tomorrow is david's 9th birthday. i can't believe he is only nine. we were lying in bed on sunday, resting. we have been sick a lot lately so i am imposing a mandatory rest everyday. he said to me, "i can't believe it's already the end of july, mom. time flies so fast." i told leo how could an eight year old thought time flew too fast. i guess it was a compliment, that his life aint bad. he woke up yesterday morning with a zit on his nose. right in the middle. it's classic. so cute. i gagged myself because i had to stop laughing. i think it's his first zit. dee warned me about letting him listen to lady ga ga. maybe she is right. david and vincent like her song, paparazzi. they heard it on the radio and couldn't stop humming it. so i bought them the cd. they love it. when vincent looked at the cover, he said, "hah, that's what she looks like?" david said, "you didn't know? i have seen her so many times." vincent said, "hah, when?" david said "on tv. she is very stylish. she should be on project runway." i couldn't believe i just heard that conversation.
they have soccer practice every sunday morning at jalan besar stadium. they look forward to it all week and enjoy themselves very much every practice. last sunday they received the new soccer uniform. it's coral blue. a mother told me her son had already requested a new soccer boots to match the new uniform. i am glad vincent and david don't care about fashion to that extent yet. we just bought new boots. vincent chose white and gold. david chose white and blue. it's safe to say that vincent will like anything with gold and david, blue. i wonder if it's ok for a boy to like gold that much.
they were busy making national day poster last weekend. vincent made one and closed the chapter. david made one and an hour later decided it was not good enough so he made another one. in the end he was still not happy with the fourth one but i wouldn't let him make the fifth.
my hair is super frizzy. i always thought that's just the way it is, there is nothing i can do about it. i straightened it twice. but lately i have learnt to just embrace it. i don't straighten. i don't iron. i don't even blow dry. and it's not the end of the world. last night, however, i was in the mood to brush my hair. i usually don't brush. i think for the past ten years i had only brushed it ten times, really. i just use my fingers. i don't think it's strange. dee doesn't even own a brush. rusy has found a great brush though. anyway, i brushed my hair over and over again last night and to my surprise this morning i woke up with a not so freezy hair. in fact, i will go ahead and say it was actually quite smooth and is still smooth. i am shocked. maybe all this time, a quarter of my life, i only needed to brush the hair. what a revelation.
i saw massa's picture on bbc. he looked terrible but they said he was able to walk by himself. i feel better. i have been thinking so much about his accident.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
liverpool, used furnitures, miss clarity cafe, restaurant city
i can't believe it is wednesday. time flies. we watched liverpool at the singapore national stadium on 26th. leo wanted to be there at 3. the game was at 7. i managed to convince everyone to go at 430. when we arrived, the carparks were already full and the stadium was half full. all the great seats were taken. i felt bad and agreed to arrive at games early in the future. i bought the boys binoculars for the game. they loved it. david kept saying this binocular is great, mom, even though it is cheap. i shouldn't have told him it's cheap. i went to most electronic stores and department stores to look for binoculars but they didn't sell any. isn't it strange? i finally found them at Carrefour, bought a telescope as well for myself. vincent enjoyed the game a lot. he said that both liverpool and singapore teams played very well in the first half. but for overall experience, we enjoyed man-u at kl more. liverpool fans were a bit too fanatic for us. although the boys really loved singing along with them, particularly the song for Torres. vincent couldn't stop singing it in the car on the way home. after a while, he sang the same melody but changed Torres to Rooney.
we sold the apt in the east. i was glad when the new owner wanted the furnitures. when they changed their minds, i was not happy at all. before we settled down in singapore, we were moving houses ten times. i was gungho the first time i sold our used furnitures. i printed ads and dropped them at selected neighborhoods and marketplaces. i still got all kinds of viewers, only a few serious buyers. a taitai actually came with her handyman who impressively briefed her on the types of wood, the craftwork, etc. a family of ten showed up just to look at our house. i really didn't feel like selling furnitures this time. leo and i decided to give them away. to our horror, it's even more difficult to give away than to sell. i sent sms and emails to friends and acquaintances. only two bothered to reply. anyway... we took home some of our favorites. if we don't like how they fit, we will try to sell them. vincent was home when the furnitures arrived. he didn't go to school because he was sick. he was excited about the extremely large chest and proceeded to hide and stay inside for a long time. i was worried that david would hate the new additions. he is a clean person. to my surprise, he loved them! he walked into the house and screamed wow, so nice. mom, let's keep this one, i love it. i personally don't like having so many furnitures in the house. i learn that the more storage spaces you have, the more things you will get. and i really think we already have too much. leo is still in india. i'll wait to hear what he thinks.
leo took the boys to watch the ndp rehearsal at esplanade on 25th. we do it every year. it's a bit unpleasant to stand for a few hours in the crowd but when you see the fireworks, it's so worth it. vincent took a video of it for me. i was so touched. i went out with the girls. we were planning on dining at first thai on purvis street. the line was long but not all of us were there so we stood patiently in the queeu. when it's our turn, the staff pointed to us a sign on the wall that said table is not given until all is present. since we were still waiting for everyone to arrive,we went next door to yet con instead for chicken rice. for dessert we went to miss clarity cafe on the same street. i was impressed. the dessert was good and the price was too. i love the rum raisin ice cream. rich.
i am impressed with the boys' committment to their restaurant in restaurant city. they play it daily. once they asked me to open the restaurant for them. when they found out that i didn't assign each job to the appropriate staff, they told me that they had studied each staff by experimenting different jobs on the staff and they knew who is good with what. for example, peipei is great with cooking but doesn't do much as a waiter. diana and rachel are hopeless because they are bad in everything. alex is the only staff they didn't experiment with. he was hired as a chef. david saves all the money they earn and won't allow vincent to spend any. they redecorate daily and check the menu religiously. maybe we should open a restaurant. hm..
our family is sad about massa's accident and keeps him in prayers. vincent was so very happy that hamilton finally was on the podium. david and i were upset that alonso had to pay for the pit crew's mistake. we can't wait to watch f1 in september.
we sold the apt in the east. i was glad when the new owner wanted the furnitures. when they changed their minds, i was not happy at all. before we settled down in singapore, we were moving houses ten times. i was gungho the first time i sold our used furnitures. i printed ads and dropped them at selected neighborhoods and marketplaces. i still got all kinds of viewers, only a few serious buyers. a taitai actually came with her handyman who impressively briefed her on the types of wood, the craftwork, etc. a family of ten showed up just to look at our house. i really didn't feel like selling furnitures this time. leo and i decided to give them away. to our horror, it's even more difficult to give away than to sell. i sent sms and emails to friends and acquaintances. only two bothered to reply. anyway... we took home some of our favorites. if we don't like how they fit, we will try to sell them. vincent was home when the furnitures arrived. he didn't go to school because he was sick. he was excited about the extremely large chest and proceeded to hide and stay inside for a long time. i was worried that david would hate the new additions. he is a clean person. to my surprise, he loved them! he walked into the house and screamed wow, so nice. mom, let's keep this one, i love it. i personally don't like having so many furnitures in the house. i learn that the more storage spaces you have, the more things you will get. and i really think we already have too much. leo is still in india. i'll wait to hear what he thinks.
leo took the boys to watch the ndp rehearsal at esplanade on 25th. we do it every year. it's a bit unpleasant to stand for a few hours in the crowd but when you see the fireworks, it's so worth it. vincent took a video of it for me. i was so touched. i went out with the girls. we were planning on dining at first thai on purvis street. the line was long but not all of us were there so we stood patiently in the queeu. when it's our turn, the staff pointed to us a sign on the wall that said table is not given until all is present. since we were still waiting for everyone to arrive,we went next door to yet con instead for chicken rice. for dessert we went to miss clarity cafe on the same street. i was impressed. the dessert was good and the price was too. i love the rum raisin ice cream. rich.
i am impressed with the boys' committment to their restaurant in restaurant city. they play it daily. once they asked me to open the restaurant for them. when they found out that i didn't assign each job to the appropriate staff, they told me that they had studied each staff by experimenting different jobs on the staff and they knew who is good with what. for example, peipei is great with cooking but doesn't do much as a waiter. diana and rachel are hopeless because they are bad in everything. alex is the only staff they didn't experiment with. he was hired as a chef. david saves all the money they earn and won't allow vincent to spend any. they redecorate daily and check the menu religiously. maybe we should open a restaurant. hm..
our family is sad about massa's accident and keeps him in prayers. vincent was so very happy that hamilton finally was on the podium. david and i were upset that alonso had to pay for the pit crew's mistake. we can't wait to watch f1 in september.
Friday, July 24, 2009
catalogue, hotdog, school uniform
i went to ikea yesterday. leo and i want to give away some ikea furnitures we have at the other apartment. i didn't want to drive all the way there to take pictures but i wanted to show people which furnitures so i went to ikea to get the catalogue. i knew i shouldn't have discarded mine. i heard they are actually on sale in some countries. there was not one single catalogue in ikea yesterday. absurd. a staff said they are waiting for the new one to come. worst was i ended up buying a bagful of things that i wasn't even thinking of buying. paper napkins were on sale, 1.50. maybe i will need them for the house parties, never mind we only have one once a year. i still bought at least half a dozen of those napkins.
of course i had to grab a hotdog. there was no line. it's only a dollar. it's lunch time. the man before me grabbed his five hotdogs and said "these are to go. where are the containers for sauces?" the staff ignored him and took my order. i was relief.
hotdog is a spontaneous food. but we are not spontaneous. we don't really have spontaneous food. we don't walk in the park and grab a hotdog or a falafel. chang kee places your sotong stick in a plastic bag, which is placed into another plastic bag with handles so that we can carry it to someplace nice where we sit down properly to eat. the only spontaneous food in singapore i know is ice cream from the ice cream carts that are in most places. it's strange. we love food. why don't we have more spontaneous food?
david and vincent need new uniforms. their current uniforms have patches of stain everywhere. the sleeves, the collar, the pocket, left, right, center, everywhere. i feel the pressure of sending them to school with bright white uniforms but i don't want to use bleaches. i don't know much about saving the environment but i heard that whatever you use goes back to the ocean so i only use whatever is necessary. in fact, after watching 'perfect housewives' on discovery home channel, i plan to start making my own cleaning solution. it looks simple, most of them are combinations of vinegar, lemon juice, salt. i went to the school bookshop to buy uniforms. i had gone a few times but the uniforms were always sold out. again, they were sold out. the staff said, 'we had some yesterday.' i usually said thanks and walked out. this time i just lost it. i told her it is unacceptable that i have to go to the bookshop everyday to hunt for the uniforms. i asked her to take my order and call me when they arrive. i also asked for the telephone number of the supplier of the uniforms. i called the supplier. i introduced myself and before i could voice my unhappiness, she told me she would deliver the uniforms to me the next day. that was a nice surprise. but it left me wondering why i hadn't tried this approach in the first place. for two years, i would go to the school bookshop again and again trying to catch the arrival of the uniforms only to find out they were sold out. and i just accepted it. i hope i learn my lesson and take more initiative, be more aggressive? hm..
of course i had to grab a hotdog. there was no line. it's only a dollar. it's lunch time. the man before me grabbed his five hotdogs and said "these are to go. where are the containers for sauces?" the staff ignored him and took my order. i was relief.
hotdog is a spontaneous food. but we are not spontaneous. we don't really have spontaneous food. we don't walk in the park and grab a hotdog or a falafel. chang kee places your sotong stick in a plastic bag, which is placed into another plastic bag with handles so that we can carry it to someplace nice where we sit down properly to eat. the only spontaneous food in singapore i know is ice cream from the ice cream carts that are in most places. it's strange. we love food. why don't we have more spontaneous food?
david and vincent need new uniforms. their current uniforms have patches of stain everywhere. the sleeves, the collar, the pocket, left, right, center, everywhere. i feel the pressure of sending them to school with bright white uniforms but i don't want to use bleaches. i don't know much about saving the environment but i heard that whatever you use goes back to the ocean so i only use whatever is necessary. in fact, after watching 'perfect housewives' on discovery home channel, i plan to start making my own cleaning solution. it looks simple, most of them are combinations of vinegar, lemon juice, salt. i went to the school bookshop to buy uniforms. i had gone a few times but the uniforms were always sold out. again, they were sold out. the staff said, 'we had some yesterday.' i usually said thanks and walked out. this time i just lost it. i told her it is unacceptable that i have to go to the bookshop everyday to hunt for the uniforms. i asked her to take my order and call me when they arrive. i also asked for the telephone number of the supplier of the uniforms. i called the supplier. i introduced myself and before i could voice my unhappiness, she told me she would deliver the uniforms to me the next day. that was a nice surprise. but it left me wondering why i hadn't tried this approach in the first place. for two years, i would go to the school bookshop again and again trying to catch the arrival of the uniforms only to find out they were sold out. and i just accepted it. i hope i learn my lesson and take more initiative, be more aggressive? hm..
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