Reddie's Page - 鸿屋

In a normal lift in AMK...

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 12:30:00 +0000

It's the last day of the week-long national mourning for our founding father Mr Lee KY, and we decided to head on to the Ang Mo Kio Central Stage to join in other fellow countrymen in remembering the great man.

We parked in the AMK Hub car park, had lunch on Level 4, and planned to walk over to the Central Stage. In the lift from level 4 to level 1 (ground level), some people cleared out of the one we took, leaving the 4 of us and a young couple. I moved from one corner of the lift to the other diagonally opposite corner so that I could access the lift control panel. While doing so, I spied the couple starting to touch each other openly from the corner of my eye. Well, I certainly felt uneasy, with both my kids in the same lift. No matter how big the lift is, it still felt rather confined.

I looked at my 11-year-old little girl and said, plainly but clearly, "NC16."

It took about a full awkward second for her to blurt out her silent laugh, and perhaps another what-felt-like-an-eternity 2 seconds before the lift door opened on level 1.

By which time, we started to clear out of the lift, and my 15-year-old son was red-necked and walked out covering his face.

Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Fondue Evening

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:43:00 +0000

We'd been wanting to treat ourselves to a session of Chocolate Fondue but hadn't had the right opportunity until this evening, after an egg-citing session watching the variant dark side-ish Humpty Dumpty story in the Puss in Boots movie. It was all a whim of the moment thing and the gooey chocolate was indeed satisfying. TW was mentioning this was her first chocolate fondue, when I decided to show her pictures of our previous session at the Chocolate Bar at the Esplanade, where we had some smaller versions of chocolate fondue along with other exotic chocolate goodies, among other chocolate adventures which I did not document. Ah-ha! Gotcha! Who said we should be lavishing luxury on kids before they have memory-retention powers? This is the important reason for the existence of this blog.

The Häagen-Dazs chocolate fondue set was SGD $49.40 after GST and service charges, totally satisfying 4 chocolate craving souls.

Choc Muffins for brekkie

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:28:00 +0000

Haven't baked muffins for some time. Somehow the leisurely post-exam Sunday morning provided enough incentive for my exam-wrecked soul to bake something.

But, just as usual, the folks just can't take much of what I had to offer. The kiddos loved the idea, but just can't take too much of sweet stuff. Delicious, as usual, they'd say, but they'd just be satisfied with a tiny one or two.

Oh, well, will save up for later. Now I must hatch a plan to starve them first…

My cute new egg pan

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 02:05:00 +0000

Ok, this pint sized pan has been on the shelves for a really long time and I'd just only bought it a couple of days ago, because I couldn't justify buying a pan just for the purpose of frying eggs. But, at $4.99 a piece with multi-colour choices, I just couldn't resist it.

So this is part of breakfast today. Like my omelette? My folks do.

The Timer Chime

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:01:00 +0000

I let TW have some time for water play in the bathtub this morning, and to prevent her from going grossly overtime again, I plonked a kitchen timer on the bathroom counter top where she can see the minutes and seconds counting down. She loves these water play sessions still, and it's also a good time for me to tidy up the room while she's at it.

The timer would chime in a continuous stretch of about half a minute when the countdown is due in the following fashion: di-di-di-di, pause, di-di-di-di, pause, and so forth. TW got quite irritated by the first series, and started telling the time to stop.

Still, the first aliquot of time wasn't quite enough fun. She asked for an extension, and I agreed. Second round of countdown on the timer.

When the countdown chimes sounded again, it went something like this:

Di-di-di-di, di-di-di-di...

OK!! Stop it!

Di-di-di-di, di-di-di-di...

I said, stop beeping already...

Di-di-di-di, di-di-di-di...

Hey, stop the noise!

Di-di-di-di, di-di-di-di...

Ok, you've made your point!

At this point, I could not contain my giggles any longer.

Afternoon tea

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:07:00 +0000

TW and TF have been asking me to bake cookies for them for some time. Finally got into the mood to do it one afternoon.

The first batch of six 3-inch choc chip cookies were gone before my second batch (in picture) were cooled and brought out.

Mother's Day 2010

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Mon, 10 May 2010 02:38:00 +0000

I noticed a flurry of activity yesterday morning, aka Mother's Day, between my bedroom and the kids' room before I emerged from my morning ritual in the bathroom.

TF had prepared a series of clues for my treasure hunting activity in search of the Mother's Day gifts he'd prepared for me.

So I started out on the 1st clue, which led to another, and yet another. One entailed opening up his little code-protected coin bank, and another was hidden behind his bedroom door alarm mechanism.

Finally I can display my bounty for all to see.

From Reddie's Page - 鸿屋

I was taken aback. How did he manage to choose such lovely tasteful gifts? So it was his school's Parents Support Group (PSG) that put up this idea for the boys to buy small gifts for their mothers. He said he simply chose the most expensive items out of the lot, which cost just a few dollars. Smart move, and smart talk. That sets me thinking about the thought and effort that went behind this initiative put together by the PSG. This has helped make it a memorable Mother's Day for me.

TW felt so upset that her older brother has managed to pull off such a great feat she spent the rest of the day designing a diary out of scrap paper and more paper hearts for me.

12th anniversary 结婚十二周年纪念

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:47:00 +0000

Hubby Q and I were married for 12 years, and we celebrated our 12th anniversary on this Valentine's Day. It also happened to be the first day of the Chinese New Year in 2010.

After going through the necessary family visits and gathering in the earlier part of the day, we went out to buy a heart-shaped cake I'd seen in BreadTalk shops that's been on sale specially for the occasion (VDay). TW has been especially excited, but couldn't quite grasp the significance of this.

Is it someone's birthday cake? She asked.

No, it is for celebrating mummy and daddy having been married for 12 years, I explained.

Oh, so that's why you need a birthday cake for the celebration?

Er, sure, darling...

今年的年初一是我和老公的十二周年结婚纪念日。同舟共济了十二年，却也很难的，决定买个蛋糕庆祝一下。到BreadTalk买了个小小心形蛋糕，再点上一支大蜡烛、两支小蜡烛。就这么简单。

小廷慧为我们突然买了个蛋糕而深感不解，直问，到底是谁的生日，为什么要吃蛋糕？

我指着睡房中挂着的婚纱照，尝试解释，那是为爸爸妈妈结婚周年的庆祝。

所以要用生日蛋糕来庆祝？哦！原来是这样！

有两个小宝贝陪同，已觉得十分幸福。

Breakfast at IKEA

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 03:01:00 +0000

Sent our car in for servicing this morning, and then popped by to IKEA next door for the free members' coffee.

This is one place where the food photo didn't do justice to the actual food served. The croissant & sausages are much fuller and bigger than those in the advert pic, and the scrambled eggs was also a much more generous portion. Too bad I devoured the whole chunk before taking a pic of my serving. Great ambiance, as always, too. All for the grand price of SGD$1.50, with FOC freshly brewed coffee.

And there's no one to chase people away after their meals. Unlike my one awful experience at this sandwich joint in Novena Square recently.

I'll be off to loiter my time away now before other duties call. Happiness from simple life's pleasures...I'm loving it.
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld from M1.

Prize Presentation Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:57:00 +0000

It was a special morning for us all, although busy papa has to go to work as usual...he couldn't bear to get make others do double for his duties. It was the Prize Presentation Ceremony at school, and TF is one of the prize recipients, for his good work put in, in his Primary 4 academic performance last year.

TF nearly could not make it for the ceremony, as he had been absent from school for the past 2 days, nursing a fever at home. I had to cajole him to get up and go for this special event early this morning.

Somehow we had to endure the sorts of things teachers say to the pupils, which reminds me so much of those usual scoldings we'd got as primary students in days bygone.

The general feeling goes somewhat like this:

Scolding (mild)

More scolding (teacher shouts)

High intensity scolding, getting everyone, including parents, to behave, get back to allocated seats / areas. Keep quiet.

VIP gives encouraging speech.

More scolding

Announcement of prize winners names

More scolding....

Then as we leave the school hall, more scolding from some teacher who berated the rest of the pupils seated on the floor who'd been cheering for their fellow schoolmates in the past hour, for 'behaving badly' when their deserving friends who had 'worked very hard' were getting their rewards.

So much for encouragement for the little souls. That's a typical Singapore boy's school for you...

Chocolate Bar @ Esplanade

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:16:00 +0000

We aren’t die-hard chocolate lovers, but we had fond memories of death-by-sweetness at this eatery when I dragged hubby along to this unique place a couple of years back. Just 2 of us then, without the kiddos. Pure romance.

This time, on the 2nd day of 2010, we chose to bring the kiddos along. There used to be large thick slabs of chocolate stacked on the bar counter of the cafe, which we don’t see anymore, but the chocolate-in-every-menu-item eatery did work its charms on our little friends.

We ordered a ‘Suckao’ (what a name) – which is a DIY hot chocolate drink set – melt the chocolate chips in the candle-warmed tumbler, add desired amount of milk, stir with the metal spatula, then drink through the metal straw which forms part of the metal spatula.

Next is the dark chocolate cappuccino, which is served in a tear-drop shaped receptacle with no handle. The aromatic drink is totally full-bodied - god knows how much calories are packed in there.

We ordered a chocolate pizza too, filled and topped with white choc bits, peanut butter and more choc syrup. It was so inviting we started attacking it the moment it was put down I’d forgotten to snap a pic of its full glory…snapped up it was, all the way to 4 gluttons’ stomachs.

This cozy little cafe is located on level 1 of the Esplanade. Lovely place to while away a sweet afternoon, staring into one, or many, sweethearts’ eyes. Friends intending to visit can give me a tinker – I don’t mind going again to try other fun items in the menu.

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Our Family's New Year Day 2010

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:53:00 +0000

Hubby wasn’t working this year’s New Year Day – a rarity – and the weather was superb, so we decided to finally try out the kites the kids received as presents from a nice uncle during our visit to Shandong, China, last year.

We went to the East Coast Park – my, there were lots of tents and people! TF had great fun on his maiden attempt learning to fly his kite, and TW decided it was more fun playing sand on the beach.

The kites were hand-made by a famous kite-making factory in Weifang. TF’s kite is a green falcon, and TW’s a blue butterfly. They were packed neatly in paper boxes, so we have to assemble them first, and tie them to their spools of kite-strings. The kites are unbelievably flimsy, but they flew rather well, even for novices like us.

After a satisfying time at the beach, we saw storm clouds approaching from the southern part, and quickly took flight. Enough outdoor fun for the day.

To round off the evening, we settled down for a home video, complete with popcorns I made using our own stove with an impromptu search for the recipe on the internet.

My morning ride

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:28:00 +0000

Went out for a short ride this morning before the kids were up. I expected myself to huff and puff a bit more…it was so long since I’d been regularly biking around and working up a sweat. Maybe 2 months? Or more. Yep, must have been the beginning of all the exams preparation that provided that lame excuse. And then my stamina went down considerably, unfortunately, inversely proportionate to my weight. The ride up Braddell Road leading up to Bartley Road was quite a struggle, compared to my last ride weeks ago. It was quite effortless then.

I’m not an adventurous roadie (biking jargon = riding on the roads). I stick to the pavement as much as possible. So, therein lies the challenge of avoiding pedestrians incessantly, twisting and turning to stay on wheel-able paths while maintaining balance cruising on super-slow speeds.

So, no pics here. It’d be dangerous to bike and shoot at the same time. Also, this country isn’t exactly bike-friendly – hardware and people-ware wise. Or maybe I’m just not savvy enough. But bringing my kids out there on bikes is a no-no – I’d get shot at home.

Back to my morning ride. I was turning round Lorong Chuan towards Braddell Road when I saw 2 kids riding bikes along the pavement with their mother riding behind. All 3 of them are genuine blonds, so I’d gather they’re ‘ang-mohs’*. They’d deftly negotiated past some paths partially blocked by road works on the pavement itself, heading forwards towards the Australian International School just about 100 metres away. Their mother carried one school backpack, so I suppose they’d park the smaller bikes at school when mummy heads back home during school time.

* ang-mohs: local term, referring to Caucasians.

Earlier this year, we somehow caught on the biking craze, and I’d fetch TF from his school, riding to the meeting point on my bike, with a kick scooter strapped behind, so we can both ride home together. His school is less than a kilometre away from home. It was great fun, until I started going to work sometime after, and had to stop this. I liked biking to his school instead of driving – it sure beats the crazy traffic when the 4 car lanes right outside the school get jammed up into 1. The situation can be so bad sometimes the traffic police had to be activated.

So when I had to hand in a document to his school’s office one afternoon some weeks ago, I chose to ride there, and was promptly scolded by the security officer for being ‘dangerous’. Think I really deserved that, since I rode right up to the lobby in front of the general office. I took the chance to ask where the boys could park their bikes if they ride to school, and she (the security officer) immediately retorted, “How can? So dangerous, you know?”

That means, that driving up to the school compounds and then dropping the boys from those metal-shell cocoons would be the best solution for transporting the all-important future generation to and from their molding facilities, whereupon they should be immediately strait-jacketed to think, learn and act the way they’re expected to be by the system.

I’m quite sure the International School pupils & mama I saw this morning don’t have this problem, or see it as a problem. That’s 2 different cultures co-existing along the same stretch of road, one institution training conformists and the other, free-wheeling development.

It’s little wonder why creativity has to be taught here.

TW’s Froggie Doodling

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:15:00 +0000

The kids love dining at Pizza Hut. So do I. The lovely thing they have there sometimes, is the kids’ menu on a large colour sheet, with a drawing activity printed on the reverse side. Saves me the trouble of finding my notebook and pen to occupy TW while waiting for the order to be served, though, can’t do without the pen yet.

So the rest of us continue with our catching-up-the-day conversations while TW diligently went on her doodling expedition, and came up with this.

I had that proud-mummy moment when I saw this. Ok, she isn’t an art genius (though she’d won first prize for that art & craft competition in her kindergarten back in HK), but I thought it was a great copy using an un-erasable ball-point pen. Just to show the full-page instructions:

See the Broccolis along the way?

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:56:00 +0000

It was a decision made at the spur of the moment (which, incidentally, lasted the whole morning), that I decided to fetch TW earlier from her full-day childcare early today, just before she was to prepare for naptime at school. The load of library books are due for return today, and I think it’s high time I should bring both kids to the library again. (That meant it’s 3 weeks from the last visit – the loan period from Singapore public libraries.)

On the way home on foot from the MRT station, TW & I enjoyed a leisurely walk under the 1pm blazing sun. Ample time to smell the flowers and name flowers along the way. Then, TW pointed to the row of trees by the pavement and exclaimed, “Look, mummy, BROCCOLIS!!!”

Reminds me, that she used to like the broccolis I used to cook for her. How sweet is that…

How to reject the SnS sticker auntie

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:59:00 +0000

The 'Shop N Save' supermarket chain in Singapore has this great savings programme - for every $15 spent at the outlets, you'd get 1 sticker, and you'd get $9 to use at the supermarket when you've collected 12 sticker stamps within the calendar month.

I remember a time when I'd look out for aunties to give my Shop N Save sticker to, because I knew I'd probably not be able to finish collecting all the stickers in time for the end of month redemption. That is, until a certain time I realised that there are now 'professional' sticker-collector-aunties waiting in right behind the cashier lines, specially targetted for your wanted or unwanted stickers. I meet them almost 24/7 - everytime I shop at the SnS outlet near my place - and it's getting a tad annoying.

So what do I do? Had been trying to be a bit more creative than nasty during these encounters, until I met one enterprising auntie who tried to befriend me at the tofu counter this afternoon.

Let's call her 'Auntie Tofu'. Auntie Tofu asked, "Missy ah, do you collect the stickers?"

"Yes," I replied. You could almost see that exhilarated glint in her eyes. And I caught that spark and continued excitedly, " Oh! You have stickers to give me?!?"

"Oh, I was only thinking of asking if you are participating in the collection only lah..." The traffic police could issue a ticket for how quickly Auntie Tofu fled from me...it was, like, a nanosecond?

Boy, I'm thinking of printing and donning a T-shirt declaring my stand each time I visit SnS outlets now. That is, until the time when the scheme's (and associated aunties) no longer there.

And there she goes again

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:22:00 +0000

For the past few days we’d been quite flustered with the MOM officer’s message that we were supposed to pay the overstaying fine of $300 because this runaway maid has overstayed on Singapore soil. Apparently, the police did not charge her, and MOM said there was no proof that she had done anything wrong under the Penal Code.

We don’t intend to take all this nonsense hands down. However, before any side has taken any action…

I received a call from my maid agency yesterday, telling me they’d intend to repatriate this maid back to Indonesia that day, but our amazing friend has managed to run away from the agency’s boarding house.

Now we wonder. So we were supposed to forfeit the security bond of $5,000 because she went missing from our house, and then the embassy. Then she was found, and the $$ imposed is now changed to ‘overstaying fine’ on her which we had to pay, with whom we should have no relationship whatsoever, after she had unilaterally terminated our employment contract by running away. And now she has gone missing again when under custody of the maid agency, with no contact with us at all. Say if she were to be found again one year later, or 10 years later, are we still liable to pay for the x number of years of overstay she’d done?

I seriously doubt that the issue has been thought through thoroughly by the relevant officials. Someone will have to pay some fine for some anomalies, apparently, as the local system goes, and it’s not the policymakers/implementers’ business to care.

The Maid Saga Continues…

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Following the last piece of news that my former maid has run away from the Indonesian embassy after running away from my house one fine afternoon in June, there had been no news of her until last weekend.

I received a call from the Woodlands Police Centre informing me that she has been found. The police officer was rather concerned when he called me, and the first thing he asked me was whether I had forfeited the S$5,000 security bond. Incidentally, I had just drafted and sent an appeal to Ministry of Manpower 2 days before this. MOM was about to take action to demand my insurance company to pay out the sum of money.

Having treated my domestic worker rather well during her employment with us, I do not feel it is fair to me as an innocent employer, who has contributed little to this girl’s decision to venture off elsewhere, not fulfilling her obligations, leaving us worried, anxious, thrown into pandemonium, and still, ultimately, having to pay for what she has done on a whim, financially, emotionally, physically and psychologically. We had been victimized throughout this whole affair, and now I have to shell out more money to pay for someone else’s crime? This just doesn’t make sense.

This morning, I received a call from an officer from MOM, who has read my appeal email. She said I will have to pay up an overstaying fine on behalf of this maid. I think I almost lost it there. I referred her to the maid agency, which has undertaken to repatriate the girl, and would be liaising with the police. Why can’t the police charge her? She was found at the Woodlands checkpoint and detained by the police there. Isn’t this clearly indicative of her criminal intent? She wanted to cross over to JB. How she had survived for almost 2 months here in Singapore is a marvel, and we really wonder how much cash she may have pilfered from us, or she may have an accomplice, or found some other source of income somewhere, somehow.

Why should I, as a innocent employer with proper intention to hire a domestic helper, pay for an ill-intent this employee had? Just because the security bond says so? I believe the security bond was conceived to deter potential maid abusers so that they will have to pay for their wrong-doings when their domestic workers cannot tolerate further abuses. Then, where is the protection for good-intentioned employers? The average citizen who needed a little extra help at home, and has paid for such arrangement fairly?

This girl clearly is a criminal now. So if I will have to be responsible for her own wrongdoing, which I had no part of, i.e. pay overstaying fine or other what-have-you fines or charges for her when she’d decided to run away on her own agenda, does it mean I’ll have to pay bail for her if she were to kill someone, rob a bank, etc etc?

Sometimes I find government policy implementers ridiculous. Just like how we aren’t even allowed to drink any sip of water on MRTs these days. Singapore will probably be world-famous for yet another reason besides the chewing gum issue in time to come.

Free Flower

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:01:00 +0000

I was browsing around in the Watsons shop located at the Toa Payoh HDB Hub and a tall young man dressed in a white suit just gave me a single pink flower on a long stalk. I stared suspiciously at him, and he understood my signal.

“It’s free. You don’t have to pay anything, and I’m also giving you this voucher for you to get a free pink pouch when you buy 2 packets of our product.”

Guess what’s the product he’s selling? It’s the Carefree pantiliners – new packaging, new look, new selling approach.

Then I was remarking to the cashier that it’s so funny that you’d get sweet young girls to sell stuff to men, and now a male to sell women’s stuff. She couldn’t restrain a giggle. What’s next? Intriguing.

Decepticon in the Car Park

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:44:00 +0000

There’s been quite some Transformers fans dressing up their cars in the likes of their heros, and this one caught my attention on my way back to my car in the Toa Payoh Hub Car Park today.

Take a closer look. The red lights move along a horizontal panel outwards and then inwards again while the vehicle is parked there, much like the Knight Rider’s KITT. Cool.

Why, oh why?

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:43:00 +0000

If you've seen my previous blog post, you'll know that my Indonesian domestic helper has run away from my house suddenly, brought 2 other runaway maids to the Indon embassy the next day, and then run away from the embassy 2 days later.

I did some simple searches on the web on found quite some 'horror' stories involving domestic helpers. Then, again, there will always be another camp of dissidents who are totally unsympathetic to victimized employers and these are usually the world most perfect employers with zilch real-life experience.

We've been wondering and wondering and this incident totally took over our idle thinking time. Why, oh why did she have to run away? This is one of the cute stuff which may provide the answer:

Notice the lower right hand corner, spelt out in big capitals: BORING. This kind of doodling turned up in some other random pieces of paper retrieved from her stuff left behind, but they weren't as cute as this page with the smileys all over.

Lest you think we've been cooping her up all day at home all this while, we've taken special planning to bring her on some recreational trips. Here are some pictures taken during our East Coast Parkway and Singapore Flyer outings.

Oh, if I might add: she'd ballooned up (gotten fat, lah!) quite a fair bit since she came 2.5 months ago.

And she'd scorched my favourite Esprit top, broken a few mops (with aluminium handle, we are really quite perplexed...like, how?), torn a curtain and a few other stuff around the house...and we hadn't even reprimanded her one bit, and attributed all that to her needing some learning and adaption. It was like, she informed us such and such thing was spoilt, and we'd utter, "Uh, ok. Can, thanks."

Or maybe the Singapore Flyer was so anti-climax it bored the hell out of her? One previous maid also quit right after we brought her on a Star cruise to Langkawi about 9 years ago. Seemed to us it isn't advisable to bring maids on holidays after all.

My Runaway Maid

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:25:00 +0000

Ever seen or heard of the movie "Runaway Bride" played by Julia Roberts? She played a commitment-phobic bride who kept running away from the altar in the movie. I've actually yet to see it in the reel, but now I'm experiencing something similar in real life.

My new Indonesian maid came to work for us in late March, and her work has been quite good. We taught her the required duties and she had performed satisfactorily. We think we're rather reasonable employers - we don't need her to look after the children (we DIY or get grandparents' help usually), and she usually get all the time to herself after dinnertime, which seldom stretch beyond 8pm. I find this maid taking naps almost anytime in the day - randomly found her sleeping at 11am, 3pm, on different days, but we didn't quite mind, as long as most chores are done.

In order not to let her feel too lonely, we planned weekend trips, restaurant dinners, shopping trips with her, and even brought her to the Singapore Flyer just last Saturday. Nothing too exciting really, since the anticipation exceeded the experience quite a fair bit, but we hope she'd enjoyed it.

So imagine our shock when we came back home last Thursday at 6pm and found her missing. Here's a chronology of the events that happened since.

4 Jun 2009 4:40pm - Received call from maid asking whether to cook dinner.

4 Jun 2009 6:00pm - Returned home to find maid missing. Dinner materials all washed/chopped and left on kitchen counter. Main gate's remote control left in the letter box.

4 Jun 2009 7:00pm - Informed maid agency about missing maid.

4 Jun 2009 8:00pm - Lodged missing person report at our neighbourhood police post. Police office called all major hospitals to confirm no accidents were recorded with unknown runaway maid. The ordeal took almost 2 hours.

5 Jun 2009 4:10pm - Received call from maid agency informing that maid has gone to the Indonesian Embassy.

6 Jun 2009 10:00am - Packed maid's belongings and brought over to agency. Decided to hold on to the items and look for her at the embassy instead and try to talk her around to come back.

8 Jun 2009 10:00am - Queued for almost 1.5 hours at the Indonesian Embassy to speak to the consular officer who told us that she'd run away (again!) the previous day (i.e. 7 Jun).

According to the officer, our dear friend turned up at 11am on 5 Jun with 2 other Indon maids at the embassy, talked about returning to Malaysia during her brief stay there, and then decided to proceed on her journey on stealth mode just yesterday (7 Jun). The embassy had to wait for 24 hours to lapse before lodging a police report too. All this while, she'd been making her way around the island without her passport and work permit, and, heaven forbid, if she has cash on her, it'd be ill-begotten.

I hesitated to rummage through her things at first, since I was hoping she might still return, but later decided to just try to find any evidence of any reason she may have to do this. We found this un-dated letter she'd written, apparently to her family, and not sent out, which we brought to the maid agency to help us decipher.

In her letter, she revealed that she had run away from her previous employer in Malaysia too, and did not complete her 3-year contract then. She'd claim that she completed her contract with her Malaysian employer in her biodata. Can't blame anyone for that, really, as she hadn't come clean with her information, and if she had, who'd employ her? Even the Indonesian consular officer advised us not to hire her even if she comes back.

We think she must have been a highly accomplished apprentice of Mas Selamat, making her way off to the next mission...

Now, if only I can find someone to help do the dreaded chores...

Great Supper Sale? 宵夜大热卖？

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Sat, 23 May 2009 07:42:00 +0000

I was miffed when I saw these posters all over a 'THIS FASHION' shop in Kovan Heartland Mall today.
Question: Is this sale limited only to supper time?

You can have a super supper, but rarely is a sale limited to supper, especially during GSS.

今天逛街时看到这海报布满了一间服装店，让我不禁好奇：到底是新加坡‘超级大热卖’，还是‘宵夜大热卖’？真是耐人寻味。

TF is Swaveboarding! 廷丰玩浪板

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:03:00 +0000

TF was in a swaveboarding frenzy, and he'd picked up the skill pretty quickly, notwithstanding the usual falls and bleeds. I think it's time to showcase his new-found skill here.

刚给廷丰买了个浪板，那是近来相当热门的新潮运动玩意儿。他很快就上脚（上手）了，当然少不了一般的战痕。我想是时候记在这里了。

Little Treats 生活小点

noreply@blogger.com (reddie) — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:18:00 +0000

TF came back from school a couple of days ago while I was at the study doing my online activities, as usual. He turned the chair the other way to face the wall away from me, and started to tell me about school.
廷丰前几天放学回家时，我象平时一样，在书房上网。他把椅子转了，背对我，面向墙壁，开腔了。

"Mummy ah, I got fourteen... and a half... upon... 100 for my Science Formative Test leh." What on earth is a formative test? I had been wondering that day he told me he was preparing for it.
“妈咪呀，我的Science Formative Test 得了...14.5分，总分...100分。” 鬼知道Formative Test 是何方神圣，到今天我还搞不清楚。

"Oh, that's nice." I said.
“哦，那好。”我应道。

He could barely contain his excitement much more. His impish smile gave it away.

So it was 14.5 for a 15-mark revision test paper. And the teacher gave him and some others who scored similarly well a sweet and a sticker for the achievement.
没几秒钟，他就忍不住在偷笑了。原来是总分15分的试卷，他得了14分半。老师就给几位考好的同学一粒糖果、一张贴纸作奖励。