Singapore Osteoporosis

Dear Singapore Readers, how are you feeling? Enjoyed your long weekends? For me, this long weekend is neither too long nor too short and I could said that I have spent my time very wisely, reading up, doing self improvement and discovering more about my health!

Yup, yesterday, outside Sheng Siong Supermarket in Bedok, I did those free Bone Mass tests by Anlene milk company and guess what, my bones are not that strong!

I was a tad worried and hence gave the Anlene promoters business as I bought a medium packet of Anlene milk powder to bone up on my bones (no pun intended). Anlene milk powder contains a wealth of calcium to promote stronger bones! Wow Anlene must be happy that I am giving them free publicity on this blog of mine!

Anyway, bone problems are hardly noticed by many as the cracking and deteoriation of bones develop silently and insidiously in our bodies and when we crack our bones one day, it is often too late already!

Our bones are not that solid and strong as what we have perceived them to be. Bones are living tissues and the growth and depletion of these bone tissues are always ongoing. Thus one must really have a rich calcium-rich diet to strengthen our bones so that the absorption rate of bone mass will surpass the bone depletion rate.

Osteoporosis is often a remote term to many Singaporeans. One can easily understand Osteorporosis if one visualise termites as the Osteoporosis and wood as our bones. When the termites attack a wood, the interior of the wood is eaten up, leaving a seemingly strong facade of the wood outside. One day, if you just press lightly on this wood, you will be surprised that it will just crumble easily, revealing the hollow interior of the wood....just like our bones, if we do not take care of them, this scenario may similarly play out....

Japan Hokkaido Travel

Did you see the photo of the colourful plane below?

If you take a closer look, you would have noticed that the plane is decked out in 'Pokemon' style, with the pictures of the cartoon characters adorning the facade of the plane.

This was the plane my Dear and I travelled in when we made our return journey from the Chitose airport in Hokkaido back to Haneda airport in Tokyo. As such, this plane is a domestic-flight plane. Not all the domestic-flight planes in Chitose are similarly adorned with Pokemon characters. My Dear and I were lucky to travel in this lovely plane. Even the seat covers depict these Pokemon characters as well!

There are some cool and beautiful models of these "Pokemon" planes on display at the airport.

Domestic planes in Japan are of no-frill types. There is only a centralized projector screening screening movies for interested passengers to pass time as there is no individual TV station for each individual. It only makes sense. What I love about the flight is that we can order bottles of Japanese wine/sake in lieu of the common glasses of orange juices and I must tell you that their wine or sake is real refreshing and invigorating!

On our last day of our tour, we left our hotel towards airport at 8 am Japan time and we reached our home only around 12am Singapore time! The whole journey of taking 2 planes as well as transfer coaches coupled with waiting took around 12 hours in all! We were tired nevertheless but sad to leave a beautiful country like Japan.

Publicise your event for free

Yes, readers, you can now publicise your event here on this blog absolutely FREE!

In conjunction with Singapore Short Stories' 2nd anniversary, Singapore Short Stories will give free rein to readers as well as friends of readers to publicise their event for absolutely free, provided that the events are not racially, religiously, sexually or politicially offensive or extreme.

Email your event description to singaporeshortstories@gmail.com and reach hundreds of readers about your event for absolutely FREE of charge! If you would like to accompany your event description with images, please upload your picture into a website for me to upload. I know it is troublesome, but I have experienced malicious picture attachments before, so appreciate your Great Help!

Spread the words around to your friends and attract the traffic you need for your events easily and conveniently!

Qiu Biqing

The Singaporean of the day award for today 26 Nov 09 goes to Qiu Biqing, who scores an aggregate of 290 out of 300 in the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE)! Congratulations to Qiu Biqing and her family! Now she and her family must be celebrating! Read the full article of the results of this year PSLE here!

Noteworthy is that Biqing is not a Singaporean as she is a China Chinese and that she hails from a neighbourhood school, Qifa Primary School!

Where are all the smart alecks of Singapore?

Singapore Salary

The following guide is just an approximation of the monthly salaries in an ultra large MNC:

Technician: $1,500
Officer: $2,500
Supervisor: $3,000
Executive: $3,500
Manager: $5,000
Senior Manager: $7,000
General Manager:$10,000
Deputy Head: $13,000
Head: $15,000
Deputy Director: $17,000
Director: $20,000
Senior Direct0r: $25,000
Director-General: $30,000
Managing Director:$35,000
Group Managing Director:$42,000
Executive Director:$60,000
Chief Executive Director:$80,000
Vice President: $100,000
President: $140,000
Group President:$200,000
Deputy CEO: $250,000
CEO: $300,000
Group CEO:$500,000
Chairman: $1,000,000

Hotels

With December coming up and more visitors coming to tour Singapore, I list down the list of 5 stars hotels in Singapore for the interest of international readers.

Singapore's hotels do not come cheap. If possible, international tourists to Singapore can opt for no-frill hotels or budget hotel chains for a quick stay here while touring Lion City.

List of Singapore 5 star hotels

Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa
Ascott Raffles Place Singapore
Capella Singapore Hotel
Conrad Hotel Centennial Singapore
Crowne Plaza Hotel Changi Airport
Fairmont Hotel Singapore
Goodwood Park Hotel Singapore
Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore
Grand Hyatt Hotel Singapore
Grand Park City Hall Singapore
Hilton Hotel Singapore
InterContinental Hotel Singapore
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Singapore
Marina Mandarin Singapore
Marriott Hotel Singapore
Meritus Mandarin Hotel Singapore
Naumi Hotel Singapore
Orchard Parksuites Serviced Residences Singapore
Pan Pacific Orchard Hotel Singapore
Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Singapore
Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel
Raffles Hotel Singapore
Rasa Sentosa Resort Singapore Shangri-La
Regency House (Serviced Residences) Singapore
Ritz Carlton Millenia Hotel Singapore
Royal Plaza On Scotts Singapore
Scarlet Hotel Singapore (The)
Sentosa Resort & Spa Singapore (The)
Shangri-La Hotel Singapore
Sheraton Towers Singapore

Avatar the movie

Another great film, right on the heels of blockbuster "2012" will be blasting on screens come 18 Dec 09: Avatar.

I read on the newspapers today that the director of this movie, James Cameron dismissed talks that the show cost a whopping US$500 million to produce.

For me, I think the show may be good only because I do not like cartoons, haha. I watch movies once in a blue moon, only those mega blockbusters like "2012"!

Anyway, the movie ticket now cost $10 each in Singapore, watching movie is an expensive affair these days!

Singapore 2010 Countdown

It is that time of the year (yet again) when we will usher in a brand new year in just slightly more than a month! I must tell you that one year passes like lightning! I never have the feeling that a year passes so fast when I am in my schooldays but it seems ever since I started working, time seems to just zoom past and before we know it, the end of the year will arrive!

Let us trace through how we or rather I have this rapid perception of the rapid passing of time. First when January of a new year comes, this month is reserved for most of us to get used to the new year, to the crafting of new year resolutions, to wake up from that partying mood and the lingering remnants of the year before and finally to familiarize ourselves with the writing of ‘10’ rather than ‘09’ when dating a document. And once that suite of work is done, we welcome February!

What does one do when it comes to February? For most of us, February is often the month when Chinese New Year is in. There will be two holidays for all Chinese and non-Chinese alike thus this 28-day (or 29 days when there is a leap year) month will pass fast too. Many of us will also prolong the holidaying with our own taking of leaves and before we know it, February will pass.

Next comes March, a month students look forward to as there is a week-long holidays. Many parents also will take leave this month to go overseas with their children. April and May can be quite ‘dry’ but with public holidays like Good Friday and Vesak Day, these two months will pass fast too.

June, a school holiday month will fly as working parents take leave for overseas vacations with their kids alike in March. Enduring a ‘dry spell’ July, it is soon that we celebrate National Day in August.

I must tell you that in my opinion, Singapore National Day is that totem pole point beyond which time just accelerates with the dozens of festivals, public holidays, international and national events in the lineup for the rest of the year which leads us finally to December. These five months will pass in a flash because time flies when we are having fun!

Coming back to where I left off earlier, I must tell you that every year when it comes to this time of the year, I will trace back my diary and look back at what I have achieved hitherto this year as well as what are the things I have set out to achieve which are still WIP (work in progress). Noteworthy to me are also the happy and unhappy things, which I experienced during these months.

It is with a rueful look that I retraced some of the things I have not achieved in one or two aspects of life this year. I have always work hard in life but let us face the fact that life is never a smooth course. People and circumstances of life do change and prevent us from achieving what we aspire to do. It is my onus to ensure that this fact of life does not turn out to be an excuse for not trying to achieving an endeavor.

Enough of philosophical musing, let us look at what are the highlights for Singapore in year 2010.

Cast in iron and firmed up on the calendar is the highly anticipated Youth Olympics Games which will turn international spotlight on Singapore once again. This will be the greatest international event for Singapore next year, followed by F1 race a month later in Aug 10.

On the national front, I believe it is time for Singaporeans to go to the polls next year. With YOG being held later in the August 2010, I believe the polls will be called before August. I hazard a guess: March 2010 to June 2010.

Wish you and family a Happy 2010 ahead!

Invisible Health Risks

I was appalled by an article I read in the Sunday Times on 22 Nov 09. There was a mention of a finding that a chemical Bisphenol A present in polycarbonate, a material used to make baby waterbottle, plastic containers and electrical casings contain health risks to man in the form of erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems. These chemicals could migrate from the plastic to the fluid in the container when exposed to heat in many common scenarios: e.g. in hot milk from baby containers made of such materials. Such polycarbonate materials can be identified from the Plastic Identification Code number 7 and you can look at this website to know more about this code.

I have always steered away from consuming my food using plastic utensils, plates and bowls as I always believe the hot food will cause the chemicals from these soft materials to seep into the food, causing health risks. It was indeed enlightening to me to learn that strong plastic such as polycarbonates also do contain such health risks too when subject to hot heat. I have also since stopped the practice of recycling plastic water bottles to contain my drinking water after reading from newspapers years ago that those plastic will melt over time, fusing into the water you drink. I have changed into a stronger plastic water bottle and avoid pouring hot water into the bottle. I do sometimes contain my water in those plastic mineral bottles but I ensure that these bottles are not reused too often.

For long, I have always doubted the harmful side effects to health posed by man-made chemicals. The health risks of handphone radiation and the likelihood of the radiation causing cancer is still not conclusive though I will prefer to err on the side of caution. Just some weeks ago, I read on the internet that benzoyl peroxide contained in popular acne treatment lotions can actually slow down the healing process of the skin and cause the skin to age more! But teenagers suffering from breakouts may still use them as they are unaware of these risks!

As technology advances and man uses more and more chemicals to make his life easier, make him or her look better, we must ask ourselves whether there are health risks to us that we may never know? A myriad of complicated diseases such as cancers strike many men who adopt healthy lifestyles, which is a real shock to them and we must wonder whether such cancers are insidiously afflicted on them through prolonged use of chemicals in their daily rituals, which are unknown to them?

The eschewing of chemicals is not new. Societies have sprung up, preaching an ‘organic’ lifestyles via subsisting on organic food. But how organic an organic food is, we never know. There may still be preservatives and chemicals injected into these food.

As much as I want to steer away from chemicals and man-made technology to avoid the invisible and unconcluded health risks and dangers, I am so sad that I am not able to do so, as modern man. During work, I have to face the computer for over ten hours a day, going back home, I need to rely on my computer again to settle my email messages. I would need to communicate with others daily through the handphone which may contain so much health risks too. This is the way of modern living! The food I eat at work are laden with so much preservatives in order to make it tasty. Even the water I drink is artificial as it is made up of a proportion of NEWater, a water the Singapore government creates from the urine of I and you! Some people I heard on the street said NEWater causes many Singaporeans to lose their hair at a younger age! True or not, I do not know, but anyway, I would need to drink else I would die! And drinking bottled water here would cost me a bomb! Anyway I am already bald, so I do not care! Talking about hair, many hair loss sufferers are subjecting themselves to a number of chemical treatments on their scalp. Will these chemicals cause brain cancer too?

I admit I am becoming a bit paranoid but there may be some chemicals causing health risks to us that we never know until these risks are validated by science….with so many chemicals and products, it may be too late…..so prevention is better than cure!

Singapore Tallest Christmas Tree

The other day, I blogged about what may seem to be the tallest Christmas tree in Singapore: the Christmas tree on top of Vivocity Shopping Centre (if you miss the post, just click on the label "Singapore Christmas" to read it).

I would like to clarify that when it comes to the earlier post, I have ascribe that honor on Vivocity's Christmas tree as the Christmas tree is really the tallest when you count from zero metre ground level to the tip of the Christmas tree as the tree is perched on the roof of a shopping centre of several stories height, thus which other Christmas tree could beat Vivocity's Christmas tree when it comes to such a comparison of height? Vivocity's Christmas tree could be seen from hundreds of metres away from the shopping centre too!

But however, when we base soley on the height of a Christmas tree (from bottom to top of the tree), two Christmas trees stand out to contend for this position: Ngee Ann City's Christmas tree as well as Orchard Central Christmas tree (see photo above). After visiting the Christmas tree in Orchard Central last Saturday with my wife, I will have to affirm that this year's (and possibly for the next few years), the tallest Christmas tree will not be Ngee Ann City's Christmas tree, this honour will go to the Christmas tree in Orchard Central (if we based solely the height from bottom to tip of the tree)! Of course, when it comes to physical visibilty, Vivocity's Christmas tree has no parallels!