Busy

It's near madness this week. Supposed to go on a last minute trip to Vietnam leaving this sun, which's why I've been busy preparing. However I can't find a single room in both Hanoi & HCMC... not even 1! Can you believe it? None of those big hotels can spare a room.. needless to talk about moderate ones. Just out of curiosity I also enquired from those "less favorable" ones (which I've no intention to stay). ALL FULL. Some even said 'over booked'!

So I postpone it to early next month. Seats are running out real fast too. Was in the waitlist for Sin - Hanoi sector but thank God I just got it confirmed this afternoon. Still haven't got myself a place to stay though.

Btw will upload some of my birthday pix soon.. till then ya.

Car talks

So what happened to our Rio? There isn't any big problem for now. Though the engine is super quiet (so silent that sometimes we thought the engine had stalled), its suspension is bad. Hubby likes to use this description - it's like riding a mountain bike without suspension. Ouch.

There're also some funny noises here & there.... the mechanic had confirmed nothing's wrong during our last servicing but we still felt quite paranoid. Anyway a combination of few reasons that made us decided to let go of our Rio. Mainly the suspension & the resale value.

Here's something interesting. We volunteered to lend the car to June & Kelvin when we went to Melbourne since we wouldn't be using & it'd be more convenient for them to move around during CNY with Rylie. Apparently Kelvin was so impressed with its performance that, during that very week, they went to Hyundai & Kia to shop for an off-peak car. Fyi, he's someone who didn't believe in owning a car & June's been trying hard to convince him for the past 3 years.. he's always preferred the car-sharing system & in fact just renewed his membership about 2 months ago. But a few days after our return, June told us they've booked a Kia Picanto. So our Rio had served a good purpose before it resigned.

It seems a lil ironic that we're giving up the car due to some problems while Kelvin is attracted to it & hence getting one from the same make. But we all agree that it's justifiable to get a Picanto as an OPC. The wear & tear will definitely be slower than ours.

And it's a pure coincidence that Vince & his 2 older siblings are getting new cars around the same time. Constance has changed to a black Merc B-Class exactly 3 weeks ago. Ours later than hers by 1.5 week & June will be getting hers in less than 2 months. Constance, June & I just joked about it... especially for Constance & us as we didn't know each other's changing car.

Btw.. off-topic for a lil while. We're actually quite overwhelmed by how we're being recognised on the road. Singapore isn't big at all.. but the probability of running into the same person for more than once in a while (working or staying near each other not counted) is not high. Yet for us, very often we received calls from friends who happened to spot us on the road. "Why are you at xxx??" was a very common question asked. So much so that once the hp rang (when we on the road) we'd prepare ourselves to be "interrogated". Hmm.. for sure we couldn't do anything bad (not that we would though) nor siam anyone with our Rio, haha.

Airwave

Our new car of 11 days :)














We 1st saw a Toyota Wish in a roadshow. But it's beyond our budget plus we don't need that kind of space, at least not now. We'd a conversation with this salesman, Alvin, & found him sincere & helpful. He's efficient in following up with us & as we got a very good resale price (for our Rio), we decided to go down to their showroom. There, we bumped into Vince's cousin. What a surprise! And apparently the both of them are close colleagues. Ha!

We both like black, white & red cars. Our 1st choice was actually white... would change to crystal lights too, if there are. Should look very nice. But we're told we gotta top up $2k (only for white) as they claimed to be using a very unique Pearly White that costs more. So nope, we dropped white. If we really want it en blanc in the future, we can always go & spray yet pay much lesser. Then red.. we both think this model doesn't look outstanding in red. Thus red is also out.
So, black it shall be... but diligence will much be needed in the upkeep. Actually same for white.

黑仔 should be with us for a long time so we hope it'll be a hardy "boy" ~fingers crossed~

Say bye-bye to our Rio.

A week later

Had booked Dr.LL for another consultation appointment, which's last evening. He & his bride-2b have been really nice in helping us with our sicky pc.. alright it's partially our fault for not feeding him it enough. Last week LL nearly flipped when he found out how much RAM it's been running on. He's so nice as to even get the RAM for us. We certainly hope our pc will be fully discharged after last night's treatment.

Last morning we made a last minute arrangement, that is, to meet for dinner together before going back to our place. As Mandy has Hotel Intercontinental's membership, we decided to dine in their chinese restaurant - Man Fu Yuan. It's a great one... good food, good wine with nice cozy chats.

Hubby & I had thought of buying them dinner to thank them for the great help. They in turn paid the bill (using Mandy's membership card & voucher) & refused to accept $$ from us. They're just being too nice...

We parted & half an hour later, we re-met at home. The guys had another round of the remaining red wine while working on our pc... Mandy & I had our 2nd chat session. I also received a few gifts from her - a Hotel Intercont F&B voucher, some health supplements we talked about last week & a few pages of info on a health problem I mentioned to her (last week & she remembers!). Frankly I was very impressed by the extent of concern she's shown even though it's only our 2nd meet-up.

After another 3hr+ of yakking, they left slightly past midnight. Again, we could have talked non-stop if it wasn't ...

Besides saying thanks to LL, we gotta thank Mandy as well for she's been really supportive & understanding.. to think that LL is usually busy (including weekends), they've sacrificed their limited couple-time to help us for the last 2 weeks. They make a really great couple. Both are very kind & helpful.. & they love animals. And we can't help but chuckle just by watching how they bicker. Very entertaining 1. But I believe they do love & dote on each other a lot.

Anyway another dinner (or lunch?) is on the way, should be this weekend or next. Reason? To celebrate LL's birthday (3103), my birthday (2203) & hubby's (1303, post bd celebration). Hehe.

His BD dinner

I'd planned it for the whole day.. all the necessary items were already sourced during lunch time with the intention of getting them right after work. Had also sneaked 2 disposable wine 'glasses' into my handbag before we left home last morning (which wasn't ez as hubby's been taking charge of my bag). And yep, a romantic picnic was in the plot for my honey dearest. As a bottle of wine would be too obvious to sneak out, I planned to get 1 from Cold Storage. Including a takeaway dinner from Sketches.. & a lil birthday cake to end the night. 2 venues were considered - Suntec's Sky Garden (contribution from our dear Celena) & the rooftop Sky Park @ VivoCity (which I preferred)... depending on what time hubby was to arrive as we're fetching mum from her cell group in Bukit Timah @ 845pm. So logistics was the main concern.. yet never did BAD WEATHER appear in my mind. Hai..

Then... starting from 4pm, the sky got darker & darker.. & I became more & more worried. 6.05pm, it started pouring REALLY heavily.. just when I was about to run to Parco to get all needed. Umbrellas weren't of much use due to the rain & wind.. so you know the intensity of the downpour.

Only then I was so glad that I didn't abort my Plan A, that is, dinner buffet @ Fullerton Hotel. Oh.. actually the outdoor dinner was the Plan B. It's up only after we bought our birthday gifts & I thought we could save a bit on the dinner. But apparently my Plan B was washed away by the rain. When the restaurant called me last morning, I was so tempted to cancel the reservation which I made last week but I didn't eventually. So sometimes being kiasu really got advantage 1. Haha!

The view from the restaurant was good but food was alright only... maybe because we aren't into seafood.

It's a short but great night of celebration. I hope you like it, honey :)

@ Town Restaurant

Before leaving

On the way back to 1 Fullerton

Happy Birthday Honey! :D

We kinda celebrated over the weekend but it wasn't an elaborated affair. It's those small lil things we indulged in that made it a truly enjoyable 1.

Had a 3-hr ktv-lunch & dinner @ this small coffee house (if it's considered) called Aston's Specialties in Joo Chiat. It serves very value-for-$$ western food. And what's the price range like when I say that? $5.50 for a chicken chop that comes with 2 side dishes (from about 10 choices, that's if they haven't run out of any), $5.90 for a grilled fish with herbs (+2 sides too)... all in rather generous portion. How about that?

While we're having our early dinner (5pm-ish), there's a long Q of patrons that nearly reached the road but they didn't seem to mind the wait at all. It's a great place especially when you crave for a decent western meal but are not ready to burn your wallet. Been there twice.. A week ago we brought mum there for lunch.

In the afternoon, hubby accompanied me to Justina's for my hair-coloring session. Hmm.. who's birthday was that actually? But hubby said, he's happy when I'm happy. So his best BD celebration is for me to be happy. Hee..

Thereafter, we went to get each other's BD gifts. This year we spent a lot on our birthday presents so gotta keep celebrations to the minimal.

From me to him

From him to me

Honey, I'm planning something tonight which I don't wish to tell you initially. But you sounded like you'd make other plans, so no choice.. gotta let you know. Don't expect too much though ok? Otherwise I'm afraid you'll be disappointed as it's not something grand, not at all :)

Great friends

Had LL & his gal, Mandy, over on Thurs night.

While he's helping us to fix our pc problem with hubby, Mandy & I had a great chat for nearly 2 hours. If not because the guys were done with the pc & it's late, we could still carry on & on... hehe. She's a really wonderful & pretty gal.

I'm so glad that we could talk almost anything under the sky on the first meet-up. Look forward to the next one, soon I hope. They are truly great friends to have.

Btw, wedding bells are ringing soon! Hee!

Shaken

The tremors on Tue had affected us in office. Where was I then? In the toilet.

I was meeting Celena for lunch @ noon. So about 10 mins before 12 I went to the loo. When I was still on the bowl, suddenly I felt I was spinning. My 1st thought was "how come I feel so giddy??" Then I wasn't sure whether it's the building or me because I couldn't see clearly the 3 walls of the tiny cubicle.. seemed like the walls were swaying! Thank God I'd just finished my business & I got up to see the water in the bowl was swirling. Then what appeared in my mind was "earthquake in Indonesia? Or our building collapsing?!?!" What I feared most was the latter as the few of us have always doubted this old building, based on some past experiences.

Thankfully I was still calm enough to flush & wash my hands. When I reached the office entrance (no I didn't run frantically), I saw my colleagues rushing out. When Claris saw me she asked me to evacuate immediately. In a split second I wanted to go & get my bag but with the advice from colleagues I headed straight to the staircase. Only then I felt the tension.

When we were going down the stairs, 1 of my colleagues slipped & accidentally pushed the other 2 in front of her. I was shock to see the 3 of them fell right before me & quickly helped 1 of them up. But we're still not moving... & then I saw a pair of legs were laying on the floor. It's our near 60 y.o. receptionist. Poor lady.. she must have already gone wobbly & the fall had aggravated her fright. As a result all the people (including our neighbours & students upstairs) were being jammed up there. So I used up almost all my strength to get her up & half-carried her from 5th level to ground floor. A big relief when we finally went out of the building. Quite drama right.

Very soon after, we got news that there's an earthquake in Indonesia. After some minutes of commotion, we went for our lunch together. Thereafter, though much to our reluctance to return to the office as we didn't trust our building, we still went back around 1.40pm.

Then about 10 mins later, we got the 2nd round of tremors which lasted only less than 5 secs. Very coincidentally, it happened just when I was about to go to the toilet again. We're so ready to evacuate again but ended up only 1 colleague ran down. But according to this colleague, many of our neighbours went down after the 2nd round. So are we the gungho ones? Me? Definitely not.

Apparently, my toilet story became the joke of the day. Ok at my expense lor. So I also gave my sound advice to my female colleagues for that day - "bring your handbag along when you visit the loo".

Missed out

What was it all about??

It's because of my injured big toe! We're at the Twelve Apostles & the beach was too alluring to not go. But my big toe was still very much bandaged & couldn't get wet. So my hubby dearest sacrificed 1 of his shoes to protect my toe. We looked so funny & mum had a real good laugh! Haha.

About our last trip

Finally.. about our Melbourne trip. A combination of various factors had made it a so-so trip only, like I've expected.

What I enjoyed most was the visit to the Twelve Apostles & shopping on Bridge Road. Anyway we didn't go to a lot of places because mum wasn't interested... she dropped Crown Casino & St Kilda beach. So we didn't get to visit as we couldn't leave her in the apartment with zero tv entertainment as she doesn't understand English & she didn't bring any reading materials to entertain herself. At the end of each day we did try to spend 1 or 2 hours of couple time as we left her to shower/rest & we would just go to the supermarket @ QV (because that's the only store that closed late!) which's just diagonally opposite of our apartment. Almost all the shops were closed by then. It's good that we stayed in a 2-bedroom apartment.. at least there's some privacy.

Things are expensive in Melbourne. For breakfast, we'd just settle for some bread, pastries, eggs & milk since we'd a fully equipped kitchen & the supermarket's like at the door step. No way we're going to pay S$40+/pax for breakfast at the hotel. In general quality of service is a especially at where we stayed... but we did encounter really nice service staff at some restaurants & boutiques.

So why didn't we take up package tour? Honestly, mum is most suitable for guided tour. As for hubby & me, apart from the reason that we like to be free & easy, package tour doesn't give us the luxury of space. It'll be too overwhelming to stick together 24/7 for 6 days. But if we request for 2 rooms, she would have to pay a lot more to have a room by herself.

We like to walk a lot but due to her age, she doesn't have the energy to walk too much. However to be fair to her, she did walk more than we'd expected her to on the 1st & 2nd day. Also gotta give her credit for being very patient & accomodative with us. She's someone who wakes up early in the morning & starts her day early. Yet she didn't attempt to wake us up even when she'd nothing much to do in the apartment. And she did try to shop with me.. to help me to choose... but I just felt bad that we're not doing something to her interest.

Very importantly, I gotta thank hubby for going on this trip with mum (to think that we're also living with her... I mean here in Singapore). And many times when I got a lil too overdosed by mum's blurredness, he reminded/encouraged me the main purpose of our trip. Oh what would I have become without my hubby?

Nevertheless, we did have some enjoyable moments . . . .

Great view!

One of the very few pix we took together

Mum & her son-in-law

I like this

@ Victoria market.. mum's favourite

Walking back after Victoria market visit.. look at mum's sunny smile. Hehe.

@ QV. Waiting for our lunch served

Posing in style ;)

The big balcony with table/chairs & a deck chair.

TPPT

I said I expected myself to fail. Have also heard too many stories on how the immense nervousness would get on you during the test - your mind would suddenly go blank when you're doing your parking, roll back on the slope, strike curb, etc etc ...

According to my instructor's analysis, my strength is in braking, positioning at junctions (for right turns) & in the circuit. Whereas my killer - forgetting to signal, dragging gear, insufficient acceleration, forgetting my U-turns (quite a few times I committed the serious mistake of doing right-turn instead!). But he said the most important factor was still coping with my nervousness as I panic very easily & usually can't get things right thereafter. In fact all the instructors that'd ever taught me (before I fixed to one) gave the same comment: "Try to relax, don't be so nervous". I also don't want to be like this but can't help it leh.

Last Sat, truly I was so nervous once I started the warm-up session that I didn't handle the clutch well which caused the car to jump & engine stalled. What a start. Hubby's watching everything & I believe he must have been really worried for me! Then there's the usual blunders like forgetting to signal/off signal & dragging gears.

After I got my test route, I made deliberate effort to remember where the U-turn was so as to try not to make the grave mistake (of turning right instead) & told myself to stay calm.

Amazingly I wasn't that nervous when I started off. Given my character.. wasn't that amazing? I thought I fared well in the circuit which was a booster.

Then I went on the road & there wasn't much hazards. The road was quite clear even when I did my lane-changing & I remembered to not change lane when approaching a traffic light (which I did before). The engine didn't stall, not even once (it always happened during my lessons). I was happy I mastered my half-clutch well as I didn't use handbrake at all on slopy roads & no rollback. I was pleasantly surprised by my own miraculously good performance.

At the end of the test.... I still F-A-I-L-E-D. I tell you at that moment, I was so sad & disappointed. If I were to behave like how I did during lessons... got all jittery, I'd expect myself to fail as I deserve it. My instructor said if I could refrain from commiting those of my common mistakes, my driving was ok & should be able to pass. But why? I really didn't make those mistakes.. I remembered my signals, didn't miss the U-turn, changed gears promptly. But why? Maybe he just wanted to encourage me by saying those nice words :(

I got 4 points in the circuit (failed to confirm safety) & 28 points on the road !!! Gosh! And I thought I'd done well on the road. I particularly felt unjust for a 8-point mistake which he marked me for - turning on flickering green arrow. Me?? My instructor would know me the best on this... during lessons, whenever I approached a right-turn junction I always hoped that the arrow would flicker so I didn't need to rush to turn which could easily get out of control. And on that day I was staring hard at the arrow hoping it'd flicker but no.. which's why I proceeded on. It might have flickered in the midst of my U-turn. So what if I stopped when the green arrow wasn't flickering yet? Would I have been marked for another mistake then? Other than that, I was heavily penalised on insufficient acceleration. Then 4 points gained in veering off course (which I deserved as I got a lil out of my lane when doing lane changing), some points for forgetting to check blindspot, taking too long to check blindspot. Just these mistakes, 28 points.

My instructor & some others (hubby too) told me first impression was very important. If I could do well in the circuit, the rest would usually be easier. They bluffed me.

I was very calm when doing the circuit... I did everything well... even when he demanded a last minute stunt. Look at the pic below for what happened.

Training car A was about to do his reverse parking & car B was waiting for his turn. Car C was practising on the platform (for auto cars). The tester told me to turn into that lane & do that particular reverse parking. I was quite taken aback but what could I do except obey? I had to squeeze in-between the 3 cars. Car A, which was about to reverse (his reverse lights were already on), must be very shock to see us behind & honked at us (I supposed the instructor didn't see it's a doube-L car then). After a while they gave up & moved on a lil to wait to turn left. But I only had enough space to move forward to barely see the 1st pole. Yet I did it (perfect, I thought). I'm not sure whether I got my 4 points of "failed to confirm safety" there though.

So it's not true afterall, even after I managed to clear those "obstacles".

Gotta wait another 2 months+ for re-test. Unbelievable! Now I've even lesser confidence than before. What if the next time I do badly in the circuit? What if the road condition isn't good? Or worst of all, what if next time round I suffer from a panic attack?

Was it really a heng-suay situation?

Practical Test

Finally... am taking my test tomorrow.

I seriously don't think I can make it because I'm still rather unstable on the road & tend to forget minor things. But well, without the 1st time, I can't proceed on to the 2nd, 3rd or even 4th attempts. The only problem is.. I believe I gotta wait at least 2 months for the re-test. I hope I've the stamina to wait.

Anyway I'm in no urgency to get the license. Or so I've been telling myself to de-stress.

CNY pix

On the 1st day, early in the morning. Gong xi gong xi! Visiting daddy's before going to inlaw's place.

Stayed for a while in AMK & my MIL pulled me to be her last minute makeup artist. Thereafter to ah gong's place. We skipped the usual steamboat lunch there & kept ourselves occupied with titbits & foto-taking ;)

What a sight. Quite interesting as you can see here ..

- prints, prints & more prints (of different kinds & colors)

- all 3 of us wore above-knee short skirts but with different designs - tube, spaghetti, long sleeve (though both Constance & I wore empire cut)

Group pic. It's a pity Constance & Harry hadn't arrived yet.

Took a big leap of 5 days & we're now talking about the 7th day of CNY (ie. the day when we returned from Melbourne). Just came back from Constance's. Had planned to catch a movie after the visit but couldn't get away because the whole group of relatives also went to her place when they knew we'd be there. We'd Lo Hei & it's fun. More like playing together with the kids.. the ingredients flew all over the dining table & on the kids' hands. To think that the cups of cocktail on the table were all filled with the yusheng ingredients. Hehe.
So at the end of the day, no movie also good.. look at the tired me.
By the way, does our entrance look nice? Hee.

The 8th day & it's a busy day. Went to da-jie's new house in Bukit Batok for lunch. As usual, forgotten to take any photo as we're busy catching up with Sara, then feeding ourselves. Her place looks simple & nice as they've literally done a facelift. Didn't have the time to explore the surrounding in the development. Hopefully we'll be there again soon as Gin couldn't make it & request to have another gathering.

We then rushed to June's at SengKang. Stayed for an hour+ & before we left, entertained ourselves by taking some pix.
Offtrack: Love hubby's new look ;) And me.. if you notice.. I've been wearing dresses, & still have quite a few more! Am currently into it particularly the shorter ones.


After June's, our 3rd & last stop of the day was bro's in Woodlands. Had our 2nd Lo Hei after dinner. Look at my bro.. as requested by us, he really used only his mouth to finish up the remaining bits.

Eve

2 sessions of reunion meals with our respective families for all of us (bro & sis too). It's a rush but fun affair.

At inlaw's... June & family came back for the reunion dinner too. So that made a bigger crowd :) Had a nice time chatting & joking except I didn't really enjoy the dinner - steamboat. Maybe it's the culture of different dialect groups, on our side there're lotsa delicious cooked food (or at least this sumptuous combi) that we would usually have for reunion dinner. But for them, it's steamboat. Same for sis at her inlaws'. I no like seafood nor too much meat, so you can imagine.

But it's not a big problem.. afterall, it's only once a year. Hee.

Our home sweet home