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I came across this book when I was in Harris 2 days ago while waiting for hubs to finish shopping for his IPAD 2 accessories. Its been quite a while since I last visit Harris, maybe 1 mth ago? I had long finished all the books I last brought.

This time, this book I brought is titled "Nothing to Envy" with narrators recounting the lives in North Korea.

North Korea is easily said to be 1 of the most mysterious country in the world. Worlds apart from its' neighbours or former partner, South Korea. While South Korea is moving forward with the times, North Korea however seems to be stopped moving or rather been moving backwards.

I had always been curious about life in this country where rumours said that they are eating tree barks due to lack of food.

Been half way thru the book onli but it is enuff to send chill down my spine by reading how the plp survive and how they lived under the ruling of their supreme leader..It is realli an eye opener with real life accounts from the defectors telling the author of encounters there..Man, it makes me count my blessing to be born in Singapore once again..

How deep is your Love

I know your eyes in the morning sun
I feel you touch me in the pouring rain
And the moment that you wander far from me
I wanna feel you in my arms again

And you come to me on a summer breeze
Keep me warm in your love and then softly leave
And its me you need to show

Chorus:
How deep is your love
I really need to learn
Cause we're living in a world of fools
Breaking us down
When they all should let us be
We belong to you and me

I believe you and me
You know the door to my very soul
You're the light in my deepest darkest hour
You're the saviour when I fall
And you may not think
I care for you
When you know down inside
That I really do
And its me you need to show

Chrous

李式笑话- When Mr Love wanna drink bird nest...

I have made it a habit to cook bird nest once a month with 泡渗 to nourish our tired bodies..Mr Love especially love to drink bird nest soup..Also, its good to treat his lungs since sometime Mr Love will suffer from prolonged coughing..

Today, while walking to dinner here's a conversatin between us:

Mr Love: "老婆，*cough * *cough* *cough*"
Me: "老公，you got cough again ar?"
Mr Love: "Ya lor, time to cook 燕窝 for me le rite?cuz I got coughin le"
Me: .........

So, now when he wanna drink bird nest soup, he will 假假 make those fake cough... *faintz*....

GE2011-Cooling day

How ironic, today is cooling day but the weather is anything but cooling..Gonna melt under the hot sun.

The past 9 days had been interesting, to see the various parties campainging for this election, it should be by far the most exciting election is Singapore's History and I am not sure whether we will have another such exciting election in future or not.

PAP has announced that they will aso focus on the sandwich class and the youngesters (21-35yrs) group. Our PM had apologised on behalf of his government. I am impressed that PM is now eating the humble pie. But you know what, it would be good if the apologies comes from the person invovle not the big boss.

I notice that PM is more humble, more willing to listen more than his peers. When some of the ministers speaks, it still strikes me that they still dunnno wat went wrong..If you dunno what went wrong, and dun listen and dismiss our complaints as noise, den you cannot blame us for wanting another voice in the governement.

One of the new candidate for Sembawang GRC commented that when he was young, the exchange rate for Greenback to us is USD 1 to SGD 3, now the exchange rate is USD 1 to SGD 1.22. It shows our currency is getting stronger blah blah blah...But why is that our inflations are aso getting higher? A stronger currency should results in a lower import cost and thus inflation should be able to be controlled and not getting as high as every where in the world. Isnt it the case?

But it is not, isn't it? When we buy crude oil, we are using USD rite? But when the oil prices rises, all petrol, electricity rises too. If our currency is strong as compare to 20yrs ago, den we shd be able to absorb this rises rite? How come the prices of the necessity still rises? It onli goes to shows that it is the Greenback tat is getting weaker, not SGD getting stronger. In fact, alot of countries are at their peak on the rate VS the greenback. This are the comments of the people who cannot convince me. Try harder next time.

Not only the PAP brings up invalid points, the opposition does that too. I mean, it is good to have another voice in the parliment but I am not asking you to oppose to every other thing the government had. For instance, there is a call from NSP to either reduce or scrape our GST. I mean, get real! How is our government gonna generate their revenue from without GST? It juz sounds so tempting, but then it is not pratical at all..I would be grateful enuff if they are not going to hike it up anytime soon..In fact, our country has 1 of the lowest GST in the world, look at Msia, I think their government tax is at 10%...not to mention the 17.5% VAT of the European countries..I am oredi counting my blessings.

Also there is this party who wanted to use 60bil for some project they suggest...I mean, HELLO u wanna touch the reserves?Haven get elected and you are toking on our reserves...This is what my mum always scold us when we are young, 还没有学赚钱就要学花钱。。。This is totally unacceptable...This is a dangerous concept to be frank, a dangerous thinking..

The topic of the length of our national service has been touched on, to reduce to 15mths. As I did not went through it, I cannot comment much, but for my 5 cents worth, we should not reduce it even further, this will not allow ample time for the soldiers to get trained properly. Yes, it may seems to be a waste of time, but then in times of emergencies, proper trainin will realli get us far..Defence is an important issue to our tiny island surrounded by the many big countries. Defence budget shd nt be cut too. This is not a matter to be compromised.

At the past few rallies, quite alot of tears flow, you get the old PAP uncle crying in the rain in midst of his speech, you get the young NSP star crying while doing her walkabout and relating the sob story during the rally...

Seriously, I dun find all the tears necessary, it may due to ur real reactions but still to cry on national TV is abit like 博取同情。。

After hearing so many talks, interviews, speeches from both sides, tomorrow is the day we would make our choice. I will be waiting anxiously for tmr's outcome. No matter how grateful, impress I am with PAP, I do hope that WP will get their 1st GRC seats tmr..This, will be a milestone for Singapore's politics and will be a wake up call to the arrogant chaps..Good luck to all tmr!!

GE 2011-NSP Rally for 2011

Attend NSP rally with Mr Love and bro yest at CCK stadium despite the rain. Wanted to see what they are gonna tok about the plans they have for CCK GRC...

Was pretty surprised at the turnout of a huge crowd.I guess most of us are residents in this GRC..unlike WP's rally, where plp frm all over SG flocked there to listen what the most promising opposition have to say..

After days of listening to both side, I must say I am realli not sure till yest wat the opposition will do if they are voted in. No, I do not want PAP to be toppled, I juz wish there are some opposition in to help to keep them in check.

I muz say, I'm pretty impressed with NSP's rally last nite, they did highlight their plan for us, they did bring out valid points to argue on. But I dun realli agree with all their suggestions they brought out.

PAP muz noe that I, as a citizen of this country didnt forget what they did for us to bring us forward to the current standard, but they muz aso noe at the same time as we are moving forward, we do have higher expectations of the government. Cannot be country moving forward but government is doing henta daki rite?

Moreover, I find tat some of the younger PAP candidates strike me as arrogant not to mentioned that they ride on the higher posts ministers' power to get voted in unchallenged. This, makes them thinks that they are invincible..



At 7.30pm..All in for shelter due to rain, onli a handful stood by the stage to watch



Stands are full at 8pm

Crowd start fillin in at 8.30pm

After the rain

This time, I think we shd realli have some voice inside to keep them in check, to remind them to put the citizens as their priority. The next 5 yrs will be watched by the younger generation.They muz remember that the older generation, are slowly ageing and we the younger crowd will rise to be future owners of Singapore. Plan something, say something, do something to let us think that we can still trust u like our parents' batch. Else, dun blame us for choosing the other players, this is nothing against any party, this is for us to decide our fate, our children's fate.

Happie Bday Ah Gong...

I actually dunno the actual date of Mr Love's Ah gong bday, but I rememebered that we always will have the celebrations ard Labour Day..whahah so every time when its May, I would asked my DIL when we are gonna celebrate Ah Gong's bday. I would need remind Mr Love aso, he doesnt rememeber even after all these yrs..

We went to Xian Seafood at Punggol this year, the place was pretty ulu and without driving, I tink its quite difficult to reach there..Surrounding was nice though, abit like in nature reserve. Most importantly is it is near where Ah Gong is currently staying now- Gu Gu's hse. As Ah Gong is having diffculties in walking, and sometimes will wanna lie down after sitting for too long, it is best to arrange to celebrate somewhere near so as to prepare for in the event he wanna leave half way.

But Ah Gong was in a good mood, he sat there for nearly 2hrs without complanin much it seems. The service was veri slow, think they were short handed, the food were not tat nice, too salty for my liking..The noodles they fried were the worst, i could nt get past the 2nd mouthful. On top of it, I heard that the price were aso expensive. Neber going bak again, was every 1's comment.

Seeing Ah Gong looking good took a great relief off me. Just yesterday, I learnt from DIL that he has been admitted to hospital for his back pain again..Didnt realli recovered from the fall earlier this year. I initially was worried that he would be beri much affected by Ah Ma's passing but seem like he walked out of the darkness le..

Went up to greet him and chatted briefly. He still can recalled me but he always could not get my name. He refers to me as the youngest grand daughter in law..whahah this is exactly how he intro me to the nurses when I visited him at the hospital previously. Nearly every nurse, he introduced me to them..

Its good to see him having his appetite back as I heard from Mr Love's cousin that previously, he would not eat due to the back pain..He even took a bit of the chocolate on his bday cake and eat while waiting for the cake to be cut. whahah..

Happie 83rd bday to you Ah Gong, May u haf a long life and be free from the pain and illness...

Confessions of a Middle class child-Part 2

17-20 yrs (Poly days)

During these years, my dad left our family, making my mum the sole breadwinner in the family, during these days, my housewife mum went out to work for the 1st time in her life in SG..

• After my O levels, for every vacation I get, I would find any temp placements to work and to earn some pocket money, be it for my new sch books, clothes or wat so ever expenses I need...Mum say u work for wat u wan, dun expect her to give monies for your wants..
• During my sch terms, I would give tuition at night and hand my mum half the fees for our hse hold expenses.
• After graduating from Poly, I am not able to get into NTU when I applied the 1st time, reason being, the government onli allows the top 5% of the cohort into Uni, with a GPA of 3.4, I am no where near the 5%..Thanks man, my family is unable to send me to overseas due to family constraint..
• Started working and part time studee..it is no easy feat, nearly wanted to kill myself every now and then and sch n work got busy althogether..

21yrs and above

It is lucky that I started work early at 17, having quite an amount in my CPF, neber in my dream I know this will come in handy.

Hubs and I were both the middle child coming from lower middle income family. Parents were neither rich enuff to provide all for us, nor poor enuff to let us suffer much..Juz having alot of restrictions here n there..
When we planned to get married in 2008, we know we need a flat, at the tender age of 24 & 25, we were unable to fork out the ridiculously high COV or our parents have enuff to lend/support/sponsor us. We took things into our hand and applied 1 thru balloting.

Luck was on our side, I shd say. The hse prices were rising, but nt that fast, and my hse is the last batch tat HBD sold under the bi-monthly sales at a lower price. The catch is, this is a 14yr old hse, in 1 of the most ulu place in SG-Yew Tee on a 3rd floor. Some of my fwens tot I was crazy to buy, but we tot this is our only chance on owning a hse on our own..

Took the plunge and neber look bak since, shifted in without any renovations, rented out the rooms to fund for our weeding/ expenses for the hse and future renovation..This is how we manage to get thru all these yrs.. Within a yr after I got my hse, I saved enuff to hold my wedding, took our weddin photos and went for honeymoon..All these are done on our own. We were the lucky 1, as many of our fwens are not able to even get a flat.Some, might but the price is a whole lot higher, some did have the support from parents but there are others who are in the same situation as us and are still waiting to save enuff for onli a wedding..

This is the real life experience of a child from a lower middle class family with maybe a little more lucky den some others. Where the government seems to forget about us, living us to stuggle on our own with the ever increasing prices..

Tell me, how many of our leaders went thru these during their growing up years? Not many I dared to say..Only if you are able to feel for us, understand our difficulties and stop acting arrogant, den I will be able to be convinced that the government looks out for the citizens..For the time being, you are juz looking out for yourself and watever you mentioned are all excuses in my humble opinion. So stop bullshitting and get your asses down to work!!!

Mother's day 2011-Mother in law

Ever since I got married, we have to take turns to schedule to bring our parents our for dinner on festive occasions like CNY, mother's, father;s day...This yr, we went with mil 1st as we will celebrate mummy's bday together with mother's day in late May...

Brought her to the famous Still road black pepper crab that Cindy had always been promoting..whahhaha She brought me there once to try and I feel in luv with the crabs, since MIL aso love crabs, muz as well bring here there n try...

Went at 4pm as I read in the reviews tat by 5, they would be full hse..Reached at 4.30pm and the coffeeshop was already half filled..Seriously, where got plp take dinner at 4 de?but no choice, if this is the way the game is play, this is the way we play the game..hehhe

Ordered 4 pepper crabs, a plate of mee goreng, a plate of sambal Kang Kong and fried fritters..Crab was the main dish and it was the best dish of all.

Mee goreng was abit cold when it was served to us, our guess is, it is the last plate of the previous fry as we saw the next table's serving was piping hot, can still see the steam comin out of the mee..But their mee goreng was also quite good, tasty, not too salty, abit spicy but not over..It is still best to eat it hot...

Next served was sambal kang kong, abit so-so onli..The sambal used to fried the kang kong was not abit fragrant at all and not spicy..I like my sambal kang kong to be spicy. Also, I find it to be abit on the dry side, some sambal kang kong will have abit of gravy when served, here, they served the Kang Kong dry..

Sambal Kang Kong without gravy

Followed closely behind it the fried fritters. Tasted not bad if not for being too full towards the end of the meal. It is best when serve hot, along with the mayo they squeeze all over the fritters, you need no other sauce to go with it. It was being neglected after the crabs were served. So this is only the 配角..whahahah




Fried Fritters

Last, but no least, the crabs arrived..Every 1 start diggin in while I am still trying to take a picj of it..Whahaha Parents in law were impressed with the black pepper sauce they used. There was a generous amount of gravy on the plate for you to dip ur crab into it..I think the reason why their crab is so famous is becuase of their gravy..It's thick, fragant, yet not too spicy..Or maybe abit when it is serve piping hot, after a while, your taste buds will get use to it...

Crabs served were juicy, unlike some coffee shop, where their crabs seems not to have too much flesh. Crabs here have ALOT, ALOT of flesh and you can literally taste their juiciness once you bite into the flesh..Their crabs are also of bigger size, therefore, the 5 of us can share 4 crabs..Usually, Mr Love and I is able to finish 1 each at other places along with other dishes..



Now you see it,




Now you don't

 They have other types of cooking method for the crabs, like chilli or steam crabs. I had not tried their steam crabs before but their chilli crabs was no where as fantastic as their black pepper counter parts. Unless you have a super big group, you might wan to order 2 to try out, else I recommend otherwise. 1 thing to note, the minimum order for the crab is 2. If 1 is not a big eater, den try not to order other dishes.

There are no reservations of seats allowed here, but can call and reserve the crabs, juz that you gotta queue for a seat to be available. The coffeeshop operating hrs are from 4-8pm. The 1st time when Mr Love and I tried to search for this place and failed, we followed the postal code as given on Internet..whahah

This time, however we are successful and I noted down the directions. Take PIE(Changi) and exit Eunos exit. Turn right at the exit and travel along Still road. You will see a signage for Parkway hospital East coast. Turn right at the junction where the signage is and park your car at the open carpark at the coffeeshop located at right hand side. There is a gantry system there. Then, walk to the cross junction and cross the road to Eng Sen Coffee shop. The outer looks super rundown de..whaha..I think is still able to park along Joo Chiat place, but muz walk further..So the parking I went shd be the nearest le..If I am not wrong, as this is recommended by the lady boss when I call them for directions...whahaha


The Address

 They are closed on every Wednesday and there are limited stock of the crabs every day. I heard at during weekends, if you are there after 6.30pm, den chances are, the crabs will be sold out...Maybe weekday is a better choice to go there if it is not too inconvenient.

See the long queue at 6pm

GE 2011-Confessions of a middle class child Part 1

As GE 2011 begins the campianging process, 1 can keep hearing PAP promising they will not forget the lower income group and make sure they will progress with the whole nation..How nice, that is veri nice of you..But did you juz forget the sandwich class(middle class) plp?? Yes, you certainly did..Afterall, our combine household income exceeds the limit governement had set for qualifying for a low income family..We are too rich to allow the government to help us, too poor to lead a better life..Its a case of either here nor there..

Let me as a child growing up in a middle class or lower middle class family shed some light on my growing up years...Might Need a few posts..Whahaah

My younger days (1-16yrs)

I have 2 silblings, 1 elder and 1 younger brother. I was born to a construction supervisor dad and a housewife mum. Dad was the sole breadwinner in the family, taking home SGD 3,500 per month. House was a 3room flat in clementi. There was no car to dream about. You might argue, 3.5K was alot during that time. Beri true, but its for 5 persons' usage. Average is 700 per person, do u still think its enuff..

Here's how my mum managed the household:

1. School:

• There was no new uniform, all were hand me downs from neighbours whose kids were olden than us and had outgrown the uniforms.It helps that we were quite pettie back then, uniform can last average 3 yrs..
• 2 pair of school shoes per yr if you haven outgrow the pervious pair..And mind you, its from Msia Bata, where we will buy in mum's hometown when we are back during holidays. Its cheaper as compared to here.Even show white was brought there and each 3 of us gotta lug it back from Msia. Mum say she cannot be carrying all our shoes, so we are responsible for them ourselves.
• Textbooks were never new in my memory unless syllabus is updated. My bro would received hand me down from neighbours and will pass to me and finally to the youngest 1..The only thing is workbooks and excerise books..
• School bags will onli be replaced if your currently 1 prove to be utterly unusable..I remembered I once cut a whole in my bag so that it will wear out quickly juz to make mum buy me a new 1...In the end, she help to sew it bak..Thanks lo...
• Pocket money was 50 cents from P1-4,1 buck for P5 & 6, lunch was always at hm, not to mention dinner.
• Got 4 bucks a day during sec school that is inclusive of breakfast and lunch or tea break when schools onli ends at 4pm...
• No pocket money on wkends.you are suppose to stay at home whole day while mum provides you with all the meals..You can buy abit of snacks however, IF you manage to save any thing from the miserable amount you have..
• Never had tution as mum thinks its god damn expensive..Everything is on our own..You are suppose to listen to your teacher who is suppose to teach you watever you are suppose to know..This is good you know?No extra work..whahaha
• You know there is this craze on who brings the most colour of colour pencils to school? My mum will onli buy us the basic pack consisting of 12 colours. She say will be enuff..Juz colour everything the same colour will do..No wonder, 3 of us are bad at art class..whahah

    2. Luxury items:

This is abit ambiguous, for us back then, everything was consider luxury..wahahah

• Depending on how many days there are for CNY holidays. this is exactly the same number of NEW outfits we will get for a year..Anything else, is always hand me down..At 1 point, plp tot I was a boy, cuz I use to take my bro's clothes n wear...whahaha
• Toys were scarce, mum always have her way to find plp's hand me down for us.Especially me, as I am the onli gal at hm, it is quite wasteful to buy toys for me as the 2 other guys would not get to play.. I remembered, sometimes we will visit our neighbours to play their toys n smtimes get cold shoulder..Afterall, which kid will wan to share their toys with outsiders?
• Macdonalds was taken once in a year, every 1st day of CNY, dad will bring us there for breakie as all coffeeshop will be shut for the festive..
• Overseas holidays means going on short trip to Msia.Monies will come from our savings,Mum seriously keep a record of our savings and a detail deductions on everything we brought..Even my study table was brought frm my own savings..
• Mum will bring us to shoppin trips once in a month, by shoppin, I mean window shoppin..whahah.. We will take the train to Dhoby Ghaut and there is a mall store there name "IN KIDS" where they would have toys for us to play..She would bring us there n play but will make us promised b4 hand that we will not ask her to buy anything.True to our promise, we did not for fear that we will lose our only chance to get to go out..
• There were no extra CCA or interest lesson or watever you called it..Monies was the issue again.
• We brought a PC when I was in P5, bro need it for project for sch..1 hr per day per person is what we have.No extra, this is to save on the electricity.
• Tv time is frm 5-8pm.Save electricity again.Its bedtime after tat, where we will get into pillow fight almost every night for an hr due to boredom.
• Mum brough a super la po ka air conditioner for us, its onli from 8pm-7am. Not allowed to on during the day, by 7am we gotta wake up for breakie...
• Dad brought us a gameboy which we had for ard 10yrs and still in good condition as mum had warned that there will be no replacements..whahaha Limited to 1 hr play per day per person during school holidays onli. Batteries are expensive too.
• You will neber find snacks/ soft drinks in our hse unless its Chinese New Year. Its plain water and bread whole yr round.Even during CNY, you gotta see Mum's mood to depends on how much goodies you get this year.
• CNY angbaos is for looking purposes onli. Mum will consolidate all, deduct whatever she give out to others, and divide it by 3 and bank into our accounts. I seriously lost the happie feeling of receiving ang bao after the 1st few years..is basically touchin it onli.. This customs remains till today where the 2 brothers still following it. I am not entitled to collect le..whahah
• School holidays is always spend in Msia with mum's maiden family as the cost of living there is lower as compare to SG and mum need not have to put up with our nonsenses whenever we r bored here.And mind you, she onli send us bak, she is not with us there, and we will be following which ever Auntie/Uncle we liked..Mostly, we spend our time separated except during meal times..
• I will take bus where ever I go during my sec school days, even it means to need transfer 3 bus before reaching hm and the whole journey would take 1hr 30min.Reason being, Dad onli gave monies for bus concession not the hybird 1 where you can take the train too.

This basically sums up the life I had during my schooling days.Seriously, it is not as bad as those lower income family. But judging from the way my mum brought us up, it is no where near good life either. How much does the governement knows about what kind of life we lived?I seriously dunno, from the way I see, their candidates all had better backgrounds, they would not be able to empathised with our experiences.

My 1st time attending a Rally

I attended rally for the 1st time in my life yest at Serangoon Stadium..Its the Worker' Party Rally and after missing the 1st nite as I was in Msia, I decided to go for this while Mr Love is away in Sch..Msg my bro and asked him whether he wanna go with me, to my surprise, he agreed! He seldom wanna go out with me frm young..Guess this is a trait of all elder bro, seeing their younger sis as brats..

Reached the stadium at 6.30pm and I had previously was naive enuff to think we would get a sit, so i wore a demin skirt, but to my dismay, the seats were all taken up!!No even any space to go up to the stands lo...Even the field is starting to fill with plp..So in the end, we found a spot and stood at the edge of the field, allowing us to sit on the track..


Stands full at 6.30pm...

Luckily I brought papers with me and was able to sit down and make myself comfortable while waiting for the Rally to start..Rally started at 7.15pm and the 1st speaker was abit boring.He was not able to stir up emotions among the crowd and seriously I wasnt really paying attention to what he was speaking..


By 7pm, crowd becomes more packed...

2nd speaker was Png Eng Huat for East Coast GRC..This, is a better speaker, his speech on the various issues that the citizens faced where precisely what was on my mind..The FT issue, our over crowded public transport, even on the point of differeniating citizens and PRs was raised..He got the crowd cheering in between his speech when he hit some raw nerve..

He is right, before 2009, there was not much of a difference if you are a citizen or a PR here, maybe except the PR dun get to buy 1st hand flats and the get the Growth Dividends (if any). Other than that, they pay the same school fees as us, they enjoy our medical subsidies, and heck, they even get the same chances to get into the choice of sch as us..So what is the difference between a citizen n and PR? Moreover, after njoying all these benefits, these plp packed their bags after a fews here n goes back to their country and njoy life and we are left struggling here..

Some supporter self made cards aiming at Mr Mah Bo Tan..

Remember the co driver that PM Lee mentioned? This is WP driving license..

 

Supporters waving their flags in agreement to show their support

 Speaker after speaker, I waited patiently for Mr Low Thia Kiang to come on stage to deliver his speech. The previous day, he made some interesting comment, witty and smart to counter attack the comments by PAP. I have to admit, he is the reason why I choose to attend WP's rally. Afterall, WP seems to be the most likely party to win the oppositions' 1st GRC..

At 8pm, the stadium was even more packed den out MRT...  

 
However, as they brought out the various issues, the disappointing is they didnt offer the solutions also..As I discussed this with Mr Love, he made a good point on this, they have not been elected yet, perhaps they just do not wan to make any empty promises? Come to think of it, it maybe rite at this point of time..I guess, we muz vote them in and see what they can do..Else,  5 yrs later kick them out..Afterall, we the Singaporean are empowered with this right to vote..

After Mr Low's speech, bro and I left as we do not wan to be caught in the human jam, even leaving the stadium was a chore itself..Took us a good 10min to squeeze our way out..There are still alot of plp who do not have a chance to get into the stadium, instead, they stood outside and listen to the broadcast..Brought their hammer newsletter at 5bucks, I rememebered distinctively, when I was beri young, maybe at 6 or 7, I brought 1 copy for JBJ in West coast market at onli 50cents or 1 dollar..whaha Dad haven given me the monies to ask me go buy..Talked about inflations...I shall attend other rally when I got the time..heheh

As we left the stadium at 9.30...



GE 2011-On the issue of FT...

Opps..seems like I made a mistake, it shd be NSP contesting in my area instead of SPP..NSP is the party where Nicole Seah is from, the girl who is drawing becoming a big sensation among the young community..Juz watched a video on her last nite speech during NSP rally.. I am pretty impressed by her confidence as she speak I muz say..In my humble opinion, she speaks better than Tin Pei Ling..

On the other hand, I had received my polling card last nite when I came back frm Msia..Woo..1st polling card of my life..The fight between the parties had began, with all the posters from both side are fully decked out along the road on the lamp post...

Vans with those loud speakers promoting their own party also made round in the neighbour hood..To be frank it felt good to soak in this kind of atmosphere..This, will make PAP sit up straight and listen to us, hopefully when they are able to win this coming election as a ruling party, they will reflect on what they have been doing and listen to the commoners' woes..

Personally, I feel connected on what the various opposition parties raised as the issues of the government. Yet, PAP seems to be findin excuses when these issues are raised, instead of reflecting them..This to me is called 执迷不悟, dun wait till u lost more than wat u expect den u start to reflect..U will need the next 5 yrs to regret...

1 thing cannot be denied, PAP is a good ruling party, for so many yrs, Singapore had progressed well..But, as we progressed, as we lend the support to them, it makes them forget their roots..especially the younger generation leaders, it makes them take our support for granted.It makes them forget bout the people's well being..I dun doubt they really wanna make our country a even better econmony, a better place for foreign investors, a stronger country. But during the course, they did sacrifice the citizen's rights didnt they?

Take FT for example, it is argued that we need this people to come so as to make us a more competitive country, fill up the space of the jobs the local dun wan or not qualified to do..Yesh, I agree, but do u need to allow SO MANY of them to come or not??We are over crowded now!!I dun even feel like visiting the malls nowadays becuz of the crowd..Taking public transport had become a nightmare to me, not to mention I need to take it everyday to n fro work...

I have ex colleagues from our neighbouring country coming here to work as the same position as me, tellin me, they are onli interested to come here n work n earn our money and ultimately they will retired and go bak to their country when they earned enuff to buy a big hse, car or other assets there for them to njoy their old days..These, are the same plp who took up space for positions I am working in, the very positions which can be offered to locals who will earn their living and lived in Singapore forever..Who dun have any other place to go after they retired, who had to deal with the high living costs here and yet have the competition from these counterparts and sometimes lost to them as they are willing to recevie a lower pay as when they exchanged back to their currency, its enuff for them to cover their expenses...

It irks me every time when I hear these people telling me this, I onli come to your country to earn money den I will go home..Den dun come in the 1st place, you are depriving my peers in landing on the job, depriving us from earnin a better pay juz becuz u are willing to accept a lower pay as ur currency is so damn lower as compared to mine..On top of that, they will criticized every other thing about Singapore..The high cost of living, how the food here tastes so badly as compared to their country..How rude the plp are, how squeezy our public transport are, how arrogant our plp are as we are a english speaking country, think we are 1st class citizen (which we are!!)blah blah blah...So unhappie, den go back to ur country and work there and all these problems will be gone for you n me...

You see, our government didnt realised this, the FT they had allowed to come here are having these kind of tots..They are sitting in their own office dreaming of how to make Singapore to top more charts while we are working side by side with these FT and had to put up with these kind of remarks which makes me wanna kick them bak to their countries on the spot..Not onli I have these encounters, many of my fwens shared with me similar stories..

In this coming elections, when the opposition bring up issue of the FT, the government try means and ways to find excuses for their decision.Yet, they do not realise they will push the voters more towards the opposition as many of us have the above mentioned encounters..They shd instead, be thinking of how to solve this problems..I am still feeling neutral on how to cast my vote, but seriously I would lend my support to which ever party who can addressed this issue more closely to my heart..This problem, must be solved else, we as Singaporeans will suffer the consequences of it..

I am a General Election virgin

Today is our nomination day..after today,it will determine how many of us will need to vote.. It has now announced that out of 87 seats,82 are contested which means tat onli GRC is uncontested..Only Tanjong Pagar remains uncontested..Reason being, the joker missed the deadline for filing the papers...I guess they must be trying to come out the deposit money and at the last min, they manage to get the full amount but missed the deadline, this is only my speculation la, otherwise who will file the papers late?
This election is the most hotly contested in our history and is the 2nd time tat PAP didn't return as ruling Party during nomination day..I am interested to see the outcome of this election..

With more younger generation voting for the 1st like me,I believe the government have alot to worry about..This younger generation Y that we are known as are more higher educated lot den our parents..With more plp
receiving overseas education where they are exposed to other countries'government ruling, had a broader horizon den their parents..

600,000 plp within the age grp of 21-35 will be going to vote with an esitmated 1/3 being GE virgins..I am 1 of them too..Since turning 21 6yrs ago, I neber got a chance to vote..The last GE, although with more opposition parties, but sad to say, no 1 wanted to contested in the area I am staying in...

This year, however will be different..Unless u r the suay 1 staying in Tanjong Pagar GRC where plp didnt go to vote since 1991, u r entitled to cast ur 神圣的一票 come 7th May..I think our opposition parties realli come out in full force le la...

My area will be contested by SPP if the earlier reports are correct, as of now the news on the contestants are not out yet...Well, this part is lead by Mr Chiam See Tong, 1 of the 2 opposition parties that I find to be more establish..

Be sure that I will be attending the rally if they ever held 1 in my area for I am interested to know what the oppositions have to offer or at least tell us about our government. I personally think that we are too busy with work to realli bother with what our government is doing, not that they are not doing a good job, like plp always say, they need to be check and reminded to do a better job in serving the residents from time to time..Give them a sweet victory, they will soon forget bout checking themselves..

This time, it makes me feels like I am finally part of Singapore, I finally get to exercised my right as a citizen of the country, a resident of my estate. My vote afterall, plays a part if not a tiny wenny part in the outcome, this in turn, makes me sit up straight and listen to our opposition on things they wanna tell us..

Just 2 days ago, I click on a link on Chee Soon Juan's hokkien speech out of curiousity of what he's gonna say.. He, is not exactly, my favourite candidate on the other side of the field, in fact, I quite dislike him from this track records, but still I went ahead n listened to the speech..It was hilarious, in fact to hear him speak in hokkien..CMI..But gotta applaud him for his efforts, and things he bring out, some of it did have a point..And for the 1st time, I dun find him as irksome as before when he acted like a mad man scolding the government on the streets..For the 1st time, he speaks like what a matured candidate shd do like Mr Low and Mr Chiam..But dunno he can maintain for the next 9 days or nt..wahahah

This is, the power of the new media, besides reading newspaper, I will click on the links my fwens shared on FB usually, they are not for my area but still its interesting..Even Mr Love, who dun usually read the news got excited and keep asking me to update him, he too, listened to CSJ's speech..

Voting is compulsory and is a secret, and I am not gonna say which side I will cast my vote to. But I will listen to both side on what they gotta offer n say, juz treat it as a general knowledge lesson..This is gonna be a precious lesson for it onli happens every 4-5 yrs and may not have a chance to have an opposition party willing to contest at my area..

Looking forward to 7th May where I will be lining up at the polling station, waiting to cast my vote for the 1st time :).

Hong Lim Bak Kut Teh

I was always a fan of Bak Kut Teh, be it the dark kind ( with soy sauce), the white kind ( Teochew style, white pepper) or the herbal 1..I am a big fan of Bak Kut Teh..Funny thing is I dun realli like pork but I eat Bak Kut Teh..

During our super early dating years, there was this once Mr Love's grandpa wanna eat Bak Kut Teh for breakie and the whole family met up at his favourite stall at Hong Lim market for breakie. I think I was onli with him for less than a yr and he told me to go along and meet his grandparents..Nearly fell of the chair when he asked me along..

丑媳妇总要见公婆, I decided to go along with his parents, bro n sis..It was the 1st time Mr Love formally introduce me to his extended family..His aunt and uncle aso came along..Faintz...Luckily for me, we sat at different table, so I onli need to smile and greet them and there goes our 1st meeting..whahha

But the Bak Kut Teh there, was realli good, I can understand y ah gong love it so much, and the boss is pretty generous with the serving and will keep topping up the soup...Over the years, on n off when we ran out of ideas of wat to eat for breakie, I would suggest to make a trip down to Chinatown juz to taste the Bak Kut Teh.. Going there means an hr of bus journey from either of our hse and thus we dun do this often..But I was disappointed when Hong Lim Market is closed for renovations last yr, worrying that the stall would not reopen following the renovations..

2 sundays back, a sudden craving came back again and we decided to make our way down to Chinatown to try our luck to find this stall, turns out that Hong Lim Market is reopen after the renovations..And guess what, the stall is still there at the original location!!whahaha

Sat down and had a hearty breakie, during which, it reminds me of the 1st meeting with this extended family..Years have passed, Ah ma is no longer with us, Ah Gong is having difficulty in walking, but still the taste of the Bak Kut Teh here remains the same..Told Mr Love that, we can try ta bao for Ah Gong to eat, but wonder will it taste good to travel frm there to Seng Kang where he is staying...

Nevertheless, this place holds a certain importance in my heart, for it is here, I formally met them for the 1st time ;)

The veri nice Bak Kut Teh tat we all loved.

I do not have the exact add but it is not diff to locate:
1st level of Hong Lim Market, corner stall nearest to Chinatown point.
Give it a try sometime...

3 Red bombs in a week...

Its no joke, this week alone, I've received 3 invitations from my fwens to their wedding, although it is not on the same day..Whahah dunno y they choose the same week to inform everyone..

1st up is Gege, my ex-colleague..Whose wife I have affectionally addressed as 嫂子 whahah...she got answer me when I call her that leh although she is younger den me..whahah..But his wedding date clashes with my plan to go on our little anniversary trip, thus gotta give it a miss..I am now thinking of how to send an wedding gift to him..

2nd is Chee Boon, Mr Love's secondary sch fwen...Of all his fwens, I am closely to this guy..Cuz we used to work together during 1 of our vacation..N use to chat alot on msn, n he is the onli 1 who is nt shy to tok to me or have more topics to tok to..

It is realli nice of him to send separate sms to both of us inviting us to his wedding instead of juz sending to Mr Love and asking him to bring me along..This, to me shows that I am aso a fwen to him instead of his sec sch pal's wife...Yup, no worries Boon, I will be there as long as got seat for me..whaaha

Lastly, is Desmond, again my ex colleague..neber tot he will get married so fast..Of all my fwens, he look the most 花心..I tot he still wanna "play" a few more yrs..whaha end up, he is getting married in Jun...I told him I will be attending le, but waiting for Hub's reply..Later den I noe, his wedding is on the eve of my 1st paper..shucks!!! I am now not sure whether to attend or not leh..Maybe will get Tze Wee to pass ang bao to him?But tat seems unsincere lo...haiz....Or I shd go den go off earlier?? I would wanna catch up with the others, haven seen them in a long while le...

Well, its always a happie thing to receive red bombs, dun u think so??

Tempted again

Actually is not recently that I am tempted to buy this bag, been lusting(is it a correct word to use?) for it for the longest time..And every year, I watched the price inflate..Damn..When I started to fall in love with this bag, it costs SGD2550, the latest price now in our stores is SGD 2800..Talk about spending..

Still, I cannot bring myself to buy it although I beri much want to...SGD2800 lehz, its more than the net I take home lo...Hubs is realli gonna flip if he noes..whahah but yet, I am beri beri in love with this bag..Shall I put this on my wish list? So that can get hubs to buy me when its time to buy pressie for me...

Whahah but like I say, he will flip lo, he have no problems in paying for diamond/ jewelleries, but for a handbag, he juz dun see the point..

The point is, I aso dunno y the bag is so damn expensive but yet of so many bags, I love this design the most..Heard tat it is cheaper over in HK..Mummy says she will wan got to Macau with bro but is next yr..damn dunno whether the price will increase again or nt..I guess it will..Shd I wait for next yr or shd I juz give in n listen to my heart instead of using my brain??


2800 for this bag, worth it?

人鱼之丘

Amid all the scary blood tests, the long waiting game with hospital, the uncomfortable feeling of getting sick every other day, I suddenly got reminded that our 10yr anniversary is coming up in May...

10yrs, is not a long period neither you can term it as short..It is not a long period as we will hold our hands and walked side by side down the road for the rest of our life, 10 yrs at most is a 1st milestone of the many many yrs we have in front of us onli..Yet, to give 10yrs during ur prime yrs to each other is not exactly a short period..

Looking back, we had our share of good and bad times..He is tolerant towards me, I am caring towards him.Among the many differences we have, we manage to pass the 1st 10yrs milestone while walking towards the 2nd 1..

There are 1001 things I wanna do to celebrate this milestone but with so many things on my mind, I seriously doubt I can..Hubs had initially suggested trip to Taiwan..hehe I noe again, but we both love the place!! But I think with my present condition, it is best we stick to somewhere near till I get better..

I did, however went did abit research after watching 台湾好味道3..There was this homestay they feature on the show that is so nice, so romantic and most importantly suitable for the ocassion..I got so tempted to go n stay there..Maybe for a day or 2 before going back to Taipei city...It was until I found out the exact location den I gave up the idea..

This place is located in 彭湖，an island off Taiwan, which is accessible onli by domestic plane frm Song Shan...Win oredi lo..There are of cuz alot of other nice homestay available in Taiwan but I was particularly drawn to this and yet it is so out of place..If we were to visit, I think we need at least a 7days trip to Taiwan with 2 days allocated to getting to this place..

This idea, is not feasible at this moment as Hubs had juz being transferred to his new position and he cannot afford to get away for such a long period..Besides, the fees incurred can adds up to a Korean trip which doesnt seems to be beri worthwhile if u look from the financial aspect..

Meantime, it is up to me to source for another short trip or we might juz settle with going to have a night stay at MBS where bro can get us the discounted rate..This 人鱼之丘 will meantime remains as a dream place for me to go..I will go 1 day, juz that dunno when the day will come :p...


The building...Man, I am so in love with this place...

Getting used to it

Woke up today with my throat feeling dry..its the dreadful sore throat coming back again..damn.. Although I noe that it will come bak on n off bak to me, still I hate the feeling of waking up with the painful feeling in the throat...It irritates the hell out of me..

Makes me dun feel like eating..N its back to the lozenges to ease the pain..the sore throat attacks comes every 5 to7 days so frequent that I think i will soon get use to waking up 3000 times in the middle of the night to drink abit of water so as to ease the drying feeling..

I noe this is part of the condition but then I am not sure why this is like that, there is no need to take antibiotics as throat is not having inflammation, drinking plenty of water will do the trick but then sometimes it will come back on the next day, so the thing is, i will need to keep drinking plenty of water which in turns makes me keep running to the toilet..

Aggrrrr, its like a neber ending cycle for me...realli damn it!!!!

Travelling together

Was going thru the photos of our Taipei trip last yr and fond memories came flooding back..It was a trip we 2 were looking forward to as Hubs been telling me how nice Taipei is since he went there 3 yrs ago with his previous company..Now, during my free time, I would write up the trip and post dated it to last yr..For memories sake..hehe

Just today, I was reading articles in Yahoo and came across this article on plp who travel together who will either make their relationship stronger or break the relationship..

Recalling back, this is wat exactly we did during our dating yrs, Ling Ling was advising me to go on a trip with Mr Love b4 deciding whether this is the guy that I will intend to live with for the rest of my life..She told me to make a small trip to a nearby destination so as to test whether we get along or nt..Looking back, I'm glad I took her advice and made that trip..

It was in 2006 and we have been together for 4 yrs and we embarked on a 4D3N trip to Bangkok, Thailand..We seeked my mum's approval for the trip 1st as I'm afraid she might not approved. She did and off we went to book the flight and hotel..Jetstar was a god send to us back then as we were tight on budget as we just started working not long ago..

2006 in Bangkok,Thailand

I was put in charged of the planning fully, from flight time, hotel, places to visit, researches were all done by me..Mr Love says he have no preference of the places to visit, he too, wanted to try to go on an overseas trip with me..

The trip turns out to be quite good, in fact we njoy ourselves fully, without the stress of being watched in SG we will more carefree, everything was new to us, everything was curious, and of cuz, the 1st time we spend quailty time together without any of our family members, in short, we are on our own, especially this is a free and easy trip..

He held my hand tighter while walking on the streets there, he look out for me when we were there, he stayed closer to me wherever we go, and we did not have a single quarrel while holidayin there, even shared a few lighter moments joking bout others while having our breakie in the hotel..

This was a trip tat convinced me that maybe we can get along just well in future even we get married. Him, being the follower and me being the leader that is, for small issues..He will however takes the lead when it comes to major decision, it has always been this way and I like it to stay as it is..

The next trip we took, was after we got ROM..It wasnt a testing trip already, this time, this is ROM honeymoon, 1 that we went with different status, we were Mr & Mrs Lee instead of Mr Lee & Ms Tan..We went Hong Kong for this and again, it is a free & easy tour..Again, I made all the necessary arrangements for the trip and he went along with whatever I have arranged, with some comments here n there..Usually, he only have 1 major rule I have to abide, that is, not too spend too unnecessarily for the trip, other than that, he is kind of okie with every thing..

This time, the trip was good too, with us being in good mood as we just got married and is going to start our life as a married couple once we returned to SG, he was in a happier mood than he was when we went to Bangkok..




2008 in Hong Kong


The following year, after our customary wedding, we went to Korea for our honeymoon, actually we wanted USA or Europe but thanks and no thanks to someone, we could not make it..Actually dunno whether this is a blessing in disguise as we enjoyed our Korea trip as much..We neber tot Korea was so much fun!! And the tour mates were fantastic too..



This is the longest trip we went on so far, 8days tour..But by this time, we had already been living together, thus it was not much of a problem too as whatever differences we have, we had learnt to sort them out during the few months we were living together after ROM..But tour, is different you know, financial plays a big part too especially on a tour..



Things I wanna buy, but afraid to spend too much, who will pay for wat, gifts for our family etc..Hubs have a simple rule, those things I wanna buy, as long as I pay for myself, he would nt make much comments..whahah but if I want him to buy it for me, it better be worthwhile, at least to him..heheh..



While we were there, hubs brought an amethyst pendant for me on the last day of our tour.It was a sweet gesture from him and I certainly did not expect it..This is wat I didnt experienced it on a free and easy tour..wahahah



2009 in Korea



Following year, we finally got around planning for a tour to Taipei on again free & easy package.. Although Hubs have been to Taipei for 3times, he had no idea how to get around here as previously he had all been here on company tours and they had cater bus to charter them around Taipei, or his colleagues would noe the way to get around, thus he did not have to worry bout that.. It is the same this time, for he hates to plan n decide how to get around, he does not want to read the endless reviews either, this jobs was again left to me..Not that I am complaining, I love doing research and also the planning part, cuz of with some back up plans..plus i get to decide where to go and hubs will go along with my plans..


During this trip, hubs fell sick but was sporting enuff to still go along with the plans at a slower pace despite not feeling okie at all, also, we met with a typhoon during our stay there and were totally freaked out, it strikes us for the 1s time of the dangers in travelling in countries that may have natural diasters tat we werent trained for..


2010 in Taipei


This year, we went on a 5days trip to Shanghai with both our mums, it was not as pleasant as I have expected it to be but nevertheless a lesson learnt.This goes to shows that travelling together does not necessary applies to couples onli, it can be used for family members too to determine whether we are suitable in staying together..Luckily for me, we lived apart from each other..


There was not much of couple time we spend on this trip and thus was abit disappointing for the both of us, but in our own capacity, we did njoy ourseleves during the limited couple time we have whenever we can afford..

2011 in Shanghai



I do recommend for couple to take some time off their schedule and go for a short getaway and to try out whether they can get along with each other or not for if you get married, it will be a lifelong journey..Of cuz it is not to say if u cannot get on during the trip, u would have to break off the relationship the minute u r back, you can try to sort things out and then would have a better relationship moving forward.


That being said, since you will be onli going away for a few days, you might not be able to fully understand each other's characteristics in such a short while, u will still need time and patience to maintain the relationship isnt it?

Blood test and more blood test

Recently, I found blue blacks on my arms and legs, and also after sitting down in the same position for a while, I can feel my legs going numb..These, are the symptoms associating with the thickening of my blood..

Hubs rushed me to the hospital to the doc to let him have a check on my blue black..twice in the same week..doc says he found no increase in my blood count but the appearance of the blue blacks and the numbness was enough to send high alert to the doc..2 blood tests this wk and it is realli killin me..no matter how many times I go for the tests, I still feel nervous whenever the nurse is about to poke me with the needle..

He started me on medication to thin the blood but not for long as it would cause other implications such as blood not able to clot..I was told to go on trial for a month and go back for another blood test. If the blue blacks and numbness does goes away during this period, i can stop the medication also..

I was also told to do light exercise so as to enable my blood to flow better and thus reducing blue blacks and numbness..Also, I muz remember to keep moving myself and do not stay in a fix position for too long...

These hopefully, will be just a passing period which will go away if I listen and follow the docs' instruction closely..doc says life is still as per usual except I will have to monitor myself more closely than plp..For now, we juz have to wait for the blood tests on the various cancer to be out and than my mind can be rested..till then, i will be on jitters once anything usual happens on me..

Payback

It has been confirmed by the doctor that the condition I have is a blood disorder after all the check up..I must say I found some closure when I heard the results,at least I noe now what I am going to face, instead of waiting of it.. Though I must admit, I could not
realli accept the results when the doc broke it out to me..for now,they are not going to start me
on medication yet as there are a few more tests to be run to verify the seriousness of this condition..

I may have this condition for the rest of my life n it will not affect me if I were to monitor it closely.. i.e to go for blood test regularly to monitor the levels..I may develop complications due to this condition if it mutated..In any case it is all IF...

I thank god for letting me discover this condition early enough to start treatment n control over this and I thank the concern of my family and fwens who have been following this issue as closely as me..

I promise not to entertain those negative thoughts again and be positive of whatever the treatment would be..this, will be the onli payback I can give in return of all the concerns..