Tiny Books

 Last night, Kiki complained that we are always reading the same books every night. So I said she's free to choose whichever books she wants me to read in bed. She took out four tiny booklets that are hand-me-downs but in good condition. I have not read any books on Pooh and friends so his adventures are exploration for me too.

Chinese Books

We are now into second half of the year and the words are getting tougher... already there are words she can't recognise.... (oh no) How? Stress ley!  

Sketches

After reading the Chinese book, the students will do some drawing / sketching about the story.

Update

You can see that my grades slid in term three. I'm still hopeful to get a second upper.... the school changed its administrative schedule, I think they are consolidating the convocation to once in a year rather than twice. We may only get our certificates in July although we've completed our studies in January. Some of my classmates are very upset (which is understandable) because they were aiming for career promotions.

Anyway.

Last Friday Night

A few weeks back when I got to know that Budak Pantai was drawing its curtains, I went to SISTIC to get the concert tickets, prior to payment the lady informed that the show was not for viewers under six. Huh? I thought-- where got such a thing? A Cappella concert got age restriction? Then how could I go with a kid in tow? And that was it,,,, I didn't get the tickets.

Fast forward a few more weeks, one day I woke up thinking--- it is over? the concert, has it taken place or not yet? I had been visiting the group at the rooftop of YMCA since my ANA Hotel days..... 1998 thereabout. I have watched one of them in Army uniform till now kind of old. Although the last time I went for their rooftop gig was about two years back, I have had so much good memories with those chaps. My first Oreo Milk Shake. And oh,,,, my lost friend- Adeline. And that Magician who was astonished when I saw through one of his supposedly magic tricks. Such fond memories, how could I let them go without saying goodbye. So that night I quickly went SISTIC to get the tickets, they were left with only four tickets and only circle 3 seats were left........ Change plans, bring Bren on a Friday instead of bringing Kiki on a Saturday. And so it was.

 Still got time to drink and snack before the show. We've decided whatever rum and kahlua they serve is too little and too expensive if we were to drink to our fill; next time we will stock-up pocket size liquour and smuggle them in our pockets whenever we go for any shows, movies, concerts, whatever! Idea.

 View from Circle 3..
Budak Pantai says we could take all the videos we want, so I took many.

(photo lifted from the Net)

Gordon, Michael, Joe, Kah Keh and Danny  (Francis used to be a member but he dropped out long ago)
That night, they didn't sing "Say yes" (Chage & Aska)!!!! *sob!
Nevermind! I HAVE THEIR OLD CDs.
It was a memorable, heart-warming send off. They sang Final Coutdown mashed with All Come All Ye Faithful with resounding Amen.
They sang about the territorial dispute we had with our neighboring country over the small rock-island and Lighthouse which involved ICJ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedra_Branca_dispute 

They also sang Let it Go (Frozen) although they don't quite know why that song  became a phenomena. (Neither do I) 
I will miss their mashed ups, their self-depreciating jokes, the subtle strength and ahem.....the fuzzy-dovey lovey that sometimes are carried by their voices.

 (see, there were six of them)

(photo courtesy of my sis' friend or friend's friend's friend, I don't know but obviously not sitting Circle)

Surprise, surprise; Stephanie Sun among the audience. She presented the guys with bouquets. Don't have to pay extra to see a mega star. 


After the concert, I was dying to go home because my feet were hurting badly. I think I am just gonna be a slippers lady from now. Or sneakers lady. Kick those heels away, kitty heels included. Anyway, I was dying to go home but of course I didn't want to wet the blankets when Bren suggested we go get a drink at Cuppage. He was referring to Emerald lah,,, what Cuppage. Two different places okay!
Wa,,,, so much laughters there! So many working people, expats, skinny, young, very pretty ladies with good teeth, everyone was laughing away. Reminds me of Mdm Wong, minus the queue, minus the beng, minus the dance floor. Dance floor is so passé! haha. My sis says lets get the SCGS girls over one night. That would be crazy. yeah-crazy, not crazy-crazy. Despite me feeling fat and old there, I surely enjoyed the place.

 5, Emerald Hill (Soon Lee)
http://www.emerald-hill.com

Recent Flavours

 Furby is her new muse

 Peppa Pig and family keep both Kiki and her brother glued for hours.

we play lots of self-invented games with these cars.
for instance; each person is being allocated cars of various colours.
without showing other players, you would chose one car to represent a round of game. each person gets to guess another player's represented car's colour. if it matches the guesser's, the guesser wins the opposing player's car. everyone takes turns and gets a chance to guess.
with a similar game format, we then move on to challenge car sizes, etc.
the rules are tweaked to extend the games, for eg; matching colours win / or right guesses win. etc. etc.
so simple and yet so good fun we had.

Literacy Corner

 I appreciate it that Maricar helps to borrow books from the library, that saves me much time.
She does some reading with Colin while I do with Kiki. (because at this point in time, my "night shift" duties could only accommodate the older kid.)

 Books for Colin too.

Art & Crafts

 

My Aunt Lee Choo used to buy for us Suncatcher plastic templates for our colouring activity, she knows that these crafts are well received by Kiki and I, we are always delighted to have these hence my Aunt is motivated to supply us more. This time, she gave us two pieces of Batik mesh cloth templates. I've tried to involve Colin but he's not keen. (I have to think of something else for him then....)

Two weeks back, Kiki did the one with Butterfly motif while I took Parrot, her colours are darker because she didn't rinse the brush before dipping into various colour tubs (I should have briefed her..), eventually, all colours became dirty-looking. Nonetheless, it gives quite an authentic Batik feel.

 

 Sometimes, Kiki's piano teacher would do some sketching with the little girl. I guess this is one of the ways she bonds with her younger students who may be slightly restless. Last night, Kiki came home with a collapsible piano origami. Look at the two bulldogs peeking (above). The paper unfolds into a standing piano.

The amusing thing with using recycled paper is that sometimes you get odd messages at odd places.
The three black thingy are the Pedals of the piano.

 Kiki and the Papa came home for a short interval before going to the CC for her Speech & Drama class.
Last night, the theme was on Snakes. I can't remember what I was doing in the room but because I didn't entertain her repeated request to play with her, she took a pair of my socks and made a snake from it... luckily I didn't have sentimental attachment to that pair of socks. (Yes, I can be sentimental over anything). Anyway, for a while didn't know if I should laugh or scold her for ruining the socks; but I eventually joined her in her games. She said we'll do a snake-fight, like using our arms to mimic two hissing snakes snarling at each other, whichever snake wins by inflicting a bite on the other. For dramatic effect, I "died" three times. We had such good laughs.....hissing away. 

By then, it was nearing eleven and I had to skip my book because she wants me to read hers.
I've learned that we must try not to decline a child when he/she wants to be read to because nurturing reading habits is important. It was one of those rare, late nights. Normally I would ask her to be in bed by ten although I think by 9.30 would be better. We'll get there.

So many candles

Furby attended the party too.
It wasn't much of a party, it was cake-cutting and song-singing.

Followed by a simple dish at Botak Jones, we both shared a lamb chop. I like lamb more than any other meat and I am honestly in conflict with myself. Ever since I've read that we shouldn't eat the animal we couldn't bring ourselves to kill with our hands, it has bugged me. Ever since. We let the farmhouse do the killing as we don't have the mental capacity to deal with the blood nor the heart to eat the animal if we see its eyes or feel for it. So it means that we take away gruesomeness from the equation and cook a piece of meat without feeling much pain but savour in gourmet pleasures. There was once, I was at the jetty where there were a few people fishing. They had only hooked up small, yellow-tail fishes like Kuning Fish, and left the fishes on the jetty gasping for air. I think I was pretty much disturbed, so-much-so that I broke down and cried. I don't know how we could eat an animal that had just fought so hard to stay alive. Having said that, I have not turned vegan nor vegetarian. Please do not judge me, I am a harsher judge on myself than anyone else. At least I know it when I'm conflicted. For now what works is that I am just more mindful when I eat and be thankful for the proteins and energy I gain to fuel my living.