"Blogging will kill you!"

This is not the headlines of any newspaper article I've read recently. It's what 2 people who are closest to me have been warning me since they witnessed the birth of my blog. Of course, since one of them happens to be my brother who stays in the same house as I, perhaps there is an ounce of truth in that...

Let me explain.

I started this blog because I like to pen my thoughts. I used to write pages and pages in my diary and I have collected 5 whole books of my own ramblings - celebrations and joys, woes and blues. At other times, I can talk (and whine) incessantly to whomever would listen - of late Des has become my most frequent victim (sorry darling!).

But... I can't seem to blog as naturally as my friends do. I just can't understand how they find the time to post something a few times a week, and long & interesting articles they are too! Perhaps, unlike me, they are able to access the internet regularly, and have the time to sit for at least a few mins a day blogging.

Me? I'm just an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist. You won't believe how many teeny weeny details that I've changed about this blog since I started it. Some of those changes may not even be visible to the naked eye! (Ok, I'm exaggerating). And that's the reason why I haven't been posting any articles lately - 'cause I've been busy adding a link here, a comma there and changing the colour somewhere...

Of course, the second reason is that I am extremely super-busy. Ask anyone who knows me well enough and they'll tell you.

On top of working on average 10 hours daily, at the current moment I also have the following weekly activities:

• gym (twice a week)
• date my darling (2-3 times a week)
• have dinner with his parents
• meet with the committee of the fellowship group from temple
• go to the temple for youth activities every Friday
• meet up a best friend on a weeknight, AND
• meet up with other close friends in gatherings on weeknights or weekends

That, my friend, is more or less what I do with the weeknights and weekends in a typical week!

I'm t-i-r-e-d just listing all of them down.

But I digress. Back to why I was told that "blogging will kill me". It's because with my full and packed schedules each week (and sometimes I also work late till 9 or 10pm), I still try to:

• Go online to clear my mailbox (it is hell when you are a member of 6 Yahoo! groups)
• Stay in touch with other friends via sms/email
• Blog or post up some photos
• Read the latest novel that I'm hooked to
• Read the newspapers to catch the headlines and any other stories that interest me
• Watch some Astro
• Wash my clothes once a week

Thus it is not surprising that I end up sleeping at 4 or 5am in the morning on some workdays. Of late, I have been turning up at work with bleary eyes, dark circles, a husky voice and a slower-than-usual brain speed more often than usual.

That is why blogging will eventually "kill" me. Or rather, I would think it is the "I-am-so-tired-but-let's-just-do-this-one-last-thing-before-I-sleep" trait of mine that's causing me to lose all this sleep and eventually one day drop dead at the road side from fatigue and lack of decent food and rest and pushing myself too hard!

~ ~ ~

Don't mind me.

I'm just rambling... as usual.

Sometimes I feel that I just need to rediscover that button in me somewhere that reads 'Slow Down' and take things one step at a time, rather than accomplishing 101 things at once. Other times I think that working with a work-obsessive colleague with high expectations has me going down the wrong end of the road, rather than making me feel more motivated.

So I conclude by saying this to myself - yes, I know one of your mottos is 'Live like there is no tomorrow', but if you don't sleep well or nourish yourself properly and occassionally spend some quality time with your family, there may not BE a tomorrow to live for. Understand, girl?

I am very sure mum will be happy to see me home earlier and more often. Lately she's been nagging about my late nights at the office and late (or shall I say, early!) bedtimes.

Tonight will be the last night I stay in the office till 9.30pm to check mail/blog/post photos/surf the net/read others' blog. Guess I will have to opt for other ways of 'releasing stress' and entertaining myself - like go for a good movie, read a good book from start to end or even taking a nap. Gosh, I have forgotten how it feels to have long, glorious, fulfilling nap.

Cheerios and wish me luck in the 'new' start in my life!

A vegetable or not?

This is a case in point of why we should not decide to pull the plug for relatives who are in a coma or labelled as a 'vegetable'.

Patient aware of events during 20-year coma

Aug 8, 2005, The Straits Times, Singapore

FOR 20 years, Ms Sarah Scantlin was seemingly unaware of the world around her after an accident sent her into a coma in 1984.

She was hit by a drunk driver and thrown into the path of a second car. The accident left her so badly injured that nobody understood how her body survived, let alone her mind.

But as she laid on her hospital bed, no one knew that something in her brain was mending, CBS News reported.

Six months ago at the Golden Plains Health Care Centre at Hutchinson, Kansas, she shocked her parents and doctors when she began to speak.

It seemed that throughout her 20-year coma, she could see, hear and understand what was going on around her.

Shortly after she awoke, her father asked what she knew about events that had occurred. 'Sarah, what's 9/11?' he asked.

She responded: 'Bad...fire...airplanes...building. Hurt people.'

Other things deep in her brain survived the accident, such as her favourite 1980s song Summer Lovin', CBS News reported.

Imagine if your loved one could h-e-a-r you discuss with beloved family members about whether to proceed or not, and he or she is silently screaming in their non-responsive body - "Don't!! Don't pull the plug! I'm not dead yet, please...... I am still alive... I can still hear you...... Pleeeaaaasse......."

Highlights: Singapore, 22-25 July 05

• The Singapore Night Safari -- The open tram ride brought us quite close to view the animals (and smell them as well ~o^). There were lions, tapirs, *pink* flamingoes, hyenas and elephants, just to name a few. It was a fascinating journey...


• Walks around Bras Basah area and stumbling upon The Sculpture House, the NEW National Library and The Awareness Place, a Buddhist bookstore at Bras Basah Complex


• Long and satisfying chat with FW, one of my best friends from university, at a famous Chinese restaurant (can't recall the name)


• Shop, shop, shopping at Takashimaya, Wisma Atria, Queensway Shopping Centre (you won't believe the prices of the branded sports goods here!), City Link Mall and Borders bookstore


• Food... yummy food at Olio's, Marche and that Chinese restaurant which I can't recall the name


• Beautiful night views of the Esplanade, Merlion, Fullerton Hotel and bridges at Marina Bay


• And last but not least... the wonderful, cozy and memorable times spent with my darling Desmond on the whole trip

< Sweet reunion - Night Safari with Desmond and his training colleagues.




> Satisfied our hunger pangs with Pork Knuckle from Marche!






< If I lived in Singapore, this would one of be my favourite haunts - Prints shop.





> In the twilight zone...







< Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay









> The majestic Merlion






For more photos, please visit www.flickr.com.