We shipped the minimum volume of stuff here since we have to bare the cost, and we could almost find everything we need here in Shanghai. It started of with only 1+cubic metre of items and I managed to load it to 3cubic metre adding lots of comfort items, which are really quite redundant, in order to meet the minimum volume allowed.

I called up a few shipping company. Quotation from those companies mostly range around $3000 for a 3cm volume. I wouldn’t spend $3000 for comfort stuff. My sis used this company which offer a really low price. I decided to give it a try and called Nicks, the manager in charged (seems like a one man company, he took care of everything). He gave an initial quote of $1500. That was almost like 50% cheaper then the rest! Decided to take the risk and took the offer, despite my sis’s warning of his bad attitude, cost increment and delay in arrival of shipment.

We have everything packed and loaded in less then an hour on 7th of December. I was told my things will arrive in about 3 weeks time.  Alright, I will give it another 2 weeks allowance since Nicks company is prone to delay. I have been waiting patiently….anxiously now.

I finally received a phone call last night. It was the looooonnnng anticipated call from the shipping company. Oh man, finally!. Not from Nicks, haven’t heard a word from him since, but from the China side. I thought my things are here,  until the lady on the phone clarified that the ship had just left Singapore. . Hhhaaaarrrrrr???? Just left Singapore??????????? The lady was equally baffled.

Sigh!!!! Anyway, she told me the shipment will probably arrive in 2-3 weeks time (that was as Nicks promised, wasn’t it). So it will probably take me 1.5 to 2 months for me to receive my items. Geez, we could have bring them on our own if we are returning for Lunar New Year holiday.  The consolation is, the shipment is still intact and we will be getting it later.

Can’t complain much I guess. Budget shipping probably will take time to group all crates into a sizeable volume. However, I would appreciate if Nicks explained to us about the delay. Luckily I didn’t packed the important documents or winter clothings into the shippment, else it might already be spring or summer time when I recieve them.

It is Sunday today. I was confused earlier when James told me “they” switched Sunday with Friday, so Friday will be a holiday. Didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me, didn’t bother to clarify and he didn’t bother to explain further too.

I was baffled when the school bus auntie said she will see us again on Sunday. Huh, what was going on which Sunday being a school day. I thought she had the dates mixed up until another parent explained to me that Sunday is a school day due to the “switch”.

I began to realise what it meant. So the government made Friday a public holiday and compensated it on Sunday so the public could have a longer weekend. Well, it is nice to have 3 rest days, but i guess for the next week, it would be a really long week of 7 work days if you don’t have Saturday off.

A bunch of Singapore bloggers has launched the Tomorrow, a mosaic of linkages to interesting blog entries that is related to Singapore. As we know too well, parents display certain abnormal behaviour when their children are concern. Parents do weird things too, like sucking mucus from their child’s blocked nose, or digging into the child’s poo looking for swallowed objects. There must be some interesting articles to point to.

There have been an ever increasing number blogging mommies (and also daddies) from Singapore, and I have been collecting their url for sometimes. So far, I have gotten about 70 of them, but I am sure there are much more. I don’t know what for I gather all the urls, I just feed them into bloglines and see if there are any useful tips to pick up or read about the happenings of some oddball parents/children. Hopefully I could sort them out this weekend, upload them, and let helpful readers point me to those blog sites that I missed out.

We arrived in Genting without any unwanted hiccups. The baby was extremely cooperative, she didn’t poo on her way and she didn’t cry for food either. I only nursed her when she got a bit restless and she seemed satisfied. And I also managed to get my Ramly burger, but it didn’t seemed to be as tasty anymore.

I had a terrible shocked when I stepped into the First World Hotel, there were people everywhere. As we made our way to Resort Hotel, there were more people jostling to get around. At the Resort Hotel lobby, the whole floor area is packed with hotel guest waiting to check into their rooms. We had to get a number and wait for our turn to check in! We returned an hour later after lunch and it wasn’t our turn yet! Gosh, I think checking in here is as tedious as waiting to see the doctors in SGH specialist clinics.
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Was visited by a group of ex students yesterday, they wanted to see the baby. They have grown so tall and and mature (well, I must say some of them still act like kid). They were happily chatting about pop stars, school work, handsome guys, etc….and I strongly sense the generation gap between us, despite the fact that I am still able to relate to them well. I must work hard to keep up with the lastest trends and happenings. I want to be my child’s best friend and not the annoying naggy mom.

Seeing them makes me miss my teaching days. I enjoy interacting with youth, that was why I chose to teach secondary school instead of primary school. I used to think that primary school kids are noisy, silly, childish….a bunch of little ones that I can’t talk any sense into. That was just some plain stupid prejudice I held against little kids in the past, but it did make me think twice about having my own kid. With my little girl now, i don’t think I “disapprove” them so much now.

Well, forgot to remind them to come empty handed, and therefore, two more new dresses for the baby. Its very heartening to know that they have grown up to become fine young people.

Found time to do some housekeeping this afternoon while the baby was asleep. There was this huge bag of clothings that I stashed away while I was pregnant. I tried them on one month ago, but folded back again with a big sigh. I couldn’t even pull up the pants and dresses sticked on me like cling wrap. I was wishing for better results today. Good news for myself, I could pull up most of the pants this time. They finally got the chance to return to the hanger. Some t-shirts and blouses are simply beyond salvation, they are too short. With my unsightly tummy and ugly stretch marks, I won’t even think of putting them on. Have to say byebye to them.

After clearing my stuff, the urge to dump more rubbish surge. Ok, I will target Jame’s stuff. His boxes of cables and wires and gadgets are untouchable (and I really hates them. because the cables difference in length, they serve different purposes, so they are not the same and therefore I cannot get rid of any of them, despite the fact that they are the same cable). I saw two black plastic bags and remembered that there are two suits inside. Took them out carefully (horribly covered with dust and mold), and opened up while taking notes of all the reasons that I could use to dispose them. They were not trendy, colour too dull, more appropriate for matured man…..I must get rid of them!

Next, I saw another suspicious looking plastic bag. Took it down and saw a battalion of computer bags inside. There are altogether 12 black (and they are of the same shade of black) bags. These are his latest collection and remnants of the previous batch of bags (a big box of them). What had happened to those? After showing him a great deal of black faces, James agreed to compromise, on the condition that they are not to be thrown into the rubbish chute (I agreed with him, can’t waste resources like that). We tried to sell them on yahoo auction, with only one deal done. He act santa claus and brought them to his office, and brought back most of the items. Finally, I decided to sell them to the karung guni man. Even the junk collector didn’t want them! Eventually, he said he will do us a favour by taking them. I was glad he didn’t demand me to pay him for the favour.

I don’t know who in the world will need so many computer bags. Especially so when the notebooks already come with their own carrier. If a computer geek can wear the same shirt to work for days without realizing it, would he care about the different design in the bags? But perhaps I am wrong. Some bags are really of better design, with individual compartments for cables, drives, card, adapters, mobile phones and so on. With more meetings and conferences coming up, there are more bags to come.

I finally decided to abandon the baby for a night and watched this show last Friday. It was on my “must watch” list after i saw the trailer before I delivered. I thought it is going to be a sci-fi show packed with lots of action and visual effects, my favorite combination! Science wise, a science idiot like me finds them unconvincing and somehow ridiculous. The visual effects are awesome, though some are very “extra”, like the billboard smashing the reporter, Hollywood sign being ripped off and the wolves chasing the guys. Nothing intelligent or surprising with regard to the plot. But overall, I still find it very entertaining and had enjoyed the show tremendously.

Turbulence in the air, tornadoes in LA, flood in New York, hailstones (or hail-rocks) in Tokyo are some of the frightening scenes. Instead, what strike me most are the two babies that make brief appearances. One was sleeping peacefully while the father left for the Scotland lab. The second baby screaming in fear when New York was flooding. At those instances, I am really frighten that my child might be subjected to such hash situation one day and how painful it would be to see the child suffering. Luckily, it was only a movie afterall.

It used to be looking at the handsome guys and beautiful gals while watching movies during teenage years. After graduation, it was fashion, trends that catches my eyes. Then it became home decorations, home accessories after marriage. Now, it become prams, toys, cute little ones that are attracting my attention. Anyway, these has nothing to do with the show, and i guess the day after tomorrow will be the same for me, milk, diaper and crying baby.

Finally finally, the passport is finally ready and is collected today. Perhaps we will all go to JB this weekend to visit the grandparents, instead of having them come here (and maybe help us babysit the kid for a few hours while we get our timeout).

The application and collection of passport is almost hassle free. I just sent in the form and was notified for collection in about a week. Queuing and long waiting hours are expected at almost all government agencies. So I decided to go early. Reached there at about 9.30am, and saw a lot of people walking in and out of the building. As I turned into the public car park, I saw three car park attendants walking around, preying for drivers who failed to display their parking coupons. Anticipating long queue, I tore a 2hr coupon. But the whole process took me less then 10min. I am really impressed by the speed, though i wasted the coupon. Anyway, applying passport by post or thru the net is definitely a wiser choice.

I must voice out my unhappiness over TIBS rebranded as SMRT buses. Bt panjang area have been faithfully served by the orange fleet and now, i am begining to see them changing into the red and white coloured SMRT buses. Isn’t that smilar to the SBS transit buses? I am going to miss the bright sunny orange buses.