re: man of the family

somewhat a continuation to a earlier post i had
(http://juzride.blogspot.com/2009/06/man-of-family.html)

in the service yard there's only 1 single power outlet, which was meant for the washing machine.. some time ago i introduced a small fan into the service yard which can assist drying of the clothes especially in wet weather, when the clothes will be air-dried indoors.. as the power point comes with a plastic cover that closes to prevent water/rain from splashing on, it cannot take a multi-plug (plugs cannot fit in from the sides, top and bottom).. i thought i was quite smart, i found a small travel adaptor at home (i dunno where it came from) and attempted to plug it in, and behind the adaptor i will plug in the multi-plug... but when i tried to switch it on, it tripped the whole house!!! and it was 11PM at night!!

usually power will be restored if we flip back the switches at the fuse box in the house.. but it didn't work this time! damn sian already lo.. so late at night... weather so warm... got a friend (alwyn) staying over somemore.. we were thinking of possible solution when yb asked if we know anyone who can help.. then i recalled one of my army friend, GW, joked that if one day his place blackout he'll call another of ur fren, CW for emergency restore because CW works for Singapore Power (that night we had dinner he was on stand-by for any power failure in the northern region of Singapore).. yb said "call la!" i was like... huh..really meh? it's so late at night leh.... amazingly in his half-asleep stupor, CW managed to tell me i can find another main fuse box outside the house... and it worked!! woohoo!! aircon!!! actually the army is a best resource a guy can haf... i know ppl who drives the NEL mrt, i know one who got contacts to car dealers, one who works with SMRT, one who knows another fren who's a guru when it come to buying car (he helped me with my car purchase), a tour guide...

anyway... the power outlet in the service yard, the switch cannot be "unflipped"... it got stuck in position... lousy parts the HDB contractors used (i even found a loose spare wire in the hole in the wall behind that power outlet!).. managed to find a replacement from NTUC that cost me abt $6 which finally i found time (and daylight and some recollection from my secondary school science lessons on L/N/E wirings) to replace the broken one.. there! good as new! smooth switch now!

now im tempted to change all my power outlets at home... the switches sux...

oh and i threw that travel adaptor away.. the one that i dunno come from where one...

(yb was relating to her mum wad happened at home, my mother-in-law asked how come power can trip all of a sudden? she said "the scientist of the house decided to play with some innovations at 11pm at night" )

post-travel

1st day at work after i come back from Cambodia.. the usual, ppl asked how was the trip, did you had fun? my replies were all the same: "ok lor"

it's not that i didn't enjoy the trip, i did, mayb not as much... somehow i seemed to enjoy some of my other trips more leh... like vietnam.. similar environment, but somehow i like it more...

was it because we were following the standard Cambodia itinerary? simply visiting the tourist spots? was it too objective-oriented? too packed?

was it that things are more expensive? we seemed to pay much more than locals do.. which is common, but it seems better in vietnam (but then again when we were in vietnam, we didn't really hang ard the tourist places much)...

or mayb because i went with the objective of taking photos? and ended up not really having a holiday there...?

may b all....

Angkow Wat at sunset (facing the sun)

next (major) trip.... OCT 2010.... =)

twilight

been MONTHS (or years?) since i last run/jog.. the last time... i cant rem when.. but was that time when it caused that intolerable backache i mentioned in one of the entries... yar since then lor.. but i juz got back to running! why? coz i dunno for wad reason, dunno wad got over me, i signed up for the full 42.195km marathon this coming december... peer pressure mayb, mayb i juz wan to move on.. or mayb like wad ppl say, "to do it (at least)once in a lifetime"..

had my 2nd run 2 evenings ago, started at abt 7pm, ended at abt 8pm... these days the sun sets somewhere 730pm.. so as im doing my 2nd round, i'll be admiring the colours of the sky..and the sky will get darker and darker... juz in a matter of minutes, it's night time.. if not for the street lights lining the road, lights from the buzzling foodcourt, lights from NTUC where commuters queue for their groceries purchase, i doubt the moonlight is bright enough to lit my way home.. somehow this reminds me of the times when we were out trekking some years ago.. as the sun sets, we'll double-up our pace so that we can get to our campsite to set up our camp b4 darkness falls.. then we'll change into something more comfortable, and sit around a fire and cooking our dinner.. somehow so primitive, so simple, so sufficient... and.. im missing those times!!

man of the family

been staying at the new place for slightly more than half a year now.. something which i've come to realise, even b4 we've moved in here, was that from now on it's all up to us.. i mean... when we're still at our parents' place, there always someone to wash ur clothes.. clean up the table after meals.. someone to wash the pots and pans.. the floor at home is always free of dust and stains and hair.. there is always cooled boiled water for drinking bedsheets are regularly being changed (washed and dried).. the clothes are always folded and placed back into our cupboards after they're washed... gosh the list is so long...and im not done yet!

sure we've stayed in hostel b4, washed our own clothes, changed our own bedsheet and stuffs... but we dun haf to wash the toilet! there's not many dishes to wash? there always watercooler/tap to drink from?

other than the mediocure "chores" like mopping, sweeping, washing.... i also realised that we need to learn how to fix things, yes change light bulbs, remove stains, clean the fans... me, for now, and the title holder for the best sink plunger... at home that is... i've mentioned b4 (i think) that we had problem of choke kitchen sink.. now i know how it all works.. how the plunger is bein use... hey it's not use pumping with the big muscle ok... we need to know how it plunges.. u know we need to fill the sink with water b4 we can plunge effectively? and if u've those 2-bowl sink, u need to make sure the other drainer is properly covered and kept covered b4 u can start pumping? u dunno leh~~

anyway.. the worst, for now, has come... the toilet bowl is choked!! and how do we know....? of course after we're done with the biz, we need to flush... and the water level juz got higher and higher.. damn.. at 1st , being the title-holder for sink plunger, i tried clearing it with the sink plunger.. but as u probably know, the size doesn't fit verywell.. and as i pump, with force and speed, i got splashed!! eeeww... anyway after much trying, it didn't work... so decided that we need to go out to the self-fix shop to find something that fits.. found sth like a corkscrew, except that it's 15 meter long and looks more like a coiled spring.. bought it.. but it's not useful at all! the end keep getting stuck becoz of the coil.. like it's hooked onto the edges or sth... my hand need to go underneathe the water to unhook it.. (luckily im not usually an OCD person).. and lots of times the spring juz gathered as a coiled mess in one corner instead of having the whole length into the pipe.. after some 30min of trying, we switched back to the plunger, this time round i stuck the whole plunger head into the bowl so that there's no gap at the side, being slightly smarter this time round, i had the bowl lid half closed =)... i juz kept pumping and pumping and pumping... and i tried flushing... yes it's cleared!! yeees!!!

and there u haf it, i now hold another title... the champion toilet bowl plunger!

after the whole ordeal.. yb gave a kiss on the lips and said...
"Happy Fathers' Day dear!"

occasional inspiration

borrowed this book from the library "Creative Nature and Outdoor Photography".. Author's Brenda Tharp, quite a famous photographer who won awards and published in some lots well-known magazines...

from one of her interviews:
"If you're standing on the sidelines, your pictures are going to look like you stood on the sidelines. If you're walking amongst those stalls in the fish market, you're smelling the fish, and you're getting the close-up views of all these different fish, then I'm going to feel that when I look at your picture -- like I was there."



came across "Afghan Girl" in one of my reads recently (actually i cant remember from where and when did i read this), but i chanced upon it again while doing one of my surf on a local photography forum.. googled it, it brought me to this guy called Steve McCurry.. and Afghan Girl being his most famous picture he took back in 1980's and published on the Nat Geo in 1985... i went thru some of his galleries.... it really made me wonder if i could do this.. travel the world, not as a tourist, but as a photojournalist (i need to really really buck up on my writing and expression if so!).. seriously being with a family, probably it's a bit difficult, but not absolutely impossible... IF, i can let go of the stability of my home, finance (?), comfort.... AND IF they can come along with me...



anyway... just inspiring.... *daydreams..*

weekend @ work and monday off

needed to come in on Sat for a study last week, hey im not complaining! got a monday off! (which i stayed at home coz it's not my forte to bring Jan out singlehandedly ) hehe... yes yes lucky it's not expected for me to work on a Sat...

and the 2 ladies in the family tagged along as well...


waiting too long for mummy


Mummy i hungry....


yes girl u want something.....?


home-cooked chicken rice (cheated, bought chix rice paste)


some cleaning up at home on my off day


looked like a housefly actually...


almost skiing... she got pulled along by the housefly!


and the housefly crashed....

Father(-in-law)'s (Birth)Day

splurged and went to this quite posh restaurant, IMO, Peony Jade along Clarke Quay... Slightly costly, came up to abt $40/pax.. food was not bad, ala carte buffet... we ordered quite a variety of things la.. but later in the evening got so occupied with Jan that i juz stopped snapping...

she got tired of the baby high-chair

Some of the things we had

with Mummy (quite alike hor?)

everyone who's there

God knows where she got her genes from..

on my way home

i dun usually carry my dslr with me everywhere i go, i juz happened to have it with me ytd as i was prepared to purchase a 2ndhand lens (body for lens testing), but ended up i din, well that's a whole separate story altogether. i was on the bus to my mother-in-law's place for dinner then i decided to snap along the rest of the journey there...

at the back of the bus

top news

uncle waiting for bus

nice view out the window?

updates

2 mths since my last entry.. so many times i wanted to post sth, anything, but sth else will come up.. like.... erm.... like...... hmmm

anyway, was away for 2-3 weeks in the last mth, overseas... taiwan with family for 10 days, and thailand for another 9 with colleagues (and wifey), for work... somehow holidays feel different now, wss it because i was travelling with my mum and my baby? was it because i was traveling with colleagues (i mean seein ur colleagues everyday during a trip, and back at work the following day feels kinda wierd) ?

anyhows, been venturing more into phototaking these days, i've cut down lots on rubbish snapping, and getting more pointers from friends and books, and online albums... i'll say im slightly more focus now? slowing knowing wad kind of lenses line-up im going towards now...(HL was saying, he didn't know what he want, so he nv buy... i also dunno wad i wan yet, so i buy everything! *faint*)

i need to get my butt out to exercise.... soon... been slacking... haven't been running since.... when huh... the last time i had that serious backache.. it still comes and go now, esp if i was out the whole day with family, means i'll be carryin Jan, or bending down and chasing while she starts her occasional run (she trips all the time!), i shld start cycling again...

my house? erm... paid in full liao... but my lightings are not completely installed yet... that's juz because we keep pushing back shopping for out bedroom foyer and dining lights... anyway finally got them! now just waiting for my contractor to fnd time to install them for me... and also to check some wirings at home... my oven trips the whole house.....

finally, janielle... she's juz turned 17 mth.. walking, toddling, running now.. blabbers a lot.. we're able to maintain a decent conversation now, juz between the 2 of us... hey i really understand her! for eg, there was once she stopped me from going out of her bedroom, by gesturing and saying "er!" and pointing to her lips... i knew she wanted a gdnight kiss! (actually i din, till i squatted down and she started leaning towards my face).. cute!

and she's feeding herself, she loves that and it keeps her at the dining table.. but that'll mean that mummy gotta lay newspaper all ard her highchair and some upscale cleaning up after..

shower b4 bed

Jan seems to enjoy taking shower/ play water... actually dunno if she's ok with us washing her hair directly with the shower head or not... hehe haven't bathed her in a while...

moving along

i believe each of us needs some inspiration once in a while... to move along..

Marina Barrage

finally made our way to the latest icon of Singapore.. the Marina Barrage.. the last time i only ran passed it during the AHM last yr... quite nice to spend the evening there, but getting there was quite jialat.. dun like the waiting for the shuttle bus though.. VERY unsheltered, very hot in the late afternoon.. getting there is quite trouble some at the moment, even if u're driving there.. road is very narrow.. yb says she misses the old marina, whr there's nth but a big field to hang out, picnic or fly kites...

the best part abt it was probably the elevated grass landing which overlooks the city skyline, capturing a nice sunset.. oh and a nicely laid grass patches for Janielle to run ard quire safely!

for more photos go to my multiply account!

bedridden

almost... feel like juz sitting/lying at home all day... very unlike of me, but been having this very disturbing backache that's been bothering me since last weekend.. i was still ok at 1st, felt like a strain in the back after a couple of runs in the evenings... sth which is quite common for me.. but it became quite unbearable these 2 days that now i squirm with every little movement...(like moving my hands across the keyboard..) Janielle's wrestling out of my arms in the public is also not helping at all...

seems like a muscle strain, according to the doc.. no pain in the spine when she pressed along my spine.. gave me some muscle relaxant and pills for inflammation and pain relief.. hopefully it goes away soon.. so much things i've been looking fwd to do ever since we're starting to settle down at our new place...

photo snooping

been looking at nice photos posted by ppl all over for some time...
so awed by the colours in the pictures, the things ppl see, the moments that were being captured right there and then...

urgh... cant wait to get my 1st dSLR..!!

right now i'll juz play with my P&S and see wad it can do 1st bah...

(taken from http://www.arjunpurkayastha.com gotta give credit to this guy)

girls' nite out

for yb that is... one of her ex-classmates juz came back from the states (i think) and the group of the girls went out for a dinner... so my duty? i gotta pick Janielle up from my in-laws after work, and see throu her dinner, playtime, bedtime shower, and bedtime feed.. and finally put her in bed to slp... all by myself!

i thought it was quite a handful at 1st.. it didn't make it any better that it started to rain the moment i got out from the MRT at Hougang station.. hey.. but it went well.. Jan was quite cooperative.. on the bus journey home other than wanting to press the bell (the one beside us was the only one in the whole bus that lit up and it caught her attention), she didn't cause too much trouble.. and so we got home safely (the rain stopped!)..

i managed to take my dinner (yb cooked for me!) while Jan was playing ard in the house and coming over occasionally for an extra serving of MY dinner.. i gave her some of her leftover porridge from Hg too.. i also took a quick shower while Jan was roaming ard in the living room.. had fun playing with her too! she turning very interactive... it's like she'll pick up sth from the floor, say sth to me, then crawl over and give it to me.. =) by far most of the time she was juz "da-daa-da"-ing away... sometimes we'll hear her going "da-da-da-ah"? as if she's asking a question... haha.. quite funny... she likes peekaboo too...

expected her to be slping late actually.. coz my MIL told me she slp quite a lot in the late afternoon... waking up only at 6pm.. but surprisingly by abt 930pm, i noted that she's was already sucking on her thumb and playing with her hair (i bathed her early because she poo-ed).. i tried to cuddled her to slp on the sofa and she was just lying there comfortably, eyes closed once in a while but nv fall aslp.. then suddenly she got awake again! wriggling out of me and out of sofa.. urgh! last straw... i made milk for her, prepared her bed and put her in it.. passed her milk bottle to her, off the lights and i closed the bedroom door leaving juz her inside.. when i came back for her bottle, she was fast aslp.. yay!!

so i had the rest of the night to myself... watching tv.. surfing the net... munching on CNY goodies... wahahaha.... ShuAng....

CNY post

though we've been married for quite some time (ROM and our customary in 2007, our dinner in 2008), this is actually the 1st Lunar New Year tat yb and myself are spending as a married couple in Singapore, i.e. we do visiting as "adults"... i.e. we give ang paos.. sth else new is that we've got a place of our own so we're also doing some small scale decorations and buying new year goodies for our potential visitors.. didn't take any photos of our decorated place though... mayb i shld do so later tonight... if it's still neat and tidy... ok i'll update this post if i got new photos later on...

most of our goodies we got from our parents, the rest... we got then on new yr day... we went to chinatown after midnight with janielle... it's kinda crazy i know, with the baby in the crowd and all.. but jan was actually fast asleep while her daddy is so ever busy protecting her from the pushing crowd.. so it din bother her at all.. only occasional stirring but she falls back to slp without a problem... we also got ourselves some deco at low low prices! but by the time we're home, we're so beat that we can only put up the deco in the morning...

reunion dinner with my parents

janielle in her chongsam at yb's granny's (jan's greatgrandma)

she got some love-letters in her mouth

visiting my granduncle and grandauntie

last stop! our place...

house is (near) completed!

why i say "near" is because there's still some issues to be settled after the CNY, when their workers come back from their CNY break... like wrong windows installed, half-choked drainage, some minor concrete works and polishing...

anyway here's the "completed" house!

actually the place looks more messy than this, these were taken like day one of our shifting in.. it's been almost a week and clutters are forming everywhere!! Plus to deco and goodies for the CNY....

randomicity

renovation updates 14Jan09

went down this morning to deliver some stuffs which i bought from ikea ytd evening for the contractors to install for us.. and i took some pic! it actually doesn't look like a lot of things has been done, but well... here they are!

the console is still not covered up yet, supposed to haf glass panels.. and tinted mirror near the window.. the hole is still there for the aircon...

the wardrobe in our bedroom.. janielle has a similar one in her room, but with juz 4 panels.. the 5th is actually a small make-up dresser built into the else wasted space for the lady of the house..

the table top and hob is done!

and i also realised that the lightings in the house is done too! expected, but still surprised and nice to see them for myself!

the bedroom

the mbr toilet (shower glass panel not yet installed)

passageway to the bedrooms

the kitchen again

the dining space (supposed to haf a hanging dining light which we haf not yet bought...)

i was trying various combination of the lightings in the living area

all lights up!