Farewell Lunch @ Yatch Club

When we have a new colleague, we welcome the person with a lunch.

When someone resigns from the office, we send the person well wishes with a farewell lunch.

Do we eat & eat? or is feasting part of a celebration.

I can't eat much. A regular meal is just that. An ocassional break from the office is also welcomed, to break my routine. Sometimes I work like a robot.

After the Rain

Many people are in awe with the Rainbow. No doubt I'm also one.

I always think it's like God is giving me a sign to say Hey, all's good and here's a treat!

Or that it's an added encouragement for something auspicious.

The first time my parents met Brendan for dinner, there was a very huge & brilliant rainbow across the sky. My mom & I were very elated. It was like an added highlight to the event, though it was just dinner at a coffeeshop. Coincidentally, we ended up living in that estate Commonwealth Drive, the place we had dinner with my parents some 7 years ago.

Then yesterday, there was a rainbow again. Though this rainbow was half the size of the one I saw 7 years back, and it was not even half as brilliant, but it was stilll rather captivating. And it seemed to spring from our block- 89. (this is really not the case as it depends on where you're viewing it from. the sky is very huge, so no, the rainbow did not begin here). But for my self- indulgence 自我陶醉, I will take it as a good sign that we're gonna sell our flat for a very good price. Ha Ha.

We are getting our keys to the Marine Parade Flat tomorrow!! Hurray!

Then, we will be very busy for the next few weeks. Things are on track and I shall let you in on the happenings whenever.

K, baby in tummy is fine. She is stretching, rolling her limps on the surface from inside, and knocking, like tapping me over a hundred times at one go. I really wonder what's happening when she does that. Is she trying to communicate with me? We talk to her only on the few opportunities we have,, like in the evenings, before bedtime and in the morning. Brendan is so funny,, he'll go like "Kiki, rainbow, R-A-I-N-B-O-W, rainbow". hahhahahaha. emmm. For me,, I'm singing the ABCs to her in the evenings. I'm learning baby signing (yes, hand signs) and I've begin with ABC signings first.

So,,,, this is it.

Weekend of 21 & 22 February

My cousin Anna has given birth to a baby boy!
She was 2 weeks ahead of her due date, supposedly in March.
Wow,, good for her, it's done! Hahaha.

Oh,,, I shall be patient with myself.
Not that i'm impatient,, it's that sometimes if I have too much time, I get anxious and start entertaining worrying thoughts.

So I shall keep myself busy isn't it?

Last Saturday, cousin Liang & Jenny had their house warming.
They live in the same area as Anna & Johnny. Sekang Central. Good thing they have Buangkok MRT nearby. Or else that place is really far. Not that the MRT makes it less far but probably a little more accessible. The new HDB nowadays looks more like Condominium apartments. With modern furnishings, it is as posh. This will make my next home look old as it is an old estate. But I would take an old flat at the drop of the hat as I am too accustomed to living in mature estates.
My parents' place was the best ever location. It is surrounded by Hotels, the Great World City and Zouk is just a traffic light away. There was Isetan at the former Apollo Hotel too. Not to mention I could take a river taxi back home from Clark Quay. Well,, the flats are being en-bloc, so,,, all these will be in my memory.

Been packing my book shelves on Sunday. Still got more to go.

Will be giving away many books & stuff.

Oh, watched the movie Ip Man 叶问 on DVD twice!
I liked the movie, not just in awe with the Kungfu master (his character) but also in awe with 永春拳 (the yong chun martial art). I am inspired to keep fit!

Lastly, I didn't know Bruce Lee was so charming too. (there was an old photo clip of him with his master Ip Man at the end of the credit roll). I should go find the picture to show you.

Saturday @ Geylang

PW is back from her 2.5 years overseas stunts at Phuket & Hainan (China) and she's back for good. Said she was worn-out and would need to recuperate before she wanna work again. She may also want to have a career change. Well, for anyone who's burnt-out, it is understandable.

We invited PW & my mom to take a look at our Marine Parade flat as our house agent asked us to view it once more before the deal is being finalized. I do hope we get the keys this week so that all our plans can start rolling.

After visiting our place, we went Geylang to see PW's investment apartment. It is smacked in the middle of the red lights district and there were hoards of foreign girls paddling themselves on the street. I am surprised there were young, Singaporean-looking handsome men picking them up. I had always thought that the clients were old men and didn't think that young handsome chaps would need to pay for sex.

PW's flat bought about 2 years back (if you can remember an old entry on this), is really a good investment. Now that our local public HDB flats are at exorbitant prices, her 1300 sq ft, freehold 3-bed room apartment is a steal for $360K. We are happy that it proved to be a good investment and the three of us began to talk further about other future investment plans. We do this periodically when we meet. I call it our "Club Eleven" meeting. This is our personal club where the three of us aim to learn, share, grow together and achieve financial freedom with investments in property. Alas, we do see some progress since we've grouped up in 2005.

PW said she loves this fish head steamboat at lorong 20, so we had dinner there.
I think the one my sis brought me, at Boon Keng was better, maybe because I prefer the milky soup base compared to this clear version. Nevertheless, it was quite good too.

Surprise, surprise.

Happy Valentine's Day.

A Valentines Special

Me: if not, you come over in the evenings?

Friend: it's V. day!!! u guys should spend some time alone

Me: oh ya!

Me: no need lah. unless you have a date. =P

Me: we every day so loving already mah.

Friend: haha... no date... but chatting w a guy online

Friend: can b more loving on v. day

Me: we are not romatic most of the time. i think some ocassional small acts do occur,, but most of the time they are unplanned.

Friend: do u think i should find someone who has a successful career or rich or at least ambitious??

Friend: if it's a low-level civil servant w laid back attitude...

Me: i cant tell you that

Me: i personally didnt look for riches

Me: ambition for me is important though, but i didnt find it in brendan

Me: how about just someone who loves you

Me: and you love

Friend: yah... u guys were young n the attraction was so strong that u can't think straight

Me: i think that is for me,,,, important

Me: in terms of practicality, riches is important....... but riches is fickle too.

Me: what will you do with someone who may seek for younger girls when we hit like 60.

Me: so,, to me,,, the love is important.

Me: it is hard to find a right guy,, i dont think he exists. we just have to make it work or at least make it worth working.

Friend: yah... i'm listening to frank sinatra now..'when somebody loves u, it's no good unless they loves u..all the way"

Me: go with your gut feelings

Me: ah haha.

Me: you know, bren & i also have differing views abt ever lasting love.

Me: although we may feel like we are ever lasting, he is quite impartial.

Me: that day, i dreamt of quite an emotional dream

Me: i dreamt that singapore was at war and there was major chaos & unrest

Me: everyone had to evacuate and everyone ran under police's custody / protection

Me: i was with my dad and we were supposed to go back to the flat to meet my mom & sis and then evacuate together

Me: then we realised we were short of one paperwork which was needed to show the police to prove our citizenship

Me: i told my dad to go get the document and then meet us up at the flat. while i go get the people ready.. cos everyone was panicking.

Me: sorry my story is so long

Me: when i got to the flat,, there was my mom, sis, my sis' best friend and one young boy like 5 yrs old. (seemed like my son or something)

Me: the policewoman was at the door and she was taking attendance and asking us to quickly leave with her if we want protection.

Me: my mom got up to leave

Me: then i told her to SIT DOWN

Me: i said no one leaves

Me: i told the policewoman,, you leave. we are on our own. cos i am waiting for my dad to meet us here.

Friend: continue

Me: the police woman said ok, we're on our own. they will monitor and see if we managed to survive the war

Me: then i turned to my family and said, we must wait for my father cos we cannot change a plan half way through and leave the person stranded.

Me: i didnt ask for their opinion, i just took charge.

Me: so that was the end of the dream

Me: i was sharing my dream with brendan and he said i could have let my family go with the police first

Me: then the chances of safety is higher

Me: i said there is no point to survive if the family dont survive as a whole

Friend: u wanted to stick together

Me: what's the point of living when your family died

Friend: wah...

Me: i said as a family, you must strife together, like that make it or break it, you are together

Me: he kept quite, didnt argue or what but he was understanding me.

Me: this is what i will do in real life too

Me: so no matter how long you are with a person, you may be still learning about the person

Me: to quote albert enstien (sp) "the answers change"

Me: what you will do today in a given situation,, you may do it differently a couple of years later.

Me: while some things you wouldn't change.

Me: if a guy makes you tingle a little, heart beat faster a little, makes you wanna dress up a little,

Me: i say go for it.

Me: who cares what others have to say

Me: i dont

Me: find love

Me: we are here to explore it, get hurt by it, express it and most of all, to experience it.

Me: wow i can coin a quote now

Me: hahahahhaha

Friend: haha

Wrapping Up CNY 2009 with 元宵节

There were actually quite a few pictures I want to show you.
Mainly of 捞鱼生 and some Teochew Dishes of the dinner we had at Ah Hoi (Chinatown) where Aunt Lily celebrated her 55th BD and took some money from CPF.
But that Kingston SD card is faulty and I couldn't donwload the pictures.
Now that I'm using this Samsung touch-phone, the photo quality sucks eventhough it is 5 mega pix. It pales in comparison to the old Sony-Ericsson & Casio Exlim (3.2). So ladies and gentlemen, Sony still has the best cybershot phones, trust me.
I hope Sony can come up with a VERY SLIM cybershot phone. I am quite a sucker for everything slim, electronically.

You have not heard from me about the yearly card games at the office.
This is because I won and lost my winnings of $4,000.
You may say that I should have stopped at $4K but you really won't understand. There is never a formular with gambling. Never. It is just a game of chance. That is why you must always only treat it as an entertainment and only play with money you can afford to spare. If not, don't even attempt it. This year, the luckiest banker won $250K & $130K in two seperate sessions. So you can imagine some other players out there have lost that much.

Other than that, I am good.

3 more months to go before baby's due. Yesterday, there was some mild discomfort around the groin (it is not a bad word, it is the body part referring to "the area between the tops of the thighs and the abdomen") and I was quite worried cos it lasted till this morning. Luckily the discomfort subsided. The dummy book i read says that it is common to have some form of slight pain or cramp throughout pregnancy as the uterus is growing from the size of a pear to a melon (or for some people, watermelon. haha). I take comfort in that but we still have to monitor our conditions closely I guess.

Timeline is rather tight for us. Hope, pray that all will be fine.
Still waiting for HDB to approve early release of keys to our new flat.
Hope, pray the contractor we have in mind will do an excellent job in 2 weeks.
Hope, pray the good, experienced maternity aunty will be available for me.
Hope, pray money will be more than enough.
Hope, pray we will have spare cash to get a maid, get a good, honest, reliable maid.
I'm looking forward to all of these, I'm looking forward to my flourished life.

Btw- Ashley, sorry didn't respond to message on facebook... office banned the site.
Yes, I'm excited for you too. Are you having a boy? I dreamt that you named your baby "Trevor". Ha ha. (quick check from wikipedia - Trevor is also a name of Irish origin. It is a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Treabhair (descendant of Treabhar), a byname meaning "industrious", "tight", or "prudent"). Well, for myself, I have not got an inspiration for my baby's English name yet but her Chinese name will most likely be Qiqi 琦琦. That was like an instinct Brendan got from thin air. =)

CNY 2009

I look really fat in this woolen dress!
But for the first time, I am happy to put on weight.
I am also glad that my tummy is finally showing and doctor assured that Qiqi (baby in my tummy) is doing fine.

Stamps

I was cleaning out the drawers two weeks back and came across this bag of stamps that Brendan's father gave me some many years ago. I am not a stamp collector but I do appreciate these very old stamps, though they are by no means vintage, they are some 20 year-old. From India, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, UK, USA, Malaysia, Japan & local ones. Brendan's mom used to be a domestic house cleaner for many expatriates when she was up and running before she had a stroke in 2000. The stamps were from the many letters and postcards from her relatives and employers. She must have been much a yakker (someone who chats a lot). I did not really get to know her very well before the stroke but I can tell you, her personality has changed. I have noticed a few stroke patients being a very different person from their hay days. For one, they now laugh much more, it is like a circuit in the brain clicked or brokedown (?) and made them more susceptible to laugh. I am not kidding, you can go observe this phenomenon.

Singapore Jam

Jam is when your car couldn't move an inch even when the traffic lights turn green.

The Singapore traffic is getting very bad.

I now reach work at 8 in the morning, though work starts at 830.

Not because I am such an enthusiastic worker but because I hate to listen to Brendan's angst when the traffic gets thick. So, we leave for work much earlier than required when there are fewer cars on the road. And that is just the first leg of a day's journey.

Traffic in the evenings is worse, and there is little you can do about it. I can't be waiting for the traffic to lessen till 8 at night right?Knocking off at 6 is like a bad time. For a journey that normally takes 20 mins, you can now expect it to be 40 or 60. I dread thinking about how it would be when we move to Marine Parade where we have to commute from West to East in the evenings. Just hope we can work something out then.

Greeting Cards the Old Fashioned Way

I was doing my ritual on writing and mailing CNY greeting cards during one lunch break 2 weeks back when my colleagues were all puzzled why anyone will still practise this at this day and age.

They kept telling me there's something called the e-card.

I had to reply that I am old fashioned when it comes to CNY.

I do this every year.