Sometimes I forget Jayvon is like a sponge nowadays. And that he can mimick and ape us so scarily well.

At my mom’s house, my “workstation” is usually in front of the TV in the living room.

(I have a Masters in Multitasking, ya see)

And well, while I went to get myself a Mug Root Beer, I returned and found my usual spot hijacked by my two year old.

As he was staring into the screen, his fingers were rapidly moving across the keyboard as well.

Pardon the fuzzy photos, I was laughing so much at the sight of my serious-looking boy going “Hallo? Ya… ya…” into my Blackberry!

And in case you are wondering how I look like as I am typing on my Blackberry, this is a pretty clear picture!

Looks like I need to spend more alone time with my boy! Haha!

I had a long conversation with some friends on quite some time ago. Just chatting under the night sky, with a cup of tea in hand. I am not sure what brought it on, but I started talking about loyalty.

Loyalty’s underrated.

That is the gist of my short and sudden tirade.

That this concept of “Loyalty” seems to be replaced by other lesser concepts, like “Self” or so-called “Healthy Skepticism” (which can be a whole new blog post of mine, man!) or “Transparency”… To me, loving someone and being loyal to that one goes hand in hand. How can you say you love someone without maintaining loyalty?

Napoleon Hill once declared: “Lack of loyalty is one of the major causes of failures in every walk of life.”

Proverbs 3:3 (NLT) says: “Never let loyalty and kindness get away from you! Wear them like a necklace; write them deep within your heart. “

What loyalty am I speaking of?

Loyalty to your spouse, to your family… to love and protect them.

Loyalty to your employers and your employees… to not slander or talk bad about them behind their backs or do things that are to their detriment.

Loyalty to your church… God placed you there for a reason and a purpose. Under that leader, and under that pastor. Be loyal. Love the man of God. Love the Church. Don’t backstab or say silly, frivolous things under the banner of “asking questions”. How old are you? 10? Ask the right questions to the right people in the right environment. I am not advocating blind following. I am advocating HONOR.

I don’t think I am cut out to be a journalist, especially if I have to cover so-called “current affairs”. Or I really mean, nosy-parkers. Sure you get your scoop and that exclusive, but at what cost? Breaking up a marriage? I once heard a reporter say that they needed to get an “angle” and to merely regurgitate a story would not satisfy their readers. It may not be illegal but it sure smacks of inconsideration. I just hope you never have to come to a place where your personal problem becomes fodder for coffeeshop talk.

With Tiger Woods’ scandal, I felt the media was intense enough.

Now closer to home, I really really feel for Jack. No, I don’t know him, but in our teeny tiny island, this intense media scrutiny is tough for not just Jack, but also his wife and most importantly his children!

Let him be.

Let the couple be able to resolve their issues with enough space to breathe.

Stop with the dirt-digging and mud-slinging.

I find it a little ironic to read about how Singaporeans are disappointed with him. And reading in the same report on how his own wife, the one he let down, was willing to forgive him. Oh, the irony! I am sure to Jack, the most important person he needs forgiveness from is his wife.

Oh, and the outcry for Jack to make a public apology?

Gosh… for what? Why should he apologize publicly for an error he made in his own private life? In my opinion, shouldn’t the person who broke this story be the one to apologize to Jack and the affected parties for dragging their names through the mud?

Strange strange strange… No use calling for blood, let’s be clear-headed and gracious towards them, and allow them room to settle their own issues, please!

I hope you’re enjoying my Malacca trip posts so far!

This would be the final one… dedicated to the beach resort we stayed in. Yes, you heard me right. We stayed at Everly Beach Resort, a 25-minute cab ride away from city centre.

Pros: Did you not hear me? BEACH RESORT! Gorgeous scenery, great for a retreat and major R&R.

Cons: Did you not hear me? 25 minutes by cab! Or in monetary terms… RM$25 each way! Sigh…

Reaching there, I was also tempted to book this Resort for my cell group year-end retreat! Haha… (still considering, still considering…)

Kinda looks like a HDB block ya?

Well, no HDB block has this view…

The stairs at the bottom of the photo is actually within the compounds of the Resort, which basically meant the beach is literally a stone’s throw away!

Jay’s favourite part of the Resort – the lobby boasted of Seahorse door knobs!

Here’s some of his poses with the Seahorses…

The 16 of us stayed in 2 Family Suites, and each suite had 3 bedrooms, a living room, dining room, and even a kitchen!

Our roomies. Nic, Jay and I took the Master Bedroom, and Nic’s 4 other male colleagues took the other 2 bedrooms.

This was the weekend of THE announcement. When Pastor revealed the new worship location for City Harvest Church.

I think the very moment the members knew where this place would be, there was probably a collective intake of breath!

Suntec Convention Centre

Winner of Best Business Venue Experience award 2009.

Host to APEC leaders and dignitaries…

And from March 2011, CHC will now have its worship services in this gorgeous place.

Till now, the forums and internet are rife with talk about the 80% stake CHC now has in this area, but even after think about it, it is such a fantastic deal for us… as we are not only able to lease this place 24/7, we are now also landlords and able to earn whenever the Convention centre is used for external events. This definitely eases our financial burdens.

I am so proud of Pastor, and so glad to be in this great church. After years of enduring travel to Jurong West, it is GREAT to finally be able to have church literally a stone’s throw away! Woohoo!!! It’s gonna be an exciting few months, till the BIG MOVE!

Even before I made it to Malacca, I was regaled with the yummylicious food available in Malacca. Gosh… the amount of food I “had” to try ranged from the chicken rice balls, durian chendol, nonya food, local coffee, pineapple tarts…

It was a case of too many meals, too little time!

We basically only had 24 hours in the land.

When we reached the Mahtoka Shopping Centre, after we disembarked, we had little choice due to hunger and the fact we were lugging around our huge bags, that we ended up at A&W. Yeap… Fast food!

I had such high hopes!

Quite disappointing, save for the A&W Root Beer Float, which was totally yummy!

Well, the upside was that my Prince was in a good enough mood to be photographed by me though! Despite the fact we had just got off a 4-hour bus ride!

 

My sunshine! :)

Food-wise, we had a proper Peranakan dinner that night, and yummy, it was great!

The menu came in this old-style cover.

Even the table cloth was this gorgeous flora hue.

Given the typically spicy Peranakan food, we ordered Fried Bee Hoon for Jay. It was the first dish to come, and the fragrant smell of this simple yet nicely-cooked dish boded well for the rest of the meal! Jay lapped this up!

Assam Prawns. Heavenly.

Fried Fish with Sambal Belachan.

 

Otah-otah.

Some kind of chicken stew.

No Nonya meal is complete without Chap Chye.

By evening, Jay’s “I’ll be a good, well-behaved boy” quota had depleted, and he became one whiney, irritable toddler. Nevertheless, we still managed to enjoy the dinner! Cost of dinner: RM195 for a 7-course dinner for 9 people. Pretty affordable!

Though we didn’t manage to try the much-lauded Ipoh Coffee, we still managed to grab a cuppa back in the hotel, for that much-needed caffeine fix.

Rest and relax… Aah…

It was our first trip to Malacca, and boy o boy, we were looking forward to it!

It was a gorgeous 4-hour long bus ride, with loads of green trees and blue skies along the way!

Even this sight that is never-seen-before in Singapore, as all our cabling happens underground!

Jay had a blast as well, watching loads of DVDs, snacking and playing with Mommy & Daddy throughout the ride.

 

Halfway through, Jay got his hands on my camera, and he’s not a half-bad cameraman. Check out his self-portraits!

He turned the camera on himself, said “Cheeeez!” and managed to click the right buttons! Haha!

He is growing to be a whiz on the camera – and even managed to find the “Colour Accent” function for Mommy! Haha! So of course, I used it for some of the photos…

Coming up… the food glorious food of Malacca!

Over the weekend, I joined Nic & his colleagues for their annual company retreat, and the destination was Malacca!

I was really quite excited, cos Wen & JerB were telling me about, well, the FOOD of that place! It wasn’t a very long trip, and therefore not that many meals to justify stuffing our faces, but still, it was a pretty fulfilling trip. Watch out for more “instalments” to my Malacca trip!

Here, in preparation for that food and fun, we first had to consider the biggest obstacle. The coach ride up to Malacca. The four hour bus trip. Each way.

Phew!

Just the thought was enough to send that shudder down our spines.

Thankfully, it went pretty smoothly. Of course, there were some whine-y moments and some heartstopping ones when we thought he would poop (No toilets! How could we change him?) Think only a handful of Nic’s colleagues are married and even the married ones didn’t have kids, so I believe it was an eye-opener for them all (for better or for worse… Hahaha!)

Well, through the trip, I learnt one thing really made the difference: Preparation. Ensuring you have enough things to occupy the toddler for the entire trip. And make sure you space the distractions out, so give each its' maximum spotlight!

First line of defence: Daddy’s very nice (and not cheap) watch.

After 15 minutes, that novelty soon ran out. So it was out with #2: The book.

This was amusing for all of the 3 minutes. My son’s not a Nemo fan, apparently.

But we still had other tricks up our sleeves.

FOOD! Ah… this is all-important! And this is one of his favourite snacks – Calbee Prawn Crackers.

But the trophy for Holding-Longest-Attention-Span definitely goes to…

The Portable DVD Player!

Jay was entertained by Bear in the Big Blue House, Hi-5, and even a trailer DVD of BabyTV! A Must-Have for any trip!

Over the weekend, I went for Nic’s company retreat – all the way to sunny Malacca! Will blog more about that soon. (I do still need to prepare for my AGM, ya know! Haha!)

Anyhoooo, on Sunday night, the bunch of them gathered in our little suite, and we play many fun games… one was “2 Lies and A Truth” – each of us had to write 3 sentences about ourselves, with 2 of them being lies and 1 being the truth.

Seemingly, I had the “obvious” advantage seeing how no one (I mean, apart from Nic of course) knew me. Some of his female colleagues even lamented that they knew so much about each other this game was a foregone conclusion.

Well, I always love a challenge so I decided to write three sentences that would stump even my very dear hubby. Whom I know for more than 10 years. Whom I’ve dated since 2000. Whom I married in 2007, and had a baby boy with.

…

And yes, I even managed to stump him! Woohoo!

See if you can guess which is the true sentence!

#1: I love all kinds of fruits, especially rambutans.

#2: I’ve coloured my hair all sorts of colours before, including green.

#3: I’ve been to quite a few countries in the past, including Korea.

Tell me your guesses! It doesn’t matter if you’re wrong… I mean, even Nic got it wrong. Hahaa!

Even from a very young age, Jayvon has always been taller and bigger than his peers. I mean, he was wearing clothes meants for a 12-month old… at 6-months.

Now, he still looks older than his 25-months, and given his cheeky character, we were never really concerned about him being bullied in school.

If anything, it is the opposite.

Gosh… and take a look at these two photos!

His poor classmates!

Haha… but you gotta admit, these are really funny shots.

Maybe it is a “boy” thing, cos his classmate does the same thing too! Haha!

You know for sure, that water play time is a popular time for the children!!!

P.S. Err… Please don’t ask me why Jay isn’t in his swimwear… I thought waterplay’s only on Monday… isn’t it? Isn’t it? Oops…