January Updates

THIS

can pay for our wedding expenses

can pay for an all expenses paid Europe trip + the bag I desire and maybe more

can pay for our renovations (all furnitures included)

can pay for the COE of our new ride!!

January has been fabulous and I am grateful for the blessings! We just secured our new ride last evening. It was a tough decision between owning a coupe for a honeymoon couple vs owning a 7-seater for family building. At this point in time, 11 months away from our wedding and any potential family building (with His blessings), we thought a 7-seater would have been great. But that means we will never be able to own a coupe until we are old and toothless and saggy, when the kids have grown up... how many times have u seen a chio car whiz past with the roof down only to see a balding old ah pek behind the wheels?! ;p N doesnt want to look like that. We are only youthful once! So YAY! to our FIRST (and perhaps the last) 2 door ride!

And anyway, a Honda Stream or a Toyota Wish is worth as much as a Continental Coupe, and MORE than a Continental 7-seater now. It isnt wise to get the Japanese 7-seater at the moment.

We also sold my 2-wheels ride in mid Jan.

This chio-ster fetched a whopping $480!! (down $20 from the $500 cos we wanted the lady to take a cab home. Riding alone through Mandai at 9pm isnt exactly very safe with the dark streets). Lucky we bite on to our base price and refused to let go to the many offers at $200-$250 only. O_o"

We also rendered half a day of help last weekend for an event organised by the Parkinson Disease Society of Singapore (PDSS) at TTSH. The disease is basically a brain disorder which affects smooth and coordinated functions of the muscles. Patients suffering from the disease have stiff facial expressions (sometimes they STARE, but they dont intentionally mean it), walks with a shuffle, have slow movement, have difficulty balancing and have muffled speech. 

Research is still ongoing on the prevention, diagnosis and cause of the disease. It is heartwarming to know that there are these dedicated people who care. 

I have always been the wimp with an uncontrollable tear duct. Maybe it is a cancerian trait. Seeing the toothless old man selling tissue laugh heartily makes my heart wrench. I knew I was in for a free-flow when I agreed to go help out. But seeing the zest for life some of them have, and the selfless love from their family members they got, I knew I was in no position to cry. Something held those tears back.

I guess I made the right choice by agreeing to go volunteer half a Saturday. It opens up an inner enlightenment towards life. And money cant buy such experience.

Later on that day, I kinda rescued a poor maltese at Sinaran Drive. It was wandering around by itself outside the private houses. Bearing in mind the JUST DO IT motto I have set for myself for 2011, we stopped the car and went down to check the doggie out. Carried him 3 houses down before a maid spotted the dog and hurriedly claimed him back. O_o" MAIDS. 

Booked my bridal package with SG Bridal. We haggled quite a bit and got a pretty good bargain for Package B but eventually decided to pay for Package A instead. Cos we do not need 2 albums with 15 pages and 31 different poses EACH. The practical decision made in the nick of time! Although it means having one less outdoor scene at the Kota Tinggi waterfall...The album's just gonna seat under the bed next time anyway, we had to be rational. Paid the deposit for my MUA and got a FURTHER discount too!!! MUA pushed down her price by $76 in order to round the figure to a rounded sum! Who rounds DOWN figures to the nearest hundred and by so much?!

Grabbed hold of a CNY imperial robe for my little prince.

Oh my. How handsome is he!

But he is TOO FAT! Cannot button! So I trimmed down his fur (for 2 hours) last Saturday and forego a morning ride from ECP to Changi. The sacrifices mummies make for their babies..But I accidentally cut his balls O_o""

He was enjoying every bit of the blow-drying process. He fell asleep... Z.Z" and seemingly forgot about the cut on his balls. HEH. We went car shopping after that to final confirm our choice...

Tissue cost $2 for 5 packets last week. Inflation? ;p

Today's the last day of January 2011! CNY's here in 2 days' time! Wishing all a fruitful, loved, and blessed CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

Tissue counter: 25 (18+2+5)

A lesson - Dont be apprehensive

Just paid $12 for these.

It is probably no big deal but I feel kinda relieved that I walked back to return the $ to the old man who was selling tissue at the bridge.  

Must have misheard something cos he said yi kuai san mao (S$1.30) while holding up the unopened tube of tissues. I dug out 2 $1 coins and told him to keep the change. It did appear a little weird to me, so I think I repeated the price twice to him and both times, he nodded.

So off I went, feeling all so good about it...until I realised that he must have said yi kuai san bao (S$1 for 3 packets). Brushed it off since I had already walked off halfway and was already nearing the office. And lunchtime was already overstretched. I will go back the next day.

But I was feeling bad. That $2 more could easily be his dinner money. So I texted N and I said a silent prayer. N urged me to go return the $ immediately. I told him I would go back the next day to return the $.  I told him the lunch crowd was over - "What if I go there and he has already left?" And halfway through our texts, it began to rain...so I got a little more apprehensive about going back - "It has already begun to rain. He should have left the bridge already..."

He pushed me a little and told me to JUST GO ahead, and if he is not there, at least I have tried. At least I have done SOMETHING.

I DID. I walked back. And when I reached, he had already packed up and was starting to walk away. I was just in time to pass him his deserved earnings.

Now I am glad I made that timely decision to walk back. Had I been another minute late, I might have missed him. And that $ might just make his day end better. :)

What about you? Have you ever experienced such aprehensions before? Do you always think about all sorts of possibilities which held you back on your actions? If you see an injured animal on the road, will you stop your car or think that maybe someone else will stop and help?

DON'T spend too much time pondering. JUST DO IT.  

I havent made any new year resolutions. But for this year, I resolve to buy tissues more consistently from people who deserve the help.

Tissue counter: 18