Our Life Stories: August 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Bali Escapade: On Flight

So we are finally good to go. After Fred signed his employment agreement, we surfed the net & made air & hotel bookings on Mon night (thanks to this age of the internet & global connectivity). I went off to work looking like a zombie on Tues & zipped home in the evening, packed, laid my head on the pillow & got up at 6.30 am today (Wed).

We caught a train to the airport which took less than half an hour. No hassle, no sardine-packed cabins as the morning crowd has just started. Not complaining man! Half an hour's journey from heart of London to Heathrow would have been a dream!

Grabbed a book before boarding, which I predict I may not flip beyond page 10 this vacation since Fred is looking forward to 'activities'. When we were in Hanoi years ago, I wanted to find a cafe, sit & read after our sightseeing. He disapproved of such laid-back behavior. Ha!

This SQ crew is up to expectations, i.e. excellent. It can be tough living up to one's brand name. My nasi lemak smells good. Unfortunately, I always feel queasy in my stomach once I am in mid air. Fortunately, the nice Indian lady beside me doesn't fight for elbow space.

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Aftershock for me

There were numerous moments in the movie when I wept. I thought about myself. My heart wrenching experiences. Thought about grief & loss. Thought about what a family means to me. I watched also from a psychological point of view. This movie's characters make for rich case studies of PTSD, death, grief, adoption, attachment, reconciliation. It's quite amazing almost every adverse & arduous emotion that a human person could ever endure was so skilfully compressed into one tale and artfully portrayed by each individual cast member. I felt like I knew the characters in the movie. I felt I could have spoken to them, like they were my friends.

Just a few days before I had planned to watch the movie, my sister sent me a text message saying I ought to watch it. Of course, now, I know why she said that. At this stage in my life, I am contemplating hard on my existing family ties and questioning myself what the future may hold. I wish to escape some major life decisions I now have to make. But every day I live & breathe, I am confronted by what my heart desires & what my soul bares to my self. In the deepest recesses, in the core of my being, I scrutinize my values & ask what is a meaningful life to me? What purpose can I die for? Or less dramatically, live for?

Aftershock for me is about making choices. Once again in my life, I make my own choices & live by them, for good & for bad. Because there are some choices which are neither all good or all bad. It is perhaps a matter of the least regrets, for we all do live with our own private 'what if' & 'if only'.

Spanish Chicken, Curry Chicken, Chorizo & NDP

Preparing the ingredients to make Jamie Oliver's Spanish Roast Chicken.

Stuffed my hot lemon into the chicken with parsley stalks... this is the challenging part because the lemon was HOT & the bird was slippery.

Making gremolata.

My Pride of the Night. Gremolata, chorizo & potatoes with chicken.

Mom's grilled prawns turning out good.

Mom's awesome curry chicken. Potent!

Colourful capsicums. Yeah, us a family of capsicum lovers.

Tristan's pouting his lips for PoPo's yummilicious mee hoon.

Tristan's self-choreographed ND dance (with lightsticks) & Ash's DS (Littlest Petshop: Country Friends)

Brought some light sticks over to amuse the kids after National Day dinner. Tris was happy to oblige but Ash wasn't into this elementary stuff anymore. She's more sophisticated now. Having gone into DS games.

I bought her 'Littlest Petshop: Country Friends' for her 8th birthday. She gets to pick a present from me every year. This year, she was able to snap a photo with her handphone & send an SMS to me & inform me politely about the cost, which of course I wouldn't say 'no' to my beloved niece. Again of course, I have no clue what the game is about, being totally out of tune with the Generation Z (???). The way I see it - just little cutie colourful creatures jumping about on a small screen. But Ash is pretty serious & intense when she plays.

Here's Tris cracking me up with his antics with the lightsticks, which ultimately culminated into a self-choreographed dance to the tune of 'This is Home Truly'. Mind you, with a proper little closing pose (Watch home video for that outstanding moment of self-expression & creativity)!

The Fullerton Bay Hotel is a Charmer!

http://www.thelifeofluxury.com/the-fullerton-bay-hotel-singapore/

http://www.fullertonbayhotel.com/

The pictures below will speak for themselves...

Marina Bay bathed in Colours of the Night: Wowed twice over!

The year Singapore hosts the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. I am not much of a sports fan (never in my life sat through a soccer match live or on TV) but I can watch the Singapore paddlers.

Dine by the harbour

Customs House touted as the new swish dining spot owing to its fantastic bay views (I am personally interested in the oyster bar, ha! u guessed it). I am also very fond of the vertical garden on its wall. I am beginning to take an interest in vertical gardening.

Found this blog by local gardening enthusiast.

http://gardeningwithwilson.com/2009/03/29/vertical-gardening-feature-on-straits-times-life/