I'm tired.

After cycling or blading, I'm tired.

How liddat?

Anyhow, it's finally up. But it won't be too long before it needs to be brought down. haha.

Common Sense

It's funny the types of common sense that exist.

On an ice-cream break while cycling back from Changi Village yesterday, Mr Celica had the Choc Chip Mint in between wafers, while I had a Tropical sling (think it used to be called Jolly Lolly).


It had just come out of the freezer in the van and the vendor very nicely cautioned (in mandarin) me, "Don't bite it with your mouth, just use your teeth. It's very cold." Then his wife added, "Ya, a lot of people have done it, and it got stuck on to their lips. Then when they try to pull it out,they pull until their lips bleed."

Just hearing that was enough to get me laughing. I imagined the scenario, and I couldn't stop laughing.

Seriously, if it does gets stuck, would you tug at it? Funny...

Anyway, the new, completed tracks that have been built that links East Coast to Changi Beach Park are good! The path is scenic and very importantly, it's safe. No need to share the roads with trucks and lorries anymore!

Here's a view of a part of it....

Looks like you can cycle straight into the sea, right? :p

Reported Speech

That was what I was trying to teach a nine year-old over the weekend.

Q1. "Why is your sister crying?" Mother asked.

The response I got was, "Mother asked why is my sister crying." Wrong.

So I explained that you cannot report it as it is spoken directly, and that the subject has to come first, that it has to be in past tense, etc etc. So it should have been, "Mother asked why my sister was crying."

Q2. "Why are your hands dirty?" Mother asked.

The response came as, "Mother asked why were my hands dirty." Wrong again.

So this went on or quite a while, without him getting it right. Then it reached the point where I decided to prompt him halfway through his answer.

The question was, "Why is the floor wet?" my mother asked.

He started off, "My mother asked why...." and before he could finish, I interrupted with, "Remember ah, the subject comes first!"

He continued, "My mother asked why the floor wet."

???

Was I to laugh or to cry, you tell me?

I scolded.

But I think it's a very common mistake that Singaporeans (many adults at that) make by reporting the speech in exactly the order which it was spoken, the way Q1 was answered. And then, it is again very common for people to go all-lazy when speaking and leave out the verbs-to-be. Haven't we heard people going, "Eh, why you so late?" or "Why the chair so dirty?"

Which explains the deterioration of the next generation's English.

The New Toy.

So I finally got down to buying a pair of blades. At quite a steal. The last time Shades of Pink and I went to purchase a pair, they were all at full price. Now, "Rollerblades" were going at 50% off.

"Get the 90mm one la. Faster." the lady said.

"Or how about you get the aluminium frame ones? Lighter and faster also." she added.

Frankly, I wouldn't know the difference, except that the aluminium framed ones looked more high tech. Unfortunately they didn't have it in my size. And the purple pair I wanted had some funny fastening mechanism which looked like it would snap at some point. So I settled for this pair, which had the usual manual lace-tie and the click and velcro to fasten.

"This one entry level one you know. Not very fast. But you don't like the other fastening mechanism, then you take this one better." the lady at the shop said.

Frankly, I think these would suffice. Missy here still doesn't know how to stop. So better not get a pair that's too fast.