Rain Rain Go Away...

Travis turns 5 in June which also means, like any normal kid, he's already in the why-stage.

He's not big on rain because it often comes with booms of thunder these days and this disrupts his afternoon nap. This morning, he asked me in a worried tone, "why is there a rainy season?"

Key Factors That Affect Precipitation Levels
Amount of Water Vapor: Evaporation is how most of the water vapor enters the atmosphere, and air near large bodies of water such as oceans have the highest levels of water vapor. Also, higher temperatures increase evaporation rates. Consequently, air in tropical regions downwind from large sources of water tends to have the highest levels of water vapor, while air in temperate and polar regions in the center of large continents tends to have the driest air. In this example, geography influences amount of water vapor that influences precipitation levels.

NOW I KNOW.

* I must admit actually I've been surfing the internet more aggressively these days!*

Grade 1 Exam

Becks will be having her Grade 1 Piano Examination next Thursday, 5 Mar.
Amazingly, I don't find myself anxious. Ha.

Summarizing my feeling in a typical Singaporean way - can pass can already lah!

:D~~~

These days I see women getting 'excessively generous' with this cosmetic on their lips. I really cannot appreciate it - it looks like they are salivating perpetually. Talking to them is distracting. YUKS!

Debut Parent-Teaching Meeting

The 1st part consisted of briefing parents the new syllabus of teaching Chinese. The session lasted for more than half an hour in Mandarin with Chinese presentation slides. M and I really tried to stay awake. I caught the part where the teaching of this subject will now be split into 2 sections: 核心 and 深广 (what do they mean???). Life does get complicating.

The 2nd part consisted of presentation given by the respective subject teachers. This was easier to get through. Frankly I attended mostly out of curiosity for Becks' classroom, the room where she spends most of her time in now. It being an old school building, it jogged many memories to what I experienced 28 years ago.

What talking you?

"To welcome with mountain, to fondle with wind...."
http://www.pauselandis.com.tw/english/e_about.htm

We welcome the world of bad English. :P

VD

Can't forget that Cupid's arrow strikes tomorrow, can I? 14 Feb - Valentine's Day! After attending Becks' 1st Parent-Teacher Meeting, I will be rushing off to attend Mich's solemnization at Gallery Hotel.

The lil girl grows up!
*now Whitney Houston's long-forgotten song - I'm Every Woman - is creeping into my head*

PTM (MB)

I skipped the entire year-crossing without a single entry on Becks' life-defining *erm....* moment: admission into Primary One.

It will definitely be ingrained in my lifetime, with or without my blogging. Anyway time really flies. I'll be having my first Parent-Teacher Meeting tomorrow, at the school premise. I don't know how it's structured but the letter indicated a 2-hour session! *Pray tell, WHAT will it consist of????*

*cough cough*

It started with shortness of breath in the noon inside the cinema when we were watching Underworld: Rise of the Lycans *yes yes, I obliged*, then by evening, I was wheezing. By the next day, I was a productive phlegm factory, suffering from a massive headache.
I was diagnosed, after 34 years in this life, with bronchitis!

2 days' medical leave which I made use of properly....now back to work!

Singapore...is it true???

Everyone roars apart from me. I can feel Jane looking at me, trying to think of something to say.

“Josh told me you were in Hong Kong,” she says pleasantly.

“That’s right.”“I was in Singapore for 2 years. I really fell in love with Asia. The food, the people, the culture.”

“Not the same thing,” I tell her.

“Excuse me?”

“Not the same thing. Hong Kong and Singapore. It’s the difference between a rainforest and a golf course. Singapore being the golf course.”

“You don’t like Singapore?” she says, her face crumpling.

“Too sanitized,” I say firmly. “Singapore is nothing like Hong Kong. Didn’t somebody once say that Singapore is Disneyland with the death penalty?”

Jane sadly turns her face to the fancy salad before her.

“When were you ever in Singapore, Alfie?” Josh (host of the dinner) demands.

“What?” I say, playing for time.

“I said ..’when were you ever in Singapore?’”. He is not smiling at me anymore. “I don’t recall you ever going to Singapore but suddenly you are the big expert.”

“I’ve never been to Singapore.” I say with an infuriating smugness.

“Then you don’t really know what you’re talking about, do you?” Josh says.

“I know I wouldn’t like it.”

“How do you know that?”

“I wouldn’t like anywhere that they say is like Disneyland with the death penalty.”

“Singapore Sling,” Lily says. We all look at her as if she is mental. “Fine cocktail,” she adds……..then they are all yakking about their favourite cocktails.

- One for My Baby
By Tony Parsons
* Dunno if I should laugh or cry at this one. Just feels weird to be reading about your country in a gwai lo's book*

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust...

"I'm not a big cemetery man. I've never been.....

If you want to remember the dead - or rather if you want to see the dead, if you want to meet them, to see them smile, to reassure yourself that they are at peace now - then you have to look inside yourself. That's when you will find them. That's where the dead lives."

- One for My Baby
By Tony Parsons
*yes, I'm still reading. This guy makes me cry*

The reason why I decided to blog this is because just recently, few days before I read the paragraph in the book, I asked my mom if she still went to Mount Vernon Columbarium to pay respects to gong gong on the first day of Chinese New Year. She said she did and quickly added that after her death and dad's, sis and I should just scatter their ashes into the sea because on top of inconvenience *oops*, it doesn't make sense that the dead is lying in that urn behind the wall and that one's obligation shouldn't be just confined to going to a specific spot on certain days of the year.

This coming from my mom, who doesn't seem to have a care in the world, especially in academic pursuits in the past and who aced mainly in mahjong and Cantonese cooking...I was completely bowled over.

Departure

Shen has finally left after 3 weeks in Singapore. He'll be missed...actually no, the way his presence can bring the 3 (sometimes 4) of us together will be missed.

Stopping Email Wars

If you can't convince, confuse (not your boss).

Teenage Flicks

Not sure if I'm introducing teenage flicks to the troops too early but I thought the theme was wholesome enough.

I was watching "Camp Rock" with them (I grew up with "Rags to Riches", "Beverly Hills 90210", "Melrose Place", "Felicity", etc you get the drift), completely awed and envying the wonders of their energy and youth. I noticed that there could be slangs and improper grammar which might not be socially acceptable. Still, it humoured me, so much so that I wanna blog here to share what I found out "WMJL" means (you can actually do it with your fingers consecutively and very swiftly) - Whatever. Major Loser.

Singapore Flyer...mishap

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20081224/tap-as-singapore-wheel-1st-ld-writethru-832f4ab.html

My fear factor heightens. Pun intended.

Chow Time with :B

:B is back from Japan again. As my annual leave is limited, this time I did not apply half-day to watch with her some hopefully-warped foreign film at Cathay Cineleisure.

Our catching-up was done over dinner of local food at Chomp Chomp and dessert at ICE.

Teachers

My apprehension builds up everyday as the school holiday approaches the end - my little girl is going to embark on a huge phase of her life - Primary One!

She is attending a "Mind Bender" class I signed up for her at the Community Club today. She has been showing signs of reluctance but last night, she finally voiced out her main concern - I hope the teacher is not too strict.

And then I realised...this is all there is, isn't it? One can't choose one's own teachers. We aim to enrol our kids in a reputable school but nobody can guarantee all the teachers it has are inspirational, motivating, naturally adoring children, etc etc. They can either make or break the child!

I'm so crossing my fingers!

Argh!

What do you do when one of your staff hangs a perpetually black face, directing at you?

Debut Read

Becks' 1st book by Enid Blyton. :)

PS: She managed to find the 'Seven O'Clock Tales' too.
So there leaves 'Six O'Clock', 'Eight O'Clock'...anymore?

Rainbow

I went to IKEA Tampines recently and went into a sneezing fit and suffered watery eyes. 2 years ago, it was the same at Science Centre. My greatest infallible enemy - dust mites. Call it my curse or plain hyper-sensitivity.

The demonstration convinced me to plonk S$3,300 on the cleaning system - Rainbow. Even RJ, my dear friend who gave the referral and who had bought one set herself sent me this text: "Welcome to the Sucker's Club".

Sucker? Maybe...but I'm merely looking for a solution to better the quality of my life, just like everyone else.

Going Down Under

Finally my folks took their (enviable) 'annual break'; they departed this morning for Sydney to visit sis. :)