Guess who?: Episode 1

For those who recognise, this is the first part of a 'Guess Who?' post. The only clue: its a guy......ok seriously... he's a colleague..

Innocence of Youth

Received news of late that the daughter of my babysitter when I was small has been confirmed to have bone cancer. Apparently this was noticed by the sound of 'cracking' in the knees. My parents told me that doctors also confirmed another crack in the wrist. I do not know yet what stage is it at or the type of cancer as bone cancer can be of 2 forms: primary, cancer that begins in the bone (which is rare) or secondary bone cancer, the one that spreads from another part of the body to the bone.

I was informed that the 2 most common cases of bone cancer is Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma, the latter being mostly found in adolescents and young adults. She is still very young at 10 years of age and the prospect of her possibly 'leaving' us (and especially her parents who care for her very much) early is saddening to know. These are the people who helped me and my parents when our family just 'started'. Doctors say that there is not much to hope for but looking through the web I did see references that there are treatments that are possible, depending on the type and stage of the cancer. I just hope that hope is a possibility. They say sometimes you should not take away hope from some people, for it may be all that they have left. But I also do understand that the reality of the situation should be made aware.

New Hopes

Finally manage to survive the transition into the new year without much hassle. Its been rather hectic at work and outside work with many mini-photography projects towards the end of last year. In fact, I still owe a few people some photographs to which I will be providing..soon. Real sorry for the delay.

Singapore trip went well and had a great time touring anything accessible with the MRT and anything else that uses the Easy Link card. Must really thank Sam and her family for their hospitality. The place was great and the location was easily accesible via public transport and close by to the city, just a few minutes walk to the entrance of NUS. Looks like I might be visiting again, real soon! (I still owe Sam her pen back). The main reason for the trip was a visit to Cathay Photo for some err.. equipment. Lets just say that the savings I made purchasing here compared to back home was more than the cost of the return bus tickets. Speaking of bus, the trip back was NOT fun at all with major jams near Ayer Keroh and the air-conditioning belt breaking down mid-way! I may not take Airebus again..

Had two weddings to attend in December as mentioned in previous post: one in Johor and another in Malacca. Was great travelling with friends, almost like an excursion. Other than that it was just more, and more photog outings during the weekends and a Christmas Eve steambot gathering amongst friends. New Year's eve was very low key for me..just home with the family seeing as to dad's birthday is on the 1st of Jan.

Other milestones (for me) included the purchase of an external 200Gb Maxtor drive to which I must thank nottyboy for his asssitance in the selection process. Needed this as I realise my old laptop's drive has less than 1Gb left and this was made worst and running resource intensive programs like Photoshop and DPP. Hopefully this drive can last me a while to satisfy my photog needs.

Stressful moments include the almost 'death' of my laptop. Luckily for me, opened it the next morning and got a message saying,

'Your machine has recovered from a serious error'

Serious error indeed. Teaches me to make sure all important things are backed up on the new drive. Case in point: a friend's wedding pics which I still need to give.