Month: August 2011

Geek Girl

Me and my Apple

yannisms

Before I met Mr Thick in 1998, I had no idea that anything existed beyond the Microsoft-PC realm. We had a HP desktop at home, shared by Sista and I, and it was enough for us to surf the net, chat on ICQ (I feel so ancient saying this!) and work on Word documents.

And then along came this man, who was all Apple is the greatest! even though those machines cost an arm and a leg. I mostly ignored his fanboy and geeky antics because I was NOT. INTERESTED. I just want to surf the net and chat on ICQ, okay?

In 2002 though, something turned me into a fruit-loving maniac: my baby, the iMac G4. Remember that cute little computer that didn’t look like a computer?

Happy birthday, iMac!

The HP was falling apart after four long years and I was looking for a replacement. The machead was all, BUY AN APPLE, WOMAN! Conveniently, Apple had just launched the iMac G4 and luckily for him, it was love at first sight. I loved, LOVED it.

I had never loved a gadget before.

And so it became mine and I called it my baby. I loved how adorable it looked, loved that the screen can swivel, loved the cutie patootie speakers, loved the way the OS was so easy to master, loved how the desktop images could change every five minutes.

And that began my love affair with Apple.

For six long years, my baby was everything that I needed in a computer. Despite all the newer MacBooks and iMacs that were launched, I held on to it. It was whimsical, gorgeous, reliable and it was mine.

Since that moment when I picked up my iMac G4, we’ve accumulated a fair number of Apple gadgets. Between the two of us, we have: a MacBook, a MacBook Pro, two iPhones, two iPads (1 and 2), an iPod 5G, a iPod shuffle, two iPods 1G, a iBook 3G and that humungous desktop of the man’s (whose generation and name I have forgotten).

This was what I had for a period in time

We loved each and every gadget.

There are a number of reasons why we have been such Apple fans and I think a lot has to do with the fact that we are both very aesthetic people. We love clean, minimalist designs that combine form and function effortlessly, and Apple gadgets are truly the most beautiful electronic gadgets in the market. Their software are intuitive and I’ve never had any problems adapting to the apps, whether it’s iOS 5 or iMovie.

Also, we have both been very lucky in that ALL our Apple gadgets have worked beautifully and have had long and fruitful lives (couldn’t resist the pun, hee hee). My iMac, for instance, was my primary machine for six long years and I only gave it up after I picked up a camera and needed a machine that had the power to edit RAW photos.

(Don’t worry, my baby is still with me, she’s sitting prettily at east end as decoration.)

I suppose I am waxing lyrical about Apple because I am feeling a tad sad that Steve Jobs has resigned from the company. For many years, his keynotes have been the stuff that husband stayed up till the wee hours for and his outfit of black turtleneck top and jeans are as familiar to us as, oh, I don’t know, our computers. We’ve looked forward to each and every launch.

Will Apple still be Apple sans Jobs? Heck, yes. Will we still love Apple? But of course! Will husband name his daughter Apple or Lisa? No, but nice try.

Right now, however, I am thankful that Jobs went back to Apple in 1997 and went on to create those amazingly innovative products that we love and, most importantly, use.

(Wow, I just realised that I have been an Apple user for almost 10 years! And that I’ve only had two computers during that time. Wow.)

Everything Else

Capture the Everyday: Feet

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Capture the Everyday from Adventuroo

Capture the Everyday is about getting you to capture those everyday moments in your life! Each Thursday, Mel from Adventuroo issue a simple challenge to capture something that’s a part of your daily life. You can post just a picture or add some words to go along with it. You’ll have a week to get it done and then she’ll issue another. It’s a quick, easy way to start capturing those little parts of life we sometimes take for granted.

This week’s assignment: Feet

There’s nothing better than a pair of tiny pink feet of babies. These little feetses are oh so cute and oh so dainty, and it reminds you of the fact that one day, these tootsies won’t be so tiny anymore.

I may not have a bub of my own but I certainly have one that I can borrow. In this picture, my nephew Rai is all of 10 weeks old and sleeping in his stroller. I love that little tyke.

Teeny tiny feet

But! Although I don’t have a human baby, I do have two feline ones whom I love as much as I would my human baby. I love Emi’s little feet-paws because of the adorable pink padding on the underfoot.

Pink padding

Bun in oven, Letters to

Bao bao?

yannisms

Dear Tiny Human,

Your father thinks he is a very funny man.

You see, I started calling you the nugget, mostly because of Battlestar Galactica. In the show, they call all newbie pilots “nuggets” and that kind of stuck. Very geek, I know.

Anyway, he was initially very uncomfortable with that moniker, he said, because nuggets are things that he eats. But I reminded him that throughout pregnancy, babies are compared to foods anyway (jellybean, peanut, grape, avocado etc) so nugget is perfectly alright.

And then today, we had this conversation over MSN.

Me: Yeah I’m just really tired today.
Him: Baby’s eating up your energy. Nugget=>siao bao
Me: Nugget = bao?!
Him: Grow bigger mah…nugget to a siao bao…then become a da bao!!

[crickets chirping]

The organised chaos, Werk

The sun is out

yannisms

The weather has been so fickle today: the skies turned grey and dumped a truckload of rain on us, and I buttoned my jacket and rubbed my hands together for warmth. And then suddenly, the torrential rain stopped and the sun chased away the clouds. We are bathed in its glorious, golden light once again.

It reminded me, once again, of the school anthem of my beloved alma mater. After the sun, the rain. After the rain, the sun.

And that’s how it is, that’s how Life is. A new day, a new beginning.

As I serve out the last two weeks of my employment, I am grateful for the support of my wonderful boss. The workload has been light these days. The agency has been kind to me, really, it has, in comparison to some of my colleagues. One of the agency’s strengths is in its training programmes and I have learnt so much in my 2.5 years here. My stint here was a step towards greater things and I leave knowing that I have done my best, that my boss believes in me.

Despite all that frustration and anger in dealing with the messy politics, I leave with a lighter heart.

And so I begin my journey out of the corporate world. Yes, it entails a hefty pay cut. Yes, I am giving up my career. Yes, I know that I will never be able to chase the material dream again. Yes, I get apprehensive at times, wondering if I will be good at what I am going to do. Yes, I will be throwing myself out of the comfort zone and into a whole new world.

But you know what, I am completely comfortable with my decision. The pay cut doesn’t even bother me as much as I thought it would. I’ve never been one to hanker after the top of the ladder and my ambition in life is to be happy at what I do. Not much of an ambition, is it?

Thankfully, I am getting heaps and heaps of reassurance from the girlfriends who are in the same industry. And really, what would I do without them? I would never have gotten the courage to take the leap if it hadn’t been for them.

So yes, the rain has stopped and the sun is out. I’m ready for a fresh, new start. Wish me luck!

Halo

Bun in oven

So eff-ing tired

yannisms

I don’t know how full-time working pregnant women do it.

I’m literally falling asleep at my desk everyday. And it’s a mighty good thing that I am on the last three weeks of my employment here and I have practically NOTHING to do. Otherwise, I might just end up making mistakes and looking like a fool. And it’s also a good thing that my boss understands exactly what being pregnant means and she smiles when she sees me yawn, instead of wondering why this useless employee of hers is always so sleepy.

I mean, I have been sleeping at 1030pm EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. I’m like this geriatric granny who sleeps all the time. And I used to stay up till 5am reading my books!

This is just zzzzzzzz…

Bun in oven

Sprouting limbs

yannisms

As of last Friday, the Tiny Human has limbs.

Can you see the cute little limb buds and what is presumably the nugget’s bottom? How adorable is that! (Assuming that really is the bottom and not, err, a giant penis or something.)

I had a bit of a scare early Monday morning. See, by now I am pretty used to the odd twinge here and there. But I got woken up at about 4am on Monday by cramps that were coming on regularly and it scared me a little. It was a little like period cramps but without the OUCH, MOTHER! factor. I tried to go back to sleep but the cramps were like YO MAMA so by 5am, I decided it was safer if I took my progesterone suppositories.

This is, of course, thanks to Dr Y’s education: progesterone helps to keep the cranky uterus happy. Obviously, that only works if you have progesterone on hand in the first place and happily, I did.

Off I went into the loo to stick the Crinone up my uh-hmm and lo and behold! Blood on the toilet paper!

JUST GREAT.

At 7am, I texted Dr Y, who asked me to go down to the clinic for a quick look-see, just for a peace of mind. And there he/she was, my little nugget swimming around in a pool of amniotic water, all safe and sound. The nugget had grown 2mm since our 8w scan the Friday before and we could see the limb buds more clearly.

People, I AM GROWING LIMBS IN MY UTERUS.

And then Dr Y amplified the sound of the heartbeat for this blind mother who absolutely COULD NOT see the barely there flickering of her baby’s heart…and it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s nothing but a monotonous WOO WOO WOO WOO (it sounds exactly like this) but it was just super awesome.

So the kiddo’s good and Dr Y managed to locate the source of bleeding. It was probably some old implantation blood and he got me to rest for a couple of days at home. We were all happy and jolly until, err, I showed him the hideous insect bites that I had gotten while on the ferry back from Bintan.

See, we had gone to Bintan for a quick weekend getaway with the friends. Everything was fine and dandy, we even set off fireworks and I got a little tan. But on the way back home, my left leg became food for some arsehole bugs nestling in my seat and started SWELLING.

Anyway, when I showed him my leg, which was swollen, red, itchy and hot to the touch, he was all WHAT DID YOU DO? Turns out that the bites were inflamed and if the swelling didn’t go down soon enough, I would have to take antibiotics to prevent infection.

Oops.

After tsk tsk-ing at me, he prescribed a mild steroid cream and asked me to apply sparingly. The good news is, the swelling went down. The bad news is, the itch is just a bitch.

The baby’s fine, I’m still sick with nausea and need many three-hour naps in the day. Ah, the usual.

Bun in oven

Spoke too soon

yannisms

Those fancypants sea bands which supposedly killed my nausea?

EPIC FAIL.

I enjoyed a hearty lunch of Hokkien mee this afternoon and four hours later, the food took an excursion up my esophagus and I did a Merlion into the toilet bowl.

Gack.

And it was a VERY good bowl of Hokkien mee too. Sucks.

I just want to crawl into bed and sleep NOW.

The organised chaos

Back in a mo’

yannisms

Sorry for the radio silence these days, friends on the Internetz.

I’ve been working on a huge project that’s sapping me of my time and energy. All I want to do when I get home from work is to slump in front of the telly and sleep! I’m SO. DAMNED. TIRED. There were a few nights where I actually crashed into bed at 11pm – very early for me.

So yeah, the verbal reserves have been drained till further notice. But it’s a most exciting project and I will share with you when I can. But for now, posts will be random and sporadic.

Hope everyone’s been good!

Bun in oven

Banishing the burps

yannisms

Actually, I’m not quite getting rid of the burps. I just wanted a word that goes with banishing.

It’s NAUSEA that I am banishing.

The so-called morning sickness (ha! more like ALL-DAY sickness) has been plaguing me pretty much since the day we found out we were baking up a bun in the oven. I’ve tried all ways and means to relieve myself from the omnipresent nauseous feeling, from sucking on sweets to chewing on dried mango. These have helped in some way but the stomach still threatens to expel its contents once in a while.

And then husband came up with this brilliant suggestion: acupressure wrist bands.

Apparently his colleague had bought a pair to ward off seasickness and it had worked. The man put two and two together and realised that seasickness = jumpy stomach = morning all-day sickness. Clever, eh?

Off we went to get me a pair of these. Apparently the bands work by exerting pressure on a particular point on your wrist, which somehow curbs nausea. It sounded dodge maximus to me, really, but at this point in time, staring down the possibility of living with this horrible nausea for the next four to six weeks, I was willing to try anything.

And what do you know? They bloody worked!

I haven’t had the urge to regurgitate since I stuck them on my wrists last night.

Now, if only they could help me to do my laundry and dinner too.

Health Goddess

Don’t look back in anger

yannisms

A friend of mine and I were having a chat over MSN this afternoon when I asked him about his wife, who was due next month. The conversation moved on to the topic of needles and I casually mentioned that my phobia of needles was almost completely erased, after the whole IVF experience.

(I mean, it would have been extremely counterproductive had I been squeamish about jabbing myself, wouldn’t it? I would really be wasting time and energy squirming in pain when I could just stab and go.)

He very innocently asked me the following questions: Is the course of IVF working? Is the jab helping in any way?

His questions made me smile, for it just underscored the fact that most people don’t really get what IVF is all about and they will never have to know what it entails.

And then I wondered, do I regret going through IVF?

There are some people who, when faced with infertility, dither and fall into deep depression because they cannot fathom going through the whole shebang of assisted reproductive technology. To them, the cost of going through something as deeply intrusive as ART is not worth the end result of possibly having a child.

But it was never like that for me. I would never have forgiven myself if I didn’t pursue relentlessly what I wanted. I will go on to my second or third or even fifth IVF if I need to, finances permitting (touch wood though!!). I would have done everything I could in order to spawn (and make the world a better place too!).

At the same time, I think the whole process has made me a better person. I’ve always been the instant gratification sort of person and you can imagine what kind of cosmic joke it is for the Universe to put me through infertility! Want to have a baby now? DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200 AND HEAD STRAIGHT TO JAIL.

So yes, I have learnt patience and empathy.

I used to plan my life around the perfect goal posts but now, I realize that it’s okay to move the goal posts back a little. I don’t have to have a child before I hit 30, as long as I have my child eventually. There is no law stating that 30 is the best age to have a kid, nobody is getting upset except me and for what? A silly childhood notion of white picket fences and marrying Prince William? Gah!

Plus, I think IVF has shown me just exactly what I was made of. I didn’t moan (excessively, anyway) even though I was so sick towards the end and was bordering on bloody ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome. I endured the jabs myself and even helped myself to more (acupuncture, anyone?). There were no tantrums or hormonal rages from this genetically-modified cow too. Was v proud of myself.

Along the way, I even made new friends. Talk about multitasking! I just had dinner the other day with YL and S and we were laughing and joking about our silly incidents during IVF. Like, when I went to KKH and did a vajayjay scan with Dr Handsome, only to find myself lying on that uncomfortable bed with NOTHING but a piece of PAPER TOWEL covering my nekkid lady parts. See, IVF-ers are not a depressive lot, we laugh and giggle too! We are not always moaning and weeping!

IVF has even made our marriage stronger than before. We’ve been through so much and we emerged more in love than before. He has seen a side of me that even I never knew existed, and he took care of me so tenderly and selflessly. It’s true, what doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger.

And so, my answer is no, I don’t regret going through IVF and I never will.