Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Grasshopper Story ~ Did I do the right thing?

Come to think of it...I think I did not do the right thing afterall.... *sigh*


A 'big' visitor came last week.

Unlike the lizard, which helps to eat the irritating mosquitoes, nor like the ugly cockroach, which does nothing but gives us the goosebumps, this green visitor does none of the above.

Grasshopper does not harm us, nor does it help us.
So I chose to leave it alone, thinking that it would hop away somehow when it decides to end its resort stay.

Days passed and it remained in the house...
but grew weaker with each passing hour...
It became so weak,
it could not hold itself on the wall any longer (photo above was taken when it was in the wall of the bathroom),
it started to move along on the floor.

I wonder if it had fallen due to weak legs..... hmmm...

I could not sleep that night and after moving about on the bed for some time, I decided to bring it out of the house and leave it on some leaves.

When I tried to move it to sit on the dustpan, only then did I realise that it was dying. It was so weak, it could hardly fight back. *heartpain*

Slowly, taking extra caution not to end its life earlier than it should, I finally managed to 'help' it sit on the dustpan and I gave it a helicopter ride to the land of greens.

It could not even stand properly when I laid him down on a curved leaf. *heartpain again*

Oh no!
Why did I choose to wait so long?
It did not come here for a resort staycation, it was lost!

I should have brought it out of the four walls the very day it arrived.
*slap*

The next day, Allan tried to spot it at the place where we last left it.
He was no where to be found.
I hoped he had his fill and hopped away and not.....became the breakfast for some birds....because with its condition, there was no way it could have fought back.....

*sigh*

Monday, July 30, 2012

Saltimbanco by Cirque Du Soleil Singapore

When Cirque Du Soleil came to Singapore many years ago, I could hardly feed my family and I vowed to myself that I must get out of my dreadful financial situation and be able to go for their next tour.
I love circus, acrobatic acts, animals doing stunts, etc
I love all of that....

Though Cirque Du Soleil is far more beautifully crafted and definitely does not have any 'animal smells' *giggle*, my desire to see acrobatic acts will definitely be satisfied to the fullest. *thumbs up*

Many years later, my wait is over. They came back to Singapore with another act called Saltimbanco by Cirque Du Soleli and I can finally afford to bring my family to watch it. Nope, I did not pay for the highest price tickets. Financially, I am not there yet; to spend that much on an entertainment that does not exceed 2 hours. However it is a great booster for me to do even better for my family's financial well-being.

To make it more fun, my sister and my brother-in-law are coming along too! I did not expect them to say yes at first. I didn't think they would be interested in this in the first place. *Ooops!*
I believe one day, I would be able to give them a treat to such event too. So for this round, they paid for their own tickets.
To me, such an event is a great place to experience it with my closest ties, so I was overwhelmed when my sister and brother-in-law are willing to come along. *smile*

It was stated in the SISTIC tickets that "Photography, video and audio recording is not allowed for this event." Thank goodness some of the more famous acts are posted all over YouTube, so if I ever feel like watching it again after the show, to relive those moments, I can.

Here's a sneak peak of what to expect at the show:




Watching it on the screen and EXPERIENCING it there and then, is a TOTALLY different thing!
I am all excited!
I think I am the ONLY one who is counting down to next Friday, just like a kid counting down to school holidays. *laugh*


Saltimbanco by Cirque Du Soleil Singapore, we are coming!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Song Sharing Sunday #184 ~ Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough - Patty Smyth & Don Henley

I remembered one late night, me still up and watching TV, the MTV channel back then and this song came up....
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Every Song reminds me of a person, an event, a place, a smell, a taste....a secret, do you have a song to share today?


Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough - Patty Smith & Don Henley







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Friday, July 27, 2012

London 2012 Olympics

I am far from being athletic, though back in my Secondary school times, I had won a mini-trophy for long distance run.
Although I seldom workout but I sure love to watch the Olympics!

My favourite event has to be the Women's Artistic Gymnastics which will be on Sunday 29th July 2012!
Whoo-hoo!
What's yours?



On top of that, I wonder if I would be able to see this cute, pretty and smiley girl in the 100m hurdles run in the London 2012 Olympics too?

Look at how relaxed she looked after the run!
Her DANCING warm-up definitely worked (for her) for sure!



Wednesday, July 25, 2012

NO! I am Not GOING to buy a new phone!

"NO! I am Not GOING to buy a new phone!"
That was the sentence I kept repeating to hubby today, who kept bugging and persuading me to buy a phone to replace my Nokia N8, after what happened yesterday.

I was in class yesterday night. During the toilet break, I picked up my phone and tried to sms my hubby. Suddenly, while messaging halfway, it hung.
Yes, nothing could turn it off.
I could not take out the battery because this model does not allow it.
I pressed and held on to the on/off button for ages and it refused to shut down either!

While trying to fix it, I think I spoiled it further! *faint*
The 'catch' for the SIM card was gone! My SIM card kept bouncing out!

NOTHING that I do could get it to work nor let it leave that screen!

In the end, I had to borrow my classmate's phone to give hubby a ring and confirmed a place where he would pick me up after my class, which would end only in an hour+ later.

During the car ride home, I still could not get it to work.
But hubby, with his magical hands could FINALLY get it to shut down, even though one hand of his was on the steering wheel!
*clap clap clap*

And when we reached home, he managed to force the SIM card in too!
Yeah!

But this morning, he had been going, "Go lah, go buy S3 like me, then we can Whatsapp each other and all your friends."
"NO! I am Not GOING to buy a new phone, now that my phone is working well again."

"But its already showing signs that its breaking down! Go lah, go buy S3. Then we can send photos to each other."
"NO! I am Not GOING to buy a new phone, my phone is working already. Don't need to buy a new phone. I will change when its spoiled."

"Why do you want to wait till last minute? Buy now lah."
""NO! I am Not GOING to buy a new phone, S3 is so expensive, its wasting money when I still have a phone that can work."

"But its showing SIGNS that its lifespan is up. Ok, you don't want S3 also can. What phone you want? We go M1 shop check it out later ok?"
"NO! I am Not GOING to buy a new phone NOW!"

"Aiyo!!! You are very annoying leh! Stop asking me to buy a new phone lah!"

But this sentence didn't work on him.
He continued, "then just buy lor, so that when your Nokia DO break down, you have one spare phone ON STANDBY ready to be used."

*SUPER FAINT*

So do you think I bought a new phone?
*eyebrows raised*

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Song Sharing Sunday #183 - Baby Baby ~ Amy Grant

Dedicating this song to my newborn niece, who was forced to stay in the hospital for a few more days due to Jaundice and Weight Loss.
Hope she and her mummy could be discharged today...
*fingers crossed*


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Every Song reminds me of a person, an event, a place, a smell, a taste....a secret, do you have a song to share today?


Baby Baby ~ Amy Grant







Baby, baby
I'm taken with the notion
To love you with the sweetest of devotion.

Baby, baby
My tender love will flow from
The bluest sky to the deepest ocean.

Stop for a minute
Baby, I'm so glad you're mine, yeah
You're mine.

Baby, baby
The stars are shining for you
And just like me I'm sure that they adore you.

Baby, baby
Go walking through the forest
The birds above a' singing you a chorus.

Stop for a minute
Baby, they're so glad you're mine, oh yeah
And ever since the day you put my heart in motion
Baby I realize that there's just no getting over you.

Baby, baby
In any kind of weather
I'm here for you always and forever.

Baby, baby
No muscle man could sever
My love for you is true and it will never

Stop for a minute
Baby, I'm so glad you're mine
And ever since the day you put my heart in motion
Baby I realize that there's just no getting over you.

And ever since the day you put my heart in motion
Baby I realize that there's just no getting over you.
Over you.

Baby, baby
Always and forever
Baby I'm so glad that
Here for you baby
So glad you're mine
Baby I'm so glad that

When I think about you it makes me smile
Baby, baby be mine
Baby I'm so glad that
Don't stop giving love

Join in the fun, leave a comment with your Song Sharing Sunday post's URL and don't forget to grab the meme's badge above using the codes provided and I'll hop over to 'listen'...

Saturday, July 21, 2012

FIRST time having a Passenger on my bicycle!

Continuation from this post at my Parenting Blog "Happy 8th Birthday M.Y.!"

I thought, it would be better for me to fall over two bikes than to make a Kindergarten 2 kid get bruises! And after learning how to ride a bicycle 20 plus years ago, I HAD NEVER HAD ANYONE SITTING BETWEEN ME AND MY HANDLES before!

The thought of it makes my legs turned jelly already! No way am I going to do it!

But..... on the other hand.....I had NEVER succeeded in pulling a bicycle along as I ride before either!!! *faint*

My mind zoomed right back to the day when my father taught me how to pull a bicycle and ride my own bicycle at the same time. His voice and All his tips were ringing so loudly in my head.

So I braved myself and tried doing the stunt! It was so much MORE difficult because the two bikes were of different heights!

My dad taught me the skill by using bikes of similar heights, and even so, I could not succeed in doing it! So this was WAY too DIFFICULT for me, as one side of my body kept leaning over towards the small four-wheeled bicycle. 

Oh man! *slap forehead*

Allan insisted that I give W.D. a ride instead. I kept saying "No!" But my skill proved that I could not complete the other task and it was still a very long way back to our tentage. I do not want to push two bikes all the way back either!

HOW???!!!!

Then Allan gave me the "YOU CAN DO IT" look.
 "Try!" he encouraged.
But I was shivering! Literally!

The other three kids were getting impatient and I knew I just had to TRY!

And so I did with my heart racing at super speed, MUCH faster than my wheels could go, for sure! *heart went pound pound pound....*

Throughout the whole journey, I had to suppress my fear by constantly TALKING to my little 5 year old passenger.
"Are you holding tightly?"
"If you are uncomfortable and want me to stop, you MUST let me know, ok?"
"Am I hitting your feet?"
"Is your butt painful?" (he was sitting on hard steel alright)
"Are you scared?" (I SURE AM!!!!) but he was NOT! *phew*

On the journey back, I had to stop 3 to 4 times because of 'on-coming traffic'.
I did not want to maneuver my bike too much, lest he slip off the steel and fall. *Scream* I was sooooooooooooo afraid of that happening the whole time!
THANK GOODNESS it did not!

In fact, there was once my younger boy suddenly glided from right to left and did an emergency brake, right INFRONT of the birthday girl, which caused her to follow suit and I was right behind her!!!!
*heart still pounding hard as I recall*

"Are you ok?!" was my first question to my nephew after I pressed hard on my brakes.
"Ok." he said.
The best 2-letter word I heard today!
*laugh*

Safely we reached our tentage, after what seemed like hours!
But I am sure we only took a few minutes. *laugh*

I was perspiring like crazy after we reached our destination and those were perspiration of  fear more than from the physical exercise. *laugh*

OMG! I did it!
What an achievement!
*clap clap clap*

And if it was not from the look of trust on my hubby's face, I think I might have ended up holding my nephew's hand and walked that long journey back with my other hand pulling my bike along........
*giggle*

Once again I am reminded that I am so blessed to have a hubby who is always there to push me to greater heights or lengths......
Thank you Dearie!
*hugs*




Sunday, July 15, 2012

Song Sharing Sunday #182 ~ NDP 2012 Theme Song ~ Love at First Light

My 2nd niece went with her class to watch the NDP rehearsal performance last night and came back at almost 10pm.
To my surprise, she called me and told me all that had happened that day.
From what's inside her goodies bag, to the Zinger burger she ate. *giggle*

And in between the little updates, she sang a line or two of the song she sang at the NDP 2012 rehearsal....



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Every Song reminds me of a person, an event, a place, a smell, a taste....a secret, do you have a song to share today?


Love at First Light ~ Olivia Ong









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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Its a LAUGH OUT LOUD Thursday for me!

EVERYTHING ON THIS WAS HILARIOUS!

If you are having a bad day, go read this!
Bet you would feel better after a laugh too!
From TOP to BOTTOM = LAUGH OUT LOUD for me!


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Song Sharing Sunday #181 ~ Where Have You Been ~ Rihanna

"Where Have You Been?
What are you busy with?"
That was what one of my close friend asked.
It was so difficult to look for me because my handphone was put to silent mode. OOoops!

Well, I had a chance to take courses this month.
Two different types of courses, learning two different sets of skills, absorbing two different types of knowledge. One is related to my passion of psychology (fengshui related, but NOT fengshui), the other is related to the S11 sign. *wink*

Just ended a 2days Advanced course yesterday for the course I am passionate about and going for Mastery course in the 4th week of July and next week, will begin on my S11 course. So its busy busy busy for the month of July for sure!
Yippee! Feels great to be a student again, WHEN YOU ARE STUDYING WHAT YOU WANT TO STUDY IN! *clap clap clap*


Song Sharing Sunday Badge


Every Song reminds me of a person, an event, a place, a smell, a taste....a secret, do you have a song to share today?


Where Have You Been ~ Rihanna









Join in the fun, leave a comment with your Song Sharing Sunday post's URL and don't forget to grab the meme's badge above using the codes provided and I'll hop over to 'listen'...

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Fibre Broadband, is it really better? ~ My Experience

At the first hour of today 5th July 2012, we managed to get it working. Yes at 12+am it worked, even though it was sent to us at 2.25pm yesterday.

Why did we take so long to get it to work?

Well, because we did not know anything about Fibre Broadband and though the M1 staff gave us lots of details on the monetary side of things, there was none on the technical side of things. To me, terms like Fibre Optic Broadband, Fibre Broadband, OpenNet, FibreNet, are so confusing. Are they the same? I really do not bother. All I care about is will it work better than cable broadband.

My hubby and I are price-driven kind of people, but when it comes to technical stuff, we prefer to seek advice before we decide and NOT look at price to make a decision.
We are far from being labeled as 'Internet Savvy'. Allan is happy knowing how to get to his emails and Facebook games, while I am happy so long as I can work on my blogs and communicate with friends and loved ones through Facebook, Skype and MSN chat.

After putting up a question on OpenNet on my Facebook, friends started contributing like a river.
***With the privacy of my friends in mind, I decided to take away their names and profile picture for this post.




So after 'hearing' so much, we decided to sign up for M1 Fibre Broadband service.

When we were at the M1 shop about a week ago, I remembered that the ONLY technical question I asked the M1 staff was, "So after the installation, I can surf the Internet immediately, right?"
The smiley staff said, "Yes."
 Errrrmm..... only half true for us.





With just the modem provided by M1, ONLY 1 PC/Laptop can be used with a cable connecting the two devices.
We needed to buy a router in order to use Fibre Broadband on all the devices at home which includes 1 PC, 1 Laptop, 1 smartphone and 1 iPad.
And the router is NOT provided by M1.
We need to buy from those IT shops.


And its NOT any router, it MUST BE an N Router.

Maybe to some of you, this is common sense.
But for us, who are totally aliens to such things, we had NO IDEA MAN!

So we decided to buy the N Router when we fetch our younger son from school at 6pm.
That costs us another $69.00 and did I mention that the startup cost is REALLY HIGH for Fibre Broadband compared to Cable Broadband?
In fact, even when one decides to stop using the service, even after contract is over, there is still an amount to pay.
Hhhhmmmm.......


We did not need to pay a cent when we sign up at the M1 shop, as the charges will be reflected in our bill. I am still waiting for my bill to come. He said lots of "pay this and that", but we did not really pay attention to the details, because we knew we wanted this service, so we had to pay whatever that needs to be paid. So seriously, errr.... I do not really know what is the damage like.

Would probably come back later to update this post after I received my bill. *shrugged*




I signed up with M1 when they were having the $39-a-month promotions for 100Mbps.
They gave me a free fixed phone line.
With this free fixed phone line, I can cancel the Singtel phone line, which I am paying about $20+ every 3 months.

And M1 also threw in another mobile broadband plan of $5 per month for 1GB, which is perfect for me because my monthly usage hardly reaches 1GB and I was paying $36.38 every month for Starhub's mobile broadband plan.
Thus with this, Starhub lost one customer. I called to cancel the service the VERY Day I signed up with M1, and replaced the Starhub sim card with M1's into my HuaWei Mobile WiFi gadget.

Though the one time startup cost might have been on the high side, but in the long run, I save more money with the 'throw ins' that came with this M1 Fibre broadband promotion.
Whoo-hoo!
*clap clap clap*

Ok, so is Fibre Broadband better than Cable Broadband?

In my opinion, yes for speed, but no for space! *laugh*
There I go again.... for most things in life, there is always good and bad....

Now we have to make space for two gadgets instead of one previously.

In the past, we just pluck the telephone line into the router and Ta-Daa, can connect to the internet, for everyone in the house.
But now, we need to have the modem AND the router and none of them stands up vertically, so I need to make space for them to lie flat.
Hhhmmm....

The MOST AMAZING PART WAS..... *drum roll* 
I could upload my videos onto YouTube at a much Much MUCH FASTER SPEED!!!

This might sound crazy, but its truly my experience.
For the past few months, a five minute long video can take up to 3 hours to upload!!!
And today, I uploaded 11 videos of average length of 3 minutes each and it only take 15mins!!!
*Jaws Dropped*

Just by this alone, I am happy with my decision!
Yeah!

As for Allan, the downloading of his online videos and his Facebook Games also load up faster too.
Yeah!

So its Double Yeah for Us!
Yes, it has been less than 24 hours with my Fibre Broadband, but I am already LOVING IT!
*wink*


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The Unwelcomed Visitors are Growing in Size....

There are always 'unwelcomed visitors' in this temporary home of ours.
I remembered having to fight a lizard in the wee hours on our first day here, then cockroach on the fourth day and there after it was flying insects of all sorts.

No....... don't get me wrong.
I am NOT complaining.
They do not bother me much.
The kids?
They are totally amused by them. Afraid of them, screaming at the top of their voices most of the time, yet always taking a step forward to have a closer look to satisfy their curiosity. Its hilarious watching them interact with the 'surprise visitors' here.

Today, the biggest of all unwelcome visitors so far for the past 2+ months of staying here.

Come, meet Miss Moth!




After taking this shot of her, I wanted to show you how big she is, so I reached for a fifty cent coin and placed it beside her.

But when I was putting down the coin beside her, I think I dropped it too loudly and it frightened the hell out of her!!!!
To her horror and mine and the kids, whose hearts nearly came out of their mouths, she started to flutter madly around when my fingers were less than 5 cm away from her!!!!

*SCREAM*


...................

*SCREAM*

.................

Then She Play Dead!

*HUGE LAUGH*

Me: "I think I gave her a heart attack."

Kids: "She fainted!!!!" *giggle*

It was a perfect chance for me to place the fifty cent coin again and take a quick shot before she decides to stop acting dead. *laugh*




 She was TRULY in a GREAT ACTRESS : she continued to lie there motionlessly for a long while, even after the photo shoot. *giggle*

So much so that my elder son got fooled by her act and thought she was really dead!
Thus, confidently he came down from the long standing on the sofa.
And THAT thunderous thud made by my son's foot resurrected her!!! 
Can you imagine how loud he screamed?!!! *SUPER HUGE LAUGH*

I think if his bladder was full, he would probably have peed in his pants! *huge laugh*

This time she fluttered her wings madly once again, but headed towards the right direction, the windows. *smile*

Bye Miss Moth, thank you for the entertainment you gave my boys.....

Monday, July 2, 2012

July Offer : Sushi King RM2 for each plate of sushi on the belt!

Its Youth Day!
And we thought it would be great to celebrate this day in Johor Bahru (JB), Malaysia.

After the unexpected 1+ hour jam at the causeway (unexpected because we ALWAYS travel to JB on weekdays and it usually takes us less than 10mins to get from Singapore Checkpoint to JB Singapore), due to the renovation work at JB checkpoint, everyone was famished!

It was already 2pm when we reached Pelangi Plaza. *faint*
We were EXTREMELY hungry by then!
Hubby and I were thinking, "Which restaurant should we go to whereby we can get to eat the moment we seat! *laugh* Because we do not want to spend time waiting for the food to be cooked."

And my younger son gave the best suggestion for the day, "Eat Sushi!"

Ohhhhhhhh yes!
A place whereby we do not need to wait for the food, but the food wait for us! *laugh*


The Sushi King staff told us about the special July promotion for members and that we need to become members first, otherwise we could not enter! *double faint*

Our tummies were really growling and my brain does not have much energy to analyse, so I just went ahead and paid RM10 to become a member.

Plates of different colours were on the Kaiten belt. So the selection was good. It was a great chance for us to grab those sushi which were usually more pricey before this RM2 promotion.

Great place to cure EXTREME hunger FAST, and this promotion simply makes it even better! *thumbs up*

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Song Sharing Sunday #180 - Wishing On A Star ~ Cover Girls

I had totally forgotten about this song until I heard it on the radio today.
A song that brings me right back to my primary school days....


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Every Song reminds me of a person, an event, a place, a smell, a taste....a secret, do you have a song to share today?


Wishing On A Star ~ Cover Girls







Wishing On A Star Lyrics

I'm wishing on a star
To follow where you are
I'm wishing on a dream
To follow what it means
I'm wishing on a star
To follow where you are
I'm wishing on a dream
To follow what it means

And I wish on all the rainbows that I see
And I wish on all the people who really dream
And I'm wishing on tomorrow praying never comes
And I'm wishing on all the loving we've never done

I never thought I'd see
A time when you would be
So far away from home
So far away from me

Just think of all the moments that we'd spent
I just can't let you go from me you were meant
And I didn't mean to hurt you but I know
That in the game of love you reap what you sow

I feel it's time we should make up baby
I feel it's time for us to get back together
And make the best of things oh baby
When we're together
whether or never

I feel it's time we should make up baby
I feel it's time for us to get back together
And make the best of things oh baby
When we're together
whether or never

I'm wishing on a star
To follow where you are
I'm wishing on a dream
To follow what it means

And I wish on all the rainbows that I see
And I wish on all the people we've ever meet
And I'm hoping on all the days to come and days to go
And I'm hoping on days of loving you so

I'm wishing on a star
I'm wishing on all the rainbows that I see
I'm wishing on a star
Star
Star




Join in the fun, leave a comment with your Song Sharing Sunday post's URL and don't forget to grab the meme's badge above using the codes provided and I'll hop over to 'listen'...