BLOGSPOT SUCKS

for 4 days i've been trying to upload pictures onto a post which i had to Save as Draft because there was something wrong with BLOGSPOT. UNTIL TODAY it doesn't WORK. WHATSUP with this site?!

Ahuh-Agar! - (finally published)

This is not a piece of installation art though it looks a little suspicious (:

It's Agar-Agar made by my husband terence!

Not only can he ride a 1000cc motorcycle, he can make some yummy agar-agar too.

(don't ask me what the relation between the two mentioned is but i think its got something to do with how men associate women with tupperware)

Pregnancy 101 - things your mother never told you

its not easy finding a CUTE picture of a placenta

Curiosity killed the cat but in some cases, it kills the apetite.

Truth is, Me being all scientific about pregnancy and my changing body, have been trying to find out what happens to the PLACENTA after you give birth to the baby - regrets very deeply that i did so. In fact i'm hoping that writing about it now will give me some sort of closure so that i will not end up dreaming about it. I can imagine some sort of B-grade movie "return of the giant placenta" flick coming on.

For those of you who may not have gone through pregnancy or yet to have long talks with your mother about gross topics oh, not forgetting the other human species which are not women and sound very much like mend (silent D). Here's what I found out.

Placenta:

>organ grows from the time of conception to eventually take over the production of hormones needed to sustain the pregnancy at around 12 weeks gestation (from your last menstrual period).

>It supplies your growing baby with a means of obtaining nutrients for development as well as a method of waste disposal.

>This is the only disposable organ ever made.

So far it sounds pretty cool. At this point i feel Nature is amazing.

You see, finding out all that is FINE.

but get to the part where I found out that people actually EAT PLACENTA; i stopped - I couldn't swollow anymore of it (no punn intended).

It doesn't get any better.

> Placenta (apparently) tastes like beef.

>There are many sites that give you receipes on different placenta dishes including PLACENTA STEW, PLACENTA in Brocolli and PLACENTA COCKTAIL.

> Placenta is used in most cosmetics especially anti-aging ones.

I have a doctor friend that told me about his days as a young Medical Officer where he had to do a stint in the delivery ward. Some hospitals take these placentas and put them in a giant fridge to be later collected by cosmetic comapanies. At first i was a little upset that i wasn't about to be paid or given any due credit for carrying about 5kg of weight around for 9 months while some multi-million dollar company used that part of me to make even more money. But now i dont' really wanna think about it.

Please don't be offended if you practise the culture of bringing home your placenta to bury it in the garden because it was given by mother nature to support your baby and now has to return to earth. I believe that everyone has their own cultural beliefs.

but eating it... dude... common

sorry but i'm not strong enough to stomach that thought.

Husband to note in delivery room: if the doctor asks, i'll just focus on baby in my arms and pretend i didn't see the third stage of delivery...

Other thing to note: It's good to have doctor friends

To consider: staying vegetarian

JOIN us.

No one would have guessed that taking such "lovely" photographs of ourselves could start a trend... What's yours?

Check out Abigael with her new look here!

The inconveniences of convenience

Meet and eat... why not?

It was after all, an early celebration (well, small get together) for our buddy Chi Yin's birthday which falls on Tuesday. Boy did we eat... 5 of us, sat and ate from 6.30pm till about 10.30pm tonight. But time passed so quickly. I guess it was one of those meetings where we had much to catch up on. And it was good. Our dinner entertainment was a present we bought her. It was an electronic Fork which twirls your speghetti for you.

At first glance you would think that this would make the PERFECT gift for a pasta lover (think chi yin) whom i found out loves PENNE (not fork twirling friendly - in fact you can eat it with a spoon). Anyway we had to borrow a pair of scissors from the friendly waiter to cut our fork packed in a blister pack-open. And then, wash the fork, only then to find out that the AAA batteries which we went to buy on a separate occasion, could not be used because the battery casing in the fork had to be opened with a small screwdriver - which- you guessed it - we didn't have. So much for convenience. ha! and we thought we had it all planned out. Anyways, Happy Birthday in advance cheekers. Was a good time spent together.

Weird Findings #02

SO

WE found ourselves having so much fun looking this weird.

And I'm not about to say that WE = Bryan, Mugi, Terence and Maye-E

(;

Dit, i win (:

It's good to see Dita, my AP colleague from the Indonesia bureau again_ in Singapore.

Though i didn't have much time to spend with him, we established one thing:

All that weight that he lost; i've put on.

(;

p.s. this photo was taken by a reuters photographer (:

Weird Findings #01

I found this at that hardware shop just outside IKEA about 6 months ago.

Been wanting to blog about this but didn't get down to doing it.

But yes.

Here it is... WeiRd Findings numero uno:

They do think of everything!

I think the graphics are especially entertaining

Hole in none

these are just 4 out of a few more photographers which we call deskers (cause they stay at the desk) and make sure you don't see any holes in your morning Straits Times paper.

They work till almost 2am everyday, so: many thanks to them.

Ok now, go buy your copy of The Straits Times!

(by the way, they're always there together at the same time)

Mr. Little Big Heart

photo by terence tan

This, my friend: is a picture of a 5 year old boy crying NOT out of protest but out of compassion.

My nephew Ethan (which some of you have met in my previous blogs) displayed his compassionate and honest sincere little heart today when he went to hospital to visit his mom (who by the way is in good shape - nothing major - so don't panic).

Neither Terence or I, have seen him cry all his 5 years of life. But today when it was time for him to leave the hospital, his face started to prune up - but he held it back...

All of a sudden, he reached out and patted his mom on the shoulder and encouraged her. A scene you usually see when your grandpa or grandma is trying to cheer you up when you had a rough day, after a decent hour of pap talk.

Then suddenly he looked at his mom and held her cheek and told her to take good care of herself and that she'd be ok in hospital.

I could hardly keep in the tears.... so embarrassing - but so touching.

You know, they say, One eye sees and the other feels right?!!!

Then, i guess, the little boy couldnt hold it in anymore and he started to cry but in a considerate fashion-quietly. But i was very very impressed that he wasn't crying because he had to go home, and be separated from mommy but he was crying because he was sad that she had to be left alone and left in a strange place where you are forced to wear green uniforms and have people come and stick things into you. You know when you are young, you hear horrid stories of how people go to the hospital to move on to a better place and its mainly for the old and dying. Go figure why he couldn't bare to leave her.

I doubt many of us would react that way when we were 5.

We only cry cause we can't buy a certain toy that we'd forget about after 5 minutes anyway (:

So innocent but yet so big and selfless was his little heart.

Three cheers for you Ethan.

so many ways to spell that one word

Just a random thought:

i realised that there are a couple of common spelling errors when typing the word "Singapore".

1) Singapoe

2) Signapore

3) Sinapore

i guess there's no real reason why i chose this word except that i use it in my daily captions for the pictures that i send out to AP and the computer remembers these words when making searches in the web browser "search" fillers.

happy to pass this on

I forgot how much mindless joy i received from playing this game in my primary school days. Don't expect it to be interllectually challenging in any way because it's not. It is however, very theraputic. OBJECTIVE: Be the first player to score 100 points by rolling two pigs as dice. and check this: One player must keep score. This player is known as the 'swineherd."

click on image to see larger version

ON YOUR TURN Roll both pigs together onto a smooth surface and mentally note the score. Points are scored according to how the pigs land. (See Scoring ) After noting your points, you must now decide whether to stop rolling and score, or to keep rolling to try and add points to your score. STOP ROLLING If you choose to stop rolling, add up the points that you have rolled so far on this turn and have the swineherd mark your score on the score pad. This ends your turn. Pass the pigs to the next player. KEEP ROLLING You may continue to roll the pigs again and again on your turn, each time mentally keeping a running total of the points rolled. You may keep rolling until one of the following occurs to end your turn: o You decide to stop rolling and score. o You roll a "Pig Out" which means you score 0 points for this turn. (See Scoring.) o You roll an "Oinker" which means you lose all of your points accumulated in the game so far. (See Scoring.) At the end of your turn, have the swineherd mark your score (if any) on the score pad Pass the pigs to the next player. GO FORTH and Liberate yourselves!

Here's the link for a flash version of the game: PASS THE PIGS ONLINE

goof troop

You know how things happen in phases?

Think i'm in the word/puzzle game phase now so forgive me if i've missed your calls but my brain's pretty occupied right now.

the Evidence : and then:

the bigger, the harder to see

Don't mind if i go on about my pregnancy for a bit but there are just so many things I found out that your mother never told you.

Wait till i get to the part about placentas.

In the mean time, i found out that it's been ages since i saw my own two feet.

Except in this mirror image taken sometime last week while i was re-decorating my room.

The influence of a Portrait

This my friends: Are my friends. Apparently it is common for photographers to pose in a pansive manner when being shot. Perhaps they are shy. That's why they hide behind the camera. But anyway. Notice the similarities? And then i noticed this similarity in a 3-D ultra sound picture of my baby at 28 weeks. Maybe people have a lot more influence on us then we think. Either that, or he's just gonna end up being another photographer. ooooohhh......... something to think about huh (;

Less talk more action please!

This is what our little favourite friend Meg has to do when she takes a walk outdoors. I think our people up there, and you know where, should stop talking with their neighbours and take some action, or help them make up their minds... We don't need all this haze. (Meg you still look so darn cute even when you don't show your full face (: but that's not the point. We have more serious issues to discuss here. OOOps i mean get cracking at)

Aiya. see la. Can't run away. So singaporean.

All talk and no action.

In Hiding

I miss you all. It's been a long time since i've updated my blog. No particular reason for the silence. I guess sometimes you intend to add a new post but don't get much time to do it, and the news gets old and you lose steam. We've all been pretty busy with several photo assignments (IMF, Golf etc.) But things should slow down at work now and there shouldn't be anymore excuses to hide behind my fast-growing belly. So watch out for more postings. Best,