Monday, July 28, 2008

3rd entry - An unwelcome visitor


On 21 Jul, a bat visited my apartment. It probably flew in sometime during the day, and my mum was the first one to discover its unwelcome presence when she returned home from work in the evening. She was scared silly at first because she didnt know what it was (she didnt turn on the lights), and when I called her at around 8 plus in the evening, she was hiding in her bedroom, refusing to go out. "It flew around and around..."

When I returned home at close to 10pm I didnt see anything strange in the apartment at first. My mum, who had by then mustered just enough courage to shower and return to the safety of her bedroom, was unsure whether the "thing" was still at home. Anyway, I went to open all the windows in the house just in case, and nothing strange happened until I switched on the lights in the living room. Thats when the bat stirred and started flying around the house in circles.

I panicked. I was all alone in the kitchen. Not knowing what to do, I dialled the number for the police using a phone in the kitchen. An officer picked up the call and patiently asked whether I had opened the windows. I was then told to call the Town Council (the estate management) and then the officer hung up. I tried to shoo the creature out of the house but it refused to fly away. At my wits end, I armed myself with an umbrella and walked to the bathroom to shower, then quickly hid in my bedroom.

In the morning, the unwelcome visitor was nowhere to be found. However, it left behind a trail of tiny, pellet-shaped droppings all over the living room. It probably dropped the "bombs" from the air as it circled the room in panic the night before. Although our encounter was brief and terrifying, I was quite happy that something extraordinary happened. I guess I must have been really bored with my life to have found myself enjoying such distractions...

Friday, July 11, 2008

2nd entry - Reflections of 2007 (part 2)

(Continued from part 1)

On a personal front, I was mostly busy with work in 2007. There were many changes in my workplace and adjusting to them was very challenging. First of all, a nice boss left and I had to adjust to the new boss's working style which is very different. Then, Two co-workers in the same section who I befriended and enjoyed working together with subsequently left, which made me feel very sad. Of course, I had to get to know new people who joined the section, but fortunately they turned out ok.

In the middle of 2007 I started looking for a new posting because I was disillusioned with the direction that the section is going, the fickleness of my boss, and I was increasingly convinced that I was unhappy with my work. After a series of interviews, I finally got accepted at another department dealing with purchasing. I wanted to be able to learn a lot more and try something totally different from what I had been doing previously.

In Apr 2008 I started work at the new post. To my dismay, I got more than what I had wished for: there is too much to learn and I was overwhelmed by it. By Jun I was once again on the hunt for new posts, hopefully with better chances of finding happiness and satisfaction with my job.


Updates for 2008


In early 2008, I discovered the job of making kimchi, a korean dish consisting of preserved radish, white cabbage ("wong bok" in chinese) and carrot, seasoned with korean fish sauce, chili flakes, sea salt, sugar, garlic, (spring) onion and ginger. The recipe is as follows:

1) sprinkle the cabbage leaves with sea salt and soak in cold water until soft (just put enough water to cover the leaves). drain, wash and soak the softened leaves in clean, unsalted water for 15 minutes (the cabbage should remain salty but excess salt should be removed so that fermentation can take place properly). drain and chop the cabbage leaves into 1-inch segments.


2) shred carrot and radish. usually the proportion is one medium radish and two red carrot to one kg of cabbage.


3) process garlic and ginger finely in food processor/chopper. i would use about 3 cloves of garlic and 1 large piece of ginger for the amount of veggies mentioned in point 2 above.


4) if you like spring onion, cut the stalks into 1-inch segments. if you like shallots, you can substitute the spring onion with these but make sure you also add them to the food processor with the garlic and ginger. about 4-5 shallots should do it.
5) in a mixing bowl, put all the veggies in and add about 6-8 tablespoons of fish sauce and 6-8 tablespoons of chili flakes (can add more if you like). add 3-5 teaspoons of white sugar or 2 sachets of Equal. wear plastic gloves and mix the veggies with the seasoning until evenly mixed. the color should be bright red.
6) leave veggies in room temperature to ferment in containers (preferably with lids). glassware would be ideal but ordinary tupperware or disposable, clear plastic containers will also suffice (the chili will stain plastic containers). the fermentation of veggies can take anything from 6-8 hours to overnight or even up to 1 day. the longer the fermentation, the more sour the kimchi will get.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

1st Entry of 2008 - Reflections of 2007 (part 1)

It may have seemed odd to some of you that my 42nd entry was dated 31 Dec 2007 when I had mentioned about my Phuket trip in Jun 2008. Well, there is no mystery: my draft was last saved on 31 Dec 2007 and Blogger published my post as at that date.

The real mystery is: what happened to the writer of this blog for the past 6 months?Let me begin with the latest happening.

I am back in the same unit doing in-camp training. Obviously its the only time when I am free and in the mood to Blog, given that work is so hectic these days that I hardly have energy to Blog at all. There were some changes implemented since my last in-camp training but it was mostly the same - spending time in the library blogging, swimming in the luxurious pool, having unlimited teabreaks and free lunch, enjoying 2 "official" sports activities in the week which takes up the entire morning each day, and a lot of merry-making with the other guys.

Winds of Change

In 2007, my dad retired from his job in a retail store in early 2007. After resting at home for 2 months, he tried working as a security officer for 3 months but didnt like the shifts and the nature of work. He then started working with a recreation club, manning the fruit/jackpot machines, where he is still working today. He is still subject to a shift system and the work is also mundane but more bearable. He was quite happy after visiting Las Vegas with my mum - it was his dream for many years. Gambling is his only passion (besides cooking) and he is so serious about it that he even reads up on casino management and gambling games etc.

My mum started working at a company specialising in providing non-medical care for the elderly. One of the pioneer staff in the company, she became a "star" of a documentary programme on television, which was about elderly care services. In the programme she spoke about her work, and enacted a scene with one of her clients to give a demo of the service provided by her company. Later she was offered a promotion to an administrator job, with higher pay and more responsibility. She was even sent for an overseas training course in Chicago, USA in early March 2008. It was an all expenses paid trip. She didnt like the cold weather there, but she felt honored that at her age she is still considered for such training opportunities that were difficult to come by. Frustrations with work and colleagues abound, but she had found a way of coping - by complaining to me and my dad. haha......



In 2007 I had witnessed 2 deaths in the family. The first one was my maternal grandmother who passed away on the eve of Vesak Day in May. The second was my cousin (mother's brother's eldest son). Both deaths were shrouded in mystery. According to my 2 maternal aunts, both of whom were beside my grandmother when she died, my grandmother's entire room was filled with the fragrance of flowers and she bore a peaceful, serene expression just before she breathed her last breath. The phenomenon only lasted for a few minutes. They believed this phenomenon to be the manifestation of the coming of the Buddha or a Bodhissatva to bring my grandmother's soul to Western Paradise.

My couin, on the other hand, died alone in his home about 72 days later and was found in a pool of dried blood at least one or two days after his death. The cause of death was internal bleeding caused by trauma to the skull, apparently due to a fall that caused his head to hit the floor (there were no signs of forced entry and foul play was ruled out). He was only 40 years old and he was in the pink of health, eating only organic vegetables and not suffering from any diseases. The circumstances surrounding his death were similar to his father's more than 30 years ago - alone in the house, died after a fall. I guess that a momentary blackout caused by stroke probably caused his fall, but my mother's theory was that it was grandmother's soul who returned to bring him to Paradise with her.

(continued in Part 2)