Month: March 2012

Hello There Sam

/ carlenetan / Leave a comment

Yesterday, little Samuel Tay decided that he was ready to come into the world!!  With the hospital just a skip, hop and a jump from where I live, I dropped by to say hi back 🙂

I’m still in awe of how amazing Mummy Daph looks.  Completely relaxed and calm, even when Sam was fussing, she was a picture of calm, which I knew if I were ever in her shoes … I’d probably be rather anxious :p  Daddy Dan was impressively nurturing too 🙂  Grandma was enjoying being there and catching me up on confinement ladies of the past and how mothers are so different today.  While I was there, our other friends, Les and Alina popped by too and with them was their little girl, Sophie who I haven’t seen she came into the world some 3 and a half months ago.

She was sweet, playing so very nice and oh so smiley!!  You know, just like her Daddy and Mummy 🙂  Lucky me to get all the baby fix I need in one visit!!

It’s going to be a little while before Sam will be out on play dates but I’m sure big brother Jonah wouldn’t mind a distraction or two.  So see you soon Sam!!  Meanwhile, here’s his parting shot at me as he was being wheeled to get his vaccination shots.

Yah, buddy I so know how you feel … I wouldn’t want a needle anywhere close to me too >_<

Brownice

/ carlenetan / Leave a comment

When I started my vegetarian diet some 10 years ago now, I never thought I’d see the day that Singapore offers vegan desserts.  I’m so glad that we do now.  To make it all even better, Brownice is so close to where I live!!  I can actually take a nice 15min stroll to this lovely dessert stop.

And the verdict is that it’s oh so yummy!!  Yes, the waffles with chocolate ice cream worked perfectly together and neither left a weird waxy taste in my mouth.  Vegan desserts that use strange alternatives to butter tends to do that to me.  Now everyone knows my favourite hang out in Singapore:-

Sin Ming Centre,
8 Sin Ming Road, #01-03,
Singapore 575628
Tel: 6456 6431
Email: icecream@brownice.com
Like us at www.facebook.com/BrowniceIceCream

See you there!!

Kony and Invisible Children

/ carlenetan / 2 Comments

If you haven’t heard of either, you haven’t been online lately, especially online news.  Come April 20th in a month, people will make sure that you hear of them.

That morning, I’m going to wish 3 dear friends of mine, Miss Chan, Daph and Cherry Happy Birthday 🙂

After that, I’ll go on to my other social networking accounts and link to this post, which I never do … I’m still wondering if it’s going to be a public post.  We’ll see.

I first heard about Kony from a twitter video link sent by my cousin on March 7, 2012.  I’m definitely not of the Facebook generation because I resisted RTing it, liking the video, sharing it.  I needed to find out more before I came to any conclusion.  Why?

I’m a filmmaker myself … well, at least I was once before.

I know how easy it is to drum up emotions through editing seemingly meaningless images and sound clips together.  When a cute little toddler wants to squash Kony, you can’t help but feel you can too.  So I tread carefully when it comes to call for action videos, especially ones filled with bravado that rivals Braveheart.  Didn’t you want to be a Scott when Mel Gibson yelled out, “They can take our lives but they can’t take our freedom!!”  You see where I’m going here.

So I’ve been reading as much as I can about Joseph Kony and the organization, Invisible Children.  Here are some of the links, if you’re interested:-

  1. Just another view http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble
  2. Invisible Children’s response but not official http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/
  3. Here’s the official http://allafrica.com/stories/201203080906.html
  4. Who is Kony http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kony
  5. Yet another view http://chrisblattman.com/2009/03/04/visible-children/
  6. No one is perfect, especially when a magnifying glass is on you http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/16/kony-2012-campaigner-detained
  7. If you can give it, always be prepared to take it http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story Life is never fair.
  8. Both side now http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/anti-kony-video-campaign-draws-criticism-uganda-15885083#.T2iNzmJKrfJ

In summary, Kony is an asshole.  Seriously, I’m up for anything to stop that dude.  Hey, I’m up for anything to stop any asshole.  I just have to remember that every asshole has a story and he has one too.  Does it justify his cause?  Not in my opinion.  If you cut into my lane while driving because your wife was curt with you this morning.  I’ll let it slide and hope the rest of your day goes better.  When you hide behind children for your own cause, Lord help you because you shouldn’t be afraid of the military that is after you.  You should be afraid of ever being in the same room as me.  Ask my husband and he may make a video to save you from me but children, for crying out loud … makes me hope to get in a room with you just thinking about it … I’m not sure of much but Joseph Kony, I am sure you will meet your maker one day.

Invisible Children.  Here’s my thoughts, they are like most American organisations I know about and I do not mean it in a critical way, they just are.  As a supporter, just know who you are supporting, if you do and choose to support them, power to you who give these causes what they need to keep going.  If you don’t know much about them, you owe yourself to find out and make an informed decision.  I did say before life is complicated.

For me, thank you Invisible Children, I would have not known about Kony otherwise.  Much less delve into him as much as I have in the past couple of weeks.  That is the key objective of their Kony2012 campaign, creating awareness and I believe it has achieved it with me  On April 20th, I will make an extra effort to help out their cause, they may not be perfect in how they run (no one usually is) but their heart is in the right place. When it is appropriate I’m going to keep sharing about Kony even after April 20. If possible, I would like to see if there is anyone helping these children’s rehabilitation, I would like to create awareness about that and see if they can get help too.  I have tried to search but I can’t find how I can help these children rehabilitate back into normal life.

The opening of the film is true, there is nothing more powerful than an idea.  Here’s mine, I’m going to keep from developing asshole behaviours myself.  That’s my pledge, it may be hard for me to catch assholes but I can stop being one myself.  Also, where I can, I’ll try and help children everywhere and anywhere.  Oh yah and animals too 🙂  On my little island home, I may not be able to affect the ongoings in the US or Africa but I can help some children right here in Singapore.  One of my favourite is Club Rainbow, so as you spread the word about Kony, feel free to give a hand to these kids too.

For the record too, I’m not going to go all Rambo and hunt the world’s most wanted.  Just in case, you never know the ideas people get from reading my sometimes exaggerated opinions filled with bravado.

The Amazing Race

/ carlenetan / 2 Comments

I’m such a reality TV junkie :p  Especially Survivor and The Amazing Race, which is in it’s 20th season.  Can you believe that?  It’s episode 4 and already I’m hooked, I so live vicariously through the different teams.  Since I now know I don’t have the stomach for Survivor, I can only hope that one day I get to play The Amazing Race.  When I get the chance I have a list of people I think I can possibly play this game with.  It has to be someone I’m close enough to so I can share a room with them, be completely candid with yet at the same time not too close so that we’re still patient enough with each other and not go at each other’s throat as soon as something goes wrong.  As you can tell, I have thought about this list for a while now.

Honestly speaking, this game does, at times take sheer brute force so my practical side reckons that my Amazing Race buddy has to be a guy.  As much as I would love to do this with my husband, he is definitely not into running around the world, doing crazy stunts and possibly having to put up with a grouchy me.  Unfortunately for my husband, I feel 100% comfortable with him, so much so that some times I can give Oscar a run for his money in the grouch department.  Most of my friends don’t even get to see the half of it :p  I’ve gone through my list and here goes nothing on the guys I would ask to be my Amazing Race buddy.

All four of them are very strong 🙂  Yep, they will be able to lift and do all the manly stuff that may be a little way over my head.  They’re the types who are open to eating anything too!!!

Starting with my brother-in-law in the bottom left hand corner, Rob will be game for any task and he is as patient as his brother, my husband 🙂 but he lives in Canada.  Next in the right bottom corner is Zack who would be the perfect partner to charm our way out of any fix.  Again he’s also incredibly patient.  ‘Cept I don’t know if he’ll be up for running around and not having time to see the sights :p  In the right hand top corner is Marcus, again patient to the hilt and completely reliable.  You can’t tell from his face in the picture, he’s also a gentleman.  Only thing is, he probably doesn’t want to do the race with me :p  He knows me well enough to know I can get grouchy.  For a couple of hours in Singapore when we’re hanging out, it’s probably ok for him but days on end while running a race.  I’m not sure if he’s up to it >_<  Then there’s Jason, Daddy to my lovely Goddaughters.  He will be game for ANYTHING and has the right spirit for the game – there is nothing we can’t overcome.  He isn’t the most patient but he won’t take anything personal, which is perfect for the race.  Unlike the rest though, he’ll have to give up time with his girls to run a race with me and I doubt he’ll do that :p

The thing about me and any of these guys … we’re too boring to be picked.  Nothing exciting for reality TV :p

However, most of the girls in my life would make interesting teams with me and no disrespect to them but I think most of them aren’t interested in running the race … well, not at the stage of their lives right now.  My sister and I would be a hoot for reality TV and she would do it because I ask her to but the first task that happens in the a mall and we’re out of the game.  She’ll be too distracted shopping to do anything else and I do want to win the race 🙂  I’ve also watched enough seasons to know a 2 women team is fun to watch but there are some tasks that are just biased against a lack of brute strength and stamina.

Oh well!!  One can hope and that’s what I’m doing today coz daydreaming keeps the moments when I don’t have my iPhone that much more entertaining :p

Post International Women’s Day

/ carlenetan / 11 Comments

Yesterday was International Women’s Day.  Here’s how I celebrated it, I got up at 6:30am was on a conference call, went for meetings with my boss, did some more work and finished up about 8.  It’s a job I thoroughly enjoy and one that is the reason that getting up early is worth every minute of it.  I stand on the shoulders of many great women who paved the way so that I may have dreams and achieve them.  One of which is being able to build a career.

So it saddens me to be contemplating this post.

As far as I know, it is the 21st century and slavery has been outlawed so I’m thoroughly shocked about the out cry from the legislation of giving maids a day off.  Seriously?  We are a developed nation, are we not?

I have never directly employed a housekeeper so I really can’t say what they can possibly get up to on their off days but if they don’t act professionally, can’t you just fire them?  You would do that with an employee at work, right?  Another thing, if you don’t treat them professionally but like slaves, you are then surprise that they act like slaves and steal from you.  There can’t be any reason good enough that doesn’t warrant someone a day off, which could also mean she can stay home and not have you holler for her to do something.  Also, if this is how your boss in your office treats you, quit, it doesn’t give you the right to treat someone else like so.

To all the Singaporeans who can’t find in themselves to understand why a human being may need a day off, just imagine if it was your daughter, sister, wife or mother.

‘Nuff said, I can’t talk about this any more.  Singaporeans, please, we are truly made of better stuff than this.

 

37 and Wake Boarding

/ carlenetan / 1 Comment

I hope I can still say that when I’m 47.  The next 10 years are going to be quite revealing but for now, I’m relishing the present and today, I’m just glad that I got up early hung out with family and a sweet friend for a bout of wake boarding.

I wasn’t breezing through it, it’s not tomorrow yet and I’m starting to feel the aches.  I did have a swell time though!!  Enough to want to do it again 🙂  Maybe we can do this every 2 weeks!!

Let’s see what this 37 year old body says tomorrow.

Meanwhile, this video was done entirely on my iPhone.

Not bad, huh?  The world our children are growing up in is so different from ours.  I’m looking forward to the iphone 5 🙂