Arrival-of-the-Day

I thought to myself, there's nothing to be done as I'll never cross paths with some others again.

That very morning, I was proven wrong.

"Not seven times but seventy times seven."

Hmm-of-the-Day

6 days to meeting my gun!

Lunch-of-the-Day

Met Pei Chyi for lunch today. Headed to Jln Kayu for bakuteh again! 

Exercise-of-the-Day

Went swimming at HTNS in the morning since I was heading there to clear out my locker. Headed to the library again and ran a couple of errands, leaving me pretty much exhausted by the time I got home in the afternoon!

*Note to self: HTNS provides hot water showers.

Hmm-of-the-Day

More reading for today!

Reading-of-the-Day

Today didn't really feel like a Sunday to me as I only managed to attend mass in the evening due to one of those "pain days". Well, I pretty much stayed home and read books the whole day which wasn't so bad!

Animal-of-the-Day

Wild boar tracks!

Spotted two wild boars at Punggol! This is one of the many times we spotted them but the only time we managed to get a decent photo.

HY and I watched Contagion. Despite the rave reviews, I wasn't thoroughly entertained by the movie. Perhaps it was a matter of expectation. The movie captures the essence of what happens when a new contagious disease erupts, however I was expecting an action story plot of some kind - with heroes and villains.

Did a little Western/Eurpean cooking in the evening!

Prawning-of-the-Day

Went prawning at Punggol with my colleagues, Mike and Pei Chyi! Didn't manage to catch any on my rod. In the evening HY and I went prawning at Pasir Ris to make up for the kosong score. We shared the rod and managed to catch only a single tiny prawn. Not a great day for prawning!

Outing-of-the-Day

Went to the library with pQ this afternoon. Decided to start reading more books. Paulo Coelho's books are fantastic.

Outing-of-the-Day

Went for dinner at East Coast with HJ this evening!

On the way back, the car in front of me was veering to the left and straddling lanes while slowing down to an all time slow of 40 km/h on TPE (speed limit is 90 km/h). The driver was probably sleeping - literally.

Separately, I saw this stray puppy at Punggol! It's so cute and it looked so lost, just standing around on the road!

Lunch-of-the-Day

Went for a swim in the morning! It rained halfway through but there was no lightning so it was cool. 

Lunch was at Jln Kayu to have bakuteh with pQ and WL!

Hmm-of-the-Day

The power of the mind...

Dinner-of-the-Day

Met with HY's friends for a steamboat dinner this evening!

Gathering-of-the-Day

Watched Smurfs today! The movie was simply smurfy! Hilarious - especially the cat.

In the evening, met rZ and pQ for dinner at Ah Seah. That was mostly hilarious too! The things our friends put up with!

Meals-of-the-Day

Cooked fried rice for lunch! If I'm not wrong, it's the first time I cooked fried rice.

Went to East Coast Park for dinner. Ate at Claypot Fun. The serving for chee cheong fun is huge!

Dinner-of-the-Day

Cooked dinner and HY came over this evening!

Anyway, here's the list of foods to avoid:

• Fatty or fried foods
• Alcohol
• Chocolate
• Coffee and tea
• Soda drinks
• Sweet things
• Very spicy foods
• Citrus fruits

How soon is now?

Video-of-the-Day

Conversation-of-the-Day

Went swimming this morning and topped it up with a dip in the jacuuzi.

While I was in the Jacuzzi, a man struck a conversation with me. It's interesting how people can steer a conversation towards driving home their main point. Here's the sequence of topics:

1. How fantastic the Jacuzzi was
2. Ask for the time
3. Remark that it is almost lunchtime
4. Speak about a new cafe that's going to cater to the swimming pool crowd
5. Talk about having lower prices at this new cafe
6. Ask if I'm a student and when I graduated
7. Talk about hospitals and their staff having concession rates but not for the public
8. Supporting why the food at hospitals should be cheaper
9. And finally, adding that in order to have this, we should vote for a specific opposition party (which I will not reveal here)

Hmm-of-the-Day

Downloaded the How Stuff Works application and came across several interesting articles. There was an interesting podcast on the placebo effect. A particular interesting finding was that even if a patient knew he was given a fake pill, he was still likely get better. It's called an "honest placebo". Another interesting point to note was that the colour of the fake pills also displayed different effectiveness. For example, green was found to reduce anxiety. 

Events-of-the-Day

Started the morning with mass at the cathedral. The choir was magnificent as usual. I realized that this was the best choir I've heard live and yet I didn't have to pay a single penny for it. Today was the day that I fully appreciated the beauty of the liturgy. 

In the afternoon, I attended Mak's wedding.

As for dinner, I headed to check out my brother's new place.

Extremely long day!!

Movie-of-the-Day

Started the morning with some light exercise at the exercise station just beneath my block. Bumped into a colleague there!

Watched Crazy Stupid Love today. I quite like the show. Reminds me of Love Actually.

Exercise-of-the-Day

Did some light exercises - mainly arm strengthening. My strength is nothing like before but if anything, I feel better. 

Performed self-myofascial release (massage) today as well! Couldn't believe it's effectiveness!

Song-of-the-Day

Exercise-of-the-Day

Played some Wii Sports and did some light abdominal exercises!

Heard about the Gratitude List a couple of weeks back. Some people use it when they are facing tough times. It helps people not to take anything for granted no matter what's happening in your life. And yes, it could always be worse.

Something else that always worked for me was to expect the worst and hope for the best. I would envision the worst scenario and think of what I could do in that situation. That way, whatever the outcome, I'd at least be emotionally prepared or sometimes already armed with a game plan. Some may regard this as 'thinking too much'. Well, once, the worst scenario I envisioned did come true and I was glad I had already somewhat expected it. If not, I'd be panicking and overwhelmed with emotion, and definitely not in the state of mind to think or handle the situation. It's the surprise and not knowing what to do that scares me.

Studying-of-the-Day

Proud to say it was quite a productive day! Studied a handbook on catechesis (Catholic stuff) for hours on end. Armed with my usual yellow highlighter, pencil and ruler - the same set of stationery I used back in school. A little bit of an OCD trait - I haven't changed my stationery for studying since Secondary 1 (except for the highlighter as the one I used was obsolete). Totally immersed in the material. Yep, I love studying.

Intriguing.

Song-of-the-Day

Tried to do a little exercise by playing Wii for a bit. Tiring, but I had to give it a shot.

Chapter 3 - Regeneration.

High by James Blunt

Beautiful dawn - lights up the shore for me.

There is nothing else in the world,

I'd rather wake up and see with you.

Beautiful dawn - I'm just chasing time again.

Thought I would die a lonely man, in endless night,

But now I'm high, running wild among all the stars above.

Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me.

Beautiful dawn - melts with the stars again.

Do you remember the day when my journey began?

Will you remember the end of time?

Beautiful dawn - You're just blowing my mind again.

Thought I was born to endless night, until you shine.

High, running wild among all the stars above.

Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me.

Will you be my shoulder when I'm grey and older?

Promise me tomorrow starts with you,

Getting high, running wild among all the stars above.

Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me.

Events-of-the-Day

1. Ate beef jerky! Nostalgic food (along with Crunchie).
2. Tried the self-check out at Junction 8 Fairprice. Pretty cool.
3. 0% alcohol beer was on sale today so I bought 3 cans!
4. Hush Puppies Warehouse Sale. Good stuff. 

Movie-of-the-Day

Watched Cars 2 this afternoon! Entertaining despite the reviews! Checked out the Borders sale as well and the queue for the cashier was the longest I've ever seen.

Some run till emotions are rationalized. 
Some work out so hard till they collapse.
Some overeat till all they feel is the bulge.
Some drink till they forget momentarily.


But few pray. 
Sometimes that's the only thing you're left to do. 
And sometimes it's the only thing you ought to do.

What are your forms of escapism?

Go the Distance by Michael Bolton 

(from Hercules)

I have often dreamed 

Of a far off place 

Where a hero's welcome 

Would be waiting for me 

Where the crowds will cheer 

When they see my face 

And a voice keeps saying 

This is where I'm meant to be 

I'll be there someday 

I can go the distance 

I will find my way 

If I can be strong 

I know every mile 

Will be worth my while 

When I go the distance 

I'll be right where I belong 

Down an unknown road 

To embrace my fate 

Though that road may wander 

It will lead me to you 

And a thousand years 

Would be worth the wait 

It might take a lifetime 

But somehow I'll see it through 

And I won't look back 

I can go the distance 

And I'll stay on track 

No I won't accept defeat 

It's an uphill slope 

But I won't lose hope 

Till I go the distance 

And my journey is complete 

But to look beyond the glory is the hardest part 

For a hero's strength is measured by his heart 

Like a shooting star 

I will go the distance 

I will search the world 

I will face its harms 

I don't care how far 

I can go the distance 

Till I find my hero's welcome 

Waiting in your arms... 

I will search the world 

I will face its harms 

Till I find my hero's welcome 

Waiting in your arms 

Dinner-of-the-Day

Headed to East Coast Park for a Friday night dinner!

Meal-of-the-Day

Recalled my fascination with a 'barium meal' as I studied it in Junior College. I had always imagined a barium meal to resemble chewing on a bar much like sodium. I thought it would be pretty cool to ingest a barium meal. 

Well, today I had a barium breakfast and it was a barium sulphate suspension - a white suspension. It causes a tingling sensation at the back of your throat if you swallow too quickly.

Anyway, I went for the MRI scan this morning and everyone was particularly nice. Really chirpy or reassuring. Either it's the morning, or they hardly have such young folks coming in. Well, the MRI scan was pretty long but I felt like an astronaut, so it was fun. When they removed the plug from me after the procedure, I observed that they pulled out a tubing. Believe the plug is called a 'cannula' while the tubing is referred to as the 'catheter'. I always thought it was a needle in there.

Spent the rest of the day sitting down to chill with pQ and XH!