After experiencing the atmosphere at Chinatown, the husband and I went to River Hongbao at Marina Bay the next day (last night). I go to River Hongbao almost every year – not because I love it, but because there’s no where else to go on CNY eve or the first day of the Lunar New Year anyway. I remember enjoying River Hongbao more during my younger days, perhaps because there seemed to be more things to see and do, or maybe because as I get older, things like this don’t interest me that much anymore. These days, things are pretty much the same at River Hongbao each year – a food section (which is always crowded), an area with a funfair, and the main area where there are displays of the Chinese zodiac and the God of Fortune.

On Saturday night the husband and I had nothing to do, so we headed down to Chinatown after dinner. It’s been a number of years since I last went to the Chinese New Year bazaar there, so the husband decided that we should go to take a look. It was raining earlier in the day, and still drizzling when we got to Chinatown, but that didn’t seem to deter people from visiting at all. It wasn’t too crowded when we first reached there, but as it got later into the night, the place got so crowded that it became so difficult to even walk, much less take a look at what the stalls were selling and taking photos.

It’s a photo-intensive post, so the rest goes under the cut!

It becomes the dog’s property after that…

My dog has this habit of lying on pillows – sometimes he just places his entire body on it, but at other times he simply uses the pillow to rest his head – just like how humans sleep. I guess it’s something he learnt from watching us sleep? Oreo used to share the bed with the husband and his mum before we got married, and he’d always snatch the pillows when there was a chance. I made it clear that I didn’t want him on my bed after we got married (no arguments on that thankfully!), and now he either sleeps on his blanket or the husband’s worn clothes instead. Thankfully he has no issues with that and doesn’t try to jump up on our bed, and I get my pillow all to myself. It’s another story if something falls off the bed though.

I’m pretty late with this, but I feel pretty unmotivated to do anything that requires thinking after work these days. Looking through my past entries, I realised that a actually didn’t do a post like this in 2010 (it’s pretty much a yearly tradition for me) , and I’m not going to skip it for another year. Especially when 2011 has been a memorable year for me.

January

We had started our wedding preparations the previous December. Booked our banquet hall, bridal studio and the church compound… and January was our photo shoot! It was a tiring day for us, starting with the studio shots in the morning, followed by the outdoor shots at 5 different places after lunch, but probably more tiring for the photographer, who has to do this every day. It’s certainly a memorable event, and I liked the photos taken, even though I doubt I’ll ever do something like this again.

Father Thomas Roussel Davids Byles (26 February 1870 – 15 April 1912) was a Catholic priest who famously remained on board the RMS Titanic as she was sinking after colliding with an iceberg, hearing confessions and giving absolution.

An invitation to officiate at the wedding of his younger brother William prompted Father Byles to make the trip to New York. He said Mass on the morning of the sinking, Low Sunday, 14 April 1912, for both Second- and Third-Class passengers in their respective lounges. The sermon was on the need for a spiritual lifebelt in the shape of prayer and the sacraments when in danger of spiritual shipwreck in times of temptation.

Father Byles was walking on the upper deck reciting his breviary when the Titanic struck the iceberg. As the ship was sinking, he assisted many Third-Class passengers up to the Boat Deck to the lifeboats. He reputedly twice refused a place on a lifeboat. Toward the very end, he prayed the rosary and other prayers, heard confessions and gave absolution to more than a hundred passengers who remained trapped on the stern of the ship after all of the lifeboats had been launched. His body, if recovered, was never identified. His brothers installed a door in memory of him at St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Chipping Ongar, Essex.

(From Wikipedia)