Monday, October 28, 2024

Catching up on life

Hi blog,

Realised I haven't posted anything in a month or so. How am I? "I'm good," I'd reply, when asked. Is that the truth? Well, it is, and it is not.

It is because I am gainfully employed and seeing construction works at my project site progress layer by layer, brick by brick, fence by fence - I derive alot of satisfaction and a huge sense of achievement. Apart from work, I'm healthy, enjoying weekly footy, my family is healthy, my kids are happy, I don't think I have much to lament. Last week, crazy me even headed out in hunt of silver coin, in the company of another crazy friend Jx. LOL what were we thinking?! But you know the saying, "bo try bo zai" (aka you'll never know unless you've tried) 😉 

On the other hand, work gives me satisfaction as well as it is the contributor towards my "I am not good". The tension with my co-worker is quite unbearable and my strategy lately has been to communicate professionally and avoid social interaction. Which has worked well, to a large extent, but there are moments when she gives very direct comments and questions and they come across as very commanding, which lead me to ponder am I the covering section Head, or am I not? That's something my supervisor did poorly to explicitly lay down before she went on long HL. I'm in a dilemma myself whether I have the authority, or not! Have been toying with the idea of asking to be rotated to a different project / section, on bad days I really want to throw the proposal to my supervisor, just as well our project is at a certain juncture which is a good time to pause / start for a new joiner, but I tell myself I shouldn't quit on a bad day. So on a good day I ask myself the same question if I want to carry on, and the first answer I have is one that sits on the fence but perhaps leaning towards "no"! 


Monday, September 09, 2024

Our first holiday as an extended family


September 5-8:

It was a commendable effort that everyone scheduled time away from work and routine to spend a few days together for a holiday. It would be especially challenging  that the group comprises young children with different routines and habits, therefore a holiday that doesn't involve flights and putting up at an extremely accessible hotel with a connecting mega mall, makes the most sense. This way, different groups could go about with their separate agenda (eg shopping, nap, meals, indoor playground etc) and it was also convenient to spontaneously meet up for a meal or tea break. Or knock on each other's door to distribute fruits, share snacks or herbal mutton soup which my parents dabao after having an early breakfast at a kopitiam nearby.

One dinner, we made reservation at Pekin Restaurant and feasted like royalty! 

(Aptly named my FB album "Sek-tember holiday" 😁)

I am deeply heartened that this trip materialised and we created core memories. I am also deeply thankful that my parents are relatively healthy and mobile at their age - their legs strong to bring them around the huge mall; their appetites are voracious to enjoy the sumptuous feast (suckling pig, pi pa duck, Indonesian curry prawn); their minds alert to convert Ringgit into Sgd as quickly as one would expect of Asian parents; their minds open and carefree to laugh heartily at each other and at ourselves (epic remark by mom: 我左手可以抹屁股!)😂.

Above: Parents waiting for our takeaway order of egg tarts from Nam Heong. I saw this cute moment of the duo and wanted to take a picture to remember this moment by, but I knew that if I turned around and were the one behind the camera, my parents would feel awkward, so I asked Yx to do so and indeed u see, dad and mom returned a smile/pose so naturally 🙂 

Catching up on life

Hi blog, Realised I haven't posted anything in a month or so. How am I? "I'm good," I'd reply, when asked. Is that the...