Memory is bursting (iPhone related)

How much space does iPhone need for contacts? Maybe in my case it’s really a pathetic number as my photos take up the most, more than 50% followed by Apps. I’m always so desperate for space when on holidays that I end up deleting more apps (and hopefully remember to download back once I clear some photos. Clearing photos is usually not an immediate task for me too coz I’ll be busy with things around the house. Another post on iMovies is done and in draft folder somewhere!  Found it and LINKED IT HERE.

I'm not sure if 392 tags in Safari takes up memory too 😜

So while this blog draft was started on 12th July, I have been recording my camera roll, may not be an accurate count though as I do some photos which are in the phone temporarily until the ‘event’ or things I need to screenshot is not needed anymore and deleted. 

As at 31st July 2.33pm. I’ve already completed 2 days of iMovies (16th and 18th July) and now have 30,660 photos which I have to include the extras stuffs I took from website and screenshot to put inside the iMovies. I’m deleting them now >>>>>> FINAL COUNT 29, 873. So I've basically deleted 787 photos, some may not be related to the Japan 5 day holiday. Anyway speaking of iMovie, I suspect my memory space did affect my vivavideo loading up. Now that I have lesser photos and used up this much in my storage, I'm able to use back my vivavideo. 

Anyway...... now that I'm desperately clearing my photos. Still struggling with May's US and many others, I'm set to go on another trip to Seoul with lil' one in September and then goodness knows if I'll be able to do some days before the other next trip in December. So it's a happy problem, I've never travelled that many times in a year before. All within 2 months from each holiday (May, July, Sep, Dec). Haha! Maybe I'll have more time to clear between Sep and Dec since I've left the holiday planning to che-che. 我总觉得我是自找麻烦。我应该放弃做 holiday videos 吗？

I'm S.E.O.U.L looking forward

I'm so looking forward to another trip with just lil' one. She has been grouching to me that she wants a trip with me ("just cause I brought che-che with me to the US and Japan). Huh? I didn't bring che-che to US, she was already in the US.

On the day when they sent che-che and I to the airport for our Japan flight, lil' one was pouting her lips and upset and whispered to me that she wants me to bring her to Korea. A place where she's been wanting to go for the longest time. I haven't been there since our first and last holiday to Korea in 2010.  

While in Japan, I was just surfing and searching for cheap flights, playing around with dates too as I wasn't sure when exactly her official school break is. Comparing with SQ, and then Scoot. Scoot is cheap but it's just not worth it as I need to add luggage and a meal. 6hrs+ is not a short flight for lil' one to starve through. When everything adds up, I might as well just come up abit more to take SQ! I was given some alternatives in cheapflights.com. Ehh.... a 6hrs+ flight becomes a 9hrs or even 12hrs flight. Siao! I might as well fly to Europe. Please note they’re all budget airlines. Just not worth me going hungry in the plane.

So when I finally decided to just stick to our carrier. I was fiddling with the thoughts of travelling on her birthday or maybe one day before her birthday so I can request for a birthday cake for her. 

About birthday cake request on SQ : For poor people class which I always travel, it's +/- 1 day the date of travel. The same for PE. But for JCL and FCL passengers it's +/- 3 days the date of travel. Aunty no money to travel business class. For information, request can be made via the Live Chat, at least I don't have to wait for hours on the phone to speak to a customer service officer. 

There's this thing about certain days of the weekday the air-ticket is more expensive. Think it's Tuesdays and Thursdays?? So yah.... if I were to travel out on 

Option 1 : 19/9 (Thu) 1445hrs - 2220hrs flight and back on 26/9 (Thu) 1110hrs - 1640hrs flight the cheapest fare is estimated to be $964.50. If I want the earlier 0800hrs - 1535hrs flight and back at 1110hrs - 1640hrs, I'll be $2139.50 poorer. No way am I going to spend that much on an economy air ticket to Asia Pacific. I'd rather fly to JFK.     

Option 2 : 16/9 (Mon) 0800hrs - 1535hrs flight and back on 27/9 (Fri) 1110hrs - 1640hrs flight the cheapest fare is $660.50 for Economy Lite and $1169.50 for Economy Standard. The only difference between Economy Lite and Economy Standard is the miles earned.

Option 3 : 19/9 (Thu) 1445hrs - 2220hrs and return on 26/9 (Thu) 1110hrs - 1640hrs on Economy Standard tickets both sector is more than $1169.50

Option 4 : 19/9 (Thu) 0225hrs - 0950hrs and return on 26/9 (Thu) 1110hrs - 1640hrs, only Economy Flexi ticket is sold and total charges will come up to $1789.50 

Option 5 : 16/9 (Mon) 0010hrs - 0745hrs and back on 26/9 (Thu) via Busan 0740hrs - 1310hrs. Only Economy Standard ticket is sold for $1224.70

So I think this tells me that Thursdays the price is more expensive than Mondays. I did work one day before on Wed, it's also expensive. More expensive than travelling on Mondays. 

So is getting that birthday cake and that sweet surprise worth the extra $$?? Yah, we'll get champagne and an apple juice for sure but I DON'T DRINK alcohol onboard so maybe make that 2 cups of apple juice. A card with dry ice in a cup presented on a lined tray, and the SQ bear which I was given on my May's flight. Eh….with that fare difference savings I can get her a small slice of cake of her choice in Seoul, let her do what she wants on her birthday. 好吧！省这笔钱吧！

Darn! I didn't know 1-2 days makes a difference. By the time I finalised the dates (coz I realised it's Chuseok the time we're there, so I need to find out if shops and sights are opened, if it's worth to make a trip that early etc..) I decided to proceed to do the booking. Price rose by $45. OMG! I think it's cause the price increases as the date of departure draws closer. And lil' one's ticket is $32 more ex than mine. The dates are none of the options above. 

Why is her ticket more expensive than mine? Ahh.... my tier privilege is complimentary seat selection. Heehee!! 

All done on 31st July 3am. Only slept at 5.30am

Air-tickets - Booked!

Insurance - Booked! Since I had to get che-che's travel insurance to JB today, I purchased mine at for $135.24

Will look into booking hotels + registering eMFA after that. And then planning itinerary. 

Different ranting about air-tickets  

The man was grouching in anger that lil’ one chose a place with expensive air-tickets and “$xx + is also money.” Then he mumbled that he bought a cheap ticket for himself to Shenzhen, something like she could have opted to go somewhere nearer.    

Lil’ one continued to be defensive (without seeing the tense situation at the moment) that she’s been wanting to go Korea for the longest time etc… 

Honestly I had no idea what transpired between the two of them. She mentioned to me that hubby asked her when is her school holidays and if she wants him to bring her somewhere. “Then I dunno why he bought the tickets for himself?!” 

My question is why book to go holiday without her then? And then infront of us kee-siao start scolding her. 

When I asked he said his ticket to SZX is only $200+ ($278+ to be exact) and he’s going in August. All of us exclaimed it’s so cheap. Then I suddenly remembered the special promotions / escapades deal that SQ has and asked if he bought that. He did and then feeling unfair that he scolded lil’ one I told him off (quite subtly actually) that he is not restricted by anything, he and I can simply go and fly off any day we want but not the kids especially now for lil’ one. She still needs to go to school, she still has to do her IA. She can go in Sep but it has to be her official school holidays altho she has  longer break after her IA. There’s no way we can bring her anywhere as she will need to go back to school one day for her presentation. When? We don’t know. A further check was done for all the deals for SZX, many short ones departs on her inconvenienced dates. The few that departs when she is free to go has to wait out 18 - 30 days until one can fly back. She has to go back to school. 我的女儿阎王啊！still feeling unjustly for lil’ one the 包青天 me had to continue her nagging. “When one has the freedom to leave any time they want, they can choose any dates and days they want to travel. Even W who redeems her tickets one year to many months in advance can go any time she wants as long as there is tickets. 

FYI, I did look into that promotion deals for Korea too just that the shortest option there is 5 days holiday. so short ! 看什么？！and the rests are just too long eating into the new school term. Even so they wrote it as $600+ but when I went in, the cheapest options is not really the cheapest. After all the calculation, it works out to $800+. 

Additional chores

Vacumning and mopping is a must on a daily basis in my home. Ehh…. Ok 6x a week (for mopping) coz now I usually don’t have the time to mop on Thursdays. 

Daily basis 

Other chores are done on a fixed day rotational basis. Cleaning the fans, window grilles, surface top, scrubbing toilets, cleaning all the glass and mirrors in the house, handwashing floor mats etc… Handwashing floor mats used to be Thursday assigned chore, then coz of FightDo I assigned to Wednesday then now assigned to Tuesday. Why handwash when we can throw in the washing machine? Coz I’m disgusted to think that whatever we step on the mat is thrown into the machine that also washes our laundry. I don’t clean the metal tub everyday! 

Not daily basis but once a week or the longest once a month

There are some other nitty gritty things to be done around MY house. 

1) Changing out the water collection from the dehumidifier containers around the house and refilling them. Usually every 3-4weeks. Humidity level in SIN is high! 

2) cleaning the floor grouts in LDKY area. Maybe once a month or if I see a patch seems dirtier than the other then I’ll grab a magic sponge and clean. 

3) getting into the floor corners of the door

4) cleaning the drain stoppers and declogging the pipes. Usually once a week

5) cleaning the washing machine. Meaning wipe down exterior, taking out the soap dispenser drawer to scrub scrub wash wash and throw in the washing machine cleaning capsule. 

The not so frequently to-do chores but must do somehow

And not forgetting that shoe cabinet needs to be cleaned and lined with mahjong paper, the whatever external storage in the yard needs to be cleaned. That is the reason why I hate to have rolling storage cart. It not only gives one the reason to buy more things ‘coz there’s storage space so must make full use of it’ but it means extra cleaning job for me. You know when you’re the only one slave doing all the jobs in the house, you just want to cut down the job. For example : mom often comment that I have no drying hand towel in the common toilet. How often do I have guest over? Hang there to only collect dust. And one more towel means I have additional things to wash. 要聪明一点、不要给自己多工作. Fridge needs to be tidied and cleaned at least once a month. But somehow there’s always someone just someone or sometwo who will anyhow push things in the fridge and then topple something else and then the fridge is in a mess. Why? Why my family like that?! Next time should make the culprit do the cleaning. 

Really a lot of work to do around the house, from cleaning to tidying to decluttering in all the areas in the house. I’m somehow appreciative that now the family do put whatever new things they have into the designated containers in the house (for eg. if they get a new electrical item and it comes with cables and they don’t need it at the moment. They can put the extra cables into the designated container. If they need it next time they will know where to take it from.)

Today, coz I washed the floor mats earlier (didn’t do last week coz away) in the week so had a little free time. I cleaned the grouts (2) and cleaned the drain stoppers n declogged the pipes (4).

This pic taken from our condo’s FB. I’m just trying to show you how an un-cleaned grout floor (yucks!) of a resident’s house looks like vs mine 

I’m house proud. Go on all fours and clean the grout lines. Always giddy when I get up often to rinse the sponge and clean other parts of the LD area. Still got kitchen and yard, not done yet. Ah nia is feeling sticky and smelly now.  

I never knew how dirty it can get if it gets unattended to. When I got back from US - OMG! the drain stopper was so dirty and smelly. This time too, even tho there was a duration of 11 days (my absence) the drain stopper is a little dirty. My mistake, I should have cleaned again just the day I flew off. Coz I do clean it every 7 days, if I have something on the next day I’ll clean it every 6 days. 

I haven’t seen drain flies for the longest time and I spotted 3 on the toilet ceiling 🤦🏻‍♀️! 

When I got back last Friday, I was so tired so only scrubbed the heavily watermarked shower glass and yucky 🤢 feel so slimy shower area floor. My feet is a good judge of cleanliness or dirt 🤣. And the white quartz basin was so yucky. Oh my! I scrub it every 2 days. I mean….how can they shower and use the basin without feeling disgusted? Maybe my idea of clean KPI is high 😂. 

I procrastinated doing this until today, the 16th day. 

I scrub the sides of the drains with a disposable toothbrush. That’s why I tend to offload toothbrush from hotels or aircrafts. Rinse off then use either one of the declogger and let it on for 15mins and finally wash it down with hot water. I used to use vinegar and baking soda, but I haven’t been able to find that 4 gallons of distilled vinegar now. 

After the hot water flush, I pour this in and then cover the drain and paste the hair catcher sticker over. 

I have no idea if anyone else do these often as me. But I honestly wonder how did my mom and the older parents are able to do housework, and cook 2 meals (3-4 dishes type) twice a day, they don’t bother about kids academics and nobody leaves the house for enrichment or tuition. I just do my usual + additional chores already is so tired + bringing the kids to classes when younger + Grab driver. I don’t even cook on a daily basis! Maybe that’s why when it comes to CNY, my mom will do the massive clean-up coz normal days is just sweep and mop, whereas for me cleaning up around the house is very routine on a almost weekly basis that I don’t do spring cleaning at all. I’m cleaning all the time.

Friends who didn’t have domestic helpers are all getting part timers to help now. No wonder they have free time to go for more exercise classes and other stuffs and I don’t. Only I this dumb dumb still slaving my life away. One day when I collapse at work, it could either be exhaustion from household chores or from excessive inhalation of bleaches and cleaning agents 😂. 

My obsession

I have this weird obsession to watch those  Instagrammers who post on cleaning houses. Ranging from angmoh to korean housewives and finally Japanese people. Don’t know why see those videos also gian. Just like I love to watch cooking videos but the thought of me cooking the dish 😖

I love Japanese cleaning aids. I took pictures of what they used and saved it in my camera roll. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to find the cleaning aids and detergents this trip. I needed time to know what I’m getting and know what’s the ingredients in the products but with her standing behind me being so impatient, I can’t do it. I badly need a solo trip! 

Even in the US, I love to go to cleaning section in supermarket. Don’t ask me why but I think psychologically I do need some cleaning 🧼 🧹 in my life. 

私は可愛い物が好き

Who can resist anything cute? esp when one gets back from japan. I tried to control myself so hard, kept reminding myself I need the money for food I cannot nayhow spend. I don’t usually buy things when I go on holidays so this is an exception. 

Joyfull had this cute Snoppy collaboration the time we were there. 

Wah….superbly excited, to the displeasure of lil’ one. I had it last year in Hiroshima and this year in Fukuoka. Her last Joyfull was during our trip in 2022. 

The food looks so so so cute but we went for their normal menu - that’s what we missed. 

Was so tempted to get the plates. But didn’t want to carry fragile items back. Ehh….that was on the 15th where we went to Joyfull @Tenjin for lunch. Nobody can tell the future right? So it happened that the next day >>

I caved in when I was in Dazaifu's Donguri shop. Mio stood there and was shocked at the amount I spent. This is small amount leh! I would have gone crazy in there. She kept thanking me "thank you for contributing to Japan’s economy." Che-Che laughed at her funny Aunty Mio. The till just go on and go as if it wasn't stopping and she kept repeating the same thing. Actually ¥25860 (S$232.46) isn't that alot what?! Don't be mistaken, I'm not showing off ... but if you compare to those who buy Hermes like buying a XXXX, this is really nothing. 

Didn’t get a lot, just got 2 sets of each. But oh boy! They were really heavy! Che-Che took my pink bag to store her snacks, that I went onboard the plane with an ugly looking brown bag. But I’m so tempted. Should I get more when Che-che orders her CDs? 

This is a very special Dazaifu’s souvenir. I mixed and matched it. If only they had Kiki Delivery Service *pout lips*

iMovies rant

This draft was initially in one blog entry but I feel it deserves a heading and a dedicated post, thus I cut the draft and put it in here. For obvious reason too, this blog entry was spread across many days starting from 10th July 

I’m trying to get those clear cut iMovies out asap, those which I think I have nothing to write so I can finished faster BUT NO…… Somehow this is the only time I get the chance to get the location and pinpoint places easily, if I need to pinpoint location when all photos are in hard disk it takes 3 steps to key in the GPS into Google map. In other words the chiong-hay me still need to identify the location etc… I’m trying to do the best of my best for iMovies. 

I do research or see if I can find any information. One will feel that he/she is watching a documentary. 

For sure MET’s visit I have to do another day coz just so many to type. I think I may even need to do 2 parts iMovie for that day (24th May). 

How much of effort do I put in for my iMovies? 200%. Now that I don’t bring video camcorder out, my iMovies is not just on sights but even include the funny things I filmed of the family eg. the messy hair girl waking up in the morning. Now that I make them, will we ever watch them? I really don’t know. Is it a worthless effort to do them? I really don’t know but I think I’ll be glad in years to come to see that teeny weeny girl jumping around in my videos. 

Vivavideo gives me a video in MP4 format, iMovie in MOV format. I love using Vivavideo but recently I’ve been getting a lot of glitches where the frame freezes; the text freezes. I just hope in years to come when technology gets even better and advance, they will not drop a bomb that all MP4 and MOV are not compatible. 

The reason for rushing iMovies is coz I need to clear some photos as I’m going on a trip again. And then my current 29103 photos will add on again. It’s never-ending! Each day I can take from 300++ to 900++ photos. It’s a lot! Each video can be an hour plus long. Chiong hay person is like that one. Always a fight against time. Haiz! If I don’t do it, I’ll regret. If I do, I’ll complain. 女人真矛盾！

As at 10th July evening - I completed my 23rd May imovie and cleared the pics. Cleared  Now my camera roll stands at 28324 out of which 23741 (hopefully I put all pics into the album and didn't miss out any dates) are all the remaining holiday pics since 2019. Gasp! That's close to 84% of the photos. I won't be doing anymore imovies coz I don't think I have the time, unless I have the time in Japan to do so. 

In actual fact, I have more days still not done. It doesn’t mean no date written here means I’m only left with these few to do. Yup! That explains the 29000+ photos.

10th July evening , after 23rd May’s iMovie is completed 

I cleared some more ‘I think I won’t have time to check thru the recipes’ photos and some into the thumb drive. Oh! Did I mention that I have 3 of these small SanDisk IXpand flash drive that comes to my rescue. I’m sure it was invented by someone who has many photos and documents to clear from their phone, just like me. 😜

DURING JULY’s JAPAN TRIP

I did some camera roll count and apparently I didn’t finish recording how many photos at the end of 17th and 18th each day. Last count 30,050 on 20th July. 

I wasn’t an angelic crew

Throughout my flying career, I did what I can to help the junior crews. Kind of like paying forward as I met many helpful seniors myself. Of course got the Top 10 tyrants but … really end of the day I always told myself and the junior crew “have a good working attitude”. I do tell my girls too now that lil’ one is also doing her industrial attachment that being humble and a good working attitude goes a long way. 

I had many junior crew who all remembered me as the patient senior guiding them, they remember they did a flight with me when most times I forgot that I had worked with them before. 

But I wasn’t that angelic afterall. I do bully my super nice CS Freddie 😂. Muahaha! It was team flying Then we were assigned a team for a year before they switch us. Sometimes we do get 1 crew who will be in the next team as well. Sadly I was only with Freddie for a year. So fatherly, so gentle then he met a talkative noisy crazy stewardess. 

Why I love team-flying

Perhaps I was lucky I met a lot of nice crew. Ehh….. except for one leading couple, the man is the huge problem. Always picking on us 3 senior FSS. I was the most senior then. But we had the nicest yet known to be a stern IFS having our back. I mean…we 3 got 靠山 and others can see that he and his wife got problem just picking on us even when we do things in black and white. Aiyah! Some people are just crazy lor.. as long as we just do our work (and we were so hardworking k!) IFS KPang can joke with us and do funny things with us even on lull period when he comes down to the galley to see us but when he talks to the couple, it’s all serious no smile. Muahaha! 

The thing about team-flying is we know the styles of our senior crew (except for that crazy couple). Sometimes there’s a slight deviation of things which the senior crew prefers, but it doesn’t get in the way of the meal service or us providing less unprofessional work, we know it without the senior crew telling us. We work hard onboard and then we play hard outstation. 

When one gets a good team, sometimes we also go to someone’s house during our off days or go out together. Nowadays, no more team flying, the closeness with one another is just not there anymore, it’s all just superficial with a “thanks for the flight” and you’ll probably only see them months/years later or maybe not anymore. 

What was the bullying?

I was working in UD JCL then. 

So it was the cake and fruits, Freddie laughed at me when aircraft was bumpy when I was cutting the cake. 好不动就是在那个时刻 at that critical moment when I was moving the cake to the plate or just lifted the cake off. And coz I’m left-handed I usually need to turn the palm logo on plates at an angle suited for me so it remains at 7 o’clock for the passenger. Sorry lor you can’t expect me to cut and plate as a right-hander. I probably would have dropped all the cake slices on the floor. But the weather…oh my … I 流汗💦 very stressed in the cabin. Only my CS can laugh at me while I was smiling to pax and showing him face. 

So when it came to cheese and port wine. Somehow we were helping to dress up the trolley while FS was doing something else. It’s really hard to explain but usually it’s the FS who would do the trolley setup it but coz we all work as a team so all will chip in to setup.  Freddie stood there helping and he was facing the galley, I then saw the opportunity to take my revenge on him and shooed him out and push the trolley. Acting like I’m the senior crew I told him “hurry hurry. Let’s go, pax are waiting.We need to go out now.” I was trying to control my laughter and I’m sure he did see my tricks. Muahaha! He was like ???? One passenger noted our roles were switched and asked why is he standing there instead of me. I replied with a “he’s so handsome and had been hiding his handsome face. So he deserves to be seen by everyone.”  But it wasn’t easy for me, k? I had to plate the cheese while he did the easiest job - offering port and standing there looking handsome and smile. That’s one cool CS I have. He came back and play grouch grouch to me. Haha! 

自己人 gah-gi-nang

So I’ve left the company 22 years. Resigned in April 2002, cutting short my jet setting lifestyle. Sad! 

When che-che was still a baby and toddler, I would have left the company 1-3years prior. Then I recognised alot of people onboard. Junior crew who came up with toys for che-che and setting up the bassinet etc.. I recognised more leading and chief crew. Then coz I was always in the poor-people class, the most senior person to serve us would be the leading crew. I’ve had IFS who would wave to me from the JCL cabin when we boarded and then come over to talk to us during the flight. Then when they checked the PIS, they took note of hubby who is a PPS so they do come round to make their introduction. There were incidents too when crew referred to PIS before they know I’m an ex-crew from their senior crew. I’ve overheard them telling another crew “Mrs Ting is an ex-crew.” We do get special treatment, we used to board first coz we were parents with infants/young children then when we had no infants/young children we board as PPS or just remained and waited for our row to be called and board then. 

Then over the years, as the girls grew up, the senior crew also one by one retire and leave the company. 

Now, 22 years later. (I would have been a CSS or IFM if I stayed on) the CS/CSS are people just around my time or more junior than me. Staff number 54000 or 55000. I’m in the 52000 range 🤭. I get some senior crew recognising me or some who don’t. But it’s ok, I don’t ask for recognition. 

My last flight from Japan, returning to base, I bumped into my basic batchgirl. Woah! It was a very happy surprise to see her and I ran up to her to say hello while they waited for the aircraft. I’m sure she did mention to the crew that I was her batchgirl then coz after that the IFM kept coming to talk to me. I didn’t mind seriously coz it was too short a flight to sleep BUT I DID EVENTUALLY 😂 and love to chat. I can’t watch movies onboard, I think I just cannot tahan my eyes glued to the screen that long. I’m sure he came over and chatted with me when he was free, load wasn’t that heavy anyway. Asked if I was the “Lily Teo” that Victor and Prem always talked about. Haha! So common name but sorry I’m always known as “Lily Ann Teo” in SQ. Perhaps that’s why one CCE/T came onboard once and mistook me for someone? He kept talking to me also…makes me wonder if I was on appraisal check then. 

E came and talked to me too. So it was really a pleasant flight.

Somehow although I know we use our money to pay for our flights, it feels really weird when the 自己人 come over and greet me as Mrs Ting when hubby is around. When he’s not around, I don’t get salutations coz not recognised customer mah. But still get the good service SQ is reputable for. Or maybe coz I’m an easy passenger.

I think in another 10 years, probably won’t run into familiar crew coz all left the airline. 

Feed my monkey 🐵

All che-che wanted was peanuts so I asked batchgirl for few packs to “feed my monkey”. Actually as I was standing in the EY FWD galley I saw she already had some snacks from JCL in the bag. She came to my seat first and we went to the galley together coz we wanted to take pic, I didn’t want to take at my seat lah! 

She showed me what she wanted to give her but I told her we have too many snacks in the luggage bag and at home, really just the peanuts will do. And she burst out laughing, “aiyoh! All these? (pointing to the peas and crackers) are cheapo peanuts leh! she likes?” Yah, coz we poor people so we have cheapo acquired taste.👅 Usually when we get the peanuts for drink service, I'll pass my greedy girl mine. You should see that wide smile on her face and her puppy eyes rounder. Second round drinks I'll ask for 2 more packets and then pass it to her, but it seems like I'm always the greedy one to the crew lor!    

Funniest was previous flight, che-che wants four more packets of popcorn. Made me ask crew coz she doesn't want to ask. The crew came with bags of ‘😱 omg! Why so much?!’  First at the galley when I asked for four more packets they wanted to give more, then I joked with them “wait. I’ll bring my bag here. Open up your cart and airlarda and empty everything in my bag.” They wanted to give more but I said it’s ok. In the end I went back with more than 6 in a bag. Then almost at the end of the flight, LSS Nora came up with another bagful of popcorn. The passengers next to our row looked at us, must be thinking “typical Singaporean, suaku first time traveller ask for so many things”. Che-che and I had a shock when she came by and we looked at the amount of popcorn inside 😂 and a few other goodies. Point is, I know aircraft back to SIN and will replenish  drystores but surely we will get sore throat from the heaty snacks. 

 x28 of delicious salted caramel popcorn 

I didn't know there's so many varieties of snacks. Coz I always orh orh, even if I step near galley on long haul to stretch or go toilet, I don't notice what they display on the galley top. 

So timely

As if Sugi Bee knew I was heading to Japan, they sent an email on 13th 10pm informing their promotion. 

Coincidentally I just posted on this earlier this month. 

Wow! That’s a good deal! 

I bought 5 (x2 mango, x1 grape and x2 yuzu) at tax free price of ¥ 12,900 (S$109.64) and as a member I get to choose my free gift (ranging from honey lozenges to energy drink to dunno what. I chose Manuka honey). S$110 only leh! I would have to pay $60 x 5 = $300 in SIN !!!

So tempted to buy more but the large luggage is already filled up 😣. It would be difficult to buy at year end when we have x4 person’s personal effects. 

Let’s track

Let’s track how many photos I’m going to add into my phone. 

It’s 9.52pm now and will be heading to the airport at 10+pm. I’ve deleted some holiday photos over the years which I found are duplicates. I haven’t gone through all albums. 

Now my camera roll stands at 28093 
iPhone storage : 198.54gb of 256gb used
Photos storage : 107.66gb

I’ve deleted as many un-used apps for now. I hope I don’t have to start deleting more apps again. I do hope I will also try not to have duplicates in my roll. 

Let’s see how I’ll do for a one destination 6D5N trip. A red eye flight today, I think I won’t take much right?  I’ll track and update this as I go along my trip. 

Late night supper

It was by chance that I found out the BK opposite our house closes at 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. After that I routinely became hungry past midnight. Haha! 

The first time we went into BK was around 1.15am? The second time I went with the girls today is an early 12.59am 🤣. The girls came on their own in between before. 

Even Takagi Ramen is opened 24hrs! 

Wow! We have food opposite us opened, we have bread, snacks and drinks vending machines in our compound to stuff us FULL. 我不胖才怪！

New packing

Packed all the sports attire and the comfortable sports bra. Aiyah! Who cares if the Japanese are the most decently and respectful dressed peeps, I’m not Japanese I’m a tourist. On the day that I’m meeting Mio, I’ll wear the jeans and top I wore onboard enroute to SIN and I’ll wear it again for the flight back. I’m meeting Mio in the middle of the trip, so I’ll have ample time to wash the clothes and jeans after every use. 

It’s the hot spell in Japan now, worst in FUK where I’m heading. It’s superbly hot and flooding wet in most parts of Kyushu. Last July, we had train disruption from Hiroshima to Fukuoka. We were drenched even with umbrella, worst when the shoes are not waterproof. 

I bought a new pair of Skechers walking shoes coz I threw away my old smelly pair. That new pair gave me blisters in US, it wasn’t as comfortable as my old shoes. 

Not sure if we will use or we may end up slipping down on the roads with it, but I’ll bring the waterproof boots to cover our shoes. Bringing disposable raincoats too.  

Wanted to bring neck fan - Coolify but ….. I’m afraid it might get confiscated as I’ll be bringing the small fan I bought in KL this March. The fan needs to be with me together with my portable charger on board. So yah…. 

Final packing list for a 6D5N trip

1) 2 sports top

2) 2 sports leggings 

3) 1 nicer top

3) 1 shoes (just incase my shoes keep getting wet and can’t keep dry. I’ll need one for the flight home)

4) 3 undergarments

5) 2 socks

6) 1 home clothes 

Just pray hard there’s dryer in the room. If not ….I have my way to dry stuffs which I did last July. 

My clothings on the right, che-che’s on the left. All packed into the compression bag. With just my 2 sports top and 2 leggings I can make 4 sets of clothes and they dry fast so…

Luggage weighs 16.73kg. Luggage in luggage without contents is 7.52kg

Too much S&T (sick & tired) aka distractions

I seem to have attention problem. I tend to do things halfway or not halfway and then get distracted and start doing other things. Maybe I’m a non-diagnosed ADHD? 

I can be doing my iMovies when I need to find details and go into Safari. Then I get s&t  typing drafts in my blog. Blog entries always in draft. Let see how long after I get this post posted out. Draft in point form and suddenly things I think of 

Trying to act busy … if I had completed at one go 

Maybe should delete my FB and INSTA app for time being. 

** written on 12th July but published on 3rd Sep 😂 tho it’s still dated 12th July 

Prelude

A prelude to our trip in a day’s time. Gruen effect or not, Donki has always been a favourite with the girls.

Rows of neatly arranged products

Part of the food section at 10+am. Not ready yet I guess 

Snacks

My teriyaki chicken lunch. Getting ready to eat more Japanese food for the next few days

Now that I have a prelude, wait for my post on postlude Japan trip to Donki, Meidiya and J-Mart. Haha! Do t ask me why but we always do that one day after a Japan trip

OMG!

If you’ve noticed a huge number of posts springing up since last year. It isn’t because I was that free to post everyday, but I was trying to extract posts in my Facebook to put into the blog and all earmarked under “On This Day (*respective day*)

I haven’t been checking daily for the last 3 months in FB? I might have to wait till 2025 to re-check again when the Memories page pop up. Sigh…. You know the good thing about FB is that we can just type whatever we want and post immediately, more often for me is really rubbish posts, hilarious posts about the girls. The posts about the girls are just so so precious, it serves as a reminder of how funny, silly, cute and not forgetting irritating my girls can be. 

Posting in a blog takes up longer time and effort as I need to draft my words nicely (not that nice tho coz not in perfect English) if not it’ll be filled with lotsa #%^*!!. Many times too, I do link my posts here and there. Posting in my blog requires me to do some reading up from other sources for some information. So yah….

Although we can simply draft an entry on the phone as I’m doing now, it will be much easier if it’s done on a laptop as the speed to right-click is faster. The next question is how often do I get the chance to sit down infront of a computer? 

Oh well, good luck to myself to update my blog entries, my memories before my brain fails me. 

Reminding self

After our outing at Ngee Ann City today - 10th July 2024.

Was driving out from the carpark lot and then I told che-che I must remind myself to pick Aricia up. I think she was puzzled and I continued that I’m so used to turning left the moment we leave the carpark ramp at Taka. If I turn left means I’m heading home. Then I burst out laughing that I forgot to pick her up from school before. Maybe she forgot about this? Coz I was sure I saw her shocked face from the rear mirror 😂. I’m sure I would have told her about it when I came back for her then. And lil’ one was the panicky one who reminded me “what about Che-che? U forgot to pick che-che up.” 

So funny, I kept reciting “pick Aricia pick Aricia pick Aricia” when turning in the huge Ngee Ann City’s basement carpark to the barrier. The moment I reached the top, Che-che from behind said “remember to pick Aricia up.” 

They have a forgetful mother. 

I’m the biggest procrastinator & imovies stress - 10th july

As at 10th July 0222hrs I managed to finally get my action going. 

1) Finished the graduation bouquet - my style

The reason why I had been pushing back and thinking of what to gift her (again) was because I was rushing through as many iMovies I can from the May’s USA holiday. 

I can simply buy her flowers but she doesn’t really like flowers as much as I do. But we can’t go empty handed. Even thought of re-using the crochet bouquet I brought over to US 😂. 

So why is my bouquet so simple without the huge flower bouquet paper? Coz there’s no way I can buy just 1-2 pieces of paper. Moreover, I don’t even know how to wrap the thing

Looks like pinwheel. 好像在骗小孩子. Honestly I thought my house is like pasar malam with all the rubbish craft things BUT … I can’t bloody reach far in the scrapbooking box behind, I can only put a foot down inside and how to balance inside? You all should see the tons of snacks the girls bought! 2022日本零食还没吃完美国2023又买回来。Then we went Taiwan in 2023 Dec with che-che and they bought more snacks. Come back from USA in May 2024 with more snacks and …. we’re heading to Japan this Sunday 🤣🤣. Oh that’s not all, we have snacks from German Market, Donki, Korean mart. 我的家真是因有尽有。If only eating snacks can 填饱肚子，give us another round of CB we surely can survive at home. 

Really weird lor! I can only reach for this small pouch of scraps scrapbooking papers and a Tinkerbell scrapbooking set

Tinkerbell lost its sticky backing 😂. Come on Tinkerbell, why do you have to do this to me? I really have to keep it simple coz I can’t decorate it any more without anything. Oh well! I think the money-face girl will appreciate this more. I pray that it doesn’t fall apart on the day I present it to her. Haha! 

2) Rushing through to clear iMovies. 

3) Haven’t finished planning itinery for the upcoming Japan trip in 4 days time. Honestly not much planning to do, it’s mainly thinking where to do a day trip. Saga is the only prefecture we haven’t been to on Kyushu. Itoshima, Nagasaki (again), Kagoshima (again), Chiran to see the kamikaze planes? It’s easy without hubby around coz he always say we’re honouring the war. ??🤔

4) Haven’t packed the bag. Making it simple this time 

5) need to colour hair again. I just did last Thur and yesterday - Tuesday, only 5 days ago. and I see white strands again. 我的天啊‼️ why my hair grow so fast? 

6) haven’t even go thru the brief pointer-form itinery che-che did for the year end trip. Wah….no wonder I see they plan itinery is so relax. Compare theirs and mine. Ok, I really shouldn’t complain if I am going to pass the baton to others. 

Now you wonder why I always seem so busy right? It’s not only the manual houseworks but all the nitty gritty things too. 

Time to move on?

Why am I still holding back when her hubby has already moved on? T has already moved out of their marital home and now in a nice pretty retirement place. 

I was trying to clear some disk space in my phone for the upcoming Japan trip in any possible place. When I came to my contacts, I came across Velda’s contact. 

Missing her. My memory is bad but I do remember her beautiful cozy home and her herbs garden. Told myself that I will have herbs if I have a garden or place to put pots. I’ve lost that zeal coz there’s no way I’m putting consumable plants outside. I also rmbr her home is near Hampton Court Palace where she brought me. Pity I didn’t have time to return and see Hampton Court Palace properly on other trips. 

And now .. I’m no longer that young 20+ lady anymore. I hate to think that when I get older, my friends are getting older too. Sooner or later,  my friends will get lesser and lesser. Really have to make time to meet with my friends locally and overseas. 

My trusty che-che

Ehh…. Maybe so except for itinery planning where she will practically drag one around to the places, somehow forgetting that her parents are getting older each year and not as feeble as before. 

I have often been told that because she travels so often so she knows how to get from one place to another. I beg to differ, feels that as long as one can read english and one is daring and observant and willing to open mouth to ask for help, it does make travelling easy. (Also, it’s not like she’s been to so many countries.) Then again, she possess the ability and curiosity since young. Whenever we travel, I always need to get two maps; two brochures, two of everything because being inquisitive as she is she loves to look at maps and observe the things around her. One map will definitely be destroyed and crumpled with the constant flipping it open and close (Yup! At a young age of 5-6), so the other serves as for me to scan once we get home.  

Orientation

Her sense of direction is as good as mine if not better. 

Travelling with her alone

Last July was the first time I travelled with her as a young adult with 2 luggages. If not for the ‘intend to buy a lot of rubbish and snacks home’, one luggage is definitely more than enough for us. 

Anyway during that trip she was smart enough to suggest to me ‘leave Aunty Mio’s gifts in the snacks luggage so we don’t have to open it until we meet her at the end of the trip’. Then we were travelling from cities to cities by Shinkansen and moving in and out from different hotels. That made a lot of sense. 

Her being alone in the US

Tho it wasn’t for a very long stint in the US, her being independent and directional smart I was assured to leave her alone. 

She went on two overnight trips with her friends and trusted that she can take care of herself.

On the way back

On the way back we had pack up stuffs to lug home. And she was smart enough to suggest to me that we can fill up one luggage, even estimating the possible weight increase one may get in the airport. We weighed our luggage in the room and stopped at 2-3 lbs short of the weight limit. My goodness! It weighed exactly in the airport. That goes to show the weighing scale is tampered with at the airport. 

Once after that we fill up the other 2 luggages and then finally the last luggage before dumping the rests in the 2 extra bags we have

Welcome ! Welcome !

Had her SIN uni friends over (5th July), not all came. Only 3 girls came, guess the rests are working? 

Last week (28th June) she went to friend’s house in Sengkang and I told her she can have her friends to come over. We always welcome their friends to our home with open arms, at first she was saying that we’re at home and hubby works from home so often. I don’t see any problem, i explained it’s not like they’re young kids running around the house and screaming to affect daddy working. And if she feels we’re interrupting them, we won’t be running around the house and screaming. 

No baking. This is not the baking clique. Actually I do miss both K and V over coz you’ll hear their laughter and giggles over their baking. It’s all for fun and own consumption anyway so who cares if the bakes look horrible. 

Preparation

As usual che-che will always say we don’t have to prepare anything but us being the traditional hospitable people feels we need to prepare something or at least have something at home.

Honestly we are not short of snacks. We have snacks from Taiwan, Singapore, US, Japan, Thailand 🤣. We do have canned oolong tea but I wasn’t sure how many are coming so it won’t be enough. 

Hubby was also thoughtful enough to ask me what to buy when he went to pack lunch. He bought 2 1.5litres of green tea and a packet of honey wings. 

Left the rest of the house to the girls 

I hid in the room, helps that lil’ one had to work from home too on Fridays so everyone were in their room. Girls are big enough, they went out to have dinner. Well, thanks to the small mall opposite us we do have meal choices from foodcourt to fast foods to restaurants. 

She brought out the strawberries and blueberries I prepared after they returned from dinner. 

Washed the berries in Thieves vegetables wash in the afternoon 

So glossy looking. Another punnet of strawberry left in the fridge - all cleaned as well so che-che can top up when it runs out

@ 11.05pm : Prepared honey wings for them. A small pack of 11, I don’t know why it’s so weird only 11 😂 but we don’t have anymore honey wings left. There’s a pack of buffalo wings but it looks ‘ice burnt’ so not preparing that at all. 

So now my question to lil’ one is why she hasn’t invited any of her current friends over during school hols?