In My Hands Today…

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

18619684Audrey Niffenegger’s dazzling debut is the story of Clare, a beautiful, strong-minded art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one.

Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: his genetic clock randomly resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past, and future. His disappearances are spontaneous and unpredictable, and lend a spectacular urgency to Clare and Henry’s unconventional love story.

That their attempt to live normal lives together is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control makes their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

2017 Week 21 Update

For some reason, this week felt it went very fast. I just feel that Monday just went by and here we are with another Monday! Also this month of May comes to an end this week and we’ll be in month six of the year! Wow! 2017, please do slow down a bit. 

Nothing much happened this week. I went for my three month HbA1C test and for the first time since I was diagnosed with diabetes, my count was in the optimal range. I am slightly over the ideal range, which is my target for the next test. This happened because I started walking very seriously and have consistently hit 15,000 steps a day during the week and 10,000 steps a days over the weekends and holidays. Now I need to ensure I am consistent in walking and also eating well so I can drop down to the ideal range!

This was my big news of the week. I am hoping for more good news this week, so please send some good vibes my way, if you can!

Secondary 2 Week 21 Update

The holidays are here! School ended and the holidays started officially yesterday and will go on till 26 June. They get an extra day this year since Hari Raya Puasa or Ramzan Id is on 26 June which is a public holiday in Singapore. 

We had parent teacher meetings for both of them on Friday and the comments from their teachers could not be different. 

First BB’s report. Except for Maths, he didn’t do well in other subjects. We spoke with his form teachers who teach him Science and English and they said he is quite talkative in class. This actually came as a surprise to me as he is fairly quiet at home. But apparently either he is talking with his friends or someone is talking to him and so he feels obligated to respond. He is also quite messy and disorganised, which I agree with and who can forget comments about his handwriting! His teachers mentioned that the O level papers are not marked in Singapore and unless his writing improves, the marker may not spend time trying to understand what he is trying to say. So that’s my project for the holidays. 

Now to GG. She has gotten very positive remarks from all her teachers as her school allows us to consult individual subject teachers unlike BB’s school. One of her teachers called her ‘an angel’ and all very very appreciative of her work ethic and attitude in school. They were very supportive of her ambition to do something in mass communication as they also felt it was something she would do well, given her love for the humanities as well as her strong grasp of the English language and her skills in writing and speaking. She needs to work on Science as that seems to be her weakest subject and I am quite seriously considering if I should start them both for tuition in the subject. 

This was our week, which somehow seemed to fly. This week, both have school, but on different days so I’ll have each one at home, maybe time for some 1-1 with them. 

In My Hands Today…

The Other Side of Midnight – Simone St. James

22467404London, 1925. Glamorous medium Gloria Sutter made her fortune helping the bereaved contact loved ones killed during the Great War. Now she’s been murdered at one of her own séances, after leaving a message requesting the help of her former friend and sole rival, Ellie Winter.

Ellie doesn’t contact the dead—at least, not anymore. She specializes in miraculously finding lost items. Still, she can’t refuse the final request of the only other true psychic she has known. Now Ellie must delve into Gloria’s secrets and plunge back into the world of hucksters, lowlifes, and fakes. Worse, she cannot shake the attentions of handsome James Hawley, a damaged war veteran who has dedicated himself to debunking psychics.

As Ellie and James uncover the sinister mysteries of Gloria’s life and death, Ellie is tormented by nightmarish visions that herald the grisly murders of those in Gloria’s circle. And as Ellie’s uneasy partnership with James turns dangerously intimate, an insidious evil force begins to undermine their quest for clues, a force determined to bury the truth, and whoever seeks to expose it…

Poem: By the Sea

I’ve always been fascinated by the sea. I’ve always lived in seaside cities, but unfortunately never actually lived next to the sea. I can look at the sea for hours, the waves crashing into the shore. These lines are inspired by that fascination and the hope that someday I will get my wish for a home next to the sea.

By the Sea

 

Watching the waves crashing on the shore,

Watching the sea spend her debris at our door.

I wonder what lies at her shores, what riches she stores?

She is mercurial in her moods, she is the nurturer to multitudes;

She is calm as a mirror, she is blue, green and azure

When she gets angry, she is tempestuous and boisterous

She is stormy, she is antsy, sometimes screaming like a banshee

She is the source of quiet contemplation, she is my way of relaxation.

I just wish I can watch her forever, but life is not choosy,

My dearest wish is to have a little house by the sea!