桃李

中午与母亲到邻里的熟食中心用午餐。母亲昔日工作的幼儿园也在附近，常会碰到熟人。舅舅也在这里的市场营业。果然，母亲碰到了一位曾教过的学生，唯信。现已就读中学，是学校的学长，谈吐自信。身为老师，相信母亲一定感到欣慰。

1st Ride Home

Ling woke up this morning feeling stressed as it's her practical driving test... Dropped her off at the AMK driving centre on my way to work... I waited anxiously at office for time to pass and for Ling to update me on her results...

9:45am, my phone rang... Ling proudly annouced that she had passed her practical driving test. Very happy that she was able to pass on her 1st attempt and it also spelt the end of my trip to AMK driving centre and prata night snacks. Reminded her to bring the "P" plate to office so that she could drive the car home in the evening.

After a quick dinner at Funan, I drove off to AMK to swap driver... a route which Ling knew very well... reached and I got out of the drivers seat and officially handed the car to Ling... carried out the adjustment of the seat and mirrors and off we went...

I would describe the short drive from Upper Thomson road, SLE to Woodlands as enjoyable... me became a diving mentor instantly and enjoying it, then realised how stressful driving instructors are with their students on the road...

Stop by parents house to drop off some snacks, courtesy of Ling for passing her driving test... decided that she should continue with the drive up the car park and park the car. Gave Ling a short brief on how to use the car windows to vertical park... off we go again :)

Round and round the multi-storey car park... all the way to level 4B... very stressful for Ling to drive an unfamiliar car and with a car trailing behind... not forgetting a very vocal mentor beside her :p

Finally reached level 4B where there're ample lots for Ling to do her 1st vertical parking without pole... slowly she reversed the car into the lot, and well it was a very good one for a 1st timer!

Mum said that she's looking forward to Ling driving her this weekend :) Thanks Mum for the support and belief of Ling's drving skills.

So much for now, will asked Ling to update on her personl experience. tata

Ben back from Hongkong

We were at the airport to pick up Ben and Ling who travelled to HK for a quick getaway over the long weekend.

Having time to kill, we wasted no time in taking photos!

Ben and Ling came back with two trolley full of luggage, gifts and goodies. Yup, nothing beats a good bout of shopping for relaxation.

Snowy showered and new look

Snowy is on holiday and staying at parents place because Snowy's 'parents' are in Hongkong for their holiday. As part of the package, Snowy was sent to the groomer's and came out adorned like a princess. This is not free though. Mum mentioned cost recovery!

Juicing tips

Now that more people are using masticating juicers, I thought to share some experience here:

1) Citrus fruits like grapefruits and oranges are difficult to juice. One way is to juice in small quantities or intersperse the juicing with harder fruits like carrots.

2) Carrots and lime are very good for forcing the pulp out when the fruit is stuck and simply siwrling around.

3) Apples are very good for juicing. But remember to remove the seeds. According to some websites, they contain trace amounts of cyanide.

I am still happily juicing since Dec 08. So, folks out there with masticating juicer, keep up the healthy living.

Photos of Mum's Shanghai Trip

Mum took 625mb of photos. That is a little too much to display so this is just a small sample of the more official photos.

Passing of my father-in-law

Am currently in Jakarta attending the wake. The passing on was swift and we hope that whatever suffering he had in his last days have been brief. The funeral will be on next Monday.

2nd juicer

I just got my 2nd masticating single gear juicer to replace the first one. The gear of the first was damaged by some rough use -- squashing some tough fibrous fruits time after time.

I recall I bought my 1st juicer in December so it is a good three months of continous daily use, at least twice a day. This is one of the few toys I bought which was truly useful and value for money.

Mum's YAH trip to Shanghai

Yes, mum's going places with YAH, and this time it is to Shanghai. It fact, she has gone and came back. Will leave her to post her travel photos.

I am happy that she has found her group of friends at YAH and gradually influencing Dad to participate in the activities. I read again an article MM Lee said about keeping an active life after retiring, having social contact and a purpose/challenge. I think YAH has done a good job on this.

Possible modelling assignment for Dana