Cheesy afternoon

We spent our afternoon today attempting to make cheese. Both attempts failed. :(

When googling for possible reasons for our failed attempts, we discovered that store bought milk is likely to be highly pasteurized at high temperatures, which affects the curdling of the milk into cheese.

We only managed to get small drifty bits of curd like in the pictures and not big smooth pieces. Bleah.

I hope

A close long-time friend of mine shared with me a few months back that he was considering getting a divorce. While he somewhat believes in the sanctity of marriage and the vows taken under oath to care for each other for a lifetime, he felt that cultural differences and the fact that they were living in different countries for most of the time had put a toll on their lives and he couldn't see how their future together looked like anymore.

I met up with him again last week and he was still mulling things over. He had just come back from his wife's home country alone after a tiff. Things didn't seem to be going well even though he tried spending a few months there with her and her family. I could feel though that he seemed more determined to get a divorce. We were just saying that it might have been a good thing that no children were in the picture otherwise things would have been more complicated.

I just received a text from him. His wife just told him that she's expecting.

Sigh.
I hope things eventually pan out well for the both of them.

Granny

It was a situation which sprung on us suddenly in the middle of January this year. She was still ok and responding to us when we brought her out during Christmas in December 2012. But in mid-Jan, Granny suddenly stopped talking. And then by early February, it seemed that she was not registering anything we said. She’d look at us, sometimes quizzically, sometimes blankly, sometimes grumpily, but all the while not talking. It seems as though she does not recognise us as well. Not me, not my Dad, not my Aunt, not my brother.

She can still feed herself though it gets as messy as a two-year-old feeding himself. Whatever it is, I am still taking this as a good sign. At least her motor skills are still there.

It has been 2 months since she’s stopped talking. Maybe I should be accepting this fact by now but I am finding it extremely hard to. Each week when I visit her, I still try to talk to her. My Dad still shows her photos and pictures of my family members on his phone. We talk to her, help to feed her and try to incite a response from her. To no avail so far.

I don’t know if it is a conscious effort on her part to refuse to speak or a part of her brain has just stopped functioning the way it’s supposed to. I miss her talking, even if it is about nonsense stuff or about things and deceased people from decades ago. At least I know she is thinking and processing some things in her mind. Right now, all we get are blank stares. We don’t even get any grunts, groans or sounds coming from her.

It is upsetting. It is always upsetting to see her deteriorating. And tears always flow when I think of her and how she used to be.

The windows to my soul

Had my eye check-up done yesterday.

While it was uncomfortable having had my pupils dilated, it was good to hear from the doc that the situation is stable. My retinas, though thin and scarred in certain aeas due to the high power in both my eyes, are still dong alright. The big piece of floater in my right eye is still there though and it won't go away.

One thing I learned, when your pupils are dilated, much more light enters your eyes. When you're in an environment with artificial lightining, you eyes still feel ok. But the moment you step into natural daylight and when the sun is shining brightly, you can't open your eyes at all. It's almost like blinding light. You start tearing too. Even squinting and opening your eyes just slightly feels highly uncomfortable.

Something I don't look forward to each year

Every year at a certain period of time, I'll get somewhat bogged down by the number of medical appointments and follow-ups and check-ups that I have. That time of the year is coming soon over the next few weeks. I have 4 appointments over the next week alone.

I forsee alot of waiting in the hospitals and clinics. Sigh.

Life moves ahead all the time

And so as I slowly close off one small sub-chapter in my life (APRICOT 2013), I am slowly opening another chapter as well.

Period of change. Adventurous times ahead!

Onward we go and onward I charge!

clothes

Desperate times calls for desparate measures? Lol...Ok I am exaggerating.
BUT, I think I really need to go shopping on Sunday!

Hmm

Someone said 12 years ago that with the type of character I have (soft, hates conflict, not much opinion, easygoing), I'd likely not survive in the corporate world.

Come to think of it, maybe that theory holds true. I've been in govt-linked or govt agencies for the last 9 years.

So much leave!!

My boss very generously gave those involved 7 days off in lieu for the event we did.
I have 21 days of annual leave. I brought over 16 days from last year.

I did not use up any leave this year yet.

Which means I have 9 months left to clear 37 days of leave and 7 days of off in lieu. 44 days in total. 

I forsee difficulty in clearing the days lol....

Afternoon Amusement

My mum can be quite cute at times.

She is at NTUC at the moment and just called me to ask "What is the difference between mint and peppermint ah? Which one should I buy to cook Assam Laksa with?? This is so confusing!!"

It's like trying to explain to someone what is the difference between banana and pisang raja or what is the difference between beef and fillet mignon....:D

APRICOT 2013

And so the event has concluded successfully. This must have been one of the toughest projects I've handled. I can't say I'm very proud of it because I think I coud have done better on several accounts. But still, I give myself a pat on the back for having survived the 3-year preparation for it lol. :)

There are still many post-event loose ends to tie up and settle. But at least I need not rush to get it done. :) Woot!

Dinners of late

For the last few days, I've been having either no dinners or strange ones. Whatever I can grab from leftover tea breaks or cocktail events....

Dinner example #1
2 small chicken char siew buns
Some prawn fritters
2 bite sized sandwiches

Dinner example #2
6 har gows
4 mushroom siew mais
2 beef siew mais
1 vegetable quiche
2 bite sizes beef rolls with enoki

Dinner example #3
1 Nissin cup noodle
A small bowl of radish sou
A slice of bread with peanut butter

2 more days to go!

I thought I'd be strong enough but I overestimated myself lol. Tiredness and some amount of exasperation and frustration led to the opening of my floodgates last night. Damn, I told myself I'd not cry during the event no matter how tough it got.

But anyway, I'm glad it happened. Somehow, I felt lighter today. :) chirpier too.

2 more days to go only! Yes!!!

Funny Morning Cab Ride

Me: Uncle, to the Shangri-la Hotel please.
Uncle: Ok. Front entrance or back door?
Me: Huh?
Uncle: You're going there to work right?
Me: Errr ya
Uncle: If I remember correctly, Shangri-la Hotel employees are not allowed to alight at the front entrance right?
Me: -_-"
Me: Uncle I'm not an employee there ...going there to organise my own event...

Day 2

Day 2 of being on site.

I feel tired already.

There are still 1, 2, 3....darn, 11 more days to go!

Jiayou Michelle!!



Side ramble:
I cannot believe how irresponsible kids are these days.

We have some poly students from TP and NYP who were "volunteered" by their lecturers to help out in the event. 5 of the 8 TP students came for the temp staff briefing yesterday but went AWOL today. When we finally managed to call and reach them, they said they weren't interested in doing the job.

LIKE HELLO?! When you commit to something, whether you like it or not, you jolly well see it through and through. Even if you don't care about your reputation or are still so very immature, how can you get your lecturer or your school into trouble? And because of your childish actions, now my manpower plans are also screwed up.

17, 18 years of age. They should already have a good idea what responsibility is. But well. They obviously don't. They don't even have the maturity to think about the repercussions of their actions. I hope these few just happen to be the few black sheep in TP and don't represent the majority of the student population there.

Lessons Learnt

There are times when you can't take things at face value.

No matter how much you trust your colleagues, sometimes they can screw you over with one bit of wrong information.

Moral of the story?

If you can, try to settle things on your own.

If you can't, make sure you arm yourself with 110% worth of information about the situation even though you've deletegated that task out. Stay on top of things. Execution is done by someone else but the main planner is still you.

Oh well...

Many a time I've missed a bus just by a hair's breadth. And it still gets to me every single time, though to a lesser extent each time. Learning each day not to sweat the small stuff.

Happy Valentines' Day Baby!

It's our first Vday as husband and wife.

We've about to spend the night working in the study lol. Am glad I forsaw this happening and we'd already celebrated the occasion on the first week of Feb haha.

Luv u Baby!

CNY Day 2

By the time 2pm came today, I was already feeling zapped out. Too much noise, too much talking, too much small talk over the last 2-3 days.

Now I just want to hide in my room and have some quiet time.

But before that...another family gathering to go to first....

Happy Birthday Mama!

Granny turns 97 today! :)

And this is the best pic I can find of her. Taken in Feb 2012.