Balloon lollies

Dated 27 November 2010

I would consider this the first complete drawing by Val, as in, this is the first time he has drawn something 'tangible' - entirely by himself, undirected. All i did before that was to show him on another piece of paper that if he drew a circle (which he does well) and added a line below, it would transform into a balloon. He then began drawing these balloons enthusiastically, and colouring them. There used to be a time when he hated colouring - he would scratch a few lines and run off. His teachers said the same, but have also begun to observe that he is now able to focus long enough to finish colouring something, and even makes the effort to colour within the lines too.

When he finished, he asked for assistance to write his name, and then demanded that I added mine on one of the balloons. Hence the pink words there.

The cute thing was that after finishing these balloons, he drew more on another piece of paper, pronouncing that they were now lollipops. Yes, indeed. Why not? Both are objects of delight.

dealing with rudeness

At work, I deal with quite a fair bit of rudeness - being squashed right in the middle of the editorial process. Sometimes the clients are rude, sometimes the writers who are big shots who think they are smart, talented and thus entitled to being rude. It is rather disappointing and depressing because these occasions - much as I tell myself not to be affected by them - do make me ask myself why I am still in this business. I promise myself it won't be long - there's no way I will do this for life - although I do enjoy the act of writing stories, I really don't relish the diplomacy involved in handling clients and rude writers. In any case, I still believe that no matter how amazingly talented you are, it is no excuse to be rude. It's just basic human principles, no?

Are these rude people fully cognisant of the fact that they are rude? Is it worse to be unaware of one's own unruly behaviour or to be fully aware and making full use of it to get one's way? Someone told me before that I should be more assertive - yes I agree, but does it need to include rudeness and arrogance?

Times like these also make me reflect a little more to ask myself: Have I been rude without knowing it myself? Have I been equally arrogant? It is a good chance to take a few steps back and look on.

It's the journey not the destination, silly

Yeap, that's what we told ourselves when we decided to just get tickets from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to Johor Bahru! I wanted Val to experience what a real train ride would be - something noisier, gruffer, and tougher than those slick subway trains in Singapore. Plus, this station will close down in July 2011, so I thought we'd better get a taste of history before it's gone. But I didn't really want to go far cos nobody else had time for an overnight trip. So we decided to just try out this short journey for the fun of it.

Val absolutely thrilled to be so close to a real choo-choo train.

I emailed the KTM people (callcenter@ktmb.com.my) to ask for a schedule, and they so kindly emailed me the schedule. But please don't take this at face value, always check again because train schedules do tend to change.

>>>>>> EMAIL FROM KTM CALLCENTER

Good Day!!!

Hereunder the train schedules:-
Singapore - Johor Bharu

Express Rakyat ( ER 2 )
Depart 0800hrs and arrival 0912hrs

Express Sinaran Selatan ( ES 12 )
Depart 1300hrs and arrival 1418hrs

Express Senandung Sutera ( SM 24 )
Depart 2230hrs and arrival 2355hrs

Shuttle Train No 62 ( 0845hrs / 0954hrs )

Shuttle Train No 64 ( 1845hrs / 2002hrs )

Johor Bharu - Singapore

Express Rakyat ( ER 1 )
Depart 2002hrs and arrival 2110hrs

Express Sinaran Selatan ( ES 13 )
Depart 1539hrs and arrival 1641hrs

Express Senandung Sutera ( SM 25 )
Depart 0542hrs and arrival 0700hrs

Shuttle Train No 63 ( 1219hrs / 1335hrs )

Singapore - JB - Singapore is considered as a short distance journey.Ticket must be purchased direct at the ticket counter within 12 hours before departure date only.



We got to the station at about 1130am, a little early just to buy tickets cos you know, we're kiasu like that. Plus it was our first time buying tickets there. The KTM Espress 12 tickets were SGD13 for adults - Val got in free but he had to sit on my lap of course. We had lunch at the station's coffee shop - which had seats right next to the rail. No fences nothing. Yup so you can see them as prime gallery seats or rather perilous ones! If you have unpredictable kids, keep a close eye on them and sit further inside.


Val's Godma See Yiing who so kindly obliged to come along!

At 1250pm, the gates opened and we went through a small Malaysian immigration post (yes, strangely we clear Malaysia before Singapore, and there is NO stamp only that white immigration card that you MUST NOT lose) and then got onto the train to locate our air-conditioned cabin No. 1. We had the first row of seats which gave us plenty of leg room and a nice table too. We were palpably excited - okay, it was probably I more than anyone else! I was just so stoked to be on the train again, my last ride was about 4 years ago when I went up to Taman Negara via an overnight train.



The whistle blew and we were off! The train left the station slowly, chugging along, gathering speed gradually. It was absolutely fascinating for the boy, who was perched excitedly on my knees looking at the tracks beneath.



Soon, we were whizzing by, and scenes of rustic (read= untidy, overgrown bushes, dilapidated and abandoned houses, some still made of wood, broken cars, rusty machine parts, and quaint looking neighbourhoods) Singapore sped by. I kept my eyes wide open - as if to absorb them all in, to keep my visual memory of a Singapore that will soon no longer be. But wait, all this is really still Malaysia's land right? I find the idea of Malaysia within Singapore so intriguing - it was as if time had stopped along these tracks. (This reminds me of an exciting walkabout in Singapore I did with a history professor from NUS who led me to the graves of old sultans and a patch of cemetery that still belongs to Malaysia nestled inconspicuously within a HDB estate, but more on that another time!)

For the first 35 minutes or so, we had a tour of Singapore and then we reached the Singapore immigration where we had to disembark to get our passports stamped. With a kid, it means we had to wait in line, unlike Godma who breezed through the automated gates. :( Then we were back on the train, and it began CRAWLING, inching towards Malaysia. When it stopped (rather uneventfully - what were we expecting? Bells and whistles and people shouting JB! JB! JB! ???), we just kinda sat around wondering what to do next. Nobody else was leaving, and then slowly, we gathered, "Shit, it's our stop!" We quickly scrambled out and arrived at Johor Bahru Central stop at about 2pm. Haha. imagine if we had not alighted, maybe we might have gone on to KL!


Val hamming it up for the camera - he was on a high especially after arriving in JB.

At JB Central, we decided to buy the return ticket first and chose the one at 339pm.The KTM Espress 13 from JB-Singapore only cost.............MYR5!!!!! Yes, that's like SGD2.50 when we paid SGD13 to come! The next train at about 530pm was a shuttle, and that would have been............... MYR3!!! Cheaper than taking a bus. So we got our tickets, and went shopping at City Mall or something like that, the mall closest by.

Even though the mall is no different from Singapore's, Val was really on a high. He could sense that today's outing was very different. It was like a multimedia sensory assault on him or something.



Finally, after a quick one hour shopping and ice-cream eating, we hopped back onto the train to go home. The immigration was a nightmare - they opened the gates only at 330pm, and they took forever to process the relatively short line. Those on the train coming down from the North must have waited a long time for us. Plus, we found that the immigration officers had stamped some people's passports with the wrong dates, adding to the delay.

Going up the KTM 13 this time was slightly different. We had NO designated seats. Instead it was a "buffet" you just scramble onto the train to look for empty seats - we had to go all the way to the end where the non-air conditioned seats were. But that suited us fine.



Finally (after what seemed an eternity), the train left the tracks and gathered speed, whizzing towards Singapore where we had to disembark AGAIN, get our passports stamped and go back on again. The good thing was that many people left the train at the Woodlands stop - preferring more modern transportation - while we stayed on, so this time we were able to find lots of air-conditioned seats. Very quickly, in about 15 minutes, we were pulling into Tanjong Pagar and hearing the announcement in Bahasa Melayu welcoming us to Singapore and entreating us to take KTM again.

I can't quite remember exactly what time we arrived, but it must have been about 5pm at least. So we were glad to have taken the earlier train back.

So there, this was our day of bo-liao train ride to nowhere and back.

My itchy backside and I

The headline really sums it all up. I have an itchy backside and it gets me into a lot of trouble, especially when I "think" I am on my summer break from graduate school (yah, I forget I work and study, plus I have a kid). It makes me think i have a lot of time (when i don't) before my next semester starts (March is after all so many gazillion days away, no?) and I start to conjure up visions of what I could do with all that (unavailable) time, and I start to do silly things like promise to give a speech, or volunteer to write for a non-profit's website, or *gasp* consider taking on freelance work on top of my already packed-to-the-brim schedule.

An email pops in from a museum - Would you like to consider writing a children book? YES YES YES YES YES YES YES! Do I even stop to consider for one second if I have the time? NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! Cos these things, you don't stop to think right? You just grab and go, and then whimper a lot and suck it all up.

Then, another email follows *ding*, er, we just won another contract with another ministry, which means, all your end-of-the-year holiday plans are out of the window. And no, you don't have so much free time anymore cos it's going to be another hellish November-December scramble again, like in March when we scrambled to put Challenge together in about 6-8 weeks.

I suspect if I didn't live my life at such a hectic pace, I might feel out of place. It's the city slicker's sickness is it? Or it is it just me? Secretly inside, I must have a death wish; I must really enjoy the busyness, the extreme time management and juggling act, and the impossibility of all the tasks lined up. And when I manage to do them all, the sense of satisfaction is so overwhelming, it short-circuits the brain, and brings on selective amnesia - the type where I remember all the happiness and buzz of doing these crazy stuff, but forget the clenched hair in fists moments when I am all alone in the still of the night huffing away, telling myself never to be so dumb-assed itchybackside anymore.

Good night and good luck indeed, woman.

Smoke out! Time to prepare for year-end partays!

Photo by Evolvefoto for Challenge Magazine, Public Service Division


Smoke Detector by Shah Dillon of BottleFlipz

What’s in it:
Kahlua 30ml • lychee liqueur 30ml • Cointreau 15ml

Shah’s idea:
Raise the alarm with this Smoke Detector. The fanciful swirls of dry ice will wow your guests but once the smoke screen fizzles out, what’s left standing is a plain but powerful drink.

For more drinks concocted with a Public Service twist, go to our lifestyle section: Challenge Online: RAISE THE BAR

Or see the mouth-watering design layout in its print incarnation: DOWNLOAD

On ageing (well?)

A self-portrait on the KTM Espress: Singapore to Johor Bahru, 7 Nov 2010


When I first downloaded this picture, I was arrested by how unforgiving my tiny non-professional camera had been. The sunlight, so intense, had highlighted all the flaws on my skin; the megapixels meant that I could zoom in 400% if I wished and I did - to discover bumps and blackheads I never knew existed, they taunted me, egging me to squeeze them out - if only I could find them. I looked at the mirror - mind you, it's one of those Ikea types where you flip over and get a magnifying glass, and still, I couldn't find those elusive bumps while scrutinising my mug in the bathroom's more forgiving light. I sighed and tweeted this: An unforgiving picture reminds me that scrutiny is futile.

I like this picture: I like how my cheekbones are thrown into sharp relief by the harsh light. It's not a typically flattering shot: a portrait of a gaunt woman, with sunken-in cheeks, tired eyes and skin, not plump with collagen unlike other mommies who blog (you know who you are).

But to me, it's a very real sketch. They say people with square jaws are stubborn and determined, it is so true. I think it might just have to be that we grit our teeth and plod on despite life's most horrible assaults so much so that we develop such an intense jawline. The sharp, square lines exude masculinity - qualities I dare say I have. If nothing else, I sure can compartmentalise things as well as any men... someone once remarked that I was more Man than him.

This picture is also a portrait of someone who's aged tremendously in the past 3 years - motherhood really took a toll on me in more ways than I am willing to share - plus the late nights spent studying, working, freelancing, and sometimes just seeking a little personal me-time like tonight.

I can't reverse the clock - those flaws, those lines will stay, despite what the beauticians say: Try this serum, use that treatment, put on this mask, try our miracle products. The freckles - they have become my trademark almost - my first boyfriend used to call me Freckles See - cos, for an Asian, I have quite a remarkable amount of them sprinkled all over my square face. So no thank you, I don't wish to exfoliate, nor whiten them away - my face is not a whiteboard, but a story. I am heartened by Sharon Stone's latest interview in the Straits Times where she said she changed her family doctor after he suggested she used fillers. Kudos. I look at strong, beautiful women like her and Julia Roberts and remind myself that those lines can be alluring.

Yes, there are times I recoil in mild disgust seeing my awful eye bags and spotted skin captured on camera - and sometimes I sneak in a little BB cream (once in a blue moon) when I am feeling insecure, but most times, I am make-up free, and happy. I am also very lucky to be surrounded by strong, beautiful, and nature-loving women in my life - they are real reminders of what's important: their sense of adventure, their activism for causes dear to them, and their passion for life.

All I really want from life is to be healthy and happy. We pray nightly to God for this for all our loved ones. And so my mission and promise to myself remains that for as long as I am able to, I will continue to embrace exercise of both the mind and body.

Now, off to heal my ageing skin with the best medicine: SLEEP!

Did you fail to give up?

Open publication - Free publishing - More singapore

In our latest issue, we explore the issue of failure in the Public Service. Plus, a tempting spread of cocktails concocted just for the Public Service!

too many to remember

I have a gazillion accounts in the "cloud" - my Gmail, my Hotmail, my Yahoomail, my Facebook, my Twitter, my Dropbox (love it), my iTunes, my Flickr, my e-banking accounts (shhhh - four!), my CPF account, my Deakin student account, my eBay, my Amazon, my Reuseit.com account, my Kooldepot account, and many more I don't even remember I have. It's near impossible to keep track - and good Lordy, remembering the passwords can be a hellish event. The security experts say never to use the same passwords but how can a simple brain keep track of so many different ones? I just end up clicking that "forgot your password?" link each time I log-in to some of these accounts, especially after a long absence. Or I just keep trying all permutations and rely on dumb luck to get through - which is no different from hacking into my own account.

Sophie Vuvuzela

Picture taken Sep 20, 2010

That was her nickname given by her mom when she first came wailing into this world in May 2010. She's now a regular at our place, getting used to the sights, sounds, and smells so that she'll be all right when Momma goes back to work in 2011. She adores Val, cos Val adores her.

You can't tell from this picture but boy, does she look like me. So many people, including strangers, have remarked that there's something in her eyes and expression that speaks Me. Weird. Even weirder - when Val and Sophie make cheeky faces, everyone says it's Me. I'm not cheeky. Really.

Driving Mr SmellyBottom

Auntie KM driving 41-year-old Babs the beetle

We've got two friends (who are close friends incidentally) with vintage cars that literally go rickety-clickety-clack. Both cars are more than 40 years old, and have no seat belts. Pretty perilous to be in, but for the fact that they are not even capable of going beyond 60km. Any faster and I could imagine the cars shuddering and sounding like their screws may loosen and a door might fall off on the highway!


Uncle R, owner of the super mini MG.



According to Uncle R: Real car type: MG; Real car model: Midget
Given type: Campmobile; Given name: Miss Deeeldoe



Even for a toddler, Val knows how special these cars are from other normal cars he's "driven". There's just something so special about vintage cars - their smells, their motion, their characters.

So ever since Val laid eyes on these cars, he's developed a special liking for the owners as well. He remembers their names and hankers to go out with them, provided their cars come along!




Completely stoked riding in the 1962 MG that had a plastic sunroof which was threatening to fly off in the wind. Val kept exclaiming, "Mama, very cold!" cos the wind was so strong when the car was in motion.

To market To market

A good friend JH recently dropped by my office with a bag of organic apples that she bought from Pasir Panjang Wholesale Market. They were crunchy and absolutely delicious.

Inspired, I made a trip down to the market last Saturday and the first stop (and as it turned out, the only one) was at Zenxin Organic Food because my friend SY had parked her car there!



The shop was having a Halloween promo - inviting kids to try out food and "potions". There were a few staff cooking incredibly tasty organic food - I loved the baked potato with cheese, butter and garlic! There were plenty of organic raisins to go around too and also some brown rice. I had a cuppa of London Tea Company's Ginger Lemon tea and bought a pack for a preggers friend who seems to be suffering from morning sickness all day long.



Also grabbed two boxes of organic grapes (two boxes for $10), a large bottle of Dr Bronner's Castille Soap (finally found it here for $29.90 - i usually dilute my soaps so they do last quite long), and also a can of organic dried raisins that were $3 cheaper than other places.



I wished I had more time to go to other shops but the whiny boy was hungry so that was my first and very short visit to the wholesale market. Will be back again another time - maybe on my own so that I can shop in peace!

growing up

The countdown to 3 hastens as the days zip by... where has my babe gone to?

Are you the friend who will help me make a difference?

A Wake-Up Story from Healthy Child Healthy World on Vimeo.

Go to www.healthychild.org for more info! If you are keen to borrow the book, holler.

I couldn't handle those footprints....

Okay so here's a video you HAVE to watch.

CLICK ON THIS LINK

It's about the making of disposable chopsticks in China - - enough details to turn you off FOREVER from ever using another pair. Strangely, I could almost accept the use of toxic chemicals (*gasp*) but it was the pair of dirty feet that I couldn't stomach. So glad, there's another reason to convince people to start bringing their own utensils out and to stop accepting these freebies when they buy takeaways. Watch it, then share it! Finally, incontrovertible evidence to convince my dad to stop bringing these home!

Avatar Mess

What can I say? It was the IXUS 130, not me. This is the 'I can't take enough photos of my cute kid' post.

Grounded by the haze, we stay home and get into a mess

Val narrates his painting: This is the sky, that's the ground, here's an aeroplane.

And then he kinda mashes up all the painted blobs into one coloured mess.

Self-portrait: I love the marbled purple ink effect and the Ah Pek expression on his face

He whistles nonchalantly like a true Master at work. LOL

More brushstrokes of purple...

He likes them mixed up

Transforming into a Na'vi (in blue, then red, then purple)is more fun than just printing hands on paper.

Supporting fair trade & organic, wisely

I've been a keen supporter of fair trade, organic, and natural products for some time now. It's not that I have plenty of cash to throw around, but it's that I realise I need to put my money where my mouth and heart is. So whenever I can, I try to buy these products but always wisely. And when you hunt in the right places, you realise that fairtrade and organic products are not always more expensive or priced exorbitantly.

Case in point: Tea from Marks & Spencer. These are Extra Strong Fairtrade tea that beat Lipton's weak brew hands down. I first discovered them about 1.5 years ago and have never looked back. Cost wise, depending on how many you buy, they range from $0.086 ($6.90 for 80 bags) each to $$0.066 each ($15.90 for 240 bags). The miserably, watered-down brew from Lipton? Last I checked from NTUC Fairprice's online site, its price ranges from $0.084 ($2.10 for 25 bags) to $0.053 ($5.30 for 100 bags) each. Given the huge difference in quality - honestly, the M&S tea is full-bodied and really shiok - I am willing to pay a wee bit more and support the Fairtrade movement at the same time.

Another favourite of mine are the Yummy Earth lollipops. Comparing them to the grossly-sweet Chupa Chups would be an insult. These lollipops have 100% natural flavours, no artificial dyes, 100% vegan, GMO-free, and no corn syrup. I like them too because you can really taste the subtle flavours. They cost $5.50 for 15 pieces, or $10.50 for the 30 pieces which comes in a reusable container. They work out to be about $0.36 each. Chupa Chups cost about $0.28 each, when they're on offer, or $0.33 each otherwise. And please don't try to compare by weight, cos that would be crazy. I don't think lil kids can tell that Yummy Earths are slightly smaller, and flatter, as long as they have a lolly in their hands!

So don't be so quick to judge and say that fairtrade and organic are priced out of range. Not all are, if you look carefully.

If you're keen to know more about fairtrade, you could start off reading a piece I wrote last year: Changing the world with ethical shopping

a Meltdown and a rubbery mouth

A friend N sweetly asked how he could celebrate my birthday with me. Without a thought, I said Zoo! So off we went last Sunday, a day after my birthday. It was my first time doing the gimmicky feed-the-animals thing, but it was Val who hankered to feed the rhinos and after one try (the zoo keeper shoved Val's hand along with his right into the rhino's wet, slobbering gap), he refused to do it anymore. So there I was shoving bananas (unpeeled) and papayas (sliced and peeled!) into the pachyderm's rubbery, grey crevasse of a mouth which looked weirdly alien, as it chomped greedily away, saliva dripping copiously. We couldn't wait to wash our hands after!

Although Val's older and can appreciate the zoo better than the two times before, I somehow had a harder time with him. More often than not, he was more enthralled with the seats in the amphitheatre and with driving a stationary tram than the animals. To cap it all off, we had a mother of all crying fits at the end, when the tired boy refused to stop "driving" the said tram. Very embarrassing end to the day. Oh well, let's hope the next trip will be a better one! (I'm not sure N would come along!)

Woody toy blocks

Aren't they beautiful (and ain't he handsome?) These are vintage toy blocks circa 1970s (or 80s?) that my sis and I used to play with. My sentimental mom had kept them in mint condition, somewhere in the dark recesses of the storeroom. We wiped them down and they were good as new for the boy. Somehow, toys from the good ole days give me a sense of reassurance that new toys these days don't.

Val's now having much fun with them but the brute that he is destroyed the cellophaned-window panes the first day he laid his hands on them. He still can't seem to stop poking them. Frustrated, I asked him why he was intent on destroying something that had survived years of play, he said:"I just want to see if i can open them."

The curious boy loves fiddling and taking things apart if he can - many of his cars (thankfully the cheaper ones) are wheels-less because of the insatiable curiosity to see what is there.

I do hope he doesn't destroy anymore of the blocks, cos last I checked, there ain't anymore of these kitschy 70s-era blocks in the market no more!

Rain Oculus by Ned Kahn

We came across this huge bowl-like sculpture at Marina Bay Sands recently. The Rain Oculus by Ned Kahn is apparently incomplete: when it is 100%, there's supposed to be a "whirlpool motion above the promenade level with the water falling 2 storeys through a hole at the center of the Oculus, creating a dynamic water skylight feature at the heart of the retail mall", says the IR's website.

But it was still good enough for us, cos if you stood at one end of the bowl and spoke in a normal tone and voice, another person right across this ginormous bowl can hear you, like it's coming through a pipe! The sound is probably carried by the tubular steel structure - I don't know cos the website doesn't tout this fun fact. I felt a bit like Superman, having to sift through the myriad conversations taking place at the bowl to pick out the voices of my friends from amidst the babble. Superman must have a tough time doing this every second of his life!

It was fun talking this way, with a bemused ang moh listening to our inane conversations, cos you know, when you can hear it across the bowl, it ain't private anymore!

Touched

Some of you know that I spent 3 months in the Chilean wilderness in the magical year that was 1998. During that time, I trekked, chatted, cooked, and worked shoulder-to-shoulder with some Chileans, and also witnessed the incredible beauty of the long strip of land on South America's left shoulder.

"In the beginning of time, God created the wonders of the world.
When he was finished, however, he saw that he had many leftover pieces. He had parts of rivers and valleys, of oceans and lakes, of glaciers and deserts, of mountains and forests, and of meadows and hills. Rather than to let such beauty go to waste, God put them all together and cast them to the most remote corner of the earth. This is how Chile was born."
- A Chilean Legend

Perhaps this is why I am somehow connected, and very much riveted and touched by the ongoing rescue of the 33 Chilean miners from the depths of San Jose mine, 700m underground. The resilience of these Type A guys completely overwhelm me. Imagine 33 of them cloistered in confined space for 69 dyas: they saw no sunlight, had little food and water (until rescuers reached them), no sanitation, suffered extreme humidity and heat, and yet, when it came to deciding who would go up the rescue shaft, the ONLY contention reported was that the team had argued who would go LAST.

Did you see how exuberant and euphoric Mario Sepulveda was? He impressed me with his energy - the way he whooped and led cheerleaders. Wow.

This is what gives us hope about the world. That, in our fast paced, relentless world that's intent on becoming more self-centred each day, that in times of adversity, the true spirit of humanity can still shines through. Their situation could have become a scene from "Battle Royale", or "Lord of the Flies" --- they could have descended into a mess of throat-throttling, and yet, they surprised us.

Thank you God for the blessed rescue of these brave men. AMEN!