What Is This White Thing?

OK guys, take a look at this white thing and make a guess what it is. Click picture if you want to see it enlarged.

- Voxeros

1. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 12 November 2006 4:15 pm ::

That is a piece of foam (sponge) that just rolled out fresh off the production line. It spans a total of 300m from front to end. About the length of a small aircraft carrier.

Once the block is left to cool, an industrial blade that runs the entire length will slice the block, according to the calibrated thickness (e.g 1", 1.5" etc), and rolled it up into a bale for storage or delivery.

2. sunflower left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 9:06 am

I was about to ask any clue..

3. aloe left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 9:08 am

u wan us to guess, then give us some time mah. Dun immediately reveal the answer... like that no fun liao!! Wahahahha!

4. zeenie left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 9:15 am :: http://www.zeenie.blogspot.com

LOL, i was going to comment until i reread the post again and noticed that the answer was there! My answers were going to range from big white rectangular block; empty unmarked pizza boxes; styrofoam spacers for the esplanade walls; singapore's own super-gun, nerf version; and so on but i stopped there 'cos it just when downhill from there. =)

5. yanzzz left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 9:39 am

this is no fuN leh ! wann us to gueSs then tell us the ans ! no PoinT leh!! but seriously who need such big foam ? for wat purpose ? wrapping up a body ? just like a swiss roll ?? hmmmm

6. akk left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:34 pm

hur hur....complain liao...

7. aloe left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 2:06 pm

yawnz, he already said that the foam will be cut up once it has been cooled off. :)

8. Meepoktah Maihiam left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 3:36 pm

Lim peh know. It's stabstock polyurethane foam. It is done in continuous production by mixing polyol with isocynates (like making bread and seeing it rise). The long stretch of foam is cut into thinner slices (like cake) into mattresses, car seats etc. I clever or not? :-)

9. hitomi left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 5:54 pm

i guessed it correctly before i saw yr ans leh. u beliff or not?

10. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 6:30 pm :: 

sunflower, Aloe & Yanzzz: Aiyah... not say I intended this to be a big quiz or what lah. Just wanted to let you all take a guess then flip to the back for the answer only lah.

Zeenie: Your mind is seriously warped, dude.....

Akk: You just having a blast sitting there enjoying my misery in glee right? Grrr.....

MeePok: Trust a chemical enginger to come up with the "clever" answers. Haiz... yah lah... correct lah... come back I give you sweet ok?

Hitomi: I believe!!! I very easy to bruff one! u beliff or not?

Heart Attack!

It was Sunday and I was playing golf with a client/friend when he suddenly complained of pain and tightness of his chest. We brought him to the hospital at about 5pm. We were lucky to be able to pull some strings via our connections to get hold of a cardio-specialist on a Sunday. After looking at him and reading the print-out of the EKG, the results pointed to that of a impending heart attack.

Hospitalisation was recommended but the client/friend refused. Being an ang moh, he just didn't have enough faith in the level of medical care in Ch1na. Personally, I felt that the doctors here are just as good as anywhere else but I understood that his anxiety came from that of a matter of comfort level. Besides, language would be a problem, not only between the doctor and himself but also between MedJet Assistance and the Ch1nese hospital, should there be a need to do a air medivac. I knew that to have a plane in fly in from the US, it would take 3 to 4 days as a result of all the Gahmen red tapes. My friend would have been dead by then.

It was time to make a decision there and then. We decided to move him to a hospital in Hong Kong instead. Medivac from Hong Kong would be much easier anyway.

We headed back to the hotel to pack his stuff and check out of the hotel while I headed home to grab an overnight bag en route. My minivan arrived at 7pm on the dot and we got to the hospital in Hong Kong without any fuss. Even though, I had clearance to use the diplomatic channel, we didn't since the regular checkpoints weren't crowded on a Sunday night anyway. Saves me having to owe someone a favour anyway.

9:30pm and we were in the ER at Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, known for their strength in cardio cases. It was another round of EKG just to be sure and he was admitted right away.

The doctors injected him with a dye so that they can see how the blood flows in the body. As it turned out, one of the 3 main arteries in the heart was 98% blocked. Had he decided to hold off the treatment and fly back to the US first, he would have died in midair as the cabin pressure would have closed up the remaining 2%. Ironic, isn't it?

12:30am and the angioplasty procedure was performed. During which, his companion and I have gone to check ourselves into a hotel and grabbed some dinner. We came back to the ICU at 2:30am to find him awake, chatty and in good spirits. The procedure was a success. We got onto the phones and call everyone back in the US to report the good news.

We returned the next morning at 10am to move his stuff out of the ICU into a private ward where he is to rest and recuperate until discharge on Thursday. It was obvious that he was totally out of the woods as he was walking all over the place and harassing the nurses. Haiz.... chee ko pek, this guy.

Nurse Lo: Everything is settled for now. Anything else I can get for you?

Friend: Your phone number.

Nurse Lo: Oh. *without batting an eyelid* My phone number is ....










Nurse Lo: 999.

Anyway, I took a few pictures of him to email to his family back home. It's amazing what powers of comfort a mere modest digital photo can offer....

.... except the picture where I took of him and the nurse. If the heart didn't kill him, the wife will. Oops.

Oh well, looks like I will be heading back to Hong Kong on Thursday morning to check him out of the hospital and send him to the airport for his home bound flight.

Update: Friend just called me from the hospital. He is dying....

...of boredom. That bladdy joker.

- Voxeros

1. sunflower left...

Wednesday, 15 November 2006 9:07 am

Glad that is not you who is admitted to Hospital.

2. aloe left...

Wednesday, 15 November 2006 9:45 am

If he can be chee ko pek, means he's well and healthy liao. Good loh. :) At least, everything's alright now. :)

3. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 15 November 2006 10:30 am :: 

sunflower: Aww.. so sweet. I think we should go for laksa to celebrate my health when I get back.

Aloe: Rather him be a chee ko pek than a dead guy.

4. yanzzz left...

Wednesday, 15 November 2006 11:03 am

thought its u who got admitted ... heng ar .. wasn't u

5. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 15 November 2006 1:39 pm ::

Yanzzz: Nope. Not me. Acherly hor, I *cough* sibeh fit *cough cough* one.
*shameless*

6. v_icks left...

Wednesday, 15 November 2006 9:40 pm :: http://uwillnvknowme.blogspot.com

whoa. scarey how things could have turned out so wrong, but good that he recover lah.. haha..

7. spellbound left...

Wednesday, 15 November 2006 11:47 pm

*cough cough*
i didn't know you are so *cough* helpful.
then again, i am so proud of you leh, uncle jaywalk!
*pat pat*

8. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:04 am ::

V_icks: Good to have you back. We were talking about his situation and we both agreed that he was never in danger of kicking the bucket (with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight), simply because his time wasn't up yet.

Spellbound: Well, the situation calls for immediate action. There was no time to hesitate. I just took control of the situation and just bulldoze my way through. Glad that everything turned out ok.

9. heatherina left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:14 am :: http://mypaperjournal.blogspot.com

luckily he is ok, so funny, still can ask for the nurse's phone number!

10. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 16 November 2006 7:27 am :: 

Heatherina: Yeah, but the nurse's deadpan reply was lagi more classic!

A Gift Of Life (Part 6) - Chrissy Says Thanks!

Just returned from Hong Kong  hospital after executing an emergency medivac  (Medical Evacuation) for a client/friend yesterday.  Will talk more about it in detail tomorrow.

For now, some good cheer as Chrissy's bone marrow drive yielded 81 new donors. As a token of appreciation, Chrissy wrote a letter of thanks to everyone and I am putting it up here.

Also, my personal thanks to all those who have supported this drive, one way or another.
Thank you.

---

Thank you for your GIFT OF LIFE! Tan Chrissy <chri22ytan@yahoo.com>     Sun, Nov 12, 2006 at 9:29 PM We would like to say a very BIG THANK YOU, to all the 81 people who signed up with the Bone Marrow Donor Programme, and the rest who showed up to lend their support even if they were not ready to sign up yet. We hope that they will do so at the next drive! Also, to those who generously contributed to the Bone Marrow Donor Programme fund. We collected $3150 in donations! The cost of typing each donor is $150, so every cent counts. Click here to view photos of the event. Special thanks to: 1) Alan and Peggy for their generosity in providing Aramsa-The Garden Spa as the venue, and the delicious food and beverage; 2) Shahirah and Chin for pricking the fingers of the 81 donors; 3) Kar Keat for taking time out to share his experience of donating his bone marrow; 4) Jaywalk and his blog friends for including the drive event in their blogs; 5) Chris Ng for mentioning it in his email to his clients; and 6) Those who could not come but still forwarded the email to all their friends. Till the next one! Cheers, Chrissy and Jolene

- Voxeros

Faith And Her PJs

I was chillin' in my study the other evening when I heard a cry of distress from Faith's room. Wondering what nonsense that Faith has gotten herself into, I went over to check.
There she was, with her pajamas wrapped over her head.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm stucked". Faith replied with a whimper.

As I reach down to help her out, I stopped suddenly in my tracks.

"Wait. I want to take photo!!" I said.

"Nooooooo....." she squeaked weakly.

I can feel her staring daggers at my through the fabric but I had the "This-Is-Too-Funny" force shield to parry every thrust.

She must have been in there for quite a while to have put up such a weak protest.

Faith's pajamas is the type with the draw-string around the collar for her to loosen while she puts her head through and then tightened up again to hold the pajamas up. She must have slipped her hands out of the pajamas and was going to get it out of her head before she realised that she had forgotten to loosen the draw-string collar. Problem here was that the more she forcefully try to yank her way free, the tighter the knot became and soon it turned into a "knot of no return".

Hence the call for help.

Silly girl.

- Voxeros

1. akk left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 9:04 am

aarrgghhh!!! this is the sort of thing i absolutely go ''aaaarrrrggghhhhh' to my own dad!!!

2. sunflower left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 9:13 am

iFainted... you still wan to take pic!!!!
Toopid PaPa

3. piki left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 10:18 am

silly daddy. that's a safety hazard - she might just strangle herself inadvertently. time to buy some new PJ's, daddy jay

4. aloe left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 10:24 am

Aiyoh... I not sure if your daughter will love you or hate you for this in future... =S

5. JayWalk left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 4:49 pm ::

Akk: Hahahaha.... so you know exactly how she felt!

sunflower: Abuden? Where else you going to be able to get this kodak moments to reminisce about 20 years on?

Piki: No danger there as the collar has a limit to how tight you can constrict it around the neck.

Aloe: Love, dear. Definitely.

6. Meepoktah Maihiam left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 7:03 pm

Wah lau eh ... Jay .... you are too much. Si peh idle. How come only take one pic? Should do close ups and different angles. Faith will look at these with glee when she's older.

7. JayWalk left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 10:18 pm ::

Meepok: It's the quality and not quantity lah. I sniper one shot one kill one.

8. Jaslyn left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 11:23 pm :: http://precious-jas.blogspot.com

U sure it was just ONE shot one kill? Anyway.. very cute.. Am sure Faith was angry with u snapping pic of her but when U call her 'silly girl'... hmm.. ok, maybe when she grow up.. she'll think back and smile. Btw, why in hospital??

Playing God?

To continue from where I left off yesterday, Qiaoyun also got me thinking about another question.

How do we decide who to help and who not to help?

It sounds like I am play God. No? We don't have a choice there, considering the fact that we are operating on very little resources. We not only have to account for every penny, but also to stretch them if we can.

So seriously, who do we help and how do we go about arriving at such a decision to do so?

Well, first of all, there must be kismet for us to cross paths. It has to be a case either the person heard of RFF and came forward seeking help or we chance upon the plight of the person in need and we offer our assistance.

If not, then it would be a case of us covering the holes over here and the person in need being located somewhere else. This is why I said yesterday that we need more "scuba diving teams" to provide a better coverage.

Next, we have to determine if the case is genuine. In this modern day and age, we have too many crooks out there trying to con you for your money. Too often do we see people being overly enthusiastic in wanting to help that he or she would fail to recognise that they were in fact, being duped. So for us, whenever we review a particular case, we put in a lot of effort in due diligence for the sake of making sure that the person is indeed in need of our help.

Then comes the part, where we evaluate if our assistance would yield any benefit. I believe it is a cliché to say that not everything is about money. For cases that we are not able to provide any help, we may refer them to other people who are able to do a better job than us. We won't take up a case for the sake of taking up a case. I mean what is the point if you are going to creating a bigger mess than it already is, right?

Last and most importantly, is that whoever we are helping must first want to be helping him/herself first. Getting someone out of a hard situation is a partnership between the help giver and the help receiver. There is really no light at the end of the tunnel if the receiver doesn't want to help him/herself. This is the worst kind. The kind that would just sit there and wait for handout while they themselves just slacking away, waiting to be served. Everything is taken for granted or ever rudely demanded as if we owed him/her the help.

The really sucky thing about this kind of situation is that you committed resources to a hopeless cause and at the expense of some other genuine case out there who could have benefited, had we helped the latter instead of the prior.
This is where we draw the line. If you can't be bothered to help yourself, then neither should we.

Remember the case with Baby Tory? A check with KK Hospital confirmed the baby's condition and we set aside money to help with the medical expenses. However, we insisted in checking out the baby's home as a precautionary assessment. However, it was strange that both the parents and uncle aren't forthcoming as far as coordinating with us. The uncle cited the reason as the parents felt uncomfortable seeking strangers for help.

It was exasperating, for here we have a baby's life slowly ebbing away and the parents are too proud to ask for help.

In the words of Adrian, "If it meant that I get to save my child's life, I f*cking get down on my knees and beg for help, man!"
 
I couldn't agree more.

At the end of the day, we withdrew our assistance and while it was a pity that baby Tory will be fading slowing into death's grip, there is nothing further that we can do if nobody in the family wants to do anything anyway.

Click here and scroll down to Section 3 to learn more about Baby Tory.

- Voxeros

1. aloe left...

Wednesday, 8 November 2006 8:50 am

Agree with your friend. If I'm the parents, I would be doing whatever I can... I would not reject help that has appeared in front of me. If it's such a simple thing as home visitation, by all means, go ahead!
Wah raoz... At this point of time, the family is still concerned about "face" and whatever arh.... duh...
Sometimes, one must look at the bigger picture instead.

2. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 8 November 2006 9:54 am ::

Aloe: Apparently for that family, their face is worth more than their kid's life. Go figure.

3. Pam left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 12:19 am

hi Jay, maybe they had help from other resources. I think sometimes we can't expect that people are only reliant on one source/resource. Maybe by the time this offer was given, he'd already got it sorted?

4. aloe left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 8:47 am

Pam, even if that's so, I think they should have the courtesy to at least, let other people know. Then they would not have to wait and wait for the reply.
Anyway, for medical bills, it's very hard to say how much it will come up to, in the end. If it's me, I will just take first. Then when everything is over, start returning the rest of the money (if there's any left) to those people who have helped me.

5. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 2:20 pm ::

Pam: From what we know, they didn't have any other sources. All the funds from the initial well wishers were already exhausted. In that perticular case, the family was just being tardy.

Aloe: I very much agree with you in the sense that I could have used the funds elsewhere during that period of time. With limited resources, there are other people who needed the help but couldn't get it as a result of the previous case holding up matters. At times, we have cases where time is critical. We recently lost a leukemia boy because Gahmen red tape delayed donor's arrival by 2 weeks.

By the time, the donor was cleared to come to Singapore, the leukemia boy died already.

6. akk left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 6:38 pm

perhaps it might be more than just face, although i cannot think why.

7. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 9:05 pm :: 

AKK: Well, you guess is as good as mine.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Faith is 4 today!! Finally we are done with the Terrible Twos and Testing Threes!! Woo hoo!!
Oh wait... still got Gabriel......

damn....

- Voxeros

1. sunflower left...

Wednesday, 8 November 2006 11:00 pm

Happy Birthday to your 宝贝！

2. Jaslyn left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 1:58 am :: http://precious-jas.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday to my little sis *evil grin*
Next time jie jie bring you go shopping! Hahahha..
Why Faith got short hair? Keep long nicer mah :p

3. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 8:32 am ::

sunflower: Thanks!

Jaslyn: She hates shampoo getting into her eyes and so bor bian. Keep short hair lor.

4. aloe left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 8:49 am

Happy happy happy birthday to Faith! =)

5. spinnee left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 8:56 am

Fwah! Faith's same age as my daughter ;)

6. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 2:27 pm :: 

Aloe: Thanks! Thanks!

Spinnee: Unfortunately, it can't be said the same of the parent T_T.

7. Jaslyn left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 3:26 pm :: http://precious-jas.blogspot.com

Ahhh.. Nvm lor.. When she grow older she might be more vain and wants to keep long hair :) She is still pretty in your eyes...

8. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 4:34 pm ::

Jaslyn: I think it is only a matter of time before her vanity kicks in to have long hair and defy all logical thinking.
Then again, babes can be very chio with short hair also what....

9. Heather left...

Friday, 10 November 2006 5:12 am :: http://mypaperjournal.blogspot.com

happppiiiee birthday to her!! :) gosh, i got a virus when I enter your page!!

10. Jaschocolate left...

Friday, 10 November 2006 7:21 am

Wooo.. Faith is getting older liao... When is Gab's birthday ah?

11. Pam left...

Friday, 10 November 2006 6:58 pm

hey...happy belated birthday to Faith! :)

12. JayWalk left...

Friday, 10 November 2006 8:01 pm :: 

Heather: Thanks. I don't think it's a virus but rather a false positive flagged by an over-sensitive anti-virus software. In anycase, if you can provide me with more info on the occurrence, I can take it up with the people at blog-city and have them take a look for us.


Jaschocolate: Gabe birthday in May.

Pam: Thanks!

13. Pam left...

Friday, 10 November 2006 8:23 pm

actually, I get the virus alert too whenever i use IE to load your website. i'm using mozilla now to load yours, and it's fine.

14. JayWalk left...

Friday, 10 November 2006 8:29 pm :: 

Pam: What was the error message, if any? Or perhaps someone can show me a screen capture?

15. spellbound left...

Saturday, 11 November 2006 5:56 am

Faith look so so adorable!!! *sweetz*

16. JayWalk left...

Monday, 13 November 2006 10:20 pm ::

Spellbound: Daddy's favourite girl. :)

17. Derrick left...

Tuesday, 14 November 2006 2:42 am

Congrats. Fearsome Four. =)

Building An Inclusive Society

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) no one     no person; not anyone; nobody: No one is home. no‧bod‧y /ˈnoʊˌbɒdi, -ˌbʌdi, -bədi/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[noh-bod-ee, -buhd-ee, -buh-dee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation pronoun, noun, plural -bod‧ies. –pronoun 1. no person; not anyone; no one: Nobody answered, so I hung up.   –noun 2. a person of no importance, influence, or power.

President SR Nathan touched on this topic during his speech at the opening of the 11th Parliament .

"We will build an inclusive society which leaves no one* behind." - President S.R. Nathan, 02 Nov 2006

Well, President Nathan, I have news for you. People are already being left behind even as we speak although I applaud you for taking this topic up in your speech and plucking those heads that are currently still stuck in the parliamentary sands.

Also, a few of us are already trying to do something about it. It's called the RunForFunds Project.

Granted that our resources and our achievements thus far are mere specks as compared to the projects of national scale like Community Chest, National Kidney Foundation (!), Sharity, SATA, SANA, etc., there is this one thing that the big boys can't give us. The satisfaction of knowing exactly what we are doing and how our contributions are benefiting our recipients.

Let me tell you what I was guilty of. I was guilty of slotting coins into tins on Saturday flag days just so that I could have the sticker to put on my shirt, ensuing peace from the hundreds of volunteers on the streets hounding for your donation.  Did I know exactly who I was donating to? Did I know exactly how my money is going to be put to use?

The answer unfortunately is no, no and up to today, still no and no. I am not proud of it.
I have known of friends who were very diligent in dialing the 1900-charity numbers every year without fail. I can't remember if it was the NKF Show or the President's Stars Charity. You know what? None of them could either. All they were trying to do was to try to win that luxurious condo.

Now wait a minute. What were we dialing the 1900-number for again? I forget.
That was before I got to know old school chum, Adrian and his RunForFunds Project.
Read here to find out more about RunForFunds Project from my archives. --> Click Here.

Again, I reiterate that RunForFunds Project does not solicit funds from the general public. We are 100% funded privately by well wishers. The main purpose of a few friends and myself spreading the word is only to creating awareness and hopefully inspire more people to get up and start their own projects.

Granted that the Gahmen has many assistance programs in place, they are akin to the ocean fishing trawler where, while they are able to cover a much larger area in a single pass, the holes in the net are just too big, resulting in many smaller fishes slipping through them. This is where we come in. We are the scuba divers who are there to catch these fishes that the trawler has missed as wel as to cover these holes.

I was chatting with Qiaoyun last week and she got me thinking about a few things.

"Where do you find all these holes?"

The answer is simple. There are everywhere. You only need to get out there and open your eyes.

How do you know which holes to cover?

Honestly, we don't. We just take it one at a time whichever lands on our lap first. While it may sound haphazard and even to the extend of clueless. There is only so much that we can do with our limited resources. Yes, on nationwide scale, what we had done amounted to nothing of significance.

We only know that we are doing the best we can.

The main idea behind spreading the world is to inspire more people to step up and form their own "scuba diving groups". You cover this end of the net, he covers another end while we cover this end. If we can have enough "scuba diving groups" and covering one hole at a time, all the holes will eventually be covered one day.

This is a long term project for everyone. If we continue our efforts, there will be that one day where all the holes will be covered. Sure the cynics will be saying that as we cover the holes, more will appear elsewhere. Well, this is a valid point but we are only truly defeated if we lose hope, inspiration, aspiration and motivation.

Bear in mind, it is always better to have one less under-privileged person than one more.

Anyway, the Singapore Marathon is just round the corner on 03 December 2006. Adrian and his super friends will be running again (I only know how to super wave my super pompoms). I will cover more of the RunForFunds Project in the week leading up to it.
Watch this space.

As a parting shot, please pardon my cheekiness:

---

Dear President Nathan,

It is most heartening that you are aware of the less fortunate who are at risk of being left behind. I would like to invite you to be a part of our project as a "scuba diver". Drop us a note or keep a lookout of a goofy-looking Adrian during your East Coast Park jogs.
We'd love to hear from you. 

p.s. How do you tell if the person is Adrian? Simple. If you see a bloke that makes you laugh by just looking at him and yet still outlast and outrun all your beefing bodyguards behind you. It's him. 

Jay & Adrian

---

* I hope "no one" refers to the first definition and not the second. 

- Voxeros

1. spinnee left...

Tuesday, 7 November 2006 2:03 pm

when is sgp going to be liberated from all these nonsensical people.. sigh

2. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 7 November 2006 2:46 pm :: 

Spinnee: When non-nonsensical (double negative?) people finally decides to stand up against them and do something about it.

3. akk left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 4:35 pm

yay!!! RRF soon again! If i have frens who want to RRF, what should I do??

4. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 9 November 2006 9:08 pm ::

Akk: It's *ahem* RFF, dear. AS for friends who want to Run For Funds, may I suggest getting in touch with Adrian directly.

One thing to point out as that we had such a good fund raising last year, that we will not be raising any money this year. However, creating public awareness is still very much a priority this year.
 

Drama Of The Shower Trauma

Wanted to blog about this last week but had to shelf it to make way for Chrissy's Bone Marrow Drive .

Speaking of the marrow drive, the response was overwhelming with 81 donors added to the database. Thank you!

My thanks to Qiaoyun and her friends as well as Sunflower for showing up too. I was told that there was quite a number of you guys using the "Nearly Bro-in-law" secret handshake password to a bewildered Chrissy. Let me know who you are by dropping a comment here. I would like say thanks personally.

More on that later in the week when Chrissy sends me photos and a write up about Sunday. Watch this space!

Speaking of Sunday, last Sunday to be exact, I had my usual golf game in the afternoon and I hit the showers at the end of the game like always. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

So there I was in the shower when I felt something amiss. It was one of those bugging feeling at the back of the head but couldn't make anything of it. Then I saw something at the corner of the shower cubicle where the drainage grill was. It looked like some kind of a muddy deposit accumulating there like slush. Funny thing was that had it been mud, it would have been easily flushed away by the water from the shower but this muddy slush was straddling over the grill stubbornly.

Then it dawned on me.




SHIT!!!!!




THERE'S MUTHERFUCKING SHIT IN THE MUTHERFUCKING SHOWERS!!!!

Too bad, I don't have a camera to capture this horrid scene that laid before me. I mean what the hell am I doing with a camera in the shower right? Besides, I got no pockets at the time, if you catch my drift. Sorry, no pictures to show you.

I hastily switched to the next cubicle to finish off my shower. I spoke to the attendant-on-duty about it later and he had to take care of the shit job literally. Poor chap.
Both of us were disgusted.

I mean WTF? Who shits in the shower cubicle?

Looks like it's another entry into the book of Life's little unsolved mysteries.

Haiz....

- Voxeros

1. QY left...

Monday, 6 November 2006 2:16 pm :: http://www.sheylara.com

That's disgusting. I can feel my skin crawling just reading that. :P Anyway, I had a good time yesterday at the drive. I know the event is not exactly meant "for fun" but it was still a good experience. Chrissy and Jolene are really nice and it's great knowing them. :)

2. heather left...

Monday, 6 November 2006 4:26 pm

Eeeeeeewwww!

3. JayWalk left...

Monday, 6 November 2006 10:17 pm ::

QY & Heather: Lucky I was wearing bath slippers when I stepped in. Eeewww indeed!

4. Jaslyn left...

Tuesday, 7 November 2006 1:58 am :: http://precious-jas.blogspot.com

Yucks!!! Imagine u never wear bath slippers... Eeeewwwww

5. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 7 November 2006 8:21 am :: 

Jaslyn: Yah, imagine stepping on it. Ooo... the moist mushy feeling between your toes.....

A Gift Of Life (Part 5) - Thank You

We are two more days away from the marrow drive and it is certainly very heartening to see so many good  people out there stepping forward and landing a hand in whatever way they are able to provide.

My personal thanks to the following people who have graciously agreed to help spread the word on their respective blogs.

--> AngKuKueh @ http://akkueh.blogspot.com
 
--> gunmetal:red @ http://nuttytentacle.blogspot.com/
 
--> Aloeve @ http://www.xanga.com/aloeve


--> Lexandria @  http://alcoholicbitch.wordpress.com/
 
--> Sunflower @ http://sunflower700.blogspot.com
 
--> Meepok @ http://meepoktah.blog-city.com
 
--> limboy @ http://lim-boy.blogspot.com
 
--> nadnut @ http://nadnut.liquidblade.com

--> CoWg0eSm0o @ http://cowg0esm0o.blogspot.com/
 
--> Spinnee @ http://spinnee.blogspot.com
 
--> Qiaoyun @ http://www.sheylara.com/

--> Ah 9 @ http://9.liquidblade.com

--> Modernburrow @ http://modernburrow.lah.cc/

--> Starmist @ http://wishinguponashootingstar.blogspot.com/
 
--> duckhawk @ http://duckhawk.liquidblade.com

--> Heather @ http://mypaperjournal.blogspot.com/

--> RUOK @ http://www.vinceli.com/blog/

--> Averil Chan @ http://averilchan.blogspot.com

--> Jasmine @ http://jasochocolate.blogspot.com
 
--> Tomorrow.sg @ http://www.tomorrow.sg
 
--> My Other Blog @ http://redhalfofmanchester.blogspot.com

For those who are going down, my gratitude again. Do make it a point to say Hi to Chrissy. Tell her, I sent you. Tell her, her "nearly-brother-in-law" sent you. =)

Anyway, this is my last Chrissy entry before we approach the main event itself and I will like to show an email update pertaining to the marrow drive.

From: "Jolene Ong" <joleneong.jw@gmail.com> Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 13:22:05 +0800 Subject: Updates - Gift of Life this Sunday! Hi All, Thank you for your support and well wishes for Chrissy. Don't forget to come this Sunday, 5th November from 10am to 4pm to Aramsa - The Garden Spa at Bishan Park II, 1382 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1. Please take down my number in case you get lost : Jolene 9187 3888. If you are worried about what they will do to you on Sunday, don't worry, it will only be a finger prick. A friend of mine, Kar Keat, has donated his bone marrow before, and he is coming over to share his experience with us ! He will be there from 11am to 1pm so if you are worried about what one has to do or go through for an actual bone marrow donation, please come during this time to ask him questions! By the way, there is no obligation to sign up if you do not want to. Just come and learn more about Bone Marrow Donation, and we would have taken our cause one step further. Monetary donations are also welcome! There will be a charity box from the Bone Marrow Organisation there. Lastly, Aramsa has very kindly offered us $30 discount vouchers for people interested to try out their treatments. A regular Aramsa Massage or a Swedish Massage costs $94.50 before discount, for a one hour treatment. So for $64.50, you get to experience their 'spa-in-a-park' concept. However, you are advised to book an appointment as soon as possible as slots are limited. Tel: 6456 6556 http://www.aramsaspas.com/ Chrissy and myself are really looking forward to seeing as many people as possible, so do try to reach out to all your friends and come on over to Bishan Park! Activities you can do there: Bring your family, have a picnic, have lunch at the restaurant, get a massage, Fishing, Roller Blading, Cycling and even Kite Flying! See you all there, and please pass the word around even if you cannot come. Cheers, Jolene Mobile: 9187 3888 Email: joleneong.jw@gmail.com Bus Services:133, 136, 169 and 262 Nearest MRT: Bishan and Ang Mo Kio

- Voxeros

1. spinnee left...

Friday, 3 November 2006 10:22 am

It costs nothing to bring warmth to a human's heart.
Hope the turnout will be good...

2. sunflower left...

Friday, 3 November 2006 2:21 pm

Jay, I am going down.

3. JayWalk left...

Friday, 3 November 2006 10:05 pm :: 

Spinnee: I hope so too. I too agree that sometimes the smallest gestures reaps the biggest reward. 

Sunflower: Ahh.... more people to go up to Chrissy and say the secret password "'Nearly bro-in-law' sent me". hahahaha.... It would be most amusing to have a bunch of people coming up to a bewildered Chrissy and saying the password. LOL.

A Gift Of Life (Part 4) - Reply From Chrissy

Hi!  Fri, Oct 27, 2006 at 9:55 AM Hi Jay, Great to hear from you! How have you been? Met <wife> and your really chubby son early this year at <bro-in-law>'s place. You must be a proud father. Well sad to say the email on the internet is not a hoax. I was indeed diagnosed with leukemia 2 months ago. But I'm doing really well now after 2 rounds of 'torturing' chemo!! Am due for another round and bone marrow transplant end of next month. Don't have to worry about me, I've been very positive about this since day one. Even my doctor was amazed at my respond when he 1st broke the news to me. I'm all ready to fight it, I love life too much to give it up!! Golf, food, alcohol ( although can't have it anymore) men!! ;-) Good to hear that your friend is recovering and in good spirit, cheers me up to hear people in the same condition doing well. Pls send my best regards to him. Pls come by next sunday to the bone marrow donor drive if you happened to be in town. Otherwise I hope to see you sometime somewhere soon :-) Your almost (should have!!) sister-in-law, Chrissy P/S How you like my new hairstyle? ;-)

The positivity in her response totally floored me. To be honest, I was caught off guard as I was half expecting a forced-to-be-brave-but-half-hearted "fine, I am doing ok, I guess." Instead, I was greeted with an email bursting with sunshine.

She is a real trooper, I tell you. The courage in the face of adversity humbles everyone in the vicinity. Myself included.

I was glad to find out that she has a marrow match from her brother. While members of the immediately family have a higher chance of a match, it is not an absolute given. Even a match coming from family is itself a small miracle, according to Chuan.

The marrow transplant is scheduled to take place at the end of November and I have every confidence that we are going to win this.

p.s. Again, I am asking everyone to go for the donor drive or at the very least plug this to spread the word around. The more the merrier, they say. Drop me a note when you have done so. Thank you.

Chrissy has received a gift of miracle and this donor drive is her way of saying thanks and forwarding the miracle to the next patient.

- Voxeros

1. spinnee left...

Thursday, 2 November 2006 10:18 am

Amazed by her positivism.
Had forwarded the email to my friends as well. will link this post soon.

2. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 2 November 2006 11:45 am ::

Spinnee: Thanks for chipping in. What I like about her attitude is rather then just sit there and wait patiently for someone to bail you out, why not just get up and do something about it? In the event if there is nothing you can do in the mean time, it is also great that you are getting up and do something else in the interim.