Today is 31 October. Unless you are in North America and other places that celebrate Halloween, today would mean absolutely nothing to you at all.
Well, unless you are one of the two birthday celebrants in the Bulgemeister’s household.
The first birthday shoutout goes to someone who, if you frequent the KB branch of DSTCom, is a familiar face behind the counter. This brother of mine is quite well known in KB; among one of the first few questions I got asked when I bumped into someone that I didn’t really know was if I was his brother. I am always mistaken for being an elder brother; that can’t be right, can it?
Happy Birthday Bro!
The second birthday greeting goes to a niece of mine. The forth child (out of six) of my eldest sister. Lasy night, her classmates threw her a surprise birthday party. I thought that was quite nice and sweet of them.
Recently, the KB branch of the Immigration and National Registration depratment organised an Aidilfitri celebration. Among the activities conducted during the celebration were office decoration and group singing competitions.
The Enforcement Section won the first prize for office decoration and came in third in the group singing competition.
Officers and staff of the Enforcement Section
I can’t imagine how time consuming and difficult it was to do the decorations; (below) they used colourful threads and plastic strings for their decorations.
The combined Passport Application, Work Visa, Work Permit and Re-entry Visa section won second prize for office decoration and won the first prize in the group singing competition.
Officers and staff of the Passport Application, Work Visa, Work Permit and Re-entry Visa sections
A small part of the second-placed decoration winner.
They recycled old egg trays and other waste in their decorations; just look at the lamp shades.
The combined Social Visit Pass and Re-entry Permit section came in third in the office decoration and second in the group singing competition.
Officers and staff of the Social Visit Pass and Re-entry Permit posing in front of their decorations.
(All pictures and info were provided by the staff of the Immigration and National Registration Department, thanks!)
I am currently off from work for at least two days. I have an eye infection which prevents me from being able to do the things that I would normally do. I couldn’t really get out in the sun much so that would prevent me from driving; I could not sit in front of the PC monitor for too long so that would prevent me from doing much work as I rely on the computer for 70% of my work.
It all started on Monday morning, when my right eye felt gritty. Over time, it got worse and it was during the weekly departmental meeting that the eye got really itchy and I obviously rubbed my eye, thinking it was nothing serious. I could not get out of the meeting and as soon as I finished my meeting I took off my contact lenses. The damage had been done, I could not see properly and walking in the sun towards the car for lunch was really difficult. I could not open my right eye too much as it would hurt.
In the evening, I could not bear it any longer and went to the hospital. I got my eye irrigated and I had an eye patch over my right eye…. arrrr matey! I was given a one-day medical leave and was asked to come back to the eye clinic today.
At the eye clinic, I was told that I had an infection on my right eye. It was probably caused as I had recently changed the brand of my disposable monthly contact lens. The eye doctor explained that once my eyes got used to one particular brand of contact lenses, it would be difficult to switch to another brand. It had something to do with the sterility of the solution as well. My body might have thought that it was a foreign body that it started to react against the contact lens. I was given some antibiotics eye drops and another day of medical leave. I was asked to come back on Thursday for a follow-up.
I have not realised that changing contact lenses could have caused the infection. For all you contact lens wearers out there, please follow the necessary precautions and tips on contact lens use closely. Click here for more info.
How many of you realised that there was this mysterious, unmarked and fenced grave right in the middle of Bandar Seri Begawan? It was located right in front of the General Post Office.
Many speculations were around of whose grave it was; at one time I was told that it belonged to a ‘witch’ (nenek kebayan) and another it belonged to an Ulama. I also heard stories that every Thursday night, you could see smoke rising from the grave; something that I didn’t think ever got verified.
Brunei Resources wrote about it, and since he was quite an historian himself, I tend to believe his version of the story.
Anyway, Blacksnail reported that the whole grave might have been removed.
(Picture was taken from Blacksnail’s Blog)
So what happened? Shouldn’t it be kept as an historical site?
It looks like the relevant authorities here do not feel the need to preserve and maintain historial places/buildings in Brunei. I was dismayed when the old Churchill Memorial Building was turned into the Royal Regalia Building. I was quite disappointed when the old building of Ministry of Finance in Bandar was renovated and the outer walls were covered by metal sheets. The old Police Station in Kuala Belait was torn down a while ago when it could have been used for something else.
Why is it that P2F, Brunei’s own reality show based on American Idol and Akademi Fantasia, spelt Paspot to Fame? Why do they mix Malay (Paspot) and English (Fame)?
This video has been online for a while now. Brunei was featured in British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)’s Holiday programme a while ago.
Regardless of what you might have heard or read of Brunei, it is still a wonderful place to live in. It’s peaceful and relatively troublefree. How many of you can say the same things about some of its neighbours?
The sudden and unexpected demise of a colleague from work has shocked many people. No one seems to know the exact cause of death, but a death at a relatively young age of 52, normally points to either accident-related death or heart-related problems. I had seen the deceased taking part in many of the Work Life Balance (WLB) activites at work; be it running, hiking or hill climbing. The deceased seemed to be an active and fit person, but his death brought home the message that even if you think and look fit, death could just come anytime.
According to the Health Information Booklet 2006, produced by the Ministry of Health, heart disease was the second most common cause of death in Brunei after cancer. Hypertensive diseases was the fifth most common cause of death.
As far as I know, we do not have a family history of heart problems. However my mother died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 60 and it somehow made me think differently now. On her death certificate, her cause of death was heart failure. My Mom was not a fan of the hospital. I could not remember if she was ever admitted to the hospital. All her sixteen children were born at home; something that does not happen anymore nowadays. The only times that she would go to the hospital were for pre- and ante-natal checkups. There were times when I asked myself whether we could have spotted her meduical problems if we had taken her for her medical checkups. I really could not answer that and there is no point to dwell on that question anymore; at this time, we learn from our past and make sure that we look after ourselves.
In the past few days, the Lunchgang have been talking about keeping healthy, ironically during lunch. Meals should not be skipped, rather we should keep it in moderation. Do not forget to exercise. Spare some time, albeit half an hour per week, to exercise. And it does not have to be strenuous; for example, rather than going around the Mall many times trying to find that elusive parking spot right in front of the entrance, park your car at the Wet Market and walk to the Mall.
After a round of seven games (well, it’s eight games for the rest of the other teams), Manchester United is now on a more familiar place; in the top five of the Barclays Premier League table. Manchester United started this season’s BPL campaign slightly off-mark, with a loss to Liverpool, but recovered to win the last three BPL matches. With seven games played, Manchester United won four games, drew two and lost on, collecting 14 points. Chelsea and Liverpool lead the pack with 20 points, propped up by Hull City (17 points) and Arsenal (16 points).
Hull City surprised most people as it sits on the third place, winning 5 games including a famous away victory over Arsenal. It remains to be seen if Hull City could keep the momentum towards the end of the season.
Two other teams surprised many people too, but for the wrong reason. Newcastle United and Totenham Hotspurs now sit at the bottom of the table. Newcastle United has six points from one win and three draws; while Tottenham Hotspurs has yet to win any games and the only points that it has now comes from two draws.
The next match for Manchester United will be a Champions League game against Celtic at Old Trafford. The match will start at 2:45am Brunei time on Wednesday 22 October. The next BPL match for Manchester United will be an away match against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday, 25 October.
Bulgemeister 