Tongue Tie Condition ; To intervene now or later?

My wife just messaged me and the message totally ruined my day. She said my son called her at her office from the school yesterday and complained that he had a headache. So she brought him to see our family doctor. While there, the doctor noted that Elijah couldn't extend his tongue out fully like normal people could! 

The lady doctor suggested that my wife bring him to see a specialist at KK Hospital's ENT(Ear Nose and Throat) and see whether they could "release" Elijah's tongue. She said because of Elijah's condition, he might not be able to pronounce certain words correctly. 

It's premature to assume that Elijah indeed has the condition which is also called Ankyloglossia because we haven't yet got a specialist to look at him and confirm the existence of the condition in him. However, I'm not that thrilled at the prospect of having my child under the knife the second time of his young life. 

He had his throat cut (to remove a growth) when he was about three and when he was about four, he had to have a few stitches on his left eye brow when he fell and knocked his head on the edge of a table. It was traumatic both for him and I. Two hospital orderlies, myself and my elder brother had to pinned him down on the table at the emergency room while a medical officer injected local anesthesia. 

My son screamed and cried and I had to put up a front of calm so as to assure him that everything was going to be fine when in truth, inside I was about to give in to my natural paternal instinct and I was about to lose it. I asked the medical officer in a not so patient voice, "Must you stick that needle to his open wound? Is it necessary to give him that many shots? I think he is in PAIN!". 

From Beyond the Grave

Ever wonder what would happen to your blog, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster accounts should you one day suddenly go kapoot? They say once you unleash something to the internet, it's out there forever. Maybe you blogged something that is not flattering and wouldn't want your loved ones to find out, leave a password and instruction to a pal to deactivate the account on your demise? That's one way but pals can become 'unpals' (I think I'm beginning to talk like Facebook these days) in the future. 

Fear you not! A company has come up with a solution. Introducing My Webwill! Their tagline, "Your Life Online After Death". Read their intro below :

We live an increasing amount of our lives online. We socialise in online networks, we search for information and we use different types of services to fulfil our needs. But what happens when we die? What will happen to all our photos, blogs and social network accounts?

My Webwill is a secure online service that allows you to make decisions about your Internet accounts after your death. The majority of sites we use on a daily basis are password protected – as a result there is no way for your loved ones to access your immaterial assets. For the people being left behind, the process of accessing sites and blogs is difficult and often impossible. Moreover, would they know what you wanted?

We have created My Webwill so that you can take control of your digital assets, even in the afterlife.

I suppose it's just a matter of time someone came up with this idea :P. You can sign up for free and opt to upgrade to premium with a fee which gives you more services. The free membership only offers service to deactivate your account should you expire prematurely. 


Let's see whether this service takes off.

An Oxymoron : The Rude Ladies and Gentlemen

Merriam-Webster defines a gentleman as “a man whose conduct conforms to a high standard of propriety or correct behaviour” and in the context and for the purpose of this post, I shall assume the same definition for a lady. 

I knew of a woman (a neighbour actually) who was an animal lover and made it her cause to educate people of the need to be humane towards animals. However, when it came to children, she treated them worst then she would to her pets. One day, I saw her screaming her lungs out at a 6 year old child who made the mistake of riding his tricycle in front of her apartment. The child was scared stiff! The boy was the son of another neighbour of mine, so I came out from my apartment, gave the best reassuring smile I could give and in the gentlest tone I could muster, told him to go back to his parents. He rode off as I patted his head.

Said woman then complained to me that the noise from the child’s squeaking tricycle was making her pet toy poodle jumpy and she ended her diatribe by saying that she was right in deciding not to have children because they are noisy and dirty. In what to be the last exchange I had with her which ultimately led to my getting into her “naughty people’ list, I told her she was right because she was not HUMANE enough for children and that she really deserved her pet because she acted like an ANIMAL and if animals have thoughts, they would probably objected that I compared them to her.

If you think I have something against animal lovers, yes I do. I have problem with animal lovers that behave badly, mind you, not all of them.

Escalator Mishaps!

This is a mundane topic to be blogging about but I felt I have to after reading on The Stars about a 2 years boy in Muar who lost his fingers to the escalator in a supermarket!

How many times have we seen parents letting their kids playing with the escalators. I've seen kids running  up and down an escalator while their parents just looked on. It's good that you are not strict and allows your kid to have some fun but come on! Choose something fun that is not dangerous. 

The escalator is a convenient contraption but it also has it's danger. There are many reports about children losing their toes and fingers to the escalators. 

When using the escalator with your kid, you should be holding his hand especially if he is just a toddler. Make sure that his feet are not near the sides of the escalators. That's where people get their toes caught most of the time. 

Who is Dato Shahbandar Makang?

It has been bugging me for months already and so far, the answer to my question has been elusive! I even asked a cousin of mine who is living in Kuala Penyu and even he did not know exactly who the man is aside that he was some important man. 

Who or what that has gotten my obsession? Dewan Dato Shahbandar Makang! It is a community hall in the small town of Kuala Penyu. I'm not fixated on the building itself, rather the man which it is named after. Just who on earth was Dato Shahbandar Makang??? 

In the quest for enlightenment, I therefore, am blogging this just in case someone out there know the story of this man and could shed some light for me. So if you're that person, please do leave a comment. 

Meanwhile, while driving my two guests from Scotland to Kuala Penyu recently in May 2011, I was pleasantly surprised to discover this man's grave! If you are coming from Beaufort to Kuala Penyu, the grave is about 10 minutes drive after the Batu 4 - Kiambor turn. It is on the left side of the road. I'm curious that I've never noticed the grave before because it is right smack at the road side. Even a relative of mine who grew up in Kuala Penyu asked me the location when I showed him the picture. 

A Highlander came to my Farm.

A lovely couple from Scotland helped out at the farm between 19 May and 2 June 2011. Stuart Munn and Queenie Henn. Queenie is actually half Filipina and half German and Stuart, well, he's just a Scot :P. 

They spent a year in South Korea teaching English and Borneo was their first tropical country that they visited. Well at least for Stuart, Queenie has been to the Philippines many times. 

They enjoy outdoor activities, Stuart is a lifeguard and an avid climber. It was fortunate that I had some free time because there weren't much to do at the farm because I was waiting for the seedlings to germinate and grow before I could transplant them, so I took them to Kuala Penyu and also to Crocker Range. 

A Doctor's Borneo - Derwent Kell

My aunt Maggie lend a copy of Derwent Kell's A Doctor's Borneo to me yesterday and I finished reading all 165 pages of it today! The book actually belongs to another aunt of mine, Tina Kisil whom is the author of Footprints in the Paddy Fields (yes! please click on the link and buy her book! :P).

Derwent Kell is the pen name of Dr Marcus Carlyle Clarke (9 June 1912 - 20 November 2000). He was an Australian medical doctor who in 1938 was appointed District Surgeon of Kudat, British North Borneo after answering an advertisement in the Australian Medical Journal. He was about 25 years old then.