Facebook

I'm so grateful for the article "Face up to Privacy on Facebook" found in the Digital Life supplement in today's Straits Times. I'm a tech-idiot when it comes to new networking platforms like Facebook (or what others have you), because I don't have the time or interest to find out how it works. Already setting up this blog is a lifetime achievement for me.

When the Facebook frenzy started among my friends months ago, I received invitations to be added as a friend. As I thought it would be impolite not to reply quickly, I accepted those invitations without really knowing how the thing works! Until today, I still don't know. Ha ha... I mean, people send seedlings or eggs (and hey, these can grow over the months), chocolates, play games and poke each other over Facebook! But it's really beyond me to understand the meaning of such gestures, when I would really appreciate a physical box of chocolates or be tickled by my friend when we really meet up face to face. Hmmm..... well, needless to say, my Facebook friends don't send me such things anymore because of my non-response. Very sorry there! I think I just "died" on Facebook ......

I have read about how challenging it could be to protect your own privacy once you get involved in such virtual networks especially if you do not know how to protect your personal or sensitive information. Honestly, this terrifies me, even if it just meant a stranger coming to know that I am friend of Miss A or had been working together with Mr B. So I dutifully followed the directions given in the article and edited the settings in my Facebook profile so that only my friends can find me. Finally I can ease my mind a bit.......

Chinese New Year Is "Over"......

Phew, finally can call a close to all that binging. Somehow it's hard to control one's diet during a festive period like this - there's the compulsory reunion dinners (for married people like me, 2 times in a row), and CNY goodies when visiting relatives' houses. [Apparently it's not so courteous to refuse sampling people's goodies, so I learnt.] So even if it meant eating only a small slice of bak-kuah or two pieces of pineapple tarts, I felt guilty about taking too much unhealthy sweet stuff......

For me, reunion dinners with my parents are rather uneventful since we gather for dinner almost every weekend. What's different could just be the presence of the steamboat where you get to cook your own sotong ball. This year, my sweet 8-year old nephew Joshua (easily spotted in the photo here) is old enough to provide cooking services to me, so basically I just sat at the end of the table to eat instead of getting my face steamed-up.

Then there's mahjong which hubby and I enjoy very much, and this could well be the last year I can play before baby arrives! We sort of lost our regular mahjong khakis when they started having their babies in recent years, but CNY is a time when everyone gets "passport" from their spouse to indulge a little. But I wonder if my baby got irritated with the sound from the shuffling of tiles, haha.

Finally, I met up with my lovely ex-Shanghai taitai friends, their hubbies and children (totalling 16!). It was such a joyous and noisy occasion! Here's a nice memory of the gathering, that I hope can take place year after year.....

To Test or Not to Test?

I had my first driving lesson this morning since I found out I was pregnant about 2 months ago. My baby's quite stable by now thus I assume it's ok to proceed with lessons. I was pretty nervous before the lesson and prayed to God for courage on the road and to remember the things I had learnt in the previous 5 lessons. Thankfully I did not do too badly, i.e. I did not panic at U-turns and when being tailgated.

My instructor somehow has a lot more confidence in me than I have in myself, and suggested I quickly book a test date for the practical test in Apr/May. I am wondering how on earth am I to accomodate 15 to 20 more lessons between now and then to complete the required number of modules before I'm ready for the test?? However, if I don't do as he suggests, I may be too advanced in my pregnancy later on to be allowed to take the pratical test. If I don't plan to take the practical test before I deliver end-July, I might as well stop all lessons now??

As usual, I shall procrastinate for a while and think about this issue later on. My immediate focus is on Chinese New Year! In the past, I never quite looked forward to CNY because I wished to avoid relatives asking me about my health and/or my baby plans. (Actually they never really did that. I imagined it by their casual sweeps across my abdomen everytime they meet me......). But I'm safe now lah. After my driving lesson today, I met a good friend for lunch and she brought me a bottle of home-made pineapple tarts! Don't they look professional? They are absolutely delectable!

Yummy home-made pineapple tarts!