exigencies of service

A favourite phrase of the public service. Or in Singapore's context maybe it's a commonplace term in both public and private sectors. 

My break so far...doesn't feel like it's fully a break. 

Due to one big pending case at work. I've been logging in everyday to settle stuff relating to it. 

And also had 2 concalls with my counsel and overseas partner. 

There are timelines to keep and remember. Right now, it's 28 December and 30 December. 

I need to send out email notifications on these 2 days. 

A little xian. You're trying to chill but at the back of your mind there're these 2 deadlines (and related stuff) hovering around in there. 

Today is Xmas Eve

Not a good time to "stomach spoil".
Stomach wasn't doing well yesterday afternoon.
Somehow ended up at Hawkerman for dinner yesterday evening. Felt obligated as there was another family around and I didn't want to drag them to eat plain soupy stuff with me.

Ordered chicken aglio olio. Bad choice. Was too oily.
Maybe I should have ordered rice with roast chicken.

Anyway, LS one last night and once this morning. Tummy was quite bleah last night...still quite queasy this morning with low appetite... Some nausea as well....

Pumped myself with probiotics last night and this morning.
Fingers crossed I'll feel better this evening.

There's still the annual Xmas thingy at my uncle's this evening and the annual Xmas luncheon at Adrian's place tomorrow.

Ganbatte....
肚子，加油！争气！

19 December 2019

Today is officially the last work day for me for the year...

By right.

By left.......

Due to some pending dispute cases, one is with the courts, one is with the SMC....
I still have some work to be done next week even though I'll be on leave.

Jiayou Michelle.....

Want to do.....

Would like to try watercolour painting again...

Hope I find some time to try it out. My tiny experiments last year yielded pretty ok results...:)
I should start it again...

===============
On a quest to clean up the house.
Bit by bit. Area by area.
Hopefully, with the helper's cooperation.
And some common sense and commitment from her as well.

Cleared out and packed up a drawer yesterday afternoon.
And ended up with one red bump on my left cheek.
It was a hive bump.
Smaller than a 5-cent coin though.
My face was itchy in the evening.
My eyes too.

Hope future cleaning sessions won't bring me more itchiness.
Maybe I should wear a mask when I clean.

===============
daydreaming...
been a long time since I did that...
hmm, can't remember when was the last time....years?

Quote of the Day

Own your decisions and own yourself without apology.

~ Anna Wintour

Weight

Laoniang was back to 45.6kg this morning.
Laoniang is happy.
Laoniang wants to put on abit more weight.

老朋友，好朋友

Had a meet-up with PQ & Ally on Sat afternoon. Been a long long time since I saw them. One year for Ally, and maybe 10 months for PQ....

We were at the Coastal Settlement. The rain made things a little leychey but it was still a nice catch-up. The truffle fries were really good! They were still crispy even after an hour or two of sitting on the table. Wonder how they prepared it haha.

Went home with alot of goodies and xmas pressies for both myself and the girls haha....K was whining a little "How come I don't get anything?" haha...

You know...it's a warm fuzzy feeling. You might not meet them often enough with kids, work, homes and families to look after. But you know that these ladies have your back and you can count on them when you falter...And....It's ok to be fully yourself with them. No masks nothing.

============
We talked about bullying in primary school since both Darius and Kyer are in primary school already. We talked about families. We talked about pets. We touched on work. We also talked about us receiving the Careshield notification letter (ex-Eldershield) next year.

Amongst other things.

LOL....omg lah....see how much our conversations have changed over the years...:D

Pandan Caramel

Laoniang just discovered a bread from Gardenia - Pandan Caramel bread.

I don't know if it's really new or not but I only just discovered its existence.

I asked K to get some to try. Wah nice leh! The girls like it too. Alyssa likes that it's green in colour haha....

This will my new go to snack bread....in place of the usual Raisin Loaf from Gardenia. :)

Progression, Regression

3 steps forward, 2 steps back
2 steps forward, 3 steps back

Sometimes it feels difficult to keep going
Sometimes it feels like you try and you try
And you do take steps forward
Only to have a big wave or a misstep
Bring you back a couple of steps

Must learn to let go
Must learn to 看开
Must learn to take things easier
Yes, I've heard it many times

Push on
Carry on
Jiayou Michelle...

6 Dec: River Safari day!

Managed to ballot for the corporate passes and so I took leave that day. We brought the girls there and I found it quite enjoyable. There's more or less only one path to follow through the whole park and it's all sheltered.

I was concerned that I'd be tired out from the heat but the sheltered walkways were really shady. I was glad for it.

I enjoyed the animal show and appreciated the interactive time after the show where we were allowed to feed and pet the capybaras, pet the huge orange iguana and take pictures with the pelicans.

I was surprised and proud at the same time when both girls didn't flinch or bat an eyelid and fed/petted the capybaras! I mean, the capybara was huge and perched on a stand. It was at least the girls' heights and it's body was definitely bigger than them haha. 

Nadya got a little icky with the iguana though haha. She was afraid it would be slimy to the touch.

The highlight for me was the red panda exhibit. Damn cute. There were 2 of them and they were languid and were mainly snoozing when we saw them. I loved their tails though. So bushy. :) They look like more fashionable bandits compared to raccoons haha.

They was housed next to the panda exhibit but we only saw one of the pandas there. I think it was Kai Kai who was there that day. We were glad to have seen it...the girls were in awe. :)  Something they'd only seen in videos or read about in books actually "came to life!" and was chewing bamboo in front of them haha.

Will I go back to visit again? Perhaps...but not in the next couple of years maybe...

You can do this!!

Been a tiring couple of days.
Full day meetings, activities, conference calls during lunch and other discussions during tea-breaks.
Feeling a little zapped out.

Jiayou Michelle!! Ganbatte!!!

Weight

I've breached 45... I was 44.8kg this morning.
Sigh, another few days of tummy not feeling well and my weight goes down again. Putting it back on seems quite difficult.

How to put back 2-3kg without binging, milk, or too much fried foods?
Maybe I should eat more carbo than proteins...?

Craft

At times like these, I smack myself for attempting to make stuff...even when timelines are coming up...and when I don't really have the domain knowledge on how to make those things....

*facepalm*

Nvm nvm...jiayou jiayou!!!

Indian Borage

Finally spent 30-40mins yesterday trimming my jungle of an Indian Borage.
I'd left it to grow freely for almost a year I think...and boy did it grow.

I fertilised it about 2 months back and coupled with recent rainy days (read: natural happy minerals for the plant), the plant thrived and grew. Quite abit. It was getting a little unruly and so...*snip snip*

Trimmed off at least 7-8 branches which were getting too long, tall and scraggly. I shaved off so many big and healthy leaves from the cuttings too...at least 1/2 an NTUC plastic bag. The whole balcony and living room smelt like the herb. My fingers too. Felt a little wasteful for throwing all the leaves away but I don't dare to use them to make tea (which is supposedly very good to heal coughs) or to cook. (Apaprently it's also known as Mexican Mint and can be used as a substitute for Oregano...my colleague uses it in pasta sometimes)

The plant was actually really healthy and robust. Well actually the pot contained 4 separate plants propagated from 4 separate cuttings last year.

After all the trimming, I stuck 5 cuttings into a new pot (yes I'm starting a new pot of Indian Borage) and gave another 2 really nice and healthy cuttings to a colleague.

There are still 1-2 more branches that might need to be trimmed off but I'll hold off for awhile first.

And so....the unruly jungle is now a neater smaller forest...:)

Aiyoh........

Was on PM leave yesterday to attend Alyssa's PTC in school.
Went home and finally managed to trim the Indian borage.

Took a nap thereafter....and when I was still in the last hazy dazy moments of my sleep and about to get up from my nap...I heard a sudden gush of water from my washroom...

*pop* *BISHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

???!!! simisai???!!!

I quickly got up to check. And...omg...the cupboard below my sink was SPEWING WATER.
Water was starting to pool on the floor below the cupboard too. Quickly called for K to come...and we discovered that a pipe below the sink had burst.

Everything in the cupboard (mainly extra toiletries and some craft stuff) was wet. We were stunned haha.

Plumber's supposed to come in this afternoon to see what needs to be done.

I hope nothing too major...I hope it'll just be a simple replacement of the pipe (which seemed to have rusted and corroded).

Just mighty glad that we were around when it happened and we could clean up the mess quickly. At least the water wasn't left to seep into the cupboard woodwork. If the wood had become waterlogged, I think we would have a bigger headache.

Quite glad too that I had previously lined the cupboard base with 2 layers of plastic....that helped keep some water off the wood too.

Oh ya, and I'm very glad that it's just clean water that was spewing out...and not sewage or dirty water....lol...

Last year at this time...our room curtain got fried by the dry-cleaners and we had to spend a couple of hundred getting a replacement set....This year it's the sink pipe...aiyoh....

Walk on

And we have stepped into December
The last month of the year

This year has whizzed by really quickly
At times, things feel like they've slowed to a crawl
But in reality, time just keeps zipping by

Don't be shy or afraid to let your loved ones know you love and care for them...

Walk on Michelle
With hope in your heart

What is Love?

Jotting down. For posterity....

I asked Nadya the other day...."Sayang, what is love?"
She seemed a little confused and didn't know where to start, given that love is such an abstract intangible thing (feeling? emotion? adjective? verb?)......

After some encouragement, this was what she said....

"Love is....

Being kind and nice
You can see and smell love
It smells like flowers and roses and nice trees

You can eat love too
When you eat love
Then you become very kind

Love looks like God
And also looks like a heart-shaped bubble

Love is Mama, Dada and Mei Mei"


*heart melt*