Thankful, laoniang accumulated 10 days OIL, to be cleared in one year.
I still have 43 days of AL out of which 28 can be brought over to 2026.
Which means I have 25 days (including the 10 OIL) that need to be cleared within this year.
Ok....need to plan how to make this happen.
Alyssa wrote a poem for me for Mother's Day. She did it in Chinese & translated it into English as well.
叶子 － 林芯余
当雪从老天
落下来，
叶子都会
离开树妈妈。
有一棵叶子
还紧紧地
抓住树干。
那个叶子是
我。
Leaves - Alyssa Lim
Once snow falls
from the sky,
leaves will
leave Mother Tree.
But,
there is one leaf
still holding on.
That leaf
is me.
Nothing from Nadya this year...:) Are we at that stage where she is so busy till no simple card for her mum anymore? Tween-hood....
Feel a little sad for Dr Chee Soon Juan. I did not listen to his rally speeches nor did I read his party's manifesto and proposals.
But I know of him since I was a kid. How he was prosecuted (fairly or unfairly?) many times in his political career. And how got up each time he was beaten down. And how he carried on fighting for what he believed in.
是执着， 是固执， 是信念， 是不服？
Whatever it is, I respect him, his gumption, his perseverance, his courage, his guts in carrying on all these decades in fulfilling his ideals & beliefs and staying hopeful despite the many setbacks he'd encountered.
And I respect his wife too. Don't think it's been easy for her all these years too.
Jiayou to him & his family.
老了
Past 2 weeks of odd working hours during the GE period have turned me into a zombie.
230am - 9am....then 230pm to 9pm. Sometimes 830am - 230pm...then 230am to 9am.
Glad we've stood down from operations officially at 210am 4 May 2025 right after all local votes were announced and declared conclusive.
More things to do this round. Maybe cos there are more paranoid higher-ups...and cos of all the scammy , spammy and malicious issues which started since a few years ago.
Just glad things are sort of over....
It's 12pm now. And I feel like I need to crash into bed again...
Need to get my body clock back in order again lol...
24/7 monitoring started on 23 April.
Laoniang 老了. I feel more tired now than when I was involved in shift work in GE2020.
Mid-way through...ganbatte!!
===========================
I feel a buzz in the air though....I can almost see it.
GE2025 is so different from GE2020 where things were so muted and campaigning and hustings were conducted almost entirely online.
I did not realise how I missed the rallies. I did not realise how I missed the trucks driving around bearing their party colours and loudhailers blaring party slogans and calls to action from ward resident.
Till I heard them once again. :)
Maybe age changes someone. I was never this interested in our GEs...this round feels different somehow and I find myself regularly catching the news and watching updates or highlights from mainstream media or from social media.
===========================
I admire those who stepped up for the various parties. Whether from a small party or a big one with great resources, putting yourself out there in front of the nation, calls for great courage. And I applaud all those who have stood up to run.
What I don't appreciate though, is the various netizens who lambast candidates online. As one netizen put it aptly: "Say so much, comment so much, why you ownself never run? Talk big only."
Say what you want behind closed doors but to openly belittle someone else online, I think it is not nice.
Granted though, that some (or perhaps many) of these FB accounts may just be bots created by folks who just want to be trolls or foreigners who just want to have an interfering hand in SG's business or bored locals who just want to "stir" up unsavoury sentiments on the ground.
===========================
Kudos too to the many unsung folks working behind the scenes to ensure the whole machinery is working well...to quell any possible foreign intereference...to ensure security systems are in place...to ensure IT systems are working well...
Both the public service, and the many volunteers behind each party...
Took a cab to work today. Lazy to lug 2 laptops on the bus.
Cab guy made me "cry" lol.
His playlist was all Jacky Cheung's songs, both in Chinese & Cantonese.
Gosh, all the feels.....
I teared up at one point and was able to just dab away those tear drops....I thought to myself: "Lucky he didn't play 我真的受伤了" else I'd be bawling in the cab lol...
When I reached office, I thanked cab guy for playing Jacky's songs and told him "我的童年。"
He laughed and said "Hah nor...我也是。"
Thank you Matthew for a nice playlist!
I remember friends around me found it odd we called you Mama. I don't know, maybe it's a Peranakan thing to call our grandmothers "Mama". Pronounced as M3 Ma2. I've known you as that my entire life, as have my brother and cousins.
It's been 11 years since you passed. I miss you Mama.....and I miss...
Since last year, it's been more jialat each time big auntie comes to visit these days, compared to just a few years ago and compared to when I was in my 20s or 30s.
More emo, more irritable. More backaches, more cramps. More lethargy, more brain fog.
Symptoms vary each month, sometimes one is experienced more than the other this month but the following month it becomes the other way.
But generally all symptoms are more pronounced than last time, especially on the day before, Day 1 & 2.
Checked among closer female colleagues and this seems to be the "trend" among those in their mid-40s. Of course, there are some younger ladies who've had bad symptoms each month ever since they were young. I feel for them, having to endure discomfort for so many years on end.
Nvm..I will niam each month. And just have to 咬牙继续走....
Dad had a mini fall a few weeks back. My parents didn't tell anyone. zzzz.
She only told me about it 2 weeks after it happened. Sigh. They were on their way home from church. Him being the kan cheong spider didn't want to circle around a raised grass patch which had a concrete kerb running all around it. My mum went round it, he stepped on it & attempted to cross over it. And promptly mis-stepped and landed on both knees. Seems he had a bruise on his right knee which no one noticed at home. I don't stay with them so....sigh.
Apparently he's also been having pain in his left hip since a month plus ago. It acts up after he walks around 700-800m. After repeated attempts, he finally relented and allowed Mum to make an appointment for him to see a doctor at the polyclinic so he can get a referral to see an orthopedic specialist at a hospital. I only hope the referral appointment is not too far off.
As the nation gears up for the big event that takes place every 4-5 years
On the work front, the nervousness and paranoia of both working level and higher-ups are making me fed-up and quite stressed at times. I only hope it ends soon, and I hope with all fingers & toes crossed that my side will be smooth-sailing and uneventful.
On a personal front, I'm somewhat excited and wondering how the rallies will be like this round. 2020 was muted due to Covid and there were no physical rallies. This round, physical rallies will be allowed again. Will it be as interesting as 2011 the watershed year?
Was looking through the PSLE dates and putting them into K & my joint calendar.
Tis the year....
Wondering if I should take leave on those exam days...
孤独·是永恒无解的习题，但总有人不倦地陪你解谜
Found this quite meaningful. It's from Wonderland Season 4, a Chinese variety show.
Wonderland can be boliao and draggy at times but I still watch it cos of the camaraderie of its cast members and of the various heartfelt conversations that gets thrown up in the midst of their interactions. I only started from Season 3 and am 1/3 of the way through Season 4.
Season 3 had a segment which not only made me bawl my eyes out, but also made many cast members cry as well. It was a segment which made each cast member say his or her apology. It could be an apology to anyone or anything. The touching stories that came up, some were quite emotional and thought-provoking. I thought that segment was wonderful.
When you feel like a friendship seems a little broken or out of place
But don't know what happened
And don't know how to go about fixing or improving things
困扰
A lady from the organisation was found unconscious at her desk on 27 March Thursday 11am. Her desk was on the 6th floor. I'm on the 3rd floor and I did not know her. Colleagues tried to resuscitate her and performed CPR while others called for an ambulance. Despite efforts and AED being deployed, she did not make it. She was either my age or a few years younger.
Though I did not know her, the news still rattled me. How things could change suddenly. How she was find and made it to work in the morning but was gone just a few hours later. It's been a few days and I still feel a little shaken. Sigh.
Rest in peace Sharon.
Alyssa made a request last night before bed.
“Mama, can you hum for us tonight?
It’s been a long time since you did it and when you hum I feel happier. I can
sleep better too because it makes me feel safe and happy. And it makes me feel
loved. I really like it. Can you hum for us tonight please?”
And so I did.
I hummed that tune which I came up with back when they were 1 & 3 yrs old I think. It's an improvised draggy version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....I used to do it every night for a period of time when they were still little. As they grew up, I did it less & less often till it kind of faded away and was not included as part of the bedtime routine anymore.
From time to time now though, one of them would still ask me to hum that tune before bed…
I hope they remember the tune in
their heads…maybe they can hum it to their own kids next time….
Income Tax Assessment SMS notification just came in from GOV.SG
Logged in.
Saw bill.
OUCH.
Paid immediately lest I forget and kena splash red paint by the gahmen.
OUCH.
Ok...eat grass in the next few weeks............
And so EBRC has published its report of how the various GRCs & SMCs will be like for the upcoming elections.
Not looking forward to the work that has to be done on my end...and the jitteriness of the higher-ups and the possible scrutiny that might be on our team's work processes.
Fingers (and toes) crossed that everything will be 顺顺利利.
Ever since we shifted, I've been taking the bus to work a whole lot more.
I'm at only the 4th bus-stop after the bus leaves the interchange so I am usually able to get a seat. And I usually prefer to take bottom deck when I head to work...Over time, there are some folks I've noticed on the same bus at around the same time each day...
You’ll never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
Saw this from a short film. So....beautiful. And so true.
