Uprooting Myself After Many Good Years

I have always been toying with the idea of getting my own domain name.  Because, technically speaking, if one day, WordPress decides to terminate my account with them, all my writings, pictures, videos which I have posted since 2002 (Yes… I have been blogging for 14 years! Albeit on and off though… I was one of the pioneer bloggers who have gone nowhere. LOL!) will be gone!

Excuses, procrastination, everything that you can think of.  Finally, I have done it! I have got myself a domain, a webhost and migrated the whole website over.  Believe me, the migration was as bad as moving a house where you have lived in for last 12 years.  It was PAINFUL. Maybe because I was very cheapo, I did everything myself and refused to pay a fee to migrate the information.  It took me one whole day! It’s also because I am terribly noob at the technology. So instead of paying movers, I figuratively moved my “furniture”,  “boxes”, “belongings” all by myself  (and I’m only 5 feet tall… ).

So my new “house” is ready (well, kind of…) with the bare walls. I’ll maneuver myself through the tech part to beautify it later. So, yes, the new site works but just not too awesome looking (with my noob skills it’ll at most be so-so lah!) unless I pay a pro to jazz it up. Then again, that wouldn’t be me anymore. Let’s look beyond the physical beauty and go for the content. 😜

Come visit me at my new place www.myonecentthoughts.com!

Please Let Her Remember Me.

I haven’t been sad, really, really sad for a long, long time. Angry, yes, many times. But today is truly a sad day.

My grandmother has been hospitalised due to a stroke. The doctor classified it as a mild stroke, because she has a slightly slurred speech and her hands aren’t as nimble as they used to be.

That’s what I thought too. Until I visited her with 小小宝贝 this evening.

She asked me, “why did you rent your house out?” I simply didn’t get it. Huh?

“What are you talking about?”

It went back and forth until it suddenly occurred to me that, she’s referring to her ward. And the nurse was the maid and the guy in the next bed was the “tenant”!

“This is Changi hospital!”

“What Changi hospital? It’s your house! There’s no such hospital called Changi hospital!” (She stayed there for 1 week just a month back.)

Then she proceeded to call my son my cousin’s name. My heart sank.

“Do you know who I am?”

She looked at me in bewilderment. A part of me died. I am her favourite grandchild and she doesn’t remember me. We slept in the same bed for the first 10 years of my life. And we shared the same room until I got married. I was her everything, until my brother came along. Then both of us were her everything, with me having a bigger share.

After a long while, she finally managed to say my name. She remembered 小小宝贝.

Suddenly she asked me where my brother was.  I told her, “Germany. For work.” Her reply was, “What are you talking about? He’s in primary six!”

Her memories have been jumbled up. She mixes up the past and the present.

She played with 小小宝贝 for a while. It made her happy.

I sat there, looking at her while she was playing with him. My grandmother, who is my pillar of strength, with the most lucid mind, can’t really remember me. I know, because she asked me for.. me. I’d never thought that this can ever happen to me. This only happens in movies, dramas, but not, to me.

Today, I have lost something precious.  I hope she remembers me when I see her tomorrow.

We hugged and kissed her and told her that we loved her. She sat in her chair, smiling and waving at us as we left the ward.

Last week we had lunch with her at home and when we left, we also hugged her and kissed her and she waved good bye.

But today, she doesn’t remember me.

I realise today, that the most painful thing on Earth, is to be forgotten by the person who loved you the most.

Our recent family photo during 宝贝’s birthday celebration

Ming Ming’s Diary – Monday Blues….

It’s Monday. Why do adults call it Monday blues?? I like blue! They should call it Monday blacks. 

After the fun filled weekend, everyone’s gone to school/work. Except for me. I’ll just have to do self play. Unless you want to come and play with me???

I can share my toys with you!!! 

Hmmm… Now that everyone’s gone out, I need to plan my day and think of what I should do next. Let me drink some of my brain juice first. 

*suck suck* I find it helpful to my thinking process when I’m drinking.

What am I drinking??? Beer of course!! Haven’t you seen the advertisement?!

Give that man a tiger! RAWR!!!! 💪💪💪

What do you mean mine’s not beer? I’ve been drinking beer since I was born!!

How can I not know if it’s beer or not??

😑

Ahhh!!! You are trying to bluff me! Just because I’m little doesn’t mean that I don’t know what I’m drinking! 

我喝beer比你喝水多！

Drowning my sorrows in beer? Certainly not. I’m still trying to decide what I want to do today.

You are disturbing my thought process. 😕

We, men, are focused minded creatures. Cannot multitask. Ya! Since caveman days….

Focus focus Ming Ming!!!

*suck suck* 

Should I play with my cars? Or my train? Or my building blocks? Or my Legos? Or my walker?

Oh man!!! Choices choices choices! 

Maybe rolling my eyes up can help with my focus. *roll eyes*

What??? You mean I’ve spent the whole morning thinking that my Jie Jie is back from school???

Yippee!!! No more thinking is necessary! Now I can play with with Jie Jie!!!

HEHEHEHE! 

I’ve thought so hard for her to come home and now she has!!!

The universe has answered my request! Mighty Ming Ming!

Jie Jie! Come! Let’s rock n roll!!

Ming Ming’s Diary – Slippery Slip Module 101

Look at this engineering wonder at Punggol Park!
Hahaha! I didn’t build this. I’m so flattered that you think I did. 

Hey! Papa! Watch me ok!!
This is how you crawl up a slide. For you you need to turn sideways so that you don’t get stuck. 
Teaching Papa the playing on the slide module 101. 

Ming Ming’s Diary – My Papa is such a baby!

Hey! Papa! What’s up? 

Oh! You want to play while waiting for the food to come???
You want to play pat-a-cake?! C’mon! That is for babies!!! I’m a big boy now!
Oh you want to relieve your babyhood?? Ok ok fine!!! Anything for you Papa!

*resigned look* pat a cake pat a cake. *yawn*

Ming Ming’s Diary – Visit to the SEA (Aquarium)

Have you ever been to the SEA?? Well I have?? Gosh! I wonder why they call it the aquarium when I saw more people there than fishes. 
The fishes must have had a whale of a time watching the human exhibits. 

Anyway, we can’t possibly go there all the time. So Jie Jie and I take turns to pretend that we are visiting the SEA. 
Make believe is supposed to make us smarter! And I do so want to be smarter. And so…

It’s my turn to visit the SEA. 
Woah!! Look at the shark!!! Hey! I see a turtle and… A mermaid!!!
HEHEHEHE just kidding!! 😜

Check it out!!! That fish is waving at me!!! 

Hmmm… The glass is dirty… Obstructing my sea view….
*hor….* *blows hot air onto the glass to clean it*

Ok nice and clean. Hi mermaid!!
Huh??? My turn?? So fast?? You mean it’s my turn to be the fish already? Awww… I was just getting warmed up. 😤
Oh oh well… 

*blurp blurp blurp*
I’m a fish! I’m a fish! *goldfish lips*
I’m totally professional at this!
*blurp blurp blurp*

Ah ha!!! Is that a fish stick?! I’m going to bite it!!!! 
See the sticker there?? It says no knocking on the fish tank! 😫

Gosh! All that fish blurping thing is tiring. Need some food. 

Ming Ming’s Diary – I’m Back!!

Oh hi everyone! I missed so many days of blogging because I thought so hard about who to choose (Laura or Taylor) that I conked out for so long. 
But I’m back in town today! 

These 2 (garethfoo, ivozboy ) tsk so blatant!!!

We can’t discuss this on social media ok!! We need to take it offline. Offline!!! Ssshhh!!

@xeolye Jiu Jiu, tips ah? Let me see…. I need a new phone… It’s so hard to get my hands on a phone at home these days. So difficult to update my blog.. A new phone in exchange for tips. How about that?? It’s ok… I can settle for an iPhone 6. Doesn’t have to be iPhone 6s. 👌

What I’ve Been Up to…

What I’ve been up to lately? Besides juggling my full time job of being home butler and numerous other ventures, I’m trying to put together my travel photos (in vain) and yes, I’ve picked up reading again. 

Sorry ‘Cher! Not the regular classics from our booklist, but it’s better than nothing right??? 😁

It’s probably due to the lack of good dramas to watch at the moment. No decent ones with good looking male leads (a definite MUST!) and reasonably entrancing plots. I refuse to squander my time away on watching substandard ones. 

I’ve managed to finish a few fantasy books by Trudi Canavan (an Australian writer). I’ve loaded her books into my Kindle then forgot all about them. 😅 She’s no Rowling or Tolkien but her first set of books still managed to keep me glued to my kindle. 

I got bored with the 2nd set though. Sigh! Why is it so difficult to find a good fantasy genre writer?? Eagerly waiting for Rowling’s cursed Child. 

So now… I read Chinese Internet Novels! 😂😂😂 Surprise! I know I know! Eh! Stop twitching your brows! 

The last time I read Chinese novels was in Germany!! When you’ve nothing to read, anything goes!! 

China drama was the spark that ignited the chain reaction. I’d always been anti cdramas because I found them boring (think 红楼梦！ Gah! I was forced to read it for my book review in school! Couldn’t stand the wimpy Jia Bao Yu!) Only the 还珠格格 was watchable. Everyone told me that 步步惊心 was good. I downloaded it into my iPad and conveniently forgot about it. Haha! It seems like I keep downloading stuff without reading or watching them. 

I finally watched it years later (like 2 years ago) when I was overseas, without wifi. For a gadget addict, no wifi is like going through drugs withdrawal!! Ya! Couldn’t play my games! Go ahead! Plunder my bases!! 😭 

I went through my downloads and decided to give 步步惊心 a shot. No fish, prawn also good yah?? After the first episode, I was hooked. That started my downward spiral into cdrama addiction….

It was based on an Internet novel by 桐华. I’ve a habit of reading the novel after watching the movie/drama to find the details that have been missed out. And vice versa… Complain about the details missed out on the movies based on my favourite novels… (Nitpicker I am!) 

(Side story : I hunted down the Chinese translated novel of The Ring after i watched it in the cinema. And gave myself more nightmares after that! It’s truly a brilliant book that explained the loopholes in the movie plot.)

Back to 步步惊心 novel, it’s extremely well written with the right touch of humor, romance and chim literary description and poems (I admit that I skipped some of these, just like how I skipped the bits with the incessant singing of Tolkien’s hobbits). No wonder she’s now elevated to the statue of 中国四宝. 

Once I find an author whom I like, I will not rest til I’ve finished reading all her books! She has the ability to draw the readers into the world that she’s created, imagine the scenary through her lyrical descriptions and step into the shoes of her characters, sharing their joys and pains. Once you start reading her books, you wouldn’t want to put them down. Even with some descriptive parts, being a little more chim, her books are extremely easy to read (well, at least I didn’t have to keep referring to my Chinese dictionary!). 

Another author whose books I’ve read is 顾漫. She specialises in writing modern novels that are quirky and fun to read. Though they are not as 文采绚丽 (in other words, chim) as 桐华’s books but I still like them enough to want to buy the physical books. Hehe. I like the way she names her characters in creative puns. The only complaint I have is that all her male characters are brooding epitomes of perfection and the females are competent when alone, but ditzy in the presence of the omni powerful male partners. 

Oh well, I’m still looking forward to the new cdrama which is based on one of her books. I’ve decided I’ve had enough of the angsty palace drama and I need some light hearted modern comedy. Look out for 微微一笑很倾城！

Recently I discovered that the library is well stocked with these books!!! Yay!!! 🤗

Rainbow Fish Play

I’ve always enjoyed children’s plays. You will be surprised to find that their standard is pretty high, with engaging storylines, colourful and innovative sets, wonderful acting and singing, well written original songs and local puns! Best of all, the tickets cost a fraction of what I’ve to pay for an adult’s play or performance. It doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg (2 arms and 2 legs, in fact) to bring the whole family there. The only drawback is, I’ve to book tickets way in advance. I hate watching plays from a lousy seat. Just a pet peeve of mine. 😁

I’m very blessed to have children who enjoy them as much as I do, with minimal fidgeting. 

Right, back to my topic. Rainbow fish. Well, it’s based on a well-loved children’s book with beautiful illustrations on pride and selfishness. iTheatre managed to expand it into an enjoyable 40 mins musical. 

The sets are thoughtful and innovative. 

Colourful under the UV lights. And very fine puppetry work we have here. The actors did a wonderful job in bringing the puppet sea creatures to life with their expressive voices. There’s the proud and selfish rainbow fish, witty Big Violet, excitable Little Green, friendly Small Blue, sociable Tiny Stripes, motherly Starfish, villainous (but cowardly) French accented Hammerhead shark (who’s mad about sushi and sashimi) and wise old Octopus. 

My favourite character is the witty Big Violet which is both abrasive and eloquent. Heck! He even speaks Shakespearean! 

“Any fish by any other name will smell as fishy!”- Big Violet. 

So if you haven’t watched it, get the tickets now at Sistic! Check out their website. 

Our wefie ritual, while waiting for it to start!!

Trying to selfie with the stage but failing miserably. I need to buy a new selfie stick. The last one went kaput!!

Journaling

I unearthed a forgotten trove of journals when I was trying to locate one of my old travel journals to plan for my next holiday! 

I marveled at how legible my handwriting was! 😁 Back in 1998! Now, it has been reduced to a scrawl, though not quite up to the standard of the “Doctor font” yet. (Sigh! It goes to show that no matter how badly I write, I don’t have the potential to be a doctor. Oh well!)

I posted the picture in FB and some very wonderful friends praised my ex-handwriting. Ok! For that, I’ll endeavour to improve my current standard!! 

Some others were surprised that I actually kept journals. Yes! I did and I still do (very sporadically now). I’m still quite old school. I need to scribble on something for my ideas to take shape. 

I used to write in my diaries every day. When I go through them now, memories come back to me and yet they felt like a few lifetimes away. Those were part of me and yet, there’s no way I can write like that now. Not at this point of my life, with the current state of mind. I kind of miss the old me, with a naive set of idealism and can-do attitude (to the point of being “ti ki”). Ah! How nice it was, to be young, to have the “anything can be done” 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼, the silly squabbles, the shallow crushes. 

Looking back now, it seems that I had a whole lot more fun than what I have right now. It’s a chore to be a grown up! But at least I’ve had my good old wild days! Been there, done that!

Maybe, just maybe, one day, I can make the choice to unshackle myself from the mundane responsibilities and liabilities and be wild again?! But by then, already become old auntie already leh. Sigh…!

Everyone should start journaling! You will be surprised to read what you are writing now, 20 years later! It’s like recovering parts of your life. 😜

*ti ki – hokkien for metal teeth. Aka persistent.