OFF DAY = Children's Cancer Foundation + Temple??

As the title suggest, today is my off day... typically on my off day, i'll slp in, give myself some time to catch up on my slp..ehhe den just slack away doing nothing..heheh... however, today is slightly different, i woke up around the same time, freshen up myself went out for my first appt of the day.

First stop was to the Children's Cancer Foundation (CCF) to meet up with the in-charge. As one of my resolution this is yr is to contribute back to the society, i decided to become a volunteer at CCF. I went thru a round of interview, to let them review if i'm suitable for the post i applied for. Btw i applied for the Play Personnel position. It will requires me to engage children with cancer in structured play activities at the hospital ward, outpatient clinic or Family Support Centre. Help to clean toys, prepare art & craft activities and/or run group activities. During the process, i was given a brief orientation on what i will expect as a volunteer. I also learnt a few things:

(1) There is no known cause for most childhood cancer.
95% of the cancer in children occur spontaneously. Since the triggers of most childhood cancers are unknown, preventive measures are limited. Thus far, studies suggest that there is nothing a child or parent did to induce cancer, and therefore, should avoid doing in order to prevent cancer.

(2) Cancer is not contagious.
Cancer cannot be spread from one child to another. Children with cancer are isolated as children with cancer has low immunity and are vulnerable to infections.

(3) Childhood cancers are not death sentences.
Most childhood cancers are curable. For example, in Acute Lymphoblastic Luekaemia, which is a common form of Leukaeium in Sngapore, 3 in 4 children will be cured with chemotherapy alone. A successful cure depends on recieving the current-day standard therapy, a positive attitude and determination to overcome cancer.

(4) Children with cancer can still lead a normal childhood.
Many children return to normal school life after treatment. In other cases, the children and their families adapt and modify their lifestyle to achieve normalcy. This becomes much easier with care, understanding and suipport from family, teachers, friends and other caregivers.

(5) Common types of Childhood Cancer
There are more than 100 different types of childhood cancers that can happen in different parts of the body. The most common type in Singapore is Leukaemia, which is cancer of the blood; where white blood cells grow abnormally and invade other tissues and organs via the bloodstream. These white cells crowd out and slow the production of healthy blood cells.
Other common childhood cancers includes Brain Tumours & Lymphoma.

(6) Modes of Treatment
The most common mode of treatment for these kids are Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy & Bone Marrow Transplant.

(7) Psychological & Social Impact of Childhood Cancer
As the children undergo treatment, they experience the following:
- stress & behaviour changes: - Disruption to school
- Anxiety over long-term side effects of illness & treatment
- Impact on siblings
- Coping with marital strain & employment issues (this is applicable to their parents)

all information from pt 1-7 are quoted from CCF. It is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for nor engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease. It is not a subsitute for professional care.

Btw, CCF is a non-profit organisation that aims to improve the quality of lives of caner-stricken children and their familys through enhancing their emotional, social and medical well-being.

After the orientation, i strongly hope that everyone can treat these little fighters with respect. be sensitive about their emotions and physical well-being. The last thing they want from us is sympathy & alienation. All they want is a chance to fight on and lead a normal childhood...

I look forward my first day with the kids after CNY.
Eh, anyone wants to join me?? :) if you do, let me know...


2nd appt of the day was a trip to the "Si Ma Lu Kwang Ying Temple". Use to go there on a monthly basis. But recently stopped going altogether. Today went pray for my family's safety and health. Make the usual donation & i even got a "qian" for my family. It's lot no.31. It meant that, everything will be good and be patient, den success will follow. Family will be safe. Thats exactly what i prayed for!! haha..well u might tink tat i'm being superstitious, but i'm not! Sometimes its good to hear things that are good, so it makes your day. Take all the interpretations with a pinch of salt and don't be obssessed abt it.

That's how i spend my morning and early afternoon. Meaningful~~

When i fall in love....~~ Chris Botti

As the tittle suggest, "When I Fall In Love" is a world known love song many are familar with... there are many versions of how the songs are sang or played... i particularly love it when its played by Chris Botti.. A little background on who he is, he's a trumpeter and composer; born in Portland, Oregon. His music style is describle as smooth jazz during his early stage of career. Though still featuring heavy contributions from pop music singers, Botti's more recent albums have found him exploring more traditional jazz territory, with lush orchestral arrangements.

Botti has also performed or recorded with artists such as Sting, Frank Sinatra, Stven Tyler, The Blue Nile, Joash Groban, Michael Buble, Paula Cole etc..

How did I know of this cute trumpeter?? I once watch an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show where 3 couples were picked and she sponsored their wedding expenses! This amazing woman then single handedly planned each of the couple's wedding reception & left them with an unforgetable night. For 1 of the couple, she hired Chris Botti to play "When I Fall In Love" as the couple's first dance... everyone was mesmerrized by his song.... i guess for a moment everyone cld feel the love btw the couple....

Since his career started in 1995, he has composed/produced 9 albums...i've gotten one of the albums tittled "When I Fall In Love". Its his 8th album..and i'm loving it!!! His songs are really very good "chill out" songs... very different from the usual pop/rock songs i listen to ..heheh...am i getting old or wat?? Guess a change of music style helps in one way or another...

run run run...breathe breathe breathe...

its been a long time since i last ran outdoors...shld haf at least 6mths ba... and so today i ran outside... took the usual route... from the club..towards esplanade..along the river...due to the construction of the new floating platform at the river, i had to run along the road.. den to liang court & u-turn back to the club...hmmm... distance covered shld be abt 4.5km-5km ba... too long nv run le..wich is why very easily tired.. i ran for abt 45 mins...in in btw i took small breaks ..hehee.. well haf to keep it up if i wanna take part in at least a half-marathon end of the yr...:)

oh yeah tat reminds me, mi got to get either a pair of motion control running shoes or the in-soles to protect my feet & knee. Reason being that i'm a flat-footer... & if i wan to cont to run & not hurt my knees, ill haf to take some precautions...:) its not cheap lei...the in-sole itself cost abt 80 bucks..average can last abt 6mth?? as for the shoes, i'm still looking out for it...not cheap either.. at least 150 bucks....sign... but for my knees, its worth it...:)

Home-made Chicken Soup for my soul

Mummy boiled chicken soup for me for dinner..one of the nicest soup in the world... ingredients include a big chicken drumstick with lots of wolfberries, 'dang gui', a little of wine & of cuz lots of love in it..heheheh somehow it took away my tireness at work today, calm myself down a little..hehehe..tks mummy..muaccks muaacks..

Oh yeah by the way the SIMS family i created have their own baby already!! Yes!! its a baby ger & i name it Annabelle. Very interesting as during the pregnacy process, the 'mummy' ate alot & slp alot.. 'daddy' cld even baby talk to mummy's belly...heheh of cuz daddy was very appreciative that mummy is carry the baby... now that the bady is born, there's more work to be done... right now baby is slping in the same room as daddy & mummy. soon daddy will be building a nursery room, buy more baby clothings, toys etc.... and both cld see baby Annabelle grow!! interesting...:)

i miss sch life...

Due to work requirement, i was at Sentosa today for a rdshow.. the last time there was with uncle dar dar at his annual coy family day. He was the organiser for the "amazing race" game. I help out too..heheheheee.. by placing the clues and aso keep track of time... was a fun day as we even went play the go kart after that...

Anyway, was there since morning till abt 5pm. The event was NTU's annual Surf & Ride event. Seeing the students participate in various activities made me miss school life so much..heheehhee..back in sch i was just like them, no need to worry abt work or money..no money dun go out lor...there's always alot of things to do without spending money... i was always having vb or canoepolo training every other day... life was carefree & fulfilling to me back then... On days if i was feelling not focus, i cld botang certain lectures with some buddies, head to the reservoir to relac & eat our fav rum & rasin ice-cream...
But ever since starting to work, i cant botang work wor.. & due to the fact that im starting to work, i need to work to feed myself... in other words i'm on my own, without the pocket money given by daddy or mummy. Its gd as i've learnt to be independent & self-reliant. But still there is a part of me that wish tat i cld stop time & forever stay in my poly yrs..hehehe

Was aso chatting with my colleague earlier on abt her studies. Congrats to her for being the top saleswoman of 2006. She droped out of poly yr 1 after taking part time for 2 semester. Seeing the NTU students living a carefree life, she has a sudden urge to cont her studies. I asked her what is stopping her fr doing so, she mentioned that its not easy to go back into studying again once u started working. I somehow agreed with her. But with the amt of money she's earning, she can easily go into full-time studies for 3 yrs, while doing some part-time job for some allowance. She might be considering that. In any case, i wished her all the best. She knows what is gd for her!!

As for myself, will i further my studies?? I dun tink so in the near future as tats not my top priority right now...i dun know if i need it and im not sure wat to study...so making money is more pratical...=)

Oh yeah, and i miss the sun, sea and the beach!! comparing to how i look 3 yrs back, im so fair now tat ppls started to comment tat they prefer me tann!! aiyah, antoher thing i missed most...tanning!! back in the sch days i tann so regularly that now, any additional time i haf for myself is for my family or my loved ones....besides when i haf time, its night time liao...cant moon tann lei..hahaha

i died of hunger....in the sims 2

I cant believe it...i was starve myself to death in the SIMS 2!!! muahaha... i can explain tat, its my first try at playing the game, so i have some navigation problems..not tat i dun haf them now...still haf but i'm slowly getting the hang of it liao..hahah

Now i have created another family..tis time round, its a newly wed couple. Both working...both wants to start their own family.. & u know wat...there is an option for them to create babies!! and yes its them doing tat 'thing'...hehehe...so interesting... so now, wait for them to go to the doc and test if they will haf their first baby!! i wonder if they cld check or select the gender of the baby?? When the baby comes along, more shopping to be done liao..heheheh

the next family i'm going to create cld be a pair of best frens living together?? or two homosexual living together?? heheh..

look out for my update....:)

Volleyball....Pei Dao Sec... a legendary...

Volleyball...
a sport which brought me tears, joys, laughter, pain, bruises, muscle soreness, injuries...
a sport which taught me discipline, determination, hardwork, confidence, leadership, sportsmanship...
a sport which earn me glory, victory, respect...
a sport which made me some friends for life...
a sport which gave me a mentor i'll nv forget...
a sport which gave me the best 4 yrs of secondary school life in Pei Dao...
a sport which gave me memories which are priceless....

Volleyball was once a big part of my life.. note that i use "was" as i stopped playing volleyball competitively 3yrs back. All in all, i played vb competitively for 7yrs.. the first 4 yrs are the most memorable. Tks to my mentor, Mr. Lim Ba Seng, one of the best vb coach in sg (he was originally training the track & field team. But was tasked to form a vb team in Peidao. Within the first yr, he train a team of elite players who rule the vb world for many yrs...no one dunno who he is... no one dunno who the Peidao players are...till today, we are still legendary... & i'm proud to be in it), I started from someone who knew nuts abt vb to a representative in the youth team. Through hardwork with my then team mates, winning was sweeter than anything in the world. But sad to say, the closest we ever won was a silver medal in the finals.

The last 3 yrs of my competitive vb "career", i represented Temasek Polyechnic... very different feeling when you got a different team of team mates, winning was still sweet with them, but sad to say again, the closest we ever won was a silver medal in the finals...

i recieved a sms this morning from one of my senior "recruiting" all peidao vb players back to play once again!! Training will start after cny and first competition wld be the local open tournament which most likely will be happening in Aug later this yr.

To me, winning is still important, but its not on top of my list... playing once again for Peidao, showcase the skills we have (although most of us will be quite dusty?? heheh), having the Peidao spirit, singing our team song, is something which i haf been hoping...

I look forward to putting on my Peidao jersey once again...playing with my fellow team mates again... creating more great, priceless memories for life....