Countdown 2007

As 2007 is coming to an end, I asked myself so what have I accomplished? Well, 2007 has been a very exciting and challenging year. It was a good year for me and my family. We have been so fortunate that things went smoothly this year. Let's see. Here are some of the highlights of the interesting things that has happened.

* Bought Moulinex oven last Dec and won $100 Swenson vouchers in a lucky draw beginning this year.
* Participated in the AWARE Women's run in Mar and Great Eastern Women's run in Oct.
* At the IT/PC Show in March, we bought a Nikon digital camera; renewed our Singtel Broadband contract (10mbps) and got a free Lenovo laptop.
* Alvin's incentive trip to Tokyo, Japan in Mar and his company trip to Krabi.
* Amanda got the AMIGO in Mar.
* I went to Munich and Salzburg in May (i2s Incentive trip).
* Helped my company get a WHP Grant in Jun.
* Took part in the New Paper Contest and won a Lee Wah pearl/diamond necklace in Jul.
* I created own blog on 25 Aug.
* Discovered to order photos online through snapfish (@ 19cents)
* Finally bought a secondhand piano for Amanda in Sep.
* Bought Penwriter (Chinese software) for Matt and a Plasma TV in Sep.
* Completed company's calendar project (2008 Calendar) end Oct.
* Took part in Women's Weekly Magazine contest and won a Elizabeth Arden hamper in Nov.
* Amanda came in 3rd position in class for final exams. She was in the top 10%, and she won an Edusave award (receiving award on 13 Jan).
* Amanda performed with her school band at Sentosa on 17 Nov.
* Matt came in 8th position in class so we bought him a PSP slim in Nov.
* Family vacation in Beijing, China from 1 to 8 Dec.
* Amanda was on TV 3 times this year; first time was the Self-defence class and interview by Mediacorp artiste Melody Chen; second time she was on Channel 5 news and featured in the Straits Times (her school's anniversary) and the third time she was on Channel 8 and Channel NewsAsia News and featured in the Straits Times on 28 Dec (demo new CCTV by NYP student).
* Family reunion with Alvin's long lost cousin from Holland in Nov.
* Received my 20 years long service award in Nov.
* Appeal to colleagues to help raise funds for Wei Liang's concert and to donate money to buy 2 units of dual cassette deck for SAVH.
* Organised a farewell party for boss.

So what are the challenges awaiting me in 2008? I will update my blog in the New Year!

Amanda in the news again

Last week the SAVH called. They wanted Amanda to demo a new CCTV and be interviewed by the press. At first Amanda was afraid that she'll "freak out". Luckily Bao Li was very supportive and agreed to accompany her there. Besides, I told her it would be good to learn and find out more about the new product. Afterall, the CCTV was designed by NYP students. So on Thursday, 27/12/07 Amanda accompanied by Bao Li went to SAVH.

That night, Amanda was featured in Channel 8 and Channel News Asia (Jean and Bao Li was at our place then). Alvin recorded it for me to watch later.

The following day, Amanda made the news again. The article was in the Straits Times Home section page 13. It said that "S'pore-made device makes reading easy for sight impaired". There was a photo of Amanda using the Vertex electronic magnifier. We also watched the video clip on the Channnel News Asia website. According to the reporter, she said Amanda is a "book worm and an aspiring lawyer". Hmmm.........

Uncle Richard said Amanda speaks well and with confidence. We are all so proud of her.

Cornea Transplant

We were at Camden Medical this morning for Amanda's routine eye check up. Her doctor brought up the subject of cornea transplant (I think it's because Alvin was there). Doctor said that Amanda is now grown up and it's time to consider cornea transplant. He told us that after the transplant Amanda's vision would improve. Of course, there are some risks but he said it is very minimal (0.5%). Worse case scenario would be her body rejects the new cornea (that's 10% risk). Surgery would take about 1 hour. The cost of the cornear is around $3K, and the total costs of the surgery would be around $10K to $12K (Medisave claim is about $1K-$2K). Then, there is a waiting time for the cornea. He can't tell how long but it could be 1 to 2 years wait. If we are keen he would put Amanda on the waiting list.

This was good news to us. There is hope for Amanda to improve the vision in her good eye. It won't be perfect vision but at least she can see more. We told doctor that we need some time to consider the matter.

After that we went down to see another eye specialist (whom Amanda has consulted before) to fix an appointment (26/1/08). We want to get another opinion and advice from another eye expert.

Amanda seems worried too. I think she has the phobia of going through another surgery (my feelings too). When we talked about it again in the afternoon, she said she'll leave the decision to us because we're her parents and we're responsible for her.

Personally, I have mixed feelings too. I'm happy and worried at the same time (thinking of how to raise the money).

Lord, help me and Amanda get through this. Give us strength. Hear our prayers!

Christmas Shopping

On Saturday, 14/12/07 we met Bao Li and Larry at Suntec. We wanted to go to the Book Fair exhibition. We left home early and decided to do some shopping at Suntec. We did all our shopping at one shop (IP/S&K). Bought t-shirts, bermudas and shoes for Amanda and Matthew and some t-shirts for their cousins and Jennie's 3 boys (as Christmas presents).

Bao Li joined us in the shopping later. She likes shopping so much and wanted to make a date with me to go shopping again. So we've fixed the date on 19/12/07 (I get half-day off; eve of Hari Raya Haji).

P.S. I must admit I had so much fun shopping with the gals on 19/12/07. Bao Li was so happy that auntie Mabel knows her taste. She bought a new pair of jeans, more t-shirts and a watch. Amanda bought t-shirts, a hipster skirt and a watch too. I finally bought a Guess handbag - a Christmas present for myself. I will use it during Chinese New Year.

Family vacation in China

We did it! We had climbed the Great Wall of China!!! So we are all heros. Alvin and I have our "Hero card". Whilst, Amanda and Matt had a bronze plate "Hero certificate" each with their chinese names engraved on it.

The weather was extremely cold as you can see from the way we dressed! The temperature range from 0 to -3 degrees in the day, and it gets even colder during the nights. At Chengde, the lowest temperature was -16 degrees. Even wearing 2 pairs of socks couldn't help. Our toes and fingers were so numb.
We had seen so many things in the 8 days - the beautiful palaces and temples and even the Olympic Stadium (still under construction; Beijing will be hosting the Olympic games in 2008). We have learnt so much about China's history and culture from the interesting stories told by our Chinese guide.


At Wangfujing food street, Amanda ate smelly toufu and Alvin ate cripsy fried grasshoppers! Not forgetting that Alvin and the kids loved eating the sweet potatos too!

We watched 3 very amazing live shows. The first was "The Golden Mask Dynasty" at the Happy Valley Theme Park, the second was an Acrobatic show and the third show was the most interesting - a Shaolin story (on the right is a photo of a little Shaolin Monk).


On the left is a photo of the different dumplings we had for dinner. However, after 7 days of eating chinese food, the kids cannot resist and had to eat burgers at MacDonalds!

Overall, we had enjoyed ourselves very much. Despite my falling sick for 2 days, and Alvin fell sick on the 6th day of the trip. We wished we could see snow in Beijing as we wanted to experience what it is like. However, 3 days after our return it snowed at Beijing. The fog and snow was so bad that it caused havoc to traffic and the flights in and out of the airport had to be cancelled. So fortunately, we were able to return home safely. It felt good to be back to home sweet home!