Thursday, December 29, 2011

How to make ice-cream warmer?


"I want to make my ice-cream warmer."

Wyng made a fuss when Hoe bought him a plain vanilla cone sundae instead of chocolate fudge as topping for his sundae. He said the chocolate fudge will make his ice-cream warmer as he doesn't like his ice-cream too cold!

What are you talking about, Wyng?

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Enjoy the ice-cream and save money


He savours it as though it is his last.  He will take his own sweet time to eat his favourite ice-cream.  He enjoys it, licks it and doesn't bite until he really has to.

When I tell him to hurry as it will be melting very soon, his answer will be, "Enjoy ma.. Why eat so fast? Waste money!  While he was licking the ice-cream in this video, Mom,Dad and Qo Qo had already finished theirs much earlier.

If only Mom can save money when the kids enjoy and eat their ice-cream ssslowwwly.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Have a blessed Christmas



This is the second piece of art Wyng brought back after his second Arts class.  The shape of the Christmas tree was drawn following a specimen (obviously).  Being a detailed boy (not consistent though), he pointed out to me that there were two flaws that he made and the teacher didn't realise them.  First, the one of snowman's bow was not coloured. Second, the second (from the left) Santa Claus' hands were not outlined.

The decoration on the tree was drawn according to his imagination.  As for the snow flake, only one is drawn by the teacher, the rest were drawn by Wyng. It's quite easy to spot it, can you?

I take this opportunity to wish everyone, especially visitors of my blog,

A blessed and joyful Christmas!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

He is a real reader

On an outstation trip as we were travelling in our car heading towards KL, Wyng kept reading the small signs located along the highway.  These are signs which indicate the distance to KL.  Guess what, he was patient and persistent enough to read for a good 5 to 6 minutes.

Twenty six, twenty five point five, twenty five, twenty four point five, twenty four, twenty three point five, and so forth. It was so mundane that I have to stop him from rattling some boring numbers on and on .  No one was paying attention to him except Mom and after the long journey we just needed some quietness for a while. But, Wyng never seemed to tire.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

What are neighbours for?

Nothing. They are disappointingly selfish too. I was already wasn't so hopeful about having helpful neighbours. An incident last year proved this.

Hoe had problems with our house lock and could not unlock the door when he tried to enter the house.  I was out then.  All he could think of was to contact me and having no handphone or a single cent, he tried frantically to borrow a phone from someone in the condo where we stayed.

He only sought out help from two places in our condo and gave up after the fruitless attempts. First, at the mini market located at the ground floor of our condo. The old lady (the boss' mother), in her late 70's who was manning the counter at that time was adopting a 'don't care-less' attitude. In an unconvinced attitude, she said her phone was spoilt and suggested Hoe to talk to her son who was in another room in the mini market at that time. Hoe was,of course, reluctant and left the mini market without even approaching the man.

The second place Hoe went to was our neighbour staying at the same floor. The owners of the unit were an old couple in their early 60's. The lady is a retiree who had a stroke a few months ago which left her with speech problems.  Prior to this incident and her stroke, she was kind of friendly whenever we met in the lift.  I don't doubt that she recognises Hoe as a next-door neighbour.  Well, this incident proved her self-centredness despite her stroke condition.

As Hoe related to me how he approached this old couple, it just pissed me off even more.  He told me he was standing at the door explaining to the uncle that he needed to borrow a phone to contact me.  The stroke-stricken lady was in the living room, not only did not help. She yelled quite audibly 'don't care about him' to her husband at the door.  The man then walked back into the living room, ignoring Hoe.

Having no choice, Hoe waited for me for two hours before I finally reached home.  He was too exhausted and starving by then.

After hearing his story, I was furious and pissed off. Not satisfied with just grumbling to Hoe and Wyng about our selfish neighbours, I proceeded to confront the couple. The husband appeared lackadaisical (as he always does whenever we meet at the lift prior to the incident) and gave excuse that he didn't know my son when I demanded an explanation. Do you need to know someone to help them? 

Being very blunt, I went on to say that Hoe is just a boy who needed help and would have no intention to harm anyone. How could a helpless and hungry twelve-year old boy harm anyone? I didn't wait for an explanation from him.  From the living room, I heard the old lady trying to murmur something and she was trying to signal that she didn't know what happened and that she couldn't speak or do much.  All of a sudden, she appeared to be so feeble when she was just yelling at the top of her voice earlier! Talking about self-pity.

I walked off, relieved that I had said what I wanted to.

I didn't approach the mini-market's boss' mother. They will never get any business from me from that moment onwards.  Even if I have to drive a few miles away to get a grocery item, I swear I will never buy anything from them.  That old lady who used to portray a very friendly and kind person whenever I patronised her mini-market was in fact a hypocrite, all for the name of business.

This incident left me an impression that people, worse still neighbours can be so cold-hearted and self-centred especially in a situation when their help is needed.  They conveniently forget the meaning of giving just because they do not want to lose.  Or are they so negative that helping may land them in trouble or become poorer? But, it would only probably be 50 sen that they may be losing by offering to lend a kid a telephone or handphone.

So, what are neighbour truly for? Just to smile, say 'Hi' and 'Bye' and nothing else? One wonders.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Arts class to keep the kid occupied productively

What better way to keep the kid occupied during these holidays than to enrol him in Arts classes?  As Wyng always draws on loose pieces of paper (though Mom purposely bought him an A4-sized book just for his drawing), I am not reluctant at all to send him for classes.

Wyng was adamant at first, as usual. Even after the first lesson, he was a little hesitant to go while I was dropping him at the centre for his second lesson.  During his first lesson, he drew a Santa Claus sock using colour pencil.  On the second week, he was taught to draw and colour a Christmas tree. Surprisingly, he came contentedly into the car and said he enjoyed the class.

That was what Mom wanted to hear. Anyway, December is a probation month for Wyng's Arts class. If he likes it, he will continue. Otherwise, Mom will not insist.

For this, Mom bought him poster colour and magic colour.  He will only get a big bag (to store his arts supplies) after he is sure that he will continue with the class.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

The kids at the world's longest indoor tube slide

As soon as we stepped into the mall from the lift lobby, Lex Slide, the world's longest indoor tube caught the guys' attention.

Make sure you watch til the end of the video for great sound effect!



Don't close the videos until you have watched Hoe (in red tee shirt) spiral down

As we were window-shopping, they couldn't help but kept wondering which floor the tube starts.  Their wish came true when we went up to the top floor and saw two young chaps manning the entrance to the tube.  Three enthusiastic pre-school kids were already getting ready for the exciting ride.  Wyng and Hoe were anticipatively observing them.  Thanks to Mom, the kids got to ride in this spiralling tube.

For something thrilling but (too) short during the holidays to make the kids happy, RM10 for each kid for 3 rides, it's not too heavy on our pockets.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Is your kid a reluctant actor?

The one-eyed pirate sitting down on the left, wearing a pirate hat, in a black and white striped tee is Wyng.

With only a few lines for this year-end drama, this is a drastic difference from his main role as the bridegroom last year. Why was he given a smaller role? Mom isn't pointing the fingers at anyone except that Wyng wasn't doing his best this time. What makes Mom think so?

I remember Wyng was holding a script after his drama class one Sunday.  The following week, he had ANOTHER script! This time it was a much shorter script, just about two short lines.  When I questioned him the reason he was given a different and shorter script, he just couldn't give me a satisfactory answer.  His body language and expression told me that he forgot his script and wasn't doing a very good job. Later, I found out that he forgot where he put his old script.  Sigh... To self-comfort myself, it may be better for me to think that this villain role is better given to someone more aggressive. This Indian boy is acting the role of Pirate Joe very well. He received quite a thunderous applause.  

This guy didn't seem to enjoy the stage,his look in this photo can probably tell. Why? Was it because of the eye patch or the hat which was bothering him? I am not surprised if he wasn't comfortable with those costume accessories.  He refused to wear the necklaces initially. Mom had to bribe him again to make him wear them.



Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A premium priced but lousy dinner

Have you ever walked into a Japanese restaurant without being greeted in Japanese? Yes, you can find it at Little Tokyo at Cheras Leisure Mall.

Not only were we not greeted, we were not served in a friendly manner.  Although we were queueing for vacant seats, we were not allowed to sit at a table supposedly for seven person.  There were four of us. We had to wait for a few more minutes until another table of four being cleared.

We waited quite a while for our food.  Actually, we don't mind the waiting if our food was delicious.  What made me fumed was that another table who came after us was being served their food first.  When I 'threatened' to leave, the waitress was not apologetic at all when she emphasized that 'our food will be served SOON'.

We were finally served! With the premium price we are paying, the serving and quality seem more like those served at 'lower-class' Japanese restaurant.

 Salmon Sashimi at RM18.90
I am never a lover of salmon sashimi so I don't know how this taste compared to other Japanese restaurant. According to Hoe and Daddy, it tastes good but Daddy gives the thumbs down for the price.

Ebiko prawn sushi at RM7.90 
Two pieces for RM7.90 may seem pricey though the size is bigger than the ones sold at Sushi King.

 Tuna sushi
Tuna (the canned type) sushi is one of my favourite. Sigh... only when they served that I realised it's actually fresh tuna sushi. I didn't know there's such tuna sushi sold until that day.

 Unagi tamado don RM18.90
For this price, the serving is too small.  The unagi is too precious for them to serve too many pieces.

 Kimchi noodle (I think sold at RM15.90)
Hoe adventurously ordered this noodle though Mom had warned him. Certainly not his cup of tea. There's not much meat, which is Hoe's favourite and the sour kimchi, yucks! Even Mom doesn't take a liking to it.

 Beef ball noodle (again I think sold at RM15.90)
Beef ball noodle, Mom has tried this else where and certainly knows what beef ball taste like. Should Japanese beef ball noodle taste like this? The beef ball doesn't taste like beef.  The soup is rather bland. 

Teriyaki Chicken at RM18.90
I was glad I ordered this.  This is the safest dish I will pick from a Japanese menu. It's rather disappointing though. How tough is it to cook teriyaki chicken? Well, for the price I paid, the teriyaki isn't flavoursome enough.  It's just ok. 

I missed that loud but warm 'Sumimasen!!' by waiters and waitresses from Japanese restaurants such as Sushi King, Sakae Sushi and Ichiban Boshi.  The total bill came to RM117, not so costly but it's not worth it for the kind of food and service rendered to us. By the way, there's NO service. When I had paid for the bill and we walked out, no waiters or waitresses bothered to thank us.

So, Little Tokyo, first and last visit!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Should you bribe your kids to behave?


I do know parents should not bribe their kids with money to accomplish tasks which are their responsibilities.  For example, to complete their homework or tidy up their room.

When it comes to 'additional' tasks or responsibilities, a small bribe might not be damaging. At times, I will use it even when they are asked to complete their homework on unearthly hour or time of the day such as a public holiday when they still have ample time to do the next day.

So, what do I bribe my kids to do? For teenage kids such as Hoe, it will be used for tasks such as:

* house chores on top of those which he is responsible for
* completing additional school work on top of his school or homework
* accomplish stuff which he is reluctant to do such as trying a new kind of food

For his younger brother, Wyng, bribes work for things such as:

* more work relating to studies such as completing more pages of exercises for subjects such as BM and English
* house chores such as scrubbing the toilet wall
* finish his meals at lightning speed
* sleep earlier than his usual time on holidays
It's quite hard to convince this fella to do things he won't do such as eating vegetable. He'd rather not receive any reward at all.

What's my bribe reward for them? Computer time is the best reward for them.  They would kill for it. For Wyng, television time, ice-cream or a meal at McD works as good at times.

Be careful though Mom, it may be a painful lesson if bribes are used too often.  Moderation is always the name of the game!

Friday, December 9, 2011

What's that black and yellow thing?

Here is something Wyng asked from his favourite joke book.

Wyng : What's black and yellow and buzzes at 35,000 feet?

Answer : A bee in an aeroplane.

There are dozens more jokes that Wyng had memorized from this book.  It has gone to a point when he was reading it day and night.  This obsession will take a while to subside.  After reading (and memorizing) the jokes, he will excitingly test if those jokes are really funny by asking his Daddy, Qo Qo and poor Mom.  Some jokes are quite ok and acceptably funny when we can't answer them.  Some are beyond our imagination.

Whatever they are, one needs to be in good mood to listen to Wyng patiently tell his jokes or ask a joke question.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The television programmes my kid watches

Wyng's favourite programmes are from channels such as National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet and kids' programmes from TV IQ such as Kids United, Backyard Science among others. Sometimes, he also loves to watch Wipe Out, Masterchef and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

I do not have problems with him watching all these shows at all.  Why complain when most of his science and general knowledge come from watching all these programmes?  However, lately ever since the commencement of the year-end school holidays, he is hooked on the Animax channel which shows a Japanese cartoon called Fairy Tail. He watches this programme and nothing else and his addiction has been going on for about a week.

So obsessed is he that when we go out to the grocer or nearby supermarket, he will be asking me how long have we been out.  This way, he knows how long he has missed the show.

I definitely want him to go back to his usual habit of watching those educational programmes. I am resorting to bribing him to watch these shows or he will not get to touch the computer.  It works!

Anything the kids are obsessed to is no good.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

This is obedience!

This was posted on 2 May 2009  in my previous removed blog. Here is a reposting.

I had just gobbled some leftover of beancurd and fish paste while watching TV with Wyng.

Lazy to walk to the kitchen, I instructed Wyng nicely,"Can you help me to put this (the plate) in the kitchen?". He smiled and said,"Can! This is called obedience and attentive." I don't know why he used 'attentive'. But, I am so impressed that he is really such an obedient boy (only, at times).

Sunday, December 4, 2011

My kid explains food chain

Wyng and I were watching National Geographic's "Built for the kill, Birds of prey" on television this afternoon.  An eagle was ferociously chasing after a rabbit in the wild. Mom felt a scene when the eagle coldbloodedly tear off the rabbit's flesh with its strong beak disgusting.  To Mom's yucks, Wyng knowledgeably explained, "It's the food chain, food chain is like this one.  We are also like that.

Thinking that I wasn't convinced, he elaborated, "We eat chicken. We cook it and eat it."

Time for Mom to test him. "What's a food chain?"
Wyng: "A grasshopper eats a leaf, a lizard eats grasshoppers. A wolf eats lizards.And then, tigers eat wolves."
Mom further probed, "We also eat junk food."
Wyng enthused, "They are living thing or meat!"
Mom asked again, "So, is food chain important?"
"We need to eat. Every living thing needs to survive, no?"

Friday, December 2, 2011

The advantage of staying in a condo

Just when I thought we could have interruption-free surfing, we were plagued with another technical-related problem with our internet again.  All of a sudden, on a clear morning, when I did not expect anything wrong after just less than a week when my technical woes were solved, my internet seemed to go dead.  Clicking the internet connection icon on my desktop, I was quite perplexed with the 'no connection' message.

Upon further clicking, the troubleshooting said 'an ethernet was unplugged'.  Who unplugged when I was only on the net the night before?  Nobody touched it over the night.  Nothing was unplugged from the computer, further investigation revealed.  Hoe checked that the modem was 'dead'. There was not any light indicator.  So, what was the problem when the modem was only a few days old? 

The IT doctor reckoned it could be that the wiring or cabling or some kind of hardware connection malfunction.  I never had this problem in our more than 10-year-stay in a condo.  So, this time the culprit was lightnight surge on the adapter.

After more than 10 years of complaining about staying in a bird's cage, now I learn the benefit of it. It doesn't give problems to internet users.

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