The passing of Princess Basil

Yup, she kaputed before I can take a picture of her to post on my blog…

And I am the direct contribution to her premature death.

Firstly, I should have bought good, decent soil from a reliable source instead of some Pasar Malam. The soil was infested with trips (a kind of pest with wings and can fly!), and that was a very bad start for Princess Basil…

And because of that, I changed the soil and repotted Basil 3 times and I guess the final repotting process was too much of a trauma for her. Yup, according to my reading, plants do suffer from repotting shock… and sometimes, do not recover from the trauma of the new soil.

The irony was that Princess Basil was actually doing not too bad before my itchy fingers decided to buy a new batch of compost/soil and repotted her.

Sigh, I should have just left her alone … she would have been still alive.

Anyhow, my itchy fingers previously also repotted 4 clumps of pineapple plantlets. Previously, my father-in-law bought a pretty and spiky pineapple for display during the Lunar New Year. Although technically the pineapple is fit for consumption, it was a rather small fruit and since my FIL was intending to throw away the fruit after the New Year, I decided to pluck some of the small plantlets, that are found at the sides of the pineapple, stuck them into a tray of the screwed-up soil from the Pasar Malam, and basically forgot all about it.

Weeks later, Viola! Some roots began to appear and all 4 of them made it! Apparently it’s really difficult to kill these pineapple babies as they are such HARDY plants.

A perfect morale boost to an aspiring gardener. It’s finally assuring to see some plants ALIVE and GREEN.

So, any aspiring gardener out there. Get yourself a pineapple and start a pineapple plantation!

I'm not a big fan of making animals wear clothes. I've always thought that it is unnatural for them and most probably awkward as hell.

Until I saw this picture... there's something about this cat's expression.... He looks almost human, doesn't he?

For some strange reason, he actually looks as if he is born to wear that shirt and play rugby.

Geez...

Scared the shit out of me…

This is a true story.

Last night, Hubby and I went over to our new place to check out the renovation works. It has become a routine every night where both of us would take a short walk to our new place to feed Cookie (our newest adopted “block” cat), check our mail box and to check on the reno…

So, we did the usual…we would inspect the flooring, check out the ceiling, and look at the toilets… Basically to ensure that works are on-going. As the flat was still under major renovation, there wasn’t any lighting and I would usually carry a flashlight.

There I was, peering into the master bedroom’s toilet when suddenly a HUGE SHADOW suddenly moved and I saw this pair of eyes staring straight at me.

OH MY FREAKING GOD!

I screamed loudly and Hubby, who was just behind me, rushed over.

“WHAT? WHAT?”

… … …

Then this Banglah stepped out of the toilet and apologized profusely and said that he’s a worker here and staying here for the night. He was shirtless and only wore a pair of berms.

What.The.Hell.

Then I started laughing hysterically. I found the whole incident to be so funny… Seriously, I did not manage to see this guy at all?! He TOTALLY blended into the darkness and if he were to close his eyes and mouth, I would have totally missed him.

He was freaked out too and was most probably scared that we would complain to our contractor. I have no issues about him staying over.. just don’t play Hide-and-seek with us and scare the shit of out me?!?!

To keep a pet or not…

I’ve always had pets at home when I was a kid. Not your usual cats or dogs… but some rather exotic creatures as well….

Other kids played with toys, not me. I had no toys, but I played with my pets and brothers. Best childhood ever. At times I wished that I had become a vet or something since I really like animals. Maybe I can be a zookeeper during my retirement! That can be my second career!

FYI: below is the list of animals I once had them as pets:

1) A pug, the cutest, ugliest and stupidest dog in the world. Oh, but I loved her so much!
2) Chicks. 3 fluffy, yellow, chirpy little things lived in my bathroom for a period of time. Well, until they were about to be chickens and we gave them to my aunt. And shortly after that, I remembered my aunt gave me some home-made KFC.
3) Ducklings. Yes, I once had 5 ducklings… I have no idea how or where my mum got these ducklings. But they were SO CUTE! They made the cutest little “quacks” and I had so much fun bathing with them. I remembered that I fed them little “live” fishes and spent many hours just observing their EVERY move. It was like a mini National Geographic “Live”.
4) Rabbits. In fact, we were trying to keep a litter of newly-born rabbits alive as their mother rejected them. My mum and I were taking turns to bottle feed these little bunnies. Aww… baby rabbits are the cutest.
5) Hamster. I had a really nasty one. I remembered that it was constantly biting me and my brother. Not only that, it was like a demonic little thing, always climbing its little cage, trying to escape. One day, it succeeded. We woke up one morning, and the cage was empty. We never found it.
6) Salamander. See… I bet many of you do not even know what a salamander was. It was like a water lizard, a little slimy but it was red and black in color. Really pretty… I bought it from a little obscure pet shop. However, it didn’t last very long…
7) Gold Fishes. It was actually my mum who was really into gold fish. We had a huge tank and these fishes eventually started to spawn. Unfortunately, none of the fries made it. I had a lot of fun playing doctor with the dead fishes. I happen to know exactly how the insides of a gold fish looks like.
8) A baby ball python. Ok, it belonged to my senior in college and I babysat it for 6 months or so. I was like the only girl crazy enough to keep a snake in her hostel room. Not only that, I let it roamed around my room once a while. It really liked my monitor and would always coil itself under it (During those days, monitors aren’t the slim, sexy LCDs. They were the size of a bed). Then its little pink, forked tongue would stick out with that tiny little “sssss”. So cute lah!
9) Terrapins. Ok, not my favorite kind of pets. I had more fun looking at the gold fish than playing with the damned terrapins. I hope they are still happy living at the MacRitchie Reservoir.

Currently as I am still living with the in-laws, I do not keep any pets, but my mum has 7 cats and technically, one of them is mine. I’m thinking of bringing her over to my new place once it is ready. Not only that, I also intend to keep 2 rabbits, and some gold fishes.

But my worry is…. What will happen to them when Hubby and I were to travel??!!
Argh….. then I will have to either trouble my neighbour or my brothers. That’s the sucky thing about having pets.

However, once you have pets, the urge to keep some furballs alive and kicking will always be there. I cannot wait to have my OWN furballs.

I found my sole!

One day, when I finally wore something decent to work, when I looked into the mirror and saw a trendy dresser, when I put on this pair of cute, dainty-looking heels and sashaying while on my way home… and suddenly, “Phat”.

I stumbled and realized that the sole of my left heel somehow got torn away and was stuck by the side of a side road. Still wanting to look pretty, I simply kicked that useless piece of plastic away and continued walking, as if nothing happened. I figured that I can easily go to my trusted cobbler to fix another sole, and I can wear my cute, dainty, made-in-china cheapskate heels once again.

The following weekend, I religiously took my heel to my cobbler, requesting him to attach a sole. To my horror, my cobbler said that most cobblers in Singapore do not stock up on soles anymore because most soles and (cheapskate) shoes/heels are being made in china. If he were to order from China, minimum order would be 500 pairs of soles. How on earth could he finish all 500 pairs?

I should set up some Cobblers Association where these old men can pool their orders together! Geez… not very enterprising, these people.

Not believing his story, I took a little detour and checked out this Ah Pei who is also a cobbler, but in a make-shift little stall, next to a NTUC.

“Aiyah, Xiao-Jie, no xie-di (sole), cannot do lah”

“Really, ah? Uncle, really cannot ah?”

“Cannot lah, but you can find another old heel that you don’t want with similar height, then tear out the sole loh”

Hmnp. O well… I’ve just thrown ALL my old shoes away during the spring cleaning. Thanks leh.

Not admitting defeat, on the very next day, I went back to the very same small lane where I left my sole, hoping that it would still be there, and guess what… It was still sitting prettily by the side of the road!

Can’t believe that after 1 week, the sole was still there?! Obviously, the road sweepers and cleaners aren’t really doing their job, but good for me!

Of course, some people were giving me some weird looks when I picked up this dirty, little piece of black thing by the side of the road. But who cares, I FOUND MY SOLE!

Wahahaha… now I can go back to my cobbler and get my made-in-china heel fixed.

*Victory dance*

Can't upload pictures via my cellphone.

I was trying to upload some pictures of Princess Basil via my cellphone, but somehow things aren't exactly working. argh...

Anyway, Princess Basil isn't doing too well right now. Well, she is still alive and kicking. But recently, I noticed that her new shoots and leaves tend to dry up and turned into little, black lumps. Thankfully, not ALL the new shoots are turning into black little rasins... so, at least there are still some new leaves around.

I also saw some really tiny, little black wing insects around the soil. That is NOT good. It seems that I am having a pest issue here. After doing some research, I realised that my Princess Basil is being raped by Thunderflies!

These %^$*# sap-suckers are causing some stress to my Princess Basil. Unfortunately, these thunderflies are really tiny and quite impossible to catch by hand. And since Princess Basil is meant for consumption, Im not too keen to use pesticide on her.

Thankfully, a really kind lady from GCS forum (Green Culture Singapore) gave me some advice on making my very own home-made-and-yet-organic pesticide, which I'll give it a try this weekend.

If all things fail, I'll eat up Princess Basil before those evil, pesty Thunderflies get to her 1st!

Busy Bee

I’ve been taking my green chores rather seriously lately. I would check on Princess Basil at least twice a day. Just wana make sure that she is sprouting new leaves and getting enough sun. I have also added some “organic” fertilizer to her… some left over coffee powder, some left-over tea leaves, and also some crushed egg shells. Well, so far she’s still alive, so I guessed those left-over stuff aren’t too bad for her. At least, not KILLING her yet.

I’ve also been surfing the net for more information about indoor gardening, and what are the suitable plants that I can plant for my planters. Previously, I was gloating that my unit was north-east facing, which meant that I would not get much sun. In fact, I’ll only get some partial sunlight from 2 – 5 pm onwards… Now, I'm kinda beating my chest over the limited amount of sun that I'll be getting UGH, O well, better than nothing.

So, I just gotta work with plants which are shade-loving. Most flowering plants and fruiting plants will be out of reach for me then. ;(

But I think I can still work with herbs with that few hours of sun, I can't wait to hop over to my herb garden while preparing for a meal, a la Jamie Oliver style. I simply adore the way he can just pluck some herbs from his herb garden while working on his zhi-czar.

So, from the internet, I’ve come across this ingenious lady, who has this really kick-ass idea on how to plant her herbs. Vertical herb gardening rocks!

I am so inspired…. This Project Planter Box is really getting interesting!

My very 1st plant -> Princess Basil

Since I’ll be the CEO of Project Planter, I better make sure that I do a good job… or else, the CFO-cum-shareholder will most probably skin me alive.

On the eve of the reunion dinner, 12 Feb, I was happily doing some grocery shopping at Jason’s, where I chanced upon some pretty, little pots of basil. I figured that it would be the best time to put my green fingers to the test, so I bought a pot home.

It came in a really small plastic container that even I wouldn’t call it a “pot”. Thankfully, Bishan was having its usual selling-useless-stuff Passar Malam, and I managed to find a decent looking, white porcelain pot and some soil to repot this basil.

The original plastic container was so small that 95% of the basil’s roots were growing OUT of the container. I was thinking of ways and means to cut up the container, so that I could retain as much of the roots as possible. Me, being me, Miss “chor-loh”, accidentally PULL out that 95% of the roots while I was cutting up that little plastic container.

OPPS… … …

O well, too bad. I guess Princess Basil just gotta learn to survive on that 5% of roots. After repotting my fragile Princess Basil, I realized that her stems weren’t do a good job in supporting herself and Princess Basil was being very unsightly, flopping all over the place. So, I found a sturdy-looking, sunny-colored-orange straw and stuck it next to Princess Basil; and tied her stems to the straw to give her some support.

There, she looked much better already.

Of course, I was worried that she wouldn’t survive for more than a few days. And it really didn’t help that I was busy plucking away her beautiful leaves as I really needed some basil to cook.

Despite of all that, Princess Basil is currently doing quite well. Her leaves are in a healthy bright green, and I can even see some small leaves sprouting!

Princess Basil is definitely hardier than she looks.

I’ll post some pictures soon!

What can I do with 5 grand… …

There are many, many things that I can do with 5 grand, eg:

1) a 1 wk trip to Japan inclusive of airfare
2) 3 designer bags
3) pay fore all my kitchen appliances
4) invest in the equity market to make at least 5%, ie: $250
5) buy a really kick-ass REAL, original designer chair

And the list can go on.

But my Interior Designer is charging me 5G to design the 2 planter boxes at my new place.

I was like “Are you kidding me?????” *scream*

So, I’ve decided to take up Project Planter box, since I don’t have much say in Project Habitat anymore…

My budget: $1200. That should be enough to buy all the plants, soil, and whatever necessary gardening equipment?

To be frank, I have absolutely no idea. Time to scout around the nurseries along Thomson road to check out the prices!

How Hubby wants his funeral to be…

Since we were talking about the topic previously, here’s the conversation between Hubby and I a few nights ago:

Me (after being all teary and sad after the morbid thought of myself dying young):
“So, what about you, how do you want your funeral to be?”

Hubby:
“Hrm… a wine bar. Hold the wake in a wine bar or some restaurant where people can drink. O yah, FREE corkage.”
“O yah, then open all my wines and let the guests drink. My last present to all my dear friends”

(By the way, Hubby easily has at least 500 bottles of wine. His wine fridge at home is bursting and his wine storage at Extra Space is clearly not getting “extra” anymore. So, friends who attend the wake will most probably die of alcohol poisoning if I were to follow his last wishes)

“Remember to invite all my ex-girlfriends as well. O yah, the waitresses who are serving the wines must also be pretty…”

%$#*@& ??!!??!!??!!??!!

How would you want your funeral to be?

Hubby’s colleague’s wife passed away very suddenly 2 nights ago.

She was up and well, with no inherent or chronic illness. She was only 33 years old, was doing every day’s ordinary stuff, such as watching Korean drama at home, when suddenly, she fainted and had a seizure. Apparently from a stroke.

When I first heard about the incident, I remembered that I told Hubby that she could very well, make a full recovery since she was still so young, at only 33 years old. So, we were discussing how damaging stress can be, and how determination and positive outlook can aid to a full recovery for a stroke patient.

Then a day later, I heard that this lady had passed away.

It took me really by surprise. I mean, how often do you hear a young adult suffer a stroke? Let alone die from it?

Hubby described how everyone really took it very badly at the wake, especially his colleague (ie: the lady’s husband), and it was really heart-breaking.

Upon hearing that, I couldn’t help but to tear and felt really very sad that such a promising life was lost. I would most probably go mad with grief if anything similar were to happen to me.

Then Hubby and I had a very morbid discussion about how we would like our funerals to be, and how the other surviving spouse must be brave and live life to the fullest.

We have promised to each other that, the surviving spouse must be brave and find love once again. If there were children, the children will be reminded of how much the deceased parent must have loved them, but mustn’t stop them from accepting another new parent’s love. The surviving spouse should not let grief and sadness overwhelm, but must find the strength to lead a purposeful life. Nonetheless, a yearly tribute to the deceased spouse on the anniversary would be nice.

I told Hubby that I’ll only want very close friends and relatives to attend my funeral. Hopefully it will not be held at a void deck or the Singapore Casket, but a place like a park, surrounded by pretty flowers and plants, but still very serene and peaceful. No religious rites would be required.

I hope my friends would share about what they would most miss about me and how I had made an impact to their life or outlook. If my death were very sudden, I’ll rather that Hubby took a few weeks to compose himself and then held the wake later, instead of being too emotionally unstable to conduct the wake. I hope it would be an intimate event where friends and relatives can grief, yet at the same time, celebrate how I have lived a fruitful life.

Talking about all this stuff, is very morbid, But I think it allowed Hubby and I to have a deeper understanding between the 2 of us.

Of course, I hope that it will be our future, ADULT children taking care of my funeral in many, many, many years to come. And by then, it will be a full celebration of my life, and instead of grief, everyone who attended the wake should be happy of how rich my life had been, and I would have died as a gutsy, happy, old lady who had experience the full cycle of life and had no regrets about it.

As quoted from the book, “Tuesdays with Morris” -> “when you learn how to die, you will learn how to live”

Fitness and health

I did not care much about health when I was a kid. I was a skinny kid to start with, I ate all kinds of shit and I was still underweight. So much so that, I actually received FREE milk everyday from my primary school, under the “Nutrition Diet” scheme. Yeah, the teachers assumed that my family was too poor to feed me. Well, I wasn’t complaining, I LOVE the chocolate milk… the banana flavor was gross though.

Then as a teenager, I just made sure that I wasn’t fat. That was rather easy. From a skinny kid, I grew up to be a skinny teenager. Nothing was really wrong with me, except that I had scoliosis -> a crooked spine. However, my curvature was considered mild up to the point when I was 16. I wasn’t physically active though, and I didn’t participate in many sports. My ECA at that time was Chinese Orchestra… the only exercise I had was using my fingers to strum the Zhong-Luan (a kind of Chinese guitar). I guess I can say that I had really fit fingers, and that’s about it.

JC days, I decided that enough was enough, and I wanted a piece of action, sun, and a more.. ahem, “full” body. (yah, I didn’t have much of a boob when I was 16) I took up soft ball as my curriculum, and with trainings up to 3 times a day, I was much fitter, I could run faster, I grew taller, I had a slight tan (I belong to the vampire tribe, I simply can’t get a nice, honey tan), and suddenly, I grew boobs! (Yay!) However, it was also during this period that my spine’s curvature had gotten worse. From a mild curvature, it became “moderate”. Thankfully, it wasn’t serious enough to go under the knife, but the doc warned that I ought to keep a look-out for my back.

University days – my metabolism rate was still healthy, I could eat suppers, snacks, junk food, pigged out and stayed slim. I didn’t have much of a problem with my weight. I continued to play sports, ran/jogged occasionally and I danced (mambo… if that’s counted) on a weekly basis. So, I guess my fitness level wasn’t too bad.

The twenties (working, young adult stage) – as I was based in the US for almost 2 years, it was during that period that I learnt a new word, “chubby”. I wasn’t fat –fat, especially if you compared me with the Americans, but the huge food portions and the false security blanket of being surrounded by people who were bigger than me, caused me a rather significant weight gain. I wasn’t aware of my “state” until I was back in Singapore, and with then-boyfriend-now-husband constant nagging about my “chubby” size.

Since then on, it has been a struggle to stay in shape. I have to work out like mad to look normal. It doesn’t help that I am quite a foodie and have an alcoholic husband who drinks every night. Now that I am in my early 30s, I can feel a significant slow down in my metabolism rate, just breathing air seems to make me put on weight.

So for the past year, I have been reading up on health issues and weight maintenance self-help books. Sigh… yep, I’ve never thought that I’ll also have to resort to self-help books. However, I have discovered valuable information that help me eat better, exercise more efficiently, and basically have a higher energy level!

I am still learning and still in the quest towards a fitter and leaner body. This will be a life-long process… I wouldn’t exactly say that I enjoy keeping fit and I am still immensely jealous of friends who are naturally slim. Nonetheless, I really do enjoy the process of learning more about my body and keeping it in optimal shape.

Nothing is more precious than a healthy body and mind…. And yet, so many people take it for granted. I hope for those who are reading this post, will take a moment to appreciate your healthy, well functioning organs and limbs, and not take them for granted!

Project Habitat: Update 2

Finally gotta see the Designer yesterday for a final discussion on the layout, with colored print-outs of the new design.

I must say that I’m really impressed. It actually turns out much better than I thought. Very cool… in fact, I’m beginning to wonder whether the new place will be “too cool”.

Although I do like my place to be gorgeous and to-die-for, I know that it’s not really practical to LIVE in a showflat. Unless I have 2 maids to clean the place and basically clear my mess 24/7.

Secondly, I kinda feel sorry for my unborn children already. Because both of them will have to squeeze in ONE bedroom, while mummy and daddy will have a 8-panel closet with an island to keep (or should I say “display”) daddy’s cuff links and Hermes belts. On one hand, I will like to have 3 bedrooms, each child to have his/her room but on the other hand, I’ll like to have a kick-ass master bedroom.

Argh…. I guess I just have to pick my favorite child to stay in the 1 spare bedroom, and the other will just have to make do with the Store Room instead.

Poor kid.

End of 2009

Time of the year to reflect upon what had happened for the past 1 year… with my fuzzy memory, I remembered that:

I got married, went for a kick-ass honeymoon in Japan, bought a multi-generation HDB flat, failed my CFA level3, slapped myself for not buying more equities in March 09 and hold till Dec 31 2009.

Besides the above, I am in good health and everyone around me is also still well and alive. That alone, is the best part of 2009.

Going forward, here’s what to expect:

1) My long-awaited, designer flat. This designer and contractor better be good…. The renovation is stretching to 6 months and I’m about to DIE with anticipation already!

2) I gotta pass my CFA Level 3 and be a real CFA -> Certified Financial Analyst. Yes, I really do need that title to boost my ego.

3) Put my green fingers to test. My new place will be a little green house. Hrm…. If I didn’t inherit my mum’s genes, too bad. I’ll be buying fake greens instead then.

4) Adopt 2 bunnies? Although hubby is more keen to keep a pair of cats as pets… but seriously, cats and dogs are simply too demanding. If the bunnies don’t work out, I can always cook a rabbit stew with truffles instead.

5) Be a domestic goddess. I can’t wait to cook and eat, cook and eat, cook and eat in my brand new dry-and-wet kitchen, with an island, a kick-ass oven, a small herb garden and many days of dinners with friends.

Hopefully, 2010 will be a good year as well! Happy new year and may 2010 be a fruitful year for you!

10 weird things about me…

I’ve just read another blogger’s post about her 10 weird things, and to keep the spirit of “10 weird things” alive, I have to share 10 weird and totally honest things about myself or else… I will never strike lottery in my entire life. (Or something really bad along that line)

Ok, here goes:

(1) I daydream almost everyday about what I’ll do with the 2 million bucks if I ever strike TOTO or the Big Sweep. It keeps me going every morning; especially when my equity investments are under-water or when I feel broke. (that’s almost everyday, now that my new place is under renovation)

(2) I have already picked names for my future children and pets. Well… I might never, ever own a parrot, but I already HAVE a name for my parrot if I ever have one! Similarly, I do not have children at the moment, but I have already decided on their names, regardless of whether Hubby likes the names or not.

(3) I am a tree-hugger at heart. I recycled what-ever I can at home. I’ll sort out the rubbish and dispose them in the designated recycling bins near my block. I keep a set of chopsticks & spoon, and fork & spoon in office so that I do not have to use disposables when I lunch in. I also bring my own grocery bag when I do marketing and recently also started to bring my own shopping bag, so that I do not use paper bags/plastic bags during shopping sessions.

(4) I still get nervous whenever I drive. That’s partly because I do not drive often enough. But I do make sure that I drive at least once a week (courtesy to Kahshare Rental) to improve on my driving, and most importantly, PARKING.

(5) I am quite a paranoid. I’ll always buy Travel Insurance whenever I travel, even a short trip to Malaysia. Before the trip, I’ll email my brothers the details of ALL the insurance plans that I have, and all the bank accounts as well. Then I’ll pray to who-ever-is-up-there that I’ll make it home alive and well.

(6) I dream to be a Stay-At-Home-Mum who runs her own business and yet, can look after her kids at the same time. Once again, I do not have kids yet; guess I’ll look into this when I eventually have kids.

(7) I have scoliosis, which means that I have a curved spine. For a period of time, I was so resentful of my abnormal curvature that I dreaded the mirror and moped around, feeling so sorry for myself. Then I started volunteering at RDA and realized my so-called “disability” is nothing compared to the kids who have real disability. I am just glad that I can walk normally; I have hands and fingers to type my emails, cook, wash my clothes, and basically be a normal person.

(8) I worry CONSTANTLY that I will age faster than Hubby. To start with, Hubby has a super baby-face, and he is currently in some dragon-boat team, training hard every weekend. Hubby’s like Benjamin Button, he is getting hunkier as he aged?! Not that I am complaining since I get to “enjoy” his hard work (wink wink). But that gives me a lot of pressure to look youthful. I do not wana look like his elder sister when we’re out!

(9) I cry easily. Read a book, cry. Watch a movie, cry. Listen to a song, cry. Someone is sad, cry. Someone is happy, also cry.

(10) I always overeat. This is a bad habit that I’ve been trying to kick. The thing is that my brain seems to be unusually slow to detect that I’m actually full. And by the time I recognize that I’m about to explore with food, it will be too late. Then I’ll spend the rest of the evening feeling sick and the following weeks, feeling fat.

Yup, 10 weird things about me. Happy holidays!

First to call my own…

I’m so excited! I’m going to collect my very first digital camera ever in about 1 hr’s time!

Can you believe that in my 30 years of life, I have yet to own a digiCam? I’ll usually borrow a Casio ex-slim from Hubby, or I’ll just use my camera-phone if I need to take any pictures.

I guess the issue is that, I seldom take any pictures to start with… There are always someone else, carrying a DSLR taking pictures anyway. All I need is to pose, be polite and ask someone to take pictures for me, and then I’ll just go Facebook and copy the photos.

Even when I am on a holiday, Hubby will be the one taking the photos and I’ll just…. Well, stand and look around. Observe the surroundings and take mental photos in my brains.

That used to work…. Until I realized that I am getting old and fuddy, and cannot exactly remember places and people anymore... ...

And yet, I scoff at the idea of carrying a brick around my neck. The whole idea of a holiday is to be carefree and enjoy myself, instead of fuddling around with high-tech equipment (ie: DSLR camera, with 1 extra lens, with a tripod, spare battery and a camera backpack) that is 30% of my bodyweight.

However, with an up & coming trip to Taiwan with my family, I think it’s time to buy a decently small yet powerful camera and take some memorable pictures! Especially since this is my first family trip ever, and I’ll really like to take more pictures of my mum… … … Pictures that will allow me to show MY grand children how great their grant-grandmother was…

So, after some research, I chanced upon Canon Powershot S90 from the famous blog: ieatishootipost, where the blooger, Dr. Leslie Tay gave his honest review on the camera. After viewing some of the pictures taken by this small and compact camera, I am totally sold!

This must be THE only compact camera with manual settings where you can control the ISO, shutter-speed and shoot in RAW format. Well, other than Panasonic LX3. However, this S90 is easily 20% smaller and sleeker than the LX3.

Well… it is still NOT a DSLR, so gotta managed your expectations. But for such a small compact camera, this sounds as good as it gets.

Ok, I’ll collect the camera later during lunch, and play around with this new baby and see how I’ll like it?!

I am so excited! Ahhhhh!

Pretty Woman

Feeling ugly today. Urgh. Even the new intern dresses better than me.

It is such a hassle to be a woman. Gotta watch my hair, face, figure, nails, legs… Argh, I’m going crazy already!

I think most girls find doing girly things fun. Facial, shopping for new clothes & shoes, going for pedicure, shopping for make-up … … etc.

For me, I’m doing the bare minimum just to look presentable. I’ve never been trendy to start with. I just make sure that I look okay so that I do not embarrass my friends or my hubby when we walk together.

For special occasions, I will make an effort to dress up. Got to at least show some respect to the hosts of the gala dinners or weddings or parties, and since I do not attend such events often, it can be rather fun to play “dress-up” once a while.

But normal day-to-day… I can be rather nonchalant. Come’on, my brain cannot function at 7 am in the morning, the act of mix-and-match is beyond me. I just grab what-ever has been ironed. And I only iron my clothes once every few years…

But, today… it hit me that I really gotta watch my dressing. I look really STUMPY today. Urgh… like an auntie.

Time to go shopping during lunch.

Cookbooks vs recipes from the internet

I have never bought a cookbook in my life. EVER.

I’ve always thought that why would anyone buy cookbooks when you can:

(1) Borrow from the library
(2) Tons of FREE recipes from the internet
(3) Free recipes from cooking blogs
(4) Recipes from Telly programs on Channel 16: Discovery Travel and Living
(5) FREE recipes from newspapers (eg: Sunday Times) and magazines (Ok, not exactly Free free since you have to buy/subscribe for the papers/mags in the 1st place)

So far, whatever I’ve cooked are from the above mentioned resources. I simply cannot bring myself to buy any cookbooks.

But I realized that I ENJOY receiving cookbooks as presents! Quite a while back, hubby bought 2 cookbooks from some crazy discounted store at $10 each, really cheap for a fully illustrated cookbook. I just LOVE looking at beautiful pictures of beautiful food. In fact, I’ll just read them again and again, just to look at the pictures and fantasize about myself cooking these dishes and throwing awesome dinner parties, and people will swoon at my wonderfully-cooked, beautifully presented dinner.

All these will be a reality once I have my own place! But of course, I need to practice on my cooking 1st…

So, hrm… in case for those who wonders about what gifts to buy for me, a cookbook will always be appreciated! Doesn’t have to be expensive, a $10 book was enough to keep me very happy for days!

In fact, I’ll definitely cook you a meal or bake you a cake from the very same cookbook!

Update Project Habitat: All walls are down…

Finally, we are almost done with all the hacking.

Flooring is totally gone, and all walls except a “half-wall” are hacked away. Currently, we need to touch base with the Designer to why that half-wall is still there…

Except for the perimeter walls, we basically hacked all the walls. Yes, ALL THE WALLS. In total we have hacked 11 walls. ELEVEN walls?!?!

Except for the pillars, everything is down. And finally, I realized how big this apartment truly is… … …

This project is getting more exciting!

I feel like a business partner…

Basically there isn’t much change to my life although I got married. Except that my so-called husband is behaving more like a business partner instead of a husband.

We talk about almost nothing but money. Or how to make more money. Whether in 3 years time we can afford to buy a 2nd apartment. Whether we can upgrade ourselves to a District 9 or 10 address before we hit 38? Yup, 38 and not 40. Because “Biz Partner” here is very competitive and want to lead the high life before he is 40.

I am getting tired of this. Not the least say, very, very pressurized. It’s almost like I’m reporting to my boss about our AUM (Asset Under Management) on a monthly basis. I’ve to draft out my next 3 years of “saving-cum-investment plan”, and have to aim to hit my KPI (Key Performance Index) in order to be a good wife. I am NOT joking. We seriously did sit down to talk about all these. The only thing lacking was an official Business Plan.

To look at it positively, it is good financial planning. In the beginning, it was also quite cool to talk about financial terms, or to show off my financial jargon with someone who can actually understand (other than fellow colleagues). But after a while, it isn’t fun anymore. I have to constantly know whether the Hang Seng Index is up or down, or whether there are any new promising stocks to buy. Or “what is the latest market trend.”

I DO NOT FREAKING CARE ABOUT WHAT IS THE FREAKING MARKET TREND AT FREAKING 1130 PM??!!!

Ok there. I got it out of the system.

I admire him for being so driven. But now, it seems almost like an obsession. It’s not like we don’t have enough to eat or spend. In fact, both of us are financially savvy enough to be rather comfortable actually.

Contentment is the key to happiness. I aim to be happy. I don’t need to be rich to be happy. Yes, I belong to the camp of poor people who always tell themselves that money isn’t everything.

I still believe money isn’t everything.