Tuesday, November 28, 2006

From "fearless" to being afraid

Ailei sent an e-mail just a few days ago about something she read on babycenter.com.

Of the "30 things that change when you have a baby", one of it is:
Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.

What was most coincidental about Ailei's e-mail was that I've been meaning to write about a recent experience on the road with my Chevrolet Spark. (It doesn't look that great here; the green is really very bright--it's the shade of the green traffic light when it lights up.)

We bought it so I can send Kai to my mom-in-law's place every morning, and bring him home after work. It's a really lovely car and very pleasant to drive.

Shortly after we bought it, I noticed that there are a lot of what I'd call "big car bigots" (BCB) around. They just don't like to be behind smaller cars--never mind that you're travelling just as fast as they are. Granted, small cars don't have a lot of horsepower and certainly can't go as fast as the bigger cars. But if the smaller car is going at the same speed as they are, I really don't see a need to act disparagingly.

I usually keep to the second lane on the expressways during off peak period. But traffic on the PIE in the morning is understandably quite heavy and I find that I can travel at 90-100 km/h on the first lane--very much in tune with the traffic flow there. But the BCBs just can't stand a smaller car in front of them, especially if you've switched from the second and onto the first, in front of them. Many love to overtake me, just so that they can be "one car ahead".

I wouldn't care if I don't have Kai in the car. But he IS in the car and it does bother me that people drive like that. However, something happened about a week ago that made me feel, for the first time, afraid of driving.

It was about 7.30pm, dark and raining. I just picked him up and was travelling home on the ECP. I was initially on the first lane but decided to switch to the second lane and slow down as the rain got heavier. A taxi, also in the second lane, which was MORE than five cars behind me flashed his headlights. I thought well, maybe it wasn't intented for me and that it was an accident. Then before I knew it, another car on the third lane zoomed up and decided to switch to the second lane without checking his blind spot, and almost hit me.

I had to brake, horn, slow down (not necessarily in that order!) and just then, the taxi behind me flashed again. This time, he was rather close and I was pretty sure by then that the flashes were intended for me. I never felt so afraid. The visibility was bad, the road slippery and I had Kai soundly asleep in the car. The taxi overtook me in the end.

Before I became a mom, my heart might skip a beat if I encountered a bad situation like this but I was never afraid. Things are different now: It doesn't matter if something happened to me that night, but I would just die if anything happened to him. I was quite shaken after that... I was really, really scared!

So I think I'm a less gung-ho driver now. And I don't care if people say I drive like a "woman". I just want Kai to arrive at his destination safely.

Anyway, seriously... it's really not due to my driving that I have people overtaking me etc. When driving the Spark, Terence too had a taxi flash at him for cutting into his lane although we were so far ahead of the taxi.

Terence showed the taxi driver a finger. Maybe dads are never afraid.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Friday night date: French food

After the massage (see my post below), Terence met me and we went for a dinner "date". It's been a long time since we went out for dinner at a nice restaurant. The last time was for his birthday in July when I brought him to Flutes at the Fort .

Since we were in Chinatown, we decided to go Club Street after a long debate. He kept saying we HAVE to go Langest. Huh?

Yes, yes, we must go Langest was all that he would say.

It didn't strike me till very much later, AFTER we had our dinner, that he meant L'Angelus. It's a French restaurant at 85 Club Street that looks very much like one of those restaurants in France. But they were full, which is amazing because they've got quite a number of tables inside. This means we have to try it one day. The Magret de Canard is supposedly very good.

We ended up in My Dining Room, which has won Wine & Dine awards for three years in the row. We know because the certificates lined the wall leading up to the restaurant.

I had foie gras (yummy!) and cod (ordinary), and Terence had the clam chowder (yummy!) and half-lobster served with ravioli that had a dash of white truffles oil on it (super yummy!). It was essentially, what they call, the "Autumn Winter menu". Truffles, chestnut sauce (which came with the rabbit dish) are very winter dishes.

Another milestone accomplished

Been meaning to tell everyone that he can sit like a tripod on his own now for a very brief moment before toppling over. But I wanted to have pictures to accompany this post, and it's difficult to take them as I have to make sure I catch him before he falls. A difficult task since I don't want to drop the camera too.

So I ended up supporting him with my leg, which means it's not a very accurate picture of what he CAN do. But I suppose these will suffice for now.

Here's another great online shopping site which I'll like to share:
Piperlime. It's got shoes galore for everyone in the family! It belongs to Gap Inc I think.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Spas: Les terribles expƩriences

I'm a connoisseur (or connaisseur) of spas. More specifically, a connoisseur of horrible spas.

Florence, Chien Way and I went for a post-event treat at Spa Indulge and I had the weirdest therapist.

Example 1
Therapist: Are you single?
Me: Er, no, married with a kid.
Therapist: You use IUD?
Me: *stunned silence* What?
Therapist: IUD. You use IUD?
Me: Er, no...
Therapist: Ok. Because if you use IUD I cannot press your stomach (or did she say womb) too hard.
Me: *stunned silence*

Example 2
Therapist: *both hands were massaging the side of my waist* Your here very hard.
Me: Huh?
Therapist: Yah, very hard.
Me: Oh.
Therapist: Yah, normally all my clients here very soft one. Yours very hard. You exercise?

(At this point, I'm not sure if she implying that my waist is "very hard" because I don't exercise or it's "hard" because I exercise.)

Me: Er... used to quite often. Now just do yoga.
Therapist: Yoga
*Silence*

Tell me, my friends, what should I say?

After the session, Florence and Chien Way asked how was my session. All I could think of was the IUD question and that they're a Spa Esprit wannabe.

Maybe I'm just suay but most of my spa experiences have been down right weird, disappointing, scary and frustrating. Here's a quick overview:

1. Singapore spas: pushy sales girls bugging you to buy package.

2. Luang Prabang, Laos--Lotus de Laos: On-suite shower is a place where I wouldn't want to hang my clothes in. Therapist slaps a scrub, i.e. yellow liquid with some bits of sand, on me. I shivered in that cold room for five minutes, decided enough was enough. Showered and walked out without completing my treatment. They insisted I continue. But I told them no way! They can't complain; I paid full price. Too miffed to kick up a big fuss. And worse thing was, they were recommended by the Lonely Planet!

3. Siem Reap, Cambodia: There're so many along the main street, so Jeanne and I just walked into one. Was herded behind a screen together with Jeanne, then asked to strip and wrap ourselves in towel. Came out, room was lined with mattresses on the floor and there were only Japanese men (and their giggling masseuse) in the room. At that point, Jeanne and I should have just walked out but we just went along with it. Stupid of us. Japanese guy next to Jeanne kept peering at her and Jeanne's therapist tried to cover her up with towel. Our masseuses weren't interested in massaging us. Hmm...

4. A spa at one of the biggest hotels in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam: Masseuse asked me how come I gave her so little tips.

Terence says I should just avoid spas. He doesn't understand why I like to pay someone money to touch me all over. Anyhow, I've gone to enough bad spas to know which are the good ones:

My #1, all-time favorite: Divana Spa in Bangkok, Thailand
A close second: Spa Esprit, Singapore. But pushy sales girls are a standard issue here too.
And if you're ever in Siem Reap, Cambodia: Can't remember the name. Go to the one run by the Taiwanese lady.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Shopping

Been looking for clothes for Kai. Other than Baby Gap, the other favorite online store is Baby's Got Style. But I haven't actually bought anything from that store just yet. Waiting for a set of socks that looks just like shoes (comes with laces!) to be in stock before I plunge into another online shopping spree. But this site has plenty of eye candy.

Another Aussie brand which I'm kind of into now is Lulu Australia. Their booth was literally raided by mobs of ladies during The Fashion Attraction. Prices were extremely good at the event.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Fashionable Kai

Our company organised The Fashion Attraction last Saturday (4 Nov 2006) and Terence brought him down to visit me in the afternoon. Dear Joy, the unofficial official photographer for everyday events, took some lovely pictures of Kai.

My favourite is the one of grouchy Kai. But he was actually quite cheerful that day, asking for hugs from almost everyone mommy introduced to him.

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