when we moved to our current place, i noticed a group of domestic helpers at the void deck and/or playgrounds at certain times of the day.
the helpers will usually have their charges with them, the young and the old.
initially, i was pretty blinded, if i could use the word. that's because as the helpers were gathering, they were talking, perhaps gossiping, eating and their young charges will be running around while the elderly charges will be in their wheelchairs staring into the sky and i would be thinking what are the helpers doing!
however, after looking at them for a few weeks, my mindset changed! i realised that the helpers needed a form of release, emotionally and mental release. for us, we would go holidays, hang out with friends, retail therapy or movie therapy. however for domestic helpers, especially those who do not have the luxury of day offs, that is the only form of release, get away every day for them.
so now, i look at them with a different light. especially those domestic helpers who have elderly charges as they are mostly wheel-chaired bound and immobile.
it is the ONLY season that hubby and i had watched it since it's first eposide on star world until this week.
this season has a new panel of judges, randy jackson (who have been there for the past 9 season), jennifer lopez, steven tyler.
however, somehow, this season has the greatest number of great singers!
which is the only reason why hubby and i and even princess catch it every thursday and friday without fail!
my observations of the judges:
jennifer - honest comments, somehow, perhaps she is a lady, will always give positive comments, no matter how bad the singing was.
randy - same randy as per the past 9 season, no good he will say no good!
steven - to me, he is a man of few words; i noticed he is only a man of few words only if he has no comments on the performance, perhaps the singing was bad. however if the performance is solid good, he has a LOT of comments!
hahaha!!! hubby and my prediction for the top 4 - pia, casey, jacob and lauren.
we loved their breakfast - especially their asian menu - it was cheap and really good.
their breakfast opening hours use to start at 8.30am. we would wake up very early on sundays and be there at 8.30am for breakfast! we would have at least an hour before the crowd started to come in.
we loved their lunch and dinner menu - especially their asian menu - it was good!
princess loved their pasta!
however, they changed their menu in the third quarter of last year and now, the local asian favourites are no longer on their breakfast menu! very sad indeed!
their western breakfast - i have nothing to say... i have been to ikea approx 10 times since the last quarter of last year... but each time, they have the same things for breakfast...
it is becoming BORING!
they have changed their pasta sauce - the tomato based pasta sauce now tasted werid that princess no longer eat their pasta
sad...
are they trying to discourage people from eating at their restaurants?
are they trying to discourage people from eating breakfast at their restaurants? as now breakfast hours starts at 9.30am and the crowd queuing outside the restaurant before the opening hours during weekends is terrible!
perhaps they are moving away from the asian menu? afterall they are a swedish firm.
honestly.... i don't think i'll know the answers to my questions.
thinking about growing old and then i suddenly remembered what princess said about growing old and dying.
couple of months ago, i can't remember what happened but we suddenly talked about all will grow old and everyone will die.
princess heard that we will all grow old and die, she cried!
she said she didn't want to grow old and didn't want to die! explained to her that when we die, as christians, we will go to heaven. however, that didn't calm her down, she kept saying she didn't want us to grow old, didn't want us grow old to become old granny, old grandpa.
i had to tell her we will not grow old so fast and that made her calm down.
CNY lunch is at peach garden at OCBC centre. heard so much about this restaurant but had never been there before.
boss asked me to reserve a table for 8 and ordered the set menu for 10. their set menu for 10 is better both in value and in menu items compared to the individual set menu.
the menu for our lunch
when we were led to our table, the yusheng was on the table, ready for us to toss! we were all ready to toss that i had forgotten to take photos! it was a huge plate of yusheng!
then we had sharks fin! the sharks fin were, let me put it this way, genuine sharks fin. they are in pieces, huge pieces, not those disintegrated into strips… see the picture below and you will understand… i had 2 bowls of the sharks fin!
next was the fish… nice!
next came the prawns. the prawns were done very creatively. this is a spicy dish – Sichuan style. i liked it. the mantou tone down the spiciness and goes very well with the prawns!
then came the chicken… by the time the chicken came, we were all pretty full! i took a small piece of the chicken. it is nice!
then it’s the lotus rice. however, we are all too full and we got the restaurant to pack it for us to take away.
then came the desert. there are 2 deserts, 1 is 年糕 in coconut shavings; the other is a sweet soup with walnuts and 桂花糕 – cold desert which is something i’ve not eaten before.
over all, it was a very nice meal! nice ambience though it was SUPER crowded due to CNY!
oh yes, we saw something very interesting during the meal. a group came in and i think the group was too huge for the table they were assigned to. the waiters lifted up the WHOLE table (it’s a round plank that they put on top of a normal sized table to allow it to sit 10-12 pax) and the few strong men then lifted the whole plank with the table cloth on top away to allow the table to be placed with another bigger plank to sit 20 pax! however, i didn’t remember to take pictures of the sight! to bad!
i have decided NOT to go into the office today as i needed to come up with some powerpoint slides for my boss. decided to pop into starbucks for a cuppa and work from there!
there are actually a LOT of people who are working out of starbucks! i see a lot of workers with the laptops and chargers and "working" from their laptops! NOT just students!
it was a nice feeling, however, the air con is SIMPLY TOO COLD! i was freezing by the 2nd hour and decided to pack up and go home for lunch and continue to work from home!
i will remember to bring my think sweater along the next time i decided to work out of starbucks!
i fell..... really badly!!!! i didn't even know how i fell... hahahah!
perhaps i have been thinking too much when i was walking down a flight of steps?
i have to thank God though... cos i fell down in front of a car park entrance... thank God that there was no cars going in and out of the car park! thank God that there were kind souls who quickly came to help me up!
it was a very PAINFUL fall! i could hardly stand up immediately! i was trying very hard not to cry!!! managed with the help of the passersby to sit down by the steps where i fell from!
called hubby to come pick me up... hubby thought i was laughing when i called him when i was trying not to cry!
i actually thought that the fell wasn't that bad when while waiting for hubby, a lump came up at my ankle!
i went to see the doc and was given 2 days mc and cream and medication and heat treatment to deal with the swell...
the pain went down perhaps due to the painkillers but the swell didn't go down and the bruise came out two days later! the side of my foot where i fell was still painful to touch!
we have finally shifted to our new place at HV and I have to say it is really very convenient!
most of the eateries there close very late and there are some that are open 24hours!
crystal jade kitchen opens from 7am to 2am sun to fri; 7am to 3am on sat and eve of ph (and the amazing thing is we can call to order takeaway and then walk down when the time is almost up to collect the takeaway!); crystal jade xiao long bao opens till 1230am; starbucks opens from 7 to 11pm; coffee bean and swensens opens 24hours; cold storage and fairprice opens 24hours; hans and 1 coffee shop there opens 24hours; etc...
the 3 major local banks are there, posb & dbs; uob; ocbc. even the foreign banks have branches there - maybank; standard chartered; citibank!
ohhhhhh, yes, there is a very nice ice-cream place called Daily Scoopz that is just 1 block away! we have been walking down to have our ice-cream fix every monday! hahaha!
my sister decided to cook for the first family dinner we are having at our new place…
menu for the night… steam hairy crab as it was in the season…
i didn’t know that the hairy crab were alive when i bought them. i was wondering why they were packed in ice. see the amount of “hair” on the crab!!! my sink was full of the crabs’ hair and it took a while to clear them…
the rest of the food, all cooked by the chef, my scientist sister… i’m the sous chef…
hahaha! yes, i wanted to thank God for timing! His timing!
when i tendered my resignation, i told my boss that i'll stay on until they find a replacement. the replacement came and my boss has asked me to give her 3 weeks to pick up all the necessary things from me.
however, princess came down with chicken pox 4 days into the 3 weeks and that set me back by another 2 weeks, so my last day had changed from 3rd week of may to 2nd week of june.
when i went back to the office on the 1st week of june after AC, my boss suddenly came and told me that i only need to finish out that week and thus my last day had changed from the 2nd week of june to 1st week of june!
i was actually feeling sad as that means that i cannot handover my work properly. then i just felt that i needed to sms both my sisters to let them know.
my youngest sister called me after reading my text and told me that she has a opening for an part-time ad-hoc assignment which starts on the 2nd week of june!!!!!
and no, i wasn't looking for a job! i was really going for a break and rest, master my swimming and take my driving license!
hahaha!!!! isn't God wonderful?
okay to cut the story short, i didn't start the assignment on the 2nd week of june as the notice period was a little too short, but i started part-time work with that company on the 3rd week of june!
God is GOOD all the time! yippeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sigh... i am working part-time... but yet, i don't seem to have time!!!!
hmmmm..... honestly, i am not bored at home. i have been out!
my swimming lessons is now on weekday mornings. i go into the office twice a week and if there are seminars, i'll off site for the whole day of the seminars...
hmmmm.... even my sister "complained" that i don't have time to read my emails!
hahaha! that means i am occupied! though i am busy, its a different kind of busy! this feeling is not a bogged down feeling, but a good feeling!
oh yes!!!! i finally went to apply for my provisional driving licence that allows me to start my practical driving lessons!
hahaah!!!!! after years and years and years, i finally pluck up the courage to continue with my driving lessons!
i took my basic theory tests the moment i turned the legal age to start learning driving. i passed on the first attempt. my final theory test, i took it 7 times after that and failed all 7 attempts that i gave up! hahaha! that was like over 10 years ago!
3 years ago, i decided that i needed to start my driving lessons again and went to register as a student at bbdc. i went for 2 basic theory lessons (though i passed the basic theory test, as a bbdc student, i am still required to go for the theory lessons and pass their in-house evaluation test before i can even proceed with my final theory test!) and then i stopped there!
hahaha! now that i have a little free time on my hands, i have decided that i need to go and just do it!
so i finally went to applied for my pdl on tuesday and now, i need to book my final theory test and my very first practical lesson! hmmmm.................
i am NOT a football fan in any sense! i am NOT a world cup fan too in any sense!
to be honest, i am NOT a sports fan at all! hahahah!
but this is the season once in four years where 50%? 60%? 70%? 80% or 99% of the whole world is crazy about, regardless football fans or non football fans.
i believe there is such a term called world cup fans. why? my hubby is NOT a football fan, but he is a "faithful" world cup fan!
that means, he will watch world cup via whatever means, eg, this year's world cup subscription is really too expensive but yet he subscribed it so that he can watch the matches he deems interesting.
so princess and i have been watching the matches he watches during the 730pm timeslot and these few nights, i have to "sacrifice" my 10pm AXN shows so that he can catch his matches... even princess commented "heeerrrggg? golf again?" (princess somehow deems football as golf. hahaha)
well, like how he puts it, it is only once in 4 years....
this afternoon was an historical moment for Singapore's famous shopping belt - orchard road - it flooded!
i have never heard of orchard road submerged in water before today! and from all the pictures and videos going around in FB and Twitter, it was really bad!
i called my sister early morning to discuss something with her and the moment she answered my call, she said alarmingly that the road outside her place was flooded and it was pretty bad. she stays 5mintues walk away from orchard road. when she looked down from her apartment, she could see orchard road flooded!
it was raining heavily for 2 hours this morning in the central of singapore and starbucks at liat towers was completely submerged...
my hubby commented that we today saw with our own eyes a glimpse of how God flooded the earth over 2000 years ago just by looking at the heavy rain this afternoon. two hours of rain submerged cars and shopping centres. imagine 40 days and night of rain non-stop pouring down, slowly, slowly inch by inch, even the tallest mountains will be covered by rain water.
some pictures of the flood this morning, if you have not already seen them...
i used to have what the doctors describe as tension headaches. however, when the doctors asked if i am undergoing any form of stress at work, my answer is always no, cos i never threat them as stress. i always treat the headaches as a sympton of lack of rest.
yes, there are times when work is really piling up but i was always able to handle it without any onset of headaches. somehow, the headaches always come at non-tense, non-stress periods, not during stress periods.
only when i was trying hard to complete my handover documents did i realise that perhaps the headache came about when i think too much.... the second last day of my work, as i kept tapping my memory and my brains, a mild headache started after lunch, which by 4pm, it turned into a pounding headache, by 6pm, it seems that the headache is trying hard to burst my head! i worked until 930 that evening, went back home, and as my head was hurting that much, i didn't even had the energy to have dinner! took painkillers and rested.
the next day, the headache returned again in the afternoon! sigh....
so i guess, i really do have headaches from stress? or was it stress? is thinking too much a form of stress? or stress on the brain? i don't know.
but guess that i can now confirm that i do have tension headaches....
yes, like what the title of this post states, it is UTTERLY DISGUSTING that someone had actually poo-ed in the swimming pool!
yes!!!! now you believe that it is UTTERLY DISGUSTING! oh and the thing is, it didn't happened just once! it happened at least twice! don't know if both times (or multiple times) was it the same culprit or different?
but because of that, the pool was closed for cleaning at least 1 week each time it happened! and it was closed twice already!
the most recent act, the management managed to take a photo of the evidence and post it on all the notice boards! DISGUSTING!
can you imagine the amount germs, bacteria that was released into the pool just by that DIGUSTING act?
sigh.. i am seriously re-considering whether or not to swim in the 50m lap pool anymore! i guess i may just stick with the jacuzzi pool!
i think it may not be an adult who actually did that - but who knows! only God knows! i am actually thinking it could be a toddler who actually did that when the parents bring him/her down to the pool for a swim. why did i say it was a toddler? my sister told me that her hubby's cousin's twin toddler sons always poo when they hit the pool!
for goodness sake! i pray that if that act is committed by a child, that the parents of that child would at least have the decency to make the toddler wear swim diapers!
