My Last Day of Work

Officially today in the project I am with for the last 16 months.

I have been really fortunate to have worked with my PI, AL. She is the most understanding, supportive, encouraging and nurturing boss ever! I have been offered many opportunities while working with her - doing videography, working on Studio Code, writing book review, co-editing a book, writing journal papers, presenting at international conferences. Most of them are pretty steep learning curves (ie rapid learning is required) but I really had the most fun learning them. Most importantly, my PI has trust in me and she has always treated me as an equal, an intellectual equal. That really means a lot to me. :) Thank you, AL.

However, it is not good bye yet. AL and I still have one or two more papers to work on lol. :) Looking forward to working with you still, AL eventhough I am no longer working for you. :)

Wealth

That's the power of my name. Oh, who doesn't mind having a little spare cash?!! Lol. :P

Your Name's Power is Wealth

Your name's power is that it helps you to be wealthy. Your name conveys both giftedness and commitment. People who meet you can't help but think you are down to earth. You try to live your life with fairness and decisiveness.

What's Your Name's Power?

Brussels Sprouts Again

The girls have been pestering us to go back to Brussels Sprouts because they really like the magic show lol. We decided to go back today. First, we went to Plaza Singapura to get some groceries from Carrefour before heading down to Brussels Sprouts for lunch.

The girls ordered Fish Bites with Fries and Salad ($9) which came with free flow of soft drink and a scoop of ice cream.


I had the Duck Confit with Kriek Beer and Griottes Cherries ($30). The duck was full of flavour and the meat just comes off the bone most easily. The duck confit was also pan fried until the skin was crisp and when paired with the cherries, it was marvellous. :) For dessert, I had Forest Fruit Crumble with Balsamic Scented Pear, Fruit Compote and Cinnamon Ice Cream ($12). The dessert was rather ordinary but the cinnamon ice cream was rather different.



The girls' father ordered Pasta Coquillage: Creamy Seafood ($24). The cream sauce was really nice. For dessert, he had Banana Crêpe with Butterscotch and Vanilla Ice Cream ($ 10) which was quite ordinary.



After our desserts, we were entertained by the magician, Jack. He remembered us from our last visit. He showed the girls some tricks which didn't fail to drop their jaws and bring out huge grins on their faces and on mine lol. :)

Earth Hour 2009

I celebrated Earth Hour 2008 with my best friend, Sian Min and her family in Sydney last year. It was one of the most unforgettable and interesting moments I have had on a holiday.

I celebrated Earth Hour 2009 with my girls in Singapore this year. It is one of the most unforgettable and fun moments for the girls. By 8:15pm, the girls were already washed up and changed into their PJs ahead of their usual 9pm routine. At 8:30pm sharp, we switched off all the lights and electrical appliances. I lighted 3 candles, 2 for the living room and 1 for the kitchen. The girls were really thrilled. They went to the windows to check which units had participated (or not) in Earth Hour. They exclaimed loudly when a certain unit didn't participate. A minute later, that unit switched off their lights. Oops. They must have heard my girls. :P

The girls made animal shadows with the candle light. After a while, they got bored. They started to tell each other scary stories by the candle light! Hahaha. Time flies when you are having fun. :) All too soon, it was 9:30pm. I allowed the girls to blow out the candles before they retire to bed.


PS The girls' father didn't participate in Earth Hour. He claimed that his car needed a wash. Yar right, the fact is he needed the air-con. Sigh.

10000 Views

As of today, my blog hits 10000 views! I never expected that because my blog is only a personal blog.

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog - my friends, my colleagues, my former students, my regular readers as well as the readers who found my blog by chance. :)

June Holiday Plan

Yes, it seems kind of early to start planning for the June holiday lol. But I like to plan ahead. :) I decided to bring the girls to Phuket, Thailand. I have never been there myself and I recalled the girls were really thrilled being at the beach at Gold Coast, Australia in 2005. I think they will love the beach at Phuket

Earlier on, I had gone to the library to borrow Phuket travel guides. I searched the Internet for suitable resorts to stay in in Phuket. After searching for some time, I have decided on a resort in the Hat Karon area. Hat Karon has beach too and it will be relatively more peaceful and suitable for us as compared to Hat Patong which is too popular, crowed and touristy. I intend to have a relaxing break in Phuket. Oh yes, the resort I have chosen have a good range of spa services lol. :)

Talk II

I attended yet another talk today about Teacher Quality in the 21st Century at RELC. Being in the 21st century, there are new knowledge and new skills to be learnt, not just for students, for teachers too.

The talk, sad to say, did not tell us anything new. :( Oh well, at least the talk confirmed what most of us already knew and tells us that more needs to be done.

Talk

I attended a very interesting talk about Creativity and 21st Century Learning at my work place. I was the video woman lol. No lah, I was there for the talk first and helping my friend second to video the session. The presenter threw us some pretty interesting stuff to ponder about. The panel was most engaging too, throwing out pearls of wisdom of their own. I can't get the chocolate chip muffin example out of my head now lol. It's giving me food for thought lol. No pun intended haha :P

I really enjoyed the talk very much. I hope to attend more of such talks. :)

Working from Home

I have been up most of the night over the weekend working on a report. I got permission from my PI to work from home for today. I don't think I can made it into the office with so little sleep lol. :P The girls were thrilled to see me at home when they returned from school lol.

For most of the time, I was replying to work emails. Fire-fighting over a situation which had occurred. Sigh. I supposedly wanted to spend the day working on my conference presentation slides. In the end, I didn't get much done for my slides. But I think I should be able to get something out by this weekend, I hope. :)

The Bar & Billiard Room, Raffles Hotel

We haven't had buffet for a long while now. We decided to go to The Bar & Billiard Room, Raffles Hotel because we haven't been there for a while too. I have a soft spot for the grand old dame, Raffles Hotel because my wedding banquet was held there lol.

We went for the first seating for buffet brunch: 11 - 1pm. It was rather nice as it wasn't too crowded. There were a number of food stations and the girls were really awed by the dessert table as was I hahaha. :P











We were most full by 1pm lol. We took some photos around Raffles Hotel before going home.

Little Seoul Again

For the second weekend, Juliane and I were back at Little Seoul, aka Square 2. She wanted to have Korean food again. I was rather surprised lol.

We went back to Hansang Korean Family Restaurant. We shared a Samgye Tang Lunch Set ($15) which came with half a chicken Samgye Tang, side dishes, rice, tea/ coffee and dessert. The portion was just nice for the both of us.



After lunch, we explored Square 2 for a bit. I managed to buy two dresses lol. :P

Twilight

I missed the movie in the cinema so we rented the DVD when it came out in the shops on Thursday.

Now I finally know what the hype about the movie is all about. :) Oh yes, it happened even for me. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Edward Cullen. Oh goodness, he is quite good looking haha. :P Edward Cullen reminds me of Angel in Buffy, the same broodiness and Spike in Buffy, the same coolness lol. Oh, and they are all vampires. :P Anyway, the love story between Edward and Bella is quite sweet and romantic. :)

Here is the trailer for Twilight. Enjoy. :)

Twilight - Theatrical Trailer 2 Movies & TV SPIKE.com

I actually love this instrumental piece: "Bella's Lullaby" from the Twilight soundtrack.



Here is the song "Leave Out All the Rest" by Linkin Park from the Twilight soundtrack.



PS I am so going to buy the Twilight DVD and the soundtrack. Lol. :)

Library

In the evening, I brought Marieann and Juliane to the library nearest to our place which is Queenstown Public Library. Marieann needed to get another book in order to do her book review homework while I needed to get some travel guides on Phuket.

With my help, Marieann found 3 books of interest to her and Juliane, 4 books. I myself found 2 guides on Phuket and both are the latest edition 2008. I was lucky lol. :)

The girls enjoyed their library visit. They can't wait to go back to borrow more books when they have finished reading their books. :)

Writing

This one-week break is the best time for catching up on some rest, catching up with friends as well as learning new things.

Today I attended a seminar on Academic Writing. I really enjoyed the session. The presenter is a senior academic with lots of experience in writing. Her presentation was really interesting and informative. I have picked up a number of good tips for writing. Hopefully I can put what I have learnt today into good use soon. :)

"Ms Wong!"

Someone had called out my name at the uni bookshop exactly a week ago. I turned and was surprised to see a former student of mine. I taught her when she was in P4. Gosh! That was like 8/9 years ago. :P Time really flies. I recognised her for she hasn't changed much and she has the same surname as my girls lol. I was surprised that Andrea could still recognise me. She said I haven't changed at all since I last taught her in P4. Hmm, I will take that as a compliment lol. :P

It is really nice that my former students can still remember me and call out to me when they do see me. :) Let's keep in touch. :)

Sugar Free Snacks

I found two more sugar free brands in the supermarkets. I am really glad! I was seriously getting tired of having the few sugar free snacks that I have been eating. :P

First is Duke & Mandarine from Belgium. They make biscuits with soya and sweetener maltitol. There are 3 different flavours: Almond, Vanilla and Apple-Cinnamon. I tried the Vanilla biscuits. It isn't too bad. They also have chocolates in 3 flavours: Caramel, Coffee and Dark Orange. I will get the chocolates and the other biscuits soon. You can now get Duke & Mandarine at Isetan Supermarket.

Second is Carman's from Australia. They have muesli bars which are low GI: Original (with honey, cinnamon and nuts) and Classic (with honey, cinnamon, nuts and fruits). So now besides Uncle Toby's Chewy forest fruit muesli bar, now I have this one too. :) You can get Carman's from NTUC.

Quiet Day

It was a fairly quiet day. I took Juliane to her favourite Japanese restaurant at Wheelock Place for lunch. Yar, Sakae Sushi lol. Juliane missed her fish roe, prawn roe maki sushi and tamago nigiri sushi. :P

After lunch, we went to Far East Plaza to develop my nephews' photos for my parents. While waiting for the photos, we browsed around the shops. I am amazed with the discounts going on at some of the shops there. If only I had more time! Hahaha. Had to go home after collecting the photos as Juliane was tired for she woke up really early at 6am+.

Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes and Seoul Food

The girls were really excited when they woke up this morning because we were going to watch Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes 2009.

We went to watch the 11am show at the Indoor Stadium. We were seated just six rows away from the stage so we had a really good view. :) It was not very packed as the previous show Disney Mickey's Magic Show 2007 which I accompanied them to as well. Maybe it is the result of the economic downturn. The show which had a 15 minute intermission, ended at 12:45pm. The girls really enjoyed the show, naming me the princess who appeared and telling me who had yet to come. Lol. I enjoyed listening to the songs which appeared in the Disney movies such as Part of Your World, Under the Sea, Kiss the Girl, Be Our Guest, A Whole New World, etc. :)






After the Disney on Ice show, we were famished. We went to Square 2 to have some Seoul food. :) We had lunch at Hansang Korean Family Restaurant. We ordered the Samgye Tang Set ($60) which consisted of Ginseng Chicken Soup, Bulgogi (chicken), Pancakes, Sweet Potato Noodles, Dolsot Bob (rice with sweet potato), sides dishes, tea/coffee and dessert (rice cakes) and a Mandu Gug ($13) which was Dumpling Soup. The ginseng chicken soup, the noodles, the pancakes and the dumplings (which were made of pork and kimchi) were quite tasty. :)






After lunch, we bought some rice cakes and walnut cakes from Hankook Rice Cake House and some Korean snacks from Sol Mart. The girls seemed pretty keen to go to Korea after our little Seoul adventure today lol.

Aches

My neck and shoulders have been aching since yesterday. I think my sleep posture was the cause of it. :( Hmm, maybe I should use one of the girls' new bamboo charcoal pillow. Well, they did say it is good for aching shoulders. But I think nothing beats a good massage for aching neck and shoulders. :)

Private Sale

It's that time of the year again at Isetan. :)

After counselling (I swopped my counselling to today because of the school workshop yesterday), I went to the Isetan Private Sale with my parents and Juliane. Marieann was still in school as she had after school activity.

I got my Clarins skin care products and a new Kipling bag for my US trip lol. Yes, I would use any excuse to buy a new Kipling haha. :P My mother also bought a Kipling bag lol. My parents bought some bamboo charcoal health care products. I also bought two children's bamboo charcoal pillows for the girls. The pillows are supposedly good for aching shoulders, insomnia and respiratory health. Finally, we got some Japanese snacks for the girls from the supermarket before heading home.

School Workshop

It has been a long time since I have been involved in a school workshop. I used to run quite a number of workshops when I was in MOE HQ for school teachers and parents. Actually, I kind of missed it lol.

The school workshop went well today. The teachers were really nice and attentive. I was stress free for this workshop because I didn't have to present lol. But I did help to organise it. Although I didn't present the workshop, I had fun interacting with the teachers during the discussion session. It was a fruitful session.

Under the Weather

Feeling a little under the weather. :( It might be because I was caught in the rain on Monday(?). I was feeling very tired and aching a bit. Usually the preamble of flu for me. :( Touch wood!

Left work a little earlier, hoping to go home to rest because I need to be present at a school workshop at 9am on Wednesday. It was just my luck that on the train, I sat next to a guy who was sneezing continuously. :S That definitely made me feel worse and I was too polite to move away. :(

I hope I don't come down with anything. Will be taking my flu medication, just in case and try to sleep early tonight.

Write and Spell

Juliane is starting to learn how to write and spell. She spells the words using phonics. When my father heard her, he thought she was sprouting gibberish and asked, "How come she spell like that?!". Haha.

She is learning how to write too. But she has some problems with certain letters. She would reverse her letters. It is normal for young children to do that as they learn the writing system. It was quite funny to see her writing in reverse.

Brussels Sprouts, The Pier @ Robertson

Today we had lunch at a new venue, Robertson Quay.
Brussels Sprouts looks like a welcoming place so we decided to have lunch there.

The girls both had Pasta Pink Sauce ($9) which came with soft drink and ice cream. The pasta sauce was tomato cream sauce which was pretty yummy. :) As we adults had the main courses, the girls ate for free. :)

I had the Bouillabaisse ($16) served with grilled pieces of bread and rouille. The fish stew which had fish, prawn, mussel and clam, was really tasty and rich as it was flavoured with a variety of herbs and spices. The bread dipped in rouille (a mayonnaise made of olive oil, saffron, cayenne pepper) was also delicious. For the main, I had Parma Ham Wrapped Chicken Thigh served with Garlic Butter and Rosemary Potatoes ($28). The chicken wrapped in the ham was most delicious. :) The chicken was moist and juicy and the ham gave it extra flavour.



The girls' father had the Soup of the Day: Onion Soup ($9) and the Homemade Pork Sausages served with Daily Stoemp ($26). He said the taste was not too bad.



We didn't order the dessert as we were pretty full. In the midst of our dining, we had entertainment by the in-house magician right at our table. The girls were really thrilled by the magic acts. They said they wanted to come back again. I think more for the magic show than for the food lol. :P But I think I will come back again, I want to try their dessert. :P

Photo taken by Juliane of us at the fountain

The girls having fun being splattered by water from the fountain

Simple Day

I had a simple day.

Spent the earlier part of the day with Juliane at Paragon for her "turn-turn" and having lunch at The Soup Spoon.

Spent the later part of the day working on my dissertation.

A really simple day.

EBO

EBO stands for Emergency Behaviour Officer.

Guess what? I am an EBO. I have been trained as one. I have also undergone training on how to talk to suicidal individuals to talk them out of suicide. You are surprised? Yes, I know I or my character don't exactly fit into those roles but nonetheless, I am trained.

However, I hope I never have to use these trainings of mine. For if I ever have to, it means something awful has happened or may happen. :(

Birthday Celebration Again

I brought the cake to Juliane's pre-school at 11:30am, 10 minutes before the time told by her teacher. I thought the children would still be having their lunch but Juliane and her classmates were already all waiting excitedly for me! Lol.

Juliane's teacher was very nice and put up a birthday banner up for Juliane. :) Juliane was really happy when her classmates sang her the birthday song. After Juliane made the first cut, her teacher helped to cut up the cake and Juliane distributed pieces of cake to her classmates. After having the cake, Juliane gave out the goodie bags to her classmates. Everyone was really happy.

Sleeping Spell

In the late afternoon, I took the girls out to get a cake for Juliane's birthday celebration in pre-school tomorrow. I wanted originally to get a Fresh Fruit cake from Sun Moulin but I didn't order 3 days in advance so they can't remove the almond flakes on the cake for tomorrow. I had to get a cake without nuts because one of Juliane's classmate had nut allergy. I personally know what he goes through, having been through it myself. :( In the end, we bought a Black Forest cake from Bengawan Solo.

When we got home, it was just after 5pm. Both girls said they were sleepy and wanted to sleep. Ok, let them have a little nap. When 6:30pm came, they refused to wake up. Tried again at 7:30pm, they slept on. What's going on? Tried one last time at 8:30pm. Still no go. Sigh. While they slept, I changed them into their PJs so that they would be more comfortable.

It's 11:50pm now. The girls are still sleeping away. It is really strange. They have been asleep since 5pm. It is like they are under a spell, a sleeping spell. Lol. But I got some peace and quiet while they slept so I am not complaining too much. Lol. :P

Headache

Remember I mentioned before that I have been having headaches? I took some time off yesterday morning and went to NUH for a check.

I had a few tests done, had my eyes dilated and had a few more checks.

The verdict: my eyesight is almost perfect except for mild astigmatism which accounted for some slight double vision at night. I don't even need glasses! :)

However, with this good news, came the bad news. If my eyesight is fine, then something else is causing my headaches. Based on what I have described, I could be suffering from chronic tension headache or migraine. Sigh. Since I am allergic to panadol, aspirin, and amoxycillin, I have been given Codeine to try to control the headaches. Downside is Codeine can cause drowsiness and can be addictive so I have been cautioned only to take it when absolutely necessary. For the moment for my headaches, I just have to try Codeine. If it doesn't work, then I might have to go for a scan to ascertain what is really going on up there in my head. :(

PS Maybe I have already sustained phd from the PhD I am working on. (phd = permanent head damage) Hahaha. :P

Superhero

It is really fun to do these sort of quizzes. :P See my responses in red.

You Would Be a Upstanding Superhero

You are alert and observant. You can see through people easily. You know who's evil and who's good. My intuition is often quite accurate and it does let me see through people in a way. You get bored easily and need excitement in your life. You like having problems to solve. Oh yes, this is so true! Haha. :) Through lots of life experience, you understand the world well. You can often predict what people will do before they even think of doing it. Have learnt to do less of this as it freaks people out lol. You are a shapeshifter who fits in with almost any group. You can get along with anyone. You're quite flexible. Depends on who the person is. :P You are a true philosopher. You are thirsty for wisdom. You are trying to figure out the meaning of life. I used to exasperate my friends by asking "Why?", "Why?", "Why?". Hahaha. But I do like learning new things.

What Kind of Superhero Would You Be?

Happy 5th Birthday, Juliane!

Today is Juliane's 5th birthday.

Happy Birthday. May you grow up healthy and smart. :)

I brought Juliane to Fidgets, Turf City in the morning because her classmate was celebrating her birthday there. I brought Marieann along so that she could play there too. The girls had fun climbing up and down and running all over the place. When Juliane was attending the birthday party, Marieann and I were at the cafe having a little bite.

The party ended at 12pm, after the children had lunch, cake and a goodie bag each. Both girls had lots of fun.




A close friend of mine came over for lunch. She brought presents for both girls who were beaming away. My friend also brought Cape No. 7, a Taiwanese movie for my mother and we all watched it together. The movie was funny and heart-warming at the same time. The movie brought back memories of Taiwan for me. It has been a long time since I last went back to Taiwan. I should go back to see my grandmother and other relatives in the near future.