Welcome back Daddy!

This is how Dana welcomes me every day when I return home.

Theme Purple

For Sinclair's wedding, he has requested that all 'brothers' wear purple to be in line with his colour scheme. So Ben and I went to our regular tailor and had the shirts made.

Grandfather today

GD was fully awake today and in good spirits when I reached hospital today, no doubt helped by the steady dose of morphine administered into the bloodstream and piped oxygen. Thank goodness for the wonders of modern science.

A doctor came by to check on the stiches. When asked, he commented that the bypass made at the colon will take some time to stabilise, ie. for the body to know that the 'new' route is the way for the waste to go. So GD is unable to partake solid food still for some time.

3rd Granduncle and Uncle Zhong came by to visit as well. GD was very happy to see so many visitors and was delighted to be fussed over.

Updates on Grandfather

According to Uncle Keong, Granddad (GD) was wheeled into the operation theatre at around 1.30pm and cam out at around 5.30pm. When I reached the hospital around 7.30pm, he was sound asleep. Ben spotted a hideous transparent pipe (around 1.5cm dia) running from GD to a bottle below the bed. The pipe is actually for the waste from the body. According to mum, the surgeon mentioned that GD is not in a condition for removal of the malignant tumour, so the operation focused on bypassing the malignant part so that waste can be transported smoothly from the large intestine to the rectum. Not sure how this is done though.

Mum said that the doctor informed that the spread to the liver is more pronounced now and the doctor estimated another 3-6 months.

I am thinking of organising a mooncake gathering so that GD will have a chance to meet everyone in happier times before its time to let go.

Grandfather in hospital

Grandfather 'reported' back to hospital on Wednesday, much earlier than I had envisaged. This time, it was not anemia but that he could not pass motion any more. He could clearly see that his abdomen was bloated. This was because the tumour in his colon had swelled and had blocked the passage of waste to the rectum.

TTSH was full house (Khaw Boon Wan definitely has a tough one on his hand to deal with hospital beds) so it was off to NUH, but a wait of several hours ensued before a bed was freed. True enough, when I visited him, all the beds in the ward was occupied.

Surgery to remove the tumour and bypass this portion of the colon was planned for tomorrow. But because this surgery was not 'planned', he would have to take a queue number and wait for an operation theatre to be available.

Grandfather complained of continual pain and an urge to vomit that would not go away. I reckoned that this was because the fluids he took in were finding it difficult to go south so instinctively the body tried to purge it the other way around.

Let's hope surgery is successful tomorrow so he can have as close to a normal life as possible until the sickness finally takes him away.

Trip to fruit farm in JB

Parents and Uncle Keong & wife and Aunt Sherry signed up for a tour to a fruit farm organised by their RC (Residents' Committee). Mum hasn't had time to craft her story so I'll just post the photos for the moment.

看京奥2008

京奥开场的雄壮，不必我再描述。运动员顺序出场，有204个国家，新加坡排在后面，我也一直等。终于看到了熟悉的国旗，好想唱Majulah Singapura！
新加坡国虽小，但参与的队伍人数还算体面，运动精神在于参与和突破自己，能够得奖是额外的收获。
李佳薇身负带领众运动员的责任，也是我国选手中真正有机会得奖的，祝她顺利！

03-08-2008 - 丹娜要回家了

动物也有第六感吧！丹娜从昨晚至到今天早上紧紧跟着我们，时常把它的头靠在我们的身上，用它的舌头舔我们的手，眼睛好象告诉Ah Gong , Ah Ma “我要回家了，谢谢你们。”


把丹娜送回家后，小平说：“好象缺少了一些东西。”
(这就是人与狗的故事完结篇）

丹娜的‘大长今餐桌’

这张桌子是柏强亲手做给丹娜吃饭用的，并且取名‘大长今餐桌’，非常坚固耐用，颜色也搭配的很美。就让我帮丹娜拍照留念吧!

29-07-2008 - 丹娜(Dana)的度假屋

锦波陪Suli 去雅加达工作兼度假，出国前把丹娜带来我家寄宿。离别之情深深笼罩在人与狗之间。

波儿说：“如果我进去你家我就要流泪了。”

狗狗丹娜则在围栏边徘徊，或趴在地上，若有所思，若有所念。唉！我也想哭了。


至到阿公回家给它吃了晚餐带它去Snowy的家，还打包两片狗食物（Snowy的杰作），才高高兴兴跟着我们回家。



看！狗与狗的感情，我们人类又怎么去理解呢？

2008年7月13日 - 米雪如何保持青春不老？

“保养之道，就是不忽略心理健康，我非常相信相由心生。

心烦易怒，愁眉苦脸会影响荷尔蒙分泌，皮肤差吸收慢，最惨是自己不舒服，何必呢？都市生活根本就不可能顺风顺水，失意时向好方面想。学会忘记别人的不是，有人伤害自己的话，先想一下自己有没有责任，然后站在对方的立场想一下，
有原谅别人的气度，是一种福气。“她说。

她说，好心情最重要，“影响自己也影响别人，保持良好的心态，心胸宽广，会让自己变的更美丽。”

“次外，食疗和健康的生活习惯也很重要，须然作为演员经常有不规律的生活，但我平时很注意饮食平衡，也会抓紧时间好好休息。”米雪说。

米雪这篇采访文章，我珍藏了好多年，也把它副印了几份送给同事和朋友，至到现在我还是很欣赏。在学习路上或工作旅途中、在家庭或社交场合里，并非从没遇上挫折。偶尔遇上了，米雪的金玉良言会立刻出现在脑海里，“先想一下自己有没有责任-----------。”

过一会儿，心也平静了，再也不胡思乱想了。最重要的一句话是：保持良好的心态，心胸宽广，会让自己变得更美丽。现在我把它摘录下来，希望与您分享、共勉！

2008年7月9日 - 吴庆康的2359

看远一点 ：凡事看远一点，整个人会放松很多。

不，不是看开，是看远。看开带有一点无奈，因为没有办法所以得接受，得看开。看远是真的释怀，不介意，也不在乎，所以眼光可以更深更远，两者有所差异。
身边一些朋友不时都会説我的性格和以前有很大的落差，主要是因为从前我比较容易动怒，现在面对事情比较心平气和。原因很多吧，年龄是主因，见识的多少也有关系，而且天天与

不同的人接触，真是会累积一些经验。

当你可以心平气和，身边的天气也比较好，空气也比较清爽。因为从别人的观点出发去看身边的一切，发现没有什么是绝对或一定的，凡事开始留有余地。

当你看得越多，发现越多，你会明白这个世界上其实原来真的无法有公平这个词汇，就会学习用比较宽广的眼光和心胸来容纳种种的好与坏、黑与白、是与非、真与假，喜与悲。

而且常常提醒自己，嚣张、自以为是，和目中无人是三大禁忌，不管对方是誰，先给一点敬意。

============================

今晚把吴庆康的‘看远一点’文章里面的短文摘录下来，作为生活、待人、处事的参考。也是我用电脑输入文章的作业练习方法。

Glorious food in Jakarta

I always have a great time trying food in Jakarta, there are so many varieties and variations of the same food. For example, the soto ayam is rendered differently in Java style, Kalimantan and so on. After a few trips, I now know what I prefer. The following photos show a sampling of what I devoured this time round.

This perfectly fried fish was artistically contorted as if it was flying. The sambal kangkong was tasty and the fried tofu (with seafood in it) was piping hot.
Barbequed tiger prawns.
My favourite drink in Indon, Juice Alpukat (avocado).
I was brought to this chinese kopi-tiam equivalent, a downright unhygienic joint which would be common in Singapore right up to the late 70s. But the ambience was superb, not to mention the food.
Kway teow with everything in it, braised pork knuckles, meat, fish cake, chicken feet, a bit of sea cucumber and so much more. Did I tell you this was cheap as well?

Ended my meal with a cup of local coffee and you-tiao.
The kopitiam was surrounded by hawkers like the one above.
I saw this interesting handwritten poem on one of the pillars.
The photo above shows food partaken at a chinese porridge restaurant. Not bad, quite authentic chinese taste.
Meal at a food court in the shopping mall. Unlike in Singapore, the food court actually serves pretty good food.

One of the restaurants I like to go is called Sate Senyan. So naturally it serves sate or satay. Their version of the gado gado is very well balanced, with enough keropok, peanut sauce and vegatables.
There is fried chicken everywhere in Indon. This was good, especially with the sambal! The satay was very good as well.
Giving the satisfied look. I look fat, I realised..

Undaunted, I venture on for more food. My brother-in-law brought me to try the Thailand durians or Monthong as they are called in Indon.
Three fruits weighing about 9kg in total cost $140,700 rupiah, which is about twenty over sing dollars. Cheap! And they taste good as well. Not as fragrant as the Malaysian type, but very fleshy and sweet. I ate about five seeds and that was my dinner for that day.
The fruit was huge and creamy.

My last dinner before I flew back was at a famously popular fried kway teow stall. The photo below is not very well taken, but if you see carefully, there are two cooks, the main one is an auntie and she was continously frying kway teow, rice, bee hoon, hor fun the one hour or so I was in the shop; no stopping and no rest. The wok is fired with charcoal (see bottom left), that's why the kway teow has an intense heat which I love.


Can't wait for my next trip!

Best of friends now

I was away on vacation in the busy city of Jakarta (more on this later). So Dana spent the one week that I was away in the loving arms of her 'grandparents'. Now my dad is her best friend. The photo was taken today after I returned home and she has all but forgotten about me.

After dinner, she resorted to her usual antics, jumping up the sofa and stretching herself.