The Ring

See this kid here?

He made me cry two nights in a row while we were in NY.

First Night. We arrived there jet lagged and sleepy. Shane started bouncing in the hotel room and while I momentarily dozed off, something happened.

He ate an adult sized panadol. I had placed it on the hotel table in a tranparent toiletry bag. Zipped up. He managed to undo the zip and swallowed the pill.

When I woke up, I noticed that one of them was gone and it was too late. It was already ingested, overdosing his kid sized organs and we were were thousands of miles away from familiar healthcare.

On the Second Night, we were getting ready to go out for rice and pork katsu. He was excited "hurry up! I want to eat pig!". After getting ready, I turned around and noticed that my wedding band was gone.

"Where is my ring?"
"I do magic! Its in my ear. See?"
[Frantically looking around, but not finding it. ]
"Where did you put it?"
[Sticking out his tongue, still thinking it is a joke.]
"I do magic"
"Did you EAT IT?"
[Guilty nods, tears welling in his eyes]

This is where it got very ugly and dramatic and mommy started to cry.

To cut a long story short. We nearly made it to a hospital in NY at the dead of the night at 3 am. We called 2 cousins who were doctors in Singapore for over the phone advice and there was much mashing of wooden chopsticks over poop to find the ring.

The next morning after what was one of the worst nights of my life, Gary said we should do a thorough combover of the room just in case he didn't swallow the ring.

We found it, under the bed. The boy had thrown it under the bed and told me he had eaten it when he couldn't find it. It was that or I had 'beaten' a confession out of him.

I asked Shane why he told me a lie. It was only now, he told me the truth.

"I only ate the poison [panadol]."

Fear of Flying

3 days from now, we’ll be taking our annual trip in the sky to expend the Free Ticket. To get maximum mileage out of this, we’re flying 19 hours to New York on the non stop.

Alix will stay behind in Singapore. Everytime I go on a plane, I have horrible thoughts. I wrote a will, appointed guardians for the crayolas and scenario planned for the worst. I wondered how airline personnel and their families opened themselves to the risk of air travel, then did a double take. Wait a minute, my husband is a pilot.

Bursting my bubble

Scenario:
Grocery run. Mustafa’s Café. 2 am.

Gary: You have to try the Mustafa’s special blend coffee. It’s the best.
Me: Is it strong? I don’t like it too strong.
G: Its smooth, creamy. Just try. You can ask them to put ice in it.
M: Ok. Mustafa’s special blend please with ice.

[Yum! This is da bomb. Turning to the barista]
M:Your coffee tastes very nice. Very smooth. [wondering what special type of Arabica bean was employed in the brewing process]
Barista: This coffee you also can buy upstairs. Owl Brand White Coffee 3 in-one!

Black Beauty

Can't peel myself away from my new computer! The black beauty of assembled parts which brings the INTERNET into my home. It is very early in morning now, the sun has not risen. I am torn between this computer and going out for prata at my favourite time of the day. Remaining here, is the calorie free choice.

The computer was set up last evening and it was a family affair with my 2 brothers and sis in law all piled into my bed oohing and aahing when the monitor flashed its first image. The crayolas were wide eyed at the "puter!" and competed for world domination of the mouse. It is only now, that the crayolas are still in bed that I can luxuriate in my personal monopoly of broadband. I can't believe that this is all mine.

No more perilous postings from unknown locations. The birds are singing and I have to go now because the call of prata is even stronger.

Back to the Future

I have not owned a personal computer for the past 10 years. But all that has changed the last week.

Since broadband has entered my life, the next step was clear. We would get a home computer. One of those machines which bring the INTERNET into your life.

In my past few weeks, my computer vocabulary has expanded. I can tell you the composite parts – processor, hard drive, power supply, dvd writer, monitor, keyboard. I know Apple from Dell, Intel from AMD.

It was very confusing and I felt like a person popped out from a 1995 time capsule into the future. In the end, I went down to Sim Lim with my brother Herbert who helped me pick out something at a shop which completely intimidated me.

I’ve been bugging Herbert to get the OS quickly installed so that I can get my hands on my new baby. He gets irritated when I hurry him “You’re like a kid you know!”

But that’s how it is, when you get a new toy.