Two weeks ago SIL and her family moved in. Now it's more crowded at home with two maids in the kitchen, sometimes with the confinement lady (for my SIL) as well. And two dogs to accompany Summer who would otherwise be lonely. My little niece of 3 yrs and an even younger niece of 1 month are here too. Which is not a bad thing, having more people around. Since then, dinner has been proper and filling. Initially I find the confinement food yummy, but the law of diminishing returns set in and now I find it so so. Maybe the confinement lady's cooking is not quite to my taste. I prefer 黄妈妈's gao luck chicken versus the confinement lady's gao luck 连藕 soup; MIL's potato soup versus the confinement lady's. But still I appreciate the many dishes for dinner these days. When SIL moves out in one week plus time, we'll have to bear with bland simple dishes again.

Yesterday WW and I took half day off work to catch Toy Story 3. It was a nice show with a storyline for the 3D version. Ever since watching Up in 3D, I expected all movies to be better in 3D mode. But we decided to watch it in 2D as WW is less keen with 3D in case he gets dizzy. We should catch more shows before we lose the freedom to do so.

These days the little girl kicks more and with greater force. Maybe she has my power taekwondo legs. And she'll remind me of my hunger so that I'll go replenish foods. My tummy is not that big yet, and amazingly I still am able to hide it in some looser clothes. Good thing too that my arms and thighs are not expanding as thought would be. Hopefully I can go back to pre-preggie build shortly after birth. We need to get all the baby stuff soon! The cot, the chest of drawers, BB clothes, stroller, car seat and so much more. May this year's bonus be great!

Precious time to myself

Just finished the piping hot pumpkin soup from soup spoon. I bought the prepacked packet and heated it up at home instead. It tasted just as good as the fresh soup served at their outlets. Except here I get to enjoy my own music, at a suitably loud volume. Haha and not to forget the jealous greedy Summer staring at me (or was it my soup). I've cut a slice of Sara Lee pound cake, thick and fat. I care less about the sinful kind of fat these days, what a pleasure!

WW is out with his supervisor for dinner today. I'm lavishing the time to myself and treasuring it before I lose all (almost, I'll make sure I still have my own space) freedom. Shall give WW some time to himself too.

Tomorrow marks the start of a new financial year for our company. There are organization changes and we'll see how things play out. For me the small fry, I'm indifferent to it and life simply goes on.

Housework issue taking a toll on me psychologically

Last night I dreamt of the whole family quarelling, or rather more of me and WW talking back at PILs. We were at the second floor living area (this doesn't look like our current house) where PILs, the elder SIL and her hubby were sitting on the sofa watching tv. I was busy doing housework (what else) and climbing over the sofa to get to another area behind them. The rest stayed glued to the tv. I grumbled about how unautomatic they were. Later another scene took us to my mama's place. WW and I were having dinner with apa ama at the dining table. After the meal it was around 9plus pm. WW and I proceeded to do more housework. Mama asked why such hurry? We sadly pointed out that at our current pace, we could only get the chores done by midnight with each of us having 3 outstanding tasks. I was thinking of work the following day and felt kinda peeved that I won't be getting enuff sleep.

At that point I woke up, feeling a little of the unhappiness from the dream. Wonder if I've been suppressing too much of my feelings. Sometimes I also wonder how different things would turn out if WW and I were staying on our own. Would I be so obliged to do chores and make the family happy? It seems I'll never be able to break out of this obligatory arrangement and having to be play my role as good daughter (-in-law) everyday. Will I ever be able to break free and not have to fit into any roles? Why can't I be like some of the others who don't bother at all? Not that I dislike playing my roles, but when I perform my duties I want to do it at my best. I suppose my most carefree days were those in hostel, where I got total freedom to do what I want to everday.

Well, enuff of lamenting. Gotta start work in office. Will try to bear with next one month where elder SIL and her troop of 5 and another 2 dogs will join the household. I predict more duties to play. I dunno why this have to happen during this time, when I should be resting well and getting my own way.

On a brighter note, we'll know if it's a  or  tomorrow!

2-year anniversary!

Today marks our 2-year ROM anniversary. We didn't plan anything special for the day and instead would go for a nice dinner and piano concert on Friday. We're on a cost-saving mode, so no extravagances on ourselves. There are more dates coming up that we have to remember every yearly, hopefully we'll both remember to celebrate our ROM anniversaries in time to come.

Last night WW was playing the soccer iPhone app when I felt BB kick quite distinctly. It must be the "Goal" cheering and shouting from the game that aroused the little one. Maybe he (?) likes kicking soccer haha. Maybe it's more likely to be a "he"? Hoho. We'll know on Friday :)

The days without a maid

This weekend the whole family was busy with housework. MIL sent away the maid last Wed as she couldn't stand her poor attitude. One weekend of housework for me is pretty tiring, though it's only simple chores like ironing the clothes, washing dishes and washing my own lingerie. Hubby was of great help to the family as he did all the cleaning and scrubbing of front porch. With Summer doing her business now and then at the porch, keeping the porch clean could prove difficult. I only lament my sis-in-law's lack of initiative. She woke up late, at noon on sat when most of the chores were done by PILs, WW and I. And she got to be told to help in washing the dishes after lunch. Sunday morning she woke up earlier, but spent time talking on the phone instead. That's the result of PILs spoiling her, and treating her like a young kid tho she's 20 this year.

Well, enuff lamenting. Like I told WW, everyone has his right and freedom to choose the things he wants to do. And it's only in a traditional mindset that you expect the whole family to help out with the housework. If one can tolerate the dirt and mess, so be it as long as your dirt is not imposed on others.

On the whole, the weekend is good. We did the usual stuff like swimming and having lunch with 黄妈妈爸爸. WW and I went to guan yin temple as well on sat to pray for good health and that everything go smoothly. Tian and I met up with Feng gang, excluding Feng as she's down with flu, for tea at Wild Honey, Mandarin Gallery. XH and Dennis are now preparing for their wedding and just had their photoshoot in NZ. How blissful! It's a beautiful stage of life to be in.

WW and I ended the weekend with fried hokkein Mee dinner at AMK. Haha, am I fortunate to be able to eat guiltlessly and not care about getting fat. Tonight we don't have dinner at home and have to eat out again. Wonder if this will last the whole month before the next maid comes. Eating out everyday is not very healthy for the little one leh.

Werner's Oven

Life's been good after recently, much less burping and bloat during the evenings. And I'm starting to like the taste of meat. Yesterday WW and I went for dinner at Werner's Oven. He ordered the veal sausage while I ordered semmelknodel, the German bread dumpling. We both liked the veal sausage as it was simply delicious. Sweet meat and taste came from every chew, yummy. Since our trip to Germany and Austria in 2004, I've wanted to try the semmelknodel (I'm a fan of bread) but didn't have the chance to. The best try was a semmelknodel instant packet, where you add water to the flour mix to get your end product. That was bought from Austria back then. So it was quite a novelty to try the real thing here in Singapore, at the little warm and hospitable German restaurant.

A Different Kind of Exchange | JobsCentral Community - your friendly hangout for career topics and more!

A Different Kind of Exchange | JobsCentral Community - your friendly hangout for career topics and more!

Christmas

WW got me a wonderful gift set, the one I saw and fancied when shopping with WW the other day. Didn't expect WW to remember it; I guess I gushed too much about it that it made an impression. Now the lovely pieces are sitting in a corner of the tv shelf, with the green-leafed wallpaper behind it as backdrop. And WW took the effort to develop and place a photo of us in the frame, which makes up one of the four white classy pieces. Love WW the hubby!

I didn't get anything for WW, coz really didn't think there was anything he needed or liked having as a gift. I did shop around but couldn't find anything worthy for him. So it's good that he picked this Silly Putty plasticine-like thing when we were at the toy shop. That is then my Christmas gift to him! Happy seeing him play with it so merrily like a little boy. :)

This Christmas I prepared only one gift (not counting WW's Silly Putty coz it was not prepared beforehand) and it's for Wong Tian. Tomorrow will be passing it to her. Let's see then if she likes it.

Only today I got to know that Mama doesn't like Christmas, for it was this day exactly 40 years ago that she got her leg amputated :( Poor mama. I don't think I'll be happily celebrating Christmas anymore going forward.

In the holiday mood

It was a nice shopping trip with tian yesterday. We went to suntec after work, had dinner at ichiban boshi which we subsequently condemned and decided to boycott, then went on to get a dress for myself and a sweater for tian. Bought a shimmery green tube dress which puts me in a Christmas mood. Thinking of wearing it for a fren's wedding two days before Christmas. The dress didn't come cheap though, but I realized price doesn't matter that much to me now, as long as it's not exorbitantly priced. We don't get enough time to shop, so why let a
nice piece go when you don't know when you'll be able to find another good piece.

It was fun to try on the loud accessories at the big warehouse-style fashion shop (didn't catch its name). Tian tried on the feathery hairclip which those classy English ladies at those posh parties wear, and I put on those urban jungle girl's hairband. Only in front of my dear sister can I do such foolish things and we will just laugh off at each other's novelty.

I come to realise that I'm a sucker for trying new things. It may be a good thing when I'm still young, but as I age on (haha sounds old yah), it may reduce me to a jack of all trades, master of none. Or it may just consume my time such that I can't do more of what I should be doing. For example, I'm taking bread making lessons out of interest. However, the course itself takes up time, with each lesson lasting five hours as we need to allow the bread to proof and to be baked. It would require even more time if I were to bake on my own at home. It seems too late to pursue the dream of starting my own bakery, for where would I get the energy? It's true that one should start out young, or you'd lose that drive soon after, especially after learning how difficult a world out there it could be.

MFE and Grahamies

It's being a very tiring week. No regrets tho, coz there have been pleasant happy moments spent with my MFE friends.

It was Chin Yee's wedding on Monday. The poor guy had to wake up at 3am to fetch his Teochew bride, but it's surely worthwhile for him. Caught up with some of the MFE guys over the wedding banquet, and it was a great catch-up as we hadn't met for a while. It was especially precious to catch hold of Aylwin, one of my good buddies whom I've got to know over the past one year in the MFE course, as he is frequently flying to Manila for work. And there's the usual joking around and sabotaging the groom with our special concoction. I suppose it's also coz they are a very smart bunch of people who do not have the airs, which makes me like hanging around with them. Add on the fact that we've spent teeth-gritting time together struggling through the terribly-intensive course, especially back in CMU. Those were the tough yet bonding times.

Last night a few of us, the Grahamies plus the frequent-visitor Gim Aik, met for dinner and drinks at Red Dot @ Dempsey. There was quite a nice ambience with its al-fresco dining, but the service needed improvement. Perhaps can introduce WW to the restaurant one day, but hopefully the service won't suck like last night. A few of us were lamenting about the uselessness of our course and how we could have advanced if not for the one year break from work to pursue MFE. Although some part of me agreed (I now lag behind my peers 2-3 years), another part was glad I made the move that took me out of IT into something more apt for me - risk management. But then again, work is still work eventually. Back to the Grahamies. If not for the course we wouldn't have known each other and I wouldn't have these friends for keeps. Last night's dinner was a farewell for one of the guys who's moving on to greener pastures in HK. And shortly after another one of the guys will be moving to Shanghai for work posting. The other lady is looking around for a new job while the last guy in the group just started his new role in an entirely new area. I wonder where each of us will be in a few years' time.

Work is tough when you don't have the energy to tackle it. Good thing the work week is coming to an end soon. I need my rest this weekend! Also need to mug for FRM exams next weekend, after which I'll be free!

It's a thursday

Thursday, the day before Friday. Where the happier days of the week are within sight and you can smell a little of the weekends freedom. What's the big deal about Fridays then? It's when people at work are more relaxed, where you get considerably fewer emails and consequentially less firefighting. See, being forward-looking can make your life happier.

On another note, weekends always are too short and are gone before you realise it. When is the next holiday? This weekend WW and I are going to check out a condo development. Not going to buy though, for prices are so exorbitantly high now. Singaporeans are pathetic little creatures, we pay so much for our living and slog like cows for work. It's no wonder we see straight faces void of life everywhere. Is there a way to break out of that?

Living in the moment

Heard this phase "living in the moment" from a friend a few days ago. He was describing a dog's life, saying that a dog doesn't bear any vengence and enjoys the moment coz they live in the moment. Shouldn't we humans do the same too? We don't have to worry about the future, and not carry over the burdens from the past.

Monday was my off day. I took the day off to catch up on my studying (for FRM). In the end I spent 5 hours in total on mugging, 1.5 hours in a morning nap (coz I slept late the night before and woke up early), and another half an hour in a good cooling run at ECP. It was productive, when I just had a cup of hot tea and some music to accompany me in Dome cafe. Before that I was at Marine Parade library, an even more conducive place for studying. It was like those days not so far back when I was taking MFE, where the day is free for myself till the evenings when classes start. And it was so enjoyable to do a run in ECP. Sea breeze in your face, greenery by your sides and sometimes a hunk or a lovely dog running past (heh).

I also fulfilled my good wife duties by fetching WW to and from work, heh coz I drove around in his car. It was quite a nice day spent. Next
time will get WW to take day off together, especially after the FRM exams in late
nov where then I'll be free from studying!

Lots of negative people around

Negative people spread their negativities around, and it'll take some efforts for a person striving to be positive not to be affected by it. Sometimes I laugh at the stupidity of those spreading the negative vibes, then remind myself never to be like them.

Take the neighbour who scolds her maid every morning. From our bathroom window, we could hear her thunderous words raining on the maid. This morning it was even more ridiculous. "Tell me, is making breakfast not part of your job? I am paying you salary to do your job and now has making breakfast become my job?" She went on in her demeaning and authoritative tone, as if it was a court scene and the maid was charged (the neighbour is a lawyer). We speculated the maid would poison or stab her to death someday.

In the office, there's this cleaning lady who slams the toilet cubicle doors very heavily every time she does her washing. It's so loud that people can hear her from the lift lobby, so one can imagine how scary it is to be in one of the cubicles when she does that. Then there's the dirty water she splatters from the neighbouring cubicle. Eeks.

Good that there are some positive people around. Last sat WW and I were invited into another of our neighbour's house, where we were treated with mooncakes and coffee at their little garden with the couple and their two girls. The couple shared with us the little lessons from their career lives and the wife was partcularly enthusiastic about the business - sale of negative ion garments - she is in now. I guess it's just personality that affects one's life and path ahead.

Wish there could be more such positive people around. There are increasingly more rude Singaporeans who make lives terrible for the rest. The world would be a better place if everyone was more pleasant.

Sea gazing

It is the time of the year when the sun sets early and the sky gets dark at slightly after 7pm. Tho singapore is a tropical country without seasonal weather, slight differences in daylight hours could be seen and felt. Feels kinda sad that the day ends earlier and the lovely sunset goes away this fast. But then gotta be thankful we're not in Europe where the sun could set like at 5pm.

I'm having the luxury to sit by the sea, to gaze out into the vastness and listen to the waves. We should take such breaks more often, to get in touch with our soul and unclutter our mind. I was at NUS for a symposium earlier today, and took the chance to come west coast park, the place WW and I used to come by while he was staying at west coast road. Reminiscent of uni days, just that I don't miss those days as much as before coz it has been quite a while (5 years) afterall.

Perhaps I should go venture to some seaside on my leave day two weeks later :)

Half-day leave, yippie!

Two months into the job and I'm feeling somewhat drained! I need my 15 mins of eye's wink on the bus every morning, which explain my sporadic blog updates. I wish I could sleep all the way to work, but there's still the Straits Times and Bloomberg news to read. But no complaints, work has been pretty stable these two weeks. Only gotta get used to the lifestyle. Doesn't quite help with my need for exercising two times or more a week.

Last Sunday we went to Li Bai Chinese restaurant at Sheraton hotel to celebrate my mum-in-law's bday. We had a hearty feast, in fact a tad too hearty for me. Our menu included a double-boiled herbal soup, roasted duck skin wrapped in thin crepe skin (quite a delectable appetizer), and abalone, mushroom, nai bai vege and sea cucumber all served as a single dish. Very rich indeed! The noodles were unique; they were made from fish meat. Lastly there were desserts and complimentary mooncake to end the eight-course feast. The meal was fantastic in taste, but WW and I are still not quite used to such delicacies. We prefer simple healthy dishes.

Today I'm on half-day to prepare for my all-famous cousin's wedding tonight. First up will be the shopping for accessories, then getting my haircut and styling (which will take 3 hours), then back niang jia to change and do make-up before setting off for the dinner. A packed day ahead, which hopefully won't end too late. Gonna be interesting to see how the wedding turns out. And hope everything will be smooth in the meantime and that we won't be captured on screen.

All the pent up frustrations

It has been a month since I started bringing work home to do. All these working in personal time, sometimes into the wee hours of the night, are taking a toll on me. There were times I felt like banging the table or throwing things around or just shouting out loud. These had inevitably caused some fear in WW, having to deal with such a frustrated and difficult me. I wish I could control my temper too, but it's hard given my demanding nature. I want to achieve many things at a time - finishing up my work, studying for FRM, spending quality time with hubby. It's the last thing that really prompts me to wonder why I just can't spend time exclusively with WW. Is this how work life should be? Only comfort is that testing is ending today, so hopefully no more work to do till late at night at home. Then in late nov I'd have finished my FRM and really have time to hubby and myself. Wonder how I'll view babies next time; will they be enhancing a couple's time together, or cause us to have less freedom?

Anyway, today is another day and the long weekend is ahead. Shan't give myself too much pressure in striving to be perfect. Now I'm on the bus heading to the office, at a pretty early timing. Woke up close to an hour earlier than usual so that I can be in office before 8 am to generate some reports. It's refreshing, to see the early sun, to have pretty much if the bus to myself and not have to squeeze with the crowds. Hope that marks the start to a good weekend and more time for hubby and my family!

Putting things in perspective

Last Sunday I was thinking to myself, secretly complimenting myself for being coolheaded and chirpy most of the times at home and in the office. Then, just as how things turn the opposite way once you thought about it, my short-temperness came back in the past three days. Kept feeling I was suay to have missed my bus, to lose my hairclip (tho it was found later), and other little irritations that occurred. Emotions are not easy to control, but I'll have to remember life is not all about myself now. Well just hoping better days will come soon and that I don't have to be so bogged down with work (just spare me with having to work during weeknights and weekends!).

Two months into my return to the workforce. Still finding it hard to squeeze time for shopping and personal grooming such as facial. I now have to fight for a timeslot with the whole world, unlike those student days where I could conveniently go for my facial in the afternoons. Sometime down the road, WW and I will have our flexi work life. Just can't follow the whole world for our entire working lives.

Wat a hiong week!

Tot things would go slower after our exco presentation on wed, but apparently things at work are still as busy as ever! I'm seriously sleep-deprived, having had to bring work home four days out of the five workdays. And this is not including the work to do over the weekend. Sob. That also explains why I don't blog as much in the morning now; I catch up with sleep on the bus on the way to work.

Nevertheless, I managed to catch up on exercising this week. Started my yoga classes again on tue. It took a while for my stiff muscles to warm up and I ended up with aching neck and limbs the day after. But good workout afterall! Good for relaxation too. Lastevening I managed to rush down to California gym @ bugis to join tian. We wanted to try out the Bodypump class, but coz I had to be 'welcomed' by the manager first (their dual sales talk), we had to miss the class. But ended up it might be better, since tian was totally exhausted after our run at the treadmill. Bodypump would have been more streneous. We caught up over dinner after that. Sister bonding :)

yeah weekends coming ahead. Hope I don't have to bring work home to do!

Work work work

Wanted to go for my swim on tue, but gotta stay late for work. Planned to go for my yoga yesterday evening, but gotta work late again. With such working hours, how so I get anything done? Haven't been to facial for 2 months now. My FRM progress is bad too, I'm still at Book 1. This weekend heck la! No more bringing work home to do!

Life's little reminders

Recently I've been reminded of the little subtlties and sensitivities in life. One is not to be self-assuming; you can't trust others except yourself to do things. The other is to be careful about what I say, for some words may just poke people in the unintended way. Which reminded me why I chose to be a quiet girl when I was younger. Maybe I should be like WW, crapping all the way and people won't take my words so heavily.

It's okay to be imperfect, but I just can't seem to take my own imperfections lightly. I get outright embarrassed when others point out my flaws. Perhaps I have a big ego. But at some point I also get tired of being or at least striving to be perfect. It's always easier to be wrong than right, flawed than correct.

I don't remember if there were such unhappy days when I was studying a year back.