Home Of Tong

Yesterday I was on leave, and I have big plans for the day. But all the plans have to be thrown out of the window when my younger son woke up with a fever, and thankfully, a mild one. Than later in the morning my elder son starts to feel pain in the left side of his tummy, then pain grew and grew till he could no longer sit or stand, nor lie straight as he curl himself into a ball and scream in pain. Refusing to see the doctor, I eventually is able to carry him (after convincing him) to see the doctor.

Thank God that by the evening, both of them started to feel better and we even managed to catch a movie (at home) that I bought from iTunes – Kung Fu Panda. It was a hilarious show and if you have not caught it, rent or buy it to watch, you sure won’t be disappointed.

As you can see, things don’t usually go according to plan but we still have to continue planning, else life will just be a mess (if it’s not already is). It’s December and we have planned many things in December, and we just pray that the rest of the plan will fall into places. Cheers!

Yesterday was the start of the SA2 exam for my boy Denver who is in P2. He had his English Paper 2 yesterday and seems quite confident. I wish it will translate to results as he won’t realise even if he have gotten the answers wrong. One thing I always ask him to do is to CHECK after he has finish, but he usually don’t. Kind of like…me…haha…so I can’t be too hard on him :p

Today is Maths and I’m not too worried either, should be able to be in Band 1 or 2, either which I am satisfied. Unless of course he starts to make those careless mistakes again, which he is well capable off. If not, it shouldn’t be that bad.

What I am really worried is his Chinese Paper 2 tomorrow. Well, he once called himself an English Boy, and I was shock, haha, and have to tell him that he is a Chinese Boy who speaks English. Since then, we have been trying to let him speak more Mandarin, which my mum and mum-in-law will help to ensure that, but since they stopped coming over as they both have to take care of younger babies belonging to my sis and my wife’s brother, his Chinese has gone down again. Blame it on us for not sending him to Chinese tution class, and not speaking enough Mandarin at home. I just hope that he can pass his Chinese paper, I don’t need top scores, a pass will satisfy me (not sure about my wife though…heehee…). Then I hope to slowly help him to improve his Chinese. Not with presents as we’ve tried that, so we will have to find some other ways.

What a weekend it has been. I had 4 ‘celebrations’ over the 3 days which means I did just one thing over the weekend, eat, eat, eat…and eat.

Friday was a farewell lunch for my dear colleague who has been with us for a looooong time, 7-8 years now. It’s always sad to see a colleague go but if he feels it’s for a better future, than I support him fully. Ok, back to food, we went to the Clementi Wood’s Sakura restaurant for a buffet lunch costing $20++ per head. The place have a big parking area and the restaurant is big too, where the place we park is consider as ground level, the restaurant is than located at B1 and B2.

Our seats are at B2, and there is no lift:( so we gonna walk all the way down. The spread is across B1 and B2 so you will have to go up and down for the different type of food. At B1, that is where the Jap food are, with sushi and sashimi. Special highlight is of course my favourite Salmon Sashimi which is pretty fresh and the slice is cut nicely. And they also have this specially imported ‘Magic Shrimp’ from Saudi Arabia that you eat raw. And according to my colleagues who are also eating it for the 1st time (they were apprehensive when I told them it can be eaten raw), they love it! Says it taste really good. Also on B1 are some cook-on-the-spot food like salmon, sambal prawn, chicken chop, etc…plus desser, fruits, cakes, etc. are all located at B1.

B2 has things like dim sum, grill food, cooked food, soup, fried stuff, duck meat, etc…quite a decent spread. Also have various drinks selection and ice-cream. While the food are not top class type, they are pretty decent and most are quite nice to eat. And for the price, I think it is quite reasonable. It will be great if they have escalator or life :p

Saturday we had a gathering for the F1 sector 17.8/18 marshals at Hard Rock Cafe where we are returning our overall at the same time. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there and having already had lunch, I decided to get a sandwich. I ordered Club Sandwich but when it came, it looks kinda strange. It was 2 huge piece of hamburger bread plus what looks like a meat patty. When I ate it, it tasted like tuna and while puzzled, I never thought about it and just chat and eat. When the bill came, than I realise what happened, instead of Club Sandwich, they served me Crab Sandwich. I can’t believe it, and maybe I will give HRC a miss for a while.

Than in the evening, it’s my niece’s birthday celebration and we had pizza, chicken wing, KFC, etc…lots more food go into my stomach. My kids have a fun time playing with the cousins and it was till quite late that we finally went home. I was so tired after the whole think and overslept the next day. In fact, my whole family overslept.

On Sunday night, it was another celebration as it was my mother-in-law’s birthday. We met at Square2 and decided to eat at Zhou’s Kitchen, a Tung Lok Group restaurant. It’s our first time eating there and the food is surprisingly nice. We ordered a set chinese dinner and all of them are quite nice, except for the noodles which they don’t like to eat, it’s ‘sheng mian’ which I think is not everyone’s cup of tea. My elder son Denver loves it so much that he ate 1.5 bowl of rice, and I think he over ate a little.

So, the whole weekend is about eating, and I think I’ll stick to hawker and home cook food for a while. Too much of ‘big meal’ in one weekend.

On Wed, I brought Denver to the National Dental Centre where he is referred to the Orthodontics by his school’s dental nurse. One of his upper front teeth is growing inwards and might cause a problem. When I book the appointment over the phone, the nurse told me that if braces is require, it will cost S$2K onwards – after subsidies – and I have to pay 50% upfront. So I was quite fearful (of the cost) when I went with him. You see, I never knew braces cost that much.

A quick check by the doctor (or dentist if you prefer to call him, he’s a specialist) reveal that a full braces is not required at this stage as he still have a lot of milk teeth, this will be considered at a much later stage, but he did note that the 4 bottom front teeth, which are ‘adult’ teeth, are not really in a straight line. But will probably look at them again at age 12 onwards. So he is not out of the woods yet.

But the immediate need is to push out the top front tooth. This will require a easy to put in and remove thingie, not sure what it is call. And Denver is suppose to be able to easily put it in and take it out himself. He went for an x-ray just to make sure there isn’t another tooth hiding inside which cause this tooth to be put inwards, and the x-ray shows that there isn’t another tooth. So it means he need to be back to take a mould of his teeth to custom make this braces like thing, and another appointment for the ‘fitting’. And he will have to wear it for at least 6 weeks and hopefully by there it will be ok.

The estimated damage, a much lower S$700 but nevertheless still quite a sum. But if it corrects his tooth properly it will be money well spend.

The entire ‘Home Of Tong’ family was down and out for the last few days. Starting with my younger boy Darien who had fever since last Friday and was kept out of childcare till today. Then on Tuesday came the news that my wife Wanjun contacted HFMD. On Wednesday my older boy Denver had high fever, and on Thursday I was having a bad throat and so went to see the doc together with Denver. Today, finally my 2 boys are able to go to school while I am still been kept at home for precaution.

What a week it has been, but thank God that it is all coming to an end now. My wife hopes she can get the all clear for the doc today, so that she can come out of isolation. Yes, she has been kept in the master bedroom since Tue and my 2 boys have not seen her since. In fact, the sleeping arrangement at night is, Wanjun at master bedroom, Darien at boy’s room, Denver at guest room, and me…of coz…on a sofa at living room…haha…

This is in hope that we will not start spreading to one another and make the situation worst. I pray that the worst is over now and that over the weekend things will get back to normal, without the need of heavy dettol usage.

Wow…have not been writing for 2 months now! I also don’t know why suddenly I just stop writing. I can’t say that I do not like to write anymore, I have lots of thoughts always, and is still active on the Internet, but just don’t seems to be able to login and write down those thoughts, something seems to be stopping me.

Anyhow, lots have happen in the past 2 months that I have no idea how to start. The biggest happening in July has been me fallng sick for 1 week, and taking another week to fully recover. I have never feel so unwell before, so much so that I can’t even drive for 10mins (after the 1st week) without feeling like I am gonna crash. So I took public transport to work for an entire week. No, I am not giving up driving, just temporary.

Right after I recovered, I’ve got a chance to go to Bangkok for a business trip, and it was by no means a fun trip. Decipher yourself.

• Day 1: Arrive in the evening, welcome dinner
• Day 2: Full day seminar
• Day 3: Full day seminar
• Day 4: leave hotel at 8.30am to airport

It’s the worst trip to BKK I’ve even had, cause no time to visit my favourite food and shopping place. Haiz…

But I may just give Thailand a miss for now till their political situation improved. Don’t want to be in a situation that I have problem catching a flight back, especially if my family is with me.

August also see me going for the F1 Official Specialist training as I have been appointed the Flag Marshal for the 1st Singapore F1 Night Race. It is exciting times and it’s less than 30days from today. Wow!

With just one more training to go before the big race starts, I am really looking forward to it. I’ve got the best seats ever as I will be right next to the track! I’ve just gotten news that I will be at Turn 18, so if you happen to be watching ‘live’ and sitting at the floating platform area, look out for me!

Till then, I hope to bring you some pictures. Cheers!