It's your prerogative

My aunt is illiterate, she will always call me to help her write her messages.
Of late, one of her brothers had been ignoring her invitations to family gathering. So finally my uncle replied that he wants nothing to do with the rest of his siblings and that his late father had failed him.

To me, that's bullshit fully loaded.

But I gave my aunt a more controlled reply. I've told my aunt to leave her brother alone but my aunt won't listen. She kept saying she will pray more.

Anyway, what I wrote to her brother was-- "I hope you can find peace with the unfortunate past and let it lose its grip. If by being separate means you would grapple less, than of course it is your prerogative although I am very dismayed by how we have become."

Honestly, if my uncle had been so affected by what was done to him (verbal & emotional abuse) and that his faith didn't help, he should go do some mental work but honestly, I think he's lame and full of excuses. If you can't forgive, don't pretend to have forgiven. All I can say is that he has never loved his siblings enough to forget the past.

 Other matters....

Search no further

Search no further, we have the material.
In a nutshell, one of the applications of our material is for ultra-capacitor batteries.

you can commercialize it with our material.

so am I.

Weekend End February 2017

One unit of capsule toy for the Ting Xie.

 revising for Math test. she writes "10" instead of "1" in the tens place. Hope this working will be accepted as this is her way of understanding.

 Sunday, the Papa gave us a lift to Far East Plaza, then he went on to drive the taxi.

 After lunch, we strolled down Scotts and came across Bazzar Magazine's Fashion Exhibition.

 Brand names

 Hybrid

 okay, these are from the various shops on level 2 at Scotts.
Big Bird, ya. For a while I thought the eyes were the Mammoth's.

 Concept stores.
Adidas

 The atas version of customized stationery, very nice to look at, very nice to hold and feel.

(the Bangkok ones are using cheaper materials)

 customize printing on various leathers.

Work tools.

 Shoe shop.

 Retro?

 Just trying them on.
Pastel lilac coloured sneakers are very sweet.

 Yummy Cheese

 The second half of my Sundays.

Actually, it's the third quarter of my Sundays.
First quarter-- Massage (last session already..... package finally ended)
Second quarter-- Colin
Third quarter-- Swimming

That capsule toy-- dunno what pokemon -- Popplio
(seal in clown costume)

While travelling to the pool (on bus cos Bren was working), found this Samsung phone. Waited for its owner to call, which he did. Told him to wait 2 hours and I met up with him and the rest of his family to return the phone to him. Verified by opening the phone with his PIN number to unlock. 

The other time I found a brand new iPhone 5 (when it was first launched!). Returned it to taxi driver who said he would send it back to the hotel concierge where he took the call booking. Mandarin Hotel at Orchard Road.

Two other phones I've found before were both Nokkia. One was a JC guy (he ran after the bus, so it was easy to return), another was a PRC female student (that one waited for days to arrange). I keep finding things that people left behind. I think it would be faster to return to them in person than to pass it to lost and found, be it the bus companies or whatever authority because it takes a long time due to red-tape and sometimes I think they just switch off the device and leave the belongings unclaimed. Really. If you have friends working in the service line, they will tell you there are many unclaimed items. Sometimes the owners don't know where to start their search also, especially when they don't know where they've lost their stuff.

G for Graphene

I was at MIDA- Malaysian Investment Development Authority (High Commission of Malaysia) to prospect our Graphene. 

The Malaysian Eco-system for commercialization & industrial use of Graphene is much more well established as compared to Singapore. In fact, Malaysia had identified Nanotechnology as one of the new growth engines for the New Economic Model (NEM) since 2009. Being rich in natural resources like rubber & palm oil, they have even incorporated the use of graphene in their Food & Agriculture sector.

MIDA shared with us much valuable information on their NANO Malaysia initiatives and we learned about the five main application sectors shortlisted for the use of graphene.

They are:-

1.       The Ultra-capacitor

2.       Rubber Additives

3.       Plastic Additives

4.       Nano-fluids

5.       Batteries

Nano Malaysia encourages businesses to jump start in four main sectors, namely the food & agriculture, the energy & environment, wellness, medical & healthcare, and the electronics, devices & systems.

The main agenda MIDA is to help non-Malaysian companies set up business units be it rep office, manufacturing or R&D in Malaysia. However, at this initial stage, they are open to give us more background information to get us up to speed.

I must say our potential for graphene sale in Malaysia looks absolutely encouraging.

But my excitement was a little short-lived. I had updated my Principal about Nano Malaysia and they told us to hold our horses. This is because my Principal is already in the talks with Nano Malaysia. But I am not deterred. I feel like asking my Principal to hire me directly. Anyway, they should be starting a rep office in Singapore in the next couple of years and I want to be their pioneer Asian staff. This is exciting times and I can't contain my enthusiasm, it's like I am just above a goldmine.  The exploration has ended, all I need to do translate the material into applications. My head is swimming with unlimited application ideas and I am certain we (as in human kind) is headed for the better.

 Next time, I'm going on a cruise while on work. 

Our NUS’s Advanced 2D material is actually the first Asian Graphene Research Centre (GRC) under the stewardship & advice of Prof. Andre Geim & Prof. Konstantin Novoselov (Nobel Prize Winners 2010). They have asked us to submit our Graphene sample, while I wait with anticipation for our sample as well. Hope-pray we will have a good grade as planned and inspired.

Everyone's upset over PUB's price hike, I must find the time to study how to lower water treatment cost, in relation to new, nano technology. And I hope PUB will be more forth-coming than Hyflux........

Capsule Toy

 As I've told her that she would get a capsule toy each time she gets full marks for Ting Xie, I hope this keeps up.
The first capsule toy was a rubber centipede. KiCo named it "Lucas" and said it was their brother. I said if Lucas were their brother, his full name would be Lucas Toh. And Lucas Toh it was.........

 Laksa

 Vinegar Trotter

Chendol

Children

That night, when I got home, Kiki declared to me that from now on, she is going to greet me when I reach home. I said wow, that would be nice and I asked why the sudden declaration. She explained that there was one night, I got home after work and was at the gate when she said "Welcome!", she remembers that I was delighted then but when she told me she was playing with the toys and she was actually talking to the toys and not me. I said, "oh", and that was all. 

That episode was about eight months ago. I am not sure how it could take effect in her changed behaviour but it shows me she's a sensitive soul.

***

Kiki to me: Mommy, you're a responsible mother.
Me: Responsible?
Kiki: You finished up my homework!

Oh ya, she fell asleep while waiting for me. She needed help with the Chinese worksheet. So I did the last two pages for her.

Mr. Wick

 perhaps influenced by my growing up years in a hooligan school, these kinds of underworld movies draw me. regular people void of underworld rules will not be able to understand the extent of holding up one's promise and its repercussions in honouring it as well as not fulfilling it. the underworld is a different place from our regular world. there is no room for romance, it's a hard place for any forms of kinship. hopefully, the underworld is a thing of the past, hopefully, it becomes fiction.

 I have come to realise that I had stopped smiling for........ several years.
I think not having to pretend that all is well is a form of liberty.
My world is far from happy but I am not miserable. I am just "like that".
Of course if things could go my way, I would love to have much changes.
But I do not have super-power to make things happen, but I can still give praise to my life with my honest feelings.

People look back 20 years and they will all say that some things could have been done better.
All people, all kinds of people. Including the brightest of people. Especially the brightest of people.
So what I do is, I pretend I am, say-- 60 years old, looking back at me now.
What could I have done better? I ask. Nothing that I do now would have been so wrong by then; I think. Because the 40plus-year-old self (me now) will do the so-called "better" ways now, so that the 60plus me, is approving.

So anyway, I am happy that I've allowed myself to brood if brooding feels congenial for now.

additional recess snack to share with her friends

Lunch Monday

Clementi stall moved to Ayer Rajah coffee shop.

All-time-favourite Lor Mee.

Opt out garlic.

Sunday 19th Feb 2017

 Colin says he wants to go bird watching. 

 He spotted an albino pigeon and told me that the bird's eyes are red. 

 at food court, some retro household equipment.

Did you know that in the past, our telephone numbers were classified under districts?

For an example, my house phone number was "917551" and we were classified under River Valley district 9, hence phone number starting with '9'. We were walking distance to Paterson Road & Orchard Road. When the phone numbers went through updating, ours became "737551" (that was before prefix '6'). Well, at least that was what the Telco told me.

 Metal Bird Watching

 so serious

 Eva Air- My Little Twin Stars - Kiki & Lala. 

 Green Tea  frappuccino

 Playground

 pretending to run away from a giant Pikachu

 Dozed off on bus

Every time she swims with the older kids, she lags far behind especially after four or six laps.

By the time she returns to starting point, the older kids would have rested long enough while

she barely has time to catch her breath. But she carries on slowly and steadily.

Proficiency in any skill will not turn up by itself unless you have a nick for it. If we don't train with people who are better than us, then how will we be able to bring our standards up?

3 cheers