Flippy February

February's ending with my 17th wedding anniversary.  Yeah, it's been that long...  But this month, this year, has been very eventful.  I'm starting to think that I could be a regular visitor to the A&E.  This month the staff at Raffles Hospital really got to know me very well.

What a Painful February - Galaxy S23+

Jovial January

So January started quite OK so far.  We had the new year lunch at East Coast Park on the 1st day of the 2025 with my parents, my sister & her husband.  We went all the way to Long Beach seafood although I was not too wowed by the food.  But at least it was a gathering all the same.  

Wavy Seas at East Coast - Galaxy S23+

Jabroni January

So here I am towards the end of January.  It has been a busy month, which is very surprising for a start of the year.  But then again.......  This is how my department works.  1 person has left today and another will be transferring to another department in April.  These says a lot about how bad things are in my department.

Cowabunga! - Galaxy S23+

Fateful February

Goodbye February...  Although February is usually a month supposed to be full of celebrations such as Valentine's, Lindsay' birthday & my wedding anniversary, I am saddened to learn of my cousin's passing.  She had contracted cancer back in 2021 and went for treatments in Hong Kong & Guangzhou, even got her hand amputated from the shoulder.  And yet despite all that she still succumbed to it.  My heart is really broken..  my sister and I used to play together with her and her sisters when we were kids in Jakarta.  She also lived in my parents' house in Surabaya when she was still studying in Petra.  Of all my cousins, she and her sisters are the ones my siblings and I are closest with.  She leaves behind her husband and two young sons, one of whom is about the same age as Lincoln.  

Farewell Se Se...

Just January

It felt like January just zoomed past me, it was just work and work and work and work for me...  I hadn't paid much attention to the children's studies this month and there were days when I finished work with a tension headache.  I even spent a weekend studying how to use JIRA as I felt that I haven't been maximizing my JIRA usage at work.  Well..  something needs to change and I'll have to figure that out somehow.

Studying JIRA on Youtube - Galaxy Note 9

Frolic February

I risk sounding like a broken record here, but February is a month of celebrations.  I'm pretty sure I must have said that sometime back.  First, we had the Chinese New Year which came quite late this year on 12th February.  Unlike previous years, we couldn't travel back to Indonesia to celebrate with our families.  So this year it was just a quiet steamboat at home with my sister.  

1st Steamboat Dinner - Galaxy Note 9

Just a few days later we had another steamboat dinner at my home with the lady boss of Little Nyonya Batik and her husband, as well as another bestie of both the lady boss and my wife.  2 steamboat dinners over a span of 3 days.

Jakarta Chinese New Year 2020 Trip - Day 3

Day 3 - 春到大地.  No rain this morning and I started the day with a prayer at Vihara Satya Dharma with my father and Lincoln.  That was the first time Lincoln joined me and my father for new year's day prayers.   

Just Right For Spring - RX100 Mk3

Jakarta Chinese New Year Trip – Day 4: 春到大地 & Day 5

And here we are on Chinese New Year Day.  We started the day by wishing my parents a happy new year first.  So my siblings and my family gathered in my parents' room to wish them a happy new year.

新年快乐， 恭喜发财! - A7RMk2 + Batis 2/25  

Chinese New Year 2018

Another year, another Chinese New Year in Jakarta.  Things are a bit different this time....  公公's absence was deeply felt.

We left on the morning of the new year's eve.

Waiting to board - A7RMk2 + Batis 2/25

Chinese New Year 2017

This year we celebrated Chinese New Year in Jakarta.  It was a quick 4 days and 3 nights trip and again, I decided to stay in Pullman Central Park for its convenient location.

The flight was delayed by slightly over an hour in Singapore but the kids were in good spirit as always, if not, too loud at times.  

We were already waiting, but the plane still wasn't there yet - X-T2 + XF16mm F1.4R WR

The First 3 Weeks of 2017

By now, Lincoln had finished 3 weeks of Primary 1.  It has been a trying period for him, I & my wife.  There's no change in the time he has to wake up every morning, but his new routine (which is not well controlled) is causing quite a bit of problem.  Fortunately Lindsay has been adapting well in her new child care, Mandarin and reading class, I just regret that I have been neglecting her studies as I'm too preoccupied with Lincoln.

Lincoln's problems:

1. he doesn't want to take naps after school and since both I and my wife are working, nobody can force him to - this means that by the time I get home and guide him to do his homework he'll be too sleepy to pay attention.  I end up having to blow my top every weeknights just to guide him with schoolwork.

2. he doesn't jot down his homework details so I don't know whether he's doing enough or less or more... But after the 1st parent teacher meeting yesterday, I can safely say he's not doing enough..

3. his Mandarin is..... hopeless I guess.... he just can't remember the letters and he can't get his 笔画right. With weekly 听写on every Tuesday, that's also giving me a lot of pressure..

4. Due to 1 to 3 above, Lincoln has been showing his rebellious side more prominently as of late, partly because I limit his TV time to weekends only now.  No tablets and phones either.

The teachers will list down the homework there, but Lincoln just won't write them down in his communication book - took that photo during parent teacher meeting yesterday

Surabaya Trip - Part 3

Day 3 of the trip is Chinese New Year's eve.  This is the most important part of the trip as we'll be having reunion dinner later that night.

We started the day easy with a quick breakfast at Pasar Modern in nearby Puncak Permai.  Nothing to hoot about as the food are really quite simple and well..  ordinary....

A signboard in the market - taken with LG G3

Surabaya Trip - Part 1

So from 5 - 14 Feb we went back to Surabaya for Chinese New Year.  We don't usually go back this long for CNY but since Lincoln is already attending regular tuition classes for English & Chinese, I'd really hate to arrange for make-up classes at other times.  So I thought let's just spend more time in Surabaya and save on the air fares as well.  My wife suggested that we go to Batu as well which I thought is quite a great idea.  So we planned a 3 days and 2 nights visit to Batu this time.

We departed Singapore on a 7:50 a.m. flight early in the morning and arrived in Surabaya at 9:30 a.m. Unfortunately immigration and baggage clearance took about an hour so we only got out at about 10:30.  We were then greeted with the traffic which seems to get worse every year I come back, I'm still trying to digest that it took us nearly an hour to get home from the airport, twice the usual time it should be.  

I swear the traffic seems to be getting worse every year... - Taken with RX100M3

Prior to Lindsay's Arrival - Captured in D5100

Just because I was comfortable using my 5D Mark 3 doesn't mean I don't use my D5100.  There were times when I found the 5DM3 to be too cumbersome and I just wanted to go around light.  So my D5100 stepped in.

This time around we took a walk around Ann Siang Hill in Tanjong Pagar.  We had our pre-wedding photos taken here, but at the garden side.  We decided to go to the other end where the hip cafes and restaurants are.  

A private cinema in Ann Siang Hill - D5100 + Tokina 12-24mm F4 II

Prior to Lindsay's Arrival - Captured in 5D Mark III

Prior to Lindsay's arrival in Feb 2013, Lincoln went to Purwokerto and stayed with my in-laws.  It was quite hard to suddenly have him left us for quite some time, but we couldn't cope with handling a newborn and a 3 year old at the same time.  So we decided to send him to my in-laws who were more than happy to look after him for which I'm very grateful for while my mom was to help my wife look after the soon-to-arrive Lindsay.

As it was near Chinese New Year, the mood was festive.  

Resorts World Sentosa in Chinese New Year Decorations - 5DM3 + EF 16-35mm F2.8L II