Ol’ Brown Eyes

I’m one of those who used to wear thick ice-cube glasses due to my very bad eyesight (high degree of astigmatism as well).  Doing sports was difficult and painful for the ears and nose, with the weight of my glasses pulling down on them.

All these changed when I switched to contact lenses after finishing college.  Getting rid of all that weight was a liberating experience.  But my eyes did not take well to contacts, always turning red and dry.  Things got a little better when my optician recommended hard lenses, which he claimed were better for people with a high degree of astigmatism. 

But contact lenses are troublesome to use – what with the cleaning, disinfecting and all.  I wanted total freedom from all these foreign objects in my body.  When Lasik came to our shores, I was super excited.  But the cost was less than affordable, until recently, that is.

I took the Lasik plunge in January 2005 and have not looked back since.  I was initially afraid that my eyesight was too bad to be corrected.  However, after some checks at the Singapore National Eye Centre, the doctor said that I was suitable, but had to undergo a special procedure.  I was ecstatic!  At last, a real liberation.  I went for the procedure without any fear – at worse, I would still end up wearing glasses; but how thick and heavy can these glasses be?  Definitely better than my ice-cube ones right?

The procedure went without any hitch and I was then able to wake up in the middle of the night, read the time on my bedside clock, look out of the window and see EVERYTHING clearly without having to fumble for my glasses!  The feeling was that of total liberation!

I wasn’t the only one in my family who was liberated.  My brother, his wife, my sister and her daughter and just recently my brother-in-law too, all went for Lasik and are happier for it.

I was more than glad to bring my old glasses back to the Eye Centre to drop them into the donation boxes there.  The thump! of the glasses hitting the bottom of the box sort of took away the weight of the bad eyesight that I’ve been carrying with me since I was in primary school.

But alas!  Age is catching up – recently, reading small prints, particularly those on the labels of products at the supermarket, has become difficult.

I suppose I’ll need reading glasses soon.  There’s just no escaping them glasses, is there? 

Thank goodness this applies to everyone when they get to a certain age!  So don’t go ha!ha! at me just yet!

 

Auntie Day

Once every month, I will pay a visit to my dermatologist on Orchard Road for laser treatment and IPL.  Yes, this auntie has pigmentation problems, but nothing too serious yet.  I found this doctor through a beauty forum on the internet.  Incidentally, when I first consulted him, he asked me how I came to know about his services.  I told him that I found him through the internet.  He raised his eyebrows and said, ‘Oh!  I thought those who found me through the internet were mainly students!’ (like, aunties don’t use the internet, meh?).  Some men are just so insensitive!  Anyway, I put his remarks down to ‘men!’ and signed up for a treatment package with him.

One more thing about this doctor, during my first consultation, he asked if there was anything else I was dissatisfied with, concerning my face (besides pigmentation).  How can anyone ask a woman such a question?!  Of course I have lots of things I’m dissatisfied with – moles, wrinkles, lines, eye bags, open pores, the list goes on.  I believe if I had told him all these, his recommendations would make me very beautiful and Big Guy very broke (I think he’ll settle for a less than beautiful wife)!  So I took a deep breath and told him to concentrate on the pigmentation first. 

So I digressed – I call this once-a-month-day Auntie Day.  Each time after my treatment, I would hit the shops.  Luckily for Big Guy, I’m not a big spending auntie.  Most times, I end up buying stuff for the house or for Little Guy or better still, buying nothing.

BUT today’s a little different.  The Great Singapore Sale is on!  I was ready – I packed two Envirosax shopping bags and was ready to shop, shop, shop!

First stop was Isetan where I was nearest to.  I have not bought anything from there for ages.  But today, I surprised myself by almost filling up my shopping bag there.  I bought some toys at 20% discount to add to the secret stash I have for Little Guy (for rewarding him when the occasion calls for it), some swim gear and clothes for Little Guy and myself.  I thought I had better leave there before I need to ‘activate’ my second shopping bag.

Next was Tangs, yes, I’m visiting them again less than two weeks after they made me feel very privileged.  Somehow, I find the Orchard Road branch more ‘complete’ than the one at Vivocity.  I can’t find everything I need at the VivoCity one.  Given that it has just been reported that CK Tang is in the red, I think they should just close the Vivo branch – its strategy of attracting a hip and young market there is just not working.  I don’t see the same volume of people there compared to that at the Orchard store.  I grew up with Tangs – having shopped with my mum at the original C.K Tang store (remember the flight of mosaic-ed stairs that led to right and left staircases?).  I really like the Orchard store very much, both the old and the new.  But this auntie is disappointed with the Vivo one.   I guess I must really like Tangs a lot to write so much about it.  Anyway…

So at Tangs, my shopping bag was ready to burst at its seams.  I grabbed two pairs of M.E.L sunglasses at $17.90 each.  I love cheap sunglasses – I can own many pairs then (actually, I wouldn’t mind a Chanel one)! The promoter added to my bursting bag when she gave me a free umbrella, which I had not expected.  That was really cool (in the literal sense too) – I love surprises!

At the household department, I bought some stuff at 20% – 30% discount and got another freebie too!  It’s strange how the promoters only told me about the freebies when I buy their stuff.  Why not display that information to entice more people to buy?

I’m a happy woman today and decided to stop my spree after running an errand for my mum at Guardian’s at Paragon.  My bag was really about to burst and I certainly did not fancy lugging my ‘loot’ further down the road.  I had actually planned to make it through John Little and Robinsons. 

I guess that’ll have to wait till the next Auntie Day.

Oh, even as I stuffed my shopping bag to the brim and seams, I noticed that most people still use the bags provided by the stores.  That is quite sad – I must have saved at least ten plastic/paper bags today.

Why can’t a store give customers a nice reusable shopping bag which bears the store’s name; and give a rebate or a stamp card (to accumulate points) each time a customer returns and shops with this bag?  Won’t it save costs (and the environment) and make customers happy at the same time?

Oops, sorry for digressing so much in this post! 

I love Auntie Day!

 

What am I?

Seven-and-a-half months after I quit my job to stay at home (‘to get happy again’ as I wrote in my farewell e-mail), I still have great difficulty putting down housewife as my occupation.

It’s not that I despise housewives or anything, but I find the term just too archaic.  It doesn’t really describe what I do.  Yes, I do the chores (wash, cook, clean and iron) and make sure Big Guy and Little Guy get what they need, physically and emotionally.  But these do not take up all of my time.

Hey, I’m now blogging from L7 at the National Library!  (Oh, yes, gotta be home in time to cook dinner!)

Another term I could use to describe my occupation is homemaker - but the definition of it is exactly the same as that of housewife.  So no, I’m no homemaker.

I’ve pondered over this and thought maybe I could use these:

• part-time writer – after all, I did submit a couple of articles to an online writers’ website… hmm… maybe not, as a couple of articles don’t a writer make.
• blogger – just started blogging last month, but although it’s become a very interesting aspect of my life, it’s more of a pre-occupation than an occupation.  I’m certainly no xiaxue or mr brown!
• freelance transcriber – I did quite many transcriptions for a couple of academic researchers (sourced thru’ Facebook).  But I’ve since taken a break from it, as it’s time-consuming and the pay was pathetic (I only like the fact that I could actually ‘eavesdrop’ without getting into trouble).
• unemployed – this sounds depressing.  But I have used it with glee several times.  When irritating credit card/line telemarketers call, I just need to say that I’m unemployed and they thank me apologetically and hang up!  Hehehe!
• internet researcher – I like this one as I really do a lot of ‘research’ on the net.  I watch YouTube videos, read news on foreign news websites, check out other people’s blogs, do online shopping and selling, give or ask for advice on forums, monitor and trade stocks, etc, etc.  This keeps me busy for half the day, at least.

Hmm… so what am I?  Ok, maybe I’ll check up on the definition of occupation first.  The Merriam-Webster online dictionary describes it as the principal business of one’s life – doesn’t really help me at all.  Given that I spend half of each day on myself – usually in front of my computer, and the other half on ‘maidly’, motherly and ‘wifely’ duties, what’s my principal business then?

Maybe I can give myself one of those cum-cum title.  So it could be internet researcher-cum-blogger-cum-maid-cum-wife-cum-mother-cum-etc?  Quite a mouthful, isn’t it? 

Perhaps I can just put undefinable under under Occupation?

I think somebody should come up with a new term, pronto!

 

 

This auntie blogs too!

 Finally!  I’m done with procrastinating and started on this!

 

 Why such an unflattering blog name, you may ask….

 Well, like it or not, I became an auntie yonks ago – technically at age 14 when my niece was born.  But realistically, I became an auntie yonks ago too. 

 Maybe I should define the meaning of the word ‘auntie’ in the Singaporean context.  Foreigners have expressed surprise at how it seems that many people are related in Singapore – with the very liberal usage of the terms ‘uncle’ and ‘auntie’.

 An ‘auntie’ in the Singaporean context is:

·                 how you would address a lady who is older than you   

·                 a lady who dresses in ‘auntie clothes’

·                 a lady who speaks in a certain way

·                 a lady who likes to haggle

·                 a lady who no longer qualifies for Ladies’ Night

This could list is not definitive as it’s kind of difficult to define what an auntie really is, as we just know it (sort of ingrained?) - just as how we can quickly spot an Ah Beng or Ah Lian (no, I’m not going to define these)!

And oh, I’m an ‘auntie’ on account of my age alone (not that I’m THAT old!).

Before I decided on this blog, I had dreams of starting an ‘auntiehood’ site, much like those motherhood ones.  An auntiehood site would gather all aunties together, to gossip about auntie stuff, such as their husbands, children, beauty tips, etc, etc.  Advertisers could also focus on these aunties to sell their wares.  The spending power of aunties should never be underestimated.

But well, this auntie thought it would be too much work to upkeep such a site.

And so, this blog was born…

I dream of sponsorship for auntie things.  I could be sponsored to review ‘auntie stuff’ such as spa treatments, beauty salons, hair salons, travel destinations, massage chairs, etc, etc.

Hey, aunties can dream too, you know!