A STINGRAY = A HUMPBACK WHALE??? 2

Great!!! I've finally posted the little film of the 3.5yr old with her cousin, aka Puppy or Chick-Chick. Their first real, up close encounter with stingrays at the Underwater World.

Ps. It will take a while for the video to play as I realized that this file is over 8MB. As I'm not very IT savvy, I've not learnt how to downsize the video file. I do hope my sis can view this video though. Any tips on how to downsize the video file would be greatly appreciated.

Au Revoir, Mon Amie!

28 Aug 07, Stormy with Heavy Rain

It's Sailor Moon's last day in the office and also her last day in Singapore. My spirit was further dampened with the never-ending heavy downpour. I was thinking that God sent the rain coz he knew I was sad?

We had a little lunch gathering in our office meeting room, munching on french fries and burgers, chatting & snapping a few photos of the group.

The plant (on your right) is an avocado planted by Sailor Moon last November (yes, from an avocado seed in her room). Amazing, I never knew that we could plant an avocado in Singapore.

She gave this to me as a goodbye gift and I felt touch that she entrusted this plant to me. Whenever I arrived home and see this plant, I am reminded of her. Isn't that sweet? Btw, the plant is now named "Monsieur Avocado".

Alright back to her farewell (sorry, I side tracked a bit)... We went to the airport to send her off. Believe me, it wasn't easy. At first, we were laughing and chatting. Then when the final moment arrived to say goodbye, I found myself choking and fighting back my tears.

Sailor Moon had to say this to me "Now Michelle, no tears huh..."

Though I am sad about her departure and will miss her greatly, I am also happy that she's back home, reunited with her loved ones, her family & will be starting a new chapter of her life.

Heck, with the wonders of technology (on spkye phone, messager, email), I'm sure we will stay in touch every now and again.

Our Living & Dining Room - COMPLETED

Hey guys, sorry I forgot to post pixs of our living and dining rooms after the renovation has been completed with our furnitures.

Ahh.... Home is our safe Haven.

More pixs...

Pixs were taken at the AeroSpace Show (she was dressed in a pretty white
shirt & skirt, birthday gifts from her babysitter's family). I think she was past 2 yrs old then, she enjoyed playing with the umbrella then.

ChiangMai Tribal Boy

MOTH sent me an email titled Chiangmai Tribal Boy.

When I opened up the email attachments, I had a shock! I was expecting some national geographic or journalistic photos.

But they turned out to be old pixs of our little girl dressed in the tribal costume which we bought her (in Sept 05) from Chiangmai. She was only 1.5 year old then. It brought back some sweet memories. She really looked like a boy with her round head, tiny bits of hair.

Ps. Thanks, MOTH. The pixs really brightened up my day in the office and
made me burst out laughing...

TRIOS on BIKE

We hired a tandem bike plus a baby seat attached so the 3 of us could cycle together. It was fun but a little hard for us to balance as it's a long bicycle for 3 persons. We cycled for 2hrs along the whole stretch of East Coast Park. Along the way, we had to jingle our bells a little to warn pedestrians & little children on bicycles that the TRIOS are approaching.

As we were cycling, I recalled a movie scene from the Muppets Show - (Kermit Frog & Ms Piggy). I cannot remember if they were riding on a tandem bike or was it Kermit Frog giving Ms Piggy a ride?... Anyway, they were singing this song, The Rainbow Connection and I simply love the song.

Here it goes:

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
and what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
and rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it.
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
Who said that every wish would be heard
and answered when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that and someone believed it.
Look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us star gazing
and what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
All of us under its spell. We know that it's probably magic.
Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that called the young sailors.
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
It's something that I'm supposed to be.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

3.5year old - Weekend Sleepover

"Okie, let me make myself comfortable in my parents' bed... and leave them no space to sleep!!!"

Me again! Close up shot... Really comfortably asleep...Saturday 25 Aug 07


Since the 3.5 year old 'migrated' to her own bedroom last weekend, she has happily settled in to the new arrangement.


But we did negotiate a condition with her and that was she could sleepover with us during the weekend. Boy, she didn't forget the condition. She happily reminded us that she was sleeping with us on Friday and Saturday and she started shifting her "babies" over. Her toy cat, her toy rabbit, her bedtime story books... and chucked them into my cupboard.


Then she told our helper "Auntie May, you will sleep alone tonight, ok! But don't cry, ok! I will sleep with you soon."


MOTH snapped some pixs of her while she was in dreamland... ZZZZzzzzzzz
She does look sweet, doesn't she? I love her this way when she's asleep & not screaming & not kicking a fuss... Oops...

Woes of an Administrator

Today is a really bad day for me. I felt my mood raising up and down like a hot air balloon. One minute I felt ok and then the next minute I felt real shit about my job. I have been an Administrator for the past 13 years and recently, I have a feeling that I'm doing a "thankless job".

I had been active organising some activities for the department, eg: farewell parties, baby showers, birthdays, etcs. My friend reminded me today that we've a colleague leaving shortly and that I should organise "a farewell".

I replied saying that I will get the colleague's manager to work something out, my friend commented immediately "But this is your job, right?". Her comment fired me up!
Organising welfare and internal activity is not my job and is not written anyway in my job scope. Fellow colleagues should not be assuming my job scope and we started having a bit of exchanges. Can someone please tell me if this is part of an Administrator's role?

So everytime we have such events, I circulate an envelope around gathering contributions. Then I racked my brains for some gifts ideas, next shop for the items, go to the cafe to get some drinks and pasteries, circulate the card etc. And then, what happened? They just turned up for the "party" - looking quite disinterested. I feel like a fool. So I told myself that I need to stop "bothering too much" and to stop taking on so much responsibilities.

When I first started out in this job, the department was under 10 persons. But it has grown to 18 persons now (I think it's still growing). I can barely breathe answering phone calls, answering the door bells and having numerous interruptions in an hour without evening getting to answer an email. I cover administration stuff, work out intensive itineraries, handling events, reviewing our department's finances and invoicing. Worst of all, I'm also supporting managers from overseas. These guys have their own department secretaries too. I have a sinking feeling.

Coming to the topic of intensive itineraries... I spend hours, days, following up on itineraries, airfares, etc. But then, I learnt that some of my colleagues are making requests in order to GAIN MILEAGE/POINTS ON THEIR AIRLINE MEMBERSHIP.

I even have to deal with a "young manager" who refuses to print his leave forms. Nobody, not even his superior can make him print his leave forms.

Am I being taken for granted? Am I being treated as a silly fool?

I told one of my managers today that I'm going to grow extra "hands" like an octopus in order to deal with the extra load of work. I got really angry when we were discussing about my work station and positioning of the door buzzer. He's trying to listen to my woes and lend a hand but I got so angry that I felt myself turning red. I felt real angry that he never bothers about how I'm coping till the very last second.

I wish I could dig a hole in the ground now and bury myself in.
I need some peace & quiet moment for myself to think through matters and relax.

I used to be Personal Assistant serving Senior Managers. But now I'm serving a department. In certain ways, I find they abused the administration support. By the way, nobody even bothered to wish me "happy administrator's day". Their argument is this "But this is your job!"

Fireworks

Saturday, 18 Aug 2007

9.00pm

We ventured to the neighbourhood of Tanjong Rhu, "hiked" a bit into the breakwaters section, overcomed the fences and barricades and arrive in a section overlooking the city landscape of Singapore (part of the Ferris wheel, the Esplanade Bay & Benjamin Sheares Bridge).

The reward???

A spectacular fireworks performance (by China) for a whole 15 minutes. I believe the theme was "garden" - coz we could make out flowers (with shape of the chrysanthemum - the national flower of China) and bees created by the fireworks during the performance.

Growing Pains

Our newly furnished bedroom

Friday, 17 Aug 07

Today's the last night in our family life history that the 3.5year old would sleep in her own bedroom without US (but with May, our helper instead).

We had her bedroom decorated in pink, kid's-sized table and chairs, writing boards & some cute cartoons (the list goes on).

We kept our fingers crossed as night approaches. Surprisingly, the 3.5 year old asked "Mummy, can I relax in your bedroom for a while?"

So she came, listened to some music, lie on our bed... and then suddenly she said "Ok, I'm going back to my room."

She fell asleep on her own without kicking any fuss and only reappeared in the morning when she woke up for a cuddle with US in our bed. We had a nice night of rest.

Though it's nice that the 3.5 year old is learning to respect our space & enjoys having her space, I feel kinda sad also. I will miss looking at her sleeping and sniffing her little hands or hair while she's asleep. I will also miss giggling at her when she's sleeping in her funny poses.

MOTH thinks I should just let go and that I shouldn't feel any sadness. Of course, I will let go but it's also natural to feel a bit of sadness. We can't be sleeping together in the same room forever. I feel that the 3.5 year old is growing up too quickly and as a working mother, time is so limited for us (When she's home, I'm at work. Sometimes when I arrive home, she's fallen asleep.)

Blah... Mars Vs Venus - we are both entitled to our own point of views.

Nearly DONE!

Our Master Bedroom
New Gate
Light for Bathrm
Staircase

1st Flr Overview
Our Balcony
Our Kitchen
Strange light for our staircase

We started with our renovation on 9 July and our new home is nearly DONE!

I arrived home last night, realizing that the contractor has fitted a beautiful glass door complete with a lock in our master bedroom toilet and I screamed with JOY! Yahooooooo.... PRIVACY at least.

You can compare the works done at our home against my earlier blog with pixs of the renovation works. You will note that it's a great and hell a lot of improvment. At least, we have lesser dust and mess now.

MOTH HITS 35!

"MOTH & 3.5 looking beautiful together"

"3.5yr old thinks it's her b-day. She's blowing out MOTH's candles."


13-Aug-07

In another 5 years, MOTH will turn 40. I was thinking about his comments "Babe, we need to save as much as we can before we hit 40. Coz I think we may become unemployed (ie:being fired, sacked, terminated)... & unwanted..."

Hmm... It's a sad comment. Anyway, MOTH, it's ok. Enjoy your 35th Year on Planet Earth.

And Yes, I agree SAVE as much as you can. Coz the family gets to benefit with additional funds.

With lots of love, your loving wife (as usual).


11-Aug-07
We celebrated MOTH's birthday in advance at the Changi Village Hotel. Nothing fancy, just a nice nasi-lemak dinner with a nice choco-banana cake. He was rewarded by 3.5yr old cooing "Happy Birthday" song in English and Mandarin version.

We had lots of fun soaking up the sun, relaxing by the pool.

Watch it, MOTH! If we are spending this way, we will not be able to save much by the time we're 40.

Singaporean Tourists!

7 August 2007

MOTH and I specially took a day off work to accompany the 3.5-year old on a school excursion.
We caught the play "Baby Love" at the Singapore Repertory Theatre, located along Singapore River. It was a short 45mins play but lovely for young children and we were surprised that the 3.5-year sat still throughout the whole play, completely absorbed with the story.

Oh, silly me - a bit of summary about the play - it's about a young boy who has to welcome a baby sister and how they learnt to love and play with each other. That's it. Else the script-writer and producer of the play may come after me for revealing the whole story.

After the play has ended, we decided to take a nice leisurely walk along the Singapore River towards Clarke Quay. As we were watching bum-boats passing by, an idea struck the whole family!

LET'S TAKE A BOAT RIDE AND EXPERIENCE THE RIVER CRUISE!

Amidst the loud narration coming from the almost-faulty speaker mounted on the bum-boat, it was a wonderful cruise experience down Clarke Quay, to Boat Quay, to the Raffles Place central and the Merlion Park. I went "WOW, This is my country, my city, my Singapore."

Though we are a small City with limited land area, we have done well preserving our culture, our old/traditional buildings and blending them with modernisation. On top of these, we have also managed to build and perserve a green city.

I'm sure my 3.5-year old would feel proud being a Singaporean too.

Ps. Okie, okie, guys - despite rising costs and living expenses, & 0%-1% yearly increment ONLY, we will SURVIVE!

My Love

I've always have a passion for arts and painting. Painting helps me to destress and rediscover myself. It takes me away from the real world and immerse myself into another.

When I was a little girl, I took great efforts in drawing and colouring. My mom upon seeing my works said this to me... "I don't know where you get this "talent" from? I've never been able to draw anything decent all my life."

When I told my parents that I would like to pursue art more seriously, my parents were dismayed and shocked. My father said "What, don't be silly! You can never earn a living through ART! Artists and Designers struggle to make a living. In real life, they never get to design coz they take orders from their paying clients."

At 16, I felt resentment towards my parents for not being supportive of me or my passion in life.

At 18, I landed myself in an interior designing firm (not as a trainee designer) but as a Secretary. I saw what my fellow ex-colleagues went through and I understood at that point what my father meant and his advise hit me.

Maybe I should thank my parents for dissuading me. That's why I am truly able to treat painting as a hobby and as an escape from my regular busy life.

After doing a painting as a gift to my friend, I did another one for myself. In this painting, the features on the Chinese lady is stronger with a broad-shaped face. She also looks more serious. In certain way, I find that she looks like me? Let me know what you think.

Ps. I got inspired to do the paintings of the Chinese ladies after buying an artpiece by a well-known Chinese Artist. But silly me, I forgot his name (as some of you might know, I've a real bad memory). Never mind, I promise I will do some research and his name will come to me.

I LOST MY NAME

1 August 2007, Wed


5.00pm

I received a call from Ms Shira (one of Emelia's Teacher).... "Hi Emelia's Mummy, I'm Shira. Emelia wants to confirm if you're coming to pick her up this evening?"...


Hmm, a thought struck me. Since I became a mother, I realised that I lost my beautiful first name... All of Emelia's acquaintances & friends (doctors, nurses, teachers, friends' mummies, friends) address me as "Emelia's Mummy". I lost my identity. What happened there? Months ago, I realised that I began to introduce myself as "Hi, I'm Emelia's MUMMY. And you're?" When I was at work, meeting business associates or new colleagues, I found myself dumbfounded. I couldn't introduce myself and say my first name. Knock-knock, wakey-wakey, Emelia's Mummy.


The second thought that came to my mind was "Ok, Emelia, if Mummy & Daddy don't pick you up from school, did you think that you will take a taxi or walk home on your own? [Don't forget you are only 3.5 years old]."



5.30pm - 8.00pm

Shut down my computer and made a dash to school. Brought Ms Emelia for her favorite wanton noodles. Gosh, she ate the whole plate of noodles plus dumplings plus cheese cookies plus some buns. She said "I'm so hungry, you know!".


She had her face and nose stained with the noodles' sauce. She looked real cute with the mess on her face and I regretted not taking a pix of her. But as she was wolfing down her noodles so hungrily, perhaps others would think that we've not been feeding this child at all until dinner time. I made a mental note to also ask the teacher about her appetite during the day.


Ms Emelia was able to "report" to MOTH that we went to the noodles store that is really near her school. Wow, we are impressed by her navigation skills. She is able to recognise routes, landmarks, and the location of her favorite food stalls.