My favorite meme this year

Need i say more? 🤣

One photo I took during CB

 

very appropriate isn't it? a masked face to represent the CB period. But but but I took this selfie because it is a Hello Kitty mask!! So much more breathable than the government issued ones and ten times more aesthically pleasing 😍

PS: couldn't resist including a second photo while reviewing my album. check out this odd-shaped egg! Took a photo (and ate the egg) but forgot about posting it so ta-da! Not all eggs are egg-shaped.

One recipe I tried during CB

Wow. I tried so many. Probably cooked more during Circuit Breaker than I ever did in the first 40 years of my life. 🤣 Thus all the dishes warrant an album on its own!

The one recipe that I would keep using (which I already re-used once when my parents came over!) would be the Oven Baked Chicken and Rice. I was sold upon reading "completely hands off" 😂 which goes to show what kind of a cook I am. (Read: not much of a cook) 

I was slightly deterred by the onion and garlic required as this was one of the earliest dishes I made and I still had a dislike for both of these aromatics then. But yes, I have come around as long as I am allowed to cook them to death 😝

It is an added bonus to me to be able to cook the rice with the chicken as I do not have a rice cooker! Yes, apparently a shocker to many of my Asian friends. But I generally dislike plain rice so rice cooker 👎 and any type of flavoured rice 👍 

So it really is as easy to make as stated. Both attempts so far had been well-received so will be on the lookout for more of such one pan meal where I can put our new Bosch oven to good use!

A new song I discovered

I heard this one while in a Grab... moved me enough for me to Soundhound it (thank god for the history tab!) and imagine my surprise to find out the singer is Harry Styles.. 

Didn't recognise it (why should I since I am not even a fan when he was part of One Direction) and certainly didn't expect to be touched by his songs.. 

The song is arresting. Coupled with the music video, it is wow.

 

What am I now? What am I now?
What if I'm someone I don't want around?
I'm falling again, I'm falling again, I'm falling
What if I'm down?
What if I'm out?
What if I'm someone you won't talk about?
I'm falling again, I'm falling again, I'm falling

A new friend I made..

He is ...

Calm - just like his idol with the famous saying of "be water, my friend"

Harmonious which I found out after hearing him describe a work situation where I would have put my foot down

Ethical - The one time we met up for lunch, it was a vegetarian meal. I am a part-time vegetarian mainly for environmental reasons whereas he is a full-time vegetarian because he cares about all life.

Expert in grooming pets!

Hardworking, diligent and appreciative which makes my interactions with him so delightful.

Old and wise beyond his years. He is much younger than me but I can sense that old soul within him when we have some pretty serious conversations.

Wonderful as a student of mine under It's Raining Raincoats MADWISH initiative!

The Best Thing That Happened to Me This Year

It has to be discovering the SG Assist online platform. What a fabulous idea! 

I am already a SG Cares volunteer since 2010 and in many ways the two platforms are similar. But what spurred me to register for SG Assist was the fact that help can be rendered to others in the vicinity in real time. 

It was around the time that Dorscon Orange was announced when I chanced upon it on Facebook. During that time, returning residents were put on Stay Home Notice and close contacts identified via contact tracing were put on Leave of Absence. My own brother was under LOA for a period of time and honestly I did not think too much about it then. 

However, not everyone has the fortune of staying with someone else to keep the household running while one is unable to even step out of the house. There are people who have neither family nor friends nearby  to assist them in their daily needs such as food or grocery. The beauty of SG Assist is that you can easily connect to someone who can help you do just that! 远亲不如近邻啊!

Naturally I was concerned about the risks of getting infected but I am sort of young-ish and pretty healthy and I believe that things happen for a reason so if I do get infected even with all the precautions taken then so be it! I just cannot not do something when I am fully able to do it. Moreover, being a relatively new resident of Bukit Panjang, I thought this might be a good way to familiarise myself with this estate.

Although there could be multiple new assist requests in a day, I actually never got to help anyone on SHN or LOA. In fact, requests were accepted by other volunteers so quickly that I was often greeted with an empty request list instead! Good to know that Singapore is not short of helpers. 😃

Health vector created by pikisuperstar - www.freepik.com

It was only in July when I responded to my first SG Assist request and had since helped the same Senior Activity Centre with similar requests to accompany elderly to their medical appointments. So I would turn up at the nearby centre to meet the elderly, take the taxi with him to the hospital, navigate our way to the right clinic for registration, wait with him in the holding area and hail a taxi to return to the centre with him. 

Usually, the type of volunteer roles I take up involve either sports or children and I tend to avoid elderly because I barely speak Hokkien and I generally feel awkward around them. But I am so thankful for this precious opportunity to slow down and spend time with each of the pioneers I met. Not only did I get to hear incredible stories (one had a long career in the army), I learn that aging is not necessarily something to fear.

It may appear that the elderly were dependent on me during these trips but I truly think that I was the one who gained the most out of our interactions. As with every volunteer activity, it always ends with me in a state of joy and having a new appreciation for being alive. The sense of admiration from the taxi uncles and nurses who realised I have no relation to the elderly is a super morale booster too!

So the best thing that happened to me the year I turned 40 was signing myself up for SG Assist which led me to these kindly old souls who taught me that growing old is okay.

Shopping! Gifting? Choosing.

I love a good deal. Thus when I received the advert about additional discount and extra rebate by a particular departmental store, I knew I had to go as I had been eyeing this brand of shoes which they carry. Despite knowing that it was the Black Friday weekend, I was still taken aback by the queues. Queue to enter, queue to pay, queue for free wrapping, it was swarming with people. I was surprised and a little sad.

That brand of shoes (anothersole) had a special offer of 40% on second pair on top of the advertised markdown. I was tempted enough to start texting my family if anyone was keen but unfortunately (or fortunately?) they were not and the particular pair that I wanted had ran out of my size. 😦 I tried on other models which my big feet could fit but ultimately I chose not to get any.

However that was not why I felt sad. It had been a while since I went to the malls to shop. Standing among the crowds with incredible deals shouting for attention across four floors of the shopping centre, I could not help but wonder if it was consumerism at its worst. With Christmas just around the corner, it was almost certain that most of the purchases being rung up at the cashiers would end up as gifts. Gifts that sadly, more often than not end up unused and forgotten, therefore wasted.

 

Facebook memories recently reminded me that I shared the above infographic some years back. I think most of my family and friends know that I prefer not to receive gifts. I made it very plain what kind of memories I wish for (any chance to be up close and personal with Aaron or Kitty!) 🤣 I wish more people know of these alternatives. And my niece and nephew understand why they rarely get presents from this auntie.

Annual sales such as these also beg the question if one is really getting a good deal. The following meme got me laughing out loud and you got to admit that there is at least a nugget of truth in it! Unless you have been keeping track of the price of the item, how do you know that the discount stated was really a discount? It is so very easy to pick up other items in a big store since you are already there and you are already going to stand in the queue. Suddenly, something that was not on your shopping list becomes something the child of so-and-so might like for Christmas.

And I totally wish that this particular fantasy can become a reality. Even if it is not as serious as a mental illness, it is a fact that most people do not make conscious choices when it comes to buying things. It is on sale, buy. I can afford it, buy. Everyone has it, buy. That is so pretty, buy. What a fashion statement, buy. People will be so impressed, buy... 

If you do not care about how overconsumption is causing a strain on our only home's resources, at least consider how much you can save if you do not buy. 🤷 Start considering every want-to-buy-item in terms of "how long do I have to work for it" instead of how much money it cost. I realised I have unconsciously switched to this mode of thinking since becoming a paid-by-hour freelance teacher! 

So, choose to be a conscious consumer ok? 😼