Meant To Be

I learnt something today. Timing is a very important factor in the things we do.

Years ago, when my driving instructor asked me to make a booking for my driving practical test with the traffic police, he specifically said that I must book the test between 2-3pm on any day. I didn't really ask him for the reason but I guessed its due to the low traffic during the 'auspicious timing', thus less stressful for drivers and probability of passing the test is much higher. Well, he was the expert so I took his advice with high regards. And true enough, I managed to get my driving lesson with just a single attempt!! He wasn't the least shocked when I told him that I passed with my first attempt. I'm so happy to have got him as my instructor and recommended him to my other friends who are also very satisfied and passed their tests with few attempts.

Recently, the Australian government stipulated that migrants who arrived after 1 July 2007 have to take a written test & live in the country for at least 4 years (2 years extra) if they want to convert to Australia citizenship. Well, we arrived here on 29 June, just 2 days before the stipulated date. Well, not that this meant anything at this moment in time but at least, it gives us better options and flexibility in future.

Several months back, we went to a car yard to look for a 2nd-hand car. We visited the car yards on a Sunday but did not find anything we fancy. We decided to return the next day. We toured the entire car yard trying to find our ideal car but didn't find any. To make matters worse, we had to return our rented car very soon. Feeling cold and tired (yes, it was a typical winter day), I decided to go back and rest in the car while HB continued the search. I was enjoying my hot water in the car when a white car just stopped beside our car. After a few minutes, I saw HB walked towards me, with a disappointed look. But as he approached, I saw his eyes light up as he was actually checking out the white car that has just parked beside our car. He came inside our car and said "Baby, I've found the car I want! Its this white car beside us!". I nearly chocked and replied"Well, I think that belongs to a customer as the car has just stopped beside us few minutes ago!" So we decided to check with the car yard owners and to our surprise, the car was actually for sale! It just came into the car yard and as it was a new input, they didn't really tag a price to it. After a test drive and some negotiation, the deal was done!! We can't believe that the timing was just right. If the car had came in later, we would have left!

There are just too many incidents where timing is crucial in helping us to get things done within a short time. Sometimes, things are just "Meant To Be"!

Winter or Spring?

Hey, it is supposed to be spring by now but it is still quite cold! Today's temperature is only 12 degrees during the day. Its cold especially with the strong wind. Have to on the heater all day. The locals often describe a typical Melbourne day to consist of rain, wind and sunshine. When I saw the sun shining bright outside, I was about to off the heater but before I could do that, the sun disappeared again and made me feel cold again. There is a huge difference between the presence and absence of sunshine. Don't feel like going out but we have promised our friends to meet for Dinner at LAMBS restaurant in the city. Well, its weekend, so what if it’s cold. Meeting friends should make us feel warm and cozy inside, right?

At LAMBS, which serves Greek Food, Sean and I ordered a Lamb Lovers Pizza while the rest ordered LAMB wraps. The pizza was really delicious with lots of lamb kebab & ingredients! Maybe we were feeling too hungry so everything tasted nice. Thinking of it makes me drool!! After dinner, we went to a café, "KoKo Black”, which serves the best Belgian chocolate & Hot Chocolate in town. We sat outside but despite the coldness, it was quite warm with several gas-stove heaters hanging above our heads! But when the wind blows, we still feel a little chilly. It was a really good chill-out night with friends!

Ironic Thoughts

Have you ever had this experience: When you want something badly, you just don’t get it. But when you don’t want it anymore, you get it. It can be very frustrating at times. Recently, we tried to bid for a baby car seat on EBay and HB spent an entire week making countless bids but to no avail. We were about to give up when our dear neighbour gave us one. We were very happy but at the same time, HB just got a bid on the same day! When I just graduated and was looking for a job, I sent numerous applications but with no response. But what’s unbelievable was that when the responses came back, I had 3 job offers at the same time!

But I always have this mentality that “What’s yours is yours, what’s not yours will not be yours”. In the Chinese version, it is “可遇不可求”. We can have our dreams but do not force it to happen if it doesn’t work out. In this way, life will be much happier and simpler. Of course, we must always put it our outmost effort to make things happen but if it doesn’t, we just have to move on. And there is really no point crying over spilt milk too. Although, I always spill Milo accidentally onto the floor and HB gotto clean up the mess. Haha! Mistakes do happen but we have to learn and avoid repeating them. Only a fool will repeat the same mistake. But I think I’ve been a fool too many times. But I forgive myself. Well, who else will be generous to me except myself?

Did you know: To give a streaked tulip means beautiful eyes, purple tulips sumbolise undying love and yellow tulips turned upside down sumbolise a hopeless love. In the ancient Netherlands, tulips were literally worth their weight in gold. A single bulk like 'Sempus Augustus' was worth more than a house in Amsterdam's best destrict. See? my tulips have grown so fast, they now look like Lilies more than Tulips!

New Baby Items

Here are some of our new baby items!

Baby Love Disposable Nappies

- Bought 2 huge boxes of nappies from Nappy land. The store lady said that these could probably last for 2-3 weeks. What? Only 2-3 weeks? We thought it could last for few months! Oh dear..

White Polar Fleece Blanket from Best and Less

- How can we resist? The colour is too sweet! There are tons of cute baby items in the store. But we are resisting our temptation to overbuy!

Pink Fleece Blanket From Lincraft

- A nice lady told us to get fleece from art & craft store and to sew the baby blankets. Good idea! It’s cheaper and we can choose the designs as well.

Cute sweater from Doveton Show Day

- There was a Doveton Show Day on Sun (23 Sept). It’s a funfair mainly for kids & the receipts from the funfair will go towards helping the Doveton Community. Sean ‘fell in love’ with the colourful sweater at first sight! The lady even gave us a 50% discount as it near closing time. Yeah!!

GoSafe Baby & Infant Car Seat

- Sean spent an afternoon cleaning the 2^nd hand car seat by giving it a good wash (using the washing machine of course!) and sunbathing it under the hot sun. We were exploring the squeaky-cleaned car seat & HB was demonstrating to me how this gadget works!

“What to Expect in the first year”

- An anonymous parcel was delivered to us addressed to Sean on Tues (25 Sep). I insisted in taking picture before Sean open the parcel but he just can’t wait! We were exhilarated to find an amazing book from our dear friends, Youzhi & Yenling, specially delivered all the way from Singapore! Sean scanned through it immediately after a frantic attempt to unwrap the plastic wrapping. Thanks Youzhi & Yenling for the wonderful thought!

中秋节 (Mid-Autumn Festival)

The 15th of August in the Chinese Lunar Calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节). It is also the day that Sean & I got attached to each other 10 years ago! Last week, we bought some moon cakes from an Asian Grocery store. There isn't any special craving for moon cakes (as compared to chocolates haha!!) so for the fun of it, we got some "Lian Rong with Dan Huang" to try & also to celebrate the occasion that we have been known each other for a decade! The taste was just nice, not too sweet as I don't like sweet mooncakes. Actually I crave for the "Zhu Long" more than the moon cakes. "Zhu Long" is made using the skin of mooncakes and are usually in the shape of pigs. As kids, brother and I used to save up at every mid-autumn festival & buy lots of "Zhu Zhu" that lasted us for a month of supply! Well, think I miss our old tradition much more than the food itself.

Tulip Festival 2007

We went to the Tesselaar Tulip Festival on Saturday (22 Sep). We were very excited to visit the festival as we have never ever been to one before. Tulip (郁金香) has always been my favourite flower since I don't know when. I love tulips because its a very sweet and simple flower, with not too strong a fragrance. Unlike roses, there are no thorns on tulips.

Sean & I holding hands at the Tulips Field

Me & the hand-grown tulips

Sean & me (& of course with our little baby inside tummy!!)

The theme on the day was Dutch Weekend with Dutch food & music. It was a rather cold and windy morning but bright and sunny as well. As it was a short drive from our place, 5 of us carpooled & squeezed into one car (Thomas, Joanna, Margaret, Sean & me-see pic). There were so many species of tulips with colourful petals (white, yellow, maroon, pink, red, ivory etc). My favourite is still the white (aka Snow Lady) & pink ones (aka Pink Impression) while Sean fancies the yellow ones. But we thought that the hand-grown ones were prettier than those on the fields as the colours were more vibrant!

We also tried some local Dutch food such as the Poffertjes (mini pancakes with icing sugar) and also the hot & yummy Apple & Raisin fritters! But my favourite is not the Dutch food but the Victorian Baked Potatoes with salad & shredded cheese! Haaha! The potatoes skin were very crispy & fragant! Seems like Joanna, Thomas and Margaret were more interested in the food than the flowers as they spent more time at the makan area (queueing for food) than at the flower displays area!

There was also a Pick-Your-Own Tulip corner where Sean & I hand-picked 5 tulips on our own. But we can't keep the bulb as they have to be purchased separately. We gave a pink one to Joanna & Thomas, a red one to our neighbour, Karen and the remaining 3 tulips (red, pink and yellow) in our living room - see pic!

A picture speaks a thousand words.. enjoy the images!

Field tulips

Group photo - Thomas, Joanna, Margaret, Sally (& baby in tummy) & Sean

Our hand-picked tulips. The flowers bloomed on the very next day! Can you see the difference between the two pictures??

Pink Impression I just love 'em!! Aren't they pretty?

Can't really bend down due to the little one inside my tummy. Here, I'm trying to get closer to the tulips by half-squatting! I nearly can't get up (after taking a short rest by lying down on the sofa) as baby is getting heavier & heavier!! Cant see my feet too as baby is blocking the view downunder!!

Visitors from Singapore

On 17 Sep 2007 (Mon), Irene & her boyfriend (Zhihao) arrived in Australia for holiday. They popped by for a brief visit as they have stopped over at a shopping centre near my place. I felt really warm & happy to have friends visiting me from Singapore as I didn’t expect to see them on their first day of arrival. It was a rather cold morning. Sean & I have the ducted heating turned on the moment we woke up! Irene said that she felt too cold to go anywhere. So I asked them to come over my place for some hot drink & rest.

I first met Irene in my ex-company. She has such a sweet personality & is always bubbly. She is rather crazy over mascaras and we used to share our findings on the latest brands of mascara that we are forever trying. There was once her eyelashes looked grayish & we realised that her darker coat of mascara had worn off before mid-day! Hahaa!! She was also nicknamed by one of our friend, Ed, as the ‘Turtle’. Well, not because she is timid but because she would always have last minute lunch arrangements with someone else or brown bag meetings even though we have finalized our lunch appointment (with a couple of other friends as well). Thus, we had to cancel the appointment several times. So Ed has ‘upgraded’ our dear Irene from ‘Tortoise’ to ‘Turtle’!!

Talking about friends, we really do miss my friends in Singapore… well, we think they miss us too! (Blink blink). Will definitely catch up with them when we visit Singapore next year.

P.S.: So much for our incorrect guesses. The box of baby gifts posted to us was actually from our friends, Poh Sun & Carol, in Australia! It’s so sweet of them!

Baby Boom Boom

This year, there seems to be a baby boom. Like us, our friends are also having babies as if it’s the most fashionable item amongst the list of things to do for the year!!

Sean and Youzhi were classmates during college. I got to know Youzhi first and then Yenling when they got attached. In 2000, we visited China with Youzhi and Yenling after our graduation from Uni. In one of the places of interest, each couple bought a box set of Terracotta figures. As we had to transit from one province to another and our luggage were extremely heavy, we decided to ship the bronze-made Terracotta figures instead of hand-carrying them. On a particular night, we decided to take a look at the Terracotta figures that we had happily bought. Our first reaction was complete exclamation when we opened the 2 boxes. Our supposedly bronze figures had fallen apart and we realised that they were made of clay instead of bronze! The seller had cheated us! Some of the figures’ heads, legs and arms had broken off during the transit journey! We were laughing away, trying to mix and match the broken limbs while arranging our figures in one horizontal row in front of us. To our surprise, the two incomplete sets actually formed one entire complete set! Well, we were glad that at least one of us has one full set. So Sean & I decided to give them our unbroken pieces so that they could have one complete set of the Terracotta figures. Just got to know that our friends, Youzhi & Yenling, are going to be parents in Apr 2008!! With some lunar calculation from their parents, they are expecting a gal too. Hmm.. we'll see how accurate are the old folks calculations. Regardless of the gender, a healthy & happy baby is the most important.

I got to know Colin in my ex-company. He is very friendly & rather quiet. Sean & I saw his wife once at a carpark. We were about to leave the carpark when a driver reversed his car in front of us and seemed to want our parking slot. Initially, we didn’t realise that its Colin & his wife. As his wife was waving frantically to us, I thought that she was HB’s friend & HB thought that I know her. My first impression was that his wife, who is an ex-airline lady, is v pretty. Last week, Colin’s wife gave birth to 3 gal triplets (Kayla, Kaitlyn & Kiera)! I wonder how the couple is going to differentiate the 3 babies. Colin said that they have placed bracelets on their wrists so that they won’t get mixed up! Well, that is a brilliant idea. Will keep that in mind in case we also have twins or triplets in future!

Value Perception

Thought of sharing a concept in marketing known as Value Perception. Different people have varying perceptions on the value of a particular goods or services. There was an incident where a bank robber concealed his gun with what looks like crumpled paper during the crime. He managed to walk away with a couple of hundreds. But when experts analyzed the piece of crumbled paper that he has left behind at the crime scene, they were shocked to realise that it was torn from the pages of a first-edition novel that was worth thousands of dollars! Apparently, the ignorant robber had under-valued the book!

I’m not saying that it is easy to find out the true value of something. Even experts may have differing views and majority of views may not be accurate too. Thus, it is always good to analyse a situation to your best knowledge and never be shy to seek opinions from third parties if in doubt. Of course, we should also be mentally opened to others’ inputs and try to see from their viewpoints. But sometimes we get too emotional so even though we go through the process of seeking opinions, they were simply chucked aside. Thus, I feel that it is useful if we simply allow some cool-off time before re-assessing the situation. Do not hurry yourself in decision-making. But once a decision is made, stick to it if possible. Why? Because you will feel better & have no regrets since due diligence has been done. And you can sleep with your pillows high!

But what if there is really no value to something? Well, you can always create the value yourself. As long as you can create a new value proposition & convince others about it, half a battle is won. All these are easier said than done. But these concepts are applicable in almost everything in our lives. Knowing what you can or can’t change also aids in better decision-making in accessing true values. Have fun!

Surprise Surprise!

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get (adapted from Forest Gump). This is so real and true.

SURPRISE 1:

Earlier this week on Monday, I received a parcel from….Yes, you may have guessed, HOME! My dearest parents have sent me 2 presents from Spore! How sweet of them. Although they will be coming next month, they still enjoy sending me gifts! Makes me really home sick. Well, this time, I managed to hold my curiosity & waited for HB to open the parcel. The moment we finished dinner, the first thing on my mind is to check out the items in the parcel!

Inside was a pair of silver-cum-orange sneakers (see pic) and a pink maternity top with frills in front! Excited to try on the shoes, I immediately removed the plastic packaging & slipped my foot in! “Alas, its too tight”, I told HB. He checked the other shoe & realised that there is a hard cardboard inside the shoe which I did not remove, hence the tightness! Hahaaa!! Blur me! The sneakers fit snugly when I tried them on again. Yeah, new shoes for Spring!

SURPRISE 2:

On Wednesday, we received a delivery note from the Post Office to collect a box addressed to Sally & Sean. I must have missed the posting..hmm.. Will blame it on the doorbell with flat battery. So we went to collect the item on Thu at the local Post Office. To our surprise, it’s a really huge box and the administrator even commented “You’ve got a huge present, well done!” Once we got out of the Post Office, we immediately opened the box to check out the items! Wow, its full of baby stuff! But there was no note inside so we are puzzled on the anonymity of the sender. So HB said to our baby, “Baby, you’ve got a secret admirer”! Trust him to think of that!

When we reached home, HB continued to explore the contents in the box from Post Office (see pic) which consists of what we call “A Baby Starter Kit” including items like bibs, milk bottles, shawl, clothes etc. HB made a very remarkable comment “Wow, the sender even know the gender of our baby as these are all girly stuff”! The moment he said that, it stroked me that the gifts are most likely from the Midwife Community Centre in our area. Besides, we have no memory of filling in any lucky draw coupons or online contests. I think my self-proclaimed high analytical skills are still intact despite my newly developed forgetfulness syndrome. Keke!

SURPRISE 3:

Few weeks ago, one of HB’s colleague gave us 2 very cute baby overall slips which we really like. They look like Barbie’s clothes though as they just so tiny (see pic). Haha! His other colleagues also gave us other baby items like baby bath, bassinet, cot, rocker etc. We even got a baby car seat from our neighbour!

Well, these are all pleasant surprises. Of course, there are nasty surprises which we experienced but will share next time. Don’t wana spoil the mood as its… WEEKEND!! Yipppeee!

Routine Checkup

So excited that the sun is up today! It’s been very cloudy & cold in the past few days. Hopefully it will remain bright & sunny! I love Tulips and we are planning to visit the Tulip Festival next week with some friends.

Went for a check-up at Dr. Downe last evening. Everything is fine. My glucose level and my blood palate are normal. Yippee!! Have been restraining myself from sweet food before the test despite HB’s temptations. So, I treated myself to a small stick of “Time-Out” chocolate when I reached home!

I’ve gained 6kgs so far (28 weeks), which is acceptable range too. The preggie that we met at the hospital have gained twice as much. I’m happy as long as Dr. says everything is fine. I asked Dr. if he can feel the position of my baby & he said that as this stage, she still has a lot of room for movement so the position is not fixed yet. He used a Doppler and let us listen to our baby’s heartbeat. It’s a consistent low-tone “wow wow wow” sound. Now that our baby has grown bigger, Dr said that it’s easier to hear the heartbeat, compared to a month ago when he has to change his Doppler a few times before the position is correct.

In S’pore, doctors will do ultra-sound scan at every visit (which is costly too!!) but not in Aus. In fact, Dr. said that there is no real benefit in doing ultrasound scans since everything is fine. In fact, in the later stage, he will be able to feel the position of the baby & advise on the birth method accordingly. I hate ultrasounds anyway, seems to be intruding the privacy of my baby! Haha!

I read that water birth is common in Aus so I asked Dr. However, he said that on the contrary, it’s not common at all and some people do it to create a fashion statement. So he advised against any “fanciful” delivery. Hahaa!

Am playing Beethoven & Chopin music for baby to appreciate. Hopefully, she will develop good musical rhythm like me! But I think she seems to enjoy baby lullabies like “3 little tigers” more as she is more active when I listen to those cute-cute music. This morning, she kicked me real hard & woke me up t 6.30am. So I asked her to go back sleep as it was still very early. When I told HB & he tried to feel the kick, our baby kept quiet. Hmm.. guess she is ‘scared’ of daddy!! OK, now we know who is going to be the discipline master in our home. Haha! But there is a saying that fathers tend to dote on daughters more so not sure if its applicable to us too. Hee!

Wonderful day with neighbours

This is gonna be a long entry, sharing with you about our day with our neighbours.

Its so sweet of Karen & Mike (our neighbours) to invite us over for lunch on Sunday (9 Sep ’07). Their 2 kids, Bella & Danielle, just couldn’t sit down with us in the front garden to enjoy lunch with us. In fact, they were running around & stepping all over their food! It was such a bright and sunny day to enjoy lunch outside the house and at the same time, absorb some free Vitamin D from nature’s source!

Few weeks back, Karen & Mike even gave us 6 eggs that their hens hatched. They also gave us some self-grown South American chillis too (see picture). They grew their own vegetables e.g. lettuce, papaya, chillis in their front & backyard. Well, we will also be giving them some lemons, plums & peach from the trees in our garden when the fruits are ready. This reminds me of a RPG game “Animal Crossing’ in game cube where neighbours exchanged fruits & vegetables with one another.

Karen was very happy when we showed her around our house, as she always wanted to adopt a no-shoes policy in their house but to no avail. Well, little Bella seemed to agree with her and was rolling side-to-side on our carpet! Although it’s the norm for most Asian families to not wear shoes in the house, most western families do not have this practice.

Mike showed us their backyard that is huge enough to contain 2 swings and a 2-storey colourful playhouse for the kids. We are also surprised that Mike actually keeps bees and knows how to harvest the honey. No wonder we have a few of his bee friends that got lost inside our house. Well, Karen said the bees would be relocating to the farm behind where Mike will demonstrate to the visitors on how he harvests the bees’ honey. Besides, it’s also for the safety of his kids, especially Danielle, who is often ‘caught’ poking sticks inside the homes of the bees!

Located behind our houses is a farm…hmm… more of a pet farm or zoo. Karen & Mike have fixed a secret passage door in their backyard so they can have unlimited & easy access to the farm area. We took a walk in the farm and it was full of rowdy visitors on the ‘busy’ Sunday.

Karen mentioned that she is constantly involved in some residential committee work. She is also involved in the upcoming local Funfare that is organised by the council & the farm. Well, I thought if we stayed in this area long enough, we might also join in such volunteer work for the fun of it. It’s also good to know that in Victoria, wherever you stay, there is always a “Mothers Group” which organise activites for mothers & their kids. Think I should talk to her more on maternity matters. She even gave us a baby car seat that her kids have outgrown! In Australia, all children must be properly restrained in a car. In fact, parents cannot bring their babies home from the hospital if their infants are not properly restrained in the car. HB has been trying to bid for a car seat from ebay every night for the past week. Now that we have a free car seat, he has to forgo the one that he just managed to bid from ebay a few hours ago!

We are so lucky to have such friendly & caring neighbours. Will miss them if we move.

P.S.: Some background info: Mike is an IT staff at a nearby college while Karen is a part-time administrator in town. Bella (5) & Danielle (3) are so innocent-looking with their red cheeks. They also have a very fat grey cat & a beige puppy, which surprisingly, seem to get along quite well… at least in front of us! Karen mentioned that her cat loves to sit on her belly when she was pregnant and before she finished her sentence, the cat was already climbing onto the bench & trying to sit on my belly! What an intelligent cat! She was also not the least shy! :P

Glucose Screening

Went for Glucose Screening at a nearby hospital to test for diabetics. Preggies are prone to being gestational diabetics so obstetrician referred me to do a check just to be sure. In Spore, they normally do a urine test instead. But my obstetrician said those urine tests are not accurate.

Was quite nervous before the test & I always dislike going for tests. Luckily HB was accompanying me. Well, obstetrician did say that I have to drink some syrup drink & take a blood test after 1h. So I am planning to take the syrup and go shopping during the 1h. Yeah!

Well, if you ask me, the drink tasted like 7-up. In fact, I highly suspect it is 7-up but they just removed the branding. Its great cos I love 7-up!! Its been months since I drink 7-up & to have one bottle by myself is just indulgence!! However, the nurse said I can't go anywhere after that and have to sit down for 1h to take the blood test. Oh boy.. we didnt bring any reading materials. Well, we just have to entertain ourselves! As we were waiting, we met another couple & the gal is pregnant as well. So we talked & realised that they were also new in Melbourne (arrived only 8 months ago from Chile.) Well, we exchanged contacts and hope to keep in contact. The couple is also expecting a baby girl & who knows, in future, our kids may become good friends! Haha!

Have been avoiding sweet stuff to 'prepare' for the glucose screen. But now, I can eat sweet food to my heart's content! Opps! By the way, HB has not been supportive in this area as he indulges in sweet food all the time! Temptation!!

Just got a big pack of Uncle Toby's strawberry yogurt Muesli bar this morning. I think its supposed to be healthy snack?! Hmmm... I hope BB will enjoy it too!

Past few weeks, we have been thinking of good names for our baby girl. So if you have any suggestions (decent ones pls), feel free to suggest ya? But no prize will be given.. only online creditz.. haha!!

Road to Happiness

Am happy to pack HB’s lunches for the entire week although his office is only 10 mins drive away from home and can come back for mouth-drooling home-cooked food everyday. And I know that there is some philosophical theory that it is important not to take meals by oneself - part of a homosapien’s overall well being & happiness roadmap. But I am starting to get used to have meals by myself.

When I was in my previous job, we would always arrange for lunch appointments with our “lunch kakis” everyday, first thing in the morning! MSN messages would be flying around asking “Lunch on today?” I feel that it’s more of a girl thing, in case you guys are wondering what’s wrong with us. There is this sense of ‘security’ & we can concentrate more on work when we know that we have company during lunch. HB doesn’t really understand it though. In fact, lunch is THE time to bond with peers (so definitely not a time to munch with boss, unless you have a close relationship with thy). We’d eat and eager to find out gossips on one another’s amazing life experiences such as shopping sales location, latest movies updates, confusing relationship issues and even juicy family stories. Sometimes we even have short coffee breaks to inject some endorphins into our stressed-out minds. Of course, there are some of us who prefer to have lunch alone and run errands aka shopping (whether is it for kids, grocery, bills payment) in the shortest possible time. Long time ago, I used to have quick lunches with a colleague and we would squeeze in just enough time for a game of pool. Those were the happy times that I would treasure in my heart forever.

Life is short and we should be happy & also make those around us happy, not miserable. Some psycho people just have the opposite mentality. These garbage-crappies seem to get extremely high when they make people cry, worried, guilty, frightened and insecure. Perhaps they themselves have these feelings deep inside their heart and thus are looking for people to share their sentiments & offload! As much as we try to change their mentality, it seems almost impossible to intrude into their selfish world. They seem to be full of hatred for themselves & as a result, others. The best thing to do when you meet these crappies is not to get yourself trapped in their world. You can either fight with them or run as far away from them as possible. And if you succeed, this conscious-lacking bunch will avoid you as if you’re a ghost or have contracted some incurable contagious disease! That is the safest form of force field built.

You know sometimes, a sudden depression creeps up and you just can’t help thinking that you’re the lousiest person in the universe & shut yourself from the rest of the world. It’s fine to have this feeling once in a blue moon as no one can be happy all the time. But its important to always count your blessings & you will feel happier. Even if you don’t feel like smiling, faking a smile can actually make you feel better too!


Have posted a picture of our cute beloved hamster, Ding Ding, which brightened our life and never failed to make us happy all the time.

Never Give Up

Hi Friends,

Been a week since I update this post. I even forgot what are my login userid and password! Probably its my pregnancy hormones, they say preggies tend to be more forgetful. Well, its true to a certain extent. There were a couple of times when I forgot to bring my handphone with me to shopping and just last Sat, we wanted to go pay rent but realised that we did not bring our documents required for payment! And the funny thing is, we could have actually paid for the rent online now that we have Internet access at home. Haha!

Well, after a day of PC inactitivity, the modem went into hybernation mode... Was unable to link it with the PPC just now.. since when did Internet access become such a necessity. Well, at least now that we have Internet access at home, we don't have to drive 1h to the state library or queue up at the municipal library just to have access to the Internet! That saves time, petrol costs and keeps us in a better state of mind to focus on other more important stuff.

Another 'necessity' to me now is my PPC which recorded all my notes & things-to-do. I got my HP1940 as a bday present from HB some years back but have never used it as extensively as now! I'd suggest to all preggies: Grab a PPC/PDA, it can really make a difference!

After several weeks of mumbling from HB to visit the doggie race, we finally went to the Greyhound Championships at Sanddown Park last Thursday. We couldnt really find the place at first and nearly slammed onto a closed gate as we turned into a road, which we thought should led to the race field! We were almost giving up and on our way back when by chance, we saw the park! Yeah! As its the finals, no admission fee required (normally, they would charge AUD5 per pax). The dogs were quite slim bodies & legs. Some of them were so anxious that they 'put-put' in front of the audience. But oh boy, when the gate was opened, they dashed like they have never run before! It was quite spectacular! Of course, with our itchy fingers, we casted our bets on 2 of the 11 races for fun. There was a main bookie and several other private bookies as well. The tic showed that we betted in race 4 for Gringo. But Gringo did not win. We did not stayed till the Finals. Few days later I read in the local newspaper that a dog called "Hot Chilli" won the Championships. And guess what, it was a dark horse. When the race started (each race lasted for 30s), he was the last in the pack. But towards the last few seconds, he made a dash & emerged as the Greyhound Champions!! This really inspired me and added an important philosophy in my life: Never Give Up! (sounds a tad like the Energizer Battery ad though). Haha!