Month: June 2011

Goddaughter Galore

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When your own kids don’t work out just yet, you live for your nephews, which I have one great one, nieces, I’m so lucky to have two beautiful ones and goddaughters 🙂  As of today, 30th June 2011, I’ve been blessed with three.  My first one is my cute as a button niece, Rachael who in one of my previous post is growing up WAY too fast.

My other two goddaughters are a pair of sweet sweet sisters.  Things happen for a reason and that’s why I reckon I became good friends with their parents, it’s so that these two sweeties are my constant reminders that good things do happen to good people 🙂

This pair of sisters remind me of my sister and me.  As different as chalk and cheese but has the same essence.  I’m not sure if that makes any sense but anyone who knows my sister and me, will understand that.  Back to the sisters, the older one, Nicole is a perfect mate to hang out for a day.  I can take her shopping.  She’s a little tomboy like me and we actually have similar interest in toys and an unbridled desire for dramatics :p  Best bit about Nicole, I can have tea and chit chat the day away with her.  Yes, she and I have conversations where she surprises me about what goes on in her little 5 year old head.

Her baby sister is an angel sent from God.  She’s quiet, sweet and cuddles into my arms when she’s sleeping.  What more can you ask for in a precious Goddaughter?  Granted most of my time with her, she’s been fed and is sleeping and I’m looking forward to when she gets older.  For now, the smell of her head … HEAVENLY!!!  I can’t get enough of it … though her parents don’t get it … they say she smells like socks O_o  I don’t get that at all!!  I love love love the way she smells 🙂

I have a hunch now that I’ll only be bestowed with boys :p  which I can deal with.  Hey, at least they’ll have hot godsisters to protect and inherit all the toys I currently collect.  Yah, I don’t get it, I want girls but girl toys bore me a little.  A rather a Nerf gun to a magic wand any time … unless the magic wand actually works :p  Anyway, my poor nephew needs a couple of boys to hang around with.  So till then, it’s goddaughter galore for me 🙂

Dark Side of The Moon

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Anticipation doesn’t get better than this.  It’s been 5 years since the first installment and 3 since the second.  Let’s just say, I’ve been waiting for this movie since then, more accurately since November 12, 2009.  I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about the story but like I’ve said before, talking metal crashing robots, I really don’t need much else.  My sister knows how much I’ve been waiting and the sweetness that she is has been helping me build on the hype.

My little hard disk case came from her trip to Perth and the little Sentinel Prime from her trip to the local Shell petrol station along Upper Thomson Road 🙂  All I can say is that she knows me too too well.  Even I’m not sure who will have my heart from this movie.  It’s going to be a battle of the Primes for me :p  While I wasn’t crazy about the resurrection story of Optimus, I’m glad they did it.  I know for sure, he’ll get my heart racing in this third installment.  I have a hunch the calmer Sentinel is going to have his own effect on me.  You’ll have an update from me as soon as I watch the film.  Meanwhile, I’m been feeding myself with trailers, interviews and toy shopping.  Nothing beats the kick ass CG work that’ll send shivers down my spine.

Seriously, I C.A.N.N.O.T. wait.

Tell me, you aren’t excited too?  Damn, I can’t wait to get all my Bumblebees out of storage too!!

Princess Sisters

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I got in the lift today and my neighbour family got in with me.  Dad, Mum carrying baby sister and 5 year old Isaac.

Me: Good morning Zack!!

Zack: Good morning Cheachea!!  (And I fall hopelessly more in love with him than I already am)

Me: (beaming) You off to school?

Zack: Yep.

Me: Your sister too?

Zack: (laughing) No

Me: I forget, what’s your sister’s name?

Zack: (Smiling) Princess

Now that’s a smooth talking 5 year old, if I ever met one 🙂  For the record, her name isn’t really princess.

Being Parents

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I read an article today that made me reflect on my life, my parents and the kind of parent I want to be.  My Mummy shared with me recently that you know you’ve raised your children well when they do better than you.  So when I read this article and looked around my family and friends, we’ve all been pretty fortunate to have parents who have done so very well.

Me and my sister for one, are afforded choices my mother and especially my grandmother never had.  Thanks to my parents who gave us just what the writer of the article had – love, encouragement and an unbreakable work ethic.  Together, my Daddy and Mummy, balanced each other out to show us by example that you can dream as big as you want, you have to work as hard to achieve it, they will be there every step of the way and even if it all fails, they’ll still love us.  And by that, love wasn’t always hugs and kisses.  Hard love though very very seldom had it’s place in my household.  I’m grateful for the rare moments it had to show it’s ugly head.

So this post is one where I hope my family and friends will resend to me if I forget and become one of those parents I constantly complain about.  I want to give my children all they need to build hearts that will think up their most ambitious dreams yet temper it with the sound and open mind that will help them implement the plans to make these dreams real.  We’re going to have good days and there’ll be bad ones but as long as the journey is filled with love and support, as a family, we’ll be able to take on what else life will throw at us.  Lord knows, life has a very strange way of doing just that – throwing you curve balls when you least expect it.

My sister and I are far from perfect but that’s all my parents have done, their best to make sure we have choices, built our ability to follow through with them and most of all, they taught us, life some times just doesn’t quite go as plan.  The strength in our characters doesn’t come from when we achieve our dreams, it flourishes when we don’t achieve them yet keep on going to make other dreams happen.  Some thing I’m learn everyday from my little sister too … so yes, I want more than one kid because as much as great my parents are, the other half of me was built by my sister.

That said, my parents pretty much kick ass at parenting.  I only pray I’ll do half as well as them, if not, my kids will be lucky to have great grandparents who show them how it’s all done … just that their grandparents might spoil them a little too much :p

Appreciating Art and a Night at the Museum

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Like with most other things in my life, I may not know much academically about appreciating art, I just know what I like and what I don’t.  Dali, I do.  I have, since I saw a picture of Swans Reflecting Elephants in a book some 20 over years ago.  Surrealists appeal to me because they put so effortlessly into pictures what my overactive imagination takes weeks to painstakingly conjure up.

Elephants with giraffe’s legs or a swan as an elephant’s trunk, I don’t know what he hoped to achieve when he did them but all I know is that they intrigue me.  That’s my version of art appreciation.

They make me sit and stare at them.  Somewhat dumbfounded by the possibilities of stories that can be told.  That’s when I know it’s good art 🙂  If I look at and feel no desire to take a closer look, it’s bad art :p  All I say is, thank goodness I’m no art teacher.

Meanwhile, if you have S$30 to spare and nothing to do, go check out the Dali exhibit at the ArtScience Museum.  It isn’t for everyone coz you know surrealists, they see the world in, what some people consider, a warp way but if you’re willing to take a leap and give it a chance … it’ll just be yet another way to look at the complex world we live in.  A world were anything can happen giant snails have wings, you could be made up of little drawers to keep your deepest secrets, everywhere you go someone could be watching you.

For the same S$30, you get to check out an interesting exhibit of Van Gogh too, which made me think … why did an eccentric surrealist, Dali whose art was so out there live to a ripe old age and Van Gogh, the impressionist, who created all these beautiful and accessible paintings kill himself at 37?  The juxtaposition of the two exhibits just rings true to the fact that what you see is hardly ever what you get.  You can never know what someone is truly thinking or feeling.  You get a hint maybe, for the most of us, the inner core of our very being could even be hidden from ourselves.

This is how I knew I had a good night of art appreciation at the museum.  Long after they’ve gone, through their work, these artists ignited a curiosity in me, inspired my own desires to create and not stop thinking about the possibilities of my own imagination.

Debt as a Self-Esteem Booster

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I read in an article recently about how having debt gave people the confidence, in fact, empowers them.  Apparently, people 18-27 reckons being in debt give them better control.

I don’t know, I’m old school and reckon if you don’t have it, you don’t spend it.

That said, I do know as adults we all live in debt …. how else do you buy a house or car in Singapore?

As you can tell, I’m not a fan of debt … truth be told, I’m not a fan of a lack on control.  That’s why it baffles me, this generation gap I obviously suffer with the Gen Y crowd, how can the fact that a financial institution looming over you, gives you more control?  Same with how I don’t get how my Mummy doesn’t trust internet banking and cloud computing.

Every generation comes with their own mindset and own paradigm that their version of the world works in.

My world can’t help but worry that illusion of control becomes more captivating as each generation goes by.  It truly is the Matrix and I’m starting to wonder if any of this is real any more.

I’m actually that old auntie who rather keeps cash in her milo tin under her bed.  Give me the red pill any time.

Playground Time

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I bet if the world was ok with adults playing at playgrounds, there’ll be less problems … bbppphhhllllllttt ….who am I kidding, some of the worse wars were fought in a playground.

It’s one of those cynical day >_<

So the need to relive happy moments of the weekend, which brings me to today post 🙂  Kids grow too fast for me so when you have a couple of hours to hang out at a playground with them, it’s really one of those, take-a-moment-to-smell-the-roses type thing.  Rachael, my niece aka goddaughter is no longer a baby … …

She’s a little toddler, which is great because she’s so much more outgoing and interactive but there’s a part of me that misses the baby her.  She’s now keeping up with the older girls, I don’t have to remind them to include her and she doesn’t need my help on the slide any more … …  I’m not quite sure how to feel about that …

ok ok, I’m enjoying the fact that I can take pictures of her on the slide as oppose to holding her hand as she goes down.  As she develops, there’ll be things I miss about the previous stage but other things I look forward to in the next stage.  For now, I’ll take in the moments where they still want to play outside and think it’s cool to have their aunt around :p

Something Good Coming

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Life can get strange some times and when it does I have a tendency to forget who I am … have you ever fallen and thought you’d never get up?  Today is a good day and extremely good one at that but for the days when life gets strange … that’s why God made family and friends.  Don’t know about you but I would be no where without them.

There are good days and there’ll be bad ones but Something Good is always around the corner.

Here’s to a wonderful week ahead, thanks to Resh for this video and who in her own ways remind me we have it good most of the time 🙂

BFFs

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More catch up post.  Way before Paris and Nicole, BFFs were already an institution and they were simply called best friends.  In the internet revolution that we’re living in,  it’s a term so loosely tossed around but I’m quite sure it means the same thing for girls today as it did for me growing up.  Some change their BFFs weekly and others know it’s a friendship for life.  It’s that special bond, that girl friend or friends that gets us, makes us stronger, inspire us and I’ve been blessed to have a few very cool ones in my life.

So when I got to hang out with my other Goddaughter, Nicole and her BFF, Larraine who’s back from the US for a visit, I soaked up the innocent girl power energy and watched the both of them supporting and inspiring each other all afternoon.

Nothing like an afternoon made up of shopping, playground play time and ice cream … just about the perfect end for the work week, which is all a blur for me coz when you work from home, there’s really no clear work week :p

Here’s to all my own girl friends who so patiently keep this blog alive, thank you for always being the ones that make being a woman that much more fun than being a boy :p

The Star Ferry in Hong Kong

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Again catching up from last week.  Anyway, my life this week is pretty much work, puppy sitting and missing my munchkins who are causing a riot in Perth.  My sister, Jenn, cousin, cousin-in-law, nephew and nieces took off for a holiday visit to my parents … while I’m here in Singapore.

Back to my thoughts on Hong Kong, I’m starting to realise if past lives worked for me, I must have been a fish.  I love water.  Just like my last post, the river in Shanghai was probably the biggest attraction for me.  And in Hong Kong, the Star Ferry is my most favourite thing to do.  Part of the reason why I usually stay in the TST area though my meetings are in HK – reason to jump on the ferry!!

There’s something about the 70cents ride between two extremely bustling city areas.  Feeling the breeze in your hair, the smell of the water mixed in with the engines of the boat, the slight rocking, they all come together in a strange comforting way for me.

Whether it’s at night or during the day, the ride never ceases to calm me.  Gives me that breather between meetings, the time to remember that I have much to be grateful for in this life.  The key now is learning how not to take it all for granted.  Anyone has advice on that?