In transit

We moved out of our home for the last almost 6 years on 13 Aug.

It was the first house that Little N remembers moving out from because although she was born in another house, we moved before she turned two and she only has vague memories of that place.

She was very reluctant to move.

“When I grow up, I will move back into this house.”

This move was Step 1 of a 2-step move.

We had sold our place even before we bought our new house. Our original thought process was, it’d take a long time for us to sell, and maybe even longer to look. So we put our house up for sale and planned to move to an interim place for maybe about a year whilst we hunt for a new house. But as it turns out, our house was sold pretty quickly. And then we started our house hunt and found a new place pretty quickly too.

So that meant our interim stay would be just a 3 month transit... and we’d move house twice in 2019.

After we moved, Little N missed the old house and asked to visit the place. So we decided to visit during her September school holidays.

Until we reached the place, she did not understand that she would not get to go into the house anymore. But she was contented to visit and play at the nearby park - a place she played at often.

The movers came when she went to school. 

After school, I brought her back to the empty home to say her goodbye.

It’s been a while

I have not been posting for a long time.

Looking back at my posts in the blog, there were so many things I am reminded about and I really wanted to restart blogging as a way to document my memories.

But each time I thought about doing it, I thought of the effort I need to put in to “catch up” and blog about the “missing years” and it just seems to much for me.

Then the solution came to me recently.

Just don’t bother to catch up.

Well, I should have thought about that earlier.

Haha.

So here I am, many years later, with my girl in primary school, ready to start blogging again.

About school, our impending renovation and move, family projects and travel. Basically about my life, but as it is now..

I’m back.. 5 years and probably 1,000 coffees later

Day One

I got my driving license in my thirties.

I have many friends who got their license in college.

But I was never keen.

I never wanted to even learn driving.. There are many reasons for my aversion towards driving.

Firstly, car ownership is very expensive in Singapore. Cars are expensive. The Certificate of Entitlement (COE) which one has to buy to own a car has always been expensive as well.. (Of course, the price now, at about $80K to $100K is plain ridiculous..) Petrol, road tolls, road tax.. all these costs quite a lot.. and they do add up.

Secondly, I like being driven. When one drives, one has to concentrate on the road. As a passenger, I can read, surf the internet, play with my phone, day dream and sleep.. You can't do any of that whilst driving..

Thirdly, I am just not that good with machines in general and the thought of getting lots of scratches on the car as I navigate it around just doesn't feel good..

In short, I don't like driving. But I finally relented when The Husband encouraged me to take up lessons. "It's a skill that will come in helpful."

Oh well... so I went for the test and I passed.

I have been driving on and off since then but on a daily basis, I still take the public transport to get to work.

Until now.

After 5 months of being away from peak hour subway traffic.. the first week back to work was a bit of a shock.. It's not just the number of people in the trains.. it's the behaviour of fellow residents during peak hour.. the train breakdowns.. the long wait time to be able to even get into a train..

Buses are not an option for me because where I live, buses take forever to come and go around half of Singapore to reach my office.

So I finally relented and decided I'd try to drive to work for a month and see if that helps me save some time and energy...

Today is my first day.

I survived the peak hour traffic, one way streets in the Central Business District and the narrow multi-storey car park.

I saved no time and conserved no energy.. I did get rather stressed out though...

But I guess it's still too early to tell.

How I wish at times like this I can "apparate" ala Harry Potter. 

 Very nice views from near the office..

Though I'd rather my office is nearer home than in the heart of the CBD

Why the extra $2000 does not help

Recently, reactions to population white paper has been dominating "headlines" in the cyberspace.

One of the main driver for the basic proposal in the white paper is the low birth rates in Singapore. As such, the government wants to do more to encourage Singaporean couples to make more babies. The Baby Bonus Scheme has been introduced since April 2001 and this year, they introduced more bonuses for those who procreate.

What does the baby bonus include? A cash gift for each child and top ups into a special savings account for each child. Basically, the more children you have, the higher the gift and top ups. The Baby Bonus website details this well, so I won't go into the finer details of the amounts and payment schedules. This year, the government is giving an additional $2,000 for each baby, making the cash gift $6,000-8,000 for each baby.

Now, I don't mind getting money from anyone who wants to give it away.. but I fail to see why ANYONE would think that this additional $2,000 would incentivise anyone to have a baby.

As a new and working mum, I can tell you that what we need are support around other areas.. such as:

1. Time - daily
Time to play and cuddle with baby..

But our congested and inefficient public transportation takes away precious time from our children. For those of us who opt not to use public transport, peak hour traffic is not much better even though we pay all the additional peak hour road tolls.

2. Time - initially
We do have longer maternity leave in Singapore now compared to the past. However, our maternity leave of 4 months means that on average, most mothers end up returning to work when their babies are 4 or 5 months, even before our babies start eating solid food and sleeping through the night. Babies grow very quickly during their first year and I know many mothers would like to spend the first year being at home with their babies, it is not an option for most of us.

My European counterparts at work get longer maternity leave, with unpaid leave options and many typically take a year off to be with their children in their first year of life.

3. Energy
Energy to play with our babies.. and when they get older, time to teach them reading, cycling, swimming...

But many of us face long working hours and know in our heart that it is all too easy for us to be sidelined for imported talent should we get more laid back at work..

4. Childcare and pre-school education
Children obviously need caring for whilst we work.. but there are limited options for accessible and affordable infant care. Good daycare centres have long waiting lists and cost a lot, making it out of reach for many. There are some infant care located within business districts but these are fairly limited.

Pre-schools, which technically fall in the same category as daycare centres but are targeted at toddlers above 2 years, are sadly of low quality in Singapore.

In 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked Singapore’s preschool education 29 out of 45 countries. In the study, Singapore’s performance for the categories of ‘affordability’ and ‘avaliablity’ ranked a very average 21st and 25th position respectively. In the area of ‘quality’, it ranked a lowly 30th. Low teacher-children ratios, weak link with primary school system and lack of parental involvement are all the reasons given for the low 'quality' ranking.

 I could go on and on.. but I shall leave it at these for now..

What mothers need are not extra money.. I'm sure the money can be helpful to defray the high costs of a baby.. but $6,000 cannot possibly cover the cost of delivering and bringing up a baby..

As a new mother, I would rather the government invests in real measures to help young parents, rather than throw money into our pockets to "encourage" us to have more babies.. I would be skeptical of anyone who tells me that an extra $2,000 would be a factor of consideration when deciding if they should have one more child.

Review of 2012 Resolutions

A review of 2012 Resolutions:

1. Eat healthily
Check - thanks to poor appetite from January to April, I ate quite a bit of salad and light food.. except after that, I kept drinking lots of bubble tea and Taiwanese-style fried chicken.. But I made sure I ate lots of fruits every day when I was pregnant.. But bubble tea and fried chicken.. Hm.. okay, so maybe, partial check.

2. Change my lifestyle
Partial check again. My lifestyle has certainly changed since I started my maternity leave.. but before that, my hours were not so good and weekends mostly boring.

Still, I did manage to spend quite a bit more time with my parents this year, having dinners and during weekends.. so okay, partial check is fine.

3. Enjoy life a little more heartily
I can't claim even partial check to this. I still worry too much. Oh my, I'm turning out to be one of those women who worry about everything! Not good...

But 2 partial checks out of 3... isn't all that bad.

*Gives myself a pat on my back*

Now, I need to think carefully about 2013 Resolutions..

Homemade Mee Hoon Kuey with lots of vegetables. 

I ate lots of this dish when during the 9 months..

My mum made sure I ate very well and very healthily 

during my one month confinement

Summary of 2012

It's that time of the year for a summary of my year again.

I can't help thinking how quickly time seems to fly by.

I've blogged much less this year than I ever did over the last few years so I'm starting to write this post really early (It's 3 Dec now) so I have enough time to recall what happened over the year.

Chinese New Year 2012 was in January and hence, considered early. I caught a flu bug and didn't have much appetite over the CNY period which was a shame because of all the good food around. Then I went on a business trip to London right after the CNY holidays and didn't enjoy myself at all because of the cold (English weather!) and poor appetite.

We visited Ubud in Bali over my birthday in February and whilst I really enjoyed the place and the resort we stayed in, I can't say the same of Balinese food. The problem is not so much the food but my appetite, I think.

Villa Sarna, Ubud

I enjoyed the breakfast at the resort though, especially the little donuts

Well you see, I was expecting and hence the poor appetite. For the next four months, I hated almost all food and smells of food, which was a real experience for me since I always love eating. I ate mainly salads and fruits and avoided all strong smelling and oily food. And so I finally managed to lose the weight I couldn't lose even with a low carb diet in the last couple of months of 2011.

 Mainly salads and tasteless food for me from January to April..

In May, I got to go to Zurich for a week's training. The Husband joined me after that and we went travelling around Switzerland for 10 days. I really enjoyed this trip. Switzerland is a very stress free place to travel in - it's very safe, things run on time and English is widely spoken. By then my appetite also came back and I could enjoy food once again.

I also thought that it'd be a while again before The Husband and I would be able to travel on our own, so I really treasured the time together. The sights in Switzerland were every bit as beautiful as the postcards and pictures I've seen, and I was really glad to have done the trip. I'm looking forward to another trip to the Italian part of Switzerland in the future.. and hopefully, it's in the near future.

One thing about travelling this year - I didn't go Hong Kong at all! I think it's been a long time since I didn't go Hong Kong for an entire year!

After my trip in May, things started getting more hectic at work. I was also trying to finish off and handover some of my work before my maternity leave in September, so I was under quite a bit of pressure. Of course, I didn't manage to finish off any of the key issues at work, but I did hand over my work properly (I hope!) and then, suddenly, I was off work! I had almost 2 quiet weeks all to myself, during which I swam, read, ate things I liked and met up with some friends. All in all, the 9 months of being pregnant is a rather special time for me. Apart from the poor appetite initially, I was fortunate to be really healthy and well throughout and I don't believe I've got as much compliments in my life on how I looked thanks to the weight loss over the first four months.

 I drank lots of bubble tea over those 2 weeks..

And lots of coconut water, which supposedly gives your baby good skin..

Then 20 September came and Little N joined our family.

The first few days at home were very difficult. Then things started getting better.. But just as she turned full month, she started crying a lot. All in all, the first 7 weeks after she joined us was an emotional and somewhat scary time for me. Looking back, I don't think I've ever felt so inadequate and lost. There are times when I simply don't know what to do.

Taken in the delivery suite whilst waiting for Little N to join us.. 

I had a long labour and got very bored, so I started taking pictures..

Little N on the second day of her life

At about 8 weeks, Little N started to smile and coo and suddenly, things got a bit better. There are still times when I don't know what she wants and all that crying (more like screaming) still unsettles me, but things really are better, just like everyone around said they would be. There are still bad days of course but generally, she is getting to be lots of fun and things are settling down.

Little N is able to flip herself on her tummy now

My resolutions for 2012 were to eat healthily, change my lifestyle and enjoy life a little more heartily. I definitely ate more healthily and had a big lifestyle change this year because of Little N... so I should at least give myself a little pat on the back for that. *pat pat*

I have another month of maternity leave before I go back to work in the beginning of February. The 5 months of maternity leave seems to have really just flown by.

To be honest, I don't really know what 2013 will be like for me. Little N will be looked after by a nanny during the day and I hope that works out. With my long hours at work, I still don't know how we can bring her home in time for her last feed and for bed since she sleeps before 830pm.

Hence, I really need more wisdom and better time management skills in 2013! 2013 will definitely be a year of many "firsts" for me.

Have a happy holiday season and a great year ahead.

Public Transport Fare Hikes

Our transport minister announced possible fare hikes for our public transportation system recently.

So.. No big deal, right? There is inflation and naturally there should be price hikes, no?

But 2012 has been a unique year for Singapore's public transportation system.

It was a year where our MRT (subway) system broke down several times and caused massive delays since the subway companies had no prior experience dealing with these break downs. A detailed investigation was done and it was concluded that $900M was required to rectify and remedy the faults in the subway lines. This cost was co-funded by the government, namely the Land Transport Authority (see source here)

It was a year where bus drivers went on strike. A first in Singapore across any industry since goodness-knows-when.

The public transportation system is mainly run by 2 listed companies - SMRT and SBS Transit.

SMRT and SBS Transit had profits of $119.9M and $36.7M respectively. According to the Workers' Party - this translates to a Return on Equity of 15.1% and 11.3% respectively. The median ROE for Singapore listed companies in comparison was 7.8% over the same period.

Now, something the transport minister said was very disturbing. Mr Lui Tuck Yew said that bus fares may have to go up in order to accommodate wage increases of bus drivers.

Now, I work in a bank and the banking industry is a competitive industry. Banks are always looking to hire good people and to do that, you often have to either provide more opportunities for those individuals, or simply pay more.

But when banks need to pay their employees more, do they increase their prices to their customers? Would a retail bank increase their mortgage interest rates so that they can "accomodate wage increases" of their branch staff? Would an investment bank increase its IPO fees so that they can pay their staff better?

I can understand why wages for bus drivers need to be increased.

However, there are many ways to do that though - you can cut down costs in other areas of operations, increase efficiency (for example, by having double decked bus instead of single decked buses), design more efficient and better bus routes (oh my, I don't want to go into this again).

Increasing bus fares to the public and using bus drivers wages is a very lame excuse for any profitable company. See this post on a separate blog for the writer's analysis of where the money is with SMRT.

And actually, why is this comment made by the Transport Minister, when the revenue of the fare increase would go straight into the 2 listed companies and not the Land Transport Authority? ( I also wonder why the Land Transport Authority would subsidise these 2 companies through things like co-funding of repair costs? It's like having the Monetary Authority of Singapore subsidizing ATMs network repairs for banks should there be a breakdown!)

There is something about our public transportation system that seems very wrong somewhere.

Singapore is not a big country. I really do believe that if left completely to the private sector, there will be real competition in this space and I'm sure we'd have a much more efficient, and maybe even cheaper public transportation system.

Photo from SBS Transit website. 

Now, I don't understand why we still have so many single deck buses

Morning Reset

Everyday by 8pm, I'm exhausted.

If I manage to steal a nap that day, I'm exhausted by 9pm. If Little N had woken up more than 2 times the night before, I'm exhausted by evening time, as early as 6pm.

Many advise that new mummies should always nap when the baby is napping. It's really easier said than done, you know. When Little N is napping, I need to shower, do the laundry, eat my breakfast or lunch, clean her room... By the time I finish some of these things and settle down to rest, she's up from her nap.

Strangely though, I find myself re-energized for the day when Little N is taking her first morning nap, after my morning shower. It's like there is a reset button somewhere that helps me feel energized for the day after the shower... until 6pm, or 8pm or 9pm...

Recently she has been napping pretty well, especially in the mornings, so I can afford to take time to reset in the morning to prepare for the day ahead.

Have a happy morning!

Brunch at Bishan Park - it was the first time we brought Little N with us for brunch. 

The cafe was extremely noisy but amazingly, she slept through our meal

Early CNY and 2012 Resolutions

I like it better when Chinese New Year is in February. Chinese New Year at the end of January (23 and 24 Jan no less) is way too early..

It's... a little too SOON after Christmas and New Year and I haven't had time to think about my new year's resolutions. It has always been my personal tradition to do that as part during the Chinese New Year.

This year, since I caught a nasty flu bug during CNY.. and because CNY came upon us so early, I'm late.

Well, better late than never.

My resolutions this year are pretty simple.

1. Eat healthily

I always try to do a bit of exercise but when it comes to good food, I've always gone easy on myself.

But I realised that too much carbs weren't doing me any good and I was feeling more tired and putting on weight in spite of regular exercise due to my diet.

Since December, I've cut back on carbs and have lost about 3-4 kg since. But I do want to maintain this low carb diet for a longer period of time. Not only was I cutting back on carbs, but I was also eating more fruits, nuts and drinking more milk. And I have found myself more energetic and alert. Which is really good. So I shall continue eating healthily in 2012.

2. Change my lifestyle

This year, I want my lifestyle to be different

I maintain a very boring lifestyle - work long hours from Mondays to Fridays, sleep in on Saturdays and go to church/ cell group on Sundays.

I shall do something different in 2012. I haven't quite decided how. But I will most definitely do it.

3. Enjoy life a little more heartily

I think I miss out on the beautiful things in life too much.

This year, I want to take time to smell the flowers on my way to work, enjoy a different city and time alone when I go on business trips, go for a morning swim before work sometimes, have a cup of homemade tea latte on Saturday mornings.. and just do those small small things that makes life so much more beautiful and different.

Summary of 2011

Since last year, I decided that I will write a summary of my year each December on my blog.

It's now time for a summary of my year again.

How time flies.

I started 2011 with a trip to London. That was my first business trip since I started working with the bank in April 2010. It was good to finally meet people I've been working with face-to-face. With the pound at an all time low, I also did a lot of shopping in London and had a really heavy luggage to drag back home. It didn't helped that I hurt my ankle just before leaving London, and pretty much limped my way onto the plane and back home to Singapore.

In March a terrible earthquake shook Japan, causing huge tsunamis to hit the Sendai region and North-eastern part of Japan really badly. The Husband and I visited Sendai and the Tohuku region around March/ April 2010, exactly one year before the earthquake and tsunami. We couldn't help thinking how fortunate we were - to have missed the terrible incident and visit those lovely places before the disaster.

We also made a big purchase decision in March that will move us to a faraway place (by Singapore standards, far away from where we currently stay) in 2014. Since then, I have been trying to read magazines and books on renovation and home decoration with the hope that I can be more discerning when it comes to home decoration in the future.

We also managed to visit Malacca over a long weekend for the first time in April. It's not common for Singaporeans to not have visited Malacca, so I was glad to have finally checked that box. We had the the most amazing tandoori chicken and naan in Malacca, so I supposed we'd definitely be visiting Malacca again sometime in the near future.

In May, I went for another business trip to London and New York. This was another good trip. I even managed to visit Oxford with a few colleagues over a weekend. After this business trip, there were some changes at work that resulted in me looking after a bigger team.. Suddenly, I got really busy and stressed out at work.

Around this time, The Husband decided to take a break from his hectic work life. He went home to Hong Kong for a few weeks to spend time with his family and also brought over a box of Alphonso Mangoes from Mustafa for them, which everyone loved. (These mangoes are delicious. I'd always be watching out for them around this time every year from now on.)

I took my block leave around the end of June to join him in Hong Kong. After we returned, The Husband started cooking and baking a lot of desserts in his spare time. I especially loved the many souffles he made, even though he declared most trials failures and the one that really did succeed according to him, I didn't get to eat.

Also around this time was the Singapore 2011 General Elections. I am never one to bother much about politics, but I went to one of the rallies near my place and I must say it was really rather exciting. The incumbent party in Singapore really need to work that much harder to win the hearts of younger Singaporeans!

In September, we took a short break to Bangkok. It rained almost everyday when we were there. After that, there were severe floods in Bangkok, so again, we were lucky to have had our holidays very much unspoiled.

After we came back, there was a piece of very bad news in the family - Someone had to cancel his wedding plans and got into quite a lot of personal debt as a result of prior commitments for the upcoming wedding. This incident affected me very much and I tried to help what I can.. though I also realised in retrospect that this incident is both a blessing in disguise and also an expensive lesson for that Someone. I still do hope and pray that he will recover from this incident and come out stronger.

The Husband took me on a relaxing break to a small and private resort in Batam to getaway from all the frustrations at home and stress at work, and we had a few quiet, relaxing days to ourselves.

My little niece also joined the family around this time. In the midst of all the frustrations, she really brought a lot of laughter and joy to the family.

November and December were busy months at work. I also moved to a new office location. Work got busier and busier and my hours got longer and longer. I had some good news at work in December and I guess that was a nice way to end a busy 2011 for me.

2012 will be another busy year, but there are lots of things for me to look forward to as well. I have learnt that as long as one is surrounded by love (people who love you and people you love), life will always have things for you to look forward to.

Happy New Year everyone!

Transportation Woes

A part of the MRT (Singapore subway) broke down the other day during peak hours, just when people were planning to head home from work. Some people were trapped in a dark train for about an hour. Others like me had to take a detour to get home.

Naturally, many people were frustrated, angry even with the company responsible - SMRT. Many people in Singapore rely heavily on the subway system to commute.

Singapore has the highest cost of cars in the world because of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which is something you need to own a car. This month, a COE for a small car (under 1600cc) costs about 52,000 SGD and a COE for a larger car (above 1600cc) costs about 72,000 SGD. We also have a rather high cost of car usage, with Electronic Road Pricing.

Taxis aren't particularly cheap as well, especially with the bewildering system of surcharges.

So, it's quite natural that people are upset when the MRT system breaks down.

I hold a different view however.

I think the MRT is actually the best public transport option we have. I think that our bus system is sadly and embarrassingly deficient for a small country like Singapore.

The Singapore bus system is made up of 2 main types of buses. Buses that bring you to the nearest MRT station, and buses that take the longest detour to get you to your destination.

The recent case of the bus driver who got lost proves how complex and roundabout our bus routes are.

There is a bus from where I live that I can take to work. It stops right outside the building where I work. However, from where I get on, it'd take 31 stops to reach my office.

If the bus takes 3 minutes between each stop, it'd take me 93 minutes to get to work. With some traffic, it takes me 30 minutes to drive to work. With the MRT, even with the need to change trains and take a long hike from the station, it doesnt take me more than 40 minutes to get to the office.

There is another bus I could take, if I choose to hike a little further up the road from where I live. Again, this bus takes 29 stops to drop me right outside my office. Estimated travel time based on 2 - 3 minutes per stop, ranges anywhere between 58 to 87 minutes.

So rather than focusing on focusing on the subway breakdown incident, I think we should really get the bus companies to explain why are bus routes in a small country like Singapore, so badly designed that we only have the MRT as our option to get to work, in a reasonable amount of time!

Sadly, the companies that own subway lines also own bus routes.. so for now, I just can't see what incentive they have to redirect us away from heavily relying on their more profitable channel of transportation.

I work downtown and I have problems finding many options to travel to work. 

It would be so much more difficult if I work in a business or industrial park in the suburbs..

16 December

How did 16 December turn up?

I looked at the calendar and got a real shock today. It's 16 December!

In another 15 days, we will hit 2012.

In precisely 2 months' time, I'd be another year older.

It's just too scary the way time flies. And the thing is, I spend all day looking at my calendar for what meetings I have to go to, I didn't actually notice the dates.

Things have been crazy at work - planning for next year, closing off this year, preparing for new things whilst also planning to do the same things I did next year better next year.

I've been really stressed out by work, which is something I don't like at all.

I'm taking Monday off from work, which means I get a long weekend off.

I'm really looking forward to sleeping in, going for a swim, having a cup of tea and basically doing anything but work. Hopefully, I'd not spend my time dwelling upon problems at work.

Rush Hour

I've just moved to a new office at One Raffles Quay. One Raffles Quay is an office building located right at the edge of Raffles Place, near the new Marina Bay Financial Centre.

And this is the view that I see out of the window everyday.

Photo taken with iPhone... 
Hm... it was a little gloomy when I took this picture, huh?

Beautiful, isn't it?

Sadly, that's about all I like about my new office.

Great views but getting to and from work, as well as having lunch, is erm... for lack of a better word, quite scary.

You see, Raffles Place is at the heart of the downtown business and financial district of Singapore. Throngs and throngs of people work in Raffles Place. Getting to work in the morning is like struggling your way through a somewhat aggressive and desperate crowd during the post-Christmas sales.

The walk from the subway station to One Raffles Quay is a pretty long one.. and every morning, I feel like I'm part of a march to war, with the loud clacking of high heels almost like a rhythmic march to the battle fields. I sometimes almost think that they will blasting military songs through the long tunnel I make my way through to work.

Lunch is an equally frantic affair. There are queues everyone and people seem to be jostling their ways out of the offices to invade into all the food courts and restaurants nearby. It reminds me sometimes of a documentary that I saw where a swamp of locusts landed on a field and ate up everything in its path. Sends a chill down my spine at times.

It's pretty much the same after work, except in a way, the crowd is a lot less scary in the evenings. Maybe it is because everyone is feeling fatigued and drained by work.. Maybe it's because I do leave rather late compared to your normal office worker. I'm not quite sure. But the trains are still rather crowded, although not fully packed. And everything seems less frantic than in the day.

In any case, I have to get used to the rush hour crowd now, there is no escape really.

Although a bit late, but I now really appreciate my previous office location at the Marina Square/ Suntec area - with all the shopping and restaurants nearby.. and a calmer, more amiable crowd in the weekdays.

Words that hit home

When asked what surprised him most about humanity, someone said "Man".

"Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."

The Dalai Lama said these words and I believe in a different God then him but these words hit home.

The trouble is - how to live every day as if it were my last?

If today is my last day,

I'd have a chat with all my childhood friends - to hear how they are, talk about our childhood dreams and laugh over our mistakes growing up.

I'd call up all my beloved colleagues, ask for their forgiveness for my impatience at work, encourage them to spend more time with their loved ones and share whatever I can with them.

I'd meet my dearest friends for tea, muse over our past experiences and tell them what I appreciate most about them.

I'd spend the most time with all my beloved ones, making sure they know how much I love them, and asking for their forgiveness on all the times I act like I don't.

A Country in Debt

If you are a Singaporean and read Mandarin.. this article from a magazine in Hong Kong would be interesting for you.

Singapore has low foreign debt..

Is our debt low because the Singapore government borrows from it's citizens.. compulsorily through CPF?

Or is our tax high because CPF (compulsory savings for working Singaporeans) is money most of us are unlikely to ever get back in our life time?

Whatever you think, this is an interesting read.
 
負債大國新加坡 (2011年08月25日)

My Favourite Things

Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

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I'm in a bad mood today all day because of frustrations at work. But this song is right - thinking about things I like helps!

What are some of your favourite things?

I have lots.. some of it includes.. chocolate lava cake, a cup of hot floral tea, a good book, a breezy evening, a pair of comfy and pretty new shoes, the sound of waves, cheery flowers in the garden and freshly baked cakes..

A freshly baked soufflé by The Husband

End of a Nearly Perfect Week

I had a nearly perfect week.

One week off work.

6 working days to be very precise.

6 days of not thinking about work (well, I did a little.. but just very little... not more than 10 minutes, I hope..).

I feel really refreshed now... like I've got my "gumption" back.

It was almost perfect.

I went to HK for a few days and did all the things I wanted to do there.. Then I came back and  met a few blogger friends for lunch.. went swimming a couple of times.. read a lot of magazines.. had my facial.. went shopping on a weekday.. had lots of great desserts at home.. watched lots of TV.. went for a stroll at the botanical gardens.. took naps.. had some beers.. played some computer games..

Basically, I didn't achieve very much this week, which was exactly what I wanted.

But I also fell sick mid-week and have been coughing since then. So that affected my week a little.

Still, it had been a good break and now, I feel I'm ready to charge!

Of course, I know I'd be swamped at work over the next week and I'd feel like I never had this break.. but at least I feel good for now.. :)

Me Days

When I started working more than 10 years ago, days off from work were precious and I saved them carefully so that I could take short holidays or one long break each year. Sometimes, I take one or two precious days off to meet up with some friends. But that's about it.

Since I started working again (by the way, I've just passed my one year mark recently!), I have found that taking a day off now and then to do things I like, for myself and by myself is important for my sanity.

I call those days "Me Days"

Today is one of those days, except I only took the afternoon off instead of 1 full day. After 1pm, I went for lunch by myself, went for a bit of shopping.. then to the gym.. and then went home to watch some TV. Then I took my own time to make dinner.

By the time The Husband came home, I felt as if I have been resting all day!

What a lovely day today has been!

It's also nice to see my balcony in the afternoon, with all those portulacas smiling at me

View from the balcony - Part 2

I left work early this afternoon because I found myself coughing too much in the office. So as you can imagine, it wasn't a very good day for me.

I couldn't sleep when I came back so it was very frustrating. But I was rewarded with this view in the evening on my balcony as I watched the sun set.

Enjoy the view with me..

(Also see View from the balcony - Part 1)