Morning After

Ouch!! Ouch!! Ouch!! Yes it is hurting more than normal after yesterday's quest this morning but it was really a big step forward .....hmmm!! looks like it is a no pain no gain kind of situation ya!

Step Forward.

Today is the thirty sixth day of just being in a state of inertness ....... Ooops!! sorry the day before yesterday was quite eventful and did quite a fair bit of running around after being almost in a comatose stage. Thanks to my wife and wife's friend and sister I was able to take a giant step forward in my road to recovery from the arrgh!! sciatica. Yesterday was a full day of rest and I am really happy that the degree of pain did not increase after the long period of riding in the car running around town playing assistant tour guide the day before. It is still painful but bearable.

OK I think I am going to do some gardening this evening and I really do hope that there will be no consequences after that. I planted an eggplant seeds about a week ago and the seedling need to be transplanted for it to grow further. Since I think I am much better now I have to make the next step ya!! It is about twelve noon now and the sun is really scorching hot so come evening when the weather is more conducive, I will be in the garden ....... wish me luck.

Hi I am back .......... OK just had my bath and dinner ........ so far so good, just very little new pain but just some aching here and there ......... wooh!!! too early to come to any conclusion at the moment but I did it, yes I managed to clear an earlier prepared bed of weeds and planted the brinjal seedling. With a sickle in hand just after I had my afternoon nap about four o'clock I started with my quest. First the overgrown weeds around the bed was trimmed inch by inch with a sickle and having to take a break after every few strokes to give my legs and back a rest. The earth on the bed itself was loosen with a screw driver like tool and the weeds removed by hands making sure that the roots of the weeds were removed too.

After about two and a half hours the bed was ready for planting and my buttocks was starting to hurt a little. I was so close to achieving my quest so I decided to ignore the growing pains and continue to put the seedling in the ground. After another thirty minutes or so it's done complete with mulching. I am really glad that it was done feeling a sense of great achievement and taking another step forward in my recovery even though I start to limb a little from the new pain then.

Now I am just wondering whether I should had stop immediately when there was a first pinch of pain or was it foolish of me to to persevere even though some pain was developing. Well guess I will only know by tomorrow morning. Oh ya, I can now sleep a little better.

Unscheduled Stop

Last Tuesday very early morning at about 1:30AM was just like any other early morning for the past nearly one month I had to wake up to relief the pain in my right leg due to the sciatica problem. Sleeping through the night was impossible for me for the time being, it was like taking naps because every other hour I must walk around to relief the pain.

While struggling out of bed with a piercing pain from my right buttock down to my knee I heard a loud crunching noise of metal and plastic being compressed at high speed. I peeped out of the window and saw what looks like a motorcycle had collided with a car at the T-junction down the road. OOooo ouch my leg hurts and I wondered how much longer will I have to suffer this meaningless pain.

Moments later some people were shouting at each other at the top of their voice for causing their unscheduled stop. Once again I looked out of the window, this time standing up straight and was able see better. There was another car involved in the collision head on with the other car while the motor bike was lying on the side. While the people involved in the drama were accusing each other for causing the unscheduled stop passer by quickly rushed to pull the motorbike away from the two damaged cars and flames started coming out from one or both the cars ..... it was difficult to tell cause both the cars were like stuck to each other. The flame grew real fast and devoured both the cars in a matter of minutes before the firemen arrived to put it out. The crowd also grew as fast as the fire and I was surprised to see so many of them gathered in such a short time at this very early morning hour. The driver of one of the car was swearing away of being cursed ........ guess he will blame any thing but failed to be responsible of his own action. A couple of police cars and an ambulance were there to watch the drama. Both the wreckage were removed from the scene of the accident once the fire was put out and the crowd also dispersed.

I put away my camera and quietly slipped back into bed keeping my fingers crossed hoping to sleep right through till sunrise but it did not happened.

Shattered Dream

Today is the twenty ninth day since I got an wanted present from hell and I have not had a single night of decent sleep since. Yes it is the sciatica that I am talking about. The recovery process is really slow and it is really a great way to torture anyone to get information ......... I don't think Rambo can withstand this kind of torture too!!! kekeke!!

I had rehabilitated and added compost to all six of the long beds so that they would be ready for planting when the raining season starts. Mini hills were constructed for perennials because there is now a concept after gaining some very valuable hands on experience last year. It is exciting and was really looking forward to the raining season to realise my concept. I could imagine the result of an almost continuous flow of greens on the table and the sweet taste of home grown organics almost daily.

The raining season had started a while back and my mini farm is getting overgrown with weeds. The raised beds were covered with a layer of organic green not veggies but a crown of weeds. All mini hills are being slowly devoured by the weeds and so are the poor herbal plants. The compost pile is also not spared as the weeds enjoyed themselves wholeheartedly to the gourmet cuisine which I used to jealously guard against them. Sometimes I can even hear them party all night long ...hehe!! just kidding.

Every evening I am tempted to do something to check the uncontrolled growing of the weeds but the fear of aggravating the situation I am in never fail to stop me. I am still in pain not just pain but very irritating kind of pain. I really hope my mini farm would not be an undergrowth when I am fit enough to rework it. My tools are also rusting away due to the idleness ........ Anyone care to give me a hand.

Sciatica

Sciatica is from hell! Trust me you would not want such a thingy but then again sometime it is a gift from nature which cannot be refused or rejected if you are the chosen one to receive it. When such a condition is at its prime one cannot sit, lie down, stand up, et cetra, et cetra without the feel of excruciating pain. The only solution is an injection of pain killer right in the cheek of the buttock for some decent relief.

It is not over after the injection, the pain will linger on for not the next couple of days but weeks. Sleeping is almost impossible and so is sitting down. Getting up from a lying down position is really a killer; the only way for a small relief is to walk around with a therapy of pain killer. A constant pain is felt at one of the buttock's cheek and therefore you will be bestowed with the title "Pain In The Ass"

Lot of rest is required and that is not at all an easy thing to do. You will know what I mean if you are one of the "lucky" one to receive this gift from nature. I was not able to do anything even I wanted to since I received this gift nine days ago. I am still suffering but a little less now. OUCH!!!

The Feast

Once a year we will have a feast and eat ourselves silly ....... maybe a couple of times in a year hee!!hee!! Most Chinese people call this particular get together to eat among family members during this time of the year particularly on the eve of the Chinese New Year a Reunion Dinner. We do not think it is necessary to have it on the eve or dinner time, just a time which is convenient for everyone and my mum was the only guest.

This year we had it a couple of days before Chinese New Year and as usual it was scrumptious. Just thinking about the dishes that we had makes my mouth water.....mmm yum! yum!

The first dish is of course the "Yee Sang - 鱼生". Traditionally this dish was only eaten on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, nowadays it is eaten anytime just before and during the fifteen days of the Chinese New Year celebration. Chinese being Chinese will cease at any opportunity to make an additional dollar if it is viable. There are too many versions of stories to this dish but one thing for sure it is a damn good appetiser.

Braised sea cucumber with fish maw with pork in black sauce.....this is my favorite. The fish maws were collected over a period of time and the sea cucumbers were from our regular specialty Chinese food stuff supplier and Jusco. Those from Jusco were good to eat but those from our regular supplier were heavenly. Eating sea cucumber is not just for the taste but also the bite, it must not be overcooked but just right. My wife had mastered the art of cooking these heavenly delicious eating thingy.

Butter Prawns, a dish that Princess prepared which The Only Daughter learn how to do from her place of part time work. The pomfret, The Only Daughter favorite was steamed to perfection but coriander garnishing had to be a private affair. My mum and I were the only two persons who enjoy these very fragrant leaves. To the uninitiated it stinks!!

Soup of the day was dried scallop soup specially prepared by Princess and so were the fresh American scallops with broccoli in XO sauce.

Last but not least a two point something kilo roast duck Cantonese style by yours truly.

Indoor Rain

The water pressure to our home from the mains had dropped drastically over the past few years and the quality of water is horrible most of the time. The pressure is extremely low at peak hours and it is really a nuisance and irritant. For example if somebody is having a bath with the instant hot water shower which greatly depended on water pressure to operate and someone else turn on a tap to wash something the instant hot water shower will turn off ......... "Hey!!! Who turned on the tap?" is the usual response coming from the bathroom when the warm water becomes cold water.

Having a warm shower is quite a hassle sometimes but and getting the laundry done ....... have to ask the home minister. Normally it takes about an hour but with the ridiculously low pressure it had been extended to more than two hours. About two weeks ago with no major backache, I decided to proceed with some modification of the plumbing to increase the pressure to the washing machine to reduce the unnecessary waste of time and electricity. I had to make sure that my back was in sound condition because the working area is very cramp and I did not want to be immobilised in there. I have a weak back from an accident ages ago.

After inspecting the existing pipes and got some measurement I went to the friendly hardware shop down the road to get the supplies. I bought the thin walled Upvc pipes thinking that it would be more flexible as there was some minor bends required. I am making a changing the supply source to the washing machine from the mains to the storage tank.

After spending almost a whole afternoon working on the piping with most of the time in the cramped place of under the roof, I was really glad that it was done. Thank god my back did not give up on me.

The home minister usually does the laundry at night and tonight was no different from any other night. She started the machine just before having a bath and I would be relaxing in the family room by that time. "Ging-gong ging-gong ...... praaahhhhh" the sound of heavy dripping water came from the kitchen, the rain had started! Oh sh*#!!, I quickly ran upstairs and turned off the storage tank supply line to the new pipes I put in.

It was tough, really really tough to accept the fact of having to get into the roof to repair the broken piping. That night I did not sleep well thinking of the extra unnecessary work and was wondering what went wrong. Luckily my back was still OK.

Reluctantly the next morning I slide open the roof tiles and was surprise to see that the Upvc pipe actually broke because of stress and not because of a poor joining work. Having understood the whole scenario I decided to replaced all the piping with heavy duty type and reroute it for minimum stress.

It had been more than two weeks now and I guess it is now safe to say a job well done!