Of Long Walks...and appreciation

Of Long Walks...and appreciation..

I love to take long walks. Taking in the beautiful sights, observing how people interact with one another... strolling at my own pace and with my mini ipod playing my favourite tracks... to me, it's rejuvenating. Such strolls help me to clear my thoughts, reorganise my thinking, gives me ideas and solutions (sometimes) and helps me to stay focus on my priorities.

I can still remember how enjoyable these long walks were when I was in Europe last year on vacation with my colleagues. We walked in the cool summer breeze to some sidewalk cafes for our breakfast or lunch or tea break or dinner (or all of the above on some days.. hahah)... without any cares at all about work or anything else. After meals we would walk to some museums nearby, some nearby market place to buy fresh fruits to savour while walking or to bring back to the apartment, pay tributes to some shopping malls (we can't resist shopping...) or some tourist attractions. And we would walk back to Annie & Thomas' apartment at the end of the day. It was truly relaxing and I missed that!

So yesterday, after watching Pirates of the Carribean (Part 2) with Jonaphine, Gabriel and Junming, (Btw... side note: I thought Johnny Depp was very quirky & charming!! haha) I decided that I would walk to Lucky Plaza, replenish my toiletries and walk back home from there. While walking to Lucky Plaza from Cineleisure, the sun was a tad scorching but it was pretty shady so I thought... perhaps it's not as warm as I thought. When I was done with Lucky Plaza... I started my walk home.

Obviously, I thought wrong. With every step I took, I thought that I was about to faint with the sun beating down on me. I paused at Far East Plaza for a second and wondered if I should take a bus instead... at least it's air-conditioned.. at least in less than 10mins I would be home sweet home in such frying weather. Tempting...but I decided that I should continue walking anyway. The walk could do some (minimal) wonders to my physique as well as help me unwind. And so I did.

As I continued my journey with humidity as my main companion, out of the blue, the words of one of my HR clients that I work with came into my mind.. "Thank you very much on this complicated case. Appreciated". I shan't go into long details about the complicated expatriate case but it was really nice to have someone appreciate what you are doing. I wasn't expecting a thank you from her as it was my role afterall. But I would say her thank you to me was an incentive / bonus. There and then..it reminded me to always appreciate and thank people too for the things that they have done for me or just simply for just being a friend to me! Somehow, this reminded me of the parable of the 10 lepers where only one came back to thank Jesus for curing him. As I reflected on my relationship with the Lord, I thank the Lord for just being Him as I walked. Everyday, I revel in His unconditional love for me. Amazing what humidity can do! hahah..

Alas, I reached home. Probably lost 200grams of water weight from walking in that kindof weather ... cooled down... washed up and started to pamper myself with the toiletries I bought earlier... and felt... soOo good... Refreshed and had a sense of accomplishment from keeping to walking back home in sahara desert weather (singapore version) and more appreciative of the Lord as well as the people around me.

Constipated Thoughts

Constipated Thoughts

When tiny thoughts start to swirl in a restless mind..

When ignored, they begin to snowball over time..

The Lord said "Come lay them all down at my feet.."

"Rejuvenate from the water of Life... have more than a sip.."

And so I did, just as I was told...

Lo & behold.. my constipated thoughts... He took control.

That night, we talked longer than usual.

The more we converse... depleted energy seem to refuel.

It was a tad late but I didn't wanna stop.

It was delightful to have such intimate moments with the Lord.

Until alas... my eyelids began to weigh like a ton.

I thanked Him for everything He has done.

And so..that night as I went to bed...

Of constipated thoughts.... they were no longer in my head.

I'm So Proud of You!!!!!

I'm So Proud of You!!!!!

I received a surprise email today. It was from my uni mate, Apple, who relocated to Shanghai with her husband, Kafoon more than a year ago as Kafoon took up an assignment in China.

"Dear Prisc,
I've delivered on 19July afternoon and have just came home last weekend.
It's forceps assisted natural birth, really a tough experience for me but thank god that baby and me are both fine. My baby is 3.2kg and 50cm long at birth, and his name is Henry SHi Thu He. Attached some photos for you.
Will write again soon!"

And here's a pic of baby Henry:

He's a cutey!!!

Are all babies this cute? Hehe. It's the best news of the day and I'm so thankful to God for keeping both mother and son safe and healthy! Apple, you have no idea how proud I am of you! Once more, congratulations to both you and Kafoon on the arrival of little Henry!!!

Reliving Sesame Street

(Overdued post but I'll post it for memory sake anyway... lol)

Reliving Sesame Street
[Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away.

On my way to where the air is sweet.

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Streeeeeet!]

I finally know how to get to Sesame Street! For real! Hehe.

Depending on where you are that is... I was at Somerset after church one Sunday

And along with my chums like Jerilee and Merv, we three troopers set off to get to Sesame Street! Oh yes! Before we set off, here are some pics. Dorcas, Me and Jerilee in the same colour! What a coincidence!

Meng chong = "Daddy" potential in training. Haha. He's the first male in our caregroup that can make baby Ashley sleep so soundly in public! Hehehe.

As I was saying we were in Somerset area, so we took the train down to Pasir Ris where the Sesame Street live performance would be (It's not free if that notion flew across your mind... we paid a WHOOPING 40 buckaroos to relive our childhood...). Hehe.

Upon our arrival at Pasir Ris train station, we had to take a shuttle bus 354 from the Pasir Ris bus interchange area (btw, here's a trivial pursuit: anybody knows whats the diff between shuttle bus or feeder bus?) to where the performance was held in Downtown East. I was telling some folks that I have no idea why Downtown East is called Downtown East cos it sure isn't downtown at all!!!!! Even if it is supposed to be in downtown of the east area!!

(waiting for bus)


Finally........ *drum rolls* Ladies and Gentlemen.. boys and girls...

I present to you..... Sesame Street .. (found!!!) hehehe..

So while walking in to where the performance was held... we took a lot of cheesy but fun pictures together...

I liked this picture. It looks as though Jerilee and I are holding Elmo's hand.

Now... it's time for the performance!!!

Jerilee and I sang along to many of the Sesame street songs and all of us had a ball of a time reliving our memories.

There was Big Bird (lots of kids were screaming they like big bird), Elmo, Zoey, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, The martians that always go "yipyipyipyip" (If you grew up with Sesame street you'll know what I mean), Bert & Ernie, The count, 1 Honker, Telly Monster, Grover, etc. Can't recall all. That was how far we were from the stage. And as you can see from the pic below, the number of that day was......2!

(The different names of Sesame Street in other countries)

There was a 15mins intermission. (I think the people in the sesame street suits need a break too.. heheheh) and Jerilee spotted this lil' rugrat that was soooOooooo cute! See her photo below!!! We tried to ask her over but she didn't budge(smart lass!) so I had to zoomed my camera all the way to try to snap a pic of her. I wanna play with her chubby cheeks!!!

And that was how to get to Sesame Street! Hehe. Anyone wanna make a guess on who my favourite Sesame Street Character is? If you get it right... you'll win my *drum rolls* Sesame Street ticket stub!! Wahahahahah... just kiddin... (Disclaimer: Merv & Jerilee, you're barred from this ... haha).

I wanna comPrain

I wanna comPrain:

Hehe... these are some trivial everyday peeves that sometimes drives us nuts. See if you will find yourself in similar situations as I did.

1. 25,000-29,000 cabs in Singapore and I could not even flag down one available cab at 1020pm at Bugis Junction last Thursday.

2. When I finally flagged down an available cab, the taxi driver asked me if I am going to Changi Airport as he is going there, I said no and he drove off. I think Singapore is one of the few countries in the world that there are a number (I'm not saying all but there are more than a handful) of taxi drivers that actually chooses the destination for the passengers. *I think it's ok if they are changing shift, are "on-call" and shows the on-call sign or heading home. BUT NOT WHEN ITS NONE OF SUCH SITUATIONS!!* Amazing, huh?

3. Some pint size women always like to touch, push and then shove my back when the train is about to stop but have not come to a complete halt to open the doors.

4. Some pint size women (I believe they are probably the same group from point 3 above)would end up stepping on my shoes somehow while making our way to the mrt gantries.

5. Once more, some pint size women (I believe its the same group as points 3 & 4...AGAIN) would "Tssssssk" pretty loudly at me when I turned around to see who stepped on my shoes, eventhough I was the victim.

6. People who jammed up the queue every morning at the MRT gantry when the gantry could not capture their EZ-link card in their bag to let them pass through. And they rather try their luck by placing their bags on all 360 degree angles instead of taking the card out of the bag to tap the system sensor.

7. People who halt in the middle of the right lane of the MRT escalator and caused a queue by answering a call/sms on their mobile phone. I wonder which part of having a MOBILE phone do they not understand?

8. People who come into the lift on the 17th floor to press the lift to the 18th floor or come in at the 24th floor to press the lift for the 25th floor when I am supposedly alone in the lift and my office is 26th floor!! For this reason, my lift ride becomes 5mins and I have to factor that into my waking up and travelling time to the office!!

9. Some people dry their hands off me (literally) by flicking their wet hands vigorously after a wash at the lavatory basin.

10. Some people do not dry their hands off victims like me but they dry it off by opening the toilet door. And guess who comes along to open the SAME DOOR with the SAME DOOR HANDLE? And we wonder how germs are spread?

11. Taxi auto-doors that I have to open manually, cos most cab drivers don't open it for you.

12. Reaching out to open the taxi auto-doors thinking that most cab drivers don't open for you and it opens automatically and slams into your thigh.

13. Friends of mine who renamed scary trailer videos and files as "beautiful scenery" and send them to unsuspecting, scaredy cat victims like me.

Can you think of anymore daily life peeves? Feel free to add on.