Losing Momentum

The past five days have been challenging. Not so much because of Alden's chicken pox ordeal, but because of being stuck at home with the kids and not having ME time to do stuff.

This worries me because I have several deadlines to meet next week. I thought of taking them to the office but after how things went last Wednesday, I changed my mind. Alden had made such a lasting impression on my supervisor that the thought of him in my office is unbearable.

I had an appointment with Professor X that Wednesday. I knew it was impossible to have  them both with me during the meeting so I decided to send Alden to school for an hour. He was not allowed to, but according to the teacher, if the spots have all dried and scabbed over, he could come. So that morning, I got creative and started working on his cosmetic appearance. I slapped on heaps of calamine lotion on his spots and made them look dry. To emphasize this  effect, I also put on some Fobian lotion and powder to maximize the coverage. I then dressed him up in a turtle neck top and a pair of jeans and then we were all set!

We got to school at exactly 10.30 a.m. Alden was excited but I was nervous. Upon reaching the entrance, Debs (the senior headteacher) took one look at Alden and her eyes bulged out like ping-pong balls. The  make-up obviously didn't work. She was all "Oh no Alice, he can't come". Then came the lecture about the stages of chicken pox...bla bla bla. When she was done, we both headed to the door, dejected. 

I had to bring them both to the office. So I put Alva in the portacot and got Alden to sit at my roomate's desk. I switched on the PC, searched for Thomas and Friends on YouTube and let the video do the babysitting. So far so good. Few minutes later, Professor X came. He was a bit surprised to see them but after my explanation, he smiled understandingly. 

So we started talking about my research, data analysis and SPSS. Just when things were ticking along nicely, Alden started his first drama. He wanted to watch a different clip.  He pointed to the  screen  in exasperation and shouted "this, this, this". I excused myself, rushed to his desk and clicked play. Discussion resumed for another 10 minutes and then there was another tantrum. This time he didn't want Thomas, he wanted Sponge Bob instead. Fine. I rushed to his desk, clicked the thumbnail on the screen and begged him to behave. I smiled at Professor X and aplogized for the disturbance but he was so cool about everything. "It's okay. Don't worry bout it" he said.

We then continued our discussion about SPSS. Things started to get interesting cos he was teaching me how to create a new variable using the transform function. I was so into it, first click Transform, Compute and  then..."Mama, O-O" came Alden's voice. He started jumping up and down restlessly. "Mama! O-O!!" he  shouted again. This time he wanted to poop. Such perfect timing! I told Alden to wait but of course he couldn't wait. The poop was coming out. He cried and cried histerically saying "O-O! O-O!". Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, Alva started crying too. By now, the room was a total chaos; Alden's on the verge of pooping in front of my supervisor, Alva's crying at volume no 10 and  I was  there looking at my babies in panic. Then came the smell. A very distinctive smell that filled the entire room. It was none other than Alden's silent burst of flatulence! Isn't that priceless? I was horrified. Before I could decide what to do, my kind professor excused himself and told me not to worry about the meeting. He would set up another one next week. The smell was probably too much for him.

So everything has to be put on hold now. Work, fitness class, academic writing etc. I think I've lost lost some momentum but I'm hoping to catch up next week. For the time being, I'll just stay cooped up at home until he's recovered. One thing's for sure, I am not going to bring Alden to the meeting next week

Chicken Pox Story

We've survived the worst of Alden's chicken pox and at the moment he's doing just fine. The blisters are drying up and in a couple of days they should turn into scabs. It's probably not as itchy as it was a few days ago cos he's back to his old self again - being mischievous and cheeky.

Last Saturday was a total  nightmare cos he was down with fever and the blisters were popping out like hot lava on his body. He was whining and crying and throwing all sorts of tantrums. I felt quite hopeless cos all I could do was give him cuddles and tell him not to scratch. I think he really suffered that night cos the blisters itched  really bad and he could not sleep well. That was a total agony for all of us. His temperature kept fluctuating a lot, going up and down every hour and this got me really worried cos he has had two febrile convulsions in the past. To bring the fever down, we gave  him Pamol every 4 hours and kept an eye on him the whole night.

The next day, I went to the pharmacy and bought him some ZYRTEC, a fast acting allergy and hayfever treatment. This really helped relieve the itchiness and swelling on his face. The effects were quite instaneous and after just an hour of taking ZYRTEC, his mood improved tremendously. It was such a relief cos I didn't have to shout "Don't scratch!" like every 5 seconds.

Yesterday, Day 3, we brought him to the clinic and got him checked. Doctor said he was at his worst at that time and assured us that he'd be better in a couple of days. He still had the fever but it wasn't as bad as the first day.

Today, he's totally recovered from fever and I think the chicken pox is now at stage 3 - drying and forming yellow crusts. I am waiting impatiently for the time when all the spots ultimately scab over so I can see the dead cells fall off from his body. This might sound utterly disgusting but I still remember how much my sister and I enjoyed peeling off the scabs (which were almost falling off anyway) and looked at them in awe. I was 11 and sis was 15 and we were under 'house arrest' for many many days. The drying of the scabs was the climax of our miserable chicken pox ordeal and we had a lot of fun picking off scabs from our head. I was going like "Nah, sia dapat yang basar!!"  and sis was all "Syok oh kan?". There wasn't a lot of entertainment like Facebook or PS2 in those days so you can understand our fascination for dead skin. Right. I think I've totally grossed you out there.

Anyway, I'm just saying everything's okay now. The Doctor says that Alva's probably going to develop her first spot in 10 days' time but at least now I'm prepared. So chicken pox, just pop up whenever you're ready.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

Alden just got the chicken pox yesterday.

C-H-I-C-K-E-N  P-O-X!!!!!!

The most dreaded childhood disease in the history of mankind. Why oh why does it have to happen now? When I'm on my own? If I were home, mom would know what to do. Me? I'm clueless.

Well, despite being clueless, it was me who discovered the first few spots on Alden's back last night. When I told hubby about it, he was like "Oooh, sia nampak ba tu tadi masa kasi mandi tapi sia ingat kana gigit nyamuk". (eye roll) There's never been any nyamuk where we live right now so his excuse for not recognizing the pox is quite disappointing.

I called mom this morning to tell her the news and she gave me some useful advice: drink lots of water, remain indoors and steer clear of peanuts, eggs and soy sauce.

So for the next 10 to 14 days, I will be at home babysitting poxed Alden. He's super cranky right now and I have no choice but to say YES to his every need. His wish is my command! I'm hoping lilttle Vava doesn't get it too cos if she does, I think I'll go mental.  A chicken pox party is the last thing I want right now. 

The Hot and the Not in Gym Class

I'm not trying to turn this blog into a training log but I just can't help talking about my fitness classes. They are after all, more appealing than my academic work. Anyway, after attending regular classes for almost a month, I have decided to stick to the ones I like. The schedule looks like this and I have tried almost all of the sessions offered.

All except for STEP, YOGA and SPIN classes. STEP is a stepping routine for beginners *yawn* and it's sort of like an oriented session for beginners to learn the basics in aerobics. Yoga is a flowing sequence of asanas or poses (boooo-ring) and SPIN classes are indoor cycling routines which cost an extra $3 fee. That leaves me with these:

Ko-Extreme - Kick boxing inspired workout

Blitz - Jumping around three different disciplines

NRG- High impact workout

BAT - Butt, abs and thigh workout

CardioFunk- low impact dance class with creative choreography

So my favourites are KO Extreme, Blitz, NRG and BAT. It's not just the routine you see. It's the people in class that make it interesting. Certain people have definitely made an impression on me like stripey aunty, fit aunty and yes, cute blond instructor with perky butt. Ahhhhhh....how I'd kill to have those perky butts. They look like J-Lo's butt on steroids! All fleshy, round and springy. You could make a guy do a whole thesis for you with that kind of butt. Well, not that I would, if I had those assets. I'm just saying.

Now where was I? Oh yes, interesting people in gym class right? Well, there's a girl from my KO Extreme class who seems to attract a lot of attention by her mere presence. I noticed her in my second session and my friend tells me she's been a regular since last year. Like the blond instructor, she turns heads too, but not exactly in the same way. People practically stare at her cos she's so skinny.

I mean, really skinny. As in anorexic-looking skinny. You know what I mean?

Whenever I see her, I get all maternal and all I want to do is feed her with a whole load of hamburgers.  The sight of her is depressing. Despite being so awfully skinny, she is still able to jump, run, skip and kick through all the routines. I don't know where she gets her energy from. One thing's for sure: You should never stand next to her in gym class cos you'll end up looking fat. Next to her, I'm obese.

If she's around, it is also best NOT to go to the changing room after a workout cos she normally showers at the common shower room. Yes, in a room where everyone can see her N-A-K-E-D. Okay let's take a moment for a communal jaw-drop. The vision of her body is like a mental torture to me. The sunken face,  the protruding ribcage, the pale skin and the whole shrunken body is just too much. I feel really sorry for her cos she obviously needs help but how do you tell a girl she's anorexic?

You don't. Unless of course you want to have a mortal combat with an anorexic girl. She's quite good at KO-Extreme you know.

Anyway, now that I've seen her so many times, I'm not as appalled as I was the first time I saw her. I'm like, "oh there she is, don't stare!" I'm more or less immune to her presence now and only stare once in a while. She doesn't go to the Blitz and BAT classes cos they involve lots of weight training, so I'm safe. I have enough distractions as it is with stripey aunty  and booby lady in these sessions, so it's good not having to see her all the time. What's the story with booby lady? Let's just say, everyone can see her big cherries all the time. Thanks to her too-thin sports bra. Hehe.

So yeah. My workout routine is very much set now; Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. I haven't lost any weight yet, but it sure is fun and interesting :)

Being a Scrabbler

It's the first day of March and I've yet to finish Study 1. This worries me but not enough to send me to a state of panic. I don't know. I'm just too laid back right now and when I do get worried, my subconscious mind tells me that I'd be able to do it at the last minute. I've been glued to the net for the past few weeks, playing Scrabble all day long. Other than getting my first Brazilian wax, I've done nothing major nor productive in February. Shameful, I know.

Having said that, I plan to start anew tomorrow. I will go to the office fired up, rejuvenated and  focused.  Yes, tomorrow will be my first day of March. Today's a warm-up so I can stick to being unproductive and will relish in this temporary state of luxury with this self-indulgent post. You got to understand something.  I really have no one else to talk to right now. My 3 year old who sometimes acts as my counselor is asleep and hubby is not amused by my addiction to a board game so that leaves me with you :)

Right. What do I want to talk about? SCRABBLE. I know, how boring. Told ya this is self-indulgent. Anyway, I've been playing a lot of SCRABBLE on Facebook lately and  like most online games, I find it  very addictive. I always choose the 2-minute per move version cos it's thrilling and the game ends fairly quickly. However I sometimes get carried away with the greed to strike jackpot and in my attempt to form a 7-letter word, I exceed the time limit by a few seconds. When this happens, I normally pass a turn and try to get it right the next time around. It's either that or getting 'forced forfeit'  from your opponent. However,  if you have given your opponent some extra time without skipping their turn, or sending them a forced forfeit, you should expect them to return the favour and thus give you some extra seconds during your turn. Isn't that fair? Well, this is an unspoken code of conduct that I've established with most of my opponents.

Not all of them abide by this rule, unfortunately.

Forced forfeit is by far the harshest thing a Scrabbler could ever do to his opponent. I almost got a heart attack  a few hours ago when a sore loser did this to me. I just sat there in disbelief, paralysed with shock. I so wanted to type GOOD JOB PATHETIC LOSER! on the chat box just to tell her how I felt but the game has ended  so chat box was no longer active. It really sucks to lose in such a way when you're already leading by 65 points. The nerve!!! Earlier in the game, on more than one occasion, she had gone way beyond the time limit but I had waited and waited and waited for her, patiently. I could have ended the game or skipped her turn but I didn't cos I just didn't have the heart to. But at the last minute of our game, with only 3 tiles to go, I exceeded the time limit by 3 seconds and before I knew it, the game was over. Boohoo. The pain that came with the forced forfeit was so unbearable I needed two bolws of boisenberry ice cream to recover.

Point is I've learnt my lesson. The road to victory in SCRABBLE is speed, intensity and ruthlessness. You beg to differ? Well, after getting forced forfeit, I'm sure you'll agree with me.

* I did some digging and found these useful tips. Click on the link if you're interested :)

Scrabble Hints By Jeff Grant