Staying

Crabs for lunch. That's the treat when the girl comes home. I guess absence does make the heart grows fonder. And we had very good tim sum yesterday in Oakland, courtesy of an old golf kaki from Singapore, here with daughter and wife to look into the possibility of migrating for the sake of the kid. She's sweet, vrey pleasant smile. Just finished her PSLE. The 3/4 man was supposed to acquaint her with what schooling is like in the old US of A but being who he is, he hardly spoke a word. Oh well. Someday, he's learn to socialize. He's already better - actually heard him said "thank you, sir" to a stranger who was helpful. Picking up some American mannerism no less.

In three weeks, it will be thanksgiving and we should be heading south to Palm Springs. Hope the weather will be kind and the man and 3/4 can play some golf. Maybe we can cruise around and pop into Mexico for a look-see. I have not been able to plan anything. Work is really picking up as the processes I put in place start to kick in and Downstream is finally getting traction in the SharePoint space. It's taken me a few months but it was gratifying when on Friday, a consultant on the project team came a knocking to tell me that of all the business reps, I was the most constructive and the project team felt I had made a difference. I could tell when the project head, my former boss, asked me to help with a workshop to engage all the business reps. Me who has the least amount of experience in this whole project because I am still the new kid in the game when the others have been around some couple of years.

I hope we can get the permanent residency thing going. Gotta ask what's happening...

Adieu

The economic crisis in America is getting a little closer to home. So Mervyn's is closing down and today on the way home from tennis and Chinese class, we drop in the store in Dublin to get the three-quarter man a pair of black pants for his school jazz band. The one we bought barely 2 years ago now hangs awkwardly above his ankle and at the last concert in Spring before the end of school, he looked like a trishaw rider from gu chia cui (buffalo cart water). It was ludricrous, and pitiable, like a child from a destitute family. And just about everything in the store was on sale, we also picked up some costume jewelry for moi and some jeans for the man. And Mr Sticky to remove lint and other yakky stuff off coats and fleece jackets. Not all things were that much of a deal - you need to pick your deals. I think you get better discounts just after Thanksgiving and Christmas just about everywhere.

After 60 years as an East Bay icon, Mervyn's has fallen victim, probably never to rise again.

I am starting to really miss my girls. Nic hasn't been home for the last 2 weeks and Carynn's sly smiles and winning ways with her dad haunt me. There is a hole that even keeping busy with work cannot fill. What would it be like when the 3/4 man also leaves.? I don't want to think about it.

The leaves on the trees are starting to turn flaming red. While fall is beautiful with sunny afternoons and wonderful temperatures, you know at the back of your mind that winter is just around the corner. Sometimes, the cold actually feels refreshing but I dread the moments of dragging yourself out from the nice warm beds to face the cold of the bathroom. But there's always Spring to look forward to.

You can see from this blog that there is really nothing much happening lately. So adieu. Maybe next week, I will pick myself up to take some pics of the new neighborhood and post them. And clean out the garage some before winter descends.

Home2

The financial world is in turmoil and it is interesting to watch the news channel switch every so often between reporting on the Presidential election now just weeks away and the inability of the US government to stop the precipitous fall of Wall Street and the multiplier effect on the world's stock markets. The implications of the bank failures are more than just the housing bust, aka sub-prime housing crisis. Unless faith and liquidity in the financial market can be restored and soon, this could have ramifications on the whole credit industry when banks become ultra conservative as each restricts lines of credits to other banks and to end customers in an effort to protect its own financial health. If we all cannot get credit to run our small businesses, buy a car, a house, anything, the multiplier effect can lead to a downward spiral on just about every sector of the economy. If the US consumer cannot consume, the who would buy the goods from Asia? And so on and so forth. Consumption makes up a much larger percentage of the US GNP than for most other countries and the any contraction in US consumption will ripple through the world economy. Let's hope this doomsday scenario remains just that, a scenario. That it does not materialize. That the US government and other governments have enough sense to do something quick to prevent another great depression.

That's the grim picture.

But in suburbia, it has not really percolated down yet. Yes, you hear of foreclosures and fall in housing prices. Yet they are still seem out of reach for folks like us. Unless we are willing to move tens of miles away and put up with hour or more long commutes. I just heard on the evening news that Stockton is the foreclosure capital of the world with 1 in every 25 houses under foreclosure. But for people here, Stockton is almost a world away.

Well, let's hope all good things come to those who wait. And that time won't run out on us.

On a lighter note, we have cleaned up this house pretty well. It is a pity that it has not been taken care of as well as it should be. A house just two blocks away is going for $800K. Still way out of our league. The Man and I have scrubbed and wiped and scrubbed and wiped till the dust have mostly disappeared and even the heavily stained brass fittings of the wash basins now actually look like brass instead of some black rings and plates. Pity. Now the house is getting more comfortable because it is feels and look cleaner.

But there is so much more space than the previous house, it echoes because we have so little furniture. So today after tennis, we drop by Macy's furniture store on the way back and got ourselves a guess what? Natuzzi sofa that looks like the one we left behind in Singapore. So this is really going to feel like home :).

Home

Yes, we have moved and are almost all settled in. I say almost because there is that onerous task of unpacking the seemingly endless number of boxes and then stuffing them away using some unfathomable algorithm that only the sub-conscious is aware of. I have this horrible fear that we will repeat this chore all over again in exactly a year from now.

I like this house so much better than the last. It actually feels like home. The other one was just a place to hang out and get some sleep. This home feels like Li Hwan. The Man has even put all the pictures up. The ones that were all boxed up and laying in wait for the past two years in that store-room under the stairs. Now they are out for all to enjoy and to cheer us up. It feels like Li Hwan.

This is the one week anniversary of the move. Feels like yesterday.

Tomorrow, the Singaporeans (mostly) are getting together again, this time at the Lai's for another round of gorging. Can't wait. Not so much for the food. For the camaraderie and the companionship. The chance to crack senseless Singapore jokes and remember days of yore.

Fall is here and already the leaves are turning flaming red. You can feel the cold slowly creeping in and the nights growing longer. Fall has its charms too. The trees will be beautiful.

Can't wait for the family to come. It has been so long...