Lovely Monday

Work
Today is Monday, things has been good so far. Benny our Senior Boiler Inspector is back in the office today after a seemingly long business trip, he looks fresh. Pow and Janetud are away on their trip to Qingdao, an early morning flight today, hope they had enough sleep. Hope it will be a wonderful week ahead, be optimistic and things would be great all the time : )

Home
Bryan's had a mini birthday celebration for him on Saturday, we brought him a cake, crackers, pizza and not forgetting to make him jellies too. He's finally turned two years of age, Sukamti our domestic helper, is very proud and happy to have seen him grow up under her care. I am very appreciative of her wonderful care to the 3 young kids and our family.
We brought the kids to Lorong Harus on Saturday, the place are full of pet shops which specialises in fishes / dogs / pet hotels / etc. The kids enjoyed themselves very much on seeing all the puppies in the shops. Bryan as usual got really close up to the puppies behind the fenced up area, ending up with some of the puppies getting aggitated and barking at him. You should have seen the poor chihuahua quivering in the cage with 3 young excitated boys looking down at him, poor thing. Must bear in mind that should we ever get a pet dog in the future, it has to be of a certain size to be able to withstand the three boys. A small dog like the fragile chihuahua just wouldn't do.
Our dear car Blackie, is finally going to get it's "injuries" fix up this week. After all the "begging" on the other party to do their job of submitting their statement on the accident to their insurance company. Finally things are moving. The other party doesn't sound very happy though, as the driver whom is a foreigner wrote to me that he would have expected Singaporean to be more courtesy in letting people change lane when the indicator light is on, especially when we have to understand that he is doing a lane change across 3 lanes to get to turn into his home. My goodness, I told him that I am taking my driving license now and studying real hard on the driving theory for drivers. Turning on the indicator doesn't mean that it is safe to lane change, there are the following factors to bear in mind.
- road traffic condition (congested / slow moving)
- checking of rear / side mirrors, blind spots (approaching vehicles / etc)
Patrick and I now know why there are a high number of accidents on the road daily, it is because of such inthoughtful drivers whom think that they own the road and talk about courtesy when they themselves are not even considering self courtesy and safety in the first place. Now, we have phobia of vehicles whom always switch lane without considering the safe distance. Our keeping 3 cars' lenght from the front vehicle is never possible since there are always vehicles whom would just turn their vehicles suddenly into your travelling path when it is just 1 car lenght. As everyone knows, so long as your vehicle knocks into the other party's rear, it is always your fault no matter what, even if they are the party whom suddenly switch into your lane from nowhere. Sign!
Now, I'm having phobia on the road with such reckless driving and inconsiderate people...

Approaching Birthday of Bryan!

Bryan's Birthday!

It's baby Bryan's Two Year Old Bithday this Saturday, 22nd March 2008.

How excited, finally our third child is going 2 this year. How time flies, but guess it is going to be many more "times" flying before the 3 of them finally do grow up.

Bryan's the youngest and he's been the most happy soul that you would find. We scolded him the other day and immediately his tiny nose turned to a bright red with tears forming at the corner of his little sparkling eyes. Patrick and my hearts softened upon seeing his cute lovely face shivering in face.

I'm planning to get him a present and cake, maybe a chocolate one. Our domestic helper, Sukamti, she's also been counting to the day Bryan would grow up, with whom she has taken care since birth. We are very lucky that Sukamti have agreed to extend her contract by another 2 years when the current contract ends in May this year. 2 weeks of home leave have been arranged for her in May, I am indeed grateful that she has decided to help out with my kids. God bless...

Horrible Week

Work

Finally had our administrative team's meeting, things are being discussed and hopefully things would be moving along smoothly soon enough. Another meeting would be held in 2 weeks' time, let's just cross my fingers and see how things proceed.

Family

Argghhh, it's been things going downhill last week. Very bad rainy days and the road is jam packed with vehicles going at snail pace. Thursday, 13rd March 2008, the coldest day in Singapore as reported over the news. This is the day that our dear car had to have an unfortunate accident with another vehicle.

We were travelling straight on the 1st lane along Bukit Timah Road when another vehicle tried to do a lane change from the 2nd lane. Cold, wet, stormy night... a sudden impact from my left banging into our vehicle's passenger door, which I'm seated at. My husband whom is driving, got a huge shock.

We drove to the side road on the left and exchanged contacts with the other driver. What should follow would be a week of battle between the other driver's accountant and us. Our first road accident, and it left us in shock as to what should follow, how is the repair going to be done and what is the costs going to be like.

The other party contacted with us, and say that the repair costs for both cars would fall under individual insurances! I almost faint, it is a big big mistake that we did not get the Singapore Accident Statement form filled up on the spot. First timers having accident and essential things were not done at all. We told them that in event of a slow moving traffic situation and the driver is comtemplating a lane change, it is basic driving knowledge that the driver should check for approaching vehicle, blind spot before moving out. It does not mean that switching on the indicator stands for safe lane change when there is a heavy traffic flow.

It took me many a time to control my fustrations, even the insurance company of the driver called to tell us that they did not receive a statement from them and are "vomitting blood" explaining to them that it is standard procedure to file a statement before the claim of policy can be processed. Finally, the nightmare is disappearing. I had to write a email directly to the driver that his accountant is not doing anything while my car is sitting there with the damages. Arrows flied, the statement was finally submitted to the insurance company and accountant insists that he is doing his job... I had only one thing to say to him when he called up to ask why I wrote to his boss that he isn't doing his job, "Finally things are moving after I wrote to your boss".

*sign* a simple thing has to go round countless circles before it takes a simple procedure of submitting a statement to resolve it. Uncountable time could have been saved from being wasted on if people could do their part seriously. Counting, the accident happened on 13th Mar and is only resolved by 20th Mar, what inefficiency.

Singapore: Bright Sunny Day

Work
Lousy week, it has been kind of exhausting, usual stuff of power struggling...
Guess that years of experience doesn't necessary makes one a more mature and smart person. Sometimes, I really admire people whom had the skills and capability to sharpen their claws and butter up the boss. Wish I had this capability, perhaps things would be much easier then. No choice, guess I just got to work harder and prove myself the long and hard way.

Family
As usual, the 3 boys are getting louder, running and shouting around... even the youngest boy whom are barely 2 years of age, he's matching his 2 elder brothers in terms of voice volume and actions. Let's hope he is not going to get any louder when he reaches 2 years of age in March this year.
My dad and mum finally got around to booking a trip to Taiwan for the coming April, it's high time they took some time off to get out of Singapore and enjoy themselves. I am trying to polish up on my driving with lessons for the practical and theory part, hope I would smart enough to be able to get a pass when the exam is taken. Been fairly foggy in Singapore, the air looks rather polluted, hope the kids are not going to be affected by it.
It is grandma's birthday this weekend but I don't think we would be able to go into Malaysia for the visit this time, the traffic congestion at the custom linkpoints are rather bad, there's been news reports of vehicles waiting for hours before they could get through. This is all a result of the on-going tight security checks due to the escaped JI Leader. Hope he is spotted soon and put back behind close security encloseure.
The escaped JI Leader is causing quite a sensational stir, people are coming forward to place reward for his capture. The government and people whom are forever righteous, with their usual reply that if money is involved, it would only shows the citizens' value towards the country is not high.

JI Leader Big Escape Drama...

Singapore
Wow, big drama since the escape of the JI Leader Mas Selamat from Singapore Detention Centre at Whitley Road. People's first initial response varies:-
1. How could this have happen in a country that has strong image of national security and discipline police force?
2. Why was the public let know of the escape ordeal only 4 hours after it happened?
3. Isn't there guards / detection camera and enough security to prevent the escape of a partial limping criminal?
4. Will "heads" roll over this incident?
With the awakeness from this incident, people are questioning whether our police force is really as efficient as it looks from the image it have built up over the years. Does the police respond to urgency or sudden unforeseen circumstances as they should have? There have been experiences discussed about calling over the phone to our neighbourhood police post over some unfamiliar character / group loitering at our void deck, and over the past hour, the police are still nowhere to be seen? Is there a guideline on response time? Perhaps, it is time more reviews and re-education to the police situated at our neighbourhood police be implemented.