About 25th August

I sent out three birthday greetings on 25th August - I, K and T. I received replies from I and K but heard nothing back from T. I was supporting T financially until I had to pay my own mortgage. I think our friendship/relationship went downhill after my support for him/his family stopped. It is rather unfortunate. My friendship with I and K started in my Uni days in Perth... close to 20 years ago. I has two lovely boys and K two adorable girls. Yesterday, I went to the courts to settle her divorce with J. It was a sad day for her but I hope it is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another good chapter ahead soon.

B's birthday celebration lunch

It was an all you can eat Suki-ya buffet lunch at Bugis + to celebrate Ah B's 52nd birthday. He was wearing his favourite red orchid shirt. It's either his favourite or he must have a few of that similar designs. A and I arrived at about the same time as B. Uncle L went to collect the mango birthday cake from Polar. Uncle C and N came along soon after. What a lot of food we had for lunch. We started off with a birthday blessing from our Alumni Chaplain for B. Part deux of the celebration was back at the EAST office where we had cake and coffee. We lit the cake with five candles using the lighter which we borrowed from the security guard uncle David. Uncle L prayed another birthday blessing upon B before we sang him a Happy Birthday song. :D

I think his lunch and cake celebration has been quite a success. I certainly hope he enjoyed it with our company as much as we did his. B was very kind and generous to give us a treat on his birthday. :D

Late night post on 21 August

Just a year ago, I remember celebrating B's 51st birthday at Pastoral View with a hotpot dinner gathering and a Lana chocolate cake. It was fun and memorable for me. I hope it was so for him too. Tomorrow, I get to have a birthday lunch with B - another hotpot gathering, at Bugis + Suki-ya restaurant this time, together with uncle L, N, A and C. I got him a 3XL Bigfoot made in Blangadesh tee-shirt as a gift. Hope it fits him.

Looking forward to tomorrow's celebration.

On a separate note, my 4S2 class has formed a WhatsApp chat group initiated by S Chen. Fabulous idea and great way for us to keep in touch, get connected and be all prepped to attend Founder's Day Dinner on 25 July 2020 for our class reunion as it will be our 30th anniversary since graduation. Another event to look forward to next year. :D

This afternoon, we had ladies fellowship at Sumire Yakitori Japanese restaurant at Bugis Junction. It was S, K, A and me. We shared about highlights for our week, month and some lessons we would like to pass on to our children, or those closest to us. K shared about her visit with her family to Jewel, A shared about a similar visit too, S shared about her birthday buffet celebration at Jen hotel where the noodles were bland but the desserts were good. I shared about watching the NDP Preview from the grandstand with L's family this year - a first for me, an experience that was truly memorable.

As for life's lessons, K shared about teaching her children to never give up. A shared about teaching about resilience, thrift and creativity. S shared about how life is a learning journey. I shared about how important is it to put God as a priority.

1st Post on 1st August

Seven months have gone by in 2019 and this is the beginning of August. August is my dad's birthday month. If papa is still around, we would be celebrating his 82nd birthday at Ah Orh Seafood Restaurant this Saturday. Nonetheless, the family will still be heading there for a commemorative meal in remembrance of papa's favourite Teochew steamed fish. I gather it will be a rather hectic Saturday for me. There is a 2pm Ordination Service at Immaunuel Christian Church off Alexander Road. I will be getting five hand bouquets and doing the photography for the service. Praying that everything runs smoothly.

Besides August being Papa's birthday, 3rd is also P and R's birthday. 7th is HW. 30th is KW and 31st is N. 22nd is A, B and E. 25th is I & her siblings, K and T. Plus 9th is Singapore's 54th birthday too! What a celebratory month August is.

1st Post of July

Half of July has whizzed us by so so quickly. Today is already 19 July 2019. A new batch of students have started with us at EAST for about a week in our ALEPH program already. Last Saturday, it was such an honour, privilege and fun to go with Lucy's family to the NDP Preview at the Padang as we were given such good seats to view the parade. It was a few rows behind where our Prime Minister Lee would sit on the actual day. We had such a good view of everything! The parade was preceded with a tea reception and followed with a dinner buffet. It made me very happy. :D I was happy to meet Ms Seah and got reacquainted with G from NIECF days.

In the past week, I got to know two of my Meadow Spring neighbours better too - Fiza and Shuyan.

Aunty Siew Lan passed on

Last Friday morning, 21 June, Uncle MW called me early in the morning about 7am to inform me about Aunty Siew Lan's passing. Mum, sis and I made plans to fly into KL by Sunday afternoon.

Uncle Meow Lock held two wake services for her on Saturday and Sunday. The burial service was on Monday. I managed to attend the Sunday wake service and Monday morning service and the precious family time with her prior to the service.

Reply from B

Since the chat group has been dissolved, there was no word from B till today. He texted, "I just back from open sea diving today. No earthly signal for last 7 days... Sigh... [Smiley face]" and so resumes our conversation again.

I do not understand why I get so affected whether I hear back from B or not. The only reason I can think of is that I am somewhat emotionally invested in the friendship we have. To what extent I am invested, I am not sure.

Post chat exit

I was just reading my blog post that was entered during Easter and how B, uncle L and I restarted a chat group. I just exited that chat group last night. It was both impulsive and calculated. Impulsive because the only reason I gave for exiting the chat group was that I was tired for waiting for a response from either of them. One day went by with no reply at all from either of them. In fact, B had not even read the messages when I exited. Calculated because I remembered YK's advice for me not to take the initiative in chatting in the chat group. YK also told me to forget about B and that I deserve someone better. I guess I wanted to follow YK's advice despite a delayed reaction in doing so.

From today on wards, I won't be looking forward to texts anymore. I will re-orientate myself. Pray more and let God be my priority in life once again.

Post Easter

I just realised it has been over seven weeks since my last entry. May was a busy month at EAST with EAST 25th Commencement happening at Bartley Christian Church on 11 May 2019. We had 26 graduates and 3 were in absentia. B Low was in absentia but he came for the commencement buffet lunch after some cajoling and I presented his MABS certificate to him.

My brother's Jubilee Birthday celebrations came and gone in the first week of June. His actual 50th birthday was on 9 Jun 2019. Can't believe that my dearest Kor is already half a century old. Makes me realise mine won't be too far behind, in just another five years' time.

Sis and mum went for a 10-12 day Scandinavia package tour and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The picturesque Scandinavian landscapes must have been quite a sight to behold. When mum and sis touched down from the airport, we visited Auntie L Chin's new home in Ulu Siglap. It was most interesting - there were two bungalows and two semi-detached houses interconnected via internal gates. All newly built up within two years.

Camp ARPC this year was memorable as there were 1234 campers. But for me, I was glad that S and her two girls made it as well. My mum seemed to have enjoyed herself pretty much too, especially the segment where she performed a song on stage with the rest of the MM members. Doris attended and I was able to catch up with Pei Ling and some folks from EAST as well.

June is a relatively quiet month in the office. I just went for a medical appointment at TTSH yesterday. I have quite a few appointments lined up till end of the year. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will learn to manage my physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial health better, with God's help.

Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend has just passed by with mum, sis and I travelling to Malacca for the annual visit to my maternal grandparents gravesides and my eldest uncle and grand uncle's gravesides as well. Following the paying of respects, we adjourned to a nearby Chinese restaurant for our family reunion lunch. We had three tables full of relatives from my mum's side of the family. It was really nice to catch up with different ones.

I realised that the niece whom I called Xiaomin is called Li Yong Min and her sister is Li Yong Rou. Her brother's name still kinda escapes me. This Xiaomin is now a business journalist with Nanyang Shangbao. I feel proud of her name. Her husband is an engineer who helps with CCTV system in condominiums or office buildings. They are so grown up now. Also, apparently her dad who had previously run off with another woman had returned home to live with her mum, my cousin. That is good news for their family in some ways.

Auntie June and Uncle MW missed out on the gathering this year. A few years ago, all five siblings were present. That was really nice to see.

On a side note, I restarted a chat group with B and uncle L, with a new group name. :D hopefully, this group chat lasts longer than the last. keeping my toes and fingers crossed.

Today happened to be cousin FF's 60th birthday, while my bro's 50th will be coming up in June. Hoping these two birthday celebrants have a wonderful milestone year and many more lovely years ahead!

Teasing

After I exited the ICB Chat group, then I realised that for most parts, texts sent by B was mostly for teasing me. Still, I was sensitive and riled up by his messages emotionally. After exiting and not texting him for the past two days, I am a lot calmer emotionally. Therefore I guess it was good for me to have exited the chat group. Too much chatter is not good for my soul anyway. Silence is a good spiritual discipline to cultivate. At least, when I am not distracted by all the texting back and forth, I now have more time to journal both online and offline.

It is good for me to process what I am going through emotionally. What is affecting my moods and mental health. That way I can learn how to cultivate better mental habits that will inject more optimism and resilience into my mental state. I need to be emotionally and mentally more resilient as a person.