Spymama @ Mamakshop

My niece was on the phone with me excitedly just a little over an hour ago. She is in the states studying and working part time. She is taking time off to celebrate her first Valentine away from home at a Westgate resort with her boyfriend who flew over. My niece and her partner had been together for about 5 years and they are planning to get hitched in two years time when she graduates.

It is an early Valentine wish for her from me as they are about 12 hours behind us in Singapore. By tomorrow when Valentine’s day is over in Singapore will be her day of romance.

For many couples who spend Valentine’s day with distance between them, do they celebrate Valentine’s day a day early and a day late? Penny for your thoughts.

Today is Valentine’s Day. How are you celebrating it, may I ask?

When Spypapa and I were in courtship decades ago, we celebrate Valentine’s Day like most couple did. A fine dinner, some flowers, gifts to each other and we would take time off to spend with each other. Now that we are both growing old as a married couple, Valentine’s Day is almost non existent. It is the truth.

Of course, we’d like to have all that romance like some married couples who still actively celebrate their Valentine’s Day as a married couple but somehow along the way in our lives, busy with kids and work.. it somehow got buried away. And we just do not have the strength to get excited with gifts, dinner and romance when priority to daily activities become a struggle.

Thus, if you are still very early into the marriage, best is not to let it disappear like Spypapa and I did. Those who kept it alive and kept their communication of romance alive, I really take my hats off to. Because, just like other special occasions like Christmas, Birthdays and Anniversaries if you forget one or two of these occasions, chances are they remain to be just as easier to be left alone as years go by.

A special occasion does not have to be like those commercial advertisements of wine, bouquet, dinner, expensive present. It can be a special time spent together even at the local eatery nearby. Roses or flowers do not really equate to remembering one. Time does. It makes sense to want to spent a quiet dinner or meal with your other half and it can be just by the park or holding hands in a quiet stroll.

So how did you actually spent Valentine’s Day? Everyday is Valentine if you take the time out for your special someone/few people. Material does not matter. A little poem or card is worth just as much. And for all the missing Valentine’s poem that I missed, perhaps I’d dedicate one to all of you here.

Valentine’s Day

Awakens my heart

Letting love come my way

Even if it drifts apart

No Valentine should sail alone

This special time celebrates love

It shall not darken or destroy

Nor break it’s arrow from above

Every day is Valentine’s Day

I popped into my local drugstore for my allergy medicine. I’ve been on this since many years ago. It is actually an antihistamine that stops me from having rashes whenever I take too much seafood. Poor me, I cannot take seafood such as those raw oysters and certain shellfish. I do so love them so I’m so glad that there is help for me still. As long as I don’t indulge too much, I still survive the occasional luxury food. I just avoid the raw oysters, I’m fine with medication for the rest.

So what happened in the drugstore? Pretty juicy tale I have here. This lady, rather young - as a matter of fact. I ‘overheard’ her asking the Pharmacist for some ointment. I DIDN”T PURPOSELY STAND THERE TO LISTEN, OKIE?  I had to get my Clarityne from the Pharmacist too, you know? But since she was first, I am the perfect Gentleman, Gentlelady. She was reluctant to say it but she did say it. It was meekly soft but I heard. She asked for an ointment for vaginal dryness. Then I thought, ( I thought or perhaps I could feel the heat) she blushed. The pharmacist was a lady so perhaps not as embarrasing. She walked to the shelf where all the Jellos are and asked her to try this. Hmm perhaps she had some itching problem? No need to be shy. Why didn’t she consult her GP instead ah? If that was me, I’d be on the internet doing research first. Then I go buy. But then you never know what she uses it for. Perhaps one day, I’ll be needing one of those. Not for anything suggestive in your mind. C’mon!

My dear friend showed me a picture of her apartment in Chang Zhou (if that is how it’s spelled). She is now lecturing in an international school and rental is quite cheap there. She told me how blessed she is having a job although her salary is not as high as one would expect from an expat. She decided to go there since middle of last year, for a change of environment after going through a bad patch of marriage. It was about living life and starting a fresh. She is fine now, and enjoying a slower pace of life. She had two offers from her school, teaching in Chang Zhou or in Shanghai. She picked Chang Zhou because she wanted to start slow and worry that the pace in Shanghai may be too fast for her. Shanghai is actually speedier pace than Singapore, did you know? And the best thing is that many things are cheaper in Chian Zhou. I am happy for her and we chat on Skype almost daily. I leave mine on so that she knows there is always a friend online for her at home, in the office and don’t feel so cut off from Singapore.

Back to the apartment, her landlord is a very nice couple. Oh and did you know that in China, the people usually place their refrigerator in their living room? She told me the landlord says it’s normal there and she has to walk to her fridge in the living room, located next to the tv stand whenever she needs to take something while cooking.. hilarious! She says having guests means you don’t remain anti-social in the kitchen preparing meals …Interesting, eh?

The shopping malls have been hit bad. Retails reported low sales since the economy crisis. Perhaps everyone is worried about the outcome. People lost jobs when they are retrenched. They worry about where their next wage comes from.

Our government is asking us to spend. Spending will prevent further recession. It is true. Without any sales, shops may not be able to cover operating costs, that is when it leads to retrenchments. I hope you get the picture. When jobs are lost, people can’t find jobs because the shops are not hiring when there is no sales.

It is up to us to keep the businesses alive during a time like these. It is going to be a hard struggle but it works like a domino effect. Of course, during this time, we all want to spend wisely. There are many shops who are putting their products out on sale. At least to cover back their capital and a little bit more. It’s not about a lot of profit. And at times like these, everyone is hunting down the best buy they can ever get their hands on. Online stores such as www.buy.com has good prices. They always have.

So it’s up to you and me. As much as we need to curb spending, we need to help these business succeed this economy crunch. And when they grow, there will be jobs for all of us.

It is terribly hot! The weather is burning off a layer of my skin. Okay, I’m just exaggerating. But it’s really hot out there today. I thought the rain was welcoming two days ago, but seems it was just a passing shower.

I wish to go out and sit in my usual kopi tiam enjoying a cup of Kopi O, actually. But the weather is killing me. Perhaps it would be nice to go swimming but then again, i’d need to slap on slicks of that SPF 25 or I’ll be burnt like a roast.

So I decided that I should just stay home, have my kopi O and some chinese cruellers for companion. What do I have here, They are:

1. You Tiao  2. Butterfly Fritters  3. Hum Chim Peng

Can You Guess Which of these I’d be eating first?

These are not fresh, they are leftovers from yesterday’s breakfast. But warming it up in the oven, they taste great too. Kopi O is definitely freshly brewed.

Let’s read some papers. Hmm… wonder what Spypapa is doing now on a hot day?

Today, we chatted about losing weight. We both wanted to lose weight, more him than me. He was overweight. He was recently diagnosed as having hypertension of 150. What are these readings? Is it bad? I think the first thing would be to change his diet. Then again, he doesn’t eat at home much. Maybe once a week. He eats at work most of the time. I know him well. It must be his salty preference and the love for meat. Even if he took the best diet pills in the world, he needed to change his diet totally. Gosh foot problems, hypertension and now diet. I really have to find a way to get him to heed these warnings. Well today being the last day of Chinese New Year, I can let all hell lose tomorrow. I don’t want to be horrid during Chinese New Year.. LOL!

What would you do if you were me? I’d blame on his over indulgence on beer and liqueur too.

After Spypapa’s visit to see the Orthopedic surgeon on Friday, I decided to source online for some good walking shoes for him. If you asked me about good shoes, I’d tell you Scholls would be a good choice but I know there are many more good ones that I am just ignorant about. Then I came across a brand that I believed my eldest uncle ever mentioned before. He used to wear this one by the name of Mephisto. I remembered seeing it when he took if off to enter the temple once and he bundle it up into his backpack in case it gets stolen.. I had a good laugh of course. He told me he’d be lost without those shoes that has brought him to many countries of travel and each time he wore those, he always never felt tired. He calls it his lucky feet as they felt like his second skin.

I decided to key in and found that this brand has a history of 35 years of existence and is known as one of the world’s best walking shoes! I was impressed and wasted no haste to check out Mephisto allrounder collection in the site. I was pleasantly surprised by the many unique designs of their shoes. It was like a cross between comfy sandals and sneakers for some designs but they really looked awesome! On the other hand you can even pick out those that are really classified into Sandals, Athletics and also Shoes. They are all so awesome. I’m gonna measure Spypapa’s feet tonight and get him a pair for… his birthday? I love their Lime Nubuck design a lot!

I followed Spypapa to the Orthopedic specialist the other day. He had some pain in his foot. The GP recommended him to get a scan or x-ray to make sure he is ok. He had problems walking lately. Gosh, what a terrible thing that we both are down with foot ailments.. It certainly looks hilarious to have an older couple walking and limping side by side, eh.. We’d make a good limping pair…yikes.

Anyway, I was totally amazed at the recent technology in x-rays nowadays. They don’t use films anymore… Gosh, have i been so out of date that I didn’t know that? The doc provided him with a CD of his x-ray.. He, too got worried when he was handed this CD during payment at the X-ray. You know, it’s like those in the movies when someone is leaving you and cannot be there to talk to you for some reasons and you view it in a videotape? So the CD was certainly a shock. Why can’t the Doc tell us, why why why.

Upon going in the consultation, only did we realize that passing the CD to the Specialist Doc, he pop it in and Oh! It’s an X-ray.. Country bumpkins like Spypapa and Spymama were awed by it all that we didn’t really absorb much of what he said. But lucky he did repeat about how how his bones at the toe part looked like an old injury, thus, the bones were kinda like jutting out. Spypapa’s weight this year being the heaviest probably caused the stress. So, next step. Get some exercise to lose some weight.

So that was it. And while waiting for the next appointment at the customer’s waiting room, I browzed through some travel magazines that featured some New York City hotel and wondered. If his foot is fine, does that mean we get to travel next year? Hmm… just thinking.

I love old buildings. I was in town recently and on the way back, I saw this beautiful conserved building along Stamford Road.. Oh this was where I used to go so often decades back and also whenever I take the train and walk towards MPH bookstores. I missed this place dearly. There used to be many Singapore designer boutiques here and along it were displays of handprints of the local stars like Zoe Tay, Edmund Chen who were the Caldecott King and Queen back then..

I also took a stroll and saw Park Mall building.. Park Mall had been around for, perhaps 2 decades but I wonder if anyone ever remembered the building before Park Mall? It was Supreme House, was it? And there was a Metro in there… I used to shop there so often after school. There is a way to walk up the YWCA located on the hilly top but since Park Mall was being replaced, I think they closed the way up.

The Bras Basah park was just across and I’d be walking to Paradiz Centre for some good food, then walk down to Peace Centre towards Wilkie Road.. aahhh those were the days..