Ziv is 14-mth Now

Ziv turns 14-mth old last week. Haven't been blogging much about this little boy cause have been busy with work, lots of deadlines to meet and lots of emails with evil messages sending around.




Going home to see the boy walking towards me practically brightens up the busy days at work.





Some of the major milestones which he achieved so far:


1. Walking (like a drunkard)


2. Kissing (when asked to "kiss Mama/Papa", he will give us wet smooches on our faces)


3. Exercise (when asked to "exercise", he will twist his body from left to right to exercise his waist)


4. Ask Mama to Sing for him (when he feels like listening to my version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, he will open and close his hand showing twinkling star to hint me, and when he wants to listen "Tispy Bipsy Spider", he will put 2 fingers to make spider crawling and if he prefers the Barney version which I will always imitate, he will pass a Barney and expect me to sing like the sound of Barney.)


5. Scold Coby if it barks. (each time Coby barks he will shout at Coby to stop him from barking.)

6. Shake his head means NO (he learns to shake his head whenever we gave him food which he dislike.)

7. Clean his mouth (he will walk to the tissue box and pick up a tissue to clean his mouth.)

And the list goes on...



I feel great to be a Mum.

Wanted Men in Singapore Grand Prix

Faces to lookout @ Grand Prix!

F1 Driver: Nico Rosberg

AND

David Beckham -

According to different sources of reports, he will be coming to Singapore Grand Prix.

AIA?!

A strange phone call.

Lady: Hi Ms Wong, I am XXX calling from XX company on behalf of AIA. I am calling to introduce you a saving policy by AIA.

Me: (In awe) ARE YOU CALLING FROM AIA? AIA??

Lady: Yes.

Me: I thought people are rushing to AIA building to bail out their insurance policies and whatnot (to get cash out) and here you are promoting the AIA policy to me?!

Lady: Yes, but reassured, the newspapers are already clarifying that AIA is safe.

Me: Yes, I am abreast of the news these days but can we really trust the news?

Lady: Laugh.

Me: Will you buy policy from AIA now?

Lady: Well, I do have some policies with AIA.

Me: That is not the point, but will you buy policies from AIA NOW?

Lady: Laugh

Me: Tell me, will you?

Lady: (mumbles) No…

Me: Then you are still calling me to promote? Since you are not buying (yourself), then how you expect me to buy?

Lady: Erm…

Me: Then I think we should end this conversation.

Lady: Erm..

Me: Good bye!

Are you PROUD?

For once, I feel proud as a Singaporean.

For this time only. I repeat.

Forget about the Olympic. (They are crap…) It is the Paralympics that I am proud of.
On the other hand, I am truly displeased with the recognition that the nation is giving to these Singaporeans.

See, those Singapore citizens who made us proud are not given the same recognition here in Singapore, for the fact that the reward for Paralympics gold medallist is S$100,000, a pathetic 10% of what an Olympic gold medallist will receive.

Apart from the reward, we can certainly see and feel that there’s not much hype about the Paralympics (I don’t even know it exists!). Until some one actually won a medal.

For 2 weeks or more after the Olympics, the national TV was still broadcasting their (should it be “our”?) silver medal win. However, though we won so many medals in the Paralympics, I still do not see any congratulatory messages in the newspapers or television hailing the athletes’ achievements.

This is the first time that our national anthem was played in the Olympic Games, and funny, we don't actually get to see the live footage on TV.

Why?

In fact, it is probably more tedious for the athletes because they have to endure greater mental/physical challenges. A normal healthy person doing sports, and excelling in it takes a lot of hard work and effort, but for someone who is handicapped and doing sports; their efforts and hard work put in are hundred or thousand times more!

The honour that the Paralympics winners bring to the nation is not any lesser if the medal is won, albeit with a physical impairment.

In fact, the Paralympics athletes should be given more rewards as they are truly the ones who need the financial support and encouragement from us.

If resources are limited, then between rewarding disabled Singaporeans and able-bodied overseas ‘talents’, I rather we honour OUR VERY OWN SINGAPOREANS.

Am I a Terror?

Yesterday Kevin and I were invited to a wedding dinner at Marina Mandarin. This month is a wedding month yet again. Attended 3 so far, in this month and one more coming up very soon.

My impression of Marina Mandarin is vague. I only remembered being there for my Prom Night and that's about all. Am definitely surprised by the changes in the ballroom.The Grand Ballroom located at level 1 looks exquisite and tastefully done up. Was at one time, impressed.

Until...

At about the 2nd dish, a ham-handed waiter spilled beer on Kevin's shirt and the glasses were shattered to pieces and some of them hit my leg. I was infuriated. Very very very mad at the waiter's ineptness. Luckily, I was not hurt, I will definitely kick a fuss by calling an ambulance even with the slightest cut. Unfortunately for Kevin, he was drenched in beer. He was escorted to a room and changed into a white shirt.The moment he entered the ballroom, my face turned red with rage. What kind of shirt is he wearing? Some shirt previously worn by some unknown waiter?

I asked for the manager and waited for a good half an hour before the manager was finally available to meet me. (can you imagine?)

I told him that my husband came to the wedding in a 200bucks shirt and yet he was given a white shirt to wear for the rest of the evening and photo taking session?! The night was still young and I could never tolerate him in this kind of white shirt and he looked no different from the waiters.

Given the similar situation in Marriott (where I held my wedding), the banquet manager had actually offered one of my guests to collect her garment for dry cleaning and sent it back to her doorstep and plus 2 dinning vouchers. However, that was not and never my intention of grievance. I wanted to see how a banquet manager tackle the situation. To my utter dismay, he was just there, standing and waiting for my instruction (and I don't pay him monthly salary). He even wanted to talk to us in front of the 8 other guests at the table. I had to literally tell him, that we should talk outside the ballroom. I made my stand clear that my husband was not going to wear this rag and he needed a new shirt of equal quality. He even asked us to wait until 1030pm where the dry clean would come back from JURONG. Can you imagine? JURONG?! I just could not fathom, why of all place JURONG?A nd to expect us to wait until 1030pm on a weekday wedding is totally absurb. I even asked if we have to wait outside the ballroom for the shirt, if the wedding dinner happened to end early?

After a good 1 hour, he came back with a shirt that was nothing close to what Kevin was previously wearing and he asked "Is this ok?" I hate it when he sounded like we were all demanding and picky. I felt like saying, "So. Are you going to buy a new shirt again when I said that I am not happy with this?" Anyway, to end the case, Kevin graciously accepted the shirt. (I still cannot get over it right now though.)

Fortunately (for the banquet manager), the shirt was returned to us before we left. Else, I will have him send to Ngee Ann City where I work and pay for the ERP charges. I told Kevin, since he makes things difficult for us, by spilling beer on his shirt and I, have to make sure he goes through a more tedious night than us.

So tell me, am I a banquet manager's worst nightmare?

To add, the food tasted like ZI CHAR. Definitely not a pleasant night for us.

Be Part of the History

Yes. I will be part of the history. First night race.
2008 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.

Counting down to the day where I can hear the engines roar. Vrrroommmm....

Smile!! (You Better Do It)

Better post some pictures of Ziv smiling, else someone will say I look FIERCE. At least there's a smiling kid on this blog.



Ziv has been cruising alot lately, and sometimes without supporting. Ain't too proud of it cause some of the babies at this age, have been walking independently.

These days Gymboree is so boring. Ziv is finding it boring too. The programmes seemed to be reptitive. I wonder will someone ever change the programmes at least it is more fun. Let me see, 10 more classes to attend. What shall we do??!!!

The Boy’s Diet

Taking a blogging break from mind boggling work. Its best to think about the boy when there is too much work to do. Or when the stress level is up to the neck.

These days, Ziv has been getting increasingly adventurous with food, and sometimes, overly adventurous. He is starting to ditch his uninteresting porridge for... things that you never thought a 1 year old will have...

There you go...
1. Chocolates (especially those Soniri chocos)
2. Mooncakes (From Da Chong Guo to those from Sze Chuan Court, you name it, he tasted it!)
3. French Fries
4. Pancakes
5. Waffles
6. Brownies
7. Strawberries
8. Yogurt
9. Cakes (assorted range from with cream and without cream)
10. Ice Lemon Tea (thanks to Kevin)
11. Burgers
12. Muffins/ Cupcakes (is becoming his breakfast)
13. Chawamushi
14. Egg sushi
15. Potato Chips

and the list goes on... Sometimes I wonder where is the discipline?
I think its time to set some rules especially he refused to let me brush his teeth now.

Food Tasting at Oriental Mandarin Hotel

Blogging break time, despite of being WANTED for every thing and any thing in the office.

I need to blog about this, despite its office hour now. I had an interesting food tasting yesterday (for my brother's wedding) at the Oriental Mandarin Hotel.

1. Cold dish with a twist, lobsters, prawns, otak, strawberries and honeydew topped with mango mayo.
2. A bowl of Sharkfin. Read: Served individually
3. Deep fried King Prawn served in stick. The outer layer is deep fried to Golden color. Interesting.
4. Stewed Duck
5. Vege with mini abalones
6. Cod fish with Terriyaki Sauce. The best dish ever tasted in wedding dinners. Who says wedding dinner has to serve Soon hock to impress?
7. Deep fried mini mantou with crab meat and crab meat sauce. That one I don't really like.
8. Chocolate mousse cake. Succulent!

2 years. I had my wedding 2 years ago and Kevin and I both heaved that how wedding dinners these days have changed so much. And we have to say, we are really old now. Perhaps it is just us, making hoo-haa out of the aboved menu, when in actual fact, people have already got used to that.

Departure Hall

When was the last time you send someone off from the airport?


Me?


Not that I can remember.


Its so common to leave Singapore these days to go somewhere else to relax, take a break and whatnot. But yesterday was a very special day for me. I made my way to the Changi Terminal 3 Airport to send an ex-colleague, a friend and his wife off to New Zealand. They have the intention to migrate.


It is not that they are faced with a Hobson's choice that they have to leave Singapore and venture to the greener pasture at the other side of the world. In fact, I envy their courage and the 'dare to make dream happen' spirit. However, its sad that to see someone leaving us.


Talking about Departure Hall in airports, it reminds me of the show 'Love Actually'. In the show, it says;


Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspision love actually is all around.