'Thorn' in the Flesh

Life has just been so exhausting. I do get notes from friends (you know who you are) about when we're next meeting and how it's been some time since we last caught up for old times's sake. You know I love reunions so I'm not finding excuses to keep you at bay. I often wish life weren't as packed with activities and demands that require your time and attention.

However, I admit to being a restless creature. Sitting still, staying home, or even the idea of taking leave and not going away somewhere to do something has never quite been what I'd call a 'time out'. Give me 'free' time and I'm be blazing the bowling lanes, doing laps in the pool, hitting the gym to bulk up or slugging it out on the tennis court. I'm the restless sort. Maybe God knew I was tiring myself out lately and decided to slow me down with some pain. Not that He's cruel, but if nothing will get me to take a breather and learn to rest, then maybe immobilising me to some degree would work.

As I type, I'm mindful of a needle that's about a centimetre long embedded under my flesh in my right wrist (I boldly went where I've never been before - to a TCM practitioner!). I've been suffering from a nagging soreness the last month and it wasn't getting better. I first felt the pain coming on after doing some one arm lifting of a 4-year-old boy off the ground. Not too long later, I thought I'd suffered a sprain. Thinking that it'd go away, I continued with my sporting routine and believed the ache would go away. But not only did it not, it worsened and I felt the pain intensifying in my wrist at certain angles. Even at night in my tossing in bed, I'd sometimes have pain shoot up my arm - what acted like a premature alarm clock.

The TCM practitioner who was a former interviewee on my show advised against movement, i.e. no more sports for the time-being. I've got to see him three days later and we'd have another needle with electric current pierced through my the inner skin of my right wrist. It's a warm throbbing sensation followed by electro-magnetic pulsating beats on another small machine. Some good old traditional Chinese remedy and compulsory rest should help. *sigh* Thankfully, God didn't have to use anything more drastic to prove to me I'm no robot with a battery life that runs flat.

The First Dinner

Dinners are an everyday affair and they usually don't command special attention unless they're a celebration or a reunion. Neither happened last evening but it was our first home-cooked (yes, Dorcas & I prepared the meal; more so my wife) so I thought it was a Canon moment.

Every dinner hereafter won't be the first dinner where you tempered with getting the fire going at the stove, where you get the cooker hood turned on and put your virgin ladle, tong and spatula to work. Even our dining set had never sat on the new placemats we'd bought from Isetan until last night. I'm sure the utensils had as much fun having a night out as Dorcas and I did having a night in!

If you thought our angelhair pasta with bolognaise sauce, minced beef, diced onions, sliced capsicums, tomatoes and mushrooms was a lot of work, tomorrow will be a Chinese home-cooked dinner we're hosting for my folks. Wish us luck with more elaborate dishes being served up!

With each meal we prepare, I'm sure we can only get better. So who shall we serve next? Take a number. The bigger your number, the more assured you are of Michelin-starred food grilled, stir-fried, steamed and toasted to perfection, and served with the highest standards of service. Ma ma mia!