~ PerCusSo ~

Just received the brochure from the DIGI Sound Hearing Care Centre. And, I wanna share this information on this topic, “Hearing Instrument Care & Maintenance” with those wearing hearing aids.

(1) Keep your hearing instruments and batteries out of reach of small children or pets. Dogs; especially are drawn to the odour from the earmoulds on the hearing instruments and may chew on them.

(2) Get into the habit of storing your hearing instruments in the same place when you are not wearing them.

(3) Keep your hearing instruments dry. A common cause of moisture is body heart and perspiration. Body acids associated with perspiration can deteriorate the internal components of your instruments. If you have trouble with perspiration, you can purchase a dehumidifier or silica gel from your hearing care specialist.

(4) If your hearing instruments get wet to fresh water (shower, rain, sink, swimming, etc, in which it is completely soaked), the instrument(s) may survive the ordeal if the following is performed:
- Remove earmould from instrument (unless in-the-ear or in the canal).
- Remove battery, leave battery compartment open, soak up as much water as you can with a tissue (shake the instrument gently). Don’t use it for about 24 hours.
- If you have a dehumidifier, store the instrument in this for a few days.
- After a few days, and the instrument is dry, put in a new battery and give it a try.
- If it does not work, take it to your hearing care specialist.

(5) Handle your hearing instruments gently. Do not drop or bang against hard surfaces. Although they can take a considerable amount of punishment, they are still very delicate instruments and should be protected from unnecessary blows.

(6) If you perspire frequently, or work in a dusty or moisture-laden environment, the battery compartment and battery contacts may build up dirt and/or corrosion. Wipe the battery frequently.

(7) Remove ear wax from your hearing instruments only in the manner recommended by your hearing care specialist.

Went to Huishan’s blog just now and took this quiz for fun…

Your view on yourself:
You are intelligent, honest and sweet. You are friendly to everybody and don’t like conflict. Because you’re so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
You are very serious about relationships and aren’t interested in wasting time with people you don’t really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education:
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:
You have many goals and want to achieve as much as you can. The jobs you enjoy are those that let you burn off your considerable excess energy.

How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don’t ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.

Who is your true self:
You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

It seems that I’m very busy forever, and I do not know when I can get my breathing space where I can relax.

What have I been doing since then?
- My filming just started yesterday. It took almost a whole day and I reached home very late at nearly 2AM. Last week, I went for the audition on “The Story of David & Susan” with a simple thought of having fun. And, I was chosen to be the main lead of “Susan”. This schedule is quite heavy as we hope to complete everything within a very short time. This must be done by 7 August as I’m told.

- Music teaching work is getting heavier. I have to prepare the curriculum for new assignments. And, I have to look for more song scores for the children to play.

- XTOMIC practices. There are some upcoming performances like A Nation In Concert and NDP Heartland Celebrations at Tampines.

- Music gigs. I have been liaising with Cheryl for these music gigs. And, I need to build my music career in percussion. Needs to earn more income. Since I have decided to stop taking up sign language assignments, my income will be greatly affected.

- My KFC work is back. Only once a week if I’m free. If my week is too packed, I won’t take up any roster for time being.

After reading Hau En’s entry on Canossian Eduplex, I felt like writing here..

Yeah, I had lots of fun over there but it was tiring to conduct 4-5 songs (Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars, Cha Cha, This Old Man, Thai-Song & Skaters’ Waltz) over again for 3 hours. Mr. Pisit was also conducting the other CCPS Band at the same time.
I guess all the kids were tired to play these same songs repeatedly. But they do not mind playing again, especially for This Old Man. This song is quite easy for them to play along. Quite popular…

Hearing this song, “This Old Man”, it brought me lots of old memories that I had spent during my old band days in Canossian School for the Hearing Impaired. I missed them alot!!

Met several people over there – Sr. Jack, Sr. Gerry, Sr. Anne, Charlene, Chaoqun, Kim Poh, Jenny Ho, Karen and others.. I’m quite surprised to see them! They might catch my kids’ performance and even my conducting… :-O

Hau En… Glad to have her in 2 songs that she had performed before! She’s really great! I really wanna share my music knowledge with her. I’m thinking of going down to SACSS to drop by when I’m free and in this way, I can see Hau En, Jurami and others…

After all, I really enjoyed this at Canossian Eduplex!

Last Monday, I met Mr. Syed to discuss on my music future. So I got the start. And, I’ll buck myself up for that start.
Meanwhile, he asked me not to go for the mass signing. He asked me to join in the drumming activity that clashes with the mass signing on 9 August. Thinking of these 2 events – mass signing & drumming, I felt like being at a standstill.

“Which one, Mass Signing or Drumming, shall I choose?”
“I’ve put alot of efforts into mass signing – I went down to different schools to teach. Shall I stay on?”

My good friend sms me about ‘Obligation vs. Passion’. I came to realise that the mass signing is more likely to be seen as my obligation for the Deaf Community, in a hope of clearing more misconceptions among the public. But as for the drumming, it’s for myself to gain more experience in percussion.
Right now, I’m planning to build my music career in teaching and performing (percussion). At the same time, I may abandon SADeaf, except for the XTOMIC. That’s, I may have stopped teaching sign language to classes and I may have stopped those volunteer work such as YouthBeat.
Therefore, I chose the Drumming activity and I decided to back out from the Mass Signing. So, my last day of the Mass Signing will be on 30 July, instead of 9 August. I’ll be helping Zach & Pet out at Carnival@Marina as the runner on that day.

Some of my Deaf friends told me about Nurhidaya. Although I do not know her very well, I still remember her as she’s the former schoolmate of the CSHI..
I’m told that she committed suicide over love. She’s gone now!

Last month, I saw her together with her Deaf Chinese boyfriend at the staircase of the HarbourFront NEL. They were so intimate that they did their heavy petting in public. I wanted to say HI to them but I didn’t wanna disturb their moments.. So, I hurriedly left. They didn’t see me anyway.

Well, that was the last day which I saw her. She’s gone. My condolences will reach her family and friends, I hope…

A friend gave me the url on Music Therapy. Quite informative! This inspired me and then, I came up with this idea of having Therapeutic Song-Signing.

What does this therapeutic song-signing have in itself? How shall we do about this? Who will benefit from this? Why is it so? When will it apply to these people? *pondering*

Perhaps, we can focus on the main points – improvising, re-creating, composing, and listening to music. The simple exercises and learning in sign language will be included.
Those who wanna learn it, may not have a knowledge of sign language. But they surely have their basic capacity of music appreciation and expression.

This will be a great idea that I have ever… I will be gonna do research on this!

I’m really happy as I can be able to build my career in music, and I can gain some experience from this job. I guess this’s my start since I’m given a part-time job of “Percussion Course Co-Instructor”. This scope is to assist in coaching the kids towards a performance at the end of the course. At the same time, both of us will source or create instruments, as well as teach students simple beats. Then, complex rhythms and strokes will be introduced to the kids and let them expand on them using their creatively.

I only know this project will run every Monday, 1:30PM – 3:30PM at Anderson Primary School (Ang Mo Kio). Therefore, I’ll be busy at that period.

Okay, all the best to me…

Last Sunday, I lost my whole chain of 10-11 keys, together with Vivian’s gift – Green, Swiss Army kit. I like this kit very much!!
I do not know where it’s gone.. I do not know why it could be dropped out of my very BIG bag.

I have already made a report to the police, and other places where I had been last Sunday. I’ll wait longer and at the same time, I’ll continue my search to Kallang Theatre, Kampung CC and bus-interchanges (Boon Lay & Bedok) when I’m free.

Hmm.. thinking of quitting my sign language teaching work at SADeaf although I may not be able to go for my music studies this year. I won’t take up any sign language assignments this time. I won’t be going for the meeting which is scheduled on 20 July.

Besides that teaching work, I’m thinking of quitting everything in SADeaf except for XTOMIC. That’s, my last work at SADeaf, which will be Mass Signing in 9 August.

I have many big plans (or dreams) for XTOMIC. And, I’m thinking of getting XTOMIC out from SADeaf to somewhere. These plans cannot be revealed yet since they are still in very early stages.

It’s time for me to move on.. I cannot stay on in SADeaf anymore! I’m tired of struggling to survive with no or little income.. I wish someone could take me away from all these sufferings and poverty!