David fang

Started chatting with a 60 year old chap who looked like 40+ or 50+ yesterday, on IG. Not sure if it will last beyond a week. His late wife is a beautiful Australian lady. He has two kids, 19 and 13. His mum is 85. He is currently in Sg. Is 60 years old too old?! Bawahahaha

But I had really liked his description of himself - gentle and meek. :)

2 July. As expected, the chats did not even last beyond two or three days. I just did not really have good vibes and decided to exit, delete and block. Finding a good, trustworthy online connection is certainly more difficult than rocket science, I figured. I have had at least 3-4 encounters online and they all flopped.

But it could be I am not ready to build a connection. I am not entirely sure either. I have a lot of online anxieties, fears and concerns and I tend to overthink things. But because of my past bad experience with P, I'd really rather be safe than sorry in all future interactions online.

Ernest

Saw Ernest's pic come up as a new PAP candidate for the coming election. Excited for him and praying for God's protection upon him and his family in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. Lord, may You use him mightily for Your glory. Amen.

Update: He is now running in YCK constituency. All the best to him! Trust that he will score a major victory next Friday!

Daphne's 40th yesterday

23 June 2020 was Daphne's 40th milestone birthday. I organised a birthday zoom for her and glad that at least Jeff and Grace showed up! :D

Father, please watch over my dear friends, keep them safe, grant them good health. Especially for Daphne who is starting her 4th decade, walk closely with her and her family, dear Lord.

I thank you for their friendship and love all throughout these years.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my Abba Father and my Papa in Abba's presence.

I imagine that the two people who love me the most unconditionally could be having conversations about how my life on earth will pan out to be in the coming days. It is a comforting thought that these two dear ones who are unseen are able to see what the future holds for me. I take comfort in their love for me and that I can totally trust them no matter what happens. This is what I have - childlike faith in my Papas.

I have a hope and a future because of their great and unfailing love for me. I will put my trust in them, and definitely in my beloved Saviour Jesus. Thank you Jesus, for everything.

Dad gone home for 4 years

It's been 4 years. This time 4 years ago, I was in Kandy, Sri Lanka, receiving news of my dad's passing. Dad passed on in the wee hours of the morning after having a sip of water. Sis had held him in her arms. It was at our Bishan flat. At that point of his passing, I was sleeping soundly in Uda's uncle's guesthouse, sharing a room with Hwei Wah. The previous night was Uda and Dush's wedding celebrations. By today, their marriage has fully dissolved due to it being a mis-matched marriage, and Dush marrying under lots of pretences and dishonesty. Well, I am glad for Uda that she is no longer having to deal with the unhappiness that came with the ill-matched marriage. At least in today's world, women have the ability to be financially independent without a husband. As for my dad, I am glad he is no longer suffering physical ailments. I am happy he is home with Jesus. Sure, I miss having dad around. But he has fought the good fight and ran his race of life well. He deserves rest.

There will be times I still tear when I miss him but as time passes, it will get easier.

Eric Pettons and Crypto

On Sunday, I received direct messages in Instagram from Eric Pettons, a follower on my IG and we had some exchanges about cryptocurrency investment. The exchange reminded me that I had some accounts which my brother helped me start. I contacted my brother and deposited another SGD100 into the account which had remained rather dormant. Unfortunately, over the past two days, there seems to be a downward trend despite my brother saying we have to look at it long term. Sigh!

So much for this cryptocurrency investment. That's all.

Mum dyed her hair

It has been at least two months that mum has not dyed her hair. Mum is 78 years old and she has shoulder length hair. The roots of her hair turn white pretty quickly and vastly throughout the past two months while we had the Circuit Breaker in Singapore. Perhaps, the rate of her hair turning white is a normal rate but she had probably used to dye her hair black at least 3-4 weeks once, in JB. Today, mum went to a hairdresser in Bishan who charged her $45 for dye-ing the roots of her hair. Also, the business-minded hairdresser suggested doing highlights for mum's hair to make it look more natural with her top wig. She was naturally inclined to do so as that would make her look more trendy and younger. :)

My mum is a very adorable person, but she is occasionally given to short bursts of temper. I love my mum very much, in spite of her short bursts of temper and all. She bought some durian after her hair session and quickly called me over for a durian session which I thoroughly enjoyed. We shared some of the durians with the helper too. We needed to get rid of the evidence before sis got home, otherwise we would all risk getting nagged by big sis. Funny how big sis is now the authoritarian figure in the household in Bishan. Mum is the paper tiger. :P

Aunty June and Joseph's Birthdays

We had a birthday zoom for Aunty June's 75th birthday on 2 June last week. 2 June was also the first day that things returned to a so-called new normal in Singapore, as the Circuit Breaker ended on 1 June. EH went back to her office that day but she was able to be back home by 6pm to join in the birthday zoom. We had relatives from KL, Sydney, Singapore and Auckland joined in to wish Aunty June a happy birthday.

On June 4, Mei Ling texted us it was her elder son Joseph's 18th birthday. So a spontaneous zoom was set-up by Joey. It was also fun. I didn't realise we had 3 June babies - Aunty June, Joseph Chan and my bro, in the extended family. :D

E down with Dengue

Since last Wednesday, E has been having fever. Last Wednesday, it was as high as 40.2 degrees Celsius. It was up and down for five days and she went for a blood test on Sunday to confirm that she was suffering from dengue fever, as she started showing spots of red on her arms as well. Illary started coming down with fever on Saturday as well. Likely to be having dengue too. It seems like a crack outside the walls of ST's flat had water seeped through and is a likely breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes, the carriers of Dengue fever. Also, this seems to be E's second episode. Last July, she was also hospitalised due to fevers and some red spots but no traces of dengue was found in her so the doctors' prognosis was viral infection back then.

Praying for ST and the two girls to recover from this bout of health crisis. Lord, please have mercy upon this family. Amen.

My bro's 51st birthday

Today is my big brother's 51st birthday. But my brother is not one who fusses about his birthday. Nonetheless, I wished him in advance last night and had a short chat with him on whatsapp. It was mainly about his new found love of cheap fountain pens from taobao ($2 and under) and the love of writing Chinese characters in particular. He has been finding that therapeutic. He showed me three Chinese poems he wrote of which I recognised one by Du Pu.

June has been a difficult month in the US. The death of this black guy George Floyd had started protests, riots and lootings, all over the US. George Floyd died at the hands of a white police officer who put his knee on his neck, thus suffocating him for up to nearly nine minutes while he was in custody, for allegedly using a fake $20 bill. The #blacklivesmatter movement started to spread all over the US and across the world to London, Berlin, Paris, Sydney and wherever people felt for racial injustice. Some protests were peaceful, some turned violent.

I was particularly touched by the Obamas' speeches about how anger should be turned towards something constructive and bridges should be built to bring about unity and a better, more equal society. It is undoubtedly a reality that the world we all inhabit is often a cruel, unkind, unjust and scary place to be in. But we should not succumb to the forces of evil, darkness and hate, but overcome that with good, light and love. God is all that is good. God is my light - this is my primary school's motto, from Marymount Convent Primary. God is love - just look at Jesus who died on that cross, for God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son. Everyone who believes in Jesus will inherit eternal life and live in the love, light and life of the Father.