Gosh

Gosh.... 12 years just went by just like that...

Tricia's 25 Random Things

Was trying to sleep last nite by reading archived posts on fb and I came accross a post by my wife, tricia..

its juz so her... nothing has changed from the very first day i knew her :-)



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25 random things about myselfby Tricia Poh on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 8:03pm

1. I was figuring out how to write this note on fb.. so i wil save it as a draft first before i publish it.

2. I need to spell check and make sure it is good enough to be read... there's a part of me that wants to be a perfectionist... however I don't have the perserverance to be perfect. So be prepared to find errors here ... as I am playing with the little one while writing these random things...

3. I have never felt life has so much to look forward to until I have found my husband and of coz after having my little one, I love life even more.

4. I once did a online survey to find out what type of mum I am and the survey shows that I am suppose to be a stay at home mum... Wow! That is so not me....Hence, I think surveys on fb is so not true...

5. I love motherhood but at the same time I enjoy chilling out with friends over weekneds..

6. I am now wondering if I could just stop at point 6 and go to bed. ok that's wasting one line and sometimes i enjoy wasting a thing or 2.

7. I sleep very early on weekdays, coz of my job... I need to get up as early as 6.15 am every morning.

8. I feel generally depress every morning when I wake up... Who would feel happy waking up so early...I would ask my hubby if he could make a U turn and go home instead of work.

9. I am like Calista Flockhart in Ally Mcbeal, songs play in my head and I am neurotic at times. N no! I don't see dancing babies, coz i already have one dancing baby..

10. N toking about songs playin in my head, I will play the song "I can be so happy" every Friday evening when I go home. Its my way of worshipping TGIF.

11.Oh my god, I thought I wrote a lot already, and I am still at point 11. Kudos to those who can reach 25 and i will salute myself when i reach pt 25. Ask my daughter to salute to me, since no one would...

12. I love Jason Hahn.. he's my favourite columnist..I a fan of his...where to find him... 8 days last page.

13. I am a 8 days fan. I love everything and anything on 8 days...

14. I enjoy watching movies on the big screen and i must have lotsa leg room... oh pop corn and coke are must haves.

15. I am a coke addict... Coke never fails to perk me up on my Mondays, Tuesdays, Weds, Thurs...okay Friday is the onli day i dun ned coke... tis how depressing my week can be..

16. I am a time keeper. I can't stand people who don't keep to time. I believe time is precious. I use to keep to deadlines strictly... After having Janae, keeping ro deadlines is so difficult, but I still try.

17. I believe strongly that life is not measured in minutes but in moments.

18. Well if you are wondering where that comes from, its from Benjamin Button.

19. I am a movie addict. I will remember the lines from my favourite movie... like "I see dead people." now ... where did that come from...

20. I don't have many vices except oogling at hunks and acting like a bimbo.. or am I a bimbo? hahaha

21. I believe that things happen for a reason and that god always wants the best for us.

22. I still believe I can lose some weight... will not lost hope in that.

23. OH how to lose wt when I love food. I love pasta most. Everytime I can't think of anything to eat, i will think of going to Prego.

24. I am Ms Contradictory, some know me as Dr Jekyll, others know me as Ms Hyde...

25. I am so going to salute myself, no Ah Ger, quick salute to Mummy coz she has finally reach 25 and mummy is coming to play with you!YAY! :) so proud of myself.

Eulogy - My Beloved Granny

Today, we are all gathered to send a great lady off on her journey to be with the Lord.

She was a mother, a granny, a great grandma and a friend to all seated here today. I am sure most of us here would have something to share on how my granny touched your lives in her many little ways.


In her early years, she married into a pretty comfortable life, my granddad was from a well to do family and I even understand that he played the violin pretty well. It must have been romantic then. But as years went by, they fell into difficult times. The family business failed. My granny had to work in a shoe factory to support the family. She was the sole breadwinner and my granddad would be looking after the kids (my dad and uncles) at home. She was definitely one thrifty lady too. She would walk 2 miles a day just to save a few cents of bus fare. And mind you , its a hill that she had to climb everyday.

Her life got a little better when her sons got married. That did not mean that she took things easy. My granny was deeply involved in the raising up of all her grandchildren. During my my mum's confinement, she would personally rear 40-50 cornfed chickens. One each day for mum's confinement food. And yes, not forgetting the chubi xiu (rice wine) that all her daughters-in-law would definitely remember. I was told by mum yesterday she even had a special way of checking if her grandchildren were full during meal times. She would touch our little tummys to feel the size. If its big enough, she would go "hor liao, jiak pa liao" (enough already, he is full).

Like most women, Popo was also very particular about her appearance. She would always do a QC check on the photographs we took of her. "Shui bo, tao meng wu ran bo?" (pretty? Is my hair messy?) She would make us delete the photographs if they did not pass her expectations.

Popo's memory was also legendary! She would tell the exact same story over and over again. Not missing any minute details.

Her hobbies? That definitely must be Bei Peow (4 D). She would find every opportunity to get us to pick lucky numbers during special occasions like weddings and birthdays. And thats not all, she would broadcast the numbers to everyone around. "Ai Buay ar, ta lang teok ar" (must buy, everyone stike lottery)

I am definitely going to miss her $4 ang bao for my birthdays. She would give all her grandchildren an ang bao to buy duck drumsticks. Her great- grandchildren would also be missing her Yakults and Biscuits. Right up to her last few days, she still made sure her great-granddaughter , Janae recieved her box of biscuits.

Confucious describe a virtuous woman as one who practises the San Cong Si De. My granny was more than that. A responsible and caring mother who single handledly raised her 4 children. A doting granny who looked after avery grandchild. A hardworking Hakka woman who led a simple and frugal life. A self sacrificing woman who was unafraid of hardship and placed her family above herself. Most of all, a devout Catholic who kept her faith till the end.

Popo, thank you for all these beautiful memories. You will always have a special place in our hearts.

We will love you always.

25 Random Things

I was reading an article that an estimated 5 million of these notes have appeared within the past few weeks. Assuming it takes someone 20 minutes to come up with their list, this recent bout of viral narcissism has sent roughly 1,600,000 hours of worktime productivity down the drain. This probably could explain why our global economy is in such a state today.

Initially I thought I would definitely have better things to do with my time instead of creating this list. But considering the alternative of spending the next few minutes reading a barrage of depressing news on banks nationalization, near collapse of Eastern Europe economies and various reasons put forth by so-called experts for the constant vaporization of my equities, I decided that investing some time on this could yield some better returns, a refreshing 20 minutes escapade.

There is really nothing much to write about myself, I am just a simple man. A more interesting read would be 25 not so random things of my little gal, so here goes…

1. Her name is Janae Woon En, pronounced as ja-NAY. Yea, her parents know that her future teachers would find it difficult to pronounce her name, but they went ahead anyway? Well, Janae is a hebrew name which meant “God has answered”… hmmmm… her mum must have been pestering God quite a bit er??

2. The announcement of her existence was done across 2,555km. Her dad was in Macau for a weekend conference when her panicky mum back in Singapore was wondering if it was a false alarm. It was indeed a longest 3 hours flight back home…

3. The supposedly simple hello to the gynaecologist turned out to be a week long nightmare. Janae was nowhere to be found in her mum’s womb. After a week long of different tests and a $2k bill, she finally decided to appear in the ultrasound scan. Because of this initial scare, her dad even made a pact with God that he would serve him as a church warden or something if everything turned out fine… her dad is still working out the minute details with God at press time….

4. Her Mum’s gynaecologist was a famous one and needless to say, an expensive one. Visits to the clinic would almost guarantee a 1 hour wait, but occasionally you would be treated with scenes from the movie ‘Superman’… have you ever seen an old man rushing to operating theater?

5. Janae started on drugs 6 months before she arrived to this world. Her daily intake of the $2.50 pill (fish oil or something), which was specially imported from the US. It was supposed to make her smarter and to quicken her motor skills development. Her parents being kia su parents, decided to give her an early headstart in life…

6. She decided to be difficult a few days before her projected arrival date. It was recommended that she should arrive via the Cesarean delivery instead of the intended natural delivery.. which also meant that the ‘old superman’ would not need to do his act in the middle of the night or something… anyway, a consolation was that her parents could choose the date… 20.07.2007

7. She was born a leader. She led the orchestra the minute she was wheeled into a otherwise quiet nursery room at Gleneagles.

8. And the torture began..… she needed milk every 2 hours, a change of diapers every 3 hours and she would mix up her nights for days and days for nights… the word ‘sleep’ simply disappeared from her parents’ dictionaries.

9. Her first smile simply melted her dad’s heart…

10. Janae was baptized on the 7th October 2008 at the Church of the Risen Christ. She had to don a little pink ribbon to show that she was a little gal. she had very little hair then..

11. She was a slave driver and well, she still is. Her first maid tendered her resignation after 6 months. She simply could not handle the stress….

12. Janae took on to her 2nd and present ‘social butterfly’ maid pretty well… to the extend of taking up her equally crankily jovial character… sigh..

13. One of her first words was ‘dada’… and simply refused to call ‘mama’ despite much prompting.. there is definitely a stubborn streak in her… her dad thinks it must have come from her mum…

14. She gave the car seat a pass. So much so, that the poor maid and her have to duck down at the sight of a traffic policeman.

15. Her 1st birthday party was held at Go-Go-Bambimi at Dempsy where she was treated like a little princess and not to mention, she had first tattoo there as well.

16. She started to hug little boys (only boys) one fine day. She is pretty selective these days, only handsome ones qualify.

17. Her mum registered her to St James Kindergarten 2 years in advance. And yes, the place is crawling with handsome little Caucasian boys..

18. Her parents watched in horror when she started to dance to her Ah Gong’s hokkien songs. These days, she even selects the hokkien songs she wants to listen to.

19. She would ‘ah bu jair’ her uncle Ed every now and then. And she would just place her hand on her head whenever her dad prompts her to ‘salute’.

20. She would only leave her maid to do her work in peace unless Barney or Dora was being played on TV. Once in a while, she would start dancing to the tune of ‘I am a map, I am a map I am a map’.

21. Recently, she is a proud owner of not 1 but 2 motorized bikes!

22. She would go gaga over dogs and of course, over cute little boys, while strolling along the beach.

23. She started to recite ‘12345678910’ not too long ago.

24. Yesterday nite, she started to ‘ssshhhhhhhhh’ her mum for talking too loud while her dad was happily in slumberland.

25. She is indeed an adorable little lady who could do no wrong in her dad’s eyes.

My Princess' 1st Birthday Party

What a year it has been....

Can still remember vividly waiting outside the operation room for Janae's arrival into this world just 12 months back.. silly thoughts were regularly tickling my mind... 'will she be normal?", " will she cry?", "will she be this will she be that"... . Well it turned out that Janae was the noisiest amongst them all in the nursery that day... :-)

Looking at her immersing herself in the party games and bonding with the other kids today, I just realized how much she has grown over the year.. from a 3.34kg petite little bundle who would only cry whenever its time for milk and a diaper change..... to a 10kg little girl who would sway to the music and hug her little buddies when prompted to...

http://picasaweb.google.com/jeremiahwoon/2008_07_20JanaeBirthday?authkey=KJ_Hv9bzVgM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94vbjTVqHbM

Like Father Like Daughter

Does'nt my girl juz look like me? :-)

Time really flies, Janae is now 8 months old...

She is beginning to torture her mother and me... juz cant get her to sit still.. sighh

Bad Hair Days

Meaning
A day on which one's hair seems unmanagable. Also extended to mean a day when everything seems to go wrong.

Origin
This first came into prominence in the language following its use in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

My Little girl's very own bad hair days...

She is going to hate me for putting this up in years to come....