Another weekend...

SAT|Lion Dance|2 new books - Harry and the Bucketfull of Dinosaurs & The Caboose who got Loose|Violin Lesson|Dinner with SW|SUN|Breakfast&Rockclimbing|Lunch@QQ|Dinner@Carl's Junior|Nightwalking at the Beach|Pong-Pong Football|Stones&Ripples

This morning...

Boy: Mummy, you going to work?
Me: Yes. Today is Thursday, so I need to go to work.
Boy:(pulls my hand)
Me: (sensing reluctance) Oh, you need to practice your violin.
Boy: Now?
Me: Yes
Boy: (pushes me away) Mummy, you go to work!


Hahhahaha!!!

Money, Scope or Title?

I normally ask my interviewees to rank these 3 in order of importance. Surprisingly, the answer I get is always the same: (1) Scope (2) Money (3) Title

There's really no right or wrong answer but I get the feeling that was the safe answer?

I asked the big one and of course, his answer was predictably "ALL 3!"

Maybe I should throw in a 4th - "People" and see what comes back.

Or maybe I should gather the satistics from a pool of people and come back with a managers handbook:

How to motivate employees who are "MTS" or "SMT" or "TMS" etc etc

Hmmmm...

Oh, at this stage in my career, I'm a "MST".

Actor

The boy got the tiny cut on his foot from playing with the door. It's really quite a superficial cut, less than 1 cm long but he made a big deal out of it, frustrating the big one who told him if he continued to rub his foot on the bathroom mat, it'd rot and fall off.

I took a look and wasn't sure if there was anything embedded in the cut so we carried him to the living room to have a better look under stronger lighting. That's made him so worried, the tears flowed non-stop.

Cut to this morning: The boy woke up and began walking around. I asked if his foot was ok. He looked at me, looked at his foot, peeled the plaster off and declared that it was too painful to walk on that leg and started crawling instead.

Cut to breakfast: He was dilly-dallying with his breakfast and crawled away from it. The big one told him he's going to wash his breakfast down the sink and he made a run for it. On both feet.

Cut to now: He's whimpering "Ouch... ouch!!"

Can join star search. Sure win one!

The Macabre

Was at my cousin's place last night and got lured into a game of mahjong... played 4 or 5 games before asking the big one to take over. The pace was getting too quick and I hardly breathed, trying to keep up in the game. I don't know half the rules and have only played seriously ( i.e with real money) less than 5 times in my life!

Anyway, after the big one took over, I found my son watching TV - 2 men were being attacked by giant bugs and there was this giant leech mouth stuck to the head of one of them and trying to ingest the fellow. I walked to the little one and scooped him off the bean bag. His eyes were wide and his expression was one of shock.

I ran the little fellow upstairs, away from the TV, thinking he would go but found him half a minute later, squatting on the staircase landing, still watching the TV from his perch.

As much as it horrifies, we watch.

Why?

Shady deals

Taken after dinner on Sunday. The boys examining their 'red' packets.

4th CNY coming up

1st CNY: Most of the red packets were given to me.
2nd CNY: He threw most of them away.
3nd CNY: He kept them in his bag.
4th CNY: I'm guessing he might become interested in the MONEY inside.

We'd see.

Early Reunion Dinners

Had an early reunion dinner on both sides this year so we are all done with the traditional feasting.

Mom's side. She did some fabulous firsts:
- Shark Fin Soup (*****)
- Pork Rib & Stomach with Abalone Soup (*****)
- Vegetable with Mushrooms (****)
- Prawn Rolls (* only because she bought them so not very good)
- Steamed Giant Prawns (**** forgot the wine!)
- Ah-char(***** I even tarpow!)
- Egg Omelette with Crab Meat, Shark Fin and CharSiew (*****)

With the other side. At Mitzi Cantonese Restaurant (Murray Street):
- Yu Sheng (Boy wanted 'corn flakes', his 8-year-old cousin snubbed him for being ignorant!)
- Cold Plate (Abalone + Prawn Rolls)
- Shark Fin Soup (Mom's better!)
- Whole Suckling Pig (*****This one was really very yummy!)
- Drunken Prawns (****)
- Steamed Fish (****)
- Dried Oyster / Mushroom with those hairy stuff
- Fried Crispy Noodles
- "Or-Nee" with Ginko nuts (**** I like it creamy, not sticky!)

Post # 522

Thank the gods for watching over the little one. He was just a hair's breath away from being run over by a car this morning - he ran behind our car onto the road and straight onto the path of an oncoming car.

For the first time in his life, he hears me screaming at him, at the same time his father threatening to beat him up and at the same time, his doting grandmother scolding him in chinese. Must have shook him up proper because he cried buckets. Hope he has learnt his lesson.

"Hobby Career"

I'm close to completing the requirements to turn my hobby into an income stream. I call it "insurance against job volatility ". Am pretty excited by it.

Pivot

Late Sunday evening, the boy was showcasing how acrobatic he can be both on and with the shopping cart, much to our chagrin. At wits end, I look at The Big One and ask, "Shall we all kill each other?" The response came without hesitation, "Yes!"

I have not seen the boy since that evening... no, we have not killed him, we simply deposited him at a safe house run by my folks, his doting grandparents.

It's been quiet.

Way too quiet.

Chain Letters

I get really mad when people I know (note, not friends because once they send me one, they are no longer classified as "my friend" so yes, if you don't want to be my friend, go ahead, send me a chain letter!)

It usually starts off very nicely, with an inspirational story and ends with, if you don't send it to 10 people within the next 10 minutes, you will be cursed!

And because I usually don't send it to 10 people for the simple fact that I don't want these people to be cursed if they don't get to send it to the next 10 people and then the next 100, and then the next 1,000, and...., I simply get cursed for stopping it on its track.

Better still, going by 6 degrees of separation, I am very likely to receive the same thing twice, thrice and so, the curse I'm on gets doubled, tripled and so forth.

I'm already cursed for this lifetime and so is my dog (if i had one).

So, there is really no need to send me another one.

"Persistent Ordinary Person"

The big one is very fond of this description he coined - A "Persistent Ordinary Person" is someone who doesn't learn from other people's experiences. Such a person only learns from his own set of experiences.

On the same line, I think I'm the "Persistent extraordinary human optimist" who learns neither from other people's nor own experiences. For example, I am apt to forget that food from a particular store tastes questionable and that I really shouldn't patronise them again.

...this percularity drives the big one crazy.

The appetite of my 3.4 year old.

Given the opportunity, the little one will chomp his way through the entire plate of chicken rice and still eat all my shrimp dumplings just for lunch!

What he ate yesterday:
Breakfast: 9 ounces of milk, 1 Char Siew Pau, 1 mega-sized Siew Mai & 2 eggs.
Lunch: 9 ounces of milk and half a packet of noodles
Dinner: Almost 1 plate of Ayam Penyek, 2 sticks of mutton satay, 1 goreng jackfruit, a third of a whole coconut & 4 big spoonfuls of Tauhu Telur.
Supper: 9 ounces of milk

What I ate yesterday:
Breakfast: 1 Pau, 1 egg & 1 cup of coffee
Lunch: 1 plate of chicken rice, 1 cup of coffee
Dinner: 2 mouthfuls of his Ayam Penyek, 4 sticks of mutton satay, 2 goreng jackfruit, about 4 spoonfuls of Tauhu Telur and the rest of the coconut.
No Supper.

>>>Why do I still weigh 3.5 times more than him?

Foodscapes by Carl Warner

Amazing pictures created from stuff you find in the kitchen...

Big IS Real

What hits you on a monday morning as you take the train to work? On the back page - mind you, this is one prime spot in media - of a magazine, I couldn't see front page but it could have been Torque. Anyway, so there it was, an ad by NEC with the headline, "BIG IS REAL"

I think they were selling Plasma TV. But all I could think was, WTF??? Big is real?

My life is real but it ain't big at the moment, not especially on a Monday morning on the way to work, with 5 more such days to go before the weekend!

Life on the ledge....

The big one and I saw this lady sitting on the ledge of Benjamin Sheares Bridge yesterday. She was alone then. The police had not gotten there yet.

Our exchange this morning:

He says: the call was made b4 we pass the bridge/ we pass at 5.50pm

I says: yes / how would you feel if you found out nobody called and that she jumped?

He says: bad / but now she will face fine and jail / more depressing.

I says: i can't decide how I'd feel.

He says: she is already depressed with life /if added with fine and Jail, she will not hesitate to jump the next round /she need to declare herself psychologically un-stable /if not life will be even more meaningless

I says: that's a very public place to choose to decide whether or not to die or not/ I think she was looking for help /or attention /whatever /anyway, i'm glad somebody did call the police

Taking a loooooooooooong break

The boy hasn't been going to school since the end of November when he fell ill after a school outing. He still sniffles, he still coughs, but at least it's been mangeable. Will see how it goes after Chinese New Year. Talk about Chinese New Year, it's going to be tricky navigating those visits without falling into an asthma-inducing food trap.

Credit

Had lunch with a colleague and paid with my credit card. He went, "Oh, you are paying with credit, I can pay, I have cash!" Huh??? And then I realized why he said that so I burted "But I pay my bills on time!" I never had that perspective until today that using a credit card means you can't afford to pay.

Language

I have less problems with Finnish English than Chinese English or Japanese English or Korean English... drive me nuts trying to decipher what they mean. Usually, it's something that goes this way and that way too! So by trying to move in 2 directions what happens? You end up standing in the same ******** spot! Fish talking to trees may have better luck.

Relationships

Don't know why this topic keep coming up in conversations these few days. Maybe it's all about the new year.

Anyway, maybe the clue about having happy relationships with your close one(s) is all about not trying to make them everything. Think what businesses are doing nowadays! The key word is, "OUTSOURCE"!

So, if you need company, outsource it to a DOG! If you need intellectual stimulation, find somebody smart to talk to. If you need to watch a movie, go with your friend, or neighbour! If you need help with cleaning, call spickn'span or whatever those cleaning companies are called nowadays.

This way is much better don't you think? And I bet that the sum of all parts is definitely going to perform way better than the sum of one individual.

Hahhaha!

Re: Kiwi!

Hahhaha.... someboday else posted this as a response!

Kiwi!

Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

New Year Resolution

(1) Consume less
(2) Save more &
(3) Be happier!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

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!!!!