First Day of Year 2010

Hi,

Another New Year........ so soon.......?

The young ones want to grow old faster so that they can do adult things but old folks like me wants the year to slow down a bit so that I can enjoy my current situation and not visit my ancestors so soon......ha.....ha...

Anyway, here is a reflection of my past year........

1Q 2009 :

I found a new stream of income for my Internet Business initiative...... and it started to grow slowly resulting in a consistent monthly income throughout the year... but still small income though! However, this is the result of the 1st year of building my IM business.

I was excited and wanted to push up my income but then got distracted by health problems within the family.....see below.

Jack and Ruby got very sick but managed to recovered after medication from the Vet.

2Q 2009 :

My Mum had a minor stroke and I have to fly back to Penang almost weekly initially and then every month subsequently until recently. Took a lot out of me and I did not manage to work on my IM business to increase my income but managed to maintain a steady income, as mentioned above. Most traumatic event of the year..!

My dear wife started calligraphy class and also played badminton with her new found friends.

I was supposed to have started swimming in Bedok public pool for my lower back and knee pain but never got to it..!

3Q 2009 :

Spent most of the time caring for my Mum in Penang.....

Thanks to budget airline like JetStar, I could afford to fly back very often to care for my parents.

Also, managed to see my bro and sis from Melbourne in Penang, as they are came home to care for my parents....

Gave a lot of moral support to Jas for his preparation for 'O' level exam..... advice and encouragement, etc....

4Q 2009 :

My Dad started to have problem in his neck and lower back. He got 6 injections on his neck to ease the pain caused by the degeneration of the spinal bones there. Did some physio too but it seems to be helping a bit only and no cure other than pain killers....sigh....wear n tear!

My mum-in-law also have severe knees joint pain and got 3 injections but no help so pain killers too...... again, wear and tear!

Both parents are in their 80s already.... but this older generation does not like to seek medical treatment until they cannot take it anymore so it has been very tough to help them too......sigh

Ruby, my Corgi, was successfully re-homed as she was bullying Jack , my Beagle, and bit him on the body.....sigh.... we decide that it is not fair to Jack and Ruby has to go...... Ruby also bit Jack's ear when she first came into our family!

Jack got sick and was operated on his tummy to remove an accumulated mass of grass, his hair + sand.....!

Jas put in a lot of effort in his 'O' level exam. and we think that he should have done reasonably well, we hope.

Our maid of 12 years has gone home for good and we have decided not to have any replacement but we went for 'tingkat' food during the weekday, as we do not really cook.

In summary, we have quite a few incidents of medical problems and both LLM & I are also experiencing lower back and knee joint pain too.....wear n tear.....sigh

Throughout the year, I managed to strike 4D on and off but small wins only..... resulting in a net loss, of course..... but just tried my luck and some form of cheap entertainment. Also, sponsoring Tote Board generous donations to the charities.....ha....ha....

Also, good to start having a steady income though small from my IM initiative.

So any resolutions for the new year 2010......?

I hope the family will have less medical problems but then we are all aging......sigh

So we need to try to take better care of ourselves .... now that we have learned from our parents experiences.

I hope Jas will get into the JC or Poly of his choice..... we have yet to finalise his intentions pending his results in early Jan 2010.

I target to double my IM income, at least....... hopefully, no major distraction so that I can spend more time working on it from home.

I hope that I can go back to doing some part-time work commercially else then commit to some voluntary work.

Well, Jas is now in a Downtown chalet with his friends to celebrate the new year.

My wife and I have an eventful or fruitful first day of 2010 together.

So here again, we wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year in 2010...!

David

I Survived One Month Of Housework

Hi,

My maid left for good one month ago and we have decided not to have a replacement since Jason is in his teens already.

Also, an 'Aussie' friend of mine told me to imagine that I have migrated to Australia and have no maid in the household....ha...ha.....

But we ordered 'tingkat' food for dinner during the weekdays as we do not really cook...!

It definitely needed some adjustments as we were so used to being served by Jean but now, we have to spend time to do all the household chores like laundry, ironing, mopping the floor, etc....

I used to read the papers first thing in the morning as I like to know what is happening locally and overseas but now I have to find time to read the papers and sometimes even just browse through them only........

Why?

And guess what is the first thing I do every morning?

Well, Jack barks at 7am for his food and I have to wake up to feed him before my neighbours complain about his barking especially on weekends......sigh

Walk Jack too else he will bark for it again around 8am....sigh

Make breakfast, clean up some plates or cups left overnight, do laundry as it takes about 2 hours for the washing machine to complete a cycle....... before I can sit down to read the papers!

There are days where I went back to sleep and if I am really tired, I may sleep for another hour or so...ha....ha......

I dislike cooking during weekends as while I can 'cook' ( after 4 years as an overseas student ), I feel pressurised to cook a decent meal for my family esp Jason as he is still a growing boy.

Anyway, I suppose it is just a matter of the whole family chipping in and getting used to it.

Any tips for my me..... drop me a line.....

David

Christmas Lights in Orchard Road

Hi,

I make it a point to take a stroll along Orchard Rd to enjoy the decorations and soak into the Xmas atmosphere....

This year is different too as there are new shopping malls like Ion, Orchard Central and 313 at Somerset.

Here is a short slide show of some photos taken that night.

Merry Christmas....!

David

Merry Christmas 2009

Hi,

We wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you have a wonderful day today....!

We went to Jack's Place for a special Xmas lunch there...... something that we have been doing for years ...... though we missed it for a few years.

We then watch the movie, AVATAR, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. You should watch it as there is a good storyline, action and good special effects or CGI; value for money as it is about 3 hours long.

I have also taken some photos of the Xmas decorations in Orchard Rd too...... will post them later.

Merry Xmas again.....

David

Touch Screen Mobiles - iPhone, Nokia, Samsung

I pre-ordered an iPhone from Starhub but then decided not to follow the trend for the sake of it.....!

The main features for my mobile besides making calls and smses, is to upgrade to a 5MP camera and to try out the touch screen mobile.

Another feature is also to have wi-fi so that I can check the stock market prices on the go , if necessary but no major or huge data download.

I was inspired by my Filipino maid who bought a touch screen mobile by LG and I thought I should have a go at the latest technology too.....ha....ha...... provided it is affordable.

Most of us used less than 50% of all the features on our mobiles.

I offer to buy Jason an iPhone which he talked about it a few times but he decided to stay put with his current Sony Ericsson mobile.

Our mobile plans are due for re-contract so we can upgrade our mobiles at a discounted rate and I was also given free vouchers of $100 and $150 for 2 of my mobiles.

I managed to buy a Nokia 5800 touch screen mobile for my wife and we are happy with it.

I wanted to buy this Samsung Jet but the black model is out of stock and they are now selling the special white edition with an increase in price!

I am surprised that mobile prices can also move up and usually during the the weekends, watch out for their advertisement on Sat papers and you will know what I mean.

So I have to go for the Samsung Omnia II now though it is more expensive and more features but then it went up by another $100 last weekend.....!


Well, wait and see again....sigh

So I am going to end up with no Xmas present for myself ......sob....sob...

David

Thorn In My Thumb

Last Friday, I was cutting down a bouganvilla plant that has over grown and reached the top of our awning in the backyard.

It is a thorny plant.

I was a bit too ambitious and one of the big branches fell towards me though I was using my left hand to hold it while I was using my right hand to saw it.

I lost my balance and in the process of steadying myself, I somehow came down from the chair I was standing on and luckily, I did not step on any of the thorny branches on the ground. But it happened so fast that the falling bracnhes must have brushed my hands.

I could feel a cut or two on both hands. I thought I cold have gotten it from the wire fence and I could also see a puncture hole or two made by the thorns....!

I could have gotten it worse when I think back on the incident; eg more deep cuts and also stepped on a thorny branch on the ground....!

Anyway, whan I cleaned up and took a shower, I could feel the water running over more cuts on my hands and even my right foot....!

I noticed a deep cut on my left thumb and it seems to have a small thorn inside it.

I took a needle from my sewing kit and tried to dig it out but it was pretty deep and the cut was a bit too deep. It was too painful to go further so I was prepared to have the thorn embedded in my thumb.

A week later, my thumb was still sore and the cut was still open, much to my surprise.....? But the skin seem not to be sore or sensitive so I decided it was telling me to have another go at digging out the thorn.

Guess what....?

I persisted in digging deeper and suddenly some liquid came out..... I think it is some sort of pus in formation so I took a tissue to squeeze out all of it.

And the thorn popped out, just like squueezing your pimple...know what I mean...?

After that, eventhough the cut was still opened but the pain was minimal.

So it looked like the body was rejecting the foreign item in my thumb and I think it caould get swollen with pus if I had not removed the thorn.

Phew.....

Just to give you an idea on how big the bouganvilla plant, here is a photo of the branches I have to saw to bring it down.

David

Jason Off To Vietnam

Jason's class won the Best Cass in both Sec 3 and 4.

A 3D2N trip to Vietnam was arranged for the students after their 'O' level exam.

When I sent him off early this morning, our Singapore Table Tennis team was also checking in at the same row for their flight to Laos for the SEA Games.

Initially, I mistook one of the officials as our local tour guide as she was standing next to the boys. It would have been embarrassing if I have approached her the tour guide assigned to us but I saw the Singapore Flag on her polo-shirt.

Eventually, we saw the whole contingent of the Table Tennis team and officials. I saw Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu.

Feng Tianwei looks nice and not so tomboyish.

Here is a photo taken of the boys just behind the Team Singapore at the check-in counter. It so happened that their class T-shirt is red in colour too, so it blended well with them...ha...ha....

Hope to post some photos and details of his trip next week.

David

Farewell To Our Filipino Maid

Mary Jean came to help look after Jason when he was 4 years old and after a period of 12 years, she has finally gone home for good.

Her main duties were to look after Jason, her primary duty, and housekeeping was secondary task. She connected well with Jason and Jason was hardly lonely when we were off to work.

We were comfortable with her caring for Jason during the day but once we are home, we took over from her and spend as much time as we could with Jason.

My Mum trained Jean during her first 2 months with us and then Jean was able to work with minimum supervision. Eventually, she could liaise directly with people like our laundry man and the air-con maintenance man.

When Jason entered secondary school, Jean did not have to 'mother' Jason so much but she was also looking after our 2 dogs, Jack and Ruby.

Since she has an interest to learn, we sent her for cooking, PC, making bead jewelry, entrepreneur class, ......

While she may not be the perfect maid and neither we, the perfect employer...... somehow, both parties have managed to compromise and get along during this long period.

Jean intends to set up some small business and may even get married, so we wish her the success in her venture.

Jason is taller tahn Jean now, sending her off at the airport last Sat afternoon.

We just chatted on MSN a few minutes ago and she has arrived safely in Manila but done with a bad throat, and staying with her brother there before she goes back to her hometown in Mindanao.

Thanks and good luck to you, Mary Jean.

David

St. Patrick Graduation Night 2009

Jason attended his school graduation night on Thu 19 Nov 2009.

He was given a medal for his outstanding leadership and service in Track and Field & Peer Support Board that evening.

Needless to say, Jas enjoyed the company of his teachers and school friends tremendously......!

Here is a slideshow of the photos taken during his graduation night :

Well, so happy for them ..........!

( There is no such graduation night during my school days......sob....sob...)

David

Holidays in Penang - November 2009

Hi,

After Jason's 'O' level exams., the family flew to Penang for a short holiday to visit his grandparents.

Here is a short slideshow of the trip :

Well, if you plan to visit Penang soon during the school holidays, drop me a note and I can give you some advice to help you plan for it.

David