Welcome 2010

Can't believe its been a year since my "Welcome 2009" post here!! Here I am, halfway through the first day of 2010, sipping milk tea (made by my son) and feeling comfy in my blue spaghetti strapped baby doll dress :) I woke up this morning at about 8 am, sprang out of bed like a deer to get to the wet market to buy fresh salmon. Could almost inhale the fresh sea scent of it as I drove out in my car. My family has taken to salmon ever since I started buying it from the wet market instead of the supermarket. I found out that the part of the fish nearer to the belly is so tender and tasty because it's got more fat. I haven't tried salmon belly strips yet, though but I will soon! Cost me about $20 for 4 pieces of the salmon. I'm going to marinade it wif some Japanese teriyaki sauce and then grill it wif some butter. Simply sumptuous!

After marketing, it was intensive labour as whole family got about cleaning up the house. My aunt's dropping over for lunch and games. So glad for these Magiclean wetwipes - they really make cleaning up the floor a breeze. Within half hour, I had cleaned up the entire house! Just attach, wipe, clean and throw. No need to lug a heavy pail of water around, messy water spills and waiting for floor to dry. In fact, I find that these moist wipes pick up dirt better than the traditional wet mop. But frankly speaking, I'm really not into house cleaning. To me its really a CHORE. Wat I enjoy most though is grocery shopping, cooking and washing up!

My sweet angel of an aunt came over at lunch, just after I've finished showering and dressing. She's such a frugal person. She earns peanuts as a cleaner at a Christian book store but gives us so generously for each of our birthdays - around $100 each! It really shows what a kind and generous heart she has. So I decided to bring her to Nanbantei, the Japanese restaurant in Far East Plaza to try the yakitori. In case you have not tried it, it's one of the best yakitori in town. Been there for 20 over years. The Obento set is only $13 (served during lunch time only) and is so filling that you really need to skip breakfast if you're going to have it for lunch. Read more about the restaurant here :

http://global.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/nanbantei_japanese_restaurant/


Here's a picture of the bento set :



After lunch, we went back. My aunt brought her Rummy set to play with us. We always play this whenever we meet at her place. But I couldn't join them this time as I had to do some urgent school work. Well I've just finished it before I started blogging. Talking bout school, I'm teaching a P3 class Science and Maths this year, in addition to my usual PE workload. I have PE classes across 4 levels - Pri 3 to P6! Really challenging! Well my New Year resolutions will be to win the Best Teacher award again. I won the Best Teacher Silver Award this year. What's so prestigious about it is that it is voted by the pupils (just like the S'pore Idol). In order to attain my goal, I'd have to speak more encouraging remarks, be more understanding and caring and also be more humorous! The kids always love a funny teacher rite?

In terms of personal goals, I want to be more focused on my fitness regime - doing quality workouts each time. I also resolve to be more frugal, like my aunt and spend more on my friends and loved ones.

Well my aunt is napping now. I gave her a BIG angpow for her Christmas and birthday (which was on 29/12) consisting of $300 shopping vouchers and $100 cash. That's cos she really really deserves it. It makes me sooo happy just to think of her buying something she likes with the vouchers, cos I know she's one who will not indulge in herself. If I had given her cash only, she'd just save it or give it to someone else, that's her! Do you know she's already 69 but she leads such an active busy life, always going out with her friends, helping others and occupying herself very productively. When you're around her, you don't feel you're with some grumpy, disgruntled, cynical and tired old lady at all. She's full of fun, love and warmth.

Hmm.. I guess I've allowed the negative bugs to bite me in 2009 quite a bit. Well I resolve to be more postive this year. One of the ways is to be around positive people more often. So if you're negative, please stay far far away from me!

Before I go to chat with my aunt, do have a great start to the new year and lots of wonderful, loving, successful and warm moments ahead! Do keep healthy and remember to EXERCISE!! Health is wealth! Cheers!

Strong Back

My friend Anita recently had an acute back lock. She was sitting in her office chair for nearly two hours and when she got up to reach for something on her desk, she felt this excruciating pain in her back and she couldn't straighten up!

Really no joke yeah. I was really affected to see her wearing a brace. Immediately when I got back after seeing her, I searched the internet for links to this condition and found out more about it :

http://www.back.com/articles-back_pain_relief.html

It seems that strengthening the back will prevent this from happening. So I made a resolution to do my back exercises more faithfully, especially my swimming. It seems that front crawl is great exercise for the back, but breaststroke can aggravate the tailbone if done wrongly and too much. Anyway I had a great swim earlier tonite, 20 wonderful laps, alternating front crawl and breaststroke. I felt really strong and flexible after the swim!! Not to mention, so happy too :) Exercise really releases endorphins. Well one of my new year resolutions (besides loving my 'jumbo' partner even more) is to swim even more often (3 times alternate weeks), do my strength-training exercises faithfully (twice a week) and take my supplements more regularly. I've been taking only 3 caps of Glucosamine and 1 cap of Activite (multi-vite) but from now on, I'd be taking 6 caps of glucosamine and 2 caps of Activite daily!

Unbreakable

This song is dedicated to this awesome guy who has always been on my mind every second of each day since I met him 4 years ago. My heart still beats every second for him. It's like God has made me his official guardian angel. I'd give up anything, even my life, for him if I need to. We've been through thick and thin, good and bad, happy and sad, ups and downs...well one thing for sure, it sure ain't boring, haha. For a short while recently, I thought it has gone stale..but no, it was just a time apart that caused me to realise how much I really cherish and love him. I realise no relationship can stay in a blissful state all the time. Everyone grows older, circumstances change and even feelings change. The challenge is to adapt to the changes, not resist them. The past is history, and whether the future will be as wonderful will depend on how much effort you put into making it happen.

I want to build on the strong foundation we have and make it even stronger. I've never loved someone so deeply like this before, and being human, I guess I'd make mistakes but I know one thing - my love for him is unbreakable.

The Man Who Can't Be Moved

Prawn Hor Fun

Today I had an eye appt at SNEC and my friend who came to pick me up brought me to this eating place which is near the SNEC. It is actually within the SGH compounds, turn in left just before SNEC(after exiting Outram CTE Exit). In fact it has free parking. It's called Ka-Soh. here's the link : http://www.ka-soh.com.sg/menu.php The hor fun with prawn and egg is really delicious. My fren had the fish noodles. Not bad. The place kinda looks like a clubhouse. Maybe the SGH clubhouse, haha. Should have taken a pic of the prawn hor fun but I was so hungry I forgot. Next time when I go for my review in June, I will!

Avatar lessons

Watched Avatar the day it was released..but in 2D, but still awesome for me nonetheless. 2 nights after watching it and I'm still thinking about it! I feel like I've been through an X-ray and exposed to strongly radioactive substances that left its imprint on my whole mind and body. The way the relationship developed between Jake Sully and Neytiri was so beautiful that I had to hold back my tears during the movie. It was only that night when I closed my eyes to sleep that the tears fell like water from a dam on the pillow. I was just so touched by the bond between them. I thought of the scene where they mated for life. Just as the Na'vi believed in their Egwar, I told myself I want to believe that God sees my tears. All I want in this whole life is to find my soulmate. Jake wasn't greedy for the multi-million dollar mineral under the tree. He could have sold out the blue aliens and gotten a small piece of the precious rock to pay for an operation to get his legs working again. Many people on this earth are materialistic and would have done that. They want the best they can get in this one and only life they have. They work like crazy for the day they can be the boss, own a big luxury car and landed property. But Jake found something more precious than the mineral - he found love, loyalty and faith. He would rather give up the riches of the world for this love, loyalty and faith. How many people on earth are like that?

Soul searching

I've always been a loner as long as I can remember. When I was in Primary school, I was the top pupil and monitress of my class every year (except for pri 4 when i was third in position). I remember I never really felt I could get along with my classmates. The things they talked about, the jokes they shared and the way they behaved just seemed so childish to me. When I was in Primary 5, while children my age was playing catching and starting to tease each other, I was seeking the meaning of life. I started to read the Bible. I remembered when I was 12, I felt very attracted to men who were in their twenties or even thirties. I did not feel anything for the boys of my age, I thought they were like monkeys. Going through a troubled childhood, I developed different personalities. At school I would be someone else, at home another and in my fantasies, I was yet another. I switched between personalities easily. That way I could hide my insecurities and pain.

I never really felt I belonged to this world. Even as a teenager, I did not want the trappings of the world. Material things did not appeal to me. Cos inside me was this molten core of 'lava' bubbling with passion and love - for the ONE person I can connect with in this whole world. Someone I wanted to wrap my soul around and hold on forever. I walked through years and years searching for this one soulmate...stopping a few times cos I thought I found him ..only to be disappointed..cos i realise these people did not have the key to open the door to the core of my being..where this passion is located right in my innermost centre of my soul - where I am most vulnerable. When my soulmate opens the door, I know I'd be liberated finally. My search all these years will be over ... I'd leave everything I have behind for him. Everything. My soul will fly into the skies to be joined with his forever...We will never ever be lonely again. When we're physically apart, we long to be with each other. Nothing can separate us. Even death will not part us for our love will remain beyond death.

This is the hope I'm still living for and that's keeping me alive all these years. Nothing is of any meaning until we've found our soulmate.