"Worst Case Scenario...

...is the loss of sight"

That's what the doc said today... but if i see him every other day for check up to ensure the infection doesn't spread and if i religiously instil the eye drop hourly then it should recover.

On Monday the other doc (i've been examined by 6 docs since Saturday) scraped off some of the bacteria from the infection, remember? Today's doc said "it has grown in the bacteria culture and it appears to be the dangerous kind, BUT the eye drops you're using now is helping although the recovery is currently a little slow".

So... will i in the future wear an eye patch or have a white left eyeball?
-shrug- we'll see... we'll see...

Eye Infection

That's what i have now, an eye infection.

Chronicles of my infected eye...
Fryday night i take out my eyes for the night, then 2 hours later i feel an irritation and tearing in my left eye socket.
Saturday morning i awake to a swollen/red/irritated left eye; i see the GP. She says there's a speck of dirt on the eye ball and proceeds to anaesthise the eyeball > use a needle to dislodge the speck > use a piece of cotton wool to wipe the speck away. Giving me a dose of antibiotics and anti-swelling/anti-bacteria tablets, i'm off and feeling a little better.
Sunday morning i awake to a much-improved left eye! I spend the day in glasses and get through the day without much fuss, dropping the eyedrop every hour.
Monday morning i leave the house with a yet-again teary left eye. It is supremely irritated and painful and dripping with tears! I struggle through the three hour test and finally see the Doctor at work after the test who refers me to the eye specialist at NUH. I had lessons in the afternoon so i told him i'll go after lessons. "I advise you to go NOW, but if you insist on going after work it's at your own risk". I endure the four hours of lessons then took a cab to NUH. Arriving at 530pm i saw the doctor who did an eye exam, put some dye in my eye, examined it somore, took some bacteria samples from my eye with a needle, then sent me off with three separate eye drops; finally at 8pm.

I've got three days of MC and i have to visit the eye doctor on Tuesday morning for a check up, but i'll probably get back to work on Wednesday or risk failing a test on Fryday...

I don't usually fall ill but when i do... it's something quite major. =(

Alphabets

a, b, c, D, e, f, g...

After more than half a year of not having been able to find the time, last night we met for dinner and a drink thereafter. Unfortunately there wasn't a camera for photos to remember the teapot-soup, the headache-inducing fish tank, the too-far-behind cushioned seats, the too-sweet mango drink, the kissing couple along the way, the rat scurrying to-and-from drain to drain, and the oh-my-bus-is-here mini-anxiety. Fortunately there's this blog to leave some words as pleasant memories.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Thanx d.

Upgrading

Currently on an upgrading course.

The Course:
Commenced this week and will end in a month and a half.

I Will:
Study hard, learn practical lessons, and be tested.

Unfortunately:
The upcoming tests will fall on Monday...

Say Goodbye:
To my weekends!

Good Service?

It is so easy to have "the generally good service of 3 people" brought crashing down by a single person's bad service. An example was during our dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant off Bukit Timah Road.

The price wasn't on the low side, the place was clean and neat, and the 16 of us were seated at the back of the restaurant in a cosy corner, enjoying an a la carte buffet. There was even a Marine Fish Tank (4ft length x 2ft depth x 3ft height, with beautiful fish, corals and crustaceans, costing $6000-7000 to set up and $500/month in maintenance) next to where i was seated! The ambience was excellent in my opinion. The service of three of the waitresses was "generally good"; they were understanding, forthcoming in recommendations and patient in explanation of menu and constraints. But one particular waited made us doubt this restaurant could be ranked "a great restaurant".

Bad Service Incident 1
Colleague: "I'd like to order this, and this, and this"
Waiter: "ok"
Colleague: "Can i add this item as well"
Waiter: "Remember that you that you will be charged for leftovers"
...?!?!?!?!? Note that there was no "please", as in "please remember" or "please be reminded". Ok, ok, maybe this was just trivial; a gentle reminder...? Fine, but you can't deny the bad service in the 2nd incident.

Bad Service Incident 2
Colleague: "Can i add more dishes?"
Waiter: "ok"
Colleague, intending to check if he was ordering too much: "Can you repeat my order?"
Waiter: "I thought i told you just now?"
Colleague: "...(speechless)..."
...?!?!?!?!? What cheek!

Would you as a customer service representative of the company pull your company's service reputation down just because you're having a bad day? Ok, maybe not as a junior waiter. But wait...

This Incident Takes The Cake
Waiter: "Sir i'll have to charge you leftovers for this, and this"
Colleague 2: "How if we finish half of it, will it be a half-charge?"
Waiter: "No, the price is this and this"
Colleague 2: "So if we leave one slice, it will be full charge?"
Waiter: "Yes"
Colleague 2: "I see... interesting! May i request to speak with your manager?"
Waiter: "I am the manager"


He was the operations manager! Interesting eh? Now you know why people want to hire "the right people for the right job"... he'd definitely succeed in a job requiring firmness and no tact, but in this occupation, i'm not so sure...

Why Do You Laugh?

laugh (p)
1. To express certain emotions, especially mirth or delight, by a series of spontaneous, usually unarticulated sounds often accompanied by corresponding facial and bodily movements.
2. To show or feel amusement or good humor
3. To feel or express derision or contempt. To feel a triumphant or exultant sense of well-being.

Give it some thought... we laugh because:
someone else did or said something stupid?
or we are embarassed we never thought of that possibility, thus use the laughter as a cover-up for the embarassment?

Now whenever i start to laugh, i pause and think about what made me laugh. What was said or did that made me feel embarassed? I can learn something from this laughter!

Inspiration

What is inspiration to you?

Does this mean anything to you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPrL3n63yg

Does it inspire you?

What do you feel?

Have You Seen Mars?

If you haven't been reading the papers or the news or the spam your friends send you, here's something interesting in the month of August...

Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August.
It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye, and this will cultimate on August 27 when Mars comes within 34.65 million miles of Earth. Be sure to watch the sky on August 27 at 12:30 am. It will look like the Earth has 2 Moons.

Don't Miss it because the next time Mars may come this close is only in 2287, and NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.

"There is an email circulating in cyberspace saying that the red planet Mars will be exceptionally close on 27 August (2006). According to one version “It will look like the Earth has two moons”!!!

Once again this is a good lesson in not believing everything on the Internet. The email is a hoax describing in a somewhat exaggerated fashion the events of 2003. On 27 August 2003 Mars was only 55.8 million kilometres away which is almost the closest possible distance it can be from Earth. To the unaided eye it looked like a shining red beacon while through a telescope a small red disc could be seen with some dark features visible. Above is a great picture of the planet by the Hubble Space Telescope taken on 27 August 2003.

In late August this year (2006) Mars is faint and just visible after sunset low in the western sky."
- Mars is not approaching this August, Sydney Observatory