In memory of the original 5

It is amazing how much and how fast things can change in six months. My former colleague from SDC just messaged me to tell me that today is her 2nd day in SDC. Of the five original execs, she has been there the longest and now there is only one of the originals left. The entire team is gone, even our AM has left for greener pastures. Well all I can say is that SDC suck at retaining talents. I must say that we were a great team. We fit and complement each other really well and the synergy among us was just quite amazing. I really feel supported and happy when we worked. There were many trying moments, stressful times, we were re-starting the entire Ops department and the centre was being re-lauched but someone is always there to share the burden. We never walked alone. Most importantly, there was always laughter in the Ops office, we had fun, loads of fun. It was an amazing time and sometimes I wonder if anyone in SDC will remember us.

Food! Glorious Food!

I think it must be the effect of running the conference for the whole of last week. I see plateloads of food all the time. My daily feeding routine (feeding both myself and the conference delegates) goes like this

Morning break: 10:30am

International buffet lunch: 12:30pm

Afternoon break 3:30pm.

Do I need so much food? Does anyone in the world need so much food? And the worst thing is that much of these food is being wasted. Trays full of foods are being thrown away, most of the time, without a tinge if guilt and sometimes without any thought that all these food took effort, resources and time to be produced. Being urbanites, many of us sometimes forget or fail to connect to the fact that food comes from somewhere and that there are people out there who would kill for the food we threw away. In our very affluent and plentiful society today, I am apalled at the education some parents are giving their kids "Oh it is ok, just eat the chicken, leave the rice if you cannot finish" or worse " never mind, cannot finish, leave it" They have forgotten about the value of food and I am sad to realise that their kids will grow up not knowing how precious food is.

My parents will jump if there is any food left on my plate or on the table for that matter. They have always insisted that we only order or cook whatever we can eat. There should be no food left at the end of the meal. If there is, it will be kept for the next meal. Throw away food? Not going to happen in my family. That is why I always finish my food even if I am full. That uncomfortable over-stuffed stomach will remind me not to order or buy so much in the future!

Many people have this mentality " I paid for the food so why should you care what I do with it?" Well it is not the money, it is the fact that you throw away food which could have kept many food deprived human beings alive! If you don't need the food, don't order or buy it. Leave it for some other more needy people!

My new Hair style

Check out my new hair style!! I absolutely Love it...nice..

David (hmmm, my hairdresser is David..) said that the rest of my hair was too damaged to be saved so off it all went in one decisive snip. Yes, one snip, hair from shoulder below all gone..I think Maggie and Angie were more surprised than I was. I could hear their loud gasp as the scissors clamped shut. Haha...

But I love it!! Save shampoo, save time, save gel...save hair treatment..how economical!

Sailing Away

Sob..sob..hubby is gone for the next 4 months till Christmas...forgive me,I need to whine because I cannot whine in front of him...waaaahhhhh..A few weeks before he went off, he started to ask me stuff like "so will you miss me when I am gone?" I will reply "but we don't have a choice" Well, actually we all had choices. He was asked to go on this trip and he could have not go but he choose to go because of his sense of duty. And me, I had a choice, I choose to marry this duty-bound man. So we choose to be away from each other for 4 months with sporadic access to phone and emails. This silly method of rationalizing makes me feel better. At least I can say that I bought this upon myself. Haha..

Well, to console myself, I can tell myself that at least, I am not alone juggling 2 kids while my husband is gone for the next 4 months or that I am not pregnant with a baby waiting to be born while daddy is away. Going to the sending off ceremony puts a lot of things in prespective, there are many other brave souls out there so I should not be whining. Well, there were mummies among those who went as well and their kids are so young.

Hopefully, everything will go fine and he will be back safe and sound by Christmas! Have hope and have lots of faith in the systems which our government spends tons of $$ on.