happy teachers' day

many thanks to students who had wished me happy teachers' day. and not to forget, ex-students who came back. thanks for the well wishes.

so... on this teacher's day, i would also like to thank my past teachers who have taught me. I'm not exactly the brightest student nor the most troublesome one. I was just quiet, well, i would always not pass up homework on time, yeah, i'm guilty of that.

seriously, thank you for moulding me, passing me the knowledge. thank you teachers, and if you are still teaching, happy teachers' day!

retirement plans made on a sunday morning

don't know why, we woke up very early this morning, early considering that today is a sunday. went for breakfast.

Yesterday, going to steff's company gathering was impromptu. main reason was could catch up with aunt sally since she is back from Perth.

i'm 30 plus now, 34??? yeah, 34..... many old people said that i still have a long way to go, but i guess in the thirties, it's when you start to plan for your retirement. probably our generation is different, due to our lifestyle and diet, i seriously dun think i would live that long. or rather, i seriously think that i cannot keep on slogging for another 20-30 years. i've already taken my 1st long service award. would i be taking my 2nd or 3rd?

back to our retirement plans... initially there were some...

1) when we grow old, check ourselves into old folks home, sell the house, 3 children buy their own houses in the future, money keep for retirement.

2) invest in some properties now, so that next time, each children will have 1 property. That is what we can do for them.

3) retire on a farm in a countryside. (this is the best!)

so after talking to aunt sally yesterday, she seems to have great plans for the whole family in Perth. This is so aunt sally, always planning and looking out for her sisters.

i think, we would slowly make plans to retire in Perth. no concrete plans yet, but this is the long term goal.

so the short term goal is to save money, big time. I have to develop some processes to save substantial amount of money. then the KPI will be to save what amount of money by each quarter.

Another process is to go Perth to do recce trip! yes, this is the big family plan for June 2010!!!! Serena, you are coming along too!

We are excited about this plan because this was something that i've planned a decade ago. i had plans to bring children over before they are 5 years old. yeah, a decade ago, year 2000. so now almost after a decade, it's like igniting a dying flame inside. so now discussing it was like fanning the ember, and slowly the ember is exploding into fire. what is different this time is there were extra resources, there were extra charcoal to help keep the fire alive.

ok, back to reality to work towards the retirement plans.

today, i feel like 'dying'. the fever came, the back aches, feels like breaking my back. tolerate until 3pm, then go home. ate some medicine, hit the bed to sleep.

feel a little better after the nap. at least, there is no fever. tried not to cough as the chest hurts when i cough.

i'm going to sleep after this blog. needs plenty of rest.

feels like hugging the children, cannot, afraid of passing the virus to them. so i'll go hug my bolster

i've just taken medicine for my cold, my cough, my phlegm (2x), augmentin, for fever. 6 types of medicine. trying to control it, it better work, man. i dun want to go and see doc liao, this month, whole family already spent like $250 - $300 on doctor. that's way over my budget of $100 pe month. darn, this virus is so strong.

max has finished his medicine, but his voice is still husky. have i mentioned this before? i think so.

arghhhhhhhh, couldn't finish the marking i set out to do, i had to keep it away, cannot continue. oh yah, better disinfect the papers before returning. (ha)

so after farming on farmville, i'm going to sleep, i'm not going to wait to harvest, i'll do it tomorrow.

went back to work today. Thank you everyone for your care and concern for 3M.

work has indeed piled up after 2 days of absence. just went on working and working, clearing one thing at a time. had to ask colleague to buy food up.

marking and marking, just finished one more pile. one last pile to go and i had to collect 3 more piles today. i can do this, after that, will be some rest from marking and then it's the prelims!!!!!

tomorrow is a long day. we now have evening revision with students. and tomorrow i have a meeting to attend... tomorrow isn't really a free day with only a break in between. so i must mentally prepare myself.

the children are getting into the system of doing homework, well, they have to, marcus science CA is coming up on 2 sept, so i have to revise with him on teachers' day. i hope they keep up the momentum and then soon, next term, it will be their SA.

as for my own studetns, all the more, you should keep up with the momentum. it's now or never!

having random thoughts now, so i'll just blog whatever comes to my mind

1) max has finished his medicine. i hope he gets well soon, otherwise, i had to go buy some more for him. he still has this husky voice and running nose. but with medication, he is really more tired, drowsy.

2) somemore is spelt one word or two words? somemore or some more???????

3) i just took some cough mixture too, can feel the cough coming...help!

4) the whole room is so dark now, only light is coming out from my monitor, the place is so quiet except the air con, the sound of my typing and the occasional traffic that passes by the main road. (sounds like a scenario from silent hill?)

5) traffic police do stop by temasek poly to catch illegal modifications to motorcycles. i've seen it a few times. not to mention, tampines ave 1 is a favourite place for speed camera. the overhead bridge can really provide shelters and do wonders.

6) what will i do without the computer and the internet?

7) with work piling up these few days, i'll be slow to farm and harvest, darn, there goes the lead... i calculated my schedule tomorrow, not advisable to grow 8hr crop or even 12hr crop, i wouldn't have time to harvest tomorrow, no point growing 16hr crop, also 1 XP point, might as well plant 24 hr crop, 2 XP points. but that means that i will harvest 1 or 2 less time in a day as compared to when i'm not working. well, heck. i have a life to live.

8) weekends are quite filled up already. Sorry, steff, got to turn down your invite. anyway, thanks for the invite. sat morning, going to bring in laws to HDB, then in the afternoon, off to seng kang to see new born baby with in laws too. then i guess, sis in law will come over for dinner.

on sunday morning, definitely must bring the boys for a hair cut. afternoon, depends on whether the children recovered or not, brewerkz. then it's off to mum's place for dinner. probably mum wants to go see some more showflats this weekend???

ok, i'll sign out for tonight, play a few rounds of mj on facebook before i turn in.

my frustrations when it comes to disciplining my children

on saturday, max was being unreasonable with mabel. i know he was not feeling well, but he didn't want to sleep, so he was cranky. and he had some issues with mabel.

i really could not stand it, so i went to the kitchen, i caned a few times (4x) on his legs. i just feel that he's being too unreasonable, and marcus and mabel, i feel, is starting to get tired of always having to give in to him.

my mil was at home, of course. needless to say, she was very unhappy. but this time i really heck care.

i need to discipline my child so that next time, when i say something stern to him, he listens. no, next time, i just have to stare, max will be able to understand what i mean.

on thursday night, i really had to scold marcus for not completing his homework even though i've told him many times before hand, that he needs to do his homework before i come back. so i was fuming inside, mad.... but i cannot scold yet. i know if i start scolding, it will be loud and i'll probably hit marcus too. keeping your anger inside really can shorten your life, you know, who knows, you may have a heart attack. so after mil went out for dinner, i had to seize the opportunity to scold as much as i can, to give marcus a piece of my mind (i think it was many pieces)

i feel very frustrated at times when it comes to disciplining my child. On one hand, i have to make sure i cannot let go of the opportunity to discipline, on the other hand, i have to make sure to do it discreetly.

and the worse thing is, mil thinks that i scold the children because i was angry with her for scolding the maid. she thinks that i side the maid!!! so it becomes a vicious cycle, when i scold the children, she would scold the maid even more. aiyo, so frustrating.

why i'm hooked on facebook application

facebook applications (levelling up) and blogging has become a major part of my leisure time (if i have any, so to speak)

so i usually leave the application on, while attending to my children, or sacrifice tv time and while listening to the tv programme, i try to level up in my facebook application.

sometimes, too many applications, have to be discerning. fishing is out for me, farming is in for me, mafia war is out for me. so please do not take offense if i started rejecting to accept application. i already have about 5-6 applications (let me list it down)
1) country story
2) farmville
3) farmtown
4) yoville
5) sorority life
6) barn buddy
7) happy farm
8) restaurant city (which i have stopped)
9) pet society (which i've deleted the pet)
10) Fish a fish (which i have stopped, just not into fishing)

not to mention all the games in facebook that i've stopped playing.

so what got me hook? i do some reflections (i dun just play, i reflect and i draw analogy to life)

1) it get you hook easily because the 1st few levels are always easy to level up, so you feel the satisfaction, the kick and you race to level up more to get more kick (sounds like drugs eh) but as you get into the higher level, you need more point to level up. and like RC, after you reached the max., there is no kick.

that is how drugs get you hook on real life too, i suppose

2) well, you can say, then let go. it's easy to say let go, but after putting in so much effort in farming, plowing, harvesting, it's difficult to let go.

in real life, isn't it the same to let go of past relationships?

3)in real life, it would be impossible for me to farm, so i guess i have to do it virtually though virtual farmer and real life farmer is, i know, so much different.
after my few farm stay stints in perth, i really like to retire on a nice farm. that is provided my health permits.

4) recently, i realised that when you face competition in levelling up, you really seek ways to strategise and compete. so a little bit of healthy competition is good. it improves the entire system. what i mean by strategise is u really work out the details on which crop to grow best, shortest time and give you lots of points. then when somebody else is doing better, you go to their farm to 'check it out' then u apply what is relevant to you. sometimes, you discuss openly and share with each other. then now, though not a huge success, but i'm sharing my secret here.

in real life, it is pretty much the same. Competition improves ourselves, competition with classmates helps to improve your grades. when you are stuck, you wonder how this person do so well, you either secretly learn or you discuss openly and learn.
Next, whatever you learn, you need to experiment to see which suits you best. you apply what is relevant to you. upon achieving success, sometimes, you share with the public like in our case, 'best practice sharing' 'excel fest' etc

it's amazing how the virtual world can capture the essence of the real world.

on deeper reflection,
4) being online, virtual temporarily takes me away from reality. i'm not one who is comfortable sitting down with people to talk, i dun like to socialize (honestly) so sometimes, retreating into my room is my best solution. retreating into my virtual identity gives me temporarily solace.

cowardly? maybe, it's up to you to define, but i'm happy this way. i'm also aware that i have to strike a balance in my spouse relationship (that is where self management comes in) sometimes, things are crazy at home, i really badly need some privacy.

i remembered when i was young, i was very much alone. i come back to an empty home after school since pri 3 or 4. what they call latch key kid. but i'm happy to be at home, so i'm used to being alone at home, i'll find my own entertainment, i'll find something to do.i hate shopping since young. (sounds like marcus is taking after me in this area) however, last time, there was no computer, so what do i do at home?
hmmm, let me think, i'll try on my mum's high heel shoes, i'll pretend to be teacher, i'll put on my mum's make up, i'll do some housework, i'll pour cooking oil into my neighbour's fish tank and then the fish would die (oops). We'll (neighbours) go to the various playgrounds in the neighbourhood (but that was when my cousin, stephanie comes to my house) oh yah, and i have to practice playing the organ. oh yah, not to mention, i pontang my organ lessons on sunday to go to times bookshop to read story books.

so now with so many people living in my house, it was understandably uncomfortable for me. i guess i'm learning the ropes as days go by, but sometimes, i just want my privacy. i'm not giving excuses to why i'm always on the internet and on facebook. i'm just reflecting on why i'm like that (self awareness) i go back to my childhood, i draw inferences, i do comparision (sounds so Social studies)

i will do reality check (not reliability) i check that i'm don't cave myself into the virtual world. i keep telling marcus to come back to reality (he is caved into his imagination world) so i must check myself.

How to Manage Your Online Life When You\'re Dead

How to Manage Your Online Life When You\'re Dead

cool, lately, i've been thinking of doing a will. Just in case, i just pass away. i've been thinking what assets i should include in my will.

anyway, come across this article, now i'm mindful also that i will have to take care of my digital assets in my will too. or like the article suggests, digital legacy, but it comes with a price.

i better note down all my digital assets and passwords to pass on to my children.

should i take child care leave tomorrow? on one hand, i would like to get back to work, on the other hand, my children need me to look after. mabel still has fever ranging from 38 - 39. marcus is slightly better. max's fever is 37.5. but his running nose is bad.

on sunday night, max suddenly didn't want to take his medicine, which is not the usual case. usually, he would open his mouth and eat medicine. but last night, he just refused. i had to forcefully feed him the medicine. after that, he kept on sobbing and said, 'i want fever. i dun want medicine. i want fever.' then i asked him, 'why he wants fever?' he didn't reply. but mabel thinks that he wants fever so that mummy don't have to go to work the next day. well, i'm not sure if this is what max thinks, he may not be so clever, however, i do have my doubts whether he thinks this way.

so i'm confused now, should i take child care or not?

very shiong when all 3 children fall sick at the same time.

random thoughts:
1) with the natas fair ended, i'm sure many people would have made holiday plans for year end. yes, we are going club med again, this time to cherating in malaysis. with sis in law's family of four. we are taking the budget airline, boy, hope it can fly and land safely.

2)this month, siong, spent so much on doc. must eat grass liao.

3)last night went with mum to eat porridge buffet at hotel windsor. ok, didn't know porridge can be so filling. yesterday lunch, also went to sakura at downtown east to have buffet. reached there at 1.50pm, they say buffet close at 2.30pm. so for last half an hour, we really stuff down lots of food.

4) then went over to book the chalet for the class.

5) the day is bright. can start to do some work

this morning, brought mum to eat dianxin for breakfast. after breakfast, she mentioned about centro at AMK showroom, so brought her to go and see. for 1000k psf, it's really not worth it.

then the agent introduced us to cabana, a cluster terrace house in sunrise. about 3 storeys with a basement. maybe tomorrow, will go with mum to have a look. she said she prefer landed properties, hint hint.... eh, ser, you are included hor. we leave the top floor for you and marcus and mabel, we'll share the same floor with mum, dun worry. you will have a world of your own.

ha, just look see look see only lah, no money to buy. it's 1.8 million leh, though it's 600 plus psf.

healthy competition

healthy competition is good. you see, when you have healthy competition, you spur yourself to overtake the person. You will think of strategising and think of ways to overtake the person. Being the winner, you cannot be complacent, you have to think of ways to keep up.

this brings me to the thoughts of students. sometimes, they are too complacent. a little bit of healthy competition is good and it would spur you to move up.

btw, if you are wondering why Mrs Tan level up so fast in facebook's application, that is why. healthy competition is good, right, Mr Kelvin?

can someone take a chopper to chop off my hand? i can tolerate wound pain, but when the bone is pain, there is really nothing much you can do about it. i hate that...

max is having a fever last night and his running nose is getting worse. will have to bring him to see a doc later in the afternoon. sigh, so feel like taking childcare leave, but then ... (&#!@#!*) sometimes i wonder why i work so hard for. pains me to see him sobbing when i left for work.

max, mummy never abandon you, mummy need to go to work. mummy promise you that i will accompany you during the weekend, shower you with love and care. mummy promise you not to do any work during the weekend.

oops, then how to mark??? haha, that means mrs tan cannot return you the papers next week. we will survive and we will work towards a better tomorrow.

what a bad day. now i'm having a terrible headache.

1) dunno why and how i was bitten by something. it started with two bites, then it 'expands' into a big red patch, It is itchy, it is swollen and it has a tingling effect. it is hurting my hand now.

2) marcus did not do his homework as promised. so you can imagine how i flared up. i really flared up. tomorrow, if he is not going to finish his homework before i come back,i will burn his worksheet and offer to the hungry ghost. i'm really not in the mood to mark. i just threw the paper on the floor. sorry guys, i would like to concentrate on the marking and get at least a stack marked. but with marcus not doing his homework, as at now, he is still doing, by the time he finish, i will be too exhausted to mark. that's why i decide to burn his worksheets tomorrow if he doesn't do. It's ridiculous, it's not that i'm very free.

i'm having a splitting headache now, and my left arm has nagging pain. i think i'll just listen to some music and try to go to sleep.

wahhhhhhhhhhhh, never buy 4d today and last weekend, 2 of my numbers came out!!!!!!!!!!

9714, if ibet $2, i should win $20
4208, if ibet $2, i should win $166.

wah, pain pain pain..... $166 can buy me 2 months plus of HDB carpark.
forget it.

i have to believe in fengshui, ever since the roof was dismantled, fengshui is better.

well, certain things about work, i can't really put it down here.

but i'm pleasantly surprised by my ability to go to work on Monday. I was thinking, i may have a high chance of taking mc on monday. i wondered at the back of my mind, what pushed me to go to work.

max woke up again this morning while we were getting ready to go to work. but i'm pleasantly surprised that max didn't cry. he went to find the maid to carry him, then he smiled and waved bye bye to me. so sweet. i hope it stays this way.

argh, the start of a new week. why do i feel so tired?

many things to do, weekend didn't do much work. hope things will be smooth this week.

yesterday, went out almost the whole day. after brewerkz, dinner with friends. hmm, mum didn't sound too happy when i told her that we are not going amk for dinner. hope she didn't vent the anger on anybody yesterday.

max is so tired, he didn't wake up this morning. actually he woke up in the middle of the night once, to go sh sh. then he was like tossing and turning in bed this morning. but he's a cute boy. on sunday morning, when he woke up, he would disturb us from our sleep. he would make your hair, your neck, your back, just so that you wake up.

today brought the kids to explorer kids as promised.

for the past few nights, the air con in marcus' room is spoilt, it was no longer cold. so we had to make a decision to ask people to come and temporarily solve the problem or change the whole entire air con system as planned to do at the end of the year.

after much discussion, decided to change the air ocn. since we have the intention to change the air con at the end of the year, now that the air con is spoilt, no point just solve it temporarily. because the compressor is going to 'crank' off soon too, anyway.

but now, no spare cash to change the air con, so what to do? go courts, can pay instalment.

so after a bit of shopping, decided on panasonic inverter, with air purifying, what not ions to purify the air. It looks something like this.



i especially like the silver panels. look simple and clean.

so after settling the air con thing, went over to ikea to have something to bite.

Max has been waking up these few days and crying when we go to work. His 'antenna' is especially sensitive.

we have talked to him many times the night before.
Max: tomorrow mummy papa no go work.
We: tomorrow is thursday, not saturday, mummy papa have to go work
Max: no, tomorrow mummy papa no go work
We: tomorrow is thursday, then friday. When saturday comes, mummy papa then bring you go playground. You are a big boy already, right? you will not cry, right?
Max: (kept quiet)

In the morning, when we wake up, we have been especially quiet, like thief. but still, he woke up. it has been like this since the beginning of this week. yesterday morning, before i left the house, i went over to the sofa where he was sitting to talk to him. it didn't work, he held on to me, hugged me, refused to let me go.

this morning, i 'ignored' him and walked to the door, wear my shoes. he started sobbing. then he walked towards the door. the maid carried him. 'mummy! ma ma' in between sobs. then as i walked out of the door, his crying got louder. i just waved goodbye to him and smiled at him. he just cried and cried. i had to walk on, without looking back.

wah, that few minutes of hearing him cry just tore my heart. it felt like i was abandoning him like that. it was very painful. i wish i could hug him and not go to work. but i know hugging him will make it worse and harder for me to leave for work. just makes me feel so shitty. just makes me feel like being a stay home mum.

this never happen to marcus and mabel before. probably they had each other as company. i feel so bad. i miss max. pain.

a start to another crazy busy week. so many things to do once work starts. really have to tell myself, one thing at a time, focus, concentrate.

neighbours are friendly. came home today and talked to neighbour about children's education and school. our block even has a group where we look out for one another's cars. this is a nice and warm block. i think it all started with the men washing cars downstairs. so over time, they get to know each other and this is how the group was formed many years ago. we just recently join the group.

ok, much said about neighbours. mil has check up tomorrow and she got a referral letter from the GP because her fever is on and off. i hope she is ok, possibility of her getting hospitalised tomorrow.

wah, so fast 10pm already, tomorrow have to work.

in the afternoon, brought the kids to kbox to sing songs. marcus didn't want to join us, so only mabel and max came. they sure had a great time singing. mabel kept singing the same few jay chou songs. when i have the time, i'll upload the videos.
came home after 4 hours of singing.

finally, marcus will be going to school tomorrow. actually just now he came to the room and trying to cough cough, so i stopped him and told him that he had to go to school tomorrow.

for this past week, ever since serena gave me the peppermint aroma oil, we have been using the fresherner every night in marcus' room.

Happy birthday, Singapore!

nice NDP show.

today, we went to ikea to buy some stuff. later in the evening, went to warren to meet mum and sister. after dinner, went bowling. but couldn't get the lanes with the guard, so marcus and mabel and max's balls kept going into the 'drain'. then we went to the playground and they had a nice time playing.,

nothing special today. but it was nice, just to laze around with the children. felt happy to talk to them, seems like ages since i had a good talk with them.

once again, happy birthday, Singapore!

8 aug is marcus birthday. we went brewerkz in the afternoon. while playing at the fountain, marcus spoilt his spectacles. i think apparently he left it on the floor and stepped on it. luckily it wasn't badly damaged.

then, in the evening time, they all came to celebrate marcus birthday.

went down to the coffeeshop as we had already ordered 2 tables. upon arriving, we realised that there was no table for us. actually, they had prepared 2 tables, but other people had taken it. so they had to open up two new tables for us.

hmmm, a little not pleased. then out of 7 dishes that we ordered, only 5 dishes came. so were very unhappy.

although they didn't charge us for the food that didn't come, but was not very happy.

anyway, on the way home, brought marcus to the optical shop to repair his spectacles. then after that we reached home, we cut birthday cake. Serena bought some 'trick' candles that could not be blown. so the children, huff. the candle went out, but it came back on again. they puff harder. the candle went out, then it came back again. Marcus puff harder still. (hmmm, all the children's saliva is on the cake) so in the end, we told marcus, the candle is not possible to be blown out. we played a trick on him.

after that, mum, steff, serena and me sat down for a game of mahjong.

it was an nice evening. if only it wasn't so humid and hot.

today met stephanie and we all went to tampines mall together. She wanted to get marcus a birthday present. so we went din tai fung for an early dinner. then went to toys r us. marcus chose his birthday present. so did mabel.

after that, we went swensens for ice cream, then shop a while at mothers care.

tomorrow is marcus birthday. we have booked 2 tables at the zi char stall.

now, tired. trying to think what to do with the children tomorrow.

been busy these 2 days. yesterday, took child care leave. Marcus was on 3 days MC. today, i still didn't let him go back to school as he was running a fever last evening. 39.3

many work to be done recently. not to mention the marking.

just take things slowly and easy, one day at a time. will be able to survive.

how should i begin? story goes like this:

mil wanted max to take his afternoon nap in the 'yona'. asked maid to put him in the 'yona'. max cried and said dun want and struggled. as maid was putting max in the yona, mil hit maid's hand. maid cried and said 'painful'.

later, mil told maid that she was actually hitting max, not her. i don't know who to believe and i'll give mil the benefit of the doubt. but i also told maid that if ah ma hit her again, whether accidental or intentional, she must let me know.

maid also told me that mil shouted loudly for no reason suddenly. marcus was at home, playing with his trains. marcus looked up and was stunned. nobody knew why she shouted.

for both incidents, i'm very upset and unhappy. in the evening, when i asked max if he cried when he was asked to sleep in the yona, he said, 'yah, me and sopia cry' i asked him 'why sopia cry?' he replied, 'ah ma beat sopia.' now if it takes a 3 year old to say that, i think it's a negative influence on him. when he grows up, thinking that it's ok to beat other people.

and the sudden outburst of scream, i dun want my children to think that it's ok to scream like that, not without explaining to them why u scream suddenly.

now from the other point of view:

i do fully understand the frustrations. the skin itches, you cannot do anything much. everything has to depend on people. you need people to help you massage, you need people to apply the lotion. yes, i fully understand this.

that is why when the maid couldn't wake up in time last week for a few day, i understand that she is tired.
when the maid couldn't complete the housework, i understand that her time is taken away.

but i cannot understand why, knowing that you cannot drink cold water, drank cold water in the morning?

that brings me to the question of life. my same old saying, live life to the fullest. birth, growing old, sick and death, all are natural processes of life. take all these in stride. yes, a person may be sick, but you still have to live life to the fullest. how do you want people to remember you when you die? i would want people to remember me as a fighter who fought till the end. i want people to remember me that despite my illness, i do this with whom, i do what with whom. we bring nothing to earth, we shall bring nothing away with us when we die. what is money? money is just something that we need to help us live on this earth. we only leave behind memories, so how do we want people to remember us?

What a busy day today. 1st, after 3 days of MC, many things need to be done today. so been walking around settling things.

2nd, marcus had fever so had to go to his school to bring him home.

3rd, next is back to school to finish what i did not complete and then rush back home again to bring him go and see a doctor.

it was a hectic day

wah......... 9714 ibet, came out 2nd prize leh. the other number, saw a SJR 4000 on saturday morning as we left east coast. we were crossing the car park road, when it drove past, so the number stuck to me because it was SJR and the number was 4000. then as we drive along the service road to exit to fort road, SJR 4000 and another car had a minor accident. i was like, 'omg, didn't i saw the car just now?' It was a renault and the headlamp was quite badly damaged. that's why i decided to buy 4000 this week and ibet it to try to win something small.

It came out in consolation prize. so this week, with 2nd prize and this, i got back my 4D money this week. or should i say, i got back marcus' birthday present.

good, good, a good start to august.

i forgot to mention in the earlier post that marcus actually gave me a kiss on the cheek for buying him a birthday present. Though sometimes he makes me furious, nevertheless, he's still a kind hearted boy.

today went to tampines mall, toys r us to buy b day gift for marcus. he got a pokemon and a train set.

then later, went to ntuc to buy some groceries. after 10 mins, we decided to put back the grocery and go to giant instead. What got me angry was the lack of choice offered by the supermart. i was browing through the sugar, there is only icing sugar, SIS castor sugar and find sugar in packets. I just wanted to buy an ordinary packet of sugar as we make coffee every morning, so didn't like to use individually packed sugar. so i was left with no choice but to take the SIS sugar, 1 kg $2.15. i found it very expensive and i apalled by the lack of choice. That was why i decided to go to giant in the end.

no doubt, ntuc has reward points and yes, some of the things are cheap, but then, it just lost my support.

so we went to giant to buy some groceries and head back home for lunch.

This morning we went to east coast macdonald. met my cousin and sister there for breakfast. After breakfast, we need to go and meet charles, my cousin's husband at the osim triathlon. kind of like support him.

Actually we wanted to walk there, but after knowing that it is at the hawker centre there, we suggested to drive there. impossible to walk, too far.

so after we reached, the men's race had already started. so my cousin kept a lookout for charles and their nephew. she took some pictures of them. hubby said that next year, he may want to take part.

after this, we went down to ralli art to enquire about the price and see how best to spend the voucher. in the end, we settle on buying the 3 t-shirts for the children and 2 key pouches. it cost $115.80. still got some vouchers left.

then we send my sister to esplanade. She is meeting her friends for one for one buffet which they had pre-booked since february! wah!!! hope that she had a good meal.

then we decided to go down to brewerkz since we already paid for the erp charges. the children had a great time playing with water at the fountain. luckily, i brought some towels along. thought the towels will be useful if they are sweaty while cycling. (actually, in the end, we didn't cycle)