Twitter - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

3 days.

32 tweets.

Following 36.

14 followers.

I'm not exactly setting twitter on fire, but I've learnt a lot so far...

The Good

• It's fun!
• It's instant!
• You can "follow" celebrities!
• It's a wonderful source of information.

Expanding on that last point a bit, I want to share with you a couple of wonderful sources of information that I have found via twitter.

resourceshelf is a US website that collects all sorts of information of interest to information professionals, educators and journalists. They tweet links to each new resource that they list. I follow them, which means that I receive all their tweets. When something catches my eye, I click on the link to read more. If something is really interesting or useful, I "retweet", which means that I repeat the tweet to all my followers (who may not follow resourceshelf themselves). See how the information is passed on from twit to twit?

LISNews is also US based, and provides links to new posts about libraries and information science.

Getting away from the whole libraries/teachers/books theme, I also follow techreview, who tweet links to articles about the latest technology innovations. Recent posts include Glaucoma Test in a Contact Lens and Robotic Planes Chase After Climate Data.

Obviously, I have not even begun to plumb the depths of the information available to me via twitter.

The Bad

Unfortunately, I just can't seem to help myself from tweeting ridiculously boring details of my daily life! It's just so addictive, and I must admit I have been guilty of the following tweets:

• OMG just finished helping Alana with her homework!
• Devilled Sausages simmering in the Crock Pot for dinner tonight :)
• Yay! The Vampire Diaries is back on GO! tonight :)

Sorry, sorry, sorry!

The Ugly

There seems to be a whole slew of people that use their twitter account simply to generate as much traffic as possible to their website (for the purpose of making money). They tweet multiple times about a new product/great deal. Ugghh, who could stand to follow them and get repeat tweets about making money and winning things all day? Not me.

Now excuse me while I tweet a link to this post :)

PS. What are your experiences with twitter?

Josh is a Good Citizen - Values in Education

My gorgeous boy Joshua received a "Citizen of the Month" Award today at school.

Here he is proudly showing off his certificate.

In the second photo you can see the badge he received pinned to his shirt.

Citizen of the Month is something that Josh's school does in response to the Australian government's push for values education in all schools. The nine values for Australian schooling are:

• Care and Compassion
• Integrity
• Doing Your Best
• Respect
• Fair Go
• Responsibility
• Freedom
• Understanding, Tolerance and Inclusion
• Honesty and Trustworthiness

Josh received his award for Fairness - "Pursue and protect the common good where all people are treated fairly for a just society."

If you want to find out more about Values in Australian Schooling, head here.

What value do you think schools should teach?

And, for my overseas readers, a special treat! Here is a close up picture of the spider Josh and I found outside when we were taking the photos.

TTT - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner!

what three celebrities would you invite to dinner?

I am hopeless at these sort of questions! I always second guess myself, and wonder what on earth my choices say about me, and what others will think. I'm hopeless!

Well, here goes...

1. Ellen Degeneres

Why? I feel like I know her already from watching her on TV. She just seems so nice. Funny, honest, kind, intelligent. I think she'd be a fun dinner party guest, and someone that you could get into a great conversation with.

2. Sting

Why? I used to have a crush on Sting, way back in The Police days. The first concert I ever went to was 1986 The Dream of the Blue Turtles tour. Love his music - maybe I would get him to sing for his supper! Plus I'd love to hear about tantric sex in more detail...

3. Julia Gillard

This one may be a who? rather than a why? for my non-Aussie readers.

Julia Gillard, deputy PM, seems a down-to-earth kinda gal. I think she'd be great company over a few drinks and a good meal, and I reckon she'd have plenty to add to the conversation.

So that's my three, a mixed bag if ever I saw one!

If you'd like to play along, click on the button, which will take you to Shannon's blog Welcome to the NutHouse! Table Topics Tuesdays is on every week.

I

I'm a Twit!

If you look on my sidebar, you'll notice that I've added a "Follow me on twitter" widget.

I'm now tweeting!

So far I'm following 10 blogging friends via the buttons on their blogs. If you tweet, let me know by following me, and I'll follow you back.

My Perfect Silence by Penelope Evans

My Perfect Silence by Penelope Evans.

Borrowed from my local public library.

*** "Intriguing"

From the inside cover: "'I was four when I killed my baby brother.' Rose can't even remember how it happened, but in the aftermath only her older brother Max remained the same. Beautiful Max, stepping in between her and a world that has changed too much. Rose needs him more thank ever when, at fourteen, she stops speaking. Twenty years on and the media has fallen in love with Max - and Max has fallen in love with Caroline. When Caroline is killed, suspicion inevitably falls on Rose and she once again looks to Max for protection from the harsh world. But will that be enough?"

I like reading a book whose story surprises me. This is one of those books. The author writes from Rose's point of view, and we go right back to the beginning, if you like, to when she is four years old, her baby brother is dead, and suddenly noone, not even her parents, looks at her the same anymore. We see Rose growing up, being sent to boarding school, dealing with the breakup of her parents' marriage and her mother's alcoholism. We never think to question Rose's narrative, because she is talking about her own experiences.

Towards the end of the book, we discover that Max has been keeping something from Rose; something that will shed new light on everything that she thinks she knows. By the time I got to the end of the book, I almost wanted to re-read it with my new knowledge, so that I could see everything clearly this time.

I seem to be on a bit of a roll, reading books with difficult themes, that are disturbing to read. This one is no different, with the inevitable dysfunction of a family in which a child is killed by another very painful to observe. Very occasionally I hear in the news a story in which a child accidently kills a sibling, and I always wonder if there's any way back from it. Is healing possible?

I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't just read some other difficult books before it. I usually do enjoy books that ask hard questions, and refrain from giving pat answers, but I think I've overdosed!

Look What I Cooked!

Ginger and Soy Glazed Salmon with Buk Choy

Coconut Rice

Recipe by Curtis Stone for Coles. Got rave reviews from all! What did you have for dinner last night?

Six Degrees of (Blogging) Separation

I'm playing a cool game that I found via this post, by Stacie of Simply Stacie. It's called 6 Degrees of Blogging, and is a fun way to discover new blogs.

This is how I played:

1. a reader's random ramblings (my blog - you are here!)

Now, I follow a link to another blog. I chose

2. One Persons Journey Through A World Of Books from my list of Blogs I Follow.

From her list "A Few of my Favourite Blogs", I chose

3. Reading at the Beach.

From "Some of my Fav Book Blogs", I linked to

4. All Write With Coffee.

From "My Blog List", I picked

5. Southern City Mysteries.

Finally, from one of her two (!) blog lists, "Blogging the Non-Mysterious", I clicked on

6. A Squirrel Amongst Lions.

So...introducing A Squirrel Amongst Lions: A writer's journey from passion to print.

Written by Girl with One Eye (see pic below).

Love this from her profile: "her time as a stay at home mom runs out and she must answer the question of a mid-life crisis, "What am I going to do when I grow up?" "

Yeah, I know the feeling!

I loooooove the "look" of this blog.

The most recent post is titled "What's your favourite pair of jeans?", and reading this title I feel that I am among friends! But reading through the whole post, I realise that Girl with One Eye is cleverly using an analogy, comparing different types of jeans with different writing styles. It's entertaining, and informative, and OMG I'm so jealous because she has 27 pairs of jeans!!!

So, why don't you check out this blog, or visit some other blogs on my list, or even play along? It's fun, and you never know what you might discover.

Social Justice Challenge - Domestic Violence and Child Abuse

I'm participating in the Social Justice Challenge this year.

Click here to find out more.

The topic for March is Domestic Violence and Child Abuse.

The book that I read for this month is The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas.

I have already had this to say about it. 

From the back of the book: "At a suburban barbeque, a man slaps a child who is not his own. This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, friends and relatives, who are all directly or indirectly influenced by the slap...What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity - all the passions and conflicting loyalties - that family can arouse..."

This book is not, by any means, an easy read. In fact, I found it incredibly disturbing, and the slap itself was the least of it. There is a lot of anger expressed in this book; a great deal of foul language, violent sex and drug-taking. The characters are well drawn, and realistic, but are like nobody I know in my world.

Despite the difficulty of reading this, I did feel it was a valuable catalyst for thinking about child abuse, particularly opening up the issue of the fine line between discipline using corporal punishment, and abuse.

I also found the dissection of family relationships and loyalties fascinating.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel that this book came to a satisfying conclusion. I didn't feel a sense of hope at the end of it. However, if you're stout of heart, and it interests you, then I think you find it provides plenty of food for thought.

In My Mailbox!!!

OMG a book arrived in my mailbox today!

Don't get too excited, it's not like an author or publisher sent it to me for free. It's a book that I ordered (and paid for) from The Book Depository. The Book Depository is an excellent online bookstore, particularly great for us Aussies, because the prices are good and the delivery is FREE!

I bought The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark and paid only AU$16.34 which is great, believe me. Koorong would have charged me $18.95 plus $5.95 postage, and they are in Australia!

Why did I buy this book? This post by Amy at My Friend Amy intrigued me.

Now if we could just start the free books coming...

TTT - A Blast from the Past

would you rather live for a week in the past or in the future?

Here's my take on it: Drop me into an American High School in the 1950's.

When I was growing up, there was a slew of 1950's themed movies that I absolutely loved. A major favourite was Grease.

Loved the music, loved the outfits, loved the teen culture.

Then along came a movie that combined 1950's teens with time travel. You guessed it - Back to the Future.

Gotta love the Enchantment Under the Sea dance!

Does anyone else remember Peggy Sue Got Married?

Check out the cars! Awesome!

My movie experiences at an impressionable age have rendered me impossibly romantic about life as a teen in America in the '50's. So that's where I'd like to live for a week.

What about you? Play along with Shannon at Welcome to the NutHouse!

Smacking Kids - What do you Think?

I'm reading a book at the moment called The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. It got quite a lot of press when it came out (in Australia, in 2008) and is becoming, I'm told, quite a book club favourite.

The Slap tells the story of a typical Australian barbeque with family and friends. The adults relax over a few drinks, enjoying each other's company and some great food. The kids are kept entertained by DVD's and video games, or at least that's the plan. Unfortunately, a group of kids of various ages, left to their own devices to "play together", often run into trouble. After a fracas resulting in a broken game remote, an uncle sets up a game of cricket. Let the kids expend some energy, what could be a better idea? The best laid plans... One of the kids is difficult, uncooperative, and throws a tantrum when he is "out". As his tantrum escalates, he lashes out at the adult who has grabbed hold of him in an effort to settle him down. The adult gives the child an almighty slap.

So, is it ever ok to hit a child?

In The Slap, the child in question is three years old, and a terror. The adult who slaps him is not his parent. It opens up a lot of questions, including where does discipline stop and child abuse start? Is it ok to discipline a child that's not your own? What happens when family members disagree about appropriate behaviour and discipline strategies?

I'd like to add some more questions. Is corporal punishment effective? If you choose not to smack, what alternative strategies are the most effective?

Also, a comment. I've noticed that it's very difficult to discipline children when you have an audience. A BBQ with family and friends is not the ideal situation in which to practice your own style of discipline, under the watchful (and sometimes critical) eyes of others.

Reading the Sunday Telegraph this morning (hard copy), I noticed this article by Lisa Mayoh:

In defence of smacking, I'll take a hit



The Sunday Telegraph, 21-03-2010, Ed: 1 - State, Pg: 113, 884 words , FEATURES


What I'm about to tell you is controversial, there's no doubt about that. I'm not proud of it, and I know I'm going to cop a lot of flak -- but it looks like I'm willing to take the hit, so to speak. I recently did something I never thought I would d...

Unfortunately, the article was not reproduced in the online version of the paper, and searching the archives only gives me what I have reproduced above. To get the full article, I'd have to pay.

In the article, Lisa describes a personal experience in which her younger cousin (Lisa is an adult, her cousin a six-year-old child) splashed her with water at a family picnic, and in her anger, she slapped him. She describes how upset she was that, despite being told in no uncertain terms not to wet her, the six-year-old disobeyed her and splashed her anyway. Yeah...kids will do that.

She's not proud of having slapped him, and the child's parents aren't angry with her, so no harm done, right? And Lisa is pregnant with her own child, who she plans to smack "if they're naughty".

So what do you think? I'd love to hear some opinions on this issue.

Happy 23rd Birthday, Xiuli !

The citibankers, S.G.A.K.X met up again for Xiuli's 24th, opps...23rd birthday celebration @ this Mongolian buffet restaurant...


Gina with Xiuli... the food was ... okay lah, but most importantly was the companion.


The 5 of us... with non-stop of laughter, especially when Gina is around, haha.


May all your wishes come true, Xiuli!

And thanks for your encouragement, am still carrying your small "bible" around, the white book. I have a colleague from my department thought I was a staunch believer in Christianity when he saw that book. Haha... but I told him was from a friend, and I kept it with me, to give me the strength to move on.

Thanks. =)

A Day in the Life of Alana

First we do her hair...

Then we do her makeup...

Check out those false eyelashes!

If you can't guess, Alana had a ballet eisteddfod today. She performed three times. First, her Modern Contemporary solo. Here she is all ready to go.

Doesn't she look adorable!

 And, she got first place, which was a lovely surprise.

Next she and her friend Phoebe danced a duo that they choreographed together for the first time.

We had lots of fun glueing (!) diamontes into their hair so they'd look all sparkley on stage :)

We used the glue that you get with your false eyelashes!

The girls got third place, which was fantastic! Lastly Alana did her Modern Expressive solo.

She didn't place for this one, but we didn't mind. There were lots of beautiful dancers, so as long as she enjoyed herself dancing, we're happy.

Now it's back to reality, and she's doing her homework!

Oh No! My local library branch in trouble!

From my son's school newsletter, received today:

"We have received a letter from the Council. Council is considering closing (our local branch) because it is costing them some $40000 a year in rent alone and the volume of borrowing is relatively very low. While having a joint community-school library in our existing library is not feasible because we use it for classes all the time, plus our library computer system is not compatible with theirs, we do have another alternative. I suggested that if the Council were able to persuade the Education Department to leave us with an extra demountable when the new building opens and our surplus demountables are removed then we would be happy for that demountable to be used as a joint facility. Council would staff and stock the Library and it would operate along the same lines as the current branch Library. They would also pay us rent (not 40K obviously) and we would have use of the facility as well. The proposal has gone forward to the Regional Director in (nearby city) for consideration. I know that many people want the Library to remain where it is at the shopping cintre, that's a matter for the community; our offer is intended as an alternative to the total removal of the Library from (our community)."

What a shocker! First I'd heard of it. So I decided to head over to the Council website to dig a little more. Trawling through the minutes of Council meetings is not the easiest going. Anyone would think that they didn't want you to know what was going on! But I was able to find in the minutes of the March 9 meeting:

"Consideration of the operation of (the) Library be deferred until further discussions have been held with the Principal of the Public School and the Department of Education and Training on the use of the school site as an alternate library and a further report come back to Council."

My initial thoughts:

• There are lots of people that wouldn't, for one reason or another, feel comfortable using a branch within school grounds, rather than in a public shopping centre.
• Would the branch only be open during school hours? If not, what are the implications for the school if people are coming in and out when school isn't open?
• Why does the shopping centre charge so much for rent when the Library provides an important community service, and doesn't make a profit?

This is all further to my post the other day (see here) about funding for Public Libraries being "redeployed" by Council by making opening hours shorter. It all seems a bit more sinister now. If they save $40000 a year in rent, plus wages etc by closing my branch, what will that money be spent on?

I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience in a shared community/school library. How does it work?

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton.

Borrowed from my local public library.

*** "Hardcore supernatural"

From the back cover: "'I don't date vampires. I kill them.' My name is Anita Blake. Vampires call me the Executioner. What I call them isn't repeatable. Ever since the Supreme Court granted the undead equal rights, most people think vampires are just ordinary folks with fangs. I know better. I've seen their victims. I carry the scars... But now a serial killer is murdering vampires - and the most powerful bloodsucker in town wants me to find the killer..."

There's an interesting story behind how I chose to borrow and read this book. While blog-hopping, I happened upon gnooks via this post at ANZ LitLovers. gnooks is a handy tool to find an author you might like based upon authors that you already enjoy. I tried it out and Laurell K. Hamilton was the author that it suggested. A quick browse of my library's online catalogue helped my choose Guilty Pleasures, the first in the Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter series.

So, how did gnooks do? Did I enjoy the book? Well, yes...

The world that Hamilton has created is a far cry from the world of Sookie in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampires (True Blood) books. Anita Blake inhabits a world in which the dead rarely rest in peace. Black magic abounds, the dead can be raised, zombies and ghouls terrorise cemeteries, and undead creatures can gain power over mortals to do their bidding. Only religious icons, used with true faith, can stand against evil, and rituals involving the spilling of blood are commonplace. To tell you the truth, I found it all a bit disturbing.

The general plot of the book follows Anita's ordeal as she attempts to solve the vampire murders before she loses her life. I've got to say, however, that I found it awfully confusing. A lot of characters were introduced, and I sometimes found it difficult to keep everyone straight in my mind, and particularly the relationships between them. I know that this is the first book of a series, so I assume that the characters would continue on in further books, and the reader would find it easier as they went along to remember who was who.

Will I continue reading this series? The jury's still out. 

In My Crockpot

This post is a bit of a spoof on the "In my Mailbox" meme. All around the book-review blogosphere, bloggers happily reveal the piles of books that they have received from publishers and authors for review. Big juicy piles of books that clog up their bedside tables and take up their time. Mountain-like TBR (to be read) piles of books to read and review.

Not me. I haven't yet come to the attention of any publishers, authors, publicists...anyone really. No-one's sending me books. So instead I'm offering you a look inside my weekly adventure into the world of slow-cooker cooking.

Last night's effort: "Mild Chicken Curry"

Please note the authentic, old-school CrockPot!

Mild Chicken Curry ingredients included chicken thigh, carrot, sweet potato, onion, red capsicum and coconut milk. I served it with cous cous (I love cous cous and think it goes with any casserole!)

Yum! Oops, plate looks a bit messy - not up to Master Chef standard!

What do you like to cook?

And would somebody please send me some books!!!

TTT- Healthy Eating or Exercise?

It's that time of the week again - time for Table Topics Tuesday.

Head to Shannon's NutHouse to play along.

is it harder for you to eat healthy or get exercise?

For me, it's harder to fit exercise into my day than to choose healthy foods. It's not that I don't have time to exercise, my issue is the sweat! Stay with me here...

If you're going to exercise and work up a sweat, then you have to shower, change, and do your hair and makeup afterwards - it's all that I have a hard time fitting in. Please don't tell me that you can exercise in your lunch hour - I don't want to hear it! I'm the type that goes extremely red in the face and sweats a lot, especially my head. I'm not fit for human consumption until after a shower, and if I'm going to look at least somewhat well-groomed, I need to do my hair and face. That's just me. I'm not 20, I'm not thin, and I have to try a little to look good! More power to you if you're ready for anything unmade-up with your hair in a ponytail, but I'm not!

On Fridays, I go swimming with a friend of mine for exercise. We meet at the pool first thing after the kids go off to school, and do half an hour of laps (that's 1km for me). Then we shower and change at the pool, slap on some moisturiser and run a comb through our hair. Next we head to the closest shopping centre where we enjoy a coffee together at Gloria Jeans. Sometimes we run into someone we know, even with the red marks from our swimming goggles still on our unmade-up faces. Oh well. After our coffee, I head into the supermarket and do my weekly grocery shopping, then head home to unpack it all (a workout in itself). Then I fix up my hair and face before picking up Josh from school and doing all my usual Friday afternoon taxi-ing (gymnastics, ballet, youth group).

What about you? Is it exercise or food that's your downfall on the quest for health and beauty?

A Post about Libraries - Shock Horror!

For those of you who don't know, I started this blog as an assessment requirement for my Masters degree in Teacher Librarianship. The idea was to use the blog as a personal learning journal, to record the development of my knowledge about the role of the Teacher Librarian.

Along the way, I somehow hi-jacked the blog for my own purposes, reviewing books, talking about myself and my family, and connecting with lots of other bloggers.

I love blogging! I enjoy having a forum to post my thoughts and photos, and I like the fact that everything I've posted is neatly archived so that I can revisit it if I want to. I have a great time blog-hopping, reading about parenting, fashion, education, current issues, libaries, and lots of silliness and fun!

So, today I'm actually writing a post about libraries. This morning I heard a news story on the radio about the public libraries in my Local Government area. They are shortening their opening hours due to a restructuring of the budget. A quick visit to the Council website confirms that "changes to library hours will bring us closer to the library operations of similar sized Local Government Areas around the state" and that "funds have been reallocated to provide improved library resources and better maintain library facilities and no funding cuts have been made to library budgets".

So, does that mean that I should expect an influx of new books to arrive in my local branch? More computers? More comfortable couches? Just how much money are they saving by reducing hours? And what, exactly, are they going to spend it on? What's better; a reasonably good library that's open long hours, or an excellent library open shorter hours? What serves the needs of the community better?

Speaking of meeting the needs of a community, two ladies from my church run a library of Christian books and other media to serve the needs and encourage the Christians in our community. Visit the library website here, and see what a large catalogue they have managed to amass in the year since they began. Do you know of any private, non-profit libraries in your community? Whose needs do they serve? How successful are they in meeting their goals?

Sunday Fitness 2 : Weight Loss Methods for Men

Sunday Fitness is back! Thanks to Nutritionpark.com, every Sunday will be updating fitness articles. =)

Sliming doesn't mean it is for ladies only. It is quite evident these days, with the slimming programmes and men cosmetics emerging from all corners. In fact, the biggest advantage of slimming for men is that weight loss is much easier for men than women because men have higher metabolism rates than women.

So you may ask, what is metabolism? Metabolism is actually the complete set of chemical reactions that occur in living cells. These processes are the basis of life, allowing cells to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments.

One of such metabolically active tissue is muscle. It requires a certain number of calories each day to maintain, therefore, the more muscles you have, the more calories you require. As your muscle mass drops, so does your daily caloric requirement.

Hence, it is very important for men who wish to slim down to pay attention to your gym sessions. The more muscles you develop at the gym, your caloric requirement and metabolism rate increases and helps you lose weight faster.

Here are additional tips for you to lose weight fast!

1) Cut back (Cut your intake of food to 3/4 of your normal serving size). Slowly reduce your intake of food. The more food you consume, the harder it is to lose those fats. For starters, just reduce your normal serving by one quarter.

2) Stay Away From Fast Food. The amount of flour and oil used to make these foods is enough to turn anyone off from taking them. These are high calorie foods that should be avoided at all costs.




3) Increase Your Activity Level (Burn off unnecessary fats!). Exercising is the best way to lose weight. The more you exercise, the more calories you burn.



4) Only eat when you are hungry. (Mouth itch is not allowed). The lower the intake of food is, the better it is. Remember everything you put into yourself is additional calories.

5) Set a goal (As the saying goes "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"). Setting a realistic goal is very important, it gives you the motivation to go the extra mile. Use a food and training journal to keep track of your progress. It allows you to set targets and keep track of your weight and food intake as well as exercise routines.

6) No Soda (Loaded with calories, don't be fooled by diet soda either). Soda or even Diet soda is loaded with calories. A lot of sugar is added to give you the sweet taste.

7) Drink Water (When? Once an hour. Why? Good for your body and complexion). Water removes the impurities in your digestive system hence unwanted residues can be cleared easily. Drinking water before meals also makes you feel "full" and prevents you from gorging.

8) Limit Alcohol (Ever heard of beer belly? The reason lies with the calories). Drink fresh fruit juice instead!

Does it seem like an uphill task to complete? I won't disagree with you if you think it is. Weight loss is a process and not an instant solution. What you have just read is not a life changing plan, but a step-by-step adjustment to your current lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with drinking some liquor on a happy occasion. Occasional enjoyment is always necessary for our mental well-being. Do not force all these methods on yourself immediately or you will most likely give up within a week. Instead, set a realistic target and carry out everything gradually. Monitor yourself to ensure that you are making good progress.

Best of Luck!
About the Author:
Colin Tan is a fashion model, fitness trainer and sports nutritionist based in Singapore. See more of his articles at http://www.nutritionpark.com/ .
This article is brought to you by NutritionPark.com - Bringing you good nutrition and real results.

http://www.nutritionpark.com/ .

One, Two. Three. Gone

Took my tooth out on Tuesday. Yea, some of them out there will definitely says, "Finally arh, Kevin Soh." Lol...yea. Finally. Took out my molar tooth instead of wisdom. Since the molar is already decayed. So right now waiting for wisdom tooth to grow out, and close up the gap.


This was the fillings done last year during my exam time.

Blood wasn't able to clot since the day I pluck my tooth out, went back to see the dentist, sneak out during office hours. Then dentist told me that I am one of those who belong to those blood thinning problems. So I had to raise my pillows, to elevate my head to sleep at night.

Thank god, all the sufferings gone. =)
Took out my stitches today, everything's well, just that need to go back a few more times to check on the wound and wisdom tooth.

Thanks those who showed your concern, I'm still surviving yea. Haha...

Going to e-awards, invited by omy.sg... will be back for more updates later. =)

Holiday is Booked!

Here are some photos taken straight from the website of the caravan park that we have booked our holiday for January.

Looks nice, doesn't it! I won't name it, but this park is in the Port Stephens area on the NSW coast. It has plenty of activities on site, and is right in the middle of a thriving tourist spot, with plenty to do within a short drive if we want to get out and about. (Or if it rains.)

I'm so glad that the holiday is booked and I don't have to think about it any more, except in a good way!

Alana is on her first youth group camp this weekend. Forty-four teenagers from 11 (yes, Alana is the youngest!) to 17 years of age are hitting Jambaroo Action Park today, then all bunking down on inflatable mattresses in a scout hall tonight before returning home tomorrow afternoon. Here's some pics of what she might be getting up to...

Aaaaargh, should I be worried about her???