Messed Up May

The month of May started in a somewhat quiet suspense.  It was business as usual with 2 public holidays to look forward to.  However we were on our toes as the number of local Covid-19 transmissions were rising steadily and a series of tightening measures had been announced prior.  And finally on 13th May the government finally pulled the plug and announced "Phase 2 Heightened Alert" which will last till June 13.   Work from home is the default, no dining in and...  no karate.  Home based learning was immediately implemented from 19th May as the school clusters were growing.  Well...  All good hard work reversed in such a short time.  Messed up isn't it?  

Fiery Sunset in Hot Hot May - Galaxy Note 9

Affirmed April

This month started with a piece of good news.  After a series of consultations with Dr. Ganesh Ramalingam of G & L Surgical Clinic, I ended up not needing any surgery at all.  So what happened was, I had a sebaceous cyst episode that possibly required a surgery to remove.  In all there were two lumps altogether that got inflamed and they were quite painful.  Dr. Ganesh suggested that I should undergo an antibiotics course first, so he prescribed me two weeks worth of amoxicillin at 2 grams daily.  After 3 days, the inflammation was much better already, and by the 5th day the inflammation was gone though the lumps were still around.  On the 2nd check-up which was a week after I first saw him, Dr. Ganesh suggested to extend the treatment by 1 more week.  At the end of 2 full weeks, he mentioned that only scar tissues remaining and no surgery was needed.  At first I was a bit doubtful, but true enough, by now the lumps were totally gone.  I'm just totally relieved and grateful that I didn't have to go under the knife.  I'm really thankful to Dr. Ganesh.  

Meandering March

This March has felt like an eternity.  I felt like I have done so much and yet I still can't see the finish line.  There were days when I woke up feeling just like the picture below.   

No Matter What I Felt Inside, I Had to Put On a Fake Smile

The picture above is a screenshot from my Instagram feed which I felt strongly related to this month... I didn't get the artist's name as it was reposted by another party, but... it really summed up my feelings very well at times.  

It has been a hectic month, studying, work, coaching Lincoln at home as he just couldn't get a grasp on his math.  To top that, I might have to go for a minor surgery in April which really bothers me...  This hasn't been a good month... There were times when I felt like I just didn't want to wake up.

Tekken 7 - Lidia Sobieska

Now this is cool!!!  Finally Tekken pays homage to Shotokan karate thru this new character: Lidia Sobieska, a young Polish lady who happens to be the prime minister of the country as well.  hmmm.....  The "prime minister" part is a bit weird, but I'll just pay no heed to the game makers' outlandish fantasies.   

Robertson Quay by Fujifilm X-A10 Circa 2017

So I was reorganizing the files in my portable hard drives and I came across some photos of Robertson Quay that I took with my old Fujifilm XA-10 way back in 2017.  I thought the photos look quite OK, I can't help but wonder how I came to totally forget about them.  

Looking South to Marina Bay - X-A10 + 16mm F1.4R WR

Some picking, editing, and there are some great photos to post. 

Frolic February

I risk sounding like a broken record here, but February is a month of celebrations.  I'm pretty sure I must have said that sometime back.  First, we had the Chinese New Year which came quite late this year on 12th February.  Unlike previous years, we couldn't travel back to Indonesia to celebrate with our families.  So this year it was just a quiet steamboat at home with my sister.  

1st Steamboat Dinner - Galaxy Note 9

Just a few days later we had another steamboat dinner at my home with the lady boss of Little Nyonya Batik and her husband, as well as another bestie of both the lady boss and my wife.  2 steamboat dinners over a span of 3 days.