A needed rant

August 25, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I need to rant about my medical insurance saga. Briefly, I had to sign an Offer of Conditional Acceptance (OCA) before my insurance company would accept the ‘endorsement’ or an amendment to an existing insurance contract, which in my case was my decision to increase my Med Saver. A Med Saver is a deductible. OCA […]

Insurance saga

August 18, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I wrote about my shooting-through-the roof insurance premium in 2024. The saga sadly continues. In July, my insurance company sent out emails asking if I, its customer, wanted to save on insurance premiums. I said, yes. How? Deductibles, it said. The email, paraphrased, read as follows. ‘The higher the deductible the more you can save. […]

What to believe …

June 30, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I was told by a long-time friend that Christmas carols weren’t allowed to be sung during the Obama administration. This was just one of the many nuggets of information that was pronounced with conviction during our conversation which included events that have happened and are happening in the world. Serious stuff like war, beliefs, and […]

News detox

June 23, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I had sort of a news detox without realising it. For about two weeks when sister number 3 visited, I didn’t listen to BFM, a local business radio station, from Monday to Friday. I didn’t do searches on YouTube for my regular dose of politics cum economics podcasts. I also didn’t watch the late night […]

Requests

May 5, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I was enjoying riding and reading on the LRT until a gentleman took a seat in front of me. He whipped out his mobile, and single-handedly robbed all the other passengers, mostly me, of peace and quiet. A cap on, face down, he cranked up his mobile to full volume. A non-stop barrage of music […]

Personality types

April 21, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I’m a combo-introvert. My husband thinks he might be a social-anxious introvert. Nephew number 2 says he’s surely an extreme introvert. Interesting diagnoses based on a spectrum of traits associated with introverts. Research on introverts for my previous post invariably produced results on other personality types. I looked them up not because I wanted to […]

Visiting Vietnam

February 24, 2025.Reading time 7 minutes.

My husband and I returned from Vietnam yesterday. We had an eight-day holiday in Hanoi, Ninh Binh and Sapa. Verdict. Worth a visit. We didn’t go to or see everything recommended on the numerous travel sites. The plan was to do what we could without rushing from A to B. It was a holiday, after […]

Work and working

January 27, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I am still mulling over my one word or phrase that would sum up ‘what I do‘ in my current life. It appears to be taking longer than expected. A work-in-progress. Why does it matter though? The condo-resident who asked me, ‘What do you do?’ was probably making polite conversation, and wouldn’t have cared about […]

What do you do?

January 20, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

What do you do? The question threw me. A fellow condo-resident asked me that while we were in the lift. And, I babbled ‘this and that.’ What? Seriously. Not quick on my feet or wit. Body and brain inertia. Big sigh. What do I do? The question made me ponder. Why couldn’t I articulate what […]

Another new year – 2025

January 6, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

It’s the new year. Good health. Much love and happiness. Many successes. Glad tidings, and all that. The new year comes around like clockwork, and yet it kind of springs up on us. Even after a long 365 days – 52 weeks, 12 months. Fireworks. Parties. Blaring horns. Midnight traffic jams. The new year has […]