Searching for Utopia

Zsolt has been having back pain for over a year now. After doing some reading online, it turned out to be quite common problem for those with similar jobs — geeks, that is.

Heaven knows how he can be stubborn sometimes. I’ve been telling him to talk to doctors about this problem, but he just shrugged it off. He said nothing could help.

Honestly I don’t know much about such problems. But today I read about chiropractic, and I came across this site, San Antonio Chiropractor. It seems like this might be a good solution for him. Researches said it’s generally safe, unless if
you have osteoporosis.

The only problem is that we are not living in San Antonio, so we’d need to get another chiropractor somewhere closer. Anyone familiar with this treatment in Singapore?

Fancy having several newborn rats fell right onto your chicken curry plate? Well, you could ask Madam Dong:

SHE was enjoying her lunch at the coffee shop when she suddenly shrieked - a newborn rat had fallen right into her plate of curry rice.

The shocking incident took place at 2pm on Sunday in a coffee shop at Block 446, Pasir Ris Drive 6, Lianhe Wanbao reported.

Customers said they heard a strange noise coming from the ceiling while they were having their meals.

When they looked up, they saw something small and pink falling through a crack in the ceiling - right onto Madam Dong’s plate.

Madam Dong, who declined to reveal her age, said: ‘I didn’t know what it was initially. When I looked closer, I realised that it was a newborn rat.

‘Its eyes were closed and it wriggled slowly. I could even see its heart beating.’

The good news is that I’m lucky enough not to witness this myself. The bad news is, I live near that area. And this wasn’t the first time I read such news. A few months back similar case happened at a McDonald’s outlet I sometimes patronized in Tampines. They also fell from the ceiling.

That is strange, eh? Rat is not usually associated to cleanliness. Yet, Singapore, being the cleanest country in the world stil can’t free herself from rats attack. Not just in HDB, I’ve seen some around our condo too.

OK, maybe it’s difficult to exterminate rats which live outdoor. But I’d think that those in the ceilings would be easier to handle. One thing they could do is perhaps cover the ceilings. I’ve noticed that in many public places here, they leave the ceilings opened. Well, rats are the last thing I want to be on my plate for sure.

What about you, would you return to the same eatery after experiencing such a thing? Ratatouille, anyone?

Who is the most famous male celeb in Singapore at this moment? I should think it’s Brunei-born actor, singer, model, gym instructor–at least Wikipedia said so–Wu Chun. As I noticed, he’s been visiting Singapore several times in a year. Only less than two weeks ago he and his Taiwanese boyband Fahrenheit came to town. We missed it–not that I’m a big fan though. It’s just fun to meet a celeb, as long as it’s free :p

I remember once Zsolt even had to accompany me to go for Wu Chun hunting at Bugis Junction. But thanks to the traffic jam (who said Singapore had the best traffic?), it took more than an hour for us to go there. By the time we arrived, everyone had just gone to Junction 8. So we quickly went to Junction 8, and we found the place to be so quiet. Only the next day we read online that it was somewhere on level 4. Oh well, no luck. We couldn’t sell his autograph on e-bay.

So what’s the fuss about him? His acting skill is mediocre, methinks. His songs are ok, easy-listening, maybe. Just don’t expect you’d hear something like Michael Buble’s :p But anyway, it’s enough to make teen girls scream his name. Pretty much like Zac Efron in the USA, I guess, his hair is his best feature.

How do you make such hairdo, by the way?–Wondered if I could cut Adam’s hair like that

I know parking can be expensive in Singapore, but what would you do if you’re charged $73,695 for a 1 hour parking like this person?

One thing you could do to avoid paying parking is–don’t use car!

If you can’t resist it, like us, then maybe get yourself a CapitaCard from DBS. Only last week we received free parking for three months after charging our hospital bill to that card. Thanks to the hospital, we even became one of the top spenders–not that we were happy about it though.

Another tip to get free parking is: go out only on Sunday and public holidays, and park only on HDB carpark

These are places which offer free parking for visitors: IMM (only for the first 3 hours), UE Square (on Sunday), Turf Club, Singapore Zoo–oh and HDB, as I mentioned before.

Many girls see models like Kate Moss or Heidi Klum as fashion goddesses. I bet they’d kill to look like them. Funnily enough, I think Kate Moss’ look is average at best. Heidi Klum is better, but I wouldn’t consider her a goddess still.

I don’t have any specific celeb whose fashion sense I wanted to follow. I do drool over those Korean girls on tv though. They have the cutest dresses and the most gorgeous hairdos.

Korean outfit is not really very expensive. For $40 you can already purchase a very good trench coat, which can be $200 in Europe. But Korean hairdo is a different story. Check this girl’s permed hair, for example. Isn’t it simply gorgeous? I’ll certainly go for this look one day. Of course, in Singapore it doesn’t come cheap. Last year I had my hair permed and the total damage was more than $400 :p

What do you think, is it worth it?

Still being in confinement, lately I haven’t followed much news. Two days ago Zsolt passed me this article, and it really breaks my heart to read it:

“After 21 days at the Children’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), baby Rizal Idris breathed his last.

He was barely a month old.

The baby, who weighed 2.93kg at birth on 27 Nov, had been fighting for his life because of a bacterial infection that his mother had caught while she was carrying him.

His mother did not know that she was suffering from a vaginal infection that affects about 14 per cent of pregnant women here. She gave birth to him at KKH.

Baby Rizal suffered from what is known as Group B Streptococcus Infection (GBS). It was passed on from his mother, Madam Norashikin Latiff, 31, during delivery.”

This could happen to anyone. I was also tested positive for this GBS, but I was more fortunate because I opted for C-section–not just because of this infection, but other complications too.

I did panic when I heard of my test result. I can relate to Madam Latiff. In many cases doctors seem to be too busy to take some time to explain to their patients. In my case, my gynae hardly spent more than five minutes with me — sometimes even less. Fortunately both Adam and I are healthy.

At times I found it difficult to accept than one moment I was told I had an infection, and the next minute I was told to calm down as if nothing happened. I’m sure it’s only because the doctor had too many patients in line, but patients are paying, aren’t they? In general I feel like many of my questions went unanswered as she was always in a hurry to dismiss me, and the nurses were impatient and quick-tempered. I won’t return there ever again, and if all patients think like I do, then she’d lose her cash-machine.

Anyways, my thoughts go with baby Rizal’s family. And perhaps this is an eye opener for the rest of us. It’s very important for us, mommies, to find the right gynae. And even if we have, don’t forget to get second opinion when you’re in doubt.

Yesterday I received an email from Indonesian Abroad, saying that they’ve included this blog on their listing. Thank you very much. It’s good to be a part of the community. Hopefully I can contribute with more posts in the future.

NYC is one of the most desirable cities to visit for Singaporeans. Perhaps it’s due to its diversity and readiness to accept other cultures.

Most likely you can find anything from anywhere in the city, which are popular not only among tourists — but also for locals.

In case you haven’t, you should take some New York tours and cruises to experience the wonders.

You can obtain the New York City Pass for as low as $74, compared to the $134 retail price. After you have it, you can visit places like the Empire State Building Observatory, and of course the famous Statue of Liberty, as well as other attractions.

You will have nine days to use all your tickets, which would actually cost almost twice more expensive — had you bought them separately.

If you still have some bucks to spare, you might want to purchase a pass to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. For me this is the must see place in NYC. Well, you can get your first feel of snow in other cities, and you could take ducks tour even in Singapore. But where else could you take pictures with Hollywood “celebs”, if not here?

Whom would you like to meet? Hannah Montana? Captain Jack Sparrow? You can strike a pose with them all you want!

Anyhow, a two-hour pass will cost you $25.95, but with an additional $6, you can buy an all access pass.

These tickets include all taxes. You’d only have to print them at home, and get ready for your adventure.

People with family name have at least an advantage over those who don’t own one — such as myself. It is easier to search for your family’s genealogy if you have a family name.

The hubby could even tell that his ancestors came from Moldova, while in his native country he hardly heard of any other families who shared the same family name with him — all thanks to such sites like publicgenealogy.org.

You too could find your roots using this lds genealogy. Don’t forget that you don’t have to be a member to use their free search engine.

Last Saturday the gynae confirmed that our baby’s still breech. For some time about getting an External Cephalic Version (ECV) to try to make him turn. A friend informed me about a gynae who would be able to do it. I had almost made up my mind, when I stumbled upon this article.

Many sources state that this ECV is relatively safe, but that doesn’t mean that there is no risk. Here are some of them:
- Premature labor
- Premature rupture of the membranes
- A small blood loss for either the baby or the mother
- Fetal distress leading to an emergency cesarean delivery
- The baby might turn back to the breech position after the external cephalic version is done

The average success rate is about 65%. Even if the procedure works at first, there’s still a chance that the baby will turn back around to the breech position. That may not sound so bad, but mommies should note that this procedure is very painful. The same friend who informed about the gynae said that her friend opted for C-section after trying this ECV, because she couldn’t stand the pain. Another one told me that she did it, and it left her with pain on her tummy for as long as one week, and even then it didn’t work.

Another thing we should consider, being in Singapore, is the cost. Surely we wouldn’t want anything bad to happen, but in the case of emergencu C-section, it would be a lot more expensive than the scheduled one. Here is an estimated bill size from general hospitals here. If you plan to give birth in a private hospital, expect higher price.

So, for now we’re just hoping for the best, and sticking to the good old ways: lots of squatting, floor mopping and crawling with my head lower than my thighs. There’s still time for our baby to turn — and hopefully he will, being a good boy that he is.

Another thing which is very expensive to have in Singapore besides car is property. I cringed at the thought that we might have to move out in December because our contract would expire. It’s a headache to think about the packing and unpacking things — especially with our baby being born in November. We’ll call some reinforcements, my mom and mother-in-law that is, but still —

We’ll need to do spring cleaning in both this flat and the new one, we’ll have to replace all broken things before moving out. Not that we damaged lots of things, but even changing all light bulbs in the flat would cost around $400. Then paying the agent fee would cost at least half-month rental. Of course, we’d need to top up the deposit, because nowadays it’s impossible to rent a condo with the same price like we did two years ago. Anyways, it took months before we made this flat our home, surely it wouldn’t take less time if we moved to a new place now.

Fortunately it didn’t have to happen — yet. We finally managed an agreement with the landlord about the price. Still not the same old price, but at least it’s not far exceeding our expectation. So most likely we’ll stay. Phew!

A question though. How much is good price for a 1+1 condo nowadays in the suburbs? We’ve checked a number of property portals, and most of them list condos which are between $1,800 - $2,000 and below. Not many, but they do exist. But most agents we asked couldn’t give any results in this price range. Instead they usually show places in CBD which cost at least $5,000.

Why is that? I know, the higher the price, the more fee they would get. But isn’t it stated in the law that above $2,500 tenants don’t pay agent fee? Of course, they’d still receive payment from the owners, but even if they get some deals below that amount, it’d still mean money. I mean $2,000 per transaction is not such a bad deal, methinks, especially since they’d only need to check their listing, show the unit to the prospective tenants, sign the contract and pay the stamp duty, that’s all.

Well, we’re not really looking for fancy places in CBD. A small, humble abode in the edge of the island would be perfect for us, since we’re not planning to pay more ERP. According to this listing issued by URA, our expectation is not at all impossible. Why do some agents say the opposite?

They say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Is it then appropriate to sound your criticism in public like these:

And it’s not just people with no lives who said such remarks in open forums. Noose’s Michelle Chong had also said her piece of mind about the Grid girls, “They looked as if their faces were langgar (knocked down) by the cars.”

Well, I know Noose was supposed to be funny, and such remaks could be amusing — but it’s a tad impolite, isn’t it?

I was only at the circuit for more or less 30 minutes. Didn’t really have the time to meet any of those girls. Seriously, do they deserve those harsh words?

I honestly found this piece of article rather amusing:

“IN times when the financial markets and economic figures are plummeting, sales figures from Debenhams saw an uplifting trend.
London’s High Street retailer reported selling an average of a bra size bigger than it had sold five years ago, reported The Telegraph.
This means British women now have bigger busts than in previous generations.
Sizewise, the average has soared from a 34C, to a 36D.
That means, the average woman now wears a D like Liz Hurley, 43 rather than a smaller C like actress Kate Winslet, 32.”

Ok, I do feel a little confused of how Liz Hurley had bigger size than Kate Winslet — come on, she’s a lot thinner, but that’s not my point. The bigger issue is: how did people actually find out about celebs’ busts? Did they happen to announce them by themselves?

Oh, and if you’re more curious about that article than reading my nonsense, please click here.

Not just any kind of es buah, but this kind of es buah. It looks yummy, right? But where can I get blewah here in Singapore?

I was surprised to see this picture of rendorseg car on STOMP. For you who haven’t known, rendorseg means police in Hungarian. Anyone has seen this car for real?