Magic Mom's sewing

After Yx's first ballet lesson, she feedback that her ballet attire was a lil loose at the shoulders. Magic mom took a look and exclaimed, "Ok I know what to do."

2 days later - 

Mom did ruching to the back seam.

A closer look:

The best thing is, the ruching can be removed when required.

If this is not magic, what is?

Sometimes I really admire my mom for being so skilled.

My birthday card

Throwback Dec 2020: 

Received a most touching bday card from darling first-born. It was the night before my birthday but Yx had hidden this secret from me for a few days now; she couldn't hold it back any more and barged into the toilet (whilst I was having my shower) and asked, "Papa do you want to see your birthday card?"

And here it was.

Favourite activities with Papa, she said.

Thank god for giving us this charming sweetheart.

Review of 2020 (the year nobody ever imagined it to be)

Bidding farewell to the year 2020 that everyone wished it didn't turn out the way it did. All thanks to Covid-19, the year actually felt like this:

Jan-Mar: Alternate day WFH
Apr-Aug: Circuit Breaker. Cooped up indoors
Sep-Dec: Alternate day WFH

We saw and experienced many firsts this year. Who brought about digilisation in your office?

a) Chief Exec Officer
b) Chief Finance Officer
c) Chief Development Officer
d) Covid-19.

Fortunately to technology, work was able to resume up to 80-90% for most of us white collar workers. Zoom meetings were the new norm. Blurring of "working hours" and replying to emails late at night were no longer uncommon. Am grateful and thankful that during this pandemic and the large impact on the economy, close family and friends around me and I are still holding on to our jobs and gainfully employed.

Here's looking back at my targets set for 2020:

1) Be prominent in my new work role

Assessment: Happy to be working with multi agencies and picking up construction knowledge in the midst. An irony is that while I officially rotated to BMEP, there was no replacement for my previous EM role (the guy left after 3 months) so I had to double-hat; as a result I led the joint-investigation of the false fire alarm incident on 23 JAN (just two days before CNY, huge phew!) and that earned me opportunities to present to the Management and now I am known within the company as the go-to guy with regard to FM200. 

2) Train earlier for IPPT.

Circuit breaker brought my fitness to a new low. My weekly futsal sessions were abruptly stopped in Apr 2020 together with the closure of sports facilities and non-essential services. Although exercising outdoors was allowed, lazy bum me hated running and I all but jogged only twice. However, lesson learnt from previous years was that I diligently trained sit-ups and push-ups. At my IPPT, I clocked 14 mins for the run (I started walking from 3rd round onwards) but my static stations (39 situps, 35 push ups) helped to secure a pass with incentive (could even get the award with a run time of 15:20mins). 

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Not much happened this year, but still going ahead with the month by month review of 2020:

Jan
How lucky that we were able to celebrate CNY before the full force of Covid-19 hit us.

Feb
Despite the increase in local and imported Covid-19 cases, the Airshow would go on, albeit it was significantly scaled down. Many organisations pulled out of the exhibitions, many foreign delegates preferred not to travel (and some by travel advisory) and local visitors also chose to err on the safe side and did not visit the biannual global event. I was tasked to do up the staff transport for Management, staff and exhibitors. It ran really smoothly across the 4 days. It could have been that the demand was more manageable, but credit to our meticulous planning, we had already catered measures to cope with it (increased buses during peak hours, signages, bus stubs, bus ridership list) anyway. As per all events, there was slight hiccup with wayfinding at the bus pick-up point at CEC, but my awesome part-timers resolved it on their own. Damn brilliant and proactive and on the ball they all were, I sent them and their employer a well-deserved compliment.

Mar

Apr
CIRCUIT BREAKER imposed - Other than essential services, every shop and facility to close! Even hairdresser and salons! No dining outside absolutely! Bubble tea shops also cannot operate! 100% work from home. Things we did to keep us sane:

- growing bean sprouts from beans
- performing a ukulele-shaker duo with yx
- going downstairs with yx to look at the ant mounds and long wild grasses, which have been able to sprout because of the reduced horticulture activities
- dancing to Just Dance on Youtube
- Netflix became my daily nightly routine!

May
CCB (Continued Circuit breaker), some term it as PCB (Prolonged CB) - same as above. Cabin fever was very tortorous for me, and I sought respite from lunch breaks and supermarket grocery shopping. 

Jun
Phase 2! With a large decline in community cases, some CB measures were lifted. Welcoming social gatherings up to 3 visitors a day allowed. Can dine in but subject to safe distancing measures (such as wearing mask, 1m spacing between tables, safe entry in/out).

Jul
EPL restart. Was going bonkers going without sports/entertainment after 4 months! Arsenal lifted the FA Cup woohoo! Can't remember the details but I think phase 2 also improved from 3 visitors to 5 visitors.

Aug
Did a major overhaul of electronics! Refer to previous post. On hindsight, should have gotten the 65" instead of the 55"... lol...

Nov
Due to a reschedule in timing of her Teacher Chloe's weekly classes, yx didn't continue with term 4. So we signed her up for other enrichment classes in gym and ballet (at her request), she was most delighted. A blessing in disguise, probably, for her to gain exposure in non-academic cirriculum.

Dec
Phase 3 lifted wef 28 Dec. Social gatherings up to 8 pax, max 8 visitors per residence at any one time. Futsal 4v4 allowed is the greatest news!

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Targets for 2021:

Life is kinda at a plateau for me right now. Career/job is fulfilling and paying well, family bonds and relationships are close, I'm not actively looking to further my studies or seek alternative income; so I guess the most important aspect to maintain and/or improve is 'health'. 

1) Stay healthy.
2) Help more people in need.

Yx left her books lying around

This happened a couple of weeks ago:

Yx was on the sofa watching her fav Peppa Pig on tv. She has a habit of stacking books on the sofa and wouldn't touch them until forever, explaining she's leaving them there for reading later. So it happened again this time. I sighed, sat down beside her and asked,

"Can you not put your books on the sofa?"

Distracted by the tv, of course Yx was, so there came only silence.

"How many times must I say?" I followed, in a bid to nudge her response.

Still no reply from Yx.

So this time I raised my volume abit, just to make sure she can hear me, "Can you answer me?"

Yx heard my presence this time. Okay good, I thought. She replied, "Err err.... two times."

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Did u get it? Lol. I was so tickled by her answer I related what happened to wifey. Her response was, "huh why did she say that?" Lololololol.