Awards

Swimming was a big thing for me when i was growing up. We went swimming almost every weekend at various places because my dad went to play golf.

And then i joined the lifesaving society in my secondary school which really involved training for those certifications and then training the juniors.


During school holidays, it was basically training junior from 8am to 12pm and then our own training from 2pm to 5pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Pretty crazy if you ask me now.


Below are the badges i found when i was clearing my stuff.




Oddly enough, the toughest and last certification that i went for is the one called "Award of Merit". This is the name of the award. There's no Award of Distinction or whatever. Just Award of Merit. Silly name really. Makes people think that i achieved second best.

Toiletries

I have posted a couple of times the toiletries I take back from the hotels I stay at.

At my new place, they'll all be in one drawer, categorised under shampoo, body wash, body lotion, hair conditioner and miscellaneous.

Which tie?

Which ties should i bring to China on this trip?

New Car

I feel like buying a new car.

Slumped

We had a couple of groups of friends over the other day. For the first time in my life, the first thing i did when i woke up was to mop the house. Twice. That wasnt that tiring. Then after they left, we had to mop it twice again and then wash the dishes as well. That was tiring after a long day. It was then that i realised first hand the hassle of having people over and the amount of effort put in. I immediately called my mum up and told her how much i appreciated her. Haha. In an "i-told-you-so" tone, she said, "Now then you know la!". Haha.

Groceries

Ever since we moved in, there has been a huge need to buy groceries. Tons of it. Like how i tell some people, we arent simply moving in but starting up a new place afresh. So there're a lot of mundane stuff to buy like mops, pails, tomatoe ketchup and pots and pans. You know you're turning domesticated (not that it's a bad thing) when you derive such joy and excitement when you find out that the basket can be latched onto the trolley. On top of that, we had some friends over and then it was buying a buttload of nuggets, fishballs, etc. I actually wasnt intending to cook a lot at home, even though we bought quite a number of gadgets to cook, like a steaming oven costing a whopping $900 and an airfryer. But it seemed like someone had other ideas. So the first real meal she made was hainanese chicken rice. I wasnt sure if it was an homage to my roots, or it was because I liked chicken. But there you go - our first home cooked meal:

New Toy

I havent bought a new toy for some time now, with much of the focus being moving in recently. Bought this the other day at the one-day Apple sale. Im also reading Steve Jobs' biography.

Other than being the genius that everyone says he is, he's one weird ass who only bathed once a week and walked around barefooted during the early days of Apple. WEEEEIRDO. For a moment, just for a moment, I felt a little bad stiffing him using a machine that he built.

Serapong

Through an invitation of a friend, I played at the Serapong course at Sentosa Golf Club. I wasnt too keen at first because my game hasnt been that good of late and it was a little steep to pay $300 for a lousy game. I did anyway. At Sentosa, just as at SICC previously, the facilities are of course much more comprehensive than the lousy ass malaysian clubs i play at. Check this out: they even have towels, water and tees for you. All in a nicely smooth electric buggy. The weather was quite good that day.

Moving Out

The previous post was about moving in. This is moving out. Moving in is much much easier than moving out. I think it would have been the other way round with much of the pain being packing and carrying, etc. I had thought that i'd transition to moving out, alternating between my old and new homes. But when i moved some essential stuff out like my pillows and toothbrush, i realised that logistically speaking, i couldnt stay at home already. I thought moving out would be some sort of an event in my mind. It'd be an mental and emotional decision whereby i say to myself that after i leave today, I am not coming back to sleep anymore. It was an oddly tough decision. I actually wasnt sure how my mum would take it but she seemed fine and nonchalent though im not so sure how she felt inside. So there i went. Moving out of my house carrying my bolster and feeling a tinge of sadness. That, indeed, was far tougher than moving in.

Moving In

We put in the final touches of the apartment before moving in. On the last day of touching up, at some point in the house, there was the people fixing the doors, curtain fixers, kitchen cabinet fixers, carpenter, amplifier setting person as well as window fixers. I had no where to sit and i just stood there and took pictures. It was pretty insane. Here's the curtain person laying down her wares: Amplifier man laying the cables for me and doing the settings: I spaced out my moving cos there were just so many things. First batch was like this: