Staff took long to come up with an SOP. Late for some months. I cut her some slack on this.
Quality of the SOP is not there. I gave pointers on how to improve 1st draft and formatting which sucked.
2nd draft came back. Formatting still sucks. certain paragraphs don't flow and don't make sense.
Taking deep breaths.
A has a journal that she sometimes writes in. She named the journal “Kitty”.
While looking through
her P5 English file a few days ago as her teacher asked for parents to sign some worksheets. I came across a small paragraph she wrote,
where she shared about having Kitty and why she had Kitty.
“Sometimes I feel down and want to talk to my mother but she is at work, so I write in Kitty instead.”
☹☹☹
After all these years, I still feel unbalanced quite often. At work think about family. At home think about work.
Wherefore doth time's fleet passage hasten so, slipping through mine fingers like sand through an hourglass, ne'er to be reclaimed?
We're into March already.
Even Nadya's WA1 is over.
The March school holidays are coming soon too.
Too fast.....
And after years of resisting.
I am now...officially subscribed to Viu.
Lol...got it from the 3/3 sale over their official Shopee store.
Voila......no more annoying ads to test my patience...!
Jie is probably going up Kilimanjaro now.
I wish for a safe climb up & an equally safe descent for her. May the weather & terrain be good & smooth throughout the 8-10days.
Jiayou Jie!
When we were still at BluCoral, after we sent the helper away, I'd spend my Sunday mornings going for a walk, and then settling down to iron the entire week's worth of work clothes & uniforms. Or I'd be doing some cleaning & dusting around the house.
And while doing chores or ironing, my Chinese music playlist would be playing in the background.
I don't think I did that ever since we shifted.
It'd been a year and 3 months since we shifted. I'd forgotten how it felt...till this morning when I played that playlist again, while pottering around my room & the girls' room to wipe window grilles, surfaces, hidden corners, etc. and pack some stuff.
It felt emotional yet rejuvenating at the same time. :)
Jay Chou, Stephanie Sun, Jacky Cheung, David Tao, MayDay, Jolin Tsai, Tanya Chua, Amei, etc... Thank you for accompanying me this morning!! Brought back lots of memories from 20+yrs ago too! Lol...
And just like that...CNY Days 1 & 2 are over.
Angpows distributed, angpows collected. Nails painted and now smudged and chipping. Most hee-hee-ha-has are done and some forced smiles and conversations are over.
Had my fair share of lapis (not enough!) and bak kwa (not enough!) haha...
Had enough of love letters and packet drinks already though...too much sugar in the system liao lol...
Just pining for some quiet time in my corner.
Too much socialising drains me. Though I am glad I caught up with some relatives...like my not-so-little cuzzie.
Happy to see that the girls are a little bit more aware of who's who this year. N is doing ok on this aspect and has a clearer picture of the family tree, including extended family and non-blood relatives. A is still struggling a little on this lol. She'll get there slowly over the next few years haha.
继续走
我不愿意被绊倒
Recent weeks have been challenging. Due to some self-entitled folks. There've been complaints, at least one case a week for the last 4 weeks.
Today's case brought alot of stress. Really alot of stress cos my stomach was just scrunched up the whole day. The guy complained to the Ministry, to the PS. And now alot of senior management of both ministry and agency are in the loop. Sigh.
I cried twice today.
Pek chek.
But.........
继续走 继续走
我不愿意被绊倒
And...we're into Feb already.
2 more weeks to CNY.
CCA starts for Nadya.
And then it'll be sibei hot weather.
2 camps in March for Alyssa.
And then....time will probably just fly by again............
1 Feb was buah keluak day...
The annual family affair since...I don't know when lol. Decades ago...
This year's eventual haul was pretty good I think.
Parents bought 107 nuts in total. We threw away 22 due to them smelling very rancid or just plain odd. And there were those which had mould in them as well. We managed to get the flesh of 85 nuts, mixed it with fish paste and then managed to fill up 83 nut-shells.
It was a good result compared to some years (like 2025) where we started out with 100 and only ended up with 70+ filled nuts.
The guys would typically be the ones to break the nuts. Dad's getting old and can't do it for a long duration. He's get cramped up sitting on the floor and graduated to using a short stool in recent years and now that's a challenge for him too. He only did it for an hour yesterday and then gave up.
Glad that the next generation is being roped in as well. Cos Marc has now been roped in to break open the nuts. Dad withdrew early from the production line yesterday and Marc continued with it with Adrian. :)
And so now....there are a total of 4 aunts who are hospitalised at SGH, in different blocks & wards. 2 closer aunts and 1 distant aunt and 1 family friend whose been around long enough to be considered an aunt of sorts.
Sigh. It's been a strange few weeks.
Latest one to be hospitalised is Aunt Teresa. She'd been poorly since after CNY2025 when she suffered from a series of minor strokes. Couple of days ago she had a stroke again and got warded.
I can't make it to visit them these few days...will probably need to swing by on Saturday or Monday.
This is.....unprecedented.
Other aunts & relatives....and my mum...are tiring themselves out trying to show up for these warded folks & running around here & there.
May all of them get better soon.
The other day. I ordered my usual Wok Hey fried rice and added an egg to be stir-fried in. That makes it 3 eggs for that meal.
When I got home, I realised K had gotten the helper to prepare sunny side-ups to supplement the dinner menu as there wasn't enough dishes. I had 2 eggs.....
Then I realised ALAMAK....I had 5 eggs in all for that day alone....lol.
Super love eggs!
Finding it hard to shake off bias. In the workplace.
Me, being biased against someone else. And disliking that person to the point that.....I don't want to be at the same lunch table as far as possible...and I try to interact with the person as little as possible.
The voice alone makes bring irritation to my nerves.
Not good though. I need to find a way to calm myself down abit.
Hmm.
Teared a little on the bus this morning.
Cos Dad told me Uncle Robert passed away yesterday morning on 26 Jan 2026.
Though it's been more than several years since I last saw him (maybe slightly more than a decade?), I still remember his twinkling eyes, huge guffaws and big grins that reached his eyes. He was never without his moustache and we all thought he looked like an ex-Malaysian minister called Badawi. He also had head of thick fully white hair. Stubborn but loyal. Pretty jovial too.
He was one of Dad & Mum & my Auntie Molly's old friend from decades ago. They used to hang out quite often till they got too old to do so too frequently. In fact, this bunch of their friends "watched" me grow up. I used to hang out with them once in awhile at Aranda Country Club 30+ years ago when I was a young teenager and when they used to all gather there to dance and listen to the live band there. They would have been in their 40s and 50s (or some in their 60s) and I'd have been 13, 14, 15 yrs old.
Uncle Robert was 92yrs old. His wife Auntie Mimi was Mum's close friend till they drifted apart a little as she could not meet my mum anymore due to her bad knees and not so good health. She visited me in hospital when I had Nadya...
I hope Auntie Mimi is doing ok....
Rest in peace Uncle Robert.
It's that season already when you hear of hospital wards, wakes & funerals more than weddings, birthday parties and manyues....
One part of N's English homework today involved a creative assignment. I liked the assignment. So fun!
But it was pek chek trying to guide the teen. All I got was "I dunno! I dunno! Ugh! I dunno!" zzzzz....
She had to write a poem of at least 5 lines, with the first line being a line of lyrics from a song. The other subsequent lines had to be original lines formed by herself.
Anyway, after much guidance, suggestions, advice from K & I.....
1st line coming from her fav pop song currently "My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne....
And voila........an emo, slightly angsty piece!
Don’t leave me
hanging
Tangled in my dreams
After all that I’ve
done for you
What have you left me
Nothing
But rivers of tears
It's been a hectic 2 days. It will be a hectic week ahead as well I think.
Back to back meetings & discussions for these 2 days. Leaving me with not much time during the day to settle my own work.
Last minute high-level meeting this afternoon between an international organisation and parent agency's DCE = mad scramble on Mon afternoon preparing talking points, booking meeting room, ordering beverages, handling visitor registration, updating relevant bosses. Thankful Val was around to handle the admin & logistics while I focused on the updates to bosses and drafting up talking points.
Many bits & pieces of things to settle. Some requiring more thinking, some which were thrown to our team and which I am (very) reluctantly handling.
Nvm...breathe.
Just do.........
...............
Lyrics from "如果有一天我变得很有钱" by 毛不易
如果有一天我变得很有钱
我会买下所有男的一见的笑脸
让所有可怜的孩子不在胆怯
所有邪恶的人不在掌握话语权
Should go read up on his lyrics more if I get the chance. He hangs out with Li Xueqin who is smart & intelligent and quite the intellectual. If they're good friends, I'd assume his mind is pretty great too.
Part of lyrics from 讲真的 by 刘宇宁
讲真的 想得不可得 是最难割舍的
A fact of life but so nicely said...even poetic...when expressed in Chinese words.
Meaningful....
So far we've arranged 4 business trips for our big boss over the course of the last 1-1.5years.
Each time, he requests to upgrade his flight to business class. Paying for the upgrade out of his own pocket of course. Even a short flight to Hong Kong was on business class. 3.5hrs cannot sit in economy? Hmm...
We calculated. He's spent around $30K over these 4 trips just to upgrade to business class.
如果他嫌钱多可以捐给我的.......
New year, new schedules.
This year, my entire 1st half of the day will be spent at Parkway Parade till 1pm. Alyssa's Math at845am, then groceries, then park myself at foodcourt to wait for her after her class ends, then lunch, then her Science class till this class ends at 1pm.
=============
Was at the foodcourt as usual yesterday morning. Sat at a table next a a Mum, her 8 or 9-yr old daughter, and their helper.
The mum was oscillating between "frenzied & losing patience"...and "trying to be nice & gentle"...
Could tell from the tone of her voice. I didn't even have to look at her.
"Can you stop it??!!"
"After this you drink your water ok...."
"How many times have I told you already?????!!!!!! NO MEANS NO!!!"
"Is the food alright? Not too hot right? If it's hot then you blow ok, I can blow for you too..."
....I feel you lady...Jiayou...! 你可以的！
We're mums, we're all parents, and....we're all schizos too...LOL
