Blog skins

After trying several of the other blog hosts - WordPress and LiveJournal, I have concluded that Blogger.com is by far the most user friendly (or, like my friend will say, IDIOT PROOF) for blogging.

For me, picture uploading is the most important function, cos I love posting up photos (so narcissistic..). For both of the other blog hosts, I'm not able to upload photos directly from my computer. But Blogger allows me to.

The reason why I wanted to change my blog host was because the skins for Blogger.com blogs are so limited! Blogskins.com has a whole range of skins for me to choose, but, most skins are just.. How should I say this.. 'Teeny popper-ish'. Skins of Ashlee Simpson (I don't know how many I've encountered.. Uncountable.), 'Girls rock, Boys drool!', 'I love you, Do you love me too?', and many other cute and colourful skins. I mean, most skin creators are 13 year old girls who just completed their PSLE.. You can't expect too much from them.

LiveJournal and WordPress do not have as big a range of skins as Blogger, however their skins are, honestly, better looking and more matured.. Haha. If only someone could teach me how to create a skin from scratch, then I'd be a very happy girl. I probably need a blog-skin-making guide for idiots.

Oh, and I think I'm going to change my blog address too. This blog's been serving me faithfully for almost 5 years I think, and I don't like having the old posts in this blog..

旧的不去，新的怎么来呢？

So, I guess I may give this blog address up, and create a new one. And probably, one with restricted entry, because many people, like me, love blog hopping, and sometimes, I feel that I need to have a bit of privacy in my posts.

We'll see. (: It's the new year anyway!

Stephie's 21st and FAMILY GATHERING!

*mini update: AJ's UP AND JUMPING AGAIN! HOORAH! (: Still don't know what exactly happened. =.=*

Let the good times ROLL!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Yesterday 4/7 of Eifer (including Stephie!) celebrated Stephie's 21st at 黑社会 Bosses Restaurant！ First off,

A veryyy happy 21st birthday to our dear Stephie!

Even though only 3 of us could celebrate with her, we had fun and of course, had our fill... WITH YUMMY DIM SUM! (:

Bosses' review: Just looking at dim sum because we only had that, I'd give 4 out of 5 stars! Some of the dishes like the 天下第一包 (basically char siew bun, but a different kind of pastry used), 菠萝包 (pineapple bun) and Green Tea 小笼包 (xiao long bao) are some of the many interesting, 与众不同 (different from the rest) and yummy dim sum we had. They also had a range of different teas (blue teas, flower teas etc!), but only 2 people to one tea pot, which was kinda weird.. So 4 people = 2 pots. Haha. We were so full after lunch I could hardly walk!

One funny thing that happened was that when I was about to take some photos of the delicious food on our table, I was stopped by a waiter! Maybe because their dim sum are so different and new in the market they didn't want us customers to go blog about it and other restaurants will start copying their recipes. This is MARKETING. I see...

Alright, here are some photos from yesterday!

Birthday girl who HASN'T turned 21 yesterday. But today, she HAS!

Menu in a secret drawer at the table.



Chungie and our before-meal-snack! Some raw veges and a kind of crispy snack I didn't try.

Stephie's company everywhere she goes.. Aww how CUTE.. HAHA!

Stephie and Chungie! The mistress and the hubby. LOL.

"OOOOOOOh... What does this doooo?"

Mel and Stephie! The wife and the mistress! Don't fight in public ah!

The uninvolved girl and the almost 21 girl. (STUPID FRINGE OF MINE.)

Being spastic. LOL, look at Stephie. She looks so unwilling...

Promoting her accessories. What the.? ROFL

Me being emo. But you're supposed to be looking at the 茶壶 (tea pot)!

I had some difficulty hiding the mini cake we got for Stephie but eventually I managed to get the cake to a waitress who helped me put it in the fridge. HOWEVER, good things don't always come my way. When I requested the cake to be served, this UNCLE WAITER (sorry I'm not being discriminating, but let's just call him that cos' he really is an uncle!) came up to our table and asked,

"你们要不要点蜡烛啊？"

("Do you all want the candles to be lit?")

My expression at that very moment: =.="""""""""""""""""""""""""

Uncle.. So gong loh. ROFL. We kept commenting that there's this generation gap problem going on and uncles don't know anything abt SURPRISES.

But oh well! We had a good laugh! :D

Birthday girl and cake!


All 4 of us!

Pretending to blow the candles off... Because I told her to. HAHA.

I love this pic!! (:

Cheeky Stephie and a very dead looking cucumber held by Miss Chungie.

Yay! She's joined Club 21! Hahaha. Congrats Stephie!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cousins on mum's side all back from all over the world! Okay, it's actually just New Zealand and Australia. Haha! But it was a good turn out.. all 12 of us! So much catching up done and of course, talking about one another's bf/gf. I don't understand why it's a topic that NO ONE ever forgets! And the aunties were all comparing the boyfriends' photos... Omg. We were all forced to surrender their photos. Hahaha.

Us acting lame with the aunties' rings. Man... These 太太s... Tsk tsk.
(I HATE MY FRINGE)

=.=

Cousins and Ah Ma!

Mum and I.

Christmas is almost coming! :D

OUT!

My poor AJ. ):

Dear AJ,

You still look so cute, so huggable, so innocent.. But, you were different this morning. Your vision seemed distant, and worse, you hardly moved from the spot you were carried to this morning.. My baby AJ, when Aunty Lyn tried touching your hind legs, you gave out a high pitched cry, as if pleading her not to do that again.. And when we propped you up to walk a few steps for us to see, you seemed to be dragging yourself with your 2 front ones. 姐姐 don't know what's going on, and Mummy's not in Singapore either... So 姐姐 and Aunty Lyn brought you to the vet to check you out..


When Dr. Vet examined you during your appointment, you whimpered a few times, but you were a good boy, because you stood still and allowed Dr. Vet to find out what's happening to your poor little body. Dr. Vet says you may have a compressed spinal cord, causing a pain to your right hind leg. She also said you MAY have Arthritis, or, it could just be a sprain.

Your vet appointment came up to quite a hefty sum, but with the medications given, I hope Little AJ will be a good boy and take his medications and return to your normal self! Soon we'll play again and you'll once again greet us at the door, bringing our slippers to us.


GET WELL SOON, MY BABY AJ!!!!

Parenting.

In some point of most people's lives, parenting becomes one important role that they have to take up.. I think this role is a very tedious and I respect every parent (who don't mistreat their child!) in this whole wide world.

Initially, the couple will be all exhilarated, joyful and thankful that they're expecting a baby.. Then as the day when it's time to give birth, fear, especially from the mum, kicks in. Out comes the baby, and tears of joy streaming down their cheeks. Then hormonal changes within the mother + a new (and very noisy and demanding) member in the family => depression.. arguments.. short tempered-ness..

But as the couple watches the baby grow up, the happier they get.. 'Aww, Baby XX is growing up so fast...' I learnt from my medical course that besides genetics, it's the type of parenting and environment that moulds out how a child is going to be in future..

With the help of my all-time best companion during exams, WIKIPEDIA, there are 4 types of parenting, but I'll only touch on 3:

Authoritarian: Demanding parents.. Expect highly of their children.. Strict.. Hitting the child..
Result: Kids tend to become less sociable.. Poor leadership skills..

Tantrums.. Tantrums..

Permissive: Few rules and demands from parents.. Parents give in to whatever kids want.. Don't wanna go school, okay loh.. Want this toy, okay loh..
Result: Girls usually do better than boys.. (千金大小姐?) Kids tend to be more impulsive and selfish..

Social play!

Authoritative: Best way of parenting.. A more child-centred approach though different from permissive.. Some rules and demands given by parents.. Parents ground rather than hit their children.. Parents compromise whenever possible.. Rewards given when necessary.. Strict when punishing, but explains why parents are doing so to the kids..
Result: Kids do very well in school.. more sociable.. independent..

This is called Neglectful parenting, the 4th type of parenting I didn't mention of.

Anyway, I just want to point out that these types of parenting may not eventually produce the same types of kids.. Because, as I have mentioned, there are other factors that determine how a child will develop.

What I've been trying to show is that parenting is difficult! So, for example, if a parent gives in too much to a kid because he/she loves the kid a lot, but eventually the kid turns out to be selfish, impulsive etc, is it the parent's fault? If a parent does something slightly wrong, and the kid starts rebelling, is it the parent's fault?

I've seen quite a few young kids with totally different behaviours - some are very independent, enthusiastic, willing to share, while others are less sociable and grumbles and throw tantrums whenever they like.

I do believe that parenting is important, even after kids grow out of their childhoods. I'm very sure that at the stage of adolescence, parenting becomes extra important again. For example, a boy (turning to a man) says he wants to hang out with his friends after dinner for several nights

If parent says yes without further questioning, will the boy mix with bad company and eventually turn into a delinquent?

If parent says no immediately, will the boy become a rebel and hate his parents more, saying that they DON'T GIVE HIM FREEDOM? (This freedom issue, I'm sure, happens to EVERY KID. Believe me on that.)

If parent asks where they're going, sets a time he's supposed to be back.. Will the boy be safe? What's gonna happen when he grows up? Will he be doing something bad outside?


Most importantly, do the parents blame themselves for the bad turn out of their children?

Mummy and baby

Everyone is a child to their parents. I am a child to my parents too. I just think that parenting is such a huge task, and seeing kids with such different personalities, I really wonder if I make a wrong move, will my future child suffer from the aftermath of this 'wrong' type of parenting?

Gees, parenting is so frustrating. However, like what James reminded me: Even if a child becomes a delinquent, deep in his parents' hearts, they still love them the same.

Respect. The power of parents' love for their kids.

Cool and happy.

It's been raining quite a bit here in Singapore, but I'm not exactly complaining (for the first time!), because Singapore is really too warm and the rain just cools the whole place down.. With the air-con, it's even better... Feels almost like I'm back in New Zealand.. (:

Haven't been blogging for quite a while, but I've just been shopping and doing sports (abit slacker than shopping hahahaha) and just relaxing.. It's an awesome feeling! Enjoying myself totally, and also awaiting for all the exciting events coming up!

The year's coming to an end... And my, this year's been... Very different from what I expected it to be. I'm just glad that I'm still alive and kicking, and I'm very happy at my current state. The major thing that happened to me this year definitely matured me, especially how I look into a relationship. Knowing that everything is more than fine after all that's happened is the best comfort I can get. (: Thank you, Lord.

I'm sure the new year awaits a whole truckload of interesting stuff for me, especially getting into clinical years, moving into a new place, new classmates (okay, not exactly new, but those that I've never talked to!).. (: I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

I'm a happy girl. I'm contented with what I have. Yay!

Photos from last week! Hahaha.

MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE - KUEH TU TUUUUUUUUUUUU~!~!~!~!~!~! :D

DO NOT abandon your pet. I'm warning you.

Special Pocky all the way from HK!

My cute lil' AJ~!

My awesome buddy, Qi! (: We had 拉面 at Crystal Jade that night!

Yam Pastry! Also from Crystal Jade.

Our 拉面！ It was soooo good!!! MmmmM~

小笼包！

MY STETHOSCOPE!!! Yayyyyyyy~! :D:D:D:D

Mum's beautiful flats. I'm so gonna bring it back!!! =X

Webcamming with James and the Giant Peach (HAHAHA. Qi calls him that!)

My short bob-ed hair~!

I heart you (:

Roti prata~!! Mmmm.. James' favourite!

Gigantic Christmas tree at Takashimaya. (:

Josephine and I!


All's explained (:

Our pretty birthday girl QI~~~~!! (:




Duck rice.. YUM~!

CHILLI CRAB @ Jumbo Restaurant. Drooling*

My apron for the night! So my clothes won't get stained by the chilli crab gravy!

Pepper Lunch with Yu Kai and Josephine (:

Eh, Josephine!!! Send me more photos for that night okay!! Hehehe.

Best Friends Day, by Dora the EXPLORER~!~!


Don't you think that lil' boy looks SOOOOOO adorable?! Haiiiiiiiiiya~! Karate CHOP~!

Chilling at Starbucks while waiting for the rain to stop (: Had toffeenut latte and banana cake.

I miss youuu. (: