From Singlish to Poor English?

Made a rush to PS during lunch hour to purchase some groceries and get a quick lunch. Just could not resist the temptation of the shoe shop as I walked past...

Hmm...perhaps my woman's intuition was telling me that there are some New Arrivals at the shop. True enough, I tried on a pair of low-heeled court shoes and decided to purchase it in less than 5 minutes!!!

Well, call this impulse shopping but it was definitely not the good service which concluded the sale. On the contrary, I was rather affected by the salesgirl's (or rather woman's) poor command of spoken English:

Me: Can I try Size 38?

Sales: 38 ah? If cannot, can try bigger size. I got 39 also.

*Roll eyes*

Me: Size 38 is a bit loose for me. Does this shoe expand after some time?

Sales: No la, this one not so easy expand.

I started to wonder whether the sales lady was from overseas as she did not sound local. Sigh, not that I do not welcome foreign immigrants but this is really worrying...What will happen in the next 10 years when there is an influx of overseas immigrants working in Singapore? I can forsee a drop in our standard of conversational English...

When I finally decided to grab a burger from Mos, had a similar encounter.

Counter: Miss ah, you want upgrade your flies (fries)?

Me: No thanks.

After 5 minutes, the lady came to me:

Counter: Sorry for waiting...Enjoy your meal...

Me:????

(**Why should I be sorry for waiting?)

OMG, are we facing a shortage in service staff or the expectations of service staff has dropped??? Aren't they supposed to be trained (to speak in proper English) before they provide front-line service? Is Singapore's standard of English going downhill?

I started to get worried about the next younger generation, born and breed in Singapore...

Life is like a Ticking Clock...

Woke up in the middle of the night with a bad sore throat and terrible cough. Unable to go back to sleep again...

Was reminiscing about my own life all these 30 odd years - my childhood, my parents, my education, my friends, my previous jobs, my career path, my love life, my wedding, my partner etc etc...

Looked at my "achievement" in life - Regine, who was sleeping soundly beside me...

Well, life is like a ticking clock - seconds, minutes, and hours just slip off without you realising it. A life-long lesson I have learnt - Cherish whatever you have in life, before you lose it and realise it is too late...

Does everything only come to a stand-still when our life end? Or perhaps there is an after life?

Then remembered a kiddy song which Greg's mum and I used to sing during our childhood, at the top of our voices, in our shared bedroom. Guess we did not even know the true meaning of this song at that time...

My Grandfather's Clock

My grandfather's clock

Was too large for the shelf,

So it stood ninety years on the floor;

It was taller by half

Than the old man himself,

Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.

It was bought on the morn

Of the day that he was born,

It was always his treasure and pride;

But it stopped short

Never to go again,

When the old man died.

Ninety years without slumbering,

Tick, tock, tick, tock,

His life seconds numbering,

Tick, tock, tick, tock,

It stopped short

Never to go again,

When the old man died.

Living with a MASK

Went to Popular bookstore after dinner. Saw these BARNEY paper masks and regretted that I should have bought it for Gine's birthday celebrations!!

We bought the masks for her, anyway. And guess what, she has been changing her MASKS everyday (wearing them to school)! First day was Baby Bop, then it was BJ and recently, she prefers Barney...

Hubby commented that we should stop this bad habit of Gine wearing masks to school every day and Mummy Barney retorted: "Everyone is wearing a mask, everyday, isn't it?"

SILENCE...

And nowadays, Gine wants both hubby and myself to join in the FUN as well, and got us to start wearing masks too...

One Birthday, 3 Celebrations!

Guess kids nowadays are superbly fortunate. Birthday parties at a young age and pampered with pressies since birth. Well, I still remembered how Dad and Mum used to promise organising birthday parties for us, if and only if we perform well in our studies...(well, I did do well in my exams but never got any parties at all...)

Gine had 3 birthday celebrations at the age of 2 though...

Barney birthday cake for celebrations at childcare centre on Friday, 28 March

Regine with her classmates at childcare

Enjoying her 2nd piece of cake

2nd celebration was with in-laws on Saturday, 29 March at a Hokkien restaurant, located at OCBC Building:

Elmo birthday cake

Regine drooling over her Elmo cake

3rd celebration was with relatives from my side, on 30 Mar (actual day), at Esplanade:

Last minute's purchase - birthday cake from Angie's

Regine cutting her cake..

Definitely tiring to celebrate 1 birthday over 3 different days...

Preparations for Regine's 2nd Birthday

Left with only a week to prepare for Regine's upcoming birthday. Have not even ordered her birthday cakes yet nor the goodies for her party flavours to be given to her schoolmates at childcare centre, friends at Shichida class and her cousins...

Finally managed to visit the party shops at Middle Road and Mummy Barney went on a shopping spree...and guess what! Hubby was also excited about Gine's birthday celebrations that he started packing the goodie bags the moment we reached home!!

Or perhaps he was eyeing the extras??

Another Sumptuous Lunch During the Weekend

Cooked Organic Ramen with ham, vegetables and egg. Soup based was broiled with ikan bilis and dried scallop. Slurp...Delicious and nutritious!! Wanna try some, too?

Regine's Birthday Celebrations onboard Star Virgo

Already the last day of our cruise. Schedule is so tight today! Woke up at 6:30am and went to the gym at 7:00am sharp. Just gotta fully utilise the facilities. Woooaaahhhh...not a bad idea! I can even see the sun rise while jogging. Went back to cabin but both Gine and Hubby were still sleeping. Decided to try my luck at the casino..

Ha! Ha! Spent almost 10 minutes trying to figure out where the casino is! And of course, heeded eldest sis's advice and tried Bacarat. Oops! No luck!!

Then we had a quick swim again after breakfast and Hubby and I had to take turns to go for a massage and try the Aqua swim respectively.

Just as we were about to reach Singapore, had a quick celebration for Regine at our cabin's balcony...