Extreme Ah Hood Makeover

We are renovating our house in phases. First it was my brother's room because he got married. Then I took the opportunity to renovate my room and now its the kitchen.

For the kitchen, it was mostly DIY'ed by my uncle. We only hired people to knock down the cabinets and do the pipes. The rest was handled by him. Ikea has got fairly easy furniture to fix-up so that helped things alot. I wish I have pictures of the kitchen before it was torn down.

A cabinet door which had fallen off but held in place with a rope tied to its handle, a sink which was detached from the wall exposing a gaping hole alongside and a pipe choked for the last 30years. If your crazy enough to wash the floor, you'll get an instant swimming pool

BUT! All that has changed...

Pics of work in progress:

Mom and exposed pipes. That thing beside her is the water pipe which the sink should attach to


Uncle and aunty with 30yrs old worn out sink behind them. My sis-in-law painting the tiled floor

And then...


New cabinets, sink, stove and the lunch bar table with bar stools
This is my latest hangout area. It still needs afew finishing touch but its operational

Yesterday my manager had a talk with me and he says there are plans for me to extend my stay here. He wants me to attend this training by the Learning & Department. I hear already I quite sian.

I left my life behind in Singapore. While its quite an experience here, I simply do not wish to be away from home anymore. 3 years in Perth and now this. Each time I go away, I lose something dear in my life. One season it was my hamster, another season it was my por por. When I was back during the holiday before her passing, she was already quite ill. I was scheduled to fly off a day after, I knew then it was the last time I would see her. She hardly had strength to keep her head up. She was dying.....so it wasnt a surprise when I receive an email or a phonecall...I cant remember, of her passing.

My brother emailed me when my hamster died, again some form of electronic route was used to inform me of por por. All these happened and Im just not there.

How 'out-going' can one be? When you travel the world for your career, meeting new people, new cultures, you gain fresh insights, you feel humbled and you gain perspective and than...when is it time to go home?

I've known friends who has travelled half-way round the world and sometimes I marvel at their courage, their independence, their energy..and than I dream about por por one night and in that dream, I was trying to save her. I donno how but there was such urgency in that dream and I felt helpless, I knew I was going to lose her but I didnt know it was a dream and so I was really scared.

There was once, I recall to my aunt and mom about me dreaming of porpor and my aunt also said she dreamt of her too and my mom said 'strange how come she doesnt or cant dream of her' it's like she wished she could too , but she couldnt.

I donno why a post about my extension turned into my grandma, maybe I miss my family alot and I just hope they would wait for me to get home before they're allowed to age any further.

Happy Chinese New Year 2007

This is the year of the pig and although I dont know what it means for me but its supposedly a very good year for horsies (that is me!) I just want unendless Health and Love in my family and my friends =)

So in order to get caught up in the festive mood, we made Kueh Buloh and its done the traditional way with charcoal and the 1000 year old mould which if landed on ur toes you can watch it turn green the traditional way too.

you heat up the charcoal making sure its hot enough but not too hot

pour batter into 1000 year old mould, there's charcoal at the bottom and on the lid itself machiam buried with charcoal~~

wait few mins and its baked through top and bottom

kueh buloh got fish shape somemore

In the office, it was holiday mood already. Who really wants to work?? Here's what I mean

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i want a pay rise! (bang table)

unfazed?? i show u my little mouse...grrrrrr *flex flex*

Actually she's demostrating how to play 5 stones to my indian head. Not bad eh? Wear so nice to office then its.....5 stones time!!

Are you still a 'grand..'?

Past saturday I was at church waiting for the service to start. I looked over the span of the hall and see groups of people having sabbath classes, there was my grandma sitting with her friend. Hers was the oldie group and I just stared at them. Old people coming to church faithfully every week. Most part of their lives have gone, having lived through all the experiences ,they still come without having seen the God they worship. Something must be working for them right?

I just sat there and looked at grandma, studying her, wondering how long more before I would not see her sitting there again. Then her friend must have spotted me, whispered to my grandma and both oldies looked back at me, I waved and they both waved back smiling. I felt warm all over and can never erase that sight.

Por por passed away and its been 5years? This is the only grandma I have left. After she's gone, Im no longer a grandchild or 'mei mei'. 3 weeks ago we celebrated her 84th at her brother's. This is the siblings. We sang her the birthday song and she wiped a tear away. It pains me cos I dont want to see grandma cry.

After por por's death, I feel vulnerable when Im with old people. When no one's looking, I find myself just staring at them, studying them...The lady above is my cousin's granny, not sure how old she is but old enough. This is her covering her mouth while she chews her food. So sweet right? So old already but still keeps her manners in check. I mean, I wont mind the slightest bit even if she's got food all over, it just amuses me. Sometimes I feel the older a person is...can I say the more discipline they have over themselves and their actions? I think they're beautiful.

My favourite pic of granny and grandpa and pic of por por with my brother.

My brother's Back...

for vacation that is, and he's got this beauuutiful kiwi figurine for me. Well, it's simply lovely cept it wasnt really what I had in mind...I had wanted a kiwi which I could actually handle, this kiwi figurine is enclosed in a liquid glass globe and when given some shakes, glitters would swish around. Not the exact thing I'd asked for but it's a real pretty thing and I liked it lots. Has kinda hypnotic effect with all the swirling glitz and my eyes just glazed over with all the intense staring..
So he's back and my mom's on holidays, I So feel like I'm on holiday as well, my job search can wait...well at least till after my Chingmai trip in December.

In other news, we went to the John Little Sale yesterday and gosh they had undergarments going at a dollar! I know what you're thinking, that they're Grandma material i.e. that stretches up to your tummy. On the contrary, there are real nice ones around going for the buck. Fancy prints of flowers and some tiny beads in front. Swweet!
Do you know that a nice pair of undergarment boosts the confidence level? Try it! For that extra boost, pick out your best piece.

Today's a Public Holiday
My mom has gone on a little China vacation with my aunt. Having just typed that last sentence, I made a dash to the kitchen. I left the kettle on the fire and forgot about it till now. Half the amount have been boiled away. If only Im more kettle conditioned like my mom.
For lunch I brought dad to sakae sushi. He liked the chawamushi, green peas and the heavenly saba shioyaki (i tink its jap for grilled insert name fish). Grilled fish is really so yummy. Salmon sashimi is another of my personal favourite. The fattier the salmon the better! I like eating out with my dad. He's quite adventurous. He calls me his 'makan khaki'. I foot the bill of course since Im working now.
For dinner, my brother's girlfriend came over and cooked for us. She wanted to let us try her pasta which was really sweet of her. Sakae was good, pasta was delicious but I still want my mom back fast!

Had a bad fall from a cycling trip cos I thought I could fly

Great, a 5 cent coin size of the bandage is stuck fast to my dried-up wound. I cut away as much of the excess as possible leaving a patch of white among a whole blog of dirty-red. Yanking it out would mean fresh wound and possible reinfection again. I was advised to wet it thoroughy with Dettol hoping dried blood would soften releasing the gauze but its an ordeal to me.
Whenever I see the bottle of Dettol, I get clamy hands and wet feet. Have you tried washing out a fresh wound with the big 'D' solution? It hurts like a bitch. Beginning of the week sees my wound freshly-raw, refusing to dry up. I bought myself a bottle of powder antiseptic thinking I could get away with it and skip the 'D' washing. It was not to be. Each time I remove my bandage, more ooze seeps out. My dad took a look, and set the dreaded bottle on the table in front of me. I let out a whimper, "...dont want la...." but I know it's really essential. If let alone, gangrene might set in and it's goodbye to my leg.
Each night he would dilute the solution with a bowl of boiled water. Using gauze swabs he washed and cleared out as much pus as possible. The worst is when he removed dried up pus leaving exposed raw flesh then pour the solution over it...
I have zero tolerance for pain but I went through with the cleansing episodes with as little yelps as possible. I got to see another side of my father though, somehow, as insistent as he is of me going through with it, he was actually quite 'afraid' of hurting me. It takes alot of nerve and steel for someone to get deep into another's person's wound and clean it up for them. Though you're not physically hurting yourself but doing the act gets you all tensed up as well. You find a wave of really uncomfortable aching sensation sweeping through the lower half of your body, concentrated on the feet. That's how I feel when I witness the pain of another person. I sense him being quite uncomfortable whenever the pain got too much and I cant help but go 'argh...'
Man, they conjure a tough image for me, it seems they fear no pain with all the reckless activity they get themselves into. However, put them in a situation where they have to deal with their daughter's wounds or their wife being in labour, they turn to jelly..

dad likes to bring me out for supper. tats when he'll tok abt anyting and everyting. tonite its abt how growth hormones is greatly reduced by aging and lack of sleep. metabolic rate slows down as one age too. u don burn as fast as before and for those fast burners who notice a change like putting on weight faster den b4...its a sign of aging.

sometimes its his view of the world like tat nite when we saw some nasty pple being rude to the waiters. he tells me how waiters don get treated as human beings sometimes. people haf lost their sincerity and love for each other. i enjoy listening to him tok. i learn so much. Likewise i tink he enjoys talking to me like tis. other times he'll be rather quiet. U knoe u can love someone so much juz by how they look at the world? Den dad toks abt grandpa. He always does. i noticed. Dad misses grandpa alot alot. i still remember tat day b4 they close the coffin grandma ran her hands across grandpa's face. It's like gdbye for the last time. i cant forget tat scene. I had to turn away..