Most people would agree that it’s such an agony and mental torture to visit to the Dentist. Though I share the same sentiments, but as far as my husband’s concerned, it’s absolute phobia. He was so traumatized by his last encounter so much so that he’s totally adamant with any mention, let alone visit to the dentist. That was until lately when his teeth literally started to drop which left him no choice but to pluck up courage to face the challenge.

To alleviate his stress and build his confidence, I checked out with some friends on their dentists. One was highly recommended by one of my friends as being very gentle, yet thorough and professional but be prepared for the charges. (Anyway, these days as long as they’re qualified specialist doctors, they charge a bomb)

My husband was truly nervous on his first visit – he couldn’t even remember our house phone number when completing the patient’s details. :| But the dentist was truly very patient and gentle, taking time to explain every step. I’m glad to see my husband feeling more relaxed and shedding his negative opinion about dentists. It’s unfortunate that he had not met up with a good dentist earlier as that had cost him quite some teeth! Nevertheless, as the saying goes, better late than never!

Well, since my dental check-up was long overdue, thought I might as well take the opportunity to do it too. Though I didn’t have to lose any teeth, but was not spared the slaughter either. I had to endure 11 fillings and gums treatment that left me so mentally and physically exhausted and financially dried up.

For more than 2 months, we‘ve been visiting the dentist ever so regularly, weekly in fact. Of course this is by no means a sign of approval or growing affection for seeing the dentist. It’s a choice out of no choice.

What an irony – pay money to get tortured. Before seeing the dentist, we had toothache but after that we now have heartache and pocket ache. All the visits have made craters in our pockets already and it’s the end of it yet. No wonder parents today try so hard to convince their children to become dentists.

When our office was relocated to a multi-storey building, the parking area was on the first four levels. As the area was quite congested, for safety reasons circular convex safety mirrors were installed at strategic positions to pre-warn drivers of oncoming cars. These safety mirrors were carefully tilted to the right angle to provide the best view of those blind corners.

Well, anyone who holds a legitimate driving licence would surely be familiar with such safety mirrors….so we thought….until one of our colleagues proved otherwise!

The morning after the safety mirrors were installed, one of our colleagues was surprised to see a big round mirror on the pillar besides her parking lot. Thinking it must be a vanity mirror, she took the “initiative” to adjust it to get herself in view so she could touch up her looks after getting out from her car.

When she met us in the lift she so eagerly remarked “Did you people notice something this morning? Don’t know which stupid fella installed some mirrors in the parking lots but have them mounted so high up and all facing the wrong directions. What for huh? Put so high up scared people steal ah? Then why put it there? Anyway I adjusted it so I can look at myself. Aiyah, that’s what mirrors are for, right?”

My better half had to rub his ears to reflect what he just heard. Then, starring at her in disbelief, he blurted out and said “haaah…..” paused then involuntarily lengthened his neck and rolled his eye balls like a twister before blurting out “…. lei mo gau cho ma? (a Cantonese expression meaning “you must be kidding”) … Don’t tell me this… you actually don’t know what Safety Mirrors are for?”

For someone who’s been driving for decades (though it’s only as far as from her home to office which is about 20km radius) this was absolutely incredulous. Nevertheless, when news spread about her “creative use” of the safety mirror, it provided the office with some light entertainment for the next one week. Well, this surely lives up to the motto of “innovation working for you”

Couple of days ago, my friend called to say she’s back from China. They had a fabulous time shopping and eating in Shanghai and a great get-together with their “long time no see” relatives in Shenzen. However, the start of the trip was rather eventful.

Apparently her niece was not held back by Immigration at KLIA due to some personal issues. As they had checked in as a group (there were 8 of them in the group), all their luggage had to be pulled out from the cabin just to retrieve her niece’s bag. As a result the flight was delayed. Can imagine them boarding the plane like unpopular VIPs with plane load of dagger eyes flashing at them!

I then recalled an incident last year where her niece joined us for a tour to Korea. While waiting at the departure lounge at KLIA, her niece suddenly commented that she hoped there’d be no flight delays or cancellations because she had a bad experience when she went to Sydney few months’ ago. Her flight was first delayed for several hours and then finally cancelled altogether until further notice! Both my friend and I never had such unpleasant encounters before so we told her to stop her morbid thoughts.

All was well and overall we had an enjoyable trip…. until the homebound flight. After taking off from Incheon airport and flying for more than an hour, we started to experience some bad turbulences and sudden drop in altitude. Next, the captain came on the air to announce that the plane had developed some technical problems, therefore had to fly back to Korea for an emergency landing at Kimpo airport. The crew stopped halfway thru serving meals. Anyway by then, no one had anymore appetite left. Most of the passengers were really worried and praying hard. Thank god, after what seemed like ages, the plane finally touched down safely at Kimpo airport. Everyone heaved a sigh of relieve and disembarked. But it was some 3 hours later before another plane was available to fly us safely back to home sweet home. Thanks to Korean Airlines for making unforgettable mark.

It’s perfectly acceptable that glitches are bound to happen in the course of our travels but occurring in such consecutive and rampant manner would surely fray anyone’s nerves a wee bit at least. Gives one the inkling that her niece is somewhat a jinx or a jonah.