Everyday Kopitiam Lingo

Last week, i was having lunch with Mic somewhere near to office.

After getting our food, she wanted to get a drink, so i asked her to get Tae-O Peng. Then she looked at me. And she said that she don't understand dialect.

Anyway, i explained to her, that i wanted Tea without Milk, with ice. Even though she came back with Tae-Peng, at least i still got my tea. =)

But i guess, there are people out there lah, who may not know all these lingo because:
a) They only eat at expensive (read: atas atas atas) restaurants and drink Perrier only.
b) They don't eat out a lot and when they do, they just order the 'safe' drinks. (Who in this world doesn't know Coca cola?) or they don't take coffee/tea except in the morning at the breakfast table.
c) They grow up overseas and don't have a chance to be immersed in the wonderful and multi-dialect culture here.

Whatever it is, dialect culture is something that is a big part of the Singaporean culture. Even our friendly neighbors who are non-Chinese, they also learn how to order in dialect. In some sense, some malay words has mixed with dialect and became a dialect word that everyone knows. Such as Atas which means high-class.

With all the possible used kopi-and-tae combinations, i've listed down for everyone reading here. So, next time when people tell u they wanna pa-giu, don't give them a ball ah. Because that's not what they want, especially when it's lunch time. =)



Now, why is Milo called Pa Giu?? Have u actually noticed that the picture on Milo tins/tetrapacks?


From www.nestle.ca

Pa Giu in Hokkien means "Hitting the ball". When i was young, whenever i drink milo, i will see that the packaging either has someone playing soccer or playing badminton. But there are other labels such as swimming and water polo. Whatever it is, they are "hitting the ball". To add on, there are some kopitiams where the kopi-kia likes to say Mee-lok! That's another way that they call Milo.

As for why Chinese tea is called Diao He (fishing), usually brewing Chinese tea is very similar to a person fishing. The thing bobs up and down into the water.

I guess that's 2 of the more interesting kopitiam lingos that i've caught. But i guess there will be more out there, just that i hasn't known.

Alright, after all the typing and staring at the computer, it's time to rest and get my cup of Tae-O. Till then!

Writing diarrhea coming up

Ok, this is another season of lack of updates.

I have a lot of things that i wanna blog about. Gonna list it down here, before i forget them and not blog about them eventually.

Preparations for Asia Conference has started. Be it going down to Expo to learn to fall in love with the Mac, or being at Suntec office to do up the database, it's an exciting moment to be in. Being part of it all is really great!! I'm really excited and gearing myself for the conference. And yay!! My leave's approved! A whooping 5 work days (one day before the conference for rehearsals, and one day after everything's finished to rest up).

It's been a time of new breakthrough too. From a never-wanna-touch-a-mac, i was nearly (read: close to) converting to Mac. Argh... the more i come into contact with it, the more i wish i got a mac. And aesthetically, it's so much nicer that what u can see on a Windows Vista interface. And for that aesthetics, that will produce a huge burn in your pocket.

Technology has advanced so much, that the church world is impacted with Mac's software for Churches to use. We are saving so much time and effort with using this new technology; going are the days for us to do up a new song on our existing software for song. Now, with a click of a few buttons, Tadah! Your song is done up. I like their website address. Isn't it cool?

That's the power of technology, my friend. It saves you time, and effort.

Watch out Bill Gates. Steve Jobs is luring me to his camp. Hahaha...

Upcoming entries
a) Kopitiam lingo - special dedication to Mic =)
b) What happens if u don't pay the full bus fare?
c) A Hongkong restaurant.
d) Advertlets advertisement (aiyo dunno if still valid or not)
e) My dogs love camwhoring?

Forlorn-looking Damsel with a leaf on her head

Last week i had a lot a lot of things that i wanna post.

Though the To-do post was a really long post, which i took really quite a while to get it up, but there was another thing that i wanna blog about.

I like to take pictures with my camera phone.

I like to self-portrait myself. Well, to see if i've gone fatter or slim down. At other times, i like to use my camera-phone to capture pictures of my doggies. And sometimes it does bring effects that u never thought before.

Such as:



A grouchy spider dog



Quaker Dog

These 2 pictures are rather familiar since i've posted them previous. Now, the latest edition.




Like a forlorn-looking damsel. Somemore got flower on 'her' head. Actually that one is part of my comforter. And this little fella was in the midst of falling asleep on the floor. Hahaha...

Where did this pig trotters come from

I've got a swollen leg since last night.

And it's freaking me out....


***ugly pig trotters coming up***















































Wha biang... Really look like a 猪脚. Haiz, my ankle's swollen... and it's very obvious. And both my legs are swollen, just that the right one look really bad.

It's soooo bizarre that, i dunno what i should do.

Swollen Leg is also known as Edema. There are many causes of this Edema, but for my case, i am fully convinced it's a drug reaction!

I think it's caused by the antibiotics that i am taking for my cough. Argh. Another burn tomorrow at the clinic.

I need to confess: Total Healing in Jesus' name (x 1000 times)

*****Edit @ 1.57pm
God is GOOD!! After the advice of my cg members, i propped my legs on my pillow with some other stuff to lift it up and slept. And i woke up, having a totally different feeling in my legs, where it wasn't as tight. And yeah the swollen legs are not as swollen, just feeling a bit tight.

To those who prayed for me, thank you!!

Thank GOD!! For He's my Jehovah Rapha.

20th Century Boy (Japanese movie)

Just saw the trailer. Hmmm.... defeated the cinema box set by Death Note.

I wanna watch!!! Anyone wanna watch with me huh huh huh??



Yeah, this is a super random post in the middle of a giddiness attack =(

But, i seriously wanna watch! Anyone wanna watch?!

Have you written down Your To-do's yet?

Auto

Fluorescent

Daylight

Now, do u know why do i post up this picture? Actually they are all about the same thing, just that i set my camera to differing tones of lighting. But underlying from the the three pictures, do u get what this picture is say?

Within the 3 pictures, there's a common thing: TO DO.

I had finished my dinner and was walking out of The Cathay when i spotted this gigantic post-it board. Yes, everything that is yellow and and the TO DO outlined in fluorescent pink, are all made of post-it notes. And the purpose is to invite the public (Yes, meaning you, me and your neighbors and my neighbors and maybe everyone) to pen down what are the things that you want to do, aka to do list .(click underlined for the definition of what a to-do list is)

And, of course, everyone has their agenda of things that they have to do, they want to do, they have to do, just that THEY HAVEN'T DO IT, because they didn't write it down. I have my to-do list too... Without a marker, it's really hard to be able to write what i need to do. So i decided on writing on a yellow post-it, so i took out my red ball-gel pen. And as expected, the difficulty of writing on something vertical, is that your pen tend to go off-ink very fast.



What i've written is shown here. But here, u also see the many "to-do" things that many many others want to do and probably haven't started doing.


"To bring my darling around the world" - man, this guy is soooo sweet!

Oh oh oh... he actually continued on to the next post-it in pink - "Get Married" (Awwwww)

"To do up my nice home sweet home" - Wow... is this written by the guy's lady love?? =)

And there are so many many more to-do lists that people have listed down.

Let's see.... mine's here!



Eh... cannot see hor? Let's zoom in.


There!! This is what i wrote. Man! I should have used a marker. But, this will do. Okay, it says:
a) To be an entrepreneur (Yeah, it's a lot of thoughts..... spur on by a conversation with my Accountant, Jasmine, who always motivates me, and spurs up my entrepreneurial spirit. Will blog more if it's really coming to pass. THAT'S WHY I'M WRITING IT DOWN... GEDDIT??)

b) Finish bible school. Yeah, u may think, "You haven't even start bible school yet, how to finish?" I'm really writing this by faith, u know? I'm going against all odds to fulfil this 8 year desire. And writing it down motivates me to make it happen. That's why my msn nick will always have this,

[SOT 2009]

It's to spur me on, believing in this vision that i will do it! If i can see it, i can have it!

And i've moved one step closer ...


By filling in the application form. Which i will submit latest by end of the month, since i need to wait for my leader to fill in the recommendation form (yes, there's such a thing), and then i have to go for interview with either the Bible school staff and/or Pastor, which and then... i'll be confirmed attending Bible school next year with a letter of acceptance from SOT.

c) Earn a lot a lot a lot a lot of moola!! - this is a wish of my (and almost every other person on this whole earth)

d) Stop Delaying la! Which means to tell me, not to procrastinate. **mai tu liao, mai tu liao** Which, i (and many many many others out there, be it u, me or your neighbors, enemies....) have this tendency to procrastinate. Which i'm still trying my very the bestest to stop procrastinating.

Beyond what it has spur me on this blog entry, i think it's really very meaningful. Because, a to-do list is not a never-heard-before concept. People know what it is. And usually people write down what they want to do (or plan to do). And if u don't write it down, ideas are lost for some time, or even an eternity (if u are not careful). And this to-do list helps us to plan.

~if u fail to plan, u plan to fail~

So, if u want to write down what u want to do, u can write it down in your note book, and u see it every day. If not, u can go down to The Cathay to join me and the many many many many... others who have written and are going to write, and are writing their to-do's.

For me, i wallpaper-ed what i wrote and i definitely will look at my phone at least once a day. This will remind me everyday and every other day of what my to-do list is.



And just right, what i've written is right in the center of it. =)

About being sick

I went through these past 2 weeks of seeing the doctors, and went through a "度日如年" time, contending with a giddy head, nausea, stomach cramps, and diarrhea.

It's an experience, a bad experience, i must say.

I never knew what gastric flu was, and never knew how torturous it was to go through it.

I first started with a few days of diarrhea, but with normal bowelling-removing functions. Which escalated to a toilet visit every 30 mins, giving out nothing but liquid. All at the wrong places. Which is abnormal, but i was slow to react.

The next mistake is to go to a Chinese Sinseh even while i'm still having cough, and thought that the Chinese medicine works wonders. It's not an injection leh. Usually Chinese medicine takes time slowly, slowly healing and restoring.

So ended up, i didn't get to 调, but my diarrhea got worse. That's when the alarm came and decided to go see a GP. He who diagnosed me with Gastric Flu, gave me a lot of medicines for the diarrhea, which tasted of bananas and lotsa salt since i lost water. And the symptoms took like 3 days to clear....

Anyway, if u have such symptoms such as:
- Diarrhea with much frequency
- Weak and no strength
- Stomach cramp

Go to the doctor immediately. Don't delay.

Only go and 调once u are cleared from the sickness, to build immunity. Which i'm still waiting for my cough to clear, and will do that once it's clear.

Love yourself, be aware, and take care of yourself.

Yours for good health.

Inner ear imbalance

As i was saying in my previous post, thanks to this, i missed out meeting with Jill Lowe.

And lotsa of other tips that i would have picked up.

For those who wanna know, I'm still experiencing occasional giddyness, even till today.

This thing, as spoken by the doctor is called this imbalance in the inner ear... which until today, i really can't understand, even with a diagram.

Taken from www.dizziness-and-balance.com

Yes, the Doc showed me diagrams of the inner brain and the ear. And i think this ear diagram is a more chime version which i previously showed. Ok, this one is more detailed la and more colorful.

Anyway, from this picture and after thinking about what he was explaining, and finding out from the internet, i still cannot figure out how can an inner ear be imbalance. I mean, it hasn't made any sense to me.

But it made me realize how important it is, because i've been having attacks of giddyness, despite all the intake of gingko biloba. Or that my circulation system is really screwed-up. And the medicine is taking like 3 loooong hours to work!? I need good health man (Bible School application form finally appears in my email), and i need it like...Now!

Main thing is, i just want to complain: WHY SO LONG to recover???? =(

Another dizzying day

I was supposed to be attending this Jill Lowe event at Nexus Auditorium at Cuppage!

And... and ... and....

Yet i'm at home, feeling miserable and battling with stomach cramps and nausea.

Today is the day where i went back to office after 2 days of fighting with the gastric flu virus, and i won..... or thought i did.

Was starting to feel something wrong while on the way to work, and was feeling really tired, really lousy, really dizzy and on the verge of puking. And to prevent myself from fainting in the middle of nowhere, i ran into the Guardian Pharmacy at the Mrt station, and got myself a bottle of Haw. Oh it's commonly known as 三楂.

As i walked slowly into the office, i dunno if i should feel relieved or what.

I didn't survive the afternoon. I left the office and went back to the doctor again.

And he repeated himself all over again regarding the story of the sinus, and how it affected my sleep, and i sleep breathing with my mouth and not the nose....

Now he mentioned something about the imbalance between my ears which causes the giddiness and the nausea. Which it seem, will take some time to clear. =(

Anyway, i spent the whole afternoon in bed, trying to sleep, and yeah, according to the Dr's prediction, i do notice i sleep with my mouth open.

And shock of the day: Diarrhea came back!!! Argh. Just when i stopped the diarrhea medicines, it came back, along with the accursed stomach cramps!!! But then, it's not as bad as the last 2 days, so i'm kinda thankful for that.

Oh well, it's 1am. Yeah, it's a bad habit to lay in bed and doing things other than sleeping. So now i'm kinda not sleepy and still rambling here. Hmmmm....

2 days of MC for gastric flu

Seriously, i've thought that i got better when i woke up early and ready for work this morning.

There didn't seem to have more diarrhea.

Until i got out of bed. And i saw a spiral.

And back to bed and a half day urgent leave application, thinking that i should be able to tahan. Which i've failed all over again.

Making my way downstairs just to eat porridge is a chore. Finishing it is a great big challenge. Maintaining my composure is another thing that i felt challenged.

And finally decided to visit Dr Lim from Healthway Medical, strongly recommended by my mother. After all, if not for him, my mother will still struggle with her throat.

And his diagnose of me came out:
a) Gastric flu - The medical term is called Gastroenteritis. Or so called G.E.
b) Along with G.E, i have to contend with many many bouts of stomach cramps. And darn, it's so different from the menstrual cramp. It's many times worse, ok.
c) Nausea / Giddiness - Sigh. That i know.

Anyway, cause of the G.E, i was given 2 days MC. And i think the doctor made the right judgment.

Because, i seriously think that the cramps and giddiness/nausea are not gonna go like tomorrow! But thankfully, the diarrhea is not as frequent, but still it's all water. =(

And this is my most expensive fee for a GP consultation: a Whooping $42 bucks! Eh... to justify, i have been prescribed many many diarrhea medicines.

For Diarrhea
- Some powdery thing that taste like banana, i should say, processed banana for water replenishment.
- Some Re-hydrating salts to prevent water loss.
- Some tablet for the diarrhea
(Wha.. just for one stomach, need so many things ah?)

For Stomach cramp
- Some yellow tablets that tastes horrible.

So, i must say, he's really not bad la. And through him, i find out more.

a) I have sinus?! Previously it was mentioned by the Peace Center doctor, but i didn't believe it. This doctor proved it to me that i have - my left nosestril is blocked, which explains the difficulty breathing during sleeping.
b) High blood pressure?? 140 is high ah?? Haiz, i have to go see him once i'm done with this gastric flu.
c) If my gastric flu doesn't stop, he'll make me take a stool test.... Ewwwww.... I don't want!!
d) If my cough persist, he'll make me take an x-ray. Eeeeeekk!!! Noooooo!!!

See, this doctor is detailed, but one thing about him is he likes to scare ppl!

Haiz.

I need healing. Pray for me please.

Thanks.

Loss of energy to post

It's been like close to a week since i've last posted.

And yeah, since returning from Bangkok i haven't been posting. No updating, except for the CG blog.

It's not that i don't wanna blog. But... I'm sick again!

Really very angry leh. During the Bangkok trip, my cough came back, more furious. Coughed in the middle of the night until there was traces of blood in the phlegm. Eating Tussil 5 bought off the shelves did nothing to help.

On Saturday, i finally cannot tahan and went to see the doctor. He thinks i have asthma, and prescribed me medicine to clear the airway passage in my throat, some bedtime medicine, and some cough mixture and ... Tussil 5 (i've checked. Nothing's different. Just the manufacturer is different. Also made in Bangkok. Only that packaging looked better).

Anyway, from there, it was a physical spiral way down for me.

Saturday: Diarrhea-ed and still coughing, and lack of sleep from night coughing
Sunday: Diarrhea-ed and still coughing, and lack of sleep from night coughing
Monday: Diarrhea-ed and still coughing, though i feel slightly better, the night coughing has reduced.

Yesterday, i've 'sinned' by eating all the oily and fried food. =( And decided that my diarrhea has to stop. And i've concluded it's one of the tablets that causing it. And i stopped the medication from the doctor.

Tuesday: Woke up at 6am with a massive urge to release. I'd rather sleep in, but i couldn't. 7am, another round. On the way to office (woohoo i've reached at 8.45), had this urge again to release. From 9am until 3pm, i've visited the toilet like... 15 blardy times!!! What worst, is that i'm releasing liquids and liquids only. Argh.... Bad case of dehydration. To add salt to injury, i don't even have the appetite!

Anyway, i've to go to the doctor, before i really dehydrate. Took time off from 4pm to travel to Jurong West St 41 to see Dr Fong, from Fong Acupuncture and Medical Hall. It's recommended by Jac, so usually recommendations from ppl that u know, it's reliable.

This Medical Hall is not like what we see in the olden times, what, non-aircon, and with many 老阿伯 there, with lotsa wooden drawer. I tell u, Mai siao siao. This medical hall is very modern ok, with air conditioning, partitioned consultation rooms and a relatively aged lady serving the counter (if i'm not wrong, she's a chinese physician too, specializing in 推拿). And there's quite a lot of customers there, though mainly males around 40plus 50 years old, doing the 推拿.

The Chinese doctor, Dr Fong, has won quite a lot of accolades in his trade, where it was shown by the many plaques that was displayed within the medical hall. Besides having the usual chinese medical instruments, i saw a HP laptop sitting on his desk. Wow. Nowadays, Chinese sinsehs need to follow the flow of technology too.

But, the way that they give diagnose is still the same, traditional way. He writes in cursive Chinese, and address ppl by their Chinese names. Oh well... :)

Anyway, this is what i got for the medication from him. As compared to Western medicine, this one have to finish the whole cycle. And i've counted: 18 doses. That's like 6 days!



Nowadays, going to a Chinese doctor, doesn't mean that u need to buy the herbs to cook it and then drink it - Who has that kinda time in this day? Now they give u capsules and mixtures, all ready to take-and-go.

One thing remains the same: As they say 苦口良药. The syrup is really horrible by their color. But the taste of it, i must say, it needs to be acquired la. Thought i tasted a very strong 罗汉果-esq taste. But i must say, they've done well to make sure that after tasting with 3 gulps of water, the taste is visibly covered. I've accepted the capsules quite well, since they are really quite normal, just have a very strong medicine smell before u swallow it.

My next project for today, is to finish this.


Besides managing to finish one small vanilla bun in the morning, i've been struggling to stuff myself. Even my favorite Unagi-don didn't do the trick. And i'm currently 2 more pieces to finish this pack.

Seriously, i'd rather see myself releasing solids rather than liquids. And i do recognize that i'm giving out liquids and dehydrating myself is due to lack of food. Sigh.

Pray for me. Thanks. Jesus is my Jehovah Rapha, my Healer!

Back from Bangkok

Hey people!

I'm finally back from Bangkok. And yeah, it was a great time. Brought back 14kg worth of prizes.

I hasn't packed yet, but i foresee a horrendous time when i do that.

Updates soon!!

* One of the up-coming entries, i will be introducing of a portal that i do visit often, be it on a personal basis or on a corporate level.