MTGS

Today I checked out the 3-station IPPT but first this is the 3-station standard: 3-Station Standard At first I was thinking the new system might be tougher since it has only 3 stations, last time was 5 stations, but I tried the calculator and got a pleasant surprise. 20 push-ups, 36 sit-ups and 15 mins for 2.4 and I get 53 points for a pass. This is not so siong for me. Pass! If I try harder, 24 push-ups, 40 sit-ups and 14 min for 2.4, I can get incentive which is $200. Incentive! Wow, now want to pass is much easier. One catch is there is a minimum amount you must do for push-up and sit-up or else you fail, for me is at least 11 each which gives me 1 point each which means minimum must get 1 point each for push-up and sit-up, surely I can do more than 11 la. Another good thing is I have one whole year to pass, and if I fail, I have another year to take RT, big improvement, last system was very punishing for working people, with this new system I think it will ...

My wife was discharged on 26 May 2015, until now we still haven't got the final bill from hospital, reason why I need it is because I can claim part of it from company which is quite a substantial amount. I checked with the NUH staff twice and they told me pending on CPF side, so yesterday I called CPF and got a shock, they told me they haven't received the Medisave claim from NUH! How can it be, NUH told me they submitted on 10 Jun, and until yesterday CPF haven't receive? Then the CPF staff told me today they should receive my claim and will process it, wow, it's been more than 2 months since my wife discharged and now then they process, I wonder how NUH send the claim to CPF, don't they have a computer system or at least registered mail, it's ridiculous. Anyway I hope I can get the final bill next week so I can submit to my company.

Just read about this story where one of our youths were planning to go support ISIS in Syria, and if that was not successful, he was thinking of attacking our key facilities and assassinate our country's leaders, and if he was unable to carry out the bigger plans, he intended to attack people in public with knives, like the China and Taiwan cases, so as to strike fear in our society. Religion can really twist a person's mind if abused, a Singaporean want to attack Singapore, can you imagine that, must lock him away indefinitely, and any such people, they are harmful to our society and radical thinking must never be allowed to breed here. I hope people realize how fortunate we are in Singapore, how everything here is so precious and didn't come by easy, and we must do our best to protect it not just for ourselves, but also for future generations. Don't just say no to terrorism, take action, report it, who knows you might just save a lot of lives.

About two weeks ago my wife was complaining about the mucus in baby's nose, she used cotton sticks to clean baby's nose but deep inside cannot reach, we know there is something deep inside because when baby breathes, sounds like there is blockage and seems as if she has difficulty breathing but actually it's not as bad as we thought, most important is baby can feed well. Anyway we bought the bulb type of nose cleaner, the brand is Tollyjoy, one piece for $4.10 at NTUC Fairprice, this one cannot clean the mucus deep inside because the suction is very weak, you have to press and release to generate suction, and the bulb is so small so it is impossible to generate a powerful suction. I think the only good thing about this is small and easy to keep, and good for cleaning those visible mucus, but that can be done by using cotton sticks so really no point. So today we bought the tube type, brand is Pigeon, one piece is $6.90, damn worth the money, should have bought this i...

Just now saw two types, one is with the tape the other is like a short, no need to tape just wear, both selling for $10.95 each, one pack I think 50 or 60 pieces, wanted to buy but didn't because don't know good or not, I had a bad experience with cheap diapers recently so this time we bought back the same brand with same manufacturing location i.e. Thailand. This $10.95 even though also MamyPoko but it's made in Indonesia, so cheap, how can they sell until so cheap, must be something wrong, good material where got so cheap, must be using lousy material that's why can sell at low price, this kind of money cannot save, no point giving myself more trouble just to save that few dollars. The good MamyPoko still the best, very absorbent and lasting, I bought the 3-8KG pack for $19.95, inside have 68 pieces.

Recently we saw this brand of diapers at NTUC, damn cheap, bought 2x32s packs for $9.95, it's small size for up to 7KG, newborn also same price, I thought cheap can try but compared to MamyPoko really huge difference. This PETPET always leak, especially in the night, always leak on the bed sheet, damn jia lat, the Mamy brand can last one whole night if only pee and no poo, poo have to change because smelly but actually still can hold, this PETPET pee or poo all leak! MamyPoko is about 2x the price, but trying to save and bring inconvenience is not worth it, better stick to the proven brand, anyway baby is now larger, have to buy bigger, the newborn size can hardly fit now.

Finally the jaundice starts to come down, I think sooner or later will go below 100. Wife has stopped drinking the ginger tea for some time and jaundice comes down, definitely the ginger tea is the culprit so if breastfeeding better avoid ginger products, it will cause jaundice to go up. Baby's liver test also improved, doesn't show any sign of liver problem, probably the high enzymes also caused by the ginger tea. She is also gaining weight well, now she is 4.1KG, now carry with one hand feels heavier, she also looks more meaty now, soon she will be able to walk and talk haha.

I heard about the Low Yat Plaza incident from my Malaysian colleague, he told me some thugs stole a phone from one of the shops in the plaza, a Lenovo phone, after that the staff at one of the shops named Oppo was alerted and they tried to stop the thugs, then after that the thugs brought friends back to take revenge, then next day a mob gathered and smashed everything they see and beat up people. I went online and saw a different version of the story, supporters of the so-called thugs said the shop scammed them and they were the victims instead, but in the end the a video surfaced to show that the theft did happened. These two days seems like a lot of the story was removed from sites, I think the Malaysian government is trying to keep things from going out of hand, it is after all a very sensitive issue, but those people who got beaten up, their cars smashed, this made me realize how safe we are in Singapore, yeah we had the Little India Riot not too long ago but that one is more...

Time sure flies, baby will be exactly 2 months old tomorrow, so what have I experienced and learned? So many things and I would like to share a few. Ginger Tea and Breastfeeding My daughter still has jaundice now, last reading was 200 last week, came down from 234 once wife stopped consuming ginger tea so I'm pretty sure the ginger tea is the culprit. So if you are breastfeeding, avoid ginger tea, just stick to normal healthy food such as milk, veggies and meat. And always eat everything in moderation, especially sweet stuff, pregnant and post-partum women seem to love sweet stuff so be careful with that, you don't want to end up making diabetics your friend. Pram is a Must-have The SG50 baby sling is useful but I guess not many people will find it that useful because there is some learning curve, and you have to adjust quite often to suit the baby. You can practice at home but when you are outside shopping or dining (especially in non air-conditioned places, SG is a ho...

Today my parents and sister's family came to visit, we went to eat at the Zi Char stall at my neighbourhood, food was decent and inexpensive, for 6 adults and 2 children I paid $100. I think once in a while a family gathering is great, maybe in future we can plan something more fun when my daughter is older, now she is 2 months old so not convenient, have to bring pram and breastfeed, but actually not that bad la, if wife is not working it's manageable, of course if can afford maid even better, but my house no room for maid, cannot expect maid to sleep in living room right. Anyway I enjoyed tonight's dinner.

Today I received a letter telling me that I can collect the SG Funpack at RC centre or community centre near my house, but thing is need the SG Funpack Postcard which was sent to me earlier on, by now I have no idea where that card went to haha, anyway it sounds like it's going to be one hell of a long queue, it's free and there will be free refreshments so there should be a crazy long waiting time and massive crowd which puts me off immediately, anyway doesn't matter now that I lost the postcard.

Last year I paid $493.48, this year I am supposed to pay $272.58, so much lesser than last year even though this time my chargable income is slightly higher, that's because of a 50% tax rebate, it's part of Singapore Budget 2015, this is helpful, $200+ might not seem like a lot but it can pay for more than 2 months of my utilities bill. As usual, I pay online, so easy, I wonder how people in the past pay their income tax, do they go down to some office to pay or what. Nowadays with internet so readily available, stuff like paying bills is made so easy, all at a few clicks of the mouse.

Today we went to see the paediatrician and also did a few tests, this time the test results improved, even jaundice also dropped to 200, this one whole week wife didn't take the ginger tea as instructed by the doctor last week, so I'm pretty sure the cause is the ginger. As she is breastfeeding, whatever she eats gets passed to baby, so the ginger also passed to baby. At first doctor thought it might be due to liver blockage but after examining baby physically and looking at the results, everything seems normal, doctor also thought might be due to red blood cells damage but physically doesn't seem to be the case. Later she will call me when she get the full blood count result. The doctor also said fully breastfed baby can have jaundice that lasts longer than usual, so I'm not worried. The only thing that I'm worried is when they need to draw blood for the tests, baby will cry until like so painful, so heartache but I tell myself it's something that has to be...

So on 24th Jun I topped up $500 to CDA, today I checked the account and there is $500 extra, it was top-up by MSF on 08 Jul, so now baby's account have $3500.04, the $0.04 is the interest for Jun. I think later they will top-up another $2500, making the total to $6000, now this is really helpful, I can use it for so many things for baby, but I try not to utilize it, if possible I want to save it for her post secondary education, in future education will be even more expensive, and it's not easy trying to work and study, like me I got my degree working full-time and studying part-time, those were siong times man, I remember going to classes from Expo MRT to Jurong East MRT, finish class then take train back to Tampines, really very shag. Looking back, it's been 11 years since I ORD from army, time pass so fast, if I didn't get my degree, I wonder what I will be doing now, probably still working at the warehouse, every year increment is $50, by now my basic pay should...

She is now 48 days old, going to be 2 months on 20 Jul, now she is starting to make those gaga sounds, I think soon she might be able to talk! I'm hoping she can learn to speak Thai from my wife, I will speak to her in Mandarin and English, and maybe she can learn some Hokkien and Teochew from my parents, so when she grows up she will know quite a few languages! Anyway I think if she can speak Thai, English and Mandarin, it will be very helpful for her, maybe some day she can be an interpreter.

Last week we went to eat at Penang Street, today we went again but today was quite a disappointment. I ordered their Roti Canai guess what they gave me, two instant pratas and a small bowl of curry sauce with 2 small pieces of potatoes inside, like that also can. Other than that, we also ordered marmite squid which is not bad, fried carrot cake not as good as I thought, our local version definitely better, wife ate char kway teow, but I still don't understand how come they serve instant prata, is that how roti canai is supposed to be? I don't think I ate roti canai before but from what my friends told me, roti canai is the same thing as our roti prata, which I presume should be handmade. And I am definitely not mistaken, I am a prata lover, instant prata tastes completely different from handmade pratas, also look very different, although you can try to squash it like the indian chefs do but taste and texture can never be mistaken, by the way today they served unsquashed so I...

Today bring her to see the paediatrician, he did some physical checks and said baby seems fine, most probably the jaundice is breast milk jaundice and he offered two options, one is to stop breastfeed for a week and put baby on formula, if jaundice goes away, then can confirm it's caused by mother's milk, the other way is to continue breastfeed but have to closely monitor, wife wanted the latter option so we have to go back again in two weeks time. Doctor also ordered a liver function test and a urine test, the liver function test have to extract blood, just now baby was crying profusely, cry until no strength, the nurses had difficulty extracting blood from her hand so they tried her feet and finally they managed to get the blood, but it's so traumatizing for baby, hopefully don't have to do it again, at least not in front of us, they did the test before when she was hospitalized for jaundice, I think that time she also cried so hard. But what needs to be done has to...

This morning brought baby to polyclinic to check her jaundice, they did 2 tests for her, one can get the results now the other they have to send to SGH. So the normal test shows 234, doctor is wondering why it didn't go down since baby is now one and a half month old, but I think it's because of breastfeeding, my wife is exclusively breastfeeding, no formula, I read on the internet this is is called breast milk jaundice and it should go away by 12 weeks, hope so. Actually 200+ is nothing serious la, provided baby is healthy, but doctor is concerned so he referred baby to NUH paediatric gastro department to check her liver, he want to make sure baby liver is okay, I think while baby was in NUH, they probably tested it already but no harm testing again. And today they weigh baby at 3.4KG, wow grow so fast, just last week was 3.1KG, seems like one week she can grow 300grams, another 3 months she will be heavy to carry lol. Anyway after the consultation, we went to eat...

So that day I opened the CDA with OCBC and deposited $500, today I got my OCBC internet banking access all set up, so I went to my DBS iBanking account to do a fund transfer. I was thinking whether to put my name or baby's name, I remembered actually account is opened under my name for baby, so I put OCBC bank, the account number and my name as recipient. I used the FAST transfer, really fast, after transaction completed, I logged into the OCBC account and I saw a total of $3000, the transfer is immediate. So later when I receive the next $3000 from government, I will also top-up to CDA, this is to save for baby's future, hopefully don't have to use too much so this money can go to her education account. I hope one day she can study in our NUS or NTU, don't be like me, secondary school dropout, but well, not doing too bad now with a private degree but if I went to a good university, I probably can do even better, who knows. Truth is, if family is not rich, then edu...

I bought 1 lot of SGX on 08 Jun at $7.95, sold it yesterday for $8.25 and made a small profit of $247.06. Yesterday suddenly surged to $8.26, so I quickly sold it during office hours lol, also good chance to free up some cash, I think stock market will adjust downwards more, the Greek crisis doesn't seem to have an end in sight, I wonder whether they will continue to stay in eurozone, see how, now better to have more cash.