Junqi and Bailing's first Marathon

Miracle Miracle

A miracle happened on Oct 27. I woke up at 7am in the morning! For me to wake up so early on a SATURDAY morning, it's almost impossible!! To top it up, I actually pulled my hubby out of bed to go JOGGING, a thing that I literally hate doing! Still can't believe I did that, I even told JQ to buy 4D that day... Keke. It was really quite an enjoyable jog, though I only lasted for 15min. I almost reached Bedok Jetty from my house!

Later part of the morning I had to rush to Beth's place for my "make up". Oct 27 is a hot date for weddings and I was Jie Mei for Beth. My whole entire life, this is the only time when I actually had my make up and hair done by professionals other than my own wedding. What to do, all other 6 Jie Mei did the same thing as well. Lucky all of us did our make up and hair, there was a last min decison for us to walk down the aisle of Victoria Concert Hall before the bride. Lucky all of us were 美美. This is my first march in ever, I didn't have a march-in even for my own wedding! keke

Took lots of photos that day, will find a time to upload some. :)

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. :(

Home alone

Have been home alone for the past few days cos my darling is out in field, so I have the whole house to myself! Quite shiok but still prefer to have someone to hug at nite. Keke. :) Anyway, it will be his turn to be home alone for 10 days cos I'm leaving for China on Sat with my family. In case you are wondering why he is not going (I have been asked that question many times), he can't take leave due to his job and Dec will be too cold for my parents, plus it won't be so scenic, so no choice have to bang seng him. Anyway, we are thinking of going somewhere in Dec as well, just the 2 of us. Still thinking of where to go. Current options we are considering, Vietnam, Cambodia or Myanmar. Any suggestions?? :D

Yummy homemade carrot cake

Nothing tastes better than my Mom's homemade carrot cake. :) Yummy!

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! :)

天冷就回来

Watched this last Thu with my sister and I totally enjoyed it! I'm so amazed by the way the songs are stringed together and how good George Chan's vocals is. I know he can dance, but singing as well!!?? Wow, here is someone really talented. In fact, the whole cast is really impressive! The story line is simple and there are some scenes that's so Singaporean that you just have to applaud them. The songs are really familar esp since we kind of grew up in that era and you just have those tugs in the strings of your heart (牵动心铉的感觉). By the end of Act 1, I can feel the mucus flowing down from my nose and tears down my face, and I had to ask my sis for tissue. I must have been quite a sight man. But something weird, Act 1 is significantly nicer than Act 2. Anyway, it's good to hear that the show is completely sold out. Quite an achievement I would say, Bravo to them. And 1 more bonus point, we saw Liang Wen Foo and even got his autographed compilation album. Yippee!! :)

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!!

7 stitches!

JQ cut his finger on Monday and it was a very deep cut. It required 7 stitches and the doctor gave him a week's MC!! The accident happened at home while he was sharpening the mini chopper knife. He told me that he could actually see a layer of whitish thing inside and according to the doc, that was the fats tissue or something. That is how deep the cut is! The doc even carried out some finger moving tests to ensure the nerves was not cut! Anyway, it was a horrible accident, really gruesome recovery process. There were traces of the accident when I reached home. Blood on the tissue holder! Anyway, he is recovering well now and the size of the bandage around his finger is smaller by each visit to the doc. I'm going to throw away that gadget and get a safer one!

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

Surprise Dinner

On my way home yesterday, I was starting to feel my stomach growling with an intense desire for food. Was still thinking of cooking porridge when I reach home but knew I cannot make it, so I decided to call hubby and asked him if we should eat out instead. He told me to go home first then we decide. And when I reached home there was dinner all ready!! Nothing fanciful like candlelight dinner, just rice, dumpling soup which was a cute concoction of dumplings, eggs, diced veg cubes (those for fried rice) with instant seasoning and left over curry. But still it was a very very warm meal! Thank you darling dearest! It's really nice when your hubby knocks off much earlier than you. haha. :D

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.

Connection

Have always wanted to "connect" to my spiritual self for the longest time, have been thinking about meditations, reading up on Buddhism, but just never got down to it. Spirituality is a very important part of Wholesomeness, yet is something that I have not actively pursued. Had a "spiritual connection" yesterday though... something prompted me to get this book from the shelf: Awakening the Buddhist Heart. There was this quote from the book that attracted my attention:

Nothing worth doing is completed
In one lifetime,
Therefore we must be saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful makes
Complete sense
In any context of history,
Therefore we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, no matter how virtuous,
Can be accomplished alone.
Therefore we must be saved by love.
- Reinhold Niebuhr

Cheem, not really sure how to interpret this passage. Will finish the book and see if there is any relevation.

张学友

Had a really good time on Sun at Jacky's concert! He is so good! My heart literally seems to be melting when he sings the ballards. It's so much better to hear him sing LIVE then to listen to his albums. These pictures were taken by my sister's frd who was sitiing all the way in the front, envy envy...:p The concert started at 8.15pm and ended only at 1145pm! Think this is the most worthwhile concert I've ever been to! :p

The concert started with fast sexy numbers. And Jacky CAN DANCE! He is pretty good as well. He also sang quite a few of his hits followed by a 30mins muscial adapted from 雪狼湖 and 如果爱, then his hits again all the way to the end. Really worth it man!! This time he also 'screamed'. I seriously thought it was nothing, just letting go of emotions that is so commonly seen in ang moh concerts. Wonder why his "screaming" and "throwing the mike stand" was all over the papers.

Mingli jie

Heard so much about her and I finally get a chance to meet up with her!! She is really wholesome and someone who is indeed very successful! There is just an aura around her that I can't describe. Spiritual, full of life, love and a good heart. Had a very meaningful 1 hr chat with her, 1hr of valuable life lessons. She is truly worthy of people's respect!

I'm happy for my friend. He is on the correct path under the right leadership, and I am sure he is heading somewhere in life. :D

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

I am 31 years old!

Had a pleasant surprise this year, I had my birthday celebration complete with a birthday cake just when the clock striked 12 midnite on 25 Jun. The most on the dot celebration I ever had! Terence and Gladys appeared at my door with a yummy tiramisu cake and a lovely present at exactly 12 midnite! So sweet and thoughtful of them! Really touched and pai sei that they had to "hang around" til so late though. :p

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。

A New Life

Has been really busy! Busy with packing things into boxes, busy with the nitty gritty end details of the renovation, busy with last min shopping for the things that we left out and we need to buy, busy with moving in, cleaning up the whole place and finally unpacking things from the many boxes! Setting up our own place is no mean feat, super tedious process... but the end result? Worth it, definitely worth it! It's worth the effort to finally move into a home we can call our own. Our own comfy loft where it's just the 2 of us doing whatever we want, lazing around and taking short walks to East Coast Park together. :D

Anyway, will be organising gatherings at our place soon, in fact got a few lined up already... next will be busy with gatherings and housewarming, can foresee myself eating a lot of pizza, the most convenient food for a non domestic person like me... keke hope I don't get sick of pizza so soon... If you have any food ideas that is super easy to prepare and vegetarian, do let me know ok? Thx in advance! :)

Phantom one more time

Spent a very nice Mother's Day with the ladies in my family - my sis and my Mum. Went for yummy "tunch" at Aquamarine followed by lots of shopping. We finished eating at about 3pm and started to walk around. Still remember last time my Mum will always like to spend time in the electrical appliance dept and my sis and I will be very "xian". Can't imagine that I've joined her league as well now! I was telling my Mum which rice cooker I bought, which induction cooker I bought and also rattling on that induction cooker is better! So now my sis is the odd one out! keke

Wise choice that my Dad did not join us, he probably will not be able to tahan the shopping. In fact, me and my sis also lost to my Mum. We ended up sitting at Indinine Cafe resting our legs while my Mum was asking have we rested enough! Amazing! Anyway, we managed to coax her into just chit chatting with us until time is up for us to watch Phantom. Shopping trip to be continued another day. :p

Phantom is much more enjoyable this time, probably cos we got better seats this time round. The last time I was stuck at one corner with "restricted view" even though it was Cat 1 tix. This time I could see the whole show a lot better! I also prefer the "Christine" this time round. She is more expressive and I can feel the emotions through her vocals a lot more as well. Brad Little is as charming as the first time I watched him, in fact better. How I wish I can watch the last show (which was our intention but the organisers extended the show yet another week!) Anyway, this is an advanced birthday treat from my darling sister. Thanks mei mei... muak muak! :D

Household chores blues

I spoilt more clothes when washing clothes last nite!! :( Dumped everything in the machine to wash only to find out 7 of my tops are stained with black dye!! This brings total count of damaged clothes to about 11pcs!! Sigh... seems like I'm really not very domestic man! This is going to be a expensive lesson.

Lesson 1: Be careful of colored ribbons of unknown materials, damage - 1 top. Lesson 2: Always wash white/light colored clothes separately from others, damage - 3 white tops.
Lesson 3: Never be lazy and mix black and colors together and watch out for new clothes that has not been washed before, damage - 7 colored tops.

Luckily, none of the damaged clothes are the super expensive/nice clothes. The culprit is a brand new black tube top. My sis gave me a tip, all new clothes wash separately for first time to make sure the colors don't run.... good tip, must put in effort to follow. :p

Later going for another shopping trip. Need to confirm our lights today. There are so many things to shop for and so much preparation to do for the house. Last week we shopped 2 hrs plus in 1 shop and still cannot decide. Din know that just lighting in the house can amount up to thousands of $$!! :O Just feels like so much things to do with so little time! Jia you jia you! Must put the focus on end result - our nice comfy loft that we can call our own! =)

photos taken at Phantom

Our ideal kitchen

This is how we hope our kitchen will look like. :p

Phantom-see u tonite!!

Today is the opening of Phantom of the Opera! So exciting! The last time I watched this musical was in the 90s! It has been a really long time! Still remember Sarah Brightman was playing Christine then. So looking forward to it!! Time for more souvenirs!! :p Now totally no mood to work. keke

Busy or lazy!!?? Ha

My sis just sent email to me with subject head: "bianz! Still collecting keys!" Ha ha! Her second reminder that I have not updated my blog. In fact she still ask me to shut down my blog in her earlier email!! Yes yes, it's been a while since I collected my keys, in fact it has been more than a month since I collected my keys on 5 Feb and I have not blogged anything about it!! A lot of things to do leh, CNY, POV, finding renovation contractor etc etc...ha... excuses....

So here's a summary of what has been happening so far!

CNY: 1st CNY with hubby, 1st time giving out Ang Paos, 1st CNY belonging to a different entity, our own entity. We had more gatherings with friends than visiting relatives though. Overall, it has been really fun and tiring.

POV: Fantastic experience! Very different from the seminars I've attended before. Gave me a new perspective of true love, joy, bliss and gratitude. It also strengthened the bond JQ and I have. Made me really appreciate what we have going and really thankful towards WBG for such a great hubby! JQ recently said something to me that really touches my heart. "If not for WBG, there won't be this man here today standing before you who is worthy of having you." *heart melt*

2nd POV: Yet another amazing experience! Saw a different side of the people I truly respect from the bottom of my heart! Also a time of revelation, of acceptance and forgiveness. POV is a course that I really don't know how to describe. There is no right words that can be used to describe it. The best way to say it is GO EXPERIENCE IT!

Our new place: Finally getting somewhere! A clearer direction from our feng shui master, managed to find a contractor we can work well with, applied for renovation permit with HDB, and starting work next week! Hoping to move in by end Apr or May!

AOB: We thinking of a Golden Piglet in Jan 08. See if can start factory production in Apr. But that means NO honeymoon for us! :( See how things go lah. Anyway, now is not the time to enjoy yet, not with the financial liability of a renovation loan on our back. It just clashes with our financial mindset. Will aim to build asset first, will have to work on Junior Seth and Junior Evelyn baby fund and educational fund first... keke

OOHH!! Collecting our Keys next week

Yippee, we are finally collecting our keys next Mon!! So looking forward to it! Next thing to settle will be the renovation. We have not been diligiently looking for contractors nor designers, so must buck up on that liao. If not, probably Apr still cannot move in. :( So exciting! When our house is done can invite many friends over liao. Most importantly, it will truly be er ren shi jie for both of us and I can start cooking in my own kitchen. HAHA. Yippee, yippee!! =)

Separation Anxiety

I have been hearing a lot of this since a lot of my friends' babies has reached this phase. I'm not an expert here but from what I observe so far, it's the sense of insecurity when toddlers are separated from their loved ones and in some cases will lead to non-stop wailing. It could even become a serious psychological condition if it's not handled well. I've realised that even adults can suffer from it. JQ has a very cute cheeky adorable niece who is almost 2 years old now. As she is the first baby in the family, all of us really dotes on her. Most family days will be spent going to places that the baby and all of us will enjoy, like going to parks with playgrounds, beach, or just dinner or mahjong at home. Whichever the activity is, a lot of attention will be on the baby as most of us sees her only once or twice a week and will spend the quality time playing with her, esp JQ and Nance. Her caregiver is her grandma, aka my MIL. She takes care of baby Enya during the day and will come home when the parents are back. As this is her first grandchild, she definitely loves her a lot as well. The baby used to be quite sticky with Ah Ma and will always look for her. However recently, realised that there has been a trend that Enya will recognise playing companions, so everytime when we go out, or when the whole family gets together, she does not want Ah Ma anymore, as in don't want her to carry, won't look for her to play. Preference will always be JQ or Nance. Can totally feel her "sense of insecurity" when that happens. Wonder if this is the phase that most grandparents will go through... hmmm... ??!?

Short stay at home sweet home!

Will be staying at my parents' place these few days cos my hubby is on reservist. Decided to make use of this chance to take a break from the daily long distance travelling since my hubby won't be around, or rather will be home late almost everyday. It feels really nice to be home... reaching home by 7pm if I head straight home from work (will probably be 830 if I stay at woodlands, gasp!), smelling and guessing what my Mum is cooking while opening the door, eating piping hot home cooked yummy delicious food, chatting and "bicker" with my sister, yan o with my mother, talking late into the night with my sister, waking up at 730 and still can snooze (instead of catching the bus by 730am if I'm at woodlands)... etc etc. The only con is not having darling dearest by my side I guess... :p Really glad I'm moving back to Marine Parade in 2 months time, more home cooked food to come! Yum Yum! =) must make sure my new place is ready ASAP! =) Shall aim to move by Mid March.

Seriously, before Woodlands, never thought much about traffic jams, trying to get up crowded buses or trains and feeling lazy to go anywhere. Now I really salute those who have to commute daily under such conditions. No wonder there are people who stick to their own neighbourhood and hardly gets out, probably the reason why biz at heartland malls are thriving. :)

We have ROMed for almost a year!

Can't believe it. We have been married for 11 months! Seriously don't feel like it. Still feels like we are still dating and in that honeymoon stage. Anyway, we celebrated our 11 mths ROM anniversary at Annalakshmi last nite. Had a wonderful spread of yummy Indian cuisine. Btw, they have moved from Excelsior Hotel to Chinatown Point. Had a hard time finding them initially. I still prefer their previous location though, more cosy. Anyhow, the food still tastes damn good. Those interested can check out http://www.annalakshmi.com.sg/.

Now, where do I start??!!

Did not realise it's been so long since I blogged! Had the intention to post progress of my wedding prep, had the intention to post my wedding and our little getaway after that, but I realised that I have NO TIME! It's amazing how so much things can crop up at the last min and you are just fighting that battle to be in time for the wedding and suddenly, everything's over. Then you use that nice little 'retreat' to catch up on your sleep and all the buzz, and when you come back, you realise it's Xmas and all the X'mas shopping is not done. And you are just caught up in that festive mood with absolutely no mood to work. At the same time you are drowning in the bliss of marriage life, waking up with your loved one by your side, the morning wake up kisses and the good nite kisses and coping with the cons of staying away from your family and the cons of staying in that faraway town called Woodlands. Guess that is the summary of my life since Nov till now, haha. Anyway, for a glimpse of my wedding, please go to http://triciachangwy.multiply.com/photos/album/25 and http://triciachangwy.multiply.com/photos/album/26. These were taken by my funky good friend. Have not got down to organizing all the photos and videos of the actual day yet, but these are some nice collages done by Pauline.