Happy New Year!

2009 is coming to an end, how time flies.

2009 is not a particularly nice year for me, mainly because of the economy downturn which put a strain on me financially. After all, number 2 was planned with me having an increment in mind.

It's not all bad, it just could have been better if the economy didn't went kaput. Sadly though it looks as if 2009 is going to end with a not-so-merry tone for me as His Royal Highness King Toddler Hsiang is hospitalised. =(


Here's hoping 2010 will start with a bang and be a much better year, for me and everyone.

So... Happy New Year everyone! May we all have a great year.

And may I get shit load of money to alleviate all those needs and wants and wishes, you know, a nice house fully furnished, a digital SLR *cough*EOS5DMarkII*cough*, a few L series lenses, a super-duper gaming computer, a real broadband service, education funds for my children so they could get higher education based soley on their merits instead of race, oh, and a Porsche Boxster would be swell!

Yea, I can always dream. =P

Kaypo tidbits:

Almost all my entries are written and posted on the date and time shown by the entry, I see no reason to change that fact. Exception to that are those story-based entries under the fictitious fiction category, since some of those were written over a span of time.

That said, I feel I should made it known that this entry is written on 30th of December and scheduled to be posted on 31st of December because I foresee I won't have much time for blogging in the next few days.

Why not schedule to 1st January? Because I want 11 entries per month. ^_^

Congratulations, you have earned one kaypo point! =P

Avatar

Watched my first ever 3D movie in the cinema today, at RM18 a pop I don't think it's something I will be doing often. Not that I go to the cinema all that often nowadays anyway. =P

Avatar is a Sci-Fi action thriller, so if you are hoping for a movie with rich story then you are out of luck. But if you are like me, who just want to enjoy an hour or two of action-filled movie with lots of well made cgi animations, and don't want to bring home any thought provoking idea, then jump on the bandwagon and let the actions bring you much satisfaction!

image source

Put simply, story is about the greedy human going to another planet to mine for mineral, and created these avatars, living bodies made from the DNA of human and the native of the planet, so they can communicate and mingle with the natives and seek diplomatic solution for, *ehem*, stealing their mineral.

Typically, when the natives refused to relocate so the human can mine the rich deposit of mineral under their home, the human gave diplomatic solution the finger, called the native "savages", and forced them to leave their home with brutal military action, you know, detroy their home and kill them if they dare to show defiance.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? Isn't that what the You Ass did in... oh nevermind.

I noticed an oversight in the movie, nearing the end when the crazy military commander guy trying to kill Jake Sully who was in the control pod/bed thingy within the portable lab. Remember the other scientist Norm Spellman who was shocked out of his control pod/bed when his avatar was killed? He was also in that portable lab but where did he go? He did show up at the end when they were sending the human back to Earth, so I am sure he wasn't killed. He could have helped Jake to get the oxygen mask if the director didn't just like, made him disappear. =P

Anyway, nice move, I enjoyed myself immensely. Go watch if you like Sci-Fi action movies, this is one of the highly polished ones.

Ignore the rest of this entry if you are not a gamer, specifically of Blizzard's Starcraft and World of Warcraft.

I can't help but noticed the similarity of some of the stuff in the Avatar movie with the games mentioned above. First of all is of course the title and the whole concept itself, you know, avatar, which is the representation of the gamer within the game world, or our alter ego within the game world. Instead of using the mouse and keyboard to control the avatar as in game, the movie uses the mind while the body suspended in an inactive state to control the living avatar.

The robot suit or whatever it's called, is similar to the marine in Starcraft, go go go!

The planet reminds me of various zones in World of Warcraft, the floating-in-mid-air islands thing reminds me of Nagrand in the Outland. Then there is that tree where the natives live, it's just like the World Tree in World of Warcraft. I can't make up my mind whether the native is closer to the trolls or the night elves of World of Warcraft, probably a mixture of both. And of course, flying mount! That's a cross of a drake and what, butterfly? Does hang onto cliff and trees like a bat though. =)

What are you doing in there?

*ring* *ring*

Hello?

Hi Ju, busy?

Okay lor, but wait huh, Hsiang wants to talk to you.

Papa.

Hi Hsiang Hsiang, how are you?

*ignored my question*

Papa.

Yes Hsiang Hsiang?

What are you doing in there?

Hsiang, papa is not in the phone, papa is at home.

...

冬至

妻儿们在娘家
爸爸几天前回了乡
弟弟和隽小嫂今天刚刚走了
所以只有妈妈和全身汗臭的我一起晚餐
（打球出了一身汗，很爽）

不是很明白为何要庆祝冬至
冬天到了很开心的昧？
马来西亚的冬天和夏天和每一天都是一样的啦
有点不知所谓

吃着甜甜的汤圆，心里有点感触
妻子和那两个小瓜不知是怎么过这一天的呢？
大的那个瓜有没有吃汤圆呢？他喜欢汤圆吗？
小的那个瓜是不是又在呼呼大睡呢?

怎么妻子到了娘家就好像把我忘了一样的？
总是不跟我联络的？
致电给她也总是匆匆几句
我真的那么微不足道？

好可悲…

Not a Movie

Male teacher female student fell in love, overcame age gap, prejudice, obstacles, and finally got married and live happily ever after.

Sounds like the storyline for a romance movie, isn't it?

Except I have just attended a high school friend's wedding and this is exactly their story.

Well, actually I only know they are teacher and student relationship before they become lovers. Their age difference is 8 years.

The prejudice ah, obstacles ah, I made those up. I have no idea what they have been through from teacher and student relationship to husband and wife, and no, I am not busy body enough to want to find out. =P

It was a pleasant evening, good food, nice company. Always nice to meet with old friends. It's a sad fact that it's usually in occasion such as wedding that there would be a gathering of old friends, everyone is busy with their own lives.

Anyway, congratulations to Lean Eng and Siaw Lee, may you live happily ever after! =)

随想

妻儿们在娘家，我有点孤单的感觉

看一看书、玩一玩电脑游戏、看一看戏

好清闲，没有干扰

妻子说翔翔昨晚找我，闹着要回家

心里好感动

平时睬都不睬我的王帝尽然也有想我的时候

当然，他今天天一亮就跟姨姨，外公和外婆到处游玩

连平时紧粘着的妈妈都可以丢在家里

所以不用说都知道早就忘了爸爸了的啦

小瓜已经会认妈妈了

躺在床上会转头看着妈妈

妈妈逗他他就会跟妈妈笑，好可爱

Welcome to the Hood!

Yo yo! Congratulations Hoong Hoong, you da man!

Welcome to the hood*, be cool and chill ya.

It's partay time, yo!

That's sayin' partay time for us and lack-of-sleep time for you, fo' shizzle!

=P

*fatherhood

first look of Hoong Hoong's baby boy here. Since Hoong Hoong loves name repeated, so make sure you sign you name in that way when you leave your congratulations on his blog, e.g. Hoong Hoong, Thing Thing, etc.

Quote

Just started reading The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld, and I like the first three paragraphs a lot so I am going to quote them here, word by word.

[begin quote]

There is no mystery to happiness.

Unhappy men are all alike. Some wound they suffered long ago, some wish denied, some blow to pride, some kindling spark of love put out by scorn - or worse, indifference - cleaves to them, or they to it, and so they live each day within a shroud of yesterdays. The happy man does not look back. He doesn't look ahead. He lives in the present.

But there's the rub. The present can never diliver one thing: meaning. The ways of happiness and meaning are not the same. To find happiness, a man need only live in the moment; he need only live for the moment. But if he wants meaning - the meaning of his dreams, his secrets, his life - a man must reinhabit his past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain. Thus nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them.

[end quote]

This is the eleventh novel since my last book review a few months back, and no, I still don't feel like writing a book review. Slacker extraordinaire I am.

Me so proud. =P

And while we are on quote, here's another one from the movie Stomp the Yard:

"Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." - Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

Like Father Like Son?

Probably heard of the "like father like son" phrase before, so here are two photos:

the father

Let's face it, no matter how hard this guy tries, he is still fugly and will not pull any chics.

On the other hand...

the king! son

This young man doesn't even need to try, he just playfully put on the hat and the flower garland and tada, chic magnet!

Come on, all say "oooow, so cute!" together now.

=)

So, like father like son?

On behalf of my son, I am saying: hell no! Son is 1000000x better than father! =P

Boleh!

Telekom Malaysia just set a new standard and opened my eyes wide for the stark difference between my beloved country, the Boleh-land, and England.

See, in England, when I want to change the ownership of an internet account to my good friend Mr Eg, this is what we would do:

1. go to the service provider with my pal Mr Eg

2. inform the nice and polite person at the customer service desk, say, Ms CS, about our intention

3. provide identification* if needed

4. put down our signatures on the form Ms CS printed from her computer, which is linked to the centralised database from any branch in the U.K.

5. say "nope, that's all, cheers!" when being asked if there's anything else she could help us with

*if photocopy was required, Ms CS would do it for us F.O.C. instead of sending us to the overcharged photocopy service like departments of Malaysia government do

The whole thing would take 10 minutes top and we would never have to fill in our name, birthday, gender, et cetera on multiple forms. Once the information was entered into the database the very first time we registered, we never have to do it again. No stupid entry like asking for your year of birth then ask for your age.

And now, here's what we have been through when my father wanted to transfer the ownership of his Streamyx account to me, basically, we just wanted the bill to be in my name instead of my father's.

1. went to Telekom Malaysia office with my father

2. informed the polite lady at the number/information desk about our intention, first in English then in mixture of English + Malay

3. waited for the polite lady to enquire her superior in rapid Malay

4. took a number and waited while the superior got someone else to handle us

5. the gentleman assigned to handle our request called for us and we repeated our intention, yes, in English then in mixture of English + Malay

6. being told we have to terminate the current Streamyx account in my father's name, wait for 30 days, then sign up again with my name

7. informed them again we just want to change the name of the account holder so that it's billed to me instead of my father, do we really have to go through all the termination and reapplying process, with a 30 days gap without internet?

8. the gentleman asked us to wait while he consulted his colleague (no prize for guessing what language it was in)

9. his colleague consulted the polite lady at the number/information desk, who again consulted her superior

10. no dice, that's the way the system is, they said

11. thanked them and "no thank you" them, just keep it as it is

Whole thing took 25 minutes, achieved nothing except being truely amazed by the ridiculousness. Wah lau, seriously boleh!

Think I will just apply for a new broadband** account, and terminate my father's when the new one is ready.

**or whatever the service provider tries to pass as broadband in this country. I had fibre optic connected straight into my modem while I was in England, the real broadband

Only thing is to decide which service provider and package to go with, not that I have many choices in this country.

Figures

I have the strange habit of recording things, not just the usual expenses but things like the hours I spent playing computer game in a month, quotes from the books I read, the number of days my wireless keyboard's batteries can last, et cetera.

The following figures are commuting related. They are based on 3 months of data I recorded because I wanted to find out a few things:

1. just how damn far is my home from ulu place?

2. just how damn long does it take to drive to ulu place and back?

3. any difference between using ron97 and ron95?

I drive a first generation MyVi 1.3 litre automatic transmission. Whenever possible, I drive at speed limit +/-5 km/h (okay okay, +10/-0 km/h) on highway, and on the bridge it's whatever speed the vehicle in front of me is driving at (I keep a safe and non-threatening distance, of course). I fill up petrol at Shell when I have about 25% left in the tank. I pump my tires every second or third time I fill up the petrol.

These are the figures from 3 months of data:

average commute time - house to work: 0 hour 52 minutes, stdev: 4 minutes

average commute time - work to house: 1 hour 05 minutes, stdev: 8 minutes

average distance - house to work: 51.2 km, stdev: 0.3 km

average distance - work to house: 51.1 km, stdev: 0.6 km

average mileage: 15.9 km/litre, stdev: 0.641 km/litre (ron97)

average petrol cost: 0.13 RM/km, stdev: 0.005 RM/km (RM2.05 per litre ron97)

stdev = standard deviation

So, on average it costs me RM13.3 petrol money to go to work and back, just petrol money, not including the tolls, the vehicle maintenance, et cetera.

I switched to ron95 today, so wait for a few months for me to collect the data and I will share them here.

Random Thoughts

The slacker month is coming to an end, here's a collection of thoughts and/or one liners I noted down throughout November (the slacker month).

-----

name and shame

To the idiotic driver of Mazda6 PJF5510, this rant is dedicated to your utterly lack of driving skill and your non-existent road manner.

No thanks to your retarded, irresponsible and fooking rude cut into my lane without any indication on the 5th of November 2009, at 18:12 hours, in front of GMC, I had to execute an emergency brake and anti-collision manoeuvre. Good thing there wasn't another vehicle in the other lane that I had to swivel into to avoid your piece of junk car that has those non-functional indication lights.

Congratulations for being one of those bastards that got an unhealthy dose of my swearing, you should be proud since I reserve the vulgar language to true brainless dickheads.

I understand that it will need a miracle for you to grow a brain and learn to drive responsibly, so I suggest you go shaft those "for decoration only" indication lights up your arse and pray hard for the miracle. That is, assuming an arsehole like you have an arse.

Seriously, I have no problem whatsoever if you want to kill yourself on the road, that's just one less vermin wasting oxygen, just don't endanger the other road users, compreendo?

-----

cover mountain cover sea

Thermal simulation is my strength, but I spent most of my work time in the lab nowadays doing stuff that nobody wants to do.

-----

need a breather

There is no peace around Hsiang.

-----

everything not enough

Time not enough. Money not enough. Energy not enough.

-----

something is missing...

I have a loving wife and two sons, so why do I feel so empty, with depression hovering within a stone throw?

Sorry to have woken you up wifey, I just wanted to look at you and our sons sleeping. I find in that peace and contentment that I couldn't find within myself.

-----

rich son poor dad

Young's wealth increases while mine decreases. Having a baby sure is expensive!

-----

human nature

Attendance for session 1: 9

Attendance for session 2: 4

Attendance for session 3: 13

Attendance for session 4: 4

Attendance for session 5: 7

Attendance for session 6: 8

Attendance for session 7: 9

Attendance for session 8: 7

Human beings are unpredictable.

-----

cheap

Big anniversary coming up, the atas people want something grand and invited those higher than atas people, but when it comes to budget, there's nothing extra, just the usual allocation for quarterly teambuilding.

I am one of the committee members for this annual dinner (I didn't volunteer, I just got roped in >_< ), and I have dubbed this event the "el cheapo" version of our various plans, basically the cheapest of all our plans that pretty much D.I.Y. everything, including entertainment. And yea, no lucky draw.

How I envy our sister department, who hired professional event planner to sort out everything for their annual dinner.

I am in a cheap department, but the management still wants face, of course.

-----

peace

Just lying there beside my baby boy, watching him sleeps, instilled me with peace.

-----

slacker extraordinaire

As of the time of writing this entry and since the last review in August, I have read 8 novels, plus the one I am currently reading which will either be finished by tonight or tomorrow. So 9 books that I want to put into a review, but it's still slacker month so I will just procrastinate it further to December. =P

Anniversary

This is for my dearest wifey.

Happy 5th anniversary!

Thank you for being you.

And thanks for accepting me as I am.

Here's to the many more years to come, cheers!

Lots of love from your bald, ugly, and silly hubby.

Full Moon

Tze Young's one month old yesterday!

Woot!

Less words, more photos!

[2 days] home with brother Hsiang

[4 days] rehospitalised, so not a happy bunny

[7 days] the two kings

[8 days] chilling with Toby the train

[9 days] having a sweet dream

[16 days] hi hi

[17 days]

Hsiang: "I shall teach you how to be a king"

Young: "I'm listening"

[26 days] thanks for all the ang pao and gifts

[27 days] we are all smiles and peaceful

[30 days] we are dead serious

[31 days] left to right: mama, king#2, king#1, slave

I am simply too transparent, wifey knew exactly what I was planning to do and stopped me from doing it a few days before Young turned one month old.

Oh well, doesn't change the fact that I understand how much she sacrifices for our children, and the one month old milestone is to me, a celebration and appreciation for my wifey, not for the baby.

Anyway, I shall end this entry with Young in his birthday suit...

oi, it's charged per view!

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Scribble Pad! (this blog ler)

Two years of consistently torturing misguided readers with eleven entries per month, except November since November is the slacker month so I get to slack and write only four entries. And as we all know (or should know for those who don't), four is the answer to everything in the universe, on top of being the bestest number. =)

Visit counts seemed to picked up over the last year, not sure if it's more misguided people stumbled upon this blog or someone being too free and kept hitting the refresh button. It's at 13300 when I last checked, it was at 4746 same time yesteryear. Oh well, I am sticking with the explanation of bored person hitting the refresh button.

Comment is still next to non-existence, no surprise there.

Contents are the same old same old crap that only misguided people would find interesting, smart people would go read Nelson's. =)

That's all regarding the blog, now I will make a few announcements:

1. I am 32 today, old fart! =P

2. I don't like to be in the limelight, me is shy one lar

3. while I love to celebrate other people's birthdays, I don't like to celebrate my own (see 2), so please don't (32 liao lar, you think still 13 meh?)

4. I do appreciate friends remembering it's my birthday and send me birthday greetings on the day, whichever way of communicating that is fine and that's really all I want

5. I am lactose intolerance so I don't really like cake

6. I am slow so I don't like last minute changes

7. I am straight talking and tactless so yea, I do mean what I say, i.e. yes is yes, no is no, like is like, don't like is don't like. No hidden meaning or agenda and likewise I prefer to deal with straight talking people

8. seriously, stop using me as scapegoat already! Or at least own up to it and cough up the payment when I caught you doing =\

Thanks to all who remember and all the birthday wishes.

Thanks for organising the lunch but I will be evil and nasty towards you for a while so you will stop doing that next year. =)

给孩子的话

孩子

爸爸没有妈妈的耐心

也不常常有时间陪你们

但为人父母，就该教你们做人之道

爸爸喜欢书写，所以爸爸会将些有用的东西写下来

当你们识字懂事时再给你们看

爸爸没有课程表，也没有一定的公式

只是想到什么就写什么

如果有些东西重复了又重复

你们要见谅，爸爸的记性是很差的

你们要乖乖的听话

爸爸妈妈是不会害你们的

记得你要他人怎么对你

你就该怎么对他人

长大了要做个有责任感的好人

不要抽烟喝酒，做自毁的傻事

要帮助比自己弱小的人

要有颗谦虚好学的心

跟妈妈学交际之道，不要像爸爸这样呆呆的

对待女孩要像爸爸对妈妈一样

千万不要欺负别人的女儿

切记，真正的男人是不打女人的

要为自己的言行举止负责任

做事要敢做敢当

犯错了要马上认错，企求原谅

认错后要悔改，不要再犯同样的错

当你们不再需要我们的扶持时

展开翅膀尽情去飞翔，去飘扬

爸爸妈妈会让你们做自己的选择

也会尊重和支持你们的决定

要牢记着，爸爸妈妈是爱你们的

Random Thoughts

A tad busy these few days, wanted to write something but could never get a stretch of time long enough for me to sit down and write. Besides that, mind's always somewhere else, like on caring for Young, dealing with Hsiang, helping out wifey, and on work.

-----

Tze Young

Young's been frequenting the hospital almost every other day, and two days consecutive yesterday and today. Jaundice, under weight, rashes. Be healthy little one, papa and mama are worried.

-----

Personality from Blogging

A few days ago I was thinking while taking shower about writing an entry, my thought process went like this:

Let me write something funny.

Hmm...

Okay, let me write something nice.

Hmm...

Let me write something evil then. Oooh, there is that...

Then I realised the implication: me is evil!

I feel so proud of myself, muahahahaha! =P

-----

Busy Cat Walking

The unexpected early arrival of Young threw my work schedule off course as I took many days off. I am now rushing to complete a cat walk modelling job by the end of October.

Me is so out of time. >.<

Good thing is, I am throwing myself back into work with enthusiasm again and the negative bout seemed to be over, hoorah!

-----

How Far in Advance?

Received two birthday wishes today, talk about greetings in advance!

It is nice to know that there are people more blur than me, hehehe.

I thanked them, though I am still going to hang on to my last week of being 31 years old, thank you very much.

Me still 31 years old, really! =)

Humbling Experience

When Chin Chin handed me a red packet saying it's a gift from the colleagues for the newborn Young Young, I thanked her and thought nothing of it.

She commented that I seemed to be rather popular, for many had contributed to the gift. I think I probably laughed at that, "popular" and "CK" do not go together, okay? So, I asked for the list of names and Chin Chin informed me it's within the ang pao, I thanked her again for being so thorough and thought nothing of it.

As I was heading to a meeting then, and was keeping my stuff in the cabinet, Chin Chin advised me to keep the ang pao safe, "there's a lot of money in it," she said. I locked it in my cabinet and thought nothing of it.

You have to understand, I honestly cannot link myself with popular. I am a boring person (really one!), while I understand networking is important, I am no good at it. I was thinking around 10 being my circle of friends among my colleagues, so when Chin Chin said "many" I was thinking around 15 to 20.

I was in for a surprise when I finally opened the red packet when I got home. I am not here to brag so I will not disclose the actual number of colleagues that had contributed to the gift. I can only tell you it honestly exceeded my expectation and I am truely shocked.

I know I am a nice person, well, generally... Okay okay, I am evil in a nice way. But I honestly do not think so many would care or bother with me having a second child, since our department is having a productive year with many babies popping left and right.

I think it must have been Chin Chin pulling strings, maybe she point a gun to people's head or something. No matter how she did it, this is really a humbling experience for me.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

You know, Young has more money now than my whole childhood years combined, he is just one week's old! Good grief.

I owe you one Chin Chin, in fact, I owe you two since there's that lab stuff as well. =)

Young

Many have asked about Tze Young's name in Mandarin, truth is I wanted to include that in the previous entry but Microsoft Pinyin IME doesn't have the Chinese character in its vocabulary. So here it is, photo from the good old hardcopy dictionary.

Oh, before that, in case there are people who are uncertain with the pronunciation of the baby's name, well, it's young as in: "I am old but you are young". Not 'yong'.

Surname. A "mouth" on top of a "sky", not sure if it means we Goh talk so loud the whole world can hear or we are so hungry we eat everything under the sky? =P

This is the Mandarin character designated for male children of Young's generation in my Goh family. So Hsiang also has this character in his name. It means wisdom, intelligence.

This is the character for which the Mandarin pronunciation is 'young', it means flying, gliding. And this is Young's name. =) In fact, it has similar meaning to Hsiang's name in Mandarin, so I guess our sons will fly away from us as soon as they are old enough. =P

Worries and Woes

Due to jaundice, His Royal Highness King Baby Young readmitted to the hospital two days after being discharged from birth. We were told that newborn from mother who is of O+ blood type has a higher chance of getting jaundice.

Initially we thought Young would be discharged today since his bilirubin level (actually I am not sure what stuff they test, I just assume it's bilirubin) dropped dramatically yesterday, but it raised slightly today. Doctor said perhaps he has reached the limit of UV light treatment and will have to depend on his lever function now. We will wait another day and see how's the level.

The thing with Young being hospitalised is that I have to chauffeur wifey to and fro hospital every few hours since we insist on breast feeding. We saved all the expressed milk for the night to cut down on the night time hospital trips.

Even so, I think the parking cashers of all shifts are probably saying "this guy again" whenever they see me. I have honestly lost count of the number of times I have been to GMC these few days.

Being a light sleeper and a worrier, with only an hour or two of peace and quiet in bewteen stuff like drive to hospital, store expressed milk in the fridge, attend to wifey's need, et cetera, pretty much means I don't get any quality sleep at all. I am a walking zombie, I believe it's the Red Bull that kept me going. Good thing the confinement lady has arrived today, hopefully I will be able to ditch most of the work to her.

I burned another day of my annual leave quota for tomorrow, since the chauffer duty remains. It's either I drive or my wifey drives herself to and fro the hospital. Not really a choice given it hasn't been a week since she delivered Young.

The biggest headache and heartache remains with His Royal Highness King Toddler Hsiang. He is getting ridiculously difficult and disobedient. If he kept this up I would be bursting a blood vessel or two pretty soon. So unreasonable he is and frustrated I am that I am starting to think about stuff in the line of cage, lock, sound proof, instant sleep zapper, human remote control that can pause and mute...

Family matters aside, I am also worried about my work. Last week was supposed to be my solid week of numerical simulations, I have insufficient time to properly sleep as it is, let alone work. So I have done nothing and I have no idea what to write in this month's report.

Bummer.

Life's a Blur

Only when everyone has gone to sleep will I have a stretch of time to get some of my own things done. Like work, and writing blog.

It has been a flurry of activities from the moment I wake up till late at night for the past few days, there are just so many things to do. I find myself thinking of the next task while doing the current one, not very good since I suck at multitasking and mind "phasing out" while driving to the hospital is not funny.

This will likely be a jumbled up entry where I just jot down whatever flows through my mind.

The numerous drives to and fro hospital. Cook for and feed Hsiang. Cook for self. Wash the dishes. Laundry, well, the washing machine does the washing, I only do the loading, unloading, hanging and unhanging. Interesting now that I think of it, I don't remember folding the dried clothes. Bath and cloth Hsiang. Signed numerous bills. Liaison with the confinement lady. Chauffeuring people around. Grocery shopping. Special confinement food ingredient shopping. Adjusted the cot for Young. Car seat for Young. Prepare and cook the drink for wifey. Fetching and carrying stuff around, the number of times I go up and down the stairs, good grief. Clean and wash Hsiang's potty. Clean and change Hsiang when he wet his pants instead of using the potty. Comforting Young when he cries. Making sure the house has boiled drinking water. Sort out Young's birth certificate and MyKid card. Entertain Hsiang. Answering the many phone calls. IT support so wifey's netbook has the softwares she wants, to be used when she is hospitalised. Unblock the sink. Clean and wash the flooded wet kitchen. Prepare milk for Hsiang and wash his bottle when he is done drinking.

Things had started out fairly well with regards to Young's arrival, the smooth and swift delivery, the next day discharge, wifey in relatively better condition compared to the first delivery, the relatively cheaper medical cost. Too good to be true so things are starting to go downhill. Couldn't reach the confinement lady whole day today, her phone was unreachable. Young being diagnosed to have high level of jaundice and is hospitalised two days after being discharged, wifey staying in the hospital with him. Medical bills mounting up.

The arrival of mother and mother-in-law sure is a relief, especially on taking care of Hsiang. Hsiang is showing signs of insecurity and jealousy with the arrival of his younger brother. While I understand his feelings, the irony is that his misbehaviours and attention seeking are not endearing him to me but having the opposite effect. If only he could listen to me and behave himself and know that we love him just the same. I have to be more patience with him.

Will the society ever realise the need for a meaningful length of paternity leave? Will people think of the father please, not just the mother and baby in regards to birth.

I shaved my beard and moustache, for trimming them requires effort and time, and time is something I am rather lacking. Besides, I don't want to irritate the delicate skin of my baby Young when I kiss him. Forget it ladies, no amount of SK-II will give you the tenderness and softness of baby skin. My wifey didn't notice my lack of facial hair, I wasn't surprised.

I am tired. Really tired. But restless.

Number 2 has Landed

Tze Young decided to leave the comfort of his mama's womb 13 days early so he can boss his father around, like what his brother Tze Hsiang is doing.

Contraction started around 04:30 hours, became frequent around 06:30 hours, and labour was in full swing by the time we reached the hospital. On the dot 08:00 hours, 3.5 hours after the contraction started, dear wifey has, through much pain and effort, pushed the 49cm, 3.6kg Tze Young out through natural birth.

papa holding king number 2

Much as I wanted to, I wasn't in the labour room with my dear wifey, lending my hand to be crushed by her whenever she needed to push. The arrival of number 2 was so unexpectedly early, we had no one to look after His Royal Highness King Toddler Hsiang, so I had to hold on to the ever so energetic Hsiang outside the labour room throughout the whole episode. I felt guilty for not being there for my wifey.

behold! His Royal Highness King Baby Young

Thank goodness I wasn't at work, else I would never have made it since my wifey inform me two hours after the contraction has started. I am going to say my prayers and thanks to the higher beings before I hit the bed tonight, thanking them for the timing.

proud mama holding Hsiang holding Young

13 days early and still 3.6kg, I am guessing that if Young had been born on his due date instead of being early, he would be like the hefty 4.2kg Hsiang on birth. Good grief.

Hsiang gave his younger brother a kiss

So, as of 08:00 hours on 13th of October 2009, I am no longer a slave to a king, I am now slave to TWO kings! =)

my sincere thanks to all who sent in congratulations and well wishes through call, SMS, e-mail, et cetera.

Craving for McD

Before the move to ulu place, having lunch at McDonald's was an at least once per week occurance, sometimes more than once per week until we got sicked of McD and had to make ourselves break the once weekly routine.

After a month at ulu place, I was craving for McDonald's last weekend.

This is sad.

yea, ulu place hasn't even got a McD!

Wind of Change?

Positive things are happening to me. Good, for I have been shrouded in super-charged negativity.

Mr you-do-I-take-all-credits finally took onto himself to follow up on a job. I am genuinely surprised, hope it lasts and won't end up with the job falling on my plate again.

Have sufficient dedicated badminton players now that I no longer have to rely on those by-the-mood to show up, or to go around bugging people. Hope the dedication will last, and I hit jackpot everytime with those by-the-mood to be 'in the mood' whenever a dedicated player can't make it.

I managed to score right on the 100 points mark in bowling, I am no longer sub-100 standard. Even though it's probably just sheer dumb luck I am going to bask in the glory of personal victory.

Canon repaired and returned my digital camera without charge, I think it probably was a mistake since I told them not to repair it when they gave me the quotation. But I am not going to complain and if I ever found a sponsor or won the lottery, I would surely stick with Canon for my digital SLR. Yea, I will keep on dreaming since I have already pleaded for sponsor a long time ago and I don't buy lottery.

Perhaps, things are changing for the better. For me, at last.

Could this be true? Or is it just a facade to fool me into a false sense of contentment?