And so the date has been set. I'm going for the removal on the 12th April Monday. And as much as I would love to take the full week MC, it seems it was not possible. Cos after setting the date, I just remembered that on the Thursday and Friday of that week, I have to attend a course at Toa Payoh. Crap! And im pretty sure I wont be able to find someone else to go. So I'm still going for it.

I'm pretty sure I would be okay enough and no swollen face to go for the course. Anyway it's a writing course, so should be pretty alright.

I've been so afraid of dentist but somehow seeking dentist here so far the 2 doctors hasnt given me any phobia or bad feelings. In fact I feel pretty much at ease with them all. And I am glad that now slowly the phobia is seeping away. It's a good thing. But of course the money that I am going to spend to seek the doctors here is a mountain-times more than it is back home. Let's just say that I am paying a HUGE sum to cure my fear and sense of security when I am around them.

Little Chloe (another Chloe) peeking out of Daddy's arm

Showing off her safety belt!

Crap!

The thing that I have been avoiding is back to haunt me. I have a phobia of going to the dentist. Being seated on that chair with a light shining at you, blinding you while the dentist poke ard your teeth, with their mirror and sometimes this pricky needle stuff.

Maybe it's my first dentist. They go round poking my tooth and it was painful to be pricked by those needles-like stuff. Hated them to the core and when the drilling part happens, it's all a scary stuff!!! I could still remember the pain! and that scared me

And now my nightmare is catching up with me.

On Friday morning, I chipped the tooth next to the wisdom tooth. Apparently due to the position of the wisdom tooth, it made it easy for food to get trapped in between and thus creating a cavity there. Which basically eats up the bottom part of the tooth. Since the top has no support, it then chipped. and so that is exposed. So yeah i chipped and freaked out. But I thought it would be fine. But who am I kidding, it was poking around and messing around with the tongue. My tongue got pricked many times and it got sore too. Lunch was not easy. It was a painful lunch on a Friday, which has been the most important day in my weeks.

Not being able to withstand all the pain, i took that courage, that step of faith, to pick up the phone and made an appointment at a friend's clinic. I would rather have someone familiar examining my tooth than hitting a bad luck getting a doctor like my previous one. So appointment made, but pain was still immense. Slowly the fear and hatred for the dentist resurfaced, and my pain gets lesser and lesser while I get more and more tensed about going to the dentist. It got through the night. But i tried to relax and it worked, especially when I just got the new iMac to occupy myself from the fear. Dinner was more painful than before, even swallowing porridge was like swallowing acid down the throat.

Saturday, woke up with a tongue feeling all sore. It got pained so much that it almost went numb from it. And I noticed, now I have a big bulge at the side of my tongue, the part next that meets the chipped off tooth. And i also saw that on the upper surface, there are cuts on them. They are so painful, it was almost impossible to get through lunch, and I was so hungry and ravishing for food, i went ahead for Ikea meatballs. It was like eating stones down the throat. And so after Ikea, I went to the clinic and get it all smoothed up.

I must say, thank goodness, I knew the dentist personally and she was really patient with me, who was almost acting like a 6 year old kid, who needed company to go see one, and needed the assurance that everything is going to be alright. It was true about what she said. It was unfair for me to bring my bad experience with me and think that she would do the same with me. And so that sort of soothed me. And i must say, she's the best. I got a small hole in the front tooth and she fixed it without it even being painful at all! It was all done painlessly and I must thank her for it. And thank god for directing me to go there. I was actually breaking out in cold sweat and was so scared outside. Thank God Ong was there with me. After the trip, all the adrenaline rush and those tensed muscle resulted in a really exhausting experience. I even got a bad headache with it.

Anyway the result of the consult is the more important thing. I have to remove all 4 wisdom teeth. And the advice is to take them all out at 1 go, under GA. I checked with the clinic and usually it is a day surgery only. I was hoping that I could probably go for a hospital stay so there's never ending supply of pain killer and also they know best what to expect the first day after the removal. But thinking abt it, it's also a bit silly to stay in the hospital after the surgery. And also for the chipped tooth, it is currently exposed due to the extent of the cavity. I may have to do either a root canal or a removal of that tooth.

Sunday, I was pretty much okay with the tooth but the tongue was now the real problem. All the painful swallowing is all from there and I got really tired of eating in pain. Even swallowing the saliva has gotten so painful! I pretty much try not to and ended up salivating subconciously! There was also the headache that prob is due to too much pain. So i spent the day completely at home. Since it was also a perfect weather to stay in.

Today I finally can take it no more and went ahead to the GP for a medicine. With 2 painkillers, 1 antibiotic and a gel, my pain is almost negligible. But swallowing is still hard, but at least as the night comes, it got better and better. and I hope tomorrow I can enjoy food again, though I still cant eat acidic stuff for as long as the tooth is still exposed.

While I was Sentosa during my birthday, I took the liberty to do a walk around RWS and of course the much anticipated Universal Studio. I was surprised that it's so small! Even HK disneyland is bigger. Is this just another Escape themepark???

Hmm with the rocket-high pricing, I am just not sure if it's all worth it. Of course being the Universal Studio of SEA, everyone is going to be flocking to Singapore. and bleah it'll be even more crowded.

In this case, I am not so sure how many times I would go there, considering the potential crowd!

I've been into photography for 5 years now and the past 3 years it has gotten pretty serious and I like it. Especially with all the exposure to good pictures/ good photographers out there, it just inspires me even more to do just more than a hobby.

I am wondering how is it like to be a part-time photographer. I mean technically, I am already like the family's photographer. I want to experience more, but at the same time there's always the uncertainty there that I am not good enough and people may not want to hire me. I want to learn to be an assistant photographer. But of course that is not easy. One, i dont really have that connection to ask to be an assistant photographer. Two, i am not sure if i have reached that level yet. Three, my knowledge of photo-editting is little. Four, equipment-wise, i am still lacking.

But I also realise that if I dont take that first step, I will never get started. Afterall, takes 2 to dance. Right now, i am blaming it on the lack of opportunity. What an excuse.

What a month!!!
3 funerals and a wedding!!! The last funeral was the most tiring one since I have to go down daily and on Friday i had to be on night duty! And that made my sleeping time haywired. By Sunday night, after the wedding I was drained out.

It was also crazy, as the cremation/ funeral was on the same day as the wedding. Just like any other funerals, after the cremation we had a family dinner which in according to the cousin is a must though i see some people did not come back afterall, and they were family too. I just dont understand why it was a must, although it was like a thank you gesture from the family of the bereaved.But i am sure they are not that unreasonable. Well that aside, that dinner turned out to be a full 9 course dinner which all of us did not expect. I was actually controlling how much i eat during the dinner but being seated next to an uncle, it didnt really turn out as i expected. I had to take a bit more to finish up the food. By the end of that dinner I was kind of full already.

I was going to back out from attending the wedding. But then someone messaged to say that they kept aside the food for me. So that was sort of a motivational message for me to go. I was home by 9 after the family dinner and i was out by 930 to go to the wedding. Apparently by 9.45 it was only the second walk-in when i arrived. And true enough in front of me, there were 3 dishes waiting for me on the table.

It was a nice ending to my night though. and I liked it the fact that it was sort of a happy ending to my week. When I reached home, I changed and instantly hit the pillows. And that was a true bliss of sleep!