Mind the manhole(s)!

Ever since an acquaintance from a long time ago told me a story about how he has seen one too many unfortunate incident of people walking on what seemed like covered manholes, and then unexpectedly falling through them within seconds, I have developed a little paranoia around them.

There are plenty of such manholes here in Bangkok. And, don’t be surprised if you encounter severely damaged manholes within a 50-meter stretch in a single Bangkok soi.

Every day I see them, and every day, without fail, I will deliberately avoid them, preferring to walk around them, rather than on them. Even if they looked covered, in my mind, there is a chance that they might just give way. And I am consciously doing this, even when I am out of Bangkok.

Perhaps I have developed an unnatural fear for manholes over the years since I heard the story, and after seeing what I saw today, I am convinced that my fear is not unfounded.

Today, as I took my normal route to the office, I stumbled upon a crowd congregating almost in the middle of a road crossing. All traffic came to a standstill, and wondering what it might have been, I decided to be a kaypo and looked closer.

As I got closer to the scene, I instantly saw a woman clinging on to a guy, and from where I was, realized that I could only see her upper half torso. She did not look like she was in a comfortable position and her face looked scarily pale. At the same time, more people gathered around her and several people all around were pulling all sorts of equipment and devices (?) they could get their hands on to get the metal rung off from the sides (?). From the distance of where I was, I could see that her legs up to her knee seemed stuck in the shoddy-looking manhole grate.

There was even more crowd forming around her, and unfortunately, in the same breath, I did not think that there was anything I could do for her. Hence, rather than hinder the “rescue operation” and be a useless voyeur, I decided that I should walk away.

I did not want to take any photos. And deep in my heart, I hope the lady did not break any bones, and somehow, someone would be able to pry her off that heinous looking hole with whatever devices (?) they had, and really hoping that someone actually called for a professional help!

That was quite a scary sight, and surely, that calls for a certain bound to happen accident while walking on the streets of Bangkok. And, I happen to walk there. Every.single.friggin.day.

Looking for news on that later in the day, I chanced upon this article here written way back in 1998. The solution to dangerous manholes that can cause injury was quite classic – get officials to undertake manhole watch.

Whatever that means, I hope it did not mean what I think it meant…And what saddens me more about it is that precaution needed to be taken, because the Governor himself has fallen into it and sufferred some injuries himself. Right.

Looking on, I stumbled upon a posting on "12 sure-fire way to seriously injure yourself on a Bangkok sidewalk". That was written in 2009, and almost 3 years later, NOTHING has changed, and I think I know where some of those exact locations are.

And I remembered I did a rant on the commuting nightmare in Bangkok a while back…

Thailand, glorious, Thailand. You really blew my mind.

Shoes for Spud

Considering that Spud has only been running around with boyish-looking sandals since she first needed some form of footwear, I thought that a nice looking pair of girl’s shoe which is not-too-girly-looking would be appropriate for our trip back to Singapore for Hari Raya.

Not that Spud would know her pair of sandal looks boyish on her, or that I’d care if she looks more like a boy than a girl over a pair of mystery-gendered sandals (they were neutral!), but after stumbling upon several cute baby shoes in the departmental stores, I have to admit that I started to get the itch of getting Spud some cool looking shoes.

I so happen to find this pair of soft denim fabric shoe (the demin on the outer surface only), with light orange flowers on the sides. I thought it is quite cute, and most importantly, apart from it being soft and bendable, it is also not so girly.

Spud seems to like these shoes, and every so often, she will indicate her (strong) preference to wear this instead of her other pair of sandals.

I guess it would not be too long before her feet outgrow the shoes. And so, in a snap of a moment before we head out for the weekend, I fished out my trusted digital camera and still-framed the moments of Spud in her cute little shoes!

Funny how she thinks she can start doing some acrobatic stunts by placing her feet far apart from each other, and then started to bounce off the walls!

Building grit

I stumbled upon this article on “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” at random as I was doing some desk research for work.

It is a bloody lengthy article, all 9 pages of it and it took me more than 20 minutes to read every word and digest them all.

The content of the article resonates well with me, and I applaud the guy for introducing such curriculum to the education system. There is so much truth in what is being said that success and happiness may indeed depend less on perfect performance than on learning to deal with failure.

One particular sentence which jumped out to me is this:

“The struggle to pull yourself through a crisis, to come to terms to a deep level with you own shortcomings and to labour to overcome them – is exactly what is missing for many students at academically excellent school”.

Given how spoilt kids can be these days, this could not be further from the truth as their behavior reflects well into their work ethics (or the lack of it).

If there is such curriculum here in Asia, I will be one of the first to shove my child there to be a part of such education system.

In no uncertain terms, however, am I suggesting that the schools should be the one solely responsible for teaching our kids such values on behalf of the parents, but I do believe that such curriculum will further reinforce the values we live by, since we should already be instilling them at home.

After all, we all could do with the existence of better humans all around. There seem to be a lack of them these days.

I am not one who would glorify status, the privileged or the academically inclined arrogant twat, but I have a lot of respect for people who rough it out, get their hands dirty and go all out of their way to get things done. They are genuinely hungry, selfless and will do whatever it takes to succeed without kissing asses or sleeping around or trample other beneath their feet on their way up the ladder, and really do KNOW what hard work really is to get to where they are in life. They are not evil, but honest.

One thing for sure, to be able to handle all the rough things which life throws at you and emerged (somewhat) unscathed when you don’t have a safety net, one really does need to be “hungry” and have some grit in life.

I believe in tough love leashed out within reasons when the need arises. Sure, I may bitch, whinge and moan sometimes when the going gets tough, but truly, I am a firm believer of whatever does not kill you, makes you stronger.

OK. So I have babbled. Going back to the article, I thought it is something worth sharing.

Just a word of caution: Make sure you have at least 20 extra minutes to spare if you want an uninterrupted read!

Perspective of a cat...

This was tagged to me courtesy of Vicvanvinkle and cracked me up a little. Unfortnately, I believe there is a lot of truth in it...

Darn cats. ( But I still love them anyway!)

Have I ever mentioned that I am a slave to my cats?

Like father, like daughter

Hahahahah!

Okay. 'nuff said. :)

Beef Noodle Soup

Feeling very soupy and noodley over last weekend, I decided to whip up some humble home-made beef noodle soup. It is simple, it is hearty and a good brew of soup is always good for the soul!

Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

• A slab of beef – sliced into pieces
• Some noodles (yellow Chinese noodles or vermicelli)
• 1 carrots – sliced
• 1 tbsp. of butter
• 2 cubes of non-MSG beef stock cube
• 3 clovers
• 1 piece star anise
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• Salt & pepper to taste

Spice Paste:

• 3 onions - quartered
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 inches of ginger – peeled and sliced
• 2 tspn coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds

Other ingredients (Garnish)

• Boiled eggs – cut into wedges
• Bean sprouts
• 1 stalk of spring onion and coriander (chopped)
• Fried shallots

 

Method:

1. Blend all spice paste together and set aside
2. Boil the beef till tender and once done, drain the beef and set aside the leftover stock for later use
3. Heat up the pot, and when hot enough, put in the butter into the pan
4. Stir for a few seconds and add in the dry spices (cinnamon, cloves, star anise) till fragrant.
5. Add the blended spice paste and stir together till slightly golden.
6. Then add the boiled beef, some water, add the leftover beef stock from boiling the beef and the 2 cubes of beef stock together. Stir and simmer under low heat.
7. Lastly, add in the carrot, salt and pepper to taste.
8. Simmer for a few hours for maximum taste

To prepare for meal:
Blanch beansprouts, pre-soaked vermicelli /yellow noodles, macaroni in boiling water and transfer them into a bowl once they are cooked. Add in toppings of hard-boiled eggs, chopped spring onions and pour the hot beef broth into the bowl.

 

And don’t forget to add a generous dose of of chili to your noodles for maximum satisfaction.

 

Enjoy!

Mommy feet

My feet has grown.

By more than 1.5x shoe-sizes than I care to admit.

All of this since my pregnancy more than a year ago...

And I had thought that somehow, after more than a year later, I would somehow be able to wear my old shoes still. I was not looking forward to shop for shoes and I had thought (and really hoped!) that my feet would have shrunk again to its original size by now.

I tried on one of my old pair of platform shoes I used to wear before I got pregnant. And then try the other few more platform shoes I owned. My feet looked traumatised. And it makes me sad.

By now,  I cannot fit into most, if not all of them. I practically had to throw away at least 4 pairs of shoes by now; the very ones I used to use for work which I bought before I got pregnant. (I don't own that very many pair of shoes as compared to most of my female friends!)

Most of which were platform shoes...one of the very few styles I really like and, without verging on ugly platforms, are one of the very few types of shoes that are very hard to find these days.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

And my feet is at least 2 sizes bigger now.

If you know me in person, you know that I am quite petite. Not slim (I wish!), but as compared to my husband, I am puny. With a very big feet. How bizarre is that?

As I found out, the changes to the size of me feet after birth is permanent...

Crap.

Yep. I'm going to be that puny lady with very big feet.

Which, on the hindsight is okay, really. I'll look funny, but still OK.

The thing is, I'm actually more annoyed at the fact that I need to go looking for decent shoes and anything that is above size 39 (or 8.5) will be quite a feat to get in this country. Which means that I'll probably be destined to only buy fugly shoes!

CRAP.

Friday Date: Linkin Park

Friday evening was mayhem.

It started drizzling and because of that, the journey home from the office took me almost an hour; and this was despite leaving the office earlier that day. And, after putting Spud to bed, another half an hour lost just waiting for a cab, and to top it all, it took me almost 2 hours to travel in that cab before I finally arrived at my intended destination. Without having a proper dinner.

Traffic was crawling, it was pissing rain and I was losing my patience at the sheer rush and madness it took me to meet up with Silver Bullet at the venue because of this one event:

And it was an outdoor event.

And it was raining.

And we were cold and wet, and standing around with ponchos for a Linkin Park Concert.

And by the time Linkin Park started their performance, it was way past out bedtime!

I had gone to a Linkin Park concert once in Singapore when they first played there years ago. I remembered that it was one which was short (about an hour) but full of energy. I remembered being dazzled by Chester’s extremely high energy level and his powerful vocal. I remembered loving the concert and was actually quite disappointed when it ended rather abruptly. I remembered walking out of Padang (venue where they held the concert) in a daze of amazement wondering where the hell he got such massive energy. (I think I have an idea now!)

Last night’s concert was, in my opinion, just average. It was nice to hear them live again, but I did not see the same energy in the very same songs which they had performed before. In fact, I thought they were pretty mellow. It was, all in all, just okay, and perhaps even a little over-priced.

I did not leave the concert with the same buzz I had with Muse or Green Day. Or even Michael Buble (Yes! dig Michael Buble.). It was, in my mind, a quite easily forgotten act.

But it was still a nice event to go to on a Friday night. It felt like a long overdue date with the husband.

We were in a nicely large outdoor, free-standing venue. It was pissing rain. We were draped in a 50 baht ponchos and by the end of the night, we both got really sticky, wet and smelly from the rain. A very agreeable atmosphere and fashion sense to get caught on a date! 

As soon as it ended, all we wanted to do was get home quick, have a warm shower and go to bed. Like I said, it was way past our bedtime and it is no longer normal for us to be out at such ungodly hours of the night.

That was about as romantic as we both could get. I have to say though, we still had a very nice time together; being smelly and all! And with a very sore feet to boot from standing for hours on end, despite wearing flat shoes.

(And I digress here: I saw so many females in HEELS and STILETTOS! Linkin Park. Heels and Stilettos....hmmmmmm. Seriously?It was a friggin concert; LINKIN PARK -  not a fashion show, not Kylie Minogue or Madonna. And no chairs around. Free friggin standing. Raining.Are.You.Crazy?)

Admittedly, we cursed ourselves the next morning as we woke up tired from the short night we had when our organic alarm clock started to squeal before 7 am to let us know that she is ready for another day…

We saw parents bringing their 6 or 7 year old kids to the concerts, and there was this one kid having a blast sitting on his/her father's shoulder the entire time.  Screaming, jumping, grooving with "Rocker" hand sign and all! It was an endearing sight, and for some reason the thought of being able to bring Spud along 10 years from now is an appealing thought. Something both Silver Bullet and I are actually looking forward to!

And when she gets to that age, we certainly are looking forward to us being able to sleep in again.

Nostalgia in fish crackers

As a kid, I love those balls of fish crackers. I used to buy packets of them after school, and I will usually eat them by dipping each ball in chili sauce after dinner.

I am not sure if you know what I’m talking about. But they are actually some kind of keropok (crackers), and instead of those flat keropoks, these are round and hard. And they used to be so darn cheap. Like a dollar for a big bag or something like that. They are probably so outdated that I think if I were to open my mouth and ask for them, I would probably be laughed at,

That was so so long ago, and by now, those balls fish crackers are quite hard to come by. In fact, I am guilty of having forgotten about them given that I have not seen them in almost a decade.

Until I saw them at the Singapore Airport recently, and the moment I saw them, those old memories came rushing back. I thought it was a rare find, and Bengawan Solo was selling each pack at 10 bucks. Ten.Frigging.Bucks for some cheapo fish-ball crackers!

But I guess, nostalgia got the better of me, and I remember how much I used to love them. Hence, in the name of preserving some fond memories of food, I decided to suck it up and bring back a couple of packets home. (Very much to the chagrin of Silver Bullet who does not want to have anything to do with fishy stuff.)

The taste of the first few balls felt so right…and almost instantly brought me back to my childhood memories of me and my fish keropoks eaten after lunch or dinner or just as snacks. A past-time, more often than not, joined by my family members – cats included.

To date, I have finished half of the pack and transferred the other half into an air-tight container. I’ve got no competition in this area, so a few balls a day does it for me.

I wonder how much longer it would take before I devour all of them at one sitting!

Quote of the day

"Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon"

-Dalai Lama-

It somehow sounds so therapeutic to me.

And again, another one of those cool sounding and loaded shit I could not have possibly come up with myself...

Lensless rims

This has got to be one of the weirdest and most unfortunate error in fashion etiquette to ever hit the streets recently:

Image from Google Images

When Silver Bullet first mentioned it to me a few weeks ago on a certain person at the BTS ticketing counter sporting those big-ass but empty frames, I thought he was crazy. Well, because I did not see it then, he thought HE was crazy. 

In the subsequent days and weeks later, we spotted a few more people on the streets wearing those empty frames like it was the coolest thing ever.

We thought people had gone crazy.

Then today, when I went out for lunch, I spotted another office girl wearing the same darn thing.

Now I'm convinced that these people are really crazy!

Here I am, thinking and contemplating on lasik so I will not have to wear glasses for the rest of my life, and there are people crazy enough  to want to willingly wear glasses when they DO NOT need one.

After seeing too way two too many people wearing empty spectacle rims today (plus a few more we saw on weekends!), I now have this sudden urge to go poke their eyes!

I don't think I have a bad fashion sense, but this, to me is just a case of fashion faux pas. Bizarre!

Or perhaps, I should just give them due credits for being so brave to pull such a stunt. (Still baffles me as to why they do it, because it makes them look so bloody ridiculous!)

So, if you are one of those sporting those ridiculous bigger than your face pair of spectacles with no lens on, beware. I just might go up to you and poke your eyes with my two little fingers!

Braving Chatuchak

Last Sunday, we got a little braver than usual and decided to take a trip to Chatuchak Market with Spud in tow; our very first trip ever since before Spud’s arrival more than 14 months ago!

For a long time since Spud’s arrival, we have avoided going to Chatuchak market simply because it is not a place for a cranky and unpredictable child, like Spud. Chatuchak can be such a crazy place. It can get quite chaotic and overbearingly hot, and I applaud parents who are willing to brave it out at Chatuchak while totting their barely walking babies without batting an eyelid.

The last time we set foot at Chatuchak, I was heavily pregnant and was having massive craving for the best  chicken rice in town. That really was my last trip there, and you have NO IDEA how much I have missed that chicken rice.

It has been too long.

While it was an impromptu decision to haul our ass all the way to there, it was also more of an overdue errand trip. Within 2 hours, we managed to:

• Buy 4 packets of chicken rice to be tapao-ed home. (We did not want to risk having a sit-down meal.)
• Sauntered over to Montra Sense to stock up on our favourite diffuser
• Shopped for a few pots of orchids for our balcony.

We started early (9 am!) and that worked in our favour since the market tends to be less busy as most shops were still about to set up. Having Spud also prevented us from dilly-dallying, as we both were very conscious of the fact that the little imp could act up any time!

Honestly though, I would not have minded browsing a little bit more on other sections, but the weather was too hot, and the humidity was taking a toll on me. All I wanted to do was just crash somewhere with the air-conditioner on full blast!

It was efficient shopping – we got what we need, and we did it within a reasonable span of time. Spud even fell asleep for half an hour as I was carrying her in the wrap! (Spud woke up just when we got into the cab, and refused to take another nap for the rest of the day!)

As soon as we got home, Silver Bullet promptly hung all the flower pots we bought. As I said before, don't  count on me to nurture it, for I will more likely kill it.

The big orchids are hybrids and I have no idea what kind of species they are. But, I do love the colours, and they do spruce up our balcony a bit.
I LIKE !

Quote of the Day

I came across this little quote as I was researching on something today,

"Toddlers are little persons with big needs"

Indeed, I'd say. Indeed.

Now, why can't I come out with shit like that!

Billion Beef

If you are a meat lover and constantly crave for a good bowl of authentic noodles with marbled beef (yes, those heinous, white slabs of fats in between the meat), but prefer not to get doused in the heat by the roadside stalls, you might find great pleasure at this small eatery.

Called Billion Beef, it is located on the 5th floor of Emporium Shopping mall, serving premium marbled beef noodle as well as selections of famous Thai food.

So far, the service has been nothing but excellent. I really like the funky-looking chairs; cow-print with a tail and all to complete the look!

Be warned though: the prices are a little bit on the steep side as compared to the ones you can find on the roadsides.

Billion Beef does serve-up a good bowl of healthy, yummilicious noodle soup; only a little bit more of a hi-so version than those you would find on the street-sides.

Kids' mimicry

I stumbled upon this ad again recently since I last saw it a couple of years ago. This time, it formed a very profound impression on me...not that it didn't then, but I felt and resonate with it so much more now.

It reminds me how real kids' mimicry can be...and everything, good or bad, starts right here in our own homes.

What we say, act, do certainly make a dent as to how the kids are raised; and I hope we can be a good role model to raise Spud well.

Bergedil mush

It could easily be more than a year ago since I last made some bergedils. So long ago that I cannot even remember when!

I still remember the taste though. And if done well, bergedils can be quite addictive, too.

So, anyhow, I started thinking about bergedils again in the last few days, and decided to make them. This time, I did it over 2 evenings after work instead of all at one go as I used to do because of time constraints:

• First evening: steam the tater, mash them up, and prep up the beef, onions etc. Set aside in the fridge
• Second evening: I actually forgot about them for one night and only mixed them together and roll them up into flat balls the day after. I then set them aside again, freezing some , intending to only fry the rest for only when they needed to be served.

As it turned out, my first batch of deep fried bergedils became a complete mush; saved for just one decent looking and unbroken ball of bergedil. The rest looked so pathetic, and I guess I am out of practice!

Needless to say, I am quite disappointed at how it turned out. I’m not sure what went wrong, but my guess is that I probably should not have steam the taters, and actually, steaming them when making bergedil is something I have not done before. I did it this time out of sheer laziness and wanting to save time.

Oh well. I guess I just have to try making them again.

I have to say that they all looked quite appalling but at least, according to Silver Bullet, they certainly are good enough to be eaten. As he put it, “There is always something about beef, taters, eggs and deep fried, and they usually taste good”.

I am glad he enjoyed the mush, leaving me with the one lone almost perfect bergedil as he ate the pile of moosh around that 1 piece of unbroken bergedil at the end of the meal.

Ahhh….my husband, the sweetheart. He has so much faith in me.

(I'm still annoyed at myself for how it turned out! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....)

Siam Ocean World

The last time we went to Siam Ocean World was the time when my parents came over for a visit just a few months ago in July.

Since then, we thought that visiting Siam Ocean World over the weekend is actually quite a good way to idle away time. Not only do we get to kill time by keeping Spud busy, we also think that it is a good way to spend some quality family time. If anything at all, the visit there is necessary to prevent both Silver Bullet and me going insane cooping ourselves up at home over the weekend to entertain a hyper kid that just will not sit still!

With such sentiments in mind, we decided to purchase an annual pass which allow us unlimited entry to Siam Ocean World. For 1360 baht per adult, it makes the initial investment almost worth it especially if (and when) we do visit the place every other month as compared to just a single entry deal.

So we visited Siam Ocean World again last weekend with our first ever entry using our annual passes. Despite seeing the same exhibits all over again, it was still a fun trip for us; mainly because we get to witness Spud’s development first hand when we compared her milestones from our previous visits.

This time round, she has shown some signs of distressed each time I brought her near to the giant crabs. They were HUGE, and I think she may have felt uneasy watching their big claws going everywhere!

Apart from that, she took to her surroundings like a champ, and mostly intrigued by things she found on the floor. It is actually quite fun to see her running around, and trying to engage the people around her. If there is one type of aquatic creature she seemed to take some form of interest to, I think it has to be the penguins.She spent quite a bit of time at this one exhibit, and for some reason, she can’t seem to be able to peel herself off from the penguins’ exhibits; and by doing so, inevitably pissed off other kids who had wanted to take pictures with the fake penguins.

I love the candid shots of her and the penguins though. Such innocence!

We have begun to feel some affinity to Siam Ocean World, and really, we do see ourselves frequenting the place quite regularly. If not for the exhibits which tend to stay the same each time we are there, then it is just something to keep ourselves occupied to save our sanity.

I swear if Bangkok has a zoo that is anything like Singapore, we will be getting an annual pass for it too!Really not a bad idea to be spending a weekend, I'd say.

Say NO to sharks' fins

Say what you will about sharks' fin being a status symbol, but I have, for years and years boycotted the consumption of sharks' fin soup. I don't care how expensive it is, or how much more status anyone can get by serving sharks' fin soup, and I still will stand by my decision not to ever consume it.

This video here seconds by sentiments about not eating sharks' fin, and I applaud  Ramsey's spearheading this project, even getting buy-ins from Chinese restaurant owners not to serve the dish.



I feel the sickness in my stomach as I watched how brutal those sharks are killed, and being thrown back into the sea to drown, unable to fend for themselves.(Don't give me grief about cows, and chickens suffering the same fate, because, as far as I am concerned, those animals are bred to be consumed, and are not endangered species)Watch this video here if you have 14:48 minutes to spare.

I hope we all can do the right thing - protect the sharks, and stop glorifying sharks' fins as status symbol.

Leave-behinds

As I was closing the door behind me after I climbed into the back seat of a taxi the other day, I cringed in utter repulsion upon realizing that I had inevitably landed my hand onto something that should not have been left there in the first place.

What looked like innocent leftover rubbish left on the side door of the cab was actually a piece of scrunched up tissue paper covered in what looked like blood.

A piece of tissue paper, smeared with gobs of blood. It was appalling. (And I had my hand accidentally wrapped around it as I was pulling on to the sides to close the door. Ewwwwwwwwwww!)

Not only it was clearly unhygienic, it is also common knowledge that rubbish do not belong there, and that a responsible commuter should not just leave their trash behind.People can really be so irresponsible and inconsiderate sometimes.

Needless to say, I was cursing and swearing at whoever that person who left their trash behind for me to find.

Smiley faces

Fudge, despite being quite the loud mouth, is probably our only cat that allows human to do anything to her. We can disturb her, we can tease her and we can annoy the crap out of her, but she tolerates it all. She can take quite a bit, and when she has had enough, she will definitely walk away; but only to come back in a matter of minutes before it starts all over again.

She is a sweet cat, Fudge, and most of all, tolerates Spud's antics. She is the only cat that is willing to sit next to Spud or being sat on by Spud.

Fudge is such a sweetheart, and Fudge being Fudge, did not even flinch for at least 2 minutes when I put a smiley toy on her head. I thought it made quite a funny image. And then, Spud came along and decided to pa Fudge and play with her....

No animals were hurt during this photo shoot, but I bet Spud had a blast while she tries to make sense of things.

13 Months

This has been one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a long time, and as I am writing this, I am still nursing a cold (thanks to Spud’s slobbering all over me last week when she caught the bug in Singapore) and boy! am I glad that it is Friday!

It has been a crazy-busy period in the office that I ended up doing more than a 12 hour day work week for almost the entire week. So busy that I could not get home in time for a few days consecutively to put Spud to bed as I always do because I just could not get away from work. It was certainly a crisis week, and with so much insanity going on, I have been guilty for overlooking the fact that Spud has turned 13 months just last Wednesday.

I have not seen very much of Spud this week, and when I finally was able to come home in time before she went to bed last night, I realized that I missed her quite a bit. I miss the little tricks she pulls whenever she sees me the moment I walk in the door and I miss putting her to bed as well as being the last person she sees every day to say good night to.

My little girl is growing up.

Right before my eyes, I see this confidently curious, little tot walking and running like a champ all over the place. She seems to be able to use “Mama” and “Papa” in context, and apart from that, still babbles a lot in a language we still cannot understand.

She is into a point out to everything mode, and when she does not get what she wants, she WHINES. And she whines, and whines and whines. And she whines because she can.

Spud’s also in a “let’s put everything in my mouth” mode. And, I.mean.everything, Everything except, of course, the occasional food which her mama and papa are trying to feed.

She scared the crap out of me yesterday evening with that put-everything-in-mouth-thing.

While dressing her up, I would usually give her something to distract her just so that she will lie flat for a few minutes while I put on her nappy and her pajamas. My weapon of choice yesterday happened to be an empty plastic bottle of mineral water with a screw cap. When I was done with her, I lifted her and placed her standing on the floor as usual while she held on to the bottle in her hand, not wanting to let go just yet. At this stage, I would usually turn away from Spud, and finished off the evening shower ritual by clearing the area and pulling out her nappy and clothes for tomorrow. This will usually not take me more than 10 seconds and since Spud can already walk, I will usually let her run loose.

Last evening, after walking a few steps, Spud decided that she would rather sit on the floor and figure out what she could do with the bottle and the screw-cap which was left unscrewed. She seemed fascinated with screwing and unscrewing the cap to the bottle that I did not think of anything beyond that, thinking that screwing and unscrewing the cap to the bottle would probably occupy her for another minute while I did what I had to do within the usual 10-seconds time-frame, while still keeping a close watch on her.

It so happened that the very moment I turned around, I heard her gag. A gag so scary-sounding, that I immediately dropped everything and discovered that she had managed to shove the plastic bottle cap into her mouth. The bottle cap was lodged inside her mouth and as she tried to swallow it, she gagged harder and her eyes were all red from all the reflex of gagging so hard. The bottle cap was also as big as her mouth, and I reckon, any smaller than that I would probably be attending to a choking emergency!

Still, it was enough to frighten the living daylight out of me, and thankfully, I managed to pull it out of her tiny little mouth swiftly. Spud did not cry, and when I held her gaze and told her firmly that she should not put the cap in the mouth again, I seem, to sense that she may have just understood me. (I think not, but who knows!) She gave the cap-less bottle back to me and looked at me intently as if to get a cue as to how she should react. I was quite shaken to be honest, but put on a brave front and continue to distract her with other things.

While Spud soon forgot about it, running around as if nothing had happened, I on the other hand was literally shaking. I felt my knees buckled, my voice trembled and my heart racing a million miles!

The advice of “Never leave a baby alone with small objects around– not even for a second” holds so true.

I am an idiot, and I should have known better. To a certain extent, being paranoid is not a bad thing; especially not in this case.

And no, she should not be playing with a clothes hanger as well.

Booster seat

One of the best tips we stumbled upon when Spud was still a baby was the discovery of a baby booster seat. It is not just any other ordinary booster seat, but one that is On-the-Go Self Inflating Baby Booster Seat from The First Year.


When we first saw it being whipped out from one of my parent-friend who has a toddler in tow then, Spud could barely sit up;  but we thought that it was a good idea to get the seat for when she will be able to sit unaided.
 
We still think it was one of our best buys now since we hardly go anywhere without it. It has the necessary safety  (but basic!) features and fits to any high-backed chair while placing Spud just at the right height to eat at the table with us when we have our meals outside of home. 
 
It is also quite handy as all we have to do is unzip it, wait for the booster cushion to inflate, fix it on a chair and voila! we have a booster for the little tot.
 
While it can be a little cumbersome to be carried around (I'm a  lazy-fart, so anything extra to carry is a chore for me!), I find that it is especially useful to bring along; especially if we somehow ended up in places where high chairs are not being provided when we want to have our meals.
 
Funny how these days, without the booster seat, we tend to place great emphasis on restaurants/eateries that provide high-chairs, without which, we will likely not be patronising them.

Quote of the day

A wise saying captured on the wall from one of the exhibits at the Singapore Zoo.

Boring polling

It just so happened that we booked our flight back to Singapore on the day of the Presidential Election. And since my name has been re-instated back into the system since I missed the last general election, I had to go to the nearest polling station to vote for a new president the moment I got to my parent’s place.

Talk about priorities. I literally had to drop everything the moment we got home to go vote, because it was only a couple of hours away before they closed the polling station that day.

It must have been more than 15 years ago since I voted, and to be honest, there is nothing to be excited about. The whole thing is as boring as the look on this polling card which has been given to every eligible voters in the country.

Having said that, 15 years ago or now, I am not sure if my vote makes a difference then and now… because the person who is now the President of Singapore is not the person I voted for.

Apparently, 65% of Singaporeans also did not vote of this person who is now the President of Singapore. That means, majority of Singaporeans do not want this person. Period.

If that is not delusional, I don’t what is.

Sad story.

Spud's 1st Hari Raya

There must be something about being high up in the air, because it seems that every time we got on a plane, Spud almost immediately started to show some signs of teething! I don’t know what it is with high altitude, but our visit to Singapore last week seemed to have triggered her teething again when we got to Singapore, and then again when we returned to Bangkok.

I reckon that it will be awhile more before more teeth start to show up (she is still with four since her first teething spree about 4 months ago), but the signs – excessive drooling, sensitive gums, not eating well and unexplainable ultra-crankiness are definitely there!

So, yes! I have been off the blog for about a week now because we went back to Singapore to be with my family over Hari Raya. It was Spud’s first Hari Raya, and I could not help but dress her up in the traditional garb in light of the festivities.

Fortunately for us, apart from her teething, she took to the flight quite well this time and did not give us a lot of grief. While she could not keep still for most of the time, Spud surprised us by actually falling asleep as the plane took off!

We were mostly busy throughout the entire trip going here and there and everywhere, and as long as she was not strapped in the car seat for too long or had woken up at the wrong side of the bed, Spud has been quite a pleasant company.

Despite being in a strange place, Spud’s bedtime routine remained unchanged. In fact, I am most thankful that when it was time for her bedtime, she usually seems quite happy to be put to her cot and left to her own devices before she falls asleep. She would usually get cranky if we try to stretch her bedtime to later. When we inevitably delayed her bedtime by about an hour on one of the days as we were on the road, she ended up having a very restless night.

I guess, Spud being a chronic cat-napper in the day is not a bad thing at all if it means that we can put her to bed by 7pm every night for a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

All in all, while we were mostly shattered, it was not a bad trip this time round. I guess it does get easier as Spud gets older. The bonus was that Spud managed to spend some time with her grandparents, and as the days progressed, she took to them quite easily.

My only regret is not being able to "tapao" all the Hari Raya goodies back to Bangkok this time round as we were verging on excess baggage!