Overworked - body break down ...

I'm currently resting at home. This is the first wkend I'm not at work.

This new project (new Blackberry model) has stretched me to my limits. When my body temperature shoots sky high and my limbs refused to move, I realised 'this is it, I need a break'.

I practically work from 7:30am to 11pm-12pm daily for the past couple of months, sometimes having to stay overnight in the factory to oversee the production of the prototypes. Sometimes I forgot which day is it since all my wkends and wkdays feels the same.

When my wife flew over to Shanghai for a short period of time, I had very little time for her. I feel sorry for her.

Maybe it's time for me to slow down a little. Maybe it'll have to wait till this project's finished.

Fatherhood

Alicia is now 43 days old.
But it felt like she has been with us for much longer.
Maybe it’s because of the vast amount of time I spent feeding her, changing her diapers, cradling her to sleep. (Basically everything other than breastfeeding)
Time spent on carrying her, watching her grow bit by bit, thinking how wonderfully tiny and delicate her features are.
The same amount of time I would have otherwise spent on blogging, surfing net, watching movies, playing games, playing horn, reading books, shopping…
It's all just work and family now. Life will never be the same again.

From Little Black Book

Sometimes I’ll miss the old lifestyle, but when she’s in my arms, cooing, smiling, that depressing thought will vanish, the small sacrifice is all worthwhile.
This has been an amazing year. :)

China net nanny clamps down on bloggies again.

It’s harder to blog nowadays. The China net nanny has clamped down on many websites again after the Olympics, which includes blogger. Facebook is abit cranky too; I have to hit the refresh button multiple times for each page to load properly.

I've been typing and saving blog entries in my office email and then upload it onto my blog whenever possible.

The road to work - boring routine

Route to work:

Click for enlarged map

1. Home
- Wake up at 5:30am.
- Wash up, slap plenty of moistening lotion onto face (The cold freakingly dry weather here will cause unprotected skin to shrivel up like prunes)
- Change into work clothes quietly while lovely wife sleeps soundly
- Make breakfast (usually Chinese roast buns and tea-eggs, and non-melamine milk)
- Give wife goodbye kiss without waking her
- Pull on gloves, scarf and woolen cap before heading out of the door

2. Route to company bus stop
- Stunned by the sudden drop in temperature when stepping out into the open.
- Walk across the carpark towards the exit of my residential estate
- Attempt to cross the first road outside the exit, trying to avoid speeding cars not sticking to their lanes, and taxi drivers who’ll startle you with their loud car-horns and jam-brake right in front of you while you are halfway across the road, hoping that you’ll take their cab instead.
- Walk across the park next to a river, taking fewer breathes and speeding up my pace to avoid the watery stench, a result of people using the river as a make-shift toilet.
- Another road crossing again, repeat process of avoiding irritating taxi drivers who try to block your way across with their cabs.
- Reach a noisy underpass, a passing freight train roars overhead.
- Concrete walkway narrows down to a dirt path right next to a road and a massive construction site for the future metro station.
- Road is caked with centuries of dirt layers; passing vehicles kick up massive clouds of choking dirt and dust. Pull scarf over nose and mouth. Try to see the way forward through the smog, with blurred squinting eyes.
- Have to look up to avoid low-hanging high-voltage electrical cables.
- Cross busy road junction, jumping out of the way of speeding bicycles and vehicles that seem to be everywhere. No traffic lights here.
- Reached the safety of the company bus.

3. Company bus
- Sleep/Watch movies/Read newspapers or comics throughout the 2 hours journey
- Get annoyed by passenger in front of me who lower the backrest until it reach my thighs
- Snore on bus, irritating other passengers

4. Route home after work
- Route to company bus in reverse, only worse due to after work peak hours.

Cool 'fighting game'

V nice

John Williams tribute - 'Star Wars'

This is pure genius

Updates updates

In case some of my friends still hasn't known about it, my kid's due in early December!

Woohoo~! I'm a Papa liao!

Don't ask if the baby's a boy or girl becoz I still don't know yet. The hospitals here have strict rules about revealing the sex of the baby (in case of abortion due to the one child policy), and also, I'd rather wait for the surprise at the end of the 9 months wait.

My wife and I went splurging on baby stuff over the past few weeks. Baby cot, milk bottles, bedding, bathing oils and lotion etc. It's very convenient here to purchase baby stuff online (http://www.lijiababy.com.cn/ and http://www.leyou.com/). We checked out the quality of their stuff at their outlets before buying them online. Free delivery provided . Baby stuff are cheaper here compared to S'pore's, other than milk powder.

Speaking of milk powder, there's the melamine scare now. We are lucky that our baby will be drinking safe milk by the time he/she's born.

My wife and I are reading lots of pregnancy/baby related books and mags. I highly recommend books from the American Academy of Pediatrics, especially 'Your Baby's First Year'. Their books are quite cheap and are chock-full of useful and practical information.

Craziness in learning English

I've been on my futile search for bookstores selling English books ever since I moved to Tianjin.

Last week, I was in Tianjin Books Building. It is this gigantic 7 storey high mega-bookstore, unlike anything that's found in Singapore. There's really lots of books of almost every kind there.

On the ground floor, there’s a huge section on books and multimedia stuff about learning the English language. I asked a shop assistance if there are English novels or books, there are none. Only the English language learning materials. This reminded me of the libraries I’ve visited in Shanghai where English books cannot be found as well.

What’s the use if someone has finally ‘learnt’ English but there aren’t any English stuff to read?





'Heroes', 'Prison Break', Desperate Housewives', etc, these are some of the English Language learning materials out there. Will this really help you pick up the language? Ask any person who watches Korean and Japanese dramas.


I received a company email offering massive discounts for company staff to attend English language learning courses (in China). The 3 months beginner course costs around S$3000! Well above what the locals earn actually.

The search for English books continue...

Goodbye Shanghai, Hello Tianjin

It’s been almost 1.5 years since I started work in Shanghai…
Hence there was a bit of reluctance when I boarded the plane on a one-way trip to Tianjin.
Goodbye friends, goodbye Shanghai. I’ll miss this place.