In search of The carpenter

When we first discussed renovating our house, the hubby's main concern was that we would not be able to find a good carpenter. He had been very impressed with the work of the last carpenter he hired years ago and wanted to hire him again even though he knew the carpenter would likely be retired by now. Imagine that they had no common language but the hubby still speaks of him like a kindred spirit, they believe in quality, excellent, lasting workmanship.

So, the dutiful wife made the call to Uncle Chan as although I am no good at Cantonese, I can still converse with him in Mandarin. I was full of anticipation while waiting for the call to go through as I heard so much about Uncle Chan and his hand in the various furniture at home. 🤣 Uncle Chan was very friendly and understanding, however, he is indeed retired and my hubby would not be able to hire his trusted carpenter.

On hubby's suggestion to ask Uncle Chan's recommendation for other carpenters, Uncle Chan candidly responded that he honestly cannot. 🤯 Is the standard that bad/low now? He continued to ask if we are going to have major renovations to which I replied that we intend to renovate room by room and he said that that was good; we can always change the contractor if the workmanship leaves much to be desired.. 😆

But how to decide on that first carpenter to use? Haus Bedroom was suggested by the parquet supplier we purchased from. They are neighbours in the same industrial estate. Naturally, I checked out its Facebook page first. I like that they offer a variety of configurations for the wardrobe design and the pricing is reasonable. Thankfully, hubby agreed and we swiftly made an appointment.

Michael was my first point of contact and had been extremely helpful. He is knowledgeable and confident of his products and able to give us suggestions and alternatives to our (mainly hubby's 😛) demands requirements. Especially for our bed frame which would hold our 2 European sized single mattresses and movable slatted frames and have sufficient storage underneath.

Exactly a month ago, our bedroom had been totally revamped with new parquet floor, new wardrobe, new bed frame and new wallpaper, paint and ceiling fan  (last three completely done by hubby himself) And we can't be any more pleased with how it had turned out... it is definitely my favourite room of the entire house at the moment. Special thanks warranted for not just Michael but his team of workers, including Moni and Nur. Moni even built a mini-version of the very complicated bed frame design to be extra certain that there would be no mistake in the final product. 👍

I think I don't even need to worry about finding the next carpenter too as hubby was already discussing possible ideas for the kitchen with Michael. 😉

8. Dylan and Erica need to see our faces in the crowd.. cheering

Unfortunately, I have yet to find the chance to be there for the kiddos in this regard. The closest I can think of is smiling and cheering them on from the other side of the glass window while they were having fun in The Little Gym.

Again, their parents are really good in doing so, I think. I believe they have not missed a single session of either of their sports days or school concerts. There are always lovely photos taken at those events of them grinning brightly in sporty action or colourful costumes. Although, I can imagine my brother yelling in addition to cheering them at the same events though... 😝

I did volunteer myself to accompany Dylan on his next school outing! That should be fun and Dylan was rather excited about the prospect. Most importantly, our presence and engagement in their lives will make such a positive difference for them.

7. Dylan and Erica need to trust, at a very early age, that home is safe.

Dylan and Erica are past "a very early age" but they do already trust that home is safe. Today at school-going age, they both are pretty confident and outgoing kiddos. My brother and sister-in-law are certainly doing a great job in this area.

I am pretty impressed by my brother who takes extra time to give each of them separate swimming "tuition" on top of swimming classes they attend with a swim coach. More than just ensuring they learn how to swim, I believe those one-to-one sessions are when he bonds with them individually. Bet he does not know that even science suggests that his actions are going to make Dylan and Erica smarter and better behaved!

This is one aspect, from my years of experience as a teacher, I learn is one of the most important aspects that any parent must take care of. A child will simply have difficulties growing up well-adjusted without a supportive and nurturing environment at home. There are so many "problematic" youngsters acting out in school because they lack the care and attention at home.

For children to be the bright future we expect them to be, we first have to ensure that we adults are providing a safe haven at home for them. Unfortunately there are many unprepared or even unwilling parents out there. Thankfully, and hopefully, the percentage of that group of parents is small compared to the parents I personally know who care a great deal about how to bring up their children!

Just to add, I do not see a safe environment to only be possible in a typical family nucleus with a father and a mother. I know of many atypical families of single parent and even same sex parents who probably do a better job at creating trust at home for their children than many of the "normal" family type I came across at school. The point is, if you have choose to bring a child to life, do it properly?!

Dylan and Erica need to....

Finally picking up where I last left off in the Dylan-needs-to series, except given the 6 years lapse 🤯 it now becomes the Dylan-and-Erica-need-to series. And not so sure if this list for kids is still relevant to these 2 not-so-little little ones (both of them in primary school next year!) but today being the first day of the month and the first day of the second half of the year, I am feeling pretty inspired to keep it going continuously for at least a month?!? (keeping fingers crossed)

Looking at the next item on the list, I can imagine why I allowed such a long gap to transpire...... "dig a hole to China" Why in the world would kids need to do that? And unfortunately I really don't have the best opinion of China right now so that is hardly a desirable destination. If it is about being okay to get down and get dirty playing in dirt, that I can agree! The concept of Forest School is one I wouldn't mind being more involved in personally! Well, both of them are not adverse to getting muddy and playing in sand so I guess that is settled?

Next one is "need to take a nap with their dog".... but they don't have a dog... and given the discussion the family had while we were standing outside a pet shop just yesterday.. it seems highly likely that they might have one in the future... but they do have hamsters! Too tiny for them to take a nap with but probably learning the value of taking care of another living creature just the same.. They are certainly more confident in handling their Pokemon-named pets than me...

So, this reboot of the series shall begin with 6. Dylan and Erica need to search for the end of the rainbow. Both of them definitely recognize the colourful phenomenon and we often would spend at least a few minutes marveling the beauty of it when we do catch one. This endeavour of searching for its end would be an interesting extension. I mean, we all know you can never quite find the end but it does not mean that the pursuit of it is worthless or meaningless. I can already imagine the fun and possible conversation that might arise from such a hunt. And when they do find out that I brought them on an impossible search, I hope they would see the value of it in terms of the intangible enjoyment we gained from that little adventure.

Can't wait to find a rainbow with them!!

International Day of Yoga 2019

21st June - summer solstice - officially adopted by the UN as International Day of Yoga after being endorsed by 175 out of 193 member states. That is a noteworthy record where more than 90% of the countries of the world actually agreed on something. Yoga for better health of the entire world population.

Although this year is already the 5th year that it is being celebrated worldwide, I was only aware of it last year when I was on the search for a suitable yoga school to learn to become an instructor. Having decided to take up YICC at Vyasa Singapore, I was informed of the event for IDY 2018 held at CSC Tessensohn.

Then, I was a participant, quite a lonely one too. But this year, I was a volunteer and really glad to contribute as an instructor, a demonstrator, and an assistant alongside my YICC mates. Had assumed it would be a single day event but Vyasa, as one of the main organisers working with the High Commision of India, oversaw nearly 200 sessions across the island over about 2 weeks!

Preparation began a month earlier with weekly practice of the Common Yoga Protocol prepared by the Ministry of Ayuverda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) in India. Volunteers were also invited to a photoshoot at Esplanade before we were assigned to the various venues and sessions.

The photoshoot was set at 7am and it had been a long time since I woke up that early for anything. But upon arriving at the outdoor theatre by the waters, I was immediately refreshed and surprisingly stayed pretty alert for the entire session adopting various asanas for the photoshoot with over 50 other volunteers (an organisation nightmare).

My first assignment was totally out of my expectation. As a first-time volunteer, I assumed I would be taking on the role of an assistant, instead, I became the only instructor available for a session to nearly 20 participants at Boon Lay. Thankfully the teacher in me took over and the session went well. I had one participant inquiring the whereabouts of Vyasa after I mentioned it and another requesting for the sequence of asanas I taught... got to mean something right? 😃

The second one was comparatively relaxed as I was one of many assistants to a regular volunteer. In fact, the number of assistants was more than the number of participants in the beautiful Botanical Gardens. Outdoor yoga was lovely although I really did not enjoy the wet grass we were practising on. The calming and healing sounds of the singing bowls during savasanah were out of the world wonderful too.

Right after that, I went along to my third session at Sunlove Whampoa where I really could put my mandarin knowledge and limited dialect to good use as we guided a huge group of senior citizens in chair yoga. Had the pleasure to meet and hear the High Commissioner of India himself who graced the event.

Later the same day, we ended the day with the main event back at CSC Tessensohn with a full programme of speeches and performances before the yoga practice. It really felt like I came a full circle to where I first started with Vyasa. 😊

My final session was on the following morning at CSC Bukit Batok, semi outdoors in an open pavilion with the pool as our view. So fortunate that the 6yo who gave the speech the previous night was invited here too! I got a much better view to her outstanding performance!! Thereafter, I took on the role of demonstrator and managed to execute all instructions successfully.

Yoga has really become such an important part of my life and it means so much to me that I am now able to introduce it and its benefits to so many more people. Still unsure about becoming a professional yoga instructor as something about linking it to monetary value feels wrong.. Anyway, looking forward to the upcoming thank-you party! And of course, many more IDY to come..

Happy Loving Day!

I first heard of them only when the movie came out in 2016. Jailed for marrying the love of your life. For the Valentine baby in me, that is just totally unacceptable so although I did not watch the movie, I read up about this resilient couple who never gave up. Because of the persistence and courage of Mildred and Richard Loving, Americans can truly have the freedom to marry since 12 June 1967.

Actually in the context of Singapore, the Loving vs Virginia case is hardly relevant since Eurasians (persons of mixed European and Asian descent) first arrived in the 19th century, interracial marriages here are hardly out of the norm. I love the aptness of the last name of the plaintiffs but I would never imagine this unofficial celebration held annually in June would now feel this close to heart.

Happy Loving Day to my dearest hubby and all interracial couples out there! Although we come from such vastly different backgrounds, love is love, and love is enough to make a relationship (and all the work that comes with it) worthwhile. But yup, definitely glad I do not have to worry about being thrown into jail for loving you.

what does it mean?

Over the weekend, I attended a performance-installation curated as part of Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2019. I had always enjoy art somewhat, I am a dancer after all and my first out-of-the-world experience at Singapore Biennale 20?? is still deeply etched in my mind. But I don't usually actively seek out artistic performances or exhibitions to attend. What I do catch, often and largely, depends on my much more artsy gal pal Geri. Come to think of it, almost all of the paid artistic performances I attended were with her! 😄

I was actually slightly reluctant to catch this particular one when she first suggested it to me, probably because I was feeling kind of broke and didn't really want to spend unnecessarily. But it had been a while since we met and her recommendations had never failed so far so I said "yes!" to ST/LL. This post is not a review on it. But here is an incredibly well-written review on it if that's what you want. I hope my writing skills reach that level sometime in the near future... but anyway my post is more about the thoughts and emotions it had evoked in me.

First of all, I should have noticed the ingenious subtlety of its title way earlier than 10 minutes before the start of the performance. But I did not. It was only when we were seated and perusing the programme booklet did it hit me like a ton of bricks (ok, maybe not that hard, it is subtle after all). I had assumed it was some kind of acronym or code - ST = standard and LL = long lens?!?! but it was a play of the word STILL.

Before I share the director's (Shiro Takatani) explanation of it, I need to put it out there this recurring thought/dream/imagery that I have been replaying in my mind for years. Consider a bowl of marbles. It can be a very serene scenario of pretty marbles sitting in a bowl. Then consider the bowl being upturned and that direct opposite of serenity as the marbles dispersed in all directions. Sometimes, there are marbles, other times there had been liquid, water, seeds, sticks etc. But always this replay of containment versus .... chaos? release? I could not make sense of it. I know there is some truth or knowledge or understanding to be gained from it. Something about the crazily minuscule point between the two states but I could not figure it out all these years. I had tried posing this odd "question" to just 2 people who I thought might have an answer for me but it is still unraveling to this day...

So... try and understand just how big my eyes widened as I read these words from the director:

ST/LL is taken from the word "still". The slash signifies a sense of being "in between" - for example, being between one moment and the next - and expresses the fluctuations between being tranquil or stationary to being busy or in motion. The slash also alludes to the idea to what extent can we recognise a very short amount of time?

I was ordained to watch this performance! By then, I literally could not wait for it to begin. Unfortunately, perhaps because I was not in the pink of health at that moment, I never quite got into a state of "meditation on silence" during the performance. My mind just refused to take a back seat and I was constantly trying to "make sense" and explain to myself what my eyes and ears were taking in. It really was a very arresting visual display. I was totally in awe with the technicalities, lighting and use of multimedia. [How in the world do they superimpose delayed or reversed images on a live stream?!?] However I much preferred the gentle swishing of water as the performers moved across the shallow pool onstage to the almost-oppressive music composition by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

At the end of it, I still had no answer. Perhaps there was never meant to be an answer? Or perhaps I had not properly formulated a question yet? In any case, I thought this was a perfect example of how art is the only way to express something that can never be fully explained in words, of any language. You can only experience it.



PS: Writing this post is also a way for me to determine if I ever get any closer to finding an answer in future.