Look at what's HOGging the headlines...

In the midst of a bear market, the pig has made its move over the weekend. Originating from Mexico, there are now confirmed cases of infection in Canada, with suspected cases as far as France, Israel, and even New Zealand. Are we going to see another flu epidemic, a la the Avian Flu?

The Asian stock markets have already reacted to news of the swine flu, with airline stocks leading the bloodshed.

Is this going to be just a roll in the mud or is the pig here to stay? 

One little black bird sitting on the tree(window)

Woohoo! Thanks YL for the help in setting up my chatbox! ;D

Now my blog looks more complete.

I'm sure birdy agrees...

In case anybody is wondering, this was supposed to be my new pet. Mum got a shock when she walked to the service balcony and saw 'something' there. She turned on the lights to find it perched proudly at the window.

Totally. Motionless.

Even with the lights on. Even with us discussing about it (Is it dead? Or sleeping? Or just resting?) a mere two metres away. Even when I move forward to take this photo, less than a metre away.

Apparently, it was sleeping.

Dad came along. "Shoo! Shoo!"


Birdy woke up. It was feeling groggy, perhaps due to the bright lights, perhaps it was having a hangover. It turned its head to the left. Then to the right. A little shake, then to the left again. And yet another shake.

Dad advanced. It flew away. No more pet for now.

Adding a chatbox

I can't believe how difficult it is to add a chat box to my blog. The instructions are very straightforward and easy to comprehend. The steps are easy to execute too. But why is it not working for me?!?!

According to http://chatter.flooble.com/, "Flooble chatterbox works as a javascript include, which means that there is no additional strain on your server, and that it can be added to a page by simply inserting one block of HTML where you want the chatterbox to appear. We give you the code, you just paste it in. Nothing could be simpler."

Nothing could be simpler indeed... It's mocking me!!

Arghh!!!

HELP!!

RWM outing to HealthZone

We had our last Read-With-Me (RWM) session today. Unlike our usual sessions at Hougang Student Care Services (HG SCS), we had an outing today to HealthZone at the Health Promotion Board (HPB).

Most of the kids were already waiting excitedly at HG SCS when I arrived with Yi Lin around 9:10am. We were late. (Ops!) Thankfully, we were not the last.

We left the centre at around 9:30am, after all who were supposed to be present had arrived. I took charge of Manfred today, as I usually do. He seems rather attached to me and would always come to me if I were around. Hongchuan is the 'spare tire' in my absence. :p (I was to find out from Hongchuan during lunch, that Manfred prefers a male teacher, because he looks to elder males as fatherly figures. His dad had left his family for another woman.)

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At HealthZone, the kids were all so eager to get into action! It was hard to get them to line up and wait for their turn to enter. There would probably be a stampede if the teachers release the students.

The slide was a major attraction. These tykes seem to have no qualms with playing there the whole day! Of course, we did not let them have their wish; or rather, we had to show them that there are other attractions apart from the slide. And indeed there were. After bringing them on a tour of the place, where we saw exhibits ranging from a huge lower jaw with tooth decay for the room on Oral Hygiene, to this food monster below in the room for Healthy Eating.

Then it was up to them to choose the games they wanted to play! They were quick to spread out to different stations, although there seemed to be a general herd mentality involved, as they tended to stay in the same room. Except for Daniel. He was perfectly at ease playing with minimum company or even alone.

Here's Daniel testing his strength...

And at the stationary bike... The poor kids were not able reach the paddles even when the adjustable seats were pushed all the way forward! But Daniel was somehow able to get into a comfortable position, and stayed on the bike to complete the challenge!

And finally, a group photo to end the day. Aloysius on the left was throwing tantrums again. After he was pried off the Step-up Machine to join in the group photo. :D Guess he couldn't bear to leave...


While waiting for the bus, Damien and Manfred discussed the prowess of Ultraman and Ironman. Would the Ultraman on Damien's shirt, beat the Ironman on Manfred's shirt?

Here's Manfred eating the chocolate sandwiches that Angie prepared for the kids. He didn't like those with strawberry jam...

I'm sure the kids enjoyed themselves. I enjoyed my time with time too! Too bad the next semester is in August...