Frank

"Oh I thought I saw Auntie Diana just now! She looked quite 'auntie'."

So said the big one. 

"Really? I didn't see her. I'm also quite auntie."

Was my response.

"You're more auntie."

Ouch.  :( :( :(

有时候不用那么直接也是件好事 lol....

罢工

How do people do it?

Look after house, look after kids, look after work teams, look after parents and/or other family members…

Look after various aspects of self including skin, hair, food intake, teeth, eyes, body, mental/emotional aspects, overall health, etc

KNN sibei zuay stuff till I don’t want to do anything. 

罢工可以吗？老娘要躺平。

Hair

Found a balding spot at the top of my head a week plus or 2 weeks ago. Quite worried about it.

My hair is important to me. Unsure if there are other spots at the back of my head cos I can’t see.

☹☹☹☹☹

Bottle cap

Was at a staff EC's mother's wake yesterday afternoon. 

Another of my staff M was there. She's 59 with various health issues. When served with a bottle of water, I realised she could not twist open the bottle cap. She said she'd lost alot of strength in her arm/hands since a surgery 1-2 years ago to remove a tumour in her left lung. 

I know too that though she has on & off been on various physio sessions, she's not great on following up on the exercises on her own (despite her own son being a trainee physiotherapist). She's one who'd rather drink less water, at least when in office, so that she'll walk less to the washroom. 

Not being able to twist open a bottle of mineral water. Hmm. I resolve not to get into such a situation. Ever. 

Dance Mama

And...it was dance competition weekend again. 

Of false eyelashes & eyeliner. Of eyeshadow & lipstick. Of hairspray & gel. Of u-pins & netting.

Of getting her to the venue at least 1.5hrs before the performance time. And then playing the waiting game and hanging around till the performance time before going in to watch that <5mins of performance. 

But...if it's for her...

K & I & Mei Mei will do what we can to support her.

At a crossroads now. 

She likes it but it's taking up alot of time. 

Between schoolwork and dance, something's gotta give...even if not giving up totally but at least adjusted slightly....it will have to be dance that needs to be adjusted. School cannot be compromised. We're in Singapore. You're in the rat race the moment you're born. 

Will need to cut down on dance commitments for the next dance season. Either we skip it the competitions totally, or we just commit to 2 or 3 group dances hmm. 

C+

And so...laoniang was part of the statistics and kena Covid sometime in mid-May. 

I think my symptoms started sometime around 13 or 14 May but I did not think to medicate much since I didn't have any fever. I didn't swab myself till 17 May too...and it was only cos I chanced upon an expired test kit and decided to test myself using it. Since I was going to throw it away, might as well just erm...test haha. It turned out very positive....with 2 very deep, dark, red lines.

My jaw dropped and I tested again with a non-expired kit. Confirm positive zzz.

My 3rd time to get it. And I wonder why it is all in May....May 2023, May 2024 & May 2026. zzzzzzz

This round the symptoms were mild and I didn't even have any fever. Just that body felt feverish...half warm, half cold. 

May all germs stay away from me pls................................

Junk food

A colleague Leonard just told me he thinks I am one of the few mums he's come across who allows their kids to eat junk food like chips, twisties, sweets, etc. 

I was wondering "really meh?" 

I ended up replying with a "管这些太严，那生活还有什么乐趣呢？"

Lol...I don't think I'm one of the few mums leh.....I see many parents with kids at Mac & other fast food places...I see kids walking around eating sweets & chips too...I just got 2 packs of gummies for the girls last weekend. 

His comment to me on a Monday morning...was kinda odd haha. Maybe ran out of topics for pantry small talk hahaha. 

Mama Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Nadya gave me a small pink pom pom she made,  a small crocheted flower made with the same pink yarn and a small paper heart with voila.....French words!!...(quite good considering she's only learning French via Duolingo)

"Merci Beaucoup! Je suis contente parce que tu es ma mere.
Happy Mother's Day!
Love, Nana"

She also bought me a slice of my fav marble cake from Bengawan Solo after her Math class too! "From my own savings ok!" she declared hahaha.

And Alyssa, with K's help, made me some scrambled eggs for my breakfast today. Yay I got my protein fix!

Fragrances

I'm not one who uses fragrances. 

Maybe when I was in my late teens or early twenties I'd experimented with some stuff and liked the White Musk body mist from The Body Shop back then. I've not used fragrances much since then. K got me a bottle of Annick Goutal in 2017 or 2018 I think. To date, I've used maybe less than 1/4 of it. He asked me if it can keep that long...I've no idea too haha. 

I have a soft spot for CK One though. Interestingly, I'd never had a bottle of it myself. 

Just the fragrance itself brings back alot of memories. Memories of back when I had my 1st job after graduation. When I was stationed for 2-3 months at my company's retail counter at Takashimaya, with another colleague 2yrs younger but who was taller than me by half a head lol. It was fun working with her there and we'd spend alot of time chatting with each other cos there weren't really much customers around. Fresh from graduation, it was a really fun experience at the time, despite the less than ideal "high-class sales assistant" label that was "plastered" on me. It was interesting too getting to see the hidden cooridors and staff entrances of Takashimaya. It was also during that time when I met 2 guys who were working at the CK pop-up counter right next to mine. And when I had a crush on one of them. Someone who happened to be 3yrs younger lol but quite charismatic. 

Was at Parkway as usual today and there was a pop-up sale at the basement atrium. Various cosmetics and fragrances were on sale. And CK One was there too, along with other ranges from CK like Eternity (which my Dad used to use)....

I thought to buy but hesitated...

Fast forward an hour later, I had a box of it in my hands lol. 200ml. Caved in to nostalgia, memories & K's encouragement. 

Happy! 

Of food...and permission

Just came across an email...where someone mistyped "permission" as "persimmon". 
Hahhaa....hungry much?

Or just auto-correct that bungled up the word....

Hahaha...still made me laugh out loud at my screen :D :D :D

Cramp

Last Wed night, I woke with a "shout". It was around 3am. 

Triggered by a bad cramp in my left calf. While I've had cramps before...I've never gotten them during my sleep before, nor have I been woken up by a bout of cramps before.

Told K that "我被吓醒!" 
And he replied to say I scared him awake too lol....

He helped me stretch it out...

Woke the next morning with my left calf still aching on and off through the day... bah....getting older...

Weight

I am....officially 51kg now. 

不知不觉....lol...

Past few months my tummy has been expanding...not sure from getting older, from gaining weight, from my usual stomach bloating issues, or from....menopausing or peri-menopausing (as is the current buzzword). 

Or....cos I gained some tiny muscles? HAHAHA....

App developer

Laoniang developed an app! A web app that can be optimised for mobile & tablets too. 

Steady lah haha...

Underwent a Vibe Coding course over the last 2 days with VK & SP. Aside from my laptop battery, the course drained me of my brain cells. 

1st day I went home like a zombie. 2nd day was abit better haha. 

Actually I did the following apps:

1. A simple roulette kind of decision making app to see where go for lunch

2. An AI chatbot which uses the persona of Mickey Mouse to converse with you (annoying thing is it responds with alot of "Haha!" and "Oh my!")

3. A task-tracker kind of app for an office team

4. A meal planning app - this was the biggest project all of us had to undertake. I did this meal-planning app. Mediocre actually. Some folks did some really really "sard-ki" stuff like calorie-counting app for local dishes, a site for mental health support, a site for cataloguing Pokemon cards complete with tracking the commercial value of the cards, a site for retirees to find out where to travel and be linked up to part-time jobs (digital nomad concept), etc...

I also got to create my own computer game, very basic but still workable I guess. 

Quite a cool & interesting experience! 

每天都是第二次机会

Heard this from Deng Kai's interview....Thought it was meaningful..

每天都是第二次机会, 我要做的更好

K-morning

It is a k-pop morning. 

Of past and long ago kpop songs and some OSTs...with the likes of.......

Mad Soul Child - Dear

Henry - Trapped

Boyfriend - Janus

Yoon Mirae - Always

Kang San-e - Salmon swimming up the stream

Taeyang - Eyes, Nose, Lips

Im Chang Jung - The Love I Committed

Henry - Radio

of toast....and....lizards

I like toast. And I always make toast for breakfast except on days when I need to go to the office. 

Ever since I found a lizard in the toaster a few months back, I've been making it a habit to check first before I use it. Every single time. And I'd give the machine a jiggle as well. TO be doubly sure. 

I did the same this morning. 

And wondered why I saw a "flower" at the bottom, on the crust tray. 

Nabeh. it was a lizard's hand. 

AGAIN???!!!!! 

We took so much effort to keep it out ever since the last round. Are there other holes in the machine that it somehow still got in??

:( :( :( :( :( 

Took me awhile before I got over my squeamish-ness to use the toaster again after the last round....and now it's happened again.

Bleah....just glad I didn't toast the fella...(eeeewww)....

11 April 2026

Hello Mama.

It's been 12 years since you left us. 

I miss you, and I hope you're keeping well wherever you are. 

It was a rough start to the year but I am surviving, and trying to keep my head up, at least high enough to be above water. 

The rest of us are doing good. Dad's ok with his walking stick and hearing aids, still watching his football matches and Youtube videos. Mum's ok too but is probably more tired than usual, having had to run around quite a fair bit visiting her sister in various medical & healthcare institutions. Adrian was doing good till a few weeks ago when he injured his knee again. He can't run anymore and will need to undergo surgery again in another 5 days. 

The girls are ok and growing well enough. Squabbling ever so often but also loving each other in their own ways. Big one's settling well in secondary school and small one's paving her own way in her various pursuits: academic, prefect duties, and her Brownies CCA. K's doing good too except his knee gives issues from time to time. 

Please watch over all of us and keep us safe, healthy & happy....I love you and I miss you...

Tooth. Chipped. Again.

FML.

Had lunch halfway then realised my "repaired" tooth chipped again. The "jigsaw-puzzled" piece that was "glued" back with resin didn't hold up and dropped out again. 

This time round, I couldn't find the piece. Wondering if I swallowed it. 

Angry & upset & worried about my tooth. 

Have to call CGH Dental again to see what can be done. Might have to do crowning already. 

And....

I was eating at Mac again when it happened. 

Mac dun like me is it? ........................

7 April 2026

Tuesday morning, we had our usual quarterly breakfast meeting at the Mac near our office. Boss’ quarterly treat. I chose to have corn that day with my breakfast set.

I was 95% done with my corn when I bit into something hard and spit it out. It was a small piece of something white/cream-coloured so I didn’t think too much of it and threw it onto my tray. Thought it was some odd piece of plastic or stone that somehow got into the corn.

Some minutes later, I realized something weird. My tongue felt something jagged on an upper right tooth the 2^nd pre-molar tooth after the incisor.

$#@^tq%$%$^q$#@^%

My tooth chipped!!! And that hard piece of something I bit into was part of my tooth!

FML. I panicked but somehow had the presence of mind to retrieve that chipped off piece and kept it in my pocket. I called CGH Dental when I got back to office after the meeting and was very thankful I managed to get a slot the next morning. I was also thankful that though the chip was quite a big one, it did not affect any nerves in the tooth and I did not experience any pain.

The dentist initially said he could do a filling to patch up the chip. I asked him if it would help if I still had that chipped off portion.

Lo & behold! He said it was good I had it as he could use less resin instead and could also do away with shaving more of the tooth structure, compared to if he were to just use resin only.

And so….voila…

He “jigsaw-puzzled” the chipped off bit back to the main tooth.

It was a slightly uncomfortable process. I was tense throughout and had my hands clasped together in a prayer. Didn’t help that he nicked my inner cheek in the process and only realized when I pointed it out to him. Left me with a 5mm cut that swelled up so much it was uncomfortable to eat...zzz.

BUT…I’m still glad & thankful that the chip has been resolved. I hope it can last for at least 8-10 years?

Pursuit of Jade

Been awhile since I was so smitten by a drama. Pursuit of Jade, no points for guessing.

Lemme see…what were past dramas that kept me enthralled not only due to the visuals of the actors & actresses, but also storylines, beautiful cinematography, chemistry between the leads, 2^nd lead pairings, etc…

1. Goblin
2. W: Two Worlds Apart
3. Heirs
4. DOTS
5. Prisoner of Beauty
6. Blossom

There must have been some more but these are top of mind at the moment…

Gave up K dramas since several years back and so I’ve never caught big hits like Crash Landing on You, Attorney Woo, etc…am sure these are solidly good too..

========================

I watched Zhang Ling He in My Journey to You. Watching him this time round felt different. He has improved alot compared to few years ago. Happy for him! Micro-expressions are alot better...and his eyes speak more too.. :)