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Category: Just Me

My quirks!

Part of My Childhood – Sesame Street

Part of My Childhood – Sesame Street

This picture brings back fond memories of my childhood tv programmes – Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, The Electric Company. Ah! Now you know which era I belong to. If the last one sounds familiar to you, it means that you are as young as I am!!

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Oscar the grouch was still orange at that time. *grin*

The everlasting song…

Sunny Day
Sweepin’ the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street

Come and play
Everything’s A-OK
Friendly neighbors there
That’s where we meet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

It’s a magic carpet ride
Every door will open wide
To Happy people like you–
Happy people like
What a beautiful

Sunny Day
Sweepin’ the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame street…
How to get to Sesame Street
How to get to…

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/sesamestreetlyrics.html

I’ve Got Blood on My Hand

I’ve Got Blood on My Hand

A slight itch on my foot, I saw something twitch from the corner of my eye, I smacked.

There it was. On my palm, its carcass splayed across it, together with a slight smear of blood. My blood…

I vengefully prodded it and squashed its still form, more blood splatted out. My bloodthirst has been sated. It felt oddly satisfying.

I have battle scars to show, although I’ve emerged as the victor. Three huge bites.

Even though I knew it’s not Aedes (which attacks its unsuspecting victims in the day), but the bloodsucker had caused me much discomfort.

A good night’s sleep is in store.

Birthday

Birthday

It’s my birthday today. Well, it still is, for another 30 minutes.

It just dawned upon me… (I know some of you are going for the comments button on various witty remarks on my age. Shuddup!) that when I made my wishes, I started off with my family first, then ending with myself. (Erm… How many wishes did I make? Loads of course!! It’s a once a year thingy!!)

I used to make many wishes, only for self centered little me. Now I make wishes for my loved ones.

It’s crept up upon me. I’m now… A Parent.

Favouritism

Favouritism

“Eh! You are very 偏心 (show favoritism) leh! You flooded your Facebook with photos of no. 1 but we hardly see any photo of no. 2!!”

Huh?! Really? I checked my Facebook. She really had many more baby photos but then again he’s only 3 months old. However, it’s true that I’ve fewer photos of him in my phone. I used to snap her in every compromising position and laugh over it.

Maybe the novelty of snapping baby photos has worn off? Because we have been through it once and we kind of know or even expect it when he does certain things at the “right” age.

The bigger reason is probably because we used to have only 1 baby. Now we have a young child and a baby. The child demands attention from us and so does the baby. There’s simply no luxury of time for us to hold up the camera and patiently coax the baby into the positions that we want him to be in. Not with a little child hopping around us, demanding for her needs to be fulfilled.

At the same time, 宝贝 wants me and me alone to help her with her activities when she was previously contented to have her grandparents help her with it. She’s sensed that her attention from me has effectively been halved with the arrival of the baby and wants it back.

Do I love her more or the baby less? Love is something that can’t be quantified. Hah! This drives the statisticians mad. I love both of them. I love to cuddle with Ms chubby and the baby. Sometimes 3 of us just cuddle together.

But yes, I’ve only 24 hours a day. Time has to be shared. There’s no other way out of this. And while she is lucky enough to be first born, she had an extra 3 years’ worth of 100% love and attention from us. I refuse to agree that 小小宝贝 has been short changed, for now he has the attention and love from everyone plus his doting sister. She’s extremely gentle with him.

She showers him with love and kisses every day. She even holds conversations with him on her daily activities with him “oohing” and “aahing” in his baby talk. I’ve been trying to capture it on video but she clams up when she sees me sneak up with my phone. Sigh… I need to pick up some stealth skills for this paparazzi work.

Both my 宝贝s captured in a shot. *V*

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Candy Crushing!

Candy Crushing!

Candy crushing has taken over the iPhone and Facebook communities by storm. For the uninitiated, it’s a matching game like bejeweled but more fun and addictive as it has incorporated more variety.

There was just a handful of us on the map when i started, now it seems like the whole world is on the map. Ok lar. A bit of exaggeration.

It took me a loooong while to get here. But here I am!!! Completion!! For now! Until they add new levels. So I must blog about this achievement while it lasts. Now I can add it into my résumé. :) Logical thinking, tenacity, perseverance, management of addiction.

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Management of addiction is perhaps the biggest achievement in this game. It is darn addictive. It’s been frequently reported in the news on the staggering amount that people actually spent on the game. Someone actually spent $4000! And he’s a child. That’s not even including the massive number of people who have spent slightly less than that.

Me arh? $0 lor. I’m the giam gana. Can’t bear to spend money on games. (Excluding diablo 3 :p)

We were just discussing about this and Boonk said he knew of people who paid to get full sets of lives ($1.28 only. Can’t even buy a bowl of Fishball noodles with that) instead of begging their friends to send them lives. Or it takes just $1 to get 5 extra steps at the end of the game. So tempting when you see the last irritating jelly sitting there, beckoning you and you’ve run out of moves. Argh!!

Not only that, newspapers have reported that this evil candy crushing has drastically reduced productivity at work. Hmmm… Freakonomics writers should examine if the last economic recession was brought about by bejeweled or angry birds??

For me, yes, the temptation was indeed great. To keep going at it, to keep going up at levels, to stay ahead of my friends. This evil evil game. But yet I’ve a real life out there. Children to take care of, work to be done, a life to be led. Well, you just need to learn how to manage it. So is the game evil or it’s just weaklings we are?? I can only applaud the game creators for creating this game that is so well balanced, not too difficult to discourage and not too simple to bore the players. They are brilliant.

The rest is, well, up to ourselves. I’ve read Facebook posts of people who have proudly declared that they have deleted the game to stop themselves from playing it. Is this an achievement? I hardly think so.

I attended a course. The speaker mentioned that many people are afraid to walk around town with huge wads of cash, fearing that they would drop the money. If you can’t even take care of a few hundred bucks in your pocket, how are you going to manage your wealth?

It’s the same theory. If you can’t even stop yourself from bringing up the app every time you switch on your phone, how are you going to manage your life?

Candy crush is like a marathon. Sometimes you start off early, you get overtaken by others, and vice versa. You get to the end but it’s not the end, because they will be adding more levels to the cash cow.

Wa! So much theory about candy crush arh??

At the end of the day, it’s hell of a fun game!!! Just don’t let it take over your life.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary

It’s been a mad rush since 7am this morning. The hub is of no help. He’s knocked out from flu. I’m utterly convinced that “weaker sex” is not referring to women. At the peak of health, he could only handle one child. When he’s sick, he’s flat out. When women are sick, they can still nurse babies, work, handle a difficult toddler. No wonder, women were chosen to bear babies and not men.

It’s even so in the animal world. The lioness is the one that bears the young, hunts for food for the whole family while the male just preens his mane to get himself camera ready for the wild life photographers.

Well, to be fair to the hub, he is a very hands on daddy. A lot more hands on than many daddies out there. He’s just not very functional when he’s “fluey”. Sigh…

Anyway, alternating between a sleep deprived baby who was crying on and off, and getting a toddler ready for swimming class, then rushing for music class after that, I finally can sit down, while nursing the baby (not an idle moment eh), in the sanctuary of a nursing room to catch my breath. And also to blog. Like what Shermaine told me, blogging is therapeutic. I can’t help but agree with her wisdom.

The pretty pastel coloured room helps. 30 mins of reprieve before it starts again. Meanwhile, I’m appreciating the moment. *eyes closed*

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Old Keepsake

Old Keepsake

We are at my parents’ place. 宝贝is rummaging through the cupboards, entertaining herself while I’m doing my “walk the sleeping baby in the pouch” marathon. I must have completed at least a half marathon.

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That’s him with his legs sticking out of the pouch.

Then I hear a squeal behind me. “That’s mommy!!”

Look what she’s found!

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That was 1 year old me, posing beside my rabbit birthday cake.

I must say that I was quite a cute kid. :p

Something from the Past – Sweet Valley High

Something from the Past – Sweet Valley High

I’ve almost forgotten about this series of books until I stumbled upon this article.

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Memories of me borrowing these books from the small little 2nd hand book store, which has since closed down years ago, came back to me. I was reading as fast as I could. I was only reading the classical fairy tales, nancy drew, hardy boys etc before this.

Sweet Valley High was the first series of teenage romance that I came across. It was a whole new world out there. I was fascinated by the glitzy lives of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield.

However, I suspect that if I were to reread them now, I would probably find them frivolous and childish.

I loved the Narnia series by CS Lewis when I was a child. A few years ago, I decided to add them to my collection when some anniversary hard cover edition was released. I ordered them from Amazon and couldn’t wait to get my hands on them. I read them again.

I found that I didn’t enjoy them as much as I did. As a child they were magical, as an adult, they were too simplified. Maybe I’ve grown jaded through the years. Things are no longer black and white like a child’s book, but in shades of grey.

Memories are best left alone when they are beautiful and good. In a way, I’m glad that I read and enjoyed so many books when I was a little girl. My parents allowed me to do things that pleased me and brought me to wonderful new places.

As we grow up, we need to move on and create new memories for our future. Once in a while, it’s nice to remember that I’ve been there and done that. So if you want to do something, do it NOW. So that you wouldn’t have the chance to look back and wonder, “what if”….

The next time I read an Enid Blyton, is probably with my little girl. For her to create her own beautiful memories, whether they are of fairy tales or real life experiences.

Sick Child, Inconsiderate Parent

Sick Child, Inconsiderate Parent

It’s my regular pilgrimage to the polyclinic for 小小宝贝’s bilirubin test. Almost 2 months and still they can’t discharge him because it’s still high. I should get a platinium VIP membership card to the polyclinic for my regular visits! Heck! I go there more often than I visit the toilet!! Zz

Anyway this post is not about it. I’m deviating from what I want to write. Eh!! Why you all have that “what’s new” looks on your faces?!

Here goes…

On my way back to the multistorey carpark, a trail of vomit started appearing. The white curd kind that gives off a strong retching smell that you can smell miles away.

The trail ended at a huge mountain of vomit, a crying child (of about 5 years old), who was carrying a school bag and his mother. The mother was chiding him while knocking on the door of Cherie Hearts Childcare.

I was horrified. Yes. Horrified.

1. The child was obviously sick and not feeling well. He should be resting at home.

2. The mother, instead of letting him rest at home, forced him to go to the childcare?! Taking a day off from work to take care of your child, will die meh?!

3. The parent should be considerate as the child had an infectious disease that could spread to other children. Children under 12 years old are still vulnerable.

4. I hope the child care turned the child away and talk some sense into the mother.

宝贝 was recently a victim of gastric flu. She caught the bug from her childcare on the last day of school. The bug has a 4 days incubation period. As you can imagine, our Chinese New Year was spent nursing a sick child who threw up constantly for 12 hours. We tried to quarantine her but the bug was active before the symptoms started to appear. I caught it, so did my mom!! These are commando bugs!!

宝贝 lost almost 2 kgs and flopped around like a rag doll for a few days. She was throwing up even water. It was heart breaking to see a toddler like that.

That’s why I was horrified and utterly disgusted with the parent for disregarding her child’s discomfort and putting other children at risk.

Sigh…

House of Moks

House of Moks

I found a referrer to my blog on my stats list today. Curious, I clicked on the link to check it out.

It led me to this blog – House of Moks.

I haven’t seen this friend since I left university. And now he has 4 children! Well done Mok!! You are helping Singapore with our TFR! I truly respect you and your wife. I’m barely coping with two…

The wonders of the Internet. Bridging people across the world and years. :)

*Update* 5 Aug 2016

Unfortunately the blog has been privatised by the owner.  So the link doesn’t work anymore.  What a pity!