Bye Picanto, Hi Avante : Apr-13

Quite long ago, just before Qi went to Primary 1, Victor and I were deciding between getting a maid or a second car to facilitate taking care of Qi after she could no longer go childcare.  Getting a maid was straight forward; not only she would look after Qi before school, the household chores would be taken care of too.  However both of us were somehow not comfortable at all with the notion of a maid, besides having a stranger in the house, there is also no one at home to supervise her.. there were really quite a lot of maid-abuse-young-children stories!  If the maid really comes, how about Xuan? Does she still attend childcare or just kindergarten?  These were just some initial questions.

A car would simply conveniently bring Qi to studentcare in the morning before I drive it to work.  I really did not enjoy taking the bus to work, especially having to walk the bus stop distance to office under the scorching hot sun in heels and skirt after alighted at bus stop.  The nearer distance was to cut through the trees and grass patch , which was quicker by more than half as compared to the concrete road.  When it rained, I even tried to put ntuc plastic bags over my shoes secured with rubber bands to protect my footwear from the muddy tracks while still taking the shorter route.  Anyway, it was morning adventure I could do without and would not miss...

It did not take us long to just go for the second car, and went car-hunting for a small basic four-wheels which would bring me from point A to point B.  Well.. very warm welcome, our little red car, eight and a half years ago!!


I Love My Lil' Red Car ..
Picanto became my very first owned car!  In my all-time favourite color.  I love its petite yet proud look.  Such a pretty yet basic set of wheels.  Kept almost completely in its first-day look till the end.  Barely furnished interior except for a couple of deco from the girls, so bare that many passengers thought the car was pretty new throughout!  Such a compact car to zip around with and maneuver in, u-turn when others need to make a three-point turn, squeeze into the smallest of space when there were no more proper lots, filter into lanes almost blocked by inconsiderate bigger vehicles who refused to simply move forward a weeny bit, easy to spot in a sea of silvery and champagney cars in the carpark..  It became me, somehow..

bye picanto, u'll be missed for sure!!

Short Car Lifespan in Singapore
Picanto made me understand a lil', the agony of those negatively affected by fluctuating property prices and how you are so helpless when lady luck is not on your side.  After I placed the order of Picanto, I had to wait for more than two months before delivery, including the bidding of the COE.  I thought I was fortunate to get the COE at dealer's first try at $30k+, but two weeks later due to a sudden change in policy hence an increase in the number of COEs given out, COE price dropped drastically!  My car could have cost almost $20k lesser!! )':

Since last year, I have been thinking that I may have to change my car soon, as its COE is expiring next Nov, ie Picanto would be 10  years old!  However, car prices have skyrocketed these few years as a result of incredibly high COEs.  In fact, COE for smaller cars hit a record high of more than S$92k in Jan this year, while the bigger cars' COE was more than S$96k!  (-_-;;

Can I replace Picanto?  Can I afford to replace Picanto?  -- I wondered frequently.


Everything Begins With Prayer ?
Merely thinking about changing with no action to back it, it had remained just a thought.  At the New Year Gongyo we did at home at the turn of 2013, Victor said we should put it down as our resolution this year, to change our kosen-rufu car!  With that, we articulated it as our prayer.

Therefore, even the Budget announcement of revised measures imposed to bring down the COE prices only hamper my prayer a little.  I just have to maintain faith and prayers, nothing is impossible.

Indeed, I was able to see on FB, the fresh and unexpected announcement of the lifting of the new auto loan restrictions for 60 days!!  I was excited but gotta hand it to Victor to spring into action -- Let's go car shopping tomorrow!


The Rest is History ..
Though we had set off to get a small preowned Japanese car, after talking to a few dealers, we realized that the small Japanese car may not be our best option.  Many recommended the Hyundai Avante as a reliable problem-free car until we were convinced that it is.  Not too long ago, Korean cars were an inferior alternative to Japanese cars.  Today's argument became Korean cars were still assembled in Korea, which is surely better than Japanese cars assembled in Thailand!  Moreover, Japanese cars are still selling at a premium price for obviously mediocre products.  Hahaa.. this makes perfect sense somehow especially how the world is so hooked onto Korean pop-culture and electronic devices now!

hi avante, 5 of us went to receive it!

After we finally selected our car and in the midst of completing those countless forms, then Victor and I realized the peculiarity of our new car plate number!  2453 was just a permutation of the 2-3-4-5 sequence I thought, but if you read the numbers in Cantonese.. Oh my goodness gracious!!  It has a damn unlucky meaning..  I actually did not think much of it, but as I gave it more thought, I was thoroughly amused!!  I mean, how the hell did we manage to get such a 'sway' number!!??  It is amazing.. and very funny too.  It is so funny that I really do not mind it now.. (^_-)

You know, after so many years, once again, we have a sedan that offers a spacious boot and a comfortable ride in the family.. (^_^)

And I am really very grateful to be able to 'upgrade' MY car despite being a homemaker and not contributing to the GDP!  This is indeed our prayers and my good fortune.. and 2453 is destined to be a kosen-rufu car.

Princesses at Singapore Youth Festival : Apr-13

Last year Qiqi had already told us that her Chinese dance troupe would be participating in the Singapore Youth Festival.  Her team had since been practising very hard for this competition and Qiqi had many times returned home with neck and muscle aches.  In the late few months, the dance practises had also turned so frequent that they would even need to practise an hour before the school and then continued again after school.  That carried on for several months and Qiqi had almost given up in such 'demon' training, often complaining...

After so many months of hard work, the day finally came for them to deliver their 'product'.  The entire family went and supported Qiqi at the Kallang theatre.  Coincidentally, Denise was also participating and was just an item before Qiqi starting.  We utterly enjoyed the entire event and both princesses performed extremely well.  Qiqi's dance was particularly captivating, with loads of energy and flair. I was confident that their hard work would be rewarded definitely.  We also managed to snap a few pictures with our beautiful princesses... unfortunately in the process, I lost my wallet but was later returned the following day.

New Photo Wallpaper : Apr-13

My last attempt to refresh the photos on this wall was a failure. Firstly, the photos size were printed wrongly and then, the colour started to fade after a few months and pictures become blurred. I decided that it was probably time to redo the wall again, probably with something different this time. So, I went down to consult one of the best printing company in Bas Besar Complex and after that, decided to print a 4.2 x 1.3 meter photo sticker for the wall! I welcomed the new idea with much anticipation, we even reprinted the entire wall before the ‘gigantic’ sticker arrived. Finally, the day arrived when two professionals came and helped us to stick the photo sticker up to our wall... Such a neat piece of display I thought, very satisfied... :)

Painting the wall

New Photo Wall