Category Archives: Life

2015 Week 40 Update

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I stayed at home for the first two days of the week and went back to work after nearly 10 days. Felt like I was going back after a holiday!

I’ve decided to seriously start looking for a new position and in the meantime give my all here. I want them to seriously miss me when I leave….

On Monday, after lunch, I started having so much problems with my company issued laptop, so much that I was unable to send or receive emails. Apparently, my laptop no longer has space in the hard disk and this is a new laptop, which was issued to me less than six months back! The zinger is that because I had a similar problem in my previous laptop, I transferred all files into an external drive and so other than some random files in the desktop, there is nothing I have saved here…..

Since I was working from home, I could only take it to our IT on Wednesday. Turned out that it was actually not that big a problem. When the technician who took my call on Monday did something to my laptop’s email application, he didn’t delete the old stuff which resulted in all the problems I was having!

On Tuesday after the final PSLE paper ended, we decided to go to the library as BB & GG had not borrowed books in a while. What made this trip to the library special was that the National Library Board was celebrating 20 years this year and decided to let everyone borrow 20 books per card! We’re in book heaven now after borrowing loads of books! Happy 20th Birthday NLB! Also did some other non-clothes shopping. The kids had friends over our home on Friday. They’ve known these friends forever! They are also a pair of boy/girl twins like BB & GG, just a couple of months older. They used to stay in the same estate as us, in the opposite building. We met when BB & GG were around a year old and they’ve been playing together since then. It’s so much fun to see them grow together…

Then I made it a shopping day on Sunday! The three of us (S had to go to a temple with his mom, so joined us later) left home around 10ish and went to a few malls to have lunch and shop! It was great fun now that the kids are older. We should do this more often. We had dinner at our regular restaurant near our place and came home tired but happy 🙂

Tween/Teen Angst: An Episode

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As BB & GG are completing a phase in life and moving on to Secondary school, this brings to my mind that they are not children anymore. They are on the brink of being teens, mini adults, complete with the tears and tantrums that go with it.

Last week on Friday, as we were celebrating being halfway down to the end of the PSLE exams, my helper told both of them that the day after their exams end, they need to start clearing their rooms and putting away books and toys. They should also go through unwanted books and toys and sort them into two piles – to throw and to donate. GG looked up and said she can’t do that as she is going for a movie with a friend. Well, this was news to me and I said so!

That started a flood of tears and shouts about how she is not a baby anymore and that I don’t allow her to go out on her own to see movies with her friends. Actually, that is not 100% true. I have allowed her to go out twice with her friends, once though with an adult present. But it’s this ‘new’ friend that I am a bit leery about. For some reason, based on the Whatsapp conversations I’ve seen between her and GG and the limited interactions I’ve had with that girl, my mind tingles and I feel something off-kilter! I’ve learnt to listen to my intuition and so decided to be firm here. My helper also said she didn’t like the girl and also that she felt something off….

After a lot of tantrums and crying, GG gave in when I explained my reasons. But she still is most probably going to get her way. She has now decided to go see a movie with two friends from Hindi school. I’ve told her, I need to see evidence of parental consent from both girls before I allow. Also I will send BB as well so that both can then come home together after the movie!

BB & GG have a list of movies they want to see – after this above movie, they have another movie this week with their tuiton teacher and one with us also!

Well, they’ve finished their big exams and deserve this bit of fun and games before they start a new life journey.

As a parent, I need to start adjusting to the fact that they are growing up and I need to loosen the apron strings —- a lot more than I am comfortable with 😦

2015 Week 39 Update

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Another boring week where I worked on a bit of work-stuff and mostly on our post-PSLE trip!

I’ve also realised that there is no place for me in this organisation, atleast in the role I envision for myself. Thus the only alternative is to leave. The two days I am home this week and also moving on, I’ve decided to work on my CV more and start applying. Hopefully I will get something in my hands before my contract is due for renewal in the first quarter of 2016….

The rest of the week was mostly stressing over the PSLE exams and helping BB & GG with their work. Today is the penultimate paper and tomorrow is the last one…Then freedom for GG & BB!

After that, the worrying about the results start….Hopefully they do well enough that they get to choose their schools and not let the schools choose them. Meaning they do well enough that they have enough points to have choices rather than restrict options to schools that will take them in 😦

2015 Week 38 Update

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Boring….Boring…Boring!

This is my week in a word! Like I mentioned before, I don’t have any work to do, especially these weeks while I am working from home. So to keep myself busy, what I did the past two weeks (in between small bursts of work), was working on my blogs and planning for our trip during the PSLE marking week.

The haze was another topic this week, with the PSI (Pollution Standard Index) going beyond 300 which is in the hazardous range last week, especially during the Hari Raya Public Holiday which made the education ministry declare schools to be closed on Friday! After that day, the PSI index has been between 100 – 200 with some bursts of below 100…We all hope this sustains itself till the end of all exams!

The PSLE exams start this week. I’m torn – in a way I’m glad it’s finally going to get over, but on the other hand, wish we could have more time….

Please pray for us that we get through this first major exams well….

Have a great Monday folks!

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Unworldly Encounters and Superstitions

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Lately in this micro blogging site I frequent, I’ve seen many people post their ghostly encounters – maybe it’s happened to them, or they’ve heard it from someone else.
I’ve noticed that in Southeast Asia, people tend to believe in the ‘otherwordly’ encounters more. Yes, India has a ‘glorious tradition’ of ghost stories, but somehow, most people I know usually brush them aside.

Another thing is that, even though I am highly spiritual and believe in a pure higher energy, somehow, I am not as much a believer of ghosts as I think I should be. When I read these stories, I am torn between believing them and being extremely skeptical!

I remember this time, when I was in college; a friend of mine introduced us to Planchet. For those who don’t know what it is, Planchet is a way you call spirits to answer your questions. You write all the letters of the alphabet plus numbers from one to 10 on a sheet of paper and then using a coin, call the spirit. This could be any wandering spirit or a specific one. Then one by one, everyone asks the spirit questions, who answer it by moving from one coin to another. Once you are finished, you thank the spirit and ask it to leave. The spirit leaves by moving the coin to the outside of the sheet.

We started doing this at my place a few times and then one of us (I forget who at this point) had the brainwave to call my late aunt. When she came, we asked questions and then when it was time to leave, she refused to go. We got real scared and then had to call my mum to ask her to get the spirit to leave. Till date, I am not sure if there really was the spirit of my late aunt or was it one of us who were manipulating the coin? After that day, I refused to do any more of Planchet.

In my part of the world aka Southeast Asia, lots of people believe in the existence of spirits, especially in public places like hotels. From what I’ve read, here is what you should do when you go to new places aka hotels:

  1. Knock before you enter the room: This shows courtesy and manners to the ‘anyone in the room’. Apparently this is to let them know someone is coming in so that they leave the room.
  2. Avoid corner rooms: Apparently ‘otherworldly people’ like to be in these empty rooms and so try to avoid staying in such rooms.
  3. Let there be light: As soon as you enter the room, open the curtains and switch on all lights. This is to brighten the room and dispel darkness. If you come in after it’s dark, switching on the lights will do the trick.
  4. Occupy all beds: If you are a single traveler, try to get a room with a single bed. If that’s not possible, then use the second bed to keep your things. An empty bed signals an invitation for ‘someone’ to use it while you are in the room.
  5. Don’t touch any religious book if it’s open to a specific page: Apparently this indicates a presence in the room and the religious book open at a specific page indicates protection to the room.
  6. Flush the toilet before you use it for the first time: The idea is to dispel any negative energy in the room that was there before you came in.
  7. Don’t sleep facing mirrors: A bit difficult in hotels and especially if you move a lot at night. This belief is based on the fact that good luck will be reflected out when you sleep facing mirrors.
  8. Place shoes facing opposite directions: This is to confuse any spirits in the room who can locate you based on the direction of your shoes.
  9. Avoid the number 4: The Chinese believe that the number 4 sounds like death, so they avoid rooms and floors with this number. Some hotels in the region do not have the 4th floor or rooms ending in 4!
  10. Leave a light on while sleeping: This is to keep spirits away as they are discouraged by lights. So leave a small light – maybe a toilet light or a night light when sleeping.

These are some of the common superstitions here in Southeast Asia, especially when it comes to hotels. I’d love to hear any others that you may have encountered! Do share….