Fuming over Fumigation!

Photos taken from my master bedroom window.

[Uh.. the big and beautiful 3m deep diving pool belongs to the next estate, my miserable foot-washing pond (not pictured here) can't compare.]

I wonder if there is a major dengue fever scare. Someone came by to fumigate the area and gosh, look at how much gaseous pesticides was blown into the air! I am staying on the 5th floor of the apartment building and yet the fumes were that strong at my level. I had to rush to close the windows because the thick smoke was drifting into my apartment and the kerosene stench was so strong. I was afraid that if they didn't kill the mozzies, the might just kill someone! [Choke choke....] I've never seen them go so heavy on the operation before. Sigh... now I have to wash up all the exposed dishes and cups in my kitchen and hope that I don't have to redo the laundry handing at my balcony. : (

Naggy Me

I had a funny dream of my colleagues last night. One of the guys had funky wispy hair at the back, undercut at the side, a layered fringe all highlighted in mahogany red. He wore a diamante cross-earring (eeks!). When I told him politely that this look didn't quite suit him, he was adamant and thought that he looked very good! Another guy was wearing a casual beige polo shirt and khaki pants, slouching in his Herman Miller chair and munching on the Old Chang Kee curry puff I offered. Another sweet young girl came by. An iPod earphone dangled from her left shoulder and I asked her if earphone cords now double-up as bra-stripes! Ha ha ha.... I wanted to record this dream coz I thought it's quite funny. I must be missing my colleagues too much!

The dream continued.... then I heard shooting sounds coming out from the PCs and to my disgust, I realised a few of them were playing video games on their computers,competing with one another! I started to nag at them big time to make them stop, and wondered to myself what the team has become after I left! [End dream.....]

Well, that's the naggy me. I was the 'disciplinary master' of the team - always nagging about punctuality, filing work on the shared drive etc. [Perhaps they all secretly hated me for that! Ha ha!] My pet peeve is people not being punctual - for work, for meetings, for lunch appointments. I thought it's a very basic sense of responsibility not to cause any inconvenience to others who may be looking/waiting for you. I do forgive people who are late when something unforeseen crop up. What I cannot tahan is perpetual late-comers who make a conscious decision to be late!

I sadly remind myself that most organisations do not honour punctuality anymore. In this new world, as long as you deliver and finish your work, you are free to come in to the office later. The question is, when do we ever 'finish the work'? So that means no coming in late? For almost every year in primary and secondary school, I was the class monitor or school prefect. Perhaps it's because I grew up with strict "disciplinary training": ["Oi, you're late for school assembly. I'm going to record your name and class!" "Hey, no talking in class. I tell teacher!" "Pick up the rubbish!" "Tuck in your shirt properly!"] I mean, now I get irritated with inconsiderate people who lean on the pole in a crowded MRT (such that others have no place to hold on to), with drivers who park their cars too close to my parking lot, with friends who arrive late every week for church service......

Most of the time, these matters don't really affect me, so I'm just being very judgemental here and getting irritated for nothing. Well, I'm not the prefect of Singapore so maybe I should learn to relax and let things go a little. It's not possible to expect others to live out my (high) standards in this frustrating world......

Do you have a pet peeve? What irritates you most and how do you manage it? Do share your thoughts if you don't mind as I would love to hear about them!

Cosmetics and Heath?

Some of you know that I have hormonal imbalance problems for a number of years already (that explains why I'm so cranky at times.. hee hee). I found out I had hyperthyroidism in Dec 2004. I can't figure out if the thyroid problems cause my hormonal problems or the other way round - obviously not a medical-student here. Although my thyroid seems to be in remission at present, other female-related problems persist.

A nurse told me that I should not wear makeup, colour or rebond my hair because chemicals and chemical treatments affect one's hormone levels. Gasp! This advice disturbs me (or horrifies me, in fact) and so I launched into a small research project on the matter.

According to what I read on the internet, it has been a longstanding issue that the cosmetics industry has remained largely unregulated by FDAs around the world. Certain chemicals that made their way into the cosmetics are in fact harmful to health. Two such substances are:

Parabens - which include methyl-, propyl-, butyl-, ethyl-parabens, are very common in many cosmetics products. These are preservatives that inhibit bacteria growth and are used to extend the shelf life of products. Parabens affect or disrupt the endocrine system i.e. they primarily affect hormones such as thyroid, pituitary and adrenal glands etc. [Dear, dear me!]

Phthalates - are a group of chemicals used in products such as body lotions, soaps, shampoos, perfume, nail polish, hair sprays. Some health advocates argue that the use of these chemicals among woman of child-bearing age could lead to birth defects. (Men, you are not safe. Exposure to phthalates could cause sperm damage too...)

I shan't bore you with further chemistry details but they've got my attention there! Naturally for every concern posed by the health advocates, some one will present a counter-claim. Regardless, I investigated all the product labels I could find for my L'Occitane body lotion, Nivea lip balm, Clarins moisturizer, L'Oreal sunblock, Shu Uemura blusher etc. I also went to Watson's to check out the labels of common toiletries. Indeed, many products contain, especially, some form of parabens!

I suppose for decades, woman all over the globe have been using such products and are alive and well. But I begin to wonder if my hormonal problems have been exacerbated by the constant exposure to unsafe chemicals present in my beauty products. However, to ask me to stay away from skincare and makeup is completely out of the question!!! But for the sake of my health, I think I will try to switch to 'safer' products. [Important note: Please don't misunderstand me here. I'm not vain at all. Unfortunately I don't have porcelain skin, so stepping out of the house without foundation and some form of visible eyebrows is a major crime against people who have to see me!]

Over the course of my research, I discovered a cosmetics safety database on the web. You can type in a particular ingredient and it will tell you what harmful effects this ingredient could pose: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ingredient.php?ingred06=702620. So ladies, before you purchase that must-have new eye shadow, you may want to check this website out first to see if you are putting yourself at risk!

Eye-Yo-Yo......

This morning I woke up really early in order to catch a ride to SGH from hubby. My post-Lasik appointment with Dr Chan at SNEC was purposely scheduled at 8:30am so I can have breakfast with hubby at my favorite Killiney Kopitiam at Circular Road. Oh, how I miss the french toast, and the kopi is still the best I have tasted in Singapore. When I was working, we used to drive there for breakfast almost every morning. I love everything that is served there - fried carrot cake, curry puffs, zhu chang fen, nasi lemak.... all so yummy!

After the satisfying breakfast came the not so good news. Well, I've always suspected my Lasik was less than well-done because my vision is not totally sharp. During the previous two eye-examinations, one a week after the surgery and another a month after, I already complained to my doctor that my vision is not clear. However, I was told that I had already attained 6/6 vision, but my eyes needed a couple of months to 'stabilise'. Well, from today's examination, it seems I still have 25 degrees remaining in my left eye and 75 degrees in the right. :`(

My doc said it's not uncommon to have some degrees left over after Lasik surgery, especially when I had corrected a fair bit of myopia - almost 700 degrees - to begin with. I was secretly blaming myself for squinting over story books in the first week after my surgery. See, my vision was definitely distorted right after the surgery and I couldn't see anything properly beyond 2 metres. TV was out for me, and because I was so bored, the only thing I could do was to read a book held to my face. However, doc said that it could not have been me who caused my vision to weaken so quickly (barely 3 months since my Lasik), and assured me that such things "happen".

So I'm supposed to go back for another examination 2 months later. If my vision is still blur and unacceptable, I will have to go for an enhancement surgery. I think I definitely want to do so, since I've already spent $5k on the Lasik procedure - die-die must ensure perfect eyesight! To think that I have to go through the whole affair again.... well, I'm not afraid of the surgery, but I'm more worried about not being allowed eye-creams and makeup a week after that! Horrors!

Anyway, I think it's unlikely my eyesight would restore itself to perfection miraculously by January. The enhancement surgery seems inevitable. For those of you out there who are considering Lasik, please don't let my bad news stop you. To not have to wear glasses again will be one of the best things in your life. I just happen to fall into the small percentage of patients who have left-over degrees. Don't be discouraged! You could have better luck than me!

From Chicken to Chatting

I met a friend for tea the day after my first driving lesson last week. I remembered when she asked me how my lesson went, I was still 'trembling with exhaustion'. So exaggerated right....but yes, that was really how I felt physically and mentally! I mean, I was not very enthusiastic about driving to start with, and so I was super kan-chiong on my first lesson. I made it a point to declare to my instructor up-front that I'm a slow learner with lousy psycho motor skills, poor speed and distance judgement and no courage on the roads!

And boy, was I an absolute chicken even while driving in the driving circuit. I had to manage the panic when the roaring machine went above 30km/hr and was gripping the steering wheel so tightly (to the amusement of my instructor). To make things worse, I could not 'find' the brake pedal! So many times we had to bow to the traffic lights because of my hard braking. One has to get so restless - look into the rear mirror every now and then (no, no time to check my make-up at all), peer at blind spots left and right, look out for learner motor bikers, this and that.... I went to bed really early that night from sheer exhaustion!

I was afraid of driving because of 2 key incidences which happened more than 10 years ago when I was a learner driver. A 10-ft lorry bumped into my rear when I was moving off at a traffic light. No major damage to my instructor's car and they merely exchanged some verbal unpleasantries. And while switching lane, I nearly bumped into an old man on a scooter with a little girl riding behind. Luckily my instructor braked for me in time and no one got hurt. These were not major incidences, really, but somehow I lost my confidence in controlling a moving machine, and that slowly culminated in my phobia for driving altogether.

Anyway, I prayed hard on my way to my second lesson last Friday, as I was determined to break the bondage of my past fears. Thank God I quickly understood how I was supposed to position my foot properly to reach both the accelerator and brake pedals (that fully resolved panic-factor number 1). I also exercised my usual charming conversational skill to chit-chat with my instructor. By the end of the lesson I pretty much learned about his age, a little about his family, and even where he'll be this week whilst on his vacation. (Hee hee......) This helped me relax more during the lesson. I took the roads yesterday on my third lesson. A young 24 year old relief instructor brought me to Sengkang to learn U-turns, left and right turns on actual roads. He's studying Accountancy full time at SIM, had worked temp at the Subordinates Courts before, drives a 2003 Honda Civic bought for him by his dad, will be going on a cruise soon with his friends, and was refused by his doctor to do Lasik... (Hee hee hee, am I good (at talking) or what? I just knew him!)

So I'm really beginning to enjoy driving. Am thankful that the instructors from Comfort Driving Centre are so patient, friendly and encouraging. (The relief instructor said these qualities justify the exorbitant fees.) I do look forward to lessons now. But of course the real test comes later when I have to drive in a massive messy traffic jam. Well, guess I'll take it one step at a time. : )