Amanda's own PC

This afternoon we went to the Sitex (IT show) at Expo. The crowd was unbelievable! Even with the financial crisis people are still shopping and buying. I suppose everyone was hunting for good bargains like us.

It seems these days the trend are laptops. So after looking around for awhile, we found a suitable desktop PC. We bought a HP desktop at a good bargain price. We got a free upgrade, a 22 inch LCD plus free gifts which included a webcab.

Amanda was very happy. At last, she has her own personal PC! Mum and dad can share and use the PC except for Matt.

Thai colleague

Khun Soontaree was attached to the Legal & Compliance Dept for 3 weeks from 25/11/08. She is a lawyer from AACP office in Thailand. She is a nice lady and both of us get along well.

In fact, I was the one who viewed the service apartment at Lincoln Lodge to make sure it was suitable for Khun Soontaree's stay. I found this reasonably priced apartment and negotiated with the landlord. This isn't my job but I offered to view the apartment to help out Cecilia because she was busy with the D&D.

On Sat, we brought Soon to eat chicken rice at Boon Tong Kee Restaurant at Balestier Road. Dinner was good. Our kids just love chicken rice! After dinner, we went to reki the Balestier HomeTeam Club.

That afternoon, Lay Hong, Amanda and I met up with Cheen Cheen at Tion Baru Plaza. She is an akido instructor at the HomeTeam Club. We had discussed about organising a self-defense class for the VH children.

Our first Parents Support Group Forum

We had our first Forum called "Coping with your child's visual impairment" on Sat, 22/11/08. I had to present and talk on a parent's perspective. I had prepared my powerpoint slides a few weeks earlier but I keep changing it each time I look at it. After my slides, I had added a slideshow of Amanda's photos from baby to teenager. I had asked Amanda/Alvin to listen to my talk and asked them what they thought. Amanda said "Mum, you're so lame, and don't put my ugly baby photos to embarrased me". Alvin said I was OK since it was my first time.

The Forum was held at Sharon's shop. Some of us brought our kids and we arrived early. Sharon played cards (with big numbers) with the kids and they enjoyed themselves very much. Sharon even ordered pizza for them!

Overall, the Forum was good as it was our first attempt. Luckily, the kids came and they made up for the poor attendance!

Besides myself, the other speakers were Ms Yau, a Low Vision Optometrist from TTSH, Ms Penny Chong, a blind teacher from Ahmad Ibrahim Sec School and Lay Hong. Penny showed a documentary about herself and talked about learning braille. Ms Yau talked about the various visual aids. In fact, she was shocked to see that Sharon's shop has lots of visual aids/gadgets. Lay Hong talked about teaching children with special needs.

I was the first speaker, and Ms Yau commented that she almost cried after listening to me. Actually, it wasn't easy when I started working on the slides. I had gone through some difficult periods, and it brought back some very sad memories.

Ah Kong's 77th Birthday

We celebrated Ah Kong's 77th Birthday on Fri, 14/11/08. That evening, I also attended Matt's award presentation at his school.

On the way to Ah Kong's house we were caught in the traffic jam. Since nobody has any idea of where to eat, I had suggested Botak Jones at Woodlands. Partly because Ah Kong had said he wanted to eat Western food. As everyone was hungry especially Alvin and Matt, I had to rush to order the food for them. The food was OK but I think Margaret, Maureen, Andy and their family didn't enjoy it. I was a little upset with Alvin and Matt's bad table manners. They just couldn't wait and gobbled up the food too quickly.

After dinner, we went back to Ah Kong's house to cut his birthday cake! It feels strange because mum isn't around to join in the celebrations.

Amanda and Matthew did well in the Exams!

Amanda's results were excellent! She was 1st position in class and 9th position in the Sec 2 cohort. Based on academic results, she got into the Triple Science class in Sec 3 next year. Instead of being overjoyed she was upset when her teacher told her the news. Her first choice was Humanities ie. Pure Lit and History. However, the school didn't offer the combination she wanted. Her teacher advised her against 'downgrading' herself because only the top 40 students get offered Triple Science. So she pestered me at work to call her teachers. She had a brilliant idea! She decided that she wanted to stay in Triple Science and take Pure Lit as the additional 8th subject (to replace Mother Tongue). At first when I spoke to Mr Rao, the Lit teacher, he was hesitant and discouraged it. Due to the time-table schedule, Amanda will not be able to attend Lit class. Therefore, she has to record the lessons and study on her own, and Mr Rao will try to tutor her during free period.

Eventually, the Principal agreed to make an exception. Amanda was so overjoyed! She got what she wanted!


Surprising, Matthew came in 3rd position in class. This year was also the streaming year for him. I took leave to attend the award presentation at Matt's school. Pictured here is Matt and his good friend Zi Bin. They both tie for 3rd position in class. Friday, 14/11/08 was the award presentation day.

Amanda's Day Surgery

The day surgery was done at Camden Medical. The surgery was over in less than half an hour. When Amanda woke up, the nurse gave her some biscuits and milo. After about 20 mins she was ready to be discharged.

We had lunch at the Nasi Padang stall opposite Great World City. This is one of Amanda's favourite food. She especially liked the egg (looks like a piece of cake) and the potato cutlet!