... Still my favorite song.
Daybreak
And the moon’s still floating high
What a wonderful surprise
I close my eyes
And dream of you
I’m dreaming at daybreak
And the world’s so far behind
That’s why i always find at daybreak
I’m still dreaming of you
You’re from above
My one and only love
There’s no other
At daybreak
All i want is you forever
That’s why it’s true whenever daybreaks
I’m still dreaming of you
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.– Barack Obama
That was precisely what I, with many others in the world, feel America needs most at this time. These were the words spoken by Obama on Super Tuesday back in July, two months before the banking crisis. It was appropriate for the year when we witnessed many bubble bursts, signifying a warning sign the need for changes not just to U.S., but also to the rest of the world. Many old systems, like the deregulated financial/banking system, are in great need of reform. Hopefully some of the partial governmental interventions on the U.S. financial industry will somehow help to curb the crazy speculations in the markets.
Other than the reform on financial system, Obama made many promises that won him the Presidential Election, among which include the Medicare drug benefit program and environmental-friendly energy plans. There is even a $150 billion proposal over 10 years to speed the development of plug-in hybrid cars and “commercial-scale” renewables, such as wind and solar. Let’s see how these promises fall through. With the globally broadcasted American meda and the development of hybrid vehicles by major U.S. automobile manufacturers will help advocate a giant step forward of these hybrid vehicles to the world.
To be honest, I’ve not started thinking of a name for the baby. Aitim is just a temporary unisex name before we know the sex. We wanted a name that will be easy for both Singaporean and Thai environment. I thought a Thai name will be unique but the trend among young Thai families these days is to adopt Japanese sounding names that has absolutely no meaning.
Becky has voted for the name ‘Ginger’... and when coupled with the family name, it’d be a cute english translation of ‘teh halia’. That’s cute, sis… but I’d want to avoid the kid being teased in the original Malayu version.
Chinese name aside (I’d let my dad choose a good chinese name to go with the ancestral generation poem), my thought will be something long yet can be shorten as a nickname for our Thai relatives too. Let me put on my thinking cap for a bit and update when I think of some. 
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Oh yeah… I picked up my new Oakley on Monday. I love the sleek matte black surface and the neo-classic look. Annie said it looks so emo. What do you think?
If life can be captured in a form of media, my life now is like a badly taken photo…
This 4D scan was taken in Bangkok. We made a short trip to visit Sunsun’s mom, who was hospitalized for a heart complication and lung infection. She’s better now and ready to head home.
“Greed is such an effective killer” was my first thought when I first read the news. I could not believe anyone could actually add a toxic chemical into milk, the first and primary food source of infants and young children, for profits. Albeit accusations on the corporations involved in this scandal, I would put the blame only on greed, of either the farmer or the trader who sold the milk to Sanlu… whoever was responsible of adding the melamine in the first place.
There’s no excuse for doing such a thing. The only appropriate punishment for these unethical creeps is a taste of their own poison.
I made a heritage trip back to my ancestral hometown in Chaozhou (潮州) with Dad last week. After the quarterly meeting with our Hong Kong customer, I met up with Dad in Shenzhen before driving up together to Shantou (汕头), which is close to Chaozhou, to meet a former business associate. Since we were close to Grandpa’s hometown at Liyang (礼阳) and I’d never actually been there, we decided to drive up for a visit.
Liyang is split into two parts, one Zheng village (郑村) and the other Li village (李村). Of the Zheng village, our remaining relatives is an 87-year-old lady (wife of Dad’s late cousin), with her three generations of Zheng descendents. We call her “Lao Kim”
Lao Kim
The highlight of the trip is not meeting our long distant relatives, but to see the house that Grandpa and Grandma lived and preserved exactly the way they left it when they moved to Singapore in the 1930s.
As were most villagers in their time, Grandpa and Grandma were poor and lived in a house shared with several other households. Their own living quarter was no bigger than a HDB bedroom we see in Singapore today.
Believe it or not, most of Grandpa and Grandma’s furniture are still around, even the bed they slept on. Though covered with dust, they are considerably well preserved for over 7 decades.
Around the old house, the villagers today still live a very rural lifestyle. Though most of the other houses have been torn down and rebuilt, much of the layout of the narrow village street have changed very little.
Grandma, Grandpa and my great-grandparents
Some of Grandpa’s calligraphy works
When my work-life balance went haywire last year, so did my physical well-being. Prolonged spending of long hours at work made it hard for me to spare time for gym or any form of exercising. My IPPT results took a downslide, which was why I had to return for RT.
(For those who aren’t familiar with the abbreviations, IPPT stands for “Individual Physical Proficiency Test” and is an annual standard physical fitness test to gauge the basic physical fitness of an individual. It is compulsory for all able Singapore males. RT is the “Remedial Training” for those who did not manage to pass the IPPT for the year.)
So I started changing my lifestyle a little in March. I joined the gym, planned some cardio and weight training and watched my diet. I aimed to lower my BMI and build some strength. I targeted to pass the next IPPT.
After 6 months, it’s finally pays off!
I just took IPPT on Tuesday for RT Phase 1 and I passed. Not only did I clear everything, including the 2.4km run, I actually made it for a silver award!!! That’s $200 monetary award! YAY!!!
The real reward for me was not the silver award or the money, but the achievement for the efforts I have put in. It’s a good feeling when you see your hard work and perseverance pay off.
Coming up next (perhaps)... 1/2 marathons!
It’s another year and another birthday celebration for our youngest sister, Annie. This year, the venue is at Picotin @ Turf City.
It was a little hard to perceive the fact that the little infant I once carried is now a young lady. Nevertheless, it’s still too young for (too much) alcohol, young lady 
It’s just ‘another birthday celebration’. What’s so special about this? Frankly, it’s nothing but it’s also everything. Most blogs feature only the craziest birthday bashes where friends get drunk and dirty laundry gets exposed. This birthday bash is nothing as superficial. It marks an important moment in Annie’s experience of growing up and how we have come to witness it so far…
... and another wonderful feast 
Happy Birthday, Lil’s Sis!
