Tuesday, June 3, 2014

A Brand New Wonderful Life

It has been SO long since I posted....I look back at my last few posts here and it is amazing to see how my life has changed.  I would never have imagined from 2011 where I would be now today. I moved to San Francisco from Singapore and got to live a whole different life. I had seriously contemplated moving back to Singapore for various reasons but in retrospect am so happy I stuck it out and stayed out here in the beautiful bay as I met my wonderful husband and have a job I enjoy and friends I am so grateful for.
2013 was an absolutely insane year, where in rough order:
- Found out I was pregnant! (this was the loveliest surprise possible, after thinking that window was closed to me, and had made peace with it. Though my initial reaction was one of shock and freaking out :-)
- My boyfriend proposed to me and totally surprised me while we were out hiking with friends
- We got married in Singapore - pulled the wedding together in a few weeks with the help of my awesome girlfriends GSF in Singapore.
- We visited Seoul before our wedding, made a trip to Malaysia to see my relatives (first time for my husband Jordan visiting!), and had a lovely honeymoon in Bali.
- We bought an apartment in San Francisco in the Noe/Bernal area in what was a crazy market and became even crazier - so grateful we bought when we did.
- Then, we renovated (!) the apartment - overhauled the kitchen and bathroom.
- Made a trip out to Boston to host another post-wedding/pre-baby party for Jordan's family and friends.
- Moved into our cosy new home!
- And best of all....after 9 somewhat nervous yet joyous months, we welcomed our beautiful baby boy Kainoa Wei Xing Keao on October 16, 2013 at 1.05am, at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco :-)

The super cute Kainoa is pretty much the center of our lives now. He was born 6'11" and 19 inches long. We had a very bumpy and stressful first week which I won't go into, but since then he has been a surprisingly easy, mellow and happy baby. I could write reams and reams about him....but this is a short post to try and at least put something recent on to my blog :-) I feel very blessed.


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Year of the Happy Rabbit

Am at home tonight on Monday night in my beautiful (to me!), colorful (turquoise and coral in the living room!), cosy, warm, apartment. With Sushi curled up next to me. Watching The Bachelor (I know I know...) Just cooked myself quick simple meal of whole grain spaghetti with mentaiko cod roe sauce from the great Nijiyama Japanese grocery store in Japantown. Also gobbled down half a box of Annie's Sour Cream & Onion bunnies. Ah...lack of self control. Luckily I made it to TRX class for 2 hours today - circuit training and power stretch.

So....it's all surreal still sometimes. Here I am, actually LIVING, working, loving San Francisco. 2010 was a blur. And now it's 2011. The year of the peaceful rabbit. I woke up in Paris, no less, the first day of the New Year - and just felt - GREAT. No other way to explain it. With a really good feeling for how the year would be.

December was full of ups and downs - was home sick for sure. Ended up booking last minute
trip to Paris for Xmas with lovely Yasmin. So nice to see her. A true, dear, loyal friend. And Paris at Christmas - I mean - the lights were gorgeous. It was freezing no doubt, but the snow, the lights, the incredible food..had the best crepes of my life that was worth the trek to Marais where I admittedly got a little grumpy. It was cold though. (another reason I wake up everyday grateful that I live in San Francisco and NOT the East Coast!)
And then onwards to magical Marrakesh in Morocco - something I had wanted to go to for the longest time. I lucked out in that the whole trip was all planned out and all I had to do was follow around. Being in the big wide Saharan desert was pretty amazing. And COLD. We had these luxury tents set up for us in the middle of nowhere. Ridiculous! But so cool. And we rode camels into the sunset....

But, thing is, when it all came down to it, I was so happy to get back to San Francisco. I wasnt' terribly social on this trip. But it gave me ample time to think. And read. Travelling is wonderful. And I am so grateful for all those experiences. But, more and more, I want to stay local. Don't get me wrong, I still want to go to Rome and Hawaii and the Amalfi Coast. Maybe I should wait till I find the right people to go with....

But anyway, I digress. So here I am in San Francisco. Work is getting a bit more manageable. I am blessed to have made some very nice friends. And life, is as usual, work in progress. But I continue to be amazed at how I have actually managed to carve out and build up a nice little life for me here in San Francisco. A place I just officially moved to in September.

I celebrated my birthday in January here in a fun week - Karaoke night with some awesome peeps. Dinner at my dream restaurant The French Laundry with great company. Dinner at Chotto a new izakaya with a fun crazy group. Dinner cooked for me by a few other friends on separate nights.
And I have been doing quite a few dinners at home - good food, great company in comforts of my own home (with guest parking!) = happiness. Even hosted a Chinese New Year Superbowl which was really good fun and a hit just for its random fusion-ness. Managed to bake a fair bit recently too - mildly obsessed with green tea at the moment. Green tea cupcakes with green tea whipped cream frosting are utterly yummi-licious.

I am a very, very lucky girl. I know I worked hard for it. But still, I do feel blessed and grateful. It almost makes me fearful as to how my life might change. But, I think I do feel truly open to embracing what comes my way. Not something I felt in Singapore for a long while! So let me say it again - thank goodness I took the plunge and moved here!

Watching the Chinese New Year parade on telly this past Saturday - a big festival in Union Square - I felt a surge of pride at being a San Franciscan! Such an odd but cute feeling :-)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Time Is Now - Part II

So six months on from my decision to definitively move to San Francisco - it's all happening, and NOW. Right now. Freaky.
Am sitting on the guest bed in the second bedroom of my beloved apartment. Tapping on my laptop, listening to tinny sounds of old skool funk/soul emanating from my Mac. Movers from Santa Fe are here efficiently doing their jobs packing my life and belongings up into little square boxes and sticky taping and labelling them. A few more hours and my apartment will be empty-ish. And my worldly possessions sitting in a container somewhere, and hopefully they make their way safely across the oceans to arrive in San Francisco in 6-8 weeks.
This move has been incredibly stressful. More so than I expected. And this is despite having done quite a bit of groundwork spending time in SF to meet people, check out neighborhoods and integrate. Can't imagine how much worse it would be if I hadn't had the luxury to do that over the last few months. Am glad I quit in February. Am blessed to have had 6 months off to rejig my life.
And yet, the move has been stressful. An international move. Going through and purging 6+ years (at least) of accumulated goods. Triggering of memories and emotions. The whole process has been physically taxing and emotionally draining. Read a bunch of pieces on the great world wide web today as to why moving is also stressful. Ranks up there with death, divorce and job loss. And just having the movers here is making me feel utterly discombobulated.
One entry summed it up quite well, as to why it is so:

"Security Alert.
Our homes provide security. They shelter us from the elements and from the outside world. When we make a move, we are giving up known levels of security and trading them for unknown security. This loss of security adds stress as part of our brains now have to be on the alert for potential dangers. It may takes weeks or months before we feel safe in the new environment.

Memory Triggers.
As we pack up our years of accumulated belongings, we are also forcing ourselves to review our lives. Although many of our possessions will trigger positive memories, some of them may trigger painful memories. We may find old photographs, mementos, letters, or clothing that remind us of losses. We must also make decisions about what to keep and what to discard. These discards can also represent losses as we leave our past lives behind.

Reprogramming Blues
Once we have lived in a home or apartment for many months, we become used to where we keep our things. We learn the locations of rooms, doors, steps, windows, cabinets, electrical and water outlets, and hundreds of other objects. As we learn these locations, our brain is programmed to remember them. When we move, we have to de-program our brains and reprogram them for the new locations. This forces our brains to work overtime in subtle ways that add to our stress and cause fatigue.

Support System Sacrifice
Our old community provided obvious and hidden supports. We learned the locations and hours of the local grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals, religious and school institutions. We developed some acquaintances and friendships. In moving, we lose those support systems and have to find replacements. Although the new ones may be an improvement, it still requires effort on our parts to find them and make them part of our new lives."

*******

So, there you have it. And really, all I can do in the meanwhile is keep breathing. Unfortunately there is still the stress of finding an apartment in SF that ticks the boxes, getting a car (buying VS leasing? which car?), all the money that is being spent on this relocation....ahhh...so much to look forward to! can't even begin to think about the challenges of the new job yet. And the feeling of being isolated and lonely and alone. I know I can do this. Just need to take it step by step, no?


Saturday, June 19, 2010

My so called life in June

Late May to mid June marked my longest time ever spent away from Singapore. And living just out of a few suitcases (albeit in a really nice serviced apartment). Spent a pretty cool 6 weeks+ in San Francisco, my longest ever time there ever. Slowly getting to know the city better. Starting to build some relationships, check out whole bunch of yoga classes, get more into my running groove....there were lonely times for sure but I was glad I was slowly integrating into the city. And California really does have some gorgeous scenery....I can understand why people feel lucky to live there. And soon, I will be there too. Feels unreal. And scary.






I was sad to leave SF, but had to do it to spend a week in Greece with my good gay bud Jarrod, Yeah I know, tough life huh. Another really great experience. I had been wanting to go to Greece for the longest time but somehow never made it there before. We hit Athens to see the sights and found it much more pleasant than people had warned us. And it was cool to finally see the Acropolis and all the ancient ruins. Though honestly, I would have rated Angkor Wat and the ruins in Bagan was being more impressive.


Then, onto Santorini which was stunningly, ridiculously gorgeous. Blue skies, blue sea, cute blue buildings and blue doors everywhere. A picturesque postcard everywhere one looked. Met some cool folks from SF utterly randomly, which turned out to be a bizarro couple much like me and Jarrod. The place is definitely uber romantic. Jarrod was awesome travelling partner though, so it turned out all good.

We spent the last day in Mykonos, which was so-so. A lot more eurotrashy than Santorini. Would have liked to spend another day to see the beaches as such, but had to get back to Singapore for Jason and Jenny's wedding. (more on that later, see below) Flew back to Athens and then connected to Singapore on my favourite Singapore Airlines, ah.
So in all - Greece was great. I am a very lucky girl for having gotten the chance to go. Mildly obsessed with Greek yogurt (eaten drizzled with Greek honey and walnuts every morning, delicious!), octopi (the Greeks sure know how to cook 'em), gelato (lots and lots because it was so darn sizzling hot) and hunting down grilled sardines.

Except - I would have loved to go to Corfu - the one place in Greece I had always dreamed about going to after reading My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell many years ago. Have to save it for next time I guess - hopefully with someone special, ha!

So, got back the early morning (5am) of Jason and Jenny's wedding. It turned out to be absolutely brilliant. Was pleasantly surprised to see lots of the old HK gang in Singapore for the event - Re and Kev and kids, Ricky J and wife and kids from NY, super tall Kelly and Ante, Ingrid and Archie, Pia and family, Mia....and so on. Navin, Min, Lincoln, Garcia etc all in town too.The wedding was smallish, intimate, and very sweet. And there was a dance-off in grand old HK par-tay tradition. Blown away by how many awesome dancers there were cutting up the rug - good times.

What made it so special too was that Jason and Jenny getting married were really the last of the old HK gang getting hitched. Felt like marking of end of an era. Everyone else married a few years with 2 kids in tow. It was so nice to have the old gang back together, like the crazy old times in the early 2000+ days. I ended up doing more shots than I can remember in a long while and danced up the storm. Felt great to cut loose, amongst other things.... And, J&J just seem so darned RIGHT for each other. It's really lovely to see. Glad I made it back to Singers for it. Happiness and sweetness make up a good wedding, oh yeah.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The Time Is Now


So it's only been, what, 3 years since I last updated this blog. Am watching American Idol (auditions, hating the guest judges Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry - both seemed annoying and not very nice people) and eating raspberry flavored jello, following some home-made oxtail stew. Feeling relaxed, finally.
Just felt like writing as it definitely feels like I am at some form of crossroads on my life - let's see:
1) just quit my job last week - happiness and freedom! but also some reluctance at giving up a job I genuinely liked and having to turn away work that I had worked hard the last few years to get to...
2) transitioning out of work and working mostly from home and focusing on closing a few assignments only. not having to worry anymore about office politics. this part is lovely.
3) figuring out how to get to San Francisco! There are jobs aplenty out there, it's just that the visa issue and the timing is a real bitch. I had never realised how hard the USA makes it for qualified foreign workers to enter the country. And it's frustrating as I can see so clearly where I want to be. But it's unclear at this point how I get there. Go back to school for the summer? Persuade a firm to hire me part-time? Set up my own firm and do cross-pacific search work? hm....so it goes, I am looking for creative solutions to the problem. The whole process of job searching in USA has actually taught me I am more self-motivated than I ever even knew before. It's allowed me to meet a lot of cool folks I would never have other wise met and opened up my eyes to other worlds and jobs and possibilities. That in itself, has been a wonderful thing.
This is one of the times in my life where I just don't even know what, where, how etc I will be doing in say, May. Which makes it yes, a little scary. But also liberating. I am honestly excited for this year. Letting go, cutting ties, seeing how things flow, finding the path of least resistance...ah...and seeing where that path leads me :-)
Being in SF made me happy. Feeling that there were possibilities in life. Running along Crissy Fields. Walking the streets of downtown SF all wrapped up in my coat, cashmere sweater and killer boots. Wandering the Farmers Market. Fresh fruits and granola. Being grateful to be alive, and to be there.
Let's see how 2010 unfolds.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Macca & Sonny

does this blog count if i am just copying and pasting an old entry from my brother's blog? ;-)
anyway, flashback - to an important day in our lives back in late March 2006 - I was finishing up another stint freelancing as a presenter at ESPN Star Sports, Sonny had a livelong dream to meet Steve McManaman (or rather, for him to return to play for Liverpool) - it so happened Macca was in Singapore to do some guest shows for ESPN, I persuaded the wonderful Andrew Leci and John Dykes to have McManaman spend some time with my brother. And lo and behold, he was nice enough to sit and sign autographs, have a chat and take photos with us.
i think this was one of the happiest that I have ever seen my brother, which just made for an overall lovely bonding / big sister sort of experience.
somehow it also made me remember about how much Sonny used to like Echo and The Bunnymen. funny really, how memories work.

And so on


a series of fortunate events :p

Mcmanaman day




neither robots nor monsters, but there was el macca!