Last day of the year...

I have a few hours left to be grouchy...

and then, it's HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Samsung Omnia

The Big One bought it.
I hate it.
It doesn't ring when I call him!
It doesn't even register a 'missed call' when it does that.
I hate it.

Iron Lady Again?

A friend whom I've not seen since February this year gave me a buzz - she happened to read my grumpy post - and a lunch date was quickly arranged. We went to Bark Cafe (1000 Upper Changi Road North, Changi Chapel and Museum). Catching up was great. Somewhere inbetween the mid-section of their very delicious speciality chicken wing, my phone rang. It was my iron lady. She declared, "Tonight 6:30 I come ok." I was instantly confused. "Tonight? But you just came right?". She replied, "I come iron your clothes later. 6:30pm." Did I arranged for ironing today? "What day is it? You just came this week right? Today Monday?" Honestly, at this point, I didn't know what day of the week it was. She replied, "Today friday!" I paused to think... "Arh! Friday! didn't you come just on Monday? You came on Monday right? No. No need to come today!" I honestly don't have 6 hours worth of clothes to iron per week. She went, "No need?" and hang up. I looked at my friend in exasperation. She asked, "Is she the lady who kept your curtains?" I nodded.

Struck by same-ness.

Yesterday, we were at the beach. This has nothing to do with the title of this blog but I need to get this out before I get to that. That is, the beach in front of Marine Cove ( East Coast McDonald's), there's a barrage worth of new sand there. It's lovely! Except this loveliness was destroyed by RUBBISH! A plastic bag here, there, a sundae cap here, a broken plastic rake there, socks! burnt out sparklers, light sticks, wrappers of all sorts. I got really upset... because the sand was nice. Too nice to be destroyed by so much rubbish. Anyway, I went around to pick up whatever I could into the plastic bags I had. Managed to retrieve 2 filled bags worth of litter within a 50ft radius. The big one sat on our beach mat and watched me and my self-imposed CWO aka Corrective Work Order - relieved that I wasn't grumbling anymore about the s**t around us. Btw, whatever happened to CWOs for litterbugs? Judging by the amount of s**t on the beach, we will have no problems catching enough litterbugs to make our beach a sparkling tropical paradise year-round!

Right, back to this about same-ness. I like shopping. Rather, I used to like shopping. Now, I get bored before I even step into the store. NTUC, GIANT, COLD STORAGE, CARREFOUR, JASON'S, SHOP'N'SAVE, SHENG SIONG, PRIME SUPERMARKET, ALL SAME. METRO, ROBINSON, JOHN LITTLE, TANGS, ALL SAME! WISMA, VIVO, PARKWAY PARADE, TAMPINES MALL, RAFFLES CITY, TAKASHIMAYA, CENTERPOINT, SUNTEC, ALL SAME! Even in the hawker centre, what do you get? CHICKEN RICE, BAK-CHOR MEE, FISH SOUP, ZI-CHAR... BLAR BLAR BLAR.... ALL SAME! Japanese restaurant? SHASHIMI, COLD SOBA, UNAGI BENTO, TERIYAKI CHICKEN, TEMPURA, SUKIYAKI.... ALL SAME!

I'm bored. Which explains why I need to work or go for holidays. Otherwise, I get bored. So bored I become grumpy about everything, grumpy enough to try to clean up a public beach and bored enough to blame everyone else for causing my boredomitism.

Meeerrrrrrry Christmas!

Iron Lady

She called me this morning, asking if I needed her for ironing. The last time she did my ironing was before the curtain episode. I said ok. She appeared an hour late, declared she has "finished!" in 2 hours, took what I left on the table - for 3-hours worth of ironing - and left. I counted the pieces and guess what? She managed to iron similar number of pieces in 2 hours as she would in 3!! I'm now wondering if she can magically press 28 pieces of clothing within an hour... if I paid her by output instead.

Year End Holiday

A ride in the sky - Genting Theme Park

The boy dumped an entire packet of fish feed into the pond.

When the splash-pede happened, he ran away. ( Desaru Fruit Farm, along highway 92 from Kota Tinggi - Desaru. Entrance Fees: RM18 for Adults, RM12 for kids)

...limited edition crocs for RM20. Some trivial: It takes exactly 3 months to incubate the eggs, which can vary between 50 to 200 eggs per nest. Hatchlings, once proven they can eat = healthy, are sold to farms in Singapore for USD100 each. A slaughtered adult croc can yield USD$8,000 worth of meat. (Ng's Crocodile Farm, Teluk Sengat, Desaru. Entrance fees: RM 8 for adults, RM4 for kids)

Marmite Crabs! (Jade Garden Seafood Corner, 54 Jalan Kerisi, Sungai Rengit, Desaru)

A picture taken by the boy while waiting for the Fireflies river cruise on a sampan. Lifejackets provided. (Somewhere along Kota Tinggi and Desaru intersection... Tel+60127199955 RM 15 for Adults, RM10 for kids)

Darn Hair

Was suppose to do something about my wayward strands today, since I'm on leave. i.e not working. So happen a few people came to know of it and now I'm left stranded with all their errands!!!

Job Security

Job security... hmm... what's that? The Big One and I, between us, we were fired from work once and retrenched 3 times! What's more, neither of us are even 40 yet. With our multiple retrenchment packages, we can easily explain why we may seem to be better off than some of our more permanently employed friends. ***Hahahaa! Take that with a pint (no spelling error intended) of salt please.

Anyway, don't ever try to make us believe that there is such a thing as job security. We'd just laugh at you in your face.

But having no job (security) isn't a bad thing really, and on hindsight, I'd really glad it happened to us while we are still 'young' because it made me realized some really good truths:

One. That our marriage wasn't built on money and so when we had none, we still had our marriage.

Two. That we weren't born worriers of money, nor are rainy-day specialists so these episodes of insecurity forced us to plan further ahead.

Three. That regardless of what you do, you shouldn't peg your self-worth to it. Afterall, no matter how big the bag of nuts they provide, you're still a monkey in their zoo.

There.

The end is near...

I'm almost done with the year. After today, a week off. Then I come back ( yes, I'm still bl**dy at work now) for 3 days then I'm gone again until the end of the year. Hip hip hurray!!!

School concert.

I thought he was a 'pencil' but he turned out to be a wooden clothes 'hanger'! So I kept looking and looking to see which pencil was him! Then we stared at the hanger standing to the left of the stage. He kinda looks like my kid, or a kid who looks like my kid. The big one was convinced he was the hanger. I wasn't 100% sure. It was upsetting. How could I not recognize my own kid? He came out again later as a monkey. The big one pointed him out to me. You know what? I was staring at another monkey thinking that monkey was mine! Very depressing. Later, when we were all home, the big one tried to read the ingredient list on the pack of gummy sweets that the boy received from his teacher. He tried, couldn't, then grumbled, "One cannot see far, one cannot see near!"

All in, we had a great evening. Totally memorable in every way.

Curtains II

Managed to contact the lady. We are going to get our curtains back tonight!

Curtains

My curtains have gone missing, together with the lady whom I've hired to wash them! And because she does our ironing too, our stockpile of pressed clothes in the wardrobe are dwindling, whereas in our living room, clothes waiting to be pressed are piling up! Where are my curtains?

So this lady, happily took the 'black-out' curtains that can't be sent to the laundry, together with an amount of money which my mother thinks is blackmail, and went away.

A week later, she calls to say that she has taken my curtains to the laundry ( and I specifically said it cannot be sent to the laundry and must only be hand washed) and that they want 4 times as much money to wash them! i.e HundredS of dollars!

I told her the curtains cannot be sent to the laundry, that I've tried and they've rejected it, that no, it does not cost hundredS of dollars even if they can be laundered and that my curtains can only be hand washed carefully because of the rubber backing and that she can take it back to me if she doesn't want to do it and that I don't have hundredS of dollars for her.

She quickly said that she has already washed 2 pieces nicely and that it works and that the laundry guys needed that amount because they've spoilt their client's curtains before. That's why need to charge hundredS of dollars to do it.

??? I told her I already tried taking it to the laundry and they won't do it. I've taken them to the biggest laundry shop I know, not just collection points and they told me it cannot be washed or dry cleaned! And that the pieces that could be washed or dry cleaned have already been taken care by them!

And then she tells me she has a sister working at so-and-so hotel and they have big washing machines that she can use and to do my curtains so no need to send to the laundry next time. So she can put my curtains into her sister's hotel's washing machines.

Confused!! So I repeated, "No! No Laundry! Cannot put my curtains in into the washing machine! Can only wash by hand. CANNOT PUT IN WASHING MACHINES! I can take my curtains back!"

She said, "Ok ok, I can I can wash by hand, no problems, when do you need it? Not so soon? Can wait a not?

Me, "(thinking...oh s**t) How much time you need?"

She said, "A week! And I come and iron for you on Monday ok?"

I said, "ok"

She didn't turn up yesterday.

The Big One thinks she has already spent the money I gave her for the curtains and so, cannot return the curtains to me. Me thinks she will still put them in the washing machine despite all warnings.

Crèche Pooling

The boy goes to childcare in the morning and then to his grandparents' house for the rest of the day until one of his parents picks him up. Should this arrangement fail, as it did today, then I'm left holding the kid's hands.

So I worked from home in the morning, picked him up from childcare at noon, fed him a lunch special at Waraku and then tried to figure out how to punch in more time for the rest of the day with my hands full (of the boy).

Made a call on my mobile, hoping maybe my devious plan would work. It did.

Now, for the price of a family dinner, I'm holed up at a girlfriend's parent's place, hooked to my office via my HSDPA USB Modem... blogging! ( Well, for now)

Meantime, the boy is thundering back and forth her parent's living room with her daughter while her mother is preparing dinner for us all.

Crèche pooling is simply fantastic!

Stolen

2 bikes got stolen from us this week.

Bike #1. At my parent's place. Gone!
Bike #2. From my place. Gone!

Poor boy screamed bloody murder last night from leg cramps. He had to walk home from school. Poor us got woken by his demands for leg to be massaged 3 times last night.

Stolen bikes, stolen sleep.

Right, you guys know what we need for Christmas!

Collective Consciousness...

Did we lose one of our own?
Who's we?
If we weren't we, then there won't be an own.
Without an own, then collectively, there won't be a we.
Then perhaps, wihout a we to fight for, there will be an own to lose.

Photo from AP

Relationships

I think we'd all have to agree that the closer we are to someone, the less guarded we are. Good or bad, these people closest to us tend to also get the privilege of seeing the best or the worst in us.

Case in point. Some days ago, this happened in our kitchen. Let's assume I was washing the dishes. The Big One comes in, tells me something and then suddenly lets out a winner - the father of all farts. The stink reaches his nostrils first. He grimaces, mumbles the obvious and then rushes himself out of the kitchen. A while later, he comes back, finds me still in the kitchen and asks me why I'm still there.

(a) I'm no longer impressed with his abilities; or
(b) I have my hands full.

Most likely (a).

Baluku

Got head-butted by the four year old. Ouch! Need Zam-buk!

Bye Bye 2008

I can't wait for this year to just END. DIE. GO AWAY! Seriously, I rather have a full year to work with then trying to squeeze in another year's work within these last 6 weeks.

Managing

Think I must be one of those weirdos who actually enjoy the role of being a manager, that is to manage a team of people at work, and be totally and directly responsible for their work and career growth within the company. I must be mad too, because I really stand by being totally and directly responsible for their work and career growth within the company.

Marcus Aurelius - Meditations - Book Two

I want to cry reading it.

Some passages to share:

"... death and life, fame and ignominy, pain and pleasure, wealth and poverty - all these come to good and bad alike, but they are not in themselves either right or wrong: neither then are they inherent good or evil."

"What is death? Someone looking at death per se, and applying the analytical power of his mind to divest death of its associated images, will conclude then that it is noting more than a function of nature - and if anyone is frightened of a function of nature, he is a mere child. And death is not a function of nature, but also to her benefit."

"Even if you were destined to live three thousand years, or ten times that long, nevertheless remember that no one loses any life other than the one he lives, or lives any life other than the one he loses."

Meditations is the only book I have thus far been allowed to read aloud to the boy by the boy, after what he calls his '3 silly books'. He like the drone of it and it puts him to sleep. But today, with such new life breathing at my side, I find it extremely difficult to read about death.

Smart Alice

The vacuum people came to my office to-ay. One smart alice -eci-ed to vacuum her own keyboar-, resulting in the almost imme-iate lost of the "-" key cover. Even after emptying the -irt bag and re-istributing the -ust from half the office all over the site of -isaster, the -arn thing just couldn't be found. *ah-tisoosh!*

From music to water movements

If there's nothing about violins recently, it's because we stopped and so from one thing to the next, we started him on swimming lessons today. In 40 minutes, he went from lesson one to lesson five. Who'd have thought that his movements on water are more musical than that on land?

How did I get to Friday..?

By not walking very much.

Thursday:

Home to carpark - 40 steps
Drop off the boy - 8 steps
Carpark to Office - 30 steps
(Lunch was brought to me)
Office to Carpark - 30 steps
Carpark to Mom's - 18 steps
Mom's to carpark - 18 steps
Carpark to Home - 25 steps ( I parked nearer to lift)

Argh!!!!!!!! This is not healthy.

I'm not Ready.

YY: I want to go to the toilet.
Me: Alright, call me when you're ready.
YY: When I'm ready?
Me: Yes, you can scream for me.
YY: So, I scream very loudy?
Me: Yes!
YY: Later I scream, "I'm READY!" very loudly then the people downstairs can hear me scream also and then they will think I'm Ready but my name is not Ready.

???

Chance II

My dad rescued a few of those lottery tickets I bought... matched them and came back to announce my luck, "Lousy lar! At most 2 numbers and not even in the same row!" and then, he advises wisely, "Why don't you buy, then go to the counter and pick the numbers that are not on your ticket?" ... "and if you don't pick 40 onwards, that's 12 numbers less, more chance!"

Flashback... as a kid, he brings me to a betting counter in Siglap - numbers are handwritten on slips of cheap and thin light-brown colored paper with boxes printed on them. I pull down his hand while he's writing and insist that he writes down the 4 digits I have in my head, he says something like, "Hiyah! Stop, don't give me any more numbers! Waste money, all you numbers never open one!"

Hilarious! I guess some luck never changes.

Chance I here

Am distracted...

.
.
.
..
....
.

(",)

Faster and faster...

I didn't know till just a while ago that response within same day is not acceptable. The client sent us a query at 7:04am. We responded at 5pm. Not acceptable. Wow!

Nobody waits anymore. Even when we stop moving, I gather the momentum we generate will cause self-combustion and auto-cremation.

Then truly will we have no bones for anyone to pick with.

How lovely then!

Fish

So the boy had to go back to school today. He protested, saying the food in school was no good..

Me: But you like the chicken rice in school right?
Boy: Yes! But just rice only.
Me: Huh? Only rice? No chicken?
Boy: Got chicken, but no fish!

Hanoi

Really nice trip... and especially enjoyed Halong Bay on a Junk Boat (overnight cruise).

I love being on a boat at sea. The opposite holds true for me swimming in it. The boy on the other hand, cannot swim unaided but jumped fearlessly into it from the bow of the boat, wearing his two tiny inflated arm bands, one of which was leaking air! Thankfully, he didn't drown and I survived.

To book the boat trip, contact the tour agency located at 10, Hang Be Street ( pronounced as 'hung bay') Tel: 0982663389. Costs vary but for us 2Adults/1Child, it was USD240, inclusive of transfers, meals on board and 3 mini excursions - limestone caves, grotto & tiptop island.

An Illusion

Step back 2 or 3 metres from your screen - Who do you see?

Got this information from somewhere - maybe conversations with somebodies or maybe read it somewhere... anyway, I can't exactly recall how I got it in my head - the things we see are merely only light reflections. We don't actually 'see' the object, but rather, we see the light reflected off that object. Ask 3 people on a full moon day, to look at the moon and tell you how big the moon is, and depending on their vision, you will get 3 different answers... like, say, as big as a panadol, as big as my dinner plates, as big as my arse (kidding!) etc. So, alright, I had this bit of information in my head. So what? Well, 'seeing' this picture illusion appear in my email today quite disturbed me. Because, it really demonstrates how something the same can be 'seen' differently, even by me.

Which now explains how I could look fat in the mirror one day and alright the next I suppose... Hahhahaa!

Forgotten...

Oh dear, your uncle forgot to pick you up from school today! He offered to pick you up, then forgot about it!

Sandwich

I should have taken a picture of your sandwich this morning. I left you alone to eat your breakfast while I got ready to go to work. You screamed for me a few times while I was in the bathroom and so, I braced myself to see a huge mess when I got out.

Instead, I saw this very neat open-faced sandwich. Bread at the bottom, piled generously with cheese and egg omelette. Plus, a generous dollop of berry jam on top.

You made this and was screaming for me because you couldn't slice the remaining french loaf to make a cover for your creation.

I helped you with that and then you ate it all up.

Flights, Meals & Seats Confirmed.

Photographs by Philip Harle (c) 2001-2008

http://www.virtualtraveller.org/

A knock on the head.

Afghan refugees wait to receive free food at a distribution area before fleeing from the troubled Bajaur tribal region in Pakistan October 17, 2008. Pakistani authorities have begun expelling Afghan refugees from a tribal region that has become the main battleground between troops and fighters linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda, officials said last week.
REUTERS/Adil Khan (PAKISTAN)
REUTERS/© Stringer Pakistan / Reuters

Question.

Me: YY, I ask you a question?
YY: What?
Me: Do you like to be YY?
YY: Yes.
Me: Don't you want to be somebody else?
YY: No.
Me: Sure?
YY: Yes.

He's way ahead. I'm only beginning to be happy being me.

Parity

Seems like parity is bonus these days...*sigh*

On the side:
if a = b and b = c, then is a = c?
I learnt that it is in Mathematics.

But if Mice = Food
And Food = Rice
Then Mice = Rice?

Violin Fugue

Getting nowhere. Kinda hit the plateau right after we got him the darn expensive 1/10 violin. Now, it's just going downhill. Group lessons ended last Saturday and he's suppose to start having individual lessons. We're holding it off. Until ... I get him back on track.

It's an uphill task.

Read up all I could on articles about 'music practice for kids'. Seems like the key to it is 'routine practice'.

My mother threatened many times to break my piano up with an ax. It's far easier to break the violin up.

I pray I don't.

fugue Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
1. Music. a polyphonic composition based upon one, two, or more themes, which are enunciated by several voices or parts in turn, subjected to contrapuntal treatment, and gradually built up into a complex form having somewhat distinct divisions or stages of development and a marked climax at the end.
2.
Psychiatry. a period during which a person suffers from loss of memory, often begins a new life, and, upon recovery, remembers nothing of the amnesic phase.

Let us begin.

SGD to 1AUD

OH SHIT!

Bought...

3 books on Indian Spirituality:
- The Upanishads;
- The Dhammapada; and
- Bhagavad Gita

Decided to read the Dhammapada first.

Am I scaring people around me here?

Hahhahaha!!!

Coconut Trees

See that tall coconut tree?
Yup?
Go pluck the coconut.
Sure. Do you have a ladder?
No.
A fruit-picker?
No.
Then how can we reach the coconut?
I pay you to do it.
So what about outsourcing?
No budget.
How about we think about it.
No, I want it now.
But we can't.
You all are useless.
But we don't have the tools.
Excuses.
(a Monkey happened to come along, climb up the tall tree and retrieve one)
Silence.
See? even a Monkey can do it! You all are useless!
All left.
The Monkey was employed.

What do you do... if you are shouted at?

Question posed to me by my colleague. My instant answer, "I don't know. I have never been shouted at by anyone at work."

I suddenly recalled. I was shouted at before! By an Art Director way back in my career when I was working in an ad agency as a suit. Whenever he could, he will swear at me for chasing him for work he couldn't deliver on time. (Apparently, somebody told me he's a changed man now. Whatever.) So one day, after I sent him an email about his non-delivery, yet again, he charged up to my workstation and went," KNNCB... blar blar blar... !" I got really fed up, looked him in the eye, picked up my phone in slow mo and went, "One more word from you and I'm calling the police!" He must have seen I meant it, because he redirected his screams at the man seated behind me - my then-boss, "D**** P***! I want to see you now!" and stormed off.

I went back to my work.

I think the incident is still well remembered by my ex-colleagues.

Hilarious!

Apple Tree and Mango Tree

All in a day's work...

(1) Apple Tree
An apple tree can only give you so much apples. Even if you whip it some more, it will not give you more apples than it did last year. (Given the same favourable conditions) So, the solution is not to stand there and scold the apple tree but to either steal your neighbours apples or plant more yourself to ensure better harvest.

(2) Mango Tree
This passerby was walking along a fence, and noticed that in the compound beyond the fence, there is a mango tree. Better still, she notices that there is a branch from which nice ripe mangoes are hanging and what more, they are within her reach! She plucks one and tastes it immediately. Arh! It's sour. She's disappointed and upset. What does she do? She rings the bell, demands to see the owner and scolds the owner for their sour mangoes.

What do you do?

For a recent while now, when people ask me that question, "What do you do?" I find myself in a fix as to how to respond.

Obviously the question is really "What kind of work I do, which company I work for." Maybe they genuinely want to know but I bet you all, the real reason is so as to be able to rank or 'social-classify' (if there's such a phrase) me so that they can speak to me appropriately as begets my "status".

I don't like that.

The last few times I've been asked that question, I asked them back, "What do you mean?" and then they have to explain it to me. And when they do, I laugh and tell them.

And they usually go, "Oh!" And talk to me carefully henceforth, like how you would speak to an idiot.

I quite like that.

Aching...

I can't really walk today. Because my legs are aching MADLY... and the reason why it is aching so madly is because I ran on the spot for a certain length of time whilst being blindfolded. And why was I doing that? It was part of a meditation technique that I was put through yesterday. You would think that meditation equates to sitting passively. Apparently not.

Anyway, I went through a 2-day meditation program over this last weekend...


(blank space not by accident)


I'm suppose to add some commentary about it I guess.
But the words are just not coming out.

The end.

Disclaimer about previous post.

True. Every kid is different. It's really my lame excuse for why BY only has 1 'enrichment' class - violin. It is not meant to ridicule or judge any parent who is not like me. There isn't a right or wrong here.

The boy wanted to attend gym lessons but backed out when I said I will sign him up for it. He's been doing that since he was a toddler.. the first time we took him for a flash-card trial lesson, he picked up his shoes, pointed to the door and demanded, "OUT! OUT! OUT!".

I'm anxious that he will not keep up with the system. I'm anxious that the system will not keep up with him.

I'm just not convinced that more classes will help balance this equation.

Negative Enrichment

I googled "negative enrichment" to find out if those 2 words put together had any real meaning. Well, it's a medical terminology apparently. I still can't figure out exactly what it means though. Maybe someday I will. But right now, there's nothing scientific about what I'm going to write here.

I put those 2 words together because it pretty sums up what I think about 'enrichment' classes for kids. It is possible to be negatively enriched? I don't know.

But here's my observation. 45 minutes of gym classes doesn't make a child more agile that he would have been if left to his own devices at the playground. 45 minutes of flash cards gives the child the knowledge of words but doesn't help him decipher its meaning.

Also, this is not proven, but it's logical I guess. Since time is limited, the more time you spend caged up in a classroom environment, the less engaged you are with the natural environment. And isn't this disengagement with nature precisely what is driving consumerism and sadly, the destruction that comes along with it?

I suspect that the only one that is enriched by these classes are the proprietors. At an average rate of $35 multiplied by a dozen, every 45 minutes, sustained by guilt, peer-pressure or maybe fear?

Who doesn't want to have a kid that is smarter, cleverer and more able than this counterparts?

But what's the real deal here my friends?

Discovered...

Discovered this comic book series for kids by Mo Willems at MPH. Picked up this one for the boy. He likes it! Click on the title to go to the writer-illustrator's blog.

2am

2am.
The thermometer beeped.
I looked.
39.4
The boy decided to ask his burning question.
"Mummy, why boys don't have babies?"
The pupils in my eyes dilated.
The one in front of me waited.
"This is a big question. Let me think about it and tell you some other day ok?"
A Pause.
A nod.
We both fell asleep again.

Book: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Am halfways through this book. One word. Riverting.

One last one...

He's 4 and I am thinking, that the boy should be allowed to grow up more privately from now on. This will be the last photo you'd see of him here on this blog. (Photo taken by Danesh Daryanani)

Chance

I buy lottery impulsively. Will walk into any shop that isn't crowded and plonk $2 down. I even bought some when I was in Perth! But the one thing is, I never bother to match them with the results. So I let all these little pieces of hope gather in strange places - folded in between hard cash, some in my laptop bag, others in the toilet - mostly dug absently out of pockets and left somewhere 'safer', in the kitchen drawer where I keep drugs (legal ones of course) - until the big one makes enough noise and then I gather them hopes all up and looked up http://www.singaporepools.com.sg/ for the results. The thing is, prizes in Singapore are only valid 90 days from draw date! What if? I don't quite get it. Why do I not care?

What is?

I worked 2.5 days this week. Ended up spending a lot more time with the kid. I think we both needed that. He's a lot calmer than he was during the weeks when all I did was to come home to make him practice his violin.... to which he has recently declared, "NO MORE!" in as much anger as a 4-year old can muster.

I'm giving us a break.

Pinnacles

At the top of the mountain,
is the place to be.
The view is breathtakingly beautiful,
they were made to believe.
When they came of age,
all they could think about,
was to climb that mountain!
To see the incredible for themselves.
Most took years.
Some never made it.
The few who did make it to the top,
took one look at the view,
and sighed,
in disbelief.
Because what they found,
was a view that was nothing,
more than just
ordinary.
The chill up there hurts.
But still,
almost everybody stayed,
waiting for the view to change.
And that became the one thing,
that was
most incredible.

Threatening?

We were having dinner with friends. The kids were given plastic plates - with Mickey Mouse motifs on them. At some point before the food arrived, the boy told his friend, "Stop spinning the plate! Wait Mickey Mouse angry then don't come to your TV!"

"Somewhere" Lagoon...

Couldn't decide on where we should go for a short holiday. By the time we did, it was either too last minute for Angkor Wat or overbooked for Tioman. Ended up taking this package with Chan Brothers. ( Read fine print about Chan Brothers below)

Service Note: The boy was sick so we wanted to postpone the trip. Chan Brothers said they will check with the hotel. Return call to say hotel can't change. We called hotel. Hotel says no problem, can change our bookings and changed it! We called Chan Brothers. They said they'll check again. We waited whole day. They called back, saying, "Can change dates but there'll be extra charges!" - About 20-35% of what we already paid. We called hotel to change back to the original dates, packed the boy's medication and went. Our rationale being that there's nothing we can do except give him his medication and there is no difference whether we did that at home or away. Chan Brother's web site homepage proclaimed "offering unparallelled service to ...travellers" It's only now that I noticed they didn't say what kind of unparalleled service it was.

Anyway, once inside theme park, the boy miraculously recovered!

AND....

It was fun.
Really fun!
We all had fun.
Fun really!
Fun was IT!

.... and I suppose having fun makes one funny!

Sad or Funny or Both? ...........by Seth

3 little pigs.

Whilst reading to the boy last night....

Me: YY! What should you do if you someone gives you straw to build a house?
YY: Say Thank You?
Me: No...*he gives me the questioning look*... Say "NO THANK YOU!" ok? Because the house built of straw not strong! *big one bursts out laughing somewhere in the background*
YY: Orh.
Me: So, what should you do if someone offers you wood?
YY: Say NO THANK YOU?
Me: Clever! And what about bricks?
*he nods his head*
Me: Clever boy!..............And what should you do if you are the wolf?
YY: *eyebrows raise* What?
Me: Hiyah, eat the pigs up before they build the house lar! Then no need to huff and puff! *big one cracks up again.... small one laughs along*

Consume

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
con·sume
–verb (used with object)
1. to destroy or expend by use; use up.
2. to eat or drink up; devour.
3. to destroy, as by decomposition or burning: Fire consumed the forest.
4. to spend (money, time, etc.) wastefully.
5. to absorb; engross: consumed with curiosity. –verb (used without object)
6. to undergo destruction; waste away.
7. to use or use up consumer goods.


Isn't it interesting? That if you can be consumed by the very thing you consume?

110AZ

My son showed me this on the paper ...

110AZ

and it took a couple of seconds before I had it decoded.

I had asked him to write 1 to 10 and A to Z.

Am

Not

Looking

Forward

To

Meeting

His

Teachers

In

The

Future...

Power vs Freedom

Interesting article - click on the title to read it:

" ... gaining power, according to research by Pfeffer and others, is mostly a matter of building relationships with people you don’t necessarily like, i.e. taking on many, many obligations, social and otherwise. Generally, lunching with enemies and bigwigs is not considered the most fun to have in the afternoon, but according to the evidence it’s what it takes to claw one’s way to the top, and it’s non-optional. The truly ambitious are not free to choose a solo sandwich in the park. "

Conversations ......about school

Me: What did you do in school today?
Boy: I flush before I pee.
Me: That's good. What else?
Boy: I flush before I pee!!
Me: Oh!!!!!!!! You FLUSHED before you pee.... Why?
Boy: Because there was 'nrg nrg' inside!
Me: *laughing* Oh my!... so someone didn't flush?
Boy: Yes! Someone didn't flush. I saw him! But I'm not sure what is his name.
Me: Hahhaa... never mind. What else did you do in school today?
Boy: Nothing.

Right, I send my kid to school today to flush away somebody else's poo. Excellent!

Party!

Happy Birthday!

Waited till this morning before deciding on having a party for the boy. Called the usual suspects, went grocery shopping, and then slogged in the kitchen for the next 3 hours. But checked out those smiles!

Uma's Playground

Thank you for having us at your party!

(All photos in this post taken by Danesh Daryanani)

A compliment?

"You are intelligent but you got no common sense!"

???

I really don't get it. How does that work?

Human Rights

The Big One: What's the definition of Human Rights?
Me: Errr, the right to live?
The Big One: It's more than that.
Me: What?
The Big One: Most people don't know what is it themselves but pretend they do.
Me: So what is it?
The Big One: It's simply the right to co-exist!
Me: Whaaaaaaaa.... that's so beautiful!

I checked out wikipedia this morning. His definition beats them all 10-1.

Not knowing what you want ...

....will not get you what you want!

Case study:
A: Are you able to help me beautify this?
B: What do you mean by 'beautify'?
A: You know, make it nice?
B: Right, so how do you want me to make it nice?
A: Can you do it?
B: I might be able to, if I know exactly what you want.
A: So you are not the person I should speak to for these things?
B: I might be able to do it, but I need to know what you mean by 'making it nicer' before I can tell you whether I can do it or not.
A: So do we have a department in our office that can help us do this?
B: Do what?
A: Make this better.
B: Can you give me some examples on what you mean by making it better?
A: So you can't do it? How about the other department?
B: I don't know if I can do it unless I know exactly what you need and I don't know if the other department can do it either because I don't know what you need them to do!
A: Why don't you speak to them?
B: Speak to them?
A: Yes.
B: Why?
A: Ask them if they can do it!
B: Do what?
A: Make it nicer.
B: No!
A: Why not?

At this point, B, aka me, floats away....

Not Lying. Forwarding Truths

The violin teacher to the boy, " Are you still drinking from the milk bottle?"
The boy, "No."
The mother raised her eyebrows so fast, the other parents cracked up laughing.
Back home, the mother asked if the boy wanted milk. He replied, "Yes! From a cup, not a bottle ok?"
Right, you asked for it!

Lesson

Been quite lax so obviously the boy couldn't understand when I decided to be firm with him on Wednesday evening. He dilly-dallied, played badly, dallied some more and came up with a million excuses as only he can. And then, for some obtuse reasons, I decided he needed to be shouted at so I tried that, and even made sure I bullied him into tears, refusing to give him any water when he wanted some and hoping maybe after all this torture, he'd turn into a better student.

I AM A NINCOMPOOP!

Last night, we changed tack. I sat with him to plan out what we were going to practice and how we were going to achieve that. What an amazing change! The boy knew what was to be expected, knew he agreed to it prior, could see it on paper, was allowed to strike each item off when he completed it and knew that the practice will end only when he has finished everything on the list.

LET THE NINCOMPOOP NOT FORGET THIS LESSON!

Perception

So I was late for my session with the Swamiji. I went to the wrong place and had to call the Big One back at home. He checked it out, told me where I should be and exclaimed, "Whaaa $125! Quick, you better take the cab!"

Back home, I told him about how this is supposedly the closest you'd ever get to "God" and so he asked if I got a discount from "God" since I was obviously late . My response? "What makes you think God gives discounts?" He chuckled, but persisted... "How about SY? Did she give you a discount?" To which I responded, "SY is not a God so she can't give discounts either!".

We both laughed really hard then.

My Sunday with a Swami

So I was told, that meeting an enlightened one is the closest we'd ever get to meeting God. So I sat there, staring at 'God', watching him.

Here's a note I wrote on my little notebook "If you had been touched by God, will you know? (and even if you did know) Would you believe? (you were)"

Anyway, I guess if there's one conclusive note, it will be that I've had the most amazing experience. For a moment at least, I became me.

Bananas, Oreos and ....

If a BANANA is a Chinese who is "white" inside and an OREO is a Black who is "white" inside, then guess what an Indian who is "white" inside is? A COCONUT! Anyway, I was giving my colleague grief by accusing him of being a BANANA when the COCONUT pointed out that I'm a BANANA myself. And the only way we could explain it to the American was to bring up the OREO.

I wouldn't call this racism.

I will be proud if the boy grew up to become a BANANA OREO COCONUT mix. All of it, white, black, brown, yellow and all the other colors in between! If anything the world is lacking in now, it's colorful Global Citizens!

Inspired.

So I've been working 14 odd months in this company and my boss finally shows up for a week, all the way from Kentucky - I meant the state in the US of A. Apart from the many highlights, like taking the team for a spin on the Singapore Flyer and trying to pop popcorns with our mobile phones, i've been inspired.

Me thinks ... tough job, great boss, is way better than great job, tough boss.

His 2nd Violin Performance

Yesterday, the boy had his violin lessons and then his public violin performance later that same afternoon. Yes, it wasn't last week. I remembered wrong.

Anyway, so when his turn came, the teacher lined up the 4 of them to play their pieces. He then moved the microphone stand closer to the kids and was lowering the mike closer to one of them when suddenly, one woman from the audience gasped and exclaimed, "OH MY GOD!"

The teacher looked up, recognised the woman, laughed and then swiftly moved the microphone away to another position.

Meanwhile, another person had nudged the woman who made so much noise and rebuked, "Hey, you should have more confidence lar!"

The microphone had been lowered and placed just 6 inches from my little performer's violin.

Eventually, the boy performed brillantly! He did forget some bits but recovered well.

So yes, the woman, aka I, definitely should have had more confidence in him.

Spoke to the big one on the way to work this morning... apparently he made similar noises too.... something like, "LEOOOOOOOOOW!"... which means "FINISHED!" in Teochew.

Lunch @ $1.70

90 cents for the BeeHoon and 80 cents for coffee. This provided I remember to pack it before 11am. After 11am, the price of the BeeHoon shoots up to $4 a plate. I don't really care much for their lunch version, which has added 'leow' aka extra ingredients - a couple of shrimps, some strips of fishcake, maybe 3 or 4 slices of pork, shredded cabbage, not forgetting a mouthful or so of scrambled egg, and more oil.

The lady boss must have thought I wanted to save some money or something by always eating plain BeeHoon for lunch and so today, she asked me, "Don't want to add more ingredient arh?" (with a you are pitiful look) "Like that enough a not?" and piled more PLAIN BeeHoon into the styrofoam box.

I'm glad I can live simply... and hopefully life will be simple enough for me to do that and still be happy.

Excursion

Once again, the boy is off to another school excursion and once again, I grilled him on how to behave on the bus, what to do and what not to do......and once again, I forgot to tell him to enjoy himself. I'm hopeless!

ERP

Heard over the radio >>>Don't slow down when you see the camera, the ERP will go up!<<< Minutes later, the Big One burst into Hoots of Laughter. He's not slow. He'd glanced at his speedometer and was wondering >>> If someone gets caught speeding in the morning on a weekday, will they lower the ERP charges?

Food & Co.

Forest Walk

A really really enjoyable walk. Except that at one point, a sample of the male species decided to drop his shoe over the side of the bridge and his unfortunate relative (aka the mother) had to climb down the ridge to get it back for him, emitting an angry trail of black thought-bubbles along the way.

"I go by myself"

......and that's precisely what the boy did. Go by himself to school. Well, today we stopped about 12 metres away from the school's gate. Typically, I would accompany him all the way into the building and wait while he goes through the health checks. But today, he announced, "I GO BY MYSELF!". I'm thinking, why not? So I said, "Ok, you go! Bye Bye!".......and he DID!

By the time we drove past the school's gate, he was already well inside the building and out of sight.

He's not yet 4. How do they grow up so quickly?

Allegro & Perpetual Motion

The boy's performing these 2 pieces on his violin this Saturday at 3:30pm at XXXXXXX - it's a free performance so no need to buy tixs. ( not worth it anyways....hahhaha!!) sms me for the location if your are keen to go see.

All Smiles

Holiday??

Kinda thinking we need another one ... we (aka I and me) did plan to go to Hong Kong in December with a couple of my friends. The big idea was to dump the kids in disneyland with the fathers while the mothers go shopping........but that's 5 more long months away!

Primate

pri·mate
1. Ecclesiastical. an archbishop or bishop ranking first among the bishops of a province or country.
2. any of various omnivorous mammals of the order Primates, comprising the three suborders Anthropoidea (humans, great apes, gibbons, Old World monkeys, and New World monkeys), Prosimii (lemurs, loris, and their allies), and Tarsioidea (tarsiers), esp. distinguished by the use of hands, varied locomotion, and by complex flexible behavior involving a high level of social interaction and cultural adaptability.
3. Archaic. a chief or leader.

Definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

Ee-yorh talks

Looking at the picture - you'd laugh right? Is it really funny to work a donkey like that? Do you laugh at a colleague who's overworked? Or rush over to help put some of his/her load on your own shoulders instead? I'm apt to do the latter - quite dense.

Anyway, I keep staring at this donkey. It doesn't seem distressed by the fact that it's been lifted off the ground so. In fact, the donkey seemed relieved!

If the donkey can talk, what will it say?

Working like this donkey...

(Information overload image by Bueny Pixs , CC 2.0)

"Boy ! You Can't DO THAT!!!!"

..............the boy was playing with the camera when he wandered into the bathroom and shot the Big One in his full glory. Hilarious!

Ortho

Saw the orthopedic specialist today. He showed me my bone x-rays, which has already been scanned and stored in his computer, and drew tangents on them to illustrate his point - that my bones aren't exactly aligned. There may be some past injury on the disk- leading to misalignment of the lumbar and hence causing stress on the 'connecting hook' which shows signs of arthritis. There is no cure for arthritis and also currently, there is no known 'spare parts' - Righto!

Genes

We both have a coordination problem! The teacher tried to teach me how to place my fingers on the violin to play G Major Arpeggio without moving too many fingers. I stared at my fingers, willing them to move accordingly to how I've been instructed to. But it was good as trying to make my hair stand voluntarily. Impossible! The synapse between my brain and those muscles on the fingers simply didn't connect. I think the signals fired to another location and I ended up sticking out my tongue instead!!!

Not!

"I'm NOT a baby anymore! Don't call me baby!"

Pau

How not to read the 700 emails in your inbox.

I sprained my back and was away from work for 3 days. Most colleagues came to offer me their sympathies, recommendations and generally good advice on what I should do, which acupuncturist I should visit, what kinds of "heaty" food I should avoid etc... but added to the mix was this one... "You should blog about it".

My instant response to that was sure! It will be HOW NOT TO READ THE 700 EMAILS IN YOUR INBOX!

But seriously, how do you separate mere traffic noise from the real siren? How can someone remain effective without being considered 'unreachable' by not reading an average of 200+ emails a day? Think about it! Reading 200+ emails at an average rate of 1 minute an email = 3-4 hours of work = half a day gone!

So I asked around, did some googling and came up with these 3 strategies:

(1) Filter: How to differentiate immediately if a mail was sent to you directly, or if you are just on the CC. list. For how to, Click HERE.

(2) Be Honest: I'm never ever going to catch up with all the mails that were sent. So instead of feeling guilty, I should just get over it and stop trying to be perfect. So there, all you unimportant mails, I'm going to sentence you to DELETE!

(3) Avoid Boomerangs: Yay! Now that I'm left with 80+ emails after filtering and being honest, I want to make sure that these emails I respond to don't boomerang back so I'm going to (a) communicate strictly to those who needs a response from me (i.e not "Reply to All") and (b) communicate so clearly, nobody will feel they have to send me a "Reply".

Cheers! Happy Weekend! Don't try breaking your back and a toast to a better 'Outlook'!!!

Telemarketeers

All telemarketeers are stupid but some are more stupid than others!!!

Yours sincerely,
GROUCHY

MC for 3 days

I only read like 5 mails, took 3 conference calls and attended 1 meeting. So I'm back to work and guess what? 723 mails are sitting in my inbox! *curse*

The truth

On normal days:

Me: Am I fat?
He: Either no response, or "You need to exercise!"
( which will lead to )
Me: So I'm fat?
He: Everyone needs to exercise to be healthier!

Yesterday, after having 2 men haul me into the car:

He: You are very heavy!
Me: When people lose consciousness, they become heavier!
He: The weight doesn't change!
Me: No, but if I can hold on to you, then I'd definitely be lighter!

The truth is difficult to swallow isn't it?

Faking Death

I always imagined dying to be a struggle. Maybe if you are strangled, that would be the case. But after yesterday's fainting episode, I'm wondering if it's more like fainting... the body shuts down without you realizing it and then you're gone!

OR even if you knew you were losing consciousness, like I did, you couldn't help but slip uncontrollably into the dark and you wouldn't know that you did lose consciousness until you've woken up from it.

When I did wake up, I was so refreshed by it, I thought I could start walking again. Wrong.

But guess what? I can now finally relate to the phrase "died peacefully". It's just a permanent form of lost consciousness isn't it?

A niece!

I have a new niece!

My bad.

I heard a shout, "Uncle! Ni ke yi bang wo mah?" ( can you help me?) and realised that I was not leaning beside the big one. I was half kneeling in front him and he was shouting for help. I had what the doctors in the hospital recorded as "LOC" - lost of consciousness.

What happened? I sneezed and popped my back. The pain was so intense, I fainted.

My back is a joke. The first time the same thing happen to me, I was flinging the comforter over the bed. Next thing I knew, I keeled over and slumped over side of the bed. The ambulance came to pick me up and I was hospitalized.

This time round, I just lay on the bed in the A&E ward while the morphine shot they gave me took effect.

6 hours later, I was sent back home in a "zen" state, with a few packets of really strong painkillers.

Lions in winter

Finished the previous book and will strongly recommend it for anyone who's every thought of officially retiring before the official retirement age.

Now reading:

"There, SEE?"

4 hour work week

Currently reading... This is the first "self-improvement" type book I've read that contains words like "p*n*s" and "m*st*rb*t**n" in them. I'm only about 1/4 through the book but am predicting that it's definitely a book I'd read to the end.

My attention span is pretty short nowadays and I don't really have time to waste on boring books. My intellect simply doesn't appreciate being challenged by complexity for the sake of it anymore. Simpler better!

Mysophobia - fear of dirt.

Jun 12 - A piglet in Northern England who developed a phobia of mud has overcome its fear with the aid of some Wellington boots.

Cinders, a young saddleback pig, appeared to have a condition called mysophobia - a fear of dirt - having refused to wallow in the mud with her siblings.

Her owners had the idea of fitting her with the bespoke miniature footwear to help conquer her fear.Debbie and Andrew Keeble run a sausage company in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

However, they have said that Cinders will be spared the butcher's knife and instead act as a mascot to the Farm Crisis Network which supports struggling farmers.

~Reuters

Kai Hua - Open Flower

My comment to his teacher during his last lesson. The boy had "blossomed".

The little one had been very encouraged by the concert he took part in the previous week and over the last one week, learnt 2 new pieces. A feat. Considering it took 2 terms (half a year) before he could play "Twinkle".

Practice is becoming more regular now... and the aim for me is to encourage him to keep in beat and play music that can "sing and sigh".

Business opportunities

Received this note from a reader:

"According to this new survey, Singapore is the easiest place in the world to do business! What do you think makes it so easy? Many factors. The easy availability of public toilets. Lots of people selling tissue paper.... big business, small business, all can!"

Hot Job

(Part 1) Hot Job
Tissue peddlers! Don't you think there's a lot of them around nowadays? It used to be a partnership business and one of them had to be blind but not anymore my friends, they are everywhere now! I'm petty sure they'll invade bus-stops and mrt stations next!

(Part 2) Tissue Peddler
So this lady came to us and I bought some. Whilst eating, she came back again and my mother politely told her we've bought some from her already. 15 minutes later, she came back yet again and this time, my mother picked up the proof, showed it to her and said, a tat impatiently, Look! We bought from you already! The lady responded, "The other guy also sells this type of tissues" and walked away. I burst out laughing before my mother could give her retort.

(Part 3) Rejected Offer
Which reminds me of this Teochew man in the hawker centre last week. (I seemed to be spending way too much time in hawker centres) This man was probably in his forties and must have been undernourished as a child. His teeth was really bad. A couple had fallen off already and the ones he still had were yellow and pointy. He was sipping his soya bean drink when along came the elderly owner of the soya bean drink stall, a fellow Teochew man. The old man advised the 'young man' to do something with his time, like (what else?) sell tissues! The man prompty rejected, saying, "Look! The auntie who used to come round? she's not here anymore! She's been taken away by the authorities for selling tissues! Better not sell tissues, wait get taken away. I don't want to be taken away!"

(Part 4) Inconclusive
The majority of tissue sellers I'm sure didn't elect to sell tissues in order to make a living. But if you have been to other parts of Asia, you'd notice that there are a lot more 'career' opportunities for these people in those countries than it is here in Singapore. I'm not sure if it's due to people being 'hungrier' or the governments there being less 'sophisticated'.

(Part 5) Scene from the past
This image of an old lady I saw years ago, on the streets of Hanoi, with less than a kilo worth of strawberries (most likely home grown), squatting under a bulb that runs on electricity she's tapped (illegally) just struck me as ... entrepreneurial.

(Part 6) Limitations
The same opportunities doesn't exist here for people that falls off the sides. First, you dont' have any land on which to grow things on. Second, there's no free electricity to tap from and lastly, you need a license before you can hawk anything, anywhere.

(Part 7) End
What am I doing, writing all this s**t whilst sitting on a cushioned seat in an air-conditioned room? Why do I freaking care about tissue sellers?

7 and a half hours ...

spent in 2 hospitals today. The boy had an accident. He's fine now.

Random Rage in Tokyo.... 7 killed.

Excerpt taken from an article reporting the same on Reuters...

"Japan has entered a period of selfishness. People have the feeling that they can do anything," said Jinsuke Kageyama, a criminal psychologist at Tokyo Institute of Technology.

"But when these people fail to fulfill themselves in socially acceptable ways, they are treated as losers and their frustration builds up," he added. "A series of disappointments can lead them to try to regain their sense of self through crime."

Kageyama blamed Japan's obsession with exam grades for making many feel like failures, and said the decline of the extended family was one factor cutting support for troubled youngsters.

Tackling the root causes of such attacks would be a complex task, and harsher penalties would likely not be helpful, he said

This is a war waged by a single person upon the society he lives in. Think how more horrible it is to have societies wage war against each other. Yet, it is these single acts of selfish rage that shocks us more. Why? Is the agenda of one less permissible or more selfish than that of a group?

Do we despise losers? Do you? Do I? Why?

( Sidetrack: I was always happy to point out to my parents that so and so did worse than me. And when I did end up last in class, I didn't hesitate to point out that I wasn't last in the standard.)

Regaining self through crime? Come on, who really knows what self is? Looking back, my 20's was of hope. 30's now is simply one big struggle to become. I think maybe at 40, I'd finally know for sure.

Extended family support. Hmm.... who's really reponsible for the decline?

Hasher penalties not likely to be helpful. ( If you had a child, you'd agree) But what then?

I've been to Akihabara, the place where the stabbings took place, and had bought hair curlers there. Perhaps if I hadn't, I would have just read the headlines and note, 7 killed. No relevance to me whatsoever. Am I selfish? er.......Yes?

One thing for sure. I'm definitely scared of the possibility of me or anyone I know/love being killed one day simply by just being in the path of a more selfish person. Worse, whilst buying something stupid like hair curlers.

Bursting!

He did it! I am so proud of my baby! A week ago, you wouldn't have thought he could. The contrast between then and today was so great, it's like pairing nadir and zenith together. The Big One's take? "He came from such low base, everything else is a bonus!" That's how I felt. Like I got hit by an unexpected bonus and it made me swell with pride!

His inaugural violin stage performance.

Well done my boy!

Well done!

"When parents push their kids too hard..."

Salary Inflation

Doubleclick on the image to make it bigger... a colleague came to me and said, "We are in the wrong industry! This guy from Merrill Lynch earns $4.4 mil a year and he's only 10 years older than me!" Hmmm.... I did a scenario testing on excel. I started with a salary of S$1,650 after graduation. Assuming I had an increment of 10% a year ( ideal case sceanario)... and continue to have 10% adjustment a year, by the time I retire at age 62 ( if I hadn't kicked the bucket by then) I should be earning S$82,155 a month! Roughly S$1 mil a year??? But hey, if I worked till I'm 78 years old , in Year 2053, I can match what this guy does in Year 2008! Right... someone tell me, what'll be the price of loaf of bread in 2053?

Day 1 of Year 2

Yep. Today's Day 1 of Year 2.
Checked my bank account. Er, it's no different from the year prior....Hahahaa!!!

Restructuring

Finally pulled my socks up and submitted my 'new structure for the team' proposal after the resignation of one of my senior staff. All in 2 weeks! It could have been a no-brainer but I guess, given that the business needs are evolving, I can't give a no-brainer hire-a-replacement solution.

Hope it goes through...

I don't think I'm ambitious.........though 'saying' this suddenly reminds me of a strange dream I had last night. I was trying to get my old job back. The one that pays less but was way more fun?

Tomorrow equals 365 days at this job. The 2 things that made me take this job up still remains challenging. (1) People ; & (2) Business.

I was actually relieved to wake up to reality.

Overheard

While eating curry chicken noodles during lunch, I shared my table with some strangers and there was this middle-age guy, who was complaining to (i am assuming) his colleague that his daughter often only gets home past 1am in the morning. The dialogue went like this

Man (M) "My daughter doesn't come home till 1am! This is not good for a girl!"
Colleague (C): But she's an adult already right?
M: It's still no good for a girl to come home so late everyday.
C: How old is your daughter?
M: Well, everytime I threaten to lock her out, she comes home earlier but after a while, she goes back to coming home late
C: What does she do?
M: I don't know. All I know is she's at her computer all day and night.
C: BUT she's an adult right? How old is she?
M: She's 30 but it's really no good for a girl to come home so late.

.................???!????? I tried not to choke on the curry chicken bits in my mouth.

My my my, if your daughter is 30 and still coming home, it's not a good sign!

30.80

That's the amount I spent on cosmos at Harry's Bar before the movie, ticket, nachos & a bottle of green tea. Totally enjoyed the evening... and realized only after I got home that hey, I actually watched a movie on opening day! Not on the plane, not on DVD, but at the cinema!

Sex And The City - The Movie

Going to watch it later... Yeah! Yours truly the loser haven't been to the movies in a long long long time... last movie was ......"Curse of the Golden Flower" in 2006?

Company for 2

3 Asian Bears

The lights went out. The little one protested so I told him I can tell him the story of the 3 bears without the lights. Went something like this >>>

Once upon a time, there were 3 bears... and they were hungry one morning. Little bear wanted porridge. Not noodles, not bee hoon, not chwee kueh. He wanted porridge. Papa bear wanted Mee but Mummy bear said, no. Because Little bear wanted porridge so she'd cook porridge! (Hmmmm) Porridge was cooked but they all agreed it'd taste better with Bak-Hu ( Pork floss) so off they went to the market to get some.

Meanwhile, there came along a girl named Lock Li-Goy. She saw the porridge and decided she must eat them! She added some Soya Sauce into Papa's bear porridge but it was too SALTY! So, she added some sugar to Mummy's bear porridge, but it was too SWEET! Finally, she decided to add Vegemite to Little Bear's porridge. It was just right so she ate it all up!

Then I mumbled something about watching TV on the sofa, rocking chair and the IKEA stool ......which broke apart ( I fell asleep at some point, only to be poked in the eye and told unsympathetically to wake up !!!! )

Then something about a water bed, a rock bed and finally a mattress bed. And angry bears who threatened to eat Lock Li-Goy up with their Bak-Hu.

Finally, I said "THE END! GOOD NIGHT!" and slept.

Losing a staff today to motherhood.

Hi Everyone,

******** has decided not to return to work, in order to care for her child.

Her last day is 26th May. While I have no arguments against her decision, it is nevertheless with regret that we won't be able to continue to enjoy her company as a valued colleague in ******. I for one will miss her keen intellect, quick wit and hilarious Swiss-responses at work.

All mothers are working mothers and the multiplicity of being an all-in-one carer, function organiser, nurse, driver, handyman is extremely daunting (at least to me!). But if we know her well enough, we will certainly know that she will take those challenges by the horns and be very successful.

I wish her all the best.

Wii-olin

His Teacher solemnly asked that I bring him in for a REMEDIAL lesson "to catch up".

It's not as if I hadn't made an effort practicing the violin with him. But if I can describe the effort, it's like trying to squeeze coconut juice out of the whole coconut with bare hands. Nothing comes out!

But today, HEY! We went through 3 songs in a breeze... the Coconut has been inspired! The Big One told him he'd get to play Wii if he practiced well.

It's all about pulling the right strings huh?

.....>>???!?>>......................When is Wii Violin coming?

Breaking new grounds...

First Vietnam, then Cambodia and now Laos!!!???

Am reading up about Laos...and came upon this. Hmmm....??!??

HEY ME, Quit fantasizing!!! GET back to breaking new grounds! ONWARD MARCH!

Where's my weekend?

More

The small one is now into throwing his kisses away for me to pick up. This morning, I had to pick up 3 before coming to work.

Unbroken

The little one 'threw' a kiss out of the window. I feign horror and told him I'd pick it up downstairs. His response: "Mummy, it's not broken! You go downstairs and pick it up and bring it to the office OK?"

Fatigue II

Hey, maybe after the months of hibernation, the fats will melt away? Work: I've ran 40 miles, only to find that the end of it is the beginning of yet another. *sian*

Fatigue

I feel like I need to hibernate...find a cave somewhere, cosy yet well ventilated, and go to bed for a few months.

2-Wheeler

The Small One's getting it... thanks to the efforts of the Big One. It quite a brilliant idea to start teaching them on a grass patch first. Even if they fall, which is inevitable in the beginning, it's more or less 'cushioned'.

Flight BY101

Are you on top of it?

http://www.thegirlskaksh.com

Collected my new necklace from Audrey and we had a chat over several plates of sushi - my treat, since at some point in time, she harbored thoughts about killing me.

I honestly have little recollection about our first meeting (sorry! I shall blame it on my pregnancy then) but she was this newbie AE (Account Executive) the agency brought in to service our business and I must have ignored her during meetings ( because she told me today I hardly spoke to her!). But she did great as an AE and I certainly do remember her for that.

Fast forward a couple of years. She moved over the fence to the client side. We kept in touch. I moved on to a different company. We kept in touch. Wind the tape a bit more and we come to now, her as the Lady Boss of "The Girl's Kaksh" and me as her client. Yet again?

Audrey, I wish you every success possible. Good luck and I will look forward to you buying me lunch when you break even.

Torn

... I promised this will be the last of the 3-part style series. "Torn"...that's the description for the lining of my skirt! *Shhss*