Carpe Diem - easier said than done for a self-professed procrastinator. But for the love of my life, I finally keyed my first sentence, then the second, and the third... as a recording of memories I'd want to remember, good or bad, a gift from Mommy to U - Dear Baby En

"From Baby En to Baby Kang, both my darlings, equally precious. May this journal keep u company, when Mummy can no longer be there......"

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Tuesday, 1 April 2008

妈妈

我的妈妈很啰嗦,性格急躁,有点敏感,还相当“迟钝”。

由于本尊也是火爆派(全家的女人都一样),经常会发生口角,感觉好似永无宁日,所以在成长时期,刚踏入社会之际,最想有的是自己的家,快快搬出去。或许因此,成就了之后所犯的种种错误。

犯的错越多,却越能感受到妈妈的爱,妈妈的包容,妈妈所给予的力量。特别是当了母亲后,被孩子“整”,更能体会为人母的辛苦,所要付出的心血。妈妈是职业妇女,以前的女人没现在的“好命”。下班后还得回家当女佣,全家的衣服(包括几位小叔的)都得一手包办,夜里还得忍受我这个“小魔鬼”起来“唱大戏”。

身为长女,本该负起照顾家庭,替父母分忧的角色,但我却是让他们最劳心劳力的那个。不但不带分文回家,还经常得让他们出老本。即使现在人在美国,也还得靠他们寄东、寄西的。所以我经常都会抱怨,好的东西轮不到我的父母,就留那些又破财,又麻烦的“屎”让他们去捡。那又如何?别人的心我无法掌控,唯一能做的是靠自己的力量,有一天,我会让他们过好日子。

妈妈对我的支持是没活说的,无论我选择的是哪一条路,即使她未必认同。她是我最大的“客户”,我相信也是我最忠实的。

我很庆幸,我父母很有人情味。不仅对人,对小动物也是如此。当初我带furfur回家,主要是因为K很喜欢小狗。他说小时候他父亲也买了狗给他,所以他们会让他养。我家就不同。当我跟父亲提要养狗时,他第一时间对我说:“不要把狗带回来!”结果,事与愿违,K一把furfur带回家,迎来的就是黑脸。我就硬着头皮带她回我家,结果一住就是六年。养狗狗不是一件容易的事。Furfur不知闯了多少祸,破坏了多少家具,制造了多少不便(父母喜欢旅行)。他们不是没有抱怨,但始终是说说就算了。妈妈还经常会带furfur去散步。Furfur是我和K的,结果呢?嗨。。。。。。

小时候,不懂事,会羡慕别人的父母较富裕,有汽车接送,可以经常出国旅行。长大了才庆幸,父母是脚踏实地的人,会为退休后的日子打算,我才能过得如此无忧。是的,父母的爱是伟大的,但有多少能做到真正的无私,不求回报,不认为孩子奉养是理所当然的(我不是说我们不该奉养父母,只是觉得当我们为孩子付出时,是否应该把这点当作先决条件,以后要连本带利收回来)?看过太多父母与子女因钱财反目的例子,也听说过父母把金钱摆第一,不顾子女是否负担得起的事件。我父母做到了真正的无私。

妈妈的生日快到了。我想让你知道,我懂得你的好,虽然还是会对你大声说话,但这只是急躁的反应。有些话很难说出口,我要让你知道:“我很爱你!”爸爸,我也很爱你。

妈妈,生日快乐!!

(妈妈和妹妹的生日在同一天--4月18日。Ah Bee,也“顺便”祝你“黑皮 Birthday!”)

Saturday, 29 March 2008

My lovely......

I must be CRAZY! Blogging about ENG CAI (KANG KONG lah)!!!

Months ago when I first arrived in Utah, Anna told me she was able to find Kang Kong in one of the Chinese Mart at SLC. But I looked up, down, left, right....... waited and pined. No Eng Cai.... sob sob.. my favourite veggie...

Then ENG CAI! My ENG CAI! Finally I saw it at Super China today! Luckily I went to the veggie department and scan around as usual, wishing it might just appear, and it did! The season is in. Yeah! Now I don't have to eat Gailan n broccoli week after week. Though it wasn't that economical. A bunch (well, quite a huge bunch) cost ard US$6. Who cares! It's my lovely ENG CAI!

Friday, 28 March 2008

Sleeping

En slept on her own last night, the 2nd time. I was trying to copy pictures into our digital photo frame, so that we can bring it for her Spotlight session next Tues (for her birthday) during pre-school. So I convinced her to sleep alone as she knew I was doing something for her. Y not sleep with Daddy?

About 2 weeks ago (16 Mar), I was trying to copy some VCDs for her, as we had to return them the next day. So she agreed to sleep without me. Daddy went with her, then she started protesting saying she didn't want to sleep with Daddy. Thus, she was left to sleep alone with her Tang Poems book beside her. Well, Daddy did sneak a peek at her and it took her quite a while before she finally slept. But she did, alone. That was quite an achievement. 1st time sleeping on her alone.

Now, I'm sure she can do it. Most of the time, she just wants to have Mummy around.

Thursday, 27 March 2008

最简单与最难

幸福,是世上最简单与最难得到的东西。

新加坡人不快乐。为什么?为何生在第三世界国家的子民可以得到幸 福,可以开开心心过日子,丰衣足食的新加坡人,过着安逸的日子,人手一机(即使几岁大的孩子,都有手机,管他会不会用,需不需要),去到哪儿都有车代步 (巴士、地铁、德士也是“车”啊!),我们却能高举双手,对全世界的人说:
“我们不快乐!”

政府征税多多、物价高涨、生活压力大、钱不够用、房子不够大、汽车不够“拽”、老公买的砖石太小、孩子考的“A”太少、老婆身材不够棒、名牌包包比人少、旅行地点不够远、还有呢?反正就是没一点顺心,没一样顺眼。

一声“谢谢”、一句“她煮的饭菜越来越有酒楼的水准”、孩子窝心的拥抱、生病时有人带你去看病、至亲至爱都还健在、天天有饭菜在桌上、能够呼吸到一口新鲜的空气,这些不是幸福吗?不值得我们快乐吗?

偶 尔,难免被他人的情绪影响,或周遭的人、事、物感染,觉得很难快乐起来。但这也不足为过,毕竟,人生本就该有喜、怒、哀、乐、酸、田、苦、辣,才够“色香 味俱全”嘛!重要的是,在不如意时,该如何应对。是让不满情绪不断累积,怨天尤人,理直气壮地认定全世界都欠你的,还是当冷静下来时,自我反省,到底自己 能做些什么,能改变些什么?生命掌控在我们手里,幸福与否在于我们如何调整自己的心态。

这不是一篇对社会的控诉,更不是自命清高的解说,而是对自我的提醒--把双眼朝人间看,双脚朝地上踩,踏踏实实的感受最简单的幸福,别到咽下最后一口气的那一刻,才慨叹一生为了追求一些虚无缥缈的事物,错过了感受原本已属于自己的快乐。

Museum of Ancient Life

15 Mar

Is this a place about ancient civilisation? Ape men?

Did anyone guess dinosaurs? U're RIGHT! En's pre-school's theme for the month was about dino so we decided to bring her for the 'actual' thing (the bones r better than nothing right), though I think they had moved on to sea creatures already ;p.

The Museum of Ancient Life is located at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, where there's also a show barn (farm), garden (which will be scheduled for re-opening this weekend), theatre and shopping place (went to the theatre following Mon with Anna and kids to watch "Dr Suess's Horton hears a Who". A pity we couldn't stay while Anna n her kids went to the farm, cos En had a long day, as she had ballet in the morning, so she needed her afternoon nap).

Entrance for children under 3 is free, so we paid for 2 adult combo tickets, which included a 3D show. Well, En was a little taken-back cos the dino looked really near. So we taught her to tickle them when they came too near. Ha ha!

Little Marcus, En's first friend in Utah was there too and we met 2 new friends - Faith n baby Enqi. A pity they came later, so we had little time together.



Pics in order from left to right : Entrance, Lobby, Fish fossil prep, Tiny En, Dino on log, Don't feed me to the shark, Fossil of ancient sea creature, Not so tall daddy, Dino torso, Walkway, En refusing to step into sand pit (she wanted to play at another location with sand n water too. However, the moment she put on the apron (with sand particles on it), she said she didn't want to play anymore)


En walking on 4s during Gym (b4 we went to the museum)


K working on the fossil prep

Reputation

Is it important? Obviously, some doesn't think so. Guess many of u experience spam emails, some claiming to be sent from reputable organisations that u'd won prizes etc. I had my fair share. Recently, I received one claiming to be sent from one of my email service provider, so I forwarded it to them to alert them that there's a possibility that someone out there is using their name for fraudulent purposes.

The reply I got was that it wasn't sent from their ISP so they couldn't do anything about it. Then they listed some tools which I may use to track down this conman.

This was what I told them:

"Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I have no intention to track the sender, after all I'm just concern that this is an email sent with the intention to con people using XXXXX's identity. It'll be great if your organisation takes action against such fraudulent activities, since it's the reputation of XXXXX which is at stack.

If XXXXX can't do anything to protect it's name, guess there's nothing I can do too.

Best Regards,

Loi Yi"

Aftermath: I just received a reply, from another staff, with EXACTLY the same message sent to me previously. Guess they r not too concern whatever was delivered to them. Just sent back a standard template. Goes to show one thing, they must have received plenty of similar alert. Yet......

If they have to......

Couple of days back, I sent an email to the USPS enquiring about delivery notices being dropped at mailboxes without attempting to deliver items to recipients, as all my parcels, whether big or small had to be self-collected and some other families faced the same issue.

Early morning, I received a phone call from them. Guess what? "We do not send the parcels up to the apartments. If we have to do that, it'll take them the whole day to do their delivery." How does this reply sound?

Oh, yah, perhaps we have lifts back home, so it's less time consuming and tiring for our postmen. Or what about those 4-storey flats with no lifts? Hmmm, perhaps Singpost can also excuse their postmen from delivering there.

Ok, ok, I know we should just 入乡随俗 but it's just the way the message was being put across.

I'd met many kind souls here, those who will come up to you to point u to the nearest clinic, those who'll bring their dogs to let ur kid pat them, older kids who'll take care of the young ones n many more. Guess I shouldn't let the small nos that, perhaps had woken up on the wrong side of the bed irks me.

Spring with a BANG

Yes, it's officially spring today and what better way to welcome it than SNOW!

Ha ha, that's just how the weather is over here. We had 3 days of warm weather, so warm I could go out for my walk in t-shirt and felt some perspiration coming. Then, BHAM! Temperature falls some 20 deg Fahrenheit. Still consider good weather though. The snow is light, so I guess it'll melt real soon.....

Tuesday, 25 March 2008

Daylight ROBBERY

I received my final bill (certainly hope so) from the hospital. The figure was STUNNING - >US$3500 (after discount)!!! For a 5 hr stay in hospital. This is for what? A laxative, blood test, urine test, chemical test (????), stay in ER and a CT-scan ($3K!). At the end of the day, they did not dare to make a diagnosis (citing inflammation of intestines, with no diagnosis), and prescribed me with a narcotic-based pain killer n NOTHING else. Then sent me for colonoscopy at another facility in SLC that set me back by another >$300 (after 50% discount for upfront payment). After they woke me from my drugged state, they quickly whisked me home in wheel chair without even explaining what could be the cause n preventive measures. Just concerned there wasn't anything cancerous. As I was referred to the ER by a GP, paid another >$100 (at 20% discount for upfront payment again).

The total cost - a whopping US$4k, and the possibility that I may have to fork out this kind of $$$ again as I do not know the root cause.

If that wasn't daylight robbery, tell me what was it???!!!!!!

Friday, 21 March 2008

21 May @5pm

Finally, the actual hunt! The moment we got out of the apartment, we could see many families already gathered at the playground. Yes, there were quite a number of Singaporean families there, some I'd met for the 1st time. Then, the Easter Bunny arrived! En was in the group of 1-5 yr olds. As the siren from the fire engine rang, all the kids (n adults too) rushed into the field, picking the goodies n placing them into their baskets. Though the event was short, it was a special experience.



Oh, our loot was little (but that's what mummy prefers ;))....

Easter

YEAH! It's Easter morning now!

Though it's not holiday here, we still have activities going on later in the evening - Monarch Meadow's
1ST Easter Egg Hunt! It's also our 1st Egg Hunt. Believe there'll be many Singaporean Mummies bringing their little ones, everyone with baskets going for the treasure hunt, Shirley with her 3 kids, Zhang Hong n her boy, Faith n Enqi with Mummy....

Look out for my updates!

Sunday, 9 March 2008

Daylight Saving

什么东西来的?简单来讲,就是我们被“吃”了一小时咯。

As of Sun 9 Mar, 2am, our time got FAST FORWARDED.

First tell-tale sign - 平时小鬼起床的时间大概是8点30分。今天“迟”了一小时。别看这只是小小的一小时,还是要调整,要adjustment的leh! 无缘无故lost an hour,还真是lugi......

As of now, we r 14 hrs behind Singapore time. Look out, we r catching up!

Saturday, 8 March 2008

大日子

究竟是什么大日子???

阿爸的60大寿啊!

哪里可以没有表示??

Saturday, 1 March 2008

怪天气

享受了一星期的阳光,惊喜于和恩恩发现了附近的公园,手牵手去散步,身上的外套越穿越少。是的,春季即将到来。正当缅怀于冬的离去,皑皑白雪覆盖大地的景致不再复还--下雪了!

顷刻间,一切的蓝、黄、红、绿都变成了白。天空好似破了个大洞,雪花就从这洞里不断地洒下,白、灰、黑吞噬了所有颜色,蓝天不见了,山脉也躲起来了。

春的脚步退了一步,冬再一次施展了它的力量。这一场季节之战,冬扳回了一局。但是鹿最终会死在谁之手,是不言而喻的。。。

Friday, 29 February 2008

强悍弱女子 曾晴

一对坚强、独特的父母,与他们的小天使短短的生命旅程,人生的另一番注解,生命的延续。

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/myotubular

小小的遗憾是无法更早接触这片温馨的土地,震撼于它所散发的力量与光芒,坚定了昨夜的决定,让生命少一件遗憾。

在这每四年才来临的特别之日,我偶然与你邂逅,惊喜、伤感、震撼、平静、钦佩。

Saturday, 23 February 2008

新发型

上回在这儿剪的头发,虽不至于惨不忍睹(因为我有先见之明,没要发型师做太大的更动),结果只不过草草5分钟,便了事。当K看到时,第一反应是--剪了好像没有剪,结果头发一样乱。这是花得最不值得的$12!
这回学聪明了,先向恩Gym Class的一位Mummy打听,去了Falling Waters Day Spa。发型师Jennifer很专业。她侦讯了我对发型的要求,再根据判断用心地帮我剪头发。这会剪了1小时。花费呢,自然是一分钱,一分货--$35(我给了$40,因为在这里理发,一般都会给小费)。

不错吧!今天刚剪的。

贝贝的新衣

一个多月前,曾答应宝贝帮她的贝贝做件衣服,昨天终于实现我的诺言了。这就是贝贝的新衣。


结果,她要我帮她的WoWo也做一件!

Thursday, 21 February 2008

Earthquake

Was doing my "business" in the toilet early morning around 7 plus, getting ready to chit-chat with my family on Skype, when I suddenly felt my POTTY trembling. Yes! Lasted for like maybe 10-20 secs. Well, must be very strong wind, since it's common to feel the windows tremble due to the wind, as the housing here are not structured exactly like back home. The walls, flooring etc are thinner. So nothing strange.

Till K called in the afternoon n told me there was an earthquake. Oh, so that was why my blissful "business" session was interrupted. Apparently, according to the news, it was a 6.0 strength quake, centered in Northern Nevada, just beside Utah (Nevada is where Las Vegas is). Some worse-hit regions experienced buildings tumbling or damaged walls etc. Luckily it wasn't serious here.

Well, this was my 2nd earthquake. First one I experienced was back in 2005, while we were in Japan when K was also on training. Thought I was feeling a little giddy (happened when I was in the toilet too). Was only informed of the quake when K called again. Sigh.... think I have to UP my 危机意识.

Tuesday, 19 February 2008

Crochet Project - Sweater

Should have updated this long ago. Anyway, this is the sweater I crochet for En in US.

忙碌的季节

忙、忙、忙(还好不是盲、盲、盲,不然就真的是在瞎忙),最近真的很忙--滑雪啦、新年活动与聚餐等、帮小瓜找学校、报名、接送她上学放学、重新规划人生(很多朋友、家人一直劝我要经济独立,以我的情况,我早已认清这是最好的,不管当初情到浓时,对方作出了什么承诺,日子久了,什么都不算数的。要照顾自己的家人,为了孩子的福利,为了自己的将来,最实际的方式还是靠自己。有些事情,只有改变自己,才能突破现有的局限。即使那不是我梦想中的人生,我只有再织另一个梦--一个能靠自己力量实现的梦。如果你是我的知己,当我泄气时,或想放弃的时候,请你提醒我,今天所说的话。)、还有,还有,在网上追看韩剧--咖啡王子一号店(免费的喔!)、当然不能忘了天天的煮、煮、煮。

几个星期前,我们的滑雪之旅终于成行了!我和小瓜参加了Parent n Tot 1-hr session。刚开始时,她真的很开心,Pizza, French fries, Pizza, French fries (导师Chris用这些术语来帮助她学习滑行和止步),当然还有更多的fall down,让她笑得咯咯叫。可是,时间一长,她开始不乐意了,因为她的滑雪手套太大,一直松脱。大概是冻着了,她开始哭泣。To make matters worse, I took the blunt again。算了,反正过去了,我们尝试滑雪了。可惜,风雪太大,我们太engross,结果没拍照。

农历新年期间更是活动多多。从年除夕开始,餐餐不是有人“赞助”,就是在外解决。年初二,更是精彩,因为K的公司举办庆祝活动,地点在Soldier Hollow,而活动项目包括了Snow Tubing!真的很好玩,不会过于刺激,小瓜更是玩得不亦乐乎!我们玩了四趟。

照片记录了IMFS的Team Games、恩恩坐tube和拉tube、我们上下坡、2002Winter Olympic Monument、Clubhouse、恩坐Snowmobile、全家福等。当然也别错过我们滑下坡的Video!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.



初三,我们去了Gardner Village。那是一个很有特色的地方。Village里的商店就如它的名字,像个小村庄,每间都散发出自己的味道,售卖的商品也别具一格。连鸟儿也特别喜欢此地,在冬季还对这儿恋恋不忘。恩买了新的芭蕾舞鞋和糖果,我也买了一盒五颜六色的向日葵瓜子。




回家途中,我拍下了以下照片。这不是唯一的一次,我们曾看过另一个message - Welcome home, James。


Valentine's Day我们是怎么过的呢?本来要去吃Jap Teppanyaki,结果太多人就随便选了一间餐厅,晚饭后便到Cold Stone Creamery吃雪糕。我叫了choc ice cream with Nestle Crunch Mix-in,K叫了vanilla with roasted coconut mix-in,口味很像我们的coconut ice cream。Yum Yum! Thanks Mum n Bee for sending the Kimono over!



刚过去的星期天,我们又去了Park City,因为有President's Day Sale(昨天),这次是我大出血,因为我要搜刮三个人的生日礼物。总算有收获。半小时前刚把一箱礼物寄回家,半小时后又得赶出去载恩恩。

Ok, last pic for now - En's drawing of Mummy (she drew 2)