1st Mambo 2025

Our last Mambo date was many, many months ago, back in August 2024. Then life got busy and Mambo only happens once a month. 

After a long break, it is definitely time to go shake some booty. Hoho. It was supposed to be 4 of us but Auntie SRN had to drop out at the last minute bcos of flu. We have a new kaki this round - Auntie R.

Auntie R has missed the dancing scene for many, many years. It is time for us to introduce her to what she has missed. 

We agreed to meet at 10.30pm. I watched a reel that says that if a 40 something is still out after 11pm, he/she must has taken a nap. Ya, I did just that in the afternoon after my morning ride. Hoho. The 2 aunties met slightly earlier and had a drink at Warehouse. I arrived to find 2 humongous soju drinks. 

They must be very thirsty. 

We lingered and also tried to finish the drinks. With a very full tummy, we headed to Zouk at about 11.30pm only to find a fairly empty club/ dance floor. We were reminded of our youngster days where we entered clubs before 8pm to take advantage of the free entry. Young people now only start partying at midnight. I would be in bed on normal days at 10pm. 

The club did turn more crowded as the night progressed. At about 2.30am, Auntie R was more than ready to go home, I was pleading for another 5 mins, 10 mins. Auntie R needs more training. The next round!

We still look very alive at 3am. Not bad!

Nope, we didn’t go for any supper though my tummy was starting to growl. Supper is not for old people. 

I made it home at 3.30am. My feet hurt, my knees and back were aching too. The day after Mambo is always pay back time. It is like my body punishing me for forgetting that I am in my 40s. Hoho. 

Just that I needed to get used to a new exercise, I think I need to get used to dancing again. Next Mambo pls! 

Mummy Lim

1st week in ACJC

Nana reported to school last Wednesday and it was orientation for the rest of the week. She of course had a blast and had quite a few fellow NHians for companion but also made new friends quickly, especially those in her Orientation Group (OG). One thing for sure, there are many more good looking teenagers compared to the nerdy boys in NH. Hoho. 

She bought new uniforms from school on Thursday, didn’t try them and found them too big. Zzzz. We had to bring her to Bibi & Baba to exchange during the weekend. Oh yes, it was also Bibi & Baba during my time too. The uniform is still the same but I thought the material for the skirt seems thinner. They didn’t have the required size for the blouses and she had to do the exchange back in school.

Anyway, I waited to today to post bcos I had finally compiled all the different “looks”. Hoho. She was still in her NH uniform on Monday bcos she needed to do the exchange for the blouses. Full uniform is required on Monday and Friday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, she had her orientation Tee and she hand washed it.

On Thursday, she had her PE tee. It is still the same bright yellow shirt but dri-fit and not cotton anymore like in my time. 

Finally, in full uniform today. 

When we know that it is ACJC, I told Daddy Lim that I will go dig out my JC pictures that are hidden deep in the storeroom. I did! Me when I was 17! 

Grew out my hair when I was in JC2. 

I told Daddy Lim that I would take a photo in Nana’s uniform too but hasn’t done so. Hoho. 

Orientation is over and it is subject combi submission and CCA trials this week. ACJC is super flexible with their subject combi and Nana is opting for Physics, C Maths, Economics and Geography, which is almost the exact combi she wanted if she had gotten into EJC or SAJC. The only switch was Physics for the originally planned Chemistry. While she has more interest in Chemistry, seniors and tutors told her that Physics is relatively easier at A levels. 

School is still very lax until the subject allocation is finalised. The students are to attend lectures as per their preferred subject combi, but tutorial and the other H1 subject classes have not started. 

It is a different story for Zaky, who complains that his school days are now ending in the late afternoon almost everyday. He was struggling with his project work just this week. It had been a while since I saw him work so hard. Haha.

Fighting! 

Mummy Lim

JB Day Trip 2025

The original plan was to do a JB day trip before the CNY for new CNY clothes. However, we were all so busy and couldn’t find a weekend to do so. So we ended up with no new clothes for CNY but decided to still do the JB day trip post CNY for shopping. Now that the kids are teenager, shopping is no longer toxic. In fact, who doesn’t want free shopping? 

We last went to JB several months ago via the train. It is a nice way to avoid the custom jam but the good timing tickets were all sold out. We opted to drive also for convenience than have to take grab everywhere. 

The plan was to leave the house at 7am but we only made it out at about 7.30am. The traffic at the immigration had already built up and we opted for the 2nd link for the shorter custom waiting time. We barely got into the car and Zaky said that he was starving. So instead of a nice tim sum bfast in JB, we ended up with bak chor mee at a kopitiam near to Tuas. It was delicious though. 

The wait at the custom was about an hour. Not too bad especially when the spirit was still high. We were still worried initially about the need to burn time if we got into JB too early. We ended up arriving at the mall at about 10am. 刚刚好. This time, we went to the Southkey Mid Valley mall. Just before that, we had bfast number 2 when we took a toilet break along the way. The 4 of us had to share 1 nasi lemak bcos there will be a lot more eating ahead.

We shopped! Everybody bought something. Then, we stopped for lunch. Ya, eat again ah. I ordered a 2 to 3 pax set so that we can eat other things after lunch. Hoho.

By 3pm, we were dead tired. There was so much walking. We started finding places to rest our tired legs when possible. 

Zaky bugged to do massage but the only massage places in the mall were all full. We contemplated heading to another mall for message and eventually decided to drive to Austin Heights instead. We should be able to find massage places in Austin Heights and then settle dinner thereafter. It was a place that we are familiar with.

We finally found one - 3rd time a charm, and had 60 mins of feet and shoulder/ back massage. When the massage started, the masseuse was massaging all my sore muscles from Thursday hiit. Pain but also shiok siol. At some point, I heard somebody snored. I think it was Zaky. Haha. 

They gave us ginger tea and red bean soup after the message. Only Daddy Lim benefitted. We were saving our tummies for dinner. 

We had wanted to have Korean BBQ, even though we also had Korean food for lunch. Look at the wide array of side dishes! Refillable somemore.

We had plenty of meat.

The dinner cost us less than RM200. How to find this kind of deal in Singapore? 

While we feed ourselves, we remembered the lonely Mochi back home too. 

We gave him some kibbles via the feeder to tahan until we were home. 

Dinner was just nice and we didn’t have to overeat. So we went for dessert and to use the restroom before we head back to Singapore. 

Daddy Lim decided that we would go home via Woodlands bcos the custom waiting time, though 20 mins longer (according to SG checkpoint), is nearer to Austin Heights; the 2nd link was 1 hour drive from Austin Heights.

I am not sure how much we can trust SG checkpoint. We definitely waited longer than the predicted 45 mins. My body ached from being confined in the car but at least I had my massage already. Hoho. I asked if the shopping was worth the custom jam and the kids said “yes”. Daddy Lim said that it was the Korean BBQ dinner that made it worth. Haha.

Mummy Lim

ACJC

The posting result was released at 9am yday. I was in JB for business and had asked Nana if she would wake up at 9am for the sake of checking the result, which would be sent via SMS to her mobile. 

We had been hoping that she would be accepted into EJC. With a 2024 COP of 6 points for Science, EJC must be strong academically. That is also her top choice. She said that it looked like a fun school and the school has ultimate frisbee as a CCA and she really wanted to join that. We knew that there is a high possibility of not getting in bcos Nana just met the COP and the school is gaining popularity, thus more applicants and possibly pushing down its COP this year. Getting into the Art Stream, which has a higher COP is not an option. While Nana isn’t the strongest in her Sciences, doing 2 humanities subjects isn’t her strength too.

Her 2nd choice is thus super important. If she doesn’t get into EJC, she will make it into her 2nd choice. Like I mentioned previously, Daddy Lim and I were urging her to choose NJC over ACJC but we gave in after she insisted on how bad NJC is. I think she sorted of regretted; she mentioned last week that many of her friends did select NJC eventually. Arrrggggghh..

The posting result was released before 9am yday. She WhatsApp that it is ACJC. She was of course disappointed and contemplated when I asked if she wanted to appeal. If yes, which JC (EJC and/ or NJC), and she should figure out how to appeal and by when. 

Of course her mother is much more efficient and found that appeal is done directly through the schools’ website. To qualify for appeal, the students must 1st meet the COP and then to justify the appeal. I saw that the COP for EJC Science had dropped to 5. Haiz. So if we are to appeal, it is only to NJC, which COP for Science remains at 7. I passed the information to Nana, who eventually decided not to appeal to NJC bcos she said that it is very 麻烦 (zzzzzzz) but more importantly, she doesn’t see herself in NJC. Ok lor. 

Nana reported to ACJC this morning after 2 long months of vacation break.

She made an effort to wear her contact lenses, and was happy that she no longer needed to braid her hair and can wear track shoes to school. Daddy Lim dropped the kids on his way to work and this would be the arrangement for the next 2 years. She has arranged to meet her friends at the Buona Vista to walk to school together. I remember that walk from the MRT. The path was unsheltered and beside plenty of trees 30 years ago but is so much better now. Lol.

It is orientation for the next 3 days and I am sure that she will enjoy herself and will enjoy ACJC. It will definitely by more fun than NJC. Nana had been reminded times and again that she has to work hard, especially now that the environment is likely to be less academically pressurising. I really don’t want to tell her “I told her so” in the future. What will be, will be. It is God’s plan and the 1st time that she is in a Christian school. Amen.

Mummy Lim

1st 2025 Business Trip to JB

The JB office has invited some of us for CNY lunch celebration and I took the opportunity to visit the office for work and stayed a night. Traveling to JB for work is so easy and comfortable. Hoho. The car picked a colleague and I up from Singapore at 7ish and we arrived in the JB office by 9am, all thanks to smooth immigration. It didn’t feel like I was on a business trip other than the extra heavy bag for the overnight stay. 

I was told that our colleagues normally stayed at the Holiday Inn and did the same. I knew that the hotel is near to the Woodlands checkpoint, which also mean that it is near to the shopping mall but didn’t realise that it is so near - JBCC is just next to the hotel. Yay! 

The hotel room is very decent and comfortable.

My colleague had a business dinner and I had to find dinner on my own. It is ok, I was glad with the alone time after talking to people the entire day. 

Yum yum.

Then I roamed the mall a little. There wasn’t much to buy though and headed back to the hotel for some work. The bed was comfy and sleep was easy but I woke up several times, like how I usually would on the 1st nights in hotels but unfortunately the only night in this case. 

Of course I hit the gym. The gym was on the 32nd floor and I had a shock when the lift door opened. It was dark and looked abandoned bcos the lights were mainly off and the pool was under renovation. 

The gym is decent though.

I got my 5km and it was an easy jog probably bcos I had rested the last 2 days.

The view that accompanied me. I think I was looking at the Woodlands custom. 

You know how we sometimes see reels of people falling from treadmill and laughed about it? I experienced it 1st hand - the falling but not the laughing. The running pad is damned rough siol. I had turned on the MTV channel and midway through my jog, I thought to increase the volume and had to pause the treadmill to get the remote. I hit the pause button but didn’t expect the “slowing down” to take so long before a complete stop. The next moment, I was on one knee and hanging on to the treadmill, which is an absolute wrong choice. I eventually slide off the treadmill and the machine also came to a complete halt. 

Ouch! 

I still managed to complete my jog. The pain eased after a while but the stinging started as I perspired. Roarrrr.. I survived anyhow and felt very stupid. Lesson learnt - never hang on to treadmills. 

I got to enjoy the hotel bfast. The spread looked good but I didn’t quite find plenty that I like to eat. 

It is ok, I am supposed to be dieting off the CNY feasting weight.

The rest of the work day was uneventful and we left the office at 4pm to head back to Singapore. We used the Tuas link this time to avoid the jam and were back in Singapore by 5ish. Hoho. Happy! I was exhausted for the rest of the evening and had an early night. I guess work trips are tiring afterall. 

Mummy Lim

CNY 2025 Part 2

Zaky headed to one of the youth’s place on 初二 early morning, and thus we only needed to find food for 1 kid. We found lunch at Hillion Mall, Paris Baguette. We decided that we needed to start dieting and to lose some of the CNY feasting weight.

We were wrong about the dieting bcos we had another big feast with the SHSS ladies yday. CNY is never completed without meeting with these ladies. Auntie T was the organiser and boldly planned for a steamboat dinner. She prepped all the food while we helped with the other tasks. 

Preparation in progress. 

Almost ready and the aunties on standby. 

Our food production line was very efficient and productive. It was not the typical steamboat, at least not for the kids bcos there were too many hungry tummies to feed. It was until the hungry ones were fed, then the aunties had chance to slowly enjoy the real steamboat. 

While the adults had their fill, the kids self entertained. 

We only had 1 organised game this time - guess the drink. 

I hereby concluded that Zaky had super bad tastebuds. Every drink tasted like Pepsi to him. Lol. We shared a good laugh but also germs bcos we used the same set of straws and some of the participants were down with flu. Let’s hope nobody get sick after the game. Haha. 

We finished most of the food, thankfully. 

We had to take photos of course.  The kids were lined up according to their height. We have people who were super proud (Zaky) and people who resisted the idea (Boo). Lol.  Nana was secretly glad that AN and C were not at the gathering. Haha. 

The aunties did the same too. I am the 2nd tallest siol, don’t play play.

The group photo. It feels a little like 子孙满堂. Hoho. 

Really must start to 减肥了 but the kids were out having dinner with their youths this evening and we cannot resist having some good food ourselves. We went to a Korean place. 

Ok, diet starts tomorrow. Happy CNY. Huat ah! 

Mummy Lim