Olivia’s journalA JOURNAL, RECOVERED
Olivia’s words, gathered again. Stories recovered from the old blog, with their original dates and addresses preserved.
Explore the archiveSome pieces found.
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SEPTEMBER 2014 — DECEMBER 2017
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124 entries · newest first
A couple of hours ago, I got news out of Singapore that made me jump out of bed at 4 am to get on my laptop and write a blog post. This news makes me so angry with how Singapore continues…
As the countdown to Pink Dot 2017 ( https://www.facebook.com/events/818918454914525 ) begins, the organisers held their media launch last night and a very important change has happened.…
When news broke yesterday that Taiwan's constitutional courts had ruled in favour of same-sex marriage ( https://sentinel.tw/taiwans-constitutional-court-rules-favor-sex-marriage/ ) , I…
It's 10 pm and I'm rocking baby Vicky to sleep in my gliding chair while Irene is reading bedtime stories to Zoey before getting her to sleep. We have adopted the divide and conquer…
We went on a playdate yesterday. When we got home, Zoey loudly proclaimed over lunch that "I need a lot of Barbie dolls." I was caught by surprise. While I knew her friend had a doll…
This morning I went to the clinic with my wife for our yearly medical check up. We brought baby Vicky along. Over the course of 3 hours, we met with a number of healthcare professionals.…
It's 3 pm and I'm still in my pajamas. In fact I think I'll be in my pajamas for the whole of today since there is no real reason for me to change out of them. You see baby Chiong has…
As 2016 comes to a close, I had the opportunity today to reflect on the good and bad of 2016. Here are my thoughts during the final hour of 2016. On the personal front, it's been a…
So as cliche as this may sound, I woke up this morning thinking - WOW! I cannot believe we've been married for 2 years. How time flies and how things have changed. 2 years ago, on this…
In the five months since I've last blogged about anything, there have been a number of changes happening in our lives. I figured it's about time I posted an update, just in case people…
I am very excited to announce the upcoming launch of my new book - Baby Zoey: Our Search for Life and…
As a working parent, I sometimes get caught up with the daily grind and forget to stop to look at what am I working for. This week, Zoey reached out to me a couple of times to spend more…
It hasn't even been a week since Irene left for USA and I'm already discovering the struggles of solo-parenting. I've had a frustrating day dealing with Zoey and as I am typing this, she is…
We’ve been working on potty training for Zoey recently. I know many people think that children can be toilet trained as early as 1 years old. However we have not focused on this issue very…
My grandma has been unwell of late. So I made the snap decision to do a quick overnight trip to Jakarta and visit her this weekend. When she saw me, she could not recognise who I am. This…
Tomorrow is Irene's birthday. It also happens to be our 8th year anniversary. Although we have only been married for 1 year, we have been together for 8. This year will be a huge year of…
This week there has been a number of reports about people getting upset over the “I Love Children” fertility campaign at selected MRT stations. I checked out their website to better…
It is 3:30 am on my birthday and I’m typing this in a hotel room in Bangkok while Irene is asleep in the bed behind me. We are on our first ever overseas trip without Zoey and we’ve been…
This week, news emerged that a teacher had been extorted of over $200,000 ( http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/35-year-old-pleads-guilty/2419356.html ) in cash and valuables…
We discovered Irene had hand foot mouth disease (HFMD) on Boxing Day which meant I became a single parent for a week or so. During this time, I was reminded of a frustration I had when Zoey…
Zoey spent the first day of the new year playing happily with her toys while Irene and I got some much needed sleep. She was extremely happy when she discovered she could run her new trains…
I've had the opportunity to stay home during the festive season as our office is closed and we are all working from home. During this time, I've discovered a number of things that need…
Blogging went off my radar for the past month as I focused on getting my book published last week and also struggled with a cough that wouldn’t go away. On top of that, the school that we…
Our domestic helper Siti has been on home leave for the past 2 weeks. We timed it such that she left on the same day we headed for Taiwan so that we could minimise the downtime we were to…
In my last blog post, I wrote about my first toddler free travel since Zoey was born. In contrast, this post is going to be about the worst flight that I have ever taken with Zoey. Even…
I just got home from a truly awesome 5 day trip in Hong Kong with my bestest girl pals. This trip was also the longest time I have been away from Zoey since she was born. While there was…
It's been 31 months since Zoey was born and 6 months since I stopped breastfeeding. In recent months, I've been silently obsessing about losing weight. It's a tough battle for me. I've…
I read an article yesterday on Huffington Post about "How Singapore is Limiting Basic Human Rights ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lgbt-singapore_561633d5e4b0e66ad4c67fe7 ) " and it…
I spent 3 hours at Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) ( http://www.ica.gov.sg ) today. All to submit a stack of documents to renew Zoey's long term visit pass. The actual…
I took advantage of the General Elections long weekend last week to take a trip to Jakarta and visit my 86 year old Grandma. Irene had volunteered to be a polling agent and was planning to…
It's been 7 months since I went back to work full time. My routine has changed with my day starting at 7 am on weekday mornings. I know for parents with school going children, this seems…
Last week I heard some terrible news from a couple who are part of our same-sex parenting support group Rainbow Parents SG ( http://www.rainbowparents.sg ) . Their child A (names changed to…
An elderly auntie was wiping tears from her eyes when I walked into the lift this morning. I recognised her as one half of a friendly couple who always stop to smile and and play with Zoey.…
An elderly auntie was wiping tears from her eyes when I walked into the lift this morning. I recognised her as one half of a friendly couple who always stop to smile and and play with Zoey.…
I have often lamented the lack of childrens books that are supportive of same-sex families available on the market so was very happy to receive an email from A.S. Chung (Amy) when she…
If you have 2 hours to spare over the next 5 days, go and watch 7 Letters. In fact, even if you don't have 2 hours to spare, try and squeeze 2 hours to catch this movie as this is the best…
So I had a pretty BAD day yesterday. It was a continuous series of stupid incidents that made the day long and almost unbearable. Yet I realised that at the end of the day, my mood was ok.…
I was approached by the Leap Lab team at NTU ( https://www.facebook.com/leaplabntu ) to bring Zoey to participate in a Language Development Study conducted by Dr Luca Onnis for babies and…
It's never a good thing when the phone rings at 6 am. Woke up and found it was our helper Siti who was calling to tell me that she was stuck in Zoey's playroom. Once again the wind had…
I decided to jump on the SG50 bandwagon and write a post about what Singapore means to me. After all, the government gave us an extra holiday. I don't actually remember this ever happening…
There have been 2 recently articles published on TODAY that speak about the choices unwed mothers make ( http://www.todayonline.com/voices/unwed-mums-did-make-choices-led-their-situation ) …
I have a few friends who often come to me and complain about how their partners are not showing them enough affection. Either that or there is not enough intimacy in their relationship.…
The thing about having a toddler who goes to play group is they become germ incubators. They go around gathering germs wherever they go and bring the germs home to brew for a few days…
I've been blogging 3 times a week for about 6 months. In this time, I have written 72 blog posts, covering various topics from parenting to love to LGBT issues. I have been fortunate enough…
We started Zoey on swimming lessons when she turned 6 months old. It was the youngest anyone would take. Many of the swim schools and private instructors we researched started the children…
I started on a new exercise routine today. For the next 12 weeks, I will be doing Hatha Yoga and Kickboxing from 9 am to 11 am every Saturday. I've been looking for a way to get back into…
I had a rather big fight with Irene earlier this week. It involved some yelling, some silent treatment and a lot of reflection on my part. We've been together for 89 months and been…
I started on a new exercise routine today. For the next 12 weeks, I will be doing Hatha Yoga and Kickboxing from 9 am to 11 am every Saturday. I’ve been looking for a way to get back into…
So we've been having problems getting Zoey to sleep at night. Our routine has always been to take a shower, then have bedtime stories, then drink milk and sleep. Recently she's been…
I was partially deaf over last weekend. In fact, it got so bad that I had to go to the ENT specialist first thing on Monday morning. I couldn't hear in my right ear because the ear canal…
I've been really quiet last week because I was working hard on a couple of new projects and now I'm ready to unveil…
There has been some news flying around on the internet about a 16 year old secondary school boy who killed himself (…
I congratulate our American family and friends today as the USA becomes the 21st country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. It has been a long and hard battle, with many sacrifices…
I congratulate our American family and friends today as the USA becomes the 21st country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage (…
I meet with a fair amount of entrepreneurs and small business owners every week and one of the common topics that comes up often is how busy they are. Generally when I dig a bit deeper, it…
I came home yesterday to find that the wind had slammed the door to Zoey's playroom shut. This wouldn't have been a problem if not for the fact it had also locked the door and we didn't…
Here I was minding my own business this morning when I was alerted by a dear friend that some people are actively blasting messages via text to get people to vote against LGBT rights in…
Nowadays you are who Google says you are. Therefore, as a small business owner, it's important to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. Why? Because most people turn to Google…
Pink Dot this year was crowded. We arrived at 4:30 pm expecting to have plenty of choices on where to set up camp, but we exited the MRT station to see the field of green already filled…
Tomorrow afternoon, our family will join thousands of people and their families at Hong Lim Park. We started going to Pink Dot ( http://pinkdot.sg ) since its inception in 2009 and we have…
As some of our friends know, the lovely people in our favourite pro-family hate group We are against Pinkdot in Singapore (WAAPD) have found this blog. I would like to extend a warm welcome…
We had dinner at home this evening. Zoey had chicken and noodles. I was happily having my salad that consisted of lettuce and cucumbers topped with balsamic vinaigrette and a side…
In the past month, Zoey has started showing more and more independence. I was told that the toddler phase goes past really fast and I'm beginning to feel…
Do you ever feel trapped in your business? Perhaps it was all nice and rosy when you started. You loved going to work everyday because it meant exploring new territory and discovering new…
So as Joe rightly pointed out, I had left out a few people from my inner circle post. So if the people in the previous post are my inner circle, this post is about those who are my comfort…
I have somehow gone 50 posts without talking about how fortunate I am to have a group of people who are near and dear to me. I am so fortunate to have built an inner circle in my life. The…
Have you ever met someone who delivered such a perfect pitch that you felt inclined to buy the product, sign up for a service or help promote their cause almost…
Just wanted to share that Irene and I graduated from the SADEAF - SEE2 sign language basic sign class on Thursday. I managed a respectable 92% while Irene got 100% in her…
I read this article on MoneySmart that talks about the 5 things young Singaporeans waste money on without realising it (…
2 weeks ago, I received an invitation from the US Embassy for an IDAHOT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia) event. The topic for the event was - The Business of Inclusion…
"I have a daughter because a doctor gave me medication." This was the best way I could describe how I came to have Zoey to my Grandma who turned 85 yesterday. We are in Jakarta to…
This is the 3rd Mothers' Day we are celebrating. It is also the first time Zoey has been old enough to be in school. So last week we got an invitation from Pony Running (…
The other day, an entrepreneur shared with me that he recently discovered he was running the leanest company in his industry. Other companies in the same industry had 3 or 4 times his…
I had a bit of a meltdown two Fridays ago. The month of April had been particularly trying as I once again over committed myself to various projects and ended up having to let some things…
For the past month I have deliberately ignored most of the news about Amos Yee and his shenanigans. My logic is very simple - he is a child who thrives on attention. He creates blogs and…
While uploading a video onto YouTube, I saw an old video that was made 2 years ago, shortly after Zoey was born. We had agreed to do an interview for our friend's school project. In the…
For the past month I have deliberately ignored most of the news about Amos Yee and his shenanigans. My logic is very simple – he is a child who thrives on attention. He creates blogs and…
This Mums and Maids video has been making its rounds with critics saying that it puts unfair comparison between mothers and domestic helpers. The video basically has mothers and…
Got the lovely photos from Zoey's day at POLW ( http://www.polw.com.sg/ ) from the talented Kerry at Red Bus Photography ( http://www.redbusphotography.com/ ) . Loving these photos so…
The interesting thing about making a stand is the people who believe in you will reach out to help you. Even without you asking. I've received emails, comments and Facebook messages from…
The interesting thing about making a stand is the people who believe in you will reach out to help and support you. Even without you asking. I've received emails, comments and Facebook…
So since I posted the latest blog post ( http://olivia.thechiongs.com/2015/04/19/ikea-please-stop-supporting-lawrence-khong-and-his-hate-agenda/ ) , I've had some people ask me why I…
I am writing this post at my IKEA desk that is backed by my IKEA shelves. We had dinner on our IKEA dining table using IKEA cutlery. Our books are stored in IKEA Billy bookcases. The…
I remember recently reading a post from a mother who complained that her child went on a school excursion and came home with a plastic bag of fish. Apparently it is common practise when…
One of my latest efforts at efficiency is to look at minimizing the time I spend trying to get ready in the mornings. My daily morning routine is already quite efficient. I can get out of…
I enjoy Sundays at home. It’s a luxury we don’t often have, given how packed our schedules are One of my pleasures of staying at home is being able to cook for the family. I often cook a…
I enjoy Sundays at home. It's a luxury we don't often have, given how packed our schedules are One of my pleasures of staying at home is being able to cook for the family. I often cook a…
Over the years, I've evolved into some kind of support system for my friends who need emotional support during relationship crisis. I cannot count the number of times I've been woken up in…
I use Gmail as my email client primarily because its a cloud service so I can access anything anywhere across a range of different devices. Over the years I've set up more than 10 email…
We ordered some books from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and they arrived on Thursday, just in time for us to have some new books to read to Zoey over the long weekend. She was very happy…
We ordered some books from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and they arrived on Thursday, just in time for us to have some new books to read to Zoey over the long weekend. She was very happy…
Attended the introduction to sign language class last night at SADEAF – The Singapore Association For The Deaf. The room was filled with people either our age or younger. A few of them…
I missed writing a 3rd blog post last week. I have no excuses and I'm not going to use the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew as the reason for my dip in productivity. Instead, I'm going to say…
I've been putting off writing a post about Mr Lee Kuan Yew's passing. I feel that while I have benefited from the Singapore he has helped to build, I don't really have anything special to…
http://olivia.thechiongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/wpid-wp-1427211838970.jpeg Images respective copyright of Nalgene ( http://nalgene.com/ ) , Watsons Singapore (…
I browsed my old blog ( http://jessliv.xanga.com/ ) in an attempt to see if I've covered the Coming Out topic in the past. Turns out while I talked about various experiences at Chinese New…
Everyone is talking about Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his health condition. Because he signed the Advanced Medical Directive, we know when the time comes, his family will have to honour his wishes…
I came across this article by Straits Times correspondent Li Xueying - Loss and love on the journey to parenthood (…
http://olivia.thechiongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/DefiningDeafhood.jpg http://cargocollective.com/ellenpeterson/defining-deafhood My wife is a deaf person who functions like hard of…
Due to the dramatic entrance Zoey made (she arrived less than 24 hours after our maternity shoot), it has become a family tradition of sorts to do a photo shoot every year. We used to go to…
2 years ago at this time, Irene and I were selecting photos from our maternity shoot to upload onto Facebook. Less than 2 hours later, my waters broke and little Ms Zoey Chiong was on her…
Our family eats healthy meals most of the time. We don't eat out a lot and our helper cooks a balanced diet for us, including brown rice, meat and vegetables, for every meal. The challenge…
I've started using the term "wife" more often and each time I use it, I feel a little braver, a little stronger and just that little bit more out of the closet. People who know me will be…
Most people are surprised to hear that Zoey only gets to watch around 1 or 2 hours of TV a week. In fact, when I told someone this, they remarked that Zoey was "so poor thing". Most people…
I have a few friends who often come to me and complain about how their partners are not showing them enough affection. Either that or there is not enough intimacy in their relationship.…
This week someone told me that a little baby girl had been hurt by a helper so badly that her arm had a fracture and she is now wearing a cast. Initially the helper denied that she had…
During our trip to the USA last year, we took a train journey on the Coast Starlight ( http://www.amtrak.com/coast-starlight-train ) from Seattle to San Francisco. It was supposed to be a…
I got a call at 4 pm yesterday from my helper saying that she couldn't turn on the air conditioner in the master bedroom. I asked her to try a different remote, but it still wouldn't turn…
http://olivia.thechiongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Family-Tree-3.jpg http://daiyaku.com/guess-your-relative/ Saw this interesting infographic being shared on Facebook and found the…
This is our first Chinese New Year as a married couple. I remember in 2013 I turned up heavily pregnant at Irene's Grandma's place. No one knew what to say and I still got my ang baos…
http://olivia.thechiongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/New-Years-Resolutions_2.png http://www.browngirlfromboston.com/2014/11/say-no-to-new-years-resolution-and-say.html As my boss…
I used to say “I’ll sleep when I’m dead and that sleep is for the weak.” I often stay up til 3 or 4 am at night, working in the night, as it is the only time of the day I can work in dead…
So a crazy thing happened with my last blog post. It went somewhat viral. At the time of this post, it has had over 32,000 views. I am astonished by the number of people who have shared it…
Today is Irene’s 32nd birthday. It also happens to be our 7 year anniversary. I can still remember planning the Amazing Race birthday party for her 25th and how we ended up together after…
This week someone asked me if I am Olivia Tan or Olivia Chiong. She was confused because my emails to her were clearly from Olivia Chiong, but she saw me on Facebook as Olivia Tan. I…
http://playlor.com/work-life-balance-is-a-lie/ When I got pregnant with Zoey, I stopped working full time and started doing mainly project work. As a result, when my CPF balance fell to…
Last week, as Zoey was leaving the house to go to school, she grabbed the mini rainbow flag that happened to be by the door. I managed to cajole her into changing it for her Miffy puppet…
Sometime last year, I embarked on mission Inbox Zero. I have about 15 email accounts for different purposes. Personal account, subscription account, work accounts, community accounts etc.…
We’ve opened and closed a bunch of eCommerce stores in the past 5 years. The one that remains the most successful and still generates a decent monthly income is our first store – TOPI…
Today marks the last day I am considered a youth in Singapore (Definition as found at http://www.nyc.pa.gov.sg/index.php/faq) Tomorrow I must wake up and face the world as an ex…
Irene sent me a picture of Zoey this morning after she dropped her off at school. The first thought that went through my mind was: “Her mommy dressed her today.” We have vastly different…
Extremely grateful today. Woke up bright and early this morning, ready to conquer Monday. 2 hours into the morning, Zoey pukes after having some cereal for breakfast. It’s 9 am. I make the…
Zoey has started to say her own name. Although it’s more like she is parroting what we are saying, it is a milestone that I have been waiting for. The conversation when I have to be away…
I made the executive decision not to bring Zoey out for dinner last night. While our pledge has always been to bring her wherever we are going, it wasn’t possible yesterday. As a toddler,…
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