Happy Father's Day

Wishing all fathers out there a Happy Father's Day.

A father's presence to a child can really make a difference to me. I do not get much (in terms of his presence, guidance, love) from my father last time (my siblings experienced the same thing also). What I wanted to give now to Iffah and my other children later on (God willing) to give all the love, guidance, warmth of a father. Iffah now is growing up to a sweet toddler and watching her grow from the time she came into this world on 17th February last year to now gave me lots of joy and excitement.

Any presents for me? hehe... I got myself a HP ipaq 6515 to replace my old Tungsten E. Got this after renewing my Maxonline and upgrading the service.

Iffah is getting more confident in her walking nowadays and I was lucky enough to see her walking about in our house last Thursday when I'm on off-duty. This enough makes my Father's Day gift complete this year. :)

Bouts of consumerism.. hehe...

Firstly thanks to Lina who bought for me my first ipod (see previous post)... I'm also waiting for the arrival of my first Birkenstock (bought cheaply on an online spree from her contact) ... hehe A Florida model like the one below


She bought a Papillio Florida Field of Flowers model. Hmm will Iffah buy a Papillio or a Betula? Or maybe a yellow Croc sandal... hehe she will look darn cute in Crocs or Papillios... hehe

Here's other stuff on my wishlist. Will I or will I not get one of these in the near future?? Only time and my pocket will tell:

1) An Apple Mac Book Pro (17")!


A headturner and crowd puller anywhere... A marvellous upgrade from my old clamshell iBook.

2) Any good LCD TV which can display HD video... It'll be good for movie viewing at home later on... Having a projector is a bit out of the plans as it involves having a dedicated room with black curtains, etc


Enough for now... hehe

I shall not lose my ipod.. i shall not lose my ipod...

A rather boring day yesterday at work which folded to a panic state situation and a relieve. I was on a work site when I realised that I had misplaced my ipod (a birthday present from Azlina)!! This resulted in a frantic state where I tried to recall the places which I had been for the past half hour ranging from MRT toilet to the HDB office.. At the same time, I began thinking what my wife would say to me if I broke the news to her.. sheesh.. That alone occupied a great part of my afternoon during work. Thougts of her nagging at me, being disappointed, etc ...came racing to my mind. Sheesh I even dropped by Funan to check out the current prices of the ipods now and even contemplated of buying one.

Things started to pick up for me when I found out that I had left it at my office (in a plastic bag with my CD). A nice ending to a long day...

Talking about losing things, I'm prone to losing my stuff due to my carelessness and forgetfulness. Sometimes it costed me lots of money. Some of the stuff I lost:

1) My IC (twice!! The second occasion costed me $300)
2) My CD player and headphones. Together with a bag of CDs (some of them could not be found in SG due to their limited availabilty...) Lucky bugger must be grinning ear to ear.
3) Handphones when leaving out of taxis (twice!)

Sigh... I hope I don't lose more things next time.

PS: Azlina lamented that I may lose her next time when I go out with her (like .. leaving a place without her) .. hehe . I don't think it can happen lah... how can I lose her like that...

View in black and white

After a sleepy morning during French class (slept throughout the break. That's not normal of me to sleep during that time), we had a rare treat of exploring a photo exhibition at Alliance Française titled À l'imparfait de l'objectif'. The special thing about this exhibition tour is that 2 of our tutors were there to give some insights on the photographer, Robert Doisneau, and commentaries on his famous works; his major themes of his photos, his style, etc. Here's an excerpt below from Alliance Française Singapour's website:

A l’imparfait de l’objectif comprises photos Doisneau took throughout the course of his life, in which he attempts to illustrate his visions of beauty and goodness, and to share with us moments of happiness found in daily life. Witness to a tumultuous history, haunted by the inevitable passage of time, Doisneau endeavours – by capturing superfluous and unfinished expressions – to make each and everyone of us aware of the temporal nature of life.

Here's some phone cam pics which I snapped at the gallery (I got a casual c'est interdite! remark from a professeur after snapping a shot of his most famous work Le Baiser de l'Hotel de Ville.. hehe)

Here's the phone cam pic of Le Baiser de l'Hotel de Ville.



Our current tutor Étienne

Another one of our tutors Jerôme explaining to us the photo. I wouldn't want to explain what is the content in the photo about.. hehe... hit me if any curious buggers out there want to know...

Hairdressers 'lepakking' in a Parisien café in the 60s

Thanks to Jerôme and Étienne for lecturing us througout (in french)...

Ouch my feet!

I have this problem with my feet. It stinks! Hehe... this problem of mine, I don't know how to resolve it permanently. My feet is prone to blisters and also fungal and bacterial infection. This infection was the worst in April where it had infected my leg and groin muscle and as a result I could not walk properly. It happened again this week. Decided to see a specialist at National Skin Centre. Didn't think that the total cost of consultation and medication would exceed $100. But alas, it went up to around $160!. Checked that one of my medication costs ard $63 for a box! Now I know why they say medical costs in SG is rising and only the well-off can get good medication. As of now, I really need to take care of my feet. Wouldn't want such thing to happen again.

First week in temporary home

It's been 1 week since we have moved to our temporary home in Pasir Ris St 21. It's my in-laws' place; an Executive Apt which has a huge living room but small bedroom (for us). A slight inconvenience for us as our room is small for all three of us. Plus, going to places like Orchard Rd, etc for shopping is a bit of a hassle considering the longer distance that we have to travel. Moving out from Marsiling Rise last week to Pasir Ris was a lil bit tiring and the change in living space needs time to get used to. Also this is considered as my 4th moving house for the past 29 years of my life (1st in Clementi, 2nd to Hougang, 3rd to Ghim Moh).

Having our own personal space means a lot to me as we could have our own privacy in our own abode. Just earlier this week we contemplated of having voiding our contract with the seller of our choice flat as they were taking their time to find their flat. That pissed me of as we waited for almost 3 months for it after signing the agreement. Now that we are back on track waiting for our HDB apointments (1st appointment due on 24th July). Urgh I really can't wait to have my own space. Space to listen to my music. Space to watch DVDs privately. Space to watch my French programmes on cable (without having to share TV with in-laws). I really value such privacy so that me, my wife and Iffah can enjoy quiet moments together. Perhaps we can try cooking our dishes together later... hehe