Yoga

Almost forgot about the good stuff today. Brought the small one for a 'mother and child' yoga trial class here. He was very well behaved and we had lots of fun!

IKEA kid

Asked the big one... "Should we go to I-K-E-A?" Spelling each letter slowly. The small one goes, "I want to go to IKEA!" almost immediately after I finished the "A". How does he know? Then again, why not? He gets to have either chocolate mousse or cheesecake in the cafe, play in the children's area and then leave the place with a "Huddup"... that's what he used to call the hot dog a year ago.

Mummy Bean and Boy Bean

Mummy Bean hides everything in boy's food. Pork, Beef, Fish, Vegetables, all hidden and mixed amongst his favourite pasta. It a science. If the balance it tipped, the food gets totally rejected. Sometimes, if she knows she might lose the battle, she garnishes them with fishballs or fishcakes or sausages at a ratio of 1/2 spoonful junk to 5 spoonfuls of real unprocessed food. But it's a losing battle. Boy Bean has learnt the tricks of the trade. He has learnt to spit the tiniest fish flake out, separate the vegetables from the pasta with his fork or flick the offending piece of 'tough' meat back into the pot where it came from with his spoon. Sometimes, Mummy Bean tries to hide real food under a paper thin slice of fish cake but Boy Bean has learnt how to fish the prize off the top without eating any of the rest!

Exhibit 1 - Ducks

Every now and then, the boy gets to entertain himself with our point and shoot. This series absolutely quacks me up...

h

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

magic

anticipation

company

happiness

painting

Cradle to cradle

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Click on the title to watch...

Finally....

THIS!

The madness of year end spending

.......been spending all the money I suddenly have. Well, technically it's not mine but the company's. Trying to spend it all before the door closes and a new financial year begins. So I bought stock photo credits from here, a couple of publication stands for our events next year, some additional print runs for some of the brochures we are running out of. This is all crazy. You wonder why didn't anyone tell you about all this pot of gold that exists. Strategy for next year? Remind everyone about how stupid it is to pour good soup down the sink because it came out after desserts.

Awwwww

So I visited the dentist. The boy wanted to tag along. Fine. I brought him along. He sat on the nice chair while I sat on the dangerous one. Couldn't see him but after 10 minutes of drilling and what not, there was a respite and I turned to look at him. The boy looked worried and hurriedly asked,

"Mummy, are you ok?"

Could I scream and say, "No, it's because of having you my teeth are in this condition!"

No.

Strike 3's

Bad Luck #1: My tooth broke. Had 7 fillings since having a baby. My teeth is falling apart!

Bad Luck #2: Brought boy to the PD this morning. He was coughing last night. Cruise is a week away so we better play safe.

Bad Luck #3: Part-time cleaner quits.

Blessings #1: I have no broken bones.

Blessings #2: He's ok, the cough hasn't affected his lungs.

Blessing #3: I don't have to listen to my mother comment about the service level of this part-time cleaner anymore.

To do #1: Visit the dentist

To do #2: Scold the school for giving him biscuits.

To do #3: Find another part-time helper or consider employing a maid.

Violin lesson

......Anyway, so he was fine and we went for his weekly violin class. We haven't been practicing much at all this week. Once yesterday and that was it this entire week. My fault. Been working too much.

There are 5 students in his class, 3 girls & 2 boys, including him. Each week, he will roll around with the other boy on the floor in that tiny room about the size of a bedroom filled with 11 people ( 5 students, 5 parents and 1 teacher). Sometimes, they'd even engage in a swordplay with their bows. Every week, I'd promise to buy him something if he behaves but so far, he has only managed to claim ONE burger from me. Today, he got a cake but only because the other boy is on holiday and he had no one to roll around with.

It's really quite a disaster. Next week is the end of the 1st term and I looking at the note which says :

I am pleased to inform you that your child will be completing the 1st term. The 2nd term will commence on 5 Jan 08. The fees for the 2nd term will be $450. Please make payment at the front counter before 15 Dec 07 if you wish to continue. I sincerely hope that you and your child had a wonderful and beneficial experience in **** Music School. I look forward to your continuation, giving us the opportunity to share with you and your child the joy of learning music.

Hmm..... "wonderful and beneficial experience" ? More like a painful and difficult one. Also, .... "look forward to your continuation". It means either (1) the parent is the one who gives up or (2) the child has no choice in this matter.

I remember when he was little, he used to scream at the gate of 113 Holland Road (Marsden Swim School). He's also, before he could talk, pointed his finger at the door and crawled himself out during one of those trial enrichment classes we brought him to. In comparison, he hasn't once told me he didn't want to go for his violin class.

Guess the decision's been made.

Flash Fever

How does he do that? Totally fine during dinner then an hour later, a 38.7 degrees fever. Gave him some paracetomol syrup and made him go to bed. this morning, 37.7 degrees and by the time I come back from my yoga at 10-ish to bring him to the doctor, he's back to normal and ok since. What a freak!

Going Bonkers

A colleague passed me something and she said she made sure I acknowledged it. I couldn't remember having taken that piece of paper nor having acknowledged that I was given that piece of paper. Basically, I didn't remember the entire incident!

Guess what? I found that piece of paper in my bag. This is bizarre.... maybe I'm going mad.

Between dusk and dawn

It's been a tough few days. Between dusk and dawn last night, I heard the small one cry. Think he must have been having a nightmare. He asked for milk and I made him some. That helped. I told him the floor was too hard for me and asked if he would sleep on the mattress. He told me, "No, I will sweat." So, we slept on the floor. Don't know how much time I took between waking up and opening my eyes but I knew the boy was already awake and was playing nearby - something which he rarely does quietly or alone. The moment I opened my eyes, he burst into a big bright smile and asked, "Mummy, bake me a sandwich please!"

I couldn't help but smile. Life is good.

*I made him an open faced sandwich toast - fresh tomatoes, virginia ham & mozzarella cheese on light rye bread yesterday. He must have loved it.

Dora's Eggs

Reading a book to the boy about a hen named Dora and her clutch of eggs...

YY, do you eat eggs?
>>Yes!
Oh, you see, Dora's eggs became little chicks!
>> *hng*
Do you think when you eat the eggs, Dora will be sad?
>> No.
Why?
>> Our eggs don't have chicks inside.

OHhhhhhh.... I see!


****I wonder what he will say if I asked him, how about eating the chicks up when they grow into chickens? Do you think he will say that Dora most probably will have been eaten by then so she won't feel sad anymore when we do go after her grown up chicks? ..... eh, think better not sc*ew up his young mind.

Like wolves in a hyena feast

I just coined this out of a moment inspired by pure disbelief. Protocol has been upheld to highest level and wolves, instead of governing themselves and pursuing the higher purpose, are gathering themselves around the carrion of scavengers to salivate.

Passages ...

"How do we forgive ourselves? Our parents watch us so carefully when we're children, desperate not to miss a first scream, a first step, a first word, never taking their eyes off us. Yet we do not watch them. They near the end in solitude-even those who live beside us die in solitude-and rarely do we catch their own milestones: the last scream before the morphine settles in, last step before they cannot walk, last word before the throat seals."

.... from the book "The confessions of Max Tivoli" by Andrew Sean Greer.

Ethan's Turducken Song

This turducken thingy is growing more absurb by the year. Basically, somebody decided to stuff a chicken into the duck and stuff that same duck into a turkey and serve the 3 musketeers up for christmas. Get it?

Sick on a day off.

I slept, from 10pm the previous day to 8am, then from 9am to 1pm, 2-5pm and then 9pm till 8am this morning. Sure feels good being sick on a day off.

A pot or a cup

Wondering, if you made a pot of tea with a teabag, versus making a cup of tea with the same teabag, whether you'd get less caffeine drinking the one cup versus the one pot?

No school...

...for the next few days. Been battling his cough for the last few days. Doctor ordered an x-ray and a blood test for him today. It's a chest infection. We escaped admission by the skin of our teeth. Again, we are reminded to pull our act together and get it right. It takes so little to tip him off the edge. *sigh*

HCMC

Arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. Will be having meetings here over the next 3 days. Can't remember when was the last time I was here... 2 years ago maybe? Changes? New airport, more vehicles ( cars, not motocycles) on the road, strangely less soot in the air, more buildings... this place is really developing quickly and that's only the observation from the airport to the hotel. Hope I will get the chance to go out for a bit of a walkabout later.

Super Long weekend... (4days)

Asked. What did we do on Thursday? Blank on Big One's face... Took a full minute before I remember what we did.

We went to the Airport! By MRT! Together with the boy, thinking T3 was open. It was not. So we walked around the other two terminals, ate and came back by train again. The boy puked. Twice. I think we gave him a neb that evening.

Friday. Gave the boy another neb in the morning and off we went to the beach. Boy fussed when we refused to let him ride his own bike but stopped when we showed him the tandem bike with a child seat in front. He rode while we peddled. Think he must have enjoyed it very much, kept shouting, " Faster Mummy! Faster Papa! Faster!" We had to tell him to "SHUT UP!". Because he was getting breathless screaming his lungs out whilst we ( maybe just I ) were peddling like crazy. While we rested at the beach near the hawker centre, the boy found an almost new plastic pipe, the type people use for plumbing, twice his height in length and had a fantastic time dragging, digging, hitting and piping (sand) with it; something not possible ever to play with in our tiny flat.

Saturday. The boy went for his violin lesson. He's better this week. I promised him a hamburger if he behaved. He did and I bought a S$1.85 cheeseburger from Macdonalds. Was a bit shocked at how miserly it was; the boy ate the whole thing.

Today... went to Jacob Ballas Childrens Garden. Thought the installation at the entrance was quite cool. The boy had fun. He enjoyed throwing a couple of pebbles into the 'river' whilst balacing on a tree trunk, wreaking havoc on a patch of mimosa plants, climbing up the tree house and sliding down the tubes; 'chopping' a hollow tree truck with a stick, navigating the maze bush and working the excavator on the playground. Refused to nap in the afternoon.

He must know too that the looong weekend is coming to an end.

* I managed to finish a book called INTO THE WILD by JON KRAKAUER.

ERP & VBL

I was asked to remove one of my post and that was the only post which had the words "Sex" and "Condoms" in 1 sentence! Anyway, today's post is about ERP and VBLs and I am hoping nobody will ask me to take this one out.

So, ERP prices has gone up 3 times this year did you know that? I didn't. Heard it in the news and went oh no!!! I really don't care much about it. I only hear a beep. The Big One however, hears notes and coins flying out together with THE BEEP. And so, he gets irritated when I don't leave the house before 7:30am to avoid THE BEEPS and gives me THE FACE. Right! So now that a new gantry has been installed that operates between 6-8pm at night, if I am to avoid THAT BEEP, I need to either leave on the dot or work 12-hour shifts. Failing which THAT BEEP will go off!

Anyway, not wishing to get THE FACE, I took the train to work today. It costs less than A BEEP. On the way, I was considering the consequence of this action - could having less BEEPS recorded mean that the BEEPS are effective and therefore give rise to more or louder BEEPS in the future? SHIT... and then I noticed something. It is impossible to spot VBLs... "Visible Brief Lines".

How do the man get this one right? Started looking at every male butt on the train and on the way to work to try to spot one. Didn't see any.

Hmmm....wondering if this VBL spotting activity of mine will convince the Big One to become BEEP-DEAF.

Shoot an arrow at them and it comes right back...

That's how it is with kids. Was reading a book to the small one yesterday. Wanted it to be interactive so paused to let him complete the sentences. After the 2nd pause, he went, "I tell you! You read by yourself ok? Don't ask me!" ... the exact same thing I told him a couple of nights ago when I was too tired to read him his 10 books.

Interesting

YY, anything interesting happened in school today?
> Yes
What?
> Ants!
Ants where?
> Ants in school. We shout " Ants! Ants!"
Then what happened?
> Then we crawl there.
Where?
> *points to the right side* There!
Where was the ant?
> *points to the same side* There!
So you crawl to the ants side?
> Yes
How many ants were there?
> One!
Huh? One ant and all of you big children scream at the small ant?
> Yes, we all scream at the ant.
Then what happened?
> Then Lui Lao Shi ( Teacher Lui) smashed it.
*oh!*

One Nation One People, One Singapore

One People = 1
One Nation = 1
One Singapore = S

Add them up and you get a dollar sign !!!

Converting an interest into a potential income stream.

Why not?

Frozen Shit

Nobody's going to come to my place for dinner anymore!!! I have shit frozen in my freezer!!! My baby nephew's shit to be exact. My parents put it in there and reassured me that the process has been well managed and that the shit has been placed in an air-tight container and that I don't have to worry about contamination. My dear nephew, the "Bai Lao Shu" ( White Mice) , is signed up as a test subject by a milk powder manufacturer. The experiment tests whether the milk formula he is on ( with/without prebiotics - we don't know which batch he is on) will have any impact on his immunity level. Somehow, this experiment translates to me having shit in my freezer!!!! I'm so never ever going to let this little cute as cute fellow forget this.

Patience

I've lost it.

Digging in the wrong place?

Every now and then, I'm reminded of this conversation I had with an ex-colleague from a long time back. We have both left that company. I'm just reminded of it again today, while going through some resumes for a position I have in my team.

Someone had listed this as a reason for leaving the company - after less than 2 years >> "Reached job ceiling and was told that there will not be any career advancement". Same person, comment for leaving another company after approximately 4 months was "Department structure is shaky and affects career development oppotunity. Aim to find a company that offers growth and advancement"

Going back to the conversation I had with my ex-colleague, which was about career advancements. We were discussing why we should just quit digging in the same place (company) because there's never ever going to be gold for us there. So, no matter how hard we dig and dig - try and try or work as hard as we can and push overselves over the edge to contribute - we're never ever going to dig anything more than a nice, deep grave for ourselves.

So, the only way we should go abouts gathering gold for ourselves is to quit that company and find greener pastures.

With the benefit of hindsight and also maybe maturity, I think our conclusion was not wrong but not entirely correct either.

Opportunities are everywhere but you have to be equipped with the right skills and tools and even personality in order to seize them. Gold doesn't come in ready cast ingots. More often than not, it comes disguised as dirt. Openly digging and throwing dust over everyone else around you will not help. If you recognise this, you would become successful.

Ultimately, resourcefulness in an employee is prized. Anywhere.

I'm throwing this resume into the bin.

Noodle-Meter

No longer feasible to share a bowl of noodles with the boy. He eats more than half the portion and all the wantons. Yesterday, my parents brought him out for lunch. They bought 2 bowls of noodles to share amongst the 3 of them. There were 4 wantons in each bowl. The boy ate 6!

A watch that does not tell the time

Jumped when I looked at a colleague's watch today...and had to look at my own. The difference? 30 minutes! Who wears a watch that tells time half an hour ahead of time? Why bother wearing a watch that doesn't tell you the time and worse, if you are like me, having trouble keeping time, make things more complicated by having to mentally calculate what the exact time is? Or is it possible to set youself up, deceive yourself, and believe that the time is what is on the watch? Asked the Big One about it. The response: He likes to be late and yet be ahead. ???!??

Am glad both his watch and mine tells the same time, which is the time that our government uses on the ERP gantries.

(",)

To be or not to be...

" To be or not to be..." Shakespeare
" To do is to be" Socrates
" To be is to do" Immanuel Kant
" To be to be do..." Frank Sinatra

(",)

Have a fun weekend!!!

A3BD

Sunday 14th Oct

Kid's Loft @ Cluny Court

Athena's Birthday Party

The boy (bottom right) is caught staring at the edible barbie doll's skirt!

Facebook

It's gone beyong critical mass / tipping point. Everyone's on it! (Well, almost!) Been poking, sending eggs that grow over 4 days, writing on people's walls, catching up, looking to see who knows who, biting, laughing, sending cakes and flowers and communicating with people from my past. They get to tag pictures of me that I never knew existed, buy me drinks & pizza, hug and share videos that absolutely just make me crack up with laughter!

A warm smile and a dollar

There are 3 security guards who take turns 'manning' the lifts where I work and everyday I am amazed at how they would smile, greet and hold the lift door open for the people working in this building. Basically, before I get to work, I'm already thinking about it and so, I never fail to appear at the lift lobby looking like the whole world owes me a living but yet, these people, they smile so warmly at you each and every time. Regardless. It's these human smiles that wakes me up from my own little world of selfish self existence.

Then, on the other spectrum of existence, there's this >> I realized, on the way out to lunch today that I had NO CASH with me. But fortunately, I had my bank card with me so I went looking for a UOB cash machine. These things are not easy to find. I think DBS cash machines outnumbers UOB cash machines by 10 to 1. Anyway, so there I was, grouchy under the hot sun, hungry and walking already for 20 minutes when this person walks up to me and asks, " Xiao Jie, Ni You Mei You Yi Kwai Qian, Wo Yao Ta Che!" (Miss, do you have a dollar? I want to take the bus!" I'm like, "No. I don't have a dollar!" She cursed at me and walked away. I'm like " WHAT THE F**K!???!?"Almost threw my heels at her!

Anyway, here's the point to this rant - some people make you feel better than others and also that you reap what you sow. A smile for a smile and a curse for a heel sticking out of your back??

So, everybody out there, better stay happy!!! It's safer.

Generation IT

At the beach last evening. Big one built a sandcastle.... simple one, just with buckets. Small one complained that it had holes and told the builder he wants to "DELETE!" it.

Work

Was at Ocean building earlier. That place hasn't really changed much. I started my first job there as a 'Patents Executive' in 1997. Was paid a grand sum of $1,700/month. Well, it was good I found something. It was the year the currency crisis hit Asia plus with a Degree in Zoology, I couldn't afford to be choosy.

I still remember, the law firm I worked for was sticky about punctuality. We were issued with access cards which was really, just a disguise for a punch card. They knew if you walked in late and they knew if you took more than 1 hour for lunch and some form of disciplinary punishment will be meted out by the office manager if you broke the 'law'.

I suffocated in that environment and quit after 9 months.

Times have changed much since then. I'm a happy to work for however long it takes to finish the job. But don't ever tell me I have to start work on the dot at 8:30am every morning.

Am thankful to have a flexi-work arrangement with my current company. Am not tied to any location or hours. Perfect!

My parent's don't get it. So long as I am at home, they'll go, "Today no need to work arh?"

Dream

Water. Reminds me of a dream I had. Boy went missing so we ran around to look for him. Found him floating face down in a shallow pool - circular shape. I pulled him out. We tried to get him breathing again. Could not. I wanted to die and woke up. Thank god I woke up. Else I would have killed myself.

Kelong

Smsed the Big One: Do you think it's a good idea to go for a short trip in a kelong?
Reply: It's a good idea, only we need a cage for the boy while we sleep.

Police Story # X?

Latest of the lost phones saga: We still haven't got the phones back. Think when we do, we can relegate it to the museum of popular technology. The court rejected the police recommendation - that is to give the girl a warning and close the case. They want to charge her for taking the phones and we can't get back the phones until the case closes! DARN!

Playground...and other updates

The boy needed some fresh air, so brought him for a walk. He spotted the playground and rushed towards it... I had to ran after him and pull him back. Can't have him leaving his germs there can we? Poor boy, couldn't eat much during the weekend but from what I hear today, he's making up for lost food. This morning, he had his milk, ate a piece of yam cake, a bowl of noodles and wanted some more yam cake.

Wii >> the boy loves it. He can play the bowling game independently. Tries to play the tank demo game but gets very frustrated and shouts "Don't shoot me arh! WHY YOU SHOOT ME!!!??!!" We limit him to like 15 games and then a last game and a last last game and a last last last game. Meltdowns prevented because we tell him if he does melt, he won't get to play it for a week.

Violin >> I went for class without him. Had a good session. I actually could pay attention during the class! So far, we practised twice - 2 X5 minutes session. He's not very keen but he's holding the bow and the instrument fine. Me thinks he's doing fine anyways.

HIV >> A colleague's daughter asked her, "Mummy, how do you get HIV?" She tells the kid, "You get it when you sit in dirty toilet bowls!" Kid says, "No wonder mummy, you never let me sit on the toilet bowl!" Well well well... I'm speechless.

Grass and Sand >> Same colleague - never lets her 3 kids step on grass or sand. ( In case there are broken glass or centipedes) No wonder my kid catches everything. I let him run everywhere and even scolded him once when he got fussy about walking barefooted on grass.

Hey! The 'Jacob Ballas Children Playground' off Bukit Timah Road, near the Botanic Gardens /old NIE campus is now officially opened. Heard they have grass, (",) a tree house, floating platform, swinging bridge and waterplay area! Sounds like fun.

Nokia | Second Nature

Nokia | Second Nature

Liked it. The set is really impressive! But later, was thinking - what's second nature about Nokia mobile phones? Is second nature a strong proposition for the brand? Is having it second nature or using it second nature or both? How do you attribute a 'habit', a behavioural pattern and an individual/internally driven one at that, to a possession? Do you then own the Nokia phone because simply it's something you don't have to think about? And if it's really something you don't have to think about, why bother with choice?

Theo Jansen - Kinetic Sculptor

Some pictures...

To market to market!

Love this shot...'Human Chair' taken at the barber shop.

Continued experiment with digital portrait shots (macro mode, lens zoomed out all the way + flash)... 1 in 10 turns out well. Think I really need a new camera or attend Digital Photography 101.

The previous Saturday I think... at the botanic gardens... reaching out for the 'Bigbubbles'

Off to his 1st violin lesson, with the violin strapped to his back. I will have to go for this Saturday's class without him... can't have him spreading his germs. He's doing coping very well with his ulcers though and still eating.

This was on Monday. Made some soba noodles with miniature 'Green Eggs' & Ham. He ate the entire plate of 'green eggs' up. I beat up a couple of eggs and cooked them a spoon at a time, adding a couple of Japanese soy beans on top of each one to make them look like eggs with green yolks. He loved them!

HFMD

It's confirmed. Boy caught HFMD. Right now, he's thundering around the house, which drives everyone up the wall. He has strapped a 'jet engine' (an IKEA stool) to his behind and so is going round the house screaming "fire! faster!! faster!!!" Much rather he continue this crazy run than lying in bed.

Btw, I'm done with the detox.

Day 3

Yup, am still at it. Now really sick of the sryup. Have been using limes... will use lemons today for variety. Did buy mee pok yesterday but it was for the boy who ate only like 1/10th of it. What a waste! But no, I didn't touch it.

After dinner, we brought him also around the estate for a walk with the lantern he received from Hannah as well as the lantern he made in school. There were also a couple of boys and one came along to show off his gun to him and he ran away from them in a hurry, back to us and announced, " They have guns leh!" So I told him something stupid... " Tell them you have a lantern and that your lantern has a fire!" God, this only works in Singapore where there are laws against firearms but if it's somewhere else in the world, then he jolly well did the right thing. RUN!!!!

Anyway, spent the morning working from home because the boy wasn't allowed into the school. He had a tiny ulcer on his right inner cheek. There was a case of HFMD in his class last week so they are on high alert. Hopefully, it's not. We are monitoring.

Still Day 2!!!

Wondering what would happen if I ate a nougat that a colleague bought from France? Am a bit sick of the maple syrup now...

Want COFFEE and MEE POK!!!

Detox Day 2

The stomach did howl like a wolf at full moon occasionally. But all you need to do is quickly make yourself another cup of maple syrup lemonade with a dash of pepper and it will stop. Strange, this is the longest time I have gone without solid food in a long long long long long time... maybe since I could eat solid food?

And oh, I have a headache... the type I get when I don't drink my 'kopi-si-kow-kosong' (thick coffee with evaporated milk no sugar) in the morning. Come to think of it, I normally have at least 3 servings of caffeine a day. One in the morning and 2 in the afternoons and more if I'm stuck in meetings that serves free flow of coffee or tea. Other than that, I'm feeling quite awake and have enough energy still to move around.

This morning, I watched the young one eat a whole bun - he picked the one with hotdog of course - at the bread shop near our place. That bread shop is his heaven ( not far from the truth since it is operated by a christian group) and he loves the freshly baked breads there lots. Anyway, we were there early and they hadn't made anyone coffee yet. I can watch him eat, no problems but the smell of good coffee would be another thing altogether.

Detox Day 1

This will be all I'm 'eating' the next 10 days:

Maple Syrup Lemonade:
250ml of distilled room temperature water mixed with
2 Tablespoons lemon or limejuice (approx. ½ lemon)
2 Tablespoons genuine maple syrup (Not maple flavored sugar syrup)
1/10 Teaspoon cayenne pepper (red pepper) or to taste
=> Up to 12 glasses a day

Have taken 4 glasses of it so far. Breakfast and lunch has gone by but I'm still feeling ok. Don't have the usual post-lunch drowsy feeling... but of course, I didn't have any lunch but I'm not feeling hungry either which, is good. The cayenne pepper is giving the stomach a nice warm feeling.

Right, time to make another glass>>>

Lesson #1 - Break it!

It's a group lesson. So 6 kids, 7 parents and a teacher squeezed into a small room for the session. Anyway, lesson #1 was all about getting the right-sized violin for the kid and teaching the parent how to stand and hold the violin correctly.

So the kid himself got bored. He walked around the tiny room, rather aimlessly, then asked repeatedly for his own instrument, played with the bow, swung it around a few times, leaned on it and ... broke it.

The other parents gasps while all I did was sigh and asked the teacher if he had a spare. He did. A spare new one and I had to pay $32.10 for it.

If I were not a parent, I would have thought me a bad parent for that kind of non-reaction.

My only excuse is that dragging him to class with my bag, his bag, my violin case, his violin case from home to town is too consuming and I don't have any more energy left for dispensing on discipline. And oh! Screaming at him in class or smacking him in the behind wouldn't help him learn the instrument will it?

Looking forward to next week.

Wondering what else he'd break.

*sigh*

http://stickgal.blogspot.com

Check it out... !

Passport ... FINALLY!!!

We brought you to the immigration house to collect your passport today. Yeah! Can pack you along for trips now.

A pleasant evening...

Very pleasant evening yesterday... Went home, fed the boy dinner while he played with his new trains on the table. He played with them too after dinner and when we went for a walk around the estate, he took them along. Anyway, he played with them the whole night and I even managed to read the papers and shower without him messing up my papers or banging his fists on the door demanding to know what I am doing inside the bathroom. Evening ended at midnight, with him holding on to his milk bottle with one hand and the trains with the other. Sweet.

Nothing much...

...going on in my life now >>> Wake up, go work, work, go home, sleep. Mondays thru to Fridays.

Wii

Finally we set it up.... or rather, YL did. The boy knocked out at 8+ and so we played, uninterrupted, for a few hours. It's been a while since we laughed so much!

Violin 1/16 + Hannah's Birthday Party

Bought a violin for the boy over the weekend from 'Synwin', located at Tanjong Katong Shopping Centre. The boy was pretty excited but ran away from the uncle when asked to grip the violin with his chin. Caught up with the boy outside the shop and hauled him back into the shop for measurement. The uncle decided that 1/16 was the right size. It's really tiny and apparently not the smallest. They have it in 1/32 and 1/64 too! So watch out!!! Because very soon, they'd make it so small you can start introducing it to them while they are still feotuses!!

Thank you Hannah for having us at your party! The Small One enjoyed himself loads and so did we! I thought he was looking at the cake in this picture but realised he wasn't when I took a closer look. He was looking at the caboose that someone had left on the table and not the cake!

Violin lessons

....thinking of starting the boy on violin lessons. Decision almost 90% made. Thing is, they require the parent to buy 2 violins! One for the kid and one for the parent. Wha!!.... Wonder if I can lug my cello there instead?.... Anyone has spare violins to loan for a term? Maybe it's time to take another trip to The Salvation Army store.

Quake

Our house shook this morning. The Big One came out of the room and asked, did you feel that? And then we did, it came in intervals of about 5-15 seconds. Our lamp was swaying at some point and we decided, maybe we should leave the house, go downstairs. Little One was eating some Chwee Chong Fun, so I thought, why not let him continue eating downstairs and took the plate with me... then opps, no bra! Went to the toilet to put one on. Big One forgot the key card and went back for it. By the time we got to open our front door, the shaking stopped. I can't believe how ill prepared we are for such incidents... and in times of crisis, we can be so silly about little things. I bet you if I was holidaying on the 26th of December 2004 on a beach and saw a big wave coming, I would have stood there watching.......

Rebranding

Walked into the office today to find 2 boxes of namecards, a packet of M&Ms Brand Milk Chocolate candies on our corporate colors, with our new logo on one side of it, a mousepad and a thermal mug. Not denying that it takes effort to do all this but I'd like to take a piss neverthelest ... the color of the logo on the namecard, chocolate, pad, mug don't match!

Also had this debate with the "HEAD". My point =>Brand names should never be used as nouns even when it is more grammatically correct to do so. Think escalator, rollerblade, photoshop etc etc... at least one can now be found in the dictionary and when it does, you loose the rights to it as a brand and/or trademark. Perhaps the company that I work for is leagues away from that but still???

Lastly, I burst out laughing at the "HEAD'S HEAD" presentation when I first saw our new ads. It's BAD. It's REALLY BAD.

Like I was telling CC during lunch at 'B Bakery' at Bussorah Street yesterday ....(Must digress. I had a Caesar's Salad there and it was really really good! Each leaf was evenly coated with dressing, with a generous spread of finely grated cheese & garlic, topped with my type of boiled egg - solid white with a soft and semi-runny yolk & a slice of freshly baked thick cut bread. $10) ....., my left brain is taxed to the max here in my job.... leaving my left atrophying from the lack of stimulus.

VOTE

Sis-in-law has sent in the picture of the 2 cousins. Click here to VOTE for them!

Reading

Last night, during our dinner at Foo's House, >> Here's a link to a review by ishootieatipost >> the boy picked up a menu and pretended to read it. When he was ready (the menu had no pictures), he said very confidently, "Mummy, I want to order this!" and pointed to this:

~Erdinger Weissbrau~

Well, I don't think so, little man! That's beer. Do you want beer? Not to be defeated, he pointed to the next item and said, "THIS?"

~Tiger Beer~

Fire Dragons

This was last night, at QQ's birthday party.

Portraits with digital cams

The digital camera we have is as old as the boy. Got tired of taking crappy shots so was looking for a solution when I found this site with some tips on how to take good portrait shots with digital cams. Will provide links to that site once I find it again... Meanwhile, here's what you are suppose to do:

(1) Switch to portrait mode... *duh* right? But mine apparently came in a symbol of a tulip flower and not a head. So I didn't know I had one. Thought it was the symbol for macro mode.

(2) Zoom lens to max! (apparently you do this to blur the background)

(3) Force the flash to go off at every shot.

Well, tried it. See effect above. Not too bad huh?

Anyone with better ideas?

Stainless Steel

YY, look, there's a crack in the wall
>> Where?
There!
>> nrg
You want to look at it closer?
>> Yes
*carries him up for a closer look*
YY, you think the roof will crash down on us?
>> No, because got stainless steel inside, very strong, won't crash down
???!?

I asked my father: Did you tell him that there is stainless steel inside the wall?
>> No.
I asked the Big One: Did you tell him that there is stainless steel inside the wall?
>> No.

I don't remember reading any books telling him that there is steel inside the walls either. Where on earth does he pick up such information?

**Baffled.

I wish I wish....

Spaced....

Mom: Does she clean your window?
Me: Windows don't need to clean every week... if she has time then she'd clean them.
Mom: Then she only need to come every other week!
Me: I think she did clean the window grills last week.
Mom: She is here how many hours?
Me: 4 hours.
Mom: Your house so small, need 4 hours arh?

*me walks away* This conversational topic with my Mom may turn out to be more exhausting than killing myself doing housework.

Space

My small flat is bursting. I need to double the size of the rooms, the kitchen, the living/dining room, the toilets and the store room. No need to double corridors, bay windows and washing area. That's not me by the way. Picture from here

SILOMAT RECALL

Was waiting for my coffee so flipped through the papers. Saw an article about Silomat. Freak! Small one has downed at least half a dozen bottles of this medication since he was born! Coffee not in system but my own heartbeat already irregular.

Silomat cough mixture taken off the shelves in Singapore
By Foo Siew Shyan, Channel NewsAsia
Posted: 04 September 2007 1949 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Silomat brand of cough mixture has been pulled off the shelves in Singapore. German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim said this is a voluntary recall and applies to all countries where the medication is available. It comes after recent findings suggest Silomat has a small likelihood of causing cardiac arrhythmia. The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has been informed. Silomat treats irritable cough and it contains clobutinol hydrochloride, which according to a recent study, may pose a potential risk to affecting one's heart rhythm. But the company says the risk is very low. Silomat is available in syrup form and is a prescription drug in Singapore. Patients currently on the drug can seek a full refund before 30 November.

Teleconference

X attendee: We can't hear you well. There is a lot of echo!
Host: Ok. Can everyone please put their phone to mute?
*PAUSE*
Host: Now, can everyone hear me? Is this better?
*NO REPLY*
Host: Eehlo!! Can everyone hear me?

>>> I burst out laughing...but of course, because I was on mute, she couldn't hear it!!!

DUH!!!!

Wii

It's coming!!! to our place that is. Soon.

PT Help

Went home yesterday to a spanking clean house... Lovely!!! Thing was, my mother came along to stay over.

Mom: Eh, your house very clean
Me: Emm... Yes.
Mom: When was it cleaned?
Me: Emm.... today.
Mom: Did you ask somebody to help or you clean it yourself?
Me: It's clean hor?
Mom: So you clean it?
Me: Sometimes
Mom: So you ask somebody to clean it?
Me: No lar, I clean it sometimes.
Mom: So who cleaned it today??
In the absense of a mother-in-law, sometimes I feel like my own mother becomes one.
Me: Part-time helper.
Mom: How much does that cost?
Me: $50
Mom: $50 for...??
Me: $50 for 4 hour
Mom: How often?
Me: Once a week.
Mom: When does she come?
Me: Sunday.
Mom: I can clean for you this week. Tell her no need to come this sunday.
Me: Eh, it doesn't work like that.
Mom: Why not? Can!

*sigh*

Random

...conversations with the Big One this morning.

Me: Whey, if you gave money to a begger and he runs off to buy toto, will you be angry?
>>> No, because once you've given him the money, it is his to spend.
Me: Ok. Now, will you give the same person money again?
>>> HAHHAHAHAHA!!!!

Finnish Proverbs

Hhahhahhaaa!!!

Elämä on epävarmaa, syö jälkiruoka ensin.
Life is uncertain so eat your dessert first.

Siellä mies kuin pyy ja sääret kuin sääskillä.
There's a man who looks like a partridge with legs like a mosquito.
>>What could this possibly mean???

Ihmetapauksiin voi toivoa mutta älä luota niihin.
Hope for miracles, but don't rely on one happening.
>> Nett nett equals nothing??

Ei toukokuun ruoholla ole koskaan lehmiä ruokittu.
Cow's diets have never been sustained on grass grown in May.
>> What's wrong with grass grown in May?

Ei se työtä kun uskaltaa vaikka työn ääree makaamaan.
Work doesn't scare him, but he could lay down near it and sleep.
>> What?

Rakkautta tuli paperipussissa sanio likka kun sulhaiselta sai kirjeen.
Love came in a paper bag, said the maiden when she got a letter from her sweetheart.
>> Now.... what did she get in the paper bag that wasn't in the letter?

Confirmation

HR came with a confirmation letter for me today and I yelled out , "What? I have 4 more days to think about it! Go away!!!"

They just laughed and gave it to me anyways.

I can't believe they like me better than I like them.... and that I might actually stay here longer than I thought I would.

Where did the week go??

It's Friday, which means the weekend is here but then, where did the days go? Monday I had a full day meeting, Tuesday I did so many things I cannot remember exactly what they are anymore, except that it rained heavily? Wednesday I attended a full day training session offsite>>>>>>> the boy starting sneezing on Wednesday, coughing on Thursday and today, we had to rush him to the paediatrician because he started wheezing. Ever watched tv and seen people foaming in their mouths? I never thought it could be real until today, the boy coughed out foam! FOAM!!! By the mouthful!!! Cough! Cough! - This great big lump of bubbly white phlegm comes right out. The sight of that plummets my energy level to sub-zero conditions. It'd be a while before I can pick me back up again. But I have to. Quickly too. The boy's definitely the brave one and I need to be strong for him.

Golden 3's

The boy's 3.

He is

no longer a baby,

no longer a toddler.

He talks,

he sings,

and he says silly things.

He makes me laugh,

roll up my eyes,

or scream ARHHHHhhhh !!!!

He's 2 times taller,

4 times heavier

and a gazillion times better

than anything

that I could

ever want.

miRRor

Unfocussed...


....SO funny!!!

What is that?

These 3 photos of the cousins, taken within seconds of each other, absolutely cracks me and the big one up. Their expressions so mirror each other we really don't know how they did it.

School Party

Weekend starts now...

... am taking the day off tomorrow. Quite excited. Can just imagine myself walking with 20 odd balloons filled (with helium) down the kiddy school and watching the little one's reaction to it.

Tomorrow also, we have a part-time helper coming in to help us clean the house. Found her on the train on the way to work yesterday. It's very bizarre...have been thinking about it for weeks and weeks and suddenly, the person just pops up beside you. Right, I was eavesdropping but I can't stop my ears from hearing things right? This means I don't have to wash the toilets, change the sheets, mop the floor and iron our clothes anymore!!! The price of laziness >>> $50 per 4 hour block.

Current Mood: Helium!

Birthday Charity

....If you are thinking of getting BY a pressie for his birthday... please make a donation to the Singapore Children's Cancer Fund instead. Visit http://www.ccf.org.sg or click here to make a donation. Thank you!

Back to school

Brought the boy back to school today. This after a 6-week break. He wasn't very sure of himself though but did say "Bye Bye Mummy" to me, without any tears. Hope he'd have fun today.

Nintendo DS

I watched the small one watch another with a Nintendo DS...

Passport revisited...

Me: Eh, so when are you going to make a passport for him? He's turning 3 soon!
>>> Orh
Me: We also need his passport number for the cruise!
>>> Nowadays passport number same as birth cert. number.
Me: Oh, so we can use birth cert to travel nowadays ah?
>>> ???!????

I got tagged again!

This time, by Kelly. Thought I get away with just answering just ONE question off that list.

Anyway, here goes:

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now...

ONE/ At the Beach.... >> that would mean I'm not working
TWO/ At a beach in Maldives >> that would mean I'm not working and on holiday
THREE/ At a private beach in Maldives >> that would mean I'm not working, on a holiday and rich!
FOUR/ At a private beach in Maldives .... eh .... eh ... sunbathing in the nude?? >> HahhaahhhH!!! That would mean I'm not working, on a holiday, rich and have a great hot bod and no double chins ( there and there and there...) !!!!

*sigh*

Back to work....

Pig and Spider

Mummy, where is my pig and spider?
What pig and spider?
I want my Pig and Spider!!
I don't know what you are talking about...
I want my PIg and SPider!!!
What Pig and Spider?
PIG AND SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!
What is it? Is it a book?
PIG AND SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT MY PIG AND SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO YOU HAVE A PIG AND SPIDER? IS IT A BOOK?
PIG AND SPIDER VIDEO!!!!!!!!!
.........*pause* ........ORHHHHHHH! YOU WANT CHARLOTTE'S WEB is it?
YES!... WHO IS CHARLOTTE?
????!!!??? CHARLOTTE is the SPIDER! WILBER IS THE PIG!
WHO IS LOTTE???

*** i give up! ***

Tagged by Mel.

Four jobs I have held in my life:

ONE/ Biscuit distributor during our tea-time in kindergarten. Fired after the 1st day because I dropped all of it on the floor! (Demoted to....)
TWO/ Wiping tables for the rest of that year!
THREE/ White hair removal service. Uncle's rate was 5 cents per strand ... back then, you could get 3 blackcurrant flavoured Hacks for 10 cents!
FOUR/ Barber.. for the last three years. I have only one precious customer... (",)

Chinese Chinese

My Question: So how does the Chinese in China view the Chinese who grew up in other parts of the world (i.e ME)?

Answer: The difference lies in whether you can speak Chinese ... or not. If you can speak the language, then there is no difference.

*oh* ...and so I sprouted my usual nonsense...

Me: Right! Ok! I will polish up my Chinese so that the next time we meet, we will converse in Chinese!

... oh shit shit shit shit shit shit.... shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit...............................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend in Beijing

Had to start a new post to get away from the last. Hahhaa!! (",)

Meetings start tomorrow morning but I flew in yesterday, a day earlier and spent most of this weekend with CTLK. She brought me to all the nice shopping & eating places, and to a very lovely massage that costs honestly quite little @ RMB 97/hr (SGD20). A comparable one in Singapore would have costs 10 times as much.

The last time I was here must have been in .... 2002? Between then and now, the city has changed soooooooo much! There are now not many short buildings left! Used to think the city is massive because it had so much space but with so many tall buildings around, your sight just goes from block to block and it's really hard to get a feel of the space or even try to imagine it when all you see is blocks.

CTLK told me that some buildings (and she pointed to one really really tall one) take only 4 months to build. I went, "Oh, so no need to wait for the cement to dry?" So happened that her friend is working for a property developer was with us and she went, "Oh, you don't have to wait for the cement to dry nowadays! Nowadays, we use pre-cast. It's like lego, you just stack them up. The most time-consuimg part is the part where you have to bolt them together."

Well well well, we live and learn everyday don't we?

You know you've eaten too much when...

.... you burp food! A bit gross but the truth is, I really ate too much. Portions here in Beijing are so huge and with a supposedly good habit of not wasting food, you'd end up eating enough to burp it back up!!! So, will start being wiser tomorrow and leave real food on the table instead of regurgitated blobs!?!

NATIONAL DAY 2007

"Asymmetrical Information"

Heard these 2 words put together for the first time. Think it's brilliant! So, to make it stick, thought up some other combinations:

Asymmetrical couple
Asymmetrical behaviour
Asymmetrical thoughts
Asymmetrical lives
Asymmetrical values
Asymmetrical influences
Asymmetrical calendars
Asymmetrical directions
Asymmetrical evidence
........

(",)

I want to be me when I grow up.

Couple of months ago...

Q: Do you want to be Papa or Mummy when you grow up?
A: Papa & Mummy

This morning....

Q: Do you want to be Papa or Mummy when you grow up?
A: I want to be me!

Interviews

Interviewed 5 people so far, 2 more to go and NONE so far has bothered to check the website to find out what we do. Can you believe it? In this day and age, it's so easy to get information and yet these people spent time coming, spent money on transport, obviously interested in the job, but not bothered enough to find out what kind of company they might be working for?

Plus, 2 out of the 5 were late.

And! After explaining to them what we do, how we are structured and what the scope is, I expect QUESTIONS!!! Even paraphrasing what I said would have been fantastic!!! How difficult can that be?

The Weekend...

SATURDAY

Spent 6 hours at the beach with the boys on Saturday. It was just one of the most fantastic day to spend at the beach. The wind was just coming and coming in from the sea and making lovely white caps in the waves. Would have been a fantastic day for sailing too.

The big one and I met on a boat named Pegasus.

Well, while I insisted on doing nothing, the Small One dashed dangerously around with his scooter - he's become amazingly good at it within a very short period of time.

SUNDAY

Attended HH's wedding. She made it! Hahhahaaa...!!!

Day before the wedding, I sms-ed her... "One more day!" and she replied, "Relax, I'm not running away. Ha! This time, I can't wait for the wedding to be over!" Well, dear girl, it is ok for her to be wishing the wedding to be over soon. Just remember to also wish for the marriage to last forever. (",)

Anyway, it was one of the most relaxed chinese wedding celebrations I've been to thus far and she looked unforgettably amazing in her Cheong Sum.

The Small One ran around with his friend, QQ at the wedding. At one point, he hugged her and was catch in the act by QQ's father, and he was amused but not very, which made it even more amusing. My dear boy, never ever hug a girl in the presence of her father, no matter how innocent you may be!

Double

I woke up and found a double chin. A DOUBLE CHIN! Asked the big one... eh, I think I have a double chin. He looks and says, "Yah, I think you need to tone it up."

How encouraging... tone up the chin? ***** How on earth do you do that? Hmmm... chomp on more food? And so, as I write this, I'm toning up my chin with a curry potato puff and a large ice teh-tarik and waiting for a colleage to come back with more things to chomp on - Chicken Briyani!

But seriously, the food here at where I work is FANTASTIC!

This Week's Lunch Menu:
Monday - Collagen-rich soup base Ramen ( with HH, the lady who is about to walk down the aisle this Sunday with her catch from Washington)
Tuesday - Japanese Beef Paper Pot (with a brave lady - at least I think anyone who is pregnant at 41 is brave!)
Wednesday - Pomelo Salad with Prawn, Chicken Green Curry and Mango Fried Fish (with my grumpy ex-boss / friend / uber-intelligent-being)
Thursday - Chicken Feet Hor Fun (with the Big One)
Friday - Still waiting for the Briyani....!!!

Kind of contradictory huh? After all these chin-chomping-toning exercises, I still wake up with a DOUBLE CHIN? *grin*

Fisher-Price >>> toy recall

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys - including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters - because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.... Owners of a recalled toy can exchange it for a voucher for another product of the same value. To see pictures of the recalled toys, visit http://www.service.mattel.com . For more information, call Mattel's recall hot line at 800-916-4498.

Passport

Eh, can you bring him go make passport?
>>>Submit via internet can already!
Orh, then bring him go get his photo taken.
>>>Digital camera white background can already!

Hmmm... I kinda remember we had a similar conversation some months ago.

I'm in love...

...because I find myself watching you all the time. And especially before I get to work and whilst you're still asleep, i'd look at you, your face, your hands, your feet, your ears, your hair...and think just how perfect you are. In those moments, nothing else in the world really matters anymore. I.Love.You.

Birthday Party

Got>>> the function room

Considering>>> Chocolate Fountain

Cake>>> Little one has chosen a chocolate cake with a train going round it some weeks back. Will get that one.

More to come...

"Balloon Race"

Photo Source >> Here

Brought the small one to the grass patch adjacent to 'One Marina Boulevard' on Saturday to watch the National Day Parade rehearsals. Had lots of fun and entertainment for close to nothing. The guys with the giant jellyfishes were hidden near where we were, waiting for their cues, and it was quite exciting to watch them go off together! The small one called it the "Balloon Race!" Then there were the choppers and the fireworks... all very amazing stuff for a soon to be 3-year old....which reminds me....... I haven't planned a birthday party for him yet. Oh oh oh oh oh oh dear.......!!!!!!

Oosters

Had a drink and some Belgium mussels with the big one at OOSTERS before coming home today. For $21, you get a 1/2kg pot of mussels with a generous plate of thick-cut fries. Best of all, we didn't get any "longkang" (smelly) ones. All yummy. All good. Perfect way to start the weekend!

White shirts

I must ban myself from wearing white colored shirts and ban myself from buying white shirts. I'm wearing this particular one the 3rd time and at the end of today, it will have to go to the bin.

>>>Wear 1st time - Coffee stain on the sleeve... still there after 2 washes
>>>Wear 2nd time - Dropped my pen. Result: Blue ink on 2 different places... still there after 1 wash
>>>Wear 3rd time: Ate "Hock Lam" Beef Noodle but got yummy 'dry' gravy on my WHITE shirt.

It's impossible for me to be neat and clean or to appear neat and clean. JUST IMPOSSIBLE! I should give up trying to look neat and clean in white shirts and stop buying white shirts because of the world doesn't need one more stained white shirt in the dumps!

4Lauffs... !!

Inertia at a subconsious level

Dreamt this: .... someone was asking, " When was the last time you exercised?" Was about to respond..."6 months ago?"...Hang on. Son is almost 3 years old. Correct answer should be , "3 years ago?".

Oh my god!!!

Washington

An old friend of mine is back from Washington! We went to Cafe Cartel @ Siglap for a catch-up.

We chatted while the boy ate bread, french fries with pork ribs & waffles with peaches. He's really been "hungry" since coming out of the hospital and eats and looks like a child who has been starved. Imagine this! >>> Big Head on skinny legs with a protruding tum tum.

Anyway, back to friend. This lady quit her job and flew half way around the world on the pretext of studying for her Masters Degree. Well, not only did she get her postgraduate degree after exactly 12 months, she's now back with the 'real reason'. Better still, she's getting married to 'it'.

A good ending ... with a new beginning.

Am so happy for you HH!

Free Flow

There's just so much so much to do, I pat myself on the back if anything gets done. Because what I do more and more is just stare at it and go into a zone where cranial activities of any form becomes suspended.

When I do emerge from that zone, I'd find that my inbox has once again been topped up. How's that? I sure didn't sign up for any free flow in my contract!

Friday, I accepted a 5am conference call thinking it was 5pm. By the time I found out, it was too late for it to be rescheduled... and so at 5am, I called in, tilted the laptop 90 degrees, put my head back on the pillow and fielded the call....all grumpy, tired and miserable since I worked till 1am the night before hitting the bed. 5am in Singapore, 9pm in Europe, 7am in Australia, 5pm in US !!! Eh, whatever happened to the 9 to 5 job?

But I've been happy this week because they let me hire one more person! My happily overworked family of 7 will soon grow to 8. And once proven that this 8th person is overworked as well, I'd get another 2. How wonderful!

*sigh*

Appetite

Mummy, I'M HUNGRY!

The stuff he's eating today...

Breakfast:
8 oz milk $0.80
Half a cup of muesli with more milk $1
1 bottle yakult $0.70

Tea:
1 cup milo $1
1 apricot & almond yogurt bar $2.80

Lunch:
3/4 bowl of soy-sauce chicken noodle in soup + 5 wantons $3.70

(",)to be continued....

Mid-afternoon snack:
Half a peanut pancake $0.35
1 chocolate teacake $0.50

Dinner:
Rice with pork chops $4.50
Fresh coconut juice. $1

Later... Milk $0.80
`
Total: $16.95

Gosh, I put in the numbers for fun... didn't realised food that a toddler consumes in a day will cost so much!!!

Humpty & Dumpty

We were talking, the boy and I. Before bedtime.

The usual suspects were there. Itsy Bitsy Spider, the 40 Blackbirds and Humpty Dumpty.

Somehow, when Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall, Humpty the little boy and Dumpty the mummy both independantly decided to "fall off" as well.

Humpty's head smashed against Dumpty's head. Dumpty cried out in pain. Humpty said "SORRY!" and started rubbing Dumpty's head, asking Dumpty "IS IT PAIN A NOT?" Dumpty said, "YES! IT'S REALLY PAINFUL! RUB HERE, NOT THERE!" Then Dumpty realised Humpty's forehead was red as well. Dumpty pointed to Humpty's head and asked, "Your head hit me too! Is it painful?" Humpty says, "NO! I GOT BONE INSIDE!"

Well, what can we say?

Is Advertising Dead?

Attended a 'breakfast club' meeting organised by the British Council this morning. Charles Wigley, Chairman of BBH Asia Pacific spent 45 minutes presenting his case - Is advertising dead?

My takeaway: Message-driven ads will become a thing of the past. The future calls for ads that are rich in content, engaging enough to be self populated and something that allows for consumer participation and/or conversations...

... am thinking of the poly girl whose mobile phone and then content was stolen. That was properly a darn good example of the ad of the future.

Former Remiser King

Interesting read - Click on the title.

Out

#1
Out of the hospital! Yeah!

His appetite is not good though - It's really hard to stay enthusiastic about plain porridge with soy sauce and bread with a thin layer of jam.

Somehow, the stay has also transformed him. Maybe it's frustration, maybe boredom, maybe helplessness or maybe just too much TV over the last 3 days. He pretends to shoot things with a pen and tells me, "See, Mummy! Holes over there!". He bangs his fist on the shower door to protest against hair-washing and throws his toys on the floor when they don't do what he wants them to do. He also rains blows on me when I don't give him what he wants.

The last few hours at home though has calmed him down a lot. He's no longer confined to moving within the radius of his IV tube. There's no longer a beeper (on the infusion pump) that goes off ominously. It kept going off last night and the nurses had to adjust the catheter on his hand. The catheter finally did fall off for good last evening but thank goodness they also decided that it was no longer necessary to continue him on the drip.

#2
His grandparents have also decided to stop him going to school. They've tried for the last couple of months to get us to stop sending him there. He's been sick every other week since he started school. I've called the school this morning. A notice of one month has is given. No more school. At least for the rest of this year.

Warded

The boy was warded last Friday. Not likely to be discharged tomorrow as we hoped because he just threw up again.

More info here >>> Stomach Virus

... going ...

... back to the doctor with the boy.

A good 4 days...

... since Tuesday. Definitely good because nobody died and that's taking an optimistic view on things. Been grappling with a stomach virus that has taken the boys down. First the small one and then now, the big one. Came very close to admitting the small one to the hospital several times during these 4 days.

The doctor told us not to give the small one any milk-based products so he hasn't had any for about 2 days now. At 5am, he asked for milk. I said ok, left the room and waited till he fell asleep before going back in. At 7am, he asked for milk again. I said ok and left the room again. 10 minutes later, he started crying non-stop. In my sleep-deprived stupor, I just told him, we ran out of milk! Mistake. It was to him, the end of the world!

15 minutes later, I bundled him out of the house to 'go and buy milk'. NTUC hadn't opened yet so we waited at the coffeshop nearby, where he had some bread and soya milk. That calmed him down aplenty. Played 'I spy ...' with him and realized he knows quite a lot! >>>Ceiling, square, trolley, rooftops, crane, flag, lady eating pau, man reading newspapers, tomatoes, air-con, light, the letter M , words, various colors but the one I was most impressed with was ... jeans! When NTUC finally opened their doors at 8am, bought a tin of soy-base / milk-free formula.

Hey, why does "APLENTY" mean more than plenty while "APOLITICAL" means not-political??

No school!

After the 5th case of HFMD was identified today, the school called to say that all classes will be suspended for a week.

Sunday

So much to write about today.

It started with a trip to the PD. Doctor goes, "your child doesn't smoke, he doesn't have cancer, he is coughing because he has asthma! No normal person will cough for 2 whole months! If it's viral, he will have a fever and that will go away after threatment or antibiotics! You need to control his condition with asthma medication!!!"


Right, so the Funhaler, an asthma medicine delivery device, which we've unsuccesfully tried to get you to use 10 months ago is back in play. After tonight, we can tell the hiatus didn't make any difference. You still refuse it.

Late afternoon, decided to go to the beach. You found a branch. We found you a line and a hook and also, a dead fish. Tied the line to your branch, the hook to the line, the fish to the hook and threw it back into the water for you. You spent the next half an hour 'fishing' and attracted some attention when some people there thought you had really caught something with your primitive rod.

What a horrid waste of life. Somebody had caught it and obviouly, didn't think much of it. It's tiny but rather than throw it back to live, left it to die rot. Big One said we are only recycling it, rather than have you catch another one...

When it was time to go, you cried buckets. I unhooked the dead fish and put it in your hands. You refused to let it go. Told you it needs to go back to it's mother and back home (heaven) for dinner. With more tears, you threw it back into the water. Very reluctantly. But you did let it go anyways. I'm so very proud of you. *hugs*

Went for dinner at PP hawker centre. You ate very well and so, we let you off to the playground alone after you finished. 15 minutes later, I thought I saw some distress and walked towards you... only to find you hitting another boy. Both of you were going for the same thing. He refused to let go. You hit him. He hung on. You hit him some more.

Pulled you off on the spot and demanded that you apologise. You just cried and cried and cried. So I took you aside, sat you on the bench and waited for you to cry it out. When you were more settled, explained to you that the playground is not yours, it is common property and you need to learn how to share and play with other people because the playground is meant for everybody and that if you want to continue playing, you have to apologise to the boy and learn how to share and not fight or hit other people.

Thing went peacefully for a while, until a boy 3 or 4 years older (not the same guy you hit) decided to rock you violently while you were on the spring rocker. You yelled for him to "STOP!" but he didn't. We intervened only when you lost your grip and slipped off. By then, you were in tears.

Later, the boy tried again, a second time. The Big One intervene and told him off. He stopped.

Anyway, it was time to go. On the way back to the car...

Were you scared when the boy rocked you?
>>>Yes
Were you angry when the boy didn't stop?
>>>Yes
Did Papa come and save you?
>>>Yes
Next time you have to learn how to save yourself ok?
>>> I cannot lift me up!! HOW??
(So true! Nobody has the power to airlift themselves!)
....Eh, you think of a way larh ok?
>>> Ok.

S$250,000.00

A property agent called me out of the blue last night. He offered 250K more for the apartment we already sold in January this year. How's that? Spent about 20 minutes thinking about it, then went to bed and slept.

Black Sesame Gelato place

Y2K Super Cafe
43 Dixon Street
Sydney 2000
Ph(02) 9281 2363

I don't get per diems in this company.... wondering if I can put in the claim for a $3.50 scoop of ice-cream...dessert mah, part of dinner what hor? Btw, dinner today was at 'BBQ King' - another of my favourite eating place here. It's at 18 Goulburn Street. Ate charsiew & roast duck dry noodles. Yummy! Like how they'll serve a very large bowl of complimentary piping hot watercress pork rib soup the moment you sit down. Perfect in this blustery weather. Feeling very contented.

Sydney

Am here again. Just landed about an hour ago. There's something about this place that keeps wanting me back.

This is the first time I wasn't questioned and also the first time that my belongings weren't examined by the airport authorities here - which is a good thing. But routines, good or bad, work their way into one's expectations of how things should be and even when it's a change for the better, you'd still get a tat suspicious. Or maybe that's just me. Hahhahaa!!

It's 18 degrees and the sky is clear. Lovely. Will walk out to buy myself some dinner later. Won't leave this place without having some of what I consider, the best black sesame gelato on earth! I know where is it, how to get there but don't know the address. Will go find out later and record it here.

The next few days will be meetings, meetings and more meetings! Hopefully will get an hour off to go to Target - my favourite shopping place for the boy's clothes and maybe something from the Stella McCartney range for myself?

Also picked up this book "The Art of Happiness at Work" by His Holiness The Dalai Lama & Howard C.Cutler, M.D. at the airport. Here's an excerpt which I find interesting...

"...there will always be problems in life. It is just not possible to go through life without encountering problems... the better we are able to accept that fact, the better we will be able to cope with life's disappointments...take the example of a person who likes to eat sweet things, but doesn't like sour things. Then, there is a certain kind of fruit that this person enjoys. That fruit may be mostly sweet, but it may also have a little bit of sourness in it. That person continues to enjoy the fruit, they don't stop eating it because it has a little sour taste. If they want to continue to enjoy eating that fruit, then they have to accept the little bit of sourness in it. You can't separate the sweet form the sour in that piece of fruit; it is always going to be mixed. Life is just like that. As long as you are living, life will have good things but also some problems that you don't like. That's life."

Fruit for thought eh?

First & Last...

...soccer game at our dear old Singapore National Stadium, before it gets torn down and replaced with a new. I have never watched a soccer game live before and neither has the boy but he absorb the spirit of the Singapore Lions fans like a sponge. Before the half time was over, he had eaten an entire hot dog, participated in 3 Kallang waves and was adeptly cheering and moaning and swearing like a hard-core fan.

Result of yesterday's last match >>> Singapore 0 - Australia 3.

The end of 4 weeks.

Today marks the end of 4 weeks at my new job. I'm honestly surprised that it has been four weeks. It has not been an easy 4 weeks but the time just flew by so quickly and for better or worse, I can already see the whole month of July zipping by.

Amazing.

This, compared to the 6 weeks at home, in between jobs, which went by very. very. very. very. slowly.

I love the time spent at home, although on hindsight, I wasn't doing very well on the mundane end, getting overly flustered by housework and scolding both Big and Small for not aiming properly. Petty but true.

Part of me wants to be home with the Small. But when at home, I feel very ill-equipped for the role of a homemaker. So now that I'm working, I feel guilty about not being home, especially for times when the Small One tells me, over the phone earlier this week, "Mummy, I cry for you just now. "

He's really sweet and growing up quickly too. Just want to make sure I don't miss out on him while working.

It's always going to be this way right? Grass greener on the other side? Just wondering if there is a good balance and if there is, what it is.

Been thinking a bit about the future as well. What I aimed for, the targets I've set in my 20's have been more or less achieved, amazingly, through luck and/or hard work and I think I just need a greater sense of purpose for the rest of my 30's.

Grumble grumble

Left before the son woke yesterday.
Arrive home after son slept.
Left home today before the son woke.
Excited about having dinner with son and the Big One.
They are on the way.
Only.
Son has fallen asleep in the car.
Darn!

YY & QQ

These 2 are born 2 weeks apart.

The boy is older

but the girl walked, jumped & sang

before he did.

Funny these 2.

Duality

I can't decide whether I'm doing well or doing sh*ts. Am I happy or am I not? Should I be or shouldn't I be. Neither either. That's kinda weird.

I get distracted easily. I see someone with a whole durian in one hand and a mobile phone in another and wonder, not about what the heck he's doing, whether or not he'll put the wrong object to his ears but rather, about his haircut. If I'm taking the train and trying to manoeuvre myself to the front of the the escalator during the peak of peak hour, I think maybe, that's how penguins arrange themselves. Side to side, side to side, small steps, don't overstep and fall over each other. On the crowded underpass, I listen to the multitude of heels & soles slapping themselves on the granite floor and wonder if there's a longer underpass, whether everyone will eventually fall in step and march instead.

Need a purpose.

Soon.