28.12.2016

TIME CHECK:

28 December 2016.

T-4 days to 2017.

Time to reset/snooze your new year resolution clock!!! 

HE'S FREAKIN' DONE IT!!!

To be featured on multiple newspapers...




AND ON SGAG...

And even on newspapers across the causeway!!

Mr Carlsberg lived up to his name. A worthy and deserving winner! Am glad to be able to witness that epic moment which changed his life!

Classic interview answers from the man who became $20k richer after 4 hours:

"This beer is not the same golden yellow like any other beer is. Carlsberg is 169 years of beer, refined over many decades and regions."

"If I were Jacey Jacobson, I would market my beer as such: 'You are not just drinking beer. You are drinking a work of art and science.'"

"How I would say my wedding vow to a bottle of Carlsberg: 'I promise not to leave you, until the last drop is done.'"


And to top up the epic experience with a cheesy cheer (composed by who else other than yours truly):

Royston Lim
Lim lim lim
If it's Carlsberg
Must be him!

Food from the Heart

December is the season of giving. To put that into action, 20 of us put in half day's of manual labour at Food from the Heart (read more about them here: https://foodheart.org/). A colleague even brought his two teenage daughters.

Do you know that more than 16,800 supermarket trolleys worth of otherwise-discarded food are donated to needy families per year? To me that's a really jaw dropping number. My salute goes towards the generous donors, volunteers and helpers for such laudable graciousness and kind! I think most of us are living largely-comfortable lives and are not well-informed of the needy families, school children and elderly who ask for not much but 3 meals, to spend a day outdoors or a simple cake to celebrate their birthdays.

Was glad to be able to put in my bit part. We sorted out 2 pallets of donated food and packed 2 pallets which will be distributed to centres in the neighbourhood. It's not much, but every bit counts. Every packet of rice, every sachet of milo, every tin of button mushrooms - they go towards filling the stomach of a hungry school kid or lonely senior citizen - and warming their hearts at the same time.

We can do more, Singaporeans!

THE $20,000 JOB!

That's my buddy up there, with a 20% chance of bagging $20k!!!

Source: http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/20000-just-four-hours-work

Trumpspired he was, when he participated purely out of fun and for a free beer his friend promised if he just signed up. YOU SEE! BO TRY BO ZAI!!!

All the best Busy Roys! We will be rooting for you!!!

Trumpspired I shall be, too!! Going to buy 4D!!!

X'mas Light-up gig

Colleagues liked the old school x'mas songs we played!
Feliz Navidad, Joy to the World and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

There was a drinks bar serving cocktails too! Live music + food + alcohol = recipe for a fun evening at work.

I got too enthusiastic strumming and my n-year-old ruan pick gave way! That's the last of my picks from ruan-playing days... :(

you will be loved

Hello December

很麻烦

I find it a chore (很麻烦) to buy souvenirs for others when I travel overseas. Even though they say "only if convenient", I feel obligated to. In addition, if I buy something for a friend, I feel that I have to buy for my colleagues as well. So, I prefer not to buy anything for anyone at all. Similarly, I will not trouble others to buy things for me when they travel.

- Coming from a good buddy who expressed his unwillingness, when all I asked for was a bottled drink easily bought from 7-11.

Babywyx at 14 months

Babywyx just turned 14 months old. 

  

Having her hair cut a few weeks ago

She’s grown so much suddenly; despite not taking her first unassisted steps yet, her learning capacity, physical ability and hand-eye coordination have improved tremendously. A snapshot of what she’s well versed at:

• Loves music – will press toys for music and hop/sway along. Has learnt to strum gently on the ukulele
• Brilliant at directions – able to identify her whereabouts and point in the correct direction at objects
• Obsession with buses – points out and exclaims when she sees one (oh no… future bus otaku??!)
• Insatiable appetite – Wows at pictures/advertisements of food. Wants to eat food within her sight. Will throw tantrum if not given. Will offer her food to “share” with people around her – if you do not respond, she will mumble “umm” for you to do so
• Recognizes her name written in English. Able to identify numbers 1-10 and 75% of the animals on her Parklon playmat. Loves to see us draw – shoves a pen into our hands – Even when I draw ugly unconvincing pictures of dog/butterfly/pig/Minnie mouse – she can identify them! When she sees picture of birthday cake, she will start clapping – a signal for us to sing happy birthday.
• Can stamp her feet and raise her hands along to “If you’re happy and you know it”
• Calls out “papa” to me endearingly. Will hug me or her mama when we pick her up on weekday evenings
• Super cannot sit still – climbing and crawling all over the bed after shower, refusing to lie down still to put on diapers
• Fantastic memory – able to pick up a new word every day. Learnt how to unlock our phones after observing us do it couple of times.
• Words she can mouth – papa, ma (with emphasis, can mean mama/cat), gou (can mean dog / gong gong), ball (can mean ball/po po), a yai yai (ye ye)
• Very sociable and likes young children/baby – will wave at them, go towards them and sayang their head. At home, will whine and signal for us to open up the full length mirror so she can play and interact with her reflection.
• Able to perch her lips together and whistle (not kidding!)

Still absolutely adores Barney…

MY MAIDEN GIG!

My family and close friends should know that I started picking up the ukulele since earlier this year. Lessons are generously subsidised by my employer, who in its effort to promote team collaboration and employee engagement, is actively supporting activity interest groups (AIG).

Completion of Beginner's lessons

In between our weekly lessons, some like-minded colls would gather once a week during lunch to play some fun songs together. One of them happened to be the organizer for our company’s annual Excellence Day and thought that this event seemed like an auspicious platform to showcase the AIG. With only less than 2 months’ notice, we collaborated with jam band AIG to rehearse and produce four songs! Jam band would play two songs and then uke will join in for another two.

Well, initially during planning, I didn’t actively volunteer to be the vocalist, but the other performers preferred not to. I led I’m Yours (Jason Mraz) and jointly sang Don’t Worry Be Happy.

I’m Yours, surprisingly, is very hard to sing well! Other than the chorus, the style is kinda freeform R&B and Mraz sounded very smooth in his delivery, though most verses of the lyrics are like a traffic jam of syllables. During my preparation I plugged in to the song on looping mode for a couple of days. I tried to imitate his style and added little bit of adlib. The applause that followed was thunderous and sustained for a good 15 seconds - we were overwhelmed!! DG gave us a standing ovation, grinning from ear to ear! 

For the latter song, I innovated the lyrics to CAAS’ context, to inject some plain fun and entertainment. They were very well received, judging from the laughter and applause from the audience (who must already be bored stiff by the earlier segments of the programme)! 

The lyrics went:

If your boss sends midnight email

Reply tomorrow it’s no big deal

Don't worry be happy 

Too many red tapes give us headache

So many signatures, goodness’ sake

Don't worry be happy

If you have something proud to say

Share it at Excellence Day

Don't worry be happy

Here’s a lil’ something by AIG

Hope you enjoyed as much as we

Don't worry be happy

Picture from the event:

Trivia: I was using my zhongruan pick I kept in an old wallet since n years ago!

Despite that my voice was not in optimal condition (Murphy’s Law ah just like on my wedding day, I couldn’t hit the high notes T_T), I received many positive feedback from many colleagues of my “natural”, “confident” singing! Even D(CD/EP) passed me his personal compliment! One or two aunties also spotted me along the corridor and gave me their thumbs up. Hahahha quite paiseh! Well honestly I think people felt my section sounded great because:

1) The vocalist from jam band (who performed the first two songs) really cmi (to the extent one of the aunties said he wasn’t singing, in her exact words);

2) The sound system provided by sub-contractor was also cmi and the parts where I strained my voice were conveniently credited to the ‘lousy microphone'; and

3) Excellent harmonising from Nicole!

Nevertheless, we really enjoyed ourselves on stage! I had proposed for all to put on a glittery bow tie ($2 from Daiso) but they were not keen :( So, no theme...

And so one of my bucket list items (which is to perform in a musical) is ticked off! =D 

P/S: I wanna take the opportunity to give credit to my supportive wifey and parents who were understanding and bore with my kill-chicken bathroom singing. =)

This blog is 10 years old!

What one can do in 10 years:

• Graduate with both PSLE and GCE 'O' level certs
• Fully depreciate a brand new car 
• Live through the full teenage years and become a young adult e.g 12yo to 22yo
• Be a proud recipient of Long Service Award from one's employer
• Date, marry and become a parent of 3 (or even more)
• Create one's first musical masterpiece like Mozart
• Grow a tree

What I did -
Maintain a (frequently updated) blog. 935 posts in 10 years... That averages out to 94 posts per year; or 8 posts per month. Not too shabby!

So my first post was created on 20 Oct 2006!

I remember it was a weekday afternoon and I was feeling bored at Computer Centre at NUS. 10 years ago, smart phones have not taken over the world and the Comp Centre was DA PLACE TO GO if one needed to login into IVLE, download/print lecture notes, reply emails, catch up on football results etc! Wow, suddenly it feels like smart phone technology has since advanced way beyond imagination:

Think - in 2006 iPhone was unheard of; I was using Sony Ericsson that took pretty awesome 2MP pictures (who later become 'Sony'  in 2012 after Sony acquired Ericsson);

versus

Now - iPhone is now at series 7+, capable of 12MP wide-angle pictures!

Anyway, I digressed. I was feeling bored and created a blog out of fun... and then the blog became my journal, joke sharing forum, ranting outlet, gradually transforming into a platform for reflection, yearly review, archive of useful advices etc. 

Browsed my archives to read back at my posts 10 years ago, boy o boy, those activities I did and photos I took are very much vivid in my mind!

Sharing a photo I took on the train on the way to school on Oct 23, 2016:

Commuters busy with the free newspapers given out at MRT stations

What the same place same time will resemble nowadays -

(Source: Google images)

What about in 2026? How will technology and lifestyle evolve?

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What will happen to iPhone?
Google glass (or the like) will be omnipresent?
Fully electric public transport and private cars?


Tune in 10 years later!

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I don't know what I'll be doing 10 years later... except for one fact that I'll be parenting yx who will be in Primary 5. But I'm hoping Blogger will continue to exist!

Latest trends...

#PPAP
>.<

Grandma's birthday

Had a near perfect weekend!

The planning for celebration of our beloved paternal grandma’s 90+ birthday started as early as 2 months’ ago, uncle Nang surveyed in our whatsapp group for expected turn up – everyone (most) responded in favour and in double time! So he proceeded to book a minsu (which housed us during CNY 2014) and further made restaurant bookings for lunch and dinner.

My dad has 5 siblings who gave me and my siblings many cousins, nieces and nephews. Alas, we do not stay near each other. The only times we meet up are during special occasions such as CNY, wedding banquets and grandma’s birthday! So it was a really rare opportunity that I was super eagerly looking forward to! Plus it was gonna be babywyx’s first encounter with her paternal relatives!

The drive to Kluang on Sat afternoon took us 4.5 hours!! 1.5 was spent at customs and another 45 mins of slow traffic along NS highway! Finally reached the minsu at 5.30pm - The Ng family was the usual boisterous lot, there was hardly a corner lacking in chatter, laughter and noise. Amazed to see my nieces and nephews so tall already! Doesn’t seem so long ago that I was carrying them in my arms / holding their hands to cross the road! Instead, the teens are now fully independent, noticeably vainer (nieces frequently brushing their long hair) and… (sad way of growing up) own a smartphone each (not to mention which keeps plentiful selfies/wefies).

Babywyx was the subject of everyone’s attention. Being at that age that she is now, she is wary of strangers and the new environment and as a result, spent more time observing than physically moving about. Finally it was her bedtime and boy, she unleashed all her unspent energy and must have scoured every square inch of the king size bed, crawling and rolling all over! Much thanks to wifey for coping with babywyx for more than an hour before she finally slept! =D

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Of course, wishing grandma good health and long life!! It was heartening to see her in pretty good shape! A quality weekend spent with my favourite people and my favourite food (Cin Cin restaurant, RM1 nasi lemak, local curry puff and soon kueh, tangkak beef noodles).

Recent events led me to realise that good health is so paramount at determining one’s quality of life – the physical freedom to move, the innate ability to eat/feel/hear/smell, the emotional fulfillment of family bonding. Move away 5Cs - as of now, I will learn to be contented with my 5Fs:

Freedom

Family

Financial stability

Friends

Football

Throwback

Overdue post from 2015

I made sure to take photos for a month long project that required lots of patience and hands-on! It was gonna be a surprise for wifey as her birthday cum our 1st wedding anniversary gift.

From conceptualization to production!

Decorated with photos taken on our memorable honeymoon!

Silver for IPPT!

Timing for 2.4km:

2014 - 11:42
2015 - 12:03
2016 - 12:08 (2 more seconds and byebye Silver)

Other than weekly footy, I didn't train my running so was quite pleased with my timing!
But really, cannot not admit age is catching up with me... :( When I could do 40 sit ups quite easily, I felt super strained this year!

I survived 4 days of SAHD!

So I survived 4 full days of a full time SAHD!

It was real quality bonding with babywyx... discovering her likes e.g she's crazyyyyyy over Barney (getting super duper excited when I play it on YouTube); love for food (always clambering towards me when I'm eating, even though she's just had her lunch); and music (strums the ukulele).

I must admit, it can get really boring and monotonous taking care of a young one at home. Babywyx felt boredom too, she would get restless and crawl towards me and point towards the door (wants to go out) - and so I brought her down for walks. Other than that to pass time, it is a challenge resisting the temptation of passing the buck to technology, aka phone. We don't really let her play with the phone but she is attracted to it, god knows why! I put my phone out from her reach but when she does manage to grab hold of it, she fiddles with it and after twice SHE FIGURED  OUT THE BUTTON to unlock the screen! 

Am thankful that babywyx has a rather strict routine that goes something like this:

- Wakes up at 9-10am

- Sleeps for an hour between 12-2pm

- Takes a second nap ranging from 1.5-2 hours between 3.30-6pm 

With that, it was easier for me to be productive while she's asleep e.g. cooking lunch for myself, doing some household chores, preparing her porridge etc. 

During the 4 days, I also discovered babywyx's stunning ability to recognise flashcards and pick them up with >80% accuracy! Wifey and I were so shocked she could even recognise the English words! I posted the videos on FB which attracted comments of awe and amazement as well! 

Finally on Friday, my parents were back after BKK holiday, and I could take a one-day breather! 

And I spent a bomb that weekend! :O:O

Heh heh... retail therapy wonders!

Random

Throwback to when we were happy go lucky and mobile!

Sydney road trip 2011...

... and my dad trying his best to do a jump shot HAHA this got us cracking!

Nightmare at Tampines Street

Last night, I had a nightmare. At the climax of the scariest moment, I jolted up, let out a loud “AHH!” and opened my eyes wide. When I realized it was just a dream, I went back to bed, adrenaline pumping. Wifey was awakened by my shout and patted my hand. We went back to sleep.

The next morning, I have zero recollection of the details of the nightmare. When I related to wifey what happened, she laughed and said, “I thought you saw a cockroach.”

My memory of Pokemon

Honestly, the take up rate of Pokemon Go in Singapore exceeded my expectations. Sure, before its launch in Asia the game has taken the world by storm, but little did I expect this game to be soooooo popular that people are crowding ‘Pokestops’ as late as 11.45pm – 4am during the midst of Lunar 7^th month?!? The news had the craze reported – residents in Hougang were unable to find parking lots at night; 20% increase in sales at the coffeeshop; throngs of phone-in-hand pokemon trainers dashing across the road. Crazy, I tell you!

I did not download the game, by the way. And I hope it stays this way.

The first Pokemon games (which were played on Nintendo consoles, but me on PC) were from my era. Pikachu, Charmander, Metapod, Meowth, just to name 2.67% of the ‘first gen’ pokemons which totaled 150 – my siblings and I knew all their names by heart and often competed to take turns listing one after another and see who would run out of names first. These names stuck with us till now – heck, I can even rap the last verse of the ‘Pokemon rap’!

We started off with Pokemon Blue... 

followed by Silver. 

We completed both games.

I have a more vivid memory of Pokemon Blue. Interestingly, my siblings and I chose different pokemons to start with – me Charmander, sister Bulbasaur and brother Squirtle. The storyline ends after a battle with Elite 4 and Ash’s rival. My selection for the final battle was:

Charizard (fire), Gyrados (water/flying), Dugtrio (ground), Zapdos (lightning/flying), Victreebell (plant) and Kadabra (psychic).

In addition to playing the games, my siblings and I also followed the anime that showed on Saturday mornings. Despite Pokemon playing a large part of our growing up, I simply do not find Pokemon Go any fun or enticing. Anyway, I also feel it’s a bubble… I heard many have almost caught all of the pokemon. With many high level players guarding gyms and some resorting to spoof apps to gain an unfair advantage, most will get bored of the game soon. We’ll see.

All 150 of the 'first gen' Pokemons

Bye Blackie

Outdated post:

We traded in our reliable Blackie.

Due to the insane COE prices, buying a new car never crossed our minds until Feb this year. We learnt that my father-in-law traded in his 8 yr old Toyota Vanguard for a very good price. Just for fun, I sought a quotation from the same dealer for our 6 yr old Honda Fit. We were pleasantly surprised – for a car with less than half its COE lifespan, it could fetch us more than half of what wifey paid for it.

Now, I have been eyeing Honda Vezel for a long time now. It looks sturdy, has a good height, comes in a few colour choices, is of a reliable Japanese brand and is also very fuel efficient! We worked out the sums and discovered that a brand new Vezel costs the same in annual depreciation, as compared to fully depreciating Blackie's COE. This, plus a brand new car (COE reset to 10 years) and a bigger and more spacious one at that, it’s a straight forward decision to make.

On 12 July 2016, the deal was complete. We bade farewell to blackie (who saw us through friendship, dating, marriage and birth of our baby!) and welcomed our new servant –

Loving it.

As a typical Singaporean would, I went to buy 4d of my vehicle registration number. After 3 draws, the number came nowhere close. Curiously I searched on the history and was shocked to learn that in the history of Singapore Pools (since May 1986), the number had only opened 4 times! And the most recent was in 2005!

Milestones at 11 months old

Babywyx is turning 11 months in a few days’ time… how time has flown! In recent weeks she has grown exponentially; with her crawling all over the place, displaying hilarious antics and uttering new sounds. These new ‘entertainment’ to us adults almost seemed to obscure those tiring, confounding newborn days when we would have to guess what is it she wants when she cries. We would have to go through a mental list ranging from milk, soiled diapers, discomfort to crankiness, wind, carrying, womb noises etc to soothe her. Now, baby has developed a routine and thankfully, largely sticks to it. In addition, we are also blessed that she is able to entertain herself on the play-mat with a bunch of toys.

Just to mark down what she is capable of doing now:

- Wave bye

- Repeatedly blowing bubbles using her saliva

- Responds to ‘hao chi zhen mo jiang?’ -> “mmmm”

- Responds to ‘yes sir!’ -> place both hands on her head, apparently a very poor mimic of a hand salute

- Responds to ‘ring ring’ -> places her palm to her ear

- Responds to ‘flying kiss’ -> places her palm to her mouth and holds it there. Kiss but no fly.

- Repeatedly pushing and pulling the legs of chairs and stools

- When the TV screen is blank, she will rotate both wrists to indicate “no more”

- A few TV commercials will catch her attention like magic e.g. Barney, Peppa pig, news introduction, weather forecast music

- Responds to 'tou wai wai' -> tilts her head sideways

 Clinging on to something to stand up

- Recognize a book is upside down and proceed to turn it the other way! *shock shock*

- When lying down, understands when I place my thumb above her head. She will grab my finger and use it to pull herself onto a sitting up posture

- Responds to “dinosaur” -> growls like one
- Responds to "if you're happy and you know it clap your hands" -> claps her hands :D

- Understands “clock” and will turn her head to look for it. Same for “Mickey & Donald”, “liu2 lian2”.

- Always looks to the door when she hears the keys, door being opened or the lift doors.

- Currently, learning how to respond to 'chi bao bao' -> proceed to patting her tummy

Etc...

She's already displaying similarities to Curious George. We think she'll be one cheeky monster. Heh heh...

Our evaluation and choice of baby diapers (size M)

I wonder if I am the first papa to do an evaluation of baby diapers... Anyways, decided to do this for future reference haha. This evaluation is for size M diapers only.

Disclaimer: Tried Mamypoko, Huggies and a korean brand before, but weren't too impressed. Never tried Pampers and Drypers.

When babywyx was younger (size S), we used mainly Mamy Poko. Before we were parents, little did we expect so large differences between diaper brands! Our confinement nanny lauded Mamy Poko and we stuck to it. We tried huggies too but found MP to be more absorbent.

kthxbye.

Our 2nd year Wedding Anniv

MEet up

Gathering at Titus’ home. His home is so neat and clean. Benefits of having a helper, haha. Our clique was missing a few members but the babies made up the numbers! Because babywyx was napping so well in the afternoon prior, we only joined them quite late. Well, looking forward to our next gathering!

6th July

Randomly revisited my blog archive to see what I was doing with my life x years ago.

Ah, 6^th July 2009. How could I ever forget this date? It was my first day of work at what they term in Mandarin, the University of Society. This year has passed by in a flash, it’s already July and only 5 months before the year ends. 5 months!!?

Revelation No. 1: Whatever are still pending on your 2016 resolution list, please get down to achieving them!

Revelation No. 2: Babywyx turns 1 in two months’ time!!!

So 6^th July 2016 was yesterday and it fell on a PH (Hari Raya Puasa). We gathered at CT’s lovely cosy nest for dinner, fruits, cake and wine. Enjoyed the laughter and quality catch up!

How to cure a cut on your tongue

Wordfth are comming outth oth my tongue in stutthers todhay, as ifth I have a shortz tongue – Thankth to the blood clot at ze tipth ofth my tongue.

There’s nothing terrible when you accidentally bite your tongue whilst you’re chewing your food (or in my case, chewing and talking at the same time), but it is when the blood hasn’t stopped flowing after 2 minutes. I was happily joycefully gracefully devouring and savouring my panfried chicken on the bone when I noticed that the bone came out from my mouth bloodier and bloodier with every chomp. Haha.

After 20 mins and I had finished my meal, washed up and rinsed my mouth, and I could still taste the blood in my mouth. Checked in the mirror – I think I could pass off as a vampire who just finished his meal, less the fangs.

Asked magic mom for a remedy. She passed me half teaspoon of sugar to apply onto the wound. I was skeptical about its effectiveness but mom sounded confident. And so I applied sugar on the cut. After a couple of minutes, the blood clotted. Heh! 

But the cut was a rather deep one, for the clot formed a conspicuous lump at the tip of my tongue. My speech and mastication were affected as well.

Sugar/condensed milk to stop blood clot? What’s the science behind it?

So I googled and learnt that apparently, sugar forms a substance with saliva and causes a blockage, hence facilitating blood to clot. It is also believed that sugar promotes saliva secretion, and saliva boasts its own healing funtions. Sugar also has anti-bacterial properties (unbelievable!) which prevents infections. 

Home remedies from elder generations? Priceless and handy.

P/S: I remember when we were young, when we bit our tongue or our teeth fell out, mom would apply condensed milk. Miraculously, the blood would stop and we would be smiling soon after (happiness derived more from ingestion of sugar, I presume).

BB Wonder Weeks

This chart marks out a baby's wonder weeks aka growth spurts so accurately, it's worth saving it for reference!

 (source: unknown) 

Read 'Behaviour' with a pinch of salt though, for every baby's learning and developmental curves differ. But what we experienced is that around the 'wonder week' listed in the left most column, there will be noticeable adjustments to baby's routine and behaviour. For example, babywyx just crossed Leap #6 at week 37 thereabouts. Noticeably during that week or so, she was cranky, very clingy to mommy and was not able to sleep through the night without stirring. After crossing the milestone, she managed to sleep from 11+pm till 7am. This went on for a few days so we are sure!

Happy 9 months! =)

Taiwan with a baby (& other ramblings)

Was informed of some personnel changes at my previous workplace. Honestly, I wasn’t quite surprised by the movement, and I bet my last dollar my previous boss wouldn’t be too pleased that his position is the only stagnant one. Haha. Also found out today that a former working partner is joining Bu$ Plus. A pity we didn’t have a chance to work together, nonetheless I feel happy for his upcoming challenge.

Work is just picking up for me this year. Planned a monthly schedule. Managing projects. well. At the same time, feel grateful for the flexible work-life harmony that my employer provides. Have considered seeking an internal transfer but considering the comfortable environment now I guess I’ll stick around for at least one more year and assess my options along the way.

So Arsenal ended the season piping Tott to 2^nd place on the last day (thank you, Newcastle). Apparently it was Arsenal’s highest position in many many years, but also their least points tally in 4 years. This statistic doesn’t ambush the fact that it was Arsenal’s best chance to win the domestic title, and they only have themselves to blame for it. Oh well, what’s new.

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Have we really been to Taiwan, is a question my wife and I have been asking ourselves. The last we checked, yes we did.

The 5 days felt surreal – every moment our minds were constantly on baby’s well-being hence we didn’t totally feel at ease like we would if on our own. Thankfully baby doesn’t mind sitting inside the baby carrier and can sleep quite well in it (thank you, tula). This made our travelling less taxing except that front-carrying a baby takes away the joy of eating street food. Nonetheless, I am glad I managed to have my customary bbq parson’s nose, smelly toufu, pig blood and ah zong mian xian and overdose of iced milk tea/papaya milkshake. Also discovered a few good stuff like the braised eggs (@tian tian li), goose noodles and dumplings in xmd!

Yay, on board SQ! Pleasantly surprised with the excellent service.

Encountered a few hiccups on the last day. We had planned to shop at wu fen pu, however it poured and we pretty much stayed inside our hotel room. Secondly, felt distraught when we realized we didn’t bring enough milk powder! Had to walk 15 mins to Carrefour to realize they don’t carry Nan Pro (which yx has been consuming since day 1)! Paced up and down before finally deciding on EnfaPro, thankfully baby didn’t reject it phewwww.

Minus the above hiccups, on the whole we didn’t regret making this trip, we really enjoyed the quality bonding time and upgraded ourselves in terms of changing diapers outdoors. Visibly, baby also had a great time as she was goo-goo-gaa-gaa-ing all the time in our cosy hotel room. She behaved like her normal self throughout the plane journey too! Managed to finish a couple of movies and eat meals in peace (whose quality has degraded, sadly for SQ).

My humble travelling tips for parents with a baby (7-8 months old, not mobile yet):<8 her="" mobile="" months="" not="" o:p="" on="" own="" yet="">

1) Pay more for a comfortable hotel (spacious, clean, quiet) that is located within walking distance of the MRT station

Our hotel was situated within xmd shopping area (2 mins walk to MTR). Needless to say, everything was accessible and convenient – Watsons, pharmacy, shopping, restaurants, street food, departmental store etc. Apart from its wonderful location, this hotel was highly recommended by friends due to its age (opened just a few years ago), cleanliness and that it supplies Loccitane toiletries!!!

This is only 40% of the room. babywyx also enjoyed the huge and comfy bed!

The other 40%. Look at that trendy fridge!

When you are traveling with a young one, you would pay a little more for comfort and convenience, and that was what we received. For $221 a night, we requested for the biggest room available. Gosh, were we surprised, for the bed was gigantic (bigger than King size!) and there was even a separate living room area plus an additional sink and smart TV! The latter was ideal as if either of us was using the bathroom, the other could still have access to water (to wash bottles, boil water, change diapers etc). The separate living room proved to be useful too, cos when baby has slept, we relaxed and watched cable and ate supper…

Contrary to its website descriptions, the hotel also provided complimentary breakfast that was really not bad! 3 choices available (Western, Chinese or Japanese).

Enjoying supper in the living room after baby has fallen asleep

2) Don’t skip the solid food

We brought jar food along for the trip. However, baby didn’t really take a liking towards the one on the plane so we thought we’d just feed her milk for the 5 days. Bad idea! Due to the lack of solids, her poop turned watery and mashy and resulted in more trouble cleaning her up. So, our advice is, don’t skip the solid food (or bear the consequences).

3) Don’t be overly ambitious in your daily itinerary

Unless you have super fit, agile and experienced, plan your daily itinerary such that you return to hotel every 3-5 hours. Or perhaps if clean nursing rooms are plentiful outside. We just found it a chore to change nappy outside. When we lay her on changing stations elsewhere, baby can recognize unfamiliar surroundings and would start wailing. Making and feeding her milk was manageable if we find ourselves a good resting spot. Hours of baby wearing toiled on my shoulders and I developed shoulder ache after a few days. So yup, have more rest back in your hotel if you can!

Konked out on the GIGANTIC bed after tiring herself

4) Keep your baby close to your body

Babies garner attention everywhere. In Taiwan, the locals gave praises readily and some attempted to touch/play with baby. Keep your baby close to you (we kept her in the tula always) to make sure you can act/react in time if they try anything funny. Better be safe than sorry, you know.

Babywyx in tula (so that she keeps her limbs to herself, hehe)

5) How to bathe baby?

How to bathe baby without our regular bath tub? We have an inflatable bath tub but it would take up space if the air isn’t fully released when we return. DING DONG DAISO IS THE ANSWER – bought a big tub for just $2 and checked it in our luggage. It is functional, lightweight, comes in a variety of colours and did its job. No more questions.

Enjoying bath time (in the Daiso tub!), meddling with the taps and everything else she can lay her hands on

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Looking forward to our next holiday(s)!

Falling asleep at Week 37

Hopefully it is the ‘Week 37’ growth spurt, for babywyx has been very cranky during her sleep time for the past week. I have always been the one carrying her to sleep since day 29 (after 4 weeks confinement), but suddenly she is all whiny and crying when I coax her to sleep. Once mommy takes over, she quietens down and is able to sleep after awhile.  That day, mommy was bathing and baby was wailing uncontrollably for at least 10 minutes. There was just nothing I could do to distract her.

Yesterday night was quite bad as well. Trust me when I said I have tried EVERYTHING to comfort her to sleep:

• Her favourite ‘magic bear’ which projects cartoon images and belts out soothing lullabies. She would stop crying and fall asleep staring at the revolving cartoon. It felt hypnotic. Switching it on ALWAYS worked. We didn’t call it ‘magic’ for no reason.
• Pacing up and down
• Sprinting around the room
• Hopping on the spot
• Standing below the aircon vent
• Changing carrying posture & position
• Talking in a calm voice asking her to rest
• Repeating the steps above, in another room
• Letting her watch youtube

So yesterday night I was on the verge of giving up and handing baby over to wifey (who was wolfing down her late dinner). Visibly baby was super sleepy cos one moment she was laying her head on my shoulder then another moment she was wincing and whining. In an attempt to drown out her cries, I started singing ‘My Bonnie’ and VOILA – baby suddenly hushed and stared at where the sounds were projected from aka my mouth. 5 seconds later, her head rested on my shoulder. Her eyes were shut. I placed her in the cot after 5 mins. There, I’ve done it.

Strange encounter... Was it due to the song choice, ‘My Bonnie’? Was it due to the frequency? Was it daddy’s soothing singing voice? Haha. Wifey said perhaps she was used to my mom singing to her to sleep.

Anything works, as long as baby sleeps well. 

How babywyx rests her cheeks on daddy's shoulder when falling asleep (taken some time ago).

EES feedback

Was one of a handful of engineers selected to give post-feedback in response to a less than satisfactory Employee Engagement Survey.

The session was arranged such that officers were encouraged to give honest feedback. Cosy sofa, lots of F&B, casual seating arrangement. It was chaired by an external consultant, and they made sure no management was present, and all feedback would be non-attributory i.e. anonymous.

It was a fruitful session with lots of productive inputs and useful insights... usual topics touching on remuneration, appraisal, audits, procurement processes etc...

Anyway, the final question to end the session was (and everyone had to say something) - if you were the CEO of this company, what would you want to implement?

My response(s):

1) Seek to dispel the myth (or is it not) of how one's career path is religiously tagged to one's CEP, which they claim can be modified to one's potential and performance - for more engaged staff

2) Attain ISO certification (9001, 14001, 18001 and the likes) - apply best practices and ensure consistency in standards

3) Introduce 1-hourly 'active lifestyle' per week - healthier bodies and social cohesion!

kthxbye.

Same old Arsenal

So actually Arsenal’s season hasn’t materialized any extraordinary as compared to the previous 5-9 seasons. Start badly, gain momentum in the mid of the season, only to lose form and play catching up with a third of the season to go.

1^st Jan 2016 – 20 games down, 1^st position
18 Apr 2016 – 33 games down, 4^th position. 13 points behind.

Arsenal fans wouldn’t have felt so demoralized and frustrated, if it was not for the shocking names sitting comfortably above us – Leicester City and Tottenham. The former boasts no big players and have proved the world wrong by lasting the whole season with a closely knitted team of determined footballers. The desire and tactical discipline displayed by the Foxes have been overwhelmingly impressive. As for arch rivals Tottenham, Wenger is beginning to accept the fact they will finish the season on top of Arsenal for the first time since 1995. Tottenham is playing some of the best team football seen all season, illustrated by these statistics – most goals scored, least goals conceded, most chances created.

Two shocking observations from Arsenal’s atrocious performances this season – they lost TWICE to arguably the worst Chelsea in a decade, but somehow did a double over table-topper Leicester City. This explains Arsenal. They will somehow manage to produce results in games they need to win; but collapse disappointingly when there is little pressure on them. When Arsenal conceded a goal to Crystal Palace on Sunday (despite enjoying 70% possession and creating many chances), the commentator lamented that it isn’t that such results happen to Arsenal; it is what they made for themselves. How true.

#Wengerout has been trending on social media… to the extent Wenger has publicly expressed he understands the frustration and disappointment the fans are feeling. But, he has no intention to leave. On the other side of the fence, some fans are sticking with Wenger because “if Wenger leaves, see what happened to Man U”, but MIND YOU – Ferguson has won a truckload of trophies while Wenger only has 2 FA Cups in the past 9 years. A change won’t do us too badly.

11 months' countdown

 Have confirmed our family holiday in March 2017!

That’s like 11 more months to go. So crazy, right? Haha… but because there’s a ‘Kids cruise free’ promotion and bottomless buffet of food a cruise seems to be an ideal getaway for two jaded parents plus an active toddler… so why not!

So looking forward already! =D

But before that, something exciting is welcoming us real soon!!

*salivates*