Song Fa Bak Ku Teh

Today we went to a famous Bak Ku Teh stall opposite The Central called Song Fa Bak Ku Teh to meet some friends (Deyuan a.k.a. Terry, Skee, Ruby, Desmond, and Xiaofen) for dinner. I've always wanted to try it since it opened since there were quite a few newspaper articles and awards about it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointment. Not to say that it was bad, but it wasn't especially nice either. We felt that it was just normal. And it's not cheap.

If anyone of you ever go there, please don't be cheated by the waitress if she says that the small portion is enough for two people. Honestly, the small portion is quite small, and not enough for two people.

But oh well... The whole point was to meet up with friends over a meal.

HTC Touch Service Sucks

Although I like the phones that HTC has been producing, I can't say the same for their service. Sigh. Last Wednesday, I sent my HTC Touch in for repairs. Although there were only 8 people ahead of me for servicing, I waited for about an hour before my turn came. And that's because there were only 3 service counters! They said that it would take about 3 to 5 working days to repair, so by right, it should be ready by today latest. Unfortunately, I have been calling them since Monday and the phone is not ready yet. In fact, today, the person said that she'll call the Service Centre people to get back to me about the phone, but nope, they didn't call me. They better call me back tomorrow to tell me that the phone is ready for collection.

Offered scholarship to study Ph.D.

I just received a letter today from School of Computing, NUS, offering me a scholarship to study Ph.D. Well... It's not like they'll buy over my bond from DBS, or pay me better than DBS. And after my experience with HYP, I really don't think I'm into research.

Time is NOT on my side...

SHIT! Exactly 6 weeks before I fly! I've got pretty much everything settled, except for the MOST impt thing... my visa!

I just learnt a while ago that I need a medical report from my dear specialist to support my visa application, and this medical report is gonna take 3-4 weeks and $160.50 to churn out! The visa alone takes ard 2 weeks to be approved, which means that there's a chance that I might not get my visa in time to fly on 18th Feb! There's nothing I can do now tho, just gotta pray hard, cross my fingers and hope for the best...

All the preparations are really stressing and tiring me out... Sometimes makes me wish that I never applied for the scholarship in the first place... Sigh...

1st Conducting @ Wedding Mass

Thanks be to God. The wedding mass that I was so worried about turned out still OK in the end. It was my first time conducting at a wedding mass as well. At first, I wasn't supposed to conduct, but in the end it was decided that it would be better to have a conductor.

Why was I so worried? First, we couldn't get enough people to sing (which was why I wasn't supposed to conduct, because we needed more people to sing). In the end, with the addition of some others from other choirs, we had about 10, so it was still OK.

Second, the keyboardist (Jayce) was only "recruited" at the last minute. Our original keyboardist pulled out, and we had to frantically search for a keyboardist last night. Jo and Marcus managed got some friend's sister, who is not even from our parish, to play. Luckily, she's quite a good keyboardist.

Thirdly, we had no practice until this morning! There was supposed to be a practice at 8pm last night, but only Peggy, Dwi and I turned up. Since the keyboardist was only "recruited" last night, obviously we didn't have a keyboardist yesterday either. Practice was supposed to start at 7:30am today, but at that time, only Peggy, Dwi, Jacye and I were there. We only started proper at 8am. So it was really frantic.

I wouldn't say that we did well, but at least we didn't screw up or what. And I didn't screw up the conducting. If we screwed up, it would be very sad. After all, it's the couple's once-in-a-lifetime ceremony.

Thank God for seeing us through.

2007...

It's the last few days of 2007! Can't believe how time flies. Sigh... And I still have so much to do! I've got so much work for my HYP. I'm quite worried about it now. Church choir is going to take up a bit of my time. My HP's spoilt. Sigh. What a way to end 2007.

I guess one good thing that happened was my results. With an A+, an A, and an A-, I can't complain about my results. They pulled my CAP to 4.61. My SAP is actually 4.83. I probably can be considered an abnormal case where my CAP gets pulled up with each semester. Most of the time, people's CAP goes down with each semester.

I just hope that my HYP can get at least an A-. Then I'll get a First Class Honours. If no A- and above, then there's no First Class for me...

DBS Moving

DBS is moving the HQ to Marina Bay Financial Centre in 5 years time. That would of course, mean that I'll be further away from where Gladys is working (SGH). And they are moving some units to Changi as well. I believe that they are moving the support functions to Changi. No reason for them to move the core banking groups to Changi. How are we supposed to meet customers if our offices are at Changi? If they really do move me to Changi, I think I'll switch to another bank. Haha.

http://www.dbs.com/newsroom/2007/press071212.html

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/317063/1/.html

Problems with Camera!

ARGH... Wanted to do some updating, but then there were some problems with getting the pics out of the camera. Or rather, the xD card. I think the problems started when I tried to take a long video just now. Then it started to have read errors. And I still had a lot of photos that I didn't manage to get out of the camera! A lot of precious photos like the ones we took at Changi Airport Terminal 3. I'm so gonna cry if we lose those photos...

Anyway, I cut my hair today. Very short. A change of hairstyle. Did it at Chinatown at some shop in the basement of Pearl Centre. Just $10, and it's quite good. After some shopping, we went down to Central to catch the ice-skating performance. That was when the problems with the camera started, when I took a video of the performance. Or rather, tried to take a video of the performance.

Sigh... I just hope I can somehow find some way to fix the problems...

Post-Lasik-Me

After MUCH nagging from David to update our blog, I'm finally ready to tell of my own Lasik experience (DEAR YOU BETTER BE READING THIS!).

During the surgery, my experience was more or less the same as how David described it. Dr Marc Tay was very patient, and the whole procedure went smoothly and was over within minutes. Right after I got up from the chair, I could already see (just a tad blurry)!

After the surgery, I went straight home to sleep. I basically had the surgery on Friday, rested on Saturday, and I was back to work on Sunday. By Sunday, I could already see the super fine 8/0 needle used in microscopic hand surgery although my vision was very slightly hazy (like when your specs are dirty). Over the next week or so, my vision fluctuated a little, but not to the extent that it affected my work. I also didn't get any of the eye irritation that David experienced, so I guess I must be really lucky! (^_^;)

Something really funny happened to me though. I have extremely sensitive skin, and turned out I was sensitive to the Micropore tape (supposed to be very hypo-allergic) tt's used to apply the eye shields to my face. The red marks left by the tapes took 3 days to fade! Seems like it didn't happen to anyone else. =P

I just had my 2nd review on 03 Dec and I was told that both my eyes can see 6/6 (YEAH!). For those that don't know, my myopia was R -1000 and L -650 pre-op, so I was practically blind with my specs. Not that I'm encouraging everyone to go for Lasik, but it's the best thing tt's happened to me! Still getting used my new 6/6 vision though. There are times when I'll still try to remove my specs before I sleep... Heh!


Now for some photos...

Minutes before the surgery... Ready to kiss my specs good-bye!


Post-op, in the recovery area. Check out my eye shields!

The angry, red tape marks on my face...

Latest update on my Lasik

Today (27th Nov), I went for my 2nd review for my Lasik surgery. The review was by a senior optometrist. According to her, my power is about 25 on each side. My left eye is healing slower than my right eye, thus the blurness in my left eye. But she said it should get well in about 2 months time. The flaps are healing, so there's not risk of infection. I still have to avoid contact sport for about a month though. Even for swimming, I can only do it after around 14th Dec.

In any case, I must say that I'm having good vision when I use both eyes anyway. The constant irritation in my left eye has died down for quite a few days now. I must say I'm quite happy with the Lasik surgery.