Interesting Sunday

It has been a very long time since I spent a Sunday like this. The Sunday just past, I went to church in the morning and after service, had a meeting for the tuition ministry that’s going to start soon for the 2nd semester. After that, as it was ZC’s birthday, we went for lunch. Not many of us. Only 7 people. By that time, most of the others had left.

Went to have chicken rice at Thomson Road, opposite Novena Church. Very good food. I like it. Not too expensive also. After that went to the Hong Kong Cafe next door to have drinks and dessert. By the the everyone is ready to go, it’s already 5pm plus. Imagine we just finished lunch and it’s already dinner time.

ZC and Zer wanted to shop around for furniture and I was not tired so I decided to walk around with them. They couldn’t find what they’re looking for in United Square. I suggested going to AMK as there’s many small neighbourhood furniture which could be better value for money. So went to AMK. Walked around some more. By 7pm plus, Zer is very tired. We decided to get drinks at KFC and to sit and rest our feet. We were still very full from lunch, so did not want to eat.

Don’t know why, ZC is very ‘hong sim’ that day. He got me to call Dennis. Dennis also doesn’t mind coming down to AMK for a chat. Went to the Mac opposite AMK library. Nice place and atmosphere. We sat there till 11pm plus before going home.

Throughout the whole day, there was a certain topic that we debated about. It’s too complicated and I don’t really want to mislead non-Christians, so not going to post what we were arguing about. It’s a heavy topic and concerns our religious beliefs as well as our social beliefs. Though things can be quite clear cut, there’s a lot of spaces for arguments. Ultimately, it’s how we decide to face up to our actions that has us determining our decisions.

Anyway, I’m glad for the chance to talk to brothers and sisters. It’s been a long time since we spent so much time together, since I missed the church camp. When I first joined this church, this was how we spent every Sunday and I mean really every Sunday. Now that commitments and age has caught up, being able to spend a full Sunday outside is really a gift. Hope to be able to have meaningful time spent with brothers and sisters more often.

My name

In lieu of anything interesting to write recently and I have some free time, I decided to share with everyone the history of my name, or names, as I have a lot of names.

Long before I was born, in fact, before any of my brothers were born too, my parents were just married(or maybe they were not married yet but were getting married soon, not too sure of the details) and had no children yet. My paternal grandfather just happened to pass away at that time. My father, being the oldest son of the family, had to carve down his children’s names on my grandfather’s tombstone(what kind of culture or tradition is that??). Since no actual children were had at that time, my father just came up with a boy’s name and a girl’s name. Now, it also happens that on this day of name carving, my mum was not present and so the names were decided upon by my dad. My dad was English-educated and not very good with Chinese and lo and behold, he came up with 郑春发 for the boy’s name and 郑玲玲 for the girl’s name.

Some time later, my mum got pregnant and gave birth to my oldest brother. Now, my mum wants to name her children herself. She decided to give my brother the name of 郑伟祺. This, translated into English, earned my oldest brother the name of Wekie. However, out of respect for the elders, the name on the tombstone still has to be used, so on the birth certificate of my oldest brother, in English, his name is Tay Choon Huat, Wekie. The Chinese characters written, however, was 郑伟祺 and not 郑春发. When my oldest brother started school, he finds 郑春发 too ‘obiang’ and he used 郑伟祺 as his official Chinese name. This leads to a lot of questions to him as the Chinese and English doesn’t fit.

Next, came my second brother. As he’s not a girl, he can’t possibly use 郑玲玲. My mum decided to follow from my oldest brother’s name and named my second brother 郑伟利. This is again translated into English and my second brother got the name of Willy. So, my second brother is conveniently named Tay Willy, Chinese character 郑伟利. He doesn’t have any problems in using what Chinese names but he doesn’t have a Chinese name in English, if you know what I mean.

Next came me. Thank the Lord it’s a girl and my parents are able to use the girl’s name on the tombstone and so I was named Tay Ling Ling. Again, my mum wanted to name me herself and also to carry on from what my brothers were named, I was given a Chinese name of 郑玮妮. This was translated into Winnie. So, on my birth certificate, like my oldest brother, I was given the English name of Tay Ling Ling, Winnie and Chinese character 郑玮妮.

Now, why wasn’t I, like my oldest brother, using 郑玮妮 when I started school? There’s two reasons for this. One, my mum feels that 玲玲 doesn’t sound as bad as 春发. Two, my mum feels that 玲玲 is easier to learn to write than 玮妮. So, when I was learning to write my name in kindergarten, she taught me to write 玲玲 instead of 玮妮, so the name stuck. When I got older and understood this story, I felt that 玮妮 is a more unique name and wanted to use it but by then, all my certificates and important things are using 玲玲, so it’s too late to change.

From this story, you can see that parents play a big part in what their children are named. My brothers and me have been shaped so much by my parents, even in such a simple thing as a name. Parents! Take note what you teach your children and what you name them!

It's been a long time...

…since I’ve blogged. Other than being lazy, this lack of blog entries is largely due to the fact that I don’t have my own PC! My only access to internet is when I work. Although I do get lots of free time during work sometimes, I don’t really like to write then. I need lots of time to think and need to concentrate. The fact that someone (gasp, my boss??) may be looking over my shoulder or coming along anytime, just breaks my concentration and I don’t like to do it sneakily. Not that I don’t have anything to blog about. I have so many things in my head that I want to write down, if not for anything, but to remind myself. That’s also the reason that I don’t want to write during short breaks at work. Just can’t do it.

Have recently been to Japan with boss and family. Can’t say I don’t enjoy it, after all, it’s an all-expense paid trip, what’s to complain, right? But given the chance, don’t think I’ll travel with them again. True, I’m there for work first and foremost, so I shouldn’t be thinking about my own enjoyment. But when someone goes on business trip, they do get breaks off from work to enjoy themselves and things like that. But I’m ‘on duty’ 24 hours during the time I’m there! I sleep with the 2 oldest kids and so have to be the last to sleep and first to wake. Real tiring man! Try to do my best and have to listen to complains all the time. Just hard to enjoy.

Anyway, I’ve been getting more and more restless. Just ideas going into my head and I really think I’m going to carry them out soon. Have to do things while I’m still young(I’m not yet 30!) or I’ll regret it in future. Really, nothing much to keep me from doing what I want. True, lots of bills to pay, not enough money, have responsibilities at home. But why am I the only one to care? I may not be more happy, but at least I enjoy what I’ll be doing.

Will update when I’m confirmed with my plans.