Direct Flights Only

I had a fantastic Chinese New Year break. Kept busy catching up on recorded shows, organising stuff in the house (except 1st Day of CNY), going around the malls (which surprisingly had several shops open) and spending time with the family.

Compared with previous years, I felt really excited about this year’s festivities even if my family really does not celebrate CNY. We had more goodies/snacks, home decorations and CNY CD’s. The only thing we did not observe was buying new clothes. There’s not much closet space and we didn’t want to cramp the limited space anymore.

Some bits of info which I picked up from the Yahoo Q&A website :

Red as the official CNY color

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nien (Chinese: 年; pinyin: nián). Nien would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nien ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people.

One time, people saw that the Nien was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nien was afraid of the colour red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nien. From then on, Nien never came to the village again. The Nien was eventually captured by hong jun lao zu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nien became hong jun lao zu’s mount.

Clothing

The colour red is commonly worn throughout the Chinese New Year because it is believed that red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune.

In addition, people typically wear new clothes from head to toe to symbolize a new beginning in the new year. Wearing new clothes also symbolizes having more than enough things to use and wear in the new year.

Photos around Singapore

Chinatown - stalls selling goodies left and right

CNY goodies - peanut & coconut cookies, shrimp / pork rolls, pineapple tarts . Towers of calories!

Mall tour

Takashimaya mall. Believe it or not, I went stall by stall to check out the stuff. Ended up buying cornflake butter cookies (only).

Ion Orchard - These are cherry blossoms right?

(Newly-opened) Mandarin Gallery. This tiger is made up of flowers.

Vivo City came up with a directory of which shops are open during the festive season. Very customer service oriented.

Resorts World Sentosa also opened during the CNY weekend and as anticipated crowds flocked the island. Here are photos taken inside Vivo City and the nearby bus stop. Waiting time is loooooong. I will wait for Universal Studios to open before I join the queue.

Resorts World Sentosa -- taken from Vivo City

Waiting time for monorail - 45 minutes

Waiting time for buses into Sentosa - 2 hours. Of course waiting time could vary with signs updated accordingly.

More info on : http://www.rwsentosa.com/

James Ingram is a multi-Grammy award winner who popularized songs such as “Just Once”, “One Hundred Ways”, “How Do You Keep the Music Playing”, “Somewhere Out There”, “There’s No Easy Way”, “Baby Come To Me”, “Whatever We Imagine”.

Believe it or not, I know all those songs but cannot claim that I can reach all the high notes!

Quincy Jones recognised his talent and chose him to perform both “Just Once” and “One Hundred Ways” in his album “The Dude”. Such album resulted in 3 Grammy nominations for James — Best New Artist, Best Pop Male Vocal, and Best R&B Vocal (which won him his 1st Grammy).

Here’s a video of him performing “Just Once” :

and

“Somewhere Out There” (theme song for “An American Tail”) — a much younger James Ingram

Talented right?

So when he was here for a one-night concert as part of the Mosaic music festival at the Esplanade, I knew I had to watch the show.

We also invited Patrick to join us. He sang "Just Once" several times during his stint at Boiler Room at St James Power Station

First…

1) … Blog entry – this one!

2) … few photos in the new year (Post-Countdown)

Sophie distracted by the New Year's Eve food on the dining table

3) … Singapore tourist attraction visited (Asian Civ Museum)

4) … shopping mall where I made a purchase beyond SGD50

5)… film watched on the big screen

Happy new year!

Farewell 2009, Welcome 2010

New hairstyle and specs going into the new year.

Here’s what I plan to do in 2010 in random order :

1 Achieve “regular customer” status in one of the bars in Singapore by end June.

2 Listen to FM radio more often to keep up with English and Mandarin pop music.

3 Lose 3kg by end March, another 3kg by end June and maintain weight with +/- 2 kg variation for the rest of the year.

4 Be more active on Saturday mornings.

5 Use my MacBook, Nokia X6, online applications (i.e. WordPress), digital media to the fullest.

6 Be involved in preparing at least one new dish per month.

7 Be more conscious of the price of goods & services I purchase and use such knowledge on a need basis. Avoid buying blindly.

8 Discover new items via online shopping every 3 months.

9 Among all acquaintances I will meet in 2010, be able to catch up again post-introduction with at least 10 of them.

10 Continue to learn more about Singapore — specific focus on (1) how the education system works, (2) CPF,  (3) buying a house, (4) its history , (5) heartlands exploration

11 Use the bus as the primary mode of transport to and from work (70% of the time).

12 Learn basic / conversational Mandarin without taking up formal classes. Sound like a pro even for a limited scope of words.

13 Read more – on print and online.

14 Undisclosed target – to be known by yearend if achieved

Moved to a new home recently, settling in well, and loving the new place and area.

I realised that change is good if it means having a place with more space, keeping the same modern look & feel at a much more reasonable price.

Moving also means getting rid of the clutter (or at least knowing what could be thrown away in due course) and buying new furniture and appliances. I keep telling my family that we are only transferring to a new home within the same country, not relocating to another country hence no need to purchase a lot of items. I think we have kept that in mind 50% of the time.

My room looks neater now than before and I plan to keep it that way. It will look more tidy after the holidays as some of stuff from overseas travel meant for Christmas gifts are still in one corner of the room.

For some reason, I sleep more comfortably now even with a slightly earlier wake up time. Maybe it’s the room, the house in general or my new mattress and set of pillows.

I am also taking the bus more often as the bus stop is less than 3 mins away. I had wanted to do this ages ago but happy that I am able to do it now. Better late than never.

There a few major insights I learned throughout this experience so thought I’d write some here :

1) Several months before the move, I kept a folder containing the types of mail I receive which are directly addressed to me. Examples of these are membership-related letters, subscriptions, bills, other notices. This allowed me to track the relevant parties I need to inform of my change in residence.

2) There should be an overlap between the lease end date of previous and the lease start date of the new place, at least 2 weeks to a month. In my view, the extra month of payment for the new place was worth it. It not only eased off some pressure in having to move everything in one go. It also allowed some form of transition — mails, clean up of old place etc. It is also a busy time and I did not want to get stuck with relocation stuff during the Christmas break.

3) SingPost has a mail redirection service which you can pay for a certain number of months. What they then do is to intercept all your mails based on the name/s you indicate in the form and place a sticker based on the new address. There is a 1 or 2 day delay vs normal delivery time but at least you don’t miss out on any correspondence.

4) Singaporeans and Permanent Residents can update their address at the community police station. Doing so also results in a select number of government institutions and agencies to be notified accordingly. The process is quite straightforward and takes less than 30 mins. You go to the police outpost with proof of new residence and the police officer will ask you to sign a form before he places a special sticker indicating the new address on your IC.

5)  Moving is costly and one needs to set aside funds to cover : 1st month rent, 2 months deposit, service fee for property agent and relocation company, cost of buying new stuff.

6) There’s a lot of coordination that happens prior, during, and after the move. My family has been a tremendous help in making things happen as I have been tied up with work.  We treated the relocation as a project and it went really smoothly with everyone’s efforts and patience.

What’s left on my To-Do list ?

1) Get rid of some more stuff currently in organised boxes in the storage room

2) Series of housewarming parties over December and January

A few photos :

Living Room - That couch is really comfy

My bed

Sister's bedroom

Mom's bedroom

Hallway from rooms to dining area. Behind the sliding glass door is a study room which we converted to store bookshelves and shoe racks

Happy birthday to my blog. It’s now one year old.

Lots of friends, places, and adventures featured in 74 entries during the past year.

This is entry #75!

10,153 hits (average of 27 per day) is rather unexpected — didnt realise people actually find stuff on this site interesting or useful.

I feel my blog is still far from being personal (it’s predominantly narrative). Hopefully I will be able to improve on that bit over time.

Six (6) months have gone by and it’s time to see how far I’ve gone (or how far away I am) in terms of my personal targets this year.

On track

• Revamp casual and weekend (including night-out) wear. Priority shirt colors for this year: white, black, red. [Still need to define work clothes and casual clothes. Decided not to be too strict on colors though have preference for purple, orange, and white as of now]
• Increase your level of interest in Singapore real estate property developments (read newspaper ads, visit showrooms). [On and off interest which will shift to high gear in the 3rd quarter]
• Learn and memorize five (5) Mandarin songs by yearend and sing them in public (i.e  KTV). [About to finalise the 5 songs and will begin work on pinyin lyrics pronunciation before public launch haha]
• Lose some more weight (but still take breakfast!). Be a “legitimate” size L (heading to “aspirational” M) instead of borderline L/XL. [More comments about me losing weight than gaining weight so that's a good indication. Can fit into L shirts comfortably and jeans/shorts that are 2 inches lesser than before. The dryer better not shrink my clothes too much or else!]
• <Undisclosed target — to be shared at yearend if achieved> [Still undisclosed though making good progress]

Started but need to be more serious

• Track expenses. Minimize impulse purchases – local and overseas. [Began in January, even purchased a software but found it challenging to keep receipts, type info, etc. Hopefully I will gain more patience in the coming weeks to track whatever I can track until yearend. I guess the trick is not to spend too much so I don't need to track a lot in the software]
• Learn how to play mahjong, seek opportunities to practice, and aim to playing decently in 2010. [Learned a bit in the first quarter, missed an opportunity to practice recently but still positive about it]
• Develop basic appreciation for jazz. [Interest is there, just not enough hours to sit in a bar and listen to live jazz which is part of this target]
• Volunteer your time to give encouragement to younger people and/or differently-abled individuals. [Started in the first quarter and will resume in July/August]

Not much progress; at risk

• Have breakfast most days of the week. [Have traded this for more minutes of sleep. If I wake up 30 mins earlier than usual, this will be possible]
• Cook one new dish (at moderate complexity) per month. [This is meant for the weekend. Still possible but that means cooking two new dishes per month to reach 12 by end of the year.]
• Think green. Save the earth in your own little way. Lessen volume of paper at home (scan pages if info is useful). [Scanner is active but I still collect a lot of paper along the way, especially on weekends when I go around, i.e. brochures, pamphlets, etc]
• Take the bus and MRT more frequently. [Weekends are quite ok but weekdays/nights are terrible since I take a cab to/from work.]
• Determine your threshold for alcohol level intake (in as few attempts as possible). It’s about time you have an idea. [Not much partying as I either stay home on Friday nights or do other things on Saturday. Not really sure whether this will be met]

To be replaced as unlikely to happen

• Visit a country at least 5 hrs away by plane on holiday. [Ideally for late 2nd quarter or early 3rd quarter but with the H1N1 virus around, I am happy to stay in Singapore]

Sunday, 7 June – 10.00 PM

Since I do not drive here in Singapore, I must admit I am not as updated with the latest tunes as when I was back in Manila. The long drive to work and back home (thanks to my patient driver) and the traffic that made my journey colorful allowed me to listen to the radio for at least one hour. 

It was troublesome to transfer the radio from my living room to the bedroom frequently so that left me listening to purchased CDs often instead. Hmm.. this means I’m rather behind radio music by almost three years. Thank God that I frequent a bar with a live band that plays Top 40’s so in a way, I don’t feel so miserable.

When I got an email from Philips promoting their annual warehouse sale this weekend, I didn’t waste time to scout for a decently-sized radio that would be a welcome addition to my gadgets and gizmos on my desk (I have two laptops, a printer, a scanner, a portable DVD, MP3 player — all neatly and strategically placed within striking distance).

Here’s what I found during the warehouse sale — reasonably priced, small enough, but powerful enough to have 5 preset stations which I have now configured to Mediacorp stations — Gold 90.5, Class 95, 98.7, Lush 99.5, Yes 93.3. 

It’s now up and running and I’m back on track when it comes to knowing the latest and reminiscing the past. It’s now playing “Look Away” by Chicago… which I sing at KTV sometimes. Sad sad.

The Lord will Understand

The Archbishop of Singapore has issued instructions to all church goers as a precautionary measure against the spread of the H1N1 virus. I was told by my friends that this is similar to when Singapore was hit by SARS several years ago.

I would normally hold the hand of the people beside me to sing, “Our Father” and shake hands during the Sign of Peace so it feels different not to be able to do so at least for a few weeks. However, I respect such decision and will obey as it is for the good of all.

Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover

Let’s admit it. In a world filled with commercialism and pretense, we can’t help but notice how people look from head to toe. Love at first sight, etc. However, not all good looking people are best friend material (and I am not trying to be like Paris Hilton here). 

It takes time to get to know a person and even if we reach an acceptable level of trust, trust is betrayed and we are back to square one.

I was touched by the story of Connie Culp’s transformation and resilience as the US’ first ever face transplant recipient.

Let me quote Yahoo news on the background: “Culp’s husband, Thomas, shot her in 2004, then turned the gun on himself. He went to prison for seven years. His wife was left clinging to life. The blast shattered her nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth and an eye. Hundreds of fragments of shotgun pellet and bone splinters were embedded in her face. She needed a tube into her windpipe to breathe. Only her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip and chin were left.”

After 30 operations :

parts of her ribs –> cheekbones

one of her leg bones –> upper jaw

skin from thighs –> grafted onto face

and a 22-hour operation in December:

bones, muscles, blood vessels from another woman who had just died –> 80% of her face

Cost likely to be absorbed by the clinic : US$250,000 to 300,000

Before the accident

Now

Culp said she wants to help foster acceptance of those who have suffered burns and other disfiguring injuries. 

“When somebody has a disfigurement and don’t look as pretty as you do, don’t judge them, because you never know what 

happened to them,” she said. “Don’t judge people who don’t look the same as you do. Because you never know. One day it 

might be all taken away.” 

True, true. A story of hope, courage, and faith. Looks may change in an instant but the values shaped by our upbringing and the pureness of our hearts are what will matter in the end.