Today is a very hot day in Singapore. Which was the total opposite of yesterday's weather. Unfortunately for the school near our block, they had their family day cum bazaar yesterday instead of today. But the weather didn't seem to deter the crowd and the school was buzzing with people and music blaring from a loudspeaker. MH and I realised by 9.30AM that it was impossible to sleep in any longer with the DJ calling out all 50 names of winners of the lucky draw.
The word bazaar brings memories of school fund raising bazaars. It was fun to visit one... and it was even more fun to be involved in one!
During the bazaar season, our family had to attend at least 4 or 5 school bazaars: one for my own school, one for Sam's & Paul's school, one for mom's school, and even one for dad's old school of which he is a board member.
Armed with booklets of coupons, we'd scrutinize the makeshift stalls displaying satay, roast chicken, home-made kueh and cakes, hotdogs and ice cream. On a hot day, the ice cream will be the most happening stall.
Sometimes the students will have other innovative attractions such as a science exhibition, a mini-carnival, and the classic haunted house. The haunted house will always somehow be a top attraction... even though it usually consists of the same thing: a bedsheet ghost, lots of glow-in-the-dark paint, and always involving the skeleton from the school lab.
Some schools are getting lazier at organising bazaars and resort to other more hassle-free activities such as jogathons. But I believe bazaars are not purely meant for fundraising but add colour and interesting detail to our high school memories.
Sunday, July 31, 2024
Friday, July 29, 2024
Happiness is…
(From "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown")
Happiness is finding a pencil.
Pizza with sausage
Telling the time.
Happiness is learning to whistle.
Tying your shoe for the very first time.
Happiness is playing the drum in your own school band.
And happiness is walking hand in hand.
Happiness is two kinds of ice cream.
Knowing a secret.
Climbing a tree.
Happiness is five different crayons.
Catching a firefly.
Setting him free.
Happiness is being alone every now and then.
And happiness is coming home again.
Happiness is morning and evening,
Day time and night time too.
For happiness is anyone and anything at all
That's loved by you.
Happiness is having a sister.
Sharing a sandwich.
Getting along.
Happiness is singing together when day is through,
And happiness is those who sing with you.
Happiness is morning and evening,
Daytime and nighttime too.
For happiness is anyone and anything at all
That's loved by you.
Labels:
everyday ramblings
Split second decisions
The road of life takes us through unexpected twists and turns
Sometimes… we end up with surprises
Most of the time… we choose
A billion split second decisions
Don’t wanna live in self-deception no more
Sometimes… we end up with surprises
Most of the time… we choose
A billion split second decisions
Don’t wanna live in self-deception no more
Labels:
self reflection
Think of the consequences
Someone let slip that Mr GG is getting married!!!
WOW!!! This is great news!!!
And he’s going to be a father soon too!!!
A father??? Wait, is this some kind of figure of speech???
No, he literally is going to be a father soon!!!
Oops… it was an accident you see
I see… an accident…
MH told me he can’t believe how stupid some guys are
(Yup, the word is stupid)
Don’t they think?
Think of the consequences?
Think of the cost?
In the end, the “thing” becomes an accident
Well at least he’s taking responsibility for the situation now
But where was his sense of responsibility 3 months ago?
It’s not sad. It’s a choice.
WOW!!! This is great news!!!
And he’s going to be a father soon too!!!
A father??? Wait, is this some kind of figure of speech???
No, he literally is going to be a father soon!!!
Oops… it was an accident you see
I see… an accident…
MH told me he can’t believe how stupid some guys are
(Yup, the word is stupid)
Don’t they think?
Think of the consequences?
Think of the cost?
In the end, the “thing” becomes an accident
Well at least he’s taking responsibility for the situation now
But where was his sense of responsibility 3 months ago?
It’s not sad. It’s a choice.
Labels:
friends
Words have the power to hurt… and the power to heal…
After some thought and discussion among the directors, we agreed to publish a public apology to the “victim”. We were not so deluded to think that our apology will definitely be received graciously. In fact we have so far received one rude response from another commentator in the blogging community.
I admit that I wanted to opt to stay silent. Why bother? Everybody has an opinion. Everybody has an audience and a circle of influence. Influence is a powerful thing. What difference can one measly apology make? Perhaps this is just one bad view in a sea of so many other opinions and views.
At the same time, I also admit that I felt hurt by this person’s words. It was probably his/her intention to give an honest opinion of his/her personal experience. I am sorry that it wasn’t the best of experiences. So perhaps we deserved it.
Still, I wonder if people realise that behind the businesses and companies are real people with real feelings. We complain and scream at the customer service officer in our anger against the big bad corporation that swindled us. We forget that the poor customer service officer has feelings, and the manager at the scene has feelings, and the struggling owner of the little establishment has feelings.
You don’t have to mince the truth. Just your words.
Words have the power to hurt… and the power to heal…
Despite the fact that our apology may not necessarily be received with gracious and open arms, in the end we chose to do what we thought was the right thing to do. At least we will not have regrets that we have withheld doing something positive. Sometimes not doing anything at all can be just as bad as doing something negative. It’s always better to be proactive rather than be reactive. Or worse… a doormat.
I admit that I wanted to opt to stay silent. Why bother? Everybody has an opinion. Everybody has an audience and a circle of influence. Influence is a powerful thing. What difference can one measly apology make? Perhaps this is just one bad view in a sea of so many other opinions and views.
At the same time, I also admit that I felt hurt by this person’s words. It was probably his/her intention to give an honest opinion of his/her personal experience. I am sorry that it wasn’t the best of experiences. So perhaps we deserved it.
Still, I wonder if people realise that behind the businesses and companies are real people with real feelings. We complain and scream at the customer service officer in our anger against the big bad corporation that swindled us. We forget that the poor customer service officer has feelings, and the manager at the scene has feelings, and the struggling owner of the little establishment has feelings.
You don’t have to mince the truth. Just your words.
Words have the power to hurt… and the power to heal…
Despite the fact that our apology may not necessarily be received with gracious and open arms, in the end we chose to do what we thought was the right thing to do. At least we will not have regrets that we have withheld doing something positive. Sometimes not doing anything at all can be just as bad as doing something negative. It’s always better to be proactive rather than be reactive. Or worse… a doormat.
Labels:
settlers cafe
Tuesday, July 26, 2024
Ceterus Paribus
Another day in history…
Yesterday we had a full house of customers… unusual for a Monday night. It was because of an initial reservation of 15 people for 2 tables ended up becoming 27 people occupying 4 tables. And big groups are always noisy. The whole place was buzzing like a madhouse. So they were all there like one big noisy family together with our other customers. The food was a bit slow. But it was to be expected since everybody opted to order at the same time instead of ordering in batches (no need to wait for friends to decide what to eat right?). Next time we will be more transparent with the customer about ordering their food first instead of waiting and waiting - resulting in a bottleneck in our kitchen.
We discovered a not so nice blog entry about our café. Nowadays you can Google “Settlers Café” and find all sorts of interesting results. Some good. Some bad. We offend some people. We make some people feel on top of the world. I truly wish that everything should always be equally consistent all the time, for all our customers.
However in reality we cannot always have a Ceterus Paribus situation. Why? Well, there are thousands of factors to consider: different staff, varying no. of customers, the customer profile, hormone levels, different manager/supervisor, even the weather plays a part! With one factor even a teeny tiny bit different from each situation, there goes Ceterus Paribus out the window.
Should we do something about all these blog entries? (especially the nasty ones). Something in us may rise up to protest and want to justify ourselves. Our hand moves the mouse and hovers over the “Comment” icon. “To be or nor to be… that is the question…”
There are thousands… even millions of blogs out there. And everyone will have something to say. It’s true that one bad blogger may cause a negative ripple effect. Instead of trying to curb this ripple. Focus on all the other thousands minus one bloggers. Do something so that this will never happen again. And think smart and think ahead to avoid a situation like this again. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.
I say this primarily for myself.
Thank you very much.
Yesterday we had a full house of customers… unusual for a Monday night. It was because of an initial reservation of 15 people for 2 tables ended up becoming 27 people occupying 4 tables. And big groups are always noisy. The whole place was buzzing like a madhouse. So they were all there like one big noisy family together with our other customers. The food was a bit slow. But it was to be expected since everybody opted to order at the same time instead of ordering in batches (no need to wait for friends to decide what to eat right?). Next time we will be more transparent with the customer about ordering their food first instead of waiting and waiting - resulting in a bottleneck in our kitchen.
We discovered a not so nice blog entry about our café. Nowadays you can Google “Settlers Café” and find all sorts of interesting results. Some good. Some bad. We offend some people. We make some people feel on top of the world. I truly wish that everything should always be equally consistent all the time, for all our customers.
However in reality we cannot always have a Ceterus Paribus situation. Why? Well, there are thousands of factors to consider: different staff, varying no. of customers, the customer profile, hormone levels, different manager/supervisor, even the weather plays a part! With one factor even a teeny tiny bit different from each situation, there goes Ceterus Paribus out the window.
Should we do something about all these blog entries? (especially the nasty ones). Something in us may rise up to protest and want to justify ourselves. Our hand moves the mouse and hovers over the “Comment” icon. “To be or nor to be… that is the question…”
There are thousands… even millions of blogs out there. And everyone will have something to say. It’s true that one bad blogger may cause a negative ripple effect. Instead of trying to curb this ripple. Focus on all the other thousands minus one bloggers. Do something so that this will never happen again. And think smart and think ahead to avoid a situation like this again. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.
I say this primarily for myself.
Thank you very much.
Labels:
settlers cafe
Tuesday, July 19, 2024
Images of my childhood
Inspired by mom’s recent blog entry on Traditional Pastimes, images of my childhood flashed across my mind…
Eating hot pisang goreng after swimming at KGC
Exploring the abandoned construction site near our house (we called it “the mountain”)
Barbeques in our house backyard with dad as the head chef
Helping mom to ice cakes and decorating it with ‘smarties’
Bathing Snowball (almost) every Sunday afternoon
Walking down Gaya Street after church on Sundays
Cycling home from the playground at twilight with Snowball running ahead of us
Climbing down into the “longkangs” to catch tiny fishes
Making sandcastles at Tanjung Aru beach and poking a dead jellyfish on the shore
Chasing hermit crabs and trying to cover up the crab’s hole with sand (we were so cruel!)
Counting and jumping over waves in the sea at Tanjung Aru
Picnics at Kundasang and driving up the steep hill to Perkasa Hotel to see the view
Building our own fire at the fire place at the chalet in National Park
Snorkelling at Pulau Manukan… even then I remember how clear the water is (many Singaporeans, especially those have not travelled much, cannot imagine being able look into the sea from a jetty and see the mass of colour on the sea bed with all the colourful coral and fishes underneath… believe me, it is THAT clear!)
To experience all this, there must be some pain as well…
Being stung by a jellyfish in the sea
Being stung by bee from a bush at National Park
Getting splintered by spikes from a sea urchin
Falling of a bike and dislocating an elbow
Being nearly hit by a lorry (close call, Sam)
And plenty of scratches and bruises and scraped knees along the way
But for the fun and beauty and wonder of it all… it was worth it…
We’re still alive after all.
Eating hot pisang goreng after swimming at KGC
Exploring the abandoned construction site near our house (we called it “the mountain”)
Barbeques in our house backyard with dad as the head chef
Helping mom to ice cakes and decorating it with ‘smarties’
Bathing Snowball (almost) every Sunday afternoon
Walking down Gaya Street after church on Sundays
Cycling home from the playground at twilight with Snowball running ahead of us
Climbing down into the “longkangs” to catch tiny fishes
Making sandcastles at Tanjung Aru beach and poking a dead jellyfish on the shore
Chasing hermit crabs and trying to cover up the crab’s hole with sand (we were so cruel!)
Counting and jumping over waves in the sea at Tanjung Aru
Picnics at Kundasang and driving up the steep hill to Perkasa Hotel to see the view
Building our own fire at the fire place at the chalet in National Park
Snorkelling at Pulau Manukan… even then I remember how clear the water is (many Singaporeans, especially those have not travelled much, cannot imagine being able look into the sea from a jetty and see the mass of colour on the sea bed with all the colourful coral and fishes underneath… believe me, it is THAT clear!)
To experience all this, there must be some pain as well…
Being stung by a jellyfish in the sea
Being stung by bee from a bush at National Park
Getting splintered by spikes from a sea urchin
Falling of a bike and dislocating an elbow
Being nearly hit by a lorry (close call, Sam)
And plenty of scratches and bruises and scraped knees along the way
But for the fun and beauty and wonder of it all… it was worth it…
We’re still alive after all.
Labels:
family,
reminiscing
Saturday, July 16, 2024
Tang yuen
MH's youngest sis and her BF are in town this weekend. I'm now alone at home. The two of them are at the zoo while MH is the cafe's chef tonight. This morning we were all the cafe helping to decorate the place for a kid's birthday party. I am quite proud of our handiwork. I'll post pics of it soon.
I'm am now watching a pot of boiling 'tang yuen'. I hope I got it right mom, I decided to keep it simple: rock sugar, ginger, red dates, and I tossed in some ready-made glutinous rice balls. Later I will put in some bird's nest. We still have so many from MH's dad.
I'm am now watching a pot of boiling 'tang yuen'. I hope I got it right mom, I decided to keep it simple: rock sugar, ginger, red dates, and I tossed in some ready-made glutinous rice balls. Later I will put in some bird's nest. We still have so many from MH's dad.
Thursday, July 14, 2024
Men who desire more than one wife
Certain types of men can be really childish and immature...
Kuala Lumpur: The issue over polygamy livened the debate at the Dewan Rakyat Tuesday when a Member of Parliament (MP) from the opposition suggested that men wishing to indulge in polygamy should take women above the age of 65 as their second wife. Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) said this was because statistics showed that men outnumbered women in this country except for women between 65 and 75. She said the reasons usually given by men to indulge in polygamy were that they felt pity for the unmarried women as the number of women was higher than men, and that they wanted to ease the burden of the single mothers.
"Why not take those in this age group (65 to 75) as (second) wife. They (instead) choose virgins who are young," she said when debating the Syariah Criminal Procedures (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2005.
The suggestion was supported by Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Martajam), but it was opposed by several male MPs, with Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) interjecting immediately: “Mana boleh. Siapa mahu?” (That’s not possible. Who wants to do that?)
Kuala Lumpur: The issue over polygamy livened the debate at the Dewan Rakyat Tuesday when a Member of Parliament (MP) from the opposition suggested that men wishing to indulge in polygamy should take women above the age of 65 as their second wife. Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) said this was because statistics showed that men outnumbered women in this country except for women between 65 and 75. She said the reasons usually given by men to indulge in polygamy were that they felt pity for the unmarried women as the number of women was higher than men, and that they wanted to ease the burden of the single mothers.
"Why not take those in this age group (65 to 75) as (second) wife. They (instead) choose virgins who are young," she said when debating the Syariah Criminal Procedures (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Bill 2005.
The suggestion was supported by Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Martajam), but it was opposed by several male MPs, with Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) interjecting immediately: “Mana boleh. Siapa mahu?” (That’s not possible. Who wants to do that?)
.
- Taken from The Daily Express, Wednesday 13 July 2024
.
Of course no promiscuous man would literally want a wrinkly 70 year old grandmother. But that's not the point, is it? It's so sad that this MP doesn't realise how stupid he sounds with that interjection.
.
Silly, silly, silly.
.
I rest my case.
Sunday, July 10, 2024
Saturday, July 09, 2024
Starstruck
I am seeing stars!!!
Today we had a Mediacorp filming at our cafe for a local talk show series. They wanted to feature our cafe as a good place for family fun... food... and games...
So I had the honour of shaking hands with a local Singaporean celebrity who was hosting the show. I shall not reveal the name of the person here for confidential reasons (ask me in person if you want to know who I'm talking about).
Anyway, I had the opportunity to have a close up look at a real celebrity. And it was interesting to see the whole "lights, camera, action" sequence in progress. We had a group of kids come in to sit down and play games in front of the camera. Wah! These kids really can act! Except for one screaming brat who kept on misbehaving, messing up the cards and refusing to cooperate, all the other kids were well behaved and put up a good show of having fun with the games. We removed the brat in the end -- much to the disappointment of the mother who was probably keen to have her kid in the spotlight.
This experience further emphasises that SOME Singaporeans can be very 'sakai' indeed and have nothing better to do than to just 'kepo'. A volunteer child can come in with both parents, aunties, uncles, grandmother etc... almost the whole kampung in fact! All these people were milling around and getting in our way. But we had good crowd control and kept these people at a distance from the action when filming was in progress. Still, you can see that there will always be some odd person that manages to squeeze in somewhere to 'kepo' in the whole thing... SIGH!
People are very interesting to watch sometimes.
Anyway, look out for a glimpse of our cafe in action (and maybe even some familiar faces) on August 16th at 8.30PM on Mediacorp Channel 8.
P.S. Our celebrity caller commented that she liked our chicken wings! :)
Today we had a Mediacorp filming at our cafe for a local talk show series. They wanted to feature our cafe as a good place for family fun... food... and games...
So I had the honour of shaking hands with a local Singaporean celebrity who was hosting the show. I shall not reveal the name of the person here for confidential reasons (ask me in person if you want to know who I'm talking about).
Anyway, I had the opportunity to have a close up look at a real celebrity. And it was interesting to see the whole "lights, camera, action" sequence in progress. We had a group of kids come in to sit down and play games in front of the camera. Wah! These kids really can act! Except for one screaming brat who kept on misbehaving, messing up the cards and refusing to cooperate, all the other kids were well behaved and put up a good show of having fun with the games. We removed the brat in the end -- much to the disappointment of the mother who was probably keen to have her kid in the spotlight.
This experience further emphasises that SOME Singaporeans can be very 'sakai' indeed and have nothing better to do than to just 'kepo'. A volunteer child can come in with both parents, aunties, uncles, grandmother etc... almost the whole kampung in fact! All these people were milling around and getting in our way. But we had good crowd control and kept these people at a distance from the action when filming was in progress. Still, you can see that there will always be some odd person that manages to squeeze in somewhere to 'kepo' in the whole thing... SIGH!
People are very interesting to watch sometimes.
Anyway, look out for a glimpse of our cafe in action (and maybe even some familiar faces) on August 16th at 8.30PM on Mediacorp Channel 8.
P.S. Our celebrity caller commented that she liked our chicken wings! :)
Labels:
settlers cafe
Friday, July 08, 2024
Newborn baby smell
During lunch, I popped by to see Jeremy (our cell leader) and his wife and their newborn baby Josher. They were at Raffles Hospital which is quite near my office. The baby was born at 5.16AM on Thursday morning as an early birthday present for the mother, whose birthday happens to be on that day as well!
Looking at a newborn baby is very peaceful. Very different from the ‘little devils’ Sam must have encountered at VBS. Baby Josher was quietly lying in his basinet making sucking movements with his lips. Annie (Jeremy’s wife) was relieved that the ordeal was over. The delivery was quite smooth overall, except that his head was a bit big, so the doctor had to ‘snip snip’ a little… *ouch - painful thought*
I gave them a CD compilation of baby lullabies... something nice to put on the CD player as baby Josher drifts off to sleep in the nursery.
Looking at a newborn baby is very peaceful. Very different from the ‘little devils’ Sam must have encountered at VBS. Baby Josher was quietly lying in his basinet making sucking movements with his lips. Annie (Jeremy’s wife) was relieved that the ordeal was over. The delivery was quite smooth overall, except that his head was a bit big, so the doctor had to ‘snip snip’ a little… *ouch - painful thought*
I gave them a CD compilation of baby lullabies... something nice to put on the CD player as baby Josher drifts off to sleep in the nursery.
Labels:
friends
Sunday, July 03, 2024
Live observations of cafe activities
10.30PM: I am now sitting in front of MH's laptop at our cafe. How nice that one of our neighbours has wireless internet access. We can borrow it a bit to do some light surfing.
We are down to just 2 tables now, a couple of tables just left a few minutes ago. I can hear their laughter and chatter in the background. Laughter is a good sign. It would be awful to have a table of bored and listless people.
Table no. 2 is playing one of my favourite games: Citadels.
Table no. 3 is playing Monopoly. A classic game. Not extremely interesting. Just a pleasant game to usher the conversation along I suppose. These are friends of one of our staff - also from CHC.
10.45PM: Another 45 minutes to go before quitin' time. One of our staff is signing off (*pause to smile and wave good bye to him).
Tomorrow is Monday.
We are down to just 2 tables now, a couple of tables just left a few minutes ago. I can hear their laughter and chatter in the background. Laughter is a good sign. It would be awful to have a table of bored and listless people.
Table no. 2 is playing one of my favourite games: Citadels.
Table no. 3 is playing Monopoly. A classic game. Not extremely interesting. Just a pleasant game to usher the conversation along I suppose. These are friends of one of our staff - also from CHC.
10.45PM: Another 45 minutes to go before quitin' time. One of our staff is signing off (*pause to smile and wave good bye to him).
Tomorrow is Monday.
Labels:
settlers cafe
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