New Projects Soon?

I am suddenly getting an influx of clients who are showing interest to engage me for my services just when I have a new project that is about to start and am going to be at my busiest.


This new project is slated to start tomorrow, it is my biggest project to date and it is going to be one of those complete makeover types that I love to do,  I have done complete makeovers before and it was extremely satisfying when the place was done, but compared to that other complete overhaul project that I did earlier this year, this one has a lot more renovation works that needs to be done and I am extremely worried about things going wrong.



Right now, I can't really foresee any potential problems, but I have pretty bad foresight when it comes to this kind of things so I have been in a worried state for probably the past week, and when you throw that with the ongoing haze for the past few weeks, it is a recipe for getting sick, which I did end up getting, the triple combo of fever, cough and runny nose.



What worries me about this project and what makes it so difficult is the unavailability of my clients, the husband is overseas 80% of the time and I honestly am not putting a lot of hope in the wife to make any important on the fly decisions on her own. I can call the husband or text the both of them to confirm certain changes, sure that works fine, but sometimes, there are aspects that would be best discussed in person, for example, should a tile they choose suddenly be out of stock and a new one has to be found to replace it within the next 48 hours, I would prefer for them to be present at the tile shop to look through the tiles together with me and make the decision then and there, rather than me taking a picture of tile A, sending it through Whatsapp, wait for their opinion, look for another tile, take a picture of tile B, send it through Whatsapp, wait for their opinion, look for another tile, take a photo of tile C, repeat, repeat, repeat for the next few hours because both of them are busy and can't respond immediately, and then to have them tell me...

"Can we trouble you to help us shortlist more option?"

... have me walk back to the tile shop, shortlist a thousand more tiles, repeat the process, only to have them then decide on tile A or worst, not be able to decide on anything because they can't feel how the tiles actually feel.




So far, this couple have been rather easy to work with, but in the early stages, a lot of them always are, it's normally during the renovation stage that they start showing their ugly side and I am really scared of how ugly they can potentially get and how much I might end up hating them during the reno, which happened to my very first clients. They just get really really particular with every single detail and the chat group would just suddenly get an influx of messages asking me stupid question.



My colleague recently had a client message her telling her our carpenters did a poor job because one of the shelving the carpenter did started wobbling when they put their safety deposit box on it, AFTER my colleague told them the shelving was not meant for heavy things. When I get this kind of message, the first thing that pops in my head is...

"Are you fucking dense?"

....I mean we can't scold them for being fucking stupid, even though they absolutely deserve to be called out for their stupidity, all we can do is explain to them that we have warned them before, but when we do that, they deny ever hearing us said that, demanding that it is a workmanship issue. This literally happened with my colleague just a few days back and when I heard her sharing this story with me, I actually felt angry for her. 

But back to my client. 

I do feel like I have a responsibility to make sure the renovation for this clients project goes as smoothly as possible, I honestly do for all my project, but more so for this because they were referred to me by my other client, who actually told me that he highly recommended me to his friends, and I feel like I have to live up to that expectation, but then there is that availability issue with them that makes it a little bit challenging and also a very very tight schedule I have to follow as well.

A part of me is dying to get this project started, just so all this pent up anxiety can go away once we actually get things moving. It has been a long time coming, this project was first brought to my attention the middle of last year, so it has been more than a year since then and it just feels a little surreal that it is finally happening on Monday. I am hoping things will go smoothly, but I am also anticipating there to be some minor hiccups, just don't be large bumps on the road that will affect my mood too severely because I actually have a client to meet the day after who is interested to engage me for my services.

And speaking of clients who are interested to engage me for my services, I will most likely be getting a new project on Tuesday, on hand right now there are also another 2 that I think are shortlisting me as well, one of those 2 I really don't want to work with, was really not expecting him to message me after I send him the quotation, but he did this morning much to my dismay.

There really isn't anything wrong with that particular client, the main reason I don't want to work with him is because I didn't click with him or his wife during our consultation, that's all, and if I don't click with them, I don't want to work with them, but he requested to meet me again and I can't really say No, so I lied and told him I was busy tomorrow and can only meet him next weekend because I want a break tomorrow, he then requested to look at my portfolio, which I shared with him and then replied back about 20 minutes later with...

"A lot of your past works are not really in the style that we want."

.... not really sure how to respond with this, I would have loved to tell him to go and look for more interior designers and get the one he feels can deliver the style he wants because it sounds like he is indirectly telling me he doesn't want to engage me if I have never done the style he wants, but how I am suppose to tell him that, am I suppose to grant him permission to take me out from his shortlist ? He then replies about 2 minutes later with....

"We can discuss again when we meet."

.... I honestly would rather not waste his time and him not waste my time. I mean I can do the style he likes, as long as I have some good examples from his end, I know I can extract the different elements to make it work. I will probably just grant him the time to meet up again, but I am not going to have a repeat of what happen with J&J, and end up working on a project I didn't want to touch in the first place and actually hating almost the entire renovation journey.





Not too long ago,of of my army friend actually referred his own friend to me for renovation services and I had quite a good chat with him, but I really do not sense any potential in him despite our chemistry.



He was very honest and told me he had already visited multiple designers and gotten their quotes, and even told me that he had visited one of the designers project that was in the residential area where his new house was located at, showed me a video he took of that house and then shared with me that the house the designer did was pretty much the style he wanted for his own place and what not.



You have found your designer...



1. They did a project at the same residential area as your new apartment
2. They brought you to that exact project.
3. It was done in the exact style you wanted.



.... just engage them already.



I feel like when he visited me, I had already gotten the short end of the stick.



That being said, I am also not that interested in his project simply because his new place is located at the other end of the island and I ain't interested to be travelling from Bukit Batok to Tampines every day for 2 months. I doubt he will get back to me as well because my pricing is probably going to be about the same as the other designers he met. The only thing I got going for me is that I am a friend of his friend, that's it, other than that, there is nothing else that would make me an enticing option for him.

Death of another tooth....

I have visited the dentist a total of 3 times during the last 2 weeks and I will be dropping by again tomorrow for my 4th visit.



The first visit was to fix rectify the pain from my molar, the next 2 was to go back and check why there was still pain radiating from the molar despite the issue being "fixed" and the visit tomorrow is to redo my frontal tooth filling because it literally fell off while I was eating fried mushrooms.



The 2nd and 3rd visit was bad news because I was diagnosed with what could potential be a dying tooth, getting aches in the middle of the night, sometimes would happen randomly in the day time, and there are only 2 ways to deal with a dying tooth, I could either extract the damn tooth or I can keep the tooth by going for a root canal surgery. The last time I had a root canal done, it was for my front tooth, so the cost was about $850, this time, because it is a molar, the cost will be double the amount, which is a whopping $2000, on top of that $2000, I will have to fork out another $1000 to get a crown done as well, which brings the total up to $3000, so I guess there goes my plan to get a new desktop.




The dentist that I visited are all different, same clinic but always a different dentist and I really don't like that arrangement, having the same dentist would help a lot because that dentist would know the severity of the issue I am personally going through, especially if I am dropping by so many times.



So the 2nd time I visited, the dentist told me to observe the pain for a few days, prescribed me with some painkillers and then send me off. She told me that the pain might be from my tooth still trying to get used to the new fillings, so I should take my painkillers when it starts aching and then give it a few days to see if the pain subsides, if it doesn't, then it means I might need a root canal surgery. I really don't want to mask the pain with painkillers, so I pretty much ignored her advise and tried to power through it for 2 days, which was horrible because the pain actually got more spontaneous and started happening more frequently, which probably was a very very bad sign. I have done fillings many times before and this is the first time the tooth took so long to react to a new filling because I was fine for 10 days after the filling was done and then the pain just suddenly came back.



So 2 days after my 2nd visit, I made an appointment for a third visit and this time, it was a different dentist again, she did the same thing the last dentist did, which was a cold test to see how my affected tooth was reacting, it was VERY sensitive, and then we took an X-Ray and pretty much came to the same conclusion, that I might require a root canal surgery, so I got the root canal specialist number and if the pain persist, then it will be a straight visit to that specialist.




I am trying to avoid the root canal surgery and am now seriously hoping it is just my tooth getting used to the new fillings, one can hope, so I am popping the painkillers as per instructed and giving it a few days, my sleep last night was painless, which was great, a part of me wishes it was the tooth getting better, but I know it is the painkiller doing it's thing. I will be popping them again before bed because fuck that molar.



Dropping by again tomorrow to redo a fallen filling, the whole piece literally came out while I was eating and it was a really big piece, that particular tooth is 50% filling, so I look like I am missing a tooth right now, which was why I arranged for the earliest time slot available tomorrow to get that shit sorted out. I am spending A LOT of money on dental works.




1st Trip  - $400
2nd Trip - $50
3rd Trip - $40
Tomorrow - $150 (estimate)

Root Canal Surgery - $3000


That would be a total of $3640!
And I feel like the initial $400 is such a waste of money because it only brought me 10 days of serenity before I am told that I will have to reopen that cavity and dig all the nerves out.


THAT IS HALF MY TOTAL COMMISSION FOR 4 SEPARATE PROJECTS I HAVE YET TO COLLECT! I really needed that commission to cover back my US trip expenses because the figures in my bank account is now free falling and I don't feel good about it.



UPDATE :


Just got back from the dentist and was given some very bad news about that tooth that had to be filled.


It has been "restored" and I was pretty accurate with the cost, it was $150 before GST, so I ended up spending $170 today.


During the consultation, I explained to the dentist what happened to my tooth and what I wanted done, which is to refill the tooth, so she asks me when the filling fell off, how long it has been that way and then proceeds to check up on it.


As she was checking, I could feel her digging and scrapping away, then she stops and just stared at my tooth for a while, like she was pondering what to do, I was very nervous because if she is pondering for so long, then it can only mean that she has bad news and is wondering how best to deliver that news to me.

"Actually looking at your tooth right now, there really isn't much for the fillings to hold on to, so even if we do the fillings, it will only be temporary, which is why I would suggest extraction."

When she said "extraction", I was honestly caught off guard. This tooth is the second tooth from the front right, if I extract that tooth, it is going to look EXTREMELY obvious, every time I talk, people are going to notice a missing tooth, every time I smile, people are going to notice a missing tooth, the point here is the missing tooth is going to be very fucking obvious every time I open my fucking mouth, I am going to look like Stu from the Hangover movie, permanently.




I was shocked when she suggested that, so I just stared at her for a while, and then said...

'Extraction?"

... and she nodded her head and then re-explain why she thought extraction was the best option and the entire time, I was just really confused because I think extraction is the most extreme option, it's the one you offer to your patients when there really is no other alternative, and she was offering it to me, so I then ask her if there way any other alternative, if crowning was possible and she kept reiterating that extraction is the best option, that refilling will only be temporary and crowning is impossible because at this stage, it is too late, which is really not what I wanted to hear, which then made me realize that there was another option, dental implants. I then ask her if dental implants was possible, and she finally told me that that was indeed another option that I could look at.

I mean SERIOUSLY !?!?

If you are going to offer such an extreme measure like extraction, at least let me know that I can still do an implant to cover that gap. I was just relieved then that there was still an alternative and despite it potentially costing me $4000, the important thing here is that there IS a solution for replacement, but when I think back now, it just really infuriates me how she didn't really give a shit about how missing what is almost as good as a front tooth would impact the patient.



Your clinic offers braces as one of the many services and the whole point of someone wearing braces is to get their teeth straighten and perfect their smile, it definitely boosted my confidence when I finally got my teeth straighten, a small group do it for medical reason, but a larger group do it for aesthetics, which is the reason why I went for it, so it just amazes me that she just doesn't care.



That being said, she did a relatively good job restoring my tooth with the fillers, it looks good as new now, but according to her, it probably won't last long, she said it would last max 2 years if I take care of it really well, but would most likely start to fall off within a year from now, I guess that is enough time for me to set aside $2750 for the dental implant, with a little help from Medisave, the main thing I have to worry about is just my potential root canal surgery.

Damn Tooth

I am currently experiencing some oral pain and it has not been a very pleasant experience.



The pain first started during my company trip to Malaysia, the trip itself was fine, there was a lot of waiting involved, like a fucking lot of waiting involved, but the overall experience was good, except for the part where I was unable to sleep properly because my toothache kept waking me up in the middle of the night.




It is one of those "sour" pain that only triggers when I am lying down, which is the default position everyone has to get into before they sleep, and for the first few minutes, it's fine, but then the pain slowly creeps up and covers the entire portion of the left side of my face below the cheek while I am asleep, which of course then wakes me up and I would just lie there, concentrating on the pain and attempt to will it to go away, but the pulsating sensation doesn't stop and it gets progressively worst until I get up.




Honestly had no clue what happened, but I did manage to fall asleep the first night, forgot about it and when I got home after the trip was over, since it is only a 2 day 1 night trip, I had completely forgotten about it and went to sleep, only to be given a painful reminder minutes later that the pain is still there and it is not going away on it's own, and somehow wearing my retainer seems to make it worst, so I got up at 4.00 am to brush my teeth with a pain relief toothpaste, which didn't really work, took out my retainers and went to sleep again, adjusting my head to make the pain more bearable.



It is a real bitch, so I had no choice but to set an appointment with a dentist today to see what the fuck is going on. The last time I brought this up to my braces dentist, which was about a few months ago, there was just a bit of sensitivity issue and he said it was nothing to be to concerned about and his reason was that my filling was simply getting a little loose that's why the sensitivity is happening.




At that time, I took his word for it and just left it alone, it was still bearable then and was only uncomfortable when I chewed on that side of the mouth, but after using a sensitivity toothpaste, it got better and I ignored it, I should have known better though and he really should have just told me to get that filling replaced if it was getting loose, but he didn't, which makes me wonder if his intention is for the problem to get worst, so I will go back to him months later in pain and require a more expensive procedure to fix.



Anyways, I decided to set the appointment for 6.30pm today with a different dentist, a more affordable one because my braces dentist charges a premium for his services and I will admit, I was a little skeptical about how the consultation would go. I am a little bitch when it comes to receiving orthodontic treatment, so to have a completely brand new dentist scour my teeth for black gold is unnerving.




At around 6.00 pm, I decided to leave the office, the clinic is probably a 10 minute bus ride away, but due to peak hour traffic and a confusing shopping mall layout, I ended up only reaching the dental clinic at 6.40 pm and waited all the way till 7.00pm for my consultation to begin.



The dentist looks to be relatively young, might be younger than me from the top half of his face because is was wearing a mouth mask the entire time and he was quite gentle with the whole thing, I had an X-Ray scan and the dentist came to the conclusion that I had a massive decay on my molar, and as he was enlightening me on that, I can't help but silently curse my braces dentist for telling me it was "nothing to be concerned about" 6 months ago. The decay was so big this dentist actually told me I might require a root canal if it has affected the nerve, which was extremely worrying for me because I ain't made of money anymore.



This could have all been avoided if my braces dentist had just redone my loose fillings 6 months ago.




After a few taping and putting cold cotton pieces around the affected teeth to see where the decay was, we finally got down to business and that included 2 oral injections to numb my mouth. As I have said before, I am a little fucking bitch when it comes to dental treatment, and oral injections is probably at the top of the list of things I fear during a dental visit, I had a very horrible experience back in Secondary School when the free dental service came by and the dentist kept injecting my mouth in a futile attempt to numb the many teeth he was filling, but to no avail, the damn injections only managed to numb my lips because I could feel every drilling and every digging he had to do to my mouth for the 2 hours I was stuck in that chair, it was a fucking nightmare, and every time that Secondary School dentist saw me flinch, he would take the needle and just start injecting more like it's water and it would fucking hurt every time.



So after hearing I would be needing an injection, I pretty much begged the dentist to apply some numbing cream first before he did the injection, and he did, but unlike my root canal dentist who left the cream on for a good 5 minutes to really numb the area, this dentist left it for maybe 10 seconds before he started the injection, which worried me immensely, so I just went...

"So fast?"

... and upon realizing the huge pussy I was becoming, he quickly assured me that he would go very very slowly because that is how one achieves a painless injection, and he took his time to insert the needle. I was anticipating that prick that normally happens when I get these injections, but there wasn't anyway, it was just this dull pain that slowly drags on for 10 seconds and he was done, with the first one, and when he started the second one, which was to be injected at the roof of my mouth, he did warn me that it was going to be a little more painful, so I became even more worried, and it did hurt a little bit more, but once again, it was a bearable dull pain and I think I accidentally drank a bit of the anesthetic when he pulled the syringe out from my mouth and some of it dripped in because now, the numbness is all the way to the back of my throat and it feels like I have a sore throat because I can't really swallow properly.



The rest of the procedure after the injection was pretty painless, every time the dentist asked me that I might feel a slight discomfort and there was nothing, I just felt happy and after about 20 minutes of drilling and filling, the repair was done. Unfortunately due to time constraint, because there was another patient outside who had been waiting for an hour, the dentist couldn't do all the decay and requested that I return in a month's time to get those fixed and I agreed immediately.




I was anticipating the bill to be quite high, maybe $200 to $300, but then I remembered the X-Rays I had to take and those aren't cheap, plus there was polishing and the decay repair work that was a bit on the more complex side, there was no way my wallet would be let off that easily.



When the receptionist called me up, she broke down everything for me using a calculator and there were multiple $80 and $70 keyed into the calculation, which brought the total figure to $400. I could have gotten a mid-range phone with that money, but when I think about the figure, it really isn't as high as it could have been had I gone back to my braces dentist, who would have charged me at least $600 for the same stuff, if not more.




Now that the numbing is over, I do actually have a sore on the roof of my mouth from where the dentist injected the anesthetic,