重温《遇见II》，回顾新谣

As I mentioned, I attended a xinyao 新谣 concert on Friday, 8 May. I have been listening to 新谣 since I was a kid, but I'd never had the opportunity to attend a concert before this. I think there were a few in the 2010s? But I only knew years later *.* i.e. after my childbearing years, haha!

While I had little luck with concerts, I somehow managed to catch two musicals based on 新谣 - 天冷就回来 in 2014 and 新游记 last year.

The Friday concert was such a treat!

The SCO performance was accompanied by a written narration for each segment and the lyrics for each song on the big screen in both Chinese and English. Reading the lyrics brought about a revelation about myself.

When I first hear a song, I probably hear the tune before I get the lyrics. I have heard the second song《水的话》many times but never listened to the lyrics properly. So it was only on Friday that I realised that this song is about the natural water cycle from the pov of water!

I'm guessing this is coz the music sings to the heart but the lyrics need brain processing power? :p I remember songs where some words jump out at me and make me pause - the most recent one being “谁说站在光里的才算英雄” in《孤勇者》。But until I sit down properly to listen to the lyrics, I may not get the full idea of the song.

And it's worth sitting down properly to listen to all these songs coz 每一首歌都那么有画面感！That's of course through the lyrics but they are also brought alive through the tunes. 

It was so hard not to break into song! No wonder they had to remind the audience not to do just that before it all started :p But towards the end, I noticed the conductor mouthing “……感觉！” in the second last song - unfair! Hoho! Btw, this conductor Quek Ling Kiong very cool, I thought, and also very hot - he had a towel on the stand in front of him to wipe sweat after every segment!

I've decided to make two lists of songs, including my 感想:

1. Songs in the concert - all the lyrics and tunes were written by 梁文福 who went on stage at the end to thank everyone alongside the conductor. So in the list below, only the singers and year are included. 
2. Other 新谣 songs I like - not exhaustive coz I just discovered more (and added on) after posting this as Sito was letting YouTube auto-play on his laptop

Concert songs

Btw, the entire concert (version 2024) is available online. I found on Youtube but I think it's on Spotify as well, all sans the words so not exactly like the concert. The links below are for full songs.

1. 再一次遇见
Purely instrumental, but can recognise wisps of familiar songs within. A lead-in to the main course!

2. 遇见生命

《写一首歌给你》｜梁文福、黄譓赪｜1984｜Link

一首适合在夜深人静时听的歌，最好闭上眼，跟歌曲轻晃……

《水的话》｜颜黎明｜1984｜Link
Yes, the water cycle song. But the music places the poetry before the science, especially with such a lovely voice. I really enjoyed her voice when I was a kid. 《我们这一班》is not in the concert but whenever I think of 颜黎明，I always think of that song.

3. 遇见青春

《一步一步来》｜梁文福｜1987｜Link
This song depicts the Singapore life, in the 1980s and now, except for two lines:

• “夜夜缤纷看开怀” - this probably refers to the variety show 缤纷83 which I watched a lot of! But nowadays, fewer are watching free-to-air channels...  
• “考天才” - no more from this year onwards! Though the next two lines remain true...

So there are the poetic songs and there are the "reality" ones. The former speaks to the heart and the latter really makes me go, ya hor! Of course I didn't get the "ya hor" part when I heard this song as a kid...

《新衣哪有旧衣好》｜梁文福、颜黎明｜1986｜Link

“哪里没有？” That was my thought when I heard this as a kid, coz I didn't get new clothes often. Now, well, the old clothes last longer - good if I like them! This song still resonated with mf the child as Mother really made clothes for us! I remember outgrowing one dress - wore until it got so tight!

《历史考试前夕》｜梁文福｜1987｜Link
I really like this song back then and now! I mean, I'm not so familiar with Chinese history (kids may know more, thanks to OverSimplified!) but I do know enough to appreciate the song. I think I may write a separate post to explain the lyrics :p

《初涉》｜黄譓赪｜1984｜Link
I must confess I had never heard this song before the concert. The lyrics are beautiful but I don't feel a connection with the non-conventional tune.

《你的倒影》｜颜黎明、洪劭轩｜1989 ｜Link
This always brings back memories of 叶串 1997, our annual CLDDS performance! My group spent afternoons and evenings rehearsing this song at the art block, irking the residents at the bottom of the hill, oops... I remember one point when we looked at the lyrics, and 这唱的是椰树？Well, if water cycle can be poetic, so can coconut trees!

《让夜轻轻落下》｜潘盈｜1988 ｜Link

This is my most sung 新谣！In fact, I was humming this all the way to the train station after leaving SCO on Friday. I often get flashbacks of me asking ML for the lyrics - but did this ever happen?? Haha! Blur childhood images...

《恋之憩》｜姜鄠｜1989｜Link

问：什么样的温柔才能轻抚你的伤口？

答：就是这首歌的温柔！

真的感觉融化在歌里了……

4. 遇见彷徨

《岁月的另一张脸》｜洪劭轩｜1986｜Link
I think I first heard this song when I was much older. Uni? Brings back memories of long hours at the desk - chatting on ICQ, not studying :p

The lines below speak to me. I have probably mentioned it before - my loneliest times were always when I was not alone. Who else has felt like this before?

不快乐也不一定就是必须要难过 

一伙人也不过笑着寂寞

《情商》｜文章｜1990｜Link
When I saw the title in the programme, I thought, oh, another song I didn't know :( But when it came on, I realised I just didn't know who wrote it. I thought this song was used in an old TV drama series but I couldn't find any info on it.

我一个俗素人当然是当情歌来听 but I found this interpretation when I went to google this song. Worth a read.

《排排坐》｜梁文福、黄譓赬、梁文宁、李丽娜、李丽婷｜1986｜Link
This was like a lullaby to me when I heard this in childhood. It was only later when I heard and understood the lyrics that it became... no longer a lullaby. 长大多无奈啊……

《太多太多》｜梁文福｜1988｜Link
Three things:

1. The concert featured 唢呐 (I think) for this song. A player used something to create a sound. I thought it sounded like 太多太多 but that probably was my head interpreting it as such! It was very well received with much laughter from the audience. Quite different from the other 抒情歌曲
2. The YouTube video in the link above shows population issues. Um, hilarious?
3. Again, a song I was familiar with in childhood. I associated this with busyness, especially “明天有明天的事要做，明天何其太多” but now after I saw the video, the song now carries another meaning!!

5. 遇见家园

《麻雀衔竹枝》｜梁文福｜1990｜Link
This song was banned for 23y due to dialect lines in the song *.* So I must have heard this song much later on... I found my《天冷就回来》musical album and realised I must have first heard it here. While I never had memories of the times depicted in the song, it has so many familiar names of places.  The scenes of old Singapore in the MV are very nice! Really, no place like home, so the sparrow always goes home...

《人生无所畏》｜梁文福｜2016｜Link
At first, I thought, what? The third song I didn't know?! But I heard this before, albeit very recently in Journey to Singapura. This is the newest song of the lot, and when Yu was just born! No way I could have heard it. So to me, this is just a lively song urging us to go forward.

《我们》｜陈伟联｜2009｜Link

What?! A fourth I didn't know?!! But no, I heard it so many times in 2009 - when we just got married and moved into our first home, we spent many nights watching TV and this was the theme song of the 9pm show《当我们同在一起》which was the show where we got acquainted with Tarzan - or rather, the actor playing that role. He's forever Tarzan whenever we see him on tele :p

We didn't watch the whole show - life always got in the way and there was no meWATCH back then. But it was a memorable show and the theme song really gave it all the feels. 很地道的剧和曲……让我分享最后两句：

能不能重回到那一年

你的梦 我的歌 蓝的天 叫永远

《赤道河水谣》｜梁文福｜1992｜Link
似曾相识的曲名，是真的曾相识还是它又赤道又河水？结果还真是熟悉的一首歌。岁月真的是无动于衷的……

《新加坡派》｜梁文福｜1990｜Link
老师的歌可以诗意满满，也可以写实。我是不是在说诗不实？😅 Anyway, I like his SG songs :) 

妈妈说我出生在80年代

90年代认识了新加坡派

千禧年代我走进职场磨练

再后来生仨小孩！

6. 遇见和解

《秋心赋》｜于冠华｜1994｜Link

听到哭的一首歌……怎么这么美！😭

《一程山水一程歌》｜任天鸣｜1990｜Link
Never heard this before Friday. And just heard the full song today. 非常诗情画意，又有点悲…… Did a quick check - he was about 26 when he wrote this song. Um, I was partying at that age, 完全没有悲风泣月…… 

PS: Randomly clicked on a post from 2006 when I was 26, to check, and found a funny interaction between the husbands of two good friends! No one remembers it but the evidence is in the last para here. 

《如果你不小心想起我》｜郑展伦｜1992｜Link
适合夜晚独自聆听…… 有时，我也会不小心地想起……什么呢？很多，有快乐的，有难过的，有平淡的，有精彩的，有我的，有我们的。小小的思绪一旦出现，就会演变成一整段的回忆。“不小心”也终将变成“刻意”。

《你是不是还在》｜洪劭轩｜1997｜Link

太好听了！我以为这首歌更老一点，可竟然是在高一。有空可以读一读曲子本身的故事。

“青春的手指扣着相知的情怀” - 高中就是这样地美好！难得的是我们这一班到现在还在！

《天冷就回来》｜陈洁仪｜2002｜Link
😭 从来不敢唱的歌，因为会哭！我很会哭……可是听这么一把干净的声音唱出如此刻画的亲情、友情、爱情，怎么可能不被感动？

《从你回眸那天开始》｜洪劭轩｜1989｜Link
每次听这首歌，都感到挺激动的，想大声地唱，呐喊地唱！难怪指挥家了……

7. 遇见自己

《细水长流》｜梁文福、刘瑞政、王邦吉｜1987｜Link
听这首歌也会哭是因为三个女生的版本在高二那年发行。虽然那年家里动荡，高中两年却是我学生生涯最开心的。学生时代的我家和学校两点一线，家里的不愉快只有到了学校才得以平息。这首歌的出现刚好碰上了我们快分道扬镳的时候。我把歌词抄在一张美美的卡片上，贴在学校的储物柜门上，与大家分享。

Other 新谣 songs I like

《岁月列车》｜梁文福、许南盛、王邦吉、刘瑞政｜1988｜Link

岁月的列车不就是一趟不回头的旅行？好像什么年级唱都合适的一首歌。

《我从东岸走向西》｜梁文福｜1992｜Link

I don't know how long it has been since I last listened to this song but somehow it came to mind when I was thinking of the 新谣 I like. 歌里问到：是否不断地向昨天借一点空间才算是更好地对待明天？真的道出了我们不断的翻新与变化，时至今日还是一样。

《青春123》｜颜黎明｜1986｜Link

这是一首电视剧主题曲，很轻快，很好唱。有时，我和老公都会突然在哪里嘟嘟嘟嘟嘟嘟！美好的时光不断 :)

《另一首歌另一个伤心故事》｜梁文福、潘盈｜1987｜Link
我很喜欢男女合唱曲！这是一首普通情歌，播放率可能不像其他朗朗上口的新谣，但就是好听。

《叠情折义（香港最后的拥抱）》｜梁文福、潘盈｜1992｜Link

For the longest time, I only knew this song as its subtitle *.* 记得乍听之下，我还以为它是武侠剧的歌！很动听的一首曲子。

《黎明的心》｜颜黎明｜1989｜Link
Another song that Sito and I will sing sometimes :) Or is it just me, when sitting next to him in the study? :) 平淡的日子也可以是奇迹。

《红豆词2000》｜梁文福、刘瑞政｜1990｜Link

算是2/3新谣？《红豆词》原是曹雪芹在《红楼梦》里的曲子，也曾有人谱过曲，e.g. here. 《红豆词2000》不仅谱了曲，还加了一段为副歌。我看过小说，忘了这段，可是还是觉得好有意境啊！不知道为什么就是喜欢唱这首歌。Yes, 要唱出来。

From here, the songs aren't all written by 梁文福 (alone). He has a lot of good works for sure but 新谣 is always more than one person. Besides the singers listed, other largely behind-the-scene names I remember from the 1980s-1990s include 陈佳明，吴庆康，许环良，李伟菘、李偲菘等等。

And it is not only 新谣；they have also given us so many memorable pop songs. I think most of the pop songs I know are from 1990s as work got in the way in the 2000s. Nowadays, I mostly know songs when I go KTV with friends, or from C dramas! It's like how I used to know SBC/TCS drama songs by heart - Sito and I were just singing the《红头巾》theme song while preparing dinner yesterday!

Anyway, I have digressed.. The list continues below:

《蓝与红》｜词：幽子｜曲：梁文福｜梁文福、邓淑娴｜1988｜Link

This song made an impression when I first heard it. Colour wheel? Haha! 我特别喜欢和音部分，可能因为喜欢唱歌而喜欢这首。

《邂逅》｜词：黄𬤝赪｜曲：巫启贤｜黄𬤝赪、巫启贤｜1983｜Link

第一次听这首歌，是蔡礼莲和吴罗宾的版本，忘了是高中还是大学时代了，觉得很好听。

《我们这一班》｜词：吴庆康、黄元成｜曲：许环良｜颜黎明｜1987｜Link

当年我很喜欢这首歌！小学真是无忧无虑！不过它教了我一句话：小时了了，大未必佳。那时我的学业成绩已经很好了，因为这句话，我知道成绩好是不够的，还要在别的方面努力！💪💪💪

《月色同行》｜词: 祁哲泉｜曲: 李伟菘｜颜黎明｜1987?｜Link

找不到里面的男声是谁的，可是听起来像洪劭轩。年份其实不详，不过我找到最早的mention是1987. 词曲优美，让我想哪天和老公一起月下同行一下…… Or not, coz it's better to watch drama in bed at night :p

《说是依旧》｜词：三毛｜曲：梁文福｜潘盈｜1987｜Link

这首歌是有故事的。The Facebook post in the link is one of the earliest I read when I started following the 梁文福 page. Most people would have heard the 林慧萍 version though. Both are really good coz the song is too good to start with. 又是听到哭，唱到哽咽。

*** *** ***

I have been listening to FM933 more often in the past few years after moving to HV - I carved out a space just for my radio! But I'm still not aware of many new Singaporean musicians in recent years. Still more familiar with the names from my youth - the above plus Kit Chan, Stefanie Sun and JJ etc. 

So after re-listening to so many 新谣，I wondered out loud something about 新加坡还没生出下一个梁文福 and Sito's response? 生了 but studying for PSLE! Or maybe 生了 but writing English songs! I know there are nice English songs too but they are just... different! Big SIGH!

I didn't queue for a photo with 老师 after the concert coz I already have one!

While researching for this post, I came across a lot of info. I have a whole window full of tabs waiting to be read. I may still update this post if I come across anything interesting...

PS: Yang came home yesterday saying they sang Chinese songs for Mother Tongue Fortnight. "It's 新 something. The 言字旁 and the 摇摆的摇……” I was so excited and asked him what they sang. He couldn't remember a thing *.* I hummed 《细水长流》and he said maybe. Well, I still harbour hopes of sharing my love of these songs with them...

Hunger reasons

Yesterday morning, Yang came out of his room saying that his pants were too tight. I saw that the adjustable waist button on the left was at the tight position so I told him to move it to the loose position. But he was in a hurry so he left with his pants unbuttoned in front - quite usual for him coz he doesn't like the button type.

In the end, a teacher saw his pants unbuttoned and worse, halfway unzipped! Yang had to ask him to help unbutton the waist button - it was too tight for him to do it himself without taking off the pants! Still tight, he said. Jia lat, maybe I need to buy bigger pants that he would wear for only five more months... Not sure if Yu would grow that big...

Then this morning, I came out of my room to hear Kai say that he had no more school pants. Nightmare - you mean I didn't wash his pants for three days? Coz they have three pairs each. But cannot be!

Later, I found that Yang had two pairs of pants and Yu had one. Then it dawned on me that Yang wore Kai's pants yesterday! Not his fault - I put the pants in the wrong wardrobe. Their pants all look very similar except that Kai's have pleats on the front.

I offered Kai two options - a size 32 ACSBR berms (which I bought as standby coz 30 was OOS!) and Yang's size 29 ACSP shorts. As the names suggest, Yang's would be shorter than his usual but the size is closer to his own 28. Yes, Kai is very slim. He chose the 29, and then said it was loose!!

Just now, all the laundry was done and I sorted out the pants. Kai's 28 berms have the left waist button on the tight position - I changed to loose position. Yang's 29 shorts have all waist buttons at the loose position already - if he gets any fatter, I really need to buy new pants.

Yu is currently a size 26. He has only two of those so his third pair is a 25. He busted the butt seam of a 25 just last month when he was practising for his NAPFA in school. I offered him a 28 but he preferred the 25. So ok la, I'll let him bust that too since no more 弟弟 :p

Now, back to the topic...

I'm seldom so hungry the moment I wake but I was starving this morning. Sito said the stress searching for pants made me hungry... Um... But I was hungry just before I slept too. But I just slept :p Better than eating just before sleeping..

So I think it's because I had only a fried egg for dinner - Kai didn't want that in his fried rice - and my drama time snack was a small handful of peanuts as Kai needed help with his music assignment.

Yesterday, Sito and I had went to a buffet for lunch - Typhoon at Plaza Sing. Taiwanese food. And we bumped into Mrs Yeo, my JC civic tutor and his colleague! I thought it was her but couldn't be sure. Then we were seated one table apart and while I kept glancing at her, she also glanced at me and finally asked if I were mf. Yeah, she could still remember me! 

Towards the end of our lunch, she came over to chit chat. She remembers many of us despite teaching so many students for decades! My class must be quite memorable, haha! It was really nice to see her again :)

Sent to my class chat - Kel said I should buy Toto, haha!

Anyway, I was very full at lunch. And I still packed Luckin coffee for our afternoon tea at home. I really couldn't eat dinner. The fried egg was waste-not :p

But ok, I think stress/work can make me hungry - I ate a lot while at work last time... And last night, I was at work somewhat! 

Kai had to write a song, complete with lyrics and accompaniment. He used AI to write some rhyming lyrics. Sito learnt a bit of piano in his childhood and taught him the difference between chords and melody. I could only sing, and while I fiddled with the guitar in JC, it was an unsuccessful attempt, haha! 

But I had seen guitar chords and remembered how a fellow attendee at a music camp just wrote the chords above the lyrics with the music in her head. Somehow, we managed to get a tune going, phew!

Nowadays, music lessons are so difficult! Ok, I didn't find the recorder in our time easy too... But I certainly did not learn notes and chords!

So in conclusion, I was hungry due to lack of a proper dinner and work and stress.

But, do I need a reason to be hungry?! I know I certainly don't need a reason to eat :p I had my overnight oats with my morning coffee. I shall have some of that cinnamon butter cake for tea later :)

Yang is now an oily boy

Last night, I noticed that Yang's pillow looked a bit fade in the middle. Like Sito's. So I smelled it - oily smell!!!

Yang laughed and said now he smells like Papa :p

I realised I didn't notice that for Kai two years ago coz Kai didn't want me to lie down with him since some time in P5.

Don't care. Yang still wants me to 陪陪 him before sleeping so I still lie down with him and kiss his oily face at bedtime :)

So Kai and Yang have inherited oily skin. I expect no less from Yu two years later...

And the companion of oily skin? Pimples. I noticed a red dot on Yang's nose tip a few days ago. He said he has been having pimples but I didn't notice much until this one - very obvious on the nose.

I bought some pimple stickers last month after suffering from a major bout of 10 pimples big and small. I used my old NEX pimple stickers - they must be 10-20yo?! Still somewhat effective but not so much against those closed pimples. 

But I also bought some vitamin C serum and after three weeks of using it, I didn't get any new pimples. So fingers crossed. The pimple stickers are still good for standby for the kids' pimples.

Sighs, another kid growing up so fast... Yang is almost 160cm as of 2 May so he's hitting that milestone a little later than Kai. But his girth is awesome - this morning, he complained that his pants were getting tight! His pants are already one size bigger than Kai's...!

Good chat, good music

Received a Facebook message from SW out of the blue last Monday and suddenly, I found myself going to a concert on Friday! She bought a pair of tickets a year ago but had to go overseas. I couldn't take both so she found another friend to take the other ticket.

We haven't been in contact for years but our Facebook posts are quite clear about our music preferences haha! I still remember this very memorable day in our second or third year in Oxford, when SW and I discovered that we liked the same Chinese songs and were listening to music in my room. Unfortunately for me, most of my Mandopop knowledge was from that period and before, as work and life got in the way once I started work. Happy that I'm now listening to the radio almost every day now.

I had long arranged with Yan to have high tea on Friday. But that was noon and the concert was at 7.30 pm. Solution? Teo Heng KTV for two hours!

漂亮饭

人也漂亮 ok... Hahahah! I learnt this term 漂亮饭 from a short reel. Instagramable. This place - Landing Point at Fullerton Bay Hotel - was also very pretty. But the price tag was the most 漂亮 of them all for the quantity - the photo showed all we had at $130 in total! Not VFM at all... Just happy to chat face-to-face with Yan finally - when's the last time she came back?? Actually, we met on Tuesday too, with AhYee at MY's place, but one-one chat and group chat are always different...

We adjourned to Teo Heng @ Suntec and sang until she had to leave for her next appointment. I 自嗨 for another 45min before the end of the session. Grabbed a quick dinner of Yuen Kee dumplings at the basement foodcourt before taking the train to Downtown. It was drizzling as I walked to SCO. But I was rather excited about the concert and didn't mind the wet feet under my brolly :p

Can't believe I was there!

The feels... I'm not sure if I could even remember those fleeting thoughts and feelings that came and went with each song but I hope to give them a proper airing, i.e. another post. But one thought first - I should have gone KTV after the concert, not before!!

So that brings my total number of concerts to four, excluding all the kiddy ones:

1. 2002 伍佰
2. 2009 Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy - almost forgot this coz it was so long ago! Would have forgotten it totally if I didn't go to SCO this time...
3. 2024 张清芳
4. 2026 遇见 II 

Yang at NSG track and field 2026

Yang took part in his first NSG track and field meet on Monday, 27 April!

He received his track and field tank top the week before. It was only on Friday that we realised it was too small for him - the armholes were digging into his fleshy armpits and the belly was very visible... Luckily, his CCA teacher replied very quickly that he could change the top with any of his CCA teachers on Monday.

When we reached CCK Stadium, the previous 30m event for a younger age group was ongoing. Yang's event was next and he was in detail 6 of 19. Detail - I learnt a new term from Sito, meaning each group running together. Or something like that la...

Finally, we spotted him in the holding tent next to the track. We waved madly and finally he saw us!

He came in fifth in his detail at 6.05 sec, placing overall 100 out of 146.

We walked out to meet him as he came upstairs from the track. His friend also ran out to meet him. As we walked to the stands where his teacher and friends and bags were, we saw more of his team. It was so wonderful to see them being so positive and cheering one another on. Our son is comparatively quiet haha!

Papa and Mama supporting Yang!

Show his bib number

We were just hanging around at the stands while his friend helped him remove the bib on his back. Then I heard this boy ask the CCA teacher - also Yu's P1 Chinese teacher - for the time in Mandarin: 老师，现在什么时间？

Goodness, all these kids are the same! Yu kept using that similar line to ask for the time. Took me a while to correct it to “现在几点？”

Anyway, the teacher didn't hear him and he asked again in English. Gave up trying. Hahahhaa!

While waiting for the bus, Yang took out some Pokemon cards from his pocket. He said they were light enough to run with *.*

Yang was excited to be back at Bukit Panjang. When we asked him what he wanted to eat, he said he wanted to walk around first - "for the memories". So walk around, we did. We walked the entire Hillion Mall, happy to see old places and surprised to see new spots. I thought the offerings were better than before - Luckin and Mixue! And there's also Scarlett Supermarket across the road at Bukit Panjang Plaza (BPP) but we didn't have time to cross over.

Happy with noodles and XLB :)

Where they used to play

He didn't want to change out of his tank top as he dropped his yellow tee earlier. But it was cold so he sniffled quite a bit on Wednesday...

Packed three Sukiya beef bowls and said bye bye to Papa, who would have an adventure before meeting a friend in town - he ordered Macs for his dinner but at BPP instead of Hillion so he had to brave the rain to get to his food!

Yang's main event is shot put. The following Monday, 4 May, Sito brought Yang to CCK as the school didn't get a bus for the small number of participants that day. 

They arrived at CCK just past 7.30 am and it was a rather long wait as Yang's group was the last of four to go to the pit. His best of three throws was 5.41m, coming in 45 out of 117 - above median, yeah!

Yang was to go back to school if the event ended before 11 am but it didn't so Sito brought him for lunch at Pizza Hut at the stadium and then home.

He wore his tee over the tank top before and after 

On Wednesday, 6 May, Yang had his last event, standing long jump. Think it's something like standing broad jump? His best of three was 1.60m, which was more than his standing broad jump for NAPFA this year, placing him 134 of 178.

Sito went to fetch him and they roamed BPP, finally ending up at Kazan Ramen for a late lunch. Yang chose it. He had all the ramen, most of the vege and rice plus two hardboiled eggs! Sito had only a bit of vege and rice. Later, Yang of course could not finish his dinner at home, which became Sito's lunch the next day :p

Happy with his egg

They came home with a Swensen's ice cream cake - sticky chewy choc flavour - for dessert! It was our free cake after dining there n times. Swensen's really rewards loyalty very well. But unfortunately for us, Clementi no longer has one so we are visiting Swensen's less these days...

Yang was the reserve for the 5x80m relay on Thursday morning but this time, the school catered a bus. I just gave him a big breakfast. When he came home, he said he didn't go coz all the runners were present. But he also didn't wait for the teacher to dismiss him *.* He just left for assembly. Ah well... 

At dinner last night, he said he was very nervous for the first event, nervous for the second and not at all for the third. And he got to meet new friends - we saw him talk to people around him while waiting. Yeah!

So happy for Yang that he had the opportunity to take part in NSG and, despite his initial misgivings, enjoyed the experience :)

PS: Link for results here.

More on having (more) kids

Read on the news on Thursday morning that the workgroup for a marriage and parenthood reset had started its work. While I'm glad to see that it comprises mostly new faces with hopefully new ideas, I'm not entirely optimistic about it raising our TFR though.

Let's start with getting hitched.

Sito told me about a Reddit thread he saw, where a woman in her late 20s asked for a seemingly regular guy - at least 173cm (reasonable for her height which is same as mine), income at least $70k (same as hers), ok looking, +/- 4yo. 

Sounds reasonable until someone pointed out that, 173cm already eliminated half of the men in Singapore. And for those age groups, $70k a year is median income or above, which eliminated another 50%. That left her with the top 25% of men even if she's not fussy with looks. But remember, we need to eliminate those married or attached so in reality, her reasonable requirements meant she was looking at the top 10%??

Of course these are simple maths. But I doubt the reality is that far from above. What it means is that... I'm very lucky! Hahaha! (But that's not the point of Sito telling me that though he puffed up a bit, hoho!)

More seriously, it means you need to find someone during school days or have a really, really large social network. 

Ok, what now when hitched? I assume the couple will get married and then they'll decide between a dog and a kid. Or none. For kids, see my other post.

(Meanwhile, down there at Mdm 孟婆's, the poor chap also gotta choose between a dog and a baby?!)

Honestly, kids can be a handful. Even one kid can be a handful. But I look at our boys, I cannot imagine not having them. 

Of course sometimes Sito and I do imagine not having them :p "What would we be doing?" 

• Continue working
• Get a pet
• Buy more bags, eat out more, hang out more with friends, etc
• Go on more holidays

The answers aren't all that appealing... 

Work was never a rat race for me but I don't know how meaningful it could continue to be. I have been watching loads of cat videos lately but honestly, after wiping bums for 10y, I really don't think I want to clean up poop all the time! As for the rest, I don't know how meaningful they are after a while... 

Inevitably, this discussion will lead back to our everyday life. Yes - tiring (wake at 6.10am for school), chaotic (fighting for toilet etc) and frustrating (why cannot read P1 Chinese words?!). But also - cute (each in his own way), sweet (hugs) and satisfying (each has his own achievements).

So ya, won't have it any other way now :)

I wouldn't encourage everyone to have (more) kids though. Coz I'm not the one supporting your kids :p

But to support those who want more kids, I think the following areas could be considered by both government and society. 

HDB

Even 5-room flats and bigger have only three bedrooms, i.e. one for parents, one for boys and one for girls issit? I don't understand why we're still expected to live like in kampung. The young boys and girls are going to grow up and need privacy. 

For those with kids of the same gender, one for sleeping and one for studying issit? Hasn't COVID WFH and HBL taught us that it's very difficult to work and, worse, do Zoom discussions in the same room even with earphones?! Same gender also needs privacy... Or even if they don't need privacy, especially boys who can run about the house naked (roll my eyes), I would want to separate the kids or no one gets any sleep!

There's the renovation route - I have seen creative solutions effectively separating one room into two but with bunk beds. Not the friendliest when it comes to changing bedsheets. Taller kids may find it claustrophobic to work at the desk under the bed. And older kids may not appreciate bunk beds that much. 

Besides the limited number of jumbo flats, I've only known private housing to have more bedrooms but not everyone can afford that. I wonder if HDB can offer bigger BTO flats with more bedrooms and allow only bigger families to select them. If there are no takers, they can convert to smaller flats for the actual building and offer them as balance of sale.

Taxi

We've given up on cabs already. Starting from maybe two years ago, we could hardly fit into a regular taxi as Kai was the size of an adult and Yu was getting too heavy to sit on my lap. But a six-seater taxi is quite ex - about 50% more ex! - so just use it for airport trips or heading home late or going somewhere far, which are all thankfully rare occasions for us.

But there are families who may find public transport challenging, e.g. younger kids are super tired from a day at the zoo - I totally feel that coz it happened to us before. No choice but to take two cabs or just brave public transport with potentially cranky kids and pray for sympathetic fellow passengers who could either bear the noise or let the kids have a seat to sleep in or, preferably, both. Maybe this is more under "social"...

(No matter what, I don't think owning a car is a necessity for bigger families but this is a separate discussion.)

Education

I recall we had a sibling discount when we signed up for something. Was it child care or some enrichment? Free registration or uniforms for subsequent kids, not recurrent fees. It was a really nice gesture though and we appreciated it. Every bit helps.

Coupled with above point that no car is necessary even for bigger families, it might be helpful to offer school bus discounts for siblings in the same primary school. After all, it's the same pick-up/drop-off point. 

Social

I remember some 10years ago, family packages I saw were for two adults and two kids. Just did a quick search and it seemed like it's no longer so limited, except for hotels which usually don't allow more than four per room *.* Our little clan hasn't had a staycation for years coz no point if we go on a staycation but stay in two rooms and the parents also don't fancy paying through our nose for a big suite. .

Another part under "social" is people. Over the years, I have at times felt like some kind of exhibition, thanks to mostly old aunties who would point out that we have three boys, like wow. Wonder what they say to even bigger families! Eh please, don't 大惊小怪 can??

Or worse, auntie will add - have a fourth one la, girl. I roll my eyes...

To JB via the Second Link

On Wednesday, Sito and I took a little excursion to JB again. But this time, we went by the Second Link.

We set off at 8.05am, our usual departure time. Took bus CW3 at Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange near Jurong East MRT. It was a nice ride to Tuas - relatively empty bus, smooth ride, no jam. Took a random CW bus to cross the Second Link.

Now, I had read online that using Apple Pay, we only need to tap in for each part of the journey, no need to tap out. But the driver on our second bus waved us in - no need to tap in at all. 

At the JB side, we were supposed to take CW3 or CW6 to Bukit Indah. But CW7 came to the berth. I asked and the driver confirmed he was going to AEON Bukit Indah. Ok! 

And so we reached our destination, and it was not even 10am! Woohoo!

Breakfast at Tea Garden

The food took a long time to arrive... Sito's char kway came when I was almost done with my kampung bee hoon. But it was all yummy :)

We had wanted to go to our usual Tian Lai to eat crab but that outlet closes every Wednesday! We can only go to JB on Wednesdays for now as the younger ones have CCA. 

But this trip, our main purpose was to use up credits in our massage account. We stopped going there after our last overnight Legoland trip. It didn't look like we were going to do such overnight trips any time soon and we still had some RM300 in our account.

In the end, we still didn't manage to use up all the money. Still have some RM30 left. Ah well, we shall see. Coz last night, news about the revised cross border taxi service broke. This morning, I read the news in detail - can use SG taxi to go and Malaysian taxi to come back for point-to-point service. But quite ex as we need a bigger car. In any case, this trip told us that the CW bus via the Second Link is a possible alternative, even with a large suitcase.

Back to our excursion...

Massage was soooo good. We chose foot massage plus head plus shoulder. Sito changed his shoulder massage to additional foot massage. I wanted to change my head massage to additional foot massage but the masseur didn't get it so I got extra shoulder and back massage instead. I can still feel the parts between my shoulders now :)

After the massage, we had some snacks at the lobby. "Free" but actually the massages here are more expensive than near CIQ. Just convenient for our Legoland trips. But the snacks were really quite good haha!

We went back to AEON. Had a fried chicken snack at the food hall - mostly batter though the teriyaki sauce was good - and finally a papa roti coz the outlet at CIQ was always so crowded! 

Bought random Daiso stuff, a box of puffs from Ming Ang, doughnuts for the boys, and Mixue ice cream. Sito was still eating the ice cream when we saw the CW3 bus boarding passengers! He stuffed the rest down and got on!!

The bus left at 2.30 pm. Same thing - no need to tap in for the middle bus. We reached Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange maybe 4 pm?! And so, we went to Uniqlo and Donki, leaving with Sito's Mt Ebi - 10 fried prawns on rice! - and many boxes of Japanese curry roux. Bought the kids' dinner downstairs and went home to find that Kai was already home. The brothers came back shortly after.

Today, I just got the Apple Wallet notification for RM21.55 - that should be the total cost of our rides:

• $5 outward bound
• RM6 inward

Actually we felt a bit iffy using Apple Pay. What if there was double deduction etc?? Maybe next time we'll use cash.. Kids don't have Apple Pay anyway... And now that we know that the CW buses via the Second Link are not crowded at all, we may consider this instead of the cross border taxi if we want to go for longer Legoland trips next year. KIV...