Merry post-Christmas and hopefully not 2020 too

Excellent weekend! 

There weren't any concrete plans for Christmas this year because of the restrictions (therefore lazy to organise anything). The man booked us a Xmas eve high tea at Ocean restaurant though, and off we went! It was awesome and we got to meet friend who was working at RWS for a chat too, so, awesome. 

And because the kids were bugging us about swimming and coming over, I invited my uncle over for Christmas lunch. That was a frantic morning/afternoon as we paid respects to my fil and then picked up the family, came back and cooked while they swam heh. And the boy really apparently loved mac and cheese!

Ended Christmas day with bringing the naughty-py (well Treppy but he keeps biting me so I'm changing his name) to the park for his daily walk! Since I've been around dogs my entire life, I was comfortable doing that (but I think the man was visibly nervous... "got ppl!" "careful, got bike" -_-) 

Started boxing day with a puzzle hunt at Chinatown! Had quite a good time trying to figure out the puzzles. And did hair treatment after that. So that concluded the weekend. Heh heh. Hopefully the same fun weekend for this week as we welcome 2022! (Please leh don't let it be another covid year again leh)

Please be well

So we got news that my grandma had a major stroke yesterday.

It started out with a video sent to us at about 4pm, of my uncle and aunt trying to wake my grandma up on the wheelchair, and it didn't quite work. She hadn't woken up the whole day and they realised the seriousness by afternoon time and called for an ambulance to send her to the hospital. 

After two hours of checks and examination in A&E, the verdict was out: major stroke in the left half of the brain. My best guess is that it occurred during the night since she was unable to wake up since morning. We were told that her condition was critical and the entire family reached the hospital in the evening. The doctor at CGH had prepped my uncle during A&E about resuscitation measures and one of my other uncles wasn't taking too well to it. A debate started amongst the relatives on whether we should shift my grandma to SGH for "better treatment". 

Needless to say, some of them were quite agitated and I refrained from commenting, other than to usher and manage the crowd (we were in a hospital afterall). In my end, my eldest uncle made the decision(s) (for DNR also) and good for him, because he is rational and being the eldest, everyone listened to him. 

All of us left the hospital at 11ish, praying and hoping that my grandma will be strong enough to live through this, and wake up as intact as possible. :(

Tearing every now and then since yesterday whenever I thought of her in the hospital being able to sense pain but unable to wake up and see all of us. Reading a post about my grandma totally didn't help :(

And also memories of what happened to my granddad totally came rushing back when I was in the hospital the entire time, me having to call up my parents to let them know that my granddad wasn't gonna make it and all..

Just another one of those days

That I have so much work to do that it's drowning me BUT I just don't feel like starting any piece of work for the moment. And two hours later, I will probably regret that I wasted this time here and start rushing the work. :/

Work has been a little suffocating, not in the sense that I am doing OT until midnight everyday, but that you know for a fact that there are never ending tasks to complete, especially when the flags in Outlook never decreases, no matter how much work I've completed. It doesn't help that the unit is still not at full strength and my partner is about to leave us -sigh-. Anyway it's quite depressing to be the last 5 to leave office everyday, even if it was only 7plus.

In other news, reality will be when I complete my registration next Tuesday and receive my matriculation card. One more year of studies and I am really worried that the tech part is going to kill. But I will just bulldoze through the modules (whether good or bad) and hopefully get that mortarboard on my head again this time next year.

And lastly, will my brother just go and get a job already!?

And after a month, life has returned to normalcy.

It's like a lot has happened within the past one month. A month ago, I had just ended my exams, and then my granddad passed away almost immediately after that. So I haven't had much time to relax at all after the exams, and spent another week with my paternal side of the family. 

Thereafter, it was back to work and clearing the tons of stuff after 3 weeks of absence. Minor activities and suddenly it was time to fly to Europe, and 2 weeks passed by in a whirl.

And now I'm finally back and realising that I do not have to go home and study, I don't have to be at my grandma place every night. I can... go out. 

So it's been exactly one month and I can't forget the look on my grandma's face when she answered "this time quite jialat" to my uncle who came to visit just minutes before the granddad passed away. Hope you're in a better place, granddad. 

The grandparents

One stayed in the hospital for a week recovering from dengue fever, and when the grandma is finally cleared and discharged the grandpa went in 2 days later for unknown reasons. :(

The is the period where when any of the remaining grandparents is admitted, my heart will skip a beat for they are not young anymore, really. Any little misdiagnosis or non-diagnosis may possibly cost them their lives. 

How much does a sorry mean to you?

The common topic in the family is always the same: how grandma is unreasonable in her ways in terms of everything. Food hoarding (takes a bite out of everything and keeps the rest in the fridge), electricity saving (if you step away from the TV for 2 seconds, she turns off the TV. Not exaggerating.), and if I may say, rather miserly ways (always asking my cousins/relatives to eat before going over to her house - and we were not even eating out of her fridge), and the eccentricity of wanting just the perfect number of people at her house (too few people, she starts calling people and complaining that they don't care / she is bored. Too many people, she shushes everyone home.)

It was just another typical day when grandma called me on my handphone (she has memorised my number as my mum's ever since Switzerland) and knowing how loudly she talks (and my reply to her), I ran out of office to pick up the call.

Grandma called me by mum's name (no surprises there) and was surprised to hear that it's me (again, no surprises). We have also all perfected the art of just saying yes to all her questions:

Is mum working? - Yes

Does she work until 6pm? - Yes, even though that was from the past, these days she ends work at 3

She is no longer working for Ah-Poh (uncle)? - Yes.

Rationale: Even if we explain half a day to her why it is a no, she will forget in 5 minutes and the whole process just starts again. 

So this is a ranting post, you think?

No.

The only different thing about this phone call was that at the end of the call, grandma actually said: Sorry hor, to bother you.

That, is definitely a first. And it definitely negated all the earlier complaints. At that point of time, no frustration could be felt. The only feeling I can get is that of a lonely old lady trying to seek some company. And that, sank my heart some. It was an indescribable feeling.

And you know how strong the feeling is when two days after the event happened, I can still feel it as strongly.

When parents split

I was once again reminded of the consequences to a child when the parents decided on a split. The effect is horrible and I hope to never see a child change so drastically ever again. :(

原來真的是這樣

可能你們會覺得我永遠都在隨便說說，但你們不會知道沒有被認真對待，敷衍了事的行爲有多大的影響。如果每一次都有這樣的結果，一次兩次無數次過後，誰還會，誰還肯再嘗試？

唯一的好處可能就是明天又多一點時間工作。

Chinese New Year

Some hits, some misses. Kinect was fun, food was way too much, kids are always lovely, violent cousins much. 

That about all summed up the weekend, that is, Saturday to Monday. Not funny to realise that I would be back at work in less than 24 hrs. Holiday no enough!

But for one thing, I realise how old they really look suddenly, and I know that time is pressing. Pensive. 

And also, I realise how much I come to value the talking, chatting, and the lack of it all with one comment. And so I think I finally understood how important it is to me.

Gotta rot for 2 more hrs before going over to uncle's place.

Sian

The at-home-equals-not-at-home guy: 

Water plants alr? - Nope.

Boiled water? - Nope.

I might have been the only person at home and it would have been the same. And the great reluctance just to stop by for a couple of hours.

And someone else's refusal to answer to my whatsapp just toed the line, really. 

外婆也是你們的咯。

Terrible listening to the endless near vulgarities and complaints and having to do so for another day or two.

Happy Halloween~

Last day of October, short week ahead and long weekend. Sounds good, yeah. 

Except that the phlegm is still existent;

And I am [for the moment] the sole breadwinner in the house OMG? *sigh* the mental stress is building up even though I know the parent(s) will get a job eventually. But for the moment..

And that I really ought to be preparing for the presentation tomorrow. How to talk for 45 min straight, is quite a question mark to me. 

And I've learnt not to gym whilst nursing a cough. Zzz...

Random = happy

For reasons which I don't want to go into, I woke up pleasantly surprised to find mom at home. And it has been forever since we sat down in the kitchen on a Saturday (with the pig in the room) to breakfast. I totally missed the feeling! And I sprouted a random suggestion (ok, it wasn't that random after all, I needed to grab something from office) and they gamely accepted and that was how I rallied my family to go Holland Village for lunch and end up at NIKE for some awesome discounts! Discount on discount: 700 bucks to 300 bucks. :))))

Visited ALOT of places today that I wouldn't have gone on a normal day.. West Coast Plaza, HV on a Saturday, Vista Point (I know, ?!?!) But it was good fun and I wish I have more of such days!!

I'm sorry

It's probably been AGES since I last blogged 3 times in a day (or was it never?) but I guess all I want to say is, sorry that I did what I just did and perhaps what used to happen was to give slight hope to one party while irritating the other party. But from now on, hopefully the other party feel out of sight, out of mind and whilst we may be friends, I must protect my family. 

Move on bah!

The cutest lil' Janelle

She prolly is going to be a very difficult girl for her bf when she grows up in the future.. Knows what she wants, knows what to do to get it! 

Evidence: the fact that everyone was cuddling over her when kor kor accidentally knocked her head - but still she didn't relent and headed straight to her mum for a fresh spate of tears the moment this part ended. 

Us: If we had played and knocked ourselves last time, we prolly would have gotten a scolding from our parents.

Janelle: knocked her head and had 3 aunts coo-ing over her not-really-existent bump on the head.

The power of Janelle. :))

CNY day 2

Started off with one lousy conversation that leaves me feeling very pissed off at a couple of those relatives. But nvm, because today is another great day and I am going to win back some $!! LOL. Had a lot of fun yesterday and fun photos.. :))

Janelle hunting part 2 starts today!

CNY Eve

Ok, I have a good 2 hrs (more) to while away before 赤壁 starts. Hurray to the start of a super uber long weekend!!! 

Ok that someone is drinking again. Grrr. 

That aside, had a good half day @ work today and #2 is back and thus email is flooded again! But didn't appreciate the arrows which came.. Zzz..

Rushed off to hv lunch at Bedok Point after work and I took a (supposedly) leisure walk to Grandma hse for reunion dinner. Turns out to be quite a fair bit of work cuz of the high heels!! But memories.. when I pass by the route. Like TJ swimming lessons. And the same route which I took a few yrs back.

But the new year is about having a fresh start and forgetting the past! Have a good one, y'all!

Coincidental meet

Met my 三伯母 at the clinic just now. Apparently same symptoms of sore throat but she's worse off cuz she can't even speak without difficulty. Got a little update about 三伯 and started to shake my head.. Haiz. A leopard never changes its spots eh. I guess people don't really repent until it's often too late. Just like 大伯。

Kinda sad that things have evolved until such. How hopeless can it be when your daughter and wife choose to give up on you?

Kena condemned liao loh

Yesterday, I got condemned @ my ah ma hse.

First my uncle didn’t tell my ah ma that I'll be going there for dinner (or so she said). So when I reached, I think she was quite (*#$# to know that I was gonna eat dinner (read: her food) there. Subsequently, I took rice using a bowl and started eating. My student arrived before time so I brought the student in first to get him started. 

In the midst of it all, my uncle came in and said I used the wrong bowl (!?!?) cuz that's HIS bowl - and that my ah ma was grumbling away. 

When my student left, I went to let August out of the room, only to earn a "who put the dog there in the first place!?" very obviously directed at me.

-.-" I'm already in my ah ma's version of hell.

Of family

Randomly thought about what neighbor said yesterday, and randomly thought about what happened on Sat night when we were about to go back home.

Probably for the first time I felt that my bro and I are REALLY similar in character. AHAHA. :P

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Keys, returned.

No need to:

1) Bathe the dog!

2) Clear up the mess in the house

3) Get holes dug for no reason and me jumping in unknowingly

4) Stress over the car!

5) Take lessons from his students

Relief.. :)