Green screen

Kavi needed some help today for a video she’s shooting for an IATA event and roped in Swana and me to be calefares. We went to some ulu studio in Macpherson which had a big green screen, and for an hour pretended to be travelers going through immigration.




Brought Nat and Gigi with us, told them we were going to Aunty Kavi’s ‘office’. Think they were awed by all the equipment and at first behaved themselves but after a while, they were running loose and trying to get in on the action.



After the shoot, I made Kevin swing by Tai Thong Crescent to see if we could score some prawn mee but the shop was closed. Bummer. Oh well, at least I got to snap a picture of the Chiam See Tong billboard in Potong Pasir before it's taken down.

Cinderella goes to the ball...

110 was a hive of activity today, with Pops’ arrival back from the hospital, Joanne and Rayhan visiting the girls and Anjali coming over for some sari assistance!

I was on half-day leave to oversee Papa’s discharge from Alexandra Hospital, taking a moment to stroll through their garden area one last time and I managed to snap 2 butterflies.



Joanne and Ray arrived just as Gigi and Nat woke up from their naps, Sasha was all over him, trying to hug him…think she was happy to see someone closer to her size! She showed off how she walks, very zombie-like at the moment!



Ray can say quite a few things now, short 2-word sentences and he’s quite an obedient little boy, obliging every little command given, e.g. hug goodbye or say ‘thank you’.



The kids watched some Mickey Mouse and Barney and when Ray changed his diaper, Nat and Gigi pointed at his thingamajig and asked ‘what’s that?’ And I said “ting ting” for want of a better word. Need to teach them the proper names soon!

Anju came at 4plus and Aunty Susie was around to help with the sari tying. She was accompanying Uncle Jana to the NTUC 50th Anniversary dinner at MBS where Uncle Devan was one of the 50 unionists being honoured for their contributions to the labour movement and her parents insisted she wear a sari!




She was sitting at table number 2 with the President no less, and borrowed Swana’s blue sari. She looked stunning as usual, it was like helping Cinderella get ready for the ball!

Joshua is 1!

Today is Mother’s Day and we attended mass with Mildred at AMK before making our way to Sizzler at Suntec for lunch where we were joined by the Dopes and Ma.

I have a new name for the pumpkin i.e. Sasha Fierce! You should have seen the dirty look she gave the waiter when he tried to take away the menu she was playing with. She stared him down, and he backed away! LOL!

She may have been fierce to the waiter but turned into the cowardly lion in the evening as she experienced a pool for the first time.

Rena threw a little early party for Joshua’s 1st birthday at her sister-in-law’s condo at Marine Parade and we brought the girls’ swim gear.


I thought she would be like a duck to water, since she loves her baths and protests whenever she’s removed from the water too early. But I guess the sight of all that water intimidated her, even though it was nice and warm.




At least she lasted a lot longer than Nat’s first pool experience. But eventually we took her out after 5 mins when she tried to climb onto Germaine! Joshua had a good time though, as did Nat!



There was a Tigger theme going on, the party was mainly for immediate family and a few friends. Adrian is into photography as a hobby and set up a little studio area for photo-taking but the kids were more interested in playing!



Cake was from Jin’s Cakes again, I think I should start asking for commission, ha ha! Nat was on a sugar high on the way home, babbling to herself!

Election fever

Brought the girls to visit Pops in hospital and at the same time fed them their dinner there.

I think Alexandra Hospital has a lot of charm, am especially taken with the butterfly trail and outdoor garden they have on their compound. There’s a lot of greenery, you can hear birds chirping, see butterflies fluttering about…it’s very tranquil and peaceful.



We spotted a couple of unusual birds, a sleek black one with a red eye, a cockatoo and a canary, as well as bird’s nest perched on a rain tree.

Am now watching the election results ‘live’ on TV with Ma, but the internet is faster than TV, which waits for the returning officer to announce the vote count officially for each constituency.

Online however, there are tweets and ‘live’ feeds and a lot of hearsay, even before the results are announced, so it seems that the Worker’s Party has broken through and won Aljunied GRC. There goes a couple of ministers from the cabinet!

As the opposition put it, this is a watershed election. Never before have people been so openly critical of the PAP, the rising cost of living and the need for alternative voices in Parliament being major factors in how citizens cast their vote.

I’ve been reading a lot of articles online and a common feature of comments has been how the government is arrogant and out of touch, and people are tired of having policies forced on them.

New media has been an instrumental platform in how the opposition engaged with the electorate, something the PAP didn’t quite get the hang of and to their detriment, social media was also responsible for showing up some of the flaws and political immaturity of their candidates e.g. Ms TPL.

Bet the PAP were not prepared for how much of a negative impression she made, am sure she’s a nice enough person but she just came across as immature and robotic, with not much depth to her as compared to Nicole Seah who is a few years younger, but a lot more savvy and likeable.

I think the opposition are starting to get their act together, and come 2016, more GRCs could fall as they build up on the momentum from this year, work the ground early and establish themselves as a credible alternative.

Voters are getting more discerning, we’re not as compliant as before and this election really made a lot of people sit up and pay attention to national issues and express their dissatisfaction at the way Singapore Inc is run.

I never had the patience to watch parliament sessions before, but come the next sitting, I think I just might…who said Singaporeans were apathetic?

The Other Side

Nick's paternal cousin Jean got married today at the new-ish church at Pasir Ris and I thought we might bump into his dad, but nope, the father-in-law I've never met wasn't in attendance!



I missed most of the ceremony trying to make Sasha nap at the back of the church, but from the moments I caught, could tell that the bride was not the 'kuniang' type.



I don't mean to be critical but she didn't exactly glide down the aisle, plus she hunched and carried her flowers too high. After the ceremony, she was walking around with her train hitched up over her arm!


The reception was in a very narrow canteen, there wasn’t much space so the buffet was laid out in the basement carpark. Food was edible, nothing fancy, I was not a fan of the presentation or the variety.

I think our presence did cause quite a stir, because Mildred, Nick and Ben have been out of the picture for more than 30 years, keeping in touch mainly with just Uncle Barry and Aunty Adeline, two of the dad’s siblings.

There were other members of the family they had not seen in decades, cousins they hadn’t met since childhood and along the way, Nick met a business acquaintance only to discover they were second-cousins!

Maybe his dad was too chicken to show up, after all, his second wife was present too along with his other 2 sons…he only left them a couple of years ago for some China chick apparently. Or maybe it was just for China, I don’t know the details!



Well, at least I got to see Nick and Ben’s half brothers. They are quite young, early 20s I’m guessing. Was trying to discreetly snap pictures of the family, failing miserably. A spy I will never be! Their mother reminded me of my family doctor, Dr Yap, a bit tai-tai looking. As for the sons pictured above on the left, let’s just say Nick and Ben inherited the looks!

Pops in hospital

The pops gave us a scare 2 nights ago while we were all shopping at Vivo. Swana received a call from him saying that he felt numb on his right side and suspected a stroke.

He had felt the symptoms since morning but waited for over 10 hrs before informing us! We hightailed it out of Vivo, and Swana and Kevin sent him to A&E.

Eventually the next day it became clearer that it was a minor stroke. While he can still walk etc, there is restricted movement on his right hand and foot but with some rehab and physio, he should make a full recovery. Phew!

Fancy Tot Parties

Yesterday was a day of attending back to back birthday parties.

First up was Jayna’s 1st birthday at Orchid Country Club in the afternoon where Jalen and Judy had booked a small ballroom overlooking the golf course.

There was a jungle theme for the kids but I used it as an excuse to buy a leopard print singlet from Forever 21. Lunch was a generous buffet, there was also beer and wine though not many of the guys drank because they drove.



Jayna was cutely dressed in a cargo shirt dress with leopard print belt, and the cake was a work of art from Jin’s Cakes again. There was a balloon guy who also doubled up as a games host, but he came across as pretty ‘stoned’, the kids hardly paid him any attention!



Nat grew sleepy by the minute, the party timing coinciding with hers and Sasha’s naptimes. Midway through the party, we put Sasha to sleep but she woke up during the cake-cutting. The kids massacred the cake before it was even cut, Riley, Gigi and Nat helping themselves to the sugar décor.


We left without sampling the cake though! There were numerous photo-takings with all the guests before it was sliced up and served, and Nat was getting crankier by the minute so we scooted out of there. She fell asleep before we even hit the highway, and slept all the way till 6.15pm!

Had to drag her out of bed to attend the next party, which was for Troy’s 2nd. This time round was a circus theme at Kidz Amaze in Jurong.

We left Sasha behind with Ma and got lost along the way. Our street directory is so outdated, the building hadn’t been built yet!

Finally we managed to find the place and Nat went into koala bear mode, refusing to leave our side. Tried bringing her into the huge indoor playground but she was freaked out by the loud vacuuming sounds.

We just hung around the party instead, Nick got to catch up with some of his CTK gang while I fed Nat. Debra went all out with the circus theme from tablecloth to organic popcorn, themed party favours and homemade chocolate chip cookies in the goodie bag, which had customised stickers. There was also a professional photographer.




The cake was almost too pretty to eat, from Delectable Delites…It was smaller than Jayna’s and cost more, but the workmanship was finer and colours brighter. Taste-wise though, I think I prefer Jin’s. Troy was so eager to get his hands on his cake, he was straining across the table to grab something before the cake-cutting.



Though Nat didn’t warm up enough to play with the other kids, I think she still enjoyed herself.