and just one more....

My work has taken me to many interesting places, many times over. The last time I was here, you were still in my tummy. Time away from home before you then didn't matter...

More Postcards

Another question from the "Why don't penguin feet freeze?" book. Goes something like this... A fly is flying in the opposite direction to a moving train. The fly hits the train head-on. As the fly strikes the front of the train, it's direction of movement changes 180 degrees and at the instand it changes direction, the fly must be stationary and since, at that instant, it is also stuck in front of th etrain, the train must also be stationary. Thus, a fly can stop a train.

There were 4 responses to this, the last one being of interest to me. Apparently there is this person, Zeno of Elea, who around 450BC said that a moving object is always in motion, and yet at any given time it is somewhere (that is, stationary). WE humans cannot see, measure, or imagine an infinitely small time any more than we can truly imagine infinity. We never will.

Got me thinking about your udon noodle zouping session. I think my mobile video camera can only capture 15fps. Your noodle went from there to not there in between frames and I couldn't find the one frame that had the noodle travelling up halfway towards your mouth.

So, each frame is like a frozen moment when everything stops. Therefore, going back to the train and the fly, neither stopped each other. One just went from being alive to being goo. The other just went from stop to stop.

Got it?

Postcards

Food here was very yummy and even more delicious with an aperitif like a glass of deliciously chilled Choya Umeshu on ice. Must remember to try this at home => Grilled fish topped with some mandarin orange salad. It's like prawn and mango. Really excellent!

'Timberland' @ Target

Spotted your pair of Timberland shoes in Target today. Only that it wasn't branded Timberland and costs only AUD$14.99 or AUD$11.99 after a 20% discount. Everything was the same, except for the logo. I think I paid SGD$35 for yours, after a massive 60% discount during the Great Singapore Sale. Given that retailers normally make a margin of between 30-50%, we can now peg the cost of goods at approximately AUD$7-8 or SGD$9. Imagine this. SGD$9 at one end and SGD$87.50 at the other end. Same shoes, different logos!

How do I console myself?

Hahhaa.. Boys Sandals. Leather upper. Made using genuine leather. Long lasting wear. Size 8. AUD$24.99 (AUD$19.99 after discount)

Notes from 30.11.06
Think size 8 might be too tiny for you. Wanted to exchange them for a size 9 or 10. No stock! *Sigh* Got you another pair of sneakers instead.

Beach. Age 2 & 1/4

Chicken Wings

Was telling your dad and my colleague this morning that you can eat a whole chicken wing by yourself!

Gu-Gu brought some BBQ chicken wings back home for dinner last night. I was munching on the wing portion. You saw and wanted to eat it too so I gave up mine and let you have it, helping you with the bones along the way. You finished it and asked for more. Gave you the drumstick portion as well and you finished that too, this time, all by yourself.

I was staring at you while you ate. It wasn't too long ago that I was scraping the banana and payayas with the spoon so that you wouldn't choke on 'solid foods'.

Ah Mah must have noticed me looking at you and guessed what was on my mind. She commented that you've grown and can now eat chicken wings like anyone else.

I want to cry.

My baby's grown up!

Little Boy

Can't you sleep little bear?

In every spread of this book, except one, there is a picture of the big bear with the little bear. On that particular spread, the illustration was drawn through the perspective of the big bear.

The Boy, "Mummy, where is the big bear?" The Mummy stops reading, looks at the picture. How to explain perpectives? Says, "The big bear is behind you." The Boy looks sideways at The Mummy. The Boys eyes starts widening and slowly, very slowly, turns his head to look behind him. The Mummy realises what she has said. Literally. The Mummy wants to laugh but decides not to. The Boy is looking behind him now, "WHERE?". The Mummy quickly turns the page and says "Here. Look. The big bear is here!"

More on Books

Attended the Asian Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference.

Met someone today whom I never thought I'd meet. Ho Minfong, the author of Sing to the Dawn. I read it when I was 14 years old! (The only other literature text I enjoyed was Harper Lee's To kill a Mockingbird)

Right now, I'm into books writted by Rohinton Mistry. His book A Fine Balance got me depressed and so, I went on to buy his other book, which I'm now reading called Tales from Firozsha Baag. I have the propensity for self inflicted mind torture as you can see. Had to convince myself that reading A Fine Balance and We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver back to back was the combi that got me morosed.

Anyway, back to the conference. What did I learn?

(1) Our state libraries subscribe to certain standards. Books that fall out of these standards will never be acquired for the reading public.

Oh...he who does not read books is wondering when the lights can be turned off. Later...(the next morning)...Read an article featuring Ho Minfong in the papers. What a small world. Her brother, the successful businessman she talked about but did not name during her speech is none other than Ho Kwon Ping, founder and chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings. Attended his talk on entreprenuership some many years ago in NUS. Wow! Again. And now, back to what I have learnt....

(2) This is the normal ecosystem: Author => Agent => Publisher => Distributor => Bookseller => Reader

(3) This is how the monies are distributed through the ecosystem.

Bookseller 35-50%
Distributor 10-15%
Publisher 10-15%
Agent 10-15%
Printing 10-15%
Author (10)-25%

Yes, the author, unless very famous and very successful in the first place, makes no money at all. They are like algae. Responsible for sustaining the ecosystem but gets no recognition at all for their importance.

I have to take another break. Later... Back. From the book fair at Expo, beach and dinner with your YeYe. It's 10pm now

(4) Top 10 lists. In the UK, it's based on receipts from the till. In the US, it's based on the numbers sold to the booksellers (Meaning, all you need to do is print half a million books, ask Borders to stock them for a day and immediately, you become a bestseller.

(5) Books sell better if they come in a series. Harry Potter did not take off until Book #4. Think about it. Secret Seven, Famous Five, Mr Midnight...

(6) Manuscripts: If even you need to send them out, please remember to double space them. Otherwise, one more reason (if not the only) to not read them.

(7) Who influences book selection?

Recommendation from a friend 40%
Author 35%
Review 24%
Advertisement 14%
Promotion 5%
Book Club 4%

(8) Pictograms & Infographics. This is very important in children's books. The combination of words and pictures needs to be balanced properly.

(9) Graphic Novels are becoming more and more popular.

(10) In Singapore, don't expect to sell more than two to three thousand books per title. And going by this example, the 'Teenage Textbook', which sold about fifty thousand copies during it's heyday, is considered a phenomenal success.

Penguin books sale!!!!!!!!!!!

19 Nov: I thought I was in Vivo city! There was this book fair, a furniture fair and a food fair all side by side and the whole of Singapore must have made at least one trip here this weekend. It was packed! Bought half a dozen books for you, two for myself, some dark soya sauce and some potato chips.

Zoooooooooooooooooooupppppppp!

Did you see that?

The island of Sodor

GG: YY, where did you go just now?
YY: Park
GG: Huh? Where?
YY: Island of Sodor
Mummy *did I hear what I heard?*
GG: *a little hard of hearing* Where???
Mummy: The island of Sodor!
YY *shy smile*
GG: What?
Mummy: The island of Sodor. That's where all the train engines live.
YY *My mummy gets it!*
GG: Huh?
Mummy: *Hahhaha!!!* YY, say Goodnite GG.
YY: *grinning from ear to ear* Goodnite GG!


BTW, this was where we went...

Another reason not to buy rubber clogs...CROCS?

"3-year-old Shiyr Chong had her big toe ripped off after her rubber clog got caught in the gap on the escalator at Admiralty Place Mall....While experts say the type of footwear generally does not play a part, 'soft shoes' made of rubber are more likely to be caught in the gaps, compared to 'harder' ones." ~ extracted from Channel NewsAsia

2 little monkeys on a swing

Chaos & Creation. Why don't penguins feet freeze?

Watched 3 inflight movies enroute to London. They were ClICK (Adam Sandler), THE LAKE HOUSE (Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves) & THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway).

Funny. They were like a trilogy to me. All of them had their theme centered around career fulfillment & family life. Forget about balance. There's only 24 hours in a day. 1 hour put on this side will mean that that same hour is taken away from that side. Bleak.

The only groovy thing from these movies was the song "This never happened before". Love it. Must get it.

Found the soundtrack in HMV. It was going for 24 pounds I kid you not! Crazy. But now at least the music ignoramus knows that it was Paul McCartney who wrote & sang that song. Ok. Maybe his album will be cheaper? Aahaa! There! 'Chaos & Creation in the Backyard', eh...13 pounds!?! Well well well. No thank you. Go back then buy.

Bought this silly but interesting book titled 'Why don't penguins feet freeze' instead.

3 examples from the 114 more questions found in this book:

(1) Most substances melt when heated, so why does my scrambled egg turn frpm liquid to solid as I cook it?

(2) Why does a biscuit that is left in the open overnight become soft by the morning but a baguette left out for the same length of time become so hard that one could knock someone with it?

(3) Please read the this sentence and count the Fs:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

How many did you see? On first reading, most people see only three. However, the answer is actually six. Why is this?