Sunday walk at Botanic Garden



Baby J and the dogs @ Botanical Gardens



We finally bought the dogs for a walk at Botanical Gardens on Sunday afternoon together with baby J. It was a sunny day but with so many trees and so much greenery around, the heat was bearable. The dogs walked all the way from the main entrance to the National Orchid Garden and further in to where Au Jardin by Les Amis is. Baby J was enjoying the walk and taking in the atmosphere too.

Coffee was not quite himself since Saturday, I think he might have had a piece of jerky stuck in his throat or something and he couldn't get it out. Then after a walk in the garden and a vomit later, he seemed much better. I think the walk helped him to clear up. Then in the evening after a shower, he was back to his normal self again! I think the dogs need more long walks like this!

Long Vacation Dream

I am back in Hong Kong and I realize that I really miss Hong Kong's Autumn and Winter seasons. The weather is dry and cool, my hands and feet are not sweaty and I am in a good mood. If only Singapore can have some dry and cool season at some point of the year...it will then be the most perfect place to live in! But no, it has to be so humid and warm all year round!

It's a good season to be back here in HK, it's the season for hairy crabs and I had a feast of hairy crabs last night with W and his wife. They just came back from a 30+ days trip to the USA, travelled from the west coast to the east and even to Canada! How I wish I could do a trip like that! They showed me some of the photos they had taken and the scenery was amazing! Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, Napa Valley, Thousand Islands, New York, Ottawa, Miami's South Beach, the Key West, etc. They had some really delicious looking foods too! Envy! When will I ever have the chance to go for a long vacation like this? Dreaming...

I have never had a long vacation in my life so far. I have been so busy since Secondary School and my life has been so full of happenings, challenges, ups and downs. It's been an amazing journey but I am getting tired. Is age catching up with me? I need a vacation, a long vacation, to somewhere with lots of amazing scenery. I want to feel the awesomeness of the mother nature...Dream...

  

My philosophy

Things are getting more or less back to normalcy at work. The mess created by "unplanningly" evacuating all the stocks from our Thailand warehouse to Singapore warehouse has been cleared and finally we can have more free time to start our cycle count from tomorrow. I am also going home at the normal hour of 5~6pm from this week and I am planning to start my exercise regime...maybe next week. I am still struggling to lose weight which is exceptionally difficult this time round due to my age, I guess. And having a hubby who is skinny by nature and loves to go for buffet dinner once every week is definitely not helping at all...Can't blame him actually...I love food too...*sigh*

I thought it's quite a pity that Demi Moore is splitting up with Ashton Kutcher...I sort of used her marriage (older woman with younger man) as a role model for my own when I remarried again to someone almost 10 years younger a year after her. She is like the ultimate example for all the cougars out there! And she is so damn good looking! But he still cheated on her with a much younger woman...so who said age doesn't matter?

To be honest, I had my reservations and I had my doubts initially. But after being happily married for 5 years and knowing that my hubby at this very moment still loves me and treasures me is good enough for me. Not that it won't hurt or it won't matter to me if later on my hubby cheat on me or something. I mean men are men, it's proven that they will be more easily succumbed to infidelity than women. So, if they will cheat, they will cheat, it doesn't matter if your hubby is younger than you or much older than you. My philosophy is: I would rather marry a younger man and have him cheat on me than to marry an old man and have him cheat on me too. Get it? It will hurt anyway, so why not do without the additional unjustified feeling of having the much older husband cheat on you, right? At least this is how I see it.

Another thing, I can take it much better if my hubby cheat on me with someone entirely new than to cheat on me with his ex-girlfriend or someone he knows as a friend all along. Explanation: If my husband cheats on me with someone entirely new, at least I know that the time before he met this someone new, he was loving me truly and solely. I will treasure those memories and may or may not leave him, depending if the cheat was just a fling or not and if he is repentful and wants me back or something...But if he cheats on me with someone he knows all along or his ex-girlfriend, then how  can I trust that the time when he was with me, he wasn't thinking of her and loving her? So, those times when he was with me will not be worth remembering at all! And I will not forgive him...totally out of the question.

That is why, I am so fed up with N who likes this boy knowing that he is still not over his ex. This is plain stupid. But I guess every young, naive girl will have to go through this at least once in her life, get hurt, cry it out and then learn from it. But she doesn't know that as a mother, I get hurt as well when my daughter gets hurt...*sigh*

Success Redefined

I am preparing for the Japanese Language Proficiency N1 Level Exams by doing some mock exams questions daily with whatever little time I can squeeze out at work. Some of my staff were asking me why do I need to take this exam since I am already fluent in Japanese. I know I don't have to, but it will be good to have a the highest certification there is for a foreigner to attain. Technically, I already passed the JLPT 1 exams some 17 years ago but I didn't collect the cert. I was too busy running my own business and I didn't think that I will need the paper. Not that I need it now but I am just curious to find out how well will I do for the exams. It's not easy.

Traditionally, a successful woman is defined by the man she marries and the family she helps to raise. Now, there are 2 routes to success for women; the traditional one of marrying a successful man and becoming a tai-tai and the modern route of becoming a successful career/business woman on her own. I am the modern woman. My success is defined by the pay package I bring home at the end of the month and the title printed on my business card. However, I start to have a different view about my suceess lately. After giving birth to baby J and now that my 2 older children are 16 and 13, I am beginning to feel really proud of myself as a mother. D is in a good school and a good uniform group that brings him for volunteer work in Singapore as well as overseas. N has been admitted to Mass Communications in Ngee Ann Polytechnic and baby J is developing skills ahead of his age. Every little achievements that my children make are my achievements as well and I will be so proud.

Work-Life Balance

As I have mentioned in my previous post, we are constantly amazed by the outstanding physical developments of baby J. At 7 months, he's already starting to walk with a push walker, climbing up on sofas and also crawling very well on all surfaces. He's such a delight to watch and definitely brings a lot of joy to our family.

We have just celebrated mum's 69th birthday with a karaoke session at K Box in Kallang Leisurepark. She looked like she had enjoyed herself with all of us and her closest brother and niece around. Everybody sang along to some very retro songs and had lots of laughs when someone couldn't hit the high notes very well. It's a pity D doesn't sing but he enjoyed the buffet dinner, feasting on salmon sashimi until he got sick.

On work, I have been made really busy with the floods in Thailand destroying the company's factory and logistics hub in Navanakorn Industrial District. Just 2 weeks ago when I went there to help evacuate the warehouse, everything looked fine but we are in filthy waters of up to 2 metres since 19th Oct and the waters have not receded at all. All of the Thailand's warehouse stocks have been moved to Singapore and technically, we are operating 2 warehouses within our premise in Singapore. Space and manpower are 2 of the main constrains that we are having and not to mention the "ingenious" support we are getting from HQ...I am still struggling to get things organized 2 weeks in and I hope that by next week, everything can become smooth.

Hubby is is frustrated with his work just 1 month into his new job. Not so much the work actually but the people that are playing some political tricks that are making him really sick. He is on the verge of quitting...and getting really depressed. I am worried for his mental and physical health...he needs to be able to vent out his frustrations somewhere...maybe bowling will help? Or feasting? It will be N's sweet 16 birthday next week and we have another good reason to go feasting again!