Eddie's BD

My boss- Eddie, is an interesting Character. He is unlike most Chinese man his age.
He is flamboyant and open minded. He feels that as long as he is not married, it is not wrong to have several girlfriends (his view).

I will always remember that he was working here as a Buyer at the shipyard when Singapore built her first rig (1972) and that is before I was born. 


He is from Penang but all of his friends are here and everywhere else in the world.


Today, we bought him Birthday lunch.

My office is an interesting place. Of course there are better and worse office environments out there, I would say that my office although perhaps could have been a better place, is not too bad a place. Sometimes work get very pressurizing especially when I'm running projects back-to-back. But time passes faster this way. Anyway.... life is what you make of it.

Today, one of my Indonesian colleague returned from her hometown. Her dad has passed away two weeks ago quite suddenly. She is quitting her work here and wants to return home to keep her mom company. It is always easy to let business (busy-ness) become ingrained into our lives but at the end of the day, we must always give our time, our mind, and our love to the people in our lives, and it would be nice to also be kind to ourselves and to people and animals in general.

I'm sleepy from the heavy lunch..... Zzzzzz.

Hari Raya Holiday

KiCo's Godma came to collect them early in the morning.
She had planned a day's activities for the kids (including Ryan, Adele & baby Adela).
I heard they started with Pizza making, and ended with Gardening.

Discovery: Microscopic Hair

At first, I thought there was a tubifex worm in the bathtub hence I approached it intrigued and wary.
After closer inspection, I realised it's a strand of hair under spotlight and became fascinated with its microscopic molecule-looking shadow. I tried to make it swirl or dance in a smoother fashion but I guess my hair is quite coarse. Then I began to day dream about myself being a Japanese installation artist show-casing this interactive art installation at some museum.

You can watch my garage video clip from here:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6-IUzAOjk4&list=UU9SMbGNZCQUiCM9Vs4G9kEQ&index=1

Cat Woman goes to a Party

 She received a small prize for furnishing the magic word - Abracadabra! 

 She was amazed that the display on the scarf changed from a Plate, to a Plate with a Cake, to a Cake with Candles, and finally Candles all lit.

A few parents just drop their kids at the party and collect them 2 hours later.
Hummm............ maybe they have already got to know each other since their kids are older.

The kids were all chasing "Pussy Cat" as they called her. They don't know who Cat Woman is. They kept chasing her all over the house and threw a net over her, until old Grandpa of the house intervened and volunteered to be Pussy Cat instead.

We had a room at the hotel nearby. My unused complimentary room nights are expiring again.........

Colin's BD Presents

Not a day goes by without Peppa Pig on his iPad. Both Kiki & Colin are hooked on Peppa Pig currently, but Colin is now the bigger fan (because he wins the fight over the iPad with his tears hence Kiki gets to watch less).

Peppa Pig (main character) is the elder sister, while George is the brother. 
In the cartoon episodes, George frequently burst into tears and has a trademark shriek whenever he is upset with his sister, which is very often. It is no wonder KiCo relates so well to this all-too-familiar theme.

Rehearsal

So many girls.

That night, Kiki's voice was coarse. The rehearsal stretched to almost four hours instead of three.
She didn't eat the 莲容包I've packed in her bag.
"Didn't your Teacher give you all a break?" I asked.
"Yes, she gave us a break but it is more fun to play than to eat Bao" she said.
"Oh.  Then what did you play?" I wondered.
"The Jie Jie-s taught me to run, and slide on my knees.......... slide like skating across the room. The room is our Break Room."   "It was very painful but very fun" she added.
"Glide, you mean glide. And why is it painful?" I wondered again.
"There are rough holes, small holes on the floor, my knees are painful."
"Ouch" my heart said.

Weekend's Here!

Weekend's here! and this time, we're having an extra day off on Monday. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, my Muslim friends.

My weekend always starts on Friday. I will go shopping & dinning after work.

Tomorrow, there's no violin class but there's a very lengthy Ballet rehearsal from 4 to 7pm! Alas.
Nevertheless, it's good news because it means we could make it to one Ballet rehearsal out of the five scheduled ones that clash with violin class.

So that's Saturday. And she wants to go to the arcade again. So we'll have to do it after Colin's music, and have enough time for a nap before the rehearsals. Not sure how she's gonna sit or dance through three hours, she has not been in a class for that length of time.

Sunday:- regular Chinese class. Oh ya, and that maiden 听写 session would take place this Sunday.
After which, we'll be attending one of her classmate's birthday party. First ever. I never wanted to go but for the love of my child, I will come out from my shell. She's so excited and has been anticipating the party a fortnight ago.

Monday:- I hope we'll have the chance to go to the movies.

That's all folks. Have a good weekend!

Daisy Inspired Loom

 Today during lunch break, I made another Loom. I had been wanting to do one Garden or Botanical theme.

I know I don't have the knack of complicated handicrafts like knitting or weaving but I know I have the knack of conceptualizing. So instead of trying hard to learn more complicated designs, I can tell you, weaving the same, old simple fish-tail band into various concepts is equally fun, if not more fun.

I don't beat myself up for things that I don't have a natural flair in, I would rather immerse in creativity that brings me simple joy.

 Sorting before starting.

Coming up next:  Piglet & Tigger!

Theatre: Round the Moon, Blue the Sky

Today, the childcare brought the K1s & K2s to the theatres.

Chinese, here we come!

We will learn to read & write in Chinese one word at a time.

让我深呼吸, 一步, 一步的学华语. 

不该把别人的恐怖经验当为标准.

虽然我的华文程度马马虎虎, 那就加紧练习, 加紧努力吧.

不能一开始就打退堂鼓, 那我们就从"巴士" 的 "巴", "牙刷" 的 "牙" 开始吧! 

Post entry:

OMG.... the "Sha" should be written like this -- 刹 

I've taught her to write "Kill"! 

Two more Rainbows

Playtime @ the Arcades

 Like I said-- Bringing Kiki to the game arcade reminds me so much of the times I'd brought my sis there. There used to be one at Midpoint, once we'd played Daytona until I'd forgotten to give her lunch and barely had enough money to go home. I think I had a student bus pass so taking bus for me wasn't an issue but I think I barely left with 50 cents for her bus ticket. I remember my aunt- Julie was astonished that we didn't eat the whole day. Haha. Other times were at the arcade at Clark Quay but by then, my sis was already much older.

Kiki was very excited, she wanted to play everything. I was also happy to be playing anything. Oh how I missed Daytona............ but I was not able to regain my position, lost touch. Oh ya, and how I missed my friend- Gabriel *sad. We used to hang out every, single, Saturday at Magic Land arcade at Marina Square. 
Anyway, enough of reminisce, I'm glad I've had a good life in terms of friendships & arcades. Ha.

Now, it's KiCo's turn.

5566

Music with Colin

I'd been sitting in in Colin's music class the past few Saturday mornings and had asked Maricar to fetch Kiki from Ballet instead. I am glad I did that because Colin is very happy, of course his cheekiness is an accompaniment.

He was quick to identify the instrument- Violin (when his teacher flashed a picture-card) and quick to shout "Big Violin!" when his teacher displayed a picture of the Double Bass. LOL.

I am glad his speech is coming through, although the dictation isn't fantastic yet. I hope Dr. Robin will be happy with his progress and I hope she will discharge us as an outpatient but of course it's her prerogative. 

Every time after class, we make a pit stop at the playground. This is the quality hour I have with him weekly before everything else scramble for my attention. I won't wish for more time with Colin, I will make more time for him and make them count.

Last Saturday

Last Saturday, I was disappointed with myself.
Normally, after picking up a new song, the kids are to play it in front of the class, one at a time. Whoever learns first will go ahead and play, gradually over about 3 to 4 weeks all the kids in the class would have showcased individually or in smaller groups.

However, last week, the teacher gave us a surprise revision and had the kids play Etude.
A few kids (including Kiki) missed some parts of the song. The teacher didn't reprimand us, she just said "to revise". But I saw her shaking her head (when Kiki placed her fingers wrongly on A string instead of E string (twice)....................................... I felt so bad. I felt like I had let her (the teacher) down. It might have felt better had she scolded me.

On a regular week, I barely have 3 nights with Kiki to practise. That includes me first-- learning a new song, next-- imparting my learning to her the following week; hoping she on catches fast, and everything else in between eg: revise old tunes and some prescribed exercises for the next new song, and that's just talking about violin. We still have reading of one each English & Chinese booklet for her weekly reading review in school, and now the Chinese enrichment has 听写 two words bi-weekly (which reminds me, I have not started on this)  I have 3 nights for violin if I managed to squeeze the time. I think for her to have managed this far with so little practice is a feat. Anyway, I am not ranting, please don't mistaken. I will tell you when I rant. haha. I am just saying; I am juggling.  

So anyway,,,,, Zig Ziglar says-- Don't Let the Mistakes of the Past Control & Direct your Future.
So, I will put in more effort as long as I am motivated to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH6zMhtNTVA&list=UU9SMbGNZCQUiCM9Vs4G9kEQ 

Ground Work

This year, Iresh and I will sit in separate committee teams as the team has been sub-divided into "Exhibition", and "Dinner" (instead of the usual one committee for the entire event). So I've got to work with a different set of people this time. In the past, we handled the Staff's uniform for the day, and event apparels for the night, plus door gifts etc.  (Yes, our Gangnam Style staff performance and Rodeo Night was almost two years ago! Time Flew in Forty Winks).

Our "Dinner" team together with the Event Company; went for a site visit last week. I can't imagine how mesmerizing the hall might be after nightfall and I hope it'll be breathtaking for our guests.

(Behind the scenes)

Taking a visual measurement of the stage.

Art & Crafts

 Some of Kiki's sketches at her Art class.
Her teacher is a middle-age man, I think he's so generous to give some of her sketches six stars. Probably six stars for effort.