Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Donuts for Tea

This afternoon, N's daughter-in-law bought her a box of donuts from The Donut Factory and delievered it to N at our office. N was delighted!

She generously gave one to our boss and one to each of our man-colleagues. And I was given 3, one to try and 2 to bring home! :)

Both of us have been wondering why this nondescript donut outlet has been attracting never-ending queues at all times of the day. Actually, even after we have tried the donuts, I still wonder.

But still, I guess it feels great to receive the donuts for tea from the daughter-in-law who has spent 3 hours queueing for the snacks. :)

300

Recently, R and I watched 300 on the dvd. It left me with many questions.

Why was Xerxes able to garner so massive an army of fighters & monsters? Why was he and whatever he represented, never contented? Why were they so ever hungry for 'Earth & Water'? And why was he able to have the Oracle + the Greek councilman + the deformed Ephialtes so easily bribed to betray the Spartans?

The movie also left me with much thoughts and fear.

That the young Spartan boys were taken away from the protection of their mothers as soon as they are deemed to be old enough to be trained to be warriors.



That anyone less 'able' than the acceptable standard is not acceptable. That there is no certainty in the outcome of the battle against the barbarian invaders except gore and death. That there is so much heartbreak and sacrifice involved when we (have to) fight for what we believe in.



Although this movie was based only on a legend of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC and may not be historically accurate, I think it may still be worth the 2 hour or so needed to finish watching it.

The scene which I think is most unforgettable is the very heart-wrenching one where Leonidas' Captain lost his son at the Battle and how the Captain so painfully mourned his loss and how he regretted never having told his son how much he had loved him.


Monday, May 28, 2007

学华语:新策略!

昨天,上完了文化艺术团这个学期的最后一堂课,我们便到United Square 的书局逛一逛。我们都喜欢这一间分行,因为它的书籍通常都挺完整、应有尽有,而且还整理得非常整齐、美观。人潮也不是很多,要找书本,也不需要像在其他分行那样,你推我挤。

WY 选了几本他爱看的书,WF 也选了他喜欢的故事书。R 则买了一些文具。我自己看中了几本附带光碟的成语故事、唐诗等等。

在书局里,我也被正在播放的一则产品介绍广告吸引住了。原来,有一位华文教师,为了让学生们更加喜欢学华文,把华文字的部首,印在麻将牌上,以玩麻将的游戏,来让学生们‘拼’字。这一套方块游戏,样貌就像麻将牌,看起来,挺好玩的。



于是,我也买了一套回来。当然,主要的目的,是为了WY 和 WF 这两个小瓜。这几天内,应该会有时间把这些牌拿出来‘洗一洗’,看一看自己对华文字的‘实力’是否有比往时逊色。

有意来‘挑战’者,我们也当然欢迎啦!哈哈哈哈哈哈。。。。。

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Father's Birthday



Oops! I suddenly remembered - Father's birthday!

We have all been so 'busy' with our own lives, nobody seemed to have remembered.... I'd better do something tonight.

End of Term 2

Since Monday, WY has been attending a BICEP language-training camp at 文化艺术团 arranged for all the P4 BICEP classes of the 5 SHHK schools. This is a full-day programme, with the children reporting to school at 7:25am as usual, travelling to Toa Payoh by a chartered bus and then returning to KHS at about 5:30pm, each day. The camp is due to end today.

WY says the camp is interesting, and has brought him new friends from other schools. I think it is good that he is familiar with the venue and organisers of the camp, too.

But WY has been so tired out at the end of each day that he literally fell asleep after dinner at Mother's place. It didn't help that he is still recovering from his cough (for which he is still on medication).

***********************

Last evening, WY told us in a rather 'relieved' tone that he has received his report book. He said his grades (banding) were the same as those he received for SA1 last year.

When I opened the report book, this was what they were:

EL: band 1
CL: band 2
Maths: band 1
Science: band 1.

And yes, WY is correct - he had received identical grades (banding) for SA1 in P3. The only difference, however, is that the actual scores were different - vastly different.

Sigh. Anyway, WY agreed that he needs to buck up and improve his scores if his aim remains to be in the best class next year. So he agrees that corrective action will be needed. And we will do up a plan for the coming holidays to do this.

**********************

There is no lesson for the children in KHS tomorrow because it is Meet-the-Parents day. In other words, term 2 ends today.

So WY has to discuss with his form teacher how the plants in the class will have to be cared for - be it letting the teacher bring them to her staff room in the hoidays or getting WY to bring them home until term 3 starts. I hope WY remembers to make these arrangements.

We are also going to KHS on Saturday for its Family Day carnival. The plan is that while R will bring WY and WF to the stalls and stations for the various activities, I will meet up with WY's form teacher for a discussion on his performance. I have requested to meet the CL teacher too, if she is also available. I hope something useful will come out from the discussions.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

HFMD Alert

CH School just sent an sms to say that there is a confirmed case of HFMD. Told us to be on the alert, to look out for any symptoms if child becomes unwell.

Sigh. Always very unnerving to know that there is a HFMD case in the school. And yet, with WF now in K1 and attending the various enrichment programmes which we have signed him up for in CH School, it is very difficult to keep getting him to skip school just to avoid those dreadful HFMD.

Can only hope that he remains ok and strong enough to resist any of these and other dreadful germs lurking around.

And the same goes for WY, too, when he returns to CH next week.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Smart Taxi Driver

I felt super awful in the office yesterday afternoon. So at about half past 3, I decided to come back home to rest.

I grabbed a taxi. Its driver turned out to be rather knowledgeable. He also didn't mince his words discussing how the Government Salary Top-up offset package was all for show.

He went on talking about many things, from his views on why Singapore does not seem to be able to improve its relations with its neighbours to the falsity of perceived good that holding the F1 Race in the CBD would bring to Singapore. All seemed fair comment, but I couldn't talk much in response because my cough was very bad.

One thing he shared, though, which I though might be worth noting is his suggestion that if one day, we should be hit by a drunk driver from behind us, we should keep our calm. So long as there is no bodily injury and the only damage is that to our vehicle, we should take down the particulars of the drink driver's vehicle and NOT call the police. This was because if police came into the picture and it turned out to be a drink-driving case, then we would be in the worst of luck as far as damage to our vehicle is concerned - the insurance companies will not pay for any repairs.

In other words, just treat it as any 'normal' kissing-our-butt accident, exchange particulars/note down registration numbers etc, then part ways. Go through the iDAC process, go workshop and claim against the drink-driver.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

耕耘 = 收获 ?

从小,每个人都对我们灌输 “一份耕耘,一份收获“的概念。换句话说,只要我们努力、不偷懒,就一定会有收获,一定会得到好的成绩。 什么“铁棒磨成针”啦,“乌鸦拾石”啦等等,都成为我们的航导线,让我们深信着,只要为我们的理想努力,就一定会成功的。

*****************************

这三、四个星期来,我就是这样“努力”地一个人做四、五个人的工作。跑东跑西,日晒雨淋,也还是咬紧牙根“耕耘”着。

可是,到头来,还是徒劳无功。

我真的是伤心极了, 真的是非常非常心灰意冷。

现在,简直是个哑巴吃黄莲。一方面,面对腐烂不堪的成绩,真想狠狠地教训一番。另一方面,又知道怎么骂也没用,怎么教训也于事无补,还可能越来越糟糕。加上自己身体不舒服,也没心情去讲些什么。所以,到现在为止, 我还没开口骂些什么。

让我更加心烦的,是成绩都已经这么差了,还整天想着玩、想着翻阅漫画书,一点悔过的态度和表现都没有。一点也不想计划一下接下来,应该怎么样补救功课上的缺点,怎样才可以把下一次的考试搞得比较好一些。

即使我已经提议了上十次, 以最心平气和的口语说:“去想一想,应该怎样利用假期的时间来补救、补救,然后我们再来讨论一下应该怎样计划下一个学期的功课。。。”等等,这些苦口婆心的话,都是耳边风。一天到晚,从学校回来,吃了饭、冲了凉,不是趴在地上玩玩具、看漫画,就是躺在床上看天花板。要不,就是趴在沙发上看电视。 简直就像一把烂泥。

有人还建议,下一个学期,让他自己来搞定。为的是,可以看看真正的实力!可以吗?应该吗?

Friday, May 18, 2007

Special Day

I wonder if anyone remembered what Special Day today is....

Retirement? Rehire?

I had mixed feelings when I heard the news report yesterday that there will be new legislation to 'help seniors get rehired'.

I am not sure if this would mean that in time to come, it will become a trend to literally work till our last breaths. It seems like the message we are getting - that we should continue to work for as long as we can. But is there any real good in this??

If it is a case of purely helping senior workers who become 'rejected' by employers because of age alone, then I think the legislation should be applauded. But I think the message is more than that, and that is what I dread.

Will life become more meaningful if there is no longer such a thing as 'retirement'? What about that promised leisurely enjoyment of the nest which we are all so desperately seeking to build up in our more youthful days?? I don't know about everyone else, but I don't look forward to working all my life, past 62 years of age (which, in my view, is already quite high).

Yes, I definitely will not want to burden my children when I get older. But I don't want to have to clear tables at hawker centres or collect supermarket trolleys from carparks in my 'golden years'.

A thought also came to my mind about my friend N and her resentment about her impending retirement. For her, maybe the new legislation will be good or comforting news. But she is probably the odd one out - you see, her children are grown up, she has no major financial commitments, does not travel and has no specific hobby or plans to occupy her post retirement. On top of that, she feels good to be 'in charge' in the office.

Sigh. Maybe my mind is not working so well these few days, so it may not be good time to discuss this.

I was still like this last night:



And now, my nose is so blocked that I can only breathe through the nose and the cough is so bad that when I cough, my chest feels like it is going to collapse.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Now Germs Got to Me

Yesterday, I started to feel awful in the office. Very chilly, especially after washing my hands.

At dinner, I felt better. I think the hot shower before dinner helped.

Then, after we got upstairs at about 10pm, I quickly finished hanging up the laundry. Quickly because I could sense the chills returning....

Then I left R to deal with WY and WF. I climbed onto bed and wrapped myself with the blanket, all the way from toes to neck. Brrrr.......

Throughout the night, I remained 'hot on the outside but chilly on the inside'. Very uncomfortable, very sick. And those bouts of sneezes! It was so bad that it felt as if I was going to have my nose sneezed off....

Miraculously, however, when I awoke this morning, I felt much better. Alive again, although the chills remain. It probably helped that R woke up to prepare the breakfast for WY and got WF ready for school whilst I remained in bed for an extra hour or so.

I had to come into office today despite feeling terribly sick because there is an assignment which is already overdue. Stressed ah!!!!



Who invented work??????

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Mothers' Day - My Tonic

After the very heavy lunch at Mother's place on Sunday, I went home for a nap. I fell asleep almost instantly after getting WY the crockery he needed for preparing my Tonic - his Mothers' Day present for me, and showing him how to turn on the gas stove.

WY woke me up at almost 8pm, telling me gently that my Tonic was ready. :)

I got up from bed, went to the kitchen still quite dazed. Then WY proudly showed me the Tonic which he has prepared and which he had put into the refrigerator to chill (I had wanted the Tonic chilled). I took a peek. Mmmmmm, 挺似模似样的。

WY then proceeded to add the last ingredient into the Tonic. Woah! :)

The final quantity looked like it would have been too big a bowl for me to eat all by myself. So I helped WY to scoop the Tonic into 2 bowls and a cup. We added ice-cubes, then brought them out to the dining table.

Then, we took a photo of this Special Mothers' Day present WY had painstakingly prepared for me: Birds' Nest Tonic with Pears, Red Dates and Chinese Almonds.



又滋润,又养颜。。。。 吃在口里,甜在心里。。。。。 :)

WF was still sound asleep, so he didn't know what he had missed. Shhh.....

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Childcare Leave

WF gave us a fright on Sunday night. His temperature climbed to 39+ degrees again. I had to quickly go about sponging him again. Onlythis time, he wasn't so cooperative anymore.


I took Monday off on childcare leave. R and I brought WF to the paediatrician, who started WF on the antibiotics. Throughout Monday, WF remained a radiator. Very worrying, I was super 烦.

By the evening, I was so worn out I felt myself beginning to feel sick too. My neck and back ached like crazy, all thanks to the intermittent naps on the floor next to WF for the past few nights. (Last week, it was WY whom I had to keep company the same way.)

Thankfully, by Tuesday morning, WF's temperature seemed to stabilise. Only a low-grade fever of about 37+ degrees remained. But his cough still sounds very phlegmy - the doctor had called it a 'chesty cough'.

So despite knowing the mountain-high piles of work waiting for me in the office and the very close deadlines they all come with, I decided to stay home one more day on childcare leave to jaga WF.

I also decided to give my appointment with the SNEC a miss. At times like this, I cannot care so much about the monitoring of the eye pressure what not liao, lah. Sian.

孩子生病,最烦的,莫过于母亲。母亲会为了孩子,牺牲一切。什么办公室里的工作、老板的要求等等,都可以抛到脑后。一心一意,就是想把孩子照顾好,把病魔驱赶掉。 ,就是母亲跟父亲的不同。

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mother's Day - at Mother's place

We had a special mission this year. HA had requested us to help him buy a special cake for Mother. Key word was "Special".

So I did a little check on what'snew and available. Eventually, the decision was to get this:



Actually, the task of ordering and delivering the cake was assigned to CP for the simple reason - the bakery is nearest her place.

At the same time, YP also ordered another cake - Mango Almond from Cedele. Mmmm, yummy....

On Sunday, when WY and WF finished their 文化艺术团 lessons, we set off to CP's place. We then proceeded to collect the 'Special' cake before heading home.

R, WY, WF and I had to take a quick shower before going to Mother's place, so we left CP to 'deliver' the 'Special' cake to Mother. I reminded her to let Mother know that the cake was from HA and it was for her (HA's specific instructions). This was conveyed accordingly.

Lunch was sumptious. We had curry vegetables, fishballs, fish, fried beehoon and soup etc. YP and BK had also bought a duck. I had to keep reminding myself to 'save some stomach space' for the cakes later on.

After lunch, the boys all retreated to Mother's room for their computer games. WF tried to join in too, and he had brought along his timer so that it could be clear when his alloted time would begin and end. The timer's quite a good gadget. It has also come in handy these few weeks for WY's revision for exams. :)



The rest of the adults just stayed around and chit-chatted. CP was talking mostly of her company newsletter stuff. I just wanted to relax and do/think nothing, so just mindlessly flipped some Straits Times lying around - only to realise later (when YP pointed out) that they were actually a week old! See, I have been that out of touch with the world.

Anyway, when it was time for the cakes, these were brought out:



Everyone took turns to take photos with the cakes. WY and WP kept themselves very busy trying to make sure that the flame on the candle was not flickering too much. WF didn't have any of the cakes because he didn't feel like it. All for the better, I think, since he just recovered from his bout of fever.

WY and WF gave out the cards (which WY had handmade on Saturday) and the presents for all the mothers. CP was included too, because WY said she can be considered half-mother too. (I forgot to take photos of the cards and presents, so maybe the respective recipients can see if they can post the photos on their respective blogs, lah.)

The close-ups of the cakes and tarts are here:

Mother's Day - Sunrise

We slept, for the 1st time in almost a week, in an airconed room last night. The weather has been really totally unbrearable, so hot and humid. If not for WY's and later WF's fevers, I would never have allowed our airconditioners to have gone idle while we all struggle to survive in the sweltering heat.....

At about 5am, I awoke to find WF 'a little warm' to touch. And the 1st thing that came to my mind was that his temperature was threatening to climb upwards again - it always seems that fevers always come in an airconed room.

So I quickly switched off the aircon, then set about getting ready to give WF his medicine - due anyway on the 6-hourly schedule now. After taking his medicine, WF asked to sleep 'outside' (ie on the spare mattress in the living room). So we 'moved out' at about 5:30am.

However, WF couldn't get back to sleep again. He went to the shelf to get a book, asking me to read to him (at that hour!), and asked to play his Thomas & His Friends (yah, also at that hour!) When both these requests were declined, he went to the balcony to check out the colour of the sky - I had told him that the sun was still not up yet, mah.

After about 5 minutes of standing at the balcony's glass door, he excitedly pointed out to me that the sky was a little 'less dark' already! And he discovered, to his amazement, that when he breathes out hard at the glass door, there would be 'water' on the glass door which he could 'write on'!! (Ya lah, he realised that there is condensation and that he could scribble over the condensate.)

So, to show my enthusiasm and support in his discovery, I peeled myself off the mattress and joined him at the balcony. We discussed a little the colour of the sky and I had to answer WF's uncountless questions - "Why is the moon not round?" (it was crescent, so I said simply that it takes several days for it to become round) "Why are there so many lights on all the buildings?" (my answer: the lights warn pilots of tall buildings/structures so that they won't crash their aeroplanes into them - this answer drew WF's comment: "If they crash into them, the people in the buildings would be so angry with the pilot, right?!")

"Where is everybody?" (my answer: most are still asleep) "Why are they still sleeping?" (my answer: they are still tired) "Then what about the cars?" (ha? oh, he was referring to the cars on the PIE)... and the exchange went on and on. WF eventually decided that we should sit and wait for the sun to 'come out'.

By 6:30am or so, the sky was almost completely bright though the sun still could not be seen. So the discussion continued and went on to how there were now more buses 'bringing all the different passengers to everywhere' etc. I think the Thomas & His Friends vcds have been a great influence in transportation-related terminology.

After a while, we spotted Mother going to the market. WF waved frantically and called out to her excitedly. When I explained that Mother did not see him and was too far away to hear his calls, he dashed to grab his whistle to blow! I had to quickly tell him not to do that less others get upset to be awoken by it.

Then, true to his reputation of being a cheeky fellow, WF decided to try out his whistle at WY so that WY would also wake up to join him at the balcony. He went into WY's room, and whistled so loudly that the irate elder brother started to lecture him about such 'inconsiderate prank' the moment he woke up. Later WY reluctantly got up and joined us at the balcony.

As we sat behind the metal railings, all 3 in a row, we discussed the clouds floating by. For the 1st time, I realised that the clouds actually look dark blue against the bright sky (before the sun rises). WY and WF said the clouds looked like the outline of a big cruise ship. Then WY said it became a horse, while WF started to see a scary dinosaur in them.....

Then WY popped a question to me, "Mama, why does the sky look so bright even though the sun has yet to be seen?" I pointed out how the sun's rays are all far-reaching etc, so it doesn't mean that we must 'see' the sun before the sky would be lighted. (Actually, I didn't do a good job explaining, but I think he got the idea anyway.)

Gradually, we noticed the sun rising from behind the clouds, giving that famed 'silver lining' to the clouds - the only thing is, the lining wasn't silver but bright orangy red. It was quite a beautiful sight. I grabbed the camera and tried to capture it. This was the best I could achieve:


As the sun rays came flooding in, we had to move off from the balcony and we proceeded to keep the mattress etc. WY made his bed as I prepared breakfast, with WF ordering 'cereal and cheese' for his. R woke up and got out of bed about then.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

What a (*pant* *pant*) week


Tuesday this week turned out to be worse than I had expected.

On the eve of his WY's EL Paper 2 exam, he came down with high fever. That shivering-cold-and-yet-cannot-sweat-it-out type of high fever came suddenly after dinner. So I quickly gave him some fever syrup, then got him to sleep earlier than we had originally planned.

Then I went on to put WF to bed. R was still mugging for his exam. I reminded R that WY had to have another dose of the fever medicine at about 3am.

Then, at about 3am, I awoke to find R clearing out WY's room. It turned out that WY had just turned 'merlion' shortly before 3am, forcing R to move him out and to strip the beds bare. R hurried to put the dirty bedsheets and pillow cases into our poor washing machine and set it on to work in the wee hours of the morning.

Whilst R went back to burning his early-morning oil (past midnight already, mah), I kept WY company. I managed to steal a few winks next to WY who slept on the spare mattress in the living area.

By day-break, WY's fever had subsided a little. He said that he was ok enough to go for his exam. So I woke R up. R had managed to take only a 90-minute nap by then.

So there was a major change in plan. R would get WY to school for his exam, and R would go to Jurong directly after that for his own exam. I would get WF to CH school by myself, then proceed to KHS to get WY back immediately after his exam was over. Then I would bring WY to the doctor's clinic before bringing him home to rest.

And that was exactly what we all did.

WF and I walked all the way to the Boys' Club to catch a cab to CH school. After that, I walked all the way out to catch a bus to Aljunied Road, then change to another bus which brought me to the Aljunied MRT station. From there, I walked all the way to KHS.

On the way, I witnessed from afar a fight between a middle-aged Chinese man and a bald non-Chinese man in his 30s on the island at the Aljunied Road/Sims Avenue junction. These 2 men angrily exchanged blows and punches and pushed each other really so hard and badly that they both kept falling onto the road! And all the other pedestrians stood still to watch. Even the cars came to a complete halt! It was actually quite exciting watching a 'live' fight leh!

Given the way they fought with a push and a punch here and there, it was like very 难分胜负. Then suddenly, the bald buy picked himself up and proceeded to reach for his bicycle chain from his bicycle leaning against the traffic lights! The Chinese man quickly dash across the road - wise move, I think, otherwise he would have 挂彩 already.... Then the crowd dispersed, and I continued walking to KHS.

After getting WY, we took a taxi to the doctor's clinic. We waited for a long time (usually no queue at that clinic). When we were done, we took another taxi home.

Then it was all a sleep sleep and more sleep-afternoon for WY. CP came back to find WY sleeping, so the planned revision was cancelled. So she basically 'wasted' her half-day leave.

The only consolation for the day was this: R passed his exam. Woah!!!!

***********************

On Wednesday, WY went to school for his Maths exam after gulping down some fever syrup. Our plan was that R would take WF to CH school, then bring WY back after his exam is over before returning to the office. In the meantime, I would settle the chores and wait for WY at home.

WF insisted, however, that I was to go along with him to CH school. So in the end, both R and I sent WF to CH school, then both went to KHS to bring WY back home. R returned to office while I took childcare leave to look after WY.

This time, WY felt better and after a nap, he was ok to do some basic recap for the CL Paper 2 exam scheduled for Thursday. Sigh, we could only hope for the best since we weren't able to cover what we had planned.

WF returned home in the evening, and amongst other things, declared to me, "Mama, I have germs." "What germs?!" I asked. "Coughing germs, sneezing germs, fever germs and all kinds of germs," came his reply.

I told him not to sprout nonsense, then sent him to bed early. During the night, he kept complaining to me that he felt cold (although the room temperature was set at a comfortable 26.5 degree).

*************************

When we woke up the next morning, R sent WY to school. As WY was already feeling 'normal' with no fever, no sneezes etc, he stayed on in school for lessons after the CL Paper 2 exam.

As I was about to get WF ready for school, we suddenly realised that he was having a fever now. Sigh. 怎么躲避也躲避不过。。。。

Eventually, R took the day off on childcare leave to bring WF to the doctor and to take care of him. I returned to the office - piles of stuff waiting for me. Super sian ah......

In the evening, WF's fever went like a pendulum. Up and down, quite worrying.

I slept for a total of about one and a half hours that night.

****************************

I took Friday off on childcare leave to jaga WF. Given that his temperature was still hovering between 38 and 40 degrees, Mother would not have been comfortable taking care of him anyway.

WY proceeded to school for his final exam paper for SA1 and returned exhausted at 1:30pm. He was to have returned to CH school that afternoon, but given that WF was at home, we decided that WY would also skip CH and go there only next week.

WF was delighted to be able (finally) to play with WY. So they both spent the afternoon quite 'together'. WF's fever didn't seem to improve. By evening, I had already lost count on the number of times I had had to sponge him.

When R returned after work, he sent WY to his piano lesson. In WY's absence, WF got a 'bonus' slot of computer time because he completed his writing (work) very well. (Nowadays, comp time is a very effective motivator.) But the deal he had with me was that he had to finish off his computer game before WY returned, and that he would switch off the computer once the agreed time was up. All these he did.

In the night, WF's temperature rose all the way past 40 degrees. Very very worrying, and I hardly slept because he kept tossing about. After 3 rounds of sponging and 3 rounds of high-dosage paracetamol, he finally started to sweat and that brought some relief to everyone. It had been so scary to keep feeling the heat radiating from WF's scorching-hot body.......

I finally fell asleep at about 4:30am after giving WF another round of medicine and sponging.

*************************

At 8:00am, I was awoken by Mother's call at the door. Despite my telling her not to buy breakfast for us on Saturdays, she had bought 2 packets of noodles, one packet of fried carrot cake and 3 butterfly fritters. Sigh.

R went to the office because he had already arranged some time ago to swop his duty day with a colleague. So WY, WF and I managed all by ourselves. R came back only at about 4:30pm.

In those hours before came back, we managed to squeeze in WY's piano practice, music theory homework, WF's 文化艺术团 practice, reading and play for both in addition to the routine showers, food, 凉茶, medicines etc etc. 'Normal' chores like laundry were non-event lah.

Now WF is taking his nap while WY is dealing with his handicraft for tomorrow.

How I look forward to TOMORROW.

Monday, May 7, 2007

Tomorrow



















Tomorrow, WY will sit for his EL Paper 2 in school. Usual school hours.

Tomorrow, R will sit for his exam, too. He has to be in the exam hall in Jurong before 9am.

So Tomorrow, I need to get WF up really early and get him to CH school before 7:45am.

I think I cannot sleep tonight.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Hit & Run

While walking WY to the pedestrian crossing outside the school this morning, R heard a loud screech and *BANG*! He thought that it was just one of those vehicles on the road which had to pull to a halt abruptly because of a change in the traffic lights.

But when R returned to our car which was parked in a roadside parking lot in one of the Lorongs opposite the school, he saw to our dismay that someone had kissed the front right corner of our car, leaving a big nasty dent in the front bumper (which has become a little dislodged) + nasty scratches on the right side of the car & right front lights.



Arrhhhhh!! Whoever that damned driver was!!!!!!

Of course nobody 'owned up' for this early-morning crime. So we had to make a police report for the hit & run and send our car for a check-up. We may or may not make an insurance claim eventually because given the terms of the insurance policy, it may not make economic sense to do so.

But whatever the final outcome, we are likely to end up $1K - $2K poorer, all because of that damned driver!

Sigh. Perhaps this is 破财消灾... Better things will be on their way soon lah, hor.....

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Get new handphone?

I have been waiting for months to get a new handphone because my current one has multiple horizontal and vertical lines running across the edge of its screen. I was told I must have dropped the handphone some time ago, and so these lines are actually 'dead' pixels of the LCD.

And I have been putting up with these lines because I have not been willing to pay for a new handphone - why pay when I can get one for free when I renew subscription contract, right?! This may sound cheapo lah, but a phone is a tool only mah, so why spend good money which I have much better use for, hor?

Anyway, I received an offer today from the service provider. To summarise, choice is now this: either I retain my existing handphone and get to enjoy a rebate of $4 off my monthly bill or I upgrade my handphone (ie get free new handphone) with a new contract. How? Choice seems simple enough, but I am very wary of the fine prints leh.... especially in the telecommunication industry....

Maybe I should go check it out in person at the shops rather than try to make head or tail over this whole thing online. Sigh, so much so for online 'convenience'.....

I am also wondering what is the difference between these 2 ('free') Nokia models?? I think they are called the 5070 and 6300 respectively.