Chinese New Year falls on 26-27 January 2009. So it looks like we can try to go back in Feb again (pending other co-workers travelling plans of course). Hao has just been officially informed that he will not be allowed to take more than 2 weeks off from work - just short trips. i'm hoping to be able to stay longer, maybe a month. so that i can get some quality time with everyone at home.
another long 3-day weekend due to Labour Day holiday on monday. yeps, labour day falls on the first monday of sept, unlike in sgp. here all holidays other than christmas and new year's fall on either a fri or a monday so that you get an especially long weekend. that's super great to save up on leave and go for a short vacation. from now till Feb - still a full 6 months to go - so i'm itching to go off for a short break. maybe this time, we could really go to niagara falls.
yesterday we went to the dodgier parts of town to look at a second-hand wii. was very disturbed by the state of the house and how crowded it was. there were 2 adults and 2 late teeners and at least 5 toddlers running about a very filthy and messy house. not the perfect environment to bring up kids if you know what i mean.
i've been recently bomboarded left, right and centre (sometimes also in the back) with news that so-and-so is pregnant (again) and so-and-so has given birth... BEFORE I FORGET, CONGRATS TO THE NEW MUMS AND MUMS-TO-BE! I don't want to mention names on my blog but you know who you are! You girls take it upon yourselves to pump up the birth-rate, ensure the gynaes have work and inadvertently help take the pressure of my yuppie-don't-want-to-have-kids-shoulders. You go girls!! please continue to do so for my sanity's sake. thank you a lot a lot....
guess it's a natural progression since the "so-and-so is getting married" phase is slowly passing. am just wondering whether this new spate of affairs is due to the baby making incentives being offered. my take (and 3 cents worth) is this - people who truly want children and are responsible enough to bring them up properly will have them whether or not the incentives are in place. the incentives are definitely not on the minds of those that "accidentally" have kids since they didn't plan it in the first place. so these so-called incentives will only push those who want to take advantage of a 1/3 year hiatus from work and a short-term cash injection into their pockets, to have kids. now i wonder how their kids would be like and what kind of parents would they be? hmm... will parents who already have 1 or 2 or even (gasp!) 3 kids really take the plunge to have another bawling baby because of an extra month of leave and $1000 in the pocket? hmm...
i can only imagine the dirty looks you will garner in the office for taking maternity leave twice in 4 years - the complaints from males (who only have a 2week thing every year that they don't even look forward to) and the non-producing females for having to cover for you while you did your national service. i don't know if these schemes will work. someone should track this and debate it in parliament. look at manhours, morale and productivity of workforce and track how that's changed. MOM you hear me?
another long 3-day weekend due to Labour Day holiday on monday. yeps, labour day falls on the first monday of sept, unlike in sgp. here all holidays other than christmas and new year's fall on either a fri or a monday so that you get an especially long weekend. that's super great to save up on leave and go for a short vacation. from now till Feb - still a full 6 months to go - so i'm itching to go off for a short break. maybe this time, we could really go to niagara falls.
yesterday we went to the dodgier parts of town to look at a second-hand wii. was very disturbed by the state of the house and how crowded it was. there were 2 adults and 2 late teeners and at least 5 toddlers running about a very filthy and messy house. not the perfect environment to bring up kids if you know what i mean.
i've been recently bomboarded left, right and centre (sometimes also in the back) with news that so-and-so is pregnant (again) and so-and-so has given birth... BEFORE I FORGET, CONGRATS TO THE NEW MUMS AND MUMS-TO-BE! I don't want to mention names on my blog but you know who you are! You girls take it upon yourselves to pump up the birth-rate, ensure the gynaes have work and inadvertently help take the pressure of my yuppie-don't-want-to-have-kids-shoulders. You go girls!! please continue to do so for my sanity's sake. thank you a lot a lot....
guess it's a natural progression since the "so-and-so is getting married" phase is slowly passing. am just wondering whether this new spate of affairs is due to the baby making incentives being offered. my take (and 3 cents worth) is this - people who truly want children and are responsible enough to bring them up properly will have them whether or not the incentives are in place. the incentives are definitely not on the minds of those that "accidentally" have kids since they didn't plan it in the first place. so these so-called incentives will only push those who want to take advantage of a 1/3 year hiatus from work and a short-term cash injection into their pockets, to have kids. now i wonder how their kids would be like and what kind of parents would they be? hmm... will parents who already have 1 or 2 or even (gasp!) 3 kids really take the plunge to have another bawling baby because of an extra month of leave and $1000 in the pocket? hmm...
i can only imagine the dirty looks you will garner in the office for taking maternity leave twice in 4 years - the complaints from males (who only have a 2week thing every year that they don't even look forward to) and the non-producing females for having to cover for you while you did your national service. i don't know if these schemes will work. someone should track this and debate it in parliament. look at manhours, morale and productivity of workforce and track how that's changed. MOM you hear me?
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