Monday, May 15, 2017

Happenings the past week

Eventful week since we returned from Hong Kong:

-- Master bedroom door lock was stuck in the locked position!!

Dismantling in process

It happened so quickly - as per her bedtime routine, yx went into the master bedroom and would push the door close. She always does this hastily without paying attention if her feet are in the way; so I always made it a point to follow her inside. And fortunately I did, cos the door slammed shut this time and could not be opened! The mechanical latch was stuck to the door frame and refused to budge. We called my dad over for help. After removing the knobs on both sides of the doors then we managed to inspect that the latch was sort of embedded in the wooden door frame. No choice but to call locksmith ($80 for response) who reached in 20 mins. Using a special tool, he reached in and removed the latch in as little as TWO SECONDS. As the former lock was dismantled beyond repair, we asked the locksmith to change the lockset ($30). Bye bye $110 for about an hour and a half of 'Escape Room' excitement.

Really really fortunate that there was an adult in the locked room with yx; can't imagine if she was by herself and would be crying out hysterically!!??

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-- Wifey lost her footing and twisted her ankle real bad


2 days MC and on crutches. Lesson learnt - Do not use the phone while walking or using the stairs!!!!

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-- Volunteered at a Home

Ukulele AIG. Entertaining them in the best manner I am familiar with.

This initiative began early this year. My ukulele AIG was like half dead and members were lacking enthusiasm. And I always wanted to contribute more to the society, therefore:

I have a ukulele,
I want to contribute to society;

Uhh!

Volunteering!


Just nice my employer had recently implemented a 1-day Volunteer Leave which came in handy. But play ukulele also cannot play 2 hours right? So I roped in other AIGs! To my pleasant surprise, the response was very well-received:


Balloon sculpting. Their final products are really cute!

Zumba AIG
A total of 27 colleagues turned up, not including a few others who helped behind the scenes but who could not turn up physically. Baking and Cooking AIGs also made and distributed amazing cupcakes, cakes and almond biscuits they made in their own spare time. The residents' faces were radiant the time we were there. I was surprised to see a number even getting on their feet, dancing and singing along with us!

At the end of the event the residents proactively came up to us and shook our hands, thanking us. A few I spoke to even asked if we are visiting next month. The office staff in-charge, Mr Foo, gave us the best testimonial. He praised us for our "very well organised and well planned" contribution, and shared that "this is the first time the residents stay put in their seats till the end of the performances". Overall, I'm really pleased and grateful we made a positive lasting impression in the old folks, on top of that all of us volunteers had an enjoyable time mingling with them!

The next week I bumped into D(CD&EP) along the corridor, he commended my effort for initiating this cause. I humbly and honestly mentioned that the credit belonged to the volunteers, I didn't do much except to send a few emails. Nonetheless he mentioned it was a wonderful job being the 'strategist'. Okay, I'll take that :)

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-- Yx turns 20-month young!

Posing like a natural??

How much a baby can grow in 20 months. Amazing things at her current stage:

- Counting 1 to 10 in both English and Chinese, without any prompting
- Able to identify many Chinese characters, for e.g. sit, run, ear, head, eye, cry, stand, dog, cat, flower, door.
- Wants to choose what videos/songs to play on Youtube/phone (not a good thing).

Alas, she is running a fever now (I believe due to growing tooth, for she has been biting her finger, sth she hasn't done for quite awhile) and is very whiny and clingy to mommy. Get well soon little one!

Her 2nd birthday is in 4 months??!


Friday, May 12, 2017

Hong Kong Hong Kong 和你在一起

A couple of 'firsts' from our daring trip out of Singapore:
- 1st trip out of Singapore less baby
- 1st time being away from baby for more than 2 days.

Not possible if my parents aren't amazing and willing primary caretakers! =)=)=)

Back in February I overheard my colleague mentioning Kris Flyer miles, and it made me realised I have a sizeable amount expiring soon? So I logged in and found it was indeed true! If I don't take any action within 2 months, I would lose about a few tens of dollars equivalent of Kris Flyer miles. Click click click - wow and tickets to HK were affordable, just $250 for a return ticket over a long weekend??! Redeemed all our miles (accumulated from CC promotions, payment of wedding banquet) and paid only... $6. If not shiok then what????!

Off we jetted! Couldn't be more happy to lounge in the plane seat and watch our movies without interruption! :D

Highly recommend Causeway Corner service apartment ($184/night). Direct express bus from the airport. Right smack outside Causeway Bay MTR and so many amenities and eateries along the same street. Room is big, clean and quiet. Powerful Grohe shower. Lift is fast and clean. COMES WITH HARBOUR VIEW!

How often do you get a scenic view from your HK hotel room? 

Had a list of eateries to check out - roast pigeon, cart noodles, roast goose, porridge, egg tart etc. But other than eating we ran out of activities to do haha. So we also went shopping and visited the HK history musuem.

Not forgetting my favourite pastime - riding on the ding dong tram!


Eating lots of my favourite street food...

Mixed beef innards (30 HKD)

And creamy scrambled eggs at Capital Cafe, dubbed the 'civilised' competitor to Australian Diary...

I personally thought Aust's scrambled eggs were better, minus the service

Eat so much must work it off right? And we went hiking at the famed Dragon's Back Trail! Only 1-hr up and 1-hr down, leisurely to me but wifey was complaining complaining along the way... D: Told her she walked 2-3 times further during our Europe honeymoon and that seemed to spur her on abit. =P

Stoked at the start of the trek (To Tei Wan)

On the last morning before we left for the airport, we were in a mad rush to find the glorious food we came here for. Stuffed in wanton mee, roast duck rice, egg tart, Cafe de Coral and yes, wifey's po lo yau!

Bye Hong Kong... see you in a few years...






The overseas shirt

I'm not sure about you, but I have a few tops that I categorised as "overseas shirts". That means I wear them only when I go f...