Happy New Year 2010!!!

How time flies! It's that time of the year again! I was looking at my 2008 New Year Resolutions for 2009 and I've put my comments (self review) in red in the brackets.


1) To be a better servant of God (Most definitely, in terms of my relationship with the Almighty, it's been outta this world for me since I attended the Life in the Spirit Seminar at our church. I've begun speaking and singing in Tongues; something I could not have imagined to be able to do and I've drawn closer to God. Definitely a check)


2) To be a better wife (I can't self review this!!! I still nag but I love him lots more every day that I'm married to him)

3) To be a better mother (I can't self review this either!!! Kids urged me to cook 'sticks' for them (will explain that in another post another day next year) and I refused them cos I was too tired. They were very disappointed. I so far have not bought an iMac for my daughter despite her incessant bugging and I dropped soup on my son's iPhone yesterday evening. Not sure if that will go down well as being a better mother!!! BTW, what's with all the Apple stuff? They're making me broke-r. Material stuff aside, I've been praying more for them and I've been talking about God more to them. Er......I know it comes across as boring stuff to teens sometimes. Too bad. I'm the mum. I get to decide what to say and do. Hah!) 

4) To help my son with his Chinese (This is a tough one. Does it count if you plonk stacks and stacks of unread Chinese compo books in front of him and nag him to memorise phrases? I doubt very much but I'm done with PSLE Chinese and I don't ever want to see those books ever again....yucks!)

5) To improve my own Chinese (I think it got worse this year for lack of practice)

6) To come up with more shoe designs (Oops.....definitely neglected this. Got caught up with God instead and that I cannot complain) 

Resolution # 1001 was.........to lose weight (It's evident I didn't otherwise I would have shouted it from the rooftops or rather HDB water tank tops)

So...........what's my resolution for 2010? I thought long and hard about it and decided that I only have one...........
 
 
 
 
 
TO PUT ON WEIGHT!!!
Hah! That, you have to agree, I surely can do!
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS!!!

(Me, Bangkok Dec 2009 in my favourite purple shirt, S$10 pasar malam denim cut-offs and my trusty travelling Converse anti-snatch-theft handbag. Please excuse the very geeky bag strap length. I had shortened it to hip length because the weight of the bag, which contained the family's passports, digital cameras, handphones, tissue, wet ones, sour kanas and breath mints, slamming against my thighs throughout the Safari walk was getting too much! Fortunately, you can't see my China brand sports shoes in the pic - very comfortable for walking I tell you!!!)

St Gabriel's Secondary School - Here we come!!!

It's the end of the primary school chapter in our lives as our youngest kid (does one say 'younger' or 'youngest' if I only have 2 kids and he's the youngest?) gets posted to St Gabriel's Secondary School, Express Stream! Seems like only yesterday that I was worrying about him passing his PSLE. Phew! Praise the Lord!

That's John, clowning around as usual in a bird enclosure at Safari World, Bangkok Thailand.

Speaking of Safari World, this is the second time at this place for Mike and myself although he has no recollection of it whatsoever. He said it was probably some other guy I had gone on the trip with (erh, yah sure. It was our second honeymoon the year of our wedding. Let's see, what's the probability of me going on a second honeymoon with some other guy???)

In fact, we placed a bet that whoever lost would have to massage the other for 20 mins. I squatted at our photo album cabinet and zoomed in accurately at the old photo album. Whipped it out and watched in glee as he licked his wounds! Purrrrr...... never argue with a woman about stuff like that. Hmmph! Does that guy even remember my name, you wonder sometimes.....

We didn't join a tour to visit the Safari and in the end, it cost us more to go on our own. But it meant we could really take our time visiting whichever exhibits or watching whichever shows we wanted. We could also walk in the opposite direction of where the crowd was going. We noted that for the tour groups, they had limited time and more or less had to follow the instructions of their tour leaders. If you're intending to visit this place sans tourgroup, you might prefer to book a cab for a two-way trip. The cab drivers are only too happy to take a nap while they wait a couple of hours for your return trip. Is the place worth the visit? Yes, but make sure you are buying tickets for the entire place and not just the Safari drive-through.

At time of blogging, the rates per person are (as printed on the tickets):

Safari Park = THB 280

Bird Park = THB 400

Show = THB 70

That worked out to THB 750 per person (about SGD23) and if your kids aren't any taller than 1.5m (I think), they get cheaper rates. Fortunately (actually, unfortunately or fortunately???) my kids aren't that short! One suggestion is you go into the Marine Park and Bird Park first to catch all the shows and exhibits, then you make your way to the Safari Park just before 4 pm to catch the last bus in. You still have to pay for the bus ride per person but the cost is negligible.

BTW, give the boat ride a miss. Thought it came to around SGD8 per person and it wasn't quite worth it. Driverless boat. Nice fauna but fake animal displays are run down.

Back from Bangkok (again)!

We've just come back from our holiday in where else.....Bangkok....again! Love the place. Maybe because everything is much like Singapore. Busy, noisy, always moving, always eating, always shopping. It's home away from home. I also love how gentle some of the Thai girls are. I'm not alone. Hubs was fascinated with this salesgirl at a FBT shorts outlet (yes, of course, when you have a teenage daughter, FBT shorts is a must). Don't ask me where this outlet is ok. We only know how to get there and it took us a LONG LONG time over 2 days to find it.

He kept asking her questions about this size, that colour, that size, this colour. I still can't get over how gentle her replies were. Although you could see she was agitated with his continuous stream of questions, her voice managed to remain calm and soft.
Alamak! Mike told me and the kids he was mesmerized by her voice. We laughed and laughed at the monosyllabic responses. Regardless of what you asked her, her responses were restricted to 'Nooooo, Yeeeees, Oooookay' (oh wait, I stand corrected. 'Okay' isn't monosyllabic!)
Outside the shop, I tried to copy her and spoke to Mike that way. It lasted all of 45 seconds before I broke out into my usual garang voice. What to do? We were crossing the mad road and I was yelling at him to watch out for a reversing truck!

Cannot tahan lah. Anyway, I bet if she had to deal with a Singapore man everyday, she'd last all of 45 days!

Here's something from my favourite Bangkok roadside vendor.....delicious pandan leave fried mealworms, lightly sprinkled in salt! Yummy! Unfortunately, we could only get our hands on a limited no. of packets......

It's only for the maid

What I overheard at NTUC supermarket yesterday evening:

Girl about 12yrs old, holding up a loaf of bread:
                              "Mummy, mummy! Which type of bread better?"

Mother does not look at child. Continues staring at a loaf of 'designer bread' in her own hands:
                               "Aiyah! The cheapest lah! It's only for the  
                     maid what!"          

Girl runs off back to bread shelf to look for 'cheapest type of bread'.                 

Lady, are you kidding me????????????????????