二千〇八：Tokyo Marathon 2014

I completed the marathon!

After 6hr30min of torture, I completed the marathon! 

It actually felt great at first, the weather was freezing cold while we waiting at the start line, and it actually started snowing slightly, but once the race got to a start, it was quite a wonderful feeling to be going through all the lanes of Shinjuku with just the sea of runners. I didn't perspire for maybe the first 5km, and after that , maybe because I didn't train much, and also I did run slightly too fast at first, the back of my left knee started hurting and I think it was even a miracle I managed to keep running for 21km. "Mind over matter, mind over matter" was the only thing I tried to keep thinking, and it kinda worked for most of it, but when the pain worsened, and my perseverance kinda broke after 21km, I could only try to walk as quickly as I could and look forward to seeing my supporters along the way. I almost missed the cutoff for 35km, didn't realise I was walking too slowly and that the 30-35km cutoff times were so near, almost died after crossing it a minute before it closed. Felt so tired and in pain that I just stretched out there and sobbed uncontrollably while waiting for Ryo & bb to come by. Luckily it was 40 minutes to the next 38km point and I took a short rest to compose myself and walked on with another girl who was also caught in the same situation behind me. We became the last 2 pple in the race at that point.. until we caught up with more people walking at around 40km. phew. & finally made it to the end with about 5 minutes to spare. What a relief to finally reach the finish point and sit down after getting the medal and the bag. 

I couldn't walk properly that night, and was glad that Shuping came to the hotel and had a good catch up over my celebratory yakiniku dinner. I actually dozed off at about 9.30pm, and woke up at 11.30pm, didn't realise I was so tired. But still can't walk properly and I fell asleep at about past midnight again. The next day was much better, I could at least walk awkwardly slowly. 

I'm going to just take a rest from full marathons for a while, 2 in 4 months is just abit many for me and my next run will be a half marathon near my place in April. Go me! 

I've completed 3 marathons! 

二千〇七：CNY 2014

Lion dance performance in the office

I've been in sg for a month. & I don't want to leave!!

Mum has been babysitting bb for the whole month when I go to work and it's really so much better here than being alone at home, pulling my hair out trying to work and look after bb at the same time. This morning I even caught myself thinking if I have a 2nd child (like get pregnant now) the baby would be out by the end of the year. OMG! noooooooooo!! that would be totally the end of my freedom though.

We went to the zoo, bb loves the water park / playground.

We went to sentosa, bb enjoyed herself at the water playground and the beach, a little scared of waves in the sea.

We went on some playdates, discovered bb is a tyrant when it comes to toys. Even other people's toys.

& it's valentine's day today! I made 2 very simple cards, with chocolates for my team mates , and then sent a box of cupcakes to my sister in UK since she's alone w/o her hubby, (of cos she has to pay for it first, i'll just IOU her the cash for future use i guess) I hope she can actually finish the cupcakes though, they seem like alot for 1 person.

Tokyo marathon in a week. argh!!

二千〇六：2014 Resolutions

bb helping me to think on new year's day. 

I was thinking what I wanted to achieve in 2014 and here's a list -

1. Yoga everyday in 2014 - it doesn't have to be a full set daily, no pressure, but definitely want to try to put in time daily because I feel so inspired looking at photos of other people doing yoga and basically have become so unflexible that I almost am starting to feel angry at my body. This should help in my running as well?? Anyway, I'm logging my thoughts at http://yoga3652014.blogspot.jp/ if anyone is curious! 
2. Running - Tokyo marathon is the first event (had such high hopes and its really hard to go running with bb and the festive season, and going to sg soon) so all I'm aiming for is to run more during the marathon and end with a slightly better time?? (><) Perhaps I'll try to join the smaller races in the year. I'm slightly interested in the Nagoya women's marathon, but that's just a maybe. I can maybe run more when bb starts school in April. 
3. Travel - I want to go either France or Hawaii?? Or maybe just Taiwan or Hong Kong to pig out.. 
4. Photography - Nowadays most of my shots are of bb. Which is actually quite difficult, since she moves about at the speed of lighting. I'll aim to improve my toddler photography with my cheapo camera! & perhaps do a 365day photobook at the end of the year! 
5. Baking - Learn to bake something new every 3 weeks? (excluding travel months)
6. Knitting/Crocheting/sewing - A pair of house socks for Ryo in time for the next winter at least, and to complete bb's little dress for this year's winter! ahahaha! and also... her baby stroller blanket in time for this winter as well.. 
7. Parenting- try my best as an idle parent to help bb grow well! 

二千〇五：2013 is ending!

Another draft post finally up.

 December was a lazy month, mainly trying to get over holidays in November and anticipating the Xmas & New year holidays and the trip to SG. Everytime a good friend or family comes and leaves, it kinda feels like a big gaping hole is opened in my heart. Maybe it's a bit exaggerated, but I think I will never ever get used to life here properly without my friends or family around. in JP, I just want to hide in the house, huge inertia to dress up and go out, and maybe because i have to do everything myself here?

 I don't know what I've achieved in 2013. 
1. Closure for alot of issues supposedly are still hanging in the air.
2. BB is one, and i registered her properly in a school is one good thing i've done i guess.
3. Ran one marathon (Kobe Marathon) with the guys in the same race and completed
4. turned 31.

 Hopefully 2014 sees more from me.

二千〇四：Happy Achievements

Ok... I'm going to have to skip the October post first because I want to put down all November happenings before I forget.

1. The horrible work project that took my days from 17-Oct to 2-Nov is over! (Yes everyday - 15 hours/day)
2. 2 groups of friends visited me!
3. I completed the Kobe Marathon 2013!

after the race with Yuh Soon & Julius 

First - the marathon.
I was super nervous leading up to it, because I caught a cold the week before that while sightseeing and it was the kind of flu that had green mucus and headaches and almost coughs, and was still showing symptoms up to the day before. The hb caught it right before the marathon when he was supposed to help take care of the bb during the run and I was feeling quite stressed wondering if he would be able to look after bb during my run and if not what was I going to do!! Anyway.. I enjoyed a bbfree morning the day b4 that, we went to the expo to get our race packs and after that came back for lunch and dinner with the bb. I was feeling quite tired actually, since I was sick and I didn't get enough sleep the night before as well.　I tried to go to bed at 11pm the night before the marathon but ended up bb didn't want to sleep until 2-3am and Ryo was finally awake to entertain her.

The morning of the marathon, I woke up quietly, got ready with the guys and sneaked out at around 7.30am. The best thing is that the marathon was pretty much just at my doorstep, and we had to go down early only for bad deposits and just stretch and wait around. I merged myself among the guys who were in group D (i'm group G) and started off with them. The first loo at the motomachi starbucks saved me, and after that it was just running until 18km and walking the rest of the way with a bit of up slope running here and there.

I'm slightly disappointed that I was slower than at the Osaka marathon - but then I thought - I barely trained for 2 months - and I still can walk after that - so .. at least I completed it! I'm really happy the guys came (I was all prepped to join myself because they said they weren't interested to join but signed up after, during the gold coast marathon season）. PHEW! it was loads more fun because they were here, even if just for the moral support. & very happy to see bb & the supporters, with like 8km to go. it was probably the longest 8km ever!!! next up.. Tokyo Marathon in feb.. but this time i will be alone (T.T)

Next - all the sightseeing.
Umera & her family came before the marathon and Julius & Yuh Soon came after. Basically it was just eat eat eat all the way. BB was quite a terror, kept throwing tantrums and i got so tired handling her. But.. managed to find the onsen area in Kyoto, visited Arashiyama twice, stayed in Kyoto at 烏丸 for the first time in my life (now i can almost tell u the layout of the shops along 四条) and visited the 清水寺 at night for their autumn nights special openings. Legs are soooo tired, but the onsen was good for the marathon recovery just that all the sightseeing made me tired again ahahaha!

Finally - Work .
The horrible project made us work continuously 18 days straight, over the weekends as well, for Europe hours. Felt like I was going mad, having to manage bb and work over such stressful conditions with the problematic project. Of cos we survived it , is there anyway not to? Just that the work conditions were hellish... I foresee January to be similar again :( But at least this time i'll be in Sg..

It's been a happy november so far, with all the babysitters around and the Kobe marathon completed. and Xmas will be here soon! & I can also look forward to going to SG again in Jan and seeing all my friends soon!

二千〇三：Work work work

bb with a tiny rubberducky on her head! 

 In October - I worked from 16-Oct to Nov 3 without a break. It was hell, especially on days when bb was whiny. I'm just glad I finally managed to see the giant rubberducky in Osaka the weekend before the hell period. The duck was situated in a really inconvenient location, at a port area in Nakanoshima, luckily we pushed bb there in the stroller. It gave me a chance to do a long run home as well, around ... 21km? which actually come to think of it isn't that far haha. The duck is so cute ! unfortunately we didn't realise that they were selling the small version of that rubber ducky limitedly every few hours and missed it ... so I guess we have to try to see it next year again!

Also managed to bring bb to the indoor Playground at Kidokid with Peishan & her bb. The place is fun and we discover something new to do everytime!

 I think nothing much else happened in Oct.. besides work. but at least that's over.

二千〇二：This is my September

bb picking up rocks under a tree

September! My favourite month of the year! is over..

& this post is quite late, apologies for the lack of updates. I blame work for this.

This year, I almost forgot about my own birthday, until Ryo asked me what I wanted for my present.  I had no idea, since I haven't been thinking about it, and the first thing that came to my mind was sleep. oops..

In the end, we went for a long long lunch at a French restaurant in the Kitano area, with the bb in the childcare room in the salon (paid 1050yen for 3 hours?) The MIL before that had offered something for my birthday, but ended up she scheduled a health check for that morning, so we just said never mind, and paid for the babysitting near our place instead. Didn't really understand why she would call in the evening at like 8pm to ask if the bb was going to her place still. 8pm.. we didn't even said we needed her help anymore, and calling at 8pm was kinda too late for anything to be done anyway.

Early September, we went to the Capcom Villa with Ryo's team, & had a bbq and bb enjoyed her time in the pool. Although the tankini she had received was still too big, she was quite good natured with almost everyone, & it was quite a tiring experience, with having to make sure she was ok instead of just relaxing.

Didn't do much else in Sept I think, there were 2 long wkends but we spent most of it resting, or avoiding the typhoons, so just did normal stuff like unpacking stuff, and I finally started training for the marathon. the first 2 runs almost killed me, even though it was only 6km... didn't realise how unfit i had become, but at least it got easier progressively.

二千〇一： Summer

at Kumamoto Castle on a 37 degrees celsius day

I wasn't in Japan last year for summer (as I was having the bb in SG), so this year it's really a whole new world with the bb joining us for all the summer events!

Summer in Japan = Fireworks! 

My favourite event of the year. We were able to see the Kobe fireworks from our balcony this year, & Ryo invited his friend with his family over to come have dinner and watch the fireworks. The weekend after that, we went to Yodogawa in Osaka to view the fireworks event there. BB was quite scared at first (because we were in the good seats and right in the middle of all the action and noise) and she started crying after the fireworks started. Luckily we had the tripod all set up, all I needed to do was to hold her & press the trigger while watching the fireworks. We bought earplugs for her, but it wasn't of much help. She'll probably enjoy the fireworks more next year. Pictures:
Kobe Fireworks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635360220850/
Yodogawa Fireworks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635343201425/

We also went to watch the high school baseball matches, on a super hot summer day. Ryo's parents took care of the baby for that day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves w/o her that day. I was slightly worried if she would be ok as that was her first time with them alone, but everything turned out fine in the end.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635359837390/

There's a Obon event in August every year, and this is the first one we were able to attend since it was near our house. There is the Bon-odori (some sort of mass dance) but a little hard to dance with the bb on me, so we went to the pasar malam, ate alot of food, and just basically soaked up the atmosphere.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635352473443/

Mid August, we went to Kyushu (九州) for a short family trip, partly to visit Ryo's relatives as well. Some of them haven't met me or the baby before, because they were too old to travel (most of the people I met looked wrinkly and probably almost 90 years old). We drove through Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Ureshino and ended the trip at Fukuoka. The highlight of the trip was visiting Ippudo at its HQ restaurant! It tasted great, but I must say.. it's getting harder to go out or have a meal with bb. She keeps on grabbing at stuff, not eating when we feed, so keeping her entertained just takes up the whole meal time and I barely have any appetite left. Hopefully this is only a passing phase..  Pictures are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635366353333/

It was a very very eventful month!

二千: 1 year!

bb is one year old! 

Didn't realise it's the 2000th post *pops champagne*

Let me recall July highlights quickly -
1. SEA aquarium at resorts world
2. Tim Ho Wan char siew bao
3. Playdates at hokey pokey
4. Hotel staycation in Osaka Bay

&

5. BB's 1 year old birthday!!

Quick thoughts on the events.

1. SEA Aquarium
The big tank in the aquarium was quite impressive, but is it really the World's largest aquarium?? BB slept throughout the aquarium walk but she woke up later and quite enjoyed herself splashing a little water with Uncle J at the fountain area.

2.  Tim Ho Wan char siew bao
The charsiewbao was really good I must admit. The rest of the food was quite.. normal? Everything was freshly cooked /made which was a plus point, but that's about it I guess.

3. Playdates at Hokey Pokey
BB joined bb Geoffrey and Natanael at hokey pokey at Millenia walk for playdates. It was really more of the kids checking out all the toys themselves rather than playing with each other, but I guess it's not really all that conducive a place for kids to play with one another unless they were already friends. Quite a good place to play with toys that are too big to buy for the house, like pretend kitchens etc

4. Staycation in Osaka Bay
It was a highlight until we reached the hotel and realised that the room was quite old & small and the view was only ... meh? Never trust free hotel stays again. But anyway, we got a chance to sleep in an aircon room (the house has no aircon yet) and just relax together for the weekend on a comfortable bed, it was not a bad experience overall.

5. BB's first birthday!
Finally! it's been a year.. and i think it's just getting difficult. BB is now starting to walk & grabbing stuff off tables and everywhere she can reach. We celebrated her birthday in SG, at home and also with her Japanese grandparents after I came back. I hope bb stays healthy this year and grow up to be a good girl!

千九百九十九: The Weddings

bb was trying to flip through the hymn book. 

June was a hectic month, because of my sister's weddings. Not that we really managed to help a lot, but mainly running around with her amidst work to settle last minute stuff and also to be able to catch up since she was jetting off 2 days after the wedding.

It was the first church wedding that I'm part of as behind the scenes, with bb being the ringbearer and Julius asked to help take photos, so it was quite cool to be able to see everything from up close. The days before that was quite crazy though, we had to source for stuff to help with church decorations, my sister ordered pastries from Carpenter & Cook (the lavender madeleines were heavenly), printed out all the programs & signs for them (luckily I went to the office on a strategic day), mum sewed the hairbands and ties using all the elephant clothes for them, etc etc. I think the church wedding was too hectic to be really enjoyable, with it being in the middle of a weekday (& mum kept saying she was late for her makeup and hair when we were actually only slightly late and there was still plenty of time), and with the baby being the official wailer of the wedding (she kept doing the ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh screaming in the middle of the service which was super embarrassing and I had to try to silence her), I had to be the ring bearer instead. After that, my sister had a wardrobe mishap, I think one of her strings on her dress broke and the front of the dress kept slipping downwards after that.. well at least no one would say that it was an uneventful wedding haha! So I was too busy with the baby throughout to feel teary-eyed when my dad gave my sister away. But I did feel a bit of an emptiness when she wasn't around to squeeze on the bed with me & bb and to chat with till late night that night when she decided she could go over to her new hubby's place to sleep. sighz.

Took abit of a breather for the next few days until the Saturday traditional wedding, day after Jay Chou concert. yes i went to the Jay Chou concert! woohoo! IT WAS FANTASTIC! of course I was comparing it to the last concert I went to 10 years ago (how time flies) and back then, there was less bright computer effects and more proper performance. I was kind of hoping for more singing from him but there was more showcasing of other performers this time round. Maybe now big star le, can afford to sing less at his own concerts. Thanks to Umera, the seats were like centre front, super good! but of course, best part is because mum looked after bb and I could enjoy the concert undisturbed. Nowadays she is able to not take milk when i'm not around, and my mum just feeds her normal food and she doesn't even remember me unless it's time to sleep (so I still can't stay out too late, latest maybe 2am?) when she will whine and whine until my mum calls me to come back asap. But, all in all, it was fantastic to see Jay in concert again (think this concert can keep me happy for the next few years at least until I manage to come back to sg at the right time again hahah!) .

I digress. About the wedding - Saturday was the real wedding day. It was not as hectic, but of course, having to wake the baby up at 6am, she wasn't too happy about it, given that she slept not so early the night before. This time, her role was to open the groom's car door with Ryo. I think she did it quite well from the looks of the photos. After that, the usual haggling at the door and making Calvin dance around before coming into the room for my sister, but my tear glands finally gave up when Calvin hit on the correct song for the final obstacle. "Yum Yum.. something something the baker goes " song. You have to know my sister to know this, and I guess that just felt so correct that i was like (T.T) and a whole whoosh of emotions just overwhelmed me (感動？） and of course my sis let him in with this song. They left for his place after this, and we thought we could get a nap in, but it turns out that we have to go to the hotel at 2pm (because dad's car broke down so we had to catch a ride with Calvin's uncle) and we ended up having to leave just a short while after lunch.

Reached the hotel, we tried to nap or watch tv or something, but since Ryo was around, I wanted to actually head to town (since we were already in Newton) to just get some caffeine in my system to survive the rest of the day (only slept 3 hours after all the Jay excitement).. We ended up at Paragon after Ryo finally managed to tear himself away from the hotel TV which was showing the Day after tomorrow (>.<), and finally replaced his 8 years old sandals with a new teva pair at a world of sports sale (my mum had bought that pair for him in his first trip to sg with me in 2005 and it is disintegrating to grossness by now and can you believe it, he has no other slippers or sandals at home?!) and we finally settled down at starbucks for a 2 hour nuaing session. BB of cos was fast asleep by then. It actually felt kinda like we were back home, where all the shops, dept stores and malls were within walking / 1 train ride distance away.

Finally made it back to the hotel at around 6, took a quick shower, surveyed my face and decided I look too crappy from the lack of sleep to do anything about myself, and decided to just pay the makeup artist to help make me look good. (she did a great job!). The night went by quite smoothly, with everything ending about 11pm++ . BB had a good time meeting everyone, chance to play with her godpa too, and end of the story is - my sis is married and gone. *sobzz*

Other highlights of the month -
1. Legoland - went in spite of the haze, even though EVERYONE cancelled on me. HOW WIMPY! i was mad of course, stuck with 5 tickets (No one has paid me for them yet btw, which is really uncool of them) and I had to call pple up on friday night at 2am to ask if they were free on Saturday. Luckily my cousin agreed to go with me, and miraculously, the skies cleared up at around noon??! and the rest of the day was amazingly clear (and hot). so .. good things happen to good people after all.

2. Meeting other babies - had a baby picnic with some of my classmates from sec sch and their babies at Botanic gardens, lots of baby birthday parties and some cafe/playdates! At the picnic, bb was the oldest bb, so it was quite funny to see her trying to interact with the younger bb-ies. She seemed like such a giant among them. Brought her to playdates at bb gyms or playgrounds, but that's really too much for a bb who can't walk, so i think Hokey Pokey is probably her best option. Also met up with my pri sch fren whose bb is 3 weeks younger than bb, their development was probably most similar, and actually they got on quite well.  Maybe next time I can try to meet everyone again.

3. Old friends - hmm.. This trip, I've actually made an effort to meet up with quite a few people whom I've not seen for the past 5 years at least? We've all moved on to different stages in our lives now, and it feels "safer" to meet them now. There are some people I don't dare to meet up with, because they are always so demanding, and I'm sure they haven't changed. Some of these old friends were accidental meetings, bumped into them, and made promises to catch up. I had been quite nervous in fact, and was glad that everything turned out fine. In fact, I had quite a good time catching up with them even though I was really worried we would have nothing to talk about. But surprisingly, the vibes/(sparks?) were still there, it was easy to fall back into our previous friendliness. of course, everyone is hands off now.

anyway. July - time to go home to Japan soon..

千九百九十八: Hello Singapore!

the almost 10 months old bb thinking about her future as a breadtaster..

It's been a month plus and BB is growing well! (Or as well as I think it should be) She can crawl super fast, chasing me from the living room to the bedroom or the washroom the moment she detects that I have "escaped" from the room and she can stand up by herself. She can also cruise, and clap her hands and have 2 lower front teeth growing out. Also blabbered some sounds here and there. her facebook page is: http://www.facebook.com/bbmirei

We're in Singapore right now, after settling  big hooha regarding my spouse visa expiring. At least I've learnt a lesson, next time i'll set a calendar reminder to renew the visa!

It's been quite a busy few weeks in SG, with work and settling bb in, and also meeting up with friends, helping out with my sister's wedding stuff. (maybe we have been very little of a help since now the bride seems to be in a very bad mood) The past week has been great with my sis (& future BIL) around though, being very nice in dropping us off at places and picking us up. There were the very interesting nightly chats about dumb stuff that kept us up late at night (besides bb waking up at night for her milk) that I did miss being away from my sisters. At least bb seems to be adapting to life here, and has been going to her grandparents for cuddles instead of just me. Even her aunts have been approved by her as allowed to carry her. One of the changes for this age is her shyness to strangers. She starts crying when she meets new adults (my friends) unless I'm carrying her, although she is kpo about what they are doing, she doesn't want to let them touch her, or she pretends to be just playing with her toy and takes secret glances to see if anyone is watching her. & she has the play hard to get character, such that even after she allows people to carry her, she refuses to look at them straight in the face, and just keeps turning her head to avoid eye contact. (>.<)

I managed to read quite a few books the past weeks: the Happiness Project, 1Q84, and some Stephen Clarke books. (His books on France and parisiens and their lifestyles are hilarious). 1Q84 left a very deep impression on me; it's the kind of book where you end up thinking "What??? I don't understand!" but yet the plot was simple enough to follow to the end despite the large number of characters introduced here and there. I wonder if I would be able to actually follow through it if it had been the Japanese version. But I haven't felt like that in a long time, that I needed to finish a book before I slept (not successful since the book was too long and took me a week's nights to finish)

Taking a break from all the craftwork as well, but have to finish crocheting a pouch for my cousin as already promised. Doing something new this time, added a strand of shiny yarn to the original woolly yarn to give the pouch a touch of elegance. I hope the end result is pretty!

I am very much looking forward to Jay's concert at the end of the week. It's been years since I've gone to his concert, I think it was when I was still in university. 2002??? 11 yearS!? wow.. it was alot easier to get tickets for him then, and only half the price for the cheapest tickets. I haven't even heard his latest album yet though, so I guess I've to be ready to hear some new songs in the concert. Slightly worried about how bb will cope that evening, but I think she should be ok?? since Ryo should be here by then :D

More on the wedding next! (next as in the next time i find time to post.. :P)

千九百九十七: Early morning ramblings

Feeling all unable to sleep now that bb woke me up at 4.30am for some unknown reason. Forgive me for the slightly messy post as this is from the phone, & I'm feeling a little lonely, having not really spoken to any real person lately.

Bb turns 9 months old today. Which reminds me that I need to bring her for her health check. (4th month and 9th month health checks are mandatory in Japan)

I think we've more or less settled in the new place (unpacked enough to live, the rest of the boxes are half opened and living from them in a need to basis. ) did I mention how the mil keeps insisting on coming over to "help"? She called and aid "you must be having a hard time! I'll come over now!" I was working, and i wasn't even unpacking or having any hard time so I said "huh? No, i'm perfectly fine opening like 2 boxes daily and slowly unpacking" & she paused for a while before insisting I'm having a hard time. Huh???? & said she'll come over to help me open boxes. Which sounded quite ridiculous to me, as why would I want fo open the boxes when I wasn't intending to unpack them yet?? So i told her why would i open them when I have nowhere to put them? & she seemed not to understand that I prefer to unpack on my own time, and all she does when she come over is make the bb cry. When she does that, i'm totally unable to do anything else since i have to carry the bb and soothe her. Also, her /fil being around means i can't walk around the house in my pjs sans underwear. I insisted that i'm working and am busy b4 she finally understood that she wasn't coming. As expected, she called Ryo over the weekend to try to come over again, but luckily we were out at ikea buying stuff for the house. If only Ryo just tells them directly. I'm not allowed to be rude so i try to be civil about it and give all sorts of excuses but he can say things directly to his own parents right!

I think i'm finally falling asleep so maybe i'll continue this later.

千九百九十六： Packing up

empty shelves

It's almost moving day! (7th April to be exact)

How fast time flies! I remember flying here in April 2009, and suddenly it's been 4 years and we're finally moving out into a house of our own.

Thanks to this being a rental apartment, and being a tiny tiny place, I didn't buy much stuff to decorate, which made packing quite a breeze since it's mostly large items, books, clothes and basically easy to pack stuff.  Dishes, utensils in the kitchen have special utensil boxes which means no more wrapping with newspapers. Shoes have a shoe box (like a shoe cupboard, you just stuff shoes in them directly). Anything that can't be put in the boxes will be moved by the moving company directly. Which is quite alot of stuff actually, since the boxes are not that big. I've taken the chance to do an inventory of my clothing, which has been quite surprising so far, 13 pairs of jeans can you believe it?! Some are from my uni days, which actually, for a span of 9 years, is not that many pairs. I did accumulate lots of running attire in the last few years, which means I should make full use of them this year. I've signed up for 2 runs in sg so far, which is an incentive to train, now the only bottleneck is bb. Things should slightly improve after moving day, I can go do rounds at Meriken Park near the new place.

This is a video of the moving company - 

I think they are pretty cool! if you see the video, you'll know what I'm talking about. Of course, the people in the video paid for the moving people to pack everything for them, which I think is not really necessary in our case. & of course not paying them to unpack for us as well, I think it's weird that I would know where I want to put my stuff in my new place in advance. 

My MIL keeps insisting on coming to help us pack, but I've managed to fend her off so far. Firstly, she is old and can't carry any heavy things. Also, she isn't very tall, can't reach for tall  shelves. If anything happens to her (falls, injures herself) I would have more problems on my hands - how to take care of the baby as well? She asked me to bring the bb over instead, I was thinking, how is that a help when the baby doesn't really like you, cries after you carry her for 30 min, and needs milk in 2-3 hours? And if I'm at home, I still can pack here and there slowly, with no rush, but if she comes here to help look after the baby, I would be pressured to pack as much as I can just cause she is there? when I still have 2 weeks to stay here, I don't want to put everything into the boxes yet! We've already encountered some situations when we think oh shit, damn, we packed xxx into the boxes already, when we needed some stuff. And somemore, I'm supposed to be working on weekdays, after 4 years, she still doesn't seem to understand what working means. She sometimes insist on coming over on weekdays in the daytime, of course if she comes over, she will sit and chat for 2 hours. The other day, she came over and immediately bb who was in a good mood originally, started wailing. Because she tried to carry /touch her. I want to tell her to chill, let bb get familiarised with her first, and seriously, as an adult i have my personal space radius, I think bb also has, which is why she always gets pissed off by the mil because she just invades people's personal space. I don't like people touching me eg hair, hand or what, but she is the touchy kind of person and frankly, I hate it! ok .. I'm just letting off steam here, but maybe being alone most of the time has made me an even more prickly person around others. But I think the one thing that stuck me with the foul impression is that the first time she came over, she opened my drawers w/o permission. and the closed doors to my other rooms. Have you seen anyone come into other pple's houses and just open the drawers in their cupboards w/o asking!? She is a nice person in general, but like I said, I'm prickly and fussy and I remember such things quite clearly. so.. I can only say, as hard as I try to be civil and respectful when I have to interact with her, I just try to avoid seeing her as much as I can.

Ok I guess that's enough complaining for this post. Moving on to packing t-shirts /dresses today! 

千九百九十五： Here and There

BB starts eating bread!

Feb is always such a short short month! I guess it's because of the London trip in Jan which took up half the month, and after that, my parents came over to Japan which took up the first half of Feb.

Some thoughts on London. It was a good trip, much better than the first trip, because I got to see both my sisters, Henrietta, XQ, Chris, and also Julius, which was less lonely than the trip in 2010 for sure! It feels like I've just returned from the first trip; it's still quite fresh in our minds (all of us can still remember some of the small memorable stuff from 2010 like watching the man change the paper ads in the tube station). Bad weather for week 1 unfortunately, so much snow and it was almost freezing cold. Week 2 was actually sunny, and sunny for most of the week! Yes, in gloomy London, where sunlight is so rare. This trip we were slightly richer than 3 years ago, so we ate better food, went on more side trips, visited Liverpool, Manchester United stadium, Brighton, Cadbury World, went on the Jack the Ripper tour, watched an Arsenal soccer premier league game, had a proper English Tea at Bea's, and ate at a few Jamie Olivers' restaurants. (ok, i only noticed there are his restaurants all over the place this trip) My sis also introduced the wonderful flavourtown cupcakes to me. Actually living in London might suit me better if not for the weather. and British men are very sharp, very good looking! My only regret is that I still didn't get to visit Stonehenge yet, argh.

This time there was the baby too, which made travelling alot more difficult, but I'm glad we all survived it. Everyone around sorta grew to understand how difficult baby-watching is, but without all their help, I don't think I would have been able to travel properly, kudos to especially the men for helping to carry the baby. Imagine carrying a sack of rice for >8 hours a day, for 5 days! I almost broke my back the first week, but at least my sister carried the bag and camera. The best thing about visiting my sis in London is the nua-ness of the trip. Besides the days we planned to travel out, I managed to read quite a bit (it was hard to knit with the baby around, usually I had no 2 free hands at the same time) and had finally a proper rest from work which I really really needed, thanks to colleagues who didn't assign me anything after I went to London. So I revisited some of the places I had wandered to on my own 3 years ago with my sis / Julius and the baby, and was able to take better pictures with a better camera now as well :p

After I got back to Japan, it was a few days of rest (and lots of unpacking and cleaning up) before my parents visited for the CNY holidays. Their main aim was to see the baby, since they haven't seen her for 4 months. I'm actually quite glad they came, because even though we quarrel alot, my mum is probably the only person I absolutely trust who can handle the baby even if I'm not around since she is the only person who literally watched the bb grow up when she was born. Meaning, I can take long showers, sleep in late, enjoy meals my mum cook and basically relax and rest when my mum is around since my dad & her wants to play with the baby. Took them around Osaka, Kobe, ate quite abit of nice food, since this is Dad's first proper trip to Japan. We also managed to go to Hiroshima via the shinkansen, and ate lots and lots of oysters :D I think the baby was quite sad when they left because no one was around to play with her anymore.. I think she has finally reverted back to the lonely baby mode now though.

It's back to work now, after all the trips and visitors have left. Ryo is still away for work quite often, currently, so I'm trying to survive alot by myself with the baby. I don't know if it's getting easier or harder, but the baby sleeps less nowadays, and she needs food. I am only thankful that I'm still breastfeeding her, which has saved me almost 8 months of formula $$ and all the having to bring out the milk powder etc when going out. Nowadays, just 2 pieces of diapers, wet wipes and a change of clothes for the baby, are all I need for the baby. Although I'm quite lazy to bring the baby out by myself (because the baby is quite heavy, and I prefer using carrier because the baby stroller is very very hard to carry up and down the steps of the train station), I try to bring the baby out for a walk or to run errands once a week during the weekdays. I guess it's better for her than sitting around at home all week with me. Also, the discovery of baby led weaning is wonderful for lazy parents like myself as well. Just give the baby some food from your own plate that wasn't overly spiced and watch her chomp the food up happily instead of cooking yucky porridge for her. I really dislike porridge so I can't imagine having to eat porridge everyday just because I have to cook a small bowl for my baby. YUCK!

Next up, to train up for the half marathon in May!

千九百九十四：New Year Resolutions 2013

bb says Happy New Year!

the 2012 resolutions : http://booboogal.blogspot.jp/2012/01/2012-resolutions.html
1. Read 80 books - fail / only managed 72 cos I started all the knitting.
2. Only be nice to people who deserved it - hmm I think I kinda managed this, I think I just shrugged off alot of stuff last year.
3. Detox my life - semi-successful, again this is a subjective resolution, so maybe shrugged off / ignored those toxic people in the end.
4. Appreciate my parents more - I think our relationship improved alot, mainly there is the baby, of course it was a difficult time during the end of pregnancy and the start of having a baby, but nowadays I just chat with my mum on the phone which is easier than shouting with each other face to face.
5. Be in Japan more. - I was in Sg in Jan, 1 week in Feb, June, July, August, Sep, Oct. ok.. that was half a year.. maybe fail this resolution
6. Finish French elementary - fail - I think I can forget about going to any classes with the bb from now on..

for the 2013 ones, took me quite a while to come up with stuff.
1. Read 50 books - cut down the number due to bb being around giving me less time to read, although now I feel that I might be able to read quite a bit since its harder to knit with the bb.
2. Get one of my dreams started. This is sorta just at it's beginning stage so might take quite a while still
3. Get through the year in 1 piece. Just hope to get through this year smoothly with bb in general I guess, no big dreams this year of major travel or achievements.

千九百九十三： Looking back on 2012

5 months old - figuring out her fingers

The end of 2012 is here! The end of the world came & went though, & we all survived :p  i wonder what happened to the people who believed it & ended their lives (resigned their jobs, spent all their money etc)

It's time to look back on the year; this year flew by very quickly, last year at this time I was just pregnant, now bb is 5 months old + .. so fast! & as I write this, I realised this is why I need to blog, as age comes, I can't really remember what I did in the year, so even a summary blogpost a month helps me remember what I did in the past year (looking at my own archives now haha)

My 2012 in short:
January - New Year, & CNY in SG with family and friends. First time I had such a fun New Year's day , usually I'm snoozing at home by midnight 31-Dec.

February  - Tokyo Marathon with the guys, & all the touring around Tokyo of course. My favourite part was  the meal at Bills at Kamakura (for no particular reason, the memory of it just brings warmth into my tummy)

March - Saw Mount Fuji upclose for the first time at Kawakoguchi - it was really a WOOOOOOOW moment. The day before was snowy and cloudy and cold, basically a bad day for even travelling, & we had reached the ryokan not even knowing which direction Mount Fuji was at. & the next morning, it was the sun streaming through the window that woke me, I looked out and was shocked at the sight of the majestic view of the mountain so clear against the blue sky. I'm not a mountain person (don't ask me to climb any!) but this was just magnificent! in case you want to feel the same woooooow I did, the picture here might do it for you:



if you don't feel it, go see it in spring / summer, you won't regret this!

Moving on,
April - Mum & cousin Rina visited me in Japan at the best time of the year, when the sakura was blooming.. Quarrelled alot as usual with my mum, but all in all, it was good to have people over.

May -  Solar eclipse - first ever full solar eclipse for me! It was really cool, even though my equipment isn't that great, managed to shoot through my sunglasses and got at least 1good shot. if you want to see the pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157629925829026/with/7283025400/

June - KL/ Marathon - last overseas trip for me before having a baby, went with the guys to KL on their marathon weekend. Best part of KL as usual, is the Angsana spa visit! This is probably my favourite branded spa in the whole world, nearly 4 hours of bliss at only S$100+++ thanks to the weak ringgit. My 2nd favourite would be Willow Stream at Fairmont, but they cost a bomb.

July - bb Mirei arrived! Happy that she's out of me, but confinement was the worst month of my life. Secret showers had to be taken to keep my sanity. & no cold drinks! Still don't know what the reasons for torturing new mums are, but someone should abolish them!

August - Staycation at MBS after surviving confinement - Ryo came to sg for bb's first month party & then we headed for a short vacation at MBS. It wasn't really much of a vacation with a 1 month bb around, but at least we got some time away from my parents to just spend time as a small little family.

September - The big 30. - Best part of it was that my sis was in SG for a short break since the last time I saw her was in 2011 in Italy. Had alot of work to clear the night before, so the day itself was just a quiet affair with my mum, bb, sis & Calvin spent at Tiong Bahru Bakery. Youngest sis was MIA.

October - Nike Run -  I managed to complete my first post-delivery 10km! It was not easy .. since I haven't trained for a year, and was run/walking the whole way with a 1h 15 min timing..

November - Osaka Marathon - Back in Japan, bb took some time to get used to her new home. Visitors from Singapore was probably the highlight of the month & the feeling of emptiness after they left was quite bad knowing that the next trip to sg was >6 months later and by then, bb would be almost a year old.

December - Xmas / NY holidays! - Sort of holiday.. first time visiting the Kobe luminaire, and lights in osaka, usually we are so lazy as a couple + the weather is so cold that we just hibernate on our couch. Looking forward to bringing bb for her first NY temple visit on 1-1-2013.

After listing out the above, I realised I could have just easily referred to facebook (-.-!).

other notable achievements in 2012 - grew my first ever tomato (Ryo ate it), crocheted a hat for the baby, a pouch for me, a sorta scarf, learnt how to knit and came up with 3 scarfs so far - one for my youngest sis, one as a wedding gift & one as a xmas/birthday gift. The last one being this :　

grey & beige cashmere scarf as a birthday gift

Upcoming projects - 2 more scarfs for my parents coming to Japan for CNY, learn how to make socks / gloves and a proper scarf for the bb (hopefully?) 

2 more days to 2013. Happy new year every one! 

千九百九十二： Autumn

autumn leaves

Ok this is a late post for November (I realised I hadn't posted anything after returning to Japan at all, partly cos I've been overwhelmed with the task of handling the bb alone).

What happened in November -
1. bb & mummy settled down back in Kobe
2. bb is now 4 months ++ old
3. bb is able to flip on her right side (she can't flip back, just makes alot of noise after flipping to get us to move her)

4. Highlight of the month was that Julius & Yuh Soon came over from 16th Nov to 26th Nov for the Osaka marathon and sightseeing. Stayed at my place, which was a big help to me, because the more hands to look after bb and I actually felt like I was saner despite all the sightseeing making my legs tired haha. bb loves company as well, Julius was very good with her, helping to change her diaper sometimes and keeping her quiet / playing with her when I had to attend calls, while Yuh Soon helped to carry her stuff in his bag.  Ryo was away the first week in NY also, which made it even more helpful that they were here. Just nice the autumn leaves were out as well, very beautiful scenery everywhere.

5. Quite stressed out by MIL in particular, whenever  I visit. I'm not the kind that goes around brimming with enthusiasm or how should I say this - i dunno how to handle people who tells the baby oh you are so cute 10 times in a row or continuously says to the baby "oh i wanted to see u so badly!" (erhhh?? hinting to me??) and then she sorta keeps on going on about it when we want to leave because we have errands to run and chores to do about how we seldom visit, the last time we visited was a month ago (which was totally not true! we visited her only like 2 weeks ago so I felt even more irritated at this trick to try to guilt trip us!) and her way of snatching the bb away the moment we let our guard down (yes I feel that she really is waiting for us to let our guard down so that she can carry the baby herself). I mean, why do you need to *snatch*, it's not like I don't let you carry, but the bb is mine, when she cries for me, all the more she just shakes her harder and that just makes her cry harder. same old issue, she keeps saying "is she hungry is she hungry" and I hate that, why are you implying that i don't feed bb enough. She's in the 75th percentile, don't even ask stupid questions! and then the hubby don't understand this, it's not that I want to keep bb away, but i really want time at home and not rush here and there at least 1 day. there are some things I can only do on weekends when he is around and sitting around for hours at the IL's place is not helping.

6. Knitted my first proper scarf all by myself and sent it to Frieda as her wedding gift. I hope she likes it, it was a mad rush because I had not much time and all the knitting was done on public transport when the bb was ok with me not carrying her.

the completed scarf

December - I think the year just flew by (maybe cos of bb) and I can't really think of any major events this month except I have to start making all the new year / xmas cards. Oh, & beginning my long leave, because working in the day with bb not sleeping is almost impossible now. We have to go buy a walker for her soon. Looking forward to Jan though - will see my sisters and some friends in London!

千九百九十一： Struggling Along

bb lifting her head higher & higher each time

Bb is almost 3 months old! in another 3 days to be exact. Come to think of it, it's really quite amazing how a single cell organism grew into this cute little thing!

Her growth seems to be on track - just went to a 3 month follow up at KKH & the pediatrician said she was growing well! A little on the bigger side, but that's not a bad thing since she doesn't look like the Michelin man yet. She's drooling alot these days, chewing on her fingers and fist, which is an early sign of teething. Hopefully she doesn't bite me accidentally or purposely in future. Can't imagine the pain if she chomps down while drinking milk. from her mummy. eeeeeks!

I've been bringing bb almost everywhere I go. Places that allow babies at least. She's a big hit at group dinners, wedding dinners because she is such a friendly bb who allows everyone to carry her and then she chatters on and on and smiles at people so everyone wants a hand in carrying her. My parents have been helpful in taking care of the bb when I do want to go out on my own, I guess they enjoy the time with the bb since now there is an ample supply of frozen milk in the fridge. I finally watched my first musical, Avenue Q! It was quite an impulse decision, because I had always thought it was muppets related  so why would I want to pay $100+ just to watch the muppets! In the end, it was a hilarious musical due to the adult themed songs, we just kept laughing from start to end. I wouldn't mind watching it again definitely!

In another 1.5 weeks, it's time to go back to Japan again. Time really flies (T.T) I've been here 4 months this time and it feels like i've only really enjoyed myself the first and last month (for very obvious reasons). I do feel quite excited at the thought of finally introducing bb to our home & also to do everything the way I want, hopefully it won't be too much of a struggle.

千九百九十：oh crap i'm 30

bb at 8 weeks making faces at me

Well.. the day has arrived sooner than expected. First birthday present is from a friend received last week, although I haven't known her for long, she remembered my birthday which very much surprised me (& I'm quite touched). She has been looking out for me quite often in the past year which I'm very very thankful for. 2nd present was not so great though, a bunch of bugs. As in system bugs. Signoff for a big project is due tomorrow, & here I am at 3.32am trying to regress the bugs. Why am I doing this at this hour, you might ask, well... blame the dumbo engineers who like to leave things to the last minute. Can't they patch stuff 2 days ago? grrr... Hopefully I won't have to work until the same hours tomorrow night. This year is extra special because my sister is back from London in Singapore; we haven't had a chance to all gather at home since... 2009? & that was because of my wedding. now we have one more little lady in the house, my dad must be feeling the heat / noise from all the female hormones around him. It's been fun having someone at home in the afternoon to play kinect with & also to just help with the baby or to correct my knitting (which turns out has been wrong the whole time ...) The house will be so quiet next week (T.T)

千九百八十九：Almost 30

just love this innocent look at age 6 weeks

It's nearly 2 months of looking after a baby , & less than a month to my 30th birthday.

After such a long time of being young (usually I'm always the youngest at my workplace somehow, at the age of 20++) suddenly 30 sounds very old. No wonder Rachel in Friends refused to come out of her room on her birthday. I'm trying not to be bothered about it, but it's hard. The only consolation is that I've achieved most of what I wanted to before 30.

Before 30 (in no particular order)

• Completed a marathon
• Got married / had a baby 
• Still earning my own keep
• Living overseas
• Got my degree somehow
• Maintained zero debts 
• Managed to build up & hold on to some sort of investment portfolio which cannot feed me as passive income but can sell if in a pinch.
• Travelled to most of the cities I've always wanted to go (eg New York, Paris, London, Rome etc) 
• Saw Kimura Takuya in real life no less than 2m away at a SMAP concert when his crane like apparatus stopped right in front of me

Unfilfilled aspirations 

• I still can't speak French fluently
• I haven't properly travelled to other parts of France
• I want to watch a baseball match with Ichiro playing!
• Complete a marathon within 5 hours. 
• Start my own business somehow. still thinking of how to do it & what kind of business it should be. 
• Own my own home - this should be fulfilled next year! 
• Be able to bake all sorts of goodies and make all sorts of desserts
• Able to sew/knit make stuff really well

hmm.. I guess in the nearest sense, what I want to be able to do in the coming year is just be able to cope with working and looking after the baby at the same time (& I do have that competitive streak that I want my bb to be able to start walking etc really fast!) It's been a very challenging time the past 1.5 months, especially when I lack sleep and also learning to not let the baby restrict my social life and how to cope with work/baby at the same time. Even when I feel very very tired, it's just not possible to be angry with the bb (because i choose to have the bb; the bb didn't choose me) and when she gives the wide-eye pouty look, your heart just melts and smiles with her. I'm pretty thankful she only cries when she is hungry or wants to be carried (so far) but hopefully our communication will only improve with time :)