A Series Of Events Saved My Life

Exactly 1 month ago today, I had an early finish. I tended to go above the speed limit for the 60km/hr zones but have always kept it under 70km/hr (so I don't go to the next fine tier if I'm ever caught). It's hard not to be pressured to drive a little bit faster when the car behind is tailgating you for doing the speed limit. But that day, I was relaxed, just driving along. There were no cars behind me & I just drove at the speed limit. It was Wednesday & therefore petrol day. I always go to the same petrol kiosk near home & was about to arrive at the turn point when I saw 2 policemen standing behind a bush lift up their speed camera. As I was driving at the speed limit, I knew I was safe. Nobody ever keeps to the speed limit on that road & although there're 2 lanes, people will still choose to tailgate rather than overtake me. I always keep left becoz I need to make a left turn so it's not like I'm hogging the right lane. After the close call, I decided that it isn't worth the $100 fine. I have to work for a few hours to earn it back. So I've been good for the past month. 

2 days later, we went on our camping trip. I knew my tyres were approaching the end of their lifespan. But it was at the camp site that I had a good look since my car was parked right beside the tent. I found that the medial halves of both front tyres are bald. The lateral halves still have some tread but not much. I wanted to get my tyres replaced the 1st day that I had an early finish at work after coming back from camping. We had a minor spat over the tyres. Hubs refused to believe me, insisting that I ask the mechanic if the tyres needed changing. I insisted that I refused to ask such a stupid question when the answer is painfully obvious. How can they not require changing when they're half bald? Men! They're just so stubborn. I drove in to Tyrepower & just told the mechanic that I would like my front tyres changed. He checked it for me & said, "Yeah, they're quite bald. You'll definitely need to get the front changed. The rears are still fine. I'll recommend that you do a wheel alignment as well. See how it's worn off on the inside? The tyres are probably tilted inwards. The alignment will straighten out the tyres." $229 & 45 mins later, I drove back home with my new shiny rubber. The report came out that 1 tyre was tilted 6 mm & the other 10 mm which was why my previous ones were worn off unevenly.

Fast forward to 3 days ago. It was Wednesday. Busy, busy day with 9 cases in the morning & 8 cases in the afternoon, both VR surgeons & VR surgeons are very speedy with their Phacos. I was scrubbing the whole day as they're both "my" surgeons. I pushed hard becoz nothing is worse than starting a case with your trolley in disarray. By the 16th case, I swear I didn't feel like moving another inch. It's like working in Sg once again. Finally, the last patient was done for the day. Though physically tired, my mind was still active & rapidly firing away from all that speed. That perhaps made a difference in what was to come.

From the car park, you either turn right or left. It is easy as that car park junction is governed by green arrows. I need to turn left to go home. On the other side of the traffic, the right most lane is governed by the green arrow as well. I come to work that way. You turn right into the car park when the arrow is green. You will never clash becoz if I'm turning left leaving the car park, the other side will be turning right into the car park via a different lane. That day, my green arrow was lit & I went up the slope out of the car park to make my left turn. At the same time, a BMW used that car park lane to make an illegal u-turn. We narrowly missed collision. The BMW had tinted windows but I could make out that the driver turned to look (or glare) at me. I won't know becoz the tinted windows were too dark for me to make out the sex of the driver even. Adrenaline pumping, I proceeded with my journey.

Traffic was bad as it always is at that time of the day (5.30 pm). It took me 45 mins just to clear PMH. But once past the junction to Graham Farmer Freeway, smooth traffic will always resume. I was about the half way mark from home when it happened. I kept left as I always do. I also kept to 60km/hr becoz of the near miss with the police. A Toyota suddenly came flying out from the side street on my left. I was so close to that junction that I didn't think that I would stop in time. I stomped on the brakes & braced myself for impact. My tyres screeched & everything on my backseat came flying. When I finally slammed to a stop, I was so shaken I didn't even think to honk at the driver who almost caused an accident. When I replayed the video recording, I found that I went from 60 to 0km/hr in 2 seconds. The Toyota driver just drove off as if nothing happened. 

So many, so many elements played a part in me escaping injury & definite writing off for my car. If I had been driving just 5 km/hr more as I used to, if I had been driving with my bald tyres, my stopping distance would have increased, I most definitely would have crashed into the Toyota. My ABS was working or who knows where I would have skidded to. In an impending crash, will you be in the state of mind to pump the brakes up & down so the tyres won't lock? In life, things can change in a split second. All the more we shouldn't begrudge our lives. Rather than envy someone who you think has more or is better off, remember that perfection is only an illusion. Nobody is problem or worry free. Instead, we should live out our dreams & seek to make the world a better place in our small & unique way. Choose encouragement over harsh words. Be gracious whenever we can. Let it start with me.

@ 2°c

For the 1st time this year, we hit 2°c on Tuesday morning when I woke up at 5 am. It's either this current place we're living in has better insulation or the weather is not cold enough to turn the house into a fridge. It was freezing in the previous rental & the only place to be was in front of the gas heater. This year, we have a new toy: wireless door bell with temperature gauge. I'm curious to find out at what indoor temperature do we start to freeze & require heating. Even Ton Ton has not started shaking like a leaf so his sweater is still at the back of the wardrobe.

When I left for work at 6.05 am, I realised that my car had a layer of ice over it. Becoz it was ice, I had to blast the heater to melt the ice on my windscreen. Hubs sent me a message telling me to leave earlier becoz of the ice. But his message came at 6 am which was my usual leaving home time. So I sat in the car & waited. It was evident that the temperature was low out as the car's temperature gauge didn't budge. Even when I arrived at work an hour later, the needle still had not reached its usual spot. My handbrake sensor was also obviously frozen over as the light refused to go off. It was only after driving for some distance & the car had warmed up somewhat did the light go off.

What fun is winter if it's not cold? Like a little kid, I watched gleefully as my breaths transform themselves into puffs of vapours.

Condensation on my car froze over.

2 degrees outside, 14.4 degrees inside.

Where Have You Gone Winter?

Winter is late. This time last year, I was already wearing a fleece jacket over my camisole at home. Shorts were shoved to the back of the closet, with long pants taking their place. Showering had already become really uncomfortable when you have to turn off the water in between soaping. Gas heater had to be turned on when nights were especially cold. All that happened during late autumn last year.

We're 2 quarters of the way past June & the daily minimum temperatures are still mid teens. Even the rains are late. It's starting but it'll probably take a while to gain momentum. I wonder if that'll mean spring will be delayed as well.

The Schooling Years

I had the weirdest combination of O level subjects. I was from neither the art stream, nor the science stream. I was from the chapalang stream. Studying in Sg was restrictive back then, not sure about now. I know in the US, you get to choose the subjects you want to take & you move from class to class. But during my era, we had to belong to a class & we had no choices as to what subjects we were to take. The A & B class were the elites. Additional Maths, pure science. Only difference between the A & B class was the pure science subjects. If I didn't remember wrongly, 1 was pure Physics with pure Chemistry, the other has pure Biology. C class was the tecnical class, all boys only.

I was a slack student in secondary school & didn't have good enough results in sec 2 to get into the pure science classes. So I chose the D class as it was the ONLY class in the express stream that offered biology even if it was combined science. To do Diploma in Nursing, I need to have Biology. The principal thought that our career choices would be severely limited if we did combined Chemistry & Biology. So my class had combined Physics & Biology. I hated Physics & would flunk it with D7. Then I would ace my Biology with an A2 & draw my combined score to a B4 or C5. I hated History but C class was the only class that offered Geography. Again, no choice here. Flunk it like mad, dropped it for O levels. I had to do POA as well & I sucked at it too. But I could only drop 1 subject & at least I'm getting D7s & not F9s for POA. I love to read & write. But to do English Lit was a headache. I don't understand Shakespeare at all. Despite that, I got B4 for Lit, probably thanks ti my writing skills. I can never appreciate "art". Not then, not now.

All in all, not a good student at all. I hated almost every subject I had to do. But what I love, I excel. Even in Poly, I aced the subjects I love the most: midwifery & perioperative nursing. The adults can have good intentions. But if the kid is not interested, you're just pushing them down the path of mediocrity. Let them choose what they're interested in & the grades will take care of themselves. Things were different when I was doing my degree. I was a mature student & I had that competitive streak in me. I wanted to do my best for once in my life. I wanted to earn distinctions for the 1st time in my life. So I did. It helped that the lecturers made the topics interesting.

I sure hope things have changed in Sg now that it's been more than 15 years since I did my O levels. Or many other kids will just suffer the same fate I did.

Milestone: 1 Year Service Anniversary

Wednesdays. Mid way to the weekends. For some, me included, Wednesday is pay day every fortnight. Yesterday, it was pay day for me. As usual, I'll log into my online employee kiosk to print out my payslip. It says, "Anniversary: 1 year (joined 17th June 2014) on the front page of the employee kiosk after I've logged in.

It's only been a year. But I'm so at home & so comfortable in my job that it certainly feels much longer than that. I wonder how long I'll stay in this job. My previous job was the longest thus far, at 5 years 8 months. I wonder if this is a job that I'll be in till retirement. That's too far out in the future. Perhaps 9 more years is a better long term projection coz that's when I'll receive my 3 months of long service leave.

In all my previous employments except my last job in Sg, my lockers had always been bare. When I arrived at work, I put my bag in & when I leave at the end of the day, I take my bag & the locker was once again completely bare. No personal belongings, no photos, no messy bits of papers. Even then, I knew it was a sign that I wouldn't stay in the job for long. 1.5 years was my longest. I was tired of job hopping. So in my last employment, I made it a point to leave stuff in my locker. 5 years is a long time to me. None of my peers held a job for more than 3 years.

1 year into my current job, though not considered messy, I have e-learning certificates, pens, even crackers in my locker. While I can't predict the future, I hope this is a job I will stay on for a long time to come.

Chef Manu's Paella

I'm on half day today. Well, not quite as I finished at 2.15 pm. Actually, the cases finished at 11.15 am. But I had to clean the trolley I'm in charge of for the audit on Wednesday. We don't have a list tomorrow & Monday's a PH. I can't do it on Tuesday as we have a long list which will take us to at least 6 pm.

Hubs requested that I cook paella. Since I knocked off early, I decided to oblige. I used the food processor I bought few weeks ago for the 1st time. Nice. Like I said, I love my kitchen toys. I also used the Flavorstone pan I bought months ago but 舍不得用. It's alright flavour wise but I find that 料多过饭. Worse, I didn't manage to achieve a perfect crusty bottom. But we have leftovers & hubs get to bring it for lunch. He told me he need not envy his colleagues who brings rice to work (becoz they have someone cooking for them every night) tomorrow. 讲到很惨这样。Lol.

It bothers me a lot when I don't get a dish perfect. Not that I watch too much MasterChef or MKR. That's just me. In all aspects of my life, if I can't excel, I rather not start. But once I start, I will expect perfection of myself. So when it comes to cooking, I will keep at it until I achieve perfection. In Sg, I never had the time. Now, I shall make up for lost time. So tomorrow, I'll practice pasta making & use the excess sauce to toss pasta in.

Culinary Adventures

Been busying myself on my days off cooking up a storm. I was watching a program about Gordon Ramsay trying to save some restaurants from closing down on Tuesday after MasterChef. He threw away a whole stack of cookbooks that the owner who is also the chef of the restaurant, owns. He taught him to create a menu that is easy & fast to dish out. At the end of the show, he told the owner that he is no longer a cook but a chef now. It got me thinking. What's the difference between a cook & a chef? What criteria do you have to meet to call yourself a chef? Then it came to me. A chef creates while a cook reproduce. A chef is someone who looks at the ingredients on hand & creates a dish from nowhere. A cook follows a set recipe. So I feel that you don't have to be a professional to be a chef. I'm too far away to be a chef. 

Being fans of the MasterChef, the question of whether we will even consider taking part in the contest ourselves is inevitable. We both said no. I love cooking at my own pace & leisure. I cook what I love to eat. To have a time limit & have someone else dictate the ingredients I can use is just not for me. I have some ideas but I'm definitely not creative enough to be a chef. Besides, my plating sucks. I don't have the skills & ability to perform under that kind of pressure. Cooking is a hobby. Not something I want to do for a living.

My 3rd attempt at making gnocchi & this attempt turned out perfect. They look awful becoz I should have cooked them as I made them instead of making the entire batch at 1 go. Even though they were well floured, they stuck together & pulling them apart distorted their shape.

Blueberry rice pudding. A recipe from MasterChef Australia season 1. 

My fusion dish. Chorizo & ricotta ravioli with Bak Kut Teh nankotsu.

Rendang with tumeric glutinous rice & pandan wrap. Recipe by Poh, runner up of MasterChef season 1 during a recent episode. The wrap was supposed to be lattice in design but I didn't have a container with a narrow spout to create it. So it became a pancake instead.

Served with cucumber & coriander relish.

The contestants had to recreate Duck a l' orange in an invention test. I decided to do my own version of it. But I couldn't find duck breast. I have such terrible knife skills that I don't want to attempt deboning a whole duck. Duck breasts are available in markets but it was a last min decision to do this so I used a chicken instead. 1st, I cured the chicken in orange juice. I used an onion & sage stuffing (that came out of a box) & added orange zest. Instead of water, I used orange juice to moisten the stuffing. Next, I made candied orange slices. I then seasoned the chicken with salt & 5 spice powder (my own asian spin to it). I baked the chicken for 50 mins covered with foil. In the last 10 mins of the bake, I basted the chicken with the syrup from making candied orange & baked uncovered. Finally, I served it with the candied orange slices. No recipe, just something that I created from nowhere. Can I be a chef now? :P

A Great Adventure Part 2

The night was cold. It's 1 thing to be indoors with the walls as insulation when it's 5°c outside & another when there's only a thin layer of tent fabric between you & the 12°c temperature outside. I made the mistake of waiting till bed time to start layering up. 3 pairs of socks later, my feet remained frozen throughout the night. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well. Ton Ton didn't even protest when I threw the blanket over him completely & he hates having his face covered.

We woke up early, not by choice but becoz we went to bed at 8 pm the previous night. Unlike the others who brought their own electric grill or portable stove, we had cold canned food that tasted like combat ration. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure we could have idled the evening away, slowly cooking our food. Hubs even daydreamed about having steamboat. The options are only limited to our imagination & car boot space.

Greenough Historic Settlement

After breakfast, we drove further north, another 200 km to Greenough. 1st stop was Greenough Historic Settlement. This is an open space, exploration on foot. There was nowhere to hide Ah Ton. I went up to the counter, with every intention to ask if there's a place I can leave him while we were in there. But the moment I said I have my dog with me, the staff told me I could go in through the front gate instead of through the cafe. Cool! Dogs are allowed! He didn't even remind me to pick up after my dog. Not that he would poo or pee since he had done both at the camp site.

1st thing we noticed when we stepped in were the 2 alpacas. The alpacas were human shy. They kept taking off when the other visitors approached them. For some reason, they took to Ah Ton. Instead of running off, they approached us. It wasn't long before we had a whole herd of them surrounding us. "All hail, our great white leader!" they seemed to say. Unfortunately, Ah Ton, being his timid self, kept hiding behind us or I think he might actually enjoy running in their midst. 

The windfarm was next on my itinerary. My photo taking skill does it no justice. Nothing like driving in the countryside. We went on forever without even seeing another car. I insisted on taking the wheels for the journey back to Cervantes. Hubs had been driving the entire day & it would get dark in an hour. I had my high beam on & the light frightened off rabbits on the road who took off into the bush. We didn't contribute to the roadkill statistics. But I can't say the same for all the bugs & moths that got slammed onto my windscreen. It was the next morning when I noticed my license plate got the worst of it. We got back to the campsite at 7.40 pm. After the previous night, I thought I would try something different. A hot shower later, I immediately wrapped myself in my jacket & 3 pairs of socks. I wasn't cold yet, but I thought if I could preserve my body heat, I wouldn't be so cold during the night. It definitely did help. My toes were cold but not frozen. 

Morning came & it was time to break camp. Check out time is 10 am but by 9 am, we had already dismantled the tent & loaded up the car. I got my $50 pet bond back & off we went the way we came. I must say, for someone who's adverse to camping, I really enjoyed myself. I'm already planning our next adventure. My life has been devoid of anticipation & excitement for the future for as long as I've been working. I came here to find better work life balance. I found more. I found my life back.

Initially there were 2.

Then there were 4.

Then, there were many.

1 of the restored churches in the historic settlement.

Windfarm.

At the rest stop on the way home.

A Great Adventure

The most amazing things in life are free. Such as star gazing outside our tent up here in Cervantes, only to find that the trees are twinkling away too. Realisation that the trees are peppered with fire flies struck & I gave thanks for the wonderful sights of nature.

Our alarm went off at 4 am today. Hubs silenced his, I snoozed mine. I finally rolled out of bed at 4.15 am. We departed at our planned time, 5 am. 1st stop, pump up the tires at the petrol station. We were approached by this guy with a dog who wanted directions to his brother's place. He asked if we could give him a lift. We wanted to but we didn't for fear he's a robber in disguise. If it were daytime, I probably will. I wish I can have more faith in people.

We drove west then turned north onto Indian Ocean Drive. Hubs drove on high beam once we passed the outskirts of town, only to dip the headlights when there are approaching vehicles. This is the 1st time we pushed my car to 110km/hr & at some point, close to 120km/hr. The high beam was literally a lifesaver. 2 kangaroos decided to hop across the road & as we could see them from afar, we managed to slow down enough to let them pass safely. Others were not so lucky, flattened & smashed across the long straight road.

Abandoned tire by the road side.

120 km into the drive, hubs stopped by the roadside to "rest the car". I took the opportunity to (what else?) take photos. The sun was beginning to rise. We drove the next 80 km watching the scenary fly by. Finally, we arrived in Cervantes. We had breakfast at their cafe after checking in to the caravan park I had booked. Ham & mushroom quiche, scones with jam & cream to share. As usual, coffee for him, tea for me. I don't drink hot tea, much less sit under the sun to do it. But I enjoy it here when the weather is cold.

Satisfied that we got the tent up.

We headed to our tent site & got started on pitching our tent. It took a bit longer than expected as the ground was soft-ish & the metal pickets kept coming off. We had to try different spots for each anchor until they stayed put. But finally, it was done. What great sense of satisfaction we felt! If there is 1 Singaporean trait I can't get rid of, it's my desire to take picture of everything. Memories fail but photos these days last practically forever in their digital format.

The Pinnacles.

Tent done. Air mattress pumped up. Next stop, The Pinnacles. Dogs are not allowed in national park. I'm guilty to say we smuggled him in. But, I didn't let him out of the car at any stage. Hubs was driving & I was riding shotgun. I made Ton Ton lie down on the floor in front of me & covered him with my bag. When we got to the payment booth, I turned the music on loud for fear he would start making noise when he hears strangers. He was very good. Didn't make a sound. In fact, I stayed in the car the entire time & took photos by sticking my arm out the window.

Stromatolites.

We went to Lake Thetis next. Again, this is part of Nambung National Park. So I was the only 1 who walked down to the lake to take pictures of the stromatolites, leaving hubs & Ton in the car. (Hubs said it was too far to walk. -_-''') We had lunch in Jurien Bay & it was the 1st time I tried coffee float. I ordered it for hubs & I was surprised when it came (coz it says ice coffee on the menu). Very nice.

We got back to the camp site at 3.30 pm. We stepped into the tent & I laid down on the air mattress for the 1st time. Ton 是真的很会享受的狗。Upon seeing me on the bed, he jumped into the tent & up onto the bed with me, making himself comfortable. You can just see the excitement & anticipation in his eyes as he jumped up. We rested for a while until I decided I wanted to have a shower before it gets dark. Then I realised, I forgot the towels. Luckily, I brought 10 pieces of blue disposable hand towels I took from work. I had already used 1 to wipe sand off Ton Ton. So I had to ration them carefully. I used 2, 1 for drying & 1 to wrap my hair in.

We finally found a use for the night sticks hubs brought home ages ago. I had packaged tuna with rice that tasted like combat ration while hubs had cup noodles. He saw people with their portable BBQ & he started chanting that he wanted 1 too. We agreed on electrical grill since we don't have to deal with charcoal ashes. That was when I looked up into the sky to star gaze.

If for whatever reasons, things don't work out & we have to return to Sg for good, I will leave knowing our life here has been a fruitful 1. 1 full of adventures & fond memories.