Bethany’s 100th Day Birthday

I am a strong believer that it is important to be efficient in my daily routines.  Imagine if on average, I save 10% of time doing the things I do, add that up to a lifetime worth of hours, how much time would I gain?  That does not necessarily make me an impatient man.  If I need to sit in front of the television to watch F1 live for two straight hours, I would.  If I need to spend 15 minutes every morning to iron my shirt, I would.  Having said that, I would prefer to time shift the F1 broadcast and skip the time wasting advertisement.  Or to perfect the process of ironing taking into consideration of the potential interruption when my ironing schedule clashes with Cynthia’s breakfast preparation process (note: we have a small kitchen where we cook, prepare breakfast, and iron, amongst other things we do inside this tiny space).

This evening, after Cynthia and I had our vegetarian dinner, as we walked to the Spanish school for our class, I looked at my watch and it said ten to seven.  I looked across the street and had an idea.  This morning a receptionist from my clinic called and reminded me of my vaccination schedule.  I had ten minutes to spare.  How about …

So I dashed across the street, leaving Cynthia with our textbooks, crashed into the clinic and greeted by a group of foreigners at the registration counter.  I quickly pulled out my pink IC, passed it to one of the receptionists with a strong sense of urgency and said, “I have a class at seven.  So if you could kindly …”

I supposed I could have relaxed once I got into the doctor’s room.  Instead, I blurted out loud, “I have a class at seven so if you could …”  The doctor replied, “No problem.  I will be very quick.  And this may hurt!”

Uh-oh.

Ouch!

OK.  It did hurt more than the last time.  Efficiency does come with a price at times, I suppose.  7-minute was all it took for registration, getting an injection, to have a short chat with the friendly doctor on his recent trip to UK, the places he had visited, and to pay S$90 with NETS, say goodbye to the foreigners at the waiting area. 

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Back to the lovely photo above that inspires this blog entry, last weekend, we celebrated my niece Bethany’s 100th day birthday.  Yes, I can always trust my sister to spot the most unusual day of significance for us to celebrate.  I really love this picture.  Recently I have changed my Facebook profile using a picture of mine laughing out loud as Bethany was placed onto my embrace on her 1 month birthday.  Some friends of mine thought that the baby was mine and hence I looked so happy.  Well, deep inside this very macho looking man is – believe it or not – someone who has a very sentimental heart.  Now you know.

I have not seen Bethany for a while.  Below are some random observations to share.

• Bethany and I connect when I switch to Cantonese.  She would smile, look at me, squeeze my fingers, when I speak Cantonese with her.  How strange!
• Bethany smells different from the last time I held her close, in a good way.  I love her smell!
• When Cynthia pinched me, Bethany would look unhappy.  What a good niece.  She should visit me more often.  Watch out Cynthia!
• We still have that effect to each other.  When she looks at me, she falls asleep.  When I look at her, I fall asleep.
• I still think that her eyes lit up whenever I mention “Let’s go shopping at Orchard!”.  Maybe I shall try again when she is older.

PS. Caption of the photo from left to right: Me, my niece Bethany, my sister Lora, and Cynthia.  Photo taken by my brother-in-law Benny using my Nikon D700.  Thanks Benny!  I really love this photo you took for us!