Short Stories
This post is going to be random; and it could be a long one. I'm currently hooked on playing the Ranch Rush game that I got off Yahoo! Games. Instead of updating my blog, I prefer to manage a small farm instead. Can that be an excuse for not posting an entry more often (to avoid long entry like this one)? Lol.
But I Tweet often nowadays, though. You may want to follow my Twitter.
Speaking of which, recently I discovered through a friend that our new Prime Minister has a Twitter account of his own. I checked his account out, and decided to 'follow' him. So far, I have mostly followed 'people in the know' (i.e. Chris Pirillo, Mr Brown, Trent of PITNB, Britney, et al) because my friends just don't do 'Tweet' ;-p
I check in often to also update mine. Most of their updates are daily-occurrences, you know, like: "RT @wilw Bruins power play is just unreal. Goddamn!". So imagine my surprise when the day after I followed @NajibRazak, in the midst of tech-talk and frivolous status updates, I found this in my time line:
I was just weirded out by that, man! Lol. I think I know the PM's daily schedule better than my boss' diary nowadays. Imagine that. Ha!
A few days ago, Oprah joined in the bandwagon. She did a show about Twitter, if I'm not mistaken. And on that day, she managed to gather 100,000 followers! Of course, I have to follow her, too. I followed Ellen's Show as well because I love her... show. Yes! XD
A whole lot of celebrities have their own Twitter now -- Ashton has one, Demi Moore has one. John Mayer has one, even MC Hammer has one.
So. What are you waiting for, then? Join laaaah. Follow me, and I'll follow you, too ;-)
Malay Ayam @ Red Box
Enough about Twitter, last night I went to Hermione's Hen Party at Red Box, organized by M and Lyd. T'was fun. We ate, we sang, we had some games and we drank ber-jug-jug Coke (a few RSVP-ed but couldn't attend at the last minute, so... ).
I haven't been to a karaoke centre for the longest time! Last night was the first time after years and years. Probably, we stopped going after DH and I got married. How long has that been?? You do the math.
I told DH he should bring us for a session soon. Mira would love it. She'll be singing her favourite Abba tunes, I'm sure.
The party went on until late I think, I dunno. I left at half past two this morning. You can peek at some photos here. Those were from my N82. M has got tonnes of last night's happening in her very canggih DSLR camera. I assume she'll post it up in her FB soon.
You know, in as much as I love the N82 for its Xenon flash, I must say I hardly use it. I prefer to take 'au naturel' photos. Whenever I use the flash, it will usually blinded us for a few seconds after. It was that powerful. Lol. Also, because I hardly use it, I always forget to use its 'red-eye reduction' mode. Thus, most often than not, we'll look like vampires.
That's a good thing, right? For me at least? Haha.
A New Item for My Wishlist
I want a new camera. I want something compact but can take good close up and preferably with good optical zoom capability. I want a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. Xiaxue gushes over it recently, so I did my own research and homework. I've read some good reviews and am sold.
Can I say it's a semi-DSLR? I love to take Macro shots. N82 camera has given me great macro shots so far, but I want to try work with a 'real' camera now. And it's a compact camera, too. I've checked the price -- a bit steep for my liking. Why do things I like costs more than I am willing to fork out? Whyyyyy?
Another thing I'd like to have is a camcorder. But it's not a priority, so it can wait.
Being Parents in this Century is Tough
We received a note from Mira's ballet teacher on Saturday that starting May, she'll be upgraded to join the Primary class. The class will be an hour long. Currently, her Pre-Primary class lasts for 45 minutes. She'll be sitting for her grading exam next year April.
Cool, eh? Pejam celik, it has been three months since she first started. I'm proud and happy of her achievement.
This other mom lamented how busy our kids schedules are nowadays, which make ourselves busy too especially on Saturdays. There was this other mom who always arrived late because her kid came from another class before that, and then they'll also be late for another class right after ballet. But what to do, the slots are limited to such time only.
Like herself too, she took her daughter and son to their martial art class at 8 that morning. The class was for an hour and a half. They had tea at the canteen before heading back home to get ready for ballet class.
After lunch, she'll send both her kids to their piano lessons. She said she felt harrassed and hurried but what to do, it's for her kids benefit. She wanted them to explore these things, because to her, how would they know what they like if we don't let them experience it first.
I share her sentiments exactly.
However, she doesn't want to think about tuition yet. She cannot imagine how to slot that in her kids' schedule when the needs arise. Lol.
Mira likes music, but so far, she hasn't make any request to attend class. I think it's too soon for her anyway. Maybe when she's six or seven perhaps, I'll enroll her in a class. However, she's expressed interest to go for art lessons. There's a centre nearby that offers such classes. We'll see how.
Anyway, Mira cried in class yesterday after being reprimanded by her teacher for not doing a posture correctly. The teacher though, didn't really scolded her (have you heard how fierce and strict they are in general?). I think because she was suddenly singled out for the first time, it scared her a bit.
She was ok after being consoled by the teacher and her assistant. All is well :)
The week before last I attended Mira's progress report with her kindy teacher. I'm told she's shown some improvement in her speech. She likes to read and has shown progress in that, too. She recognize and can write numbers 1, 2, 4, 6 and 10; and alphabets A, E, H, and M.
I'm not surprised anymore when her teacher said she excel in music. It has been for the past 3 years :p
I'm a bit worried when the teacher said Mira hates Bahasa Malaysia, though. I think 'hate' is a strong word. I believe it's more of 'having a hard time learning to read' the language. I can't blame her, the material given is boring.
At the end of last year, I went to see her EDP teacher, Teacher Yaffy, remember? I spoke to her at length about my worry with Mira's under-developed speech ability. I approached her because she's closest to Mira and seemed to know and understand her kids well.
She don't think there's anything to worry about, but gave me some feedback (lone child, no one to talk to, we should converse with her more, etc.) and pointers on how to tackle the problem. She wanted me to read to Mira more often, hence the reason why we started going to the Library. I read to her bedtime stories now, and I can see the improvement.
I also put in more effort in tutoring her with her school work. She brought back homework every day now, and she cannot not complete them to be passed up in the next class. If not, her teacher will not allow her to join swimming lesson as penance.
Stress? Me? You betcha! Whenever the teacher see me, without fail she'll remind me to be more involved in 'helping' my own daughter because 'they can only do so much'. I want to say 'for goodness sake she's only FIVE', but that's like killing it, right? What if the teacher stop giving her attention to Mira because her parents don't care gitu.
I mean, I do want her to excel. But the fact is, she is only five. I don't want to push her too much, I don't want to kill too soon her love for learning. I don't even go to school or knows how to read or write at that age. Why the rush y'all? Why can't they just be children and play and make learning exciting? Stress-free.
In the meantime, I (or we?) shall persevere!
Wonderful Treasures Found in the Library
I can't believe it has been three weeks since! It was time to return our books again yesterday. I haven't finish the two books I re-borrowed even. Sigh. I returned it anyway. Didn't bother to borrow more fiction this time, I browsed over the other sections of the adult library.
I found this interesting collection of correspondences between an American Missionary and his brother while he was in Malaya in the early 50s (pre-Merdeka, should be interesting). The book's called 'Letters from Malaya' and it was by Ted Miles.
I also found, can you believe it because I can't, Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home! I'm as excited at checking out his recipes as learning how to plant your own vegetable gardens, because that's what this book about as well -- planting your own and cooking them yourself.
Is this a coincidence or just good karma? I've been thinking of reusing these planter boxes I have after I found a website on planting garden boxes for apartment living. Thought I'd make a herb garden out of it. The information found in Jamie's book might help me in this project. I may find myself with a lot of free time soon.
All Will Happen in May
Speaking of free time, I have approximately four more weeks to go before I can call myself jobless. I can't really say I'm worried about it, but not to say I don't. I'm sorta like in this limbo of feelings. When I suddenly think about it, I'll get nervous. After a while, I am calm and believe that everything will eventually fall in to place.
You just got to have faith.
I don't think I've mentioned in my last entry that I took up VSS from my current workplace, huh? Yup. VSS. The severance pay is not much, but still, it's there. However, I hope I will receive some good news soon. This one interview I went to, said they'll be able to finalize their selection by last Friday but so far, no update from them. Sigh.
I was in tenterhooks all day Friday for that, which didn't happen but instead I found something else in the mail. It is somewhat related, maybe it's a sign. Lol. I am a sucker for 'signs'. It keeps me thinking positive thoughts and gives me a little hope ;)
Nonetheless, wish me luck!
I think we've come to an end of today's entry. Is this long enough for ya? Hahaha. Took me two hours to complete this marathon. Phew!
xoxo
But I Tweet often nowadays, though. You may want to follow my Twitter.
Speaking of which, recently I discovered through a friend that our new Prime Minister has a Twitter account of his own. I checked his account out, and decided to 'follow' him. So far, I have mostly followed 'people in the know' (i.e. Chris Pirillo, Mr Brown, Trent of PITNB, Britney, et al) because my friends just don't do 'Tweet' ;-p
I check in often to also update mine. Most of their updates are daily-occurrences, you know, like: "RT @wilw Bruins power play is just unreal. Goddamn!". So imagine my surprise when the day after I followed @NajibRazak, in the midst of tech-talk and frivolous status updates, I found this in my time line:
@ NajibRazak 3pm - Pengumuman Menteri-Menteri Kabinet Blok Timur, Putrajaya
I was just weirded out by that, man! Lol. I think I know the PM's daily schedule better than my boss' diary nowadays. Imagine that. Ha!
A few days ago, Oprah joined in the bandwagon. She did a show about Twitter, if I'm not mistaken. And on that day, she managed to gather 100,000 followers! Of course, I have to follow her, too. I followed Ellen's Show as well because I love her... show. Yes! XD
A whole lot of celebrities have their own Twitter now -- Ashton has one, Demi Moore has one. John Mayer has one, even MC Hammer has one.
So. What are you waiting for, then? Join laaaah. Follow me, and I'll follow you, too ;-)
Malay Ayam @ Red Box
Enough about Twitter, last night I went to Hermione's Hen Party at Red Box, organized by M and Lyd. T'was fun. We ate, we sang, we had some games and we drank ber-jug-jug Coke (a few RSVP-ed but couldn't attend at the last minute, so... ).
I haven't been to a karaoke centre for the longest time! Last night was the first time after years and years. Probably, we stopped going after DH and I got married. How long has that been?? You do the math.
I told DH he should bring us for a session soon. Mira would love it. She'll be singing her favourite Abba tunes, I'm sure.
The party went on until late I think, I dunno. I left at half past two this morning. You can peek at some photos here. Those were from my N82. M has got tonnes of last night's happening in her very canggih DSLR camera. I assume she'll post it up in her FB soon.
You know, in as much as I love the N82 for its Xenon flash, I must say I hardly use it. I prefer to take 'au naturel' photos. Whenever I use the flash, it will usually blinded us for a few seconds after. It was that powerful. Lol. Also, because I hardly use it, I always forget to use its 'red-eye reduction' mode. Thus, most often than not, we'll look like vampires.
That's a good thing, right? For me at least? Haha.
A New Item for My Wishlist
I want a new camera. I want something compact but can take good close up and preferably with good optical zoom capability. I want a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. Xiaxue gushes over it recently, so I did my own research and homework. I've read some good reviews and am sold.
Can I say it's a semi-DSLR? I love to take Macro shots. N82 camera has given me great macro shots so far, but I want to try work with a 'real' camera now. And it's a compact camera, too. I've checked the price -- a bit steep for my liking. Why do things I like costs more than I am willing to fork out? Whyyyyy?Another thing I'd like to have is a camcorder. But it's not a priority, so it can wait.
Being Parents in this Century is Tough
We received a note from Mira's ballet teacher on Saturday that starting May, she'll be upgraded to join the Primary class. The class will be an hour long. Currently, her Pre-Primary class lasts for 45 minutes. She'll be sitting for her grading exam next year April.
Cool, eh? Pejam celik, it has been three months since she first started. I'm proud and happy of her achievement.
This other mom lamented how busy our kids schedules are nowadays, which make ourselves busy too especially on Saturdays. There was this other mom who always arrived late because her kid came from another class before that, and then they'll also be late for another class right after ballet. But what to do, the slots are limited to such time only.
Like herself too, she took her daughter and son to their martial art class at 8 that morning. The class was for an hour and a half. They had tea at the canteen before heading back home to get ready for ballet class.
After lunch, she'll send both her kids to their piano lessons. She said she felt harrassed and hurried but what to do, it's for her kids benefit. She wanted them to explore these things, because to her, how would they know what they like if we don't let them experience it first.
I share her sentiments exactly.
However, she doesn't want to think about tuition yet. She cannot imagine how to slot that in her kids' schedule when the needs arise. Lol.
Mira likes music, but so far, she hasn't make any request to attend class. I think it's too soon for her anyway. Maybe when she's six or seven perhaps, I'll enroll her in a class. However, she's expressed interest to go for art lessons. There's a centre nearby that offers such classes. We'll see how.
Anyway, Mira cried in class yesterday after being reprimanded by her teacher for not doing a posture correctly. The teacher though, didn't really scolded her (have you heard how fierce and strict they are in general?). I think because she was suddenly singled out for the first time, it scared her a bit.
She was ok after being consoled by the teacher and her assistant. All is well :)
The week before last I attended Mira's progress report with her kindy teacher. I'm told she's shown some improvement in her speech. She likes to read and has shown progress in that, too. She recognize and can write numbers 1, 2, 4, 6 and 10; and alphabets A, E, H, and M.
I'm not surprised anymore when her teacher said she excel in music. It has been for the past 3 years :p
I'm a bit worried when the teacher said Mira hates Bahasa Malaysia, though. I think 'hate' is a strong word. I believe it's more of 'having a hard time learning to read' the language. I can't blame her, the material given is boring.
At the end of last year, I went to see her EDP teacher, Teacher Yaffy, remember? I spoke to her at length about my worry with Mira's under-developed speech ability. I approached her because she's closest to Mira and seemed to know and understand her kids well.
She don't think there's anything to worry about, but gave me some feedback (lone child, no one to talk to, we should converse with her more, etc.) and pointers on how to tackle the problem. She wanted me to read to Mira more often, hence the reason why we started going to the Library. I read to her bedtime stories now, and I can see the improvement.
I also put in more effort in tutoring her with her school work. She brought back homework every day now, and she cannot not complete them to be passed up in the next class. If not, her teacher will not allow her to join swimming lesson as penance.
Stress? Me? You betcha! Whenever the teacher see me, without fail she'll remind me to be more involved in 'helping' my own daughter because 'they can only do so much'. I want to say 'for goodness sake she's only FIVE', but that's like killing it, right? What if the teacher stop giving her attention to Mira because her parents don't care gitu.
I mean, I do want her to excel. But the fact is, she is only five. I don't want to push her too much, I don't want to kill too soon her love for learning. I don't even go to school or knows how to read or write at that age. Why the rush y'all? Why can't they just be children and play and make learning exciting? Stress-free.
In the meantime, I (or we?) shall persevere!
Wonderful Treasures Found in the Library
I can't believe it has been three weeks since! It was time to return our books again yesterday. I haven't finish the two books I re-borrowed even. Sigh. I returned it anyway. Didn't bother to borrow more fiction this time, I browsed over the other sections of the adult library.
I found this interesting collection of correspondences between an American Missionary and his brother while he was in Malaya in the early 50s (pre-Merdeka, should be interesting). The book's called 'Letters from Malaya' and it was by Ted Miles.
I also found, can you believe it because I can't, Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home! I'm as excited at checking out his recipes as learning how to plant your own vegetable gardens, because that's what this book about as well -- planting your own and cooking them yourself.
Is this a coincidence or just good karma? I've been thinking of reusing these planter boxes I have after I found a website on planting garden boxes for apartment living. Thought I'd make a herb garden out of it. The information found in Jamie's book might help me in this project. I may find myself with a lot of free time soon.
All Will Happen in May
Speaking of free time, I have approximately four more weeks to go before I can call myself jobless. I can't really say I'm worried about it, but not to say I don't. I'm sorta like in this limbo of feelings. When I suddenly think about it, I'll get nervous. After a while, I am calm and believe that everything will eventually fall in to place.
You just got to have faith.
I don't think I've mentioned in my last entry that I took up VSS from my current workplace, huh? Yup. VSS. The severance pay is not much, but still, it's there. However, I hope I will receive some good news soon. This one interview I went to, said they'll be able to finalize their selection by last Friday but so far, no update from them. Sigh.
I was in tenterhooks all day Friday for that, which didn't happen but instead I found something else in the mail. It is somewhat related, maybe it's a sign. Lol. I am a sucker for 'signs'. It keeps me thinking positive thoughts and gives me a little hope ;)
Nonetheless, wish me luck!
I think we've come to an end of today's entry. Is this long enough for ya? Hahaha. Took me two hours to complete this marathon. Phew!
xoxo
Comments
Their book collections: it depends on what you're looking for. fiction wise, i wish they've got wider selection. so far i haven't seen any autobiography but their non-fiction collection not bad jugak.
It could also be sitting at the librarian counter. it takes a long time for the books (returned or new) to be moved to their designated shelves.
Maybe their reference books section better kot; i've never been to that part of the library so far coz mira tak boleh masuk (12 above only). also, you're not allowed to borrow those.
However, i have issues with how they arrange their books. there's no rhyme or reason to it. i think they should get themselves trained by Kino or Borders kot. LOL!
Have a go at it lah. you may uncover some treasures. hehe.
lol.