Driving Into A Bicycle

Before anyone gets the idea that I ran into a cyclist with my vehicle, I loudly pronounce that I did not. In fact its the other way around. A bicycle ran into me on my way home from work. It was an unfortunate accident. 

I'm thankful I instinctively swerve to the right ... else I would have ran over his legs. He was bleeding on his arms and legs as he broke his fall. Other than being shaken by the whole incident he was pretty much ok.

As for me, there are dents and large scratches on my bonnet. I highly doubt any cyclist would have 3rd party insurance so there was nothing more I could do but shrug it off. The cyclist apologised so I wasn't going to bring it any further. I'm just glad both of us walked away from it fine.

11 Months - Almost To A Year

She continues to be a handful. She doesn't sleep much so everyone has to keep her entertained constantly.

Hi~!!

My Pirate Look ... Arghhh!

Can I have another one?

Eating is Hard Work!

Do I look like Girl-Girl now?

Maybe I'll be a Pianist with I grow up

The Staring Incident

Emily stares. I don't think she does it intentionally but rather more as a concentrated look to catch every detail of what's going on. I like that she knows how to catch a person's eye but the prolonged gaze can sometimes be uncomfortable.

We were at Coffee Bean today for breakfast. It's Chinese New Year's eve and everywhere else was packed. We found a spot close to the far side where there was only an uncle at the sofa playing with his phone. We didn't want her calls to distract others from their leisurely day. Plus we had brought porridge so we wanted to keep the mess away from the crowds.

Initially it was just a casual look to her back. Then she caught the uncle staring intently at his phone. And then for the next 20-30 minutes she just stared constantly at him. We didn't give much attention to it as we were busy with our own breakfast and maid was feeding Emily.

The next thing that happen was a shock ... in a embarrassing and funny way. The uncle that Emily was staring at the last half hour actually came over and handed out an Ang Pow to her! Hahahahaha he must have caught Emily's eyes  whenever he looked up from his phone. I guess she must have made him uneasy ... you know, the feeling when someone just hold their gaze at you perpetually. It was a good thing he took it in the right way and offer Emily a gift instead.

We tried to stop him but he was having none of it. He handed Emily the Ang Pow, which she happily grabbed, and walked off while Meimei and I keep saying "No sir you don't have to". We couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation hahaha. I hope she doesn't get into any more trouble with the staring ... the next time might not end as good as this.

CNY 2015 - Reunion Dinner

Mother-In-Law cooked up a feast. Better than eating at any restaurant.

She Bit Me

I was putting Emily into the car seat. I felt a suddenly piercing pain on my palm.  She was biting me. I shake my arm a little to try to break free. Thankfully she didn't persist. I was dumbfounded.

How can my little princess be so violent? What if she does this when we start putting her into nursery? Is this how she displays her anger and resentment?

A lot of questions flowed through my mind as I grimaced in pain. Gosh ... I really hope this is a passing phase. No one likes a biting baby.

Continuing The Fun At Work

I started a job with a lot of what I was looking for in an ideal job a year ago today.

1) Individual contributor role
Being a manager is an easy job. Being a good one takes serious work, commitment and sacrifices. After many years of managing teams, I like the change of pace. Focusing on just your own work without worrying about the performance of others takes a lot off the pressure and stress since outcomes are purely down to your own efforts. It's an even bigger plus when they give you the same pay grade as a manager ;-)

2) Pure systems implementation with zero operational responsibilities
Ahhh finally after years of working ridiculous hours during month end, this job's crazy hours is no longer pegged to the calendar days but on stages of the project. I think I was put into the role as the existing lead couldn't handle all the project activities. So because I wasn't the main focal lead for the implementation I had the luxury of better hours since I'm nothing more than a supporting role to the lead.

3) Proximity to home
I go home for lunch everyday. That's enough reason for envy for most folks. Nothing beats having home cooked food, even if most of the time it's just the leftovers. And I get to play with Emily when I'm home so that's another big plus.

4) Nice colleagues
I think I mentioned this in an earlier post. It's a factory plant so I suppose folks are more cordial here than in a corporate office. Also my boss has kids so she is more understanding when I have to work from home on some days when I pull an all nighter watching over Emily.

The contract was for a year because the original plan was to roll out the 2 Singapore in 2015. However due to a total meltdown in an earlier rollout in Hungary, they froze all rollouts in 2015 and we are now rescheduled for Aug 2016. So they offered me a year and half extension to Jun 2017.

It's nice that they wanted me to stay but I am also realistic as to how long this tenure will be. As with all projects, things can go south pretty quickly, e.g. change in project priorities, change in operating climate and restrictions on budget etc. They can release me any time with a month's notice. But until then I am pretty comfortable here. The work is fun and manageable. So I just stay put as long as I can and enjoy the ride.

A Prize For Walking

Walked enough to redeem the 1st tier prize for National Steps Challenge. 

Bird-Bird

I think every parents dreams of that moment when their little ones looks at them lovingly and calls out Papa or Mama. Meimei and I are no different and have been waiting eagerly for the day to come.

We read in the books that babies will start saying Papa or Mama indiscriminately to both parents at about 8-9 months. Then at about 10 months they would be conscious of who they are calling out to. So you can imagine our excitement when Emily first started going "Mum-mum-mum-mum" a month ago.

However soon we realised that she does "Mum-mum-mum-mum" randomly and is not even attempting to call either one of us. I'm sure she recognises us because she would let out the most tender loving smile when she sees us and even wave or point in our direction.

She does say a word knowingly though. Meimei and I have resigned to the fact that her first cognitive words may not be Papa or Mama ... but rather of an animal that has been a bane of Meimei's life ... Birds. I'm not sure how it started but we came to realise that she notices birds as she will actively seek them out. Whenever she sees them she will let out a cry, point and sometimes wave to them. 

And bless Meimei for being the ever loving Mama ... she actually bites through her paralysing fear and brings Emily towards the birds so she can have a closer look. I suppose this may be destiny, to have Emily not be fearful of birds so she can chase them away for Mama when she grows older.

But before that happens ... we are still looking forward to the greetings of Papa and Mama :-)

Morning Joys － 喝不完的奶

躲猫猫～

哦，被你们发现了！

我喝不完，给你！

Fun At The Pool

Today's Emily's first time at the pool. Meimei's friend invited us to her condominum so we didn't have to brave the public pools for her first attempt. 

As much as she loves bathing and playing in the baby tub, I think the big pool scared her and she cried when Meimei tried to lower her into the water. It took some coaxing to get her warmed up and sitting at the steps. But once she was in the water she was fearless, she kept going to the deeper steps so we had to keep constant watch.

We bought a float at a recent baby fair and Emily finally had the opportunity to try it on. I think she wasn't too keen to be floating around, the sensation of kicking water instead of the solid ground seemed to shock her.

I'm pretty sure a couple more outings to the pool will put her at greater ease and she might enjoy the experience more. 

Looking To Move

Since the arrival of baby, I've started exploring if we could move into a place closer to my In-Laws. Its very tiring for Mama to travel to our place daily with groceries and likewise tough for baby to go to my In-laws in the wee hours of the morning when Meimei starts going back to office.

We put up our place for sale a couple of months ago and there were strangers walking into our home every weekend since. It's inconvenient to have to rush back to home every weekend to open our doors but it was a necessary evil to gauge how far we can stretch our finances to buy a dream home close to my In-Laws. And because of these, our weekends are pretty much limited to quick runs for grocery or meals and nothing much else.

It was evident early on that we were not going to fetch the same prices as the ones we are looking to buy. My In-laws stay in an old town where the prices for apartments have always been steep. The thing that gets me is that the flats there are 10 to 15 years older than the one we are staying now, yet they cost 100-150k more. And add the smaller floor space, 126 sqm versus 119 sqm, it really took me a long time to come to terms with this choice.

But oh well, there are many benefits to moving. There are more facilities nearby, a swimming pool, library, wet market, hawker centres. You name it they have it ... such is the allure of old towns. New towns are so 'planned' that you are restricted to very limited spots for any notable facilities.

Ok, enough about the new place we are looking at. The point of this post is to share that as much as I want to move, there is much I've fallen in love with in our first home. I am going to document as much as I can of the place before we sell it, to keep as a remembrance of our first humble abode. Our kids may never get to experience the goodness of the place so I hope that keeping commentaries on the blog for it can at least give them a sense of how comfortable this place is.

Meimei's Drawings

Meimei started attending drawing classes with her friends. She has talent.

10 months ... She Is Going To Be A Handful

I keep hearing about Terrible 2. Why am I already seeing it at 10 months?! She's going to be a handful ... I need to enjoy whatever niceness she gives now. Because she may give me lesser smiles once I start being sterner and discipline her more. I hope she realises it is for her own good. The best case I can hope for is that she grows out of it early and becomes obedient.

Do I look like a girl now?

样子够坏吧

Melon very nice wor~

This is how you say Love!

You want your car key? Let's talk terms ...

I ... Can ... Reach ... It .......

Are your talking about me?

Look at my silly look~!

Remembering FFXI

Just recently I went to check out the website for FFXI after Mum forced me to clear out all my remaining stuff at Hillview and I found my original box sets of the game and its expansions. Meimei ask me to keep them but I declined. I know there is no going back, I'm a dad now. 

Over the years I've occasionally reminsce about the fun I had playing the game. The thoughts usually came to me while I was playing on my iphone. Sigh ... No mobile MMO game will ever reach the depth and co-op play an online PC game can deliver.

It seems the game is still thriving with 3 expansions after I left. Sure the player base has dwindled and couple of servers were merged, but the developers were still holding events and contests to drive interest.

I'll be lying if I say I wasn't tempt to start playing again. But the time commitment the game takes (4 hours each time you team up to level up a character) always puts a damper on any hopes of picking it up again. 

And now that I've thrown away the boxes, it is the definite conclusion. The boxes holds the unique user ID key and losing them meant I can never get my character back ever again. 

Its for the best. I can always dive into another MMO when I retire ... In another 30 years or so. Highly doubt FFXI will still be running then ... So oh well. I'll just continue to dream about the days when I run free in Vana'diel in search of fame and adventure!

New Year's Resolution 2016

Can I just repeat 2015's resolution? I think I did well and met them ... to a certain extent. And they continue to be relevant this year ... or in fact every year so yeah I think it's fair to use them again.

But I will add one more to the list - Try to cut down on using the phone in front of baby.

Already she is attracted to the phone even though she doesn't know what it can do. She just tries to grab it because the adults are staring and poking at it constantly. I think she thinks its a toy. Ok ... it is a toy. But not age appropriate for her.

So to reduce this attraction I will try to use less of the phone when I'm with her.