Today we skipped riding class as Alexis felt ill. It sounds like she has some sort of gastric bug -- fever, vomiting, diarrhoea. Anyway, we all had trouble getting out of bed as usual, so it was just as well we didn't have to!

Made little headway with ironing and some tidying of the house. I went through the kids' shoes and threw out a dozen pairs. Terrible waste. I am so glad Poni is coming back tonight. We've been trying to keep some semblance of order in the house so that she doesn't think we are just hopeless housekeepers. I don't know what we will do in the US -- live in a tip, I suppose.

Then I had to go to work, the last Sunday, thank goodness of a month of Sundays. Though whaddya know, the desk has decided it's too painful to do one Sunday each so we're back to taking turns, which means I'll be working Sunday again less than a month from now! Argh.

The bright spot is that Dom is night editing, which makes life much simpler. But there were two stories today which had ominous outcomes... one was the lawsuit on herpes, and the other was the body found in a river, which turned out to be TT's grandma. She found out only when she got home from work and is devastated.

Today we got another ticket for parking by the island in the carpark. I discovered it half an hour after it was issued, sadly. Once again our plans for getting out of the house early were foiled by the Drake inertia.

We made it out for lunch -- had ramen at Funan Centre and then some yummy kaya toast while J shopped for a new mouse. The kids were completely engrossed in their new DS games so it was a fairly dull couple of hours during which I felt like eating everything on the Yakun menu.

My token effort to working out today consisted of going to Royal Sporting House to buy trainers for the kids. I tried out a couple of pairs myself :-P but sadly I have not worn out my existing pair yet. We also bought a frisbee which we did put through a trial run later in a Clementi field. It had to be cut short, however, as Isabel did not have the right shoes and whined until we agreed to go. What a pleasant evening though. We walked back on the canal, stopped at a playground and then went to our local grill for sausages, Kurobuta pork collar and yellowtail cheek, washed down with a St Clair SB.

Today I had such a good lunch! Bak kut teh in Jalan Datoh with kiam chye, pig's trotters, intestines and the most divine steamed fish with a luxurious melt-in-the-mouth band of fat around its torso. Theresa, Radha and I stuffed 0ur faces and had a provoking conversation about the meaning of life to boot. It's really nice when work allows time for a civilised meal with one's co-workers without guilt. Actually what we do without guilt these days (and increasingly more of) is to open a bottle of wine in the office come 6pm. Tonight it was a bottle of St Clair sauvignon blanc supplied by Irene. Very nice. And it wasn't yet 6pm.

Isabel went to Esther's party today after school. Esther's mummy chartered a mini-van to drive the little girls. They had a great time. Isabel played so hard she could hardly keep awake through her piano lesson at 8 tonight, and then hardly at all at dinner afterwards in Billy Bombers. I always enjoy going the branch at Jurong Point. The service is surprisingly un-Sporean (ie good) and the crispy fried chicken is a real guilty pleasure. The only downside is how crowded the mall is. At 9pm I had to wait for a table! This might not happen even in Orchard Rd.

At 10, we dragged our sleepy girls home to bed. Once they were safely ensconced, J and I watched another episode of Heroes season 2.

Today we attended a bowling party at SICC for Monica's son and daughter. Inez and Alexis used to be in the same class. Inez is an extrovert and takes great glee in catching hold of Alexis and planting a kiss on her cheek. She chased Alexis around in circles until she got her. It's quite funny.

The party was quite a blast though neither of our kids ended up bowling. They had a High School Musical danceathon but the big draw was the video arcade in Island Bowl. These really are kids of the new millennium.

As might be expected, we ran into some old friends at the party and some old faces I could not place! It probably didn't help that I had had several glasses of sauvignon blanc by then but maybe they looked familiar only because of the wine!

I was very slack and made nothing for dinner. Heated up some storebought pizza and lasagne which were inedible, so we had popcorn while watching Star Wars Episode 2 for the 14th time instead. I love family movie nights.

Today I had a real lousy day in the office. It was bad from the word go, when I woke up still tired from having gone to bed at 2.30 the night before. But nothing would have prepared me for the vicious attack to come in the afternoon.

That was SK, reacting badly that I had put her down for a job I told her there was no need to cover, two days ago. The scary thing is that I had no memory of telling her so, though I remember mentioning it, and her protesting it was no big deal. She confirmed with the people around her that I had indeed said there was no need to go and then she said it. Raised her voice and told me I needed help and I better seek help because I was affecting all their work. That I had done the same thing to another reporter earlier that week and I needed help.

I was really stunned. I sat at my desk and thought she was right; if my memory was so bad that I was letting reporters down, then I did need help. Who can function with a boss that flip flops from one day to the next? I sent her an email apologising and promised to write all communications down in the future.

I really was upset. What if I had early onset dementia? Or a brain tumour? She'd really thrown me for a loop with that one. But the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced it was an unfair and uncalled for attack. It was a childish and clumsy playground tantrum. Sure, I may have forgotten twice in a week but how often had it happened?? Not often at all! And we deskers have so much on our plates that it's not unusual for us to forget stuff. What she was right about was that I should fix it, and from now on I'll carry a notebook around. But to say I needed medical help was just a mean and nasty thing to say. RB actually came to my desk to tell me not to let SK undermine my confidence and that it was far more important to be an open person one could talk to. It was a kindness I won't forget.

Then later SK came to apologise and I made no issue of it. But when I told J that night, he wanted to call her immediately and give her a piece of his mind. I said there was no need -- she had reacted out of anger and frustration, and indeed it is frustrating to have a boss who keeps changing her mind. I hope keeping notes will render this moot.

Today we were 15 minutes late for riding class, though I drove like a bat out of hell (and the kids STILL strolled in...). Erwin is apparently home for aidilfitri so they had a replacement teacher, Anna from South Africa. Alexis was very positive about her: "She's tougher than Erwin but very very nice!" she enthused. I think Anna gave lots of praise and encouragement, so that was a real boost.

While the girls did something active, I ate nasi lemak and played sudoku on Isabel's DS Lite. :P It's a pity the rest of the day wasn't as relaxing. It's the second Sunday I'm on duty and I idiotically decided to make lunch in between looking at the stories for the day. I made mac and cheese for the kids and panfried cod in lemon butter sauce (hey, if the kids liked fish, i'd have made it for them too) and a lettuce/green beans/walnut/boiled egg salad. It was abeautiful meal and I ate it standing up washing dishes in a hurry to get to work.

I must admit I feel somewhat harried with Poni gone, the kids neglected and work unavoidable. I feel like I am falling behind in all aspects. It didn't help that there was the familiarly sarcastic and overly dramatic email from a certain associate editor about a Mind Your Body story. There is nothing like a communication such as that to ruin my afternoon and I felt out of sorts for hours. I did fix the story though, I think. I hope. I also decided I would not let this person get to me because it would probably hurt me more than him in the long run to be affected by it.

This afternoon Isabel said she hoped I never got cancer and could I please see the doctor quickly if I did? Sometimes I think we are all candidates for the big C given the kind of poison we harbour in our hearts and minds, engendered from guilt, fear and self doubt.

Today we heard that M's sister in law has suffered a recurrence of her cancer and is quite ill. She was very down about it. Her sister in law has two children, age 10 and 12, and her husband is not taking it well. He and his wife are very close. Perhaps the helplessness when faced by a terrible illness is worse for a doctor because you are always wondering if you could have done more or differently.

At night, we took the children to the Cancer Society's charity gala at the Ritz Carlton, where they had a catwalk by cancer survivors. It seemed like almost all of them were women in their early 30s. One of them snatched off her wig on the runway to reveal a bald head. Everyone cheered. But there were some elderly women among them, one of whom has not had cancer recur since 1951. She is now 89, and founded the society's Reach to Recovery programme.

We were invited by Ann Loh, whose PR firm is handling the publicity for the society's TV fund raiser. She had bought a table. The kids behaved themselves beautifully, and even ate some of the food. They seemed interested in the goings on but were most impressed by the hotel itself, and expressed a dear wish that we could stay there for one night!

Today we visited the Geylang Serai market, to buy Hari Raya presents for Poni and Halimah's daughter. It was the first time any of us had been to the market. I'm constantly amazed by how little I know of Singapore. I'd passed it the previous night with Hui Chieh and Theresa and was amaazed by the crowds(!!) and the lights(!!) on our way to Kim's place for Hokkien mee with oysters.

Today we had prata, mee soto and kebabs instead, and all manner of deep fried flour. Our eyes were very round and big at all the bright lights and goodies on sale.

Today I lost my temper with the children as we were leaving the house, because they were having a squabble and trading "stupid" insults back and forth. I told them I would not take them to school, which drew forth numerous apologies. I don't see why I have to drag myself out of bed to send them to school only to have to hear them abuse each other. It really gets me down. So I tried to talk to them about how they should settle issues between them, not resort to name calling but I'm not sure I got through. Maybe I did. They are pretty perceptive cookies but they definitely display signs of being children!!!

After I dropped them off I thought I shouldn't put off exercising any further. Was rewarded on my run by not one but two kingfishers, and the magnificent sight of a kite in full flight after a small bird (the would be prey got away).

While getting ready for work, I got an sms from Lee Yuen that Sharon's brain had started to swell again, so I stopped by the hospital. I was not able to get into the nicu as they were doing ward rounds. The curtain to her room was also drawn so I could not glimpse her either. The earlier decision had been to take her off the sedation and let nature take its course but later I learnt they had put her under sedation again with the result that the brain swelling went down.

The neuro ward is directly opposite the labour ward, which is not without irony. On one side you see young lives having just come into the world being wheeled out in their cots, safely wrapped up in blankets. On the other side lie -- mostly young -- lives fighting not to give in to the dark.

I left the gloom of the hospital and went into the sunshine back to News centre. Lunch was with a few young reporters spent discussing the sins of AJ. Unexpectedly I've become some kind of hero for sticking up for a reporter to him. Unexpected since the only reason I had to defend her was because of his pigheaded need to have the final word on all things, which makes him forget who he is talking to or about. I mean, she is one of the best reporters in the newsroom and he knows that so why imply she is lazy and unprofessional just to gain a point? Because of that he's now lost untold goodwill and respect from her and her peers. And from me, to be honest.

The discussion continued through to dinner at Kim's Place in Joo Chiat Place, where we had the most amazing Hokkien mee with oysters and lard chips, and chilli crab. The crab was beautiful: firm and sweet. We had a bottle of prosecco to wash it all down. Sweet.