11 good years alreadi...Oh God...We are blessed!

Guess wat, today is exactly 11th anniversary for Yingwei & myself. We have been together since 1996. Time realli flies! It may seems to be long to some people. But at least to both of us, we find that these 11 years are not as long as it seems. I cannot say that we have a very smooth relationship throughout these years.

There are Ups and Downs always, at different stages of our relationship.

To keep our relationship going, we agreed to have open communication, ie. there is always room for discussion for all kinds of problems. There is no such thing of unsolved problem. I recalled that when we first started our relationship, I used to be rather self-centred, always demanding him to keep me accompanied, leaving little time for himself. Not that i am defending myself, this was normal for me as he was enlisted into NS, right after we got together. However, somehow, we managed to talk it out (of course, after a few quarrels), strike a balance and sort of the differences. I agree that the beginning stage was not an easy one. We are two very different individuals. He is a superb outdoor person while i perfer to stay at home most of the times. There were instances that i broke down because I could not accept the differences between the both of us. I knew he was also battling these issues within himself. Luckily, we both learnt to accept each other's interests and differences. In fact, after so many with him, i am a better person now. Meaning that i am not so "slack". I was someone who did not like to do things alone as i am born in a big family with 3 elder siblings, looking after and giving in to me. I am extremely afraid of loneliness. He helped me to change for the better. He encourages me to be more daring and try new things. I learnt to be more independent and can do things by myself, without relying on other people. I can go jogging and shopping alone. In fact, i enjoy being alone sometimes. This may sound weird to some, but truly, it is nice to be alone sometimes. I recalled there were times that we argued over the issue of "Your Friends are MORE IMPORTANT than mi" - quoted my own words. Because of me, he also missed out a number of gatherings with his friends. Of course, he really yearned to go for his gatherings, but because of me, he chose not to go. Looking back, i found myself really unreasonable and selfish. But i have changed for the better now. We found a compromise for each other. To let him go for his gatherings and at the same time, i can be by his side, i need to go to the gatherings with him too. Being a timid and low self-esteem person, the initial stage was bad. I dun feel comfortable at all. I dun know his friends and yet have to maintain a happy face all the times. As time passes, the more we go for gatherings together, i sort of got used to these newly-found friends. I began to enjoy meeting new friends. This also helps to build my confidence in myself.
After so many years, i am now his personal secretary. Whenever he is not in town, i am always picking up diverted calls from his friends & insurance companies. I can now say that I know and can get along with most of his friends. Some of his friends are also good friends of mine too. Isn't that great?

Despite our years of getting together, we both agree that there are always new challenges along the way. As a married couple, we must look at the big picture and discuss over the issues calmly. We should not let any issue snow-ball and become BIG Problem. By then, it will be 10 times tougher to solve. Of course, it is easier to say this, but difficult to carry out. Just one way that i calm myself down whenever i am mad with him, i always think of the goodness in him and the happy times that we both spent together. Indeed, we have lots of happy moments together over the years. We should treasure each other. Destiny brought us together as a couple. But to keep the relationship going, it can only depend on both of us. We have to be truthful, trust and listen to each other always. The both of us still have a long way to go and alot of obstacles to overcome. I hope to walk with him till the end of my road. Hee! May God Bless Us!

Good Colleagues r hard to come by....

Time have realli passed so quickly. It has been 7 months tt i left teaching. I dun miss much of that kind of life, other than my good, close colleagues, my cutie students & the feeling of being in class etc.... Anyway, I met up with my X-colleagues @ No Signboard Restaurant on last Monday's nite for dinner. There were two purposes actually - to have a meeting-up session & to have farewell dinner for Mrs Lau who is is retiring & Hwee Hwa who is going to teach @ prison school - Noble yet brave! Anyway, we arranged to meet up @ 7pm. I was the 1st to reach as the route to Vivocity from NUS is of less traffic, at least. Took the West Coast Road, juz have a number of big trucks though. Luckily I was earlier, managed to get a big table which is actually meant for 12 people, for the 9 of us. Subsequently, my X-colleagues came in groups. Some went home first to rest & change while some came straight from school. Mrs Lau even brought a bottle of champagn!! We ordered set dinner for convenience as we were busy chatting away. As we waited patiently for our food to be served, we decided to have sips of the champagn first. So all of us were given a wine-glass, except myself!! Reason - *Shh, cannot say* So sad, everyone was holding the wine-glass but myself, holding a tea-cup!!! How ironic... But no choice! Anyway, we toasted to wish both of them happiness & good health in years to come. Food was finally served around 8pm. As we feasted on the food, we chatted and laughed at Chelvam's jokes. There was this funny one that i must share with you. There was a particular afternoon when Chelvam was around Geylang, after his 'A' Level Exam briefing. As he was walking along the Even numbered street, he was being "approached" by a Chinese woman. Of course, Chelvam could not understand a single word tt she said. She then took out her handphone and punched some numbers into her phone, which she later showed to Chelvam. It was 60!! You know wat it meant? Yes, u may have guess it right. That was the price tt she quoted him!!!! Upon seeing this, Chelvam quickly shook his head and walked away. Hee! Wat an experience that he has in the broad daylight!! We laughed and even spectulated that 60 may be in Pounds or US$.
It is not that we were mean to discriminate such women, it's juz that we found tt the way she communicated to Chelvam was rather hilarious! We thought we will only see such an action while bargaining @ Phuket where the stall-owner will take out a calculator to punch in the price. Who knows, maybe in future, there maybe more "different" methods to bargain abt prices. Anyway, this is just something to share.


These are some photos taken during the dinner.
Seated (L to R) - Xiao Huimin, myself, Waiping, Kong Lin & Hwee Hwa
Standing (L to R) - Mrs Lau, Ai Phing, Jake Hooi & Chelvam
See my teacup???




After the nice dinner, it was about 10pm. Since all of us were feeling great and not wanting to go home (my hubby is not around too, hee!), we went to Coffee Bean to have 2nd round of drinks + cakes!! Sinful, but we didn't eat much though. We continued our chatting and laughing till 11.30pm, when the shopping mall's fire signal rang. Initally, we were not sure what's that. But after the signal, there was an announcement to say tt the shops will be closing...So, that could be the alarm to inform tt the shopping mall is closing. Hee! I only reached home ard 12am...God, i dun feel tired at all!! Hee!


Surprisingly, i dun feel tired on Tuesday! I even went out to meet Yingwei's secondary buddies @ Maple Bar, our usual Hang-out on Tuesday. The bar serves free-flow of sushimi & clam up to stocks last. Guess tt they just started to serve fried chicken wings...we ordered 16 for 6 of us...Chatted happily and only reached home ard 11pm...Not feeling very tired still. Think i am beginning to enjoy this period......So nice!

Things have changed ……for the better (of course*)

Juz cleared my “safe” zone and now into the “enjoyment” period. Although i am beginning to see something appearing, I am happy!!! For those who are not aware, I am not telling. Hubby said better not say…Sorrie!



Like this picture very much! Yingwei took me to Botantic Garden to eat Spicy Crabs and we went for a walk after the delicious meal on a Sunday evening.



Like to share wif you an experience on the road today. Yingwei is not in town, flew to Africa last nite. So today, I drove to work myself. Usually, when he is around, he will drive mi to work and have breakfast wif mi. Anyway, that’s beside the point. As usual, I take the route via Anak Bukit, Ngee Ann poly and Clementi before reaching NUS. There is usually a jam building up around the UniSim area. There are usually many cars waiting to do a U-Turn to get onto the road to UniSim. Usually I would take the extreme right lane, despite the jam (Coz I lazy to filter) So today, I decided to keep to the centre lane. There was this Volvo in front of mi, driving superb-slow and keeping a big gap between his car and the car in front. I guess that he is trying to filter to the left lane coz the centre lane is not moving as fast as the left lane. (which is not usual, left lane is supposed to be the slowest) Anyway, I oso “crawled” behind his car. Suddenly, he juz filtered over to the left, “forcing” the car on the left lane to slow down so as not to bump onto his car. This is a common sight as we usually see a lot of such drivers on the roads. Guess what, as I was “cursing this Volvo driver” in my heart for being inconsiderate, a traffic police (aka TP) appeared on my right. He filtered swiftly to my left and signaled to the Volvo to stop his car ahead. True enough, they both stopped at a slip road at the side, without obstructing the traffic. I did not see what happen next coz I am driving and cannot stop!!! So the moral of the story is “Drive safely, Put on your signals and Give ample notice before filtering, Filter only when there is sufficient car-space”. Actually I have seen worse drivers. Especially on the expressway, there were a few incidents that accidents happened because of tail-gating as well as travelling at very fast speed despite the rain. There should be at least half a car-space between your car and the vehicle in front of you for safely.



Perhaps, in this way, there will be less accidents and driving will be a pleasant experience to all drivers. I am not saying that I am a good driver. But at least, I think I am a Safe Driver, giving ample notice and space while filtering. Of course, I dun hog the road as well. If I find that I am driving too slowly on the right lane, I will filter to the centre lane to ease traffic.

Enough of driving car & traffic stuff……
There are some tasks that I must do over the weekend:

• Tidy my clothes – Put away those that I cannot wear to make space for new clothes


• Buy more clothes


• Meet friends to buy farewell gifts for two close colleagues who are leaving, although I have left the school on March this year


• My ex-colleagues are coming to my place for a Gals’ Chat @ my place tonite


• Meet close university galfriends for some catching up


• Visit my parents and fix a date for the Annual family gathering @ Sentosa

I foresee that I will have a busy weekend ahead. This is great as my hubby is only coming back on Tuesday. So I dun worry that I will be bored at home, doing nothing and sleep a lot...........