A tiring start to 2023

I think it is a good time to blog about the past 70 days. Since I am tired, exhausted, spent… sick at home and need to rant. 

“Singapore to exit acute phase of pandemic” – MOH

 

Life suddenly plunges back to normal. And OMG do I dislike normal… 

 

Work from home is no longer the norm. The forgotten yet familiar stench of tired humans on commute launches its return assault like a persistent ghost, bestir nauseous memories as if they are worth remembering. Shoes permanently soak by daily torrents reminds of the miserable human condition: to suffer in silence with wet socks, wrinkled feet in cold damn damp office. 

 

Office moves to Cecil Street.

 

CEO says designing and renovating your own office is the worst job ever because everyone has something to say and no one is truly happy with everything. Hence, like many shitty projects, it ends up on my plate, testament of his beliefs that I am blind + deaf to needs of the masses and the multitude of first world problems would likely prove entertaining to my practiced dispassion. 

 

My undisturbed state of mind, to my surprise, is easily shaken by a small problem called Defects. Defects - something I could easily photoshop away during Covid, now, physically staring at me for a solution. Staff physically staring at me for a solution. Contractors physically staring at me for a solution. URGH…… Humans and problems, WALK AWAY…… I miss Covid already. 

 

TwoSetViolin

 

What bizarre fate would drive me to click on a classical violin channel when everyone who knows me can attest 92.4 FM gives me a migraine. 

 

Maybe Brett and Eddy (plus Uncle Roger) are too funny. Throw in Maxim Vengerov and I feel I should at least pay to watch such quality content. Soon my Spotify is taken over by Tchaikovsky, Bach and Vivaldi (no, no Spring)… Stostakovich too, but I risk streaming hot tears for no good reasons when his pieces come on. Especially awkward when I am in the train with strangers. More awkward when I realize nobody bothers to look in my direction as I demonstrate the delicate balance of angst, despair, fear of death and yet perhaps without the strength to live. 

 

Inspired. Should I learn a musical instrument now? I pour my dilemma to M&M. My good old boy tries to give me clarity:  

Yes. Win a LUCKY Ipad and $100000000000. 

No. Falls down and minus S1.

Very helpful indeed, my son. Yes, a mind map helps. I start mine: 

You ask, as a product of a Singaporean Chinese mother, how can I not have some music background? Yes, there you have it: 

Me practicing the piano during my Primary school days. Check out my happy face, how much I love the piano. Passion without talent ends up in frustration. Not enough passion and no talent, why start?

 

Interestingly, Ling Ling* becomes my source of motivation for many other things. Just thinking of the many Ling Lings out there practicing, practicing, and practicing, I feel I am in no position to slack. 

 

Let us all be sick

The number of trips to the doctors these few months is staggering. 

 

Mr Morg, takes on the legacy of his father, bitten by an insect and warded. Check out their very similar hospital experience: 

Every other week, my logistics go crazy fetching people to the docs. Convincing Mr Morg to return back to normal schedule after recovery is another level of work as he will spend his day sticking a thermometer in his mouth, collapsed in bed whining “I think I am too sick to go to school tomorrow”. While dealing with Morg’s lousy acting, there will be a Megan who is truly sick and myself who is falling sick. 

 

What a tiring start to 2023… Hope things get better… 

*Ling Ling is a fictional character created by Brett and Eddy, she can be described as a perfect prodigy violinist who defies known universal laws by practicing 40 hours a day. Ling Ling started learning the violin as a fetus and won international competitions at the age of 3. Aka, the bane of every musician, exist to make them feel simultaneously inspired and devastated. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

This year's Christmas was special because we decided to head to Netherlands, Belgium and Germany to experience winter, Christmas markets and lots of train rides. First stop - Haarlem because we are not big city people so smaller towns like Haarlem is perfect. 

There was not much tourists in Haarlem. We felt really at ease being part of the local scene. Great town...

Second stop -The Hague, since it was on the way to Belgium and Madurodam should be fun. Did not have great expectations of The Hague but what a pleasant surprise. The beach with its whimsical sculptures humorous, Legoland got the kids super obsessed, nice walks in the park, first tram rides, simple local playgrounds, charming streets cemented happy days in The Hague. 

Was never keen on Belgium after being robbed at knifepoint in Brussels during my backpacking days. But this trip, we arrived in Antwerp and I was blown miles away! Pretty Pretty Pretty!!!! Jaw drop. 

The architecture, scale of the city, vibrancy and diversity of Antwerp was delightful. The vibe electric yet chilled, everything was just nice without being overwhelming. I was in love...

And food was awesome! To die for Belgium mussels, Belgium waffles, Belgium fries and not to forget Belgium chocolate!!! Megan was so impressed by Chocolate Nation Museum - how a narrative can be presented so differently. Morgan only cared about the chocolate tasting. Fun Fun Fun...

Antwerp had much more to offer and we would come back again another year but now was time for Ghent - a city Kenneth has been raving about for years and finally I see he had good reasons. 

Ridiculously cold when we arrived. Temperature just plunged to new sub zero level again. Everything was misty and foggy and freezing. How romantic. 

We were not anticipating winter markets here but as the evening approached, the squares came alive with ...wow, our first taste of Christmas.. It was amazing. 

No matter how freezing cold we were, we were hitting the streets for churros, sausages, potatoes, hot chocolate, mulled wine and plenty of carnival rides. Happy children, happier adults (after dropping frozen kids back into bed and heading out for round two).

Got lucky catching Klefki - a uniquely French Pokemon, since we were so close to the French borders... 

Cologne's Christmas markets are famous and our whole four day itinerary was nothing except busking in the Christmas mood. We were not disappointed. I wish I was in the ice skating photos but after crashing face down onto a three year old gal in the rink, traumatising her ice skating experience for life, I decided it was safer for me to hang along the edges holding onto M&M's water bottles. 

Ahhhh... My favourite Heinzels Wintermarchen... maybe it was the house of elves, the piping hot street snacks, the beautiful crafts sold, the outdoor ice rink or the sudden snow... Thumbs up to Cologne's reputation of best winter markets. 

It was an excellent trip. Could not have asked for a better one, even with crazy disruptions on every single ICE train (hello Germans, what happened?), non functioning room heating in -2 deg, three of us catching winter flu and fever... 

Sometimes we needed a change of environment to realise how independent our kids have grown to be. Megan was the reliable big sister,  taking care of Morgi in more way than one. "No you can't do this, no you cannot do that" so often that Morgi came complaining that "Jie Jie disrespects me". 

Morgan had no problem adapting anywhere he went, his main concerns being checking toilets and demanding every stranger who stepped out of toilet cubicles to answer "did you flush?". 

This will be a holiday to remember for a long time. Time to plan the holidays for 2023!!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone...

Non Stop Action Sept, Oct and Nov 2022

Non stop action for the last 3 months. Literally work, party, play and laugh till we drop...

 

 More birthdays than we can celebrate. 

Cousin Kelly’s wedding – one to look out for since the Heng family weddings are too hilarious to miss. Expect drunk uncles (to take the lead on all embarrassing episodes one wishes to forget the next day), short-circuit cousins (aka crazy ladies), relatives you "may" not know you have. Tea ceremonies turning into catwalks. Enough breakup songs to flood the wedding's music background. (Hello wedding singer, why you ignore all our heartbreak songs dedications?) Gossips… More gossips… We love fill-in-the-blanks type of gossips, they offer immense potential to grow out of scale. The Hengs know how to have fun! And Kelly certainly knows how to take a joke. I am super proud of the clan. 

PSLE happens… kinda happens… halfway. Meggie only catches the tail end of the action due to fever. The much anticipated season of high anxiety build up has not happen due to her low ability to generate stress output beyond 4 out of 10. I FOLO because cannot participate in parents' chats.  Watever… She PASSES!!! Moving on to Secondary School... Hurray. 

So while other students and parents are single heartedly fighting for their futures that few days, I come home to see a very bored Meggie catching Pokémon.… So my only logical next step is to join her. And there is no going back. 

Ever since my first pokeball thrown, my screen time increases to 10 hours daily average. My thumb aches. My eyes strain. But I feel no shame. Well at least not, compared to Kenneth whose level shoots up to 14 within one weekend. He becomes so alarmed at his lack of life purpose that he deletes his account after a week, then fully regrets after 3 days to crawl back into action with a brand new “Catch them all” motto in life.

 

I for one, absolute existential nihilist. No shame. My precious app never leaving my failing eyesight but fat fingers sabotage me by accidentally pressing LOG OUT during Morgan’s weekly Sunday bus adventure. 

Oh yah the Sunday bus adventure… Taking buses is physically demanding - backaches, headaches, nausea, you name it Meggie and me suffer it… Kudos to Ken who diligently do these weekly trips. But check out this 3 doors, 2 staircase double decker from Woodlands. Never know they exist! 

I digress. Bad fat fingers… This is a disaster. Knowing me, I have no idea what my username and password are (despite just registering it for less than a week), I cannot even click “forget password” since all my social media date of births are fake and imaginary. 

 

Anyway, life since her PSLE has been Pokemon and more Pokemon for three of us. Dining midway, father and daughter disappear to fight for nearby empty gyms. Movie halfway, I am hurried out of the house to battle, bra or no bra. (it is dark, you can hunch, we will be driving anyway, nobody will see... I am told)

Even driving can send us straight into a moral dilemma: 

 

OMG look at these! HP all zero.. can just go in and wipe them out.

Wah… Goddness of Mercy leh… 踢馆 not very… merciful.

Then how? We offer them berries? They are all starving.

Cannot get close enough to do anything. Pokestop is too far in the monastery.

(google) Hang around. Monastery opens at 8am. We let others come and raid these guys out then we can just go in and occupy the gym. Like that we are not 杀生 (kill life).

 

I love how aligned our moral compass are.

Safari GO at Gardens by the Bay. 

First time to a meta event and it is epic! 

 

So fun that we go back everyday even when our tickets are only for Day 2 - 6 hours. Out of nowhere, some guy ask the crowd for group photo. He is @BrandonTan91 and we are educated through witnessing live action of my daughter - a new term called “Fan-Girling”. 

So many strategies to play this game that Kenneth declares Pokemon the new Mahjong. I love how such a simple game bonds us with Meggie as a tight team. Love the community, we even join forces with an old couples in the rain, raiding ultra beasts. True couple goals!! 

From here on.  Bye Bye Gold Medal Marathons. Hello Pokemon Gold Cup in Yokohama and Chicago.

Seriously, last three months never been more fun! Now, we look forward to December Holidays in the freezing cold lands of Netherlands, Germany and Belgium...