Looking back for 6 months

A friend asked around for an dentist experience, which i recalled i had an article. This also made me reflect on how long i had not written in my blog.

It is school holidays again. Not a very simple thing as this is the time where all the schedules are undone as children are not spending their time in school. And so does some individuals.

During the last holidays, i picked up a lot jobs, from supermarket serving hams, teaching a small group of 10 children, administrative and also volunteer tasks. At the same time, emotions was badly strained by actions of other whom might cause me to be homeless. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the church for taking me in, comforting me and gave me food, spiritual food during these times of hardship.

I was lucky. I was picked up by a principal, now i can assist the teachers. They taught me how to handle group of children, something i am not really good at. I am a slow learner and i admit i am still learning how to. I have my challengers both from the young and the adults, but i kept reminding myself, i had faced worse, this is nothing. There are things i have done that are redundant and not appreciated, i am glad to have it as a experience. It is not easy, i accepted a class of 10 rowdy children outside my work hours which i had a enriched experience how does a international school works. i also started giving tuition to a family of children, which i find them a pleasure, sometimes. Same, learning the ropes. I was so into the computer world, that the personal touch was quite gone, i have to pick up where i left off.

However, things doesn't as smooth as i prayed to be everyday. Home is not getting better. though it appears to be back as a normal household, actually, those pesky girls from Vietnam are still around. The recent proof broke my heart, and yet, i know i cannot voice it out. i prayed for guidance, i couldn't see help. i just hang on, and hoped. And it hit me so hard, that i have to cancel all my classes, and there goes my income. And on top of that, due to the school holidays, i have to pay for excursion trips i prepare for my children. On top of all these, i am also supposed to give money to the breadwinner, who does not seems to have money of his own because he had happily sent it out to other countries and assumed that he spend it on the family.
I gave the money as if i paying my toll for my pain. This is absurd and yet, i still have to do it.
But this goes on like that, i really hope, God will have to intervene.

Once again, i thank all for reading my woes. I hope i will write more frequently.

Is there a limit to one's learning capacity?

Just came across an article of the above title on Neuroscience topic on the limits of learning.

I remembered my primary school Chinese teacher used to write 4 words in my autobiography book, "学如海涯". (There's no limits to the horizon of learning).

It is true, that there's no end to learning.

Although, There are times, i feel so despair because i simple can't a new trick right. But eventually, i got through.

I have subjects, like Economics and English language, which i love to fail in school, i am still struggling with them.
I have seen examples in the recent classes i attend, that class, consisted of students age ranged from 16 to 80+. Imagine the teacher's agony, he have to style his materials and speech that it can be understood by his listeners. As a teacher, whom had taught with a class ranged from 8 to 14 years old, i already finding it already challenging, imagine a BIGGER age gap.

Coming back to the topic, this class i attended, the topics are fairly easy to understand, straight forward. The only problem is our exams, we must score 99 to 100%, yes, that means we not just understand 100% of what is taught, and also to regurgitate all of them verbally, and physically in the exams. This had challenged many of my classmates, about 30% of us took the exams in the end. I even heard, many deferred the exams for more than once, just want to be sure they are to pass the exams. One of them, re-attended the same classes for more than 3 times, the last time i met this person, he is still re-attending the class, still struggling to remember all the things, but the more this person attend, he got a little better, just a little.

I guess this is how our brain works. Is the psychology. Personally, on younger days, I always feel there's a limit to learning, despite teacher's 4 words reminding that i was wrong.
When i attending high school, i realized i could not absorb as fast and well as i did in earlier years. I starting to do badly for my physics, one of my better science subjects. I was so much convinced by my belief. And proceed to University, my good mathematics subject started to fail me, too, proving it better to me.

Now with this classmate who attended the class so many times, i was slapped my the belief i have was wrong. It is not there's a limit to our brains, it is time that forces us to surrender. We are given a very short time to learn and excel, It is the ability to absorb the information and applying the information in a short time restricts us.

If given time, nothing cannot be learnt.

So now, when i see my students struggling, i simply tell them to slow down, cool down, not to be so frustrated over things they could not understand ... at the moment.
However, we are in the society that does not wait for slow learners.
Perhaps, this is the biggest challenge as a educators nowadays.

Jane
Night Desperato Project

Passing of Nelson Mandela

I just received news from Yahoo!news & CNN that the founder of South Afica, President Nelson Mandela, had just passed on.

May God bless his soul and May he rest in peace.

To a founder who been through so much, i am amazed of his 94 years of his roller coaster life. Feel his pain during his 27 years of jail, and enduring the pain of his country and his own when his death of his son, his mother, which he was not allowed to attend their funerals. After he becomes president one year after his release from jail, he steered the country towards democracy, something, so vast, for such a big country. Even after officially retirement in year 2004, his names lingers.

As time passed for 11 years, news had ceased reporting about him, other than he is usually reported  sick.
For whole of year 2013, rumors of him dying, slipping in and out of coma, there were also sites i found claiming, Africa will not let the poor old man die. There is a African belief, that a person will not passed on, until his family and close ones let him. Thought it was a interesting and yet strong one, but, this is not how it works in real life.

However, i was glad that he died surrounded by his family.
At last, a father gets his rest. His soul will be in every South African's heart.
The world will remembered him for his works, and efforts.

May you rest in peace, President Mandela.


Night Desperato Project.

Lottery Winners: Please think before splurging your money!

I have read so many stories both locally and overseas about lottery winners leaving themselves less than 5k of their currency even they won at least a million in lottery after a year.

First, i will envy them, if i can, i will congratulate them, because i never won such a big amount in lottery before, and my country does not allow such big winners anyway, if it does happens which is a very rare less than 1% chance, they usually pay in installments than to give them one big lump sum.

So, what one should not do when one wins a lottery?
- Do not broadcast, you will ended a queue of relatives to strangers queuing your house asking for donations, sponsorship, rentals and even fake debt collectors!

- Clear debts as much as possible. If your debts is more than 50% of your winnings, then, don't used up all. Plan your debt clearing. Look for a legitimate bank or a real financial planner, think of good ways to invest the winnings, use the winnings for clearing debt, how about that? You may even refer to my previous post on how to handle debts.

- Don't change your lifestyle. In short, don't think you will get the another such chance of the lifetime again being that few extra millions in your account does not mean you will keep it at the same amount forever. It is not your regular pay.




Jane
Night Desperato Project



Reference Articles:
(1) Britain's youngest lottery winner Callie Rogers has just £2k left - but she's happier than ever
(2) Scottish lottery couple split up just a year after scooping £2.1m jackpot
(3) Lottery Winner Who Spent His Fortune On Drugs, Now Works In Cookie Factory
(4) Twelve Things not to do if you win the lottery
(5) Lottery Winner Blew Through $10M in Fewer Than 10 Years
(6) How do lottery winners go from riches to rags?
(7)

Raise money online - Is it for real?

After removing myself from my job, i am down to nothing, no income. After all the promising, now, husband is now forcing me to live with the in-law, which obviously, frankly speaking, after that horrific night 5 years ago. Experience says i should not live with her, and not in her house.

What happened 5 years ago?
I was chased out from my own house by my mother-in-law. For some reasons, i managed to go back after much persuasion, and she had moved out of my house months after.

So, can God tell me a reason why i should live with her in her house?

I am given a choice to stay in my house. MONEY.
I am determined to find a way to earn money. online. but, i just can't get a quick result. 
I guess i am really weak and useless, like husband and my previous boss think of me. But i am still determine to prove them wrong, not just 2 of all, but all the people who says i am a piece of useless junk, my life should be terminated. Yes, nasty words, so imagine my level of depression after dwelling in these words.

During my ventures, i found a interesting site:



I read on-going cases, success stories that people request funding, donations to be exact.
I was amazed about how it works. The same question goes, do people really just donate just like that??? Wow.
How i wish i can do the same! But how far can i go?

Why don't just one of you readers start clicking on those banners i put here and sign up for free, and prove it to me, and i am not even asking you to donate money to me? Just a click will do, please?

Jane
Night Desperato Project/

Mole Cricket

I had a shock one afternoon to see one of the legs of my outdoor chairs is covered with a lot of wooden sawdust.

So, thinking is just the constant soaking of the floor that cause the leg of the chair to give way, i decided to put the chair upside down and started digging with my finger. It was a bad choice. Something came out of the 'hole' which apparently gave me a little shock.

In Singapore, we do encounter crickets. But Mole Cricket is rare here, i posted a picture of a dead one before asking for opionion what was it, i have interesting answers like "Alien", even my husband said so too, until a educator told me it was a cricket, but the fore arms of the insect does not match the picture she attached for me. I researched further, and i managed to classify the insect under cricket but specifically "Mole Cricket". I think it digs into wood and eats them as well. 

Now, i got a live one! Excited to see it alive than a dead shell i had.  Like a amateur scientist, i started measuring it before i lose the insect to the wild.

Then i released the insect, making sure it does not comes into the house because my flooring is also wood! And wow, See how fast it runs! it initially ran into another wooden door, hopefully to reside as a new home, which i insist it to go down, as i observed it does not come back up again as it does not fly.

So, now i have the 'damage control report' to write! 

 

This is what happen to the leg of the chair. I should have know something is wrong. It is water damage, it should be all four legs. But the damage here is only one leg. As we can see, the wood used in Ikea chairs is stuffed wood shavings. That's probably why, it is a easier target for wood insects like mole cricket.

Comparison with a good leg.

 

Mole Cricket stays in the wood, constantly digging, this damage is for the period of 24 hours. It had successful removed part of the bottom, and a hole of 3 cm inside it. Note that the earlier measurement of the insect is about 3.5 cm. So, i supposed it was nicely resting inside when i disturbed it by digging it out using my finger.

So, now, i have a damaged chair to fix. I have to saw part of it off and use some wooden cubes to replace the leg, to regain the balance of the chair.

Still does not know where and how the cricket comes in, we live in high-rise buildings, not at ground level. And mole cricket is not a local insect. I supposed it might comes with the furniture or plants, or even the soil when we 'import' from overseas.

After 2 months from this incident. I have no more occurrence of dead or alive version of mole cricket. I hope this will remain as a memory, a history that will not be repeated.

Jane
Night Deperato Project.

Dentist Trip

Hey The Living!

I'm back finally. After much encouragement. Especially what happened today. I would say, i was very lucky to encounter this. I strongly believe that my story will definitely take a lot of those horror stories at the National Dental Centre stand out of their limelight.

I had 4 wisdom tooth, one lies with a perfect perpendicular, one with an angle, the other two acts as if they are part of other teeth.

I removed one of the tooth 3 years ago, the one that have 90 degrees view, rotting right to its core, exposing its center. Caused much pain even when drinking a glass of water. That i endured for about a year before my husband accumulated some spare cash for the operation. My dentist then was a 60+ years old. It took 1 hour of shoving (and shifting) the entire row of teeth, to get it out, and cost wise. Oh People, you know the market rate of private dentists. After the operation, the hole recovered well, but i felt something wrong with the teeth beside it, so, i tried my best not to further damage it.

However, i knew the other 2 wisdom teeth are also decaying badly, but his charges are really too high, and the operation gave me jitters.

The day finally came, about a fortnight ago, when i accidentally touched the 2 decaying wisdom teeth when trying to get the struck food out of it. I guessed, one of the cores is exposed as well, since then, i got cuts on my tongue when attempting to clear struck whatever from it. Since then, the dull pain lingers.

During the whole of last week, the pain increases. i posted a post on Facebook, asking for alternatives for a dentist, for my old dentist had retired 2 years ago. Not much alternatives given, i check forums, groups, even blogs. I was given a few solutions, i decided to give it a try probably early next year.

Last night, the pain came sudden, and horrifying, i woke up in the middle of night, just to brush, to rinse with mouth wash. (i nearly tried using brine). I made another decision, i'm going to start the process earlier.

After work after mid-day, i traveled down to the public doctors.
I reached the public doctor's after 1 and a half hour of waiting at the registration and waiting area for doctors just to get a referral letter to see the dentist. The wait and pain is excruciating, it is affecting my right ear, starting to cause some strange buzzing sound, my sinus is not doing great due to the cold environment i was in since 9 am.

The jovial doctor, was telling me off that visiting the private dentist will be a faster way out from the pain. Because waiting for the public dentist will probably take at least 6 months of waiting just for the first appointment for consultation, whereas private dentist will probably do it right away. I do not quite agree, because it is what i experienced from my old dentist. However, i was there, i am prepared to wait for one year for the appointment to extract the offending tooth (still thinking of removing the most decayed tooth only) because i did it for the first one.

So, referral letter set. Now see referral officer. This is where the fun is.
He called the Dental General appointments office, guess what i got. The other end of the line, told him, there's a cancellation of appointment, on the same day, one hour time, ask the girl whether she can fill the appointment. I was shocked, surprised, and happy to hear the news, took the offer immediately. So he advised me to walk over immediately, to set the registration going.

I walked over, which takes less than 5 minutes. Took a lift up to the 6th floor. Register, in less than 15 minutes, a nurse came out and check if i had a x-ray at the public doctor's. Got my teeth x-ray immediately after that. I do not know about you readers have encountered the x-ray machine for teeth, it is pretty cool!

Then, it is the wait. i ran out of battery to surf Facebook, twitter and the internet. I made a short run for the expired magazines at the rack, keeping my mind out of boredom, tiredness, and hunger as i had not eaten since the vegetarian breakfast.

The call finally came, i walked into the consultation room. Made to wait for the busy dentist, but is ok, gave me time to accustom the environment, it is definitely very different from private dentist. My private dentist place, is very cramped up, with merchandise, phone, notes, tools, and the whole room looks dusty and dark. This one i had, was very bright, spacious and very clean, very sterile. I can actually walked around with the nurse working around. I get to see my x-ray, super-imposed on the computer, now, i can see the condition of all my teeth. The nurse explained a bit about it, asks few routine questions.

I am shivering from anticipation, from extreme cold. I was given a blanket, something you really don't get from private dentist.

Then, my Dentist finally came, to what i understand from the conversations with other staff, she sounds like some big shot in the department, very busy. She explained further about my condition, and now, she suggested me to remove 3, not 1, but 3 wisdom teeth, in one session. i was a bit worry about the cost. but i mentally brushed it off first. Then, she explains about the different color on the x-ray (even though it is only black and white). But with her explanation, now i finally understand why and how my jaw hurts every year, with the two major decaying teeth. And my doubts is cleared about the tooth beside my previous tooth, and i have 2 teeth to patch up, after i'm done with these 3 extractions. Like the public doctor, she tells me to go private dentist to do the "scalding", what i understand about the patching up of the broken teeth caused by the 2 wisdom teeth. I guessed is the general waiting time for the appointment is too long, 6 - 9 months, as rumored.

Actually, to think of it, i can start queuing for the public dentist for scalding now, it will have sufficient time for the holes i will then created to recover.

Now, it is time, i find it strange, the dentist only ask for 4 capsules. Nothing else. I was looking for the scalpel. Then, comes in the jabs, several, i lost count. 3 of it, extremely painful, but i was taught on the spot to relax, and i followed the instructions, the pain was lessen much more, and shorter. subsequently, she promised the later jabs will be painless... and she asked her nurse to get longer needle... !!! Okay, then, here comes the last few jabs, with the longer needle, frightening, initially, but she kept to her promise, it is really not that painful.

Then, the nurse was instructed to bring me Downstairs, 3rd floor. I thought it was only for financial counselling, like normal hospitals. So i followed her, she left me. i wondered if she will come back me, which in the end, i realized, she never came back. i find it strange, on 3rd floor, there are 2 groups of people, one with those sterilized greens, and the uniformed administrative nurses outside. I could not talk very well. my 2 sides of the mouth was numb. Even my injured tongue is numb, i don't understand, i didn't get any jab there at all, the place is colder, i am really shivering, i can't even sign properly. After All administrative stuff settled, they brought me in, teaches me to put things in locker and wear shower cap, wear some green cover for my shoes and wear some surgical clothes, then i realized the surgery is actually performed here, by another dentist! Okay, to be exact, a Surgeon!

No wonder, the administrative assistant, asked me if i am ready... i thought, she is sending the nurse back to fetch me back upstairs 6th floor.

Ok, now i am in a bigger room, less cheery, more groomy. but still feels much better than in the private dentist. the old nurses, now there are 3 of them, very much aged, Full of experience, check my condition, realised i'm really cold. They gave me hot water bottle, wrapped me up with thermal blanket. I was so grateful, because the warmth of the bottle and the blanket stopped my shivering almost instantly. Then.

My Sugeon came in. She looks fierce, strict. Yet one of nurse which i managed to catch her attention and i managed to chatted with her a bit, she re-assured me, i got one of the best surgeon, Big Doctor, she told me, the whole process will be very fast, and i won't know what happened. And the nurse told me, that my case is  simple. It seems, the information had been passed around very fast, and they analyse the situation, and what to do, very fast.

So, given time to prepare for the surgury. The tray is finally pushed out. I am now in fear, not cold. Yet, i was told by the surgeon that the whole operation will take 15 minutes. Wow. And She explained about the procedures, and steps, and reason. And before every step, she re-assure and lightly touch on the reason, which i quickly acknowledge and thank her, tried to smile, but the numbness is catching on, i think i couldn't do much.

So, i was covered up, had a nice cool mask over my eyes, with little light seeping beside the nose area. But reminded that covering eyes to prevent infection, so, i promptly closing my eyes, shutting out my curiosity.
This is really very different from private dentist, he does not covers me up, i keep having the glaring lights in the closed eyes during the whole gluing 1 hour.

I was told she's starting on the upper right, which i slowly hearing drills and cracks. The pushing and shoving was warned before it is done, but it is very very gentle compared what i had 3 years ago. When i hear the cracks, i was told, she is cutting the tooth into 2, which i accept the fact. In Fact, i hears these cracks before, even today, the cracks is gentle compared what i had with the private dentist.

And i felt the push and pull, and a crack, at my left side, and she announced. "All Done!" I was surprised and shocked again, because i only counted 2 teeth, the less damaged ones. The worst tooth, i didn't wear and felt anything at all. I even inquired and checked, then, the elderly nurse handed me my souvenirs, 3 teeth. I was so amazed, and she kept her time, 15 minutes.

Then, she and her staff ensured i do not feel giddiness, step by step, something i'm famous for, however, for certain reason, i did not black out.

The stories, of 6 months of wait for first appointment, another 6 months wait for the operation All Brushed aside. I got it all done within a day, from the referal letter to the extraction of not just one, but all of my left-over wisdom teeth!

Price? Most of Today's bill is deducted from my pension funds, total bill is as much as 3 years ago, not 3 times as much. Woah!

It's real worth it, for a better Smile. To enjoy life without decaying teeth in the way, no more stuck food, no more painful plain water drinking.

So, Smile : ) ... after i recovered from the surgery... i can now, because my numbness had not wear off... now is the aftercare, and stoppage of bleeding in importance.

Oh, they set a appointment for me to see the first dentist consultant, guess how long...  ... 2 weeks time!

The only problem is now... i can't tutor my children for the weekend.

Signing out
;)
Jane
Night Desperato Project