JEWELLE TAN

Looking back, 2009 was a wonderful year.

No monumental feat - because even the birth of my youngest child in early 2009 was in my usual fashion; non-dramatic, no screaming moment and my father who waited for me outside the labour room thought I was sent back to the ward because it could not be over THAT fast!

No picking myself up from dust - except for last few months of the year where we literally had to walk in dust and we are thinking that the ceiling fan plus a highway, something we don’t have in our weekend home, must be the culprit.

There were more wonders than worries - my eldest daughter graduated from kindergarten and left her first school as a top three student, regular class performer and found out that giving a speech to hundreds of people was not that hard. My second daughter was did a short activity during an hour of school orientation and thus announced her presence in her new school. While my youngest daughter may be small in size but huge in personality - boisterous and loud.

It’s a wonder that we continued to get support and blessings in our decisions from the people who matter to us.

Most importantly, I have learn - to forgive, to look past certain things, to appreciate and to be grateful for the many small wonders. It has been a good 2009 and here’s looking forward to an even better year in 2010.

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Surely you’ve read about Adam Khoo, Singapore youngest self-made millionaire at 26 years of age.

Recently, someone came up to me on a plane to KL and looked rather shocked. He asked, ‘How come a millionaire like you is traveling economy?’ My reply was, ‘That’s why I am a millionaire.’

Read in full here

This is an excerpt of one of his article that finally reached my forwarded email box. Read it and be inspired - to spend less.

Say no to those designer clothes, that premium car brands, that exotic holidays or even those “cheap” electronic gadget like the iPhone or iphone accessories.

The way he refused to travel first class despite his money, reminds me of some folks with money who could even complained that taxi fares are too much - and would happily travel by bus. Or instead of dining in regular restaurant - not even exotic restaurants like Japanese or Western - food court dining is good enough and if possible, eating out is kept to the very minimum.

I know this sounds a bit too much. What’s the point of working hard if you don’t enjoy the fruit of your labour?

I think the point of being careful with money, even if it is not to be a millionaire at a young age, is to reach retirement age with your children having had the best opportunity in their education and the best lead in life, with you still having enough to live the way you always had without relying on anyone.

By the way, I am no way as frugal as I should - and I’m working on it.

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It’s a good thing that we did not invest in any fancy tv stand when we replaced our old television earlier this year - considering how little it is used nowadays.

After 6 pm - which is the latest time the kids get to watch their shows - the living room is usually unoccupied as we spend more time in other parts of our house.

The fact is, there are really very few shows nowadays that interests me. I no longer have the patience to watch serials, shows which dragged on for episodes after episodes when it could be done in a few hours.

And is it only me who thinks that despite the edgier and glamorous shows we get these day, few are very entertaining? Or perhaps it is really just me getting older - and boring.

In case you’re wondering, the picture was of a racing simulator which was a part of the Science of F1 Exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre last month.

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Unlike my mother who travels with her own packets of instant coffee, I rely on hotels providing some. So when they offer a certain popular brand of instant coffee which I dislike, I then have the excuse NOT to drink (unless I get desperate).

During our recent trip to Singapore, we stayed at one hotel in Chinatown which offered this exact brand - and I did get desperate for coffee once and succumbed to this coffee-that-should-not-be-called-coffee with regret.

If only all hotels offer those Nespresso machine like the Naumi Hotel for some real and proper coffee.

Luckily the South East Asia Hotel, a charming budget hotel in Bugis (Singapore), did not offer that detestable brand of instant coffee.

I cannot recall which brand they offered or if I even drank any - since I bought many herbal and juice drinks from the irresistible stalls of Bugis Street which we had to walk past on our way to and fro the train station and hotel - but at least they did not.

And don’t you think their clear glass tea cups set is very quiant.

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I grew up reading stories by Enid Blyton. It’s easy to imagine that I was part of their camping and mystery-solving gangs. Maybe it was natural that I’d enjoy such stories because of my inclination for adventures and the outdoor.

After Enid Blyton, I moved on to legends and folk lore. I’ve read legends from many countries but I remembered that the most interesting were always Asian. Perhaps this was the phase which triggered my interest in culture.

As I grew older, I read more history and science - specifically, the supernatural and the unexplainable. I read stuffs like the Bermuda Triangle to Loch Ness to UFOs when I was in upper primary school.

My foray into romance stories was late and short.

Unlike most of my friends, I was never a fan of Mills & Boons. Of course, there were some romance writers which I did read a lot of at the time when I worked at a public library and had access to all the books I could handle, many years ago.

But how many chicklit or romance books can you read without thinking “enough nonsense already!”?

Maybe that is why, unlike my daughters who think, dream and speak like Disney Princesses, I was never into Cinderella or Snow White or Rapunzel even then - because they are nonsensical to me. Besides, we were not inundated with so many Princess stories then as the kids are now - they really cannot escape but to be crazy about this.

Still, I should definitely limit my daughters’ exposure to anything related to fairy tales. Who knows what comes next when a 5-year-old can ask :

“How many suitors did you have before you met Papa?”

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