Adegan di Ya Kun Lot 1

It happened last week when I was buying 2 slices of butter kaya toast from Ya Kun @ Lot 1 with the FD (if you dunno what's FD...hmmm...not a regular reader ain't ya?). We just came from Delifrance at the third level where the FD had bought a French loaf on her own. We're training her to buy things on her own as part of the run-up to P1 next year! So, I lined-up at the counter while the FD waited outside Ya Kun. I asked her to join me in the queue but she seemed occupied with just standing outside, carrying the French loaf from Delifrance. Since the order took a while, I sat down on a chair near the counter, waiting. I signaled the FD to sit with me but she, standing just at the entrance of Ya Kun, shook her head vigorously while pointing to something inside Ya Kun. I kept signaling to her but she kept refusing to join me. I asked what was she pointing at and she kept pointing to something beside the counter. I asked her what was it...Guess what? She pointed to a sign that said, "No Outside Food Allowed!"!!!!!!!!! Cute kan!?!?!? ;)

Selamat Datang Ramadhan

Wishing all my Muslim readers a blessed Ramadhan. May we face our challenges with resilience...

Tea Session @ Al-Khair

Well, here I am reporting 'live' from the Auditorium of Al-Khair listening to a talk on environmental awareness. It's part of the end-of-term tea session the pre-school holds with parents regularly.

This and that...

Where to begin when one hasn't been at it in a while? Why the dearth in updates? One word - resource! More specifically TIME! Updating this in McDonald's United Square with the First Daughter munching away on Fillet-O-Fish and the wife rifling through some kids magazine that Lorna Whiston handed out after the FD's class. The Second Daughter has been 'successfully' deposited with Ms Komala @ GuG without much fuss! This I consider an achievement because the last few weeks, getting her to her weekend classes has been a drag! Literally! The drama that she played out for all to see would qualify her for some award! We don't really know what set her off but one thing's for sure - don't let her have her way! (An advice the kindly Ms Komala helpfully dispensed during one of the trying times that the SD refuses to enter her class). Once she knows that she can get away with not going for her classes, she'll do it every time! So today, after much cajoling and encouragement, she is finally receptive to going for her Early Reading and Writing class. Let's see how she's like tomorrow when she goes for her Art Class.

A Berry Happy Birthday - to you!

And so the the Wife and I went for the Parade to celebrate Singapore's 43rd Birthday. My plan was to park at the multi-storey carpark behind Capitol seeing how I thought it was sufficiently far from the Esplanade. When we reached there...you guessed it! Cars were lined up all the way to the main road from the entrance! It was already 1635hrs (we were advised to be seated by 1645hrs to enjoy the pre-parade segment) and so I decided not to wait. In the end, we parked at the National Library - a 15min walk to the Esplanade! And apparently we weren't the only ones going for the Parade to park there! We were eventually seated at our seats at 1655hrs after having dutifully collected our Goodie Bags. (Back before the days of Balloting for Parade Tix, Singaporeans queued for the prized tix at various collection centres throughout Singapore. I happened to organise the Ticket Collection Centre at National Stadium back in 2001. The tix were to be given out on Sunday morning. By Friday afternoon, people were ALREADY queuing up outside the Stadium! And some of these Singaporeans queued up just so they can get the tix so that they can collect the Goodie Bags on the actual day...and then they LEAVE! No parade no fireworks...queued up just for the Goodie Bags!) Anyway, there we were sitting in the Green Sector about 15 rows from the top. It was the first time I was at the Marina Floating Platform. Although our 'motivators' worked hard to work up the crowd, those around our area were just not responding. There was this aunty directly in front of me who actually covered her ears when I shouted! How like that? Stay at home and stare at the TV better right!?!? The atmosphere couldn't beat that inside the National Stadium. Even the fireworks sounded far off although it looked near. The sound doesn't reverberate unlike that inside the stadium. The parade, as usual, was executed to clockwork precision. The Parade Sergeant Major was my friend and I commented to him after watching a segment about him during the Malay news a couple of days before the Parade that his Malay 'berterabur Encik!', which he agreed! Same with me too...when I was interviewed for the Malay news during the 2005 Parade, I had to do a couple of takes before I considered it up to mark. Even then the wifey laughed when she heard what I said on the news! My favourite moment had to be the performance by the Black Nights and with the appropriate soundtrack blaring in the background, it was certainly a 'Beautiful Day'! When the Chinook carrying the Singapore flag flanked by 2 Apaches appeared, the hair at the back of my neck stood up...ahem... The Show Segment was nice but some parts were just a bit too 'noisy'! All in all, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, the slight downpour notwithstanding. What a way to spend our 11th Wedding Anniversary! Thanx Commander sir! For the tix!

A happy problem...

There I was working quitely in my office at about 1830hrs when who should pop by but my Big Boss! He proceeded to engage me in conversation for an hour and solicited my views on some stuff. He roped in one of my colleagues who happened to pass by. At the end, my Big Boss asked me as he handed a big white envelope,"Oh, Shah, I actually came back to pass you these. Do you want them?". "What are they sir?", I asked. "NDP tickets!". NDP tix!!! Does the sun rises from the East? Will Anwar win the Permatang Pauh by-election? Of course I want them! They're priceless! I've organised 1 NDP as the person in-charged of seating 50,000 spectators & was in another one as a Mobile Column commander but never as a spectator. So of course I would gladly relieve the much coveted tix from him. But here comes the happy problem...There's 4 of us but ONLY 2 tix...Hmmm...

Those pesky calls...

I've been getting these pesky calls at least once a day for the longest time...if it's not for a new credit card, it's for ready credit. However, I'll try not to blow these people off and would just tell them politely that I'm not interested. It came to a point where I would not answer calls from private numbers. However, I answered one just like that this afternoon and was glad that I did! I was pleasantly surprised that the private number I answered was a call telling me that I've won a Nokia 6110!!! Yes folks! It was from a lucky draw from this website. I was encouraged to inform my friends about it so here it is! The Digital Concierge, Singapore's #1 Mobile City Guide!

We're gonna have some serious fun...

Having fun is a serious thing! And one needs planning to be able to take a good break! Having received 2 pages of things to do from the Daughters, here then are the line-up of things we're gonna do for the next couple of days (in no particular order):-

• Breakfast @ Bollywood Veggies (done!)
• Walkabout @ Bollywood Veggies (done!)
• Tennis with the Tennis Group (on-going)
• Family Swim @ The Pool (on-going)
• Catch "Moonbird" performance @ Alliance Francaise (done!)
• Father's Day BBQ (done!)
• Cycling @ CCK Park, East Coast Park, West Coast Park
• Breakfast @ LJS (done)
• Breakfast @ Ah Mei Cafe
• Breakfast @ Swensen's
• Breakfast @ Coffee Bean (halalised!)
• Breakfast @ Delifrance
• Breakfast @ Casuarina (the Daughters like the rocket prata!)
• Swimming & Picnic @ Sentosa
• Feed the fish @ Botanical Gardens
• Feed the goats @ Hay Dairies
• Catch the birds @ Jurong Birdpark
• Walkabout @ Pierce Reservoir
• Walkabout @ Sembawang Park
• Catch the Singapore Arts Street @ Clarke Quay
• Catch "Indiana Jones"
• Catch a bumboat ride
• Catch a HippoTours ride
• Visit PC Show 08
• Dinner @ Hei Sushi Downtown East
• Have a sleep-over for the Daughters' Cousins
• Play Junior Pictionary @ Home
• Play Junior Scrabble @ Home
• Play Zingo @ Home
• Play Hide & Seek @ Home
• Read all 16 library books @ Home and then some...
• Play Dora the Explorer @ Home
• Family Art @ Home
• Visit playground @ Pasir Ris
• Visit playground @ West Coast
• And then some...

And these activities are before the Melbourne trip!!!

You're shitting me right?

This morning as I was rummaging through my cupboard, the resident medic came along, passed me a piece of paper and a small bottle with what looked like a small spoon hanging from the centre of the bottle cap. "Huh?", I enquired. "This is for your stool sample, sir...", si bebudak medic tu berhujah. "My WHAT?!", I asked again, incredulous... "This bottle is to collect your shit, sir!," the medic said again trying not to smirk... Apparently, after one has reached a certain age in my organisation, one has to go through some tests to ensure one is in tip-top condition to effectively defend the nation ;) I've already done my ECG before flying off to Thailand 3 months ago. I remembered this new medic navigating...NAVIGATING (!) using his needle whilst it was IN MY ARMS!!! He was trying to find my veins but couldn't and had to turn the tip of the needle here and there in my forearms! I had to switch arms as he can't 're-use' the same one. Nasib baik gua maintain beb...sapa takut jarum confirm pengsan on the spot. But before he could DO my other arm, I hollered out to all the medics present in the room and said that whomever can draw blood from me without needing to navigate with the needle stuck inside would have free breakfast!!! So this Melayu medic came along and took over from my first medic who had been sweating profusely. He took all of 1 minute to draw blood from me for the blood test. No incident, no navigating, no sweat. Gua caya sama lu lah Melayu! I gave the first medic a choice of getting extra duties or belanja me to breakfast for his earlier jaunt into my veins. Obviously he chose the latter. And so I told the Melayu medic, there you have it...your breakfast!!!! Anyway, I really wanted to belanja the medic for doing such a professional job but as a true professional, he declined. Next was the ECG test where they stuck me with small balloon-like objects that left little red marks after it was taken out. Macam the Creature from Frankenstein dah! (BTW, contrary to most people's belief, Frankenstein is the name of the person who created the Creature and not the Creature itself.) Well, that was a couple of months back.

Back to the stool test. Hmmm...macam mana nak collect ni? Gua tanya MO dah and suggested that he come out with a Standing Instruction on how to collect one's stool! Tak kan nak let go atas botol yang kecik tu kan? Bersememeh kawan tu nanti! Anyway, I had a game of tennis with my brother, Boboy and cousin, Fauzi later that evening and asked Boboy, who was a medic in his NS days, how to collect one's stool sample. Ah...one should use the squatting toilet bowl and do it on the ceramic. Then one just scoops up one's stool and voila! stool collected! Sounds simple but nowsaday ah seldom got house got squatting toilet one... So how? Suffice to say, I managed, after much effort to collect my own stool. That has to be a defining moment in one's life!!! Nak tahu in more detail, we'll talk over breakfast, lunch or dinner?!?! ;)

P Ramlee the Musical

Once again I'm blogging this while in a queue. This time at BK ECP. Firstly, P Ramlee the Musical was FANTASTIC! It was worth every dollar paid!

(This is continued on 210508 0411hrs somewhere in Lim Chu Kang!)
Musly Ramlee was like a young P Ramlee personified! There were quite a few instances during the Musical where I thought P Ramlee had really appeared. Ternaik bulu roma ku dan bulu-bulu yang sewaktu dengannya pabila mendengar dan melihat Musly! The mannerisms, his low voice while singing and his movement were down pat! The appearance of the train stole the thunder from the performers somewhat. It was one of the better scenes IMHO. But the scene stealer has to be the flirting scenes between P Ramlee and Saloma. It was just classic!

On to the holidays...

Finally, my exam paper on Approaching Literature: The Realist Novel; Romantic Writings has been completed yesterday night! I forgot how many times I had entered The Grand Hall but it always amuses me to see students still going through their notes meters away from entering the exam hall. I mean, it's like the point of no return, you're just panicking yourselves dudes! We were told that it was full house - 850 students! - and yet it felt so cold and 'empty'! Why can't they make exam halls warm and fuzzy!?! Anyway, I had been on leave for the entire week which usually happens before I take exams! Thanx to my colleagues who have been covering for me... For the next half of the year, I'll be doing Shakespeare... exams in the 1st week of November. Once I reached home from my 3 hour paper, I went for a 6km run at about 2315hrs! It was a refreshing night run. I hadn't been running in a while partly due to studying for my exams (not a good reason right?) but mainly due to a constant cough which I had been having for the past 2 weeks. Sundown Marathon is just 2 weeks away and I had not been putting in enough mileage. My goal for my first ever Marathon is “To complete and not to compete!”...

Interspersed among my leave was the Appointment Certificate Presentation Ceremony for ADCs held at the Istana. I had taken a 'sabbatical' from my duties for my Command and Staff Course last year and it was GOOD to be back! The last time I was in the Istana was for the Graduation Ceremony for my staff course last September but that was different. Being with other ADCs from across the other services was something else! And of course, rubbing shoulders with the 'matas' is always useful (wink, wink!)! And since last year, SCDF officers have also been appointed as ADCs which is great! It was always great to see the entire big bunch together during the ACPC since for normal duties, only about 5 to 8 of us are required depending on the event.

Getting ready to take a group photo with the Man himself!

Mother's Day was celebrated last week at Sakae Sushi with the 'usual suspects'. After our usual Saturday classes, Ibu and Adik had gone to Takashimaya to see some stuff while I sent Kakak for her Math class. Kakak had secretly told me that she wanted to buy a Mother's Day cake for Ibu a few days before. So after her class, we went to the Polar stall at Lot 1 and she chose the cake! Ibu had, a few days before, bertungkus lumus membuat bookmarks for the rest of the Ibus and soon-to-be Ibus that will be at Sakae Sushi. And of course I had helped her with the pics she wanted to paste on each bookmark. Cute kan? I came slightly late for the dinner as I had gone to Al-Falah for solat Maghrib. I nearly choked when I saw that I had to pay $3.40 for 24min of parking!!! Takpe lah...ibadat kan?!? We played my favourite 'Bear Game' after we had belasah-ed the food. My French brother-in-law tercunggap-cunggap main game tu. Tapi good try lah...hopefully can have a better round soon! Surprisingly, the simple game of Charades which Boboy had suggested was played over many many rounds just outside Coffee Bean at Wheelock Place. Sampai nak tutup kedai pun kitorang masih main... That will definitely be one game we will play next Saturday...

Talking about next Saturday, I had already booked Tennis Court 2 from 1700-1800hrs and both Bowling lanes from 1800-1900hrs. We'll be adjourning back to my place after that for the subsequent activities. See our Facebook MCG Group for more info ok?

All of us are excited about the coming June holidays. I've told the girls to plan on what we'll be doing for the 3 weeks that I'll be on leave!!! I've heard that an overnight stay at ECP using our tent and hammock are on the cards! Maybe another visit to Pulau Ubin? Or to the Hay Diary Farm at LCK? Can show the girls a bit of the training area that their Ayah always disappears to when he doesn't come back at night! And of course the highlight would be Down Under in Melbourne! We're starting to dig out our luggages and 'winter clothes' for the occasion! Flight tix are ready, accommodation has been booked, car has been rented! Now to come up with the itinerary for our 9 days there!

But the event at hand has to be P Ramlee the Musical tonight! The wife and I had been eagerly looking forward to this! I think the hundred bucks tickets each will be worth it!

Weekly prata fix

Saturdays are the only days I indulge myself in a weekly ritual of having 2 kosong and 1 egg. Used to be that it was 3 kosong and 1 egg but you know, the older one gets the lesser one needs to be sated! And looking at the queue at the 2 prata stalls nearby, it seems that most Singaporeans have their prata fix on weekends too! What's making this wait bearable is that I can blog about it while waiting. I can see people getting jittery while waiting! Jangan tension beb! Bring a book next time! My turn's coming up next... Time flies when one blogs! "Kosong 6 telur 1, man!"

Happy are the kids running towards the shoreline!

And so there we were, with 4 kids on May Day. They had fun, we had fun, all of us had fun! We salute those with more than four kids!!! Click here for more pics!

Model sey...

Where were you went it happened?

The First Daughter came home from school the other day and told us about the Challenger explosion! Wow...the things they teach in school today...and at such a young age! She related to us what her teacher had told her - about there being a teacher on board, about people being sad when it happened, etc. I told her that I vividly remembered EXACTLY what I was doing when I first heard the news...I was in Sec 2 then and I was putting on my shoes just as I was going to school when I saw it on TV...I remembered being glued to the TV but was subsequently shooed away by Dad lest I was late for school. That event will be forever etched in my memory - the explosion that is, not the shooing part! Apparently, this is a common phenomena when events that are out of the ordinary happened. People remember things tied to that event....So...where were you and what were you doing when the following happened?

• Collapse of Hotel New World - it happened in the same year as the Challenger disaster. However, I can't seem to re-collect what I was doing when it happened. But I remembered trying to follow events as best as any 14 year old at that time could do!
• Hijack of SQ117 - I was just a raw recruit then and was waiting for my turn to do the SAW Technical Handling Test at the training shed and I remembered listening to the radio that one of my sergeants had brought along. 
• The day Princess D died - I just got married then and remembered watching the news with my newly-minted wife at her mom's place. (We haven't got our own place yet then!)
• Events of Sept 11 - Believe it or not, I was on a flight to New Zealand with the wife for a holiday! We didn't know about the whole thing (for obvious reason!) until we had landed. I first heard the news from the driver who drove us to our hotel! Needless to say, we were glued to CNN for the next couple of hours.
• When The Tsunami happened - It was a Sunday and we were having some family time at West Coast Park when it happened. Nary a jolt did we feel...

The sky's not the limit...165m is!

And so there we were having prata at Arena after our morning 'tekan' session by our UFO (Unit Fitness Officer) - who made us do a 2km 'warm-up' run followed by an interval training session around the 400m circumference of the parade square consisting of 3 x 1min 50sec sprint followed by another 3 continuous rounds at more or less the same speed! - when Yan said that the Singapore Flyer was having a promotion that will end soon. Pay 2 adult tix and 2 kids get in for free! Without much haste, I checked the internet using my E51 and found out that today is the last day of the promotion! If there ever was a reason to go up the Singapore Flyer, this would be it! The normal admission fee for kids 3-12 years old is about $20. So, I'm saving almost $50! Almost the price of a tin of the First Daughter's Pediasure milk! I booked through the net for a 1900hrs ride and told the wife about it! What a way to start of the May Day celebrations! But as the saying goes, "Manusia yang merancang, Tuhan yang menentukan" which roughly translates to (for my non-Malay speaking 'fans'...ahem!), "Man plans but the Almighty decides". There was a debrief session in the afternoon at work and by the time the whole thing was done, I left office only at 1810hrs!!! And according to my GPS, if I had gone straight to Marina Bay from camp, I could reach it by 1835hrs! Dang! To cut the long story short, we missed the 1900hrs 'flight' and I was left wondering what I could have bought with the $59 that was the price of the 2 tix! The good thing was that we didn't tell the girls that we're gonna take the Singapore Flyer but they kept asking what was the surprise! But of course I had a contingency plan. First was to try to reason with the ticketing people and try to get a change in time. Failing that, we could by another 2 tix and try to get a discount on the pretext that we had already paid so much. Or, we suck-thumb (Note to Stephane (I'm sure Glenn knows this right Glenn!? - this is a Singapore slang meaning bo-pian!) and just buy 2 more tix full-price! Whatever the case, we were gonna take the ride! Since we were already late, I decided to go to Fuji Xerox Tower in the CBD area to collect my D70 which was ready for collection. It was so clean and fresh. And everything worked fine! By the time we reached Marina Bay, it was already about 2000hrs! The Second Daughter had taken a nap and I was having a hard time trying to convince her to walk instead of me carrying her! The wife and FD had already gone ahead to get the tix. In the end, I had to carry the younger daughter. And the wife called to say that it was no problem changing the time on our tix! Selamat duit $60! The pix will be up later...

T-shirt Designs by Muz!

Following my suggestion to have a T-shirt design 'competition' for the MCG in my previous entry, our dear Cousin Muz had kindly came up with not 1, not 2 but FIVE designs! Talk about being ghairah and enthu! Bagus, bagus! Presenting (drum roll, please!)...the 5 designs!

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Design 4

Design 5

So folks, let us see if there are any more designs and we shall vote in the next MCG! You can even modify Muz' designs (boleh kan kan kan?)... Let's give it up for Muz! That's the spirit bro...

Monthly Cousins Gathering...

Sukacita kami hendak mengumumkan kesudian kami untuk menjadi tuan/puan rumah untuk Perhimpunan Sepupu-sepipit Bulanan yang akan datang yakni pada bulan Mei. Antara acara-acara yang akan kami aturkan adalah...alah...leceh dah nak bebual Melayu panjang lebar... (lagipun Staypan - dari group Peterpan kot?!? - dan Glenn tak paham lah...)

Ok guys, we are volunteering to host the next Monthly Cousins Gathering at our humble abode. I am suggesting to do it either on 23rd or 24th...Because 16th is my exam lah...the weeks before that must revise mah...and 17 kita akan menonton persembahan di Esplanade... So, email me your preference please...

Same modus operandi...POTLUCK hor...Among other things lined-up...(Gua dah plan dah...tak akan melantak je!)...are as follows:-

• We'll start at about 1900hrs with makan and some short half-hour to 45mins show (maybe Peter Russell?!?!). I realised that watching a regular movie as the first order of the evening somehow kills the atmosphere...
• This will be followed by games at about 2100hrs LATEST! I remembered one of the gatherings where we started at about 2300hrs and went all the way till 0300hrs! Giler tu!
• We'll play our regular games like Pictionary Mania, Taboo, Party Scrabble and my all time favourite game with nothing to prepare and that can be played ANYWHERE...The Bear Game! (Do I hear collective sighs from Rina, Naziah and Farah!??!)... I've bought some new party games too and will be springing some SURPRISE games! We'll pit the boys against the girls ok? Nothing like good ol' gender rivalry to bring up the heat!!!
• Karaoke...We've got the set, the mikes and the songs...but BYOD (bring-your-own-disk) if you want!
• We'll also celebrate the birthdays of those born in May...if they are there of course! Macam kelakar kalau celebrate birthday orang yang tak ada kat situ...cheh...
• And of course once the crowd is there, we'll do the Group Photo thingy...macam mark attendance lah gitu...heh!

Let's hope we can get more to join us rather than just the 'regular' supporters (you know who you are!!)...ha...maybe we can make a t-shirt for the regular supporters!?!? Amacam? T-shirt design competition!!! Anyway, those who attended that day was...Faurin (of course dah...rumah diorang!), Bomars, Boya, Warnaz, Aqilah, Khairul, and the inaugural appearances of Staylie!!! Oh...ada 4 under-aged illegal 'over-stayers' in the form of Dahlia, Harith, budak bulat Adam dan budak bubbly Naila...tapi takpe...sebab itu rumah Rina, the first 2 kasi chance! Lagipun, tak nampak batang hidung diorang pun (kena stay dalam room lah tu!)...and the other 2 belum boleh jalan lagi so kira ok lah tu... Once again, one of the golden rule of our MCG is NO KIDS! (Unless the tuan rumah bo-pian tak ada alternative arrangement but this privilege only given to tuan rumah je and kids that cannot walk yet...)

So boys and girls, email me your preference...I'll contact the rest...

Another thing about Taiwan...

For first-timers to Taiwan, this squatting toilet may confound them...Which way does one face? And why? Put your answers in my shoutbox. Boboy can't answer first because he SHOULD know! C'mon boys and girls...

What a whirlwind 4 days it was!

It seems that what I've been missing for the past 3 weeks while overseas was almost made up for in the last four days since I came back! Let me see...Since I came back, I:-

1. Had pizza at, where else...Pizza Hut. With the family. New location at Lot 1. That dinner lasted 2 hours!
2. Had dinner at Secret Recipe with the family. At IMM. First time we've eaten at Secret Recipe at IMM.
3. Had dinner at Mad Jacks along Bt Timah with the family. This has become our favourite haunt whenever we feel hunger pangs between Orchard Road and home!
4. Had my regular 3 kosong, 1 egg (prata lah!) which I could not get in Taiwan! The only prata-like food in Taiwan was served in the ubiquitous 'Ninja' van that also served wild boar meat! Tak payah ler...
5. Had my regular mochacinno at McCafe at United Square.
6. Had our regular breakfast at McDonald's at Lot 1.
7. Had lunch at Sakura International Buffet with the wife's side of the family. The one near Masjid Tentera. That one I belanja the whole lot as it was my MIL's birthday. The girls gave her birthday cards, we gave her our latest family studio shot and Mars gave her a bag. It was either the Harrod's or LeSportSac one...me not sure which one!
8. Attended our first Monthly Cousins Gathering (in a long while!) at Faurin's with the wife. It has been a while since we've had one and you can tell from the atmosphere that IT HAS BEEN A WHILE!!! There was a whole bunch of food from 'Curry-in-a-bun' sponsored by yours truly, fried chicken, murtabak, popiah basah, pizza, fruit salad and ice-cream.
9. Attended a Man U vs Chelsea get-together at Nya'i Bik As house where once again there was food glorious food. Mak said that there'll be 'rojak keling' (I know that sounds so politically incorrect but that's how it's always been called!). But of course there was much much more than that - fried mushrooms, nasi lemak, fried chicken, fruit cocktail, etc...
10. Attended my last lecture for the semester. My very animated lecturer summarised the works of Mary Shelly, Turgenev, Byron and the Women Poets of the Romantic period. I was left in a dizzy...
11. Attended my first piano lesson in 2 months!!! Those fingers were sure creaky! The parents and younger students (average age about 8-10 I think!) waiting outside must have been surprised hearing such halting play from a grown man when I finally finished my lesson. Learning to play the piano at my age sure is a humbling experience!
12. Brought the family to feed the fish, tortoises, birds and ducks at Symphony Lake in Botanical Gardens. This was one of the list of places my 2 girls have listed down as places they WOULD like me to bring them to. It rained when we reached there and we took cover at a small shelter overlooking the lake. It was kinda nice feeding the fish and tortoise with rain pitter-pattering. The girls enjoyed themselves thoroughly...
13. Went swimming at the pool below with the family. It has been a while. Kakak was like fish to water. It was simply wonderful as I watched her dived deep into the deep end of the pool - the stillness and 'blue-ness' of the water surrounding her as bubble trails floated upward seemed almost poetic...Adik took a while to warm up to the pool. But once she was OK, there was no stopping her! The wife was deeply embarrassed when I came up below her and lifted her up on my shoulders! The pool echoed with her protests and my cackling laughter!
14. Went for a much needed spa session with the wife. We came a bit late so no hydrobath for us (crystals...we needed the crystals!) and the facial therapist girl was on off. So only massage then...As usual, the wife said I snored but this time not so loud!
15. Watched 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' with the girls. Made popcorn for them. It was afternoon at the movies for us! Sweet...
16. Sent the wife's Nokia E65 for repair (LCD screen not working). A new one would cost about $500 without plan. So at about $60 for the repair, it was worth it!
17. Sent my battle-scarred, well-worn, beat-up Nikon D70 for a much needed R&R&R - Repair, Restoration and Replacement! There was something wrong with ON/OFF switch and the CF-card base was faulty. Total cost was $250. There was also something wrong with the locking mechanism of the VR lens that caused it to slide down by itself if carried in a certain angle but at $180 for the repair and because it does not affect the quality of the pictures taken, I decided to give it a pass.
18. Collected my newly tailored No.5 uniform from Javini's. I've been chosen as the ADC to the President for the 6th year and apparently the material for the No.5 has been changed and hence the need to re-tailor.
19. Exchanged the spoilt Walter for the spiffy new Walter! This one was done at Times Centre near Paya Lebar. Walter is one of the main products of the Child's First Library we recently bought for our girls as an 'investment' and also in a bid to put them ahead of the rat race at an early age! (Hah!) Poor Walter could only say "Hi! My name is Walter!" and that's it! His scanner didn't work anymore and thus he had to be exchanged!
20. Bought a new GPS car mount for my trusty 60CSx...the old one was lost somewhere in the mountains of Southern Taiwan...dang!
21. Bought some 'nice' clothings for the wife online...funny how so little material can cost so much...ahem...!
22. Bought "My Sister' Keeper" by Jodi Picoult at Kinokuniya.
23. Bought the girls new shoes. In anticipation of our trip Down Under in 2 months time. So that they will have time to be 'broken' in...
24. Bought myself new pants from Columbia. Ever since my first pair, I've grown to love it's comfort and ease of use...pants with no need for ironing! Can be worn for trekking or shopping! Cool...
25. Bought myself new cardigans. To wear during cold lectures, movies and Aussieland!
26. Bought 'couple' watches for the wife and I. From Solvil et Titus. I just love the classic advertisements on TV. (Hey! Ads work after all!). I'm not really a watch person but the last time I bought a watch was 2 years ago and even then it was for training...so it was high time for a new timepiece for the both of us...
27. Bought the wife this...but a purple one, of course...

There...squeezed as much as I could in these 4 short days...Of course, it could not make up for the time I've been away from the family. Thank you dear wife for doing all that you did while I was away - keeping our girls safe, warm and happy, keeping our home safe and sound and looking after yourself well...I HEART YOU!

Things you may not know about Taiwan

1. It's a left-hand drive country so look the correct way before you cross the street!
   
2. They're big on re-cycling. By default, they won't give you plastic bags to put your stuff in after you shop. You gotta pay for your plastic bags. Even in McDonald's, one has to separate one's trash...
3. You can find 7-11 stores at almost every street corner. Even in 'ulu' places...It's like the land of 7-11s...
4. They don't do breakfast at McDonald's :(... no hotcakes, no muffins...just the lunch menu throughout.
5. They don't serve chilli sauce at fast food restaurants. When one asked for chilli sauce, the closest they could muster up was chilli powder!
6. There's no time difference between Taiwan and Singapore.
7. There's a lone 'halal' stall selling kebab out of the hundreds of stalls in the night markets of Kaohsiung.
8. If you are hoping to have something decent to eat at Kaohsiung International Airport before your flight out...you'll be out of luck!
9. Even if you have the right of way, YOU DON'T! When you are walking along the streets and see the sign "Pedestrians Have the Right of Way", don't believe it! It's a trick!
10. Motorcycles outnumber cars 10 to 1!
11. Most motorcyclists wear something to cover their noses and mouths as they zoom along the polluted streets. These pieces of clothes can be quite fashionable and comes in a myriad of colours. Their effectiveness to protect against pollutants is questionable however.