Happy Birthday, Pa/ Grandpa

Today is my father's birthday. He called from Xiamen (where he and my mother are now having their break now) to chitchat with the granddaughters in the afternoon. The girls wished him "Happy Birthday". When I came home from work, the girls told me about their grandfather's birthday. Yikes, I forgot about it. I quickly called my father. Phew. Thank goodness, the girls reminded me. If not, I would probably get a scolding from my mother for forgetting. :P 

Happy Birthday, Pa/ Grandpa!!

Photo Update

Realised that the photo "My Girls and I" on my blog was really outdated. It was of the girls when they were much younger, when they were in kindergarten. I also realised that I have not been taking a lot of photos with the girls in the last year or so lol. I have now updated the photo of us. It was taken on my birthday last year - we are older definitely and hopefully, wiser lol. :P

Dinner at "English Cottage"

We had dinner at Ma Maison, Marina Bay with its English Cottage decor. It is Japanese-Western fusion cuisine. Half the family had Japanese food  - Juliane the Tonkatsu set and their father the Curry Katsu. The other half had the Western food - Marieann the Spaghetti with Seafood in Cream Sauce and I the Salmon Steak. The dishes weren't too bad but I thought the Tonkatsu was a little on the tough side. What excited the girls and I the most was the dessert - red bean with mochi and ice cream, which came in a bowl made of ice. :)

 

Glee 3: On My Way

Serious themes tonight - bullying, suicide (attempted), marriage, death (possible), ... 

Cough Syrup (uploaded by GleeFullPerformances)

 Stand (uploaded by GleeFullPerformances)
 

 Glad You Came (uploaded by GleeOnFox)


 Fly/ I Believe I Can Fly (uploaded by GleeFullPerformances)

 Stronger (uploaded by GleeOnFox)


 Here's To Us (uploaded by GleeOnFox)
 

Rested

It has been a while since I have been able to rest so well and undisturbed. The last time I was ill, I had a throat infection just 3 days before my oral defense. I definitely couldn't rest then. This time round, I could rest all I want. After two days of rest, I am feeling a lot better, both physically and mentally. :)

Acute Gastroenteritis

I went to see the doctor in the morning and was diagnosed as having acute gastroenteritis. :S Remember Monday I was already feeling queasy in the stomach? Throughout Tuesday, while at work, I continued to feel uncomfortable and had stomach cramps. In the night, I had very bad diarrhoea. I was visiting the toilet non-stop from10pm+ until 3am+. I was so exhausted and weak from all the going in and out of the toilet that I wanted to just camp out in the toilet to save me from moving. :( 

The doctor gave me 2 days of sick leave. I definitely need the rest, especially after last night.

Hardcover Book Binding

I received news yesterday that I could go ahead to hard bind my thesis and submit 3 copies of it by 4 May. Now, I finally feel I am a Dr. :) 

PS. Just sent 3 copies of my thesis for hardcover binding at Queensway Shopping Centre. I can collect them on 2 May. 

Project Retreat

One of the projects that I am involved in had a retreat out of campus at the Bukit Batok Civil Service Club. It was a good change of environment for everyone to have discussions about the plans for the project. :) Buffet breakfast and lunch were provided. As I had my breakfast, I only took the lunch.

After the lunch, it was optional recreational activities, either bowling or spa treatment at the club. As my toe was still recovering, I decided to skip the recreational activities and headed home. I took a lift from a colleague home. On the way back, I complained about my stomach feeling queasy. Maybe I overdid the rice and potato. I have been on a low carb diet for quite some time now, thus, the discomfort perhaps. Hope it settles soon.

Orange Sunset

The sky was tinted orange this evening. Really lovely.

Mom's Cooking

We went to Xi Men Ding at Vivocity for dinner. I guess we must be missing my mom's cooking lol. Xi Men Ding serves Taiwanese cuisine. I was pretty excited to see some classic Taiwanese dishes on its menu. We ordered Baby Clams in Light Sauce, Grilled Fish Roe, Deep Fried Fish in Sweet & Sour Sauce, Pan-Fried Pork Liver, Wok-Fried Tofu with Meat Sauce, Radish Fried Rice, Oyster with Tofu Soup and Herbal Pork Rib Soup. For dessert, we had Egg Pudding and Almond Tofu.

The food was pretty good but I am quite sure my mother would probably disapprove of us eating at Xi Men Ding because she could cook most of the dishes we had! :P

Can I Change My Name?

That was what Juliane asked me a couple of days ago.

Juliane: I want to be called Jessica.

I: No. Juliane sounds better.

Juliane: How about Wong Hwei Ming?

I: NO! There is only one Wong Hwei Ming, and that is me. 

Juliane: Ok, when you die, I change my name to Wong Hwei Ming and I can be Dr Wong Hwei Ming. *grinning*

I: ... *totally speechless*

Semestral Examination 1

The exams are here again, the mid-year exams. Marieann had her oral exams today. I pick her up from school at 4.30pm and asked her how her orals went. To which, she replied, "Easy". 

Hmm, should I be worried? From experience, easy may not exactly be easy...

Glee 3: Heart

Here are the lovely love songs featured in this episode of Glee. 

Let Me Love You (uploaded by gleefulldii)


Home (uploaded by ChristianVonRappard)
 

Stereo Hearts (uploaded by GleeOnFox)
 

LOVE (uploaded by ChristianVonRappard)
 

I Will Always Love You (uploaded by GleeOnFox)
 

Cherish/ Cherish (uploaded by GleeFullPerformances) 
 

Love Shack (uploaded by GleeFullPerformances)

PAIN!

I had an accident today, just before I left for work. In my hurry to leave, I accidentally stubbed my right foot on my room door which left the door rattling away. My middle toe went numb and I quickly rubbed it without looking at my foot. As I was walking to the living room where I left my computer bag, I spied with the corner of my eye a trail of red on the floor. Why is there a bloody trail?! When I looked down at my right foot, I saw my middle toe totally covered in blood! At that point of time, I felt PAIN!! I quickly went into the bathroom to clean up. The skin covering my toe was nearly tore off and flapping around. I did something which I shouldn't have -- I tore the skin off! OUCH!! It was pain upon pain. :( I bandaged it as best as I could. Unfortunately, I didn't own any peep-toe shoes/ sandals and had to wear the most comfortable covered shoes I had - my Crocs. It was hurting like hell with every step I took. When I arrived at work, my bandage was soaked through with blood and I had to change it with the supplies from the First Aid box. During lunch, my good friend drove me out to the nearest shopping mall so that I could just buy a pair of sandals to wear and to buy first aid supplies. Thanks much, DK, I really appreciated your help. 

My toe was throbbing away in pain the entire day. I had to change the bandage twice more during the day as the wound was still bleeding away. Being pre-diabetic, I think it didn't help. :( When I arrived home in the evening, I called for the family doctor as it happened that Juliane wasn't feeling well. He took a look at my toe too and scolded me for tearing the skin off my toe. :( He said that my toe nail has actually been dislodged from the bed and has moved from its original position. But he advised me NOT to touch/ remove the nail and let it heal on its own. The main worry is infection so I had to keep applying antiseptic cream on my toe and to keep it clean and dry.

I hope my toe will heal soon! I can't stand the pain. I swear the pain is worse than labour pain! I swear I will be more careful in the future.

Day of Rest

The girls had a day of rest today because SCGS decided to reward the staff and the students for the good 'O' level results obtained for 2011 and declared today a school holiday. It was timely after the school carnival as the entire school was involved and working their hearts out on Saturday 14 April and all could do with a rest day to recoup from Saturday. 

Initially the girls wanted to follow me to office again. However, as Marieann has Chinese tuition on Monday afternoons, they had to abort their plan lol. They promised that they will follow me to office during the June holidays. We will see, Girls. :)

Catching Up

As the girls were at the carnival yesterday, it was catching up time with their homework today. It was also catching up time for me with my work and my sleep lol. I am still recovering from yesterday's carnival lol.
Too lazy to go out, we ordered pizza for lunch lol. It has been a long since we last had pizza! It was really delicious haha.

SC Cares Family Carnival 2012

SCGS had their carnival today. The official opening was at 10am but most of the stalls started as early as 8.30am. Marieann, Juliane and I arrived around 9.45am because Marieann was on duty at her class's game stall from 10am-11am.
While Marieann was on duty, Juliane and I went round to look at the other stalls. We returned just before 11am to Marieann's class stall. Juliane supported her sister's class by playing at their game stall. After her duty, Marieann decided to join her friends. Juliane and I went on our own again. We bought cakes, and jellies to bring home. I also bought a handmade purse, a SCGS mug and a SCGS souvenir. :) Marieann joined us around 1pm and we had some food and drinks. We also tried our hand at scrap booking which was really fun and therapeutic lol. :) Not to mention, we got a bit of leg rest too after being on our feet for more than three hours lol. :P
There were more food stalls at this carnival as compared to the last one which I thought was a really good idea. I managed to catch up with a couple of my SCGS ex-colleagues as well as a few of my classmates. :) We finally left for home just after 3pm. We were really exhausted but we enjoyed ourselves too.

Some of the goodies we bought and our handicraft

Filing Tax 2012

It is that time of the year again that most working adults dread... Filing of income tax. :( But I must admit, the procedures and the forms have been simplified over the years. It is much easier to file tax now compared to when I first started filing in the late 90s. :P

Glee 3: The Spanish Teacher

One sizzling HOT episode lol.

Sexy and I know it (uploaded by GleeOnFox)


Bamboleo / Hero (uploaded by gleefulldii)


La Isla Bonita (uploaded by gleefulldii)

Virus is in the Air

Out of the six counsellees I saw today, three of them are sick or recovering from throat infection. I was most wary lol. After all, I have just recovered from a throat infection less than a week ago. In case you are thinking that I might have spread my virus to them, I didn't see this group of counsellees for three weeks! So it couldn't have been me lol. :P

Tremors

I felt the tremors of the earthquake(s) in Aceh, Indonesia. I was at home in the early afternoon after my counselling. I was seated on my bed and playing my iPad when I felt this shaking and felt dizzy too. At first, I thought I was experiencing vertigo! Then I noticed my blinds were rattling slightly. It lasted for a minute or so. I realised I must have felt the tremors of an earthquake.
True enough, the earthquake in Aceh, Indonesia was reported in the 6.30pm news. I hope there is not much damage and casualties...

Work Appraisal 2012

I had my work appraisal first thing in the morning at 9am today. It went really well. :) I am really lucky that I have been able to work with one good PI after another.

Oral Exam Report

I just heard that my oral exam report is out since last week. However as the person-in-charge is on leave (5-9 April), I would only get it tomorrow. For an office that deals with tight timelines, there really should be an officer to cover duties. Quite inefficient. Sigh.

Gu Mama

My youngest nephew in UK, Yeun Zhen is able to address me! Never mind if it is "Gu Mama" instead of "Gu Ma" lol. We were communicating via Skype when my brother asked his son to address us. He was able to say "Ah Ma" (Grandmother). Unfortunately, my mother is now in Taiwan. If not, she would be overjoyed to hear it. Yeun Zhen had a bit more problem trying to say "Ah Gong" (Grandfather), he made it as far as "Ah" and gave up on "Gong" lol. :P He was able to piece "Gu Mama" together with some teaching lol. At least, it is better than "Mu Ma" (wooden horse) which my other two nephews called me when they were that young lol. :D

Kallang Leisure Park

Juliane had a birthday party at Kallang Leisure Park, 10-12pm. After sending Juliane to the venue, Marieann and I went to Coffee Bean to do our work. It was a good place to work. But after a while, it became crowded with people doing their work/ studying lol.
Rather than driving to somewhere else, we decided to have lunch at Pasta Mania, Kallang Leisure Park. There are quite a few eateries - Japanese, Thai, Chinese, and a food court. There are a couple of shops and Cold Storage too. Not a bad place. However, it is rather far from where we stay. Not sure if we will come back here again, just for food or shopping.

Good Friday Break

Had a good break on Good Friday.
1. Lazed around in the day.
2. Went out in the late afternoon to get a gift and had dinner with family.
3. Met a friend later for dinner again lol.

Short Week or Long Weekend

I only just realised that tomorrow is Good Friday! What a short week lol. Looking forward to the long weekend. :)
My girls happily announced to me that since they have no school tomorrow, they want to follow me to office tomorrow lol. Sorry, Girls, I am not going to office on a public holiday!

Glee 3 "Michael"

Another episode featuring mostly MJ songs.

Want to be Starting Something (uploaded by GLEEhighdefinition)


Bad (uploaded by TheOlavoF)


Never Can Say Goodbye (uploaded by ChristianVonRappard)


Smooth Criminal (uploaded by gleefulldii)


Ben (uploaded by GleeOnFox)


Black or White (uploaded by GleeFullVids)


I Can't Stop Loving You (uploaded by ChristianVonRappard)

Farewell, Teck Kiang

Yet another colleague is leaving us, another statistics expert, Teck Kiang. :( We had a farewell lunch for TK at the Chinese restaurant at NTU. It was a nice and cosy lunch.
Although we have been in the same work place for a long time, I haven't had the chance to work with TK nor had I the chance to know him well. I only got to know him better in the last two years as I had to seek his statistics help for my work. I wished I had known him better earlier lol. I don't know why but my impression of him was that since he is an expert in statistics, he probably won't want much to do with a statistics idiot like me. But when I approached him for help, he was really nice and helpful. He even went beyond and gave me quick tutorials of why we should or should not use certain methods. He was totally not what I expected! Never judge a book by its cover. :P
Thank you for your help, Teck Kiang. Good luck at your new workplace. :) Keep in touch.

Behind Times?

According to Blogthings, I am only a year behind times lol. That's much better than I anticipated lol.

You Are a Year Behind the Times

You are quite modern, but you're not obsessed with being an early adopter. You adopt anything new once it gains mass appeal. You like to let other people get the kinks out. Very true! I didn't rush to get the iPad when it was first launched. Rather, I waited two weeks before I ordered it. Same with my Lumia 800, I waited until now to get it. :P You are future oriented, but you probably at least have some taste for retro or vintage objects. If something is a classic, you'll stick with it. But if something better comes along, you'll definitely upgrade.

How Outdated Are You?

April Fools' Joke?!

Just after midnight, I decided to check my work email as I hadn't had the chance to do so on Saturday. However, I had problem logging in. An error message kept appearing, saying that my user id or password is incorrect and to try again. As it was late, I thought it might be a system's error and decided to try again in the daytime.
However, throughout the day, the same error message kept appearing. Then it occurred to me that the same thing happened to me once before... the last time I had my contract extended/ renewed and there was some miscommunication between the IT department and HR department. Oh no. Don't tell me it is the same problem again. :( My old contract expired on 31 March with the new one kicking in on 1 April... What a way to start my new contract with a "April Fools' joke" courtesy of the IT department. :( :(