"Pak-to" Anniversary

Probably without this important day, 26 May, there won't be a ROM anniversary or a Wedding anniversary. CK and myself owed to this special day on 26 May 1993 as a "confirmation" that we were officially a couple.

CK has made a donation on my behalf on this day to the Sichuan Charity Drive. I thought that was a nice and meaningful gesture to mark our anniversary. Nonetheless, he still bought a single stalk of pink tulip. I teased him about it as I don't expect another bouquet of flowers from him for the next 3 years. We have a real simple homemade dinner .. but it tasted pretty good to us.

Tots

It was a commendable for MediaCorp Channel 8 to come up with a Charity programme within a short span of time to raise more funds for the poor victims in Sichuan. The Charity programme was simple with touching songs, heart-breaking poems and genuine words poured by the artistes and some Sichuan invited guests on air. It was a solemn affair and it has brought uncontrollable tears to my eyes a couple of times.

There was a very touching scene reported whereby a mother used her own body to shield her few months old baby under the rubbles. The mother keyed in her last message using her phone for her beloved baby encouraging her to go on with her life and she will always love her. It must be a devastating moment for the dying mother to finally find her short-lived bundle of joy but could not fulfill her dreams of raising her baby into adulthood. A very powerful message that mothers are so great and are willing to sacrifice their lives for their children. How much can we do for our parents ?? They gave so much and expected so little for us ... I believe most mothers do not expect any returns for raising us but they just needed more care, attention and love during their old age. We're indeed thankful to have our mother within our close reach. I was also lacking in terms of giving my parents more time due to exhaustion from work during the weekdays but have been trying hard to give more time to them during the weekends. I realised the older we are, we somehow become more sensitive to our aging parents' needs instead of just indulging in our own selfish needs.

There were many children who have lost their lives to this disaster. Young innocent children who have not experienced much on this earthy place but were taken away ruthlessly and abruptly by the powerful works of mother nature! Their laughter, their dreams, their giggles, their innocence etc were all taken away ... on the other hand, parents who died have also made many children orphans overnight.

Homes and properties were destroyed and families were torn apart. Houses can be re-built but lost of families members were hard to bear. It can torn one apart and left one helpless ... families are a strong and commanding factors for one to move on with lives. We are, after all, venerable beings in this big world no matter how we think how intelligent or rich we are.

This disaster has brought a lot of deeper thoughts to many as it does to me. To retrace back, there were a couple of unfortunate tragedies like Tsunami, 911, Myanmar cyclone ...

There were many many disasters to remind all living souls how lucky we are to be alive and kicking at this moment. Able to work, enjoying companions of our friends and relatives,sharing gossips amongst ourselves, shopping, watching movies and many other simple things. However we are also discontented beings who are constantly craving for more ... and more materials things that are not important and could not satisfy our greedy self. We can reach the highest ultimate of reaching our goals of having a million dollars, a luxury house and car, prestigious memberships etc, only to find out later our souls are still empty?? What are we lacking ?

Yes, CK, you are right, let's stay put at our flat and left my silly idea of moving to another flat. This will put a final rest to my annoying request to move house. (even though it's not a request to upgrade to a bigger flat or a private estate).

We had 2 car accidents so far(other cars bumped into us) and it was a blessings that no harm came to us. The poor car has suffered some degree of damages but CK and myself have agreed that most importantly we are alright. We do not want to place emphasis on how the car will look or how many scratches it got. To us, we hope this car can drive us from point 1 to 2 safely daily and during weekends to ferry our parents around or other errands.

Let's count our blessings no matter how small they are ...

Other Tots:
When we find a memorable moment of having a few good friends to sit down for a humble tea ? I missed that ...

When are the times that people talk face to face with each other without the interference of technology advancement like sms or live-chat ? We don't even talk on phone with friends anymore. I missed that ...


Why do we need some big tragedies to remind how lucky we are ? I am a culprit of that ...

Eillis's house and Daniel's Birthday

Eillis has invited us to her house for an informal gathering. I get to know Eillis in one of CK's gatherings at Changi Village. I've decided to bake a cheesecake to bring there. I've put some crushed oreo biscuits in the cheese and fresh strawberries as decorations. We managed to finish the cheesecakes among the guests. I must have baked cheesecake at least for 8 times now and the more you practise, the easier it is to get the hang of it. We had a good time at Eillis's house and we were the last guests to leave. It was a great opportunity to know Eillis and her husband better by chatting over quite a number of topics.

Time passed really fast with the chatting and we realised that we need to proceed to Daniel's birthday at Copthorne King's Hotel Princess Terrace.

The buffet consisted of more Penang local cuisine. I liked the curry chicken, prawn mee soup noodles and beancurd with gula melaka.

Post Mother's Day Celebration & Singapore Flyer II

We brought my mother, mother-in-law, Darren and Nicholas to take Singapore Flyer. The two boys were very excited about the flight. We boarded the Flyer and the two boys started to explore the capsule. The mothers sat on the seats provided. After a while, everyone started to go around the cabin to admire the sceneries.

The first time, when CK and myself took the flight, it seems like the flight took quite a while to finish one cycle. For this flight with the boys, taking photoes of them and the mothers, it seems very fast.

After the flight, we went to Popeye for a quick meal and drinks. We proceeded to eldest brother's house to celebrate a post-mother's day.

The boys played stacked Uno and the adults just hanged around and talked. CK's sister brought a cake from Coffeebean and it was delicious. We requested all the mothers to take photo together.

Singapore Flyer Flight

Click for larger image

Post-Mother's Day Celebration

Click for larger image

Neutering Of Jojo

It has been a difficult decision whether to let Jojo go through the castration operations a couple of months ago. However with the recommendation of the Vet that neutering of a male dog benefits them especially in terms of reducing cancer rates, we decided to let him go through the ordeal.

It has been mentioned that sterilization of dogs should be performed before one year of age. Jojo is already showing signs of marking territories when we bring him for daily walks. Therefore we thought it's probably time for him to go through the operations.

Jojo has his operations done at Mount Pleasant Clinic. After he came home, he was lethargic and his expressions were very "blur". This is the first time that he's so inactive. Normally he'll be bouncing around ....

Hopefully after 10 days of observations and rest and cleaning of his wound, he'll be up and going.

Mother's Day for a non-mother

Today is Mother's day. Initially we wanted to celebrate Mother's Day yesterday. However, eldest and second brother cannot make it, so we would postpone the celebration to next Saturday. My eldest sis-in-law, Leng Leng has suggested to celebrate at their house and to ask my mother along next week. Each family would contribute one or dishes (pot-luck).

We wanted to bring my mum and mother-in-law and Nicolas to take Singapore Flyer next Saturday, therefore have already requested Ck's sister to buy some food on our behalf and we will pay them at Leng Leng's house.

My mother is quite excited about what is in store for her next Sat, however we are not going to reveal a lot to her. She knew that we're bringing her to Singapore Flyer but she did not know that we are bringing her to Leng Leng's house. She is a bit shy to join my in-law's gatherings and therefore we got no choice but to secretly bring her there after the Singapore Flyer excursion. I'm sure she'll enjoy herself next Saturday. It'll be her first visit to my eldest brother's house after so many years. Tonight we had a simple dinner at mum's house coffeeshop tonight. The coffee shop was very crowded with a lot of people bringing their mum for a bite.

Trimming nails

Shaving off furs

This morning, we brought Jojo for grooming. This is my first time to bring my camera along and managed to capture the grooming session in action. After we have fetched Jojo home, we brought him for a well-deserved walk around the estate. As usual, it was very nice to have Nicholas with us. He's chatty and has a lot to say. I asked him if he knew today is Mother's Day and he said he knew. I said what did he buy for me as a gift, he said he forgot to bring the gift (which was a drawing he drew) which was left at his house. He said he has 2 mummies, as I'm one of his mummies, he will give me the drawings tomorrow. Quite heart-warming lah .... he said I got the "mummy" look ... hahaha..so cute lor.

A Day of Makan - Morning, Day and Night

Our Admin team was toying of an idea before Labour Day to have an admin mini-party just among the few of us. The motivation behind it ??? Because we were all coming back after Labour Day and should give us a pat on the shoulder!!! In actual fact, we always give "fantastic" reasons to have a feast in office. It's more like a culture in LSCT to have good food wherever we are.

Our mini-party has attracted some of our Technical Support Staff to join in. Therefore we have a list of food items that we would contribute. I made some colourful jellies, Chris made a heavenly cheesecake , Jona made a brownie cum chocolate cake, Ivy ordered 20 spicy drumlets, Hooi Huang made sea coconut jellies drinks, Edna bought some fruits and Esther bought some chips with dips. We started the party officially at 3:30pm and invited whoever passed by the Admin office to have some makan and fun.

Edna has placed a large bunch of bananas early in the morning with a message tagged to it "Have a Break, Have a Banana !!" Therefore, the feast has already began in the morning with a couple of monkeys (including myself) helping themselves to the bananas ! The warning from Jona came too late that eating one banana is like consuming 1 bowl of rice, I realised that I have already eaten 3 bananas ....

I was really so full after eating all the food that I can hardly moved and so did some of my colleagues. It suddenly strike me of the Long Beach Restaurant's dinner at 7:00pm ...opppps.

Siew Yen & Jin Yee, Congratulations for your emplacement ! Jia You !

I must really thank you Siew Yen and Jin Yee for extending a fantastic dinner at Long Beach @Dempsey to me. CK has been teasing the girls what contributions I made for them to treat me for their emplacement ? Hahaha ... Recently, the 2 young ladies have been converted to permanent positions after 3 years of contract plus some monetary incentives, therefore they wanted to give a treat. I strongly believe that to have an enjoyable dinner is to invite people that you were comfortable with to have a good time .. I hope this is the reason why I'm invited. Also glad to see Jo, Shawn and Reggie Nana again. I think that Jo has managed to convince Shawn to take care of Jojo, our dog in July. Thanks in advance! Reggie Nana is also a dog-lover and it's always great to talk to her about Jojo.

Ever since I know the young ladies (CK's colleagues), they have certainly spice up my life. They are young, energetic, bubbly and care-free, always ready for a hint of laughter. I especially enjoy Siew Yen and Mike's comical exchanges and the couple's squabbles. So cute lah ..... Can you imagine Siew Yen's dad is only 5 years older than us ??? She's already 22 years old !!! We felt like auntie and uncle to her, I'm sure.

Jin Yee and Alex are like 2 beings un-separated .. the moment they met, they stuck like glue ... hee hee. Of course, they are very much in love and it all shows. Very happy for the couple that they will be starting a new chapter of their lives soon. I have already told Jin Yee that I will volunteer to take their ROM photoes for them.

After all the sumptuous food with Long Beach's famous chilli crabs, drunken prawns, roasted chicken, 4 seasons beans etc, we decided to proceed to Red-dot for some drinks and light conversation. I'm glad that Siew Yen told me she liked the place. We chatted till 11pm and headed home.