Month of April 2022

So it has finally happened. After 2 years of valiant resistance against Covid, my wife became the first in the house to test positive. The usual tell tale signs were there i.e cough, sore throat and lethargy. She was very confident even though she had negative returns for the first 2 days. And she was to be proven right. The recovery process went uneventfully as she isolated herself in the room while the children and I continued with our daily routine.

With the almost full relaxation of Covid measures, it's definitely a relief although I previously mentioned here that life during this period was quite enjoyable as well. This month saw the resurgence of road traffic especially at the Causeway Link to Malaysia. While I do not have relatives there, I was happy to hear colleagues reporting their joy of being able to reunite with family after so long.

One day while driving, I brought up the topic of maturity to my kids. With the combination of different ages and characters, sometimes it really drives me up the wall with their nonsense. But after the car ride, I reflected on my tone and was appreciative that they were still growing up in a normal way. Time will hopefully mold them well.

Whenever I look in the mirror nowadays, there is the gradual realization that age has really caught up. This was the motivation as I arranged a photoshoot for an individual portfolio. It was over in less than an hour and 4 softcopies were given to me 3 days later for a price of $148. The pictures captured a nice life moment as I strive to make more meaningful memories.

Tip: Ohmine 3 grain Yamadanishiki, unami sweet, smooth melon and dangerously delicious

Finance Investment Movement 20

A quarter of the year has passed and it has been mostly about expending cash on recurring items such as insurance premiums, tax payment and CPF contribution.

One of those usual invoice came from Cordlife. It's for the preservation of stem blood cells of my firstborn and so far, 15 years of dedicated storage. But my wife and I decided to stop this on the grounds that we most likely wouldn't need to utilize in future, the sample quality might have deteriorated over time and there's no end to this payment if we chose to continue. While I appreciate the efforts of the service staff to retain the account, I rather move on and save the $267.50 annual fee, with a slight crossing of fingers that the decision turns out right.

This month marks a significant milestone whereby I have achieved Full Retirement Sum in the CPF through a combination of top up and OA to SA transfer. That also sadly means I won't be able to claim tax relief for SA top up next year onwards. In any case, doing this now just brings forward the achievement since job contributions would have done the same by year end. Now, let compounding work its magic!

Tip: 2nd Pez 2019, fresh fruits, slight chocolate with mixed berries. A little tight for now, wait

Everyday Is A Good Day

This was a recommended book from many sources and I really looked forward to my first experience with this author. Written in simple language and good pace, the story followed the protagonist's life story by looking back on events that happened between him and his family. I managed to complete this over two days.

It began with the protagonist's attempt to commit suicide after finding out he was excluded from the wedding of his daughter. Charley's life had been on a downward spiral after his glorified short career as a baseball player. It was a rather typical scenario of a mismanaged sportsman who fell on hard times and the family is broken. Without hope, he chose to die but to no avail. In the fog of pain, he was astonished to see his beloved mother who then started on the journey of recapping his important life moments. He was to realize how much he missed her after knowing her tough years in bringing up her children after the husband left. The twist comes at the end after it was revealed the story was told through his daughter which implied a reconciliation after all.

This sad but warm and uplifting story recounted each moment like a short and sweet recall. Its lesson is to encourage us not to take things for granted and live life positively. There will be pitfalls along the way and family is the best support.

Tip: La Dame De Montrose 2012, cassia, oak and full of berries. A wholesome mouthful.