Email

I didn't know that email has been around for 29 years! Wow, that's a pretty long time. :) I don't think I can live without email lol. Email will probably be around for another couple of decades unless something else can be found to replace it... Nah, I doubt it lol.

Happy Hari Raya

To all my Muslim friends, here's wishing you and your families a Happy Hari Raya! :)

Juliane asked me today if my friend and former MOE colleague, Rashidah has invited us over to her place for Hari Raya. I was surprised that Juliane remembered lol. She went on to say how she enjoyed eating the cakes, kuehs and cookies. So, Rashidah, when are we going to your place for Hari Raya makan?!! Hahaha. :P

Failed

I tried to do some work on my PhD revision but failed miserably. :( Hopefully I will have better luck and focus tomorrow. I really need to get it going.

Post PE 2011

There is a recounting of votes between the top two candidates for the presidential election as the difference of votes between the two is less than 2%. I have been waiting since 1am and I am still waiting for the results. :(
Feeling really sleepy. I won't be able to last much longer. Guess I will have to read the papers for who has been voted in as the 7th President of Singapore.

Presidential Election 2011

This is the first time I am ever voting in Singapore! Since turning 21, I always missed out on voting at General elections because my area is part of the Tanjong Pagar GRC. :( I missed the other Presidential Election back in 1993 because I was studying in Australia.
It is really exciting for me. My parents and I left for our polling station at Raffles Girls' School around 9.45am. We arrived, we voted and we left all within 10 minutes!! It was really quick lol. :)
My virgin vote went to Tan ... ... Not telling lol. :P

Decision

Tomorrow is Singapore's Presidential Election 2011. There are four candidates and all with the surname (last name) of Tan. It is decision time for 2.27 million voters in Singapore. It will either be a difficult decision for some, torn between two candidates or it will be an easy decision for some, loyal to one candidate from start to end.

Killer

I was working on my stats and organising the results into tables when I noticed that, halfway through the analysis, the N changed. I went back to the raw data to check. Please don't let it be... *fingers crossed* Oh no! Argh!

I failed to delete an invalid case. :( Now I have to re-run the stats because my N is quite small so even if the difference is 1, it would affect the means and standard deviations. Sigh. My work over the past two days is down the drain. :(

Sabotage

Today, the Primary 3 students had to take the GEP Screening Test* that comprised of 2 papers, English and Mathematics. Marieann came home and asked me a question.

M: Is it true that if you do well in the test, you will have to leave the school?
Me: Who told you?
M: My friends.
Me: Nonsense. If you do well, you can choose to stay.
M: My friends said we have to go to another school.
Me: No. You can choose to go to another school or you can choose to stay in SCGS.
M: My friends said don't do well and we can all stay in SCGS.
Me: ... *speechless and shaking head*

I seriously don't know whether to cry or to laugh. The silly girls have just sabotaged themselves just because they didn't want to leave the school. Their loyalty to SCGS is commendable but they just deprived themselves of a chance to find out what and where their potential is. Sigh.
*Parents are given the option to opt their child out of the GEP Screening Test if they so choose.

New Look?

I have been using this blog design for quite some time now. Seems to be a bit boring and dated. There are some pretty nice blog templates. Thinking of getting a new look... :)

It is officially DEAD

The 12th 4-weekly enbloc notice has been placed around my estate. The percentage of owners who signed the CSA has remained unchanged for the past few months, standing at approximately 32%.
The enbloc is officially dead in my estate. Hooray!! :) Here is to, at least, two years of peace and quiet before some idiot decides to try to enbloc my estate again.

Cook & Share a Pot of Curry Day

Today is Cook & Share a Pot of Curry Day. And guess what? My mother really cooked a pot of curry and shared it lol. :)
I am not sure if it was intentional on her part or just a coincidence lol. She had invited my cousins and cousin-in-laws over to our place for dinner. Marieann has also been pestering her grandmother to cook curry for her. Yes, my eldest daughter happens to like spicy food lol.

Curry chicken and vegetables

Braised duck

A table full of food :)

O'Gambinos @ Raffles City

We went out for a rather late dinner. It was crowded at Raffles City. There were long queues at most of the eateries at Basement 2. Decided to go to level 1 to try out the restaurants there. Wanted to go to Double Bay restaurant again when another eating place caught our eyes. One, it was rather empty and we were hungry as it was already 8pm. Two, the menu looks good with a wide variety to choose from. Three, we have never tried Irish Italian fusion food.

We were really glad that we tried out O'Gambinos. The serving was huge and the food was delicious. I am quite sure us being us didn't result in us being favourable towards the food. Good food is good food, regardless we are hungry or not lol. The girls shared a Seafood Pasta ($26) and the girls' father had Seafood Risotto ($26). Both tasted yummy. I tried the Atlantic Salmon ($28): pan seared salmon with roasted garlic mashed potato, vegetables and pineapple cream sauce. The pineapple cream sauce was quite refreshing and went well with the salmon.




As we were having our dinner, the crowd started coming in. I guess it being a bar and bistro, it catered to a different crowd. I don't mind coming back here again. There are a few other dishes that I want to to try. Maybe next weekend lol. :P

E-learning Days II

It is the second day of e-learning for the girls.
Juliane completed all her English, Math and Chinese e-homework.
Marieann completed her Chinese and Science e-homework. But she had problem logging into her English and Math group in Edmodo. When she called her friends to check, she had conflicting instructions from them. Sigh. In the end, I emailed her teacher. Thank goodness, she replied promptly. Now Marieann can complete her e-learning lessons and worksheets for English and Math. :)

E-Learning Days

As it is the PSLE Orals on 18 and 19 August, the rest of the Primary 1 to 5 classes need not attend school. However, it won't be a holiday for those students. Most primary schools, if not all, have designated these 2 days to be e-learning days for the rest of the Primary 1 to 5 classes.
Both Marieann and Juliane have e-learning lessons and I have to get ready and print out all the instructions, e.g. how to log on, what to do for each subject, etc, for them. I also went through the instructions with them prior to them starting their e-learning lessons and worksheets.
Using technology as a tool for learning will become more and more commonplace for students.

Nervous

That's what my P6 counsellees are telling me with regards to their PSLE Oral on 18 and 19 August. Having been a teacher once, I was able to give them some tips.
Good luck!

Reality Shows

Other than The Glee Project, I am also watching Hell's Kitchen 6, and Masterchef US 2. :) I just love reality shows lol. :P Have seen the Next Top Model series, Got to Dance UK, Junior Masterchef Australia and Masterchef Australia 2. :)

New Reality Show

There is a new reality show in town. For those of us who love Glee, you just have to watch The Glee Project lol. The Glee Project finds 12 talented performers (from over thousands of hopefuls) to compete against one another. Through intensive rounds of workshops, singing, dancing and acting–based assignments, only one hopeful will win a seven episode guest-starring role on Glee.
I just watched the first episode and I am totally blown away by the contestants. Actually they should just let all 12 of them each have a chance to guest-star in one episode in Glee 3.

Bali Trip Updated

I have finally updated my Bali trip. Sorry that I took so long. :(

The links are here for easier viewing. :)

Bali Day 1, 28 July 2011: I am in Bali

Bali Day 2, 29 July 2011: Bali Eat and Play

Bali Day 3, 30 July 2011: Bali Eat, Spa and Play

Bali Day 4, 31 July 2011: Farewell, Bali

New TV Series

There are a couple of new tv series on telly, either just started or coming soon such as Teen Wolf, The Gates, and The Killing. So many shows, so little time lol.

Extra Holiday

meant extra homework for the girls. The girls, especially Marieann had a few extra sheets of homework to complete because today is a school holiday. So their joy at having an extra day of holiday is coupled with the lament of having to do more homework lol.

Happy National Day

Happy 46th Birthday, Singapore.

We stayed home for most part of the day until evening time when we went to Ngee Ann City for dinner.

Half Day

Schools in Singapore are having half day because of the National Day (ND) celebration in schools. The girls were extremely pleased to be going home at 10am. Too bad, we can't have half day at work on the ND eve lol.

Unwell Still

My tummy is still not feeling too good. :( Tried taking charcoal pills but not working... :(

Unwell

My tummy is not feeling too well. It started not long after supper. :S Somehow, I am the only one affected although everyone in the family have been eating the same things.

New BFF

Received another email. More number crunching to be done! Since I first joined the research centre, I never once thought I would crunching so much numbers as I do now. Stats has never been my strength but at the rate this is going now, stats is going to be my new bff whether I like it or not lol. :P

Crunch Time (and Numbers)

It is crunch time this week. Due to the erroneous termination of my work account for 12 hours, I now have to make up for the lost time by working late into the night crunching numbers. Thank goodness, my boss is very understanding and he is even willing to negotiate with the ministry for a later deadline to submit the report. I am really thankful.

Bali Trip Update

It will take a while before I can post my Bali trip on the blog. There is too much to do at work now. Looks like I can only do the posting during the coming National Day holiday. Please bear with me. Thanks.

Your Account has Expired

I was really frustrated when I couldn't log into my email account last night and there is tons of work to be done. Thinking it might be my password expiring soon, I changed it. Thrice! Nothing worked. I gave up at 1+am and decided that I would check with the IT department when I get into work first thing in the morning.

The first thing I heard when I called the IT department was "Your account has expired".

Me: What do you mean by "my account has expired"?
IT: Your account has been terminated.
Me: What?! What do you mean?!
IT: On our record, your contract ended on 31 July 2011.
Me: I am still here! I have been renewed till 2012!
IT: Sorry, our record shows that you are no longer staff...
Me: I have lots of work to do!! I need my account reactivated!!! (getting hysterical)
IT: Maybe you can get your department's reporting office to call us.

That's what I did. My project managers (both current and former) helped me to sort out the glitch. Somewhere, somehow, someone messed it up. It was an uneasy 12 hours' wait before my account was finally activated again.

Back to Work

I just returned from a really good break from Bali. However, there was no time to take a post-break break. I had to return to work immediately because we have to rush a report by 8 August for the ministry. :(