Aussie Dollar So Strong

I wish I had Aussie dollars account.  The exchange rate for Aussie dollar is higher than US dollar at 1.30 vs 1.25 for US.   I have to change to Aussie dollar for my trip to Down Under tomorrow.  New Zealand dollar is at 1.05 and is quite okay as Sin dollar had grown in strong in the last few years.

Tomorrow I will go to Brisbane.  It is going to be a busy trip.  Brisbane one day and Sydney next.  After that, it is Auckland.  All back-to-back meetings.  The weather is cool, so I will bring warm clothing.  It will be a nice to be in the cool weather except for the short daylight hours.

Blogging can get you into Trouble

I have been blogging for a few years now.  After reading on the news on how writers have the discipline to write everyday, I promised to write every day.  Sometimes, I could not due to travelling and in China, it is not possible sign into blogger.  Over time I hope my practise will improve my writing and I can get more readers.

Well, I am not sure if my prose has improve.  My readership has not gone up significantly.  At least it is in the double digits.  I blog like a public diary.  So this can get me into trouble sometimes.  Get this!  My mother-in-law told my wife to bring me to treat my fall injuries.  She is fairly insistent.  I was surprised she knows.  So I checked with my wife.  So she asked her mother.  My MIL said it is me who told my eldest sister-in-law. 

What a surprise!  I did not talk to my eldest sister-in-law.  I realised she reads my blog and tell my MIL that I told her.  This is so troublesome.  Blogging mean I am living in a goldfish bowl.

Working and Faster Speed!

Finally, I managed to get my internet working at the faster speed on my computer.  The feeling is fantastic.  After all the frustrating troubleshooting, it finally works.  The TP Link is far superior than wireless.  I feel accomplished and happy with the higher speed.  Watching movie is easier.

Internet is so integral to our life and work.  Without internet, I will not be able to work.  Internet give us information and connection.  Social connection and communication.  I wonder sometimes how life was like without internet....

It was telex first, the fax.  Today it is email.  Business center in the hotel was the first port of call whenever I check in.  Secretary (admin assistant in US and Canada) will track us down.  We will get faxes and report and have to fax out our report.  Secretaries were indispensable.

Today, emails are instant communication.  The world is spinning faster and faster.  It is also has more options, more joys, more stuff, more pains, more confusion and more everything good and bad.

Frustrating Day

It is a frustrating day trying to set up the optical internet so that it can work properly.  Finally, I think I got it.  My home is 3 levels and concrete is not friendly to wifi signal.  Unfortunately, the optical box has to be at level 1.  So the internet at level 3 is spotty and extremely slow.  With the help of Singnet call center, I learn how to turn my previous ethernet box into a repeater.  Finally, I am on the repeater. 

The speed is still slow but at least I have internet access.  I am feeling so much better with the internet access.  Nowaday, working requires internet and without it, it is hard to get things done!

Fiber Optics is NOT Faster

I have upgraded to fiber optics but the speed of my internet speed did not improve.  I just did a speed test.  Download is 8.5 Mbps and Upload is 4.4 Mbps.  What a joke!  I am paid for 100 Mbps and get 9% of the actual speed.  This borders to cheating for my telco.

Instead of Reading, Writing

I feels that my interest seem to be changing.  I love to read a lot a lot.  I still do read everything that come into my line of sight.   But I am writing more too.  In Bras Basah Complex, the books that interest me are the blank paper books and exercise books.  I looked for different books where I can fill the empty pages instead of reading them.

I need to keep a journal of my thoughts, ideas that come to my mind, put my worries to paper, experience on the road and observations of life in general.  It is interesting to read what I had written in the past.  Even my youngest boy asked me to read it aloud before bedtime when he was younger.  I also need to keep up with developing my right brain by drawing based on the method by Betty Edwards.

My daily blog is about my life and what is significant to me.  It also boring because I am not a famous guy.  Then I have notebooks which I keep for my business meetings.  I also use the notebooks to record random thoughts and observations on the train or at a cafe.

I realise as I am getting older and need to leave behind a legacy.  Blog is a good way for my kids and friends to access whenever and wherever they feel like.  Journals allows me to keep private thoughts and worries.  I am a written word person.  My photos are not frequent or consistent even though picture can speak more than 1000 words.

Writing also helps in stress relief.  After I write down my worries, I feel better as my worries are captured and I need not keep thinking about them.  Once they are written down, I feel I can refer back anytime and therefore need not keep them top of my mind.

Writing does has its benefits!

Rest and Recuperation

Today is really rest and recuperation day for me.  I woke up early and go to the wet market for morning tea at about 6:30am.  My newspaper has not arrived yet:(  Anyway, I ordered crispy bits of "butterfly" from the dough stall.  I am a regular and always buy the bits and pieces of the crispy bits.  I had to wait for long time.  So I decided to buy vegetarian beehoon to eat first while waiting.  

Then I bought my wife's favorite mee siam which she felt is the best in town and lontong from the adjacent stall.  The wet market is in AMK Ave 4 near Anderson JC.   I ride to the PCN after breakfast.  Plenty of joggers and cyclists.  There is a running event there as well.  So many ang mohs participate in the run.

In the afternoon, I had a long nap after swimming.   I was recovering from my trip.  Work hard, rest hard.  I missed going to Kino for the 2nd time which was my usual practice.  Dinner is home cooked food that our new helper prepared.  She is far better cook than my previous helper.

B2 came home early instead of 10pm he thought.  He was so thirsty.  He drank two bottles of water and had to order drink when he ate ayam penyet in 2nd floor, Lucky Plaza because he tried the chilli sauce which he does not know it is extremely spicy as they use chilli padi.  I am glad to listen to him telling me his day when he is in the car.  This is the benefit of picking up my boys.

Horrified By the Ads on Girls!!!

I am horrified when the Advertisements is on meeting Thai Girls.  I tried to get rid of them by it is impossible as the Ads are not in my control.  I am concern my readers may think I blog about steamy stories like my friend boh tong.  I only write about boring stuff and I hope my readers do not get the wrong impression.

Bras Basah Complex

I read on the news that BBC or Bras Basah Complex will get a facelift.  I went there is morning to kill time while waiting for B3 to finish his Qiang Lao Shi tuition.  There is a event on the ground floor.  Many used books on offer.  I did not feel like buying any.  Instead I was interested in the stationery stall.  I bought A4 exercise books and correction tapes for B3.  I had permanent markers for myself and I realised I like to do more writing than reading nowadays.

Blank books, lined exercise books interest me.  I write randomly when I am on the plane or in the trains.  I like to write my impressions and state of mind so that I can recall the event when I read my notes.  I also use blank books to practise drawing.  It is good to keep written records although no one may be interested even my boys.  They are too busy with their own lives. 

BBC is a place for books and arts supplies.  I am a book lover.  I lusts for books, good books who act like wise men in my library. 

Kinokuniya Sales

Kino has its regular 20% discount during school vacation week.  MPH is competing with 30% for the weekend.  I acquired two new books both on Making Paper Airplanes or Origami Planes.  I love planes.  There is another book I like but did not buy.  It is on "surfer" which model planes are gliding so slowly that you can walk along while it flies! 

I need to do more paper planes and fly them.

Nara, the resturant in Erawan

Nara is a Thailand resturant in the building called Erawan beside the famous four-face buddha temple in Bangkok.  The food is authentic and very good.  It is also very popular and is very full at night.  I tried the grilled pork neck with papaya salad, the meat smells and tastes good but a little tough.  The crab fried rice and crab fried beehoon are very good, full of wok hei.  The prawn paste chicken is very crispy and have five spice salt for dip. Let me see...what else have I tasted.  Hmm! my memory is not so good.  I have forgotten the appetizers I tried. Now I remember!  The prawn popiah.  Minced prawn in a popiah skin, flat and circular like a pancake, deepfried to crispy with a sweet sauce.  Yummy! 

Left Side of My Body Hurts

Although the fall does not seem to be bad as my previous fall (I learn to break my fall better), my left shoulder is quite sore.  It looked bruised although hard to tell as my skin is quite dark.  My waist is also sore.  So my old problem of low back pain is back because of the fall. 

My right knee is painful every time it gets wet.  So after shower, the pain will come and stay for a couple of hours until it dries up and heals.  Luckily, my right calf has a deeper cut.  Yeah, it is a paradox.  There is a thicker layer of blood clot and the repaired skin stays waterproof.  Also the knee is just skin and bone and harder to heal as the skin is always moving whenever I walk or move.

I am up early as I am not sleeping well due to the pain.

Fell Down While Cycling

This morning while riding, I was thinking over some work issue and was distract and rode onto the grassy edge.  So the bike became unstable and I fell down.  Luckily, I only skinned my right knee and my right calf has a gnash.  The skin came off and the white fatty layer can be seen.  I can still feel the pain now after more than 1 day. 

I must have broke my fall with my left hand as my left shoulder is quite sore.  Until today, I am still falling from my bike when I do not pay attention.  I will need to find another form of exercise before I hurt myself seriously.

Good Day

When we were going to do grocery shopping to get the supplies for B3's best friend who will be here to do Social Studies project, my wife decides to invite her baby sister and her family over for dinner.  They decided to come for lunch.  So we decided to cook Hae mee.  We use the Delimas Penang Hae Mee sauce.  It is our favorite and we have to use two packs to make a big pot of soup.  The lunch is very good although my two nephews think it is too spicy.  B3 had no issue at all even though his tolerance for spiciness is quite low.  My two nephews eat up all the fish balls before anyone.  B3 joins in as well.  It is breaking our family rule.

For the two classmates, I made bruschetta.  It is quite simple although do take a lot of time.  I have to chopped the tomatoes coarsely and add parsley and olive oil.  After that I chopped up ham as well.  Then I sliced the french loaves into coin size and my wife butter them up.  After  butter, we top the bread with chopped tomatoes and ham.  Then shred parmasan cheese on top. Bake in the oven for 10 mins. My bruschetta with ham is quite popular with all my boys classmates. 

Electronic Gadgets

Visiting Sim Lim Towers and Sim Lim Square this morning is a good way to see the latest electronic gadgets.  There is a small speaker that shoots water.  There are many shapes and sizes of tablets.  Android phones with dual sim card capability for $250.  I had to buy a lead acid battery for my solar system.  It has not been working properly for the past few weeks.  With a new battery, it seems to work fine for now.  I have to see how it work next few days as the battery is fully charge when new. After a few days of loading, I will know if my solar panels is still charging my batteries.

Visiting Grandparents

This evening we brought our boys to visit their maternal grandparents.  My wife want to go and use our singing bowl to sing in their home for good luck.  So the boys went there and as usual Po Po offer food and drinks.  She brought out the giant strawberries.  They were sweet and juicy.  I ate an orange as well.  The Ta Ee came with food for Po Po and Gong Gong.

So they get the chance to eat vegetarian food.  They enjoyed the vegetarian pizza from Pizza Hut and Rice Balls.  The rice balls is the latest craze.  They like the rice balls.  They were so happy with the visit that on the way home they are singing.  Best of all they are singing old songs.  Songs I sang when I was young....When I was young I listened to the ra..di...o, waiting for my favorite song, when they play I sing along, it made me smile.  Those were such happeee days and not so long ago, how I wonder where they gone.  Those old melodies....still sounds so good to me...as they melt the years away...every sha la la every wo wu wo wu....

Stressful Day and Memories of KL trips

Early morning and the stress starts.  A customer needed an answer on price.  It is scrambling time! The report is due and more reports to check and verify.  It is non-stop adrenalin rush.  From one activity to another with deadlines.  It is end of the day and end of the week.  I am pooped! 

Luckily, I found time to cycle before dinner.  The exercise helps me work off the stress hormones.  I feel better after cycling.  The weather is hot but it is important to get the heart pumping and work of the energy physically. 

After dinner, I have a cup of Old Town coffee.  This reminds me of being in KL.  I always have coffee or tea after meal with my colleagues and talk about everything and nothing.  It was important bonding time and I get to know them better and they know me better.  My team is KL is very good even though I only spent a few days with them every two to three months.  We make things happen. 

I loved the food in KL.  KL has all the different ethnic varieties and good food at reasonable price.  I had good competent staff.  The difference between Malaysians and Singaporeans is Malaysians are warm and friendly and more laid back.  Singaporeans in contrast tends to be in a hurry, stressed and therefore sound curt.  I have not gone to KL for some time now.  I loved the mega malls.  Window shopping is fun.  Borders is still alive and well.  Jom Bali has good iced coffee, brown butter kaya toast and best Ipoh hor fun.  Bak kut teh is so good with different creative variants.  I love Ampang Yong Tau Foo and Penang Fried Kway Teow at Sunway Lagoon.

I must go back to KL, in years to come only 90mins.  It will be fantastic.

Waranty Replacements

My original iPhone earphone broke and I bought imitation earphones for a really good price of $10.  Original costs more than $40.  However, the imitation earphones broke after a couple of weeks.  They could not take the handling.  One yank and kaput!  So I bought is $50 Logitech earphones and they are far more robust.  The design is superior to original iPhone earphones as the jack has a right angle connector and can handle the stress of phone dropping.  When the jack is straight, the force of the phone dropping toward the floor will cause the wires inside to break.  The right angle absorb the stress. 

Anyway my Logitech earphones developed a problem.  One side has no sound.  Luckily, I managed to find the receipt and I bought it last April.  So I send it in for checks and repair if possible and I got a new replacement!  I also go to get replacements for my TP Link internet link through the house wiring.  Awesome I had replacement for two units. 

It is important to keep our receipts for electronic products in a safe place where we can retrieve for warranty purpose.  It works!  I am happy to get my faulty gadgets replaced.

I also bought headphone that is on sale for $39.  It seems to work fine.  Great deals in repair workshops...

Responding

I believe the government is responding after loss of votes.  Now it seems like they are willing to do more for Singapore and Singaporeans.  It took a long long time.  Finally they are listening a little to opposition.  Looks like some of the suggestions from Worker's Party is entertain.  But to save face, they asked for feedback and suggestions from the public.  I hope the climate will continue to improve as our government starts to do more work for citzens and take care of citzens.  We are a developed country where our aged and retired have to scavenge and struggle for daily living.

Temperature Rising

It is getting hot and B3 keep using up lots of ice.  I can tell how hot the weather is by the amount of ice my boys consumed.  I use more ice too to drink ice tea and soda.  So the weather makes us all consume more liquid calories.  It can be quite fattening.

Although it is hot, many people are out exercising in the PCN.  We are all health nuts.  I enjoyed exercising with others who are serious in keeping ourselves healthy.  With the heat, the quantity of water evaporated must have increased.  We will see heavier rainfall.

Anyway, there is no point in speculating and worrying.  We are all in this together.  Life on Earth will continue in its cycle.

My Personal Opinion on Growth at all Costs

Many Singaporeans if not most are against the Govt policy of growth at all costs.  This is clearly reflected in the blogsphere and social internet sites.  Sharing limited space and resources is a stressful existence.  I believe there is an optimal balance and everyone of us is probably different in our needs for space.  Having lived in Canada, I loved the space.  It is a lot more relaxing and personal. Personal in the sense that it is you and nature.  I grew up in a 3 room flat with 4 siblings.  It is really cramped and we have to kind of sleep around the house and not just in the bedrooms.  I could not imagine my boys living in the conditions I grew up in.

It is a culture shock coming back to live in Singapore.  While Singapore is well known for clean and green city, the HDB flats are messy, smelly and quite dirty.  Maybe the weather made a difference.  The garbage dumps in Canada are not so smelly.  All garbage are bagged properly.  The crowded conditions and lack of privacy in HDB flats and condominiums make living in Singapore a lot more stressful.

8 years ago, I move to my current home.  TPE was the only expressway that does not have traffic jams.  3 years maybe 4 years later, TPE is like other expressways once the residents moved to their new flats in Sengkang and Punggol.  Traffic jams every workday mornings and evening.  While with lower growth, we may earn less money, our quality of life will be better.

Looking across the border, Malaysians with all their "problems" have a much better quality of life then us in Singapore.  They start work later, have breakfast together with their colleagues and spend plenty of time socialising in the evening.  We have to keep working to pay for mortgages, car loans and hawker food that cost 3 times as much in KL.  Singapore govt makes the employers the king.  Malaysia protects their citzens and employees.  Singapore laws protects the employers rather than employees.  It is protects the strong and vanquish the weak.  The strong shall enslave the weak and make them dependent.  Meritocracy at its best!

Simple lifestyle, green living, caring for others and happiness for all Singaporeans instead of the almighty dollar and growth.  We need choices and not one size fits all where we all have to keep running on the treadmill to keep up with our neighbours and get ahead of our friends and colleagues.  Yes, the Govt must take a breather.  Stop pushing Singaporeans out of the country they grew up and loved.  Give us Singaporeans a chance to choose instead of competing with all the foreign imports and talent.  Stop increasing our stress level.  It is becoming NOT a good life.

Wonderful Ride

It is still drizzling and dreary.  All three boys came out cycling together.  Yes, B1, B2 and B3.  We cycled to the Sengkang Community Center and then detour to buy the phone card to replenish his phone.  It is nice to have all 3 boys cycling together.  I like it when we all cycled home and our neighbour saw us.  This is really awesome.  Me and my boys.  The ride is quite short but a lot of joy for me.

Crowded in MBS, Crowded in MRT

IT fair is on and we had to upgrade from 10 mbps to fiber optics 200 mbps.  So we go to the Singtel booth and it was so noisy.  Loud announcements blare out all the time.  The crowd was huge.  Everyone trying to get a good deal.  Many comes with a trolley and bring back big items by hand.  It is a gigantic Sales. 

I had a friend coming to visit.  He arrived at the airport in late afternoon.  Since B3 had tuition, I do not have the car.  He want to see MBS.  It is funny.  I do not go MBS as it is just so expensive for anything especially food and today I go to MBS twice.  Taking train is an interesting experience for me.  I learned the Circle line is not a circle.  I also learn there are split ending and so you have to watch out to know exactly where your train is heading.  Also the train will stop in the middle of the line (Tai Seng) everyone has to get out and wait for the next train to continue the journey.

On a Saturday afternoon and non-peak travel time, there are so many people taking train.  It is so crowded.  Now all the gripes about the train service become real for me.  The politicians do not take trains.  So they will never have any empathy.  It is easy to give advice -  "Be patient, we will fix the issue."  When you are fighting with the crowds, the perspective is so clear and so emotional.  It is a pack rat society. 

End of a Busy Week

Phew!  It has been a busy week.  I even missed a couple of nights that I did not write my blog.   The weather has been good.  Plenty of breeze and no rain.  My plants are drying out and need plenty of water.  I notice our ice run down very quickly when the weather is hot.  The boys keep drinking soda with ice.  It is a unhealthy habit.  I am also drinking more.  The heat makes it difficult to cycle, so I use battery assist bicycle. 

Business is on the upswing.  So hopefully, my sales will grow and grow.  Now I am setting up my trip to Australia and NZ.  Maybe I have to spend over the weekend as depending on how many customers I can fit in.  I also need a good story for Japan.  So far India is responding and hopefully Japan too.  Then I will have a good year.

Out-of-Sort

I was in stress mode yesterday and today.  I am feeling out-of-sorts and restless.  Busy at work and setting up more trips.  It is always not enough.  The 3 gratitudes exercise cannot overcome the negative psychology. 

So I eat more and this will lead to weight gain.  I wish I react to stress by not eating rather than eating more.  This way I will look better and have healthier weight loss.

How to be Happy

I was listening to TED and heard How to be Happy at Work again.  Thinking of 3 gratitudes everyday for 21day make a difference in our personal happiness and the effects are long lasting.  I have stopped the 3 gratitudes for some time now.  I think I am happier than before but no harm continuing the 3 gratitudes to keep my level of happiness up.  It will be like a bolster shot of Hepatitis B vaccine.

1.  I am grateful for the friendship and hospitality in Japan
2.  I am grateful to be safe from a reckless truck driver who races in my neighbour while I was cycling
3.  I am grateful B3 is working hard on his work.

I am glad I am recovering from my sleep debt from my trip.  It is good to be home in the weekend to catch up on beauty sleep.

B1 ORD!

It seems like a non-event for B1.  When you are enlisted in the military, the first thing you do is to surrender your identity card and get a green card.  So on the day of your ORD or operationally ready date, you exchange your green IC(identity card) with the red and you are now a civilian and considered operationally ready.  Last Friday, March 1st, B1 ORD.  During my time, the term is ROD.  I like ROD!  It mean run out date.  This means the army run out of time to torture us.  We are happy to get out.  Now, they tell you that you are operationally ready and therefore they can called you anytime for war.  ROD sounds so much better in my opinion.

For B1, after he get his "freedom", he went to visit his girlfriend who is in NTU.  He came home only at 5:30pm.  He did not seem elated at all.  I guess it is a non-event.  I just returned from Tokyo.  Now he is meeting his classmates for dinner.

I am glad one more chapter has closed for him.  Now our family next chapter is B2's enlistment which will be in a couple of years.  I hope he go in Air Force.  Air Force, I believe is a lot better than the army.

Birthday Dinner for Father-In-Law

It is my father-in-law's birthday today.  His kids organised a dinner for him.  The food is not bad as I ordered a couple of dishes.  I enjoyed the deep fried vegetarian goose and beansprout with salted crispy.  The resturant is Greenland Vegetarian near Highland Road in Kovan.  He is happy and my mother-in-law is happy too.

My wife enjoys the dinner very much.  She had so much to talk about.  Meanwhile I am quietly helping B3 to play his computer word game.  It is a good way to end the day.

Nice to be Warm

It is nice to be in the warm climate again.  Tokyo was so cold this time that I did not take any walk outside except for one evening.  Even then I walk to Hotel Okura to see how it is like.  Hotel Okura is quite quaint and have a more ancient kind of feel.  It is in the middle of all the embassies.  Many security guard posts around the area.  Roppoggi is just down the hill and Imperial Palace is not far from the hotel as well.

B2 went for leadership camp in Nanyang Poly tonight and tomorrow night.  I could not sleep in the plane.  So now I am feeling very sleepy.  Will go to bed early tonight.