I didn't realise it but I have been blogging for (just) over six years!
I still remember the beginnings. A little website on the now-defunct Geocities with pages dedicated to me, my travels, maths, music etc, some time in Oxford. Then another website to rant all the frustration at home every summer and especially when I first returned for good.
I had never heard about blogging then. Until I met this old classmate and he told me about it. I was like, OH?!
And the rest was history.
Friday, 28 January 2011
Thursday, 27 January 2011
We're nerdy and loving it!
Sito is a chemistry nerd and I’m a maths nerd. He thinks chemistry is the language of how the world works. I think maths is the language of how the world works.
The Sito chapter
Sito likes chemistry.
And he has a bunch of related trivials. Why it smells funny when I rebond my hair. Why egg whites change colour when cooked / whipped very hard. Things I never knew!!
And that night, we were talking about viruses and bacteria.. Hey I know about those! But I needed a reminder on the difference between the two. Then he went on to talk about how the AIDS virus was simple but could disrupt the system. Or something like that. And this could be related. Or not!
Sito: I think *that* is a retro virus (mf has forgotten what *that* was :p)
mf: What is a retro virus?
Sito: It has afro hair and mambos..
mf: *.*
Then he went on to give the real definition..
Well, trivials are interesting. But I never like chemistry even though I married someone who does :)
The mf chapter
I like maths.
Not the hard stuff like algebra or calculus. The fun stuff (which may not be easy!). I always think it amazing that the golden ratio and the Fibonacci numbers can be found in nature.
And my favourite irrational number, pi! Omg, it all started with the library in my secondary school – the maths teacher who was in charge of maths enrichment pasted the number around the length of the library! And if I recall correctly, there was a wad of paper rolled up at the end of the four lengths of wall!
Then the other day, I discovered how Sito does subtraction – with his fingers in a way I didn’t immediately understand.
Sometimes I marvel at the things I don’t know about my husband :)
Question:
So, who’s the bigger nerd? :p
The Sito chapter
Sito likes chemistry.
And he has a bunch of related trivials. Why it smells funny when I rebond my hair. Why egg whites change colour when cooked / whipped very hard. Things I never knew!!
And that night, we were talking about viruses and bacteria.. Hey I know about those! But I needed a reminder on the difference between the two. Then he went on to talk about how the AIDS virus was simple but could disrupt the system. Or something like that. And this could be related. Or not!
Sito: I think *that* is a retro virus (mf has forgotten what *that* was :p)
mf: What is a retro virus?
Sito: It has afro hair and mambos..
mf: *.*
Then he went on to give the real definition..
Well, trivials are interesting. But I never like chemistry even though I married someone who does :)
The mf chapter
I like maths.
Not the hard stuff like algebra or calculus. The fun stuff (which may not be easy!). I always think it amazing that the golden ratio and the Fibonacci numbers can be found in nature.
And my favourite irrational number, pi! Omg, it all started with the library in my secondary school – the maths teacher who was in charge of maths enrichment pasted the number around the length of the library! And if I recall correctly, there was a wad of paper rolled up at the end of the four lengths of wall!
Then the other day, I discovered how Sito does subtraction – with his fingers in a way I didn’t immediately understand.
Sometimes I marvel at the things I don’t know about my husband :)
Question:
So, who’s the bigger nerd? :p
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
I want to feel peckish!
When I was working in Sg, I would have breakfast at home and leave for work. Then I would feel hungry by 11.30 am. And if I didn’t have a meeting or lunch appointment, I’d head straight to the hawker centre to get my early lunch!
But for a couple of weeks in 2008 or 2009, I didn’t feel hungry for lunch. I didn’t even crave for snacks. Not at all! That worried me a lot.. I just pinched on some fruits to keep gastric pains at bay.. This went away shortly and I was left baffled, cos I couldn’t understand why that happened.
You see, I always like to eat. And I’m always hungry. So when I don’t feel like eating or I don’t feel hungry around meal times, I feel uneasy. I worry.
And now, it’s happening again but more specifically with chocolate. You see, again, that I love chocolates all my life! When I don’t feel fat, when I feel down, when I’m working/studying hard, when I feel peckish, I eat chocolates. Even when I have a sore throat, I’d love a little square! Many more! Last quarter, I ate a lot of M&M’s while preparing for Montessori exams.
When we first came back, I kind of forgot about my stash of chocolates on the high cabinet – was trying to keep them out of reach but of course, I always managed to get them when I wanted to! At the same time, we were happily munching on crisps accumulated while I was away! When the crisps were gone, I suddenly remembered about my chocolates and munch on a couple of fun packs happily in the afternoons when I was reading :)
Then in the past few days, I didn’t feel like having chocolates at all. And this afternoon, I was so pathetic – my brain was like “time for some M&M’s!” but the rest of me wasn’t keen. But after a while, the rest of me listened to the brain, who was so used to chocolates that not having them seemed wrong! And I didn’t feel particularly happy when munching on the M&M’s. So sad =(
And I had my usual evening class today so I packed my dinner with me cos I wasn’t hungry at 6 pm to eat before class. By break time which was 8 pm, I still wasn’t hungry but had my packed dinner anyway. After a while, I realised that I had missed dinner time cos I could feel the gastric cramps starting. That was when I realised that the lack of hunger I experienced a few years ago was back! Argh!
Well, at least, it isn’t that I don’t like chocolates anymore!!
Can't wait for my appetite to return. I mean, it's not like I live to eat but I just like to eat!
Update 30 Jan 2011
Oooh, I'm peckish again! yesh!
But for a couple of weeks in 2008 or 2009, I didn’t feel hungry for lunch. I didn’t even crave for snacks. Not at all! That worried me a lot.. I just pinched on some fruits to keep gastric pains at bay.. This went away shortly and I was left baffled, cos I couldn’t understand why that happened.
You see, I always like to eat. And I’m always hungry. So when I don’t feel like eating or I don’t feel hungry around meal times, I feel uneasy. I worry.
And now, it’s happening again but more specifically with chocolate. You see, again, that I love chocolates all my life! When I don’t feel fat, when I feel down, when I’m working/studying hard, when I feel peckish, I eat chocolates. Even when I have a sore throat, I’d love a little square! Many more! Last quarter, I ate a lot of M&M’s while preparing for Montessori exams.
When we first came back, I kind of forgot about my stash of chocolates on the high cabinet – was trying to keep them out of reach but of course, I always managed to get them when I wanted to! At the same time, we were happily munching on crisps accumulated while I was away! When the crisps were gone, I suddenly remembered about my chocolates and munch on a couple of fun packs happily in the afternoons when I was reading :)
Then in the past few days, I didn’t feel like having chocolates at all. And this afternoon, I was so pathetic – my brain was like “time for some M&M’s!” but the rest of me wasn’t keen. But after a while, the rest of me listened to the brain, who was so used to chocolates that not having them seemed wrong! And I didn’t feel particularly happy when munching on the M&M’s. So sad =(
And I had my usual evening class today so I packed my dinner with me cos I wasn’t hungry at 6 pm to eat before class. By break time which was 8 pm, I still wasn’t hungry but had my packed dinner anyway. After a while, I realised that I had missed dinner time cos I could feel the gastric cramps starting. That was when I realised that the lack of hunger I experienced a few years ago was back! Argh!
Well, at least, it isn’t that I don’t like chocolates anymore!!
Can't wait for my appetite to return. I mean, it's not like I live to eat but I just like to eat!
Update 30 Jan 2011
Oooh, I'm peckish again! yesh!
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Weighing on my mind
Had a thought yesterday while talking to Na. I forgot about it until now :p
Think this is the slimmest I'm ever going to be for the foreseeable future, in both weight and shape. I was expecting to gain weight after coming to Evanston but I didn't. In fact, I think I lost a little only to put it back on in Singapore. Now my relatively healthy home-cooked meals have made me lose that weight and that's that. I've reached the floor of my weight and shape in my adult life! This is *gasp* my own ISLB!! :p
Actually, I'm already at the ideal weight so I'm good. It doesn't matter that my preferred weight is 3kg down, cos I'm 31 and less concerned about such things! It helps that Sito doesn't really notice haha! :p
And, I just went for my second pilates lesson. The instructor must have a heavier butt than mine but look at how she moved! I must work on what cannot be seen instead..
Think this is the slimmest I'm ever going to be for the foreseeable future, in both weight and shape. I was expecting to gain weight after coming to Evanston but I didn't. In fact, I think I lost a little only to put it back on in Singapore. Now my relatively healthy home-cooked meals have made me lose that weight and that's that. I've reached the floor of my weight and shape in my adult life! This is *gasp* my own ISLB!! :p
Actually, I'm already at the ideal weight so I'm good. It doesn't matter that my preferred weight is 3kg down, cos I'm 31 and less concerned about such things! It helps that Sito doesn't really notice haha! :p
And, I just went for my second pilates lesson. The instructor must have a heavier butt than mine but look at how she moved! I must work on what cannot be seen instead..
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Getting out
The minimum preparation I need to get out of the house:
Back home in Sg, I could go out of the house wearing pretty much whatever I'm wearing, except PJs, although when I was a kid, I used to wear PJs to the market all the time! If I'm going to be anywhere indoors for an extended period of time, say shopping mall, I just stuff a cardigan or scarf into bag. It's ridiculously cold indoors.
In Oxford, I could make a quick exit just by pulling on a coat. Well, almost. I remember once as a fresher, I woke up to find myself 10 min away from the 9 am lecture. I literally rolled out of bed in my T-shirt and track pants, put on my sandals (!), grabbed my bag and coat, and I was out in under two minutes. Some trade-offs though - didn't wear a bra (just keep the coat on!), didn't wash up or brush teeth and hence didn't dare talk to people..
And here, in Evanston, I need five minutes minimally. Cos the room is always warm, I'm in Sg clothes or PJs most of the time. So I need to change into a lot of stuff - usually a top with an optional sweater depending on the top, tights and a skirt or a pair of jeans depending on what shoes I wear - I can't wear jeans with my black boots; my fat calves have filled them to capacity. Then pull on the black or white boots, taking care not to catch the tights (and my skin!) if I'm wearing the black ones, before wrapping a scarf round my neck, putting on the heavy coat, AND grabbing my ear muffs and gloves then my bag. Late? Well, too bad! Cos I'm not going to freeze!
Kind of glad to read that the coldest should be over after January.. Can't wait :)
In the meantime, here's a really cute snowy cupcake outside a Macs in C-town- so winter isn't without its merits!
Back home in Sg, I could go out of the house wearing pretty much whatever I'm wearing, except PJs, although when I was a kid, I used to wear PJs to the market all the time! If I'm going to be anywhere indoors for an extended period of time, say shopping mall, I just stuff a cardigan or scarf into bag. It's ridiculously cold indoors.
In Oxford, I could make a quick exit just by pulling on a coat. Well, almost. I remember once as a fresher, I woke up to find myself 10 min away from the 9 am lecture. I literally rolled out of bed in my T-shirt and track pants, put on my sandals (!), grabbed my bag and coat, and I was out in under two minutes. Some trade-offs though - didn't wear a bra (just keep the coat on!), didn't wash up or brush teeth and hence didn't dare talk to people..
And here, in Evanston, I need five minutes minimally. Cos the room is always warm, I'm in Sg clothes or PJs most of the time. So I need to change into a lot of stuff - usually a top with an optional sweater depending on the top, tights and a skirt or a pair of jeans depending on what shoes I wear - I can't wear jeans with my black boots; my fat calves have filled them to capacity. Then pull on the black or white boots, taking care not to catch the tights (and my skin!) if I'm wearing the black ones, before wrapping a scarf round my neck, putting on the heavy coat, AND grabbing my ear muffs and gloves then my bag. Late? Well, too bad! Cos I'm not going to freeze!
Kind of glad to read that the coldest should be over after January.. Can't wait :)
In the meantime, here's a really cute snowy cupcake outside a Macs in C-town- so winter isn't without its merits!
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Table tennis tournament!
So M organised a table tennis tournament this morning. I almost couldn't make it, cos this note was stuck to the lift at the ground floor, not every floor!
The lift numbers were jumping up and down. And so was the lift! It was so scarily jerky..
But I got to the ground floor eventually. And I played!
Well, badly.. I got kicked out of heats. Twice! Had to go back a second time cos we didn't have enough players. Ah well :p
Here are our second, first and third respectively!
And our first, second and third counting from the bottom!
Not bad, half of us went home with medals, hoho!
The lift numbers were jumping up and down. And so was the lift! It was so scarily jerky..
But I got to the ground floor eventually. And I played!
Well, badly.. I got kicked out of heats. Twice! Had to go back a second time cos we didn't have enough players. Ah well :p
Here are our second, first and third respectively!
And our first, second and third counting from the bottom!
Not bad, half of us went home with medals, hoho!
好一个开心的早晨 :)
It's snowing outside. It's warm in here. I'm having cooked oats with raisins for breakfast. Sito is now back to sleep after being rudely awoken by me just now - we slept for more than eight hours cos I set the alarm wrongly. I don't know why the A/C unit is making noise but otherwise, it's a peaceful morning.
And I feel light. Light-hearted.
What a happy morning :)
And I feel light. Light-hearted.
What a happy morning :)
Friday, 21 January 2011
有一天我会⋯⋯
我会酸。太久没运动，一开始运动就会酸。就连提购物带也是一种运动⋯⋯ 这看起来健壮的身子，太逊了！
我会干。从头皮到脚底，皮肤表皮每分每秒都在干掉、死掉，或者脱落，或者硬化。真该死的干燥空气。
我会肿。经期之前，武吉知马山快变成珠穆朗玛峰了！大姨妈一报到，马上又恢复了。伸缩性怎么那么好啊⋯⋯
我会胖。一不小心吃太多，不知不觉就会从脸胖到脚踝。这时为什么伸缩性就没那么好啊？！
今天，我又酸又干又肿，还吃了好一堆冰淇淋，第四“会”可能离我不远了⋯⋯
我会干。从头皮到脚底，皮肤表皮每分每秒都在干掉、死掉，或者脱落，或者硬化。真该死的干燥空气。
我会肿。经期之前，武吉知马山快变成珠穆朗玛峰了！大姨妈一报到，马上又恢复了。伸缩性怎么那么好啊⋯⋯
我会胖。一不小心吃太多，不知不觉就会从脸胖到脚踝。这时为什么伸缩性就没那么好啊？！
今天，我又酸又干又肿，还吃了好一堆冰淇淋，第四“会”可能离我不远了⋯⋯
Driving!
Not me :p
Just back from grocery shopping with M. This was the first time that I went grocery shopping somewhere that wasn't accessible by public transport.
But M drove..
For the first time in the US!
I wasn't scared. But if it was the other way round, she should be scared, hoho! Well, I must learn to eventually drive around here! The car-share here is so much better than that in Sg - enough free miles to drive for hours!
So we went to Aldi and Market Place on Oakton St, and got a lot of food at very affordable prices - too bad I went shopping yesterday as well so I missed out on cheaper fresh produce today.. Bought more frozen food instead :p
And see what we found in the freezer section!
Drool... M said she saw these in Chinatown before but never knew what they were. Good stuff :)
We tried to pump petrol twice on the way back. First time, we didn't know what to do - in Chile, some guys would help with the petrol; in Singapore, well, I don't know! Second time, somehow we couldn't get the driver ID to show so we had to give up! We didn't leave an empty fuel tank of course; it was just under a quarter full.. Then, cos we ran out of time, we parked the car at its lot and lugged all our food home with us - it was a lot for two of us!
But we did it.. Exercise for the week - checked. Frozen food for six months - checked!
Just back from grocery shopping with M. This was the first time that I went grocery shopping somewhere that wasn't accessible by public transport.
But M drove..
For the first time in the US!
I wasn't scared. But if it was the other way round, she should be scared, hoho! Well, I must learn to eventually drive around here! The car-share here is so much better than that in Sg - enough free miles to drive for hours!
So we went to Aldi and Market Place on Oakton St, and got a lot of food at very affordable prices - too bad I went shopping yesterday as well so I missed out on cheaper fresh produce today.. Bought more frozen food instead :p
And see what we found in the freezer section!
Drool... M said she saw these in Chinatown before but never knew what they were. Good stuff :)
We tried to pump petrol twice on the way back. First time, we didn't know what to do - in Chile, some guys would help with the petrol; in Singapore, well, I don't know! Second time, somehow we couldn't get the driver ID to show so we had to give up! We didn't leave an empty fuel tank of course; it was just under a quarter full.. Then, cos we ran out of time, we parked the car at its lot and lugged all our food home with us - it was a lot for two of us!
But we did it.. Exercise for the week - checked. Frozen food for six months - checked!
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Randomising in Evanston
Eight for the coming CNY!
1)
I'm kind of grateful that it's winter here - the gorilla mf is well hidden under jeans or tights! I'll see how long I can tahan before I must shave. Wait, I don't have a shaver. Looks like I'm going to be comparable to Sito before long!
2)
Presentable feet finally! I have been using my very expensive scrub and moisturiser from Nail Palace for the past two weeks. My soles are no longer cracking as much, and the old cracks are healing pretty well :) I was very glad cos pilates instructor held my feet during the lesson, phew! It could have been really disgusting for her and embarrassing for me!
3)
Was doing some really simple mat work like lifting legs when Sito walked in.
Sito: That's pilates?
mf: Um, ya, I'm starting from basics..
Oh yes, I do a lot more in my semi-private lesson at US$40 an hour!
4)
Watch The King's Speech with the girls on Tuesday. Simply adore the scene where the BBC broadcaster prepared himself for reading the news! And of course, Colin Firth :)
5)
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a woman taking a photo of a bare shrub. When I walked nearer, I realised that the shrub was full of fat sparrows! I didn't have my camera with me though.. And today on the way back from the supermarket, I saw those fat sparrows perched on the same shrub again! And again, no camera.. But I told them they were cute.
6)
Bought B&J today - two for US$5, of course must buy! We have lost count of the number of tubs of ice cream we've had since August last year..
7)
Happily brought my new grocery cart to a further supermarket today, with full intention to stock up on frozen food! It was folded in my bag on the way there. On the way back, I realised that it was made for a shorter person *.*
8)
And I forgot to buy potatoes. So I went to the nearer but more expensive supermarket to get some. Then Sito told him he wasn't going for the evening events anymore - one cancelled and one not necessary. In that case, actually I wouldn't have needed the potatoes to make chicken pie which could easily be kept warm in oven. Bah.
Anyway, time to start cooking!
1)
I'm kind of grateful that it's winter here - the gorilla mf is well hidden under jeans or tights! I'll see how long I can tahan before I must shave. Wait, I don't have a shaver. Looks like I'm going to be comparable to Sito before long!
2)
Presentable feet finally! I have been using my very expensive scrub and moisturiser from Nail Palace for the past two weeks. My soles are no longer cracking as much, and the old cracks are healing pretty well :) I was very glad cos pilates instructor held my feet during the lesson, phew! It could have been really disgusting for her and embarrassing for me!
3)
Was doing some really simple mat work like lifting legs when Sito walked in.
Sito: That's pilates?
mf: Um, ya, I'm starting from basics..
Oh yes, I do a lot more in my semi-private lesson at US$40 an hour!
4)
Watch The King's Speech with the girls on Tuesday. Simply adore the scene where the BBC broadcaster prepared himself for reading the news! And of course, Colin Firth :)
5)
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a woman taking a photo of a bare shrub. When I walked nearer, I realised that the shrub was full of fat sparrows! I didn't have my camera with me though.. And today on the way back from the supermarket, I saw those fat sparrows perched on the same shrub again! And again, no camera.. But I told them they were cute.
6)
Bought B&J today - two for US$5, of course must buy! We have lost count of the number of tubs of ice cream we've had since August last year..
7)
Happily brought my new grocery cart to a further supermarket today, with full intention to stock up on frozen food! It was folded in my bag on the way there. On the way back, I realised that it was made for a shorter person *.*
8)
And I forgot to buy potatoes. So I went to the nearer but more expensive supermarket to get some. Then Sito told him he wasn't going for the evening events anymore - one cancelled and one not necessary. In that case, actually I wouldn't have needed the potatoes to make chicken pie which could easily be kept warm in oven. Bah.
Anyway, time to start cooking!
Monday, 17 January 2011
Unexpected adventure with pilates!
S and I went for our first semi-private pilates lesson today and we were pretty excited about it. Little did we know that the journeys to and from the studio were also going to be very exciting!
It wasn't too cold, thankfully. But it was freaking slippery! As I approached the traffic light, I saw a girl slip on the other side of the road. And I was reminded that WY fell in Chicago years ago and suffered a hairline fracture on her tail bone.. Only one thought consumed me for the rest of the walk - don't slip!
Oh but slide I did! I almost couldn't come to a stop at the next traffic light! Think I literally slid a foot or so!
Anyway, I reached the studio in one piece.. Pilates turned out to be less of an adventure in comparison.. The mat was tough for me as usual - couldn't do all the roll-ups and leg lifts etc. But the reformer was good - I could do all the exercises and feel the stretch. Hopefully I can improve with time :)
Then, we had to head home, and we were dreading it.. We started sliding after a few steps! Held on to each other for dear life... No, we would only get sore from pilates and not get bruised from falling down! We turned into a small alley - tarmac instead of brick pavement, a lot more friction.. But we hit an icy patch just as a car pulled to a stop in front of us, kindly waiting for us to pass it. So we steadied ourselves with the car :p .. We said sorry! :p
Luckily, both of us got back safely..
Time to ditch the pretty boots for the ugly snow boots! Ok la, actually my snow boots aren't that ugly, just super chunky and a difficult all-white!
It wasn't too cold, thankfully. But it was freaking slippery! As I approached the traffic light, I saw a girl slip on the other side of the road. And I was reminded that WY fell in Chicago years ago and suffered a hairline fracture on her tail bone.. Only one thought consumed me for the rest of the walk - don't slip!
Oh but slide I did! I almost couldn't come to a stop at the next traffic light! Think I literally slid a foot or so!
Anyway, I reached the studio in one piece.. Pilates turned out to be less of an adventure in comparison.. The mat was tough for me as usual - couldn't do all the roll-ups and leg lifts etc. But the reformer was good - I could do all the exercises and feel the stretch. Hopefully I can improve with time :)
Then, we had to head home, and we were dreading it.. We started sliding after a few steps! Held on to each other for dear life... No, we would only get sore from pilates and not get bruised from falling down! We turned into a small alley - tarmac instead of brick pavement, a lot more friction.. But we hit an icy patch just as a car pulled to a stop in front of us, kindly waiting for us to pass it. So we steadied ourselves with the car :p .. We said sorry! :p
Luckily, both of us got back safely..
Time to ditch the pretty boots for the ugly snow boots! Ok la, actually my snow boots aren't that ugly, just super chunky and a difficult all-white!
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Of bins and boxes
Was sorting my photos for backup when I came across a lot of pictures that I had wanted to post but never had the time to! Some of these are a few years old but I'll post anyway.. I'll just take my time doing so..
I'll start with basic public facilities.. Rubbish bins and post boxes!
Sito and I had our first excursion at the zoo during the March school holidays in 2007. We must be looking around for a rubbish bin cos otherwise, these were too well camouflaged to be noticed! :p
Zebraprintz prints
Should be leopard prints here..
How about tiger prints?
My favourite - giraffe prints! No, actually I like giraffes but not for their prints; I like them for their ossicones! :)
Colourful rubbish bins can be found elsewhere too! I forgot where I saw this though..
And some time in March 2007, I started to notice colourful post boxes.. I think I saw this in Chinatown - quite cool, the Chang E-lookalike is using a laptop! Presumably on the moon? :p
Don't remember where this is but I think it's near City Hall / Bugis area..?
Don't remember where this is either, perhaps near some 4D place since we had no casino back then?
Another one whose location slips my mind... Fishy..
This was taken near MICA - I like this a lot
I like this one too! So eerily cute! :)
Looks like some lonely junction..
There are a lot more but I've been lazy taking pictures :p I thought it's really fun to have some colours in our public facilities. I do like the British pillar post boxes - very recognisable with its shape and colour - but these fancy stuff are quite cool too and jazz up the surroundings so instead of a dull metallic or white box standing in the middle of nowhere, we have pictures that are somehow related to the area. mf likes :)
I'll start with basic public facilities.. Rubbish bins and post boxes!
Sito and I had our first excursion at the zoo during the March school holidays in 2007. We must be looking around for a rubbish bin cos otherwise, these were too well camouflaged to be noticed! :p
Zebra
Should be leopard prints here..
How about tiger prints?
My favourite - giraffe prints! No, actually I like giraffes but not for their prints; I like them for their ossicones! :)
Colourful rubbish bins can be found elsewhere too! I forgot where I saw this though..
And some time in March 2007, I started to notice colourful post boxes.. I think I saw this in Chinatown - quite cool, the Chang E-lookalike is using a laptop! Presumably on the moon? :p
Don't remember where this is but I think it's near City Hall / Bugis area..?
Don't remember where this is either, perhaps near some 4D place since we had no casino back then?
Another one whose location slips my mind... Fishy..
This was taken near MICA - I like this a lot
I like this one too! So eerily cute! :)
Looks like some lonely junction..
There are a lot more but I've been lazy taking pictures :p I thought it's really fun to have some colours in our public facilities. I do like the British pillar post boxes - very recognisable with its shape and colour - but these fancy stuff are quite cool too and jazz up the surroundings so instead of a dull metallic or white box standing in the middle of nowhere, we have pictures that are somehow related to the area. mf likes :)
Saturday, 15 January 2011
About being a housewife
Seems that some people think it amazing that I’ve “given up my work” to be here with Sito. One of my ex-colleagues even asked me if I didn't find it a waste to be a housewife / stay-at-home mum. Hmmm, no :) And a while back at the supermarket, I bumped into T and we were talking about what we would be doing here while the husbands studied...
T: You don’t seem like the family type..
mf: *.*
Many years ago, my Japanese teacher asked who would want to be a housewife. New vocab or something. I raised my hand cos I misunderstood it to be whether I liked some house thing - I forgot. Anyway, it showed how bad my Japanese was. Is. When I got it clarified, I didn't think much about it and maintained that raised hand. Seemed natural to me. After all, Mother was a housewife.
Alas, I didn't understand the reality of life then. Life is better with two incomes. We just have to ensure that we have time for other things as well.
So, to be a housewife now is a luxury! And I'm totally enjoying it :) Next week, the wives are going to watch Black Swan and/or The King's Speech! Very excited about it. I haven't watched a movie since we came back. Unfortunately, Sito had no time to go..
But, as a housewife, I also have my insecurities – am I getting fat? Am I laying my mind to waste with all the dramas I'm watching? Am I getting on Sito's nerves with my meal planning and mundane stuff? Will I be able to ease back into full-time work in 2012?
Well, at least I'm conscious of it! So I want to learn things besides watching dramas! I finally started on Spanish this week. And next Monday, I'm going for semi-private pilates with S, following which I'll do mat work on my own at home and try to head for the gym at least once a week. I read a book last week - fiction - and am now starting on one of Sito's chim but interesting books. Um, we brought a lot of books over! I go for a class on managerial leadership on Wednesdays, and even submitted homework! I'm the marketing rep (somehow!) of the JV Club so I can have a circle that is almost like work, make me think and speak up.
And at the same time, I manage the household - physically, financially and even mentally as we talk through obstacles and difficulties in our lives. Mostly difficulties in his work but we are a team!
So this housewife is, in my opinion, not bad at all! :)
T: You don’t seem like the family type..
mf: *.*
Many years ago, my Japanese teacher asked who would want to be a housewife. New vocab or something. I raised my hand cos I misunderstood it to be whether I liked some house thing - I forgot. Anyway, it showed how bad my Japanese was. Is. When I got it clarified, I didn't think much about it and maintained that raised hand. Seemed natural to me. After all, Mother was a housewife.
Alas, I didn't understand the reality of life then. Life is better with two incomes. We just have to ensure that we have time for other things as well.
So, to be a housewife now is a luxury! And I'm totally enjoying it :) Next week, the wives are going to watch Black Swan and/or The King's Speech! Very excited about it. I haven't watched a movie since we came back. Unfortunately, Sito had no time to go..
But, as a housewife, I also have my insecurities – am I getting fat? Am I laying my mind to waste with all the dramas I'm watching? Am I getting on Sito's nerves with my meal planning and mundane stuff? Will I be able to ease back into full-time work in 2012?
Well, at least I'm conscious of it! So I want to learn things besides watching dramas! I finally started on Spanish this week. And next Monday, I'm going for semi-private pilates with S, following which I'll do mat work on my own at home and try to head for the gym at least once a week. I read a book last week - fiction - and am now starting on one of Sito's chim but interesting books. Um, we brought a lot of books over! I go for a class on managerial leadership on Wednesdays, and even submitted homework! I'm the marketing rep (somehow!) of the JV Club so I can have a circle that is almost like work, make me think and speak up.
And at the same time, I manage the household - physically, financially and even mentally as we talk through obstacles and difficulties in our lives. Mostly difficulties in his work but we are a team!
So this housewife is, in my opinion, not bad at all! :)
在我仅有的发泄空间里发泄情绪
常在Facebook看到朋友出游的照片，或一些生活照，无忧无虑的，很羡慕。
我们现在处于高压时期，很难放松，话题总离不开工作。屋里弥漫着一股阴暗、负面的气息，好压迫。在这期间，鼻子也感受到压迫，每天都在跟我闹脾气。而我，没有办法闹脾气，只能挺着百分百的乐观，尽量疏解压迫的空气。
想要改变，难免要付出些代价。我知道不容易，但我能力范围有限，我只能继续支持老公，给他忙些小事，让他去忙重要的。
我期待着我们再次无忧无虑地过日子⋯⋯
我们现在处于高压时期，很难放松，话题总离不开工作。屋里弥漫着一股阴暗、负面的气息，好压迫。在这期间，鼻子也感受到压迫，每天都在跟我闹脾气。而我，没有办法闹脾气，只能挺着百分百的乐观，尽量疏解压迫的空气。
想要改变，难免要付出些代价。我知道不容易，但我能力范围有限，我只能继续支持老公，给他忙些小事，让他去忙重要的。
我期待着我们再次无忧无虑地过日子⋯⋯
Friday, 14 January 2011
Walking in the snow
We decided to go to Futami for dinner yesterday, have some fish, some brain food. When we came out of the restaurant, it was snowing!
I think the last time I walked in the snow was in 8 Jan 2003! I remember cos I went to Scotland on my own and I was rather hoping it would snow on my birthday, and it did!
The first time was in Fiesole, Italy in December 1999. Travel mates and I were walking through some Roman structure when it started snowing. That was the first time I saw snow :)
But it was so damn cold! My jeans were thin, my coat didn't cover my ass, and I might have been wearing sandals cos my big toe was a little swollen then!
Went skiing the following spring but I didn't think it was snowing. It was just covered with snow.
It snowed a couple of times in Oxford. The first year, I was in France/Italy. The second year, it snowed overnight. So nop, no walking in the snow..
And last night, we hurried to the bank to get some money after dinner, and hurried home. But outside McManus, I couldn't help tapping the snow under the shrubs with my shoe :p I was surprised at how soft it was! The day before, I dug a finger into an inch of snow on a garbage can (!) and found it icy cos the snow was more than a day old by then. Yesterday, it was fresh snow :)
Sito said he did it all the time and lifted up one foot to step into the snow. I squealed! I don't know why but I found it so fun! Or funny? :)
But well, it wasn't a romantic walk la. Cold with snow slapping our faces. Can't even hold hands! But fun, it was :)
I think the last time I walked in the snow was in 8 Jan 2003! I remember cos I went to Scotland on my own and I was rather hoping it would snow on my birthday, and it did!
The first time was in Fiesole, Italy in December 1999. Travel mates and I were walking through some Roman structure when it started snowing. That was the first time I saw snow :)
But it was so damn cold! My jeans were thin, my coat didn't cover my ass, and I might have been wearing sandals cos my big toe was a little swollen then!
Went skiing the following spring but I didn't think it was snowing. It was just covered with snow.
It snowed a couple of times in Oxford. The first year, I was in France/Italy. The second year, it snowed overnight. So nop, no walking in the snow..
And last night, we hurried to the bank to get some money after dinner, and hurried home. But outside McManus, I couldn't help tapping the snow under the shrubs with my shoe :p I was surprised at how soft it was! The day before, I dug a finger into an inch of snow on a garbage can (!) and found it icy cos the snow was more than a day old by then. Yesterday, it was fresh snow :)
Sito said he did it all the time and lifted up one foot to step into the snow. I squealed! I don't know why but I found it so fun! Or funny? :)
But well, it wasn't a romantic walk la. Cold with snow slapping our faces. Can't even hold hands! But fun, it was :)
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Thoughts on parenting
No! Don't do that!
Heard this from a mother some time ago: One of the first words spoken by kids - at least Singaporean kids - is "no", not because it's phonetically easy (that came from me, deep in the language module of my Montessori course at that time), but because we keep saying "no" to them!
We say no to everything - when the kid keeps hitting his rattler on the chair, when he starts to cry, when he points to the TV.
Well, I imagine - perhaps not too wrongly - that many Singaporean parents don't really say "don't do that" (or better, divert the kid's attention to something else). No, Singaporeans abbreviate everything - "don't do this" = "no". But we understand one another.
Thing is, the kids understand too. And one day, unlucky parents find kids saying "no" to them.
They say no to everything too - when parents ask them to do homework, wash dishes, quit that computer.. Or if they're nicer kids, they say "later".
Of course I'm being extreme but I do have some (high) degree of resentment at all the "no's" when I was growing up.
Last Sunday, WSJ carried an article on Amy Chua's book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother". And today, I read all sorts of love-hate comments on the article, the book and the author.
No, I'm not going into the book but the discussion reminds me of my own upbringing, peppered with "no's". Like joining the choir in primary/secondary school - who proudly told me to sing to relatives when she heard me sing to a song on the radio? (I later went ahead regardless to join the choir in NJ but gave that up for CLDDS.) Like shortening the hem of my pinafores and GG skirt - they were calf-length omg! (Senior intervened for GG skirt cos I made our parade troop un-uniform!) Like going out with my friends, or until late at night.
Mother is lucky. She didn't get a lot of "no's" from me in my teens. After that, I'm independent and I no longer need to answer to her. I've come to the conclusion that those who keep saying no don't really know anything at all.
There are other things to say besides "no". If they're wrong, tell them, yes, but also tell them why. If it's not a right or wrong thing, or if they're too young to understand, divert them elsewhere, don't make them feel rejected.
PS: I suddenly remember this thing about learning to say no. If kids are brought up to have a clear sense of right and wrong, we can trust them to say no at the right time.
Please? Thanks!
Had meant to end with above but I had a flashback of this incident.
Last month in Singapore, I was heading for Orchard one day and was waiting at the traffic light outside our rented apartment. An angmoh lady and her boy of maybe six years old walked up next to me, waiting for the light too. The boy stopped at the edge of the pavement, and the mum simply said, "Could you take a step back, please?" And that wasn't all. When the boy did astold asked, she thanked him!
Wow. I cannot imagine Mother doing either of that! Please and thanks? WOW!
But really, is it something to wow about? Only because I've never experienced that. Strange that she would be nice and courteous to everyone but her kids! Cos "you won't be here without me"? Bah! (I got that line from Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.)
Heard this from a mother some time ago: One of the first words spoken by kids - at least Singaporean kids - is "no", not because it's phonetically easy (that came from me, deep in the language module of my Montessori course at that time), but because we keep saying "no" to them!
We say no to everything - when the kid keeps hitting his rattler on the chair, when he starts to cry, when he points to the TV.
Well, I imagine - perhaps not too wrongly - that many Singaporean parents don't really say "don't do that" (or better, divert the kid's attention to something else). No, Singaporeans abbreviate everything - "don't do this" = "no". But we understand one another.
Thing is, the kids understand too. And one day, unlucky parents find kids saying "no" to them.
They say no to everything too - when parents ask them to do homework, wash dishes, quit that computer.. Or if they're nicer kids, they say "later".
Of course I'm being extreme but I do have some (high) degree of resentment at all the "no's" when I was growing up.
Last Sunday, WSJ carried an article on Amy Chua's book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother". And today, I read all sorts of love-hate comments on the article, the book and the author.
No, I'm not going into the book but the discussion reminds me of my own upbringing, peppered with "no's". Like joining the choir in primary/secondary school - who proudly told me to sing to relatives when she heard me sing to a song on the radio? (I later went ahead regardless to join the choir in NJ but gave that up for CLDDS.) Like shortening the hem of my pinafores and GG skirt - they were calf-length omg! (Senior intervened for GG skirt cos I made our parade troop un-uniform!) Like going out with my friends, or until late at night.
Mother is lucky. She didn't get a lot of "no's" from me in my teens. After that, I'm independent and I no longer need to answer to her. I've come to the conclusion that those who keep saying no don't really know anything at all.
There are other things to say besides "no". If they're wrong, tell them, yes, but also tell them why. If it's not a right or wrong thing, or if they're too young to understand, divert them elsewhere, don't make them feel rejected.
PS: I suddenly remember this thing about learning to say no. If kids are brought up to have a clear sense of right and wrong, we can trust them to say no at the right time.
Please? Thanks!
Had meant to end with above but I had a flashback of this incident.
Last month in Singapore, I was heading for Orchard one day and was waiting at the traffic light outside our rented apartment. An angmoh lady and her boy of maybe six years old walked up next to me, waiting for the light too. The boy stopped at the edge of the pavement, and the mum simply said, "Could you take a step back, please?" And that wasn't all. When the boy did as
Wow. I cannot imagine Mother doing either of that! Please and thanks? WOW!
But really, is it something to wow about? Only because I've never experienced that. Strange that she would be nice and courteous to everyone but her kids! Cos "you won't be here without me"? Bah! (I got that line from Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.)
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Sito & mf :)
Wow, it’s been a year and a half since we got married legally, and a year since our customary wedding!
Guess it’s time to take stock, starting from say, 2008? Oops, was too busy to write earlier :p And today is like 良辰吉日 11.1.11! So here we go..
The first step
Mr Sito’s proposal was, to quote someone, “epic”. I can’t help smiling whenever I recall the events of that day :) Besides the story itself, what’s most touching to me is that he made that effort knowing that I didn’t need anything elaborate :)
So, the story.. We came back from Hong Kong, dropped our bags and headed off to a family dinner. But there was no dinner. Just this hanging on the “tree behind the cannonball tree” :)
When I first saw it, I thought it read “Merry Xmas”! And even when I saw it correctly, I thought it belonged to someone else at first!
The photo above was taken some time later when we retrieved the card from Jas who helped stage the grand plan along with Alex.
What followed was quite a whirlwind...
Home sweet home
Mum (then-Auntie la :p) was first and foremost concerned about housing. Somehow, we thought HV was a great area and that a three-room flat would suffice. And suddenly on Saturday, 10 Jan 2009, we found ourselves on the way to view 11 flats in that area! In fact, Super Mum’s Super Agent arranged for 12 actually but one pulled out.
Some of the flats were really small, or next to the MRT tracks, or the owners didn’t really seem interested in selling. But one really caught our attention: corner unit, upgraded with a utility room, high floor. By the very next Wednesday or so, we had decided on it and negotiated for a lower COV. Within another couple of weeks, we signed everything and were just waiting for the first appointment at HDB in March!
Weren’t we glad we had Super Agent! We were cutting really close to the appointment time but he was there to bring us to where we needed to be :) Think he also settled the second appointment for us – we weren’t even there!
And weren’t we glad we bought the flat when we did! Many were saying that the prices would drop at the end of the year but well, it climbed! It wasn’t cheap but it wasn’t exceedingly expensive either. Happy :)
Got Master Jin Zi Long to come over to look at the fengshui before we engaged an interior designer. He was quite funny and gave us additional non-fengshui advice like it was better to have a wall separating living room and kitchen so that children wouldn’t get to the kitchen easily as it could be dangerous – we had to reconfirm with him that fengshui-wise, it was alright to take down that wall :p
Kudos to them, HDB was very helpful in responding to my many queries on whether we could have two A/C compressor in a three-room flat, whether we could drill a pipe hole in wall A or wall B, and even how many inductor hobs we could have!
Armed with information, we went hunting for fixtures like oven and toilet bowl* to be built into our renovation. Gave a whole list of dimensions etc to our ID Ixe. He gave us a lot of ideas – he’s the everything-must-look-good kind of chap but we were too slack.. E.g. we scrapped the boxed-in shelves cos we didn’t want to clean! When discussing colours, Sito and he could see eye-to-eye, so we now have a brownish interior rather than, say, bright yellow! Bah! :p
* Yes, the toilet bowl – one of my favourite items in the house :) I called up so many people! Finally, we have a toto toilet bowl with a cistern that comes with a tap so that you can flush, wash your hands and the water from washing hands will go into the cistern for the next flush! We also have a bidet seat. Happy!
We took turns to go to the flat during lunch time to look at the works, wait for deliveries.. Oh, Pinky perished there one afternoon.. Everything was done by October, finally!
Photos were taken by ID later in February 2010, and placed in the March issue of Square Rooms! By then we were pretty cluttered but we cleared stuff for the photoshoot and they added some décor :p
After some cleaning, we did a mega AMK-West Coast-HV move in November. But we already did an “official moving-in” on 25 Oct 2009. We went to our flat in the morning and started cooking a sweet dessert! Also switched on all the lights and appliances. The dessert took a long time but we ate it in the end :p And we made a voice recording too :)
Wedding shots
At first, I was thinking perhaps we didn’t need to take pictures, make an album etc. Then Sito said something wise, “If so, you’d better not regret it when you’re 60...”
Um, ok, better take pictures :p
There was a wedding show in Suntec so we went. I naively thought that it would be everything, from gowns to dinner packages but it was just a whole hall of bridal studios! We didn’t know what we wanted so we left rather quickly after being literally swamped by sales persons!
So I went to recce during lunch since I worked in the Tanjong Pagar area. Talked to a couple of studios a day. It was very hot!!! But at least I shortlisted three, and brought Sito there one Saturday – the first one wasn’t open at our appointed time! We liked the second one so we took it without looking at the third one. Done!
Took leave on 18 Sep 2009 to take our wedding shots. We got to the studio at 9.30 am and ended only at 7 pm or so. It wasn't as easy as we thought.. The make-up, the hairstyles, the outfits and the poses - THE POSES!
Photographer: Ok, 美女, turn towards him.. A bit more.. More..
mf: Cannot turn already!
P: Look up a little.. and to your left.. back to right a bit.. look up a little more..
Us: *confused*
And...
P: Carry her and swirl around!
Sito: o_O
Nop, we cannot be models :p
Very happy to have Zo-san with us! He’s our precious!
We went to Yixing Xuan in the evening gown. Had some fun shots there, feeding each other dim sum and acting cute :p Angmohs took our pictures too, heh..
Went further downtown in our outdoor outfit. Um, ya.. Had a lot of fun at the Chinese and Indian temples!
Love this one – photographer told uncle to pose too!
Then while waiting for sunset, we went to St Andrew's Cathedral, City Hall and Fullerton. But in the end, we did not wait for full darkness – too long a wait! We went to our tree, took some shots and left!
On 2 Oct 2009, we went to see our photos. Strangely, many had us looking down at the floor... First, it was just me.
"Is that a rat?"
"Yes, it is."
Hohoho! Ok, imagined conversation...
We were pretty good - or rather, ruthless! - at choosing photos. In the end we only paid $100 for an additional pose ($60) and to take back one more pose without putting it in the album and photoshop ($40). To have another album page would have cost $110 more!
While choosing the album cover, we looked at other people's albums. One showed a booby air stewardess and her 道明寺-lookalike husband. Sito couldn't forget her for two days – bleah. I almost wrote a post “我不喜欢大奶的空姐” *.*
Made a photo montage for our wedding party using iMovie – it was tough! But I did it! *proud* We played a silent video to a CD for convenience. I only just attached a random song from youtube to the montage so that it’s not like my windy post :p
过大礼
No one knew what to do so we aga :p
On 21 Nov 2009, Sito and his sister brought over:
8 cans of pig trotters
2 cans of abalone
2 packs of dried scallops
2 bottles of wine
8 oranges
2 boxes of wedding cakes (quite yummy :p)
2 boxes of candles
1 ang bao labelled 离乳 for mother – some diaper money thing..
1 betrothal gift (effectively ang bao!)
Jewellery – pretty! I borrowed them for wedding shots earlier :p
Mother returned half the zhujiao, abalone, dried scallops and candles, exchanged oranges, and gave them the 安床 stuff that Sito helped me buy (!), with tea pot and tea cups; and 3/4 of the betrothal gift, and two bottles of orange juice.. And of course ang baos for all of his family.
Um, that’s it :p
Oh, after that Sito and I went out, I think :p
Wedding ceremony and PARTY!
We were legally wed on 3 Jun 2009. On 5 Dec 2009, we had our traditional wedding ceremony in the morning and a celebration in the evening.
The latter date was given by the same fengshui master. It didn’t clash with anything. And it was a Saturday, which was important cos of our relatives from Malacca.
BUT! It was not mathematically significant!!
Yes, that is important :)
So we had our ROM on 03.06.09 first :p
That also gave us more time to prepare for 5 Dec 2009, which involved quite a bit of work.. So we have the flat, the wedding shots and the various ceremonies.
I’m glad that Sito..left most of the planning to me! Haha! Kidding.. Actually, I did most of the drafts with some preliminary discussions, before discussing the details with him. It was easier than starting with full details without having some draft plans first.. Some stuff, like the wording on the formal wedding invite, was further vetted by Mum. Skype helped us – we did all this planning online! :p And with everything settled beforehand, the day went by smoothly..
Woke at 6.15 am to shower etc. My make-up artist Vivi had to do another bride that morning and arranged another to do my hair before she came to do my face later. Vivi was better than the other one especially when it came to advice on hairstyles to go with the outfits so I wasn't terribly pleased but I made do - I mean, bo bian right?!
We started at 6.50 am and photographer JK arrived at 7.00 am sharp - super on time! According to my clock anyway.. And he went about snapping me in my pyjamas having my hair done, moving my armchair and clothes rack out of the way..
When Vivi came, she commented that my mirror was really "big".. And since she couldn't do make-up in yellow light anyway, we moved to the other room with white light and a full-length mirror. Which meant that we didn’t get many photos of my nice room.. Oh well!
Along the way, the jiemeis arrived one by one! Almost forgot to give them their wrist corsages :p While I was having my hair and make-up done, they came in to ask me questions.. They needed the answers cos they were going to ask Sito!
Later, I realised that they’d gone out to get some ingredients to make four “dishes” of 酸甜苦辣 – my lovely jiemeis :)
Grams, Ah Yee and ML’s parents also came by – I hardly spoke with them, especially Grams, given all the activities. To think that I wouldn’t have many opportunities after that, sighs..
We were barely done when the boys arrived!
We had ML’s parents put the veil over me, and then, it was a little waiting...
My door was closed, and I sat there feeling pretty and cute, AND knowing that I WAS actually pretty and cute haha!
Heard a lot of sounds out there… These happened:
And all the questioning..
1) fav food / cuisine (Jap, prawns)
2) 认识几年 （10）
3) no. of ballroom dancing competitions (3)
4) (it was struck out on photo – paper was thrown!)
5) venue/date of first (something... cannot see!)
6) no. of shoes (paper seems to say 30 but, really??)
7) no. of children she wants (4 :p)
8) no. of (something again..)
9) what is your favourite number? (9)
Jiemeis, if you remember, tell me ok?
Just before Sito came into the room, JK came in to position himself for photos, and he said, “Your husband can really talk!” Apparently, he didn’t know the answer to the last question and talked himself out of it! That’s my Sito :)
Glad we took pictures cos Grams wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t wait for the return..
And we left for his place for the tea ceremony
Had some snacks after that.. Lucian was so cute!
We almost forgot to take photos with the family! Turned back from the carpark :p
The brothers and sisters! Thanks, everyone :)
We then went back to our place to change. Tada!
But not before we had Lucian jump on our bed! So cute!
And I threw the bouquet! CY got it! :)
Just realised it was a bit weird to throw it wearing the Chinese dress :p
And now, back to my place, where there was only Mother cos the rest left with Grams.
Had lunch after that – whole day of food :p
The party dispersed from there.. Sito took a nap while I busied myself with packing for..
Dinner celebration!
Signboard – ok
Video – ok
CD – ok
Positions of champagne and cake table – not ok.. Now ok..
Rehearsal – ok
Ready to roll!
After my make-up was done, I asked Na to ask Sito if he needed me to go out. Affirmative! Too many guests for him to handle!
So I picked up my dress and headed out!
It was so fun!
I love a party, especially when I’m host :p
We eventually marched in, to the tune of Swing de Chocobo!
Yup, after shortlisting and shortlisting, we decided on a swing and no less than the Chocobo’s! If we could, we would ride on one haha! So cute :) The Chocobo, I mean..
It was honestly quite a blur.. We cut the cake, a real three-tier cake from Pine Garden that was so prettily decorated but went unnoticed by the couple who was focused on the cutting :p Luckily our photographers took a photo:
We went for the cake tasting a few months before - it was really fun cos we got to try some 10 favours all at one go! Satisfied the glutton in me :)
Then we had about two courses before we disappeared to change into our dance gear!
The whole evening was smooth and relaxing apart from this nerve wrecking 2-minute segment!
But it was fun la :) And meaningful to us too :)
After the dance, we poured the champagne and had a little toast. No yam seng unfortunately cos we didn’t have enough support for a good yam seng, and no yam seng is an yam seng unless it’s good! :p Then we made a little speech. We were so nervous! We didn’t write it down properly so well, nothing here!
Then we realised we didn’t have enough time. We were supposed to dance before the fish but the fish got to be served when it was ready so we went after the fish. So we said hi to our relatives, then split to talk to our respective friends. Quite weird but we really did want to say hi to everyone! No table shots as well so that the brothers could enjoy their meal (and whisky!) properly. But we took some photos here and there anyway.. The one with NPS was amazing!
And so, there we are, legally and customarily married :)
The aftermath
That meant opening up the ang bao..! Read and loved the little notes (written notes, not *just* cash notes :p) from some of our friends :) And then it took us a while more to dump everything into the cash deposit machine cos it was Sunday and we didn’t dare leave them in an empty house for a few days..
We had so many people asking us where we were going for our honeymoon. Well, we are always going on holidays together anyway so I don’t see how the trip after our wedding is any special.. And no employee should have the time to take a month-long holiday anyway! But I’ve taken to asking other couples where they’re going for honeymoon since it seems such an appropriate thing to ask, haha! Anyway... So we didn’t really think about a holiday, much less the need for a “honeymoon”. We thought about going to Sarawak or Sabah but there were no tickets. We ended up settling for KL, and got our flights and hotel maybe two weeks before we left :p
Can’t remember now what we did in KL :p But the word of the trip was “mong” – check out this verb at about 0:08 :p
Think it started on our flight, as we took Tiger Airways! Ok, random...
So, budget airline from budget terminal. It was our first time there, and we felt like we were in Malaysia already!
The below is based on photos, not memory :p
We stayed at Prince right across from Pavilion. It was so pretty cos Xmas was near!
Also took lots of pictures of Petronas Towers but we didn’t go up. Like these old buildings
We had a lot of food!
Yummy char siew in the Overseas Chinese Restaurant at Jalan Imbi, recommended by Jie
A&W!
Also had guilinggao at Jalan Petaling.
Claypot rice somewhere..
Always fried chicken :)
On our last day, I think, we had hakka food!
At the airport or somewhere, we bought some of these
But not this!
Back in Sg, we spent another week nua-ing at home, enjoying our PS3 and walking the neighbourhood. Turned out to be the only time we did that – when we were clearing leave before Kellogg, we were too ill for a while and there was too much packing to be done for us to enjoy ourselves in our matrimonial home. Hopefully, we’ll get to relax there again :)
Guess it’s time to take stock, starting from say, 2008? Oops, was too busy to write earlier :p And today is like 良辰吉日 11.1.11! So here we go..
The first step
Mr Sito’s proposal was, to quote someone, “epic”. I can’t help smiling whenever I recall the events of that day :) Besides the story itself, what’s most touching to me is that he made that effort knowing that I didn’t need anything elaborate :)
So, the story.. We came back from Hong Kong, dropped our bags and headed off to a family dinner. But there was no dinner. Just this hanging on the “tree behind the cannonball tree” :)
When I first saw it, I thought it read “Merry Xmas”! And even when I saw it correctly, I thought it belonged to someone else at first!
The photo above was taken some time later when we retrieved the card from Jas who helped stage the grand plan along with Alex.
What followed was quite a whirlwind...
Home sweet home
Mum (then-Auntie la :p) was first and foremost concerned about housing. Somehow, we thought HV was a great area and that a three-room flat would suffice. And suddenly on Saturday, 10 Jan 2009, we found ourselves on the way to view 11 flats in that area! In fact, Super Mum’s Super Agent arranged for 12 actually but one pulled out.
Some of the flats were really small, or next to the MRT tracks, or the owners didn’t really seem interested in selling. But one really caught our attention: corner unit, upgraded with a utility room, high floor. By the very next Wednesday or so, we had decided on it and negotiated for a lower COV. Within another couple of weeks, we signed everything and were just waiting for the first appointment at HDB in March!
Weren’t we glad we had Super Agent! We were cutting really close to the appointment time but he was there to bring us to where we needed to be :) Think he also settled the second appointment for us – we weren’t even there!
And weren’t we glad we bought the flat when we did! Many were saying that the prices would drop at the end of the year but well, it climbed! It wasn’t cheap but it wasn’t exceedingly expensive either. Happy :)
Got Master Jin Zi Long to come over to look at the fengshui before we engaged an interior designer. He was quite funny and gave us additional non-fengshui advice like it was better to have a wall separating living room and kitchen so that children wouldn’t get to the kitchen easily as it could be dangerous – we had to reconfirm with him that fengshui-wise, it was alright to take down that wall :p
Kudos to them, HDB was very helpful in responding to my many queries on whether we could have two A/C compressor in a three-room flat, whether we could drill a pipe hole in wall A or wall B, and even how many inductor hobs we could have!
Armed with information, we went hunting for fixtures like oven and toilet bowl* to be built into our renovation. Gave a whole list of dimensions etc to our ID Ixe. He gave us a lot of ideas – he’s the everything-must-look-good kind of chap but we were too slack.. E.g. we scrapped the boxed-in shelves cos we didn’t want to clean! When discussing colours, Sito and he could see eye-to-eye, so we now have a brownish interior rather than, say, bright yellow! Bah! :p
* Yes, the toilet bowl – one of my favourite items in the house :) I called up so many people! Finally, we have a toto toilet bowl with a cistern that comes with a tap so that you can flush, wash your hands and the water from washing hands will go into the cistern for the next flush! We also have a bidet seat. Happy!
We took turns to go to the flat during lunch time to look at the works, wait for deliveries.. Oh, Pinky perished there one afternoon.. Everything was done by October, finally!
Photos were taken by ID later in February 2010, and placed in the March issue of Square Rooms! By then we were pretty cluttered but we cleared stuff for the photoshoot and they added some décor :p
After some cleaning, we did a mega AMK-West Coast-HV move in November. But we already did an “official moving-in” on 25 Oct 2009. We went to our flat in the morning and started cooking a sweet dessert! Also switched on all the lights and appliances. The dessert took a long time but we ate it in the end :p And we made a voice recording too :)
Wedding shots
At first, I was thinking perhaps we didn’t need to take pictures, make an album etc. Then Sito said something wise, “If so, you’d better not regret it when you’re 60...”
Um, ok, better take pictures :p
There was a wedding show in Suntec so we went. I naively thought that it would be everything, from gowns to dinner packages but it was just a whole hall of bridal studios! We didn’t know what we wanted so we left rather quickly after being literally swamped by sales persons!
So I went to recce during lunch since I worked in the Tanjong Pagar area. Talked to a couple of studios a day. It was very hot!!! But at least I shortlisted three, and brought Sito there one Saturday – the first one wasn’t open at our appointed time! We liked the second one so we took it without looking at the third one. Done!
Took leave on 18 Sep 2009 to take our wedding shots. We got to the studio at 9.30 am and ended only at 7 pm or so. It wasn't as easy as we thought.. The make-up, the hairstyles, the outfits and the poses - THE POSES!
Photographer: Ok, 美女, turn towards him.. A bit more.. More..
mf: Cannot turn already!
P: Look up a little.. and to your left.. back to right a bit.. look up a little more..
Us: *confused*
And...
P: Carry her and swirl around!
Sito: o_O
Nop, we cannot be models :p
Very happy to have Zo-san with us! He’s our precious!
We went to Yixing Xuan in the evening gown. Had some fun shots there, feeding each other dim sum and acting cute :p Angmohs took our pictures too, heh..
Went further downtown in our outdoor outfit. Um, ya.. Had a lot of fun at the Chinese and Indian temples!
Love this one – photographer told uncle to pose too!
Then while waiting for sunset, we went to St Andrew's Cathedral, City Hall and Fullerton. But in the end, we did not wait for full darkness – too long a wait! We went to our tree, took some shots and left!
On 2 Oct 2009, we went to see our photos. Strangely, many had us looking down at the floor... First, it was just me.
"Is that a rat?"
"Yes, it is."
Hohoho! Ok, imagined conversation...
We were pretty good - or rather, ruthless! - at choosing photos. In the end we only paid $100 for an additional pose ($60) and to take back one more pose without putting it in the album and photoshop ($40). To have another album page would have cost $110 more!
While choosing the album cover, we looked at other people's albums. One showed a booby air stewardess and her 道明寺-lookalike husband. Sito couldn't forget her for two days – bleah. I almost wrote a post “我不喜欢大奶的空姐” *.*
Made a photo montage for our wedding party using iMovie – it was tough! But I did it! *proud* We played a silent video to a CD for convenience. I only just attached a random song from youtube to the montage so that it’s not like my windy post :p
过大礼
No one knew what to do so we aga :p
On 21 Nov 2009, Sito and his sister brought over:
8 cans of pig trotters
2 cans of abalone
2 packs of dried scallops
2 bottles of wine
8 oranges
2 boxes of wedding cakes (quite yummy :p)
2 boxes of candles
1 ang bao labelled 离乳 for mother – some diaper money thing..
1 betrothal gift (effectively ang bao!)
Jewellery – pretty! I borrowed them for wedding shots earlier :p
Mother returned half the zhujiao, abalone, dried scallops and candles, exchanged oranges, and gave them the 安床 stuff that Sito helped me buy (!), with tea pot and tea cups; and 3/4 of the betrothal gift, and two bottles of orange juice.. And of course ang baos for all of his family.
Um, that’s it :p
Oh, after that Sito and I went out, I think :p
Wedding ceremony and PARTY!
We were legally wed on 3 Jun 2009. On 5 Dec 2009, we had our traditional wedding ceremony in the morning and a celebration in the evening.
The latter date was given by the same fengshui master. It didn’t clash with anything. And it was a Saturday, which was important cos of our relatives from Malacca.
BUT! It was not mathematically significant!!
Yes, that is important :)
So we had our ROM on 03.06.09 first :p
That also gave us more time to prepare for 5 Dec 2009, which involved quite a bit of work.. So we have the flat, the wedding shots and the various ceremonies.
I’m glad that Sito..left most of the planning to me! Haha! Kidding.. Actually, I did most of the drafts with some preliminary discussions, before discussing the details with him. It was easier than starting with full details without having some draft plans first.. Some stuff, like the wording on the formal wedding invite, was further vetted by Mum. Skype helped us – we did all this planning online! :p And with everything settled beforehand, the day went by smoothly..
Woke at 6.15 am to shower etc. My make-up artist Vivi had to do another bride that morning and arranged another to do my hair before she came to do my face later. Vivi was better than the other one especially when it came to advice on hairstyles to go with the outfits so I wasn't terribly pleased but I made do - I mean, bo bian right?!
We started at 6.50 am and photographer JK arrived at 7.00 am sharp - super on time! According to my clock anyway.. And he went about snapping me in my pyjamas having my hair done, moving my armchair and clothes rack out of the way..
When Vivi came, she commented that my mirror was really "big".. And since she couldn't do make-up in yellow light anyway, we moved to the other room with white light and a full-length mirror. Which meant that we didn’t get many photos of my nice room.. Oh well!
Along the way, the jiemeis arrived one by one! Almost forgot to give them their wrist corsages :p While I was having my hair and make-up done, they came in to ask me questions.. They needed the answers cos they were going to ask Sito!
Later, I realised that they’d gone out to get some ingredients to make four “dishes” of 酸甜苦辣 – my lovely jiemeis :)
Grams, Ah Yee and ML’s parents also came by – I hardly spoke with them, especially Grams, given all the activities. To think that I wouldn’t have many opportunities after that, sighs..
We were barely done when the boys arrived!
We had ML’s parents put the veil over me, and then, it was a little waiting...
My door was closed, and I sat there feeling pretty and cute, AND knowing that I WAS actually pretty and cute haha!
Heard a lot of sounds out there… These happened:
And all the questioning..
1) fav food / cuisine (Jap, prawns)
2) 认识几年 （10）
3) no. of ballroom dancing competitions (3)
4) (it was struck out on photo – paper was thrown!)
5) venue/date of first (something... cannot see!)
6) no. of shoes (paper seems to say 30 but, really??)
7) no. of children she wants (4 :p)
8) no. of (something again..)
9) what is your favourite number? (9)
Jiemeis, if you remember, tell me ok?
Just before Sito came into the room, JK came in to position himself for photos, and he said, “Your husband can really talk!” Apparently, he didn’t know the answer to the last question and talked himself out of it! That’s my Sito :)
Glad we took pictures cos Grams wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t wait for the return..
And we left for his place for the tea ceremony
Had some snacks after that.. Lucian was so cute!
We almost forgot to take photos with the family! Turned back from the carpark :p
The brothers and sisters! Thanks, everyone :)
We then went back to our place to change. Tada!
But not before we had Lucian jump on our bed! So cute!
And I threw the bouquet! CY got it! :)
Just realised it was a bit weird to throw it wearing the Chinese dress :p
And now, back to my place, where there was only Mother cos the rest left with Grams.
Had lunch after that – whole day of food :p
The party dispersed from there.. Sito took a nap while I busied myself with packing for..
Dinner celebration!
Signboard – ok
Video – ok
CD – ok
Positions of champagne and cake table – not ok.. Now ok..
Rehearsal – ok
Ready to roll!
After my make-up was done, I asked Na to ask Sito if he needed me to go out. Affirmative! Too many guests for him to handle!
So I picked up my dress and headed out!
It was so fun!
I love a party, especially when I’m host :p
We eventually marched in, to the tune of Swing de Chocobo!
Yup, after shortlisting and shortlisting, we decided on a swing and no less than the Chocobo’s! If we could, we would ride on one haha! So cute :) The Chocobo, I mean..
It was honestly quite a blur.. We cut the cake, a real three-tier cake from Pine Garden that was so prettily decorated but went unnoticed by the couple who was focused on the cutting :p Luckily our photographers took a photo:
We went for the cake tasting a few months before - it was really fun cos we got to try some 10 favours all at one go! Satisfied the glutton in me :)
Then we had about two courses before we disappeared to change into our dance gear!
The whole evening was smooth and relaxing apart from this nerve wrecking 2-minute segment!
But it was fun la :) And meaningful to us too :)
After the dance, we poured the champagne and had a little toast. No yam seng unfortunately cos we didn’t have enough support for a good yam seng, and no yam seng is an yam seng unless it’s good! :p Then we made a little speech. We were so nervous! We didn’t write it down properly so well, nothing here!
Then we realised we didn’t have enough time. We were supposed to dance before the fish but the fish got to be served when it was ready so we went after the fish. So we said hi to our relatives, then split to talk to our respective friends. Quite weird but we really did want to say hi to everyone! No table shots as well so that the brothers could enjoy their meal (and whisky!) properly. But we took some photos here and there anyway.. The one with NPS was amazing!
And so, there we are, legally and customarily married :)
The aftermath
That meant opening up the ang bao..! Read and loved the little notes (written notes, not *just* cash notes :p) from some of our friends :) And then it took us a while more to dump everything into the cash deposit machine cos it was Sunday and we didn’t dare leave them in an empty house for a few days..
We had so many people asking us where we were going for our honeymoon. Well, we are always going on holidays together anyway so I don’t see how the trip after our wedding is any special.. And no employee should have the time to take a month-long holiday anyway! But I’ve taken to asking other couples where they’re going for honeymoon since it seems such an appropriate thing to ask, haha! Anyway... So we didn’t really think about a holiday, much less the need for a “honeymoon”. We thought about going to Sarawak or Sabah but there were no tickets. We ended up settling for KL, and got our flights and hotel maybe two weeks before we left :p
Can’t remember now what we did in KL :p But the word of the trip was “mong” – check out this verb at about 0:08 :p
Think it started on our flight, as we took Tiger Airways! Ok, random...
So, budget airline from budget terminal. It was our first time there, and we felt like we were in Malaysia already!
The below is based on photos, not memory :p
We stayed at Prince right across from Pavilion. It was so pretty cos Xmas was near!
Also took lots of pictures of Petronas Towers but we didn’t go up. Like these old buildings
We had a lot of food!
Yummy char siew in the Overseas Chinese Restaurant at Jalan Imbi, recommended by Jie
A&W!
Also had guilinggao at Jalan Petaling.
Claypot rice somewhere..
Always fried chicken :)
On our last day, I think, we had hakka food!
At the airport or somewhere, we bought some of these
But not this!
Back in Sg, we spent another week nua-ing at home, enjoying our PS3 and walking the neighbourhood. Turned out to be the only time we did that – when we were clearing leave before Kellogg, we were too ill for a while and there was too much packing to be done for us to enjoy ourselves in our matrimonial home. Hopefully, we’ll get to relax there again :)
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