Last week of school

This week is the last week of school for 2009! I'm so happy that starting next week, Caitlin and I don't have to wake up at 6 a.m. on weekdays! Maybe Eugene also can wake up a bit later as he doesn't need to send Caitlin to school before heading to his office. But the dilemma is what I'm going to do with Caitlin. How to keep her occupied and out of my hair while I do the household chores and spend time on the computer? She'll probably want to use the computer too, and want my attention when it comes to playing, especially board games....and she has rather short attention span and is a pretty impatient girl. Books can keep her occupied but once she starts reading a book, she won't put it down. She can finish a book like Geronimo Stilton in less than an hour. This means I need to have a big stack ready....but one thing good is she'll re-read them many times over so hopefully she'll do that when she runs out of things to do.

She needs to practise more intensively this week for her drum exam which will take place next Tuesday. Hopefully, she will remember to play in the right tempo and expression. She is over-confident with her playing and tends to get carried away and plays too fast, and as a result, makes mistakes and ignores when she should be playing loud or soft or crescendo etc.

I've not made any structured plans to keep her occupied unlike some mothers. They are so hardworking that they'll plan a timetable with lots of entertaining and educational activities to occupy their kids during the holidays. And they'll sit down together with the kids to do all the activities like puzzle books, art and craft, computer-based learning, reading, games etc. I'm getting lazier over the years.

Other moms will look out for holiday programmes offered by all those expensive enrichment centres and enrol their kids there to keep them occupied and learn something. That's the easy and expensive way out. These exnrichment centres make extra income during school holidays. They know that parents are willing to pay any amount for their kids' benefit. Actually, some of the programmes they offer can be easily duplicated at home if you are hardworking enough to source for the info and materials yourself, especially from the Internet, and sacrifice your personal time to spend with and homeschool your kids. That's a better way I believe although some parents may argue that they are working, they are not experts in certain subjects etc. Whatever it is, to each their own I guess. We need to only bear in mind that our kids get a balanced, fun and healthy lifestyle during the holidays.

The boring subject of weather (continued)

I posted the earlier post this afternoon while seated at the waiting area of Caitlin's school. School dismisses at 2.35pm and I was there at 1.50pm i.e. 45 minutes early. These days, I prefer to get there earlier before it starts to pour. By going earlier, I also get a better chance to get a spot to park my car along the roadside nearer to the school entrance.

The school has a queue system for cars whereby we can queue and drive up to the school gate and display a placard with our child/children's name for the teacher on duty to call them out and they hop into the car when it's our turn. But that takes a very long time because sometimes the kids belonging to cars in front of us come out of their classrooms later or slower than mine. And some parents plus transporters are so kiasu that they want to be first in line, so they arrive at school 1.5 to 2 hours before dismissal, and park their car in line already.

Parents like me who don't want to get caught waiting for ages in line to pick up our kids will therefore park further down the road, walk up the steep slope and meet the kids at the waiting area and walk them back to the car. I get my daily exercise walking up the slope but that kind of puts a strain to my bad knee.

Sometimes, a mother of Caitlin's classmate gets there early around the same time as me so we chat. Today, I was extra early and I didn't bring any reading material with me so I decided to meddle with my mobile phone and check email, Facebook and finally decided to blog a bit. Blogging using my mobile phone is tedious and the connection is slow. And my mobile phone is not the type which has extra large screen or the qwerty keypad. Hence, the rather disjointed and abruptly ended post below.

Back to the weather. It looks like globally, the weather patterns have changed. Typhoons, floods, droughts etc seem to be more frequent and threatening. I remember years ago when the year-end monsoon season started only in December. Now, it's raining everyday heavily and continuously, causing floods in the northern states of Kedah, Kelantan and Trengganu. In the Klang Valley, flash floods and landslides threaten cars and commuters during peak traffic hours and houses, and high-rise apartments built on hillslopes are at risk....

The boring subject of weather

It has been raining everyday the past few weeks. The upside to that is I don't need to water my plants. The down side is that it always rains right at the time when school dismisses. It is a hassle getting Caitlin from school with the raincoat and umbrella plus having to carry her schoolbag. And her school is located on a hillslope.
Walking downhill with rainwater gushing down the road, we have to be very careful.

Some recent pics

Good mind, bad mind

Caitlin was rather chatty at dinnertime today, telling numerous stories about school and her activities, sharing opinions and ideas. In the course of the conversation she used the word 'poophead'.

I seldom hear that particular word but it struck me as an alternative to "sh*thead" that people in general often use. So I asked her how and where she got that word from. Her reply was very simple, spontaneous and glib.

"I made it up myself. No, I didn't read it in any book or hear it in the TV. It's just the bad side of my mind that came up with it. The bad side infected the good side of my mind. The left side of my mind is the good side, the God side. The right side of my mind is the bad side, the Devil side...."

Aiyo, there goes my 'loyar buruk' again....

I'm back

Hello! I'm back here again. We actually got a new computer monitor last week, a slightly larger one, which somehow gives me the odd feeling like everything on the screen has become smaller!

I've recovered from the stress of the two parties I had to coordinate - the one at school for Children's Day and two days after that, Caitlin's birthday. I actually returned home rather hoarse from shouting at the top of my lungs at Caitlin's class to listen to instructions of the games we wanted them to play. Once the games got started, they lasted for about 10 minutes at best! These kids just didn't have the attention span and preferred to simply rough about, jump about, scream and shout, especially the boys who were the majority in Caitlin's class. Some of the games were literally abandoned with the kids (especially those at the back) just turning away to do their own thing, so we simply gave up on them after three games. It was only when we were about to dismiss them and hand out the goodie bags (the attention grabber) that they listened.

As for Caitlin's birthday party, it turned out well. About 21 (out of 26) kids from her class turned up! And we also had about 10 cousins, friends and some siblings of classmates. The activity organiser (luckily not me!) had her hands full getting them to dance to music and play games. There were games that included parents as well. The parents were very sporting, joining in the fun with loads of enthusiasm. Caitln's Pokemon-design birthday cake was a hit among some of the kids (especially the boys) and they came lining up repeatedly while I was cutting it to get their second, third, fourth helpings. Despite getting numerous food/drink breaks with ample food served, they must have been very hungry still after all the dancing, jumping and running.

Caitlin had a gala time opening all her presents that evening. But that was after she recovered from a rather long bout of sulking because some parent ate her favourite part of the cake with Pikachu's (a Pokemon character) picture on it. Partly my mistake. She had told me earlier she wanted it. I should have set it aside in a separate container since she didn't want to eat it then. After I served everyone, I had covered the cake box and set it aside in a corner, not expecting anyone to open it and help themselves to extra servings. But as Murphy's Law would have it, some parent (I was told) took the liberty to do so and unfortunately, it was that part that he or she cut off.....

Rusty turned one last Sunday. We didn't manage to celebrate it for him as we were simply busy catching up with stuff before the weekend ended. Poor thing...

About the weather -- it's been raining daily since mid last week. It usually starts in the late afternoon with drizzles and heavy downpours. On some days, it rains heavily in the middle of the night or early morning, making the next day a wet, gloomy day. Bad for laundry.

Caitlin brought home her report card for the recent year-end exams. Overall, she did better than we thought. When we got her exam papers for each subject, we felt she could have done better. But since she didn't put much effort into preparing for the exam, we accepted the results. On the whole, she scored above average marks. Glad that she got A's and a few B's, and no C's or D's or F's! Anyway, she's only in Year One. She's got a long way more to go where formal education is concerned so we should not be too 'kan cheong'. Her drum exam is coming up in 2.5 weeks' time. Expect her to be cool about it too.

I'd like to view her 'coolness' about exams positively. It's good in some ways that one should not be fazed by the tension of exams. They are simply a way of assessing if one has understood what he or she has learned. What good is it if you score straight A's simply because you are good at memorisingng facts and figures without fully understanding the subject? And different people learn at different paces, have different interests, talents, abilities. So we should not compare our children with others. So what if the neighbours kid scores 10 A's? So what if your friend's child can play the violin, piano, cello and dance ballet, jazz and hip hop? Am I going to copy what others are doing simply because I want to keep up, be one-up? It's scary when I see many parents filling up their kids' daily schedule with activity after activity, class after class in the name of trying to maximise their potential..... Sadly, this happens a lot in cities like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

My computer monitor is kaput. Writing this using my mobile phone. Not convenient at all. So no news here for the time being until the monitor is fixed or replaced.

Countdown to the parties

The past few days has seen me busily finalising stuff for the two parties on Friday and Sunday. Yesterday, I received the bulk of gifts and stuff contributed by parents for the children's hampers for Children's Day at school. The small bag for each child that I got using part of the PTA's sponsorship allocation was too small to contain the generous contributions, so luckily E brought home some freebie non-woven bags (the recyclable type that's so popular these days as corporate giveaways) for me and last night, we packed all the things into the bags. I'm expecting a few more packages today and on that day itself. The kids will be so happy to get them I'm sure. They'll be getting a lunch bag (with Ben 10 design for boys and Princess ones for girls), an activity puzzle book, a Rubik's cube, some stationery, toys and assorted snacks. The day will start off with entertainment (organised by the school) for the kids in the school hall. After that, we'll have the class party with food and games contributed and organised by parents.

As for Sunday's birthday party, we're expecting a very good turnout from Caitlin's classmates. Almost all of them (20+) will be coming based on the RSVPs. That will add up to about 30 kids (including cousins and friends) dancing and jumping around!I've also finished packing all the party packs and have just to finalise the food for that day. I should get it done by tomorrow as whoever I decide to get the food from will definitely need some notice. It shouldn't be too difficult as I'm not planning a large spread since it's around teatime. Some finger food for the adults and children alike plus drinks should do. Anyway, the venue is a dance studio and does not cater for proper sit-down functions.

Weekend pictures

Wedding mini 'vacation'

I am currently sitting in a room in Cyberview Lodge. I think this is my first time staying in a hotel room that comes equipped with a desktop computer with internet access. Other hotel rooms I've stayed in have internet access but no computer. I'm sure there are many hotel rooms that provide computer these days, it's just that I seldom stay in hotel rooms....

We're spending the night here just for a one-night weekend break. E's ex-colleague had her wedding here tonight so we took the opportunity (to spend money we didn't budget for!) to take a weekend break from the routine. Caitlin's school exams ended on Thursday, and we needed a break. After checking in, I went for a massage and facial at the spa while E and C waited for the rain to stop before going swimming.

I was hoping for the wedding to be a garden one. I've dreamt of garden weddings, (even for mine!) but this wedding wasn't one. They had it in the ballroom, a typical Chinese wedding dinner, although the garden area leading to the ballroom was decorated with flower arches and cocktail tables and chairs. As usual, dinner started late. That's one thing I never ever will understand and accept about typical Chinese wedding dinners. That's one of the reasons why E and I didn't have one.

The food is nothing to shout about, being typical hotel wedding fare. Although I don't mean any offence to the bridal couple (they seem like a wonderful, lively pair), the dinner was like any other i.e. start late, show slides of couple from baby, childhood, schooldays to adulthood and when they got together, slides of professionally-taken wedding photos, then the 'champagne' pouring, cake cutting and yam seng. And oh, they had live singers using minus-one accompaniment. One lady was frequently off-key....The decor, however, was nice.

C and I left after the fifth course. C was very tired and sleepy (after the swimming and feeling bored waiting, slow pace of the programme, actually I was bored too, the small talk was not stimulating enough). She was getting grouchy despite occupying herself with two brand new paperbacks. So we left E and took a short buggy ride back to our room. We could have walked but the buggy ride was a better way to get C back into better spirits to get her ready and cooperative for bed. She's now in dreamland and I'm still waiting for E to return. Finally got him after 3 calls. He got carried away catching up with ex-colleagues, didn't hear the phone ring and forgot to inform me....(what's new-lah,right?)

Anyway, sitting here in front of the computer is not making this one-night holiday any different from being at home and the effects of the massage I got this afternoon is wearing off by sitting here, so I'm shutting down the pc now and going to bed.

Hopefully breakfast and maybe a swim in the pool tomorrow will make up for the boring evening.

Poor Rusty, however, is spending tonight boarded at a pet shop where he's getting groomed tomorrow before we pick him up.

Now E is back with one flower arrangement from the wedding which the bride told him to take since she had paid for it. The florist bill amounted to RM12K.

Interesting

Chanced upon this when I went into Yahoo!

A Halo Over Moscow
by Mike Krumboltz

And you thought rainbows were cool. A few days ago, a mysterious cloud shaped like a halo appeared over Moscow, and the buzz has yet to break.

We're the first to admit that a photograph of the heavenly cloud appears to be photoshopped. It's just so...perfect. But meterologists have spoken up and said the cloud wasn't digitally altered. However, it wasn't exactly what it appeared to be, either.

When the cloud initially formed, some UFO enthusiasts declared it to be a "true mystery." Some even compared it to the giant spaceship hovering over Earth in the movie "Independence Day." Reality quickly dashed any predictions of an alien invasion. An article from the Daily Mail explains that the "luminous ring-shaped cloud" was simply an optical effect.

An official spokesperson for Moscow's weather department said, "Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west — this is how the effect was produced."

The cloud loomed last week, but the searches are still soaring. Lookups on "halo cloud" and "moscow cloud" are both booming, and a video clip has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. You can check it out for yourself below...

Vaccines

I'm of two minds about vaccines. My biological science background taught me that they are good as they make your body increase or build immunity against diseases. But of late, with all the information available around us, I've been wondering if vaccines really help. Maybe they do, if these vaccines have been thoroughly researched and tested till no end before they are pushed out to the market. The testing, however, is another area of concern - testing on animals i.e. cruelty to animals, testing on humans i.e. people used as guinea pigs and getting paid to participate in drug trials, but otherwise, how to test?

Vaccines may have side effects. Some could be mild and tolerable but some could be serious or fatal. Till today, vaccines administered during the toddler years, have been debated about as to whether they cause conditions like autism. And recently, the cervical cancer (HPV) vaccine has been reported to be the cause of serious and even fatal incidents among teens and young women. With the influenza A(H1N1) virus attack not letting up, and even a second wave expected during the coming winter spell, pharmaceutical companies and scientists had rushed to develop a vaccine. It is now available and there's much debate about that too, as to whether in the rush, testing was done sufficiently or not since viruses can develop resistance or mutate (like the avian flu virus), and if governments have the right to 'force' people to be vaccinated, and penalise those who refuse it.

An 'alternative' health and medicine website, that promotes health through natural means that I subscribe to online, often bashes drug companies and their government links for their push to medicate and vaccinate for financial and economic reasons. Some of what is written makes sense.

Here are some samples of their articles:

Top researcher who worked on cervical cancer vaccine warns about its dangers

Teen girl suffers permanent brain damage after cervical cancer vaccine

Historical facts about the dangers (and failures) of vaccines

Diseased African Monkeys Used to Make Swine Flu Vaccines; Private Military Contractor Holds Key Patents

Some other links I found on my own:

HPV Vaccine Researcher Blasts Mandatory Marketing

'Dangers' of the fast-track swine flu vaccine



The public should be made aware of the possible side effects of any vaccine, and any durg/medication. Most times, especially here where I live, clinics do not explain or highlight these possible side effects to the patients. Some general practitioners dispense generic medicine in bulk packaging types of bottles or their clinic's personalised bottles and plastic envelopes. These carry labels informing the patient about the dosage only. Patients don't even know the names of the pills/medicine they are taking, let alone the possible side effects. There are only some doctors/clinics who are conscientious and responsible enough to take that extra step to explain thoroughly to the patient about the drugs he/she is given. Is there no guideline by the healthcare authorities in ensuring all healthcare providers conduct themselves in the rightful manner?

Ask the person dispensing you your medicine the next time what you are taking and if they cause any side effects. Or if the medicine is in its original packaging, it should have a pamphlet inside detailing it's drug content, recommended dosage and possible side effects. Some sections may contain pharmaceutical jargon but the recommended dosage and side effects should be easily understood by the man in the street.

So while we ponder about whether drugs/vaccines do more harm than good or vice versa, it's still best to stay healthy by natural means, i.e. eat well and exercise and be mindful of our general health. Prevention is better than cure, as the old saying goes.