happy birthday mummy

no prize for guessing whose house this is, the birthday gal's age, and what have guochuan's legs gotten into.

Confinement

OK while the baby talk is getting hot, can we also talk about the mothers instead. Actually this is a little bit about the fathers too, and their stomachs....Has anyone ordered confinement food catering before? We've considered cooking it ourselves (which actually means mothers and maids) but were not completely sure about our own expertise to concoct quality food. Plus, with all the caution about the mothers getting 'feng' and their difficulty to recuperate after giving birth, we started giving a more serious thought to the claims of traditional chinese confinement meals.

There seems to be 2 main suppliers in the market now - natal essentials and new baby. Has anyone tried them or heard of some others?

Good morning HC! Announcements for today...

Sorry, don't mean to steal our secretaries' lime light, just can't resist using the punchline we were once so used to.

It's Fenfei's Good Friday hosting! Yes it's all happening on Good Friday, beginning 12:30pm. Dear ol' Fenfei, the once swashbuckling pirate of the yellow city, has invited all of us to her nostalgic Tiong Bahru lovenest for an afternoon of fun and laughter. So bring along your better halves, kids and maids too, and make it a really good friday... don't forget the balloons and party poppers!

For fear of attracting the loads of FF's ardent serial opera fans, i'll only reveal her address to you if you give me a buzz...

PS: If we're lucky, we may get to rub shoulders with Fann, Zoe and... mmm who are the stars these days anyway?

 

 

and oh, of course. i have to publish a few of my daughter's pictures too.
can anybody update on qiwei's baby? out already? what's the latest news?

Chance encounter

 

 

so coincidental, met xue'e and darren at the botanical gardens last sunday.
didn't see guohao and justin because they were busy feeding the swans at the lake.
darren is such a gentle and sweet kid. he comes across to me as very mild-mannered.
the age gap shows too, wen my 14-month-old daughter made some sounds and gave him a disapproving look, and the fact that I raised my voice and corrected my daughter, darren burst out crying. but (tears) easy come, easy go, as you can see from the pictures.

well, it's a nice place to bring family to, especially on a sunday when the setting sun emits a very warm golden hue.
it's my 1st time there with my family, and there will be many more.

Another blog when I am away from home

Well well well.....been some time since i last written something here but nevertheless, I am actually secretly reading and monitoring all your blogs. I must admit though that i did not catch up with most of the comments on the side as i find it to troublesome and can't be bothered, really, to read them.

Today i happened to read the comments by the side and found out that my joke in an earlier post about the doctor in blue shirt was read by ermmm....his wife or maybe himself!

Wansin and Chong Kiat, take no offence on a personal level! I am not sure if an apology is really warranted because it was indeed really weird to see a doctor wearing a doctor's ID at another doctor's funeral. I can't help but to notice it, and apparently, most of us feel the same way too. More strange is that the ID is just hanging on the neck that looks to me like it can be removed easily within a split of a second. And those letters "KK", they simply stick out so prominently that one can read it at almost 200 metres away....

However, in due respect, I am aware that every tear shed on that incident was real and filled with emotions. All of us feltthe same way that both of you did and I am very sure you are more attached to WQ than most of us are, including myself. So I applaud what you and your hubby has done for WQ.

If you really have noticed, the name tag joke is really a prelude to my underlying puzzling question. If you are still reading our posts, can you shed some light on why medical students like to carry the stethoscope around their neck so much? I really want to find out the reason(s)!!!!Are they too busy to remove it from their necks while on their way to canteen? If so, then why does dental students have the time to remove their masks when they visit the canteen while medical students do not remove the stethoscope on their neck? The most obvious or "trying to be funny" reason is probably the former need to use their mouth to eat but the latter can always make use of utensils instead of the instrument hanging on their neck. It is really frustrating when one cannot attached a credible rationale and explanation behind the actions of the erm...medical students and as such, I had no choice but to temporarily label them as show-offs.

In any case, I started out with the intention to blog on other things but I guess it's getting late now and i will need to get some sleep. Hope to catch up again on Good Friday.

Those Good Ol'Days...

I was at a student council investiture ceremony for Sec Sch kids this morning and it sure brought back memories of our own SC investiture 16 years ago!!! I still remembered the "gong" effect before our entrance, the 'Top Gun' soundtrack that we used for our entrance, our pledge and of course, our council song... was it something like "在黄城，我们亲如一体,
为了共同的目票,一起前进。。。" does anyone have power memory and can remember the lyrics of our council song?

Well, those group of elite students on stage were beaming with confidence and pride ...made me wonder if we looked as smart and as confident as them then. Their slideshow also almost made me tear... some of the photos they took were similar to those we posed for during those good ol'days! Group photos shot in the backdrop of the beach, under the void deck, in the rain, having fun. But one thing they can't beat us - posing for a picture along ECP! Sometimes i shudder thinking how lucky i am to be able to pass my A levels, coz I really spent quite a lot of time indulging in the SC activities!

Sorry, pardon me for being nostalgic today but my mind is filled with images of those crazy days! Like our speedy gonzales dance, Yiqiang's 莲花掌, our volleyball matches, our 艺术照s almost everywhere (remember the ones we took in the room stacked with tables/chairs?), climbing over the gates at the Bt Batok campus after our 'tao pok, chye bueh' meals, the hawker who goes round touting 'you want to chicken rice', our climbing of the cliff/'mountain' behind Bt Gombak MRT and leaving behind all those cheesy "到此一游" messages and so much more!

I wonder if the kids these days do all these funny things that their 前辈 did...

Happy Birthday!

A very happy birthday to both our Alma Mater (for many of us) and Eik Lin!

It has been quite a while since there was a new posting on Kopitiam and I'm beginning to wonder how many of us still read it. It's easy to encourage everyone to keep the blog alive and overflowing with postings, but most times I myself don't have a clue what to write about. I do still check it out on and off, hoping lazily that someone else has made the effort to post something.

Will continue hoping....

CNY Gathering

Hi guys,

I'll like to thank Qiwei for inviting me to the 1st CNY gathering with you guys in years!
Although the amount of time spent there was short (in part because some of us were late from other "bai nian" activities, and in part because of children's committments), it was nontheless heartwarming to see so many familiar faces under the same roof.

I have been so distant from you guys that at times I feel like an intruder into someone else's gathering, but familiarity and good hospitality soon took over and my wife, daughter and myself soon warmed up to all of you. It's like a rebuilding exercise for me, but I am trying.

It's so fun to see the children of my friends (well, I don't have that many chances because my own close circle of friends are still childless by intention). I was pleasantly surprised by Peishun's 2 children who came up to me like they saw an old friend and wished me "xin nian kuai le". They also eagerly shook my hand like an election candidate on his walkabout.

Justin was a bit shy with me at first, but being the big kid I am, it's not difficult to break the ice with him. I met Guohao and family at Serangoon Garden's Pao Xing chicken rice once and that's where I first met Justin. So I guess raking up the past helped a little, when I mentioned I also like chicken rice. Seeing we have a common denominator, I think he more or less has less negative vibes about this silly "uncle". Not much chance with Darren because he was tired and cranky and hungry. He did make himself heard most of the time.

And lastly, Yiqiang and family came and Si En (pardon the spelling) made many of us laugh with her mature posing in front of the camera. She even used my daughter as part of the furniture to pose for her daddy. It was really funny. I have attached a picture to share. It's a good way to round up my CNY activity. Cheers to you guys, and for good health and prosperity.




The girl on the right looks like a Singapore Idol in the making while the one on the left might be a Glutton Champion in future.

Happy Valentines'!

Happy Valentines' everyone! Wishing everyone a day of friendship, love and lust!

I still remember the youthful days in Hwa Chong where the guys would try to impress the girls by giving them flowers... and the girls would be so flattered that they have flowers that they flaunt it all around. I guess it is still the same now, just that we are too mature (not old) and wise to be bluffed into buying all those little pressies to impress someone... although, we always wouldn't mind receiving gifts! (women are always like that lah... nag nag nag to our hubbies that they should not spend unneccesary money blah blah blah, but deep inside, we are quite happy to receive pressies!)

Happy Valentines!!!

CNY

It didn't feel as if CNY is just less than 2 weeks away! I've not started spring cleaning, yet to change those new crisp notes for the Ang Pow and there's no love letters, pineapple tarts, bar kua at my house, yet to buy new clothes for Justin Darren and myself?! and also had not found time to even go for a haircut. Guohao's gone for a week of reservist since 29 Jan and with one more week to go, I'm left to cope with 2 kids (thankfully with the help of my maid, Weng) till he's freed from national duty this Sat. By then, we'll be left with just 7 days to prepare for CNY.

We were supposed to start our "preparation"/shopping/spring cleaning 2 weeks ago but unexpectedly, Justin ended up in hospital. This is his second hospitalisation in his 2 years 4 months of life. When I was working on a paediatric study a few years back I always wondered why some of the kids on my study end up at hospital with bronchiolitis/febril fits etc.... Now that I'm a mother myself, I understand what it's all about. Jusin was still well when he retired for the day on Sat night, but at 2am in the morning, we were suddenly awaken by a shrieking cough (on the internet, they described it as "seal barking" noise). We thought it was Darren but it turned out to be Justin. He seems to have difficulty breathing as the skin under his rib cage sinks in with each breath. Guohao quickly sent him to Thomson Medical, and the doctor admitted him, though he was much better after being put on the nebulizer. His peadiatrician said he had an episode of croup. Thankfully, Justin recovered very quickly and basically was enjoying his time in the ward watching DVD and playing with his Ye Ye and Nai Nai and Daddy. He was discharged after one day.

Being a child is really the luckiest thing. only when I become a parent do I truly appreciate this. For the child, there's always the parent to solve their problems. As a parent, you'll always worry and think of how to solve your children's problems or give them the best. So when you start to grumble about how naggy your mom/dad is, remind yourself how lucky you are.

So CNY will be a funfilled time for Justin to collect his Ang Pows and eating his favourite goodies (Darren probably still dun know what's happening). And for me, it'll be a busy time to get ready!

spring cleaning

this year yancy and i engaged a cleaning company to do the spring cleaning of our place. initially we discussed the possibility of doing things ourselves, but looking at the stain on the shower glass door, the choppy layers of dust accumulated on the ceiling/electric fans and the many many other little corners, we decided we could take a chance on the task and see how it goes to outsource this to save time and possibly ineffective way of doing things. we also thought we could learn a trick or two from the professionals :)

the head cleaner clarified on their work scope and they jumped into work as soon as they arrived. there were 3 other cleaners as well as a supervisor who came later in the day to do PR. their job took about 4 hours and it included the usual stuff such as cleaning air-con filters, all windows and doors, stove and cabinets in the kitchen, all mirrors, as well as sweeping and mopping etc etc. they also helped to steam all curtains (after yancy insisted that it should come free, hee!) and scrubbed all bathroom floors which i thought were value-added service as a novice customer.

overall their job were quite satisfactory except for certain aspects related to work quality; for most of these i would attribute them to the meticulousness/attentiveness of the staff to small details, rather than any specific work that is not done. for these they needed some reminders from the head cleaner after we "complained".

i think what we will do for the next time, if ever, is to amend the job scope to be more specifc to what our needs are (they did not touch the furniture and was reluctant to dust/wipe shelves and table-tops with movable objects), and we could also take away unnecessary stuff (eg. cleaning of air-con filters since we seldom switch them on) in this way we thought we could ask for a better price next time.

what are your experiences?

Three more weeks to CNY!

Hmmmm, it's less than 3 weeks to go before the angpow season kicks in! Spring cleaning, reunion dinners... it's quite a chore for just 15 days huh?

Well, every spring cleaning exercise always turns out bags of old clothings. At least for me! My philosophy towards clothings kept in the closet is that if you had not worn them in the past year, you probably would not wear them in the next year. One good way of "Passing It On" is to donate the old clothings to the welfare homes. One very meaningful place to donate to is the Metta Welfare Association, which caters to the young and the elderly. They run a school for the intellectually disabled called the Metta School. I dropped off a few bags of clothes at one of their homes in Woodlands which they re-distributed it to the residents/needy under their help. It's a good cause, it goes directly to the needy and it simply makes them happy. Check out http://www.metta.org.sg/mettasch.htm especially the section on "How You Can Help".

Talking about reunion dinners, Carlton Hotel's Wah Lok restaurant is highly recommended. Their "Poon Choi" (a less expensive version of "Buddha Jumps Over The Wall") is good, so are their set meals which is quite reasonably priced. The only problem is that you have to make a reservation in advance. Their "Loh-Hei" is also very yummy! Highly recommended!

Hmmm... should we organise our own reunion dinner/gathering? I think it is especially important for those with kids coz it's angpow collection time!

greymatterphotography

just to share another great site that i have been visiting as well, in case you haven't noticed -> greymatterphotography

hey KC, any chance of apprenticeship on weekends? :)

Happy New Year

Hi everyone, just want to send our warmest regards and best wishes to everyone for good health good luck and every success in 2007. Have not been writing for sometime. Just when i am feeling that Kopitiam was quite empty these days, QW already mentioned it in his last blog. Guys, keep the posts coming in....

Yesterday was the last day in 2006. We went to the zoo with Justin and Darren to see Inuka, the polar bear. Darren wasn't quite looking but Justin sure did enjoy himself! The weather couldn't be better as there was sunlight but the temperature remained in the comfort level. Spent the entire morning there. The last time we went Justin barely speaks a word but this time, he already knows that Lion Roars! How amazing......time really flies.

When we are watching the countdown just now, I was telling Xue'e, "who's so free to go and squeeze with all these pple for countin down, why bother? better to stay at home and watch tv!" Huh, guess i was one of them 10 years ago......but not now..getting old....

Anyway, time to sleep...just trying to catch up on kopitiam...tomorrow will be another long day.....beach day.

For those who have not seen justin, here's a picture taken at the zoo yesterday.