NorthEast

After almost 3 weeks looking after Xin En, and seeing how Xin Ning reacted towards her little sister, I can't help but feeling proud and love the girls more. The feeling is derived from the gratification and proud seeing Xin Ning's continuous affection towards Xin En and her spontaneity in defending her little sister. Both Nelly and I are extremely delighted to see how these two girls are getting on with each other, so far. We will be patient to see them growing up and surely will enjoy the journey with them.   Daddy and Mommy love both of you very much.

In just less than a month, I am probably going to start a new post in Shanghai office, taking care of Trade Finance and Cash Solutions operations. Whilst excited with the opportunity there are several reasons I am feeling a little divided on the following: 1) Leaving family behind especially the three adorable ladies at home 2) Uncertainly on the term of the contracts 3) The extend of the challenge at work I have been thinking of whether to bring the entire family over or to travel back and forth, and after much consideration the latter prevail for following reasons: 1) It helps keep wife on payroll which serves our family as an insurance in the event my career hit a bump and we still have a bit more to go before we could declare financially free 2) Food safety in Shanghai or China at large is worrying moreso Xin Ex is an infant and on-going health scare 3) Having Nelly being a full-time housewife, while could be enjoying at beginning, could turn into boredom when children grow...

Being a Malaysian, married to a girl originated from Indonesia and now a proud Singaporean, who is born on 31 August, in itself is a symbol of national importance. That was 2004. Fast forward to May 1, 2013, I am again about to claim a coincidence of great importance. On 2 May (tomorrow) Nelly and I are excitedly welcoming the arrival of our new born, and 3 days later (May 5, 2013) Malaysians will head to polls to decide the next government. For us, the arrival of second child will coincide with another significant event in our family, that is, I am awaiting my relocation to Shanghai, a move which I think will boost my career prospect and enhance my experience in a great way. During the very same week, on this Sunday, Malaysians are gearing up to cast their votes in what many have predicted as the closest battle between the incumbents and the Oppositions led by Anwar Ibrahim. For the first time since Independence the National Front government is facing a real prospect of losing its...

How could I cut all the noises in my head and just live by holistic principle of full contention, expectation-less, and enjoy everyone as it comes?

Few things came into my mind when this topic pop up: 1) Do I have enough financial means to raise this child, giving him / her the best I could afford, when job is hardly secured? 2) What will happen to old days nest egg if we were to allocate substantial resources to support Xin Ning and her brother / sister? 3) Could I be fair to both of them in term of material provision in which I have a wish to provide them top-in-class education and leave them with an equal assets / wealth to launch them to ensure their stay ahead? For all the considerations above, I do have some inclination towards having a second child for following reasons: 1) Giving Xin Ning a companion and an opportunity to pick up responsibility being an elder; to look after the younger sibling 2) I know having another child will have fulfilled Nelly's wish given how happy she is being a mother and all the fun generated from looking and spending time with Xin Ning This is a complex situation and I am amazed to ...

Last week, Nelly and and I have begun to see how our apartment at M@P is gradually to feel like a home. A few aspects of the apartment have caught a better side of Xin Ning; the yellow light at walk-way to common room, the height of switches means she can now switch on/off the lights at ease, pink writing table, and the purple curtain she has chosen finally got fixed. Nelly, on the other hand, is excited with the prospect of living at M@P that comes with vast space, resort-like layout, a big pool (Olympic size), and its close proximity to St Nicholas Primary School. I, too, am excited with the fact it is situated next to Upper and Lower Peirce which helps bring nature really close to my weekend running regime. One other interesting point about moving into M&P is the on-going discussion among netizens on where is the nearest MRT station for next Thomson MRT Line. An engineer from Poh Lian, the main contractor for the project, has speculated with confidence that it is somewhere n...

Marriage, to me and people around me, is more a traditional call once a person attains a certain age and in my case it was 31. Years later, i have begun to realise 'marriage' is far from just fulfilling a tradition or family call. Living in a uber cosmopolitan society and a city-state like Singapore, everything in our daily activities revolve around transaction. From the moment the bread and butter is served on table, to taking bus or train to work, lunch, dinner, and even a small personal indulgent called 'Kopi-O' worth 90 cents; all these transactional activities call for exchanging and circulating of money within the society. And these particular transactions are meant for me but the concept in itself is universal. Given I am pretty low maintenance in term of cost of living, these transactions are within my mean. Now think about having 2 persons' transactions in a household, it does not take long for us to conclude the transactions could easi...