Robbed and harassed by loansharks!

Never have I imagined that the above 2 things will ever happen to my hubby and me... and it's even beyond my imagination that these 2 things will actually happen within a short span of 10 days! I was having a long break clearing leave and went on a short trip to Malacca with JQ's family on Boxing Day. On our first night in Malacca, just when we were heading out to dinner, a snatch thief on a motorbike had the audacity to snatch JQ 's waist pouch and took off!! Did I tell you this happened just outside the hotel at the carpark, and there was a big group of us like 5 or 6 of us helping to load Jimmy's Mum from the wheelchair into our car! The stupid Indian actually dared to execute his plans when there were so many of us there! I have to say JQ reacted very fast and put up a brave fight. He gave chase immediately and even threw a shoe at him, closing the distance between him and the Indian at one moment, BUT of cos, he did not catch him. Slippers and motorbike is not a fair match after all! Luckily, no one was hurt in this incident. JQ just had some scratches on his arms and feet. He lost a camera, all his $, IC, cards and all his personal belongings. It was such a blessing that I was holding on to the passports!

Our dinner plan had to be delayed while we called all the banks to freeze his cards and waiting for the police to come. The police took a very long time to come, and my hubby eventually had to go to the police station to take down statement. Needless to say, they took a even longer time to send him back to the hotel, almost 3 hours for a statement! When he came back, we realized that he had to go to 3 police stations cos they could not understand English well. OMG! He was also describing to us how it was like in their police stations. When he reached the stations, all of them were not in uniform. They were all casually dressed with their uniforms hanging somewhere. Worse still, they were all smoking and chatting away... and they are supposed to be the front line staff...

We had to park our cars away from the hotel as we suspect that this was a syndicate's doing and that these idiots were targetting our whole group. After the incident, we saw 3 other motorists taking photos of our cars from across the road! We managed to return home safe and sound after 2 nights in Malacca.

On 4 Jan 09, in the short 2 hours that we were at my Mum's place for dinner, another horrible thing happened to us. When we reached home at 8.30pm, we found permament marker marks on our front door! The message read Lim Choon Teck 08-30 O$P$! Hello, you are writing on the door of 07-30 lor! Don't they know how to read? Don't these runners know the difference between 7 and 8! There were also new messages on the stairway wall. Apparently, according to the police, the loansharks now harass the neighbours as well...Well, these people are really desperate. The person who owes them $ has already moved away. My new neighbour upstairs is also a victim who kena paint etc during their renovations... Their CCTV probably saved them from the harassment this time round.

Stay posted for photos of the graffiti...

There goes my US trip!

Just when I am announcing happily that I am going US soon, I'm even happier to announce that I'm cancelling my US trip cos I'm expecting the arrival of a baby Eve/Seth. As the trip falls nicely within my first trimester, we have decided to cancel the trip. Will just have to squeeze some time in future to make up for this one later... ;D

My adorable sister

A cute exchange of sms between my sis and Wei.

Wei: My frd moving to Buangkok...

Sis: Really? She married a Thai lah...

Wei: ??

Sis: She must have married a Thai, that's why moving to Bangkok mah...

Wei: You dunno there is this station called Buangkok in Sengkang ah?

Sis: Oops! HAHAHA!!

Faintz!!!

Inspiration

Was at ECP for dinner on Mon nite. On our way back, we saw a rare sight. There was this very old uncle learning roller-blading! And I mean really old! He is probably in his 70s already, wearing those kind of white singlet and uncle bermudas and all armoured. He looks quite frail and you can see that he is struggling with balancing on his blades. Kudos to him for having the courage to try all sorts of things at his age and kudos to his children who was by his side holding on to him. This is what I call quality family time. :p

National Day Rally

For the first time in many years, I paid more attention to the National Day Rally speech by our PM. For the first time, I was in front of the TV throughout the whole speech without yawning even once. I'm the kind that hardly pays any attention to the government policies with mentality that it probably will not help me much anyway. This year was different probably because the issues are of my utmost concerns, inflation and baby policies. Government announced a teaser earlier saying that they are looking at the Swedish model for baby policies. With that, there were a lot of speculation among common folks like longer maternity leave (maybe 6 months), paternity leave, increased childcare subsidies and flexi working arrangement etc. Some of it came true. Maternity leave has been extended to 4 months, but darn, there is no extended paternity leave...

Singapore flag arising...

Today is a Monday that I don't feel rested at all. Too many activities happening over the weekend: major makeover of our house and supporting the Singapore team at the Olympics. Rushed home from dinner to watch the game at 7.30pm and my eyes stay glued to the TV. There is a huge disparity in standard between the 2 teams. China's team has world no. 1, 2 and 5 players whereas Singapore team's ranking is world's no 6, 7 and 9. But I seriously think Singapore team put up a very good fight. I used to think that so what if they are good, their origin is still China what. But what JQ said to his kids made me think another way. Yes, they were born in China, but they are more Singaporean than us, cos they gave up their citizenship in China to live in Singapore, train in Singapore so as to represent Singapore. They are doing more things for Singapore. And he asked them what are they doing for Singapore... Of course there will be another school of thought, they are getting paid what, if they are not here, they would not have such opportunities. Whichever the case, they made it possible for us to see our Singapore flag rising at an Olympic event for the first time, so I'm still very proud of them! Go Team Singapore and may we see more stars rising to do us proud!

Latest update on my toe

I've started wearing track shoes recently and went for short jogs/walks. However, I still can't bend my toes that well. Visited a orthepedic and physiotherapist last week and realized that it's not my big toe that is affected. It's my second toe that is more stiff. So I have been exercising the wrong toe all this while! The therapist taught me a few things I can do to exercise and strengthen my toes and I have been doing pretty diligiently. So now I'm seeing some improvement. I've even started wearing my most comfortable pair of heels! Yippee! =) Give me a while more, and I should be able to wear my other heels liao. keke

Meditation helps

Was in a super foul mood yesterday after talking to my boss. Can feel my face, eyes and body flushing red and hot with anger! Lucky Tricia lent a "MSN window and her eyes" to me to vent my frustration (with technology, it's no longer listening ears and a shoulder). She probably can relate to what I'm feeling cos we had the same boss once. Anyway, my EQ was just going haywire and I was feeling shitty and lousy and just looking forward to 4pm.

Planned to go for steamboat dinner at Lotus and since dinner starts only at 6pm, hubby and I decided to visit the Burmese Buddhist temple near Balestier. This place always have that magic aura of calming people down. We went upstairs to the 3rd floor and meditated for a short while in front of Buddha. It's truly amazing. I can feel myself calming down and peace taking over my mind. I feel a lot more lighthearted and refreshed after the short meditation. Just googled this temple and realised they have meditation service for adults every Friday 7-8pm. Think I will give this meditation a try one of these Fridays. =)

http://www.burmesebuddhisttemple.org.sg/index.htm

PS: T, what you said about S was very funny. I only had the mood to laugh about it when I recalled our conversation during dinner...:p So you think I should take the photos out?

No more good facials...

My favourite beautician is leaving! I have never had a regular favourite beautician before until I met C and now she's leaving, all her Boss's fault. Someone should send the Boss to some management courses. The way she's treating her staff now is like they are all her maids! All the horror stories of how she treats them, no wonder everyone is leaving when they have a chance. Such a bully! All her fault!

Big change!

There is going to be a BIG change in my company again. This is going to be the fourth time in 7 years, BUT this time it has more direct impact on the sales team on the whole. I thought the result and consequence of the last acquistion of LM was bad. My team, especially I, had to go through shit, turmoil and politics. I went through a phase of frequent headaches, pulling hair and vomitting and finally settled all the pertinent issues. Thought it's the time to kind of enjoy some harvesting now, but alas, there is an announcement to change the sales structure. How is that happening, no one knows for sure at this juncture. We will just have to wait and see and hope transition will be smooth and easy. SIGH! Is this a sign for a career change? :(

Overdue Honeymoon

We are finally going on our honeymoon! This trip has been delayed and delayed and delayed. The only period we can go is June and Dec school holidays (what to do, I married a teacher), and somehow things always pop out. When we just got married in Dec 06, we only managed to go on short trip to Bintan/Batam cos most of our funds were used to pay the top up for our flat. Jun 07, we were busy with moving and settling into our house, plus also cash strapped with the renovation and stuff. Dec 07, he kena reservist, so we only managed a family trip up to Genting. Jun 08, he kena reservist again, so we are going on short trip to Bangkok. So now we are planning early for our Dec trip. And it will be a trip worth remembering, cos we going US for 3 weeks!! Yippee! This time, nothing will stop us! Psst...Actually, Nov/Dec 08, he will kena 2 reservist, but that will be taken care of. :p Don't know why all his reservist always fall into school holiday period one... Sigh...

US US here I come!

V day

U know you are getting old or in a "stale" oops, ahem I meant stable relationship when

1. U feel V day has no meaning anymore
2. U hear a lot of " everyday can be V day" from your partner
3. U hardly hear pple talking about what they are doing for V day
4. U either let your partner join the crowd of being 菜头 cos the flowers are so much more ex or you have to 暗示 your partner if you are not married and 明示 your spouse that you want flowers (hint at this stage does not work anymore!! )note: you still might not get the flowers after 明示
5. U reply 拜天公 when pple ask you wat's your plan tonight
6. U don't remember when and what was your last V day's gift


SO SAD!!

Seriously, the older you are, the more boring V day becomes. Those days with cards, chocolate, notes, flowers, gifts and romantic dates are long gone with the wind. V day just seems more exciting when you are young!

End of Detox program

Yippee, today is the 1st day of post juice. Have been on juicing detox program for 2 weeks and this time feels really good! Don't talk about all the inches and kilos lost, but more importantly, feel really cleansed as I have been shitting almost every day. Previous juicing did not have this effect at all... really makes you wonder how one can shit when there is no input other than juices. :p

So I have 1 more week and I can start eating normally again. Really miss my Mom's soups... yummy... I can start arranging to go out with friends again as well. Feels really weird going out with friends and I can't eat or drink anything, so it was a hibernating period for me.

Weekend passed by with a lot of shopping done. Sold my phone for $240 at TPY, quite amazed that N70 still can fetch such a price. Bought a lot of fruits, ingredients for post juice soup, DVD player for our room and tons of things from Ikea. Now my legs feel really funny. :p

Miracle

Today is the first time that I did not take cab to office for my con call in the morning and I was on time. On top of that, I was even early by almost 15min! I reached office at 7.45am!! That hardly happens for me man, take bus and can reach so early!! Haha, so proud of myself. The next call going to be at 7am, jia lat loh, going to have more of these in the coming months. :(

JQ back in camp

Xian, JQ will be in reservist for 2 weeks. Still thought can enjoy more time together since he got 1 week holiday. To top it off, once he finish his reservist, I'm flying off for my tour. :(

Anyway, he just finished his IA course and on his way to become a certified Iridology Analyst. Not so easy of cos, got to go through tests and "internships" I think. He is going to get lasik to correct his eyes soon. According to their teacher, contact lens is very bad for the eyes cos you are perpetually soaking your eyes in chemicals. They did a comparison between the contact lens wearers and non wearers and there really is quite a signficant difference! Lucky I got perfect eyesight. phew...

Still hooked on Bleach, on epi 75 now. Only mid-way there. Jia you jia you! :)

Reason for not updating my blog

Hooked on Bleach! It's so nice that I have to watch at least 1 epi every nite! Will try to find some time to update though! So stay tuned! :p keke

BLEACH ROCKS!!

Shit vs Wee Wee

My sister once told me that humans are not able to shit and wee wee at the same time. You can only pee or shit. Both functions do not co-exist. Don't ask me how we got to that topic cos I don't remember. Anyway, just realised that it is not true! When you are in super urgent need to wee wee and super urgent need to shit, you can do both simultaneously! Tried and tested... personally! muahaha

MIO woes

We finally got our MIO up and running. Had so much problems with them initially. They failed to turn up for the 1st apt on Fri, we had to wait so long before anyone got back to us the next day, technican came late for the 2nd apt on Sat and still could not get the whole thing fixed up saying the line is not activated. Had to wait til Monday before we could take next step and Singtel still insisting the line has been activiated. Finally on Tue, the truth is out, they activated our neighbour's line instead. So now finally, everything is up and running, home line and broadband. Hope we won't run into the same problems some friends warned about, the line cutting off halfway or internet cutting halfway and not able to call in or out when using internet.

Retrenchment again

Sigh, 6 years in this company and this is the 2nd retrenchment exercise! Don't worry friends, my dept will not be affected...YET, but this just means hire freeze, pay freeze etc and morale is generally low. Maybe it's a sign that I should move on, find another job, seek better opportunities, find that greener pasture out there... some is telling me to hang on since setting up family is my priority and some is saying all the more I should leave in case I get really stuck here! 待观其变吧!

I've come to realise one thing for sure, we got to have choices in life, and we should be able to choose from options and not let circumstances decide for us. We should be able to tour anywhere/do whatever we want and not let budget decide for us. My inspiration? For one more day by Mitch Albom. Action plan? Work towards the finer choices? Abstract? Nah, I have the answers in my heart. :) Keke

生命

一个生命的诞生，同时又是另一个生命的结束。
是造化弄人，还是命中注定？
是该庆祝，还是该追悼？
心痛。
看着友人的坚强，心里有说不出的感慨。。。
唯一能做的也只是做他们身边的强柱。