Friendships do not last 4ever

When I was a teenager, my mom said to me "No friendships will last forever. No one will stay best friends forever".

I replied saying "I don't believe you! This is not true".

In turn, my mom said "You will know what I mean when you grow older."

I recalled having a feeling that my mom is such a horrible person.

Reflecting back on this tiny conversation we had, I had to recognise that my mom said made sense. I now agree that no one can remain best friends or friends forever. During stages of my life, I made friends along the way. As I grew, mature, change my perspective about life in general, so did my friends. Sometimes we grew apart as we no longer share the same opinions or thoughts or interests. Some friends are good at being mean & putting each other down through mean words.

Therefore, we cannot maintain that friendship we used to share. Over time, the friendship stales.
I remember reading a self-inspiration book and the author mentioned that friendship is like a relationship. When the relationship has gone bad and staled, you need to divorce yourself from the friendship to move on with your life.

I must share my views with my mom over a coffee so we can both have a good laugh over the conversation we had when I was a teenager.

Neighbour from Hell 2

We thought our neighbour has shifted out. But we heard noises again in the morning and sometimes in the night. As we got home late tonight, we decided to spy on the neighbour.

Apparently, there was a group of weird people... can't make out their profession... but certainly unprofessional movers removing bits & pieces of furniture, old mattresses, etc. The part-time moving out activity ended at 10pm.

You see, this neighbour from hell, is strange. They cannot even coordinate the move to be done during normal hours. The move has to be done in bits and pieces and in the night.

So don't you think they deserve this title?

Neighbour from HELL

We have been putting up with our neighbour from hell for nearly 3 years.
Every night, we can't sleep well as the children are up and running till past midnight. The noise included the bouncing of balls (not 1 but 2 or 3 simultaneously), dragging of furniture, loud stamping, children running the Olympics marathon.

You may ask how bad can the noise be? It's so bad till it caused vibration on our ceiling in our bedroom & to our window frames. So get the picture now. The adults (oh-la-la)... instead of advising their children to keep it down, play ball outdoors, you can see in one of the pictures that the adult was holding a drinking bottle for the boy while he continues bouncing his ball. Headache.

We complained non-stop to the Police, the Town Council & the HDB. Guess what, no government authorities wish to take action or be responsible for noise nuisance. I really think that there should be a noise nuisance division set up in Singapore to deal with such grievances. Eg: have proper sound measuring gadgets to gauge if the noise level is intolerable to the residents involved, have the ability to issue stern warnings to inconsiderate neighbours, educate ill-informed residents that noise nuisance is a no-no in high-rise living.

For the past 3 nights, the neighbour was up and about packing from 12 AM till 3 AM!!!!!!!!!!! They were literally throwing things about in the kitchen, slamming drawers, utensils, etc. Directly below their kitchen, are our bedrooms and toilets. I congratulate the smart HDB architect who designed the maisonette without giving consideration to noise & soundproofing issues.

The HDB officer in charge of my case said that the NEW HDB flats are much better in soundproofing and that he has certification in noise nuisance and engineering. I was so mad. I told him that we are now stuck with an OLD HDB so we can't move to a NEW flat to escape from this noise problem. I added that since he's engineering trained, he should speak with my MOTH who is an Engineer about this matter. But he didn't even ring my husband. Ha!!!

We receive news that the neighbour is due to move. Yesterday evening, I noticed that the windows are drawn shut. In the night when we returned from cycling, the windows were still shut and all was DARK. Yipppppeeeeee. The bloody neighbour from HELL has MOVED!!!!!!!!!!

I slept so well last night. Ah... at least, we experienced peace & quietness.

I pray that the next neighbour who moved in will be a quiet family.
I can't understand how the children can have energy to stay up till past midnight and the adults don't even supervise their bedtime. My 4-year old will usually turn in before 900pm regular nights, a little later during the weekend.

The Geography of Bliss

One Grump's Search for the Happiest Place in the World... by Eric Weiner...

MOTH spotted this book while we were out for our rendezvous. He encouraged me to get a copy of it. I read the content's page & its review. Instantly, I was drawn to the book but I also felt guilty.

Did MOTH read my mind? Did he guess that I harbour constant thoughts to travel around the world for months to fill some empty gaps, feel some happiness and thrill of exploration?

Such thoughts are evil as it will make me completely bankrupt, utterly & bloody broke.

Photos - Macau

Photos - HK, Stanley

The 4-year old

The 4-year old has been repeatedly asking for art class. Before she was colouring so badly (that her teacher had to alert me), her excuse was that she hated colouring. I told her that if she really wanted to go for art class & become an artist, she needs to start from the basics... from drawing to colouring to experiencing various mediums. She took my advise and she put in effort in her daily colouring tasks. I am very proud of her for showing her determination and perseverance. She has convinced me of her genuine interest.

I managed to enrol her in one near our home. She started class last Sunday. We had fun cycling there (in our tandem bike fitted with a child seat). The entire journey from our home to Siglap was only 15 mins! ^^

We felt good as cycling is green, cost & time efficient! The 4-year old had fun on the bike too.