clean linen

It is customary for us to take a family photo and a photo of all the presents before we open our presents together on Christmas day. This year, we included General in the photo, because he just kept barking away, which reminded us of his existence as part of the family (not that any reminder is needed, really). So we put him on a leash and got him in! Before that, I changed out of my dress and tied up my hair, in preparation for war with a hyperactive dog. We leashed him up, brought in the food. And I pinned him down with my legs. Everyone quickly gathered around General and myself, and the shot was taken beautifully by Miming. Note how General is just STARING intently at the food on the table though. Such a greedy pig, I mean dog. What a pity Edmund is not in Singapore to take this photo with us.

YAY THERE IS A SPECIAL COMING UP FOR THE JAPANESE DRAMA "RICH MAN POOR WOMAN"! See link here .

For my entire life, I have never done anything to my hair that involves major chemicals. For example, I have never dyed my hair, neither have a permed it. It has always been left in its black (slightly brown), straight manner. The most I did was to chop it off to above my shoulders in early 2011, from a length that was past my shoulders. On the fateful day of Friday, 23rd November 2012, I had taken the day off to settle youth camp administration stuff, and decided to take the plunge and try a perm because my hair was getting quite long and it was to chop or to perm because I felt it was too boring to just trim it. So I went to the Kimage at Kovan with Shu-En after we had lunch at Yoshinoya. And this is me in a last shot with my "virgin hair": My appointment with my usual stylist (She chopped off my hair in 2011) was at 1:30pm. I left the salon at about 5:30pm. 4 hours - I got hair treatment, a digital perm and highlights - $350:/ But I am happy with my perm and I...

Yesterday was our first full day in Bangkok. We had breakfast at 8am BKK time (1 hour behind SG time), and it wasn't that bad! Maybe the person at the egg station didn't do our eggs very well so we were a little disappointed, but I thought the spread was alright!  We have always been very pleased with the breakfast selection on offer at Novotel Siam, so we were a little bit worried that the breakfast at this new hotel would be disappointing. However, I wasn't disappointed! The coffee was good. The pastry selection was good. The cereal was good because they had my favourite coco pops, cornflakes, and offered a whole bowl of almond flakes to make a bowl of cereal complete for me. Also, there was alot of more space in this cafe as compared to the seating area at Novotel Siam!  It was a nice time having breakfast as a family:) We ended breakfast at 9ish and all returned to our rooms. We were just waiting around for each other and finally left the hotel at 10a...

GREETINGS FROM BANGKOK! I am now writing from Novotel Platinum, which is a new-ish hotel JUST NEXT TO Platinum Mall. Can't wait to start shopping later!! We took the 6:15pm Thai Airways flight from Singapore to Bangkok yesterday. There was a bit of a delay as the plane arrived late in Singapore so everything was pushed back. But it was a relatively smooth flight. Except for the fact that an air stewardess got a few drops of tobasco sauce on my jeans:/ For our past few trips as a family to Bangkok, we would stay at Novotel Siam Square. However, this time round, we decided to try this Novotel right next to Platinum Mall, since we tend to say we never have enough time at Platinum Mall and it's a bit out of the way from Novotel Siam Square. The hotel has a zen concept, with its lobby on the 6th floor. As Christmas season is here, they have nicely-decorated Christmas trees all over their ground level lift lobby and at the 6th floor main lobby where their main reception ...

And we're off to Pontianak with dad, uncle Dong and Gallen! It's some leadership mentoring thing and should be very interesting! Also, it's my first time traveling "alone" with Elizabeth - should be MOST interesting!:D

WOW. It's been awhile since I last blogged eh? I've been regularly taking photos, telling myself I MUST upload them so that I can update this blog. But I keep putting it off and so now I have LOADS of photos that are just sitting in my camera and in my laptop, waiting to be seen by more than just me. I have too many photos to flashback to. So I just chose the 19th day of October 2012, a Friday. In the morning, Miming and I had a great time just laughing at General. Miming placed a tissue behind the glass door, and poor General was trying to get at it, but to no avail. It was really funny. He went at it for REEEAAALLLYYY long. Then he got tired and just sat there, looking at us, hoping that his "begging" would get him the tissue.  Even when we replaced it with a bone, I think he was just so tired from the many minutes of trying to get at the tissue, that he just sat there, panting, looking wistfully at the bone, and then at us, and then at the bone agai...

I was just transferring a case report out of my Downloads folder when I realised I had such a photo in my computer: I can't remember when I saved this photo into my Downloads folder, and exactly what I was thinking when I did that. But I think it's quite informative?:D Rightright. Back to work.

I see my handsome General waiting for me at the door when I come down to the dining room, and I know it's good to be back! I'm ready!:)

- 11 September, Tuesday - I took the 9:45am flight from Napier to Auckland. At Auckland, I collected my luggage, then brisk walked over to the International Terminal at Auckland, checking in my luggage at 11:10am, boarding time. I met uncle Mike and Sarah at the boarding gate, and we boarded the plane together. I was just 2 rows behind them, along the same aisle. On the 10-hour flight from Auckland to Singapore, I watched many Asian shows. First there was the Japanese movie that was a continuation of the drama serial "Hotaru no hikari" (hope I got the name correct). Then I watched the Korean movie "Architecture 101", and 1 episode of Korean drama serial "The Greatest Love". The last movie I watched was the animated movie "Brave". With about 1.5 hours left, I didn't want to start another movie because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it, so I watched all 3 episodes available of the US Comedy "The Big Bang Theory"....

- 10 September, Monday - Photo of the day - The beautiful blue sky and glistening water in the quiet surroundings of the city of Napier - God is such an amazing and creative creator: Monday morning, aunty Joy dropped me off at Pastor Lyn's house for a counseling session. At my 2nd Sunday, uncle Mike had prayed for me in church, and pastor Lyn saw some things and wanted to pray with/for me. Of course, I was more than willing to do so because there were issues I was still struggling with throughout the trip and I knew this would be a good time to ask and/or get it settled/out there.  The session was probably only an hour or slightly more than that. But in that time, the things I was struggling with, pastor Lyn just touched on all of them even though I had not told anyone there in NZ, and I had a good time of ministry as she prayed with and for me. On the spiritual front, it was a great conclusion to the trip. We had a simple homecooked lunch by aunty Joy, then I ...

- 9 September, Sunday - Photo of the day - The cute grandchildren who had their own separate table at the family birthday lunch for Andrew - it's a pity Maddie wasn't looking at the camera when I took this shot; absolutely love Indie's smile here though! On my last Sunday morning in NZ, I went to the Farmer's Market and this time I remembered to take a photo of what it looks like inside. In winter, it's indoors, and the Market is spread out over 2 buildings like this. But I hear that in summer it's outdoors.  I was with Mabel, Graham, and a new friend called Rika. She is Indonesian Chinese studying and working in Hastings for about 6 months now. Aunty Joy and I met her when we had lunch at the thai restaurant, where Rika was serving as a waitress. So I invited her to join us at the Farmer's Market so that she could link up with Mabel and Graham.  Then we went to church together. And I took a photo of the church sign at its entra...

- 8 September, Saturday - Photo of the day: If you look closely in the reflection of the glass, can you spot the figures of Mabel, myself and Graham (from left to right)? We did not know where to have lunch so Mabel said we should just sit down and think about it for awhile:) This day was a day full of shopping - the day I spent the most money I think, because throughout the trip, uncle Mike and aunty Joy have been blessing me immensely by getting the bill for everything! So now that I was out shopping with Mabel and Graham, I could spend my own money:D At about 11ish or 12, the Stewarts picked me up from home. First stop of the day was the Silky Oak Chocolate Company. They had a small museum that had exhibits of how chocolate was discovered and the course of 'chocolate development' over the years. Then there was a small shop full of chocolates where we ooh-ed and aah-ed over the delicious looking chocolate. We went into a stationary shop for me to buy card...