Basic Manners and The Lack Thereof

There are incredibly rude people in my home.

1. They do not make an effort to say hi or introduce themselves.

2. When I say hi in the morning, she looks at me like I'm mad and then ignores me. When I say hi a 2nd time in the night, she completely ignores me.

3. I proceed to offer her a mattress considering how she has been in my home for 3 nights now and will be for 2 more, though not my guest; and her host has only offered the sofa when there's a mattress sitting in the storeroom. She just says "no it's ok" without looking at me, and does not offer a word of thanks.

I know that Singaporeans are not the most polite people on the planet, and maybe my standards have been raised after months of being in a country where gentlemen actually exist (to some degree, definitely greater than SG) and it's actually basic courtesy to greet people, even strangers with "Hi, how are you?"...

But seriously, if you went to stay at someone's place, for FREE, could you not muster some basic manners, even obligatorily?

I must say I'm greatly appalled, but not surprised. As they say, birds of the same feather flock together.

Those things I thinks.

Those Housing Agents from a very reputable firm called Knight Frank, they can't seem to get my surname or address right even after a whole year, and they want to charge me to renew my contract! Blatant daylight robbery and sheer incompetency, I say. Makes my blood boil every time I get an email from them.

Those Singaporean gatherings I used to go for, I can't really bring myself to go for them anymore and be all fake. I don't know if they are friends or not. Helps that they now love putting things on Sundays and I can't go anyway.

Those countless packets of frozen salmon, lost in the ice in in my frozen freezer, what shall I do with them? They need me to defrost the freezer before they can repair it. Maybe I'll make lots and lots of fish pie this weekend.

Those time slots I try to set aside, be they for exercise, sleep or quiet time, where do they go? I think I do set them aside, but only in my head; and a cobweb now covers that recess in my brain.

Those tickets I bought for Paintball this Saturday. I need 3 more people. Either I have no friends such that I can't think of anyone to ask, or I'm being way too choosy.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Looks like it's not enough to just think those things.

Happy Birth-day, Ava!

I was her first visitor!!! :) :) :)

Took some photos but I shall not put it up because it's the privilege of the parents to showcase such a beautiful baby to the world, their baby. 2 days old, and an angel.

Was so excited on Saturday that I went to buy some flowers, which is really un-me by the way. Still didn't know at that time whether it was going to be a girl or a boy because Ava was too big to come out and she loved keeping everyone in suspense (and pain), so I bought sunflowers! I really love how cheery they looked I think I might go back and buy some more for myself, when my bank account allows me to :)

One Dinner Too Many

Another blessed and inspiring day.

Did not start out too well because the jubilee line was down again and the D7 refused to come, which caused my hopes of arriving early to evaporate into thin air. Wanted to get to church early to practice as I have no touched the organ in 2 weeks, and figured that someone must have messed up the buttons again and i'd have to spend time figuring out how to re-configure.

So there I was practicing, and playing the prelude. 2 mins before the service started, James goes up to the hymnnumber board and takes it down entirely - turns out that the hymns I was given were all from last week! I didn't even get to see the new hymns before the service started and the worst thing was that I had no idea how 2 of them went. Now being on the piano is easy, you can hide behind the organ and kinda sightread. But on the monster of the organ, I had to play the introduction and then figure out the tune and how to play it organ-style: was a semi-disaster but quite a funny incident anyway!

The afternoon was great. Had dinner at P&N's. Still can't get over how they call lunch, dinner, but only on Sundays. I haven't been over in quite a few months, and it's always nice to be there. Was slightly less tiring today because Lucy was in a sleepy mood and wasn't trying to play all her toys at once (and get me to play along)... but she can walk now, and boy is she good at it! She's done really well and a longlong way, I hope she catches up with everyone her age soon. Quick background: Lucy was born pre-mature, with 2 others in a triplet. She was the sole survivor and has mild Cerebral Palsy, so her muscles are stiff and loose at some wrong places. She never did manage to crawl, only shuffle, but she has found strength in her legs to walk perfectly normally now, at 2 years and 3 months! She's really intelligent too, and I'm sure in no time all the babbling will turn into words and sentences...

Because we were not busy playing with Lucy today, and because P was on holiday, we managed to have some good conversations. It's so inspirational talking to them because they always have all their priorities right despite the simple life they lead. They're not much older than me, but about a million times more mature and capable in life itself, and their secret is an open one - they really love God and walk in His will. Guess I can relate to N in a lot of ways - her Christian upbringing, values, sense of humour and her intellect (ok she far surpasses me in that faculty with her superior PhD). I really respect how she's given up a promising career after working so hard at university, to stay home and bring up Lucy and Zachary in the most remarkable way. She understands their every expression and reaction, and interacts with them in such a loving yet professional way. She balances control without being over-possessive; care without over-fussing. Her creativity and energy level ensures that the children are always entertained even with the simplest toys, and her humility really makes everything she does very very understated. I am never failed to be amazed just sitting there and observing.

Anyway, back to the title. So I came home after the evening service, and had my 2nd dinner. There was some leftover food from yesterday, and a Waitrose "reduced" chocolate trifle that expired yesterday, making it my 2nd full meal cum dessert for the day. Seriously bloated now, which is a bad thing to be when you're meant to be sleeping. Another week of challenges lies ahead, and I can't wait for the next weekend already!!!

And, we're going to Legoland in 2 weeks, wheeeee!!!! :) :)

The Garden of Life

There are no flowers in the "garden", just some shrubs that form the natural wall that surrounds my flat and separates it from the public pathway.

Amazingly, we have not stepped out all too often, much less rendered any care to anything on it. Yet somehow, I noticed that weeds started to grow through the gaps in the concrete slabs, and I conveniently ignored it.

Winter came, they were quite resilient, event with the snow and frostbite temperatures.

Spring followed, and they continued growing, but I still wasn't too bothered - I figured that one day I'd go pull them all out at one go. I then promptly got caught up with the rest of life, and neglected to even look out of the window.

And then one day last week, i noticed that the weeds have now grown to a height that reached my waist, then i got worried that they would be too tough to pull out now.

Today, i decided to do a big clean-up. The weeds looked intimidating, and i protected my hands while yanking them out, yet i felt the slash across my palms as i pulled them out, roots et all (mostly, I suspect I didn't get some of them and they will regrow...). After that I spent a good 45mins trying to clear all the long-dead, dried orange leaves that have accumulated underneath the shrubs. Amongst the whole trash-bag full of dried leaves I also found at least 100 cigarrette butts, along with all sorts of trash like kitchen towels, plastic bags, containers, a Sony Bravia TV box (which I always knew was there because the wind kept playing with it and scared me with great noises in my sleep). No doubt the previous tenants had used the patio a lot more, and left a lot more behind. Who knows what went on in that "garden"?

I also found a host of creatures at the corner just outside my room, but that was just disgusting and I refuse to document what I saw.

I've never been a keen gardener. I only lasted an hour out there and didn't even manage to clear out all the leaves. I told myself that I'd come back out another day to finish the job. The big question is: when?

What an analogy of life -

who are the flowers in your garden of life?

who's the sun who even gives life to all creatures?

and what are the weeds you need to pull out today?