Countdown

The beginning of a new decade and the end of the first decade of the 21st century.  Tonight we celebrate the passing into a new year and a new decade.  11 is a good number - a double first.

When I was a small kid, I had often pondered and marvelled at how long it would be before the 21st century came around and I used to count how old I would be by the turn of the century.  Well, I ponder no more because time as relentless in its flow as a river finding its way to the sea had brought the change which was more commonplace than I had imagined way back then.  I spent the hours between 1999 and 2000 watching my servers and news of countries entering one by one into the new millennium to see if cataclysm and chaos would reign.  There was nary a whimper of anything extraordinary save for the usual gallavanting and fireworks.  The divine did not come down in person(s) to bless us and I simply grew another day older.  Oftentimes, our childish imaginations are more exciting than reality.

We will be at Mountain House cheering the countdown loudly and pulling poppers with relish.  With friends who have become a sort of surrogate extended family without whom we would have been adrift in a new land.

Time for us all to make new resolutions and to remember to keep them.  Taking a leaf off the Y2K non-event, for me, it will be to stop worrying so much and let destiny take us where it will.  Time to let my hair down a little.  Surely it is not my burden alone to bear.  Happy New Year to all loved ones, far and near!  You all mean a lot to me.

Survival Sigh

In a bit of a panic mode.  Unexpected recent spend and recent deluge of hefty college and other expenses are making a very serious dent.  Nightmarish.  Including constant doubts about whether enough was set aside for one of the two constants, this having been the first year of full fledged residency.  May have to re-evaluate ability to do a cap reduction.  Wish the year can end on a more merry note.  Worry and fright.  Happiness hormone, anyone?

Happy Holidays

To all my family and friends,

Merry Christmas from us here in California.  We miss you and wish we were all together singing as we used to do, tearing up gift wrappers and making promises not to overspend ever again knowing full well we will not be able to keep them and over-eating recklessly.  Those were fun days and after what we just went through would have been the kind of healing that we need.

Peace on earth and goodwill towards all men - would that this could really come true.  So we can go back to days of simpler living.

Have a good one!  From YL, HK, Nic and R.

Memories

It is the winter solstice.  First day of winter and the longest night of the year.  Somehow it all seems fitting.  The event that occurred had been the bleakest for a long time but it is all behind us now.  The hours of sunshine should grow longer and with them, new beginnings for those most affected.

We bade farewell to one we dearly loved.  She fought the good fight.  We did not return in time to hold her one more time and tell her how dear we hold her in our hearts.  I did not heed my daughter's crying urgent pleas enough.  The logistics of daily living and the apron strings of one still in school bound too tightly.  I regret it now.  I should have made the tough decision, turned a deaf ear to the whine and thrown aside the mantle of the workplace.  Just gone.

Yet the heavens were kind and we made the trip.  To share in the sadness of her passing and to celebrate the life she had lived.  I hope she heard my cries and saw my grief.  I like to think she knew we would come home for her.

The reconnection with those at home was good.  Unspoken amends were made and relationships re-established and re-bonded.  The renewal of kinships.  The very memorable massages for an unyielding shoulder.  The last hours of laughter and conversations at departure with family and friends from both sides.  Priceless.

I cannot wait to go back again but at the same time, coming back here reasserted the sanity and calm of daily living.  We came back to hugs from one who waited at the airport and to what I thought would be a freezing house but there was a level of warmth that surprised me.  The front door was a mess of leaves from the lone Japanese maple but that only made it seemed all the more welcoming.

I was and am home.

Hotch-Potch

The Giants are world series champions.  The job transition has been bumpy and unexpectedly taxing despite efforts at putting the most comprehensive knowledge transfer document my bosses have seen.  Half man ended the volunteer duties this morning at band review event hosted by Cal High with the usual grumpiness forcing me to quit while I was enjoying the jazz competitions.  And life spins on.

The girl valiantly tries to inspire long distance conversations.  I try to keep up my daily miles on the treadmill while the number of documents I need to read on what it takes to keep me useful in my new job keep piling up un-perused.  And life spins on.

Gotta settle down and prioritize.  What's more important?  My health or my work?  My old job or my new new?  Why don't I find it as easy to just drop the old as others?  My team tugs at my heartstrings and my family pulls at my consciousness.  It could well be that if I don't do anything, things will fall into place.  Naturally.  Or by force of gravity.  Gravity of the situational kind.  Not Newtonian.

Go Giants

Watching the Giants go down 4-2 was agonizing, after two fantastic recent wins against the Texas Rangers.  There's no turning back, Giants!

Now, the question is: how to hand out candies to the hordes of little ghouls and gremlins tomorrow while sitting glued to the telly cheering the Giants tomorrow evening.  Maybe the candies can be coaxed to hand themselves out?  Abracadabra.

Twists & Turns

The first rain of Fall.  Was very determined to go out, browse, get a thing or two for the house.  But as usual, housework triumphed and out goes all plans once the drizzle started.  Shoot.

Finally, laundered that mite ridden excuse of a bolster.  The bolster cover from Pandan Valley when the four were still small eventually lost the good fight and its seam ripped all the way through.  Found it on the floor discarded like a rag last week (so much for no, you are not taking that away, ever) and tossed into the thrash.  It was not even missed till today.  Warm and toasty from the dryer and into a brand new white cover YY brought on her last trip here and that bolster is getting a new lease on life.  Limp it may be but still well loved and comforting to a certain 15 year-old who has always been happy with old things.  Not one for shiny new things that one.  Pretty low maintenance and that suits me fine.  Except for those infernal golf, then tennis lessons that always cost more than all my monthly spend.

Lately been pondering the sense and sensibility of giving up the higher disposable income back home for living paycheck to paycheck in the US of A.  Was taking that turn in the fork of life's journey the correct one?  Where will this one eventually lead and what would have awaited at the end of the other branch?  So many possibilities.  But are they really possibilities?  Perhaps one does not really have a choice.  They look like forks but you could never have taken the other road.  It is a mirage to make you think you have a choice.  Still, it is intriguing and at the same time heart breaking.  My career is going nowhere, my kids will still be tugging at the apron strings for some time, and the face that looks back each morning and night is getting more lined.  When will the next fork in the road appear and what (mis)adventures beckon at the end of those dividers before the next fork appears?

I think of those I left behind and I feel homesick.  Why can't we all be here?  I just don't see a fork leading us back there.  Not yet.

Three Tens

Casino advertising perfect 10.  10-10-10.  Hahaha.  That's today of course.  Trust a casino to use that.

Nonsense

Fleet Week in San Francisco Bay Area and the Blue Angels are in town for the annual show.  But no one would go with me.  This year, there is a Blue Angel transporter too.  Maybe next year.  I will go by myself if I have to.

It's been lovely weather.  Even nicer than summer which has not really been any kind of summer.  However, I am holed up at home, cleaning and dusting.  For the party in two weeks time but also because I have to keep busy.  Keep my mind off things.  Idle hands equal busy mind.

Pancake breakfast at Cal High with Lai's, Kheng and Hwee Hong was enjoyable.  But as usual, the jokes and conversations gp longer than I had expected and the Half Man and I were late for BBQ at UCB with the girl.  Missed having my car washed too.  Shoot.  My car is in dire need of a wash.  It's been at least six months since its last bath.  Must download a coupon and bring it for a nice rub down.  Thought it would be a busy day but we were home by 2.  Woke up from a restless nap to an afternoon most distressing, the source of which distress is still a complete mystery.

Guess I would be starting new job soon.  Can't possibly delay much longer.  May look bad for annual performance review.  Plus side is i have a really detailed transition and handover document.  No one can accuse me of not doing a good job in that quarter.

Thinking of a run down to shop for knick knacks.  Still missing some small decorative arts for the dining area above the bay window.  Lethargy has set in and I am 99% sure it is not going to happen.  And a nap beckons.  Sleep debt needs to be repaid.

Many Milestones

Not sure what to write about.  Tomorrow, my team gets notified.  Think they landed for the most part OK but ...  At least one will cry on my shoulder.  I must know what to say.

The Indian summer was good while it lasted.  Sorta weird that it would be the first full week of Fall but you can tell the change is beginning.  I wonder aloud to the half Man and then the Man.  How do the trees tell?  How do they know that it is now time to start shedding even while the Indian summer was on?  Leaves are strewn about on stretches of road and paths and in the carparks.  Next year, maybe if I save real hard, we can go to New England to look at Fall colors.  It is supposed to be beautiful there this time of year.

I have 4 to 5 weeks of vacation time and no where to go.  Guess I can always spend them opening up the remaining boxes from Singapore now stacked away in the garage.  Maybe the wedding pic that used to hang above our bed is there in one of them boxes.  Maybe the BA plaque is there too.

And I wonder too about the offsprings.  Isn't time to settle down for at least one of them?  Life's milestones do not seem to apply as they did before.  Every generation shifts them further down the years.  Maybe my grandchildren's generation will have milestones that stretches where our grandparents would have departed, bless their hearts.  Interesting dilemma for the sociologists, economists and any other ists out there that are intrigued by such inter-generational patterns and movements.  For me, I just need to know when the milestones are reached per offspring so I can lay it all down one offspring at a time.  So that finally, one day, for the first time since my early twenties, I can say, I am done and now is time, time for me to retrieve what remains of my years and just have time for me before I myself reach my own final milestone.  Karma.  Will God grant me at least that much?  Never in my childhood dreams did I ever conceive that I would wear the mantle that I have unwittingly worn these past two decades.  It is a mantle I will now willingly discard if I may be allowed, Sir.

Random Rules

Heat wave weekend.  First Fall weekend has turned out to be hot.  And tomorrow will be triple digit in the Inland East Bay where we are.  Strange.  After a really cool summer where the aircon barely came on.  But enjoy the heat while it lasts.  All too soon, the days will get shorter and colder.

Been reading a lot of Straits Times.  Elvin brought back a bunch from his last trip back and the LK loaned them to me as she was heading down to LA to send Daynan back to UCLA.  I really should return them.  Have had them for over a week already.  Catching up on home news was good.  So much happening that we never hear about.  Asia news are not exactly high on the local news channel - only Bloomberg but then it is all financial.  The gossipy things are more interesting read.

Been tossing between spending to visit the family and spending to upgrade the bar space that the previous owners for some reason did not renovate given how much they had done.  It would help to have a nice wine cooler to get rid of that cartoon of Concannon that is a bit of an eye sore.

Forgot all about my American Airlines miles from 2004 and year on year they have been expiring on me un-announced.  Gotta find a way to use them.  Any ideas, Rynn?  Do some research please.  80,000 left and diminishing.  Just lost over 10,000 this year alone.

Need to start planning for Mt Rushmore too.  June will creep up before you know it.  And to make that doctor appointment for the arm.  And on how to use up 3, maybe 4 weeks, of vacation time still remaining with no where to go and no one to go with.  And for the girls to get on with their lives so one can kickstart her professional career and one can finish her school career and the other two to excel in their chosen disciplines.  Now, where's that planner?

10000

Now onto the threadmill to get my 10K for the day.

Ouchhhhhh

I will that my frozen shoulder will unfreeze and this freaking sharp pain will cease and desist from making my arm movements an exercise in excruciation.

Begins

The end of summer 2010.  A weird cool summer.  A new chapter begins soon in the workplace.  Time to start letting go and gearing up.

Cries

And a mother's heart weeps tears and blood.

Tragic

Had a tangential brush with the gas explosion that was heard around the world.  Maybe that is stretching it a bit.  Hitting the 101 just out from SFO on Thursday, on the opposite side of the highway, we saw at least three firetrucks, sirens blazing, rushing North.  Limousine driver told Holly and I there was some kind of explosion and fire.  He knew nothing beyond that.  Reaching home, all news channels were broadcasting the huge fire still raging and devastating the homes of San Bruno.  Regular programming were all but neglected.

It was heartbreaking to see the balls of fire reaching some 70 feet into the early evening sky, flames licking everywhere and gutting out the homes.  As the evening wore on, CBS was the first to announce over 50 homes were destroyed and another 100 or so houses damaged.  We now know that these initial numbers were too high.  Still the devastation was terrible.  A whole neighborhood now mourns for the loss of lives, houses burned out to the ground and people unable to return to their homes till 3 days later.

In the midst of the devastation and tragedy, it was heartwarming to see people turning out to help their fellow humans.  As the fires raged and people stream into emergency centers with just the clothes on them, others were carrying bundles and bundles of everyday essentials - an unending stream carting in cases of water, blankets, toilet paper, food, ...  There was so much stuff that the Red Cross the next day asked that people stop bringing things.  Just give a check or cash, there was no more room for more things.

It was wrenching to hear the story of a young man suffering third degree burns barely conscious, weeping that he could not save his girlfriend who was in flames.  All he could say, over and over, was that he could not save her.  She was one of the four who perished.

And I asked on Facebook if blood from an anaemic person would be accepted.  Likely not, they may give me blood instead.  Sigh!

Laughter

Last night was thoroughly enjoyable.  As usual, the Tan's are wonderful hosts and Chitty brought us all to a whole new level of hilarity.  She is always the center of any party with her highly infectious, no-hold bar, slightly acidic stories and perspectives of the going-on's in Malaysia and Singapore.  Have not laughed so much in months.  Thanks for the relief valve.

Nothingness

It's the nothingness weekend.  On housework strike.

The threadmill has had some intense use.  Feels good.  With no more excuse, getting that 10K has been much easier.  Actually, have not quite hit that daily 10K on the mill alone but with the activities of daily living, I figure it must be close to if not more than that target.  Four days in a roll, it can only be good for the ageing bones.

Headache easing off.  Getting out of the house into the warm summer day was a big help, even if it was something as mundane as grocery shopping.  And we are not buying eggs.  Whoever heard of eggs being recalled?  550 million so far and likely growing.  Each week brings news of something being recalled.  Sigh.

D-day tomorrow.  No phone call will see this little pig come wee wee wee home abundantly tearing.

Wish

It has just been a horrible weekend of headaches and lethargy induced by this blooming tension headache that hovers at the borders of my consciousness even in sleep.  I wish everything would just go away.  So I can lie down finally and give up the ghost.

Arrival

And it's arrived.  Last night.  Lots of heavy lifting by Man and a half.  Thank you.  And thank you for setting it up.  Had my first 7 mins on the mill eagerly and it is beautiful.  Can't wait to plug in the iPod too.  Yay!

Excited

And I am eagerly awaiting my threadmill.

After a half year of contemplation, drooling and "can I afford it", to quote a certain television financial celebrity.

While I love walking with my iPod music in my ears, it is a bit of a chore dressing up especially when the weather turns cold and windy.  And after a hard day in the office with the lights fading fast.  Now I will have no more excuses keeping to my 10k.

And I can be more precise just how much much of a walk each time.

Summer Sheen

Back from Larry's Produce at Suisun Valley (second time in three weeks) and outlet shopping at Vacaville.  Lots of fruits now.  Figured since we had gone so far and paid the bridge toll, may as well go another 10 miles and see what deals we can find.  And yes, there were some good ones.  Sweater and outer wear for the onset of Fall, nice tee for the half man, all at fairly good discounts.  AAA membership rocks!  Prices to die for in Singapore for the kind of names regarded as almost commonplace.  So much clothes without breaking the bank.

Boss called yesterday - said I was the only one he was telling the news.  He got the offer he wanted and he wants to make sure I am going the same place - we had discussed philosphically at length and had strikingly similar wavelengths.  Hope fires up - he will be a strong sponsor and advocate.  We have good camaraderie, the two of us.  Strong trust and mutual respect - and this makes for strong results.  Things took on a brighter sheen after the call.

And as if to share the upbeat mood, the sun came out.  It now really feels like summer has finally arrived.

Shall know, methinks, by mid-week how my fortune turns.

Price to Pay

Another Sunday.  A good chat on Facebook with number 1.  A whirlwind of a week gone by with number 2 and companion here for too short a stay blasting through Six Flags Discovery, bbq on the now much cleaner grill and sessions of convincing powers that be why I should be the person for the jobs in their soon to be new orgs.  Finished updating my PMP for upcoming review this week and summarizing why I should have one of the 5 jobs I posted all amidst several loads of laundry, iRobot running around sucking up dust and mites and re-making all the beds with clean sheets and covers.  Achievements!

Is there nothing more to life?

I want to put it all aside.  Live my life.  All I have ever done is for someone else - to keep food on the table while I succor my hunger on daily bread, to pay bills, to pick up after others, to scrimp so my brood will not want, to read about others' summer vacations and wish them enjoy.  When will it be time for me to live for me?  To lay it all aside and say, now I can expend on me?

I think of Papa a lot these days and wonder what he will think of his first born.  Will he be proud of me or will he weep?  Will he give me an A or a F for not having become what he had hoped for me?  If he were here today, I will pour out my heart to him, to let him know that I am too much like him, too much.  I will work myself to death like him.  Will he like that or will he shake his head and sigh as he oft did in his all too short life?  Papa, there is so much of you in me and so much I want to tell you.

I should have listen too to Mama and taken my time.  Things have changed more than I ever expected.  One day, Mama, maybe I will have the courage or the strength to find a new me.  It is my karma.  I must have been a bad person before although I cannot imagine how.  I lack the constitution to be truly bad or evil.  I don't think I will make the cut.

Sunday Stuff

Most of today was invested in poring over postings and decided which 5 and for each, what should my one pager contain that would put me in the right light.  As the one to pick.  While listening to an uncomfortable conflict between the Man and the half man over, what else?  Tennis.  Had to stay focused, stay un-conflicted.  Work on my future.

A huge load fell off when the last of the one pager was done.  For good or bad, I had run out of steam.  Maybe my boss will not agree with my selections.  Maybe he has better ideas, can see farther and clearer.  We'll see - in two days' time.  The one pager is not a requirement but an idea implanted by my mentor CIO.

But the relief is very palpable.  Suddenly, my heart was free.  And the garden looked so inviting and fresh.  Went for a nice slow walk around the neighborhood with the Man, enjoying the beautiful weather.  A perfect summer evening.  Not the hot mid-90 temperature that I thought was forecast for the day.  And somewhere during the stroll, I caiught faint sounds of the summer concert, all the way from Central Park.  This is the thrid one I have missed.  Only one more to miss.  Sigh.

Wish me luck family!  I sorely need it.

On a different note, the Half Man and I went last evening to the first summer get together of our mentoring group, at least of those located in the Bay Area.  This group has been very closely knit since our mentoring program of 2007-8.  Two years after the metamorphosis, this group still attempts to meet for lunch every quarter here and monthly in Richmond.  I don't think any of the other groups has gelled as much as this one.  Fun group, bright young leaders of tomorrow. The Half Man sat mostly quietly, enjoying the conversation except when engaged by one of them on school stuff.  We had a good mother-son conversation on the way home.  I had dreaded a big fight over going with me to the get together.  I needn't have worried.  He actually came without quarrels and left feeling happy.  What joy!

Dread

D-Day is this week.  One thinks one should come out alright - credibility, track record, experience, network, etc, etc.  Then one talks to a member of the senior management - "it will be brutal and oh some positions are likely to be protected" which translates of course to there will actually be fewer opportunities for the rest of you mediocres who must compete mightily for the rest.  And the doubt creeps in.  What if, what if, what if...  How does one knows not to include the "protected openings" and not  jeopardise the 5 and only 5 chances one is given?  Despondency starts dampening the spirit.  One dreams of what could never be.  The ad plays like a broken record in the mind - see what a buck can do for you.  Logic and reasoning have not quite fled and one instinctively knows the odds are well nigh impossible.  But as long as breath still flows, the flicker of hope is never far off.  That is what keeps the species alive.

How does one sells oneself to all the powers that will collectively determine who stays to put bread on the table another day and who walks?  Plan, woman, plan.  Did you not coach your own team?

I dread that I will handed a message that says, "you are Not Yet Selected".  Oh, the loss of face and the sadness that will render my soul apart.  I cannot be without a job.  How will we live?

Clearing

One tylenol and a walk to MarketPlace with the Bose set in my ears have helped cleared the fog in my head and the lethargy.  The warmth of the day lingers still, enough to work up a slight skin of perspiration.  Feels good.  And who should I run into at MarketPlace as I was turning back to walk the 1+ miles home?  The Man.  Who not an hour ago, drag on his jeans and went without a word while I was hemming a pair of pairs to relax the mind.

The slight tension in the temples are still there but the guilt about 10K a day is removed.  The boarding pass is printed.  That half man is getting to be a good troubleshooter with gadgets.  The world is looking better again.

Drumming

Four glorious hours of World Cup Final with the surround sound pumping up the atmosphere to the twosome on the couch.  And now the brain threatens to shut down from faitgue.  Not a direct consequence.  An after effect of fitful sleep and an ultimately failed attempt at keeping up with SNL.  Not since student days in UBC have I been able to keep hours past the witching hour.  Long gone are the days when the body could take hitting the books till the wee hours.  The wear and tear are just too much to bear.  The power nap would not come to relieve the heaviness.

Don't understand the weariness.  Morning seemed beautiful - was out in the yard with the Man admiring the flowers and enjoying the glorious weather.  Soccer was exciting (although the game was not the best of World Cup finals).

So not looking forward to the trip to Houston.  I am so reluctant to pack.  Waste of time to burn two days travelling just so one can spend two days locked up in a "workshop".  Not with all the other stuff still hanging around one's neck and the messages in the inbox piling up mercilessly.  But politically, it just seemed like being caught in a rock and a hard place.

WIsh the eyes would just light up.  Maybe an attempt to distract the half man from his dragon will do the trick.  The altercation will fire up the blood.

Mumbling

It's been a weird sort of summer so far.  Not the constant heat of summers past but flip flopping temperatures.  It has been unseasonably cool but I like.  Very pleasant - the house tends to be cool no matter how hot it gets outside.  Love being able to wear light tees and shorts and no socks.

Doing two persons' jobs is really keeping me busy.  Great experience though.  This time next month, I'll be figuring out what my next job's gonna be and soon after whether I'll even have one.  Such are the times.

Not much news from the homeland.  Maybe we are getting forgotten.  Is this the price for uprooting?  Only source of update is an occasional peek into facebook.  Sad.

With no plans for summer, the half man is spending all his awake hours riding some dragon on the com much to the despair of the "'rents".  How can a person spends all waking hours devoid of human contact, surfacing only for meals and the occasional pee or after threats of dire consequences to his bodily well being?  Makes me feel like a big failure for not having nurtured a broader interest in the whole wide world instead of the www.

The only exception was last week, the long Independence Day weekend when the four of us journeyed forth for two days of tennis tournaments.  Never mind that the four games were all throwaways.  I loved that we were out, he was not at the com, the girl was home and supporting her little brother valiantly and we were enjoying the outdoor.  Now, how should we keep this going?

Sizzling

The heat is on.  Too sizzling to go outdoors till evening and then the outdoors are less stifling than inside the four walls.  The doors are open but bring scant relief.

But the heat has been a long time coming this year.  An unseasonably cool and wet Spring has delayed the onset of summer frazzle.  The mountains have lost their green mantle and brown has taken over the vista.

The relatives came and went.  While the six-pack went with the seventh to the Happiest Place on Earth, the gambling capital and the Mother canyon of all canyons, the octagenarian wisely chose to remain - would be hard to find walking implements with wheels to aid in the tortured gait.  So a week off was spent largely driving up and down a foggy Pacific 1 or pushing a wheelchair in the mall of all malls.  One side benefit - the Man and I have re-discovered the joys of watching dramas from the Mainland and re-discovering the crisp beauty of an ancient tongue.  The roots have not withered but the offsprings remained rooted to their bits and bytes.

The sweltering is wearing me down.  And to one up North - please know that the request to journey south and spend time roosting with the family is made out of love and care.  If we don't spend the time together now when all of you are not weighted down by careers, family, mortgages and other worldly cares, the opportunity wanes by the year, nay months and weeks and days.  Family must always reign above all else.

Whale of Weekends

On this 3-day Memorial Day weekend, the Man and I visited the annual San Ramon Art and Wind Festival.  I'd skipped the last two years but decided to give it another go to see if we could pick up something to dress up the house.  All we got was a bottle of aromatic oils but we had fun watching the kite flying demonstrations and listening to the Top Secret band and watching the energetic old and young danced to their renditions of dance music from the nineties and earlier.  Some couples were pretty good but it was all just spontaneous fun just like the July concerts by the community center.

Last week, 3 of us made our way to Monterey to join Cal High science class for whale watching.  For a few minutes of peeking at some black bump out in the choppy waters and an occasional spray of finely misted water, we endured 3 hours of freezing rocky rides on waves the size never seen in calm placid Singapore waters.  We started out in good spirits, the kids sleeping most of the hour and a half to Monterey.  We had hopes of seeing more whales than we did and hopes of maybe a school of dolphins.  But we only had the lonely hump backed whale.  Still it was an experience.  I saw more whale in British Columbia where the whale actually came real close to our boat.  But this hump backed would have none of that, content to feed on krills away from the boats all eagerly trying to get close.  Fortunately, we didn't get the whoozies, but you can tell from the way some folks were pushing to the back of the boat that they were going to get rid of their breakfast.  And there was that boy with his Chinese girlfriend who valiantly kept his food down head down on her lap after a half hour or so of holding his girlfriend tight on the rail against the sway of the swells.  What irony.

Not much else to write about.  House is getting a once over now that the weather is finally warming up and Spring feels like Spring except of course, people are already talking about summer being upon us.  What happened to Spring?  All the rain and unseassonably cold weather had made Spring seemed like an extension of Winter.  But overnight it seems, temperatures are up into the high 70's and mid-80's.  Go figure.

Seeing

Wah, the Man had his lasik today.  Hopefully, this spells the end of all the squinting to look at things and the struggle with glasses slipping down the face when sweating it out on the tennis courts.  I wished I had mine done earlier - before we blew hundreds of dollars on so three pairs of glasses that now lie dormant in the office and in the car.  20/20 vision is wonderful.

Brynn Birthday

Happy Birthday Brynn!  Spending it in your new place may well be the start of a new era in your life.  Make it the  best it can be.  We hope you will make our hope of a trip up north come true.  Love from mom and dad.  Always. 

Spring Sneeze

A small bird no larger, or should I say longer?, than my index finger has come knocking on the bay window of our house every morning.  And it has a mate too and I think the two of them are nesting in the rose bushes that front the window.  Just the cutest thing in the world.  It is not shy.  We come close and it keeps tap a tap tap on the glass as if to say let me in, let me in.  The half man and I took some pictures and a couple of videos and we may upload them soon.

Meanwhile, the front and back yards are a blooming with flowers of all kinds thanks to the daily labor of love of the Man - white roses, red roses, and flowers of which I know not the names.  Yellow and lilac and pink and orange and and and.  And my nose itches and the sneezing brings uncontrollable dripping that wets tissue after tissue.  Last year, one tablet of Zyrtec was all it took.  I have just about run through a whole box of time and the nose still refuses to cooperate.

Sneezing aside, Spring is so beautiful.  Now if I can just stop blowing and wheezing enough to really enjoy the beauty all around.  After the recent rains, the weather this weekend is just perfect.  Balmy with sunshine from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm.  Paradise.

So we were hoping to drive up to Vancouver in June but plans are on hold for the moment.  I hope there will be a good reason to still make the trip.  Our residency status is all resolved and we can now travel without restraints.  But we need the reason to make the 1,500 miles journey and I am hopeful we will have one.

Lay Keow and Lai were asking us to still make Cancun now that we can travel but alas the airfare is now quadrupled what it was when the planning first began months ago.  Plus with the huge tax bill I just paid off, prudence rules.

I do miss my family very much.  With air fares the way they are, and all my miles having been exhausted by a certain persona in faraway China, we can only dream.  I have been recalling the time when my YY and mom were here.  And my poor YY saying up hard so she could come again but there is no one to bring her here.  Breaks my heart to think of it.  She took care of me as a child.  In fact, a lot of people took care of me as a child because my parents basically fostered me out almost all my childhood.  Maybe that's why I am so schizo sometimes.  It all boils down to childhood and parenting.  Just kidding... Been watching too many episodes of Criminal Minds.

Maybe next week the half man and I can put into action our Sierra State Park volunteer resolution.  Start giving back to society.

Holey

In the past couple of months, spherical, well sort of spherical, outlines have appeared in large numbers on Shattuck Avernue in Berkeley.  Leading to the girl's apartment and the campus.

It takes only a few seconds for one to realize someone had circled all the potholes of which there are very many of different shapes and sizes up and down the road.  The potholes are particularly bad leading to Oakland and disappear past Walgreens, about three blocks or so from Nic Apartment as the Garmin would say.  You can say the potholes are almost like social economic indicators.  Sad.

Wierd Wonderful Weary

These past two weekends have been busy.  I like.  Last week, in compensation for staying home during Spring Break, mother and son journeyed forth on Friday into the City to spend a day at the new Academy of Sciences.  We were there before but I had forgotten.  Only half way through the day did I faintly recall that we were here before but when it was in its original condition.  We had struggled on a wet cold day with the BART, muni and or bus and trudged through some wet grounds and ended with the boy insisting on a $3 glow in the dark pterodactyl that we have all but forgotten.

But this was a renewed Academy of Sciences that did not look anything like the old one.  And the journey there was not nearly half so difficult.  BART and bus 44 brought us right to the door.  Easy.  And we did not even notice Auntie Nik sitiing right behind us when we riushed in just, happy to have caught the train.  While the Academy is beautifully designed, I am not sure if there was anything there that really stood out - it has the usual collection of land and sea life, exhibits about global climate change, extreme mammals (humans among them because we are the only specie that is truly bi-pedal) and plants.  I was so exhausted from long hours in the office and insufficient sleep, I dozed intermittently during the show in the planetarium, despite Whoopi Goldberg's beautiful narration and the awesome show of the stars of the universe.  That show, perhaps, was the one thing I found unique.  That and the living roof which we could only admire behind the rails.  The fatigue finally won and I asked the half man if he minded just wandering the aqaurium on his own while I sat down for some badly needed quick naps.  I could not have made it through the day otherwise.  Those few mins of power naps were life savers.

Pictures - when I get to unload them from the camera.

Closing time, we left through the gift shop and the half man was grumbling about the thermometer I refused to cough $25 for.  Sometimes he can be a real nag.  But we ended the day very nicely strolling through the Golden Gate Park.

This Saturday found us driving out early to Concord to join in the Earth Day vounteer event at Mount Diablo.  Of all the different activities we could have chosen, we opted for the trail.  Trekking what must have been two miles up a very steep trail to where the tools called fire axes, which are the same ones used by fire-fighters, were waiting for us was tough enough.  Then it was lugging the heavy tool up another 15 mins of a very narrow (like barely a foot wide and invaded by undergrowth) and very steep trail to find our section of the trail really taxed me poor heart.  For the next two hours, we cleared the growth to widen the trail to about 4 feet.  The weeks of heavy rain had fortunately softened the earth so much, it was not difficult to chop, pull, drag and push them aside or down the mountain side.  What was hard was wielding the heavy axe making sure not to swing it into someone nearby, especially my own boy working so hard next to me.  The morning started out chilly but soon I was sweating under my two t-shirts and denim jacket which I refused to take off because poison oaks were plentiful.  The rangers had warned us about them and the event leaders pointed them out on the trail as we were winding our ways up the trail earlier.  There was this lady who has immunity to poison oaks whose job it was to rip them out wherever she found them and threw them down the hillside.  She ventured up and down the trail just tearing them out with her gloved hands, and even clambered down the slope next to us to saw off a very large poison oak bush that had somehow grown up very big around a tree.  Unbelievable.  The stories she told of what poison oaks can do to people very sensitive to them only increased my paranoia about avoiding them at all costs.  I cannot afford to be bed ridden for two months!  Not with all the work at the office.  And the half man cannot miss so much school.

Tiring as the Earth Day event was, we still made our way to Berkeley to join the girl for Cal Day.  Cal Day, as crowded as always.  But we were veterans now and it did not behoove us to check in at all the stands or attend any talks.  The kids had some hot dogs and we spent almost an hour sitting on the grass waiting for a concert before calling it a day, leaving the girl on the grass with her friends.

Home and the first thing we did was toss all the clothes we were wearing into the washer.  No trace of poison oak oils would be allowed to make their way to anything in the house.

And today, alone I made another journey to Berkeley to join the girl for a parents' lunch at the sorority house.  And the next thing I knew, I was $72 poorer because we just had to go to Safeway to pick up an incredible amount of food and stuff.  Hard to believe it is all for only one person, so soon after all the stuff we brought over from Costco.

Painting

Wah, painting the white fence has given me hippenitis.  That my word for the slight soreness from standing up and squatting down repeatedly.  It also put a real strain on knees already traumatized by years of jogging miles on asphalt and athletic tracks, especially the one at Hwa Chong and then at Amador Valley HS.

But it was therapeutic and now the fences where my brush have given a new lease on youth look beautiful.  Still more to go and I so want to do the side facing the road too.  And the tall one where the white rose bush climbs and draps over.  Can't wait for the roses to bloom.

Nostalgia

After months of cold, the last two weeks have been just gorgeous.  Nice to see people starting to come out to walk, run, cycle.  Feels like life is stirring up once again.  The clock was set forward by an hour last week and now the daylight lasts past 7:00 pm and while the mornings when I get up have become dark when they were getting lighter just a week ago, this will soon change as the sun comes up earlier and sets later.

Lately, there has been a twinge of longing.  A longing to go back to the little pimple of an island to see my folks, to talk to Er Gu before it is too late, to see the changes to the place and the people.  From the little I hear, the skyline is changing again as the integrated resort rears its head(s) over the harbor and the new immigrants add to the pressure on the infrastructure.  Sometimes, I miss the fast pace of life there.  To be honest, the nostalgia does not last long.  I don't relish ever going back to the walk-to-bus-stop-wait-long-long-for-bus-squeeze-into-MRT-and-try-not-to-fall-on-people-because-there-is-nothing-to-hang-onto-walk-to-office-and-repeat-the-same-tedious-routine-in-the-evening.  And spend nearly an hour doing that one way oftentimes longer if the clueless selfish RI and Catholic High boys refuse to move to the rear of the bus so others can get in or if the bus driver had a bad day and decided to take it out on the commuters by not stopping.

My commute now is barely 1.8 miles each way and no more than 8 minutes, sometimes less.

I don't miss the humidity either although the cold here in the house can be numbing.  So you take comfort in the bed, piling up the covers and blankets and try to dress up quickly after the baths.

On another subject, the distant hills surrounding the tri-valley are beautiful.  All green after the series of winter storms.  College spring break is here and the girl will soon be home.

I do miss other my far away girls.

Birthdays Both

And Spring is finally here.  And with the solstice always come YY's Birthday!  So here's a very very Happy Birthday to a much loved and treasured sister, aunt, confidante to all my kids, and all in all a centerpin for many lives.

May all your wishes come true.

And we must not forget our half man who is well on his way to becoming three quarter man and more.  Happy Birthday too to Ryan who at 15 is already dreaming of having his driving licence.  May your wishes come true too.

Sunshine & Sleep

As I was dragging out 'em boxes and slicing up into packable pieces, the beautiful weather got to me and in my head came the nonsensical, this is spring cleaning. LOL. But it truly has been a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine, tempearatures in the balmy 60's. Green hills all lush from the storms and downpours that has brought California water levels to about the 100% mark after several years of drought. This is the kind of day that makes California California, it that even makes sense.

By the time the Man and Half came home from Amador Valley, the garage looked much neater and cleaner with all the leaves and dirt all swept out. "Cept I could not really find a proper broom given that our one and only was taken oiff to Channing Way. But I did find one that for some inexplicable reason, had a floppy attachment of clear rubber to the wooden handle. I cannot conceive of any use for a broom with a floopy broom head but being that it was the only brooom around, I used it to drag out all the gunk from the deepest corners and swept out the garage floors. WIth the inevitable result, of course, that the clear soft rubber should tear and now the floppy broom head is truly floppy. Luckily, I was near the end of the spring cleaning (ha ha), and just held the broom head for the last few hurrahs.

Having tried sweeping the garage in that miserzable place called Almond Drive, I knew the corners that would trap and harbor the most dirt that could stay for years if not flushed out once in a while. And hence I discovered that the bottomest left roller of the garage door was not sitting in the metal groove and gives a loud crunch when the door slides almost to the garage floor. My perfect home is definitely not so perfect after all. It is just the latest in the little imperfections that my fastidious house proud previous owner had glossed over or run out of steam to correct.

All that work cutting up and packing away the KC Dat boxes for disposable took a toll. That and a very late lunch. So I crept into bed at past 3 and fell into a fitful sleep beneath the warm covers. I think I am going to be sleepless in San Ramon tonight. Just like last night. The end of daylight savings meant the night was one hour later that it was just hours ago and that may have had a little impact. But the cause was really the afternoon nap after a long 6 mile trek to and from the C**c**t shop at the shopping square where Lucky Supermarket is located, past Almond Orchard. In a futile attempt to get a copy of the receipt that will prove I had returned the modem that they keep insisting I did not return on 21 Dec last as we were heading out to Reno. Sending the debt collector after me over this after being a faithful customer for 3 years really sucks. Towards the end of our custom, the company was really heavy handed and billing close to $180 a month. Now they want to report me to the credit bureaus because of a modem I definitely had returned. The girl who recorded the return that fateful 21 Dec looked like she was on some serious meds and the line was painfully long and moving slowly. Maybe she just failed to record and return to the warehouse? But to company the onus is on me to prove that I did return the modem despite many pleas and assurances that I no longer have that modem. But alas, that receipt was lost in the rush to Reno and back and the shop did not even keep its own records. I can predict I will have to fish out the $80 eventually because it is hard to deal with a company like that.

Lesson learned - always look over your receipts and keep those that matter. Don't trust any service people to record correctly.

Planting

And more pics of the backyard. Blogger is flaky with photo placements. Hence the break. Notice the fruit "trees" recently bought from Lowe's in Pleasanton. We have hopes of having our own cherries and plums before too long.

Yesterday was a bit of a surprise. The rains came back. As I was driving into Berkeley approaching Caldecott Tunnel on CA 24, the first drops fell and by the time I reached Nic's apartment, it was drenching everyone in sight. The heaviest I have ever seen in California. Could have been one of the afternoon downpour in Singapore.

We went to pick up some of those Beard Papa's, touted to be the world's best cream puffs. Not cheap at all for just cream puffs. At $2.25 a piece, I could never bring myself to buy them. But then Lay Keow had asked Nic to get them for her and bring them to San Ramon, assuming Nic would show for her dental. But with mid-terms at their peak, I could not bring myself to drag her from her books so I went to her instead. Picked up some for Nik as well since Nik has always been generous to a fault, 6 for the exam-stressed one and 6 for the half man (maybe three quarter, depending on the maturity of his behavior). Cheaper to buy by the half dozen. But still cost me a small fortune. We spent quite a bit of time in the little shop because they did not have the coffee and had run out of chocolate flavors and I had to spend time explaining to LK on the phone and offering the limited choices available. All were sold out except Vanilla Beans and Cookie Crunch, vanilla or caramel.

Lay Keow was so sweet. Wrote a real emo thank you email. And Nik who was expecting her mahjong kakis did not even notice it was me at her door at 7:30 pm with a box of cream puffs. She opened the door, mutter somethings, went to her kitchen talking to herself and left me at the door with the box. I had to follow her and called her by name before she realized it was me. I could have been the chain saw murderer and she won't have been any the wiser. She thought she needed only two puffs but one look at them, and she accepted the whole box :).

Had one of them Beard Papa's at night. They are good! But at that kind of price, I think I need only try them once. Thank you very much.

After the heavy rains, today turned out to be just beautiful. The sun is out. Flowers are blooming everywhere. Spring is definitely around the corner. Took some pictures with the camcorder.

But here are some from our own little backyard.

Taxing Times

Wah, income tax is very painful to do. One would think that it gets easier as the years go by because of familiarity and past documentation. But each year seems to be just as much work as the previous. Principally because one has to track every single piece of document that is necessary for what may be no more than a single line item in the final income tax form. And having "foreign" bank accounts even if the amount of interest is miniscule just adds to the complexity especially since Singapore banks don't issue interest statements. One literally has to download and keep every single month's bank statement for eSavers accounts and then use a spreadsheet to track and add up the monthly interest payment. Not even enough to pay me for the time but never mind, you need to report so there is no suspicion of money laundering.

And as I do this year's tax questionnaire, it dawns on me that my previous years' submissions must have been confusing to the tax accountants here because my Singapore mind interpretes the terms that mean totally different things to the Americans. A home equity loan is not your house mortgage. It could be your renovation loan or what they call a HELOC, a second loan like what I am being provided by the company. HELOCs are popular here but until two months ago, I had no concept of a HELOC. Sounded so strange to my ears. And so in my naivete, I replied in prior years to Yes, I have Home Equity Loans when all I had was a home mortgage loan. I wonder if the tax accountants had done my taxes right.

Ah America! Too many flavors of financial instruments, too many choices. No wonder Wall Street pays out such great bonuses.

And so passes this wet Sunday. As the rain pelts down on the Bay Area, I squint over my computer screen and pour through all the forms and receipts and statements that I have been faithfully scanning, downloading and collating into neat little folders on my laptop hard disk. Tax filing is a year long affair in US of A.

Mehmet on Meditation

This is especially for my children.



Meditation is a-religious. It is healthy and can prolong your life and has no religious bearing of any kind. Try it. It works.

Fresh Flowers

Walked to CVS in Market Place from the house. Getting out of the house, for a moment, I was tempted to turn back to the safety of the house. The wind and gray clouds did not seem welcoming. Shrugging off the thought, I ploughed on. It turned out to be just a wonderful walk. Fresh air, beautiful blooms, Bose headset playing my favorites, what could be better? San Ramon is like the perfect suburb. I passed hardly anyone and the cars give way to you, the pedestrain and drivers wave to you in the neighborhood.

Took my time browsing the shelves at CVS and finally left with my eye lubricating drops and night gels. This lasik thing is giving me pretty dry eyes.

I was wrong about struggling blooms. The cherry blossoms are out in force. The trees that bare white blossoms are heavy with them. You can barely see any branches through the white flowers. Just a heavy cloud of white starting a few feet from the ground where the truck emerge from the earth. And the pink blossoms - just the beauties. Spring is truly on the way. Every year, I continue to be amaze at the beautiful sights. How I wish my far flung families could all be here so we can experience this together. Maybe some day...

Wrinkles

Spring is but a month away and you can already see the buds on the trees and the uncountable numbers of tiny white blossoms on the plum tree that sits squarely on the lawn in front of our main door. Beautiful. Glad that tree will stay. It was at mortal risk from sitting squarely in front of our main door.

The furniture and stuff from the warehouse in Singapore arrived yesterday. The large sofa set that cost a small fortune when we bought it for Li Hwan was at the living room when I came home from work. Large wrinkles criss cross the expanse of the seats - reminds one of a new born babe. Let's hope like a new born babe, the wrinkles will gradually give way to smooth soft skin.

So we switched it around. Now the Nautilius 3-seater from Macy's and the rosewood seats and side table face the beautiful fireplace in the living room and the Nautilius from Li Hwan is in the family room. I am still trying to get used to the black leather. It jars with my memory of the beautiful unique dark maroon that graced the living room of Li Hwan. After a while, the wrinkles don't look so bad. Maybe it is growing familiar.

I know I should be out there walking. Need the exercise. Enjoy the crisp air of late winter and admire the struggling buds of the cherry blossoms.

Fascinating

Interesting documentary series from Honda. Here is one on robots.

CNY2010

To all my family near and far, Happy New Year! May the Year of the Tiger bring you lots of courage, power to change your lives to reach greater heights, and good health. Tiger years are notoriously eventful so I wish you all the wisdom to make good decisions and the foresight to take the right paths for yourselves.

Live long and prosper!

BYY Birthday

Happy Birthday, BYY. May this be the year all your wishes come true and happiness is your constant companion.

LLL2

Oh and I failed to mention that yesterday's science lecture was very interesting. About space and searching for planets. By a cute Canadian born researcher graduated from Western Ontario and doctorate from the US who was quite witty (with a very shiny pate - bald at such a young age, poor thing) and a very clever young lady with a very very impressive string of credentials. Top MIT engineering graduate, Rhodes scholar to Oxford where she did her masters and PhD from UC Davis where her doctoral thesis won the prize for being most innovative. Or something like that. He is a astronomy expert and she does adaptive optics.

The half man thought it was better than last week's lecture. In a way, I think he is right but that may be because space always intrigued. Super bugs which are always trying to kill you are a little less attractive than mystical space where the search for another Earth which may have life similar to ours always pulls at the imagination.

And by the by, LLL podcasts are on iTunes although not the Science on Saturday lectures :(.

Blood

And I touched the part of the head that hurts and my fingers are red. Searched through my scalp in the mirror and yes, that hidden among the thinning hair streaked with some grey, a small angry spot just above the temple and my birth mark. It could have been worse. The sharp pointy end could have pierced my delicate birth mark and obliterated the right side of my temple. I am being melodramatic. I will survive this as I have survived an etopic, a mitral valve prolapse, an appendicitis, the half man's birth that nearly bled me to death and myriad other adventures. Or rather mis-adventures.

Life goes on.

Pain

A little breather. Before launching into heavy lifting. Today is Roomba's rest day. Muscles will take over. Not that he has worked that hard. All week long, he has sat at the base station waiting patiently with the green light signalling he is ready to go if pressed. That last word is a pun in case you didnt get it.

Tried to take a peek at the top of my built in wardrobe to see if it was dusty and needed some cleaning. Instead crashed my head into the beautiful designer wall lights above the built in granite counter top dressing table and it hurts like the be-... Fill in the blanks here. The pointy end nearly stabbed into my temple as I was clambering up. Apologized to the beauty and felt to see if mayhaps I had dislodged it. Now my head is taking its revenge on me. Ouch.

Time to start.

Sun Shiny

And did I mention that today is fabulous? The sun is out shining benevolently on everyone after almost 12 days of more or less continuous rain and some people are actually out in t-shirts. Spring is still some six weeks away but it feels so like spring today. It is 4:05 and the sunlight is just streaming into the family room where I sit, suddenly filled with the desire to blog endlessly. My Roomba retired to its base station some 15 minutes ago and is quietly blinking orange to tell me it is charging up, the Man is in the backyard trimming the bushes and the half man is as usual on the PC doing what he does till he gets a earful on the endless playing. All are as they should be.

If only it were the same on the job front. Where would I be in six months?

Lawrence Livermore Lectures

And did I mention the half man and I went to Livermore this morning to attend the Lawrence Livermore Lab's first of four science lectures for 2010? Today was on superbugs. No, not the ginormous ones you battle in sci-fi films but the vicious kind that are immune to antibiotics because we abuse the antibiotics. He got the questionnaire, he filled in the answers from the lecture. And he got it stamped with the LLL stamp. Let's see if he remembers to turn it in to his science teacher for the extra credit. 0.65 of a mark to push into A+ and he won't talk to his teacher. My heart rejoices at the straight A's but grieves at the loss of another A+ for the absence of 0.65 of a mark.

Roomba

Watching my Roomba iRobot 550 clean the family room, dining room and kitchen is fascinating and also agonizing. It is meant to help me with the chore of vacuuming and sweeping but watching it go over and over the same spot and missing others can be jarring. Still it is an interesting contraption and certainly very clever. It knows how to avoid falling over the edge of a step, it knows when it bumps into a wall or object and it knows how to un-entangle itself from wires. And get this, it knows how to go back and dock itself in its base station to recharge the battery when it is out of juice. How cool is THAT?

And it comes with 2 virtual walls that I can set up to confine it so it does not wander where I do not want it to. Virtual walls!

Funny thing is I ended up moving chairs, small tables and miscellaneous objects out of its way and curling up carpets as it wound its noisy way around the house so that it would have an easier time doing what I would otherwise be doing. it doesn't pick up everything such as the peanut skins from the munching while watching the telly. But then again, it is meant only to do the in-betweens. You still have to do the heavy lifting to really clean the place. Now at least I can space out the thorough cleaning.

Having said that though, last week when I first tested out my Roomba on the living room carpet, I was astonished at how much wool came out of the cannister and the cleaning brush when I finally sat down to clean it out. That little boy has some suction!

My Roomba. What a joy!

Wet & Wintry

In the 3+ years we have been here, we have never seen the amount of rain we have in just the last 10 days or so. In rapid succession, 5 storms hit California bringing a steady stream of rain. Not the heavy but short lived thunderstorms or even the monsoonal type of rain we are so used to in near the equator but rain more like what I was so used to in Vancouver in Fall and winter when the wet comes down for hours in a steady drizzle. Maybe not quite as relentless as in Vanouver where the rain can last without a break for days or even weeks. The rain we have had is more intermittent - hours on end with some breaks in between for maybe an hour or two.

So different. But defintely much more than I have ever seen in California which is perpetually parched.

Despite the lightness compared to the afternoon thunderstorms common in Singapore, the rains caused a fair amount of damage. Thousands of people lost power to their homes, not a nice thing considering it is winter.

The really bad damage, however, has been at Pacifica where for months, the high surfs California has been getting in recent months have been serously eroding the cliffs on which some apartment blocks sit. The tenants there have been watching their hillsides crumbling into the ocean for a few months and some significant efforts have been made to try and curb the erosion by plunkiing down tons of large boulders to weaken the force of the waves. But to little avail. Last two nights' news show at least one of the blocks teethering inches from the sheer drop into the ocean. From some of the apartments, the balconies were even starting to tumble in pieces down the cliffs. Scary. The die hard tenants are finally admitting defeat and moving out but the company that owns the apartments still maintains it can salvage the complex. Unbelievably many of the tenants are staying put. Somehow, it all seems so futile.

And today, a tornado warning was issued for Contra Costa county where we live after some funnels were spotted at Brentwood where UJ, YY went for a long drive with us to look at some beautiful homes just a year ago almost to the day.

On a lighter note, we are all about done with the seasonal flu. It has been a really rough couple of weeks battling the cough. I am so paying the price now for the two weeks away from the office. Catch up time.

And my eyesight is now so much better. The lasik done in December has really made a difference, especially to my bad right eye that used to be just a haze of blurry objects. What is surprising is that immediately after the lasik, I could actually read easily wiithout my reading glasses. As the weeks went by, however, I am gradually losing that. My right eye is now 20/20 and my left eye is slowly catching up but as the doctor warned, the lasik is to help with normal vision, and I will still need reading glasses. But truth is I can read without glasses now and I love it. I am typing this long blog right now on my laptop without them.

'Cept now, of course, I have no glasses to help cover up the bags and dark circles. Oh well.

And in another half hour or so, the Lai's and the Tan's will be here for dinner. Lay Keow has been having this craving for the bak kut teh since the countdown party and finally pluck up the courage to cajole me into getting the Man to cook it for a small gathering. She said she had not craved anything like that since her last pregnancy which would be Mason who is all of 14 years old!

And to end this, I love that the days are getting longer again. It is 5:35 and the day is slowing dying but at least it is dusk, A month ago, it would have been dark already.

Sick

This flu has been the most horrible. One week of myriad aches, gut wrenching coughs, a miserable night of shivering from cold despite wearing 3 layers and wrapped in a thick blanket and the constant irritating dry itchy sandy throat. Oh Ryan, what have you done?

A pile of work now awaits me in the office. And this being salary administration time, I am a bundle of nerves. My team depends on me to defend their performance and I am too sick to attend to their needs.

2009 into 2010 have just not been a great time for me where health is concerned. First the most injurious sprain in summer to the right ankle that crippled me for ever so long and still hurts after 5 months or more. Then the infection to my middle left finger that kept me awake nights from the unceasing pain and led to a bulbous lump of pus around the edge of the fingernail - the only good thing about that was that it was not gout as the doctor had feared. Then a bad round of this type of flu round about the time of the house handover. And barely a month later, flu again but much more vicious and devastating in its effects. One would have thought the earlier bout would have provided some immunity but noooo.

What next? My immunity system must be totally shot. Gotta get back to my exercise routine. Even the flu shot did not help.

The flu was bad. First the Man, then Nic, then Ryan who valiantly shared the love.

What a start to a new home - move in with a flu followed soon after by another ... flu.

Here is the link to the New Year eve countdown. Hope access is not a problem. Enjoy!

And the madding crowd:

Countdown

Countdown to 2010 was a boisterous affair at Elvin and Eve's new house in Mountain House. We had the largest gathering of Singaporeans and a couple of Malaysians since we came to America celebrating both the coming of the new year and the Low's new home. Because newly arrived Hwee Hong and her son, Jun Wei was joined by the man of the family, Anton, who arrived during Christmas for a two-week sojourn with his wife and son, sans daughter who flew to Singapore immediately after finals at NYU. They are the lucky green card lottery winners.

Aside from the usual spread of Singapore food, there were poppers and noise-makers as we joined Ryan Seacrest in San Francisco (on telly, of course) counting down the final seconds to 2010. Then poppers blew out tinsels all over the family room and Daynan started a frantic scooping up and stuffing of the colored paper down his parents' and aunt's backs and all over their hair. I think he missed Nic all night. While the other kids were busy with their computer games and the younger ones were watching Jet Li battled out on the DVD, he was pretty much by himself, in that awkward stage between teen and adult. Until the final seconds of 2009, that is.

There was a lot of the normal laughter and teasing that go on with these gatherings. Even the Low's two small girls are opening up to us. They now snuggle up for hugs and embraces without reserve and the teenagers, Mason, Tedmung and Stella are finally acknowledging our legitimacy by deigning to smile and answer our greetings. It has taken them about 3 years but we are becoming familiar.

The Man was not feeling great all through the evening - he must have caught a chill from the winter rains. Still sniffing around the house and moaning every so often. Still he participated fully in the evening chatter and his bak kut teh was all gone in no time. Complaints of how little he brought, methinks, pleased him.

And the half man has slowly been getting accepted into the circle of the teens. Stella is a bit of a loner and seems to have an air of the diva - cold, aloof and usually looking rather surly. But the half man assures me she has a warm heart and the demeanour is just a put on. She is the one he likes best of the lot because for some reason, they seem to click even if they don't outwardly talk much or seem to even like each other. Strange kids. Mason of course is always with Tedmung and I imagine it cannot be easy for anyone to break into their space, much less an introverted stranger from so far away. And kudos to him for befriending Jun Wei and making him feel comfortable despite being younger by two years.

Only Nic has been able to really get accepted right from the get go. She is more outgoing than her brother and never had any reserve just breaking into a circle and getting responses. Except maybe with Stella but then I don't see Nic bothering with her at all. Interesting teen dynamics. Nic and Stella vs Nic and the boys. Ryan and Stella vs Ryan and the boys.

We don't have as many opportunities to meet with CJ, Tommy and their two boys nor with Sunny, Janet and their two boys. Not much to observe there.

Jeanna, Victor and their two kids were not there. Otherwise it would really have been a very large gathering.

The Lows' house was very well done up. Elvin did a marvellous job painting the entire house and Eve has a good eye for interior decor. I must say I was a little jealous of the space. For less than half the cost of our home, they have more than twice the space, even an in-law quarter that they managed to rent out to a single man who hardly comes back. Five bedrooms, a bonus room, an in-law unit, ... Why is San Ramon so darn expensive?

That was our countdown to the new decade. How was yours?