It's Friday!

set off early every day. 6.45am already hit the roads. 

 then crazy shit happens, missed my station again! 

was bust watching "Parenthood" on my mobile with my headphones on. 

good thing i was early, still reached work much in advance. 

 Long time no see this tree- Flames of the Forrest.

super sour, oh man! 

strawberries & passion fruit, what a combination. 

last night, Kiki read some school motto of sorts. it read-- Nurturing each student to his best. 

She asked me what 'Nurturing' means. After i had explained it, she asked me why the sentence used "his" best and not "her". I said it is just a generalization word to collectively refer to students. It would be lengthy to state his/her, hence just use 'his' to represent the human population. She says that is not quite accurate, given that there are generally more females than males in the human population.

My Surrogate

 Kiki's learning new Math stuff, requires "Model Ruler". I don't know that that's for but surely looks like upping of the Math ante. Today, she's on MC. Fever and she says chest pain. Hope she will be able to catch up with school's lessons.

Bus journey to work.

Sending my surrogate to accompany my boss for lunch appointment with our client.

Step by step

For two decades I had not rolled on my credit but now I have.
Working towards paying off the credit card, hopefully by end of August I will be free from debt.
After which, I ought to save up a comfortable amount. They say eight months worth of salary would make a reasonable and realistic emergency fund. I think so too. So I want to achieve that, and I hope that we will be blessed in the process.

Jokes that I would understand

That day at the Patong apartment, there were not much on TV. There were cable but nothing's much on show. Mainly news channels, sports channels, two movie channels but nothing was in English. Until finally one morning, I flicked the TV's remote control and there was this scene, I think it was one of those Fast & Furious movies, the scene was on a group of people and they were singing at a church's service. I said-- Finally! We have something in English! However, right after that scene, the movie went back to speaking Thai...... ha ha ha.They don't dub singing scenes I guess. If that's the case then an entire musical movie would be in English when in Thailand (?)

Where have all our seeds gone?

Looking at a sketch, I wondered: Where have all our seeds gone?

Bad debts, pay off quickly.

Last night, my FIL was hammering away - Bong Bong Bong.

When I entered the room to take a look, he got aggressive and shouted at me for being a "trouble-maker". I haven't even spoken but he already has a slew of speech in his head, just waiting to be off-loaded onto me. I had to keep my cool despite witnessing him dismantling the window GRILL plus the aluminum glass panel FRAME. Basically, anyone can now climb into my house freely. Not that anyone would, but anyone could. 

Having came home late after fetching Colin from phonics (work journey, waiting time, bus ride, walk home) and I was in the midst of checking Kiki's school bag; sign forms for extra Chinese tuition, sign Chinese Ting Xie book, sign notice of change in Math teacher (why change teacher in term 3?) when the commotion took place. So after having no leeway with my FIL, the frustration was building up inside me. I had then spoke to Kiki in a terribly harsh manner about her school work. Which was nothing to fuss about actually. Then I stopped myself and apologized to her. I said I was sorry, I was only very frustrated that I feel like punching Grandpa or punching something, like I want to wrangle something. I was so sad when Kiki replied that she felt the same. Then I quickly told her that you know, Grandpa, Granny, are not her problems. They are our problems and we are dealing with it. The only consolation if there could ever be one, is that finally Brendan has sort of "found peace" with the situation. He stopped being an asshole who kept criticizing us for not checking on his parents. His parents are non-controllable. My FIL is like a rat, he could smuggle any food and any items & valuables into his room. Sometimes, food rot. And most times, my items get wrangled and vandalized. He also throws debris into the toilet bowl and WE ONLY HAVE ONE TOILET IN THE HOUSE OF EIGHT PERSONS. Bren used to criticize that we didn't intercept my FIL. Like ya, right, intercept him at 4am? There is no telling when he was going to do what. All my Cornelle bowls are missing. My WMF cutlery missing. Even when I started using METAL PLATES, they also went missing. FOUR METAL PLATES.

Anyway, of late, Bren has a change of attitude. He has finally got down to bathe his mother, feed her and change her soiled diapers. And he has tried to intercept and manage his father. Slightly manageable but then came one episode of broken grills and window panes... 

I used to have a lot of anger issues. But not anymore. 

Some people tell me that God will bless those who cares for the aged and the sick. 

I want to tell them to tell God that I am certainly not up to that task. 

I am a Buddhist. This is my Karmic Debt. There is no running but still, there is praying. And there is this thing called a good attempt.

Surely I can't pray them away, but I can pray for tools to manage them. I can pray for help.

I am not a bitter person and if there's any consolation at all-- I have emerged less bitter about this.

Monday Extra Holiday (Hari Raya)

short video clips

Happiness is when you were gonna pay full price for the items and then at the cashier, they told you the prices will be reduced, by half!

I didn't know there was a sale going on... can you imagine that.

I was just too focused on getting KiCo a table for their meals as well as a table to do their homework on. Due to space constraints, I chose to buy a small set.

With the receipts, the kids get to play at the ball pit resembling a swimming pool, with large swimming floats (flamingo and pretzel) $50 receipt per child (15 mins)

They also get to play with kinetic sand (15 mins)

 short video clips

 cooked dinner - pumpkin & minced meat. simple and nice.

Sunday @ the museum

we went back to the museum but still, we didn't get to see all the exhibits because it was tourist season and we had to queue to obtain tickets. looking at the queue, i decided to skip it. hence, we went to areas that do not involve queuing as we've already queued for the net. (about 30 mins wait)

Eat well, live well.

Friday's dinner

 I love to eat at Cedel. A good salad is more satisfying than a meat dish. 

If I could afford to eat at Cedel every day, I would. 

 Two hours to wait for her, I had BF at Cedel, it was very good. 

Banana pancake & mushrooms. 

Prepared her Show & Tell speech.  

Her Chinese Teacher would vet the script and make amendments 

while the students are expected to present without referring to the scripts. 

She wants to be a Dog's Trainer. 

I also want to enroll her into a basic trainer's course. 

Hopefully this year end's holiday we could find the time & money to spare. 

 Colin's beginning to write 

Predator

This guy is a Predator.

He alighted from the upper deck of the bus with me.
First, his arm brushed against mine.
I thought it was an accident and didn't react. But I wondered why did he have to stand so close by.
I moved closed to the exit (door way), as he moved next to me, he TAPPED ON MY THIGH WITH TWO HARD TAPS. like tap-tap.  I flashed him a hard look (but I was shocked and didn't know how to react). He pretended nothing happened and looked straight at the closed doors.
I was afraid he will follow me. So I slowed down my pace.
As he turned left, I got angry and took a picture of him. But It was just his back view.
If I were to confront him, it would likely be ineffective because he would just fake innocence and say oh sorry it must have been an accident or something like that kind of coward respond. 

I wondered if I wore inappropriately.
I had a cardigan on and I always button up.
It has nothing to do with my clothes nor my shape nor whatever crap the people make us to feel that it was our faults.
Those men are crazy shit.

Bye, Phuket.

 loud music 

 Thanks for having us. 

When I had gone to the washroom for 5 mins,  

Colin's Yiyi asked him to pose like this..... 

 Mango flavoured Pocky are not available in Singapore yet. 

 Some face serum for Maricar and her friend. 

Also the lime flavoured Schweppes are not available in Singapore. 

S$0.65 per can.

P for Parasailing: Day 3

Day 3: June 20th, 2017 Tuesday

 After one night of contemplation, I'd decided to let her go parasailing. 

Firstly, I do agree with my cousins that it is quite stable and safety measures all taken. 

But still it was very unnerving for me. 

Secondly, Kiki really wanted it. 

Thirdly, I don't think I would ever go on another parasailing ride, hence I must take the opportunity that my sis is present to do what I couldn't do, that's to accompany Kiki to parasail. 

So that was how I've taken the plunge and summoned my courage to give them the Green Lights. 

Baht 2,800 (S$116) for two persons. Baht 1,600 (S$67) for one person.
When I did mine in 1995, it was only S$30.

I was so unnerved that I had recorded the video in slow motion mode!!!
Am I nuts or what. So now I'm left with the beginning and the end of the flight.
All other three videos I've taken for my cousins & sis were perfect shots.

 This view is taken from my sis' camera, she wore it on a strap around her neck.
Great view.

Great adventure

I told Kiki, the waves come in hard and strong. You will have to watch it.
Do not go heads on with it. You will tire out.
You either ride it before it folds, or turn your back against it and let it carry you. 
Always be aware that when the waves roll out, it will drag you if you are at its draft.
So, stay away
but in case you get caught, take a deep breath and keep your focus on swimming back to shore.

Colin piggy my back
Lala & her Mama

P for Patong: Day 2

 Day 2: June 19th, 2017

it was beach in the morning, 

till lunch time at McDonald's, 

kids took a nap, 

evening walk, 

night massage.

 Slimy, Hiddy & Speedy-- the three sea snails. 

 Janice, one who eats mostly vegs, fruits, and some seafood. 

 Sherlin, my children's Yiyi. 

 Colin, my naughty boy. Always antagonizing his sister.

 Rachael, my steady girl who takes all my steely nonsense. 

 So, as I was saying-- my sis, my cousin Janice, and my cousin WY & her daughter Lala-- all went parasailing. Lala is 4.5 year-old! 

 My sis, enjoying the flight & sight. 

Lala & her Mama. 

The whole time I had in my heart, recited my Buddhist chants while taking videos for all of them.
They are all so brave while I am all so crazily nervous. 

So anyway, Kiki was very disappointed that I had brushed her off, since now she learns that kids are allowed up there. Her cousin- Lala, is so young and small size, and she gets to go. 

Kiki didn't nag, beg, or created a scene.  She just silently shed some tears and quietly played with the sand.Colin also just asked - Mama, can I? Can I?

Phad Thai without chilli flakes 

Aloe Vera for my face. I loved that it works wonders. Healed the red dots on my nose. 

Baht 100 for one piece. 

The beach vendor quoted Baht 200 but as I didn't respond, she dropped price.

 (these are one piece cut into halves)

Bangla Walking Street