"Let's see how la...."

It was a bad, bad day, last Saturday, no ice cream in the world could have soften the burn. 

For playing a wrong tone, we were trashed, lambasted and pretty much told that we had slowed down the entire class. Let's not say that half the class were made up of 'foreign talents' parachuted from private classes and they did not grow organically with our class. However, I do understand that we need to have them in our class because there were dropouts from the original batch and if not for the FTs, we would not be having a group class. For that, I would already have to be grateful. Furthermore, I am in no position to say a word because it is true that we deserved to be trashed by our teacher. (by FT, they are not foreigners, they are students with higher music calibre that joined our class as we progressed). Big fish small pond, small fish big pond, we have to move with the tide, forget about how things were, get going and move on.

We sat in bed last night and I told Kiki that while it is my job to impart parts and portions of a new song to her, it is her duty to carry out to the minimum, the correct postures, footing, bended thumb and straightened other thumb, elbow in, violin on shoulder (not chest), plus sticky bow and all that. All these basics she has been taught for ages and it is not excusable for any reminders anymore. I told her that we really have to look at it another way, as difficult as it may be, to know that had her teacher not cared, she wouldn't have been that frustrated. Just like me. She looked like me when I was mad, starring daggers and all, perhaps ten times madder or a thousand times madder. While I talked to Kiki, my tears rolled. I said we would finish book 3 and then we will stop. And then Kiki said- "Let's see how la". In her gentle, reassuring manner, she was suddenly all grown up. She used a tactic I've always used when I wanted to stall her or ask her to give the matter a rest. She said- "Let's see how la...." She doesn't want us to give up like this, not in tears. 

It is funny how at the verge of seriously giving up, the feeling is seriously not giving in. 

How contradicting my human psyche is. 

It is time to take a deep breath, and be serious again. 

Oh where is my secret stairwell?  We need our enchanted garden to warm up before heading to class. 

God, send us another haven please.

Dr. Suzuki, we love you! (tears rolling)

$24.95 and it isn't even magnetic............

We played Checkers and Reversi over the weekend. 

I can't play Chess so we didn't buy the Chess set. 

I loved playing Reversi, in those days, we called it Othello. I don't know why they don't call it Othello anymore. I love playing Othello with my cousins. We had very few pastimes. Mainly games like Mastermind, Othello and card games like Rummy. I love thinking games but I have never liked numbers. Outdoor games when I was young was mainly Badminton. With over-used shuttlecocks that is. And with wooden rackets that is, and the bumps on my head proved that the wooden rims were as solid as a baseball bat. 

I had no time to play Reversi with her yesterday. (I was out). Bren told me Kiki played Reversi with Colin. Huh? I asked. He affirmed that they played the game, just that Colin wasn't taught the game so he was just adding and flipping seeds. Bren asked me to teach Colin the game so that the two of them could play together when I'm not home.