The chronicles of a slightly extraordinary Singaporean family.
Hello.
The opinions expressed on this personal blog are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of past and present employers.
Thanks to Singapore’s 45th birthday, a nice long weekend is upon us, and we are off to Malaysia. We’ll be spending some time at my parents’, then we are all driving up to Desaru for three days. I, for one, am looking forward to the short break!
The kids celebrated National Day in school today. Alison came home with a trophy because it was her school’s Sports Day and her team came in first for an inter-class relay. Zoe came home with a six-point crown, with each spike of the crown capped by a crescent moon or star.
I realise that I haven’t posted a photo of the kids in a very long time, so here they are, in their respective National Day festivity.
I haven’t been as disciplined about writing about the house as I should. Since my last post about the house, we’ve managed to finish renovation planning and come out of it relatively unscathed (except for our pockets), and actual work has begun. Most of the hacking has been completed, and the workmen have already started laying tiles in the bathrooms upstairs. We’ve confirmed the plans for the balcony extension. The project engineer, electrician and aircon guy have been around to discuss things, and K, Zoe and I went to have a look at fittings this afternoon while Alison was away at a classmate’s birthday party.
K has been diligently taking photos every time he goes to the house, which is practically every day, but I haven’t been as hardworking in uploading those photos to the Flickr set. Nevertheless, the designer has provided 3D images of different areas of the house, and I’ve uploaded those photos. Here’s the slideshow for your viewing pleasure. Some details such as tile colour are not accurate, as we’ve made changes here and there, but for the most part it’s pretty much what things will look like in the end. Enjoy.
So, the last few days have been rather eventful. I ran my very first 5km race – the Shape Run – but of course I didn’t race it. I think it’s more appropriate to describe it as run-plodding (plunning? rudding?). I passed the finish line before the timer turned to the 37th minute, but I think my timing is better than that, because I started right smack in the middle of the throng and took some time to actually pass the start point, so maybe I shaved off a minute there. I could also have finished faster if I hadn’t slowed down to tell a race marshal that a man was running in the pack, and to get drinks at both drink stations. But it was my first race, so I wanted to experience everything that went with it, even though you really don’t have to hydrate en route for a 5km run if you’re sufficiently watered before the race. Gotta say, the water felt better splashing on my face than going down my throat. I hope the Shape people post the results online soon!
In other news, I failed my driving test today. My instructor was confident I’d pass, unless I got this particular tester named Harry who apparently fails good drivers and passes bad ones. Whaddyaknow, which tester did I get but the man himself. I was a huge bundle of nerves and made several mistakes, two of which cost me the test before I even got out of the circuit. Having mastered the art of parallel parking some days before this, I somehow contrived to strike the kerb not once, but twice, while trying to get the car into the lot. That earned me 20 points, and you need to get below 20 to pass the test. The tester might as well have ended the test there and then, but he made me finish the whole thing, drive back, sit down, and listen to him pay me backhanded compliments like how I handled the car skillfully, had good instinct etc. But I failed. Actually, since I sucked he should have passed me, if what my instructor claims about him is true.
I’m not too fussed about failing – I was telling K that I would have been over the moon if I’d managed to pass on the first try considering how I had only two circuit sessions and felt really unfamiliar with the circuit environment. I think my instructor knew I was a goner when he saw the tester too; he wasn’t surprised at all that I’d failed! Anyway, the next test is booked for 8 October. Here’s hoping that by then (a) I get my act together and (b) don’t get Harry as my tester again.
I leave you now with a photo of myself after I completed the 5km, before I joined the queue for the runner’s kit, which was a marathon in itself. Don’t I look like I could be a runner here?
We visited the Singapore Garden Festival this afternoon, courtesy of Angelia. I was looking forward to exhibits as innovative as the last one in 2008, but was a little disappointed because it seemed to me that something was lacking this year. K, however, said that in his opinion, this year was better in terms of the quality of exhibits. When I asked him what he meant, he said that many of the gardens this year were landscaped so well that they looked exactly like what we might find in nature. I guess we just look for different things – I liked 2008′s exhibits because they were more designed and less “natural”. The kids also seemed to have more fun previously, although they did enjoy looking at all the different plants and vegetables in the Supermarket Garden.
I took some photos with the Ixus, but can’t share them right now because the USB ports on the Mini are wonky and won’t recognise any of my devices, including my iPhone. K is working on his comp so the photos will have to wait. In the meantime, here is a photo of us, taken by Angie.
One of those rare family photos where everybody is smiling with eyes open.
While waiting for K to reappear after he scooted off in search of things to look at while Ally and Zoe did batik painting, I bumped into Mrs Saro, who used to be deputy director of resource development at HPB. She looked really well. When I asked her how retirement is treating her, she told me she is keeping very busy travelling to Australia to see her kids, helping friends with their businesses, and doing enriching things like taking art lessons. I hope that if and when I retire, I will be able to stay productive and happy like she is. And it was very nice to see a familiar face from my old workplace again.
Have you ever had a friend you respected, whose life choices you admired because you could never do as she did – quit her job, be a full-time mom, not have any help at all, and still maintain a semblance of sanity? Well, I did. This friend of mine was all those things. OK, perhaps “friend” is the wrong word to describe my relationship with this woman; after all, I only met her twice or thrice, and we were more acquaintances than friends in the typical sense of the word. Anyway, I lost touch with this person for a few years, only to rediscover her again about one or two years ago when I stumbled across her blog.
Boy, has she changed. From a mom of one, two, then three, she is now a mother of enough children to form her very own netball team. She’s still a full-time mom, still does not have help, but unfortunately seems to have descended into the depths of Christian fundamentalism. She denigrates the choices of mothers who are all the things she’s not – the mothers who work; the mothers who have help; the mothers who once in a while spoil themselves with It bags; the mothers who ask their maids to take the children to the playground so that they can catch some much-needed me-time. In short, every mother who is not her falls short. And let’s not even talk about the mothers who choose to limit the number of children they have through birth control. No, when mothers like me get to the Pearly Gates, we’ll have a lot of accounting to do.
Whatever happened to “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” – Matthew 7:1-3.
It’s people like these who give Christianity a bad name.
