Happy October Birthday IV

It is the last October birthday in my family and the honour goes to my mother. Yes, she was born just past midnight on Halloween many years ago haha. The girls are in total awe of their grandmother and her uncanny ability to know when they are up to no good! They think she has magic like a witch lol. :P

Happy Birthday, Grandmother/ Mother!
Lots of love from All of us in Singapore and UK

Food Places

It has certainly been a long time since we were last at Vivocity. I am really surprised to see many new eating places up on the ground floor. Hmm, maybe we should start coming back to Vivocity more often in order to sample the new eating places lol.

Late Night

I attended a farewell dinner for a colleague who is retiring. By the time it was done, it was close to 8pm. I went back to office to do some work. By the time I was done, it was close to 9pm. There weren't anyone left in the office and it was DARK! Hahaha. I have never stayed so late in the office before. It is kind of scary and ... exciting lol. :P

Happy October Birthdays III

For the 3rd birthday in October, it goes to my eldest nephew in UK, Abel. His birthday is on 28 October! Just one day after mine. We could celebrate together if we are in the same country lol.

Happy 8th Birthday, Abel. Hope you have lots of presents and fun at the movies! :)

PS. Let Gu Ma know which movie you watched, ok?

Happy October Birthdays II

I am the second person in my family to have a birthday in October. :)

Happy Birthday to me! :)

It has been a really wonderful day. First, I have received many birthday wishes from my former students, my friends, my colleagues and my family. :) It feels really great to be remembered and wished happiness. :) Thank you.

Second, I met my friend whom I got to know really well in 2009 when I was her buddy at the conference. She is a well-known Finnish Professor in teacher education. It was really nice to see her in Singapore again and on my birthday too. :)

Operation "Rescue Babies!"

The girls' guppies keep dying. :( :( I have changed the water in the fish tank but the problem persists. :( I decided to change the sponge in the filter system. Juliane was helping me and in the midst of changing the sponge, the water in the tank clouded up. Juliane was shouting excitedly that there are babies. I was thinking, "Oh dear, she needs to have her eyes checked. Where got baby fish?!". But lo and behold, when I concentrated hard enough, there are baby fishes and they are so tiny!! No wonder, I had missed them. Ok, I am the one who needs my eyesight checked haha :P

We spent a good half an hour fishing out all the babies into another container and it wasn't easy as they could hide easily amidst the pebbles. :( Finally, we got all of them, 17 of them! :)

1000 HS

I am now a proud owner of a silver Canon IXUS 1000 HS! :) It is a really big leap in terms of functions from my current Canon IXUS 950 IS. :) I am going to have fun exploring how the various functions work.

Happy Diwali

Juliane was invited to her K1 friend, Shloka's Diwali party. Diwali is also known as Deepavali or Festival of Lights. I thought it was a great opportunity for her to learn about another culture.

All the children were given their own small clay lamps (diyas) which they painted and decorated with glitters and stuff. The kids really enjoyed the hands-on activity. After the hands-on, it was dinner. I particularly enjoyed eating the rice cakes with lentil soup. :) It wasn't spicy at all! :) The highlight of the party was the "fireworks" for the children. The children played with sparklers amid lots of excitement and screaming lol.

Aging

Ok I think age is catching up with me. :( I might have pulled a muscle in my shoulder during the team building games at yesterday's retreat . The pain only surfaced tonight. Ow, ow, ow, ... :(

Retreat

My centre had a whole day retreat today. It was business before pleasure. We had group discussions in the morning, followed by poster session and presentations and finally, the team-building games in the afternoon lol. There was lunch and tea breaks at the appropriate times, of course. :) In between, there were three lucky draws. Luck was with me and I won a prize in the first draw haha. A water jug with glasses, very practical. :)

The serious business was fruitful, especially the poster session. I learnt a lot about the other projects. :) For the pleasure, I never expected to have so much fun playing the games. My team was the overall winner in the games lol.

PS. I realised I have a competitive streak in me and I don't like to lose. I was all out to win in the games lol. :P

Prepared

I had to do a few chores so I swopped my usual counselling day to today.

I collected my new passport. Thank goodness I made an e-appointment for the collection. There were 219 people in the queue when I arrived at ICA. But because I had made an e-appointment, I only wait for under 20 minutes before I received my new passport! :) I love my photo in the new passport haha. :)
After collecting my new passport, I went to collect my air ticket from the travel agent. At the same time, I also applied for my travel insurance and travel visa through the agent.

By 5pm, I am all prepared to fly off for my conference next month. :)

Attack

I kept thinking I have been unwittingly eating food with MSG (I am allergic to MSG) as my throat has been most uncomfortable - sore, constricted and irritated. :( Now I know who the culprit is, the haze!! :( :( :(

The Haze

The haze is back and it is really bad today. When I stepped out of my office, it was really hazy and the acrid burning smell is really choking. :(

When I got home, the windows were all shut. The girls said they didn't like the haze as it reminded them of "The Fog". What?! I think it is time they stop watching horror movies!

Approved II

My application for a new passport has been approved. I can collect my new passport anytime from today onwards. I finally have a nice new photo in my passport! Haha. :)

Offer

The girls' father offered to get me a new camera. Hmm, I am wondering if he means for the new camera to be my birthday present. Lol.

I want a Canon IXUS 1000 HS. :)

Kangaroo Lion

That was what Juliane called my kangaroo loin at The Moomba Restaurant haha. :P

I was craving for Australian food, kangaroo meat in particular(!) haha, so we went to The Moomba. For appetizers, we ordered their signature dishes to share: Bacon Wrapped Crayfish with spinach and poached egg ($20) and Squid Cakes with thai styled mango salad ($18). The crayfish was really succulent and fresh! :) The squid cakes were not too bad.



The girls shared a Mushroom Risotto ($25) which was really fragant. I had my Kangaroo Loin ($38). ABSOLUTELY Delicious!! The girls' father had Swordfish. Dinner ended with ice cream for the girls and I and Tiramisu ($12) for the girls' father.

Killing Spree

With rolled up newspaper, I went on a killing spree.

Whack. Whack. Whack!

What the heck. One more for the road. WHACK!

Wasted 2 cockroaches. :)

Approved

My conference leave has been approved. :) I didn't know if it would be as I applied for it 2 months past the deadline for submission of leave application. I know, my bad. I was procrastinating, deciding if I should go for the conference even though my abstract has been accepted. It is on my Phd so I would have to go on my expenses and it won't be a small sum, at least $3000 minimum. A good friend's advice finally persuaded me.

"You know, it is not easy to get one's abstract accepted, especially at an international conference?"

With that, I decided to go for it. I shouldn't just throw away the opportunity I have gotten to present on my Phd work.

Neighbourly Dinner

I had dinner with my neighbours at Cedele, Wheelock Place. It was a nice leisurely dinner. While enjoying our food, we also chatted about travels, antiques, and our homes. I hope to have such dinner or lunch with my neighbours more frequently. :)

"Stressful" Times

Marieann is having her examinations this Wednesday till Friday and another paper in a week's time.

Somehow, Marieann hasn't learnt to be anxious about tests and examinations yet. Not sure if it is a bad thing or a good thing. Bad because she isn't doing much to prepare for her examinations. Good because she isn't bothered by her examinations and she is going through her life as usual, watching tv, playing with her sister, do the necessary homework, ... NOT like her parents who are totally stressed out by her examinations.

APPLES

= Application for Passport On-line Electronic System

ICA sent me a notice about my passport expiring in May 2011 and an application form was also attached with the notice. However I decided to apply for my new passport through the online system. It is less of a hassle. :)

Happy October Birthdays

Talking about birthdays, my family has four birthdays in the month of October alone! My two nephews in UK, my mother and myself. :)

For the first October birthday, the honour goes to my 2nd nephew, Matthew! :)

Happy 6th Birthday, Matthew. May your day be fun, fun, fun and more fun. :)

Birthday Month Perks

Now-a-days, you actually get birthday perks for the whole month and not just on the day of your birth. For some businesses, the perks are even valid for 2-3 months after the birthday month.

I have been receiving vouchers from my favourite stores because it is my birthday month. I must plan my shopping properly so that I DON'T end up over-buying haha. :P

Servicing Needed

I discovered the On/Off button on my Cannon camera going wonky. When it is pressed, one side of the button would sink in which is not supposed to be the case. It also becomes not very responsive at times, that is, I can't switch it on or off. :( Servicing is definitely needed and soon too!

Ring Ring..Ring Ring

There has been a sudden influx of phone calls on the land line recently. The girls have discovered that they could give out the phone number to their friends and have their friends call them! Everyday, it is "ring ring... ring ring... ring ring" several times in the afternoon or night. In fact, they receive more phone calls in one day than I do in a fortnight!

I will have to set ground rules soon if the phone calls get too disruptive.

PSLE 2010

Today is the first paper for PSLE 2010. The last PSLE paper will be next Tuesday 12 October. I saw the P6 students after their paper today. Some looked relieved, some looked worried. But all will be going home to revise for the paper tomorrow.

Good Luck, P6 students.

Hearing and Songs

I had a conversation with a colleague today and we were talking about songs. There have always been songs that I simply could not hear the lyrics. I only know what those songs are about until I look at the lyrics. Upon further discussion, I realised there are some songs which I totally get the lyrics and they all belong to a certain genre.

I have no problems with the songs by Carrie Underwood, Trisha Yearwood, Shania Twain, Lady Antebellum, ...

Can you guess what genre it is?

COUNTRY MUSIC!! Haha.

Pray for You

Just the other day, when I listened to the radio which I haven't done so for a long time, I heard this song that made me laughed! It is "Pray for You" by Jaron and The Long Road to Love. It is hilarious lol. If you haven't heard the song before, listen carefully to the lyrics and you will know what I mean.



I think we can all think of someone in our lives whom we can dedicate this song to haha. :P

Halloween Month

My girls seem to be gearing up for Halloween each in their own way even though we don't celebrate it lol.

Marieann made a "dress" for the peephole. I had a shock when I first saw it, not expecting it to be there. But I have to laugh at her creativity. :)


Juliane geared up by watching the RE trilogy with me. Although I have seen the movies a couple of times, I still jumped at scary places. Juliane didn't even moved a muscle but she chided me for scaring her when I jumped. I was rendered speechless...

Art is Alive

Since Marieann is interested in art and Alive Gallery is ending its run on 3 October, we brought the girls to Alive Gallery at Downtown East. This is the Children's Day compensation for the girls. As we were in the line to buy the tickets, this lady came up to me and offered me 4 tickets. She explained that she had 6 tickets but she would only need 2 tickets for herself and her nephew. She gave me the remaining tickets and left. Bless her, what a kind soul. She saved us from paying $50 for the Family deal. :)

The girls were most enthralled by the paintings that came "alive", e.g. the ancient Egyptian drawings on papyrus, the Greek gods and goddesses, da Vinci's "The Last Supper", Michelangelo's "The Sistine Chapel Ceiling Fresco" as well as great artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Claude Monet and Jean Millet who told inside stories of their works to the audience. I am surprised that Marieann recognised some of the art work on display, e.g. The Birth of Venus, The Gare St-Lazare by Monet. She is really interested in art. :) A strict no photography policy was enforced throughout the gallery except at 2 photo-taking points: mocks of the paintings - The Avenue at Middelharnis by Meindert Hobbema and Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night. We had fun pretending to be in the "paintings" while the girls' father took our photos. :)

After the visit to Alive Gallery, we browsed around Downtown East. Juliane and I went for a ride on the indoor Ferris wheel while Marieann worked on stain glass art. The girls were really happy about their belated Children's Day celebration. :)

Juliane and I taking the Ferris wheel ride

Before going to Alive Gallery, we had brunch at Hatched which is down the road from where we stay. The girls shared a Pancake Party ($10): 3 pancakes with caramelised banana. I had a Ozzy Baked Egg ($8) with bacon, mushroom and tomatoes and cheese on top as well as a Blueberry Bircher Muesli ($4). I was hungry haha. I just love bircher muesli! :) Used to have it as breakfast every morning throughout my student life. The girls' father had Waffle with ham and egg.



The bacon, mushroom and tomatoes in my baked egg. Simple dish but filling.

My bircher muesli with rolled oats, raisins, green apple and milk. YUM! :)


Hatched candies given to my girls by the Hatched staff

Happy Children's Day

Happy Children's Day to all the kids, especially to the kid in each and everyone of us who are over 12 years old lol. :)

As I can't drive, it is hard to bring the kids to places. Never mind, I will compensate them tomorrow as the father can drive. But as a special treat, I let them play with my iPad haha. :P For those couple of minutes, they were definitely happy. Happy children haha. :)