The Proposal

Three years ago on this day, the wife and I were on holiday in Perth, Australia. After a nice dinner at The Other Side of the Moon, we decided to take a drive to the nearby Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. It was a chilly, windy night as we drove up Cape Naturaliste Road in Dunsborough in our Nissan Pulsar licensed as TSR 901.

We spent around 5 minutes outside mainly because it was so windy, chilly and not to mention pitch black dark. As she was about to get into the car to head back, I told her to wait and rather nervously got down on one knee and popped the question. Lit by only the interior light of our rented Pulsar and revolving beam of light from the lighthouse, I produced the ring and after calling me “crazy” a few times, she said Yes!! It was 10pm.

As fiancé and fiancée, we drove back to Bunker Bay Resort, and adjourned to the lobby bar. I had a Bombay Gin and Tonic while she had a white wine, as we sat looking at the ring. Eventually we headed back to Room 613, and polished off a Flying Fish Cove 2005 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc. As we slept that night, we knew our lives changed that day!

Picture of The Proposal (1872)by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

M Reminiscing

 

 

Another Great Weekend!

This weekend in Singapore was F1 weekend! In case you are not of this planet, F1 is Formula One. So as a long time fan of the sport my tickets were ready and I was ready for this event that I have been waiting for all year!

So here are some random images I took of this great weekend as well as some random thoughts.

 

MRT was my main mode of transportation to the track. It was so easy to get there for the station just 5 mins from my house. Upon reaching the track and getting myself on the stands, I was greeted to view of our city beautifully lit.

Its funny that although I drive past this place almost everyday, I get to appreciate my beautiful country more when she is inundated with foreigners and tourists marveling at what we have on offer. Like a child who has lost interest in a toy, to have that interest renewed when another finds it new!

But doesn’t she look great! If that was not enough enter these awesome 200 mile a hour machines that literally light up and resonate across the whole city!

I was tickled by the number of amateur photographer wannabes. With amazing camera setups and awesomely expensive lenses to capture the cars in all their glory. All I had was my iPhone and this was what I managed. It was pretty good considering the rest, with their fabulous setups, were left with just an empty road as the cars were too fast. The cars did look great under those lights.

One thing though, although we are here to see these mean machines in action, what I love is the atmosphere and the variety of people. All ages, sizes and color it was just great to see people enjoying themselves so much, well the 3rd guy in this series I must say had great ear plugs.

Typical diet for the weekend, not great I admit as I am having some tummy problems now. Oh well, the best part of the Singapore GP is the fact that it is a night race! Which makes it supremely unique. So rather than the entire weekend being a waste I was extremely productive during the day time. I visited 2 Infant Care centers for Mojo, got my Dad’s car fixed, attended a birthday party at Botanical Gardens with an awesome cake and I even got to go to Church and get super blessed!!! It was at the Indoor Stadium this weekend because of the F1! Here’s a picture of just one of the things we did in church!! Yeah those are giant inflated basketballs you see.

So as the dust settles and this awesome weekend comes to an end. As the winner’s champagne is popped and our great city is restored back to normalcy. My thoughts turned me to what Pastor said on Sunday about Restoration; He asked us to ask God to have the things taken away from us restored. Where it is promised in His word that He will restore not just what we lost but many fold of what was lost.

I found myself counting the many blessings, instead, that He has granted on my life and only remembering a few things that have been taken away which were not of great significance. Only to leave me with a great sense of appreciation of this greatly blessed in this life that I have!

M GBHFDL

Epic Weekend

My weekend was relatively interesting. It was not filled with the usual hunt for baby gear, we took a break from that this weekend. Not that we agreed beforehand but it just sort of happened. Over a game of pool in the office (yes there is a pool table in my office), I chance heard a bunch of guys who were planning to go on a hike/trek/walk and they asked me if I was interested in joining them. I agreed enthusiastically, because it was a route that I have not been in over 10 years.

After a not so leisurely pace we covered a distance of 11.6 KM in under 3 hours, with a relative elevation span of 0 –109 M. I had a great time and spending that time outdoor was something I have not done in such a long time and I was completely happy after that albeit, a little tired.

 

 

Eager to “keep the pace” up, since it was a long weekend, I decided to put my bike which has been sitting there for a while to good use. A bike ride was in order, so bright and early on Monday morning, I set out at 7.20am to cover 16 KMs. Managed this in under an hour, yes I know it is a long time but hey we all got to start somewhere.

If there is one thing I love above cycling and trekking, it’s the ability to go to place that no one has been before and I doubt that many people have ever been to these parts of Singapore or know that these islands, Pulau Punggol Barat and Pulau Punggol Timor that is, are accessible or even exist.

 

All in all it was an EPIC weekend!! All pictures and geodata was captured via the iPhone. I wonder what is my next adventure will be.

 

M Looking for Ideas

New Moon

I usually read my favourite blogs through Google Reader and it allows me to keep track of new posts without actually having to go to the actual sites. So today I found a post called “New Moon Goodness” from Outside the Lines, a blog that I RSS. So without looking at the source of the post I opened a new tab to be read later.

Of course reading the post title I started to think it was from another blog that I follow called “Tua Lobang - Singapore” which is an excellent blog to follow if you are in Singapore as it posts about all the great deals, sales, free giveaways, etc in Singapore. So I envisioned this to be the subject of the post:

 

Yes New Moon Abalone and their range of canned Chinese products. But it was actually the latest New Moon Theatrical Trailer from the Twilight series, if you are interested in watching the trailer please follow the link above to.

Dunno why but it made me laugh quite hysterically when the realization of what it actually was set in.

M Tickled

Mojo Month

To take a quote from a good friend who left a comment from a recent post of mine; “December is the BESTEST month!”  as well as an old post of mine called “December Flows”; December simply rocks!!!

Why you may ask:

1. Obvious reason but, in case you are new here…Mojo will be born!!!
2. If that is not enough, it is also when I was born!!!
3. And since good thing comes in threes…it was when Jesus was born too!!!

But wait there is more…..

Thanks to our low birth rate and the government’s push for more babes, the Leave Schemes are pretty cool not just for mothers but for dads as well. It breaks down like this:

• 3 days Paternity Leave (not much but when I get to the end you will see my satisfaction)
• 6 days Paid Childcare Leave per year (entitlement must be used by that calendar year)
• 6 days Unpaid Infant Care Leave (I shall leave this alone)

So if my Grand Leave Plan works out, I will not need to work most of the month of December. Coupled with the Annual Leave I have been saving up, I can stop work by the 4th Dec and only need to head back to work on the 4th of Jan 2010!!!

So finally continuing on with point 4. December 2009 is no work month for me and I therefore declare it:

Mojo Month

 

M Looking Forward (Subject to discussion with Maju)

Baby Update

We are now 78 days away from EDD. We are on track with most things but there is still quite a bit to do mainly in terms of logistics and house rearrangement to accommodate the Mojo and the rest of the good folks who have been lined up, hired, or roped into help out in her post arrival.

The wife is getting big and she is having some difficulty adjusting herself to the additional load. Imagine carrying a 10KG backpack everywhere you go and I mean everywhere! Its tough! Not to mention the other changes going on. Its amazing what mothers to be go through, a true labour of love!

Aside from this we are just trying to enjoy these 78 days, in the same spirit of laughing and utter nonsense that we love. Tomorrow is another visit to the gynae so more sonogram pictures will follow.

M can’t wait!

MMM in da House

I am sure you guys are tired of my constant complaining about the lack of good food in Science Park. If it is one thing I hate, it’s to pay for and eat unhealthy and yucky food. If it is unhealthy, it should be good, but that is certainly not the case here. I could always drive or bus out for something scrumptious but, the time and the work mountain prevents me from it.

So my prudent, smart and lovely wife, came up with an idea. She suggested I try MMM or Magic Meal Mobile. It is a meal catering service that delivers cooked meals that are based on popular diets. Since I was also supposed to lose weight but since the arrival of Mojo, I have been doing the reverse, so the timing was right and I said yes to give it a try instantly when she asked. She did suggest it before but I was not too keen but I think she got her timing perfect for me to say yes.

We decided to just go with the full day South Beach diet but without Dinner. So today is the first and after a pretty hearty breakfast, I am feeling pretty good and have this feeling that this might work. My main goal here is not to lose weight to be honest, but more of eat a better variety of healthy and delicious food. If I do lose weight as a side effect which it does say will happen then Praise the Lord!

M Full

Musical Renaissance

I have been having a bit of a musical reawakening this past week. It all started with the UK talent show, X Factor.

First was Danyl Johnson, English teacher with a passion for music who went up and gave a performance like a professional! Have watch with the linked name.

Then this week was James "Afro" Archer, a struggling musician on his last legs who came out to give a performance that got the whole audience, even Simon Cowell and me singing along to a song I never  heard before. After he sang this I listened to the original version and found Mr Afro's version better. Things sound better live when done properly!

Ever since Susan Boyle and Paul Potts, these talent show surprises give us some "Chicken Soup for the Musical Soul". So now inspired, after I drop the wife in the morning my drive to work has been a 
musical one.

I imagine myself introducing Mojo to music and I believe she will have that love for music like her Dad. Considering she's going to be in infant care near my office the drive to my office from the wife's will be both of us head banging to  Zeppelin! Imagine that!

M on Fire

There She Is!

At week 25:

• She is a healthy 740 grams
• She is around 23 cm tall (estimated because we forgot when the doc told us)
• She is sharp chinned (visible in sonogram) just like her Dad!
• She is sharp nosed (visible from another angle) just like her Dad too!
• I could not be happier

M waiting