And again, the price to pay for going overseas.

It's 6am and I'm still wide awake. Oh god, why why why? I'm so gonna die at work on Tuesday. To make things worse, in the noon I perspire like crazy.. Singapore has become so warm and humid after I've got accustomed to the Portuguese temperature. 

I knew it. Going overseas always torment me, either on the trip itself or after the trip. 

Losing my appetite whenever I go overseas - Bangkok, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan... is the worst. It's crazy. Singaporean food seems like the only thing I can get used to, and by that I mean, food cooked in Singapore, whether it's Thai, Indian, Japanese cuisine, I love them all.

I get sick easily overseas too - tired, restless and want to die until I see the potential to shop.;)

Korean food suited me most since I went to Korea and didn't hate the food there. 

And now Portuguese food (mainly only Western) didn't spoil my appetite too! 

I'm not sure if it was because I drank the most amount of alcohol in these two countries to accompany all my meals. :D

Now I'm back in Singapore with no appetite for anything. Nothing at all, not even Tom Yam. This was in total contrast with my Portuguese appetite. Just two weeks in Portugal and I've become a Portuguese. Hahaha. 

Now in Singapore, I can't sleep at night, can't eat anything, and have a raised body temperature. My body aches from the long walks to places of interest and my skin still burns and itch from the scorching Portuguese sun. When will this predicament end? Seriously going crazy before it does I think.

Just few days ago in Restauradores, when all was fine, and ignorant that jet lag will haunt me and drives me further from my sound mind. Lol.

I am a true blue Singaporean, as adamantly verified by my immune system and every cell in my body.

My first experience with jet lag

It's 4am, and here i am, struggling to catch a wink. It would be just 9pm at Portugal now.

Power of the irresistible (but unforgivable and annoying) jet lag. 

Yesterday I slept at 10am. It sucks right!

Anyways.. On 29 May every year, both Simba and I turn another year older. Happy 7th Year Anniversary to us!

A nice photo grid Simba made for me:

This year will be the first year that we can't afford any gift for each other anymore, and can't celebrate with good dinner. Life's gonna be very very poor, until we clear our debts and start saving again.

So, since yours truly can't get to sleep and it's just a day passed our 7th year anniversary, and I just went to Portugal, I'm tormenting you with some disgusting/disturbing selfies of us in Portugal. Hahahaha!

Outside Convent of Christ, Tomar

(I look so pro with two cameras, don't I?)

The only hot day of the week. 26 degrees Celsius.

Many said I became fatter this year, but my arrogant self (resulted from egoism) can't seem to reconcile with this idea and throws me into the state of denial. Hahaha. But I guess photos don't lie. My fatty tummy says hello!

Standing tall (not literally) before Christ of Convent

At the park opposite Jeronimos Monastery. 19 Degrees Celsius.

Still opposite Jeronimos Monastery. Brrrr.. We were shivering when the wind blew in our direction and the fountain water came drifting onto us. 

Woke up too late for the last day of conference and missed the keynote speaker's talk in the morning. Hence instead we were at the cafe next to the conference room indulging in a cup of coffee and the breezy wind. -Lisbon Marriott Hotel. 15 Degrees Celsius.

Purple leaves! Just outside station policia (police), a hundred meter from the old town, Alfama, where we lodged at! -14 Degrees Celsius.

I'm seriously considering going back to Portugal again. That's if after I explored other parts of Europe and still ain't bankrupt.;)

More of Portugal

When I'm back to work next week, I've got to come up with something to share with my colleagues. By that, I meant not just food and souvenirs, but something I've learnt from the conference, some insights that the team can gain and improvise on our current practice. Haha! 

And the good doctor asked me to present the work to our nursing homes through our videoconferencing system.

Life's hard :~(.

Thank god I stayed awake throughout the conference. Simba was tormented by it; he was "fishing a big fish" half the time. Next time if you want to torture Mr Tan for some reason, bring him to a conference (which is of no interest to him) or a musical. 

The moment I landed in SG, the first worry was the overwhelming emails. I started clearing (can't use the word 'reply') them, which was a bad idea apparently. Hahahaha! Manager then realized that I am back, and asked about how the trip and conference were, and whether I won the Best Paper Award.

See my reply to her:

"The trip was great! Portugal is a nice place to stay in – nice food, nice people, nice weather, nice scenery. I did a lot of sightseeing! I have attached some photos of the places I went to.

Conference was good. :) I met mainly Portuguese, Germans, Italians, and Koreans.

Hahaha! Didn’t get best paper. The others are just too good!

Best paper was awarded to “Reminiscence Map: Insights to design for people with dementia from a tangible prototype” by Dr. Huldtgren from Germany. Dr Huldtgren presented a map she did for a nursing home resident with mild dementia. The map is interactive; it can record the resident’s life history and show where the resident went to at certain parts of her life.

What made my day was that one of the conference chairs came up to me personally and said he read our work and that it is very interesting!"

And sent her these photos:

 Convent of Christ, Tomar (1)

 Convent of Christ, Tomar (2)

And of course, the Simba would act as if he was Sadako.

  Jeronimos Monastery (1)

Jeronimos Monastery (2)

Then after sending out this email, I realized that I didn't send her any photos of the conference. 

Okay, don't judge me, my dear friends! It's just that intrinsic nature in me that conference is secondary, and sightseeing is primary! :D

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal, where beers are cheap, people are honest, warm and humble, food is good, land is much less dense than our homeland, life is slow, 4G is damn fast, and where people don't use their cell phones a lot, value time with friends and family, are naturally good-looking, and can bring their dogs everywhere they go.

There's nothing I can find to not like Portugal.;) 

If I were to sum it up: nice people, nice food, nice weather, and nicely conserved heritage sites.

A friend who loves Japan said soon enough I will realize that there's nothing to shop for there and all the architectures look similar and I will get tired of them. These supposedly vintage-looking architectures will soon look like our HDBs. Lol.

Eh... No lah. At least I hope I won't think of it this way over time.

 

Santa Apolonia railway station

   

On way to Sao Jorge Castle.

2015.

As we envision a new phase of life together, there is no denial that sacrifices ought to be made.

2015 comes as a challenging year. Planning the wedding and doing house preparations simultaneously is absolutely a bad, bad idea. They get confusing after sometime, so all the while we feel that we were being led on by our vendors. They walked us through their proposal in lightning speed, and not giving us sufficient time to recollect our thoughts and consider our options... but who is to blame them? Their time is readily money. To be honest, we weren't able to tell whether what we have been spending on is considered a necessity or just sheer lavish. What is the balance here? How can we get everything at a reasonable price and yet at the same time have a "good wedding" and a "good home"? Seems impossible.

We will be in debt. A huge debt on top of our 30 years housing loan. Really, I worry. I worry about our bleak future in this country which has one of the highest standards of living. 

What has already been spent:

- $27K for 5% deposit of our house (paid in cash)

- $20K for renovation and electrical works

- $10K for our solemnization

- $5K for furniture and home appliances

Always thought that I will live out of "poverty" after my student days, but my short-sightedness has failed me and carried me thus far. Haha. Guess I'll still need to eat grass for two more long years before I can start saving again. 

My colleague who now has two kids told me he used to survive on bonuses for his wedding and house. Each payout from the company is used to pay a debt. He even went to ask people to pay back the money he loaned them. So people, if you have borrowed from me or JunWen, please start returning us our hard-earned money!

"Start small. Buy a 3-room HDB, and don't buy a car. That's how I started out." Says the good doctor. Haha.

I started out buying a 4-room flat. Sorry, boss.

Aiming to be debt-free in 3 years!

I guess, that's one of the challenges you face if you decide to get married. More to come!

I must admit that shopping for furniture and electronics are fun, even more fun than online shopping. 

My job entails talking to the nursing home residents about their views of death and the plans that the hospital wishes to help them with.

What left a deep impression was a young man who has multiple comorbidities. He knows his prognosis isn't good; he may pass away in a few years. When asked what makes his life meaningful, he said it is for the nurse to let him do wantever he does. By this, he means it is to not have the curry puff run out, or not to be forced to take a handful of medications every morning. Such simplicity one can ask for his life.

When you have met someone like this, you find that your problems are microscopic; they are what you see when you are up in the sky. Too small to be worth mentioning.

Have you ever wonder why stray dogs in the woods are not starved here? I mean they don't even look malnourished and gaunt from the malnutrition.

Yes, dog lovers. 

They are stray feeders who dedicate their lives to helping homeless dogs; they drive to such places after work to pay those strays a visit and feed them. It's a daily affair, mind you. 

Knowing a number of such people has been nothing but a blessing, as they have been my source of inspiration. 

;)

But these stray feeders usually are individual persons, not from any organization. Hence, on a personal level, other than food to offer, they have no resources to render help to the dogs which are wounded. That's when many came to animal welfare organizations for help. Although the shelter is full and we can't help every dog, injured dogs have been listed as the SOS rescue team's top priority. Hence, as long as the dog is injured, they will help regardless. Regardless of the medical fees and the stress to other dogs in the shelter that came along.

I received requests from animal enthusiasts to help abandoned dogs, but there's really so little that I can do. Shelter is always at its fullest capacity; with its full-time staff overworked, I can't possibly keep every dog in my house. However, when a stray feeder fed me with images of the dog with a big maggot wound on his neck, I know we have to do something, and I know we will. I can't concentrate on anything else except getting help and coordinating with both the requester and the SOS team. It was Good Friday the next day, and Simba and I spent a lazy day at home; mainly cos we need to get firsthand news on the dog and act on it fast. 

It was indeed stressful worrying about whether the dog will run away from the feeder and avoid humans from then now. It will be harder and harder to trap him and he will die from the wound if infected.

However, it turned out that he was lured by the food and trusted the feeder enough to have him leash him.;)

He was weak. Fearful and not knowing what to expect, he was initially reluctant to go out of the transport container into the isolation cage. Of course, after some coaxing, he allowed the feeder to gently pull him out.

I feel bad for asking the shelter manager come back to the shelter on a public holiday. She has been overexerting herself for the dogs. SOSD is already 24/7 for volunteers like me, and for a full time staff like her, there will be like a thousand unread msgs if she were to leave her phone alone for an hour. She took pics of him and examine his maggot wound closely, for the purpose of reporting to the SOS team on severity of his condition.

The cost of a vet visit on a public holiday is rocket high, and undoubtedly unaffordable. Our president is a doctor, who came down soon after to treat the wound and we are deeply appreciative of this fact.

The moment he realized that he is trapped in the cage. He looked so sad I can't help but feel for him. Imagine being a free roaming dog for a few years and you got trapped because you followed the only human you ever trusted your whole life.

You must have felt so betrayed.

He was such a gentle and calm creature, emaciated and dehydrated looking too.

The feeder named him "Ah Chui", Hokkien for water. Maybe he is a fengshui person and thinks good fortune. Haha.

He didn't cringe in pain even when we applied a powder that relieves pain, and when we touched the region surrounding his wound. He must have been too weak and the wound area must have been numb after his mind constantly influenced him to ignore the pain and survive. Mind over body.

While we were all worrying for him, Simba went to other isolation cages to interact with other dogs. Cat sounds from his phone reverberated through the isolation ward, and Simba's motive? Yes, to attempt to make the dogs go crazy... but to his surprise (not mine), they didn't bark or react strongly. Lol. But of course! The dogs at the shelter have been well trained by volunteers; they walk by their side and when these volunteers stop, they stop as well. 

After settling him down, Simba and I were supposed to walk to the nearest bus stop and take a bus back. But fate has it that the direction idiot (yours truly) took him the wrong way and we walked miles before we reached Tebing Lane. It's a chill out place for people who have just exercised at the park.

Then we walked to Punggol Park via the park connector.

As usual, he couldn't resist the opportunity to exercise at the exercise corner. He couldn't possibly let it slip past us.

Photogrid of what Good Friday 2015 brought us.

And that night, maggots were removed from the opening by Dr Siew. Ah Chui was bandaged up.;) 

The feeder told us that after Ah Chui recovers, we can put him back to the cemetery since he has been taken care of by the feeder. However, during his few weeks of recuperating in the shelter, this friendly and positive personality has warmed the hearts of volunteers there. He's now renamed Charlie and we are ready to have him in the shelter until he gets adopted!;)

Sometimes it's dogs like Charlie that reminds me to hang in there.

And some dogs are really super cute, like Sage here. It makes all you are doing for them worthwhile.

Parkland Residents

A 3-day course on ontological coaching last week has begun to work its influence on me, slowly but surely. It's like sorcery I can't believe it; the beauty of it lies in its ability to change you even when you weren't able to fully comprehend the topic. Hey, in my defense, some form of art is just too abstract for me, like for most people I guess.

I promised to do the course with an open mind but just can't help feeling sceptical about it. You ask me to learn something that isn't structured and relies mostly on intuition? Eh WHATTT?

Well, ontology is a field of study largely associated with philosophy. Yes, boss asked us to go for it, in the hope that we learn how to manage people and align their behaviors towards the organizational goals. Ehhh.. In the end, it taught us self-discovery, which means that we benefitted from the course on a personal level instead. Guess before we can try to change someone's behavior and habits, we have to change ours first. Makes sense? Change starts from within. 

If I'm not wrong, it uses the technique of empathy. You really got to listen very hard before you try to understand others' plight. You need to put yourself in another's shoes.

In relationships, there's a lot of listening and situational awareness to be done. Now being aware, I wonder how many times I unintentionally neglected Simba's suggestions for me to lead a better life. Lol.

"In you, I see a lot of healing to be done. The feelings of fear and enthusiasm are actually the same - the tightened chest, the pounding heart, the weakened calves - it's the story behind that's different."

Eh? Me? 

The coach seemed to see through my thoughts and emotions after 3 days. Omg I feel so vulnerable. 

I always see myself as someone who has this burning desire to relentlessly pursue happiness. I didn't know why until maybe after what the coach said to me. Perhaps, there's this sad soul that's dwelling in me all along.

After some activities we did... Pne of the coach's assistant told me this:

"Your knee problem seems to have affected a lot of you. You let your knee determine that you have been weak... It seems to have affected a lot of your self-esteem."

"From what I have heard from you, others around you have been accepting towards you - your husband, your parents... But my question to you is, have you been accepting others into your life?"

"Perhaps there's this confidence in you that you refused to let out."

Oh wow. Scaryyy isn't it. People can read you within days. And the amazing thing is, you have been so buried in your own thoughts and stuck in your own perceptions that you didn't even realize that you are living your misery out loud. One day, some random person tells you that you have been living your life wrong and your perception of the world is twisted. 

Yes, sadly, there is no more room for accepting anyone else in my life. I don't know when I stop doing that. I didn't hold any expectations on people in general anymore. That's why there's no suffering, if people let me down. Perhaps some bad experience with people in primary school has caused the damage and it has stayed on in my memory for years and entirely destroyed my hope in people. It will continue to blossom in me until I come to terms with myself (according to the coach). Maybe that's why I don't hesitate to lose some friends along the way in life when their thinking is really too far off from mine. You know, he said what shaped you to be who you are today is what your childhood has done to you. Yes I guess so.

It was weird that one of Simba's suggestions suddenly resonated in my head. He had said several times to buy a pair of new working shoes as my current pair (which cost me more than usual) was going to spoil, but I wasn't really listening each time he said it. I was so fixed in my head that the current pair was the most suitable and comfortable for my walking and I won't replace it unless it spoils. I threw away the pair and put on a new pair, and the feeling was great! My past shoes which have contorted out of shape have been the cause of my limp,and I just couldn't register this in my head. 

Haha. I guess being aware of self now, I'll see life differently.

The day we collected our keys for...

A place we can call home.

His parents came along, and brought some pineapple to roll across the living room and rice to sprinkle around the edges of the house. 

Aunt was there too, since Cousin and Aunt, my future neighbor, were getting their keys on the same day as us.;)

The empty living that leads to the balcony

Bedroom 1

View from bedroom

Our wardrobe that was described as "awkward" and "ugly" by our interior designer. Haha.

Fervent followers of the Chinese tradition. Oh well, I'm not exactly someone who believes in this kind of thing, but as Chinese, it's this instinctive nature in us to be superstitious.

Kitchen where most works are already done.

Stove which I might never get the chance to use. Haha.

The meticulous Simba marked down where each defect was at, no matter how small it was.  

My colleague, Lynn, took selfies with her hubby at every corner of the house, when they first got their keys. Iris told me to copycat her. Lol. Only managed to do it in one room when his parents weren't looking though. :D

A random photo of Simba at "Macau"! A newly opened restaurant at Nex, a place that sells pork burgers.

爸爸，您突然的离去...

爸爸，您突然的离去，使我们感慨万分。
离开是不免的，但我们还是对您的离去依依不舍。

In The Big Ideas of Lee Kuan Yew, Peter Ho recalls the words of Lee Kuan Yew that have been etched in his memory, "Reasonable men adapt, unreasonable men change the world."

He was the unreasonable man who was dissatisfied with things and went on to change them. His unreasonableness has transformed Singapore into what it is today. 

To the great man who saw the prosperous Singapore years ahead of time, and has believed and persevered for the people of Singapore: 

Rest well, Sir. You will be deeply missed.

2014, the best year yet.

Ontology.

A night class on it today made me more confused; it presents to me as a queer notion; I was like WHATTT the heck is he trying to convey to me? Make it more layman please.

 It's too artistic and abstract for me, but as much as I want to deny, some parts of me felt strangely inspired.:)

You must be thinking why was I there when I couldn't comprehend it? You are right; I was asked very politely by my manager to go on her behalf. Belonging to the "humji" gang of my department, I acceded to her request immediately. And now I am going to have so much trouble explaining the theories to her. God bless. 

2015.

How's your 2014?

Is it the one of best years you've ever had for years?

Can't believe my best year, 2014, ended.

2014, a turning point in my life...

In a new job, I found back my life. 

Things definitely took a turn for the better. :)

I guess, when things didn't fall in the right place in 2013, I became truly grateful for 2014.

I began to pay more attention to detail. 

- Why was I so unhappy in 2013?

I guess, first and foremost, I need someone who can direct me, someone whom I can genuinely respect. I need a good leader, who can see beyond my non-talents, focus more on my talents, and widen my perspective on looking at things, and most importantly to be far-sighted.

The good doctor is my leader. He is a good doctor.

Under his wings, I learnt far more than the accumulation of what I have in learnt in school. No joke.

The good doctor has not just empathy, but is compassionate. Empathy is just putting yourself in another's shoes, but compassion is something more; it's a strong desire to alleviate the suffering of the other.

Having experienced the complexity of Singapore's healthcare system and feeling absolutely helpless about how detached a doctor or a physiotherapist can be about your pain, I don't blame myself for feeling downright disappointed.

Since then, I have been skeptical about doctors; compassion, in my perspective, had died together with Florence Nightingale.

The surgeon who operated on me couldn't wait to show his medical students about my rare case of patellar subluxation. He treated me as a research subject; he was practically smiling widely (definitely alot wider than when he spoke to me) as he just lifted and bent my knee several times just to show how unique the movement of my knee cap was. He has never smiled to me before, yet he smiled to my knee. How ridiculous.

Whatever happened to individualized care? I don't think any of these is compassion fatigue, since there was none in the first place.

 He has never acknowledged and greeted my dad before even though he accompanied me for all consultations.

There was a high turnover rate for the physiotherapists in the hospital; I found myself getting different advice from a new therapist each time; there was no attempt to reconcile their head knowledge. How can you expect me to be compliant to the exercises they suggest (that didn't work because they apply the same method to every patient)?

Targeted and individualised approach to caring for a patient - why didn't people understand this?

I don't blame laypersons for not understanding my pain, and my knee that is so numb all the time. I don't blame them for not understanding why I didn't get better, and my fear of falling every moment I walked. Every time I walked, it's dangerous; I feel so unstable and I watched out for any stone, even the tiniest one that could potentially result in a fall.

But shouldn't you as a healthcare professional try to understand this? 

Shouldn't you as a hospital have a more logical layout? Reprinting a discharge summary made me walk from block to block, and each counter staff passed the buck to another department's staff, and the patient became the victim as a result. Limping from one end to the other of the hospital and increasing the potential risk of a fall. 

From the good doctor, I learnt what it means to be the true healer of society. His intrinsic motivation was evident; it wasn't to be highly paid and sit there while commanding others to do things. It was merely a desire to do more for the vulnerable elderly. While other doctors abuse their authority in using the nurses as a tool to vent their anger, he always listens to the woes of his staff and he never judges. He knows the hierarchical structure is never going to work; reinforcing authority and creating an intimidating work environment will only result in negatives like high staff turnover. 

He is one of the main persons who has resulted in a paradigm shift by creating a friendly work culture and imparting his values on.

The mini doctor, his understudy, said this to me one day, "Basically you do whatever he does, cos he's so nice it's so hard to reject him."

So true!

He is a inspiration, and specifically my inspiration.

He made a working diagnosis on me - the cause of my limp could be I may have a shorter leg than the other after the op.

"Go, go see my friend (the orthopaedic surgeon), and everything will be alright." - That is, after he told me that his friend may do a corrective surgery on me. 

-_-"

This was the assurance I didn't receive from the surgeon who operated on me. 

Well, secondly. I need colleagues who think like me.  Evon, Iris and Michelle have been the funniest people; with their nonsense they can crack even the toughest being up! Although they are the sole culprits for my recent sudden surge in weight, I still say I'm so blessed to have them.

All they ever want in life is to get married. They are so me right? We fitted wedding gowns together, just for the fun of it. 

Humourous people are my type of people, and I'm grateful that the good doctor and my colleagues possess my kind of humour.

Third I needed to do something more to make me happier; perhaps something that could distract me from my main work. The past workplace has left me vulnerable; my non talents were focused on and exposed. Insecurities came. Finger pointing and criticism were everywhere; I could literally see them fly across rooms. I became defensive and demoralized. It was hard surviving my first job. I always wonder what should be the best way for an organization to prosper; I didn't know the answer back then, but all I can be sure is that the last workplace is not doing it right. It doesn't have the abundance mindset.

Strangely, the negative emotions didn't settle at the workplace. Instead they came on stronger for Simba's then disease. 

Yogi, the most zen dog!

Yoshi and Yogi are one!

My favorite SOSD dog, Chivas, which was adopted within 2 months. Why u no wait for me and my new house?

Canning.

Animal-Assisted Activities - Using animals to bring care to people. I think it really worked for me. The healing process started and is still continuing to manifest in me. I'm deeply grateful that by random I chose a organization with standardized processes to work in. An organization which consists of animal activists but does not lose its logical thinking.;)

I spent most of the days in 2013 belittling and cursing myself, for everything that went wrong. And there were many that went wrong altogether. 

BUT... Everything in 2014 went right.

Fourth, in 2014, I got married.

Here we were at ROM to collect the certs to sign on for our coming solemnization event, and about to vow that we are above the age of 21 and were not drunken married in Las Vegas to someone else before. Lol.

With the typical, typical backdrop.

Many families came with the couple, which gave the advantage having their photos taken here by their parents/siblings.

We came by ourselves but a man whom we chose to help us with the photograph, self-proclaimed that we chose the right person. He said he is an expert. U think so?

Dress is the bridesmaid dress I have for the girls, except that mine is champagne. They say he looks like some Korean star lol. :D 

My red shoes are from Rock Star, everything from Rock Star is so pretty! Oh wait, it's Melissa shoes lol.

We brought the camera and the tripod to be our own photographer.:)

We looked like we lived in the 60s, with the faded photograph and his 60s' dressing.

More ROM photos: 

(I'm not quite done the last time, remember?)

Decorative flowers bought from IKEA.:)

Girls writing down their wishes for us.:)

The walk-in with the lion king song "Can you feel the love tonight?"

Wei Liang, Simba's BFF said he wanted to play this song on his coming wedding but we stole his idea! Too bad our wedding came first and it was last minute that I thought of this song to play.

    

When the solemnizer asked us to express our gratitude to our parents in a form of words or a hug. And of course as Asians who don't express our love for parent outright, we chose a hug. :)

That was when tears came.

Awesomeness from the solemnizer, cos his words have made us reflect and think about our unspoken love for our parents.

Verdict on our beloved solemnizer: 5/5

Everyone likes him, including our photographers who have been to so many weddings.

Haha my dad looking awkward.

My mum. Haha she looks so emotional! She was actually. I saw her eyes turn red as soon as my face cringed. My brothers also cried, not surprisingly. Whenever I cry, my younger bro will cry too. He's like a tap; runs in the family. 

Nice candid. Solemnizer speaking to us but Simba making weird faces in the background. 

Elder bro and his GF.

When it's time to say the vows.

I wasn't thinking; it was nerve wrecking I tell you. Whether it was 35 people or 500, it really didn't matter I was overwhelmed all the same.

Haha caught Si Ting taking photos!

Before the wedding, the solemnizer Mr Lau Tat Chuan invited us over to his place to get to know more about us - a little bit more on how we met, how we got together, and who made the first move. And he also demonstrated what we should do while reciting the vows. I should slip the ring halfway into his finger and hold his other hand. Haha got Simba to practise it with me few days before the big day.

Thank goodness I did my gelish manicure haha

"Although Jun Wen, you don't speak much, but you certainly write well." - his comments after exchange of vows.

Zhi Quan and Wei Liang fell deeply in love with him and his vows. They asked him for some tips to use when they write their own vows. Lol. Zhi Quan knew he must have googled them and put together a vow formed from several websites.

Then signing of contract with our two witnesses.

My two emcees and photographer. 

And ... here's a prelude of our empty house.

On Valentine's Day where we dutifully made a trip down to our house to take a timer selfie.

Our 3D drawings of the minor renovation are out. Should I post it here or should I give you a surprise in our housewarming?

Haha! Let me consider first...