Filling in

When I looked at the date of the last post, it read "Aug 15, 2010". I was like "wow, an obscene amount of time went past, and either due to procrastination or busy-ness (more likely the former), we had never updated our blog since". Anyway, coming back to write in the blog which has been dead for nearly 9 months is a good effort. That's exactly what people like to say. "Better than nothing".

The truth is, many things did happen during this time. I will try to fill in a bit, though my short term memory really only allows me to jot down what happened within the last one month or two. I also wonder how many people would actually still read this blog, considering how dead it has become. Maybe I should install a counter to see if there is anyone who is still following as well as count those who mistakenly type in this URL and stumble upon this blog.

Rubbish aside, after slogging in the labs for the many months, we did go back to Singapore over Apr/May. Happened to be general elections then, which we of course did not intentionally time our trip because no one would have the prophetic abilities to know when the general elections would be. I was initially thinking how boring it would be, that I wouldn't even bother to register myself as an overseas voter should I still remain in Boston and make my way to NYC just to cast a vote, I was quickly and pleasantly surprised by how different things were. On top of repetitive clicking into politico-social websites like Online Citizen, Temasek Review and Mr Brown, I actually found myself drawn to attending some rallies, not to forget the super-crowded and energy-bursting worker's party rally. I went with my parents and brother, and hey, who knows election rallies became the newest activity for family time. Of course, cast my vote, had my share of guessing, struggling to stay awake through Yam Ah Mee's chant and marveled at how Singapore actually opened up in the process. Importantly, the short 9-day campaign exposed many Singaporeans to far better "national education" than ever. Seriously. Think about the lame national education all students (at least of my era) had to sit through. Sing community songs about rowing boats over the ocean when Singapore is not even beside one? Look for the nth time LKY weep at the news of Singapore parting from the Malaysian Federation? Not to forget, I went through a "ride" in Clarke Quay once. It was like the "it's a small world" ride in Disney where one sits on a raft floating on an artificial water stream indoors and rides through window displays of Singapore history. I forgot what I saw exactly but still remembered I had a KFC Colonel burger right after. That really speaks how useful that NE had been. So, MOE should consider asking the electoral commission to organize elections more often.

Then the most exciting point of our trip was to be back to select our HDB flat. Yes, not hearing wrong, we, on our 3rd attempt, were blessed with a queue number that was actually smaller than the total number of flats available (i.e. we get a high chance to select a flat). We successfully selected a flat (not too bad for our number), became 350k poorer but should become very asset-rich through the highly-esteemed asset enhancement program touted by HDB. It was truly a thrilling milestone for us. After that, we went back to our favorite haunts (such as Killiney Coffeeshop at Marina Square) but this time, not without a magazine on interior designs, salivating at now just the fragrant coffee and delicious waffles, but also how lovely we can design and renovate our flat. This is exactly the right time to fantasize, before we start to realize the kitchen is actually too small to do any creative layout of countertop, our budget too tight to install false ceiling and spotlamps shining on every photoframe or picture we hang, or simply how lazy we are to be bothered with getting somebody to create the interior we want. Oh well, let's just see how it goes.

Now, both of us are attending this clinical course in a hospital, learning how to take patient history and do physical examination. Yup, we basically just walk around in white coats with stethoscopes to look pro, attend conferences at noon to eat the free lunches provided and occasionally see patients with some real doctors. It looks fun and interesting to be a doctor, but I guess we hadn't seen the hell behind the neon lights yet. Anyhow, the summer is warming up, and it doesn't help that our apartment is essentially an evening greenhouse with the westward-facing windows. To make it even more fun, the maintenance team is doing something to central conditioning and we cannot turn on AC. Inspired by all the soba we ate on our SQ flight this time, we wasted no time to go get ourselves ingredients to make soba for a hot summer evening. It was so soothing and refresing, which makes me wonder? Why do Singapore food culture not have something like soba? Instead, we down steaming hot bak chor mee, hokkien prawn mee etc and sometimes even company them with hot coffee. Almost like how Americans drink ice-cold water all the time, even when it is winter and they just get indoors, complaining how cold it is outside. I always find this silly but I guess I forgot to look at myself.

So much for babbling. Too many other things to write, but it is already very good effort on my part.