Of all that is seen and unseen....

It has been two months now since I moved house. Almost settled in, there are still some things here and there that need to be done.

There has been no daily routine, except that I have been getting up at five in the morning. At six, I start to walk to the bus stop, which takes me ten minutes. Three bus stops away, I can take the direct bus to church avoiding having to change buses. I find myself in church by six thirty, which is earlier than when I was staying nearby the church. Occasionally, someone will give me a ride in their car.

Lately, I feel my life passing me by. Some old magician friends took me and the wife out for dinner one Sunday. Meeting some other old friends, we had a good time reminiscing over the past and singing some of the oldies.

Last Saturday, I attended a wedding in church. The groom was a nephew of a dear departed colleague in the air force. His father has been keeping in touch with me, knowing how close I had been with his brother, Lawrence.

Lawrence was with me in No. 1 Squadron, and we spent many flying hours together and enjoying each other's company for many years. When Lawrence got married, I was in his guard of honour, and helped him set up the reception at the Officers Mess.

After our service days, Lawrence migrated to Australia. I had lost contact with him until one day, I had a surprise call from Lawrence here in Singapore. We met up for lunch and thereafter we had lunch whenever he came to Singapore. I found out that his wife had passed away due to illness. I noticed that Lawrence was losing weight and did not look good. He brushed it away by saying that his liver was not functioning well.

I did not hear from Lawrence again until one morning, I was serving the altar at the morning Mass in church, when the priest read out the Mass Intentions. Lawrence had passed away in Australia. His brother had requested the Mass for Lawrence. I was shocked and felt a deep sense of loss for an old friend. Last Saturday, I met Lawrence only son. He has his own family now. When I saw him, I thought of his parents, who were such good and close friends of mine and how we were so young and happy many years ago.

I just had a call from my old magician friend, inviting me to the SAM guest night tonight. I shall attend to see how the new young members are doing. Most of the older members have gone and being a founder/charter member myself, it will be interesting to see SAM is doing these days.

Ah to be young again!

Till then....

Life goes on....

For the past few weeks, I was bothered by 'bees in my bonnet'. Those bees were those adapters, (transformers), I have for my musical movements and boxes. Numbering about a dozen, I had packed them carefully inside a box. I started to search for them, for I needed them to run my musical boxes. Frantic, I even opened some of the big boxes under the staircase. Frustrated, I walked around and stood in front of the storeroom. Looking up, I saw all the adapters neatly arranged on the shelf! What a jackass, I had forgotten that I had much earlier unpacked them and laid them neatly on the shelf.

I have been plagued by my poor memory lately. Only this morning, I remember going to Cold Storage but had forgotten what I wanted to buy there. After browsing for a while, did I jog my memory that I wanted to buy garlic bread.

Looking for something or other, I rummage through, and after finding it, I took it out. After I have tidied up the place, I had forgotten where I put the darn thing again.

On several occasions, I started out to a certain location only to forget why I went there in the first place.

Lately I have a lot on my mind trying to settle in the new place, and trying to deal with some personal problems. I am very weary and tired and hope things will eventually work out.

Anyway the new place is coming along nicely. I managed to tidy up and put up some of my things. Last week, the home theatre system was set up and is now running. Cost me a bomb for it. Bought some DVD movies and saw King Arthur. I actually sat through it without falling asleep.

The new sofa and living room furniture are very comfortable. So comfortable that when I tried to watch a television show, I fell asleep. During the evening, it is nice to sit down to listen to music, or read. Reason for the comfort, it is reclining.

I am looking forward to set up my grotto in the living room. The area is ready, except that the painters will be coming to give the place a final coating of paint. So I wait a while longer for them. Unfortunately, I still have things unpacked but have problems finding a place to put them. This is a problem because some of the things will be required on a day to day basis. In time to come, I will forget which box I left them in.

Till then....

I have done it!

Selamat Hari Raya Adil Fitri. It has been a quiet holiday for me being left alone at home. So after reading the newspapers, I set out to tidy the living room, which has been inundated with boxes and heaps of stuff all over the place.

The problem is, I have too many things and insufficient places to put them. Despite of giving away so many things and throwing away and selling some, I still end up with so many boxes and things too good to throw away. Looking at some of the boxes, I felt so helpless and frustrated that I quickly closed them and pushed them aside. As a result, I have lost track of somethings that I need.

What I have done today has been to tidy up the boxes, and arranged everything neatly under the staircase. To be more precise, hid them under the staircase. They still look untidy. So I sat in front of them, and started to think. I have decided to get the decorator to construct two white panels matching the wall, to act as a screen to hide all the stuff under the staircase. When I need to access the boxes, I merely pull out the panel screen. Next thing I have to do is to set up my grotto by the side of the staircase.

I had originally planned on tidying the place by 1 October, so that the movers will come on 2 October to collect all the empty boxes and refund me the money. This has now worked out and tomorrow, I hope the movers will show up. It is such a relief to see the place finally taking shape.

Tomorrow, someone is also coming to set up my home theatre. So another busy day. I have been having people coming and going, trying to finish up the renovations, that I had problems going out and having my haircut. Yesterday I managed to do that. At the same time, I have been on the lookout for UPS to deliver a parcel to me, which incidentally arrived a while ago. I have a problem communicating with the workmen because they all speak Mandarin, some being from China.

It has been one month now since I moved house. I am more settled now and getting to church earlier than when I was staying close to the church. Since I stepped down from my church duties, someone has been harassing me to resume my duties. This person is someone whom I dislike and used the excuse to step down, I will continue to turn up early and ignore him to frustrate him. He is really thick!

Till then....

I am stuck!

I managed to pack away some of my books into the library, but for the moment, I am stuck. I have things that I am not sure where to put them.

My tv console arrived and I have set up an ad hoc television connection so that I can continue to watch tv and if necessary, do a DVD recording. But my memory has failed me with my components connection to the amplifier. So I had to call someone by the name of ET, to come and do up the connections for me, and set up my home theatre. He can only come on Wednesday. Moreover I have a lot of CD to store, and I now realise that I need those two CD towers I saw last week at the Woody Teak Collection. So the need to order them. Until they are here, the CD's will remain in their boxes.

Coming Monday, the workmen will come to do the finishing touches to the walls and other areas. Soon as they get that done, I can then put things into the display cabinet and move things that will not get in their way. I can also get rid of the cardboard covering the floor.

Tuesday, my sofa will be delivered. With the leather sofa and chairs in place, my living room will shape up and I will have to move the furniture.

Anyway, I have set a dateline by 2nd October, to have the movers collect back the empty boxes and refund whatever the balance to me. The stack of empty boxes is quite an eye sore. Hopefully I can finish my unpacking by then, with perhaps a few boxes to be kept in the store.

Consulted my doctor this morning and surprised that I have lost a couple of kilos in weight. My doctor told me that it is due to the stress lately. Happy that the few curry puffs and chicken pies that I ate did not add to my weight including those winged cakes that my daughter craved for. Everyday I walk past that bakery and all the goodies glared back at me. Yesterday I walked past with Emma, who had picked up the habit of stopping by to buy something for breakfast. A habit she recently picked up from her mummy and fat aunty.

This Thursday, I am attending a seminar for the new Adobe CS4 Photoshop online. Instead of going there as was done in the past, this is now conducted online. At 10:45 I login and at 12:00, it will be over. It will be interesting. Hope I can get a discount to buy the new software.

My readers will be surprised to see so many postings this month. Since I am stuck with my unpacking, I decided to bang out my frustrations in my blog.

Till then....

First home cooked dinner.

Yes, we have finally cooked our first family dinner in our new place last Sunday, which also happened to be the mid autumn festival day. Nothing elaborate, just chicken stew, spam, long beans, watercress soup and moon cakes. My daughter had made the soup. It was very much ad hoc, as my daughters had cornered the mother to cook dinner.

The day before, being Saturday, we had gone shopping for the rice cooker, blender, oven toaster and even a telephone. Prior to that, we had gone to the antigue furniture store to buy a television console and chest of drawers for the bedroom. The last item was to get the curtains sewn up. An expensive day.

As can be seen in the above pictures, a view of the dining table and the wet kitchen.

It was a joyous dinner with the exception of my son and son-in-law, who were not with us. The kids were happy running around the place. My grand daughter Sam thinks that my new place is like a resort hotel.

The tv console and chests of drawers are made of elm wood in China. While the tv console is ready made and will be delivered on Thursday, the chests of drawers had to be custom made in China.

Though the new place is slowly taking shape, the unpacking is going painfully slow. I have to figure out what goes where, and I do not have that much choice. I am trying not to clutter up the place. It is not as easy as I thought it to be. My aim is to get rid of all the packing cases eventually. (A big sigh)!

Till then....

The Maisonette.

I am in an unpacking dilemma. There is a big pile of boxes sitting under the stair case. As I look at them, I have this desire to tear them open and stash the contents into respective places. Unfortunately this is easier said than done.

Firstly, not all the rosewood cupboards are back from refurbishing. There is one display case sitting and ready. I want to display my magic collections as well as my music boxes and some religious artifacts. But the painters are expected to do a final coating on the wall and carry out touching up. So I will have to wait.

Secondly, I have been racking my brains trying to house the various things that come out of the boxes. This has become a problem due to a lack of space and in trying to keep the aesthetic appearance of the entire maisonette.

I have been working on my 'office cum library'. The workstation is now functioning and only three of the shelves are functioning out of twelve. I am still trying to resolve the situation soon.

The interior designer has not officially handed over the maisonette to me yet, signifying the completion of the renovations, as there are still some rectification work and touching up to do. I have no desire to rush him as I want him to complete the work properly.

Anyway, the maisonette is taking shape, and Alfred, the previous owner, visited me two days ago, and was surprised at what we have done to the place. When he saw my bathroom, he said that the bathroom has grown bigger! He was very impressed indeed.

I now have my own bed, although it would be nice to have my own room. But half a curry puff is better than none at all. It is a super single with a mattress that contours my body. Very comfortable. On the second night here, I fell out of bed! There was no side table, so I had to place my clock on the floor. When the alarm went off at five in the morning, I reached down to turn it off. The bed is quite high. Suddenly I found myself rolling to the floor, divan and all. Certainly woke me up.

Last Sunday, I was on duty at the Novena Church. At night, a friend had sent me home by car. When I reached my floor, I could not find my maisonette. I looked around but my home was gone. Shades of 'twilight zone' entered my head when I realised that I had gone up the wrong block.

My old place is now gone. It is a ghost place, empty and desolate. When I saw it in the wee hours of this morning, only the lift landings were lighted up and every apartment was darkened with no life at all. I managed to sneak in yesterday morning, being the last day. My old place was ransacked and things thrown all over the place with my wash basin smashed. It looked so pathetic. I picked up two small items, looked into every rooms, and with a heavy heart, turned and said a silent farewell to the place that was home to me for thirty years.

That was a timely closure for me and now I will concentrate on my new home.

My new kitchen is not operational yet. So everyday we eat out at the Food Park. There are several restaurant serving Thai, Japanese, western and Chinese seafood. My wife is not a foodie and her eating is very unimaginative contrary to my eating habits. Very often she kills my appetite and eating with her has become very mundane. (Big sigh!)

I am adjusting to my new environment which I find very conducive. My renovations and buying new furniture and kitchen equipment is cosing me a bomb. My son, to whom I have given a free rein in the project, is enjoying himself spending my money. No doubt I had no money for renovations when I bought my old place, it is with a vengeance that my current bills are mounting. I just paid $3090.00 for all the rosewood repairs and refurbishing. Admittedly Charlie did a very good job, and the rosewood furniture now look like new. Pay the workman his due.

Although I am not quite ready for visitors yet, I hope to be ready before Christmas.

Till then....

All stressed out.

I have finally moved house and am all stressed out. First the harrowing experience of packing alone, thirty years of accumulation of stuff. That took me more than a month and suffering a bad fall ( read last post), I became rather desperate when confronted with more stuff than I can imagine. I gave away a lot of stuff, sold some and threw away so much.

On the day of move, the movers came early. Seven Bangla Dashi guys came and swiftly moved all the stuff down. They moved so fast and efficiently that I was bewildered, when they told me that the first lorry was ready to roll by eleven. I had to rush my wife, daughter and maid to the new place to receive the load. Following the second load with my son, the move completed by noon.

When I got to the new place, boxes were stacked up. Breathing a sigh of relief, I was so glad that I gave each mover a ten dollar tip. I thought they did a very good job because I was very concerned about the confusion and the lift breaking down since several families were also moving on the same day.

I had to organise another move the following week, in order to mop up the things left behind. I was warned of 140 families moving on the following Monday, so I arranged the second move on Tuesday. The 'Hungry Ghost' month had just ended and the superstitious Chinese families scrambled to move.

The second move went very well again much to my relief. Despite the two moves, when I went back to see, there were still many things left behind. I was torn between keeping some of the things or throwing them away. It was heart wrenching and in desperation, I closed my eyes and threw so many things away. I nearly forgot to retrieve a picture of myself when I was one year old. The one and only available. So after Mass one morning, I went back to retrieve it. For several mornings, I went back to retrieve what little items I had left behind. Lugging a bag full of stuff and taking two buses took its toll on my back. I was drained and exhausted after several trips.

I have also handed over my keys to the developer, who sent a representative to check my old place. I had to seal the smelly toilets and all the water discharge outlets. Fortunately the inspection took about five minutes, and the lady who conducted it was very nice and helpful. I now await my final payment for the sale.

In the confusion following the move, I had problems with my PC, when I tried to get it going. My LCD monitor failed and my CPU casing was too big for my tiny 'office space'. I had to buy a new monitor and repack the CPU into a smaller casing. I eventually bought a 19 inch LCD and an expensive aluminum casing, which, like my previous casing, had very cooling properties.

To add to my PC problems, I could not connect to the Internet. When the Singnet technician came, he discovered that they had connected my phone line but forgot to connect my Internet line.

In my next posting, I shall write about my new maisonette.

Till then....