Rant 894 / Crockwork

I'm finding my N8's camera so useful now in my work. Worth every cent.

I use it to take pictures of my samples and label them in my photo editor to remember them and their corresponding numbers.

I also use it to take pictures of new designs that have potential.

Finally and most importantly, I take pictures of work documents instead of saving copies because a lot of them are handwritten. Because of the high resolution, I can take a picture of an A4 size document in a single photo and be able to see everything clearly when I zoom in.

That last is the most important function to me. I no longer need a scanner or photocopier if it's just for my own eyes. I also save everything in my PC whenever I plug it in so nothing is ever lost.












$9 for a haircut! That's what I paid when I visited this barbershop across the street, instead of all the hair salons in my neighbourhood. It's probably the only barbershop here - all the others are hair salons.

Wasn't bad at all since I wasn't into anything fancy, just a trim. Most interesting part was when he took out that large straight razor to shave my sideburns. I've never had such a huge blade so near my throat before.

Also, despite all the "hair saloons" that can be found on Google, it's hair salon!

A saloon is a place you go to get drunk.

And in this case, drunk on hair, I guess.

The only difference I can tell between the hair salons and the barbers is that the latter also handles shaving (facial hair). Shaving alone costs $7.50 there, but a haircut plus shaving costs $12.

But I don't really know why anybody would need a barber to shave for him in this day and age. It's not like there's anyone with a beard in Singapore.













Supporters of Gaddafi want to get out of jail now that the civil war's over.

Too bad.

What did they expect? The Western countries to come and fight for their freedom?











Rain. It's arriving like clockwork everyday for the last 4-5 days. Always at about 2-3pm, when I'm out.

I am not amused.











So the new Giant Christmas catalogue arrived. Apparently the last coupon catalogue can be used on top of these new offers!

Unfortunately, there were too few items that I could buy to justify the cab fare.

For example, the dozen-can pack of Coke Light at $7.75 ($8.25 offer price + $0.50 off from coupon), ie $0.65 per can, is almost definitely cheaper than what I can find nearby.

The Dettol 550ml Shower Gel refill packs at $3.40 ($3.90 offer price + $0.50 off from coupon) might be cheaper too, if its even available at all here. If it isn't, I'll compare with the Show Gel bottles themselves, whose conclusion is obvious.

Everything else that interests me is just not cheaper despite the discounts.

Moreover, I can definitely expect something from Shop N Save in the near future too, although I'm not sure if the outlet near my place is going to participate in whatever sale it organizes.

Either way I'm not visiting Giant for this sale.












So my mum has returned to the point where she's confused even about how much time she has left. A friend of hers whom she recently called and informed of her condition visited her on Saturday.

She called me there and asked me why I'm not hiring a maid and let her stay home.

It was only when I mentioned my discussion with her oncologist at NUH, in which we agreed that hiring a maid was not worth it when she only has several months left, that she revealed to me that my mum told her she had 3 years left.

If only that was true.

One of the doctors told me on the first day that even several months was an optimistic estimate because if an infection sets in, which is very likely due to that wound and the steroids, she'd go much sooner than that.

I've already said everything I needed to say to her. There were a few things I realize I had to say but never got a chance to until I thought she was gone. 

Now the most important thing is that her suffering is minimal. So far she isn't feeling any discomfort and that is good.

But it also puzzles me, which worries me slightly. If she's only got a few months left, won't that mean the pain will come suddenly and increase very quickly?

Hopefully she won't be like the patient who keeps whining about pain but it could come to that. Right now she and my mum are the only two patients in the ward who have been there since my mum's arrival. Everyone else has come and gone.

And she's near her end. Yesterday the nurse gave her some sort of medicine because she hasn't passed motion for seven days and, according to my mum, her family agreed to stop feeding her the night before. She could barely eat that day. It's like what the doctor told me - the intestines are among the first organs to shut down.

Within the week she's going to be transferred to a single-bed ward, just like all the others.

...

Y'know, maybe she was trying to lie to her friend to make her feel better.