my oldest buddy

Actually today (Thursday) is Pete's birthday but he prefer staying at home since its weekdays after some regular hard work day. So we will celebrate the late birthday dinner with him tomorrow as my darling Selvi will take my kids and my domestic worker Thida out to the zoo.

After work, took MRT to City Hall where i waited for my buddy Klaus, who arrived here from Germany. Excited to see him again after my last dinner with him 2 years back. He used to be my art director of APA whom i worked with for 3 years.

We had talked and talked by writing on a ton of papers. And had a nice dinner @ Swissotel the Stamford's Out of the Pan. At 9ish striked out, i have to rush out to pick my boy from my mom's @ Braddell MRT. So missed him soo much...

Arrived at Braddell MRT control where Owen waited for me, i waved at him to come over to me... and gave him a huge hug and a wet kiss. hehe... We talked abt the other things on way back to home. Returned the rental dvds - Enchanted and Game Plan to DVD machine which stands by entrance of AMK hub.

my dish - Black pepper beef rolled in whole-wheat wrapper...

Klaus tried to take all of it - Crepe with vanilla, rum and raisin.

Owen put up a big smile behind the giant chrissy tree at AMK hub.

For Regina

Another batch of hand-made stuffs for Regina. She will be giving her lovely grandson who lives in Australia next month.

What i made the stuffs: bolster case (she asked for the one that i took sample bolester case in yellow from her to make a copy one), baby towel, burp cloth and bunny felted with grandson's name.

birthday wishes from germany!

the otto-wolf family never failed remembering my birthday since my marriage then... at work today, rec'd the wishes of HAPPY BIRTHDAY email from max, kerstin and their kids, attached with their lovely photos here.

"mysterious" parcel from belgium!

soooo sweet of ann and kristof sending me the "mysterious" parcel... all the way from belgium. arrived at my office at 5ish evening. i got my colleague coleen to drive me home with that not-sooo-small-cum-not-sooo-big parcel, in order not to mess up with crowded bus. otherwise, i could not hold parcel well before it will drop off me. thanks to her.

there's 3 CDs that kristof whipped up all the "best" belgian songs and some kris-style classics... aren't they cool??? i bet they are. the rest is belgian jules destrooper caramelized butter biscuits, cote d'or chocolate butter and cote d'or four season mignonnette flavoured with coffee, milk chocolate, milk chocolate with ground halzenuts and extra high quality plain chocolate. and cute birthday card which came with printed out of their photo he pasted on.

arrived at my desk...

on my way home... from the front passenger seat in coleen's car...

kristof created his own classic-style CD with nature foto... as well as birthday card.

well-known belgian cookies from jules destrooper

Welcome the little Luke!!!

the little luke broke his doting mom liping's water bag at 8am, 28th august. at last, delivered to this world at 12:49pm, weighted at 3.72kg, length at 53cm at birth. let's congratulate the proud parents...

proud father mike looked on his darling luke... at mt. alvernia hotel.

Welcome to this WORLD!!!

finally i managed to find time in making this lovely felt-hanging for my colleague sook fan and her hubby alphone before she jus gave birth to a cute baby girl... on 18th july 2007.

a day-old princess is having a rest at hospital... coooo... coooo...

Hospital day with Sean

That day i was not told about Sean being hospitalized until i usually sms-ed him for lunch where we work nearby... but was told that he is hospitalized now. OH MY GOD what is going on... explained that he crashed with other car at Upper Serangoon road... on that day, my little Owen and i decided to visit sean at AMK hospital and yah he looks much better after spent his time there for 3 weeks... my nasty joke teased him if he crashed due to his peeping at other gals while riding on...

sean smiled with my little 2-toothless owen

dinner with roger

finally met up with roger (back from his UK for vacation time) at outside AMK hub's subway after work ( i was 5 mins late). he found AMK more interesting... walked up to the 3rd floor of food court and grabbed the seats which awaiting us for 20 mins before joss and mike joined us.

amazed that they used the same model cells, except me ... blah... blah... blah... three beat one! boooo.... :p

three vs one???

rog and joss

mike

disabled and doing just fine

we got visit from the lees to my place. we talked and talked non-stop... until little mag (regina's daughter) rang ash up about the newspaper revealed abt the angs :) that made ash sooo excited and could not wait to read about... pressed me harder and harder to buy newspaper on that day night. fortunately the lees have straits times at home and forwarded the scan to us via email we rec'd at 11pm. ashley and owen already tucked in bed quickly.

anyway i have attached the image here:

~ the straits time newspaper clip ~
HOLDING HIS OWN: Mr Jaymes Ang, 41, thumbing through a book with his children, Alysha (left), nine, and Joshua, six. though Mr Ang has a stable job and earns a comfortable income together with his wife, he still worries about job security sometimes.

Jaymes Ang, who is hearing-impaired, loves his job but worries that automation and globalisation may make him redundatant.

They are good-looking children with peaches-and-cream complexions and doe-like eyes. Joshua is six. His sister Alysha is nine.

Their mother, kindergarten teacher Barbara D'cotta, is eurasian; their father, technical supervisor Jaymes Ang, is hearing-impaired and communicates using sign language.

He hopes his children will go to university and land good jobs. He has bought education insurance policies for each child and sets aside money each month for their "study fund".

The 41-year-old has a good stable job but confessed that he worries sometimes.

"Life is unpredictable," he said. "you never know what's going to happen. It's going to be difficult for me to get another job if i lose this one because not only am i getting older, but i am also hearing-impaired."

Mr Ang is one of the longest-serving employees at Nihon Etching, a company which was set up in 1990 and specialising in surface texturing of industrial moulds and other products. He landed the job after completing his o levels at mount vernon secondary school. Today, nearly 18 years later, he supervises a team of about 15 workers including three who are also hearing-impaired.

"I guess i'm very lucky. Our company's headquarters in japan hires many hearing-impaired people. I like the work and my bosses are very encouraging. I also think i am being paid a fair wage," he said, although he declined to reveal his salary.

His wife - who has a graduate diploma in special education from australia as well as a montessori diploma - used to teach in a secondary school but opted to teach in a kindergarten for better hours after the two children arrived.

Their combined wages allow the family to live fairly comfortably in a four-room (mistakely - shd be 5-room instead) HDB flat in sengkang and afford a car and maid.

Mr Ang said his disability has not put him at any disadvantage in the company although he has had the occasional case of insubordination.

"I just have to be firm and let them know i mean business. On the whole, i would say that the workers all get along very well. We help each other out."

While he has never entertained thoughts of leaving, he does worry about losing his job.

"I've met many clients whose factories have closed down. You also hear of companies relocating to vietnam, china and indonesia because wages are much cheaper in these places. The world is changing, so life is unpredictable," he said.

"My priorities now are my family. we try to save as much as possible. Before the children arrived, my wife and i like to travel to places like europe and australia. But now, it's places like malaysia and thailand.

"We are saving now to take them to australia but we want to wait until joshua is a little taller. At least then, he can go on rides in amusement parks.

Should the worst happen, he is prepared to let the car and maid go.

Things could be better for a disabled person in singapore, he said.

"For example, i don't get any tax reliefs. In malaysia, i get discounted train tickets or free or discounted entry to many places when i show my deaf card, but not here," he said.

The congenial man wants to carry on working for as long as he can.

"If i can't work any more, i will open a food stall. People always need to eat right?

He casts a cheeky look at his children and says: "Hopefully, by then, those two would have grown up. then, They can look after us."