Am I Italian?

19 May

It was during Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year that we discovered some very enlightening facts about hubby’s side of the family. Hubby’s uncle and cousin had painstakingly researched the family roots, tracing back to his great-grandfather, who was born in 1881 and emigrated here from China.

This means his grandfather is the first generation of the clan, hubby the third generation and my girls the fourth generation. I was awed because on my side, my only sibling and I are first generation; my Dad came from Singapore.

During the PowerPoint presentation, the whole clan learnt of the beginnings of the ancestors: how they met, when, where and all. There were even mug shots of the great-grandparents and it was one of the mugs that I commented, “Gosh! He looks European! Almost like an Italian!” to which M2 overheard and perked her up.

“Am I Italian?” she said.

Tickled by her question, I merely raised my eyebrow. She persisted.

“Am I Italian?”

I rolled my eyes and ignored her.

“Hmm. I must be because I like pizzas!” she decided and beamed.

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Oh No! A Glitch!

16 May
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See the up-down scroll arrow, on the left?

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up-down arrow appears again at a different spot!

I have come to the end of Biscuit Bungalow. Level 575 was not that difficult. Thinking that I could move on, on the laptop to the next chapter, I thought I would have to ask for tickets but alas, I could not do so!

There seems to be a glitch on the laptop as I cannot click on the ticket platform. Every spot I try to place the mouse at, an up-down scroll arrow appears instead! Oh no!

Luckily the next day, the glitch was fixed on the laptop and with tickets arriving, I have progressed on to Gummy Gardens. Yay.

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Suckered In

15 May

I was stuck at Level 566 in Candy Crush for so long that I contemplated giving up. Go back to my retired status from the game. However, the app updated last Thursday for the iPad and I got suckered in yet again.

But amazingly, last weekend proved to be fruitful. The horrible Level 566 was overcomed and I have breezed along on the iPad. I am now at Level 575, the end of the Biscuit Bungalow chapter. Looks like if I want to carry on, it’s back to the laptop as the game has another chapter in Facebook. And I might just do that because Farm Heroes has hit a snag at Level 245. Cuteness is lost with time bombs here! And these time bombs are meaner than those in Candy Crush. I am not amused.

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Everything Has a Name

13 May

M2 loves her study corner so much, she has decided to give names to the things that make up the area! (Remember Pancake the pet plant?) One evening, she told me, “Mummy, you know my Pixar light? I call it Peter!”

“Really?” I was amused.

When hubby bought her an external hard drive to store her data off the computer, she gave it a name too.

“This is Phil.” She introduced the hard drive to me one evening.

“Waa… You’ve got Peter and Phil. What next?” I asked. Which I shouldn’t have because the next thing I knew, I was introduced to her table.

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“Mummy, my table is called Bobby.”

I rolled my eyes; everything has a name. I dare not ask what will be next.

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Oh! Pixar Lights!

12 May

The study areas were created and both girls were extremely happy with the result. To top off the space, we needed to get lights for them. So I promised them after work, we will run off to IKEA to buy the lights. I was even reminded every hour via iMessage after they came home from school. Such was their excitement especially M2.

So at the lighting department in IKEA, hubby and I were debating between aesthetics and practicality. He decided it shouldn’t be halogen-based to minimize heat issues when used over a prolonged period. I pushed for those swing arm worklights that uses energy saving bulbs because I used to have them when I was in college and secondly, I thought they were the most practical. Braced to a furniture, it looks sturdy and won’t topple over even if handled too roughly but hubby thought they weren’t pretty. But in the end, my insistence for practicality won over the pretty table lamp choice that he had in mind.

When we came home, both girls waited excitedly by the door because we called ahead to announce our return with lights for them. The front door opened and dramatically, the lights were shoved forward to present to them.

“Oh! We got Pixar lights! Yay!!!” one of them exclaimed. Wow. I never even made that association and in my mind I knew it was the right choice. Without giving us a chance to have dinner, the lights were quickly assembled and put in place with our help of course. The two study areas are now complete with Pixar lights.

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Hitting the Jackpot

9 May

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I confess. Besides Candy Crush, Zookeeper Battle and Farm Heroes, I play the Jackpot in Facebook. A year ago, I decided to chase the game’s leaders and try to break into the top 50 in the world. Why? Just to test myself and see if I could do it. I figured if other Facebook users can have their names on the list, why not me? So diligently, I would spin the jackpot every single day without fail. Days when I travel, I’d enlist the girls to help just spin the wheel for me. It’s almost a crazy obsession but the key was to be constant on a daily basis.

So a year ago, I was trailing the 50th player listed by 4 million. Yes, I kept a tracker! A gargantuan task but I have been chipping into the gap consistently, slowly but surely. And you know what? Exactly a year later, two days ago, I broke into the Top 50! Yeehaw….

It feels great when you have achieved something. Persistence does pay.

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Imaginary Friends

8 May

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When I was young, I had imaginary friends who were very interesting and loyal. Way cooler than real friends, they were constantly by my side and totally understands me. I never knew this trait is also evident in my children until I was spring-cleaning their room recently.

It was a Sunday and we decided to revamp the girls’ room a little to create two study corners. As boxes of toys were moved, we had to decide whether to give them away or keep them elsewhere to create space. In the midst of this, I stumbled upon a note written by M2 when she was young.

“Oh… Shaun! That’s her imaginary friend!” chuckled M1.

“Really? I never knew!” I said.

We opened the folded note and read it.

It was hilarious!

I must salute M2, for her imaginary friend was way, way more interesting than mine! And letters… classic. I never wrote letters to my imaginary friends.

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Oh No! My Pants Don’t Fit

6 May

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You know you had a good holiday when you come home and find that your work pants don’t fit. I was aghast! I had to suck it in—not a whole lot just a tad (but still!)—to wear my work pants yesterday. Oh dear… I thought with four rounds of golf in Batam, sweating it all out under the sweltering heat, I would be fine. And it’s not that I ate excessively, my portions were normal. I didn’t even drink beer on the course on this trip.

But looking back, the four rounds was all buggy on course unlike a month ago in Chiangmai, the three rounds, we walked and walked and walked. Now comparing the stats – in Chiangmai, it was close to 20,000 steps each time at the golf course, and this is not inclusive of the before and after game walking. All in, I’d say a good 23,000 steps a day, more than the 10,000 steps quota for a day.

In Batam, it was slightly over 10,000 steps but with the before and after, I’d say it wasn’t even close to 14,000 steps each day. I remember by the third day, I decided not to wear my pedometer because the earlier stats were not very impressive and I did not want this to distract me.

Could it be the food? Or the drinking? We had hard liquor for four nights in a row, single malt and blended whiskeys: 12-year old Chivas Regal, Glenfiddich, 12-year old Dewar’s and Label 5. We drank as well in Chiangmai but that was a 4 day/3 night trip versus this recent one of 5 days and 4 nights. By virtue of an extra day and an extra bottle of whiskey, my pants don’t fit? My personal trainer would have a fit if she knew!

Looks like I have to do something about it and it’s not buying new pants nor skipping going to the office! Sigh…

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Back to Routine

5 May

Every time after a good holiday, the energy is sapped and the Monday we face is almost with trepidation. The act of getting ready for work is lagging and the thoughts are running wild.

How many emails will I be looking at? How much work has piled up? Will I be stressed immediately? Will I have to work late? That’s the reality of being back to routine. I guess we have to just take it in stride while at the back of the mind, a little seed to plot the next getaway is taking shape…

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Batam: Goodbye

4 May

We say goodbye to Batam today. It has been very enjoyable, with the plans and the people. I now look forward to going home to see M1 and M2 whom I must admit, we did not talk to the last several nights. It’s not that we have forgotten them but with our coming back late every night and them being an hour ahead, the timing was not good.

Anyway, I look forward to planning the next trip. Soon.

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