Separation Anxiety

I been back in Singapore for about 5 days now.

I was away in London for 7 days and suffered from separation anxiety (from Little N) from Day 3 onwards.

I arrived in London on Monday morning, freshened up in the hotel and went straight in to work. Back to back meetings on Monday and Tuesday left me pretty exhausted and I did not have time to miss my little girl.

But on Wednesday, I went off to an offsite training and started really missing her.

Quite badly.

Thank God for photos on iPhone.

I was really glad to be home on Sunday.

The trip was a good one though and I did enjoy my training session a lot. I went for an offsite training at a training centre for the UK's Royal Marines. It was a corporate training session conducted by real military men. The training focused mainly on leadership, team work and planning. It included a couple of physical sessions (think army obstacle course and PT sessions), a formal dinner with generals and "fighting" session (paintball) planned by real army captains. I enjoyed the training time thoroughly, even though it was rather tiring and I missed home and Little N badly.

More importantly though - I was glad this trip gave me an opportunity to understand how Little N would do without me. She coped really well being away from mummy for 1 week.. and though I missed her a lot, I was in a way glad that she was adaptable and could cope so well staying at my mother's place for the week.

This is probably the one and only photo I'd ever put of myself on this blog.. 

but it's probably also the one and only photo I'd ever take wearing an army uniform..

Arbite at Serangoon Gardens

Arbite is a restaurant at Serangoon Gardens with pretty good online reviews and I have been meaning to go there for lunch for a while now but never got the opportunity to visit.

We went there on a weekday and was disappointed to know that the new weekday set lunch was only available the next day.

"Oh, what about the old set lunch then?"

"That's not available today as well."

The board outside the restaurant didn't seem to indicate so.

Nonetheless, we went ahead to order.

I had the Truffle Beef Burger and The Husband ordered the Arbite Breakfast.

The burger was a disappointment. I could taste some truffle spread onto the sesame bun but the bun was really too dry. The beef patty was chewy and not well seasoned too. The wedges that came with it was okay - crispy but very dry. Best taken with lots of ketchup.

I looked over at The Husband and he didn't look like he was enjoying his meal too. He avoided the scrambled eggs as it was too creamy and under seasoned.

I was too disappointed to order the supposedly famous chocolate cake..

The drinks were nice though. My ice lemon tea was home made and not too sweet.. The Husband's vanilla milk shake was good - like drinking vanilla ice-cream, as a good milkshake should be.

Nonetheless, for a lunch of around $25 per person, Arbite didn't impress.

I'd be hard for me to return there again for lunch.. not when there are so many other better options at Serangoon Gardens.

Depressing News

I've been having a series of depressing news at work. 1 of my staff is looking to move back to another team where she came from.. 3 other staff have handed in their resignation over the month - to better opportunities, better renumeration and a more stable environment (vis-a-vis investment banking, which is usually unstable.)

It's hard to not understand when people want to leave for better AND more stable jobs.. But.. but... but...

Some of these staff have been working with me for a while now.. and are people I'm close to, so it's hard not to feel depressed.

And worried.

My key project is already shaky and with all these leavers, I am truly worried about the ability to deliver.

In times like this I know I should say more positive things to boost my team's morale.. but my own morale is affected..

And it really doesn't help that the last resignation came over the phone 2 days into my 1 week leave.

Sigh.

On the brighter side of things.. I'm off for a week as my parents are off to Taiwan for a vacation with my brother, so I'm spending time with Little N this week.

I may be biased, but she is really quite cute now..

She can say "mum mum mum" (she isn't referring to me.. or to food.. it's just a sound she makes) and she can moan - ie go "hmmm hmmmm hmmmmmmm". She also can move around with a very strange-styled crawl.

Meal times are becoming really messy now that she is eating solids.. Her hands will go into her mouth as she gums her food.. and those same hands will touch everything else - face, clothes, tables and chair.. And she is becoming so particular with food!

 "Now, should I go after that ball?"