2x in a row!!!!!

I never thought I would be so "lucky"! I logged on to my yahoo mail this morning and saw an email from my interior designer. All was well until he "announced" that he had resigned from the company! #$^*&^! This is the second ID that quit on me! I am beginning to wonder if there is something wrong with the company and I hate to have to run through everything all over again with the new chap!!!!!Moral of the story.....never ever use an interior designer! Anyone with a good contractor to recommend?

1 year anniversary....

You were the best among the batch.
You were full of character when we met.
We had great times together.
Playing hide-and-seek, trying to find each other.
27 Dec 06, the day when our game did not end.
Not being able to find you was not our intent.
The questions of "where are you?" and "how are you?" always linger.
Sometimes memories of you just trigger.
I pray that you are well. I pray that you are happy.
Hope we will have a chance to meet again......

Something playful III

Since Chloe is the only girl in this "Something Playful" series, her photo montage will have something extra :P Can you spot it?

Something playful II :P

I was sorting out all my pictures and came across the series of Fu's photos his mum sent me. I thought it would be quite cute to arrange them in a sequence. That was how "something playful" was created. "Something playful II" is for Darren. Hope you like it :)

P/s to Chloe: Yours got to wait ok! Ganma needs to scout for photos :)

Botanic Garden, Singapore

Something Playful :)

Christmas in Moscow :)

24 Dec, a day many get together to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25. We, in Moscow, did the same. As Russians do not celebrate Christmas until 7 Jan (as they are Orthodox Catholics), the Christmasy feeling is not as strong as what we have back home. So, we chose an American restaurant hoping to get a little more of the festivity, besides the wintry weather outside.

Journey to the restaurant was not at all pleasant, especially for Eugene and May who came to pick us up. The normal ride of 10 minutes (from their place to ours) took 1.5 hours in this weather. By the time we got to the restaurant, it was already around 8pm (poor John, Soe and Eddie had to wait for us for almost 30minutes).

Though there weren't many of us in Moscow (yes, we are missing Reuben, Tracey, Cecilia, Steve, Annice and Mike), we still manage to gather a group of 8. Those who could drive made it a point to either take the metro or be driven by drivers. This is so we could all drink! The night ended with nice company, lots of laughter and catching up, below average dinner (imagine an American restaurant which ran out of fries!), not so fantastic service and ok beverage. To all my friends, Merry Christmas and a fabulous year ahead. CHEERS!

A Safe Haven In the Cold

A friend brought Adrian and I to Mother Theresa Home yesterday. She was going to deliver some Christmas presents she and her husband had prepared. Walking through the cold and slippery door way, we were greeted by 2 of the residents. Both should be in their teens. Though visibly mentally slow, we were greeted with lots of hospitality from the pair. They brought us to the room where we hung our jackets and changed to slippers and excitedly vanished with the 2 packets of presents.

I must admit that I was not prepared for the excitement the children displayed when they saw us. I found myself being surrounded by children who expressed their friendliness in a way I am not used to. One took my hands and gently swung them as though she wanted me to dance with her. One just needed to feel you with his hand for he seemed partially blind.

I was attracted to this 11-year old who was suffering from Cerebral Palsy. A very sweet looking girl but paralysed from waist down. At some point, she seemed to be calling out for her mother who had not visited her for 2 weeks as she was sick. Her teary eyes made it unbearable to look at her.

The Sisters who keep the place going give the children their unlimited love and care. Their commitment to them makes me feel so small and insignificant. It is not easy looking after children with special needs. It's not just about providing a roof over their heads. It compasses understanding them, empathising with their handicap, guiding them and treating them just like their very own.

The visit made me feel that there is still warmth and love in this very harsh and cold country.

Mr Cat - The 11th Month

The smell of Mr Cat is getting lesser. Mr Cat was Pebble's favorite toy. She liked to grab it by her mouth and toss it up into the air. The smell came from the saliva left behind after all these chewing and grabbing. Now, it is the only smell that is left behind by Pebble. Today is the 11th month :(

The Lure of "S" & "11"

Many of us will envy people who do not need to plough for money. Nonetheless, realistically, how many of us can be in that category? Day in day out we are worried if we are earning enough, if we will earn enough, what if it is not enough? I started my 3 weeks of hell to minimise my problem of "what if it is not enough?" today. Going through the first report was a breeze. But the second one stopped me from going on. "This one is going to score badly", I told myself. Anyhow, the motivation factor is the "S" with "11". 加油!

Made In Singapore

I was shopping with Adrian last week and we stumbled into a shop called "Loang & Noi". Maybe you have seen this shop in Vivo city or Paragon. Maybe you have seen their advertisement in the magazines. Adrian used to think that "Loang & Noi" was probably Vietnamese but he was wrong. Both Loang and Noi are Singaporeans. The interesting thing is that all the jewellery you find in there are exclusive, i.e every piece is unique. For people who likes the idea of "one and only", this may be a place you can take a look. Maybe it is a kind of "selfishness", I quite like the idea of having something that is unique to me, something that review some bits and pieces of my identity. Am I having identity crisis?

Being DIPLOMATic

Life as a diplomat had made quite a difference in our stay in Moscow. Here's why....

Even though working life had been as busy for Adrian,

he is supported by capable and supportive local staff. They are....Elena, his marketing officer and Sasha, his driver (cum bodyguard :)).

Besides assisting Adrian, both Elena and Sasha had been a great help to me too. You may not be able to see the car clearly but it is a Volvo S60. The great thing about this car was not its model but the fact that it had a red car plate. In Singapore, red car plate means weekend car but in Moscow, red car plate means diplomatic car, = police would think twice about stopping you, some hotel would offer free parking, cars on the road would try to avoid you (they have this thinking that diplomatic drivers are reckless drivers) etc.

For those who had visited Moscow before, you might had bad experience at the airport customs. Many had been "detained" for quite a while before the stamp finally got "chopped" on your passport. However, if you have the above, all else do not matter. If they make trouble, just point to the word "diplomatic". You will be surprise how many of them are "blind". It is also very effective if they decide to check your luggage. Just give them the passport and they will signal you to pass. With this, you can also use the diplomatic lane for faster clearance at immigration.

Next is this diplomatic card. In Moscow, you always have to bring your passport wherever you go. But if you have this baby, you will not need to bring your passport and will never get "extorted" by policemen. Sigh! I will sure miss these conveniences.....:(

Get Together...

One of the things that always draw me back to Singapore is the pals I have here.

These are just 2 of them.....

She is one of our 2 new additions. Line said she caught me drooling over her many times during dinner. How not to right? :PUs and the next generation. (Missing : Rachel & Fu, Fang & Chloe, Darren)

10th Month...

It's the 10th month today. Saw the "Caesar" advertisement yesterday. The westie in there reminded me of Pebble when she was young. So cute..

First Home Restaurant in Moscow

Tonight, I decided to bring some of my closer friends to the first home restaurant in Moscow. I don't really know the real name of the restaurant as we conveniently called it "Emily's" (named after the owner). Emily had stayed in Singapore before and maybe that's why we felt totally at ease in her "home". Menu at Emily's is quite standard but definitely not unimpressive. The chef, who is her mum makes fabulous Russian home cooked cuisine. My favorites are her piroshki, stewed pork, plov and cheese cake. Yummy! If you are wondering why there is no photo? Well, my camera ran out of battery!

Emily paints too and you can see some of her paintings hang up on the restaurant's wall. If something catches your eye, you can always buy it off. Besides paintings, you can also find traditional Russian embroidery there. Occasionally, you can find yourself dining with her cat and her 2 dogs. They are likely to be sitting around your table, making themselves at home too, just like in your very own dining room.

On the whole, it is a wonderful place to share some private, comforting times with these great pals whom we would not have met if we had not landed in Moscow. Cheers my friends!

原点

今天的心情很乱但不糟.
心的深处埋着一丝丝的依憾,
一丝丝的不舍,
一丝丝的伤感,
一丝丝的委屈.
心的一个角落却很感激他给我的终止,
让我回到原点, 让我轻松地放下这不必要的包袱.
对不起, 朋友, 只能陪你走到这里.
要健康, 要快乐喔 :)

Essentials for winter

The temperature has been hovering between -1 to 2 degrees and it is time to pack the bag with winter essentials.

a. Gloves - to keep upper extremities warm.

b. Book - to wild away time while waiting for friends as traffic is a killer during winter.

c. Music - to create your personal space while wilding away your time. Get lost in your own world.

d. Scarf & hat - besides your feet, the next 2 important areas to keep warm is the head and the neck.

My favorite coffee house...

It was a snowy afternoon, my friends and I decided to get out of the house for some fresh cold air. We headed for one of our favourite hunts in Moscow, the Coffee Bean. This is not the Coffee Bean chain that we are familiar with back home. It is rated one of the more desirable coffee place because it is a totally smoke-free coffee house, something very rare in Moscow. Sitting there, you really miss all the nice, cozy coffee places in Singapore. You imagine yourself sipping coffee, plugging into your IPOD and reading a book in a big cushy couch, occasionally looking out of the glass panels watching the world goes by. How peaceful. What a luxury....:)

Do people like your face?

I was playing around with Facebook recently and was pleasantly surprise to receive an invite from a friend who has not been in contact for many years. I was telling Ah Line that it was a very nice feeling to know that people still bother to look for you after so many years. On the other hand, I begin to wonder what if someone rejects your invite to be added in Facebook? That will be an awful feeling won't it, especially if that person also has a facebook account?

It's October..But snow has arrived..

It was only 3 days ago when I posted the photos of the fall. Today, heavy snow everywhere. Cars were begining to be covered with piles of snow. Here comes winter....

Fall In Moscow

I was out trying to capture some fall colours but was badly disappointed. It could also be that my mood was already lousy before this. I was down at the departmental store looking for a birthday present. The store was having huge sale and it was very crowded. I was queueing for about 45 minutes at the cashier before this shameless russian fat a_ _ cut into the queue. Everybody was totally pissed with her. When asked by another russian lady to move behind, she simply uttered some patronising words and continued to stand in the line, refusing to budge. How shameless can these people be! Anyhow, I managed to spot these shots at the embassy's garden....

Winter is just round the corner. Temperature has dropped tremendously throughout the week. It is now 2 degrees. I wonder if I will see snow tomorrow (I should if the weather report is accurate).

Gen Y Workers

I was reading a rather disturbing article in "The Edge". It is call "Meet The Gen Y Worker". Gen Y, as defined in the article, are chaps born between 1977 and early 1990s. They possess the following working attitude:
a) opinionated, self-assured
b) want early opportunities and expect immediate rewards
c) outspoken, trend-conscious and eager for new experiences
d) pertinent, arrogant and lacking in commitment
e) highly intelligent, confident, interactive and productive
f) "me" generation with parents who will most willingly provide for them at any time

While companies are scrambling to change their HR policies to meet the needs of this generation, I read the article with great concern and sympathy. While I think it is welcoming that GEN Y is opinionated, highly intelligent, confident, interactive, potentially productive and outspoken, I am disappointed that humility is not among the list of attributes. It seems to me that we are cultivating a generation that is full of themselves, over-the-head, "ruthless", totally unreliable and with "great" intellect. And if all else fails, they will have no qualms scrambling back to their parents for financial support. Where is the part on character? Where is the part on interpersonal skills? Where is the part on passion? And where is the part on being self-reliant?

Are we really so proud to have a generation that is of this manner? Do we really think that they can bring the country and the economy to the next level, given the fact that they can, at any time jump ship? I think the experiences that this generation have are fantastic but there are still a great chunk of work / life experiences these youngsters have yet to go through. And to write these off thinking that they already have what it needs to succeed is dangerous.

The Wait....

We are expecting our new house to be ready by the end of the year. It is a much smaller unit. Nonetheless, I reckon that cleaning will be much easier. The greatest challenge now is to ensure enough storage space for our things. Is back to looking for a reliable contractor with some sense of design again. Anybody with good recommendation? I am also cracking my brains for interesting design and I think the greatest problem will be the shoe cabinet. Not sure where will be a good place to put up one. I guess I cannot really tell until I see the actual unit. So exciting!

Testing 2

I could not resist the temptation of showing you the other label that I did. This is the transparent background version. The picture is taken in Vladimir, one of the towns outside of Moscow. I think this is by far, the most beautiful picture I have of Russia's landscape.

Effect Testing

Wanted to test out the effect of my first label. Did a series of it. This is the first. No time to test out the rest because it is about time to prepare dinner :)

My Label

I get a lot of inspirations from CanICan's blog. One of the things I thought was quite cool was CanICan's trademark / signature on all her photos. Maybe I can also create one of my very own? Here it is:

What do you think? The idea of putting in my blog address is not original. It is a copy from CanICan. I hope she doesn't mind. Look out for my very own identity in all future photos. Cheers! Oh ya, in case you are wondering where CanICan's blog is, here it is: http//canican.blogspot.com

The Heating Is On!

I just had a pleasant surprise. The heating is on! Finally! It was freezing in the apartment (good excuse not to get out of bed). But as usual, the one in the diner is not on yet. It is usually the slowest. However, the switching on of the heaters also means that it is time for moisturizer to be applied everyday. The heaters dry the air. Something I dread.

So Boring...............!

Weather is bad. It has been raining for the past 3 days. TV is not working. It can only be repaired on Wednesday (with some luck). No driver as he is on leave. No motivation to go out. No good book to read. No one really to talk to. No latest music. I'm glad I will be going home soon. It is just SOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOORRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGG here!

My Little Red Dot

Being given the opportunity to live overseas, I have learnt that I have always been a Singaporean and I will always be. Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side; many of us fantasize about migrating abroad, enjoying a slower pace of life, having bigger living space, dreaming of spending weekends at the countryside etc. Is it all such a bed of roses? All so simple?

I, for one, enjoy holding my little red passport. It symbolises my country, a place where I am its priority, where I know I will never be treated as second class, where I will never experience discrimination, where I am known as a citizen.

My experience in Moscow makes me cherish things we have back home more. In Moscow, going onto the streets is always a struggle and the inertia for doing so is great. It is not because the streets are unsafe but more because you are likely to encounter something unpleasant which will just ruin your day. Let me give you an example. I was walking home from the supermarket one day and a middle-age man was right in front of me. It was a busy street but he did not bother to ensure if there were people near him before he decided to clear whatever was stuck in his throat onto the floor. His dirty, disgusting load of spit nearly landed on my pants and my shopping bag. Totally disgusted, all I could gave out was a loud "SH_T!" and a hard stare. I couldn't express more of my disgust due to language barrier and the fact that spitting is a way of life here. He wouldn't be bothered to apologise so don't waste your time. How uncivilised he was but you just got to look out for "spitters" when walking on the roads.

Going to restaurants is another way to make your blood boil. Poor service (sometimes you don't know why you need to tip the waiters), loud, rude voice, waitresses who look everywhere except at the customers, smoking and non-smoking areas being only 1 foot away from each other etc. Who says service at Singapore restaurants are not good enough? Try here and you will appreciate what we have back home.

But, it is not all these bad experiences that make me feel proud to be a Singaporean. Rather, I don't think anyone can truly feel like they belong to a place that is not theirs. Just like one will feel most comfortable and at ease in their own house no matter how posh or dilapidated it is. We can adapt to living in another country, we can make our lives as enjoyable and comfortable as we want but we can never blend in as naturally as the natives. Just like we can never speak English like a British and they can never speak Singlish like a Singaporean. Something will always be amiss. And if we try too hard, we forget who we really are.

Little red dot to me symbolises home, natural fit, pride (small but tough country) and ownership.

Exhauserobics!

Two days ago, I finally decided to unwrap the aerobics DVD that I bought from London last Dec. Did a quick screening of the movements and thought to myself, " I think I can do it. I have done these movements before!" So I tried. After half an hour, I was exhausted, barely could lift up my legs and my arms. Then came resistence training with weights. Good thing was, weights were optional and you could do the same actions without them. Could not really complete the whole set and by now, I was just tapping my feet on the ground. Next was crunches. I thought I better worked on my abs if I ever want to wear bikinis (wildest dream). That workout was great, only to realise that the muscles were aching the very next day.

Today, I decided to put on the DVD once again and had another 1.5 hours of workout. It was great to be perspiring and feeling the muscle aches. But I just have to admit that I am not as fit as before. I used to be able to complete the full aerobics routine but not anymore. Sigh, hate to see lesser and lesser muscles and more and more flabs. Nightmare of a middle-age woman....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Handphone Bills :(

Sigh. Got my handphone bill last night. I had been spending too much on my Singapore mobile. For the last 2 months, the bills were at least S$160. Got to find a way to bring down the amount. Maybe because we had been corresponding with our lawyer for the sale of the house using this number. Maybe I should ask Adrian to pay half of it??? (Idea!)

Looking through the service plans of M1, nothing interesting that would allow me to lower my cost :(

You have a message!

Ever sent out an sms and received no reply? Ever sent out smses to a particular person and never get a single reply? Ever consider why such response or no response? I know of some friends who are very back dated with their sms replies. It's like they accumulate a week's supply before they reply. For friends like this, I know I will not be able to count on them in times of emergency. But late replies are better than no reply. No reply may just mean; no time, not important, no in existence anymore, don't care, not interested, cannot be bothered, what a pain.....the list goes on. Is such a person still worthwhile to consider him a friend? Still worthwhile to try and keep in contact (there's no contact to begin with)?

My Muffins :)

Finally got down to make my muffins. I was trying to find the muffin tray for almost 2 weeks and finally I got it! I think it was not a cheap buy but at least the quality was quite good and should be able to last for a long time.

Got the premix from a supermarket (Line said I cheated because I used premixes) :P. The instructions were simple; pour out the premix into a bowl, add 1/2 cup of water, mix everything together and fill the tray with the mixture. Then, just stuff everything into the oven for 20 minutes. Here, freshly made muffins. Tasted good too! Yum yum! But the appearance was not as enchanting as those made by CanICan. I tried to act smart by greasing the tray with butter. That resulted in the skin getting charred. Anyhow, wonderful results for first try...."Chey! Use premix one!"

Mid Autumn Festival

Last Tues, we had a little mid autumn festival party. We did a pot-luck so that the host did not need to worry about dinner. After a sumptuous one, we proceeded to the roof top garden for moon cakes and had some fun with lanterns (specially imported from Singapore). We had a tough time keeping the lanterns lighted as it was quite a breezy night. But lots of fun.

We wanted to collect as many photos as possible of our stay in Moscow so that night, we had at least 4 cameras clicking away. If you notice, all of us were focusing on different cameras when these photos were taken. At that instance, you really feel like a superstar swamped by dozens of cameramen.

We did something we never tried that night too. Karaoke! It was great fun to see people letting down their hair and sang to their hearts' content, even though the beats of the music seem slower than original version (so must support 正版). My jaws were aching due to all the laughter. The boys were quite amazing entertainers that night. Did everything......except full monty! Maybe next round, boys!

9th Month

It's the 9th month. I don't know how else to remember her. There are just so much memories of her. I really dread the 27th of every month now. These photos were taken when Pebble was at different ages. She is such a lovely dog. Really miss her :(

Flower Power!

A few days ago, a friend sent me a "flower" via Flower Power: http://www.healthymind.sg/flowerpower/fp.asp?fid=1260

I thought this was a very cool idea (whoever came out with this idea....2 thumbs up for you). This site allows you to send a flower to a friend, a love one, or to any people you like. With this flower, you can also attached your message and the receiver is supposed to go to the flower bed to find their flowers. Help me make this flower bed grow. If you have something that you want to tell someone or something that you want to get off your chest, send a flower. Make this flower bed flourish. Make that particular someone smile :)

My New Toy :)

A couple of years ago, I bought a MP3 player with a memory of 250mb, thinking that it would be enough for my songs. I made a mistake. With this memory size, I could only store about 60 songs the most. A few days ago, while I was chatting with Tracy, she told me that she had 2 new IPOD Nanos. I thought it might be a good idea to buy it from her since I was looking for something that could hold the albums that I like. Here it is, my new toy. Thanks to Tracy too that I bought it for a good price :)

In case you are wondering why I featured my Garfield too. No special reason. Thought it would be too boring if I just took the Nano. By the way, this Garfield always reminds me of my college days. It was given to me as a birthday present from my committee friends. Note what is printed on the T-shirt. Yeah, those were their humors. Something very memorable. Miss you guys! See ya soon!

Jen & Ngiam in Moscow

You must be wondering why I am posting Jen & Ngiam's visit eventhough they were here last Dec. Well, it all started with Tracy introducing me to Photo Flick. I was playing around with it and I thought it was quite cool. So, I decided to upload one of my favourite set of photos as a test. I think it came out quite nicely. The only thing that I was torned now is to whether transfer all my photos into Photo Flick or should I still continue with Flickr or if I should have both. Before I make a decision, you will still see both version on my side bar.

Thanks Tracy!

New Additions....

We have 2 additions to the family in the month of Sep 07. One is the long awaited BB Sophie and the other is nicknamed Remarkable Rachel who cannot resist the beauty of this world and decides to arrive earlier than expected.

BB Sophie has a very garang mother. While she was having contraction, she decided that she should complete the following tasks before going to the hospital:

a) take a bathe (quite normal)

b) eat breakfast (I wonder how come she still had appetite considering the pain)

c) change diaper for the son so that he can sleep longer

d) wake up the husband

e) call her mum to take care of her son

f) wait for the mum to arrive

By then, Sophie was already on her way out to see this world. Here she is, arriving just less than a couple of hours later. What a beauty...BB Rachel, or nicknamed Remarkable Rachel / tough cookie, is a few days older than Sophie. She too is a beautiful one with big eyes and very smiley. Shall insert her photo later. Wah...begining to count the number of red packets I need to prepare for next chinese new year already :)